Daring Do and the Crimson Cataylstby Vespi
Chapters
The Letter
Daring Do looked out into the city of Canterlot behind the ornate glass window. Daring Do owned her own office (Although she seldom used it) which held one of the nicest views of Canterlot’s down town she had ever seen. She didn’t have anything to do for the day and was painfully bored. She finally grew weary of the view and trotted back over to her desk. Every time she walked by her desk she couldn’t help but smile at, what she called her “Record”. It was a small shelve which held various pictures of her greatest victories and small little trophies that she had held onto. There were a small cluster of ancient Maran gold, a Stalliongrad glass vase, Coltic jewelry, and of course her newest (And unsold) trophy the Sapphire Stature. Looking at the small azure blue statue made Daring Do look down at her wing, she couldn’t help but remember she almost lost that same wing on that dangerous mission. Fortunately the doctor said she would make a full recovery; in fact the doctor told Daring Do she could take the bandage off at any time and ordered her just not to fly on it which was simple enough.
It was hard for Daring Do to imagine all of these things could have happened in the short span of 2 years in which she had been exploring the world. Originally when she was 18 she was a detective here in Canterlot. Although things did not last and she only stayed in the detective agency for 2 years she did find one important thing; sponsors. She had always wanted to see the world and explore what it had to offer. But sadly Daring Do had never had the money to explore ruins which could contain artifacts worth thousands of bits. Luckily Daring Do’s companions in the detective agency all knew about her lust for adventure, fame and fortune. That is why they all pitched in to give her a small sum of cash for her to adventure. Daring Do promised a profit to them all and boy was she right. She joined a small corps of explorers who were roaming Central Equestria looking for old Maran gold. They hit the jackpot and Daring Do got her share (5000 bits). She ended up giving 4000 of the 5000 to her investors and kept the last 1000 for herself. It still surprised Daring Do that not all of them were sent to jail for tax fraud.
Daring Do finally got bored yet again and sat down in her chair and opened her journal. Sometimes she relished in turning the pages to her first few entries and laugh in hind sight at the younger Daring Do.
“Dear Journal
Got a snake bite; hurts”
That one made Daring Do laugh out loud to herself. She had to admit even the most legendary explorers, such as herself, were greenhorn adventurers at one point. Daring Do had had her share of: snake bites, infections, heat exhaustion, hypothermia, cuts, viruses, poisonings, punctures, frost bites, and the myriad other day to day problems of an explorer of the dangerous lands beyond Canterlot.
Daring Do was so immersed in day dreaming about her first adventure she almost didn’t hear the knocking on the door.
“It’s open!” Daring Do called out. She heard the door open and saw 2 stallions walk into her room. She instantly recognized the two as Snow Shower and Sherlock Hooves.
Snow Shower was the only sponsor not in jail. Snow Shower is a white unicorn with short and spiky black hair. Snow Shower and Daring Do weren’t the best of friends but Daring Do still vaguely remembered his personality. Snow Shower was a colt of integrity and honesty. It was said integrity that kept him on the narrow city streets and not in the narrower jail cell.
Then there was Sherlock Hooves. Sherlock Hooves was the greatest detective of all time in Daring Do’s eyes. He was a tan Earth Pony who was notorious for wearing a deer stalker hat. He was the perfect stallion for his profession. He was cunning and sly and had a super natural power of deception. That is probably why Sherlock Hooves didn’t sponsor Daring Do’s first expedition (Although he wanted to).
“Good evening Miss Do, nice day is it not?” Sherlock Hooves asked; his eyes darting all over the room.
“Sure is” Daring Do responded “So how can I help you?” She instantly knew what Sherlock Hooves was up to. She had learned and observed from him while she was in the detectives agency. His eyes were darting in every location like a rubber ball on a cement platform; he was looking for a small detail that he could use against Daring Do.
“I assume things have been well to you Miss Do? I noticed your latest trophy on your wall.” Sherlock Hooves observed. Snow Shower hadn’t even noticed the small shelf near her desk.”
“Yes I actually got back a week ago. I am still trying to find a seller.” Daring Do said in an emotionless voice. She wanted to sound proud about her victory over her arch nemesis Ahuitzotl. But she knew the smallest piece of emotion could cause a snowball of deception with Sherlock Hooves. Sherlock Hooves is famed for catching a mass murderer in a crowded theater by just watching his facial expressions when Sherlock questioned him.
“Interesting I am sure your good friend Ahuitzotl put up a grand fight?” Sherlock asked. Being with Sherlock was extremely aggravating. Daring Do always thought Sherlock was too much detective too much of the time. It was common for him to question random ponies in the middle of a conversation. If you had a secret the last person you wanted to be with was Sherlock Hooves.
“I used deception and managed a victory” Daring Do said; trying to mimic Sherlock’s sturdy tone of voice.
“I see you hurt your wing again; might I ask you how you harmed it?” Sherlock Hooves asked.
“I got smashed into a wall by a tiger. It hit the Cerberus Ligament.” Daring Do said; she knew this could be check mate.
“I see but I noticed the bandage mark is in the center of your wing. Why would you bandage the middle of your wing if the Cerberus Ligament is at the base of the wing?” Sherlock Hooves questioned.
“Well I am not a doctor” Daring Do said; her shoddy excuse wasn’t going to cut it for the great Sherlock Hooves.
“Interesting I believe they teach anatomy in Equestrian colleges. Are you telling me you believed your wing bone was your Cerberus Ligament? Also I find it strange how a bear could precisely hit the targeted area at a surprising 180 degrees.” Sherlock said
“Well… you see-“ Daring Do said fumbling to make up an excuse.
“Miss Do you’re sweating and nervousness is a dead giveaway. How’d you really hurt your wing?” Sherlock asked; check mate.
Daring Do gave out a loud exhale “I ran into a tree.” Snow Shower stifled a laugh.
“Interesting coming from the legendary Daring Do, maybe you’re losing your skills?” Sherlock Hooves taunted.
“Why’d you really come here Sherlock?” Daring Do questioned. Even the pompous Sherlock Hooves didn’t walk into random offices to insult ponies.
Sherlock though continued with his victory speech “O Miss Do you‘re a lot like my friend Snow Shower here I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow that I am very much in your debt."
Sherlock Hooves was also notorious for reciting the same speech to all of his fellow detectives when he had bested them at his own game.
“Well Miss Do” Snow Shower said while sitting in a black leather chair facing Daring Do “We are in need of your assistance.”
“Where am I going North, South, East or West?” Daring Do asked
“Well I will tell you the story Miss Do.” Snow Shower said; taking a small letter from the pockets of his jacket.
“This is a letter written by one Bronze Scimitar of the city of Ponioch:
Dear Sherlock Holmes,
My name is Bronze Scimitar. I am the son of a great merchant in Ponioch. The desert has many secrets and I believe I have stumbled onto one of them. I am sure you are familiar with the Soundless Desert inland of the Gallopi coast? Well one day I was heading to Celestinaople with a caravan of 4 ponies when we were attacked by at leastly 20 thieves. They killed my men and pillaged our goods; I being the son of a noble was taken hostage. I was bound, gagged, and blinded when I overheard two of my captors. They were talking about a rare jewel in the ancient pharaoh temple of “Kebehut”. They spoke of a bounty of treasure sealed in the tomb for the last 1000 years. They spoke about something called a “Crimson Catalyst” as well. I do not dare want to venture out into the vast desert to find this temple. But you have told me about your ex-partner Daring Do. She must know about this! I fear something fishy is going on as well in our kingdom. I fear the worst…
-Bronze Scimitar
P.S. The thieves were actually kind of cool and we went out for ice cream after the ransom was paid; actually a bunch of nice colts.
“As you see Miss Do I and my agency are detectives, not treasure hunters. It would be very dangerous for us to venture across the sea to Ponioch in order to find this temple without proper training and or experience. That is why we have come here today. If you find the treasure I believe we will cut the profits let’s say 50/50?” Sherlock Hooves asked
“65/35 plus supplies and pony power” Daring Do said
“I believe it would be best 50/50” Sherlock Hooves bargained “After all we did inform you about this now didn’t we?”
“Yes and I’m grateful” Daring Do said; she knew Sherlock’s type of ponies. They were the type that assumed treasure hunting was easy. It wasn’t; she deserves every bit she gets. “But if you don’t accept 65/35 I’ll go to Ponioch and we can go 100/0.”
Sherlock Hooves wiped his forehead and looked at Snow Shower “Perhaps 60/40 would be in your radius?”
“Fine 60/40” Daring Do said “But you got to pay for supplies and I expect some additional help.”
“How much exactly dare I ask?” Sherlock Hooves asked
“Well I’ll need some help in researchers and detectives.”
“But this seems very straight forward. Go from point A to point B.” Snow Shower said
“Perhaps” Sherlock Hooves said “Although there are numerous things that concern me about this paper. Our friend here, Bronze Scimitar, is writing surprisingly sloppy, as if he was in a hurry. Also check the sent date.” Sherlock Hooves pointed at a line in the letter to Snow Shower.
“But that was only 3 days ago; how’d he get the letter here so fast if he’s all the way in Gallopi!?” Snow Stomper asked
“He used deluxe ultra-express mail which would have been a fortune on his part. But why the big rush? This weathered paper indicates it is from Gallopi, but why was our sender so impatient about this letter?” Sherlock Hooves asked
“So I guess I’m headed to Gallopi” Daring Do said in a casual voice.
“Excited are we?” Sherlock Hooves asked “Don’t lie this time”
Daring Do gave Sherlock Hoove’s a mischievous smile
“Yes, yes I am.”
***
*Indiana Jones music inbound*
Ba babum bum ba babum bum, ba babum bum babum bum, BABADUM BABUM BABUDUM! BABADUM BABUM BADUDUM! BABADUMMMMMM BABADUMMMMM BABADUMMMMMMMMMMM!
DARING DO
AND THE CRIMSON CATALYST
By Vespi
The Bet
Daring Do grabbed all of her necessities. All of the supplies such as canteens, tools, maps, and what not were going to be supplied to Daring Do at the expense of Snow Shower and Sherlock Hooves. She put on her green shirt (Her favorite of all her shirts) and grabbed her favorite hat and was out the door.
Daring Do loved the neighborhood her office/home was located in. It was beautiful suburb area in Canterlot. The ponies around here weren’t the high class snobs that were in downtown but instead were just simple ponies getting by. It was the type of ponies Daring Do liked; the ones who worked hard and lived good lives.
Daring Do checked her forehoof watch, she still had half an hour or so until the boat was leaving. This gave her plenty of time to walk around and relax before the big job. A small bolt of wind lazily flew by causing Daring Do’s black hair to flutter in the breeze. She thought about putting her hat on but she loved the wind as it was and went against it.
“Hey it’s Daring Do!” A young voice cried out. Daring Do turned around to see a small cluster of fillies and colts running towards her. There small eyes brightened with surprise and excitement.
“It’s Daring Do! It’s Daring Do! It’s Daring Do! It’s Daring Do!” A young filly cried out in pure glee.
“Relax kiddies; don’t you have school or something?” Daring Do joked. She had never really been much of a star. Some ponies knew her name and her reputation but she had never had a mob like this.
“But we are in school!” A little violet unicorn said “Don’t you have work?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Daring Do said playfully
“She is obviously going to work Blue Violet! Daring Do what are you going to get now? A dragon egg? A phoenix? Or like a dragon phoenix egg!?“ A short little colt said.
“Relax ponies it isn’t story time. I got to roll” Daring Do said
Daring Do didn’t really want to leave all the little foal dejected but she also didn’t want to be stuck telling the little foal a story and miss her boat. Still it touched her that ponies (Even if they are foal) knew about the legendary Daring Do.
Daring Do continued to walk for perhaps 10 minutes before she got to the ship. It was a small and private ship; nothing too unique about it. It was maybe 300 feet with oak masts and bright yellow, blue, and rosy red coloring. On one side gilded in gold was “The Equinox”.
Daring Do knew that there were many other boats in the harbor and was relieved that she found the boat on the first try. Then again Sherlock Hooves and Snow Shower were both standing outside looking around impatiently. Daring Do couldn’t help but notice Sherlock Hooves’s unique hat, pipe, and jacket. Most detectives wore some sort of clothing to cover their cutie mark (Since 90% of detective’s have a magnifying glass or something like that as cutie marks) but Daring Do had never seen a pony with Sherlock Hooves’s…fashion.
“Tick Tock Miss Do” Sherlock Hooves said “I assumed you would know I am not the type of pony to waste time that could be well spent.”
“Relax Sherlock” Daring Do said with a wave of the hoof “We got plenty of time.”
“Miss Do I know you know I hate flippant behavior. You still need to meet some of the detectives that will be coming to Marabia with us. Please follow.” Sherlock Hooves said as he boarded the ship.
The three ponies travelled through several rooms and finally came into a meeting room; or at leastly in Daring Do’s eyes. It was a nice room with a bar in one corner, 3 leather couches in the center of the room, a pool table against one wall, and a large amount of pictures depicting the ship and various ponies Daring Do had never seen before.
“Miss Do I believe you remember your good friend Sugar Blossom…” Sherlock Hooves said turning his back so he could leave the conversation for good.
Sugar Blossom was one of Daring Do’s only friends back in the detective agency. She was a young and energetic earth mare with stunning vitality and never ending adrenaline. She was light blue-white with a honey yellow mane and tail. Her cutie mark was you guessed it… a blossom.
“Long time no see Daring Do!” Sugar Blossom said jumping up from her seat and hugging Daring Do.
“Nice to see you again Sugar Blossom how’s it been?” Daring Do asked while returning the good natured hug.
“How was the hunt? Find anything good?” Sugar Blossom asked. Sugar Blossom was the only pony Daring Do actually invited on her first expedition. Sadly Sugar Blossom didn’t want to come as she preferred to stay in her comfort zone of Canterlot. Ever since the first expedition the two had never talked as Daring Do was always exploring ancient ruins while Sugar Blossom was enjoying the life as a social butterfly.
“Meh a sapphire statue, gold, glass vases, that stuff” Daring Do said with a prideful smile.
“Interesting I found 4 of those statues. So there is there only two left?” A voice called out. Daring Do tilted her head to reveal a tan pegasus with short brown hair and a weathered looking hat. Daring Do instantly noticed him as the awesome, the magnificent, the bold, the coolest, the amazing
“Shooting Star!” Daring Do screamed at the top of her lungs before cringing. Daring Do hated to admit it but Shooting Star in many ways was her idol. In fact it was him that inspired her to go from hunting baddies on the street to hunting gold in the dungeons. She didn’t want her tone to be so loud and enthusiastic though. Nonetheless Daring Do was quick on her hooves “Nice to meet you I am Miss Do”
“Nice to meet you I’m Shooting Star” The young stallion said with a smile “So you’ve heard about me?”
“O yea I heard you’re a good explorer” Daring Do said “I do a little bit of exploring myself”
“Cool” Shooting Star said with a charmistic smile. Daring Do noticed Sherlock Hooves’s eyes darting around impatiently as if he had things to show her but Daring Do didn’t care, she wanted to Shooting Star.
Sherlock Hooves gave up on the introductions and allowed the few ponies to spread out and do what they wanted.
“We got a couple hours at sea” Sherlock Hooves said “I presume you all knew that already”
Daring Do and Shooting Star sat face to face at the bar. Shooting Star was playing with a small globe. He then dropped in on the table and spun it brazenly. Daring Do counted 5 seconds when Shooting Star put a hoof on the top and pointed to a landform facing Daring Do
“Been there twice.” Daring Do said
“Four times” Shooting Star retorted
Shooting Star spun the globe again, waited 5 minutes, then stopped the globe and pointed to a new land mass.
“Three times” Daring Do said
“Six times” Shooting Star said with a glitter of laughter
Daring Do frowned as she knew she could never beat the slightly more experienced treasure hunter at this game.
“Cool you’ve been to places; find anything interesting?” Daring Do asked with a snide smile “Besides rocks?”
Shooting Star (Who himself had studied the art of deception in his free time) gave out a smile and pulled out his wallet. He flicked his wrist and the wallet opened and a parade of photos dropped out and rapidly unfolded. Daring Do was stunned, there were so many photos the vine of photography hit the ground!
“We got here the Emerald Statue” Shooting Star said pointing to a photo
“Okay” Daring Do said
“Here is Maran gold”
“I found some of that”
“Book by Star Swirl the Bearded”
“Okay but I’ve found a-“
“Lance of Sir Bravealot”
“Okay but!”
“Holy Grail”
“OKAY!” Daring Do finally said loudly “Okay you might have more shiny pieces of metal then me but how abut we make a bet.”
“I’m all ears” Shooting Star said casually leaning back in his chair; his winner's smile at the ready.
“Whoever finds the Crimson- whatever it is can call themselves the greatest treasure hunter of all time.” Daring Do said
“Interesting” Shooting Star said tersely “And the loser?”
“Goes home” Daring Do said; her eye looking out into the room to see if she was gaining any excess attention.
“Sounds like a deal to me sis” Shooting Star said; reaching out his hoof
“It’s a deal” Daring Do said with smile.
Shooting Star gave one last smile before getting up from his bar stool and joining Snow Shower and another detective at the pool table. Sherlock Holmes (Who was overhearing the entire conversation stepped by and sat down at Shooting Star’s seat.
“Miss Do I do not hope we will have any unneeded competition on this assignment.” Sherlock Hooves said “I hired you, not as a friend, but as a treasure hunter. Yet I fear that our other friend here is a wee bit more talented.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Daring Do belligerently questioned looking at Sherlock Holmes as if the answer was on his forehead. “Why is he even coming?”
“Considering 2 heads are better than 1 and he being your idol; I assumed he could be a necessity.” Sherlock Hooves said “It is not a problem is it?”
“No I’m fine with it and all” Daring Do said “Have you heard anything from the Bronze guy yet?”
“I fear not. Then again I highly doubt even with Bronze Scimitar’s highly advanced mailing credentials that any mail could get past the ocean in a day.” Sherlock Hooves said “I presume he will be anxious to meet us at Ponioch.”
“Okay…” Daring Do said. She was hoping that there was some sort of new message from Bronze Scimitar. Daring Do hated being in the dark; especially with the perceptive Sherlock Hooves around.
“I do believe our captain is getting ready to set sail” Sherlock Hooves said turning head like an owl towards the door “If I may I must excuse myself”
Sherlock Hooves trotted to the door and closed it. For a split second Daring Do saw the Canterlot Bay moving as the ship pressed forward.
As if Daring Do had been in a trance she just realized the bet she had just made. She knew that Shooting Star was the more famous and more experience (By a mere 1 year) of the two and had the upper hoof. Daring Do didn’t want to be sent home ashamed and unpaid either.
“Well this is going to be interesting” Daring Do muttered to herself “Bar colt! Get me an Applejack Daniels!”