Daring Do and the Serpent Citadel

by Revenant Wings

0 - A Night in the Woods

The fire glowed hotly in the already humid jungle, the light flickering and casting an orange circle in the dark of night. It couldn’t have been very late from the still heated temperature, but the thick canopy overhead blocked out any sunlight even though it may have only been early evening. The fire lit up a small area cleared manually among the thick bushes and towering trees and climbing vines. A small hatchet lay to one side of a pair of brown saddlebags buckled with the sign of a compass rose. Besides the saddlebags, a kettle was sitting on a makeshift stand above the fire and a pine green sleeping bag lay out next to the fire.

The bushes parted and a yellow-beige pegasus with light purple eyes and a striped grey and black mane came out from the jungles into the clearing, her cutie mark matching those of the buckles on the saddlebags. She walked over to the fire and set down a pile of fresh logs and kindling, the green merely faded instead of fully dry.

Daring Do wiped her forehead to clear off the sweat and sat down on the sleeping bag. She poked the fire with the stick and looked up at the thick canopy overhead. She wished she could sleep within the trees, but it was easier to escape down here, and she had no idea what lay in wait in the trees above. Down on the ground also offered her the advantage of fire, both for cooking and protection; she prodded the fire with a stick to keep it burning brightly, but had no problems with letting it burn and grasping it in her mouth to fend off any wild animals out here.

The jungles of the Tenochtitlan basin were a far cry from the peaceful hills, mountains, and plains of Equestria. To the south, after the desert badlands that stretched for indeterminable miles past the southernmost pony settlement of Dodge Junction, the jungles had been a relief at first. But civilization was scarce here, and she had set out into the wilderness from the main city of Tegucigallopa* and not seen another civilization for nearly three days. Neither food nor water was a problem; a book of poisonous plants and their antidotes helped Daring avoid the dangerous ones and find the safe ones to eat, and rivers and rainfall provided abundant clean, drinkable water.

But, this was a wild land. Aside from Tegucigallopa, only two other large cities were present according to her prior research of the area. The basin was sparsely populated and secure stations were few and far between. The three main cities were all located along the same river, and while an occasional village could be spotted along the side of the river beyond that was uncharted territory even to them. A. B. Ravenhoof had been here, though. He was in Tegucigallopa and managed to send a message to Daring Do about an item he had discovered there. Daring found him packing up and preparing to leave almost as soon as Daring had arrived.

“Heh,” Daring said once they’d greeted each other and settled into the patio chairs of Ravenhoof’s hotel room. “You come down to send me on a hunt and you’re about to head out.”

“It’s not that I don’t like the place,” Ravenhoof said, wiping the sweat off his brow. “But I’m used to Equestria proper. It doesn’t have the humidity, the bugs, the lack of civility this place has.”

“Yeah, the ponies here aren’t exactly the friendliest, but that’s never deterred you before.”

“No, but I’ve come at a bad time. There’s a statue here the ponies would like as it’s a national treasure of theirs, but it’s gone lost. I’d be searching for it myself, if there wasn’t the feeling of battle in the air,” Ravenhoof continued.

“Battle, huh?” Daring Do looked out the window and to the streets below. “That would explain the rather tense atmosphere around here. My boat nearly didn’t come here because the captain was scared and shivering in his feathers.”

“And for good reason,” Ravenhoof said. “Apparently there’s another city somewhere out in the wilds west-by-southwest of here by a few days. But there have been a few conflicts with this other city; raiding parties attack every few days, there are reports of monsters out in the surrounding woods, and ponies go missing and are presumed kidnapped.”

“Monsters don’t bother me,” Daring Do replied confidently. “Heck, I’ve faced Ahuizotl three times at least if not more. But yeah, raiding and kidnapping is definitely something to be concerned about.”

“True, true,” Ravenhoof conceded. “Even so, I half wonder if I shouldn’t call this particular expedition quits until the situation settles itself. But this conflict has been going steady for ten years by now. Who knows how long until it’s over?”

Daring Do nodded. “Well, let’s see what you’ve got and we’ll go from there.”

Ravenhoof shrugged. “The Tegucigallopan ponies are in search of a statue of their former ‘god’, Quetzalcoatal. The top of the ‘god’ had the body of a pony but the wings of a parrot, while the bottom half belonged to that of a bright green and gold snake. The ‘god’ is the creator of the Tenochtitlan ponies and the world as they know it, but it ascended into the sky and awaits for a certain pony to come back, one who will call on its name to save them in the time of conflict.”

“Ah, so an item of special significance,” Daring replied.

“Indeed. There used to be ruins out to the northwest that once held an elaborate temple. It was suspected that the statue was last hidden in the temple, but because of the conflicts everyone is too scared to go out there. The jungles are dense and there’s concern about the raiding parties and kidnappings.”

Ravenhoof stood up and walked over to the bathroom. He filled a glass with water from the sink, drank it, and returned to sitting by Daring Do. “The mayor, Aguas Azules, contacted me because they knew about our searching for artifacts like that. They figured we could find it since we were separated from the conflict.”

“I mean, I’m not saying I’m not interested, but there’s a few things I can see going wrong here,” Daring said. “I’m equally at risk as they are of getting captured, first of all. Secondly, that could get worse if they assume I’m on the side of the Tegucigallopan ponies. The precise nature of the mission only makes that worse.”

“All of these occurred to me, as well,” Ravenhoof said. “But I leave it up to you as to whether or not you want to go ahead with it.”

“Is there anypony who can serve as a guide?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“And you’re not staying because you’re about to get out before things get worse.”

“Exactly. I’d be game to join you myself, but this just isn’t for me. I’m getting old, and I’m not quite sure I want to risk it.”

“What do I have to go off of?”

“There have been enough guides and maps made a decent one can be given you, including a guide to the best route to the proposed ruins where the statue would be hiding, hopefully avoiding the main conflict areas. There’s also an illustration that I can give you of the statue to help you identify it.”

Daring Do sighed. “I’ll admit I have my reservations about this. But I’m willing to do it anyways.”

Ravenhoof shrugged. “If you do, just be careful, okay? I’d hate it if you were attacked or kidnapped out here.”

“I’ll be as careful as I can.”

Sitting by the firelight, now busy eating the small pot of kettle-cooked oats, Daring wondered – not for the first time – if she had been foolhardy in coming out this way. There had been no signs of ponies since she left Tegucigallopa, and no sign of the monsters either. But there was a vague feeling of uneasiness in this section of jungle, like everything was tense and on edge, and the night before had fallen with a feeling of being watched a little closer than Daring would have liked. She had seen nopony since leaving Tegucigallopa, but the feeling of being watched settled on her that night again, now twice in a row. The jungles around her trilled with the sound of a million insects, and not once did she hear nor smell anything out of the ordinary.

Daring ate her oats and rinsed out the kettle with some of the water from her canteen before putting it away. She put more logs and kindling on the fire to feed the flames, and laid down on her sleeping bag, her hatchet and stick close at hoof as she pulled out the book on poisonous plants to read.

The jungles grew darker and darker and the light of the fire seemed to penetrate less and less into the thick underbrush. Daring kept a swiveling ear out for any signs of danger, but she heard nothing but the ordinary sounds of the jungle around her.

A short while later, there came the sound of a gentle rain falling on the leaves around her. Daring quickly packed up the book to keep it dry and found a few large leaves and vines. She quickly constructed a sort of roof using the trees overhead, tying the large leaves to the branches with vines to create a cover, and settled back down in her dry circle. The fire kept roaring as before, and Daring settled down in her sleeping bag.

For a long time she laid inside, looking around at the jungle or at the fire, listening to the gentle hiss of rain. There was something about the way it gently pitter-pattered on the leaves and came down smoothly that she found soothing and relaxing. There was no pony out here for miles and the jungles had yet to prove themselves dangerous and she almost felt calm. She took a few deep breaths and felt the content of starting a new journey come into her again.

The rain continued around her, gradually increasing in intensity. Daring found her eyes beginning to droop as she felt relaxed and tired. She tried to keep awake, putting another log on the fire and prodding it with her stick to keep busy. Still the rain continued and still Daring found herself growing sleepy, the rain around her reminding her of cool nights and the rain from the pegasus ponies back home. Daring Do yawned and rested her head on the sleeping bag. The sudden sleepiness now felt strangely uncanny and the rain seemed to be shifting around her instead of a regular storm. Daring turned to the side of the clearing and stretched her hoof out until she knew it was outside of the clearing and held it there to check.

The hoof was dry.

But the “rain” continued.

The sound seemed to shift and swirl around her, at one point sounding like it was a few feet away from her back hooves, then over by her head, then on the opposite side of the fire, then coming back around by her hooves. Daring’s ears and eyes perked and she remained calm but alert and on-edge, trying to gauge the threat level.

The evidence mounted up: something was nearby, stalking her.

Despite the sudden shiver that went up and down her spine, Daring Do didn’t move. It was as though a heavy weight had suddenly been placed on her and despite her efforts it was tough work trying to push up. The “hiss” that sounded like rain continued shifting and swirling around her and it made Daring feel dizzy and off-kilter.

“H-Hey! Show yourself!”

It felt weird trying to shout. It was like her tongue wasn’t listening to her and her voice wasn’t more than a simple conversational volume. She felt lazy and languid and sleepy. She rolled her head on the sleeping bag and tried calling out again.

“I-If you d-d-don’t… if-if you…” Her voice was no more than a whisper, strong and confident but slowly growing weaker. She yawned and found the impulse to speak silenced by a need to simply lay down and rest.

A leaf crackled. A twig broke. The gentle hiss came nearer. Even with all these, Daring found her eyes becoming heavy and hard to keep open. She wondered if someone was putting a spell on her that made it difficult to move. Daring’s head faced the fire and her eyes fluttered. The flickering flames kept a steady watch and the warm glow only soothed her further. She had barely time to process something vaguely pony-like coming out of the bushes behind the fire before she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Author's Note:

* Tegucigallopa = Tegucigalpa, a major city in Honduras in South America