Daring Do and the Soluna Stone:
Chapter 1
-Manehattan Library-
In the Library, Spike is sitting on a chair reading, "Daring Do and the Quest of the Sapphire Stone" He seems to be very interested in the book. As Spike is reading on the bottom floor, Twilight is writing a letter to the Princess on one of her many lessons on friendship. As she finishes, she puts the quill away and rolls the letter up with her magic.
"Spike, can you please send this letter to the princess?" asks Twilight.
She hears no response from her assistant and asks again.
"Spike, are you listening to me? I need you to send this letter to the Princess," asks Twilight.
She hears no response again and is getting very annoyed. So she turns around and looks at the bottom floor and sees that Spike is reading a book on a chair in the lounge area. She teleports down to the first floor right in front of Spike. She sees he is reading a book about their friend Daring Do.
Daring Do is a friend of theirs who they met during the whole Nightmare Moon incident where she puts up the persona of Honey Do, a museum professor. While they were looking for the Elements of Harmony, she revealed her real identity in front of them when the situation was dire. Daring Do only changed her identity to avoid being noticed by hundreds of fans and reporters asking about her many adventures, all of which have been exaggerated to the fullest extent. Being the Element of Honesty, Daring knew she could trust Twilight and everyone else and shared her secret with them.
Twilight sees that Spike still has not noticed that she is standing in from of him. Twilight sees that he has a pile of the entire collection of Daring Do books right next to his chair in a messed up pile. She assumes that he has been reading these books for hours or for days. Maybe that's why he hasn't been answering. So Twilight tries asking again this time almost by his ear.
"Spike?" Twilight asks.
But got no response again even though she is right in his ear. So now she takes in a deep breath and yells right in his ear, "SPIKE!!!"
Spike yells from being shocked and falls over off the chair dumbfounded as to what just happened. He then looks over and sees Twilight right over him.
"Oh, hi Twilight, you need something?" asks a confused Spike.
"Yes, I do", says Twilight as she then used her magic to bring the letter to the Princess in front of Spike.
"I needed you to send this letter to Princess Celestia when I asked you a minute ago", says Twilight in a upset mood.
"Why didn't you ask me?" asks Spike.
"I did."
"Well I didn't hear you."
"You kidding? I was calling for you for a minute and you weren't paying attention."
"Oh, sorry."
Twilight then notices that he has bags under his eyes and is starting to yawn.
Twilight sighs and says, "Look, I know reading is good for you, but just looking at you makes me think you've been reading these books all night."
Spike, now looking sad, with his head held down says to Twilight, "I'm sorry."
He then looks back at Twilight. "I've just been getting interested in Daring's books on her many adventures. They're very interesting"
Twilight then face-hooves herself and sighs, "Spike you know that Daring said that the books stretch the truth on her adventures"
"Twilight, it just makes me wonder what her actual adventures are like"
"Well Spike, you can ask her yourself."
Spike then gets up about to go out the door, but Twilight is using her magic to hold him from running.
She then says, "After you send the letter to the Princess, which I ASKED you to do."
Spike groans as he takes the parchment then breathed fire onto it where the ashes then blew off out the window, no doubt being sent to Celestia. Twilight then smiles and uses her magic to levitate the pile of books Spike read to put them back. As she is doing so, she sees Spike still holding onto the book he was still reading while the book was being levitated.
"Please Twilight, I'm still not finished with this book yet. I promise not to get distracted again," says Spike. Spike then made a puppy dog face to try and convince Twilight.
Twilight sighs, then says, "Fine, but no more all nighters for you."
She then let's go of the book as Spike fell to the floor with it still in his claws. Twilight has all of the books back in their proper order.
Now all their tasks finished, as they are about to leave out of the doors, Spike then asks Twilight, "Say Twilight. Are we going to ask anyone else to come with us?"
Twilight then responds, "I don't think so."
"Why not?"
"Cause everypony is busy. Octavia is off practicing for a banquet she has to be at, Blossomforth has come down with a fever, Sherbet is up to her Cutie Mark in loads of work with her catering business, and Trixie is off who knows where."
Spike then responds, "Oh, okay."
Twilight then opened the doors saying, "Hopefully today is more interesting than your books Spike."
My Little Pony, My Little Pony
Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh…
(My Little Pony)
I used to wonder what friendship could be
(My Little Pony)
Until you all shared its magic with me
Great discoveries!
Tricks galore!
A rich slice of life,
And a heartfelt score.
Budding courage
It's an easy feat
And magic makes it all complete!
You have my little ponies
Do you know you're all my very best friends?
--------------------------------------
-Manehattan Museum of Natural History-
It takes about 20 minutes of walking to get to the museum. Along the way as Spike is still reading the book he's holding, he wasn't looking where he was walking and almost crosses the road several times into oncoming traffic. Twilight uses her magic to teleport Spike back right next to her out of the way of traffic. Spike in the meanwhile still reads as if nothing has happened.
As they are about to enter the Museum, Twilight decides to talk to Spike about him reading and walking.
"Spike, you need to stop reading while walking, you almost walked into traffic several times on our walk here," says Twilight.
"I did?" says Spike looking confused.
Twilight gives Spike a disappointed look which made Spike collect his thoughts.
"Oh, yeah sorry. I'm just invested in this book since I'm about to ask Daring Do all of my questions!" says Spike in a very excited manner.
Twilight shakes her head and before opening the door says, "Well, be careful. Before you know it you'll walk into somepony in the doorway."
Just as she said that, in an instant, she is face to face with Daring running out the door. With no time to react they collide and are barreling down the steps. Spike wide-eyed and shocked goes down the steps to help his friends. Twilight and Daring were both dazed but not hurt. Twilight sees that Daring was carrying a sack full of tools and books, but now some of them are out of the sack scattered about when they collided.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Daring!" says Twilight in a shocked state.
Daring, wearing her sweater(the one she saw wearing when she first met her), a pair of glasses, and her signature expedition hat, got up and dusted herself off. Daring then starts collecting her belongings with Twilight helping her with Spike helping too.
"No, I'm sorry Twilight, I'm in a rush. I need to catch a flight now, and remember outside, I'm still Honey Do," says Daring at a rushed pace.
"Oh, yeah. By the way, what's all this stuff for? You going somewhere?" questions Twilight. Daring, still in a rush, hands a letter to Twilight with her mouth. Then Twilight takes the letter and uses her magic to unfold the letter and read.
Dear Daring Do,
This is Sandy Shores. Our team has uncovered the artifact we were looking for. I know that my team and I know you researched this artifact awhile back with us, and could use your expertise on confirming the valid identity of the artifact and recovering it. As we suspect that it may be well guarded given the circumstances. I've arranged a flight to Saddle Arabia for you and hope you accept my help.
Sincerely,
Sandy Shores
Twilight dumbfounded on what all this meant, she puts together that Daring has to leave for awhile to help recover this artifact. This comes to mind this artifact is never named in the letter. Twilight then decides to ask Daring what this all means.
"Daring, what's this artifact you have to look for?" Twilight asks.
Daring is giving looks on whether to tell her friends or not. She gives in and decides to tell her and Spike what all this was about.
"Okay, I'll tell you. I believe the object they found is the Soluna Stone," says Daring.
"The Soluna Stone?" says both Twilight and Spike in a confused manner.
Daring sighs and says, "I believe I need to start from the beginning on this location and the artifact itself."
----------------------------------------
Long ago, there was a tribe in Saddle Arabia that believed that they were the center of the universe and had power that expanded across the land. This was during the time before the foundation of Equestria. So during this time, the Tribe was composed of mostly Earth Ponies, some seers and sages being unicorns. Feeling they wanted more power, they controlled the entire country. They felt they could control more, but the only place left for them to control was the very celestial bodies. So they decided to try and control the Sun and the Moon. So for the longest time, their best alchemists worked tirelessly to work on this project. After many years of work and enchanting, they created a round gem with one half being yellow-orange like daytime, and the other half being blue as night, representing the Sun and the Moon. With this gem, they controlled the Sun and Moon's rotation, thus believing they controlled all of existence. They dubbed it, 'The Soluna Stone', after the names they gave the Sun and Moon, Sol and Luna. Then, one day, a storm came. One they never experienced came by and washed away the entire village the Tribe lived in. The sand mixed with the wind and rain created a mudslide which sank the entire village, including the building which housed The Soluna Stone. It was like the very heavens punished them for their abuse of power. A couple of years ago, Sandy Shores, an old schoolmate of mine, was part of an expedition team to recover this very gem. She invited me to help her research this very thing. We looked through other ruins recording the Tribes history which lead to the downfall of their Tribe. The rest after the downfall is still a mystery.
---------------------------------------
Daring then finishes her story as Twilight and Spike are fascinated by the explanation they were given. Spike is the most focused and asks her a question.
"Wow, that was amazing! So you have to go to Saddle-whatever, and to see your old friend to help her team recover the Soluna Stone?" asks an excited Spike.
Daring nods as Spike continues to speak, "Oh yes. By the way, I wanted to ask you more questions about-"
Daring interrupts him, " Sorry Spike, no time for chatting, I need to go."
Spike moans in dismissal.
Twilight still dumbfounded is trying to collect her thoughts, then wants to know more. Then she sees Daring about to leave. She then asks her quickly.
"Daring wait! Take me with you!" says Twilight.
Daring stops dead in her tracks and turns to Twilight shouting, "WHAT!"
Daring goes over to her and says, "You don't know how this works Twilight. You don't know anything about archaeology," says Daring in a stern tone.
"Yes, but I know about a thing on ancient history. Plus I want to know more and see this gem for myself," says Twilight gleefully.
"I don't know," says Daring.
"I want to see this very gem that even predates Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. With a gem that has almost equal amount of power to control the Sun and Moon, and having Earth Ponies the ability to control this power alone fascinates me," says Twilight.
Daring thinks about this for a couple minutes, then responds, "Well.......okay. You can help document this expedition for me."
Twilight then jumps around gleefully saying yes over and over. Twilight then stops when Spike and Daring are staring at her. She stops and blushes. Then she realizes that she needs supplies, but Daring could have these supplies with her.
Daring then says, "We need to leave now for our flight, Twilight."
Spike then jumps in saying, "Wait, bring me with you too!"
Twilight knew this was coming since he still wanted to ask questions to Daring.
No use in arguing with him, she sighs and smiles saying, "Okay Spike, I could never leave my number one assistant home alone. Plus I do need help with this work."
Spike also jumps for joy and gets on Twilight's back as to get ready for the trip. But he then goes to reading his book as to saying that he knew this was going to happen.
Daring then shaking her head then says, "Okay, now if there are no more interruptions, we need to get-"
Just then a puff of smoke comes behind her as a unicorn jumps out shouting, "Behold, The Great and Powerful Trixie has arrived!"
Daring shocked, but also annoyed says, "Trixie?! Were you spying on us?"
Trixie then says, "This spying you say is a bit extreme. I simply hid and listened on your conversation."
"That's spying," says Daring.
Trixie then tips her hat and says, "Well anyway, with the rest of our friends unavailable to begin with, I want to come with you on your trip for two reasons: One, we're friends and I'll be with you anyway. Two, this will be a perfect way for me to advertise my performance around the world!"
Daring still annoyed, wants to reject her, but knew there was no time to argue as she need to get to her flight now.
"Okay, fine, we need to leave now!" shouts Daring. Daring then trots away as Trixie, Twilight, and Spike while on Twilight's back then follows her.
Twilight, wondering why Trixie was here asks, "Trixie I know you mean much, but when were you following us?"
"I may be the Element of Laughter, but a magician never reveals her secret!" says Trixie in a playful tone.
Twilight rolls her eyes as she continues trotting behind Daring.
She then thinks to herself, "Hope this adventure is worth it."