Daring Do and the Lost Kingdom of Basha

Chapter II:

Tranquil Beauty

Daring Do and Steel Hoof trudged on, the light growing brighter with each step the took towards it. The city was magnificent, Daring Do had truly never seen anything so amazing. A city that was completely underground! It was astounding! Daring thought of how much money she could make, having people pay to visit the city. She even pondered if she could bring the city back to its former glory. If this place was inhabitable once, why can't it be again? Daring Do looked at her partner, the same feeling she had earlier washed over her. She stared at him, as he trudged beside her. He was squinting, trying to see past the light, which was good because things would get awkward quickly if he spotted her staring at him. His muscles reflected light from the beads of sweat running down them. His sleek mane was cut short so it wouldn't get in his way, his tail was almost completely gone, just a small six inch stub of hair protruded from his hindquarters.

Daring Do caught herself gawking over the stallion beside her. What had happened? She had never looked at him like this before, why did she start now? Maybe something was in the air down here, maybe she was going into heat, maybe she was losing her mind! Whatever it was, Daring didn't let it get to her, she focused on proceeding forward, and placing one hoof in front of the other. She returned her attention to the city they were walking through, it was truly magnificent. The design looked more like that of an Aztec city, which greatly surprised Daring, as the Aztecs were far beyond the Egyptians when it came to technology and design. She could make out the vines growing out of plant pots where beautiful flowers must have once grown. This city 'block' had the same design as the last one, it was bowl shaped with a courtyard in the center. Many of the buildings lined the walls of the cave, and the walkways traveled along the middle of the curve of the bowl. Every few yards, a staircase ran up the side of the bowl, and down into the center, allowing people to get to houses on different levels. Daring wasn't sure what they would find deeper into the city, it could just be these two blocks, but she doubted it. What was strange was that Basha had the entrance to his great city lead right into a city district. Daring figured that the entrance would be grand, and be lined with flowers and have a giant door. Daring kept thinking about Basha's design flaws and eventually Steel Hoof stopped her from walking any further, he put his hoof out to stop Daring in her tracks, but before she could argue, Steel put the hoof to her mouth. There was a moment of silence, as the small noise of some pebbles rolling behind them startled her.

"Did you hear that?" Steel asked

"The pebbles? Yeah, what of it?" Daring stated, confused at the sudden stop

"How old is this place?"

"Probably a few thousand years?"

"Don't you think all of the loose sediment would have settled down here by now?"

Daring was surprised at his observation, she didn't even think about that. Now considering what Steel was getting at, she asked him, "Do you think we're not the only ones down here?"

"I'm not sure, it could be just from us walking through," Steel peeked over his shoulder, into the darkness behind them, then turned back, "but my gut is telling me otherwise. Just try not to let your guard down."

Daring nodded, and they continued on.

The light was almost close enough that they could see through it, whatever was behind it, must have been a pretty big deal! The blinding light was clearing now, and Daring was starting to make out the outlines of buildings. Steel rushed ahead and all Daring could hear him say was, "Holy crap! Daring you've gotta see this!"

Daring Do rushed forward, eager to see what awaited her on the other side of this wall of light. She thought the city was amazing, but she hadn't even seen all of it. When Daring passed through the blinding light, she found herself overlooking all of the city of Basha. The cave opened up into a great underground bubble, with many little side tunnels that must have led to different sections of the city. The bubble was tall enough to easily reach Cloudsdale, if it was on the surface. Light streamed in through the cave ceiling, by way of little flames that burned bright enough to light the floor that was miles beneath them. In front of Daring, the ground dropped off, and a spiral staircase led down to the city floor. They were at least fifteen stories up, and had a lot of climbing to do to get to the ground. Beside the first steps of the stairwell, sat another plaque. It was made of bronze and the writing on it was Egyptian. Daring approached the plaque and read it out loud.

"This is the Kingdom of Basha. If you are reading this, then that means you are trespassing. The Kingdom of Basha no longer allows outsiders, and only those loyal to Basha himself may enter. You have been warned, leave this place or die."

"Sounds pretty legit." Steel commented sarcastically

"What that means is that this place will be booby trap city!" Daring continued

"Don't you mean Kingdom?" Steel joked, pointing at the plaque

"Ha ha," Daring mused, "Either way, we shouldn't just run through this place, there could be traps at any corner. Heck, even this stairwell could be trapped!"

"If I had to booby trap a Kingdom, then I'd start with the entrances, so that makes sense."

Daring turned to face Steel, "Well I'll fly down and- LOOK OUT!"

A black figure pounced on Steel Hoof, tackling him to the ground. Daring pulled out her whip, but a hand grabbed her hoof in mid swing. She turned to see who stopped her, as the blue, furry hand lifted her up into the air. It was none other than Ahuizotl! The blue fiend held Daring Do with the hand on his tail, dangling her in the air. He grinned and let out an evil laugh.

"Daring Do," He mused, "How great it is to see you again!"

Daring Do spat in the villian's face, "Screw you Ahuizotl!"

Ahuizotl snarled

"You know this guy?" Steel asked, fighting off a monster that looked like a black version of Ahuizotl

"Hardly! He's been interfering with a lot of my adventures!" Daring responded

The black Ahuizotl tackled Steel to the ground, and growled at him. This creature looked like Ahuizotl, but acted much more feral, more like a panther. Ahuizotl interrupted, "It's nice to see the family reunion is going well but we really must be parting ways Mrs. Do!" Ahuizotl grabbed both of Daring's wings and painfully broke them.

"AAAH!" Daring screamed in pain, tears forming in her eyes

"DARING!" Steel screamed, still pinned by the beast

Ahuizotl hovered Daring Do over the edge, shaking her as a threat to drop her. Ahuizotl got a strange look in his eye, then said, "Daring my darilng, I'm sure you'll find some way to survive this, just like you always do! So when you reach the bottom, just be warned that my friend here has a pack, and they're very hungry! Even if you do splat, they will gladly come down and clean up the mess either way. But for now Daring Do, ta-ta!" Ahuizotl let go of Daring's foreleg

"DARING!" Steel struggled against the beast and broke free, diving after Daring Do over the side of the cliff. Ahuizotl looked at his black colored minion.

"Well look at that! We got two birds with one stone! HAHAHAHAHA!" Ahuizotl said to his dark counterpart.

More of the black figures appeared from the light behind him, and growled as if asking for a command.

"Now, go make sure they're dead! And if they're not, find them and KILL THEM!"

The black creatures barked in agreement, and charged down the great spiral staircase.

Ahuizotl monologued, "It's only a matter of time now! Soon the Staff of the Gods will rightfully be mine! HAHAHAHA!"

Steel fell through the air, not exactly sure how he planned on saving Daring Do. He pointed his body straight and caught the mare in one foreleg. He reached for her whip with the other and grabbed the weapon. He swung it around and snapped it to the railing on the stairwell. The whip snapped straight, as it wrapped around a rung on the railing. The whip pulled them towards the staircase, slamming them into the side. Steel nearly lost his grip, but when he regained his focus, he pulled them over the railing. He retracted the rope, and gave it to Daring, who was crying in fear. Steel moved to comfort his mentor, who surprised him by tackling him with a hug.

"You," she paused to sniff, "You saved my life!" she sobbed into him

"It was no biggie Daring, you would have done the same for me." Steel calmingly replied

She gathered herself and removed her face from his chest, she sniffed and stood proud, her confidence regained, "Okay...Okay, how far are we from the bottom?" Daring asked, walking towards the ledge, flinching as she brushed her limp wings with her rear legs.

"Daring, are you sure you don't want to wrap those up first? You don't want to cause anymore damage than what's already been done!" Steel stated

Ignoring him, Daring fought through the pain and walked to the ledge, what she saw nearly made her throw up. She looked over the edge and the ground was not even a few feet below them. She was seconds away from splattering on the ground like a tomato! Daring heard roars from above her, she looked up and could see the black creatures scaling the staircase towards them. Daring started rushing down the staircase, "We need to move!" she commanded Steel, "NOW!"

Daring fought back tears as she ran through the city, partially because of how beautiful it was, but also because her wings were in great pain. Steel found a good hiding spot in an abandoned building, and they secluded themselves in it. It didn't take long to realize this was a storage building, as many old weapons and armor lined the walls. Steel shut the door behind them, as the monsters ran past, searching for the adventurers. When the growls and roars subsided, Steel sighed and walked away from the door.

"I think we're safe, for now." Steel whispered, "Who was that guy?"

"Ahuizotl," Daring responded, as she pulled bandages from her bag, "he's an ancient being who is bent on controlling the world and putting it in his image."

"Why would he want that?" Steel asked, as he approached Daring to help

"Because he thinks that he is the worlds rightful ruler, as he is the last half-god creature in all of Equestria." She replied, gesturing for him to stop

"Wow, so basically he's insane?"

"That pretty much sums it up." She answered, fumbling with the bandages, and causing herself further pain

"Here, let me help you." Steel stated

"No, I've got this, it's just a broken wing, I just need to wrap it in a stint." She snapped, pushing the stallion away

"Well you need to set the bone back in the right position, unless you want your wings to heal at a ninety degree angle." he said, gesturing towards the limp wings on Daring's back

"Fine, you can help..." She said with remorse

Steel wasted no time, and quickly grabbed her wing with both hooves, "This is gonna hurt, brace yourself." he warned.

Daring clenched her eyes as Steel prepared to snap the wing back into place. She let out a small scream when he popped the wing back where it needed to be, and tears ran down her face. It pained the stallion to see Daring in such pain, but it was better than leaving it be. He carefully placed a wooden stint on both sides of her wing and wrapped it in bandages, locking it in place. Daring dried the tears from her eyes and brushed a few off of her face. She looked at Steel, and Steel gave her a grave look as he gestured towards the other wing. She sighed and clenched her eyes shut again. Steel reached for the wing and popped it in place. The mare screamed again, and the tears returned to her vision. Afraid the beasts would hear her, Steel gave Daring a sugar cube for her to chew on. He repeated the process with this wing, and then carefully gave the mare a hug, being sure to place his forehooves around her neck instead of her wings. She simply whimpered in pain, as Steel began humming a slow song. They stood like this until her sobs of pain subsided. Steel had a crush on Daring, but he had never felt like this around her before. He felt like it was his duty to protect her, and his attraction to her had strangely grown since they arrived at this place.

He let go of the adventurer and began tearing the rotting wood from the weapons off of the walls. He made a small pile and went to light it. It wasn't dark yet, but it soon would be, as the light was dimming. The room seem ventilated enough so that the smoke wouldn't cause any problems, so he held his match to the wood and it burst into a small flame, just bright enough to light the room. Now, they could see the intricate designs on the walls, and the scenes they depicted. Daring sat down next to Steel as they looked up and tried to make meaning out of the Egyptian artwork around them.

"What does that say?" Steel asked, pointing to some Egyptian text

"It says: There is honor in glory." Daring replied

"What does that mean?"

"This was probably a place where gladiators came to arm themselves before combat in an arena. That saying is normally put in rooms like this, to remind the gladiators why they are fighting, for honor and glory."

"So gladiators got ready for battles in here?"

"It's a strong possibility, yes."

"Huh, well that would explain the picture above it."

Daring looked at the picture above the text, it was a pony stabbing a sword through another pony. The picture seemed a little intimidating, but it didn't really phase Daring, she'd seen way worse. The fire died, and the room became dark again.

"Well so much for a fire for warmth." Steel said

Daring's feelings began to overrun her mind again, and Daring had a mildly devious idea, "We could use each other for warmth."

"What?" Steel questioned. Daring wasn't sure, but even in the dark she swore she could see him blushing

"Yeah, like this." Daring snuggled up next to the stallion, and got cozy

"Oh, uh, I guess that'll work." Steel's face was bright red now, but he snuggled up beside the mare and got comfortable as well.

Howls could be heard in the distance, which reminded them that they were not alone out here. Daring pushed herself closer to Steel, and tried to ignore it. Then Daring realized what she was doing, but instead of turning away and pushing the thoughts out of her head, she knew that her life could very well reach an end in this underground land, so she accepted them. It had seemed Daring was right, something was in the air, but it wasn't a toxin: It was love. Daring wasn't sure what to think of this, how could she be in love with her partner? Either way, when- err, uh- if she made it out of here, she'd be sure to tell him of her feelings in the most professional way. For now, she set the feelings aside and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the fact that a pack of feral Ahuizotl's were on the hunt for them.

Daring had dreams that night, she dreamed that she was in the Kingdom of Basha, when it was thriving with life. Everything was so beautiful and perfect. Statues of Ahuizotl lined the streets and vendors were selling fruits. She approached one particular vendor that caught her eye, and then she realized she had somepony walking beside her. Steel was standing beside her, closer to her than usual. The vendor faced them and asked, "What would you like today Mr. and Mrs. Hoof?"

In dreamland, Daring didn't really notice she said that, as if it was a normal statement. Daring responded, what she said didn't make any sense, but she was dreaming so it didn't have to, "I'll have one Guakamon fruit please!"

The vendor reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small coin, it looked exactly like the one Daring had got in her previous adventures. "Here you are, the key to your next step!" the vendor said, as if this was normal. This coin had a different shape in the middle, but it didn't make a difference when she was in her dream. She took the coin, as if it was the strange and non-existing fruit she asked for, and went on her way after hanging it around her neck on a string that magically appeared on it. Daring walked away from the stand, when one of the statues started to move. It shook and everypony ran away, even Steel. The statue broke, and revealed a real Ahuizotl, except it was one of the feral ones! The monster pounced Daring, knocking her to the ground. It reached for her wings with its tail, and grabbed one. Daring saw the beast pull hard, dislocating her wing.

Daring snapped out of sleep, letting out a small scream. She quickly looked around, and found that the only thing with her was Steel, who was already up.

"What's wrong?" Steel asked

Daring looked out the window, light shown through it. It was already morning? It felt like she fell asleep ten seconds ago! Well so much for a good night's sleep, "Just...just a bad dream is all." Daring replied, trying to stretch her wings as carefully as possible

"Hey, didn't you leave that in the lock on the entrance?" Steel asked, pointing to Daring's neck

"Huh?" Daring questioned, looking at her neck. Sure enough, the coin from her dream was dangling around her neck. Was the dream real? No, it couldn't have been. Something strange was going on, and Daring planned to get to the bottom of it.

"Well whatever, I got some food for us to eat and then we should head out of here!" Steel stated

"What? No way!" Daring argued, "I think we need to stay!"

"What? Are you crazy? A pack of monsters is out there hunting for us! If we stay then we'll get ripped to shreds!" Steel exclaimed

"Yeah, but Ahuizotl is after the staff! If he gets his hands on it, then you can kiss the world goodbye!" Daring responded

"Ugh, you make a point. Fine, but the moment something else goes horribly wrong, so long as I'm still alive, then I'm headed back out, whether you're with me or not!"

"Aw c'mon Steel," Daring whined, giving him her puppy eyes, "I really want to go on this adventure! Please stay?"

Steel sat there for a moment, pondering his next words carefully. Finally, he sighed and said, "I'll help you find this stupid staff, but on one condition!"

"What's the condition?"

"I get to have the credit for finding the staff when we bring it back!"

"What!?"

"That's my condition! Take it or leave it!"

Now it was Daring's turn to carefully think about her word choice. After some consideration, Daring spat in her hoof and said, "Deal!"

Steel spat in his hoof and shook hers. The two ate a quick breakfast, and lightly tread out into the abandoned streets. It was even more beautiful in the morning light. Daring wondered how Basha got those lights to work that way, to simulate daytime. She didn't have time to think about that now, her gut was telling her she needed to go to the arena. She didn't know why, but she felt like something important was there, so she told Steel that's where they were headed.

"How do know that we need to go there?" Steel asked

Daring looked at the coin around her neck, and she stuffed it down her shirt. She looked back at Steel and simply replied, "It's a trade secret."