Chapter 2: The Dungeon of Sand
=Gaia, Equestria, Somewhere Deep in the San Palomino Desert, 913 C.E. =
Romana awoke feeling very hot. So hot it blurred her vision. It took a few minutes for everything to come back into focus. When it did, she could see the Doctor, who was fully awake and was pacing the floor. She also saw Daring Do, who was not awake and looked like she was in a very poor condition, such as a cut on her head that looked like she had gotten it from being thrown backwards, and her whole body seemed slightly singed. Come to think of it, so was the Doctor's. "What happened to you two?" she asked him.
"We were on the edge of a massive thermal explosion." The Doctor replied. "Now don't bother me I'm trying to think."
"How did you get in the middle of a massive thermal explosion?" She asked him, obviously confused.
"Oh, some very creepy ponies wearing black all over their bodies chased us through Saddle Arabia and then let off a huge thermal explosion that ravaged the town and knocked us out cold. It killed a few of them." The Doctor said dismissively.
Romana's eyes widened. "So what are we going to do now?" she asked.
"Think of a really brilliant and amazingly clever plan, wake up Daring, escape, and defeat the evil villain. Nothing out of the ordinary. Business as usual." The Doctor said as he continued pacing the floor.
"Okay, I can't argue with that last sentence, but what is our brilliant plan going to be?" Romana asked.
"Oh Romana, you know these things always come to me at the last second. I'm just pacing to see if just once I can break that chain, but it doesn't seem to be working. So, what's your brilliant plan?" he said.
Romana rolled her eyes. "How about we start with the 'wake up Daring Do part of the plan'" she said in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Good idea. She has faced our adversary before, so she'll be quite a bit of help." The Doctor said as he knelt down to Daring Do's position. "I might need to give up a few years to heal her injuries, but I doubt I'm going to fall off a control tower or something like that which I might be able to survive without regenerating before this anytime soon." With that, the Doctor put his hooves on Daring Do, who glowed golden as all her injuries sealed up.
Romana was still a little confused. "She's faced our adversary before? I think you need to catch me up a little, Doctor."
"Sure, we've got a little time before she wakes up. I'll tell you what I know." The Doctor said as he sat down, still slightly exhausted.
As Daring Do woke up and came to full alertness, the Doctor told Romana what little she had told him about their enemy, Ahuizotl. As she woke up, she looked around, realized their surroundings, and began to fathom what was happening fully. As the both of them completed what they were they were currently doing, they heard a noise that was coming from the other side of the wall of the dungeon with walls that appeared to be made of sand they were in. The noise sounded exactly like somepony coughing.
"Well, who wants to see what that was?" The Doctor said excitedly. Without waiting for an answer of any kind, The Doctor rushed over to the wall and began pushing on it. After a few minutes of pushing, the wall seemed to grow softer and The Doctor, who was totally hot expecting that, fell through it as it re solidified.
"Doctor!" Romana yelled as she and Daring Do jumped up and pushed on the wall. After a few minutes, the wall once again softened and they fell through into whatever was on the other side.
The other room was pretty much exactly the same as the room they had been held in. There was only one difference. On one wall, one of the Royal Guard was chained to the wall. He was in full uniform, but his was ragged and ripped. The Doctor was there, examining the Guard chained to the wall.
The Guard's vision was exactly that of a thermal camera, reading the hottest and coldest parts of the room, and of the Doctor. "So, what's your name?" the Doctor asked as he continued looking at the Guard.
"My name no longer matters, but it was once Sun Rider." The Guard said sadly.
"Nice name." the Doctor said as he nodded. "So why are you in prison?"
"I tried to use my powers against the King Ahuizotl. I waiting until I was fully trusted, and then I attacked." Sun Rider said weakly.
"Okay. But why are you still wearing that hood if you're a prisoner?" The Doctor asked as he pulled of the mask Sun Rider was wearing. The Doctor's eyes and the eyes of Romana and Daring Do all widened when they saw their fellow prisoner's appearance.
Sun Rider's face, and apparently his whole body, was completely dried out. He had a sand colored mane, a frazzled grayish-brown colored mane, but worse, his skin pretty much looked like a lake after it had been through a one thousand year drought in the middle of the blazing sun. It was cracked and singed and scarred, and it horrified the Doctor that this must be what every member of the Royal Guard looked like.
"I see. Well, we're here to get you out." The Doctor said, still a bit shocked. He punched through the chains that had kept Sun Rider confined (Which was very easy as the chains were made of sand.) and pulled him up. Suddenly something fell on his nose that made him sneeze. It was a bit of sand that must have fallen from the ceiling.
"Oh no…" Sun Rider sad, his ember-like eyes widening in horror.
"What is it? What's happening?" Daring Do said, knowing it was nothing good.
"Secondary defense mechanism if the chains are broken." Sun Rider explained.
The ceiling of sand was beginning to dump sand all over them, and it was quickly beginning to bury them alive. The dungeon was collapsing, and there was no way to get out.