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// Entry 1: Beginnings and Explanations 
// Story: Daring Do and the Trickster's Brigade 
// by Time Pony Victorious 
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I jumped through the darkness. It was disorientating but I tried my best not to look down out of fear of super-vertigo. I heard my pursuers right behind me, screeching angrily and howling monstrously, it was hard to tell how far away they were, to be honest. They could’ve been ten feet or a hundred feet away from me, this cave was a pain on the senses. 

Although I didn’t need to, I desperately flapped my wings to try to get some distance with little avail. No matter how hard I flapped, I wasn’t moving any faster or going any higher, like the laws of physics didn’t apply to this place. Which it didn’t.

After what felt like forever, I landed on solid ground. Looking down at the supposed ground, I only saw the ever encroaching maw of darkness threatening to swallow me whole, I tried not to let that discourage me.

Looking over my shoulder, those crazy monkeys were still chasing me, with their blood-red glowing eyes like piercing headlights in the endless darkness. I felt my vest which had the sacred idol of the Sun Temple safely tucked away. 

“All of this over a hunk of rock?” I grumbled. Pulling my hat down over my forehead, I took a breath and started to run for it. It’s more than a little confusing running through the nightmarish darkness, there was no straight, left, right, up or down, but if I focused on it too much I could end up tumbling downward toward nothing for all eternity or floating up. 

Instead I remembered Lin Xiao’s advice to focus on straight, if I kept that image of a straight path in my mind then I will never get lost… theoretically. I could be killed before I get lost, but like I said, I tried not to get discouraged.

I ran and ran until my legs felt like jelly being held together by cardboard, my chest burned and I began to feel nauseous. Finally, I burst through the darkness and stepped out into the sunlight that all but blinded me. After being in eternal darkness for what felt like forty years, the afternoon sun pretty much burned my eyes. 

The ancient jungle below me sprawled out all the way out to the horizon with seemingly no end in sight. I took a deep breath, allowing the fresh air to fill my exhausted lungs and took in the scene of this serene, foreign place.

What was I doing here?!

So far from home, on this ancient mountain side that I read in stories of myth and fantastical adventures but here it was, real as daylight. I pulled out the stone statue and gave it another look over.

It was old, but then again most mythological symbols of power was old. And it was pretty small, only the size of my hoof. It was a simple shape craved out of stone, it was probably painted with beautiful colors but it just looked like dirt and grass from here.

I hadn’t read up on the myth behind this statue, but it was of a monkey with a wild look in his eyes that said, “You wanna steal my bananas? I dare you!”

Maybe something like this would be worth enough bits to do what I came for. I couldn’t really understand the worth behind a dusty old statue, but there were hundreds of ponies and griffins and even dragons clamoring over this thing. To me, this thing look more useful as a paperweight.

Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed the exit I came out of disappeared. All that was left was a face of a mountain, that’s the magic of that temple, hidden in plain sight. That probably meant my crazed fans weren’t chasing me anymore, wanting to tear my face off.
Good, I was getting tired of the monkey on my back.

I tucked the monkey statue back in my vest and began to head down the mountain, which isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Sure, I could’ve just flown down but I was exhausted and didn’t want to risk the chance of falling out of the sky. I wouldn’t make for a very pretty puddle.

After about twenty minutes of cursing and bruised hooves, I finally made it to the base. I was at a nice little clearing right before the jungle, a small stream cut through it and it glistened a crystal clear blue. It looked like a perfect spot for a picnic after a near-death experience, to be honest, but I forgot the picnic basket so I headed for the jungle instead.

Last time I cleared the jungle, I nearly died about forty times, so hopefully this time around it’ll be fine. 

As if the universe wanted to prove me wrong, there came the monkeys. They leapt out of nowhere and landed in front of me as stealthy as ninjas, if ninjas had fleas and smelled like death. A dozen or so giant, mutated-looking demon monkeys with massive fangs and ancient bronze armor growled and hissed at me. 

“Oh, horsefeathers…”


~==~


After my third fight in school, Sis insisted that I shape up and find a creative outlet otherwise I would be shipped off to some hoity-toity boarding school out in Armpit, Equestria. She gave me a journel and told me to write whatever came to mind in it. She wasn’t very pleased when she found out my mini fleet of paper airplanes, so, I decided to actually start writing.

Writing was never really my type of game, to be honest. So, you’ll have to excuse my inconsistencies, grammatical errors, and any lack of a coherent train of thought, Frederic (I decided that a journal like this should have a cool name). 

So, I opted for a day to day story-telling type thing, I don’t know how good this will be considering my life isn’t very exciting, you know? But this is way better than boarding school! 

Anyways, sorry, I tend to ramble a lot. My name is Daring Do, I’m 16 years old, this is gonna be a journal on my life at Canterlot School for the Extraordinary. 

This is entry number 1.