“What we have here,” I said, as I leaned back in my chair and smiled a touch to myself. “Is a failure to communicate.”
The group assembled across from me all looked at me with a perplexed expression across the desk.
“Er, say what now?” Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head in a very avian way. I quickly drew myself back to the matter at hand.
“Sorry, Dash,” I said, all business again. “Just one of my human references.” Dash rolled her eyes.
“But seriously, we do have quite the sticky wicket here don’t we?”
A stocky wicket was right. I’d come to work this morning to find myself mediating in a very unusual dispute. The briefing was that a couple of rival archaeologists, along with some sort of a guardian creature, had been butting heads over various ancient historical artifacts that were dotted all over Equestria’s answer to South America. Now though, they’d put aside their differences, having come to see things from their opponents' point of view, and were looking to undo the damage caused by several years of conflict.
That would be normal enough, if the two ponies and guardian creature in question weren’t supposed to be fictional. Believe it or not, but across from me stood Daring Do, Dr. Caballeron, and Ahuizotl. If you’d asked me yesterday, I’d have told you that they were characters in the ponies’ answer to Indiana Jones. Good books sure, but just stories. Although, when you consider that entire world was supposedly fictional, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Dash and Fluttershy, who were with them in my office for this pow-wow, explained that A. K Yearling; the author of the Daring Do books, was actually the vine swinging, trap dodging, bad guy punching protagonist of her stories. They were all very much real and true, more or less. It was all kept under wraps to protect both Daring’s privacy, and to safeguard the valuable artifacts that she secured on behalf of Equestria.
I’ve been a bit of a fan of the series myself. Lizzie got me into it originally after Fluttershy turned her onto the books. She quickly fell in love with the stories and characters, which to me, harkened back to the likes of The Thirty-Nine Steps or Greenmantle, recapturing that spirit of adventure that seems to have entirely disappeared from the modern world, at least as far as Earth is concerned. I too quickly made my way through the series, and I’ve gotten into the fandom a bit, much to Bones’ glee. But I always figured it was just a story. Well written, perhaps, but still just a story.
So you can only imagine the surprise I felt when Celestia told me what her next case was. She had Buttercup come and fetch me down to the throne room, only saying that she needed help mediating a dispute between a couple of archaeologists and one of the locals about some ancient artifacts. I heard her chuckling when I stopped dead in my tracks upon seeing Daring Do, in her full explorer gear, standing next to her two most hated adversaries.
But while Celestia might have sprung the case on me as one of her little games, I had unknowingly been dealing with it a little earlier in the week, when my daughter approached me for some legal advice of her own.
It all started when Lizzie came storming into my house and all but cantered into the living room. Like most people in Ponyville, I don’t tend to lock my door, certainly not in the daytime at any rate, so the kids, when they drop by, do tend to let themselves in. I was pretty much napping on the sofa, having spent the afternoon alternating between catching up on some case files and watching films of the projector we have rigged up in the house. I was just about to doze off when I was violently startled awake as Lizzie all but slammed a book onto the coffee table in front of me.
“Jesus, Lizzie!” I exclaimed in fright, and with some annoyance. “You trying to give me a heart attack?” She wasn’t in a sympathetic mood though. You get my daughter angry and, well...Celestia help you.
“Having you seen this?” she exclaimed gesturing to the book that now rested on my possibly cracked wooden coffee table.
Leaning forward, I fished my reading glasses out of my shirt pocket and put them on, taking a moment to translate the Ponish writing into English. It was entitled ‘The Fallen Idol’ and was authored by a Groom Q. Q. Martingale. A curious name in a land of ponies, but then again, so is A. K Yearling when you stop and think about it. It appeared to be the newest Daring Do book judging by the cover art. Although as it wasn’t written by Yearling herself, I assumed it was some kind of fanfiction or a spiritual successor. Celestia knows not all the fans liked the direction Yearling took the series with the fifth book. Opening it up, I took a look at the summary. It was actually quite clever, the story was written from the perspective of Dr Caballeron; an archaeologist and Daring Do’s main rival, who sought to acquire treasures for profit at best, and to sell dangerous magical artifacts to the highest bidder at worst. As such, Daring was the antagonist, with Caballeron playing more the victim and painting Daring in quite the negative light.
More interestingly though, it claimed that A. K Yearling and Daring Do were one and the same, saying that the author took stories of her own archaeological adventures, wildly inflated them, and then spread misinformation about her competitors. As a piece of fiction, it was quite well written, with a very interesting premise that almost made me believe it was real. As a solicitor, I’m always playing the Devil’s advocate, so this sort of seeing things from the other side was quite the norm to me.
Lizzie however, didn’t much care for it.
“Interesting premise,” I commented.
“It’s a load of horseapples is what it is!” she shot back.
“Hey, language, sweetie,” I said warningly.
“It’s true though,” she replied. “This Groom Q. Q whatever is dragging Daring Do’s name through the mud.”
And I thought Bones was the one who took fiction too seriously. He once told me that he spent the better part of a night arguing with some random guy on the Internet about why Princess Luna was better than Princess Celestia.
“It’s just a story, Lizzie,” I replied placatingly.
“But it has a go at A. K Yearling too,” Lizzie pointed out. “Saying that she’s really Daring Do and accusing her off all sorts of stuff she didn’t do. And it’s causing ponies to really turn on her. She’s taking flak for what her own fictional character didn’t even do. How is that fair?”
Hmm, well, she had a point there. Okay, it was a clever idea to suggest that Daring Do was in some way autobiographical, but given the unflattering nature of the story toward the khaki wearing adventurer, it might have been an idea to include a disclaimer on the front page. Technically, you could make a case for defamation if it was actually being taken seriously. Some ponies aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, and that goes double for fanatics.
So, being the upstanding fan of Daring Do that I am, I decided to at least humour my daughter and do some nosing about. Unbeknownst to me, at the same time, Rainbow had also just become aware of this new book that had come out, courtesy of Fluttershy. She took it about as well as Lizzie, and the pair quickly set off to find and warn their friend.
I meanwhile, after Lizzie had left to return to her duties with the Weather Patrol, took the more Twilight Sparkle type approach and started doing some research, my subject, one Groom Q. Q Martingale.
The back flap of the book had the usual brief biography of the author. He was a middle aged stallion, with a light brown coat and a greying, but once black mane. He actually reminded me more of a horse from Earth than any other pony I’ve come across, his coat and mane being unusually neutral colours. He had a pretty thick grey beard that obscured the lower half of his face, and on his head he wore a flat cap. In the picture I had, he was wearing a light blue shirt, with white suspenders, which were attached to a pair of dark blue trousers. These of course, covered his cutie mark entirely. Finally, he had somewhat hazel coloured eyes that struck me as being almost familiar. In fact, despite having never seen this pony until today, I couldn’t shake a feeling of familiarity, and some hostility too, although I put that down to my subconscious being none too pleased about the way he was slandering a good pony.
The biography itself was nothing special, just your generic BS. He was an archaeologist who had taken up writing to, allegedly, dispel some of the myths about the science that the Daring Do books had stirred up, and criticise some of the practices. After all, there’s a fine line between archaeology and looting. Still, I thought it best to dig a little deeper, and the next day when I was at work, I took the opportunity to run a make on the guy.
And that was where things got interesting.
There were records of him, sure. And what was there was reasonably extensive. But there was nothing on this guy going back more than a year or so. He just seemed to appear out of thin air. Well, from my own experience, I knew that this was a cover identity of some sort, fashioned very well. But as good as it was, this author just popped into existence and wrote his magnum opus, slandering Daring Do and A. K Yearling alike. So whoever he was, he wasn’t just Groom Q. Q Martingale.
Now, while technically, this wasn’t my bailiwick, it had got me interested. It appeared that I’d stumbled upon somepony with something to hide. For the life of me though, I couldn’t find any connections. Martingale had a reasonably well fabricated life with little to suggest who he really was, or why he’d created this false identity. I know many authors tend to write under a pseudonym at times, such as Samuel Clemens, known to the world of literature as Mark Twain. But usually, if you dug deep enough, you could find out who they really were. This guy though, was a ghost.
Of course, I had cases to deal with, and couldn’t spend my whole day on this wild goose chase. Speaking of, one of the security geese got loose in the day, and I actually ended up with a couple of Royal Guards bursting into my office in a vain effort to chase the bird down.
That evening, I was still pondering the odd affair as I leafed through the pages of one of my own Daring Do books, number three if I remember rightly. The Fallen Idol certainly raised several interesting counterpoints to each book in the series, and as I read, it was a little tricky not to see Daring as a bit of a rogue at times. I mean, for one thing, what gave her the right to keep all those dangerous artifacts to herself? In the real world, you’d expect them to be turned over to the princesses or something for safe keeping.
I’d left Lizzie’s discarded copy of The Fallen Idol open on the coffee table as I sat down to read on the sofa, the back flap hanging open with the author’s portrait, and was still leafing through the pages of A .K Yealing’s version of events when Margaret walked in.
“Busy day?” she asked as she sat herself down. “I haven’t seen you read that in a while. “She gestured to the book.
“Lizzie stopped by the other day,” I explained. “Got a right bee in her bonnet about this new author. He’s written a book taking a few pot shots at A. K Yearling and her character Daring Do. I did some checking into him, but Groom Q. Q Martingale is obviously a pen name. The guy doesn’t exist until a couple years back.”
Margaret sat down and looked at the image of Martingale, and then to the front cover of the book I was reading. The artwork was of Daring leaping over a waterfall and escaping the clutches of Dr. Caballeron. It was then that she hit the nail on the head.
“You know,” she said, pointing at Martingale’s picture. “If you take away the scraggly beard and the flat cap, this guy looks a bit like this fellow.” For effect, she tapped the image of Caballeron.
Turning the book over to look at the front cover, I compared the two images. While one was a photo and one was just an illustration, there was still a noticeable resemblance. Both had dark coats and manes, and in Martingale’s case, a key identifier, his cutie mark, was covered. And the thing that leapt out the most were the eyes. Both ponies had those same hazel eyes that held a sort of animal cunning in them.
It made sense I suppose. Martingale claimed that all of Daring Do’s stories were real, albeit widely exaggerated. Could Martingale actually be Caballeron?
I’d get my answer sooner than I though. Because while I’d been busy going in circles on a wild goose chase, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had had themselves quite an adventure with both hero and villain. And in the morning, the Daring Do series was going to take a very unexpected turn.
And so, that morning, I found myself standing in the throne room with Tia on one side, and Daring Do, Dr Caballeron and Ahuizotl on the other. She smiled at my utter surprise. While I’d considered the idea that Yearling and Martingale might be competing archaeologists, I never for a moment thought that they were both simply Daring Do and Caballeron. And that was ignoring the massive, cat...thing that Ahuizotl is, standing a bit taller than even Celestia.
“I take it these are the two archaeologists and the member of the local populace who are in dispute, your highness?” Celestia smiled a small smile that belied her inner mirth.
“Indeed, my advisor,” she replied. “I believe you are familiar with all three of them, as are most of Equestria.”
“I’m familiar enough to know that he,” I replied, gesturing to Caballeron. “Is little more than a common theif and criminal. And by rights I should have him arrested.” We were at that point joined by two more ponies.
“Actually, Doctor Caballeron has agreed to stop hunting treasures for profit,” Fluttershy explained. “He’s also agreed to help undo the damage his book caused to both Daring Do’s and A. K Yearling’s reputation.”
“What?” I exclaimed, turning to the criminal in question. “Why?”
“Fluttershy, in a word,” Dash said with a shrug. “After I heard about what Caballeron was doing with that book of his, she and I went to confront him. I figured he was up to no good, trying to ruin Daring’s good name. But Fluttershy listened to his side of the story instead.”
“Most of that was made up,” Caballeron admitted. “As a pegasus, Fluttershy would be able to help me retrieve the Truth Talisman of Tonatiuh. So I spun her a story portraying my opponent here as the villain, and I as just a humble collector working for a museum.”
“But in the course of our journey together,” Fluttershy went on. “Caballeron and his hench ponies learned the importance of listening to each other. They even saved me when I accidentally triggered a trap.”
“That’s when Rainbow Dash and I came on the scene,” Daring said, picking up the story. “Caballeron didn’t realise the effect holding the talisman would have on him, and it compelled him to admit that he’d tricked Fluttershy. But at the same time, he’d also come to value her as a friend. That redemption trick of hers sure works wonders.”
“And that is when I intervened,” Ahuizotl added. “Trying to protect the talisman, I once again tried to stop those two adventurers. It wasn’t until Fluttershy asked me why I was trying to stop them from taking it that we began to understand one another.”
Seeing my curiosity peaked, Celestia now explained, bringing the story to a close.
“Ahuizotl is a guardian of the Tenochititlan jungle basin,” she explained to me. “He is responsible for protecting the various artifacts from misuse. Both Daring and Caballeron’s attempts to take various artifacts over the years have caused him no small amount of trouble. But thanks to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, the three have been able to put aside their difference, each understanding why the other acted as they did.”
Quite the friendship mission,” I said in an impressed tone. “But why do you need me, princess. From the sounds of things, all’s well that ends well.” Celestia smiled.
“While the three of them have made peace, there are some issues still remaining. Chief among which is the various artifacts both ponies have taken over the years from the region. Ahuizotl would like them to be returned. However, most of them are owned either by museums or private collectors. I need you to help ensure the items are all located and returned to their rightful owner.”
Ah, now I saw how the land lay. It’s always a bit awkward to return stolen property, never mind property you paid fr in good faith. Particularly when the injured party can’t exactly show you a receipt. Most collectors would probably not be willing to part with their trinkets on just a say so. So I’d need to draw up some legal paperwork to lawfully seize them.
And of course, there was the small matter of Caballeron. While he might have come around now, based on what I knew of him from the Daring Do books, he was guilty of more than a few offences, including a couple counts of attempted murder. Statute of Limitations ought to take care of a fair chunk of them, but there a few things that would need to be settled to avoid him having to go to court and stand tall before the mare.
That however, wasn’t exactly the first thought that crossed my mind. I never quite got, until now, just how Bones could get so excited about meeting the ponies when we first arrived here. Despite everything, he was all but bouncing up and down in delight. As a fan of Daring Do, I was about to get to spend some time with a storybook hero and two of her greatest villains. I might have let that take over a bit.
Crossing the throne room to where the four ponies and guardian creature stood, I quickly introduced myself to the three of them.
“A pleasure to meet you all,” I said diplomatically as we shook hooves, hands and paws. “I’m a big fan of your books Daring Do. Or should I call you A. K Yearling?”
“Hey, the secret's out,” she replied. “I don’t mind, and I don’t think Groom over here will mind being called Caballeron.”
“Dr. Caballeron, please,” he added.
It was all so, surreal, meeting supposedly fictional characters. I’d met actors before. I even ran into Sir Patrick Stewart once. But you always knew them as actors. There was a big difference between meeting the actor and meeting their character. I felt like I’d somehow stepped into a Daring Do novel.
“Well then,” I said. “If the three of you would like to follow me, we can go to my office to discuss how things will be working out going forward.”
And so we come full circle, back to where my little story begins, with Daring Do, Caballeron and Ahuizotl standing in my office together.
“So you three were rivals and enemies all these years, and you never once wondered why you were at odds with the other?” I asked curiously.
“Not exactly,” Daring replied. “If you’ve read my books, you’ll know I first ran into Caballeron down in the jungle, when I was on assignment from the Fillydelphia Museum of Natural History. We were both after the same artifact, but he just wanted to sell it for profit.”
“Weren’t you doing the same? I asked, catching her off guard. “I know that wasn’t your ultimate goal, but you were being compensated by the museum for your services weren’t you?”
“Well, yeah,” Daring admitted. “I suppose when you put it that way, we weren’t so different.”
“You know,” I went on. “Having read both your book series, and the good doctor’s own foray into the world of, dare I say, fiction, you really are both very much alike. Both skilled in your craft, knowledgeable on ancient history, and both possessing a fierce determination. Were it not for your competing paymasters, and slight variation in motivation, I would have thought you might get along quite well.
“But speaking of you, Dr Caballeron. There is the awkward matter of where we go from here with you. While Daring was employed by museums, you were working for private collectors, often with less than pure motivations. Technically, you are looking at some serious jail time, were it not for the princesses agreeing to overlook your past indiscretions at Fluttershy’s insistence. You should consider yourself very lucky.”
I then turned back to Daring Do.
“Out of curiosity,” I asked. “What do you plan to do now that your cover is somewhat blown? The world knows now that Daring Do is a real pony.” Daring smiled.
“True,” she replied. “But that isn’t going to stop me from doing my job, or writing. The only change is that I guess my series will get moved to the non-fiction section instead. In fact, Caballeron here was talking about starting his own series, but more on the history of the artifacts and civilisations we’ve encountered over the years instead of adventuring.”
An idea came to me on that front, which could possibly help ensure a continued friendship between the former foes.
“You know, given all that has happened,” I said. “It might be an idea to consider writing something together. This little incident would certainly make for an interesting story in its own right. You might even consider working together, given how your individual skills compliment one another.”
“Now that is an interesting idea!” Caballeron agreed. “We could maybe rewrite some of your earlier works, Ms. Do, with the story now including my perspective as well.”
“Or we could start a whole new series if you fancy teaming up and working together.”
“As long as you two stay out of the Tenochititlan jungle basin, I don’t care what you do,” Ahuizotl said, folding his long arms across his chest. “Just don’t put my job on the line any more.”
Ah yes. That was the real reason we were here after all. I did my best to get things back on track.
“On that note,” I said with a nod. “We do need to start the process of recovering all the artifacts you pair have taken from the region over the years.”
“I never even really understood why you wanted them,” the guardian added.
“Well, mostly either for museums to study the various ancient civilisations, or to protect them myself from ponies who might want to misuse the more magical artifacts.”
“But that’s why I’m there in the first place,” Ahuizotl pointed out. “I mean, how many times did you find yourself almost getting killed by traps or by my minions? They’re there for a reason. You taking them just put them more at risk, never mind the issue of selling them to rich ponies looking to buy a trinket they barely understand.”
Alright, let’s simmer down a moment,” I said, stepping in to try and calm him down.
I could understand where Ahuizotl was coming from. You saw the same thing in Africa, South America and Asia in the nineteenth century. European explorers pillaged chunks of ancient Egypt and the Middle East. It wasn’t until more recently, mainly toward the end of the last century, that a lot of the items were returned, or at least re-evaluated to not be quite so scathing in their disgust toward the foreign cultures. I mean, for goodness sake, the Spaniards held onto El Negro until after the fall of Franco. That’s, just for the record, a stuffed and mounted pygmy native that they came across somewhere in central Africa. That’s right, they stole a corpse and brought it home with them to display.
“Now, I’m sure the various museums can be convinced to part with the artifacts Daring provided to them. If nothing else, it looks very bad to be holding onto the property of another civilisation when that civilisation is still going. They should agree to avoid a scandal. Although I’m sure we could at a later date discuss the possibility of some items being loaned to the museums for temporary display and study.
“As for the various collectors Caballeron sold to. That may be a little trickier. There’s the possibility that they may have been sold on again. And they may not be as willing or as moral as the museums when it comes to giving up their artifacts. However, I’m fairly certain threatening them with a charge of receiving stolen goods should be enough to convince them. If not, there are international conventions governing the trade of ancient artifacts, which Equestria is a signatory to. It will take time Ahuizotl, but we should be able to get all your items back in the end.”
And so began a rather long and protracted process of returning dozens of ancient artifacts to their proper resting place. I always did wonder why Daring was gallivanting around retrieving those artifacts. I mean, they’re surrounded by all these ancient booby traps, from poison arrows, trap doors, deadly creatures, magical constructs, and that old standby the rolling ball of death. In terms of keeping them away from ne’er do wells such Caballeron, you were better off leaving them where they were. For instance, look at that bell thing Discord’s merry band of morons tried to nab. The environment, coupled with a few magical defences was more than enough to prevent them from nabbing it, whereas they were more than able to steal a book from the supposedly secure Canterlot Archives.
But back to the matter at hand. That line of thought actually got me thinking. We hadn’t really known Ahuizotl’s motivations up until now. But I didn’t really fully understand Daring’s. Okay, I know she worked on behalf of various museums and sought to protect ancient magical artifacts from falling into the wrong hooves. But how did she know what to grab? She always seemed to be competing with Caballeron or some other baddie at the same time, looking for the same thing. Now, in a story, that made sense; you need a bad guy, and a good old fashioned race is a decent literary device. But it made little sense, and was far too much of a coincidence.
Whilst the Royal Guard were out trying to locate some of Caballeron’s more elusive clients, I got to pondering. Daring ostensibly worked alone. But from what I’d seen, she was clearly getting help from somewhere. Did she have somepony inside Caballeron’s organisation?
Of course, there was another possibility.
“Daring works for you, doesn’t she,” I said to Celestia as we sat across from each other over lunch.
“Correct,” Celestia said with a smile. “She’s been a most useful asset this past few years. I’d always thought Ahuizotl was an opportunist looking to use the remains of his ancient civilisation to cause harm to Equestria. I must confess, the idea of him being a sort of night watchman never occurred to me.”
“So Daring keeps an eye on things in the jungles for you, just as Twilight and her friends deal with major threats?” Celestia nodded.
“It never hurts to have a second line of defence,” she replied, sipping on her tea.
“Are there others?” I asked curiously. She smiled.
“Of course. I have many agents across Equestria. Twilight and her friends deal with the tip of the iceberg; the most dangerous threats. But there are plenty other out there that bear watching. I may be an alicorn, Roger, but even I cannot be everywhere at once.”
Celestia could be quite the puppet master when she wanted to be. Daring didn’t really know it, but she’d been working for Celestia, through various museums and universities, for years, quietly protecting Equestria, just as Twilight had.
“How is your little project of retrieving all the artifacts coming?” Celestia went on. “It’s quite the treasure hunt you’ve been on these past couple weeks.”
I set down my cup of tea and stretched my back out. Zecora’s little brew has been really helping, and Celestia has been kind enough to replace one of the cushions in her dining room with a proper chair. I feel like Commodore Perry though, sitting on a chair while my friends all relax on cushions.
“The museums have been more or less cooperative,” I said with a nod. “A few were a bit resistant, but the threat of the papers publishing some story about them stealing from ancient cultures brought them round quick enough. Ahuizotl has agreed to allow some of them to be loaned to museums from time to time. Daring is even helping him out with some of the temples; refitting the security and the like.”
“Send a thief to catch a thief?” Celestia replied.
“Exactly.”
“And what about the various private collectors?” I grimaced at that.
“That’s been a little more awkward,” I admitted. “The whole thing blew up into quite the investigation with the CPS. The Royal Guard have already seized around a half dozen artifacts that could be categorised as potentially dangerous. We even came across one little bauble that can supposedly stop the sun from moving. The stallion owning it was some kind of nutjob obsessed with you; wanted to bring about eternal sunshine.
“We also ran across several of Caballeron’s contacts in the criminal world. Like he said, he was more into the archaeology game for the money than anything else. So we’ve had a few picked up for receiving stolen goods and so on. A few bought them in good faith, but plenty more knew that what they buying wasn’t exactly kosher. And then there’s the problem of international trade. There’s a couple outstanding that we think may have been sent off to the Changeling Kingdom, or possibly Yakyakistan. I’ve already arranged meetings at the embassies to try and get something arranged on that front.”
“How did I ever get along without you, Roger?” Celestia asked with a grin. I smiled back. “And what about Dr. Caballeron?”
“Well,” I replied. “In light of you granting him a pardon, he seems to be doing alright for himself. He’s been more than helpful in recovering the various odds and ends he’s half-inched over the years. I guess being pulled around to the side of good and justice really got to him. You should consider just sending every villain you have to deal with to her. It’d be nice to see a nicer Chrysalis or something.”
“Fluttershy may gifted at reforming creatures,” Celestia replied with a chuckle. “But I’m not sure even she can reform her, assuming we ever catch her that is. It is strange; I’d have expected her to try and make a move by now. Although it will be much harder with the castle’s new defences.”
Inwardly, I frowned. I knew exactly why Chrysalis hadn’t shown up yet. And she was indeed making moves. And my best friend was helping her. I was once again tempted to spill the beans, but couldn’t quite bring myself to take the plunge. I did my best to remind myself of why it was necessary to keep silent, and the promise I’d made to myself to confess everything when it was all over.
“Although as I have shown,” Luna said, coming into in join us. “It is more than possible to circumvent those defences.” I was startled out of my thoughts by her arrival, but was glad for the company of the night princess.
“Luna! How goes it?” I asked. The alicorn gestured to a set of saddlebags draped across her back, which seemed to be stocked to the gills with treasure.
“I just spent the last hour recovering some of my property from Dr. Caballeron and his lackeys,” she explained. “It seemed it wasn’t just the jungles he was plundering, but our castle too at times. Really sister, I’m gone for a mere millennia and half my stuff gets looted from our old home.”
It was meant in jest, of course. It was nice to see Luna was in a place now where she could joke about her exile. She had indeed recovered quite the collection of Lunar memorabilia too. I’m sure Bones would give his horn for a pittance of it. The three of us spent the next while going over the various bits and bobs from the younger sister’s past.
But let us now look to the future. Things ended up turning out pretty well in the end. While it took some time and a lot of man and pony hours, we were able to recover all the artifacts and return them to their rightful places, guarded by Ahuizotl and the various ancient security systems. Honestly, I don’t care what fancy laser tripwire system you have, flying stone gargoyles that come to life and attack you are way more effective.
Daring Do continues to work in the service of the Crown, keeping tabs on the region, and keeping an ear to the ground in case anypony else comes up with the idea of trying to use or sell those artifacts. Her secret is out now, and A. K Yearling is no more. The world knows Daring Do is as real as anypony else, something that sent ultra fans like Fancy’s nephew Quibble Pants into a right tizzy. You can’t get more canon than real life, now can you?
Dr. Caballeron meanwhile, for obvious reasons, retired from his life of crime. Like most ponies, he wasn’t born bad, nor was he really evil. He’d just lost sight of his first love; archaeology itself. In our brief conversations, I found him to be extremely well read. He had to be I suppose, to know about all those different artifacts and how to use them. He did indeed join Daring and together they co-authored a book on their latest adventure, which I understand sold quite well, bringing the Daring Do series to a surprising conclusion. Last I heard he’d been offered a position at Baltimare University, where they have quite the prestigious archaeology department. I was somewhat surprised when I heard from Rarity of all ponies that, contrary to the expected gender split, most of his first class were females. While I never saw it myself, Caballeron apparently has quite the silver fox thing going on. Now, I always knew Daring had more than a few...odd male fans, something Daring unfortunately had to contend with in the real world, but I never figured Caballeron did. I guess mares like bad boys just as much as human women do.
And as for Ahuizotl. Well, he’s become something of an overnight sensation. I figured he’d just go back to his job of protecting ancient temples from wannabe explorers. But instead, he too threw his hat in the ring, and wrote his own book on the subject of Daring Do and her adventures. And from what I hear, it’s been selling like hot cakes.