One Final Trial
The land of Zebrica had almost melted away as the Equestrian airship returned to its base at Tashim. With the tribes finally united through a common cause of bringing about a new era where nopony had to fear the rise of one to enslave many again. And Daring slept easier knowing that she had done her part in that.
But some things from this strange journey had left her changed. The attack of the trapped spirits inside of the Spirit Masks, the torturous sun as it beat down on her as she dragged Timur across a sea of burning sand, the awe of a presence of a god, the touch that had brought her mind into connection with the world. That phantasmal touch of a god in her dreams, one that had left her marked as chosen above all others, the barest gift of power that made her see the beauty of the mundane and the tiny connections between everything.
Daring had not only grown in her mind, her heart had grown as well.
The smell of salt drifted in through the open porthole, gently removing some of the residual heat of the day. Laying in her bunk aboard another rickety merchant airship, Daring rolled in her rest. She sighed as she looked at the shining face of the moon out the tiny window, the dull hum of the airship's thrusters a constant sound in her ears.
The journey across Zebrica had been unlike any temple, dungeon, jungle or even archaeological dig she had ever done before. She had discovered parts of her that she didn't know existed, a Daring Do of compassion, one who fought for life and light. One who saw more than herself and her mission.
But what kept her awake tonight, even as Zecora managed an uneasy rest on the bunk across from her, was the Path of Eternity. That trial which had tested her heart and her mind, one that kept her awake by making her ask, how much of it was true?
How much of that seemingly endless corridor had been echoes made into words by her own mind, and how much of it had been her own coterie of demons haunting her from the edges of reality? She vowed to herself that night over the expansive ocean to put the demons to rest and seek the truth of the screaming voices. And for once, she wished Gaia would just give her a visit in her dreams and say 'It was all a lie, you are loved, you did not fail those who you loved.' But...having a falling out with a god came with its repercussions, but Daring knew the eternal Yeye ya Kupigwa Wote was keeping one of her golden eyes on her, even without telling her.
"It wasn't real," Daring whispered to herself. But it had been real, as real as the shining sun and the ocean breeze drifting in through the porthole. It was real because every single one of those had been a reflection of her fears. Climbing out of her bed, she walked as quietly as she could out of the private quarters and out onto the deck of the great airship.
The moon glowed bright, and the winds pushed the ship back to her home port in Equestria. Up here in the clouds, Daring felt a strange kind of wistfulness. The skeleton crew did their duties, ignoring the mare looking out over the railing. And in her hooves rested her half of the Eyes of the Demon.
"Grinwa's Promise, The Blind Warrior's Burden, Zebrica's Curse. And yet, all you are now is a simple little piece of wood. So powerful, so invincible and utterly unstoppable. Now a broken husk," she said quietly to the half face of the wooden mask. "Well...that makes two of us."
Breathing a lungful of the cool night air, Daring spoke to it once again. "But unlike you, I'm like the phoenix. If I burned you, you would be ash and nothing more. You tried to break me, to burn me down to a smoldering cinder and to be your little puppet. I rose from the ash, I can become something more than I ever was. I can make things right."
Tucking the broken half of the defeated Eyes of the Demon into her jacket pocket, Daring walked down belowdecks, laying in her bunk. In a few days, she would face her fears and finally complete her mission.
******************************************************
Agent Charms walked proudly into a board room filled with black suited agents of the RIS, many of them being higher level agents pulled off of other cases.
Carrying a box on his back, Charms set it down on the table, opening it with his teeth. "Ladies and gentlecolts, I present our first piece of evidence of Ahuitzotl's attempted influence in the Castle." He triumphantly pulled a china vase out of the box, with pink flowers decoratively painted across the surface. "Though similar to most others in the Castle, this vase was noticed to be out of place by one of the palace servants the night after the attempted burglary, and little was though of it. It passed through sweeps by the Royal Guards without being detected and effectively avoided our best searches. Only the masterful eye of the castle's head maid proclaimed it to be a cheap forgery. Simple magical probing revealed the great extent of spells laid on it."
Though most of the mares and stallions believed Charms to have lost his mind weeks ago, they nodded their acknowledgement. "And what is the purpose of this device? Is it harmful?"
Charms shook his head. "No, sir. The unicorns down in forensics proclaim that the spells laid on it were for surveillance. Everything within earshot of the vase was heard and sent to one of Ahuitzotl's agents. Our search terms have located about thirty such bugs inconspicuously placed around the palace, even as close as one of the gemstones on the Royal Throne."
"Well done, Charms," Director Steel said, nodding to both him and his direct subordinate, Deputy Director Dew. "Has the museum been swept for such bugs as well?"
"Yes, sir. The museum is completely clean of magical bugs or harmful artifacts that have not been cataloged. Every recovered bug is having the spells frayed off and are being rendered harmless."
"Very good," the Director said curtly, "We thought this was a cold case, Charms. Who knows what kind of state secrets could have been leaked had those bugs been there much longer."
Taking this as their dismissal, the agents in the room all left in a black suited mob, but before Charms could leave, Morning Dew caught him by the watercooler.
"Charms," she said, catching him unaware as he got a cold drink.
"Yes sir?"
The Deputy Director reached into a coat pocket, pulling out a pair of rolled scrolls. "These are for you. One of them is from Tashim in Zebrica. Apparently, our little explorer went above and beyond the call of duty; N'dutu is dead and she reports that the arcane power of the Eyes has been neutralized. She's pulling back into port today, and since you're her handler, it's your job to pick her up and escort her back here."
Charms took the pair of scrolls, tucking the one from Daring into his jacket. "And the other one?"
"Letter from Princess Celestia herself. Basically a thank you note from her royal majesty."
Scanning the scroll in his hoof, it indeed seemed a simple thank you letter, complete with a promise of a raise in his salary for such a determined and exemplary job well done.
But as soon as Dew turned and left, Charms tucked away the letter from the Princess, unfurling the scroll from Daring. It warmed his heart, and so much emotion seemed to pour from the letter. It could just be Daring's smugness from completing another mission and bringing the artifact back, it could be weariness from the long journey. But Lucky felt he needed to be somewhere right now, and without telling any of his superiors or checking out, he left the RIS building and almost ran to the train station. Catching the train as it pulled out of the station, he rode forth to Manehattan.
********************************************************
Both Daring and Zecora stood by the rails, their meager luggage packed away into their saddlebags. The sight of the shores of Equestria brought a sense of longing that had never entered into Daring for her peaceful and serene homeland. But Zecora seemed in utter awe of this new land of promise and new futures.
"There it is, Equestria. Damn it has never looked so beautiful," Daring said to Zecora.
Both mares waited with a sense of impatience as the airship pulled over the city of Manehattan, the thrusters cutting their propulsion and beginning their descent. Falling slowly towards a large empty spot on the open and dusty field in the airship port, Daring resisted the urge to simply leap from the ship and fly down.
The ship touched down with a jostling bump, sending up a small cloud of dust. The ground crews rushed to tether down the ship, lest a stray gust toss it into another idle ship. After a few minutes of waiting, the first mate lowered the gangplank, and the captain called all clear for disembarking passengers.
The pair of strange mares walked through the dusty, Zecora's head twisting and turning every which way, a childish sense of fascination with everything that was Equestria. But to Daring, she felt a sense of fondness for the familiar setting.
"Um, Daring?"
"Yeah Zecora?"
"Where shall I stay?"
It hit the pegasus like a brick. "Oh crap, didn't think of that." Daring thought for a moment while walking with Zecora towards the city of Manehattan. "Well, I guess you could stay with me until you find a place of your own. But I warn you, my apartment isn't the tidiest."
Zecora nodded thankfully. "It sounds fine to me, giving a roof to live under so generously."
"Alright! Can you cook? Because I can't cook worth a mule's tail hair. And one of us will have to sleep on the couch, though I guess we could alternate nights. Oh, and if you ever see my helmet on the doorknob, knock before you come in-"
Daring's line of thought was broken as they came to the front gate, spying one of the ponies she wanted to see the absolute most right now, but was terrified to see as well.
Lucky stood there, a chunk of a cardboard box hanging in his teeth, her name printed in bold, black lettering. Dropping it on the ground, he gave a smile to Daring. Forgetting Zecora for a moment, Daring walked timidly over to Lucky, looking down and grinding her hooftip into the ground.
"Lucky...." she said to him.
"Daring," he said back. But before he could go any further, the pegasus latched onto him, her forelegs tight around his shoulder and her face buried into his neck. Lucky was even more shocked by this strange behavior when he felt a damp trickle on his neck, Daring shedding tears for some reason.
"Lucky...I'm sorry," she whispered.
Agent Charms was more than gobsmacked. When he got here, he expected Daring to be recalcitrant and spunky, more likely to slap him, tackle him, punch him or anything else. But this....this was something completely unexpected and took him completely by surprise.
Charms felt Daring sniffling in his suit jacket, and he placed a comforting foreleg around her shoulder. "Hey, you don't have anything to be sorry about."
"Yes I do, I've been hurting you all these years we've known each other. All you wanted to do was help me, and I used you. I understand now...and if you hate me, I can't change that with a sob show."
"Hate you? Daring, I don't hate you. What would make you think that?"
Daring loosened her grip, settling back down and wiping her eyes with a wing tip. "It's a long story."
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to tell it. Let's get you and your friend home." Charms nodded back to the cloaked Zecora, the zebra mare unused to this kind of 'cooler' temperature. "What happened to Timur?" Charms asked Daring.
"Stayed back in his homeland. I think we'll be seeing something different coming from Zebrica with him around."
Walking through the cityscape with Zecora in close tow, Daring chatted idly with Lucky. The earth pony was still in mild shock about this massive change he had witnessed in the rebellious Daring he had sent over to Zebrica and this more docile and conscientious mare walking with him. At one point the thought even crossed his mind that she might be hexed by some zebra hoodoo.
But some things seemed harder about her, the way she carried herself was the same old Daring, but each step seemed bolder, and her magenta eyes swept for danger as though her mind were still in the harsh jungle or in the tall grass of the savanna. He recognized this careful walk, the sure step of a seasoned soldier, one who had fought and killed. But, those warriors never wished to talk about their adventures, and Charms did not press the issue.
Several times they had to stop and let Zecora catch up, the zebra mare's fascination with everything about Manehattan slowing her down and at times stopping her completely to gawk. Boarding the train to Canterlot, another novelty for Zecora, Daring and Lucky took a booth for themselves.
"So what happened over there?" Lucky asked her.
Daring took in a deep breath. "I died."
"What? How can you have died?"
"I died, and was reborn. I saw the depths of depravity and slavery. I felt the life slip from so many bodies, dead by my own hoof. My soul was torn and rent asunder by the greatest abomination of magic. And...I learned to appreciate life, by giving up my own so that others could pass on. But there is one part of my journey that I will never tell anypony about, one that tested everything I know and everything I have done."
Lucky nodded. "I see. And was this part of your journey that made you think that..."
"Yeah," Daring answered quietly. "I wanna know something, Lucky. Its been eating at me since I left Zebrica. Would you be willing to let me try again?"
Charms sat silently in his seat, considering how much this meant to Daring. "...yes. Daring, I would give you more chances than there are stars in the sky."
Her magenta eyes shimmered, and a weight seemed to come off her shoulders. Daring sighed with relief, that sigh turning into a chuckle. "Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me."
***********************************************************
The ride to Canterlot seemed to go by in a flash, though it took nearly the entire morning and stretched into the afternoon. And as the train pulled into the Canterlot station, Charms felt closer to Daring Do than ever before. She was wiser, kinder and gentler than the mare that had left this station so many weeks ago. She trotted next to him, chatting like an old friend that hadn't seen him in a lifetime.
"And Daring, I'll have you know that we kept your demon artifacts safe while you were gone. We kept our end of the bargain."
Daring winced at the word 'demon', then relaxed when she remembered the vast difference between her old obsession and the true demons. "You know, I think you can go ahead and keep those, even burn them if you want. I got something much better than a junk heap."
Gathering Zecora, Daring stopped before they separated. "Lucky, I'm gonna drop off Zecora at my apartment. But after that, I wanna meet you at the museum for a few minutes before I see the Princess. I have to get a few things off my back and tell Ancient Lore I got us three years funding."
"Alright, see you there." Charms turned on his heels, happily trotting down the avenues of Canterlot, so relieved that Daring was alright. But something bugged at him about the museum, something about Lore. The way that unicorn acted when Daring was mentioned was kind of creepy.
Daring escorted her zebra friend through the streets, the sheer amount of colors and the sweeping towers of the castle entrancing Zecora even more than before. If she had been impressed by the townhouses and skyscrapers of Manehattan, Canterlot must have felt like some kind of fantastical dream world.
"Wow..." Zecora murmured quietly as the pair passed underneath the shadow of Canterlot Castle, home of the Princess herself.
Bumping up against the ogling zebra, Daring gave a curt laugh. "Trust me, it's not that impressive after you've lived here for awhile. What was it that you said? Nopony's home may seem the most perfect. And I think you'll find quite the home here."
And she managed to even make Zecora balk as she fished the keys to her apartment out of the bushes, wading through the actual mammoth pile of bills to get to her door. Waving her inside, Zecora was less than impressed with Daring's living conditions.
"Okay, I told you in Manehattan, my place sucks. So just make yourself at home." Zecora raised an eyebrow at the horribly slothful apartment, placing her saddlebags down in the living room and laying down on the couch, even going so far as to open a book on Daring's coffee table.
Trotting to her kitchen, Daring noticed the insane amount of flies. Opening a cupboard, she gagged when the stench of rotten food blasted her in the face. Throwing as much of it away as possible, she tossed the garbage bag out the window to land in her trash can.
Dropping off her meager luggage in her bedroom, she came back to Zecora, the zebra mare utterly engrossed in a book about some small town in the countryside, the name seeming familiar to Daring. "Alright, there's no food, I think my landlord shut off the water, and the kitchen smells like a rotted impala corpse. I've got some things to do, so don't expect me back until late."
Zecora took almost no notice, waving her off with a hoof as she flipped the page. "Uh huh, have a nice time."
********************************************************
Landing at the steps of the Canterlot Museum, the marble steps almost felt alien under her hooves, and she shifted uncomfortably as her hooves had grown used to the soft soil and burning sands of Zebrica. Meeting Lucky just inside of the doorway, she escorted him back to her office, ignoring the even larger pile of letters and memos that sat inside the door.
Expertly tossing her pith helmet onto the coat rack, she left her element whip on her belt, always prepared for the unknown.
Sitting down behind her desk, she waited as Agent Charms took a seat on his side. "Alright Lucky, I wanted to get some notes written down before I turned it in."
"And why am I here?"
"As a witness. I said before that none of the artifacts I have recovered have ever done anything. Well... this is a bit different than anything else I've ever encountered ever before." With her hoof she retrieved her half of the artifact from a pokcet. "Macho ya Pepo, The Eyes of the Demon. Well, an Eye of the Demon."
Charms' eyes widened at the sight of the source of all this trouble, a simple wooden mask that carried no more of the old power that had once threatened entire nations. "That's...it?" he asked of the artifact laying on the desk between them.
"Yeah, tough little son of a bitch. Did things to me that I will never forget. But Celestia damn I would love to forget them." Pulling out a sheet of paper, she began to sketch the Eyes on paper, writing down what she knew of the artifact. "Composition, appears to be made of Zebrican ironwood, possible contributing factor to difficulty of fracturing. Mask made to fit a face of a demonic entity, possibly Grinwa himself, but warps to fit the face of any host. Artifact is parasitic, even vampiric of host entity, draining out latent magical energies in the form of somepony's soul and intertwining them with the host. When fractured, the enchantment on the object was broken, and subsequent shards were rendered harmless."
"And that is what you are presenting to Princess Celestia? A chunk of firewood?"
Daring glared up from her sheet of notes. "This 'chunk of firewood' is what killed me and tens of thousands of others. Never underestimate the power inside of the mundane."
Finishing her report on what she knew of the Eyes of the Demon, Daring filed it in her filing cabinet, standing from her desk and slipping the Eye of the Demon into her jacket. "Say, um, Lucky. You want to...I don't know, maybe grab a coffee sometime?" Daring asked as she walked out of her office with Charms.
Charms hesitated as the pair walked out into the main lobby of the museum. It was a Sunday, and so the museum lay barren of any visitors, save a janitor as he swept out a gallery. But before Charms could answer that he was busy for most of next week, the clop of hooves frantically running towards them stopped Daring.
"Daring! You're back from Zebrica!"
"Ancient, nice to see you," Daring remarked to the older unicorn.
"How did it go? Did you get the Eyes of the Demon?" Lore said excitedly.
"Yeah, I did- Lore! You're bleeding!" A trickle of scarlet blood ran down his left leg and pooled by the floor.
The unicorn glanced down at it. "Oh, um, it is nothing. A scratch I got from my desk. Now let me see the Eyes."
Daring glanced up at Lore, suspicion in her gaze. "Don't you want to know how the trip went? Don't you want me to go secure our payment?"
Oh, yes of course," the unicorn said, a bead of sweat running down his brow. "But before you have them locked away, I just want to see them."
Daring removed her hoof from the pocket where the Eye of the Demon lay. "What's gotten into you? You're not yourself, Lore." Charms pulled closer to Daring, his hoof edging towards the tiny crossbow tucked into a holster in his coat.
"Hooves where I can see them, Agent Charms," Ancient Lore said with a certain edge in his voice.
Turning her side to Lore, Daring took the whip of its belt loop with her wing. "Lore, I'm not letting you see the Eyes."
The unicorn snarled, whistling out into the shadows. A snarl of a feline came from the shadow, the tuft earred lynx stalked out of the shadows, blood crusted across its spotted pelt. Circling the pair, the lynx snapped at the ankles of both ponies. Coming to rest next to the unicorn, the lynx limped as it walked, covered in wounds.
"Give me the Eyes, Daring Do," Lore said almost in a hiss.
Slipping the handle of the whip down her leg, Daring readied herself. "So, how long have you been impersonating Ancient Lore, Ahuitzotl?"
Lore flashed a grin, rows of serrated, triangular teeth showing brightly. "Long enough, Daring Do. This form is so uncomfortable." With a hoof, he tore the golden chain from his neck, tossing it to the floor. The illusion began to shimmer, a much larger form like that of an monkey coming into being where the unicorn had stood. "Ah, that's better," Daring's nemesis said, stretching out his limbs and pulling a long knife from his ornate belt.
"Holy shit," Charms murmured under his breath. "The burglaries. They weren't so you could bug the castle, they were so you could sneak into the museum."
"Correct, Agent Charms, the real Lore is safe, I assure you. And now both of you have played right into my plan! That foolish zebra never stood a chance at getting the Eyes, only the infamous Daring Do," he said the name with scorn, "Could ever dream of getting the Eyes. And now, if you would be so kind, give them to me." The lynx next to him snarled at both ponies, threatening to pounce at its master's beck.
Daring gave the creature a devious grin. "So Ahuitzotl, did you enjoy my little surprise? Didn't expect your pets to come back to you empty handed and after your blood."
"You forced me to kill the cats I had raised from the mother's womb, and for that I shall peel your hide from your flesh and consume it while you watch!" Ahuitzotl screamed.
"Thought you might have fun with it. But you're too late, I've already destroyed the Eyes."
Ahuitzotl quivered with rage, his sharp teeth grinding in his mouth. "LIAR! Kill her!" he screamed to his remaining cat.
The lynx bunched up the muscles in his legs, leaping out to tear Daring Do's throat from her sepia body. For Charms, a rage boiled inside of him, and he whipped out the miniature crossbow from its holster, firing at the leaping lynx without aiming. The small bolt flew into the cat's chest, dropping it in midair like a sack of potatoes.
Ahuitzotl screamed at the loss of his last cat, drawing out another knife to eviscerate both ponies. Tossing his expended bow aside, Charms leapt between Daring and Ahuitzotl. "Daring, RUN!" he shouted.
Taking a winged leap in front of Charms, Daring landed on her hindlegs brought out her element whip with a crackle of electricity in the air. "I'll handle this," she said to Charms.
The blue creature split his face with a grin, laughing at her pitiful weapon. "HAHAHA! What are you going to do with that? Punish me, leave a little welt on me?"
Daring smirked at his ignorance. "Damn straight I will." Coiling up her whip, she lashed out and wrapped it around one of Ahuitzotl's arms.
Coiling it around her own hoof, she pulled it taut and activated the elemental runes. Electricity arced down the length of the whip, flowing into Ahuitzotl with the force of a thunderbolt. The stream of magically enhanced lightning held the monster stiff, his mouth agape in a resounding scream of pain.
Retracting her whip, Daring took a flying leap at Ahuitzotl, driving a spinning hoof straight into his jaw and sending him flying back to the wall. Ahuitzotl weakly raised a hairy hand, arcs of electricity still flowing between his smoldering hair. With a whimper of defeat, he fell to unconsciousness and slumped over.
Landing with all four hooves on the floor, Daring lashed her whip out, the leather cracking like thunder in the air before coiling back up and coming to rest on her belt loop. Blowing a stray strand of her charcoal mane out of her face, Daring ran a hoof along the brim of her pith helmet, leveling it before turning back to Charms.
"You! You're taking me out to dinner on Friday night, GOT IT?! Seven o'clock sharp, and not to some cheap joint either! But so help me Celestia if you take me to a fancy place and I have to wear a dress!"
Charms nodded quickly. Daring spun on her hooves and stalked out the door. "Well, Daring is back," Charms said to himself. And as she walked out the door, a troop of Royal Guards in full armor burst in.
"What was all that commotion?! We thought we heard thunder!" a Royal Guard in the armor of a sergeant exclaimed.
Charms stopped the Guard sergeant. "You got here just in time, get a full troop of Guards in here. We've managed to subdue a wanted criminal. And all thanks to Daring Do."
****************************************************
Daring had one more place to stop before she could say without question that her mission had been completed. Flying past the front gates of the castle, Daring landed before the massive double doors in the courtyard, muscling them open and entering into the main hall of Canterlot castle. A pair of Guards rushed in front of her, blocking her way.
"Halt! What is your business with the Princess?"
"My name is Daring Do, I just got back from ending that bucking war in Zebrica. I'm tired, I'm cranky, I just defeated my nemesis, and I have a little package for Her Majesty." Reaching into her pouch, she whipped out a Royal writ she had been given so many weeks ago.
Inspecting it closely, the Guards nodded. "The waiting area is over there, Princess Celestia is with her student right now and is not to be disturbed."
Daring pushed past both armored guards, going straight for the monarch's study. "You can't go in there!" the Guards shouted. But Daring ignored both, throwing open the door to the study.
Princess Celestia looked calmly over from a large tome she was reciting from, and in front of her sat a lavender unicorn on a velvet pillow, a gangling girl in her teenage years. "What is the meaning of this? Who are you?!" Celestia said to Daring.
"What's the matter, Princess? Forget your old fetching girl so easily? Forget how you sent me off to die in Zebrica, not telling me what could have happened?" Daring growled to the white alicorn as the pair of Guards grabbed her and started to drag her off.
"Daring Do..." Celestia said quietly. "Wait! Let her go." Daring shouldered out of their grasp, brushing off her jacket. "Now tell me what you want."
"Just thought I would drop off a little something." Daring reached into her pocket, pulling out the broken half of the Eyes of the Demon.
Princess Celestia's face took on a harder tone as she gazed at the evil artifact. "Twilight, you are dismissed for the day."
"Yes, Princess," the lavender unicorn said, levitating her supplies and walking out of the study.
As the door shut behind her, Daring meandered closer to the Princess's desk. "Cute kid."
"She is my prize student, Ms Do. Now just hand over the Eyes of the Demon and I will send for your money."
Celestia reached to take the mask from Daring's hoof, but the pegasus whipped it out of her reach. "I think I'm going to require a little more compensation than just some cash."
"What are you talking about?"
"Wale Mrefu, Tall Ones, Demons. I know about them, and I know you fought them for some reason. You better start spilling the beans about them." Daring pulled out her notebook, turning to her sketch of the Everguard golems.
Celestia's face went pale at the sight of her darkest secret and most ancient enemies. But that paleness left, an unnatural rage boiling inside of the Princess. "How dare you! Who gave you the right to barge into my study and make such outrageous demands!?"
Daring tapped her chin with a hoof. "How to say this without it sounding like an insult? Oh well, your mom, that's who!" Daring flipped the page in her notebook to the drawings of Yeye.
Celestia trembled at the sight of the forest green alicorn in the center of the page. "...Mother?" she whispered incredulously. "Mother....told you about them?"
"Oh yeah, Mom's great and all. Chose me as her champion to get the Eyes. I even went and saw the old homestead inside of her mind. She says you should come visit more often, she gets very lonely running the afterlife."
"You...you went to the Twilight Realm?"
Daring nodded. "If that's what you call it."
Princess Celestia sighed in defeat, her darkest secret had been revealed and now lay bare before Daring. "Give me the Eyes." Daring tossed her half of the Eyes of the Demon the Princess Celestia, the Princess catching them in her magic and placing them inside a magically sealed case. "Now take a seat. I'm going to tell you a story. It is the story of our birth and their fall, the story of why we are here as we are. And once I tell you this story, you will know why you must never repeat it."
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Hoooo boy! That was an awesome chapter!
so is the story done now?
and what do you plan to write next?
1062194 Dunno, kind of torn between a court drama and a sad story about the last man on earth.
1062404
1. do both in 1 story
court for humans sins where he proves to somebody that humans had love in them
2. write 2 oneshots about both storyes then decide.
1217441 I'm not that popular. But for some reason my ratings have skyrocketed in the past 18 hours.
643395 There's real Suahili in it?
Do you speak the language, or are you learning it?
Either way, that's really made me curious now. I've been looking for a Zebrica-centred story, and this one seems really interesting.
2908684 I do not speak Swahili, but I did have an interest in learning it at one point. Most of the Swahili here is translated from a reliable online translator, with some of the untranslatable words filled in.
I originally wanted to write it with Zulu, since I have quite the healthy respect for that culture, but Swahili is a much more widespread language, and more fitting.
2908779 Interesting. What kind of online translator are you referring to?
2912861
imtranslator.net, I believe it to be fairly reliable, certainly better than Google Translate, that's for sure.
2913312
2923252
....
....
....
I plead the fifth. Not really, it says it "provides access", it does not run on Google Translator.
3328003
. . . damn it! Friggity frig frag! I'm I zoologist major and I forgot that hyenas are matriarchal!
I quite enjoyed this story. The pacing was good (in my eyes anyway), you clearly put good thought into everything, and I liked the fact that you used actual Swahili. The actual show didn't, for reasons I can't quite remember...