//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - Anon to the Rescue? 
// Story: Daring Do and the "Hero Colt" (Dadonequus Discord) 
// by CrazedLaughter 
//------------------------------//

You landed on your bed. which now felt...more natural than usual, it wasn't giving off it's signature warmth it usually did. "..What the.."

You pressed your hooves on it a few times. It felt...so normal.

You then took a look around your room. The floor door was gone, replaced with a normal door on the wall. The wallpaper was now a boring white.

You hopped off your bed when you noticed a small chest on your dresser.

Beside it was....your horn? And a note.

....what?

You pick up the note and start to read it. "Dear Anon, If you are reading this, then I can only imagine how incredibly sore you are about me sending you to find rather mediocre tea leaves. As I can't imagine you coming out to talk to me at this time, I humbly apologize for such a terrible joke through this note. It was wrong of me. I have returned your horn to you, and have given you a small chest of assorted chocolates. Please forgive me...Discord.....What in the...fuck?"

You carefully took the necklace...no trap.

You left the chest alone as you slowly approached the door and opened it slightly.

What you saw beyond it was horrifying.

Discord was dressed as Mr.Rogers, CLEANING his own house, with his own paw and talons. Nothing was out of place or out of the ordinary....

You slowly closed the door, disgusted with what you saw.

Besides, you had a daring to do!

You slap on the horn, and teleport to Daring Do's location.

But before that happens. "Geez! What the f-fuck?!" The horn begins to sputter and spit out sparks. Was it trapped?! "Discord! What did you-" You then teleported, unaware of the truth of what was going on with Discord, and how it was affecting your magic.

When you reappeared, you found yourself on an underground cliff, looking down on a huge golden cobra shrine with a shining red right eye. Ahuizotl was already approaching it with hungry eyes for his victory. The goons watched in awe, as did his jungle cats. Daring Do was tied up like an actual horse to a post...how degrading.

How did they even get here so fast? Daring Do said it took a super long time to navigate the maze.

It's as if your teleportation followed their tracks in a normal fashion until it hit a point as to when they fully stopped.

...that was weird. It was always usually so instant. But that was the only thing you can think of.

You only had one charge left. Daring Do made sure to get you that map so you could come back guns a blazing. And that’s what you planned to do.
She was one hell of a horse. almost made you ALMOST want to get her in bed with you.
Well, actually, you would love to have her in bed with you.
But Diamond would kill you.
..ugh..you didn't want to upset Diamond.
Best you get rid of such thoughts and-

"Boss! We got an intruder!" One of the goons point up to you.

GODDAMMIT! YOU GOT LOST IN YOUR THOUGHTS AGAIN!

Ahuizotl looked up to where the goon was pointing. "Ahhh! The Mini Do is here. That is amusing!" He chortles "I don't know how you followed us without anypony knowing. But not only are you too late to stop me, but you're just in time to witness my ascension as ruler of the WORLD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

You sigh, and smirk at him. You had this. "That's what they all say. .." You slap on the horn and point it right at him. Even from this distance, you didn't really need to aim to fuck him up. "But you'll be singing a different tune when I'm done with you"

Ahuizotl rolls his eyes "That's also, what they all say....You realize this, don't you? Besides, how can you possibly stop me? And with what? A toy horn?"

Daring Do looked up at you, and tried to get the ropes off her muzzle so she could speak.

You just look on from the cliff with an arrogant smirk "Exactly! Let Daring Do go and step away from the eye. Or things are going to get ugly, really quick."

The goons, and Ahuizotl burst into laughter.
"He's kidding right?"
"He has to be, what a stupid kid"
"Oh man, I can't wait to see this"
"Isn't somepony worried that we're about to become zombie slaves?"
"...I really wish my horn was stylish like that..."

Ahuizotl raised his arms high, and slammed at his chest as he gave you a hearty sneer "Go ahead, foolish colt. Show me the power of that horn. And then? you will behold the power of the eye! Daring Do, I want you to witness this, to see how much of a failure you are compared to the GREAT AHUIZOTL! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Get bent! Asswipe!" You fired off magic from the horn.

Your plan was to just shoot out a ton of lasers that would just utterly decimate him. If he had to die, then fine. Sometimes it was well deserved.

What actually happened, however, was that the entire inner sanctum of the temple...was turned into an office building.

A normal...ordinary...office building.

You,the goons, Daring Do, and Ahuizotl were all in snazzy business suits as you found yourselves in the grand lobby of the building. With marble pillars in rows, potted plants placed along them, a desk at the end for the receptionist, and a glowing sign on the wall saying "Normal co."

It was something out of the matrix. ".......Uhhhhhhhhh..."

The goons let out an "uuuhhhhh" as well

the cats let out mewoish "uhhhs"

"HAHAHAHAHa...haha...ha...." Ahuizotl stopped laughing when he realized the venue had changed "...What happened?...Where are.....GYAAAAAAH! MY EYE!" He looked back to where the altar with the eye should stand, it was now a water dispenser.

This...was not what you had in mind at all. What the fuck was wrong with your magic?

Daring Do however, slowly backed up. The magic you cast had also freed her from her binds. And she was ready to make a grand escape.

She then slowly picked up a potted plant by the plant itself, and slowly floated up.

"Time to take this for a whirl!" She began to spin about in mid air, smashing the faces of many a goon in a tornado of pain and destruction as the pot part of the plant slams into the faces of all in her path.

Ahuizotl was speechless, still in shock over the whole thing as he began to caress the water dispenser. "Eye...a-are you in there?" He knocks on it

Daring Do however, was amazing to behold. Her tornado of head smashing finally ended when the pot finally shattered. Leaving only a few goons left unsmashed.

She hovered over beside you as she kept an eye on the remaining goons. "Heh, what took you so long?"

"..I...Urm...Don't..know? I don't know what's going on at all..."

"Are you kidding me? Isn't this crazy place part of your spell?"

"...I..Don't know. I was just going to blast Ahuizotl to bits. And then this happened. I think something is wrong with my horn."

"Well that's fantastic to hear. What happened to the eye?"

"No clue..."

"More good news...We can't just leave without that eye. Oh...And thanks for coming back for me, kid. I'd actually want this to be a more heartfelt moment over some tea but you know how it is with bad guys. Never let you catch a break."

"Yeah, there's a few of them left. And Ahuizotl is gonna be as mad as a hornet when he snaps back to reality."

"Yeah, and those jungle cats are no joke either.We might not be able to fight them all off at once. So? we're gonna need a nasty spell to knock em out." Daring Do looks to you with a confident nod.

"...Erm..can't" Yeh...out of charges.

"Why not?"

"I only get two charges with my horn. And I used the other one to get here"

".......Kid...You really need to plan better." Daring Do says as she puts her hoof to her face disappointingly

"Hey! This doesn't usually happen! It usually does what I want it to do!"

"Don't worry about it. We just need to figure out where the eye is, get it,and get out. But..where to look..." Daring Do looked around quickly for an exit from the scene.

You pondered on it for a moment. And it didn't take you long to figure something out. Mere seconds actually "aha! Using my Saturday Morning Logic! I know exactly where the eye is!...We just..er..need to get past these guys. Any ideas?"

"....Saturday Morning, what?"

"It's er..a thing I do. Look, do you have a plan or not?"

"First of all, yes. And second of all, how hard is your head?"

...wut? "REALLY?! YOU'RE GONNA MAKE FUN OF ME AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!"

"No, I'm being serious! how hard is it! How tough is your skull!" She barked at you

She was serious?.... "..Erm...I think one time I got hit with a gigantic metal ball and-WOAH!"

Daring Do grabbed you with her wings as if they were hands and held you forward head first. "Good enough! I dunno what it is, kid. But how you scared those guards, how you knew what I wanted you to do, and just the way you think and talk. I think I got one of those ‘Saturday Morning’ ideas you just mentioned"

“W-what?! W-what do you mean by that?!" ...she wasn't..SHE WOULDN'T!

"BRACE YOURSELF! WE'RE GOING THROUGH!" And she started to rush forward as you screamed a blood curdling yell. Your head was slammed into many a goon, slammed so hard they went flying upwards towards the ceiling as Daring Do went for a hallway, and rushed into a room full of cubicles.

"HA! It worked! Good work, kid. You got us through"

She put you down gently next to a desk. You wobbled for a moment and slouched beside it. "I love you too, Mommy..."

"W-what?" Daring Do said in surprise. “Mommy? Are...you alright?”

You shook your head and recovered your senses. You realized you said something embarrassing, and tried to make it sound like something else. "I said pastrami.....pastrami...yeah, because I’m kinda hungry. anyway, Where are we now?"

"Looks like some weird work room, with strange screens and lettered tablets. Wires everywhere. What kind of place is this?" Daring Do was curious at the modern wonders around her.

You groaned "...It's a workplace"

"Really?...weird..I'd love to be able to take a look around this whole place. But I doubt Ahuizotl is going to sit still for long. You said you knew where the eye might be, right? Because we have to find it and destroy the lens. I want it in a museum. But even I know leaving the lens intact is too dangerous. A shame too, but there just has to be jerks in the world that want to ruin things for everypony else"

"..Yeah...I know how that is. As for the eye’s location...hmmm."
Where else would such a small but personal item be kept in a place like this?
You knew exactly where. "We have to get to the top floor, to the boss's room. That's where it would be."

"Alright then, you seem to know this kind of place better than I do. So lead the way" Daring Do stepped behind you, taking a look back to make sure no one had spotted them yet.

You quickly began to look around the maze of cubicles. This kind of place was familiar to you. There should be a door that leads to a hall that would lead to a break room, maybe a set of doors and an elevator that...There it is. "Down here, quick" You dashed over to the hallway to see if it indeed had an elevator or a set of stairs. But just as you were about to reach it, two goons hop out from the other end and rush towards you.

"Head's up, kid!" Daring Do calls out to you

"Wha?" You look backwards, only to be smashed by a computer CRT monitor. You fall backwards as the monitor bounces off your head and flies into one of the goons while the power cord wraps along the legs of the other, tripping him up.

Daring Do cringes as you lay there, you look pretty dazed. "K-kid? You alright? I said heads up!"

You just stared at the ceiling, into the eternal abyss of solid white that was your life. "I ask myself the same question sometimes. But maybe I'm lucky that everything hits my head. It could be worse, for what is a skull anyway? a mass of bone spread in a thin layer to protect the fragile mind and..."

"Anon..." Daring Do helped you up and waved her hoof in front of you "C'mon, snap out of it. Where do we go now?"

"What?" Oh right, you were trying to escape and find the eye. Not philosophize on why there are worse things than getting your skull smashed in. "R-right. Ok...We need to..erm"

You look around the hallway walls and see a ornate door with buttons beside it. That was the elevator. "There it is! The elevator"

"An elevator, in a place like this..." Daring Do chuckled as she looked at the buttons and door with curiosity. "You really warped the entire place, didn't you? If it wasn't for the fact that there's nothing but dirt and stone outside those windows. I'd think we were really somewhere else"

Dirt outside the windows, so you all were still underground? So..you really did warp the entire temple. Accidentally of course.

And with all these floors, you counting 100,Then that meant that the upper floor must be above ground. Perfect! You both can grab the eye and leave!

"Yeah, but like I said. I didn't mean for this to happen. It's weird...Dad was acting weird too, actually. I wonder if there's a connection with that"

"Well, if there is, we'll have to figure it out later. We need to use this elevator to get somewhere, right?" She presses the button as the doors immediately slide open.

"Yep, all the way to the top. If it's like the business buildings my mind is thinking of. There's going to be a golden hall of receptionist tables, and behind those will be two huge doors to the C.E.O's room. That's where it's gotta be"

"Then that's where we're heading." Both you and Daring Do enter the elevator as she presses the top most button. Making the elevator close and rise up.

As you both waited inside the elevator. A tune started to play.

It was the Mario 64 peach's castle theme. "...Oh hey! I know this song!"

"You do? Weird...Didn't take a colt to remember silly little elevator music"

"No no, this song. It's from a game..and it's super catchy. Whenever I hear it, I can't help but hum along. It's been so long since I've heard it too. But it's still great, do..do do do dodododo. do do do do dododo..."

"A game? Like those arcade games? Ugh.." Daring Do rolls her eyes "Those things are such a waste of time"

"Exactly! Their fun...wait. You don't like arcade games?" You look at her with a sour face...then again, you shouldn't be surprised. She liked moving around and adventure. Not being stuck in one place.

"I just never cared for them. Foals like them sure, but it's such a waste of bits"

"Well...I guess I can't argue that. But still, you gotta admit. This is pretty catchy"

"...eh, I'll stick to the classics"

"Suit youself, I'm gonna enjoy this while we wait. Dananananana dananana na Dananananana nanana na na na...."

You started to bob your head along to the music as the elevator slowly made its way up. There were about one hundred floors to get to the top so it was going to take a little time.

Man, you missed Mario 64.