Daring Do and the Eyes of the Demon

by PegasusKlondike

Changing Lands

Agent Lucky Charms walked past the alabaster columns and into the front door of the Canterlot Museum. He knew he was bucking a dead apple tree by coming back here to look for evidence, but it was better than what he had been doing for the past few weeks. But according to his intelligence sources in Zebrica, Daring had used that time much efficiently than he had. All reports said that N'dutu's expansion on all fronts had ground to a halt, in some places even being pushed back.

Most of the authorities thought it was simply N'dutu running out of steam, but Charms liked to think that Daring was somewhat behind it. Stopping at the front door, he flashed his badge to the pair of gold armored Royal Guards that replaced the regular museum watchponies. Giving his badge a quick once over, they waved him in.

The place had remained closed since the break-in about two weeks ago, and the Curator was not happy about it. Unnecessary closing of the museum meant that they lost a lot of possible revenue. Walking back to the exhibits that had been looted, he took careful notice of every little vantage point in the room. Though it had all been cataloged and cleaned up days ago, Charms still felt like the scene of the crime could present some clues.

Pulling a folder of photos confiscated from ponies who had taken photos at the museum before it was robbed, he checked for any differences between the current exhibit and the old one. The ringing clop of hooves on the granite floor distracted his attention. The Curator, Ancient Lore, appeared by the RIS Agent. "Agent Charms, how can I help you today?"

Charms put away the photos, shaking his head. "Don't think there is anything you could help me with. This case is obviously a sham. No sense in bothering you for much longer."

"Good to hear, Agent Charms. How much longer do I have to have Royal Guards at my front door?"

Charms glanced back at the exhibit, taking a deep breath. "Until Daring can do her job. If she can do her job."

Ancient Lore clapped Charms on the shoulder. "Oh don't worry about Daring, she'll have the Eyes safely back here in Equestria in no time."

As the unicorn walked back towards his office, Charms caught the sound of jewelry clinking around Lore. Turning around, he managed to catch a glimmer of gold around the curator's neck. Strange, he didn't figure Lore as the type of pony to wear jewelry.

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Days began to pass with Daring hardly noticing a change in the landscape. But they became more noticeable the more Daring cared to look. The further north they plunged into Zebrica's heartland, the thicker and lusher the growth around them seemed to be. The squat, low acacias were forced out by taller and more robust hardwoods.The mostly flat land began to turn into gently rolling hills and valleys, and the air seemed more laden with moisture than the savanna.

But there were things she couldn't help but notice. That strange mark on her forehead seemed to be doing something to her mind and her body, having some kind of effect on her perception of the world around her. While running along the trail northward through the slowly thickening growth of Zebrica, she would notice things. Things that not even Timur and Zecora noticed.

The trio rested in the shade of a large, low tree that lay on the trailside, the two zebra unused to the damper heat of the surrounding forestland. Daring sat watching the forest around her and the zebras intently, not acting as a watchpony or guard, just trying to sate her now filly-like curiosity. She listened to the calls of birds, each one seeming separate and of a language of its own. She watched the creep of ants and other bugs along the leaf litter of the forest floor.

Everything just seemed to be in harmony with everything that surrounded it. The trees took in energy from the soil and the sun, the bugs ate the trees, and the birds ate the bugs. The cycle was everywhere, and it lay unbroken since the beginning of time. "Is this how She sees the world? As a great web of connection, where everything is dependent on everything? Is this how Princess Celestia sees everything?" Daring silently mused to herself.

Standing from her watch, she walked out into the thick foliage of the underbrush. The brush of leaves seem to caress her fur as she walked by. The birds sang their own chorus of high tenors, while the bugs offset them by humming a low baritone and a quick buzz. Everything seemed so enchanting, and her presence made Daring feel like an intruder, almost an impurity in this haven of life. The pegasus sat down on a mossy rock, closing her eyes and basking in this previously unknown tranquility. Extending her thoughts out, she spread her divine given influence, to see how much she could actually do.

After a minute of trying to harness her new found capabilities, Daring opened her eyes. All around her fluttered butterflies and moths, keeping a respectful distance from their caller. Daring smiled pleasantly, the barest crack of a twig revealing a small creature like an antelope walking out of the undergrowth. Its brown, doe eyes peered at Daring with wonder, stepping close enough for the pegasus to reach out and stroke its soft fur.

The little animal grazed around her, the flights of insects and small birds almost dancing around her head. "I don't know what you did to me," she said aloud to the living world, "But thank you for doing it." The opening glow of a flower in bloom drew her attention, the gentle curve of the orange petals entrancing Daring. Looking up towards the sunlight, the shimmering reflection of light off of a carefully crafted spider web as its owner took pride in her achievement of natural architecture. Daring had lived in jungles and forests for a good portion of her life, but she never really stopped to look at how beautiful it all was.

"Daring Do?" a certain zebra mare said gently behind her back. The little antelope bounded off into the brush, the flights of birds and insects dispersing back to nature.

Daring turned around to see an incredulous Zecora, who still seemed awestruck by Daring's influence over nature. "Oh, hey Zecora."

"You should not be alone out here. There are many things in the forest to fear." Zecora took a seat on the mossy rock next to Daring, the pegasus still entranced by the serenity of the forest.

"I'm not afraid of anything this forest has to offer me, Zecora. This thing on my head...at first I felt violated when I saw it there. But now....now I feel more connected."

"I do not think it is the mark that makes you see these things. You realize the connections, you see the web, the way the world sings."

Daring smiled a bit, turning her attention away from the light filtering through the forest canopy. "Sorry I never drew...well, you-know-who for you. I could do it now if you wanted."

The zebra mare patted her friend on her winged shoulder. "Thank you, Daring Do," Zecora said with the most gratitude of anypony Daring had ever known. The pegasus fished out her notebook and pencil, opening it to a fresh page. She pondered for a second as to what form of the goddess she should draw. Why not all of them? She started with the alicorn in the center of the page.

While Daring carefully drew her images of Yeye, Zecora couldn't help but ask a few questions. "So, what is it like in Equestria, under the fair rule of Celestia?"

Daring looked up from her notebook, raising an eyebrow. To her, Equestria was a boring place, where the most interesting thing that happened was the occasional monster attack out of the wilder regions. "Why would you want to know about Equestria? It's not a very interesting place."

"Nopony's home may seem the most perfect. There is more to Equestria than either of us suspect."

Daring shrugged, giving in to Zecora's flawless logic once more. "Well, you know that farmland we passed through before we made it here to the forest?" Zecora nodded, remembering the seemingly endless farms and small villages they passed by on the way here. "Well, Equestria is a lot like that. In most places, that is. It's a wild and free country, where everypony is loving and tolerant of just about anything. There are huge cities, like Tashim, but a lot bigger. But I guess it's the villages that make Equestria so nice." With a fond grin, Daring recalled the small village her train had stopped at in Equestria, a nice little town. What was it called again? Ponyville, yeah, that was it. "There was this one town I passed through once or twice called Ponyville. I think you would like it there. Everypony lives in quaint little cottages, and some of the buildings are shaped like what they sell. For example, I bought a few muffins from this little joint that looked like a gingerbread house while my train was boarding additional passengers. And everypony smiles. I don't know if it's something in the air or a city ordinance, but they always seem happy in that little town."

Daring spent the next hour with Zecora, regaling the other mare with tales of Equestria. Daring thought Nyumbani was impressive, but Zecora seemed more enamored of the idea of a city like Cloudsdale, hovering over the lands in the bowers of the clouds. She regaled Zecora with stories from her early adventures in the Everfree Forest; the dark and mysterious wood that seemed to be the edge of civilization. Quick stories of vast swamps, of high mountain tops and forests so ancient that even to the dragons they must have seemed old. And Canterlot....Canterlot must have sounded like something out of a fairy tale. Perched on the side of a mountain, with sweeping towers of ivory white stone and grand avenues that housed every type of shop and building imaginable.

Daring finished the shimmers on the great dragon's scales as well as she could in black and white. Maybe when she got back to Equestria she would paint this scene out. In the center lay the loving form of the alicorn, wearing her diadem and her necklace. In the top-left lay the zebra of all stripes, mysterious and majestic. Across from her sat the strange creature that Yeye had chosen the form of temporarily, so strikingly beautiful for such an odd looking creature. And finally, covering the entire bottom of the page, lay the translucent dragon of all scales; proud and powerful like all her great children.

"Okay, are you ready for this? It's not quite right somehow, but it'll get the job done." With a flourish, she presented her various drawings of a god to Zecora.

Zecora took the pad of paper, turning it this way and that. Unlike Daring had expected, she did not see Zecora break down to tears in love of her goddess. "I see Yeye in the corner there, but who are those other figures I declare?"

Daring sagged on her mossy rock, turning to near goo as she realized that Zecora had only ever thought of her god as a zebra. "They're all Yeye," she said after slapping a hoof to her own face. "Those were the four forms I saw her in. You know, when I was..." She ostentatiously poked her forehead with a wingtip.

"Ohh, right right." Zecora seemed interested in the upper right portrait. "What an odd way to draw a chimpanzee, she looks like she has mange to me."

"That's a chimpanzee? Doesn't look anything like a chimp from what I've seen in books." Dismissing the possible chimp ideals of what a god should look like, the pair of mares realized they had left a particular stallion alone by the side of the road. Rising from their seats and trotting off back towards the road, they met Timur as he tapped a hoof in an impatient display.

"Did you two have a nice chat? Or should we just stop here and set up camp so you can braid each other's manes and paint your hooves?"

Daring flicked his shoulder with her tail as she waltzed by. "Don't get your stripes in a knot. We were only talking about secret mare things. Things that involve what part of a stallion we like best." Her magenta eyes scanned Timur's hard physique, the stallion laying his ears flat as Daring checked out his goods. She stopped by his leg, inspecting it like a vegetable at market day. "Ooh, he has a nice large hoof. And you know what they say about stallions with large hooves." Daring gave a wink to Zecora, grinning like a madmare at Timur.

The zebra mare chuckled, though she had no clue what they said about stallions with large hooves. Zecora played along, halfheartedly looking over her one-time fiance. "Eh, stallions are such a chore. Daring Do, he is all yours."

Daring pumped a hoof in victory. "Yes! Zecora, you're my best friend forever!" She gave the wayward stallion a slap on the flank with her wing. Timur seized up as Daring strutted by, triumphantly walking with her fellow mare along the trail.

"You're perverted, Ms Do! Thinking about your adopted father that way!" he shouted to the mare trotting down the trail. Timur groaned, looking up to the sky. "Oh Yeye, if you have ever been a merciful watcher, please provide me with a lion, a leopard, anything to eat me the next time Ms Do gets an 'itch'." Something about the way the breeze picked up and rustled the leaves of the forest around him told Timur that the spirits and possibly even Yeye herself laughed at his misery.

**********************************************

The armies of the warlord marched north through Din'Jaro territory, only slowing to raze a village that got in their way. Their goal was not to crush the most powerful tribe, it was to bypass them. Ignoring the Din'Jaro capital of Nyumbani, the army marched towards the jungle's edge. The warlord himself rode in a litter born by twelve of his strongest slaves. The gently swaying, shaded throne would have normally made somepony like N'dutu fall asleep after a few hours. But not today, he could hardly sleep, knowing that a clue in his quest for the most powerful artifact in all Zebrica might actually work out.

N'dutu instead busied himself with his concubines, a pair of whom lay in a drugged slumber while the warlord revitalized himself through strong drink. The strong smell of saddle leather and gnoll sweat entered the warlord's nose. It wasn't hard to tell when Grimhide was close by, and the gnoll's claw pulled aside the drapes on one side. Grimhide peered inside, bowing to his alpha from the saddle of his nandi. "You call, lord?"

The warlord nodded to his General. "Yes Grimhide. What is the status of our supply lines?"

Grimhide tried to think of a way to say it that wouldn't have his head on a spear. Biting his lip, the gnoll replied, "Zebra raiders destroy most supply caravans. Not just Din'Jaro; Nyika, Zare, Mbusa, even Matsunga rebels. We losing ground on all fronts." Grimhide winced, awaiting the imminent lash of the warlord's hoof or the stroke of his sword. Cracking open his good eye, the warlord seemed indifferent.

"No matter. Once we have the Eyes, all our lost territory will be regained a hundred-fold." N'dutu placed a hoof on one of his sleeping consorts, stroking her mane lightly. "I do, however, still want Daring Do in my grasp before I destroy her with the Eyes." His hoof rested on his consort's throat, pressing down hard to block off her air. In her drugged stupor, the mare rasped and tried futilely to pry his hoof from her throat. She struggled, gasping for air, but N'dutu only pressed harder. With a final burst of resistance, she fell still. "Take this, use her blood to call down the wind-riders. Tell them they are to scout the jungles for any sign of my prisoner."

Grimhide nodded, grabbing the mare's corpse and pulling it into his saddle. Pulling his mount off to the side of the trail, Grimhide pulled out a white cloth, spilling the mare's blood all over it with a slice of his sword. Looking up to the sky, he spied a few black dots jumping between clouds. Grimhide attached the blood red flag onto a pole, waving to around to signal down some of the riders. After a minute of waving, a shape dropped out of formation, growing larger with every second. The thirty foot wingspan of the kongomato darkened the sky, the flying reptile landing lightly near Grimhide and his nandi. Various straps and harnesses attached between the beast's wings held a simian rider.

The agogwe rider swung out of his saddle, walking over to the gnoll with a defined bow to his legs. Flipping his flight goggles back onto his green, mossy head, the short ape snapped a lazy salute to his superior. Grimhide wrinkled his nose at the agogwe, they always smelled of the swamps where they originated. They had no fur, just a short pelt of grass and moss covering their skins. The only reason he tolerated them was because the kongomatos tolerated the agogwe as riders, much like nandi tolerated their gnoll cousins more completely. They liked to fly, mainly because being up at cloud level gave them good sun exposure for their symbiotic plant parts.

"Yeah? What you want, puppy dog?" The short agogwe asked in his cynical and curt manner.

Grimhide flattened his ears at the disrespect. He was no dog, he was more closely related to the clever mongoose! "New orders," the gnoll growled in what he knew of the agogwe tongue.

The moss covered ape rolled his long fingered hand. "And those would be? Hurry up, I'm losing optimum air!"

The gnoll resisted the urge to grab the rider by his harness and feed him to his own pterosaur mount, but kongomatos weren't known for eating salads. Instead he rattled off the wind-rider's new orders. "Go north to jungles, fly low and find Daring Do. Gold pony with black mane. She fly like you do."

The ape retained his slouched stance, giving a snide snort. "Finally, something to do around here." His eyes drifted over to the corpse of N'dutu's more recent rage outpouring. He pointed with a long finger at the mare. "You gonna eat that?"

"I plan on-"

The gnoll's response was cut off by a quick whistle from the agogwe to his mount. The huge reptile stalked over to the corpse, grabbing it in its beak. Tipping its head back, the kongomato swallowed the corpse whole. Grimhide scowled at the recalcitrant wind-rider. The ape shrugged his shoulder's like it was no big deal. "Hey, you shoulda said somethin' if you wanted that." Clambering deftly into the harness, the agogwe flipped his goggles back down and spurred his kongomato. The great beast took a few leaping steps forward, levering itself into the air and flapping off.