//------------------------------// // Expeditions // Story: Winds of Construction // by Trickquestion //------------------------------// Twilight had taken another blood pressure rising carriage ride back to her Ponyville castle and spent the last few days making preparations for the first stage of the project: Scouting the Everfree and cataloging its natural wonders. While Celestia had agreed to forward any letters to the appropriate Canterlot offices (allowing Twilight to dragon flame deliver to all government offices) private contractors still needed to be contacted and scheduled in the slow way. Today was the day of the first of those schedules, and any minute now Spike should be showing her first potential hire in. "...Anyway, that's when Celestia said she'd tell me when I'm older." Spike concluded as he opened the door to Twilight's study. "And here we are! The princess will see you now." Spike stood to the side to let the over-dressed pony into the room before making his way out. "She's all yours Twilight!" Once inside the mare removed her large hat, revealing her to be Daring Do, dressed in her K.A. Applegate persona. "Greetings princess. I've read your offer and find myself intrigued." "I'm glad you're considering it Daring Do... or uh, Miss Applegate. I'm going to be honest, I kind of forget which was your real name." Twilight admitted sheepishly. "Since you've called me for dungeon delving and treasure grabbing, Daring Do will... suffice." The adventurer replied. "Unless you intend to hire me as a writer to have this adventure recorded in an biography?" "No no, adventure is what I'll be paying you for." Twilight replied. "Specifically, you'll be one of several working to explore and catalog the ins and outs of the Everfree forest. I've called experts in biology, meteorology, cartography and geology, but you I need for an expert's opinion on the various ruins of the forest, particularly the castle of the twin sisters." Twilight levitated up a sheet of paper. "In addition to living here in the castle as a guest of the crown, this is the payment you'll be receiving over the course of the project." Daring Do spent a minute reading the government contract, found it acceptable, and gestured for a pen to sign it with. "Glad to have you on-board Daring!" Twilight said happily while retrieving the pen from her. "Spike will show you to your room and brief you on the schedule. If you need anything specific, he'll be happy to get it for you." ` Once Twilight was alone again, she retrieved her personal stamp from within the desk, planted her seal upon Daring Do's signed contract, used a basic spell to make a copy of it, attached to it a pre-written form indicating the pony described on the other form was to be registered as a government employee, stapled the sheets together, and had Spike send them to Celestia to be moved on into the churning gears of government bureaucracy. The response was unusually swift, as Spike burped up a letter before he even got halfway across the floor. It was from Celestia personally. My most faithful princess, it read, you are aware Daring Do isn't real, right? She's just a storybook character. The mare you just hired is likely an impostor utilizing the name as part of some scheme or joke. Twilight penned her response just as quickly. Sometimes I forget that the things we write in the friendship journal don't go to you, your majesty. Daring Do and her adventures are actually real. Me and the girls went on an adventure with her. And I'm a long time fan of the series. Two flame spits later and Twilight had Celestia's response. Twilight, are you feeling okay? Has your research into the Everfree casued you any exposure to strange plants or spores lately? Twilight rolled her eyes and wrote back I know its a little bit strange, but Daring Do really prefers to write in privacy and doesn't really enjoy being in the spotlight. I'll magic paste Rainbow's writing in the journal into the end of this letter, and you can see it for yourself in her own hoof-writing. "Alright, after she responds to this one, I'm getting a glass of water." Spike stated before burning up Twilight's next correspondence. Celestia's response was a bit slower then the previous ones, but once it came through, Spike turned on his heels and started the twenty minute trip down to the recently installed kitchen. I sincerely request you forgive my skepticism in the earlier letters. This is not the most unusual thing I have ever been told, and past experiences should have taught me to trust you. Please keep Daring Do within the castle but do not speak to her about this exchange. I am sending a royal representative to clear up a few miscommunications. Twilight wanted to send Celestia a request for clarification, but Spike would not be back from his water break for some time, as this castle was large, unfamiliar, and to Twilight's growing disgust inefficiently designed. Whatever mysterious power was behind the Tree of Harmony obviously wasn't an architect. Nor was it familiar with modern convinces like plumbing, Twilight remembered with a sudden scowl, recalling the unpleasant couple of weeks she had to spend living at Sugarcube Corner while those things were installed. With no Spike, no further visitors and no current paperwork to fill out, Twilight rapidly grew bored and curious waiting for this scene to continue. Her idle wondering about these "miscommunications" quickly turned into a full on panic attack the purple horse came up with dozens of dire and wildly unreasonable scenarios. Twilight was suddenly jolted from her record breaking panic attack by the sound of crystal shattering downstairs. A combination of teleports and gallops later, the purple princess was within the wing she had side aside for guests of the crown, and the source of the continued sounds of conflict. She had arrived just in time to see a small team of royal guards dragging a limp Daring Do away in a net. Several spots on the wall were cracked or shattered, and crystal shards were all over the floor. "Ah, Princess Twilight! Nothing to worry about, the criminal has been apprehended!" One of the guards declared. "Criminal!? Daring Do's not a criminal! She's an adventurer and an award winning author!" Twilight exclaimed. "Actually Princess, Daring Do is a fictional character. She stars in this series about going on adventures and finding treasure..." "I'VE READ THE DARING BOOKS!" Twilight suddenly exploded. "WHY ARE YOU DRAGGING MY GUEST OUT OF MY HOME IN A NET!?" "Princess's orders Princess." The guard replied. "Don't worry though, this will be resolved soon, I'm sure. After all, Daring Do isn't real, and fake people can't be charged with crimes." 1 Week Later "Okay, so, turns out the countries and native people's Daring Do stole all those artifacts from are kind of angry about it and have been on Celestia's back for a really long time to capture the pony responsible. She's also being charged with obstruction of justice for not reporting the long list of crimes she's witnessed, then passing them off as fiction. Fiction that Celestia has apparently hated for awhile now thinking it was cheap sensationalist fictionalizations of artifact thefts that have created serious political consequences for Equestria. Also, she hasn't reported any of her treasure hunting to the tax agency. As punishment, she's had a tracking spell put on her and been ordered to work on this project through to its conclusion, for free, as community service. That's why you get to be Daring Do's coworker, Rainbow Dash." After a week-long slew of more normal interviews, hirings and the legal processing of a fictional character, Twilight Sparkle delivered the above explanation to Rainbow Dash, who the princess wanted on-board to map the forest using her top notch flying skills and extremely sharp senses. Rainbow looked blankly at Twilight for a moment, then let out a dismissive snort. "Is this some kind of nerdy prank or something? I'll admit, you had me for a second there, but your story has one crucial hole in it: How could a bunch of regular royal guards take down THE Daring Do?" "The castle is too cramped to fly in, so once she started resisting arrest they just zapped her a lot with their horns. She still beat a lot of them up pretty badly, which added at least two felonies to her rap sheet." Twilight explained. Rainbow was getting ready for another sarcastic retort, when the adventurer in question walked into the room, with a highly recognizable tracking bracelet around her back left leg. "Hello Rainbow Dash." Daring Do greeted with no enthusiasm in her voice. "Also, we had Doctor Caballeron arrested and sentenced to the same thing, so try to be civil with him should you two run into each other." Twilight added. "You caught Caballeron!?" Rainbow questioned. "But he's a criminal mastermind, a snake in the grass, a master of disguise who knows a dozen languages! How did you..." "He lectures on paleontology in Canterlot." Twilight stated dryly. "We sent some guards to his office. They found him relaxing after a speech on the effects of dung on buffalo history with a bag of chips. He surrendered without a fight. Ahuizotl's still at large, but wanted posters have been printed and put up in every border town in Equestria." With that said, Twilight walked away and Daring moved in to speak to Dash next. "So this is how Daring Do finally meets defeat: Community service." "Well, it's not like this is forever, right? Once we finish up whatever job Twilight needs us all for, you can get right back into it, right?" Rainbow asked. "No, my publisher dropped me. Turns out they're really strict about properly categorizing what genre you're writing for." Daring replied ruefully. "That, and it's kinda my fault that their Manehatten branch got torn up by a bunch of Griffons who came to my office to get back the ashes of some really important emperor of theirs." "What!? Who knows what kind of danger that artifact could pose now that it's in the open!? Who knows what kind of dark magic remains in the ashes of an Emperor-Wizard!?" "Rainbow, the ashes are harmless and the emperor in question is famous because he established the Gryphon parliament. I was using the urn as a door stopper." Daring responded dryly. "Anyway, you're in air scouting and I'm in artifact cataloging so we won't be on many missions together, but I wouldn't mind hanging out over some coffee. Also, I'm uh, not really allowed to leave the castle unescorted. Anyway, I got an orientation I need to visit, so I'll see you later Dash." On her way out, Doctor Caballeron came in through the same door. "Hey Doc." "Daring." Caballeron returned as they passed each other. Feuding with each other seemed to have lost its spark now that they had tracking bracelets stuck on their legs. "Rainbow." He added when passing the element of loyalty, who currently found herself stuck in another friend-or-idol crisis. "Don't you worry Daring Do, Rainbow Dash is going to make sure you beat this rap!"