Ch.1: That New Adventure Smell
"So you're the world famous archaeologist known as Daring Do?"
"That's right! I travel the world where adventure calls."
"That would explain why it was so hard to contact you for this interview. Now, you're series is based off of those adventures, correct?"
"Yeah! I wrote them all. Those stories are one hundred percent true, you know."
"Really now?"
"Yes."
"I'll take that into consideration the next time I read your novels."
"You a fan?"
"Yeah. Own every book in every series. Although, some of your "fans" get a little too crazed about your work sometimes."
"Huh. Really?"
"Yeah. A friend of mine broke into a hospital just to finish the last chapter in your first book."
"Damn."
"Yeah. Anyways, it's an honor to be here with you, Daring Do."
"Pleasure's all mine."
"So, about your stories and adventures, have they ever been challenging?" Daring Do starts laughing. "What's so funny?"
"You sound as though I never faced a challenge in my life. Of course they were challenging! I mean, you know how hard it is to launch your own hat at the correct trajectory to bounce off of a metal spike, spin around another one and somehow miraculously flip a switch to disable the trap?"
"Well. Never thought of that."
"Life is hard. You just gotta power through it sometimes and although it may seem a bit rough, never give up. I learned this many times throughout my adventures and it truly spoke to me in my latest adventure."
"Oh? When will we be hearing about that one?"
"Pretty soon. About three days tops. Trust me. It's a story you will not have expected."
"Can't wait to read it." The interviewing mare waves a hoof to dismiss the crowd. The news crew starts reporting about other stuff while Daring Do gets a small chat with the mare.
"Thanks for the interview, miss..."
"Twilight Sparkle."
"Now about your friend..."
"Yeah, she can be headstrong sometimes. A lot like you in most cases though. I guess that's why she loves your stories so much."
"Tell her I said hi and that she can have this, but first, a question. What's your friend's name?"
"Rainbow Dash." Daring Do raises an eyebrow.
"Seriously? The one who pulled off a sonic rainboom about three times? She's something special."
"She'll be delighted to hear about that." Daring Do whips out a picture of her and signs it.
"To: Rainbow Dash. I heard about you and your legendary sonic rainboom. I must say I'm impressed with your ability to do so. Anyways, I heard you were a fan and thought you'd like this. Daring Do." Daring Do caps the pen and hands it over to Twilight Sparkle. :Keep that safe from the others. Ponies go nuts over that kind of stuff."
"Alright. Well it was nice meeting you. You're lucky she wasn't here or she'd probably be asking questions non-stop like my friend Pinkie Pie."
"I heard about her too! There was a very small section of how she accidentally fell on her face at Nightmare Moon's reformation and the amazing party she planned afterwards. Wish I could have been there."
"Maybe when you're not so busy."
"Yeah. Well, I'll be off." Daring Do gathers her belongings and gets off the park bench. "Nice meeting you."
"It was nice to make your acquaintance." A grey pegasus with a blond main and tail crashes down accidentally in front of Daring Do.
"Sister!" They both hug when the grey pony gives her a letter.
"You got mail!" Daring Do examines the letter before looking back up to the grey pony.
"I can't take this, Ditzy."
"Why...Did I mix them again?" Daring Do nods yes. "Oh." Ditzy searches through her mail bag to find the right letter. "Here."
Daring Do examines the letter again before taking it.
"Hmm...Looks Like I'm needed back at PonI6. A friend there needs to see me. Have a great life with The Doctor!" Daring Do gallops off to the train station when Twilight Sparkle trots over to Ditzy.
"She's your sister?"
"Yep! She's very nice."
"If only I could do another interview. Maybe next time."
"Okai! See ya!" Ditzy Do flies off.
"Them...sisters? That doesn't make much sense. Only the last name reveals some form of evidence. Oh well."
<><><><><><><><><(One Afternoon Later...)><><><><><><><><>
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh thank you!" Rainbow Dash takes the autograph and stares at it with wild excitement. "HAH! Recognized for the sonic rainboom! I called it!"
"Yeah. About one hundred times." Twilight replies sarcastically.
"Thank you so much! How did you even get this anyways?!"
"Well...It's a long story. The first thing I had to do was..." There is a knock at the door with the sound of Ditzy following afterwards.
"Super Extra Mega special delivery!" Twilight opens the door a crack only to be rudely pushed aside by Rainbow Dash who lands in front of Ditzy.
"Excuse me, Rainb..."
"Hey, Ditz! What's the package for?"
"You, Rainbow Dash!" Ditzy replies with a wide smile before handing over a small parcel. "See ya later!" Ditzy flies off, accidentally bumping into the side of a house before correcting herself and flying off.
"You never said who it was from!" Rainbow Dash shouts.
"Rude much?" Rainbow looks over to Twilight who is giving Rainbow a stern look as she is still on the ground.
"Hehe. Uhh... sorry." Rainbow Dash lends Twilight a hoof to help her up.
"What's in the package anyways?" Twilight examines the parcel closer.
"I don't know. I just got it." Rainbow Dash replies.
"Only one way to find out." Twilight steps aside letting Rainbow Dash open up the wrapping to reveal a letter and a book. The letter reads,
"Dear Rainbow Dash. I heard so much about you and finally being in Ponyville, I was able to ask my sister, Ditzy of she could deliver this to you. I hope you enjoy this. It's not even supposed to be out yet, but the publisher was able to print out at least one copy. I guess this is my way of saying "Hi" and "You are awesome." I'd like to see that sonic rainboom in action sometime.
-Daring Do"
The book is entitled "The Adventure of Daring Do: Never Back Down; The Trilogy" Rainbow Dash's eyes widen, the pupils of her eyes shrinking. "R...Rainbow Dash."
"Open the door." Twilight opens the door not knowing what will happen.
"Ok, but what is this abou..." Rainbow Dash flies out in a cyan blur screaming at the top of her lungs with pure joy.
"WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Twilight notices the dropped book and examines it suddenly realizing why she made the display. Soon enough, a loud boom is heard followed by a huge rainbow ring expanding outwards into the distance. Twilight rushes to the window to see a rainbow trail following Rainbow Dash. She made a sonic rainboom! She flies tight through the door again to stop immediately right in front of the book to pick it up before trotting over to Twilight.
"What...was that?" A purple baby dragon walks down the stairs rubbing his eyes sleepily. "And what's with the rainbow leading into the middle of the room?"
"Umm... I might have done a sonic rainboom after getting psyched out over a book." Rainbow dash admits, scratching her main with her hoof They all notice the lights in town turning on and ponies coming out of their homes to investigate. "Uh-oh. I'm not here!" Rainbow dash zips up the stairs into the attic in hiding until the mob dies down.
"Damn it, Rainbow." Twilight looks out the door to see an angry crown gather throwing all their complaints to twilight.
"What was that?"
"Where is she?"
"Bring her out here!"
"Why couldn't we have seen it?"
"She disturbed my muffin time!"
"Hey! Maybe we can earn our cutie marks in civil protest!" The crowd looks at a group of three fillies who back away nervously. "W...Who wants a pitchfork and torch on their flank anyways?" The three travel off.
"Relax, everypony." Twilight starts. "Rainbow dash got a little excited. She didn't mean to wake you ponies up. It was an accident."
The angry mob starts bickering again. "She just received a package from her favorite author and she just flipped out. Wouldn't you if you received a book from the pony you are a huge fan of?" A moment of silence is followed by more bickering. "Ugh!" Twilight uses her magic to cast a memory loss spell on them all. The bickering turns into confused looks and questions. The mob turns around and every pony heads back to their houses for a good night's sleep. "You're safe to come down now, Rainbow." She poke her head out from the corner of the stairs and the ceiling to notice every pony returning to their homes.
"Thanks for backing me up there."
"Any time! Just... Don't do it again and keep those emotions under control."
"Right. So, I'm sorry to bother you about this, but could we read a chapter or something?"
"Now?"
"Yes."
"But...why?"
"Well, first off, it's a book by Daring Do. Who wouldn't want to read it? Second, it would make a good story before night. Third, It was made by bucking Daring Do!"
"Alright! Just calm down. Spike, would you like to join?" Spike stops at the base of the stairs and look at Twilight with a partially eaten sapphire in his claws.
"Nah. I'm good. I need some rest. Hopefully you two will keep it down and I'll be able to get my sleep." Spike climbs up stairs further. "Good night."
"Sleep tight! Owlicious, could you make sure that he doesn't party all night in his room again?" The owl hoots and flies up to Spike's room to keep an eye on him.
"Right. Let's begin." Twilight uses her magic to grab the book and turns the pages to the prologue.
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Prologue
Every pony reading this knows who I am. I'm Daring Do. World famous archaeologist. Being through these adventures have been arduous and sometimes life threatening. This is the reason I love my job. It's full of action! Adventure! I take any call just to get out of my house and into the world do uncover ancient artifacts and stop crime lords from taking over the world. This is what I crave! It's almost like a disease that spreads deeper and deeper inside of me and its just incurable! I'm addicted to adventure! I need more and more of it to satisfy.
Enough about me though. This adventure has to have been the toughest one I have ever been on. I had to go through the hardest challenges yet and had to fight a whole army of bad ponies. With what I've been through, I feel like I could have gotten PTSD which is not something I would want. Every soldier in the army would know that. Anyways, you know me. I always try to find a way out of sticky situations and I'll be damned if I don't make it in my next adventure because in this one, I almost died. I was beaten brutally, shot at a million times, and tortured by the enemy. Yet I still continued on even when I was on the edge of failure. What I learned was to never back down. However, and I know you're going to laugh, but it all started...in a toilet. Not even joking.
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Rainbow dash burst into tears, laughing hysterically.
"R...Really?! A toilet?! That has to be the funniest thing I have ever read!" Rainbow Dash falls onto the floor, still dieing of laughter.
"First off, you're not the one reading this. I am. Second, You don't even know what happened yet, so how do you know if THAT is the funny part?" Rainbow Dash's laughter dies down a little.
"Sorry. It's just... the toilet thing..."
"Yeah I know. Anyways..."
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Chapter 1
"WATCH OUT!" I turn around to see this big brute of a stallion, buck me hard in the body, sending me flying towards the mare's room, busting the door into pieces, landing in an open stall where I pant to gather my breath for a moment. The brute, not going with his natural instincts and rudely entering the mare's room, comes after me when I hold a hoof up.
"Just... Wait a second." I cough, then gather my breath as the gentleman stands his ground. "Okay, now." The Stallion charges at me with full force, but being completely prepared, I jump upwards, grabbing the top ledges of the stall causing the brute to crash into the wall leaving cracks in it. I jump down onto the assailant's head dunking it into the toilet. I then get an idea. Using my wing, I reach for the handle and flush the toilet, giving the brute a swirly before I start bashing at his head with my elbows and hooves. The assailant, finally having enough of me beating on his head, outstretches his fore hooves with such force that it bends the metal walls of the stall. Having been surprised, I was caught off-gaurd, for I was bucked off. Staggering to get up, the brute grabs me by the neck and throws me against the same exact toilet. Then he gives me a swirly. I'm still pretty pissed off about that.
The son of a sea pony starts laughing which is where I gain my advantage because I buck him in the...you know. After he winces in pain, I get up and headbutt him causing him to fall down. I try bucking again, but he grabs my legs and wails me like a mid-evil flail. I land hard on my stomach by the toilet again. After gathering myself again, I notice the stallion backed up to charge. I react fast enough by grabbing the lid on the toilet and swinging it so hard that when the impact comes to the pony's head, it breaks in half. "Never underestimate a mare." I taunt as he drops into a lifeless lump. I drop the broken lid and whip my hair back before looking to find my hat hanging on a coat rack in front of the restroom. I take it and proudly place it on my hat before looking to a stallion who finishes the last pony off by grabbing a pool stick and smashing it in the poor guy's eye.
"You done there, Kelvin?" I ask, leaning against the wall.
"Just about so. Let's hightail it out of here before the cops show up." We exit the bar through the back door.
"Remind me not to sign up for any more illegal fight clubs unless absolutely necessary." A stallion in a suit notices us leaving and gives us our pay of one hundred bits for winning the brawl. "Thank you, kind sir."
"Hey." I turn my attention to the pony.
"What?"
"Nice thinking on that swirly." The pony tosses us ten extra bits.
"Thanks again." Kelvin and I rush down the alley ways of London before Kelvin stops at a corner.
"This is where I head off. See you again soon, Daring Do." I wink.
"Any time I'm not adventuring." Kelvin gallops off towards his apartment while I continue down the alleyways towards my temporary settlement. I open the door and get inside. I put my bits in a small pouch attached to my saddlebags before heading to my room and falling onto the bed giving a huge sigh of relaxation. "Goodbye painful battle, hello comfortable bed." Then the phone rings. "Ugh. Guess I can't get too comfortable." I get up and head to the phone. "Ever." I clear my throat and press the talk button. "Daring Do, world famous archaeologist speaking." The pony on the other end has a monotone.
"Hello, this is PonI6. We would like to talk to you about something." I thought they were referring to me being at the illegal fight club, but with what the stallion was going to say next, I relaxed.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"We would like you to meet us at Big Ben at approximately 0300 hours. We need to talk about a special mission that may or may not require your skills as an archaeologist."
"Why so early?"
"It's a secret meeting and you must be there." The reason why PonI6 needed me, I did not know why, but if they contacted me, they had their reasons.
"Okay. Just one question that probably doesn't even matter. Am I getting payed?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"ten thousand." That was when I had to accept.
"Yeah I'll be there." It's probably not smart to let greed run your life, but with the situation was in with all my overdue bills, I need this. It's the main reason I got into that fight club.
"Remember, 0300 hours sharp. We need you, Daring Do."
"Yeah, I will make sure." I am never late to a meeting for adventure. No matter how early or secretive it may be. Keeping that in mind, I set my alarm clock for two A.M. in the morning.
I wake up seven hours later to the beeping of my alarm clock. I slap my hoof down on it to stop it from beeping. I slowly get up feeling dead tired and still aching from the brawl last night. I head over to the kitchen where I start brewing some coffee, when I get an idea to help out with the soreness of my body. I grab some cereal and eat it while I wait for the coffee to finish. I hear the beep and grab myself a cup feeling more energized. Then, I set forth my idea. About ten minutes later, I get into the bathtub which is filled with ice. I slowly slip in feeling all my soreness going away. I know it seems a bit crazy, but it helped. Trust me. Ice was perfect for my bruises.
I get out sooner than usual and grab a towel to dry myself off before grabbing my utility jacket and hat. I slip my hat into my saddlebag while putting on the jacket. Afterwards, I slip on a black cover-all suit with a black hood and slip that over my head making me seem pretty much inconspicuous to almost every pony, including my fans. Sorry, every pony, but you missed me back in London.
I head out the door and travel down the streets to meet at Big Ben where a brown unicorn stallion with a comb-over is waiting with an old grey mare in a black dress. It's still pretty dark considering it is really early in the morning, but I still managed to get their profile.
"Who are you?" The old grey mare asks with that familiar voice from the phone.
"Daring Do. World famous archaeologist."
"Prove your identity." I pull out my hat.
"Not enough. You could have gotten that anywhere." I get a pissed off look on my face. Too much security, you know?
"Anywhere in Africa, maybe." I reply sarcastically as I reach into my utility vest (somehow) and pull out my passport.
"Very well. We shall proceed." I put away my passport before following the two around Big Ben to an area where it seems like nothing is there. Then...due to PonI6 scolding me about how I should not write about what happened at that time frame, I cannot explain in detail what happened.
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"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash levitates in the air with an angered look. "That would have been so awesome if she could! Damn PonI6..." She lowers herself to the ground.
"Watch what you say, Rainbow. PonI6 is an intelligence organization. If they ever heard what you said just there, they could do bad things. Really bad things.
"Fine." Rainbow Dash rejoins Twilight as she reads the rest of the chapter.
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However, I can say that I was given a choice to accept a mission where I am assisted by one agent to stop a terrorist organization from getting a relic that could possibly power the ultimate doom machine. The terrorist organization: The one that has been stalking me for a while. The Black Hoof. I thought I was done with the bastards long ago, but no! They just had to be on the brink of developing the ultimate weapon. Figures. Once we were debriefed on the mission, we left that secret place I can't tell any pony about and head off towards Saddle Arabia. I take a big whiff of the air.
"You smell that?" The agent looks at me, while I look back at him with a daring look.
"What?" I look forward, anxious to get on our plane ride.
"It's that new adventure smell."