Daring Do and the Empire of the Deadby CrackedInkWellChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 1Author's Note Here's an idea that I couldn't get out of my head. Chapter 1 It has been said that the capital of Prance is one of the most romantic places on earth. It is home to the Eyefoal tower, the great Louvre art museum and some of the finest foods on the planet. But for Daring Do, none of these were the reason why she came to Prance. She was not there to see the sights or to taste the exquisite and expensive food. Rather she was there on business. In particular, it involved her as a treasure hunter who has gone into dark jungles, burning deserts and freezing mountains that have driven her to the city of love. Daring Do was looking for something that to do it, she has to break the law. So what was she looking for that risked her being under arrest in a foreign country? A few weeks before, she received an anonymous tip that deep beneath Paris in the catacombs, it is said that during the Second World Party, Prench soldiers had gathered some of Prance’s greatest works of art and went down to the catacombs to hide them. The only problem was, they were never seen again, nor were the thirty paintings they brought down. But what made it even more challenging, was that the catacombs themselves are huge. Nopony knew neither exactly when they were made nor how many there are, but it is estimated that there are nearly four hundred miles of tunnels that stretched out beneath like a drunken spider’s web. They have been used in the past by ponies about three hundred years ago when a plague broke out and the residents had run out of room to bury their dead. Thereby making the catacombs floor to ceiling with endless amounts of bones. But this underground city of the dead is so vast, the Prench government closed large sections off to the public so that no one could get lost. They tried to seal off as many entrances as they could into the underground, but for Daring Do, she had an ace card. That came in the form of a resident who would easily blend in with the crowd. That is if one knew where to look. In the early morning hours where the bakeries were baking bread since before sunrise, there sitting in a chair was a unicorn stallion in green. “Monsieur Crawl Space, isn't it?” Daring asked the stallion who looked up from his newspaper. “Madame Do? Ah, good morning to you, here sit down; the bread is especially good this morning.” She did so, “So Crawl Space, you’re the one who’s going to help me get into the catacombs?” “Of course, and I know why too. Do you want to search for those missing paintings that vanished after WP2, yes? That, and you need an interpreter from Prance to Equestrian correct?” “That’s right, I never had the time to learn it since I’m busy gathering artifacts.” “Hum, shame Madame. But I suppose that’s understandable.” He put his newspaper down on the table. “But now then, down to business. Where in Paris are you expecting to start your search?” “I've dug up a few clues,” Daring said taking out her notes. “Just the night before Prance was invaded and the Trotzies came marching here, orders were given out as a last minute effort to hide some of the most priceless works of art underground in the city. Six soldiers were carrying paintings from Van Go and Monet to hide. So where did they go? I found a diary in my research from a little girl who grew up here when the Germanes came in that the night before, she saw six soldiers going under a bridge near a place called Pont Saint-Michel.” “Pont Saint-Michel? That would make sense since it’s not too far from the Louvre.” “But the thing is, even when they invaded, they were still able to find priceless works of art all over Paris, that is, except for these. These paintings were never seen again.” “Neither were those soldiers.” Daring nodded. “So, being my guide, what would we need going down there?” “Talking from personal experience, the first thing we’re going to need is some light and plenty of it. There is no electricity down there Madame, and without light, getting lost is a guarantee that you would not come back alive. The next is fresh water since we don’t know how long we’re expected to be down there; and some food too.” Daring nodded, she remembered her mistakes from the last time she went exploring a cave in the deserts of the badlands. “Of course, and we’ll need something to find our way out I suppose? Good thing I brought this.” Daring Do reached into her saddlebags and brought up the ball of golden twine. “I think we’re going to need much more than that.” He remarked. “This thing is enchanted. You can pull on it all you want and it’ll never run out. Now the question is, can we get into the same place that those guys went into, that bridge near Pont Saint-Michel?” “I know it, it’s been bared off to the public. However Madame Do, I know that there’s always a way in if one knew where to look. Eat now, and I shall take you there.” After eating some breakfast and getting their things together, Daring Do followed Crawl Space down the streets and into a particular alleyway with a colthole cover in the middle. Crawl took out a crowbar and lifted the lid up and out to reveal the sewer. “After you Madame,” Crawl said. Daring recoiled a little from the stench from below, but nevertheless, she climbed the ladder downward. The odor was strong, turning on her flashlight she could have sworn that she saw a few rats and mice scurry about. She looked up where Crawl Space was putting the colthole cover back, shutting them off from all light. “Follow me Madame, and be very careful, it’s very easy getting lost down here.” Chapter 2Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 3For five minutes, Daring Do and Crawl Space walked over the hallway of bones. For every “pop”, “crunch”, “snap” and “creak”, Daring could hear Crawl making apologies as they walked over the bones beneath their hooves. At the end of the hallway, their path was divided into two. “So what’ll be?” Daring asked. “Left or right?” “The right I suppose-” Crawl Space was cut off by a sudden loud “Crack!” above their heads. “Move!” Crawl Shouted. Daring ran to the right and Space followed. Behind them, the ceiling in front of the hallway of bones collapsed from old age. The crash echoed so loudly that it made Daring’s ears ring. When there was silence, the two looked back to the rubble that has blocked the way they came in. “Oh, this is bad. This is extremely bad.” Crawl Space was beginning to panic. Daring on the other hoof licked the tip of her hoof and hold it up in the air. “Madame, what are you doing?” “Do you feel that?” Daring asked, “Lick the tip of your hoof and tell me I’m not the only one who feels that.” He did, holding up for a moment, he commented. “There’s a small breeze in here.” “This means, we can still breathe in here. And from the looks of it, there’s now only one way to go.” Crawl Space followed behind Daring, they passed by more graphite and bones along the way. Every now and then the stone walls would be open up to tiny rooms that the only thing they have is bones. “It’s kinda crazy how many bodies are down here,” Daring remarked. “Most of them were from the plague Madame. While others have been exhumed during the last thousand years several times to be dumped here. Wait, look at this.” Daring turned her flashlight to where Crawl had his, on the floor going down another hallway was an arrow made out of bone. But near it, Daring found something else, she knelt to the ground to examine it. It was a button. “Monsieur Space, is this the seal of the Prench military?” Daring asked, letting Crawl to take a look at it. “It is. And it looks like it’s from the right time period too.” “Which means we’re on the right track, so come on, let’s go this way.” “Do you suppose they might have had made other arrows like this one?” “I won’t be surprised. But that doesn't quite make sense though.” “Why is that?” “Think about it, these guys, by the looks of it, have already put a marked path right? So how come they went missing?” “What if they ran out of light? By now that has to be the only explanation no? Down here, if you don’t have enough light to last long enough, it’ll become very easy to be disoriented. Never to find your way out. And to be honest, this is far too deep for even armatures to be down here.” “Have you ever been this deep down?” “It’s hard to say. When everything is pitch black, it’s difficult to tell if you’re under somepony’s basement or miles and miles down below.” They walked on, crawled through, and stepped over for miles in the pitch, charcoal black dark. Every few miles or so, they would find a bony arrow pointing towards a tunnel. And then, after hours of walking, they made a discovery. In a crossroad of darkness, they found another cave-in. But at the very base of the rubble, they found a skeleton whose hind legs have been trapped. But what made this particular skeleton unique was the hat he was the remains of the uniform he was wearing. “Excuse me, buddy,” Daring said as she felt through the pockets and found a wallet therein. Opening it up, there was a black and white picture of a mare, and besides that was a card. It was a military identification card. “This is one of them,” Daring said, handing the wallet over to Crawl Space. “Private Book Worm, he’s one of six who went down here.” “But there are no paintings,” Crawl Space pointed out. “So what do you supposed have happened?” Daring thought for a moment. “Okay, so this guy is trapped by his hind legs so… Okay how about this, these guys were either still looking for a hiding space or they still had them with them. Anyway, there was a cave in and this guy got caught in it. So if the guy had some of the paintings, he might have given them to them. Perhaps they might want to come back here, but as you said, somepony can get very disoriented and the last marker was about half a mile back. This means that those guys probably didn’t go back where we went to, nor did they go the other way which is full of bones since we've seen them. So there has to be one place they had to go.” “Ah, interesting deduction there. It’s a wonder why you don’t solve crimes.” Daring chuckled, “It’s part of a job as an archaeologist. When we find something, we have to play detective to find something else. Now come on, let’s go this way.” After sometime later, Daring has made two more discoveries. In the hallway, they saw the brass cylinders they were looking for. Counting through them, they found a total of twenty-eight of these cylinders. Opening them up, they found that these were the paintings they were looking for. “Moneigh! This is a Moneigh!” Crawl Space cried in joy. “And this one… it’s a Van Go! We did it, Madame! We found them!” “Yeah, we… What’s that?” Daring Do shined her flashlight to the end of the end of the hallway, and there was a door. But was truly odd was this door was made out of rusted metal. “Who cares?” Crawl asked, “We found the paintings, now let’s go.” “Just a moment, I want to see what this is.” Daring went up to the door. It was slightly taller than any doors she’s seen. “Monsieur Space, help me out opening this.” Chapter 4Daring Do had expected another room or a hallway that was completely made out of stone like the rest of the catacombs. She expected even more piles of bones from the past thousand years. What neither Daring Do nor Crawl Space had expected to find was a tunnel big enough to fly in that was made out of metal. “What do you suppose this place is?” Daring turned to Crawl Space. “I’m not exactly sure myself Madame. I’ve never seen anything like it.” At the end of the short hallway was an open door, this opened up to a huge room made out of solid gray. It was big enough and long enough that it could have fit an apartment building whole. As both Daring and Crawl walked into this room, they quickly realized that this room leads to dozens of hallways. Above each has a sign above, saying things like: “bibliothèque” Library, “salle à Manger” Dining Hall, “Coin montagne” Sleeping Area, “Chambres d'éducation” Education Rooms, “Théâtre de la Culture” Culture theater, and so on. “It’s almost like a town,” Crawl Space thought aloud. “I tell you, in all my years of exploring the catacombs, I’ve never come across anything like this.” At the end of the grand gray hall, on the floor was a flat piece of metal that seemed to be made out of bronze. With the help of Crawl Space’s horn, he flipped it over, leaning against the wall to find that it was actually a plaque. Abri n ° 2 de Paris France. Achevé en l'année 2067 par l'architecte, Théophile Desrochers. Un placés construit pour préserver les cultures et les peuples de la France et de l'Europe est pour un avenir meilleur. Crawl Space translated this to: “Shelter # 2 of Paris France. Completed in the year 2067 by the architect, Théophile Desrochers. A place built to preserve France's and Europe's cultures and peoples for a better future.” “This place is a shelter, from what?” Daring asked. “In fact, this place doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. This kinda looks like something we would make, but look at this place, it looks like nopony’s been here for over a thousand years.” “Perhaps we can investigate.” Crawl suggested. “What a minute! Daring, I think we’ve might have found ourselves a way out.” “Huh, what do ya mean?” “That plaque says it’s a shelter, which means it is a place to store ponies. And if it’s designed to store ponies, and by the looks of it, this place is made to last them a long time. But what if something happens and that they need to get out? Do you think it might have been foolish to have only one door?” “I see what you’re saying, there’s another way out of here! Crawl Space, you’re a genius.” And thus began the search for the exit. First, they began looking in the sleeping quarters only to be greeted by rooms and rooms of more bones. But there was something completely off about these bones though. In the remains of beds, all of the bones don’t seem to be that of ponies, or gryphons, or anything else that Daring has ever seen. These skeletons were slender, and the skulls were oddly shaped. The eye-sockets were smaller than most ponies, their teeth were flat up front and a little jagged in the back. And the rest of the skulls seemed to show that they had somewhat large brains once. It was in the sleeping quarters and one that was marked a kind of hospital that most of these strange remains were found. In other rooms, they found kitchens with food that has long since rotted away. In another room, they found underground greenhouses and farming areas in which they found bones of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and chickens. They found an open vault in which they found objects ranging from paintings to musical instruments and, to their surprise, crown jewels and everything else in between. In a library, they found books that had titles that neither of them had ever heard of before; such as “The Great Gatsby”, “Les Miserable”, “A Christmas Carol”, “Lord of the Rings”, and so on. Amongst the library, they found a section in which the shelves had nothing but copies of musical pieces. It was here that Daring took one of the manuscripts from the shelves. “What are you doing?” Crawl asked. “I’m taking some evidence here, getting some proof that this place, whatever it is, does exist.” “What does that one say?” “I’m not exactly sure, it’s in Prench, can you read it?” Crawl Space looked over at the manuscript, “I’m not sure if it’s even Prench. I've never heard of the name.” “I’ll take it anyway,” Daring said, putting the manuscript into her saddlebags. In one of the last few rooms they explored, they came across two skeletons; one was like the other strange creatures. But the other, however, was a unicorn. Or at least, a broken one with its’ horn broken off from the skull. Yet this wasn't the most surprising thing they found. On this broken unicorn, nearly all eaten away by the centuries, this unicorn had a cape and hat, made out of blue fabric with stars, and all around, there were jingle bells. “Madame, am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” “No, Crawl Space, I think we've just found Star Swirl the Bearded. At least, what’s left of him.” Chapter 5It was Star Swirl the Bearded no doubt. In the room, they found the remains of his bags containing inkwells, quills, scientific instruments of a bygone era, and a journal that belonged to Star Swirl. “What do you supposed have happened to him?” Crawl Space asked. “I thought he was one of the most powerful unicorns in history.” Daring Do turned her attention to the other skeleton in the room. Nearby the creature, there was a metal pipe. “Maybe this thing caught him completely off guard.” Daring thought aloud, “But why did it stay?” Crawl Space turned his flashlight over to another part of the room, where he could make out was a piece of a large broken glass with a series of complex keyboards. He noted that all of them have a letter from the Prench alphabet, and what really caught his eye was a button that says “sur,” the Prench word for “on.” Curiosity had gotten ahold of him and pressed the button. There were sparks and loud but low chime that rang in the silent underground. “Gah! What was that?!” Daring asked. “Détecter la langue, se il vous plaît patienter un instant.” A voice sounded out from the machine. This startled both Daring and Crawl Space since neither of them expected anything to come out from it. “What is that thing?” Daring asked. “Langue détecté.” The machine said, “Anglais. Apporter des changements à programmer. Juste un moment.” Daring turned to Crawl Space. “What did it say?” “I think it said that it’s making adjustments or something.” “Hello.” The machine said in plain Equestrian, “My name is Alex R2941. Please state your names.” Darning and Crawl looked at each other for a moment. “Daring Do.” “Crawl Space. And Monsieur, what are you?” “I am Alex R2941, a fifth generation computer possessing artificial intelligence for Shelter number two of Paris France. At your service.” “Artificial intelligence?” Crawl Space asked. “Yes. A machine that is programmed to receive and respond to given information similar to that of humans.” “Hu-man?” Daring asked, “So is that what these creatures were? Humans?” “I’m afraid I do not understand the meaning behind those questions Daring Do.” “Well, sorry to tell you this, except for the three of us, everything in here is dead.” “Please wait for me to scan the shelter… Just a moment… I’m afraid I cannot make a conclusion since all my monitors and cameras have been damaged. I cannot say that I’m not surprised by that fact.” “Why is that?” Crawl asked. “If my calculations are correct, the last time I have been turned on, was nine-hundred eighty-six years, four months and nineteen days.” “That’s… That’s not possible.” Daring stated. “How so?” “There was nothing this advanced nearly a thousand years ago. Wait, Alex, how old is this place?” “Eight-thousand, two-hundred and fourteen years, nine months and three days.” “Eight-thousand!” Daring cried. “But… But that’s not possible. The earliest civilization to exist was at least seven-thousand years ago.” “Please excuse me, Daring Do, but I cannot find any information in my data banks to confirm that.” “Okay, could you at least explain what this place is and what it was used for?” “If that is what you wish. Shelter number two is one of the four nuclear bomb shelters underneath Paris. Their purpose is in case of a nuclear war, these would provide survivors protection against the radiation from a nuclear winter. There are many shelters like this one that are scattered throughout the world in various cities. These shelters also provide as time capsules to preserve human culture, history, literature, music, science, and medical knowledge underground. The shelters also house artifacts from human history, for example, this shelter has Fredrick Chopin’s piano and the Crown Jewels from King Louis the fourteenth, just to name a few. These shelters have also had a network so that one shelter can communicate with another from across the globe. “When war broke out in the year 2076, survivors were escorted into the shelters while the nuclear bombs went off, supposedly have destroyed all life on earth for the next ten thousand years. Humanity still went on living, looking into the past to learn its past mistakes and trying to make treaties to the other shelters for the future. “The humans forced themselves to keep their population under control to prevent from overcrowding since the food source could yield up only so much. Some of them looking into the vault and library as a muse for creativity to pass the time. Others focused on advancing technology to perform better than the last. To which, I was created.” “Okay, that makes sense,” Crawl Space interrupted. “But if these hu-mans were doing so well, how come they all died?” “I still have the recordings of the last few entries, unfortunately, my monitor has been destroyed, and I can however still play the audio if you like.” Both Daring and Crawl have made an agreement to this, only if Daring has the machine stop once in a while to write this down. The machine played another voice who once again spoke in Prench so Crawl had to translate. This is what was said: “May 3rd, 10,290. This morning, the most extraordinary thing has happened! At around ten o’clock in the morning, we heard a surprised knock on the emergency door leading towards the catacombs. When we approached, we could hear a voice was indeed coming from the other side. Well, imagine our surprise when we found a unicorn from behind that door! We were so shocked. Since the war, we’d expected that there should be nothing on the surface. And yet, here was the unicorn who has wandered down from above! It was living proof that there is life that’s still going. We have checked the unicorn out for any possible radiation, it seems that this creature does have some but doesn't appear to be life-threatening, so we allowed it in.” “May 4th, 10290. It has been exactly one day since we've let the unicorn in. To all of our surprise, it does have intelligence and has the ability to talk. And what made it all the more surprising was the fact that this creature, who goes by the name of “Star Swirl” speaks in the English tongue. Thanks to the help of Alex, the translation wasn't much of a problem. As far as we could gather, he tells us that he has been sent by a royal to search the world to collect information of unknown creatures throughout the world. In my opinion, this Star Swirl seemed to be similar to the story of Merlin. And how much like him he is! Not just by the appearance that he has a white beard, but this unicorn has done some tricks that none of our scientists could explain! Such as making tables levitate in the air and teleporting from one side of the shelter to the other. We’re still puzzled by this. Apparently, he said that its ‘magic’ but some of us are not quite convinced. A further investigation is needed. Oh, and it should be noted that every time he performs these magic trick, our radiation detectors go off. Should have those detectors checked.” “June 9th, 102(Cough)90. It has been about a month since Star Swirled has left the shelter, promising to return. And ever since he left, things have been getting increasingly worse. Everyone in the shelter has been diagnosed with some degree of radiation poisoning. The scientists got it more than the rest of us. (Gasp, cough, cough,) Sorry about that. The scientist, what is left of them now, came to the conclusion that the unicorn was not only proof that there are creatures that not only have adapted to the radiation but somehow used it to their advantage. (Cough!) Some of us think that we've most likely got it when he was doing all those magic tricks. Star Swirl said he will come back to bring more instruments to study us. (Cough,) I’m not exactly sure if they’ll be anyone left by the time he comes back.” The last recording from another voice that seemed younger than the one who spoke previously. “(Unknown date.) Everyone is dead. My sister had died two days ago and now I’m the only one whose one left. (Cough!) And now, thanks to that scum, I’m dying as well. We haven’t heard anything back from the other shelters at all. Maybe it’s because all the things we talk to them with are broken and nobody is alive to fix any of it. I just had my last piece of food a few hours ago, and all the pipes are broken. I wish that filthy unicorn never found us. I wish we should have pushed him into the crematorium when we had the chance. (Cough, cough, cough!) There are too many bodies that there’s no way of taking care of all of them. And it stinks in here. I wish that-” “Hello?” This time, it was the voice of an elderly stallion that’s heard, presumably to be Star Swirl’s voice. “He’s here! That monster has come back!” “Hello? Somepony?” “Oh, now this time, all of you will be avenged.” There was a cough and the sound of some piece of metal being picked up from the ground. “Ugh! What is that smell?” Star Swirl said. “Hello! Where are you? What’s going on here? Hello? Hello?” The sound of hoofsteps grew louder. “Is somepony in-” There was a loud ‘WHACK’ sound followed quickly by a cry. The rest was Star Swirl screaming, begging for the creature to stop while it mercilessly beat him over and over until everything went quiet. “End of recording,” Alex said. Chapter 6“Um… Thank you for that Alex.” Daring said, finishing copying down the last detail. “Now, if you don’t mind, I want to ask you one last thing.” “Ask away.” “You said that both we and Star Swirl came in here by the back entrance. If that’s true, where’s the other entrance?” “It is the next room to your left.” “Madame,” Crawl Space piped up. “You are going to have to tell other ponies about this, are you?” “Me? What about you? You helped me discover this.” “I know, but if my name becomes public, there is a chance that I might risk becoming arrested. And Madame, if I may suggest that as soon as you announce to the world about the paintings and this place, you leave Prance as quickly as possible.” “I’ll see what I can come up with.” Daring turned back to the machine, “Alex, I will do everything I can to make sure to get someone to come back down here. You have been incredibly helpful.” “Thank you Daring Do. And Monsieur Space,” Crawl Space turned to the machine. “Merci de bien vouloir tourner sur Monsieur Espace. Il devenait plutôt ennuyeux sans avoir certains à parler.” “Soyez le bienvenu.” Crawl Space said. “Come along Madame, let’s get out of here.” In the next room, the only thing in the room was the latter leading only upwards. Tightening the bags and the paintings onto their backs, the made the long dark climb up the latter. They climbed up, and up, and up what seemed almost endless, a line of gray rails that lead into nothing for about ten minutes. At the end of the dark tunnel, there was a hatch with a wheel. “Hey Crawl, help me out with this,” Daring said, grabbing the wheel, trying to turn it open. Crawl Space’s horn glowed, and little by little, the wheel turned. There was a loud “CLANG!” That echoed over and over in the narrow tunnel. Daring tried to push it open, Space helped with his horn pushing it upwards. They were forced to open it slowly since the earth was falling in on them. Soon, other things were falling in other than rocks, they were potato plants. And then, looking up, they saw something that they haven’t seen in the past several hours. The light of the sky at sunrise. Crawling out of the hole, Daring Do and Crawl Space looked around to find that they were on the edge of a potato farm outside of Paris. Crawl Space sighed, “It looks like we have some walking to do.” _*_ To the nation of Prance, In light that I, Daring Do, have just broken a law not only in your country but in your capital that prohibits anypony to go into the catacombs. Yes, I have hired a guide to go into the dark maze of the dead, but I did so to find these thirty missing paintings that have disappeared during the Second Great Party. I hope you may find these as an apology for doing so. Also, I have another gift to the ponies of Prance; it is located on a potato farm outside of the city. When you find the deep hole in the ground, be sure to have some of your best scholars, scientists, archeologists and perhaps a reverse engineer to go down there. By the time you read this note, I will be long gone from the country, until further notice, I, Daring Do, am banishing myself from your country. Signed, -Daring Do. _*_ “So Professor,” Daring asked Professor Word Play at Canterlot’s University. “Anything new with translating the manuscript?” “I’m not done yet, but I think I might have a good idea what this piece of music might be about.” “And what’s that?” “Ms. Do, I have looked through this manuscript and I must say, wherever you found this, must be the most complicated pieces of music I have ever laid eyes on. And that the manuscript isn’t even Prench. It’s actually Istallion. Really old high Istallion.” “Okay, so what is the music about?” “And the good news is I have translated the title.” Professor Word Play levitated the piece of paper over to Daring. “Apparently, alongside the music, the translation is really an epic poem, but I still haven’t fully translated it all yet.” Daring looked at the piece of paper she was presented. It read: “The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi.”
Chapter 1Author's Note Here's an idea that I couldn't get out of my head. Chapter 1 It has been said that the capital of Prance is one of the most romantic places on earth. It is home to the Eyefoal tower, the great Louvre art museum and some of the finest foods on the planet. But for Daring Do, none of these were the reason why she came to Prance. She was not there to see the sights or to taste the exquisite and expensive food. Rather she was there on business. In particular, it involved her as a treasure hunter who has gone into dark jungles, burning deserts and freezing mountains that have driven her to the city of love. Daring Do was looking for something that to do it, she has to break the law. So what was she looking for that risked her being under arrest in a foreign country? A few weeks before, she received an anonymous tip that deep beneath Paris in the catacombs, it is said that during the Second World Party, Prench soldiers had gathered some of Prance’s greatest works of art and went down to the catacombs to hide them. The only problem was, they were never seen again, nor were the thirty paintings they brought down. But what made it even more challenging, was that the catacombs themselves are huge. Nopony knew neither exactly when they were made nor how many there are, but it is estimated that there are nearly four hundred miles of tunnels that stretched out beneath like a drunken spider’s web. They have been used in the past by ponies about three hundred years ago when a plague broke out and the residents had run out of room to bury their dead. Thereby making the catacombs floor to ceiling with endless amounts of bones. But this underground city of the dead is so vast, the Prench government closed large sections off to the public so that no one could get lost. They tried to seal off as many entrances as they could into the underground, but for Daring Do, she had an ace card. That came in the form of a resident who would easily blend in with the crowd. That is if one knew where to look. In the early morning hours where the bakeries were baking bread since before sunrise, there sitting in a chair was a unicorn stallion in green. “Monsieur Crawl Space, isn't it?” Daring asked the stallion who looked up from his newspaper. “Madame Do? Ah, good morning to you, here sit down; the bread is especially good this morning.” She did so, “So Crawl Space, you’re the one who’s going to help me get into the catacombs?” “Of course, and I know why too. Do you want to search for those missing paintings that vanished after WP2, yes? That, and you need an interpreter from Prance to Equestrian correct?” “That’s right, I never had the time to learn it since I’m busy gathering artifacts.” “Hum, shame Madame. But I suppose that’s understandable.” He put his newspaper down on the table. “But now then, down to business. Where in Paris are you expecting to start your search?” “I've dug up a few clues,” Daring said taking out her notes. “Just the night before Prance was invaded and the Trotzies came marching here, orders were given out as a last minute effort to hide some of the most priceless works of art underground in the city. Six soldiers were carrying paintings from Van Go and Monet to hide. So where did they go? I found a diary in my research from a little girl who grew up here when the Germanes came in that the night before, she saw six soldiers going under a bridge near a place called Pont Saint-Michel.” “Pont Saint-Michel? That would make sense since it’s not too far from the Louvre.” “But the thing is, even when they invaded, they were still able to find priceless works of art all over Paris, that is, except for these. These paintings were never seen again.” “Neither were those soldiers.” Daring nodded. “So, being my guide, what would we need going down there?” “Talking from personal experience, the first thing we’re going to need is some light and plenty of it. There is no electricity down there Madame, and without light, getting lost is a guarantee that you would not come back alive. The next is fresh water since we don’t know how long we’re expected to be down there; and some food too.” Daring nodded, she remembered her mistakes from the last time she went exploring a cave in the deserts of the badlands. “Of course, and we’ll need something to find our way out I suppose? Good thing I brought this.” Daring Do reached into her saddlebags and brought up the ball of golden twine. “I think we’re going to need much more than that.” He remarked. “This thing is enchanted. You can pull on it all you want and it’ll never run out. Now the question is, can we get into the same place that those guys went into, that bridge near Pont Saint-Michel?” “I know it, it’s been bared off to the public. However Madame Do, I know that there’s always a way in if one knew where to look. Eat now, and I shall take you there.” After eating some breakfast and getting their things together, Daring Do followed Crawl Space down the streets and into a particular alleyway with a colthole cover in the middle. Crawl took out a crowbar and lifted the lid up and out to reveal the sewer. “After you Madame,” Crawl said. Daring recoiled a little from the stench from below, but nevertheless, she climbed the ladder downward. The odor was strong, turning on her flashlight she could have sworn that she saw a few rats and mice scurry about. She looked up where Crawl Space was putting the colthole cover back, shutting them off from all light. “Follow me Madame, and be very careful, it’s very easy getting lost down here.”
Chapter 3For five minutes, Daring Do and Crawl Space walked over the hallway of bones. For every “pop”, “crunch”, “snap” and “creak”, Daring could hear Crawl making apologies as they walked over the bones beneath their hooves. At the end of the hallway, their path was divided into two. “So what’ll be?” Daring asked. “Left or right?” “The right I suppose-” Crawl Space was cut off by a sudden loud “Crack!” above their heads. “Move!” Crawl Shouted. Daring ran to the right and Space followed. Behind them, the ceiling in front of the hallway of bones collapsed from old age. The crash echoed so loudly that it made Daring’s ears ring. When there was silence, the two looked back to the rubble that has blocked the way they came in. “Oh, this is bad. This is extremely bad.” Crawl Space was beginning to panic. Daring on the other hoof licked the tip of her hoof and hold it up in the air. “Madame, what are you doing?” “Do you feel that?” Daring asked, “Lick the tip of your hoof and tell me I’m not the only one who feels that.” He did, holding up for a moment, he commented. “There’s a small breeze in here.” “This means, we can still breathe in here. And from the looks of it, there’s now only one way to go.” Crawl Space followed behind Daring, they passed by more graphite and bones along the way. Every now and then the stone walls would be open up to tiny rooms that the only thing they have is bones. “It’s kinda crazy how many bodies are down here,” Daring remarked. “Most of them were from the plague Madame. While others have been exhumed during the last thousand years several times to be dumped here. Wait, look at this.” Daring turned her flashlight to where Crawl had his, on the floor going down another hallway was an arrow made out of bone. But near it, Daring found something else, she knelt to the ground to examine it. It was a button. “Monsieur Space, is this the seal of the Prench military?” Daring asked, letting Crawl to take a look at it. “It is. And it looks like it’s from the right time period too.” “Which means we’re on the right track, so come on, let’s go this way.” “Do you suppose they might have had made other arrows like this one?” “I won’t be surprised. But that doesn't quite make sense though.” “Why is that?” “Think about it, these guys, by the looks of it, have already put a marked path right? So how come they went missing?” “What if they ran out of light? By now that has to be the only explanation no? Down here, if you don’t have enough light to last long enough, it’ll become very easy to be disoriented. Never to find your way out. And to be honest, this is far too deep for even armatures to be down here.” “Have you ever been this deep down?” “It’s hard to say. When everything is pitch black, it’s difficult to tell if you’re under somepony’s basement or miles and miles down below.” They walked on, crawled through, and stepped over for miles in the pitch, charcoal black dark. Every few miles or so, they would find a bony arrow pointing towards a tunnel. And then, after hours of walking, they made a discovery. In a crossroad of darkness, they found another cave-in. But at the very base of the rubble, they found a skeleton whose hind legs have been trapped. But what made this particular skeleton unique was the hat he was the remains of the uniform he was wearing. “Excuse me, buddy,” Daring said as she felt through the pockets and found a wallet therein. Opening it up, there was a black and white picture of a mare, and besides that was a card. It was a military identification card. “This is one of them,” Daring said, handing the wallet over to Crawl Space. “Private Book Worm, he’s one of six who went down here.” “But there are no paintings,” Crawl Space pointed out. “So what do you supposed have happened?” Daring thought for a moment. “Okay, so this guy is trapped by his hind legs so… Okay how about this, these guys were either still looking for a hiding space or they still had them with them. Anyway, there was a cave in and this guy got caught in it. So if the guy had some of the paintings, he might have given them to them. Perhaps they might want to come back here, but as you said, somepony can get very disoriented and the last marker was about half a mile back. This means that those guys probably didn’t go back where we went to, nor did they go the other way which is full of bones since we've seen them. So there has to be one place they had to go.” “Ah, interesting deduction there. It’s a wonder why you don’t solve crimes.” Daring chuckled, “It’s part of a job as an archaeologist. When we find something, we have to play detective to find something else. Now come on, let’s go this way.” After sometime later, Daring has made two more discoveries. In the hallway, they saw the brass cylinders they were looking for. Counting through them, they found a total of twenty-eight of these cylinders. Opening them up, they found that these were the paintings they were looking for. “Moneigh! This is a Moneigh!” Crawl Space cried in joy. “And this one… it’s a Van Go! We did it, Madame! We found them!” “Yeah, we… What’s that?” Daring Do shined her flashlight to the end of the end of the hallway, and there was a door. But was truly odd was this door was made out of rusted metal. “Who cares?” Crawl asked, “We found the paintings, now let’s go.” “Just a moment, I want to see what this is.” Daring went up to the door. It was slightly taller than any doors she’s seen. “Monsieur Space, help me out opening this.”
Chapter 4Daring Do had expected another room or a hallway that was completely made out of stone like the rest of the catacombs. She expected even more piles of bones from the past thousand years. What neither Daring Do nor Crawl Space had expected to find was a tunnel big enough to fly in that was made out of metal. “What do you suppose this place is?” Daring turned to Crawl Space. “I’m not exactly sure myself Madame. I’ve never seen anything like it.” At the end of the short hallway was an open door, this opened up to a huge room made out of solid gray. It was big enough and long enough that it could have fit an apartment building whole. As both Daring and Crawl walked into this room, they quickly realized that this room leads to dozens of hallways. Above each has a sign above, saying things like: “bibliothèque” Library, “salle à Manger” Dining Hall, “Coin montagne” Sleeping Area, “Chambres d'éducation” Education Rooms, “Théâtre de la Culture” Culture theater, and so on. “It’s almost like a town,” Crawl Space thought aloud. “I tell you, in all my years of exploring the catacombs, I’ve never come across anything like this.” At the end of the grand gray hall, on the floor was a flat piece of metal that seemed to be made out of bronze. With the help of Crawl Space’s horn, he flipped it over, leaning against the wall to find that it was actually a plaque. Abri n ° 2 de Paris France. Achevé en l'année 2067 par l'architecte, Théophile Desrochers. Un placés construit pour préserver les cultures et les peuples de la France et de l'Europe est pour un avenir meilleur. Crawl Space translated this to: “Shelter # 2 of Paris France. Completed in the year 2067 by the architect, Théophile Desrochers. A place built to preserve France's and Europe's cultures and peoples for a better future.” “This place is a shelter, from what?” Daring asked. “In fact, this place doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. This kinda looks like something we would make, but look at this place, it looks like nopony’s been here for over a thousand years.” “Perhaps we can investigate.” Crawl suggested. “What a minute! Daring, I think we’ve might have found ourselves a way out.” “Huh, what do ya mean?” “That plaque says it’s a shelter, which means it is a place to store ponies. And if it’s designed to store ponies, and by the looks of it, this place is made to last them a long time. But what if something happens and that they need to get out? Do you think it might have been foolish to have only one door?” “I see what you’re saying, there’s another way out of here! Crawl Space, you’re a genius.” And thus began the search for the exit. First, they began looking in the sleeping quarters only to be greeted by rooms and rooms of more bones. But there was something completely off about these bones though. In the remains of beds, all of the bones don’t seem to be that of ponies, or gryphons, or anything else that Daring has ever seen. These skeletons were slender, and the skulls were oddly shaped. The eye-sockets were smaller than most ponies, their teeth were flat up front and a little jagged in the back. And the rest of the skulls seemed to show that they had somewhat large brains once. It was in the sleeping quarters and one that was marked a kind of hospital that most of these strange remains were found. In other rooms, they found kitchens with food that has long since rotted away. In another room, they found underground greenhouses and farming areas in which they found bones of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and chickens. They found an open vault in which they found objects ranging from paintings to musical instruments and, to their surprise, crown jewels and everything else in between. In a library, they found books that had titles that neither of them had ever heard of before; such as “The Great Gatsby”, “Les Miserable”, “A Christmas Carol”, “Lord of the Rings”, and so on. Amongst the library, they found a section in which the shelves had nothing but copies of musical pieces. It was here that Daring took one of the manuscripts from the shelves. “What are you doing?” Crawl asked. “I’m taking some evidence here, getting some proof that this place, whatever it is, does exist.” “What does that one say?” “I’m not exactly sure, it’s in Prench, can you read it?” Crawl Space looked over at the manuscript, “I’m not sure if it’s even Prench. I've never heard of the name.” “I’ll take it anyway,” Daring said, putting the manuscript into her saddlebags. In one of the last few rooms they explored, they came across two skeletons; one was like the other strange creatures. But the other, however, was a unicorn. Or at least, a broken one with its’ horn broken off from the skull. Yet this wasn't the most surprising thing they found. On this broken unicorn, nearly all eaten away by the centuries, this unicorn had a cape and hat, made out of blue fabric with stars, and all around, there were jingle bells. “Madame, am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” “No, Crawl Space, I think we've just found Star Swirl the Bearded. At least, what’s left of him.”
Chapter 5It was Star Swirl the Bearded no doubt. In the room, they found the remains of his bags containing inkwells, quills, scientific instruments of a bygone era, and a journal that belonged to Star Swirl. “What do you supposed have happened to him?” Crawl Space asked. “I thought he was one of the most powerful unicorns in history.” Daring Do turned her attention to the other skeleton in the room. Nearby the creature, there was a metal pipe. “Maybe this thing caught him completely off guard.” Daring thought aloud, “But why did it stay?” Crawl Space turned his flashlight over to another part of the room, where he could make out was a piece of a large broken glass with a series of complex keyboards. He noted that all of them have a letter from the Prench alphabet, and what really caught his eye was a button that says “sur,” the Prench word for “on.” Curiosity had gotten ahold of him and pressed the button. There were sparks and loud but low chime that rang in the silent underground. “Gah! What was that?!” Daring asked. “Détecter la langue, se il vous plaît patienter un instant.” A voice sounded out from the machine. This startled both Daring and Crawl Space since neither of them expected anything to come out from it. “What is that thing?” Daring asked. “Langue détecté.” The machine said, “Anglais. Apporter des changements à programmer. Juste un moment.” Daring turned to Crawl Space. “What did it say?” “I think it said that it’s making adjustments or something.” “Hello.” The machine said in plain Equestrian, “My name is Alex R2941. Please state your names.” Darning and Crawl looked at each other for a moment. “Daring Do.” “Crawl Space. And Monsieur, what are you?” “I am Alex R2941, a fifth generation computer possessing artificial intelligence for Shelter number two of Paris France. At your service.” “Artificial intelligence?” Crawl Space asked. “Yes. A machine that is programmed to receive and respond to given information similar to that of humans.” “Hu-man?” Daring asked, “So is that what these creatures were? Humans?” “I’m afraid I do not understand the meaning behind those questions Daring Do.” “Well, sorry to tell you this, except for the three of us, everything in here is dead.” “Please wait for me to scan the shelter… Just a moment… I’m afraid I cannot make a conclusion since all my monitors and cameras have been damaged. I cannot say that I’m not surprised by that fact.” “Why is that?” Crawl asked. “If my calculations are correct, the last time I have been turned on, was nine-hundred eighty-six years, four months and nineteen days.” “That’s… That’s not possible.” Daring stated. “How so?” “There was nothing this advanced nearly a thousand years ago. Wait, Alex, how old is this place?” “Eight-thousand, two-hundred and fourteen years, nine months and three days.” “Eight-thousand!” Daring cried. “But… But that’s not possible. The earliest civilization to exist was at least seven-thousand years ago.” “Please excuse me, Daring Do, but I cannot find any information in my data banks to confirm that.” “Okay, could you at least explain what this place is and what it was used for?” “If that is what you wish. Shelter number two is one of the four nuclear bomb shelters underneath Paris. Their purpose is in case of a nuclear war, these would provide survivors protection against the radiation from a nuclear winter. There are many shelters like this one that are scattered throughout the world in various cities. These shelters also provide as time capsules to preserve human culture, history, literature, music, science, and medical knowledge underground. The shelters also house artifacts from human history, for example, this shelter has Fredrick Chopin’s piano and the Crown Jewels from King Louis the fourteenth, just to name a few. These shelters have also had a network so that one shelter can communicate with another from across the globe. “When war broke out in the year 2076, survivors were escorted into the shelters while the nuclear bombs went off, supposedly have destroyed all life on earth for the next ten thousand years. Humanity still went on living, looking into the past to learn its past mistakes and trying to make treaties to the other shelters for the future. “The humans forced themselves to keep their population under control to prevent from overcrowding since the food source could yield up only so much. Some of them looking into the vault and library as a muse for creativity to pass the time. Others focused on advancing technology to perform better than the last. To which, I was created.” “Okay, that makes sense,” Crawl Space interrupted. “But if these hu-mans were doing so well, how come they all died?” “I still have the recordings of the last few entries, unfortunately, my monitor has been destroyed, and I can however still play the audio if you like.” Both Daring and Crawl have made an agreement to this, only if Daring has the machine stop once in a while to write this down. The machine played another voice who once again spoke in Prench so Crawl had to translate. This is what was said: “May 3rd, 10,290. This morning, the most extraordinary thing has happened! At around ten o’clock in the morning, we heard a surprised knock on the emergency door leading towards the catacombs. When we approached, we could hear a voice was indeed coming from the other side. Well, imagine our surprise when we found a unicorn from behind that door! We were so shocked. Since the war, we’d expected that there should be nothing on the surface. And yet, here was the unicorn who has wandered down from above! It was living proof that there is life that’s still going. We have checked the unicorn out for any possible radiation, it seems that this creature does have some but doesn't appear to be life-threatening, so we allowed it in.” “May 4th, 10290. It has been exactly one day since we've let the unicorn in. To all of our surprise, it does have intelligence and has the ability to talk. And what made it all the more surprising was the fact that this creature, who goes by the name of “Star Swirl” speaks in the English tongue. Thanks to the help of Alex, the translation wasn't much of a problem. As far as we could gather, he tells us that he has been sent by a royal to search the world to collect information of unknown creatures throughout the world. In my opinion, this Star Swirl seemed to be similar to the story of Merlin. And how much like him he is! Not just by the appearance that he has a white beard, but this unicorn has done some tricks that none of our scientists could explain! Such as making tables levitate in the air and teleporting from one side of the shelter to the other. We’re still puzzled by this. Apparently, he said that its ‘magic’ but some of us are not quite convinced. A further investigation is needed. Oh, and it should be noted that every time he performs these magic trick, our radiation detectors go off. Should have those detectors checked.” “June 9th, 102(Cough)90. It has been about a month since Star Swirled has left the shelter, promising to return. And ever since he left, things have been getting increasingly worse. Everyone in the shelter has been diagnosed with some degree of radiation poisoning. The scientists got it more than the rest of us. (Gasp, cough, cough,) Sorry about that. The scientist, what is left of them now, came to the conclusion that the unicorn was not only proof that there are creatures that not only have adapted to the radiation but somehow used it to their advantage. (Cough!) Some of us think that we've most likely got it when he was doing all those magic tricks. Star Swirl said he will come back to bring more instruments to study us. (Cough,) I’m not exactly sure if they’ll be anyone left by the time he comes back.” The last recording from another voice that seemed younger than the one who spoke previously. “(Unknown date.) Everyone is dead. My sister had died two days ago and now I’m the only one whose one left. (Cough!) And now, thanks to that scum, I’m dying as well. We haven’t heard anything back from the other shelters at all. Maybe it’s because all the things we talk to them with are broken and nobody is alive to fix any of it. I just had my last piece of food a few hours ago, and all the pipes are broken. I wish that filthy unicorn never found us. I wish we should have pushed him into the crematorium when we had the chance. (Cough, cough, cough!) There are too many bodies that there’s no way of taking care of all of them. And it stinks in here. I wish that-” “Hello?” This time, it was the voice of an elderly stallion that’s heard, presumably to be Star Swirl’s voice. “He’s here! That monster has come back!” “Hello? Somepony?” “Oh, now this time, all of you will be avenged.” There was a cough and the sound of some piece of metal being picked up from the ground. “Ugh! What is that smell?” Star Swirl said. “Hello! Where are you? What’s going on here? Hello? Hello?” The sound of hoofsteps grew louder. “Is somepony in-” There was a loud ‘WHACK’ sound followed quickly by a cry. The rest was Star Swirl screaming, begging for the creature to stop while it mercilessly beat him over and over until everything went quiet. “End of recording,” Alex said.
Chapter 6“Um… Thank you for that Alex.” Daring said, finishing copying down the last detail. “Now, if you don’t mind, I want to ask you one last thing.” “Ask away.” “You said that both we and Star Swirl came in here by the back entrance. If that’s true, where’s the other entrance?” “It is the next room to your left.” “Madame,” Crawl Space piped up. “You are going to have to tell other ponies about this, are you?” “Me? What about you? You helped me discover this.” “I know, but if my name becomes public, there is a chance that I might risk becoming arrested. And Madame, if I may suggest that as soon as you announce to the world about the paintings and this place, you leave Prance as quickly as possible.” “I’ll see what I can come up with.” Daring turned back to the machine, “Alex, I will do everything I can to make sure to get someone to come back down here. You have been incredibly helpful.” “Thank you Daring Do. And Monsieur Space,” Crawl Space turned to the machine. “Merci de bien vouloir tourner sur Monsieur Espace. Il devenait plutôt ennuyeux sans avoir certains à parler.” “Soyez le bienvenu.” Crawl Space said. “Come along Madame, let’s get out of here.” In the next room, the only thing in the room was the latter leading only upwards. Tightening the bags and the paintings onto their backs, the made the long dark climb up the latter. They climbed up, and up, and up what seemed almost endless, a line of gray rails that lead into nothing for about ten minutes. At the end of the dark tunnel, there was a hatch with a wheel. “Hey Crawl, help me out with this,” Daring said, grabbing the wheel, trying to turn it open. Crawl Space’s horn glowed, and little by little, the wheel turned. There was a loud “CLANG!” That echoed over and over in the narrow tunnel. Daring tried to push it open, Space helped with his horn pushing it upwards. They were forced to open it slowly since the earth was falling in on them. Soon, other things were falling in other than rocks, they were potato plants. And then, looking up, they saw something that they haven’t seen in the past several hours. The light of the sky at sunrise. Crawling out of the hole, Daring Do and Crawl Space looked around to find that they were on the edge of a potato farm outside of Paris. Crawl Space sighed, “It looks like we have some walking to do.” _*_ To the nation of Prance, In light that I, Daring Do, have just broken a law not only in your country but in your capital that prohibits anypony to go into the catacombs. Yes, I have hired a guide to go into the dark maze of the dead, but I did so to find these thirty missing paintings that have disappeared during the Second Great Party. I hope you may find these as an apology for doing so. Also, I have another gift to the ponies of Prance; it is located on a potato farm outside of the city. When you find the deep hole in the ground, be sure to have some of your best scholars, scientists, archeologists and perhaps a reverse engineer to go down there. By the time you read this note, I will be long gone from the country, until further notice, I, Daring Do, am banishing myself from your country. Signed, -Daring Do. _*_ “So Professor,” Daring asked Professor Word Play at Canterlot’s University. “Anything new with translating the manuscript?” “I’m not done yet, but I think I might have a good idea what this piece of music might be about.” “And what’s that?” “Ms. Do, I have looked through this manuscript and I must say, wherever you found this, must be the most complicated pieces of music I have ever laid eyes on. And that the manuscript isn’t even Prench. It’s actually Istallion. Really old high Istallion.” “Okay, so what is the music about?” “And the good news is I have translated the title.” Professor Word Play levitated the piece of paper over to Daring. “Apparently, alongside the music, the translation is really an epic poem, but I still haven’t fully translated it all yet.” Daring looked at the piece of paper she was presented. It read: “The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi.”
