Danger Do and the Blood Letter
Chapter 1: Danger Do and the Blood Letter
The sun slowly rose over Cloudsdale on a warm autumn morning. As it peeked its way above the floating city, the light had gone through a window on one of the houses that decorated the city. The light made its way though a magnifying glass that was hanging from the ceiling, sending a concentrated beam of light into the eyes of the pegasus passed out on a bed. The pegasus' eyes shot open, causing his head to jerk back in pain from the sudden blast of light.
"Gah! Oh sweet Celestia, that hurts!" he yelled. His hooves shot up to block the light. When he could see again, he climbed out of his bed. He then stretched out his wings, flapping them to make sure the still worked after sleeping in a very awkward position. As he suspected, he hovered lightly over the clouds that made up his carpet. He flew over to the magnifying glass that was still delivering a beam of light to the pillows.
"I really need to find a new way to wake up early in the morning. I'm sure to go blind if I keep this up." Deep in thought about his dilemma, he grabbed the saddlebags hanging in the corner of the room. The green bags worked well with his sandy-brown coat and grey mane. It also complimented his cutie mark, which was a very detailed map. Delicately stitched onto the bags was the name "Danger Do."
Allowing his hooves to touch the ground again, he stood in front of a mirror to fix his bedhead. As a morning ritual, he also recited the Cloudsdale mailpony creed: "Rain, sleet, snow, or hail, as a true hero of the Equestrian ponies, we will deliver your mail."
Having finished his morning routine, he went downstairs to make some breakfast before he left for his job. When he entered the dining room, his eyes were drawn to the various things decorating the walls. Many artifacts decorated the walls, all of them reminders of the adventures that his mother went on when she was his age. Placed near the top of the wall, just above the sapphire statue was her trademark pith helmet, slowly collecting dust. She happened to be sitting at the table, writing something, most likely a novel about her adventures.
"I see you're up early this morning," she said, not looking up from the paper.
"Yeah. Cloud Kicker had to take off for a wedding today, so I need to cover her route too."
Daring stopped writing and looked up from the mess of papers. "And just where is her route?" she asked very seriously.
"I think she covers the northern shopping district as well as area surrounding the Cloudosseum," he replied. He then paused to think about it for a second. "Yeah, that's the place."
"I don't want you to cover her route."
"And just why shouldn't I do that?" he questioned. He knew all too well where she was going to go with this, but he wanted to be certain.
"I've been there before. That place is way to dangerous for you," she responded.
"Of course you would be the one to say that," he said with an angry tone, looking away. She had said similar things to him before, but this was the first time that he had fought back.
"And just what do you mean by that?"
All of his built-up aggression was ready to be unleashed. "You, THE Daring Do, claim that the northern shopping district and Cloudosseum areas are too dangerous. You, the one who had more brushes with death than anypony else in Equestria, think that those areas are too dangerous for your own son. Do you know how much 'dangerous' stuff I've missed out on because of you? That's right: just about everything. I should be lucky that you even let me have this job where the only dangerous thing about it is the fact you could get a paper cut. What's the point of being Danger Do if I can't even do anything remotely dangerous?"
Daring was stunned. "I... I just wanted to protect you."
"Protect me from what? Aluizotl? He's been dead since before I was born! How can you even live with yourself knowing that you have an entire wall showcasing your multitude of adventures all over Equestria and yet your son has yet to leave the city he was born in? You shouldn't even be allowed to call yourself 'Daring.'"
She was seriously hurt by his words to the point of letting a tear run down her face. "Why are you doing this? Please, just why?"
"I hate you." Not wanting to have anything more to do with his mother at the time, he left the house, slamming the door behind him. Daring remained in her seat, overcome by various emotions: sadness, grief, remorse, and to top it off: regret.
"What did I do wrong?"
________________________________________________________________________________
A few minutes later: (At the Cloudsdale mail center)
Daring strolled through the doors of the mail center, mumbling to himself about that morning's events. "What did she expect? I'm growing up! How could I take advantage of my special talent of exploration when she won't let me explore?" He walked into his office to retrieve his mail for the day. The walls were lined with a variety of maps, detailing every explored region of Equestria. He had highlighted his route in blue. Many areas were circled in a red marker, indicating places Danger was planning on visiting in the future. Seeing as how it may not be the best idea to live at home anymore, now would be the perfect time to go on an adventure of his own.
A giant sack filled with letters sat on his desk, which otherwise was rather barren, outside of a nameplate and a picture or two. Some words on it read, "To the Wonderbolts [handle with care]." After glancing inside, he noticed that over half of the letters looked exactly the same. Upon closer inspection, they all looked to be fan mail from a filly named Rainbow Dash, just judging from the sloppy hoof-writing and excessive use of crayons. It was then that he noticed a note for him sitting on his desk.
Thanks again for covering my route for me today. The rest of the letters are in a bag on my desk. You're lucky I remembered to sort out the Wonderbolts' letters, otherwise you might never leave the office! I'll see you tomorrow! -Cloud Kicker Below was the address for the Wonderbolts' estate.
Judging by the size of the sack of letters, he decided to take care of that before starting his routes. He tied up the sack of letters and dragged it out of the office. He had to drag the sack a good three miles before he finally reached the address that was listed in the note. When he arrived at the estate, he knocked on the giant wooden doors and patiently awaited a response.
After waiting around for a few minutes, one of the doors slowly creaked open. A stallion in a tuxedo-like outfit stepped outside. "I'm sorry," he said in a sophisticated manner, "but the masters are not in at the moment. They should be returning from practice in a few hours." As he said this, he didn't bother opening his eyes, as if he didn't want to look upon some of the less civilized fans of the Wonderbolts.
"Oh. I just came to deliver some mail for them."
The sophisticated stallion was confused as to why it was another stallion's voice delivering the mail. He opened his eyes to see just who was delivering the mail, only to be delightfully surprised when he saw it was Danger. "Ah! You must by Ms. Daring's son. My masters call me Withers. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Whenever he brought up his mother's name, Danger had a look of disgust on his face. "Yeah, that's me. My name's Danger. Danger Do. Nice to meet you."
"With a name like that and a mother like Daring, I'm sure you've been on plenty of exciting adventures."
"Pfft. I wish. This is probably the farthest away from home that I've been since I was born."
Withers suddenly regretted bringing up what seemed to be a sore subject. "Do you know why this might be?"
"Yeah. The ever adventurous Daring Do doesn't let me do anything!" Danger started yelling. "No matter how hard I try, I can't ever leave! The only reason I got a job like this was because I managed to sneak out and get it without her knowing. When she found out, she demanded that I quit immediately."
"If that's true, how is it that you are delivering the mail right now?" he asked.
"It took awhile, but I managed to convince her to let me keep it, so long as my route kept me as close to home as possible and I was back inside before the sun went down. This is the only way I can leave the house, and I hate it!"
"I realize that there is something going on between the two of you that needs to be worked out, and it would probably be in my best interest not to get involved, but I feel that I must say something. Your mother was simply trying to protect you. I would know from experience that adventuring can make you more enemies than you can count." He lifted up one of his sleeves, revealing many scars. "When you have as big an adventurer as your mother, you can bet your bits that she has an army of ponies wanting her head on a wall. If they found out that she had a son, they would do anything to make sure he were to suffer. She's done a good job of staying incognito, but she can only do so much to make sure that you don't get hurt because of her."
Danger stood in silence, thinking about what Withers had explained. The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt about what he said to her. "Are you telling the truth?"
"I wasn't always planning on being a butler, you know. Yes, I am telling you the truth as I see it."
Danger sighed. "She can't stop me from adventuring, but... I guess I should go and apologize to her."
"I understand. I will make sure the masters get the mail."
"Thanks."
With that, Danger finished up his routes as quickly as he could. When he arrived at home, it was nearly time for dinner. For some reason, a number of ponies had gathered around the house, including several royal guards. Danger pushed his way through the crowds to get inside. When he explained that he lived here, they allowed him to go inside. Upon entering, he found the inside a wreck. Almost all of the furniture had turned itself over, anything fragile had broken, and there were signs of a struggle wherever he looked. Some intelligent looking ponies seemed to be conducting an investigation.
Out of instinct, he quickly ran into the kitchen, which seemed to be untouched by the investigators. Many of the artifacts that Daring had collected were missing, as well as her pith helmet. He found that someone had decided to write a message on the walls.
With Daring Do out of the way, the world will suffer mightily at my hands. I AM VICTORIOUS!
Upon closer inspection, he saw that the message was written in blood, most likely Daring's. Backing up in fear, he accidentally bumped the table, dropping a compass onto the floor. When he looked at the compass, he noticed that the needle was pointing west, as compared to the typical north. He turned it over to find a small message scratched into the back.
Your first adventure starts here. -Mom
________________________________________________________________________________
Note from the author: Any comments, questions, critiques, etc. are greatly appreciated. It also wouldn't hurt to like or favorite. I'm going to try to make an update for one of my stories every weekend. The keyword in that sentence was try, so don't hold me to it.
Danger Do and the Investigator's Examination
Chapter 2: Danger Do and the Investigator's Examination
Stirred by the noise that Danger was making, some of the investigators made their way into the kitchen, promptly kicking him out so they could focus. Not one to disobey an order from the authorities, he left them to their work, naturally taking the compass with him. He couldn't risk his only hint to his mother's location being lost to some boring-old lab rats. Unsure of what to do, went outside and tried asking around. Upon exiting the house, his attention was directed to a familiar face.
"Young Master Danger! Over here!" yelled Withers, waving a hoof at Danger. When he had walked over, he said, "I was just on an evening stroll when I saw the crowds. What happened here?"
"Well, after I finished talking to you this morning, I quickly finished up my routes. I came home to find the place in shambles and my mom was missing. Apparently the pony who did this made sure she was 'out of the way.' I also found this compass, but it's really strange. It doesn't point north and it says something about my first adventure. Do you think you could take a look?" He pulled it out and handed it to him.
Withers played with the compass in his hooves. "Ah-ha!" he excitedly yelled. He then applied pressure to a spot on the back, causing a small hatch to open. He shook the compass, making a small, folded-up piece of paper to fall out. Upon unfolding the paper, the two of them found themselves looking at a map of Equestria. Unlike most maps, this one had a small red X over a spot in Galloping Gorge. Upon looking at the compass again, they discovered that the needle pointed in the direction of Galloping Gorge.
"Is that where we have to go?" Danger asked.
"It would seem to be the case. Also, I request that I am informed when you plan on bringing me with you."
"So you'll do it?" he asked excitedly.
He unleashed a large sigh. "If it means my debt with Ms. Daring will be finished, I will accompany you on this adventure. Besides, this is your first time leaving Cloudsdale, correct? You will need someone with real adventuring experience if you want to survive out there."
Until now, this realization had not occurred to him. If he was to go save his mother, it would mean that he would need to leave Cloudsdale: the place that he had come to call his home. "So we're actually going to leave and venture into unknown and possibly dangerous lands? And what's this about a debt?"
"Your mother gave me a hand in a really rough time. It's nothing that you would need to worry about. Now if you will excuse me, I must inform the masters about this. We will depart when I return."
"If that's the case, do you think you can come back in the morning? I want to get some stuff together. I kinda also want to say think about a few things."
"If that is what you need, then so be it. I will be by in the morning so we can depart. I would recommend packing light, though. It may not look like it's too far away on the map, but it is much farther away than it looks. And if you don't mind, I would like to hang on to the compass and map."
"That's fine with me. I'll see you in the morning, then." Withers then flew back to his home.
While the two of them were talking, the scientists had finished their investigations and had begun to pack up their supplies. As he entered his house, one of the younger investigators stopped him. She was a teal pegasus mare with a magnifying glass for a cutie mark. "Excuse me. My name is Artemis Justice. I need to ask you a few questions," she said in a serious tone.
"I guess," he replied somewhat hesitantly. He was well aware that Artemis had a reputation in her field. She was able to drag the truth out of almost everyone she interrogated.
They made their way into the living room. Danger laid casually on a couch while Artemis sat down on the floor next to the couch. "Your name is Danger Do, correct? The son of Daring Do?" she started by asking.
"Yeah, that's me," he answered. Artemis began to make notes on a clipboard that seemed to appear out of thin air. He couldn't see exactly what she was writing, but judging by the stack of papers he could see, he felt that she would be questioning him well into next week.
"Next question: an eye witness told us that there was yelling heard early this morning, followed by your departure. What was this arguing about and where did you go?"
"I was a bit upset with Mom for always preventing me from doing anything she felt wasn't safe. I then went to my job at the post office. When I got home, Mom was already missing and you guys were doing your investigation." She looked like she was doing some calculations. "If you're thinking that my alibi is a bit vague, you can just ask all of the people that I delivered mail to. As for my motive, I will admit that I was mad, but it was nothing that would lead me to kill anypony."
Artemis smiled as if he had fallen into her trap. "I never said that your mom is dead. She is just missing. Knowing that, why would you claim that you haven't killed anypony? It seems to me that you really are the culprit. And to ensure your freedom, you killed her."
He was startled by her accusation. Trying to stay strong, he replied, "It's because I know your type all too well. With forged evidence, you try to arrest anypony who's remotely suspicious. You even tie in cases that aren't even related. Nice try though."
"Interesting. So what does Dusty have to do with this?"
"I'm sorry, but who's Dusty?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"You know... Dusty Winds? Famous adventurer? Used to adventure with your mom?" As she listed things about him, Danger shook his head. "What does he go by now? Wilts?"
"I think you mean Withers."
"Ah. That's his name. Exactly how did you two meet, what were the two of you talking about a few minutes ago, and how is he involved with your mom's disappearance?"
Danger sighed. He knew that he would need to answer the questions if he were to have any hope of being ready. "I met him this morning when I was covering a friend's mail shift. When we were talking a few minutes ago, he wanted to know what happened to Mom. If he is involved with how she disappeared, I don't know how he is."
"If he just wanted to know what happened, what were the map and compass for?"
His heart nearly skipped a beat. If he was to avoid suspicion, he needed to pretend they didn't exist. "Where did you hear about a compass or map? Are you sure you're a professional investigator?"
"Quit denying it. I know you have them." She then attacked Danger, taking his mailbags and pouring the contents onto the floor. She was shocked to only find a single letter addressed to Daring and a small bag of bits. "I... I don't understand. I saw you with the map and compass. There's no way you can't have it." She pressed her hoof to her chin, deep in thought. "Of course! Dusty must have it!" she yelled. She then dashed out of the house and flew in the direction of the Wonderbolts' estate.
"Good luck, Withers. You'll need it," he said to himself. He gathered the things that fell out of his mailbags and put them back into the bags. He then went into his room, hoping to avoid more of the investigators and their seemingly endless questions. He found his room exactly as he had left it that morning. He tossed his mailbags onto the bed and laid himself down.
"I had always imagined leaving home, and I always thought that I'd be much more excited when it finally happened," he said to himself. "Is running away really going to be as amazing as I thought it was?"
He pondered this question until he finally spoke. "Of course it is." He wasn't quite sure why he was arguing with himself, but it seemed to ease his mind. "Just wait until we get out there and feel the wind in our mane, nice, firm ground beneath our hooves, and just think of all the awesome adventures we could have."
"But what if something happens to us? I read that there's some pretty dangerous stuff out there."
"Of course it's going to be dangerous! What fun would it be if there wasn't any danger? Besides, we've got Withers on our side. It seems like he's seen more than his fair share of adventures. And just think for a minute; We aren't called Danger for nothing."
Seeing no other questions nagging his thoughts, he muttered, "I hope you're right about this." He then parted some of the clouds in the wall behind his bed. Behind these clouds was a small jar filled with bits. The label on the jar read, "Runaway Money." He had been secretly saving up money from his job for at least a year. He had managed to save up a good 150 bits, and he looked impressed with himself as he emptied the jar into his mailbags.
Letting out a mighty yawn, he realized that he was incredibly exhausted from all of that day's events. He ultimately decided to finish packing in the morning. After all, tomorrow was going to be a big day; he would need all the sleep he could get. He closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.
________________________________________________________________________________
Note from the author: Any comments, questions, critiques, etc. are greatly appreciated. It also wouldn't hurt to like or favorite.
