It was a particularly busy day in Canterlot. Several antique stores had recently opened, that drew a lot of customers from far and wide. Suits could be seen coming in and out of the stores. Some were there to admire the wide display of artifacts while others came to buy and trade. Rings, necklaces, paintings, clothing to exquisite chairs and tables. There were just some of the millions of items displayed in the massive stores.
As closing time approached, every anthro began to leave. One of the antique store owner by the name Gilbert, was closing up for the night as her locked up several artifacts in their respective display cases. He was interrupted when the bell that hung behind the entrance door, gave a ring, indicating that some anthro had entered. Gilbert looked back to see who it was. Before him stood a mare who had light brown fur. She wore a white, silk dress that was almost similar to Princess Celestia's royal gown. Her black and grey shaded mane peeped out of her white sun hat. She was also wearing black, designer glasses that prevent one from seeing her eyes.
"Oh, umm.... are you closed?" the mare asked in a calm innocent tone.
"Uh... yes... but I could spare a few minutes for you if you would like." Gilbert said.
"That would be wonderful." she said with a gleaming smile.
Gilbert scratched the back of his head as he asked, "So... uhh... what are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for something..... ancient," she said as she walked around looking at items, "something... umm... extraordinary and has an interesting story into it."
"Huh...." Gilbert said as he put his left hand on his chin, lightly tapping his jaw, "well I do have a lot of ancient stuff, but about an interesting story...... hmm...."
The mare continued walking as she looked at some artifacts that really caught her eye.
"Ah.. there is one thing." Gilbert said as he removed a small red box that had a gold design edges, from a drawer.
The mare approached him with great interest of what was inside it.
He opened the box that revealed a silver ring. It had ancient writing on its edges, surrounded by small images of dragons. On top of the ring were 2 dragons coiling around each other in one huge circle. One dragon was orange, while the other was blue in color. On each dragon there were ting ancient writings as well and at the center, where the two dragon heads met, were two symbols.
"This is the ring of Xaralil." Gilbert said.
"Is it authentic?" she asked.
"No, but it is a copy of it. It has the exact description as written in the books." he said.
"So tell me more about this ring." she said as she examined the design of the ring.
"Well, this ring was originally created by 2 gods. Sonro, who could control ice and Ramel, who could control fire. They gave the ring their powers since they had no heirs to inherit their power at that time." he said.
"What do you mean 'at that time?'" she asked.
"Well according to this scripts," Gilbert said as he removed several old, brown papers. "during the time of their death they had no descendants who were able to take over their powers. Legend has it that there are very few descendants of the two gods who were scattered all over the world. The descendants had a unique mark on their body to show that they were from their kind. So they decided to keep the power in a ring,that was hidden in a temple in an unknown area. Only the pure descendants would manage to find the location of the ring and the determined and strong in heart would overcome the challenges in store for them." he said.
"I see." she said remembering something, "What about these writings?" she asked pointing at the ancient writings on the ring.
"No one knows what it means since it is some old equestrian language that only some descendants might understand." he said.
"Hmm.... interesting." she said as she rubbed her right, finger on her chin, rubbing lightly, "Very interesting. So, how much is it?"
Gilbert looked at the ring as he said, "Well, considering that it isn't the original ring.... ummm..... 1000 bits."
The mare knew for such an exotic thing, there had to be high cash involved. "Hmm?" she said. If she wanted to get the ring for a lower price, she had to do a little.....'persuasion' which she was quite talented at.
"Well I'm sure," she said as she walked around the stallion, "you can lower the price for me."
"I'm sorry miss, but I can't" he said.
"Come on," she said laying a finger on his chest, as she moved it around with a sadistic smile, "no one will know, we are all alone."
Gilbert blushed lightly as he said, "With all due respect miss. I honestly can't lower the price just like that. The ring took a long time to be made, its materials and its......."
Before the rather handsome, orange stallion could say and\y more, the mare pulled him by his grey shirt into a kiss as they swapped tongues. The stallions poor mind was now jumbled up and confused since that was the first kiss he has ever gotten in a loooooong time. Especially from a gorgeous mare. The mare knew she had made her kill as she slowly broke off the kiss.
"Does that change your mind?" the mare asked in a sadistic voice, whispering in his ear before giving it a gentle lick.
Gilbert, who was quite stunned as well as a bit hard said, "Umm.... I could sell it for 750 bits... nothing less."
The mare gave out a cute smile as she said, "Now that wasn't so bad wasn't it?"
The mare took out her bit card from her wallet as she gave it to the store owner. He removed the agreed amount of bits as he said and gave it back to the mare. Gilbert gave her the box which contained a ring and added a ribbon on it.
"Could I take the papers with me?" the mare asked.
"Umm... sure... I guess I wouldn't need them any more." he said.
"Thank you." she said as she took the papers and head for the door.
The mare opened the door as she looked back at Gilbert giving him a last smile as she said, "It was nice meeting you. Lets do this some other time.
"I hope so too miss." Gilbert said as he watched her walk away.
The mare entered her silver saloon car as she drove home. On her way she managed to get a glimpse of the spectacular view of the sun setting and the moon rising up to the night sky. After an exhausting hour of driving, she finally reached her house on the outskirts of Canterlot.
"Oh, it's good to be home." the mare said as she got out of the car.
She took the box, as well as the papers before locking her car. She took out her keys from her purse and opened the door. She flipped the light switch, revealing the main hall. She headed to her room upstairs where she took off her sun hat that let her black and grey mane flow, showing its rather smooth edges. Her shades were next as they released the beauty of the mares attractive purple eyes. Her cream dress was replaced with a tank top and brown short shorts. At that moment, no anthro could mistake the identity of the mare. She was no longer the innocent author A.K Yearling but the adventurous Daring Do. She gave a light stretch to ease her body as well as her pegassi wings. As she went downstairs, she had a distinct feeling she was being watched. She ignored it as she went to the living room. Little did she know that there was a mare hiding in her closet.
"Well, well, looks like i found out about your little secret Yearling, or should I say Daring Do." the mare said.
Daring sat at her dining table, with the box on her left side along with the papers and her laptop on her right. Before she did anything, she made a call to an old friend of hers.
"Yello, this is Jack Miller speaking." said a stallion voice.
"Hey Jack, its Daring." she said.
"Oh, whats up?" he replied in a dull voice.
"Well somebody ain't in a good mood today."
"Nah, I'm just messing," shouted the mare happily, "there is never a single dull moment in my life!"
"It's great to see you haven't changed a bit Jake." Daring said with a light chuckle.
"Well, you know me." he said, "Man, how long has it been since we last talked?"
"Umm.... about two months or so."
"Well, it's good to hear your sweet voice again. So what up?"
Before Daring could even answer, she heard a thump form up stairs. Instantly, she knew something was wrong. She had to end the conversation a bit early.
"I need you to search information about the ring of Xaralil. Alright? I gotta go."
Before Jake could reply, Daring had already cut the line. Daring looked up at the staircase wondering what had caused the sudden thud. Could it be a box that tipped over, a burglar, a bird that simply lost its way and met her window? Either way she had to be very cautious. She reached out for her P-9mm that was attached under the table as she screwed the silencer into place. She slowly went up stairs with both hands on the gun and her finger on the trigger. She stood at the center of the hall waiting to hear another sound. Her ear flicked to the sound of shuffling from her room. She stealthily opened the door to find a mare going through her stuff.
"Don't move." she said pointing the gun at the mare.
"Shit." the mare whispered as she froze in her tracks.
"Turn around." Daring said.
The mare slowly turned around as she kept her hands up. Daring couldn't recognize the mare due to the mask she was wearing, that only revealed her eyes.
"Wait, I can explain." the mare said as she slowly approached her.
"Stay right there." she said holding her gun firm.
"Look, I just want us to talk this through." said the mare as she continued approaching her.
"I said stay right there or I'll put a bullet right between your eyes!" Daring said in a dead serious voice, showing no signs of hesitation.
Basically, the mare was just stalling in order to get closer to Daring. Once she was close enough, she want for the attack. The mare slapped the gun out of Daring's hands causing it to fall off the stairs. The mare quickly followed it up with a right jab across Daring's temple. This caused Daring to be slightly dazed as she lightly staggered backwards. Seeing an opportunity to escape, the mare pushed Daring out of her way as she ran down the stairs. Despite Daring's current state, she was hot on the mares tail. A few meters from the door, the mare tripped over a wire as she fell to the ground with a thud. Just about a meter away laid Daring's gun. By then, Daring was on her back tugging against her blue pegassi wings. The mare stretched out for the gun, but she was just a few inches too short. The mare's wings became stiff due to the painful tugging. The sharp pain made her grip the red shag carpet as she winced in pain.
"Why did you invade my house?" Daring asked in fury.
"Let me go!" the mare said groaning in pain.
"Answer me!" Daring roared as she tugged harder onto the mare's sensitive wings.
The mare was defenseless, all she could do was scream in agony as surges of pain coursed through her wings as they fluttered helplessly. Daring's temper began to rise up as she lost her patience. She twisted the poor mares wings, inflicting more torment. The pain was too much for the poor mare to handle as she reached her breaking point.
"Daring, please stop!" she cried, "I'll talk! I'll talk!"
Daring was stunned by the mare stating her name. How could a simple mare know her secret? And better yet, for how long?
"How do you know my name?" she asked yanking her wings.
"Just let me go and I'll tell you everything." she pleaded, "Please"
Convinced by the mares tone, Daring let go of the mares wings. She grabbed her gun and pointed it at the mare. The mare slowly stood up as she massaged her wings that were flinching in pain.
"First show me who you are." she ordered.
The mare slowly pulled off her mask revealing her true identity. Once Daring saw the mare behind the mask, she slowly lowered her gun.
