Daring Do and Trixie and the Armband of the Coatl

[Shortly after Daring left the museum]

Daring had just left the museum and was heading towards home. She flew over the tall buildings heading to the south end of the city. She greatly enjoyed flying. Then again so did every pegasus that wasn't scared of heights. Yes, those exist it was rare but some pegasi had a phobia of heights for varied reasons.

As the wind blew into her mane she closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling of freedom. This was true freedom. No restrictions to movement, she could go anywhere she wanted. She was empowered. Nothing could stop her. She flew as fast as legally possible reaching neck breaking speeds that would have put Rainbow Dash to the test. She zigzagged between the towering buildings with ease like she were water completely unhindered by the large obstructions.

Daring thought back to Trixie as she passed over her mansion. She decided at that moment to take a detour around her property to see how it looked. Even though she was a pegasus, she never really flew anywhere. She always preferred to walk like a unicorn or earth pony. Flying was still one of her favorite pastimes none the less.

Along the way she thought back to her school days with Trixie. The mare was very obnoxious back then she wondered how she was now these days. She was so sure of herself and her self wort,h like she was Celestia's gift to the world. So prideful and arrogant. The only time she showed any signs of being humble were the times she talked bout the coatl-pony civilization she was obsessed about. Now, Daring was open to any idea as long as there was evidence to support it but even she had to admit Trixie's theories on such a civilization were a bit on the wild side. That was putting it mildly.

According to Trixie, and her fathers journal, there once existed a powerful civilization of dragon/pony hybrids called the coatls. They were strange creatures with two distinct types. The first were pony shaped beings roughly 5 feet in height with scales and fur that had long serpent like tails and horns of dragons. She claimed they were able to breath fire and use magic at the same level of a average unicorn.

The second were ten to twenty foot long serpents with scales as strong as diamonds, and had majestic bird like wings and two long arms with five claws on them. These coatls were able to fly, breath fire, and use magic but their fire breath was far better than their magic using pony like counterparts.

To Daring it sounded like somepony was hitting the salt a little hard one day while high off sugar. Never the less she heard the unicorns "theories" and was very supportive of her horned friend. Even though she didn't believe in the things Trixie was saying she even helped her translate lines of text in the unicorn's journal. It was hard work translating text of ancient cultures but the knowledge they revealed was worth the effort, if it was done correctly.

The journal was amazing in the details it had about the supposed coatl-ponies. Apparently they were a very advanced civilization for the time dating back thousands of years. They had an advanced understanding of the stars and the cosmos, especially celestial navigation, and unlike many cultures they were a solar calendar based civilization. They revered the sun as a goddess, and had temples throughout their territory dedicated to the sun. It mentioned that these temples were essential to the worlds survival and how every summer solstice the coatl-ponies would make a live sacrifice at each temple to postpone the end of days until the next solstice.

It was truly fascinating to read but Daring never took it to heart. Trixie on the other hoof was convinced of the authenticity of the content within the journal to the point of absurdity in Daring's eyes. She couldn't recall much beyond that.

Eager to see her old, friend again she hurried home remembering she had a means to contact Trixie. After a few minutes Daring arrived home. She landed within the massive gates surrounding her mansion. Stone walls surrounded the property and at the front was a massive gate made of iron bars that lead to a fountain. She opened her large double doors entering the mansion. Once she was inside she flapped her wings gently just so she could hover, and slowly made her way down the halls until she reached her study.

ON the desk she worked at the previous night was the package Trixie sent her. The letter was on the top of a pile of papers with the box off to the side of the desk. She flew over her desk, adjusting herself, she landed in her chair. It was her favorite, a red velvet seat with extra cushions for added comfort. She reached for a drawer pulling it out revealing a pile of blank paper. Taking one out Daring took a quill and began to write.

Dear Trixie,

Daring here. I remember you from our classes at CU. How have you been? Haven't seen you in a while. Hoping everything is alright with what happened to you regarding that thing you mentioned before. I had a friend look at the tablet you brought me and I think you may have something of worth here.

He should be done later tonight or tomorrow, so if you want you can come to my place. I'd like the chance to catch up with you since we haven't seen each other over a few years. Honestly I didn't think you'd remember me. Sorry, that was rude of me. Anyways I live on 1110 Pinetree Ave. the big mansion on the street. well, more like the only mansion you can't miss it.

If you have any trouble finding it send back a letter and I'll come find you if you get lost. I'm looking forward to seeing my long lost friend again!

Best wishes,

Daring

Once the letter was written Daring put it in a nice brown envelop and applied the sigil Trixie sent with her letter as the seal. Daring used this kind of letter system before. It was called the flash fire system. Unicorns would often use it to send letters far distances to one another without the need for the slow paced mail service. All one had to do was apply the unicorns personal sigil and place it into a flame and off it went in a smokey wisp. This is what Daring did. The wisp of her letter flew off into the distance like a serpent in a sea of blue.

It reminded her of her last great adventure into the Everfree Forest. She fought a mighty serpent in a river to get the golden ring. It was a hard battle. The best was strong and its grip was sound. She nearly died trying to escape the serpents grasp. As it turned out he didn't know Daring was even there. The serpent had been napping when she happened to pass by and he stretched accidentally grappling her into a death grip hold to use her as a pillow.

The giant serpent awoke to the sound of her struggling releasing her instantly. The poor guy was so sorry he hurt her and offered to give her directions since she had been lost at the time.

"huh, such a nice guy he was." she sighed thinking it was ironic that such a peaceful beast was the thing that early did her in.Just as she finished her thoughts a wisp came into sight rolling into itself before popping into a scroll sealed with a ribbon.

"Wow, that was fast." she said taking the scroll and unbinding it.

Dear Daring,

Glad to hear you remember Trixie! I was afraid you wouldn't remember me. Anyways I'll be passing by Manehatten tomorrow so I'll stop by then. We can talk and catch up while we wait for your friend to finish with the tablet I sent you. I'll hurry over as fast as I can!

See you soon!

Trixie

Daring smiled rolling up the scroll and set it aside. She leaned back in her chair resting her back, which had been awfully sore these last few days, allowing it to recover. She sighed as relief came over her back and wings. After a good minutes rest she got up and walked the halls of her home inspecting everything along the way. She made her way to her room which was still a mess. A musky smell lingered in the room forcing her to cough.

"Ugh, it reeks in here!" she exclaimed dashing to a window and opening it.

A breeze of fresh air blew in taking the smell out of the room. She sighed in relief. Daring looked around her room, piles of clothes laid on the floor among papers and several books/journals. Many o them had writing scribbled on the sides of pages with details she wrote or personal thoughts to whatever she had been reading at the time.

"Guess i better clean up." she said picking up a book to start organizing the mess she had. "I really shouldn't be so lazy, but I think I'll hire a maid. Maybe a cute Prench mare."

She cracked a smile as she piled the books and journals to the side when something caught her eye. An old text book from her CU days laid open on the floor with a picture of her and Trixie. Daring was as she is now except she wore a brown jacket instead of her signature adventure outfit and Trixie was in a frilly pink dress with her hair in a ponytail.

"I remember this. We had this taken shortly after we became friends." The pegasus smiled at the happy memory of her friend. "We really were a good team that one time." she sighed placing the photo on her desk. As she cleaned she occasionally looked over to the photo hoping that Trixie was safe where ever she was.