//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - Meeting the Natives 
// Story: Edited Details 
// by ILurvTrixie 
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	Daring had to admit, when it was all said and done, she really felt a lot better. She had lost several layers of dirt, including the most recent addition of unbelievably sticky mud; really, was the stuff some kind of natural concrete substitute or something? She felt relaxed in ways she hadn't felt since her last full body cast kept her from actually moving for a few weeks. 
Daring still was a bit surprised with how... effective Fluttershy had turned out to be at macroscopic massages. Although Fluttershy still had insisted on asking her friend Rarity to bring Daring along for 'their weekly spa trip'. 
Daring rolled her eyes, but couldn't completely deny looking forward to it. If this was what a bit of tender care by someone who didn't know what they were doing could feel like, she might need to look into hiring a personal masseuse in each town she visited. Or maybe getting Hue some masseuse training? But that would imply she wanted the pegasus around more, and she really didn't want to imply that. Hue had the tiniest of fan-mare streaks going on. Loved the kid like a sister, but like a sister, she drove Daring crazy in large doses.

Daring Do, adventurer, archaeologist, studier of legends and lore, flopped back on Fluttershy's couch on the ground floor of her cottage. Maybe she needed to look into finding more artifacts with teleportation powers if they all ended this nicely. Sure, it would take a few hours to fly back home from here, but she wasn't exactly hurting for time. There wasn't anything in her home that anyone would be after at this point, and this was the only artifact she had studied recently, so a break was acceptable. She'd still probably find her home rifled through at the end, though. Seemed like she could never avoid somepony trying to figure out what she was up to.

Her adventurer's jacket had been taken for laundering, but at least her trusty pith helmet was good to go after a vigorous scrubbing and a bit of drying. She plopped the familiar protector over her eyes and settled in to a practiced doze. The sound of Fluttershy's animal friends soothed the adventurer off with their familiarity.

Almost like the jungle...


~*~


Fluttershy felt pretty awesome. She had helped Daring Do, found her spare bucket, and had even managed to give Marline a new mane-style along with her flea treatment and mane-wash. She was sure to impress Marty, the local alpha male manticore. Fluttershy couldn't contain her joy anymore and just broke into a playful gambol, giggling. She was a little surprised when she was greeted with a round of applause. She looked around before spotting Discord grinning a snaggletoothed smile, armed with a can of 'canned applause'. "Well, someone's happy!"
"Oh, hello Discord!" She bounded over to the draconequus to give him a warm and honest hug. 
Discord rolled his eyes, returning the embrace. "Oh hello? No 'ahh, run in fear'? How about a 'we're doomed! Doomed'?"
Fluttershy smiled up at him beatifically. "Nope. Just happy to see you."
Discord's even minor resistance melted away at her joy. "You know, it's completely unfair how you just ooze love and kindness."
Fluttershy blushed a bit, looking at the ground. "S-sorry."
Discord sighed, offering Fluttershy a small cup of hot cocoa in a 'Best Pony' mug. "It's simply horrible how you abuse your cuteness. You are so adorable at even your worst."
Fluttershy peered up at Discord, her lips just over the top of the cup, eyes huge and sparkling. "What do you mean?"
Discord put a hand to his chest, as though wounded. "Hnnnng! Nothing! Nevermind! Turn down the cute!"
Fluttershy giggled, and sipped the cocoa, used to the draconequus' frivolities. "So how was your trip?"
"Oh, you know, spreading chaos and mayhem, undoing decades of peace and joy, finding ancient cursed artifacts and putting them in the hands of those too inexperienced to hope to contain them." He gestured dismissively, Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "The usual of course."
"Discord..."
The draconequus stuck his tongue out. "I set a few small things into motion, and Celestia agreed to a rematch for our grand Pie Battle Royale. Alicorns versus draconequus! I'm thinking we can sell 4d pay-per-view showings."
"Four D?" Fluttershy blinked in surprise.
"Quite amazing technology, here." He put a pair of clear lensed paper glasses on her nose, before letting a television appear in the space before her. Pies flew in every which direction, Celestia and Luna laughing like madmares as they sought to deliver their sugary payloads on their foe. Discord for his part was dressed as a general in an outfit made of candy with a massive candycane serving as a conductor's baton of sort as he gestured a wave of pies into the air at the rulers. Fluttershy recognized this as last month's pie battle. A pie approached the camera, looking quite realistic and close. 
Fluttershy jumped back with a squeak as the pie flew over her head. Discord innocently whistled, looking away. Fluttershy gave him a mildly annoyed glare, which gave way to amused giggles. "It's really too bad Dash doesn't trust you at all. I think she'd love that kind of prank." She removed the glasses. "But I think there should be some kind of warning. Or at least that it's cheap. Or, you know, something to make it safer..."
Discord put on his best wounded expression. "But Fluttershy! They're getting a free souvenir pie! That's value!"
Fluttershy gave him a bemused smile, shaking her head. "You're incorrigible."
"You knew that already." He wagged a finger at the pegasus. "How are things in Ponyville?"
"The usual, as you probably knew already." She smiled up at the draconequus, before frowning and sighing. "Well, almost usual. We haven't had anything going crazy yet, so that's probably coming. But Daring Do was out in the Everfree, with some kind of artifact. She's staying at my cottage for the moment, so if you stop by, please be polite."
The draconequus donned a monocle and adopted a serious mien. "Now when am I ever not polite?"
"Do I need to get Twilight to make a list?" Fluttershy giggled as his monocle popped loose.
"A Twilight list?! We'd both be buried in the paperwork!" Discord shuddered, but smiled when Fluttershy patted him on the leg. "Well, would you like a hand getting home?" A miniature throne appeared in his hands, but Fluttershy shook her head gently. 
"Oh thank you Discord, but it's such a nice day, I figure I'll enjoy the Everfree while the sun is up. I need to go get Dash to meet with Daring, and maybe get Twilight to come take a look at the artifact."
"Suit yourself, but stay safe alright?" The draconequus shrugged with obviously faked disinterest.
"I will. And you stay out of trouble." Fluttershy gave the chaos god a quick nuzzle, resuming her travel with her bucket of supplies. Discord smiled happily, giving a wave before vanishing.


~*~


And reappearing inside Fluttershy's cottage. As usual his sudden appearance caused a small stir with the local animals, but they were at least somewhat more used to him. Discord's eyes roved the room before settling upon the sleeping khaki and black bulk on the couch. "Well, well, well. The famous Daring Do."
Daring snorted awake, one hoof raising the helmet off her eyes as she stared in confusion at Discord. The draconequus regarded her with a similar sort of confusion, leaning in with a frown. "...There's something... off about you."
The pegasus raised an eyebrow at the assessment. "...You do realize how many comebacks you left yourself open for, don't you?" She sized up the draconequis in an obvious manner. Discord waved dismissively.
"Yes yes, but that fact remains that there's something different about you. Sorry, I suppose I should clear up confusion, no matter how much I enjoy it. Fluttershy did ask me to be polite. I am Discord. Lord of Chaos." Lightning flashed behind the draconequis' face, for extra dramatic emphasis.
Daring raised an eyebrow once more, before plopping her helmet back over her eyes. "Daring Do, as you already knew.. And if you're a friend of Fluttershy, then I'm going to assume you're not as bad as you're trying to make yourself out to be."
"Oh come now! Not even a little fear or terror?"
"Nnnnope." Daring allowed herself a smile as she heard Discord huff slightly.
"Nopony is any fun today." The draconequus pouted, heading for the bucket on the counter. "So is this that mysterious artifact Fluttershy was talking about?"
"Y-" Daring shot up from the couch. "Don't touch it!" She blinked, as Discord blinked back, hands on his hips. Her pith helmet tumbled down onto her head serendipitously.
"How crazy do you think I am?" Discord snorted, crossing his arms. "You'd have to be pretty insane to just touch some sort of unknown magical artifact." A white blur leaped up onto the counter, with no small amount of anger. Angel gripped the bucket, and threw the artifact at the unsuspecting draconequus, who vanished in a flash of light. Daring's jaw dropped, staring at the empty space Discord had once occupied, then back at Angel.
"Fluttershy is gonna kill you." Angel made a dismissive gesture.


~*~


Daring Do sighed at the bucket of popcorn she'd left by the typewriter, looking up from yet another book on ancient artifacts. The artifact in question, as far as names went, was a 'tor', a pile of stones, even though it wasn't stacked on a hill like the definition required. It was very specifically crafted, and more or less useless. There were some legends about it, concerning its ability to change the world and whatnot, but a similar amount claimed it only had access to minor spell effects. The ones she had used to hunt it down. So this whole 'cursed typewriter' thing was completely new.
She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. It was this same lack of information that was driving her crazy. If she could remember who this 'Fluttershy' pony was, she could try to figure out if something had happened to them. And the bunny thing just wasn't helping. And waiting for the typewriter to start writing again wasn't turning out to be fruitful. No surprise there. Anyone with a lick of sense wouldn't be using the artifact repeatedly.
Speak of the pony devil. The typewriter had glowed and started clattering away once more. With a smile, Daring walked over, grabbing a hoofful of popcorn to chew on.

The dead end room shimmered once more, the familiar light of the artifact's activation blazing for a moment before revealing something unusual. A creature long thought lost to the annals of history for the horror rendered unto ponykind. The draconequus. Standing about the height of an alicorn, the figure would be difficult to describe at the best of times. He had a deer antler on the right, a blue goat horn on the left, one long fang, different-sized pupils, a snake tongue, a goat beard, and white bushy eyebrows all on a vaguely pony like head. His snake-like torso had the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. Finishing his appearance were a bat's right wing, a Pegasus' left wing, a horse's mane and a dragon-like tail with a white tail tuft. Discord, Lord of Chaos, looked about the small chamber with a frown.
He pursed his lips, before letting out a sigh, grabbing the small collection of stones from the floor and glaring at them. "Remind me to give Angel the worst case of fleas I can find. Maybe give those manticore fleas a new home." He shrugged. "Ah well, back to Fluttershy's then." He snapped his fingers.
Nothing happened.
Discord frowned at his fingers, as though it were their fault for the failure, then sighed, switching hands.
Unsurprisingly, this also caused nothing to happen.
"Well, this is.. inconvenient." Discord sized up the room he was in. It was more of a storage room than anything, with the out of place wall carvings that seemed so popular in the ancient times. The doorway had been blocked by wreckage, presumably from the roof outside. While this meant he was safe, he had to admit that he was unwilling to simply sit still waiting for the artifact to recharge. "And everything has that same.. surreal feeling." He commented to nobody.
His room was rather intact, there was the hole in the wall that Angel had managed to squeeze himself through, the blockaded doorway, and not much else. He began tapping along the walls, noting how there had obviously been some kind of water flow through here at one point, dry moss forming a spongy layer to hold some of the stonework up against the base stone. His eyes traced along the old dry moss to a part of the ceiling that had shifted over the years. Perhaps cement had worn down, or perhaps there hadn't been enough applied in the first place, but the lack of weather-tight seal and the shifting of the stone gave him some sense of progress. He put down the artifact, and applied his upper body strength to the stone overhead. It was just at the edge of his reach, but he could just barely grip it.
He heaved, pushing up against the stone as sand filtered around it. A weaker batch of cement likely lead to this failure. Or perhaps even-
An audible crack filled the room as the stone settled on an old hidden fracture, splitting as Discord stepped out of the way. Fresh rubble tumbled from above, but was thankfully not joined by adjacent stones. With a smile the dracoequus grabbed the artifact, half slithering his way up and out the newly created entry.
"People always forget that I'm still a fit specimen." Discord flexed his arms, producing rather small bulges. "Now then, where are we."
The second floor was much more decayed looking than the first, obvious gaps showing where taproots and vines had bitten their way through weak rock or found other hairline fractures that would have been near impossible to detect in the distant past. There was a sameness of sort to the decorations carved into the walls; what little still hung in place. Sunlight filtered through holes in the roof, aiding the natural destruction of the ruin as plants spawned in the life-giving warmth. Discord frowned, looking around. Nothing hinted at an exit or passageway. With a sigh and a roll of his eyes he set off to his left.
The exterior stone appeared to be as thin as the interior, which was worrying in its own right. No matter how well constructed the thing appeared on the surface, he had had first hand experience with how reliable the construction had been. On the other hand, it had endured up to this point.
He was knocked out of his reverie as a pair of griffons slammed into him, sending him flying into the wall. He grunted in pain on impact, dropping the artifact. A faint glow began to cover the artifact as Discord shook his head, trying to clear the stars dancing in his eyes. "Luna, get out of here, you're drunk!"
Realizing these stars were caused more by blunt force trauma than the familiar mare of the night, Discord righted himself, flexing his fingers as the two griffon warriors stalked towards him. While he would love to make some playful banter at the moment, the fact that they seemed to be trying to hurt him, coupled with his lack of chaotic powers lent itself to executing plan B. He flicked his eyes over to the now glowing artifact, and made a desperate leap for it. The warrior on the left responded with a similar leap.
As the griffon's talons closed on the artifact, Discord's eyes widened, watching as the jungle fighter vanished in a flash of light and a shimmer of air.

Daring frowned as the glow once again receded from the document.

Discord. Wasn't he still in the Canterlot gardens? What's going on?

She sighed, turning away, before hearing the familiar click of the typewriter. One single key. At a time. She turned back to the typewriter with a curious expression, watching an unfamiliar brown aura struggling to form. The keys dropped one at a time, slowly, as if fought against desperately.

"I am Discord. I refuse to be trapped in someone else's game without being given any rules. I've been trapped in stone for over a thousand years. I will not go quietly." The draconequus got to his feet, glaring at nothing, walking past the second griffon guard. The griffon appeared to have frozen solid when the artifact vanished, showing some sort of connection between the world and the artifact. Discord wasn't sure what he would find if he kept walking. But he needed to keep moving. Standing still would just leave him trapped once more.

The magical aura faded, but didn't vanish completely. Daring stared at the typewriter with trepidation.