Daring awoke with a headache and a rope binding her arms and legs together. It wasn't the first time this had happened.
The room was large and dimly lit with torches. Guards stood at attention, placed periodically around the room to ensure that there was no escape. The walls were made of a dark stone that glimmered where the torchlight hit it.
"It's been so long." A voice echoed from the darkest corner of the room, where there were no torches to illuminate the mare's face. Daring could tell that it was the black mare, though, the one that had been chasing her ever since she'd arrived in Saddle Arabia.
"So long since what?" Daring growled. "Since you tried to kill me? I don't think it's been that long."
"You really don't recognize me?" The mare stepped forwards into the light. "Take a closer look."
Daring studied the mare, the color of her coat, the way she carried herself. None of it seemed familiar. Then she noticed the eyes; one blue, one pink.
"No." Daring whispered. It couldn't be.
Memories began to flood through her mind. Two pegasus fillies playing together, one white, one tan. Playmates. Best friends. Sisters.
"Bold Wing?" Daring said quietly. The black mare took a step back.
"I haven't gone by that name in a long time." The mare said harshly.
"What happened to your beautiful white coat?"
Bold Wing turned away. "Ponies can change, Daring."
"But why have you been chasing me? What did I do to-"
"Quiet!" Bold Wing spat. "This isn't about you! Not everything is about you, you conceited little filly!"
Daring fell silent.
"Bring me the map." Bold Wing said to a guard through gritted teeth. He nodded and left the room through a small archway, returning quickly with the map that had previously been in Daring's pocket.
"You can read these hieroglyphs, can't you?" Bold Wing held the map in front of Daring.
She glared at her older sister and refused to answer.
"Of course you can." Bold Wing continued. "Daddy would have made sure you could. Ironic, really." she chuckled. "I probably would have learned how to read them if I'd stayed."
"But you didn't." Daring said. "You left because of your cutie mark."
"Yes, I did." Bold Wing smiled and glanced down at her cutie mark, a robber's mask that was just barely visible on her dark coat. "I knew that my destiny was in the art of theft and trickery, not in archeology and exploration." Her eyes fell on Daring's cutie mark, a compass. "I see you take after our dear old daddy."
A dark brown stallion raced into the room and muttered something to Bold Wing. Daring noticed that he had a scar curving around one eye.
Bold Wing turned back to Daring, grinning maliciously. "Get ready, sister." She said sister in the same way somepony might say filthy mutt. "In the morning, we're going to find the lost treasure of Mindalin Ramidad."
Daring Do groaned as the scarred stallion pulled on her rope for the seventh time. Not only was she was she tied around the neck like a prisoner, but she was forced to carry the heavy bags like a common pack mule.
"Could you loosen this a little?" Daring asked the stallion.
"Quiet." He barked at her. "The Dark Thief said that I'm not to take any requests from you."
Daring snorted. "Is that what she's calling herself? The Dark Thief?"
The stallion glared at her and didn't respond. They walked in silence for a minute. Daring examined her surroundings; the group was walking in the desert towards what the map labeled 'Crown Rock'. The 'Dark Thief' walked resolutely at the front of the expedition, and a group of guards marched behind.
"Can I have a drink of water?" Daring asked.
The scarred stallion didn't respond.
"Oh come on. I'm not much good to you if I die of thirst, am I?"
"All right." The stallion said, annoyed. "Just one drink." He pulled the water jug from his saddle and began walking towards her to give her a sip. The rope slackened, which was just what Daring had been hoping for.
She grabbed the rope with her teeth and looped it around the stallion, pulling it tight. He fell to the ground with a cry of surprise, and she pulled free of the loose rope with an expert twist of the neck. Bold Wing yelled with anger as Daring Do reared on her back legs and kicked the bags off of her back. The guards ran towards her, making a tight circle around Daring, and for a moment it seemed there was no escape.
One of the guards lunged, hoping to knock her down. She dodged and he fell to the ground clumsily. Another guard began racing towards her, and she struck his leg, causing him to fall to the ground next to the last guard.
The remaining two guards pawed the ground and snorted. Daring grinned and flicked her tail, ready to intercept them at any moment. The pair of guards took a few steps back and both charged her at once. Daring leapt into action, jumping on the back of one guard and off again in an instant. The two guards crashed into each other and fell, dazed, to the ground.
Bold Wing glared murderously at her sister but did nothing to stop her as she raced away into the desert.
Daring took in a sharp breath and swallowed hard. This snake was huge, as thick around as she was tall, and so long that it was coiled five times and still barely fit in the large room. It's head facing her, the snake's body was spread over the entire room so that there was no way to cross.
For non-pegasi, that is.
Daring flapped her wings, trying to hover quietly and create as little wind as possible so as not to wake the giant cold-blooded reptile. She flew over the thick snake, looking down at it's colossal scales.
Daring Do allowed herself to breath as she touched down on the other side of the room. Behind her, the snake continued to sleep.
A small wooden door led to another room. Daring walked nervously through, unsure of what to expect.
The moment she stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind her. Daring heard a loud hissing as white gasses were spewed out of holes in the walls. She took a deep breath and held it before the gas could reach her. Within a few moments the entire room was filled with a hazy white smoke.
Daring's lungs burned and the smoke stung her eyes. She couldn't see a thing, and dared not breathe for worry that the gas was poison. She stumbled blindly, feeling in front of her with her hooves. Black spots began to dance before her clouded vision. A stone shifted beneath her hoof, and suddenly she fell away into darkness.
Daring Do landed on a dune of sand, the fine grains cushioning her fall. She gulped in the fresh air, glad to be out of the terrible smoke.
Daring looked around her and gasped, her eyes widening with amazement. It was better than she could have ever dreamed of. Golden goblets, full to the rim with glistening rubies. Silver necklaces inset with emeralds. Everywhere, gold coins and glittering diamonds. It was-
"The lost treasure of Mindalin Ramidad." Bold Wing dropped down lightly onto the sand dune next to Daring, staring around in awe.
"You!" Daring Do leapt off the dune and glared at her sister.
Bold Wing laughed. "You really thought that would let you escape that easily? We've been following you this entire time, sister. I knew that you had memorized the map, and I knew that you would so kindly find the treasure for me." She chuckled to herself.
"You-you-" Daring found herself at a loss of words.
"Bring the big bags!" Bold Wing called up through the trapdoor. "There's even more than I anticipated!"
The scarred stallion leapt down, wincing as he landed. Daring noticed that his foreleg was wrapped in a tight bandage.
Bold Wing set to work immediately, grabbing a large burlap sack from the stallion's saddlebag and racing towards the nearest pile of gold.
Daring noticed an inscription, repeated over and over again along the length of the floor in hieroglyphics: Beware the wrath of the dead.
She realized what it meant a moment to late; Bold Wing was already shoveling diamonds into her sack. The floor began to shake violently.
"It's a booby trap!" Daring shouted. "Put them back or this whole place'll go under!"
"Liar!" Bold Wing said angrily. "You're lying! You just want it all for yourself, just like when we were kids!"
The ground shook even harder.
"Bold Wing!" Daring yelled. "We have to go! Now!"
Bold Wing didn't answer, but began stuffing her bag with jewels again.
"Boss..." The scarred stallion looked up at the ceiling, where already large chunks of stone were beginning to fall. One particularly large chunk fell with a crash right next to Bold Wing, but she didn't seem to notice.
Daring Do ran to her sister. "Please, Bold Wing." She pleaded. "I'm- I'm sorry."
The apology jolted Bold Wing out of her madness, and she seemed to notice the room crumbling around her.
The scarred stallion swept a hoofful of coins into his saddlebag and galloped towards the opening in the ceiling. He didn't even look back before leaping through it.
"Come on!" Daring pulled her sister towards the exit. "We'll die if we stay here!"
Bold Wing grabbed her sackful of riches and followed Daring to the middle of the room. Daring began to fly up, but descended when she saw her sister struggling with the heavy bag.
"You can't fly with that!" Daring said. "Leave it! We have to go!"
Bold Wing let go of the sack for a moment. "No! I've worked too hard to let this slip through my hooves!"
Daring couldn't leave her sister. Not even if she was a thief. She grabbed the sack and flapped her wings as hard as she could. Bold Wing grabbed the end of the sack and flapped with her, and together they carried the sack up and through the opening. The pair held their breaths as they ran through the poisonous room and arrived in the snake's lair.
It was awake.
"That thing ate two of my guards!" Bold Wing said through a mouthful of burlap. "The only way around it is by flying. Strong Hoof had to run past it and he was injured by it's tail."
"The sack is too heavy to carry over it. We'll have to empty it a little if we want to have a chance of making it." Daring said.
"No!" Bold Wing protested. "We can carry it!"
Daring wished that she would stop being so stubborn. Did she really value diamonds over her life?
Bold wing grabbed her end of the sack and began to flap her wings. Daring hesitated, but grabbed the other end. The pair began to rise.
They were halfway to the ceiling when the hissing began.
It was quiet at first, but quickly became louder and louder. Daring looked down nervously to see the snake watching them with it's large eyes, following their slow ascension.
It was only a matter of time before it would decide that they were food.
Daring Do and Bold Wing both flapped hard, but no matter how strong their wings were, they couldn't lift themselves and the sack of treasure out of the snake's reach. Daring found herself struggling to stay aloft, the burlap sack gripped in her teeth becoming heavier by the second.
Bold Wing was struggling too, and soon they were losing altitude.
The snake lunged. Fangs bared, the giant head was aimed straight for Bold Wing. She tried to dodge it, but the weight of the sack slowed her down, and instead of being sliced in half, she was only scratched by the sharp fang. The other fang ripped through the sack's fabric, sending a shower of golden coins falling down onto the snake's body.
"No!" Bold Wing's yelled, releasing her end of the sack and diving after the coins. Daring was now the only one carrying the heavy treasure; she was being dragged down by it's weight. It was either a sackful of gold or her life: Daring chose her life.
She let go of the sack and watched it fall down, down, finally landing with a resounding clunk on the hard floor.
"Leave it!" Daring shouted after her sister. "We have to leave now!"
Bold Wing didn't answer, but stared down at her lost treasure. The sack had split open on contact with the ground, and it's glittering contents were strewn over the floor.
The snake hissed again.
Daring began to fly out of the reach of the giant reptile, and Bold Wing reluctantly followed. They got over the giant snake safely and began flying down the passageway. Daring reached the exit first, joyfully flying out and into the cool night air. Bold Wing flew out as well and landed on a sand dune.
"We did it!" Daring exclaimed. "We're alive!"
Bold Wing smiled. "Yeah. Alive." She was panting for breath.
"Are you okay?" Daring asked.
"Fine." Bold Wing moved her feathers to cover her hind leg. "I'm fine."
Daring landed next to her sister. "Let me see."
Bold Wing frowned and moved her wing. Her leg was swollen, and underneath the fur, her skin was discolored.
"The snake scratched you!" Daring exclaimed. Of course, a snake that size was probably poisonous.
"I'm fine." Bold Wing repeated weakly. Pus was already beginning to leak from the thin cut. Daring feared it was already too late.
"We have to get you to a hospital." Daring's voice cracked, and she realized for the first time how scared she was for her sister. Daring Do never got scared.
Bold Wing shook her head. "The nearest one's miles away. There isn't time."
"There has to be something I can do!" Daring felt her eyes grow warm, and she blinked away the wetness. "I can't just- just watch you die!"
"It's okay." Bold Wing smiled reassuringly. "Everything's okay."
Daring could remember another conversation she'd had, long ago, with her sister.
"Why are your eyes different colors?" Little Daring had asked, trying to keep her balance as she walked on the edge of the sidewalk.
"I'm just special, I guess." Bold Wing had smiled and steadied her as she wobbled to and fro.
"I wish I were special." Daring stared in fascination at her older sister's mismatched eyes.
"You are special, you silly little filly." Bold Wing swept her younger sister onto her back, and she giggled. "You're the most special pegasus in all of Equestria."
Daring Do smiled at the memory and looked down at her sister. She was beginning to shiver and her eyes were going out of focus. "I'm sorry." Daring nuzzled her sister lovingly, and felt a tear slide down her cheek.
"Go... have an adventure... for me." Bold Wing's eyes closed for the last time.
Daring Do stretched out her wings, sheltering her sister's dead body from the moonlight.
"I will." she whispered.
The end.
Daring Do raced through the marketplace of Saddle Arabia, knocking down ponies and stalls in her desperation to escape. The black-coated mare was somewhere behind her, her burly stallion guards ready to capture her at any given moment.
She shifted the cotton shirt over her wings as she ran, hoping that nopony had seen the feathers that stuck out for just a moment. Around here, so far from CloudsDale, any pegasus would stand out like a cat in a room full of dogs.
She ducked quickly into a dark alley, diving behind a pile of crates. The black mare ran past, her guards following closely behind.
Daring Do allowed herself a moment of rest and breathed a sigh of relief. The black mare probably expected her to go back to the museum to look for the map. Daring smiled to herself and reached into the pocket of her explorer jacket, gently pulling out a brittle, yellowed piece of paper. It unrolled on the ground in front of her, displaying it's ancient information in front of her eyes.
It was the map. Showing a portion of the desert, the paper showed a clear trail, one that lead straight to-
"The lost treasure of Mindalin Ramidad." Daring Do knew the words by heart, but now, reading them aloud from the map, she found herself in a wondrous awe. Hundreds of explorers had set out to find the undiscovered treasure of Mindalin the Great, but nopony had come as close as she was now. To see his own map, to read his very words... it was better than she could have ever imagined.
"I found her! She's over here!"
The stallion's rough voice jolted Daring out of her stupor. She quickly rolled up the map and stuffed it back in her pocket. Looking down at the mouth of the alley, Daring Do saw two large stallions racing towards her with a dark determination. Behind her, a tall brick wall brought her to a dead stop.
The only way out was up.
Daring leapt up onto the pile of crates and spread her wings. She tensed her muscles and jumped, flapping her wings a few times before alighting on the roof of the building. She looked back triumphantly, only to see the stallions jump up with mighty leaps, landing hard on the roof behind her. She had underestimated them.
Daring Do ran as hard as she could, building up speed before she launched herself into the sky. The guards glared after her, unable to fly, but something in their gazes unnerved her.
She was so distracted that she almost didn't see the net flying towards her.
Daring panted for breath and shaded herself with sweaty wings, wishing that she had thought to steal a water jug before making her big escape.
She'd been wandering around under the hot desert sun for hours with no sign of any civilization in sight, and from the position of the sun, Daring guessed that she still had an hour or two to go until sunset.
Perfect, she thought to herself. Just perfect.
She walked for about ten more minutes before pausing to rest. Daring was just about to start moving again when she noticed a cactus.
It wasn't the first cactus she'd seen, but there was a strange quality about this particular plant. Something about the color and shape just seemed... wrong.
Daring Do walked closer, curiously examining the cactus. It was a darker shade of green than the others that she'd seen and it seemed a little too symmetrical. She was trying to discern the species of cactus when she noticed something carved around the base of the plant.
Hieroglyphs.
Daring read them excitedly, translating as fast as she could:
Soft as a kiss,
Angry as a lion,
It waves through your mane,
And billows up sails
For a moment, Daring Do was stumped. Soft as a kiss? What was that supposed to mean?
And then the answer came to her: Wind. Of course!
But what was she supposed to do, blow on the cactus? She tried it, feeling a little bit silly. The ground beneath her feet shook for just a moment, but nothing else happened. She needed something stronger.
Daring flapped her wings, and the ground began to shake again. Encouraged, she flapped harder, lifting herself off the ground. The ground shook more and more, and began to move. Sand spilled every which way as her powerful wings blew wind towards them, and a doorway opened up underneath the sand.
Daring quickly flew into the doorway, glad to be out of the hot sun.
The passageway was dark and dimly lit. Hieroglyphics decorated the walls, but Daring didn't stop to read them.
She could recall the treasure map, seeing it in her mind's eye as clearly as if it was laid out in front of her. It had started in the lower east corner of the Arabian Desert, with a picture of a rock in the shape of a crown. There was a dotted line from that leading to a picture of a cactus. And the picture after that was-
A snake. A giant snake, right in front of her, with it's eyes shut, breathing in a slow rhythm.
It was sleeping.
