CHAPTER 3

Hey everypony. I'm back with chapter three sooner than I expected. As always with the earlier chapters in one of my longer stories, expect a little more buildup until it gets really exciting. It's still uncertain how Daring Do is gonna fit in with Drake and Co., or how they're all gonna stop King Sombra from returning, eh? I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. I had planned on doing this one for some time now, and I'm happy to finally get this one written. So, enjoy chapter three, and please review.

"You bring your toys, sis?" I asked as the four of us made our way to the armory in the Royal Palace. Budder grinned and reached back, patting the saddlebag on her right flank.

"Well, you sounded like this case was gonna be bad or something at the house..." She replied. I cautiously glanced at the bulging bag.

"What did you bring?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, just my trench knife." She replied.

"Oh."

"And those scalpels Shad..." Budder paused, remembering that Daring Do was with us. "That aunt Shade bought me...a couple pocket knives, that assassin wrist-blade you gave me, a can of pepper spray...oh, and my Marine Corps Camelus knife."

"Damn..." I shot back. "

"You normally let your little sister pack that much heat?" Daring asked, trotting up beside me. We reached the armory, and I opened the door and walked in like I owned the place.

"Let? My little sister can use edged weapons better than most regular soldiers..." I commented. I picked up a double-edged dagger and attached the hooks to my belt, opposite my trusty cavalry saber. "Heh. She made me teach her."

"Ain't she a little young to go on a dangerous assignment like this?" The explorer asked.

"She's saved my butt a few times. Never know, she might save yours too." I stated, almost insolently.

"Or I might save all of you." She shot back with a knowing grin. I handed Daring a knife, but she simply smiled.

"Got my own." She stated. "And my whip. Never needed anything else."

"Suit yourself." I shrugged. Rainbow Dash, not bringing along any weapons of her own, and probably trying to impress her idol, threw on a crossbow and a quiver of arrows, and strapped two daggers to her hind legs.

"You three just follow my lead, and we'll be fine." Daring commented. I shot her a cynical look.

"First off, I believe I'm leading up this little outing." I remarked. "I mean, we'll probably be up against armed and dangerous ponies here. It ain't exactly a holiday trip to some dusty old pyramid or something." Daring raised an eyebrow.

"What is it you think I do?" She asked. How to answer that one...

"Well, I never read your books, but from what I...glean...you're one of those tomb raider types that travels around the world and recovers old artifacts and junk." I said.

"Yeah...I do." Daring replied irritably. "But it's more like me going on dangerous trips to some of the most isolated spots on this planet, and risking my life to find ancient relics forgotten for centuries."

"Sounds real exciting." I said, throwing a coil of rope and a couple lanterns into my saddlebag. "And I bet it's a real adrenaline rush and all that, right? Tell me, finding all that antique garbage...is that for museums, or for personal profit?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, I get paid to recover the stuff, but it's not like I sell it on the black market like one of those morally bankrupt grave robbers." She said, almost defensively. "So yeah Lieutenant, it's for museums and universities. I'm just the muscle...and the brains half the time." I nodded and huffed.

"Well, since we're getting all acquainted and junk, you should know a little about me." I said.

"I did my homework." Daring interjected. "Almost a decade of active duty cavalry service on the frontier. You were reassigned to CID, and what's funny...you've worked on some of the most high-profile cases in the country, and not a single one involved internally investigating a military crime. Now why is that?"

"Mm...guess I just go where I'm told to go..." I shrugged innocently.

"Heh. Can it, Lieutenant." She quipped. "You either work as a private eye for the princesses, or you're an Intelligence spook." She flashed a cocky smile. "I don't care either way. I just wanted to know who I was being stuck with on this little job."

"She's good." Budder philosophically concluded.

"'Course she is kiddo..." Dashie replied. "...she's Daring Do! This is the pony that rescued the Sapphire Statue from Ahuizotl!"

"Alright, alright..." I sighed. "Let's get going. We have an evil overlord to stop." Budder and Dash trotted out of the room with me and Daring Do behind. At the door, I stopped, and turned back to the renowned adventurer.

"Problem?" She asked brashly.

"Hope not." I answered. "Look, I get it that you're some awesome, hot dogging, world-famous explorer and everything...but I need to know right off the bat...you're not gonna do anything to put my family in danger, are you?" She cocked her head curiously. "I got a bad feeling about his whole thing. This could be dangerous, and I want everypony to make it back...my marefriend and sister especially, but I don't plan on losing anypony on this, you included. We go in, do the job and get out, okay? No showboating...none of us have anything to prove, understand?" Daring scoffed.

"Don't worry none, Lieutenant. I'll watch your backs if you watch mine. That acceptable to you?"

"That's one of the only codes I believe in." I answered. "Now let's get going." We walked out of the armory. "Heh. You know, you remind me of my marefriend for some reason."

"How so?" Daring asked as we followed the girls down the main hall.

"You two are about the same annoying level of cocky." I stated. Daring glanced sidelong at me. I smiled, and walked ahead to join my family.

…...

We sat in the passenger car of the only train heading to the Crystal Empire that day. In the relatively empty car, I sat beside my sister, mulling over how I would go about tackling this case. Budder was sketching a winged platypus or something, and in the next seat over, Rainbow Dash was firing off questions about Daring Do's adventures while the explorer sat back in her seat lazily, her pith helmet over her eyes.

"And when you beat Doctor Caballeron...that was totally awesome!" Dash gushed.

"Uh-huh." Daring replied.

"Oh man...and getting chased by that boulder? You can get outta any situation, can't you?"

"Yep." Daring uttered disinterestedly. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey sis.." I said. "This Sombra guy..."

"Yeah?" Budder replied, looking up.

"You study this kind of stuff...what's necroman or whatever?"

"Necromancy?" My sister asked, correcting me.

"Yeah."

"Well...like, it means he can summon spirits and raise the dead and stuff like that." She explained.

"Raise the dead...like zombies and stuff?" I queried.

"Princess Celestia said something about him having an army of undead soldiers and stuff...so yeah, I think he can make zombies." Budder said.

"Sombra was a master of the dark arts." Daring Do spoke, her hat still over her face. "During his little reign of terror, he had a small army of dead ponies he brought back to be his stormtroopers. He liked sending ponies' dead friends and relatives to their houses to make 'em stay in line. Rumor has it, he could raise the spirits of the dead and even demons, and talk to 'em like they were old friends."

"You could have mentioned that earlier..." I complained. "Ghost ponies...that's just great..." I groaned. "If this turd comes back from the dead, it'll be the Hell House all over again..."

"Hell...House?" Daring asked, raising her hat enough to glance at me curiously.

"Yeah...believe it or not, we actually have some experience with evil spirits and dead guys runnin' around." I replied.

"Good to know." Daring stated indifferently, dropping the pith helmet back over her eyes. "We'll probably need all the experience we can get."

"You get paid to act unsociable?" I commented dryly.

"Eh...just used to working alone." She said back. "You three ever been stuck working with somepony, and it totally screws up your group dynamic?"

"Rusty Shackleford." All three of us stated blandly.

"And you don't have to worry about us not being able to keep up." Dashie said to Daring. "After all the awesome adventures we've been on, I'd say we're just as good as you at this kinda thing!"

"Wanna know the truth, guys?" Daring asked, sitting up in her seat. "I hope you three are as good as I've heard. I really do, 'cause I don't think you or anypony else really gets how massively bad this is gonna be if we don't recover that horn. We kind of have zero room for failure here. Now I've been in a few scrapes with some pretty nasty characters tryin' to take over the world, and I know you have too..."

"I know..." I interjected. "This King Sombra is the worst you've ever had to deal with, right?"

"Pretty much."

"And if we don't get that horn, and he's brought back to life, he'll enslave all of ponykind, and all that." I added. "I get it."

"You're taking it pretty well." Daring commented.

"Miss Daring, I sometimes think everything I've seen in this this world has made me a nihilist. It's not that I don't understand how severe this whole thing is...it's just that it doesn't surprise me, honestly. Being close to death...it doesn't really register. Well...as long as I know I'm doing something. You know, making the world better and all that. I know it's gonna be bad, and we're gonna be in mortal danger. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it...and hope for the best." Budder lay her head on my shoulder, and I was silent a moment. "And I meant what I said. You're all getting out of this alive."

"You really are that pony, aren't you?" Daring Do asked.

"What?" I asked curiously.

"Nothin'." She answered. "Something I heard..." I closed my eyes and tried to block out all thoughts about this mission. It's like I told Daring Do. No sense in worrying about it right now. We'd be in the middle of it soon enough...

Looks like the gang will be starting their mission soon. In fact they will be in the next chapter, and I'm willing to wager many of you can't wait to see what happens next. Or what Daring meant when she called Drake 'That Pony'. Any guesses? I will try to have the next chapter up late tonight or tomorrow evening, depending on how procrastinating and lackadaisical I'm feeling. I just discovered Assassin's Creed, and it's a worthwhile waste of time, so yeah. I'll try to write the next chapter soon though. Until then, thanks for reading, everypony. -Drake