And now for more of...

"Origin Story" was originally conceived of then abandoned as a fanfiction. Now, it has been reincarnated as part of a Fallout: Equestria tabletop roleplaying adventure. Each segment that I post consists of a report by Daring Do while on a mission for wartime Equestria, followed by a few pages of rough draft for a Daring Do prequel, intended to be used as a cryptography OTP. Each of these "pads" amounts to the most crucial part of what would have been a story chapter.

Previous Pads:

Origin Story (Prologue & Framing)

Origin Story (Part One)

Please enjoy!

And again, please let me know if you stumble across any Word Crimes in this writing. Nothing here has been through a proper editor.

Third mission report.

I dared a high-altitude aerial recon of the Basin. Probably shouldn’t risk that again. The zebras have eyes on the skies. But I was able to glimpse Legion activities around many of the ancient obelisks like this one. To most, these obelisks would seem to be (at best) particularly evocative ruins; photogenic, the markings on their sides would perhaps be interesting to anthropologists or zebra historians, but the structures themselves of little consequence. I know better. These obelisks were built by Rasdon. They are magical nodes, part of a web of spiritual energy laid across the entire basin.

The Radiant Shield of Rasdon. The Legion is trying to control the sun.

I’m going to assume that this mission report is being read by a group of military ponies in a bunker or headquarters somewhere in Equestria, and that at least one of you just scoffed. But before you make a cough into your hoof that sounds suspiciously like “Celestia”, let me remind you that Celestia’s power is not supreme. She’s been overpowered before. Remember Chrysalis? And her control over the sun has been successfully contested. Remember Nightmare Moon? Endless night?

Spirits can be very powerful. Observe Discord. Powerful spirits, especially if they work in tandem, can be truly godlike. There is a reason that the Elements of Harmony, fueled by the Spirits of Harmony, working together under the direction of those whose virtues resonate with Spirits of Harmony, are the single most powerful magical force in our world.

The Radiant Shield of Rasdon is not the Elements of Harmony, but it is far more powerful than I suspect most ponies are willing to accept. And its central focus is an enchanted object on par with one of the Elements.

Dash was right about this mission. If Legate Jua takes control of the Radiant Shield, we’re all in trouble. Unfortunately, this means we don’t have time to send reports and wait for the Lunar Army to come up with a plan. I’ve got to intervene now, before Jua can get what she’s after.

Third Pad Begins

Third Pad -- a rough draft excerpt from

Chapter 2: Chase Across Bahari Soko

Over the next few days, I made it my mission to get to know A.K. Yearling and, if possible, become her friend. I’d celebrate my rousing success, but truth be told, A.K. made it easy. A.K. was a wonderful mare, once I started to pull her out of her shell. She was reserved and proper (as, I assumed, an ambassador’s god-daughter ought to be), but within she held a vibrancy just waiting to express itself. Not to mention an inspiring creativity. We may not have had much in common, me being an athlete and aspiring archeologist (or “treasure hunter” as she insisted on calling me) and her being her, but we bonded over a surprising mutual interest: a shared love of writing.

Despite obligations and scheduling both doing their best to keep us apart, A.K. and I spent a decent amount of time in each other’s company. At one point, a zebra photographer was taking pictures of the Ambassadorial Manor, and I nudged her to shoot one of A.K. and myself that we could keep as a memento. Well timed, as no sooner had the photograph been taken than Goldentongue briskly informed me that our departure for Bahari Soko had been moved up. I had to break off my time with A.K. abruptly, having been given merely an hour to repack and join the others.

Bahari Soko was a large, seaside trading town and the true beginning of our summer adventure.

~-------~ oOo ~-------~

Daring Do swooped eagerly from the deck of the Mzigo Msichana and landed upon the the wooden pier below. The wind carried the scents and sounds of Bahari Soko – the smell of sweat, strange animals and foreign spices mixed with the splashing of waves and the creaking of ships, the trot of hooves and shouts in what (to Daring Do) was a most exotic tongue. Her eyes took in the zebra city, stretching backwards from the sprawling ports and along the river.

Ships of all sizes carefully navigated the crowded harbor. A coal transport was departing for Equestria, the zebras along its pier pulling up the ropes that had tethered it in place. The docks were busy with zebra workers, some guiding ships to their piers, most loading or unloading cargo. One nearby ship was dropping off cargo marked with the emblem of the Equestrian Games soon to be transported by train to Stalliongrad. Another was loading up on crates of spiny, hairy fruits meant for Roam.

Along the far edges of the docks, between zebras working out of the backs of wagons, Daring Do saw waiting rickshaws, their drivers waiting in anticipation. She suspected one of those was waiting for the ambassador. She rather hoped others were waiting for the rest of them, as a rickshaw ride would be a new experience.

“I’ve sent word ahead to the primi ordines,” Goldentongue was saying as he and Professor Underhill trotted down the gangplank behind her. “She is expecting your arrival. Likewise, I have procured four hours for you and your students at Bahari Soko’s Hall of Exhibitions.”

“Excellent,” said Underhill. “That will be a perfect start…”

Daring Do missed hearing the rest, distracted by a loudly whispered “Psssst! Over here!”

She turned to see a very large box set amongst many smaller crates. A box with a canvas tied down over it. There was a tear in the canvas, and a large, auburn eye was staring at her through it.

Daring Do looked around. Zebras had rushed to the edge of the boardwalk, shouting and waving at a steamboat that had mistakenly turned to dock at the pier already occupied by the Mzigo Msichana. Goldentongue and his assistants had turned to stare. The professor was shouting at Packer to corral the rest of the students off the ship. Nopony was paying any attention to Daring Do.

Daring Do inched forward towards the covered box and the eye staring through the canvas. A voice from behind the canvas called to her in a rumbling whisper. “Free me!”

Reaching the box, Daring Do bent down to look under the tarp. The box was a metal cage, the door held closed by a padlock and chains. Within was a creature with the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle – but Daring Do had seen griffins before and this was no griffin! The creature was much larger, the size of a manticore, and her face was like that of a zebra without stripes.

The creature turned her eyes on Daring Do, locking her gaze. “My value becomes lesser with each who knows about me. What am I?”

“What?” Daring Do blinked, befuddled by both the question and the questioner.

Before she could contemplate further, another head joined hers under the canvas. Professor Underhill smiled. “Ah, a sphinx! Best move away, Daring. They are dangerous spirit creatures, sphinxes. Treacherous. And their riddles are said to either bring great insight or drive ponies mad.”

The sphinx narrowed her eyes. Glowering at Professor Underhill, she asked, “My value becomes greater with each who knows about me. What am I?”

“Come along, now, Daring...” the professor began to say, only to be cut off by a resounding crash. Daring Do’s head shot out from under the canvas at the sound of shouts and of groaning, splintering wood.

The paddleboat had collided with the Mzigo Msichana, its prow tearing a swath from the side of the larger ship. The Mzigo Msichana was leaning, supplies and student luggage sliding across the bow. Daring Do saw Fleetwing swoop to capture some of them before they tumbled through the railing.

A frightened squeal pulled her eyes upwards. For some reason, Bluebell had been walking across the bowsprit like tightrope when the boats collided, throwing her. “I can’t swim!” she cried out, dangling by a single forehoof from the rigging just beneath the tip of the spar. Her grip was slipping.

Daring Do spread her wings and pushed off with a hard thrust, shooting up to Bluebell and catching her just as her hoof slid free. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you!” she said with a grin. It felt good to save the day.

Bluebell didn’t give her the response she expected. Instead, Bluebell gasped, staring ahead.

The steamboat’s engine hadn’t shut down, and the ship was now sliding along the side of the Mzigo Msichana, rending further along its side. The hull of the steamship smashed into the pier, collapsing several meters of it, dropping ponies and zebras into the water. Zebra dockworkers stopped shouting up at the steamship’s crew and ran back for the docks. One of Goldentongue’s assistants yelped the wood beneath her buckled and she fell with a splash. The other grabbed the ambassador, hauling him towards safety.

Bluebell pointed. Daring Do spotted several cloaked figures moving forwards across the steamship, two of them leaping the distance to board the Mzigo Msichana. Another pulled something out of a saddlebag and tossed it onto the bow where it erupted in a wash of smoke.

The smoke grew, bellowing as it became an unnatural pitch-black wave that washed over both ships and swallowed part of the docks.

As Daring Do’s world was plunged into blackness, she could hear somepony cry out. “It’s an attack!”

A single flare of light flickered in the darkness, growing swiftly larger, until the flame arrow struck into the jib less than a wing’s length from Daring Do. The jib began to burn, the fire spreading to the nearby jibs and rigging. Other flares of light slashed through the darkness.

Daring Do swooped towards the ground, hearing running hooves all around her. Bluebell called out for the professor the moment her hooves touched solid wood.

A light burst forth. The black cloud was swept back, creating an eye in the darkness centered on Goldentongue’s horn. Daring Do’s eyes widened as the expanding ring of visibility revealed a cloaked figure standing less than two meters behind the ambassador, a hoof raised. Strapped to the zebra’s leg was a small, mechanical crossbow, the arrow made of flickering flamewood.

“Ambassador!” Bluebell cried in warning.

The cloaked figure turned towards the voice. Daring Do charged her without thinking. The shot from her hoof crossbow went wild as Daring Do slammed into her. The clasp of the zebra’s cloak caught above Daring’s left ear, slashing across her scalp. The two crashed into one of the stacks of crates marked for the Stalliongrad. Bundles of ice arrows and jars of crystal polish spilled over them in a wave of splintered wood and packing rice.

Daring Do backed away, staring down at the would-be assassin. The zebra was out cold, Daring’s blood dappled the metal clasp, looking like wet rubies against the stylized feathered serpent’s head. Her gaze slid down to the crossbow. Celestia’s army had swords and spears, but Daring Do had never heard of them using those weapons against anything other than monsters – at least, not outside of her adventure books. Ponies (or zebras) attacking each other with murder in their hearts was the stuff of stories. But this was real... and that made it altogether different.

The screams behind her yanked Daring Do out of her momentary reverie. She felt herself shaking. Looking about, she saw that the attackers hadn’t killed anyone yet, but not for lack of trying. Goldentongue and Packer were making quick work of the darkness. The ambassador’s assistants (one of them quite wet) were engaged in hoof-fights with two of the cloaked figures while Professor Underhill hid behind the covered cage with several of the students.

One of the cloaked zebras fired at Fleetwing. The young pegasus blocked the shot with a rescued duffel bag which promptly caught fire. Fleetwing spun in the air, hurling the burning luggage back at the assassin, who dove out of the way and into the harbor.

Flames were climbing over a small mountain of crates where the unconscious assassin’s rogue arrow had landed. A pungent, peppery-sweet aroma filled the air as a box containing Roaman spice went up in a scarlet blaze.

Daring Do grasped an ice arrow and took to the air, dodging several flame arrows. The scene below was desperate and frantic. The ambassador and Packer were taking turns casting stunning spells at a pair of cloaked figures hiding behind a stack of barrels. The two unicorns were pinned behind dark wooden crates that resolutely refused to catch fire no matter how many flamewood arrows were shot into them. Another cloaked zebra was stalking around the cargo behind which the professor was guarding the rest of the students. She flew above them. She couldn’t spot Fleetwing or Bluebell.

No, wait, she spotted the tip of Bluebell’s tail. She was hiding beneath an abandoned wagon. One of the zebra assassins was standing on it, directly above her. Daring Do didn’t really think the cloaked attackers were after a bunch of pony students – they couldn’t be, could they? – but she didn’t want to risk seeing what the attacker would do if he spotted her.

The assassin moving towards Professor Underhill and the other students drew flush with the corner of the covered cage. In a moment, she would round the corner and catch them.

Daring Do aimed with the ice arrow, tucked in her wings, and dropped from the sky. The arrow snagged into the canvas, ripping downwards with ice forming on each side of the sliced cloth, and slammed into the padlock. The metal of the padlock and chains turned frosty and brittle, then shattered in a burst of ice. The assassin spun, aiming at Daring Do, only to be barreled over by the escaping sphinx. The swinging cage door hit Daring across the face, sending her sprawling.

Shaking off the stars that danced on the edges of her vision, she looked up to see most of the assassins had turned to face the spirit monster unleashed in their midst. The sphinx sent one flying with a mighty swipe of a paw.

“Follow me!” Daring Do gasped, getting back onto her hooves. She swooped towards the wagon that Bluebell was hiding under, spinning to buck the sphinx-distracted zebra out of the back. She landed and started strapping herself in, hearing the stampede of hooves heading towards her. She could feel the weight as first Bluebell then several others clambered into the back. The wagon quickly became too heavy for her to lift, but Daring Do didn’t have to fly to be fast. She was an athlete. She could run.

And she did run, from the moment she heard Professor Underhill shout “Go!” Daring Do poured all the speed she could into her legs, leaving dust in her wake. Five of the cloaked zebras ran after her, stopping to bully two of the zebra drivers out of the way as they claimed their rickshaws. The chase was on.