> Another Day, Another Dungeon
>  by 00Pony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prolgue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“She reminds me of somepony that I knew, long before you were born…”

“Geez… Why are these lines always so feathering long?!” Was the cry of frustration that emanated from the throat of a prismatic-maned Pegasus mare, hovering just a few feet above the paved walkway of Canterlot.


Her companion, a lavender hued Unicorn mare, giggled at her friend’s torment, “She’s the author of a best-selling series of novels, Rainbow. Of course the line to meet her is going to be long!”


The Pegasus huffed, “I know, Twilight! But we got up got up extra early to be some of the first in line!” Rainbow glanced ahead at the line of ponies before them that fed into the Canterlot Public Library before them, “Of course, we weren’t the only ones with that idea… It’s just like cider season all over again.” She finished, with a pout.


Twilight rolled her eyes at her impatient friend, “Don’t worry, Dash. We’ve still got plenty of time before the signing ends. We’ll make it inside no problem, and you’ll be able to meet the author.” Her tone was one of reasoning.


The brash Pegasus, still floating above her, sighed, “Fine… I guess you’re right… I still don’t like having to wait though.”


“You know, you could have just held off until she came to my library to get this done…” Twilight said, already knowing exactly how her impatient friend would react.
And she did not disappoint, “That’s next month, Twi! There is no way I am waiting that long to meet the genius who writes ‘Daring Do’!”


For as much as Rainbow complained about the wasted time spent in the line, she could not deny that she was excited. It had been several months prior that she had discovered a love for reading. Of course, it had come at the cost of a fractured wing and a few days wasted time in the Ponyville Hospital, but looking back on it, it was well worth it. Twilight Sparkle, ever the bookworm, had brought her a book entitled ‘Daring Do, and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’, claiming that the titular character was much like Rainbow Dash in personality and behavior.


Originally refusing to read it, Rainbow held off for days, until the boredom had become too much for the prismatic-maned mare, and she picked up the book, swiftly finding herself able to identify with Daring, and consequently enjoying every minute of the story told in the pages of the novel. As stated before, that was several months ago. By now, she had finished all eight books of the ‘Daring Do’ series. And now, she was going to meet the mare behind all of those grand adventures! This was one of the many times that she was glad to have an ‘egghead’ like Twilight Sparkle as a friend. She had connections.


It was a decent amount of minutes, perhaps thirty, to forty-five, before Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were nearly to the signing desk. Going by the position of the sun in Equestria’s sky when they entered, the time would have been about three o’clock in the afternoon. Still plenty of time, as Twilight had mentioned before. The line finally started to move again, and Rainbow’s hype built to about bursting point, for just around this very corner that she was now turning, sat the mare she had so eagerly wanted to meet. The author of ‘Daring Do’…


“Good afternoon, mother!” Twilight called out cheerily, trotting up to the desk with a bright smile on her face, leaving behind an incredibly confused Rainbow Dash.


The lavender Unicorn’s mother herself broke into a broad grin, “Ah! Twilight! What are you doing here? You already have signed copies.” She said, mirthfully, as she stood to skirt around the desk and wrapped her daughter in an embrace.


Twilight returned the hug for a second or so, before stepping away and gesturing to her friend, “Mom, this is Rainbow Dash. She’s a big fan of your ‘Daring Do’ series!” She turned her purple eyes to Rainbow, who was still standing in dumbfounded shock, no longer hovering and with her wings stuck in mid flap.


The white coated mare, who was the writer of the aforementioned series, looked Rainbow over for a second, before breaking into a smile, “It is very nice to officially meet you, Rainbow Dash!” She said, stepping over and holding out a hoof, “My name is Twilight Velvet. Twilight Sparkle’s mother… You may just call me Velvet, to avoid confusion.”


It took Rainbow several seconds to register what was going on, but once she did, she reached out a cyan hoof and shook Velvet’s, “H-Hi… It’s nice to meet you also…” Her magenta eyes turned to Twilight Sparkle, “‘Mother’?” She quoted.


Twilight nodded emphatically, “Yep! Didn’t you think that the name ‘Twilight Velvet’ was kind of a hint?” She asked, snickering quietly. Her mother joined in the mirth of her daughter, moving back to sit behind her desk.


As the older Unicorn did so, Rainbow turned her attention to Twilight, and with narrowed eyes, “Hey!” She said, her voice cracking, “In my defense, our naming systems are really weird…”


Twilight Sparkle held up her hooves in defense, trying to get her snickering under control, “Okay, okay. I get it Rainbow. I guess I just expected you to have worked it out,” she shook her mane out of her eyes, before nodding to her mother as she was sat behind the desk, “Anyway, you wanted to get your own, signed copy of the books, didn’t you? We’re holding up the line.”


At Twilight’s mention of their mission, Rainbow Dash’s ears perked straight up, and her eyes shone bright as she nodded, reaching back into her saddlebags and drawing out a pouch of bits. As she began to count out the full amount, Velvet – who had already begun to pull out a copy of each of her books, shook her head, “That won’t be necessary, Miss Dash. Because you are such a good friend to my Twilight, I’ll give you a discount. Say… twenty percent?” The older mare said, with a smile.
“You’re serious?” Rainbow asked, surprised.


“I am dead serious.” Velvet replied, with a small twinkle in her eye.


And as Rainbow placed the now discounted amount of currency down on the desk, Velvet set to work writing her signature onto the front page of each book, the quill clutched in the dark magenta aura of her magic. A minute or so later, and Rainbow Dash was stuffing her precious books into her saddlebags with meticulous care, as if they were priceless treasures retrieved from a long forgotten temple. As Twilight gave her mother one last hug, Velvet whispered conspiratorially into her ear, “She reminds me of somepony that I knew, long before you were born…” She said.


As she pulled away, Twilight saw her mother pointing to Rainbow Dash, whose back was turned to the Unicorn mares. The daughter turned back to look at her mother, seeing that she had a distant look in her eye, “What do you mean by that, mom?” She asked.


That seemed to break Twilight Velvet out of whatever memory she had been in. She turned her gentle, blue eyes onto her daughter, and smiled wistfully, “Oh, nothing much, really. It’s just that… Well, I haven’t seen that friend in quite a long time. I didn’t realize until now just how much your friend, Rainbow Dash, reminds me of her.”


Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Who was this friend, mom?” She asked.


Velvet seemed about to answer, when Rainbow cut in, “Alright, let’s go Twi! So long as I’m here in Canterlot, I want to check out the Wonderbolt Barracks!”


Twilight glanced back at her, “Okay, Rainbow! You go on ahead; I’ll catch up in a minute!” Rainbow waved a hoof to her, and made her way out of the library, with a skip in her step much like that of a filly who had aced a particularly difficult test.


In turning her attention back to her mother, Twilight had been about to ask what she had been saying before, but Velvet was already one step ahead of her, “You come by the house tonight. I have a story to tell you, that I figure it’s about time I told.”


And she would say no more. Velvet merely gave a sly wink, and returned to her desk, gesturing for the next in line to come up. Twilight regarded her mother with an air of curiosity, before trotting out after her friend.


/)*(\


Later that evening, Twilight Velvet sat in the living room of her home in Canterlot, going over a few old albums that she had dug up for the first time in ages. The white mare was broken from her reverie by the sound of hooves knocking against her door. That was probably Twily and her friend. Standing from her armchair, Velvet set her album down on the thick cushion and trotted to the front door, and opened it, smiling. It was only Twilight at the door, however, “Ah! Twilight! Come on in. Where’s your friend?” She asked.


“Rainbow had work tomorrow, so she went home to get some sleep.” Twilight responded.


“Ah, I see. Just as well… I had almost been hoping that only you would come,” At Twilight’s confused look, Velvet added, “Out of respect for my own friend. It’ll be explained soon enough,” she said, and stepped aside, ushering her daughter through the door, before gently closing it, “I have had a kettle of tea steeping. It’s passionflower, your favorite.”


As Velvet trotted across the floor into the kitchen, she called back to her daughter, “Just have a seat anywhere you like, Twily. Just try not to make too much noise. Your father is asleep, and I don’t think he would appreciate being woken up.”


“Okay!” Twilight responded, and moved to sit in the chair her father had often occupied when she was younger.


As she did so, however, she caught sight of her mother’s album, which she had left open. Her curiosity piqued – after all, this was a particular album she had never seen before – she went over to investigate. What she found were various pictures of a pretty young mare she knew was her mother, most of which had her standing next to another young mare, a Pegasus, who looked an awful lot like Rainbow Dash. In fact – though it may have been the faded colors of the photograph – this Pegasus looked rather like, “Daring Do.”


Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin at her mother’s words, though she managed to keep her customary shriek down to a strangled squeal. She turned to face her mother, tilting her head, “Excuse me?” She said.


Velvet trotted past her, setting the kettle and two mugs full of steaming tea down on the table in the center of the room before responding, “You asked me before where I got the inspiration for my books. And I only ever answered you with a sly little smile and a wink. If you were lucky, I’d just say ‘you’ll find out, eventually’.”


“Yeah, I remember.” Twilight said, carefully stepping over to her father’s chair, taking the mug closest to her in the light magenta manifestation of her magic. Before she could seat herself however, her mother gestured her to sit by the table.


Velvet sat by the table herself, gently placing the album down and turning back to the first page. The white mare took a sip of her tea, waiting for Twilight to sit next to her, before she continued, “And earlier today, I mentioned that your friend, Rainbow Dash, reminded me of a dear friend of mine, both in personality and appearance, though, I must say their colors are quite different.”


She gestured to the first photo in the large album, one that had her and the Pegasus adventurer standing with one foreleg over the other’s shoulders, smiling broadly at the camera, an object Twilight recognized as the ‘Sapphire Statue’ placed before them, “Daring was a close friend of mine when I was your age, and arguably, my best friend. I met her when I was researching for my debut novel, in the Caballo Valley…”

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Another day… Another dungeon…”

The first impression that Twilight Velvet received upon coming to Caballo Valley was that it was hot. Or rather, it was humid. With a slight grumble, she shielded her eyes against the bright noonday sun, enveloped her luggage in a dark magenta aura, and made her way down the ramp from the train station dock. Some might call her crazy for coming here. A Fillydelphia born and raised mare, coming to Caballo – a veritable cesspool of degenerates and disorder. You’d have to go to the Badlands to find another such hive of scum and villainy.


Such things were not commonly found in many parts of Equestria, but Caballo Valley wasn’t part of Equestria. And strictly speaking, it wasn’t only a valley. Caballo stretched out beyond its namesake, and included mountains, and even rainforests. Caballo was only a short sailing distance across from Equestria, and the city of the same name, where Velvet now found herself, was only a few hours by train from the docks.


It was both quicker, and safer, to go by train in these parts. They had not yet been ‘tamed’, like much of Equestria had been so long ago. As Velvet finally began to enter into the city, she nearly regretted coming here. The leering she received from some of the local stallions was… unsettling, to put it bluntly. Velvet made it a point to avoid eye contact, and quickened her pace as subtly as she could, “I should have taken father up on his offer to hire a bodyguard… I’d certainly feel much safer in the presence of that stranger than these.” She thought bitterly to herself as she went.


Velvet had a reason for coming to a place as horrid as Caballo. Ever since she was a little filly, she had always enjoyed stories, especially those about adventure and heroes. As she grew up, Twilight Velvet had often tried her own hoof at writing, and as time went on, found that she had a particular talent for it. Though the Mark upon her flank was that of three stars, she interpreted that as a way of telling her, ‘You will be a best seller’.


So with that vote of confidence in mind, she had attempted to get some of her short stories published. Long story short, it did not go so well. Not one to be deterred however, Velvet settled on a concept of what she wanted to write: And adventure novel, perhaps involving some sort of ancient temple, a brave hero, or heroin, and as was customary to such novels, peril.


So she had come to Caballo, a land often mentioned to have an abundance of secrets lurking within its vast rainforests, including her target ancient temples, “And how exactly are we going to find these temples, Velvet?” She asked herself, mentally, “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not exactly the most… how do say, ‘rough and tumble’, of ponies.”


Velvet did not give her own doubts the honor of an answer at first. She simply continued her determined trot forward. Where exactly she was going… Well, she did not know. She had not really planned this far ahead, in truth. It was not something that she was eager to admit to herself, but Velvet had entertained the foalish idea that she would find her answers literally leaping out at her upon arrival. Such was not the case, as she was now coming to terms with, “This will be a lot harder than I thought…” She said to herself, looking out over what she deduced was a market square.


She stood watching the ponies going about their business for a few minutes, before spotting an elderly mare, sitting beneath an awning. Perhaps she could point Velvet in the right direction? It was worth a shot. Carefully picking her path through the throng of ponies, ranging in all shapes and sizes, and all varying races, she eventually made her way over to the elderly mare. Subconsciously checking herself over to make sure that none of her personal belongings had been snatched, she was pleasantly surprised to find that was the case.


Clearing her throat, Velvet trotted over the elder, who had not moved or even acknowledged her presence since the aspiring author had spotted her. Still failing in grabbing the mare’s attention with the more polite route, Velvet gave up on that end and instead moved to block the old pony’s view, giving an apologetic smile, “Excuse me, I hate to be a bother, but I was wondering if you could help me…?”
When the old mare finally turned her eyes to Velvet in acknowledgement, the Fillydelphia mare continued, “I was wondering if you could point me in the proper direction. You see, I’m an aspiring author, and I was looking for a place that I might find inspiration for my book, and-”


“Try the tavern, dearie,” the old mare said, in a friendly, warbling tone, cutting Velvet off mid-sentence, “It is just down the way there. I’m sure you’ll find exactly what it is that you seek.”


“Oh… Thank you.” Velvet said, ignoring her very essence screaming at her not to go down the street. It may have just been the atmosphere of the city, but she sincerely did not want to go the tavern. But she knew that she must, should she wish to complete her novel. For the second time, she found herself wishing she had taken that bodyguard.


Setting on her way once more, Velvet didn’t have to wonder long on the whereabouts of the establishment, as the sounds of rowdy customers, and almost scarily upbeat music came wafting down the surprisingly empty street towards her, much like one would imagine the scent of a fresh apple pie would do, on a crisp autumn’s evening. Upon arriving at the door to the tavern, and reaching for the knob, Twilight Velvet found herself second guessing this decision. As she debated her own wisdom with herself, she noticed that the shouts emanating from within were angered.


“That really doesn’t help my decision…” She grumbled, setting her hoof down. Before she could make a decision whether to leave or stay, however, the window nearest the door burst outward as the bodies of two ponies impacted with it from inside.


Call it shock, or a sense of fascination, but Velvet was unable to tear herself away from the sight before her. The ponies that had flown out of the window were engaged in a match of fisticuffs on the dusty street beneath them. Fisticuffs, brawl, whatever you wanted to call it. Either way, blows were being exchanged. But more curious to Velvet wasn’t that this was happening – she had partially expected this kind of thing coming from a place such as Caballo – It was that the one on top was winning. And they were a mare.


Growing up, Velvet had often been under the thought process that mares weren’t to behave in such a way. That the stallions were the ones to handle the down and dirty things such as disputes. As she grew older, the aspiring author had fallen from that belief, if only a little. She felt she was unable to handle such things herself, but liked to imagine that mares were capable of holding their own against a stallion. And right here before her, that was what was unfolding.


The mare in question, a dark khaki Pegasus mare – wearing a dark green jacket of some description – had pinned a significantly larger Earth pony stallion beneath her, and was using her hooves to pummel him into submission. The Pegasus seemed so focused on what she was doing, that she did not notice a weaselly Unicorn stallion clambering through the window – around which a large crowd of onlookers were gathered – and advanced behind her, brandishing a broad bladed knife. Velvet, however, did notice. Whatever possessed her to do what she did next, she would never truly know. But she had done it, all the same. Focusing all of her magical grip on the heaviest of her cases, Velvet swung it with all the force she could muster, smashing it down onto the small stallion’s horn.


Being a Unicorn herself, though it was common knowledge if one cared to learn, Velvet knew full well how much it hurt to have your horn struck, especially whilst maintaining a grip on any object. If enough foreign pressure was applied, it could knock a Unicorn unconscious and give them a nasty migraine the next morning. And that was exactly what Velvet’s action did. The weaselly stallion didn’t catch what was happening until it was too late, and the heavy case impacted on his horn with impressive force.

The sound of distortion that came from his magical manifestation being disrupted, and the sound of his body hitting the floor – coupled more so with the astonished cries of the onlookers from within the tavern, was enough to pull the dark khaki Pegasus from her angered pounding of her own opponent. It didn’t take her very long to deduce what was going to unfold. So with a single deft movement, she leapt from her former target, and glanced at Velvet, completely ignoring the fact that she was bleeding above her right eye, “I’m gonna suggest you run! They’re not going to be too happy with you after that!” And with that, she took off down the street.


Velvet knew that this mare was right, and so, with a pitiful moan, she took off after the Pegasus. She felt that would probably be the smarter choice, in some way, shape or form. After all, this mare had barely taken a scratch against a much larger opponent. Call it wishful thinking, but Velvet sincerely hoped that this mare would be able to serve as something of a bodyguard, if only for the time being. Still clutching her baggage, Velvet ran as fast as her legs could carry her.


The Pegasus mare must have been expecting her to follow – or maybe she was just tired out from fighting – but somehow Velvet managed to catch up to her. The Unicorn dared not look back, knowing full well only by the sound, that there were many unhappy ponies on their tails. The Pegasus glanced over to her, calling out as she ran, “Thanks for the help back there! Well, disregarding the mob behind us, heh.”


The casual way in which this mare spoke confounded Velvet. They were running, potentially for their lives, and here she was making small talk like it was nothing?! As mad as it sounded, Velvet was intrigued, to say the least. The Pegasus spoke up again, “Name’s Daring Do! I’d shake your hoof, but it’s kinda hard to do when you’re running!” She glanced back at the luggage trailing behind them, held in Velvet’s magical grip, “Anything important in that big suitcase there?”


Velvet gave her an incredulous look, before responding, “No. Just clothing and stuff like that, why?!”


“Perfect!” Daring Do replied, grinning. Spreading her wings, she left the ground slightly, still going at the same speed as before, and kicked back, as if she were kicking a storm cloud. Her hooves impacted with the heavy case, and sent it careening out of Velvet’s grasp, and slamming into their pursuers. With a triumphant laugh, Daring angled back, gripping the smaller case in her teeth, and from there, swooping down to wrap her forelegs around Velvet’s ribcage. 


Before the Unicorn could object, Daring Do was lifting her into the air, ignoring her squeals of fright. The short flight did not last long, and Daring set Velvet down, shaking, on the roof of a nearby building. Dropping the smaller case from her mouth, she trots back to the edge of the roof, calling down to their former pursuers as they tried to disentangle themselves from their jumble, “And let that be a lesson to you all! Never call Daring Do a liar!”


Chuckling and grinning like she’d won the Equestrian Games, she trotted back over to Velvet, fishing a hat that you would expect a story book adventurer to wear from her saddlebags and placing it over her grayscale mane with the words, “Another day… Another dungeon.” And once more, she laughed.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ever hear of the Sapphire Statue?”

This mare was crazy. That was all that Velvet had going through her head at this moment. Not only had she just picked her up and dropped her on a roof, but she shouted a taunt to the ponies they had just escaped from?! Velvet found herself severely questioning this mare’s logic. But the Pegasus, Daring Do, didn’t seem to care in the slightest that what she was doing was foolhardy. Still, for as crazy as it was, Velvet couldn’t help but admire the brash mare’s spirit.

As these thoughts were passing through her head, she hardly noticed Daring Do as she placed a foreleg over Velvet’s shoulders, “Now, I don’t think I ever caught your name. Care to tell me?”

Velvet was not expecting the contact, and she jumped slightly upon feeling the presence of Daring’s foreleg. She composed herself quickly enough, and managed to nod, “Yes… My name is Twilight - Twilight Velvet.” She said, slowly.

Daring gave her another grin, and in seemingly one movement had stepped away from Velvet’s side and grasped her hoof in her own, shaking vigorously, “Well, pleasure to meet you, Twilight Velvet! Thanks again for saving my hide back there,” she released the Unicorn’s hoof, nodding as if to confirm something to herself.

Daring Do had been about to say something more, when the sound of the hatch leading to the flat topped roof being beaten, coupled with the angered cries and threats from their former pursuers, could be heard. Daring’s eyes dilated, and she sighed heavily in frustration, “These guys really just don’t know when to give up, do they?” She asked.

Without waiting for an unneeded answer to her rhetorical question, Daring trotted back over to the edge of the roof, only to draw back with an irritated growl, a few rocks sailing past her head, missing by near inches. She turned back to Velvet, who was still standing where she had been set down, looking in pale shock at the blood on her hoof. It was the blood of the stallion that Daring had been fighting earlier. She had not realized that it was still on her hooves. The Pegasus stepped back over to Velvet, waving a hoof in front of her eyes, “Hey, Vel? You alright, pal?”

Velvet turned her gaze from her red stained hoof to Daring Do, “You really did not think about where you dropped us when you threatened them, did you?” She said, simply.

Daring gave a small nod, which eventually grew into an emphatic nod, “Yeeeah, I really didn’t,” her attention was drawn to the hatch as it began to splinter, “But standing there making just accusations isn’t going to help. I’m going to assume you don’t want to be standing up here when those mugs break through, yeah? So I will suggest that we high tail it out of here.”

“And how exactly do you propose we do that?” Twilight Velvet asked, her voice sounded calm, but was clearly hiding a rising panic.

“Uuuh… Well, I can carry you out again.” Daring suggested. The pounding on the hatch became more organized as the wood continued to bow outward.

“Oh, splendid!” Velvet cried, sarcastically, “And do you think that you’ll be able to carry me far enough off to get away from these ruffians?!” Her voice reached a higher pitch. Light could now be seen through the cracks in the hatch.

Before the argument could continue much further however, the hatch burst completely outward, and a beefy stallion began to pull himself through. In a fit of frustrated anger, and slight panic, Velvet grasped a few of the rocks that had been thrown at Daring in her magical grip and sent them rocketing forth. They made contact with the stallion’s head with a satisfying thud, and he went toppling back into his companions. Daring had been about to congratulate Velvet, but her words caught in her throat. Velvet looked to her, and upon seeing the Pegasus’ worried expression and prepared stance, turned her gaze upward. Of course there were Pegasi.

All she wanted to do was garner inspiration for her book. All she wanted to do was research, and learn new things. And now, barely even forty minutes into her being here in Caballo, she was already on the verge of failing! She had gotten caught up with a brash and reckless mare, and now she was going to pay for it. Velvet’s anger and frustration festered until she reached her boiling point. Her horn shining forth much brighter than usual, she raised herself back on her hind hooves, and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Oh come on!!!” Twilight Velvet accentuated this cry of lamentation with bringing herself heavily back to all fours. And in doing so, she released all of the magical energy she had been unwittingly storing in her horn.

All that the would-be attackers experienced was a blindingly vibrant flash, and the strange sound of magical distortion. And when it cleared, the Unicorn and Pegasus mares were nowhere to be seen.

/)*(\

Velvet’s throbbed in the steady rhythm of her heart beat. Any sounds she received felt like they were being filtered first through a body of water, and next through a thick, cotton padding. She recognized this feeling faintly as the one that came about when she would overtax her magical abilities. Whether it was from trying to levitate an object that was much too big or casting multiple spells in quick succession. But most commonly it came about when trying to cast a spell that you were not familiar with.

So she had been unconscious, that much was certain. For how long, she could not be sure. But she could know that she had been in relative safety upon doing so. No wounds, no pain, excusing the migraine she was now experiencing. It took 	Velvet a few minutes to realize that her eyes were closed, and she decided to keep them that way. Her day had taken  any twists and turns in a short time, and she welcomed what rest that she received from this. After what was probably several minutes, Velvet was unable to keep her eyes closed any longer. And slowly, carefully, she opened them.

No sooner had the first rays of light shown between the lids of her eyes than she was burst clean out of her stupor by a familiar voice, “Hey! Good morning sleepy head!”

It was the voice of Daring Do. With a pained groan, Twilight Velvet reached up and clutched her head in her hooves. She heard Daring wince, and trot a short distance off. When she returned, Velvet felt the Pegasus gently tap her shoulder. Slowly, Velvet raised her head to look at her. Daring had an apologetic smile, and was holding out a cup of some faint purple liquid, “Drink this. It’s a little recipe that I learned from a Zebra a year or two back. Supposed to help against headaches and those sorts of things, and I figured it might help with your exhaustion.”

Velvet gave the Pegasus a confounded look, but the pain in her head eventually caused her to give in and take a sip of the elixir. It smelled sweet, but it tasted absolutely rancid. Velvet figured it tasted much like what rotten grapes may taste like. The Unicorn’s throat tightened, refusing to let her swallow the vulgar liquid properly. As such, she began to cough the mouthful she’d taken back onto the ground beneath her. Once the fit had passed, and she could open her eyes again, she noticed that she was looking at grass, and not the dusty earth of Caballo City. Furrowing her brow, Velvet looked up at Daring, who was hovering in the air, and managed to utter the question, “What… Happened?”

Without answering, Daring drifted lazily to the side, and picked up another cup of the same liquid as before and brought it back over to Velvet, landing lightly so as not to spill it, and held it back out to her, “Try not to spill it this time. I know it doesn’t taste good. Just don’t think about it and you’ll be fine,” At Velvet’s look, Daring nodded slightly, “Yes, I’ll answer your question in a bit, just drink up, would you?”

Velvet complied, reluctantly downing the vile liquid. She managed to keep it down this time around. The effects were almost immediate, much to her pleasant surprise. She had never met a Zebra before, but she had heard many praise their remedies before, despite the common misconceptions about them. She carefully set the cup down, still afraid to move to quickly should she shatter the elixir’s relief, and looked to Daring Do, “Alright. So, you were going to explain to me just what happened?”

Daring perked up, and nodded vigorously, “Oh yeah! It was really, really awesome! I’m not sure how much you actually remember, so I’m just going to explain things how I remember them. So we were on top of the roof, and those idiots from the tavern were trying to bust through the hatch leading up to where we were, right? So, we’re arguing about how to get away, and you’re trying to use logic on me when those guys busted through. And then you just took a complete one-eighty and hurled these stones they’d thrown at my head back at the first ugly mug that showed through the opening.

“And that’s not even the best part! I noticed that there were a few Pegasi from the bar in the air surrounding us, and all I could think was, ‘Well, we’re screwed. This day has just gone dandy, hasn’t it?’ but then next thing I know, your horn started glowing really bright, brighter than I’ve seen a Unicorn’s horn glow before! And in a fit of rage you slammed your hooves down and there was this bright flash, and really weird feeling, and then next thing I know, we’re at least a mile out of the city!”

Daring had an incredible amount of energy, and was reenacting her narrative as she told it. It was rather amusing, and disturbing, to see this mare, who Velvet’s first impression of involved her beating the daylights out of a stallion twice her size, behaving in such a filly-like manner. Smiling faintly, Velvet let Daring Do carry on, “Anyway, I recognized where you dropped us. Turns out we were coincidentally really close to my camp, which is where we are now. Seeing as you were unconscious, I had to carry you and your little case the entire way here. Speaking of which, I totally would have been able to carry you out of the city. But I’m kinda glad I didn’t! What you did was at least forty percent cooler! I only wish I could have been there to see the looks on their faces!”

Velvet nodded slowly, “I remember some of that, yes…” She said distractedly, glancing at her surroundings. A few paces from where she sat speaking to Daring, there was a fire with a small wooden table set up next to it, which must have been where Daring had made the headache elixir. A short distance from that was a fluffy cloud reworked to look like a rather comfortable bed, “Of course it’s a cloud,” Velvet thought to herself, “She is a Pegasus after all.”

Twilight Velvet turned her attention back to Daring Do, who was now hovering a few feet in front of her, grinning, “Pretty neat little set up, huh?” The Pegasus mare said, obviously proud of her camp, “I set all of this up myself. Even wrangled that cloud for nearly an hour. And let me tell you, they are not nearly as cooperative as they are in Equestria.”

That surprised Velvet, though she wasn’t sure why, and she leaned forward slightly, asking, “You’re from Equestria?”

Daring raised an eyebrow at her, before chuckling and tapping the side of her own head, “You sure that magical exhaustion thing didn’t mess with your head a little too much? Of course I’m from Equestria! Where did you think I was from? Zebrica?”

Velvet shook her head, “No, no… I was just… Well, I was just surprised that you were from Equestria! Nearly every mare that I know there is nowhere near as, ‘rough and tumble’, as you are. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you might’ve been a local from here.”

The dark khaki Pegasus broke into hearty laughter, lowering herself to the ground and sitting. She continued to laugh for a few seconds more before finally looking at Velvet, wiping tears of merriment from her raspberry red eyes, “I’m not sure if I should feel insulted that you thought I came from here or not, Vel. No, I’m from Equestria, just like you. Cloudsdale’s where I used to call home. What about you, what part of the homeland are you from?” As she asked this question, Daring leaned back against a nearby rock, folding her forelegs behind her head in a very relaxed manner.

Velvet raised an eyebrow at the nickname, ‘Vel’, but made no move to correct Daring. Not yet, at least. Instead, she decided to answer the curious Pegasus’ question, “Born and raised in Fillydelphia.”

“Aaah, thought so. You kinda got that Fillydelphian style of speaking.” Daring commented.

All Twilight Velvet did in response herself was to hum. A few silent seconds went by, and in those seconds the Unicorn’s mind went back to what she assumed was the night before, when the voices within the tavern became angrier shortly before Daring came crashing through the window, locked in combat with the stallion. And then there was her comment, ‘never call Daring Do a liar’ when they had temporarily escaped. She decided now was as good a time as any to ask, “So, Daring, what did you mean earlier, about being called a liar? And why were you fighting with that stallion?”

Daring looked up into the sky for a second, before bringing her gaze back down to meet Velvet’s, “You ever hear about the Sapphire Statue?” She asked in a matter of fact way.

Velvet thought for a second, before nodding once, “Mmm… Yes! The Sapphire Statue, mythical treasure of the spirit, Ahuizotl. Why do you ask?” Her eyes tilted slightly, apprehensive about the answer she might receive.

All Daring did was chuckle, and lean forward, “It’s not myth, Velvet. It’s real. I’ve seen it. Heck, I held it in my own two hooves, before that stupid spirit managed to get it back. And you know what? I aim to retrieve it.”

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m going on an adventure!!”

“You know, I’d had a little bit of doubt earlier, on whether or not you were sane. But now…? Now it’s just confirmed!” Velvet said. 

Daring raised an eyebrow at that, “I’m dead serious about this, Vel. I really did see it! I had it! The Statue’s real!”
The Unicorn mare sighed, “Daring, honestly. It’s just an old pony’s tale. I doubt that Ahuizotl even exists somewhere in this world! He was just a story invented in the old days to keep ponies from straying too far from their villages. ‘Don’t go too far, or Ahuizotl will drag you beneath the river and eat you’ and stuff like that. He makes for a goof fiction novel, and that is about all the impact he has on this world.”

Daring Do had an irritated expression on her face as Velvet spoke. She looked almost angry, “Of course you would say that! I’ll wager you’ve never even set hoof outside of Equestria until now, have you?”

Twilight Velvet shook her head, “I don’t see what that has got to do with anything-” But the Pegasus cut her off, rising into the air, “It has everything to do with it! Yeah, Ahuizotl was a story back home. A myth made from a true story. Ever been anywhere near Ponyville, Velvet? Or how about the Everfree Forest? I grew up in Cloudsdale, just above those places. I’ve been into the Everfree, and I know exactly what it is like in there. There are some crazy things in the world we live in, Twilight Velvet. And Ahuizotl is one of them.

“I was in the Everfree when I first found the Statue. It was sitting in this cave at the end of a river. I was pretty young – didn’t even have my Mark yet. I was going through the forest in an attempt to find the old castle of the Royal Sisters, and I ended up getting sidetracked by the river. I don’t know what, but… I just felt like there was something down there that I had to find. And then I found the cave. It was surprisingly bright inside, something in the type of rock. It was really unremarkable aside from that. Nothing spectacular about it, except for one thing: Sitting on a pedestal in the very back of the place was the Sapphire Statue.” 

Daring began to calm down as she spoke. She landed and folded her wings back against her sides, “I still don’t know why, but I was drawn to it. And I just, picked it up. Sounds pretty dumb of me, huh? Walk into a random cave in one of the most dangerous forests in Equestria, and I pick up a random gem figure? Well, let me tell you. It was both incredibly stupid of me, but also the greatest decision of my life!”

The adventurer had sat back down, and stopped for breath. Her outburst had worried Velvet for a number of reasons. Namely, the Unicorn feared for her health, especially after seeing what this mare was capable of. Also, she worried that she had offended the Pegasus, who so far was the only pony she felt she could trust, even a little, in this place. The aspiring author was snapped back into reality when Daring Do began to speak once again, “I had only just picked up the Statue when there was this really loud cracking sound, kinda like thunder, if I was to give it an analogy.” 

She paused for a second once again, trying to remember exactly what happened next, “Anyway, I was scared out of my mind by all of this, and started to run. I didn’t look back. How could I? I mean, if you went into a cave in Everfree, and heard some horrible sound, would you look back? I had assumed it was a dragon, but I was so very wrong. I had only just made it out of the cave, and was taking a little rest, admiring the prize I’d claimed, when out of the water rises this giant paw – kinda like a Diamond Dog’s, only bigger – and it smacks me flat to the ground! And after the paw, which I had assumed was on an arm, but was actually on the tail, there out of the water rose Ahuizotl. I’m assuming you’ve seen the pictures of him? Well, he actually does look a little like those!”

Twilight Velvet, despite how far-fetched all of this seemed, was unable to speak up and tell Daring to stop talking, that this was a load of nonsense. As it was, she remained silent, and allowed the excited Pegasus to continue, “Ahuizotl started going off on this little monologue, mentioning something about almost feeling bad for having to eat me – considering I set him free and all that – but luckily, I was quick enough to get away before one of his paws was able to crush me. I wasn’t able to retrieve the Statue though, and was forced to fly off. I got three things out of that encounter,” Daring Do lifted herself partially into the air, and undid one of the buttons on her jacket, and pulled it aside, showing two long scars, “I got these neat little scars when Ahuizotl had tried to swipe me out of the air,” she left the jacket unbuttoned, and turned in the air, pointing to her Cutie Mark – a compass rose, “This beauty here, and finally, my life’s calling.”

Daring Do landed once again, resetting the button on her jacket, “I know what I saw, Vel. I remember what if felt like to be scratched by that spirit. I remember how heavy the Statue was, and how fulfilled, how proud I felt when I found it! I didn’t discover my Mark until my big brother pointed it out to me, but I knew almost instantly that adventuring, and treasure hunting was my special talent. Not to mention, I had set a potentially great evil back into the world. So I felt kind of obligated to right that wrong.

“That was several years ago, Velvet. I’ve read up on every story, account, and myth there is about Ahuizotl. I’ve followed hints and possible sightings all over Equestria, until finally I found my way here, to Caballo a few months ago. I know Ahuizotl, and his Statue, are here.”

The Pegasus fell silent for a few seconds, before she started to laugh, “And now I’ve gone and told you my life story, now didn’t I? Heh, well, it at least explained a few things,” she saw the look that Velvet was giving her, and trotted over, patting the Unicorn’s shoulder, “I’m not mad at you, Velvet. Not anymore, at least… Okay, maybe a little, but you can stop worrying about whether or not I’m going to cave your face in.” She gave a cheeky smirk.

Try as she might, Velvet wasn’t able to keep her own face straight at that. Daring had a certain way of saying potentially threatening, or morbid, things in a chipper, friendly way that made them much funnier than they should have been. Brushing her white and lavender mane away from her eyes, Velvet spoke for the first time since Daring’s tangent, “I’m sorry for doubting you, Daring. And while I still don’t fully believe the story, I can see some truth in it, or at least, the possibility of truth. Why else would any Equestrian born mare in their right mind be here?”

“Well then, why are you here?” The Pegasus fired back, raising an eyebrow at her, “You calling yourself crazy?” 

Velvet hesitated a second in responding. Why was she here? It was the delusion that she would discover some sort of inspiration about a grand adventure, or overhear another pony’s tale for her to draw off of. But her search had proved fruitless. That thought sat in Velvet’s mind for a second before her rational side evicted it. She had found what she was after! Daring Do was an adventurer, who – even if it was false – had a fantastic experience! Twilight Velvet had her answer, “I’m not going to confirm or deny whether or not I am crazy… But I can tell you why I am here.” 

She stood, for the first time that morning. Her legs felt a little weak beneath her, but held. That might have also been because Daring allowed Velvet to lean against her. The Unicorn mare continued, “I’m a writer, you see. Never been published in my life, so I do not feel justified in calling myself an author, but I am a writer all the same. I came here to Caballo looking for inspiration for what I hope to be my debut novel. Something about adventure, peril and all that fun stuff. Perhaps something that has a strong heroine, rather than the cliché of the stallion being the savior. And you know what Daring?” Now it was Twilight Velvet’s turn to grin, “You sound just like the kind of heroine I’m looking for. That little yarn you just told me, and just your personality. Ever think about being a storybook protagonist?” She said, amused.

Daring Do gave her a high browed look, before she started to laugh. It wasn’t a jeering, mocking laugh. It was good natured, maybe even flattered. Velvet let the Pegasus adventurer’s mirth continue for a few minutes, waiting for it to die down before she spoke again, “I’m being serious here, Daring. You came here on some grand scheme to find an ancient treasure, and confront an evil spirit. You’re an independent, strong willed and fierce mare. If that doesn’t sound like the set up for a grand adventure novel, I don’t know what does!”

Daring finally managed to stop laughing. Wiping a few tears from her eyes, she breathlessly responded, “So, what exactly are you planning to do, Velvet? Wait around back here for me to get back and spin the tale for you to write down?”

Now it was Twilight Velvet’s turn to laugh, “Nope! I’m coming with you!” At Daring Do’s expression, Velvet was quick to add in, “And before you go saying ‘no’, I’m not going to take that for an answer! You may be able to handle yourself well enough against one pony, but you still needed my help to get away from the mob – even if it was my fault that you needed my help – and any good adventurer needs an assistant! Whether they are a treasure hunter or a traveler of time and space, they’ve always had somepony with them!”

Daring Do’s eyes clearly read ‘you’ve had your nose in too many books’, and she had opened her mouth to protest, but Velvet was quick to cut her off, “That is why you were in the tavern, yes? You told your story, gave them the pitch about coming along, and when they called you a liar, the brawl broke out. Am I right?”

The Pegasus, wide eyed and slack jawed at the Unicorn’s astute observation, was only able to nod. Velvet gave her a smug little smile, “Well, we both know how that turned out. I had been hoping that an answer to my search here would come literally jumping out at me. And that is kind of what you did. Fate has a strange sense of humor, doesn’t it?”
Daring Do nodded, chuckling, “Almost like this was all written in a book, eh?”

After a second’s consideration, Velvet nodded, “Yes, almost like it was written in a book.” She said, amused. The silence that stretched for the next few seconds had been so quiet, that Daring’s sudden speech nearly made Velvet jump out of her skin, “So! That’s all settled then! You’re coming with me on my grand plot to get the Sapphire Statue back, and give Ahuizotl a bad day! Any thoughts you’d like to share, Documenter Twilight Velvet?” 

The aspiring author tapped a hoof to her chin for a second. She smiled broadly, and dancing excitedly on all four hooves, squealed, “Oooh! I’m going on an adventure!!”

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“There’s a big difference between confidence, and actually having the necessary skills…”

Daring was highly amused by Velvet’s actions, and she laughed accordingly. She waited a second or two for the excited Unicorn to stop her little dance before speaking, “So, Velvet. I’m assuming that you’ve done a little of this sort of thing before, that you just weren’t telling me about?” She said, expectantly.

Velvet stopped and looked at her, eyes wide, “Oh… Well, actually… No. Your observation earlier was right. This is the first time I’ve ever been out of Equestria. This is the most ‘adventuring’ I’ve done.”

The Pegasus gave her a disbelieving look, “You’re kidding…” she gave a nervous chuckle, “You’re kidding, right?”
All Velvet did was shake her head slowly. Daring’s hoof connected with her forehead in a heartfelt manner, “Oh, Celestia save us.” She moaned.

“Hey! I’m not that useless!” Velvet cried, indignantly, “I may not be athletic and stuff, like you, but I can think things through well enough! I’m a writer; I am conditioned to expect the unexpected.  First off, let’s start by looking at the research and supplies that you have, yeah?”

“Well, the supplies I can easily tell you now. I have about enough to last one pony a week or so. But two ponies? About three and a half days, if used sparingly.” Daring said, taking a deep breath before trotting over to a large bag she had set up in one corner.

Out of the bag, she produced a few rolled up pieces of paper, and carried them over to the table she had set up by the fire, motioning to Velvet. The Unicorn trotted over, trying to use her magic to clear a space on the table for the scrolls. She was unable to do so, frustratingly enough. It seemed that her magic was still fairly burnt out. Of course, elixir only worked against headaches. What use would Daring have for one that aided against magical burnout? Diverting her thought process, Twilight Velvet set about helping Daring Do actually clear a space on the table top using her mouth and hooves. Once that order of business was taken care of, Daring spread the sheets of paper out, pinning the edges down with stones, “Alright, so what I’ve got here is a map of the area, and just various notes on sightings and reports about Ahuizotl. What do you want to look over first?”

Velvet glanced back and forth for a few seconds, considering, before finally deciding upon the notes. She tapped a hoof against the paper to signify her choice, and Daring caught the hint, “Okay. So, as you probably know – since I will assume that you have read books about him before,” At Velvet’s affirming nod, Daring smirked a little in triumph before continuing on, “Well then, you’ll know why Ahuizotl consumes ponies. As I’m sure you’re aware, any race that possesses a Mark – Ponies specifically – bears some kind of natural magical aura. Of course, only Unicorns are able to actively manipulate it. We Pegasi have the passive ability to manipulate clouds and weather and stuff, and Earth ponies are naturally stronger, and more durable.”

All of this Velvet already knew, but she remained silent, allowing Daring to continue, “Anyway, it’s those natural magical auras that Ahuizotl garners his power from. He consumes a Pony, and absorbs their magical aura. I wasn’t able to find any sort of articles or accounts about exactly why he needs these, but all I know is that if he gets enough, bad stuff happens for us. You have any idea on what that is?” She asks, tilting her head to Velvet.

The Unicorn shook her head slowly, “Unfortunately, I can’t say I know what happens either. Do you know why he needs the Sapphire Statue? Or is it just a pretty little thing he keeps around?”

Daring nodded for a second, “Yeah. The Sapphire Statue works as a kind of storage unit for the magic auras he’s taken. Don’t ask how he gets them in there, because I don’t actually know.”

“Okay,” Velvet said, glancing over the notes for a couple seconds before looking back to Daring Do, “So, how did your taking the Sapphire Statue ‘release’ him?”

“I’m not entirely sure that I ‘released’ him, to be completely honest. It might have just been his being dramatic, when I think about it. In none of the articles that I read mentioned anything about his being sealed,” Daring said, starting to fold up the notes, “I managed to get an audience with Celestia a few weeks before coming here – in fact, it was her that directed me here – and she didn’t really let on to that. I think what it might have been was Ahuizotl being in a kind of ‘dormant’ state, a little like hibernation. I think when I took the Statue; it woke him up from that. Now he’s going to try and do his thing.”

“Huh.” That was all that Twilight Velvet was able to come up with to say for the time being. Eventually, she managed something more, “You mentioned that Celestia directed you here?” She asked.

Daring nodded, “Yep. She gave me my map and everything. That’s kinda why I’m so determined to get this Statue back, you see. I feel like it’s a mission straight from the Princess.”

“Wow,” Twilight Velvet said, “That’s pretty… wow,” she cleared her throat, “Alright, so this feels a little cooler now. Anyway, so about the map, where is the Statue?” she waved a hoof over the map, which outlined a large rainforest. On one end, there was a small campfire symbol, which she deduced was marking Daring Do’s campsite. 

The Pegasus hummed slightly scanning over her map for a few seconds before tapping a hoof to a spot in the center, “It’s unmarked on here, but through research and asking around, I managed to get a general location of where it is. Somewhere around here, near the heart of the rainforest that we are on the fringe of.”

“So how exactly are we going to get there?” Velvet asked, “Trek the entire way through the jungle? I feel like that would take a little bit too long…”

“Already got that covered, Vel. I managed to get another acquaintance here, has access to a balloon that said they’d get me and whoever I added to my expedition where we needed to go.” Daring responded without skipping a beat, “Just have to meet him on the outskirts of town, and we’ll be on our way.”

Velvet groaned, “Oh joy. We get to go into town again.” She said.

The Pegasus adventurer chuckled at her, “Don’t worry. We’re not going into the center where we had that little escapade last night. Just to the outskirts to pick up a few more supplies and we’ll be on our way.”

Twilight Velvet stretched, sighing, “So when do we head out?” She asked.

“We leave as soon as you’re able.” Daring said with a slight smile.

/)*(\

The return to the city of Caballo was much less eventful than Velvet had worried. They had no run-ins with their ‘friends’ from the night before, and had little trouble procuring supplies and in locating Daring’s acquaintance. The pony in question was an older stallion, an Earth pony with a soil brown hue to his coat, and his mane, whatever color it had once been, was now grey with age. He gave the two mares a wide smile as they approached, each carrying saddlebags with enough food to last each a week in the forest, if used sparingly, and while Daring carried her map and some other tools, Velvet carried with her a few writing supplies. The stallion’s smile faltered slightly when he realized it was just the two of them. 

“Good morning, Caius!” The Pegasus adventurer said in a chipper tone, ignoring the stallion’s expression, and trotted over to where he stood beside his balloon.

Caius waved to her in response, “And a good morning to you as well, Miss Do,” He said, slightly distracted. He looked at Velvet for a few seconds, before back to Daring, and then at the place where they had come, and finally, back to the Pegasus again, “Where’s the rest of your crew?” He asked, unsure.

“First off, I’m going to ask you one more time not to call me ‘Miss Do’. Just ‘Daring’, or if you must be formal, ‘Miss Daring’ will do well enough,” The dark khaki mare said as she tossed her saddlebags into the balloon’s basket, “As for the rest of the crew…” she glances at Velvet, and grins slightly, “This is it. It’s just me, and my latest friend, Twilight Velvet.”

The Unicorn stepped forward, and held out a hoof, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Caius.” She said, smiling slightly.
Caius shook her hoof, nodding slowly a few times as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had just been told, 

“So… You’re telling me, that it’s just you going along with Miss Do—Daring?” He asked.

Velvet nodded, “That’s correct, sir! I know I don’t exactly look like the most adventurous of ponies, but I am confident that I’ll be able to handle myself out there!” 

Caius scoffed, “There’s a big difference between being confident, and actually having the skills necessary, missy. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t we?”

The writer was at a loss for words at the stallion’s callous statement. But she did not need to have words, as she situated her gear, Daring spoke for her, “Can it, Caius. Velvet’s intelligent, and if anything, it might be that level head of hers that keeps me alive out there. I’m not paying you to try and scare off the only pony gutsy enough to come with me. I’m paying you to get me wherever my team and I need to go.”

“Right you are, Miss Daring!” He called in response, wheeling about and hoisting himself up into the basket. He set about preparing the balloon for lift off.

The Pegasus mare vaulted over the edge of the basket and held a hoof out to Velvet, “Just ignore the codger. He’s only here for the bits I’m paying him, and as you heard, I’m only paying him for the balloon, not his opinion,” She said with a raised voice, so as to be sure that Caius heard. She was rewarded with a slight cackle coming from the stallion, “Now, let’s get your gear loaded up, so we can be on our way.” Daring said, giving her friend a smile before turning back to the basket.

Twilight Velvet hummed beneath her breath. Her magic had come back slightly since that morning. Or at least enough for her to levitate her bags into place beneath the balloon. She clambered up into the basket behind her supplies, and set them carefully alongside Daring’s, as instructed by Caius. When all of that was taken care of, the old stallion untied the balloon from its anchor, dropped the necessary weight in sand, and slowly, ever so surely, they began to lift off the ground. Caius glanced at a compass set into the centerpiece, and adjusted their trajectory accordingly. They were on their way to the temple.

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Quite simply? Run!!”

How had things come to this? Everything seemed like it had been going so well before, but now…? Now it all seemed to have come crashing down around her; literally. When she thought about it, this wasn’t all too unexpected, really. In fact, she should have expected it. Lying in silence, beneath the wreckage, she thought back on what had transpired only about a half an hour before.

/)*(\

“We’re about two or three miles out yet!” Caius called to the pair of mares seated in the back of his air balloon’s basket, “Hope you two are ready for whatever you’re going to find down there.” He said that in a rather unnerving tone.
Velvet’s face must have shown her discomfort at the stallion’s words, as Daring was quick to assure her in a hushed tone so that the pilot would not hear – which was not too difficult to do, as he possessed poor hearing, “Don’t listen to too much of anything Caius says. The codger’s more interested in getting your coin, and then not having to take you anywhere by talking you out of it. Claims his policy states ‘once the bits change hoof, no refunds’. Darn swindler will get no such luck with Daring Do.” The Pegasus winked.

Twilight Velvet sighed, and responded in an equally quiet tone, “I wish I had your confidence in all of this, Daring. What I mean is… to be perfectly honest with you… I’m kind of having second thoughts. I mean, I’ve never done this sort of thing before! Here I am, as green to all of this as a rock is to swimming, and I’m coming along with somepony who’s talent is this sort of thing! And to collect some statue thingy from an ancient spirit who consumes pony’s magical auras! What’s my talent? I write books and stories. That is hardly something to help along on such a grandiose adventure.”

The Pegasus raised both eyebrows, before sighing heavily and patting Velvet’s shoulder, “Hey, calm down. You’ll do fine, I’m sure of it,” she gave a small smile before continuing, “It’s actually kind of like something that Caius said before we took off.”

“I thought you just told me not to take anything that Caius says seriously?” Velvet interjected, giving a slight smirk.
It took Daring Do a few seconds to catch that she was joking, “Well! Don’t take anything he says seriously unless I repeat it!” She said, upon finally figuring out the Unicorn’s quip, “But anyway, to be serious here. What he said about, ‘Confidence doesn’t mean much, unless you have the skills to back it up’, or whatever it was he said? Well, I know that I have the skills to survive. I mean, come on, this kind of thing’s my special talent after all. You may not think you have the skills, but you’ve already proved that you can pull through.

“The skills to make it on this kind of thing exist inside of you already. Maybe not as prominent features, but they’re there! Back at the tavern, you leapt into action to save my tail during the brawl. And I got us cornered on a roof, you zapped us somewhere else. You can make it out here. You’ve just got to have the right motivation.”

Daring’s words did help the troubled Unicorn mare. At least, a little bit. But her mind just did not want to be satisfied, “Be that as it may, but my teleporting wasn’t exactly voluntary. I don’t know how I even managed to do it in the first place! It just kind of… well, happened.”

The Pegasus sighed. A few seconds passed, before she finally came up with something that might help calm her friend down, “Okay, now I’m no expert on how magic and all that fancy-schamncy stuff you Unicorns do works, but I’ll give explaining it a shot. You were in danger, yeah? You were frustrated with me, angry at our pursuers, and just mad that your little trip to Caballo got all messed up. And I’ll just assume my kicking some of your luggage back at the lugs was adding to your irritation. You channeled all of those various feelings into your magical reserves, and somehow started focusing all of it into your horn – the conduit between the physical plane, and the magical plane that you can manipulate. And when all of that finally reached the boiling point, bip! Away we go! Sure, you ended up unconscious for the better part of a day, but still!”

Velvet looked at her for a few seconds, “I’m not sure I could replicate that should we need it down there, Daring.” She said, simply.

The adventurer gave an exasperated sigh, “Look, I’m trying to cheer you up, and make myself feel better about somehow dragging you into all of this. ‘Cause if you die down there, I’m going to feel responsible.”

Despite the grim words from her friend, and how much she wanted to stay in her own little pit of doubt, Despite the grim words from her friend, and how much she wanted to stay in her own little pit of doubt, Twilight Velvet had found that Daring’s claim not to be an expert, before going off on her explanation, had greatly amused her, “You claim not to be an expert on magic, and then you go off on a rather well educated explanation. You weren’t all that far off on most of your assumptions. I’m impressed, actually.”

Daring Do laughed a little, “My mom was a teacher on magic back in Cloudsdale. I went with her down below a few times on business trips, and ended up meeting a couple Unicorns this one time. First time I saw your kind, and they were happy to answer a lot of my questions. I had gained an interest in how magic worked and stuff – more so than I already had - so I read up on a lot of it,” Her laughter grew a little, “Can you believe I wanted to be a teacher at one point too?” She said, wryly.

Twilight Velvet laughed along with her, “Seriously? Somehow, I have a hard time believing that. But then again, I can almost see it.”

The Pegasus spluttered, “How in Equestria do you see that?!” Daring said, her voice cracking a bit, “Trust me, there is no way that I, Daring Do – adventurer and treasure hunter - would be able to stand in front a classroom and ramble on about arithmetic and all that boring stuff!”

“Well, maybe not those subjects, but why not history and legends, or maybe even archeology, perhaps? While this may be a lucrative business, when you can get a lead, you’re still going to need to be able to fund your searches, and you can’t rely on the good grace of other ponies forever!” Velvet said, using a tone of reason.

Daring Do seemed to think about that for a second, before waving a hoof, “Naah, I still can’t see it.”

“Well, when we get out of this, I’ll let you know if I see a job opening, yeah?” The Unicorn said, amused by the Pegasus’ actions.

The aforementioned mare just shook her head vigorously, causing her grayscale rainbow mane to whip back and forth, “Nope still not seeing it…” But all the same, she relented, “Fine, if you find something, I’ll look into it, I guess.”

The conversation between the two mares was cut short by the gruff call of Caius; whether or not the old stallion had really heard all that transpired or not, was a mystery, “I’ll suggest you strap in as best you can, ladies! We’re losing altitude pretty quickly, and I haven’t the foggiest why! We’re going to be in for a rough landing,” he growled, and added under his breath, “This is precisely why I talk ponies out of these idiotic ventures.”

As Velvet strapped in – tying herself to a rope on the basket’s railing – Daring Do caught her by the shoulder, “Hey, Velvet, I just wanted to say this real quick. If you ever feel yourself start to get down from here on out, just remember: Don’t go believing in the ‘you’ that believes in me, or even the ‘me’ that believes in you. Believe in the ‘you’, that believes in yourself. Basically, just have faith in yourself! You got that?”

Daring gave her a reassuring smile. Before Twilight Velvet could formulate an answer however, the rushing of the wind became louder, and the basket was slammed against the tops of the trees below, and Daring and Caius were thrown from the basket, as it began to tumble.

/)*(\

The first thing that Twilight Velvet felt was pain. She opened her eyes… or at least, she thought she opened her eyes. It was pitch black whether they felt open or closed. In relief, she found that she was still able to turn move her head and the pain served as to remind her that she was still alive, and had feeling everywhere in her body. So the damage could not be too bad. Shifting her head slowly, Velvet found that she could see a small sliver of sunlight through what she deduced was the basket of the balloon.

Luckily, she found that she was not pinned down at all, and she slowly, painfully, pulled herself to the edge of the basket. She wanted to use her magic to lift the enclosing object off of her, but she didn’t feel that it was worth the risk. Instead, Velvet carefully lifted the basket. Thankfully, it wasn’t heavy, so the feat proved to be easy. Soon, she found herself in the thick, humid air, of one of Caballo’s many rainforests.

How had things come to this? Everything seemed like it had been going so well before, but now…? Now it all seemed to have come crashing down around her; literally. When she thought about it, this wasn’t all too unexpected, really. In fact, she should have expected it. Lying in silence, beneath the wreckage, she thought back on what had transpired only about a half an hour before. She had to make the assumption that thirty minutes was the amount of time that she’d spent unconscious, going by the position of Celestia’s sun in the sky.

Glancing around, she found that many of their supplies had been scattered. Caius was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Daring. Their supplies were scattered about the small clearing she had landed in. Before she could get very far, Velvet felt something tug at her stomach. She managed not to shriek, though all she could do was stand and shake nervously for the next minute. It was only the rope that she had tied around herself earlier. Twilight Velvet wanted to laugh at her jumpiness, but couldn’t. All she was able to do was lie down, and cry. This really was a stupid idea, and now here she was, all alone in a rainforest in an untamed continent. She probably wouldn’t last very long out here. She was doomed.

/)*(\

How long Velvet had lied down, crying, she did not know. The only measure of time she had was that it had been long enough for her to have no more tears. She remembered one of her friends from back home in sweet Equestria. Her next door neighbor, a cheery Earth pony mare named Felicity, had often told her that ‘crying over a dropped cake solves nothing. Just clean it up, and get moving’.

Well Felicity, this was a lot bigger than some massacred birthday treat, but the same logic could still apply. Standing, Velvet untied herself from the rope, and meandered about the clearing, cleaning up the various supplies scattered about. Most of her own and Daring’s gear was present and accounted for, only some of it damaged, and she organized each accordingly. The Unicorn felt her resolve waning when she heard something move behind her.

She was frozen stiff from fear and apprehension. Velvet did not want to turn around, for fear of what she might find. What kind of animals inhabited these forests? What kind of predators? Were there manticores or cockatrice? Maybe even a Cerberus – however far-fetched that was? She could put that out of her mind. Or maybe it was something else, like a tiger or a panther! Her answer, was soon given to her.

“Oh thank Celestia! Velvet! You’re alright!!” It was the voice of Daring Do. Before Velvet could turn to face her, the Pegasus mare had already thrown both of her hooves around Twilight Velvet in an embrace.

The Unicorn stumbled slightly in surprise, but soon relief flooded through her, and she in turn threw her hooves around Daring as well. She didn’t speak, only held the hug for about thirty seconds before Daring let her go, asking, “You’re okay, right? No broken bones or anything?”

Velvet shook her head, “No, no I’m fine. What about you? I could have sworn you were dead… I saw you thrown out of the basket as soon as we hit!”

Daring Do waved a hoof, “Ah, don’t worry about it. I’m a Pegasus, we’re used to that kind of thing! I caught myself on my wings and got out of there alright,” she tried to flap her wings, and winced, “Except for that one. Bashed it pretty badly against a tree on my way in… Think it’s jammed, or sprained, maybe.” She gingerly folded the wing back into place.

Velvet wasted no time in going for the medical supplies they had brought along, and gave Daring a look that clearly read, ‘sit’. The Pegasus obeyed. Velvet retrieved the necessary supplies, and trotted back over, gently pulling Daring’s wing away from her side with her magic. The Unicorn could only imagine how badly it hurt, but Daring managed not to cry out or squirm away, though her face was contorted in what was clearly pain, “Just give me a minute,” Velvet said.

It had taken more along the lines of two minutes, in truth, but by the end of it, Daring’s wing was bound tightly, and resting snugly against her side. Velvet wiped her forehead, the muggy atmosphere beginning to get to her, “Just stay off the wing for a few days, and you should be fine.”

Daring Do grumbled like a little filly called in from playing, “A few days? Might as well be a few months, or a few years!” She lamented.

“Oh, stop being so dramatic! It’s not that bad! But it will be if you stress it too much.” Velvet scolded.

“Since when were you a medical expert?” Asked her Pegasus friend, standing and maaking her way over to her gear.

“Never claimed to be,” Velvet replied, “I just know some basics. My dad was a doctor back in Fillydelphia, you see.”

A few more minutes of silence passed. Daring had donned all of her salvageable gear, and was lying down, regaining her energy. Velvet had followed suit, but rather than wearing her supplies, just lay beside them. Eventually, a thought came to her mind. She had not seen Caius since they began to fall, and the last glimpse she caught was his being thrown from the basket with Daring. Only, he was not a Pegasus like her. Velvet felt she already knew the answer, but she asked anyway, “Daring, do you know where Caius is?”

The Pegasus opened her eyes and looked slowly over to Velvet. Her raspberry red eyes and grim expression would have said it all, but she still gave voice, “Yeah. Old coot was strung up in a tree by his entrails. Sorry to put it so graphically. At least it might have been a quick death.”

Might. That didn’t help. Velvet nodded slowly, feeling nauseous as she thought about the sight of the old stallion dangling from the tree branches by his innards. She quickly banished the thought before it made her too sick. After a minute more, Daring had finally gotten fed up with staying still, and stood, declaring, “Ahuizotl’s sure as a dragon’s hording habit not waiting around for us to come and take his precious away from him. Come on Vel. We have a spirit to tick off!” And she began to trot away.

Twilight Velvet stood, levitating her gear onto her back and following after her. She would have floated all of it, and help keep their energy up, but in the long run, it would have only preserved Daring Do’s. Prolonged levitation in Velvet’s magical state, and especially in such a taxing atmosphere, would prove difficult and tiring for her. She found herself wishing that she had a larger magical reserve. The close, muggy atmosphere and treacherous terrain sapped her energy immensely. All of these thoughts, however, were banished from her mind upon seeing Daring stopped dead still a few feet ahead of her. It wasn’t until Velvet had reached her, that she saw why.

Daring Do was face to face, their noses literally touching, with a large, angry looking tiger. The Pegasus backed up slowly, her pupils dilated. Velvet swallowed nervously, glancing at her friend, “Well Daring… I’m assuming you have a plan. What do we do?” She said, in an effort to calm her down.

Despite it being a rhetorical question, Daring still answered, “Quite simply? Run!” And run they did.

Or, they tried. For as soon as the made the move to, they found themselves closed in on all sides, by various, large, predatory cats. Surrounded.

> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Sometimes you’ll find things that don’t make a lick of sense. Usually, it’s just best to not question them.”

“Soooo…. You have a brilliant plan to get us out of this one, don’t you?” Velvet asked; the sarcasm evident in her clearly worried tone.

“Well, I don’t think that begging them is going to help us at all,” the Pegasus responded in a deceptively chipper tone, “I mean, after all, they are cats.”

Twilight Velvet turned her gaze to Daring briefly, aghast at how calm the adventurer was behaving. It was all a front, really. It was clear in Daring’s eyes that she herself was incredibly worried. The cats, about four in number, including a leopard, panther, bobcat and the tiger, slowly began to close the distance between themselves and the two ponies. Saliva coated their lips, and glistened off of their rows of razor sharp teeth.

Velvet swallowed nervously. Not for the first time, and she highly doubted the last, she was regretting this choice. She had been doing that a lot lately, hadn’t she? Regretting everything that had led to this predicament she now found herself in. These thoughts were broken by the sound of yet another creature approaching. The Unicorn mare felt her heart dropping, “What kind of cat do you think that is…?” She asked, quietly.

Daring Do, slowly shook her head, now pressed against the Unicorn beside her as the cats drew ever closer, “I don’t know Vel… Maybe it’s a lion? We’ve already got a few cats you wouldn’t normally find in this kind of place, so why not?” Her eyes widened briefly, “Duck!” She shouted, pulling Velvet down with her.

The sound of jaws snapping together sounded overhead, the tiger having lunged for the space that Daring’s head had once occupied. Velvet had little time to react as she found herself tugged to the side by Daring, though she understood why a second later as her eyes caught the bobcat pouncing at the patch of dirt she had been standing on. That could have been her, cut open by the sharp claws of the cat. The rustling from before grew closer, and the other predatory cats had begun to spread out once more, enclosing the ponies once again. Only this time, there was an evident opening at one point.

And whatever had been approaching, now leapt out of the brush. Twilight Velvet’s nerves got the better of her, and she cried out in dismay, trying to backpedal out of Daring do’s grasp, “Velvet!! Calm down! It’s just a…” Now it was her turn to sound surprised, “Kitten?”

Velvet’s eyes snapped open and she followed Daring’s gaze. Sure enough, standing before them was an admittedly cute little kitten. It was a surprising contrast to the four larger cats that could take a pony’s face off with a single swipe, “What?! A kitten?! What in Celestia’s name is a kitten doing here?!! What purpose could it possibly serve?!?” She shrieked.

Daring Do caught a hold of her again, “A convenient way out, perhaps?!” She said, and shoved her over the kitten, which was now standing as high as it could, hackles raised and teeth barred, giving its own version of its larger cousin’s growls, “Run, Velvet! Run!” Daring shouted. The Unicorn needed only be told once, and promptly took off as fast as she could.

The Pegasus adventurer herself then leapt over the kitten, and took off running after Velvet. She did not need to look behind her to know that the felines had now taken chase. It did not take long for the fleet-footed mare to catch up to her less attributed friend. Daring maintained a pace so as to stay on a level with Velvet, and not leave her behind. The Unicorn mare was doing surprisingly well, considering their current predicament. Tears streamed from her wide, light blue eyes, and were being swept backwards by the wind as they ran. The writer needed no help in avoiding obstacles, her adrenaline certainly helping.

As she ran through the forest, the wet heat sapped her energy, and Daring could feel it slowing her pace. The cats were not far behind them now. Frantically, she glanced about for any avenue of escape. Normally, she would spread her wings, and lift both Velvet and herself into the cool, blue sky, but such things were only dreams and wishes at the moment. Her crash landing had crippled her wing for the foreseeable future. But, it seemed that salvation was at hand. Only about ten feet ahead of them, was a ravine. And while that may be reason for anypony to stop and reconsider their course, Daring knew they could make it.

Not because of her ability to fly, but because ponies had an ability that cats did not: they could grip vines and ropes, and there just so happened to be a vine dangling down over the gaping maw of the ravine. Daring Do glanced back at the cats, who were gaining on them with frightening speed. Only a few seconds more and they would be a feline’s dinner. Twilight Velvet had stopped at the edge of the ravine, and was looking helplessly back at Daring and their pursuers. But Daring had a plan. Catching Velvet’s bag’s straps in her teeth and gathering all of her strength, the intrepid adventurer leapt.

Velvet chanced a look down, and immediately wished that she had not, and shut her eyes tight. The expanse of the ravine below her was black as pitch, and she could only imagine what awaited them at the bottom, in the impossible chance they’d survive a fall. The Unicorn nearly cursed her Pegasus companion. They were going to die anyway, but Velvet preferred not to be able to think back on things as she plummeted to her death! Of course, the writer had not seen the vine, and did not realize that she was in no danger until Daring set her onto solid ground once again.

Slowly, Twilight Velvet opened her eyes, and was relieved to find that she was not about to fall several hundred feet down an opening in the earth. She collapsed, hugging the ground. The humid climate and the mad dash through the jungle had caused her to sweat profusely, but she was too tired at the moment to reach for her canteen. Glancing over at the edge of the ravine, she saw Daring Do sitting down, panting heavily as her own perspiration caused her jacket to cling to her back. The cats on the other side of the ravine, having been quick enough to stop themselves from falling into the abyss, were pacing angrily back and forth along its edge, yowling their lamentations at a lost meal. They only kept up the act for five seconds more before giving up, and slinking back into the jungle around them. 

As her heartbeat settled, and the adrenaline left her system, Velvet was finally able to hear the sounds of the jungle again. There were macaws crying out in the foliage above, and the incessant buzzing of the mosquitoes, among other things. One of the bloodsucking insects landed on Velvet’s outstretched leg, and had been about to begin to drink its fill, when Velvet lazily brought her other hoof over and flattened the insect.

Daring Do slowly trod over, throwing herself down beside Velvet and giving a heavy sigh, letting her already heavy breathing subside slightly. The two mares lay like that for a minute more – moving only to swat at the bloodsucking mosquitoes – before finally, they were able to breathe normally. Daring was the first to sit up, and she slowly uncorked her canteen and took a few careful sips, conscious not to let the water seep down her throat too quickly. Velvet hoisted herself up and did the same. As much as she wanted to, the Unicorn refrained from dousing herself with the water from her canteen. It would only provide temporary relief, and would just waste the essential liquid.

She began to laugh shortly after. Daring gave her an incredulous look, one eyebrow raised, before she too began to laugh alongside Velvet. What they were laughing about, neither mare was entirely sure at the time. But they had avoided death twice in one day, and that was cause for a little laughter to ease the mood. Their calming merriment lasted only a minute or two more, and as it died down, Velvet glanced at Daring Do, “Any idea what a kitten was doing all the way out here?”

The Pegasus adventurer shook her head, “Velvet, let me tell you something. If there is one thing that I’ve learned doing this kind of thing, and trust me, I’ve learned a lot, it is that there are some things that just don’t make a lick of sense. And sometimes, it’s better just not to question them.” She chuckled shortly, before sighing, standing up, and stretching.

Velvet mirrored Daring’s movements. It felt good to stretch, especially after a run like that, and then lying around barely moving. The action left her feeling slightly revitalized, and she felt better than she had since they crashed. Or at least, as good as she could feel given the situation. Taking one more swig from her canteen before corking it, Velvet set off at a steady walk after Daring Do, who had already begun to move off.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, save for the grumbling brought about by the mosquitoes or the occasional root tripping them up. However, all of these irritations did not last very long. For as Velvet and Daring broke the tree line, they found themselves face to face with their target: The Temple of Ahuizotl. Daring Do’s mouth broke into a large, triumphant grin, and she pulled her hat tighter against her head, “Sapphire Statue, here we come.” And without further ado, she began to climb the stairs to the temple.

> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Okay!! I take that back!! A lot of bad stuff just happened!!”

The first thing to assault Velvet’s nostrils upon reaching the top of the sizable staircase was that of decay and danger. That is, if danger really had a scent at all, but that was beside the point. She had a good feeling that this temple was incredibly dangerous to enter, but she could tell just by the expression she wore, and the stance she took, that Daring Do would not be dissuaded from her goal. The Pegasus looked over to Velvet, “You ready for this?” She asked.

“To be perfectly honest with you, Dare? No. I’m not ready for this,” Velvet said, “But I will follow you anyway. I said I would be coming with you on this, and by Celestia, I’m sticking with you to the end. No matter how idiotic it might seem.”

Her friend gave her a second’s worth of surprise, before chuckling, “Heh, I knew you had it in you, Velvet! Now come on. We have a statue to find, and spirit to tick off!” As she began to trot into the dimly lit entrance to the temple, Daring glanced back, “And did you just call me ‘Dare’? You know, I’ve always given ponies nicknames, but rarely do I get them. You’re the first to call me that, after my sister that is,” she grinned, “Keep it up, Vel!”

And with that, Daring continued on her way into the temple. Velvet let out a sigh, and followed her in. The entire temple was poorly lit, but just well enough that they could see. It was, to put it bluntly, frightening. Strange, skull like busts and sculptures were set into the walls, with gaping mouths and eyes, that gave Velvet the strange feeling they were being watched. The floor was littered with stone, and the dust hung heavy in the air. Beetles of various descriptions skittered across the stone floor, and to Velvet’s dismay, there were skeletons lining the walls that looked disturbingly close to those of ponies. She hurried in her pace to catch up to Daring.

The Pegasus seemed to be in her element with this temple. None of the aesthetics really seemed to be getting to her, at least on the same level as they were with Velvet. She trudged on past the beetles, bones and carvings with little thought. Velvet wasn’t sure if the adventurer was just that fearless, or if she was just being brash. Where Velvet was taking in every detail with horrified fascination, Daring was just trotting on through, looking at her surroundings every few seconds. Perhaps if she had been paying closer attention, like Velvet had been, the next series of events could have been avoided.

Daring Do’s hoof sank downwards by an inch, having stepped on a pressure plate. She heard something click within the walls, and glanced over in time to see a section of the wall hang down. The Pegasus quickly figured out what was happening, and she ducked. As she did, three dual headed axes were flung by some mechanism into the wall just behind her. Velvet, luckily, had been far enough back to avoid being struck herself. As the Unicorn galloped up behind her, Daring stood, wiping a hoof across her brow, “Well, that could have been worse, eh?” She asked, beginning to move forward again.
“Daring! Wait!!” Velvet had called out, but she was unable to finish.

The adventurer’s hoof once more struck a pressure plate and the section of the floor beneath her slid open. Through her own natural agility had Daring been able to keep herself from falling in. However, her expression quickly changed from one of triumph and into one of irritated terror. Deftly, she lifted herself entirely on her forelegs, as a bout of flame shot up from the opened section of the floor. It seemed as though her triggering of the first two traps had set into motion a chain reaction of various traps. The ceiling slid open, and bizarrely enough, a trio of crocodiles were revealed. The large reptiles would have fallen straight onto Daring, if it had not been for Twilight Velvet.

The Unicorn, who had managed to avoid being consumed in flame earlier by sheer luck, caught the giant lizard-like creatures by their tails, suspending them just above the two mare’s heads as they ducked. As Daring army crawled her way out from under them, Velvet heaved them back into their compartment, and slammed the hatch shut with her magic. She thanked Celestia that she had enough magical reserve to complete that.

But there was no rest for the weary, it seemed. No sooner had Velvet caught up with the now recovered Daring, a pendulum axe swung down from the ceiling above. Where Daring leapt over it with a concentrated expression, Velvet hung back, her face the epitome of sheer terror. As soon as the axe passed, she dashed forward as fast as her legs could carry her. The Unicorn would have kept running were it not for Daring grabbing onto her tail and yanking her back. Velvet stumbled and fell into a sitting position, “I hate this temple!” She exclaimed, panting.

Daring Do nodded, “I’m right there with you, sister. Come on, we’ve still got a prize to find. And we’re not going to get it just sitting around here cursing this place.”

“No, instead we’re just going to get killed by some insane trap. What were crocodiles even doing here?! And in the ceiling no less!! I swear, that spirit is watching us! He’s just toying with us now, and I know that he’s just going to get tired of it and kill us if we go any farther!” Twilight Velvet shouted.

The Pegasus had had enough, “Velvet!” Daring Do shouted, wheeling about and without hesitation, striking the hysteric mare forcefully across the face with her hoof, “Calm! Down! Look, I know you’re stressed. We’ve crash landed, been chased by big cats, and just narrowly avoided a series of bizarre traps, you have a right to be! Heck, so am I! But I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you again, sitting around here cursing the place won’t help us thwart Ahuizotl. Now, I want to see you grit those teeth, and get a move on!” She said authoritatively, and held out a hoof, “Or, you can turn back now and head back into the jungle. You either die out there, knowing that you ran away from potentially saving lives, or you can stick with me, and die knowing you tried.”

Velvet watched as Daring laid into her vocally, eyes wide and teary as she tenderly rubbed her throbbing cheek. She had not been expecting the Pegasus to take such an action. It had hurt both physically, and mentally, but if Daring had aimed to break her out of hysteria, it certainly worked. The Pegasus maintained her hard expression, hoof held out as she waited for Velvet’s answer to her ultimatum. Drawing in a deep breath, Velvet held it for a few seconds before slowly letting it out. She wiped a hoof across her eyes, and took Daring Do’s outstretched hoof. With help from her Pegasus friend, the writer stood.

The adventurer raised her eyebrows, “Well? What are you going to do, Velvet?”

Sniffing, Velvet sighed one more time before nodding twice, “I may not like it… But you’re right, Dare. I’ll stick with you. If I’m going to die, might as well do it with dignity, huh?”

Her friend grinned, “That’s the spirit. Come on.” And with that, Daring Do began to trot down the corridor once again. Velvet glanced back the way they had come, no longer able to see daylight, before turning and trotting after the intrepid adventurer.


/)*(\


Over the course of the next hour or so, Daring and Velvet made their way through the temple, encountering numerous more traps and obstacles, which involved nearly getting pin-cushioned by arrows twice, nearly cut in two by collapsing blades, impaled from below by floor spikes, and on various occasions nearly being squashed by closing doors, they had made it to the end of the winding corridors. Now, they stood panting in a large room, Velvet chuckling breathlessly in an effort to calm herself down, and Daring irritably knocking numerous arrows from her hat. How that thing had managed to stay on her head the entire time, while they had lost most of their gear to the traps, baffled Velvet.

Much to the Unicorn’s relief, there was a beam of sunlight streaming through a large hole in the ceiling of the temple. And as much as she wanted to, there was little time to speculate on the strange head hugging abilities of Daring Do’s signature cap, for as if by a supernatural force, the light streaming in began to move, “Dare, look!” Velvet said, jabbing her elbow into the adventurer’s side.

“What?” Daring replied haughtily, fixing her cap back onto her grayscale mane, “What is it... Whoa.” Her words trailed off as she caught sight of what Velvet was seeing.

The beam of light had shifted, and revealed to them their prize. It was the object that they had searched for the entire day, enduring many hardships throughout that period, and in Daring’s case, she had sought it for over sixty days and nights in, here in Caballo. It was the artifact of Ahuizotl: the Sapphire Statue. The statue was that of two, pointy headed dogs looking in opposite directions, and in the center of them, there was a large, glistening sapphire. The entire thing was carved from pure blue stone – most likely lapis lazuli – and was inset with gold. Velvet shook her head, awestruck, “You know, I have to hand it to those spirits. They sure know how to make a work of beauty.”

“It’s significantly less beautiful when you think about what Ahuizotl uses it for,” Daring Do said in a matter of fact tone, “But looking at it otherwise, yeah, it really is a gorgeous piece.”

She had begun to trot towards it, when Velvet caught her by the tail, and tugged her back, “Hold it now, Dare. You really think that this chamber itself would be devoid of traps? I doubt that Ahuizotl, or whoever built this temple would leave the chamber that held the Statue completely unguarded. In the off chance somepony, like us, made it through all of that back there, I’m sure that this place would be trapped as well,” she glanced ahead at the floor, “See those tiles? I’ll bet they have something to do with it.”

The Pegasus looked at her skeptically for a few seconds, then to the floor tiles, and then back to Velvet, “You’ve got a point Vel,” she said, shrugging, “But now all we need to do is figure out what it is…”

Glancing around the chamber, Daring’s eyes caught sight of numerous holes in one of the walls, much like the arrow ports from the other traps earlier in the temple. She tapped a hoof to her chin for a few seconds, before glancing down at the floor around her hooves. Spotting a fair sized stone, she scooped it up, and tossed it onto one of the tiles. The weight of the stone proved enough to trigger the trap, as the tile sank downwards and a split second later a hail of arrows streaked out of the holes, peppering the adjacent wall.

Velvet swallowed and coughed nervously, “See what I mean?” She asked, rhetorically.

“Yeah…” Daring replied, though it sounded more like she was talking to herself. The Pegasus lowered herself to get a closer look at the tiles, continuing to voice her thoughts, “There’s gotta be a pattern here… Look at these, Velvet. Each tile has the motif of some type of animal on it. Now… What could these mean...?”

Velvet lowered herself down as well, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized the pictures. Birds of prey, large cats, wolves and various other predatory animals were emblazoned on the stones. Except, one of them stood out, “I’ve got it!” She said, happily.

“Oh? Would you kindly tell?” Daring asked, standing back up to her full height, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

Twilight Velvet cleared her throat before explaining, “Well, all of these animals shown here are predators. All except for one; and that is the rat, who is in fact a scavenger, not a predator. I have a feeling those might be the safe ones, if those exist.”

Daring hummed in speculation, casting about at the floor for another stone to throw. She found none, much to her irritation. Stepping over to the closest rat tile, she shrugged, “Well, there’s really only one way to find out now, isn’t there?” She thought aloud.

“Be careful, Dare.” Velvet said, unconsciously backing up.

Daring didn’t reply. Instead, she held her breath, and stretched out one hoof. Slowly, she placed it down on the tile, and applied pressure. Nothing happened. It didn’t sink; there was no clicking of a mechanism activating. The tile held its place. Daring applied a little more weight to it, and still nothing happened. She let out her breath in relief, before gingerly transferring the entirety of her weight to the tile. It was only big enough for her, “You hang back there, Velvet!” She called to her companion, “I trust you not to touch anything.”

It was a joke, but Velvet took it seriously. She stood still as a statue under observation. Daring Do leapt from tile to tile, taking her time and choosing her targets carefully. She dared not slip up, and become a pony dressed as a porcupine. Her escapade across the tiled floor and to the base of the Statue’s pedestal took but a minute, and soon she was standing safely on the stairs leading up. Eyes wide with filly like wonder, much like what she had felt the first time she had been this close to the Statue, she slowly began to reach out for it. Velvet’s shout stopped her, “Daring! Carefully! We don’t know what taking that from its place might do!”

Daring sighed, before calling back, “Good point, Vel!” She set to work, inspecting every angle of the pedestal for any sign of traps, and finding none, returned to her original place. Anxiously, she rubbed her forehooves together, weighing the best course of action to remove the Statue. Her patience, however, ran out, “Meh, what’s the worst that could happen?” she asked herself, and she just reached out, grasping her prize in her teeth, taking the Statue from its pedestal and transferring it to her hooves, and from there beneath her hat.

Triumphantly, she turned and began to walk back down the stairs. Velvet watched her, dumbstruck by the Pegasus’ brash actions, “Daring! What did you just do?!?” she cried.

“I got that Sapphire Statue, Vel! That’s what! Don’t worry, this hat’s special. I won’t lose it!” She called back, cheerfully.

“That is not what I meant! You just grabbed the Statue with barely any planning!” Velvet called back, her voice rising in pitch as her shock expanded.

“Oh, come on, nothing happened! Let’s find a way out of here!” Daring Do called back, rolling her eyes.

No sooner had the adventurer spoken, however, than there was a terrible rumbling, much like the one that had sounded the first time she had this prize. The entire temple shook, and the tiled floor that she was now standing on began to crumble. With a cry of dismay, she leapt back onto solid ground as the tiles fell into a rising pit of lava, “Okay!! I take that back!! A lot of bad stuff just happened!!” She called out.

“You don’t say?!” Velvet shot back, indignantly. She had little time to be irritated however, as the walls of the chamber began to crumble into the quickly rising magma.

One sizeable chunk fell beside her, and she clambered up onto it, Daring Do mirroring this by climbing onto the Statue’s pedestal. The Pegasus was on higher ground, and she could only watch in helpless terror as the lava rose nearer and nearer to Velvet’s hooves. The Unicorn was panicking, dancing back and forth on the stone, “Velvet!” Daring called out, unable to do anything. Not for the first time that day, she found herself cursing her injured wing. With a horrendous crash, more large sections of the walls and ceiling fell, cutting off her line of sight on Velvet. The writer’s hysterical ranting could no longer be heard either. The Pegasus’ jaw fell open in disbelief, and though her body tried, any tears produced were quickly dissolved in the heat of the rising magma, “Velvet!!”
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Don’t go believing in the ‘you’ that believes in me, or even the ‘me’ that believes in you. Believe in the ‘you’, that believes in yourself... Basically, just have faith in yourself!”

Regret. Fear. Sadness. These were only a fraction of the many emotions that Daring found coursing through her mind. She had let this mare come along. Twilight Velvet had been her responsibility. And now where had that gotten her? Dead, for all Daring knew. Flattened beneath debris or engulfed by the magma that was reaching ever so close to the Pegasus’ hooves.

She didn’t want to leave. Not for the first time that day did she wish that her wing was mended, so she might fly over the debris and try to rescue her friend. But it was not to be. As it was, the only thing Daring could do was get herself out. Glancing around in a panicked fervor, she noticed that some of the pillars that had lined the chamber’s walls had fallen, and the majority of their mass was still above the molten stone.

And conveniently, they ran close to the opening in the chamber’s ceiling. It seemed that at least some of Daring Do’s luck had held out. The Pegasus geared herself up for the jump for only a second, and leapt. In the nick of time, it seemed, as the pedestal on which she had previously stood was now swallowed by the hot, liquid stone. Daring didn’t stop to look back, and kept running up the length of the pillar. She leapt to one more when the one she had been standing on shifted. The Pegasus landed safely on the second pillar, which led her even closer to the opening.

The magma had been rising at a frighteningly fast speed. Upon reaching the tip of the pillar, Daring Do gathered her strength, and took a leap of faith for the opening. By the grace of the Princess, she made it, if only just. Her forehooves caught the edge, and the Pegasus began to try and pull herself out. It did not seem to be working, and she slipped slightly. But it seemed that fate still smiled upon her. Well, fate and nature.

The pressure from the heat that had been building up inside the chamber had only one exit: The hole to which Daring Do was clinging. As the steam and pressure gathered beneath her the closer the molten rock came, Daring found her job was only marginally easier. But she would not have to pull any longer. With a start, she found herself being launched upwards, out of the hole and into the air.

For a brief second, she found herself entering into free fall. Normally, this kind of thing was something that she enjoyed, and would often do to get a little thrill. However, the experience was not enjoyable by any means when one did not possess wings with which to break their fall. Daring Do cried out in frustration and fear as she began to pick up speed in her descent. She might not be killed by the fall, but she would certainly take a lot of damage from it. And there was no telling what would be coming for her then.

So, Daring Do made a choice. As she fell, the Pegasus spread her wings, both injured and non-injured, and caught herself. It had the desired effect, and she slowed in her speed, leveling out slightly. The worst she might sustain from a fall of this distance would be some bad bruises and a whole lot of sore muscles. The adventurer winced as her injured wing seized painfully, and refused to operate any longer. With a growl, she began to fall again.

Luckily, her estimation on the damage she might sustain was correct. Daring hit the ground painfully, bouncing once or twice and coming to a sliding halt. Her hat had managed to fall off of her head in the fall, and the Sapphire Statue fell out of it, coming to a stop a few feet ahead of her, unscathed. Daring painfully lifted herself up and slapped her hat back onto her head, and began to make for the artifact when the sound of a familiar, thickly accented voice stopped her in her tracks, and sent her heart rate skyrocketing, “Hello, Daring Do. It is so very nice of you to visit.” Ahuizotl said, a sinister chuckle playing backdrop to his greeting.


/)*(\

Twilight Velvet awoke with a groan. It took the Unicorn about half a minute to fully come to her senses. She was happy to find they were all still functioning. She recognized this sensation. It was the same state that she had found herself in after teleporting off of the roof back in Caballo the previous day, “So that’s what happened…” She thought to herself, “Emotions got all worked up, and I just drained my entire magical reserve getting away…”

Despite wanting to, Velvet made no attempt to get up. Not fully, at least. The mare sat up from her curled up position, and looked about. She was in the brush of the jungle, she knew that much. How far from the temple, and Daring Do, she did not know. Velvet started, coming to a frightening realization. She had teleported herself out of a room filling with magma, and she left Daring behind!

What became of the Pegasus? Velvet began to feel very anxious, going over many different possibilities for what had become of her friend. Eventually, she managed to calm down and think rationally again. Daring Do was an adventurous and resourceful mare. If anypony could find their way out of a situation like that without magic, it was her. But with that resolved and out of the way, a new question quickly moved to fill its place: Where exactly was Daring Do now?

Velvet stood slowly, stretching her tired limbs for a second before she slowly began to creep through the underbrush. It would have been quicker to move onto a clearer path, for there was one not too far from her – it was in seeing range – something in her gut told her that doing so would be a bad idea. She might have been crawling through the vegetation for about a minute when she heard a series of noises not produced by her. There were the sounds of many creatures walking, and a voice that was… singing?

As the sounds grew closer, Twilight Velvet lowered herself as flat as she could go, and she lay very still, moving only to part the vegetation before her so she might peer out. What she saw caused her heart to stop beating for a second. A large, strange dog-like creature was walking down the path, its long tail snaking out behind it, and wrapping around something. No, not something. Someone! Velvet’s eyes widened and she had to stop herself from leaping out upon seeing just who was being held.

Daring Do, only semi-conscious, was being held aloft by the tail, and held above her by the hand-like paw at the end of it, was the Sapphire Statue! So this beast was the spirit, Ahuizotl. He was both impressive, and frightening to Velvet. His fur was dark, nearly black, with some sections in a darker blue. He wore some golden embroidery, and his two forepaws were much like the one on his tail. But most bizarre to Velvet, was the placement of his eyes. While his head was structured much like a dog’s – she noticed now that it was much like those on the statue – his eyes were not positioned near the base of the snout, like a normal dog’s. Rather, they were on the end, above the mouth, where his nose might be found. Adding more to the frightening visage were the numerous, long teeth that protruded from his jaw. Somehow, they did not make his voice any less understandable as he sang on, in what the Unicorn assumed was a language of his own.

Velvet lay very still, watching as Ahuizotl sauntered down the path, followed by the same group of cats that had pursued Velvet and Daring only an hour or so before. Had it only been an hour? For all Velvet knew, she and Daring could have been in that temple for the better part of the new day. That might explain why she was so tired, aside from having no magical energy in her reserve. With a pang of terror, Velvet was brought back to reality as something crossed her vision. It was the paw of a cat.

It belonged to the tiger, to be precise. The predatory feline had stepped very close to her, its paw only mere inches from her nose. Her pupils dilated, and eyes wide, Velvet watched, holding her breath and waiting. Time seemed to stretch on forever, and what was really only a few seconds, felt like hours. Her heartbeat was pounding in her ears in a steady drumbeat rhythm. Her lungs cried out for oxygen, but Velvet dared not, for fear she might disclose her location.

Luckily, the cat had begun to move again. It went off at a quick pace to catch up with its master and fellow predators. Twilight Velvet let out her breath, as quickly and silently as she could. She took in two deep breaths before she was able to breathe relatively normal again. And now, she had a mission. She knew where her friend and their prize were, and she could not bear to think what might happen to the Pegasus. So Velvet fought back her own doubts, and her own fears as she came to her resolution. It was as Daring Do had told her only seconds before they had crashed, ‘Don’t go believing in the ‘you’ that believes in me, or even the ‘me’ that believes in you. Believe in the ‘you’, that believes in yourself... Basically, just have faith in yourself!’

And that was exactly what Twilight Velvet planned to do. The Unicorn mare stood, and quietly began to make her way after Ahuizotl, following the sound of his voice. She was going to get her friend out of this mess, and in doing so, prove to herself that she was not a weak mare that needed protecting. She was going to prove to herself that she was capable, and that she too, could be brave, just like Daring Do!
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		“Hey Daring! You miss me?”

And being brave was a lot easier said than done. Velvet had found very quickly that bravery was a hard thing to come by when you were on your own, in an unfamiliar place. But, it was something that had to be done, and she would do it, to the best of her ability. The Unicorn could only hope that she wasn’t making an even bigger mistake than any that she had made before.

For several minutes, she had crawled through the underbrush, keeping as far as she dared from the spirit and his feline entourage. Had she been better versed in the field of magic, above the basic spells that foals learned – such as levitation – Velvet might have tried a different approach. But with things as they were, her being none to skilled in the more advanced spells, and her teleportations being few and far between – and not to mention they were not entirely in her control – she had to do things differently.
By sheer luck, Velvet had managed to remain unseen for the entirety of the way. Eventually, Ahuizotl and his felines took a turn, and when the spirit pulled away a shock of vines, Velvet’s heart once again filled with even more doubt than it had been before. The spirit was taking her friend into another temple like structure that looked like it had been dug into the side of a mountain. Now, not only was she going to have to find a way to get Daring out, but she had to make it through a potentially trapped temple. And of course, avoid Ahuizotl’s detection.

Taking a deep breath, and slowly letting it out, Velvet waited until Ahuizotl and his entourage had vanished inside the temple’s doorway. As soon as they were out of sight, she stood and slowly made her way over to the entrance. The Unicorn took a minute to steel herself against what she might encounter within, before finally buckling down and taking her first, tentative step through the vine cover.

The scent that struck the Unicorn mare’s nostrils this time around was just a musty, old and stuffy scent, curiously devoid of decay, unlike the Sapphire Statue’s temple. Of course, this temple – which was more like a dungeon when she thought about it – probably didn’t have a lot of openings for the scent to escape to. Taking as deep a breath as she dared, Velvet continued onwards, “Alright, I’m inside… Next order of business, find out where the heck they’re keeping Daring.” She whispered to herself.

Once again, it was a task that was easier said than done. She wasn’t a dungeon crawler by any means, and in all reality the entire reason that she had even gone into the original temple was because she was with Daring Do. The Pegasus could be arrogant, yes, but that confidence had given Velvet confidence of her own. But it was up to the writer to produce her own confidence now. Unlike the temple, this dungeon didn’t really seem to be trapped in any way, shape or form. There were cobwebs, dust and insect life throughout the interior, but it was curiously devoid of the skeletons from the first one.

All the same, Twilight Velvet doggedly continued onwards as quietly and carefully as she could, lest she actually somehow triggered a hidden trap, and meet her demise. For what felt like hours, but very easily could have been minutes – for she had no means to keep track of the time, alongside the stress of her situation – Velvet searched through the dungeon, and she encountered little in the means of obstacles.

The interior of this structure was less like a maze than the first one, and was better lit. Velvet allowed herself a brief second to speculate that this may very well be the place that Ahuizotl called ‘home’. Why he would keep his prized treasure hidden away in a separate structure, and not with him at all times, baffled the Unicorn. She shrugged it off as the fact he was a spirit, his actions need not make sense to a pony.

Her string of good luck in finding no traps only lasted for so much longer. Just when she had begun to feel confident that there was not too much to worry about, she had begun to tread much bolder than before, and that proved to be a mistake in many ways. No sooner had Velvet moved in such a manner, than she triggered what may have very well been the only trap in the entire structure.

It wasn’t terribly obvious at first. Velvet had gone forward a full five feet before its activation became known. The first hint she received was the familiar sound of some mechanism turning within the walls, and before she could react in any way, she felt a sharp, stinging pain enter her side. The initial shock from it had caused her to collapse, and it was just as well. Several more arrows pelted the wall behind where she had stood, just inches above her head. A few that had followed after the first one had grazed across her back as she fell.

Though tears of relief, pain, and fear had sprung to the mare’s eyes, she had mercifully managed to keep from crying out. Gritting her teeth as she turned her head to face her side, Velvet found that one arrow had come out faster than the rest, and it was now embedded up to the fletching in her side. Velvet counted her blessings. She was able to tell that the arrow had at least missed any sort of vital organs. But that did not stop it from hurting worse than any other pain she had felt before. As was to be expected, she was bleeding from the wound in her side and the more superficial lacerations upon her back.

She tried to shift position, but became paralyzed when an agonizing pain lanced through her entire body. Lying still for a minute, waiting for the pain to subside, Velvet tried to remain calm. It was difficult to do, but she had managed, somehow. Once she was able to move again, the Unicorn mare shifted, much slower this time, eventually moving far enough away from the wall that she was able to see her other side. To her dismay, Twilight Velvet had discovered that the arrow had penetrated the entire way through her body.

The writer gave a small, muffled squeak of fear. The wounds she had sustained hurt incredibly, and she possessed little to no medical supplies to patch herself up. But as much as she wanted to just keep lying down and cry herself into unconsciousness, Velvet knew that she could not afford to. Instead, she decided to look on the small bright side that she could find, “The arrow’s gone most of the way through… that means that if I break off the section with the feathers, I can just pull it out the other way, no problem,” she swallowed fearfully, “That will remove the obstruction though, and disturb whatever 
blood clotting had started. I’ll start bleeding even worse then.”

She was talking out loud to herself, but Velvet didn’t really care. That had always been something that had helped calm her down through her younger years, and though the habit had died out as she grew older, she found some comfort in it here, “Wonder what Felicity would say if she ever hears about this? Wonder if she’d believe me…” Velvet speculated.

The mare knew that she was stalling. She didn’t care. Her situation was incredibly frightening, and despite knowing what she must do, Velvet did not want to. But it was something that must be done. She couldn’t keep going through here with an arrow in her side, and the longer she waited, the more it would hurt coming out.

There was one thing that she could be thankful for. The time it had taken her to follow Ahuizotl, sneak her way around here, and lie here procrastinating, her magical reserve had begun to replenish. Not enough for her to be able to do any sort of spectacular magical feat, like her two incredibly lucky teleportations, but it would at least be enough to make her job easier here. Shutting her eyes tightly, Twilight Velvet reached out with her magical aura, and clutched the arrow.

It was incredibly hard for her to focus with the pain she had been experiencing, and she was struggling to maintain the magical field, but she had managed. Velvet tried to break the arrow right away, but found that it was too deep in for it to be that easy. Her consequence was another spasm of pain that caused her magical aura to implode. Velvet had to take a couple seconds to regain her composure before she was able to grip the arrow once again, “Okay, so you’re going to have to pull it out a little this way to break the feathery bit off… And then I can pull it out,” Velvet says, taking a deep breath and holding it.

Keeping her breath held until she had the arrow in her grip once more, Velvet slowly let her breath out as she pulled the arrow out by a few centimeters, “Alright, that should be enough.” She sighed, blinking away the tears that had sprung to her eyes.

Steadying her breathing, Velvet snapped the feathered end of the arrow off. The reverberations could be felt, but mercifully were not enough to send her into a fit of paralysis, “Alright, now comes the really hard part.” She muttered.

Taking just one more breath and slowly letting it out, Velvet pulled the arrow from her side. Sure enough, the action had broken any form of clotting that had started, and removed the obstruction of the arrow’s shaft, thus causing the warm, sticky liquid that was blood to run down her sides once again. Fighting to stay calm, Velvet tossed the arrow aside and quickly focused her magic on stemming the blood flow. With enough concentration, a Unicorn could make their levitation field somewhat solid, and that was enough to plug a hole, be it in a wall or a body.

It worked as an impromptu bandage, but kept her from moving. And now that she was no longer worrying about the arrow, she found her worry going back to something that actually needed it: Daring Do. She had nearly forgotten about the Pegasus with her own predicament, as horrible as it felt to admit such a thing. But now she had little distractions. Velvet would be lying if she said that the thought that she had already wasted too much time, that by the time she found Daring, it would be too late, didn’t pass through her mind. The Unicorn mare promptly shook such a thought from her mind, “I refuse to accept that.” She growled to herself, standing slowly.

Taking a few tentative steps forward, Velvet found that she could move without a lot of pain, so long as she moved slowly. Likewise, she would not disturb her somewhat mended wounds. Releasing her magical focus, Velvet waited a few seconds for the bleeding to start again. She was relieved to find that none came. A few more steps forward and she found this was still the case, much to her pleasure.
And so, Twilight Velvet was on her way again, going much more carefully now, after her painful reminder that she was still in a hostile environment. But if there was one good thing to be gleaned from her misfortune, it was that she was .probably getting ever closer to her quarry

She forced a smile, and kept going. It didn’t take her much longer to find what she had been looking for; to a degree, at least.
The familiar sound of Ahuizotl’s voice, though the words were unclear, could be heard sifting through the hallways towards her. The spirit’s voice sounded arrogant, so sure that he had won, just as it had before. Velvet smirked to herself, despite the rising tension. That spirit’s arrogance was something she could be thankful for. He hadn’t noticed a trap being set off, and still thought that he had triumphed. He was far from the truth in that assumption.

Then there was another voice following the spirit’s own. One whose sound made Velvet’s heart jump with hope, “You won’t get away with this, Ahuizotl!” That was Daring Do’s voice!

Twilight Velvet had to stop herself from doing a small leap and shout of joy. Her friend was still alive! Granted, she was captured, but she was still kicking, and that was good enough for Velvet. Ahuizotl’s voice followed Daring’s once again, and this time, his words were clear and understandable, “But I already have.” He said in his ever arrogant tone. The sound of it disgusted Velvet.

What followed next galvanized Velvet back into action. There was the sound of another mechanism being activated further down the hall, and a horrible rumbling sound echoed through the passageway. And it didn’t stop. Above it Velvet was barely able to hear Daring say something else. It was unclear what, but Velvet speculated it would be something of irritation.

Moving as quickly as she could, Twilight Velvet made her way towards the sounds, which let her know she was getting closer as they increased in volume. Soon, she came to a closed fork in the hallway. On one side, it led to an even darker hallway. But on the other, it was slightly illuminated. Going with instinct, Velvet went for the lit path. She nearly stopped and turned back when the sounds grew quieter, but she decided against it and continued on.

It seemed to be the right choice. She came out onto a balcony, leading out into a room which was lit by a plethora of hanging chandeliers. And down below that, in the center of the room on a table-like object, was the Pegasus adventurer, Daring Do. Velvet bit the inside of her lip uncomfortably. Daring was tied down, and the walls on either side of her were covered with deadly looking spikes, and were slowly closing in on her. To add to the already horrible way to die, sand had begun to fill the chamber, 
and from a strange bust picture on the wall, snakes had begun to drop down.

Daring was struggling against her bonds, but to no avail. The Pegasus, obviously in a panic, had not noticed Velvet’s arrival. The Unicorn was not entirely sure what she should do. Jumping down was out of the question. If she had not been injured, she might have considered it, but with things as they were, landing would only send her into more pain than before, and by the time she recovered, both her and Daring would be finished. There was a switch on the far side of the room, which was obviously the control to this elaborate chamber. Velvet was unable to reach it with her magic, however; for while some had come back, it was still too depleted to be of that much use.

But it seemed as though Velvet would not have to rely on her magic alone after all. Daring had provided another means of reaching the switch. In her struggles, the Pegasus had knocked her hat loose and onto her chest. Velvet followed the adventurer’s gaze, and her mind put things together quickly. Daring was going to try something that only she would. Maneuvering her hat from her chest and flexibly bending one hind leg up, she hooked the headwear over her hoof, and bit down on one edge. For some inexplicable reason, the hat stretched as she applied pull with both her mouth and hoof, before she let go.

The hat sailed forward, and bounced off the wall before Daring – the one below Velvet’s balcony – only to begin to drift to the floor again. The sand that had been quickly filling the chamber was now spilling over top of Daring Do, the Pegasus taking one last breath of air before going completely under. Velvet stood with her forehooves on the edge of the balcony, mouth open in a wordless shout. It was not wordless from shock, but merely from realization. She saw a way to get Daring out of this in the Pegasus’ hat.

The apparel had drifted within the Unicorn’s magical reach. Taking hold of the hat in her light magenta aura, Velvet twirled it about until it had reached the desired speed, and she let fly. The hat sailed downward like a Frisbee, ricocheted off the surface below the switch and struck it. Velvet’s ears twitched. She hadn’t really thought that through. How would the hat activate the switch…?

“Oh, right. This is an arrogant spirit’s temple-dungeon thing,” She said to herself, “Don’t question the architecture.”

The lever had been so sensitive, that the hat’s force was enough to knock it into the ‘off’ position. In response, the walls slowly began to retract to their original position, the snakes fled and the sand drained into valves that had opened into the floor. As the golden granules of earth rolled off of Daring, the Pegasus burst upwards, taking in a deep breath of air into her lungs greedily. She struggled with a renewed strength until her bonds fell away, and she was able to sit straight. She coughed a few times, before taking in yet another deep breath of air, before looking up at Velvet, and giving a small wave. The Unicorn grinned and gave an emphatic wave back, calling, “Hey Daring! You miss me?”
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		“It seems luck is something we have in common. Well, lucky is a relative term, considering.”

“You could say that, yeah!” Daring called up to Velvet, before shaking her head vigorously to rid her mane of sand, “You going to stay up there all day, or are you going to come on down here?” The Pegasus asked, giving Velvet a raised eyebrow.

The Unicorn mare nodded her affirmation, looking to the back of the room below her. The door next to the lever had slid open when the trap had been shut off. Velvet assumed that was where the fork in the hallways led to, “Yeah, just give me a minute.” She called down to Daring, before wheeling about and making her way as quick as she could down the hallway.

Upon reaching the fork, she went down the other hallway, and sure enough, she found herself in the same chamber as Daring. She gave the Pegasus – who had gotten herself off of the table-like rock and was now standing – another, smaller wave. Daring just looked at her for a few seconds in silence, before shaking her head and laughing, “You are one heck of a pony, you know that Vel?” She said. At the Unicorn’s confused expression, she trotted over and poked her in the chest, “I thought for sure that you were dead. Crushed or burnt back in the temple. And yet here you stand, right after saving my tail. It’s a heck of a thing.”

Twilight Velvet flinched slightly at Daring’s poke, but she was more concerned with what the Pegasus had said. She gave a nervous chuckle, “Oh, yeah. Teleported myself out, I suppose-” She had begun to say, but Daring cut her off with the words, “You suppose?” She said, as she trotted over to retrieve her hat.

Velvet gave an exasperated huff, “Well, I can’t necessarily control them! They just kind of happen. You know why and all that.”

Daring Do laughed, setting her hat tightly around her head once again. She stepped back into the doorway leading out of the chamber, looking down into the darkened hallway, before glancing back over at Velvet, “Well, either way I’m glad to see you’re still kicking. I might not be if it weren’t for you. Anyway, what do you say we get back to business, and find out where Ahuizotl decided to take the Statue?”

Velvet nodded, turning to face down the hallway, and starting down it, “Sounds like a plan.” She said as she went. Daring followed after her.

It took about a minute of walking through the dank, winding hallway before Daring spoke up again, “What happened to you? Your side, I mean.” She asked.

“Oh, that,” Velvet said, biting the inside of her cheek briefly, before shrugging slightly, “I ran into what was possibly the only trap on the way down to you. One of those arrow traps. One of them took me through the side. I’m lucky, really. It missed anything important, so I shouldn’t really have to worry too much. Though it would probably be good to get medical attention to it as soon as I can.” She cut herself off, and waved a hoof, “I’m going to start rambling. What about you? How’d you get out of there?”

“It seems luck is something we have in common. Well, lucky is a relative term, considering. I was able to get to the opening in the top, and then physics and all that complicated stuff took over as the magma got closer to the roof and woosh, I’m in the air. But anyway, I landed kinda heavily. Did have to use my wings a little bit, otherwise I might have had an even worse landing,” she twitched her good wing against her side as she spoke, “Anyway, I wasn’t out there for very long before Ahuizotl and his cats showed up. Long story short, they captured me, and brought me here for that little execution thing you found me in.”

The way in which Daring told this story made it sound like such a thing was no big deal. But then again, she’d been taking most of this adventure this way. The mare’s confidence still caused Velvet confusion, but much like the architecture of all of these structures, she had stopped questioning it. Their conversation trailed off into silence once more. No words really needed to be said, as both of them knew exactly what they were going to be walking into. As much as any pony going up against a spirit could know.

Both Velvet and Daring could tell that they were nearing the exit to the dungeon. The expected musty, dank smell of the tunnel was now weakening, and it was slowly being replaced by the thick, humid scent of the jungle outside. While that scent in itself was usually a very unpleasant thing, compared to the air that Velvet and Daring had both been experiencing for the past several minutes, it was one of the sweetest things they’d ever smelled.

And soon, they were out in the open. The humid air of the outside hit both mares like a brick wall, but only for a second. Daring Do was already making her way down a faint path through the vegetation, “Come on,” she said, “If there’s one thing that we can thank Ahuizotl for, it’s his arrogance. The idiot didn’t even try to cover up his tracks.”

Velvet nodded, but she followed Daring at a much more cautious pace than the one that the Pegasus was taking, “I know that a lot of what we’ve seen points to this being the case, Daring, but are we sure that Ahuizotl’s really this incompetent?”

Daring Do nodded without taking her eyes off of where she was going, “Oh yeah. Well, kinda. Back before I came here, when I was doing all that research and stuff on Ahuizotl and his Statue, I came across one thing that said he may very well have been created, or something like that, during the Discordian Era. Something about his being an entity corrupted by the Draconequus’ magic. Didn’t really mix and Ahuizotl was the outcome. Whether this is true or not, I don’t really know. But it might explain why everything that makes no sense to us makes a lot of sense to him. Like leaving the activation to an execution chamber in the chamber,” She shrugs, “Not entirely sure, really. But hey, it works out for us, so I’ll roll with it.”

That answer was good enough for Velvet, and she pursued the topic no longer, and instead continued to follow Daring. It didn’t take much longer before they heard the voice of Ahuizotl once again. As they drew nearer, the spirit’s words became clearer, “With Daring Do out of the way, the world will suffer mightily at my hands.” Were the first words that came drifting up to them.

That had taken a significantly shorter amount of time than Velvet had expected, but she was not about to start complaining. They were this much closer to getting the Statue back, and with that, so much closer to getting out of this jungle. Only question was how they were going to get out. She figured they’d just cross that bridge when they got there. Daring took a turn, and led Velvet up a hill on their right. Upon reaching the top, she lowered herself, and crept up to the edge, glancing over. Velvet stayed back, just watching her and wondering what she might be seeing. When Daring turned around, it seemed that she had a plan. The Pegasus faced Velvet, “Like I said, the spirit’s an idiot. Sitting there monologuing to his cats, and he’s got the Statue held in his tail. Alright, here’s the deal. I’m going to get that back. How? Well, there’s plenty of vines around, and I think if I hit can get at the right angle, I can land on an overhang across from us.”

“You think?” Velvet asked, apprehensive.

“Well, almost nothing’s ever guaranteed. But I have a good feeling that this’ll work out,” Daring said, waving a hoof and glancing about looking for a vine. Finding one that seemed to please her, she reached out and took a hold of it. Below them, Ahuizotl had begun to laugh. Velvet nodded slowly as she thought over Daring’s plan, “Alright, and what am I going to do during all of this?” She asked.

The Pegasus glanced back at her, “Start making your way over there. Try not to be seen and all that, if that wasn’t obvious already. I’ll meet up with you after I get that back, okay?”

Before Velvet was able to answer, Daring Do had leapt from the hilltop, falling in a swift arc on the vine to which she clung. Velvet stayed to watch for a few seconds, before turning and making her way as quickly as she could down the hill, and to where she imagined she might meet back up with the Pegasus. Daring’s plan, for as foolhardy as it was, had somehow worked, her descent sending her right by the boastful spirit, Ahuizotl, and she had snatched the Sapphire Statue right out of his tail’s grasp. The sound of the spirit’s lamentations served as a backdrop to her flight.

Over the course of the next several minutes, Twilight Velvet had made her way through the underbrush, and emerged at the foot of the hill on the opposite end of where she had previously stood. Daring Do had been waiting for her, and upon meeting up, they made their way back towards Caballo. It would take them a very long time on hoof, but right now, neither of them really cared. The Sapphire Statue was secured, and whatever Ahuizotl may have been planning to use it for was now no longer of any concern. Getting home could wait, if only a little while longer. For now, the world was safe; thanks to Daring Do.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		“You may just call me ‘Night’”

“Thank you for your submission, miss. We’ll send you a letter within the next week, notifying you of our decision.” These were the words of the dark coated stallion seated behind a desk. His tone left his intention; be it commending or condescension, up to the imagination.

Twilight Velvet bowed her head, backing slowly towards the door, “Thank you sir.” Was all she could produce in response to the stallion’s words. As soon as she had said her piece, the Unicorn turned and pushed the door open, and stepped out into the hallway.

She had just been turning in her manuscript for what she hoped would be her debut novel. It was the story about her meeting Daring Do, and their adventure in Caballo. For the most part, at least, for there was a decent amount of paraphrasing done to the story. For instance, some of the darker details about the fate of Daring’s pilot’s true demise, and Velvet’s own presence in the story entirely. That had been a choice of her own, something that she decided upon on the ride home. She had arrived back in Equestria a month ago that day, and she had finally finished her penning of the story. And now she found herself in Canterlot, a hopeful writer turning in a story to a publisher’s office.

Daring Do had argued Velvet’s decision to omit her part from the story, stating that the mare was an important part to the narrative. While it was over a month ago, Velvet still remembered the conversation the two had shared on the boat ride home.

/)*(\

“You can’t be serious about this Vel!” Daring Do cried, throwing her hooves into the air, and sitting back forcefully into her chair, “I mean really! You’re a core component to that adventure! If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have even been able to get just that far. And not only that, but you’re going against what you said to me when you convinced me to even let you go along. Wasn’t it something about ‘an adventurer always needs an assistant’ or whatever it was? It was along that line, I remember that much. Anyway, my point is that you were my assistant on that adventure. I don’t want you writing that novel without having yourself in it.”

All Velvet did in response to the Pegasus’ words was shake her head, “I know what I said, Daring. But my decision still stands. This story isn’t about me. It’s about you. I wouldn’t be calling it ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’ otherwise. Despite what you say, you would have done just fine on your adventure without me.”

“I nearly suffocated beneath a pile of sand.” Daring retorted.

“And with only a second’s worth of struggling, you would have been able to break free.” Velvet said, in a matter of fact tone.

“You tried to reason with my pigheadedness about taking the Statue so blatantly off of the Pedestal.” Were the words that Daring employed as her next attempt at dissuasion.

“And you didn’t listen to me anyway, so it had the same outcome as it would have otherwise.” Velvet responded, finally looking up from the paper she had been scratching away at with a quill, “You know that this story won’t be seen as fact as much as I do, Dare. Everything in it seems just so… fantastic, you know? Many accounts deem Ahuizotl as being just a myth. A story used to scare disobedient young ones to bed. Many will most likely see this novel as just a story I cooked up in my head.”

“Okay…” Daring said, but she was not about to give up just yet, “So how do you explain ponies recognizing my name, eh?” She leaned forward, crossing her forelegs and giving a smug smirk.

All Velvet did was return the smirk with equal smugness, before she said, “Simple. You yourself told me that you don’t spend a lot of time around Equestria out of your own volition, and you never did much of anything spectacular there, so you would most likely not be recognized by anyone except for your family members.”

Daring opened her mouth to give a retort, but she was unable to find anything. She slowly shut her mouth and sat back in her seat once again with a huff, “Touché.” Was all that she could come up with for the first few minutes, but eventually, she thought of something more to say, “Alright, so let’s make a deal here, shall we?”

Velvet looked up at her, and upon seeing the look that Daring had in her eye, nodded slowly, and set her quill down, “Okay, what is it?”

The Pegasus smiled, “It’s really quite simple. I’m allowing you to use my actual name on a character heavily influenced by me, for a book on an adventure that you and I really went on, yeah?”

“You want a cut of the royalties?” Velvet said, tilting her head, “I was planning on that anyway.”
Daring Do shook her head vigorously in response, “No! No, no! That’s not what I was getting at!” She said, “While I will not argue with that decision, what I was getting at was that you keep writing these stories about my adventures. Because we both know that I’m going to keep going on them.”
Velvet nodded, “Sounds easy enough. But I won’t be able to join you on all of them. I do have another job aside from writing, you know.”

Her friend shrugged, “Well, yeah. I already have a solution. If I go on an adventure that you find yourself unable to join me on, upon my arrival back, I’ll send you a letter retelling it! Or I might even show up in the flesh to tell you about it. You can write about it, and it’s a win-win situation. But there is just one condition that I ask.”

“And that is?” Velvet asked.

“For the ones that you come along on, and even the ones you don’t, make a character that is an homage to yourself. Because seriously Vel, you really helped me back there. Make a character based off you that comes along with me in the books, or somepony that funds my expeditions or helps me do my research, you know?” Daring said, tapping the table between them for emphasis.
Twilight Velvet nodded, “Alright, fine. I’ll do it, I suppose.”

“Good! Sure, you’re going to be famous for writing the story itself, but dangit I better pick one of them up and find some character in there that I can easily say, ‘well, that’s Velvet’ about, y’hear?” Daring Do said, grinning for a second before breaking into laughter.

Velvet joined the Pegasus in her mirth, “It’s a deal, Dare.”

/)*(\

That was all a month ago. Velvet hadn’t heard from Daring since. As soon as they had arrived back in Equestria, Daring took her leave, saying she was going to visit her family in Cloudsdale, before heading off overseas again to do research for her next adventure. Velvet assumed that was what she had been doing for the past month now. She knew that such things could take the Pegasus time, and she preferred to stay positive about what her friend might be undergoing.

Velvet was so lost in her thoughts; she almost did not notice the stallion stepping out in front of her. The Unicorn mare came out of her reverie just in time to see the blue stallion entering her path, and she dodged to the side with agility that she could thank her experiences in Caballo for, “Oops, pardon me, sir.” She said instinctively as she did.

The stallion turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised in slight surprise, but he nodded only shortly after that, “It’s quite alright. I wasn’t really paying attention myself.”

Both Velvet and this stallion had come to a halt in their movements. The silence that stretched between the two lasted just long enough for it to feel awkward. Eventually, the stallion, a Unicorn, like Velvet, coughed, “Pardon me, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before. May I ask your name, and – not to sound rude – what it is that you’re doing here?” He said, holding out a hoof.

Velvet raised an eyebrow slightly, before nodding and shaking his hoof, “Of course, sir. My name is Twilight Velvet. I came here to turn in a manuscript for consideration.”

“Ah!” The stallion said, as they shook, “A writer! I thought so. Usually why ponies are coming in here, after all,” he chuckles slightly, “But I am being rude. My name is Night Light. I’m one of the employees here. Speaking of which, as much as I’d like to stay and talk a little more, I should probably be going,” he gives an apologetic smile, “Perhaps I’ll see you again, Twilight Velvet?”

The Unicorn mare nods, “I would imagine so.” She says, giving a smile of her own. The blue Unicorn stallion took his leave after that, giving her a small wave as he left. Velvet returned the gesture, before continuing on her way towards the door.

It was a strange change of pace, even after a month of being home in Equestria. Velvet had found that after she had gotten a taste of the adventurous lifestyle that Daring Do had led, she found her usual lifestyle just a little slow. Of course, she knew that she could never lead a life like Daring’s on a regular basis, but it felt good knowing that she had managed to undergo something like that, and lived to tell the tale; quite literally. The scars on her sides where the arrow had broken the skin were all but invisible now. She had seen a doctor about it as soon as she and Daring had made it out of the jungle and back to town. The doctor had cast a spell over it, cleansing the wound and sealing it. And over time, the scar tissue had returned as close to normal as it would get, and her coat had grown over the space once again.

And though she could not see it, Velvet always knew that it would be there. It was a token proving to herself that she had gone through that, proving to herself that even a mare like herself could go through something that so much in the media always equated to stallions. But it also served to remind her that if she were to keep going in that lifestyle, she may very well meet her end.

Velvet pushed that dark thought from her mind. She was in Canterlot, which in itself was a change of pace for the Fillydelphia born mare. This city was the highest of high society. And to be frank, Velvet did not fully enjoy the company of many of the denizens. There were a few gems here and there that were nice enough to be around, she had found. But more often than not, they were all just very irritating and stuck up ponies. Fillydelphia had its fair share of that kind as well, but none of them were quite as bad as Canterlot’s.

And it was that fact that provided conflict in Velvet’s mind. As she trotted down the cobblestone streets of Equestria’s capitol city, taking in the sights of the buildings and its citizens, she wanted to stay just a little longer and continue to drink it all in. This was Canterlot, after all! It was the crown jewel of Equestria! It was not a common thing for her to be here, and she wanted to make the most of it.

The pleasing canvas of Canterlot that Velvet’s mind had been drawing was then shattered by the sound of one of the stuck ups berating a waiter for getting an order wrong. Just the tone that the pony was using was enough to make Velvet want to punch a hole into something. The writer quickened her pace and moved away before that ‘something’ became the stuck up pony’s head. She imagined that Daring would have handled that differently. If she didn’t start with punching the pony, she might have given them a piece of her mind verbally, and then punched them when they gave her a snarky retort.

The mental image caused Velvet to giggle to herself, which she quickly moved to cover up when a few passersby gave her odd looks. The Unicorn mare gave them a shy smile, before moving off once again. She wandered the streets of Canterlot for several minutes, before she eventually found herself seated outside of probably the most ‘rustic’ eatery she could find. How there was ever a business in Canterlot that sold donuts, she wouldn’t know. But she could not deny that they did have a decent selection of beverages that she found to her liking.

So it was there, that Velvet decided to relax and spend just a little more time in Canterlot. Really, she had a few days to spend abroad. She hadn’t been expecting to be able to get into the publisher’s office as easily as she did, having expected there to be at least a day’s wait for the pre-scheduled appointments to be done. But a few of the appointments had to cancel, and the others went by quickly enough, leaving Velvet with two days of vacation from her job as a teacher’s aide at the Fillydelphia University. Now all she had to do was find another way to spend it, “Well, I could always leave Canterlot, and maybe go down to Ponyville. Felicity said she lived there for a few years before moving to Fillydelphia. If I was to take her word for it, I would imagine that it’s a rather nice town.” She said.

“It is. I’ve been there myself, on a few occasions.” Another voice said, nearly causing Velvet to leap out of her skin, not having realized that she had spoken out loud.

The newcomer chuckled. She had only heard it once before, but the Unicorn mare recognized it easily enough, “Oh! It’s you, Night Light. Good afternoon-”

“Evening.” The Stallion corrected with amusement, “And you may just call me ‘Night’.”

“Oh, err, yes. Good evening,” Velvet amended, “What are you doing here?” She asked raising an eyebrow at the stallion.

Night was standing outside of the small fenced area outside of the eatery. He made his way through the gate so he was within the confines, and stepped over to Velvet’s table, “I always come here after work. Good food and drink, for a reasonable price, and it provides a nice atmosphere to read. I see it’s attracted your attention as well.” He says.

Velvet nodded in agreement with the stallion’s assessment, “Oh yes. It’s the only place around here that feels a little like home.”

“Where’s that?” Night asks, tilting his head slightly.

“Fillydelphia,” Velvet responds, “Born and raised there. I’m only here because, well, you know. Trying to get a book published, and all that fun stuff.”

Night gives a large nod, “Ah, I see. Well, I hope you’re finding this city to your liking, so far,” he glances about for a second before looking back to Velvet, “Do you mind if I join you at this table? It’s where I usually sit when I come to this place, anyway.”

Velvet’s ears twitch forwards, and she nods after a few seconds, “I don’t see why not. I could use that company, anyway. Be nice to talk to somepony that I don’t think is going to freak out at the sight of a little dirt, for a change.” She says wryly.

Night chuckled as he pulled out a chair, setting the bag he was carrying down beside him as he sat, “Well, I’m glad to see that we think the same on that subject. I’ve lived here all my life, so I’m used to ponies acting that way. Doesn’t mean it still doesn’t get a little annoying at times.”

The pair fell silent after that. The silence drifted on for a few minutes, broken only when Night had excused himself to go get sustenance inside. In the time he was gone, Velvet found her mind wondering what the contents of his bag were. He had mentioned coming here to read, so she assumed they were books. Books about what, she wondered? Were they history or fiction? Were they adventure or mystery? Her contemplations were broken when Night returned with his food. Velvet decided to ask, “You mentioned coming here to read earlier, so I’m assuming that’s what’s in your bag. Mind if I ask what you’re reading about?”

Night listened to her, eyebrow raised, as he sat back down once again. The stallion shrugged, levitating the bag up and drawing out a stack of paper, rather than an actual book, “Well, I read about all kinds of things. Really all depends on what ponies have brought into the office,” as he speaks he sets the stack down and glances at the title on it, “That’s part of my job there. I read over what ponies have brought in, and then I speak to my supervisor about sending them on for publication. It’s pretty interesting to see what ponies can come up with.” He explains. While he speaks, Night begins to sift through the pages of the manuscript. Velvet managed to steal a glance at the title on the first page, and was relieved to find that it was not her story.

Why she was relieved, she did not know. Probably had something to do with being able to avoid the awkwardness of seeing somepony else reading one of her works. It was something that she was used to with her family, and friends like Felicity. But a complete stranger, for that was still what Night was to her, reading them? It wasn’t something that she had any chance to really get used to before. Of course, there were probably many more manuscripts in that bag of his. Hers might very well be one of them.
Before Velvet could do much of anything, however, Night set the manuscript aside and gave an apologetic chuckle, “Forgive me. I’ve already forgotten that I have company with me. Rather impolite to ask to sit with somepony, and then not hold a conversation, isn’t it?” He gives a small smile.

“Oh, no!” Velvet says, shaking her head, “It’s quite alright. I don’t want to keep you from your work.”
Night waves a hoof and shrugs, “Nah, I’ve got plenty of time before I have to turn that in. I can read at home, anyway. For now though, I figure I may as well try to have a conversation with somepony new. So, Twilight Velvet-”

“Oh, please, just call me Velvet.” The Unicorn mare says, waving a hoof slightly.
Night’s ears twitch, and he nods, “Alright then. Velvet, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

And that was how Twilight Velvet spent the rest of her evening in Canterlot, sitting outside of a corner café talking to Night. Over the course of their conversation, the two found many common grounds, ranging all over from their taste in music, to their preferred genres of books, and things such as these. By all accounts in Velvet’s mind, it was a good night.

> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Found out that my brother’s finally found himself a mare friend. I actually got to meet her. Nice girl, kinda tomboyish. Think her name was Firefly?”

A week since that night had gone by. Velvet had returned to her hometown of Fillydelphia, and was still awaiting the letter of confirmation about whether her novel was accepted. She had spent much of that week in anxiety over the matter, her worries ranging from its simply not being reviewed yet, all the way to the letter being lost in transit.

Having noticed the Unicorn mare’s frazzled state of mind, her friend, Felicity, made it her goal of the day to distract Twilight Velvet from the topic as a whole. The tactic worked at first, but eventually a new seed of worry had found root in Velvet’s mind: she still had not heard from Daring Do. While normally she would rationally think about this and just assume that her friend was alright, given her experience, in Velvet’s already anxious state of mind, the worry blossomed in a much more drastic measure than it should have.

This was the thought process the writer found flitting about her brain while she sat in the Belle Park of Fillydelphia. The University had just let out, however Felicity still had her own job to attend to, so there was not much to distract Velvet’s mind any longer, “It’s just like the first time you tried, Velvet. They’re going to find something wrong with the story. Some little nitpicky thing that will keep it from being published, I just know it.” She said to herself, seated upon a park bench, watching the birds flit through the branches above her.

Once again, she was speaking to herself out loud. There was no pony very nearby, so she had no reason to feel self-conscious about the habit, “And then there’s the whole fact about Daring… I wonder what kind of adventure she had this time around… Oh, I just hope that she’s alright.” Velvet said, taking her gaze off of the birds and down to the street before her.

However, all of her worries were dispelled when she heard a familiar voice sounding from above and behind her, “Well, I can tell you right now that it involved a lot of Griffins, and quite a few death threats, which is kind of to be expected in the Griffin Kingdoms. But aside from that, the whole thing was awesome!! I mean, I managed to stop an all-out war between two clans, and I’m apparently an honorary member of some sort of organization of Griffins.”

Velvet leapt from her park bench in shock, giving an involuntary yelp. As soon as her hooves touched down, she wheeled about to face the owner. And what she saw caused a wide smile to come over her features, “Daring! You’re not dead!” She said happily.

“Well, duh.” The Pegasus mare chuckled, lowering herself from the air on gently flapping wings. No sooner had she touched down than Velvet had flung her forelegs around the adventurer’s neck in a friendly embrace. Daring Do chuckled, returning the gesture with a single hoof, “Heh, glad to see you too, Vel.”

The Unicorn released her friend, and backed up a few feet, glancing over her figure for any sign of a new injury, or just to be sure that it was really her. And it was, from the color of her coat, the grayscale rainbow mane, and the compass rose cutie mark. There were just two differences that Velvet noticed. Those two being that Daring’s body was devoid of her jacket, and her signature hat was not to be seen atop her head. While her head remained barren of apparel, Daring was wearing a scarf of the same green color as her jacket about her neck. Velvet noticed that it was positioned in such a way so as to cover the three scars that were emblazoned on Daring’s chest.

The Pegasus had seemed to read Velvet’s expression, “Yeah, I wear this to cover the scars. Helps avoid annoying questions, and being labeled as an attention-seeker with ponies not believing the story behind it,” she explained, “Believe it or not, ponies here in Equestria have a harder time accepting that it came from a spirit, than just assuming that I’m an idiot that wandered into Everfree and had a run in with some Timberwolves.” She finished, with an underlying hint of bitterness creeping into her voice.

Twilight Velvet furrowed her brows at that. It did make sense, when she thought about it. Many only assumed that Ahuizotl was a myth. She had believed that herself, until she had found undeniable evidence that the spirit really did exist. Before the Unicorn could speak on this however, Daring shrugged past the topic, signifying this as she started to walk down the path, “So! This is my first time visiting Fillydelphia, and I have absolutely no clue where anything is, And I need a place to relax. Mind helping me out with that?”

Velvet blinked a couple times as her mind caught up, before she trotted after Daring. One she was on level with the Pegasus, she nodded, “Um, yeah, I know a place. Come with me.” The writer brushed past Daring, gesturing for her to follow.

The walk was not a very long one. It lasted about five minutes, and not much conversation above a few passing comments on the park coming from Daring Do at odd intervals. But eventually, they found themselves nearing a café, in actuality much like the one in Canterlot that had reminded Velvet of home. In a short time, the two mares found themselves seated outdoors, a steaming mug of tea before each of them. The first few minutes were spent in an awkward silence, with Velvet waiting for Daring to start speaking. The Pegasus had stated that she felt she needed to relax, so Velvet was willing to let her take her time to get settled. Eventually, it became apparent to the Unicorn that her friend was waiting on her, so she spoke up, “So… How long have you been back in Equestria?” She asked, that being the only question that came to her mind.

Daring didn’t answer at first, having already had her mug halfway to her lips as it was asked. The Pegasus carried through with taking a sip and set the mug carefully down before she answered, “About three days. I would have come to see you sooner, but a few things came up that took slight priority,” she cringed, “Feels kinda horrible saying that, now that I’ve done so out loud, and not just in my head.”

Velvet waved a hoof, “No, it’s alright. I understand. Mind if I ask what these things were?”


“Oh, yeah! Well, first day I got back from the Griffon Kingdoms, I went to visit my family again. Kind of a habit, you know? Get back from a life risking adventure; let the kinfolk know you’re still kicking,” another quick sip of tea interrupts the Pegasus’ story briefly, “Anyway, found out that my brother’s finally found himself a mare friend. I actually got to meet her. Nice girl, kinda tomboyish. Think her name was Firefly?” Daring shrugs, “But yeah, that’s cool.”

She falls silent for a few seconds, looking at Velvet who was wearing a slightly surprised expression – that of having her eyebrows raised, “I just realized I never told you I had a brother. He’s a little calmer than I am, but he’s still pretty awesome,” she clears her throat, resituates her position, and then continues, “Spent the day hanging around home, then the next day – which was yesterday, actually – I was going to come here to try and find you, but that was derailed when I got a letter from none other than Princess Celestia, asking me to come to Canterlot as soon as possible.”

Velvet interrupted the narrative with a laugh, “Well, at least you had an excuse for not finding me sooner! If I was in your place, I would have gone to see the Princess myself first.”

Daring gave her a hurt look, “Ouch.” It was clear by her tone, however, that she was joking. Her expression changed to one of amusement, and she laughed shortly before continuing her recounting of the past day, “So as I was saying. I got a letter from the Princess summoning me to Canterlot, so I headed up there as quickly as the train could take me. And there was some pretty exciting news to come out of that visit. Remember when we got back from Caballo, I took off pretty quickly? I went to see her, and hand the Statue off to her to do with as she pleases. I guess she got whatever she wanted from it, so now she wants to put it in the museum, and he asked if I wanted my name up there with it.”
Velvet sat forward, “Really? That’s great! What’d you say?”

“No.” Daring Do replied, in a matter of fact manner.

The Unicorn across from her nearly fell over backwards at that. She regained her composure adequately enough to speak, “What?! Why?! Daring, you could have been famous for that!”

The Pegasus waved her hoof dismissively, “Nah, my name’s already going to be a house hold name after your book gets published. Besides, I wasn’t alone in finding that artifact,” she gives a sly wink, “And you didn’t quite let me finish earlier. I said no, and explained that I had help, so I had to talk to my assistant about it, see what she wanted to do about it. Celestia agreed, and asked me to come back with an answer soon as I could.”

Velvet could have answered Daring’s unasked question quite simply there, but instead she focused on an earlier topic the Pegasus had mentioned. That of her book getting published, “Oh yeah… About that, I’m not so sure it’s going to happen. I went to the publishing office in Canterlot to give them the manuscript, and they said that they’d send me a letter letting me know their verdict. That was a week ago, and I still haven’t heard from them.”

In complete opposition to what she had been expecting to happen, Daring Do laughed, “Why is she laughing?! Did she not just hear what I said?!” Velvet thought irritably.

Before she could give voice to this, however, Daring spoke, “Oh contraire my friend! You didn’t let me explain what happened today. Since I finally had a free moment, I made my way here, to Fillydelphia. Asked around about you, and I was directed to your house. Just came from there, actually. Nice place, your folks are pretty cool too. Anyway, I had a little chat with them while we waited for you to get off work. While that was going on, the mailpony stopped by and dropped this off,” as she spoke, Daring reached up and felt about in her scarf until she produced a letter, “From the Starswirl Academic Publisher’s Office in Canterlot, addressed to one Twilight Velvet.”

Velvet’s eyes lit up like two beacons. Daring gave a sly smile, and held the letter out. Her friend took it in her light magenta hued magical aura, and tentatively opened it. Soon as the seal was broken, Velvet dropped the envelope and unfolded the paper within, reading over it silently, her lips moving subtly as she did. Daring simply finished off her tea, chuckling inwardly as the Unicorn read. As she set her mug down, the adventurer raised an eyebrow at her wide-eyed friend, “Well? What’d they say?” From her tone, she seemed pretty confident that she already knew.

Twilight Velvet carefully set the letter down, blinking a few times as she fought to regain control of her shocked expression. She found herself victorious, and turned her gaze to Daring, “They said yes,” she said, as if in disbelief. But as the reality of it sunk in, she spoke again in a more confident tone, “Dare! They said yes!! It’s getting published!” She frantically waved her hooves over her head in an effort to shed some of the energy building up inside of her.

Daring gave a hearty laugh, clapping her hooves together twice, “See? I knew they would! I’m not just saying that ‘cause you’re my friend, and the story features my awesomeness, but because the story itself is awesome, and you’re a good writer! What did I tell you about having faith in yourself, Vel?”

The Unicorn tried to regain her composure, though it was evident that she was still energized. A few of the other customers of the café were shooting her odd looks, but that was far as the attention went. Velvet bounced slightly in her seat as she answered, “It’s just that I’ve never had anything published before… I really wasn’t expecting this. I—” something that Daring had said caught her attention, stopping her speech in its tracks, “When have you ever read any of my works?”

Daring waved a hoof dismissively, “Eh, your parents still had some of your old stuff boxed away. And I read what you had written of our adventure while you were asleep on the way home.”

The casual way in which she answered shocked Velvet, but before she could inquire further, Daring Do switched gears and spoke once again, “But you never answered my earlier question, that I didn’t exactly ask. What do you say about the museum feature of the Statue mentioning us?”

Velvet shook her head as her mind caught up the Pegasus’ speech. After a second, she finally managed to answer, “I guess that’d be alright? I don’t entirely know what to say about it… What were you thinking?”

Daring shrugged, “I wasn’t really planning on having my name mentioned. Like I said, my name’ll already be enough of a household name once your book hits shelves. Yours will be too, of course. Do you want your name in that museum?”

It was an enticing thought. Be credited with finding a treasure like the Statue. But Velvet couldn’t allow herself that credit without Daring being honored as well. Besides, she wrote the book about it. It may have been trivial, but the Unicorn felt that receiving credit for the find after writing a book about the adventure featuring her friend with no hint of her would just be a lot of headaches to deal with. Velvet shook her head, “No, I don’t think I will. Though I do have an idea of what it could say. Maybe it could just mention that the Statue was ‘found by an intrepid adventurer, who graciously donated the artifact, but wishes to remain anonymous’, or something like that.”

Daring tapped a hoof to her chin, contemplating it for a few seconds. Eventually, she nodded, “Yeah. That sounds pretty good actually. Though I think it should mention ‘adventurers’, considering you were there.”

Velvet nodded enthusiastically, “That would be alright. I’m pretty sure most ponies will believe my story is a work of fiction anyway, so they can just think of it as somepony’s idea of how it was found? But that would possibly conflict with what I already have written. If it mentions ‘adventurers’, where my book only features one, you, that would be pretty inconsistent.”

The Pegasus sighed, but the writer continued before she was able to speak, “Let’s just have them mention one. But I have an idea. I have to go to Canterlot anyway to sign some papers before the book can be published in the first place, and you have to go there to give Celestia your answer. How’s about we both go to give Celestia the answer, and while we’re there get a commemoration of both our involvements in finding the Statue, like a photo or something. Sound good?”

Daring needed no time to consider this and she stood, promptly answered, “Alright, I guess that’d be alright! We can head out whenever you’re ready.”

Velvet also stood, “It’s settled then! Let me just pay for this, let the family know and we’ll be off!”
The Pegasus lifted herself into the air, “Alright! I’ll meet you at the train station. Oh, and I’ll tell you all about my escapade in the Griffon Kingdoms on the way, okay? See you then!”

And with that, the two mares parted ways for the time being. Over the course of the next twenty minutes, Velvet had paid the bill, returned home briefly to notify her parents of her success and that she was going to Canterlot to finalize the deal, and raced as quickly as she could to the train station to meet with Daring. Once they had met up once again, the two boarded the train, and were well on their way to the capital city of Equestria.
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		“Eh? What’s up, Doc?”

The ride to Canterlot involved exactly what Daring had said it would: a detailed recounting of her adventures in the Griffon Kingdoms. The Pegasus was incredibly good at talking about her exploits, and fitting in thousands of words in just an hour long train ride and managing to stay understandable. It was lucky for Velvet that she was able to remember all that was said, and write notes in a commendably swift fashion.

By the end of the ride, Daring had only a few more sentences before she had wrapped up her narrative, “And after the little ‘indoctrination’ ceremony, they gave me a ride home. Just saying this now, Griffons are a whole hang of a lot better at flying things than most ponies. Even us Pegasi! Probably has something to do with their being able to wrap their feet around things, but hey. Anyway, I managed to stop the civil war, get the two families to make peace and I think one of them might have proposed to me. Still not sure how their culture works,” she laughs, before wrapping up, “And then I got back here to Equestria, and you know the rest from that. So, what do you think?”

Velvet waits to respond until she has finished her note taking, thus leaving Daring’s question up in the air for a minute. Finally, she sets her quill down and smiles, “It sounds very ‘Daring Do’, which should be obvious enough. It’ll take me a month or more to convert this into actual story form, but you know how it goes.”

As Velvet finished her speech, the train crawled to a stop at the station, and let out a shrill call from its whistle. At one time, Velvet had wondered why the conductor did that, despite it being quite obvious that the train was stopped. She had learned the reason why a few years ago when she saw a mare that had dozed off during the trip jolted into wakefulness by the loud call. She stood and stashed her writing supplies into her saddlebags, and filed out into the aisle to get off of the train. Daring followed suit, resituating the scarf that she wore about her neck.

Upon finally making it out of the train car, the two mares went through the busy station and onto the cobblestone streets of Canterlot. Daring lifted herself into the air just a few inches above Velvet’s head and gave a slight sigh, “Ah, Canterlot. City that most ponies will think of upon hearing the name ‘Equestria’, and it’s probably the most annoying place to be in. All the ‘high and mighty’ Unicorns that think they’re just a different class of citizen.”

She pulls a disgusted face before dropping down beside Velvet and poking her in the side, “I’m really glad that you’re not like that Vel. Not so sure I would have been able to handle taking you along with me,” the Pegasus seemed to notice something different about where she had poked Velvet, and stated as such, “Oh! I see that you healed up all nice and normal from your little run in with an arrow.”

Velvet smirks at her friend’s description of the city, and chuckled dryly at her observation about the arrow wound, “Yeah, the spell the healer had used was a pretty good one. Got it all healed up like it never happened. And I am immensely glad that I’m not one of those types either. The ones around here are bad enough to support that stereotype of Unicorns. We don’t need the ones in Fillydelphia doing the same.”

Their conversation continued in the form of small talk until they eventually came to the Starswirl Academic Publication Office. Upon entering, Twilight Velvet felt a rush of emotion, the most prominent of which were giddiness, nervousness, and simple elation. It took nearly every fiber of her will she could muster not to prance about like a young filly squealing with delight. Daring just followed after her, smiling with amusement at her friend’s obvious excitement.

With Daring Do waiting outside for her to be finished, Velvet entered the same office that she had been to the earlier week to submit her manuscript, and seated herself when beckoned to by the same stallion behind the desk. The dark colored Unicorn smiled at her, “My apologies, miss. I was unaware that our letter of confirmation had not been sent out when we meant for it to have been. I nearly didn’t advance your story forward because of that. One of my readers suggested that we look into the problem a little deeper before going that far,” He clears his throat, “But anyway, you came here for a reason, and that was not to hear me talking.”

Reaching into a drawer on his side of the desk, the stallion draws out a paper in his magic, and sets it on the table, pushing a quill and ink towards her with his hoof as he does, “If you’ll just sign along the dotted line, we’ll be finished here, and your novel will be sent on for full publication.”

With a silent nod, Velvet carefully enveloped the quill in her magical aura and tapped off the excess ink, before transferring the end of the feather to the paper, and in her exquisite writing style, signed her name along the line. When she was finished, she returned the quill, and presented the contract to the stallion, “Here you are sir.” She said, no longer able to hold back her smile.

Taking the paper in his own magical aura, the stallion gives her a nod, “You are quite welcome, Miss Velvet, and congratulations on a successful novel! If I may give my own opinion, I daresay that this will be quite the popular story.” He smiles and stands, holding out a hoof.

Velvet stood with him, and shook his hoof, “You are very kind, sir. I wish you a good rest of your day.” And with that, she turned to leave.

“And I hope you have the same, miss.” The stallion says as she exits the room.

Upon shutting the door, Velvet turns to Daring, who was giving the Unicorn a look that clearly read, ‘So, what’s your verdict now?’ Velvet’s response was exactly what the Pegasus had been hoping for, as she finally let loose and danced excitedly in place, giving a quiet squeal. Daring laughed along with her friend’s antics, though she fell silent upon seeing one of the employees stop on the other side of the Unicorn writer, and give her a highly amused look.

Daring at first was waiting to see if Velvet would notice, but when it became abundantly clear that she was not going to any time soon, Daring gave her a firm tap on the shoulder. When Velvet stopped and looked at her curiously, Daring pointed at the stallion on the other side of her. Twilight Velvet looked, and instantly turned a deep shade of red and stumbled back beside Daring. It was Night Light.

The blue Unicorn stallion chuckled, “Was I interrupting something, Velvet?”

The white mare rubbed her cheek, willing the blood to retreat from her face as she stumbled to come up with a response. She was unable to, and Night just chuckled again and gave her a smile, 

“Congratulations, by the way. I’m glad the letter finally got to you. After I read your story, I suggested it to be sent on immediately. I had become worried when you nearly missed the deadline. They weren’t going to send it on.”

Velvet’s eyes widen, “Wait, you read my story?” She asked.

He nodded, “Yeah. It was one of the stories they assigned to me. It was very good, if I may say so,” at the look that Velvet gave him, Night was quick to dispel what he thought might be going through her mind, “My being somewhat familiar with you had nothing to do with that opinion, by the way. You are genuinely a good writer, and the story itself was very interesting.”

He glances over at Daring Do, and raises an eyebrow slightly, “You know, her heroine was described as actually looking a little like you, now that I think about it.”

Daring’s ears perked upwards, “Oh, really? Vel! You didn’t tell me that you based your heroine’s design off of me!” She exclaims, punching her lightly on the shoulder.

Velvet winces slightly, “Ouch…” she says, glaring at Daring before nodding, “Yeah, well, I figured she acted a little like you, so why not?”

The Pegasus chuckles and looks back to Night, “Isn’t that something?” she chuckles, before thrusting a hoof out before her, “My name’s Dazzle, by the way.”

Night takes the hoof, and shakes it as he responds, “My name is Night Light. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dazzle. Am I right in assuming that you are friends with Velvet?”

Daring nods, “Yep! I have been for a little while now, actually. Met her a couple months back while on vacation. She never told me that she based her stories main character off of me, though! How do you know her?”

The Unicorn stallion nods, “Ah, I see. I nearly ran into her, quite literally, after she first submitted her transcript for consideration. Ended up seeing her at the café I usually go to whilst reading, and we just spent the night talking.”

Velvet stops their conversation by clearing her throat, “Excuse me, but don’t you think that you could stop talking about me like I’m not even here?”

Night nods, “Oh, right. Of course, sorry about that, Velvet,” he clears his throat, “Anyways, I should probably get on with work. It was nice meeting you, Dazzle, and it was lovely to see you again, Velvet. If you’re going to be in town for the rest of the day, feel free to come find me, if you so wish. You know where.” And with that, he waves, and goes about his business.

Velvet returned the wave, before she and Daring made their way out of the building. Once in the sunlight again, Daring breaks down in laughter again. For about a minute, Velvet was unable to get any sort of legible speech out of the Pegasus. Finally, Daring managed to get her mirth under control, and while wiping tears from her eyes, said, “You really never told me that you met a cutie like that, Velvet. I think he’s in to you,” she smirks, “And I think you kind of are to him as well, aren’t you?”

Velvet gasps as if in offense, but was unable to keep a blush out of her cheeks, “I, uh… Daring!” she gives a disgusted noise, “I am not! He’s just nice is all, I don’t… you know…” Velvet scrunches her nose, unable to come up with anything else.

“You do know that all that did was confirm it, right?” Daring laughed, “Come on Vel, don’t get so worked up about it, I’m just teasing. We should really get going to the palace. Don’t want to keep Celestia waiting any longer, do we?”

All Velvet was able to do was nod, and they began to move off, cutting through the nearby park on their way to the castle. Daring Do managed to wait one more minute, at least until Velvet’s blush went down, before saying, “‘If you’re still in town tonight, feel free to come find me. You know where’” she quoted in a poor imitation of Night’s voice, “If that doesn’t make it obvious that he likes you, I don’t know what does!”

“Daring!” Velvet exclaims, “I thought that you were done with this!”

“Vel, I’m never going to be done with this. At least not until I get a letter from you telling me that you two are dating in the next month!” The Pegasus says, laughing again.

“Daring!” Velvet yells once more, but this time whatever she had been going to say afterwards was forgotten. Another voice, a decidedly male one, had shouted the exact same word as she did, but rather than sound irritated, it sounded frantic.

The next thing that she knew, her Pegasus friend was being tackled to the ground by a brown stallion, who continued to say, “Ah, Miss Do! You are a sight for these old eyes! Come along, there is something that I could really use your help with!”

As she was pulled up by this fast talking stallion, Daring shook her head in an attempt to get her mane out of her eyes. With that failing, she gives up and just brushes it aside with her hoof, asking, “Eh? What’s up, Doc?”

“Lots is ‘up’, Daring. There’s the sky, and the clouds. Also there’s the sun and moon. Plus about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, and 0.03% carbon dioxide with very small percentages of other elements, and I think maybe even some magic.” The stallion says quickly, “But to answer your question much less literally, and in the sense which you meant by asking it, there’s basically a crisis. Is it ever any different with me? Now come on!” 

He glances at Velvet, as if just noticing her for the first time, “Who’s she?”

Daring, who was willing enough to follow the hyperactive stallion – whose accent was something like what you would here in Trottingham, Velvet noticed – glanced at the mare in question, “Oh, her? That’s Twilight Velvet, a friend of mine.”

The stallion regarded Velvet for a few seconds, looking her up and down, “Can she handle an adventure?”

Daring Do grinned, “Ooooh yeah, she definitely can, Doctor.”

The Doctor seemed to beam at that, “Splendid! She can come too, the more the merrier, after all! Now let’s go!” And with that, he took off again.

Velvet caught Daring before she took off after him. She gave the Pegasus a highly confused, and worried look, “Dare, who in Celestia’s name is he?”

All Daring did was grin, “Velvet, he’s probably the most interesting pony you’ll ever meet. And I’ll just say this: prepare for the greatest adventure you will ever have!” And she would say no more. All she did was take to the air and follow after the Doctor, beckoning for Velvet to follow her as she went.

Velvet felt like it would be against her better judgment to follow along, but there was something about the strange stallion that was strangely captivating. Plus, Daring seemed to trust him, so that must have meant something about his character. Carefully, Velvet took one step forward. And then another, before finally breaking into a full out run to keep up. And with those steps, she had stepped into something that she would certainly never forget.
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		“Just call me Clockwork.”

The run through the park wasn’t a very long one, in all reality. The Doctor maintained his pace, despite speaking in his fast manner about things that only came across to Velvet as complete gibberish. Daring flew overhead, keeping up easily enough. Velvet impressed herself when they finally came to a stop, and she wasn’t breathing too heavily. After the brief second of pride she felt, the mare finally thought to glance about where they had come to a stop.

Curiously, the Doctor was stepping up to a tall, blue structure that looked a little like a big box. Upon it were the words “Police Public Call Box”. Daring had perched herself on top of the booth like a bird, grinning from ear to ear. While the Doctor fumbled with a key he had been wearing about his neck, Velvet looked up to Daring with bewilderment, before turning her attention to the eccentric stallion and asking, “May I ask why you’ve lead us to this thing?”

The stallion coughed and turned to her, offended, “Thing?!” he said, his baritone voice comically rising a few octaves from the indignation, “Thing?! She is not a ‘thing’! She’s a… beautifully brilliant piece of ancient technology!” He said as he turned back to the lock, once more fumbling with the key, grumbling about how difficult it had become.

Velvet gave him a high browed look, “I can’t say I’ve ever seen one of these before,” she said, wrinkling her nose, “Doesn’t look to impressive. Just like a wooden box,” the Unicorn looks up at Daring, “Are you sure this guy’s not crazy?” She asked, completely nonplussed by the fact the Doctor could easily hear her.

The Pegasus chuckled, “Oh, sure enough he’s crazy. He’s absolutely mad!”

That didn’t make Velvet feel very safe, and she backed up slightly, “You seem very calm about this,” she said in accusation, “How do I know you aren’t mad too?!”

Now it was the Doctor’s turn to laugh, “Oh, Miss Velvet. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. She’s mad. And even you are mad. Isn’t it brilliant?” He finally got the key to slide into place, and he twisted it with a shout of triumph.

Velvet scoffed in offense, “I am not!”

All the Doctor did was turn one of his blue eyes to her and give what he probably liked to think was an enigmatic little smile, “Oh, but you are. You wouldn’t have followed me otherwise,” he seemed to read what Velvet had been going to say next, and was quick to cut her off, “You were fully capable of turning and walking the other way, despite Daring’s beckoning. Are you not a living, breathing, sentient organism with a connection to a field of magic? You are imbued with free will. You could have easily turned around and walked the opposite direction. But you didn’t.”

Twilight Velvet was at a loss for words. He had a point. She had been fully capable of walking off, but she followed nonetheless. Giving a heavy sigh of defeat, Velvet tilted her head as the Doctor turned back to face her, and Daring fluttered down from her perch atop the box, “Alright ‘Doctor’. But I have two things I want to know first. Mainly, how you think all three of us will fit in there. And secondly, what your actual name is.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes, while Daring snickered into her hoof, “Why does nobody here accept that my name is ‘The Doctor’? You all go around calling yourselves ‘Midnight Twinkle’ and ‘Rain Dancer’. Can no one accept a perfectly acceptable name like that?” he sighs, “If you must have something else other than ‘Doctor’ to call me, just call me Clockwork,” using a hind hoof, the strange stallion pushed the door behind him slightly open, the blue plank of wood creaking on its hinges, “As for your second question, well, see for yourself.”

Velvet gave him a distrustful look, and glanced to her Pegasus friend for guidance. Daring Do simply nodded with a sly grin, the look in her eyes clearly reading, ‘Go ahead. It’s perfectly safe.’ With an uneasy feeling in the back of her mind, Velvet took a tentative step away from Daring, and towards the Doctor. As she neared, he stepped aside; a sly grin much like Daring’s gracing his features. Velvet pushed the door open the rest of the way, the creaking hinges giving a whine of protest as she did so. Inside it was very dark, until the Doctor whistled a four note tune, and the lights came on.

Twilight Velvet felt as if she had been punched in the horn and kicked over. What she saw was both astonishing, and absolutely impossible. She whirled about to face Daring and The Doctor, ‘Clockwork’, as they entered. For a few seconds, she was unable to say anything, or even get control of her jaw. But finally, she managed to speak once more, “The interior’s larger than the exterior…” She said, still shocked by it all, “But… But you’re not even a Unicorn! How’d you get this kind of magic… I didn’t even know that this kind of spell existed.”

The Doctor chuckled, “Ah, that’s just the thing Miss Velvet. This isn’t ‘magic’. Or at least it isn’t by your terms. It’s more of a… science thing, really. It is an incredibly rare and nearly extinct science that you are unlikely to find anywhere else.”

He trotted on by the astonished mare to a console in the center of the room. Daring chuckled and gave Velvet a pat on the shoulder, “You’re taking this pretty well, by all accounts. It took me over fifteen minutes to get my jaw working the first time I saw it.”

“What is this thing?” The Unicorn said to nopony in particular.

“There you go calling her a ‘thing’ again!” The Doctor called, peeking around the console irritably, “She’s called a ‘TARDIS’. Time And Relative Dimension In Space. She’s a-”

“It’s a time machine?” Velvet asked in disbelief.

The Doctor gave her another irritated look, and huffed, “Yes, she is a time machine, if you want to put it in Lehman’s terms. She’s a little more than that. She goes anywhere, anywhen.”

Twilight Velvet looked at Daring once again, the Pegasus having shut the door and moved inwards to stand by the console as well, leaning on a rail at the edge of the platform, “Is he serious about this? Time travel spells aren’t very common, nor are they very effective either.”

“I’ve already told you, Miss Velvet. This isn’t magic, it is science. There’s an enormous difference that you would do well to learn.”

Daring noticed that Velvet was about to give the Doctor a piece of her mind, and quickly interrupted and shifted the topic elsewhere, “So! Doc, what’s this big crisis that you needed my help with?”

The Doctor was all too ready to go with the subject change, “Oh! That! It is, quite simply put, the worst possible thing that could ever occur to anybody ever! Be they a Unicorn, Pegasus, Earth pony or Alicorn. But it is even worse when it happens to a Time Lord… I’m bored. So, while I was sitting here in the console room orbiting the moon, I thought to myself; ‘Hey, I should go on an adventure! I need a companion though.’ So I decided to come track you down. I found you, your sassy friend, and now you two are coming with me.”

“And where’re we going?” Daring asked, bouncing slightly from what Velvet guessed was excitement.

The Doctor laughed, “Oh but that’s the best part, Daring! I haven’t the slightest idea! Not yet, at least. I just punched in some random coordinates. So now, all I have to do is throw the switch, and off we go on some wild, random adventure that may very well be dangerous and may even teach us something. But hey, it’ll be fun! Eamus!” 

And with that last word, he threw the switch downwards.
Instantly, the TARDIS lurched to the side. The Doctor clung to the console, laughing wildly. Daring had lifted herself into the air, and maintained the same altitude and position despite the shifting room. Velvet had stumbled, and was now clinging to the nearby railing, shouting, “What in Celestia’s name is going on?!” She had to shout in order to be heard over the groaning of the TARDIS.

“Quite simply, Miss Velvet,” The Doctor shouted back, “Science!”

Were one to be watching from the outside, the TARDIS would slowly begin to vanish from sight, carrying three souls to yet another adventure. 
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Epilogue

"That's a story for another time, dear. If anything, it'll give you an excuse to come visit me again!"


"Wow..." Was the first thing that came out of Twilight's mouth, and for a minute or two, that was it. Her mother just sat, watching her with a small smile playing over her lips. Eventually, Twilight looked up from the half empty, fifth mug of tea and set her gaze upon her mother, "That's... incredible. Rainbow isn't going to believe it."

"I certainly like to think so." Velvet said, her tone a little smug, "But I am curious," she eventually said, "You don't seem all that surprised about the last half. You took that all in stride. I half expected you to tell me to stop talking there."

Twilight laughed, lifting her mug in her magic and swilling the contents around, "If you told me that story a year or so ago, I might have. But as it is, I have a few tales of my own to tell, mother."

"Well, I hope you feel obligated to tell me someday, considering." Velvet said. Her daughter laughed once again, in a sort of 'count on it' way. 

Twilight look a long pull from her tea mug, before looking expectantly back at her mother. Velvet glanced up from her own mug,  setting it down slowly as she swallowed her mouthful, "What is it, dear?"

The younger Unicorn fidgeted slightly, "What happened next? With the Doctor, I mean. Where'd you guys go?"

Her mother didn't respond right away, only gaining a smug smile and taking another, long sip from her tea. Twilight tapped a hoof on the table impatiently as her mother set the mug down, "Now Twilight, it's gotten far too late. Celestia will be raising the sun in less than an hour!" She yawned theatrically.

Twilight gave a cry of dismay and disappointment, "Mom! Please! Don't do this to me!" Her distress only made Velvet laugh harder, "That's a story for another time, dear. If anything, it'll give you an excuse to come visit me again!"

The younger Unicorn mare scrunched her nose angrily at her mother, but ultimately she gave up with an exasperated sigh, "Oh, alright fine! You win this time around, mother," she glanced at the clock, then looked sheepishly back to Velvet, "Uh... You don't mind if I stay the rest of the night? Like you said, it's gotten kinda late."

Velvet chuckled, "But of course dear. Come along, your old room is still around. You can stay there."

And the mother and daughter walked side by side towards the younger's old bedroom, making plans for when they might get together again and swap stories, be they about a mad pony in a box, or adventures with old friends. 


End...