Mystery Mash Upby W1kk3d_MangoChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 1MYSTERY MASH-UP The train’s wheels clattered as a team of strong stallions pulled it along the track. Daring Do sat in her seat staring at the scroll she had received from an anonymous “friend”. She examined the writing closely. Every letter curved, started, and ended with perfect precision. Only horn-writing could have produced this. She read it again to herself slowly. Daring Do, I realize your time is short, but a wealthy client is offering you quite the sum of money to find a very precious gem. We apologize at not being able to disclose what it would be used for or the great importance of why we must acquire it. However, the need is great! We can tell you that it is used for an event, one that happens only once every 220,000 years, and the next moment is upon us. The location of the gem is still a small mystery to us, but somepony has tracked down it’s last known location. Please take the enclosed train ticket to a small town outside Equinath. Good hunting, A friend “Short and to the point,” she said quietly to herself. She thought of Equinath, one of the northern most towns at the base of one of the tallest mountain ranges in the world. She had been close to there before, but never ventured too deep or got a decent chance to explore as much as she’d hoped. She thought back to the letter. The usual questions one might have - who the scroll was from, what the gem could be used for, how much they would pay a pony to get it - all floated into her mind. But the one that was on her mind the most was why there was so little information on such a large piece of parchment. The dictation of the letter barely took up a tenth of the space available and there was no other reason to send so much. She looked closely, checking to see if there was anything had been hidden, or perhaps some impression on the scroll itself. Another thought; why a scroll? A letter would have done just as well. And more information would have been fine, but Daring was also a keen investigator. Daring jerked forward, and her ears burned with the sound of squealing wheels as the trains velocity decreased very rapidly. She picked herself up off the floor and her face off of the seat across from her. Looking around, she saw a couple spilled tea cups and biscuit trays. There weren't very many ponies on this train ride with her. Two colts in very slick attire sat at the very front of the car Daring was in. She hadn't been able to figure out much about them; she hadn't heard either of them talking, but had heard the occasional snort of laughter. The two now lay on the ground shaking their heads and trying to rub the stars out of their eyes. In the middle, there was a mare who'd earlier been fixated with the passing scenary out the window and with a camera around her neck. The camera now lay on the ground broken, as the mare was trying to collect the pieces. She noticed a slight tear running down the pretty mare's face while slowly collecting the pieces. Daring’s keen eye had noticed quite a few smaller bags, most likely containing other lenses. But what field photographer would go into the wilderness with only one camera? She hoped the pony would have thought to bring along a back up. The mare continued to sweep up the pieces and placed them in a small plastic bag. Daring looked around to the last two passengers who sat in the row behind herself. One mare and one stallion. The stallion was gently holding the mare, which was shaking her head. He helped her back into her seat. She shook herself off fairly fast. 'Another explorer like herself,' Daring thought. A little grinding halt was sudden and surprising; but she had most likely been through worse. If the other mare was in any way like Daring herself, the stop would pale in comparison to some of her past, and hopefully future adventures. Daring got up and looked outside the window to where they had stopped. They weren't at the town yet and there was no way she could identify anything. On one side the tall mountain range was looming over the train. She imagined flying up, into the clouds. She had been on the train for nearly eight hours and her wings were itching to stretch out and swim through the air. But the fact the train stopped somewhere other than its destination was warning enough something was wrong. She had to find out what it was. She decided to stay on the cramped train just a bit longer, until she could at least find out the problem. After that, she planned to fly far and fast. Maybe she could even get to the town for help. Daring stood and walked steadily towards the front of the train. She passed the photographer who had whipped out another camera. The mare was quickly snapping pictures of the little bits of carnage of the sudden stop. Daring walked on towards the door and glanced at the two colts furiously wiping their suits trying to get the tea out of them. She opened the door in front of her, finding an entirely empty dining carriage. She saw a couple waiters who were cleaning up a few broken plates that had recently and quite unexpectedly found their way to the floor. Daring stepped over a small pile of glass and proceeded to the front of the train. She opened one door and passed through the kitchen carriage. One of the staff members, a tall, strong unicorn stood in her way, “Excuse me, passengers are not allowed up here. Please return to your seat, we will have information on why we stopped soon.” Daring wasn’t exactly looking for trouble, but her sense of adventure and curiosity was the unstoppable force that drove her. “Well how about I step outside, and just fly to the front of the train then. Either way, I’m going to see what happened. Now how about you make my trip a little easier and step aside to let me pass.“ The cook gave a snort, then stepped to the side allowing her some room to maneuver around the mess. The stallion went back to wiping up the mess and Daring walked toward the final door. It led to the lead carriage and she could hear some yelling. She opened the door, not caring about the occupants hearing her. It would just make her look ridiculous. She noticed right away that the conductor was actually in the corner of the train, knocked out. She instantly spread her wings and crouched into a pounce position ready to defend herself. She then noticed two more ponies; one stallion, and one mare. The mare was a pegasus like herself. The two seemed to be arguing but not in any sort of angry manner. The stallion seemed to be almost excited at the accident. “Now, don’t worry I’m sure I can fix it. It’ll just take a moment.” The stallion quickly said, examining everything on the dashboard in front of him. “Buttons, levers, and a train pulled by horses, this is quite remarkable.” “Are you sure? I’m really sorry,” the little pegasus said, also looking at the buttons. Both of their backs were turned to Daring. “Yes, yes. Now if you could please hand me my… Oh dear.” The stallion stopped, turned, and saw Daring staring at them, still in her pounce position. “Excuse me, but would you happen to know how these things function? I can’t tell if it is steam or equine power. Perhaps a combination of both? Ms.?” Daring stared at them and in a sharp tone exclaimed, “What happened here?!” The Pegasus pony turned around, and looked at Daring. It was hard to tell if the grey pony was looking at her, or the roof of the carriage. With a slightly embarassed flutter of her wings, the cross-eyed mare said, "I just don't know what went wrong!" Chapter 2Daring stared at them hard for a moment, examining them and processing what they had said. Her wings began to lower and she lifted her head up slightly. “Just…” she started, “Just answer my question.” She had finished off her statement with an unsure tone of how they would react. To her knowledge, they had just taken over the train. “Ah, well I think some people may be barging in soon to see what happened,” the stallion said. One of Daring’s ears twitched at one unfamiliar word. The pegasus noticed this and started giggling. “He means somepony,” she said still giggling to herself. “Man, you will never get used to that.” Daring stared at the two of them, now almost fully relaxed. The stallion tried to hold in a laugh, but failed. A glance at Daring's baffled face did not help him. “I’ll just introduce us, how about that?” The mare fluttered forward close to Daring. “My name is Derpy, and this here is the Doctor,” she said happily. Daring looked back and forth between the two of them and determined they weren’t much of a threat. She looked Derpy in the eyes as best she could, then proceeded to introduce herself as well. She should at least offer to help the train or find out what exactly went wrong. She would still keep her guard up just in case. “The name is Daring Do, and I am on a very important quest. You two seem to be stopping me in-“ Before Daring could finished the Doctor gleefully and with a high pitched almost squeal stated, “Doctor Derpy Daring Ditzy Do!” Both Daring and Derpy looked at him puzzled. He continued to bounce and repeat it, “Doctor Derpy Daring Ditzy Do! The three of us make the Doctor Derpy Daring Ditzy Do!” His smile was wide and he seemed to bounce as he spoke the name out loud. “I very much like that, but introductions and importance of being places to find important things can wait, you must help me.” Daring walked forward. She was still a little shocked at the stallion's mannerisms, but she shook it out of her mind; too many to keep track of at this point. She walked up slowly and stood next to the doctor examining the controls. She then turned to him awkwardly. “How did you know I was out to find something important?” The Doctor continued to look over the controls, scratching his chin with his hoof as he did so. “Important quests, important things,” he said. “People, houses, food…” he paused for a moment, “gems.” At that point Daring took a couple steps back and tensed again. “Who are you!” She demanded, “Really!” “My assistant here already explained, Ms. Do: I am the Doctor.” “Yes but a Doctor of what?” “Look, are we really going to go through this? I thought you needed to be somewhere important, so why not help us look for the problem? I noticed you have wings and this train is in the middle of nowhere, so I can only assume that you haven’t flown in a while. Why don’t you fly up and locate the nearest town, at least?” Daring stood firm for a moment, staring hard at the so called Doctor. She spread her wings out, and arched herself into the air backwards, out of a large side window behind her. Daring spun around to level herself out with the ground, then rocketed upwards into the sky as fast as she could go.. “That Doctor won’t get me a clear answer, so I’m not going to waste my time with him,” she began to herself. “I’ll find the town, head back to the train for my things, and let those two figure the darn thing out for themselves.” Daring soared high into the sky. Just below the cloud line, keeping a clear line of sight around her, she slowly began to spin. To the north was rocky terrain with patches of grass which the tracks followed; and to the south, the same thing. The mountain, of course, looming over her to the east, and to the west was a strongly wooded forest. She dove back down towards the train, stopping just before impact. Looking back inside the lead carriage to see the Doctor and the conductor giving a high hoof to each other. Daring stared in shock and the whistle of the train sounded just next to her head. This was the second sound her ears had hated all within the hour. Daring flew to the back of the train to avoid passing the Doctor. She pushed out how they had fixed the train so quickly, chalking it up to just the press of a button somepony had over looked. But who they really were and where they were from were two of the three leading questions. The third, and most important question, captured her complete attention as she walked back to her seat. Finding the scroll on the floor where it had dropped to she examined but didn’t open it. “How does he know?” Was he the pony who had sent it? Then why would he be here? He seemed perfectly able, fit, and excited enough. With that she unraveled the scroll. The same message glared back at her, but then something caught her attention. Daring’s beautiful eyes widened. Something had been added to the scroll! Just below the sign off Daring saw a message with the same lettering. P.S. Don’t believe anypony who may conjure up conspiracy theories about the gem’s usage. Daring rubbed her eyes thinking it was her mind playing tricks on her. But the words stayed there. She unraveled the scroll completely looking over every inch of it. Flipping it all around, twisting turning, and even holding it upside down and behind her back. Even with magic was this really possible? To just add things to a scroll. And even if there was such a spell a unicorn had, how could they know what happened. The train and the new passengers were a shock even to Daring herself. Her mind raced, leaving her off guard, making her jump at the next noise. “Hey!” A bubbly voice said loudly next to her. Daring seemed to jump a mile. She was going to hate her ears today. Derpy was standing next to her seat and looking at her, smiling. “Mind if we join you?” Derpy continued as the Doctor walked up beside her. Daring stared at the two empty seats across and facing her, then looked at the seat to her left with her bags. “I…” She began, but the two had already begun to move and sit down across from her. The doctor sat awkwardly in the seat, and Derpy gently perching herself on the side. Daring tilted her head. “Please, just tell me who you are.” Chapter 3The Doctor tried adjusting himself in the seat and found trouble finding a good spot. "Well," he began, still wriggling in his seat, "if I must repeat myself, I am the Doctor. It is a pleasure to meet you again, Ms. Do." Daring stared at him with tired eyes. She was very strong-willed, but this stallion just seemed to push her to her mental limits. Derpy sat directly across from her, staring straight ahead. "Do you remember my name?" The small grey mare asked happily. "Yes, I believe I do. Derpy, correct?" "That's it! Yay!" Derpy twisted her body and neck around to where she could nearly touch her back. Turning back around a couple seconds later, she now held a small brown sack in her teeth. Daring heard her say something, but it was muffled by the sack. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Daring stared at the sacks, clearly puzzled. Derpy dropped the sack and opened it up with her hooves. She reached in and produced a muffin. Smiling she added in a cheery tone, "I said, 'would you like a muffin?'" Derpy held out the muffin, gesturing for Daring to take it. "Uhh..." Daring stared at it. She felt these new ponies were going to scramble her brains. She thought back on the many adventures she had been on, all the puzzles she had solved, the detective work, and all the amazing places and people she had seen and met. How could two ponies from out of nowhere throw her off so much? But it wouldn't matter for long. Daring thought about the town she was headed to and relaxed at the realization that she could get away from these two. Reaching out for the muffin, Daring lifted it and brought it towards her mouth. Taking a bite, she was surprised at how amazing the flavor was. It was staggeringly good; she found herself staring at the muffin. She looked up to notice Derpy had been talking about how she made them. Daring tuned back into reality as the train began to pick up speed and was now fully back in action. During this exchange the Doctor had been wriggling around trying to find a comfortable spot. After a bit of struggling he had finally found his favorite position. He now sat with one back hoof on the floor while the other back hoof lay on the arm rest. His front right hoof was twisted behind his back and his left lay over his forehead which in turn lay against the window of the train. The Doctor let out a large sigh of relief, paused for a moment, then immediately jumped up and looked at the two mares. "I'm going to go chat with some of the other passengers!" he informed them. He slunk in between Daring and Derpy and trotted up to the front of the train. Daring leaned to the side so she could fully see the Doctor as he walked right up to the two stallions in business attire. "Hello there," he started, "I'm the Doctor, what's your name?" The two stallions turned to look at him with surprise. The Doctor stood by their seats gleefully looking back and forth between the two of them. “Well you two seem dressed sharp!” He added on after a moment of silence. “Yes,” one finally replied. He had dark hair in a slick business haircut. His cutie mark appeared to be a few stacks of coins. “we’re heading to Equinath to spot locations for a new observatory.” The Doctor stuck out his lower jaw and squinted his eyes slightly, “Ooooh, observatory! I love those!” The two looked at each other. The other pony with divided hair, one half red and the other blue, tilted his head slightly. “You are interested in the sciences as well?” He replied curiously. This pony’s cutie mark resembled a red lambda with what would relate to two electrons circling it. The Doctor smiled wide and looked at the two of them, “Me? Interested in science? Oh you have no idea!” After Daring had listened to the umpteenth “funny” muffin story from Derpy, she realized that two small muffins, though delicious as they were, were not enough to hold her over until the train reached its destination. “How would you like to go to the dining cart? As best I can tell we’ll be on this train for at least 5 hours.” Derpy shook her head energetically. The two pegasi got out of their seats. Daring grabbed her bag, not wanting to leave the scroll by itself. Something was clearly up and she wanted to speak with Derpy privately. There was no doubt in her mind that there was something up with this Doctor and she needed to find out what it was. Derpy seemed harmless enough, so she might try and get some information out of her. The two passed by the Doctor rambling off something that seemed to be complete gibberish to the both of them. Yet the two other stallions seemed to be drooling at the sound of his words. Derpy chimed up as they passed by, “We’re going to see if they have any treats in the dinning cart!” Daring stuttered a bit with her next step. She hoped the Doctor wouldn’t join them. Of course she had known Derpy was gleeful enough to say something, but she didn’t have a plan to divert the Doctor if he asked to join his assistant. “We’ll be doing girl talk.” Daring said without thinking. The phrase nearly knocked her off her feet. She HATED girl talk. And what would she have in common with this kitchen pony anyways? The Doctor clearly looked surprised himself. “Well, didn’t figure you the sort, but the two of you have fun!” He turned his attention back to the two stallions next to him and continued to prattle on about stars and hydrogen fission. Daring quietly breathed a sigh of relief. The two mares walked into the dining carriage, which had mostly been cleaned up. The few back tables where they had entered were dressed and ready to serve. Daring had appreciated the anonymous “friend” for putting her on such a high class train ride. Mostly she had been treated to the back carriage or more often than not, been forced to hide away in a crate somewhere. There was, however, a part of her that missed the excitement of it. But she wasn’t going to let this make her soft. They found a table in the back and a couple unicorns still sweeping up gestured for a waiter to bring them menus. Derpy began poking the napkin, which was folded in a pyramid shape neatly on the plate in front of her. She let out a slight amazed ‘ooo’ and began poking it with her hoof. She looked up at Daring. “Do you always travel like this?” Daring chuckled to herself remembering some of the roughest trips. “Not quite. So where are you two from?” She didn’t want to waste much time before anyone else who the Doctor may talk to – or worse, the Doctor himself – came in.. “Well,” Derpy began, “I’m from Ponyville, a nice little town with a lot of nice ponies there. I kind of miss it, but traveling with the Doctor has been really fun!” Daring showed a smile, but hid the jump for joy inside. This was going to be easier than she thought. A short unicorn with a feathered hare walked up to their table, an aura of magic engulfing two menus that gently found their way in front of Derpy and Daring. “Might I interest anypony in a couple drinks?” She said hurriedly. Daring figured she was needed to help finish cleaning the dining carriage before more ponies decided to come in and eat. Daring didn’t look at the menu. She just wanted Derpy to get some nice food and find out what was going on. “I’ll just have water. Derpy, don’t worry about prices, I’ll get anything you want.” “Gee, really!” Derpy said excitedly. She turned her attention to the server. “Do you have any lemon pomegranate green tea? With a little slice of lime on the corner.” Both Daring and the server looked at her oddly. “Umm, I’m sure we have the necessary tools to make that. We have quite a skilled chef here. I’ll be back shortly.” The server walked down the isle of tables towards the kitchen. Daring returned her gaze to Derpy who was examining the menu closely. The two stallions who had been captivated by the Doctor’s vast knowledge of the stars were sad to see him go. But at least they had been given much to think about, which would lead them to even more questions and possible discoveries to make. The doctor walked down to the middle of the aisle where the lone mare sat. He approached her noticing the obvious cutie mark of a roll of film. Her mane was long and bright blue while her coat was a quaint silver. She had a nice red butterfly jewel in her mane. The Doctor walked up beside her. “Hello there! Notice anything interesting?” She had again returned to gazing out the window, but turned to meet the owner of the greeting. "Hello," she replied with a small sniff. The doctor noticed a couple make up smudges around her eyes. "Well, yes, the view here is absolutely remarkable." “Brilliant, I love a good view. I’m the Doctor by the way, very nice to meet you! Mind if I have a seat?” The mare looked at him a bit surprised but smiled and said, “Of course. I’m Photo Capson, what exactly are you a doctor of?” “Oh, just the usual loads of stuff,” he said with a smile, “I’ve been around, seen some things, bit of a rubbish memory from some of them. You, on the other hand, must have a solid memory! Photographer?” Photo chuckled, “Yes, I have seen quite a few things, some beautiful, some not. But I figure I can relax in a quiet little mountain town. No pony to control me.” “Control you?” The Doctor tilted his head, “I doubt many people could have a grasp of a photographer.” “Oh, believe me,” she started, “It’s possible. It’s been just me and my faithful camera for a while.” She stopped abruptly and stared at a bag on the ground. “It’s just been us for a while.” The Doctor smiled, "You said that twice, friend." His smile seemed to go unnoticed. Photo's expression seemed to be bleak and down-trot. "Is something the matter? The train is moving again now. In fact, I should add that the train is even functioning better, thanks to a very, very, very, clever stallion!" he now beamed with excitement at the thought of his work in the engine carriage earlier. "No. Well, yes that is a fact, but," her eyes wandered to the bag sitting on her lap. She unzipped it and pulled out a bag to reveal the smashed pieces of a camera. The Doctor looked at it and tilted his head. Photo stared into the pieces as a hundred memories she had shared with the amazing device flooded into her brain again. "It has been with me for 10 years. Everypony said it was out of date and there were new and better models out. But this one always stayed true. It was top of the line when I first got it, so by the time the 'more advanced' models came out, this baby kept right on up with them." The Doctor, again holding back a slight giggle at the mention of "everypony," of course felt bad for the mare, but perhaps it wasn't all a loss. "Well Photo darling, I believe I could help out with that," he said with a smile, "I bet I could take a look at some of these pieces here and maybe fix it up to be good as new!" The Doctor followed this statement by pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Photo stared at the strange device. "What is that? Can it really help my camera? What would I need to pay you?" the pony stared at him with hopeful eyes. Chuckling to himself, the doctor replied softly, " Just tell me a little about yourself, why you’re on the train, nothing too personal if you don't like." He picked up the bag containing the broken camera pieces and sorted them out as best he could. “So tell me more about this Doctor. Where is he from? How did you two get on the train?” Daring hadn’t looked at the menu once. She was trying to get as much out of Derpy as she could. So far, her efforts had been mostly left to dry. Derpy was either avoiding telling her or honestly didn’t know; Daring figured it was the latter. “That’s so weird how they put the pictures of the food in here!” Derpy said. Daring grumbled, reached across the table and flipped Derpy’s menu over for her. “Much better!” Derpy happily stated. At that point, Daring figured she either generally didn’t know much or had forgotten a lot of it. “So what were you asking earlier?” Derpy’s attention stayed fixed on the menu. “Just,” Daring started, trying not to sound annoyed, “How did you get onto the train?” “Well that’s because of the TARDY.” Derpy said, her eyes still searching the menu for something. “OH! Hay, Barely, and oat soup. Sounds fancy. How did you get on this train?” Daring rolled her eyes, “I walked on, what is a TARDY?” “It’s just the Doctors special ship thing.” “Ship thing?” She shook her head, then just decided to skip that question. “What are you and the Doctor doing here?” “I’m not sure. The Doctor said he got a weird message on some piece of paper he was carrying In his pocket. It’s strange because I don’t remember anyone delivering it to him. It was like he already had it. Sounds kind of ridiculous I know. But the Doctor has a lot of weird stuff!” Daring thought hard about this one. The first actual lead onto who they really were. If he already had a paper, could he be the one sending her the messages? But then he got a message, so a competitor maybe? Daring was legendary in her field, why would anypony send multiple talents. What if there was a second force trying to stop her? For every day there was a night, right? “What did this paper look like? Was it a scroll?” “No, it was more small and in some sort of sleeve. Do you think they had muffins? I doubt they could beat my recipe.” Derpy suddenly put her menu down and looked directly at Daring. “You like questions don’t you.” Daring was slightly startled by the sudden question. “Uhh, it’s sort of in my line of work.” She looked back at Derpy who wasn’t budging. There was no way she could have caught on to their conspiracy, if there even was one. Daring looked down at the menu for the first time. “So, what was that soup again?” Chapter 4The door to the dinning carriage slid open and the two ponies that had been in the back of the train walked in with the Doctor. All three were laughing hysterically. The server had just walked away with her and Derpy's order. The doctor bowed to the couple and turned to the table which Daring and Derpy sat at. "Mind if I join you?!" "Not at all!" Derpy spoke up eagerly, "I was telling Daring all about the TARDY!" She smiled at the Doctor. "TARDIS dear," he said quickly, then lowered his voice slightly, "but I thought that we discussed telling just whomever asks about it. This is still a bit strange for me, and I don't wish to inform all ears that I have a time machine." Daring's ears perked up, did the Doctor really just say what he thought he said? "umm... a what?" Daring sputtered out. The Doctor then looked back and fourth between Daring and Derpy, "oh," he said, "oh you didn’t... Well I walked into that one. Daring, dear, do, Ms. I would really like to tell you something secret." He sat down and began to explain the TARDIS knowing it would be a borderline futile effort. After a few moments of trying to explain alternate dimension, the group was happy to to have their drinks arrive. The server looked at the new arrival to the table and again produced her note pad to write down a drink order. "So what would you like?" she said, sounding annoyed. "Just a water for me, thanks." The Doctor replied happily. "And would you happen to have another menu?" The server's horn lit up producing a small spark in front of it. The spark grew producing a small bubble, the bubble contorted and formed a rectangular sheet of paper. The paper settled gently in front of the doctor. "Thanks very much Ms." The server gave a weak smile, then walked off towards the couple which now sat in the middle of the carriage. "So Ms. Do," The Doctor started. He had turned his attention to Daring without the slightest glance at the menu. "what is your big adventure? Given what you said in the engine and the way you're dressed, i'd figure you're an adventurer. What is your latest quest?" Daring looked at him with a straight face, perhaps to strong of one. "I am just visiting the mountains here." She replied, "Nothing too special, i like to stumble upon adventures rather than have them chartered to me." The Doctor smiled, "Well I don't doubt that. I too love finding adventures, and it seems like there could be something of one coming up. I'm not superstitious but i think that what happened earlier was a bad omen." Daring chuckled a bit at the phrase. The doctor then produced a small mechanical device. Something Daring had never seen before. He flicked it on and it lit up, producing a small high pitch, contorted sound, something that daring was sure she had never HEARD before. It stopped and the Doctor stared into it. Turning towards Derpy he said, "See, I told you magic leaves a temporal disturbance. A bit large for just popping up a menu. Maybe some chef here recently used a rather big spell to whip up our lunch." "But doctor," Derpy said, "If the train is moving, shouldn't the temple rift be back a ways?" The doctor's eyes widened. Staring into nothing he started thinking. "Why..." He thought for a moment more, "Mighty fine catch there Derpy!" He smiled and patted the small mare on the head. "Well then, what could have caused such a large anomaly?" He turned his attention to Daring, "any ideas?" Daring looked at him, a small wave of horror crept up in her chest. "No." She said sternly. "Not even a small one?" The Doctor pushed. Daring stood up "I don't know." She said through clenched teeth. Now she was in hot water, thinking to herself. She had to find a way out, "And I have been on this train for too long." She shouldered her saddle bag, tightened the strap closely to her body, and turned to leave the carriage. Walking down the isles and proceeding to the middle and rear box cars she found her way to the end. Spreading her wings wide open she kicked off of the train. Her momentum carried her along with the train for a moment. Just as it seemed to be pulling away from her she began to flap her wings faster and sped past the windows of the train. It felt amazing to fly again, and her moment of anger and fear had given her more than enough energy to speed past the train with little effort. She didn't even glance into the dinning carriage as she flew past. If the train was a few hours a way, she could make it in a coupe less. She had two bottles of emergency water, and a couple packages of food incase she got tired. But she wasn't going to to stay on the train any longer. After gaining a good lead on the train and after feeling her adrenalin rush begin to wear off she gradually slowed down. She was strong, and her wings were powerful. She could still speed past most pegasi with barely any effort. She was well above the tree line towards the base of the mountain next to her, so she decided to take a look at the scroll as she flew on. Bringing out the scroll she carefully unrolled it. Daring didn’t want to stop and loose time, Her eyes followed the original writing, then the second part that had appeared, and below that, as she had expected, a new message. “What the hell is that Doctor trying to do to me?” She asked herself. The new part wasn’t as short, but Daring didn’t like the new commanding tone. Get off of the train. We have reason to believe somepony may derail our progress. You are 2 ½ hours flight from the town. Do not stay at the town long, camp on the outskirts, and only stay to ask for information. “Alright, so it’s not the Doctor,” she thought to herself, “Or he is just really, really, confuse.” The last part she could believe. But she based her conclusions on evidence and right now all she had was guesses. She shook her head slightly, she had been on the train a while, and although the gem was important she had been trapped on the train for quite some time. She tucked the scroll in her saddle bag, making sure it was secure and wouldn’t fall out. She removed her hat and place it over the scroll for extra protection. It also allowed the wind to shoot through her mane. Daring was thrilled to be flying again! A smile spread across her face. She angled herself upward soaring higher into the air, then dove back down towards the trees and tundra below. It was definitely a change from her recent luxury, but she would choose the flying any day! She loved every minute of the scenery, the speed and the wind, but after a couple hours of flying she could see a large hole in the tree line, she looked around below her and caught site of the tracks. She was nearly there. She barely felt tired at all, so she happily sped up as though seeing the finish line to a race. Shooting across the sky she came up to a clearing. Looking down into, all the buildings seemed unadorned and made of wood. She saw a large blue box behind one of the buildings. “Stands out a bit,” She thought. She glided down and landed in the middle of the road. Taking a moment she looked around and saw a few ponies in one of the larger buildings. Her stomach gurgled, reminding her it’d been about 14 hours sense she last ate. “I guess I’d better grab something.” Daring said to herself, and with that began walking towards the building. As she approached it she looked through one of the windows. She stopped dead in her tracks looking directly at the purple mare waving furiously at her, and the brown coated stallion pushing a chair out next to him, beckoning her to join them. Chapter 5Daring Do walked into the building and slowly made her way to the table. She hadn’t noticed her jaw hanging wide open. It didn’t seem possible: neither of them were unicorns and even had one of them been, she had never heard of a spell that could teleport them such a long ways away. Even in times of emergency the great kings, queens, and princesses of the land still had to fly to a given location. How could it be possible that a pegasus and an earth pony would get here before she could? “Please sit down dear, you don’t look well," the Doctor said, smiling. "Now, there was something we were talking about before you dashed off." The neurons in Daring's brain were firing faster than ever before. She had been through strange ordeals, and exotic places. Why was this stallion pushing her beyond her limits? Limits that she thought had almost vanished! "I've got a couple apples here if you'd like. I'll never quite get a hold of the idea of eating hay." Derpy giggled at his comment. Derpy was sitting across from the doctor with a bowl of soup in front of her. At the moment, she held the bowl between her two front hooves tilted up to her face and drinking the last contents of what was inside. Lowering the bowl, Derpy gracefully whipped the right side of her mouth, though some soup and small oats were still stuck in her fur. "Glad you could make it!" she said happily. Daring stared with her mouth still open. "But... How did... I mean the train..." She turned her head as if to look in the general direction of where the train should be. She could picture it in her mind still clattering along the tracks with the few passengers – now fewer than before – eating or getting a short nap in before their arrival. "Oh, you have got to be joking." "Not at all!" replied the Doctor happily, "But I am the Doctor. Now, would you like an apple? I'm not too fond of them, but at the moment they seem to be the best source of energy. Mammals need food to produce energy! And we're going to need energy if we are to go on a hike up that mountain later!" Daring's moods had been everywhere today: shock, nervousness, amazement, fear, and anger. She felt tired and a part of her didn't want to fight it any longer. But that fight in her, the part that never gave up, seemed to grow in this situation. "Why couldn't it also be in the woods?" she asked the Doctor directly. "You still don't know exactly." "Fair point. Either way, we're going to need energy. At least I will. I guess I'm odd man out in this scenario, seeing as how I'm the only one that can't fly here!" Derpy chuckled at the remark. Daring looked at the young mare and scoffed. Derpy didn't seem to mind as she bit into one of the muffins that they had ordered. Her expression surprised Daring because for the first time there was a serious look on the grey mare's face. Almost as if tasting every ingredient in the muffin. "Wow..." Derpy said after a moment, "they did something different here, and I like it! I wish I could know what they did." The Doctor held out a hoof and Derpy gently placed the muffin on it. He brought out the same tool Daring had seen him use on the train, flicked it on, and it again made the same buzz/whistle noise she had heard. The Doctor flicked it upward and examined it closely. "Well, I wouldn't have expected that to be in there!" he said. What is it Doctor?" Derpy asked puzzled. "I can't exactly read whistling lights you know." The Doctor chuckled again. His laugh began to annoy Daring. Grabbing one of the apples she took a big bite as the Doctor took out a small black sleeve. He flipped it open towards Derpy, Her eyes moving around scanning whatever it was, then after breathing a heavy "oooh," he replaced it where he had got it from. Daring looked around at it. "What was that?" she asked. "The ingredients for the muffin," Derpy said. "How did they get there? Can your... thing... send letters to paper? Or scrolls?" Daring finally felt like it she was getting somewhere. But her hope faded shortly at the Doctor's next laugh and shaking of his head. The frustration that she had felt back on the train was coming back to her. Her relaxing and speedy flight had cleared her mind, sure, but the Doctor managed to bring it all back. "Will... You... Tell me... What.. You... Want..." Daring's teeth were clenched tightly. She was visibly shaking and the Doctor, seeing the signs, began to look more serious than in any time he had spent with her. "NOW!" Daring shouted with a simultaneous banging of her hoof on the table. The other patrons in the diner stopped mid-conversation to look at the commotion for a moment. Daring was staring hard into the Doctor's eyes. "Alright," he replied calmly, "I got a message. From who? I don't know, about what? It wasn't too specific. But I know that it must be stopped. I picked you out, because you seemed like you know what you're doing. An extra set of," he paused for a moment, seeming to choose his words, "hooves would be of great use." Daring continued to stare at him. A small tear began to form at the base of one of her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was from stress, anger, relief that she had finally gotten somewhere, or just the fact that her stare was so hard she hadn't blinked. Daring didn't care, she at least had gotten somewhere. "And the girl?" She followed sternly. "Your assistant right? If you have an assistant why would you need my help? You two seem to manage everything." "Like I said, you seem like you can handle yourself and you have only proven that fact more and more as we talk. Now, would you like another apple before we set off?" "What are you a doctor of?" Daring replied, almost not caring if she got a straight answer. At the very least, he was finally being open or at least seemingly so. Taking another apple, biting into it, taking a moment to relax, she looked up at the sun and figured she had a few more hours before it would be dark. Even if she’d stayed with the train she would have arrived before nightfall, so she had counted on gathering information before sunset. That way, she could put the starting pieces of the puzzle together while resting in bed and then be off in the morning. After a moment, she realized she had spaced off into the sky. "Sorry..." she started, "What were you a Doctor of?" He smiled strangely and replied, "42."
Chapter 1MYSTERY MASH-UP The train’s wheels clattered as a team of strong stallions pulled it along the track. Daring Do sat in her seat staring at the scroll she had received from an anonymous “friend”. She examined the writing closely. Every letter curved, started, and ended with perfect precision. Only horn-writing could have produced this. She read it again to herself slowly. Daring Do, I realize your time is short, but a wealthy client is offering you quite the sum of money to find a very precious gem. We apologize at not being able to disclose what it would be used for or the great importance of why we must acquire it. However, the need is great! We can tell you that it is used for an event, one that happens only once every 220,000 years, and the next moment is upon us. The location of the gem is still a small mystery to us, but somepony has tracked down it’s last known location. Please take the enclosed train ticket to a small town outside Equinath. Good hunting, A friend “Short and to the point,” she said quietly to herself. She thought of Equinath, one of the northern most towns at the base of one of the tallest mountain ranges in the world. She had been close to there before, but never ventured too deep or got a decent chance to explore as much as she’d hoped. She thought back to the letter. The usual questions one might have - who the scroll was from, what the gem could be used for, how much they would pay a pony to get it - all floated into her mind. But the one that was on her mind the most was why there was so little information on such a large piece of parchment. The dictation of the letter barely took up a tenth of the space available and there was no other reason to send so much. She looked closely, checking to see if there was anything had been hidden, or perhaps some impression on the scroll itself. Another thought; why a scroll? A letter would have done just as well. And more information would have been fine, but Daring was also a keen investigator. Daring jerked forward, and her ears burned with the sound of squealing wheels as the trains velocity decreased very rapidly. She picked herself up off the floor and her face off of the seat across from her. Looking around, she saw a couple spilled tea cups and biscuit trays. There weren't very many ponies on this train ride with her. Two colts in very slick attire sat at the very front of the car Daring was in. She hadn't been able to figure out much about them; she hadn't heard either of them talking, but had heard the occasional snort of laughter. The two now lay on the ground shaking their heads and trying to rub the stars out of their eyes. In the middle, there was a mare who'd earlier been fixated with the passing scenary out the window and with a camera around her neck. The camera now lay on the ground broken, as the mare was trying to collect the pieces. She noticed a slight tear running down the pretty mare's face while slowly collecting the pieces. Daring’s keen eye had noticed quite a few smaller bags, most likely containing other lenses. But what field photographer would go into the wilderness with only one camera? She hoped the pony would have thought to bring along a back up. The mare continued to sweep up the pieces and placed them in a small plastic bag. Daring looked around to the last two passengers who sat in the row behind herself. One mare and one stallion. The stallion was gently holding the mare, which was shaking her head. He helped her back into her seat. She shook herself off fairly fast. 'Another explorer like herself,' Daring thought. A little grinding halt was sudden and surprising; but she had most likely been through worse. If the other mare was in any way like Daring herself, the stop would pale in comparison to some of her past, and hopefully future adventures. Daring got up and looked outside the window to where they had stopped. They weren't at the town yet and there was no way she could identify anything. On one side the tall mountain range was looming over the train. She imagined flying up, into the clouds. She had been on the train for nearly eight hours and her wings were itching to stretch out and swim through the air. But the fact the train stopped somewhere other than its destination was warning enough something was wrong. She had to find out what it was. She decided to stay on the cramped train just a bit longer, until she could at least find out the problem. After that, she planned to fly far and fast. Maybe she could even get to the town for help. Daring stood and walked steadily towards the front of the train. She passed the photographer who had whipped out another camera. The mare was quickly snapping pictures of the little bits of carnage of the sudden stop. Daring walked on towards the door and glanced at the two colts furiously wiping their suits trying to get the tea out of them. She opened the door in front of her, finding an entirely empty dining carriage. She saw a couple waiters who were cleaning up a few broken plates that had recently and quite unexpectedly found their way to the floor. Daring stepped over a small pile of glass and proceeded to the front of the train. She opened one door and passed through the kitchen carriage. One of the staff members, a tall, strong unicorn stood in her way, “Excuse me, passengers are not allowed up here. Please return to your seat, we will have information on why we stopped soon.” Daring wasn’t exactly looking for trouble, but her sense of adventure and curiosity was the unstoppable force that drove her. “Well how about I step outside, and just fly to the front of the train then. Either way, I’m going to see what happened. Now how about you make my trip a little easier and step aside to let me pass.“ The cook gave a snort, then stepped to the side allowing her some room to maneuver around the mess. The stallion went back to wiping up the mess and Daring walked toward the final door. It led to the lead carriage and she could hear some yelling. She opened the door, not caring about the occupants hearing her. It would just make her look ridiculous. She noticed right away that the conductor was actually in the corner of the train, knocked out. She instantly spread her wings and crouched into a pounce position ready to defend herself. She then noticed two more ponies; one stallion, and one mare. The mare was a pegasus like herself. The two seemed to be arguing but not in any sort of angry manner. The stallion seemed to be almost excited at the accident. “Now, don’t worry I’m sure I can fix it. It’ll just take a moment.” The stallion quickly said, examining everything on the dashboard in front of him. “Buttons, levers, and a train pulled by horses, this is quite remarkable.” “Are you sure? I’m really sorry,” the little pegasus said, also looking at the buttons. Both of their backs were turned to Daring. “Yes, yes. Now if you could please hand me my… Oh dear.” The stallion stopped, turned, and saw Daring staring at them, still in her pounce position. “Excuse me, but would you happen to know how these things function? I can’t tell if it is steam or equine power. Perhaps a combination of both? Ms.?” Daring stared at them and in a sharp tone exclaimed, “What happened here?!” The Pegasus pony turned around, and looked at Daring. It was hard to tell if the grey pony was looking at her, or the roof of the carriage. With a slightly embarassed flutter of her wings, the cross-eyed mare said, "I just don't know what went wrong!"
Chapter 2Daring stared at them hard for a moment, examining them and processing what they had said. Her wings began to lower and she lifted her head up slightly. “Just…” she started, “Just answer my question.” She had finished off her statement with an unsure tone of how they would react. To her knowledge, they had just taken over the train. “Ah, well I think some people may be barging in soon to see what happened,” the stallion said. One of Daring’s ears twitched at one unfamiliar word. The pegasus noticed this and started giggling. “He means somepony,” she said still giggling to herself. “Man, you will never get used to that.” Daring stared at the two of them, now almost fully relaxed. The stallion tried to hold in a laugh, but failed. A glance at Daring's baffled face did not help him. “I’ll just introduce us, how about that?” The mare fluttered forward close to Daring. “My name is Derpy, and this here is the Doctor,” she said happily. Daring looked back and forth between the two of them and determined they weren’t much of a threat. She looked Derpy in the eyes as best she could, then proceeded to introduce herself as well. She should at least offer to help the train or find out what exactly went wrong. She would still keep her guard up just in case. “The name is Daring Do, and I am on a very important quest. You two seem to be stopping me in-“ Before Daring could finished the Doctor gleefully and with a high pitched almost squeal stated, “Doctor Derpy Daring Ditzy Do!” Both Daring and Derpy looked at him puzzled. He continued to bounce and repeat it, “Doctor Derpy Daring Ditzy Do! The three of us make the Doctor Derpy Daring Ditzy Do!” His smile was wide and he seemed to bounce as he spoke the name out loud. “I very much like that, but introductions and importance of being places to find important things can wait, you must help me.” Daring walked forward. She was still a little shocked at the stallion's mannerisms, but she shook it out of her mind; too many to keep track of at this point. She walked up slowly and stood next to the doctor examining the controls. She then turned to him awkwardly. “How did you know I was out to find something important?” The Doctor continued to look over the controls, scratching his chin with his hoof as he did so. “Important quests, important things,” he said. “People, houses, food…” he paused for a moment, “gems.” At that point Daring took a couple steps back and tensed again. “Who are you!” She demanded, “Really!” “My assistant here already explained, Ms. Do: I am the Doctor.” “Yes but a Doctor of what?” “Look, are we really going to go through this? I thought you needed to be somewhere important, so why not help us look for the problem? I noticed you have wings and this train is in the middle of nowhere, so I can only assume that you haven’t flown in a while. Why don’t you fly up and locate the nearest town, at least?” Daring stood firm for a moment, staring hard at the so called Doctor. She spread her wings out, and arched herself into the air backwards, out of a large side window behind her. Daring spun around to level herself out with the ground, then rocketed upwards into the sky as fast as she could go.. “That Doctor won’t get me a clear answer, so I’m not going to waste my time with him,” she began to herself. “I’ll find the town, head back to the train for my things, and let those two figure the darn thing out for themselves.” Daring soared high into the sky. Just below the cloud line, keeping a clear line of sight around her, she slowly began to spin. To the north was rocky terrain with patches of grass which the tracks followed; and to the south, the same thing. The mountain, of course, looming over her to the east, and to the west was a strongly wooded forest. She dove back down towards the train, stopping just before impact. Looking back inside the lead carriage to see the Doctor and the conductor giving a high hoof to each other. Daring stared in shock and the whistle of the train sounded just next to her head. This was the second sound her ears had hated all within the hour. Daring flew to the back of the train to avoid passing the Doctor. She pushed out how they had fixed the train so quickly, chalking it up to just the press of a button somepony had over looked. But who they really were and where they were from were two of the three leading questions. The third, and most important question, captured her complete attention as she walked back to her seat. Finding the scroll on the floor where it had dropped to she examined but didn’t open it. “How does he know?” Was he the pony who had sent it? Then why would he be here? He seemed perfectly able, fit, and excited enough. With that she unraveled the scroll. The same message glared back at her, but then something caught her attention. Daring’s beautiful eyes widened. Something had been added to the scroll! Just below the sign off Daring saw a message with the same lettering. P.S. Don’t believe anypony who may conjure up conspiracy theories about the gem’s usage. Daring rubbed her eyes thinking it was her mind playing tricks on her. But the words stayed there. She unraveled the scroll completely looking over every inch of it. Flipping it all around, twisting turning, and even holding it upside down and behind her back. Even with magic was this really possible? To just add things to a scroll. And even if there was such a spell a unicorn had, how could they know what happened. The train and the new passengers were a shock even to Daring herself. Her mind raced, leaving her off guard, making her jump at the next noise. “Hey!” A bubbly voice said loudly next to her. Daring seemed to jump a mile. She was going to hate her ears today. Derpy was standing next to her seat and looking at her, smiling. “Mind if we join you?” Derpy continued as the Doctor walked up beside her. Daring stared at the two empty seats across and facing her, then looked at the seat to her left with her bags. “I…” She began, but the two had already begun to move and sit down across from her. The doctor sat awkwardly in the seat, and Derpy gently perching herself on the side. Daring tilted her head. “Please, just tell me who you are.”
Chapter 3The Doctor tried adjusting himself in the seat and found trouble finding a good spot. "Well," he began, still wriggling in his seat, "if I must repeat myself, I am the Doctor. It is a pleasure to meet you again, Ms. Do." Daring stared at him with tired eyes. She was very strong-willed, but this stallion just seemed to push her to her mental limits. Derpy sat directly across from her, staring straight ahead. "Do you remember my name?" The small grey mare asked happily. "Yes, I believe I do. Derpy, correct?" "That's it! Yay!" Derpy twisted her body and neck around to where she could nearly touch her back. Turning back around a couple seconds later, she now held a small brown sack in her teeth. Daring heard her say something, but it was muffled by the sack. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Daring stared at the sacks, clearly puzzled. Derpy dropped the sack and opened it up with her hooves. She reached in and produced a muffin. Smiling she added in a cheery tone, "I said, 'would you like a muffin?'" Derpy held out the muffin, gesturing for Daring to take it. "Uhh..." Daring stared at it. She felt these new ponies were going to scramble her brains. She thought back on the many adventures she had been on, all the puzzles she had solved, the detective work, and all the amazing places and people she had seen and met. How could two ponies from out of nowhere throw her off so much? But it wouldn't matter for long. Daring thought about the town she was headed to and relaxed at the realization that she could get away from these two. Reaching out for the muffin, Daring lifted it and brought it towards her mouth. Taking a bite, she was surprised at how amazing the flavor was. It was staggeringly good; she found herself staring at the muffin. She looked up to notice Derpy had been talking about how she made them. Daring tuned back into reality as the train began to pick up speed and was now fully back in action. During this exchange the Doctor had been wriggling around trying to find a comfortable spot. After a bit of struggling he had finally found his favorite position. He now sat with one back hoof on the floor while the other back hoof lay on the arm rest. His front right hoof was twisted behind his back and his left lay over his forehead which in turn lay against the window of the train. The Doctor let out a large sigh of relief, paused for a moment, then immediately jumped up and looked at the two mares. "I'm going to go chat with some of the other passengers!" he informed them. He slunk in between Daring and Derpy and trotted up to the front of the train. Daring leaned to the side so she could fully see the Doctor as he walked right up to the two stallions in business attire. "Hello there," he started, "I'm the Doctor, what's your name?" The two stallions turned to look at him with surprise. The Doctor stood by their seats gleefully looking back and forth between the two of them. “Well you two seem dressed sharp!” He added on after a moment of silence. “Yes,” one finally replied. He had dark hair in a slick business haircut. His cutie mark appeared to be a few stacks of coins. “we’re heading to Equinath to spot locations for a new observatory.” The Doctor stuck out his lower jaw and squinted his eyes slightly, “Ooooh, observatory! I love those!” The two looked at each other. The other pony with divided hair, one half red and the other blue, tilted his head slightly. “You are interested in the sciences as well?” He replied curiously. This pony’s cutie mark resembled a red lambda with what would relate to two electrons circling it. The Doctor smiled wide and looked at the two of them, “Me? Interested in science? Oh you have no idea!” After Daring had listened to the umpteenth “funny” muffin story from Derpy, she realized that two small muffins, though delicious as they were, were not enough to hold her over until the train reached its destination. “How would you like to go to the dining cart? As best I can tell we’ll be on this train for at least 5 hours.” Derpy shook her head energetically. The two pegasi got out of their seats. Daring grabbed her bag, not wanting to leave the scroll by itself. Something was clearly up and she wanted to speak with Derpy privately. There was no doubt in her mind that there was something up with this Doctor and she needed to find out what it was. Derpy seemed harmless enough, so she might try and get some information out of her. The two passed by the Doctor rambling off something that seemed to be complete gibberish to the both of them. Yet the two other stallions seemed to be drooling at the sound of his words. Derpy chimed up as they passed by, “We’re going to see if they have any treats in the dinning cart!” Daring stuttered a bit with her next step. She hoped the Doctor wouldn’t join them. Of course she had known Derpy was gleeful enough to say something, but she didn’t have a plan to divert the Doctor if he asked to join his assistant. “We’ll be doing girl talk.” Daring said without thinking. The phrase nearly knocked her off her feet. She HATED girl talk. And what would she have in common with this kitchen pony anyways? The Doctor clearly looked surprised himself. “Well, didn’t figure you the sort, but the two of you have fun!” He turned his attention back to the two stallions next to him and continued to prattle on about stars and hydrogen fission. Daring quietly breathed a sigh of relief. The two mares walked into the dining carriage, which had mostly been cleaned up. The few back tables where they had entered were dressed and ready to serve. Daring had appreciated the anonymous “friend” for putting her on such a high class train ride. Mostly she had been treated to the back carriage or more often than not, been forced to hide away in a crate somewhere. There was, however, a part of her that missed the excitement of it. But she wasn’t going to let this make her soft. They found a table in the back and a couple unicorns still sweeping up gestured for a waiter to bring them menus. Derpy began poking the napkin, which was folded in a pyramid shape neatly on the plate in front of her. She let out a slight amazed ‘ooo’ and began poking it with her hoof. She looked up at Daring. “Do you always travel like this?” Daring chuckled to herself remembering some of the roughest trips. “Not quite. So where are you two from?” She didn’t want to waste much time before anyone else who the Doctor may talk to – or worse, the Doctor himself – came in.. “Well,” Derpy began, “I’m from Ponyville, a nice little town with a lot of nice ponies there. I kind of miss it, but traveling with the Doctor has been really fun!” Daring showed a smile, but hid the jump for joy inside. This was going to be easier than she thought. A short unicorn with a feathered hare walked up to their table, an aura of magic engulfing two menus that gently found their way in front of Derpy and Daring. “Might I interest anypony in a couple drinks?” She said hurriedly. Daring figured she was needed to help finish cleaning the dining carriage before more ponies decided to come in and eat. Daring didn’t look at the menu. She just wanted Derpy to get some nice food and find out what was going on. “I’ll just have water. Derpy, don’t worry about prices, I’ll get anything you want.” “Gee, really!” Derpy said excitedly. She turned her attention to the server. “Do you have any lemon pomegranate green tea? With a little slice of lime on the corner.” Both Daring and the server looked at her oddly. “Umm, I’m sure we have the necessary tools to make that. We have quite a skilled chef here. I’ll be back shortly.” The server walked down the isle of tables towards the kitchen. Daring returned her gaze to Derpy who was examining the menu closely. The two stallions who had been captivated by the Doctor’s vast knowledge of the stars were sad to see him go. But at least they had been given much to think about, which would lead them to even more questions and possible discoveries to make. The doctor walked down to the middle of the aisle where the lone mare sat. He approached her noticing the obvious cutie mark of a roll of film. Her mane was long and bright blue while her coat was a quaint silver. She had a nice red butterfly jewel in her mane. The Doctor walked up beside her. “Hello there! Notice anything interesting?” She had again returned to gazing out the window, but turned to meet the owner of the greeting. "Hello," she replied with a small sniff. The doctor noticed a couple make up smudges around her eyes. "Well, yes, the view here is absolutely remarkable." “Brilliant, I love a good view. I’m the Doctor by the way, very nice to meet you! Mind if I have a seat?” The mare looked at him a bit surprised but smiled and said, “Of course. I’m Photo Capson, what exactly are you a doctor of?” “Oh, just the usual loads of stuff,” he said with a smile, “I’ve been around, seen some things, bit of a rubbish memory from some of them. You, on the other hand, must have a solid memory! Photographer?” Photo chuckled, “Yes, I have seen quite a few things, some beautiful, some not. But I figure I can relax in a quiet little mountain town. No pony to control me.” “Control you?” The Doctor tilted his head, “I doubt many people could have a grasp of a photographer.” “Oh, believe me,” she started, “It’s possible. It’s been just me and my faithful camera for a while.” She stopped abruptly and stared at a bag on the ground. “It’s just been us for a while.” The Doctor smiled, "You said that twice, friend." His smile seemed to go unnoticed. Photo's expression seemed to be bleak and down-trot. "Is something the matter? The train is moving again now. In fact, I should add that the train is even functioning better, thanks to a very, very, very, clever stallion!" he now beamed with excitement at the thought of his work in the engine carriage earlier. "No. Well, yes that is a fact, but," her eyes wandered to the bag sitting on her lap. She unzipped it and pulled out a bag to reveal the smashed pieces of a camera. The Doctor looked at it and tilted his head. Photo stared into the pieces as a hundred memories she had shared with the amazing device flooded into her brain again. "It has been with me for 10 years. Everypony said it was out of date and there were new and better models out. But this one always stayed true. It was top of the line when I first got it, so by the time the 'more advanced' models came out, this baby kept right on up with them." The Doctor, again holding back a slight giggle at the mention of "everypony," of course felt bad for the mare, but perhaps it wasn't all a loss. "Well Photo darling, I believe I could help out with that," he said with a smile, "I bet I could take a look at some of these pieces here and maybe fix it up to be good as new!" The Doctor followed this statement by pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Photo stared at the strange device. "What is that? Can it really help my camera? What would I need to pay you?" the pony stared at him with hopeful eyes. Chuckling to himself, the doctor replied softly, " Just tell me a little about yourself, why you’re on the train, nothing too personal if you don't like." He picked up the bag containing the broken camera pieces and sorted them out as best he could. “So tell me more about this Doctor. Where is he from? How did you two get on the train?” Daring hadn’t looked at the menu once. She was trying to get as much out of Derpy as she could. So far, her efforts had been mostly left to dry. Derpy was either avoiding telling her or honestly didn’t know; Daring figured it was the latter. “That’s so weird how they put the pictures of the food in here!” Derpy said. Daring grumbled, reached across the table and flipped Derpy’s menu over for her. “Much better!” Derpy happily stated. At that point, Daring figured she either generally didn’t know much or had forgotten a lot of it. “So what were you asking earlier?” Derpy’s attention stayed fixed on the menu. “Just,” Daring started, trying not to sound annoyed, “How did you get onto the train?” “Well that’s because of the TARDY.” Derpy said, her eyes still searching the menu for something. “OH! Hay, Barely, and oat soup. Sounds fancy. How did you get on this train?” Daring rolled her eyes, “I walked on, what is a TARDY?” “It’s just the Doctors special ship thing.” “Ship thing?” She shook her head, then just decided to skip that question. “What are you and the Doctor doing here?” “I’m not sure. The Doctor said he got a weird message on some piece of paper he was carrying In his pocket. It’s strange because I don’t remember anyone delivering it to him. It was like he already had it. Sounds kind of ridiculous I know. But the Doctor has a lot of weird stuff!” Daring thought hard about this one. The first actual lead onto who they really were. If he already had a paper, could he be the one sending her the messages? But then he got a message, so a competitor maybe? Daring was legendary in her field, why would anypony send multiple talents. What if there was a second force trying to stop her? For every day there was a night, right? “What did this paper look like? Was it a scroll?” “No, it was more small and in some sort of sleeve. Do you think they had muffins? I doubt they could beat my recipe.” Derpy suddenly put her menu down and looked directly at Daring. “You like questions don’t you.” Daring was slightly startled by the sudden question. “Uhh, it’s sort of in my line of work.” She looked back at Derpy who wasn’t budging. There was no way she could have caught on to their conspiracy, if there even was one. Daring looked down at the menu for the first time. “So, what was that soup again?”
Chapter 4The door to the dinning carriage slid open and the two ponies that had been in the back of the train walked in with the Doctor. All three were laughing hysterically. The server had just walked away with her and Derpy's order. The doctor bowed to the couple and turned to the table which Daring and Derpy sat at. "Mind if I join you?!" "Not at all!" Derpy spoke up eagerly, "I was telling Daring all about the TARDY!" She smiled at the Doctor. "TARDIS dear," he said quickly, then lowered his voice slightly, "but I thought that we discussed telling just whomever asks about it. This is still a bit strange for me, and I don't wish to inform all ears that I have a time machine." Daring's ears perked up, did the Doctor really just say what he thought he said? "umm... a what?" Daring sputtered out. The Doctor then looked back and fourth between Daring and Derpy, "oh," he said, "oh you didn’t... Well I walked into that one. Daring, dear, do, Ms. I would really like to tell you something secret." He sat down and began to explain the TARDIS knowing it would be a borderline futile effort. After a few moments of trying to explain alternate dimension, the group was happy to to have their drinks arrive. The server looked at the new arrival to the table and again produced her note pad to write down a drink order. "So what would you like?" she said, sounding annoyed. "Just a water for me, thanks." The Doctor replied happily. "And would you happen to have another menu?" The server's horn lit up producing a small spark in front of it. The spark grew producing a small bubble, the bubble contorted and formed a rectangular sheet of paper. The paper settled gently in front of the doctor. "Thanks very much Ms." The server gave a weak smile, then walked off towards the couple which now sat in the middle of the carriage. "So Ms. Do," The Doctor started. He had turned his attention to Daring without the slightest glance at the menu. "what is your big adventure? Given what you said in the engine and the way you're dressed, i'd figure you're an adventurer. What is your latest quest?" Daring looked at him with a straight face, perhaps to strong of one. "I am just visiting the mountains here." She replied, "Nothing too special, i like to stumble upon adventures rather than have them chartered to me." The Doctor smiled, "Well I don't doubt that. I too love finding adventures, and it seems like there could be something of one coming up. I'm not superstitious but i think that what happened earlier was a bad omen." Daring chuckled a bit at the phrase. The doctor then produced a small mechanical device. Something Daring had never seen before. He flicked it on and it lit up, producing a small high pitch, contorted sound, something that daring was sure she had never HEARD before. It stopped and the Doctor stared into it. Turning towards Derpy he said, "See, I told you magic leaves a temporal disturbance. A bit large for just popping up a menu. Maybe some chef here recently used a rather big spell to whip up our lunch." "But doctor," Derpy said, "If the train is moving, shouldn't the temple rift be back a ways?" The doctor's eyes widened. Staring into nothing he started thinking. "Why..." He thought for a moment more, "Mighty fine catch there Derpy!" He smiled and patted the small mare on the head. "Well then, what could have caused such a large anomaly?" He turned his attention to Daring, "any ideas?" Daring looked at him, a small wave of horror crept up in her chest. "No." She said sternly. "Not even a small one?" The Doctor pushed. Daring stood up "I don't know." She said through clenched teeth. Now she was in hot water, thinking to herself. She had to find a way out, "And I have been on this train for too long." She shouldered her saddle bag, tightened the strap closely to her body, and turned to leave the carriage. Walking down the isles and proceeding to the middle and rear box cars she found her way to the end. Spreading her wings wide open she kicked off of the train. Her momentum carried her along with the train for a moment. Just as it seemed to be pulling away from her she began to flap her wings faster and sped past the windows of the train. It felt amazing to fly again, and her moment of anger and fear had given her more than enough energy to speed past the train with little effort. She didn't even glance into the dinning carriage as she flew past. If the train was a few hours a way, she could make it in a coupe less. She had two bottles of emergency water, and a couple packages of food incase she got tired. But she wasn't going to to stay on the train any longer. After gaining a good lead on the train and after feeling her adrenalin rush begin to wear off she gradually slowed down. She was strong, and her wings were powerful. She could still speed past most pegasi with barely any effort. She was well above the tree line towards the base of the mountain next to her, so she decided to take a look at the scroll as she flew on. Bringing out the scroll she carefully unrolled it. Daring didn’t want to stop and loose time, Her eyes followed the original writing, then the second part that had appeared, and below that, as she had expected, a new message. “What the hell is that Doctor trying to do to me?” She asked herself. The new part wasn’t as short, but Daring didn’t like the new commanding tone. Get off of the train. We have reason to believe somepony may derail our progress. You are 2 ½ hours flight from the town. Do not stay at the town long, camp on the outskirts, and only stay to ask for information. “Alright, so it’s not the Doctor,” she thought to herself, “Or he is just really, really, confuse.” The last part she could believe. But she based her conclusions on evidence and right now all she had was guesses. She shook her head slightly, she had been on the train a while, and although the gem was important she had been trapped on the train for quite some time. She tucked the scroll in her saddle bag, making sure it was secure and wouldn’t fall out. She removed her hat and place it over the scroll for extra protection. It also allowed the wind to shoot through her mane. Daring was thrilled to be flying again! A smile spread across her face. She angled herself upward soaring higher into the air, then dove back down towards the trees and tundra below. It was definitely a change from her recent luxury, but she would choose the flying any day! She loved every minute of the scenery, the speed and the wind, but after a couple hours of flying she could see a large hole in the tree line, she looked around below her and caught site of the tracks. She was nearly there. She barely felt tired at all, so she happily sped up as though seeing the finish line to a race. Shooting across the sky she came up to a clearing. Looking down into, all the buildings seemed unadorned and made of wood. She saw a large blue box behind one of the buildings. “Stands out a bit,” She thought. She glided down and landed in the middle of the road. Taking a moment she looked around and saw a few ponies in one of the larger buildings. Her stomach gurgled, reminding her it’d been about 14 hours sense she last ate. “I guess I’d better grab something.” Daring said to herself, and with that began walking towards the building. As she approached it she looked through one of the windows. She stopped dead in her tracks looking directly at the purple mare waving furiously at her, and the brown coated stallion pushing a chair out next to him, beckoning her to join them.
Chapter 5Daring Do walked into the building and slowly made her way to the table. She hadn’t noticed her jaw hanging wide open. It didn’t seem possible: neither of them were unicorns and even had one of them been, she had never heard of a spell that could teleport them such a long ways away. Even in times of emergency the great kings, queens, and princesses of the land still had to fly to a given location. How could it be possible that a pegasus and an earth pony would get here before she could? “Please sit down dear, you don’t look well," the Doctor said, smiling. "Now, there was something we were talking about before you dashed off." The neurons in Daring's brain were firing faster than ever before. She had been through strange ordeals, and exotic places. Why was this stallion pushing her beyond her limits? Limits that she thought had almost vanished! "I've got a couple apples here if you'd like. I'll never quite get a hold of the idea of eating hay." Derpy giggled at his comment. Derpy was sitting across from the doctor with a bowl of soup in front of her. At the moment, she held the bowl between her two front hooves tilted up to her face and drinking the last contents of what was inside. Lowering the bowl, Derpy gracefully whipped the right side of her mouth, though some soup and small oats were still stuck in her fur. "Glad you could make it!" she said happily. Daring stared with her mouth still open. "But... How did... I mean the train..." She turned her head as if to look in the general direction of where the train should be. She could picture it in her mind still clattering along the tracks with the few passengers – now fewer than before – eating or getting a short nap in before their arrival. "Oh, you have got to be joking." "Not at all!" replied the Doctor happily, "But I am the Doctor. Now, would you like an apple? I'm not too fond of them, but at the moment they seem to be the best source of energy. Mammals need food to produce energy! And we're going to need energy if we are to go on a hike up that mountain later!" Daring's moods had been everywhere today: shock, nervousness, amazement, fear, and anger. She felt tired and a part of her didn't want to fight it any longer. But that fight in her, the part that never gave up, seemed to grow in this situation. "Why couldn't it also be in the woods?" she asked the Doctor directly. "You still don't know exactly." "Fair point. Either way, we're going to need energy. At least I will. I guess I'm odd man out in this scenario, seeing as how I'm the only one that can't fly here!" Derpy chuckled at the remark. Daring looked at the young mare and scoffed. Derpy didn't seem to mind as she bit into one of the muffins that they had ordered. Her expression surprised Daring because for the first time there was a serious look on the grey mare's face. Almost as if tasting every ingredient in the muffin. "Wow..." Derpy said after a moment, "they did something different here, and I like it! I wish I could know what they did." The Doctor held out a hoof and Derpy gently placed the muffin on it. He brought out the same tool Daring had seen him use on the train, flicked it on, and it again made the same buzz/whistle noise she had heard. The Doctor flicked it upward and examined it closely. "Well, I wouldn't have expected that to be in there!" he said. What is it Doctor?" Derpy asked puzzled. "I can't exactly read whistling lights you know." The Doctor chuckled again. His laugh began to annoy Daring. Grabbing one of the apples she took a big bite as the Doctor took out a small black sleeve. He flipped it open towards Derpy, Her eyes moving around scanning whatever it was, then after breathing a heavy "oooh," he replaced it where he had got it from. Daring looked around at it. "What was that?" she asked. "The ingredients for the muffin," Derpy said. "How did they get there? Can your... thing... send letters to paper? Or scrolls?" Daring finally felt like it she was getting somewhere. But her hope faded shortly at the Doctor's next laugh and shaking of his head. The frustration that she had felt back on the train was coming back to her. Her relaxing and speedy flight had cleared her mind, sure, but the Doctor managed to bring it all back. "Will... You... Tell me... What.. You... Want..." Daring's teeth were clenched tightly. She was visibly shaking and the Doctor, seeing the signs, began to look more serious than in any time he had spent with her. "NOW!" Daring shouted with a simultaneous banging of her hoof on the table. The other patrons in the diner stopped mid-conversation to look at the commotion for a moment. Daring was staring hard into the Doctor's eyes. "Alright," he replied calmly, "I got a message. From who? I don't know, about what? It wasn't too specific. But I know that it must be stopped. I picked you out, because you seemed like you know what you're doing. An extra set of," he paused for a moment, seeming to choose his words, "hooves would be of great use." Daring continued to stare at him. A small tear began to form at the base of one of her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was from stress, anger, relief that she had finally gotten somewhere, or just the fact that her stare was so hard she hadn't blinked. Daring didn't care, she at least had gotten somewhere. "And the girl?" She followed sternly. "Your assistant right? If you have an assistant why would you need my help? You two seem to manage everything." "Like I said, you seem like you can handle yourself and you have only proven that fact more and more as we talk. Now, would you like another apple before we set off?" "What are you a doctor of?" Daring replied, almost not caring if she got a straight answer. At the very least, he was finally being open or at least seemingly so. Taking another apple, biting into it, taking a moment to relax, she looked up at the sun and figured she had a few more hours before it would be dark. Even if she’d stayed with the train she would have arrived before nightfall, so she had counted on gathering information before sunset. That way, she could put the starting pieces of the puzzle together while resting in bed and then be off in the morning. After a moment, she realized she had spaced off into the sky. "Sorry..." she started, "What were you a Doctor of?" He smiled strangely and replied, "42."
