(Outside Ponyville) Daringcon General (Open)

[brianblackberry]

Carrot Fields silently munched on a seasoned hay fry as he felt a bit embarrassed about what he had said; that is, until it was revealed to him that Dash didn’t understand what he really meant when he called her “bonnie”. He often forgot that the words he and his sister, Purple Haze, used were very localized, and not well understood by ponies in Equestria at large. In a small way, it gave him an advantage, such as right now, especially as Dash appeared to believe it meant something else. [colour=#ff8c00] “Weel “bonnie” in a way diz mean awesome, sae yeah!”[/colour]

Carrot ate another fry and leave Dash’s assumption intact, but then he felt a twang of guilt, as "awesome" isn't what he meant, and leaving it at that just wasn't honest. He wasn’t sure why it was such a big deal to be completely truthful with a filly he basically just met, but in the back of his mind he knew somehow it was important to do so. [colour=#ff8c00]“Well… Ah mean, awesome is an interpretation, but back haem in Fet Loch, whit we mean by th' wuid is whit ye aw haur in Ponyville woods caa ‘beautiful’."[/colour] Carrot just smiled awkward as he quickly ate a stuffed Feathered Serpent Tortilla, trying to think of a way to move the conversation along before things got really awkward.

In a flash he suddenly remembered, duh, they were at a convention! [colour=#ff8c00] “So ummm.. panels! waur thaur onie panels ye woods want tae attend? Ah am nae sure which ones tae gang tae myself, nae pure bein' a panel bloke. Actually Ah was hopin' fur autographs myself, loch frae Silverflash! Although ye ur a deid ringer fur 'er!”[/colour] [colour=#ff8c00] Keep talking like this Carrot and she is going to think you are some weird stallion with a crush on her or something.[/colour]

[Bellosh]

Ever skilled at hiding his true emotions, Dr. Merlot felt perplexed about the idea of a fan-driven fundraiser. Personally, the khaki unicorn wasn’t sure that such an event would give him the right type of attention among his acquaintances in high society. It could be viewed as a sign of weakness that the good doctor resorted for begging to plebeians for funds when he had never done so before. Not to mention that he couldn’t even be sure if these Daring Do fans could cough up enough money to make Merlot’s phony expedition a sudden reality; he couldn’t bear to think of what the headlines would say about that.

Hence, now came the time to enter PR mode. [colour=#0000ff]“Thank you for your enthusiasm in my archaeological endeavors,”[/colour] Merlot generously thanked as Silver Flash led him to the table where he’d conduct the rest of the panel from; [colour=#0000ff]“I will gladly take all options into consideration.”[/colour] In other words, a noncommittal response designed to not offend anypony at the moment, but providing room to reject an offer later on away from prying eyes.

Upon sitting down on the chair provided, Merlot put on a brave face as Miss Flash asked about the dangers of archaeology. The gentlecolt expected that any panel openly advertising how Daring Do made his profession “fun” would feature questions about silly hair-raising escapades and similar subject matter, but it didn’t make things easier nonetheless. Fortunately for the crowd today, Merlot had a story he was willing to convey; [colour=#0000ff]“Well... I suppose I could talk about one of my first expeditions after I got my doctorate. My team and I had been surveying a cave thought to contain the final resting place of the long-lost explorer Coltonado. We found what was left of him... but we also found the cave infested with a stone mite nest.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000ff]“Those... pests... literally eat rock and bore tunnels through it. When we disturbed them, the scared creatures rapidly tunneled in panic..... so much so that the ceiling above lost integrity. We were able to save everything we found just before the cave collapsed... but just barely. I’ve always made a point from that point onwards to be paranoid about excavation safety, no matter how benign a location looks.”[/colour] Of course, Merlot also never again joined his excavators while examining a site; just in case... bad things happened. No point in risking one’s own neck when he was paying others to do it, right.....?

[Bramble Rose]

[colour=#808080]Rainbow Dash[/colour]

Dash blinked in surprise as Carrot interpretted his thick accent and slang. She'd never had much of a chance to hear Cirrus McCloud speak, one of her favorite Wonderbolts when she'd been just a little filly, but he'd had a similar thick accent. It was everything she could do just to muddle through it, sometimes...

But it didn't take much muddling to see he had complimented her again. Her cheeks pinkened just a little, and she was unsure how to take this. It wasn't often stallions got all stumble-tongued around her like this. Thankfully, he changed the topic swiftly, which she seized on gratefully.

[colour=#808080]"Right, panels! ..." [/colour] She hesitated, mind racing, then said, [colour=#808080]"I dunno! I've never *been* at a con like this, so I'm not even sure what panels are. Some kinda activity thing with celebrities? Is there a schedule somewhere?"[/colour] She grabbed up her own little feathered serpent tortilla, deciding to follow along with what Carrot was eating. It was good ... not as good as the hummus, but tasty. She took a few quick bites of that, then spoke again, her mouth still a bit full of food. [colour=#808080]"I'm juft excited t'be here! I wanna see a lil' of everyfing! You got any suggestions?"[/colour]

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[colour=#808080]Silver Flash[/colour]

Silver Flash let out a low whistle of appreciation, running her hoof through her grey-dyed mane. [colour=#808080]"Now that is a story! Danger indeed! There's a lesson, folks! It's not just the pony-made traps that can make an excavation dangerous! Musta got your heart pumping, right Doctor? What a rush! Desperately pulling ancient relics from out of the path of falling rocks, dodging between the rubble! And then, once out, unable to wait before delving right back in, to see what else had been exposed by the cave-in!"[/colour]

Silver Flash paused a moment, panting, a light in her eyes as if she wanted to go rushing off to that dig site RIGHT NOW to examine it!

She eased back a bit, though, settling down behind the table, her wings giving a few quick flaps to settle their feathers before she continued. [colour=#808080]"So, unlike most of my adventures, you tend to have sponsors, and grants, and workers. And do that, you need reputation and accreditation! I work as a professor at the University of Canterlot, and in between my adventures, I've published papers on ancient dig sites where I've had my adventures ... but in the real world, how have you gone about getting your degree, and what sort of papers have you published?"[/colour]

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[Volt]

[colour=#9933cc]"Oh... dear... Celestia..."[/colour] - of all the decisions she picked today, calling a guard was one of the WORST she could have obviously made. It was somewhat funny how fast he appeared, but he explained he was guarding the entrance to the nearest archaeological panel, the one she had just left, and heard somepony calling for security. What happened next? Well, he arrived at the place, noticed the chaos and all the mess and... Rising Star, standing in the middle of it, with nopony else around. Pink mare at first stared at him blankly, but after taking a look around she quickly realized the position she had found herself in. She was taken into temporary custody despite of her protests and explanations. She didn't know how much time she spent trying to put her innocence in security's heads, it might have been minutes, it could have taken half an hour. What she did know is that her questioning contained 4 facehooves, 3 sighs, 5 rhetorical questions spawned from pure disbelief and countless groans of resignation. Even the fact that she belonged to staff wasn't able to pierce their stubborn minds...

After she FINALLY managed to convince them that she was just yet another, incidental pony passing through, they released her and the guard, who initially captured her, escorted her back at the panel entrance, apologizing for the inconvenience. He led her inside and once again positioned himself near the entry to the hall. Her little case caused the panel to be unguarded for a short amount of time, but did it truly matter? She didn't even see a reason for him to be guarding that spot. Was he supposed to catch 'villains'? Or perhaps he was ordered to disallow certain ponies inside? The very idea of it was ridiculous. Nevertheless, what Star was certain of is that she wasted a lot of time and her nerves were stretched thin right now. Thankfully, she found her equipment still standing by the wall, just where she had left it.

The panel itself seemed to be already in progress... It wasn't surprising at all. Seeing how Doctor Merlot was presumably late to it, he was most probably anxious to get it going and catch up with the schedule. It was as if Star had forgotten his reasons for a moment after the 'interrogation'. From her position in the corner at the far end of the room she could clearly see the stand along with his silhouette. She snapped a few photos before frowning and leaning from behind her camera. After a moment of hesitation, she packed her things up and moved alongside the right wall to set up in a place from which she could photograph attendees and at once listen to the panel itself. As she reached the right side of the room, she lost her balance and tripped, nearly falling on her knees. After a brave fight to regain her stance, she stopped and covered her face with a hoof, breathing heavily. [colour=#9933cc]"It was supposed to be a normal job for pony's sake!"[/colour] - this day wasn't going the way she had planned. It would take some time for her to regain her composure.

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[brianblackberry]

Carrot Fields looked surprised when Dash basically confessed that this was her first convention. He was so sure by her enthusiasm, Daring Do knowledge, and bravado that she was a seasoned convention goer. [colour=#ff8c00]"First convention? ye main be a newer Darin' Dae fan 'en."[/colour] New fans typically were the most enthusiastic, showing up at conventions and events all raring to go; now as he thought about it, given she didn't even know what miniatures were, it all made sense she was a con rookie.

Carrot took a happy sip of the xocolat, something he could drink all day given how he was used to much spicier fare. [colour=#ff8c00]"Weel a panel really a forum fur discussion ay a topic, usually wi' a table ay panel hosts talkin' abit whatever th' topic is, which ay coorse will hae somethin' tae dae wi' Darin' Dae. Some ay them ay coorse hae celebrities, those will be th' most popular, but it doesnae mean they'll be th' best. It aw depends oan whit yer specific interests ur."[/colour] The ruddy stallion thought for a second, he didn't actually know the con schedule, [colour=#ff8c00]"one second, I'll be reit back!"[/colour]

It only took a few scant moments for Carrot to find a schedule, they were everywhere, even in the food court. He happily trotted back with a wide grin as he held the pamphlet in his teeth before placing it on the table. [colour=#ff8c00]"Let's see… Weel one is gonnae oan reit noo wi' th Darin' Dae actress Silver Flash, but its awreddy foo nae doobt, hmmmm"[/colour] Carrot was perplexed for a moment, then he spotted a panel on figure painting and purchasing. [colour=#ff8c00]That woods wark! She'll be interested in 'at given aw th' miniatures she booght; thes date is workin' it weel! Wait.... Carrot did ye jist caa thes a date? dornt be a dumbtail! 'at isnae whit thes is… she is pure bonnie though![/colour]

Carrot just smiled and blushed fiercely, [colour=#ff8c00]"We'll ummm… thaur is a miniature paintin' panel we can gang tae, that's be neat! Weel after Ah hud anither xocolat 'at is. Ah coods drink mair ay these than anypony, most ponies cannae handle thes amount of hot pepper!"[/colour]

[Hippo]

[colour=#000000]This was the worst convention ever.

Far worse than the Junior Speedster's Flight Camp graduation ceremony last year, and much more deplorable than the Multimedia Fan Fest four years ago. This convention had all the right annoyances. Overpriced merchandise, random daries singing random songs about adventure in the halls, the schedule was never right, and it seemed that none of the ponies in the establishment had ever heard of deodorant. It was this combination of things that made Madden want to just leave outright. But he couldn't. His job was not done yet. He still had a few things to do, and one of those things was to record a panel.

Madden, on his successful departure from the restroom, waved down his camera mare, and retreated to the collection of ponies in the main ballroom. [/colour][colour=#ffffff]"This room would have been better used as a dance party,"[/colour][colour=#000000] Madden mumbled to himself.

But a darie heard him say this, and quickly responded, [/colour][colour=#800080]"No, dude, the Daring Do dance isn't until tonight."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Madden face-hoofed and then continued towards the center rear of the panel room. He saw that lots of ponies already had their camera's up and rolling. That is, the ones who could afford to have a home camera. Madden, rightfully pulled out a piece of paper from his sack, and showed it to all the ponies who were filming, and he turned off their cameras. The note was a contract, which stated that PegasEye News had exclusive rights to the filmography at this convention. He then set up his own camera with his helper and they started recording the panel that was already in progress. When ponies gave him strange looks, he smiled and waved. [/colour][colour=#ffffff]"Don't worry. These recordings will be available for everyone for a nominal fee after the convention."[/colour]

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[Bellosh]

[colour=#0000ff]“Eh, heh heh, eh heh heh he he ha ha ha ha ha...”[/colour] Silver Flash’s in-character interpretation of those events long was enough to produce an awkward laugh from Dr. Merlot. In reality, he had the help of levitation-casting excavators to hold back Mistress Gravity long enough for the archaeologist and others to collect all those relics, so he never had to actually dodge rubble per say. Regardless, it took a full year after the unfortunate incident until Merlot found the inner strength to step hoof inside a cave again.

After he finished his chuckle, the khaki unicorn took a moment to cast aside any misconceptions about the nature of archaeology before Miss Flash went on with the next question; [colour=#0000ff]“I just want to make one thing clear though; if you follow basic procedures while excavation, the chance of having something collapse on you drops down to next to nothing. However, even if nopony gets hurt by such an event, it’s still a tragedy whenever part of an archaeological site is destroyed through carelessness. Nothing at all is worst the loss of history just to nab some shiny statue for... thrills.”[/colour] The gentlecolt made a not-so-subtle glare at Pathfinder’s direction when he mentioned that last word.

The next question sent Merlot’s way regarded how he got his degree and the nature of his published papers; in other words, simple softball material. [colour=#0000ff]“Getting my doctorate was relatively simple enough,”[/colour] the gentlecolt pointed out; [colour=#0000ff]“I studied Hippology at the Royal University of Canterlot, or Canterlot University as many ponies like calling it, and I interned as a worker at various dig sites to earn valuable work experience. That last bit is very important; nopony will ever employ you outside of a classroom or offer you contracts if you’re nothing more than a bookworm living their entire life in a library.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000ff]“As for my academic papers, I publish them in the Equestrian Hippological Review like my other peers in the field of archaeology. However, I bet that most of you ponies here can find such works to be... rather dull and hard to follow, but that’s just the nature of the scholarly beast. Yet because I also want as every stallion, mare, and foal as possible to develop a fascination for what my field is really like, I also regularly write magazine articles and newspaper editorials for mass audiences.”[/colour] Giving the audience his full eye contact now, the smiling doctor adjusted the brim of his fedora before asking; [colour=#0000ff]“Heh heh, I’m sure most of you here today, being fans of a fictional archaeologist, have read at least a few of my prior articles... am I right?”[/colour]

[PedestrianWolf]

[colour=#0000ff]I’m sure most of you here today, being fans of a fictional archaeologist, have read at least a few of my prior articles... am I right?[/colour]

Fuchsia Blooms had not read any of Dr Merlot's articles, but she made a mental note to check them out when she got back home to Canterlot and had access to the library. He was an engaging speaker, so his writing must also be interesting. She was really enjoying the banter between the mare dressed as Daring Do and the archaeologist on the panel. Hopefully there would be other interesting panels after this one.

Her stomach grumbled. Fuchsia blushed a little and looked around, wondering if anyone else overheard the noise. As quietly as possible, she removed a daisy sandwich from her pack and nibbled at it, trying not to disturb the rest of the audience or draw attention to herself. But a petal got caught in the back of her throat, causing her to start coughing.

[colour=#800080]"Um, sorry. Excuse me." [/colour]She blushed furiously as she stifled her coughs as best she could. [colour=#800080]"Please, continue."[/colour]

[Bramble Rose]

[colour=#808080]Rainbow Dash[/colour]

Rainbow Dash grinned. [colour=#808080] "Yeah, just discovered them! They're pretty awesome! My friend Twilight keyed me in on it, she's the town's librarian and resident expert egghead!" [/colour]

Pffft. Painting miniatures. She already knew how to paint miniatures, you just put paint on them! Duh! How hard can it be?

...

But she'd go anyway. Just to ... be polite. Right? Not like she *needs* the teaching, but she'd sit through it anyway. She nodded as he kept on talking ...

But then his last words got to her, and she felt the competitive pride rise up and bristle. [colour=#808080]"Oh, y'think so, huh? I bet I could drink more than you could! I'll get two more!"[/colour] she cried, leaning forward over the table aggressively! [colour=#808080]"And some of those spicy stuffed insanity peppers!"[/colour]

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[colour=#808080]Silver Flash[/colour]

Silver Flash's lips quirked, and her hoof lightly tapped on the sign designating the panel time, so that Dr. Merlot could be reminded of the title of the panel. [colour=#808080]"Not to worry, Dr. Merlot!"[/colour] she chirped merrily, [colour=#808080]"Your bio in the con book lists the periodicals you've been published in, so I'm sure several of them will hunt them up to find out all about the Adventures of Doctor Merlot!"[/colour] She gave a winning smile.

[colour=#808080]"But you bring up a very good point! Virtually all of my own adventures, you'll all notice, involve me racing some villain to a central relic! It belongs in a museum! is the usual cry. But for real archeology, the ruined site is just as important as the relic itself! Without that pressing need for immediate retrieval, to make sure some vital, possibly potent ancient artifact doesn't fall into the wrong hooves, there's very little reason to be so brash and hasty! Quite a number of my adventures start off in situations very much like Dr. Merlot here deals with as part of his job. Either overseeing a traditional archeological dig, or through politics - wining and dining some important local official or noblepony to get access to an important dig site."[/colour]

She turned to Dr. Merlot, then. [colour=#808080] "Which brings up another question, Doctor! What's the most trouble you ever had getting access to a dig site you wanted to get to? Some feisty heiress, perhaps?"[/colour] Her eyes sparkled teasingly as she seeded ideas.

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[brianblackberry]

Carrot Fields listened as Dash talked about the Daring Do books, which was interesting enough given their mutual interest. His ears though perked up when she mentioned her librarian friend, Twilight was the one who got the cute pegasus into them. This was the second mare he knew that talked about the librarian as their friend. "[colour=#ff8c00]Ah ne'er bin tae th' local library myself yit, Ah hae seen it thocht. applejack tauld me 'at th' librarian was a friend ay hers also; Ah shoods dae an' see if they hae onie guid astronomy books!"[/colour] That sounded pretty "egghead" in itself, but what else could he say? Visit the library because he wanted to see how cute the librarian was?

Fortunately, Dash's competitive nature changed the subject before it could get even more awkward. He rocked back, eyes wide, when she accepted his unintended challenge with gusto. Carrot wasn't caught off guard for long - he shook it off and leaned forward over the table, grinning eagerly. He wasn't the type to just back down, no matter how she he was around the mares or how cute they were! He would not only accept, but up the ante as well! [colour=#ff8c00]"Hoo abit tois pepperjack-stuffed insanity peppers wi' th' drinks, each! ur ye up fur 'at, Rainbaw Dash?!"[/colour]

[Bramble Rose]

Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up at the challenge, and a big, eager grin spread across her face. "Only two? Try four each!"

The situation escalated out of control rather rapidly, and it wasn't long before the two ponies were sitting across the table from each other, tears streaming down their reddened faces as they each reached for another pepper from the plate between them, and several of the food vendors were blatantly ignoring other customers as they watched the show in intense amusement.

"Y'really think you can latht?" Dash asked, then blinked as her tongue refused to make the 's' sound, it felt so numb...

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[Bellosh]

For someone determined to act out a fictional character during a panel, Silver Flash for the most part did a rather good job describing how real archaeology was conducted according to Dr. Merlot. In fact, a faint smile could be seen on the gentlecolt’s muzzle when the dinners were mentioned; Merlot found that a highly common (and welcomed) occurrence during his work. Technically though, the hardest fight so fat for the gentlecolt to earn excavation rights for a particular area has been trying to convince the Equestrian Maritime Board to let him scour the bottom of the Sparkling Sea for traces of the downfallen city of Okeanos. Said board claimed the endeavour was impossible without more advanced diving technology and would also possibly be disruptive to aquatic life. So far they have refused Merlot permission, but the battle wasn’t over yet… not by a long shot.

At any rate, Miss Flash’s suggestions prompted the khaki unicorn to tell a more exciting story to the crowd; one of his favorites to tell in fact. “As a matter of fact,” Merlot’s eyes also glimmered in excitement; “I do have a tale along those lines. There was once this Itailian damsel; a fine young mare who had then recently inherited a vast estate from her grand aunt. It came to my attention that part of her land contained the nearly-buried remains of what had once been a lavish villa. Yet at first, the heiress vehemently refused to have her green fields sullied by a dig site. In her defense, that is a legitimate concern for anypony who cares deeply for their property; especially when it's a fabulous piece of real estate. Yet… our feisty mare wasn’t immune to my… particular charm.”

Merlot kept the rest of the story short so that it wouldn’t appear like he was excessively bragging over a romantic conquest, especially in front of Silver Flash; “As it turned out, the two of us though each other to be, heh heh… a peculiarly agreeable match. The lovely mademoiselle and I initiated a brief but most pleasant courtship, and in that time, she gave permission for my team to excavate the site. So that, I suppose, would be my most fascinating story of how I got access to an archaeological site.”

Back in the main hall, a light orange pegasus known to the Daring Do fan community as “Danger Dairy” had set up a simple booth within sight of the food court. A year ago, in a convention space just like this one, in a locale… not quite like Ponyville, one Flash Sentry attended a Daring Do con for the purposes of playing several rock compositions inspired by the beloved franchise. Calling himself “Danger Dairy” at the event, his songs ended up somewhar popular. Flash would have done more to capitalize on his sudden fandom fame if he hadn’t already made a commitment to enlist in the Royal Equestrian Army.

But now Flash Sentry had special leave from the army to attend Daringcon, and today the young stallion would not be dressed in any guard uniform. For this convention, Flash would just be an ordinary pegasus selling vinyl records of his fanmusic for charity using his "Danger Dairy" alter-ego. So far business was doing good, but it seemed most con attendees were busy at some panel. Hopefully new customers would drop by soon.....

[Bramble Rose]

Silver Flash gave a big grin and waggled her eyebrows, looking out over the crowd. "You see, kids?" she asked playfully, despite most the audience not being kids. "Dreams do come true!" She turned back to Merlot with a grin. "It's too bad we don't have a convenient dig site here with us today, so you could show us your fine falling-rock dodging and trap-disarming skills, eh Doc?" She gave a wink to the audience on that one ... "I'm sure you'd like to impress us all! But before I ask any more questions, because two ponies talking is a bit boring, are there any questions from the audience about Doctor Merlot's impressive work?"

She looked out over the audience, and her eyes settled on Pathfinder. "How about you! The slightly less dashing and more trail-worn version of me! Love the authenticity by the way - I'd be wearing something more like that if the PR ponies didn't want me all shiny and new-looking. You look like you've been holding it in - have any questions for the good Doctor?"

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