Daring Do and the A-peel-ing Treasure

by Chrome Masquerade

Chapter 2: Prench Cuisine and Possible Clues

Arriving in the Prench town of Paris, after a long flight by the two pegasi -and a ride in a small plane by Big Mac- , they went to their destination; the Café de Fleurs. Settling at a table, they waited to be addressed by one of the staff.

At length, a waitress -in what appeared to be a maid outfit- did come and passed out menus. Scanning it quickly, Daring noticed that the daily special wasn't listed. Curious, she asked, "What's the daily, today?"

The waitress shrugged and said, "I 'aven't a clue, madamme."

"Speaking of clues," Rainbow Dash started, "Have you seen any special maps in the area?"

"Non." was the curt reply. "Je ne crains pas; I fear not."

Daring said, "I'll have the soupe du jour, si vous plait." passing her menu back to the waitress, who seemed quite pleased that Daring knew some Prench herself.

"Le salade Parisienne, please." Big Mac said shortly, following suit.

Rainbow Dash said, "I'll... need some more time to decide."

"Tout de suite! Right a'vay!" the waitress replied, with a curtsey.

Shortly thereafter, a familiar looking stallion appeared with Daring's soup. "Here is your soupe du jour, madamme." he said, "Bon appetite." he added, placing it in front of her.

Daring frowned as the stallion passed by. Reaching into her Pocket, she pulled out a nondescript packet filled with some kind of powder. "Just in case..." she said, shaking the packet once, to ensure that the contents were fully added to the soup. "If there was any poisonous substance in there, it is neutralized." she explained. "That was obviously Rhamiit in a poor disguise. Which means..."

Rainbow Dash finished, looking around, "The aptly named Fhaat Gai can't be far behind."

"We've been followed somehow." Daring said, with a nod.

Suddenly. a knife went slicing through the air heading for Daring Do, which Rainbow noticed first. Thinking quickly, she uttered "Boost!" under her breath. Immediately, her perception of time slowed by about 80%. She stepped in front of the knife and turned it away with one hand, before the boost ended and things went back to normal.

The knife went off in a different direction, hitting a picture on a neaby wall, which fell, revealing a map on the back of it. Rainbow Dash pointed and said, "Do you think...?"

Big Mac went and picked that up, looking it over before folding and Pocketing it. He nodded and said, "Eeyup."

"Perhaps we'll take our meals to go." Daring suggested, looking around for other threats. "I get the impression that all is not healthy in the environs."

She gave one of the waitresses a small bag of bits, saying to give that to the proprietor of the café, taking their meals (at length, Rainbow Dash had chosen a Salade de Chevré Chaud) before leaving. That map would need to be studied before long.