Daring Do’s adventure
#4 of Commissions
It was another normal day in ponyville. The clouds moved as the pegasus wanted them to, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the sunny day as they went about their business.
But there was one pony that couldn't enjoy the sunny day just yet since she was so gitty with excitement that she barely was able to stay on the ground with how much her wings flapped.
'Come on, come on, you are almost there just... a... little... more," Rainbow dash thought as she looked down at the mailman only a few houses away from hers.
The reason why she was so excited was that she was expecting a very important package in the form of the new book from the author Daring Do and her new adventures.
The last one Rainbow dash had read filled her with so much excitement that waiting, even these few moments before she could read it, was almost too much.
"Yes, yes, just a little more," She thought as the mailman reached her mailbox and placed the package inside.
She almost created a sonic rainboom getting to it just as the mailman closed the box. Before the mailman had even taken a step, he was blown away by Rainbow dash, who grabbed the book and locked her front door so one would disturb her.
As she tore the package apart, those little white things inside it flew everywhere, and Rainbow dash definitely knew she had to clean it up, but after she had had her fill of Daring Do.
Moments after ripping open the package, she saw the book, and in the next moment, she grabbed it, leaving the torn open package on the floor as she retreated to her room.
After she locked the bedroom door, she threw herself on her neatly prearranged bed for maximum comfort and back support.
As her heart beat, she looked at the cover. "The adventures of Daring Do and the ancient healing waters," Rainbow dash read before opening the first page and started to read.
***
Over the years of exploring ancient cities and mystic temples, I've always learned that you can never prepare for everything you will encounter.
This one is no exception.
Deep deep in the thick jungles to the west are many different ancient cities. They are near one another, being only a few days, walk depending on which one you go to and which you go from.
Yet each I've explored has much in common with one another, which only made my job easier since that meant that they use the same language, at least as for as their writing is concerned.
The only other similarities have been the giant pyramid in the center of what could have been the ancient civilization's town.
The first city and pyramid I explored had mostly eroded due to the elements, and everything else had been overtaken by nature, but that is only the outside. Inside the pyramid, many of the walls appear to be in good condition, and the patins and writing are as well.
I suspect this might be due to some lingering spell a unicorn of great power once cast.
The wall paintings inside the pyramid depict, to the best of my knowledge is a map of the area and tells a story of some sort.
After much time and hard work, I managed to piece the story together with a basic understanding of the writing.
"Long ago, all the ponies lived together in one city and seemed to prey to a god within the sun or the sun itself or perhaps even fire. From the painting, it is unclear which one it was.," Daring Do explained.
"All seemed to be fine until one day, their god sent a message to the chieftain. The writhing explaining the message seemed to have been purposefully destroyed. It was therefore impossible to know what it said."
"But whatever it was seemed to make many in the city angry and leave to build their own cities. The painting then goes on to explain the city's growth and how the ponies prayed to the god by performing a dance around a fire," I said.
Daring Do, finding this very interesting, ventured further into the jungle using her own map and drawing of the wall painting to guide her along.
The jungle was a harsh and dangerous place for anyone, even an experienced adventurer like myself, but I never once considered giving up and returning home since I loved adventuring so much.
The jungle held many trails. Creates such as snakes or decease infested incests that wanted me under the ground and the thick forest that misled me more times than I could count, I persevered and made it to the second city.
'According to the map I had used to guide myself, there should be two more cities after this; I do wonder if I'll find an artifact,' I thought as I entered the second city.
Unlike the first city, this one seemed to be in far better condition, with many houses near the cites pyramid looking a lot younger than the first cities even though the wall painting showed they were built almost the same time, maybe only a decade or so apart.
'Could this be the work of the same unicorn that cast the spell in the first city or someone else,' I ponder as I entered the cites pyramid.
Inside there was a similar wall painting, but it seemed to have a bit more information. This time, adding more information on how they preyed to their god. It was mainly that they seemed to paint their butts with a symbol of some kind.
"Besides the further explanation of the traditions of the culture, there wasn't much more, and so I traveled to the second last city," I explained.
Another long trip through the thick jungle, and I arrived at the city, which looked even better than the first two combined.
It was almost as if the city was regularly cleaned. And one other thing that surprised me when I first arrived was the size. While the two first cities could have been small farmers' town, this one was half the size of a capital.
As I got near the cites pyramid, statues of ponies in gold and silver could be seen, and each of them had the same mark on their butts as the wall painting in the second cities pyramid showed.
As I entered the pyramid, I saw even more statues of ponies with that mark on their butts, but what really got my attention was the wall painting that now had the message the god told the chieftain.
The writing was a bit difficult to translate, but it pretty much said, "to show ones true worship, one must mark themselves in my symbol," The wall panting and writing said.
'If all they had to do was mark themselves, why leave?' I wondered as I looked around the pyramid.
Soon as I looked further ahead on the wall panting, I found something completely new that the two other cities didn't have.
It showered what looked to be the last city, and just above the pyramid in the panting, there was a cup of pure gold and a liquid dribbing in it coming from the sun.
"Well, if that ain't an artifact, I don't know what it is," I said, followed by an excited smile and a feeling of ecstasy.
Reading the text under the panting revealed the name of the liquid. "Water of healing."
'Not the most creative name, but if it did as the name implied, then it will be quite the artifact,' I thought as I looked over the map, preparing to journey the last stretch of the way to the ancient capital.
After a night of peaceful resting, I was ready for anything the jungle could throw at me.
The path ahead was thicker and harder to get through than it had ever been before. Incets swarmed around me, attracted to my sweat as I walked further through the jungle, either pushing bushes aside or cutting them down.
I was ready to push harder, but suddenly the jungle and the undergrowth became thinner and much more easy to walk through.
At first, I was confused and thought it might just be my lucky break or a less dense spot, but no.
The further I walked following the map, making sure I was on the right track, the less dense the forest became, as if the city I was heading to was still populated and the growth of the jungle was still managed.
Eventually, I reached a point where I could just walk normally and without worry, which was no surprise as in the far distance, I could see the capital and its many, many structures still in fine condition.
For a moment, I truly wondered if there were still ponies around, but as I entered the capital, it soon became clear there was no one.
While I could have stayed in the capital for a while, I knew the artifact was of most importance, and it was best to retrieve it as soon as possible.
I then headed to the pyramid in the center, which was a long walk, but I still had much strength left to reach it in record time.
But as I reached it, I was perplexed as the entrance was sealed by some mechanism. In front of the door was a gold floor tile with the symbol of the god in two half circles that looked a bit like an eight.
On the side, there was carved something in the gold that roughly translated to, "those who seek the water must prove their faith with their iron will and butt."
It was then I realized why many of the ponies had left, seeing as burning their own butts seemed a bit much, but I knew I had to for the artifact.
And so I sat down, my butt filling the half circles perfectly.
As soon as I did, I heard the sound of gear moving, and it seemed the door was starting to open, but also, at the same time, I could feel the heat in my rump.
I knew I couldn't stop no matter how hot it got and so I gritted my teeth as the heat increased.
The further the door got in unlocking, the hotter it got, and I couldn't even rest by lifting my buttocks since that only resulted in the door fully closing and my work beginning again.
As the heat again increased, I felt the pain of the branding I was getting and got the brilliant idea to push harder down into the gold plate in the hope it would dull the pain.
The only result I got was more pain and the branding process moving faster while the door opened at its ever-slow pace.
I knew what I had to do. Any sensible person would have given up, but I was Daring Do, a famous adventurer, and author.
My pride wouldn't allow me to give up as I kept going knowing it wouldn't be long before the door would fully open and stay that way.
Eventually, I started to breathe heavily in an attempt to cool myself down as sweat poured down from all over my body. Once it reached the gold tile, I was sure I heard it boloing and evaporating.
For a moment, I again questioned if I should give up, but before I could even start to yell at myself, the door made a clicking sound.
All other sounds then stopped, and I looked up, still breathing heavily as the door finally fully opened.
Inside I saw the golden cup, which was more like a giant golden bucket.
Without thinking and in a great deal of pain, I ran inside the pyramid and jumped with all my might up in the air, letting my butt fall first down into the liquid.
The liquid boiled for a moment as steam rose from the liquid, but I didn't care since the pain was gone.
I sat there for a solid ten minutes before getting out, and as I looked at my butt, I noticed the symbol was still there on both of my cheeks.
"I guess they are my souvenir since it will be hard to get the giant bucket out of here any time soon," I said with a sigh.