2 weeks ago
Location unknown
Light filtered down from above in pinpricks, thin rays that illuminated the grotto. It was these lights that were the first things Daring Do saw when her eyes opened, fuzzy vision adjusting to the darkness. Her legs felt like they were made of stone, the rest of her felt moist and her wings were stiff. It took her several moments before she finally realized she was being dragged... or carried. She tried to lift her head up to see who was pulling her but she didn't quite have the strength to do it.
She was lifted deeper into... wherever it was she was at the time. It felt like she was lying on some kind of cloud. Above her, she could see blue sky and clouds through the canopy of weaved foliage high above them. A few Joltiks and an Ariados skittered through it, drinking dew from the leaves. Finally, whoever was pulling her stopped. She thought she heard what sounded like water.
"Where... where am I?"
"Thrpp."
"What?" she strained herself. Summoning what little strength she had, she careened her neck up. A large creature of some kind, covered in darkness, was just in front of her. It was hunched over, shuffling over something. Daring Do didn't know what to make of it; it was unlike any creature she had ever seen before. It turned around to face her. It held her helmet by the brim in its teeth.
Her heart started pounding in her chest. Instinctively, she began to struggle, desperate to get away. "Stay... st-stay back."
"Thrrrkk," was the only noise it made. It came closer.
"Stay back!" Daring struggled. "Please... I..."
It walked right up to her and Daring covered her face. But the creature did not attack. Instead, it rested her hat on her stomach. When Daring opened her eyes, she saw it was full of water.
"Thrrkk."
She looked up at it, confused, and then down at the helmet again. She lifted it up and drank without another word. It was plain, clean water, the taste like heaven to her dry mouth. Without a word, the creature bit the helmet again, snatching it from her hooves and went back to refill it. It came back and gave the helmet to her again, filled to the brim, and gave it to her. She drank it without saying a word.
After she drank it all, the creature gasped and leapt upon her. It hugged her tightly, burying her in blue fluff. "Heh... you're pretty friendly, aren't you?" It sniffed all over her, as if examining her thoroughly with its nose. It then snorted, bit her hat, took it back to the stream and came back with it refilled. It had known she was still thirsty, somehow.
After a couple more refills, Daring donned the hat. She looked up at her captor, now her rescuer. "Thank you... who are you?"
The creature stepped into the light. At first glance, it looked like a stallion, or it at least had a stallion's muzzle. Its body was completely covered in blue hair... or fur. Or both. From its ears to its hooves, it was covered in some type of blue fluff. It looked back at her with large, emerald-green eyes. "Thrpp-thrpp Thrrbb."
Flufflapon Guardian
Fuzzle Puff
Fluffy, Snuggly, Cuddly, Huggable Patriarch
"I'm sorry, I can't understand you," Daring said.
The blue fluff ball stallion raised a hoof to his chin. He then got an idea and his head and legs disappeared into his fluff. Daring was bewildered as to how this was possible: it was like a turtle retreating into its shell, except with pone and fluff. His body was one, large ball of fluff, shaking like a bush with an animal in it. Finally, his head and legs poked back out again. And he was holding something. The fluffy pony walked over and hoofed it to her. It was a cell phone.
Daring looked at the phone, confused, until she looked back up and saw the larger pony holding another one and tapping into it. Her own phone then buzzed and came to life.
New Message Received: [Hai. My name is Fuzzle Puff. What's yours]
She began typing herself. [I'm Daring Do. Thank you for saving me]
[ur welcome :D]
[What is this place]
The fluffy pony was surprisingly adept at texting despite his fluff. [This is our home. I found you in the desert and brought you here. Your wounds were extensive but you should recover soon]
Daring looked down, examining herself, even checking the bag in her jacket pocket. She seemed fine, despite apparently being shot several times. Her wounds were healing, barely even appeared visible. It had to have been a miracle... or some kind of magic.
[How did you heal me?] she texted.
Fuzzle looked at her for a moment, then closed the phone. He then approached her carefully, lifted her onto his back and carried her deeper into the grotto. Periodically, there were holes in the ceiling where light, sometimes a strange aurora-like light filtered in. They began to see more water and Daring began to hear faint signs of splashing, like Fuzzle was wading through something. Aurora-colored water also poured from the ceiling, cascading down from the walls in brilliant luminescence. Eventually, she even saw crystals that were aurora-colored. It was clear there was some kind of magic at work down here.
Finally, Fuzzle set her down in a large chamber. Daring looked up to see that, unlike the other rooms, this one did not have holes in the ceiling... but was lit by something else. In the center of the room was a crystal column that stretched from floor to ceiling. All around it attached to the roof were crystal orbs of various sizes, like crystal balls.
The fluffy pony took her hat and dipped it into a pool of aurora-liquid at the base of the column. He came back to her and hoofed it to her to drink again. Daring was reluctant to drink this substance but took a sip. It smelled like cotton candy and citrus combined. Whatever it was, even after a single drop hit her tongue, it made her feel stronger. After downing her helmet's worth again, she found she could stand.
"Thrrrbbb thrpppth thrrrrp thbbrrbb thrmm-thmmmrrrr." This is the main chamber.
"Ah," Daring said, nodding, starting to understand. "Wait, I can... understand you, now?"
Fuzzle nodded. "Thrrrpth pbbbbrrrt phrbbbt thrrrbbble thrrrb thrrreeeb thrrb translation." This room's magic is powerful. It lets you read the translation.
"Oh... okay," she said. "Are there... are there any more? Like you, I mean?"
The fluffy pony seemed to consider his response, then looked up. He then fluff-trottedover to the wall and, to Daring's surprise, walked up on it. Fuzzle scaled the wall as easily as if he'd been walking on the ground. Very quickly, he was upside down, above Daring. She watched him as he examined the orbs and selected one out of a bunch. He then jumped down and landed right in front of her... and presented her the crystal orb.
Daring held the small ball in her hooves for a moment, looking at it. It was a complete crystal sphere, barely the size of a marble. It seemed to pulse with an inner light as she watched it. Fuzzle watched it, too with large, expectant eyes. He rubbed it with his hoof and nudged her to continue. It felt warm.
She rubbed the small orb and it began to glow brighter. He nodded at her to continue so she rubbed it, rubbing the small sphere in both of her hooves as fast as she could. It began to glow a bright, constant light, almost too bright to look at and then... it shattered. A small crack broke along its side, fracturing and splintering. It didn't open- it continued breaking, new cracks, tiny fractures and bits forming but not a single shard broke. They only divided, exponentially in her hand. The light became a solid, purple color.
The orb then shook in her hooves and the tiny, fractured shards began to split apart and flow around it. It wobbled from side to side and then pulsed in her hooves... almost like it was breathing. She watched it, fascinated, unable to look away. The sphere had gone from a completely round sphere to a lopsided blob of some sort, the shards becoming thousands of tiny hairs. The ball moved in her hoof and she faintly heard a squeaking sound come from it. Part of it shifted... and a tiny, smaller orb appeared in the center. And then another beside it. A protrusion poked out at her in between the two and nudged her hoof. Both orbs looked up into her eyes.
*tiny gasp*
"It's a... baby?" Daring asked. Fuzzle nodded. The newborn fluffy filly smiled a tiny smile at her and crawled around her hoof. It sniffed at her, explored her fetlock and licked her. Its tiny legs were completely covered in purple fluff, almost making it look like a fluffy larva, only faster. It curled into a ball and snuggled her hoof, smiling contently.
Fuzzle took her by the hoof, also holding the baby in his own. He lead her as they both carried the tiny fluff-filly to a large crystal. Fuzzle waved his hoof over the top of an aurora crystal, causing it to disappear and reveal dozens of other fluffy ponies, various sizes and colors underneath, sleeping. A few of them looked up and gasped. It was a nest. He nestled the newborn amongst the others and waved his hoof over it again, replacing the light camouflage.
"Thrrrp thrrrrb thrrrppth phrrrrrb pbbbttt prrrrb-prrrrb-prrrrb." This is all that's left of us, our kingdom. They need love to grow, lots of it. My wife is out gathering more and she comes back here periodically to check in while I watch over things. When they are grown, they migrate to new dimensions to continue the cycle. Hopefully, one day, we can reach Convergence.
"Convergence?" Daring asked. "What's 'convergence'?"
And so Fuzzle told her. He educated her on everything, told her of his kingdom and what was left of it. Over a couple days, as she regained her strength, he taught her of their language and customs, they played Sega Genesis and Gamecube and watched Cowboy Bebop on Crunchyroll. Finally, she was strong enough to leave, and he lead her to the entrance, back to the desert.
"Thank you again for everything," she said, the rising sun bathing her in orange light.
Fuzzle smiled, gasped and hugged her again. "Thrrrrth thppprrrpp thrrrr-thrrr." "You're welcome. Please, keep this place a secret."
She nodded. "I will." Such a delicate place couldn't be left unguarded. She knew that; the treasures in there were more valuable than any artifact she had ever come across. Endangering such a sacred place as this, as a heroic pegasus, it was the last thing she would do. She knew that the moment that place was found, it would most likely be exploited some way. Daring waved to Fuzzle and took to the skies, leaving the grotto behind her. Using her compass, she banked north to Equestria.
Daring flew a high, straight course for the Equestrian border. She'd be safe from Reed's goons in Ponyville; quiet, suburban places like that were easy to hide in. Any mobsters would stick out like sore thumbs. But even there, she might not entirely be safe. She still felt the artifact she'd stolen from Reed in her jacket pocket. It still had her blood on it.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the phone Fuzzle had given her and used it to call a friend.
"Crystal Museum of Extradimensional Interests, how may I help you?"
"Hey Reggie, it's Daring. Can you do me a favor?"
"Of course, Miss Daring, what do you need?"
She swallowed but kept her eyes focused ahead of her. "Can you and Tux bring the car to these coordinates I'm about to text you?"
"Uh, certainly, we were about to head out for Ponyville. What do you need us for?"
"I've made a discovery and I'm going to need you to catalogue samples, lots of samples," she said, and gave Reginald the details. Daring Do was many things, not all of them were honorable. She was a scientist and she knew that at some point, somepony was going to discover the grotto, the last of the Flufflapon Kingdom. It might as well be her, somepony who would at least be discrete. So, she had multiple reasons for betraying Fuzzle Puff and his family.
She felt the pain of her injuries, healed but still aching a little. A reminder of what she was about to do. It didn't make her feel any better... but Daring Do and A.K Yearling were both many things. Most of those things required continued success, progress and cold, hard cash. She was not always the hero in the books, even though she aspired to be. Like everypony else, she had bills to pay. Passing up an opportunity like that, when it could mean so much money, was the last thing Daring would do.