Daring Do and the Long Journey Home

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Tomb of the Zebra King
Chapter 2: Mysterious Timbucktoo
Chapter 3: Lift Off
Chapter 4: The MacGuffin
Chapter 5: PIRATES
Story Time: Come on and Grab your Friends!

Chapter 1: The Tomb of the Zebra King

Chapter 1: The Tomb of the Zebra King

The hot desert air gusted past her face, the remnants of the storm from last night blowing sand into her mouth as Daring Do pulled her cart toward the lost pyramids of the Zebrican Desert. The heat and abrading sand wearing her down as she trudged onward with her helmet pulled down to protect her eyes.

Difficult to reach at the best of times the lost Pyramids were deep into the forbidding desert, where high winds and dry sand prevented a Pegasus from reaching the monuments by air. In front of her was another cart, pulled by her guide, another Pegasus by name of Mark Canary. The dull brown guide had brought Daring news that the entrance of one the ancient Pyramids had been unearthed by the recent sand storm.

That is to say he told the entire tavern back in Timbucktoo, Daring just happened to be a few seats down the bar and took him up on his story. If he was right she’d be able to see a tomb nopony had ever been inside and if he was wrong she’d be able to see the pyramids at least.

As they reached the crest of the sand dune they looked down the slope to witness the Land of Ancestors, a rocky island in a sea of sand. Daring’s guide halted on the downward slope waiting for Daring to catch up.

‘A wonderful sight, is it not?’ asked Mark Canary

‘I’ve seen better,’ Daring replied. Her guide was shocked at Daring’s disregard of the wonderful vista before them. In truth Daring did like the view and would probably be describing it in great detail for a painter back in Equestria to have it added to the gallery of vistas she’d seen.

But she wasn’t telling him that.

‘But... look at those rocks, sculpted by hoof and wind, it’s a wonder,’ Mark asserted shakily.

‘Is it any more of a wonder than the volcanic Calderas of Draconia? Is it more naturally beautiful than the singing glaciers of the Crystal Mountains? It’s certainly nowhere near as grand as the great bromeliad flowers in the jungles to the south, which hold entire lakes within their petals?’ Daring’s counter assertion completely pulled the rug out from under Mark Canary, in truth the last one was a lie but the rest were true wonders as well. She admitted privately to herself the Land of Ancestors was a grand sight, a series of monuments and pyramids on a dead island of rock in the centre of a desert; it was an anathema to life itself.

Still she did enjoy watching the guide squirm a little, it would stop him raising the price for his services when they returned to Timbucktoo.

‘When you’ve been to the many places as I have all the grand views tend to get a bit bland,’ she finished

‘If you say so Daring Do,’ he conceded

‘So which pyramid did you bring me out here to see?’ Daring asked

‘The large one to the south, the storm two weeks revealed the entrance in the wall of the island.’

‘Take me there.’

The trip took another hour as they skirted the edge of the rocky island, the sun slowly lowering in the sky. Once arriving at the Pyramid Mark started to setup camp while Daring checked the supplies in her cart, a quarter of her food and almost half her water had been used. She cursed at herself; she’d overused her supply of water and should have packed more. Mark soon declared the campsite to be ready and Daring wasted no time, unfurling her wings and taking off.

‘Mark, stay out here and keep watch, I'll be back for dinner later.’ she received an acknowledging wave from her guide and flew up to the entrance to the pyramid.

The entrance was a large archway eight pony lengths high, blocked only by a small dune of sand that left only a small gap at the top of the archway. Daring wings sang to her as she flew up to the gap, they had been itching for use over the last few days of their trip. Any pegasus flight in the desert was difficult; the lack of moisture in the air sapped the wing power out of her flight, the high winds conspired to throw her out of the sky and the sand that was caught between her feathers didn’t help either.

Daring angled her approach to fly right through the small gap, skipping off the sand dune to land inside. Shaking out her wings again Daring took a deep breath to taste the air in the Pyramid. The air was that of ancient times, musty from being contained for so long along with the underlying bite of the ever present sand. The passage Daring stood in was carved into the rock itself it continued until it reached the first of the open hallways built into the tomb.

The hall was covered in decorative carvings which lined the walls all the way to the door at the end, most ponies would just assume that the carvings were simply decoration but Daring Do had seen far too many tombs to assume that, they were traps, every single one of them. The tiles on the floor were unmarked but there would be some pattern that only the designers knew to bypass the traps.

Out of curiosity Daring took a rock out of her pocket and placed it on an outstretched hoof.

‘Ah the rock, my favourite tool’ she said to herself, ‘only paper can beat It.’ She threw the rock along the hallway, As it landed the rock’s weight pressed down on a tile that slid into the ground as it triggered a trap, spears shot out the walls reaching their full length before stopping. There was an audible click as the spears slowly retracted resetting the trap.

‘Self-resetting trap? Not bad, very clever work there by the ancient zebra. I suppose anyzebra here to rob the tomb would have got the point.’ she grinned looking around before sighing, ‘why am I always this funny when nopony is around?’ when the universe declined to answer Daring simply shrugged, ‘well they designed this trap to stop Zebra, not a Pegasus.’ Daring opened her wings again and flew down the hallway to the door at the end.

‘Ha-Ha, denied,’ she joked as she landed in front of the door, only to depress a tile as she landed. She braced herself for the worst, but only heard a scraping sound. Turning to look at the noise she saw one of the carvings spitting out sparks, created by a mechanically struck flint in the wall while the carving next to it was drooling a glob of thick liquid out. The setup was a liquid fire trap that had clearly passed its burn-by date centuries ago. Daring quickly realized she’d nearly let herself get caught, a sobering thought.

The glob of gooey fire smelled powerful, but it wasn’t every day you get to see zebra alchemy in action so Daring pulled a jar out of a pocket in her jacket and filled it up with the out of date gloop.

The door opened into the next chamber at the press of her hooves, allowing Daring into the next chamber. It was a dark room unlike every other tomb in existence there were no mirrors or everlasting flames to light it, for the first time Daring found she needed a torch.

Daring tore a strip of cloth off her sleeve and put it to the jar of alchemical fire fuel, once it soaked itself in the goo Daring took the jar in a wing and walked back into the first room. She stepped on the last tile starting the fire trap again, Daring held the jar underneath the mechanical flint setting fire to the cloth inside.

Holding the warm jar gingerly between her feathers Daring entered the dark room. Inside was a series of pillars, each barely larger than her hoof, that reached up from a pit full of sharp looking spikes. The pillars were the only way to cross the pit where one false step and Daring would fall to her death; this test would take a lot of coordination. Using the light from the jar to guide her steps Daring slowly stepped out over the pit, shifting each hoof individually to next pillar. She travelled in a rotating movement, looking over her shoulder to guide her rear hooves then slowly turning around to move her forelegs forward.

Daring had heard stories of the incredible balance zebra could display, but this was incredible. Without a torch this room would be impossible to pass, Daring was fortunate that she had wings to hold her torch and catch her if she fell. A zebra or earth pony would have to hold a torch in their mouth and wouldn’t be able to see nearly as well.

Eventually after a dozen or so rotations Daring eventually caught sight of the exit as it came within range of her torch. Eager to leave the room Daring began to move faster, rotating herself more quickly.

The faster rotations began to take their toll, wearing Daring out and worse it began to make her dizzy. She quickly slowed down, intending to take a rest for a moment but the sudden stop only served to made her dizzy spell worse, causing her to misstep and fall.

Reflex alone saved her as her wings shot out to keep her from falling; she stopped her fall just before she fell onto one of the spikes. There was a smash as the jar she was holding in her wing fell to the bottom of the pit, the flame held on the cloth wick spread to the rest of the goo as it started to burn fiercely. The light from the rapidly burning flame revealed the exit, still unsteady Daring did her best to fly toward it reaching the door just as the alchemical fire burnt out.

She reached out with her hooves in the darkness, attempting to find a way to open the door. Eventually she simply pressed herself against the door in desperation and pushed at it, eventually the door was pushed back where it slid to the side admitting Daring into the next room.

Daring laid down on the floor in the light of the room, taking a moment to thank Celestia for the light and to thank Luna for guiding her hoof in the darkness. Daring wasn’t a religious mare, but sometimes you just have to thank somepony.

The room she found herself in was a long hallway with each wall covered in large tiles numbering eight on each side. At the end was another door with a pillar next to it and the floor was carved stone with no trap triggers.

Daring walked to the end of the hallway and tried the door, it was heavy and refused to move even when she gave it a hard buck. The room was obviously some kind of test that she would have to pass before she could continue.

Experimentally she gave one of the tiles on the wall a kick, the tile slid into the wall and spun giving Daring a view to a complex mechanism as it turned. The other side of the tile revealed a picture of the sun drawn in a stylistic swirl. There was a loud crack from the pillar by the door as sand began to flow from the roof above in a pot on the top of the pillar. The slowly filling pot pushed down on the pillar and it begun to sink into the floor, Daring quickly realized It was a timer for the puzzle.

‘That’s new...’ she said to herself

She gave a buck to the next tile; it slid in and spun revealing a crescent moon. After a second the two tiles turned around again and slid back out, the wall returning to its original form while the timer continued to sink.

‘It’s a memory match puzzle’

Daring ran down the hallway to buck another tile which moved back and spun, revealing another picture of the sun. Daring ran back to the first one and hit that as well, the pair now revealed remained as they were. Daring continued the process with the other eight tiles on the wall, matching up the moon, a pyramid and a star. The door still did not open as the timer continued to sink.

Daring Do looked around for an answer as the timer continued to slide into the ground, the pressure starting to get to her before she realized.

‘The other wall...’ Daring facehoofed before bucking the tiles on the other wall twelve or so times, once the puzzle was completed the flow of sand into the timer stopped and the door slid open.

The final room contained a vast number of carvings surrounding a single object in the centre, a sarcophagus that contained the body of the long dead zebra king.

Daring struck a pose with her wings flared out and flipped her helmet, ‘Another day, another Dungeon.’ Celebration complete the archaeologist began to analyse her prize, the sarcophagus was slightly larger than a pony and carved in the likeness of its occupant; a Zebra stallion of advanced age with a wispy white beard.

‘Unusual,’ Daring remarked to herself, ‘typically images in tombs depict their subject in the prime of their life, this guy must have had a very active old age.’ she braced herself against the floor and slid the sarcophagus open, inside was a treasure she’d never thought to find.

The body of the stallion was smaller than average, wrapped in alternating black and white bandages, but what was truly impressive was what surrounded him. Scrolls, hundreds of them made from ancient papyrus and probably preserved through the same zebra alchemy as the body itself. Daring opened one of the scrolls; it contained what appeared to be a recipe or instructions that Daring couldn’t understand. The Zebrican language is difficult for anypony who isn’t a zebra to understand, the language’s lyrical and rhyming structure made it difficult to translate at the best of times and ancient forms of it would be even worse.

These scrolls must contain a significant amount of knowledge in the field of Zebrican Alchemy, much of which may have been lost to history. She could already see the expression on the curator’s face back at the museum when she dragged this in.

Daring searched around for anything else, finding only a lever on the wall at the back of the tomb, she gave the lever an experimental pull. The lever opened a hidden passage in the wall leading out to daylight on the other side of the pyramid.

‘Well that makes this easier,’ Daring remarked

As Daring Do turned back to her prize, she almost swore she saw something black and white on the sarcophagus. When she reached it she realized it was just the body of its occupant still wrapped in the alternating black/white bandages, it was still dead like it had been for thousands of years.

Ignoring the Zebra, Daring closed the lid of the sarcophagus; she would have to come back for it later with the cart to move it.

It was a quick flight back to the camp and Daring wasted no time in telling Mark Canary to pack up the camp. She had a prize to take back home and spending the night here would achieve nothing more than delaying their return home.

Canary nearly refused to move at all, it was late in the day and night was approaching. Daring on the other hoof was all too eager to return to civilization her prize. She wanted to get a message off to Canterlot the moment she got back to Timbucktoo where somepony would pay handsomely for the zebra and his collection of scrolls.

The guide grumbled constantly as they pulled their carts up to the exit at the back of the pyramid while Daring ignored him completely.

‘Hard to believe that there would be a backdoor like this,’ Mark said staring at the back entrance to the pyramid.

‘Most tombs have them actually, it’s how they put the stuff into them once the traps are ready,’ Daring explained, ‘can you imagine carrying so much treasure the long way every time?’

‘Makes sense, I guess’

Daring brought her cart into the tomb, parking it next to the sarcophagus as Canary started to ask a question.

‘A dead zebra king and a lot of scrolls,’ Daring replied pre-empting the guide’s question.

‘So the stories of King Imzohtep’s lost scrolls are true.’ Mark Canary said as he pulled out a pair of metal potion containers, he stood in the doorway holding the containers in his wings, ‘My master will be ple—’

‘Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal,’ Daring deadpanned while rolling her eyes, cutting Mark off before he could start the standard evil monologue. ‘Ahuizotl wanted you to bring me here didn’t he?’

‘What, how did you know?’ Mark squawked

‘You just told me. It’s not the first time he’s tried this, I didn’t fall for it the first time so I'm not going to now.’

‘Hard to say for somepony trapped in a tomb.’ he brought the pair of canisters to his mouth and he pulled the pins out, ‘try your luck with these,’ he gloated as he threw the potion canisters forward into the tomb coming to a halt around Daring. Instead of doing anything the canisters sat on the ground doing nothing.

‘What? Those were supposed to release sleeping gas!’

Daring laughed at the pathetic attempt, ‘I found those on our first night out in the desert, I emptied it all into the storm’s wind.’ Daring grinned, ‘well not all of it, I used a little of it so I could sleep through your snoring.’

Canary’s composure shattered into nervousness, slowly backing away from the pony that had hired him as a guide.

‘Oops, no backup plan? Well that works for me.’ Daring shot forward, building up speed with her wings as she flew toward Mark.

‘No wait!’ Mark broke into a run out of the tomb, forgetting his own wings in his panic. Daring flipped herself bringing her rear hooves forward as she struck the traitorous guide right on his cross marked flank. The impact knocked Mark off his hooves and onto the sand where Daring seized him by the scruff of the neck. She quickly dragged the struggling Canary across to his cart, repeatedly slapping him across the head to keep him disoriented as she pulled a rope out of his cart to tie him to it.

It was the work of mere moments for the experienced Pegasus, satisfied with her hoof work Daring returned to the tomb to load the sarcophagus into her cart. Canary eventually returned to his senses after a few minutes and struggled against his bonds until Daring returned with the loaded cart.

‘Do you intend to leave me here to die?’ Mark Canary asked Daring Do as she returned,

‘No I intend to leave you here while you chew through the rope, by the time your through it I'll be long gone.’ Daring drank from the water bottle out of Mark’s cart, drinking as much as she could talk spilling most of the contents on the sand as well.

‘You’ll also be wanting more water before you follow me, last time I checked the records on this place they said there was supposed to be an oasis in the centre,’ she smirked, ‘ I thought it was weird you didn’t know that, have a nice time with that rope Mark, I probably won’t see you again.’ Her business concluded Daring Do set off toward the sunset in the west.

‘Wait, Daring Do, how will you get back to Timbucktoo without me?’ Mark called out, Daring barked out a harsh laugh in reply, turning her flank toward the guide tapping her compass cutie mark.

‘I always know where I'm going Mark, it’s a talent of mine.’ she turned and continued walked away with her prize in tow ignoring the cries of her guide.

‘Curse you, Daring Do!’

‘That was awesome,’ Rainbow Dash declared, hugging the pages to her chest, ‘it was a little short though, I kinda expected more.’

Twilight Sparkle smiled in response, ‘that was just the first chapter Rainbow.’ She brought another pile of pages out of her saddlebags’

‘YES! More!’ Rainbow made to grab for the pages but Twilight shifted them out of reach.

‘You know Rainbow; I’m supposed to give the publishers feedback on what I think of the book. Did you have anything you wanted to say about that chapter?’ Twilight asked

‘Yes, it was great and I want the next one’

‘Okay Rainbow, lets continue.’ Twilight gave Rainbow the second stack of pages from the unbound book, ‘I'll make sure the author knows it’s appreciated,’ Twilight said with a smile.

Chapter 2: Mysterious Timbucktoo

Chapter 2: Mysterious Timbucktoo

There are few permanent cities within Zebrica, as a race the Zebra generally prefer to live nomadically on the plains of their home moving between waterholes. Timbucktoo was founded by ponies to act as a trading post between Equestria and Zebrica. In this town you can find alchemical solutions for any problem, relics from forgotten ruins and a seedy underbelly that matches anything found in Equestria.

Literal List had been living here for months, but she was still uncomfortable walking the streets in broad daylight. List had been sent to Timbucktoo as part of her role as an archaeological researcher for the Royal Society, it was an intern position overseas where she could learn the culture and language of the zebra. A young unicorn mare originally from Canterlot, List had a papyrus cream coat and a deep red mane that brought the thought of red ink on paper to mind.

This morning her mentor had brought her new orders from the Society in Canterlot, an archaeologist had unearthed a major find and had contacted the Royal Museum to sell it. One of the Society’s chief benefactors had decided to pay for the find himself on the condition that the society would arrange for its transport and that a member of the Society would escort it to Canterlot.

Literal List was the lowest ranking member in Timbucktoo, so naturally she was escorting Blueblood’s latest purchase back home.

Her instructions were to contact the archaeologist “Daring Do” who was currently staying in the Cider Buck Tavern near the docks, present a letter of credit and details of the Society’s transport arrangements.

The path to the tavern took List down past the docks with its mix of air and sea craft moored in the harbor, she did her best to keep her eyes dead ahead not daring to make eye contact with any of the sailors of so many species. She was out of her element and convinced that every pony, zebra, diamond dog or griffin she passed was eyeing her flanks or her saddlebags, a few curious looks from a collection of bored sailors waiting for the tide eventually pushed her paranoia over the edge, pushing her into a full gallop.

If anything a galloping pony was even more conspicuous, everypony at the docks watched as she passed, pushing List further into panic. Turning around a corner she ran horn first into a yellow Pegasus and the two fell over in a tumble, List already panicking over what she had done.

‘Merciful Celestia, are you alright?’ list glanced up at her horn, ‘I didn’t impale you did I?’ in response to List’s frantic question the Pegasus gave a calming wave of her wings as she stood back up.

‘I’m fine, nothing I couldn’t take, what were you in such a rush for?’ the yellow Pegasus mare asked as she cleared her orange mane from her eyes.

‘I... well... uh’

‘Hey, hey it’s okay calm down. I’m Ducky what’s your name?’

‘Literal List,’ she answered automatically

‘And where are you going in such a hurry?’

‘Uh the uh, Cider Buck Tavern,’ list admitted

‘The C.B.T.? I know where that is, would you like me to show you?’

‘Well...’ List looked at the pony in front of her, she knew her name and she seemed reliable enough. Any port in a storm, List thought to herself, ‘... if it’s not too much trouble’ she finished.

‘Hey, no problem, just follow me.’ Ducky turned and led the way, checking over her shoulder to see if list was following. List took a moment to look over the yellow Pegasus’s body, searching for where she had run into her, the ache from her horn said she must of hit her fairly hard but she didn’t see a bruise anywhere. List also noticed Ducky’s cutie mark an outline of a rubber duck where the colour of the duck matched her coat. Ducky noticed List’s searching gaze giving the unicorn a smile while fluttering her wings.

List returned her eyes to looking directly ahead, embarrassed to have been caught looking. Ducky returned to looking forward as well, probably getting the wrong impression in List’s opinion.

The walk continued in awkward silence, List doing her best not to look at Ducky while also following her, Ducky was continuously checking over her shoulder to see if List was bird watching again. Eventually the pair reached the Tavern, at the door Ducky acted like the gentle-mare allowing Literal List to enter first, mostly as an excuse to check out her flank without her noticing. Literal List’s cutie mark was quite literally a List with a quill, Ducky smirking with laughter at the combination.

Once inside Ducky took a seat in the corner while List went up to see the bar tender, the rest of the tavern was quiet at this point of the afternoon and would be until the dinner rush later. List tried to put on an air of confidence as she approached the bartender who gave her a bored look in return.

‘Excuse me,’ List asked with more confidence than she felt, ‘I’m looking for Daring Do.’

‘harrumph,’ the bartender grunted, ‘that mare; of all the cider joints in all the towns in all the world, she trots into mine,’ the bartender frowned at a memory, ‘she’s nothing but trouble kid, what did you want with her.’

‘I have business with her on behalf of the Royal Society of Canterlot,’ List replied

The bartender threw his head towards the stairs behind him, ‘she’s up there, room four, guarding that box of hers.’

List thanked the bartender for his help and climbed the stairs up to the rooms above, Ducky crossed over to the bar from her corner table and ordered a cider, and she wasn’t doing anything interesting this afternoon, but she was curious about Literal List so she decided it was worth a wait.

List found herself calming down as she ascended the stairs, she was meeting an archaeologist, a peer, someone in this town who was absolutely no threat to her. They’d sit down and talk calmly about ancient ruins or zebra culture; yes things were going to be better now.

List knocked on the door to room four, but nopony answered the door. She tried the handle finding it unlocked and entered, looking around she found the room to be unoccupied except for what looked like an actual zebra sarcophagus. List was thrilled, this was the find? No wonder the prince demanded an escort. List crossed the room toward the casket already trying to guess what would be inside.

A monochrome blur shot out from a corner tackling the unicorn to the ground and holding her down.

‘Who the hay are you and what are you doing in here?’ Daring Do demanded

List stared into the ruby eyes of her assailant quivering in fear.

‘I'm L-Literal L-List, I'm from the R-Royal Socit-y’

‘How do I know you’re not working for Ahuizotl?’ Daring asked

‘There’s a letter in my bag.’ her horn lit in a purple glow as it brought out a scroll and presented it to Daring.

Daring rolled the scroll open with a hoof, resting it on List’s chest. It was a letter from Prince Blueblood himself, congratulating Daring on her find and offering a significant sum for it to be delivered to Canterlot under the watchful eye of a Royal Society representative. Appended to the end was another note from the head of the local branch of the Society introducing List and giving Daring Do the details for an airship specially chartered to depart in the morning carrying them and their cargo. The seal at the end was genuine and Daring knew the local head herself.

‘Well your story checks out and you certainly seem genuine,’ Daring admitted as she released List from her hold. ‘But why were you so eager to get your hooves on my box?’

‘The sarcophagus? Anypony can see it’s a priceless archaeological find, the carvings alone tell a story about the occupant. I can’t wait to get a look at them and find out who it was,’ List rambled

‘Wait, you can read ancient Zebrican?’ Daring asked

‘Yes, can’t you? You are an archaeologist after all.’

‘Well...’ Daring began awkwardly, ‘I'm terrible at rhyming so I could never get the lyrical portion of modern Zebrican down, let alone the ancient stuff,’ she finished

‘So you don’t know what the carvings say?’ List asked

Daring chuckled, ‘I’m not much of an archaeologist, and I suppose explorer is a better term. I go out explore distant lands and send anything I find back home where real archaeologists can analyse it.’

‘So why did you find this if you didn’t want to learn about the ancient zebra?’ List asked, after all what was the point of exploring ancient tombs if not to learn about those who built them?

‘Fun’

‘Fun?’ Literal List asked incredulously

‘The adventure, to find out what’s over the horizon and to discover things nopony else has seen.’ Daring noted the look of denial on List’s face. She’s probably never been away from civilization before, a literal bookworm, Daring thought smiling inwardly at her clever pun; “Literal” must use that sometime. ‘So you want to take a look at the sarcophagus?’ Daring asked

‘Oh yes please.’ without waiting a second longer Literal List threw herself at the casket, walking around it as she read the carvings.

‘Here lies entombed King Imzohtep, ruler of plain, sand and step,

wisdom without measure, was his greatest treasure,

we lay him to rest as even he could not best death,’ List translated aloud

‘Sounds like a worthwhile king,’ Daring summarised

‘I’ve never heard of him before and I know almost everything anypony knows about ancient Zebrica, this is entirely new to me, I have so many questions to answer!’ List enthused

Daring watched as the unicorn levitated note pads and pencils from her bag taking notes on every observation she made. Eventually she took the lid in her magical grip, lifting the heavy slab from the sarcophagus, nearly dropping it in awe.

‘So perfectly preserved, so many scrolls! There’s just so much here for us to learn!’

‘List,’ Daring tried to interrupt

‘There’s so much here, it’s like a dream come true!’

‘Literal List,’ Daring said louder, as she walked over to the entranced unicorn.

‘Look at these bandages, black and white, why would they—’

‘List!’ Daring barked, using her tail to give the unicorn a whip on the flank. The unicorn reared up in fright giving a shocked cry as her notebook and pencil fell to the ground as her concentration collapsed.

‘Don’t get carried away, we still have to get this onto the airship in the morning, this isn’t the time for a full analysis.’ Daring used a wing to block List’s view of the casket, ‘I’m sure you’ve had a long day, let’s go downstairs and get ourselves some dinner, my treat.’ Reluctantly the unicorn agreed and together they walked out of the room, Daring Do making sure to stay between the unicorn and the sarcophagus which they had left open behind them.

It was late afternoon by the time the pair of archaeologists arrived downstairs. Ducky had been waiting patiently hoping to see whoever List had come to see, fortifying her curiosity with a few cups of cider. Ducky’s ship was due to leave in the morning on the return trip to Equestria, another two weeks with only the captain as company. Literal List was a nice looking mare and Ducky would love somepony to talk to whenever her ship made port in Timbucktoo.

Ducky watched from her corner as List’s new friend went to the bar to order something from the unenthusiastic barkeeper, Ducky gave a wave to Literal List who was standing behind the other mare, List returned it awkwardly.

Daring noticed the wave from the corner of her eye, returning her gaze to the bartender she added a third meal to her order.

This should be an interesting evening, Daring thought to herself. The bartender seemed to notice as well,

‘You’re not going to start trouble in here again are you Daring?’ asked the bartender, with little doubt she would regardless.

‘I have no idea where you got that impression,’ Daring returned sweetly. ‘Alright List, let’s go join your friend over there’

‘Uh, I just bumped into her earlier and she showed me where the tavern was,’ List explained

‘And waited around to see if you were okay? Sounds good enough to me,’ Daring declared as she led the way over to the yellow Pegasus's table. Without waiting for an invitation Daring took the seat across the table from Ducky leaving the seat between them for Literal List.

‘Well hello there, couldn’t help but notice List here waving at you from the bar, she said you helped her find her way here?’ Daring asked

‘We ran into each other earlier, she was a bit skittish so I lead her here. I wasn’t doing anything else so I decided to wait around to see if she was alright,’ Ducky explained

Daring offered her hoof, ’Daring Do, Adventurer’

Ducky returned the gesture, ‘Duck Tape, airship pony, I prefer to be called “Ducky”.’

The two brought their hooves together in greeting.

While the pair had been getting acquainted, Literal List had been taking in her surroundings. The Tavern was starting to fill with more ponies arriving for dinner and nightly entertainment. A mix of species occupied the tables around them, a pair of diamond dogs were across the room, a group of earth ponies from the docks were sitting at the bar, a griffin sat in another corner watching everything and a zebra was watching from the top of the staircase that lead up to the rooms. The zebra abruptly turned to leave before List could get a good look at him. The rest of the crowd continued to chatter incessantly about subjects List didn’t understand, what was a fo'c'sle for instance?

‘So what ship are you flying with?’ Daring continued, the explorer was suspicious of this Pegasus, just appearing out of nowhere and connecting herself with List? It would be unusually subtle for Ahuizotl but Daring wasn’t going to take any chances so close to getting her prize home.

‘The MacGuffin under the helm of Captain Albatross, we set sail on the morning wind tomorrow. I had the day off today, last chance before I’m stuck on the ship for a fortnight,’ Ducky grumbled.

Dinner interrupted the interrogation, levitated over by the barkeeper, it consisted of a thick stew that everypony in the tavern received along with a cup of Equestrian cider. Ducky along with all the other sailors in the tavern downed the drink immediately before starting on the stew, Daring only sipped the drink while List left it entirely.

‘So, Ducky,’ List asked between mouth fulls of the stew, ‘what’s a foc’sle?’

‘I think you mean the forecastle, it’s a platform at the front of a ship and its pronounced fo’c’sle,’ Ducky’s pronunciation eluded List.

‘Hey,’ interrupted an earth pony from the neighbouring table, ‘it’s pronounced “fo’c’sle” not “fo’c’sle”.’ List honestly couldn’t tell the difference, Daring was suddenly wary of her surroundings as Ducky responded to the interruption,

‘What are you, a dictionary? Perhaps its pronounced “fo’c’sle” on your nice little sea ship, but in the sky we call it a “fo’c’sle”, the way it’s meant to be said.’

The atmosphere in the tavern changed, silence fell among the patrons at Ducky stared into the eyes of the earth pony, who stared right back. Daring took note of the situation and did the sane thing, ate the rest of her stew as quickly as possible tapping her hoof at List’s plate to suggest she do the same.

‘Oooh all high an’ mighty in your sky ship, feather brain? I bet that hunk of junk of yours can barely stay in the sky with that mad captain of yours.’

Ducky’s response was immediate; she slapped the pony the face with a wing before following through with a buck from her hind legs. The blow sent the pony right into his own table, knocking both to the floor, antagonising the earth pony’s mates who lost their dinner with the table. The earth ponies started to bring themselves to their feet intending to take on Ducky who stood over them with her wings open in a full territorial display.

The silent atmosphere immediately erupted into a full blow riot across the tavern as pegasi, griffins and other crew from airships stood against their water based rivals in yet another battle of their long running feud.

‘Time to go,’ Daring said to List as she pushed her under a neighbouring table before joining her as well.

‘What’s happening?’ List asked, panic in her voice again

‘Well when an earth pony and a Pegasus walk into a bar—’

‘Get me out of here!’

Daring rolled her eyes, ‘fine, follow me.’

The staircase was six tables away with over a dozen drunken sailors fighting over the difference of pronunciation of a minor nautical term. Compared to some of the traps Ahuizotl had set for her over the years this one was positively easy, then she reminded herself that she was also escorting list, less easy then.

Daring crawled out from under the table, keeping low while their original table flew overhead and rolled toward the next one. The table in front of her disappeared as a diamond dog flew through it; a sudden gut feeling had Daring roll to the left, avoiding a chair that was thrown back through the air thrown by the diamond dog that had just flown past Daring. She used her wings to push herself forward to the next table, taking a second to check on List once she reached the shelter, her pure white coat stained with somepony’s dinner.

A pair of unicorns were hiding under the next table so Daring took the high road instead, leaping onto the table and off the other side where she was confronted by a large earth pony. Just being a pegasus was enough reason for this guy to attack Daring, as he launched his attack Daring dropped onto her belly again dodging the attack then Daring shot herself up into the air, taking the earth pony around the waist and threw him into the next table. Daring returned to the ground, jumped over the table – and its stunned earth pony occupant – taking cover again. List stepped gingerly around the stunned earth pony and joined Daring, who tapped the table she was under

‘Grab the table,’ she ordered, List held the table with her magic. ‘Follow me, bring the table’

The pair moved quickly, sheltered by the table from flying chairs and dinner plates, Daring turned to look back where they had come from. Ducky had been victorious so far, standing on a table dodging thrown items while bucking anyone who attempted to pull her down.

Daring and List reached the staircase upstairs, where the bartender was waiting for them.

‘You,’ the bartender accused Daring, ‘this is all your fault.’

Daring raised an eyebrow, taking a pose that said ‘who me?’

‘First thing in the morning, you’re outta here and don’t come back’

‘Fine, I didn’t want to stay here any longer anyway.’ Angry, the barkeeper returned to his bar, to defend it from the drunken brawl while Daring led the way upstairs to her room. Once the door was shut behind them Daring turned to check on list,

‘You okay kid?’

‘Well... yes... but that was’

‘Scary? Dangerous?’ Daring asked

‘Kinda exhilarating actually,’ Literal List replied

Daring smiled, ‘welcome to my life kiddo, it’s only the third tavern in Timbucktoo I've been kicked out of. It’s all part of the adventure.’

‘Adventure... in what other ways can I experience it?’ List asked

Daring chuckled, ‘Literal List, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’

‘Well that escalated quickly,’ Twilight Sparkle commented.

‘That’s just you Twilight,’ Rainbow Dash replied, ‘you’ve probably never seen a real bar fight. I used to get into plenty back in Cloudsdale.’

‘Whatever you say Rainbow,’ Twilight said with a smile, while rolling her eyes.

‘Next chapter;’ Rainbow ordered and Twilight brought the next stack out. ‘Chapter Three: Lift Off, awesome.’

Chapter 3: Lift Off

Chapter 3: Lift Off

It was a nondescript warehouse near the docks in Timbucktoo, It was owned by a company that didn’t exist and occupied by something that preferred to operate away from public eye. It was to this warehouse that Mark Canary came to the moment he had returned from the desert.

‘I have failed you, miserably and utterly. I submit myself to your mercy.’

Pleading did nothing; the monster sat on his throne, calmly stroking a white cat with the hand on the end of his tail. Ahuizotl was not known for his mercy.

‘When I gave you the location of Imzohtep’s tomb I gave you a task, pray, remind me what that was.’ Ahuizotl waited patiently for the response, Mark Canary’s wings twitched as they begged to fly away.

‘he’s giving me rope, to hang myself or to escape,’ Mark thought, ‘you asked that I lead Daring Do to the tomb and aid her in her investigation.’ he gulped, ‘and if she found something you wanted me to bring it to you, or if impractical to do so I was to bring news of what it was.’

Ahuizotl rose from his throne, cradling his white pet cat in his tail as he stood. A massive creature Ahuizotl stood more than twice the height of even the largest ponies, equal in stature to the Princess Celestia herself with a set of hands instead of hooves. He appeared to be a cross between a diamond dog and spider monkey, as greedy as the former while being as mischievous as the latter.

The monster seized the Pegasus by his wings in both his hands, lifting him helplessly into the air and bringing him to his face, eye to eye.

‘So my little Canary, I see you have returned, alive, without any relic or the body of Daring Do.’ The monster’s voice became quiet, ‘I hope you have brought me information on what Daring found, for your sake’

‘I-It was a box, I uh... a coffin, thing’

‘Sarcophagus,’ Ahuizotl corrected

‘Yeah the sarcophagus, uh, the thing with the zebra in it’

‘I have no use for old bandages and bones, what else’

‘There was nothing else,’ panic rose in Mark’s voice

The monster’s eyes narrowed, ‘nothing, then what use are you to me?’ he began to pull the wings out, stretching them away from Mark’s body as he yelped in pain.

‘Daring thought it was important,’ he said, voice cracking under the pain

‘Really? What gave you this impressive opinion of somezebra’s corpse.’ his grip loosened

‘Daring loaded it in her cart and brought it here to Timbucktoo, the journey would have taken days through the desert. Would she have brought back a heavy stone box if she thought it was worthless?’

Ahuizotl smiled, revealing his predatory teeth, ‘It seems to you do possess some intelligence after all. Tell me, do you know who Imzohtep was?’

Mark Canary shook his head; Ahuizotl sighed while rolling his eyes back, dropped the Pegasus and returned to his throne.

‘Perhaps you would be more familiar with the ancient unicorn sorcerer Star Swirl the Bearded?’ Ahuizotl received a blank look from the Pegasus and he calmed himself by stroking his pet cat before explaining. ‘Don’t you ponies learn your own history? Star Swirl was a one of the greatest practitioners of unicorn magic who ever lived; Imzohtep on the other hand was the origin of zebrican alchemy itself. The ancient zebra king could cure any disease, create the deadliest poisons ever known and as legend would have it he was on the brink of achieving immortality when he died.’

‘So you want his body?’

‘No you imbecile, zebra are entombed with their possessions to carry into the next life. A master alchemist would have taken his work with him, sealed with him in his own sarcophagus.’

The bit dropped and Mark Canary finally understood.

‘You want his coffin?’ the Pegasus asked

‘I want his work; the scrolls of Imzohtep, the secrets of zebra alchemy and perhaps even immortality itself!’ Ahuizotl rose in dramatic gesture then sat down again drilling his gaze into Mark’s eyes, ‘Which you failed to bring me,’ he pronounced.

‘Well... but, Daring figured me out from the start, she knew I was working for you,’

‘Of course she did, the entire point of that trip was to get her to bring the Sarcophagus of Imzohtep back to Timbucktoo.’ The monster brought his fingers together, tapping them together in a complex rhythm beyond any equine. ‘Now that she has done the hard work for us, I can claim my prize from her.’

Ducky woke up in the City Guard’s drunk tank where she was lying on the bench with her back at a surprisingly comfortable angle. Her hind legs hanging off the bench with her back curving up the wall, thankfully the cool brick of the wall helped calm her headache as feeling returned to her body. Now alert Ducky attempted to slide gracefully onto her side, but overbalanced and fell onto the floor instead.

Ducky decided that morning could wait and tried to fall asleep where she was on the floor. She drifted in and out of consciousness in the limbo between proper sleep and actually being awake.

Eventually the sound of a hoof being run back and forth across the cell bars woke her up properly, she opened her eyes to glare at the sound to shut it up so she could go back to sleep. The source of the sound was the guard outside the cell, who was deliberately trying to get her attention.

‘What do you want,’ ducky groaned

‘Miss Duck Tape?’

Ducky groaned wordlessly in the affirmative

‘I’m sorry can you repeat that?’ the guard asked sweetly

‘Yes,’ Ducky answered quietly

‘No answer? Well we were going to let miss Duck Tape out, but if she’s not here...’

‘Yes, I’m Duck Tape,’ Ducky answered before adding quietly, ‘you jackass’

‘Last time I checked I was a pony, not a donkey,’ the guard replied as he opened the door, ‘if you’re still drunk we can extend your stay, since it’s clear you can’t tell the difference between a pony and a donkey.’

It was too early in the morning and Ducky was too hung over to deal with a smart ass, she rose to her hooves, wings spread to give her balance as she performed the manoeuvre. She trudged toward the exit glancing at the annoyingly cheery guard,

‘Why am I being let out?’

The guard shrugged, ‘you’re not one of the usual suspects so you’re clear to go and your Captain came to get you himself, He’s waiting outside for you.

Ducky trudged out of the guardhouse into the light of Celestia’s sun, which did not agree with her at all. In the harsh sun glare a familiar silhouette formed in front of her, she smiled up at it like a sheep.

‘Good morning Captain Albatross’

It was early morning when Daring Do finally left the Tavern. Mark Canary had been watching the entrance all night from his spot on a roof across the street. Daring had brought out her cart with the casket covered by a blanket before going back inside and covering herself with a brown cloak.

If Mark hadn’t been watching the exit continuously nopony would have realized it was Daring, her paranoia was reaching new heights if she was disguising herself for the short trip to the docks. As Daring started to pull her cart down the street Mark began to follow, leaping from rooftop to roof top by gliding on his wings, keeping close enough to the disguised mare to keep her in sight without getting close enough to tip her off.

Once she was out of sight of the tavern Mark reached for a pouch tied to his left foreleg, inside was a carved whistle – given to him by Ahuizotl – he pulled it out and blew. He only heard a brief puff from the whistle, his employer had assured him it would work and that he only needed to follow Daring while giving another puff every minute or so.

Eventually the disguised explorer reached the end of the docks where a long pier sat vacant. The explorer pulled her cart out onto the pier walking out over the bay all the way down to the end. Mark Canary saw his opportunity, Daring only had one way off that pier if she wanted to keep the Sarcofiguffin thingy and if she refused to fly off and leave it behind that was fine with him as well.

Mark gave the whistle a long blow as he glided down to the pier, as soon as he landed his backup had arrived. A small pride of large cats stood behind him; a panther, two leopards and a cheater, these cats were Ahuizotl’s favoured goons, loyal, fast and powerful. Mark led the cats forward, his wings flared out as they stalked closer, their quiet approach was spoiled by the creaking of the pier’s floorboards but the point of stalking here was to look.

The explorer noticed the impending attack, unhitching herself from the cart and standing between Mark and her prize.

‘We meet again Daring Do,’ Mark called out, ‘I doubt you expected to see me again so soon, I fully intend to pay you back for the kindness you showed me by leaving me in the desert to die.’ He chuckled menacing as he stalked closer, ‘you should have killed me when you had the chance.’ This was priceless; Mark could see the mare shaking with fear trapped out in the middle of the bay with nowhere to run. Beginning to celebrate his victory he struck a pose,

‘So Daring Do, any last words before I have my feline friends tear you limb from limb?’

Daring’s horn lit up, glowing as it pulled the hood of her cloak back.

Oh pony feathers… Mark thought, the bit dropping in his mind.

‘I’m not Daring Do,’ the Unicorn declared, ‘but she said to say, “You fell for the old switcheroo”, whatever that means.’

‘Get her!’ Mark yelled, the cats leapt forward toward the unicorn their sharp claws extended.

Before they could get their claws on the unicorn a net flew past, snatching their prey from the end of the pier. Mark Canary flew to the cart, tearing the blanket away already knowing that what he wanted with not beneath it. A sea chest sat under the blankets, within was a pile of sand, an empty water bottle and a length of rope tied in a knot.

Cheated and humiliated Mark Canary screamed at the heavens in rage;

‘CURSE YOU DARING DO!’

Rainbow Dash broke into laughter, falling onto her side dropping the book – which Twilight caught – ‘that was classic, a great prank,’ Rainbow said as she sat upright again while Twilight just giggled quietly while she took a few notes.

‘Do you want to continue?’

‘Yeah, of course’

Twilight returned the book to Rainbow

Literal List looked up at her rescuers; a pair of pegasi pulling the net beneath them, Daring was on the right, giving a wave at the passenger.

‘Sorry we took so long, somepony needed a hangover cure.’ The explorer gestured to the Pegasus on the left.

‘Hey there, good looking,’ Duckie added, giving List a wink from her position on the left. List blushed at the complement and tried to hide it by talking to Daring.

‘Did you get it to the ship?’

‘Easily, Ahuizotl wouldn’t have fallen for a trick like that but Mark Canary is a prize idiot, he fell for it; hook, line, sinker, rod and a copy of fishing-pony magazine too.’ Daring laughed to herself at her own joke

‘Where are we going?’ List asked

‘Sorry to string you along List, but we’re going right to the ship. I hope you packed everything because we’re leaving, right now.’

‘The MacGuffin is right ahead of us,’ Duckie added, ‘take a look’.

List looked out into the bay, Sailing toward the exit of the harbor was the ship; Like most of the airships that crossed the Canterbean Ocean it was a combination of airship and watercraft, its hull was similar to most water going ships; containing cargo hull, crew quarters and ballast tanks. The balloon was strung above the deck, an envelope containing the helium that lifted the airship, as well as the anchor point for the sails that gave the craft power.

As they flew closer List noticed more details, it was only a schooner; a small craft for carrying messages and small loads of cargo. The paint was peeling in many places and the sails were stained from use, the ropes didn’t seem to be frayed. Apart from cosmetic issues the rest of the ship seemed to be in shape.

Daring and Duckie lowered Literal List onto the deck of the ship, where she struggled out of the net and stood on her hooves as the two pegasi landed next to her.

Duckie lifted a hoof in salute, ‘reporting in Captain Albatross. The passengers have been secured.’

‘Aye, ah can see that ya rubber necked layabout,’ returned a gruff voice, ‘get up to the fo’c’sle and prepare to open the ballast, we’re gettin’ out of the water the moment we clear the bay.’

List turned to look at the source of the voice, standing looking down from the upper deck at the rear of the ship was a unicorn. His coat was a deep naval blue; his mark a brass navigational instrument, his grey mane tied into a pony tail and on his face was a beard that matched the grey of his mane. His horn was lit with a grey mist that adjusted the steering wheel behind him as well as the sails along the ship.

‘Welcome aboard the MacGuffin you fine lasses, tis a fine journey we’re startin’ and I hope ye enjoy it.’

‘Thankyou Captain Albatross,’ Daring said, ‘I hope our departure wasn’t too much trouble?’

‘Captain or Alby will do lass, but it was ‘nay trouble to cast off, but I have my doubts ‘bout the cargo’

‘You have doubts Captain?’

‘Tis frightfully bad luck ta bring a zebra aboard an airship, or ta keep a corpse on board, ye be bringing both in a single basket.’

List rolled her eyes, ‘what does bad luck have to do with anything?’

‘A great many things lass,’ Albatross began, ‘it’s a dangerous thing to be traveling beyond the reach of Celestia; need not make it more so by invitin’ disaster. Ah just be saying ta expect difficulty on this trip, ah already gave me word to convey the pair of ye – and the cargo – to Canterlot. Just be keeping a fair eye out for danger,’ he added.

‘So Daring,’ List asked, ‘do you trust him?’

‘He knows what he’s doing and it was your boss that picked him to take us home. Plus it’s not many sailors that can sail a ship like this alone and he cast off to set sail while we were picking you up.’ Daring shrugged, ‘he’ll do.’ List accepted Daring’s opinion with a nod.

‘If you two lassies are done gossiping, ye might want ta get to the side, We’re about to get to the fun part.’ As Daring and List made their way to the side of the ship the Captain called out, ‘Duckie, let it out!’

At the front of the ship Duckie pulled on a rope, opening a hatch on both side of the ship allowing a torrent of water to pour out from both. As the ballast water left the ship began to creak as the front of the ship – or bow as Duckie would say – began to lighten and slowly rise out of the water. Another rope at the rear – stern – was pulled up by Albatross allowing the rear ballast tank to empty.

As the ship lightened it began to rise, slowly lifting out of the water into the air. Soon List could see all of Timbucktoo from above as they rose further into the air. Eventually Albatross joined them with a flask and four glasses, pouring a drink for everypony.

Once Duckie joined them he raised his own in a toast,

‘To ah successful trip,’ he declared before slugging the shot.

List copied the Captain’s example and nearly choked on the strong liquor. Daring chuckled while the other two ignored List’s discomfort entirely.

‘Kid, you have to be careful sometimes, exploring is all about seeing new sights and trying new things, not all of it safe,’ Daring finished.

‘Is it always like this, I-I felt so scared on the pier,’ List admitted while remembering the experience, ‘I thought those cats would kill me.’

‘I don’t think any less of you List. I put you in a dangerous position and you’re right, those cats would have killed you.’ She gave List a meaningful look, ‘I’d be more worried if you weren’t scared honestly.’

‘Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.’

‘Hey,’ Daring said as she took the glass of liquor out of Albatross’s grip, ‘here’s looking at you kid.’ Daring slung back her glass before copying List’s reaction to the strong drink.

Back in Timbucktoo the MacGuffin had an unexpected audience to its departure; Ahuizotl stood on the roof of his warehouse watching his prize sail off into the metaphorical sunset. Behind him stood Mark Canary who had been returned to him by his loyal cats, a panther was sitting on his back to prevent him from flying away.

‘You have failed me again, Canary. Not only have you been fooled by Daring Do twice but you also failed to plan for her escape.’

‘But I—‘

‘No excuses you pitiful pony.’ Ahuizotl seized the pegasus with his tail and held him over the edge of the roof, ‘In my disputes with Daring Do I have learned much about the pegasi, the most interesting thing I have learned is the one thing that all pegasi fear without equal. Do you know what It is Mark? I doubt you have even admitted it, even to yourself.’

Ahuizotl brought the failure before him and took a rope in his hands, tying his wings to his flank before holding him out over the edge again.

‘Your greatest fear, Canary, is that someday you will fall and that your wings won’t be able to save you. Your greatest joy, flying, linked to your greatest fear, falling.’ He gave Mark a toothy smile, ‘Poetic and ironic, yes?’

With no warning Ahuizotl released Mark, allowing him to fall from his grasp toward the ground below.

Mark screamed, he had no composure and no longer cared if he sounded like a little filly as his life flashed before his eyes. As the ground loomed closer he recalled his colt hood fear of this very thing happening, falling from the clouds with nopony to catch him.

A meter from the ground his fall stopped, the rope around his wings pulling taught as his entire body was wrenched to a stop. Above him Ahuizotl laughed evilly, the kind of laugh that only comes from subjecting others to cruelty. His amusement continued as he slowly lifted Mark Canary back up, the Pegasus struggling in an attempt to get free.

As he returned to roof level Ahuizotl seized him with the hand on his tail again, bringing him to eye level.

‘Were you fortunate enough I would have simply killed you, but I still have a need for you.’ The monster untied Mark, ‘I cannot walk down the street without drawing attention, an unfortunate part of my nature. So what I want you to do is head down to the dock to find me a ship, I need something large and fast enough to catch Daring Do and you’re going to make it happen.’

Mark nodded, extending his wings wincing with the motion of the bruised limbs

‘Don’t think you can fly away either. My cats are excellent predators, as they have no doubt demonstrated to you. You wouldn’t be able to fly away or hide for long.’

Ahuizotl threw the Pegasus off the ledge, watching Mark catch himself in the air and fly away.

‘Do not fail me again, Canary!’

‘Wow, that was intense,’ Twilight Sparkle commented to Rainbow Dash, who didn’t answer.

‘Rainbow, you okay?’

‘Yeah, it’s just… he’s right you know,’ Rainbow responded glumly.

‘Who’s right Rainbow?’

‘Ahuizotl, about pegasi I mean, falling is probably our greatest fear.’ Rainbow said before adding quietly, ‘I know it’s mine.’ Twilight embraced Rainbow in a hug

‘I understand, did you want to stop here Rainbow?’

‘I’m fine, let’s keep going Twi’

Twilight brought the next chapter out while making some notes on her pad, passing the chapter to Rainbow.

‘Chapter 4: The MacGuffin, what kind of name for a ship is that?’

Chapter 4: The MacGuffin

Chapter 4: The MacGuffin

Life aboard the MacGuffin was a mixture of boredom, excitement, curiosity and occasionally confusion. The morning after departure found Daring doing something she rarely allowed herself to do and relax. Free of any distractions Daring found a patch of sunlight on the deck to lay herself down on with a towel, spreading out her legs and wings to catch as much sunlight as possible.

The last few weeks had been spent tirelessly guarding the sarcophagus day and night. Being able to finally forget about it for a little while and relax under Celestia’s sun was a real treat for her. She lost track of time as she relaxed, occasionally making minor adjustments to her posture to catch more sunlight. Slipping into the limbo that lay between sleeping and being awake she dreamed of faraway places she had been. The first location that came to mind was the singing glaciers of the Crystal Mountains their song ever changing in the wild uncontrolled winds from the frozen north.

The pure tones had sung to her soul when she listened to them. Years ago Daring Do had spent an entire week there recording and mapping the glaciers on behalf of the office of the Grand Veneur in Canterlot. An uneventful expedition, but Daring had enjoyed it as a vacation from the usual excitement that her other expeditions had taken her on. She’d been sure to record some of the music to a vinyl record as well which was waiting for her on her turntable in Canterlot.

She listened to a song from memory, humming along to it before being interrupted by a deluge of water. Daring Do shrieked in shock, wings snapping in under the cold torrent of water, dignity effectively removed as Daring threw herself to her feet looking for the culprit. Captain Albatross was laughing uproariously from the other side of the deck with a bucket held in his telekinetic grip.

‘What was that for?’ Daring demanded of him.

‘Well ye just looked so peaceful there, can’t have that now can we?’ Albatross broke into laughter again as Daring stalked forward, once she was in range she flicked her wings forward spraying water over the old sea dog who ignored it entirely. ‘Can’t have ye relaxing on this ship miss, there are better things ye could be doing.’

‘Here I thought you were being paid to take us to Canterlot,’ Daring grumbled

‘Neigh, I’m being paid tae take ye cargo to Canterlot. Ye are traveling on a “temp’ry crew” basis, Royal Society’s cheap like that, so ye have to do some work while ye are aboard ta be paying for ye passage.’ Albatross finished with a grin as Daring’s face fell to a blank look, the same look ponies wear whenever life gives them lemons. She finished her lemon moment with a sigh, turning to retrieve her jacket and helmet where she left them on the deck to quickly dress before she returned to Albatross.

‘What first?’ she asked

‘I can-nay hear ye,’ the Captain responded, making a minor adjustment to a sail with his horn while ignoring the return of Daring’s lemon face.

‘What first, Captain?’

‘Good ta hear, let’s start ye with something simple. Go find Duckie for me, I think she’s probably spying on that wee lass that came aboard with ye, get that rubbernecker back up here.’

Daring nodded and left the Captain to himself while she went down below deck to the cargo hold where the sarcophagus of Imzohtep was stored. Hopefully Daring would find out where Duckie was ducking out of work. Daring laughed at her own pun, wishing she could tell somepony while being simultaneously oblivious to the fact nopony would have found it funny.

Duckie had been down in the cargo hold all morning with Literal List, not that the unicorn had paid any attention to her. List had spent the entire morning analysing every inch of Imzohtep’s casket and the scrolls he had been entombed with. Duckie was left watching the archaeologist during her study as she pretended to be cleaning the deck or shifting cargo around the hold while attempting to steal a look at Literal List whenever possible.

Duckie admitted the casket was an interesting find, having taken a moment to peek into the sarcophagus herself. The mummified king was wrapped entirely with black and white bandages with the long grey hair of its mane lying around its head. It was interesting, in a gruesome sort of way, Duckie thought it looked fairly healthy for a corpse with several centuries of history behind it.

Literal List continued to read the alchemical recipes and reference material the zebra had taken with him into death, translating it aloud as she read it. None of it made much sense to Duckie, hay, she wasn’t even sure why she was down here Literal List was just a mare she had literally bumped into two days ago. Yet there had to be something, she had caught the unicorn staring at her flank and she’d been so embarrassed when Duckie caught her looking. Or perhaps she was just nervous and had no interest in her at all, Duckie had no idea anymore.

However Ducky could watch List’s flank all day.

Daring Do soon found the pair, walking in on the awkward situation: List attempting to ignore Duckie with the latter attempting not to let the former know she was watching. Daring Do on the other hoof found the situation to be rather cute.

‘You two need to get a room to yourselves,’ Daring interrupted. The pair jumped at the intrusion launching into a chorus of refusals, denials, ums and ah’s. Much to Daring’s amusement.

‘Duckie, the Captain wants you on deck,’ Daring ordered, the yellow Pegasus saluted and left the room suddenly glad for an excuse to leave.

With the pegasus crew-pony out of the room Daring turned her interest towards Literal List’s work. The unicorn had been diligent in recording every detail she had found, translating the markings and scrolls as she progressed.

‘You look like a filly in a candy store,’ Daring observed.

‘Oh it’s just I’ve never had something this interesting to work on,’ List admitted as she started writing in another notebook. ‘I’m the first pony in hundreds of years to read these scrolls properly. There’s just so much we thought we would never know about zebra alchemy, this is such an extraordinary breakthrough!’

‘Calm down List, you’ve got plenty of time to work on this.’

‘No I don’t, as soon as we arrive in Canterlot this could get hauled off to Blueblood’s private collection or locked in a museum somewhere. This might be my only chance to study it myself, I can’t pass this up. Can you just let me do this for now at least?’

‘Alright, alright you made your point, you can keep going.’

‘Oh yes, yes, yes, thank you, yay!’ Literal List threw herself back into her work.

Daring turned her attention to the occupant of the Sarcophagus, the mummy hadn’t changed since she first saw it in the tomb.

‘List, what can you tell me about this guy… Imzohtep you said?’

‘That’s his name,’ List replied still focused on her work.

‘He’s remarkably well preserved he looks like just died yesterday.’

‘He might of, magically speaking that is,’ Literal List explained. ‘The ancient Zebra used something to preserve his body, probably the same substance they used to preserve these scrolls. I don’t think he has decomposed at all since he was preserved, literally as fresh as the day he died.’

‘Interesting,’ Daring murmured.

‘I wish I could have met him, these notes are brilliant, the preservation formulae itself will mean so much to libraries and museums. Just think we’d never have to worry about a scroll crumbling from age ever again!’

‘I’ll leave you to your research. I’m probably needed on deck for something. Have fun doing stuff,’ Daring encouraged as she left. Tombs were Daring’s speciality, not the analysis part of archaeology and she was happy to leave it to ponies like Literal List. Daring was in it for the adventure after all.

‘Finally back are ye? Not too busy spendin your time wit tha studious unicorn O yours I hope.’ Albatross didn’t look at Duckie as she arrived on the deck mostly because he was too focused on guiding the ship to pay much attention to anything else.

Duckie gave a salute to the Captain’s back, ‘I apologise sir, I have been lax in my duty toward you and your ship, sir,’ Duckie recited with a salute, as a living example of pegasi military tradition.

Albatross sighed, ‘gusty gales, lass,’ he cursed. ‘Duckie girl, we’ve known each other for years and I can tell when ye have summat on ye mind. Ye also ken I hate that military nonsense so stop acting like that.’ Duckie relaxed out of the alert posture she’d taken as Albatross finally turned to look at her.

‘Lassie we’ve been across this pond more times than ah care ta count, but ah’ve never seen ye like this. You’re getting lonely aren’t ye?’

‘Well… I ah…’

‘Tha right word is “yes” Duckie, I ken how ye feel. We’ve been traveling so often, nary staying in a port for more than a pair a days at a time. You’re a young mare in your prime wasting yer life wit an old sea griffin like me.’ The Captain sat down in front of Duckie, a crackle of cartilage from one of his legs caused her to wince. ‘Ballast Barnacles lass, it’s nothing. Sit your young plot down, now here comes tha wisdom of the ancient.’ Duckie sat down adjusting her ears adjusting to hear the captain’s advice.

‘Go to it’

‘Captain?’

‘Love ya wee gale. Go to it and good luck to ye.’

‘You’re saying I shou—‘

‘Aye’

‘But, I’m not even sure if she’s interested and I’ve got work to do, checking the envelope for gas leaks and seeing to the ballast levels as well.’

‘Lass, ye’ll never know if anypony is interested in ye till ye ask. As for tha’ gas bag I’ll have Daring Do check it, she’s under the impression that she’s workin’ for her passage.’

‘Captain!’ Duckie reprimanded.

Albatross laughed, ‘ye’d never get ah chance otherwise, take some time.’ The old sea unicorn returned to his feet, ‘one more suggestion Duckie, head down to tha Galley and make a nice dinner for everypony. Make a good impression on the wee lass.’

Duckie gave her wings a flap, lifting her off the deck before landing on her hooves

‘Thanks Captain.’ She gave the old unicorn a hug

‘Get going lassie, ah’m starting ta feel hungry’

She took off like a bolt, not even touching the deck as she flew below deck toward the kitchen that served as the ship’s galley.

The first of Daring Do’s “duties” as a crewmember was on top of the helium balloon—or “envelope”—that held the ship aloft in the air. Daring scanned the skin of the envelope searching for any leaks while listening for the sound of escaping helium and occasionally talking to herself so she could hear her voice go squeaky if she breathed any of the helium in.

To hear the Captain talk about it he had made it out to be one of the most essential chores to be done on an airship. Helium was expensive and couldn’t be replaced out in the middle of the ocean, any leaks needed to be caught quickly.

But by sweet Celestia’s Day Glow Mane this was boring, it was undeniably, uninspiringly, unexciting. There was more excitement to be found looking up boring in a thesaurus; lacklustre was a good word, humdrum at least had a good sound to it in Daring’s opinion at least.

Daring had been doing this repetitive job for hours mostly because it was a job only a Pegasus could do and Duckie was busy doing something in the galley. She sighed, resigning herself to more mind-numbing work. Tonight’s dinner had better be good.

‘Twilight, how many words for boring did Daring Do just use?’ Rainbow Dash asked.

‘Seven Rainbow, out of the thirteen in my Thesaurus,’ Twilight answered.

‘Wow that must be really dull.’

The approaching evening didn’t distract Literal List from her work after all when else was she going to get the opportunity to study the royal body of a zebra again?

List had taken a break from studying Imzohtep’s work and was now studying the royal It. Levitating the body above her desk, List slowly rotated it, speaking aloud while recording the details on a notepad.

‘Subject’s bandages suggest significance beyond simple preservation; the bandages are interwoven white and black strips of linen cloth in a pattern consistent with the subject’s own natural stripes.

‘In addition the levels of preservation over such a time period are remarkable, beyond anything previously deemed possible in either unicorn magic or in my limited knowledge of modern zebra alchemy.’ List paused, ‘If my translation of his notes is correct then this is all a result of the subject’s own work, I wish I could of met him myself,’ she admitted.

‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything?’ asked a voice from the door.

Literal List almost dropped the body in surprise, just barely catching it again in her magical grip, her pencil and note pad fell to the floor forgotten.

‘Sorry List, didn’t mean to surprise you,’ admitted Duckie as she entered the cargo hold. Duckie’s wings were spread out to support a large dish and a set of plates, ‘Dinner’s ready and I’d thought I’d bring it down to you.’

‘Thank you Duckie, that’s very kind of you, just let me clear a space.’ List returned the zebra king to his resting place and cleared off the table with her magic. Duckie walked forward and slid the large dish off her back with her wings and onto the table, followed by a pair of plates for the two of them to use.

‘You wouldn’t mind if I joined you for dinner List?’

‘Now Daring, before ye can demolish your dinner ah ‘ave one more task for ye,’ Albatross said before Daring could land.

‘What is it Captain?’ Daring groaned, dreading the answer.

‘Not fond o’ tha tone there Daring,’ the Captain reprimanded, ‘ah went to ave a drink from the scuttlebutt but I found it was empty.’ He lifted the empty water bucket, tipping it over to demonstrate the lack of water within.

‘That’s because you emptied it over my head,’ Daring objected.

‘Well that’s all in the past now lassie, I assume you’ll want a drink with your dinner too, so take the scuttlebutt over to one of those bonnie clouds floating ahead and fill ‘er up.’ Albatross floated the bucket over to Daring, where she snatched it out of the air.

‘Alright, I’ll get your water. But my dinner better be ready when I get back,’ Daring grouched.

‘Remember, one of those bonnie clouds up ahead. Not one of them storm clouds over yonder,’ the Captain gestured a hoof at a storm to the south. Daring took note of how dark the clouds were but with what she learned about weather patterns in Flight Camp she knew the storm was not going to come much closer to the ship.

‘I ken that ye pegasi like storm water, but tha over there is a wild typhoon. Leave tha one be, it’s much worse than those weak rainstorms Cloudsdale brews up.’

Daring gave Albatross a blank stare, ‘look old timer, I might be the adventurous type but I’m not stupid. I’ll be back with your “bonnie cloud water” in a jiffy.’

‘Well I’ll be waiting for ye,’ the Captain replied cheerfully.

Without a further word Daring Do spread her wings and took off away from the deck, flying forward along the path of the MacGuffin into the sunset in the west.

Albatross chuckled to himself, ‘well I best go and make sure her dinner stays warm then, poor lassie will need it.’ The Captain locked the rudder in position and checked that the ship could fly on its own for a few minutes while he went to get his dinner.

Down in the cargo hold dinner for another pair was about to begin.

‘So what is it?’ Literal List asked.

‘Roast pumpkin, cooked in a charcoal oven with carrots and some hay on the side,’ Duckie replied as she uncovered the meal, giving Literal List the knife to carve the pumpkin with. List sliced the pumpkin in half and then into more manageable sizes, before moving the neatly sliced portions to the pair of plates.

‘It’s nice and soft, I didn’t think you’d be so good a cook.’

Duckie chuckled, ‘Well having spent the last few years living with the Captain I’ve learned to cook so I can survive these trips.’ Duckie grimaced, ‘you don’t want to taste the Captain’s cooking. Everything is deep fried.’ List chuckled in response.

The pair began to eat, List using her telekinesis to bring sections of food to her mouth while Duckie simply ate straight from her plate.

‘Duckie, I think I’ve forgotten to thank you properly.’

‘Hmm?’

‘For helping me back in Timbucktoo, I was really starting to panic back there.’ List finished with a niveous chuckle.

‘Oh, it was no problem. I wasn’t doing anything then really, the Captain gave me the evening off and told me to, “go get ye’self sloshed or find some company”,’ she recited in a reasonable impression of the Captain.

‘Well you certainly managed to do that, the bar fight was rather… exciting.’

‘I don’t actually remember much of that actually. Anyway it was the company I was interested in,’ Duckie insinuated.

List nodded, ‘It was great that we were all able to have dinner together, I think you and Daring got along so well.’

Duckie groaned inwardly, Swing and a miss.

The MacGuffin sank into the distance behind Daring Do as she flew toward the “bonnie” clouds up ahead. It was several minutes of flying while carrying the bulky bucket hanging from a strap around her waist.

Eventually she reached one of the clouds and hung the bucket beneath it while she slowly massaged some rain from the cloud. After exhausting the cloud she moved onto the next one, slowly filling the bucket with each could she visited.

Once the scuttlebutt was full again Daring Do began to scan the sky for the MacGuffin. Looking toward the sunset she spotted an airship, but not the one she was looking for.

Both its sails and gasbag were coloured black as it sat in the distance, a large equine skull with a pair of bones crossed beneath it were emblazoned on the side.

Daring’s heart started to beat rapidly. It was a pirate ship and it was sitting right on the MacGuffin’s flight path!

‘Pirates!’ Rainbow Dash cried, ‘and the ship is headed right toward them!’

‘It’s just a Pirate ship Rainbow,’ Twilight said, ‘you don’t need to get too excited.’

‘It’s Pirates Twilight, Pirates.’

‘And?’

‘Pirates are just so cool, gimme the next chapter. I need to see what happens next.’

Chapter 5: PIRATES

Chapter 5: PIRATES!

Captain Albatross was enjoying a rare moment of peace, as captain and as one of only two crewponies aboard the MacGuffin Albatross was accustomed to being overworked. Tonight’s dinner had been excellent with a combination of roast vegetables and vitamin rich fruits. Albatross had enjoyed every morsel of the meal and was following it with a pipe full of his finest Zebrican tobacco.

The Captain leaned back against a wooden bulkhead in the small dining room that joined the galley, where the lack of space was just another example of the difficulty of living in the cramped quarters of an airship. Albatross closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath through his pipe, savouring the high quality zebra grown tobacco, while considering the possibility of hiring extra crew members.

‘It would mean a load less work for me and more time fer Duckie ta cook dinner,’ he thought to himself before considering the additional costs of an extra crew member.

As the Captain began to draw in another puff of smoke from his pipe a wall of air and feathers flew into him, knocking the pipe out of his mouth.

‘What in the dark skies was tha for!’ the Captain yelled as he opened his eyes to find the pipe hating Daring Do hovering in front of him.

‘Well you just looked so peaceful there,’ Daring said.

‘I know yer probably annoyed about earlier lass, but that ain’t no reason to come between a stallion and his pipe.’

Daring groaned, ‘no time, we have to change course we’re running right toward a pirate ship.’

‘Run tha by me again lassie.’

‘I saw a pirate ship up ahead while I was getting your Celestia damned water and we’re flying right at it.’

‘Ballast barnacles!’ the captain cried as he threw himself back onto his hooves and galloped toward the exit, his horn lighting up with a grey mist as he seized his telescope. Daring followed the Captain still flying above the deck with her wings as she kept up with the cursing sea pony.

As soon as he reached his customary place behind the wheel Albatross brought his telescope to his eye and scanned the path ahead of the MacGuffin. Daring hovered above him to look as well, her search hampered by the sunset they were sailing towards. Eventually she thought she could see a black speck off in the distance just above Celestia’s sun as it set in the distance.

‘Gusty gales in a dark sky,’ the Captain cursed again, ‘I can see tha black bandit now. Cunning ta camp the trade winds and hide in tha sunset like tha.’ Albatross adjusted the focus on his telescope, ‘ach, he’s seen us and the bandit is coming for us now.’ The mist around the Captain’s horn deepened as he started to assert control over his ship, he seized a bell and started to sound an alarm that rang across the ship that was loud enough to wake the dead.

There was a clunk as Albatross removed the wheel lock from the rudder and he spun the wheel toward the left while simultaneously adjusting all the sails beneath the envelope. The ship groaned as it turned onto a new course, wood stressed and rope strained as the MacGuffin turned south throwing the hull out as it moved.

Ahead of the MacGuffin on its new course sat the dark storm that Albatross had been avoiding all day and now he was flying right toward it.

‘Daring I hope ye are good in a scrap, because ah think we’ll be in fer a fight before tha night is out.’

Down in the cargo hold the alarm brought an end to the not-romantic-enough dinner between Literal List and Duck Tape.

‘What’s that noise?’ List asked as the loud alarm bell fell to silence.

‘Trouble,’ Duckie answered with a note of panic in her voice, ‘come on, we’re needed on deck.’ The pair stood up as the MacGuffin swung into its tight turn. Duckie kept herself on her hooves as the ship swung using a combination of skilled sea legs and a balancing flap from her wings, List, who was still new to life on board ship, fell to the deck as the ship turned.

Duckie took to the air and flew over to help List, pulling her to her hooves.

‘You okay?’ Duckie asked.

‘I’m fine but—oh my notes!’ List looked around in dismay at the mess, her note books had been thrown around by the turn and the remains of their dinner had joined them on the floor.

‘Worry about it later, a turn like that means the Captain thinks we’re in real danger. Come on, I’ll help you keep your balance.’ Duckie swung around behind List holding onto her body and using her wings to keep the unicorn balanced. Secretly Duckie was enjoying this more than she should.

‘Alright I’ll clean this up later.’ List agreed before adding mournfully, ‘I hope the mummy doesn’t roll out of his sarcophagus as well.’

‘It will be fine, let’s go.’

The pair left the cargo hold, the mess and the precious archaeological find behind as they went upstairs to find out what was going on.

‘You’re flying into the storm?’

‘Yes lassie, I would ah thought it be obvious, what with the dark clouds, high winds and a good chance of goin down wit me ship.’ Albatross was sailing like a pony possessed using his horn to make simultaneous adjustments to everything on the ship to get more speed.

‘Can’t you just outrun them or something?’

The Captain sighed, ‘Daring, if they were behind us or the wind were in our favour I’d merrily run ma sails till they tore. But them clever barnacles in tha bandit were waiting for a ship just like us ta pass so they could leap on us like a spider onto a fly. We’re lucky enough as is tha you saw them first and tha best ah can do is run us into yonder storm to catch ah better wind.’

‘I thought I was supposed to be the crazy thrill seeker on this ship,’ Daring grumbled as she stood behind the Captain.

‘Ye still are lass. I just prefer to take the storm over those bandits.’ The Captain looked over his shoulder and brought up his telescope to check on their pursuers. ‘Gusty gales, tha bandit’s making a good turn of speed, once we get ta the outer fringes of the storm I can outrun him but It’s gonna be close and I nary want be be in range of that ships’ weapons.’ He paused to bring the scuttlebutt to his mouth drinking several mouthfuls of water and sighing contently before continuing darkly, ‘but what we have tae really worry about is borders.’

‘You think they’ll try to board us Captain?’

‘Most certainly, we’re too close ta getting away so they’ll send out some gale lovin’ pegasi barnacles ta try to bring our sails down.’ He adjusted one of the sails with a motion that Daring could have sworn was almost a gentle telekinetic caress. ‘Without our sails the bandit ship can raid us at her pleasure, so we need tae keep em safe.’

The sound of rapid hoof falls from the lower deck signalled the arrival of Literal List and Duckie.

‘Captain, what’s going on?’ Duckie called out.

‘There are pirates in pursuit astern of us.’ The Captain announced and Duckie looked out behind the MacGuffin, raising a hoof to shield her eyes from the sun glare.

‘Oh buck.’

‘What do we do?’ echoed List.

‘Daring,’ the Captain began, ‘Ah assume tha you have some training in pegasi fencing?’ the Captain asked as he adjusted another sail.

Daring do briefly considered the number of times she’d been forced to fight throughout her expeditions and decided to summarize it all with a simple nod.

‘Good,’ Albatross said before turning his attention to the other pair, ‘List, ye can join me up here. Duckie, head downstairs with Daring and get yer sabre out. Once ye ave yer sabres open up the lowest hatches on the ballast tanks, we need to shed some weight.’

The pair of pegasi left to find their weapons leaving Albatross and List on the deck.

‘Uh, Captain Albatross, what did you want me up here for?’

The Captain took his attention away from his ship briefly and considered the young unicorn.

‘I take it ye never used tha horn O yours for anything other than moving things around?’

‘I… uh… well…’

‘It’s fine lass, a bonnie life tae any unicorn who never has to resort tae fighting with magic.’ Albatross gave List a weak smile, ‘Cannay say ye have tha luxury now.’

‘I don’t know anything beyond a few basic spells.’

Albatross glanced around, checking his ship before releasing it from his horn’s grip and held onto the rudder wheel with a hoof.

‘I’ll show ye quickly, you’re the studious type so ye shouldn’t ave trouble learnin’ it.’ Albatross pointed his horn away from his ship and fired a blast of misty grey magic out over the ocean. ‘It’s simpler than it looks lassie, just point yer horn at anything displeasing ye and draw on ye magic, once ye have a charge just let it loose. Most magic’s all aboot control but this innae like tha as its tha raw magic ye be throwin, so ye just point and release.’ Albatross repeated his demonstration charging up his horn and simply letting it loose.

‘So, charge and release,’ List asked.

‘Give it ah shot lassie.’

List pointed her horn away from the ship and summoned up her magic while Albatross watched. List’s horn began to glow red as it matched the colour of her mane, the intensifying glow started to throw sparks off as she finally released it. A wave of red magic shot away from the ship, the recoil from the large blast pushed List onto her plot eliciting a welp from the young unicorn when she landed uncomfortably on her tail.

Albatross barked out a harsh laugh, ‘Ye got plenty of oomph lassie, but ye nary ever need a blast tha size. Best tae fire smaller shots instead, unless ye decide tae take out an airship or summat like tha.’

‘Thanks… I guess.’

‘Nay trouble at all lassie,’ the Captain reassured as he took a hold of the various parts of the ship again with his horn. ‘Try to practice a bit, ye’ll be needing tae shoot down pegasi bandits before long.’

Daring Do galloped down to the cargo hold in search of her trunk while Duckie had headed off to find her fencing sabre and empty the ballast tanks.

Once she was in the hold Daring searched the room to find out where her equipment was stored. Walking past the neat piles of List’s notes Daring eventually found her trunk on the other side of Imzohtep’s sarcophagus. Opening her trunk she rummaged through it, past all her camping gear to find one of her most important tools: her kukri.

It was a large single edged blade as long as her leg that was bent inwards along the cutting edge with a firm weight behind it. Daring used it primarily as a tool for cutting through jungle canopies whenever she needed to fly or escape from a hot jungle. It was also excellent for cutting firewood, fruit and large vegetables. She’d brought it from a market in Griffonia from a griffin that had been well renowned for his metal smithing and he had given her a discount because he believed that such a tool would find more use with Daring Do than with somepony who only wanted an ornament for their mantelpiece.

Times like these reminded her that, even though it was only a tool to her, in the claws of a skilled griffon or strapped to the foreleg of a Pegasus these blades could be very dangerous. Daring took a moment to thank Celestia that the dangerous use of blades and sabres was only found outside Equestria’s borders, such was the dangers inherent in being an explorer.

Daring slung the blade onto her back and paused to look into the sarcophagus where Imzohtep lay, oblivious to the danger approaching.

‘Don’t go walking around. I’d hate to lose you after all the trouble I’ve had to go through to keep you out of Ahuizotl’s greedy hands.’ Daring smiled to herself, ‘stay safe mummy boy.’ She chuckled as she left the cargo hold to its royal occupant.

Daring returned to the deck to find the Captain gazing through his telescope at the approaching pirate ship, ahead of the ship the storm waited as the sky darkened with the setting sun.

‘Well, tha’s new,’ the Captain said to himself with the side effect of everypony around him hearing it.

‘Is something happening Captain?’ List asked.

‘Tha bandit has run up a flag o parlay.’

‘Perlay?’ Daring asked the Captain.

‘Parlay, It’s ah request ta talk with guarantee tha neither side will be harmed while anypony is away from their ship.’ The Captain lowered his telescope and brought a white flag out of a box of similar signals kept at the base of the wheel. ‘May as well, gives us more time ta get to yonder storm. They’ll just be wanting ta demand surrender or a ransom.’

As the Captain flew the white flag above him, suspended in his misty magic, he brought the telescope to his eyes again.

‘Here they come, four ballast barnacle lovin’ pegasi.’ He adjusted his telescope and muttered, ‘they also look incredibly flamboyant…’

In the distance the four specks eventually grew as they came closer to the MacGuffin. Daring was able to make them out at a distance, each was dressed in extravagant clothing that flowed in the air around them. As they neared Daring Do noticed the flock was made up of three mares led by a Stallion with a light coat, a long black mane and wore an enormous black hat with a red Pegasus pinion feather pinned to the side.

The three mares took position in the air near the ship as the stallion landed on the deck.

‘Shiver ye timbers land lovahrrs,’ the pirate growled, ‘surendarrgh ye ship to me or I be sending ye on a skydive ta Derpy’s lockaarr.’

A bright red parrot landed on the pirate’s back and echoed his sentiment, ‘rwark, shiver ye timers, shiver ye timbers.’

The reaction from the crew of the MacGuffin was silence until Daring Do eventually broke the mutual mute.

‘Hey Alby, this guy’s got an accent that’s worse than yours.’

‘Not tha time lass,’ Albatross replied.

‘Nice parrot though,’ Duckie added.

The pirate stalked forward towards Daring, ‘Do you not fearrr me? I be the most nafarrious pirate in tha sky, my name be whispered in terror lest I be bidden by the mere sound of it being spoken.’

‘Never heard of you,’ Daring stated.

‘What about you “Alby”,’ the pirate teased, ‘do you undarrstand who ye be facing?’

The Captain shrugged, ‘Well clearly ah’m more famous than ye laddie, because I dennay know yer name.’ Albatross ignored the look of rage the pirate gave him and returned to steering his ship.

‘I be Blackmane the Fearred, mastarr of the Canterbean and the most litarral pirate in the sky.’

This statement set Literal List pondering his meaning, literal meanings were her speciality after all, ‘So… you are literally a pirate or do you just read a lot of books?’

‘Ah think he means both lassie,’ the Captain added.

Daring chuckled before joking, ‘a well-read pirate? Do you recite famous plays while plundering ships?’

‘Not with that accent,’ Duckie added, ‘not properly at least.’

Blackmane’s eyes narrowed, ‘I’ll be taking that as a challenge.’ Without further prompting the pirate burst into a tune from The Pirates of Pegasopolis.

♫♫♫

‘I be the very model of a literal pega-pirate,

it be the best lifestyle if only ye would try it,

we only be wanting the shine of golden bits,

so from Manehatten to Timbucktoo we sail forth ta plunder ships;

♫♫♫

‘Me crew be acquiescing to me in matters aeronautical,

to be disinclined is dangerous, in both physical and psychological,

Ye only have once chance, to make the one choice practical,

And that be to surrender yer ship to the master of all things piratical.’

♫♫♫

Then the other pirates chimed in singing,

♫ ‘Ye should Surrender yer ship to the master of all things piratical.’ ♫

‘Twilight, did you really have to sing that?’

Twilight giggled, ‘it’s fun Rainbow.’

‘Stop,’ Daring Do cried before the pirate could break into another verse, ‘stop, for the love of Celestia just stop.’

‘Ah agree with the lass Blackmane,’ Albatross cut in, ‘tha’s almost torture and against the rules of parlay.’

Denied even the pleasure of singing Blackmane’s mood turned foul, his stance tightened and he gave a furious look at both Daring and Albatross.

‘So I be arrsured that ye won’t be strikin ye colours to surrender.’

‘That’s right,’ Daring looked the pirate straight into the eye, returning his furious look with one of determination. ‘We can take anything you throw at us.’

Blackmane growled, snapped his wings open and took off into the air to join his escort, turning around to make one last announcement.

‘For ye insults I be givin’ no quatarr, prepare yourselves for doom in Derpy’s lockarr for this be a fight to the death.’ The pirates flew off with the parrot following at a distance as they returned to their ship.

Albatross sighed, and started to make more rapid adjustments to his sails. Nopony spoke as they contemplated what Blackmane had said, each realizing that the pirate’s threat was very real and were already looking at each other as they started to feel the onset of fear. Duckie remained stoic, taking some inspiration from the captain she’d worked with for so long. Daring was reminded of her own history, and the friends she’d seen wounded or lost on her adventures. Literal List lost herself in obsessively thinking about the combat spell the Captain had just taught her, charging her horn and trying not to think of anything else.

‘Perhaps insulting him wasn’t such a good idea,’ Duckie pointed out, ‘the song wasn’t that bad.’

Daring gave the bright yellow pegasus a glare, ‘you’re probably just as bad at singing as him.’

‘I’m still better than you miss scratchy voice.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Daring gave Duckie a smile and opened her wings, ‘After this is over I’m going to sing your wings off.’

‘You’re on.’

The Captain chortled, ‘let me ken before ye start waisting ye breath on tha, I’ll ave ta get some earplugs ready.’ He received a glare from both pegasi.

‘So how are you getting us out of this one Captain?’ Duckie asked.

‘I’ll try ta make this easy ta understand,’ he gave a short cough, ‘Right, we need to lose them fast and this yonder typhoon that we’re flying into is the best way. If they get their ship too close they’ll launch grapple bolts from a ballista, or something similar. If they grab us like tha we’ll be tied down and boarded by everypony they have, if we can keep our distance the only thing they can send at us are the four pegasi they had over here before, including Blackmane. They’ll go right for our sails to slow us down so their barnacle infested ship can catch us.

‘So how do we deal with them?’

‘Make them come tae us, you two feather brains will have to stop them getting past ye. I and the young lass over there will try to keep them off you with some magic, stay close to the ship so we can cover you.

‘Then what?’ Daring asked.

‘I’ll fly right into the storm clouds over yonder. It’ll be rougher than any gale I’ve ever flown but those wild storm clouds will be like a brick wall to a pegasus, you’ll have to get inside the ship before we hit it otherwise you’ll be stuck. Once we’re in I’ll lose the bandits in the gloom and we’ll be scolt free.

‘One more question,’ Daring added, ‘why can’t you speak this clearly all the time?’

‘Because I dennay want tay ya breeze brain,’ the Captain replied with his accent back in full force. ‘Now git yerselves in position because them ballast barnacle lovers will be back soon.’

‘Oh yes, here comes the good part.’

‘Rainbow, you might want to stop for a bit.’

‘Why stop Twilight? Daring’s about to kick some pirate flank.’

‘Because I think Tank wants your attention.’

‘Huh?’ Rainbow Dash looked up from the book at the Tortoise hovering in front of her. Rainbow’s pet was hanging from his little propeller with his goggles up and giving his owner a slow moving blink.’

‘How long have we been reading?’ Rainbow asked as she looked out the window to see the town clock, ‘yep it’s lunch time.’ She opened her wings and took off lightly, ‘come on Tank, I’ll get your lunch.’ She flew sedately—for rainbow—toward the kitchen with the tortoise following behind her. As Rainbow was leaving the room she turned back to Twilight, ‘did you want anything while I’m up?’

‘No, I had Spike pack enough for both of us.’ Twilight brought a box of sandwiches out of her bag and placed them on the cloud table.

‘Huh, okay, I’ll be right back.’ Rainbow flew out of the room while wondering how Twilight Sparkle had managed to predict she’d be spending so much the day with Rainbow that she would have to pack lunch.

Story Time: Come on and Grab your Friends!

Daring Do was victorious again; she’d defeated the clowns of despair, rescued her assistant and retrieved the mystical orb of fate—

“Rainbow Dash! You awake in there?” the question was followed by a muffled knocking sound from downstairs.

Rainbow slowly dragged her eyes open, looking out the window. The sun was still low in the morning sky and she wondered to herself what in the name of Luna she was doing awake so early in the morning.

There was another knock from downstairs to remind her.

Ah the door, she thought to herself as she rolled herself out of bed onto the floor. This had better be good, waking me up from a Daring Do dream.

Groggily Rainbow Dash began to trudge out of her bedroom toward the centre of her cloud house, only to walk into the side of the archway out of her room. The bump on the head woke Rainbow out of her stupor with a burst of pain.

Not daring to take the stairs she opened her wings to glide down to the lower floor. “Raaaaiiiiinnnnboooow,” the voice called out again, followed by more muffled knocks on the cloud door.

How can somepony knock on a cloud?’Rainbow asked herself, no, it’s too early in the morning to think about that.

Rainbow opened the door and found a familiar purple blur.

”Good Morning, Rainbow Dash.”

“Who… Twilight? What a—”

“I teleported up here,” answered the unicorn as she stood outside, on a cloud, in the middle of the sky.

“But… how a—”

“Cloud walking spell,” she answered.

“Why?”

“I couldn’t wait to tell you,” a giddy note filled Twilight’s voice. “The new Daring Do book is coming out!”

“When?” Rainbow’s eyes widened, all thought of sleep gone.

“Next month, but I got the pre-print edition they sent out to all the libraries!”

“Where?” a manic desire took hold in Rainbow’s heart.

“Right here,” Twilight Sparkle proclaimed as she took a bundle of paper out of her saddle bags. It wasn’t properly bound, nor did it have a proper cover, but it was undoubtedly, undeniably, unbelievably, the next Daring Do book.

“I took a little convincing but—,” Rainbow interrupted Twilight’s speech as she shot forward and attempted to pull the paper out of the magic field. “Rainbow, stop that!”

A few minutes later the pair had calmly moved to Rainbow’s lounge room, like most of the cloud house it was rarely used despite the effort Rainbow had put into its construction. Twilight was impressed with how Rainbow Dash had used her talent at flying to construct her home and decided to ask for a proper tour later.

Twilight made herself comfortable on a cloud sofa while she manipulated a set of enchanted tea cups that Rainbow used whenever Fluttershy visited. The rainwater in the teapot was boiled with a burst of magic as Twilight prepared for a long reading session.

“So, do we have to read it together?” Rainbow asked.

“I only just received it this morning, Rainbow,” Twilight replied as she added tea leaves to the pot. “I haven’t even read it yet, so it will be quicker to read it together and we’ll be able to share opinions as we go,” Twilight clapped her hooves together in excitement.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “So how are we going to do this?”

“Just sit on the couch next to me, I’ll just read over your shoulder.” Rainbow sat down next to Twilight and took hold of the first stack of paper.

“Daring Do and the Long Journey Home, Preprint edition, do not distribute out—”

“Just skip over the cover page, Rainbow. Nopony cares about those warnings.” Taking Twilight’s advice Rainbow turned to the first page.

“Chapter 1: The Tomb of the Zebra King’, so awesome!”