Daring Do and the Trials of Zenith

by Fedora

Los Pegasus, 1932

The soda was good. Not good in the sense of it being of much nutritional value, but it tasted good. The refined, sugary sweetness with the bite that was signature of Canter-Cola combined in a pleasurable taste. No wonder she was addicted to this stuff. Next to the glass bottle still half-full of soda was a plate containing a slice of pizza. The cheese was melted over the top of the tomato sauce, and the crust had a golden tone to it. The mare sitting at the table picked up the pizza slice with one hoof, and took a bite from the pointed end.

It wasn't every day this mare got to relax and enjoy a meal like this for lunch. She had quite a hectic life, and in this day and age it was uncommon to be able to afford the trip to an eating establishment. Such was not the case with this particular pony. She had suffered some losses when the depression struck, but she was currently juggling two different jobs and taking on extra tasks to make ends meet. It was rewarding and kept her out of poverty, but boy was it stressful.

Daring only wished that she could be stress-free. The golden-yellow pegasus was trying to make the most of her meeting, enjoying a bite to eat at the picnic table in the park. She felt a feeling of dread for when the other party would arrive, but until they showed themselves she was content to sit and eat her lunch, and watch the dragonflies zip over the reflective surface of a small pond.

The hat Daring wore kept the sun out of her eyes, which she was glad of in the hot noontime sun. She had been places where the heat was unbearable, and sweat had been pouring down her face. Here in the middle of a park in Los Pegasus it seemed almost relaxing. The hat sitting atop her head also fit in with most of the other ponies. She wore a fedora, with a light ivory color to it and a brown ribbon going across the base. It had a different feel than her pith helmet. The fedora was more of a civilian hat, one that she could wear around in public. After all, what good was a pith helmet in the streets of Los Pegasus?

Daring had finished her slice of pizza and began working on downing the rest of the soda left in the bottle when she saw somepony approaching from across the parks lawn. Daring sat up straight, lowering the tinted lenses she wore to be able to see the stallion clearly.

He was tall, and he was an earth pony as far as she could tell. His hat made it hard to tell, as there may very well have been a unicorn's horn beneath the black homburg he wore atop his head. The pony had a steel colored coat, and his cutie mark was simply a black briefcase. This stallion made his way over to where Daring Do sat at the picnic table, and upon arriving he placed a large briefcase down onto the wooden table. They stood for a few moments, both looking at each other through their own sunglasses. Daring was the one that broke the silence.

"Well, do you have it?" asked Daring, making an upwards turning motion with her head. The intercourse was light enough to any casual observer who may have seen the two ponies. It may have seemed like an exchange of money between two business ponies, but the actual purpose of the interaction was not as innocent. The tension was as thick as rolling fog as Daring and the stallion looked at each other's face, unable to see the eyes of the other through the lenses of their respective shades.

"Miss Daring, a pleasure to finally meet you," the stallion replied, tipping his black homburg before returning it to his head. He was an earth pony after all, it seemed.

"Doctor, actually," corrected Daring, clearing her throat. "I got my degree in '29, actually. Probably just in time, all things considered." She didn't trust the stallion, and he didn't trust her, that much was obvious.

"Well, Dr. Do then. I stand corrected," the stallion said. He did not open the briefcase, nor did he seat himself. He simply stood over the table, casting a shadow in the afternoon light over Daring's face.

"It seems that a few of my colleagues came into possession of something of yours, Dr. Do," remarked the stallion, tapping the top of the briefcase. Daring looked up at him skeptically.

"That's one way to put it," Daring said coldly, "Though it leaves out the part of breaking and entering, and theft from the Canterlot Museum of History."

"Yes, quite," said The stallion, coughing. He spoke with a light voice, as if he was trying to come off as a benevolent pony, and steering clear of the crime lord he and Daring both knew he was.

"The tablet in question is safe and secure, have no worries," the stallion assured, leaning in close to speak quietly to Daring, "You have to realize, though... times are tough, Dr. Do. It would be a shame for me to simply hoof it over. My colleagues require.... compensation."

"How much are you talking about?" Daring asked, speaking with a hushed voice, but purposely giving a stern quality. The stallion was trying to act like he was clean, and that he didn't have some kind of nasty surprise for her if she wasn't willing to pay up. Daring could see through this facade. She knew what kind of a sleazy and corrupt pony she was dealing with.

"Thirty Thousand bits, Dr. Do. No less," answered the stallion, nodding. From somewhere behind her, Daring heard the tell-tale click of a firing pin being drawn back. That wasn't a good sign.

"Who says I carry that much on me? I can give you twenty, and then once you give me the tablet I can go and get another five. Twenty Five thousand bits in all," said Daring, keeping a straight face.

"I'm not open to haggling, Dr. Do. Either you pay the thirty thousand up front, or we walk away with the tablet. It's your choice," the stallion said, giving Daring a false smile.

Daring considered this for a moment. She wasn't being given any option to work around the price this pony was setting. What a shame it was, too. It was rightfully the Museum's piece, yet they were having to pay for it like black market criminals in order to get it back. Daring didn't like that. She had been given strict instructions not to "try anything funny" or do something that might place the tablet into jeopardy. She weighed her options for a second, biting her lower lip.

"Alright, I'll give you the money in full," said Daring, "but I need to see that you actually have the tablet first." She emphasized her last point strongly. She couldn't just fork over that much currency without being sure that she would receive the real deal. That was the main reason she had been chosen to facilitate this exchange, as she had been the one to recover the artifact in the first place.

"Alright, Dr. Do. We can do it your way," the stallion said, sighing. He bent over the briefcase, and pressed on a button with his free hoof. Daring heard a clicking sound as the briefcase lock was released, and slowly the stallion lifted the top, revealing what was inside the briefcase.

"I would recommend not trying to grab it, Dr. Do. You have three guns pointed at you from various directions, and I'd rather not make this exchange messy," whispered the stallion. Daring leaned in to look closely at the item inside the briefcase. It was made of a smooth stone, and had inscriptions on it in a very old form of her language. She could see the weathering on the very bottom from the edges of the container she had found the item in. The tablet was indeed authentic. Daring backed away, looking back at the stallion standing over the table. She cleared her throat, and pushed herself out of the seat part of the picnic table, scraping her legs against the wood and planting all four hooves on the concrete walking path. She heard several clicks from different directions, which she could identify as weapons being armed. They really didn't trust her, did they?

"Yes," Daring said, taking off her hat. Curled up inside was a small canvas sack, which she placed on the table carefully. One could hear the clinking sound commonly associated with coins moving about and striking each other. The pony wearing the black homburg grinned, his face lighting up upon seeing the bag.

"In this sack is five thousand bits," said Daring. She opened up the sack and spilled several of the gold coins out onto the wood before scooping them back into the sack from which they came. The other pony was beginning to furrow his brows, but lightened up again as Daring reached into her over-the-shoulder bag, and produced a much larger sack. A similar light clinking sound could be heard from within that bag, only slightly louder.

"Here's the other twenty five," Daring said, placing both bags next to each other. There was silence for a few moments, as both ponies looked at each other through shaded lenses. Then, the pony with the black homburg closed up the briefcase, and carefully pushed it over to Daring. Daring nodded, and scooped up the briefcase, carefully slipping it's bulky form into her bag for easier transportation.

"Don't you guys ever think about pulling this crap again," said Daring, with a harsh voice. She turned sharply, and began walking away down the cement path and disappearing out of sight from the stallion. She had left the remains of her lunch behind.

There were a few moments of silence, and then a turquoise pegasus pony dropped down from the branches of a nearby oak tree, hoof still stuck into the enlarged trigger guard.

"Jeez Ted, take that thing off before you blow somepony's eye out," said the stallion wearing the homburg. The pegasus (apparently named Ted) shook his head as he landed in the neatly trimmed grass of the park's lawn, and slipped his hoof out of the gun's trigger guard. He slipped it into the holster belt he had strapped around his flank, and walked towards the grayish stallion with the hat.

"Well chief, how did we make out?" Ted asked, pointing to the canvas sacks on the table. The head stallion pressed the sacks, letting Ted hear the recognizable sounds of coinage.

"Thirty Thousand all together," said the grinning stallion, "Split between all of us, that would be about Seventy-Five Thousand apiece. Not bad for this day and age, hm?"

"Yeah," remarked Ted, with a distracted edge in his voice. He pressed at the bag, feeling it with one of his scarlet hooves. He was getting a really bad feeling in his gut.

"Chief, mind if I take a peek inside?" Ted asked. The stallion shook his head.

"No, wait for the others to get here," he said. He spoke too soon, as moments later a yellow stallion and a forest green mare stepped out from the bushes, walking towards the other two ponies. Both had gun holsters on their belts similar to the one Ted had, and the guns were inside of their respective holsters.

"Hey Chief, we wanna take a gander at those bits," demanded the yellow stallion, who wore a white fedora over his mess of brownish mane. It seemed he shared sentiments with Ted, and the mare wasn't saying very much to stop either of them.

"Alright, alright," the head stallion agreed, untying the knot in the top of the larger sack and spilling some of it's contents out onto the table. He looked right at the two stallions, and pointed to the open mouth of the sack.

"There's your bits," he said with a smug look on his face. The other ponies including the mare did not seem amused at all, and looked from the open sack to the pony wearing the homburg with confused expressions.

"What's the matter? Not enough for you all?" the stallion asked with a stern voice. Ted shook his head, and an angry look came over his face. He stoop up and looked right into the sunglasses that he knew his boss' eyes were behind.

"Well Chief, that's a lot of currency, but just what are you expecting us to be able to do with metal washers?" asked Ted. Upon hearing the words 'metal washers' the homburg-wearing stallion looked down at the open sack with shock. Sure enough, instead of bright golden coins spilling out, all he saw were flat steel-colored rings. Useless as currency. An observer might have been able to see his face flush with embarrassment, but the embarrassment quickly evolved into anger until the pony almost seemed to be frothing at the mouth.

"Curse you Daring Do! All three of you, find where that pony went. Put a bullet through her skull if you have to," grumbed the stallion in a state of fury, "but we must get that tablet back!"

Comments

[Blazer]

Oh my. We got us a story.

This is such an underrated story; this deserves much more attention!