//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Underground // Story: Daring Do and the Curse of the Lost Tomb // by Fedora //------------------------------// Daring stepped into another world entirely. Beneath the ground was an area that was cavernous, cluttered, and tinted green with years of algae and moss growth due to the moisture. Indeed, she could hear the rapid rush of water as part of a river ran under the ground and down to another, larger river. The hole dropped down to a stone platform that was directly above a set of grimy stairs that led down to what appeared to be a dead end. Daring descended these stairs, standing on the edge of a small chasm. On the other side she could discern another edge much like the one she stood on, with a pair of pillars that stood on each side. In the center of the chasm was a river running far below, and a bridge that was currently in the lowered position, perpendicular to the edge Daring now stood on. That’s odd, she thought, constructing a drawbridge that has to be raised to be walked across is a lot harder than one that just has to be lowered. There had to be a mechanism of some kind. Daring glanced to either side of her, and sure enough there were massive gears, created from some forge centuries ago. No doubt they would raise the bridge and allow her to cross, but they weren’t active. Something had to trigger them. Looking for a lever of some kind proved fruitless. There were no switches, no pulleys of any sort and no convenient stone buttons that she could see. “Wait a second, what am I even doing?” Daring asked herself, suddenly hit by a realization. She could just fly across the chasm. Rolling her eyes at her momentary stupidity, Daring flexed her wings and darted across the empty space between ledges in no time at all. That’s what happens when you get hurt every other adventure, she thought to herself. It was true, too. She had had to rely on something other than her wings on many occasions before due to injury or simply being bogged down by too much to carry. Had she been toting a weighty case or a larger artifact, having a bridge would be a must. Reaching the opposite side, Daring found the path to curve inwards and upwards with another set of moss covered stairs. She was counting on some kind of trap, and so her ears were perked and her senses on full alert for the slightest indication of something being amiss. The archeologist pony, still dressed in her gala dress, continued further into the underground chambers in search of the next clue. **** With quiet breaths, Burly listened as guests inside at the gala screamed. Ponies ran out the doors and left the premises, still more were likely hunkered down inside. For his part, he had caused the revelation that violence was to occur with his well-placed gunshot, but he had no idea where the other CAP ponies were. That was part of the thing that scared him. Burly prided himself in his gunslinging ability, always keeping his old trusty pistol at his side. It had a large trigger guard, as custom for weapons that were to be used by non-unicorn ponies. Unicorns could use any gun, Gryphon-made or otherwise, but earth ponies and pegasi had to use the large-triggered versions to be able to operate them with just hooves. It was a skill Burly had become quite adept at. Burly’s brash approach to things was one of the reasons he was referred to as a “free-lance treasure hunter” rather than an actual archeologist. A friend had once asked him about his approach, and he had explained his thought very concisely. “There’s two ways of looking at it,” he had said, “either you do something or you read about somepony else doing something. I’d rather be out doing the dirty work than spending a lot of time studying just to get the initials in front of my name.” Come to think of it, in most of the cases he could name, the pony was either a scholar and spent their time in the library, museum, or classroom, or they were a field specialist who went and risked their neck. Daring Do was the only one he could think of that bridged the gap between worlds, and he wasn’t sure how she could do it. He had tried reading a thesis somepony had written on the ethics of archeological study, and had thought of it as complete rubbish, a waste of time. A sudden pop rang through the night, and Burly was surprised when the stone corner he had been leaning behind burst with a sudden impact from a bullet. He whirled around, and saw the pony’s head poking out from behind the bush that had fired the shot. He leveled his revolver quickly and fired a shot, the gun resonating with a deep booming sound and sending the bullet whizzing forward, deep into the chest of the target. The agent fell over, gargling, and then ceased to move. “That’s two,” he whispered to himself. He moved from his position, knowing that his shots had given it away and that he wasn’t safe there. Trotting quickly ahead, he ducked behind a set of rather ornate bushes that had been trimmed a bit too low for his profile. He buckled his legs, and crept along near the grass. In the now quiet night, he could hear rustling and the clicking sounds of a gun’s machinery being operated. A bolt slid shut, and Burly’s eyes widened. With a sudden dash, Burly leaped out from behind the bushes, making haste over to a nearby statue just as the machine gun opened fire, sending a flurry of rounds into the bushes he had just been behind and tearing the carefully trimmed edges to pieces. The line of fire quickly moved to catch up with him, rounds pinging off the ground near his back hooves. Behind the pedestal of the statue, Burly was safe momentarily. Gunfire from the automatic rifle continued to spray around him, taking chunks out of the statue and riddling the base with holes like the legs of a changeling. The gunfire ceased for a brief moment as the operator had to fix a jam. Taking his opportunity, Burly swung his torso up so he could see above the pedestal, and fired three shots at the source of the rapid gunfire. He heard a shout, and a hoarse shriek of terror. He had gotten him. Almost as soon as he was sure of his success, the gunfire began again. Evidently there was a second gunner, or another pony had picked up the dropped weapon. The base of the pedestal was being chipped away fast, and would not last much longer. He had to do something. **** “Okay Scootie, what do we do now? You’ve been adventuring with Daring before,” Audacity asked. They were standing at the very spot at the base of the grimy underground staircase where daring had been several minutes before. The two ponies had come to a halt, unsure of how to get across. Audacity was an earth pony, and Scootaround’s wings weren’t powerful enough to carry them both across, probably not herself either. “My nickname isn’t ‘Scootie’. It’s either Scootaround, Scoot, or just ‘kid’,” the filly said with a grimace, “Daring usually flies across these, or if she’s injured she finds something to use her whip on.” “We don’t have a whip. Maybe we can jump across?” “Don’t be dumb, that’s crazy,” Scootaround replied with a shake of her head, “No, there’s gotta be some way to get the bridge up.” She began pacing back and forth around the bottom few steps, looking around. Like Daring had seen when she was there, there were not any levers. There were no buttons either. Or were there? Scootaround noticed two large columns on the opposite side. On her side they weren’t columns, but more like raised platforms with flat tops. They couldn’t see what was on the tops, so perhaps they should look. She galloped over and gave a hard push off the ground, catching the edge of the raised platform to the left with her front hooves and struggling up. “What did you find?” “There’s something here. I bet if there’s enough weight on it, it will sink in.” Sure enough, the little orange filly was standing on a wide circular depression carved into the stone, and could barely see that there was another on the opposite side. She didn’t know if an adult pony like Audacity would weigh enough to press it down, but she wasn’t heavy enough. “No good,” muttered Audacity, “It’d pop right back up if we tried to cross. Is there anything around we could rest on it to hold it down? Statue bits, rocks?” Scootaround struck the ground with her hoof. That was a good idea! It sounded just like the kind of thing Daring would do. She glanced about the area around the platform she was now atop, trying to see what she could use. There were several broken pieces of a column that lay scattered on the rocky ledge to her side, perhaps those would work. “You get that one, I’ll see about this one,” Audacity called over to the filly, getting himself up onto the opposite platform with a low grunt. Scootaround bit her lip, moving over to the broken chunks and pressing against them with her back hips, trying to push them towards the stone depression. The first one moved rather quickly, and wasn’t that hard to push. Of course, it did not push the depression down much at all, since it was lighter than Scootaround herself. The next chunk the filly encountered was slightly larger, and much heavier. She pressed against it in the same way she had handled the other, but to no avail. Trying again, Scootaround pressed with her upper hooves. It didn’t budge. She tried her back hooves, giving a solid kick. The rock shifted onto its side, but did not move over very much. There was a small area where the rock leaned up against the earthen wall behind her. She pressed hard against that with her front hooves while kicking hard backwards at the rock. This time it shifted and began to tumble. The filly flopped back down as the rock began moving on its own, tumbling down to the base of the platform and striking the indent. For a moment it seemed as if the rock would roll past the indent and off the platform entirely, but the depression dropped down suddenly under the weight of the boulder and it struck carved stone instead. Around her, she could see chains being dragged upwards and could hear the creaking of old wooden boards. Scootaround glanced over to where Audacity was, and saw that he had succeeded in getting the broken torso of a statue onto his platform, and with both indentations pressed down the gears had turned enough to raise the bridge. “Good call Scoot,” Audacity said, landing on the stairs with a clap of his hooves. Scootaround followed, and they both took a moment to consider the old, decrepit-looking bridge. Scootaround didn’t like the looks of it, but Audacity charged on ahead. The filly opened her mouth to say something, but after seeing the boards hold for Audacity she felt she’d be alright. Pegasus fillies were lighter than adult earth ponies, and if Audacity could cross, she could too. After about six steps onto the bridge, one of her hind hooves went straight through a board, followed by both of her back legs. She felt herself pitch backwards and downwards, and her legs flailed helplessly over the dark chasm. “Help!” she shouted, grasping the edges of the hole with her front legs. She felt herself slipping, and she shrieked loudly. With a gasp, Audacity saw what was going on and bolted back to help her out. He grabbed onto her slipping front hooves and dragged her up. She felt herself slipping back up through the hole, but splinters dug into her coat and she was suddenly stopped. Her hindquarters wouldn’t budge any further. She was stuck halfway out. “Ouch, stop pulling, I’m stuck!” “Oh, this is a problem,” Audacity groaned, “I don’t know what to do now- how can I help you if I can’t pull you out?” Scootaround didn’t have a chance to reply, for a moment later a very angry sounding voice yelled at them both. “WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?” shouted a mustard yellow pony in a dirt-smudged gown. Daring looked at them both coldly from the other side of the bridge, eyes widened and brows furrowed in a look of fury. Scootaround gulped. She had never seen Daring that angry before, and she knew that it was partly her fault. “I can explain, we-” started Audacity, but Daring flew into the air and hovered right above him, eye to eye. “I don’t even want to hear it. I’m disappointed in you Audacity,” Daring snapped, “You too Scootaround. I gave you specific instruction not to come here!” “Well, technically you said you couldn’t stop me and-” “You agreed not to come when you offered to watch her!” Daring retorted, motioning at the filly. She swooped down under the bridge and struck upwards with her hoof, sending Scootaround free, albeit forcefully. “Both of you, back to the side you came from. NOW. We’re leaving,” She commanded, pointing to the other side. Audacity didn’t budge. “Can’t, Dr. Do,” Audacity began, but Daring cut him off. “Dammit Audacity, don’t do this to me,” Daring interjected, “I need to make sure you are both somewhere safe, not down here in this death-trap.” “It’s not safe up there, not anymore,” Audacity stated. Daring paused, raising an eyebrow. “Come again?” “It’s not safe to go back,” Audacity repeated, “That CAP group we talked about before? They’re here, and they’re gonna be coming after us.” **** The tool shed was very cramped and dark, but it was the best Burly could do for the moment. Guests from the gala were either hunkered down inside or had already left, terrified. He expected that at one point or another some kind of police crew or squad of soldiers would come to put the unrest down. That wasn’t his chief concern at the moment however. Machine gunners and other CAP agents had poured in en masse, and he was cornered in this shed. While he didn’t like hiding, it was his only choice at the moment until the armed rogues stopped looking for him. The door creaked open, and Burly’s eyes widened. Somepony was coming into the shed, somepony wearing the same kind of clothing as the other raiders. They stepped around in the dark, fumbling to find a light of some kind. It was a vain effort, as the shed had no light source at all. The door swung shut behind the pony, and Burly was aware that he was trapped. No options left. He did the only thing he could think of. He launched himself at the pony or rather where he believed him to be, striking hard with his hooves in thin air. He brushed against the CAP agent with his side, and the pony struck out at him forcefully. Burly swiveled and struck with the back of his front hoof, bringing the other to bear down on the bruised face of the agent. He cried out and collapsed under the powerful stallion’s blow. Carefully, Burly opened the door up just a crack, peering out to see where there were ponies still around. He instantly closed the door after hearing the bushes rustle. Not yet, he thought, Damn do I hate being trapped like this, it’s pathetic. **** Daring Do, Audacity and Scootaround walked in a very awkward silence. One could tell that Daring was still upset at being disobeyed, but the necessity for them to stick together now had her concerned, perhaps a little fearful. They had gone farther than she had gone past the ledge before she had gone back to see the two. Now in untrodden territory, nopony had any idea what to expect. The closeness of the tunnel they trotted through forced them to go single file. Daring led the way, followed by Scootaround and then by Audacity. After several minutes of walking through the twists and turns of the tunnel system, they arrived in another chamber, one that was damp yet spacious. It contained the same blueish green look of the previous place, and was perhaps more cavernous feeling. Lines of squarish boxes lined the walls in neat rows, and there appeared to be another level of some kind above the ground that they were now on containing statues on pedestals. There were, however, no stairs of any kind to get up there. The coursing river rushed through in a chasm that was much shallower than the previous one. The white caps of the water as it flowed and frothed were clearly visible rather than being something far below. “Well, this is very neat and all,” Audacity said, “but where do we go from here? I don’t see any other paths...” “On the upper level, see that?” Daring pointed out, “Getting you two up there’s gonna be tricky.” “What about crossing the river?” Scootaround suggested. Daring frowned and shook her head. “No, do you see a bridge of any kind?” she said. Scootaround shrugged. “There are some rocks sticking out of the waterfall.” Indeed there was a waterfall near the far wall of the cavernous area, and water rushed in from above. Small protrusions in the rock formed little ledges. Daring didn’t seemed impressed with the idea, however. “Absolutely not,” she said, “That’s going to sweep you away like nothing. No, what I’ll do is go up there and toss you two a line. It’s more than four meters up, so you’ll have to stand on something to catch the end.” “How long is the rope you’re planning on using?” Audacity asked dully. He could see that Daring had no travel bag of any sort with her, much less four meters of rope. Daring raised her eyebrows, and reached into the fabric of her dress with one hoof. To Audacity’s complete surprise, she produced a rather lengthy whip out of nowhere. He stood flabbergasted before Daring explained. “This bullwhip is my backup plan in case I can’t use my wings. I had it strapped under my waist the whole time, but the dress obscured it. It’s around three and a half meters, so again, you’ll have to stand on something. It’ll be sturdy enough to hold you both one at a time.” “How do you know?” “Experience.” With that, Daring took off, flying up the length of the wall, past the rows of odd looking boxes pressed into spaces in the wall and landed on the upper ledge. She turned to face the two ponies below her, uncoiling the whip. Audacity glanced to Scootaround. She motioned for him to go first with a jerk of her head. He stood up on his back hooves and pulled at one of the boxes, trying to see if he could step up onto the edge of it. He managed to get a hoofhold, and no sooner had he transferred his weight onto it then it toppled over, out onto the cold stone floor. Audacity was sprawled on the ground, and Scootaround screamed as the contents of the box were spewed out over the floor. Bits of bones and broken rib cages scattered out from what now could be identified as a coffin. The skull bounced off the stone, rolling to a halt right beneath the filly’s hooves. She recoiled instantly, gulping. “Watch it, will you?” Daring shouted down from her perch, “Those coffins are a bit tipsy. I wouldn’t try putting my weight onto them.” “Why are there skeletons in these boxes? Why are there coffins down here?” Audacity groaned, kicking part of the broken box shut so he didn’t half to look at what was left of the remains still inside. “It’s a mausoleum down here as well, apparently. Not too uncommon for those to be underground like this.” Daring called down, “Now try standing on top of the box!” She leaned back momentarily, waiting for Audacity to get high up enough so that she could toss the end of her whip down to him. For a moment she felt uneasy, and not just because she was down here with both Scootaround and Audacity, and that there was the threat of CAP agents. No, something was amiss. She could hear the muffled sounds of cogs turning, of weights being dropped from within the walls. Something had been activated. There was a slight twitch in the ceiling above her, as dirt fell down onto her head. Daring gasped as the ceiling above her head came loose, and dropped down suddenly. She sidestepped it just enough to avoid getting crushed by the falling block. It landed with a sudden crash that reverberated around the chamber. Her vision was obscured by the large form. She looked up. She was cut off from the other two. The sudden collapse of the ceiling (or was it a specifically designed trap? That was always possible) separated her from Audacity and Scootaround, and she was not pleased at all. Not only that, but it would be blocking their ability to get up to the corridor that ran above the chasm and to the other side. Daring gave a shout, trying to see if the others could hear her. There was no response. She tried pushing against the stone, hoping it would budge. Surprisingly it did, but instead of opening a path for her it had simply shifted position. The rumbling was back, along with a stange whirring. That was not a good whirring sound. Daring leaped back as something large and metal dropped down between her and the block. It was a long rod, lined with cutting edges and sharp blades. It rotated slowly, moving in the direction that she would be traveling in. Daring took a step away from it, down the corridor. It moved closer to her, gaining momentum. Oh no, Daring thought, suddenly realizing the trap she had sprung on herself. There was a noticeable decline from her position to the end of the tunnel, however long that was. This thing was going to pick up speed, and fast. Daring turned around, galloping away from the spinning blades as they picked up in their velocity. She panted and her heart began pounding in her chest. He dress fluttered behind her, the ends of it getting caught and torn in the fury of the spinning blades that pursued her. Faster and faster they spun, forcing Daring to push herself to run faster to keep ahead of it. Now at her full pace, Daring was sweating profusely as her hooves beat in rapid succession. The sharp blades were as close as ever as the momentum increased. It was no good - she was inches away from being sliced. Her dress caught once more, but she pressed on, tearing the fabric into ragged bits. Daring stretched her wings and flew through the remainder of the chamber, her hooves alone too slow to match the ever-increasing pace of the blades. With a sudden screech the blades came to a halt, and at that same moment the tunnel ended. Or rather, it went back to being a corridor and turned to the right, opening up a bit into another chamber. Daring paused at this corner, taking a moment to catch her breath. She was regretting not having brought a canteen with her. There was no view of the chamber she had been in at all. She was cut off from Audacity and Scootaround, and they were trapped on that side of the chasm. Not concerned with the lost tomb of the old arabian empire, nor with the location of the clues, Daring continued on her way, hoping that she could find a way to loop back and help Scootaround and Audacity. They were her top concern, and she knew there wasn’t a moment to lose. Unbeknownst to her, there was no way to loop back. Despite her intent, she only proceeded in getting farther and farther from the party she wanted to assist, and closer to the next chamber in this maze of underground structures. Despite what Daring wanted to do, Scootaround and Audacity were on their own.