Author's Notes:

I decided to mix things up a little, the whole chapter is basically focused on Flurry Heart during her interaction with Daring. The next chapter is going to be Daring and Cadance alone together. Also, I’m adding in some extra info about a Daring’s family in this chapter and the next. And yes, I decided to make things a little interesting with them. I’m sure some of you will get a kick out of it all.

As always, you know my policies.

Somehow Daring and Spike found themselves in the Crystal Empire. As usual, Spike was practically mobbed by his adoring fans, much to Daring’s very obvious amusement. Cadance sent guards to take Daring and Spike where they needed to go, which for Spike meant a meeting with Shining Armor at the castle and for Daring it was a meeting with Flurry Heart near the Crystal Heart.

Flurry ushered her over before taking her to a more secluded area, growing up in the Crystal Empire meant she was able to find all those lovely lesser-known regions that even many of the residents weren’t fully aware of. Once they were alone, the first question Flurry had was, “How do you know you’re pregnant with Spike’s foal?”

Daring blinked a few times in confused admiration for the young mare before smirking and saying, “I’m guessing your parents said something along the lines of it’s my thing to explain.” Flurry nodded a few times; Daring sighed before continuing, “I know I’m carrying his progeny because of a few different reasons. The first one isn’t very obvious but provides some context, due to my prior occupation I tended to have a rather erratic estrus cycle and didn’t feel much intensity due to the seclusion I usually found myself in. Thankfully, it never seemed to be happening when I encountered the villains I usually faced back then.”

“I can see what you meant by the opening statement,” said Flurry, “but it doesn’t quite come close to answering my question.”

“I’m getting there,” said Daring, she was mildly amused by Flurry’s impatience in the story, mostly because it reminded Daring of herself in her younger days. “My body became more compatible with dragon anatomy when I made my deal with Zelshirska. Apparently, being bestowed power by her gave me the ability to be perfectly compatible with dragons and ponies, or maybe that was always the case, and she just ramped up my body’s fertility to the point that pregnancy would be assured.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” said Flurry, “you also have the ability to control your body’s lactation system as well, according to your report.”

“Yes, and Spike was a little greedy the first time around, not that I minded it much. Although, he did come close to making it uncomfortable with his teeth a few times during his suckling of my teats.”

Flurry giggled at the image of her “Uncle Spike” imitating a baby, which was made all the more amusing when she pictured Daring playing the part of an annoyed “mother” dealing with a difficult child. She was looking forward to alone time with Daring, she really hadn’t gotten to do so during their prior meetings, mostly because they coincided with “important” meetings. Her mother was busy figuring out the best logistical approach to Daring’s new town, both she and Flurry had a laughing contest for a good half hour while her father just stood there with an intense blush asking if there was any way to convince Daring to change the name of the town to something that wasn’t such a potentially massive sexual innuendo.

Flurry’s mom shot down the proposal the moment her father had finished it; she was more than happy to leave the proposed name as is. She even wrote up a royal declaration that sent out to Ponyville and Canterlot stating that only Daring or one of her station could name communities the way that she had this first one, all had sent back a proclamation of agreement without hesitation. Luna had even offered the services of one of her most promising students from her school of the arts.

Princess Luna’s School of Artistic Harmony had gone up when Flurry was six, and quickly become the go to school for ponies with artistic talents or intention of developing artistic abilities. Flurry had visited the facility with her aunt Twilight two years after it had gone up, the school was magnificent, having apparently been designed by Luna herself in addition to her overseeing every stage of the construction. So as to not directly compete with Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, the school was not built in Canterlot, Luna wanted a more picturesque environment for the academy and decided to set it up in Rainbow Falls. It wasn’t uncommon to see students plying their creations around the town and going the extra mile in trading various nick knacks for new project materials during the Traders’ Exchange.

Flurry knew all this because her aunt took her to the trading event during that time, and she had traded a small collection of crystal buttons, she had kind of started hoarding when she couldn’t find the owners of the buttons after a week. Her first Daring Do explorer’s hat and had actually been gotten as her prize from one of the fashion students at the school because of that trade.

Now that she thought about it, she and that mare did act like penpals three or four times a year, but then stopped keeping in touch. She wondered if she could convince that mare to take a jab at setting up shop in a town that was going to have some very different sort of cultural norms. She didn’t know the mare’s address, seeing as she was a student and Flurry had never bothered to ask what her more permanent residence might be. Although, she still did keep in touch with Silk Ribbon somehow, Flurry just chalked it up to having really talented mailponies. Silk, as she preferred to be called at times, was a pony that was used to having her family move around a lot because of the business her parents were in, she had wanted a more rooted lifestyle and signed up for Luna’s school the moment she got a chance to visit it. But that was all Flurry really knew about Silk’s personal life.

Flurry wanted to focus on connecting with Daring, not remembering ponies that she barely knew but wanted to be closer to. “You know,” said Daring, which thankfully snapped Flurry out of her reverie, “I used to be a pretty impatient young mare myself.”

“Really? Wait, I remember hearing you had an older sister.”

“Star Log,” said Daring with a reminiscent smile, “she was my balancing force in so many ways. I was rambunctious and a bit of a firecracker when we were fillies, while she was overly cautious and rather slow in showing her passion. The two of us were as close as siblings could be in those days, maybe even closer. When we were in our mid-teens, she and I decided to be an adventuring duo, with me doing all the major work and her being the author that followed me everywhere. I got my compass rose mark just a few weeks after she got her night themed chart and book with a star fountain pen and wave quill. She always did like her books, but she liked recording things more. Both of us were excellent navigators after we got our marks, but for different reasons.”

“The Daring Do series was supposed to be her work, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, she was supposed to be my partner through it all, without her my rough edges got a little more prickly. The main reason I started my adventurer's life when I did was to look for clues regarding her, I waited a whole year for the law ponies to give me a lead but it never happened, which prompted me to go looking her on my own.”

“And the pseudonym of A.K. Yearling?”

“A bit of an in-joke on the part of my sister and I. Our mom’s name started with an A, and our dad’s started with a K. To the two of us the letters are a way of remembering our parents, we lost them a couple of years before she disappeared, it was actually a week before the anniversary of their deaths.”

“Um, what happened? If I may be so bold?”

“They were helping the local fire ponies with a rather big problem, they were reserve volunteers for the fire department. They always wanted to do as much good for the community as they could. They managed to get a small herd of foals out of a burning building before they were trapped inside, autopsy reports they shared with use said they were taken by smoke inhalation before the heat roasted them.”

“Yikes! At least, they went out the way they wanted to, helping ponies.”

“Yeah, but they never really set any obviously high standards for us. Dad didn’t seem to mind there were no colts around, he would often joke that I was halfway to being a colt myself. But at the end of the day, we were both mommy’s fillies, as the saying goes.”

“Really? What was your mom like?”

“Pretty similar to your grandma Velvet, I’ve only heard about her personality so far, but from what I have heard she and my mom were cut from the same cloth.”

“Does that mean your dad was like my grandpa Night Light?”

“Oh, heavens, no,” said Daring with a subdued but hearty laugh, “my dad and your grandfather probably would just barely be able to tolerate each other. He and mom couldn’t figure out where Star Log got her orderly tendencies, she was even more of a neat freak than your aunt Twilight, which I’m sure your wonder is even possible.” Daring had her there, it was pretty hard for Flurry to imagine a pony more organized than her aunt Twilight. “No, my dad was just barely organized, calling him a packrat is bit closer to the truth than most would realize. He had all his personal and work spaces looking like a complete disaster but somehow knew exactly what was where in the cluttered nightmare of a space, much like an actual packrat.”

Flurry giggled at the thought of her grandfather meeting Daring’s dad, “You’re right, grandad would just barely tolerate him.”

“And what makes all the more amusing is my dad’s laid back and chill attitude, his name wasn’t Keen Tone for nothing.”

Flurry’s eyes went wide, “The music composer? He was said to be a little eccentric; his musical theories are used as the foundations for all modern music principles. You’re saying he was your dad?”

“Huh, I never thought of it that way,” said Daring, “I knew he was a composer, but everything he turned in was just barely enough to cover his needs.”

“But records show he wasn’t officially married to anypony.”

“He and mom were married through common law, they didn’t advertise it and didn’t make any statements about it, I doubt it would even show up in background checks from most ponies, even the outstanding ones.”

“But he was a unicorn, and you’re a pegasus.”

“I get that from my mom; Star is a unicorn though. Mom was the only pony that could really do more than tolerate dad, she was professional weather pony, but she didn’t really have a place to call her own or anything other than two bags full of clothes. She was good at her job, but lacked the organizational skill set to be a head weather pony. She also didn’t have any aspirations beyond being able to help others. Her name was Astra Showers, a rather odd name but she had a big heart. Dad offered her a place to stay when she was in town after she told him she was conflicted about where to stay, next thing either of them knew it had been over a decade together and they were expecting my sister.”

“That’s so sweet, I’m sure mom would love to hear the whole story.”

“Which I can’t really provide,” said Daring, “everything I just told you is everything I know about them. Well, aside from their coat colors and cutie marks but a look at their personal data will tell you that.”

“But wait, if you really are a child of Keen Tone that means you and your sister are legally entitled to everything he left behind. Of course, nopony knows where his will is.”

“Let me guess; it’s because they can’t make sense of any of his workspaces and don’t want to disturb any of them out of respect for him as a respected individual?”

“Um, yes.”

“I think I know just where to look; I haven’t been back there since before the funeral.”

“Aunt Twilight is going to want to come along for that, although she’s going to be torn between respecting a great Equestrian mind and organizing the place.”

“You’ll want to come along for the show; I take it.”

“It’s always fun seeing Aunt Twilight having a crisis of that sort of nature.”

“You and your mom have a very distinct sense of humor!”

“We are our parents, as the saying goes,” said Flurry with a laugh, “I take after my mom more than my dad, but I still have some of his quirks.”

“Oh, is that so?” Daring said with a smirk as she got up from her position, Flurry was confused.

Her confusion only mounted when Daring somehow managed to sneak up behind her and give her bosom a quick fondle. “Hey, that wasn’t funny. Amusing, but not funny.”

“Depends on who you ask,” said Daring with a smirk, “I’m sure your mom would get kick out of her about that.”

“Yeah, she kind of would,” said Flurry with a smirk. Both mares just laughed and got to talking with each other in earnest. Daring really hadn’t had this kind of talk for many years, as was evident in the way she seemed to fall into the chat like an old habit but fumbled a bit like someone out of practice. Flurry Heart thought it would be okay to refer to her as “auntie” after this; she had insisted to her parents that she have some time alone with Daring and was glad she had managed to get just that. Although, she wasn’t sure of how to feel about draconic deity watching over her from another realm. Although, the thought of her aunt Twilight freaking out at this knowledge and trying to find a way to mitigate observation from an otherworldly entity did sound amusing.