Chapter 1
The Fragments.
The Power...
That's all his life has been about recently: the Fragments of the Staff.
The Might...
His quest has taken him across Equestria and back three times already.
The heart's desire...
Bravado swung his machete back and forth, to and fro, slicing and hacking his way through the Brayzilian rain forest. He'd survived dozens of traps, fought off mad beasts, and been scarred in places he really didn't like to think about. But the one thing that had kept him going the last few months, was the knowledge that he would be paid handsomely, maybe even set for life, when he finally reassembled (and auctioned off) the legendary Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded.
The first Fragment was simple enough; it cost him a beautiful bit or two (hundred...), but the griffon he'd bought it from had had horrible luck as long as he'd owned the thing, and seemed glad to be rid of it.
The second Fragment was a bit trickier; fortunately, Daring had kept Blackmane distracted long enough for Bravado to sneak the tail-end of the Staff out of one of the pirate's chests and make off with it.
The most recent, though, had definitely been the most bizarre. An enourmous minotaur-ape-statue...thing was using it as a power source! It was only after Daring Do and her sister had dismantled the thing, that Bravado was able to pluck the Fragment from it's cranium.
Now all the clues had led him here, to the jungles of the southern Brayzilian province, where he'd been using locator gems (procured from a bizarre mint-green mare in the black markets) to scour the lush green foliage for an alleged ancient temple where the long-since-modernized natives once worshipped the Sun. Not Celestia, but the Sun itself.
'Some ponies...'
Suddenly, the enchanted stone around his neck began humming, causing the velvet-short charcoal-gray hairs of his coat to stand on end. He was getting close.
But something else was closer.
Bravado spun around the instant he felt the warm breath on the back of his neck, his machete coming within an inch of slicing open his persuer's trachea, stopping with precise control that could have gotten him a spot on the Night Wings ninja squad had the stallion been born a griffon. He was relieved to see the one pony who could always brighten up his day: Canterlot University's Head of Archaeology, Professor Daring Do
"Hey, redhead!" the sand-tan mare greeted Bravado jovially, as if he hadn't just almost decapitated her. He slid his blade back into its sheath on his right flank as he stepped back, turning back to Daring with a relieved grin on his face.
"Sorry, magpie," he quipped, "but I'd think you of all ponies would know better than to sneak up on a guy with a blade in his mouth."
"You saying I couldn't take you if I had to?"
"I'm saying you've yet to show you can," Bravado smirked, setting his rump on the rain forest floor and pulling a pair of apples from his food satchel. "Hungry?"
"Thanks," Daring smiled back, eating half of her apple in two quick bites.
"So," Bravado started, his mouth full of the juicy fruit, "what brings you out here? Finally realized you couldn't wait another second to spend the rest of our lives together?"
"Get over yourself," Daring replied sarcastically, finishing her apple and tossing the core aside. "If you must know, I heard you're looking for the fourth Staff Fragment." Bravado finished his snack and tossed the core away as Daring had.
"You heard right, gorgeous." Bravado stretched his legs as he got up, arching his back for each pair, followed by a hearty set of cracks from his neck. "Although I have to wonder, what's got you so intersted all of a sudden? Last few times we've met up, you couldn't care less what I was up to."
"I found myself with some free time. You and I both know an artifact as old as the Staff belongs in the Canterlot Museum. Even one-seventh of the thing could bring in enough visitors to pay for a year's-worth of expeditions."
"So, what, you think I'm just going to let you take the Fragments I've already collected?" Bravado unsheathed his machete once again and started swinging at the vines and shrubbery in their path.
"I was hoping maybe we could...work something out?" Daring asked with a sultry tone. Bravado rolled his eyes and finished hacking away at a particularly thick wall of ivy, finally opening his personally-carved path to a wide, beautiful valley, lit by the setting sun to the point that a single photograph could be comparable to any painting by Vincent van Gallop. Fields of wild grass were spread throughout, and the residual mists from a nearby waterfall offered a peaceful rainbow to decorate the clear blue skies. A small flock of trogon flew over head, as a single capuchin monkey sauntered up to Bravado himself, who found the little animal cute enough to offer it a hoofful of trail mix.
But none of this scenery was quite as awe-inspiring (to the archaeologists) as the stone constructs that made up the ancient city of Machu Ponicchu. Entire buildings built on tiers upon tiers of carefully architectured soil, virtually untouched in the nearly five-hundred years since anypony had lived anywhere even remotely nearby. The Blinkan city had well-withstood the test of time, leaving the two explorers all-but-speechless.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Daring mused.
"Yeah...but not why I'm here." Bravado ran ahead, through the ancient central plaza, off to the far eastern end of the city. Not wanting to lose her only conversational companion for quite some time, Daring immediately found herself in pursuit.
"What's the rush, big guy? Got a date to get back to?"
Bravado slowed his pace, from a full-on gallop to a steady canter, to a light trot, eventually to a full stop, as the wheels hit full-speed in his head. His first thought was wishing he hadn't left his machete back when they first stepped into the ruins. He had a feeling it would come in handy very soon.
Something was wrong.
