Follow Daring as the mare searches in an ancient Equestrian jungle, in search of a mythical stone that can cure anything and everything. But there are creatures in this jungle that even the great Daring herself cannot overcome.
Daring finds herself in the Equestria jungle, with a creature that she has never dealt with before. She is out looking for a legendary stone that used to belong to the only king in equestrian history. but the stone is in the kings tomb, which has never been seen by anypony since his death.
I don't know what to write besides this, so you'll just have to read it to find out the rest.
Her heart was pounding. Sweat was dripping down her mane. The humid air smelled of all the mysterious plants in this dense jungle. All was silent, all but the scarlet macaw in the canopy. Daring Doo loved it. The smell, the sounds, everything.
But sadly, she couldn't stop and enjoy it. She had work to do. This mare had to work fast setting up her camp. Night in the Equestrian Jungle comes quickly. Setting up the camp was easy. All she had to do was lay down some of the huge jungle leaves to make a place to sleep. But what she needed was some dry firewood. Which is hard to find in this jungle because of all the rain, and lack of sunlight that reaches the bottom. And without firewood, she wouldn't be able to get clean water, or keep away the animals that come out at night to hunt.
So Daring went out into the jungle, on her way she passed by a river, so she filled up her magical canteen, that she received when she saved the town in the Zeveran desert, with the dirty water.
"I'll have to remember to clean this" Doo said softly under her breath, as she didn't know who or what could be listening. She then carried on her way into the jungle looking for firewood.
After an hour or so, she had finally found enough wood to last her the cold night. So she quickly flew back to camp as fast as she could realizing that the sun was already setting. Because she was going so fast, she had to do all sorts of dives, flips and spins to dodge all of the plants, branches and vines that were blocking her path, reaching for the last small spots of sunlight that had made its way through the trees.
When she finally reached her camp site, she quickly put some of the wood in a pile and took out her flint and steel. After putting small pieces of leaves and twigs under the logs, she quickly started to strike the metal across the small rock. Over and over she tried, but the twigs refused to light anything. The sun finally had made its long journey across the sky, and had hidden its self beneath the horizon. It slowly began to darken with each strike of Daring's tool. In the background she heard the scream of some wild animal. It was coming for here.
"Come on, COME ON" she screamed. "Why won't this stupid thing work?!"
And as if those to words "think work" were magic, the sparks hit a leaf and started a flame. She immediately blew on the small flame, coaxing it to hit something. As if it were magic, the fire hit the pile of twigs, which lit the wood. There was a huge bonfire right in front of her. But the was also another thing right in front of her. She didn't know what it was. It looked like a large spider, but had claws. And it was hissing. But obviously she couldn't make out what it was saying. And before she could do anything, it ran off into the deep forest.
Daring was confused, but she went on doing her things trying not to let it bother her. She put a pot in the fire and added the water from the river into it. The water was filled with all sorts of things, but it was water and that was what could keep her alive out here. She laid out her pillow from her magic satchel, which she had enchanted when she was a younger pony.
After the water began to boil, she poured some into a small metal bowl, and let the pot on the ground to cool. She then took out some fresh potatoes, herbs, and other things and made a soup. She then waited for them to cool. This was her favorite time out on her expeditions. When she could just lay back, relax and look out at the night sky (or the upper tree levels in this case) and she didn't have to rush to do anything because she had food right next to her.
After she water was cooled of and the soup was still warm, she ate and put everything away. She was full and tired. She laid herself down and started to imagine about the riches she would be greeted by in the Tomb.
"Could the legends be true?" she whispered as she fell asleep.
The Legend of Kakara is an amazing tale. It is known all across Equestria and is known more than the tale of Night Mare Moon. The legend tells of a King in the Equestrian Jungle, the only ruler that was male ever, Kakara, who ruled over 3,000 years ago. He was a smart, strong, noble, kind, and gentle king. And because of that, he never had to pay for anything. Ponies would just do what he asked or give him what he wanted. Because of this, all of his bits and gems would pile up.
But the king became old, and he wanted to have a child, so that all of his fortune and kingdom would be passed on. So he married and they then tried to have a foal. They quickly realized that the wife could not have any babies. And Kakara was too old to try again and he died before he could do anything. The Kingdom was torn apart trying to find out who would rule and receive the inheritance. So the Princesses Celestia and Luna decided to put all of the gems and bits into the tomb of Kakara. The Kingdom was soon forgotten as it had no ruler. It became a city for thieves and run-aways. Then it was abandoned. And everything became a legend, then a myth.
But Daring wasn't trying to find the tomb for the riches hidden deep inside. No, she was going in there for the Stone of Limpieza. The stone has been said to be able to cure anything of anything. It can be used to clean water, clean wounds, diseases, anything.
"And then I can finally help him." She said as she drifted off to sleep.
Daring woke to the morning's calls of the jungle birds, hidden deep within the canopy. She soon sat up and noticed that the sun wasn't up.
"Hmm" she said "I guess the birds here wake up earlier then everyone else."
After putting the remaining firewood she had into the embers from her bonfire, she quickly started a small fire and made some coffee. She made a little room in the fire to also make some eggs and toast.
While everything was cooking, she cleaned up her little campsite. She started by taking her leaf bed, and began to scatter them around. She then went to fluffing up the grass underneath the spot where she slept, followed by getting rid of any hoof prints. She knew that someone had been watching her yesterday when she went to the river, and she didn't want them to be able to follow her.
The coffee pot began to whistle. Taking the coffee, eggs and toast off the fire, she quickly ate, cleaned, packed and took off towards the canopy.
Almost immediately following her rise to the upper forest, Daring was challenged with the massive amount of the vines, branches and leaves. But the plant life here seemed to be aware of her presence. The vines would grow out in her path. While the branches would seem to always grab her hooves, or latch onto her wings. All followed by the leaves getting themselves lost in her wing, mouth or eyes.
Finally she broke free, bursting out blindly at the open space above all of the jungle life. The sun was beginning to rise. And the air up here was less moist than the damp jungle floor. Taking a moment to collect herself, she instantly began to take out all of the twigs, leaves and other plant life, noticing the scratches and cuts all over her legs, wings and flank.
"Wow" she said out loud. "This jungle is a lot more aggressive than I thought."
But she knew that there was no time for worrying about her wounds. She went through her canvas bag and retrieved a map and a compass. She turned so that she was facing north, took one last look at the map, returned them to their rightful place in her bag, and left.
Daring Do was not the fastest flyer, but she had stamina. When she was young, and still is flight school, she could always place first or second in the longer distance tests. She could fly for hours without going out of pace or breath. This was one of the main reasons she choose to be an adventurer. So within 30 minutes of flying, she had detected the faint outline of the ruins.
When she reached the ruins, the sun was already a good distance from the horizon. Landing was always hard for Daring; she could never actually stop without hitting something. So she quickly spotted a partly flat piece of treetop, and began to slowly decline, but not slow enough. She soon found herself, yet again, tangled in the branches, with a ringing in her ears. Only this time, she wasn't being grasped.
The first thing that came into her senses was the calling of all the jungle life. She could make out birds, monkeys and some insects. But there was also a sound that she had never heard before. It was like that of the lion mixed with a wolf. It startled Daring.
"Was that the monster from last night?" She whispered.
But she could not stay and find out, she knew that this forest had unknown creatures inside, and the sooner she got in, the sooner she would be able to get out. So immediately she began her descent to the ruins, but upon seeing the half crumbled, moss covered, stone building, she realized that there was no entrance. She quickly pulled out an old, damp book, and began to read.
"How am I supposed to get in?" she muttered to herself, flipping the pages in her book.
But to no avail could she find a page with the answer. But this also isn't the first time that she has encountered a closed ruin. She went on studying the walls and fallen pillars, deciphering the ancient pony pictograms, they were written in a multiple lingual form, and there was language from every corner of Equestria.
"How did all of this get here, and why would they have written this is all of these languages?"
Most of the texts were about the rules of the old king. But hidden behind a wall was a small sentence, so Daring took out one of her knifes, and reflected some light onto the ancient words. They said to go under the floor.
Daring immediately removed one of the tiles but as soon as she lifted it snapped into two pieces, and under was a bunch of wooden frames, she had to remove a couple more before she could fit under it, but as soon as she went down, so did the wooden scaffolding. She had to quickly dodge falling tile, plant life, and rock. Her wings were pelted with all the debris. She started to search for a place to land, but she couldn't find anything, all she could see was falling plants and tile. She began to panic, her breath quickened, and she didn't notice the pillar that was coming directly at her. But luckily when she began to breathe to fast she had to tilt her head up. And she did that just in time to see the pillar, she tried to dart from the path, but she had taken too long and her wing was clipped with the ancient stone, and she began her fall to the unknown.
Daring woke up to a blurry mess. There was moss and mold covering the wet, damp, dark cavern she was in. There were broken rocks and pillars everywhere. After her raspberry red eyes adjusted to the dark, it was still blurry. As she looked up, she saw a speck up light. As everything came into focus, she remembered what had happened. Pushing away some rocks, she saw that her wing was, yet again, broken. She immediately looked around for her bag. She couldn't see it, so she struggled to get up. After making it back on all four hooves, she swayed a little, then went of her search for her enchanted bag.
"How do I always manage to break my wing and loose my stuff?" The khaki mare asked herself while kicking over a group of rocks. "I've become a master at bandaging myself."
Having found nothing, she returned to the spot where she had woken. Only to find that her canvas bag was stuck in a fallen tree. This was a problem, as the pegasus's wings had been damaged from the fall.
"Crap" she muttered under her breath.
She then resorted to a small series of jumps over the fallen piles of pillars and stone. Once she had reached her bag, she noticed a small spec of light in the distance. She then grabbed her stuff, and proceeded to make her way down. As her hooves reached the ground, they then sunk into the damp soil. She did not care about the dirt; she had gone through her entire life playing in it.
She then proceeded to find the source of said light, having to make a series of turns around corners, and found herself in a tunnel. The walls of it were dimly lit. After obtaining a torch, the adventurer held the light up to the wall. The walls showed carvings of the ancient city that had once reigned over most of Equestria. They contained details of the aftermath of the kings death. Depicting the citizens fear of the lack of a ruler.
The pony was deep in thought, staring at the history carved in stone, when she suddenly stepped back. Her gaze then focused on the torch that she was holding.
"How could you be lit all the way down here? " she questioned with a puzzled look on her face.
She turned and looked to where the torch had been found, and noticed that the entire hallway contained torches that held the glowing flames. She went on down the mysteriously lit hallway examining the walls on her way. Stopping every couple meters to get a better look at the more interesting ones.
As she came to what looked like the end of the tunnel, she entered an expansive room. The room had three hallways that connected to it, and contained a black cube in the middle. Daring went up to the cube and looked at the sides. Similar to the walls, this too showed scenes from the past. These instead showed a single pony, holding up what seemed like a glass disk, surrounded by a sequence of plant growth.
She then looked up to the top of the cube. The top had a geometric design on it, with lines cut into it. In the center of the design was a glass triangle. She picked this up to examine it. It's sides was a gold frame, and it was perfectly clear. She deposited the glass piece in her bag and returned to the design.
"I've never seen anything with markings like this. " she whispered under her breath.
Her hoof found its way into her bag, and returned with a pencil and a piece of paper. She then placed the paper on the stone, and rubbed the graphite over it, causing the design to be traced. This was also folded and deposited in the bag. She looked up at the three hallways that would lead her elsewhere in the morning underground ruins.
Uncertain of what path would be best, she looked around the room for anything that could be used to find out where each would take her. Walking around the walls proved to be of no use, as the old art only depicted scenes with the same piece that was on the cube, so she went back to the center. There she noticed that the indentation that the glass was in, pointed down the hallway on the left.
With the newly acquired knowledge, she went down the tunnel with a bag around her neck and a torch in her mouth.
Daring had been walking for no more than 5 minutes, when she came across a dead end. Stopping Inches away from the wall that blocked her path. She was close enough to feel the dampness of the stone. She lifted a hoof and pressed it against the wall. The moss that had grown in the cracks loosened the old stone, causing it to break a small amount off.
"Why would it point this way?"she whispered.
As she lifted her hoof off the wall the few pieces that had broken fell down; leaving a small hole where it was previously located. Daring noticed this and examined the hole. A small dim glow could be seen from said hole, causing her to step back and further investigate the stone. Upon looking it up and down, she noted how it mainly consisted of moss.
A small grin appeared on her face as she trotted closer to her obstacle.
"Never seen a hidden room blocked like this before."
There was dust and powdered rock covering the air, and when it settled a heavily breathing mare could be seen. Her hooves were damp and a green pigment caused them to look lime-green, instead of their respective sand yellow. She stood still for a moment as she caught her breath. When it returned to its original pace she looked around at her newly entered room. The walls were covered by vines and paintings. The occasional torch hung on old, rusted clamps, the magical fire in contrast to the age of the rest of the room. All of its contents causing the room to have a ancient and magical feel.
In the center of the room was a casket, on both sides were two stallion guards, one a pegasus the other a earth pony. In front of it was a staff holding, unicorn, mare. The casket itself was beautifully designed, with carvings portraying loving subjects. As she found her way to the center, she noticed that the casket had no removable lid. But was actually just a solid, stone rock.
"Then where is the stone?"
She followed the paintings on the walls, checking for any means of showing where to go next. The art, being as old as it was, was faded. Any suggestions on where to go would have been lost in time. She was on her third loop around the room when she just sat down.
"How am I going to find the stone without any help." She mumbled to herself as she twirled a hoof in the dirt. She then looked up at the three guardians "I bet you would know." She said.
She then laid her head down on the ground and thought to herself. Which after a few minutes of thought, all that came to mind was sleep. Her eyes became hard to keep open and she yawned.
"I guess I could sleep for a moment."
Her eyes closed and she fell into a restless slumber, unaware of the ancient magic that had been put up to protect the room.
She arose, but was no longer in a tomb. She could see nothing but an endless darkness. The ground was soft, not like the clouds that she rested on but soft like a field of that grass that feels so good to just dig your hooves in. She was careless, the air was the cleanest she had ever breathed. Even the air was soft, ever so gently going in and out. Her breathing was slowed, not in a bad way but in a peaceful, calming way.
She jumped up, and to her amazement, she went quite high. Her mind no longer containing knowledge of the bad world she stayed in moments ago. She was floating around without having to use her wings. She didn't want to ever leave.
I will never leave.
I will never leave.
I will never leave.
Her attitude drastically changed In a matter of seconds. She was quickly terrified. She would never leave, always being stuck in this dream. Never to see her family again, or any of her friends. She began to panic, even though she was in a dream, her heart-rate increased dramatically. Beads of sweat formed upon her brow. Her neck was covered with a salty wetness, but her mane and fur remained dry.
no. You are not going to sleep. You can remember why you're here. You need to wake up. She needs you.
And with that she awoke to the same room, only darker. As she looked up through the hole in the roof, she noticed that the moon was out. Another thing that she noticed was how it was a full moon. Though she put no thought into it.
She began to look around the room again, this time with more purpose. When she stopped and turned towards the the mage in the center.
"Something is off about you. " she whispered to the stone statue, " what is it?"
She stared hard at the statue for a couple minutes. "Why do you have a staff?"
She looked closely at the staff and saw that it had a diamond at the top. She crawled on the top of the stone casket and looked through the diamond. It had a map carver in the center, and it showed a location marked down in some desert.
"Nice." She said, then took out her map and marked the location.
She then put everything away, jumped off the casket, then crawled up some of the vines through the hole.
As she reached the top she heard some branches breaking and some leaves being rufflled . Her head spun to the direction of the sound.
She saw a bush, though in the bush there were a pair of eyes. A forked tongue flicked out, and after it came a large black snake.
