Daring Do and The ring of dusk

The two sat in the car as it zoomed by the highway. Rainbow Dash was looking outside at the divine night sky, the full moon shimmering its bright lights across the jet-black sky, the millions and millions of constellations of stars making the sky even more blissful as they twinkled like Canterlot during Christmas. The environment was silent; all that could be heard was the steady roar of the engine and the tires keeping their grip to the asphalt. Nervousness was still eating through the mare’s body, questions still running wild in her mind. On the wheel was Daring Do, she drove at a calm posture, not a single type of emotion displayed on her face. The blue mare had finally had enough of this quiet setting, she bottled up as much courage she could and cleared her throat giving a signal that she wanted to talk. Daring looked over to her and cleared her throat as well, before going back to the road.

“I know you’re angry that I broke into your house Daring.” Rainbow said before looking down in shame.

The brown mare’s ears perked up the second she heard her name being called out. She gave the steering wheel a tight squeeze as she took a slow deep breath to keep her sudden spike of anger at bay.

“How do you know my name?” She asked in a livid tone.

“Oh, I’ve know your name for quite some time.” She turned to look at Daring showing slight signs of fear, “Ever since the last book convention.”

The last book convention was about a month ago! This made Daring both angry and nervous; could she have told other anthros about her? If so, how many and who were they. As though Rainbow had read her mind she answered the question.

“I didn’t tell anyone. If that’s what you’re thinking about.” She said looking back out her window watching her reflection on it.

Daring took a quick glare at the cerulean blue mare for a brief second. She didn’t believe that what she said was true. As the environment grew silent once again she threw a question to the unsuspecting mare.

“Why did you break into my house?”

The mare felt her fur stand on end, a chill of panic snaking its way down her spine. Her body soon began to heat up as her breath grew deeper, barely able to utter a single word. “I-I’d rather not talk about it.” She said with the very little willpower she could muster.

“I don’t care whether you want to talk about it or not. You’d better start talking kid.” Daring said in a rather callous tone.

“I-I…”

“Come on, TALK!” She barked as she glared at her, her eyes filled with fury.

The sudden outburst of her voice made the rainbow manned mare feel as if her heart was dug out by her very words. All she could do was look away from her and close her eyes, tears wanting to flow out. This isn’t what she wanted, for her first conversation with her idol to be a heated argument. She sniffed lightly as a tear escaped from one of her eyes and rolled down her cheek. Once the brown mare noticed the teardrop she knew she had been a bit too rough on the mare, never in her life had she ever lashed out at any anthro like that.

She sighed as she looked back at the road having a slight feeling of guilt. “Look, I’m sorry for getting mad at you Rainbow Dash. It’s just that…..you breaking into my house….just….really set me off. I’m sorry.”

Rainbow Dash looked back at her with the very little courage she had. “There’s no need to be sorry Daring. I was in the wrong. I deserve it.”

“Could you at least tell me what you were doing?” She asked in a much calmer tone, “Other than….you know.” She said referring to the panty sniffing.

The blue mare looked at the passing trees beside her, gently laying her head against the black tinted window. “Some things….are just meant to be kept secret.” Knowing that her answer wasn’t adequate enough she added, “No one else knows about your secret identity other than me Daring. Please…trust me on this.”

Daring kept her eyes on the road as she let out a sigh. There was another session of silence in the car, Rainbow was slowly dozing off, Daring’s mind was still trying to figure out what was the main reason as to why the blue mare broke into her house. She shook her mind to get the thought out of her since it would only stress her out. After exhausting hours of driving, the two reached their destination, Daring’s home. Rainbow Dash was somewhat surprised and confused at the same time. Why would Daring Do bring her back to her house?

“Why did you bring me back here?” Rainbow asked once she got out of the car.

“I figured you’d stay here, since Cloudsdale is quite far from here.” She got out and closed the door.

The mare’s heart raced once again. “How do you know where I live?”

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle told me.” She smirked at her before going to open the door.

“You know Twilight?” Her ears perked up.

“Yes.” She walked into the already lit hallway. “She’s been a very good friend of mine. Her and I go way back.”

The blue mare walked in and closed the door as she let out a sigh of relief, at least she didn’t have to break into the house this time. She trailed her hand along the cream coated wall as she walked down the hall, during all the times she had broken into her house, she had never taken the time to admire the absolute beauty of her home. It’s brilliant architectural design, its stunning decor as well as the amazing furniture.

“Make yourself comfortable.” The brown mare said as she went into the kitchen.

Rainbow made her way to the dining room and sat on a wooden chair that had red fluffy cushions attached to it. As she looked around she happened to spot the scripts of the Ring of Dusk. She looked back at the kitchen door to check if Daring was coming out anytime soon. She took the scripts and had a look at them. She could manage to recognize a few words in the ancient Equestrian writing, words such as dark, sister, gateway, power, control……but what did all those words mean? She moved to the next script and saw that it was the one that had the image of the gate. “What the hell are these scripts for?” She asked herself. As she looked through the scripts, she noticed that each script had some sort of markings at the bottom.

“Those are the scripts or the Ring of Dusk.” Daring said as she approached her holding two bottles of soda pop.

“Did you see these markings?” The blue pegasus asked as she pointed at the markings on one of the scripts.

Daring took hold of the script she was being shown, surprised that she hadn’t noticed them. “No.” She shook her head, “I didn’t.”

“I wonder….” Rainbow Dash said as she took all the scripts and aligned them together making sure the marks were aligned correctly.

The two mares couldn’t believe what the markings formed, they were coordinates! Daring immediately made a phone call to Jake and placed her phone on the table in speakerphone as she held the edge of the chocolate brown, dining table, tapping her hoof against the artistically tiled floor. Rainbow just stood there wondering what made daring go into her sudden state of impatience.

“Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up.” She mumbled as she tossed her hair back.

Jake picked up the phone as a yawn could be heard. Why would she call him that early since it was only four in the morning? “Hey, Daring, wh…”

Before he could even finish his statement, Daring skipped the greetings and went straight to the point. “Jake, I need you to search these coordinates, 258 degrees south and 73 degrees west.”

“Umm….J-Just give me a sec.” He grunted as he got off his bed and head to his computer and searched the coordinates. “Alright, uh, the coordinates lead to a section of the Crimson Ocean.”

“Does it have an Island?”  She asked eager to know.

“It’s pretty hard to tell, the place has been surrounded by raging storms for the past thousand years.”

“That must be where the ring is. I have to go there.” She said.

“Are you nuts?! A plane carrying 273 passengers was lost by that storm.”

“It’s worth the risk.”

“Then I’m coming with you.” Rainbow Dash said with confidence.

“No you’re not.” Daring as she glared at the blue cerulean blue mare.

Jake was surprised by the other voice, never had he ever heard Daring with someone else. “Is there someone else there?”

She sighed, “It’s a long story Jake.”

Rainbow looked back at her with frantic eyes, “Why can’t I come with you?”

“Because I go on my adventures ALONE!” She barked as she gave her a rather intimidating look at her.

If she was trying to scare her, she had another thing coming. The blue mare approached her with great confidence until they were mere inches away from each other. She looked up at her since the brown mare was slightly taller than her.

“If it wasn’t for me noticing the marks on those scripts…” she said as she pointed at the scripts, “…and revealing those coordinates, ‘YOU’….” she poked her chest giving a light push making Daring move back slightly, “…would still be wondering where the ring is situated at. So, I’m coming with you, like it or not!” Her eyes were looking straight at hers showing no single shred of fear or nervousness.

“Uh, if what she’s saying is true Daring, I think you should let her go with you.” Jake suggested.

“So, Daring Do? What’s it going to be?” Rainbow Dash gave a light smirk as she still kept eye contact between them.

No one had ever stood up to her like that, not even Jake. She clenched her fists as she tried to contain her anger, her body trembling in rage. She just wanted to grab the little brat by the neck and choke her to wipe that smug look off her face. They both stared at each other not giving a single blink as though they were in a staring contest. As the environment grew quiet, Rainbow began to lose her patience.

“I’m waiting.” She said.

Daring growled lightly as she made her decision, “We leave in the afternoon.” She said before storming to her room before slamming the door.

“Geez, is she always that?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m afraid so. Well, I’m off to bed. Goodnight…..whoever you are.” Jake said giving as light stretch on his seat.

“It’s Rainbow Dash.”

“Cool.” He ended the call and dove for his bed.

Rainbow Dash thought that reason as to why she won the argument, was because of the markings and the coordinates, but little did she know that there was a deeper, darker reason as to why Daring didn’t want her to come. A memory that had remained embedded in her mind from the day it happened. Up in Daring’s room, the brown mare sat at the left edge of her bed her elbows resting against her thighs and her head resting between her two palms. She looked over at a picture of her and her best friend Jenna.

She was a snow white mare, who had a lovely and spiky candy red mane that had a pearl black streak along its right side. Her tail also had the same mane style, but it was full candy red. The eyes are what made Daring love her from the moment they met, her shimmering rose red eyes that gave out a dazzling shine in the moonlight, always drove Daring crazy. She was her best friend, but also her lover. The two would go on adventures together, the two were inseparable! Whether it was subzero temperatures, dangerous animals, near faces of death? Nothing could separate the two. Until one fateful day, they’re never ending bond…..was broken.

~o~

The two mares were up at the frozen peaks of Dark Meadow Mountain. The subzero temperatures were nothing compared to the blizzard storm that happened last winter. Daring glanced up at the remaining feet of rock and snow they had to get over, her vision slightly distorted by the thick haze floating through the raging howling wind. She exhaled as her breath instantly turned into fog. Jenna was at the very frame of a 1,000 meter cliff. It was dangerous, yes, but the view she had was simply spectacular. Valleys among valleys as far as the eye could see, snow patches and streaks laying along the hard rocks as well the white mist hovering around giving it an amazing touch. Daring approached her slowly breathing into her shivering arms.

“Ready to go?”

“Daring, we have to take a picture of this moment.” She said as she carefully pulled her close to her as she held out her phone ready to take a selfie.

She gently smiled at her as she pecked her on the cheek as she took the photo. A light candy red blush crossed Jenna’s white cheeks as she held it gently, that was one of the few moments where Daring showed her true affection for her. She slowly walked away rubbing her shoulders to gain warmth as she looked up at the peak again before going back to Jenna.

“Hey, I’m freezing over here. Can we go?” Daring asked as she grew impatient.

“Huh? Oh…yeah.” Jenna said as she took a step forth. At that point, hell broke loose. The ice she was standing on suddenly broke off! Apparently she had been standing at that point for a bit too long.  She let go of her phone as she grabbed onto the edge of the cliff. “Daring!!!” She yelled as the ice cold rocks began to make her bare hands slip. Her eyes widened as she pant heavily knowing her life was about to have a disastrous demise.

“Jenna!” Daring dropped her hiking gear and ran towards her. Adrenalin rushing through her veins as she watched her begin to slip. She dove sliding against the soft, cold snow and caught her right arm moments after she slipped. Jenna was now hanging for dear life. She thought it was all over once she slipped but she was lucky her Daring caught her. She took a slight glance below her as she saw nothing but fog and a few rocks peering through it. Her heart began to beat rapidly as she looked up at Daring, her eyes filled with fright.

“Jenna, don’t worry, I got you.” Daring said as she gave her a reassuring look in order to keep her calm. “J-Just stay calm.”

Jenna nodded lightly as she took a gulp of fear.

“I’m going to pull you up OK?”

“F-Fine, just hurry up.” Jenna said as her was voice shaky from both the cold as well as the fear.

As she pulled her up, a gentle cracking sound could be heard as small rocks were displaced and fell off the cliff. This made Jenna have a slight concern of whether what Daring was doing was safe, but Daring didn’t care; all she wanted to do was pull Jenna up to safety. The force she was using to pull her up was too much for the frail rock below them to sustain as it suddenly jerked down as it was about to fall off. The two were at the risk of certain death if Daring continued. The brown mare stopped pulling as they went back to the same position she was in the cracking finally stopping. What could the poor pegasus do now? Jenna looked down and saw she had no way of escaping the fate before her. She looked up at her. Daring knew that look, and it was the last thing she had ever wanted to see on her face.

“No. N-No! I won’t!” Daring shouted.

“You know what you have to do Daring.” She said in a low regretful tone.

“No, Jenna, were going to get out of this. Together!” Her voice shaky as her eyes began to glitter, filling up with tears.

“Daring, there’s option. It’s either you let me go…or we both die.”

The brown pegasus tried to spread her wings but she couldn’t as one was still seriously damaged after being broken earlier during the hike. She winced in pain and looked back at her, tears flowing down her cheeks knowing what she had to do.

“Daring, I’ll always be with you…..in every journey you take.” Jenna said as she too was in tears. “Take care of the necklace I gave you…..and never lose hope in what you love best.”

Daring nod as she prepared herself for the toughest thing she would ever do in her life. She loosened the grip on her arm as Jenna slowly slid down.

“I love you…..” Were Jenna’s last words before Daring letting her go and watched as her body fall into the fog, sparing her the scene of seeing how she died.

She quickly moved back as the rock she was on followed suit, falling off the cliff. Daring was on all fours, her arms deep inside the cold snow, breathing deeply as she stared at the point where she had her last moments with the mare she loved. The words ‘I love you’, followed by her death was like being rammed by a bullet train. That was the pain that had filled her heart. She sat against her thighs, closing her eyes trying to calm herself, but it didn’t work. She balled up her fists and slammed them against the snow in anger punching it multiple times, yelling her heart out as though the snow was the one to blame.

From that day…she vowed never to go on an adventure with anyone else but herself.

~o~

Daring took the photo frame off the stool and looked at it. It had a photo of her and Jenna having a lovely time at the beach, the gleaming sunset behind them as well as the sandy beach. Tear drops landed onto the glass protecting the picture as she rubbed her thumb along Jenna’s face. She clearly missed her, the things she would do…..just to see her lovely face once again. A golden heart shaped pendant hung by her neck. It was a present Jenna had given Daring during her birthday. She gently held it with her right arm, moving her fingers around to feel it.

“I love you too Jenna.”