Daring Do and the Curse of the Lost Tomb

by Fedora

Chapter 15: The Final Marker

Daring grunted as the slope of the rocky hill increased even further, and her hooves almost slipped. She carried heavy weight on her back, as did the other two ponies behind her. They mounted the hill rather quickly for being bogged down with gear and reached the dry, cracked soil of the plateau soon enough.

It was late afternoon, and as the setting sun beat down the sand acquired an orange glow. The three ponies set to work hurriedly, setting up the canvas tent and a dining fly.

Daring had chosen this location to be their base camp for a number of reasons. First, it was only a short distance from the site containing the ruins of the final marker. Beyond those to the north was a desert oasis. The ruins themselves were not within sight because a large rocky outcrop. That was the second reason: evading detection. Since the Coalition had set up a rather extensive digging operation including a large base camp of their own, internal-combustion machines to dig and much more there was a need to remain hidden and out of sight.

Daring was rather confident that CAP would not see them, and as an added measure of secrecy they had agreed not to make a fire. Though the desert would get awfully cold at night, they had brought warm layers to dress in. Daring had replaced the torn shirt she had used on Audacity with a fresh one, currently underneath a separate jacket.

“What’s the plan?” Burly asked as he sat down in the doorway of his own canvas tent.

“I don’t know yet... now would be a good time to get the details ironed out,” answered Daring. She spread a crumpled piece of paper out and produced a pencil from her jacket pocket, holding it in her teeth.

“What is that for, taking notes?”

“No, We need to map out their camp. Come with me Scootaround, we’ll check it out from that ledge over there.”

“Better hurry,” warned Burly, “The sun’s setting fast.”

****

From her vantage point, Daring and the filly could see the entirety of the site laid out before their eyes. It was located slightly to the south of the oasis, which appeared as a cluster of trees, shrubs and flowing water in the distance. The site itself consisted of a number of hills that were currently being excavated.

Several different digging groups seemed to be focusing on individual sections of the ruins. Scootaround noted that the whole process seemed rather complicated; there were ponies who dug with shovels, ponies with wheelbarrows transporting raw dirt, large vehicles with oversized metal shovels also helped in the digging.

“It looks like there’s an entrance to something up there,” Daring noted, pointing in the direction of a hill that had been mostly dug away. The digging efforts had revealed a threshold of some kind, and a set of great stone doors remained firmly shut. Daring couldn’t make out more detail than that what with all the commotion around the site and the distance she was at.

To the west of the digging area were several sets of military-style tents, arranged in a semicircle. A water tower had been constructed and near to that was a loading area for ponies pulling cartloads of supplies to unload. Daring scribbled down all the detail she could in a crude drawing of the encampment. She was already thinking of ideas of how to approach this, and it was starting to seem easier than she had previously thought.

“What do you think?” Scootaround asked, Daring looked thoughtful for a moment and tapped her chin.

“The approach is gonna be tricky.... I wonder how well guarded it’s gonna be.”

“You can fight your way past guards though, right?”

“Kid... It’s not a matter of fighting one or two guards. If there’s a scuffle the WHOLE camp is gonna come down on us. We’ll be dead in the water.”

“No,” continued Daring, “This has to be totally secretive. Nopony from the CAP group or the local diggers they’ve contracted must know we’re there or the whole thing’s gonna be shot.”

****

The desert cooled down rapidly at night. As she and the others descended the hill, she was glad for her jacket. Several hours had passed. They had listened to the CAP encampment wrap up for the evening at 7:00, and by 9:00 Everypony was partying and in high spirits. Right now it was 10:30, and those who were still awake were contented with staying to their cabins and playing cards. There was not much noise echoing around.

Burly kept his eyes peeled for signs of ambush. He lacked trust in the cover of darkness and knew that silence could be misleading. His only comfort was the revolver at his side on a holster, which he had packed extra munitions for and was already loaded. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to use it; it was a last of last resorts. He knew full well that a gunshot would give them away, but then again if it came to firing guns in the first place, their presence would probably already have been given away.

For Daring’s part, she was covering her own anxieties as well as feeling a little for the filly beside her. In all truth she didn’t like the thought of her tagging along for something this high-stakes, though she didn’t doubt in her usefulness or ability. Her fear was that something bad would happen to Scootaround exclusively, and that she would ultimately be at fault for allowing her to be with her. She was, after all, her guardian.

Daring’s mind also was wrapping around academic approaches to the big picture. Even as she took quiet strides down the rocky slope her mind began wandering, fitting the original (apparently falsified) legend with what they had discovered since. The Empire of Ancient Arabia existed millennia ago, before the proto-civilizations that formed the three pony empires in the west had even formed. There was little to no concrete proof that had existed before this quest had begun, and now they were on the cusp of unearthing something big: the capital city! Was it possible that wherever the marker would lead them next would be the resting place of the last king? Was the resting place inside the capital, as the text had suggested? How did Discord fit into all of this?

That was perhaps the most troubling of all. Discord’s curses were very real to Daring. She had almost become a mindless slave to the chaotic realm herself, after being forcefully inducted into a discipleship by a mad unicorn. Though the actual being known as Discord had been defeated by the princesses of old, traces of his power still lingered. The inscriptions had specifically warned of a terrible curse that affected the greedy and those who desired power. Power and wealth led to corruption, and corruption led to chaos. It was easy to see how it could have fit into a crazy scheme of the lord of chaos many years ago.

As many long-standing questions seemed to have been answered gave rise to new ones. What had Discord been after when he cursed the king? Was it out of jealousy? Maybe the empire was too advanced for it’s time, and he saw it as a threat to the wild, untamed world. It was all pointless speculation until they had some kind of concrete evidence, and Daring was looking forward to the big reveal. No matter what it entailed, it would go down in the history books as one of the major discoveries of the 20th century, and forever re-write their views of the ancient world if a civilization was found that pre-dated the current earliest.

Stretched before them was a scene of half-finished work shrouded in the darkness of night. The site was still only partially excavated, and what was originally an above-ground structure found itself still half-buried under the sands of time. They had arrived at the dig site, and were the only ponies in sight.

“I can’t see anything,” Scootaround whispered, only to have Burly look at her sharply and hold a hoof to his mouth.

No chatter, he mouthed.

Daring approached the opening to the partially revealed structure, studying the architecture. It may have been a pointless move, but even in doing so she was starting to figure out how to open the fastened doors. It was very simple really; they needed a key. A partially circular key to be exact, with edges to match the contours of an engraved key hole.

“This is it,” whispered Daring, motioning for Scootaround and Burly to gather near. She unhooked something from around her neck: the pendant was the key as usual. She was sensing a pattern here. Silently Daring slid the pendant into place, pressing it inwards sharply. The effect was immediate: the stones slid aside to allow entry into the structure. The scent of stale air and decay greeted them immediately as the trapped oxygen burst out from the seal with a great rush. To the ponies it was like a sudden blast of wind that soon subsided, leaving them feeling a little lightheaded.

“Wait to light the torch until we’re inside,” Daring whispered. She led the way for the others down into the dark entrance, where she could see absolutely nothing at all. Even the moon faded from view as they turned a corner, plunging all three of them into complete darkness.

“Dr. Do...” Scootaround whispered as they advanced deeper, although slowly and carefully. Daring was wary of traps and was taking every precaution, therefore was slow in her approach. Slow and steady.

“Dr. Do.... something just crawled over my hoof...” Scootaround whispered, sounding scared.

“It’s probably just a bug. I wouldn’t worry.”

“Daring, I’ve been feeling them drop from the ceiling onto me too,” murmured Burly, “I think we’d better see what’s going on.”

“I don’t know if we’re deep enough in yet... but alright,” Daring said. She set the torch she had taken with them down and took out her quick start fire implements (namely flint, steel, and a bit of liquid fuel kept in a bottle). She didn’t want to screw around with char cloth and sparks in the dark like this, so her approach was a little messy. Cracking open a repurposed soda pop bottle, she poured a small amount of liquid over the top of the torch, wetting it enough so that it would ignite with little effort. That it did, almost a little too strongly for no sooner had Daring struck the flint and steel together than she had to stumble backwards to keep from getting singed.

“Mother of...” Burly gasped, looking out into the chamber they were currently in. Now that Daring was holding a lit torch aloft, the insides were visible under the light of the flickering flame. The floors around them were alive with scurrying 8-legged arachnids, some large and hairy, others crunchy and crab-like. The spiders shrunk away from the fire’s bright light out of surprise, forming a circle of sorts around Daring and the others.

“I got some on my back still, “ Burly whispered, shaking himself off and sending a few of the spiders flinging off. One landed right in front of Scootaround’s front hooves and she recoiled. The many beady eyes of the hairy bug seemed to stare up at her as it worked it’s mouthparts, exposing a set of deadly fangs.

“Watch out, you don’t know if it’s poisonous or not,” Daring warned, right before Burly interrupted.

“It is. I know this species. One bite won’t kill you necessarily.... “

“But what?!”

“Well, the venom causes pretty bad necrosis around the bite....”

“Necrosis?”

“Picture the skin beneath your coat kind of rotti-”

“Alright, that’s enough,” interrupted Daring. She didn’t want to give the filly nightmares over spider bites and such things. For her part, Daring wasn’t much afraid of the spiders. For whatever reason she could tolerate just about any kind of creepy crawlies except for slithering snakes. Spiders could easily be overlooked.

“Here,” Daring said, pointing the torch down at the spiders gathering around Scootaround. They ignited and twitched erratically, but within seconds all movement stopped as the cluster of spiders was turned to ash. It had little effect on the mass of spiders covering the floor around them, but it helped the filly to be a little more at ease.

Daring looked to the chamber around her. Apparently the presence of venomous spiders was the only deathtrap in this particular marker. In fact, there was no other passageways leading elsewhere. There were no tables, statues, idols, or anything. All that the chamber contained was a set of engravings and pictographs on the walls, and a gold-plated staff stuck right into the center. It stood about a meter or more high and was currently covered in a tangled mess of spider’s web and spiders themselves.

“Alright, I have Audacity’s book with me. I don’t have him to help me translate this time, so bear with me,” Daring said. She tossed an unlit torch over to Burly, who caught it with a hoof. He proceeded to lite it off the flame from her own torch, holding the burning stick aloft above his head, casting even more light into the cobwebby chamber crawling with arachnids.

Daring had the book out on the floor in front of her. She would reference it with a single hoof to flip pages, but otherwise did not touch it. She had to use her other front hoof to hold onto her own burning torch, which was employed in both providing light and shooing away spiders.

The pictographs on the walls showed various scenes. One seemed to depict the capital city itself, and a towering structure that was both wide and tall. It was the king’s palace, and it was surrounded on all sides by city structures and streets. Overall the pictures depicted a relatively happy population. There was no disease or disharmony so far.

The reverse was true in another picture. This one was painted with darker colors and was partially chipped away over time. The temple itself was intact, but seemed swallowed up in a black cloud. The buildings around it that were once prosperous were now in shambles. Ponies starved in the streets, odd formations erupted from the earth. A familiar figure’s face appeared in the midst of the clouds, one Daring had read about, taught about, seen stained glass windows about. Songs, plays, and literature bore his cursed name: Discord. The visage was undeniably his. The slanted face, uneven eyes, horns, and snaggle tooth. Discord was depicted with a blackish beard and thick black eyebrows, slightly different from his usual appearance. But then, it was likely that Discord had been around long before Equestria knew of his rule over a thousand years ago.

“This spot has little importance symbolically,” Daring translated from the inscription, “You have done well to find it. Very near to here is the resting place of the king, in his own temple turned tomb.”

“So the tomb of the king is the temple?” Burly repeated, “alright...”

“Chaos runs amok, and lingering traces remain. Creatures of old resurrected from the dried bones. Curses on those who display avarice. The city is buried, there is little hope.”

“Sounds depressing.”

“But wait, here’s this,” Daring continued, “The mage fought valiantly against Chaos. Seek out his magic in his staff and use it well. The fight... the fight against your own.... I don’t know, it’s broken off from there. There was quite a bit more to it, but the rest is unreadable.”

“So that staff is some kind of wizard’s stick? It can do magic?”

“Apparently. I’m a bit skeptical,” Daring admitted, “But maybe we should bring it with us to the tomb itself. I have a feeling it’s nearby, if this is really a part of the city itself....”

She felt a little crazed herself. The pendant seemed to be pulling at her even as it hung loosely from around her neck. It had plagued her dreams for weeks, filling them with sights so awful and indescribable. It seemed to whisper to her, though she knew nopony else could hear the faint voice begging for her to return it.

“Dr. Do....” Scootaround peeped, backing into her leg. Daring broke her train of obsession over returning the pendant and looked down, only to recoil. The spiders were approaching aggressively in mass quantities. It was a swarm of them, and they seemed intent on reaching the ponies.

She dipped her hoof down, waving the flame at the advancing spiders and burning through their ranks. The burnt arachnids shriveled and smoked as the ones closeby scuttled away some distance. Burly began doing the same from the other side, making swipes at the ground with his burning torch.

“Toss me the staff, you’re closeby,” Daring called. Burly killed a few more of the crawling spiders and was able to reach out with his other front leg and grab the staff with his free hoof. He threw, but it clattered to the floor about a meter short of Daring.

“My bad,” he said. Daring scooped the staff up, examining it closely. There was an interesting way the top was shaped that made her believe it was of some relevance. Perhaps, like the pendant, it was a key of some kind used to unlock multiple things. Maybe the pendant had served it’s purpose in getting them here, and now that they were close to finding the king’s tomb itself they needed this.

“Let’s get going,” she said, “I have a feeling where we can start looking for the tomb itself tomorrow, but now we need to get back to our camp before CAP notices that we’re here.”

****

A blood-curdling scream could be heard as the team left the area in silence. It made Daring pause, glancing over to the CAP camp in concern. There was a great fire, encompassing more than just the main fire pit but also one of the canvas tents. The sillouettes of a gas-powered truck and several empty carts could be seen against the bright blaze, along with the forms of ponies running left and right.

“Daring!” Burly shouted, but it was too late. Out of almost nowhere a humongous weight pinned her to the ground, and the adventuress found herself face-to-face with a scaly, snarling raptor. It hissed at her as it stood above her, foot on her chest and killing claw ready to dive down into her heart.

KERBLAM!

The raptor’s piercing eyes rolled back into its skull as the beast flopped over, powerless. A hole had been blown into the back of its head by Burly. Daring shot him a gratified look before dusting herself off. That had been sudden, and scary. Why were there raptors here, when they had only previously been seen in the south of Equestria? More importantly, why were they even here in the first place? Hadn’t they died out with the rest of the dinosaurs millions of years ago?

“There are more of them, I’d suggest getting out of here,” Burly warned, looking off to the distance. Daring peered with him, and saw the reflections of the moonlight on no less than six tiger-striped bodies.

“Run! Go!”

The three took off in the general direction of the CAP camp, there being no other place to run to or hide. Daring ushered Scootaround along behind her as Burly bounded up on the rear, pausing to throw a backwards glance at the raptors and fire off a shot. One of the times he got lucky in the dark of the night, as there was an injured screech from a wounded saurian.

“The truck!” Daring called out, opening the door to the side of the vehicle and leaping into the driver’s seat. Burly opened the passenger door and threw Scootaround inside. From the burning tents nearby came a low growl, and he glanced over to see a raptor dashing for him, claws outstretched.

The vile creature tackled him before he even got the chance to reach for his weapon. Burly fell to the ground with the raptor atop his chest. It snarled down and slashed at his face, but it’s legs were not in position to latch onto him with the killing claw. With a grunt Burly struck up at the scaly snout and knocked the raptor back. The startled creature reared its head, and Burly curled his back legs up enough to get beneath its stomach, kicking outwards and sending the raptor sprawling .

Cut and bruised, Burly swung himself up and into the truck, closing the door behind him and latching it shut. Frustrated and unable to reach its prey, the raptor rammed into the door.

“Go!” Scootaround yelled, as Daring tried to start the engine. It turned and sputtered, but didn’t start all the way. She tried again, this time getting the engine revved entirely as the truck settled into a steady hum. She searched around for a switch on the left side and found one that turned the headlights on.

“Hey! Get out of our truck!” shouted an agent, coming around to the front and pointing a gun at the windshield angrily.

“Ignore him, just go!”

“But-”

“Daring look out!”

A raptor leaped out from the darkness and into the brightness of the headlights. The agent screamed and fired wildly at it, but the monster was already upon him. The two disappeared below the hood of the truck and out of sight. The three ponies could hear struggling and thumps as they hit up against the front grill and bumper. An orange tail flopped upwards and the cry of the raptor tore through the air, accompanied by a blood curdling scream that was cut short.

Moments later the head of the beast rose above the edge of the bumper and into Daring’s line of vision. It’s jaws were stained red and clenched over something floppy and tube-like. In that moment she had seen plenty, and flipped the gear into drive. She pressed down onto the accelerator and the truck jumped into action. The engine roared and the tires went thump as they ran over both the dinosaur and the corpse of the agent and sped off over the sand dunes.

“Daring, for Celestia’s sake what are you doing?!” Burly yelled. The truck swerved and skidded side to side and the two passengers felt themselves being thrown about against the sides.

“Use the seatbelts!”

“What’s a seatbelt?”

“Look to your side, Scootaround!”

“There’s nothing there!”

“Daring, this truck doesn’t have any seatbelts! Drive a little slower!”

“And get eaten by raptors? I don’t think so!”

She drove faster over the dunes of sand to the north until trees began appearing around them. To Daring’s surprise there were also rocky outcrops among the trees, in clearly defined angular shapes. There was some kind of ruins here, too. They must be in the oasis!

“Why are you slowing? I thought...”

“A minute ago you were telling me to slow down, be quiet for a minute,” snapped Daring. She turned the key and listened carefully after the engine ceased to hum.

“Dr. Do, what are....”

“Shhh, listen.”

They strained their ears, but little straining was necessary to pick up the faint shrieking and the distant roars. The fires engulfing much of the CAP outpost lit the sky ablaze and illuminated many of the sand dunes beyond the edge of the oasis. There were no raptors chasing them, they had stayed behind at the camp.

“What were those things?” Burly asked in bewilderment as Daring gave the ok to exit the vehicle.

“Raptors. Some kind of subspecies. I’m not an expert of zoology, but I know that they’re supposed to be extinct.”

“That was what I thought. Why are they here?”

“I don’t know. What’s interesting is that we saw a group of them in Equestria, in the southernmost limits of the country where nopony lives anymore,” explained Daring, “They also looked exactly the same, which is kinda odd considering how far apart they are globally.”

“But how?! Damn, these have been dead for who knows how long, and suddenly they reappear?”

“You don’t know how long they’ve been here, we’re just discovering them now in places we’ve never ventured before. The jungles, the deserts, and the tundras are mighty, wild and untamed. Who knows what else is out there?”

“Bastard tore a hole in my hat,”

“Burly, he tore a gash across your nose.”

“Guys.... look!”

Daring turned her head to look where Scootaround had been pointing, and to her complete surprise she found herself staring up at the colossal building blocks and carved stone that made up the top of the King’s temple. Her jaw dropped, raptors completely forgotten. They were here!

She felt an odd sensation around her neck. She knew that nothing was actually happening, but once again the pendant began to tug at her soul, trying to drag her towards the structure. She felt scared and a little excited at the same time. It was time to return the pendant, then they could worry about exploring the ruins properly, with a complete archaeological team.

But first she had to get down there. She just had to put the pendant to rest, to end the weeks of restlessness and nightmares.

“This is it,” she spoke, “Inside is the tomb itself. I don’t know what waits for us inside, but it’s our job to get down there and set things right.”

“Set... what right?”

“What are you talking about Dr. Do?”

“I... wait, I haven’t told you about the pendant?”

“You freaked out one night, but other than that, no.”

Daring took a deep breath.

“This pendant here... it’s from the burial room. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know. It’s like it speaks to me... pulling me here.”

“Daring, are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah... I guess. It’s hard to rationalize, because it’s not really rational at all. I bet it’s part of the curse that the inscriptions talk about.”

“We should get inside there, though,” Burly agreed, “Look around you. See those mounds? The cracked shells in the moonlight?”

“Raptor nests. Where are the juveniles?”

“Hatched a while ago, probably off learning how to hunt with the adults. We should get behind those stone walls, it’s the only place where they can’t get us right now.”

“What about exploring the tomb?” Scootaround asked.

“That too.”

They mounted the side of the structure one at a time, climbing up and over the large stones that made up the side of the structure. Despite being mostly buried beneath the dirt and sand a good 10 meters jutted out of the ground. Daring was up and onto the top of the building first with the help of flight. She circled above once, glancing at the possibilities for entry. There was a sizeable slab of rock over the top of the tomb’s peak.

“Burly, I think I’ve got it,” she said as she set herself down. Burly was just coming up to the top along with Scootaround, and his face was noticeably sweaty.

“Gimme a hoof here, this might be a bit heavy.”

“That’s it?” He remarked, unimpressed, “A slab of rock? That’s what’s been keeping ponies out for all these years?”

“Burly, nopony knew about this. Maybe stories, but they didn’t know it was here.”

“And the raptors!” blurted Scootaround.

“Yeah, those too. Even if they came anywhere near here, it’d be during the day when the raptors are at their nests. They’d be eaten on the spot.”

“Good point.”

The two adults bent over, each wiggling a hoof under the edge of the heavy stone slab and working it up. Burly groaned, and Daring gritted her teeth together. It was much heavier than it actually appeared.

SWOOOOOOSH

A rush of air greeted them as before, though much stronger and with a greater stench. It gave them the extra boost they needed to slide the slab all the way off, exposing a squarish hole and the blackness of the tomb underneath.

Daring coughed and waved the air in front of her nose. She glanced down into the chamber below, but couldn’t make much out at all. Since she was able to fly, she would go down first to gauge how far down the floor really was.

“Listen, I’m gonna go down there. If the drop’s not too bad I’ll call up, if it’s more you’ll have to use my whip, or maybe some rope. Do you have rope?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll have you toss it down then. I can find something to tie it off to.”

She lifted a leg and swung herself down through the hole. It was a tight fit, but she was inside securely. Daring spread her wings and floated down slowly. There was a small amount of light from the moon flowing down through the opening, but not enough to illuminate everything. She could see the ground below her, which was rather ornate tiling fit for a king. She landed swiftly, testing the solidness with a bit of a kick. It held.

“Alright, I’m gonna light a torch!” she called up. As she took the materials to light the torch back up again she heard something low and ominous. It was like a hiss of some kind, a low hiss. She didn’t like the sound of that. From within the chamber she saw beady glowing eyes move around.

Something alive was down here with her.

The torch sprung to life with a sputtering flame that grew in intensity and startled the creature, but not as much as Daring was startled when she saw it’s form. The size and length took her by surprise, and as she recognized the distinctive facial structure and scaly skin her face paled.

She was in the middle of a circular arena chamber with a gigantic snake.

“Daring, what is it?” Burly called down.

“Help....me,” she sputtered quietly. Her legs began quivering and shaking. She backed away slowly, even as the monstrous snake approached. It stayed out of the direct light however, contenting itself to loom on the edge of the darkness. Daring’s worst nightmare had been realized. Memories from her childhood of snakes came welling back up, nearly driving her to tears of sheer terror.

Despite being a brave adventuress, Daring had one irrational fear that she knew she would never overcome. She was ophidiophobic to an extreme. She felt herself shutting down and for a moment, Daring Do sobbed.

“Pull yourself together Daring! There’s nothing down there!”

“You come down here and say that!” she shouted angrily, now backed up against the wall. The great beast slithered closer, rearing back. It’s cold, slitted eyes stared into hers, yet it still stayed out of the torch’s light.

“Daring, there’s nothing down there!”

She couldn’t believe Burly. How did he even know? How could he say that despite the very real snake threatening her. Daring could hear the rapid thumping of her heart and the shallow, quick breaths. The snake’s forked tongue slid out and it hissed at her. It hissed at her.

“Sweet Celestia, No!” she screamed, dashing to the side and running around the chamber until she found a pillar support. She crouched behind it, shielding her face with her free hoof and trembling.

“What is it?!”

“THERE’S A GIANT FREAKING SNAKE DOWN HERE!!!” she wailed.

“I don’t see anything!”

“OF COURSE YOU DON’T SEE ANYTHING! YOU’RE SAFE AND SOUND UP THERE!”

The creature slid around again, and she could hear the hissing and the scales scraping up against the tiled floors. She dared not look at it. Maybe it would just go away....

“Daring, you’re jumping at shadows! There isn’t anything down there!”

Daring peeked her eyes open. She was still holding a torch, and the snake was still near to her, though still not daring to enter into the direct light. Despite her overwhelming fear, something clicked into place. She stopped sobbing and tried something.

She held the torch out, closer to the snake. It recoiled from the light. That wasn’t normal.

She got an idea. On the walls were more torches, held into place with holsters. Daring tip-hoofed into action and lit one of them. The lit area of the chamber expanded slightly, and the snake slithered away from her a bit farther.

A realization hit her. It was using the shadows to hide in. Maybe if she got rid of all the shadows...

She took to the air, flying around the chamber and lighting every torch she could find with her own lit one. One on the north side, one on the south side, two on the east, another one on the west. As more and more of the chamber became lit, the snake retreated. It’s sized diminished, and with the last of the torches lit it disappeared entirely with the shadows.

“What’s going on down there!”

“It was a trick! I don’t know what it was, some kind of shadowy magic. It’s gone now, though!” Daring yelled back breathlessly.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“I’m feeling alright. Much better now that the snake’s gone. Those creep me out. Here, I’ll toss the rope up. There’s nowhere to tie it near the ceiling, you’ll have to tuck it under the slab. It should hold.”

“Uhm, Daring-”

“Yes?”

“There’s... ouch!”

There was a scuffling sound, and several grunts. Somepony was fighting.

“Hello, Daring Do?” called a feminine voice. Daring’s smile faded into a scowl. Elise!

“Daring, we have your friends at gunpoint, you have no choice!” shouted a stronger voice, presumably belonging to Broken Bank. She could hear Scootaround and Burly’s muffled cries, there had to be two more ponies with them at least, probably armed agents. This was bad.

“What do you want from me?”

“It’s simple, really. We’re not going to let you claim the prize.”

“I don’t want a prize, this is about returning the pendant and researching a civilization that-”

“Daring, Daring, Daring,” Elise interrupted, “You’re going to be a big help. A very big help. You’re going to guide us through this.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Then you can kiss your hindquarters and those of your two friends here goodbye. “

Comments

[Borg]

I wonder what Burly and Scoots would have seen in the shadows if they had come down?

Anyway, time to guide CAP to their deaths. Have fun!