A Daring Sibling

Hey, Dad!

It's Rainbow Dash. How are you? Things are pretty cool here in Ponyville, though there isn't much happening right now. My friends and I went to an AWESOME fair last week where we rode a creepy ghost train (I wasn't scared at all, of course), won prizes from raffle games, and they even had limited edition copies of Daring Do books on offer! I bought two of them for eight bits; pretty amazing, right? I bet you're so jealous that you wish you could have been there! I kind of wish you were there too...

I guess I miss us spending time together like when I was a kid. Fun times, right? You were always there for me and helped me grow into the super-ultra-amazing-awesome pegasus I am now. Yep. I'm not joking. That's what you made me! Just shows how you were the best dad I could ever have asked for.

And even though I'm a grown-up mare now with hardly any problems, it doesn't mean I don't want to stop seeing you. In fact, why don't we set a date pretty soon? My friends would love to meet you (if you'd be okay with them tagging along, of course) and it's been such a long time since I saw you that we definitely need to catch up!

Sounds good, doesn't it? Write me back soon, and I look forward to seeing you whenever I see you!

Love you, Dad.

From the coolest daughter EVER,

Rainbow Dash.

The rainbow maned pegasus put down the quill, satisfied with her letter. It was early morning and she hadn't been awake long, but when she opened her eyes just a few hours ago, she felt a sudden urge to contact her father again. It had been a long time since they had last seen each other, though they had always kept in touch with many letters. It just wasn't the same if she wasn't able to see his face or hear his voice. After all, Rainbow Dash had grown up beside him; it was always just the two of them, no mother or siblings involved. Life in Ponyville was brilliant for her, especially with her five best friends, but it didn't remove the fact that she wanted to remain close to the one pony she was related to. She simply felt it was time to see her dad face-to-face again, as much as she loved writing letters and receiving replies.

Feeling happy, she folded the piece of paper neatly in half, slipped it inside an envelope and shot outside, the letter in her mouth, to her letterbox, which stood quite a distance below her airborne house. Carefully, but quickly, she popped it into the box and lifted the flag up. A whirl of excited emotions fluttered inside her. She eagerly hoped that he would respond as quickly as he always did (she would usually receive a letter back in two days).

She suddenly remembered how tired she was and rubbed her eyes to block the stinging rays of the bright sun. Even though she had slept well, her muscles ached and her throat felt tight and dry. Oh well, it’ll pass, she thought. Despite the fact she felt this way, she was always ready for a new day that she could spend with her friends. Speaking of which, she wondered how her friend Twilight was getting on. She was still only just used to the role of being a princess and Rainbow Dash knew that Twilight found the idea of everypony knowing her name and rejoicing in her presence a little discomforting.

Of course, if she had received that kind of attention every day, Rainbow would have felt the opposite: she would have loved it! But since Twilight Sparkle had a different personality entirely, she could understand her uneasiness about the whole thing. She had quite literally been thrown into a new life without expecting to become a princess at all. It wasn’t something Twilight had ever dreamed of (unlike Rarity, who was unable to hide her envy of Twilight's new position), and she had only ended up creating her own magic because she was saving her friends; she hadn't intended to become royalty!

In Rainbow Dash's opinion, although she never told her friend this, Twilight had been handling her new experience well. After all, being a princess was a hard job, definitely not something Rainbow would want to do (Yuck! she thought), and for a young mare, Twilight had made a huge impression on Equestria. Also, as one of her close friends, Rainbow felt it was her duty to support Twilight as much as possible. What kind of pony would she be if she didn't?

With these thoughts in her head, she decided it would be nice to go and visit Twilight, like she often did, to check on her. So what if she was glued to a book or frantically organizing all her checklists? A little knock on the door early in the morning couldn't hurt ... right?

Rainbow Dash didn't think so.

She set off into the air to make for Golden Oak Library, when suddenly, she heard a distant rumbling that shook the ground.

"Huh?"

Her ears pricked up as she paused in mid-flight to look around her. It had been a loud noise, very like thunder, and it seemed quite close to where she was hovering. As her eyes scanned the area of hills, cliffs and trees nearby, she caught sight of something unusual. In a crevice between two hills, there was a faint orange glow. She could glimpse several sparks rising into the sky, suggesting that it was a fire. Much of the green valley had also been enveloped in a large veil of misty, grey smoke.

Rainbow Dash found this odd, and couldn’t help feeling unsettled. It reminded her of the time a sleeping dragon’s snoring had caused smoke to spread all over the sky.

“I hope this isn’t another dragon,” she said to herself, fearfully. But it seemed more likely that something nearby at exploded; that would at least explain the loud rumbling she had heard.

Before she could think about it any further, she heard a familiar voice calling to her.

"Rainbow! Did ya hear that?"

The pegasus looked to see her farmgirl friend, Applejack, cantering towards her, clearly out of breath. Her eyes were wide with anxiety; from Sweet Apple Acres, it was likely she had heard the noise and ran straight over to investigate.

"Of course I did!" Rainbow shouted. "But that's not all! Look over there!" She pointed her hoof to the blaze that still gleamed in the distance.

"Woah, nelly!" Applejack exclaimed. "What in the hay happened?"

"I don't know," Rainbow Dash said gravely, lowering herself closer to the ground so she was only a few feet above Applejack, "but I was just about to go and see Twilight. Do you think she'd know what to do if we told her?"

Applejack's eyes wavered in thought, and then she said to her friend: "Well, only one way to find out. You comin'?"

"Sure!" Rainbow Dash replied urgently. Without sparing any time to think, she surged ahead with the power of her wings, her infamous rainbow trail following behind her. Applejack huffed in annoyance.

"Hey, Rainbow! Wait up, will ya? I ain't as fast as you!"

"That's not my problem!" she called, pausing in the air to give her friend a mischievous wink and salute. Applejack rolled her eyes, took one last worried look at the continually rising flames nearby, and broke into a gallop to follow Rainbow Dash into the town.

*

The two mares were quite out of breath once they reached Twilight Sparkle’s library. Even though Rainbow Dash would usually fly to her friends’ houses with no trouble, she had gone some of this way on foot to keep Applejack company. Her legs weren’t quite used to all the running and she was feeling rather tired. The ponies recollected themselves, remembering how seriously they needed to let Twilight know what was happening, and Rainbow Dash hammered roughly on the door.

“Twilight? You in there?” she called.

There was no reply. Rainbow and Applejack shared a confused glance, before Rainbow Dash stepped forward and gently pushed the door to see if was open. It swung open with a click, and she unexpectedly saw Twilight curled up in the floor. However, once she noticed the open book that she currently had her nose stuck into, she was no longer surprised. It was typical of Twilight to become distracted from the world with any book she read.

“Err, hi, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said loudly.

The lavender alicorn looked up with a startled jolt.

“Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash,” she said, her face softening into a calm smile, “did you knock? Sorry I didn’t hear, you know how engrossed I get in a good book.”

“Don’t worry, it’s… err… cool,” Rainbow Dash said awkwardly, then she turned serious. “Anyway, listen, Applejack and I need to tell you somethi-”

“Hey, look at what I’m reading!” Twilight interrupted excitedly, shooting up to Rainbow Dash to hold the cover of the book in front of her eyes. Rainbow instantly recognized it.

"Oh, 'Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet'. Reading it for the seventeenth time, right?"

Twilight gave her a chuckle. "Yes, roughly; but as you know, these limited editions are very special. I'm so glad we found them the other week. Have you been reading your copies?"

"Duh! Of course I have! It’s so awesome to have a rare book that was actually signed by Daring herself!”

Twilight’s expression slowly dissolved into thought. “And it’s strange to think how only we know that it’s Daring Do who writes the books and not A.K.Yearling.”

“Yeah…” Rainbow agreed, “It’s been weird reading the books knowing that she's is a real pony who we actually met. It doesn’t feel the same…”

“Not to mention the fact that you’re in one of her books!” Twilight said enthusiastically, tapping her friend affectionately on the shoulder.

Rainbow Dash smiled cheerfully at the thought. “That is pretty awesome!”

“Erm, when you two gals have quite finished.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly remembered that Applejack was in the room and turned to see her giving her and Twilight a bored-looking frown. “Rainbow, remember what we were about to tell Twilight?”

“Oh, right. Sorry I got sidetracked,” she said with a sheepish grin. She then turned to Twilight, who had put her book on the table and perked up with attentive ears. “Twilight, Applejack and I saw something seriously weird just outside Ponyville. We both heard a noise and then… well, we don’t know what it is but it looks like something might be on fire.”

“What?” Twilight exclaimed, her eyes wide. “Is anypony hurt?”

“We don’t know, Twi,” said Applejack, stepping up to the princess with a worried expression. “Maybe… maybe you should just come and see for yourself.”

*

When they returned to the outskirts of Ponyville, the flames in the distance were still burning, though they weren’t as high as before. Princess Twilight stood with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and now Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, who had each been told of the news and joined their friends to see what was happening. Twilight stared with worry at the scene. As a princess, she felt it was her responsibility to do something about it, and that probably meant heading out of Ponyville to find the source. It wasn’t a nice idea, as no-one knew what they might find out there, but if it would help protect Ponyville, then Twilight felt it would be worth it.

“What do you think, Twilight?” Applejack asked apprehensively. “Do you know what we should do?”

“I need to get Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia right away,” proclaimed Twilight, “I don’t know what’s happened out there, but Ponyville could be in danger, and I need to live up to my responsibilities as a princess to protect it.”

“So… you’re saying what exactly?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We need to head out there and investigate, girls. I know it could be dangerous, but if we don’t do it, who will?”

“I agree with ya, Twilight,” said Applejack.

“Yeah! I mean, it’s not like we haven’t gone out there and faced danger before!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a daring smile, her wings lifting her higher into the air. “Remember the dragon?”

“Oh no, please don’t talk about the dragon!” Fluttershy squeaked, crouching down and hiding her face behind her hooves. “It could be another dragon… oh no! It’s another dragon! Help!!” She squealed with panic, enveloping her entire face with her rosy pink curls.

"Whoa, Fluttershy, it's okay!" Rainbow Dash said with a small smile, flying down to her friend to pat her and remove the mane from her face. "It's not a dragon. I'm pretty sure it's an explosion. I heard it myself."

"Oh... well...okay," Fluttershy rose to her feet, looking shy and embarrassed, "I think we should definitely go and look for it. I don't want everypony to get hurt if it's something bad."

"That's the spirit!" Rainbow Dash said with a smile, giving Fluttershy an affectionate squeeze.

"Well, I wasn't planning on a day trip," Rarity said, stifling a grimace and swooping a hoof through her purple mane, "but of course if it's an urgent situation, we simply have to go."

"New adventure, woooo!" Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted, hopping all over the place like a pogo stick.

"Well, if we're all okay with doing this, I think we should get going right now," Twilight said authoritatively, "It's better that we go and find the source as quickly as we can before it gets any worse."

“Gotcha, Twilight,” Applejack said. She then noticed how Pinkie Pie was still bounding around uncontrollably, so she reached out a hoof to pin down her bubble-gum pink tail and stop her in her tracks. “So we have to stay serious and focused. Right, Pinkie?” she said sternly.

Pinkie Pie saluted with a smile. “Totally right, AJ. Very, very serious and focused. Look, this is my serious face.” She narrowed her eyes and pouted, which Applejack and the others couldn’t help finding comical.

Twilight rolled her eyes with the corners of her mouth defiantly turned up. She then addressed the group in an earnest tone. “Girls, I’ll meet you all back here in two minutes. I need to let Princess Celestia know of the situation before we do anything, and you’d better go and prepare yourselves. We don’t know what we might find out there.”

“Aye-aye, princess!” Rainbow Dash shouted from up in the air, earning an embarrassed blush from Twilight.

"So back here in two minutes, everypony?"

"Ya got it, sugar!"

"Absolutely!"

"Um, yes..."

"See you in a bit, bye!"

Before they even noticed, Pinkie Pie zoomed off in the direction of her house with unbelievable speed. The rest of their group dispersed quickly, except for Rainbow Dash, who only had to fly a small distance through the air to reach her cloud house. She looked back momentarily to make sure Twilight wasn’t having too much trouble getting home with her wings. She glimpsed her flying towards the town pretty smoothly, though she wobbled occasionally, so Rainbow didn’t ponder it and headed into her own house.

The rooms were quiet and empty, just as she’d left them. Just how she always left them. Sometimes Rainbow Dash couldn’t help feeling despondent about how lonely her home felt, even with Tank lumbering around from place to place. She always told herself that she wasn’t lonely; she had her five special friends to rely on as well as countless other ponies who obviously knew how awesome she was. All of that was true, but when she returned home, the bareness felt… strange. It was like she was surrounded by love and happiness one minute, and the next, all that had been taken away to leave her feeling quite worthless.

She shook away the thoughts nonchalantly; none of it mattered. There were many perks to living alone after all, and no-one said she had to be in her home all the time when she could be with her friends in the outside world. Yep, alone time sure is awesome, she thought confidently… though she never really looked forward to the time when she went to bed in the dark with no friendly voices to say good-night to her.

Remembering that she didn’t have much time to get herself ready, Rainbow Dash cleared her mind and headed up to her room. Her saddle bag hung from the knob at the top of her large bed; she always kept it there in case she needed to grab it in emergencies (which, regarding her and her friends’ lives, they often found themselves in). With effortless speed, she filled her bag with objects that would most likely come in useful. She noticed Tank’s shell sitting in the corner of the room; he was obviously dozing. Smiling, she quietly glided over to him and gently patted the top of his shell.

“Be back soon, Tank,” she whispered. Not surprisingly, there was no movement from the tortoise’s shell. Rainbow knew that he had very deep sleeps, having learned from the time she had panicked when he didn’t come out of his shell for just over a day.

Once she decided her room was tidy (which to her meant a creased bed cover, a crowded desk and a carpet dotted with a few sweet wrappers), she soared downstairs and out through the front door. She looked below at the grassy ground, only to see that nopony else had arrived yet. She landed next to her letterbox, suddenly recalling with excitement the note she had written to her dad.

Checking that no-one was around to hear her, Rainbow quietly said with a smile, “Can’t wait to hear back from you, Dad. You’re probably in for a great story when I come visit you.”

She savored her warm and happy feelings for a short moment, and then her attention turned back to the flames in the distance. They were now weak and faint, most of the sky being covered by a cloud of grey mist instead of fire. She wondered how long her friends might take, but as soon as the thought had gone through her mind, she glimpsed the yellow and pink figure of Fluttershy hurrying towards her.

“Oh, hello, Rainbow Dash,” she said meekly, a little out of breath, “Sorry I’m late. Am I late?”

“Um… I don’t think you’re late at all, Fluttershy. We’re the first ones here.”

“Oh, I know, I’m sorry, I’m just nervous, that’s all,” she pushed a streak of her mane back from her face anxiously.

“That’s all right, I get it. But you know what I think?”

“What?”

“I bet even if there was a dragon out there, you could totally take it,” Rainbow Dash said with a wink. “Look at the way you saved us all that time. Whatever’s going on, you’ll be fine; we’ll all be fine. So you don’t need to worry.”

Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Yes, you’re right. I won’t worry. Not… too much anyway.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Before long, the rest of the group appeared in view, all of them assembling as quickly as they could. They were clearly uneasy (even Rainbow Dash was a little, but she wouldn’t admit it), but everypony also looked prepared.

“You all okay for this?” Twilight asked, levitating a map out of her saddle bag.

Everyone nodded confidently.

“I don’t know how long this is going to take, or what in Equestria could be happening out there, but the important thing is that we do what we can to help and look out for each other along the way. Right?”

“Totally!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a gallant smile, raising her hoof up in the air.

“Absotootley-lootely!” Pinkie Pie squeaked, earning some puzzled but amused looks from her friends.

“Okay then,” Twilight announced, “let’s go, everypony.”

Thus, Twilight Sparkle set off on foot towards the trees in the distance, with the other mares immediately following close behind. As Rainbow Dash hovered comfortably above the rest, her eyes swerved towards the smoke in the distance before she and her friends disappeared into the thick wood ahead.