Daring’s perspective:

I awoke peacefully to the feel of warmth embracing my body. It felt nice and in my current state of mind I thought nothing of it. I pulled myself in tighter to the warmth and wrapped the furry limb around my body for better insulation.

I quickly thought to myself and looked to the brown fur that I had wrapped around myself. It was a foreleg, and one was also underneath me. I heard a very faint and relaxed breathing from behind me as well as the feel of a breathing chest.

I quickly lept out of bed with a scream, grabbing a bed sheet and covering my less than decent body. “JOHN! WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU DOING?!” I screamed. He stirred suddenly from my loud voice and slowly opened his eyes. In his morning drowse he simply mouthed his tongue around inside his mouth then smiled weakly.

“Morning.” He replied groggily.

“Yes, indeed, morning! John what the buck are you doing in my bed… why are you… what… I… you…” I stuttered in irritation.

He let out a tired moan and yawn then wiped some drool from his lips. Oh great, he had been drooling while he slept. I swear to Celestia if he got drool on my fur then…

“Hmm… oh yeah, that’s right. Last night Billy kicked me out of bed and I passed out. Then I stumbled over and found a bed.” He replied casually as he stood up. Though he had a pair of nightwear shorts on, it was considerably revealing.

“Oh goddess! John get some clothes on!” I gasped as I covered my eyes. He scratched his head in confusion.

“Funny… I thought I had them on when I fell asleep.” He muttered then began to trot around until he finally found his clothes clumped up at the base of the bed. “Found them!” He announced.

“Yeah-yeah, that’s great! Now get outside and change would yah?” I asked in irritation. He rolled his eyes and left, mumbling to himself. He suddenly stopped in the doorway just before he left and looked back to me.

“Oh and Daring, thanks.” He thanked me. I raised an eyebrow.

“For what?! Is that some sort of joke?!” I inquired and he shook his head.

“No seriously. You didn’t kick me out of bed like Billy did… by the way my arm feels numb so I’d say you actually snuggled up to me again.” He commented. In my sudden frustration from his last comment I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

“Get out already!” I scowled and he did as I told him. He quickly shut the door behind him and I let the bed sheet drop to the floor around my hooves. I quickly scrounged for my regular clothes but instead of my adventuring hat I took that brown ‘Poet’ hat.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door then came John’s voice. “Hey Daring, it’s six-thirty. Do you want to come for breakfast with me and meet that guy… Extrava… whatever his name was?” He asked. I thought about it for a moment.

“Promise not to have a food fight with Billy?” I asked and he chuckled.

“Billy and Brixie are passed out cold. It would just be you and me… well you know.” He informed me and I paced over to the door. I opened it with a smile.

“Alright John… let’s go have breakfast.” I told him and he smiled. I smirked, “And tonight, you’re sleeping on the couch.” I told him and he laughed from the comment.

We left the parlour room and began to trot down the hallways together. John was wearing his old duster clothes and I was wearing my olive green adventuring clothes along with my newly acquired brown poet hat. It was pretty nice and catchy and I didn’t feel like leaving it behind.

As we descended to the lower levels and towards the dining room hall we bumped into a rather large stallion. Actually it was his dog that we bumped into. The very well-kept Golden Retriever accidentally bumped into John on our way down the hallway leading to the dining room. The dog was well brushed, its hair was straightened and had a very distinctive gold colour for fur.

“Bear!” Called its owner and the dog looked back to the big grey stallion that stood behind it. The stallion was an earth pony with a very large muscular physique. His body was well toned and he wore a casual set of black trousers with a white t-shirt.

His fur was grey and his mane was a golden blond, much like the dog. But his mane was starting to grey around the sides. His right eye was a golden hue but a black eye patch covered the left eye completely. A scar started from the top left of his forehead and trailed down across his face on an angle, under the eye path, across his nose then stopped with a deep gash scar on the bottom of his right cheek.

“Howdy.” John said with a tip of his hat as he passed the stallion. The stallion simply kept quiet and nodded to himself. “I didn’t know they let pets on board.” John commented and I could tell the stallion was trying to think of an excuse. John could tell as well. “Oh sorry… didn’t mean nothing by it. I just haven’t seen any other animals on board so I just figured… never mind. Can I?” John asked as he knelt down to pet the dog which was panting in excitement in the middle of the duo.

The large stallion nodded. John began to pet the dog’s head then began to scratch the dog’s ear as he rubbed the side of its face. The dog quickly rolled onto its back and John proceeded to give it a belly rub. I had no idea John was such a whiz with animals.

“Name’s John.” John introduced himself as he stood up. The stallion thought for a minute then swallowed as he shook John’s hoof.

“Elijah… this is Bear.” He introduced himself and his dog.

“Well Elijah, it was nice meeting you. I hope to see you again soon.” John commented as he gave the dog one last rub to the side of its face. Elijah nodded then trotted off with his dog.

John looked to me then we both proceeded to the dining room. John took off his hat and scanned the area for the stallion we were looking for. He quickly spotted the stallion and we both proceeded over to his table. As soon as the guy saw us he gulped.

“Hey Mr. Extrava… aaah uhm…” John trailed off and I answered for him.

“Mr. Extravagant Pants, it’s so nice to see you again.” I stated in relief for John.

Pants just looked at us with a shocked look. “What… what happened to your clothes? You look so… uncivilized.” He commented and John simply chuckled.

“Heh, heh… yeah uhm… our clothes are still being washed. The stains didn’t come out as easily as we thought. Oh it’s John by the way.” John offered his hoof in greeting.

“John…?” Pants trailed his sentence off in hopes to learn John’s last name but John really didn’t have a last name. He was always known as ‘The Lone Ranger.’

“Ranger. John Ranger.” John introduced himself. The name wasn’t actually all that bad.

Pants nodded then looked to me and extended his hoof. “Ah, Mrs. Ranger, I presume.” He stated and both John and I’s eyes went wide and we both began to try and stutter out that we weren’t married.

“No, she isn’t, I mean I’m not… we aren’t… uhm…” John stammered as I did as well.

“He didn’t… I’m not his… we aren’t… uhh…” I stammered along with John.

Extravagant Pants chuckled. “Oh I see. Haven’t popped the question yet huh?” He asked and we both nodded in unison then began to shake our heads again as we realized that would imply that we were dating.

He chuckled as we stuttered and tried to explain how it was between us. Pants just raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Never mind, regardless of your… relationship status, please-please, take a seat.” He offered and we both let out a sigh as we sat down across from him.

Jeeze, was that ever awkward. Pants looked to me. “So my dear, what is your name?” He asked.

“Daring, Daring Do.” I informed him and he raised an eyebrow.

“The ever famous Ms. Do… well I must say it is truly an honour, my lady.” He explained as he extended his hoof to greet me. I extended mine to shake his but instead he pulled my hoof over to himself and planted a kiss on the topside of my hoof. I blushed a little as he released my hoof and I set it back at my side.

He looked to the both of us. “So Ms. Do… how did the two of you become… traveling partners?” He asked and I shrugged.

“Well John saved my life then offered to help me retrieve my treasure.” I informed him.

“More like hitched along.” John muttered and I gave him a light jab to the ribs.

Pants smiled. “I see… well Mr. Ranger, I suppose that makes you a true gentlecolt.” Pants commented.

“Yeah, that’d be the day.” I muttered under my breath. John gave me a nudge to the side. I just rolled my eyes.

The butler came around and took Mr. Extravagant and his Wife’s order, the name of his wife I hadn’t gotten.

The butler looked to John and I. I ordered a simple sandwich. John looked to the menu then ordered pancakes. Pants gave him an odd look from the order. The butler nodded then trotted away. As we waited for breakfast we all began to converse about simple things. Pants mostly talked about his financial success.

John kept quiet for the most part and I only told the story about ‘The Quest for The Sapphire Stone’. Pants was extremely enthralled by it but John didn’t pay much attention, simply looking to the other attractions of the dining room and only paying attention during the parts about the deadly traps I had to go through.

After a few minutes the food arrived. Pants went about to cut his food up in a fine and highly civilized manner. His wife proceeded to do the same thing. I followed suit but John simply took the pancakes in his bare hoof then dipped them in the maple syrup. He ate them more like some-pony would a cookie with milk. Pants and his wife just gave him a shocked look.

John looked up from a face full of pancakes, some syrup dripping down from the side of his mouth. He stopped mid-chew then picked up another pancake. “Want some?” He asked, his voice muffled from the mouthful of chew pancakes, some pieces of chewed pancake falling out of his mouth. I face hoofed.

Author's Notes:

John... you're gonna get it... I keep thinking to myself "I couldn't imagine being the guy who was driving the Titanic when it smoked that iceberg. Just BAM! 'Oh shit' The Captain: What just happened?' Me: Uhm Captain, promise not to be mad but... I just totally smoked that iceberg with this multimillion dollar ship... PLEASE DON'T FIRE ME! IT WAS MY FIRST DAY ON THE JOB, I SWEAR!"