“What the hay is up with this thing? Do you bathe in glue or something?”
“No, stuff like this just happens sometimes”
Daring let go of the Tempest’s handle and sighed. She had been hoping to be able to count on its powers in the foreseeable future, but stuck as impossibly as it was in Derpy’s wing, its usefulness was decidedly limited.
After that morning’s escape, Daring had led her new ‘partner’ halfway across Manehatten to ‘My Little Italy’, the city’s famous Equestrian-Italian district, where they had taken shelter in a safe house Daring owned above an old restaurant.
For just this eventuality, the safe house was completely stocked with adventuring gear and medical supplies. Daring’s back wounds had been sterilised and bandaged, but it would be a few weeks before any fur started to grow there again. As for Derpy, she seemed to share in Daring’s strange durability, as her little flight mess up had only sprained her wing rather than breaking it. Unfortunately, the lodged scimitar made it somewhat impossible to bandage, but given the situation, that was the least of their concerns.
It was quite clear that if it hadn’t been for Derpy’s arrival, the assault would have caught Daring completely off guard. Her contribution as an unknown factor threw off the entire plan of whoever was after them. Although Daring had been strongly adverse to drawing Derpy into her life of constant danger, that morning’s events would have ensured that the blonde Pegaus will be one factor their enemy will want out of the equation. Sticking together was their only option now.
Although she was fairly certain the henchmen hadn’t got a good look at Derpy’s face or Cutie mark, a grey Pegasus with lazy eyes and a sword sticking out of her wing was going to be conspicuous no matter where they went. Combine this with Daring’s own literary fame and simply going into hiding becomes somewhat impossible.
“We have to get out of the country before they catch up to us again. Once we’re safe, then I can start to find out who our enemy is.”
Derpy visibly deflated.
“This isn’t how I pictured having a sister would go.”
‘I’ve had never pictured having a sister in my life, but I’m fairly certain if I had, it wouldn’t have been a picture of a pony like Derpy. Hay, I didn’t even know ponies like this existed! Is there like a whole town of these ponies lurking around somewhere?’
Daring shuddered at the mere thought. She turned from her partner and rummaged around in a chest of maps.
“Before you showed up and this whole thing got started, I had a ticket on a boat to Squalid Bay, a port on the fringe of the Charflow Rainforest.”
“How did it get a name like that?”
Daring found the map she was looking for and unfurled it on the table. Although it had a lot of independent countries thriving on international trade near the coastlines, the core of the land was split into two large countries separated by an ocean of green.
“The Rainforest grew on substantial volcanic flows from the northern mountains of Canus thousands of years ago. The eruptions also released magical ore from deep within the planet’s crust and that magic has seeped into the trees that grow there, making Charflow the most dangerous ecosystem in the world.”
Derpy gave Daring a blank look. ...Or at least what she assumed was a blank look.
Groaning a little, the explorer tried to come up with an analogy Derpy might understand.
“It’s kind of like if the Everfree had a child with Froggy Bottom Bog and their kid grew up with Discord as a babysitter.”
“Oh! Right. …And why are we going there..?”
Daring pulled out a notebook and began to flip through it, briefly showing off various historical documents and diagrams gathered from countless digs and libraries.
“I was heading there because my research suggests that at some point in history, the Diamond Dogs who populate Canus used the forest to hide an artefact lost since the founding of Equestria. Already a thorough mystery as it was, but the weirdest part is that none of the texts even describe what the artefact is! It’s only ever referred to as ‘The Gift’.”
Derpy frowned, but started to catch on.
“So you think whoever is after us is doing so because they’re also after this gift?”
“Bingo. We start snooping around there, and we’ll probably find the identity of our assailant.”
“So we go catch your boat, find the thingy-“
“No.”
“No?”
“These guys must have been keeping an eye on me so they’ll know about the ticket. Instead of falling into a trap, we should sneak onto a different boat leaving port for the southernmost nation of Gomoah. It’s a friendly united nation of griffons and ponies so we should have no problems making our way up to the forest from there.”
Derpy sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“Being a superhero is complicated.”
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Daring-Do stepped out of the night, the blizzard sliding off her uniform like water from an otter. Her wounds and exhaustion went unnoticed under the torrent of power flowing through her veins. As she revelled in the sensation, her fur stood on end as the dark caressed her completely. Had she been the pony she once was, this kind of joy might have elicited a smile, but such a thing was beneath her now.
The other Shadowbolts stepped out behind her and together they crossed the threshold of the temple, frozen flagstones thawing under the paradoxical cold that radiated from them in waves. They followed the steps deep into the crypt until the sound of the roaring winds could no longer be heard.
The torches she and her comrades had erected on their first excursion dimmed at their passage. Looking back, Daring felt only disgust that she had ever needed their light to see by. At an unspoken command, Spitfire split off from the group and began to dismantle the hateful lights before they offended the group any further. With each one that fell, Daring felt her awareness grow a little larger, the shadows of the temple reclaiming the ground that had been taken from them.
At last they made it to the main chamber, bathed only in the glorious non-glow of the Nightmare Eye atop the central pedestal. Daring and her cohorts knelt before their commander, who turned from the Eye to address them.
Templar Sark used to be the guardian of the temple until his admirable desire for power awakened within him. The rules of his order set by the false Sun Tyrant stated that he was to live in total isolation with only his absolute duty to keep others from possessing the power of the Dark queen. Sark disobeyed this and fell in love. Inevitably, when his wife was killed, he tried to take the power of the Dark and bring her back to him. Now, like all of them gathered there, his only love was to Nightmare Moon.
“Daring-Do, I see you have seen the error of your ways and joined with us. Tell me, what did you hope to accomplish in running from destiny?”
“Whatever foolish reason I had clearly wasn’t of any importance, the Shadowbolts are my calling now.”
Sark made no show of emotion, but his draconic eyes glowed ever so slightly brighter in approval. The robed Unicorn bid his servants to rise and stepped down from the altar to meet with them.
“In any case, we must make haste to Equestria to prepare. In two days, the stars will aid in her escape and we must be ready to welcome her.”
“We live to serve, commander.”
The other Shadowbolts scattered to begin preparations for their departure, but Daring-Do hesitated. There was something… not right... just on the edge of her Consciousness. She extended her awareness to every available pool of darkness in the temple, but found nothing amiss. Spitfire had allmost completed her task, and the crypt was dripping with glorious Darkness. Daring felt the sweet release as Spitfire destroyed the last torch.
Everypony stopped what they were doing all at once, not sure what it was they were feeling. The shadows were clamouring somthing important, rapidly getting closer.
Spitfire tore into the main chamber, her anxiety so great that her Darkness rend the air around her as she passed.
She pulled up infront of the Templar, dropping a chunk of now ruined circuitry destroyed by her hooves.
“Sir it’s a Radio transmitter, hidden where we couldn’t see! It’s been sending out a beacon!”
The templar turned to the latest recruit, anger contorting his features.
“Daring! What is the meaning of this?! Who did you contact?!”
For the first time since the Darkness joined with her, Daring felt real fear.
“I... I don’t know… her memories are hidden from me!”
An explosion shook the mountain, and the temple began to collapse around them.
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Derpy closed the book and sighed.
‘Is this what Sis’s life is always like?’
While they waited for the pony who was supposed to get them on the boat, Derpy had decided to have as much of a read into her sisters past as she could before her eyes made her queasy from the effort.
‘I’ve had enough of being queasy today to last me for a while…’
To save time, she had had picked it up from where Rainbow Dash had put her bookmark, but so far all she had found was bad guys, danger and violence.
This was rather disquieting. After all, things in Ponyville were rarely peaceful, but usually nopony ever got hurt.
‘I’m starting to wonder if finding my sister was a bad idea… I do always seem to have a lot of those...’
The two mares were leaning against the wall outside a seedy salt bar on the Manehatten harbour front. There was only one ship leaving that day that met their requirements, a cruise liner called the ‘Dazzler’. According to Daring, it was the pride of the Green Star line, and was accustomed to transporting only the most rich and influential ponies in Equestria and the surrounding nations.
Because of this they had created their disguises accordingly, attempting to look like rich, materialistic and shallow heiresses. While Daring technically was rich, and treasure hunting was, by definition one of the most materialistic professions available, they both agreed last trait might be a bit more difficult to imitate.
Derpy could hardly recognise the adventurer, who had slipped into an insanely expensive designer dress that was large enough to hide her cutie mark and bandages. She was also wearing coloured contacts to make her eyes green, and to complete the look she had slung over her wing a hoofbag so impractically small she could probably carry more stuff if the dress simply came with pockets.
As for Derpy, Daring had hidden the Tempest by coating the wing in a large plaster cast, which also had the bonus of helping it heal from the sprain. She’d also bought a tasteful shawl to drape over her wings and conceal them as best as they could, no sense letting anypony get suspicious of a Pegasus taking a cruise with a broken wing. She also had large, mirrored sunglasses that hid her 'special' eyes from casual onlookers.
Daring seemed to notice that Derpy was down in the dumps and lightly nudged her to get her attention.
“Hey, don’t worry about this; they don’t have us on the ropes yet. This isn’t a retreat; it’s luring them into thinking we’re retreating.”
Derpy could see why Rainbow Dash liked her sister's books so much, Daring was just like her, and not just in looks. Dash always had time to look after Derpy and cheer her up when she made a mistake and broke something. Looking at her now, Derpy could feel the same caring nature coming from her sister... Even if Daring used words she didn’t understand way more often than Dash did.
Derpy was about to return her thanks when their target stumbled out of the Salt bar and made his way down the dock. Daring called out to him as he passed.
“I’m surprised they let a salted old fart like yourself behind the wheel of The Dazzler.”
The old pony turned at the familiar voice. Derpy could see the years had not been kind to him, but though his creased face was mostly obscured by his salt-flecked beard, his ice blue eyes twinkled with a warmth untouched by time or suffering.
“Daring-Do… I suppose you’re here to blackmail a poor old Colt into hauling your flank out of whatever sorry mess you’ve sailed into this time?”
“A pony has to be able to feel shame before they can be blackmailed, Legs.”
The Captain nodded sagely.
“True enough lass, but I’m not the one dragging a helpless maiden along in the dirt behind me now am I?”
Daring snorted derisively.
“If you saw her earlier, you’d not call her helpless so easily, Legs.”
You could see him instantly put two and two together.
“Ah, all that kerfuffle uptown was your doing then. Which means that you intend to get me fired by endangering all the bigwigs paying for a nautical kiddie ride.”
Derpy hadn’t thought of it that way before, but Daring gave off no impression of being concerned.
“Admittedly, whoever is after me is pretty ballsy to send in a full strike force in the middle of a major city, but I don’t think they would do the same when it risks pissing off both the highest and lowest rungs of society at the same time.”
Captain Legs seemed to get what she meant, but the intent went straight over Derpy’s head.
‘I don’t think I like the sound of that… what kind of passengers are these?’
Resolving to ask Daring about it later, Derpy tuned back into the conversation in progress.
“-I know you have the money for a ticket but they’re all sold out already, I can’t just kick off another passenger!”
“This could be our only chance Legs! After what happened in Bitswana, you owe me big time!”
The old stallion looked pensive.
“I… I suppose if you sneaked in the crew entrance, you could stay in my cabin for the duration of the trip. I’d be spending all my time behind the wheel or in the bar anyways.”
Daring lit up like a Hearths Warming tree.
“Now we’re talking! C’mon Derpy, we got ourselves a ride!”
“Oh! Right!”
The two set off, destination in mind as the already deeply regretful stallion dragged himself after them. None of them noticed a pair of passengers, Jet Set and Upper Crust, tied up and unconscious in an alley, their tickets suspiciously absent.
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“This is the place right?”
“Yes Rainbow, The trail ends here. Now can we please stop this madness? We’ve been walking for two days straight!”
“Well we would have got here in one day if you weren’t so slow.”
The two Elements were crouched behind a parked carriage on the seafront. The more colourful mare of the two was agressivley sneaking glances over at the ‘Dazzler’ while her purple friend desperately tried to magically sooth her aching hooves.
“Four cities, Rainbow! I’ve walked more in 48 hours than the rest of the year combined! Whatever Lunacy has Derpy marauding around like this isn’t half as crazy as you are for insisting we follow!”
“Hey shush up a sec! There she is!”
Twilight begrudgingly glanced over the railings of the carriage and, sure enough, spotted a set of bubbled flanks discreetly entering the crew entrance of the ship.
“So she decided to start a career in the cruise business. Mystery solved. Can we go home now?”
“No way. I’m not done yet.”
Before Twilight could raise an objection, Dash was gone in a streak of primary colours.
‘I should have known she’d have no natural resistance to the addictive properties of literature…’
Twilight bit her tongue and trotted after, making sure to keep concealed from the sight of the burly Earth Ponies stacking the cargo hold with supplies for the trip by darting behind the varied crates dotting the dock. Peeking from a safe vantage point, Twilight watched in horror as Dash stealthily dislodged a melon from one of the crates and then zipped into the hold as the dock workers were distracted.
Rainbow Dash hunkered down inside a sheltered cove of boxes, the shaded confines of the hold more than covering her presence to the Ponies still ferrying their heavy loads just meters away. The hiding place also concealed a flash of purple and displacement of air signifying another stowaway in their midst.
“What in the name of Celestia’s great Shrubbery do you think your doing??!”
Twilight hissed as loud as she could without giving them away.
“I knew those books were good, but I didn’t think they’d drive a pony to break into the most expensive cruise liner on the entire coast of Equestria!”
Twilight tried to force Rainbow to her hooves, but the other mare resisted and shook her off. The unicorn shook her head in disbelief.
“If it matters THAT much to you, I’ll buy you the book! Let’s just get out of here!”
“Sorry Twilight, but its not that simple. There’s no point in getting the treasure unless you undertake the whole quest beforehoof.”
Twilight choked a little.
“You seriously don’t think this is like a Daring-Do novel do you?”
‘The next time she asks for reading material, I’m giving her The Hungry Caterpillar instead.’
“How is it not? A fearless adventurer after a precious goal stumbles across a mystery she wasn’t supposed to… laughing in the face of death, she stows away on board the bad guy’s ship to get to the bottom of their plot!”
Twilight shoved a hoof into Dash’s ribs and moved in close to fill her line of vision.
“First of all, you are not Daring-Do, she’s not real. Second, this isn’t ‘the bad guy’s ship’; it’s a holiday cruise you just broke into! And third, WHAT MYSTERY?!”
Dash shoved her hooves over twilight’s muzzle as her volume began to get treacherously high.
“Look, I’ve know Derpy for longer than most Ponies, and I know something’s up. Bad guys or not, I don’t leave my friends hangin Twi.”
There was a brief commotion over by the exit as the workponies finished loading the supplies and began to raise the hatch. Mane frizzing uncontrollably, Twilight jogged on the spot and glanced over at the disappearing freedom, emitting a low moan like an injured whale.
“Ooooooh…. This is so much worse than being tardy…”
Resigned to Rainbow’s complete lack of a plan, Twilight slumped over onto a crate and put her head in her hooves as the hatch clanged shut against the bulkhead.
Ever the epitome of sensitivity and tact, Dash attempted to cheer her up with a ‘playful’ punch on the shoulder, which instead provided more pins and needles than the Carousel Boutique goes through in a year.
“C’mon, all we gotta do is wait for the ship to sail, sneak to the decks, find the book, solve the mystery and then be back home in ten seconds flat! Nopony will be the wiser!”
Twilight deigned not to answer and instead nursed her sore arm as she slightly illuminated the now dark cargo hold. About a minute passed in pouting silence before her natural urge to correct others kicked in.
“You know, if this was a Daring-Do novel, she’d call in a favour from the captain of the ship, rather than just sneak on board…”
Rainbow Dash just chuckled.
“And she’d just happen to know the captain of that exact vessel personally? I don’t think I’m the pony who needs a reality check, Twi.”
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Pepper was feeling a little intimidated at the task set before her. She had done her job well, cheerfully greeting and directing every passenger as they boarded, providing them with goodwill and a sincere smile as they were led to their cabins. Not everypony could appreciate the importance of a good greeting, but Pepper certainly could, and the Green Star line could not ask for a better greeter than her. It was surely a vocation to be proud of, no matter what her supervisor thought about it. Or her.
…Cow.
It was, then with no small trepidation she faced the last pair of passengers to board the ‘Dazzler’ and took their ticket from them. Their tickets were all in order, being undamaged, genuine and paid in full, but well....
It was just that the Green Star line was usually only afforded by the incredibly famous or the incredibly wealthy, usually both. In contrast, these two bore almost no resemblance to the celebrities and aristocracy she had been graciously herding all day.
On top of that they were just weird.
The dilemma then, was how of decide whether to admit the two latecomers or call security, both of which without being impolite, oh no must not be impolite, not to customers, no. Mother wouldn’t like it if I-
Focus.
Pepper put on her best smile and desperately tried to gather the rest of her face to match that intention.
“Welcome to Green Star lines ladies, might I ask why you’re travelling with us?”
The Griffon tensed slightly at being dubbed a 'lady' but in spite of this, her face, hidden as it was by thick black sunglasses, gave nothing away. Her large size and daunting body language was only worsened by the jovial bright red Hawaiian shirt giving off clashing signals, and as if to complete the tourist stereotype, a chunky camera loosely hung on a strap around her neck.
Just to the griffons left, though far less terrifying, was a pony just as strange. Her awful green flowered dress clashed horribly with both her sapphire coat and the pale hair poking out from under an equally tacky hat.
The hideously dressed Unicorn huffed and glared at the stewardess with unabashed distain.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not need to explain herself to simple plebeians such as yourself! And furthermore her business is entirely-Mppph!”
The sizable camera was suddenly thrust into new residence in an equally sizable Oral cavity with reckless abandon. The gryphon finally forced words out of her tightly clamped beak as if every word was toxic to her.
“What my wife means to say is that we saved up for years to get our chance at the perfect honeymoon cruise, right Honeybunch?”
The two lovebirds glared at one another for the briefest of moments before the unicorn spat out the invading device and turned back to the very confused Earth mare.
“Yes that’s quite right Featherkitten, Trixie is indeed happy to admit she is in romantic relations with this… mangy beast.”
Just out of Pepper’s line of sight, a lion claw stuck itself into one of Trixie’s back legs. To her credit, the unicorn almost didn’t flinch.
Pepper pleadingly looked over at her supervisor, who returned with an uncaring shrug before going back to chewing gum. Feeling totally out of her depth, Pepper stood aside to let them pass, diplomatically providing a break in the tense atmosphere that followed the couple like a bad smell.
Remembering herself, she called after them.
“We hope you have a nice cruise!”
Getting no response, Pepper glanced over at her supervisor who was closing the external hatch with a chuckle.
“I give their marriage less than a month.”
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“Listen Dweeb, I don’t care how you act in your own time, but when we’re on a job you best stop drawing attention to yourself.”
“Trixie cannot help it if foals attempt to patronise her. Even this ‘job’ itself is patronising to her abilities.”
In the relative seclusion of their cabin, the two ‘honeymooners’ were not enjoying their vacation, rather they were on more of a business trip. The griffon known as Gilda was nonchalantly filing her talons to sharpened points while desperatly trying to ignore the constant whining from her partner on the bed.
“This lacks even the dignity of an assassin, just being here to point a common thug like you in the right direction.”
Gilda rolled her eyes.
“You don’t have the stones to assassinate anybody you blowhard. Your job was to follow the magic trail of that sword to find where they went, and you did that. Congratulations.”
Given the cabin was too small for a creature of her size, she had to push past the unicorn and the entire bed as she passed. Gilda put her shades back on as she headed for the door.
“Now just stay put while I go off those two losers.”
“Trixie did not sacrifice her dreams and pride to be looked down on by some half-breed she’s forced to work with! I am perfectly capable of taking care of my own target!”
Gilda chuckled sardonically.
“Probably the only reason you were partnered with me was because they couldn’t find anyone else who could stand being in a room with you.”
Gilda’s exit was blocked when the door swung shut in her face. She turned and, lowering her sunglasses slightly, fixed the glowing horn of the ex-showmare with a 'You serious?' expresion.
“Trixie needs this money far too much to just rely on your brute force to take them out! Now stand aside and let Trixie show you how it's done!”
For a very long moment, predatory slits bored into eyes filled only with arrogance.
Then Gilda lost it.
“Wha- what are you?... STOP LAUGHING AT TRIXIE!”
Gilda clutched at her sides as she completely cracked up.
“Oh man, you’re serious aren’t you?!”
Trixie huffed as Gilda rolled on the floor cackling. The griffon wiped away a tear and grinned like a loon.
“Oh this should be good… Ok, you go ‘take care of’ the author and I’ll come rescue you when I’m through with the retard, kay?”
Trixie hopped off the bed and trotted past the chuckling chick, head held high. Seeing her do this in her ridiculous disguise only made Gilda laugh harder.
“Trixie will show you, creature! Anypony you can kill, I can kill faster!”
Trixie kept her façade up until she could no longer hear the echoing chuckles down the sprawling ship corridors.
“Hmmph, that worthless monster doesn’t know what it’s talking about.”
Checking to make sure nopony was observing a moment of weakness, she stopped to examine the deep scratch marks on the back of her leg. Now it was Trixie's turn to roll her eyes.
“Great. Now Trixie requires a tetanus shot.”