Author's Note

Daring Do in this chapter is "old" Daring. Adventurer with broken wing that cant fly. Keep it in mind.

The failure of the expedition.

The failure of the expedition.

Darkness had overtaken the tomb in all of its glory, yet a group of ponies dared to walk through its tunnels. To be more exact, the narrow ones. There were around fifteen to twenty others and at the head of the group she led them. The infamous mustard coated mare in a hat and a whip that hung from her hip, she held a torch in one of her hooves to at least have some form of light among the darkness.

After the passage of time they arrived at the only great door that wasn’t locked, but hadn’t been opened since the dawn of time. So it did look at least. On the door itself was something written in a language that was unknown to most others. Yet the mysterious mare at front seemed to be able to read them. "Our gods do not like your lights." Silence fell in her as her mind did all of the work. “It’s a dare, that’s a bloody dare. Heh, good thing dare is my first name.” she spoke up and without second thought, she pushed the door open slightly.

A breeze left the room, as well as a howling screech like a ghost. It caused a couple yelps among the other ponies but those quickly remained their positions again. Behind the door there was a room to be found. In the very middle of the room there was a statuette to be found. But there were some things off, especially when there was taken notice of the fact that a ray of light fell down on it. The shaft of light was so bright that the edges of the room can not be distinguished. It seemed that they were going on in infinity, or even worse, beyond.

“Here. This is what we seek.” the mare said with a grin on her face. And from behind her came the rhythmic hum. The hum that only a unicorn horn give as the charging of magic starts.

“Do not make us wait for miss Do, bring it here!” the pony right behind her explained.

The mustard coated, hat wearing mare broke out in a sweat upon the words. They had lost ten ponies when they tried to get passed the many traps and it seemed that they were cooking something really frightening. The walls were hidden in the dark, the perfect spot to hide traps. Maybe there are arrows? Water that can flood the room? that were just a couple of the thoughts that ran through the mare, but a revelation was about to be made.

Wait...what was said in the inscription over the door? she thought to herself. The mare suddenly and hesitantly went to the beam of light in the center of the room. She took a step, one simply step into the room and almost froze into her spot. A couple tears made their way down her cheeks as she stood eye in eye with her worst fears. Scorpions. Even the infamous mare had her own personal fears. And she had good reasons, given how this particular one had the height of the room.

A pony who stayed near the door erupted out in laughter at her. For the thing that she looked at was nothing more but a statue. Daring Do frowned a bit as she turned herself around to the particular pony. She didn’t care if her tears were still running or not, she just gave him a glare that could kill. She then turned herself around and the worries rose as well. As the time to touch the light had fallen upon her.

It looked like it was a cheap film that would played the tense music, so looked the situation as she reached out one of her hooves. Slowly, carefully and doubtful it came closer and closer to the column. But then it was there, her hoof had reached under the light and Daring opened her eyes carefully. Nothing had happened, yet. Gods did not turned her into dust or anything alike and she released a sigh of utter relief.
“Faster Do! There are still traps left behind! Take it and carry it here!” the pony that followed Daring spoke up. That pony could and would be considered the chief of the group and it was more then excited.
“The ponies who lived here had an ancient magic. Lighters on your heads can not emit a quarter of what these unicorns could. They controlled the weather and the number of crops without pegasus and earth pony help!” Daring went completely into light, it surrounded her as if she had become part of the column itself. It was so bright that she could not see anything except vage figurines within the distance. And then she picked up the statue.

A sound of thunder suddenly rolled below the soils of the earth. Unnatural it was without a doubt, but was it even thunder? Or was it the roar of a beast none wished to encounter. All of the ponies near and by the door became worried from it and looked at one another and Daring.
“Bring it here! Faster!” the Chief yelled up as the sound of thunder rang again. And again. And again.

It seemed like a huge drum that was beaten underground. Even guessed rhythm. The drums slowly beat faster and faster. At one point they were powerful enough to make the entire temple vibrate but in seconds, the vibrating turned into shaking. Daring still stood in a beam of light and looked at the plateau on which the statuette stood.

An enormous crack had split it in half like it was nothing. It was invisible to the naked eye, but the walls started to crumble as well. Daring had lost all sight of the room due to the column which in and of itself didn’t appear to be moving at all. The sound of thunder rang again. But what was different the second time, was that it came from the very top, further than the ceiling. As if the overcast sky began to tighten itself up. Preparing itself for a storm of unknown magnitude.

Suddenly it began to rain. Large drops flowed out of the holes that were created in the ceiling. Only a few seconds later there fell a waterfall. The terrified ponies at the door shot all of their magic in order to keep the room as dry as they possibly could. They shouted the commands to one another in the true fear they had.

Despite the fact that the sky was as black as they could be, column of light was still bright enough to see nothing. Daring rushed herself out of the light and almost right away released a loud scream. Within her eyes they had fallen. The huge scorpions, they came from behind the statue that rose against the wall. Not just a couple dozen, instead it where hundreds, maybe even hundreds. Large ones, literally half the size of a pony continued to come and clacking their pincer together in a terrifying manner.

Without mercy they charged straight for the ponies at the door. Their pincers and venomous tails made short notice of the remaining crew. Those poor souls never stood a chance. But one of them turned itself around and looked right into the eyes of Daring. Who on her turn backed up from them and returned into the column of light.

All of the creatures rushed over to her yet they never attacked the explorer. All of the scorpions stopped at the edge where the shadows met the light. With a whole waterfall above her it was still better to be wet then stung by the poisonous tail of the scorpions. Daring turned herself around and looked back. Back to where the statue of the huge scorpion rested. And slowly all of the puzzle pieces fell together for her. Exactly! God of this place was a scorpion! Strange creatures for worship, but it's true! This species of scorpions are afraid of light, she thought to herself as a bright smile formed itself on her face.

But one problem replaced by another. Scorpions began to sink. No, Daring was not worried about the ancient deity. But she was about the little fact that the water levels rose and thus filled the room! It also seems that the door was shut again. Then again, it wouldn’t have been a safe passage to begin with. Daring worried about herself as she stood knee-deep in water in the confined space of light. The situation seemed hopeless. And the rain outside only gained more and more strength. She placed the statuette in the bag and tried to swim out of the light beam.

That caused problem number three to rise up. Turned out that scorpions were excellent swimmers. They danced around Daring yet were still afraid to touch the light. the adventurer cursed them and recoiled. She touched the cracked stone once again and parts moved. A funnel of water formed itself in between them. It seemed that under the rock was an emptiness. Daring did her best to hit the parts of the stone, a vague and hopeful attempt to activate the mysterious mechanism.

Repeating rhythm of the drums, it struck the rock from the inside. Stone crumbled and the water rushed down below it, occasionally taking a scorpion with itself. The drum beats went silent but that didn’t stop the vibration. Water had activated the next mechanism and it caused the floor to shake. It turned out that Daring found herself on a kind of elevator. Water filled up the void at the bottom of the stone slab and through that, thrust it upward. Daring sighed with relief, the risk of flooding was left behind. The newly found elevator lifted her in up into a small tower that was hidden in the foliage.

The jungle was all around her, the storm above her and the temple beneath. In short, the situation was far from ideal. Daring looked around herself and tried to get everything with her eyes that was visible.

It then appeared that somepony had managed to escape the slaughter fest of the scorpion. The mysterious pony hastily gathered the belongings from the wagons and just ran away. Into the thick forest with a storm, said pony must have been desperate beyond belief.

Not so fast, I'm going with you! a mare that was hidden among the trees thought to herself She jumped out of the trees and walked into one of the ground wagons. Only seconds later the engines were started and slowly the truck made its departure.

Daring ran after them as fast as she possibly could. All of her strength was put inside her legs. The other pony that ran away, was picked up by the truck. And in that moment Daring saw her own opportunity. She had caught up with them and threw her bag inside the back and jumped in herself shortly afterward.

Inside there were two ponies who dumbfoundedly looked at her. She smiled at them and hit one in the muzzle and the other was thrown out of the way she came in. But once again she had run from the frying pan and into the fire. Another truck appeared behind them without a warning.

All of the heads that poked out were charging the horns and Daring knew what was going to happen. Of course she could just fly away, but some wounds never fully healed as they should have been. And then the bombardment of magical spells was fired. Beams were shot in every possible direction and Daring just made herself small in order to survive.

Fortunately for her was the fact that the shooters were blind or just did not know how to shoot, not that darkness of the clouds helped them out either. But through a miracle the truck got hit. Despite the rain there still was a fire that broke out and raged like the inferno’s of Tartarus. Magical fire was known for its ability to wage even through water itself. "Hey, what the hell!" was spoken from the drivers seat in a stallions voice which was utterly confused.

Daring could not stay there as the fire covered one side of the truck. The mare came out of the back and she carefully crawled passed the side without fire and up to the driver.

The pony who Daring had hit in a muzzle woke up from the smell of the fires and found himself in the midst of it. The stallion screamed and in one last attempt to save his life, he jumped out of the backend. Only to land under the wheels of the pursuers truck. The accident occurred and he was no more.

Luckily for them, the other truck pulled right on the brakes and stopped the chase, for then. Daring got to the driver and was threatening to throw him out of the truck but he pleaded for his dear life. “No! Please! We will take you anywhere you want!” he spoke as his co passenger nodded in agreement.
“To Ponyville!” Daring demanded.
“But we do not last that long! We're burning!” The fires raged on more and more yet they never seemed to be spreading further over to the cab section of the truck. It would only be a matter of time before the whole thing went sky high though.
“Then, as far as you can!” she snarled.
“Roger that, miss!” the driver said and kicked the truck back into gear. The wagon traveled all the way with the last bits of strength that it had. Yet they managed to reach the end of the forest. Only for to be in a different forest...Apple Forest.