Daring Do and the Lost Kingdom of Basha

Prologue:

A Day at the Office

It was like any other Saturday afternoon: Daring Do was leaning back in her chair waiting for Steel Hoof to charge through the door and yap on about some crazy artifact he found, but it normally turned out to be fake. She did enjoy spending time in her office at the museum, it was calming. Something Daring liked more than the office, was flying. Daring Do was a great flyer, and she could do the most amazing tricks! Just last week, the museum opened up a new exhibit exclusively for artifacts that she found. To celebrate the occasion, Daring pulled off a triple back-flip and left a streak of tan color behind her. She soared as high as the museum ceiling, and then dove down, pulling up at the last second so she wouldn't hit the tour group that came to see the unveiling of the new exhibit. She landed and stood proudly as the group tackled her with questions about how she could pull of tricks like that in such an enclosed space as a museum! Daring Do always used her trademark response to questions like that, "It's a trade secret." That was the answer she always gave to the press and anypony else who wanted to know something that she didn't want to tell them.

It was just then that the clock struck three, normally Steel was here by now, but Daring didn't care, it just gave her time to sit back and relax. Just then, Steel came bursting through the door, with a grin on his face. Just when she was about to let her guard down too! The grey stallion always burst through like that, his black hooves let him! Since the day he was born, his black hooves have always been harder than Steel, and he could bust through nearly anything like that, the only problem was Daring wasn't sure how many more times Steel Hoof could bust in like that without knocking the door off its hinges. Daring's assistant ran up to her, and brushed his black mane out of his face. Daring giggled, as always, when she saw his cutie mark, considering it suited his name perfectly, it was a steel hoof after all!

"Daring Do! Daring Do! You'll never guess what I found!" Steel Hoof exclaimed

"Another petrified dog that belonged to some ancient pharoah?" Daring sarcastically stated

"No! Look!" Steel pulled out a map, it was a map of ancient egypt.

"Steel we have, like, a hundred of these, we don't need anymore! But at least what you found was legit this time!"

"What? No no, not the map, what is marked on the map!" Steel pointed towards a strange emblem near some catacombs that Daring once explored

"That's probably some ancient text to let you know that there are catacombs there! I've been there, that's all there is!"

"The guy I got this from told me that this is the location of a tomb! It was for some minor pharaoh, and his treasures could very well still be there!"

"Steel, I'm not looking into this, if you want to lead your own expedition then that's up to you. I've been there and I know for a fact that there's nothing there! If you can prove me wrong, then maybe I'll tag along, but for now, I'm not looking into it!"

Steel stood there, he was fully expecting Daring to jump on the opportunity of a tomb, considering she hadn't been adventuring in a while now. The last expedition she went on was the one where she busted her wing going after that Sapphire stone, then she had to take it to the temple of Ra and solve all those puzzles and stuff, and ended up traveling halfway across the world and back just to end up with some stupid coin that had a strangely shaped hole in the middle of it. The Egyptian text on the walls of the place she got it from said it had to do something with the Egyptian pharaoh Basha. Steel spent the next week looking up things about Basha in hopes of continuing the quest, but Daring wasn't really into it. Steel just shook his head, and walked out of the office. He planned on proving his mentor wrong.

"Hey Dr. Fossil!" Steel greeted Daring's dad

"Oh, hello Steel! How goes the archaeologist business?" Dr. Fossil said, turning around to face his visitor.

Dr. Fossil had an office in the museum too, and Steel knew it brought great joy to Daring to know she was working side by side with her dad. Dr. Fossil looked just like Daring Do, except his mane was completely black, and he was a unicorn. It was funny how things worked that way, not that Daring's dad was a unicorn, but that the three of them showed society that it didn't matter what race of pony you were, you could all work together! Steel was an earth pony, Daring was a pegasus, Fossil was a Unicorn, it was a glorious combination of the three races! Many have said the only reason Steel sticks around is because he has a secret crush on Daring, which is partly true, he also loves adventuring and smashing anything he can get his hooves on. These talents have proven useful to Daring, as she has been able to completely bypass certain parts of tombs just by asking Steel to bash in a wall.

Steel turned his attention to what Dr. Fossil was working on, "What are you doing over there Dr. Fossil?" Steel said, completely ignoring the doctor's question.

As Steel approached Fossil's workbench, Fossil replied, "Just dusting off my latest discoveries!"

Steel took a look at what Dr. Fossil was working on, just some old bones and artifacts, minor objects. Steel turned his attention back to Dr. Fossil, "Well I need your help with something."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"I found this map," Steel said, pulling out the map, "Daring thinks it's trash, but I think it leads to treasure!"

Dr. Fossil took the map and carefully examined it.

After a few seconds of listening to the different ways Dr. Fossil could hum, Steel spoke up, "What do you think about it?"

"Well, it's quite possible that it could lead to something. No matter how small it is, a good archaeologist always investigates everything!"

"That's what I thought! Could you help me round up some guys for an expedition?"

"I'll send out word immediately!"

"Thanks Doc! You're the best!" Steel said, as he rushed out the door

Soon enough, Steel had his own crew headed for Egypt. Well, fine, it was Daring's crew. Dr. Fossil told Daring she needed to get out and adventure again, and after some arguing, she agreed to take part in the expedition. That was a couple days ago now, and they were already close to Egypt. Daring would have taken to the air, as she normally did, but she was bringing Steel with her this time, so they traveled by train. The train's whistle blew smoke and the conductor came over the intercom.

"Attention passengers, we are arriving at Diamond station in Luxor, Egypt. The train will come back here tomorrow by 2:30 in the afternoon. Thank you for traveling with the Pony Express."

"Luxor? Isn't that a mile away from where we want to go?" Daring asked Steel

Steel looked at his map, "Yeah, but it's the closest city there is to it. Plus, a mile hike isn't so bad!"

"Yeah but still, that's desert we're talking about. A mile hike into the desert is the equivalant of a ten mile hike up a mountain!"

"Get over it Daring! It's way better than wasting away in that office of yours!"

"Let's just get this over with..." Daring complained, as she got up to get off the train.

The town of Luxor wasn't amazing, but it wasn't just some town. Daring always liked to visit Luxor, she liked the sand running through her hair from the nearby deserts, and it gave her outfit some usefulness. Daring had on her trademark safari getup except she had a scarf covering her face from the wind. Steel was dressed in a similar fashion, Daring always wondered why the stallion had to dress like she did. Daring always joked that if she wore a girdle to go adventuring in, then Steel would too. Here they were, good old fashioned Luxor, a mile from where they wanted to be. Daring suggested they get a camel ride, and Steel agreed, so they headed for the Camel vendors on the outskirts of town.

The Luxor traders were very grumpy today, Daring had dealt with mean traders but these guys were a hoot. They wanted twenty bits to rent a camel for an hour! They didn't bring that kind of money with them, especially for the amout of camels they needed. They had to think on their feet, and made a distraction. A cantaloupe vendor across the street 'accidentally' spilled his fruit. The camels jumped on the opportunity to eat it, and those that didn't got to come with Daring and Steel while the owners of the shops tried to sort things out. The rest of the crew stayed behind to help with the distraction. Now, they were right where the map said this thing was, and there was nothing but sand.

"Great, what did I tell you?" Daring yelled at Steel

"So what? At least I was looking to adventure!" Steel came back

"You are so stupid sometimes! I swear!" Daring said, turning her camel around

Steel remained in a silent fury as he turned his camel around. As he did so, the two of them heard a solid clop! sound come from one of the camel's hooves. Daring and Steel looked at each other in shock, and Steel got a big grin on his face. They jumped down, and rubbed their hooves across the sand at the source of the sound, Steel was the one who found the source of the noise.

"Daring! Over here!" Steel exclaimed excitedly

"What is it?" Daring asked, now with a sense of excitement in her voice too

"I'm not sure," Steel said, digging away at the mysterious object, "I think it's the top of a doorway!"

Daring began digging along side Steel, together, they uncovered an ancient looking wooden door in a matter of seconds. They stood in awe, until Steel abruptly stepped forward and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge, and there didn't seem to be a handle anywhere, just a strange shape protruding from the door.

"Wait, I've seen this symbol before." Daring said

"Really? Where?" Steel asked

Daring didn't respond, she just reached down her shirt and pulled out her necklace. It was the coin she recently acquired tied to a piece of string. She ripped it off the string, and sure enough the shape in the center of the coin fit over the protrusion from the door exactly. She stepped back as the door swung open, revealing an ancient staircase that looked like it had not been used in the past hundred or so years.

"You were saying?" Steel asked with a huge grin on his face

"Fine, I was wrong." Daring admitted

"Sorry? I didn't quite catch that." Steel teased

Daring punched him in the arm and replied, "Good, I didn't want you to. It looks like we have an old fashioned tomb on our hooves!"

"You ready for this?" Steel asked. Daring hadn't seen adventure in a week or so, normally she went adventuring every other day.

"I was born ready!" Daring replied

Together, they climbed into the stairwell, and started descending.