Daring Do and The Knights of Time and Space

Chapters

Chapter 1: Run Through the Jungle
Chapter 2: Unicorns Clad In Black
Chapter 3: This is how many times, now?
Chapter 4: Unwilling Archaeology
Chapter 5: Sisterly Discussions
Chapter 6: Northern Exposition

Chapter 1: Run Through the Jungle

Outside of Equestria lie many lands, strange and exotic. Places where creatures of all shapes and sizes dwell, where great kingdoms once stood, only the broken ruins, claimed by wilderness, stand testament to their passing. Within their dead forgotten halls are held many treasures rare, beautiful, and mystical. Many search for them, though few succeed. And amongst those brave and stalwart few, is one without peer. One known to the world as Daring Do, explorer and treasure hunter extraordinare.

An explorer and treasure hunter who found herself far far away from familiar lands and the saftey of her home of Equestria. She found herself deep within the island jungles that had no name and were marked on the map simply as “Danger” and were claimed by no ruler. A land where the plants grew thick, the heat and humidity made it feel as though one were trying to hike through a sauna, the jungle floor covered in rotting vegetation and mud from recent rains that stuck to your hooves making for a very uncomfortable trip. A trip made on behalf of a wealthy benefactor for cryptic reasons, that she would have turned down, if not for the nagging curiousity in her mind driving her to accept, supported by a bank account that was starting to look as thin as a Fillydelphia orphan.

Sweat ran down her neck increasing her discomfort. The heat and humidity of the jungle contributed certainly but the immediate cause of the rivulets was the surge of adrenaline that comes from when one’s life is in immediate peril.

Peril of the sort that Daring Do, despite its frequency, disliked greatly. Adventure was one thing, but fleeing with certain death close behind was getting old. She ran through the thick jungle, jumping and weaving through the ropy vines and huge roots that threatened to trip her up. What she would give to be able to fly, but the canopy was an even more precarious option, and her wings were still not up to their full dexterity after her crash during her adventure to secure the Sapphire Stone.

She risked a look over her shoulder as she ran, and was rewarded with the tree immediately in front of her exploding as a shining bolt struck it with a sharp crack of magical energy. She reflexively made a quick turn to avoid the shower of splinters and her hoof found itself caught in a loop of tree root causing her to tumble end over end down a previously unseen incline.

As she righted herself she found that should could not stop her descent, the slipperiness of the plants and muck of the jungle floor and the steepness caused her to slide downwards with increasing speed. Her pursuers send more bolts of energy chasing after her but they missed their marks, sending plumes of smoke and dirt into the air and into Daring’s face, stinging her eyes.

As she wiped clean her eyes, she first heard and then saw the raging waters of a river ahead, water whipping violently against rocks that threatened to dash her to bits. In a moment of panic she tried fruitlessly to crawl her way back up the way she came, her hooves failing to find purchase. She then began flapping her wings trying to get some kind of altitude, but mud hampered her attempt followup by a cramp in the old wing injury finalizing the failure. Seeing the cause lost, she held onto her helmet, took a breath, and closed her eyes.

The waters comparitive coolness to the oppressive heat of the jungle hit her like a hammer and she gasped taking in not only air but water before being dragged under by the furious current, her body slamming painfully into the jagged rocks. In what felt like an eternity, knowing only the churning of the water in her ears, the pain in her body from impacts and lacerations, and the burning agony in her chest as her lungs screamed for air.

Suddenly the churning stopped and she breathed in a harsh gasp, her mind greatful for these salvations before her body informed her that she was suddenly under gravity’s care, and it decided that remaining airborne was not in the game plan. She madly flapped her wings trying to stay aloft but to no avail as she plummeted screaming to the roiling foam below.
Consciousness came in flashes puncuated by darkness. One moment she was underwater, the next she was above, the next Daring could feel the warmth of sand. She pulled herself out of the water, her mane dangling in front of her eyes, a hot stream of red streak down one side of her vision blurring things further.

A patch of blue. Not like the sky. Different blue. It appeared, then fade, appeared, and faded again, the sounds of the jungle giving way to a new sound. A harsh wheezing, groaning sound that increased in
volume as the blue shape gained solidity.

Darkness came again. In the corner of her mind she was aware of voices. One strangely accented. The other somehow familiar.

Somepony was shaking her. The darkness eased up a little and she slowly opened her eyes, the light feeling painful. She was looking up at two faces, concern readily apparent. One belonged to a stallion, brown maned with blue eyes. The second was a grey mare with blonde mane and golden eyes.

Eyes that didn’t seem to be looking at the same thing.

“Daring? Are you ok? What happened?” The mare said excitedly.

“Ditzy?” Daring croaked in reply.

“Yes its me, Daring! Its Ditzy!” she said, her eyes glistening with tears of worry.

“And I thought today couldn’t get any stranger.” Daring chuckled before a hacking cough took its place. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going back to sleep now.”

“Daring! Daring! Stay with me!” She shouted shaking her hard.

“Darn it Ditzy, leave me alone!” She tried weakly swatting Ditzy away, her grogginess gradually slipping away and was replaced by a sudden awareness of all of her injuries. She winced, sucking air through her teeth making a sharp hiss, and then groaned loudly as she tried to sit up. As she started to take stock of a her surroundings, she had a sudden thought that overrode any other concerns.

“Where’s my hat?”

Chapter 2: Unicorns Clad In Black

“Ow! Would you be little more careful? That hurts!” Daring said through gritted teeth as Ditzy pulled the bandage taut with her teeth.

“I’m trying my best here! If you’d hold still-” She said tying it off. “There. That should help.”

She stood back and looked at the fruits of her labor.

“All in all, I think I did a pretty good job there. I haven’t had to do first aid like this in a while, but I’ve still got it!” Ditzy beamed.

Daring turned her head to and fro, looking at her bandaged. Both wings splinter, and one foreleg in a sling, another around her head with a gauze pad covering one eye, and Celestia knew how many smaller bandages covering cuts.

“You did good, sis. Glad to see you still know what to do.” Daring smiled back at her.

“I’m rather suprised myself. Never thought you would have the- um--” The stallion waved his foreleg around like he was trying to grab the rest of the sentence out of the air.

“What? What? Come on! Say it. Say it. I dare you.” The blonde mare glared at him.

“I was just going to say that first aid didn’t seem like something you’d be good at, thats all.” He quickly responded.

“Whatever. Anyway, Daring her used to get into all kinds of trouble when we were growing up. Someone had to keep her together.” She shrugged.

Daring stood and tried walking about, though being hobbled like this was difficult, she felt that she could manage.

“And I tell you, I’m glad for it. But that doesn’t tell me why you’re here. Last I heard you were living in Ponyville. And now you’re here in the middle of the jungle with a strange stallion. Does mother know about this?” Daring narrowed her eyes suspiciously at directed the glare at the stallion.

“Oh..um...well, this is the Doctor.”

“Doctor? Doctor what? And if he’s a doctor why were you doing the first aid? Huh?”

“Not that kind of doctor I’m afraid. And its just The Doctor. Please to meet you.” He said.

“I wasn’t talking to you, buddy. Why don’t you go make yourself useful and figure out where my hat went.” She waved her good foreleg at him dismissively, eyes still glaring distrustfully.

The Doctor looked at Daring for a moment, a bit shocked and then looked at Ditzy, who motion with a slight tilt of her head that he should probably do as she said. Sighing, he trotted away.

Ditzy let go a sigh watching him go, and in turning around found herself nose to nose with a grey maned, bandaged, and eye patched mare.

“Ditzy. Sit.” Without even a second thought, she planted her rump on the ground.

“So, Daring how have -”

“Nononono. I do the talking now, Ditzy. Who is that guy? Why are you traveling around with some guy, who as far as I can tell doesn’t even have a proper name? What are you even doing here for that matter, I didn’t tell anypony I was heading here, especially since here isn’t even on the map, and I mean literally not on the map. I will have to make new maps when I get home, and yet here you are when you should be safe in Ponyville but you’re not and what is that blue box why is there a blue box in the middle of the jungle and you’re here with a strange pony with a strange box in the middle of strange jungle and I don’t even -” The words just started spilling from Daring’s lips before Ditzy reached out of hoof and covered the adventurer’s mouth.

“Daring. Stop before you pass out from oxygen loss.” She said with annoyance. “I can explain everything.”

“I certainly hope so. I don’t like the idea of my younger sister galavanting around with strange stallions in dangerous tropical jungles.” Daring tried to cross her forelegs grumpily but found having the sling dampened the effect.

“That's pretty hypocritical Daring! You do exactly that! Exactly! That!”

“That's because I’m a professional! I do this for a living! And how would you know what I do anyway?”

“Seriously? Those books of your escapades are all over the place, I can’t go anywhere without seeing a book on your escapades. Thankfully, nopony seems to have connected the dots, so I don’t have to constantly talk about my ‘so awesome’ sister, who last I heard was teaching archaeology at Los Pegasus University. Explain that one!”

“I..I..I don’t have to explain anything! I’m an adult! I can do what I want!” Daring sputtered.

“And so am I and if I want to go gallivanting about with a strange stallion in a blue box then I will!” Ditzy shouted, getting right into her sisters face.

“Um, ladies?” A voice interrupted.

“WHAT?!” They both shouted at The Doctor.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I don’t suppose you know those fellows?” He pointed to some approaching boats coming from across the waterfall fed lake. Each boat held a small grouping of unicorns, the lead one shouting orders at the others.
“Oh Horse-apples. We gotta hide!” Panic plainly evident on her face.

“Quick lets get back to the TARDIS!” Ditzy started running towards the blue box only for the dirt in front of her to explode. She stumbled and fell backwards. She righted herself with a quick flap of her wings, the Doctor running up next to her to see if she was all right.

“I wouldn’t recommend trying anything too hasty, my dear.” A voice spoke from seemingly nowhere.

“Who?” Daring stopped in her tracks.

“You gave us quite the chase, Miss Do. My men had told me that the river had taken you. That would have been...unfortunate. You still have some use to me.” The air in front of the TARDIS shimmered and a out of the shimmer, stepped a male unicorn, mane a deep black, eyes concealed behind dark spectacles, twisting horn glowing red with magical energy.

“Can unicorns do that? With the invisibility and all?” The Doctor said quietly.

“Its a Unicorn. They have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. Probably some kind of chameleon spell. I dunno. Thats more of a Twilight Sparkle question.” Ditzy replied.

“What are you doing here, Legerdemane? And what the hay is going on here? Why were your cronies trying to kill me?” Daring defiance flashing in her one good eye.

“Kill you, Daring? Why would I try to kill the adventurer I hired? That is poor business practice and my associates would have been greatly displeased with me. My ‘cronies’ as you call them, acted against orders. They were supposed to monitoring your progress. I admit they got carried away in their pursuit of you, but your little traps flared their tempers more than a little bit. But back to business. You know what I want, Daring.” The unicorn spoke with a genteel voice, speaking of a certain nobility. But there was a hard edge to his voice. The kind that belied any illusion of civility if anything stood in his way.

“What makes you think I have it? I was still exploring when your goons started after me.”

“Please Miss Do, do not insult me. I know you found directions in the ruins of the location of the hidden Temple of Krustallos. And you are going to take me there.” He said smiling.

“I don’t see why I should. I didn’t trust you when I met you, Legerdemane. So I did a bit of research on you and your associates. Knights of the Black Horn sound familiar? Rabid unicorn supremacists, the lot of you, suspected in anti-government activity back in Equestria. I don’t what you want in that temple, but I refuse to help the likes of you!”

“Unicorn supremacists? I thought all the ponies lived together in harmony.’ The Doctor whispered to Ditzy.

“I thought so too, Doctor. I am terribly confused.” She grimaced.

“I have little inclination to discuss this with you Miss Daring. Since you refuse to help us, I have a counter offer. If you help us, I won’t have your two companions there killed.” Legerdemane looked at the two ponies with cold indifference.

“What? You wouldn’t!” Daring shouted.

“Wouldn’t I? They serve no purpose to me, though as curious as their sudden and timely arrival is and the further curiousity of their blue box certainly intrigues me, the fact of the matter is this. I have little time to get to the Temple of Krustallos and if I must resort to barbaric methods, so be it.”

Daring gritted her teeth angrily, a low growl escaping her mouth. “You..you...”

“Save the insults, pegasus. And before you say it, even if I did kill them, there are methods to extract the information from your mind, though the process would leave you quite...broken so to speak. So choose. The life of your friends and your cooperation, or their deaths and your excessively painful torture. Either way, I will get what I want.”

Daring, Ditzy, and the Doctor found themselves surrounded by more unicorns, black clad save for their horns, and eyes concealed behind dark lensed goggles. Their horns glowing with a plethora of colors but all radiating with barely contained bloodlust. Daring looked at her sister and her strange friend. She couldn’t. She had done so much trying to keep Ditzy safe after everything that had happened in their past.

“Fine, Legerdemane. You will. I’ll help you.” She said with a distasteful sigh.

“Glad you could see reason, Ms. Do.” He turned towards several of his cohort. “Bind them. We make for the temple in fifteen minutes.”

Chapter 3: This is how many times, now?

The group of ponies walked through the dense jungle, the ones in front using their magic to clear the path while Legerdemane and Daring Do discussed a crudely drawn map. The male unicorns face was impassive while Daring’s held barely contained anger.

The Doctor and Ditzy simply walked, collars having been attached around their necks, with chains connecting them with a group of rather robust unicorns, presumably to keep them under guard and to remind Daring of their status as hostages.

“Ditzy?” The Doctor said suddenly.

“Yeah?” She said sullenly and turning her head to look at him.

“You never mentioned your sister before. You mentioned your parents, and your roommate even, but never a sister. Why?”

“Its...its kind of complicated. I don’t think now is really the best time to talk about it.”

“Well, I dunno. Its not like we’ve got anything else going on anyway. Though I must admit, finding out about these..’Knights of the Black Horn’ rather suprising to be honest. Pony society seemed so, well, peaceful and accepting that having a unicorn supremacist group is a bit of a shock.”

“Its a bit of a suprise to me too. I know they are some folks that act a bit snooty, especially unicorns in Canterlot, but to this extent is almost unbelievable.”

“Is it?” One of the guards suddenly spoke, their voice muffled by the balaklava covering their face.

“Excuse me?” The Doctor turned to look at the speaker, the chain jangling as he did so.

“Don’t talk to the prisoners. Do you want to get in trouble with the boss again?” Another sighed, annoyance heavy in their tone.

“I don’t give a sack of horsefeathers. Let him get mad. And don’t you tell me what to do either.” The first guard snapped back.

“Please, everypony. Just calm down. Though our relationship in this situation is a bit, well, awkward that no reason to at each others throats” The Doctor interjected. One guard yanked hard on the chain.

“And you shut up too! I bet you got your cutie mark for running off at the mouth!”

“How does that even make sens- OW! Fine I’ll be quiet! No need to be so testy” The Doctor hung his head.

They continued on for some time the scenery changing little except for brightly colored tropical birds and black buzzing insects that bit them and buzzed annoying. Other animals could be heard but none it seemed had the courage to approach the large group.

The light that had filtered through the trees was beginning to take on an orangish cast to it, and the air was starting to cool slightly, which only seemed to encourage the bugs.

The group had stopped moving forward, and several of the pathfinding ponies were speaking to Legerdemane and Daring. Ditzy strained to hear what they were saying but she couldn’t make it out. The dark spectacled unicorn sounded angry but then rubbed his eyes. He turned and spoke to one of the henchman nearest him. This one nodded and turned towards the others.

As he approached, he waved one leg around, causing the others to circle up. He pulled down his balaklava, removed the goggles, and wiped down the sweat that had formed.

“All roight, yaouw lot. tek foiv' minutes rest, get summat ter drink. when yom done, check yaw gear an' get ready ter goo. A gid the prisoners sum too. they're rubbish as hostages if they die too early.” He shouted at them with a strange accent that Ditzy couldn't place and the Doctor thought would not have sounded out of place in Birmingham.

The group of guards seemed to simultaneously relax, almost of them taking off their head gear, and loosing the black clothing. They began chatting and laughing amongst each other, and drinking out of canteens they hovered in midair.

A mare, a rather tall and muscular mare tossed two canteens at The Doctor and Ditzy’s hooves. “You heard the captain. Drink up. Dying of dehydration is not a fun way to go, trust me.”

The two did as they were told, Ditzy drinking a bit too fast and started to cough.

“Whoa there filly, you need to slow it up. Drinking too fast is just as bad as drinking not at all.”

Ditzy nodded fiercely as she caught her breath.

“If you’ll excuse miss..I didn’t catch your name.” The Doctor said conversationally.

“Not really any of your business. I don’t tell things like that to prisoners.” She glowered at him.

“I’m just trying to be friendly, as it seems we’re going to be hanging out together for a while we might as well get to know each other. My names- “ The mare simply held her hoove in front of his face.

“Nope. Don’t care. Don’t try that buddy buddy stuff on me. This isn’t make first time watching hostages. None of us are new at this. Thats what we do and thats what we are good at. Guarding prisoners and hostages. I have seen every single trick in the book, buddy and it ain’t gonna work on any of us, so don’t try. Drink your water and just stay quiet.” The Mare moved away a bit but kept watch on the two, her eyes almost predatory. The Doctor was a bit taken aback.

He looked at Ditzy but her attention seemed elsewhere.

“Look, Ditzy.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really sorry about this. I didn’t exactly plan for this.”

“You usually don’t Doctor. After our adventures I’ve come to realize that whenever we finally stop some place, it usually seems to be for the best.” She said, without looking at him.

“Well, I’m glad you understand. Still though, didn’t expect competent henchman. Thats certainly novel. And your sister here too, eh? And a secret society to top it off! How exciting, huh?”

“Yup. Exciting.” Ditzy responsed, continuing facing foreward.

“She seems awfully protective of you though. I mean being the older sister I guess that makes sense.”

“She’s younger actually.”

“What?”

“She’s about two years younger than me.”

“But she’s so..”

“I know. She got that way after I had a really bad accident.”

“Accident.”

“Yeah. It happened along time ago. Its kept me from going with her on her adventures. That why I was so willing to go with you in your blue box. A chance for some excitement again.” Ditzy sighed with a hint of sadness creeping into her voice. “She blames herself. I don’t. It was my own fault. But she blames herself, and thats why she never comes home to visit. I don’t think she likes remembering that not every adventure ends up well.”

“Did this accident..um..is it why your eyes-”

“Remember when I said I didn’t want to talk about that, when we first met?” She interrupted.

“Yes?”

“Still don’t.”

“Right. Now, lets change the subject. How are we going to get out of this pickle barrell, eh?” He said, enthusiam returning to his voice.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry.” Ditzy said, looking at him with a smile. “See Daring over there?”

“Yes?”

“She how her tail is moving?”

“I see it but I’m not quite..oh. Oh!” Realization dawned on the Doctor as he noticed that the tail was swishing in a particular pattern.

“Thats a code we came up with, that one for when we were grounded but wanted to get out of the house anyway.” Ditzy whispered to him, using her hoove to hide her mouth, just in case one of the guards had for some reason mastered lip reading.

“And?”

“She’s got this. We just need to be able to hold up our end when the time comes and make the best of whatever opportunity she gives us..” She told him.

“Our end? And what does that mean?” The Doctor said incredulously. Ditzy grinned widely and looked at him with mischief in her eyes.

“In basic terms, we wing it and hope for the best. Easy as muffins!"

Chapter 4: Unwilling Archaeology

Chapter 4
Written by spectacles_ak
Proofreading and editing by flyingfox

“You are certain of this?” Legerdemane looked over his spectacles at Daring who returned the glare with much the same barely restrained anger as she had for the rest of their trek through the jungle.

“I’m as certain as I can be. The direction inscribed on the ruins are old, very old and in a language that is similar to Pre-Equestrian Unicorn but not quite, like it got mixed with a different language all together. There is a fair amount of metaphor involved and due to the linguistic differences, I can’t be sure if there are some colloquialisms that I’m missing all together. But for all intents and purposes, yes I’m certain.” She replied pointing to questionable areas on a scroll that the stallion magically held before her.

“Hmm. I’m beginning to see why so many underestimate you, Miss Do. Not only a mare of action but you also possess quite a brilliant mind.” He smiled at her.

“Hey! I didn’t get my doctorate and made a professor at Lost Pegasus on my good looks you know.” She said defensively.

“Many of my compatriots assume that is the case as you are quite fetching, for a pegasus. The perhaps the Board of Directors at the university is a fan of your fine novels. And last I heard it was former professor. I wonder why that could be, hmm?” His smile remained the same, but for some reason it held an undercurrent of snide mockery that caused her rage to seethe worse that it was already.

“I don’t want to talk about that. Never bring that up again!” She nearly shouted.

“Patience Miss Do. I suggest you calm yourself before one of my guards decides to take it upon themselves to think you were threatening me.” He warned with the same taunting tone. His smile slipped for moment as he continued. “Though I do apologize.”

“Why?” She cocked an eyebrow at this.

“You may be my prisoner, and I may find your kind both brutish, and if one will excuse the pun, flighty, I like to think of myself as somewhat gentle and as such about such petty insults. And so I beg your forgiveness in this matter.” He bowed his head slightly. Daring stared at him for a moment. He couldn’t be serious. Could he?

"Fine. Whatever.” She flicked her tail in annoyance. He was an odd one. But she had met, and dealt with odder in the past.

“Now that that is attended to..Captain!” He shouted to the strangely accented unicorn that had been walking with them earlier. “Get everyone ready to move. We should be at our destination soon enough.” He looked again at Daring over his tinted lenses. “As long as our guide is not mistaken.”

“Arr sir. D'ya want me ter send the scouts up ahead?” The stallion asked as he started putting away his own canteen.

“Yes. Have them report as soon as they see anything out of the ordinary.” Legerdemane’s demeanor immediately changed to one of authority and command, rather than the gentle and perhaps sly one he projected when alone with Daring.

As Legerdemane began giving orders to several of the other unicorns that made up his personal retinue, Daring stole a look back at her sister and her companion. They were sitting drinking from some canteens. Good. At least they had some semblance of decency. She then noticed that Ditzy was look right at her. Or at least as ‘right at her’ as she could get. She felt a bit of a pang at that thought.

Then she had an idea. If her gut feeling was right about what they were walking into, she might be able to turn this whole situation around and get her and her sister out of this. And her sister’s so called friend too, she said grudgingly to herself. She began twitching her tail in a pattern. She hoped Ditzy remembered this one.

“This is hardly ideal, Miss Do.”

“I don’t know why you’re blaming me. I told you what I knew and there you have it.”

“That may be, but three standing stones around a raised stone circle is hardly a temple.” Legerdemane said calmly as a subtle twitch of the eye belied his frustrations.

“You really are new to this whole adventuring business. If this Temple of Krustallos is protecting some sort of treasure, then you don’t want easy access. And if you have easy access, then you fill it with traps and/or monsters. Almost all of these old ruins have them, the only real variations depends on when they were built. It’s almost like ancient ponies were paranoid or something. I think -”

“Would you please be silent for a moment. You are so much more stoic in your novels. I should have known better, I suppose.” He looked overhead. The sun was going down and relying on the night sister’s light for such work was never a good idea, especially in strange locals such as this. “Captain, get some campfires lit and set up a patrol.” The Captain saluted and began barking his orders. A group of five stayed behind with Legerdemane.

Daring looked at these five unicorns. They were dressed like the others, in full black suits, goggles, and face masks, but their saddlebags that contained who-knows-what kind of equipment had the simple white circle with a unicorn head silhouette in black, one that Legerdemane himself shared, though his was a little more ornate, the black circle being ringed in old unicorn runes. Those must be the actual members of the Knights of the Black Horn, and the rest of the guards were some sort of mercenaries, though outside of the Royal Guards, any sort of professional military was a foreign concept to the Equestrian pegasus. Given her run-ins in the past with these sorts, they were probably the most powerful magically. And therefore the most dangerous.

She looked back over her shoulder to see Ditzy and that Doctor fellow she was tagging around with. Despite the situation they seemed to be getting along alright. She sighed internally. It had been so long since they had seen each other. Daring couldn’t help but feel guilt over what had happened, why she had tried to force her sister to stay safe in Ponyville. But her sister forgave her, or at least seemed to. She was always the nicer one. A lot more trusting. That is why this Doctor fellow made her so suspicious. Where did he come from? What was that strange blue box they had with them? What was he a doctor of any way?

Her train of thought derailed as soon as she saw Legerdemane turn her way, his shadowed eyes staring at her.
“Well Miss Do. I suppose you are right. It is an entrance of some sort. I am embarrassed to say that my fellow Knights and I are unable to solve it. It is time that you put some of your expertise to use, yes?” Inside Daring’s head, inspiration struck.

“Fine. But I’m going to need my assistants free for this one. I may be good, but even the best needs some help now and again. If it was that easy, you probably wouldn’t need me, am I right?” She lifted an eyebrow and smiled, an edge of cockiness in her voice.

Legerdemane’s shaded spectacles slid down his nose just far enough to glare at her over top the tinted lenses. He met her gaze for a few silent moments.'

“Fine. But if you try anything Daring Do to escape or hinder this operation, I will not hesitate to put you and your friends down. You have until sunrise to get me inside that temple.” He turned to one of the Knights who in turn went and spoke with the guards holding the other two ponies prisoner

Daring Do gulped nervously. She hoped she hadn’t just signed all of their death warrants.

Chapter 5: Sisterly Discussions

Chapter 5
Written by spectacles_ak
Proofreading by Dartrunner

“So.” Daring said as the two pegasi mares and the earth pony looked at the ring of standing stones.

“So?” Ditzy responded quizzically as she prodded one of the stones with a hoof as the stallion as he looked at the center of the ring muttering to himself and poking at it with a stick that he held between his teeth.

“Sooooo......How did you two meet, hmm?” Daring said conversationally as she eyed several inscriptions.

“Is this really the best time for this sort of conversation? I mean, what with our lives being on the line and all?” she experimentally pushed against some of the rocks.

“Why not? It’s been the best time for us to talk since we ran into each other. In the middle of a jungle. On an uncharted island. With me being chased by evil unicorns. And you and a strange fellow appearing with a blue box out of nowhere. I just wanted to catch up that’s all. Is that so strange?” Daring put on the most innocent looking smile she could muster.

Ditzy glared at her and sighed. “I had forgotten how irritating you can be sometimes.”

“My powers of annoyance only grow with your continued attempts to dodge the question.”

“I don’t suppose I could simply use the phrase ‘shenanigans’ as an explanation and leave it at that, could I?”

“Would you accept it if our positions were switched?”

“Yes. Yes I would.”

“Really?”
“No. Not really. But you have plenty of time to explain yourself.” She huffed.

A guilty look played across Daring’s face momentarily, before giving way to anger.

“Its none of your business, Ditzy!”

“None of my business?! You go poking and prying in my life but I do the same and it’s none of my business? What a hypocrite you are!” The grey pegasus snapped loudly, before ducking her head down behind on of the stones at the sudden look the black-clad guards gave in their direction.

“I think maybe we should tuck this topic away for another day, hmm dear sister mine.” Daring whispered.

“I think you maybe right about that.” Ditzy whispered back.

“I think you should get used to saying that more often.”

“I think you should shut up before I place a hoof upside your head.”

“I think its a teleport.” A third voice interjected in the hushed tones of the sisters’ argument. The two pegasi mares turned their heads to regard this conversational intruder. There sat the brown earth pony grinning like an idiot.

“A what now?” Daring replied quizzically.

“He said it’s a teleport, silly.” Ditzy responded.

“Yes thank you. And what do you mean by that? Teleporting is what unicorns do.”

“This is true! However, it seems that I have discovered a rather interesting thingy here that points to it being a teleportation device.” He called their attention over to one of the other standing stones.

“And what is so special about this rock that the other rocks don’t have.”

“Well you see-”

“Daring has a point, Doctor. It looks like all the other ones to me.”
“That because - “

“I still don’t buy that. A doctor of what? Medicine certainly not. Maybe some branch of the sciences, but I doubt it. Ditzy, are you sure he’s really a doctor?”

“We really don’t -”

“I’m pretty sure he is. A doctor of time!”

“Now -”

“A doctor of time? That is the dumbest -”

“Would you two just be quiet for just a moment? I am about to be brilliant here and I want your undivided attention, for just a moment. Okay? Okay. Now what I found is this!” The Doctor reached out his hoof and placed in on the stone and twist slightly. The rock made a strange clicking sound, and a small rectangular section of the stone slid upwards revealing a cavity.

Inside this cavity was a crystal that glowed with a cold blue light and hummed with a sound that was not a sound. One that your heard more echoing off your bones than in your head. Connected to it was an array of lines, like some kind of complete maze made out of similarly glowing material.

Daring and Ditzy simply stared. Their eyes wide with the beauty of the glow. The only thing breaking their concentration from it was the hum that set their teeth on edge.

“Neat, huh? I didn’t even need the sonic. Not that I’ve got it any-”

“What is it?” Daring spoke, tearing her eyes away.

“That my dear Miss Do, is a crystaline-psychoreactive computational matrix that is bound to the hyperspacial locational linkage array that extends through the rocks itself and into the ground. Though the fact that its not hooked up to a machine in the traditional sense and more of a semi-magical construct is rather fascinating.”

“I have no idea what you just said. And I’m not entirely sure I want to know. Give me the lay pony breakdown and I’ll go from there.” Daring rubbed a hoof across her forehead, trying to banish the onrushing headache.

“Basically, it teleports you to wherever it’s supposed to take you. Without you needing to have any magic whatsoever.” He explained looking pleased with himself.

“Normally I would say that was a load of horse apples.” Daring looked at the stone circle a concerned look manifested itself upon her face.

“But - “ Ditzy supplied, trying to nudge her sister on.

“She’s seen them before.” The trio turned to look behind them, only to see Legerdemane standing a short way away, quietly regarding them, a smug smile playing across his lips. “Haven’t you, Daring Do?”

“The crystals, the setup of the stones, even the vaguely ancient unicorn writings in the temple leading to here points something supposed impossible. But I have seen these before, though none of my colleagues believed me, told me I was a crackpot and all the evidence disappeared. They said it was a myth, a legend. After all, wouldn’t Celestia have mentioned if it had existed. But here it is again.”

Ditzy backed away from her, Daring's wild eyed look was scaring her.

“Daring? What is it? What’s here?”

Daring spun around and faced them. “The nation forgotten, the race lost, and the king clad in shadows. These ruins and this stone circle, this teleportation device. These are remnants of the ancient Crystal Empire! I can finally prove to them that I’m not crazy! They’ll learn what happens when you doubt Daring Do!”

Chapter 6: Northern Exposition

Chapter 6
Written by spectacles_ak
Proofread by Dartrunner

“Daring, you kind of scared me there for a moment.” Ditzy said quietly.

The two pegasi sisters and the earth pony stallion had been handed off to a cluster of guards while Legerdemane and his personal guards examined the teleporter themselves.

“Sorry, Ditzy, but I don’t think you understand what this means to me. I just found out that I was right all along!”

“Maybe you should explain that, Daring. That whole ‘proving I’m not crazy’ came a bit out of left field there.”

Daring looked to her sister and her companion, both of whom looked back. Her sister’s expression was that of concern, but she was not sure. She still did not much like this ‘Doctor’ her sister was hanging around with. He seemed like a bit of a nutjob.

She sighed and placed a hoof against her face. How many had told her the same thing about herself in these past months.

“I suppose you do deserve some kind of an explanation. And from the looks of things, we have some time to kill while they decided their next move. So get comfortable, this is a bit of a tale.”

Several Months Earlier
HSMS Allegrezza, Equestrian Royal Navy
Location: Northern Frontier, The Griffon Kingdoms

It was a calm morning over the Northern Frontier of the Griffon Kingdoms, the sky was clear and bright, the early sun glinting off the seemingly endless fields of snow and evergreen trees, stretching from the great mountains near the top of the world to the fortress cities in the more temperate south to the western border where the jewel of the world, Equestria lay.

The Northern Frontier officially belonged to no pony. The civil strife in this reign, that tore apart the various clans of the Griffons, meant that there was no unified military presence to protect the various trade convoys that made use of the frontier’s flat landscape, swift rivers, and normally calm skies. Not only to transport goods by land, but by water and in the great airships as well.

I was aboard Her Solar Majesty’s Ship Allegrezza, The Equestrian Royal Navy’s sole token military presence in the area. The airship was ostensibly there to protect Equestrian merchants in the lawless frontier, ferrying them and their goods to safer harbors on the other sides of the frontier. Heavily armed and armored, with a full flight of Pegasus Guards, as well as a few Unicorn Guards to give them any magical backup that might be necessary. It was a fairly large airship, compared to the civilian types that I had seen near Canterlot. This was meant to double as a warship and transport.

I had been sent to this area during the coldest time of year by the university in order to check on rumors of some interesting ruins that a caravan had spotted during their travels, bringing some artifacts they had found nearby I didn’t think much of them myself, at the time, but apparently they had interested someone important, so they decided to send me. As one of the the younger professors in the faculty. I had no grounds on which to refuse, so I was sent to take a poke around and see what I could see.

However, given the fact that I had been shipped off to the freezing cold with a bunch of wet behind the ears grad students, with very little to go on but vague directions and a mouth-drawn map, and the fact that the Equestrian Military’s idea of food was field rations and no liquor, I had begun to think that my fellow academics were out to get me. Trust a group of doddering old professors to try to kill me with boredom. I missed the days when people at least tried to poison you to get ahead.

I had just finished reviewing what little information we had to go on for the umpteenth time, hoping that there might have been something that I had overlooked. But after reading the descriptions enough times that the words had begun running together, I decided to get some air.

After exiting the cabin that the students and I had been bunking in, I took a deep breath of the cool winter air. Unfortunately I had to share the cabin, given that this was a military airship and thus space was at a premium.

The first thing I noticed just then was the fact that there was an awful lot of movement towards bow of the airship. Curious I made my way up to see what was going on. The deck of the Allegrezza was rather large, mostly because the pegasi used it as a take off platform. It also serves as a good place to stretch one’s legs, but this time it was full of the familiar armored forms of Her Solar Highness’ guard.

This was were most of the ship's crew had gathered. They were looking ahead of the ship and talking amongst themselves.. There was nothing I could see amiss, the sky was clear except for a few darkish clouds nearby to the front.

Walking up to one of them, I nudged their side to get the guard’s attention.

“So what’s with all the commotion? There a party and no pony told me?” I flashed a smile at him. It was always good to try to stay on the crew’s good side. Generally speaking, it's good to stay on any pony’s good side. You never know when it will come in handy.

The guard didn’t get a chance to answer as a very commanding voice cut through the crowd, and made its way in my direction.

“Miss, you need to return to your cabin. Immediately.” It said as the body the voice was attached to, materialized before me. Judging by the fancier armor I assumed it was the captain.

“What’s the matter, captain?” I asked trying to keep polite. I hate it when people order me around. It always grated on me, and my first reaction was to tell them to go to Tambleon. But this was my first big job for the University, and I was determined to prove to them that I was actually a bit more responsible than my own reputation gave me credit for.

“Please, Miss Do, I need you to return to your cabin and tell your charges to do likewise. Once we have ascertained what is going on, we’ll inform you.”

“I still don’t see what the problem is. Any problems on the ground can’t get us all the way up here and there’s nothing I can tell wrong with the airship. And I’ve been a few airships in my day so I’d like to think I could tell if something was wrong. The only thing I see are those clouds up ahead. What? Are you and your soldiers scared a few clouds?” My bravado had finally surfaced. Part of my brain was mentally facehoofing as hard as it could, while my mouth just kept going.

“When those same clouds were not there five minutes ago? Dark clouds appearing out of clear winter skies? Return to your cabin. Now.” He pointed in the direction I was to go with a foreleg.

Any counter to what I was going to say was cut off but a loud bang followed up by an equally loud thunk as something sank into the deck. It appear to be a large spear but with claws biting into the wood, connecting to it was a metal cable that seemed to run directly into the cloud.

A cloud which was quickly breaking up, revealing another airship, smaller than ours, but armored, painted grey, with a red wing emblem on the side. The other clouds similar began breaking up, revealing two more ships and groupings of what looked to be both pegasi and griffons flying around them.

“What in the..” Was all that escaped my lips.

“Horse feathers. ALL CREW TO BATTLE STATIONS!” The captain cried out and hurried away, pushing me in the direction of the cabins.

For a few moments in was chaos as I tried to parse what was going on. Suddenly my brain kicked in.

“Oh no. Pirates!”

“Pirates? Really, Daring?” Ditzy narrowed her eyes at her sister.

“I’m serious! Pirates attacked the airship we were on. It was totally crazy! Here we were, midwinter in probably one of the coldest places in the world getting attacked by Pegasi and Griffons.” Daring said excitedly.

“As much as I love stories about pirates and adventure and everything, I’m assuming your travelogue story has a point to it, yes?” The Doctor interjected, keeping his eyes on what Legerdemane and his unicorns were doing.

“It all has a point. I’m getting to it. You people have no sense of drama, do you?”

“I know a dressmaker. I know all about drama.” Rolling her eyes, which for her did not give quite the effect she was hoping for, Ditzy tried to get herself more comfortable. “If you’re so heart set on telling this story, get on with it.”

“Thank you. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Pirates!”