Prologue

Daring Do. Those words mean a lot of different things to a lot of ponies. Inevitably to some they mean nothing, but to many they mean the greatest adventurer character in modern literature. To a few I am a friend, and to one I am a partner. Every time I talk to anypony they think I’m the author’s daughter or wife. They say I’m in a costume, or dyed to look like my favorite character. I’ve even been called a Changeling. None of those are remotely close to the truth.

But it didn’t used to be this way. As a child, no one doubted the legitimacy of my existence. But ponies change and time changes. And I mean that, not times change, time changes. I’ve known the Doctor long enough to know that.

I was lucky enough to have a normal childhood. You know, running around playing, school, and dreaming of the wonderful things you’ll never actually do when you get older. Of course I dreamed of being famous one day, I was a child. And being a pegasus I thought I’d be famous for being a Wonderbolt. That was actually my first dream, but that… let’s say it fell apart for simplicity’s sake.

Ultimately the Warehouse called me when I was chasing my dreams. I was a different mare back then, so I rejected it at first. The funny thing is that once the Warehouse calls you; you’re powerless to stop its pull on you. I ultimately accepted my fate because I got a taste of the job, the excitement. My partner, however, was not quite as enthusiastic about the job. Though he was perfect for it, constant danger was not exactly what he wanted to be surrounded by. Niether did he like how insane the job was, from the whole idea of the Warehouse to the craziness of each job.

Before I get into what I do, let me tell you about what the Warehouse does in the first place. And to explain to you what the Warehouse does; I have to explain how it started. So I’m going to take you back long before Celestia or Luna was born, before the reign of Discord, and all the way back before the evolution of modern ponies. Back then ponies were brutes, savages, uncivilized, or whatever word you choose to describe them; the point is they were different, very different. But now, ponies are not only intelligent, but there are three distinct types of ponies. This dates back to when everypony was an Earth pony, no exceptions. The way leadership was decided was through head to head duals. I mean that very literally, they slammed heads to determine who was fit to lead, and to… um… ugh…, mate.

No pony knows when it happened, but somepony got a weird bone growth on his skull, right in the middle of his head. As you could imagine, this really helped him in the competition, and after the fittest ‘survived’, a large group of them had this growth. The Earth ponies saw that they were different, and subsequently kicked them out of the land. These early day unicorns traveled out and settled in a land not too distant. Through the generations the growth began to get bigger, and eventually it grew to the shape of the modern day horns. How they gained the power of magic is still a mystery, and that’s one of the projects the Warehouse is working on; since we suspect it was an artifact.

Years later, in the land of the Earth ponies, there was a drought, and the wise fled fled to the closest mountain range, leaving the foolish starving. They both survived, and as the years went on, those who stayed behind began to grow better and better harvests. Ultimately, the wise one that moved to the mountains grew wings, and became the pegasi. How they learned to manipulate weather is another thing the Warehouse is researching; again, we believe there was an artifact involved.

And each of the races began to develop their own governments, languages, and traditions. However, the pegasi, since they lived in the sky, could not grow food, so they began an agreement with the Earth ponies to keep the weather under control in exchange for food. So too did the unicorns create an agreement with the Earth ponies, but instead of controlling weather, they promised to rise the moon and sun. Because of this agreement, the unicorns and pegasi met. Neither race liked the other, but they did reach an agreement: they would not interfere with each other’s deal with the Earth ponies and the pegasi would keep the skies calm for the unicorns in exchange for the sun and moon to be risen in such a way that the light reached the mountain home of the pegasi.

Because of these deals, there was tension between the races. Not only tension, but competition, each race wished to become independent of the other two, especially the Earth ponies. Each of the races studied closely the others to find how they performed their end of the bargain. It didn’t take long for each to discover they lacked the resources to become independent, so they decided to hold a meeting to discuss the agreements between them.

This, as you have probably realized, is the real history of the forming of Equestria, not the watered down version that is the play we all are so used to seeing on Hearth’s Warming Eve. That said, this meeting was vicious, vengeful, and about more than just food. There was no ‘Chancellor Puddinghead’ or ‘Princess Platinum’, though Commander Yuricaan (which was simplified to Hurricane, despite it actually meaning ‘God Wind’) was a historical figure. The story does preserve the middle well enough, after fierce debate they all stormed off and decided to abandon their homes in search of new lands.

They land that they all found and subsequently claimed was what became Equestria, but then, was almost the cause of a war. This is where the story rides off again, because there was no argument in a cave, and no windigos. This is why this story was altered, this is why any of it is censored, because of the manner of the forming of Equestria. Have you ever put the names of the three ponies in the play in alphabetical order? Well, they look like this:

Clover the Clever, Private Pansy, Smart Cookie

Or as an acronym, CPS. You know what really happened to the three leaders, they were murdered. Each of them was killed in by a CPS member of their own race. The CPS, as it was a historical group, was better known as the Collective Pony Society, and they were terrorists. It was their killing and taking over of the three races that lead to the formation of Equestria. They were the ones that started the Warehouse by storing the three weapons they used to kill the former leaders.

Early on they realized that the weapons would not be safe as they were, so they were transported to the Griffon Empire. Thus began the Warehouse. It traveled across the world for centuries obtaining artifacts from previous Warehouses and collecting new ones. This tradition has been continued, and has led to the making of the biggest and the greatest Warehouse yet; Warehouse 13.

Now as you probably can guess from the story, this Warehouse is slightly more significant than one that holds toys. As I’ve said, it stores are artifacts, objects imbued with properties that give their user or environment a power previously impossible to have for them or it respectively. We gather and store them because the first rule of artifacts— they always have a downside. If all the artifacts remained in the world, there would quickly no longer be a world; certainly not one worth living in.

Now what I do for the Warehouse is simple; snag it, bag it, tag it. Or more formally I find the artifacts, and neutralize them, usually in small silver bags. Then I register in the Warehouse records that it has been obtained. This is where the thrill comes from; not even my boss can guess what a pony with an artifact is thinking, or what they’ll do with it. What that means for me is that the job is always an adventure.

It is a hard job, yes, and constantly stressing, but I manage. We manage, the team, we’re more than that, we’re a family. We work together, we protect each other as best we can, but in the end, doesn’t family just break apart.

My partner’s gone, and it can be lonely. True, another great agent and close friend took his place, but having him gone just tears me apart. He didn’t die, but I could never talk to him; to him I’d just be Daring Do, that character from those books.

I remember talking to the Doctor after he had to wipe Derpy’s memory, and I asked him what it was like never being able to see your closest friend again. He told me that they all leave, because they have to. He said that in the end they just break his hearts. Now I understand how hard it is to lose someone after you try so hard to protect them.

I remember the times I spent with the Doctor well. What can I say, they were the only times more exciting than my day job. I don’t know who he has as a companion now, but I hope he has somepony. I remember how Derpy was before she met the Doctor, silly, carefree, and clueless; then I thought to the times that she helped save my life when I traveled in the TARDIS with them. It was hard when we had to drop her off, but he said it was to keep her safe. Either way I felt bad when I had to leave him after that; of course, not until we had shared some great times together throughout time and space. I’m glad we spent that time together because more than once we’ve got back together to beat whatever alien or snag whatever artifact that was too challenging for one of us. You should see us work together, unstoppable it the only word to describe us. But I guess I’m getting ahead of myself. This, as all stories do, needs to start at the beginning. Before I met my partner or began working for the Warehouse. All the way back to what should have been the best day of my life…

Author's Note

After this it is not as 'textbook-y'. This is an address for Daring, but not at the end of the story or her life, but the end of a part of her life, and it's her explaining her life up to said point.

Okay, that was the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) version, here's the full version:

This takes place after the story ark, which explains Daring's complete knowledge of the events and detailed backgrounds of the Warehouse. Now, in this, I assumed people knew a reasonable amount about Dr. Who, or could wait for it to be explained later when he is brought in for the chronologically first time (in relation to the story due to the first person nature of this story). However, this second cross, Warehouse 13, barely anyone has heard of, so I had to introduce what it was to all of you. Now there were two ways in my mind to go about this: one, a message from the distant future that would outline the character's life up to that point, or two, make a 'text book' that explains the Warehouse. the problem I had with the first choice is that this is going to be about half Doctor Hooves/Doctor Whooves/Time Turner so time is very relative, making this end all letter hard. Especially when you consider that I am writing like Dr. Who and Warehouse 13 episodes, they are random 'slice of life' with an over arching plot (even if said plot is just the sighting of 'Bad Wolf' all over time). The style I would write that in would have to be extremely precise, and require me to look over several times to ensure that I was not spoiling anything. In addition, such a letter's purpose would be a goodbye letter, and be emotional, not factual. Speaking of factual, the second option, a textbook. This style would be extremely boring, but helpful to the readers understanding of the world I am laying out. So how I worked this is I combined them, instead of a end of all letter to friends or a textbook, I made sort of a mix. This is an address for Daring, but not at the end of the story or her life, but the end of a part of her life, and it's her explaining her life up to said point. Actually, that might be the end of what is under this story, I have the arch for the story outlined up to that point, but it's very open ended and I do like this story, so it might see another arch if viewership warrants it.