Another Day, Another Dungeon

by 00Pony

Chapter 1

“Another day… Another dungeon…”

The first impression that Twilight Velvet received upon coming to Caballo Valley was that it was hot. Or rather, it was humid. With a slight grumble, she shielded her eyes against the bright noonday sun, enveloped her luggage in a dark magenta aura, and made her way down the ramp from the train station dock. Some might call her crazy for coming here. A Fillydelphia born and raised mare, coming to Caballo – a veritable cesspool of degenerates and disorder. You’d have to go to the Badlands to find another such hive of scum and villainy.

Such things were not commonly found in many parts of Equestria, but Caballo Valley wasn’t part of Equestria. And strictly speaking, it wasn’t only a valley. Caballo stretched out beyond its namesake, and included mountains, and even rainforests. Caballo was only a short sailing distance across from Equestria, and the city of the same name, where Velvet now found herself, was only a few hours by train from the docks.

It was both quicker, and safer, to go by train in these parts. They had not yet been ‘tamed’, like much of Equestria had been so long ago. As Velvet finally began to enter into the city, she nearly regretted coming here. The leering she received from some of the local stallions was… unsettling, to put it bluntly. Velvet made it a point to avoid eye contact, and quickened her pace as subtly as she could, “I should have taken father up on his offer to hire a bodyguard… I’d certainly feel much safer in the presence of that stranger than these.” She thought bitterly to herself as she went.

Velvet had a reason for coming to a place as horrid as Caballo. Ever since she was a little filly, she had always enjoyed stories, especially those about adventure and heroes. As she grew up, Twilight Velvet had often tried her own hoof at writing, and as time went on, found that she had a particular talent for it. Though the Mark upon her flank was that of three stars, she interpreted that as a way of telling her, ‘You will be a best seller’.

So with that vote of confidence in mind, she had attempted to get some of her short stories published. Long story short, it did not go so well. Not one to be deterred however, Velvet settled on a concept of what she wanted to write: And adventure novel, perhaps involving some sort of ancient temple, a brave hero, or heroin, and as was customary to such novels, peril.

So she had come to Caballo, a land often mentioned to have an abundance of secrets lurking within its vast rainforests, including her target ancient temples, “And how exactly are we going to find these temples, Velvet?” She asked herself, mentally, “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not exactly the most… how do say, ‘rough and tumble’, of ponies.”

Velvet did not give her own doubts the honor of an answer at first. She simply continued her determined trot forward. Where exactly she was going… Well, she did not know. She had not really planned this far ahead, in truth. It was not something that she was eager to admit to herself, but Velvet had entertained the foalish idea that she would find her answers literally leaping out at her upon arrival. Such was not the case, as she was now coming to terms with, “This will be a lot harder than I thought…” She said to herself, looking out over what she deduced was a market square.

She stood watching the ponies going about their business for a few minutes, before spotting an elderly mare, sitting beneath an awning. Perhaps she could point Velvet in the right direction? It was worth a shot. Carefully picking her path through the throng of ponies, ranging in all shapes and sizes, and all varying races, she eventually made her way over to the elderly mare. Subconsciously checking herself over to make sure that none of her personal belongings had been snatched, she was pleasantly surprised to find that was the case.

Clearing her throat, Velvet trotted over the elder, who had not moved or even acknowledged her presence since the aspiring author had spotted her. Still failing in grabbing the mare’s attention with the more polite route, Velvet gave up on that end and instead moved to block the old pony’s view, giving an apologetic smile, “Excuse me, I hate to be a bother, but I was wondering if you could help me…?”
When the old mare finally turned her eyes to Velvet in acknowledgement, the Fillydelphia mare continued, “I was wondering if you could point me in the proper direction. You see, I’m an aspiring author, and I was looking for a place that I might find inspiration for my book, and-”

“Try the tavern, dearie,” the old mare said, in a friendly, warbling tone, cutting Velvet off mid-sentence, “It is just down the way there. I’m sure you’ll find exactly what it is that you seek.”

“Oh… Thank you.” Velvet said, ignoring her very essence screaming at her not to go down the street. It may have just been the atmosphere of the city, but she sincerely did not want to go the tavern. But she knew that she must, should she wish to complete her novel. For the second time, she found herself wishing she had taken that bodyguard.

Setting on her way once more, Velvet didn’t have to wonder long on the whereabouts of the establishment, as the sounds of rowdy customers, and almost scarily upbeat music came wafting down the surprisingly empty street towards her, much like one would imagine the scent of a fresh apple pie would do, on a crisp autumn’s evening. Upon arriving at the door to the tavern, and reaching for the knob, Twilight Velvet found herself second guessing this decision. As she debated her own wisdom with herself, she noticed that the shouts emanating from within were angered.

“That really doesn’t help my decision…” She grumbled, setting her hoof down. Before she could make a decision whether to leave or stay, however, the window nearest the door burst outward as the bodies of two ponies impacted with it from inside.

Call it shock, or a sense of fascination, but Velvet was unable to tear herself away from the sight before her. The ponies that had flown out of the window were engaged in a match of fisticuffs on the dusty street beneath them. Fisticuffs, brawl, whatever you wanted to call it. Either way, blows were being exchanged. But more curious to Velvet wasn’t that this was happening – she had partially expected this kind of thing coming from a place such as Caballo – It was that the one on top was winning. And they were a mare.

Growing up, Velvet had often been under the thought process that mares weren’t to behave in such a way. That the stallions were the ones to handle the down and dirty things such as disputes. As she grew older, the aspiring author had fallen from that belief, if only a little. She felt she was unable to handle such things herself, but liked to imagine that mares were capable of holding their own against a stallion. And right here before her, that was what was unfolding.

The mare in question, a dark khaki Pegasus mare – wearing a dark green jacket of some description – had pinned a significantly larger Earth pony stallion beneath her, and was using her hooves to pummel him into submission. The Pegasus seemed so focused on what she was doing, that she did not notice a weaselly Unicorn stallion clambering through the window – around which a large crowd of onlookers were gathered – and advanced behind her, brandishing a broad bladed knife. Velvet, however, did notice. Whatever possessed her to do what she did next, she would never truly know. But she had done it, all the same. Focusing all of her magical grip on the heaviest of her cases, Velvet swung it with all the force she could muster, smashing it down onto the small stallion’s horn.

Being a Unicorn herself, though it was common knowledge if one cared to learn, Velvet knew full well how much it hurt to have your horn struck, especially whilst maintaining a grip on any object. If enough foreign pressure was applied, it could knock a Unicorn unconscious and give them a nasty migraine the next morning. And that was exactly what Velvet’s action did. The weaselly stallion didn’t catch what was happening until it was too late, and the heavy case impacted on his horn with impressive force.

The sound of distortion that came from his magical manifestation being disrupted, and the sound of his body hitting the floor – coupled more so with the astonished cries of the onlookers from within the tavern, was enough to pull the dark khaki Pegasus from her angered pounding of her own opponent. It didn’t take her very long to deduce what was going to unfold. So with a single deft movement, she leapt from her former target, and glanced at Velvet, completely ignoring the fact that she was bleeding above her right eye, “I’m gonna suggest you run! They’re not going to be too happy with you after that!” And with that, she took off down the street.

Velvet knew that this mare was right, and so, with a pitiful moan, she took off after the Pegasus. She felt that would probably be the smarter choice, in some way, shape or form. After all, this mare had barely taken a scratch against a much larger opponent. Call it wishful thinking, but Velvet sincerely hoped that this mare would be able to serve as something of a bodyguard, if only for the time being. Still clutching her baggage, Velvet ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

The Pegasus mare must have been expecting her to follow – or maybe she was just tired out from fighting – but somehow Velvet managed to catch up to her. The Unicorn dared not look back, knowing full well only by the sound, that there were many unhappy ponies on their tails. The Pegasus glanced over to her, calling out as she ran, “Thanks for the help back there! Well, disregarding the mob behind us, heh.”

The casual way in which this mare spoke confounded Velvet. They were running, potentially for their lives, and here she was making small talk like it was nothing?! As mad as it sounded, Velvet was intrigued, to say the least. The Pegasus spoke up again, “Name’s Daring Do! I’d shake your hoof, but it’s kinda hard to do when you’re running!” She glanced back at the luggage trailing behind them, held in Velvet’s magical grip, “Anything important in that big suitcase there?”

Velvet gave her an incredulous look, before responding, “No. Just clothing and stuff like that, why?!”

“Perfect!” Daring Do replied, grinning. Spreading her wings, she left the ground slightly, still going at the same speed as before, and kicked back, as if she were kicking a storm cloud. Her hooves impacted with the heavy case, and sent it careening out of Velvet’s grasp, and slamming into their pursuers. With a triumphant laugh, Daring angled back, gripping the smaller case in her teeth, and from there, swooping down to wrap her forelegs around Velvet’s ribcage.

Before the Unicorn could object, Daring Do was lifting her into the air, ignoring her squeals of fright. The short flight did not last long, and Daring set Velvet down, shaking, on the roof of a nearby building. Dropping the smaller case from her mouth, she trots back to the edge of the roof, calling down to their former pursuers as they tried to disentangle themselves from their jumble, “And let that be a lesson to you all! Never call Daring Do a liar!”

Chuckling and grinning like she’d won the Equestrian Games, she trotted back over to Velvet, fishing a hat that you would expect a story book adventurer to wear from her saddlebags and placing it over her grayscale mane with the words, “Another day… Another dungeon.” And once more, she laughed.

Comments

[Jlargent]

FIRST! And considering that you're ignoring AK Yearling I am enjoying what you've written thus far.

[Shadow_Wolf]

I am intrigued

[deepsleep64]

I found this a while back searching for some Daring Do stories. I had favorites it, but I hadn't bothered to read it. Now that I've started on it, I'm now quite intrigued. Ever since I found the difference in canon between the comics' Daring Do and the show's Daring Do, I always imagined that it was more of a joint project.