Agent Lucky Charms of the Royal Intelligence Service sat at his cramped desk in RIS headquarters in Canterlot. Things had become quite the clusterbuck ever since he sent off Daring to Zebrica. And now he had RIS Director Steel, the Captain of the Royal Guard and Princess Celestia riding his ass twenty four hours a day trying to find the perpetrators to this latest little fiasco.
Charms knew the reason behind the attempted thefts, to draw all of Equestria's attention back here to Canterlot, keep any influence in Zebrica to a minimum. But the Princess was positively outraged that the thieves had tried to go into some of the deepest dungeons of the castle. And after they discovered tool marks on some brick wall in the deepest reaches of the dungeons and caves, the Princess snapped. She had been agitated enough to forcefully probe all of her guards minds to see if they had all stayed loyal. Charms knew they kept some of the more dangerous stuff down there, but what could make the Princess go nuts like she had?
He looked over Daring's letter to him from the embassy in Zebrica. By protocol he should have burned it by now and pretend it never existed. But he held on to it. Just the sight of Daring's hoofwriting stirred something in the earth pony. He couldn't quite put his hoof on it. It may have been the rage he still held for the pegasus when she duped him and his agents with those artifacts. It may have been jealousy that she still got to traverse the world and go out on adventures while he was stuck here behind a desk, filling out requests for search warrants. Or it may have been something a little closer to his heart.
Whatever it was, he snapped back to the real issue, putting the letter back into a desk drawer. Scribbling down the name and address of another distant and foggy suspect on his list, Charms was interrupted by the entrance of another agent into his office. "Charms, Deputy Director Dew wants to see you in her office."
"Can it wait? I've got a pile of papers a mile high to get through before the end of the day."
The other agent narrowed his eyes. "You know just as well as I do that it can never wait when the Deputy Director makes a call."
Charms put down his quill, standing from his desk and exiting his cramped office. Walking through rows of cubicles and dodging notes and memos propelled through the air by magic, Charms came to the corner office of Deputy Director Morning Dew. Knocking softly on the door, he heard a call to come inside. Charms pushed open the door to look at the most intimidating mare in Equestria besides the Princess herself. Far from being anything like the gentleness her name implied, it was said that Deputy Director Dew could unlock doors and kill small animals with a cold stare. And that one time a Royal Guard had either the insanity or courage to ask her for a kiss. She gave him one alright, right before she sent him to the hospital for three months.
"Agent Charms," the stern green pegasus said. "Have a seat." She indicated a chair on the other side of her desk.
Charms cleared his throat as he took the offered seat. "You wanted to see me, m'am?"
"Yes Agent, any new leads on the castle break in?"
Charms moistened his lips. "We've rounded up the usual suspects, but we're no closer to finding the culprits or even a motive."
Deputy Director Dew's cold blue eyes never left the earth pony, boring past his intended stoicism. "As long as we are in this office, agent, we can throw due process out the damn window. You and I both know the ringleader of this little escapade into the castle and into the museum. Are we any closer to finding his mole in our system?"
"No m'am. Ahuizotl is very good at planting his spies into both the highest and lowest levels of society. For all we know it could have been one of our own agents or even a member of the Royal Guard that orchestrated the attempted heists. Anypony in the city could be under his pay."
To Charm's relief, the Deputy Director's eyes drifted away from him and settled onto a folder. "Let me narrow it down for you, Agent. Some of our field agents detected the residue of a teleportation spell. So the infiltrator has to be able to use magic, and good enough to do a decent teleportation."
"That still leaves half the population of Canterlot!"
"Better half than the entire city. Now I suggest you do your job the right way or start going door to door looking for unicorns strong enough to teleport in and out of the Castle. Get to it, Charms."
Charms stood from his chair, edging his way to the door while maintaining eye contact with Dew. "Yes m'am. I'll have suspects in for questioning by tomorrow morning." Breaking his eyes away, Charms still felt the Deputy Director's penetrating gaze on his back. Looking at that mare's eyes was like staring down a cobra. Emotionless, deadly and cold; but at the same time enchanting and beautiful in a mystifying way.
Not like Daring's eyes though, hers were much warmer and always hinted at mischief. Those lovely, dazzling magenta eyes...
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Daring's hooves thundered on the dusty path deeper into the war zone of Zebrica. The gnolls had been a close call, but a good lesson in the local wildlife had shown them what it meant to cross swords with Daring Do. With those clowns chasing her, this adventure might be a little more fun than she thought. Timur seemed more confident of Daring now that she had shown her resourcefulness in dire straits. But he still drilled her on fighting with the assegai whenever the midday sun became too hot to travel.
"Keep your spear level when you thrust! Otherwise it will glance off of bones when it strikes them. All your power must go into the spearhead!" Timur had Daring practicing on the bole of a tree by the pathside. Daring held back on her thrusts, thinking that she would bend the iron tip of her spear. But nonetheless she jabbed and poked at the large knot in the acacia leaving small indents.
Exhaustion from running under the hot sun and the shear heat of Zebrica made Daring collapse with relief at the conclusion of this lesson. Timur tossed her a gourd filled with lukewarm water. Daring popped the cork and drank deeply, though almost as warm as the air around it, the water tasted better than some of the fine wines Daring had been forced to drink back in Canterlot.
Scrub brushland surrounded the road, it had dwindled steadily down from a proper road down to little more than a beaten trail. According to Timur, they had left the areas where it was mostly civilized farms and towns and entered the tribal territories of the interior of Zebrica.
With the point of his spear he drew out a map in the dirt, calling over the pegasus. "We are here." Timur marked an X near the edge of a line. "At the very eastern borders of Nyika land. From what I have learned from some of the zebra in Tashim, the Nyika are still holding out against N'dutu's armies. Traveling through here will be dangerous, so be ready to run in case we run into some of his warbands."
Daring raised an eyebrow. "If the plan is to run, then why train me with this?" She hefted her assegai.
"We may run out of places to hide eventually," he replied grimly. "Now, after we pass through Nyika territory, we will be completely within N'dutu's realm. But from there, all we have to do is keep out of sight and turn northwards towards the jungles."
Daring nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
"The best I can come up with on such short notice. We will rest at this Nyika village tonight; they will afford us more protection than staying out in the open could." Timur propped his back against the trunk of the shade tree, closing his eyes to nap through the hottest part of the day.
Daring wanted to follow suit, but the incredible heat was stopping her from relaxing. With sweat dripping down her brow, she pulled out her notebook to do a little drawing. Pencil in hoof, she began to sketch the various creatures of Zebrica that she and Timur had encountered. Going back to her drawing of the hippo, she scribbled some notes about the creature that Timur had gladly provided her with. From memory she sketched a nandi without a harness, writing down its dietary habits and other quirks. She looked at her sketches with pride. "Never knew I could draw like this. Maybe I should have been an artist."
She glanced up at the zebra warrior asleep in the shade of the acacia with a grin. Stepping out from under the tree, she sat down and began to sketch the spindly, expansive branches of the acacia, with her guide pleasantly asleep underneath. As she applied the finishing touches, she heard an avian cry come from somewhere nearby.
Daring scanned the surrounding grass and bush, looking for the source of the whistling cry. Shrugging her shoulders, Daring got back to the shading on Timur's stripes, pleased with her ability to capture the moment. Just as she began to put away her pencil, the strange, mourning whistle came again. The pegasus pinpointed the source, a thorny thicket a few hundred yards away.
Stuffing her notebook into her pouch, Daring unsheathed her spear and began to tip-hoof over to the thorny thicket. Stopping at the edge of the thicket, she listened closely. Something was struggling in there, rattling the thorny branches of the thicket. Pushing aside a few of the branches with the head of her spear, Daring got a look at one of the most astounding creatures she had ever seen. It was a bird, about the size of a falcon. It had bright white body feathers, black wings and black tail feathers. The wing feathers had a yellow streak zigzagging down the length of each feather. All in all, this strange bird reminded Daring of a palette swapped phoenix.
The strange bird struggled in the bushes, its wing caught in the thorns. It opened its hooked beak and gave the mourning cry that had drawn Daring over here. Daring shoved away a little more brush to get closer. "Calm down little guy, I'll help you."
Just as she got within a few feet of the bird, a hiss came from above her head. Slowly looking up, Daring saw a much larger version of the same bird, sitting on a branch overlooking its trapped chick. Daring felt a hoof on her back.
"Ms Do, back away slowly," Timur whispered. "She is defending her young, she could attack at any second."
Daring pushed his hoof off. "Not yet." She continued to reach for the trapped chick, its cries growing more frantic the closer Daring got to it. "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you. You'll be alright." Above her, the mother bird spread its wings and squawked at the pegasus. Shifting her gaze up to the strange bird, she saw sparks jumping between its outspread wing feathers.
Swallowing her trepidation, Daring leaned her hoof to the chick's wing, pulling it gently away from the thorn branch that trapped it. The bird fluttered out of the bush and settled on the branch next to its mother. Daring gave a sigh of relief as the mother bird wrapped a wing protectively around her chick, nuzzling her baby. The large bird turned her head back to Daring, raising the crest on its head and squawking.
The pegasus nodded and backed away slowly, once free of the thicket, she and Timur bolted back for the trail. Back under the shade of the acacia tree, Timur smacked Daring on the back of the head with a hoof. "You could have been killed! Do you have any idea what that was?!"
Daring rubbed the sore spot on the back of her head. "Yeah, a baby bird in need of rescuing. What could possible have gone wrong?"
"That was an impundulu! A lightning bird! I don't know why you aren't a smoldering crater right now, usually they destroy anything that touches their young with a thunder bolt."
"Whoa whoa whoa, that bird can make lightning? That is....possibly the most awesome thing I have ever heard. Where can I get one as a pet?"
"Nowhere, impundulu cannot be tamed like their phoenix cousins. You should be more afraid of the possible curses it may lay on you. To hear their cry is a sign of either doom or great fortune. You got shrieked at three times, you should either be dead on the spot or dying as we speak."
A shadow quickly passed over Daring and Timur, looking up, all they saw was the branches of the tree and the blue sky. A jet black feather with the lightning bolt zigzag drifted down to land at Daring's hooves. She pointed at the feather. "What's that mean, Mister 'I can read all the signs of Nature'?"
Timur's jaw hung slack, his eyes fixed on the feather. "That is quite a gift. I think she is saying, 'thank you'."
Daring grinned at the shed lightning bird feather, picking it up off the ground with her mouth had a shocking feeling going through her tongue. Sticking the feather into the band of her pith helmet she turned her attention to the sky. "You're welcome!" she shouted.
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The Nyika are said to be the 'bird tribe', in that they hold the highest reverence for the world's feathered creatures. It is said that in the ancient days, the Nyika would harness the great eagles of Zebrica to ride into battle. But since the end of the greatest war in known and unknown history, they have kept their hooves closer to the ground.
As Timur and Daring approached the outskirts of a Nyika village, it came as little surprise that they were met with hostility. Daring tiredly placed one hoof in front of the other, forcing herself forward after a long day of travel and training with the spear. The sight of low, dome shaped straw huts put relief in her tired step. But the village seemed deserted, nopony out doing any of the normal things that occurred in a village. The fields sat empty of any farmers, and flocks of fowl went unattended.
"What's the deal with this place? It's like one of those ghost towns out in western Equestria."
Timur looked around at the huts, noticing the slight flicker of movement. "It is not abandoned, nor is it ravaged by war. Stop!" He threw a hoof in front of Daring, right as a thin arrow stuck in the dirt inches in front of her. "That was a warning shot. Pull out your spear slowly and place it on the ground."
Daring reached slowly to her sheathed spear, pulling it out and dropping it on the ground. Timur did the same for his assegai and his throwing blade. Only after both were completely disarmed did somepony come out. A zebra warrior stepped out from behind a hut, wearing a mantle of ostrich feathers and bearing war paint. He aimed his spear straight at Timur as he approached.
"Ngubani ngu ni? Uphethwe yintoni?"
Timur held up his hooves and calmly replied, "Uhambo lwadinisa abantwana."
The two zebras exchanged their strange language for several minutes before Daring finally got fed up with it. "Okay, look guy, I've been on my hooves all day and I could use a place to lay down for the night." As she took a step forward, the warrior aimed his spear at her, but lowered it when he noticed the lightning bird feather in her helmet. The pegasus noticed his fixation on the feather, even moving her head to see if his gaze would follow. "Oh, I see how it is. You like my feather, huh? Then you're gonna love this." Striking a heroic pose, Daring spread her wings to allow the strange zebra to bask in their feathery, golden glory.
The stranger'e eyes could have popped out of his head. Dropping his spear, he walked over, lifted a hoof and tugged at her wings to see if they were attached. "Bona ngu nyani!" He turned back to his village. "INGELOSI! INGELOSI!" More zebra heads poked out of various hiding places to get a look at this newcomer.
Timur leaned over to Daring, whispering in her ear. "Well played Ms Do, they think you are an angel."
"Is that good or bad?" she whispered back.
"You will probably be showered with marriage proposals by the unwed stallions. Whatever you do, do not accept any bouquets of flowers."
Dozens of zebras, young and old emerged from their hiding places to gawk at the pony that grew feathers naturally. After being swamped by the curious tribe, Daring jumped above the crowd and hovered there. At the sight of a flying pony, several fainted. "You know, admiration like this comes once in a lifetime," Daring said smugly as she did a few loop de loops for her new fans.
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A zebra led the pair to a large straw hut, bowing as he held open the beaded curtain. Timur bowed his head before entering the dimly lit hut, Daring followed suit as best as she could. Inside, the smell of incense and woodsmoke tingled the explorer's nose. The walls of the hut were decorated with brightly colored shields and ceremonial masks. Predictably, most of the masks were those of birds. And behind the hearth with curls of smoke obscuring his face, sat the chief of the Nyika. He wore an eagle feather mantle unlike the ostrich mantles of his comrades, but also a crown of feathers, with a lightning bird feather adorning it as a centerpiece. A spear and shield sat by his side, bearing the marks of recent conflicts.
Timur prostrated himself and motioned for Daring to do the same. The chief looked down from his throne. "The feathered one is a sight to see, truly in Zebrica a novelty. But to my eyes is she not new, my interest is in you." He pointed a black hoof at Timur. "They say you come to my lands, fighting N'dutu's war bands. Why have you come back, lost one? Has the pony land lost its fun?"
Her zebra guide kept his face on the floor of the hut. "I have come back to destroy N'dutu, great chief. This pegasus has been sent by the Sun Daughter to take Macho ya Pepo before he can."
The chieftain scoffed. "Nopony can stop him alone. Our struggle has no avail shown. We cannot hold out forever against his hordes. Our elders have even talked of laying down our swords."
Daring stood from the floor, spreading her wings in anger. "You can't just give up on your people! If you lay down arms then N'dutu will just make you pick them up again, and send you to kill your own people!"
The chief stood from his throne, anger in his voice. "And what would you have me do?! There is no other way, no way through."
"You can fight. You can stand up to this warlord and refuse to be his slaves when he comes to your doorstep. And if he claims the Eyes of the Demon, then everything is lost. Everything you have loved, worked for, hoped for, it will all be gone."
The chief settled back onto his throne, sighing. "There was one who would see us united. But without him, our lands will forever be blighted."
Daring walked to the throne. "You don't need some great general to stand up for your people. All you need is courage and loyalty to your tribe."
The chief shook his head. "I cannot help you. The fate of Zebrica may rest on you two."
Daring turned around, pulling Timur away with a hoof. "Come on Timur. I'd rather risk the wilderness than be around this coward."
The chief of the once great tribe of eagle riders bowed his head in shame. His eyes snapped back up to look at Daring. "Wait! Though I cannot promise my warriors to fight, I can give you sanctuary from the night. Seeing you has brought my people joy, if you left their hearts it would destroy."
Daring softened, seeing all those faces, joyous to even see her fly. She could never live down the guilt of destroying their one beacon of hope in this hell brought on by war. "We'll stay for the night, but by morning we have to keep going."
The chief bowed gratefully before the pegasus. "Thank you kind one."
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Grimhide sat with his remaining force of nandi riders somewhere in Nyika territory. The five gnolls and their mounts had made it across the Okavana after a day of searching for another crossing, but they completely lost the trail of the golden pegasus. Sitting around a small fire in the early evening, Grimhide dragged a claw over a stone, sharpening it while trying to keep his paws busy. He had to, otherwise he might just tear out the throats of his annoying subordinates.
The fools sat round the small fire, getting piss drunk off of fermented grootslang milk and making enough noise to wake the dead. Their nandi mounts growled at the rough and rowdy gnolls from just outside the flickering light of the fire, returning to their meal of a slaughtered impala.
Grimhide began to grind his teeth, these idiots should be more concerned! He had sent a messenger pigeon back to their main stronghold, and it was well known that N'dutu did not tolerate failure like theirs. And here his cavalry sat, drunk off their asses in some forsaken corner of the bush, PARTYING! Partying like they had plundered a rich zebra village or found a dead elephant! Grimhide looked down at his sharpening stone, he had actually managed to gouge his way through it in his annoyance. Standing up from his seat, Grimhide grabbed the nearest drunkard and punched him in the jaw. Tossing him to the dirt, the commander roared, "SHUT UP!"
The gnolls all stared silently at their commander, quietly placing themselves down on their bedrolls as Grimhide stared them down and growled. Throwing another log on the fire, Grimhide crashed down on his bedroll, staying awake to await the response from N'dutu. He stared through his one good eye at the dancing flame, remembering how that damn pony had insulted him and his soldiers so arrogantly. But that zebra, the way that zebra stallion laughed at his misfortune was infuriating on several levels. If he ever managed to catch that pony and her zebra companion, oh the gory fun he would have before he paraded them back to the warlord.
Grimhide snapped back to attention when a small bird landed on the log he leaned against. Grabbing the bird with a paw, he pulled the small scroll off its leg. As an afterthought he bit the head off the messenger bird, chewing contentedly as he read the message. He prided himself in being one of the few gnolls he knew that could read, almost as well as some of those ponies nonetheless.
Your failure has displeased me, Grimhide. You and your riders have been reassigned. There are villages in Nyika territory that still hold out, and I need those potential soldiers. I have a force of foot soldiers in your area, you are to reinforce them. Do not disappoint me.
Grimhide crumpled up the message and threw it in the fire. Maybe he wasn't as affluent as he previously thought. But what he had gleaned from that note was that the alpha was not happy and he was supposed to back an infantry unit as they raided a village.
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A thought occurred to me whilst writing this chapter, what kind of badness could have happened if Ahuitzotl got his mitts on Lucifer?!?