A Life of Love and Adventure

Written by Israel Yabuki

Edited & Co-written by NineTailBeastBall

You’re one of those lucky guys who never took life for granted and lived a life of adventure most of your life with your mom and dad. They didn’t take you to school like normal parents do. Then again, who needed school when you could learn so much about the world first hand? Once every 2 or 3 months, your parents would take you to places either inside the United States or outside the country.

Some children would give away their favorite toys or video games to be in your position. Unfortunately, your near perfect life didn’t last long. By the time you were 17 and a half, while you and your parents were exploring an Egyptian tomb, your father ended up getting caught in the middle of a cave-in and hurt his foot.

The good news was he survived the disaster, bad news because of the misfortune your parents decided to end their journeys around the world. It wasn’t that your father was scared of the cave-in, in fact, he’s dealt with his fair share of cave-in’s before. But there was something different about this one that really shook him up. He spent weeks in the hospital rambling about a “mummy’s curse” and “swarming locusts.”

It had taken him 2 or 3 months to fully regain his sanity back, but at least now he was doing okay and he wasn’t going crazy anymore. As for you, you found another way to travel around the world.

Even though you suffered had a few bumps on the way, you eventually decided to follow your new dream as a racer. It came as no surprise to you to know that your mother was worried about this new career of yours, but both she and your father still supported you. The money wasn’t an issue in a way, but there were a few downsides when you made it.

To make a long story short, there were a few artifacts you had to sell back to the places where you and your parents got them. These artifacts were originally meant to be kept safe from greedy treasure hunters, but not everything can be kept from harm forever.

It was tough decision to make, but they still did it for your sake. They even used the extra money to get you this amazing car they thought you might like. However these cars are so rare, it’s more likely to find them in video games than in real life. It was a 1997 red Honda NSX-R LM.

Once they showed you the vehicle, you exploded with joy. As much as you wanted to test out your new car, you had to wait for the start of your debut as a racer.

At the ripe young age of 18, you won total of 4 races out of 5 in about half a year. You decided to put your career on hold when you reached the age of 20. Your mother was struck with an illness that needed treatment right away. With the money you earned from your previous winnings, you paid for her treatment and waited for a while before your mom could get back on her feet.

Once she made a full recovery, you resumed your career as a racer. Right now you were 25 and competing in a big race as you aimed to win the worldwide championship. However, the competition was a whole lot more intense.

Most of the racers you were ahead of were either rookies or seasoned veterans. But there was only one season veteran ahead of you and this guy was anything but an honorable racer. How do you know this? Simple, he rammed his car onto yours and caused you to slip and slide through the grass. You were never the type of guy to resort to racing dirty just to get back at this particular cheater.

Instead, you countered his dirty tactics by speeding past the other racers and coming up to the lead racer neck-in-neck. Once again he tried to run you off the track by ramming your car. But this time, you pulled back in time for him to slam against the wall.

You took this opportunity to go full throttle and speed past him. Victory was almost certain. Almost...

As you neared the finish line, the dirty driver behind you causes you to swerve out of control, which surprisingly takes him along with you. Your cars swerved and slammed against the road until your car was pinned underneath his. From inside your car, you can see the flag man wave the checkered flag and the announcer shouting your name, which meant you won the race. But there was no time to celebrate.

Needless to say, the car crash did a number on your body. You felt so sore, you could barely crawl out. You unbuckle your seatbelt and crawled out of the crushed vehicle. Blood was trickling out of your leg.

You struggled to get yourself up, but then you hear the sounds of tires screeching and the people watching from the seats screaming. You look to your left and a car about to run smack into you. Instead of showing fear, you closed your eyes and braced yourself for impact. All too quickly, everything went black and the screams and tires screeching silenced.

At the moment, all you could see was darkness. You couldn’t hear, smell or feel anything. Your body was weightless and seemed to drift off further and further into the void.

You had no idea how long you’ve been drifting throughout the endless abyss, however this state of mind didn’t last much longer. You opened your eyes and immediately saw the beautiful clear sky up above. You were, for some strange reason, lying down in a dirt path. You check your surroundings and noticed you weren’t at the race track, but in a jungle, instead.

While you were indeed confused as to how you got here, you couldn’t help smiling as being in a jungle brought back so many memories. No dangerous animals in particular seemed to be around, only the sounds of insects and frogs.

However, you quickly stood corrected as a growling rang into your ears along with the rustling from the nearby bushes. Shakily you turned to the said bushes to see a large tiger was eying you with a hungry gaze.

“Crap...” you muttered, too scared to decide whether or not you should run. The tiger hunches back, ready to pounce.

Back home whenever you had these kinds of problems while exploring, you always had a tranquilizer gun ready. Evidently, you were completely vulnerable. No weapons, no bait, no hope for survival.

You got back onto your feet and took a step back from the large, salivating predator. Even though you were unarmed you weren’t just going to sit there and let yourself be devoured. You kept your eyes locked on the striped carnivore, circling it. You kept your breathing steady, making sure it didn’t shake so it wouldn’t sense your fear.

From the moment the tiger found the moment to pounce, you went straight towards it and rolled underneath it to avoid getting caught by its sharp claws. Once out of its range, you turned to look at the giant hungry feline. It’s tail wagged, which wasn’t a good sign.

It locked its eyes back onto you. It once again tried to lock its claws on you and it almost did. But you barely manage to move underneath it and only lost your shirt. You regained your footing and threw off the ripped up shirt. You backed up, which was a big mistake as you ended up trapping yourself against a tree. There was no escape and the tiger was too close for you to try another dodge roll. All you could do was stare into the eyes of your killer with determination.

Just when your death was almost eminent, the tiger was knocked to the side by a strange creature you’ve never seen before. You gaze at you savior and noticed she wasn’t a human, but a humanoid horse.

Her fur seemed brownish gold and had magenta-colored eyes. Her mane was a mixture of black with grey streaks. She wore a safari hat that seemed to go well with her green shirt and brown shorts, which seemed to reach only her thighs. Her feet resembled hooves and she had a proud and strong pair of wings.

Walking up to you, the horse lady offered you her hand, which you took gratefully.

“Thanks for saving my hide. I really thought I was gonna get eaten for sure,” you said.

“Glad to know you’re okay, but I didn’t expect that I’d be rescuing a human in this neck of the woods, plus, you seem to be feeling calm for someone who’s talking to a pony like me,” she said with a smile, quirking her eyebrow.

“W-What did you say you were?” you asked with your eyes widening.

“A pony, what of it?” she asked somewhat amused.

At this point, you thought you were going crazy. “Either I’m hearing things, or that car might have bashed my brains out,” you said, gripping your head.

“What do you mean, did you end up in a crash or something?”

“In a way, yeah. But at least there wasn’t any pain after that. Although, I kinda miss my parents,” you said as you look up at the sky. The jungle hadn’t completely blocked out the view of the clouds in the sky.

“So, what’s the story? Are they resting in peace, is one or both of them doing time?” she asked. You actually chuckled a little bit since she kind of jumped to conclusions.

“No, they’re alive and healthy. Though I’m not so fortunate, at least back where I came from,” you said, rubbing the back of your head.

“Well, why don’t you follow me back to my house and you can tell me all about it there.”

“Eh, sure, why not? It beats having to wait for another predator to come and eat my carcass,” you shrugged. She chuckled and patted you on the shoulder.

With the safari mare’s help, you managed to exit the jungle without coming across any more predators and eventually found a nice little house. You wondered if she’s been in this jungle on numerous occasions. Another thought crossed your mind when you and her reached the door.

“Sorry for asking this, but what’s your name?” you asked.

“Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself. I technically have two names as my pen name is A.K. Yearling,” she said, unlocking the door. She walks into the house and you went inside with her. You take a look at the house admiring the decor.

“So what is your real name?” you asked.

“Daring Do. That’s who I really am and I’m no longer hesitant to admit it,” she answered her tone changing to one full of pride.

“Daring Do, huh? That’s a neat name. A.K Yearling is cute, but I like Daring Do better. Makes you sound like a total badass,” you complimented, making her chuckle. “But tell me, is there a reason why you have two names you go by?”

“Like I said before A.K.Yearling is a pen name. These days I usually just use it when I’m publishing a new book featuring my adventures as an explorer,” she explained. This definitely caught your interest.

“An explorer you say?” you asked.

“Yeah, I go around collecting artifacts and bringing them to safer places. I’ve had to jump through numerous hoops just to keep them away from this evil pony called Dr. Caballeron. Normally, I handle these adventures on my own, but it was thanks to my brand new friend, Rainbow Dash who taught me that there’s no harm in asking for help,” Daring explained.

You were surprised how much you had in common with this mare. She’s an explorer exactly like how you were at one time. Of course, that was all before you went to pursue your career as a professional racer.

“Guess you must have had quite the adventures. Does this “Dr. Caballeron” guy still try to give you trouble, or has he finally stopped being a literal “gold digger?” you asked. You honestly didn’t expect that Daring would find the joke to be as funny as she did and were slightly taken aback from how loud she laughed.

“I haven’t seen him since he was chased out of Somnambula, but I don’t think I’ve heard the last of him. Troublemakers like Cabelleron always return sooner or later,” she sighed. “If he does, that’ll be another story for me to write for my fans out there... especially Rainbow Dash. She can’t get enough of my stories”

“Wow, sounds like this “Rainbow Dash” is a real diehard fangirl,” you said with a chuckle.

“Now that I’ve got my story out of the way, why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself? You told me you were in a crash before you got here, right?” she asked.

“To be honest, I was hoping you would have an explanation as to what I’m doing here. True, I did die in an crash, but it wasn’t an ordinary one. You see, back home, I used to be a young adventure. But due to an accident with my dad, I pursued a different career. I was a professional racer who had a pretty decent winning streak.” you explained.

“Really? So then, what happened at your last race. You told me you got in a crash, but do you mind giving me more details?” Daring asked.

“Sure, I don’t see why not. See, on my last race, I was aiming for the world championship trophy, but there was another racer who was after it just like I was. But he used dirty tricks to run me off coarse. I was coming up on the finish line and then suddenly, the dirty racer tried to once again run me off coarse. He got me, but I also took him down with me. Karma’s a bitch to anyone who fights dirty,” you explained more. “I won the race, but my car was a wreck. I crawled out and then that’s when one of the other speeding racers crashed into me, even though they tried to stop.”

“Ouch! I’m sorry you had your accident. You’re not too sour about losing your trophy, are you?”

You sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “It was a pain at first, but then I remember something this old man back at my world once said: It’s just an empty cup,” you joked once again. Daring rolled her eyes, but still let out a short chuckle.

“If I may change the subject, how did you know I was a human?” you asked.

“Oh, right! I forgot to tell you. Before you arrived here in Equestria, this was a world mostly inhabited by ponies and other mythical creatures not originally found in your world. But lately for a few years now, humans have been getting pulled from your world to ours. And because of how many have been showing up, we now treat them like they’re one of us. Some ponies are okay with it, some aren’t.”

“Evidently, you don’t mind,” you theorized.

“Not one bit,” she said walking over to ruffle your already messy hair a little bit.

“Anyway, feel free to make yourself at home, I’m gonna see what I can come up for my brand new story,” she said, nudging her hat over her eyes a bit. “Although… now that I think about it, I did end up saving you from a tiger earlier, so maybe you can come along with me,”

You gave it some thought, and were unsure whether to accept or deny her offer.

“Well, it has been a long time since I last went on a journey and my adventurous instincts are aching for another journey. On the other hand, I’ve got this itch in my hands to take the wheel and race some more, but I know that’s probably impossible,” you said, stroking your chin.

With a sigh, you glance at Daring Do and nod. “Alright, Daring. I’ll tag along. After all, I’ve been dying to make my triumphant return!” you said, confidently, before blushing from your little outburst.

“You know what, I like you. I can tell we’re gonna have a blast,” she said, patting you on the back.

You had no problem taking walks and it was a good thing too, as Daring planned to have the two of you travel quite far. It had been a few years since you last walked this long. But in order to progress any further with the real adventure, you and Daring Do stopped at a local town out in the middle of a desert.

One thing was for sure, though. The ponies in the village would give you friendly smiles and wave at you. Well, either that, or they were just waving at Daring Do.

“Hey, Daring. Nice to see you again!” one village pony said. “Is he a friend of yours?” she asked staring at you with great interest.

“Yeah, we’re about to go on our first journey together. We just stopped for supplies,” Daring replied.

“Daring, when you said the ponies here knew about humans, you never told me they were this welcoming,” you whispered.

“Yeah, they're a friendly bunch, but keep in mind, not all ponies are familiar with humans,” she reminded.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you nodded, before giving the village ponies a friendly wave. At least no one was shouting insults at you.

While it was indeed hot due to being in a desert, this village was quite beautiful. Both the temperature and the environment brought back so many memories of your previous adventures with your mother and father.

You stopped as you spotted an impressive statue of a pony in egyptian clothing with a blindfold covering her eyes. It was easy to see she was female due to some of her “feminine” features.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Daring spoke up, reverting your attention back to her. “I remember I accidentally broke this statue once.”

“Who is this?” you asked.

“Her name is Somnambula. In addition to being the namesake of this village, she is recognized as a hero who long ago saved her fellow ponies from a tyrannical sphinx who demanded their crops and captured Prince Hisan, the pharaoh’s son. She rescued the prince by answering a hard riddle given to her by the sphinx,” Daring explained.

“Well, shit. Talk about heroic. So what’d the freaky sphinx do then?” you asked.

“As enraged as the sphinx was that it lost the challenge, it became even more enraged when it lost to Somnambula a second time. Nonetheless as agreed, the sphinx was never to be seen or heard from ever again.”

Gazing at the heroine’s statue for at least 10 more seconds, you lost interest and allowed Daring to guide you to your next destination. It was still a long journey, so now is the time to stock up on some food supplies. The only problem was that you didn't know if your currency was the same as this world’s.

“Uh Daring,” you began, getting the pegasus’ attention. “It’s embarrassing that I didn’t ask this before, but what do you use for money around here?” you asked.

“Oh yeah that's right, I never explain that to you, did I?” She reached into her bag and pulled out a single gold coin. “These coins we call “bits” are what we use as our currency. Rest assured, this village may be old but they use these, as well,” she said with a chuckle.

Given that you're still not familiar with this place, you stood by Daring Do most of the time while you were in the village. You hoped that you and Daring would find everything you need in this village. Unfortunately, something told you that it wasn’t gonna happen in just one day.

You paid the mare who unlike Daring didn’t have any wings, but rather a horn. You didn’t need anyone to tell you that she was a unicorn. Giving you the same look as the other villagers, the mare gave you a bag of fresh fruit and vegetables.

“Thank you,” you said, being friendly.

The mare just nods and puts on a kind smile. Now that you have the food it was time to hit the road. Thinking of what awaited you on your imminent adventure, you were slowly losing the ability to care what the villagers thought of you.

“So do we leave right now or what?” you asked peering into the bag containing your fresh food.

“Almost. We just need to get some sleeping bags, lanterns and some pots and pans. It’s easy to find things in a town you’re so familiar with,” she said with a wink.

It didn’t take even five minutes for Daring to lead you to the store for kitchen supplies. The store owner, unlike the previous pony you saw at the food stand, was neither a pegasus or a unicorn. He may or may not just be an ordinary pony like the ones back home, minus the ability to talk, of course. On the bright side, he also greeted you and Daring Do with a friendly smile.

“Well, if it isn’t the lovely hero who chased out Caballeron,” he said. This sudden praise caused Daring to blush a little, much to your amusement.

“I think he forgot to mention “cute,” am I right, Daring?” you asked. She turned to you with her puffed up cheeks and stomped on your foot. You bit your lip hard as you groaned from the pain. “That smarts!” you exclaimed.

“Well, that's what you get for calling me “cute”,” she retorted, smirking. Getting no kind of retort from you, she turned her attention back to the store owner.

“It’s been a few months since my last visit. Has there been any news on Cabelleron and his stallion stooges?” she asked.

“So far, that shady stallion hasn't shown his face around here. Because you exposed him and his crew, he’s well despised by the town. It would be quite unlikely, but if he ever shows up, we’ll let you know right away,” he assured.

“Good to know. Now, how about we get some cooking supplies for our food supplies?” she asked, turning towards you.

You nodded and walked around the store with Daring, looking for the right kinds of cooking supplies you'll need. Believe it or not, you know for a fact that some fruits and vegetables are best eaten cooked. You looked forward to the meals you would be having for the big adventure.

After getting all the necessary supplies you and Daring needed, you were both just about to leave the village. However, something didn't seem quite right...

Seems not many ponies come around this part of the village. The only thing that seemed to be on this street was a few hotels that went out of business. In between some of the buildings were some dark alleyways that sent chills down pretty much anyone’s spine.

Part of you was telling you to get out of there as quick as possible. Likewise, Daring also felt uneasy as she glanced around this unfamiliar part that you so carelessly walked into. You can tell judging by the way her eyes keep shifting from left to right.

“Okay that’s it, let’s get out of here. I’m getting goosebumps just being here,” you said flatly.

“Right behind you p-” Daring said, before she’s cut off. Your eyes widen and you turn to see her being dragged into an alley. The perpetrator was a middle-aged stallion. While he had neither a horn nor wings, he was quite muscular with a bandana over his mouth and a piece of cloth held over Daring’s mouth.

“Hey! What do you think you’re d-” you too didn’t get the chance to finish as something hit you in the back of the head. Falling to your knees, the sounds of menacing chuckles filled your ears before you collapsed.

Author's Note

With patience comes rewards here is my latest story. I hope you all enjoy what my editor and I have to offer to all of you. Thank you for your patience and support and remember to stay tuned for more chapters to come in the future and remember to keep bronying on.