Regardless of how long you were unconscious, you were brought back to reality by a hard smack to your face.

“Dammit, that hurts!” you exclaimed. You shook your head and opened up your eyes, though your eyesight was still blurry. “Alright who’s the wise guy that knocked me upside the head?”

when your vision finally became clear, you noticed a couple of stallions looking down at you laughing. You looked around to see you weren't in the village anymore. Instead, you’re in the middle of the forest tied up along with Daring Do.

“Good work, gentlecolts. I never thought I’d see the day where we would capture the great Daring Do THIS easily!” a slightly deeper voice laughed. It was easy to assume he was the boss.

The thugs made way as a new stallion walked up to you and Daring. His fur was a light shade of brown while his mane was black. His style of clothing reminded you of a mafia gang member, as opposed to his menacing expression, he was a well-dressed individual in a nice tuxedo. Many gold rings decorated his right set of fingers, matching his single gold tooth.

“You can take off the gag. I actually want to hear what Miss Do has to say for herself,” he said. A dark green stallion complied with his orders and roughly yanked the cloth from Daring’s mouth. Finally free from the gag, she coughed violently and glared at our captors.

“As much as I hate this, I’m not even remotely surprised to see that you’re behind this Cabelleron!” she snarled. This information immediately processed into your mind.

“So you’re Dr. Caballeron,” you said, then decided to crack a joke. “I'm disappointed. I thought you were some head honcho out for money and power, not some circus freak in a monkey suit,” you said with an equal amount of venom.

Dr. Caballeron only glared at you for a few seconds before he returned his attention to Daring Do. Mockingly he cupped her chin before he grinned again.

“My dear Daring, surely you realize that after all the times you foiled my plans, humiliated me and ruined my dreams, I can no longer let you live. And it's such a shame I have to get rid of such a beautiful desert flower,” he said, stroking her chin. Unfortunately for him, before he could pull away, Daring quickly bit down on his thumb.

You smirked as Cabelleron shouted in pain and tried to free his hand. Eventually he succeeded and fell to the ground looking at his now bleeding thumb lividly.

“Touch me again and I’ll go for your pinky finger, you slimeball!” she yelled spitting at the ground in disgust.

“Make all the jokes you want. Very soon you won’t be able to talk at all,” Cabelleron said as he got back on his hooves. “Take her and her pitiful little friend here to the densest part of the forest so we can dispose of them! Afterwards, we’ll move onto the next plan.”

You were pulled up to your feet by Cabelleron’s lackeys who had the bandana over his mouth. They roughly shoved you forward before he walked up with the rest of the goons.

The whole time you and Daring were being forced to walk further into the forest, you tried to come up with a plan to break free from the ropes that binded your hands. There were many kinds of rocks and other objects along the path, but your captors kept a close eye on you as you were pushed every 5 or 10 second.

Halfway through, you “accidentally” tripped and fell on the ground. The stallion in front of you turned around and looked down at you with an annoyed expression.

“Hey, get up!” he commanded. The fall hurt only a little, but then he kicked you so hard, you rolled to the side and gripped a sharp rock behind you before barely getting back on your feet. Before they saw what you picked up, you quickly shoved it underneath your back pants. It was too risky shove it in your back pocket, so this was the only way to hide it.

You finally arrived at your destination and once there, you and Daring were forced to sit down on the ground. Dr. Caballeron and his goons stared down at you and Daring with sinister grins. Meanwhile, you made sure to cut the ropes quickly, but made sure they didn't catch up on your plan.

“How I’ve longed to finally have this day. The day where I would finally get rid of you for all the trouble and humiliation you’ve caused me. Getting the villagers of Somnambula to hate you was satisfying when it lasted, but now it's not enough. I'll never be satisfied unless I get rid of you once and for all!” he laughed before looking at you. “And since your friend here is a witness, I’m afraid he has to die as well.”

After speaking his true intentions, he becomes blinded by his insanity and laughs and to no surprise, his subordinates joined in. Taking advantage of the situation, you passed Daring the rock you picked up earlier and she quickly caught on.

She quickly took it and made sure to cut through her ropes as much as she could. Who knows how long it’ll be before they get done with their laughing. Unfortunately...

“HEY!!!” Dr. Caballeron shouted. You gasped and looked over at him and his goons. They all had their eyes on your hand. Needless to say, they now know you used a sharp rock to break free from the ropes.

“Well, like dad always said: when faced with danger, give ‘em a smile and a good old-fashioned beat down!” you said, before lunging at the goons. In addition to taking you on many adventures, your father had spent many years teaching you lessons in the art of combat.

Now was as good a time as any to test your fighting skills in your first opponent here in this new land. And your first target was the stallion who knocked you out. This time it was his turn to fall unconscious.

Jumping into the air to avoid the other thugs, you landed in front of your desired target and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. The stallion got knocked off his hooves and fell on his side, out cold after one kick.

Daring Do held her own ground just as well as you did. Only she's dealing with two of Dr. Caballeron’s goons. One of them was knocked down after a knee drop to the gut and a crotch kick.

Desperate not to end up like his partner, the second stallion swung fiercely at Daring from behind. Sadly for him, even without turning around Daring lowered her head to dodge the strike before kicking the fool in the shin. He wasn’t given time to shout before the mare brought her head backward striking his snout. To finish the job, she flapped her wings, flew up a bit and struck him with multiple spin kicks, knocking him out.

Only one left was Cabelleron who by this point was attempting to make a run for it. You and Daring chased after him. For an earth pony, he’s got some real speed. Sadly, speed isn’t always gonna be the key to victory in this kind of situation, maneuvering can be handy in times like this.

“What’s the matter, Dr. Caballeron, afraid to fight us like a real stallion?” Daring called out.

“This is not over yet, Daring Do! I will take you and your little friend down one of these days! I swear it!” he yelled, still running like the coward he was.

The chase went on for a few minutes until Daring Do free worried when Dr. Caballeron ran inside of an old temple she explored some time ago.

“Hey, Daring, what's up? You look kinda worried right now,” you said noticing how focused she’s suddenly become.

“New plan, we gotta get him outta that temple, or it’s gonna collapse on top of him! I grabbed an artifact from there some time ago and had it sent to a museum. The whole temple’s unstable because I got into a brawl with Dr. Caballeron and his goons in there. Come on, there’s no time to lose!” she exclaimed, dashing off into the temple.

“Right behind ya!” you shouted picking up the pace and trying not to fall behind.

Following Daring Do’s instructions, you continued to run as fast as you could, while at the same time, keeping your eyes peeled. You’ve traveled into temples before and you suspected that there are still a few traps set up somewhere inside. One wrong move and you could set one off. And with the shape them temple is in now, you can’t afford to make a mistake.

Looking left and right this temple was indeed an old one, which made it all the more unstable. You hoped you could quickly find and grab Dr. Caballeron and get out of here.

“A little lost are we?” You looked up to see an opening in the temple’s ceiling. The miserable thug had somehow made it all the way towards the hole and was now laughing at your predicament as he looked down at you.

“Hey, how the hell did you get up there? Come on down here and put up your dukes, or are ya too chicken to fight head-on?” you taunted.

“Ooh that sounds fun,” he mocked. “However it would be much more satisfying to see how far you're willing to go just to try and stop me! So why not follow me outside the temple and we'll have our fight. That is... if you're too chicken to do so!”

“Not a problem!” Daring said, confidently. She then looks over at you. “Grab my hand, this is gonna get a little bumpy!” she instructed. Nodding you did as she told you and held onto her hand tightly. With some difficulty, she extended her wings and managed to lift you both off the ground.

Dr. Caballeron reacted a bit faster than you both anticipated as he took one of the boulders and closed off the exit. Daring just barely stopped in time before she collided with the ceiling.

“Now what?” you asked. It wasn’t long before a piece of rubble landed on your head. “Holy bug in a pizza box!”

“Just hold tight, we're gonna find another way outta this place, but we gotta move fast, this place is gonna fall apart!” Daring replied.

Right on cue, she dived down and flew straight down the dark halls of the temple, dodging as many traps and pitfalls as she possibly could. Meanwhile, you kept a tight grip on her hand, considering how fast she was flying.

Soon, Daring could almost see the outside and picked up the pace. But then, just as you feared, a large piece of debris fell, this time, landing on Daring’s left wing.

“AAAH!” she screamed in pain and the two of you fell onto the ground due to her disabled wing. Fortunately, you got back up shortly afterwards and went to help Daring.

“Hold still, I’ll get this off of you!” you said, trying to lift it. The debris was heavier than you thought it would be, but you didn’t concede.

“Forget it, you gotta stop Caballeron, or he’ll get away! There’s no sense in both of us dying while that scumbag lives!” Daring protested.

“Shut up, I’m not leaving without you!” you shouted still trying to move the rock.

“Don't be an idiot! Just do as I say and go after him, I’ll be fine!” she insisted. It wasn’t even remotely convincing.

“I told you to shut up! I’m not gonna let you die like my dad almost did! I'll break my own bones if it means we make it out safely!”

Hearing that, Daring stopped protesting and her mouth was left open. And with those words, you summed up all of your strength and finally managed to lift the debris. Then, you threw it out of the way before carrying Daring Do out just in time before the temple finally crumbled from the inside and fell apart.

You let out a breath of relief as you saw that all that remained were heaps of rubble and dust scattered everywhere. Looking around, it seemed that Cabelleron did indeed escape.

“That damn bastard got away,” you scowled, kicking a small piece of debris. However, your luck quickly began to turn when you hear the sound of Dr. Caballeron shouting somewhere in the northeast of the forest.

“Bingo!” you exclaimed. You would make sure this whole abduction scheme would not go unpunished. “Come on Daring, let’s get that overgrown freak show in a monkey suit and bring him in!”

It was so fortunate that her only injury was her wing, but ever since you freed her she hasn’t said anything. You simply assumed it was because she was still trying to cope with her injured wing.

As you cracked your knuckles, you and Daring were walking closer and closer to Caballeron and his lackeys and they still haven’t noticed your presence. What’s more is that his hench-ponies still had yet to recover from their earlier beating. Too bad there in for another one.

You gestured Daring to follow you. Evidently she had a high pain threshold, as she managed to ignore the damage done to her wing as you moved through the forest and moved up closer to the hench ponies. Once you got close enough, you tapped one of the them on the shoulder. He quickly turned around, only to get surprised when he sees you and hear these words.

“G’day mate!” you said before you punched him square in his already damaged face. Seeing how he was out like a light, you moved to your next target. Amazed at how you were still alive, Cabelleron and the other stallions could only shake in fear and let out loud screams as you advanced toward them.

The beating took a little longer than you thought, but Dr. Caballeron and his goons were finally dealt with and you were pretty worn out while Daring was still hurt. Giving them a taste of their own medicine, you made sure to tie them up only difference is that there was nothing sharp that they could pick up.

It was a bit of a long walk to the nearest town and because of the fight, you were too worn out to walk fast. Nonetheless, you did make it before Daring’s wounds became infected.

After some time passed, Dr. Caballeron and his goons were arrested and carted off to prison while you took Daring to a hospital. Thanks to the doctor’s treatment, she would be able to recover within a few weeks or so.

You sat by her bed the entire time, relieved that she would be able to fly again. From the little time you had to escape that temple, things could have been much worse.

“Hey, we make a pretty great team. Sorry if I screwed up at the temple,” you said.

“Don't be sorry. You saved me or rather... you saved us,” she replied with a smile.

“Even so... I feel kinda guilty after what happened with you,” you said with a sigh. “At least the doctors said you’ll recover within a few weeks.”

“True, but right now, there’s something I want to tell you...” she spoke softly, followed by her cheeks unexpectedly turning red. “This is a bit sudden, but… when you went back to free me from the fallen debris, I was shocked. You didn’t even care that you might get injured or even killed.

“Are... Are you trying to say what I think you are?” you asked. Daring let out a small chuckle in response to your shock.

“Yeah. As I just said it’s sudden, but... I think I’ve developed a bit of a crush on you. It's rare that I find a guy like you: full of bravery and confidence and have a strong love for a great big adventure.”

“To be honest, when I first went on my very first worldwide adventure back home, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But over the years, I developed a love of adventure, getting to know the ways of many lands and even facing numerous dangers. After my father’s accident, we had to stop traveling and settle down. But I was too stubborn to stop, so I became pro racer, which to be honest, is what eventually led me here,” you said. “And it’s thanks to you that my spark was truly reignited. So, thanks for everything, Daring.”

“It’s kind of funny how things ended up in a short amount of time, but I’m not complaining. At least, not anymore. Now...” Daring paused and gripped you by the shirt collar, pulling you in for a kiss. Your first kiss to be precise.

You should have seen this coming, yet this feels just right, so you embraced it and kissed Daring Do back. If you thought the adventure was great before, then you could only imagine what lies in store now.

Author's Note

Here it is, the 2nd chapter. I'm not sure if this feels rushed or not but my editor and I did our best to make it. We hope you enjoy and as always, stay tuned and brony on.