//------------------------------//
// chapter 1: Dark Secrets 
// Story: Daring Do and the Philosopher's Stone 
// by PressStart 
//------------------------------//

     Daring Do was flying home from another long adventure. She lost Gin's Goblet in the forever pit and is bummed about it. At least she was going to finally relax for a change. Maybe she could get Pinkie pie to throw a party. None the less, she didn't want to do anything stressful. As she entered her house, she saw that somepony ransacked it. She didn't even have an artifact hidden, at least none she knew about. She got her house after her father passed away. Of course she didn't know anything about her dad, until she  heard that she inherited the house from him. Maybe her dad had something hidden and she needed to find what it was. Beside the point, she didn't even have a place to sleep on, since her bed was slashed to bits. She had no choice, she must sleep at a friend's place for the night. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle was out of the option. They will just have her talk about the quest she went on. Pinkie is to hyper, Applejack lives to far to get there before dark, and Rarity amost likely already closed her boutique. Which left the quiet and gentle Fluttershy, which at the moment seemed like the best choice. All she wanted to do was sleep and Fluttershy will understand her predicament instantly.
It took five minutes to fly to Fluttershy's place, which if she walked it would have been twice as long. She then knocked on the door and hoped that Fluttershy was still awake. She was about to knock again when the door opened up. Fluttershy was standing in the doorway with a sleepy look on her face.
"A. K. Yearling? What are you doing here this late at night?" Fluttershy said in a yawn. Daring Do did a tired smile and said "It's Daring Do and I need a place to sleep for the night. My place was ransacked." Fluttershy signaled Daring Do to come inside.
"Oh, my. You can stay the night. I'll help you clean up tomorrow." Fluttershy said while Daring Do entered the cottage.
"That is very kind of you, but all I'm asking is one nights rest." Daring Do said slumping on the couch. She defiantly forgotten how soft Fluttershy's couch was. Fluttershy shook her head and before going back upstairs to her room she said while yawning again "Nonsense, you don't need to clean up on your own. I'll help." Daring Do was to tired to argue and frankly she didn't care if otherponies helped her clean. 



Daring Do must have been extremely tired, cause when she woke up the sun was in the middle of the sky. She then saw a note on the coffee table. It read "Dear Daring Do, I let you sleep in, because you were snoring away. I already went up ahead, so come when you finish reading this. P.s. if your hungry, you can help yourself to something in the fridge, Fluttershy." She just grabbed a apple from the kitchen and looked at the note again.
"I snore?" She said confused. She then left the cottage quickly flying home. Fluttershy was inside her house with a small filly that didn't have her cutie mark yet. She had a red mane and yellow coat as well as a big red bow on her head. The filly noticed Daring Do and said cheerfully "Hiya, the names Applebloom. Nice to meet'cha." Fluttershy walked up to Daring Do and signaled Applebloom to clean near the fireplace.
"Sorry about that. She wanted to help with the cleaning. We already finished cleaning upstairs though." Fluttershy said hoping that her friend wasn't mad at her. Thankfully Daring Do didn't seem mad. Applebloom was staring at the fireplace while the to mares were having their conversation. She noticed a small dent in the fire place and touched it. It instantly press back into place and a pole like the firestalions slide down appeared out of nowhere. The to mares looked at the fireplace and saw that Applebloom already decided to slide down the pole.
"Wh-what's down there?" Fluttershy asked nervously. Daring Do squinted her eyes and tilted her head before saying "I don't know." Fluttershy now started to panic.
"Wait, you didn't know that was there?" Fluttershy was now in full panic mode and couldn't stop fidgeting with with her mane. Daring Do was now studying the fireplace and replied "First time actually." Fluttershy took a deep breath to hopefully calm her down and said "Wh-what do you think is down there?" Daring Do shrugged and calmly said "Well, only one way to find out." She then slide down the pole leaving Fluttershy alone in the house. Fluttershy then ran to the pole and yelled quietly "Wait for me!" They ended up in a tunnel, Daring Do started to walk down it. Applebloom started following and Fluttershy remained nervously following from the back. It took a long walk down until the came across a metal door that looked like it was bolted shut.
"Well, dead end. I think we should head back now." Fluttershy said tuning around to go back.
"Um, Fluttershy?" Daring Do said. Fluttershy turned around with a awkward smile "Yes?" Daring Do opened up the door and said smiling at her "it's unlocked." Fluttershy then frowned and followed the mane in the room. For some reason the tunnel let to the town hall archives. They walked though the shelves when Applebloom said "Where's that door lead?" Daring Do looked at the door and walked closer. The door had her cutie mark on it, which confuse her. 
"Daring? You okay?" Applebloom asked, but didn't get an answer. Daring Do opened up the door and inside was a note on a small table. There was literally nothing else in the room. She approached the note and started to read out loud, "Dear Daring Do, if you are reading this then I have failed the stop my ex-partner Dilrous from getting the artifact. I hoped it didn't come to this, but I need you to destroy that device that makes the Philosopher's Stone. If made then through it in a volcano. Don't get pick, any volcano will do. The stone grants internal life at a cost. One thousand lives must be sacrificed and it doesn't have to be pony life's. Please do this. Your papa, Raring Do." Daring Do clinched her teeth and said to herself angrily "A stone like that shall never be named. I'll make sure of it." She then turned around pushing past the other to girls who stood stunned at what they heard Daring Do say. First things first, she needed to pack for expadition.