Equestria Handyman

“Ok, so are you absolutely sure he didn’t look like a diamond dog, or a dragon or a minotaur, he had long soft feet?” Fluttershy questions Daring Do as she recalls the events that led to the end of her latest book, with the mane six resting an injury.

“Ah sorry I was kind of preoccupied when I saw that weird thing.”

“Doing what?”

“Not dying?” She asked with a raised eyebrow “Did you not read the book yet?”

“Fluttershy.” Twilight calms her down and after taking a deep breath she sits back in her chair

“You have to excuse Fluttershy, Daring it’s just...her coltfriend was foalnapped some weeks ago and the creature you describe sounds to fit his description.”

“Hate to break to you princess but I don’t think that was a pony.”

“Mark isn’t a pony he is my hunter” Fluttershy mentions.

“What she meant to say is that, Mark isn’t equine, his race is called human and well. They don’t seem to have a snout like we ponies do.” Applejack explains.

“Oh…then, yeah I…I think he was.”

“Tell us what happened exactly, how did you two meet? And what exactly was he doing there in the first place?” Twilight wonders trying not to keep the mood down and search for clues.

“Well much of what happens is already in the books but I suppose I could give you the short version plus parts I didn’t add for…reasons” She confesses with a blush looking away.

“If it helps when I saw him he didn’t seem to be very aware of his actions. At first I thought he was just another tomb raider trying to make a quick buck when I saw him inspecting the front door, but when I tried to taunt him he simply…ignored me. Not only that but he really seems to know what he was doing because he was able to open the door without triggering any sort of trap in the process. And believe me that is very rare to happen”

She chuckles a bit before flinching at an injury on her chest “Anyway, after that I tried to follow him but the door quickly closed behind him so I had no choice but to search for another entry.”

Some time before at the entrance of the forgotten temple.

Reaching the final stair in the decrepit stone ruins, Mark looks at his surroundings and starts to explore the place, taking notices of the various pictures of changelings plasted on the wall telling a broken story of their society, thanks for nature claiming some places, and time, or some event claimed part or all of the walls, until finally he reached an aqueduct system and pushing a lever he brought it back to life filling sections of the room with water and bringing to life old pull systems to reach the upper floors.

Jumping from platform to platform he starts to make his way higher avoiding any potential trap or collapsing contraption that might not be able to sustain his weight as he finally reaches the third floor, ignoring the pegasus that snuck in following close by.

“It was like watching some type of monkey, no scratch that not even monkeys are that nimble. The guy simply took one glance at the place and in one move just brought it back to life and figured a way to find a path to follow in a matter of seconds.”

“That is him, only my Marky could be that skillful.” Fluttershy smiles feeling somewhat relaxed that he was still relatively ok.

“I wouldn’t be that happy yet sugar cube.” Applejack warns her reading over some of the pages of Daring Do. “If this is something to go by, things didn’t exactly go as smoothly after they entered the temple, or this…golem guardian was just an exaggeration?”

“No it was real, and yeah like Applejack just said. Things just got complicated, as we dove deeper into the temple, not helping with the arrival of Caballeron and her gang of morons stepping in every single trap possible as they rushed toward us. Not that it matters much, once we all reached the treasure room that Mark fellow didn’t seem interested in any gold in the room. He just wanted one thing.

“And that is how you got injured?” Rarity deduced.

“No, that is something that happened later.”

Dodging another slash from a giant golem changeling with four arms wielding four sabers Mark made his way toward the center of the treasure room heading to a podium where a crown was resting, only for said article to be snatched away by Daring Do who used her whip to grab it.

“Sorry dude, but I really don’t think it’s your style.”

One of the minions of Caballeron tried to take it away.

“Don't let her get away!” Caballeron yells in anger as Daring tries to make her escape, only for the door to close.

“What is he doing?!” Another goon yells and looking back the explorer was confused when she saw Mark scaling the giant guardian before putting a diamond on his forehead and twisting it like a lock, freezing it in its tracks before kneeling down. He then pointed at Caballeron and the guardian shifted his attention to him as he turned back to see Daring Do.

“He…took control of the golem?” Pinkie asks in surprise.

“Like I said, he seems to know what he was doing, and of course by taking the diamond we couldn’t do the same so the good news was that I manage to brush off Caballeron the bad was that this guy was now chasing me like a bloodhound while throwing every treasure chest, diamond and piece of jewelry he could get his hands on.”

“Well that sounds like every mare's dream come true, if you ask me.” Rarity commented.

“Get any of those rocks thrown at you like a projectile, and then tell me if it is.” Daring chuckles.

“Something tells me he was holding back a bit, because rather than fill me with holes he was mostly just showering me with all sorts of treasures, seeing what lands. I thought he was getting desperate until the 10 karat collar started to wrap, and cut the air from my throat long enough for him to tackle me into another room, locking us both out of the treasure room as we fell 5 floors down until we landed in the sewer area.”

“And THAT is where you got injured!” Dash exclaims.

“No, but I’m starting to wish it was there.”

Resurfacing Daring Do takes a deep breath of fresh air and holds on to the edge of the pool trying to calm down. Only for her to be lassoed and tied up from behind by Mark who immobilized her against a wall filled with vines.

Growling in anger Mark looks at the daring mare face to face before yanking her back pack off with force, and starts to look around until he finds the crown he was looking for. Glaring at her briefly he turns around and prepares to leave.

“What? No evil speech? No victory monologue? Not telling why the heck you want that crown anyways? Come on! Don’t you even want to gloat a little?” Daring’s taunts only serve to confuse Mark until his eyes widen and rushing to her side quickly grabs and tosses a pure black snake that was about to bite her neck.

Loud hissings alert the two and coming out of the water they go pale when they discover how a king snake took residence in the sewer system and they just disturb its home.

“A king snake?” Applejack question

“It is like a king rat, a conglomeration of snakes of various species, converging into one single mass until they merge together and form a hideous scaly ball with a mouth, a single giant eye and wrapped with twisted snakes now serving as its tentacles.” Fluttershy elaborates, and Daring confirms.

“Boy was that thing ugly. I really thought this time I got myself into one giant mess but I really didn’t expect what happened after that thing came out of the water.”

Acting fast, Mark picked up Daring and started climbing up before the monster could attack.

“Wait, he saved you? What the heck! Here it says you broke free, jumped up before that cobra thing bit you and then used a javelin to kill it, before making your way back to the treasure room.” Dash points out, reading the passage in the book.

“Yeah…that was made up, I was kind of startled from what actually happened.” Daring confesses looking away with a small blush.

“Wait, wait, what the heck dude. You are saving me now? What kind of bad guy are you?” Daring looked at Mark perplexed at his actions as he tried to make his way while the beast kept destroying the area behind them, leaving very little room to stop and breathe, the explorer noticed that despite still wearing at least double her weight in treasures, the human didn’t seem to slow down all the much as he keep looking around the place, until finally he pulled a lever and pressed the two against a corner before the snake reached them.

“Ok enough with the mysterious act, who the buck are…” Mark silenced her by putting his hand over her mouth as the beast was coming closer only to spring a trap, and was quickly incinerated by flamethrowers placed in the ground.

“Turns out he was inspecting the walls to see which one had a trap to use and merely lure that thing to the best trap possible. It was a bit humiliating discovering I made such a rookie mistake, and became the damsel in distress that day…and then a bit confusing when I finally got my injury.” She caresses some of the bandages. “The fire dealt with almost all the snakes but only the lucky bastard managed to survive by jumping out of the flame and onto my chest once we got out of the corner. He crushed it before it could do much, but it managed to bite me, and just my luck it was a really poisonous one.”

“Oh yeah this is a classic Daring Do tale, let me guess you cut the wound to get the poison, bandaged yourself and made your escape with the treasure?” Dash asks excitedly.

“He…sucked the poison out.”

“…I’m sorry what?” The pegasus asked, perplexed by the blushy mare.

“Like I said I didn’t want to share the details, but yeah, that Mark fellow seems to have took a shining to me, because one moment I was feeling my head getting dizzy and starting to black out, the next I was coming back with a moan as I saw him sucking the venom out of me…which was very close to my right breast.”

She shivers a bit. “I’m still feeling the burn even when treated, the doctors said that the pain will leave in a couple of weeks, and I for once decided to listen to them, because right now. I’m just conflicted.”

“About the bad guy that saved your life?”

“Yeah that too.” Daring confirmed “But mostly because well, sucking venom is just an old wives tail, I thought he was doing that to save me, and he did. But he already took care of the venom properly with a shot. Turns out, he just, well…I suppose he wanted a drink or something.”

“My sweet hunter.” Fluttershy looks down in shame. “Daring Do, I’m so sorry! I swear he isn’t aware of his actions, what he did…he must be operating by instinct alone.”

“I gathered as much.” Daring nods. “He probably was taking compensation for saving me or something, I mean I was probably a dead mare if he didn’t do it, so I can’t be THAT mad at him, especially while he is under mind control.”

“I suppose but he still took advantage of you.” Rarity mentions “We will make sure he apologizes as soon as he comes back.”

“Don’t be, it…it might have been my fault too.” Daring confesses with some heat in her cheeks. “I blame the venom, but well how do I explain this, he was…tender and kind, when I came to he was cleaning the wound from any blood and didn’t seem to be planning anything else, other than to heal me up. I thought this was my chance to finally get a reaction out of him so I taunted him asking if he enjoyed the view.”

Dash looks at the explorer with wide eyes. “Don’t give that look Dash, you know I can get a bit flirty, and believe me, I clean the books of the heavy stuff. Have you ever snuck around a zebra fertility ceremony?”

“Ah no.”

“I’ve heard of them, Daring you didn’t…?” Twilight asks but she stops her with a raised eyebrow “Going off topic, but if you ask if I wore the virtually naked get up, yes I did wear that, anyway. At the moment I didn’t imagine he was under mind control and I was mainly going to flirt to distract him and grab the crown. So I fluttered my eyelashes at him, gave him a come hither eyes, with my most sultry voice and well might have thought of using better wording in retrospective.”

She blushes in embarrassment. “I…might have offered him to take a sip for his troubles and jiggle a bit as much as I could with my injury.”

“Oh my, yeah that was a very big mistake Daring Do.” Fluttershy nods. “I know my sweet beautiful stallion and if I know anything, is that boobs are his weakness and he just can’t control himself from taking a sip, if permission is granted.”

“Believe me, I found out.” Daring nods “And the worst part is…I enjoyed it, by Celestia I don’t know how he did it, but even with the injury I didn’t feel the slightest bit of pain, and well I started to feel dizzy for another reason. It only lasted for probably a couple of minutes but by the time he was done I was moaning asking for more, as he stood up and just ran away, leaving me kind of wanting.”

She sighs in frustration. “That is not how things work, I’m not into getting teased, I'm the one that teases! That guy just made it into my list, so that is why I included him but…well I exaggerated the ending, I mean I still got away with some treasure but he ultimately won this round.”

“This…round?” Applejack looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Like I said, I’m the one that teases, if I find him again I will make sure to return the favour.”

“He was mind controlled.” Pinkie points out.

“Still, it’s a matter of principle mostly.”

To everyone's surprise Fluttershy can’t help but giggle. “I’m sure my Marky will understand and will apologize, even if it was mostly a heat of the moment thing.”

“Thanks for telling us Daring Do, this is a really big clue on what Chrysalis is plotting.” Twilight nods.

“The thing that still confuses me is what exactly does that giant bug want with an old green crown?” Daring question puzzle by the whole ordeal.

Meanwhile at the villains hide out

Cackling malevolent Chrysalis claps her hands in happiness as Mark returns with the crown “At last, the crown of queen Ambrosia! It’s mine!” She rushes to get it but Mark stops her by raising his hand.

“What is the matter?” Rather than answer he gently guides her to sit down he put the piece on her moving some of her hair with delicacy, earning a small blue blush from the changeling who only increases when he removes the mouthpiece and pulling down the cloth on his face to give the changeling a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“Am I interrupting?” Tirek asks with a smirk, snapping Chrysalis from her trance as she stood up.

“T-Tirek! I…I mean no, W-Wha, did you get the gems I ordered you to get?”

“You mean these things?” He casually tossed into the air a set of five oval crystals of different colours. “Want me to put them on too?”

He teases, as Chrysalis blushes and takes the gems in her magic, placing them on the table minus the green one, she takes a glance at Mark before shaking her head and placing it in the middle of her crown, making it glow briefly. “Yes, with this we are one step closer.”

“Remind me again, why are you sending us to retrieve rocks and old relics?” Tirek crosses his arms with a raised eyebrow.

“Because my muscles for brains friend. These aren’t ordinary relics.” Chrysalis points at a set of gloves, a ring and a necklace all which connect with each gem.

“These are ancient weapons of old, manufactured by Grogar himself, once charged with their respective gem, their power can be unimaginable, and with them we will be able to rule all of the world!”

“Really now? I wonder what would happen if one were to wear all of them at the same time.” Tirek questions reaching out to get the crown only for Mark to get in the way and growl at him.

“I would advise you against it, Tirek, not even Grogar could wield all the weapons at the same time, you would only be self exploiting. Now if you are done leering at MY crown I suggest you get away and let me think as I investigate the location of the next relic and the present for my attentive hunter.” She looks at Mark with caring eyes.

“Aught get a room you two, I better get out before all that cuteness of yours makes me barf.”

“Wha…what?!” Chrysalis realized what she was doing and how Mark was hugging her which prompted her to break the hug and push him away. “Y…you should go get some rest too, and let me think.” She puts the rest of the gems in a bag and hands them to him. “Take this and guard them with your life, I don’t trust that gluttonous centaur.”

He looks confused for a moment but ultimately nods and walks away.

Weird I feel his love again but…did it taste different?

She shakes her head.

Doesn’t matter! I have a world to conquer.