Reading time with Rainbow Dash!
I spread my wings and flew. Flying was the only thing that calmed me down. Kept me from yelling at ponies for no reason at all.
I flew faster. Kept me feeling alive, being alive.
I flew even faster. It kept me from losing the ones I love.
I flew as fast as I could, which was nothing compared to Rainbow Dash.
“Star,” I heard somepony say. But I kept flying, ignoring all distractions.
“Star,” I heard. It sounded more urgent, but I didn't listen to the voice. I flew as fast and as far as I could.
“Star!” the voice yelled. “Wake up!”
-~- In the real world -~-
I shot up, panicked, but calmed down when I saw Rainbow Dash.
“How long you gonna sleep for? We got a picnic to go to!” Rainbow yelled.
I winced and covered my sensitive ears.”Jeez, not so loud.” I slowly slid out of my blanket and stood up on the ground, tired.
“Come on! We gotta hurry!” She urged.
“Would you wait a minute, Dash? I‘m still tired.” I yawned.
“But --” She started.
“Wait, Dash.” I told her. “You can't rush me.” I slowly walked over to my dresser and took out my goggles and put them on, holding my frizzy mane up. “Okay,” I said. “Now I‘m ready.”
“Finally!” She flew out the door and toward the picnic. I spread my wings and flew after her. I loved the way the wind felt blowing past me, weaving in and out of my feathers. Oh how it felt, especially with Rainbow Dash at my side.
“Hey, Sleepy.” She said, snapping me out of my trance.”Wake up, we're here.”She reminded me.
“Oh, right.” I smiled sheepishly.”Well, let’s get started.” I laid down on the edge of the blanket while Rainbow Dash went up to her tree.
“Why don't you come down here this time, Dash?” I asked. She just waved dismissively and said,”Nah. I think it’s better up here.”
“Ok fine.” I pulled out the newest daring do book from under my wing.”then I guess i'll just read this by myself.”
Rainbow Dash looked at me then gasped. “Where did you get that that?”
I chuckled.” I know a pony.”
“Who?” She asked.
I chuckled again. “A pony named twilight Sparkle.”
She sheepishly smiled.”Oh yeah.” She flew up next to me and excitedly said with a big smile,”But enough talking! let’s start reading!” She then noticed the other girls giggling quietly. Her cheeks turned a shade of red and her smile turned from excitement to embarrassment.”let's just read.” She whispered to me.
I nodded and looked at the cover. “Daring Do and the quest for the sapphire stone,” I read out loud.
“Ooo, sounds cool.” She said.
I sat up, flipped to the first chapter, and started reading.
“As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere and fly up into the cool blue sky. But her crash landing in the jungle had injured her wing and she was grounded for a few days. A few days---it might as well be a few months, or a few years!
The mosquitoes buzzed loudly, the macaws cried from the high trees; yet, all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step. Some instinct make Daring turn. A ferocious pony-eating tiger roared as it lunged at the tan heroine. Daring Do ducked and dived over a log, mere inches ahead of the savage beast, only to have her retreat barred by a massive black panther. Spinning to her right, she saw a brown lynx charge screeching toward her from another direction. A spotted cheetah yowled menacingly while emerging from a mass of ferns, blocking yet another possible escape route. ‘Only one path left,’ she realized. ‘I wonder what hideous horror will block it.’
Trapped between a semi-circle of beasts, our heroine turned to the last path open to her. As if her internal monologue had tempted fate, the leaves near the last path shivered and parted to display this next foe: a fearsome fluffy white kitten. Relief surged through her. Finally a break! She charged forward, leapfrogging over the cat and running as fast as her legs could take her, ferocious feline foes following in close pursuit! Running full tilt through the dense undergrowth of the jungle, she almost stepped off a cliff that suddenly appeared before her. Skidding to a stop just in time, Daring Do looked back at her pounding predatory pursuers and knew she had no choice.
With leap fueled by desperation, she launched herself from the edge of the cliff and grasped a vine, looping it around her as she swung over the gargantuan ghastly gorge. Her golden compass cutie mark glinted in the sun as she spun to salute her feline foes. Safely landing on the other side, Daring finally allowed herself a moment to breathe. She turned around to find herself face to face with the long lost temple that she had sought tirelessly for over sixty days and nights!
Daring pressed forward and climbed the stairway of the temple. The oily flickering torches cast eery moving shadows on the walls. A smell of decay and danger hit Daring Do as she peered into the dimly lit entrance of the ancient temple. As she walked down the entryway she felt a cobble shift slightly underhoof and heard a jarring smack of stone striking stone. Throwing herself to the floor, she avoided being sliced by three wicked-looking throwing axes. A slight ticking sound warned her a split second before a fiery maw opened beneath her. Daring managed to grab the edges and flip forward, barely avoiding the flames that came shooting out. From above, a series of vicious alligators swung down snapping at her mane, trying to get a bite to eat. ‘Seriously, who puts alligators in the ceiling? That's insane!’ our tired traveller griped internally.
Pulling herself along just barely out of their reach, Daring slid on her stomach past the gators, but before she could catch her breath she had to leap over an axe arching toward her in a pendulum of death. Running forward she just managed to dodge a series of deadly darts that came flying out of the wall. She almost met her untimely demise when a spike from a hole in the floor shot out, trying to impale her onto the ceiling.
Looking ahead, our intrepid explorer saw the stone door sliding down, threatening to bar the path forward. With a desperate burst of speed, Daring Do dashed forward, sliding toward the door, but her momentum gave out halfway through the doorway. With a grunt, Daring pulled herself through and just avoided being crushed by the heavy stone slab. Safe! Or was she? Growling an oath under her breath she looked around as the hallway she found herself in quivered and crumbled, the end already partially blocked by yet another sliding stone slab. Another corridor? Wasn’t there a rule about only having one of these per trap-infested obstacle course?
Daring rushed past the stone slab intent on crushing her, finally past the second hallway. She quickly brushed off the darts her hat had acquired in the last hallway and took her bearings. Daring Do stood at the entrance to the central temple chamber. At last, she was face to face with the legendary sapphire statue! The light from the skylight ceiling shone on the startling sapphire stone as Daring Do pondered what her next step would be. “Riiiight, ‘just’ across the room,” Daring thought, eyeing the walls intently. “And those arrow-sized holes in the wall are just for ventilation and the huge Doom Masks are just for show.”
Looking at the floor before her she saw a series of varying images inscribed on each tile leading up to a series of stairs connected to the pedestal. She kicked a stone onto the tiles and watched as arrows came flying out from the holes in the walls. Each tile had a different picture of some kind of animal: dingos, jackals, wolves, rats... "Huh, there must be a pattern here. What do all these animals have in common?" the tan pegasus said pensively. Trying to figure out the pattern proved to be a different kind of challenge from the rest of the temple. "AHA! These animals are all predators, except...RATS!" Lowering one hoof on a tile with a rat etched on it, she gingerly closed her eyes. Opening one eye, she let out a relieved sigh, knee still intact and theory proved. Hopping from tile to tile, she slowly made her way toward her goal. Reaching the final tile, Daring Do back-flipped onto the stairs with a triumphant grin. Taking off her hat to let out some of the heat that had been collecting under it, she looked up at the beautiful carving in awe. Donning her hat again so as not to drop it, she carefully studied the pedestal, looking at it first from one angle, then the other.
Finally coming to a decision, Daring gripped the priceless statuette with her mouth and snatched it off. “No point avoiding the inevitable,” she said to herself. Daring stored the statuette under her hat and started to set off when she heard a grinding series of clicks coming from behind her. Eyes widening, she whirled around to see a slender pillar of stone sliding up from the spot where the statuette had sat. Before she could reach it, the cylinder fell back into the pedestal. Turning back to make a speedy trip across the floor, she watched as it crumbled before her into a pool of lava. The walls started to quiver and quake, sending plaster and masks falling below into a heap that was quickly being consumed.
The heaving, fast-rising pool of lava forced her back up the steps and higher onto the pedestal. The hot air seared her hooves as she reached the top, finally out of places to climb. As the stone started to melt beneath her hooves, she jumped from the pedestal to one of the toppled giant stone masks. As she ran up along it to the hole that was letting in the blessed sunlight and reached the edge of the mask, a chunk of rock suddenly gave way, almost sending her hurtling into the lava. Only her expert balance saved her from a quick and fiery death. Steadying herself, she leaped from the top of the mask, moments before it too was consumed entirely by lava. Barely able to grip onto the side of the lip of the sunlight, Daring Do flailed helplessly for a hoofhold. A ball of superheated air exploded beneath where she was hanging, sending her, rock, and ash flying through the air. The blast thankfully threw her clear of the ash and other debris, dropping her painfully onto a dirt path, the statuette then coming loose and bouncing a few feet away.
Suddenly, a familiar massive green paw slammed down right next to the statuette. There stood the most hideous creature Daring Do had ever encountered, her arch nemesis, Ahuizotl. Looking like a cross between a monkey with a dog’s rear legs with a hand at the tip of his tail, a jackal with eyes at the tip of his snout, and a shark, this beast was at least twice the size of a regular pony, maybe even larger than Celestia herself.
"You thought you could evade me and capture the relic for yourself, but you were sadly mistaken, Miss Do!" boasted the beast.
"And now, you shall meet your DOOM!" he said theatrically. With a flourish, he pulled out a whistle shaped suspiciously like a cat. Blowing a few notes he summoned the feline foes Daring Do had so recently evaded. Laughing maniacally, the beast savoured his absolute victory.
After being dragged into a non-destroyed part of the horrid temple, Daring Do was tied to a sacrificial altar. "You won't get away with this Ahuizotl!" she cried in defiance.
"But I already have!" he sneered. Heading for the entrance, he pulled a very conspicuous lever. Suddenly the walls began to shrink. Ahuizotl quickly herded his minions out the door, secure in the inevitable fate of his nemesis.
And with good reason. As the walls closed in, spikes came jutting out and spiders scurried out onto the spikes. "Quicksand!" she said as it poured quickly from the space left around the spikes. An ornate golden medallion near the top of the room slid out, letting through an army of snakes.
“So, to recap, sliding walls with spikes, spiders, snakes and speedy soaked sand.”
Things were definitely looking grim.
“It feels like the harder I struggle, the tighter the ropes get!" Daring Do said as she tried to worm her way free. Suddenly, inspiration struck.
Flipping off helmet and gripping it with her teeth, she sent it flying toward the lever with a snap of her neck. Gasping a final lungful of air as she was about to go under, she thought she saw the helmet strike the lever, but was it hard enough?
Slowly, the sand, spiders, snakes, and spikes all receded. "Phew, that was a close one," she said, knocking sand from her ears after finally pulling free. The stone slab that had sealed her in the room began to rise and she wasted no time in getting out.
"Another day, another dungeon," she quipped as she waltzed out.
Sitting on his throne of stone, the mighty Ahuizotl stroked his white cat as he gloated over his latest acquisition and victory. "Mwahahah! With Daring Do out of the way the world will suffer mightily at my hands! I AM VICTORIOUS! MWAHAHAHAH!" The great and mighty Ahuizotl was suddenly shocked to find his tail-hand empty of the treasure he had so recently acquired.
"I'll take that!" declared Daring Do, as she swung by on a vine. Nodding her head to her foe, she finished her swing to the top of a nearby cliff.
"What? Noooooooooooooooo!" cried her former captor, bereft of his victory and his prize.
"Better luck next time Ahuizotl," she said from atop the cliff, resettling her hat.
"CURSE YOU, DARING DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
And so, with Ahuizotl defeated and the Sapphire Statue secured, the world was safe and sound once again, thanks to Daring Do!”
I shut the book and looked over at Rainbow Dash. Her face was of pure happiness. “So I take it that you liked the book, Dash?”
“liked it?” She asked rhetorically. “I loved it!” then she unexpectedly hugged me. “You're the best pony anypony could ask for.” she quietly said.
My cheeks bloomed red from embarrassment, but I didn't protest.
“Awwwww!” the girls all said in unison, excluding Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow then realized what she was doing, and quickly pulled away,blushing bright red.“s-sorry,” she apologized.
“No need to apologize. It’s fine.” I said.
Author's Note
Hello sir and sirettes. this is a little shory story that came to me one night, so I decided to write it down for you.
Keep your stick on the ice, and I will see you all later!
