Daring Do and The Turquoise Serpent

by Time Pony Victorious

Chapter 1

I

DARING

Another Day, Another Trap

Even before she met the three-legged pirate, Daring wasn't having the best of luck. It wasn't the sinister scores of poisonous snakes, or the band of bitter biting monster bears, or even the numerous nefarious ninjas that annoyed Daring Do. No, if she had to pick the worst thing that happened to her that day, it would definitely be having to sit through yet another of Ahuizotl's infamous monologues.

Nothing ruined a death trap more than Ahuizotl ranting on and on about how Daring is feeble compared to him, about how the world will soon be his! Yammering seems to be his specialty; failure is a close second, however.

Daring Do was tied up neatly, dangling one hundred feet over shark infested waters of which the aforementioned creatures were outfitted with strange devices at the tops of their heads. It was probably ornamental. Then one of the sharks briefly breached the water, his head pointed at her, when a laser discharged from the device and nearly nicked Daring's neck.

Just my luck, thought Daring.

To her right was the open sea, glittering almost mischievously in the afternoon sun, sea-salt and assorted daffodil delicacies assailed her senses and made her nostalgic. She had spent many a vacation here when she was a filly, and now she was going to meet her doom only a few meters away from the beach; how fitting.

Over to her left was the Arion Temple, sitting at its entrance was Ahuizotl in all of his obnoxious glory. He cackled gleefully, overlooking the hill where the temple was situation on, and down to the waters where the sharks impatiently roamed. With each passing second Daring was dropped a few inches closer to the water.

"Oh, Daring Do, how I've enjoyed this little game of ours," said Ahuizotl, "This cute little… chase we engage in. I the cat, and you the insignificant little mouse."

Dare struggled a little more, causing the rope to be lowered a little faster. The sharks below continued to fire their laser beams, barely missing Dare.

… Just maybe…

"While all of this has been fun, I am afraid this is game over for you," he brandished the artifact that Daring has sought for all this time. Arion's Amulet. "See, as swift and heroic as you may be, you are terribly predictable."

"Oh yeah?" snapped Dare, "Why don't you take me down from this stupid trap and we'll see who's the predictable one!"

She swung sporadically, going side to side and nearly hitting the cliff Ahuizotl laughed, as if Dare was a small creature who had done something amusing for her master.

"Come now, I would expect a pony of your stature to be more graceful in defeat."

"I hate losing, but the good thing about me is-" Daring swung one more time, finally hitting the cliff where she kicked off and swung toward the ocean with gusto. The sharks breeched once more when Dare nearly touched the water with her tail and their lasers went off again, this time, searing the ropes that bonded her.

The ropes broke instantly and Daring temporarily floated above the ocean, now that her wings were free she unfurled them and took flight using the momentum from her swing. Ahuizotl only had enough time to react in pure horror as Daring swooped down, snatched the amulet from his paw and landed in front of him, "I don't lose."

"Get her!"

That was a mighty fine indicator to make herself scarce. Dare galloped opposite of Ahuizotl, she made it halfway down the pier when the screeching of her pursuers shook her eardrums. If this "evil henchcat" business didn't work out for them, they had lovely singing voices.

Rounding the corner she was greeted by the sight of the town only a few feet away.

One henchcat tackled her before she can go, causing her to drop the amulet. It was a massive jaguar that tackled her; he took a moment to look at the dropped amulet. Daring kicked at his gut and using her forelegs, she pushed on the ground and launched herself up – pushing the jaguar off.

He crashed through the shop window but Daring didn't stop to admire her work. She picked up the amulet, placed it inside her hat, and proceeded to run off. After a sufficient running start, Daring took to the winds and flew above the small town.

It was a quiet, rustic town. Completely docile in comparison to the bigger cities.

Overall, the little village seemed to be preoccupied with something as there were no ponies in the streets. It must have been some sort of celebration, as when Daring flew over the town square she noticed a huge line of ponies heading towards the town boundaries to a little farm. It made Daring homesick seeing all of these neighborly ponies chattering amongst each other; they probably didn't want some silly Pegasus ruining all of this fun.

From behind her, the pursuers continued to dog her. Huge cats that seem disturbingly hungry for a little pony like Dare. She flew faster, wanting to fly higher in the skies to reach the clouds but the clouds were too dark and too low. It would've been freezing up there and Daring would've been flying blind, literally.

Lost in her thoughts, Dare didn't notice one of the jaguars launching himself toward her. Tackling her mid-air, pony and cat tumbled downward. Arion's amulet around her neck was let loose and fell toward the line of ponies.

"Ah, pony feathers," Daring muttered as she and the annoying cat crashed into the line. Comically, a dozen ponies were blown by the momentum of the crash and Daring finally managed to untangle herself from her attacker. But, before she could spit the fur out of her mouth she noticed him standing in front of her and he certainly didn't look happy.

"Nice kitty," Daring cooed calmly; she knew this meditative mantra wouldn't calm him, but she needed to bide her time to search for the amulet. They walked slowly in a circle as ponies everywhere panicked and ran about, mostly toward the farm (probably to get ahead in line) and mostly away from this conflict.

"Can't we, uh, talk this out?" she asked. As expected, the jaguar growled and licked his lips; the tasty prospect of Pegasus must have been cooling his temper.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted the sparkle of the precious metal. It gleamed so reassuringly and gave Dare hope, that is, until she saw a great number of Ahuizotl's henchcats, followed by Ahuizotl himself.

"Looks like you were wrong Ms. Do," Ahuizotl purred as he approached the amulet, "It seems you do lose."

He bent to pick up the amulet and in that split second Daring jumped. Dare was never the fastest or fanciest Pegasus in her class, but if given the chance she was the best flyer in all of Equestria. Before Ahuizotl even realized she had moved, Daring had already grabbed the amulet and was making her way past him.

Although her maneuvers were at the professional level, she miscalculated her speed. Her wings couldn't stand the strain of moving so fast at such a low altitude and faltered for a moment; that instance tripped her up. Losing control, Dare fell over her hooves and rolled awkwardly into a fruit stand.

The vender was hardly startled by Dare's sudden entrance and kindly offered her a deep fried crepe with cheery filling. It sounded good but Ahuizotl's screams jolted her back to reality. He and his group made it into the town square just in time to see Daring Do take to the skies.

As she left the humble little town, she could hear Ahuizotl curse her; music to her ears.

~--~

"Ow!" Herpy cried, nursing his bruised shoulder that Daring had reflexively kicked when he tied her bandage a little too tight, "Thank goodness my face wasn't there!"

"Sorry," she muttered. From her little crash she had managed to pull a muscle and injured her right wing and left foreleg. Just a few bruises and minor scratches, she had seen worse after all.

Herpy walked off, looking at the amulet in his usual calculating and distracted manner.

Although a bit eccentric, Herpy was certainly the reliable pony when Daring was in a pickle. He was no adventurer but was practically a walking encyclopedia. His intelligence and enthusiasm was heart-warming, and his ways around magic was certainly impressive as well. The unicorn had been with Daring for years now, sticking with her through thick and thin and she appreciated his loyalty; plus, he makes a mean cup of Joe.

He spoke to himself as the amulet floated in front of him, when he got really focused on his work he would block off the world. Talking to him in this state was harder than, well, evading laser sharks and giant cats.

"It's odd that this is in such pristine condition," Herpy remarked.

"Think it's a fake?" Dare countered, although she didn't have his brains she knew a fake from the original artifact.

"No, no, of course not, just thinking out loud."

"What would he want with that thing anyways?" Daring asked, "It isn't magic, doesn't do anything."

She hopped off the table to follow Herpy. The Royal Canterlot University library was certainly a sight to behold. With over twenty-five thousand books and an increasing number every day, this was a paradise for any bookworm. Although Daring had her own little office on the second floor of the University, she preferred to conduct this little meeting here. Mostly because the library made her comfortable, and mostly because Herpy would've come down here anyways.

As expected, Herpy levitated a book from the Pre-Classical Era shelf and went through its pages so fast Daring wasn't sure if he was actually reading it.

"Even if it isn't magic, this is still an important amulet," Herpy answered, "This is the amulet of Arion, such a thing is priceless! Worth millions Dare!"

"I thought you said it was priceless."

He ignored her and continued to read, "Ah! Here it is!"

Shoving the book in Daring's face, the text read a biography of Arion the Swift.

"'Arion the Swift,'" Herpy recited after pulling the book back, "'Known for his speed and heroism during the Diamond Dog rebellion, Arion was the fastest Earth Pony to ever live. To date, there hasn't been anyone to exceed his top speed of three hundred forty meters per second.'"

"Wow, fast," she remarked, taking the amulet from Herpy, "Arion doesn't seem to be the type to have bling."

"I guess this is going to the museum?" Herpy asked.

Daring thought about it for a second. Though typically, every artifact that Daring had acquired in her travels had gone to the Canterlot Historical Museum as donations, Daring hesitated when it came to Arion's Amulet.

She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to keep the trinket for a little longer.

"No," she answered, "I'll hold on to it for a bit-" she took the amulet and proceeded to the door, "-In case Ahuizotl is still a bit sore about losing it, it'll be in safe hands."

"The security in the museum is top-notch Dare, you should know. You designed it." He objected.

"Can't talk now, I'm late for class. Hey, send me up some of your world class coffee for me."

When she arrived for Equnology, the students were already restless. She walked inside and one student immediately cried, "Ms. Do! Where were you?"

"Probably with Bravado again right?"

"Aren't you guys married?"

"What's with the bandages?"

Dare shot a don't-make-me-fail-you glare at the ponies to shut them up, but they kept giggling. She stood at the front of the class, in front of 50 eager ponies ready to learn.

"What happened to your wing?" one student asked.

Maybe they weren't there to learn about Equinology after all.

"That, Strawberry Roll, is none of your concern," Dare answered, anxious to change the subject, "What should be your concern, as with the rest of you, would be finals."

A collective groan and protest made Daring smile.

"Come on Ms. Do! We're working our butts off to barely pass here, cut us a break?" another student pleaded.

"You should know better Top Heavy, that I, of all professors, am not the pony to ask for a break," her mischievous smile spread across her face. After a stressful morning, this was an excellent way to blow off some steam.

Despite her best efforts to hide her adventures from most ponies, especially her students, it is no longer a secret that Daring is an adventurer. And quite often her students tease her about that aspect and enjoy taking advantage of Daring's tendency to fall into tangents when she recounts her escapades. This has more than once caused her students to produce unfinished tests, absent homework, and blank notepads. Thankfully, Daring is rather lenient about that seeing as she caused those mistakes.

The class went swimmingly with a few outbursts intended to pry into her injuries here and there. Daring was so absorbed into her lecture, however, that she hadn't noticed the pirate at her door.

"Ms. Do," Top Heavy called out.

"I told you Top Heavy," Daring answered facing the blackboard, "You should've gone before class started."

"Aye, the lassie her' has a point!"

She turned and saw Blackmane. Well, it wasn't actually Blackmane, just someone who dressed so similarly that she had to correct herself in calling him out as the infamous pirate. His mane was, of course, black with dirt and brim. His body was black as well with suspicious red stuff caked slovenly all over. His tail, like the rest of his body, was messy and showed no evidence of proper care. The pirate wore typical seafaring clothes that reeked of seaweed and fish, when he smiled he showed exactly three black teeth.

The only difference between him and Blackmane would be his size. The real Blackmane was much bigger and stout, but this imitator was puny (even smaller than Daring), his knees wobbled and his back was bent with time. And the most important detail was that this old pirate had one peg-leg, as far as Daring was concerned, Blackmane didn't have a peg-leg.

"Um," Daring looked at the clock, there would still be ten minutes left of class, "Spend this time reading pages one hundred ten to one hundred thirty in your book. I have some business to attend to, apparently."

The class groaned at the burden of reading - shocker - but Daring went off with the pirate immediately regretting that decision.

"Don't you guys know it's rude to interrupt a class?" Daring asked, annoyed at this pirate's presence, "Seriously! It's like you guys just all collectively decide to ruin class for me."

The pirate blinked, confused at why Daring was reacting this way. Whatever he came to ask Daring to collect didn’t involve listening to her ranting.

Before he could get a word in edgewise, she continued to rant and rave, "Oh, and who are you supposed to be? That Blackmane outfit is terrible by the way, you're missing the beard. What did you want me to collect? Your parrot? Wood polisher for your peg-leg?"

"Nothin' like that lass," he answered, "I just need ya to find a snake."

Comments

[MrPikmario]

Hope she doesnt share Indy's fear of snakes

[redmar]

The problem Ahuizotl's death trap is rather typical for Ahuizotl and the reason he Always fails.