Daring Do and the Curse of the Lost Tomb

by Fedora

Chapter 5: Truck Chase

The metal screamed in protest as it was torn off from the speeding truck. Rivets popped and parts clanged as the roof was torn off the top like the skin off from a fruit. The branch narrowly missed Daring's head even as she ducked, and within a couple of seconds it had all passed. The roof of the truck clanged to the ground yards behind them, and all that was left was shards of metal on the truck's sides where it had been torn off.

"Whoops," Daring mumbled in an extreme understatement. Branches snapped and trees bent as they crashed down the hill and back onto the road. Daring had spotted a possible shortcut a minute ago that would cut off an entire loop and take them much closer to the cart's position, but it involved cutting through pure forest. She had done so, and as a consequence the truck's roof had been torn right off by a strong branch.

Now that they were back on the road, Daring floored the accelerator once more. The truck sped up gradually until it had reached an unsafe speed of eighty miles per hour through the forest.

"Whoo hoo, isn't this something?" Daring whooped. Scootaround's face paled as she watched the trees streak by in a greenish blur. The run-in with the tree branch had shaken the filly visibly.

"Dr. Do, look!" shouted the filly, snapping out of it and pointing ahead. As they swerved and turned a corner Daring saw it too. It was the end of a cart just ahead of them, growing larger and larger in their field of vision. Daring eased up on the gas, bringing them down in speed from eighty down to just over fifty- the speed the cart was traveling at. She feathered on the pedal to maintain a very close distance behind the cart. It was boxy in its shape and had a door at its aft end. The face of a very concerned looking pony poked around the side as one of the towers saw the approaching truck. The cart sped up significantly. Daring looked down at the controls of the vehicle.

"Alright kid, how do you feel about driving this thing?" she asked, having to yell over the sound of thundering hooves in front of them and the roar of the engine.

"Drive it, are you crazy?!" Scootaround shot back. She wasn't confident in Daring's driving ability, let alone her own.

"You're good with vehicles!"

"That's bicycles and scooters and stuff, not trucks!" Scootaround exclaimed, covering her face with the side of her leg, "This thing's got explosions going on inside of it!"

"Scoot, you need to listen," Daring said, "I need to get onto that cart. There's got to be somepony in control of this thing while I do that. Just keep a hoof on that pedal and steer so that you stay behind the cart."

With that, Daring scooted out of the driver's seat and out onto the side of the vehicle. Scootaround yelped and pushed herself over into the driver's seat, pressing down onto the accelerator and grabbing the steering wheel in both hooves. The truck sped up suddenly and swerved, its front end crashing into the back of the cart.

"Woah!" Daring yelled as she was thrown free from her position by the crash. She placed her hooves out in front of her and struck the back of the cart, crashing through the wooden door and into the compartment inside. She landed with a thud and groaned for a moment.

Daring picked herself up. The cart jostled around beneath her and the setting sun's light poured in through the hole where the door had just been. The same door now lay in the center of the inside of the cart below Daring.

The pony set to work immediately, scooping up items and rummaging around for the pendant. Where was it? She pried open a crate just as the cart sped over a bump, and the contents spilled out all over the place. Counterfeit bits, how typical of criminals! The pendant was not among the fake money, and so Daring pushed the box aside.

There was another bump, and Daring looked back to see how Scootaround was handling the truck. To her surprise and shock, the truck was no longer visible from behind the cart. With a sudden jolt Daring felt the cart move to the side and strike something- the truck!

"Knock it off!" Scootaround yelled, slamming the steering wheel sideways and slamming the cart back. She had pulled up alongside the cart by now as the road widened. They were outside the forest by this point and were in a clearing on a particularly wide ridge trail. There was a hill that went up with a slight climb, and that had made the ponies pulling the cart slow down a tad, and also forced her to use more gas to climb the hill while staying level with the cart.

Daring felt the ground shift as the cart climbed upwards. The box that she had opened up slid sideways and fell out the back of the cart, spreading bright silver and gold fakes out onto the cracked soil of the ridge. The pony opened up another box, hoping to find something other than more illegal coinage. She was lucky- the crate was full of items that had been stolen from the ruins, and sure enough there was the pendant sitting neatly on top.

It was at that moment that another pony opened the door to the front of the cart and stepped inside. Daring's eyebrows furrowed and she gritted her teeth as she recognized the pony as none other than Elise Stiflehock, the traitor.

The grayish mare rushed at Daring, reaching for the pendant. Daring sidestepped her, but the gravity changed again as the cart began its downhill descent. Daring lost her balance and fell, along with the pendant. The item dropped to the ground as Daring was slammed up against a stack of crates rather violently. Elise's eyes gleamed as she scooped up the item with one hoof and began to exit back the way she came. Daring wouldn't allow this, and jumped up to grab her back legs, forcing the mare back into the cart along with the pendant.

Scootaround's truck was out of control. The ponies driving the cart had slammed into her again just as she had reached the crest of the hill, and had sent her into an uncontrollable streak of skidding and swerving as she thundered down the hill. She didn't let up on the gas either, and so had gone further than the cart down the hill. The filly gave the steering wheel a turn to avoid crashing against the side of a rocky outcrop and the truck moved too far to the left, cutting across the cart's path. The cart's ponies turned to avoid crashing into the truck, but the side of the cart slammed into the truck and sent it careening off the road. Scootaround screamed as the truck began descending the side of the ridge down into the badlands below. There was no way she could avoid it now. She slammed on the other pedal- the brakes. It was no use, the truck was now falling out of control down the steep side of the slope.

Scootaround bailed out the side, crashing into the dusty side of the the slope and tumbling head over hooves and scraping herself up until she slid to a stop, panting. Below her the truck rolled and crashed, parts flying off and the front crumpling like a paper bag.

Daring struck the ground with a sudden thump and tumbled backwards. Elise had pushed her out the back of the cart and Daring struck the cracked earth. Hard.

After tumbling to a stop just on the edge of the steep slope, Daring took a moment to breath. The cart thundered away across the ridge and out of sight. Daring felt sore all over the place, feeling about a dozen new scrapes and cuts that would need to be tended to quickly. She took a deep breath, feeling a pain in her chest and coughed.

Panting, the pony dragged herself to the edge of the slope, looking for the truck. What she saw wasn't pretty.

Down below the edge of the slope, perhaps a hundred feet down, was the truck. It was immobile, and it was on its side. There was no Scootaround to be seen anywhere.

Daring got to her hooves quickly, looking up and down for the filly.

"Scootaround!" she called, listening for a response. She heard none.

"Scootaround!!" she called again, this time a little more desperately. She heard something this time, a bit of a weak coughing coming from somewhere below her.

"I'm over here!" came the weak voice of the filly. Daring galloped down the side of the slope immediately, following the direction of the voice. She could see her now; the filly was covered in dirt and was walking up the side of the slope towards her. She appeared visibly shaken, but was otherwise alright. Daring closed the gap between them quickly, scooping her up in a tight embrace.

"Are you hurt?" she demanded, looking worried.

"I think I'm ok," Scootaround coughed, "just a little dust in my throat. Other than that I'll be alright. Can't say the same about that truck."'

****

The truck was a lost cause. As the two ponies circled the form of the vehicle it was obvious. The wheels had come off, axles were bent, and the tank had been ruptured. Gasoline dripped out from it and soaked through the dry dirt, completely useless to them now.

"I can climb in and get some of the stuff inside," Scootaround offered. Daring nodded. They'd need their bags and the first aid kits Daring had stashed inside hers. The filly paused for a moment before re-entering the wreck.

"Did you get it?" asked Scootaround. Daring nodded lightly, and unbuttoned the top couple of buttons on her shirt, which was now torn and ripped in places. There around her neck was the pendant, looking as dazzling as ever.

"We've got to make haste towards that town or whatever," Daring coughed, "The sun's gonna be down very soon, and you don't want to get caught out in the open when night falls. We need to seek shelter fast."

"What are you so worried about?" asked the filly from inside the truck's wreck. She emerged a second later with Daring's bag. Daring slung the strap over herself and adjusted her pith helmet back into position.

"Predators," Daring replied grimly.

****

The town retained its eerie quality, and the darkening skies did little to lessen the oppressive atmosphere. Daring felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she walked down the streets lined with abandoned buildings. Of course, these had originally been built in a lush green area on the edge of the Black Forest when the town had been constructed. By now the badlands had crept onto the area, and the soil was cracked, dry, and devoid of life.

Just like the town itself, Daring thought to herself. As soon as the thoughts crossed her mind another one entered. What if it wasn't? She didn't believe in ghosts or haunting spirits that crept around the places they had died, but she had an inescapable feeling of being watched. She looked to the filly beside her and discovered that she was shivering.

"Scared?" Daring asked. Scootaround shook her head.

"No, it's getting chilly," she replied, her teeth chattering. Daring looked around at the buildings for a good candidate of a place to board up in until the morning. There was the saloon from earlier, but she didn't feel like going into that place again. There were several houses and storefronts, but the doors were wide open on most of them and Daring knew that the open doors were already a bad sign. She didn't want to go into a place littered with skeletons and whatever those creepy eggshells were if she didn't have to.

She finally saw a building that had a closed door- one that was latched shut, in fact. The sheriff's building. It was of a respectable size, and looked as if nopony had entered it as of yet. That was a good thing.

Daring opened the latch and pushed the door open. It was dark inside, and she was a little apprehensive about what she might find there. She couldn't see much of the inside of the building in the retreating light, and so she fumbled about looking for a light switch.

Wait a second, did this building even have electricity? It may have been abandoned since before the power source was extremely common. There didn't appear to be any power lines.

Scootaround was slightly more successful. She found an oil lantern that still had some fuel left in it sitting on a wooden shelf inside the dark building. She brought it over and showed it to Daring.

"Very good," approved Daring, patting the filly on the head. She took her flint and steel pieces out and struck them several times. Sparks flew about, but none landed on the lighting wick.

"Wait a second," Scootaround said, and produced a box of matches from the same spot she had gotten the lamp from. The lamp was a light in a matter of seconds after that, and illuminated the entire inside of the sheriff's building.

It wasn't as bad as Daring thought. In fact, it almost looked like it could have been in use to this day, albeit messily. There were keys laying down on the ground, and various shovels and pickaxes leaning against one side of the wall. The bars to a couple of jail cells swung wide open, and the drawers to the desk were missing completely. Other than that, the building was relatively clear of the creepiness that permeated the rest of the abandoned town. Daring swung the door shut behind her, and latched it from the inside. That was better.

She sat down in the chair behind the desk, which had presumably belonged to whoever had been the sheriff of this little community. It had a well-used feel to it, and Daring felt relaxed enough at this point to breath a sigh of relief. She sat in the chair with her eyes closed for a number of minutes, simply breathing and mulling things over in her head.

They had found text with the map inside that chamber, and the map had a spot marked out on it. Daring thought she knew whereabouts the spot corresponded in real life, but she would need to see what the text said in order to see if she could confirm her guess. To do that, she needed to talk to Edgewise. Edgewise had been her language professor in college, and was an older pony who had a knack for being able to decipher things. He had an impressive library in his mansion in Fillydelphia, which had reference material galore.

Daring was jealous of the amount of knowledge that her language professor had amassed in his collection, and had spent some time in his library on weekends pouring over some of the literature. During several of her breaks during sophomore year of college she had spent a week at a time at the mansion. Edgewise had decided to take a trip, and he was willing to pay her handsomely for watching his and his wife's son, who had been starting high school at the time. Daring made a mental note to speak to Edgewise as soon as possible. If anypony would be able to have a way to translate that text, it would be him.

Daring opened her eyes once again, glancing at Scootaround. The filly was rummaging through the various drawers and cabinets inside the building in a vain attempt to find something. Daring raided her eyebrows.

"What're you looking for?" she asked. Scootaround popped her head up from under a low cabinet.

"I'm looking for some food. I'm pretty hungry."

The mention of food reminded Daring of her own hunger. Either they'd be forced to tough it out and wait until they could trek back to the station and the outpost, or they'd have to find something to eat here.

Daring didn't know if she liked the sound of that. She highly doubted that anything in the saloons or restaurants were still safe to eat. The iceboxes would have melted out and all frozen goods would have gone bad years ago. Anything stored in cans would have spoiled a long time ago as well. There also wasn't trees of any kind in the immediate vicinity, so the chances of finding fruit was slim to none.

Wait a second. They had food. How could she have forgotten?

"Scoot, have some granola," Daring said. She dug a pair of wrapped bars of oats and honey, and gave one to Scootaround. The filly gladly accepted the food and began chewing on it happily. Daring nibbled at hers a little more slowly. It wasn't much, but it was better than going hungry.

And better than going out there, she thought. She didn't know what it was, but for some reason the thought of going outside was daunting. She had heard tales of ghosts and of evil spirits that would swoop down and grab foals at night as a kid. Of course, she was older now and knew that such stories were foolish, but there was still something about this place that gave Daring the creeps.

"We need water," Scootaround noted, looking about. Daring groaned. She knew the filly was right. She had drank the last few drops out of her canteen earlier in the day. She also knew where they could get water- no doubt there was a well of some kind at the end of the strip.

"Alright," Daring said, resigned. She stood up and looked around for something. Scootaround went and dragged a sizable wooden bucket out from the cabinet. It was small, but it would hold enough water for just the two of them. Daring thought she remembered where she had seen a pump earlier in the day. She picked the bucket up by the handle and opened the door with one hoof.

"Stay in here until I get back," Daring told Scootaround despite having a bucket handle in between her teeth.

****

Daring stretched her back, feeling the bones shift around and loosen up. It was now completely dark, and the moonlight shone down from the skies. Daring looked up to the floating orb for a few moments. The sky was relatively clear by now, as most of the clouds had moved away. She could see stars and constellations without the light pollution of big cities like Canterlot or Los Pegasus. It was better that way in her opinion. She took in the details of the surface of the moon, which was pockmarked with craters visible to her naked eye. There was a slight darkening on one side of it that bore the resemblance of a unicorn's head, and was spread across the entire hemisphere of the orbiting object.

Returning to the task at hoof, Daring searched around in the moonlight for the water spigot. She trotted down the empty streets quickly while trying to keep her mind busy thinking of the wondrous night sky, but the thoughts of the creepiness of her surroundings seeped into her consciousness once more. She shivered, more out of chill than out of being scared, though it may well have been.

She heard it. That sound from earlier. It was a slight purring, but not pleasant like a cat's. This purr was different. It was more of a deep, resonant grumble.

Daring shakily placed the bucket beneath the pump. She pulled on the lever, and was greeted by an unpleasant metallic screech as the rusted pump tried to work.

What was that? Out of the corner of her eye, Daring thought she could see motion. She caught a glimpse of something orange and black, but by the time she snapped her head up it had vanished. Back into the night.

I'm being hunted, she realized with a sickening feeling. Her terror was heightened with the realization that she was not safe. There was something else with them in this town, something that had already recognized her and selected her as its prey.

Daring's mind was racing. She needed not to act like the natural prey of whatever it was. What was it?

Think Daring, Think.

"Stay back!" she warned, puffing her chest out and standing tall. She had no idea what she was doing, but perhaps if she could intimidate it it would leave her alone, right?

Wrong. A second later Daring heard something scrape against a nearby rooftop. She glanced over just in time to see the animal's silhouette as it leaped down into the shadows. It was about as tall as she was, and had a powerful looking torso. Its back legs were connected to powerful hips and its front limbs were carried in front of it like arms. The long tail was the last part Daring saw of the creature as it disappeared.

There was more than one of them. In the moonlight Daring could see their eyes as they watched her, hidden from her sight.

There was a whole bloody pack.

With a sudden high-pitched shriek the first monster lunged at her from a totally unexpected location- to her exposed right flank. Daring caught a quick glimpse of powerful jaws and a streamlined body with a white underbelly and an orange and black tiger striped pattern as the raptor sprang into the air. Dual claws sprang out on the feet of the creature as it prepared to pounce on the pony. Daring bolted, and the creature struck the ground.

"Scootaround we've got company!" Daring yelled as she took off running.

Comments

[BenRG]

During this chase sequence, I had the Indiana Jones theme playing in my head. It probably started when Daring used her grandfather's whip.

[Borg]

FYI, just over fifty is the top speed of a racehorse, which makes it considerably faster than the top speed of (non-racing) ponies pulling a loaded cart, particularly if they doesn't want to be too exhausted to continue after half a mile.

I'm sure Dusty would be quite grateful if you could bring back reputable proof that you were attacked by velociraptors. This could be a huge discovery.
I suppose you'll have to aim to survive, in that case.