The guys traveled through the woods for a couple hours, noting how late it was as the moon reached its zenith.
“Oh Ah hope th’ girls’re alright,” worried Big Mac.
“I’m sure they’re cool, Mac,” Soarin assured, “they’re big girls after all. An’ Dash can handle herself in any tussle.”
“Regardless, it is worrying for them to be out in these woods so late,” Blueblood debated. “Not to mention this business concerning AK Yearling!”
His rising tone caught Midnight’s attention, making him sigh.
“Look, guys, I’m sorry for being secretive, but… The reason I freaked out about the girls going to see AK Yearling is because she’s-”
“Shh!” Big Mac shushed everypony and made a show of cupping his hoof around his ears, prompting them all to do the same.
“…quite a steal, eh boss?”
“Indeed my friends! With these riches I am happy to say we can look forward to a long and relaxing vacation.”
“Heh yeah! And that meddlin’ Do gets t’ take it up with that freak Ahuizotl!”
The guys carefully poked their heads through a thick bush and saw a clearing centered with a campfire, some shelters set up over cot beds, and surrounding the fire were four shady-looking earth pony stallions. Three of them sat on the ground while the oldest, apparently their leader, sat on a folding chair.
He was middle-aged with thick eyebrows, five o’clock shadow, he wore a safari-style shirt with an orange/white polka-dotted ascot, and his cutie-mark was a golden skull with gems for eyes. His coat was grayish-brown and his graying black mane sweptback and greasy looking.
Next to him was a heft-looking bag of bits!
“Wait, did one of those guys just say ‘Ahuizotl’?” Soarin asked in a hushed voice.
“And that guy with the bits…” Thunderlane added, “He kinda reminds me of…”
“Shh! They’re still talking!” Midnight hushed and they listened.
“Weren’t it risky though, boss?” said the marble white pony wearing shades to the leader. “We got away with it an’ all, but all those mares witnessed the whole thing, especially that rainbow one.”
“Calm yourselves, hench-ponies,” the leader scoffed in a distinct accent. “By the time any of them or even Do decides to meddle in our affairs again we shall be long gone, or my name is not Dr. Caballeron!”
“Dr. Caballeron?!” Soarin gawked, Big Mac and Blueblood putting their hooves on his mouth to shut him up while Midnight quickly threw up a sound-proofing barrier as the four stallions look their way.
“Did any of you hear something?” Caballeron asked, his thugs shrugging or muttering inconclusively. “Pah, must be just some local wildlife.”
In the bushes, Midnight was hissing to Soaring, “Are you trying to get us caught?!”
“But he- Was tha- Midnight!” Soarin was geeking out but trying to use his inside-voice, “Is that really the Dr. Caballeron?! The black-marketeering archaeologist from ‘Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams’?!”
“If I remember right, he wanted to partner with Daring Do but she refused, “Thunderlane pondered, “and it turns out it was because Caballeron wanted to use Daring to find priceless artifacts for him to steal and sell.”
“But that’s just a book, a fictional story!” Blueblood insisted but threw a questioning look towards Midnight.
“…Isn’t it?”
All eyes were on Midnight, whose eyes nervously shifted left and right before he sighed in defeat.
“OK, yes, that is Dr. Caballeron, and… the reason I freaked out when the girls said they went to see AK Yearling is because… AK Yearling and Daring Do are one and the same!”
“Wait, Daring Do is real?!” Soarin geeked out again.
“An' she is AK Yearlin’?” added Big Mac.
“Guys, I promise to explain more but we gotta learn more,” Midnight swore, “and we’ll do that by questioning Caballeron.”
“I kinda doubt they’ll willingly tell us anything, Midnight,” Blueblood peered out at Caballeron and his boys, the rest of the guys looking on. “I’ve read enough Daring Do books to know that Caballeron isn’t the sharing type.”
“Trust me, I’ve dealt with Caballeron before,” Midnight assured, the guys looking at him in wonder as he smirked.
“But I know these types well enough – Caballeron and his thugs are cowards. All we need is a show of strength. Here’s what we’re gonna do…”
Caballeron and his thugs resumed the dinner they were having earlier, enjoying some premium hay, when…
“Hello, boys! Working hard or hardly working?”
They all startled and looked to see…
“Midnight Blaze!” Caballeron was instantly worried, his thugs quickly at his sides. “Now what is royalty like you doing in a place like this?”
“I’m looking for some friends of mine,” Midnight said slyly, “perhaps you’ve seen them?”
“That depends, Blaze,” Caballeron said warily, “I’ve run into several characters recently.”
“Oh well, there’s one friend I’m sure you could point me towards,” Midnight made a show of polishing his hoof and blowing on it. “Where’d ya get the bits?”
“I’ll have you know I earned these bits from a recent… transaction,” Caballeron stated.
“An illicit transaction, I’d wager,” Midnight poked a hole in Caballeron’s alibi. “What’d you steal from Daring Do’s house, Caballeron?”
“Now, now, Your Highness…” Caballeron signaled his thugs to prepare for a tussle. “It ill-becomes royalty to throw such unfounded accusations.”
“If my accusation is unfounded, Caballeron, then just tell me what you sold to get those bits,” Midnight pressed with a raised brow and smirk.
“I would move along and pretend this conversation never took place, Blaze,” Caballeron all but threatened. “You may be an alicorn but you are outnumbered!”
“Am I…?” Midnight all but challenged, and at his words, Big Macintosh, Thunderlane, Blueblood, and Soarin appeared from the surrounding foliage, surrounding Caballeron and his thugs.
Almost at once, the black-marketer and his hench-ponies were on edge as Midnight said in a condescending tone, “It’s your choice, Caballeron – The easy way or the hard way, but be warned!”
Caballeron was disturbed by the dark magic taint flowing from Midnight’s eyes as he exposed his fangs, “I do hope you choose the hard way…”
At once did the standoff begin, Caballeron knowing he was outnumbered and out of his league. Looking at Midnight’s friends he could see they were no pushovers though his hench-ponies weren’t the sort one would like to meet in a dark alley. But he’d tangled with Midnight once before and had hoped never to run into him again.
“Get them!!!”
At the command of their employer, the three hench-ponies jumped at the nearest target. The large gray stallion with an orange mane and sideburns got apple-bucked by Big Mac, the brown stallion with a fedora blown away by Thunderlane and Soarin, and the stallion wearing the shades was given a good telekinetic trouncing by Blueblood.
As his goons were getting creamed, Caballeron tried to sneak away with the bag of bits, only for a shadowy tendril to ensnare him around his barrel and bring him to the face of Midnight, whose expression was like ‘really?’. Chuckling nervously, Caballeron said, “N-Now Prince Midnight, we’re all reasonable ponies here- Ack!!”
Caballeron 'ack'd as he felt the shadowy snare around him tighten uncomfortably as Midnight said, “Yes, doctor, and I’m sure you can consider your continued good health reason enough to tell me what I want to know.”
In no time at all, Caballeron and his boys were tied up and bound together, as the guys all glared at Caballeron, Midnight saying, “I won’t ask again, Caballeron – What did you steal from Daring Do and who else was there at the time?”
Sighing in defeat, Caballeron came clean.
“We stole a Ring of Scorcherro from Daring Do, and were planning to sell it to Ahuizotl. A bunch of mares were there but simply watched the whole thing. Since they did not trouble us, we did not trouble them. Then, as we were eating before going to the rendezvous with Ahuizotl, Daring Do appeared to us in disguise and bought the ring though not a moment later did Ahuizotl arrive. We grabbed our money and left before their conversation turned… less than civil.”
“Thank you for your cooperation,” Midnight said before muttering a spell that made Caballeron fall unconscious with the rest of his thugs. Midnight turned to the others, “Do any of you have a quill or pencil I could use?”
“Right here,” Blueblood levitated a pencil from his saddlebags, “but what do you need it for?”
Midnight conjured a piece of paper and wrote, ‘To those it may concern, I am guilty of black-marketing, thievery, assault, and other crimes and should be arrested by the proper authorities or members of the Royal Guard, by order of Prince Midnight Blaze’.
Midnight stuck the note to Caballeron and made him and his cohorts vanish in a wisp of shadowy smoke.
“Where’d you send `em?” Thunderlane asked.
“To the nearest town,” Midnight explained, “and with that note, I have a good feeling by the time they wake up it will be behind bars.”
“Well, with those chumps out of the way,” Blueblood said, “let’s go over what we’ve learned. Apparently, the girls were there when Caballeron and his brutes stole this… Ring of Scorchero from Daring Do.”
“Yeah, to sell it to Ahuizotl,” Soarin added with a troubled look, “but I can’t remember what it is about the ring why Ahuizotl wants it so bad.”
“Because with the Rings of Scorchero,” Midnight clarified, “Ahuizotl would be able to gain dominion over the Tenochtitlan Basin; he’s been after it since Book 3.”
“Right, but in Book 4,” Big Mac spoke up, “Darin’ Do beat Ahuizotl an’ got control o’er th’ Amulet of Atonement, undoin’ th’ dark magic of th’ Quetzalcoatl Empress, which allowed her t’ protect th’ basin wit’ th’ Radiant Shield o’ Razdon.”
The rest of the guys were a little surprised by Big Mac’s speaking up with a rush of words but Midnight debated, “Except the Radiant Shield of Razdon is vulnerable to the dark enchantment imbued within the Rings of Scorchero.”
“But Ah thought th’ Rings o’ Schorchero were scattered t’ th’ four corners o’ Tenochtitlan, makin’ their bad mojo nothin’ t’ worry about?” Big Mac protested, at this point the guys following his and Midnight’s debate like a ping-pong match.
“Well then we must assume the rings have since been retrieved,” Midnight declared, “and if the ring Caballeron stole is the last needed to complete the dark tower, Ahuizotl will control their dark hold over Tenochtitlan!”
“Uh, guys…?”
The two looked to the rest of their friends as Thunderlane said, “That was kinda hard to follow, and Mac? Stick to the ‘eeyups’.”
Midnight and Big Mac groaned in irritation as Midnight said, “Simply put, the ring could be the last thing Ahuizotl needs to subject the Tenochtitlan Basin to eight centuries of relentless heat! And if I know the girls, I bet they’ll be on their way there to help Daring stop Ahuizotl. We’re off to the Fortress of Talacon!”
“Now wait just a minute!” Thunderlane protested, “Midnight, you’ve kept secrets lately and honestly, it’s getting… frustrating!”
“I agree, Midnight,” Blueblood added. “You weren’t entirely forthcoming with the apparent dangers the girls would be getting into until we came up Caballeron and admitted AK Yearling and Daring Do are the same pony.”
“We wanna know how you and Daring know each other,” Soarin brought up.
“Eeyup!” Mac nodded.
Seeing all eyes on him and realizing the tension building, Midnight sighed, “Alright, I’ll tell you, but along the way.”
With Midnight taking point the guys hurried off deeper into the remote environment.
“As I told you guys before, during my years hiding my existence from Equestria, I later did missions for Celestia, things you might consider black ops.”
“You were like a spy?” Soarin asked.
“Something like that, yeah,” Midnight admitted, “and one of my missions took me to the Griffon Kingdom…”
- Flashback -
His hood up, his shadow blade ready, Midnight watched as the cult of griffons gathered around somepony tied to a chair with a bag over their head, the prisoner situated in front of an altar, upon which stood a reverent goblet. It looked like a fantastic treasure but Midnight knew the wretched thing’s history – It had been created from the horns of unicorns this bloodthirsty cult mercilessly slew ages ago. Its power could make those who drank from it very dangerous.
The ceremonial leader declared, “This inferior creature has dared insult our sacred order in attempting to steal the Goblet! For this blasphemy, she must pay in blood!”
“Kill her!”
“Boil her!”
“Stick her with a spit and roast her over an open fire!”
The griffons screeched and roared until the leader raised his wings to quell the impending riot.
“Here before our brothers and sisters, this wretch shall pay dearly, but we are not wholly without heart… Remove the bag!”
A griffoness walked up to the prisoner and removed the bag over her head, and Midnight gawked to see, Daring Do?!
It was Daring Do indeed, the famous treasure-hunter from the book series, and unless this was some fan taking things too far she looked to be the real deal.
The leader looked down on Daring, chuckling in condescending disbelief, “I don’t believe this… Daring Do? The book character? Well, it has been said truth can be stranger than fiction. I care not your reasons for trying to purloin our treasure but I will hear any pleas for mercy.”
“The only thing you’ll hear…” Daring lowered her eyes and voice, the cult leader leaning in, only to get the underside of his beak smacked up as Daring flipped out of her chair and knocked the cult leader for a loop as she shouted, “is the sound of me making tracks!”
The cultists all screeched as thy lunged at Daring! But with honed skills and nerves of steel did she take them out, fighting with the hoof-fu techniques she learned in Shang-Hay!
From where he was, Midnight watched in marvel as the famous explorer he’d thought to be only a literary work of fiction took down the entire cult singlehoofedly! Before long, the cultists were knocked out, groaning in pain, or in a daze, and Daring Do swiped the Goblet, unaware that the cult leader was creeping up behind her, his talons bared…!
*SHUNK*
Daring gasped at the sound of something sharp sinking into flesh and turned to see the cult leader, in shock before he tumbled over, revealing a feather-shaped blade of darkness sticking from out of his back and gasped to see it dissolve into shadowy vapor. A flap of wings caught her attention and she turned to see a Hooded Pony. She tensed, ready for a fight, when the stranger lowered his hood.
“Daring Do? Midnight Blaze,” he held out his hoof with a friendly smile. “Big fan of your work!”
A little confused but instinct telling her this pony was no threat, Daring smiled and gladly shook hooves with him.
- Flashback ends -
“…and that’s how we met,” Midnight wrapped it up as they were making their way through the Forbidden Jungle. “I told Daring Do a few things about myself, that Celestia had asked me to look into some whispers of a griffon cult, and wouldn’t you know it, there she was!”
“Hey, that was ‘Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet’!” Soarin pointed out, Midnight nodding in confirmation.
“Yep, and I kept Daring’s secret and helped her out. We worked together again in ‘The Razor of Dreams’, which is when I first met Caballeron.”
“Wait, were you… Flint O’Canter, the unicorn archaeology student in ‘The Razor of Dreams’?!” Soarin was having a fanboy moment, and whooped when Midnight nodded yes.
“Daring wanted to note my help in the adventure but I asked her to give me an alias in the book,” Midnight clarified, “to keep my existence secret.”
“Incredible!” commented Blueblood, “So then... all of Daring Do’s adventures really happened!”
“They did indeed,” Midnight went on. “Daring gave me permission to tell Celestia about her and the Princess helped Daring Do better hide her dual-identity and even provided her aid for her work.”
“Look!” Thunderlane pointed ahead through the thick and humid foliage and they gasped at the archaeological marvel before them, the infamous and massive Fortress of Talacon!
Deep within the fortress, her limbs fastened to a wall and suspending her above a pool of water, in which she could see carnivorous fish swimming about, Daring Do shouted as she struggled to get loose, “Surrender now, Ahuizotl, otherwise I swear I’ll take you down!
Her threat was answered by a nasty laughter and she looked up to a platform at a doorway from which did appear the wicked Ahuizotl! A fearsome beast who looked to be a blend of panther and monkey but with a rat-like face, he wore a golden collar, armlets over his biceps, he had a black coat and blue chest and hands, as well as a third hand at the end of his tail. Ahuizotl grinned like a crocodile as he mocked, “Oh Daring Do, I will so miss your amusing laughter-jokes!”
As he laughed, Daring Do growled to see the villain clutched the last Ring of Scorchero as he declared, “But now I must leave you to commence the ring-placing ceremony, to unleash… eight hundred years of unrelenting sweltering heat!!”
Daring do gasped to see Ahuizotl pull a cord, releasing a torrent of water from a pipe-opening, and he turned to leave, cackling as his tail-hand waved goodbye, and Daring Do watched as the piranha-infested pool slowly but surely began to rise!
Seeing the little monsters start jumping and snapping, Daring wasted no time and noticed her bindings were each connected to a brick in the wall they fastened her to. Driven by self-preservation and the goal to save the basin, Daring pulled each of her limbs outward, succeeding first with her hind legs and then her right foreleg. However, they were still bound to the bricks, weighing her down, so the water and the piranhas were getting closer!
She looked up to her left foreleg, seeing it bound, sweating as she grunted, dislodging the brick until she was free!
She just barely managed to flap her wings hard enough to stay aloft but doom was literally snapping at her heels when…!
“Gotcha!”
Daring Do felt hooves hoist her up towards the platform Ahuizotl had been standing at, and she looked to see her rescuer was a snappy Rainbow Dash!
“You can flap too, y’know!”
Helping along, Daring flapped her wings and Rainbow settled her onto the platform, the both of them sighing in relief.
“I was just about to save myself y’know,” Daring snapped back as she slammed the bricks her legs were still bound to, to pieces, freeing her entirely.
“Of course,” Rainbow scoffed, “I just thought you might need this.”
Daring felt something bump her leg and saw it was her pith helmet and threw a surprised look to Rainbow Dash but quickly hardened it as she donned her helmet, “Have I mentioned yet that I work alone?”
“Have I mentioned yet that you’re lucky I don’t?” Rainbow sassed in such a way Daring could only sigh and smile a bit.
“C’mon! Ahuizotl’s about to begin placing the last ring!” Daring galloped down the hall, followed by Rainbow.
In the main chamber of the Fortress, Ahuizotl oversaw the ceremony, the tribal ponies rhythmically banging the bottom ends of their spears in anticipation while two held the last Ring of Scorchero to join the rest stacked around the sacred pedestal, the sun bearing down, awaiting to unleash eight hundred years of relentless heat! The tribal ponies were all earth pony stallions with tribal wears, some of them wearing war-paint, all of them with stony gazes as they awaited the completion of the ceremony!
Unbeknownst to them all, in the doorway of the entry point to the chamber, the girls (minus Rainbow Dash) had just arrived and saw what was going on. Ahuizotl sneered, after so many years, so much time and effort, his moment of triumph was at hand! He cackled in relish of his victory almost completely in his grasp-
“Drop th' ring, Ahui… Whatever yer name is!”
Ahuizotl and the tribal ponies gawked to see the girls run in, the villain growling to the two ponies holding the ring, “Place the ring, quickly!”
Pinkie bounced over and leapt onto the top of the pedestal, knocking the two ponies away and getting the last ring, which she loop-dee-hooped before kicking it away and jumping away from the pedestal, easily dodging Ahuizotl’s grasping tail.
“Get it!!”
At once, it became an intense game of keep-away, Applejack kicking the ring upwards and dodging a couple tribal ponies who tried to pony-pile her. One however tripped her with his spear and grabbed the ring in his teeth before throwing it to Ahuizotl. Fluttershy quickly intercepted the ring and flapped away from Ahuizotl, dropping the ring onto Twilight’s horn, as she dodged Ahuizotl, and skidded to a halt. She smirked and teleported out of the way of two tribal ponies who tried to jump her, and then ran from some others.
In the chaos, Rainbow Dash and Daring Do arrived and quietly made their way to the pedestal with the rest of the Rings of Scorchero.
“Help me get all these rings off!” Daring pressed, Rainbow nodding, and the two pegasus mares started lifting the rings off the pedestal.
At the moment, a tribal pony used his spear to almost get the ring from Fluttershy, only for Applejack to apple-buck his spear away and make off with the ring, only for another tribal pony to trip her, making her loose it. The ring rolled towards Pinkie Pie, who got rump-bumped away by another tribal pony, who quickly grabbed the ring in his mouth and ran towards a far corner, Ahuizotl shouting, “You fool! Throw the ring to me!!”
The tribal pony threw a look at Ahuizotl and smirked.
“I don’t think so, Ahuizotl!!”
“HUH?!” said everypony as well as Ahuizotl in the chamber.
The tribal pony dropped the ring from his mouth, only for it to levitate in a turquoise aura, as he said, “This little game was fun but it’s starting to get old. Boys?”
Four of the tribal ponies broke away from the fracas and joined the tribal pony who’d defied Ahuizotl, as his forehead lit up with an aura, as did his body along with the bodies of his four friends, shining so bright until they dimmed to reveal…
“Midnight!”
“Mackie!”
“Thunder?!”
“Blueblood!
“Soarin too! Whee!”
Seeing the odds were falling out of his favor, Ahuizotl roared, “GIVE ME THAT RING!!”
“Girls! Daring Do!” Midnight shouted, “Get over here, now!!”
Hearing as well as feeling the urgency in his voice, the girls and Daring Do obeyed, although she and Rainbow hadn’t removed the very last ring from the pedestal. As both sides gathered and faced each other, Ahuizotl snarled, “We still outnumber you all three to one! Surrender the ring and I promise you all can depart unharmed!”
“I don’t think so… Everypony? Cover your ears,” Midnight instructed and when he was satisfied they obeyed, he took a deep breath… and SCREAMED!!!
Ahuizotl and the tribal ponies cried out in pain as Midnight’s sonic scream wreaked havoc on their eardrums, the concussive sound waves beating hard against the pedestal that it cracked, as did the main support pillars of the fortress!
When Midnight stopped, he saw at once his scream had made the fortress come structurally unstable.
“Run! Everypony run!”
“The whole fortress is coming down!” Daring added quite loudly
Snarling, Ahuizotl lunged at the ponies in a desperate final bid to get the ring only to be shot down by a stun spell from Midnight before he brought up the rear and followed his friends out.
Thankfully, everypony made it out safely and they watched in awe as the Fortress of Talacon came crashing down into a heaping pile of rubble and dust. A few tribal ponies poked their heads, dazed, from the debris, while Ahuizotl tore himself out, screaming, “Daring Do…! I shall have my REVENGE!!!”
Once they distanced themselves from the Tenochtitlan Basin, Midnight gave Daring Do the ring and she quickly destroyed it.
“Thanks for the help, everypony,” she said to them all, “especially you, Rainbow Dash. I guess it does pay to have some help every once in a while.”
Rainbow struggled to keep her cool, Daring Do just thanked me!
Taking a breath, she replied, “It’s cool, just as this whole experience has been!”
Suddenly remembering the guys were here, she quickly grabbed Soarin and brought him over, “Oh! Before I forget, this is my boyfriend Soarin! He’s your… second biggest fan.”
“Ha-ha, Dash,” Soarin bumped her shoulder affectionately before going fan-boy towards Daring, “I am stoked to be meeting you for real, Daring Do! Can I call you Daring Do? Or would you prefer AK Yearling? Or Miss Do? Or maybe Miss Yearling.”
“Daring Do’s fine,” Daring assured with a chuckle, “and as much as I’d like to stick around, I’ve got a book to finish.”
“Then we wish you the best, Daring Do,” Twilight bade before telling everypony it was time to go home.
“Oh wait!” Daring spoke, “Before I forget… Your Majesty, Prince Midnight? Could I have a word?”
“Sure thing,” Midnight obliged before giving everypony a look that said ‘move along’.
They obeyed but Rainbow and Soarin lingered, Soarin noticing the disgruntled look on his fillyfriend’s face.
“What’s wrong, Dash?”
“Why’d Daring Do ask for a private word with Midnight?” she questioned rhetorically.
“Well, they’ve worked together a couple times before,” Soarin answered, Rainbow looking at him in bewilderment. “It’s true! Midnight is ‘Flint O’Canter’ from ‘The Razor of Dreams’, he helped Daring Do against Caballeron.”
“No way…!” Rainbow looked over to the rise over past which Midnight and Daring had gone for their private word. “Let’s see what they’re up to…”
“Dash!” Soarin sighed as he joined his girlfriend in slinking up to the rise and cupping their ears to eavesdrop onto the conversation.
To both their surprises however, Midnight and Daring were talking but they were speaking in a language neither pegasus could understand.
“Vergessen Sie nicht Ihre Verbindungen zur Bruderschaft diskret zu halten. Nur weil ich habe in das Licht trat, bedeutet nicht, die Reihenfolge hat.”
Daring appeared to nod in affirmation as Midnight continued.
“Auch halten Sie Ihre Augen und Ohren scharf auf Anzeichen oder Hinweisen des Feindes. Dinge haben sich in letzter Zeit eher ruhig, und ich mag es nicht.”
“Ich verstehe, Majestät, und ich bin froh zu sehen, Sie wieder mit Ihren Freunden und Familie sind.”
“Danke, und denken Sie daran, um in Kontakt mit der Bruderschaft zu halten und wissen, dass, wenn Sie irgendeine Hilfe bei der Suche mehr Artefakte müssen ...”
“Ich werde fragen. Nach dem heutigen Tag habe ich ein wenig über Hilfe zu akzeptieren gelernt.”
“Achten Sie darauf, Daring,” Midnight waved as Daring took flight and soared off towards the sun.
Rainbow and Soarin quickly flew ahead to catch up with the rest so Midnight would not see them as he started coming up the rise. The two pegasi whispered, Rainbow asking, “What the buck was that language they were speaking?”
“You got me,” Soarin shrugged, “but I’m more interested in whatever it was they were talking about!”