//------------------------------// // 147. Daring Don't - Part 1 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// To say things went back to normal in Ponyville might have been stretching it. When Midnight returned to Sweet Apple Acres, it felt surreal, for in this life it was actually the first time he’d been there. Yet he’d lost count of how many times he’d been there in his dreams, in his memories. But the memories helped in re-establishing old patterns and before long things began to feel as they were. Not long after Celestia and Sombra’s wedding, the girls had all gone to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Not together however. Twilight, along with Spike, had gone to search its ancient library for information on the mysterious box from the Tree of Harmony after her own proved useless in finding anything out about the box, the keys, or even about the new Elements of Harmony that had chosen the guys. Rainbow Dash and Applejack went to the castle to prove which of them the Most Daring Pony was. Rarity asked Fluttershy to come with her to the castle to collect and restore its ancient tapestries. Pinkie had followed Rarity and Fluttershy but wound up playing a pipe organ. After a myriad of madness, the girls convened and discovered a journal that once belonged to the Royal Sisters. Inspired, they decided to make one of their own to detail their exploits and lessons in Friendship. Midnight had caught up with his family on Sweet Apple Acres in the ways they always had. Or at least they had with his old self. He’d done chores with Big Mac `round the farm, applebucked with Applejack, kept a close eye on Apple Bloom, helped Granny Smith make delicious apple treats, and spent a lot of time with Twinken. At Pepper Ponies, Midnight mmm’d in exuberant satisfaction of the slice, the guys watching him in amusement as they sat at their usual table “Oh…!” he shuddered after a swallow. “It’s even better than I remember!” “When was the last time you had a slice of Pepper Pony’s?” Thunderlane asked. “For you all, it was a few weeks ago,” Midnight gulped down another bite, “for me? …Over twenty years.” The guys all laughed at Midnight’s joke, realizing it was funny because it was probably true. “So then, Midnight,” Blueblood levitated his Element up onto the table, the rest putting their up as well. “Have you any indication as to what our Elements represent?” Midnight sighed, “I’m afraid not. I can sense they have the same magic as the old Elements of Harmony, but each of them had a uniqueness in their mystic signatures. Probably because they already had something to represent, which leads me to believe these Elements are… blank canvasses, if you will.” “Blank canvasses?” Soarin gave his a look, his face reflecting through all the facts. “Think of the old Elements – Generous, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty,” Midnight explained, “and of course, Magic, and mine, Faith. While the first few six were the girls’ elements, mine and these ones apparently go together somehow, as mine set itself into that weird box from the Tree of Harmony. When it did, it transformed to completely mirror my cutie-mark.” “So what’re ya sayin’, haystack?” Big Mac asked. “I’m saying, I think each of you have to discover what your Elements represent for yourselves!” Midnight shrugged, the guys looking at their elements with varying looks. “Alright, enough business talk, Mac! When is the big wedding, bro?” That one got some attention as all eyes turned to Big Mac, who sighed. “`Shy n’ Ah’re thinkin’ of havin’ it durin’ Fall, since tha’ was the season when we met. One o’ th’ problems is, who’s gon’ be th’ pastor, my best pony, her mare of honor, an’ Ah still don’ have a place t’ take her fer our honeymoon!” “Where is Fluttershy now?” Blueblood asked. “She’s teachin’ some baby birds t’ fly,” Big Mac sighed happily, “Seein’ her care fer’ animals like they’re her foals… It sends muh heart a’flutter!” “Speaking of sending hearts aflutter,” Soarin chuckled, “have you guys seen Rainbow Dash lately?” “Please, don’t bring her up,” Blueblood grumbled, “if she comes up and asks me how excited I am for the next Daring Do book, one more time…!” “Aw Blue, don’t be such a spoilsport,” Thunderlane socked him in the arm, the honorary prince stifling a yelp. “I think it’s cool how Dash has become such an avid reader after all that flak she gave others, saying ‘reading’s for eggheads’. Heh! Remember when she hurt her wing and was in the hospital for a few days, she got into ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’-” “Oh! Oh! That was when she got so into the book,” Midnight interrupted, “that every time any of us visited her, she’d try and get rid of us as quickly and discreetly as possible, not wanting to admit she loved reading.” “Really?! She never told me that,” Soarin chuckled, liking where this was going. “Then I guess she never told you that, once the few days were up,” Midnight went on, “Rainbow was discharged from the hospital before she could finish the story!” “She tried to get back into the hospital without revealing her actual reason,” Thunderlane added, “and she got so desperate that…!” Midnight, Thunderlane, and Macintosh all chuckled at the memory, Soarin and Blueblood leaning in as Blueblood said, “Well, go on!” “Heh! She broke into the hospital, stole the book,” Midnight laughed, “got caught in the process and led the hospital staff on a chase through town until they stopped in front of the library! The doctor thought Rainbow had been trying to steal slippers!” “Eeyup, but Rainbow came clean, but had felt like a hypocrite fer enjoyin’ readin’ after all th' flak she said about it,” Big Mac clarified. “However, we told Rainbow it was cool except for her stealing from a hospital rather than tell the truth,” Thunderlane shrugged. “Twilight let Dash borrow her own copies of the Daring Do books and Dash apologized to the doctor for the trouble she’d caused.” Soarin and Blueblood both chuckled when they heard a familiar “LOOK OUT!” The warning was followed by a loud thump so loud it spurred them to run to its source. They found Rainbow Dash sitting in eye-rolling daze on a tree branch, two birds twittering around her head. Fluttershy came down to explain, “I’m not so sure she can last another four months waiting for the next book!” The guys all looked at Rainbow again, shared comprehending looks, and struggled to keep straight faces until they all burst out into laughter. A few days later, Big Mac woke up feeling sick. He groaned irritably at the sunlight peering in through the windows, cursing Celestia’s sun as he got up and found himself sitting in an unfamiliar setting, his friends all groaning as they laid about Midnight’s old personal chamber in their cider and/or nectar-induced pass-outs. Last night’s events came back to Big Macintosh as he remembered his buddies wrapping a blindfold around his eyes, feeling them all huddle, the rush of being teleported, and when the blind was removed, Midnight revealed they were throwing Mac a surprise bachelor party! At first, Big Mac had been rather reluctant to a night of vice and debauchery but they convinced him in the end, and reflecting back he wondered where he went wrong and how so much could happen in one night. Like how Thunderlane flirted with some twin sisters and got wing-slapped, how Blueblood ordered a drink called a Pink Pussy and the guys couldn’t stop making lewd jokes at his choice of drink, Midnight getting so hammered he couldn’t stop tripping over his long tail, how they wound up at Donut Joe’s and Midnight used his royal status to charge Joe’s stock to the castle. He dimly recalled their sneaking into the castle and it having something to do with eggs and Luna’s mane. Afterwards Big Mac was certain he’d thrown said to the animals in the Royal Gardens some rather nasty curse words for avoiding Fluttershy back at the gala. And now that his head was a little clearer, he could see Blueblood’s diamond-white coat was splattered with a poor dye job of green that he wouldn’t have, in his right mind, ever even considered. It had been fun, mortifying, something he never wanted to go through again. A loud and lingering fart snapped him out of his waking daze and the groan of Soarin as he woke up indicated satisfaction. “Ohh…! That feels so much better…” “Oh goddess…!” groaned Blueblood as he was startled awake and suddenly preferred to still be out over the fetid rank he smelled and terrible hangover he was feeling. “What in the name of my aunt happened last night…?” “I don’t know, but…” Midnight had a strange look as he woke up, “Is… there something on my…!!!” Everypony looked and couldn’t help but giggle when they saw Thunderlane, still asleep, chewing on the tufted end of Midnight’s tail, much to his disgust. “ACK!!” He whipped it out of Thunderlane’s mouth and then used it to whip him in the face, startling him awake with a frightened bray. The hangover kicked in on him, making him groan, “Ugh! What hit me…?” “AUGH!” Blueblood gaped at the green splotch on his coat. “Blasphemy! Corruption! Who dares to besmirch my pristine coat?!” “Uh, you did?” Midnight reminded him with an irritable tone, “After that bet you lost?” “Oh… right…” Blueblood took in his friends and their sorry states before stating, “Let us all agree that what happened last night stays between us and will never… happen… again.” “Amen to that,” Midnight conjured some aspirin that he generously passed around. “Not a problem,” Thunderlane spit out some of the hairs from Midnight’s tail. “Eeyup,” Big Mac accepted an aspirin. “At least until the next time one of us gets hitched!” amended Soarin, earning him several pillows in the face. One of which, unfortunately, had vomit still drying on it. After the aspirins did their work and they all got cleaned up, the guys enjoyed a breakfast and caught the next train home. Arriving at Ponyville Station, the guys laughed as they started making their way into town. “I can’t remember the last time I went out on the town like that,” Soarin chuckled. “Really? A big famous Wonderbolt like you?” poked Midnight with a teasing smirk. “Well, my courses took up a lot of my free time,” Soarin defended, “as a matter of fact I have a paper on weathering I need to get started on.” “Before we all return to our regular lives,” Thunderlane proposed, “howsabout we grab a sweet from Sugarcube Corner? My treat!” “That sounds rather splendid, my good man,” Blueblood said thankfully, Big Mac agreeing, “Eeyup.” Upon arriving at the bakery, Carrot Cake noticed them and said, “Well howdy-hey boys! What can I getcha?” “Hello Mr. Cake,” Midnight greeted, “we’re just gonna grab a table and order.” “Sure thing, be right with ya,” Carrot Cake assured as he took care of another customer. As the boys settled at a table, Cup Cake came up, saying, “Hello, dearies, what can I get’cha?” “Good day, Mrs. Cake,” Blueblood said kindly before looking around for a certain party pony, “I say, isn’t it usually Pinkie’s job to take orders at your customers’ tables?” “Oh! I almost forgot,” Cup Cake fished out a folded up paper from her apron, “the girls all went off somewhere, Pinkie asked me to give you all this note.” Blueblood accepted it, all the guys’ eyes turning to it but Cup Cake asked again, “What’ll you have, dears?” After ordering a round of shakes, Thunderlane asked, “What’s it say, Blue?” Blueblood cleared his throat and read: ‘Hi Boys! Sorry I’m not here to take your orders for you, and I hope Big Mac had a spectacular bachelor party!’ “Does anypony else find it just a tad freaky we asked that same thing?” Thunderlane brought up but the guys all shrugged since, after all, it was Pinkie. Blueblood furrowed his brows and scoffed, “It goes on in a myriad of convoluted sayings that would make sense only to the writer… Oh! But wait, it appears Twilight wrote a p.s. at the bottom.” “Really? What is it?” Midnight asked as he began sipping his shake and Blueblood read it aloud. “‘So basically, the girls and I are off to go meet AK Yearling-’” “PPBBTHHTH!!!” Midnight’s shake wound up all over the guys as he yelled, “WHAT?! They’re going to see AK Yearling?!?” He was answered by some sticky stink eyes from his friends that he shrank sheepishly and cast a cantrip that cleaned them all right quick. Getting cleaned did not stop Soarin from demanding, “Say it what caused you to spray it.” “Yeah, Night, I mean… What’s the big deal about the girls going to see AK Yearling?” Thunderlane asked. “`Cuz to be honest, I’m a little jealous!” “No time to explain,” Midnight got up, “we need to catch up with the girls ASAP!” “Midnight…” Blueblood said with a low tone, “we spent last night cavorting about Canterlot, acting out vice after vice, we woke up quite hungover and in embarrassing positions, and just took a train ride home. I would very much like to return to my abode to relax and get back to a novel I’ve wanted to finish lately. So if I’m to put my leisure time on hold after going through a night like last night, I would very much like to know why…” “Ohhh…!” Midnight groaned, “Fine! I’ve met AK Yearling, okay?!” “You’ve met the AK Yearling?!” Soarin smiled like a fan-boy, only for Midnight to dash the moment. “Yes, and trouble follows that mare everywhere she goes,” Midnight said, getting urge-y for things to move along. “The girls could very well be walking into danger- Let’s GO.” As it turned out, not only did Midnight know where AK Yearling lived, somepony had been kind enough to leave a trail. A red painted trail, to be specific. As the stallions walked through the woods, Soarin asked, “Not that I’m complaining, it was convenient an’ all, but… who would paint a red trail all the way to AK Yearling’s house?” “I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count,” chuckled Thunderlane, and he was answered by a collective of four stallions. “Pinkie Pie.” “Pinkie Pie.” “Pinkie Pie.” “Pinkie Pie.” “Still, I really don’t get what kind of trouble a famous author like AK Yearling could get into,” Thunderlane brought up. “Given this remote part of Equestria, it feels like she’s trying to avoid trouble.” “You’d be surprised…” Midnight then stopped and pointed ahead, “We’re here.” The guys all stood up beside Midnight and looked ahead to see a quaint hay-roof cottage with a chimney. However, the furniture thrown outside and askew as well as the door nearly ripped off its hinges started to give Midnight’s words some credence, as he said, “And it looks like the trouble she was trying to avoid was unavoidable.” “Fluttershy!” Big Mac galloped forward, the guys quickly following as they all started yelling for the girls. “Twilight!” "Rarity!” “Dash?” “AJ, Pinkie!” When nopony answered, Midnight entered the house, the guys following, and they saw the inside turned out to be a little worse than the outside. Books and tchotchkes lay scattered about, a desk thrown over, a mirror webbed with cracks, but what got Midnight’s attention was a book that didn’t look like a book. “If this is AK Yearling’s house, where is she?” “Why would anypony do this to AK Yearling? Isn't she just an author?” “Whudda `bout th’ girls?! Where’re they?” “Well, given the state of this house, I would say somepony came here looking for something.” “And they might have found it,” Midnight held up the book which didn’t look right. They all looked to see the binding on its spine came off and the cover opened the wrong way, showing the book was really a compartment, and given the fact it was designed to look like a book, “something was hidden in this book-safe, but now it’s empty.” “AK Yearling turned one of her books into a secret compartment?” Thunderlane spoke incredulously. “What kind of author is she?” “One I’m pretty sure I can track,” Midnight levitated the compartment/book and levitated himself as he closed his eyes. “With this being a belonging of Da- I mean-! ...Ahem, a belonging of AK Yearling, I should be able to determine her location or something that can point us in the right direction.” “But whudda `bout th’ girls?” Big Mac protested. “I’m pretty sure if we find Yearling we’ll find the girls too. Now be quiet, I need to concentrate,” Midnight took a deep breath as his horn glowed. To the guys, it looked like Midnight was floating in meditation, but really, Midnight was spreading his sphere of influence, seeing his surroundings outlined with light in his mind, sensing the life energies of his friends, looking past them and as he concentrated he saw it! It was faint but it was definitely there. His eyes opened and he dropped the compartment/book and alighted onto the floor. “I’ve got us a link to AK Yearling, let’s move!” He ran out the door, the guys following as Midnight followed a faint thread of golden light visible only to his eyes.