Daring has held your hand all night. From the moment you were thrown back into your cell until now, her hoof has been resting on your unmoving hand.

You haven’t moved all night.

The pain you feel in your back has been too much to bear while moving, so you elected not to move. Luckily, though, some zebra came into your cell around midnight and put toilet paper on your back to dry up some of the blood.

At least it was something.

“Hey,” Daring says quietly, her hoof leaving your hand for the first time in hours. “I’ve got an idea.”

Still feeling the immense pain of yesterday’s encounter with Kiduttaa, you don’t move. You just look up at her with your eyes.

“We can get out of here,” she whispers, as though if she talks at a normal volume, the zebras in the next room may hear. “I think I know how.”

“What’s the plan?” you ask quietly.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of everything. But I need you to do something, OK?...”

You don’t like where this is going already.

“What is it?” you ask, still not moving.

She swallows and takes a deep breath. “I, uh... I need them to take you away again.”

Oh fuck no.

“No, no, no, no, absolutely not,” you say, beginning to find energy in determination to not go back there.

“I know you don’t want to, but hear me out-”

“Daring, please!” you say, scooting yourself away from the yellow pony and towards the opposite end of your cell.

“It’s going to be alright! Just listen-”

“Daring, don’t make me go back in there!” The memories of what happened mere hours before will probably stay with you forever, and you are terrified of the thought of having to endure such torture again.

Tears well up in your eyes.

The cell is not that wide, and your side touches the wall, keeping you from attempting to flee from Daring.

She reaches through the bars and grabs your hand in between her hooves.

“Please,” you say quietly, tears threatening to pour from your eyes at any moment. You shut your eyes as tightly as possible and lay your head on the ground, not moving your hand from Daring’s grasp.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Daring says quickly in an attempt to calm you down. “Don’t cry. It’s OK. You hear me? It’s going to be OK.”

You take a deep breath to calm your nerves.

“Don’t worry. It’s all just part of the plan.”

You already don’t like this plan. Anything that involves you going back down that hall does not sound very good.

“They’re going to take you, alright?” she asks, stroking your hand. “I swear, as long as you don’t try to fight or escape, they will not hurt you. OK? I promise.”

You nod, despite not actually believing her.

“They’re going to take you in the back room. But within two minutes of being in there, I will bust in there to get you.”

“You sure about that?” you ask quietly.

“I am a mare of my word.”

She has yet to prove that statement, but today would be a great time for her to do so.

“Then what are you going to do?” you ask, turning on your side slightly in order to face her fully.

She has removed her shirt and gave it to you in order to stop the bleeding. The shirt is still on your back, and is probably stuck to it from when the blood finally dried. She also removed her helmet, and placed it on the far end of her cell.

Despite being completely naked, she is reacting to you seeing her like this much differently. When she was in the pond, she seemed mad at you and embarrassed.

But now she seems as normal as ever. She’s talking to you normally and not trying to conceal herself.

“I’m gonna get out of here, what do you think?” she responds, glancing down the hallway to make sure it’s empty.

“Then why can’t we just do that now? Why do I have to go back there?”

She strokes your hand with a hoof. “You’re too big. It wouldn’t work with the both of us trying to get out. But if they take you out, then all I have to do is go into the next room and get you. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

You take off Daring’s now bloodstained shirt, which is more difficult than it originally seemed. Some of your blood dried on your back and the shirt, causing the shirt to stick.

You pull the shirt off your back, and hand it back to Daring.

“Thanks, Daring,” you say.

“Not a problem,” Daring replies, taking her shirt back.

You nod and close your eyes, hoping to build up some energy before another round of interrogation.

==========

You are awoken by the noise of the door on the far end of the room opening, shortly followed by the sound of multiple hooves on the dirt.

You open your eyes and look over at Daring, who is glaring at whoever just entered the room.

The sound of a cell door opening fills the room, and whoever opened it kicks your leg.

“Up,” a deep voice commands.

Not wanting to get kicked or choked again, you place your hands on the floor and extend your arms.

You slowly rise to your feet, despite the desperate cries from your back pleading with you to stop moving and lie down again.

You turn to face two zebra guards, gesturing for you to follow them. You look back to Daring, who mouths “It’s OK” as you walk down the hallway and into the next room without confrontation.

==========

You have been strapped to a chair.

At Daring’s request, you did not attempt to assault your captors in any way. You have not said anything since they got you, and have made no movements other than the ones they instructed you to make.

The chair you’re on is in the same room you were in yesterday, though now, there is no table. Just a chair sitting in the middle of the room. Same dirt floors, dirt walls, a few torches to light the room, and the same strange, militaristic decorations.

Your ankles are bound to the chair’s front two legs, and you have handcuffs attached to your wrists, but your hands are not behind you. They are resting in your lap.

It is awfully trusting of them to allow you the use of your hands. You could attempt to get out, but Daring said not to, and you trust her.

So, if you are going to attempt an escape, you’ll have to take the chair with you.

The door in front of you opens, and in walks a zebra. But not one the ordinary, naked zebras. And not Kiduttaa, either. This pony is wearing rings around his neck and legs, has some sort of headdress on, and has facepaint.

The rings he has are golden, and reflect the light from the fires very brightly.

The headdress is just a simple head covering with white feathers with red stripes sticking straight up out of it like the crest of a centurion’s helmet.

His face paint is blue, easily seen on his black and white fur. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern with the paint, though, as there are random lines and loops all over him.

He approaches you slowly, maintaining eye contact the entire time. His eyes are golden.

He has a tray on his back.

“Good morning,” he greets evenly, not showing any emotion thus far. He walks towards you, stops, gets the tray off of his back with his teeth, and sets it on the dirt floor in front of you.

“Tea?” he asks.

This is strange.

Just yesterday, you were being interrogated and tortured by some psychopath. You have the scars to prove it, and they’re probably going to be there for the rest of your life. You expected to be brought back in here for another round of the “tell me where the elephant is while I rip you apart” game you played yesterday.

But you’re not playing that anymore.

“Uhm... yes. Please.” You respond, trying not to sound confused.

He picks up the kettle in his teeth and pours tea into a small cup. He fills it up before placing the kettle back on the tray.

“Sugar? Cream?” he asks.

Your confusion is still growing.

“Please,” you respond.

He places some sugar, cream, and a spoon in your cup. He gestures to your cup on the floor, and you hesitantly lean forward to pick it up.

You expected he would splash the hot tea on your face and start cutting you up, but no such thing happens.

You pick up the tea and stir its’ contents.

He pours and prepares his own cup.

“I apologize for the behavior of my subordinates,” he says before taking a sip of his tea. He lets out a satisfied ‘Ahh’ upon completion of the sip. “Please, drink, drink.”

You take a quick gulp of the tea, regretting how fast you drank it. It’s awfully hot, and burns your throat.

He begins. “My subordinate, Kiduttaa, has used some unconventional tactics in order to procure some information from you, and for that, I offer my sincerest apologies.”

He puts his cup of tea back on the ground.

“That worthless zebra has ruined my ravenwood table with his sick games! Ravenwood is hard to come by, you know. That was my table he was using, and he got blood all over it!” He takes a deep breath. “He best be praying to the gods that it does not stain, or he shall suffer the consequences.”

That’s why this guy is upset? Because I bled on his table?

You first thought that this blue-faced zebra in front of you was sane. Normal. Much kinder than Kiduttaa.

But apparently not, if the only reason he is upset is because you bleed when cut.

Is everyone here psychotic?

“My name is Valheita,” he informs you. “Contrary to what Kiduttaa may have told you, I am the one in charge around here. He is a subordinate of mine, who feverishly enjoys enacting his sick fantasies. But do not worry. He will not be attending our little meeting.”

He picks up his tea, takes a sip, and places it back down on the tray.

“Can I get you something to eat? Some crackers? Or something more substantial?”

What the hell is going on here?

“Uhm, no.” You respond. “No thank you.”

“Oh! Please forgive me.” He grabs a small key off the tray with his teeth and moves it towards your handcuffs. You stick out both of your hands slightly without a second thought.

He sticks the key in one cuff and unlocks it, before doing the same to the other. Your handcuffs fall to the ground.

“Almost...”

He bends down and unlocks the chains around your ankles that attach to the chair.

You have a sudden urge to beat the zebra to death. It wouldn’t even be that hard. You punched a zebra just the other day right in the face and you definitely felt some bones crack. The zebra’s face is perfectly eye level with your feet, which you could easily put in his teeth.

There are even weapons all over the walls! It’s like this guy is asking you to kill him!

All you would have to do is stand up, take a step or two in any direction, extend a hand, grab any weapon from the wall, and swing.

And all your problems may end.

But Daring said not to. For whatever reason, she told you not to fight back. This situation may be an exception, but you would hate to ruin Daring’s plan.

She should have told you her plan. Then you’d know what to do.

“Do you mind if we discuss Ms. Do?” Valheita asks.

You don’t see why not. You’re not supposed to kill this guy, so you may as well talk to him.

“Sure,” you say before taking a sip of your tea.

“How did you two meet?”

“She found me in the forest.” This guy is being nice, so you might as well tell the truth. At least on matters that have no significance, like this.

“Oh? What were you doing in the forest?”

“I don’t know. I got lost.”

“Interesting. What do you know about Ms. Do?”

You think for a moment. “Nothing, really. We only knew each other for a day before we were brought here.”

“That is a great shame. A great shame, indeed.” He looks down before taking a contemplative sip from his cup.

That confused you. “Why do you say that?”

“Hmm?” He looks back up to you. “Oh, sorry. You mustn’t know very much about Ms. Do if you only met her yesterday, so you probably don’t know how she works.”

“How she works?”

“I swear, everytime I hear about Ms. Do she is travelling around with some new poor soul.”

Poor soul?

“She’s a notorious graverobber, but she rarely does so alone. She is, more often than not, dragging someone along with her.”

“Why?” you ask.

“Well she’s using them, of course!” he chuckles. “My friend, why do you think you are travelling along with her?”

“Well, I needed her help...” you say after a moment of recollecting.

“So you needed her help, and she decided to help you?”

“I saved her life. And she promised to help me get home.”

He laughs. “Of course. Of course!” He points at the closed door at the end of the room. “The world’s most notorious, disreputable, shadiest graverobber agreed to help you get back home? Because you helped her once?” He laughs again. He laughs very hard.

What’s so funny?

“I know you just met her, and must think she is an outstanding mare, but such assumptions are false.”

You don’t say anything. He has your attention now, as he questions Daring’s true motives for helping you.

“I seem to recall a gryphon, just a year ago, who was helping Ms. Do trying to get a very valuable artifact from some temple that was buried in a sandstorm in a desert hundreds of years ago. From what I heard, Daring and the gryphon went into the desert, and only Daring came out, thousands of bits richer than she was before.”

That doesn’t prove anything.

“And I heard this one, where Ms. Do was travelling with another pegasus to some tropical island. There was apparently some magical stone out there, or something of that nature. I’m not sure what they were looking for exactly because that does not interest me. What does interest me, however, is that Daring and the pegasus went to the island, but only Ms. Do left.”

“...”

“Are you seeing a pattern?”

You think you are.

Daring does a lot of treasure hunting.

“Every time she teams up with someone, she just uses them long enough so that they can help her get what she wants, then she ditches them. Happens every time.”

“Why are you telling me this?” you ask, confused and frustrated, unable to tell if this guy is lying to you. Somepony is lying to you, but you’re not sure who!

“I will not pretend that your unfortunate situation troubles me, for it does not.” This guy seems pretty honest. “However, you have some information about a certain artifact that I would love to have.”

He gets up, strolls to the corner of the room where a bag is sitting, and pulls out the red donkey you saw yesterday.

“This donkey, along with the blue elephant you have in your possession, is very important to me and my people. They are...” He thinks for a moment before smiling. “Religious artifacts, let’s say, and we want them back.”

Daring told you the elephant, donkey, and eagle have some magic capabilities, which didn’t make any sense to you, and still does not, but you have a feeling that you should not give him the idol. You have a bad feeling about giving him such a valued treasure.

“Kiduttaa and I often don’t see eye-to-eye on most situations, as you may know.”

You do know. Kiduttaa would not unchain you and serve you tea while having a relatively peaceful, non-stressful conversation.

“However, we are both in agreement on one thing: You have the Elephant of Norsu. Don’t you?”

You almost say “Yes,” but manage to stop yourself before you do.

“I will reward you very generously for the Elephant. All I need is the location, and I shall grant you your freedom, a map to travel to a more civilized location, and enough bits to retire, even at your young age.”

You want to trust this guy. Your brain is screaming at you to give him the idol so you can get that money and map and go home.

But your gut is telling you not to. Something just doesn’t feel right to you.

Where the hell is Daring?!

You’re beginning to feel that she has abandoned you. She should have been here long ago. It’s been more than two minutes. Maybe this guy is right? Daring was just using you? She probably broke out and already left.

“All we require is the location. Just tell me where-”

He is interrupted by the door slamming open and a zebra falling into the room.

“What the-”

He is interrupted once more as a yellow pegasus literally flies into the room and tackles him to the ground.

Daring, wearing her bloodstained shirt, pith helmet, and now having a fresh scar under her eye, lands on top of Valheita.

She raises a hoof to strike him in the face, but Valheita hits her in the stomach and grabs her wing, pulling her off to one side.

Realizing that Daring has not abandoned you, you get up to extract a weapon off the wall. The first thing you see is the crossbow, which you grab.

Before loading it, you notice the zebra by the door groan as he begins to rise to his hooves.

Not having the crossbow loaded, you turn it around and shove the butt of it into the zebras face as fast and as hard as you can.

His head recoils, bounces off the ground, and his body settles into a supine position. Some blood is coming out of his nose and slightly ajar mouth. He does not move again.

Daring and Valheita continue to wrestle on the ground, exchanging punches and jabs and rolling on the ground.

You pull the bow back until it locks into place before grabbing an arrow off the wall.

“Stop!” you yell, pointing the crossbow at both Daring and Valheita.

Valheita bucks Daring off of him before they both turn their attention towards you.

You take aim at Valheita.

“Listen to me!” the zebra pleads, quickly rising to his hooves. “Everything I told you earlier was the truth!”

You glance at Daring, who looks confused, and perhaps a little nervous.

“She’s just using you!” Valheita shouts. “The thief!”

“What?!” Daring gasps.

“Look,” he continues to reason with you, “You have the chance to save my zebras! You have the chance to go home! Now! All you have to do is shoot her! She’s just using you!”

“What?!” Daring yells in shock, backing away from you. “N-No! I would never-”

“Shoot her!”

“Don’t listen to him! He’s just pretending to be nice to you!”

“Shoot her!”

Valheita is slowly inching his way towards the strangely decorated wall.

You have a very important decision to make, which must be made in the next few seconds... So...

Who are you going to trust? Daring, who has stuck with you and has not harmed you in any way whatsoever? Or Valheita, who had a subordinate cut up your back so he could find a statue?

Tough decision.

You squeeze the trigger and the arrow flies straight at your target.

The arrow pierces right through Valheita’s throat.

He reaches a hoof up to his neck as though to stop the blood from spurting from his open wound, but it is in vain.

He gurgles and stumbles around the room for a few seconds before hitting the wall. His eyes go wide as he takes one last breath and slides down to the floor, his eyes wide open.

He’s dead.

You killed him.

You’ve never really had such a strong urge to kill something. At least, not that you can remember. But if there is one being you would not mind shooting in the neck with an arrow, it is Kiduttaa.

But he’s not here.

“I-I thought you were going to shoot me,” Daring says, her voice shaking.

You almost smile. “You’re the only friend I got, Daring. Why would I shoot you?”

“H-How did you know he was lying?”

You shrug and hang the crossbow back up on the wall. “I didn’t. I just figured you were telling the truth.”

The ‘Good Cop-Bad Cop routine Valheita and Kiduttaa had going almost worked on you.

She smiles at you. A big, happy, toothy grin. “Heh heh,” she chuckles, beginning to move towards the open door where an unconscious zebra still remains. “Let’s get out of here before anymore guards come.”

“Alright,” you say, beginning to follow her before you remember something. “Wait, Daring!”

She turns back to face you. “What? Let’s go!”

“No, no, look!” You quick walk over to the saddlebags still on the floor in the corner of the room. You open the bag and extract a bag of coins.

“What’s that?” Daring asks.

That’s not what you meant to pull out, but you might as well check inside.

Opening the bag, you pull out a handful of golden coins.

“What are these?” you ask Daring with a raised eyebrow.

“Let me see that!” Daring almost shouts, snatching the bag out of your hands. “No way! Look at all these bits! These are all 100 bit pieces!” She tosses the bag back in forth between her hooves. “There have to be at least 3,000 bits in this bag!”

“That’s not all!” you exclaim, reaching into the bag to grab what you actually want to find. “For you!” You hold up the red donkey.

“The Donkey of Tissit!” Daring shouts, her eyes wide, grabbing it from your hands the moment you hold it up.

Once she has it in her grasp, she brings it to her face, carefully observing it. Probably to make sure it’s not a fake.

“Ha ha! And it’s real! It’s real! Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh!”

Daring squeals in happiness and literally jumps towards you.

Reacting naturally, you extend your arms and catch her, wrapping an arm around her midsection. She proceeds to wrap her hind legs around your waist and a foreleg around your neck in order to hold herself up.

Your face heats up at the sudden close contact.

“Ha ha! Look at it!” she exclaims, holding up the red donkey in her free hoof in front of your eyes. “We got it! You got it! This is so awesome! Do you know how much time you’ve just saved us?!”

You don’t know, but considering Daring’s reaction, it must be a lot.

“I can’t believe they already had it!”

“They had it, but now it’s ours.”

“Ha ha! Suckers!” She jumps out of your grasp and walks over to the dead zebra. She places the donkey in front of his face, as though he can see it. “Suck it Valheita! Ya psychopathic bastard!”

You pick up the bag of bits that Daring dropped when she saw the donkey and put it in your pocket. Daring said there must be 3,000 bits in the bag. You don’t know what means, but considering how excited she got, it probably has some importance.

“Now we got your idol AND your money!” She kicks his body. “How did you know he had it?”

“Kiduttaa showed it to me while he had a hook in my back.”

Her smile drops, and you regret being honest. You should’ve said something else.

“Thank you,” she says.

“For what?”

“Having faith in me. Not giving in. Not telling them anything about me. Having Kiduttaa... you know... I know I was asking a lot, so thank you.”

“It’s no problem, Do. I should be thanking you.”

She looks at you, quirking an eyebrow. “What? Why?”

“You kept your word. You said you would come back for me, and you did. For a while there, I thought you bust out and left me here.”

Valheita was a pretty convincing liar.

“Never!” she asks, her smile returning. “I’m loyal to the end!”

“And it looks like you’ve proven that.”

“Well, two down. One to go.”

One to go.

“And I found a map,” Daring continues. “There’s a city a dozen or so miles north of here. If we hurry, we can make it before dark. And with all these bits, we can even stay in a nice hotel! Instead of sleeping outside or in a cramped cell.”

You nod. “Alright, let’s go.”

Daring turns and walks out of the room.

Before you leave, you see your bloodstained shirt crumpled up in the back of the room. You rush over, put on the disgusting thing, and hurry to catch up with Daring.

Author's Notes:

10 Points to whoever finds the Indiana Jones reference!
Sorry if this chapter doesn't seem all too great. I wrote it all this morning.
I may edit it in the future.
Thanks for reading!
Be sure to comment!