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Chapter 1- Celebrations and beginnings 1,532 words
Chapter 2- Legend of the Ruby Knight1,813 words
Chapter 3- Skies to Calimare2,982 words
Chapter 4- The Living City3,793 words
Chapter 5- Heart of Chaos3,628 words
Chapter 6- The Stranger Revealed6,171 words
Chapter 7: A Ruby Knight.2,103 words

Chapter 3- Skies to Calimare

Chapter 3

Skies to Calimare.

Daring packed her saddle bags with a practiced hoof. Rations can be found, or bought on site; tools would be slung around her hips, and research materials could be stored neatly in every compartment leaving room for finds and core samples. Daring Do was a rash pony at times, but when it came to the hunt; the thrill of it she was nothing short of meticulous. Grabbing a map in her teeth, she moved to one of the only pieces of furniture in her apartment, rolling it out with a flick of her hoof.

“So if I fly south from here…” the excited mare said dragging her hoof in a straight diagonal line; cutting the continent on the map to the desert across the sea. “To Calimare…” she said in awe, trying to recall stories of the place.

Calimare was a place with minimal influence from the higher authorities; it was a lawless place full of seedy characters and violence behind every corner.

The smile practically split Daring’s face in half as she re-rolled the map up and shoved it into her pack.

“Just the perfect kind of place to start an adventure.” She squealed to herself pushing open the door, taking a look back into the barren “home away from home” Daring flicked the light off and shut the door. Flapping her wings experimentally to tease the muscles she took off into the air, catching an up draft and floating over the city below.

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The evening was falling on Daring’s first day of flight and the adventurous mare was rather ecstatic at the amount of ground she had been able to cover. Daring Do had always been a weaker flyer compared to the other pegasi and could never match them in raw speed, but there was one thing that Daring Do could be anypony at. Stamina. She could fly for hours longer without ever dropping speed unlike a normal Pegasus and always used it to her advantage when she wanted to get somewhere fast.

“That looks like the perfect spot…” Daring said with that cocky half smile she was infamous for, her violet eyes taking in a cave through the thick of the forest beneath her. Executing a sharp dive Daring cut through the trees, cleaving her way through small branches and leaving a trail of leaves cycling behind her tail.

Hooves tearing up the moist soil as Daring landed just before the small rise and the large dark hole leading into the depths beyond. A quick glanced with a trained eye revealed to Daring that this was no natural cave. On her guard Daring moved forward, keeping her wings sharp at her side; coiled for easy use. Swallowing a ball of saliva in her mouth Daring darted into the mouth of the cave, hiding in the shadows near the wall.

It was that adrenaline fuelled rush of excitement a pony feels when going into a dark place with eyes trained for a world coloured with light. Daring was all to use to feeling that rush, the slight tang of copper on the tongue and the feeling that at any moment the body could choose to fight or flee. Keeping still and to the shadows Daring tried as hard as she could to blend in and not give whatever was waiting for her within; not about to let something get the upper hand.

The opening of the cave lead deeper into the ground, to the point where Daring’s Pegasus instincts were crying for her to get out while she could before she was buried under the soil. Pushing those fearful instincts aside Daring focused solely on what she could control; her senses. Daring focused through the darkness and sensed no immediate danger or presence at all.

The dark tunnel that Daring was crawling through opened to a massive antechamber, with the ceiling being at least four ponies high; giving Daring Do more than enough room to spread her wings. Light pooled in gently from a hole in the upper right side of the makeshift room, the cool moonlight cast the jagged edges of the wall in nightmarish shadows. Nothing stirred at Daring’s entrance, there was a thick peace permeating from the hollow.

“As good a camp as any, I suppose.” Daring said heaving off her packs and rolling out her map. Marking how far she had travelled on the map, ticking off each landmark she had come across and circled the spot where she had landed. It was a constant ritual that Daring always did when setting up camp, on a good job it was the only way the pony could find sleep.

Daring almost always in a euphoric rush when on an adventure and found sleep to be a nuisance, knew that she would need it to conserve strength in case she needed it. The paper work part of her job allowed her to calm her muscles and steady her hoof. Once all of her paper work was done and she had used the small pick she kept swung over her hip to gather a small ore fragment from the room Daring took a long moment to just sit and think.

Looking around the cave brought a feeling of nostalgia upon Daring.

“I wonder if it was a cave like this…Knight.” She whispered, curling up next to her bags in the corner farthest from the entrance; giving her the most time to react if something were to enter. Daring slipped into a deep sleep, thoughts of the cave and Knight and Dragon flooded her dreams as she considered all aspects of the legend.

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The owner of the cave arrived in the deadest and darkest moment of the night, the scent of a foreigner thick in the air. With a flap of its wings the owner set down at the mouth of its den, casting a look around with its glowing yellow eyes. It dragged a claw through the ground and felt the disturbance beneath its scales; something had indeed entered its home while it was off in the nearby mountains feeding.

Moving with dexterity and skill beyond the limits of its size, the cave’s owner slid down the long tunnel into the room that was its home, and found there in the corner a sleeping Pegasus. The ponies of Equestria had always kept a wide birth of this forest, and this cave particularly; causing the owner to have a flicker of rage and panic.

With absolute silence the large being moved to the wall and pressed its maw to it, whispering soft words which dissolved the magic barrier revealing the mass of gems and jewels within. Not one stone was out of place, no golden coin disturbed. Restoring the wall the being looked back upon our sleeping heroine, the room was enchanted richly to put anyone but the owner in the deepest of sleeps should they linger too long, so that the owner could move freely with no risk of waking a sleeping intruder.

Reaching out a scaled claw the massive tyrant pulled the bags away from Daring and with a skilled flick spilt their contents. Its keen eyes absorbed all that he saw, the map with Daring’s route to Calimare; revealing her destination, her notepad which revealed her notes on the legend. The being hovered over this notepad for a long time, absorbing its markings and devouring its knowledge, when finished its eyes moved to Daring. The beast placed the bag and her belongings back beside the young mare and slinked back out of the cave, its mind afire.

Once coloured in the marble moonlight the mighty dragon spread its wings and headed south. To the desert city Calimare in search of the Ruby Knight, a treasure worthy of a dragon’s hoard.

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Daring woke with a start, her dreams haunted by the Ruby Knight and his armour, the dark journeys and the wars that the suit must have seen forced into her subconscious with her obsession. Lavender eyes darted all over the cave quickly, the owner had not returned; there was no sign that any creature had been there in a long time.

Giving her black and grey mane a shake the sturdy mare pulled a sandwich from her bag, devouring it with silence before re-shouldering her burdens. “Time to go.” Daring said to herself, reconfirming her resolve; that same rush rebuilding in her veins. The shadows of the night long gone leaving Daring free to fly.

The hours passed quietly and Daring flew without any hindrances throughout the day her mind constantly on the surroundings, marking her distance on her internal map to ensure that she was still flying the right way. The part of her that was obsessed, that daring part of her personality was focused on one thing, and one thing only: getting to Ruby Knight, and proving the legends herself.

Nightfall came just as Daring arrived at the first true destination of her journey, the sea-side city of Kampos Port. It was a thriving merchant city which acted as the aquatic lifeline for Equestria proper, the inner part of the city owned specifically by the merchant princes and upper caste who controlled the local laws and taxing, while the outskirts was owned by the middle class workers and harbour hands. It was the first port in all the world that Daring had ever seen without a “slums” or “ghetto” district for the poor, and destitute; appearances where highly regarded in Kampos Port.

The tall buildings with their stone sheen meant very little to Daring as she walked down the main road which effectively divided the city in half; she paid the same attention to the ponies stumbling along the side of the road having dipped a little too much into the cider. There was only one goal for the adventurous Daring Do in this town and that was commission a ship going to Calimare.

In regards to power and social hierarchy Daring was aware that Kampos and Calimare were two sides of the same coin, Kampos was a clean industrious market place; ruled by the hardworking and governed by the just, whereas Calimare though equally as profitable was the seedy underbelly of port cities, ruled by thieves and cut-throats.

Little of this carried any weight with a pony like Daring Do who lived for the thrill of the wild, and the hunt for the past. Her goal this evening was one thing and one thing only, the rest of the city was moot to Daring save for the massive sails of the “Merry Crystal”. Turning beyond the final building on the street proper opened Daring Do to the amazing cobblestone spiderweb which was the Kampos pier, towering overhead the “Merry Crystal” like a massive back drop pressed to the sky.

“Daring!” a raspy baritone called from the edge of the galleon’s prow, high above the sea level was Daring’s old friend and fellow treasure hunter: Groggy Macsea, Captain of the “Merry Crystal”. The salty old unicorn leapt from the prow of his ship, landing masterfully on the deck bellow; the sea spray from waves mixing with his sea green mane. To a normal pony Groggy would look past his prime with his wooden hind leg, a peg he had been forced to use in a time of crisis and the eye patch which covered the left eye. His hair was laced with turquoise, coat a dry seafoam as crusty as the sea. On his head was a black bandana tied tightly at the back, a sling around his chest where he stored a flask of liquid that nopony had ever ventured to taste and a deceptively sharp dagger within easy reach of his teeth. Groggy was for all his worth an experienced sea dog and was one of the few ponies Daring Do felt she could trust implicitly. Groggy had never and as far as Daring was concerned could never betray her.

“Fine evening, Captain!” Daring called with her roguish charm, her eyes carrying the sparkle that her words could not.

A throaty laughed echoed from deep within Groggy, causing his lower jaw to swing a little; its hinges loose from one of his many adventures. “I like the look of your eye girl; something has your tide-a-turnin’.” He teased walking up and giving her a rough head-butt a greeting that she returned in spades.

“Aye,” Daring crowed, her sea-voice returning after months in the jungle. “ I need passage to Calimare, and as far as I know you’re still the fastest bucket of bolts on this sea or am I wrong?” she teased laughing hardily.

“Bah lass, ye daft? The Merry Crystal had always been and will always be the fastest galley to sail these seas!” He howled to the cool night air, his thick voice rattling the stars above as he opened his hooves to his ship in all her glory. “As for a lift…. I’m sorry, but I’ve been hired to take another party to Calimare tomorrow evening.” He said with genuine regret turning back to her.

Daring groaned momentarily and considered her options, giving Groggy a sly look. “It wouldn’t happen to be some low level thugs from Canterlot, a group of them.” She asked, staring down her old friend.

“It mah be…” Groggy muttered attempting to avoid eye contact, for a salty old veteran of the sea Groggy had one fatal weakness: he couldn’t lie to a woman to save his life.

“I’ll pay double.” Daring said with that mischievous swagger of somepony who knows they have the upper hand in a game of cards and was choosing to flaunt it to those against her.

“You paying cash now are you?” Groggy said eyeing her sharply. “It’s no small fee.”

Daring bit the inside of her lip, she could feel a drop of sweat forming on her brow in the cool nighttime air, money was such an inconvenience to carry and so, as per her usual routine she had brought none with her.

“I just finished a really lucrative job; I can send the bill to my holder in Canterlot and have the money transferred to your account here by tomorrow night.” Daring said hoping that the prospect would entice him enough to go against his already designated contract.

“That’s not cash now, is it?” Groggy said staring her down, catching his stride in the conversation. “An’ I’ve already made a deal with those fools from the city.” He pointed his hoof in the general direction of Canterlot (he had never considered Daring to be “from the city” so she felt no sting from his words).

“If my hunch is right, Groggy my old friend than those ponies coming to commission your ship are the very ponies who I’m trying to keep a head of.” Daring said letting him into the quest a little wouldn’t hurt. Daring knew what Groggy would want and was saddened to know she couldn’t deliver.

“Oh-hoho. So maybe if I take you instead you’ll cut me in on the earnings?” Groggy teased his one eye winking playfully, like a young stallion’s. “On top of double the fare of course.” He added as an afterthought.

“It’s not that kinda treasure…” Daring groaned, knowing she was losing ground with the old pirate.

“Well I don’t really see that there’s all that much I can do for you Daring. You’re a right lass, you truly are but I have a business to run and a crew to pay, and a reputation to keep.” Groggy pointed out rolling his shoulders before turning back to the plank connecting his galleon to the pier, considering the negotiations at their conclusion.

Daring cut him off with her harsh voice, breaking into a fast rant, “The way I see it Groggy I’m a day and a half ahead of them. On board your ship they’ll hit Calimare in one and a half days while it’ll take me three days to fly across the sea straight without rest. They’ll pull ahead of me and be well rested when they land whereas I’ll be exhausted and will need at least two days to recover. Seeing as how barren the pier is at the moment and guessing the rough size of the crew that ol’ Rockstone has in his thrall this ship is the only one large enough to carry the full party. Now if you were to take me instead you would have me to Calimare by tomorrow afternoon and be back for them the night after that if your crew wants to push for the long haul; more than likely able to extort the same, if not near to the same overpriced charge I know you laid on those land lubbers.” Daring explained in one long breath, her lavender eyes never moving from the back of Groggy; analyzing his every twitch.

Groggy blushed a little looking away. “But I made a contract.”

“Aye but there’s a thing called loyalty isn’t there.” Daring pushed, staring down her friend who sighed defeated.

Groggy looked to her and shook his mane. “Fine, fine lass you win… I’ve never seen you so on edge before.” He said honestly looking at Daring for a long moment. “You send word to the money why I rally the crew.” Daring nodded and they parted ways.

Within the hour Daring found herself resting on the crow’s nest looking out at the rising sun as the “Merry Crystal” cut the sea, its prow plowing through the early morning foam like butter. In the distance her keen eyes could pierce the very clouds and see it off in the distance, the skies over Calimare.

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