Daring Do scowled at the list in front of her the same way she’d scowled at it since nearly the day she’d gotten back. She preferred “gotten back” to “been returned” it worried her less. Written in pink crayon and stuck to the fridge was a long list with over a hundred things written on it. At the top in big magenta letters was “Daring Do Not Daring Do These!” The list was long but could be fairly summed up with, “Don’t do anything to stress yourself or might be fun and definitely no going and making wishes on doom artifacts that steal you away forever, no artifacts at all!”
Daring huffed in annoyance at the list and it flapped its apathy back at her. When she’d just been returned nothing on the list had really bothered her. She’d been tired. She didn’t know where she’d been or what she’d been doing but Daring had come back from it tired in a way that would require reimagining the definition of it for her to feel it adequately described the sheer level of mental and physical exhaustion she’d felt on waking back in Ponyville. It had taken her weeks to get up the energy just to climb down the stairs from Pinkie’s room, where the pink pony had INSISTED she’d stay until she was all better, and then some. Now though, some months later, Daring felt like taking on the world again, except her marefriend was diametrically opposed to any such action.
The worst part, though, was that she really couldn’t argue with Pinkie. She’d gotten the story of what happened after the wishing incident and how Pinkie had had to win a custody battle with THE spirit of, big C, Chaos, to get her back after her selfish selfless act. Daring didn’t remember much of the time between the two points, but she thought sometimes she dreamed about it. Those times were she’d come awake in the middle of the night with a cold emptiness crawling up from her heart up to behind her eyes. Where she felt panicked and needed to move, to do anything just to prove that she still could. The list had caused her issues there too. With a sympathetic but unbending Pinkie usually dragging her back to her bed and refusing to let her go anywhere.
She shook the memory from her mind and glared at the list again. Was this what was keeping her here? She had promised, normal promise only, that she’d listen to her and Pinkie had laid down the rules as they appeared on the list. But now that she was healthy she was feeling the chains as they held her down. She spent more and more time with the librarian researching old lost historical sites and treasures. Pinkie disapproved but what would she say to Daring? This work, WAS Daring Do. If she couldn’t do it then what was she supposed to be? Would she have to play Pinkie’s Daring Do Doll for the rest of her life.
There was another wince as she recalled saying almost exactly that to the pink pony in one of their increasingly common arguments. Worse she hadn’t been able to say that she didn’t mean it. She was stifling here. There was a whole world of discoveries and adventure out there and she wanted at them. She needed to be at them.
Daring turned her head as Pinkie’s pet alligator wandered into the kitchen. Was she doomed to stay here with Pinkie until some part of her died on the inside and she stopped caring again? She shuddered as the lost memory of her time missing once again touched on her mind at the thought. This wasn’t going to work.
“Hello?”
Daring whipped around to stare at Gummy again. Had he just talked?
“Hello? Is anyone there?” Gummy’s mouth opened and closed as though he was a puppet and an accented voice came from his throat.
“Gummy? You can talk?” Daring had heard Pinkie talk about how Gummy felt about things but she’d thought that Pinkie was just ponomorphizing the reptile. Maybe this was the first step into insanity that’d make her stop caring about the list.
“Oo said that?” the reptile asked, wandering toward her without taking his eyes off of her.
“Um… I’m Daring remember? Pinkie introduced us? For like an hour? You bit my hat and…. Other things?” Daring gave the gator a nudge as it got close and it rolled onto its back.
“Daring? You mean Daring Do? Oh praise Celestia!” the alligators mouth snapped open and shut causing it to pop and down in place on its back as it spoke. “Listen, Oim in a bit of a bind ‘ere and oi was wonderin’ hopin’ to get you to help me out.”
“Wait, you’re not Gummy are you?” Daring laid down on the floor and pried the alligators jaws open to see if maybe it had swallowed a tiny sentient creature. Gummy responded by latching onto her face.
“Oo’s Gummy?” the alligator’s jaw worked and let go of the ponies face as the voice came out again, “I’m Cornwall. I’m an amateur archaeologist and treasure ‘unter. Just found my first big find too. The Temple of Amarea!”
Daring’s eyes widened and her wings spread in surprise, she scooped up the alligator and put it on the kitchen counter. “You found it? That’s amazing it’s been lost forever?”
“Oy didn’t jest find it. Oim standin’ in it roight now!” the alligator said, sounding proud of himself.
“Wow. How’d you get past the curse?”
“Oh so there IS a curse! Oy thought that was the case. See here’s the sticky bit, I didn’t actually know about the curse ‘til I got here. Now up to me ‘ooves in it. Literally, me ‘ooves ‘ave turned to stone. I heard you were in retirement but I was hoping you could maybe come help a bloke out?”
“How are you calling through Gummy?”
“Oh! I’ve got the Amulet of uh… Kiki- Kikikik-“
Daring wiped her face with a hoof, “Right I remember the amulet you mean, and don’t bother trying to pronounce it, pony tongues don’t bend the right way to make the noises to say its name. So you’re using the amulet to call someone through a nearby reptile and you chose me?”
“That’s the long an’ the short of it, yeh. So whatcha say? Help a bloke out? Oil give you the amulet and any treasure in the place, oy just don’ wanna die ‘ere, y’follow me?”
Daring gave the gator a long considering look. Gummy gave Daring a long blank one. She glanced at the list and imagine the pony who’d written it and how she’d feel about this. A weight settled over her as she tried to come to a decision. Finally she turned back to the waiting reptile.
“I’ll be right there. Where’s the Temple?” she asked.
“Ehm, that’s a bit of a problem oy don’t know where it is s’much as ow’ to get ‘ere. How big’s the lizard your talkin’ to, can you carry ‘im?”
“Wait, I have to bring Gummy along?”
“Well, I’ve gotta give you directions somehow and the amulet won’t call any other reptile now that this one’s gotten hold of you.”
“Ugh, fine. I can carry him. Give me a few minutes to grab some stuff,” Daring told the gator before turning to go up to the room she shared with Pinkie. She stopped as she passed the fridge and the list fluttered in the wake of her passing. She gave it a long last look, then bit it off the fridge chewed it up and spit it into the trash. She turned to head back on upstairs.
“I’m sorry Pinkie.”