Daring Do and the Stigma of Fear

Chapters

Built By Fear... Deconstructed By Friends
Where Daring Dares
Bad Blood
That's Knife... Knife's A Bitch
Twilight On The Streets Of Hell
The Aftershock And The Damage

Built By Fear... Deconstructed By Friends

Daring Do And The Stigma Of Fear

Chapter 1:

Built By Fear... Deconstructed By Friends

Inside the Ponyville Library, two ponies laid around reading. One Pony had chosen a book representing her primary interests in the arcane magic field; the other had chosen a simple adventurous tale of grandeur. Each one was enjoying their selection on this gray day. The day typically used for lying around.

Twilight Sparkle was, needless to say, glad to have her most athletic friend come by every so often to enjoy the one thing she used to hate: reading. Sure, she hasn't read anything other than the Daring Do series, but it was better than nothing. They enjoyed each other’s company, even though most of it was spent in silence.

“All right. Done with this one.”

“Is that right? Geez Rainbow, you're becoming a faster reader than I am.”

“Just for that series. I don't think I could read as fast as you otherwise.”

“Hmm, true.” Rainbow hit Twilight lightly on the shoulder at her own teasing arrogance, then went to grab yet another Daring Do book to read. A look of perplexity overran her face when she failed to find a title she was not already familiar with.

“Hey, Twi? You got any more Daring Do around here? I think I read all these.” Twilight knew she didn't, and also knew it was likely the time she had feared finally arriving.

“Which one was the last one you read?”

“Daring Do and The Ring of the Marengeti .” Confirmed.

“Sorry, Rainbow. That's the last book in the series.” Twilight hadn't seen her friend lose this much color since Discord was loose.

“But- but that can't be the last one! You sure there aren't any more?”

“Positive. There hasn't been a new book in years. She just... outright stopped writing them.”

“Why?!”

“Don't know; she disappeared from the public eye a while ago.”

“Well, I gotta find her. Make her write more. I need more.” Taking matters into her own hands, Twilight thought. That's Rainbow Dash for you.

“Rainbow, no one's seen her in three years.”

“I'll find her, don't you worry.”

“Do you even know who she is?” Rainbow opened her mouth, and let it hang for a second before shutting it.

“...no.” Twilight smirked.

“Pick out a book. Any Daring Do book. Read the inside flap at the end.”

Rainbow did so, picking out her favorite Daring Do And The Fountain Of Lamneth, and flipped to the inside of the back cover. A small paragraph was present on the flap of the book cover.

Daring Do is a renowned archaeologist with a degree from Hoofvard in zoology. She resides in Canterlot where she teaches History at Pranceton University--

“She's real?! And she lives in Canterlot?!”

“Correct.” Twilight confirmed with smugness and amusement in her friend's expected reaction. “She might not be there anymore. I told you, she disappeared.”

“...And you didn't tell me all this before, why?”

“Well, I didn't want you to go all obsessive fangirl on her like you do with the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow blushed at this accusation.

“I do not-- Okay maybe I do. But I have to meet her! At least to ask her to make more books!”

“I seriously doubt she will, but I'm all for a trip to Canterlot.”

“...And emergency contact is right here. We'll be staying with Princess Celestia, so just have Spike send the letters. We'll get them there. Got everything, Trixie?”

“Yes, yes. Trixie is more than capable of watching a library for a week. You need not worry.”

“Well, I'm worrying because last time I left it for longer than a day it almost burned down.”

“Last time you left it under the care of a baby dragon that can breathe fire.”

“Touché.” She agreed as she and her friend prepared to leave. “Speaking of whom, be sure to give him that note I wrote. Tell the others too. We'd say goodbye ourselves but we have to catch this train. Otherwise, we'll have to wait a whole day before the next one, and Rainbow gets kind of... testy when she has to wait for something.” The two mares moved to the door of the library. “Well, we're off. Remember to tell the others where we're going. And don't forget to water the plants!”

“Everything will be fine. Off you go!” She shut the door in front of her and, once making sure the two mares were gone, yanked a book from the shelf. It was titled Painted Skies, a sappy and saucy romantic love tale, Trixie's guilty pleasure. She sat down on the couch and gazed at the cover.

“Oh, Fabio Lanztallion... Trixie is only yours.” She kissed the cover, opened it and began reading.

“Man, what a dump!”

“I didn't even know there were slums like this in Canterlot.” Twilight stated, looking at the rundown apartment in the dirtiest part of Canterlot. She looked at the directions they were given at Pranceton University. The ponies asked were less than receiving upon hearing the name of the archaeologist, but gave them the directions of her last known place of residence. It was the only lead they had so far. If this turned out to be a dead end, there was nothing more they could do.

Inside the apartment was no better, dust and mildew ran galore. Twilight felt a pang of relief when she realized Rarity had not accompanied them otherwise it'd be quite a bit before they could get her to leave. The two mares walked up to the desk-attendant, a stocky rough cut pony who seemed surprised by the two mare's presence. Likely due to their cleaner and out-of-place appearance.

“How can I help you fine young mares?” He spoke with a slight Neigh Orleans accent.

“We're looking for Ms. Daring Do. Does she live here?”

“The shut-in? Geez, I didn't even know she had family.” Twilight caught the unusual description quicker than Rainbow.

“We're not family, we're just-- Shut-in? I thought she went missing.”

“Well, they ain't looking hard enough. She's been in her apartment. Ain't seen her leave once except to get the Meals On Wheels food outside her door.”

“She's been in her apartment this whole time? For three years?” Rainbow exclaimed in disbelief.

“Never left once. Her key's been sitting here collecting dust.”

“May we use that key?” Twilight asked, putting on her most innocent voice.

“Sorry, ma'am. I can only give it to a confirmed family member or friend. And I don't think she'll be coming out to confirm anytime soon. You're welcome to try talking to her, though. Apartment 323.”

“Thank you.” Twilight said as they walked up the stairs. Rainbow followed.

“Hello? Miss Daring Do?” She asked politely as she knocked at apartment 323, a splintered door in a dark and dreary hallway that made Twilight remember the apartment she pictured in her head while reading certain crime novels. Behind the door she heard a gasp, followed by a loud clatter of something being dropped. A scurry of footsteps ran around the room before they approached the door, become louder each step.

“Who is it? What do you want?” A mare's voice said behind the still unopened door. She sounded incredibly nervous.

“Uh... hello. Are you Daring Do?”

“Yes. Why? Who wants to know?” Twilight swore she heard Rainbow squeal in a much-too-feminine-for-her voice .

“Um...” Twilight fumbled with her words, feeling awkward talking to an unopened door instead of to an actual face. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. My friend Rainbow Dash and I are huge fans of your books.” The mare behind the door said nothing, prompting Twilight to finish. “We were hoping to meet you.”

“Concerning what?” Twilight had not been expecting that particular question.

“I don't know, just... meeting you. Maybe have a talk--”

“I don't feel like talking. Go away.” Footsteps behind the door could be heard fading away. Twilight recoiled at the rude behavior, Dash only felt herself burn up. Hero or not, no-one talked that way to her friend while she was the Element of Loyalty, or any other time for that matter. Pushing past Twilight, she knocked on the door much harder and in more rapid succession than Twilight. Footsteps came back, louder this time.

“What?!” The supposed Daring Do answered, this time sounding less nervous and more irritated.

“Listen, lady: You don't talk to my friend that way!”

“Oh, I'm sorry!” The sarcasm was painfully obvious in that sentence. “Go away, please! Is that better?”

“Come on! We came here from Ponyville to see you!”

“Why should I care?” Daring spit back.

“Well, the least you do is be thankful. Do you have any idea how lucky you are to even have fans that would travel that far just to meet you?”

Daring muttered something along the lines of “luck, my flank” and was silent. Finally, she sighed and spoke again.

“If I give you an autograph or something, will you please go away?” The voice didn't sound hostile anymore. If anything it had a more begging tone to it.

Rainbow Dash was about to respond, but had her mouth covered by Twilight before she could speak.

“Yes, that will be fine.” She spoke calmly. Silence filled the area around them until the faint sounds of scribbling could be heard. A slip of paper slid out from below the door. It contained a rushed printing of what was assumed to be Daring Do's signature.

“There, you have it.” The voice behind the door said. “Now please, please go away.” Footsteps faded off into the distance. The two ponies outside stared at the paper.

“Now exactly what we hoped for, but it'll have to do. Come on, Dash, let's go. Looks like we're going home early.” It took only a few steps for Twilight to realize Dash wasn't following her. “Dash?”

“I ain't leaving yet. I wanna talk to her. I gotta find out what her problem is.”

“Dash, she obviously doesn't want to be bothered. Let's cut our losses and go.” The rainbow pony refused to budge, instead inspecting the door. She turned it to find it locked. Twilight could see it in her face that she wasn't about to give up easily, and that annoyed her to no end. “...And what do you think you're planning on doing? Don't tell me you think you're gonna break--” Rainbow yanked a bobby pin from Twilight’s neatly formed hair, causing it to level down into its natural straight form.

“Hey!”

“Quiet! I think I'm onto... something... YES!” She whispered excitedly as the door unlocked. She pushed the door open slowly, checking in. She gave Twilight her pin back. “The coast is clear. Follow me.”

“I am not breaking into a pony's apartment.” Twilight rebutted, fixing her hair to her preferred form. “I refuse to stoop to your level.”

“But Twilight?” Rainbow asked, before looking in the room. “Oh, my! It's messy in here! So unorganized and un... categorized! Someone should take to time to clean and organize it.” Her voice brimmed with mischievousness.

The two ponies stared at each other.

“Darn you, Rainbow Dash.” The athletic pony grinned at the bookworm as they entered silently into the apartment.

They expected a lush and fancy apartment decorated with treasures and ancient relics typical of any collection owned by an archaeologist. What they got was a cramped apartment just barely in living condition. The smell of Celestia-knows-what filled the air, newspapers and drawings of arcane symbols lined a wall opposite the door and on a coffee table and a dim, flickering light covered the main room and it's faded brown peeling wallpaper.

“Ugh, she lives here?” Dash whispered.

“Guess so. You'd think someone in her line of work would make enough bits to own a decent apartment.” Twilight turned her attention to a board of ratty newspapers. Many of them were about Daring Do herself. Two in particular stuck out.

Famed Archeologist Daring Do To Lead Excavation Team to Recently Discovered Ruins.

The article featured a picture of Daring wearing the bold aura of confidence frequently seen on the cover of her books. Behind her were four other ponies she did not recognize.

The next one followed the first one in terms of date, albeit a big gap between the two dates.

Doomed Excavation Leaves Five Ponies Dead and Sole Survivor Charged With Murder

The sole survivor was indeed Daring Do, pictured lying in a hospital bed with multiple bandages on her hooves, a cloth over her right eye and a chipped tooth. This is the most recent article on the board.

“What 'cha looking at?” Twilight jumped at the sudden voice, hitting Dash on the shoulder in retaliation. She didn't seem to feel it. “Relax, Daring's asleep in her room. We're fine. What is all this?”

“Look at this date. This is only a week after she published her last book.”

“So?”

“Remember what I said? She disappeared after she sent out her last book. I haven't heard anything about her since, but look at this.” She pointed at the most recent addition to the newspaper board, taking place a month after the article before. She read the passage aloud. “Famed archeologist and best-selling writer Daring Do has been charged with murder after the remains of her expedition team was found inside of the ruins near Canterlot. Reports say Daring Do was covered in the victims' blood and had the murder weapon (assumed to be a ritual knife of sorts) in her pocket when she was found unconscious outside the Canterlot gates. Do has refused to make any statement involving the murders.” A smaller shred of newspaper was lined just below the article just read. “The trial ended in a hung jury due to insufficient evidence.” The picture below that showed a deeply distraught Daring Do sitting at a table in court.

“She's a... murderer?” Rainbow Dash squeaked out.

“Well, it says they didn't have enough evidence to prove it. It sounds to me like--” Footsteps. Footsteps approaching slowly but surely.

“Crap!” Dash whispered. “She's awake! What do we do?”

“Hide!” Twilight pointed to an open closet, hoping it can be used to hide until Daring left the room. It was a tight fit, but they managed to squeeze in. No more than a second later, the archeologist entered the room with a curious gaze thinking she heard something. Dismissing it, she initially turned to go back to bed, but stopped and went to the newspaper covered coffee table instead. She did nothing but stare at the pictures, pictures of ruins in the middle of a lush jungle, in the middle a moderate-sized temple. The ruins her team was assigned to investigate.

A sharp throb shot through her temple. She barely remembered any of the incident, but the image post-blackness was clear enough in her head. It started with her legs feeling like heavy bags of sand thanks to an agonizingly long walk from the ruins to Canterlot where she passed out upon reaching the gate. She remembered waking up with a blinding light in her face and being interrogated for over an hour, before even being told her colleagues and good friends were dead and she was soaked with their blood and holding the knife that murdered them, thus making her the prime (and really the only) suspect. In court, lawyers and the judge tore through her sorry defense like shark teeth through the chum-covered carcass of a whale. She felt relieved (and somewhat humiliated for a mysterious reason unknown to her) when she was dismissed by a hung jury and walked home to her apartment to never come out again. A constant throughout the memories was a blistering headache.

Daring Do clenched her teeth. The worst part about all this was that she couldn't deny murdering them. The knife was in her pocket. She remembered the knife. One of the few shreds of memory she has of the temple was that it was a knife used on what appeared to be a sacrificial altar. She remembered the heavy feeling of death in the room, and the knife being pulled out of the skeletal remains of a pony by a rookie who had just recently come into the archaeological field. She wanted to give him a class five whipping for that stupid move by bringing up her history of encountering booby traps and how one always must be careful, but was more interested in the knife itself. Mysterious symbols, ones that as of now escape her, were numerous on the blade and handle. She went to get a book for reference. She can't remember if she ever found out what they were. The memory stops there.

That was on the first day, they were eager to start examining the ruins so they started right away. Anything could've happened during that month. Anything. She could very well have murdered them the first day then decide to take a 50 mile stroll a week later. Perhaps there was grueling tension between them party members and Daring was the first to lose it. A thought came to her that perhaps it was built upon an unconscious want to murder her friends. The thought died as quickly as it came up. She wouldn't do that. They were her friends. Even if they weren't she didn't have the stomach to do such a horrible thing.

Right?

“I didn't do it. I'm a good pony.” She repeated this mad mantra a number of times as she organized the scraps of paper in front of her before it was interrupted by what sounded like a faint whisper. She looked to the source: her coat closet.

I knew I heard something!

Grabbing a statue on the table next to her couch, a bronze metal figure of Sleipnir given to her by a friend, she moved stealthily to the source of the sound: Her coat closet. She held the makeshift weapon high and ready and opened the door and found the faces of two ponies staring back at her. She raised the statue.

“Wait!” Twilight yelled. “We're not here to hurt you.”

“Yeah, right.” Daring scoffed out, still holding the statue high. She recognized their voices, the two annoying as all pony hell fans outside her door.

“I'm serious! We just--”

“We want to know what your problem is.” Rainbow bluntly clarified. Smooth, thought Twilight.

“My problem?! You're the ones breaking into other ponies' apartments!” She lowered the statue and stepped aside. “Get out of there. Come on.” The two interlopers didn't move. “NOW!” That made them move, scuffling back into the living room. Daring slammed the closet and looked other the two ponies. The ponies themselves got a good look at Daring as well. She was not like they remembered her from the book covers. There was no aura of bold confidence mixed with careful wisdom. If anything, she looked dead on her feet. Her gray (now a little grayer likely due to excess stress) mane was disheveled and her baggy eyes had no life in them. She wore a bathrobe that matched her light brown coat. A scar rested over her right eye.

She seemed... duller in color.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call the cops on you.”

“Because you're not going to.” Twilight said, earning herself a shocked look from Dash and a vexed looked from Daring.

“Excuse me?” Daring was biting her tongue to keep from exploding on the lavender unicorn. “You wanna test that theory?”

“Go for it.”

“Twilight...” Rainbow nervously whimpered out.

“I will.” Daring walked up to the phone and picked up the receiver “I'll do it.”

“Go ahead.”

“Twilight, I really don't feel like getting arrested--”

“You'll be sorry! You'll rot in prison for the rest of your miserable lives!”

“I hope so. What are you waiting for?”

“Twilight, stop!”

“I'll do it!” Sweat rolled down the older mare's forehead. The receiver shook in the tan pony's hand. She could hear a tone play, telling her to hang up the receiver. “You'll pay. You'll bucking pay!”

“I dare you.”

She didn't. Daring Do stared wide-eyed at Twilight's smug look, then slumped in defeat and hung up the receiver. Dash gave Twilight a look that clearly said How'd you know? Twilight whispered back “Pony Psychology.” A loud sigh emitted from Daring.

“How'd you call my bluff?”

“It was one of two factors: 1. You haven't left your apartment or at least had any visitors in quite some time evident by the way it looks, by the way you look right now and how you treated us while we were outside. I figured the last thing you'd want is more ponies around. You don't even want us around. You're hiding from society. This theory was just a guess, however. The real thing that set it off for me was that, likely due to guilt or fear of finding new evidence or developing new theories, you wouldn't want the police wandering around here, considering--”

“Don't you even think about bringing that up.” Daring growled, teeth clenched. She was beside herself with a mixture of volatile feelings, many based around anger and humiliation. “You break into my apartment and invade my privacy, you make a game out of my problems and play 'psychologist' on me! Who do you think you are? Who the buck do you think you are!?”

“I'm sorry we broke into your home and for subjecting you to this. You have every right to be mad at us, but I'm glad we did. You need help. Locking yourself up and rotting in your apartment for three years to escape your past isn't the way to deal with it.” The sympathetic unicorn walked over to the archaeologist, placing her hoof on her shoulder. “Listen, we may not know each other too well, but my friend and I are always happy to help somepony. Let us help you get past this.” Twilight tried her best to use a calming tone. Daring refused to look Twilight in the eye and shrugged her off.

“I don't need help.” She walked away, putting the statue back on the table. “And I sure as heck don't need help from a couple of fillies who don't know how to stop sticking their noses into other ponies' business.”

“You don't have to be alone in this.” Twilight refused to be denied.

“Maybe I deserve to be alone. Maybe this is my punishment for murdering those ponies.”

“But you're Daring Do, the coolest pony in Equestria! A world respected archaeologist and hero to a whole bunch of ponies! ” Dash interjected. “I know that she would never murder anypony, even if she had good reason!”

“That Daring Do is dead!” She yelled. “Dead and gone. She never even existed. She's just a character in a piece of fiction, which for that matter you shouldn't even be reading. It's for school-fillies!”

“I don't care. It's still awesome.” The rainbow pony countered. “And I'm not the only one. How do you think the rest of your fans would react if they saw you like this?”

“How could they possibly still be my fans after hearing what I did?! They're all gone. No one wants their kid's hero to be a murderer. I don't deserve fans. I don't deserve love.” Daring had stopped yelling by the last sentence which she instead whimpered out, tears forming. She bit her hoof. “Oh, why me? I'm a good pony. I'm a good pony. Bad things don't happen to good ponies. I didn't deserve this.” Twilight and Rainbow could not help but feel immense sympathy for her. Twilight attempted to move up to comfort her.

“Daring--”

“No!” Daring backed away, suddenly frantic. “Get away from me! Get out. Get out, please!”

“We're not leaving. You need help. We can help you.”

“I don't need help! I don't want help! I don't deserve help! The only thing I deserve is to burn in pony hell for what I did! Burn my soul until I scream for mercy, then burn it some more! I'm a murderer! All murderers go to pony hell!” Daring sounded hysterical by now as she backed against a nearby wall, sweating as if she was merely an inch away from the pony hell she spoke of and breathing as if someone was sitting on her chest. The two ponies in front of her were, needless to say, getting worried about the mare's already fragile psyche.

“Daring, I think you're having a panic attack.” Twilight spoke slowly, hoping she was right about that diagnosis. “Please, just calm down--”

“SHUT UP! Just shut up! Don't call me that! Daring Do is dead, she's never coming back! Dead! Dead! Dead... And... She's... I... I'm dead. I'm just... I... Oh, Celestia...” The panicking mare suddenly slumped to the side, caught at the last second by Rainbow. Twilight rushed up to her side, checking her heart rate and breathing pattern. Both were erratic.

“Is she okay?”

“She's fine, just a little shook up.” She told Rainbow, who started to stroke her mane the way a mother would a child. “It's all right, Da- Ms. Do. It's all right. Breathe. Breathe in, breathe out.” She instructed the hyperventilating mare.

It took a good amount of time, as evidenced by the setting sun barely seen through her draped windows, but the archaeologist pony managed to calm herself. Her breaths came out in shudders, her cheeks were stained with wetness and she carried a glassed look in her eyes. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash sat over her, comforting her and never once leaving. After staying silent the whole time she laid there, the archaeologist finally uttered out something.

“I'm a good pony, right?” She asked the mares in an empty tone. They reluctantly nodded. “I-- All my life I loved to explore. I got my cutie mark after digging out an old toy in the backyard of my house. Since then, I loved finding and discovering things. I was ecstatic when I got this job. Being paid to do what I love. It was the trill of a lifetime, too. Even still, I was never selfish with anything. I donated by findings to museums. I gave my writings and sketches to libraries or historical archives. When I took up writing as a pass time, I donated the bits I made to charity. I didn't have need for them, since my job was paying enough.” She paused. “I did all those, and yet... What did I do to deserve this?” She grabbed Twilight’s hoof. “Please, tell me what I did to deserve this.”

Twilight decided not to answer that, for fear of further pressing the matter. Daring Do didn't even wait for a response. She closed her eyes and continued to lay there, enjoying the stroking of her mane done by Rainbow Dash. Eventually, she fell asleep in Rainbow's comforting hooves.

Where Daring Dares

Daring Do and the Stigma of Fear

Chapter 2:

Where Daring Dares

Contrary to many other nights before, there were no nightmares this time. It was the best sleep she'd had in almost two years. She woke with her face facing the closed blinds that had sun leaking in. A particular stream of sun shot her straight in the eye, making her turn over. Once she turned over, she spied a bluish Pegasus with a rainbow mane eying the twin swords hanging above her door. At first, shock filled her and she thought to reach the pepper spray in her drawer, but painfully remembered last night's events.

"Wow." The Pegasus said, breaking Daring's thought train. "I didn't know Daring was a swordsmare."

"I'm not." Daring chose to jump in. Rainbow jerked her head to the mare. "They're just antiques. I found them in the mountains near Griffon Country. Almost got into a territorial war because I wasn't given permission to do an expedition there by them. Had to give them everything we found. They didn't want the swords, and neither did the museum. So, I just kept them for myself."

"Cool." The blue mare said. Daring blushed at the compliment. "How're you feeling?"

"Better. Thank you."

"Good. I... made you breakfast." She pointed to a tray on her side table, containing a bowl of ramen, a pack of saltine crackers and water. "Sorry, it was all I could find."

"It'll suffice." She took the tray and dug into the ramen half-heartily.

"Is it all you have? You fridge was filled with nothing but TV dinners, ramen and water. I don't know much about healthy dieting, but this can't be good to live-"

"I didn't ask you for your opinion."

"Tough. You're getting it anyway. You're a full grown mare; you can't live on this junk! I can see your ribs, for Celestia's sake!"

Daring closed her robe and continued to work on her meager amount of food, not showing any sign of caring what Rainbow had to say. Rainbow would've countered more, but restrained herself upon hearing her name called. At the doorway, her friend Twilight Sparkle stood with an expression of further sympathy towards the brownish mare.

"Yeah, Twi?" The rainbow mare asked walking up to her.

"How is she?"

"She says she's better, but I really doubt it. Did you notice how frail she looks? She's been living on that packaged stuff. That can't be good for a pony."

"It's not. Frozen ramen and TV dinners don't have the essential nutrients needed to make a pony healthy. That Meals on Wheels the desk attendant told us about is probably the main reason she's still alive at all. If we're gonna try to help her, the first thing we can do is at least get her some real food. I know a restaurant not far from here. We could try there." Another glance was directed at Daring. "Rainbow, does she look... duller to you?"

"Twi, she's an archaeologist. I don't think she-"

"Not like that! I mean like her color tone."

Rainbow Dash eyed the mare, taking in details she had not originally noticed. Other than her grayer mane, the archaeologist did look a little different contrary to what her appearance was on the covers of her favorite series. Although they were made to be flamboyant, they were more realistic-appearing than what the mare looked like now.

"Yeah... yeah, she does. She looks like-"

"Pinkie did when she thought we didn't like her parties anymore?"

"Yeah. How'd you know I was gonna say that?"

"Think about it: Pinkie lost her color and became really crabby when she lost her purpose for throwing parties after thinking no one wanted to go to them anymore. At least that's what you told us, right? You found her throwing a 'party' for a bunch of inanimate objects?" Rainbow shivered at the memory, but nodded. "This may be the case with Daring here. She hasn't left her apartment in three years. What is she gonna discover here aside from her carpet under all of those shreds of newspapers and drawing? Perhaps, like Pinkie, Daring lost her purpose along with her color after losing the will to do her cutie-mark assigned destiny. The destiny of being an archeologist and discovering new things."

Rainbow pondered all of her friend's theories. She and her friend looked at the mare.

To their surprise, she was looking back.

"Were you listening this whole time?" Twilight asked in obvious curiosity.

"I'm not deaf. You're only a couple of feet away from me."

"Sorry." Rainbow apologized. Daring looked down at her now empty bowl. She opened the pack of crackers and began gnawing on a piece.

"There's a name for what you just described."

"There is?"

"Yes, Cutie Mark Decay Disorder. I learned about it while teaching at Pranceton."

"I've never read about it before." Twilight said, running a scan through her head in an attempt to remember seeing the name pop up in any of her books. Nothing came up.

"It's a recent discovery in the medical field, and isn't labeled in any medical guides older than a year. Grif's Anatomy makes a reference to it, but not by name. I'm betting the library you mentioned hasn't been updated, so to speak."

"No I guess not." Twilight made a mental note to fix that in the future. She had Grif's Anatomy, though. She made another note to reread it and look for the specific mentioning of the disease.

"It's controversial, too. Neighsayers believe that the disease falls under the category of others like schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder: It's all in your head. Ponies are making it all up. If it were otherwise, it probably would be in all medical books by now." A scowl appeared on her face. "They're saying it isn't real. Well, look at me! Does it look real to you?"

"I'm... not sure how I wanna answer that," Rainbow spoke nervously.

"Yes! It's real! I have it. I've got no purpose in my life other than just withering away in this pit of an apartment."

"Why don't you just go outside and start digging junk up?"

"I can't. I just can't."

"Why the heck not?" Rainbow asked, clearly annoyed over the contradicting subject matter.

"She has a social phobia." Twilight spoke calmly, not wanted to raise her voice along with the two Pegasus's. "Agoraphobia or something of the sort. She's petrified of being around other ponies, so she holed herself up in her apartment to cut herself off from others. I bet she got it from a traumatic experience three years ago: Being charged with the murder of five ponies that she didn't do. Lawyers and cops pointing hooves at her, being interrogated, being accused of murdering friends by strangers. Can you blame her? She was lucky the trial ended in a hung jury, otherwise she'd be in prison by now. Very likely, she'd be on a life sentence or, at the worst, death row." Daring winced. Twilight apologized to the mare. "Now the thought of interacting with others horrifies her. Right?" She asked Daring as soothingly as possible. Daring nodded.

"Hell is other ponies."

"But how is she okay with talking to us?" Rainbow asked.

"Who says I am?" The ponies looked at the former adventurer, who wore annoyed look. "I wish you two fillies would get the hell out of my apartment and never come back. But I know your type. You're not leaving until you've at least tried to help me."

"Tried? Lady, we ain't leaving until you're just like you are in those books you wrote." Rainbow spoke with high enthusiasm.

"I told you already, they're fiction. As in 'not real.'"

"So? The plot, characters, and treasures may not be real; but the main protagonist is, right? She's you, Daring. You built her around yourself and you can be like her, but only if you want to be. The Daring Do in the books wouldn't want to just rot in her apartment for three years. Would she?" Rainbow spoke sagely. Daring again didn't bother looking at the two friends, but nodded. She felt the purple pony place a hoof on her own.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

"No. No, I can't."

"Come on. It's easy. Just take filly steps."

"No. Please, I wanna go back." Daring stood in the archway of the door, only the slightly taller Rainbow Dash standing between her and the safety of her room. "Let me in, please!"

"Sorry, Twilight told me not to."

"Daring. I may not know you personally, but I can tell you're a strong and reasonable mare." Twilight filled in. "As an archaeologist and a fellow intellect, you should remember that fear is all in the mind. No one’s going to hurt you for just stepping outside."

"Unless you live in N.A." Rainbow joked under her breath.

"Shush, Rainbow."

"Sorry. Daring, from one Pegasus to another, if you don't want to walk, why not fly? Every Pegasus should have that feeling of not caring for the world when in flight."

"I haven't flown more than a foot in a long time. I doubt I'd even be as good as I was before."

"A Pegasus never forgets how to fly. I have a friend who has the same problem. She barely uses her wings, but can still fly faster than me sometimes." Rainbow turned to Twilight. "Don't tell her I said that." The lavender unicorn giggled, but promised as Dash turned back to Daring. "Okay. Just try it with me." Rainbow broke into a flight-ready position. Hesitantly, Daring followed suit. The two winged horses stood side-by-side, flexing their wings. Twilight stood back observing the two.

"Ready? Flex, get them moving. Now, start flapping." Daring followed the instruction word-by-word. "Make a small jump." Off the ground, she managed to hover in mid-flight. A small laugh emitted from her.

"Wow, this does feel better. So much better. Now I feel—OW!" She exclaimed when she bonked her head against the ceiling. She rubbed the assaulted area with her hoof. "Oh, right. We're still indoors. Okay. Hover… Forward…" On command, she flew forward with ease. "Oh, yeah. This feels great!" She made a U-turn back towards the two ponies she was slowly but surely warming up to. Flying past them with new-found confidence, she bounced off a door at the end of the hall with her hooves making a clopping sound on the hardwood. Sighing in annoyance, an older colt went to answer the knocked door. Upon seeing an airborne Daring and two other ponies in the hall, he grumbled and turned back inside muttering something about "stupid fillies breathing his air."

After four laps around the hallway, Daring landed with a skid on the wood floor. She was filled to burst with eagerness. She knew it would be short-term, but it felt great nevertheless.

"That… was fun." Daring rasped out of breath. "Can't remember the last time I did something like that. I feel so much better."

"Better enough to try for the lobby?" Twilight asked in hope. Daring was reluctant at first, but nodded with a ready look in her eyes. Rainbow looked at Daring with a grin after shutting her door.

"Race ya?"

"Maybe some other time."

The two friends led the trek down the creaky stairs, Daring Do following in cautious pursuit taking slow steps. She was beyond nervous in the unfamiliar surroundings. The lobby was massive to her eyes, and made her wonder if her fear was actually of social contact or wide open spaces.

Despite her fear (which Twilight convinced her to pronounce as irrational), she made it to the bottom of the steps and into the dirty lobby. She didn't mind the filth. Her apartment was no better. Rather it looked uninviting, but still possessed an aura of safety. Not as safe as her apartment, but close.

"Hey." Daring jumped slightly at the sudden sounding of a soft feminine voice, seeing that it belonged to the unicorn. "Now let's adjust to our surroundings here, then slowly make our way to the door outside."

"I'm not ready."

"Yes you are. You just need to steel yourself."

"Daring." Rainbow jumped into the conversation. "If you loved flying in that hallway, you'll love flying outside. It feels-"

"I don't need a lesson on what it feels like to fly. I've done it before." Daring snapped a little harsher than intended, but calmed herself and lowered her voice. "I just... haven't done it in a while."

"Well, hey. Look who finally came out of her cave into the sunlight." The three ponies looked to the desk, where the voice had come from. It was none other than the Neigh Orleans-accented pony himself. The remark may have sounded insulting, but the look in his eyes said it was nothing more than a humble jab.

Nevertheless, it worried Twilight. A simple joke could mean the next best thing to a flat-out insult to somepony with a social phobia. Looking at Daring seemed to more or less confirm her theory. The mare had her head down and eyes away from the talking pony. A blush formed on her cheeks.

Heavy blushing. Refusing to make eye contact. Psychological side effects of Social Anxiety Disorder. As she ran the symptoms to remember through her head, a disturbing thought came to her. Geez, maybe we should test Fluttershy for Social Anxiety Disorder.

"Y-yes. I've decided to go for a... walk." Daring spoke, her timid manner of speaking contradicting her tomboyish voice.

"Well, if you're going somewhere, let me get your key." The desk pony reached onto a chipped wooden board where several other keys lay dormant. He grabbed Daring's key, blew off the dust and politely handed it to her. She whispered thanks in return after putting it in the pocket of her tan windbreaker, but it seems he didn't hear it. "Take care, you three." He spoke with warm caring as he left the room going into a dusty storage room.

"Thank you, sir." Twilight gave her most polite sounding voice. She turned to Daring. "Ready?"

"Yes... yes."

"We'll be right beside you." Rainbow spoke in a voice as soft as her unicorn friend. Together, the three of them started for the door. To her own surprise, Daring went ahead.

Outside, the weather was fair with barely a cloud in the sky. Birds perched and sang above Daring's head. The fresh air felt, tasted and smelled good. The only problem with her first impression made of the outside since the last time she saw it was its condition: A rundown, dirty cesspool of a slum.

"Man, what a dump." She spoke after taking in the sites. Rainbow and Twilight tried their best to restrain from laughing.

"Don't worry." Twilight broke in. "I know... friends in the nicer parts of Canterlot. We'll eat something there." She felt revealing she was an apprentice of Princess Celestia was probably not the best thing to do. It would be nothing short of cruelly ironic that the first pony someone with a social phobia would meet after a number of years was the protégé to the Princess herself.

"I don't think I'm very presentable." She waved a hoof over her worn-out windbreaker, disheveled mane and grayish color.

"That can be another lesson. Don't care what others think."

"Besides, the ponies who wear that fancy junk only do to flaunt it. I'm pretty sure it's not important to be seen in it." Rainbow said, trying to remember the last time she made an official visit to the fancier parts of Canterlot. It was a while ago, but Daring doesn't need to know that. Twilight shot a glare at the confused Rainbow Dash.

"Yes, but that kind of defeats the point of the lesson, does it?"

"Guess it does." The rainbow mare chuckled.

"Well... off to nicer Canterlot." Twilight stated. The ponies began to walk off, when Rainbow felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to meet a cocky grin on Daring.

"Now, we may race."

Without another word, the two pegasus' zoomed off. They left a baffled Twilight in their wake.

Bad Blood

Daring Do And The Stigma Of Fear

Chapter 3:

Bad Blood

Rainbow won the race. Daring chalked her loss off as "being a little rusty," but assured her she would have her rematch as soon as she felt up to par.

The three mares about town enjoyed lunch at a rather elegant restaurant that Twilight seemed to have known about during her previous time in Canterlot. Twilight was glad Daring had not further pressed upon the subject. She preferred the mare's relationship to be straightforward, with no unnecessary details released that could cause uneasiness between them. Even if they couldn't help her fear of life beyond that dirty apartment, Twilight and Rainbow would love to have Daring as a friend. The dirty apartment could be cleaned and refurbished and... reorganized.

Thinking about the former archeologist spurred on another topic for Twilight: She was no therapist, nor a psychologist. It seems to have been straight luck that she diagnosed Daring's social phobia correctly and that she was making progress with her so easily. Outside on the first day, let alone eating with two other strange mares? It must not have been a severe case. Perhaps, Twilight thought, the disorder was a specific disorder rather than a general one. Twilight had not taken a major interest in psychology, but read a few books on the matter. Perhaps her phobia focused more on the law enforcement that had caused her so much suffering, or anything relating to the incident.

She could worry about that later. Instead, she focused on Daring scarfing down her food as if she hadn't eaten a real meal in...

...oh, right.

"How is it, Ms. Do?" Twilight asked once Daring swallowed her previous bite.

"Good. Very good. A massive improvement over those lousy TV dinners." She took another bite, and complimented it with a sip of water. "You know I'm okay with you calling me 'Daring,' right? What I said before was just the panic talking."

"I know, but there's no problem with being a little formal between each other. We've only known each other for barely a day."

"On that note, I just want to... thank you for what you're doing. Like you said, we barely know each other and you're already trying to help me get my life back together."

"We would've done it for anypony." said Rainbow.

"You were awfully quick to trust us, though. I hope I can say this without giving you second thoughts, but shouldn't somepony with a social phobia be a little more reluctant to trusting strange ponies?"

"I was wondering that myself, especially considering we broke into your apartment." Twilight gave Rainbow her second death glare of the day.

"I couldn't tell you. Perhaps there's something about you two." Daring mused, playing with her food with a fork. "You're not like the picture I had in mind when I thought of ponies on the outside. You're... different. Maybe I'm just too trusting. That can be a good trait or a bad flaw. If you were different types of ponies who intended to use me for your own selfish purposes, my view of the world and its inhabitants would've been proven correct and I would've remained in that pit until the day I died."

"The world is far less menacing than you think. It's true there are bad ponies, but there are also good ponies like us."

"I know. I trust you. I don't know why but I do." She took another bite, then looked at Rainbow, doing a double take on finally seeing it. "Maybe it's because I feel like I'm looking in a mirror. Just how big a fan are you anyways?" Rainbow laughed. She had expected this to come up sooner or later.

"Believe it or not I always looked like this. The reason I got into you in the first place is because you reminded me so much of me."

"Aside from the... rainbow colors we could almost pass for sisters." Daring ran a hoof through Rainbow's rainbow mane. "Is it dyed or something?" Rainbow playfully swatted it away.

"I chose the series because I knew she could relate to you." Twilight said, taking another bite of her meal. "I haven't been wrong about a book recommendation yet."

"Think you can recommend me something?" Daring asked, remembering she finished her last book The Mare With The Dragon Tattoo more than 4 months ago.

"Of course, but we can do that later. Right now, I wanna get you out and about as much as possible. With reasonable pacing, of course. Don't want you having another panic attack."

"Yes, that was rather unpleasant. I think that was the first one I've had in- Oh, no."

"Something wrong?"

"It's him."

"Hey, it's Fancypants!" Rainbow said, head already turned to find Daring's distress. "Hey, Fancy-" She was silenced by a hoof in mouth by Daring. Her attempt proved futile as the dapper stallion had indeed heard the call and saw the mares. With a smile, he walked over to them. Daring felt a crushing panic and, thinking on her hooves, grabbed a wide-brimmed hat worn by a nearby customer. Daring apologized to the mare before putting it on herself, covering her face from all eyes above.

"Good day to you, Miss Sparkle and Miss Dash."

"Hello, Fancypants."

"Hey, FP."

"It's been a while. When was the last time we spoke, if you'll pardon my asking?"

"I think... the wedding."

"Ah, yes. I remember you two had on the most outstanding dresses. Mazol Tov to your brother, Miss Sparkle. I've known Princess Mi Amore Cadenza since she was a filly, and your brother couldn't have asked for a better wife. You, yourself, couldn't have asked for a better sister-in-law."

"I know. Thank you."

"Who's your friend?"

All eyes were on the covered face of Daring, who refused to even glance at them. Fancypants moved over to the mare.

"Excuse me, miss?" The covered head turned away.

Fancypants didn't strike the girls as persistent, but he seemed very determined to find Daring's currently hidden face by bombarding her with questions. Twilight looked at her rainbow-maned friend, who looked right back with a waiting look. Twilight knocked over a salt shaker that landed right next to Daring's hoof. It caught the attention of both Fancypants and the hidden Daring Do.

"Oops, sorry. I'll get that." Rainbow said.

"No, no allow me." Fancypants returned, bending down to pick up the shaker.

Always the gentlecolt. Twilight thought.

Fancypants bend down as far as his back could, which actually wasn't that far considering his pulled a muscle playing golf yesterday. Fortunately, the shaker hadn't broken open spilling its contents. He had it in his hoof when he heard a gasp above him. Glancing up he saw the startled face of a brown-coated mare with a scar over her right eye. The face ran

through the archives that were his mind, and he pieced the face with a name: Daring Do, his former employee.

"Daring?"

The mare took off her hat, yet still refused to respond and turned away from him once he stood back up fully.

"Daring? It's me, Fancy-"

"Get away from me." Daring growled, still refusing to make eye contact.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said, 'get the buck away from me,' you dirty jackal!" Daring screamed back, surprising the stallion, the mares sitting near her and a few other patrons nearby. Fancypants sported a look mirroring the mare's previous stunned one.

"So... you do remember me?" He laughed nervously.

"How could I forget you?" Daring's voice was laced with venom. She turned to the two mares next to her, each of whom was watching the event in front of them with piquing curiosity. "He's my former employer. He picked out my assignments, including the one that utterly condemned my life. I know you knew what would happen to me when you gave me that assignment! Bastard!" Daring had risen from her seat, closing in on a nervously backing away Fancypants like a feral cat on the hunt. "I'll see you pay for this! Death by rope or spending the rest of your miserable life in prison where some muscle-bound pony will make you his sweetheart! I'll have your head... your... your..." Her breathing intensified, but seemed more in control than the previous attack.

"Daring, please... calm down." Twilight and her friend walked to each side of the fuming mare. "Listen, we know Fancypants. He would never do something like that to another pony."

"Yeah. You're overreacting. Besides, how could he possibly plan all this out? You think he had over three years of your life planned out to the smallest detail?"

"Daring," Fancypants chose to intervene with a calm, but still obviously shaken tone. "If my word means anything, I would never do that to anypony, especially you. You were my best employee. Do you honestly think me so criminal?"

"I... I guess not." She went limp in her recent friend’s hooves, head facing the floor. "I'm sorry. I guess I just... paranoia. It's just paranoia." She glared at Fancypants. "I still don't trust you, though. Just because I barely remember the whole incident doesn't mean I forgot about you. Am I supposed to just believe you just picked out this expedition without even realizing that somehow my head would go on the chopping block? You aren't that nice a stallion."

"I don't blame you. I'd be a little suspicious myself." Fancypants stood up fully, dusting himself off. "Perhaps as a show of trust, I'll invite you and your friends to a banquet I'm holding later tonight." He reached into his stylish coat and pulled out a sealed letter. Daring yanked it out of his hoof and ripped it open. Dust expunged from the envelope flew in her face and she coughed. "Sorry." Fancypants apologized. "I was just at the track. Lots of dust clouds kicked up." Daring read the letter. It was a formal invitation in gold cursive font in the seal of Fancypants' proverbial empire of business. Photo-copied. She recognized his hoofwriting. She had received it many times detailing her on assignments and expeditions.

"That's Fancypants." She spoke after reading, then closing the classy letter. "Thinking he can buy his way to forgiveness."

"Daring," Twilight spoke. "We can make this another lesson. Forgiveness of the ponies you think, but know didn't, cause you to be this way."

"But that's the problem! How do I know if they really didn't?"

"I can't tell you that. Trust your instinct."

Daring said nothing.

"When's the party?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

The sun lowered slowly over the run-down apartment building until nightfall approached. The three mares entered to the apartment (much to Daring's relief) to ready themselves for the upcoming banquet (much to Daring's disdain).

"A party? Why in Celestia's name am I going to a party? A party run by him?"

"This party just fell into our laps. You seem to be making great progress, I wanna try this. It'll see where you stand in terms of being around other ponies other than ourselves on a less personal level. Plus, remember what I said about forgiveness? You seem to think he did it and that he's responsible for the way you are, despite the fact that he likely isn't, you should forgive him because [i[it's your own fault."

"What did you just say?" Daring had not been paying total attention, but her mind clicked and anger brewed once she heard 'it's your own fault.'

My fault? How is it my fault? I didn't do anything. He-

"I said, 'You should forgive him.'" Nothing more was said after that.

Daring wanted to push upon the subject even to clarify what she heard. The last thing she wanted, however, was to question her own sanity again.

I'm doing so much better. I don't want to go through all that again. I'm a good pony.

"Listen, I'm gonna run out and buy some food for you. You look like you could really use some."

"What's that supposed to-?"

"I mean, your kitchen is looking pretty barren." She waved a hoof at her unbearably small kitchen. The cabinets were open... and empty.

"Oh. Of course. Use my bits."

"Don't worry. I can buy it myself."

"If you're doing all this, the least I can do is pay you back. Don't worry, I have plenty." Daring tossed a small bag of bits to Twilight, who put them in her saddlebag.

"Take your time, Twi." Rainbow walked in from Daring's room. "Me and Daring can look through and see if you have any dresses to wear. Gotta make a good impression, after all." With that, Twilight left the two mares to themselves.

"Oh, I'd like to leave an impression, all right. All over Fancypants' face." Rainbow was surprised at this crude remark.

"I don't get it. If you aren't even sure he did it, why do you get so bent-out-of-shape about him?" Rainbow asked.

"I never liked him. He's a slime ball, a scoundrel and a womanizer. He has that whore Fleur De Lis molest him in public, for Celestia's sake! Yesterday was the first day in who knows how long I saw him without her. I've always wanted to give him a class-5 bitching for everything that's wrong with him, but then I remembered he signed my paychecks." Daring complained as the two mares walked back into Daring's room. The room, along with the rest of the apartment was notably tidier. Twilight had said she spent the night before cleaning it. Daring, at first, had felt aggravated and violated. She scolded Twilight on being respectful to another pony's property. Then Twilight showed her the file cabinet full of her newspaper clippings and other cursed mementos. Daring had forgotten about her argument right then and there.

The sound of closet opening tore Daring out of her recent memories. Rainbow was head first in her closet, scuffling through garments Daring hadn't worn since the last time she stepped out into society. Excluding today, of course.

"Holy crap, it's dusty in here!" Rainbow coughed. "When was the last time you even opened this closet?"

"Would you find use for anything other than casual wear if you locked yourself away for three years?"

"Touché." Rainbow dug through, soon pulling out a red dress with a sparkling tail. "Here. It's the only dress I can find. The only other things you have are tuxedos." A chuckle escaped Rainbow's lips. "Tuxedos? It must be true that every mare with a short mane is a tomboy."

"Or a fillyfooler."

"Hey, I ain't no fillyfooter. Believe me, I'll be the first on to tell you that nothing feels better inside you than a stallion's-"

"Okay, okay!" Daring threw a pillow a Rainbow, laughing. "I don't believe I'm ready for those kind of conversations... yet."

"But I'm right, right?"

"You bet your flank."

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement. Now, if you want to wear a tux to the party I won't stop you. I never cared for wearing dresses myself-"

The loud sound of something being torn called Rainbow to attention. She determined the source of the sound coming from Daring.

"Daring. You all right?" Daring had a haunted look on her face, eyes wide as saucers. The dress she held was now almost in two. "Daring?" She waved a hoof in front of her face.

"I'm going to a party..." She spoke, voice hollow.

"Yep, you are. And you just ripped one of the few dresses you-"

"I'm going to a party... even though I just stepped out of my apartment for the first time in three years less than two hours ago. I'm going to a party even though I have social anxiety disorder based around a social phobia I earned from being persecuted for the murder of five ponies."

"Umm..." Rainbow droned out, not expecting this lucid outburst of realization and completely forgetting what she intended to say no less than seconds ago. "Well... when you put it that way..."

"No. No, no, no, no. I'm not doing this. I can't. I'll die. I'll quite literally kill myself somehow. I don't know how but it'll be at that party. Heart attack, beaten up by angry, offended snobs, slipping and hitting my head on the buffet table; It doesn't matter how, but that party will be the death of me..." Ranting relating to these subject went on before Dash had decided she was going to lose it.

"Daring, you're overreacting. There's no way any of that's gonna happen... that I know of. It's just a friendly gathering. Fancypants said so himself."

"Why should I believe that son of a-"

Come come to the Sabbath

Down by the ruined bridge

Witches and demons are coming

Just follow the magic call

Muffled singing pierced the air and interrupted the conversation of the two now-surprised ponies.

"What the heck is that?" Asked Rainbow.

"...My ringtone." She scurried about in search of her cellphony, which was ringing for the first time in months. She found in in the pocket of a coat she hadn't worn in a while as evidenced by how dusty it was in appearance. She blew off the likewise dust-covered phone and opened it. It read "Unknown Caller."

"Who is it?" Asked Rainbow Dash in interest.

"I... don't know. You answer it."

"You really want me to go through your personal-"

"I don't care about that. Just answer it!"

"Okay! Geez." Pressing a button and putting the cellphony to her ear, she greeted with a polite but obviously curious tone. The voice that responded back was female, tomboyish like her own.

"Hello, is Daring Do there? May I speak with her?"

"Who is this?"

"Spitfire. Of the Wonderbolts." Daring didn't know what to make of Rainbow's wide-eyed look of shock.

"Spitfire?!" The rainbow pony exclaimed.

"Spitfire?" The brownish pony also said in surprise, albeit much milder.

"Yes. Spitfire. Who is this?"

"Rainbow Dash. Remember, we met at the gala?"

"Oh, yeah. The gala and that Cloudsdale water job, right? Didn't you do a sonic rainboom at that wedding, too?"

"Yep, that was me. I also did a sonic rainboom at the Young Fliers Competition."

"A sonic rainboom?!"

"That was you? I barely remember that. Think I hit my head or something. That's pretty impressive, to be able to do two of those in your life."

"Thanks, although I actually did three of them in my life."

"Three?!"

"Three?!" Rainbow was so distracted riding off the high of her ego being stroked by compliments from her first hero she almost forget about her second hero in the same room as her.

"Yep. One when I was a filly, one at the competition and one at the wedding." She directed the phrase at both of the mares at once.

"Sweet Celestia."

"Damn, that's pretty awesome." Rainbow heard chattering past Spitfire's voice. "Hey listen, I'd love to keep talking about this, but I'm heading out soon. Gotta stay focused. Is Daring there?"

"Yeah, she's right here."

"Put her on please, if you would. Nice talking to you."

"Like-likewise." Rainbow tried to keep her voice from cracking under excitement. She had just had a conversation with two of her heroes in one day. "Here she is." Rainbow handed the phone to Daring, who reluctantly took it.

"Hello? Hello? Anyone there?"

"H-hello."

"Daring?"

"Yes..."

"Wow, it's so nice to hear your voice again after so long. How've you been?"

"Okay, I guess."

"You don't sound to happy. Everything all right?" If Spitfire had heard of what Daring went through, it didn't sound like she was gonna bring it up.

"I've just been going through some rough times, that's all."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but hey you're going to that party tonight, right? Fancypants said he invited you and a couple others. I'm guessing Rainbow Dash is the other?"

"Yes. her and a friend of hers named Twilight Sparkle."

"So, you going?"

"...I guess I am."

"Cool. Me and the rest of the Wonderbolts are going there, too. If you want you can come sit with us and hang out. Catch up on old times."

"I- I don't know."

"Please? It's been so long since we talked to each other. I miss you." Daring could almost feel the puppy-dog eyes from the other side of the line.

"Fine."

"Sweet! See you there." The phone clicked, and Daring shut her own off. She looked up to find Rainbow staring at her. She blushed under the gaze, making Rainbow apologize for making her feel uncomfortable.

"How do you know Spitfire?"

"She's a foalhood friend." Daring wasn't at all comfortable sharing this.

"What did she say... if you don't mind me asking?"

"She wants us to sit at her table with the rest of the Wonderbolts and 'catch up on old times.'" Rainbow emitted an unusually high-pitched squeal, which made Daring cringe away in shock.

"Sorry. I'm trying to stop doing that."

"Keep trying. That can't be good for your vocal chords."

"Right." She rubbed the back of her neck. "But this works even better! Now it's not only just us, but you got a another friend you can hang out with."

"I said she was a childhood friend. We... stopped talking a while ago."

"Why?" Daring glared at her. Rainbow shrunk back. "...oh, sorry. But I'm sure she'd be happy to be friends with you again."

"We'll see." Rainbow shot a confused look. "I may be the social phobic here, but Spitfire has the worst social skills in the world. She's brash, crude, never thinks twice before saying anything..."

"But she's still your friend, right?"

"Yes."

"And you wouldn't want to deny meeting an old friend, would you?"

"I suppose not."

"Then we're going to that party." Daring sighed.

"Fine."

"Can I ask you something else?"

"What?"

"Your ringtone. Was that Mercyfoal Fate?"

"Yes. I'm a fan of the band."

"You don't strike me as somepony who would be into that kind of music."

"Well, my job had me digging up and finding a whole bunch of ritual sites and altars relating to demons and the like. I guess I just developed an interest in it, and obviously I can't practice it so this music fills the void."

"Huh. Interesting."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah?"

"Three Sonic Rainbooms?"

That's Knife... Knife's A Bitch

Daring Do And The Stigma of Fear

Chapter 4

That's Knife... Knife's A Bitch

"Filthy, money rubbing scum of the earth. Dirty, vile caveponies with a 5th grade education. Unconscionable bastards. Sadistic, sacred whores. Celestia-damned Cowards..."

"She has a fouler mouth than you do, Dash." Twilight whispered to the side of Daring's rant.

"I don't have a foul mouth." Rainbow muttered back offended. "Do I?"

Twilight stared at her.

"Well... not as foul as Applejack." Rainbow countered.

"That's true." While the two mares ribbed one another, Daring continued her string of insults, which were becoming loud enough for others aside from themselves to hear.

"Not a party pony, Daring?" Dash jabbed with mirth. Daring was having none of it.

"I don't mind the parties. It's these ponies I can't stand being around. Why can't I have party by myself?"

"Because that would be an oxymoron, Daring." Said Twilight.

Daring pushed the tail of her rental dress down further over her flank. She felt the needle-like feeling of other ponies staring at her. Unfortunately, the type of ponies Daring had hoped to see around her, such as the clean-cut gentleman or the stern but loving wife that would accompany them or be on the own by being the stern but loving filly about town, were few and far between.

Instead the room was filled with older stallions. Stallions who reminded her of mobsters, drug lords, perverts, rapists and criminals who had gotten lucky. She thought she saw one looking at her flank, so she hiked the dress down further.

"What are you looking at?!" She finally yelled at the stallion who was supposedly staring at her. He flinched at her sharp tone and walked away.

"Daring--"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Sorry." She sighed heavily. "I need a drink."

"A glass of water?" Twilight offered.

"No."

"At least use a glass!"

"Doesn't work as well that way. I really wanna feel the effects." She took another gargantuan sip from the bottle of Dos Equestis. The liquid burned her throat as if she were drinking bleach, but she felt the effects on impact. Her head became lost in a fog that became denser with every sip, and her thought processing became impaired little by little. "Oh, yeah. We're cooking now!" She looked at the annoyed Twilight, flashing a cheeky grin. "I can tell 'cause you're a little sexier than you were before."

Twilight remained steadfast. "Thanks for the compliment, but you're not the first pony to hit on me while they were drunk."

"I'm not?"

"Nope. When me and my friends go out for a drink, I'm the one that has to make sure they get home safely. It's a thankless job. I'm surrounded by drunk, horny ponies and I'm constantly hit on when they're not staring at my flank."

"I hear you. I can't tell you how many stallions I've clocked, sometimes while just as drunk as they are."

"I'm not talking about stallions. I'm talking about my friends. They're all mares." Daring let out a wheezing laugh. "It's not funny! You have no idea how difficult it is!"

"Sounds like a riot. What's the problem?"

"Well, first of all: Each of my friends are a different drunk."

"They're all different?"

"Each of them. Rainbow's a sad, brooding drunk." Daring made the expected reaction to the new information. "Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are. Let's see... Applejack is an angry drunk. If you knew her, you'd get why that would be a problem."

"Is she a part of the Apple clan? I've met a couple of them. Honest, hard-working ponies built by the tough of the land."

"That's Applejack. She's a nice and humble pony normally, but add alcohol and she becomes a big pony with a short fuse."

"Sounds like my kind of mare. Who else?"

"Well, there's Rarity. Actually, I don't think I've seen her drunk yet. She's really good at holding down her drink. She's high-class and elegant, even after a couple glasses of wine. She's probably the type of pony to listen to a song on the radio and say 'This song was written about me.' "

"Is she from Canterlot?" Daring asked after a short interval of silence.

"I don't know."

"She sounds like someone from here. Canterlot ponies are naturally heavy-drinkers."

"I'll ask her when I get the chance." Twilight waited as Daring took another sip from the bottle. "Does that include you?"

"No, I'm from Cloudsdale. We're lightweights... no pun intended." Twilight chuckled lightly at the joke.

"All right. There's Fluttershy. I thought earlier that we should test Fluttershy for social anxiety disorder. She's such a frail, delicate pony."

"But when she's drunk?" Daring found herself awaiting the answer with anticipation, forgetting about her drink.

"Dash likes to call her the Wicked Bitch of the West." Daring exploded with laughter, attracting a number of startled patrons. It took some effort for her to calm herself, all the while Twilight patiently waited. "Let's see, who else is there..."

"Rainbow mentioned a Pinkie Pie and a Spike. What about them?" Daring remembered, the rogue giggle appearing occasionally.

"I don't even want to think about Pinkie, who's unnerving enough when she's sober. We don't let Spike come with us to drink. He better not be getting drunk, otherwise he's gonna have his little butt spanked."

"Don't let your coltfriend come with you to party with the mares?"

"He's not my coltfriend. He's not even a colt, he's a dragon."

"Daaamnnn." Daring dragged out.

"No, I mean he's my assistant."

"Ooo, sexy role-playing."

"He's a baby dragon!"

"Holy crap!"

"Daring!"

"Relax, I'm just messing with you. I know who he is, Rainbow told me last night." She took another sip, barely even realizing she did until she heard the bottle tap against the wooden bar. "Sorry, guess I'm starting to feel the effects of Dos Equestis." She waved the bottle around, almost hitting Twilight in the head. "Stay thirsty, my ponies!" She spoke is a poorly imitated accent, then broke into laughter. "So what about you?" she asked after calming down.

"What?"

"What kind of drunk are you?"

"I'm rarely ever drunk."

"But when you are?"

"Rarity say I'm a... flyrty dru." Twilight mumbled. Daring wasn't sure if she heard it, or if her hearing was already being replaced with a buzz.

"I'm sorry. I didn't get that."

"A flirty drunk."

Daring tried her best to stifle her laughter, but it seeped out little by little. "Wow, I never would've thought."

"I'm not proud of it." Twilight tried to hide her blush.

"Stallions or mares?"

"Stallions. I hit on Applejack's brother one time. A bunch of other colts said I hit on them, too. I woke up one morning to find three stallions in my living room. That was not the best morning I've ever had."

"Looks like Twilight brings all the colts to the yard."

"What?" Although, Twilight had a good idea what she meant.

"Twilight brings all the colts to the yard, and they're like: It's better than yours..." Daring sung and danced in her seat.

"Shut up!"

"Damn right! It's better than yours!"

"I'm warning you!"

"I'd teach you more, but I'd have to charge!" Twilight dropped her head into her hooves. Daring stopped singing and started laughing. Daring's laughter was quickly becoming the most irritating sound in Equestria for the purple unicorn.

"Can I have some of that?" Twilight moaned past her hooves. Daring slid the bottle over to Twilight. She asked for a glass and filled it up when it arrived. She take a large sip that just about emptied the glass, something Daring was marginally impressed by.

"You know, Twilight. I don't mean any of that stuff. I'm just having a hell of a time. I don't like parties, but this is quite possibly the most fun I've had in years."

"Thanks, Daring. I'm glad you think so." She took another sip, feeling her embarrassment part way for a growing sense of humor. "I've never been a party mare, either."

"Who'd want to be? Partying doesn't get you anywhere. Us bookworms gotta stick together. 'Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth' and all that nonsense." She swirled what was left of her drink in the bottle..

"Amen, sister." They high-hoofed each other and took more sips of their drinks. "Don't tell Pinkie that, though. And don't tell Rainbow about that colt-thing. She'd never let me live it down, provided she doesn't already know.."

"Where is that pony anyway?" Daring looked around, not even realizing her vision was growing slightly blurred.

"That's a very good question." Twilight said, looking around herself.

"Hey, Daring!" A much too familiar voice yelled across the room. Daring jumped at the sound of her name being called and turned, spinning on the bar stool. She could barely making out the coming pony. Twilight could.

"Hey, look it's Spit--"

"Sweet Celestia! That pony's on fire!" She reached behind the bar, grabbing the first thing she felt, a spray nozzle likely filled with beer or some other type of alcohol, and aimed it at the blurry pony. "I'll save you!" She sprayed the nozzle. Normally she would know that any attempt to put someone on fire out with alcohol would have gone horribly wrong, but her brain failed to click at the moment and panic overran all her logical reasoning.

"Daring, stop!" Twilight called, trying to break Daring's grip on the nozzle. She did, and the nozzle yanked itself back to the bar. "Daring, she's not on fire! It's Spitfire!"

"What? You're serious?" Daring focused hard on the blurry pony, and sure enough, she could see Spitfire spitting out alcohol and moving her wet mane out of her eyes. Spitfire's glare was the one thing that was visible to Daring.

"Oh, shit. Oh, Spitfire, I am so--" Daring was working on a valid-sounding explanation when she heard a rather raucous laughter. It took her foggy mind a few more seconds than normal to realize it came from the yellow pony in front of her. She felt a hoof slap her back.

"Not exactly the welcome I expected." Daring then

felt something she hadn't felt who knows how long: The embrace of another pony, this pony having the familiar feeling of her best marefriend. "It's been a long time. How've you been?" She pulled away, just as Daring was starting to enjoy it despite the heavy stench of alcohol.

"I've been better."

"Feeling glum?"

"Feeling like I wanna curl up into a ball and die of embarrassment."

"I wouldn't blame you." She put her hoof on Daring's shoulder, chuckling merrily. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna hold it against you. If you want, I'll call it revenge for the fountain incident."

"I still kind of want to... curl up and die."

"We have a drink for that back at our table."

"Bless you." Daring walked, not even waiting for Spitfire to tell her where the table was. Spitfire turned to Twilight, she eyed the mare.

"Let me guess: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow's friend?"

"That's right. Have you seen her, by the way? She just up and disappeared on us."

"She's already at our table... gushing like a fan girl over us."

"Surprise, surprise."

There were only three other Wonderbolts at the table contrary to the much larger line up, and Dash sat in between a pony with sea-foam colored mane and and one with milky white eyes above buck teeth. Twilight wasn't as big a Wonderbolts fan as Rainbow, but she could tell there were some missing.

"Couldn't wait, Rainbow?" Twilight poked at the cyan pegasus.

"I was invited." Rainbow said, as-a-matter-of-fact tone. Twilight looked at Spitfire. The orange mare nodded.

They all took their seats at the table. Daring sat in between Twilight and Spitfire, while Twilight sat nest to a deep blue-maned pegasus she recognized as Soarin'.

"Daring, you already know the others. Twilight and Rainbow, these are two others of the eleven Wonderbolts. Misty..." she gestured to the sea-foam maned mare, who timidly wave back. "...and Fleetfoot." The wild white-maned pony wave, much more aggressively than the previous pony. She didn't make eye-contact.

"It's nice to see you again, Daring. How's knife been treating you?" Asked the sea-foam colored maned pony, Misty. She had a soft, tender voice.

"I'm… sorry?"

"Your life. How's your life been treating you?" Daring paid no mind to her mishearing. She was drunk, she thought. She was bound she mishear something.

"Fine. Just fine. No complaints." Daring's forced grin had to be obvious to the rest of the table, but no one decided to bring it up. A waiter stopped by and brought a bottle of red wine along with a tray of glasses that were frosted on the outside, evidenced of being in a freezer for a good amount of time. Spitfire dismissed the waiter saying they could pour the glasses themselves. She was the first to fill her glass, and she passed it counter-clockwise around the table. Daring was the last to get it.

As she poured her glass, she thought back to when she drank all that whiskey. She probably would've drank herself stupid if Spitfire hadn't found her. She was likely still going to with the wine. She was never a big drinker prior of all of... this. She would settle for the occasional drink with friends, with some sort of celebration happening during it. Any other time, she would shy away from the stuff.

I should stop all that poison can't be good for you.

She felt light-headed for a slight second, but came out of it easily. She turned, jumping at somepony shaking her shoulder.

"You alright, Dare?" Asked Spitfire. Daring shrugged her off.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy. How've you been, lately?" Daring sharp conversation turn caught Spitfire off guard, but she happy to answer it.

"I've been working to the bone lately. It's training season. Whole bunch of chicken-feet that think they can make the squad."

"I'm sorry. 'Chicken-feet?' " Asked Twilight, not getting the arcane terminology.

"Wonderbolt talk for a rookie." Replied Fleetfoot. "Most of them don't even last basic training."

"It's a bit like being part of the royal guard for Celestia, Twilight." Daring filled in, being glad she finally had a use for the useless knowledge given to her by her foalhood friend. "They judge to see if you got enough feathers to make the team, then boot-camp. At least I assume it's like the royal guard. Is it?"

"I wouldn't know." Said Twilight. Daring took her first sip, watching Twilight and Rainbow discuss something beyond her hearing. She ignored it.

"Believe it or not, Daring had a good shot at being one." Said Spitfire, much to Daring's dismay.

"Seriously?" Rainbow gasped.

"I passed inspection and boot camp. I just didn't bother going on."

"What made you decide against it?" asked Twilight.

"Two things: I wanted to further my archeology career. I just can't see myself flying around doing show tricks while I could be digging up history. The second reason: those bucking uniforms." Laughter emitted around the table. "They chafe so much and make even the most anorexic mare look fat." The laughter grew drastically. Spitfire calmed down first.

"I couldn't see you being a Wonderbolt anyways. You're not the most flamboyant mare when to entertainment... or anything for that matter."

"What does that mean?" Asked Twilight.

"Daring wasn't the most out-going pony when we were foals. She'd break in tears if she was surrounded by ponies she didn't know." Spitfire chuckled slightly, stopping when she met with the tan pony's glaring eyes. "Sorry."

"So... you were always an antisocial pony." Daring caught the double-meaning behind that sentence, hidden from the rest of the table save for Rainbow Dash.

"I stuck to myself in school, preferring the company of books. I always preferred to go on expeditions alone."

"What about Herpy? Your cross-eyed assistant in the books?" Rainbow asked.

"Made him up. I was reading a lot of Batmare at the time, and I just based him around my own life living with my grandfather."

"You must've had a pretty lousy foalhood. You're downright nasty to Herpy sometimes. It was like that with your grandfather?" Daring groaned and took another drink. It was practically empty.

"Life's a bitch. My grandfather was a class-5 bastard who didn't give two shits about anypony he couldn't profit off of. He's the one who planted the whole 'better off by yourself' idea into my head. 'Who needs friends when you got success?' he would say." She poured another glass of wine into her cup, chugging it down in one gulp. She passed to the bottle to Spitfire after she asked for it.

"It's true." Said Spitfire, pouring her own glass. "I met him once. He was an old tyrant, stiff as bull during mating season and just as irritable. He didn't like me hanging around Daring because he felt I was... how'd he put it? 'Freeloading off our success?'"

"Yeah. I'd have to sneak out just to see her. Being a teenager didn't help, either. He actually thought I was dating you! Remember that?" Spitfire laughed out loud. It sounded rather dainty considering the mare it came out of. "When the old bastard finally kicked the bucket, I didn't even bother going to the funeral. I just sent a card and inherited his millions." She took another drink from her glass, tracing the rim with her hoof. "I'm sure he'd be at least satisfied with the way my life's turned out. He'd probably say something to me if he could."

"What would he say?" Asked Soarin'.

"AHH! MY FLESH IS BURNING! HELP ME! OH, THE HORROR!" Daring laughed a drunken and jolly laugh, Spitfire right next to her doing the same. Soon everypony, save for Twilight, was laughing for no real reason. Twilight looked to her side to find Rainbow laughing and looking just as wasted as the rest of the table. The group laughter was loud and uproaring. Other ponies from other tables were staring.

"Maybe this was a bad idea."

Fancypants loved hosting these events, and that was obvious among his fellow aristocrats. His balls were famous around these parts of Canterlot for having a little piece of everything for the average party-goer.... except for somepony like Pinkie Pie. This was not the type of party for somepony like Pinkie Pie. He shuddered as his imagination ran wild of the chaos she could bring to these types of parties. After the feeling had passed, he focused on the tranquil joy and mirth that spread across the atmosphere.

He was having none of it tonight. He was too busy being a wound-up bundle of nerves. All of those nerves were set around her former employee, Daring Do.

"Fancypants..." A voice worn by years rasped out. He turned with sudden surprise at the sound of his benefactor standing in the shadows behind the curtains of the stage.

"Yes, benefactor?"

"Is she here?" He walked out from behind it, his wooden cane sounding off solid cops against the likewise wooden floor. He was an old and sickly pony, but power and authority radiated off him. He was the benefactor for Fancypants' company for nearly fifty years.

"Yes. She's at table four with her friends and the Wonderbolts."

"And the toxin?"

"Administered. She inhaled it when she opened the invitation."

"Good. I want her backstage by the end of the party. Be sure if you can do it without attracting attention."

"Her friends will notice her absence."

"That is of no concern to me. We will be long gone by the time they notice." He walked to the curtain, peeling it open to view the audience. He closed it hastily. Fancypants assumed it was because he was almost spotted by Daring or someone of equal importance.

"When she is isolated, radio for the guards. By the looks of things, she'll be too drunk to even realize what is happening to her."

"If I may ask, what will happen to her when you get her?"

"What concern is it to you?"

"She is my former employee. She is also... too nice a mare to be going through troubles such as this." The aging stallion sighed at his subordinate.

"If she's lucky, the memory drug will have effect and will simply need to ask her what she remembers from her trip to the ruins. If not, we will have to rely on... other methods."

"I want no harm to come to her!"

"Duly noted. Now stop whining and go do your job. Frank Sinatrot is playing tonight and I don't intend on missing that."

A loud sound-off of orchestra music came from the stage, signaling the welcome of a snazzy-dressed stallion walking out the side of the stage. He greeted his audience with humble modesty and a grin with teeth so white you could see your reflection. He took a bow and thanked his audience for coming out tonight.

"I just want to say, even though we barely met, I love all of you with a burning passion. I don't know if anyone's heard, but I've been going through some rough times. Me and the missus aren't getting along too well. Had a nice and bitter divorce. I should be the one that's bitter, she gets to keep the house." The room was filled with laughter. "It's got me a bit down, but when I'm singing in front of all you lovely people? It just makes me think "Hey, that's life." The crowd cheered.

The band played on, gallant in their effort. Sinatrot swerved with his subtle coolness. Daring and her friends sat enjoying the show. Daring took another large sip of wine, pretending it was mere coincidence a song like this was playing. She took another, and another. Pretty soon her head was spinning.

that's life? Life's a bich

"Daring, are you feeling all right?" A purple blur asked. She recongnized the concerned voice as Twilight.

"Y-yeah. I'm... f-f-fine." She reiterated, refusing to adnowledge her.

"Do you feel sick?"

"No Just leave me alone!" She snapped at the blurry unicorn. She couldn't see it's reaction, but could tell the pony was hurt by her shap reaction. She didn't care.

The sights of flashing lights and sounds of the obnoxiously loud orchestra starting having it's effect on Daring. Everything was blinding, deafening or both at the same time. She felt cold sweat beading off her forehead and noticed her breathing (along with the heartbeat she could hear in her ears) were irregular and rapid. one was

irregular and the other was rrapid, but

se haddd a difficult time telling whhich was which

HER head was throbbing an she feel like throwing upppp

her head was spinning her eyes blind he hoofs shook

oh celestia-- whats happeneng to MEEEEEEEE

"darrringg she hearrd an famliar voice call............. ar you allright? se trid to repond but muth was flld wit sand

Darnng they clled again

"Daring Do…"

"Daaaarnng dead?"

"DARING?!"

...

thud

...

.........

"Daring?"

The room was clear and had a blue tint all around it, with faint music playing in the background. Daring's own empty table sat at the middle. Empty save for her and a shrouded figure across from her.

The figure had a yellow mane and gold pupils.

"Spitfire? What's going on? Where is every—"

"We know what you did."

"What?"

"You did it."

"Did what?"

"Murder!" The sillouette barked. Daring sucked in a breath.

"What- what are you talking about? I didn't—"

"Why would you, Daring? It seems so beneath you." The voice had calmed itself, and now spoke in a forlorn tone.

"It is!"

"Did they deserve it?"

"No!"

"Do you know who they are?"

"…no. I can't remember them."

"Perhaps, this will help."

Five other figures appeared at the table. Daring couldn't see their faces, but she didn't need to. Bits and pieces of memory focusing on the event slowly came back.

"Can you see their faces?"

"No. No, I can't."

"Why?"

"Because… Because…"

"You've forgotten about them."

"No, I didn't!"

"They had their whole lives ahead of them. They had families. You killed them in cold blood. How does one forget about something like that?" The voice that resembled Spitfire sounded ashamed.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"Will you repent?"

"Yes! Please, I'll do anything!"

"Will you die for your sins?"

"…except that."

"You're a murderer, Daring Do. All murderers are condemned to pony hell." The ponies moved from their seat, climbing and crawling over the table. Crawling towards Daring, she could hear the sound of snapping and cracking. Daring squicked realizing that sound could very well be their bones, the ones that weren't ripping past their flesh into the open.

"Please!" Daring could feel her resolve breaking, tears slipping loose. "I'm innocent! I've done nothing wrong! Have mercy!"

"No mercy for the damned." Spitfire vanished, leaving Daring alone with her tormentors. She could see their faces, faces destroyed beyond recognition. They were resemblant of the rotting and decayed flesh of the undead with most of the flesh missing and much bone material visible. Their eyes glow red, darker than the color of the blood that ran down their faces.

"No."

"No!"

"NOOOOOOO!"

There was complete and utter confusion at the party after the archeologist pony had fallen from her seat to the carpeted floor. Paramedics have been called and arrived within a half-hour to resuscitate the fallen pony. They came to the conclusion that the mare had not suffered a heart attack or stroke or anything of the sort. She was simply unconscious for unknown reasons. It was when they prepared to board her onto a stretcher that she decide to prove their medical evaluation wrong by sharply waking and screaming.

Before any of her friends could interact with her, she jumped to her hooves and looked around her. Twilight could only catch quick glances at her eyes, but what she saw made her assume that Daring wasn't fully aware of what was going on around her. Her pupils were constricted to the point of being pinpricks. She was jumping and shaking as if she were covered with Fire Ants. Her drunkenness was still apparent as she stumbled about, almost falling.

"Please! I didn't do anything! Get off me! Get off!" Daring brushed roughly against her dress screaming to nothing. Soon, she was off her seat Twilight and Rainbow ran up to her.

"Daring!" Rainbow called, attempting to restrain the frantic pony. She struggled against the cyan pegasus' grip. "Daring, what's wrong?"

"They want to kill me! Stop them! Please!"

"Daring, there's nopony else here! Nopony wants to kill you." Twilight attempted to reason in vain. Daring lashed out against the blue pony, hitting her in the muzzle and freeing herself as she flinched away in pain. She was looking for a way out when she heard a voice.

"Daring?" The brownish pony turned to see her orange maned friend, face mere inches from her own. To everyone's surprise, she calmed down almost immediately. Spitfire tried to look sympathetic, but Daring couldn't tell the difference between that and a much more hostile emotion hidden behind it.

"I'm sorry." Said Daring, voice breaking. "I don't want to die. Not for them! Why should I? Just because you said so?! I'm sorry I killed them, so very sorry. Why can't you just forgive me?"

Spitfire remained speechless, disturbed by her friend's unusual outburst and slowly realizing that she confessed to the murder of the five ponies that Spitfire had hoped was just an extreme rumor built by celebrity gossip. She read about it in morning paper during breakfast at the Wonderbolt rec room. She very likely would've choked on her breakfast if Soarin' hadn't been in the room at the moment. She just couldn't believe her friend, the one she had known since fillygarden, could murder somepony. Let alone five ponies!

"You did murder them?"

To Daring, it didn't sound like a question. It sounded more like an accusation. She stared at her friend in hopeless shock, then looked at Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

"I'm a good pony. I'm a good pony!" Then she ran, shoving past the paramedics and a few other guests attending the now-ruined ball.

"Now. Now! It must be now!" Fancypants whispered into his collar. The two burly ponies prepared to move into the dining room to apprehend the former archeologist.

But it was too late. Daring was already out of the room and into the kitchen, running as if something demonic were chasing after her. Twilight, Rainbow and Spitfire were quickly on her tail.

Twilight On The Streets Of Hell

Daring Do and the Stigma of Fear

Ch. 5

Twilight on the Streets of Hell

"Midway upon the journey of our life

I found myself within a forest dark,

For the straightforward pathway had been lost."

Dante's Inferno I, lines 1-3

"Why? Why me?"

Three sharply-dressed, but chaotic-appearing, mares stormed into the kitchen in search of their panic-stricken friend, who had no more than a minute ago fled a ruined ball fearing for her life. A number of the kitchen staff were noticeably startled by their appearance, but continued on with their work. Yelling by the brown archeologist pony could be heard echoing in the kitchen, followed by the strangled cry of a stallion.

A door slammed before they reached the back of the kitchen, and they walked in on a group of ponies (And one donkey) surrounding a wounded unicorn. He had a deep gash in his front leg and was writing in pain while he was being tended to by a female earth pony that treated his wounds with a small med kit.

"What happened?" Asked Twilight to either one of the ponies.

"Some crazy bitch came rushing through here." The unicorn groaned out. "I tried to stop her but she... took my knife and stabbed me with it. She ran out that way." He pointed to the door.

Outside, the door leads to a dark alleyway. The alleyway was partially illuminated by the bright lights of Canterlot streetlights and buildings. Of course it was going to be bright. They were in the entertainment district. The problem was its size... and the number of ponies walking around.

"Damn it." Spitfire cursed. "Where is she?"

"Wherever she is, we gotta find her." Said Rainbow, as distressed as the other two. "If she didn't have a problem with stabbing that one stallion just for trying to stop her from leaving, who knows how she'll act around other ponies?"

"I don't deserve this. I'm a good pony."

Fancypants was pacing backstage. Waiting for his benefactor who would surely be irritated at the turn of the night's events, and perhaps just as curious as he himself was at his former employee's sudden hallucination attack. He heard the familiar sounds of his benefactor's cane tapping against the hardwood flooring of the stage.

"What the hell happened?" Strained the worn voice of Fancypants' benefactor, irate on the night's events which included the premature end of Frank Sinatrot's performance. Fancypants figured he wanted to be shouting but couldn't go beyond straining.

"I have no idea! It looked like she was hallucinating. It must have been some side effect of the drug we gave her. I tried to give the order to restrain her but she got away too fast." He wasn't nervous about his benefactor being angry with him. What could the old man do, honestly? Aside from curiosity, the main brimming feeling he possessed was annoyance. All that planning of tonight for nothing.

"That was no side effect. Even if it was, I don't care what happened. I want her found. No excuses!"

"Bad things don't happen to good ponies."

*3 years ago*

Daring wiped the sweat from her brow. She moved the brim of her hat over her eyes, and had long since abandoned the heavy jacket she wore for fear of heatstroke. She just couldn't believe how hot it was as she and her team of five ponies were uncovering the mysteries (provided there were any) in rather large temple just outside of a small rural town. She didn't catch its name.

The temple loomed over her in a monolithic glory; shadows of the sun fading away any detail it would've presented were Celestia's legacy not behind it. She was relieved to get under its large shadow and into the landmark, despite being no cooler than it was out there. Three ponies clad in khaki gear stood on an altar, quite possibly a sacrificial ritual altar. Okay, she lied. The grim remains of many pony carcasses made this obviously a sacrificial altar.

She walked in just in time to see one of her colleagues (One obviously new to the field) rip a knife out of a pile of bones.

"What the buck are you doing?!"

Everypony turned to Daring at the sound of her sudden outburst. Daring remained still, as if waiting for something. When nothing happened, she sighed relief and walked over, climbing the altar. She grabbed the knife out of her colleague’s hoof.

"Did you comprehend anything I taught you these past few weeks? You don't go grabbing things off of strange altars, especially on an altar covered in pony skeletons! For one thing, that knife could have crumbled to dust in your hooves and we could've lost the possible archaeological discovery of a lifetime. Or you could've set off a spiked ceiling or giant boulder or goddess-know-what! You got extremely lucky this time, but any other situation you and anypony else here would've been killed, and not just by me for destroying a piece of valuable history." She looked to the group as a whole. "And remember, any idiots here are expendable. Got it?" The (proverbially) green pony nodded so hard Daring was sure he'd get whiplash. The remaining group nodded with less vigor. She looked at the knife she forgot she was holding. It looked like a typical kitchen knife, save for the turquoise symbols on the wooden handle.

"Use some bucking common sense." She spoke.

She put the knife in her sack and walked back to her tent. She was sure she had a book in her pack that could identify the symbols on it. A copy of some edition detailing arcane symbols given to her by a friend at the Canterlot National Archives. She walked out looking around the excavation site, inwardly complaining about the heat once more, when she heard a voice.

"Daring?"

She turned to see Ruby, a friend since college and the only pony who dared to volunteer of the assignment. Well, the only one to volunteer for reasons beside the nice publicity. Daring was vexed in seeing the event in the paper, and told herself to have a nice word with the fanboyish editor after the excavation.

"What was that?" She went on.

"What?"

"That. I know you're not the nicest pony in Equestria, but cut him some slack. It's his first day on the field. Don't tell me you didn't make the same mistake when you started."

"No, as a matter of fact, I didn't. My mentor had the damned decently to teach me not to make stupid mistakes that could've injured or killed my teammates. I trained him exactly the same as my mentor trained me. Guess I'm not as good as him."

"You're not him at all, Daring. I'm glad you’re not, either. He was a class five jackass hell-bent on becoming the Gunnery Sargent Hartmane of archaeological field." Daring couldn't help but smirk at the comparison. "'Idiots are expendable?' Hell, you're starting to sound like him."

"Which one? Hartmane or my mentor?"

"If you want a direct answer: Hartmane."

"Shit." She rubbed the back of her neck. It was hot to the touch. "Fine. I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for my outburst and I promise I’ll try to calm down for the rest of the excavation. Happy?"

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to him."

"Hell no! I'm not gonna give that rookie the satisfaction of seeing his superior and mentor crawl up on her knees and beg forgiveness. Just tell him I've been in the sun too long and to be more careful next time."

"Whatever you say, boss." She mocked a salute and left. Daring rolled her eyes and went to her tent. It was so much cooler in here, as she left the fan running. Accidently, no less. She took off her hat, wiped the sweat off her brow and threw it on the makeshift cot. Digging her blue pack out, she took out a thick tome. She didn't bother looking at the table of contents. She just skimmed through the pages until she found...

What the hell is that supposed to be?

"Twilight... Rainbow... Spitfire... help me..."

They can't help you, Daring. You're far beyond saving.

Daring jumped at the sudden sounding of the hollow, yet enticingly familiar, voice. Next to her stood the familiar form of her Wonderbolt friend. There was not a doubt in her mind that the voice was Spitfire. It couldn't be Spitfire, though. This was not her foalhood friend. This Spitfire was evil, sinister. She used all her willpower to ignore it and kept walking.

Daring was at her wit's end. She was still being swept up in a wave of mental anguish and traumatic memories came crashing down on her like a barrage of asteroids against a small moon. Her moon was about ready to explode from the impact force. Various voices in her mind were talking to her, and she didn't know who to answer first. Scenes flashed about in her head flicker as if shown on a busted film projector. The temple, the knife, the bloody corpses of her coworkers and mysterious symbols. Her head was spinning and she felt nauseous.

She so desperately wanted to take the knife she held in her hoof and slit her own throat with it. She wanted to be done with it all, but couldn't find the nerve.

Maybe you can find a nice substitute among this collection of innocents. I bet they scream nicely.

"Get away from me!" She screamed hoarsely to the evil presence. She knew that was pointless, though. Daring may have been losing her mind, but the smart rationality of her mind remained in touch and provided her with a miniscule amount of comfort. This was not Spitfire, it wasn't even a living pony. It was a figment of her distressed mind created to seek reasoning and, if necessary, forgiveness. She didn't need to apologize, though. There was nothing she needed to be forgiven for. She didn't murder those ponies.

She would have a much easier time believing that if she weren't running around the streets of Canterlot in a hallucinating frenzy while holding a butcher knife. Ponies around her were avoiding her like the plague. What did they think she was going to do?

Oh, you'd be surprised. Imagine the things you could do with that knife. To yourself... and to others.

"SHUT UP!" She shrieked, finally losing whatever patience she had. "I don't know who or what you are, but you better get the buck away from me!" Ponies were staring at her. Spitfire remained resolute, a confident smirk on her face. Daring was about to yell more hollow and vulgar threats when she realized the number of ponies staring at her. She turned and walked off, red in the face.

"I don't believe this. I'm actually insane. I've completely and utterly lost it." She mumbled to herself in a self-deprecating tone.

Did you ever have it in the first place?

"Drop dead!"

Like those ponies you murdered?

"Oh, for the love of--!" She could feel the evil Spitfire grinning triumphantly at her. She bit back tears of frustration, as if it mattered anyway considering how many were already falling out of her, and walked in silence. Well, not total silence: She was grinding her teeth.

"Daring?! Daring!" Twilight called out through the crowd, ignoring the ponies looking at her. "Excuse me, sir. Have you seen a brownish pegasus walk by here?" He shook his head. "Thanks, anyways." She flagged down another mare. "Excuse me, miss. Have you seen a short-haired pony with a compass cutie-mark?" She didn't. "Sorry for bothering you."

They were out of the entertainment district. They wandered into a less-populated district. Less neon lighting illuminated the area, and ponies were walking less and preoccupied with other interests such as a food stand. Spitfire and Rainbow took to the skies in search of their shell-shocked friend. Twilight saw their silhouettes in the night sky. Well, she saw Spitfire's. Rainbow's cyan coat blended into the night sky quite impressively.

"Well?" Twilight asked the pegasi.

"Nothing." Spitfire went first.

"She's fast." Followed by Rainbow Dash.

"Don't forget that she's a pegasus, too. She could've flown out of the city by now." Said Spitfire, voice filled with worry for her foalhood friend. Twilight scolded herself for completely for getting that trait. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong with her?" Spitfire sounded both confused and angry. "Does this have anything to do with the... you know, what I read in the paper? Did that really happen? There's no way she could--" Rainbow Dash silenced the Wonderbolt could go into further detail.

"Spitfire, I’m sure it's a bit more complicated than that."

"...And I promise you'll have an explanation as soon as possible, but we gotta find Daring before she hurts herself or anypony else."

"There are over 100,000 ponies in this city, Twilight." Dash informed. "Maybe thirty percent of the population is pegasi. Finding her's gonna like finding a needle in a haystack,"

Twilight knew that. She had lived her for years. She paced on the sidewalk, running guesses where she would go and what could be running through her head. She scolded herself again for forgetting something basic.

"Where does a former shut-in alone in the world go to get away from it all?" She mused aloud for Rainbow and Spitfire to hear.

"Her home." Said Rainbow lucidly. "She's going back to her apartment."

"'Former shut-in?' What...?"

"Like I said, we'll explain later, Spitfire. Right now, we gotta hurry and beat her there or she'll lock us out."

Daring wandered the by now empty streets with knife in mouth, constantly watching her back and occasionally jumping at shadows. The night's chilling air cut to her bone and made her shiver. She was sure that wasn't the main factor of her shivering, though.

The worst of her attack seemed to be over. She was running on pure adrenaline and felt like she would crash at any moment. Her hooves were sore and her leg tendons felt like paper strained to rip after being pulled. Blackness appeared on the side of her vision. Her throat hurt. She wanted nothing more than to sleep it off, but at this rate she felt like she wouldn't sleep for weeks.

Her relief upon seeing her apartment was almost palpable.

Almost home. So close.

She barged into the lobby. Empty. Even the desk attendant was gone. Good, nothing to stop her. She made for the stairs.

"So close..."

...And yet so far.

Daring stopped at the sound of the dreadful whisper. She looked up, finding Spitfire stood at the top of the stairs, slowly descending it to the sound of creaking wood and never taking her eyes off Daring. Daring backed away on instinct, taking the knife out of mouth and arming herself.

"No... no... stay back. I'm warning you." Daring backed away from the slowly approached her with a sinister gleam on her face. "Stop. Stop!" The waved the knife in a futile show of defense. The figure said nothing, continuing to corner the frightened mare. A grim silence filled the air with impending doom. Nothing but the ambient sound of a droning ceiling fan.

Daring was backed against the door she came in. She could feel Spitfire's breath on her face, her evil eyes boring into her soul.

Condemned to hell.

Like a cornered animal, Daring finally struck back. Her blade pierced the flesh of the yellow pony in front of her in rapid succession. Blood raged from her victim and landed on Daring, the carpet and her dress. She yanked the knife out once she felt the body go limp in her hooves, dead eyes staring into her own.

She dropped the body, horrified at what she just did. It landed with a repulsing sound against the small rug covering the hardwood floor.

I... I... I am a murderer!

She wanted to take the time to freak out about the hideous revelation, but whatever shred of rationality she had left decided to speak out. She had to hide the body and dispose of the evidence.

She rolled the fresh corpse up in the bloodstained throw rug, trying to keep the contents of her stomach down while doing so. She dragged the rug over to a storage room full of dusty and worn furniture. Shoving the cadaver-filled rug behind an upright piano, she was making for the door when she was startled by her reflection in a dirty mirror.

Besides being outright petrified what she looked like after seeing her eye to eye for the first time in quite a while, she was terror-stricken to see her pale and sickly form in a ruined dress (her only dress) covered in blood and wielding an equally bloody knife.

She looked like something out of a cheap horror flick she saw as a teenager.

Is this truly what you've become?

"I AM NOT A MURDERER!" She screamed, sobbed and stabbed the incriminating reflection, creating large web-like cracks and a jarring screech as she scraped her knife against the glass. "I'M NOT A BUCKING KILLER! I'M A BUCKING ARCHAEOLOGIST! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!" She stared at her colorless reflection on the shattered glass. Her face resembled an avant guarde face portrait. "ANSWER ME!"

The mirror stayed silent, but she heard laughing. Demonic laughter from all over. She covered her ears, looking at the accusing reflection.

Past her desperately covered ears, she could see her own surreal reflection laugh at her, but she could many other laughs. The harsh and young-blooded laugh of Rainbow Dash, the subtle but venomous laugh of Twilight Sparkle, the core-shattering familiar laugh of Spitfire and a million others in between. She closed her eyes until the laughing stopped. She dared a look in the mirror. It looked back at her. She looked back at her. Her ears still covered, she read its moving lips.

Welcome to Hell.

"NOOOOOO!"

Daring screamed and smashed whatever remained of the cracked glass with her hooves in a berserk rampage of overloading emotions, ignoring the sharp bursts of pain and the feeling of something lukewarm run down her legs. As shards of the mirror fell to the floor. Once the last piece of capable shard fell, silence lingered. She curled herself with her head in her hooves once more until she finally went limp against her will.

She felt her sharp anger evolve into dull misery. Her seething temper forged into cold bitterness. During the whiplash of emotions, whatever rationality and logic she had decided to overcome. Daring took off her dress, emptied the pockets (finding nothing in them, not even the apartment key she brought with her) wiped the knife clean with it, and jammed it inside the piano. Putting the knife in her mouth, she stormed out of the dark and dreary room. She stole one last look at the destroyed mirror.

On the one half of the mirror that wasn't replaced by a wooden backdrop, her scowling, completely colorless face looked back.

That was the time the mirror chose to respond.

The two pegasi and only unicorn stormed into the apartment. As expected near midnight, the apartment was devoid of life. Ponies in this apartment were likely asleep by now.

"She lives here?" Spitfire broke the tense silence with a surprised exclamation. "What a dump! Her pay can't be that bad. She graduated from Hoofvard, for Pete's sake."

Awkwardly chuckling despite the intense situation, Rainbow followed Twilight as she and Spitfire moved to the stairs. She slipped on something but barely noticed it as she climbed the stairs. They climbed three flights until they reached a dark hall. The same dark hall Daring's room resided in.

The hall was no darker than it was when they left it. The full moon shined in place of the sun. The only sign of life was a curled-up figure against a door, shaking like leaf in a typhoon. The trio of ponies slowly approached the figure, stopping when she turned her head. Her glaring eyes gleamed in the dark. Her pupils were still shrunk to infinitesimal spheres. Her knife was clenched in both her hooves, poised to strike. The three ponies kept their distance.

"Daring?" Twilight called out gently to her. Daring didn't answer past her continued stare. "Do you recognize us?"

"I know who you are." She snared. She sounded distrusting, spiteful and above all... tired. "You know who you are, but do you know who I really am?"

"I... don't follow."

"Do you think my mind is the only thing that I've slain? The only thing that has had blood spilled for tyrants to drink from as it weeps from the cracks in the ruins of their crumbled empire? Do you know why so much blood has been slipped over by my own hooves?" An unnerving smile appeared on her face.

Twilight was still trying to comprehend the "blood for tyrants" bit Daring brought up. Thinking she was just being dramatic, she also thought over her vague question, assuming the 'blood' she spilled was referencing the other ponies at the temple. "Sacrifice?"

It hungers. One must quench its thirst to control it.

"It hungers. One must quench its thirst to control it."

For when its payment has made its due, is when power beyond the wildest pony's imagination is given in return.

"For when its payment has made its due, is when power beyond the wildest pony's imagination is given in return."

She who wields the knife will be granted the power... at the cost of an insatiable bloodlust that will only end once the knife has been fed. Once blood hath been shed and souls are released from their mortal temple.

"She who wields the knife will be granted the power... at the cost of an insatiable bloodlust that will only end once the knife has been fed. Once blood hath been shed and souls are released from their mortal temple."

"This power." Twilight spoke cautiously after Daring paused. "How many souls must be 'released' to obtain it?"

Daring ran a hoof along the butcher knife's blade, tracing the face of the silver blade and minding the edge.

"Six. And once we reach that number, the pony you knew as Daring shall be no more."

Daring murdered five ponies. Thought Twilight. The knife she held had no blood on it. One more and...

"We won't let that happen!" Shouted Rainbow, breaking Twilight's foreboding train of thought.

"We shall see, Rainbow Dash." The smile on Daring's face became almost feral. "There's no preventing the inevitable, and what will happen to me is only the beginning of something bigger. Heavens will burn. The earth will die. The sun and the moon will fall as fast as their empires. Only one true empire will reign supreme... when steel and bone meet."

Daring gasped loudly, startling the other ponies in the hallway. Daring struggled against something only she could see, and fell limp. She stirred as if waking from a deep slumber, clutching her head and holding her body close. She threw the knife, which slid across the floor over to the bewildered group of ponies. Spitfire picked it up while Rainbow ran over to the convulsing pony.

"Daring? Daring!"

"I'm sorry! I couldn't-- I didn't want to! Murder! I'M NOT A MURDERER!" She struggled against the multi-colored pony. A tired and mental frustrated Rainbow couldn't find a way to react to Daring's continued outburst, so she took refuge in audacity by slapping the mare in the muzzle hard enough to jerk her head to the right. She heard Twilight and possibly Spitfire gasp behind her. Daring quieted down, a shocked expression frozen on her face. Momentarily, she came to, looking at Rainbow.

"You don't look so good." Daring made no smirk or grin upon saying this, nor did anypony else.

"You all right?" Rainbow moved the tip of her cowlick away from her face.

"No, I'm not all right. I have a splitting headache, my legs are sore, I'm tired, cold and I can't remember what I was doing ten seconds ago!"

"You don't?" Daring turned at Spitfire and Twilight walking to her current position.

"No, I don't. What happened? Did I do anything?" Spitfire looked about ready to start a rant, but was cut-off by Twilight.

"No. Nothing happened. Come on, let's head in to your apartment."

"I... dropped my key somewhere." Daring bashfully admitted.

"No prob." Said Rainbow confidently. "I've picked this lock before. I can do it again." Rainbow got to work, ignoring a sighing Twilight and a misplaced Spitfire who turned their attention to Daring.

"Can you walk?" Asked Spitfire, helping Daring to her hooves.

"Yes, I can walk! I don't know what the hell just happened to me, but it wasn't a stroke." Spitfire, despite the hostility behind the comment, chuckled.

"Oh, you crybaby. You're fine."

"Bite me."

The door was opened into the apartment. Spitfire helped Daring in, followed by the other pair of friends.. Like the gloomy hallway, the room remained no more or less depressing than they left it.

"Need anything, Daring?" Asked Twilight finally breaking the short but awkward silence, shutting the door and locking it.

"All I want is some aspirin for my headache. After that I just wanna get the hell to bed." Daring groaned once Spitfire helped her to the worn sofa.

"I'll go get your bed ready." Spoke Rainbow.

"We should really call a doctor for this." reasoned Twilight.

"I don't need a damn doctor. I told you: I just need something for my headache and some sleep."

"Don't blame you." Said Spitfire, shedding her ruined dress. There goes my deposit. Damn it. "It was a rough night for all of us. Mind if I use your phone? I gotta call the other 'Bolts." Daring gestured her to the phone on her kitchen wall. Spitfire spoke in a hushed tone into the receiver.

"What happened to your dress?" Asked Rainbow, who came in from Daring's bedroom and took a seat on the sofa next to suddenly jumpy Daring.

"I... uh, ripped it off. It was getting so dang annoying tripping over it as I ran. I... threw it into a... lake." Twilight peeked her head out from the cabinet in the kitchen.

"We don't have lakes in Canterlot."

"Did I say lake? I meant 'water fountain.' It was a big, grand water fountain with a marble statue of Celestia urinating into-- Where the hell is that aspirin?!" Dash flinched away from her sharp and sudden outburst. Spitfire looked away from her conversation and apologized to the other line.

"You don't have any. You got other pain relievers, but I don't--"

"Just give me them all, and I'll try not to OD on them."

"You're getting 200 Mg. of Ibuprofen and that's it." Lectured Twilight, using her best "stern voice."

"Yes, mother." Twilight levitated the pills and a glass of water over to the tired pegasus. She swallowed the pills and more than half the glass. Rainbow rubbed the area between her wings tenderly in slow circles. Daring secretly enjoyed the feeling, but refused to show any indication of it. Once she downed her pills, Rainbow gingerly grabbed her hoof, revealing the deep gashes with blood saturated into her coat.

"When the heck did these happen?" Daring ripped her hooves out of Rainbow's own.

"I fell." Geez, her water fountain excuse was more convincing.

"On what? A combine harvester?" Rainbow cracked disbelieving. Daring refused to respond.

Twilight had noticed the conflict and moved from the kitchen to inspect Daring's wounds. Daring didn't rip them from her grasp this time, fearing it would only cause unneeded issues between them.

"Eh, you don't need to worry. They look worse than they actually are. Let's patch them up, though. Better safe than sorry."

"There should be some bandages in that cupboard." Daring pointed out, indifferent. Twilight strolled over to said cupboard, pulling out a half-empty tin of gauze bandages and a disinfectant. Rainbow got up from her seat, switching places with Twilight. Rainbow watched as Twilight treated Daring's superficial wounds. She flinched at the sting of the disinfectant, and looked outright uncomfortable while Twilight rolled the bandages.

Rainbow noticed that while Twilight patched her up, she studied the troubled pony. The cyan Pegasus could see why: Unlike mere hours ago where Daring's color could be merely described as muted, Daring now had virtually no tint of life on her whatsoever. After looking her pale form over, the purple unicorn looked face-to-face at Daring. Daring was visibly annoyed, likely at the treatment for taking longer than it should have.

"Daring... how are you feeling?" A long and noticeably cynical pause was done by Daring.

"Fine."

"No complains? No troubles?"

"Aside from an annoying unicorn asking stupid questions in my face? Nope." Twilight was not fazed by the biting response, unlike a vexed Rainbow. She was able to bite her tongue.

"You don't feel any different?"

"Different, how?" Daring sighed.

"Like a bunch of negative emotions are building up within you trying to take over your dominant personality?"

Daring stared at Twilight, a slew of emotions relating to confusion written on her face.

"...no? Should I?"

"Just checking."

Twilight left the baffled pony to her own self-healing, although not much healing was done voluntarily. Aside from Spitfire's barely audible conversation, the apartment was quiet for a while. Daring stared at her half-empty glass She drank the rest of her water with her mind as silent as the room. Almost silent, really, with Spitfire's talking in the background. She finished her conversation on the phone, hung it up and went to talk to Twilight. Daring listened in on the conversation.

"Now, where's that explanation you owe me?" Twilight nodded and led Spitfire into Daring's room. Daring wondered what the point of that was. What was the unicorn gonna tell her that the doomed pegasus didn't already know?

Daring looked from her bedroom door, to her now-empty glass, to Rainbow.

"Can I get a refill, please?" Rainbow nodded, took the cup and went in the kitchen. Daring sat with her back slouched. She moved her hooves to her mane. It felt disheveled, unkempt and dry. It looked just as gray and lifeless as the rest of her. She looked at her hooves. The looked duller. They felt duller, like they were covered with something that wouldn't just wash off. Blood, for example.

But she did wash it off, proverbially and literally. She shed it along with her blood-riddled dress.

This isn't just gonna go away.

She wasn't sure if that was her own voice or... hers. She killed her, and the way she looked, imagination or not, she was not coming back.

She heard something click, then the familiar sound of a doorknob turning. She looked at the front door as it opened.

Daring walked in, frustrated. She backed against the door she just slammed, falling to the floor. Tears trickled down her face, finally breaking out after being pent up for hrs. She rocked herself back and forth.

This can't be happening. This can't--

Two knocks on her door broke her out of her denial. She wiped the tears off her face, adjusted her chain lock and opened the door as far as the chain would permit. Outside the door, a balding green pony stood with a curious expression.

"You all right, ma'am?" He asked with an accent Daring couldn't place. Neigh Orleans?

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm the desk attendant." He introduced himself politely and with firm confidence.

"No, you're not."

"The new desk attendant."

"Fine, what the hell do you want?" Daring was close to slamming the door in his face. The green pony remained composed.

"You just seemed terribly distressed running up here. Is something wrong?" Daring felt a snide remark travel on her tongue, but it didn't come out. She paused.

"Yes. Yes, there is something wrong with me now. Yes, I am 'terribly distressed'. In fact, 'terribly distressed' is a massive understatement. There are no words for what I'm feeling right now. I've had a horrible day... and an even worse week. Yes, there is something so wrong. So horribly, devastatingly, mind-numbingly, unforgivably wrong. Yes, I am so goddess-damned, mother bucking distressed. No, I don't want to talk about it." The "new" desk pony seemed caught off-guard by the explicit response, but regained his composure.

"I understand. Do you want me to get you anything, though?"

"Yes. Two things: One, call the Meals On Wheels ponies. Direct them to this apartment."

"Might I ask 'why?'"

"Second..." Daring ignored him as she reached into her coat pocket, pulling out a numbered key. "Take this, do what you want with it."

"You're giving me your key? How're you gonna--?"

"I won't need it. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." She closed the door, but not before letting out a soft "thank you." The pony turned to leave, stopping only momentarily after hearing a soft sobbing.......

....

....daring?

It was Rainbow who called her name, blocking the empty view of her apartment wall that Daring was previously staring at. Daring regained her senses, looking at Rainbow with no expression to be found and no words to be heard. Rainbow was about to respond when Daring finally did say something vacantly.

"I'm going to bed." She got up and left the room, leaving the concerned rainbow pegasus behind. Shortly after, Twilight and Spitfire came stumbling out of the room behind a slamming door. They each had a curious expression on their face.

"So..." Rainbow said, feeling the need to lighten the mood. "We gonna draw straws on who's sleeping on the couch?"

The Aftershock And The Damage

Daring Do and the Stigma of Fear

Chapter 6:

The Aftershock And The Damage

Three figures met in the dim dining room of a grand restaurant. One wore a still-ironed out suit; the others were loose-fitting casuals.

"So, anything?"

"We've lost 'er again." The second figure grumbled. "...But we won't lose 'er for long. We found this at 'er table."

The third figure tossed a key ring on the table. Only one key was on the ring, the numbers 323 printed on it.

Twilight had fallen asleep easily. Perhaps more easily than the two pegasi sleeping on the floor below her. The couch was awkward on her back and neck, but cushioned her quite nicely. She was dreaming an odd dream, where she sat in front of a cafe enjoying a hay sandwich with a pony that looked suspiciously like Spike in a unicorn form being waited on by Sylvester Stallion, when she suddenly woke up.

It was 2:59 AM when she awoke, as indicated by the glowing green clock next to her face. Shaking the grogginess off of her, she stared into the darkness of the apartment, darkness amplified by a sudden crash of lightning and thunder and a muffled patter of hard rain. Twilight, minding her steps around a sleeping Rainbow and Spitfire, decided it would be a good idea to check on Daring.

As she peeked inside the pony's room, she realized it was just as quiet as the rest of the dark apartment. Not wanted to relive bouts of paranoia, she moved to close the door and stopped when she heard her name.

"Twilight?" Said pony looked over to the window in the room. Lit up by glowing signs in the far distance twisted by the morphed window covered in rain, Daring stood with her back to Twilight.

"Daring, what're you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep." Twilight moved inside and closed the door.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?"

"I know what my room looks like."

Shaking her head, she slowly walked to the still figure until she stood beside her, staring out into the bright lights of the dark city. If Daring heard her, she made no reaction.

"Are you all right?"

"Why do you keep asking that?"

"You can't blame me for being a little worried."

"Then what makes you think I'm not all right?"

"Think about it, Daring!" Twilight's voice rose beyond a whisper, actually tapping a pitch ripe with cracked patience.

"I feel fine Twilight, there's no need for you to overreact--"

"I'm overreacting because I went through the same thing!"

Daring, to no surprise of Twilight, was caught off-guard by the unicorn's outburst. Disbelief filled her, followed by confusion.

"You... killed somepony?"

"Yes-- No! I mean, nothing to that extreme. I mean, how you're feeling right now. My friends and I, we were forced to feel just like you were feeling... against our will!" Daring responded with a blank stare.

"How... exactly does something like that happen?" Twilight did not speak for some time, instead choosing to stare out the window into the neon-lit night. Daring eventually gave up expecting Twilight to say something until the pony next to her finally dared to utter.

"Are you familiar with a being named Discord?"

Lightning struck again, lighting the room for an instant. Thunder quickly followed.

"Rainbow? Rainbow, wake up. Wake up, damn it!" Spitfire's continuous rocking of Rainbow's prone form finally stirred the pony awake. She groaned as she sat up and shook her head of all slumber. She looked at the Wonderbolt and her idol next to her.

"You know, I had a dream like this once." Rainbow snarked. Spitfire stared at Rainbow, trying to pick the correct words that wouldn't encourage this. Spitfire was quite the heartbreaker in school, something a pony as nice as Rainbow shouldn't have to learn the hard way.

"Not the type I'm thinking of I hope." Rainbow chuckled as she sat up in her sleeping bag.

"Oh, no. Not that type of dream. You were still in costume, though. And you had a lot of make-up on, too."

"Oh... Well, I'm flattered." Spitfire trailed off before she regained her thoughts.

"Do ya need something?"

"Somepony to talk to would be nice." Spitfire bashfully admitted, eyes gazing at Rainbow's sleeping bag. One of a few Daring had let the ponies sleeping in her living room use after she shoved them out of her own room.

"What's up?"

"I don't know how to start." A pregnant pause emerged as Rainbow let Spitfire choose her words. When it became apparent Spitfire was using her ill-preparedness to avoid talking, Rainbow took matters into her own hooves.

"You know what Daring did..." Spitfire looked at her, then looked back to Rainbow's sleeping bag. "Don't ya?"

"I read about it in the paper."

"And you feel bad for her."

"More than that. Way more than that." Rainbow moved over close, draping a blue wing over Spitfire's gold ones.. "I-- I had a dream tonight. I was sitting on a tall mountain with the rest of the Wonderbolts, having the time of my life. When I dropped a cup of wine it rolled to the edge. I grabbed it and I peeked over the edge, and there was Daring. She was clinging for life to a root, crying and screaming for help. She gave her hoof to me, begging me to take it. I... ignored it and went back to the party. She fell back into the darkness below, screaming my name. It was horrible." Spitfire wiped a rogue tear from her eye.

"It was just a dream."

"I know! I know it was, but... I feel so guilty." She looked at Rainbow, who looked back with remorse. "Three years. Three years it's been since I read about it, and this is the first time I've seen her in the past nine years! While I was living the high life and being some big-shot celebrity, she was wasting away in her apartment because she so shook up about being accused of murdering some ponies she was too afraid to leave!" Spitfire's tone rose significantly, cracking under pressure.

"Spitfire--"

"I should've been helping her through it!" Spitfire choked back a sob, but couldn't hold back the flood of tears. "I-I know we haven't talked in a bit, but I still should've helped! What kind of pony am I?! I'm her friend, and she's mine! Friends are supposed to be loyal to each other!" Rainbow wrapped Spitfire in an embracing hug, where the gold pony sobbed into her shoulder.

"Believe me, you're preaching to the choir. Don't let it get to you. You're just one pony."

"One worthless pony..." Spitfire moaned bitterly, still sobbing.

"Spitfire, don't do that to yourself! I can't tell you how many times I've felt just like you are now. I know what it's like: The feeling of thinking you abandoned your friends, it's awful. It's like... you and your friend get stabbed in the back and feeling the knife get twisted, while watching the pain on your friend's face as their knife gets twisted. Loyalty can only go so far. We're both just one pony each, but the fact that we feel bad we couldn't be there to help get over being manipulated--" Rainbow caught herself. "...By the trauma of some horrible event? That's good enough for friends. That's what my friends taught me."

"I suppose." Rainbow stroked Spitfire's lush mane in silence once she calmed herself, until the rainbow pony heard the fire pony whimper. "Rainbow... I don't feel so good."

"You feel like you’re gonna throw up? Want me to hold your mane?"

"No, it's not that. My stomach is churning. I'm seeing black." Spitfire broke free of Rainbow's grasp, holding her forehead and making pain visible on her face. "My head is... spinning so fast. Oh, goddess it hurts." When she ceased her struggling and relaxed, Rainbow turned on a light of a nearby lamp. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head at the sight.

The once vibrant and proud gold pony was now a sulking darker shade of yellow. Her lush mane drooped dramatically, and her wings went limp. .

"Spitfire?" Rainbow spoke, as if she was treading on this ice. The dulled pegasus didn't respond. "Are you... feelin' okay?"

Spitfire merely stared to the floor.

"By the sun and moon, this all happened while I was locked in my apartment?" Daring couldn't believe her ears at this whole enticing tale of a powerful mythological representation of chaos invading Equestria, and Daring had missed all of it! Not that she was disappointed of the fact. Among other things, Twilight had told Daring a brief summarization about the unicorn herself. Daring's reaction to finding out about her recent friend being the apprentice of the immortal sun princess herself was... underwhelming to Twilight. Perhaps this was a time where there could be no surprises for the winged pony.

"You're lucky you didn't have to go through it. His reach must've spread past Ponyville. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it."

"You don't pay attention to much when you don't bother going out. What happened to you must've been dreadful. How'd you endure that without going insane?"

"Who says I didn't? I remember just feeling an agonizing depression after watching my friends lose their own minds." Twilight bitterly recalled the tale, feeling slight embarrassment telling the likewise bitter pony about her personal feelings. "I remember not being able to stand being near them, just wanting to pack up and leave them to wallow in their own misery. I almost did actually. Were it not for Celestia and the reports I sent her, Equestria might be very different now. That's beside the point, though. What I felt like... what I intended to do, It felt like insanity. Maybe not at the time, but afterwards... I'm still kicking myself for even considering it."

"Wanting to run away from fear isn't insanity. It's nature." Daring tried the best soothing voice she could, but it sounded more like cold logic than Daring intended.

"But wanting to abandon your friends in their time of need? In your time of need? That's insanity. It's not normal."

"Well, from what you tell me about this Discord character, there's nothing about him you would consider 'normal.'"

"Boy, you said it." The two shared a laugh, before Daring broke into a serious coughing fit. Twilight helped her new friend through the effort by patting her back (minding the wings) and finally soothing her post the event. "Are you all right?"

"Ugh. Yeah, fine. Just light-headed."

"Daring, are you sure you don't want to go to a doctor?"

"No! I mean, yes. It's probably just the alcohol, I drank too much at the party."

"I've never seen alcohol throw you into a fit of coughing... or, for that matter, make you hallucinate and run out of a party scared to death!" Daring didn't respond. Twilight was ready to attempt a more convincing argument when she paused. Next time she spoke was in a lower tone of voice. "Come to think of it... that sounds remarkably similar to something a drug would do. Perhaps a drug I read about in a medical guide a couple of years ago. Snaproot, a drug often used medicinally for symptoms of Alzheimer's. Side effects were cold sweat, nausea, headache, blurred vision, thrombosis... and hallucinations." Daring stared, slack-jawed.

"How could you possibly remember all that from a couple years ago?" Twilight smiled confidently, tapping her temple.

"Photographic memory." The smile disappeared. "Anyway, I think Snaproot or at least some type of drug must be in play. Alcohol by itself couldn't do anything like what happened to you tonight. Last night, I mean. There must have been some kind of chemical reaction between the two."

"Are you saying... somepony drugged me?" Twilight shrugged, not wanting to give a blunt answer. Daring retreated into a defensive form. "Goddess, I don't even want to think about that. I have enough problems already."

A loud knock broke the silence. Rainbow burst in with a hectic look on her face and a silhouetted pony behind her that Twilight figured to be Spitfire.

"Twilight, there you are! We got a major problem!"

"What?" Rainbow motioned for somepony to move into the darkened room, which they did slowly and robotically. Twilight used her magic to flick the light switch on. As Daring and Rainbow flinched from the sudden burst of light, Twilight and Daring gasped at the sight. There stood Spitfire; gray, downcast and positively devoid of life (so to speak).

"Spitfire?" Daring was the first to utter her name. She trotted over to the stoic Wonderbolt -or considering the conditions, ex-Wonderbolt- and tried looking her in the eyes. When the yellow pegasus refused to look back, Daring looked back to the remaining ponies. "What the hell's a matter with her?!"

Twilight did not speak for some time, preferring to study the yellow pegasus in her depressed state. It reminded her of Trixie when she first saw her and helped her with her... issues. The answer was a dead giveaway, filling Twilight with only one answer. She didn't want to give this answer until she had clear evidence. Tragic as it is, a couple of mind screwed ponies could not mean the release of a certain omniscient creature. When she finally spoke, it was in a grim tone.

"She has exactly what you have, Daring." Daring stared, dumbstruck. "Or more literally, she's feeling exactly how you feel."

"She was just fine a minute ago!" Rainbow shouted. "She was feeling really lousy when she told me how horrible she felt for Daring, but I didn't think it would be enough to turn her into this!" That answered Twilight's theory, or more specifically rejected it. Nevertheless, she kept it stored away in the back of her mind until it does indeed come into play. The last thing she wants is to be the pony that cried timberwolf.

"She feels bad for me?" Daring spoke remorsefully. Rainbow nodded. Daring looked to her gray friend, brushing the limp mane out of her gray eyes.. "Did I have anything to do with this?" asked Daring. "I know it's far-fetched, but could that disorder we talked about earlier spread to her? You know, CMDD?"

"There are a lot factors pointing to that, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions." Twilight looked Spitfire over, then turned to Daring. The look on her face got progressively sour each driving second. She let out a heavy sigh. "This isn't working."

"Whaddya mean, Twi?" Rainbow asked as innocently as possible, having a vague feeling what Twilight was talking about.

"Rainbow, we've only been here a day trying to help Daring, but so far all we've succeeded in is deepen the hole she's in and now we've let Spitfire fall in! This isn't like helping somepony overcome a fear or helping them make friends, this is legitimate psychological trauma that we're just not cut out to handle." She gestured to Spitfire. "We didn't even mean for her to be involved and now look at her! Never mind the fact that she's a big-time celebrity and we could get in serious trouble, we're obviously not meant to deal with things like this!" Twilight turned to Daring. "I'm sorry, Daring. We've tried helping and we've only made things worse for you and her. Maybe we should just find you two a professional and leave them to deal with it."

"No, Twilight!" Rainbow grabbed Twilight by the shoulder and forced her into eye-contact. Twilight didn't seem to respond to the sudden jerk, instead turning her head away from her rosy-eyed friend in guilt. Why wouldn't she feel guilty? She just turned both of her friend's heroes into perpetual mopes. "You've helped her more than you know! Yes, tonight was a... noticeable setback and perhaps she's worse than she was no less than twenty-four hours ago and now you've dragged her friend and, as you said, big-time celebrity into this mess."

"Not helping, Rainbow." Twilight bemoaned.

"Sorry, but what I said is true. Even if it's just a tiny bit, we've helped Daring. So far... well, we've gotten her outside for the first time in years. We told Daring we weren't leaving until she was back to normal. Wouldn't that apply to Spitfire, too? I'm sure if she was feeling anything other than a wallop of agonizing self-pity right now, Spitfire would agree and say she'd want our help. Right, Daring?" Daring in truth wasn't paying attention. Instead she was looking over her friend in misery. She looked to the two when she heard her name sound.

"Huh? Oh, yeah sure. Whatever you say." She went back to her friend.

"See? She agrees." Twilight was mildly convinced. "This is just a setback Twi. How are we going to deal with this?"

When Twilight did speak, it was after a long and thoughtful pause to collect her thoughts.

"We should head back to Ponyville. I gotta have something about this in the library; something about the disorder in my catalogues. If not, well... I'm sure a change of scenery would be slightly helpful." She turned to Daring once more, a look much less distressed and more determined on her face. "Daring, I know you not want this, but I think it would be--"

"Don't bother, Twilight. I'm all for it. I'm so sick of Canterlot now. I just wanna get out of this hellhole ASAP."

"That's good to hear. Well, not 'good' but... you get the picture. I'll help you pack. Rainbow, please go call the train station find out when they're boarding. The sooner we get there the better."

Later that day...

Heavy hoof steps filled the gloomy stairways as a makeshift team of hired thugs trampled their way to the third floor of the apartment. Nopony would open their doors to find the source of the noise, as they were used to the sounds of armed ponies causing a stir when arresting some unfortunate pony who thinks she can break laws.

What made this time any different?

I want nopony injured. If you must, you are permitted to use tranquilizers. Ms. Do should pose no threat, but be weary of her friends Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. If what I read in the news is true, they are quite capable of defending themselves.

Those words were relayed to them as they cleared out. They half-heartily paid it heed.

"We can handle a couple 'a dames." One thug replied to the laughter of the rest of them.

They crowded around the door of apartment number 323, leaning against the vermin-infested wall. Two ponies were on the left readying themselves while two ponies on the right knocked over a flower pot. On the count of three, they rammed the door down and charged in.

"Did you hear something, dearie?" Asked Mrs. White, wife of local dentist Pearl White, as she continued her knitting.

"Eh, it must be those crazy fillies next door again." Mumbled Mr. White as he turned the page of his newspaper, The Canterlot Times.

The apartment was empty. Most of the apartment remained the same since it was last used, the only bedroom in the apartment showing any signs of missing anything was the only bedroom in the block. There was no sign of anypony anywhere. Their only lead was gone.

They were not prepared for that.

"Where da buck dey go?!" Cried one of the goons.

The sun was just peeking over the mountainous horizon as the train starting rolling down the track, chugging mechanically. Daring felt herself nervous at the sudden jumping of the train car she and her old and new friends would reside in for the next couple of hours, not to mention the ear-piercing whistle that sounded over her. Spitfire sat next to her, continuing her effort of not speaking a word to any of them since this morning, and the second duo of best friends sat across from them. Rainbow was asleep on Twilight's shoulder as the unicorn read The Cider Diaries by Hunter S. Clopson, a book Daring had packed for no odd reason, using the rising sun as her light.

Daring heard her sulking friend softly snore, now just as asleep as Rainbow. Twilight levitated a blanket over to the pair.

"Why don't you get some sleep, Daring? It's gonna be a long ride." Daring felt at ease at the sound of Twilight's soothing voice. She wrapped the blanket around her friend.

"Too wound up. I'll be fine."

"Okay, but at least try to relax." Twilight smiled and went back to her reading. Daring sighed and turned to her snoring friend.

"I'm sorry, Spitfire." She whispered, just below Twilight's range of hearing. "I never wanted you to get wrapped up in this. Don't worry. We'll help you. I'll help you." The sudden fall of darkness came from the train entering a tunnel (complete with Twilight emitting an annoyed groan). The deafening mechanized reverberating and the strobe lights tok over the train carr.

Help me...

A voice came from the flickering darkness, the ponies across from hr payng t no mind. Daring turn to her fiend.

A wicked grinn would reveal itself with evvery flash of light trying to get in the tunnel.

...I *dare** you!*

The train left the oppressive tunnel and continued its course towards the quaint little town of Ponyville.

Now we come down

Down there to the realm of blood

Diving in seas of

Putrefied bodies

Charge yourself during scenes of dying

You will buy again

Cause boredom creates hunger...