Treasure hunters of Equestria

Chapter 7 - Home

(From Daring's point of view)

    Unfortunately, Dart and I got back at noon the next day, and we didn't have much time left to get to our appointment with Celestia for stopping the cult of discord, which meant the date would have to wait. We only had time to stop by the office and wash up before we had to get going.

    Before long, we'd arrived at Canterlot castle. The guards ushered us in, and there was a small crowd there to celebrate. I guess she just wanted to hand us our medals and get us out, but Dart had other plans.

"Step forth, Daring Do and Dart Da-....what is that you're carrying?" Dart set the portrait he had found on the ground in front of Celestia, the ponies in the crowd gasped.

"I found this in the ruins of the ancient Solar Empire, what do you think it is, Celestia?" Celestia showed no sign of distress.

"It looks like a portrait of me in armor. But now's not the time for this, we're gathered here to celebrate-" Dart cut her off.

"Now why would they have a painting of you like this? I thought you only rose to power after the defeat of Discord."

"If you wish to ask questions, meet me privately at a later date. Look, you've scared the ponies in the crowd." Dart took a look around, and his intense expression lessened to a smile.

"Oops. Sorry, didn't mean to raise suspicions or anything, I'm just curious." Celestia shot him a quick glare.

"As I was saying, we're gathered here today to celebrate these two heroes who stopped a second rise of Discord.I hereby reward you with these medals of valor." Celestia used her magic to put golden medallions around our necks. I'm not going to go into detail about the rest of the celebration, it was pretty boring and I had to shake hoofs with 6 dozen random canterlot ponies before we could leave. Celestia left after giving us the medals, which were bare of any decoration except a star in the middle. Overall the whole thing took one grueling terrible hour in which my only entertainment was watching Dart awkwardly shake hoofs with a bunch of fancy ponies.

    Once we were within the privacy of our own home, Dart yawned and slumped back into his chair. I forgot how much he had been through to save me back at the temple, and how tiring it must have been.

"You look tired, Dart, get some sleep." He sat up.

"What about our date?"

"Date's are for the night-time anyways, let's take a nap." He didn't argue, or even make a comment about how we need a second bed. He just quietly walked to bed, rolled up in the blankets, and started snoring. I could feel all the hours I had spent flying recently weighing down on me, and soon followed in a deep sleep.

(From Dart's point of view)

   At about 7:00 PM she woke me with her usual method, giving me a kiss then making faces at me until I got out of bed. I decided not to protest this time, seeing as we were about to go out and I had just slept through most of the day. I jumped out of bed, and slipped on the only articles of clothing I own, a suit vest, a tie, and a collared white shirt. Daring giggled at me.

"You didn't have to put on a suit, I was going for something more casual." I pretended to not be embarrassed.

"Maybe I just like to be fancy sometimes." She ignored me and put on her usual hat (which she had gotten sewed together after it was impaled by Ahuizotl) and vest.

"Alright Dart, where do you want to go?" She asked. I shrugged in response.

"You asked me out, you pick a place."

"Let's go find a nice place in Canterlot then."

"Oh? I thought this was going to be casual."

"Everywhere is casual for me," She responded playfully. This was true, she did have a way of making everything more laid back.

"Can't argue with that. Let's go!"

   After walking the streets of Canterlot a bit, Daring decided on a fancy restaurant called 'La Luna'. It was a huge silver and black building with all kinds of expensive looking paintings of nightmare moon.

"Can we even afford that?" I asked.

"Dart, we're treasure hunters. We can afford a lot of things."

"Oh, right." I wasn't used to actually being able to sell what I find instead of just stashing it in my attic. Being with Daring certainly had it's benefits. The inside of the restaurant was even more impressive, with 2 or three sapphires bigger than I am carefully sculpted into the silver decorations along the pitch black walls. We were immediately seated, and the waiter welcomed us as "'Ms. Do and Mr. Dash.' It was weird being called Mr. Dash, and ever weirder to know that a lot of ponies I've never met know my name now. I scanned the menu. It was one of those annoying menus where the names are in french so you have to read the descriptions of every single item before you can make a decision.

"I can't decide," Announced Daring. This probably meant that she couldn't read the french either, "What are you having, sweetie?" I don't think I'd ever been called Sweetie before, and it was just plain strange.

"Please never call me Sweetie ever again." She laughed so much she almost fell out of her chair.

"Not even when we're alone?"

"Do I look like a sweetie to you?"

"No, but I love to see the look on your face when somepony shows you some affection." I'd had enough. I quickly changed the subject.

"I'm going to order pasta. Most fancy places have pasta right?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, I've been trying to find a good looking sandwich but I've never even heard of the plants they're filled with." I let out a hearty laugh, and Daring joined in.

"Look at us, trying to be fancy ponies. If it's all the same to you, let's just go back to sugar cube corner."

"Yeah," She agreed. "That sounds great."

  And so we flew from Canterlot back to Ponyville with the moon over our heads. She was beautiful in the moonlight- I mean it. It was beautiful. The nighttime view that is. But I guess she wasn't half bad either.

  When we arrived at Sugar cube corner, a young married couple named Mr. And Mrs. Cake greeted us, and we ordered a few cupcakes. It was hard to imagine how any fancy restaurants could beat cupcakes.

"So, any ideas for a new adventure?" I asked between cupcake bites.

"I was thinking somewhere cool, I've heard about an ancient seapony temple made of ice that becomes rainbow colored at a certain time of the day."

"That doesn't sound very adventurous." She grinned.

"Actually, the entire thing is under water and full of sharks and other awesome sea creatures, not to mention a good bit of treasure," She explained as if danger was just a casual matter.

"Count me in!"

"I thought you'd say that. We'll head out on Thursday the 14th." That seemed like a pretty long time to wait.

"Thursday? What's so special about Thursday the 14th?"

"It's a pretty special day, I'm finding it hard to believe you forgot."

"Is it your birthday? you know I'm bad with dates."

"No, but it bothers me that you already forgot my birthday."

"Sorry. Can I have a hint?"

"Think about it. What special days are on the 14th? It's not this month."

"Labor Day?" I guessed.

"No."

"So it's in February?" She nodded. "What's so special about February the fourtee-...oooooh." It was hearts and hooves day.

"I know it's a long time away, but I want it to be special." As long as we could do other adventures in the meantime, that was fine with me.

"O.K., got anything for our next adventure? I was thinking the ancient Romane colony in the jungle."

"Sounds great, as long as you do the reading." She finished her cupcake in one bite, then leaned back in her chair. "So, will you be my very special somepony?" She had a smug look on her face as if she already knew the answer.

"Sounds like an adventure to me."

     By the time I woke up, Daring had rolled over on top of me in her sleep, this had been the first time I woke up before her, and I gently rolled her off of me. I began to wonder if she had been doing this every night, and I was just too much of a deep sleeper to notice. She seemed pretty peaceful and we had nothing planned for today, so I let her be. Just as I stepped outside for a quick flight to stretch my wings, the mail-mare arrived holding a sealed golden envelope addressed to Daring Do. I thanked her, and opened the letter as she flew away to deliver more mail.

Dear Mrs. Daring Do,

I have recently noticed strange behavior emitting from both Discord and Nightmare moon in their respective prisons, and would like to secure the elements of harmony as extra protection. Unfortunately, as a final act of treason before I banished her, my sister, Nighmare moon, hid the 6 elements of harmony in hidden temples to her throughout equestria. I would require somepony of your particular skill set and talent in order to secure the elements and return them to me. Should you choose to accept, any reward in my power shall be granted to you, within reason of course.

Respond ASAP,

-Princess Celestia

From the way the letter was written you'd think she was bat-mare or something. It didn't seem to be too urgent, just some suspicions, so I figured it could wait until she wakes up. I'd never thought that nightmare moon was real though, but it didn't come as too big of a surprise. After all, the moon has her face on it. I set the letter back inside on the table, and stepped back out for a quick flight.