Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone

  Daring, quickly running out of energy herself, screamed down towards the dragon's descending form and managed to scoop him up just before he hit the hard asphalt. They had just managed to escape the chupas' weapon range, but now the slow, laden pegasus was easy pickings for the passionate convoy.

  She tried with every inch of her being to dodge the bullets. Although she was grazed many times, almost having her ear blown off at least twice, she managed just enough energy to barely stay out of range. Before she knew it, the balloon was in her reach. She finally breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it was all over. But wait... the  balloon was full of armed chupas!

  "Of course!" Daring said. "This can never be easy, can it?"

  They touched the ground, Flamington just getting his energy back. They wasted no time in trying to wrestle the militants out of the balloon, but they persisted and stood their ground. Daring threw one onto the ground, and he landed on the anchor rope, making it rise into the sky. They were finally safe from the chupas on the ground, but now they had to throw out the ones in the balloon. They kicked and punched and bit with all of their dwindling might, Daring using the skills she learned from that time she spent with a Kung-Fu master, Flamington doing whatever Daring was doing. They finally managed to throw the last militant onto the ground, and they were officially safe from the shooters, the balloon and basket being made of magic puncture-proof material.

  "So," Flamington said, "You got out of jail; escaped Manehican militants with rifles, barely avoiding getting hit; carried me eight miles to the balloon while you were getting shot at, and finally threw fifteen thugs out of a balloon basket meant for about six ponies. You are just the epitome of awesome, aren't you?"

  "Yeah, I guess I am, aren't I?" Daring joked, feigning cockiness.

  Flamington looked nauseous. "Geez, I'm not that cheesy, am I?" she said, worried. "It's not your humor," he said. "It's..."

  A plume of fire erupted from his mouth, with a letter enrobed in the green flames.  "Ugh, that's the one thing I hate about being your secretary. Who figured out that you can do that, anyway?"

  Daring was silent as she read her letter, her excited attitude slowly being replaced by a sort of trepidation akin to what she felt earlier. "It's official," she said, a dead look on her face. "My sister is going to marry my ex-boyfriend."

                             ***

Dear Daring,

  So! How have things been?? It's been soooo long since we talked last; you're missing out on a lot!!  I don't usually like to write letters, but there's something really important I need to tell you: me and Golden Harvest are getting married!! I know, it's a little sudden, but we've been wanting to get married for a while now, and now is the perfect time since we both just turned 21! (Isn't it cool how the three of us happen to have the same birthday??) I can't wait to see you at the wedding; here's your invitation, mailed extra early because I know you're super busy!

                                      You are Cordially Invited

                                          To the Wedding of

                                            Golden Harvest

                                                    And

                                                 Ditzy Do

                                                   At the

                 Royal Canterlot Museum of Art Eastern Ballroom

                                                  On the

                                           Third of July, 984

     Please bring a donation to benefit the Royal Art History Society, if able.

Hope you have fun!

   Your TSBF (Twin Sister Best Friend),

                       Ditzy Do

  "Yeah, I'm gonna have a ball," she said.

                            ***

Daring Do was born in Mareami to Mi Re Do, her mother, and Do Si Do, her father, at the same time as Ditzy Do, her sister (it was literally the same time; their mother has an impeccable amount of pain tolerance.)

  Daring was named for her recently deceased aunt, Daring Deed, while Ditzy was named for the Old Equestrian word for "angel voice," "Det'zie." Ditzy was born with a rare optic nerve dysfunction known as equestrian oculitis, where her eyes don't line up properly, while the only dysfunction that Daring was born with, in her family's opinion, was how she would rather write stories and go on adventures than be a musician like she was expected to. Her family's disapproval of her interests, especially after her cutie mark set her fate in stone, caused a rift to form between them. As she got older, she took to writing moody poetry and going for walks in the woods while Ditzy used her amazing voice to join choirs and get scholarships, eventually moving to Canterlot to attend the Royal Academy of Visual and Performing Arts.

  And then, when she entered high school, she met Golden Harvest. Like Daring, he was different from his peers; he was born with his cutie mark, and he had his whole life to figure out what it meant. Even though it was a grain of wheat surrounded by a golden corona, he decided that his calling was to be an art historian, and he concluded that his cutie mark was a symbol of the agrarian folk art movement of the 400s.

  Daring and Harvest were an inseparable pair once they decided to be together in their sophomore year. They read the same books together, went hiking on the weekends, and had a wonderful time at both junior and senior prom.

  Daring had become nearly estranged from her family in this time, only depending on her parents for a meal and a place to rest. Likewise, he was never very close to his parents, and so as she never bothered to introduce him to her family, he never bothered to introduce her to his. Harvest was Daring's only family, and Daring was Harvest's only family.

  And then it happened the night of graduation. While her parents didn't really care to attend, Ditzy came all the way from Canterlot to see her walk across the stage, ignorant the whole time of her relationship with Harvest.

  There was a soirée afterwards for the graduates and their families at a hotel, and Daring went with Ditzy to catch up and tell stories (but certainly not about Mom and Dad or Harvest!) Daring wasn't feeling well, so she stepped out for a bit while Ditzy got cake. That's when Harvest saw her. Somehow he saw past the messed-up eyes and could see a beautiful fraternal twin that was just like Daring without the baggage, and he also sensed something extra about her that he just couldn't place at the time.

  Daring felt a burning fury like she had never felt before when she walked in on them in the courtyard. She was so angry that she had no idea what to do with her body; she could feel a fiery rage that boiled her blood and set her brain ablaze. She only stood there for about three seconds, but it felt like an eternity of merciless torture, watching them kiss with lovers' gay abandon. After what seemed like forever, she decided that she couldn't take it any longer and started to walk wherever her hooves would take her. She walked and walked with enraged passion through the streets of downtown Mareami, into the surrounding neighborhoods, into the rural forest, and finally she found herself being taken to the trail in the woods where she and Harvest would hike on the weekends. She wandered up the path as far as she could make herself go, and collapsed on the ground in the clearing where he had first told her that he loved her. Then Daring, in her expensive cocktail dress that had consumed a month's salary, in her sweat-smeared makeup, in a clearing lit by nothing but Luna's luminous moon, broke down and cried harder than her poor mother had the day she was born. As she cried and wailed and screamed, she took a small folded-up note that she had concealed in her satin hoofbag and tore it into a thousand pieces. On the night when the rest of their lives officially began, in the clearing where Harvest had professed his love for Daring, she ripped up the note she was going to give to him that said, "I love you, Golden Harvest. Will you marry me?"