Chapter 2: Mysterious Timbucktoo

There are few permanent cities within Zebrica, as a race the Zebra generally prefer to live nomadically on the plains of their home moving between waterholes. Timbucktoo was founded by ponies to act as a trading post between Equestria and Zebrica.  In this town you can find alchemical solutions for any problem, relics from forgotten ruins and a seedy underbelly that matches anything found in Equestria.

Literal List had been living here for months, but she was still uncomfortable walking the streets in broad daylight. List had been sent to Timbucktoo as part of her role as an archaeological researcher for the Royal Society, it was an intern position overseas where she could learn the culture and language of the zebra. A young unicorn mare originally from Canterlot, List had a papyrus cream coat and a deep red mane that brought the thought of red ink on paper to mind.

This morning her mentor had brought her new orders from the Society in Canterlot, an archaeologist had unearthed a major find and had contacted the Royal Museum to sell it. One of the Society’s chief benefactors had decided to pay for the find himself on the condition that the society would arrange for its transport and that a member of the Society would escort it to Canterlot.

Literal List was the lowest ranking member in Timbucktoo, so naturally she was escorting Blueblood’s latest purchase back home.

Her instructions were to contact the archaeologist “Daring Do” who was currently staying in the Cider Buck Tavern near the docks, present a letter of credit and details of the Society’s transport arrangements.

The path to the tavern took List down past the docks with its mix of air and sea craft moored in the harbor, she did her best to keep her eyes dead ahead not daring to make eye contact with any of the sailors of so many species. She was out of her element and convinced that every pony, zebra, diamond dog or griffin she passed was eyeing her flanks or her saddlebags, a few curious looks from a collection of bored sailors waiting for the tide eventually pushed her paranoia over the edge, pushing her into a full gallop.

If anything a galloping pony was even more conspicuous, everypony at the docks watched as she passed, pushing List further into panic. Turning around a corner she ran horn first into a yellow Pegasus and the two fell over in a tumble, List already panicking over what she had done.

‘Merciful Celestia, are you alright?’ list glanced up at her horn, ‘I didn’t impale you did I?’ in response to List’s frantic question the Pegasus gave a calming wave of her wings as she stood back up.

‘I’m fine, nothing I couldn’t take, what were you in such a rush for?’ the yellow Pegasus mare asked as she cleared her orange mane from her eyes.

‘I... well... uh’

‘Hey, hey it’s okay calm down. I’m Ducky what’s your name?’

‘Literal List,’ she answered automatically

‘And where are you going in such a hurry?’

‘Uh the uh, Cider Buck Tavern,’ list admitted

‘The C.B.T.? I know where that is, would you like me to show you?’

‘Well...’ List looked at the pony in front of her, she knew her name and she seemed reliable enough. Any port in a storm, List thought to herself, ‘... if it’s not too much trouble’ she finished.

‘Hey, no problem, just follow me.’ Ducky turned and led the way, checking over her shoulder to see if list was following. List took a moment to look over the yellow Pegasus’s body, searching for where she had run into her, the ache from her horn said she must of hit her fairly hard but she didn’t see a bruise anywhere. List also noticed Ducky’s cutie mark an outline of a rubber duck where the colour of the duck matched her coat. Ducky noticed List’s searching gaze giving the unicorn a smile while fluttering her wings.

List returned her eyes to looking directly ahead, embarrassed to have been caught looking. Ducky returned to looking forward as well, probably getting the wrong impression in List’s opinion.

The walk continued in awkward silence, List doing her best not to look at Ducky while also following her, Ducky was continuously checking over her shoulder to see if List was bird watching again. Eventually the pair reached the Tavern, at the door Ducky acted like the gentle-mare allowing Literal List to enter first, mostly as an excuse to check out her flank without her noticing. Literal List’s cutie mark was quite literally a List with a quill, Ducky smirking with laughter at the combination.

Once inside Ducky took a seat in the corner while List went up to see the bar tender, the rest of the tavern was quiet at this point of the afternoon and would be until the dinner rush later. List tried to put on an air of confidence as she approached the bartender who gave her a bored look in return.

‘Excuse me,’ List asked with more confidence than she felt, ‘I’m looking for Daring Do.’

‘harrumph,’ the bartender grunted, ‘that mare; of all the cider joints in all the towns in all the world, she trots into mine,’ the bartender frowned at a memory, ‘she’s nothing but trouble kid, what did you want with her.’

‘I have business with her on behalf of the Royal Society of Canterlot,’ List replied

The bartender threw his head towards the stairs behind him, ‘she’s up there, room four, guarding that box of hers.’

List thanked the bartender for his help and climbed the stairs up to the rooms above, Ducky crossed over to the bar from her corner table and ordered a cider, and she wasn’t doing anything interesting this afternoon, but she was curious about Literal List so she decided it was worth a wait.

List found herself calming down as she ascended the stairs, she was meeting an archaeologist, a peer, someone in this town who was absolutely no threat to her. They’d sit down and talk calmly about ancient ruins or zebra culture; yes things were going to be better now.

List knocked on the door to room four, but nopony answered the door. She tried the handle finding it unlocked and entered, looking around she found the room to be unoccupied except for what looked like an actual zebra sarcophagus. List was thrilled, this was the find? No wonder the prince demanded an escort. List crossed the room toward the casket already trying to guess what would be inside.

A monochrome blur shot out from a corner tackling the unicorn to the ground and holding her down.

‘Who the hay are you and what are you doing in here?’ Daring Do demanded

List stared into the ruby eyes of her assailant quivering in fear.

‘I'm L-Literal L-List, I'm from the R-Royal Socit-y’

‘How do I know you’re not working for Ahuizotl?’ Daring asked

‘There’s a letter in my bag.’ her horn lit in a purple glow as it brought out a scroll and presented it to Daring.

Daring rolled the scroll open with a hoof, resting it on List’s chest. It was a letter from Prince Blueblood himself, congratulating Daring on her find and offering a significant sum for it to be delivered to Canterlot under the watchful eye of a Royal Society representative. Appended to the end was another note from the head of the local branch of the Society introducing List and giving Daring Do the details for an airship specially chartered to depart in the morning carrying them and their cargo. The seal at the end was genuine and Daring knew the local head herself.

‘Well your story checks out and you certainly seem genuine,’ Daring admitted as she released List from her hold. ‘But why were you so eager to get your hooves on my box?’

‘The sarcophagus? Anypony can see it’s a priceless archaeological find, the carvings alone tell a story about the occupant. I can’t wait to get a look at them and find out who it was,’ List rambled

‘Wait, you can read ancient Zebrican?’ Daring asked

‘Yes, can’t you? You are an archaeologist after all.’

‘Well...’ Daring began awkwardly, ‘I'm terrible at rhyming so I could never get the lyrical portion of modern Zebrican down, let alone the ancient stuff,’ she finished

‘So you don’t know what the carvings say?’ List asked

Daring chuckled, ‘I’m not much of an archaeologist, and I suppose explorer is a better term. I go out explore distant lands and send anything I find back home where real archaeologists can analyse it.’

‘So why did you find this if you didn’t want to learn about the ancient zebra?’ List asked, after all what was the point of exploring ancient tombs if not to learn about those who built them?

‘Fun’

‘Fun?’ Literal List asked incredulously

‘The adventure, to find out what’s over the horizon and to discover things nopony else has seen.’ Daring noted the look of denial on List’s face. She’s probably never been away from civilization before, a literal bookworm, Daring thought smiling inwardly at her clever pun; “Literal” must use that sometime. ‘So you want to take a look at the sarcophagus?’ Daring asked

‘Oh yes please.’ without waiting a second longer Literal List threw herself at the casket, walking around it as she read the carvings.

‘Here lies entombed King Imzohtep, ruler of plain, sand and step,

wisdom without measure, was his greatest treasure,

we lay him to rest as even he could not best death,’ List translated aloud

‘Sounds like a worthwhile king,’ Daring summarised

‘I’ve never heard of him before and I know almost everything anypony knows about ancient Zebrica, this is entirely new to me, I have so many questions to answer!’ List enthused

Daring watched as the unicorn levitated note pads and pencils from her bag taking notes on every observation she made. Eventually she took the lid in her magical grip, lifting the heavy slab from the sarcophagus, nearly dropping it in awe.

‘So perfectly preserved, so many scrolls! There’s just so much here for us to learn!’

‘List,’ Daring tried to interrupt

‘There’s so much here, it’s like a dream come true!’

‘Literal List,’ Daring said louder, as she walked over to the entranced unicorn.

‘Look at these bandages, black and white, why would they—’

‘List!’ Daring barked, using her tail to give the unicorn a whip on the flank. The unicorn reared up in fright giving a shocked cry as her notebook and pencil fell to the ground as her concentration collapsed.

‘Don’t get carried away, we still have to get this onto the airship in the morning, this isn’t the time for a full analysis.’ Daring used a wing to block List’s view of the casket, ‘I’m sure you’ve had a long day, let’s go downstairs and get ourselves some dinner, my treat.’ Reluctantly the unicorn agreed and together they walked out of the room, Daring Do making sure to stay between the unicorn and the sarcophagus which they had left open behind them.

It was late afternoon by the time the pair of archaeologists arrived downstairs. Ducky had been waiting patiently hoping to see whoever List had come to see, fortifying her curiosity with a few cups of cider. Ducky’s ship was due to leave in the morning on the return trip to Equestria, another two weeks with only the captain as company. Literal List was a nice looking mare and Ducky would love somepony to talk to whenever her ship made port in Timbucktoo.

Ducky watched from her corner as List’s new friend went to the bar to order something from the unenthusiastic barkeeper, Ducky gave a wave to Literal List who was standing behind the other mare, List returned it awkwardly.

Daring noticed the wave from the corner of her eye, returning her gaze to the bartender she added a third meal to her order.

This should be an interesting evening, Daring thought to herself. The bartender seemed to notice as well,

‘You’re not going to start trouble in here again are you Daring?’ asked the bartender, with little doubt she would regardless.

‘I have no idea where you got that impression,’ Daring returned sweetly. ‘Alright List, let’s go join your friend over there’

‘Uh, I just bumped into her earlier and she showed me where the tavern was,’ List explained

‘And waited around to see if you were okay? Sounds good enough to me,’ Daring declared as she led the way over to the yellow Pegasus's table. Without waiting for an invitation Daring took the seat across the table from Ducky leaving the seat between them for Literal List.

‘Well hello there, couldn’t help but notice List here waving at you from the bar, she said you helped her find her way here?’ Daring asked

‘We ran into each other earlier, she was a bit skittish so I lead her here. I wasn’t doing anything else so I decided to wait around to see if she was alright,’ Ducky explained

Daring offered her hoof, ’Daring Do, Adventurer’

Ducky returned the gesture, ‘Duck Tape, airship pony, I prefer to be called “Ducky”.’

The two brought their hooves together in greeting.

While the pair had been getting acquainted, Literal List had been taking in her surroundings. The Tavern was starting to fill with more ponies arriving for dinner and nightly entertainment. A mix of species occupied the tables around them, a pair of diamond dogs were across the room, a group of earth ponies from the docks were sitting at the bar, a griffin sat in another corner watching everything and a zebra was watching from the top of the staircase that lead up to the rooms. The zebra abruptly turned to leave before List could get a good look at him. The rest of the crowd continued to chatter incessantly about subjects List didn’t understand, what was a fo'c'sle for instance?

‘So what ship are you flying with?’ Daring continued, the explorer was suspicious of this Pegasus, just appearing out of nowhere and connecting herself with List? It would be unusually subtle for Ahuizotl but Daring wasn’t going to take any chances so close to getting her prize home.

‘The MacGuffin under the helm of Captain Albatross, we set sail on the morning wind tomorrow. I had the day off today, last chance before I’m stuck on the ship for a fortnight,’ Ducky grumbled.

Dinner interrupted the interrogation, levitated over by the barkeeper, it consisted of a thick stew that everypony in the tavern received along with a cup of Equestrian cider. Ducky along with all the other sailors in the tavern downed the drink immediately before starting on the stew, Daring only sipped the drink while List left it entirely.

‘So, Ducky,’ List asked between mouth fulls of the stew, ‘what’s a foc’sle?’

‘I think you mean the forecastle, it’s a platform at the front of a ship and its pronounced fo’c’sle,’ Ducky’s pronunciation eluded List.

‘Hey,’ interrupted an earth pony from the neighbouring table, ‘it’s pronounced “fo’c’sle” not “fo’c’sle”.’ List honestly couldn’t tell the difference, Daring was suddenly wary of her surroundings as Ducky responded to the interruption,

‘What are you, a dictionary? Perhaps its pronounced “fo’c’sle” on your nice little sea ship, but in the sky we call it a “fo’c’sle”, the way it’s meant to be said.’

The atmosphere in the tavern changed, silence fell among the patrons at Ducky stared into the eyes of the earth pony, who stared right back. Daring took note of the situation and did the sane thing, ate the rest of her stew as quickly as possible tapping her hoof at List’s plate to suggest she do the same.

‘Oooh all high an’ mighty in your sky ship, feather brain? I bet that hunk of junk of yours can barely stay in the sky with that mad captain of yours.’

Ducky’s response was immediate; she slapped the pony the face with a wing before following through with a buck from her hind legs. The blow sent the pony right into his own table, knocking both to the floor, antagonising the earth pony’s mates who lost their dinner with the table. The earth ponies started to bring themselves to their feet intending to take on Ducky who stood over them with her wings open in a full territorial display.

The silent atmosphere immediately erupted into a full blow riot across the tavern as pegasi, griffins and other crew from airships stood against their water based rivals in yet another battle of their long running feud.

‘Time to go,’ Daring said to List as she pushed her under a neighbouring table before joining her as well.

‘What’s happening?’ List asked, panic in her voice again

‘Well when an earth pony and a Pegasus walk into a bar—’

‘Get me out of here!’

Daring rolled her eyes, ‘fine, follow me.’

The staircase was six tables away with over a dozen drunken sailors fighting over the difference of pronunciation of a minor nautical term. Compared to some of the traps Ahuizotl had set for her over the years this one was positively easy, then she reminded herself that she was also escorting list, less easy then.

Daring crawled out from under the table, keeping low while their original table flew overhead and rolled toward the next one. The table in front of her disappeared as a diamond dog flew through it; a sudden gut feeling had Daring roll to the left, avoiding a chair that was thrown back through the air thrown by the diamond dog that had just flown past Daring. She used her wings to push herself forward to the next table, taking a second to check on List once she reached the shelter, her pure white coat stained with somepony’s dinner.

A pair of unicorns were hiding under the next table so Daring took the high road instead, leaping onto the table and off the other side where she was confronted by a large earth pony. Just being a pegasus was enough reason for this guy to attack Daring, as he launched his attack Daring dropped onto her belly again dodging the attack then Daring shot herself up into the air, taking the earth pony around the waist and threw him into the next table. Daring returned to the ground, jumped over the table – and its stunned earth pony occupant – taking cover again. List stepped gingerly around the stunned earth pony and joined Daring, who tapped the table she was under

‘Grab the table,’ she ordered, List held the table with her magic. ‘Follow me, bring the table’

The pair moved quickly, sheltered by the table from flying chairs and dinner plates, Daring turned to look back where they had come from. Ducky had been victorious so far, standing on a table dodging thrown items while bucking anyone who attempted to pull her down.

Daring and List reached the staircase upstairs, where the bartender was waiting for them.

‘You,’ the bartender accused Daring, ‘this is all your fault.’

Daring raised an eyebrow, taking a pose that said ‘who me?’

‘First thing in the morning, you’re outta here and don’t come back’

‘Fine, I didn’t want to stay here any longer anyway.’ Angry, the barkeeper returned to his bar, to defend it from the drunken brawl while Daring led the way upstairs to her room. Once the door was shut behind them Daring turned to check on list,

‘You okay kid?’

‘Well... yes... but that was’

‘Scary? Dangerous?’ Daring asked

‘Kinda exhilarating actually,’ Literal List replied

Daring smiled, ‘welcome to my life kiddo, it’s only the third tavern in Timbucktoo I've been kicked out of. It’s all part of the adventure.’

‘Adventure... in what other ways can I experience it?’ List asked

Daring chuckled, ‘Literal List, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’

‘Well that escalated quickly,’ Twilight Sparkle commented.

‘That’s just you Twilight,’ Rainbow Dash replied, ‘you’ve probably never seen a real bar fight. I used to get into plenty back in Cloudsdale.’

‘Whatever you say Rainbow,’ Twilight said with a smile, while rolling her eyes.

‘Next chapter;’ Rainbow ordered and Twilight brought the next stack out. ‘Chapter Three: Lift Off, awesome.’

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Lift Off Estimated time remaining: 43 Minutes