//-------------------------------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle And The Meeting With Lara Croft -by Evictus- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// The Meeting //-------------------------------------------------------// The Meeting A month after Celestia had talked to Lara Croft she sent Twilight and Rainbow Dash a letter that told them to travel to Croft Manor, they were a bit hesitant at first but since this could be the only way to find the killer of Daring Do they had to just trust Celestia's judgement on this. They had to travel quite a while to get to Croft Manor, Celestia had explained to them that Lara was an archeologist that came from a rich aristocratic family, the mansion she owned belonged to her parents Richard Croft and Amelia Croft, both of whom were extremely wealthy. "Lara's parents have been dead for a while unfortunately after they had both been killed in plane crash when Lara was still a child, they would make sure not to bring up Lara's parents though as Celestia told them not to bring it up." Rainbow Dash who had been following Twilight to get there spoke up. "Uh...Twilight, when we do meet Lara...how wealthy is she? I know her parents were rich but just...how rich are we talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight chuckled at the question. "Her net worth is like 8.2 million bits, she lives on the outer regions from Canterlot, her mansion is so big that it could become a library, it has artifacts that she had found over years of raiding tombs by herself. She's also an author if I heard right. I've only heard of once before this when I was still in school they were talking about great people and their accomplishments, like Star Swirl the Bearded for example and they mentioned her." Twilight explained. "And you think she's just going to let us waltz right in just because she talked to the Princess? And even if she does let us in how can we know if we can trust her? What if she betrays us?" Rainbow Dash said. "She won't, she's going to help us discover the lost artifact that's connected to Daring Do and then we will bring it back to Canterlot so they can study it. I'm sure that Daring Do's murder is connected to this artifact, at least that's my suspicion." Twilight explained. Rainbow Dash wanted to ask more questions but dropped the issue as she just wanted to find out what happened with Daring Do. They finally made it to Croft Manor, Rainbow Dash was stunned as she looked at how enormous it was, Twilight chuckled as she saw Rainbow Dash's expression they walked to the front door and Twilight knocked on the door loudly. They both stood back and waited for someone to answer the door. Soon the door opened and Lara appeared in their view wearing a simple evening dress and was barefoot, Lara looked them over. "Are you Twilight Sparkle?" She asked her, Twilight confirmed by nodding, Rainbow Dash stared at her. Twilight had to nudge her in the side to knock it off, Rainbow Dash stopped staring as she looked at Lara's face directly. "Yes I am, I've been told by Celestia that she spoke to you to set this meeting up? It has to do with Daring Do? Were you friends with her or..." Twilight asked. "Yes I was, come on in we'll talk inside!" Lara said as she cleared the way for them to walk into the mansion, Rainbow Dash stared at everything inside as she was stunned by how rich Lara was. Lara had them sit at a huge dining table as Lara sat with them. Rainbow Dash was surprised by the huge chandelier that hung above them. "So I know why your here and I'll answer your question in depth, yes me and Daring Do had been colleagues for over twenty years, I always kept quiet about her identity so when we went somewhere together I always revered to her as... Well AK Yearling, when I heard that she was assassinated I was heartbroken I couldn't believe it, I went to her funeral but I could only stay for a little bit as I had company coming here later that day, I stayed for the remarks and the burial but then I had to leave. Ever since though I've been investigating her death, me and Celestia have an idea about what her death is linked to." Lara said as she hesitated to continue. "Well what's her death linked to? An artifact?" Twilight asked. Lara looked at them both and looked at the door to make sure it was locked and then she looked back at her guests as she contemplated on telling them more. She finally spoke. "Have you two ever hear about the legend of the lost seal?" Lara asked. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at eachother as they tried to think if they knew about it they both looked at Lara and shrugged. "Alright well since we don't have a lot of time I'll give you the short version, okay the lost seal is an object meant to conceal the darkest secrets of Equestria, it also contains all of the secrets of Equestria's future. Archeologists believe that Daring Do was getting close to the truth on where the seal is located so that's why she was assassinated that day, I have no idea who assassinated her but I know it's some person who didn't want anybody to discover this treasure for some reason." That's my theory." Lara Croft explained. Twilight and Rainbow Dash thought it over as they were blown away by this revelation, they glanced at eachother where Twilight saw that Rainbow Dash had an annoyed look on her face and then Rainbow Dash surprised Twilight by getting up and walking away. "Rainbow Dash! Where are you going?! We have to find out who killed Daring Do and bring them to justice!" Twilight ranted as she ran over to Rainbow Dash as Rainbow Dash got ready to leave the mansion. "I didn't sign up for this shit! No more adventures! I'm sick of adventures! You and your friends always have to drag me along some damn adventure! If you and this chick want to go through this crap just to solve Daring Do's murder then I quit!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she opened the door to leave. "But your the element of loyalty! Your supposed to stick by your friends and help them no matter what! Your element requires you to never turn you back on your friends or family are you seriously going to leave me?" Twilight explained franticly. "Loyalty shmoyalty I'm going home! It's always a damn adventure with you! Why cant there be a normal year were their isn't any adventures where me and my friends could just relax?! I'm sick of it! It's the same damn thing every single year! I'm done! I'm going home! You and Lara can deal with this!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she slammed she door shut, she rushed back home in anger. Twilight was extremely upset by how Rainbow Dash had acted, she couldn't believe that she had acted like that, she also couldn't digest the fact that Rainbow Dash was turning her back on her element. She touched her face and felt the tears streaming down her face. She started to walk back to where Lara was but Lara spoke. "Your friend is right Twilight, just go home and forget about that this ever happened, your safer if you stay home, the mission to find Daring Do's murderer is a waste of time so just turn back." Lara spoke in a upset voice. Twilight grew angry. "What are you talking about?! Are you telling me to give up!? Are you seriously telling me that!? Your Lara Croft the greatest adventure whoever lived, you would never give up when am adventure presented itself you-" Twilight ranted but was interrupted. "My friend is dead Twilight! I'm retired! I'm sick of raiding tombs! I'm not going to be a hero for the rest of my life! Can't I just live in peace!? There is nothing I can do to help you solve Daring Do's murder! It's up to the authorities! I can't do it! Now leave!" Lara shouted. Twilight was shocked that Lara was giving up, she never gave up before until now, it disappointed her, she was hoping Lara would be enthusiastic about going on an adventure but she wasn't. Twilight was speechless. She sighed in frustration as she stormed out of Lara's mansion. Lara walked to her bedroom and slammed her door shut, she walked over to her photo album and opened it up to the page where there was a picture of her and Daring Do discovering Excalibur together. Lara wiped her tears away as she looked at her bedroom door in silence. Twilight continued to talk home but then Lara opened her door and ran up to her. "Wait!" Lara yelled, Twilight stopped and turned around to see Lara running up to her. "I'll help you find Daring Do's murderer! I swear!" Lara Croft said, Twilight smiled and nodded a confirmation, they sent a letter to Celestia that told her that the lost seal connected to Daring Do's muderer and that they would find it and then they tried to find the info about the location where they could find the lost seal which they hoped that would lead them to who killed Daring Do.