Daring Do and the Empire of the Dead

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 2

About five minutes later, Daring Do and Crawl Space have found their way towards the barred entrance where the soldiers were last seen. After Crawl Space had confirmed that they’re in the right location, “Well this is a good place to start.” Daring said, getting out the golden ball of twine from her saddlebags, she tied one end to the bars, put the enchanted ball back into her saddlebag and closed it.

“Now that we know that this is where they went in, we know that they didn't go right since that only leads to the surface. So that would mean that they probably went to the left, come on Crawl Space, let’s get moving.”

And so, Daring Do with a flashlight under her wing and an ever-increasing trail of twine, Crawl Space followed close by through the sewer part of the underground.

“Oh good Celestia this place stinks.”

Crawl chuckled, “Just wait until we get deeper Madame, the stench will lessen the further we go.”

“How often do you come down here anyway?”

“More often than most, (eh, not that way, that leads to the river,) as soon as I was able to walk, I've always crawled through dark and often cramped spaces. The underground is no exception.”

“What’s the longest time you ever spent down here?”

“Hmm… I believe I spent at least two days’ worth of exploring once.”

“So you get lost in here very often huh?”

“Madame, you of all ponies ought to know by now, that the best way to find something that’s lost is to get lost themselves, otherwise, everypony would know where to find it.”

“Heh, ain't that the truth. No, that’s a dead end, let’s go this way.”

Eventually, they found their way out of the sewers and into a claustrophobic tunnel. As they went further down, Daring Do notices the increasing amount of graphite on the walls. Crawl explained that these might have been left behind by past catacomb explores as a way of finding their way back.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. (Watch your step there.) Although is it me or are these getting a little more creepy?” Daring asked as she noticed more depiction of bones on the walls.

“I actually know what they mean.” Crawl Space said, “It means that we’re getting close to the catacombs themselves.”

Some time later, the tunnel gave way to another hallway, but not too far off, they came across an open door. Upon this door, carved in a block of marble read: “Arrêtez! Ceci est l'empire de la mort!”

“What does it say?” Daring asked. Crawl Space took his flashlight, “It says, ‘Stop! This is the Empire of the Dead!’”

Despite the obvious warning, Daring went in anyway, there she saw them. From floor to ceiling, nearly from wall to wall was the piles upon piles of bones and skulls that lay neatly to make a wall of bone.

“Alright, it looks like we’re getting somewhere. Now, if I were those soldiers who were told to hide thirty priceless paintings down here, I don’t think I would have spread them out.”

“Why’s that Madame Do?”

“Think about it, this place is clearly huge. So if I wanted to hide several things down here, I would have put them in one place so it’ll make it easier to remember where they are. And being in a time of war, I would place them somewhere deep, in the very last place that the enemy would look.”

“Ah, good thinking.” Crawl agreed with her. “So where do you suppose they might have gone?”

Daring thought for a moment, “Let’s go straight ahead, maybe they didn't hide them here.”

As they walked on further into the maze of bone, Daring asked, “So do you suppose these might have been the plague victims?”

“I would be surprised if they weren't.” Crawl took another look at the walls, “I think these bones might have been arranged later on.”

“How do you know?”

“It takes a while to rot down here, only to leave nothing but bone behind. But once they have though, it must have taken an eternity stacking these bones up in a certain order.”

“You have a point,” Daring poked her head to another corner of the maze. “Let’s go this way.”

They walked on for another few minutes in silence until Crawl Space spoke up. “You know Madame, there’s actually a famous local legend involving Star Swirl the Bearded coming down here.”

“Oh, and what’s that?”

“It has been said that Star Swirl has actually come down here twice when Paris was nothing but a town. The first was that he was looking to catalog every unknown creature in the world and recorded what he found. Well, the reason why he came here was that he heard that there are creatures that have dwelt in these tunnels below the earth.”

“So I guess that since he came here only twice, I guess the first time he found something.”

“Oh yes Madame, it is said that Star Swirled was really excited when he came out of the tunnels. So much so, that he went back to Equestria to ask the Princesses for more equipment to study further.”

“Did he ever say what he found?”

“Ah, that is the most curious thing of all, he never told anyone what he found. I admit, I once researched on the subject of this local legend myself, and the only useful thing I found was that he thought his discovery would revolutionize everything we knew about everything.”

“And that being?”

“That’s just it, it just ends right there.”

“Okay, so what happens to him the second time he came here?”

“He went into the tunnels one morning, never to return.”

“I think I’m beginning to see a pattern here.” At this point, they came across an entrance to a hallway. Where the walls maybe stone, but the floor below was filled with bones. Even with their flashlights shining, they could not see the bottom. Above the entrance was a marble block that seems to read in lines, like a poem.

“Grâce à moi le chemin est à la dolent de la ville;

Grâce à moi le chemin est à Dole éternelle;

Grâce à moi le chemin parmi les poneys perdu.

Justice incité mon Créateur sublime;

Moi Créé toute-puissance divine,

Le Wisdome plus élevé et l'Amour primal.

Avant moi, il n'y avait pas de choses créées,

Seulement Eterne, et mon dernier éternelle.

Tous espèrent abandonner, vous qui entrez en!”

Crawl Space gulped, “Translation?” Daring asked.

“It reads: ‘Through me, the way is to the city dolent; through me, the way is to eternal dole; through me the way among the lost ponies. Justice incited my sublime Creator; it created me divine Omnipotence, the highest Wisdom and the primal Love. Before me, there were no created things, only eternal, and I eternal last. All hope abandon, ye who enter in!’ Madame, are you sure you want to go in there?”

“I have seen curses on tombs before, this doesn’t faze me. Now come on, those paintings aren’t going to be found by themselves.

Comments

[Karnunnos]

It's 'Empire of Death' not 'Empire of the dead'