"It all just happened so fast." Daring Do sighed as Celestia carefully wrapped bandages around her wounded leg. "That fish was shaking me around like crazy, I didn't see how it lost its head."

"Twilight examined the catfish." Celestia said. "She said it looked like it was cut by some intense thermal energy."

"All I remember is being dropped back into the water when it was done with me." Daring Do then looked over at Big Macintosh who was tending to his own minor cuts and scrapes. "That's when I felt a big, strong arm wrap around me before you and the Wonderbolts carried us out."

"W-well, Ah just didn't want ya to drown, Miss Yearling." Big Macintosh chuckled.

"Hmm...I think I've found some fresh material here." Daring Do said as she began jotting down notes on a small notepad. "Brave main protagonist encounters trouble but can't escape on her own. Then, in comes her heroic partner to save the day. Man, this is gold!"

"Then you'll have plenty of time to think about your material and how to put in into writing, Miss Yearling." Princess Celestia said. "You and Big Macintosh will be staying here and sitting it out tomorrow."

Nopony expected the Princess to make such a call and since they were so close to finding Radius, nopony understood why she would tell them they had to stay at the base camp. Big Macintosh, being the more reasonable one who did more listening than talking could understand but she would have to explain her decision to the more feisty pegasus who never said no when it came to facing danger.

"What?" Why?" Daring Do asked. "With all due respect, your highness, I can handle whatever this city can throw at me! I just survived an attack from a fifteen foot radioactive catfish!"

"Which is why I refuse to put you in any more danger in your battered state. Miss Yearling, you almost died today. Your leg and wings are sprained and if something else where to happen and you couldn't escape or defend yourself, I'd have to live with that for the rest of my life."

"But your life never ends." Twilight Pointed out.

"Exactly, which means I'd be carrying the guilt of causing the death of one of my subjects forever."

"Ah, I see what you did there." Rainbow Dash said.

As much as she did not want to admit it, Daring Do knew that the Princess was right. The brave explorer was never one to shy away from peril but this time, she had little choice but to do so as her leg was sore and covered in a great many tiny punctures from the teeth of the great fish. Not only that but her wings had ended up sprained when the fish breached and shook her about. On a more positive note however, she knew that she would at least have her friend Big Macintosh stay behind to keep her company.

"Erm, now that I think about it, that might not be so bad after all." Daring Do said.

"So you two just rest up and we'll take it from here." Celestia replied. "Tomorrow, we'll be checking the industrial side of the town and around the power plant."

After their much needed decontamination from the spell that Celestia had cast on the building, Daring Do and Big Macintosh were the first to go to sleep for the night. A few hours later, everypony else did the same and woke up at the crack of dawn like every other morning before and headed out to where they had last left off. The only difference was that they all left Daring Do and Big Macintosh alone where they continued to sleep and recover from their near deadly encounter yesterday. Celestia was now more determined than ever to get the results she came for and finally draw their nuclear adventure to a close and hopefully find out where the mysterious beam of energy that saved Daring Do came from.

Everypony was wide awake and long gone by the time the two whom Celestsia had given the day off woke up. Neither Daring Do nor Big Macintosh were used to sleeping in as late as half past nine in the morning but to get a chance to do so was incredibly refreshing. They would have the whole day to themselves with nothing for them to do but write down material for a novel in the making or simply chat and better get to know each other.

"And that's how I tricked Ahuizotl into thinking he...Gahahahah! Into th-thinking he actually had a fan!" Daring Do laughed out loud as she told Big Macintosh about one of her many adventures. "You sh-ahahah! Shoulda seen the look on his face when he saw that it was an actual desk fan!"

Daring Do and Big Macintosh were both thoroughly enjoying each other's company as the latter clapped his hooves together as he and the former shared a hearty laugh. When their laughter died down to a slight chuckle, the two friends seemed to have suddenly ran out of things to talk about and soon found themselves sitting about in awkward silence. Even the normally silent farm pony tried his best to contribute to their hours of conversation but after so long of being cooped up in the base camp with nothing to do, they were simply out of ideas.

"So, uh..." Daring Do nervously began. "I think I'm gonna just write down some more notes. I plan on putting the part where you saved my flank in the book by the way. I don't care if you say you're not a hero, you jumped into that water and pulled me out so I say you are."

"Ah like that about you." Big Macintosh said. "That feisty 'take no crap' attitude of yours."

"Thanks. Sooo, I'm just gonna...go ahead and jot a few things down here...you know, for my book."

"Lemme know if ya need anything. Ah'll just sit over here and...uh, watch birds out the winder."

Daring Do and Big Macintosh then went about their own business after ending their nervous conversation. The brave explorer was busy jotting notes down on her pad while the red farm pony observed what appeared to be a four-winged European swallow through his binoculars. After a while of pondering her next paragraph, Daring Do decided to take a break and get a good, long look at what she had came up with so far.

Soon, it would be all over. After all her years experiencing the many dangers perils of the ancient temples and the nefarious villains she dealt with, Daring Do was about to about to be swallowed into her grave in the form of the stomach of a fifteen twenty foot wels catfish. After all she had been through, this is how she was to die?

"Okay, not bad." Daring Do Mumbled as she read further down her page.

Suddenly, just before her last breath of air fizzled out, she saw him. Daring Do's last hope in the form of her loyal sidekick, Big Macintosh! With a large knife in his teeth, he ever so quickly swam down towards the monster fish that had her in its jaws, his big, hard muscles flexing with every stroke his long blonde mane and tail waving in the water as he

"Oookay, getting a little carried away there!" Daring Do said as she tore the page out of her note pad and crumpled it up.

"Ya alright, Miss Yearling?" Big Macintosh asked as he trotted over with a bottle of water in his hoof. "Yer sweatin' like a...like a..."

"Like a pig?"

"Well nah, pigs don't sweat anywhere else but the ends of their snouts. Mah sister raises 'em fer some reason so Ah'd know. This guy from the States comes and buys 'em every so often and he says he sells 'em as pets. Calls it 'bringin' home the bacon' er somethin'. Here, ya might wanna have a drink. So, what's eatin' ya?"

"N-nothing!"

Big Macintosh knew that his pegasus friend was not being entirely truthful but still, he decided not to press it any further. He felt that if she wanted him to know, she would have told him and as her eyes nervously darted around the room, the calm, quiet farm stallion trotted back over to the window to give his friend some space.

"Wow, smooth one, A.K." Daring Do though to herself. "Real fucking smooth."

Daring Do was mentally kicking herself as she observed her companion resume his bird watching in silence but on the other hoof, there was yet another issue that she needed to figure out and some questions she needed to ask herself. Why was she behaving this way? Why was she writing such things about Big Macintosh, and why could she not stop looking at him let alone thinking about him? Being as tenacious as she was, Daring Do was not one to run away from her problems so attacking them head on was more her way of dealing with things.

"Mac?" Daring Do said.

"Eeyup?" Big Macintosh replied.

"Sorry I snapped at you like that."

"Don't sweat it. We've all been through a lot and it's startin' to git to us."

"I'll say. So uh, lemme ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Well...what do you think of my books? Like, do you ever feel like the one I'll be writing about this wacky adventure could use something that maybe...the other ones don't have?"

"Uhh...well, Ah really enjoy readin' 'em. Kinda what got me all excited about coming out here. Ah spend most of mah time at the orchard and Ah read 'em as a kinda escape from everyday life fer a while. When Ah got a letter from the Princess saying she needed mah help...well, Ah could only think of the adventures you had in yer books."

"Wow, I'm honored. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Hell, Ah oughtta be thankin' you fer wantin' to partner up with me. Y'all got any idear how Ah felt when ya came through that door back in Canterlot?"

"Heheheh, I could only imagine. Now, I'm really glad to have you as a fan but what I was trying to ask was...well, what would you feel about, uhh...man, how do I put this?"

"S'alright, take yer time."

"God, I love that about you. All my life, I've always lived life in the fast lane and then I meet you, a guy who likes to just slow down and chill the fuck out, and...just...gahh, I can't even think straight!"

"Hang on there, Ah think Ah git it. Stop me if ya think Ah'm wrong."

"Sure."

"Y'all asked me if Ah thought there was something yer books could have that none of 'em had before, right? They're full of adventure, drama, action, mystery...only thing Ah can think that they ain't got is rom...mance..."

It was at that very moment that Big Macintosh realized exactly what Daring Do was trying to tell him all along. Everything that had happened before was all coming together. Everything from the two ponies instantly hitting it off when they met to their frequent compliments they gave each other and everything in between all leading up to the conversation they were having now.

"Miss Yearling?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Y-yeah, Mac?" Daring Do replied.

"Am Ah right? Is that what yer try'na tell me? Ya like me er somethin'?"

"Well, can you blame me? You're awesome! Just flying and trotting around the city and getting to know you has been an adventure in itself! Dude, I can't wait to put all we've been through in my latest book!"

"Ah don't even...wow..."

"What's wrong?"

"Okay, first Ah get asked to go to an some fancy universe then get partnered up with mah favorite author...then my favorite author..."

"Yeah, I get it. Probably a lot to take in huh?"

"Eeyup."

"Well...looks like I got my point across then..."

"Eeyup."

"Wow, this conversation was pretty awkward."

"Eeyup."

Once again, a silence as awkward as the conversation the two just had filled the room as they sat across from each other trying their best to avoid eye contact. Both Daring Do and Big Macintosh were adult ponies in their late twenties but all their life experience and mature composure was thrown out the window and they could not help but just sit their and blush like a couple of love struck foals. The several minutes of silence just made everything even more agonizingly awkward so one of them would have to say something, anything to just get it over with.

"If'n it makes ya feel better..." Big Macintosh began. "Ah think yer a purdy awesome gal yerself...and Ah'll be honest, Ah've seen ya checkin' me out a couple times."

"Aw, shit." Daring Do groaned as she hid her blushing face behind a hoof.

"Well, Ah ain't all that innocent mahself. Ya ain't seen me lookin' up when yer...flyin'?..."

"I didn't think you were actually checking me out but I'm not complaining. Look, I've been writing books for years now and I've read my fair share of similar ones from other authors and...this is just too good. I mean what's the harm in this, huh? So we've gone on some crazy adventure together, seen some crazy shit, became close friends...if you'd wanna...I dunno."

It was at that very moment that Big Macintosh was beginning to get an even better idea of what Daring Do wanted to ask him and possibly what she wanted to do with him. Though he had an idea, still he was not entirely sure and since his parents and later his granny raised him to be a gentlecolt, he needed to be blatantly sure before he was to make any moves. In order to find out for sure, he needed to simply ask but the mare he was talking to was about to beat him to it.

"I'm just gonna go on a limb and say it." Daring Do began. "Do you wanna like...fool around or something?"

Big Macintosh could not believe what he just heard and he just stared at the mare who sat a few feet away from him and he just sat there with his mouth hanging wide open. Surely this must all be a dream. There is simply no possible way that his favorite author whom he had developed a friendship with was now all of a sudden asking him if he wanted to engage in intimate activities. It would take him some time to really process what he was hearing and come to his senses.

"I-I mean, it's cool if you don't want to." Daring Do stuttered. "But if you do, there wouldn't be anything wrong with it, I mean we're two consenting adults who trust each other and we got the place to ourselves for a while so...yeah."

"Miss Yearling, Ah wanna make somethin' perfectly clear." Big Macintosh said firmly as he began to sweat. "Don't think fer a second ya owe me somethin' 'cause ya don't owe me a damned thing."

"Yeah, I'm aware of tha-gah, hearing that from you just makes me want you more! There aren't enough guys like you!"

"Ya mean that? Ya really like me and ya wanna...git with me?"

"Not if you don't want to. No pressure. If you wanna just kiss and cuddle a bit and see where that goes, I'm game. If not, we don't have to and we can just hang out here for the rest of the day like we never had this conversation."

"Ah-Ah just...wow, Ah dunno, Ah'm still having a hell of a time try'na believe this is actually happenin'."

"Look, I'm sorry to put you on the spot like that. I just didn't know how else to say it so I just got really up front about it. Like I said, if you don't wanna do anything, I swear I'll understand and I won't put any pressure on you. I just hope this talk we had doesn't change what you think about me."

"Nope."

"Nope you don't wanna do me or nope you won't think differently of me?"

"Nah, it don't change what Ah think about ya. Sorry, it's just been a while since Ah...fooled around with a mare but..."

"Yeah?"

"Well, yer right. Ain't nothin' wrong with it if we both feel okay with doin' it. An' Ah'll be honest, it'd be mighty cool to be put in yer book like this. The big, tough romantic interest of Daring Do? Well, Ah'd have to be plum crazy to turn that down."

"So you're saying...?"

Just as Daring Do Paused for a moment to allow Big Macintosh finish her sentence for her, he instead placed his lips against hers and they proceeded to share a long but slightly awkward kiss. Though the two were clumsy at the start, they quickly put their past experiences to good use and were soon much more passionate with their lips locked together. After a few more seconds into their affair, their tongues got involved and once they started sliding around in each other's mouths, things started getting so intense that a hot blush could even be seen on the farm pony's already red face. Just as the two started to hold one another in their hooves however, Big Macintosh suddenly broke the kiss much to his partner's confusion.

"Aw jeez, Ah saw that comin'." Big Macintosh said.

Without any warning, the new thoughts that were running through Big Macintosh's mind were beginning to cause a new challenge for the nervous and sweating stallion. As if attempting to hide something, he hastily proceeded to cross his back legs as his familiar and very personal issue gave him little choice but to do so. He was brought up and raised on the etiquette of keeping his hooves to himself unless given permission by a mare to do otherwise but no stallion alive can control blood flow to what defines their gender.

"You alright there, big guy?" Daring Do asked.

"Never fails." Big Macintosh said. "Mah mouth can say one thing but mah body never lies bout what it likes to hear."

"Oh?"

"Heheheh, well ya done got me all worked up and...well, we do trust each other. Ah'll have ya know Ah think mighty highly of ya."

"Hey, it's totally mutual. So hey, why don't you quit crushing your dick and let it out, huh?"

"Ah reckon Ah can let ya have a look."

Very slowly, the aroused Big Macintosh uncrossed his legs and allowed his swelling stallionhood to hang free causing Daring Do to bite her lower lip at the very sight. As his penis continued to throb at the thoughts of Daring Do laying before him with her legs spread, she began breathing quite heavily until finally it reached its peak. At this point, both ponies were sweating profusely and ready to do whatever it was their bodies drove them to.

So there they were, Big Macintosh and Daring Do sitting just over a foot away from each other trying to decide who would make the next move. Daring Do simply could not take her eyes off the farm pony's impressive member which was an indication to him of what she wanted to do. The only thing to do now was to break the silence and get their little secret fun time started.

"Like what ya see?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Y-yeah, v-very much." Daring Do stuttered as she licked her lips. "I swear, you will not regret this."

"Ah know Ah won't. Just keep in mind that I respect yo-OOOOOOH!"

Unable to control herself any longer, Daring Do lunged forward and threw herself at Big Macintosh, firmly wrapping her lips around the tip of his erect member. They were finally getting intimately involved with each other and were surely going to immensely enjoy their day off that they had to spend in each other's company. Both of them could have a fun and pleasurable experience together without any interruptions and afterwards could sleep together to their hearts' content. Not only that but Daring Do could add something new to the next book depicting her latest adventure. For the two search partners whom found an amazing friendship with each other, today was going to be a great day with many hours to enjoy it.

Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor decided to head towards the industrial yard where the power plant was where they would make another attempt to find Radius Hoofenschtov. Suddenly, seeming to come out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash experienced this strange feeling she just could not explain. Rainbow Dash was never a pony who liked to sit out of any type of action so she just could not help but feel that somehow, somewhere, something was going on that she would have liked to be involved in. But what?

"Uh, you alright, Rainbow?" Shining Armor asked as he noticed his search partner's eyes twitching.

"Yeah, I'm good." Rainbow Dash replied. "I just...got this weird feeling. Like, I'm missing out on something cool. It happens once in a while."

"Heheheh. Well, whatever it is, I'm sure I'd rather stick right here in the peace and quiet. Any action we've been seeing lately has the potential to get somepony killed."

"I guess you're right. Alright, let's get a closer look by the power plant. We're almost there."

Author's Notes:

See, this is the reason why I tend to put my stories in the "uncommon shipping pairs" group. I have yet to find another one with Daring Do and Big Macintosh. This is also my first attempt at actual clop. Please forward any complaints (I'm sure there will be a lot of them) to the comment section. If you end up actually enjoying it, then power to ya!

Proofread by little-tweenframes and mix-up