Chapters "Daring struggled against the bonds, the rope slicing her skin, which was still raw from the sunburn. She winced in pain, taking in a sharp breath. Immediately, she choked on the salty water, which was lapping around her lips.
"'Ugh. I must be crazy,' sighed William, who afterward jumped into the water, paddling out to Daring. "
I licked my lips, my mouth losing moisture from the speed I was reading. Pinkie rocked excitedly, her eyes wide and unblinking.
"William grabbed the rope, pulling it out of the water and gnawing at it until it snapped. Daring rocketed into the sky, carrying a screaming William with her. She was just about to breach the canopy of leaves, when a soft cackle echoed from below. She stopped on a dime, whirling to face her pursuer.
"'Ahuizotl.' "
"Ah! Don't stop there, Rainbow" Pinkie squealed, kicking her back hooves.
I closed the book, running a hoof over the cover before sticking it back on the shelf, "Sorry. I said one more chapter, and it's time for me to hit the hay. Plus, Twilight's spell is about to wear off. you gotta get home before I'm rushing at the ground to save you from certain doom."
"Just like Daring did for her pal, Small Fry, in Daring Do and the Mare in Amber !"
"Yeah. Except much scarier," I said, patting Pinkie on the head.
She grinned, giggling a bit, "Yeah. Prob'ly."
I lifted Pinkie by her underarms, carefully carrying her out the front door of my house and lowering her to the ground.
She bounced a few times, making sure she was on solid ground, before she said, "Y' know, Rainbow, I've been thinking. You look a lot like Daring Do. Your mane looks the same as her's does on the cover, except her's is grey. And you're both pegasi, and you both have the color eyes! Isn't that neat?"
"Hm. I never thought about it before. Yeah, I guess I do look at least a bit like her," I grinned, subconsciously puffing my chest and smiling a bit wider.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you were her?" Pinkie suggested, looking up at me in admiration.
I thought about that for a moment. I imagined myself in the place of Daring; saving lives, stealing great treasures for the good of ponykind, and being just plain awesome .
"Yeah... that'd be pretty awesome..." I murmured, rather wistfully.
Pinkie bounded away, hopped over firm earth as though it were marshmallow.
I chuckled to myself, flying back up to my house and throwing myself across the bed. I looked up to my small bookshelf, looking at the dozens of Daring Do books I'd read. I had read nearly every book, from the first (and, in my opinion, one of the best), Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone , to the most terrifying book, Daring Do #42: The Sea of Fire , through the romantic climax, Daring Do #138: The Night of the Black Wing . All, of course, were wonderful, but these had stood out to me. I guess it was because these were instances where Daring was forced to show her true colors. In each (as well as several others), Daring had sacrificed herself to save a friend.
I guess that was what got me, that she was pretty dang loyal herself. That was what made my friends compare the two of us, I suppose.
I rolled over, quite satisfied with myself, when I heard a soft landing just outside.
"Who's there?" I called, running through a list in my head of meetings I had made. Whoever it was, they weren't supposed to be here. Especially since Pinkie had pushed me into reading until ten thirty at night.
"Uh... somepony you probably weren't expecting..." a not particularly bight-sounding voice yelled back.
"Well, what's your name?" I shouted, still not bothering to get up. I even pulled down the next Daring Do book, preparing to read.
"Uh... Soarin? Co-captain of the Wonderbolts?"
I dropped the book, running to the door. There he was. Without his uniform, he was barely recognizable, but the scraggly blue mane and tail were unmistakable.
"You're kidding me," I said simply.
"Uhh... nope. Spitfire sent me to all the cadet's houses... there's an emergency meeting on the fifth for the academy members... and... yup. So... bye."
"Hey! Wait!" I snatched his tail in my mouth.
"U-um, yes?" He mumbled, landing quietly again and looking about nervously. You could tell he wasn't good with mares. At all.
"Don't you wanna... hang out a bit or something? I mean, you took the time to come out here, you may as well stick around," I suggested, kicking my hoof at the cloud.
"N-no, not really. Thanks anyway."
"Oh, come on. I've been wanting to get to know you since we met at the gala," I put my hoof around him, trying to usher him inside.
He sighed, "Fine, I guess. I really shouldn't be doing this, though."
"Yeah, yeah, you can make up for it by kissing Spitfire's plot tomorrow. Come on, I've got some video games we can play or something."
Soarin walked in nervously, sitting on the bed rather awkwardly and stiffly.
"Relax, bud," I told him, going over to my game cabinet to look for something suitable.
"I've just.. never been over a mare's house. Let alone one I don't know at all. "
I put down the games, "Good point."
Soarin caught a glimpse of the Daring Do books on the small shelf above him, "You read Daring Do?"
"Oh... yeah," My cheeks grew hot. I wasn't exactly proud of my obsession with the series, let alone the eggheadedness.
"That's cool."
"Really?" I walked over, sitting next to Soarin.
"Yeah. I like Daring. She's not just a show-pony, like me, she uses her skills to do something worthwhile. I think that's pretty cool," he pulled a book off the shelf, skimming it's contents.
"Which book are you on?" I asked him, attempting to start a conversation that would last more than a couple seconds.
"I, uh, just finished this one," he told me, gesturing to the last one on my shelf, "I probably shelled out, like, two thousand bits to get all those books," he chuckled, "But I don't have the money to buy the next one, yet."
"I take mine out from the library. Doesn't cost me a cent," I laughed a bit, looking over at the book he was holding.
"This one's my favorite. Daring Do and the Ice in the Door. It's the first one with William. He's my favorite."
"Yeah... I have a filly friend who reminds me of Small Fry. Her name's Scootaloo-- cutest thing you'll ever see. She reads these, too. Actually, I read her the first ten out loud. Oh... she cried so much when they had to wipe Small Fry's memory..." I giggled, remembering Scootaloo becoming a blubbering mess: a sight only I was allowed to see.
"Mm-hm... I cried, too. But-- subdued, coltly tears," he laughed, flinging himself back onto the bed.
"That's why I try to read them alone. Still, there are parts I can't get through without sobbing, or even having to put the book down and finish it later. I've had to do that several times. I just couldn't take it when Will and Daring finally admitted to eachother how they felt, and then they got separated."
"You know... you kinda remind me of her."
"Who?"
"Daring. You look like her, just with different colors," He said, scrutinizing me.
"That's funny, you're the second pony to tell me that today," I said, leaning back. I sighed, pretty content that I was hanging out with a Wonderbolt, for real, "Tell me.. if you had to describe Daring in one word, what would you say?"
"Gosh.. I don't know. There are so many things about her that just... wow," he imitated an explosion, trying to describe to me the difficulty he was having.
"Okay... three words. I'll give you three words, but that's all."
"Alright... awesome," we both laughed, "Outgoing... and... devoted. Really... like, trustworthy."
"Loyal?" I suggested.
"Yeah, that's it. Loyal."
Hm... awesome, outgoing, and loyal. Unless I am mistaken, those three words seem to describe me rather exactly.
"You know what I'd like to do?" Soarin asked.
"What?"
"Just for a day... I'd like to be able to be with them, you know? For one day, I'd like to take the place of William, and go on an adventure with Daring Do."
I chuckled, "Hey, don't leave me out. I'd like to be Daring. That'd be really cool..."
"Okay. And your pal Scootaloo could be Small Fry. And we could all go fight Ahuizotl and steal his treasure."
I smiled at the thought of dressing as Daring next Nightmare Night.
"I just realized something."
"What?"
"I'm in your house, laying in your bed, and I'm not even sure I know your name. What was it... Rainbow... Blitz?":
"Dash. It's Rainbow Dash ," I corrected him.
"Well, it sure is nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash," he extended a hoof to be bumped.
"Same to you, Soarin," I obliged and bumped it.
Soarin caught a glimpse of the clock on my wall. He looked panicked, then jumped off the bed, "Oh, Celestia! I have, like, six more houses to visit! Uhhh..." he racked his brain, trying to get the words out, "I'll, uh, see ya tomorrow? Say, eight?"
"Yeah! Sure!"
"Cool. Meet me at the Nimbus Mezza," he galloped to the door, making a swift takeoff, "See ya tomorrow!" he shouted over his shoulder.
"Okay! Bye!" I called to him, though I was pretty sure he couldn't hear me.
Wait a minute... I thought to myself, Is this a... date?
"I don't really know. He just said it... you know, in passing. I don't think he meant anything super serious by it, he just... you know, he wanted to see me again," I explained.
"Hmmm..." Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof thoughtfully, "And how did he act toward you?"
"I don't know... he was really shy at first, but then he saw my Daring Do books and--"
"Oh, so it's a common interest thing?" Twilight assumed.
"Y-yeah, I guess. Twi, it'd help if you didn't make a huge deal. I just wanted to know what to expect," I kicked a hoof awkwardly, trying to make myself comfortable in the small chair.
"Okay... well, I think he probably just wants to talk to you more. If he acted so shy at first, and now he wants to see you again, it's probably because he feels comfortable around you. That's a good thing, and it may lead to bigger things in the future, but a shy guy like him probably won't spring a relationship on you during your second get-together."
I sighed, "Oh, good. Thanks, Twi."
"Sure. I don't know why you came to me, though," Twilight shrugged, heading into another room.
"Wait, what?" I nearly fell out of the chair trying to get up, following the unicorn into the next room, "You mean you haven't had a... you know, relationship before?"
"No," you said scoffing a bit, "Why, did you think I did?"
"I don't know. It's just... isn't Canterlot supposed to be really romantic and stuff? I just thought romance was a forgone conclusion."
Twilight gave me a look, "Seriously? You do know why Celestia sent me here, right?"
"N-not really..."
"Because I was anti-social. Because she was worried about me, and she wanted me to make friends. Romantic attraction is a step ahead of best friends, at least in my book."
~~~~~
"I mean, I was with him a total of less than ten minutes. I kinda doubt he'd try to form a relationship in that time."
"Well," Rarity, was measuring a length of ribbon, trying to complete a large order of dresses in a less-than-ample amount of time, "You never can tell. I mean, you've followed the Wonderbolts since you were, what, pre-natal?"
I rolled my eyes at this remark.
"And he really had no idea. It may be that he was shy because he has a crush."
"You think so?" I asked, maybe a little too excitedly. Rarity looked at me with a devilish little matchmaker smirk, and I settled back into the couch, "I mean-- oh. Okay."
"Oh, Rainbow, you can be happy!" Rarity put down her work and ran to me, "This is your first love. Enjoy it!"
"Rare, I never said that I was in love with him," I grumbled, folding my hooves grumpily.
"I know, tough girl. But I'm pretty sure there's something going on between you two," she winked, heading back to her work.
Well, she had me there.
~~~~~
"So.. like, should I get him a gift? I don't know, what if he shows up with flowers or something?" I stared at the ceiling, and couldn't help but feel like I was in a psychiatrist's office.
"Oh, Rainbow," Fluttershy gave me a gentle pat on the head, "If he wants to see you, just being there will be enough."
"Are you sure ?" I pried.
"Oh, yes. My little animal friends are always just happy to see me," Fluttershy nodded, content with her advice.
"Your animals? Flutts, you do know that I'm talking about a colt , right?"
"Well, we're all animals, Rainbow. He should be happy just to have you there with him."
"But-- he's--" I growled."
Fluttershy cringed at the aggressive sound, "U-um, Rainbow? P-please don't do that."
~~~~~
I paced angrily in my room. None of my friends had been much help, except for a single phrase from Applejack: 'Just be yourself. That's what he likes about you, anyway.'
But what did that really mean? Should I just act exactly as I do in front of everypony, or would that be awkward? Wouldn't that, like, depress him or something? Wouldn't he think that I didn't have feelings for him if I treat him like a brother?
I threw myself onto my bed, disgusted with my ridiculous ignorance. I was Rainbow Dash, the Rainbow Dash. I'd broken records, done impossible things, saved Equestria for buck's sake! Why couldn't I handle a stupid date with a stupid stallion?
I stared at the ceiling, watching the clouds that made it up swirl in a slow spiral. My gaze drifted after one full revolution, and it eventually rested on the clock.
The clock, which read eight thirteen.
"Oh, buck!" I tried to get out of bed, but my hooves got tangled in the covers and I fell to the floor with a thud. I took another step, rolling head over hooves to the door, leaving the blanket somewhere behind me. I hopped out the door, letting myself fall toward the ground, only opening my wings when I had picked up sufficient speed.
I rocketed toward the Mezza, which was an open area near the center of the Forum. It'd be easy to find him there, hopefully. Things could get pretty crowded near the heart of Cloudsdale.
I started to drop lower in the sky, floating down near the rainbow lake at the center of the Mezza. From there, I finally spotted the blue stallion, who was seated under the shade of a cumulus tree, tapping his hoof impatiently. I landed near him, coming into contact with the hard-packed cloud faster than I had expected. It sent a tiny jolt through my body, and I wobbled a bit as I tried to say hello.
"Hey, Soarin!" I yelled quickly, trying to get the words out before I could stutter or mess up.
He turned to me, "Oh, hey! What's up?" he yelled, though it was barely audible above the sound of the crowd.
"WHAT?!" I screamed.
"LET'S GO SOMEPLACE QUIETER!" he shrieked back, and took off. I followed on unsure wings, as he lighted not very far away in the shade of a small promontory.
"That's better," he murmured, getting into a comfortable position on the ground, "So, what's up?"
"N-nothing," I muttered, my cheeks growing hot already.
"Are you okay?" He asked, trying to get a glimpse of my face.
"Mm-hm. So-- what do you want to talk about?" I prompted.
"I don't know. Just... let the conversation flow," he sighed contentedly, relaxing a bit more.
I was silent. I didn't really have anything to talk about. I'd spent the whole day preparing for this date, and I didn't want to look like a complete dork by talking about that.
"So, where did you say you got your books?" Soarin asked, after what felt like an eternity of silence.
"The library. My friend lives in the library, she just moved here," I explained.
"Oh, cool. Where'd she move from?"
"Uh... Canterlot. She was Princess Celestia's personal protégé for a while..."
"Impressive. What's her name?"
"Twilight. T-twilight Sparkle,"I stuttered a bit, very embarrassed by my untrustworthy tongue.
Soarin did a double take, "You know, if you'd just said 'I'm friends with Equestria's newest princess,' it may have been easier to take."
I chuckled, and it came out sounding so forced I wanted to just shove it back in my mouth.
Soarin looked over at me, "Are you sure you're alright? You're acting... different than you were last night."
"I-I'm fine, really," I told him quickly, stuttering again.
"Seriously, what's bugging you?" he seemed genuinely concerned.
"Well... it's just, I've been freaking out all day, and I'm having trouble relaxing." Good. That was technically the truth.
"About what?" Soarin asked.
There it was. The nail in the coffin. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.
I took a deep breath, "Is this a... date?"
Soarin looked kind of... baffled, "I don't know. Do you want it to be?"
"I don't know."
Cue chirping crickets.
I coughed.
Soarin cleared his throat.
"Kinda," I whispered.
"Really?"
I nodded slightly. It was answered with a peck on the cheek.
"You're a cool mare, Rainbow."
I smiled, leaning against him. I could hear his heartbeat, and my head came up and down with his steady breathing. He stuck his snout into my forelock, each exhale warming a small part of my head.
And we sat like that, just smiling and enjoying each other's company, watching as the crowds thinned and the world became quiet. Our only thoughts were about each other, and Daring Do probably came in there somewhere.
When the Mezza had emptied completely, Soarin's snout shifted, moving higher on my head, and brushing against my ear. I moved it instinctively, flattening it against my head along with the other. There was a gentle pressure on the edge as Soarin's teeth clamped around the stiff cartilage, and I perked up a bit. My spine stiffened as he continued to nibble, eventually losing the teeth and just giving me gentle kisses on my temple.
I sighed, snuggling closer into the strong stallion, nuzzling his side. His lips moved down my jawline, resting on my cheek for a minute or two. I knew where this was going. My heart fluttered, as I felt the excitement and joy of such a thing.
My first kiss.
Such a simple thing, a thing that ponies had been doing for centuries, and yet it sent shocks of joy through you like nothing else could.
Soarin nuzzled against my snout, willing me to come out of my hiding in his fur. I moved away, looking into his eyes just before he closed them. His lips brushed mine, and I opened my mouth, welcoming his love. He locked his lips in mine, and I leaned into him. He leaned back slowly, laying down but keeping his head up. We stayed like that for a few minutes, before I finally pulled away, gasping for air.
"Next time, you'll have to visit my house. Okay?"
I nodded, falling back into his warm embrace, our love lit only by the stars on this beautiful moonless night.
I awoke the next morning in my own bed, no sign of Soarin. What exactly had happened last night? I think I fell asleep outside... then Soarin had picked me up... had he carried me all the way here?
I didn't really know how to feel about that. First off, he should have just woken me up and let me fly myself home. Secondly, if I had refused to go with him, leaving me there was a good option.
But... still, carrying me home from there was pretty romantic. At least, I thought so.
Gosh... handsome and strong. Guess I'm a pretty lucky mare.
At least that couple of minutes spent together could now be bumped up to a solid few hours. I sat up in bed, stretching as I climbed down from the mattress. I made my way to a small vanity, combing my forelock exactly twice and turning to leave when...
I thought maybe I should clean myself up a bit. I went to my tiny bathroom, squeezing around the sink and the toilet as I hopped into the shower. I cleaned like nopony had ever cleaned before, scouring myself until fur started to flutter off. I scrubbed generous amounts of sweet-smelling goop into my mane and tail, creating suds that threatened to drip into my eyes. I picked dirt and other crud out of my hooves, then stepped out, shaking the topmost water off. I snatched a towel, opening the door out of the steam-filled bathroom, and set about drying myself.
It's hard to do without magic, but I dried and combed my hair, leaving it silky smooth and smelling like honey. I put little sparkly hair bands in the ends of my mane and tail, kind of like Applejack does. Sparkles were originally something to be avoided at all costs, but the little white ties had been gifts from Rarity, and they made me look... nicer. Cleaner.
I trotted toward the door, drifting down to the ground. I wanted to talk to Scootaloo. I mean, she shouldn't be too hard to find, she always seemed to be looking for me , anyway.
I started over to Applejack's barn, knowing that the little clubhouse the Cutie Mark Crusaders had was usually full by this time. I caught several ponies stealing glances at me, surprised that the most well-known tomboy was now starting to look like a mare.
"Oh! Rainbow Dash, you look beautiful !" Shouted a familiar voice. I whirled to see Rarity, leaving the Fabric Emporium as she caught sight of me.
"T-thanks, Rare. I just showered," I told her, continuing towards the farm.
"No! You did your hair so beautifully!" She gasped, "Is this for your new coltfriend?"
"Geez, Rare, say it a little louder. Let's get the whole town to hear it this time," I complained sarcastically, ushering her towards the door to the Boutique.
"Sorry, dear. It's just-- oh, you look wonderful!" she closed the door, getting a good look at me, "Ooh, you need an accent! Hold on, I have just the thing," she ran into the next room.
I sighed, throwing my head back in agony, "Please , don't do this. I'm gonna be here for an hour. I just wanted to go talk to Scootaloo."
Rarity screamed shrilly, yet joyfully, and I winced at the sound, "Are you adopting?"
"Celestia, no! Ew, god Rarity! I just wanna talk to her!"
"Just cautiously optimistic dear! Ooh, I found them!" Rarity emerged, holding two silvery pieces of metal, "These are wing bands. They have this little clasp so you can fasten them around the bottom of your wings. They're very plain, so you don't have to worry about your precious reputation. They're just to dress you up a bit more."
I took a closer look at the bands, which had a swirling design carved into it, "I guess... they are kinda pretty." Rarity started to squeal again, but I stuck a hoof in her mouth, "Are you okay, Rare?"
She pushed my hoof away, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just-- oh, I'm so happy for you!" She attacked me in a hug, the metal jewelry clanging to the floor.
"Ummm... because I'm going to wear wing bands?"
"Because you're in love!"
~~~~~
I had managed to dodge Applejack on my way out to the clubhouse. I was wearing Rarity's jewelry, which was a bit tight for my liking, but I left it on just the same.
I tapped a hoof on the little wood door, "Scoots? Ya in there?"
"Rainbow Dash?!" called an excited voice. There was some tense whispering, and Scootaloo opened the door a crack, "Yeah?"
"Hey, Scoots! I wanted to--"
"Whoa!" Scootaloo opened the door fully, getting a good look at my new appearance, "Rainbow, you look-- I mean, you're--"
"Yeah, I know, I know," I cut her off with a dismissive wave, "I just wanted to talk to you. It's about Daring Do."
Scootaloo, turned, shooing the other members of the CMC back into the clubhouse, then she walked out and shut the door, "What about Daring Do?" she gasped, "Did you get a hold of the new book?!"
"No, no. I just-- look, I met a colt and he's into the books, too. We kinda wanted to do this prank-type thing where we dress up like the characters, run through a crowded street shouting stuff, do some stunts and then disappear. You know, for fun," I lied blatantly, hoping that I could get Soarin in on this later, telling him it was Scoots idea. After all, it could be kind of fun.
"That's sounds so awesome! " She bounced up and down a few times, then tried to give me a hug. I was about to return it when she flinched and backed off.
"You can hug me, kid," I told her, confused by her fear, "I don't bite."
As soon as I said so, I was wrapped in a tight embrace. Dear Celestia , Scootaloo is so darn cute!
"So, when are we gonna do that?" Scootaloo asked, her endearing round eyes staring up at me in pleasure.
"Um..." I was nearly caught in my lie, "We're going to need to get that straightened out eventually, but for now just find a costume. You're going to be Small Fry, and you need the right baseball cap and stuff."
"Awesome! Thanks Rainbow!" She hugged me again, more of just a pat on the shoulders than a squeeze, and galloped back inside.
I sighed, hanging my head in shame as I walked away. Who was I kidding? Was I really going to get Soarin to go for this?
~~~~~
"That sounds cool! That little friend you've got is pretty smart!" Soarin grinned, imagining the scene to come.
"You think so?" I asked tentatively.
He wrapped his wing around me, "Yeah! I mean, who wouldn't want to do something like that? You get to be your hero, and it's fun for the other ponies, too!"
"Yeah, that's the part I'm not too sure about," I murmured.
"Why? It sounds cool!"
"Well," I hid behind my hair, "I don't know, it's just-- there's always some party-pooper who reports stuff like that."
"To who? We'll disappear into the Everfree, then head to Cloudsdale. Nopony will ever catch us ! We're the fastest ponies alive!"
"Maybe so, but... Scootaloo can't fly. I'd have to carry her."
"Well, she's a pegasus, right? Is she that young?"
"She's sort of... stunted. Her wings are too small. She'll be fine once we get her up there, but she'll slow us down," I explained.
"Hmmm... we'll have to work on that. But, first things first, costumes! I've got a big wardrobe!" He was about to take off, but I grabbed his tail between my teeth, giving it a yank back down to a sitting position.
"My friend Rarity's a fashion designer. She'll do us up right," I hopped down from the edge of the small cloud we were on, spreading my wings and gliding down to the ground. Soarin followed, and I trotted towards Ponyville.
"There's another problem: William's a unicorn. How're we going to fake that ?"
"We'll breeze by so fast, they won't have time to look that hard. We'll be sure to get you a fake horn, at least," I waved it off.
I could see Rarity's Boutique, which was welcome in the sea of staring eyes. It's funny how fast you forget that you're famous for saving the town, and that you're dating a Wonderbolt.
I ushered Soarin into the Boutique, clicking the door quietly shut behind me. I could hear that Rarity was with a client, and even recognized the voice to belong to the eccentric Lyra Heartstrings. I wandered over quietly, poking my head through the doorway and tapping my hoof on the frame.
Rarity turned to look, waving hello before she continued to pin up a rather... odd form of clothing on the mint unicorn.
She saw me staring and said, "They're pants. Shut up."
"I... didn't say anything."
"No, but you were thinking about saying something."
I mouthed 'sorry' at her, leaving to talk to Soarin again. He was quiet for a moment, then he said, "I've been meaning to tell you: I like your hair."
I grinned, "Really?"
"Yeah. You look beautiful."
I smiled again, but this time at the floor.
I heard Rarity exclaim in delight as she finished. This was shortly followed by Lyra trotting past me, nose in the air, wearing her... 'pants.'
"Alright, now what is it you wanted to--" Rarity's sentence dropped off, along with her jaw, when she glanced over at Soarin, "Oh my goodness... are you two...?"
He nodded. "Uh... together? Yeah."
Rarity elbowed me. "It is very nice to meet you. What's your name?"
"Soarin...?" he was looking a touch scared by her huge, shining eyes.
"Rares, give the stallion some room to breathe!" I pulled her away a bit.
"Wait a minute... Soarin..."
"I'm Co-Captain of the Wonderbolts, if you follow them at all," Soarin explained.
"Oh! Rainbow, you didn't tell me he was so famous and sought-after!" Rarity exclaimed, verging on squeals.
"Please! Calm down! We need you to do a job for us. A big job. In secret."
~~~~~
"Well, we'll need to dye your mane and coats... and we'll need some sort of brace to hold your wings down, Soarin, so you appear to be a normal unicorn. We can get some sort of tiara to be the horn--"
"A tiara?!" Soarin looked disgusted, with good reason, "I did not sign up for a complete transformation, and most certainly not a tiara."
Rarity groaned, "Well, we could paint you, if you'd prefer. It'd probably be easier to wash off, anyway. As for the horn, I'd have to make something custom... some type of helmet, maybe? Let me take your measurements, both of you, and I'll get started on the costumes."
"You're the best Rare. I owe you one," I gave her a quick squeeze before she went for her tape measure.
"You're darn right you do," she muttered.
I stretched my wings, each touching a pony beside me. Soarin's mane had been tamed, his hair now laying much flatter, but remaining the same color. His body had been painted over black, and Rarity had wrapped a dark piece of stretchy cloth tightly around his midsection. His wings were completely invisible. He was wearing a fedora and neckerchief, William's traditional attire. His winged lightning bolt had been covered, and replaced by the comedy-tragedy masks. the character William had been in show business before he was pulled along with Daring, and was therefore a bit over-dramatic about a lot of things.
My left wing, when stretched straight out, just brushed the top of Scootaloo's head. She was dressed as Small Fry, wearing a baseball cap adorned with the Manehatten Hawks' logo. Her colors had actually stayed the same, but her hair was flattened to fit properly under the cap. In fact, she looked a bit like Babs. She had been ecstatic to receive a cutie mark, albeit a fake one, in gambling. The character Small Fry was, although at least half the required age, a gambler and a cheater.
I had gone through the most change. May once eye-catching mane was now a dull, monochromatic drab which hung next to my face limply. I had, with the help of Rarity, painted my coat over with a yellow-tan color. My friends had helped me gather the props, and I had a mysterious-looking goblet in a saddle bag.
The plan was to run through main street, shout some crazy nonsense things, pull some stunts, and toss the goblet back and forth to each other. We would act like we were being chased, then book it to the Everfree and hide somewhere.
"I can't believe we're really doing this!" Scootaloo squealed, hopping up and down. I quieted her, not wanting to draw attention to the little ally we were tucked into.
Soarin looked over at me, and I nodded to him, pulling out the goblet. he rocketed out of the ally, quickly followed by me and Scootaloo.
"Daring, move! I can see the comet! It's almost in position!" he ad-libbed perfectly. About twenty heads snapped up to the sky searching for the comet.
"W-why is that bad?" Scoots stuttered, feigning fear.
"If we can't get the goblet onto the sun pedestal by the time the comet is directly above us, Ahuizotl gets a power surge! He'll be able to release the army!" I yelled, tossing her the goblet as I tucked and rolled through a small cluster. Ponies were staring, and whispering. We sure were causing a scene.
"The timber wolf army?!" Soarin panicked, swiveling to face me.
"Exactly! Now let's MOVE !" I hollered, scooping up Scootaloo and taking flight, zipping over the crowd.
"Wait up!" Soarin called, the fabric by his sides stretching as he instinctively spread his wings.
"We can't, Will! Just... run faster!" I yelled, knowing that we didn't have much time before some form of authorities showed up.
Soarin put on an extra burst of speed, bobbing and weaving around the crowd with expert agility. As a finale, he leaned to his right, getting both hooves on that side on the wall, then shoved off it, launching himself through the air. He landed expertly, not using his wings at all. The shock hit him hard, but he managed to book it and catch up with the two of us.
We sped down the street, skidding around a corner that put us in the direction of the Everfree. We didn't say anything more, just ran as fast as we could. Scootaloo kept a firm hold of my mane, her back legs lifting off my back every once in a while.
I could see the forest, just beyond a small bit of barren land. We put on a burst of speed, shooting over the exposed land and into the cool darkness of the Everfree. Soarin slowed himself to a trot, the sat behind a tree, panting.
"Hey, Rainbow?" He said between pants, "Could you get this thing off me? I can barely breathe." He pulled at the fabric with his front hoof, struggling to get the constricting fabric away from his neck.
I trotted over, not much energy left in my own joints, and carefully unwrapped the fabric with my mouth.
Soarin took a gasping breath, stretching his cramped wings out of their uncomfortable position.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, concerned by his struggling breaths.
"F-fine. I think your friend Rarity is used to putting corsets on mares, not... whatever that is on a stallion."
"That was so AWESOME!" squealed Scootaloo, fluttering her wings and hovering about two inches above the ground.
I chuckled, putting a hoof around her, "Yeah... it was pretty cool."
The filly giggled girlishly, snuggling into my chest. I ruffled her mane affectionately, looking over at Soarin.
"Hey! Soarin's an alicorn! All hail princess Soarin!" I joked, noticing that he was still wearing the fake unicorn horn. I bowed a bit, and he sighed, struggling to get the horn off.
"I'll get it," I laughed, helping him to pull it off, "I think Rarity might've done well to remember our race. She made this stuff so it can be used with magic, not hooves."
The headpiece eventually slipped off, and I set it on the ground by the fabric.
"It's okay. I'll talk to her about it for next time."
"Next time?!" both ponies responded in unison, Scootaloo excited while Soarin was more shocked.
"Y-yeah..." I mumbled, "next time..."
"I didn't commit to a next time!" Soarin complained.
"I would LOVE to do this again!" Scootaloo squealed.
Before I knew what was happening, the two were arguing with each other, and yelling different things at me.
In the distance, I heard a gruff voice. It grumbled something, and was followed by what sounded like consent from another couple of equally deep voices.
I stuck a hoof in each of the ponies' mouths, then pulled them down into the nearest bush. They must be authorities, come to yell at us for disturbing the peace.
"I heard them here just a second ago..." whined a not-so-bright sounding one.
"Idiot!" there was the sound of an impact, followed by a yowl from the first voice," Your ears are terrible. Let me smell 'em out." This voice was deeper than the first, and it seemed to growl a bit with each word.
'Smell?' Soarin mouthed, looking confused. I was, too. After all, ponies aren't known for their sense of smell.
I heard the snuffling breaths as the lead pony sniffed the air, and heavy footfalls as he moved closer and closer to the bush we sat in.
I held my breath, closing my eyes and praying to Celestia that the cops wouldn't find us. As my eyes were closed, I felt something warm on my shoulder. I thought maybe it was the sun, but I felt it drip down my leg and into my armpit. Very slowly. Too slowly.
I heard hushed exclamations of disgust from Scootaloo, followed by Soarin, and opened my eyes reluctantly. There was a huge dribble of what could've been spit on my shoulder, but it smelled like... syrup. Maple syrup. Which meant it was tree sap, or something like it.
Slowly, uncertainly, I turned my head upward. I was met with the dagger-like, wooden teeth of a timber wolf. I almost screamed, remembering what had happened last time we'd had a run-in with timber wolves.
I reached over, wrapping a hoof around Scootaloo's front ankle, standing up as slowly as possible once I had secured my grip. Scootaloo and Soarin stood with me, and I tensed my leg muscles for a quick, upward burst of speed. I spread my wings, crouching as low as I could get, before rocketing into the sky. I launched myself straight up, and I thought I'd made it out.
Well, I nearly did. The timber wolf jumped less than a second after I had, clamping his teeth around my tail. In a moment of panicked, I threw Scootaloo to Soarin as I was pulled to the ground. Soarin just barely caught Scootaloo, and hovered there, just out of reach of the wolves.
"GO!" I heard Scootaloo yell, "WE GOTTA HELP HER!"
I hit the ground hard, and it knocked the wind out out of me. I struggled for air, hearing Soarin call my name.
The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the small blue blob of Soarin, rushing at me with a little orange dot tucked close to his chest.
There was a voice... a faraway voice that was distorted and weird... I couldn't understand what it was saying. I groaned, trying to move away from it. All of my joints ached, and it turned out that I couldn't move at all. The voice was getting closer, and louder. I could almost make it out, now.
"Rainbow! Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo was shaking me, screaming at me to wake up.
I opened my eyes lazily, muttering something that probably sounded really intelligent.
"Oh, Rainbow!" Thank Celestia you're awake!" She hugged me tight as I tried to sit up.
"W-where's Soarin?" I stuttered, scanning the land for any sign of him.
"Uh..." Scootaloo looked unsure.
"Scoots, where is Soarin ?" I demanded firmly.
"Over here," Scootaloo murmured, leading me toward the black-painted body of Soarin.
"I don't know how it happened. He-- he just... I don't know..." Scootaloo seemed near hysteria.
I approached him, worried about what I might find. He was still unconscious, and sprawled on ground uncomfortably. His mouth hung open, and his tongue looked dry. His mouth must have been open like that for a while.
But that wasn't the problem. Sticking out of his scruffy mane was a pointy, black object that I was sure I had removed. A horn.
I bent down, parting his hair to get a look at where the horn connected to his head.
"It's real..." I mumbled in disbelief, "It's attached. But that can't be possible, he can't--"
"But he is ," Scootaloo interrupted, "He's a unicorn. And do you know what else?"
She ruffled her hoof through the fur on his side, "It isn't paint. His coat changed color, too. It's black to the roots."
Something in the back of my mind started to panic, and I ran a hoof over my own side. The fur was clean, unpainted, but still the yellow-tan color it had been before I passed out. The same color as--
I looked back at my plot, swishing my naturally grey tail back and forth. At least, if I didn't know better, I would have thought it was natural. The famous compass rose was highlighted right there on my own flank. It was the symbol of Daring Do, and I had it now.
Scootaloo was still wearing the baseball cap, but her colors had been slightly shifted to perfectly match Small Fry's. Both colors were lighter than her natural complexion, her mane even edging on lavender. The style of her hair was even more like Babs' now, very straight and smooth.
Soarin moaned, his eyes fluttering open.
I put my hoof on his forehead. "Hey, sleeping beauty," I whispered.
"Ugh..." He sat up, blinking forcefully, trying to wake himself up, "What happened?"
"I... have no idea. But there's something you need to see."
He stood on shaking legs, taking deep breaths to steady himself, "What?"
I lead him toward a small puddle, gesturing for him to look at his refection. He looked confused, and maybe a bit worried, but he leaned over hesitantly.
"Gah!" he shrieked, short and loud. "What the--?" He sat down hard, putting both of his front hooves on his horn and pulling with all his might.
"Um, also, your wings are gone," Scootaloo told him.
He turned to face us, his eyes wide, "Are we-- I mean, did we--" he swallowed hard, not getting the proper words out.
The three of us stood there, in a place completely unfamiliar to us, just thinking. About what had happened, about how to get out of it, about all sorts of things.
Soarin was opening his mouth to say the words, when a deep chuckle resonated around us. But it actually sounded really familiar, not like I imagined Ahuizotl at all.
"W-who is that?" I stuttered, looking around for the source of the noise. The three of us instinctively formed a circle, making sure that the being couldn't sneak up on us.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash. Or should I call you Daring Do? I'm disappointed you didn't recognize my work."
"It can't be..." I mumbled.
"Surprise!" the voice shouted, and the source finally shimmered into being.
"Discord," I took a protective stance in front of Soarin and Scootaloo, "What the buck is wrong with you? You swore not to use your powers for evil ever again!"
"Aw, what a party pooper," the draconequus put on a fake frown, spinning upside down a sticking his snout in my face, "Do you really think I'd give up my marvelous chaos so easily? Plus, what I'm doing here isn't strictly evil , I'm just playing matchmaker for you two cuties." He pinched Soarin's cheek, but the unicorn pushed his claw away.
"Ew," he muttered.
"What even... why would you..." I couldn't finish any sentence I started. This made exactly zero sense, "Are you serious?"
"Now, why would I want to be serious? It's not my thing," He floated up higher.
"But... why?" I asked.
"Because I need cheap entertainment, and I can get away with this. Plus," he landed on the ground, laying on his stomach, "you three were totally asking for it. I mean, I didn't even have to think about what I wanted to do. You handed me the entire story on a silver platter."
"When are you gonna let us go?" Scootaloo shouted, trying to appear fierce.
"Ugh, you three are so... pensive," he whined, "Well, if you want the rules, I'll give them to you. Basically, this world is playing out after Daring 'Dash' Do failed to put the goblet on the sun pedestal. The timber wolf army has been released, and, as I'm pretty sure you know, they're very difficult to actually kill . Your task is to find the three pieces of the Dagger of the Whispering Blood and assemble it. It's a magic blade, and when it is put together, it will put the army back to rest. When, and only when, you complete this story will you be able to return to your normal selves.
"The pieces are hidden around the world, and each is guarded by a powerful villain. Along the way, all dangers will be very real. You can die here, and any injuries (besides to your horn, there, mister) will carry over to the real world. Any questions?"
We were silent.
He sighed, upset that we weren't playing along with his insane 'game.'
He waved his paw, and a piece of crinkled parchment appeared in mid-air, the fell in front of me, "There's you first clue, so you can find the hilt. Remember: the only way I'll take you home is if you finish my lovely little story. I will control everthing, and I'm not guaranteeing a surprise-free trip. I'll fool you every chance I get. Got that?"
More silence.
"Fine. Have fun, everypony."
The parchment was crackled and old, and I feared I would break it somehow if I unrolled it. Silly, I know, but I wasn't exactly known for being gentle.
Instead, I pushed it towards Soarin. He reached for it, but I smacked his hoof away.
"Use your magic," I told him.
"B-but... I don't know--"
"Well, you gotta figure it out. Just... think about what you want to do, and it should... happen. That was how Twilight explained it to me," I suggested.
"Well... I don't really need to know how to--"
"I think you do. If I know Discord, he's going to make sure that this is as difficult as possible. He'll probably create at least a few puzzles that require you to use magic, since he knows you aren't familiar with it. So do it," I pushed the paper a little closer.
Soarin bit his lip, looking at me rather pathetically. I raised my eyebrows and nodded at the paper.
Soarin squeezed his eyes shut, biting down even harder on his lip. Small sparks of light-blue energy flew off the tip of his horn, each one fizzling out of existence as soon as it hit the ground. Soarin bent his knees, one eye opening the tiniest bit to stare at the scroll. slowly but surely, the sparks from his horn grew larger, and lasted longer. Actually, the word 'spark' is too small, they were more like blobs. They floated upward a bit, before falling toward the ground.
His horn started to glow, as did the paper, Soarin grinned with pride as he, shakily, lifted the paper up to his eye level. Then, gently and slowly, he pulled it open, the dried paper making loud snapping sounds.
His concentration broke as he analyzed the contents, and the paper fell back to the grass.
It was so old that it stayed open, and Scooaloo leaned over to look at it, "Huh?"
I picked it up, looking at the odd design on the paper. It was a swirl, coming from the center where the shapes were small and spiraling out to the edges. Each shape appeared to be an animal, but very crudely drawn with not much detail. In fact, they were so generic, there wasn't much to go on in order to determine what animals they were. The only distinguishing features for each animal were number of limbs. Also, randomly chosen animals were only outlines, instead of the cave drawing-like stick figures.
The order was something like this, with A's being stick figures and B's being outlines:
BABABAAABAABABBBBAABBBBABAAABBBBABBBBBBAABBBBABAABAABBBAAABAAAB...
"What the hoof is this?" I complained.
"It's a code, probably," Scootaloo said, turning the page to face her, "I bet it has something to do with the types of animals. I mean, they fall into three basic categories: land, water, and air. Or you could go by the number of legs..." she sat down hard, rubbing her head with her hoof. She looked up at me, then giggled a bit.
"What?" I asked.
"It's just-- you look exactly like Daring. I think it's kinda funny, it's like I'm actually with her."
I smiled down at her, the scooped her up. She laughed again, hugging me tight.
"Well, Daring would be lucky to have a friend like you," I ruffled her hair bit.
She beamed, resting her head on my chest. I set her down lightly and picked up the paper. "Gosh. This is weird. I wish Twilight were here. She'd figure this out in a snap."
I sighed, laying down in the grass. Soarin let himself down beside me, and I leaned against him. Scootaloo rolled over in the grass, laying belly-up in an odd pose for a pony.
"Maybe the swirl has something to do with it," Soarin suggested.
"I'm pretty sure everything has something to do with it," I exclaimed, waving my hooves in the air in exasperation. I groaned, letting my hooves fall back to the ground.
"Well... you always told me to keep trying and not get frustrated," Scootaloo reminded me.
I stuck out my bottom lip a tiny bit. "Well..."
"'Well,' nothing! Keep trying! We aren't giving up just yet!" Scootaloo jumped up, grabbing the page and bringing it over to us. "Rainbow, we are going to solve this. We may not be too good at this type of stuff, but that's no reason to stop trying. If we wanna beat Discord, we gotta stick together."
I smiled, proud of the spirit in this kid. She had rare ambition, especially for a pegasus who couldn't fly. "Okay, then. Let's pull out the elements of it, huh?"
"Okay," Soarn agreed. The three of us leaned closer over the page. "The swirl."
"The animals!" I added.
"The colors!" Scootaloo suggested, "And the legs."
Soarin smacked his forehead against the ground.
"Well, I don't know if this helps, but Discord loves red herrings," I told my friends.
"Huh?" Scootaloo looked terribly confused.
"It means a false clue. Discord's thing is chaos. He loves to crowd things that make sense with meaningless junk. My guess is he's trying to make this as entertaining as possible, without over-working his MINUSCULE BRAIN!" I screamed the last words up at the sky, knowing that Discord was watching this, somehow.
"So... you're saying it's probably something simple, and he just threw in a bunch of extra crap to get some cheap laughs?" Soarin asked me.
"Hey, it's the kind of thing he'd do." I truned the page to face me, looking over the information. "You know, Twilight used to tell me that, if you wanted to get the really important stuff out of a long bit of writing, you could do this trick with your eyes. It would make only the long words stand out, or recognizable words. That way, you could skim some writing and be sure you were getting out the necessary parts. So, if we hold it away..." I lifted the page out at leg's-length, and crossed my eyes the tiniest bit, blurring my vision. The only thing I could make out now was the color of the shapes: some were the yellowed color of the parchment, and others were black.
"Well? What does it look like?" Scootaloo fluttered her wings, hovering to try and get a look at the paper.
"Mmm... just colors." I told her.
"Well, let's write down the colors in a straight line. It might make more sense," Scootaloo suggested. "Umm... you got paper, Rainbow? And something to write with?"
"No," I told her.
"Well, check your bag. You've got a saddle bag, you know." Soarin walked around behind me, lifting something off my back. He brought it in front of me, letting me see that it was a safari-like saddle bag, riddled with pockets and splatters of mud. He dumped it in front of us, rooting through the various supplies until he found a pen and paper.
"Thanks!" Scootaloo snatched them from him. "Okay... let's use zeros for the empty ones, and ones for the stick figures." She drew one of each on the page, then stated to copy the pattern.
There were a lot of animals, but she eventually came up with this:
010101110110100001100001011101000010000001100001011011000111011101100001011110010111001100100000011100100111010101101110011100110010000001100010011101010111010000100000011011100110010101110110011001010111001000100000011101110110000101101100011010110111001100101100001000000110111101100110011101000110010101101110001000000110110101110101011100100110110101110101011100100111001100101100001000000110111001100101011101100110010101110010001000000111010001100001011011000110101101110011 001011000010000001101000011000010111001100100000011000010010000001100010011001010110010000100000011000100111010101110100001000000110111001100101011101100110010101110010001000000111001101101100011001010110010101110000011100110010110000100000011010000110000101110011001000000110000100100000011011010110111101110101011101000110100000100000011000100111010101110100001000000110111001100101011101100110010101110010001000000110010101100001011101000111001100111111
She sighed, her lips sputtering as she rocked back onto her haunches. She twirled her ankle joint, trying to work out a cramp.
"Umm..." I looked at the numbers, rubbing the back of my head with my hoof. "I don't know about you guys, but that didn't help me at all."
"Yeah... not so much," Soarin agreed.
"Maybe not... wait!" Scootaloo looked excited. "It's binary!"
"What is-- How do you know that?" I asked her.
"Well, we tried to get our cutie marks in spy work once! I remember this code!" She grabbed the pencil again. "M'kay, so lowercase letters always start with 0100, and uppercase start with 0101. Then, you give each letter a numerical value, so--"
"Scoots!" I interrupted, "Just do it. We're most likely not going to follow you."
Soarin nodded in agreement.
Scootaloo chuckled awkwardly, "Heh... okay."
Working carefully, Scootaloo divided the numbers into groups of eight, then counted out loud as she figured out each letter's placement. We helped as much as we could, but it was kind of sad how utterly clueless we were compared to the little kid.
"Okay! I'm done!"
Scootaloo passed us the paper, and I read out the clue:
What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?
"What the buck?" I muttered
"It's a riddle." I was told.
"I know it's a--!" I cut myself off, taking a deep breath. "Yes. It's a riddle. Thank you. I meant what the buck does it mean ?" I explained calmly.
Soarin sighed. "I don't know. But we should try to figure it out, I suppose."
"Eugh," was the response from Scootaloo.
Author's Note
ThunderChaserCreate says:
"It's a river!" I exclaimed.
Soarin looked at me with bleary eyes, like I'd just taken a random guess.
"No, no, I'm serious! Twilight loves brainteasers like this. She annoys me with them constantly, so I've gotten kinda good at them. See, a river can't walk, but you do say it's running when you talk about direction. Ponies also say that a river murmurs or burbles when it flows over rocks. And, of course--"
"The mouth of a river is where it opens into the sea," Soarin finished for me.
"Exactly," I agreed, pounding my hoof once authoritatively. "Take that, Dip cord! We figured out your lame riddle!" I shouted at the sky. "Thanks to you." I pulled Scootaloo close to my side, nuzzling her cheek.
She giggled. "No sweat."
"Okay, so... I guess we need to find a river, huh?" Soarin said after standing awkwardly for a moment. He was looking a little third-wheel.
"Genius. See? That's why we have you here." I stretched up to give him a peck on the forehead. He grinned adoringly.
"Let's go!" I announced, taking off toward the jungle. I stayed on the ground, though, trying to make accommodations for my screwed-up friends. I could hear Scootaloo's frantic hoofsteps trying to keep up with us, but we couldn't slow down. We had to make it through this insane game.
As we approached, I could see more and more details of the jungle. It seemed like its natural fog was receding, and a sharply outlined shape was emerging.
"Is that a cliff?" I wondered, panting.
"No, even better!" Soarin yelled. "It's a waterfall!"
I felt my heart swell. Maybe this would be it. Maybe we'd solved his riddle, and we were going to get the treasure and get out of here.
Scootaloo was wheezing hard.
"You okay, kid?"
She coughed. "F-fine..."
I skidded to a halt, putting my head under Scootaloo's stomach and letting her slide down to my back. She shifted into a more comfortable position, giving in to the help.
It was almost like we had crossed a threshold. It was definitely one of Discord's mediocre tricks, because the sunny and cool climate shifted impossibly fast into a steamy, stuffy environment. It pressed in on all sides, feeling like it was wringing your lungs.
The two of us slowed down, turning our sprint into a hike. There was some strange ambiance that I couldn't quite identify, but what stood out to me was the roaring of hundreds of gallons of water. It couldn't be that far away, but I supposed that Discord could do anything he wanted.
Just as I was preparing for a very long walk, the river revealed itself.
"Um... now what?" Soarin wondered.
Honestly, it was an excellent question. We'd found the river, but what were we supposed to do? Cross it? Swim to the bottom of it? "I... I don't know."
I heard a tiny snore from my back. The poor kid. She'd fallen asleep in my mane.
"Gosh... I guess we should just head toward the waterfall, then," I suggested. "Thataway."
Soarin shrugged, following me up the river.
~~~~~
It wasn't long to the cliff, and the spectacular waterfall dazzled even me. The water dropped straight down, exploding into white foam and sending water droplets everywhere. Twilight would say that it was a 'multi-sensual experience.' God, I wish she was here.
"What's that?" Soarin was squinting over toward the cliff face.
"What's what ?" I asked, not seeing much of anything.
"I don't know... Lemme get a closer look..." he murmured, trotting towards the cliff. I followed, hoping it would help us get one step closer to getting out of this messed-up place.
Soarin laughed out loud. "Dash, you're gonna love this." he pointed to a symbol in the stone.
It was a spiral, just like the one on the clue, and an arrow pointing to the waterfall.
I took a deep breath, looking at the rushing water. I then bounced a bit, trying to wake up Scootaloo. "Hey, Scoots. Better wake up. Hope you're ready to get wet."
~~~~~
"Okay-- Here's what we do:" I hopped into the water. "We need to hold our breaths and just swim under the waterfall. That way we won't get all bruised and stuff from the water falling on us so hard."
Soarin looked uncomfortable. "Y-yeah, okay..."
"Everything alright?" I asked.
"Well, I just... I mean, I can swim just fine, but..." He stuttered, "I-I don't know. I just don't think this is such a good idea."
"Oh, my god." I realized something. "You're afraid of the water. Just like--"
"Just like the real William," Scootaloo piped up.
"Oh, gosh..." Soarin whispered breathily.
"Well, this might not be too bad. Just remember all the times you've gone swimming with your friends. Or alone, or whatever." I added hastily.
Soarin gulped. "Mm-hm..."
I sighed. "Okay, how about I go through first, and then I'll lead you through when it's your turn."
I could see he was about to give in, when he gave me a second look. When he was only listening, all he heard was Rainbow Dash. But when he looked at me, he was seeing Daring Do. his hero.
He puffed out his chest. "No. I'm gonna do it by myself. For you, Rainbow."
I knew that wasn't true. He was doing it for Daring.
Before I knew what was happening, Soarin was in the river, doggie-paddling toward the waterfall. He took a deep breath, his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, and dove under the surface. I followed his lead, helping propel Scootaloo through the murky water.
We breached the surface in a small, dark area.
"I can't see a bucking thing. Sorry, Scoots." I remembered I was with a little filly.
" 'Sokay. I don't mind."
"Soarin, give us some light, will ya?" I called.
"I don't know how." Came a voice that was closer than I had anticipated.
I leapt back in surprise, kicking Scootaloo with my back leg. "I'm sorry!"
Scootaloo groaned. "It's fine. Don't you have a lantern in that saddlebag of yours?"
"Oh yeah!" I perked up, undoing the small clasp and unzipping the bag. My nose touched something cold, probably a water bottle, and several other odd-feeling things before I finally got my jaws around the lantern handle. I bounced my snout around in the bag some more, finding the sandpaper side of a matchbox and lifting that out, too.
"Soarin, could you...?" I grinned sheepishly, even though he couldn't see me.
He sighed. "I'll try." The stallion grunted, and the light blue sparks flew once more. I couldn't see it, but I heard the match strike, and I watched as the flame moved toward the lantern. The fire caught, and the small cave came into view. The flickering flame threw violently sharp shadows over the contents of the room.
I wish I could forget what I saw.
As I gazed about the room, several things jumped out at me. The first things I saw were the hideous wood carvings. Images of animals killing ponies, statues of horrifically deformed ponies being slain in awful ways were immortalized in excruciating detail. I winced at the sight, but there was more too it than that.
It was almost like they were too perfect. They seemed more like snapshots than reproductions, the expressions too real and the faces too perfect.
Which lead me to my second discovery.
I approached of of the statues, trying to get a closer look at the detailing, when a single tear slipped down its cheek. It followed a well-known trail, leaving the wood just a tiny bit darker as it traced that path.
I stumbled backward, falling into Soarin. "O-oh my god... they're real... these ponies are real!" I screamed, trying to regain my balance.
"That they are. Well done, Miss Do." The Trottingham accented voice echoed around the chamber. The figure dropped from an entrance in the ceiling, but barely made a sound. "Of course, it was all rather obvious, don't you think?"
The three of us looked around, frantically searching for the sinister voice.
"Oh, honestly. Stop with the dramatics."
"That's not Ahuizotl..." I whispered.
Claws clicked on the stone floor, and a shadowy figure emerged. The whole of the creature was in shades of black and grey, even the featherless front feet. They were covered by saggy grey skin that clung to its very bones. Below that were curved black claws, looking like tiny scythes attached to his toes. Two golden eyes glinted in the darkness, and below them was a severe beak that smirked at us. The top of his head was adorned by three large feathers sticking almost straight up in the air.
He jumped down from the small ledge he was on, allowing the light from our candle to shine on the glossy black fur that covered his back half. He was a griffon. But not a typical griffon. He looked less like an eagle-lion cross and more like hawk-panther cross.
"Surprise! Did you miss me?" his words oozed with smugness.
"I... I don't know who you are..." I murmured.
The griffon clicked his tongue. "Forgotten so soon, have we?"
His tail brushed under my chin, and I swatted it away. "I. Don't. Know you." I said, firmer.
The smirk became a grimace. "Balder!" He spat, but quickly regained his composure. He sighed, not seeing even a glimmer of recognition in my face. "Oh, bother. It seems Ahuizotl isn't as... mmph, 'studious' as I had hoped."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, he works under me . My command. Everything he has done has been under my direction."
"... What?"
"Oh, come on! Do you really believe a creature that stupid could do all that? It was me! Every time, all of your triumphs, they have been over me !" He screamed, his beak pressing into my snout. I stood firm. "But not this time... you've stumbled upon something big, Miss Do. Bigger than you, bigger than your weak companions, and bigger than that oaf Ahiuzotl. This time, you are nose-to-beak with me, and you will lose." His voice became little more than a breath. "In fact, you've already lost."
Balder backed slowly toward the opening he came from, reaching up to snatch a rock out of the ceiling. "Farewell, Miss Do. I pray we never meet again." He spread his huge wings, taking off in one powerful beat.
A deep rumble filled our ears as pebbles started to bounce down the walls of the cavern. At first, we were so dumbstruck by the information laid before we didn't move. But a large stalactite dropped from the darkness above us, embedding itself in the wet earth between Soarin and I.
That was enough of a reality check.
I grabbed Scootaloo, tossing her onto my back and scanning for the exit Balder had used.
"There! There it is!" I shouted over the rumbling. "We're going to have to fly out!"
"I can't! I lost my wings, remember?" Soarin replied, looking very distressed.
I could feel my breathing speeding up as I tried to figure a way out. It seemed impossible. But... what would Daring do? She'd think of something incredibly clever and haul herself out at the very last second. But I didn't have a mind like hers. She was made up. Nopony was actually like her, it was impossible.
Then I thought of something. "Scoots! You have to fly!"
"B-but I can't!"
"Small Fry can!"
Scootaloo was silent. She looked at her wings, wondering what power in Equestria could possibly lift her through the exit. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Hurry!" Soarin panicked, a large piece of rock narrowly missing his flank.
The tiny filly's wings started to flap. They moved faster and faster, making a small sound like a hummingbird. I could feel her weight lessening as she began to take off. When suddenly--
"I'm flying!" She shrieked, hovering just above me.
"Well, MOVE!" I yelled, giving her a shove. I know it seems mean, but the world was literally crumbling around us. Not a good time.
I turned to Soarin. "I need to carry you." I knew before I said it that it wasn't going to go over well.
"Uh... maybe I can climb up!" he suggested.
"Get over here!" I leapt on him, getting my hooves around his chest. I launched myself off the ground, hauling the full weight of his non-pegasus bones up through the hole.
The sunlight hit me full on, and I dropped a bit. I made a beeline for some solid ground, setting down Soarin as gently as possible. He laid down right there, rolling over onto his side and trying to get his breathing under control. I let myself fall next to him, my chest heaving from the exertion and fear I had just experienced.
"Dash, I'm FLYING!" I sat up, checking the sky when a flash of orange whirled past me. It buzzed around my head before idling in front of me.
"Scoots! Y-you're... you're really doing it!" I squealed in disbelief. I put my hooves on her shoulders, wrapping her into a hug and pulling her to the ground. "I'm so proud of you," I whispered, even daring to give her a peck on the forehead. She giggled, squirming out of my grasp to continue flying about.
"What about me?" Soarin murmured, still out of breath.
"Mm... you didn't do much of anything. Sorry." I shrugged, giving him a playful punch in the shoulder.
"I conquered fears I didn't know I had." He stared up at the sky, folding his hooves behind his head. "That's a full day for anypony ."
"Aw, I was just kidding. You were pretty brave back there." I chuckled. "William."
Soarin grinned, closing his eyes.
"So, who in the hoof do you think Balder was? Discord's pretty weird, but I don't think he's smart enough to create a character like that."
Soarin sighed contentedly. "I don't know, and, frankly, I don't care right now. I just want to watch the sunset and get some sleep."
I looked over at the horizon. Soarin was right, it was nearly twilight.
That's when a fact hit me: I might never see my friends again. Twilight might become a time of day instead of my best friend in the whole world. I couldn't let that happen. We had to win this.
I sniffed, feeling a lump rise in my throat. I tried to remember Applejack's accent, Pinkie's laugh, Rarity's little sighs, Fluttershy's wide and shining eyes, and Twilight's smile. I could see them all, hear them all, but I knew at some point they'd disappear if I wasn't careful.
"You okay?" Soarin sounded concerned.
"Y-yeah..." I turned away, smearing my hoof across my cheek to wipe away the tears.
"You're crying," he realized, leaning closer. "What's wrong?"
"I just... I was just getting worried about home," I explained, the lump warping my words.
"C'mere," Soarin whispered, putting a tender hoof around my shoulders and pulling me close. He pressed his cheek against my forehead, and I welcomed the warmth of the embrace. "You are going to be fine. I won't let anypony hurt you. I promise, you're going to get back home."
I sniffled again, nodding my head. "Mm-hm."
"Good." Soarin gave me a kiss on the cheek and released me. I rolled over onto my back, sliding a bit closer to him. We were quiet, just watching the triumphant Scootaloo gliding easily above us.
I almost didn't hear what Soarin said. He was so quiet, it was barely even a whisper. But I'm pretty sure I heard these words:
"Even if I don't."
I awoke groggily, finding it difficult to move very much at all after a night spent on the ground. I struggled to get proper stabilization as I stood, my stiff joints giving me a small amount of pain.
It didn't take me long to realize that something was off. It was much quieter all of a sudden, and the surroundings were unfamiliar.
I put a gentle hoof on Soarin, giving him a light shake. "Wake up!" I hissed, trying to let Scootaloo sleep.
He groaned, trying to wave me away. He murmured something, though it didn't make much sense, and tried to go back to sleep.
"Soarin, come on !" I gave him a quick jab, and his eyes snapped open. He yelled something, but I stuck a hoof in his mouth. "Shut up! Don't wake Scoots, she's freaked out enough as it is."
Soarin pushed my hoof away, standing up and looking around. "Where in Equestria are we?"
"That's what I was trying to figure out." I sighed, hanging my head.
Soarin thought for a moment, then went for my pack. "I bet there's a map and compass in here somewhere..."
"Ooh! Good thinking!" I sat beside him, helping him to paw through the sack. After emptying most of it out onto the ground, we managed to dig out a crumpled map and a wobbly compass. The map had a spot on it circled in red ink.
"What's that?" I wondered, pointing to the circle.
"Um... my guess would be some kind of 'you are here' identification sent from Discord. Let's check it."
"How?"
"Well... looks like there's mountains to the North, and there's this great big tree in the Southwest." Soarin looked as though he was trying to take off. "Erm..."
"Here, give it to me." I took the compass, taking off to see over the thin line of trees in the distance. "I think that's North!" I screamed down to him. "Yup! Mountains!"
"Okay, Southwest!"
I scanned the tree line for anything even remotely different. "No... it's kinda... Southeast-ish..."
"Hmm..." Soarin turned the map every which-way, trying to find our position. "So... are we meant to go there, then?"
I shrugged. "Probably." I scoffed. "god, does Discord even have any idea what he's doing? It's like he's just making this stuff up as he goes..."
"That's sort of his style, isn't it?" Soarin reminded me. "No rules, just trouble."
I heard a groan below as Scootaloo came to.
I landed quickly, going to her side. "Hey. Get some good sleep?"
She groaned again. Scoots was many things, but not a morning pony.
I cleared my throat, tossing my grey-scaled mane out of my eyes. "Alright, troopers. We're heading... er, that way." I pointed in the general direction of the circle on the map.
Soarin lifted Scoots up, placing her on his back and trotting to my side.
She yawned, her mouth opening wider than I thought possible. "I had a weird dream last night. Rainbow was petting a wolverine, and there was this golden banana... and Soarin had a ginormous chin, and he was an alicorn..." Her head dropped, a light snore coming from her mouth.
We were silent for a while.
"Is my chin too big?" Soarin stuck it out, trying to get a look at it without a mirror.
I chuckled. "It was just a dream, you goof."
"Yeah... what do you think 'big chin' means?" he asked, still contorting his face to look at his chin.
I shrugged. "Probably something weirdly unrelated, like she thinks you're funny or something."
"Hmm..." He moved his jaw to the side, peering over his snout.
"Soarin, you look like a diamond dog! Quit it!" I punched him lightly on the shoulder.
He frowned. "What does petting a wolverine mean, then? That she thinks you're an all-powerful critter-wrangler?"
I laughed. "I wouldn't count it out. The kid worships me."
"I've noticed. Why is that?" he asked sincerely.
"Well, I think it's mostly the flying thing... but all of her friends have these great older siblings, and she's just got her poor mom trying to take care of her. I guess a life with me in it just... seemed better." I smiled sadly at her tiny body curled up on Soarin's back. She really was a bit of a tragic figure, and I had denied her for so long, watching from afar as she held me in such high esteem.
"That's sweet," Soarin murmured.
I chuckled lightly, still looking at Scootaloo. This really was her dream come true, wasn't it? She was with me as a sister, Soarin as a father, and for once in her life she could do what pegasi were born to do: fly.
"I kinda hope we never have to leave," I whispered. "But I know that if we stayed here forever, like this, there'd be so many things to be sad about."
"I'm just glad we have the chance," Soarin replied. "I mean, how many ponies do you think get to live out their dream like this?"
A bug flew in my ear, and I jumped a bit, twitching as it tried to find its way out. "Yeah, it's not all sunshine and happiness."
Soarin laughed. "That's true. I could do without the humidity and the threat of death."
Scootaloo snored loudly, waking her self up. "What's goin' on?" she slurred quickly, looking around through half-closed eyes.
"You really awake now, kid?" I asked.
She blinked a few times, finally opening her eyes all the way. "Yeah!"
"Good. Maybe you could give old Soarin a rest, then."
She chuckled sheepishly, realizing her position, and hopped off. "So, where're we going?"
"Not quite sure. There was a circle on the map, and it's not too far, so we figured we'd give it a shot," I explained.
"You think it's a temple? You know, one with lots of booby traps and pits and relics and stuff? Or do you think it's a villainous stronghold, like with the tents and the camp and stuff?" She bounced up and down, her little wings fluttering a bit to slow her descent.
"Could be anything, Scoots. I sure hope it's the hilt of that dumb dagger, though."
Soarin sighed. "That'd be nice, but so far this story has been confusing, to say the least. I doubt we'll get off quite so easily."
I grumbled complaints under my breath, throwing in a curse word or two just for good measure. I hoped to Celestia that Discord had heard me.
Soarin checked the map again, using shaky, flickering magic to hold it in front of him. "Uh, could somepony help me figure out how far we've gone?"
I flew above the trees once more, using the compass and map to pinpoint our location. "That is so bizarre..." I muttered.
"What was that?" Soarin called up to me.
"Well... it looks like we're here!" I yelled back.
Soarin looked around. "I don't see anything!"
I floated back down to the earth, packing up the map. "We're definitely here."
Soarin stomped his hoof angrily. "That is so frustrating! What is the point of a red herring like that? What entertainment value does this hold, watching a bunch of ponies wander around, lost?"
I shrugged. "It is a bit ridiculous. Maybe we missed something..."
"Hey! Over here!" Scootaloo called us over, standing on a patch of ground that was a bit lower than the rest. She bounced up and down, the ground moving with her. "The ground's all springy!"
"Huh..." There wasn't any sign of a pit trap, no leaves or seams in the ground. I stood on the spot with SCoots, feeling the ground give just a tiny bit.
Then Soarin stepped onto the patch.
Instantly, the ground crumbled away and we were falling... but not into a trap. No, it was much too deep for that. We just kept falling...
We all screamed for a bit, but the lack of impact eventually made us stop.
"Darn pegasus bones..." Soarin grumbled.
"It's okay." I patted him on the shoulder.
The weightless feeling was strange, and there was no kind of light anywhere. Just darkness, and the forms of SCootaloo and Soarin on either side of me.
"This is kinda cool." Scoots said.
I laughed. "Yeah, it is!"
"How are we still together? We all weigh different amounts--"
"By a lot, apparently," I joked. Scoots chuckled.
Soarin cleared his throat. "Well, we all have vastly different terminal velocities. We shouldn't all fall at the same speed."
"Meh." I shrugged. "Discord."
We all gasped.
"Discord!" we yelled in unison.
"This is his fault! He forgot about us, didn't he?" Scootaloo realized.
I sighed. "Typical."
"He still hasn't thought of what he wants to put here." Soarin complained.
"Well, to be fair," boomed the body-less voice of Discord, "I didn't think you'd figure it out quite so quickly. I was relying on at least a few hours..."
We were silent, not knowing exactly what to say.
"Oh! I've got it!"
Suddenly, the gravity changed, and we began to fall the other way. We soon smashed our way into an equally dark new area, our sounds of pain echoing on forever.
I fumbled with my pack, finding a match and lighting our lamp.
"Cave." I said simply.
"Yup."
"God, Discord, sucks..." I remarked.
The lamp went out.
"Oh, real mature."
Author's Note
Forgive me.
*Bonus Chapter* A Night Under the Stars
*Bonus Chapter* A Night Under the Stars
The sky seemed to shimmer with life, all the stars blinking and flickering creating a swirling, unpredictable pattern of light and dark.
"You know," I began, folding my hooves behind my head, "William was supposed to be so dedicated, he'd take a bullet for Daring. Don't you think that's--" I cut myself off, not knowing if I should say the word. "Erm... brave?"
"You were going to say 'romantic,' weren't you?" Soarin guessed, correctly.
I chuckled, trying to dodge the question.
"You were, weren't you?" he teased, giving me a playful poke in the ribs.
I giggled a bit longer, watching the stars a while longer. After a minute or two, I mumbled, "Yeah." I looked over at Soarin. He just grinned, keeping his gaze fixed on the crescent moon. His mane fluttered a bit in the breeze.
"It is pretty romantic," Soarin agreed eventually.
"Yeah..." I sighed.
Soarin cleared his throat, moving into a slightly more comfortable position. "I'd take a bullet for you," he murmured, barely audible over the tropical buzz of the jungle.
"What'd you say?"
"Aw... n-nothin'," He replied, rolling over so his back faced me.
I smiled to myself, watched the stars continue their strange dance. I knew what he'd said, and that was enough.
Well, for now anyway.
