I was awoken by the resumption of my music. Apparently the late night practice had been for a performance today. I glanced up as the pony above me cleared his throat again.

"Your invitation?"

Oh, this guy was a winner. His snide, sarcastic voice told me quite clearly he knew I didn't have one. I held back my irritation though, trying to be polite. "I don't have one, I apologize." I turned to go, but he blocked me.

"Crashing a Celestial party? How crude. Guards!"

I rolled my eyes, flicked mud out of a nearby puddle don to him, and teleported away to Photo's. They were all asleep, spread out all over the studio. ...Lucky them. Daring was over on the floor, just beside the couch holding Derpy. Turner and Photo were nowhere to be seen. I started to turn to find somewhere to sit, but Daring's head lifted up. "Hey, SkyTear." She yawned. "Good to see you again."

Ok, so I hadn't bene hearing things last night. I decided to play dumb. "My name's Lantra. Lantra Riverspeaker."

She got up and looked me in the eye. "Your name is SkyTear Cascade, last living kelpie, master of Chaos, and protector of artifacts. I've found enough records of you in places I've explored. When I first saw you, it felt like you but I couldn't be sure... But when you made it rain... Your magical aura was so very familiar..."

"You can sense auras? But, you're a pegasus?"

"But my dad was an alicorn. How did you think I find what I'm looking for- get lucky? Nah, I need all my luck for when I'm busy escaping!" I was silent, shocked to have been found out so easily. "You can't deny it, can you?"

"...No. You guess correctly."

"Yep! I always guess correctly, and I always get what I want."

"Oh? And what do you want now?"

She frowned for a moment, then flopped back down. "More sleep. Night!"

"But, it's nearly-" ... She was already snoring. Well, what had I been hoping for? No, stop there, you don't want to contemplate that answer. Well, ok, maybe I already was, but here she was, asleep, and I would not disturb that.

Well, there are those playcolt shoot pics of her around here somewhere...

Why thank you, little voice in my head! I knew you were good for something! I glanced around the studio, and felt my heart hit the floor. This place was so cluttered. I'd never find them.

On your own.

...I love you, me! I closed my eyes and let chaos swirled around me. My form split without ever moving, expounding every possibility. We felt Daring stir and tried to hurry. As soon as we were observed to be standing still, so we would be!

Too late. Daring stood again, glancing at me. I could only imaging how I must appear- standing still, eyes shut, aura suddenly quiet after all that energy.

"What are you doing?"

"I... um... nothing."

"Some difficult spell. Why?"

"Why ask what I was doing if you knew?"

"All right, if you want me to be blatant, what are you looking for?"

"How do you-"

"It was a spread aura, filling the structure. Even if I don't know what it was specifically, it was either to search for something, or a really shitty teleportation spell."

"...You have your father's brilliance, without the bent."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"One of the highest I can imagine."

"Oh. ...So what are you looking for?"

"I... Well, just trying to get a judge on how this place is set up and-"

"You're after my photos."

"...You did it again."

She shrugged. "They're over there." I followed her hoof to see a table. ...How annoyingly simple. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

...Not wanting another debate with the me in my head about whether this was a dream or not, I walked to the table and looked at the top most picture. It was of Daring, on her back. Her back hooves were behind her head, her face sultry, hat off to one side of her sexed-up mane. The image held me spellbound until she interjected.

"Well? How do I look?"

I turned to answer, and my jaw hit the floor. Daring was in the middle of the floor, copying the pose I'd just seen! I was acutely aware that I could have added a 6th ground-contact point. "Daring, what are you...?"

"Awww." She giggled. "Am I making life difficult for you?" She rolled over herself so she was sitting normally. "So. You and sis. Tell me everything."

I tried to drag myself back together. "We live in the same house. We're friends, and I'm trying to help her with Filthy. What else is there to know?"

"Yeah, right. Look, SkyTear- she cares about you almost as much as me, and you quite clearly care about her. What's going on?"

"Almost as much as you?"

She flushed. "Well, yeah... She likes you, I love you."

"But you've known me for one day?"

"No, you've known me for a day. I've known you since I was a filly and made my first discovery.

I bounced about in the woods jeering the invisible foes chasing me. "Ha-ha! You cannot catch me, ye scallyponies! I be the might pirate- cap'n Dastardly Daring!" I swooped about, running through a surprised sailor with my sword. Suddenly, a branch clipped my wing, sending me spiraling into the ground. My stick flew out of my hoof as I impacted, tumbling. Unable to stop, I kept going, straight into a solid rock that I had flown over and leapt off just moments before as a ship. "AHHH-" I braced for impact, ready for the wind to leave me. As I was about to touch the rock, the ground dropped out from under me, tossing my bouncing self into a dark tunnel. "-hhh?"

The tunnel went down quickly, before levelling out in a cavern, unlit except for some luminescent moss on the high ceiling. I strained my eyes, but saw nothing. I tried to fly up the tunnel, but the trap door would not open from within. I was there for hours, until I could not help but curl up and cry, too afraid to move.

Suddenly, I felt an aura pass behind me. I leapt up and felt around, but it was gone. I focused again, and it was back, pacing about me. The aura felt unmistakably blue, and bounced from hue to hue. It was pacing about the cavern, without noticing me.

As I watched it, a voice began to flow through my mind, like a whisper on the breeze. "Good, it's all still here." It shifted to the other side of the cave. I followed it, and found a small alcove carved into the walls. The aura was doing something to them. "All right, I only have time to get one of you hidden today." The aura scooped something I couldn't see out of an alcove, then vanished.

I kept feeling around in the dark. There were alcoves everywhere! I spun slightly as the aura returned. I hurried over to the wall where it was. "I've hidden everything, Father... Well, almost... I'll have to hide it too... I know I do... It's soaked up too much of your magic. Too much of the artifacts'... But I don't want to lose my last link to you... ...No, I can't... I have to go see Luna again as soon as possible... We've been away so long... Tomorrow. Yeah, I'll hide you tomorrow."

The aura faded, and I stepped into where it was. Int he dim light, I could just make out a new shape. I reached out, and touched fabric. I suddenly had to blink hard. It was as if the light in the cave had grown! But, it hadn't? Why could I see better? I looked at what I was touching. It was a worn, yet crisp safari hat. Experimentally, I took my hoof off it, and everything went dark. Hoof back on, and life lit up! Impulsively, I shoved the hat on my head. I instantly felt... odd. So, what had the aura meant by "All of them"? I turned, and almost tripped as my legs went weak. From floor to ceiling, the cave was full of cubbies. Each was s different size, and I could feel a glimmer of magic coming out of each nook. Why hadn't I been able to feel them before? I tried again at removing the had, and the magical traces vanished. So, this was enhancing my power to feel magical auras! Maybe this had belonged to the blue aura's "Father". Well then. I pulled the hat down on my head and got down to the camouflage tacks. There had to be a way out of here. I quickly flew up the tunnel again, and now with my improved vision, I could see a lever. ...How annoyingly simple! Flicking it with one hoof, I stepped out into the welcoming sunlight, and into adventure!

"That was your aura. And it was at every discovery I've ever made! When I was young, it was like an older brother watching out for me. Then, as I got older and older... I mean, sometimes that aura was al I'd have to comfort me, or even just keep me company. It's like I've known you since I was a filly."

I barely heard her, my gaze focused on that hat. I'd known it had looked familiar... "So, it was safe, even out of my cave..."

Realizing what I was looking at, she held up Father's hat. "The adventuring hat of Corozone Sparkle, yeah. It's saved my flank lots..." She suddenly pulled it close to herself. "And I don't care if it's yours, I'm keeping it!"

"Considering what your books show of your work, there is no one else alive today whose more fit to wear it."

She physically relaxed. "It means a lot to hear you of all ponies say that. She glanced down at Derpy. "They'll be waking up soon... It's too bad."

"Why? How can you know that?" I knew I could have known if I'd bothered to look, but she just glanced at Derpy and knew it!

"Her aura's settling down as her mind returns to serious focus. Asleep, our minds and auras simply dance like the northern lights. Only awake are they an ordered thing."

"Always amazing, miss Doo." I praised, as Derpy got up, yawning.

"Good morning, Lan. Hey sis... What are we doing today?"

"Ve are going to the thing, at the place!" Photo was sweeping down the stairs, seeming like she had been awake for hours. How did she always have so much energy, I wondered. "Come, come! No time to vait!" She rushed out the door, all of us bemusedly following her. I looked over to the yawning Turner.

"Is she always like this?"

"You get used to it, I promise. Let's go!"

Ok. Sorry about the long wait for the new chapter. I know it feels like I have an excuse every time, but life really is going nuts. Even my writing time has been usurped for the most part by a new RP group I've joined! But, worry not, I have not given up on this work. So... Hopefully you enjoyed the look at how Daring got her start into adventuring!

I do not own MLPFIM. That simple.