Daring Do and the Alicorn Amulet

by InkRose

The Frost Mare

Chapter One: The Frost Mare

“Oh, horsefeathers,” said an agitated pegasus explorer as she dodged a machete flying through the air towards her. She hadn’t meant to start the bar fight; she really hadn’t. How could she have known that mentioning a single artifact would have gotten the unicorn she had been speaking with to spit out his drink? Who would have guessed that the spit would splash in the face of the most agitatible, toughest griffon in the bar? And who would have predicted that the griffon would get enraged, flip his table, and involve everybody in the bar in a brawl? Daring Do hadn’t, that was for sure.

Dodging thrown chairs, punching fists, and razor sharp beaks, Daring slowly made her way to the bar door.

“How many bar fights can one pegasus start in a lifetime?” she thought to herself, flapping away from a giant dragon’s boot that almost crushed her.

Finally, she made it to the door, gasping as she spilled out into the night. Navigating through a deadly ancient temple filled with traps was easier than dealing with thugs. Sighing and brushing a stray griffon feather off of her hat, Daring Do trudged through the snow of Trottingham, heading toward a small hotel where she would stay for the night.

She had originally come to the bar to contact Fredrick Von Pear, a unicorn specializing in the black market. Though Daring never usually associated with the buying of stolen goods, she needed information on how to obtain the Alicorn Amulet, preferably by legal means. But the amulet was powerful--so powerful that Daring needed to get it for her client by any means possible.

Ugh... just thinking about the Amulet sent shivers down Daring’s spine. Legend said that it had been crafted by a student of Star Swirl the Bearded who had wanted power as great as the Princesses.’ But such magic came with a cost. The student soon became corrupted and evil. He used the Amulet to enslave an entire empire. In the end, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were forced to use the Elements of Harmony to wrench the horrible thing from his neck. But after being connected to the amulet for so long, the student’s body had grown used to feeding off of the Amulet’s power to survive. Without it, the student withered away to only a shadow.

An item of such dominance could not be kept safe within a museum. Attempts to steal the Amulet would happen too often. That was why Daring Do’s client had commissioned Daring to obtain the artifact and bring it to a safe place.

The pegasus entered the hotel, and climbed up the steps to her room. It had been a long day, and she was ready for some good old-fashioned sleep. She took off her hat and shirt, and bandaged a few cuts and bruises she had acquired from the bar brawl. No pony could get through one of those fights unscathed.

Before she could go to sleep, however, someone knocked on her door. Daring opened it and saw a tall stallion standing right outside. It was the owner of the hotel she was staying in.

"I have a letter for you from Canterlot, madam,” said the unicorn with his dapper Trottingham accent. “It arrived only a few minutes ago.” And with that, the unicorn used his magic to place the letter in Daring’s open hoof. The pegasus closed the door.

Perhaps the letter was from her client concerning the amulet? Daring opened the letter. Reading it over, she realized that she had guessed correctly.

Dear Ms. Daring Do,

I have written to inquire about the status of your mission to aquire the Alicorn Amulet. You have not contacted me in a few weeks, and I grow concerned about your whereabouts. I have used my magic to send this letter to the area in which you currently reside, as I have not been informed of your location. Please contact me as soon as you deem possible.

I also have some concerning news. It seems that another pony, a unicorn, has also been reported to be looking for the Alicorn Amulet. You need to aquire the Amulet before this pony does, else I fear great chaos will befall Equestria should the unicorn choose to use the Amulet’s powers for evil.

I have the utmost confidence in you, since you come highly recommended from Barnett College as an explorer and archaeologist extraordinaire.

If you ever need the assistance of Princess Luna or I, open the enclosed bottle of dragon’s flame, and we will come to your aid. Be wary, though. Only use this in life or death emergencies. My sister and I are excruciatingly overburdened with the present Windigo incidents.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter,

Princess Celestia

Daring set the letter down on her bedside table, and pulled a glass bottle from the folds of the envelope. Inside the bottle was purple dragon’s flame, a sign for help in the world of magic. Once she broke or opened the bottle, the flame would go straight to the Princess, warning her of any plight Daring would be in.

Daring Do put both the bottle and the letter inside her leather saddlebag. She would write to the Princess tomorrow, once she felt rested enough to articulate a coherent sentence.

Slowly setting herself down in bed, Daring drifted off to sleep, the distant sounds of royal guards trying to subdue a bar fight echoing through the night.

***

“Well, this is certainly an awkward situation,” thought Daring Do as she fluttered her eyes open to find a revolver pointing at her chest. It was being held by the magic of the hotel owner, who was standing a foot away, staring angrily into Daring’s maroon eyes.

“Get OUT,” he said, motioning with his revolver to the door. “Take your things and leave! I don’t want you bringing any more trouble to this fine establishment!”

Daring Do got out of bed, packing up her things quickly. Always listen to the pony holding the gun, even if they don’t make any sense. She slung her saddle bag over her back and looked at the unicorn.

“What trouble have I caused?” Daring asked, staring hard at the hotel manager. “Why have you ordered me to leave?” He looked nervous, certainly not used to handling a gun. His magic wavered, and the revolver was shaking.

“A pony arrived at the front desk just a few minutes ago... sh-she said that if I didn’t hand you over to her, she would k-kill me,” the unicorn said, trying to sound calm.

A sudden tremor shook his body. Daring Do could see the veins in the stallion’s neck bulge. “Now, come with me down the hall,” he said, gasping.

Daring trotted down the hall, the unicorn with the gun behind her. “You’re the one with the pistol,” she said. “Why did you have to listen to her?”

The stallion whimpered silently, but did not answer.

Soon, they reached the hotel lobby. A strange mare stood squarely in the center of it. She wore a blueish-white cape and hood, frost covering it. When she looked up at Daring Do and the unicorn behind her, Daring could see that her eyes were glowing white. They rest of her face was covered in the shadow of the hood.

“Good,” said the mare, her voice sounding like a winter breeze. “You have served your purpose, unicorn.”

And once her sentence had finished being spoken, Daring heard a cry of alarm behind her. She turned her head to see the hotel manager screaming as a heavy coat of ice and frost traveled up his legs and spread across his body, eventually reaching his head and freezing him in an everlasting expression of horror. The revolver clattered to the ground.

Her heart pounding, Daring lunged for the revolver, only to have it frozen over before her eyes. Her head whipped around to see the frosty mare give a glowing smile.

“Come with me, Daring Do,” she said. “Or you will end up like him.” She motioned toward the frozen hotel manager.

Daring Do hesitantly followed the frost mare outside, and down the streets of Trottingham. As Daring walked, a cold sensation ran down her back. Her blood went cold. “What-what are you doing!?” Daring cried, starting to panic. “I’m doing what you told me to! I'm following you!”

The mare kept looking forward. “I am just letting my power set in to your body. Nothing to be concerned about. That way I can command my frost to overcome you wherever you are. So if you make one wrong choice you will become one with winter.”

Daring Do’s heart began to race again, making ice cold blood run even faster throughout her body. “Letting your power... set in?”

The frost mare smiled and said, “Yes, right now I am telekinetically pumping thousands of tiny frost crystals into your bloodstream, ready to activate whenever I give the command. Once they are activated-”

“I turn into a pega-sicle...” Daring Do finished, letting the idea of having thousands of foreign objects floating around in her bloodstream sink in. She gulped. “So, what do you want me to do, steal something? Why are you doing this to me?”

The mares kept walking through Trottingham, passing a plethora of brick buildings and carriages. None of the ponies in the city seemed to notice the strange mare with the frosted cape and glowing eyes. In fact, they didn’t seem to see her at all.

“I want you to find something for me... for usss...” said the mare, the last word coming out like a hiss of steam.

Daring Do stepped backwards. “Well, I’m kind of already looking for something for a very important pony already, so if you don’t mind, I really have to be going-”

A severe chill swept through Daring’s body, putting her figure in shock for a few seconds. The frost mare turned to face her, her cold glowing eyes seeming to pierce through Daring’s soul, seeing everything within the adventurous pegasus.

“You no longer work for the Princess,” said the frost mare, a cold rage seeping into her voice. “You work for me, and me alone. You will find the Alicorn Amulet and bring it to me else you will DIE. Do you understand, filthy mortal?”

Daring Do just nodded in reply, the feeling of the cold still lingering in her nerves. This mare must have been the pony Celestia had warned her about in the letter. Plus, she was a creature with mystical ice powers, and if Daring Do did not do what she commanded, she would be frozen to death.

Oh, joy.

Comments

[DaemoN67]

MUSHIES

[Silverstein]

Penguins

[DaemoN67]

2001335
No mushies i.imgur.com/teICa.png i.imgur.com/QwaS1.png

[InkRose]

2001335 Penguins? What?

[InkRose]

2001391 What the heck are mushies?

[Silverstein]

2003777

If it helps any, I don't remember making that comment...

Silver out!

[Steamcore]

So far you seem to have a good idea where you want the story to go. I certainly am looking foreword to seeing how this story turns out.
There where a few typos that I found but not to many. One thing to work on might be trying different wording to help the reader picture the locations better.
Also working on making the sentences less jagged would help with the flow of reading.

Here are a few changes that I thought might help with the flow of the sentences. I stopped making them after the first two pages because I realized I would just be interfering with how you wanted the wording to go, so these are just suggestions that some may even consider a step back from what you wrote.

Daring needed to get if for her client - if to it

Use the word powerful a bit more spaced out, maybe try strong or rewording so you don't need to use quite as often.

she needed information on how to obtain the Alicorn Amulet, by legal ways, preferably - to
she needed information on how to obtain the Alicorn amulet, preferably by legal means.

Such a carrier of power could not be safe within a museum. - to
An item of such power could not be kept safe within a museum.

Attempts to steal the Amulet would happen often. - to
There would simply be to many attempts to seal the alluring prize within.

Can't wait for the next chapter. :D
~nothwestcore

[InkRose]

2006276 Thank you very much for the tips, I was wondering how to make many of the sentences flow better.
I will most definitely be adding those sentence edits when I fully edit the first chapter.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Paradise Oasis]

Ohhh, a very good story starring the Pony adventurerer. Feels very much like an old-time adventure story,and sets the pace for the adventure to come. Can't wait to read the rest, keep up the good work!

[StarShine739]

This story so far is AWSOME!!!!!!!!!

(Oops went a bit crazy with the Pinkies.......)

[Luna rules7293]

I followed you and your'e YouTube videos are amazing

[Commander Rainstorm]

That ending of the chapter

Oh, joy.

Really got me there.
I have no idea why, but for some reason it reminded me of League of Legends....
Don't ask.

[PrincessFlutters]

WHAT THE HAY