After descending down the tunnel and following it along four separate bends, we came across a large room.
Eight unlit braziers lined the path forward across the room, and at the far end was a massive statue. It was likely of a changeling, however several collapsed sections of the roof led to the destruction of the majority of the statue. At the moment, all that was left was the torso, which sprouted up from the ground, and the right foreleg, which a small segment of chain dangled from. There was a small pile of debris beneath the chain, and the remains of a large, circular piece of metal.
The changeling statue was holding two more braziers when it was intact, I had guessed.
Where the center of its torso met the path in front of us, a wide staircase descended three floors down before leveling out. As we entered the room and started traversing across the smooth path that cut through the center of it, the braziers lit up in blue flame as we passed them. A minuscule amount of rock dust fell from the ceiling near one of the caved-in sections, which had taken up a full third of the right side of the room.
“Thousands of years of neglect seemed to have disagreed with the Temple,” I pointed out.
We descended the staircase and came across a six way intersection. Ahead of us were five paths, making the intersection the first problem on our spelunking. Two of the hallways, the leftmost one and the second from the right, were completely blocked up by rubble from a cave in.
Sitting in the center of the room was a pile of broken armor, weapons, remains of construction-gel crates, and bones. The weapons and armor seemed to be made of a rusty iron. The skeletons were mostly smashed to pieces, with very little left to identify what species they were.
“What the hell happened here?” I asked out loud as we came upon the scene.
The changelings scanned the pile using spells to detect anything magical, then organic, then concealed. There were no results for any, save for the bones lighting up during the organic detection spell. There was nothing living in the pile: no disease nor a monster waiting to ambush us.
The One and Two stepped past me to start examining the rubble and remains. As Two picked over the weapons and armor, One held up a skull fragment in his magic. None of them actually touched anything physically, because that would have been stupid.
“This shape suggests either a changeling or pony, sir. I think it’s obvious which one it is.”
“The former inhabitants, then. What happened to them?”
Two lifted the bottom half of a sword, the blade cut in two. “This didn’t happen naturally. The cut is too smooth, sir. Something, or someone, cut this sword in half.” He let the sword drop back down onto the ground, and it clanged noisily against the debris and tan stone flooring.
“A fight, then. Any clues as to what they were fighting?”
“I can’t find anything that doesn’t look like it belongs to anything other than the inhabitants,” One said, still sifting through the bones.
“An internal fight, then?” I asked. “What could that have to do with sickness?”
“Sickness of the mind?” One postulated. “Or maybe the inhabitants attempted to break quarantine, and had to be put down.”
“Sickness of the mind is looking more likely. Still, we can’t rule out other possibilities just yet.” I looked between the three open paths ahead of us. “Any ideas as to where we head next?”
“I imagine we should look for the throne room. There’s no telling where the Vault is, if this place even has one, but the throne room should have loot,” One suggested.
“I agree. How do we find the throne room?”
“It should be in the center of the complex,” Two offered.
“And how do we find that?”
He shrugged.
“Anyone?”
I sighed heavily and considered my options.
‘How did they usually figure it out in the movies? There’s usually some telltale sign of the direction that they need to head to, like the presence of a breeze. I guess I’ll need to look for something like that.’
I walked past the large pile of bone fragments and rotten metal and stopped at the mouth of the first tunnel. Then, I closed my eyes, and listened. Distant echoes of clattering metal. The sound of a distant drip of water. An almost cool ambient temperature coming from the tunnel.
I moved onto the second tunnel. The lights in this one were broken. It was quiet. Utterly quiet, as in the complete and total absence of sound.
Quickly, I moved on to check the third. Again, the fading, almost negligible echo of clanging. There was also a low rumble, like moving air, but I felt nothing.
I went back to the group, “Alright, looks like we have our direction. The left tunnel has the sound of water, so it could be not much, or it could be a flooded dead end. The middle tunnel… a hard no. The right one seems like the last remaining choice, and a good one at that.”
“We follow you, sir,” Five said. The rest of the changelings nodded.
“Third tunnel it is. Three, mark it, and let’s move,” I ordered as I started to head towards the third tunnel. As Three began casting a Color Spray spell to make an arrow pointing to the third hallway, I froze in front of the doorway to the second tunnel.
“Sir?” One asked.
“I thought I heard something. Hold on….”
The second tunnel was still quiet. There was nothing coming from there. No temperature. No sound. No light. No life. It was so damned quiet, as quiet as–
“Death!”
“Zero?”
I jerked my head to the right and saw One standing next to me.
‘When did he walk up? I would have heard–’
One did not walk up to me. I had taken several steps back without realizing it. All the changelings were looking at me with deep concern. From their point of view, I must have zoned out then immediately backpedaled from the tunnel’s entrance
“Sir? What’s… Are you alright?”
I looked back at the tunnel. It was pure black.
“Did anyone else hear it?” I asked.
“Hear what?”
“I felt a quiet vibration through your... connection, Sir,” Four said.
“My…? Yeah. That. I heard someone say the word ‘death.’ I don’t think we’ll be heading down that direction anytime soon. In fact…”
Casting Color Spray, I made an X at the start of the second tunnel, and quickly drew a skull beneath it. It took me a moment to remember the shape of an equine skull, but I was satisfied with my work in the end.
“No one go down there, and hopefully anyone who follow us gets the idea. Right. Let’s, uh, let’s move on.”
We stuck close together after that as we entered the third tunnel. The changeling in the back, Five, frequently looked back as we walked.
And we walked.
And walked.
And walked.
The tunnel was slowly turning to the right. After what was probably a sum total of a ninety degree turn, the tunnel began to widen. Ahead, darkness was chased away as each set of enchanted lights flicked to life. Sometimes lights would flicker and do no more. Sometimes, they wouldn’t even flicker at all. The ones after the broken lights turned on without issue, thankfully.
First, the air got colder. Then, distant sounds made their way to us. Finally, we saw it. We emerged from the tunnel and stepped out onto a wide terrace, with gently sloping paths to our left and right, each heading downwards to the sides.
Beyond our immediate platform, the room was dark.
“Where are we now?” I asked.
My voice didn’t echo.
A small light slowly came into being ahead and above us. Like a heating coil warming up, an orange sphere gradually became bright and brighter, turning from a shade of orange to a shade of yellow, then ending on a white coloring very much similar to natural sunshine.
As it grew in brightness and intensity, the sphere expanded in size to take up what revealed itself to be a support structure around it. The support structure was made of thin rings of what I assumed to be enchanted glass, and the sun halted its expansion when it touched the first of these concentric rings. The process was not silent; as it began to start growing in illumination and eventually size, A quiet, distant hum grew in intensity to loud whine, then a deafening roar. Finally, when the sun halted its expansion, the outermost concentric ring of glass flashed green and the noise quickly died away to an almost imperceptible hum.
All the while as the sun brightened, the area illuminated by the sphere grew and grew.
First was the ceiling it was mounted on. Thick coils snaked around a metal chain that connected the light to the ceiling. Second was more ceiling. And more. And more. And more and more and…
Third was the space immediately beneath the light. A stone statue of a changeling royal was standing on their hindlegs, both looking and reaching up towards the swelling globe of light. It must have been painted once, but all that remained were metal and gemstone gilding, placements, and coverings that glittered in the artificial sun’s light.
Fourth was the structure the statue was on. It was a pyramidal structure, and from the looks of it at least a hundred hooves tall. That was another thing. As the sun grew brighter and brighter, the vast distance between us and it became clearer and clearer.
Around the temple, crumbling buildings slowly emerged from the receding darkness. Towers that must have stretched high up in this room now lay in piles of ruins and rubble around their own bases. A few stood standing, mostly the smaller buildings. Each one was rounded, with a dome at the top. Few domes were left intact but those that were reflected the growing sun’s light through several bands of reflective material, either metal, glass, or gems. It was impossible to tell at this distance.
Secondary lighting systems made their struggles towards life as lights all around the buried city turned on, growing brighter and brighter and revealing more of the ravaged stone, metal, glass, and other material ruins that once made up the Third Hive.
The place was massive. I couldn’t tell how far it was to the other end. Two miles? More? A mile wide? The only thing I could easily tell was that the tallest structure in the place was the statue, stretching up towards the sun. Despite the age and the wear and tear that the rest of the city fell victim to, the royal statue stood, nearly perfect. Flawless, save for the deteriorated surface. Moments after the sun had finished its startup, a rectangular gate at the base of the pyramid loudly ground open and water surged out, cascading down from the temple’s base and through perfectly smooth canals that ran through the city like streets of water. The water’s final destination turned out to be a waterfall straight ahead of us, where it flowed from three equidistant canals off a ledge and down into a pitch black abyss.
The city as a whole was sitting in an excavated cavern, shaped like a coffin. We were standing at the head of the place, and the cavern shrunk in width as it went farther away from us. Massive support struts extended from halfway up the walls to meet the ceiling far above. The buildings, walls, ceilings, and floors were all made of a blackish brick, with the yellow one that we had seen up till now ending at the first steps down from our platform.
Now that the lights around us, reminiscent of street lamps, had begun to glow soft white light and illuminate our surroundings, I noticed that the terrace we were on was once ringed with statues. At each post that the stone railing ahead of us went through, statues of drones in various states of deterioration sat on their haunches, heads bowed behind steepled forehooves. Most statues ceased to exist above the waist.
Our group stood in awestruck silence at the sight of the awakening city.
That was when I noticed the skeleton corpse of an armored changeling, sitting beneath the most destroyed statue. There was nothing left of it but a barely-identifiable pile of rubble. The skeleton was propped up against the base of the statue, armor torn to metal shards along the belly. Around it, the fragments of bone, too much to solely belong to the changeling, lay scattered.
Or… was it the skeleton who noticed me?
Dr. Dazzle’s hiding spot was a distance away from the temple’s entrance, so when the masked ponies began speaking with each other, a number of the words in the conversation didn't quite carry over the distance between Dazzle and the masked marauders, but she had a pretty good idea of what they were saying despite that fact.
She did, however, catch the glare of what had to be the leader of the anonymous assailants when he first arrived. His eyes hovered over her hiding spot just long enough to make Dazzle wonder if he had spotted her. She had focused on getting her breathing under control and finding her nerves, thinking the unicorn might have had an enhanced hearing spell enchanted into his mask and was hearing her breathe heavily. Thankfully, his gaze moved on.
Things only got stranger from there.
From deciphering the language to proximity-created symbols to a strange blood ritual, Dr. Dazzle could only watch with quiet fascination and confusion. Talks of sickness, strange books and ascending, to finally calling dibs, strangely enough.
‘These ponies are no mere looters. They knew about the ruins, knew about the language, knew how to open it, and were overall better informed than we were after weeks of study. There’s some deeper connection between this group and the temple…. Perhaps they are followers of the same cult or religion? Surely, they are a part of the same organization as the temple-builders, be it a civilization, cult, or who knows!’
One of the masked ponies glanced backwards and scanned the area around Dr. Dazzle. He or she lifted a hoof and was about to turn to walk in her direction when the leader performed the blood ritual and somehow unsealed the temple. With all of their attention away from Dazzle’s hiding spot, she decided to make a quiet exit.
‘Definitely going to need my things for this!’
Dazzle picked her way across the rest of the camp quietly and carefully, keeping an ear on the swivel for more of the masked cultists. Thankfully, she encountered none on her way to her stash and she darted between the small tents and out into the jungle's edge without issue. Hidden away in an alcove at the bottom of a tree at the edge of the clearing was her bag. She pulled it free from its hiding hole, dislodging a great deal of dirt that she had covered it up. The white canvas material was stained brown, but Dazzle couldn’t exactly recall if that was from the dirt, or if it was an old stain.
Regardless, she opened the bag and started rifling through it. She began pulling items out, items that she knew she would need. She didn't risk turning on a lamp or anything, so she went through her things mostly by memory and by the dim moonlight.
A smaller, durable satchel bag for transporting things.
An arcane flashlight, so that she wouldn’t be left in the dark.
A small medical kit, which she always brought with.
A pair of binoculars, for its very obscure but useful applications.
A mana-sensor, to detect magically hidden traps.
A small sack of grain, because she actually needed it that one time, and who knows if it'll come in handy again?
A whip, which she often used to reach switches when she inevitably falls into a snake pit or two.
And finally, her pith helmet, because no other would do.
She flipped it up with a flick of her wing and it landed squarely on the top of her head.
With a smile, Daring Do closed the bag back up and stuffed it back into its hiding hold, and went back to the temple’s entrance. They were gone by now, descending into the temple’s bowels. She paused briefly at the doorway, looking back towards where the main tent was.
‘They’ll be fine, I’m sure.’
She stretched out her wings, hopped off the ground, and silently glided down the tunnel, slowing to a halt whenever she reached a bend. She would have to slowly check around each corner before coming out. Daring Do learned the hard way about checking doors and corners in the past, and had no intention of forgetting that lesson.
daring is entering a temple? prepare for the manditory tresure hunter destruction of historical monumants
Both yes and no. Daring is going to either fuck something up. Of save the day. Either way shits going to get fucky wucky.
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Nice
yup, it's Darind Do alright
A reasonable reaction.
Well that's ominous.
Oh shit, Daring's gonna throw a wrench into Phasma's plans isn't she?
Can't wait for those two to bump into each other, somehow. I fully expect Phas to fangirl a moment or two upon discovering Daring however. It'll be cute, I just know it. Heh. Who knows, Phas might even talk Daring into collaborating with the crew for this adventure? Daring of course will want the rights to whatever book(s) she can wring out of this one too... Naturally.
Ten bucks says Daring goes down the second tunnel lol
I sent a cats and a lot of German ponies and camel Aaron. And a lot of Indiana Jones soundtrack.
So Bubba Bubba and likey.
10845170
I think he'll just override into 'serious mode for serious business'. This appears to be the second hive, after all, no chances, especially after the warning. If the Fourth Hive had books on mind magic, who's to say the second have didn't have mind magic-based traps.
Actually, has Phas even read the Daring Do books? I doubt there will be any of the such in the Fourth Hive. And unless I missed something, he hasn't picked up any books from his time recovering or starting up his new business.
10845171
Fifteen and you're on!
I called it. I absolutely called it.
Well, good bye Daring Do. We hardly knew ya, but man did getting an ice spear through the head have to hurt!
Would Daring Do be bold enough to go down the Death Corridor?
Most likely
Would she also be interested in tracking these 'bandits' and wise enough to not walk into a death trap?
Also likely
So 50/50 she comes across a Super Changeling-Killing Death Weapon and it bites Phasma in the ass, or we get 'Daring Do and the Temple of the Blood Cult'
daring do gonna go down the death tunnel isn't she?
for anyone interested, something nice to vibe to while reading
I knew it.
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. The second you brought up ancient temples and tombs a couple chapters back I knew Daring Do was going to enter the picture eventually.
This is gonna be good!
There is definitivly a Royal nearby. The Weave is spoken by one after all.
Damn... A hole city! Ones they get rid of the danger within it they might be able to restore and reuse it!
Not to would cost em lost Changeling history and a already for Changelings build environment!
Hm... Maybe all the jungle around the Tempel can be used to rebuild everything. Wood and stones plus wildlife and water. Ones the treat is deal with its perfect.
Maybe with modern spells and construction technics can the city be made better than before!
Amazing chapter
10845147
Seriously... Its pretty mutch the biggest crime against history... Why i nobody restoring selfdestructing tempels anyway? The history in em is priceless!
10845148
Well spoken. I just hope they dont rip eatch other manes out
10845156
And no one was surprised about that one... To be continued
10845164
Necromancer Changeling Royal?
10845165
Depends. Is Phasma planning to keep the city intact? Because Darin Do seem to have books full of destroyed tempels left in there wake... That Mare is a historical weapon of mass destruction
10845170
Win - Win for everyone
10845171
Dont think a experienced adventure is that stupid... Ego get in the way of living long enough to become experienced...
10845173
Books are very regulated in the fiurth hive. I foubt he had time or would be interessted. Its a typical 'famous but i dont know crap about you' moment...
10845189
Doubt it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Its more or a red shirt thing.
10845216
It was as obviously as the fact that Changeling elements would be within the tempel...
Cibola a legendary city if im not mistaken. Very fitting!
Let's just hope that none of the knowledge and tech falls into the wrong hooves...
I'm looking at you, Daring. Daybreaker would be all over that place if she knew it existed.
10845230
normally yes but she not the protagonist this time, she could very well unleash the nasty and still survive regardless she gonna be a pain in phas flank
10845170
Way back when Phasma was attending infiltration class simply having a roommate who possessed a book was considered an interesting fact to share to the class.
Between the general scarcity of the Fourth Hive and the simple lack of time I would agree that it is highly unlikely that either Phasma or the Numbers know who Daring Do is.
At most Phasma might realise that Daring Do is an Indiana Jones expy and prepare for the entire place to be destroyed by the end of the adventure.
10845230
the question is, where does Daring's loyalty lie? does she know the situation with Daybreaker? if she's delved into ancient ruins I could see her knowing about nightmare possession due to Luna's fall likely being recorded somewhere.
Regardless she's going to likely cause a major collapse
Cue Indiana Jones theme.
I wonder if both groups will at one point collaborate. Will Daring find out about the identities of these “ponies”. Or better yet... will next Daring’s book will paint the changelings in a good light.
Hey kid? What the hell happened here?
3 of my favorite authors posted stories today i feel joyous
Indiana Jones vibes anyone?
10845170
10845276
She will portray him as an antihero at worst, or die before it ever reaches her publisher. Even her home is too far away from society to draw attention to her disappearance.
10845230
"I'm Daring Do!"
"Who..?"
...
"Daring Do, explore author and explorer. You know... I'm kinda famous..."
Phasma's mind: I don't have time for this
"Seize her. I want to know everything she does, and if at all possible, to do so without having to waste time on mind control."
That's how I imagine it playing, but realistically the Daring Do thing or AK Yearling thing realistically probably won't even be brought up.
10845288
Always a good day when release dates line up
And while Plasma and the others go find what they wanted and leave. Daring Do, went into the center tunnel, ignoring the warning and has her first ever encounter with…whatever that blue weird thing with a arm for a tail was.
callin it
She's gonna see the sign Phas made and be all like "uh yeah I'm obviously going here" and then spooookyy
Did anyone else hear the theme from the show ring out as soon as that line started?
I could make a just dance reference here, but I'm not going to bother.
And if not, you have a snack. It's multi-purpose equipment.
10845303
yes
Hmm this context at the end here has me confused is she entering the temple or one of 3 tunnels?
Fascinating. Something had spoken though the weave either Phasma or perhaps another royal changeling. We know they are ageless could one have survived. Maybe driven mad by starvation or trapped within a containment vessel?
I doubt Daring Do will go down the second tunnel, that seems like a dumb thing to do--also I don't think she's all that far behind them, time-wise. Decent chance she catches up with them; they're going slow and checking for traps, so she can basically just stroll through until she stumbles unto them or their bodies--albeit with some reasonable amount of caution. That being said: come onnnn man! I need more!
To Kkslider - might consider messing with your Ko-Fi since you hit your goal for that first art piece. I'm not sure how the site works, but is there a way to set another art goal without deleting the first one? Might be people are seeing you hit 122% of that initial goal and figuring it's a waste to chip in anymore.
10845147
The whole place is going to collapse and/or flood before they are done.
Also, when you psychically hear the word "Death!" echoing in a thousand year old abandoned and sealed city... That is NOT a good sign.
...HIGH TECH CHANGELINGS!?
Smooth terrain, the building, the place as WHOLE! WOW!
Could be the 'skeleton' be a Golen or bot, even the voice on the Weave? And maybe talk to Phasma, reconizing his 'Royalness'??
COOL!
YUP, DARING DOO. RELIC DOOMER AND TEMPLE TROUBLEMAKER!
And he called DIBS Doo! That's against the rules!
IF, IF!, the whole place collapses and Phasma sees her, that's gonna be her LAST adventure.
Here's hoping Daring doesn't take the skull and crossbones path. Seeing the actual hive-city will hopefully blow her mind so I hope she follows them. Nice chapter anyways and this looks like it is hopefully ramping up into a surprising friendship.
Would you like to know more?
Cibola, has quite a few references on Wikipedia. This is one of them that seems most appropriate.
One of the Seven Cities of Gold, the Spanish legend that Coronado tracked to HawikuhMy apologies to the author if I made a mistake.
so Daring Do is on the scene this is going to be fun.
10845274
I thought Phas was MLP:FiM-aware? He did watch episodes with his little sister... up to a point (season 4 was it?). I forget at which point Daring Do was introduced.
10845348
Hard to tell... My best guess is that a Changeling Royal is present. Perhaps one or both of the Changeling Royal siblings or a decendants? Anyway i guess that Chrysalis used a abridged version of accending ritual. My best guess is that its more like helping body destroyed Royals to keep a living trough weave commanding others.
For instance lets say im a royal Changeling and lost 3 of my for legs like Phasmatodea but back than they didnt have the medical knowledge to restore bodys. They than use the weave to remote access to Drones brain to see, hear and learn from them. Say like a old bed ridden individual would have a pc before em to keep themself entertained.
Perhaps a younger Royal had than the bright idea to get rid of the old fart that lays imortal but imobiled all day and well... Conflict starts. In the end the old more experienced leader won the home war but the younger not cripples little shit for brains evacuated the city because 'a unknown entity keep mindcontrolling Changeling drones' over and over.
So they seal the hive and tell a lie to hide the truth of there shameful defeat... To bad they get killed of by a accident or a rebellion to reclaim the city later on...
10845271
Good point... Really dislike the idea that Daring Do would damage/ destroy a huge portion of the city. Restoring it in its current state will probably cost Phasmatodea centuries...
10845274
I would totaly Cocoon her on the spot. That city is probably more worth than the fourth hive. The badland hive is more of a huge tower. The third? Literally a city. The knowledge of all the runes alone would probably raise the tech level of Equis. Its one thing to archiv technology but preservation is something else. For instance the Crystal Empire weather tower technology to use magic rather than weather ponys...
10845275
Really hoping not... This place is worth more than the fourth hive. The fourth hive is already a run down remnants of Changeling technology and tech. It would be the equivalent of Daring Do destroying the remains of the Crystal Empire Capitol...
10845276
Good question... I love the idea already!
10845296
Unlikely. She might rather be a side character here but is still a part of the main storylater on. Not to mention that she has major potencial to become a ally. Phasmatodea is in need of artefact etc. Perhaps Phasma becomes a silent partner. He the financial backer and she is the one collecting knowledge that Phasma makes copys from etc.
10845300
Mayhaps but perhaps he plays it smart. A pony capabilities to outmanover Changelings to this degree? Literally screams high potencial bussness partner...
10845308
Damn... You have interessting ideas... But what would big blue do in a antic Changeling capitol?
Oh no, Phas just found an underground city and Daring is about to destroy it. That aside, I didn't even realize Dr. Dazzle was Daring in disguise. I was so confused when her identity was revealed lol.
10845399
In the show it was establish that he is a guardian for hire...I think, he has superiors that pay him to protect ancient and probably dangerous artifacts, so this might be his first gig or his first encounter with Daring Do or honestly anyone if no pony has ever breach the temple before so until Phasma arrived he spent most of his days just playing with his cats doing nothing as a guardian. And because Phasma had the right 'key' that makes him the rightful owner of the place so he doesn't have an issue with him or the changelings but Daring Do is an intruder throw and throw
10845409
A pegasus archeologist with a suspicious lack of physical description, and Indiana wasn't his real name? Several people called it in the comments.
10845412
Yeah I wasn't paying attention to the finer details.