//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The beginning 
// Story: Daring Do: A survivor is born 
// by andmos 
//------------------------------//

Daring Do: A survivor is born

Writer: AndMos

Editor: Slashe720(Note: The editor have I not heard from after the Easter. The job is already taken)

Following story is based on My little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Tomb Raider. All rights and prestige deserved by the respective owners and accompany. This story has no knowledge to the game Tomb Raider and can contain spoilers unknowingly. You have been warned.

BIG thanks to destinyfreedom.deviantart for the awesome background and provide support and ideas in the following chapter.

Chapter 1

"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things" –Edmund Hillary (explorer)

Daring Do, a golden pegasus with a brown mane and red eyes, looked into her mirror and saw a vision of herself. The adulthood of the mare quickly disappeared when her eyes drifted over her flank. There was nothing: no cutie mark, no special talents, nothing. She had tried everything from spell writing to racing and flying, but nothing helped her to get her cutie mark. Buck that, she was one under the legal age, and still no cutie mark.

As she grew up, she started to get bullied at schools then on jobs, buck, even her parents gave her disappointing looks. Her parents were middle class workers with matching cutie marks. She even tried both her parents’ jobs in hope of getting a cutie mark.

The Endurance was a white colored ship that echoed from the call of the seagulls. She had come on the ship to get a vacation, or in her case, an opportunity to find adventure, and maybe, just maybe find her special talent.

The boats set up towards the sea as the golden pegasus relaxed in her carbine. The prototype engine was eager for the long trip. In the meantime, back at the harbor, a mare and colt galloped to reach the boat that their daughter was on. They were too late to see their daughter before she had started her voyage.
***
The familiar swaying of the ship was calming. The sea was very forgiving of the ship’s maiden voyage. The sun, the wind and the smell of salty air all rushed to fill the golden mare’s senses. Not only was it the first time for her at sea, but she had no parents to hold her to the ground. She was finally free to do what she always had dreamed of. To find adventure.

“Miss..” A stallion voice came to her.
“Please call me Daring. Everypony does.”
“Miss Daring then. We will soon come to the Muerte triangle. I would be pleased if you come under the deck in the event for an upcoming storm there.”
“Very well then. I will walk to my cabin. Thanks for warning me, Mr..?”
“Captain would be fine, miss Daring. I hope you have a wonderful, adventurous trip.”
The captain had no idea how accurate he was in his statement. Daring chuckled a bit and walked towards her cabin to get some rest.
The Muerte triangle was the most dangerous known part of Equestria’s sea. Not only were there many regular storms in there, but the clips and reefs that were there could easy destroy a boat in the size of the Lunar Maiden. Most of the captains, because of that, tried to avoid the triangle no matter how well they got paid.

Many good ships have fallen to the reefs at the triangle. Nopony has ever survived in there. The rumours said that the if you had survived in the triangle, you would be dead in matter of seconds when you woke up and be a ghost that was forsaken in the massive graveyard of ships.

Even then, the captain of the ship took faith in the life of his crew and for himself to test out that the rumours were true. He had hidden the true meaning of the voyage to his crew. They thought that they were in a shipwreck scavenger. This was the perfect opportunity to have some adventure and some easy money to the next assignment.
***
The waves and the wind that were blowing in the ships starboard side hit the boat in full force. The waves caused many crews to throw up and look green in the storm. Daring Do had retired for the day, and let a sulk for the pegasus weather. She had a pair of headphones hanging in her ears, and set the music on high volume.
The rock and bass filled her ears and caused her to doze from the music. Suddenly a large crack and a bump to the wall, caused her to take down the heavy rock and try to find ground. A sudden stop caused her to fell off and hit the wall the second time. This time more forcefully.

She did a growl of hurt and opened the door in her cabin. The alarm that the ship was about to sink filled her ears and let her panic spread out. An exit sign guided Daring in the right direction when she started to galloping towards the exit. A loud bang and a sound of water was coming toward her, filling her with more panic. Finally, she came to the exit and tried to open it. Every exit door had a mechanism that cannot open if the pressure in the other room is lower than the room the door is going to.

The water came closer, but the door would not open. The rage of death came unmerciful and hard. Daring screamed her lungs out and filled with water. The window in the exit was maybe the first thing Daring came by for an exit. She screamed in the water and knocked the window hard and fast. The lungs yelled for air and she soon became unconscious and sank down in the open arms of death.

A sudden grab of a hoof and a gentle breath of fresh air filled her with one more reason to live. A stallion in front of her did a follow me gesture toward her, starting to run toward an end of a clip of steel and aluminum, and jumped toward the ending. Daring ran, but the incurred legs and wings filled her with hopeless feelings.

She jumped for it and saw her savor had come to the front of the ship. She flew toward air to catch the safe hoofs of the stallion. He grabs her, but thanks to the hoofs and to the sloppy hoofs of both, he slipped her hoofs and Daring fell towards the sea of death. She hit the water and fell unconscious.
***
Daring Do felt like her life was changed upside down, literally. She was hanging upside down in some sticky stuff. She was in a dark cave. She knew it because of the sound of her voice was hollow, and there was water, a lot of water. The only known light source she could find was some candles that were burning nicely in some rather alter, and within range for a cocoon that was hanging with her. The cocoon was dark, properly from the age of storing. She was wet and froze of the first sign of hypothermia. She has to get out of there.

She started to swing like a pendulum to use the fire to grain some warm from the candles and maybe wears out the ropes that let her hanging. After a bit of struggle, that plan failed. The ropes were too strong to let her go. Another idea came within range. Maybe she could use the cocoon to let it lit out of fire and use the fire to free herself.

She started to peddled back and forward to the cocoon. Finally, she hit the cocoon with enough force that it caught on fire from the candles. The flame quickly spread over the cocoon and burned it down. A body fell off from the cocoon and hit some wooden planks that were near the fall direction. The fire quickly came in range to some sails that were there. The cocoon burned down, but the sails that was there quickly couth fire and burned nicely, even when the environment was wet and cold.

Daring Do quickly used the flames that where there to burn off the ropes that was stuck to her. The flames burned in her like a warm knife in soft butter. She was freezing and that did it much worse. She was burning up, literally. The ropes that were stuck her let her go, and she fell 30 feet down to the stone covered floor. She hit the floor with her back. She got lucky that she did not hit her neck. However, that did not explain the pain in her left wing.

She looked down to the hurting wing and saw a stick of wood was stuck upon her side. It was impossible to move her wing and it hurt, a lot. She knew that if she did not remove the stick, the wing would never regrow, and she would be stuck in this place forever. She measure the stick with her mouth, and pulled out the stick. The stick was stuck very hard, and to remove it cost a lot of pain and struggle.

The stick went slowly out of her wing. She screamed as the stick finally went out and she gasp at the cold air that she was desperate needed. “I must get out of here,” she said to nopony particular as she tried to calm herself. She started walking into the cave she where in. The wet wall and floor contradict to the fires that were in the gates, placed in some nice candles were burning cozy and provide some heat to the cold pegasus.

The golden pegasus stumble towards some sort of alter. It was very similar to the alter that was in the room she was trapped upside down on. A pony hanged like a cross. The ropes that were stuck in the pony had shown that this pony died a painful death. Daring Do quickly recognize the pony. The brown mane and yellow cutie mark and the horn was quickly recognize by the terrified mare. “Oh Celestia, Steff. What has happened to you?”

Flares that were sticking into the wall by iron holders filled the room with pleasure light, and made a warm and welcoming funeral for the poor unicorn. The golden mare cried a bit when she remembered how they met eths other.
***Flashback***
The boat sour toward the sea like an eagle toward sky. The golden pegasus glared towards the endless sea. A mare with brown mane and a sort of yellow paper walk towards her. She was a unicorn with grace. She had controlled the entire ship register and the economy in the ship for many years.
“Hi there!” Daring locked to the direction of the voice.
“It is very rare to have a pegasus in a boat. What is your name?”
Daring Doo smiled. A friendly face finally. “My name is Daring Doo. If you wonder what I do in a boat, the fact is that I am a very weak flier. I will to Japan to find some adventure and some lost relics. What is your name?”
The mare leaned toward the rail of the ship. She smiled. “My name is Steff, I’m the manager in this ship. All economic and the dairy to the ship must go with my eyes.”
She cockles a bit. It was a silly thing to do. The boat hit a wave hard and force Daring to her knees. Steff laugh loud by this. “What is so funny?” Daring snapped. Steff laugh a bit more then said, “It is very clear that somepony has not sea legs.” Without any attempt, both of them laugh loud of the silliness. They had become friends.
***End of flashback***
“I need to get out of here.” Daring took one of the flares into her right hoof. The glow from the flare filled her with both warm and light source. With it, she quickly saw a sideway into the alter she was in. She started to walk towards the sideway. It was dark, cold and very wet. The flare provides the need of light she currently needed to walk onward.

It was not long to she was blocked in a sort of structure. The structure was made of plywood and steel. It was difficult to see what it was, but when Daring saw through it, she saw a light source that was welcoming to her.

She needed to get though there alive. She tried to pull out the steel structure, but quickly gave up. The hyperthermia had done its job; she could not grab anything smaller than the flare. She saw around the room to find anything to blow the structure to pieces. The she saw it, gunpowder in barrels that could quickly catch fire. She rolled two barrels to the structure, but quickly she thought that if she enlightens the barrels, she could not make it to cover before the explosion.

She saw around the room again. Right in her eyes, there was a sail that could use to light the barrels and give her time to take cover. The golden mare smiled as she put the sail from the barrels to a place she was safe to enlighten. She quickly let the sail have some flames from the flare and let them burn nicely. She quickly after that took cover and waited for the fantastic fireworks of freedom.

The explosion was loud enough to make the cave shake a lot. It had shaken so lot that it was just a matter of time before the cave collapse. The way she took was the way she saw the tiny light. The entrance began to collapse and the way blocked. She quickly entered the collapsed gateway and began to crawl into the hope. She did not saw something was coming behind her. It quickly grabs her hind legs in a way that was embarrass for the golden pegasus. “GET THE BUCK OFF ME!” She screamed. “I’m here to help you, help you to feel good.” It said. Then she gave it a good old buck in the head and quickly entered a local cave water ending. The entrance right after closed when a tomb blocked the way she came in.

She gasped for air, “That was close, that was close,” she calmed herself when she wader in the cold cave water. Never ever, do not swim in water when you are in a cave, a cave explorer said in a book Daring read once. She now understood why; the water was ice cold, she could not see how deep it was and how high the roof was. To do the matter worse, she began to have the feeling of been warm. She couth some water when she gripped the sloppy ceilings. She held the hoof that had the flare high above to save it for later. She started to shiver in the whole body. She needed to get out of the water and fast.

She held her hoof up and feel her thought the ceilings. The rocky feeling make her hoof sore of any different structure in the dark wall of nothing. The glove from the flare had helped a bit in the darkness. However, it was only some minor details that were left behind from the glove from the flare thanks to the shadows and the live flame from the flare had affected the vision.

She stumble towards there she saw some light and cough up water while she swelled some of it. The water was unclean and taste like old waste. She finally got out of the water and walked a bit. She came to a larger cave that had looked like a graveyard of old aircrafts. She saw left to her and saw finally an exit. Steel bars that had been there for Celestia knows how long blocked it. She saw some good old fashion explosives that were in the steel bar. Maybe she could use it to blow that down.

In her right, a wall of water was in front of her. Maybe something is in the other side of the waterfall. She went thought and got even wetter. “Oh, not again!” she complained. Her wet mane and fur would get all the stallions that were single to hit her. However, despite that, she was cold and lonely. She stumbles towards land when she saw the structure. “What kind of structure is this?” she asks herself. It made by plywood and rotten iron that formed a half circle round to the exit. In the middle of it was a platform that where held by three pals that was around it. She saw up and she saw clear skies. So close to freedom, but likewise too far away from it.

She grumbles why she had to hit that stick in her left wing. She could glide, but to fly was suicide. She needs a way through the bars. Some cargos from the aircrafts floated pass her. She then saw some live flames from a flare. She quickly stumbles there and grabs it. The flare she had was useless now as it was wet like her. “More fire,” she said, thankful for whatever the person that left it.
She started to burn the pals around the platform. The ropes that were there, quickly burned into ash as they got a taste of the fire. When the last rope was burned, something came down from the celling’s. It blocked the trash that where flouted nearby. However, the water manages to get through the blockade and into the waterfall. “Maybe I could lite the trash” she thought to herself.

She enlightens the cargo. Lockley, they had only suffered from damage from a fall, not from the water. She then jumped to the platform. Lockley, the platform and the blockade was the same contracture as that blockade went down as the platform went up. The extra weight that Daring provided, force the blockade up to some sort of hanger with the cargo in it. She smiled; she only needed to push it, than the exit will came right to it.
***
She pushed the hanger down as the flamed cargo went to the explosives that where near the steel bars that blocked her exit. The flames quickly erupted into a hell of fire as cargo met the explosives. Daring was lucky as she went to cover just before the fire hit her. The explosion force the cave to lost the grip, as the whole cave began to collapse.

She started to run as fast as she could to the exit. As she went there, an airplane collapses right before her. She did not see that coming, but it was irrelevant for her when she run past it. She had the flare into her mouth and galloped into the light. Suddenly, a tomb blocked he exit. She was thankful that it did not hit her, as she turned left. Right in front of her was another exit. As she started to run towards it, another tomb nearly hit her in the front and blocked the light.

The floor began to collapse in the weight of the tomb. Daring was still in shock as she was paralyzed by the tomb suddenly aperients. The floor collapsed and took her with it. She was sliding down and hit time after time by roots that appeared in front of her. Finally, she got into more upwards. She started to gallop for her life when she saw what was happening in the cave. Many of the construction that where there, was falling down to the floor and collapsed into scrap metal. She saw right in front of her that her exit collapsed. She slide on the floor and got in there in time. As she went out of the slowly collapsing cave, she got a feeling into her hind legs. Someone again held her back. As she turned around, she saw the same thing held her back. “Get off from me,” screamed her as she got a good buck into the things face. She quickly got through, but as fate did have a meaning, the thing went after her. The cave collapsed when he went after her. She would never see it again.

She started to gallop as she saw light. It was in top of a hill, surrounded by cliffs and a deep hole. She gallop for it, and jumped far. She got to the other side, but the stones and the mosses were sloppy. She glided into the hole, struggles to do anything. She grabbed a nearby rot by her hoof as she saw down. It was not a pleasant feeling, as she dropped the flare down in surprise. She was not safe yet, as she heard rumbles were she was. She crawled into the light as the whole cave collapsed. She was determent to come out of there alive. She avoided rocks that were falling in front of her, as she quickly got up the pace. The vision went bluer as she went closer and closer.

She let a grunt escape her mouth as she went out. She got out of the cave just in time. As her struggle for her breath, she saw out over her vacation point. Shipwrecks scattered around the island make the whole thing a massive graveyard of ships. The waves was entered the scars in total force, even when it was a nice day. It was cold, but she was finally out of the tight dark caves. And she knew what she had become…

To be continue…