Author's Notes:

As you probably guessed, Flurry makes and appearance in this chapter. As always you know my policies.

Daring didn’t have another dream meeting with Zelshirska in the night between her prior day and the new one. The first thing she saw, aside from the attractive dragon she was partnered with (she had been moved to Spike’s room shortly after her meeting with Twilight), was a pile of folded new clothes made by Rarity with a note saying what each article of clothing was. There was also a small stack of boxes with another letter from Rarity telling her all the different kinds of undergarments that had been made to accommodate her new figure. The notes also went on to say they were made from the same type of stretchy yet durable fabric used in making pegasus clothing; Rarity had modified the formula slightly so as to better take into account Daring’s new figure and the fact she was likely expecting.

After reading the notes with a smile, Daring decided to go with a pair of lacy green lingerie which was then followed by a pair of sky blue pants and a sandy black shirt with her mark on it. After taking a warm shower, during which she took extra care of her assets, and mane and tail, she did a careful towel off and put her new outfit on with care.

On the way down she heard an unfamiliar male and female voice, but due to having some water still in her ears, which she did her best to knock out after hearing the voices, she couldn’t make out what they had said. She then heard Twilight say, “She’s gone through a few dramatic changes, we’ve got the base of a plan for a little project that Cadance is more than willing to help with.”

“Oh, and I put a lot of work into the Daring Do outfits for mom, dad and me,” came the unfamiliar female voice, it sounded like she was in her late teen or early twenties, “now you’re saying she’s not going to go on amazing adventures anymore.”

“Well, Daring Do is getting on with age,” came the unfamiliar male voice, this caused Daring to mentally chuckle at the thought due to what the idol had done to her. “Not to mention, the adventurer life has a way of taking its toll on the body, it’s the same way with the Royal Guard lifestyle. The physical punishments we put ourselves through on a regular basis have a tendency to wear our bodies down; chances are that wear and tear is more pronounced for adventurer ponies than that of the Royal Guards.”

“You’re not wrong there,” said Daring stepping into the room that was occupied by Twilight and her family, “even though I’m in my mid-sixties the past few years have made it feel closer to my late-eighties or early-nineties. That is, until fairly recently when we had an interesting encounter with some ancient magic.”

Twilight, in a green skirt and blue t-shirt with her insignia on them, decided to pick up from there, “We managed to restore an old idol Daring found using what little of an old language we could make out, apparently when we used Spike’s flame to test what the remnants of the idol said on them it restored her body to its prime along with the idol to how it was before it became a ruined relic. Of course, her further changes came with the making of a deal with the dragon goddess the idol represented. We sent the original to the Canterlot Archaeological Society for further study and examination, from what I’ve gathered in the reports they also decided to bring in some of the Pillars to see if they could give any insight on how things were in the days of early Equestria.”

“Why is that?” asked a light pink alicorn with a violet mane that had blue streaks in it, Daring just noticed how she had a horn and wings. She was wearing a navy blue t-shirt and indigo cargo shorts with the emblem of a pink-tinted crystal heart surrounded by seven violet stars. She also had an ample bosom that looked like it might be trying to compete with Twilight’s, and was slightly winning, but amusingly nowhere near competing with Daring’s new assets.

“Because, Flurry,” said Twilight, “Daring’s interactions with that dragon goddess informed us that some ponies in those early days actually turned their attention to the worship of three draconic goddesses. The one Daring made a deal with claims the Crystal Heart that now sits within the Crystal Empire used to be her heart when she was mortal and somehow left her body behind when she ascended.”

“How does that work?” said the white unicorn that Daring hadn’t been formally introduced to yet. He was in a blue shirt with green pants that sported a blue pendant shaped shield with a pink star inside and three white stars above it.

“Well, Shining,” said Cadance, finally deciding to put in her voice during the conversation, she was in a sky blue dress that sported her mark, “according to Daring’s report, when a dragon is genuinely selfless their heart becomes a crystalline gem-like material when they pass on. But due to general nature of dragons, this is an extremely rare event. From what we’ve been able to gather, chances are the same could happen to Spike when his time comes.”

“Her name is Zelshirska,” said Daring picking up where the others left off, “and her sisters actually had similar roles to Celestia and Luna. She also claims that around the time the Crystal Heart was first discovered and its abilities were uncovered by the ponies that we now know as the founders of Crystal Empire, worship of the three by dragons was beginning to decline. Their worship was rapidly dwindling around the time Celestia and Luna discovered their talents and earned their cutie marks. She even claims during that early period, where it is believed ponies are more open to the magic around them, that her sisters embedded some of their essences in the Royal Sisters so that they wouldn’t fade away. Instead, they’re just in a really deep sleep.”

“Daring says that Zelshirska was reinforced against this fading effect because of the energy ponies willing give up to the Crystal Heart,” said Cadance. “This has mostly to do with how the Crystal Heart still has a mystic connection with her since it not only used to be her physical heart but also the emotions we give up to it coincide with one of the domains she presides over.”

“She presides over love?” said Flurry with dancing eyes.

“No,” said Daring, “but your guess isn’t too far off. She presides over Connections, Knowledge, and Fertility. In other words, she presides over what some would call love and friendship as well as the forces that make it possible for new life to be born, including foals, and learning.”

“Oh, I guess ancient dragon concepts don’t fully translate over to ponies,” said Shining.

“True,” said Twilight, “but we’re working on a plan to observe the revival of the faith, Daring’s deal makes her the first of the new priestesses for the faith. And as such, she needs to have a body that best exemplifies the properties of Zelshirka’s power.”

“Apparently that means giving me a sexy body that can potentially rival an alicorn,” said Daring. “Did either of you get to the part about Spike’s involvement in all this?”

“Nope,” said Cadance, “we wanted to let you handle that one.” Twilight just nodded.

“I think it would be easier to just let them read the report,” said Daring, “the unofficial one.”

Twilight groaned, she was hoping those particular reports would stay locked in an underground safe where they could never see the light of day again. Cadance wasn’t quite as restrained as her sister-in-law and just magicked up copies of the reports in question before her husband and daughter; she clearly didn’t think the potential mental scarring of her daughter was much of a problem. And she apparently just liked seeing her husband be in a position that made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Amusingly enough, Flurry had a similar reaction to Cadance on her reading, “Ooh, I hope my partner can go a long time like that when I finally get one.”

“You, young mare,” said Shining, “should definitely not be talking like that. I don’t mind you thinking of such things; all ponies get that sort of thing in their head one way or another, I’ll even let it slide with whatever hidden written works you have, but we do not talk about such things in the open like that, it usually makes ponies uncomfortable.”

“Usually being the operative word,” said Daring, “we’re working on establishing a community built around the faith. I understand Spike worked on laying the opening piece; we still need to work on the specifics.”

“Then it’s good Shiny and Flurry are here,” Flurry Heart giggled at her aunt’s nickname for her father, “considering Cadance is the one who offered that the Crystal Empire provide some oversight on the project. She suggested the forested area just south of the frozen north; I don’t think it has an official name.”

“Some of the older records I’ve found in the area marked it as the Green Diamond Weald," said Daring.

“How did it get that name?” Twilight inquired.

“I’m not entirely sure,” said Daring, “but I suspect it was named for a Pony by the name of Green Diamond, likely a crystal pony, who decided to wander south of the Frozen North. Although, I think the pony had plans to cultivate the area for some reason but plans fell through. From what I’ve been able to gather about the area, something always seems to interfere with attempts at cultivating area for any means. There’s a good chance the Weald might have similar properties to the Everfree Forest.”

“Well,” said Flurry, “I know what mom and dad will be up to while you’re out, they wouldn’t let me near a place like that before they made sure it was some manner of safe beforehand.”

“Well,” said Twilight, “Daring and I have some prep work to go through before we head on down to talk with her publishers.”

“Her dimensions are a bit more than I anticipated,” said Flurry with a giggle.

“As I stated before,” said Twilight, “she’s gone through a few changes in the past few days.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” said Daring with a chuckle, “I used to be a natural B-Cup, which meant my chest was actually pretty flat, and my plot was also quite a bit smaller than it is now. When we restored the idol, my plot and chest got a bit of an upgrade at the same time my body restored to its prime. My current figure became more pronounced after I made my little deal with Zelshirska on the way to the temple with Spike in tow, although I don't know why she had to give me such a massive bustline.”

“It was an interesting ride, to be sure,” said Spike as he entered in a black pair of shorts and violet t-shirt, “we shared our first kiss on the train, and it was a doozy of a kiss.”

“Considering that I practically did it on instinct and it lasted for about five minutes, I would have to agree,” said Daring. “I don’t know what came over me, but I just had a compulsion to kiss him that I didn’t really want to stop.”

“Probably Zelshirska showing you what you’d be in for if you took her up on her offer,” said Spike, “I’ve read ancient deities liked to do that sort of thing, so mortals were less resistant to their offers.”

“Well, it worked,” said Daring, “she also sort of manipulated you into loving me.”

“I suspected so,” said Spike with an annoyed sigh, “I’m going to have words with her about my little obsession with Rarity.”

“Actually, she claims that was all you. She told me she actually tried to move you away from that relationship, but her ability to exert influence on you at the time was too weak to really do anything. It wasn’t until recently she’s been able to tweak your connections to others. And really, she just set up the paths and watched you do the rest of the work.”

“I’m still annoyed that she influenced my emotions, but I’m more annoyed with myself for not being able to get out of my infatuation with Rarity sooner, and I can’t even blame any ponies or dragon deities for it either.” He rested his head in his hands.

“So, will you be joining Cadance and Shining in their investigation of the potential future-site of the town? Twilight and myself in talking with the publishers?”

“I think I’ll hang around here with Flurry,” said Spike, “we’ll act as a communication hub between all parties, I’m sure I can pull some of Twi’s friends in for help if we really need it.”

“So, we’re like central command here,” said Flurry, “this castle is the main relay point.”

“More or less,” said Spike, “since all the princesses have knowledge of how to send messages through my dragon fire, it makes sense I would act as a central point of communication. I think having Flurry’s help collating the data, when needed, will be of great assistance. It also would enable us to work on some other things from a distance.”

“Makes sense,” said Daring, “besides we can’t really start laying out the basic town design plan without seeing terrain and environment it’s supposed to go up in.”

“If everything checks out we’ll give you coordinates,” said Shining.

“It’s just a cursory look, anyway,” said Cadance, “Daring said problems start when you actually begin to try cultivating the area. Daring, what did those reports you managed to glean say anyway?”

“They were pretty degraded,” said Daring, “from what I was able to gather, problems starting either when harvesting the wood in the area began or the bringing in of equipment for digging or construction. So, in short, it will be perfectly safe so long as you don’t try doing anything to potentially harm the woodland. Although, that would make building a community in the area rather tricky.”

“But they were projects undertaken by ponies,” said Cadance in a voice that said her words were half statement and half question.

“That is correct,” said Daring, she blinked a bit having just caught on to what Cadance was implying, “none of the reports mentioned dragons being part of the crews. But I doubt having dragons do the work will have a different effect.”

“We could try and see,” said Twilight, “after we take care of our errands you and I will be returning here to pick Spike up then head to the site that’s been picked. It’s possible we’re overlooking something, and a dragon’s senses might tell us what.”