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!”