Six - The Bird and the Worm
The weight of two rifles was cumbersome, at first. But once the new dual scabbard was fitted to his body, Braeburn felt a little more comfortable. He imagined that if he hadn't been raised as a workhorse, then he wouldn't be able to carry the large amount of equipment. With two completely different weapons on his back now, he was forced to carry two different types of rounds. Aside from both tubular magazines being filled to capacity, he was given two boxes of ammunition to hold in his bag. Despite Gunmetal's protests, Braeburn filled the rear magazine with all ten Dragon's Breath rounds. He knew that they were dangerous, but nopony knew if and when he would need them.
The riflepony rolled his shoulders and neck in an attempt to comfort himself under the weight of his equipment, finding it rather difficult in the first few moments of donning it. Gunmetal Grey frowned at him, more so than usual. "Ya' sure it's a good idea ta' carry all that?"
"What else am Ah gonna do?" Braeburn smirked, adjusting to the new weight with a shift of his back. "Ah can't exactly leave Thumper behind."
"Yeah, Ah reckon yer gonna get yerself in a situation where both of 'em are needed," the gunsmith replied, walking over to the front door and opening it with a flash of his magic. Sunlight poured over the threshold, bright in comparison to the soft illumination of the lanterns. "So yer off ta' see yer Pa again? Ah can't think o' him not bein' a might cross over you leavin'."
"There's nothin' else Ah can do right now," the earth pony admitted. "Ah don't know where Sure Shot is, or even Daring. Pa and Silverstar might have a clue. It's a long shot, but it's my only option fer now. Ah'll tell ya' one thing, Ah ain't fond of the scoldin' Ah'm gonna get from Pa."
"Ah wouldn't be either," Gunmetal replied. "But go on now, ya' got things ta' do."
"Ya' sure ya' don't want me to pay fer all this?" Braeburn asked, raising a hoof toward the inner pocket of his duster, only to be shooed away by the unicorn.
"Ah imagine that you'll pay me back sometime in the future. Fer now, get on outta here," he said, waving Braeburn out the door. The riflepony complied with a silent smile as he was practically shoved out the door, which was locked behind him. He shook his head, wondering just why the gunsmith was so keen to make him leave all of a sudden. He could only guess that the unicorn wanted him to get on Sure Shot's trail as soon as possible.
Braeburn sighed, taking a look at his surroundings. The small main street was still bare, save for the few ponies that dared to walk outdoors. It was odd, considering that no danger was present anymore. Now alone with his thoughts, the earth pony was forced to face a decision: what move to make next. He considered going over the clues he had once more for a brief moment, only to realize that they still didn't help him in the least. All he knew was that Sure Shot was looking for Daring Do and her copy of Cunning's journal. He was thankful that the bandit leader knew not of his own copy, but also wished that he did. If Braeburn knew that they would be going after Daring for the diary, then he would have sooner given them his rather than put the pegasus in any danger. A small part of him wanted to panic over the very thought, but without knowing what was going on for sure, he didn't know how to feel.
He stood there in the middle of the empty street for what seemed like an hour, knowing that he only had one option at this point. With a huff, Braeburn turned to his left, galloping back toward the train station.
No light was found by the mare’s eyes, nor did any of her other senses seem to send a trace of information to her brain. Her consciousness was a question, not a determined fact. She tried to move her unresponsive limbs, but to no avail. She tried to make a sound, only to hear nothing but a dull ringing in the back of her mind. The mare felt nothing, she thought nothing. For all she knew, her life could have been taken away, replaced by an abyss of semi-consciousness. It took what felt like an eternity for her mind to fully comprehend her body’s condition, but when it did, Daring Do had regretted it.
Pain spiked within every nerve of her head in what would make a migraine seem like a mere dizzy spell. Once her muscles started responding again, the mare screwed her eyes shut in agony, feeling as if she were forced to live through somepony putting a bullet in the back of her head. Her sense of touch came soon after, revealing the cold, rough texture of a stone floor underneath her. Her shoulders ached as if she had climbed a mountain, finding her forelegs tied painfully behind her back. She weakly struggled against what felt like rope, but was as hard as steel. In her current state, however, a mere string might as well have been solid iron to her weakened muscles. She attempted to move her wings, only to find them pressed against her sides by another bond. For a moment or two, Daring fought for consciousness, feeling more and more nauseous by the second.
Her eyes opened, finding the area around her darker than the insides of her eyelids. Her right cheek was flat against the floor, the rest of her body face-down on the cold surface. The air was cool and dry, along with a dull scent of mold. She felt no physical energy to move, but her brain activity couldn’t have piqued quicker. Daring panicked within herself, remembering the events of an unknown amount of time ago. She immediately thought of Day Break, praying inwardly that she was okay. However, her rational mind concluded that Ahuitzotl would have taken or killed her for sure. At that thought, her panic quickly brought her the energy to move.
Daring Do grunted, attempting to find her hindlegs. They were working, although not without a heavy throbbing sensation. It was like a large boulder had been placed on her back, for the effort it took to make herself rise was enormous. The mare gasped with dry breaths as she forced herself upward into a sitting position, her hindlegs stretched out in front of her. Panting, she let her head fall forward, her body exhausted even from such little work. Once her eyes fell shut, Daring kick-started her objective mind to life with a wave of senseless determination. In the midst of darkness and uncertainty, the archaeologist still knew but one fact: she needed to escape. But first, she needed to figure out how.
But she had no more time to think as a faint sound echoed from the darkness ahead of her. Somewhere in the abyss not too far away from her, she heard stone grinding and metal clanking for a brief moment, before she was blinded by an azure flash. The mare clamped her burning eyes shut, quickly turning her head away from the new source of light. The sound of hoofsteps followed; slow and calm. She cast her senses outward, surprised not to hear or smell the beast that captured her. Her eyes flickered open, slowly adjusting to the light of many flaming torches lining the far stone walls around her. As her eyelids and ears rose, they were welcomed by a low, humming chuckle. The mare furrowed her brow in concentration, recoiling slightly at a stinging sensation from her right temple. It was a stallion, that much was certain. But that didn’t explain why a pony and not Ahuitzotl had entered the room. Daring Do forced another wave of panic aside, looking up to see who it was.
It took a moment, but as the mare recognized the other pony, her brow twitched with confusion. He had a coat of dark purple, a jet-black mane and tail and the blue eyes that had been somehow etched into her memory. On the earth stallion’s back hung a sheathed rifle, strapped around a black vest. It had been around a year and a half since she had seen him, but there was no mistaking the riflepony.
“S-Sure Shot,” Daring managed in disbelief, her throat dry. “H-How…”
“I thought you’d be surprised,” the stallion smirked. “Glad to see I was correct.”
Daring grunted as another wave of pain washed over her skull, her racing thoughts splitting her skull. “Wh-What is this? What are you doing here?”
She expected a smirk, something to show his dominance in the situation. However, Sure Shot tilted his head with a quirk of his brow in what seemed like genuine confusion. “Oh? You don’t know? I would’ve expected somepony of your wit to break it down by now. I must say, I’m disappointed.”
“Stop playing,” Daring grunted, wading through the crashing waves of pain in her head. “Tell me what you’re doing out here and not behind bars.”
Sure Shot frowned, a small sigh escaping his lips. He cast a slow glance around the room, pausing to stare at the high ceiling at the edge of the lanterns’ illumination. “A bit ironic, isn’t it? For you to be imprisoned in your old enemy’s cell, while I on the other hoof, am standing before you; a free stallion…”
“Answer the question!” Daring almost yelled, her fury rising in her words. She went to continue her demand, but was cut off as the purple stallion lurched forward. Before she knew it, Daring’s head was pushed back to the stone by a forceful hoof, her fixed gaze away from Sure Shot. The mare grunted as her skull screamed in agony, barely able to feel the cold breath of the stallion against her lowered ear.
“…and as a prisoner, you are in no place to make demands,” Sure Shot whispered, applying consistent pressure to her temple.
The rational portion of her mind begged Daring to be quiet and obey without question, but the majority of her thoughts were focused on defiance. “What does Ahuitzotl have to offer you? What is the reason for this?”
The bandit laughed aloud, softly and mischievously into her ear. “It’s not what he has to offer me, but what I have to offer him.”
Without warning, Sure Shot retracted his hoof before walking a few paces away, his back to her. Daring coughed as she rose to her haunches again, a metallic taste in her mouth. It was with a divine degree of will that she quelled another bout of panic at his confirmation. If there was another more crippling fear in the back of her mind, she had not come to realize it yet. The two beings that frightened her the most, working together. It was a thought that couldn’t be true, an idea too horrifying to exist in the real world. But there she was; captured by a beast that wanted nothing more than her blood on his claws, and an infamous riflepony that led the most feared gang in the West.
There had to be a reason; a goal for Sure Shot to make such a journey all the way from Equestria just to torture her like this. Even though it didn’t matter anymore, she couldn’t help but wonder how the riflepony escaped his cell, much less travel outside of the country and free Ahuitzotl from his enchanted prison. This couldn’t have been a spur of the moment idea; this was something that was planned, something that Sure Shot intended to carry out to the end.
“Judging by your silence, I’d say that you’re starting to put the pieces together,” the earth pony sneered, turning back around to face Daring. He regarded her expression with a sense of calculation, evidently trying to extrapolate something. “But it seems like you’re still missing a few details. Either that, or you have a brilliant poker face.”
“What are you talking about-”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Sure Shot interrupted, his jeering voice suddenly dropping a few octaves into something much more serious. Daring grit her teeth behind her lips as he approached her, his head lowering down to her level. “The journal, Daring Do. What else could you have that I would be interested in?”
The pegasus fought her reflexes and pushed aside the twitch in her eye. Instead she glared right into his piercing blue eyes, her brow furrowed with determination to keep the secrets safe. “What good could an old museum piece do you?”
Immediately following her question, the stallion thrust his face into hers, barely an inch away. Daring exhaled through her nose, fighting every urge to recoil or show any sign of weakness. However, her shields didn’t see to matter to the piercing gaze of her captor. “Then why is it not in the museum anymore? Why is your copy no longer taking occupancy in your home? If it were just a mere artifact, it would be displayed like the rest of your alleged findings, Daring Do! I know for a fact that you had them hidden for a reason! You found something in those pages that nopony else could see, that nopony else would even think to find!”
“What makes you think there’s something to find?” Daring growled, determined to hide as much as she could. “What makes you think I would even find any sort of secret if there was one to be found?”
“Because you found the diary in the first place,” Sure Shot growled in return, slowing raising his head away from hers. “Because you knew that Cunning the Colt existed, despite the fact that he was known as a myth, and nothing more. Now if I made such a prolific discovery, I would be very curious about the secrets a secret would hide. And before you ask, yes, I know a fair amount about you. Your track record is astounding, to say the least, meaning that there is no way in Equestria for you to have slipped-up on what I can only assume to be an incredibly nagging curiosity! Now enough with your lies, and tell me where you hid the diary!”
Daring Do kept her expression defiant, but on the inside, she was helplessly beaten. Somehow, this bandit found out about what she had hidden for over a year now. How he did, she simply couldn’t answer. This wasn’t just some observant journalist looking for an interesting headline; this was a stallion that had brought to light something she hadn’t. While she had sworn to herself to keep Cunning’s secrets a mystery, she couldn’t think of a way to further deny their existence. Sure Shot simply had enough information to corner her, and there wasn’t another thing she could do to delay the inevitable. But on the other hoof, there wasn’t a way in the world that she could allow him access to such dangerous information.
The pegasus swished her monochromatic tail from one side to the other, gathering all of her courage. She looked back up to the purple earth pony, her expression relaxed. She knew she was in for a lot more pain, or maybe even death, but she couldn’t risk such a power in the hooves of this stallion. “That’s too bad, because there’s nothing you can do to get that information.”
At her sneering gaze, Sure Shot snorted in response. He turned on a hoof, slowly walking away from the mare. As he approached the large stone doors on the other side of the cathedral-sized room, he called back one last thing to her, his voice echoing off the walls: “That’s unfortunate. I was hoping to keep such a brilliant mind sane.”
Daring Do winced inwardly at that. She watched as two towering stone doors creaked open, allowing a narrow line of light to show through, as well as something bluish-green. The mare squinted her eyes in an attempt to focus on the blur. The opening in the doors was slim, but she could still make out a single, somber yellow eye looking at her from under teal bangs. She furrowed her brow as the doors closed again, only a second before the torches illuminating the enormous room extinguished themselves. Just as quickly as it disappeared before, the darkness washed over the pegasus, leaving her cold and alone. Or so she thought.
Three things happened in a fraction of a second. A foul stench grazed Daring's nose, followed by a low, devious purr. The mare didn't even have time to think about gasping before a force comparable to a wrecking ball threw her through the darkness. The jagged stone floor ripped at her exposed coat as she tumbled through the abyss, the wind taken from her lungs. Daring wheezed, gasping for air before she was hit by another swipe from the back of a large paw. Without vision, it was difficult to determine her trajectory. But Daring felt like a mouse being swatting across a room by a hungry house cat. As she made impact with a wall, the mare cried out in agony before crashing to the floor. She hit the stone in a broken heap, gasping in an attempt to fill her emptied lungs. A dull ringing occupied her ears, the rest of her senses alight with pain. Her head spun, forcing her throat to convulse with dry heaves. Nausea overtook the mare, and she wished she had something for her stomach to reject, anything to make the feeling go away.
"Oh, how I've waited for this day," came a jubilant, accented voice. "Year after year, the want became a need; to make you suffer for your deeds."
Daring felt herself being lifted up by her right hindleg, her hoof wrapped in the tight grip of Ahuitzotl's paw. She hadn't the strength nor the breath to free herself, and merely hung limply upside-down. The beast's breath was hot against her contorted face, his grin almost audible. "You have been an enormous problem for such a small worm..."
Daring felt herself being flipped around with what she assumed was a flick of his wrist. Before she fell to the floor, his paw shoved her broken form into the wall once again. The pegasus felt her wings crumple underneath their bonds, her shoulders screaming in pain, forced too far in the wrong direction. She couldn't speak, she couldn't think. All she could do was try and breathe, anything to keep herself alive. "...but now, the bird you have evaded for so long finally has your pathetic little head in its talons, and there is no soil for you to escape in."
"Th-This isn't...just about me..." the mare panted, hot blood dripping from her lips. "Sure Shot...what is he giving you for th-this? What is his p-plan?"
"I am not the one who should be talking," Ahuitzotl sneered. "I am the one who is going to make you talk. Tell us where the diary is, and this will be much easier for you."
"Easier?" Daring repeated, her eyebrows arched in a furious angle. She may not have been able to see him, but she knew that Ahuitzotl's feline eyes could see every inch of her face. "By 'easier' do you mean death?"
"You'll find out," the beast cackled, his grip tightening around her torso. "But I can tell you that it will be easier than this!"
The world spun again, and the pegasus felt herself impact with the floor on her back. She arched her back upward, screaming as her spine cracked in several places. Her cry instilled a deafening laugh from Ahuitzotl, who wrapped his claws around her right hindleg once again. She expected to be thrown bodily across the room again, but found the beast hesitating. She shook with creeping dread, panting quickly and heavily. Even if she wasn't tied by steel cables, her ability to move had been taken away by the fall. Her spine felt broken, preventing any ideas of escape. She could only lay there, quivering like the worm she was described as.
"Now talk," he said, his grip cutting off the circulation in her leg. Daring cried out once again, every nerve in her body screaming at her to sing like a canary. However, their pleads slammed themselves into the mental wall that was her tenacity.
"Do what you will, you giant blue fur ball," she hissed through her teeth. "I. Will. Not. Tal-"
But her final word was cut off by a loud, echoing snap. Her lungs burned as she screamed, her leg alight with pure, mind-splitting agony. Her cry was long and high-pitched, her voice cracking before dwindling into nothing more than a pathetic whimper. Ahuitzotl snickered, his touch gone from her broken leg. He only continued his chuckling as he departed the room, barely noticed by the semi-conscious mare. She laid on her side, cringing with every haggard breath. However, her thoughts weren't focused on herself, but the friend she had let down; the friend whose life she had wasted.
Daring Do felt hot tears of pain trickle down her face, feeling lower than she ever had in her entire life.
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moose!
Oh gosh! Poor Daring!
I hope Braeburn puts a bullet between his eyes 
i like this story because it keeps me on the edge of my seat seriously when will brae brae be able to help her... i just noticed that in your last story braeburn was the one getting beaten to a pulp now it is daring
Daring!! D:
Braeburn will be SOOOO pissed....
I did not expect that
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
That explains the tragedy tag...
awesome post, cant wait for braeburn to go apeshit
Wow... I just finished reading the last chapter. That was fast. Haha... Right... TO READING!
Holy shit
That's all I can say.
I know who's getting the first complimentary Dragon's Breath Blast to the face.
Their name starts with an A- and ends with a -huitzotl
*loads flatcar with M198 howitzer and accompanying 155mm shells* Shit is gonna get messy, *slams round into breach* VERY quickly!
MOOSE!
Well, damn. I, Daring... Braeburn can't help her. I don't think she can survive this. Hopefully I'm just being pessimistic.
*loads round with a loud clunk* Ah hear you got a scum problem. Ah got just the thing...
Brae = Apeshit! Brae = Apeshit! Brae = Apeshit! Brae = Apeshit! Brae = Apeshit! (chanting)
Hm. The torture scene doesn't make too much sense yet, if only because we still have no bucking clue what this "secret in a secret" is.
WHEN WILL WE KNOW?!!!
That said, Ahuitzotl is definitely acting like an Aztec demigod/creature, at least in his interest in causing Daring plenty-o'-pain. Not quite Huitzilopotchli, of course, but definitely sadistic enough to qualify as Aztec in origin.
I think I speak for nearly all of the readers right now, when I say, "This story needs MOAR!"
....um, if you don't mind...
you're gonna kill daring do... Dive Bomb you bastard
i am so close to the edge of my seat the chair IS PRACTICALLY IRRELEVANT!
... HOLY SHI-
You know, Sure Shot, there are a lot of better torture tactics than letting the angry Aztec demigod with a grudge beat up your prisoner. You do realize that if he kills her, you're not getting a thing, right?
Friggin' moron.
... Well, shit.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK that got dark in a hurry.
Remember Daring, they can't kill you. If they do they'll never find out where the book is. Just stand strong. Villains can be patient, but they will eventually give up.
Brae with the two guns and wearing the duster looks so badass in my mind.
-Minty
Is it weird that I pictured Ahuitzotl with Bane's voice in this chapter?
Excellent chapter by the way, can't wait for more
1733256 *insert obligatory "Then you have my permission to die" meme here*
Dude....
Well, that did get dark, as promised.
Broken spines are the worst.
Oh boy, I knew this story would take a dark turn, but dammit it didn't have to be like this.
Worse of all, now we have a damsel in distress, a pretty tired trope among adventure stories.
Look, whatever you are planning to do with this story, remember, at least for a moment, the spirit of the original show, this one doesn't need to devolve like "the back room" did all those months ago.
1730477 Not between the eyes.
One in each kneecap and elbow. then watch him bleed.
Poor Day Break... I hope he just left her for dead. At least then it won't be a complete repeat of her parents.
Oh, no he didn't.
Didn't Braeburn go crazy last time someone hurt daring?
I believe we have an easy solution to Brae's ammo problem; Standardized Ammo. It works for NATO.
er, the M65:
1730827
155mm? That's not good enough, take this mother
1737191 Good lord!4.bp.blogspot.com/-A83iF8CgSAs/TpTQ645MpWI/AAAAAAAADxg/aYOtn_0yAOM/s1600/are-you-shitting-me-cat-cats-kitten-kitty-pic-picture-funny-lolcat-cute-fun-lovely-photo-images.jpg
Dark chapter we've got here. You've made Pinkamena proud.
Woah, now that was dark. Cracked spine, broken leg, promise of future torture designed to drive her insane.
Good thing Braeburn has enough of those phosphorus rounds to kindly donate one each to our two villains.
1737320
I shit you not.
dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw5803-23543.png
Congratulations, you freaked out Discord with this. Well played.
No if you will excuse me, I must go and pray for a slow and lingering death for Sure Shot, and eternal imprisonment for Ahuitzotl.
See, THIS is why we need the death penalty.
This would never have happened if they'd just used two bullets: one in Sure Shot's head, one in Ahuitzotl's.
I'm petitioning Celestia and Luna as we speak.
As for guilt, that's what telepaths are for.
*In his Psy Core lair, Bester cackles as his plans come together*
DiveBomb, you are a freakin' fantastic writer. I love your method of creating impossible settings and instilling that hard-to-achieve real concern for characters. You really hit the nail on the head with Ahuizotl's villainy as well as Sure Shot's insane yet calm composure. This rising action is definitely intriguing and leading into what will most certainly bring incredible climaxes.
Keep on rocking!
woah
DARING!!!
Braeburn is going to freaking flip when he finds her....
remember what happened when gun powder slapped her??? 
1732610 No kiddin, we went from talking about silly crushes to breaking legs in about 2 minutes....
assaults against the mind are far worse than any physical torture you could EVER inflict upon anypony EVER...
on a likely false assumption, i believe a dark tag could be a better choice than a tragedy tag. i do not, however, know what you have in store, so it is likely i am getting ahead of myself... anywho, on a lighter tone, i believe congratulations are in order on another amazing job done!
I am quite behind on this story, but it is literally torture to read too much of Daring's predicament in one sitting (hence why it is taking me so long). Still, excellent writing if it has this effect on me.
I actually liked Day Break! Why u torture Daring?!
I loved the first story in this series, and I'm sad it's taken me a few years to finally continue with it with this one. I'd been meaning to avoid comment until I was done, but this warranted special exception.
All I'll say is that I actually had to have a metaphorical bullet to bite whIle reading the last bit. Damn well written.