//------------------------------// // Daring Do and the Lost Continent Part 1: One Last Look Around // Story: Adventures in the TARDIS // by Scroll //------------------------------// The very pleasant sound of chirping slowly stirs my eyes awake. The fact that I've been asleep before this moment barely registers at the edge of my consciousness Instead of that, I merely marvel at the comfort of my bed and the pillow beneath my head. The chirping continues. It eventually dawns on me how close by it is. I crack my eyes open slowly at it. Blurry images greet my eyes first before it starts to come into focus. As my eyes do so, I gradually start to notice the soft flutter of my white curtains as they gently blow on the breeze of my open window. Beyond the threshold of those curtains is a tiny red bird who apparently decided to perch on my windowsill and serenade me with it's glorious morning song. An audience of one. It really does feel as if this bird came specifically for me. I can't help but crack a small smile at it. What a pleasant and adorable little creature! I feel blessed. I also still feel tired. With a pleasant sigh, my eyes drift back to sleep. Meanwhile, the bird keeps tweeting. The music the creature gives is so much more pleasant compared to the last noise that attempted to wake me up. I know. The sound of the alarm clock is so much more shocking on one's nervous system. It makes me wish that ponykind had invented an alarm clock that simulated such pleasant-sounding tweeting instead. A cuckoo clock perhaps comes the closest, but it isn't really the thing I have in mind. My mind starts to drift, but for the first time, I furrow my eyebrows as I contemplate something that bugs me a little bit. Why was that alarm set earlier? What did I want to wake up for? Whatever it was, it might be moot now because the light shining on my face, aside from the small shade of the curtains, is brighter than usual. Truth be told, I don't usually sleep in this late. That strikes me as odd. Why is today, of all days, a break from the pattern? Usually I'm fastidious because I like to play it safe. Always on time for my college classes. Always prepared for every exam. If there is one thing a pony can't accuse me of, it is being lazy, so why is this day so difficult to get out of bed? Well, for one thing, I graduated college now. A certain level of tension used to be required to stay on top of everything in order to maintain my grades, but now that is over. I'm finally meeting the next phase of my life, which is . . . . . . is . . . . . . When it hits me, my eyes explode open with red cracks in it. The very next second I bolt into a sitting position. “Oh my Celestia!” I exclaim at nopony in particular other than maybe me or perhaps even Princess Celestia. With sudden urgency, I yank my previously forlorn and neglected alarm clock then stare at it. What I see deepens the red cracks in my eyes as the face of the alarm clock, which depicts a sidewards mare extending each of her forelegs to be each arm of the alarm clock, confirms the harsh reality I now find myself living in. “I'm late!” I cry out in panic. “I'm late for a very important date!” The next few minutes is a blur to my mind. Most likely because I'm moving in a blur. In the back of my mind, I marvel at that too. Prior to this moment, I didn't know I was capable of moving this fast. That also makes me worried that all this haste is coming at the expense of accuracy. What if I'm doing something improperly? What if I'm not packing something important? After all, the next journey I shall embark upon, unless I'm too late, that is, shall see me across the seas to strange and unknown lands. In other words, this is my last chance to pack! Oh dear! Oh sweet Celestia! How could this happen? An appointment has never been this important in my entire life! As I continue in a rush of motion, which provokes a curious cock of a head from the bird who previously greeted me so kindly this near afternoon, a jumble of images form into my head. My mind is not awake enough to organize this information too efficiently, but one explanation it does provide is the importance of this meeting is precisely why I couldn't sleep last night. As Celestia as my witness, boy I sure tried, but no prior event ever caused me to be this excited and tense before. If the team I'm about to meet (unless I'm too LATE, that is) succeeds in the goal we're setting out for, then we're about to make a monumental contribution to history previously unmatched. We'll boldly go where no pony has gone before! And this will be my first adventure, too. That concept alone is hard to settle on let alone imagine how significant the thing we're trying to accomplish is. No wonder I couldn't sleep last night! But, as a result of all of this, I'm paying for it this morning and near afternoon. So severe is this blunder that it might cost me my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An opportunity that could define my career for now and ever onward. A legacy so grand that it, alone, might stand the test of time. The only thing that could possibly match the greatest accomplishments of the past is being known as the first to rediscover it. That's among the jumble of images that rush through my mind. I now recall that, among the many myriad of thoughts that kept me up last night, is the idea that my name could appear in history books too. Perhaps even a name that is downright required to be known in order to pass history lessons, just like other names I had to study in the past. I don't normally consider myself anywhere near this conceited before either, but the fact of the matter is, if we accomplish the goal we're setting out to do today, then this possibility could honestly become a solid fact. Learning to accept that concept alone had already overwhelmed me last night. What a vicious irony! The excitement and anxiety I couldn't avoid as a result of what I'm about to embark upon may, in itself, specifically be the reason to prevent all of this! For a very brief moment, I dwell on the fact that if I indeed miss this most critical of appointments then at least the source of my anxiety shall also go away. All that would be left is an empty life of mediocrity and . . . . . . and . . . Well . . . no. If I'm to be honest with myself, my previous goals really aren't that bad. A calm and quiet life of study is nothing to scoff at. Not much is out there preventing me from just continuing the path I previously trot. However, in this case, it isn't just my life that is on the line. The service I am hired to offer may be of critical importance for others who will also be on the journey. I'm not the only one who can do this, but I also can't afford to ignore or undersell the role that is meant for me. While it may be a remote possibility, my absence alone could ensure the death of the other team at the most extreme but also plausible possibility. I don't know if I could live with myself if I just keep staring off into the horizon and wonder if those who got sent on without me will ever return and see their families again. The guilt of that scenario could eat me alive. That was yet another concept that kept me up last night. Before I can fully process all of this overwhelming information, I find myself bolting out the door with my saddlebags stuffed full of gear that I think I'll need. But I only make it a few feet beyond my door before I pause despite myself because another possibility occurs to me. There are also many possible consequences to successfully making this all important meeting. Because of it, I feel compelled to look over my shoulder at the door to my apartment. Next thing I know, I not only return to it, but do so unusually slowly. I'm practically dragging my hooves on this one. When I make it back into my studio apartment with only one window showing the outside world, it dawns on me that there is a chance I may never return here again. Every single second I drink in this moment may be the last time I ever get to savor this. As I slowly look across my room and the modest amount of stuff I collected, it occurs to me that there isn't too much here of intense sentimental value. By necessity, especially on the budget of a former fastidious college student, it didn't leave much left to get heavily attached to. Even the room itself I can take or leave. Affording even this studio apartment was quite a chore in a city this grand. My memory tells me I had to keep moving because of budget reasons in the past, mostly because of other roommates who occasionally flaked out on me at various times in the past. I almost got used to a life of uncertainty. As a result, I didn't have the time to get too deeply attached to each place. But some of the things I have within this room are special to me yet I can't afford to keep carrying them during this venture. Among such things are my college doctorate degree as well as some photos strewn across my desk of the various memories I collected during my college years and my foalhood before that. Everything there is an important glimpse into the story of my life so far. It's hard for me to imagine how insignificant these deeply sentimental things could be to some other pony who comes and clears out this room because it is clear, by then, that I died on the journey I'm about to undertake. Who else could look at these photos and still feel the same level of weight and significance that I do? To that end, I trot close to and attempt to scoop up one photo in particular on my desk using my right beige wing, but it is only then that I notice it is unexpectedly injured. It almost feels like a pulled muscle, but the truth is I most likely slept on it for too long last night. So, instead, I reach for the same photo with my left wing and this time I succeed with no problem. Within the photo, I see myself as a young filly on the back of my now deceased grandfather. He also has a beige colored hide and wings. He even has the same reddish/purple eye color as me. He looks so much like me that I seem to be an identical twin were it not for a few factors. One; he's clearly way older than me. Two; he is the opposite gender. Three; his unfurled and uncharted map cutie mark which is a curious but not identical match to my compass cutie mark. Finally four; while his mane and tail used to also be a salt and pepper mix, this photo captured him during the years when his mane/tail is far more salt rather than pepper. In the photo, I am on his back and tightly embracing his neck in happy glee that is so bright, one of my eyes is squinted almost totally closed. In return, my grandfather is returning that look with a much more calmly mature sort of love. He's not a little tyke anymore who beholds the world with the same level of foalish wonder like I do in this photo. Instead of that, he was a stallion that has already been out there and seen many wonders. This was him in the twilight of his life and looking back at one who is so young with deep affection and love. Maybe seeing my smiling face was a reminder to him what it felt like to be young again. A feeling that otherwise abandoned him so long ago. My grandfather was a professional adventurer. One of very few of that caliber. It is very rare for a professional adventurer to be that old and retire at that age. A point where they have more room to look back at their prior adventures rather than look forward to them. Because of my parents, however, I have mostly lived the straight and narrow path. My mother must have grown up with such anxiety in her life wondering if her father would ever return alive on his frequent adventures. It is likely she also didn't appreciate his frequent absence. In his later years, it seems he agreed with that assessment too and made up for it by spending as much time with his family as he could. That was perfectly fine with me because it meant spending more time with me, too. But as a result of my mother's upbringing, I wasn't allowed, or rather to say I wasn't encouraged, to pursue the same path that my grandfather did. In fact, both of my parents are college professors which helped me to get some critical discounts and other less frequent opportunities. I took maximum advantage of that not only to make my parents proud of me, but also because I enjoyed this path itself. The next best thing to exploring the world myself is reading about it, and it certainly is far safer. When was the last time a non-magical book had outright taken a pony life? I'm not referring to the skills that the book attempted to offer (such as assassination and the like), but literally the book itself. One of the most humorous books I have ever read on a dare was about how to wield a book itself as a legitimate form of martial arts. The closest thing my grandfather was ever allowed to do with me that resembled his former adventuring career was going out camping. That was the one thing my mother actually encouraged, likely because she had such fond memories of that herself. I, in turn, used to find it scary and annoying to go out there and rough it in nature. In time, however, I grew to appreciate it too. After that, I grew to love it. The stars in the night sky had never looked so bright as they do away from the lights of the city, nor the glow of the moon with the shadow of a mare's face on it. My grandfather once showed me waterfalls made of rainbows, high misty mountaintops, wild birds chirping in the forest, riding down a river on a canoe, sharing stories around a campfire, enjoying camping food that we've occasionally gathered ingredients for in the wild, and so much more! Tears blur my eyes as the photo I am holding in my left wing starts to shake. In the process of staring at it, my focus shifts to my own reflection in the glass. My reddish/purple tear-filled eyes start to squint in pain. My lips curl into a bittersweet smile/frown. Seeing this photo deeply reminds me how much I miss my grandfather and all those happy memories I made with him while out camping. The happy smile I am seeing on my own filly face in the photo is just another reminder of what I lost. I close my eyes, lower my head, and hug the photo to my chest using my left wing. I take a moment to sob even as the back of my mind is urging me that I need to get a move on soon. “Please watch over me, Grandfather,” I pray to the photo. “I've never been on an adventure on the same level as the ones you had before. It feels so deeply ironic that the very first one I may embark upon already surpasses the greatest legacy you've ever had. An entire lost continent, Grandfather! Every single thing we may discover on it, or anypony else for that matter, shall be an extension of that initial discovery. Not only that, but rumors abound that a great civilization was lost upon it. One with knowledge and technology that far surpasses our own. “I know my parents wanted me to trot the straight and narrow path, and I have for the most part so far. My first adventure might be my last even if I survive it. I'm just not sure if I, or anypony else, can ever top this one. About the only thing that could exceed a standard this high is discovering and going to an entirely new planet. As a result, I might be content to retire my adventuring career after this first and last glorious hurrah. “But just imagine it. It was you who inspired me to do this and give me courage to explore the great unknown. Everything I'll discover is, in a way, just an extension of your journey because, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even contemplate this path. The path that, if I'm being wholly honest, is something part of me longs for even as I still wrestle with my fear of it sometimes. You taught me why bold adventures can be worth it. You taught me that the worst thing in life to neglect is not its quantity but its quality. Amazing to think you actually had both. “And . . .” I trail off as I start to sob and shake harder. What I am trying to say next is so hard to squeeze out at this highly emotional moment for me, but considering what I am about to embark upon, I have to say it. “I . . . I really hope I'm making you proud of me, Grandfather!” I whimper. “Everything you taught me, everything you tried to inspire me to do, it all comes down to this. This discovery could change the world, Grandfather. Please watch me! Please soar with me. Please follow me every step of the way as closely as you can. I want you to witness this too, Grandfather, for I wouldn't be there if it weren't for you. You deserve the credit every bit as much as I ever will. “And Grandfather, even as I strive to surpass your greatest legacy . . .” I pause for a long moment as a daring grin spreads across my face before I go on to say, “. . . try to keep up!”