The two of you were able to get away from the hotel only moments before the police showed up. There was a large crowd gathered around something on the ground almost directly below your previous room.

You can only assume what it is.

Or who it is.

Just as you were exiting the vicinity of the hotel, dozens of police officers ran into the hotel or flew up to your room.

At this particular moment, it would appear you and Daring are alright.

You would think that now that you’re away from the hotel, you’d be free. But that’s not the case.

The ponies running the place should not have a hard time remembering that two dirty, bloody, sweaty individuals checked-in the previous day and have now disappeared.

You’re definitely wanted.

Daring and you are currently walking to the nearest train station, doing your best not to draw any unwanted attention

Unfortunately, at this time of the day, the streets are packed, so not drawing attention is difficult. But because it is so crowded, at least it will take a while for the police to find you.

Seeing that you have a few moments of silence you decide to try thinking again. It didn’t work the last time, but it never hurts to try.

Name... Name... Name...

You’re not getting anything. Nothing sounds familiar to you.

Fuck. Whatever. I don’t need a name anyway.

You decide to stop thinking. All it did was make you upset, and this day has been bad enough already.

And it’s not even noon!

You look around as the both of you continue venturing through the unnamed city.

It would appear that the area you were just in was the upscale part of the city. There was a luxurious hotel, tall buildings, and a great view of the surrounding area.

However, after walking for a few minutes, you quickly notice not all of the city is like that.

The buildings currently around you are rundown pieces of crap. Everything around you looks like it’s made out of sand. And feces.

You really want to go back to the nicer part of the city, but you can’t because of Daring.

Sure, she saved your life, but she was the one who endangered it in the first place! Why the hell does everyone and their mother want to kill her?

Not to mention that she could have gotten rid of your attacker in a less flamboyant way. She didn’t need to chuck him off a building.

But you’re grateful.

You really are. You should stop giving her such a hard time. She really seems to be wanting to help you, even though you're not a single step closer to actually getting back home.

“This way,” Daring says, getting your attention.

You look down and notice she has already started walking down a separate street to your left, and you follow her without question.

You continue to observe your surroundings, as bland as they may be.

“You alright?” Daring asks from next to you.

You nod without looking at her. “This place looks like Mos Eisley,” you say.

“Like what?”

“Mos Eisley.”

“Yeah, I heard what you said. What is it?”

You roll your eyes. “It’s a city in ‘Star Wars.’ Everyone knows that.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s a movie.”

“Hey!” she exclaims excitedly, hitting your thigh with a foreleg. “You’re remembering stuff!”

“Yeah. Movies,” you sigh disappointedly. Why are you remembering this weird things and not actually anything that has any real relevance to you. “Not exactly useful information.”

“At least it’s something.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

The both of you continue to wade through the massive crowds of ponies and zebras and camels.

==========

You have been walking for hours!

Naturally, cities are meant to hold thousands upon thousands of individuals, so they are very large. And because they are so large and everypony has somewhere they need to be, there are trains.

But you haven’t seen any!

The both of you need to be getting the hell out of the city as soon as possible. Clearly, one of Daring’s enemies knows that she’s here. And on top of that, the police are out to get you.

How many enemies could Daring possibly have?

This is getting ridiculous. You were captured by zebras and almost murdered by some pony. What’s going to attack you next? A donkey?

You look around, suddenly feeling paranoid.

It is actually entirely plausible for you to be attacked by said animal. Any of these animals milling about around you could attack you.

If what Daring said is true, about how valuable those artifacts of hers are, anyone could be after them. Anyone!

You’re not safe anywhere! The only being that you can kind of rely on is Daring, but it’s better than nothing.

You come to an intersection, and look to your right.

“Yes!” you shout, causing a few ponies around to look at you, but you ignore them. “Daring! There it is!”

“What?” she asks.

“The train station, derp.”

“Okay?” She raises an eyebrow at you. “So?”

“So?!” you shout back, not believing her ignorance. “Let’s get the hell out of here! This city isn’t the best place for us right now.”

She rolls her eyes and continues walking straight. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Daring! You’re going the wrong way. The train station is right over there.” You point a finger to your right.

She looks over to where you’re pointing. “Yeah. I see it.”

“Then let’s go!”

“Yeah, right. Come on, dude. That’s exactly what they’d expect. Isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about.”

She turns around and walks back over to you.

“Don’t you think they’d assume we’d try to get out of town?” she asks. She doesn’t wait for you to respond. “Yes. Yes they would. Every train station and airport security guard is probably on the lookout for a sexy yellow mare with beautiful red eyes and her bumbling monkey of a sidekick.”

“...I’m not a sidekick.”

“Point is, we have to avoid those areas especially. We will probably be pretty easy to spot. Primarily, you. So we need to lay low until I can think of something.”

Fuck.

You take a deep breath, knowing that she is right, and decide to stop arguing. “Fine, fine. In that case, where are we going? We’ve been walking for hours.”

“I’ve got an old friend of mine who own a cheap motel on the other side of the city. It’s a little rundown, and a lot of sketchy characters hang around there, but it’s our only option.”

“So we’re going to the slums?”

She laughs. “Yeah. Basically.”

You gesture down the road. “Lead the way! After all, I’m only your sidekick.”

She giggles and begins to walk away.

==========

You’re hungry. Again.

Very hungry.

Breakfast was not had, and lunch had to be skipped because Daring wanted to get to the motel as soon as possible.

And it would seem that after hours of wading through incredible crowds of creatures, you have finally reached the poorest, most rundown part of the city you have seen thus far.

You thought the small houses and buildings around the hotel were bad, but these are terrible!

Abandoned houses and buildings with broken windows are boarded up and left to rot for all eternity.

However, even though some of the houses look empty, occasionally you see a pony inside, doing whatever it is they do.

Probably drugs.

“Here it is!” Daring exclaims, smiling and gesturing with her hooves to an old, dirty, one-story building.

Most of the buildings you have seen are empty or falling apart, but not this one. It looks like this one is just incredibly dirty. Maybe if they cleaned it, it would look presentable.

But you doubt whoever Daring’s friend is that owns the place has the budget for such a simple thing as cleaning. You don’t know why anyone would want to spend a night in this part of the city.

God knows you don’t. But you’re being forced to.

A sign above the motel that reads “Shangri-La” in bright neon lights is hanging off center. And some of the letters have burnt out, or are flickering.

“Definitely lives up to its’ name, doesn’t it?” Daring asks, chuckling and elbowing you in the thigh. “Let’s get a room then get something to eat. I know you’re hungry.”

“Starving, actually.”

“Never would have guessed.”

==========

The inside of the motel is just as dirty and disgusting as you thought it would be. The lobby consists of a small open space with a desk. Behind the desk is a door that leads... somewhere.

To the left of the desk begins a hallways. To the right of the desk begins another hallway, where all the rooms are.

It’s really quiet. It doesn’t look like anyone is here.

“Hey, Marley!” Daring shouts, breaking the silence and startling you. “Get out here, ya old geezer!”

“Who dat?!” a very rough voice shouts back from behind the door behind the counter.

“Who do you think it is, old man?! It’s your girlfriend!”

Slowly, the door behind the desk opens, and out walks a very old, very tired, very wrinkled camel. He has a cane attached to his foreleg which helps him slowly move along towards the counter.

“Where my girlfriend at?!” he shouts, smiling.

“She’s right here,” Daring smiles.

The camel finally reaches the desk and leans against it. He gives Daring a big toothy smile... or he would, if he had any teeth. From what you count, he has three.

He smells old. The camel smells exactly like what you’d expect an old person to smell like. From his breath to his natural odor to the way he looks, all of your senses are telling you that he is old.

“Why, Ms. Do!” he shouts. “I hasn’t seen ya none in years! Where you been? Bring me somethin?”

Daring shakes her head. “No, no, not this time. I actually need a room.” She glances at you quickly before leaning in to whisper something to ‘Marley’ the camel. You can’t hear what it is, though.

Marley’s eyes go wide and his jaw drops a little. “Ooh... Ooh... I see, I see, youngin’. Don’t you worry ‘bout it. I gots a room for yas.”

He reaches under the desk and pulls out a key.

“Who your friend, Ms.Do?” he asks, looking up at you. “He really tall!” He laughs a crazy laugh. “Ho boy! He so tall... He so tall he can’t barely fit in this room! He he!”

This guy is crazy, but he’s funny, and you can’t help but laugh.

“Marley,” Daring says, gaining the attention of both of you. “This is my good friend, ‘Jay.’”

Wait. What did she just say?

You gaze down at Daring, probably looking confused as ever. You mouth “Jay?” and tilt your head to the side.

She nods. “Go with it,” she whispers to you, before looking back at Marley. “He’s a human.”

“Well, Jay!” Marley shouts, extending a hoof towards you. “It’s ma pleasure! Ma pleasure indeed! Any friend of Ms. Do here is a friend of mine!”

“So how much is it?” Daring asks, producing the bag of golden coins. “It’s just for the one night, for now. If we’re going to stay longer I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

The camel shakes his hoof at Daring. “Now, now, Ms. Do. Don’t be troubling yourself. I knows you ain’t carryin’ many bits with ya, so this ‘un is on the house.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Marley,” Daring ignores him and puts five golden coins on the table. “You take that, you hear me? And fix this place up.”

Marley’s eyes go wide. “Oh ho! You bet Ms. Do. You bet! I hasn’t seen this much money since I was your age.”

“You’re still my age, Marley,” Daring says, putting the bag of bits away. “You’re only as old as you feel.”

“Then I’m 125!”

You all laugh at the joke. Especially Marley, who bangs on the desk.

“Now that’s enough out of me,” he says, beginning to turn around. “Y’all take that key there and go on off to your room. I’ll be seein’ ya fer breakfast!”

“We’re eating breakfast here?” you ask Daring as quietly as possible.

“Not a chance,” she whispers. “‘Night Marley!”

Marley finally reaches his door again. “G’night! You two lovebirds enjoy yourselves now, y’hear?!” he laughs and you can feel your cheeks burning. “But not too much!”

Your face is positively on fire.

Marley closes the door, laughing and mumbling to himself.

You look down at Daring, and see her face is red too.

She clears her throat and kicks at the floor. “Uhm... so yeah... that’s Marley. He’s a crazy one, but he’s cool.” The she whispers, “He just doesn’t know when to stop talking.”

Another few moments pass in an awkward silence.

“Should we drop our bags off?” you ask.

“Yeah. Yeah, definitely.”

You grab the key off the desk and head towards your room.

The room is a very short walk away, as it is the first door on the left. Opening the door, you see a dimly lit, dirty bedroom with one bed.

One. Again.

There is a bathroom to your right, which is incredibly dirty and looks like someone was murdered in it in the past few days.

And they probably were.

“Why did you tell him my name was ‘Jay?’” you ask, curious. Not that you particularly mind it. It’s a good name, and it’ll do until you can remember your real one.

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s a nice name. And it’s a letter.” She looks around the room. “Besides, I needed to call you something other than ‘monkey’ and ‘idiot.’ Why? Do you not like it?”

“No, no, it’s fine. You could’ve asked for my opinion about it, but that’s okay, I guess.”

“Alright then! Let’s eat!” Daring says, dropping her a couple bags but keeping one on.

“Where are we going?” you ask.

“Uhm... I think there is a bar around here. How ‘bout that?”

You don’t even think about it. “Sure. Sounds good to me. I could use a drink, anyway.

You head back out into the late evening light of the city.

==========

“Yes it is!” Daring shouts, growing very impatient with your doubtfulness.

“No!” you counter simply. “It’s not!”

“How would you know? You can’t remember anything!”

“Yeah! I can’t remember shit like my name or where I’m from, but I definitely remember that a magical horse does not raise the sun!”

“You’re full of it, you know that?”

“The sun doesn’t move, dipstick. It stays in the same damn place forever and ever.”

“Wow, you’re dumb. The Earth doesn’t move! The sun goes around the Earth.”

You’re not going to argue anymore. It is always important to never argue with an idiot, lest they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

“Alright, sweet,” Daring says, looking at a small building. “We’re here. I’m so thirsty.”

The building has a very short line outside of it, with a very large gryphon wearing sunglasses standing at the front.

“What is this?” you ask.

“It’s a bar.”

You hear music playing. It’s distant, but you definitely hear it. “This isn’t a bar. It’s a nightclub.”

She shrugs. “Do they got booze?”

“I guess, but-”

“Then who cares?”

Whatever.

You go to the back of the short line out of the nightclub. The name of the club is written above the entrance, but it’s in some language that you do not know, so you can’t read it.

The music from inside the club is incredibly loud, and you can easily hear it as you wait in line right outside.

Before you have an opportunity to say something that’ll piss Daring off, the door to the club flies open, and one by one, five stallions are literally thrown out, each one landing on top of the other.

The ponies that through them out yell something, but you can’t understand what it was.

The bouncer gryphon at the front begins letting everypony in. You nod at him as you walk by and enter the nightclub.

You can’t believe Daring would know about a place like this.

To your right are a bunch of stallions and mares dancing to the music. Although, ‘dancing’ is used very loosely. They’re practically having sex as all the stallions and mares are rubbing against each other.

Farther to your right is a stage, and upon that stage are two mares, dressed in incredibly provocative and lacy clothing, slowly dancing and spinning to the cheers of many drunk stallions.

You don’t look for long, though, as Daring pulls you towards the bar on your left. You both quickly take two open seats.

“Why are we here?” you ask, looking around. This isn’t your kind of place.

She shrugs. “You said you were hungry. So eat something.”

“Here?”

“Where else?”

“A restaurant?”

She waves a forehoof at you. “This place is cheaper, and we’re trying to lay low, remember? And it’s got plenty of alcohol.”

“You drink a lot?”

She shakes her head, looking around for someone. “Not at all! In my business, it’s best to remain sober 24/7. But after recent events, I think I can allow myself a couple drinks.”

A zebra, who is the bartender, immediately comes up to the both of you, and asks you something you cannot understand.

“What?” you ask.

“Oh,” he realizes. “Equestrian? You speak Equestrian?”

This is clearly not his first language, but he’s doing alright.

“Yep!” Daring says, getting his attention. “I’ll take a ‘Bitter Bite.’”

“And for you?” he asks, turning to you.

You don’t know. There has to be something here that you like, but you don’t know what you like. Do they have a menu you can look at?

“He’ll get what I’m getting,” Daring interjects impatiently. “And get us some peanuts or something.”

The bartender turns away to make your drinks.

You look at Daring.

“Daring,” you begin, getting her attention.

“What?”

“I need you to tell me everything.”

She just looks back at you. “Everything? What do you mean?”

“Your enemies, Daring. You clearly have a few, and I want to know anything and everything about them. I’ve been beaten and cut and attacked at random and I want to know why.”

“Alright, dude, calm down.”

The bartender places your drinks in front of the both of you and leaves to attend to other customers.

Daring takes a small sip of her drink before putting it back down.

“I’ll tell ya,” she says. “You only had to ask. Alright, so I’ll start with who I see the most. His name is ‘Ahuizotl.’ I don’t know what he is exactly, but he’s some giant blue monster that conveniently pops up whenever I finally get my hooves on an artifact.

“He’s my biggest competitor, as I see him more than any other competitor of mine. And every time I see him, he tries to kill me.”

“Kill you?”

“Mm-hmm.” She takes another small sip from her glass. “He captures me, and tries to execute me in some ridiculously elaborate way, but I always manage to escape, obviously enough.”

“What’s his motivation?”

“What do you mean?”

You hear whistling and cheering to your right, and can only assume what is happening.

“Why does he treasure hunt? Why does he try to kill you?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. Many reasons, I guess. Could be money, glory, power...” She chuckles. “Or maybe he just really hates my books!”

She laughs and takes a sip of her drink.

“His motivation is whatever happens to benefit him,” she says. “Most of these guys are just in it for themselves. Oh! And he’s always travelling around with animals for some reason.”

Wait... but everyone is an animal...

“I don’t know why. Next on my list would be ‘Valheita.’ But you killed him, so he’s off my list now. I guess Kiduttaa would replace him, considering he is still alive.” Then she mumbles “But hopefully not for long.”

A bowl of peanuts is placed in front of the both of you, and Daring grabs one.

“I doubt we’ll be seeing much of him anymore, anyway.”

You raise an eyebrow. “And why is that?”

“‘Cause tomorrow, we are hopefully gonna be getting out of this country. Our next artifact is hundreds of miles east of here.”

“Well shit.”

“I know.”

“Who else is there?”

“Umm...” Daring thinks as she cracks open a peanut. “Oh! There is this massive group of ponies, mainly unicorns, called the ‘Kansallissosialistinen.’”

Holy shit. What was that?

“Can you repeat that?” you ask.

“The ‘Kansallissosialistinen.”

“Why is their name so complicated?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. They usually go by a much shorter name, though... uh... it starts with an ‘N’. Shit! I can’t remember.”

“What do they do?”

“I don’t see them nearly as often as I used to. They’re at war with some other country right now, so their attention is turned towards that, but I used to run into them all the time. They were always looking for some magical artifact that’d give their unicorns more power and ability to take over the world. In a nutshell.”

This all sounds incredibly familiar.

“The list goes on and on,” she says, rolling her hoof. “I could sit here all night and most of tomorrow listing every single one to you, but I won’t. Those three are the only ones I think we have to worry about.”

“Do you have any allies?”

Daring bites her lip.

“Ba ha ha ha! Oh man! Oh man!”

What did you say?

Daring laughs and puts her head against the bar. She brings a hoof up and hits the bar hard a couple of times before snorting.

She wipes away a tear before looking at you.

“Woah... Ho ho, man, that was funny...” She stops laughing. “Wait, were you being serious?”

You nod.

“Oh. I thought it was obvious. I don’t have any allies, and hardly any friends. There is no room for them in this business.” She almost finishes her drink. “I used to work with a few friends... but those days are long gone.”

You’ll ignore that statement for now, but store it in the back of your mind to bring up later.

Before you can ask your next question, a stallion walks up from behind Daring and says something. Both you and your only friend turn around to see a brown earth pony with greasy black hair smiling at Daring. You can smell the alcohol coming off of him.

He says something else, but it’s not in English.

“What did he say?” you ask Daring.

“I don’t know,” she says, smiling at the earth pony.

He walks to Daring’s side and leans against the bar, his eyes never leaving hers. Whether him leaning against the bar is to look cool or to simply hold him upright, you do not know.

Yours and Daring’s attention is fully on this guy. He says something else to her.

He reaches up a hoof and pushes Daring’s mane out of her eyes.

Why do you feel so angry all of a sudden?

Daring gives the stallion a flirtatious smile and blinks her eyes rapidly at him. “Oh my,” she says softly. “What a big, strong stallion you are.” She reaches over and feels the stallions’ foreleg muscles.

He smiles at her and gestures with a hoof, signalling that he wants her to follow him. He hops off the bar and begins to walk to the back of the bar, expecting Daring to follow.

Once the stallion is fully turned around behind Daring, she quickly extends a hind leg and bucks the stallion hard in his short tail.

For those who are unaware, behind a stallions’ tail are his genitals.

The action makes your nuts hurt, and you reflexively reach a hand down to make sure they are still there.

The stallion yelps loudly and collapses, grabbing his swollen nuts with his forehooves.

Daring gets up, walks next to the injured stallion, and puts her head next to his. “You don’t get to touch me,” she growls. “Now get the hell out of here.”

He begins to slide across the floor like a worm, and Daring retakes her seat.

You don’t know if you should laugh, or cry at how much pain that guy is probably in. So you just sit in stunned silence.

Daring looks over at you before flicking her head to the side to get her mane out of her face.

“So!” she begins. “I forgot about this guy, but numbnuts over there reminded me.”

You clear your throat as the injured pony finally leaves your field of vision. “Alright, who?”

“This French earth pony named ‘Fluage.’ He’s got a white coat, black mane, blue eyes, and always wears a red beret. Always.”

“Alright. Then what motivates him? Should we be worried?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely.”

She takes a big sip from her drink. A really big sip. She actually manages to finish the rest of it.

Her face scrunches up as the burning liquid makes its’ way down her throat.

“Ahh,” she sighs. She clears her throat. “His motivation is me.”

“...”

What?

“You?”

“Me.”

“What do you mean?”

“The only reason this guy does what he does is because he wants me. He doesn’t care about artifacts or money. He just wants me.”

“Can you elaborate?”

She nods. “When I first started writing my books, he loved them. He bought them all, read them over and over and over again, and soon became a big fan of mine... a very big fan... Hey barkeep!” she yells, looking behind the counter. “Another round over here!”

She waits for the bartender to finish making your drinks, and puts one in front of each of you, despite you not having finished your first.

She drinks the entire thing in one hit.

“Agh.” She takes a deep breath. “Despite my books being labeled ‘Adventure’ and everyone assuming it’s fiction, he thought they were real. Everyone thought he was just crazy, which he is, but he was right.”

You push her your drink, and she drinks it all in one hit, again.

Whoever this guy is must be really stressing her out.

“So he starts looking for me, and after a couple years, he actually finds me. See, I was in France looking for some really old sword in the catacombs of their capital, but he saw me on the street... Well, to make a long, disturbing story short, he shot me with a tranquilizer, somehow got me into his house, and tried to have his way with me when I woke up.”

Daring looks at the random stallion sitting next to her, and notices that he’s busy making out with some mare.

Daring grabs his beer, ‘cause he’s not looking, and almost downs it all.

“Well...” you begin, not entirely knowing how to phrase this question.

“Well what?” Daring asks, licking her lips.

“...did he?”

“No! No. He almost did, though. I barely got out.”

She takes a deep breath.

“That wasn’t the last time I saw the guy, either. Every once in a while, he pops up. Even in the most unexpected of places. Like, last year, I was in some desert city, no where near France, but I saw him. He was 100 feet away from me, and was probably looking for me. But I haven’t talked to him since that first time we met.”

“Is he around here?”

She shrugs. “Who knows? Maybe. He’s crazy rich, so he can go almost anywhere in the world with ease. Every time I leave Equestria, I swear I see that creep somewhere.”

You finally finish your first drink.

Daring is quickly looking around behind the bar. “Where is that damn zebra?”

"I think you've had enough, Daring."

“I’m an adult. I’ll drink whatever I want.”

You shake your head. “No. You’re done.” You grab the bit sack out of her saddlebags and pay for your drinks, plus a generous tip.

You turn around and look up.

On the other side of the club stands the stallion that Daring kicked earlier. He’s talking with four or five other ponies and a gryphon. He points towards you and Daring with a hoof.

Oh fuck.

You don’t know who he’s talking to, but they don’t look friendly.

“Let’s go,” you say urgently, grabbing onto Daring’s leg and dragging her behind you as you rush out of the bar.

“Noo!” she groans. “I’m thirsty!”

You ignore her pleas to return to the nightclub and quickly return to the motel.

==========

Written by - ScatMan2001

Edited by - A Renegade Time Lord

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

Be sure to comment and whatnot!

Author's Notes:

Attention!
Anyone waiting for "This Magic Moment" to update!
The next chapter of that story will be up in a little bit. Thanks for reading!