//------------------------------// // 1: Wild Goose Chase // Story: Daring Do and the Throne of Ouroboros // by Tolerance //------------------------------// She paced back and forth in the run-down little shack she used as a front for her authoring gig. Daring Do didn't do waiting. It simply wasn't something she could tolerate. Any lack of action on her part meant that somepony, or someone, else beat her to some ancient artifact that would probably end up being sold on a black market. After that, it was only a matter of time before it would wind up in the hooves, or paws, or whatever, of any number of bad guys, probably ending civilization as she knew it. Every adventure of hers meant that the artifacts made it where they belonged, which was a properly curated museum. Granted, Daring's latest trip had been one of the situations where she was forced to leave said artifact with its original owners. She'd saved the Legendary Idol of Airavata from a raiding party led by the notorious Stallion Stallióne who was harassing the Elephant nomad tribe who owned the artifact. Which meant that she'd eventually have to save them again in three or four months. Looking at her schedule, she made sure to bump Stallióne back to the bottom of her schedule for foreseeable future. Daring reviewed the other names on the list before she double checked her next foe. "That can't be right..." she said as she double checked the bounty board. Sure enough, she'd managed to outwit all of her other adversaries since the last time she had fought Ahuizotle, some of them even more than once. When it came to her self-proclaimed Arch-nemesis, being late was something that just didn't happen. It'd been so long since their last encounter that Daring briefly wondered if he'd finally given up his grave-robbing gig after all these years. She shook her head of that thought quickly enough. "He's got to be up to something, I'm sure of it." A knock at her door broke her out of guessing what the blue menace was cooking up. "Hello, Ms. Yearling? I've brought this week’s fan mail. Adjusting her disguise, Daring opened the door. "Morning mister Express. Anything from the publisher?" "Afraid not. Why, do you have another book in the works that I don't know about?" "Ah ah ah, that would be cheating. You know I always hoof-deliver those myself. Anyway, Thanks for the delivery, but I wouldn't want to keep you from your duties, dear. Run along now." Daring said in a matronly tone. By Celestia, she hated her alternate persona sometimes. "No problem, Ms. Yearling. I'll see you again next week!" Daring waved until the postal pony was out of sight before she began the arduous task of pushing the heavy box inside. "How does that stringy stallion even move these things, let alone carry them?" She grumbled as she towed the package inside. Its contents were standard fare, mostly. Ponies asking for advanced copies of Yearling's next book, complaints about the way griffons were represented in chapter four, same old, same old. There was one item that stuck out, since it was addressed to Daring Do herself instead of her pen name. That probably meant that it was from a small filly who didn't know any better. Those ones were Daring's favorites, which meant it was one of the few that would actually get a reply. The other outcome was that it was another one of Rainbow Dash's cheesy fanfics. Either way it meant Daring had to set it aside until she was done with the rest, maybe even after she had time to psych herself up a bit. The rest of the fan mail eventually sorted out, Daring took one last look at her nemesis list before she sank into resignation. Without any additional leads on a new artifact, which might take weeks of legwork on her end, there was no real reason for her to delay looking into her last piece of mail. "Please be a filly, please be a filly..." Daring chanted as she began carefully peeling back the envelope. To her surprise, there was just a single piece of paper. It contained neither the earnest scribbles of a tiny fan nor the practiced scribbles of the Element of Loyalty. Just a single folded piece of paper with 'Your #1 Fan?" written with some sort of typeset script. Unfolding the parchment, Daring saw a set of numbers that she easily recognized as set of coordinates. Daring, of course, being an explorer at heart, quickly realized that she had no idea what this peculiar set of coordinates were supposed to be pointing to. They looked like they belonged to the old equestrian territories, before the Great Migration. Upon this discovery, Daring dug out her map of Ancient Equestria out from underneath the pile of papers on her desk. Using her hoof, she traced the longitude to a point along the western coast, then north only to realize that the location wasn’t on the map at all. No wonder she didn't recognize them. Forced to dig through an additional heap of piled papers for her globe, she spun it around to the point just outside of the old pony-held region. As far as she knew, 'nothing' was the only way to describe the lack of anything that had ever been in the region. "Hmm, wait for Ahuizotle to make a move, or go on a wild goose chase?"she asked herself. But before Daring Do could mentally reply to her speculation, she was already out the door. ~~~~~ Daring Do wasn't one to ever be unprepared, always ready to travel at a moment’s notice, but after that one incident with an artifact of living flame, she was required to contact her publisher before gallivanting off anywhere, for insurance reasons. Daring also wanted to see if anypony at the archive knew anything about the mystery region. There was also the matter of securing transportation there and back. If there was one thing she'd learned throughout the years, it was that most idols and artifacts were solid, and heavy, and dragging them back to civilization was a pain in the neck. Anyway, Daring had a pretty good idea about who to go to for a lift, so she figured that she might as well get the hard part out of the way first, talking to her publisher. While Ink Splotch was good at his job, the way he always seemed to steer their conversations towards getting her to write an official autobiography was starting to get on her nerves. "Ah, good afternoon Ms.Yearling," Splotch said in a way that caused Daring's eye to twitch. "came to see how the last novel is coming along? I'm afraid we don't have much to update you with, it hasn't even hit the presses yet." "No, I'm not here for that. I'm headed out again. Gotta keep up the research for the next novel, you know. If things are good to go around here, then I think I'll let you get back to work..." "Wait just a minute, Missy. I know you live for your work, but you just got back from your last 'research trip’, you should probably give it a rest for a bit. The villain of the month could wait." "Oh, well, you know me..." "No, can't say I do, not really. It's not like you spend much time doing normal things. Heck, I'm sure you've got enough vacation days stacked up to hold you off until you retire!" "Did you just call me old!?" "I would never! It's just that, everyone needs a break now and then, even the stoutest and bravest of, well, authors..." Daring looked down for a bit. It had been a long time since she'd done anything other than work. Hunting artifacts, defending artifacts, stealing artifacts back from bad ponies. Was that all she was? No. She shook her head. "Well, I don't actually plan on finding anything on this trip. It's really more of a wild goose chase than anything anyway." "Who chases geese? Well, just try to stay out of trouble." "You know I can't make any promises, right?" "Yes, but outright saying that you should end up getting a nice long hospital stay, so that you have plenty of time about that autobiography, would be in bad taste, wouldn't it?" "Why you-" "I'm sorry, Ms. Yearling." Ink blotch said loud enough for his other employees to hear, breaking off any argument Daring could spit at him. "You can't just go back and decide what is and is not canon after the fact..." "Fine. I'll just be on my way then. But I'm still not writing that!" Daring finished as she huffed out of the office, her feathers thoroughly ruffled. This was why she spent her time, far away from civilization as possible, preferably somewhere that had an unpronounceable name. ~~~~~ At least there was Curio, the curator for the Canterlot Museum of Natural History. Probably the only pony she'd ever actually opened up to, even before her interactions with the Element of Loyalty. Not that Daring would ever admit it, but the curator's enthusiasm for his field was something they'd had in common, even if she was less vocal about it than curio. She found him in the hall that housed an impressive collection of replica fossils, shouting at some underlings to position the centerpiece, some sort of hydra skeleton, just right. "Why Hello, Ms. Yearling! These halls only ever brighten up when you're around, and I'm not just talking about all of your wonderful finds that we still have on loan, either!" Curio beamed at her, as he momentarily forgot about harrying his workers. "Thanks, Curio, got any place we can talk?" "Most certainly! You know the way to my office, I'll meet you there once I've finished with the exhibit." Daring made her way to the head office, wondering, not for the first time, how Curio managed to keep his work so neat and orderly. Letting herself into his office, she didn't even have to excavate any paperwork in order to reach the coffee machine between Curio's bookshelves. Not that she much cared for the beverage, but the coffee that Curio constantly consumed hailed from someplace exotic enough to entice her taste buds, if only a little. Besides, with as much as a perfectionist as Curio was, there was no telling how long he'd keep telling his crew to adjust every single vertebrae until it was in the correct position. Just another example of where their methods differed. She wasn't one to micromanage. "I hope I didn't keep you too long," Curio said as he shut the door behind him. "It really is a pleasure to see you, Daring. I haven't seen you before you left for Zebrica. Shame about that Idol..." He finished as he poured himself a fresh cup as well. "You know that it had to be that way. That tribe needs it more than the museum does." "And you know that you'll eventually have to go back out there and save it again." Daring sighed. "I know, but it was the right thing to do." "So long as it's out of the hooves of the unscrupulous, I'd have to agree." Curio said as he slipped behind his desk. "So, with that idol accounted for, for the moment, what brings you to the museum? Feeling a bit nostalgic were we?" "Pssh, no. The only dusty artifacts I want to see are the ones that aren't already behind a pane of glass. But seriously, I'm looking to see if you've got any information." "If it's about Ahuizohtl, I'm afraid I don't have any leads..." 'How does everypony know about that?' Daring wondered. "No, nothing like that, I hope. I received a set coordinates and I just wanted to see if you knew anything about what might be buried there." "Well, if you haven't heard about it and I haven't heard about it, then it probably doesn't exist, does it not?" Curio said jokingly. ~~~~~ "Yes, I'm positive now. Whatever you're looking for out there doesn't exist. At least as far as the record is concerned, nothing out there has ever existed." Curio stated matter-of-factually. "On the bright side, it also means that it probably hasn't been looted yet." "Or that there is nothing there to loot. This might be some kind of ploy to lure you away from a real threat to archaeology. Are you still sure about checking it out?" "Somepony needs to do it, so it might as well be me. Besides, it might not be a trap. Even if that were the case, we can't ignore the letter." "I actually agree with you, in either case. The question concerning who your 'number one fan' is, however, seems to garner even more questions. But, who am I to question the Great Daring Do? I leave this to your expertise." "Thanks, Curio. Here's to bringing back a good haul!" Daring clinked her now-empty coffee mug against his in a mock toast before heading out to leave. The door closed, leaving the curator alone in his office. Sighing to nopony in particular, Curion whispered "Please be careful out there, Daring." beneath his breath. ~~~~~ "That just leaves the transport," Daring observed as she made her way to the Canterlot Dockyard. She'd picked up the rest of her supplies while she made her way to the dock, switching her disguise to something less feminine, and therefore less restrictive, as she did so. The little author persona wasn't one to hang around anyplace that could be considered rough and tumble. The particular Airship she'd had her eye on was still sitting at the pier, a dark silhouette against the otherwise golden Canterlot afternoon. Luna's official Airship, the Scarce Eclipse, was an Equal to match Celestia's own vessel, save one metric. Unlike the crew of the Eternal Radiance, the night-court sailors could keep a secret. Eyeing the ponies running around in a metered panic whilst attempting to get the vessel underway, Daring Do located her target in the center of an ever-changing crowd, giving orders to problems as soon as they arose. Making her own way through the rushed thrall, Daring gave her spiel, "Why hello there, Captain, Sir! I was wondering if'n you might have room for a lad, such as myself, to gain passage upon this here mighty ship?" "Aye know it's you, Darin'..." responded the ship's Captain with a heavily accented voice that seemed to hate properly pronunciating anything that might come at the end of a word. "But how-" "Yur hat. I'm guessin tha' your lil costume’s probably the only thing keepin the pith helme' business afloa'!" The Captain answered giving a hearty chuckle. "But as fer yer original question’s concerned, there's plenty ah room, so long as you don't mind sharin it with both some cargo and a whiney diplomat?" "Sounds good to me. Same cabin?" "Aye, though I'm guessin you've already got a drop off point planned?" "Yes Sir! If you don't mind a quick little stop near Seaddle." Daring said pulling out the flight map she'd swiped from the docking office. She indicated that the area she wanted to make her rendezvous point was on the very edge of Equestria itself. "Looking ta get yourself proper lost this time, aye? Well, it's still a bit of a stretch, but we'll make do." "What about that whiny noble?" "He's already a pain, a few more days won' hurt none, besides, that little dilomat's on a one way trip. Ain't neither of us have to deal with him on the way back." "Well, then it'll be a pleasure working with you guys again." Daring said holding out her hoof for the captain. The captain grasped the outstretched hoof. "Aye, as I said the last time, Daring, you're one of the few regulars that the boys're happy ta have aboard." The captain directed her toward the brow of the ship. "Now be off wit' ya. And for Alicorn's sake, lose the disguise, yer not fooling anyone here..." Daring waved back as she made her way aboard. It's a good thing that none of her enemies were half as good as picking through her disguises as well as the honorable Captain McStirrup. Finding her usual cabin, Daring Do found that the floor to her cabin was covered in random crates, taking up around a third of the room's total space. If she was to share the cabin with somepony else for a portion of the trip, she no longer wondered why that pony was cranky. Not that it bothered her any, she just hitched her hammock a little higher to compensate. Besides, trips like these were better spent on the deck. ~~~~~ Or at least they should have been, provided the weather had kept up. Not being one to bother keeping tabs on weatherpony schedules, Daring found that, for most of the trip, the rain had kept her indoors. Next to a very, irritating, yet somehow, very boring unicorn noble. If there was one thing that Daring pulled from their one-sided conversations it was that she hoped his diplomatic mission didn't strain the relations with whatever country he was being sentenced to. When the Captain informed her that they'd reached her drop off location, she dashed back to her cabin for her things yelling something along the lines of 'Oh thank Celestia!" along the way. Without further ceremony, and without so much as stopping the airship, Daring Do bounded into the still damp the air, thankful that, even if she found nothing at all, she'd still find a way to be thankful for the sudden, absolute silence she found herself in. To get to the Coordinates, she still had about three days of travel time with which to head North. After that, she could set up camp and explore the area for another two weeks before the Eclipse was set to make the return trip. If she missed that, then she'd probably have to wing it back to Seaddle and find another method of transportation. But between setting up her base camp and then, Daring Do was free to do what she does best. ~~~~~ If not for the fact that the climate much colder than was strictly to her liking, Daring decided that she might have to visit the area more often. The view was spectacular, and best of all, it was remote. The only problem with that, was that there wasn't anything to see. Sure there was a scenic waterfall formed between the cliffs carved out by centuries-old glacier, and the jagged mountains and dense forest were nothing if not majestic, but Daring's canvass of the area had shown that there were no signs of anything other than naturally-formed structures here. That didn't mean that there wasn't anything to be found, though. Daring's years of treasure hunting had left her with a knack for finding ancient temples and whatnot. There were numerous reasons why a temple might be buried, for instance, either the religion that built it was formed around some ritualistic taboo, which required them to hide their activities from prying eyes. Those temples weren’t just buried, they were built below ground from the start. Other times, a new religion sweeps the old one aside, either by force or otherwise, and instead of dismantling the often ridiculously heavy structure, it's easier to simply bury it under some dirt and call it a day. Now that she was thinking about it, Daring Do was pretty sure she'd never been in a temple that hadn't been hidden in some fashion... Either way, since nothing was visible from the air, she'd have to begin searching closer to the ground. She'd check a few caves she'd spotted from the air, and if nothing showed up, then she'd give the forest a once-over. If there was something out here, the adventurous Pegasus was the one who was going to find it. ~~~~~ After four days of finding absolutely nothing, Daring swore at herself for being mislead. Not that she'd had anything better to do, but she really should confirm her source before charging ahead like she did. Instead of working herself into a fit though, she decided that she did, indeed have time to take a break for once. No bud guys chasing her, no doomsday to stall, just a pegasus with nothing but wide open skies, a crystal clear lake, and nothing but time on her hooves. A bit of aerial practice sounded like a good start. It was one of the few things that Rainbow dash had actually been right about concerning Daring's 'character,' she really needed to spend more time using her pegasus-borne powers. Not that she was entirely ground-bound but Daring Do did spend quite a bit of her time either, underground, or trekking through underbrush somewhere, so she actually didn't get to spend too much time flying. The exercise also had the benefit of taking her mind off of work, or rather, the lack thereof. After a few climbs and dives, nothing fancy, Daring had already managed to work up a sweat, even in the chilled northern atmosphere. As it is, the lack of constant practice was probably going to make her one very sore mare tomorrow. Not wanting to end up in too much discomfort, the pegasus landed her final dive into the water, the ice-cold water zapping away any tenderness long before it could set in. The shock of the water's temperature setting in, however, promptly forced Daring to seek shelter from its near-icy embrace. Leaving the water for the shore, Daring decided that she deserved a few minutes relaxing in the sun before she headed back to camp. ~~~~~ She let out a deep, sleepy yawn. Daring could scarcely recall the last time she'd let a nap set in. It made her feel energetic and tired at the same time. Daring Do briefly wondered if the feeling was normal when something out of the corner of her still-bleary eyes caught her attention. Rubbing her eyes in an attempt to clear them, the pegasus was now fully awake. Now able to focus properly, she found herself eyeing the one location she she had failed to check. "Why do I always forget the waterfalls?" Daring asked herself as she flew towards the cascading mists. When she had awoken from her nap, she'd sighted the rays of light catching the interior walls of a cave as they reflected off of the pools below. And if there was one place an ancient cult was likely to stash a secret entrance to their temple, it was behind a waterfall. Smacking the hindsight out her own mind, Daring landed beyond the water's veil. There wasn't much room to the cave, so the sun's light filtering through was enough to light the space. It didn't take the mare long to find the symbols carved into the rock. Very clearly written in Equish were the words 'Press to open' above a small outcrop of stone. "That's mighty convenient." Daring said, looking for the door or hatch that the device was supposed to open. There wasn't an edge she could discern from the rest of the rock wall, which would be a major pain to open if the button didn't work, a problem that none of the hidden traps inside was likely to have. Before messing with the entrance any further, Daring headed back to camp for her gear. There was no indication as to what was beyond the door, so it would probably help to be prepared, just in case. Besides, the sun was dipping beyond the valley walls, so Daring was going to need her own source of light after she cracked this thing open. Returning to her tent, Daring donned her saddlebags, filled with what she considered essential adventuring kit. Robe, firestarter, a compact lantern, more rope. She paused briefly to consider whether she wanted to delve into the dungeon so late in the day. She still didn't know who sent the message that brought her here in the first place, and the entrance could just be the first in a series of traps designed to entomb her there. Although, now that the sleepiness from her afternoon nap had been burned away in the excitement, Daring felt that she was more than ready to go spelunking for shinies. The mare reared up and leaped into the air. There was a reason her motto was 'Another day, another dungeon.' after all. Back at the watery cavern, Daring readied herself before attempting to push the button, ready to flee from the cave if necessary. Not that she was too worried about traps lying in wait outside the inviting entrance. Since there was no evidence of a civilization capable of hiding anything significant in the valley above, it was likely that any surviving mechanical devices, such as one capable of opening what appeared to be a solid rock wall, would be in less-than-stellar condition. There was no sense in ending her adventuring career with a cave-in, though. Barring that, and the possibility of an early trap, it was likely that such an old mechanism wasn't going to work at all, forcing Daring to break out her pickaxe. Daring Do pushed the button, and all but fell over in surprise when the rock wall slide back and pulled itself aside in such a fashion that she didn't recall it ever making a sound. The mechanism not only seemed to work after centuries, or however long it had been here, but it had done so flawlessly. In all her years of government sponsored grave-robbing, Daring had never encountered anything remotely like that before. Whoever these guys were, they knew what they were doing. The pegasus was just about to whistle her admiration for the builders when the note caught in her throat, silenced by what she as her eyes adjusted to dimmer light of the underground facility. It wasn't filled with darkness, as it should have been after centuries of disuse, but was lit up by some sort of magical light fixture. Gems glowed an eerie blue-green light as they sat in little cups of liquid mounted to the walls of the entryway. Daring made a hesitant step forward onto the miraculously clean, marble flooring, where there should have been decades of dust. It quickly dawned on her that she wasn't alone. Eventually, her other senses caught up, confirming her revelation, her sense in particular. Ever since she’d first encountered it, there was always one scent she could never forget. The smell in question could only originate from the second worst thing to encounter when looking for treasure. The first belonged to dragons, their smoky, metallic odor left no doubt as to what they'd do to you if they found you absconding with a portion of their horde. But the number two smell was ranked as such, because there was no telling exactly what would happen if you ran into what it came from. Daring Do smelled Diamond Dogs, and if she ran into one of them down here, then it meant almost two things precisely. One, any gem encrusted, and/or themed artifact was pretty much a write-off at this point, as there was no telling how long the dogs would have had to sniff out their primary food source. And two, if she was caught, she'd end up a pony slave for however long it took her to figure out a way to escape. Neither of which was something that Daring was looking forward to. On the upside, there was still a chance that some other kind of trinket was down here, one that was still worth taking the chance to nab. The downside, however, was that Daring still had to take said chance. One thing still bothered her though. Or rather an entire set of things, that seemed to be related. The floor was clean, for one, possibly enchanted, Daring didn't know, but was odd none the less. And two, there was no way the Diamond Dogs were coming this close to the surface just to light up the place. If it didn't involve digging up, or consumption of, gems, they usually just weren't interested. Listening intently, her ear pressed to the ground, Daring Do couldn't hear any telltale signs of digging coming from anywhere nearby. Breathing a sigh of relief, the mare pushed her way deeper into the dungeon. At least there was a bright side to the dogs tearing through whatever semblance of ancient history was left here, any and all traps would have been disarmed by them, either accidentally or otherwise.