Hook: Daring Do tries to take a vacation and fails.
Cover art by volrathxp
Story #278
Title: Daring Do And The Blue Pearl Of Baytona Beach
Keyword: Flashstone
Characters: Daring Do, Squirk, Crank
Hero/Chaos
Baytona Beach, most famous for the Baytona 500 Wonderbolts derby and being the destination for thousands of college students for a week every spring. The rest of the year, however, it’s a pleasant place to take a relaxing vacation.
With Caballeron and Ahuizotl no longer threats she needed to deal with, A. K. Yearling is taking a break from work for the first time in years. As she lounges on the pure white sands of the world famous beach sipping apple cider, the warm rays of the sun soaking into her tawny coat, all of her worries fade. Here in Baytona, her biggest concern is remembering to apply sunscreen every two hours. She rolls onto her back, exposing her belly to the sun’s warm glow.
She unfolds the official Baytona Beach vacation brochure, scanning it for anything of interest. Even if she isn’t working, she still has an interest in history. Luckily, Baytona is home to a history museum. Daring snickers, expecting the main exhibit to be a history of pony beach attire.
Once inside, she’s pleasantly surprised to see it’s a proper museum – there’s a history of local maritime disasters along one side wall, sites of historical interest on the opposite wall, and various artifacts along the rear wall. Sitting dead center is a scale model of the city, with an interactive display spouting facts about the city’s past. She hates those – she can recite the spiels from the Royal Canterlot History Museum word for word she’s heard it so many times. When had ponies gotten too lazy to even bother reading?
Going through the museum, the only thing to pique her interest is a local pirate claimed to have discovered the Flashstone, a relic from antiquity. Supposedly hidden with the rest of his treasure, it’s never been found. Oddly, despite discovering one of the most powerful artifacts known to ponykind, the museum’s display indicates that he was known to say his greatest treasure was a blue pearl.
After buying a map of the area from the museum’s gift shop, A. K. puts on her trademarked hat and flies toward the coast. Baytona Beach is split by a river, paralleling the coastline. The namesake beach is on one side, while the mainland is on the other. In between are small, mostly uninhabited islands. Daring flies over the islands, evaluating them one at a time. Whizzer Island seems the most promising, so she lands to take a look.
The island boasts a cove, and a solitary home. It seems obvious from the air – how has no pegasus thought to look for the treasure here? The answer becomes quickly apparent – they have. Holes of various sizes mar the island’s landscape. Discarded shovels and broken pickaxes are strewn about at random.
Daring Do lands, and pokes around a few of the holes. If there was ever anything of interest in any of them, it’s long gone now.
“Oh goody, another treasure seeker come to tear up my island.” An elderly blue earth pony with pink and purple hair is standing on the porch of the dilapidated house.
Daring Do has to resist a chuckle. Of all the adventures she’s had, this one is certainly shaping up to be the oddest. Instead of a feral jungle, she’s in a resort town. Her antagonist isn’t a rival archeologist, but an elderly mare basically telling her to get off her lawn. There’s no monster to fight. It’s absurd.
She tips her pith helmet to the mare. “I’m Daring Do. You may have heard of me.”
The mare rolls her eyes. “If I had a bit for every pony that’s come here claiming to be Daring Do, I’d be rich. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s no treasure here. As you can tell from all the ponies who’ve been here before you.”
Daring shrugs her wings. “I’m not overly interested in treasure. I’m really looking for something called the Flashstone. The museum that sponsors me would pay a tidy sum to have it in their possession.”
“Is that so? And what, pray tell, does this Flashstone look like?”
“It’s an amulet with a gold chain and a red ruby in the middle.” Daring Do takes a good look at the mare facing her. “Like the one you’re wearing.”
The elderly mare stomps her hooves. “Very good, somepony’s actually done her research. Quite refreshing. So if you know what this is, I presume you know what it does?”
Daring Do starts backing up. The Flashstone isn’t to be trifled with. If that’s the genuine article, she’s in grave danger.
…So pretty much like any other day.
The mare shuffles down the porch stairs, towards the intrepid explorer. “If you want it so badly, come and get it.”
“Ma’am, I’m not in the habit of robbing ponies. I’m an archeologist. If you possess the Flashstone, I’m willing to pay you money for it.”
“I’m listening.” More importantly, she isn’t aiming it at Daring Do.
Before either can continue their conversation a purple lobster scurries across the beach and grabs the amulet from the old mare.
“Horseapples,” the mysterious mare curses. “That was Crank.”
“Who’s Crank?”
“Squirk’s lackey. If Squirk gets his tentacles on the Flashstone, he’ll flood Baytona Beach.”
Daring Do’s familiar with Squirk. Legend has it that the ancient octopus once ruled an undersea empire. But it dried up after he lost control of the Flashstone. She hadn’t counted on him still being alive. With all of her past experiences, she really should have been expecting it.
Squirk emerges from the ocean and Crank runs to him. “I got it, boss!”
The octopus eagerly snatches the amulet away from the lobster, then smacks him away, back into the ocean. With the Flashstone in his control, he aims it at the battered house on the island. Windows shatter as the structure groans. A second blast reduces the nearest wall to ash. The home can’t take that much punishment and collapses.
Daring Do leaps into the air, soaring between tentacles as she desperately tries to grab the Flashstone away from Squirk. The octopus wraps a tentacle around Daring Do, dragging her closer to him. The amulet is in another tentacle, and it’s just out of reach. She reaches into her saddlebags and pulls out her whip with her teeth. With years of practice, it’s no challenge for the adventurer to whip the Flashstone out of Squirk’s tentacle.
With another flick, she whips the tentacle holding her, causing Squirk to release her. Daring Do somersaults across the beach, recovering the amulet.
[CHOICE]
>Destroy the amulet. (hero)
>Bring it back to the museum. (chaos)
