//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12: At the Party 
// Story: Daring Do and the Hand of Doom 
// by Unwhole Hole 
//------------------------------//

Despite her insistence on “going to get some punch”, Rainbow Dash did not actually intend to punch anypony. In fact, she only realized the connection as she was walking to the line where the bowl was located. 
“Oh,” said Rainbow Dash, feeling herself blush with embarrassment. Daring Do had actually thought she was going to hit somepony. 
She was, of course, not. Despite her brash attitude Rainbow Dash had learned- -with some difficulty- - how to behave at parties. She had of course been to several that were even more elaborate and fancy than this particular one: the Grand Galloping Gala, for one, as well as Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding, Twilight’s coronation, and the reception after Flurry Heart’s crystalling. She knew how to behave when trying to be fancy.
And part of that behavior relied on punch. Especially if the punch was made of- -or just entirely consisted of- -cider. The punch at this party did not seem to be cider-based, though; it was a pale yellow color and smelled like some kind of tropical fruit.
Rainbow Dash hardly cared. She took a large- -and exceedingly fancy- -glass of it from a serving pony and downed it in one gulp. She then took another, and drank that one more slowly. 
“Hey,” said Rainbow Dash. “This stuff is actually pretty good. Is that pineapple?”
The serving pony stared at her and smiled. He was a thin unicorn with almost excessively bulging eyes, and Rainbow Dash was sure she could see the edges of a tattoo under his sleeves. 
“I’m glad you like it,” he said. His voice was accented strangely, and Rainbow Dash had an urge to step away from him, which she did. 
Looking around the room, there was not much else to do. Which was better. Rainbow Dash would stand near the refreshments and drink punch until she felt better, then she would go back and find Daring Do. It was as simple as that. Parties like this were not exactly her specialty, so her primary interest on what her hero was up to. From across the room, she could see her separating from Filthy and Spoiled Rich. The pair of earth-ponies proceeded toward where a table full of expensive food- -at least twenty times the amount that all the guests put together would be able to eat, even if they ate until they were stuffed twice over- -with Spoiled Rich glaring at Rainbow Dash the whole while. Daring Do, meanwhile, approached several of the display cases aligned on the far side of the room. 
The rest of the ponies did not interest Rainbow Dash too much. They were clearly all fabulously wealthy, or at least were trying to be, but they looked exactly like the same background ponies that could be found in literally any town or city throughout Equestria.
Then, suddenly, one of the background ponies emerged as a distinct figure.
“Bon Bon?” cried Rainbow Dash, surprised by her sudden appearance. 
“Shut your cake hole and walk with me,” said Bon Bon, forcibly turning Rainbow Dash around so that they would face the punch table and leading her toward it- -but not toward the tattooed unicorn, who appeared to have vanished. 
“Bon Bon, you’re going to bruise me!”
“Cake hole. Shut it. NOW. Here.” Bon Bon picked up a small plate filled with a small and probably absurdly expensive piece of cake and promptly shoved the entire confection into Rainbow Dash’s mouth. “Don’t choke. Listen.” Bon Bon- -or Sweetie Drops, as she was known when not under cover- -lowered her voice. “What in the name of Celestia’s divine cellulite are YOU doing HERE? Especially with HER?” She pointed at Daring Do.
Rainbow Dash replied, but her words were muffled by the cake in her mouth.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full. You’re at a fancy party for Celestia’s sake. Here.” Sweetie Drops gave Rainbow Dash another glass of punch. Rainbow Dash sipped it, washing the cake down.
“If you do that again, I’ll- -”
“Punch me in the snoot? Sure. Go ahead. I’ll bop you one right back.” 
Rainbow Dash did not strike Sweetie Drops. There was really no reason to. In addition, although her and Bon Bon were not close, they were still almost neighbors. Her and Lyra lived just down the block from Rarity’s boutique; Rainbow Dash saw them all the time. 
Sweetie Drops groaned. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Months of work planning this, and you walk in here and mess all of it up!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Less volume!” Sweetie Drops looked around suspiciously, and then continued. “You know Caballeron is at this party.”
“Yeah. I just saw him. He’s over- -”
“I saw you seeing him. And that’s the problem!”
“I don’t understand!”
“Over six months went into planning this operation. Getting our agents into this party, setting up surveillance. Originally it was to find evidence of illegal trade in oiliphant tusks. Until we reworked it for HIM.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “This is a sting!” she whispered. “You’re trying to take down Caballeron!”
“We were until you shoved your hoof in it!”
“But he’s right there- -”
“And so are twenty one bison warriors! Plus Caballeron’s ponies.”
“Wait, there’s more?”
Sweetie Drops looked at Rainbow Dash as though the Pegasus were an abject moron. “There’s five here, plus his date. That guy you just took punch from? He’s one of them. For the record, he drugged you.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Wh- -what?” She began to feel ill and started to swoon, which only accelerated her panic.
“Stop being melodramatic.”
“You’re not the one who got drugged!”
“I already dosed you with the antidote.”
“You- -you drugged me TOO?!”
“Volume. And no, I un-drugged you. You can thank me later. Right now, you can get out of here.”
“Not without Daring Do.”
Sweetie Drops winced and fell silent for a moment before sighing loudly. “Yeah. That’s not going to happen. Perr-Synt already has her in her sights. And worse? Caballeron’s sure to be on high alert now.”
“But  you’re a government agent, couldn’t you just- -”
“I can’t do anything! This was a fact-finding mission! To squeeze evidence out of him and get a tracking plant on one of his guys. That’s hard enough without you getting in the way! How did you even know he was here?!”
“We didn’t!”
Sweetie Drops blinked. “You WHAT?!”
“Volume, Bon Bon. Volume?” Rainbow Dash started to smile smugly, but she saw how angry Sweetie Drops was and felt bad for her. “Daring Do said she got a letter. She didn’t say from who.”
“From whom.”
“Don’t correct my grammers, Twilight already does it enough!”
“Sorry. A letter?”
“It was sent by night-mail when we were in the Crystal Empire. We took the Jetstream here. We knew Caballeron was in Singapone, looking for something.” Rainbow Dash did not mention that the “something” was the Hand of Doom. “We wanted to beat him to whatever he’s trying to get to. Daring Do wanted to talk to Wun; she didn’t know Caballeron would be here! And how did you get here so fast? You don’t even have wings!” Rainbow Dash paused. “Or…do you?”
Sweetie Drops ignored her. “If Caballeron’s on an active mission, it collaborates the note that my agent left. But why would he be in Singapone?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
“But there aren’t any significant artifacts in Singapone. Not even legendary ones.” She paused. “Except right here in this house…” She shook her head. “Well, stop trying to figure things out and leave. I’ll handle this. “
“Like heck.”
“Don’t swear. And don’t defy me. I have access to dungeons Celestia doesn’t even know about. You know, plausible deniability and all. Once I know where Caballeron’s hideout is, I’ll have him in one of them. And if you get in my way again, you’ll be on the rack right next to him.” 
“You can take your rack and shove it where the sun don’t shine.”
“Doesn’t. And no, the sun doesn’t shine there. Hence why Celestia doesn’t know about it.”
Rainbow Dash was about to- -at least in her own mind- -generate a witty comeback when her medallion suddenly vibrated slightly and hitched. Sweetie Drops’s eyes were immediately drawn to it. She raised an eyebrow. 
“What in Equestria are you doing with a vedmak amulet?” 
“Why do you even know what it is?”
“Because I was raised by vedmarks in Care Morab. It’s why I’m the best at what I do.” She leaned forward. “But it’s concerning that it vibrated…”	
“It’s probably a glitch.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m pretty sure it’s broken. Or fake. I mean, I was just standing over there right next to Wun and the thing didn’t move an inch.”
“It wouldn’t. Vedmark amulets don’t react to unicorns.”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “What?”
“It’s a historical fact that vedmarks had a relentless appetite for unicorn sorceresses. Their amulets don’t generally react to unicorn magic unless the spell is prodigiously intense. They’re mostly used for detecting traps and anomalies.”  
“Anomalies?”
Sweetie Drops nodded. “Either exceptionally dark magic, or artifacts of exceeding power.”
Rainbow Dash looked down at the now silent and stationary armadillo head. It almost seemed to look back at her ominously with its tiny red eyes. “But then…why did it just vibrate right now?” 

If there was one thing that could be said about Wun Perr-Synt, it was that her choice in the artifacts she collected was invariably striking. This was not a positive attribute. 
Daring Do moved amongst the display cases. They were tall, each one made from transparent glass arranged into large square boxes with lavish endangered hardwood used to make the bases and the tops where the lighting units were contained. 
Many of the wealthy partygoers had walked by these objects, staring at them and occasionally commenting, if only because these things were of great value to the wealthiest among them. Few if any of them understood the artifacts themselves as well as Daring Do did, though. None of them realized just how horrible these things were. 
There was a suit of armor, one that by its design had quite clearly belonged to an ancient shogun. Daring Do knew the figure it belonged to; his name had translated to “Beautiful Ocean”. She also knew of the grand battle against a group of seven unicorn mages that he had led, and she knew what had become of him. The armor remembered as well: though complete, it was battered and damaged, its formerly beautiful surface charred by hideous spells and enchanted weapons. The breast plate still even bore a slit-shaped hole that sat directly over where Beautiful Ocean’s heart had once beat for his now long-collapsed nation. 
The next case contained an object of far less historical significance. From a distance, it looked like a single large piece of highly polished amber sitting on a red cushion. Such a gem would be adequate for most wealthy collectors, but not Wun. The amber contained within it two ancient breezies, both trapped eternally weeping together in one final embrace.
Daring Do could hardly look at the amber and moved on. The next, though, was no less heartwrenching. In the case, held aloft by a pair of half-moon shaped polycarbonate supports, was a small bundle of faded, dirty cloth. It had been partially unwrapped to reveal the earth-colored, sunken face of a mummy. A mummy who had been no longer than the length of Daring Do’s foreleg. 
There were more, but Daring Do did not want to see what was in them. She instead focused on the ground and the tiles carved from rare fossil-bearing stone as she walked, only to see that several of the tiles contained numerous cross-sectional skeletons. Of ponies. 
Finally, she stopped. Daring Do lifted her head and stared into a display case mounted in the center of all the others. The artifact inside was a mask of some sort, carved into the shape of a pony head, although with no distinct mouth and horizontal slits for eyes. It closely resembled the ancient masks worn by king Sombra’s enslaved soldiers, but this one was different. It was far more detailed, and made of an unidentifiable red material. Likewise, it showed extensive damage. The upper right quarter seemed to have been removed by some kind of blast or explosion, leaving significant charring on the rest. The remainder of it was pitted and fractured as though it were diseased. 
“Do you like it?” said Wun, appearing to materialize out of the air itself. Daring Do did not react; she had long ago grown accustomed to the fact that Wun quite enjoyed being able to sneak up to ponies undetected. 
Now that her presence was known, Wun stood next to Daring Do and began to contemplate the mask. “They call it ‘The Masque of Red Death’,” she explained. “Although that is likely a modern or pre-modern coinage. Appropriate but incorrect. That was not what it was called when the unicorn mage Scarlet Mist bore it.” 
“One of the Dark Thirteen,” noted Daring Do.
Wun smiled. “Indeed. This is one of their last artifacts. One of the few that the uneducated rabble was not able to find a way to destroy when they were invariably hunted down and eliminated.” She paused. “I’m pleased you know it.”
“I also know that it’s unbelievably cursed.”
Wun smiled again and approached the case. “Of course I have taken precautions,” she said. She gracefully lifted one gloved hoof and taped against the glass- -or what Daring Do had taken for glass. Instead of making a sound, though, the surface distorted and released a strange rustling whistle. A ripple of strange golden runes appeared on the transparent surface and were momentarily visible as the surface distorted almost imperceptibly. 
“A containment spell.”
“An exceedingly expensive one,” sighed Wun. “But as I’ve mentioned. I never spare expense. I can afford this. Or ten of these, if I need them. I want my guests to be safe.”
“And if a pony is not your guest?”
The smile on Wun’s lips faded, but the one in her eyes grew. “How perceptive, sister. Yes. I lost three authenticators on this particular specimen. And a great deal more of far cheaper ponies.”
“Ponies are not disposable.”
“Of course they are. All of them. Even you. And why should they not be? They did their job, after all. The presence of the curse is undeniable authentication that the Masque is, indeed, the genuine article.” 
Daring Do just shook her head. “You make me sick.”
“Yes. I know. I find it amusing. How sensitive you are, in contrast to myself. It is poetic, almost.” 
“That mask should be contained. Locked in a sealed vault and only accessed by scientists with the proper equipment to work with it. And the rest of this stuff?” Daring Do gestured to it. “This…this is just morbid!” 
“Do you have the right to claim that? These are artifacts. Ancient relics. The same sort that you, like myself, have dedicated your life to preserving.” 
“These should be in museums!” Daring Do pointed at the nearest case, the one containing the mummy. “That- -that was a little girl! And you put her under glass, so that rich ponies can gawk at her!”
“So you would prefer that she were placed in a museum, so that much greater numbers of less wealthy ponies can gawk at her instead? Or perhaps I can have her returned to the desert where she can turn to dust in the sand in obscurity and all alone.”
“That isn’t what I meant!”
“Isn’t it?” snapped Wun. She paused, waiting to see if Daring Do retorted. When she was met with nothing but silence, she continued. “Daring. How long have I known you?”
“Since I was eleven.”
“I remember. We met just after my two hundred thirtieth birthday. Your father was a dear friend of mine. He sent you to me for tutoring, because there were few alive at that time who were as knowable as myself in this subject.  Unfortunately you preferred to spend your early teenage years in the slums, getting into fights.”
“I didn’t much like you then, either.”
“Of course not. But yet here we are, admiring an ancient mask and holding a civil conversation. Because despite this mild acrimony, we are still sisters.”  
Daring Do paused, and then sighed. “I know. I hate to admit it so much. It’s not even really you I hate. Wun, why do you have to do this? If we worked together…”
“Then my collection would be distributed into museums, moldering and impossible for me to enjoy. Daring. This is in my nature. Look around you. This is a tiny fraction of what I have spent my life doing. It is my passion, my special talent, so to speak. Masks, armor, weapons, the curses of my ancestors…” She pointed by turning her head slightly. “Even my guards. You have surely seen my security.”
“Bison.”
“Quite observant, surely. Yes. Bison. From a tribe in the vicinity of a town called Appleoosa. They are from the last extant bison herd. And I own almost half of their adult population.”
“Is that the same reason you got him?” Daring Do pointed at Chunky Milk, who was across the room quite aggressively flirting with a pair of  mares who were even younger than Rainbow Dash. He reached out and pinched one of their cutie marks, and was promptly drenched with punch from both of their glasses. 
Wun smiled. “No,” she said. “Not at all. He is unspectacular and unique. He is boorish, greedy, uncultured, stupid, and unbelievably arrogant.”
“Really? Because I assumed you only even tolerate him because he’s good in a saddle.”
“He does look good in a saddle. For an earth-pony. But I am sure you have heard what they say about his type. That in lacking a horn and wings, they compensate for it elsewhere. Namely in obedience and docility.” 
“So you’re telling me that you find him amusing.”
“I do find him so, for the moment at least. Did you know that he actually believes that he will inherit my fortune? My company, my position, even my collection. I have seen him surveying it, trying to take inventory and price out how much everything is worth.”
“He couldn’t possibly be that stupid.”
“To know that I will almost assuredly outlive him three times over, at least? Certainly not. He sees me as being your age, as though I were an earth-pony two. Which I suppose I find somewhat refreshing. Our long lives do grow somewhat dull after several centuries. But every night I dream of the look on his face as he slowly watches himself age while I do not, until he realizes that it’s too late for him to even attempt to produce a mare. And until he fades away while I remain young and beautiful for another century.” 
“You’re sick, Wun.”
“And yet you have the option to go over to him and inform him of his mistake. And yet you do not.” 
“Who knows? Maybe I might. But not now. He deserves a little fun. And maybe you do to.”
Wun raised a thin eyebrow, or where her eyebrows would have been if she had possessed any. “That is an interesting perspective.”
“I never got to say it. I’m sorry about Wun Hun Dredd.”
“Are you? Even after you foiled his foolish attempts at gaining immortality at every turn? I doubt it. And Although I loved my father, I always understood that I would take his company eventually. By force, if necessary. In that respect, I am glad that you succeeded.” 
“You say that. But then you go and marry a guy who your dad would have tied to a rock and thrown into a bottomless chasm.” 
Wun paused for a long moment. “Was it the same? For you. When Well-To passed on to the Aether.”
“Not exactly,” sighed Daring Do. “But I know how you feel. It doesn’t matter if your thirty or three hundred. Or even three thousand, I think. It’s the same emotion. We just deal with it differently because we’re different ponies.”
Wun stared for a moment. “An unexpected sentiment, coming from you.”
The pair of them lapsed into silence for a long moment, facing the crowd of living ponies rather than the artifacts and glaring mask at their backs. Then, finally, Wun spoke. 
“You came here for a reason. I do not think reassuring me about my father’s passing was your goal.”
“I heard a rumor.”
“Many revolve around me. Which one did you encounter?”
“That you recently acquired an Exmoori artifact.” 
Wun’s eyes slowly turned toward Daring Do. She stared intently for a moment. As she did, a large black crow descended from overhead. It was apparently meant to be there, or was even an aspect of Wun’s collection, because it sat on her shoulder. She stroked it gently as she contemplated what she was about to say. 
“If given the opportunity to own an artifact of the Exmoor ponies,” she said, slowly, “I would gladly trade my horn in exchange. As you know that is not an expression. From me, it serves as a solemn promise. A true, functional piece of their world. Carved by their own hooves. It is worth that much to me.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“It does,” replied Wun, “because as you can see, my horn is still attached. No. Had I such an artifact, it would be the crowning jewel of my collection. Yet I do not. I do not know who disseminated this rumor, but they were incorrect. Perhaps they held me in too high of esteem.”
“I doubt it,” said Daring Do. “It was an archeologist. He claimed you were hiring authenticators.”
“Yes. Because three of them were expended on their work with the Masque. And I always have an interest in those who even believe that the Exmoori existed. Had I enough I would consider funding an expedition. Perhaps one with either you or Caballeron at the head. Or both, if you could set your differences aside.” 
“I’m not interested in hunting down artifacts from a civilization that probably didn’t even exist. Especially with Caballeron.”
“That is a lie. You would not have asked me otherwise. Or come here at all to do so.” 
Daring Do was silent. So was Wun. Then Wun began to walk away. “I can see on your face that you do not believe me. Caballeron did not believe me either. I possess no Exmoori artifacts. You, I think, might understand the honesty in that statement better than he did.”
“Because you never lie about your collection.”
Wun looked back. “Yes. Especially to my own sister.”