“Ow! Would you be little more careful? That hurts!” Daring said through gritted teeth as Ditzy pulled the bandage taut with her teeth.
“I’m trying my best here! If you’d hold still-” She said tying it off. “There. That should help.”
She stood back and looked at the fruits of her labor.
“All in all, I think I did a pretty good job there. I haven’t had to do first aid like this in a while, but I’ve still got it!” Ditzy beamed.
Daring turned her head to and fro, looking at her bandaged. Both wings splinter, and one foreleg in a sling, another around her head with a gauze pad covering one eye, and Celestia knew how many smaller bandages covering cuts.
“You did good, sis. Glad to see you still know what to do.” Daring smiled back at her.
“I’m rather suprised myself. Never thought you would have the- um--” The stallion waved his foreleg around like he was trying to grab the rest of the sentence out of the air.
“What? What? Come on! Say it. Say it. I dare you.” The blonde mare glared at him.
“I was just going to say that first aid didn’t seem like something you’d be good at, thats all.” He quickly responded.
“Whatever. Anyway, Daring her used to get into all kinds of trouble when we were growing up. Someone had to keep her together.” She shrugged.
Daring stood and tried walking about, though being hobbled like this was difficult, she felt that she could manage.
“And I tell you, I’m glad for it. But that doesn’t tell me why you’re here. Last I heard you were living in Ponyville. And now you’re here in the middle of the jungle with a strange stallion. Does mother know about this?” Daring narrowed her eyes suspiciously at directed the glare at the stallion.
“Oh..um...well, this is the Doctor.”
“Doctor? Doctor what? And if he’s a doctor why were you doing the first aid? Huh?”
“Not that kind of doctor I’m afraid. And its just The Doctor. Please to meet you.” He said.
“I wasn’t talking to you, buddy. Why don’t you go make yourself useful and figure out where my hat went.” She waved her good foreleg at him dismissively, eyes still glaring distrustfully.
The Doctor looked at Daring for a moment, a bit shocked and then looked at Ditzy, who motion with a slight tilt of her head that he should probably do as she said. Sighing, he trotted away.
Ditzy let go a sigh watching him go, and in turning around found herself nose to nose with a grey maned, bandaged, and eye patched mare.
“Ditzy. Sit.” Without even a second thought, she planted her rump on the ground.
“So, Daring how have -”
“Nononono. I do the talking now, Ditzy. Who is that guy? Why are you traveling around with some guy, who as far as I can tell doesn’t even have a proper name? What are you even doing here for that matter, I didn’t tell anypony I was heading here, especially since here isn’t even on the map, and I mean literally not on the map. I will have to make new maps when I get home, and yet here you are when you should be safe in Ponyville but you’re not and what is that blue box why is there a blue box in the middle of the jungle and you’re here with a strange pony with a strange box in the middle of strange jungle and I don’t even -” The words just started spilling from Daring’s lips before Ditzy reached out of hoof and covered the adventurer’s mouth.
“Daring. Stop before you pass out from oxygen loss.” She said with annoyance. “I can explain everything.”
“I certainly hope so. I don’t like the idea of my younger sister galavanting around with strange stallions in dangerous tropical jungles.” Daring tried to cross her forelegs grumpily but found having the sling dampened the effect.
“That's pretty hypocritical Daring! You do exactly that! Exactly! That!”
“That's because I’m a professional! I do this for a living! And how would you know what I do anyway?”
“Seriously? Those books of your escapades are all over the place, I can’t go anywhere without seeing a book on your escapades. Thankfully, nopony seems to have connected the dots, so I don’t have to constantly talk about my ‘so awesome’ sister, who last I heard was teaching archaeology at Los Pegasus University. Explain that one!”
“I..I..I don’t have to explain anything! I’m an adult! I can do what I want!” Daring sputtered.
“And so am I and if I want to go gallivanting about with a strange stallion in a blue box then I will!” Ditzy shouted, getting right into her sisters face.
“Um, ladies?” A voice interrupted.
“WHAT?!” They both shouted at The Doctor.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I don’t suppose you know those fellows?” He pointed to some approaching boats coming from across the waterfall fed lake. Each boat held a small grouping of unicorns, the lead one shouting orders at the others.
“Oh Horse-apples. We gotta hide!” Panic plainly evident on her face.
“Quick lets get back to the TARDIS!” Ditzy started running towards the blue box only for the dirt in front of her to explode. She stumbled and fell backwards. She righted herself with a quick flap of her wings, the Doctor running up next to her to see if she was all right.
“I wouldn’t recommend trying anything too hasty, my dear.” A voice spoke from seemingly nowhere.
“Who?” Daring stopped in her tracks.
“You gave us quite the chase, Miss Do. My men had told me that the river had taken you. That would have been...unfortunate. You still have some use to me.” The air in front of the TARDIS shimmered and a out of the shimmer, stepped a male unicorn, mane a deep black, eyes concealed behind dark spectacles, twisting horn glowing red with magical energy.
“Can unicorns do that? With the invisibility and all?” The Doctor said quietly.
“Its a Unicorn. They have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. Probably some kind of chameleon spell. I dunno. Thats more of a Twilight Sparkle question.” Ditzy replied.
“What are you doing here, Legerdemane? And what the hay is going on here? Why were your cronies trying to kill me?” Daring defiance flashing in her one good eye.
“Kill you, Daring? Why would I try to kill the adventurer I hired? That is poor business practice and my associates would have been greatly displeased with me. My ‘cronies’ as you call them, acted against orders. They were supposed to monitoring your progress. I admit they got carried away in their pursuit of you, but your little traps flared their tempers more than a little bit. But back to business. You know what I want, Daring.” The unicorn spoke with a genteel voice, speaking of a certain nobility. But there was a hard edge to his voice. The kind that belied any illusion of civility if anything stood in his way.
“What makes you think I have it? I was still exploring when your goons started after me.”
“Please Miss Do, do not insult me. I know you found directions in the ruins of the location of the hidden Temple of Krustallos. And you are going to take me there.” He said smiling.
“I don’t see why I should. I didn’t trust you when I met you, Legerdemane. So I did a bit of research on you and your associates. Knights of the Black Horn sound familiar? Rabid unicorn supremacists, the lot of you, suspected in anti-government activity back in Equestria. I don’t what you want in that temple, but I refuse to help the likes of you!”
“Unicorn supremacists? I thought all the ponies lived together in harmony.’ The Doctor whispered to Ditzy.
“I thought so too, Doctor. I am terribly confused.” She grimaced.
“I have little inclination to discuss this with you Miss Daring. Since you refuse to help us, I have a counter offer. If you help us, I won’t have your two companions there killed.” Legerdemane looked at the two ponies with cold indifference.
“What? You wouldn’t!” Daring shouted.
“Wouldn’t I? They serve no purpose to me, though as curious as their sudden and timely arrival is and the further curiousity of their blue box certainly intrigues me, the fact of the matter is this. I have little time to get to the Temple of Krustallos and if I must resort to barbaric methods, so be it.”
Daring gritted her teeth angrily, a low growl escaping her mouth. “You..you...”
“Save the insults, pegasus. And before you say it, even if I did kill them, there are methods to extract the information from your mind, though the process would leave you quite...broken so to speak. So choose. The life of your friends and your cooperation, or their deaths and your excessively painful torture. Either way, I will get what I want.”
Daring, Ditzy, and the Doctor found themselves surrounded by more unicorns, black clad save for their horns, and eyes concealed behind dark lensed goggles. Their horns glowing with a plethora of colors but all radiating with barely contained bloodlust. Daring looked at her sister and her strange friend. She couldn’t. She had done so much trying to keep Ditzy safe after everything that had happened in their past.
“Fine, Legerdemane. You will. I’ll help you.” She said with a distasteful sigh.
“Glad you could see reason, Ms. Do.” He turned towards several of his cohort. “Bind them. We make for the temple in fifteen minutes.”