//------------------------------// // Mulungu's Mystery // Story: Daring Do and the Tie Wearing Kong // by Amereep //------------------------------// Daring Do, DK, and Diddy stood before the steps of an ancient temple within the underground cavern it rested in.  The structure was built from a series of layered stone bricks with patches of moss growing from various cracks found on the crumbled surfaces.  The temple stretched to the ceiling with a balcony looming over the entrance, supported by a series of round columns. Daring was beaming, she finally found a temple on this island and was planning to enjoy the next few hours.  "I'm going in," she informed the two kongs as she passed by them, "I suggest you two not to follow."  She walked through the arches that lead inside, but despite her warning, the two primates followed right behind her. The three approached the first room and viewed the large entrance chamber to its fullest.  The first thing to note, was that In the center of the room, stood a pool of water in the ground.  Looking over it revealed that there was another cavern glowing with illuminated rocks that cast a rippling blue light in the room they stood in.  The floor and walls were smooth, if not, a little jagged with cracks that ruin the murals imprinted on them.  Statues on the floor and walls are scattered around the room, but they all had one thing in common with each other; they all looked like Kremlings. Heads of stone Kremlings were cemented into the pillars around the room, two Kremling statues were genuflected with a spear in their claws, and a giant head of a Kremling was on the wall between the two stone guards. "It seems like our gator friends had ancestors on this island at one point." Daring told the apes, they didn't seem concerned about that info.  "I bet my cutie mark that this is the place K. Rool is looking for." Marveling at the architecture, the golden pegasus walked around the giant head on the opposite end of the room.  The idol loomed overhead with sharp fangs pointing down to those who stood under it.  She noticed that it was missing some fangs, as well as a soft breeze coming from the wall.  There was a small gap coming up from the floor and all the way up to the stone carving of the Kremling's head; like the wall was intended to descend somehow.  There was some writing on the flat surface, but with the many cultures she learned over her adventures, recalling a certain language was a bit of a challenge for her. "Oh oh oh." Daring glanced over to DK's laughing, seeing the result of what Diddy did to one of the spear holding statues.  The monkey placed his hat on the Kremling at an angle that made the ancient relic look like a somewhat-modern day rapper. She looked back at the written language and back at the statue.  The mare slapped her head for not realizing it sooner, "It's Crocodian." Daring returned her attention towards the wall and began reading. Cools.  Softens.  Molds.  Forged. We sink our teeth into these things that gave us life. Cracking it open to savor the gift that's inside. A riddle, one of the many subtle ways to halt any adventurer. "We sink our teeth..." Daring thought, immediately associating it with the sharp fangs above her.  Nothing seemed significant about them other than the fact that it was missing four teeth.  ".....................FOUR!!!  The first line had four specific words, so perhaps...."  Flying up to a missing tooth, she placed her hoof under the roof of the structure's mouth. ............she felt a hole. Daring flew to the next missing tooth and felt another hole.  She continued with the last two and they each had a hole as well. "There must be some kind of key that fits into these holes." thought the archaeologist.  She dropped to the floor and sat on her rear to think, "Where would those keys be?" As the mare thought about the location, Diddy was watching the pool of water in the center of the room.  Variety of fishes were swimming down below; Clownfish, Blowfish, Jellyfish, but something else decided to jump out of the pool. "Ahr!  Ahr!" It was a silver furred seal, barking at the two apes.  "Ahr rahr rah!" They both listened and formed a shocked expression.  DK grabbed the seal's flipper and shook it before running out of the temple.  The spider monkey lifted his hat at the aquatic mammal.  "Ah ah ha ha." he called out to Daring Do. "Huh?" she looked back then waved a hoof, "Yeah, see ya later.  Now let me think, what if the ke-" Daring suddenly fell forward.  She was being dragged by her tail from a very bossy little kong.  The mare groaned while skidding across the floor, "I guess I'm coming along then." she said in an annoyed tone. The seal celebrated by clapping his flippers together as the two left the temple. Sunset was almost near when the team arrived at the edge of a cliff that dropped to the ocean.  The kongs looked onward and started to banter with each other while pointing to the distance ahead.  Daring Do could only observe what was causing them to go bananas. The pegasus looked past them and saw an island a mile away that looked like a tangled mess of fauna to the best of her judgment. "Oh!  Ho hooo oh." "Ah!" The primates turned to Daring, chanting to her along with gestures to the island.  DK pointed to his tie and Diddy flapped his arms while they talked to her in their own way. "Let me guess," the adventurer stated, "Another one of your friends is over there on that island." The kongs nodded their heads. "And you want me to go over there to bring them back here, right?" Again, they nodded their heads. The exhausted mare rubbed her eyes with a hoof from this new sidetracking issue, "Fine, but judging from the last two times, your friend is probably stuck in a barrel.  I'm going to need something to slip under a metal ring in order to open it.  It's gotta be tough and sturdy, otherwise it'll break and your pal will still be stuck."  Daring lowered her hoof to see two confused apes.  "........FIND SOMETHING THAT CAN OPEN A BARREL!!!" The two of them screeched from her annoyed outburst and began looking through the jungle for something they could use. Daring cupped her face into her hooves, "It's like I'm talking to a couple of foals."  She pulled her face down from frustration and started searching for something to use for the barrel she'll encounter. Searching for something that could be used to open a barrel, proved to be a difficult task to accomplish with only elements found in nature.  Rocks were durable, but they lacked the ability to get under the metal rim.  Stick branches could help amply leverage to pop it off, but it would break before you could even put any pressure on them. *Yawn* Daring was getting tired from all the madness that happened to her today. Sneaking into a Kremling camp, escaping them by mine cart, shot out of a geyser, fighting off the mother of all wasps at gaining a piercing from, running for her life from a giant hornet swarm, swimming in a lagoon that nearly stole her breath away, and being dragged around by hairy apes all over the jungle.  It was enough to make anypony collapse. Her nose caught the whiff of something.  Something that made her feel..... refreshed. Following her nose, she approached a shrub that grew the elixir she needed so dearly right now.  It was a Coffea plant, the plant that grew the one thing that lightened the drowsiness from her body right now, Coffee beans. Daring nabbed a few and began chewing them, a few mouthfuls woke her up.  "It might not be a bad idea to take some with me." she thought and scooped up just enough to fill her left chest pocket. "Ooooh-OH!!!" DK called out and the group gathered back together.  "Ho ho ho!" he showed off a sharp and smoothed white material that curved at an angle.  It was a tusk from a warthog. The golden pegasus grinned, "Ivory is a pretty hard substance.  I think this will work just fine."  DK gave Daring the tusk and she placed it into her backpack, "It goes without saying, but stay here.  I'll be back with your pal." With that, the mare flew towards the island, leaving the two kongs to wait impatiently at the cliff side. As she approached the fauna infested land, it started to become clear to her at what the giant forest truly was, a series of thorny vines.  Daring slowed down her approach to take in this vineforest.  Thick olive colored stems of sharp needles were stretching towards the sky with no clear origin point, but the gaps between each vine was wide enough to give any pegasi a decent amount of air space to fly in.  The golden mare tilted her helmet and flew inside the scandent forest at a calm pace. Flying through a gigantic sticker bush should take careful planning and trajectory, however, Daring's mind was more preoccupied on other things.  Her eyes and wings were on auto-pilot while her mind returned back to the riddle.  "'Things that gave us life,' what does that mean?  Mothers can give life, but the riddle seemed like it was implying something greater, like the mother of all mothers.  What else gives life?" "Har!" A sudden sound stopped Daring and broke her from her thoughts.  She looked around the vine forest for the source and saw something that might be the cause.  Perched on a vine up in-front of her were sets of glaring eyes looking back.  Three small vultures looked down at her with an intensive look that tried to intimidate the pony.  One of them wore a red bandanna and was hissing at the pegasus down below, no doubt to her that he must be the leader. It was obvious to Daring Do that she was trespassing onto their territory.  They didn't seem like they would be much of a problem, but to be safe, she tried to reason with them.  "I'm just here looking for a barrel." "Hur!" spoke the one with the bandanna, sounding like he wanted her to leave. "I just need that and I'll roll on out of here." All of them hissed at her and shuffled in place. They weren't showing any agreement to Daring's request, but she wasn't going back empty hooved.  She blitzed ahead, and the vultures swooped down and began to follow her with the intent of throwing her out. The vultures may have been small, but they were fast little buzzards. "Har hur hur." Daring looked back and saw them catching up to her.  Avoiding them and the vines while looking for a barrel would be too much for her to keep track of, she needed to shake them off.  The birds were smaller than her, meaning that flying through small gaps wasn't going to work.  She took tight turns around some vines that nearly scraped her fur on the sharp thorns it had, but the birds glided around them easily with the home advantage they had over her. The pegasus looked back and saw that they're mere hooves away from her tail, one was even trying to snap at it.  "They're good at swooping and gliding," she noted, "but I wonder if they're good at...."  She made a sharp loop and watched the buzzards fly under her.  Re-leveling herself, the mare watched the vultures slowing down to turn towards their slippery prey. They stared her down as she did them while flying there.  There was a bit of distance between her and the small flock, yet she charged at them while they mimicked her actions.  The confrontation suddenly became a joust to see who would chicken out first.  Daring's hooves were stretched out like she was trying to dive into some water while the avians pointed their beaks. With a harsh twist of her body, Daring gyrated herself to act like a pony-sized drill and collided with the small vultures, easily kicking them out of the air.  She looked back while they spiral out of control.  "Nice try fellas," Daring flew backwards out of cockiness,"but it'll take more than that to make me sweat." She suddenly collided with something soft, cushioning her impact from this new object.  It flung her forward like she bounced off a spring, but it immediately pulled her back with something sticky.  Daring was bounced back and forth for a bit until it settled, she could hardly look around to see what got her, but she could feel that whatever got her was made of silk. The brave adventurer began to quiver, feeling like she was about to live one of her worst nightmares. Daring felt small vibrations coming from the silk, she could barely move her frozen head to see that a large creature was approaching her.  It stretched out a long hairy leg followed by the other seven legs he had, each placing a foot on the sticky surface.  Green venom dripped from his two large fangs with a scowled look at the trapped mare.  He began to drag himself across his web, giving Daring only a few moments to make peace with her maker before she's fodder for a gigantic red hairy tarantula. Daring felt like her black mane was turning pure white at that moment.  She panted rapidly from the anxiety, smelling the fragrance of coffee beans on her breath.   Like a lightning bolt, the pegasi gasped at an idea that could possibly help her escape.  She dug her muzzle into her chest pocket and sucked up as many beans as she could into her mouth. Daring pulled back with bloated cheeks and returned her gaze back at the arachnid, trembling with beads of sweat as he flexed his jaw for preparation. The hairy bug loomed over her, Daring fought the instinct to swallow and stiffened herself from looking away.  He spread its large fangs wide open and after the mare took a mighty inhale through her nose, she spat the coffee beans into its gaping mouth. The tarantula pulled back in surprise, chewing on this unexpecting intake.  He felt odd at this foreign sustenance invading his body, that's because caffeine has a funny way of effecting spiders. *hic* It leaves them with impaired judgment and a lack of muscle dexterity, which started to show on the big hairy bug. This was what Daring was hoping for, but it didn't settle her down from the fact of his presents.  "H-hey," she called, causing the gigantic tarantula to turn to her with a drowsy look.  "C-c-could you get m-me off this thing?" The arachnid stared at her for a moment, causing the scared mare to give a very sheepish smile. *hic* He waved a leg in the air, trying to scrape at nothing, but eventually landed on Daring.  She shuddered while being pulled off the web from a spider's leg and took the first moment she could to get some distance between the two of them. Her nerves were trying to pull her out of there, but she knew this would be a good opportunity to take advantage of his condition.  "A-a-a-also," she took a big gulp before she gained the courage to proceed, "D-d-do you kn-n-now wh-where I c-c-can find a.... a b-barrel?" He wobbled, trying to show signals that were pointing up, but she got the message. "THANKS!" she blurted out and rocketed towards the sky. The spider raised a leg and waved her goodbye. *hic* Blasting through the bramble, Daring found herself in the open, outside over the forest of vines that now have prickly flowers scattered on various stems.  The sun was setting with only half of it left to go, the majority of the flower heads have closed for the day, she had to find that container soon. She scoured the surface of the sharp fauna.  Daring wasn't finding it anywhere and considered that getting the location of something from an intoxicated spider was a bad idea. Halting her gaze, there was one flower that was different from the others.  The pegasus flapped her wings closer, the flower head was closed, but it appeared that it had its petals wrapped around something.  It was the barrel! The adventurer pulled the ivory tusk from her backpack and jammed it under the ring.  She flew back and delivered a flying buck to send the metal ring for a loop.  Hovering back, Daring watched the trapped kong. A pink beret cautiously began to rise from the barrel.  Green eyes peeking behind blond bangs viewed over the rim of the wooden container and a light brown chimp appearing with feminine features looked at the golden mare. "Eh eh he?" "Your monkey friends sent me to get you." Daring informed the freed kong. "Come on, they're waiting for us." The chimp looked over the rim to view the thorny forest below her.  Her hair dropped to reveal the long thick ponytail that's tied with a light blue band. Trailing her eyes down, the pegasus realized the issue, "Right, you wouldn't know anything about flying, would you." "Eeh hee hee!" replied the ponytailed simian. Daring went up next to the barrel and arched her back, "Get on." The kong got up on the rim, showing that she wore a short pink top tied with a knot on the bottom front.  She jumped on the pegasus's back. "Settled?  Then let's ge-" As she turned, she stopped in place to view the scene of the island.  Looking at it filled her with a sense of....... tranquility. She felt the strong wind ruffling her mane; molding it to its desire. It pushed waves of water along the ocean; cooling and calmly. The fire from the sun dimmed along the horizon; softening in its descent. It casted an entrancing glow on the earth below; forging the beauty of life on the island. Daring was awestruck by the breathtaking site.  It began to make her feel enlightened. Enlightened with an answer. "Cools.  Softens.  Molds.  Forged." she quoted the words she got from the temple, "We sink our teeth into these things that gave us life." "Eh?" the chimp asked curiously, but Daring wasn't listening. The mare was considering the possibility, ".............................Sweet motherly Gaia!"  She began to grin from the conclusion she arrived to, "'Gave us life', what are the basic necessities needed to make up life." "Eeh??" "The elements!  They're talking about water, fire, wind, and earth!!!" "Eh eeeehh???" "Somewhere on this island are four keys to open that temple door, and each of them must be associated with a type of element." "Ehe." The kong gave up asking. "But...... where are they?" Daring wondered on that thought, not noticing a black parrot with yellow eyes perched on a vine below.  The bird spread its wings and flew off, avoiding the gaze of the two girls.