Daring Do and the Doppelganger's Deception

by Ookamithewolf1

Chapter 5: How Daring discovered lots of loot, and how she failed to notice she was being followed.

Chapter 5: How Daring discovered lots of loot, and how she failed to notice she was being followed.

Daring kept walking. It seemed like hours. After descending down the obelisk she found herself in the underground cisterns. She lucked out. The obelisk was right above the main tunnel, and it made traversing the city quite easy. The tunnel was nearly 3 stories tall and seemed to go on forever. There were several offshoots but Daring ignored them. She figured the main tunnel would lead her strait to the palace and…the temple. This was also reinforced by the fact that hieroglyphics on the wall acted as road signs at every major intersection. She finally found a staircase that was ornately decorated with a crude iron gate blocking it. Things don’t rust in the desert, but two thousand years is plenty enough to weaken a gate. One good kick and she was in.

She followed it up into a service corridor. She had to go through two wooden doors and another gate before she found herself in a great hall. It had 8 giant statues of ponies wearing grandiose headgear along each wall. They were nearly 5 stories tall and you could just barely see the remnants of its red, gold, and green paint. The hall lead up to a throne on a balcony. Daring decided to get a better view and walked around until she found the way up. Daring stood at the edge of the balcony and turned her lantern to full power, illuminating part of the room. Her light was the only one, and it cast eerie shadows throughout. Daring stood in aww.

“Its like the Babylon set from ‘Intolerance’ but without Nebuchadnezzar.”

Then she turned around.

“Never mind. Its looks like King Neb made it after all, or at least all that’s left of him.”

On the thrown was a skeleton with a crown and a tattered cloak. In its hoof was clutched something odd. It glinted when she shone her light over it.

“Well well old boy, what was so important that you guarded it to your death?”

Despite what you see in movies, bones don’t stay together too well. The moment Daring touched his hoof the whole skeleton collapsed. She grabbed the item before it fell to the floor.

Daring turned the item over in her hoof. It was solid gold. It was shaped like the letters ‘LE’, with the ‘E’ part covered in diamonds protruding from all sides. The ‘L’ part, however, was smooth and void of any gems whatsoever. It was almost like a handle. As Daring examined it a bone fell off the throne and onto the floor. Her eye naturally followed it. It landed with a dull thud. This caught Daring’s attention.
Daring took a closer look and found a loose tile on the floor. It wasn’t loose because of the ruins because all the surrounding tiles were tight and unchipped. Daring pried it up. Underneath she found three small square slots. Her eye darted back between the golden object and the holes.

“Hmm…I wonder? Nah, it couldn’t be that easy…could it?”

Daring stuck the ‘E’ part of the golden item into the three holes. The ‘L’ part stuck out. It was a key. She turned it.

Suddenly a loud rumble came from below her feet and the throne started to shake. It slowly slid back, revealing a hidden staircase! Daring took a nearby brick and wedged it in so that the door couldn’t close and latch behind her. She grabbed her lantern and cautiously descended into the darkness. Once she left the great hall was once again dark. At least, it was for about a minute. Then another light shone in from where Daring had entered. Anypony watching would be very confused to see the pony who had just exited at one end of the room immediately enter it again from the other end.

At the bottom of the stairs was a long hallway. Daring looked at the walls. On each were several weird faces with surprised looks and open mouths. Daring grabbed a rock and flung it down the hall. The moment it hit the floor an arrow flew out of a mouth and flew across the hall. As the rock rolled four more arrows flew out. The floor was booby trapped.
“Just like in the notebook. That means on the floor…”

Daring took a closer look and found that some stones were elevated just a half-centimeter above the rest. Those were the triggers. A closer look at the wall revealed a multitude of wide cracks that arrows could fit through.

“So if a person tried to crawl on the floor to avoid the mouths they would get hit anyways. Clever.”

Nearby Daring saw an old pile of weapons… and armor. Bronze Shilds are useless against side attacks, but strap two on each side and you’ve got adequate arrow protection. Daring took it step by slow step. The hallway was long, so long in fact that it took daring an hour to get ¾ of the way down. At each raised rock she saw she would look for the corresponding hole, stand back, and activate it. This way it would be a little safer on her trip back. By the time she made it to the end her legs were ready to collapse. Daring took a short rest. In front of her were two doors. Between them was a sign. Daring read and translated it. It was in prose and went like so:

2 choices before you lay,
the right one will pay out great
the wrong one if you play
the journey will end today

“Great, so the wrong door will kill me. What to do… hey, what’s this?”

Daring bent down to look closer at the floor. In front of the left door was a large stain that seemed to have seeped from underneath it. It was a very dark red, almost black.

“Blood. Well, it looks like I’m not the first one to make it this far. Thank you, oh nameless corpse behind the door, for you have shown me, the right, uh, door. Boy, my rhyming is terrible.”

Daring opened the right door and continued on. She failed to hear the sound of an arrow flying through the air or the sound of a limp body falling to the floor far behind her.

The next room was huge. When Daring saw what was in it her eyes grew wide and a smile stretched across her face from ear to ear. The room was filled with gold from wall to wall! In one corner was a pile of coins, in another ten tons of gold bars, across from that were ten magnificent sarcophagus, and the wall behind them were covered from top to toe in hieroglyphics. Daring was giddy with excitement and did a quick dance. She ran over to the gold coins and started to go swimming! She started laughing like a crazy person or even an anime girl. She was so happy. Not only had she made the discovery of the century but now she was ultra rich! After a few minute daring settled down and stepped back to take a look at the wall of hieroglyphics. Suddenly she felt something sharp poke her in the back. It was a knife.

Do froze. She wanted to believe that she had backed into a unicorn statue but the sound of heavy breathing behind her told her otherwise.

“Turn around.” Said a mare’s voice. She recognized the voice as the one barking orders from earlier.

Daring turned and found herself staring at…herself. Right there in front of her was a mare that looked just like Daring Do. She had light brown fur, a black to grey gradient mane, and mysteriously enough a compass cutie mark exactly like hers. She was also holding a silver dagger with a swastika on the hilt. Behind her were 6 guards and as many worker stallions.

“Hello Daring, surprised to see me, or should I say, you.” Said the mare. “We’ve been following you this whole time. I knew you were in the camp and would try something after dark so I had a guard watch for anypony walking around after working hours. I have to admit breaking into the obelisk was genius worthy of myself.”

Daring starred at her doppelganger for a minute until it dawned on her.

“Well well,” said Daring with renewed confidence, “your disguise is very flattering and could fool anypony, but you’ve still got that certain narcissistic quality that everyone hated you for.”

“Oh, so you remember me. I’m not surprised. Nobody forgets me.”

“Believe me, we wish we could, Miss Petty Drop-Out!”

Petty Drop-Out. The pony who every pony hated. Her ego was so big that she believed the world revolved around her, and that everypony exsisted only to serve her. And she had the money to make it happen. She was a classmate of Daring’s when she went to Canterlot University. She was almost expelled when it got out that she had paid off people to do her schoolwork, but she officially dropped out just hours before she was expelled so that it would make her record look better than it was(not that dropping out is much better, mind you). Daring had heard that she had gone bad, but of course she had everyone else do her dirty work, so nothing ever got back to her.

“I almost didn’t see you through that full body dye job.” Said Daring. “And that fake Cutie mark must be a bitch to maintain. Just like you.”

You’re still as snarky as ever. But enough of this stupid banter, time to get down to business. I have a little job for you.”

“What do you need me for? You’ve already got the treasure.”

“HA! This? This is just a bonus. The real treasure is worth ten times this.”

“Just what exactly is this treasure. Your notes rambled so much I couldn’t get that part.”

“Well, I suppose there’s no harm in telling you since you won’t make it out of here alive. The treasure is supposedly a mystic potion and spell infused with enough magic to grant the person who drinks it anything she wants.”

“As in immortality?”

“Precisely. Once I drink it will become immortal, and then I will be the most powerful pony on the entire planet! Wa Ha Ha!”

“So now what, are you going to kill me now or wait till later?”

“Oh I’ve got plans for you. You see, there is one more room of traps to traverse and you are going to clear the way for me.”

“Well bully for me.”

At Petty’s order Daring’s wings were tied. They all proceeded to the back of the treasure chamber where they found another door. Daring opened it.

Inside was another grand hall, except instead of statues and thrones it was filled with spike-filled death drops and giant pendulums of death. At the end was an altar with a small chest on top.

“Oh goody, it’s the temple of doom. Could this get anymore clichéd?”

Then she noticed the snakes.

“I guess it can.”

Well Daring,” Said Petty, “get going. There should be a switch on the other side of the room. If you try and take the treasure for yourself I’ll have my archer here shoot you.

“Sigh.”

Daring started across the room. She crawled slowly, making sure to avoid the spike filled pits and the pendulums of doom. Suddenly she took a step and a spike shot out of the floor. Now she only had to avoid spikes, pits, and pendulums. Now she wished she had read Poe’s book.

But she had read Petty’s notebook. In it mentioned colored floor tiles. Only red ones were safe. While it sounds like that would make things easier, the tiles were only 6x6 inch squares.

Daring gingerly tipped toed through, dodging potential death at every step. After nearly twenty minutes she made it to the altar. On it was a small chest made of pure opal. Daring wanted to open it but suddenly remembered the crossbow aimed at the back of her head. Next to the alter was a large lever. She pulled it. Loud clicks could be heard from the floors and walls. He Pendulums stopped swinging. All the pits opened and exposed themselves. All the traps were disarmed. She thought of arming them wile Petty was in the middle of them but found the lever locked in place. Petty approached the alter and opened the chest. Inside was a vial of liquid and a scroll.

“This is it! The key to immortality! Bwa ha ha ha. Wa ha ha hack cough…uh, anyways, Guards, tie Goody Do Do to a post and leave her to rot. In fact, Daring, I’ll leave your lantern so you can watch as the light slowly dims until darkness overtakes this room. You’ll go crazy before you die.”

Daring was tied up and watched them leave. She wondered what was written on the scroll. Then she was all alone.

“Well, I guess its time I make a ‘Daring’ escape. I do so love that line.”

Daring wiggled her hoof around until she found what she was looking for. Daring always kept a small blade hidden within the lining of her vest just for such an emergency. 10 minutes later she was free. She took this time to inspect the empty chest for clues. She found that it was bolted to the altar.

“That’s so weird. Wait, what’s that thing in the bottom of the chest?”

Daring had seen what looked like a ring. She blew the dust away to reveal a raised circle. She touched it just as she realized what it was... a trap.

It was a standard pressure release switch. The moment the vial was removed it was suppose to release and activate, but after 2000 years it was jammed. ‘Was’ being the operative word here. Daring managed to unjam it, which didn’t help at all. Suddenly the whole place started to shake.

“Buck.”

Daring took off across the room. Boulders were falling everywhere. At one point a pendulum almost fell on her. The door started to close. She dove into the treasure room just as it shut. She breathed a sigh of relief. She filled her pockets with gold coins as the rumbling from the previous room died down. Then the treasure room started to shake.

“Again? Really?”

She took off across the room. She ran down the arrow hall so fast that she was ahead of what few arrows were left. Daring was almost there. Just a few more feet and she would be safe. She took a great leap and got her front hoofs over the safety line at the end of the hall. She fell flat out on the floor. Daring had made it. She started to stand up but found that she couldn’t. A warm feeling on her flank worried her. She looked back and noticed that her compass cutie mark had a new point. An arrow point.

Daring stared at the slow stream of blood trickling out of her flank from where the arrow had penetrated. It had hit its mark perfectly and penetrated the exact center of her cutie mark. Her lip quivered, her eyes watered, and then the pain followed. A barrage of expletives later Daring attempted to remove it. She had to make an incision along the arrow, then slowly pulled it out, all while attempting not to die of blood loss. After pulling it out and a few more swears she bandaged it up. Then she started the long walk out.

It was a good thing she wasn’t being followed since her blood trail was too easy to follow. She had found a pole and it helped her along despite her limp. It took her three times as long to get out, fortunately half-way through the pain made her leg completely numb. When daring got to the foot of the obelisk her already dim lantern finally gave out. She had to feel her way up the long and narrow stairs. Since there was no light she had to assume it was either night time or they had bricked up the exit. She figured both, and she was right.

At the top she ran into a dead end. Literally.

“Great, not only is it bricked up, there’s probably a guard or two on the other side in case I…break out. Of course, that’s it!”

Daring felt the wall. The mortar was fresh and hadn’t finished setting. Daring removed the bloody arrow from her bag. She turned around and got ready.

Daring gave a hard double-kick to the weak wall. It blew out with the force of a small explosion.
On the other side were two guards just like she thought. One of the guards was in the way of the collapsing wall and was knocked out by flying debris. She pounced on the other’s back and held the arrow to his neck.

“Don’t make a sound, not a SINGLE sound!” said Daring through her teeth.

The guard froze. Daring raised her arm and brought her elbow down hard on the back of his head. He stumbled. It wasn’t enough to knock him out, so daring leapt from his back, grabbed a brick and slammed him upside the jaw. That did it.

Daring glanced around. The camp had already been abandoned since Petty had gotten what she came for.

“Great (huff huff) now all I’ve (pant) got to do is…traverse… the… Deserrrrr.”

With that Daring collapsed.

Comments

[angry birdy 12]

U best finish it.