Collab Cage Mini-Monthly January -- "What the hay happened last night?"

by The Collab Cage

Daring Do and the Missing Monday

Written by: Ravenscroft

Daring Do and the Gilded Lotus, Chapter 7, The Missing Monday

The date: the first of January, the third year of soaring dragons.

The location: The middle of Nowhere.

Loose, flowing black hair tickled her nose, and our intrepid hero woke herself with a start. With quick wits and a scrambling mind, she assessed the situation around her. The common room of the inn, Nowhere, was mostly empty. She left aside why she woke up in the middle of Nowhere, instead of somewhere logical like a bed, or a convenient sarcophagus. Even chairs and tables had been pulled aside, pushed to the edges of the room. Three other ponies were on the ground as well, lying loose, as if discarded. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight, and immediately she regretted it, a splitting migraine screaming into focus just behind her pupils. Working blind, eyes closed, the pegasus staggered her way to the bar, to shade her eyes from the sunlight coming in from the broken window.

The three other ponies... One was the bartender, keeled atop his workstation, smothering his chest of bits with his heavy barrel. She went over to him, to make sure he was alright. Though he was surly and sarcastic, Dirty Glass was the most reliable pony in the whole province. Luckily, as she prodded him, Daring Do wondered why she did not feel the earth shake as he gave a window-clattering snore. Well, if the window hadn't already been thoroughly pre-clattered.

'And why was that?' Daring Do thought to herself, thoroughly confused. A smashed window, everything strewn to the side, no memory of the event, everyone unconscious...

Her eyes flashed, her head swiveling from side to side, ensuring no pony was waiting in ambush. It was an old habit, but it kept her from harm on more than one occasion. Seeing not a soul, she took a breath and froze again.

"What is that smell?" she asked the open air. As unhelpful as ever, the air remained in quiet contemplation. Her nose turned skywards, Daring closed her eyes and walked blindly, to better awaken her other senses. Following the off-scent, she impacted a table near the back wall. Coming in closer, several flagons were there, sticky from some syrupy drink drying out in them.

The pegasus ran a hoof across the edge of the container, getting a little of the liquid onto her fur, and carefully brought it to her mouth. Immediately, her throat threatened to close up, and it sent her into a coughing fit. 'Holly spirit! But how didn't I detect it earlier?' she wondered.

Holly spirit... It was a dangerous liquid, made from the oils of holly and solanum root, then left to mix in with raw yeast until the concoction killed all life inside it from the toxicity. It could take a significant amount to kill an adult pony, but a trait of the liquid made it so that the more that was drunk of it, the more the imbiber wished to drink, until they fell. Ever since El Saddledor, Daring had been carefully taking doses of it each night, building immunity. Whomever did this clearly did not know about those events. Still, to manage to hit her with it, the perpetrator was skilled.

'And nopony does this to somepony for no reason.' She rubbed her head, the headache not seeming to fade. 'So what's missing... We're here, the bit chest is here, my saddlebags are--'

Her thoughts ended abruptly as she rushed to her bags with one titanic thrust of her wings. Items flew from it, clattering across the open hardwood floor, as Daring ransacked her rucksack.

"Whip, no, chains, no, bandages, no, dog treats, no, hoofcuffs, no! No, no, no!" Her hooves clicked as they clopped floor through the bag, completely empty. "No! The Gilded Lotus!"

Figuring out what happened the previous night was suddenly crucial. The artifact should never be in the hands of evil, and Daring Do possibly let that happen, to her shame. It was too powerful to be let go so freely, but its power drove even the pegasus to ground with its heavy aura while she had it. It could not be too far away.

But to even begin tracing it, she needed to know what happened! She was on the road with Side Kick, and then a caravan came by with incense and wares... Then what? Something in the camp must have begun the poisoning, and its residual power was still robbing her of clarity in her memories. There were only flashes. A little filly offering water in the warm sticky heat. Herself bragging on her latest exploits. More water, smelling of the incense of the caravan.

'That's how they hid the smell!' One mystery solved, she gave a cheer and immediately regretted it, holding a hoof to her sore head. The first doses were disguised under the strong smells of lavender and myrrh. All in all, it was a small victory, but Daring resolved never to be so foolhardy again... Again.

The cleared floor was still a mystery. The broken window too. And the other ponies. None of them were Side Kick, none even shared his unique green, red, and gold colours. Way too visible against sandy ruins, or even tropical ones, but what the hay, it kept attention off herself. She turned about, and checked once more to be certain, before walking over to the window. No glass on the inside of the room. With everypony incapacitated and unable to clean it up, it meant only one thing. Somepony broke it from nearby. An unstable flap of her wings brought her high enough to see properly out the window. It was first-floor, and an unusual reddish tinge coated the shattered remains of the glass. Daring Do was more than familiar enough with that particular substance too: Blood.

With a brief landing, Daring made sure that the others would live. They must have joined in drinking the poison later than herself, as they only seemed knocked out and would recover with rest, albeit with terrible headaches. Blood on a sill was not much to go on, but it was better than nothing. She began to walk out of Nowhere, when her hoof stepped into something starchy and sticky nearby where she woke up. White gunk. She shivered involuntarily, a reminder of felling Krastos at the start of her career, but that couldn't be the case. 'It's probably... just spoiled milk. Yeah.'

A bit (okay, very) disgusted but no worse for wear, the adventurous pony made her way around the exterior of the inn. Her guess was correct, the broken window had glass shards surrounding it from this side. Somepony escaped in a hurry. And that pony knew what happened.

-----

The wilds; thick with wildlife, danger awaiting every turn, even this far into civilized lands. A practiced explorer would keep all eyes on their surroundings, putting aside the question of what happened last night. Daring Do, though, was not merely practiced. She lived for the trail. Luckily, her quarry was also not very stealthy, running with abandon, a small trail of blood droplets leading her whenever a fork appeared in the well-trodden, sandy trail. Never did it veer towards the large, spiky trees that lined the paths, her prey needing speed over stealth.

This was all second nature. Her mind wandered from worry. 'How could this have happened?! I tried my very best, and in the last moment, I let the Lotus get away.'

The proud pegasus shook her head against the thought. 'No, the last moment hasn't happened yet! My pride won't fall, because I won't fail this time!' With renewed vigor, she redoubled her pace. There was no flying while tracking, no matter how fast or how awesome the tracker, the soil needed to be felt, a connection made to the soil's very memory: An Earth Pony trick dating back to before even Equestria.

That didn't mean the pace was slow. Trees were just blurs, Daring Do panting from the effort, she had to catch up to somepony with an unknown head start, after all. A self-sure grin painted her face as the colourful tents of the gypsies met her eyes. She would get answers, because nopony, nopony steals from THE Daring Do. That was already kind of her own job.

The trail led right into a particularly garish green and blue tie-dyed tent. Her winged slowly unfurled and quietly flexed. The camp was in motion, already nearing mid-day, and she didn't want any undue attention on herself, just in case a quick exit was needed, but they would need to be ready in case of a fight.

She opened the tent flap...

"Side Kick?!"

"Daring?!"

Both sides exclaimed simultaneously. Sitting on a flat white cot--calling it a bed would have been too generous--was her adorable Side Kick, one leg and barrel heavily bandaged. A bowl of bloody water sat beside him, twinkling with shards of broken glass.

"Side Kick, what happened?" Daring asked, though by her tone it was clear she was not referring to the injuries he got jumping through a window pane. Quite quickly, he crumples and prostates himself before his partner, as best he could with the medical attention.

"Please forgive me!" he blurted out. "He said if I didn't follow his orders, they would get my Sweet Pea! I didn't want to take it!"

"So you DO have my artifact!" Daring bore down on Side Kick, her presence cowing him further as he shuffled back as best he could away from her ire.

"No, I handed it off already. To a creature in a dark robe, no name was given. Please forgive me!" He looked ready to bolt, but the only exit was through the object of his current fears.

"And so you poisoned me and handed off this object when...?" Her impatience was intensified by the poisoning-headache that rode her since waking; without solving this, it was not ever going to go away.

"Only a few minutes ago! I haven't even had time to fix the cuts from running away. A dark path of thicker trees to the north." Though his eyes were closed, he felt the wind rush of a speeding wing and braced for impact. "I'm sorr--"

He opened his eyes to an empty tent, Daring Do had already departed.

-----

"Stupid Side Kick! More than your friends will be in trouble if I don't get that back!" Daring ranted to herself as she sped northwards. As promised, within a minute of her strongest sprinting, the trees started seeming to grow closer together, the foliage dimming and diffusing the sun's rays. Though mid-day, her vision was only about as good as it may have been at the dark edge of dusk.

Whoever was behind it came through these woods. She kept running for a what felt like a league. A bird flew by her and startled her into stillness. Not because birds were inherently scary, but the exact opposite. They were the harmless, cowardly wildlife. She realized in her haste she had stopped paying attention to her surroundings. Though a bird flew by, not one chirp was made. No insects hummed. The only sound at all was Daring's own heart and lungs. Something was nearby. Something dangerous.

She ducked low and edged close to the treeline on the path. They were too close-knit to go through the foliage, and the pegasus wasn't the most stealthy of ponies anyways. The noise of underbrush would give herself away, so the road was still the safest route. Her eyesight shot, nothing to be heard at all, trees restricting movement in all directions but forwards... Some Monday this was turning out to be.

Daring Do edged forwards, her head perpendicular to the path to allow very quick and brief movements to check in front as well as behind. There! Though indistinct, a ways away was a large, hairy... thing. She readied herself for a brawl, letting fight or flight instincts fuel herself, her headache fading away in the adrenaline rush. Careful, quiet steps, low to the ground, until it came into focus.

When it did, her eyes widened and she bit back a gasp of surprise.

There, in front of her, was Ahuizotl. All twelve feet of him, his thick and matted blue fur clashing with the orange-green hues of the tropical forest. Of course it was him! All evidence pointed towards it, she just could not have believed it after he fell off that cliff back in Saddle Arabia. Her stalwart Side Kick being threatened when he was fearless, such a thorough knowledge of poisons, his ability to imitate the voices of fillies, and even the preparations made to make sure her yesterday was as much a blur as possible!

Her longtime rival certainly seemed to be alive once more, and as formidable as ever. Long pointed ears that could catch any sound, his four limbs might as well be arms with dextrous hands, and his tail as well, able to handle any weapon or brawl bare-fisted. She knew he was nocturnal, his eyes perfect for the night hunt, but the sun was still setting, and he didn't even see her, his gaze focused on...

The Gilded Lotus! It was so close within reach! She had one chance to put this whole yesterday behind her with one fell swoop, and she would need her namesake to pull it off. Daring Do never backed away from a challenge, no matter how tough, and was not about to start. She rushed forward, wings propelling with further speed along the dirt trail.

Five seconds to him. Four. Three. His eyes turned towards her in surprise. Two, Daring Do's pace became frantic, hoofbeats echoing in the air. One. His gaze turned from surprise to a malevolent smirk. Too late to stop. Two strides from him, a hoof smashed down, and the ground beneath it gave way, sending her face-first into the ground.

Except the ground was no longer solid. Loose sandy soil splashed up onto her face, and Daring tried to pull a hoof to wipe it off, but her hoof was sucked into the quicksand, its grasp tight and unyielding. Her wings flapped, but Ahuizotl's tail-hand, without warning, grabbed a formidable pile of soaking wet sand from his side and poured it along her back, the weight pressing her wings down, the next flap attempt burying them in the sand with her hooves. Just her neck and head remained exposed as she continued to slowly sink. Daring Do was not looking very hopeful.

That is, until she noticed her enemy making the most basic of mistakes, turning his attention away from her and back to what was rightfully her prize. It was a unique magical thing and required certain resonance to work. But Ahuizotl was nothing if not cunning, he could circumvent any restrictions given enough time. Planting the seed of doubt might finally resolve the mire that was what happened last night, one final gambit.

"You don't have the right willpower to use it! You don't have diligence, or bravery! You can't use it without inner strength! Only a true adventurer with awesome daring and attitude can focus the Lotus' power!" the pegasus shot out as much as she could, anything that may have grabbed attention and pulled her foe into a position where he may make a fatal flaw, be it truth, conjecture, or unknown information, although not willing to sacrifice her chance for intellectual insults, much to her own dismay. The only advantage and assets she had were her wit and speed, and both were dampened by the watery sand, but they could still be enough.

Daring Do looked up from the quicksand at her oath-sworn enemy. The blue monster held the Gilded Lotus delicately in his tail, bringing it to his nose for a deep breath. She growled in anger at the mistreatment of the treasure. His apparent apathy incited her even more, ignoring her plight as he enjoyed the scent, the smell of power coming to him from the artifact, of the world about to be brought to its knees. Taking advantage of the distraction, Daring began trying to free herself, but her wings were heavily lodged in the sand, feeling heavier than a chest of doubloons. She gave a primal yell and forced her wings to move, the titanic effort exhausting her before even a single beat of headway was made.

Ahuizotl gave an impassioned grunt at the calls of the unlucky hero, the effort finally enough to drag his focus away from the Lotus. His smile turned feral and dark. With plodding, methodical steps, he made his way towards the sandy sinkhole. In a flash, one hand reached out over the sands to worm itself through Daring Do's unkempt mane and grip, pulling it taught. A hero wouldn't ever give up easily, though, and she glared daggers at her foe, to let him know that he had not won just yet, not while she was around. His malicious and macabre grin grew further, and an arm tensed, shaking Daring and ripping some hair clear from her scalp as he dragged her a bit closer to himself using only her crest. He laughed maniacally as the brave pegasus finally gave a loud cry from the pain, and he tugged her sand-logged body eye to eye with his massive form.

"Yes, my little archeologist, perhaps it's true. However, you missed one very important trait: I possess... the derring-do."

------

A knock came on Twilight's door. She startled, looking about in all directions wildly, so deep she was entranced in her story. It came again, harder and faster, until Spike pulled the lock loose. Within milliseconds, the door burst open, leaving a rainbow afterimage as a pegasus outright flew inside, wind shear blowing loose papers wildly in all directions. Seeing the commotion from her room, Twilight hid the book under her pillow and came down to act as librarian; it was her job after all. Before she even reached the bottom stair, her best reading friend Rainbow Dash was nearly on top of her.

"So did the new Daring Do book come out? The Gilded Lotus is going to be totally sweet! So, where is it? The release date was today, right?" The words came out in a lightning-quick torrent, the pegasus' eyes wide and hopeful. Twilight's own eyes flickered back and forth between her pillow and her partner, giving a forced smile.

"Umm... Sorry Rainbow, it's the first day of the new year after all, I guess they haven't, umm, delivered it yet? I'm sure it will be in by... Let's say tomorrow at three. I'd love to stay and chat about it, but I've got some... Really important readings to finish up.”

Comments

[Lapison]

Oh, Twilight, you selfish, selfish pony. I commend you.

Also: I DEMAND A RESOLUTION TO THIS CLIFFHANGER! YOU CANNOT DO THIS! CARDINAL SINNNN

...um, if that's OK with you...

[Ravenscroft]

2144244
Heh.
Maybe eventually I will. Thanks for the kind words. I was kinda aiming for the campy cliffhanger, so I'm glad it worked!