In a large courtyard within the numerous avenues of Venice, Bitaly, a large market was under way. In front of the six hundred year old family estate of the once powerful Maredici family, various ponies were selling, buying, or pawning goods outside canvas tents. At one stall Floating Ace the pegasus was asking the grocer how much it cost for a pound of cherry tomatoes.

“Seven bits,” the merchant answered.

“Right,” said Floating Ace as he reached into his saddlebag. “Now I know I have exact change somewhere...."

“Hurry up colt!” piped one of the stallions further down the rapidly growing line. “Some of us have places to be!”

“I am perfectly aware of that, but if you could please just - oof!”

A yellow-coated, red-maned unicorn stallion barreled through the line, knocking Floating Ace to the cobblestone ground. The pegasus lay there in a stupor, and before he could recover, a brown coated, black-and-grey-maned pegasus wearing a purple kimono leaped over him.

Daring Do, violet eyes alight in pursuit of her target, chased the the yellow unicorn through the market stalls. The unicorn pushed through another crowd, floated up an urn of olive oil and threw it at Daring. The mare deftly dodged the missile and put even more power into her hooves as she weaved in between shoppers.

The stallion cast a quick glance back to see Daring only a few dozen feet away. His eyes widened in fear at the determined grin that Daring was wearing. Thinking quickly, the unicorn used his magic to pull out a log from the bottom of a pile of timber. The pile collapsed, slowing down the pursuing mare just enough for the stallion to safely turn into an empty alleyway.

With nothing in his way the flame-colored stallion bolted with all his energy in an attempt to get away from his chaser. He didn’t even dare to look back as his legs pumped against the dull ache that was forming in each of them. The stallion rounded another corner to find himself at a sheer drop into the canal below. He cast a look backwards just as the mare turned around the corner.

Seeing that he was in a dead end, Daring took her time walking towards the unicorn. She let each of her hoofsteps resonate through the alley. The white stucco on the walls  and the red tiled roofs of the city were cast under a slight orange glow as Celestia’s sun began to set in the distance.

“Hand over the real bracer, False Tooth, and nopony gets hurt,” Daring said as she continued stepping towards the stallion.

False’s ear twitched as he heard a dull roar coming from below him. He smiled, showing his wooden teeth before he offered a response to our heroine.

“Phah! Good luck catching me now!” With that he hopped back into the canal below, landing in a gondola that was being piloted by a young blue pegasus. False turned to the colt and yelled “Get us the buck out of here Runt Wings!”

“Right away!” the little pegasus shouted. His little wings began beating like a humming bird, pushing the gondola forward faster than any paddle could.

False Tooth turned to the mare on the overlook and smiled. “Better luck next time!”

Daring Do rolled her eyes as she stepped backwards. With a shrug of her shoulders, her kimono slipped off her athletic frame. She galloped to the edge and leapt into the air with a smile on her face as she broke into flight.

“What?! She’s a pegasus?” False shrieked as Daring began flying towards them. “Why didn’t the boss tell us that?”

“How should I know?” Runt Wings responded. “You’re a unicorn. Shoot her down!”

Without further prompting, the yellow stallion’s horn glowed as he shot bolts of magic at the flying menace. Daring Do dodged a bolt with a swift lean to the right, then made a small dive below another. Daring Do reached over a with a hoof and pushed her mane out of her face as she continued zooming ever closer the the gondola. The waterway became more difficult to navigate as bridges, balconies, and awnings obstructed the narrow passage.

Daring barrel-rolled to dodge another blast of magic. When the adventure mare looked back, she saw it hit an awning and disintegrate the fabric. She looked forward just in time to dive below a particularly high-set bridge as another bolt of magic flew over it. Daring looped around the bridge and resumed, gaining on the fleeing gang ponies.

“Hold still... so I can... hit you!” the unicorn grunted as he fired off another spell. It hit the roofing of a building, causing the tiles to fall down in a wide avalanche just behind Daring. The stallion smiled, again showing his wooden grin as he began shooting all the roofs around him. Daring had to dodge around several red tiles as they fell into the waters below. Daring shifted to the left before she realized her mistake as she plowed through a clothes line.

She entered a tailspin as the clothing wrapped around her and stole her momentum. She disentangled herself just in time to pull up from the water, a foot from falling in and losing her chance to get at the artifact. She frowned as she saw that the distance between her and her mark had grown considerably. As she tried to catch up though, a smile formed on her face and she slowed to a hover.

Runt Wings looked back and gave a panicked laugh. “She gave up! She’s not following us! You did it False Tooth! Now we just have to-- WAAAGH!” The gondola struck the white stone of a dock and flipped over, launching the young pegasus and the older unicorn into a pile of barrels. The dock was small and enclosed, with an alley leading one way and a door opposite of it with an awning over it. Daring Do glided towards the dock as Runt Wings managed to pull himself out of the barrels and hobble towards a building.

False Tooth tried to move but yelled as his left hind hoof sent a shock through his system. “Wait! Don’t leave me!” he shouted as Runt opened up a door.

The blue pegasus turned to his partner in crime and shook his head. “Too late for that old chum.” He entered the building and slammed it shut. False could hear the bolt slide the door locked as Daring landed on the dock.

“Thoroughly unreliable,” Daring stated. “Suppose we both realize that’s all the Empty Hoof Clan is.” The adventure mare stopped in front of the pile of barrels as the stallion finally managed to drag himself away from them.

Black powder leaked from the barrels as the stallion reached into a saddlebag and pulled out a bracer. It was more of an armlet, or a gauntlet really. It was mostly black steel, with brass colored decals covering it, deliberately unremarkable, a soldiers adornment. Daring stepped over to the colt and swatted the bracer out of his mouth, placing it in her own saddlebag.

“Please!” the stallion pleaded. “Don’t do this! The Empty Hoof, they’ve already taken all my teeth! I-I don’t want to find out what they take when you fail after they take all your teeth!”

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you started selling shoddily made counterfeits that anypony with a year in archeology training could realize was fake,” Daring replied. “But if you’re really scared for your future, I hear the Bitalian police force could always do with informants. Now go on, get.” She gestured with a hoof down a side alley.

False Tooth limped down the alley with his tail literally between his legs. Daring took a deep breath and let the salt-flavored air pervade her nose as she sighed. She sat down and brought out the bracelet again. “Ten years father,” she said. “Ten years and I’ve finally been able to find a small piece of the puzzle. I just hope finding the other pieces will go faster than this.” Daring’s ears pinned back as she heard hoofsteps come from the door the blue pegasus had entered.

The door creaked open to reveal Runt Wings as he looked around. “I don’t see either of them!” he hissed. “Go on out there and see if you can tell where they went!”

The door swung fully open as a brown earth pony and a brown unicorn stepped through it. The earth pony looked about. “Why the hell did you bring us out here if there wasn’t a threat!” he exclaimed irritably. “Last thing we need is to be taken away from our posts on some wild goose chase!”

“I told you,” Runt responded, “Daring Do was right here along with False Tooth! See if you can find a sign of either of them.”

The brown unicorn gave a sigh as he lifted a hoof to his brow. “And now they’re both gone. Sorry little foal, but we aren’t putting our necks on the line just because you couldn’t get away from some mare. Use the scrying crystal in our shop and let us get back to watching over the shipment. Empty Hoof is going to be ticked off, but it was False Tooth who botched the job; you’ll get off easy this time.”

With a downturned face Runt followed after the two older stallions back inside, shutting the door and locking it behind him. When Daring could no longer hear their hooves beating on the ground, she slipped off the awning and landed softly on the ground. She looked over to the barrels in the corner and the black powder that had leaked from them.

“Shipping eh?” Daring said to herself. “Suppose I should remind Mr. Empty Hoof that smuggling never gets anypony rich.” With that Daring bucked the door in with her hooves and entered hastily, diving behind a crate and listening to see if anypony came to investigate.

Daring looked at the crate beside her and squinted her eyes in the dim light to make out the label. “Fireworks grade black powder,” she muttered. Her eyes moved upwards to see an oil lantern casting a soft light over her. “Smuggled in to avoid taxes, and then stored in the worst possible way. Amateurs,” Daring whispered as she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Daring crept behind the crates and and made her way out of the hallway into the main storage area. All around crates filled with smuggled goods. Daring sighed in relief to see that it wasn’t all black powder. “Alright,” Daring began, “knock out Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and the colt, leave an ‘anonymous’ tip, and be back to the Bittish Isle and Do Manor in time for a late supper come tomorrow.” With that Daring continued among the crates until she saw a room among the catwalks running above her. In it a light the shadows of an earth pony, and unicorn, and a slightly smaller pegasus against the grimy window panes.

“Now listen boss, I know that bracelet was real important to ya, but we can get it back! Honest! She couldn’t have gone far.”

“Damn straight you’re going to get it back!” yelled a far-eastern accented voice. “The number of bits I could make selling knockoffs of that artifact would make me rich enough to swim in a pool of gold!”

Daring hovered up to the roof of the room and continued listening until the conversation stopped. After a few seconds she folded her wings in and let herself fall through the roof and into the room. She landed right in front of the earth pony and grinned.

“Knock...” Daring spun around and bucked the stallion in the chest. “Knock.” He flew into a wall and slumped, unconscious.

“Damn! Get her!” Runt yelled as he tried to get out through the door, but he had trouble reaching the handle set out of his reach. His wings buzzed as he hovered up to it. He was too scared to properly work the handle, and landed on his rump as Daring engaged the unicorn stallion.

Daring jumped to the side as a spell flew by her head. She jumped over the stallion and did a flip, planting her hooves in the small of his back in the process, then launched herself off and landed behind him. She kicked out with her hind hooves, and the unicorn was launched out of the window, into the cargo bay.

Daring looked over at the small pegasus and furrowed her brow at him. “Shouldn’t you be with your mother?” When the colt looked down, she walked to the scrying crystal and told him not to move.

Adjusting the dial with her hoof, Daring set the crystal to the Bitalian police department. When she hit the dial button a white-coated, blue-maned earth pony in uniform was on the other end. He looked over Daring and gave a gasp. “Daring! Is that you? Oh no, you went and found something didn’t you?”

“Indeed I did Clear Shot, there’s a smuggling ring that I’ve found. Do you think you can send a squad here to investigate? Three suspects, including...” With this Daring looked over at the colt who was still quivering in the corner. “A minor.”

“Haaaaahh,” Clear Shot sighed. “I’ll be sure and send over a squad. Hope the colt’s not in too deep. Tracing your call now.”

Daring looked behind her to the broken window as she eyed a sparking light fixture that the stallion had hit. Right over a crate packed with black powder.

“Tracing won’t be necessary!” Daring yelled as she grabbed the unconscious earth pony and the young pegasus in her hooves as she flew out the back entrance and dumped them into the water. The intrepid adventurer darted back in, weaving amongst the crates, and grabbed the earth pony just as a nearby crate caught on fire. She flew with all her speed as a rumbling emanated behind her. A shockwave blasted her out of the building, knocked the earth pony out of her grasp and sent her careening through the air.

Daring shook her head after a few moments of sailing through the air and leveled herself off to a dive into the canals before a second explosion rocked the city’s bridges. Daring surfaced and used her wings to paddle through the water to a dock. Clambering onto the white stone, she looked over. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw the pegasus colt clinging to a piece of driftwood in the canal a few hundred feet away. The mare shook herself dry as the sounds of sirens became audible from far off.

“Lovely day for a swim, isn’t it Miss Do,” a voice stated behind Daring in a posh accent. The mare spun on her hooves to see that three pegasi and two unicorns in black suits and sunglasses were looking at her.

A unicorn reached over to an earpiece and whispered, “We have located the package.”

One of the pegasi reached up to his suit with a hoof and wiped off a fleck of water.

“You certainly have caused a big amount of trouble in little old Bitaly, Miss Do,” a pegasus at the front of the group continued.

Daring grinned at the apparent leader. “Please, just Daring will do.”

“Regardless, our employer would like very much to meet with a mare of your talents,” the pegasus responded, leaning to the side to look at the former warehouse in the distance. “She is always on the lookout for those who show an exceptional talent in the field of... special item retrieval.”

“Well I’m afraid your employer is terribly mistaken as to what I do. I don’t do commission work,” Daring said. She took a step to the side when the unicorns levitated out crossbows.

“I’m afraid that we have to insist Miss Do.” The pegasus leader shifted his wings uncomfortably as Daring looked between his fellow agents.

Daring looked behind her to see the brown unicorn and earth pony smugglers get hauled out of the water by the police and placed beside the blue colt. Daring could see they were still breathing. She turned back to the black suited ponies in front of her and smiled. “Well I suppose if you insist.”

Daring Do

at

Forty Fathoms

Deep