"Mr. Silvertongue, please," Twilight said, staring wide-eyed at the gun in her face. "I didn't take your key and I—"

"Sir!" the bodyguard said, looking up from his walkie-talkie. "They've got Daring and one of her friends in the vault."

"Tell them to bring them to me alive, but beaten," Silvertongue said, then turned his attention back to Twilight. "Do you really expect me to believe that it's a coincidence that Daring Do is in my mansion at the same time as you?"

Twilight and Flash both looked at each other. "Listen," Flash said, trying to keep his voice calm for everypony's sake. "Do you really think that you can get away with holding a Princess of Equestria hostage? This cannot go well for you."

"Well, you see," Silvertongue said venomously. "Ponies who cross me have a way of...disappearing. Even Princesses. And my lawyers always make sure that I had nothing to do with it."

Down in the vault, Daring and Phillip were fighting for their lives. Each of them had taken on two of their attackers and were doing their best to defend themselves against the vicious onslaught.

Knocking down one bodyguard with a leg sweep, Phillip turned to the other, a burly brown earth pony. Ducking beneath a fast hook at his head, he countered with an elbow strike to the ribs, and then an upward elbow strike to the jaw to stun him and a kick to the groin to double him over. Momentarily safe, he glanced over at Daring, who was currently grappling with the pegasus with the red eye cutie mark. Behind her, another pegasus had just grabbed a heavy golden statuette and was raising it over his head, preparing to bring it down on Daring's skull.

Seeing her in imminent danger, Phillip's heart leapt to his throat. Instantly, instinctively, he pulled his boomerang out of his back pocket and tossed it out, striking the armed guard in the back of the head and causing him to drop the statuette on his head, knocking himself out.

Suddenly, Phillip was bowled over from behind. His attacker seized him in a full nelson, passing his forelegs underneath his forelegs and pressing down on the back of his neck, lifting him up so he was off balance. The burly earth pony proceeded to pummel him like a punching bag. With his forelegs trapped and struggling to maintain his balance, Phillip was helpless to defend himself against the constant assault; all he could do was try to absorb the punches as well as he could.

"Daring, help!" he shouted, before a blow to the nose struck him. He was momentarily blinded, the punch making his eyes water and his head ring with pain, leaving him limp.

At his cry, Daring immediately disengaged from her opponent and flew over to the burly earth pony who was beating him. With an enraged cry, she flew up into the air and struck him with both her hind legs, sending him flying back into the wall and knocking him out. A second later, she struck the pony holding Phillip in the face, causing him to flinch and loosen his hold. Knowing he might not get another chance, Phillip grounded himself, then simultaneously flung his head back and kicked the guard in the knee. The other pony howled in pain as his nose and knee both broke, sending him to one knee. Phillip twisted and struck a knockout blow with his baton before collapsing to his knees from pain and exhaustion. He knelt on the floor, panting, his chest burning with every breath and his head pounding in time with his heartbeat.

A moment later, Daring was bending over him, her eyes wide with fearful concern. "Are you okay?" she said, almost shouting. "Come on, get up!" She reached out a hoof that he grabbed, allowing her to help him stand.

"The Mare Lisa," he gasped out thickly, blood flowing from his nostrils. Daring retrieved the cylindrical case, handing Phillip his trilby and boomerang as well.

"Easy," she said. "Lean on me, you're okay."

"Get Flash and Twilight...get out of here," he said, panting as she allowed him to rest against her. The two of them hustled out of the vault, leaving four unconscious bodies behind.

"Wait," Flash said. "Listen. You can do whatever you want with me. Just let the Princess go."

Silvertongue turned to him, cruel amusement written on his face. "How sickeningly noble of you—"

As soon as the gun was turned away, Twilight acted. Grabbing the case behind Silvertongue with her magic, she pulled it forward hard. The case crashed down hard on his head, knocking him out instantly.

At the same moment, Flash sprang at the bodyguard, darting to one side to avoid his wild shot before closing the distance. He grabbed the gun and twisted hard, pulling it out of the bodyguard's hoof. His enemy, well-trained and fit, countered quickly, kicking him in the leg and knocking him back. Snarling, the thug snapped his right foreleg out: with a distinctive clic-click, a butterfly knife that had been hidden in his sleeve appeared in his hoof. Flash faced off against the earth pony for a moment, then attacked. The bodyguard blocked his kick, deflected his follow-up punches and countered, striking him in the chest, then slashing twice at his neck. Flash dodged back, but was a split second too slow. The knife caught him across his cheek. Pain flashed across Flash's face and he cried out, giving his attacker time to kick him in the stomach and knock him back. Flash rolled when he hit the ground and got back to his hooves, blood oozing out of his wound. Smirking, the bodyguard settled into stance and waited for Flash to attack again.

Flash attacked again, faking a high jab, then grabbing his opponent's foreleg when he tried to counterattack. Pulling the other pony towards him, he struck down on his elbow, knocking the knife from his grasp. The bodyguard countered by barreling into him, tackling him around the hips and pushing him up against the wall, where he promptly began to pummel his sides with his hooves.

"Get off him!" Twilight shouted, flying towards the battling ponies. When she got close, the bodyguard bucked backwards, striking Twilight in the face and sending her flying backwards into the wall. Seeing Twilight get hurt sent a wave of fury through Flash, and he redoubled his efforts to free himself. Slamming his hooves down on the bodyguard's back, he kneed him hard in the chest, then twisted, slamming his attacker's head into the wall. With a grunt, the other pony let go, staggering back. Flash grabbed him, held him up, and struck with a devastating one-two-three combo to the jaw, knocking him out.

"Twilight, are you okay?" he asked, hurrying over and helping Twilight up.

"I'm fine," she said, shaking her head to clear it. "What about Phil and Daring?"

"We're right here, Twilight," Phillip's voice came from outside. Looking out the study door, Twilight and Flash saw their friends heading towards them, both of them bloodied from their fight.

"Let's get out of here!" Daring said, hurrying out the back door. Grabbing Phillip underneath his forelegs, Daring lifted off, Twilight and Flash following. The ponies flew away into the night, leaving the Silvertongue mansion behind in moments.

Back at the hotel room, the group patched themselves up. Twilight and Flash sat facing each other on one of the beds as Twilight studied the bleeding knife injury.

"This might sting a little," Twilight said, casting her magic over the wound.

"Ow," Flash winced.

"Sorry," Twilight said, retreating for a moment before reapplying the healing spell. The wound began to close, the healing process accelerated by Twilight's magic. "That might leave a scar."

"Cool. My first battle scar," Flash said with a wry smile, trying to make light of the situation.

Twilight sighed, blinking rapidly. "I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you—"

"Maybe you should've," Flash said gently. "But..." He paused to collect his thoughts. "You stuck with your friends and with what you believed was right. And I admire you for that."

"But you still got hurt," Twilight said, rubbing her watering eyes with her foreleg.

"Doesn't matter," Flash said, gently taking her hoof in both of his own. "As long as you're safe."

Twilight smiled. "Always looking out for me," she said softly.

"It's my job," Flash said, smiling back. Twilight giggled softly, the two of them sitting silently next to each other for a moment longer before becoming aware of their intertwined hooves and quickly retreating.

"Let's get that cleaned up," Twilight said, levitating over some tissues.

On the other side of the room, Daring had just finished setting a cast over Phillip's broken nose and patching up the cuts on his face. "There," she said softly, setting the last sticking plaster in place. "How you feeling?"

Phillip's head still hurt, his two broken ribs flared with pain when talked, and he felt like an elephant had stepped on the back of his neck. "Been worse," he said nasally, and he wasn't lying.

"You shouldn't have put yourself in danger for me," Daring said flatly.

"Daring, if we hadn't come along and helped, you'd have gone in there on your own, and put yourself in way over your head, as usual," Phillip replied, just as flatly.

Daring sighed. "You're right," she said. "Your help did make it a lot easier...but you shouldn't be getting yourself hurt for me."

"You're worth it," Phillip said, the words tumbling from his lips before he could stop them. He blinked in surprise at his own speech. That was the second time tonight he had spoken to her without thinking, only saying what he was feeling.

A small half-smile crossed Daring's face and she turned away. For a moment, Phillip thought he saw her cheeks glow. "Oh, shut up," she muttered. A strange tingle passed through Phillip's body and a small, embarrassed smile not unlike her's crossed his face for a moment, and he felt his cheeks grow warm.

Must have been hit harder than I thought, he thought, blinking himself back to seriousness.

The moment passed, and Daring, now returned to her normal serious demeanor, unscrewed the end of the cylindrical casing. Carefully, she eased the painting out of the case, then slowly unrolled it. The real Mare Lisa gazed up at them, her enigmatic smile seeming to glow in the low light of the hotel room. Daring flipped the painting over so that the blank back of the canvas was facing up.

"I deciphered a code in da Whinny's journals about how to reveal the secret message," Daring said, retrieving a small jar of an off-white paste from the writing desk. Dipping a paintbrush into the paste, she carefully dabbed it onto the canvas. Almost instantly, ink began to appear, revealing a series of numbers written in swirling cursive.

Twilight gasped in astonishment. "The rumors were true," she said softly. "I don't believe it."

Daring continued to apply the paste to the canvas, revealing the entire message. As well as more numbers, it revealed what looked like a crude map. At the very left was what looked like a tree with sharp-angled branches and six diamonds surrounding it. A line was cast from the tree for some distance before turning at an angle and leading in another direction. The line changed direction several times before stopping at a large X.

"What is that?" Flash asked, pointing at the drawing of the tree.

"That's the Tree of Harmony!" Twilight exclaimed, recognizing the shape and the six diamonds. "It has to be. It's still in the Everfree Forest."

"Then this line must be directions leading to wherever da Whinny hid that treasure," Flash said.

"Exactly!" Twilight said with an excited smile.

Daring and Phillip were already working on the code. "'Whoever has these six, plus focus, bravery, endurance, and discovers the tenth, shall be worthy to know ultimate power,'" Daring translated.

The four pondered the message for a while. "Well, 'these six' must refer to the Elements of Harmony," Twilight said.

"So it's lucky that we know them," Phillip said with a small smile.

"As well as focus, bravery and endurance," Flash said. "Maybe we have to pass some kind of trial."

"Most likely," Daring said, a faint tone of exasperation in her voice.

"But what about this 'tenth?'" Twilight asked, underlining the section with her hoof.

Daring frowned. "I'm not sure. A tenth element?"

"Maybe we'll figure it out when we get there," Flash said. He noticed Twilight stifling a yawn. "Look, it's really late. Why don't we all sleep on it? Tomorrow, we can get to Ponyville, gather the others, and start on our way."

"That's a good idea," Twilight said, blinking in an attempt to keep herself awake. "I'll...get a room for the night."

"You'll want to find someplace else," Daring said. "Silvertongue will have his goons looking for us, so it's best if we split up for a while."

"The good news is, Silvertongue probably won't go public with this," Phillip said. "He doesn't like hanging his dirty laundry out in public; leads to too many questions."

"Well, that's a relief," Flash said. "Well, I guess we'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah," Daring said, putting the Mare Lisa away and tucking it behind a ceiling tile. "Hey, listen...you be careful out there."

"You, too," Twilight said as she and Flash left. Phillip started to follow them, but hesitated at the door for a moment. He felt as though there were something inside his throat, scratching at the inner walls of his windpipe. He cleared his throat, but the feeling remained. He turned back into the room and looked at Daring, trying to find something to say, something to tell her, but his mouth refused to work. Daring, sensing his gaze, looked at him with a mixture of expectation and confusion, tilting her head a little to the side. Her silvery gray mane glistened in the starlight leaking in through the window.

Phillip swallowed, looked down, but the words failed to come to his mind. An awkward silence passed between them, then he shamefully turned on his heels and left, closing the door behind him. He paused in the hallway outside, the look on Daring's face remaining at the front of his mind like an afterimage.

Idiot, he cursed himself and walked away. Somehow, he knew that neither he nor Daring would get much sleep that night. They both had too much on their minds.

Author's Notes:

Yeah. I can write action, but can't write emotion.

So, I hope that you're enjoying the story so far. Looks like we're going to have some help in the upcoming chapters!