The Legend of Archenold

Chapter 4

The Journey Begins

The four gleeful ponies enjoy a relaxing and ironic dinner of muffins, laughing at each others jokes and stories. Then, seeing that the sun has set, they all go to bed. Derpy heads to her room where she lays on a beaten up mattress, Archenold claims a torn apart recliner, Apple Jack falls asleep on the hard couch, while Big Macintosh falls asleep on the bathroom toilet. When back at the Everfree Forest, Zecora welcomes Daring Do into her home and gives her a spare bedroom to sleep in for the night. They all wake up feeling somewhat refreshed before their epic journey is about to begin. Archenold wakes up feeling refreshed, yawning, which wakes up Apple Jack. She stretches, then gets up to find Big Mac asleep on the porcelain throne.

"Uhh...Big Mac?" AJ begins, causing Big Mac to wake up, startled and embarrassed to know someone found him asleep in the bathroom. He quickly gallops past AJ out of the bathroom to join Archenold at the dining table. Soon enough, they spot Derpy walking out of a hallway, yawning, rubbing her eyes with her hoof.

"G'morning." She greets as she heads towards the table to join them.

"Good mornin' to ya." Big Mac returns. "Ah'm guessin' we're havin more of them muffins?" He asks, eager to have more. "They were good." He compliments. Derpy lights up at the comment.

"Yes we are and thanks! At least I'm good at something." She gets up to prepare some more muffins in an old, yet well-maintained oven. Archenold starts a conversation.

"You didn't see anything odd when we were escaping, did you?" He asks Big Mac in wonder.

"Nnope." He replies.

"Weird. Because when we left, I saw a pair of silver eyes staring at me on top of the roof back at the base. When I blinked, they were gone." Archenold admits.

"That means you saw the Silver Griffin." Derpy replies as she sits next to them waiting for the muffins to cook.

"Pardon me but, who is this Silver Griffin?" AJ inquires as she leaves the bathroom to join them.

"You never heard?" Derpy asks, looking at AJ.

"Nnope." Archenold, Big Mac, and AJ reply in unison.

"That's interesting. The Silver Griffin is the most notorious thief and assassin out there. Hired to take care of the most notorious criminals or just some pony who bugs somepony else. She is almost never seen and always does her work in the shadows. Whenever the media arrives at the scene, she's off somewhere else doing more dirty work. Never been caught once. Never will be. Some ponies say that she's a unicorn who has a grudge against the world for something they did to her or her family. Others say, she is an invincible entity in the world. No one knows anything truly about her. Peculiar how she'd be at that base though. Was she hired to kill Cyphento or something? Maybe just a guard someone knows. Either way, she was probably working against the Black Hoof." The four ponies start pondering for a while when the timer goes ding. Derpy gets up and serves the muffins. "Breakfast is served!"

Back at Zecora's house...

Daring Do wakes up refreshed and ready to take on the world like always. She gets up and stretches, then puts her clothes back on, finishing up by putting her hat on. She puts the whip on her side and heads out of the guest room. Strange how she has a guest bedroom even though not many ponies visit her. Daring Do thinks. She leaves the room to see Zecora doing her morning meditation, sitting on a stick in some sort of zen pose, meditating, reciting a chant under her breath.

"Good morning." Zecora turns around and lowers herself off of the stick, smiling.

"Ahh! Good morning, Daring Do. May I ask, how are you?" greets in her usual rhyming.

"Just fine. I had a good sleep. So, what's for breakfast?" daring Do asks, getting a bit hungrier.

"I don't have many ingredients, but don't be sad. I have enough to make us salad." Zecora heads to her shelves to pull out the ingredients for a usual salad. Daring Do waits patiently for the salad to finish.

"So, anyways, thanks for letting me stay." Daring Do thanks.

"No problem. Anything for a friend. I'm always nice in the end." Zecora replies.

"How natural is it for you to rhyme like that so easily?" daring Do asks curiously.

"Just as natural as it is for you and I to see." Zecora replies as she finished making the salad. Daring Do sits down at a circular, wooden table as Zecora passes a bowl of salad and a couple of utensils to eat.

"Thank you." The two enjoy their meal when Daring Do asks a question.

"So, what am I supposed to do when I leave? Do you know? I'm clueless." Zecora looks up to Daring Do.

"Daring Do, listen carefully. A great destiny, I foresee. You must go out and recruit some friends. Search through all the odds and ends. Get allies to assist to fight a great battle to help bring down Cyphento in his saddle. Bring forth a great army to help Archenold, while he goes searching for the ponies of old. Once reunited, you will bring this great evil to an end. You simply cannot get a sword, for he is no Discord. A far greater threat he is. to start, take this." Zecora hands over a small, metal stick with a blue tip at one end.

"Doctor Hooves' sonic screwdriver. How did you...?" Zecora interrupts.

"Find Doctor Hooves to get the most strategic moves. After you found him and have done that, you two will have a chat. After talking, he will see. He'll gather some friends to join the army."

"Umm...Thanks for the rather...cryptic advice." Zecora nods as she starts eating again. Daring Do finishes her salad and heads out.

"Have a nice day! Safe travels to you along the way!" Zecora sends off.

Back at Derpy's house...

The four ponies eat their muffins in delight.

"Damn! You make the best muffins ever! How come they picked on you for everything else?!" Archenold compliments.

"Thanks. It means a lot that you appreciate something I can do." Derpy thanks as they all finish off their muffins.

"Right, so our first objective is ta get to mah alter. There we'll find the first magical rune to enhance Archenold's power." AJ reminds everyone. "Right now, he's stuck with some wings." Derpy looks over to Archenold in confusion.

"You have wings? You seem like an earth pony." Derpy asks in confusion.

"They lose their color and sparkles when they retract. I do have wings though." He spreads out his wings, causing them to turn back to a jade color, sparkling again. Derpy goes derp-eyed as she smiles in excitement.

"Wow! That's neat!" She compliments as Archenold retracts his wings causing them to lose their effect again.

"Yeah. I was really surprised to find out I developed wings after taking in that idol's power. " Archenold admits.

"No shoot. You were flyin' around in circles like a square dance broke out in the middle a nowhere!" AJ confirms. Derpy starts chuckling.

"You two are funny." She comments. "Anyways, If we're going somewhere, we best be going now." Derpy suggests. AJ looks at Derpy with agreement.

"Right. We'll need to go to Las Pegasus." Derpy lights up.

"Whoa, Las Pegasus?! That means I might get to see Dinky again!" She flies to her room to pack immediately. Caught up in her excitement, she crashes into the wall. Archenold rushes to her and helps her up. "Thanks!" She starts packing as she rushes into her room.

"Wow. She must really miss Dinky." Archenold comments. Everypony else gathers their belongings and get ready to move out. The only thing stopping them is the wait time for extra muffins to be baked for their long journey. As soon as that's done, they move out of the run down shack Derpy calls home and walks towards town. Derpy starts getting anxious as they near town. Her anxiety keeps building until they enter town where it cant build any further. As they walk through town, they notice some ponies giving looks of disgust towards Archenold and his friends, along with even worse looks at Derpy. Derpy tugs at Archenold's tail to get his attention.

"Umm...I think we should hurry. It's clear we're not wanted here." Derpy suggests.

"Don't worry. everything'll be fine." Archenold reassures. They head further into town to arrive at the train station. Archenold walks up to the ticket booth with AJ and Big Mac, without noticing Derpy isn't there. "Four tickets to Las Pe..." He's  interrupted by the sound of Derpy shrieking in pain. Archenold looks in her direction to see her surrounded by a bunch of ponies who are beating her up brutally. "AJ, get the tickets." He orders as he rushes to the scene. "Everyone, back away. NOW!" Archenold commands as he pulls out his bow. The ponies start laughing.

"You think you can threaten us with that wimpy little weapon?" One of the ponies taunt.

"Why don't you fight me and find out?" Archenold challenges. Accepting the challenge, the pony rushes towards Archenold, only to be stopped, dropping to the ground in a lifeless sack with an arrow sticking out of his forehead. Reacting to the death, the other ponies rush at him. Archenold engages in close combat by dodging every attempt to attack, countering, and letting them beat themselves up. A couple times, Archenold is able to snap a couple necks. For the most part, he is bucking ponies in the head, knocking them unconscious. The fighting stops once all the ponies are dead or unconscious. "Let this be a lesson to all you damn ponies who tried this on Derpy." Archenold yells out gathering every ponies attention who happen to be there at the time. "You will not jump her like this at all because she has friends now." Archenold declares. He trots over to Derpy who is curled up with a bunch of bruises all over, crying.

"Are...Are they gone?" Derpy asks still frightened by the sudden event. Archenold helps Derpy up who is wincing in pain as she tries walking.

"Yes. I dealt with them." Archenold replies giving Derpy a smile. Derpy smiles back.

"Thanks for standing up for me." Derpy Thanks.

"Lets get you onto that train." Archenold nods to AJ who got the tickets for their ride to Las Pegasus. Archenold happens to look up to see a black pony on top of the train station with silver eyes again. "It's..." He blinks and the pony is gone. All that's left is a paper airplane flying in his direction.

"It's what?" Derpy asks. Archenold grabs the paper airplane when it gets close and opens it up. There is writing inside it.

"Thanks so much for standing up for her. However, I'm still going to keep a close eye on you.

-The pony you saw back at the mane base of the Black Hoof, Silver Griffin"

"It's a thank you note from the Silver Griffin." Archenold responds handing the note over to Derpy. She looks at Archenold with a raised eyebrow after reading it

They soon find their bedrooms on the train. Archenold checks on Derpy every few minutes to see how she is doing. As soon as the train starts, they sit back to enjoy the trip.

Meanwhile...

Daring Do exits the forest to come by a town. Upon entry, ponies start giving her fearful looks. She takes notice. She tries to ignore it, but her curiosity bests her. She walks up to a pony who shrinks back as she draws near.

"Hey, what's up with everypony? Why are they so scared of me?" The pony starts sweating, keeping a look of fear on his face. He looks around for a place to run.

"Ummm...you wouldn't happen to be a friend of Derpy, would you?" The Stallion asks with a shaky voice. Daring Do raises an eyebrow.

"Derpy? What does she have to do with this?" Daring Do asks with concern.

"She...There were some new ponies over by the train station. One of them was blue with a golden bow and arrow as a cutie mark. He... He fought a group of ponies. Some were killed. others knocked out." The stallion answers with a less shaky tone.

"Why would he do that?" Daring Do asks wondering what possible reason Archenold had.

"They were beating up Derpy pretty bad. Now I just feel bad for her.  I mean, shunning her for making simple mistakes..." The pony gets lost in thought as Daring Do wonders what to do next.

"Hay, have you heard of Doctor Hooves?" Daring Do asks the pony.

"Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. He takes residence over in Manehattan. Nice guy. He saved me once from a vicious gang that tried to kill me for not having "protection money" when I lived in Las Pegasus." Daring Do lights up.

"Great! Do you know exactly where he lives?" The pony shrugs.

"I dunno. Just ask around once you get there." The pony suggests.

"Alright." Daring Do heads off to the train station.

"Its alright. She's cool." The pony reassures the ponies in the area. They all relax.

Daring Do gets to the train station, only to be stopped by a police line.

"Figures." Daring Do. rolls her eyes. "Hey! Officer!" She shouts grabbing a police pony's attention. The pony walks over.

"What the hay are you doing here? can't you see this is a crime scene?" Daring Do ignores the question and gets to the point.

"I need a train ride to Manehattan. If you could just let me on..." The officer stops her.

"I'm sorry, but with the investigation, no one is entering or leaving this town." The officer apologizes

"What if the world depended on it?" The officer starts laughing.

"Then I would but it doesn't the safety of the citizens depend on us right now. Why would the world depend on it?" The Officer asks in his humor.

"Well, first off, the Black Hoof is trying to..." The officer pulls out his pistol and points it at Daring Do.

"I suggest you leave right now, missy." Daring Do doesn't flinch as she looks at the pistol, then back at the officer. Seeing the reaction, she knows that she might not entirely be safe if she stays there any longer.

"Right. I'll be off then." Daring Do leaves the station to find an inconspicuous area for her to fly off undetected. She soon finds the right place behind a rundown part of the town where nopony is and heads over there. "See ya later, you sons of sea ponies." She says to herself as she spreads her wings and takes off into the air heading towards Manehattan.