Chapter 1: The Cave Walls
She looked around the cave with the yellow walls. She put her torch close to her face, careful not to burn herself. Daring put her hoof against the walls, which had strange markings and symbols on it. She looked closely at them and read the words aloud. "To all who seek the answer of the Well, those select few will never tell," She said aloud. "What in Equestria does that mean?" She asked in her head. She continued down the dark hallway with a stern and confused look on her face. "What does that mean? Is there anything I've learned that could help me? Anything? Anything at all?" She continued to fill her head with these thoughts. After mindless wandering she gave up on it. She knew this cave lead somewhere closer to the relic, so she continued to walk with a straight face. Daring walked. And walked. And walked. It felt like she was going nowhere. Almost as if she was going in a circle. "Damn it! Why won't this cave end already?!" She was starting to get impatient from walking for what seemed like hours. And just then, right when she was about to turn around, she saw a small light at the end.
She immediately dropped the torch and went into a full gallop towards the light, and the closer she got, the brighter it became. She ran as hard as she could to get out of this horrid cave once and for all. She closed her eyes when she reached the light and after she opened them, she realized she was in a square pit about 500 ft. with no roof, besides a grass covering with a few rays of light shining through. In front of her was a tower about 20 meters high. At the middle, a panel with a small hook that was pointed upwards. Except there was nothing on the hook.
"What?! Oh no! Where is it? Did it fall off or..?" She looked around the area trying to find the Necklace of Turbutalita. As she continued to look for the necklace in every corner. Just then, she felt a large shadow loom over her and she turned around to face Ahuizotl and his animals snarling at her, or meowing for one of them. She looked back at him and noticed the necklace around his throat.
Without a second thought, she opened her wings and took off. But before she could make it even 15 feet feet off the ground, she felt a pair of sharp teeth, along with the nitch of pain, gripping onto her left wing. She fell back down in a spiraling motion flinging the panther away from her, while landing with her left leg bent, her right one straightened out to break her fall. Her face pointed down towards the ground, and her front hoof, which had slammed and cracked the ground, clenched into a fist. She tried moving her wings, just a little, and gave a small whimper from the pain. "No flying then.." She looked up at all the animals, stood on her hind legs, put her elbows to her sides, clenched her hoofs, and spread her legs. She kept her head focused straight as the animals surrounded her. She moved her eyes only slightly to see where they were. "One on my right, 2 on my left, and two behind me.."
She looked down and closed her eyes. "Do I attack, or just avoid a fight? If I run I can't get that damn relic!" She asked herself. She put her head back down, and she shut her eyes once again. After a few moments she had come to a decision. "Okay. Here I go then.." Ahuizotl held his hand out, ordering the animals to attack. He couldn't talk, not with that relic around his neck. "Those who choose the necklace with the path of greed, shall not have power of such to speak." The necklace makes the wearer much more evil, and sometimes crazy. If you wear the cursed necklace, you can't talk, unless you take it off through your own will. But nobody has ever been able to take off the necklace their selves. Everyone that wears it is doomed to destroy their selves.
Daring Do knew she had to fight. She just wished she didn't.
(Flashback)
The two voices continued to talk in an almost gruff manner. Daring Do stopped playing with her letter blocks and put her ear against the door to listen.
"Do you think something is wrong with her?"
"I doubt it. But it's certainly strange. Almost supernatural, even. I've never heard of such a strange topic."
"Should we do anything? Report it to the news perhaps? We could make a lot of money from the publicity. "
"How dare you say such a thing! Selling out your own daughter for some money!"
I wasn't trying to say anything! It's just that, well with you not being able to work and my bad job, im not sure if we'll be able to make it to next month's payment."
"Perhaps we should... No! Never! I won't ruin my daughter's life just for some money!" The man gave a heavy sigh, knowing he wasn't going to win that argument. "Okay. You win. But-"
"I don't care if we can't make next month's payment. I just care about our daughter.." Daring Do gave a small gasp. "Can't make the next payment? Is Mommy and Daddy going to lose the house?"
(End of flashback)
"Why am I getting that memory now?" Daring Do asked herself. She shook it off afraid to remember the rest of what had happened after that day. She put herself back into reality, focusing on her situation. Daring stood still against the animals and focused as hard as she could.
Everything stopped in that moment for Daring Do. Time was almost frozen. She scanned her surroundings. She looked at Ahuizotl who held his hand out in a firm posture. She looked at her location in the square pit. She was near one of the 4 walls, while still surrounded by the various species of cats and whatnot. "One wrong move, and everything falls apart. Don't screw this up." She held her posture firm and set her mind, ready to fight.
Author's Note
Hey everyone. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Might be a little slow and it is my first story so tell me what you guys think. Also the time- freeze part is to reflect Daring's fast reflexes so you'll see some more of that later. Next chapter we get right into things so please tell me what you guys thought and if there were any spelling or grammatical errors and whatnot. Thanks!
