It was all over. The sight of everypony in Somnambula leaving town center with scowled faces brought Rainbow to tears. She was crushed, but definitely not as crushed as Daring Do probably was. All she wanted to do was to clear Daring Do’s bad name. Now everypony ditched her. Even Pinkie Pie left, going with Daring Do just as defeated.
Anger rose up in Rainbow Dash. Drying out her tears, she turned to the one pony she had to blame for this whole ordeal. It was a single stallion dressed in a brown cloak.
“Hey, buddy!” she yelled while gesturing a hoof towards him. “What did Daring Do ever do to you to deserve all this?!”
The stallion placed a hoof to his cloak. “Only, EVERYTHING!” he shouted while he swiftly removed his cloak. Rainbow Dash was surprised to see who it was. It was one of the top henchman of Daring Do’s nemesis.
“Doctor Caballeron?!” she said with a surprised voice.
“Yes,” Caballeron said. “Rainbow Dash!” He walked closer intimidatingly towards her. But Rainbow Dash didn’t cower away this time. She glared him down and butted heads with Caballeron while growling fiercely. “When I saw you, her closest friend, I knew that Daring Do would not be far behind. I really do owe you for leading her right to me!”
Rainbow Dash snorted. “You used me to get to her?!”
“Of course! Thank you for having me break Daring Do’s spirit by destroying her reputation. Now she’ll never be a threat to us again!”
Rainbow Dash backed away from Caballeron to hover into a battle stance. “Not if I have anything to say about it!”
“It is too late for that! Pretty soon Daring Do will be no more!” he finished with a wicked laugh. Rainbow grew concerned with how serious he sounded.
“What are you talking about?!” she asked. Her question was soon answered when her ears picked up on a pair of cries for help. She turned to the source, gasping at what she saw. In the distance, Daring Do and Pinkie Pie were both tied up, blindfolded, and being dragged away by a pack of ponies, henchman to Caballeron.
“What?!” Rainbow shouted in surprise. She turned to Caballeron. “How did you-”
“Thanks to you, her spirit was crushed. She never saw us coming, she and your friend. With her out of the way, my plan will be complete!” He gave off another wicked laugh.
Rainbow Dash darted herself towards Caballeron, slamming her body into his to pin him to the ground. “Not if I have anything to say about it!” she shouted, but Caballeron wasn’t phased.
“Go ahead. Waste your time with me. Once Daring Do is no more, there will be no one to stop Ahuizotl! To think her closest friend was all we needed!” Another wicked laugh.
Rainbow Dash was beginning to feel her spirits crushed. If she hadn’t dragged Daring Do into this town, none of this would’ve happened. The last thing everypony would remember her as is being a crook. She had to fix this.
Growling frustratingly, Rainbow jumped off of Caballeron and left him alone. She began chasing after the ponies taking Daring Do and Pinkie Pie away. They were already out of sight. The best thing she could do was fly in the direction she saw them going.
______________________________________________________________________________
After a few minutes of flying, Rainbow Dash caught eyes on the dust trail that had Daring Do and Pinkie Pie being taken away. How could they move so fast while dragging two ponies on hoof? Caballeron must’ve left her distracted longer than she thought if they gained this much distance away from her. All she knew was now, they were being taken to a giant pyramid with two statues of sphinxes at its front entrance. From the looks of it, it seemed much like the one told in that story, giving Rainbow a hollow stomach. But she pressed on.
“Hang on guys! I’m coming!” When she reached the entrance, she landed on the ground and started running inside.
“SOMEPONY HELP US!” Rainbow heard the cries of help from Daring and Pinkie close by. She suddenly noticed that the path she was running was ending short. Digging her hooves on the ground, she slid to halt. Her eyes grew in fear when she saw a huge lake of boiling green slime down below. On top of a pedestal, she saw them.
“Daring Do! Pinkie Pie!” she called out to them.
“Rainbow Dash?! Is that you?!” Pinkie Pie called out while Daring Do was struggling in an attempt to escape, but with no signs of hope. Even worse, the pedestal was starting to sink in the bubbling green slime. There was a wicked laugh that sounded above. Rainbow looked to its direction.
“If you think you can save them, you are wrong!” Rainbow knew that voice and saw who it was.
“Caballeron?! How did you get here?!” she asked.
“You think I would miss the destruction of my biggest nemesis?” he answered.
“That’s not gonna happen!” she shouted.
“Oh, but it will!” he said with an evil smile. “Because that ancient magic from the legend? It’s real! There’ll be no flying in the pyramid! Good luck, Rainbow Dash!” He laughed wickedly once again.
Rainbow Dash’s heart sunk when she heard that. “Oh no…” She tried desperately to unfurl her wings but to no avail. “No flying? What am I gonna do?!” With a grunt, she ran to the bath’s edge.
“Without my wings, I’ll never get to them in time! And there’s no bridge like there was in the legend!” Rainbow smacked her hooves to her face to hide her tears. “They’re doomed! And it’s all my fault!”
In the distance, Daring Do could be heard giving off her final struggles before sighing in defeat. “It looks like this is the end,” she said. “I’m sorry that you got dragged into this, Pinkie. I never would've thought Caballeron would be behind this."
But Pinkie hadn’t given up yet. “Don’t worry, Daring Do,” she said. “If I know Rainbow Dash, she won’t let us down!”
“But how?” Daring asked. “She can’t fly in this pyramid. What can she do?”
Pinkie looked to the direction of Rainbow Dash, despite being blindfolded. “If this really is like Somnambula’s story, then we just have to hang onto hope.”
Rainbow Dash overheard Pinkie’s speech. Hang onto hope? What hope was there? There wasn’t a bridge like there was in the story. Yet, despite the circumstances, Pinkie still believed in her. She thought about the situation Somnambula was in and how she didn’t give up hope.
“Maybe Pinkie’s right,” Rainbow said. “They are my friends. Whatever it takes, I have to save them.” She thought about what Somnambula did. “All I have to do is take a leap of faith.” With a large gulp, she closed her eyes and jumped. Immediately, she regretted her decision, but she held onto hope.
That hope didn’t betray her. She felt a powerful force of steam blow on her hindquarters. They allowed her body to glide in the air, avoiding the bubbling green slime below. With a smile, she spotted the areas where the steam was blowing and followed them accordingly, jumping to each one. Doctor Caballeron watched in utter frustration seeing his plan getting foiled.
"No!" he shouted. "Who puts geysers in bubbling green slime?! What's the point of removing a bridge if you're just going to lay a line of geysers to the pedestal?!" With that frustration, he closed the pyramid ceiling and left. Rainbow Dash made a few more hops before reaching the pedestal where her friends were waiting.
“Yes!” Rainbow pumped. “I did it!”
“Rainbow Dash?!” Daring Do called out in excitement.
“See?” Pinkie said. “I told you she would save us!”
Rainbow Dash had to move fast though. The pedestal was still sinking with only inches before the bubbling green slime reached them. She moved to the ropes and undid the knots that held them, helping them remove their blindfolds too.
“Thanks for reminding me to never give up hope, Pinkie,” she said as she untied the rope holding Pinkie. Pinkie just giggled.
“Thanks, Rainbow Dash,” Daring said. “I should’ve believed you from the start. Now let’s get out before the slime catches us!”
The three ponies exited the way they came in, using the steam Rainbow used to reach them in order to get out. When they were on the ground again, Caballeron's voice sounded. "You may have escaped my trap. But you'll never leave this pyramid!"
All three ponies yelped when the pyramid shook. "Oh no! Look!" Pinkie shouted and pointed. Rainbow and Daring looked ahead.
"The pyramid doors are closing!" Rainbow said.
"That's not the only thing," Daring said. The floor ahead was breaking apart and separating. Daring Do tried to unfurl her wings. After grunting a few times, she came to the conclusion. "No good! The pyramid's magic is still affecting us!"
Rainbow Dash just smiled and gave her a gentle hoof jab. "Hey! You got this! You're Daring Do! You, and we, can totally handle this!"
Seeing Rainbow's confident spirit reminded Daring Do of the spirit she once had. Now she had it back. She put back her confident smile and looked ahead. "You're right! Thanks, Rainbow Dash!" With a new confident smile, she took another look ahead, taking note of a path through the gap that would allow them to cross. "Follow my lead!"
Daring Do took a leap, with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie following behind. She led the two among the ledges that were still stable enough to tread across. They jumped from one to the next, finding more ground behind them breaking away. The pyramid may still be disabling their ability to fly, but that didn't stop them from crossing through one ledge at a time. And Pinkie Pie never had to fly in the first place, so every hop she made was full of joy.
The three ponies managed to cross the gap. After looking back to make sure nopony was left behind, they continued running and left the pyramid before the doors could close on them. Fresh sunlight beamed in their faces to fill their spirits. Once they were outside, they could see Caballeron and his cohorts running off in the distance. They stood there for a few seconds watching them go. When Daring Do looked to both Rainbow and Pinkie with a serious face, the others looked back with the same expression.
With that, all three ponies chased after them. They weren’t getting away with this.
Author's Note
And I gotta say, I was really loving this episode. But the original version of this scene ruined it for me. This is my take of how the scene should've been. But something as simple as capturing Rainbow Dash BEFORE Doctor Cabelleron revealed himself rather than AFTER, would've easily fixed it. This way it would've kept the element of surprise to Rainbow Dash. I also added that last scene to end on a high note of Rainbow Dash doing what she wanted to do in the first place. Bring back Daring Do's spirit.
Oh well. Hasbro may do things we hate, but it doesn't mean we should hate them for it.
(This would also be the first story I've done that doesn't feature both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in the same story.)
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Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy.
