“Ever hear of the Sapphire Statue?”
This mare was crazy. That was all that Velvet had going through her head at this moment. Not only had she just picked her up and dropped her on a roof, but she shouted a taunt to the ponies they had just escaped from?! Velvet found herself severely questioning this mare’s logic. But the Pegasus, Daring Do, didn’t seem to care in the slightest that what she was doing was foolhardy. Still, for as crazy as it was, Velvet couldn’t help but admire the brash mare’s spirit.
As these thoughts were passing through her head, she hardly noticed Daring Do as she placed a foreleg over Velvet’s shoulders, “Now, I don’t think I ever caught your name. Care to tell me?”
Velvet was not expecting the contact, and she jumped slightly upon feeling the presence of Daring’s foreleg. She composed herself quickly enough, and managed to nod, “Yes… My name is Twilight - Twilight Velvet.” She said, slowly.
Daring gave her another grin, and in seemingly one movement had stepped away from Velvet’s side and grasped her hoof in her own, shaking vigorously, “Well, pleasure to meet you, Twilight Velvet! Thanks again for saving my hide back there,” she released the Unicorn’s hoof, nodding as if to confirm something to herself.
Daring Do had been about to say something more, when the sound of the hatch leading to the flat topped roof being beaten, coupled with the angered cries and threats from their former pursuers, could be heard. Daring’s eyes dilated, and she sighed heavily in frustration, “These guys really just don’t know when to give up, do they?” She asked.
Without waiting for an unneeded answer to her rhetorical question, Daring trotted back over to the edge of the roof, only to draw back with an irritated growl, a few rocks sailing past her head, missing by near inches. She turned back to Velvet, who was still standing where she had been set down, looking in pale shock at the blood on her hoof. It was the blood of the stallion that Daring had been fighting earlier. She had not realized that it was still on her hooves. The Pegasus stepped back over to Velvet, waving a hoof in front of her eyes, “Hey, Vel? You alright, pal?”
Velvet turned her gaze from her red stained hoof to Daring Do, “You really did not think about where you dropped us when you threatened them, did you?” She said, simply.
Daring gave a small nod, which eventually grew into an emphatic nod, “Yeeeah, I really didn’t,” her attention was drawn to the hatch as it began to splinter, “But standing there making just accusations isn’t going to help. I’m going to assume you don’t want to be standing up here when those mugs break through, yeah? So I will suggest that we high tail it out of here.”
“And how exactly do you propose we do that?” Twilight Velvet asked, her voice sounded calm, but was clearly hiding a rising panic.
“Uuuh… Well, I can carry you out again.” Daring suggested. The pounding on the hatch became more organized as the wood continued to bow outward.
“Oh, splendid!” Velvet cried, sarcastically, “And do you think that you’ll be able to carry me far enough off to get away from these ruffians?!” Her voice reached a higher pitch. Light could now be seen through the cracks in the hatch.
Before the argument could continue much further however, the hatch burst completely outward, and a beefy stallion began to pull himself through. In a fit of frustrated anger, and slight panic, Velvet grasped a few of the rocks that had been thrown at Daring in her magical grip and sent them rocketing forth. They made contact with the stallion’s head with a satisfying thud, and he went toppling back into his companions. Daring had been about to congratulate Velvet, but her words caught in her throat. Velvet looked to her, and upon seeing the Pegasus’ worried expression and prepared stance, turned her gaze upward. Of course there were Pegasi.
All she wanted to do was garner inspiration for her book. All she wanted to do was research, and learn new things. And now, barely even forty minutes into her being here in Caballo, she was already on the verge of failing! She had gotten caught up with a brash and reckless mare, and now she was going to pay for it. Velvet’s anger and frustration festered until she reached her boiling point. Her horn shining forth much brighter than usual, she raised herself back on her hind hooves, and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Oh come on!!!” Twilight Velvet accentuated this cry of lamentation with bringing herself heavily back to all fours. And in doing so, she released all of the magical energy she had been unwittingly storing in her horn.
All that the would-be attackers experienced was a blindingly vibrant flash, and the strange sound of magical distortion. And when it cleared, the Unicorn and Pegasus mares were nowhere to be seen.
/)*(\
Velvet’s throbbed in the steady rhythm of her heart beat. Any sounds she received felt like they were being filtered first through a body of water, and next through a thick, cotton padding. She recognized this feeling faintly as the one that came about when she would overtax her magical abilities. Whether it was from trying to levitate an object that was much too big or casting multiple spells in quick succession. But most commonly it came about when trying to cast a spell that you were not familiar with.
So she had been unconscious, that much was certain. For how long, she could not be sure. But she could know that she had been in relative safety upon doing so. No wounds, no pain, excusing the migraine she was now experiencing. It took Velvet a few minutes to realize that her eyes were closed, and she decided to keep them that way. Her day had taken any twists and turns in a short time, and she welcomed what rest that she received from this. After what was probably several minutes, Velvet was unable to keep her eyes closed any longer. And slowly, carefully, she opened them.
No sooner had the first rays of light shown between the lids of her eyes than she was burst clean out of her stupor by a familiar voice, “Hey! Good morning sleepy head!”
It was the voice of Daring Do. With a pained groan, Twilight Velvet reached up and clutched her head in her hooves. She heard Daring wince, and trot a short distance off. When she returned, Velvet felt the Pegasus gently tap her shoulder. Slowly, Velvet raised her head to look at her. Daring had an apologetic smile, and was holding out a cup of some faint purple liquid, “Drink this. It’s a little recipe that I learned from a Zebra a year or two back. Supposed to help against headaches and those sorts of things, and I figured it might help with your exhaustion.”
Velvet gave the Pegasus a confounded look, but the pain in her head eventually caused her to give in and take a sip of the elixir. It smelled sweet, but it tasted absolutely rancid. Velvet figured it tasted much like what rotten grapes may taste like. The Unicorn’s throat tightened, refusing to let her swallow the vulgar liquid properly. As such, she began to cough the mouthful she’d taken back onto the ground beneath her. Once the fit had passed, and she could open her eyes again, she noticed that she was looking at grass, and not the dusty earth of Caballo City. Furrowing her brow, Velvet looked up at Daring, who was hovering in the air, and managed to utter the question, “What… Happened?”
Without answering, Daring drifted lazily to the side, and picked up another cup of the same liquid as before and brought it back over to Velvet, landing lightly so as not to spill it, and held it back out to her, “Try not to spill it this time. I know it doesn’t taste good. Just don’t think about it and you’ll be fine,” At Velvet’s look, Daring nodded slightly, “Yes, I’ll answer your question in a bit, just drink up, would you?”
Velvet complied, reluctantly downing the vile liquid. She managed to keep it down this time around. The effects were almost immediate, much to her pleasant surprise. She had never met a Zebra before, but she had heard many praise their remedies before, despite the common misconceptions about them. She carefully set the cup down, still afraid to move to quickly should she shatter the elixir’s relief, and looked to Daring Do, “Alright. So, you were going to explain to me just what happened?”
Daring perked up, and nodded vigorously, “Oh yeah! It was really, really awesome! I’m not sure how much you actually remember, so I’m just going to explain things how I remember them. So we were on top of the roof, and those idiots from the tavern were trying to bust through the hatch leading up to where we were, right? So, we’re arguing about how to get away, and you’re trying to use logic on me when those guys busted through. And then you just took a complete one-eighty and hurled these stones they’d thrown at my head back at the first ugly mug that showed through the opening.
“And that’s not even the best part! I noticed that there were a few Pegasi from the bar in the air surrounding us, and all I could think was, ‘Well, we’re screwed. This day has just gone dandy, hasn’t it?’ but then next thing I know, your horn started glowing really bright, brighter than I’ve seen a Unicorn’s horn glow before! And in a fit of rage you slammed your hooves down and there was this bright flash, and really weird feeling, and then next thing I know, we’re at least a mile out of the city!”
Daring had an incredible amount of energy, and was reenacting her narrative as she told it. It was rather amusing, and disturbing, to see this mare, who Velvet’s first impression of involved her beating the daylights out of a stallion twice her size, behaving in such a filly-like manner. Smiling faintly, Velvet let Daring Do carry on, “Anyway, I recognized where you dropped us. Turns out we were coincidentally really close to my camp, which is where we are now. Seeing as you were unconscious, I had to carry you and your little case the entire way here. Speaking of which, I totally would have been able to carry you out of the city. But I’m kinda glad I didn’t! What you did was at least forty percent cooler! I only wish I could have been there to see the looks on their faces!”
Velvet nodded slowly, “I remember some of that, yes…” She said distractedly, glancing at her surroundings. A few paces from where she sat speaking to Daring, there was a fire with a small wooden table set up next to it, which must have been where Daring had made the headache elixir. A short distance from that was a fluffy cloud reworked to look like a rather comfortable bed, “Of course it’s a cloud,” Velvet thought to herself, “She is a Pegasus after all.”
Twilight Velvet turned her attention back to Daring Do, who was now hovering a few feet in front of her, grinning, “Pretty neat little set up, huh?” The Pegasus mare said, obviously proud of her camp, “I set all of this up myself. Even wrangled that cloud for nearly an hour. And let me tell you, they are not nearly as cooperative as they are in Equestria.”
That surprised Velvet, though she wasn’t sure why, and she leaned forward slightly, asking, “You’re from Equestria?”
Daring raised an eyebrow at her, before chuckling and tapping the side of her own head, “You sure that magical exhaustion thing didn’t mess with your head a little too much? Of course I’m from Equestria! Where did you think I was from? Zebrica?”
Velvet shook her head, “No, no… I was just… Well, I was just surprised that you were from Equestria! Nearly every mare that I know there is nowhere near as, ‘rough and tumble’, as you are. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you might’ve been a local from here.”
The dark khaki Pegasus broke into hearty laughter, lowering herself to the ground and sitting. She continued to laugh for a few seconds more before finally looking at Velvet, wiping tears of merriment from her raspberry red eyes, “I’m not sure if I should feel insulted that you thought I came from here or not, Vel. No, I’m from Equestria, just like you. Cloudsdale’s where I used to call home. What about you, what part of the homeland are you from?” As she asked this question, Daring leaned back against a nearby rock, folding her forelegs behind her head in a very relaxed manner.
Velvet raised an eyebrow at the nickname, ‘Vel’, but made no move to correct Daring. Not yet, at least. Instead, she decided to answer the curious Pegasus’ question, “Born and raised in Fillydelphia.”
“Aaah, thought so. You kinda got that Fillydelphian style of speaking.” Daring commented.
All Twilight Velvet did in response herself was to hum. A few silent seconds went by, and in those seconds the Unicorn’s mind went back to what she assumed was the night before, when the voices within the tavern became angrier shortly before Daring came crashing through the window, locked in combat with the stallion. And then there was her comment, ‘never call Daring Do a liar’ when they had temporarily escaped. She decided now was as good a time as any to ask, “So, Daring, what did you mean earlier, about being called a liar? And why were you fighting with that stallion?”
Daring looked up into the sky for a second, before bringing her gaze back down to meet Velvet’s, “You ever hear about the Sapphire Statue?” She asked in a matter of fact way.
Velvet thought for a second, before nodding once, “Mmm… Yes! The Sapphire Statue, mythical treasure of the spirit, Ahuizotl. Why do you ask?” Her eyes tilted slightly, apprehensive about the answer she might receive.
All Daring did was chuckle, and lean forward, “It’s not myth, Velvet. It’s real. I’ve seen it. Heck, I held it in my own two hooves, before that stupid spirit managed to get it back. And you know what? I aim to retrieve it.”