The remainder of our day passed rather uneventfully; we attended a few more events before heading out for dinner. Afterwards, we went to our hotel, where I convinced Cersus to go to bed early in order to be on time for the start of the next day of the convention.
After putting Cersus to bed, I made my way out to meet with Miss Yearling, arriving at the address that she had provided around fifteen minutes prior to the offered meeting time. Upon reaching the destination, however, I realized that Miss Yearling had not written down a place within the hotel at which to meet her. I entered, and after taking a brief look around the lobby to confirm that she was not waiting for me there, I made my way to the receptionist’s desk.
The receptionist smiled as she greeted me. “Good evening, Sir. Welcome to the First Resorts Hackneigh. How may I help you tonight?”
“Good evening to you as well, Miss-“ I glanced at her nameplate. ”-Bell. I was invited to meet with Miss A. K. Yearling this evening at nine. However, I am afraid that she did not offer a more specific location for our meeting. May I ask where I can find her?”
The receptionist smiled politely. “I am sorry sir. In order to protect the privacy of our guests, I cannot offer confirmation or the location of anyone unless they call ahead and confirm that they are receiving visitors.”
I frowned, but offered up the note which Miss Yearling had provided. “If it would help, this is the note on which she wrote the address of this hotel”.
The receptionist frowned. “That is not sufficient for me to offer confirmation. It is the responsibility of any guest to call ahead and-” A phone rang from behind the receptionist’s desk. “-inform us about incoming visitors. Please excuse me, I have to take this call.”
The receptionist picked up the phone. “Good evening, this is the receptionist speaking, how may I help you? … I see… Could you describe what this guest looks like? … He was actually asking for you just now, may I send him up at this time?... Offer him a room card as well? … Oh… I will let him know. Have a great evening as well.”
The receptionist hung up and turned back to me, with the faintest blush. “Fortunately, it appears that said guest just offered confirmation that you are to meet with her.”
“Yes, fortunate indeed. I would certainly not wish to disappoint.”
The receptionist considered me for a moment before nodding slowly. “May I have a name, sir?”
“Idol Hooves.”
I watched as the receptionist proceeded to set up a hotel key before offering it to me in a hoof-sized folder.
“Inside of the folder is the room number and key. You may find the elevators to the left. A complimentary breakfast will be available at the restaurant to your right between six and ten in the morning. May I help you with anything else?”
“No, that shall suffice. Have a great evening, Miss Bell.”
“You have a great evening as well, Sir.”
Having received the number of the room in which to find Miss Yearling, I took the elevator and followed the signs on the walls as I made my way through the halls to meet her. Eventually, I found the door with a brass number plate matching the one listed inside of the folder the receptionist had provided, and knocked.
Shortly after, I heard a faint “Come in!”. I proceed to put the key into the card slot, the door offering a confirming buzz as it unlocked.
I opened the door and entered into a small living room with a coffee table surrounded by a set of chairs. I could see a series of doors and a kitchenette visible further down the hall as well.
However, strangely enough, there was nobody visible in the apartment, and I could not sense any emotions either, except from… above?
As I turned my head upwards, I saw a blur descending upon me from above the doorframe. I leapt forwards to limit the assailant’s strike to a glancing blow; if not for my prior sparring with the Element of Loyalty, I may have been put to the floor entirely by this ambush.
Quickly repositioning myself to face the attacker, I was soon able to identify the golden pegasus who struck me (and, I suppose, struck me) as someone I had not encountered for years. I looked at her person and took note of the crossbow in her hooves.
“My apologies Miss Do, but I believe I am supposed to be meeting with Miss Yearling. Though your attendance is certainly not unwelcome, so long as Miss Yearling is okay with it I-”
Daring Do repositioned the aim the crossbow she wielded from the floor up to my head. “Drop the act! What do you want?”
I offered a raised eyebrow. “Well, first of all, Miss Do, I would appreciate it if you would put the crossbow down.”
The pegasus only scowled. “What? You think I’ll let my guard down just like that?”
“If you do not, I may be obligated to act as a member of Equestria’s security forces and arrest you for threatening an officer of the law,” I informed her. She would have received a firm talking-to in one of the holding cells of Princess Celestia’s castle. Given her status as a literary hero, however, she most likely would have been let off with just a warning. Fortunately so, I recognized, because I would never hear the end of it from the nymph if I put her favorite adventurer in jail for an extended period of time.
“You’ve infiltrated the guard? What for?” Daring Do scowled harder. “Are you trying to get your revenge by taking over Equestria and commandeering the guard to search for the temple? Well, you better give up now, because as soon as Princess Celestia hears from me about your stupid flank, you’ll be outed!”
“I believe you shall find that Her Highness is more than familiar with me and my ‘stupid flank’,” I corrected her.
Daring Do balked. “Y-you’ve seduced the princess like you tried to seduce me, with your domineering powers?... That is… That’s evil! Were you going to infiltrate the royal family and install your daughter as the Evil Bug Empress of Equestria?”
It was my turn to balk. “No. It would be entirely inappropriate for someone of my stature to consider her highness in such a manner. And, to my knowledge, I do not possess any ‘domineering powers’… though I suppose I could selectively amplify or suppress emotions in others…”
Daring Do’s eyebrows tightened. “I’m not sure that helps your case here.”
“Perhaps not, and I have in accordance told the princesses of my concerns about the danger I may pose to the kingdom’s security, especially in the wake of the Changeling invasion. Yet, while I would refrain from bringing into question the judgement of the princesses, they determined that I am somehow trustworthy, and instead promoted me to a leadership position of all things, in the Crystal Empire.”
“Huh… Hold on, Changelings? Crystal Empire?” Daring Do asked.
My own eyebrows rose. “The newly-revealed peoples and nation.”
“Oh… I see… you will have to explain to me what those are… I really should have my editor update me on current events.” She murmured as she gestured to the chairs in the room. She cleared her throat. “Please feel free to get comfortable”
“I am inclined to believe that having a weapon brandished towards one’s head is typically a hinderance towards becoming comfortable.”
Daring Do looked at me for a moment before smirking. “True, but I only invited you to do so. Besides, I can’t know for certain that you aren’t just trying to get my guard down.” She lowered the crossbow down to my barrel, a retargeting towards an easier part of the body to hit in a fight, perhaps, but a gesture I was ready to recognize as a concession towards my own observation. I accepted such with one of my own, offering a small nod before calmly taking a seat, hopefully conveying to her that I had arranged this meeting in good faith, but remaining alert nonetheless and making sure not to let her out of my sight in turn.
Daring Do proceeded to take a seat across from me, still maintaining her aim with the crossbow but taking her hoof off of the trigger. “So, what can you tell me about changelings and the Crystal Empire? How are they related?”
“Well, despite both of them appearing to the public around the same time as one another, they are, for a large part, unrelated...” I proceeded to inform her on what I knew about changelings and the Crystal Empire that did not go beyond publicly-available knowledge. I did clarify that some of the more outlandish public rumors about changelings were falsehoods, however, showing my undisguised self to her in the process. She proceeded to compare the information I offered to her with observations from her prior encounter with me with great interest.
My answering of her questions eventually branched off into how I had been integrated as a member of the Canterlot Guard and, later on, the Crystal Guard in spite of the racial, geographical, and cultural divide through the good fortune of encountering and learning from Sandy’s convoy, and later, Topaz.
“I see, and you live with Miss Showers today… Are you two...?” Daring Do gestured with her hooves, pointing them at one another.
I confirmed, “Yes, we are a couple, though that was a development between the two of us later on, around the time of Emperor Armor and Empress Cadance’s wedding, in fact.”
“I see… I suppose if I hadn’t left for a dig a few days before the wedding, I may have met you or Topaz at some point” Daring brought a hoof up to her chin. “Now that I think about it, that dig turned out to be a red herring. We didn’t really find anything, and some of the documentation for the dig organizers and members was a bit spotty. Some were no-shows as well… I wonder if any of them were changelings…”
I considered. “That is not impossible. I am afraid that to this day we still do not fully understand all of Chrysalis’s plans for the wedding. It is not impossible that she engineered diversions in order to draw possible threats away from Canterlot.”
“Little old me? A possible threat? Thank you for the compliment!”
I nodded along as my thoughts began to shift; with the mention of an archaeological dig, I remembered what I had initially arranged my meeting with Daring Do and A. K. Yearling for.
“That does remind me, with regards to the chalice… I actually wanted to ask you and Miss Yearling for a favor... Speaking of which, where is she?”
“I still don’t believe I owe you a cup, but...” Daring Do blinked. “Wait. You don’t realize?”
“I’m sorry. Realize what?”
“Who A. K. Yearling is.”
“… I am not sure what you mean.”
“…Wait here for a second.” She placed the crossbow, which I then realized she had stopped pointing at me some time during our conversation, on the table and went inside one of the doors along the passageway to the kitchen, returning a moment later with a remotely-familiar pair of eyeglasses.
“Look at me.”
I did, and after a few seconds of eye contact she proceeded to put on the glasses. Upon my own moment of comprehension, I promptly leant back in my chair and brought a hoof to my face in acknowledgment of what was now more clearly evident.
Daring, now Yearling, began to cackle. “Hah-Haaah… And to think, your disguise is almost your real appearance too, you should have known… Haa-”
Yearling took a few moments to calm down. “Sorry about that, heh, I needed a moment…” Daring composed herself, before continuing.
“Anyways, as I was about to say, I’ll at least hear out your request, especially considering that I’ve… had you here for a while. But before that, could I get you something to drink? I’ll be brewing some tea for myself.”
“Tea sounds good I suppose.”
Daring, glasses removed, returned a few minutes later to sit down and continue our conversation, crossbow now put aside and unloaded to make room for the teapot and two teacups on saucers intended to quench our throats and thirst.
I proceeded to explain to her my interest in finding an artifact similar to the chalice as a gift for Princess Celestia, perhaps as something that could help my longtime friend, Emperor Armor.
She nodded at the conclusion of my explanation. “I understand. As I told you earlier, I don’t believe that I owe you a favor…” her head drifted off to the side before she brought it back to me with a sharp tap of a hooftip on the table. “However. There actually is a favor you could do for me that could get you what you want.”
Daring leaned towards me slightly. “A few months ago, I found a… temple? Tomb? Not certain, I haven’t been able to get inside. Anyways, it seems to be related to the one you previously explored, and the temple is meant to open for… well, I’m not entirely certain on how to translate what I heard, but roughly ‘one who has drunk of the cup’,” she made air quotes with her hooves, then pointed at me. “and you’re the only one who has touched that cup.”
Daring continued, “There may be an artifact inside, but I can’t access it without your help. If you can take the time out to help me get inside and investigate, I could allow you to take said artifact to Princess Celestia. If it’s something powerful or dangerous like you seem to be looking for, it would probably go to her for safekeeping anyways. You would just need a spare… month or two, I think?... to help me…” She considered what she said for a second before nodding. “Right, most people don’t have free time like that… Maybe a sabbatical?”
I considered her inquiry. “The princesses often urge me to use my vacation days, yet with my current duties I do not know if I could use them consecutively as such. I suppose I can discuss with Emperor Armor and get back in touch with you once I have a better idea?”
Daring nodded, “That makes sense. I suppose I could give you an address to contact by dragonfire?”
I nodded.
“Great! Now let me write it down… do you still have that index card?”
After getting the card back, Daring Do’s contact now included, I bid the mare farewell and made my way back to my own hotel. I entered the hotel room to see that the light to Cersus’s Room and the door open. Concerning.
I went over to advise her to go to sleep lest she have no energy for the second day of the convention, only to discover that she was not in the room. More concerning.
I then saw that there was a note on the bed. I picked it up and read the stamped-letter text:
MR. HOOVES,
WE HAVE TAKEN HOLD OF YOUR COMPANION AND ARE HOLDING HER HOSTAGE. IF YOU WISH TO SEE HER AGAIN, YOU WILL SURRENDER YOURSELF AT THE LIMEHOUSE DOCK BEFORE SUNRISE AND PROVIDE ASSISTANCE IN SEARCHING FOR AN ARTIFACT RELATED TO YOUR TIME AS “KING KOOKARACHA”.
REGARDS.