The Wrath of Ahuizotl

Chapters

Chapter 01: The Golden Oak Library Memorial Society
Chapter 02: Daring Do Returns
Chapter 03: Research with Twilight
Chapter 04: An Unexpected Journey
Chapter 05: The Secret Sofa
Chapter 06: Brazen Villainy
Chapter 07: Testing Testing Redux
Chapter 08: The Chamber of Secrets
A Prologue

Chapter 01: The Golden Oak Library Memorial Society

“And that is why Ring of Destiny is the most awesome Daring Do book ever!” Rainbow Dash concluded her argument before the Golden Oak Library Memorial Society.

The Golden Oak Library Society had undergone a rather drastic downsizing since the Golden Oaks Library was unfortunately destroyed by Tirek. From its ashes, literally and figuratively, Twilight decided to found the Golden Oak Library Memorial Society for the most die-hard of Daring Do fans. The GOLMS met twice each month at Sugarcube Corner to read and discuss in depth each book of the Daring Do book series. They had been keeping up with news about future books and A.K. Yearling as well. However, broadening their topics of conversation led to the club’s more creative members suggesting they discuss some of their headcanons as well.

The GOLMS was pretty modest in size. There was Twilight Sparkle, who was the founding member and president.

Rainbow Dash was their second addition. In her time there, she had worked her way up to vice president.

Scootaloo, who idolized Rainbow Dash enough to follow her through the Gates of Tartarus if need be, developed a sudden interest in Daring Do not long after Rainbow did. Eventually she became the youngest member of the group to join.

Then there was Derpy Hooves, the local mailmare. Even though she and Rainbow had known each other since they went to flight school, Rainbow had not known Derpy was a fan until she saw her at the first meeting. Derpy had been unable to attend the first meeting of the original Golden Oak Library Society.

Then there was Pinkie Pie, who was the reason they could have their meetings as Sugarcube Corner.

Finally, there was Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. Lyra had been acquainted with Twilight since they attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Bon Bon was Lyra’s best friend and roommate. Ponies made of that what they would.

They all sat around their table, each with their own copy of the book in question. Rainbow had her own special-edition copy that she received a week before anypony else. It was even autographed and personalized by “A.K. Yearling.”

The GOLMS had gathered to discuss Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny, and Rainbow Dash had just given her spiel as to why this book in particular was the most awesome of the series. Her argument mostly concerned the new character introduced in the book: Prism Rush, the plucky, prismatic colored archaeologist-in-training Daring reluctantly allowed to join her on her adventure.

Rainbow grinned at what she felt was a job well done. With the exception of Scootaloo, the others looked a bit unconvinced.

“What?” Rainbow asked, somewhat confused.

Everypony looked at each other, hoping somepony else would speak first.

“Well, you make a good argument,” Lyra began diplomatically. “Having said that though, I think Prism Rush’s presence kind of detracts from the story.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Derpy said, “Daring works alone for all her books and then suddenly Prism Rush shows up out of nowhere and then they’re like best friends. It’s a bit rushed and kind of OOC for Daring.”

“Yeah, she’s totally a Marey Sue,” Bon Bon said.

“A Marey Sue? A Marey Sue?!” Rainbow pointed a hoof at Bon Bon. “Prism Rush is not a Marey Sue!” Rainbow turned to Twilight sitting next to her on her left. “What’s a Marey Sue?”

“A Marey Sue is a character in a fictional work that has been idealized and overpowered to the extent that they’re no longer challenged by the narrative,” explained Twilight. “Given that definition, Rainbow is right. Prism Rush is not really a Marey Sue.”

“Hah!” Rainbow cried in triumph as she pointed at Bon Bon. “Besides, they don’t become best friends immediately,” Rainbow added much more calmly. “Remember, Daring didn’t want to trust her at first. Prism had to earn her trust by saving Daring from Ahuizotl’s deathtrap.”

The other members of the club mulled this over for a minute.

“Anyway,” Lyra said, “it’s not like Prism Rush ruins the book or anything. For me, it’s awesome because it totally confirms the Darizotl ship!”

Everypony else, except Pinkie and Scootaloo, facehoofed and groaned.

“Lyra,” Derpy said on the cusp of exasperation, “that was a joke. Daring doesn’t really want to marry Ahuizotl!”

“You only say that because you ship her with Lancer,” Lyra replied.

Derpy responded by glaring at her. At least, it was a glare until one of Derpy’s eyes began to swivel off in the opposite direction.

“Be that as it may,” Rainbow said as Derpy proceeded to glare at her as well, “what’s your obsession with Ahuizotl anyway?”

“Oh boy,” Bon Bon said, rolling her eyes. “Here we go.”

Lyra’s horn glowed with a golden hue as a scrapbook floated out of her saddlebag. She opened it and started flipping through the pages. The book appeared to be filled with fanart that had been clipped out of Tenochtitlan Daily, the premier Daring Do fanzine. Finally, Lyra came to the picture she had been looking for. She then pushed the scrapbook to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow looked at the image. It was a fan-drawn close up of Ahuizotl’s face as he looked up to the sky and laughed. He was holding his paws in front of his face with the monkey paw on his tail held above his head. Rainbow could swear that Ahuizotl’s paws seemed a bit bigger than they normally appeared in the illustrations that headed the chapters of each Daring Do book.

Rainbow just looked back at Lyra, pretty much unimpressed. Lyra looked back at her with a wide smile and an excited look in her eyes.

“He has HANDS!” Lyra said. “Not just two, but three!” Lyra took back the scrapbook and looked at the picture wistfully. “Just imagine what he could do with those wonderful HANDS!”

Everypony, except Pinkie and Scootaloo, suddenly looked uncomfortable.

“Hasn’t he tried to strangle Daring Do with those wonderful hands?” Bon Bon asked.

Lyra ignored her.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you won’t be getting hot and bothered over Ahuizotl’s hands if he got handsy with you in real life,” Rainbow added.

“If only he was real,” Lyra muttered as she continued to look dreamily at the picture.

Rainbow thought about it for a moment. She was pretty sure Daring had a good reason for passing off her adventures as works of fiction. She probably would not appreciate Rainbow running her mouth about how Daring Do was real. There might be serious consequences for doing such a thing. Then again, she already wrote about in quite a bit of detail in their Friendship Journal that Twilight published, and pretty much everypony in Equestria had read that. She might as well go for it.

“What if I told you he was?” Rainbow Dash asked.

This immediately got Lyra’s attention, although she still looked questioningly back at Rainbow Dash. Bon Bon joined her as well.

Twilight, on the other hand, began to get anxious. Admittedly, Daring had not sworn her friends to any kind of secrecy, but it was clear that Daring had gone through a lot of trouble keeping the truth behind her exploits hidden from the general public. She was reasonably certain Daring would not appreciate Rainbow Dash going around blabbing about it. Rainbow’s exploits with Daring were in the Friendship Journal she had published, and for the life of her, Twilight could not figure out why she did not think to edit those parts out. Perhaps editing skills didn’t run in her family. Either way, Twilight had no intention of making this same mistake again.

“Uh, Rainbow...” Twilight began, before she was interrupted.

“What are you talking about?” Bon Bon asked in a gruff tone.

“Rainbow…”

Rainbow Dash ignored Twilight. She sat up straight, brimming with pride, and put her hoof on her copy of the book before her.

“Well, it just so happens that when this book was delayed a couple of years ago, I went and found A.K. Yearling and discovered that she is in fact Daring Do!”

Rainbow paused for dramatic effect and eyed each pony at the table. “Everything in her books really happened, and I even faced off with the dreaded Ahuizotl himself!”

Oh no! Twilight thought as she looked absolutely panic-stricken.

Lyra, Bon Bon, and Derpy all just stared at Rainbow, too nonplussed to know how to answer. After a beat, Bon Bon was the first to dare to do so.

“Right,” Bon Bon answered wryly.

“Seriously! I wrote all about in the Friendship Journal,” Rainbow said. “Didn’t you guys read it?”

Derpy shook her head, causing her eye to once more swivel off. “I got a copy for Dinky. She loved it, but I didn’t think it’d be that interesting to me,” she replied.

“It seemed a little too overhyped to me,” Bon Bon responded. “That kind of killed my interest in it.”

“I got one,” Lyra answered.

Bon Bon turned to her. “Really Lyra,” she said with a hint of contempt.

“Well, I didn’t read the whole thing,” Lyra explained. “I only read the parts about Twilight’s adventures in the other world with tall, fleshy, two-legged creatures with hands.”

Bon Bon facehoofed.

Meanwhile, Rainbow decided on a different tact. She pointed at Twilight next to her and Pinkie across the table from her. “Twilight and Pinkie can vouch for me! They were there too! And Pinkie even came with me to convince Daring Do not to retire!”

Twilight did not respond. She just sat there as her right eye started twitching. Pinkie shook her head with a bit of remorse.

“No can do, Dashie,” Pinkie said. “You know what I say. She’s your friend, and losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!”

“But…”

“FOREVER!”

Bon Bon snorted in quiet contempt.

“This just like Pinkie’s cockamamie theory that Joe the Donut Pony is Con Mane,” Bon Bon said.

“Hey!” Pinkie snapped back, pointing at Bon Bon. “I may have been wrong about Mulia Mild and Gustave le Grand, but Joe the Donut Pony is so totally Con Mane!”

“Those Con Mane spy movies are terrible anyway. He’s always bedding some mare or another. Kind of like Cloud Kicker if she was a colt. I can’t imagine,” Lyra said with a grimace, “Pony Joe doing that kind of thing.”

“So, do you have any actual proof of this, besides your friends who won’t answer either way?” Derpy asked.

“I mean, I’m on the cover of the book!” Rainbow pointed at herself. “I was Prism Rush! What more do you need?”

Lyra, Bon Bon, and Derpy all looked at their copies of the book. They looked at Rainbow Dash. They looked back at their books. They looked back at Rainbow Dash. This time she was posing with her leg up, head turned, and wings spread in imitation of Prism Rush on the book’s cover.

“There is a resemblance,” Lyra admitted.

“Okay,” Bon Bon began, “I can accept that you stalked A.K. Yearling.”

Rainbow glared at Bon Bon.

“You found out where she lives and somehow hit it off with her to the point where she’ll send you an autographed copy of the book a week early and even put you in the book as Prism Rush.” Bon Bon paused. “Having said that, I have a hard time believing she’s actually Daring Do and all this stuff happened.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. “Well, I was there and all that did happen!”

“Also, if what Rainbow says was the case,” Derpy added, “why would Daring write her adventures as a book series? It doesn’t quite add up.”

“I don’t know.” Rainbow shrugged. “I never asked her.”

“And you said Twilight and Pinkie were there too,” Lyra said. “How come they’re not in the book?”

Rainbow put her forelegs behind her head and leaned back. “Well, I guess they were overshadowed by my sheer awesomeness.” Rainbow responded.

Twilight and Pinkie simultaneously glared at Rainbow.

“Twilight, you’re a reasonable pony.” Lyra asked, “What’s your say on all this?”

Up until this point, Twilight had been silent. She had stopped twitching once Pinkie Pie gave her answer, relieved that none of their other friends were willing to believe Rainbow’s story. Now Lyra was putting her on the spot.

On the one hoof, she did not want to seem like she was not being loyal to Rainbow by not backing up her story. On the other hoof, she wanted to respect Daring’s choice to keep her activities secret.

“Well,” Twilight began. “You see…”

“Twilight!”

Twilight turned to the entrance of Sugarcube Corner. There was her number one assistant running in with a scroll clutched in his hand.

Saved by the dragon. Twilight sighed in relief.

Spike ran up to Twilight at the GOLMS’s table and handed her the scroll.

“This just came in from Princess Celestia,” Spike said.

Twilight took the scroll in her magic and unraveled it. After taking a cursory glance at it, she widened her eyes and gasped in an exaggerated manner.

“What is it?” Lyra asked.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Twilight said, smiling in thinly veiled relief. “It looks like the Princess needs me to do some important… princess business.”

Twilight stood up. “Looks like I’ll be going. Just finish the meeting without me. Got to go!”

Twilight then rushed out of Sugarcube Corner. Spike just looked out the door quizzically for a moment before he scurried after her.

“Anyway,” Rainbow began to get the conversation going again. Now that Twilight had left, Scootaloo was sitting next to her. Rainbow Dash turned to her. “What about you Scootaloo? You believe me, right?”

This was the first point at the meeting that Rainbow Dash had really looked at Scootaloo. She tended to be rather introverted at these meetings and just basked in Rainbow’s presence. This time, however, there seemed to be a different reason for her quietude.

Scootaloo was leaning on the table with her head propped up on her foreleg. Her eyes were half-open, as if she was trying to fight off sleep. Rainbow Dash addressing her startled her. She sat back up and looked back at Rainbow, now fully awake.

“What? What was that?” Scootaloo asked.

Rainbow looked at her with concern. “Hey, Scoots, you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Scootaloo answered with a dismissive wave of her hoof.

Rainbow’s eyes bored into her.

“Okay, okay. I didn’t get that much sleep last night. I was having this really awesome dream! But then it got… weird. I woke up, but then I couldn’t really get back to sleep.”

“Maybe you should just head home and take a nap or something,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Scootaloo replied. “Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty are probably expecting me.”

Derpy then turned to Pinkie. “Hey, Pinkie, what time is it?”

Pinkie looked at the clock on wall. “It’s almost five.”

“I should get going,” Derpy said as she stood up. “I have to go pick up Dinky from her dance class.” She turned to Scootaloo. “If you’d like, I could walk you home on my way there.”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that,” Scootaloo said.

After they said their goodbyes and picked up their books, Scootaloo followed Derpy out the door.

“You know, I’ve always wondered about Derpy’s kid,” Bon Bon said.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow replied in confusion, with just a hint of defensiveness.

“It’s nothing bad,” Bon Bon said backpedalling a bit. “I just mean, where’s her dad?”

“You don’t know?” Pinkie asked.

“Know what?” Bon Bon asked.

Rainbow Dash sighed. Rainbow had been Derpy’s friend for a very long time. Derpy’s story was not a pleasant one. It always took a lot out of Rainbow Dash whenever she had to tell anypony and left her emotionally drained.

“All any of us ever knew was that somepony knocked her up when she was fifteen,” Rainbow began. “Derpy had to leave flight school to raise her. But she’s never told anypony who the father was. Not even me, and I’m Dinky’s godmother.”

“Wow, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Bon Bon said, her face pained with remorse.

“It’s okay,” Rainbow replied listlessly. She folded her forelegs on the table and laid her head on them.

“Well, I for one am glad Derpy decided to keep her baby,” Pinkie began, “and not… you know.”

“Know what?” Bon Bon asked quizzically.

“You know,” Pinkie merely said while looking at Bon Bon and raising her eyebrows. “That thing that some ponies do when they’re having foals and haven’t planned for parenthood.”

Pinkie suddenly smiled. “But that’s just silly.” She waved her hoof. “Who wants a baby that’s planned? Babies are the best surprises!”

Pinkie ducked under the table, then popped up between Lyra and Bon Bon wearing a baby bonnet, a bib, and with a pacifier in her mouth. They turned and stared at her.

“Surprise!”

Rainbow, her head still on the table, just stared at Pinkie, her eyes widened in confusion. “You know, maybe I should just call it a day,” Rainbow said as she sat back up and stretched. “A nap doesn’t sound like a bad idea either. I’ll see you guys around.”

Rainbow stood up, picked up her book, and then trotted out the door.

Lyra and Bon Bon just continued to stare at the baby Pinkie Pie sitting between them. Pinkie looked at Bon Bon. She turned and looked at Lyra, then took the pacifier out of her mouth.

“Hey, what time is it?” Pinkie asked.

“You just told Derpy it was almost five a few minutes ago,” Bon Bon answered with slight annoyance.

Pinkie gasped. “It’s almost time for the early evening Sugar Rush Hour! I got to go! Bye!”

Pinkie ducked back under the table. She popped again behind the counter sans baby bib and bonnet.

Lyra and Bon Bon turned towards each other. It was better not to question Pinkie Pie and just get on with it.

“Well, I guess it’s just you and me then,” Lyra said.

Bon Bon nodded in agreement.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about this interesting headcanon I have.”

Bon Bon glared at her.

“It has nothing to do with Daring and Ahuizotl.”

Bon Bon nodded for her to continue.

“You know how in Daring Do Vs the Swamp Monster, Daring goes on a quest to find her long-lost mother Breezy Burbles and finds her with her husband Arch Flamefoot and his brother Prism Flame. But then she ends up getting Prism Flame brutally murdered by the villainous Gilded Griffon and his storm dragon.”

Bon Bon nodded once more.

“Arch Flamefoot and Prism Flame both have rainbow-colored manes like Prism Rush. Her name and Prism Flame’s name also both start with ‘Prism’. And Daring Do and Prism Rush both have rose-colored eyes just like Daring’s mother.”

“Yeah.”

“What if,” Lyra said, holding her hoof up, “Prism Rush is Breezy Burbles’ daughter with Arch Flamefoot?!”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened. “That would make Daring Do and Prism Rush long-lost sisters!” She turned to Lyra with a proud smile. “I never really thought of that. My mind is officially blown.”

Rainbow Dash alighted upon the front step of her cloud home. She trotted inside into her rather large foyer. She made her way up the stairs into her bedroom where she placed her Daring Do book on her nightstand. She lied down on her bed on top of the covers and started getting comfortable for a well-deserved nap.

She turned her head to her right and her eyes fell on a framed picture. The frame held a photo of a filly Rainbow Dash holding a Cloudsdale flag in her mouth. She was sitting on top of the head a stallion of violet-blue hue with yellow eyes and a rainbow-colored mane just like the little filly. His cutie mark of a rainbow shooting star. This pony was Rainbow Blaze, and he taught Rainbow Dash everything she knew.

Rainbow Blaze was her father’s younger brother. He was a welcome presence in Rainbow’s early life with his frequent visits to her family. Her parents could be smothering, but Blaze always gave her space. He became like an older brother to her. Like she had said to Scootaloo, she wasn’t always the best flier. Blaze was the one who changed all that. Though he was a mere weather pony, he had aspirations of joining the Wonderbolts. He had spent years practicing and studying all the Wonderbolts’ routines, training regimens, and history. When Rainbow came back from her first race in the senior competitive circuit beyond dead last, Blaze sought to rectify that. Everything he had learned over the years of trying to become a Wonderbolt, he passed on to Rainbow. Slowly but surely, Rainbow steadily improved under Blaze’s tutelage. Sure enough, she started winning those competitions. Rainbow owed all of that to Blaze.

She knew Blaze have been would have been proud to know that Rainbow became a Wonderbolt. Secretly, that was probably the biggest reason she wanted to become a Wonderbolt, more than any other. She didn’t share that with anypony else so they wouldn’t think she was too sappy.

Rainbow smiled fondly as she remembered the moment immortalized by this photo. She never forgot that day. It was right before she and Blaze had gone to hear the announcement of the location of the next Equestria Games. Even though Rainbow was disappointed when they announced that the Games would be held in Fillydelphia and not Cloudsdale, Blaze took it upon himself to spend the rest of the day having fun with Rainbow to show her all the fun the Games’ spectators would be missing out on. She counted that day as a good memory. Blaze was cool like that; he could turn a bad day into a great one.

But he could do that no more for his little Dashie. Rainbow sighed and frowned a bit as she was once more reminded that Blaze was no longer with her or her family.

Rainbow didn’t know all the details of what happened that fateful day. What she did know was that a monstrous, out of control wild storm had suddenly made its way to Cloudsdale, seemingly out of nowhere. Rainbow Blaze being an expert weather pony was among those who set off to tackle the storm. However, the storm proved to be too much for him. Blaze was struck by a massive lightning bolt. He plummeted to the ground and died upon impact. Rainbow was finishing up flight school when she heard that something had happened to Blaze. She immediately rushed home to find out what had happened, and her parents tearfully broke the news to her that Blaze was gone. Rainbow wept for days in her grief over Blaze’s passing. She didn’t know what would become of her now that the pony who was practically her brother was gone. She wasn’t sure if she could really handle only having her overbearing parents. If that wasn’t bad enough, her sudden prolonged absence from flight school led to her expulsion. Despite the extenuating circumstances, the school was unwilling to reinstate Rainbow due to her history of misconduct. With all that had happened, Rainbow wasn’t sure she could continue to stay in Cloudsdale anymore. Eventually, her birthday came, and she packed her things and moved to Ponyville. Now, more than a decade later, Rainbow was lying in bed in her home above Ponyville remembering all this.

She reached out and touched the picture frame. “I really miss you Blaze,” Rainbow whispered. Rainbow then pulled her foreleg back.

Lying once more on her back, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and readied herself for her nap.

It was at that moment that she became acutely aware of music playing somewhere in her house.

I can see a rainbow
In your tears as they fall on down
I can see your soul grow
Through the pain as they hit the ground
I can see a rainbow
In your tears as the sun comes out
As the sun comes out

Rainbow’s eyes shot open as she sat up in her bed.

“I didn’t leave my radio on today. I don’t think I even turned it on at all!”

Rainbow listened for a moment as she tried to place the song. Her eyes widened. “That’s my Songbird Serenade album!”

She thought for a moment. “Wait a minute! If I didn’t put my album on, that must mean...” Rainbow Dash gulped as she came to a shocking realization. “Somepony else is in my house!”

Rainbow made her way down the stairs from her bedroom that led to her house’s sitting room. Next to the stairwell stood a table with a gramophone. Just as she suspected, her Songbird Serenade record was on it and the album cover was sitting on the table next to it.

Rainbow took the needle off the record, bringing the song to a halt. She looked around warily, but saw nothing amiss. Rainbow took a deep breath and put on a brave face.

“Okay, whoever is in here, you better show yourself or--” Rainbow thought for a moment--“you’re going to regret it!”

The only answer Rainbow received was a scraping noise.

Rainbow looked around, trying to discern the source of that noise. Her eyes and ears fell upon the back of a bean bag-shaped cloud chair in the middle of the room. Before said chair was a second smaller cloud that Rainbow used as an ottoman/coffee table. Rainbow had found that putting the two together often came in handy for quick naps.

Rainbow pointed an accusatory hoof at the chair. “I know you’re sitting in my chair!”

The trespassing pony said nothing. Whoever it was just continued to make that scraping noise.

Rainbow’s anger at having her home invaded by such a cavalier pony was beginning to overcome any wariness she had felt. She snorted, flared her wings out, and then trotted around the chair to face her invader.

Any ill feelings she had towards this perpetrator evaporated when she saw who it was. Rainbow’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she gasped.

Sitting before her in her chair was a golden pegasus mare. She wore an olive-green shirt and white pith helmet. Her head was tilted down so that the helmet covered her rose eyes. Her gray-and-black mane peaked out from under the helmet, matching with her tail. Her flank was emblazoned with a green-and-gold compass rose cutie mark.

She was Daring Do.

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and hovered. She clapped her hooves together and began to squee in excitement.

“Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! Daring Do is in my house! Daring Do is in my house!”

Daring Do said nothing. Rainbow landed on the floor once more and looked at Daring.

“So, Daring, what are you doing here?”

Rainbow still received no answer. It was then that she saw what the source of the scraping sound had been.

In her left hoof, Daring held a whetstone. In the other, she held a rather large knife. The scraping sound came from Daring sharpening this knife against the whetstone.

Rainbow began to chuckle nervously. She anxiously rubbed her right foreleg on the back of her neck. This whole situation was starting to creep her out. Rainbow asked the only thing she could think of at the moment.

“So, what’s up?”

Chapter 02: Daring Do Returns

There she was. The one and only Daring Do was sitting on a cloud chair in Rainbow Dash’s living room. It would have been an exciting moment if not for the fact that Daring Do was just sitting there sharpening a rather large knife on a whetstone.

Rainbow Dash just stood there with an awkward smile plastered over her face, her typical confidence drained. Being in the presence of her hero did that to her. The fact that she was silently sharpening a rather large knife did not help.

Why is she doing that? Rainbow wondered. Rainbow began rattling her brain, trying to remember if Daring had ever intentionally murdered anypony in her books. It did not help that all she could recall were the arguments between other fans over this particular question.

She wouldn’t do that, Rainbow thought. Would she?

Silence hung between them. The tension in the room could be cut with a rather large knife. Finally, Daring looked up at Rainbow. Rainbow’s rose eyes met Daring’s rose eyes, a cold glare in the latter.

“Remember how I said how I never trusted anypony because you never who you could trust?” Daring asked.

Daring continued to sharpen the knife.

“Yeah,” Rainbow replied with just a hint of fear.

“It took a lot for me to trust you, Rainbow,” Daring said. “I would have appreciated it if you had been honest with me.”

“How…” Rainbow gulped. “How haven’t I been honest with you?”

Daring stopped sharpening the knife. She stored the whetstone away in one of her shirt’s pockets. She flipped the knife so that she was holding it with its blade pointed down.

Rainbow shuddered. She started to breathe rapidly.

Omigosh! Is she going to stab me with that? Is it because I wrote about her in the Friendship Journal?! Because I was telling the gang how she was real?! How could she even find out about that?!

Daring unbuttoned the top buttons on her shirt.

At that, Rainbow cocked her head. Huh?

Daring opened her shirt, revealing a strap underneath with a sheath attached to it. She stored the knife in the sheath and proceeded to rebutton her shirt.

Rainbow Dash just stared at her, completely dumbfounded. What was that all about?

Daring Do took off her pith helmet. She reached inside and pulled out what appeared to be a couple of copies of the Wonderbolts’ official newsletter. Daring tossed them onto Rainbow’s ottoman, which doubled as a coffee table.

Rainbow took a step forward and looked at the newsletters. She shifted them about with her hoof so she could get a better look at each one of them.

The first newsletter included a picture of Rainbow among the newest cadets at the Wonderbolts Academy above a list featuring their class roster. Rainbow flinched a bit when she saw Lightning Dust’s name. Another one featured an article about how she was involved in outing the now disgraced, former Wonderbolt Wind Rider. At the top was a picture of herself and Rarity in one of her Femme Mystique Chic get ups. Another one featured an article about the newest members of the Wonderbolts. It had all the new Wonderbolts’ official portraits lined up at the top and right at the end was Rainbow with that smug smile of hers. Another one featured a rather embarrassing article about how she messed up her first Wonderbolts show in Ponyville. Somehow somepony had gotten a picture of her after crashing into Pinkie’s cotton candy, and that photo emblazoned the top of the article. She flinched a bit at that one too.

Rainbow looked back up the Daring. The cold glare in Daring’s eyes was gone, her grim expression replaced by a slight smirk.

“You could have honestly told me you were a Wonderbolt.”

Rainbow answered with a shrug. “I mean, it’s not something I like to brag about or anything.” Rainbow began smirking herself. “I didn’t even tell my parents.”

“Oh, how are they?” Daring asked before she could stop herself. Her eyes widened, and her forehooves covered her mouth once she realized what words left her mouth.

“Oh they’re fine,” Rainbow answered, noticing nothing amiss about Daring. “We were kind of distant for a while, but a friend of mine help me learn to appreciate them more. Why do you ask?”

Daring shifted her weight from side to side. It looked as though she was at war with herself, trying to decide what to say to Rainbow.

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow in response to Daring’s reticence.

Daring took a deep breath. She got off the chair and stepped up to Rainbow.

“Well, um, you see,” Daring began. She was quiet for a moment, but then she just waved her hoof dismissively. “Oh you know. I know how family can be sometimes, and I figured yours could have some strain too. And I guess there was, and now there isn’t.” Daring then chuckled nervously.

Rainbow looked at her a bit questioningly but didn’t really think much of it. She then recalled her initial question once she realized Daring Do was in her house.

“Anyway, what brings you here? Not that I mind at all hanging out with you. ‘Cause you’re so awesome!”

“Right, why I’m here,” Daring began. “I just wanted to say again how much I appreciate you convincing me not to retire from adventuring and writing my books. You really are my Number One Fan…”

Rainbow Dashed leapt and threw her forelegs into the air. “Daring Do thinks I’m her Number One Fan!”

Rainbow hovered in the air, smiling. She looked back down at Daring Do. Daring was just giving her a flat look. Rainbow’s smile became awkward, and she slowly lowered herself back to the floor.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s cool,” Daring said. “Anyway, as I was saying, you and your pink friend really helped me out in Somnambula.”

“Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow added.

“Yeah, her.” Daring continued. “And before that, you helped me out at DaringCon in my quest to find the Seven-Sided Chest of Chicomoztoc. You and that annoying guy.”

“You mean Quibble Pants.”

“Yeah, that guy,” Daring said. “And then there’s the rest of your friends helping me out with the Ring of Scorcherro. You’ve all been in some pretty heavy stuff.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Rainbow said with a dismissive wave of her hoof.

“No, really, Rainbow,” Daring continued, looking very serious. “You and your friends have saved Equestria so many times. It’s kind of what you guys do.”

Rainbow shrugged. “I mean, once or twice a year we do the whole saving Equestria stuff, but it’s not like we do it all the time.”

“Nonetheless,” Daring began, “you’ve been a big help to me in my last couple of adventures. I mean, I wouldn’t even be doing this now if it wasn’t for you. And I think you may continue to be a valuable help in my future adventures.”

Daring’s eyes shifted about the room a bit, hiding what appeared to be nervousness ever so slightly.

“So, I was wondering if you’d like to join me on another adventure. It’s okay if you don’t. I’m sure you have other important things to do.”

Rainbow could hardly contain her excitement. She sat down and began to clap her hooves together, squeeing all the way.

“Are you kidding?!” Rainbow answered. “Of course I’ll join you! Do you think I’m going to pass on an opportunity to go on an adventure with the one and only Daring Do?!”

Rainbow lunged forward and threw her forelegs around Daring in a hug. “Thank you so much for giving me this chance! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

While in this embrace, Rainbow could not see how conflicted Daring looked. She seemed to doubt whether getting Rainbow involved was a good idea.

It’s going to be okay, Daring, she thought to herself. She’s obviously dealt with more than you ever have.

Daring started patting Rainbow’s back awkwardly.

The awkward patting made Rainbow suddenly realize how uncomfortable this was making Daring feel, and she quickly pulled herself out of the hug, a look of embarrassment upon her face.

“I’m really sorry,” Rainbow said. “I really didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“Oh, it’s okay, Dashie.” Daring’s eyes widened. “No, wait, I didn’t mean to call you that!”

“Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow said. “You can call me whatever you want. You’re Daring Do!”

Rainbow hummed in thought. “It’s funny. That’s what my parents call me.”

“Oh, do they?” Daring laughed nervously.

Rainbow looked at Daring with suspicion. She seemed to be acting a bit oddly.

“What’s up with you? I should be the one who’s nervous here.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Daring answered with another dismissive wave of her hoof. “It’s just, well, I usually work alone, and I don’t want something to happen to you while we’re on our adventure.”

Rainbow looked back at Daring. She stood up straight, brimming with confidence.

“Daring,” Rainbow said, raising a hoof up, “whatever it is, I got this.”

“And besides,” Daring continued, “if something were to happen to you, I couldn’t put Prism Rush in my future books. Turns out she’s become quite the fan favorite.”

“Yes!” Rainbow cried, pumping her foreleg in victory. “Prism Rush was the best thing about Ring of Destiny! Eat it, Bon Bon!”

“What?” Daring asked, confused.

“Never mind,” Rainbow replied. “So, what’s this adventure all about? Going to finally find the Crystal Sphere of Khumn?”

“That’s going to have to wait a bit,” Daring answered. Daring leaned in towards Rainbow and continued in an almost conspiratorial whisper, “My sources tell me there’s an artifact out there some ponies are looking for that mustn’t fall into the wrong hooves or claws. The Blue Moon Medallion.”

“The Blue Moon Medallion!” Rainbow gasped. “Wait, what’s the Blue Moon Medallion?”

“It’s a magically powerful artifact that once belonged to Princess Luna before she became Nightmare Moon,” Daring explained. “It hasn’t been seen since. Lost for a thousand years. Legend says it could give ponies the power to walk through dreams as Princess Luna can.”

“Oh that shouldn’t be too hard,” Rainbow replied. “Twilight found the Princesses’ old diary in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest. Maybe if she lets us look at it, we can find clues as to the last place Princess Luna left it.”

Daring crossed her forelegs before her and smiled slightly at Rainbow.

“That’s a great idea, Rainbow,” Daring said. “I’m already sure I’m not going to regret bringing you along.”

Rainbow took a step towards Daring and looked her straight in the eyes. “Daring,” Rainbow pointed at herself, “the one thing you’re going to know about me when we’re done is that I never, ever let a friend down.”

It made Daring happy to hear that, more happy than Rainbow Dash could even understand.

Daring looked back at Rainbow rather wistfully.

“It’s been a long time since I could call a pony my friend,” Daring said.

“Well, you’ve got one now,” Rainbow replied. “Come on. Let’s go see Twilight about that book.” Rainbow subsequently took to the air and jetted out of the room.

Daring stood alone in the empty sitting room for a moment. She took in a deep breath. Daring felt a lot more confident about bringing Rainbow Dash on board.

“Everything’s going to be just fine,” Daring said to herself. “And she doesn’t have to know.”

After a final deep breath, Daring followed Rainbow Dash and trotted out of the sitting room.

Chapter 03: Research with Twilight

There it was. Twilight’s kingdom. The magnificent lavender crystal citadel stood close to the edge of Ponyville. It was the place Princess Twilight Sparkle now made her home. A lavender castle for a lavender alicorn princess. It was the very place Rainbow Dash and Daring Do were now headed towards.

“Well, that’s new,” Daring said nonchalantly as she first spied the castle.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “but you have to admit, it’s pretty cool. You should have seen my friend Rarity when she first got a good look at it.”

“Which one was she again?” Daring asked.

“The white Unicorn,” Rainbow answered. “She totally flipped when she saw it. Wait a minute. You said ‘new’. Have you been to Ponyville before, Daring?”

“I may have passed through once a long time ago on my way to another adventure. I wasn’t here long and nothing particularly notable happened.”

“Okay,” Rainbow continued to the stairs at the front of Twilight’s castle. Once they both reached the front gates, Rainbow knocked upon the door. After a moment, one of the doors slowly opened. In the doorway stood Spike. He seemed lost in thought for a moment.

“Oh, right. State the nature of your business,” Spike said, beaming with pride.

“What?” Rainbow replied in confusion.

Spike sighed. “Tell me why you’re here,” he restated with less enthusiasm.

“We’re here to see Twilight, Spike,” Rainbow answered.

Spike turned from the door and bellowed into the castle “Hear ye, hear ye, I, Spike the Dragon, majordomo of the Castle of Friendship, domain of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle, am proud to welcome…”

“Spike, just tell me who’s at the door!” Twilight cried with a hint of exasperation from somewhere deep within the castle.

Spike huffed once more in annoyance. “It’s Rainbow Dash and Daring Do!” he bellowed. He came to a sudden realization. “Wait a minute! Daring Do!” Spike turned around and looked Daring up and down. “Oh my gosh! You’re real! And you’re here!”

“But you knew she was real,” Rainbow said. “We told you all about that.”

“Yeah, I knew she was real like you said, but I never met her and now she’s here.”

“Just bring them to the library, Spike,” Twilight said from within the castle.

Spike took a moment to compose himself. “Okay guys. It’s this way.”

Spike turned and led Daring and Rainbow into the castle’s foyer, and then onwards towards the castle library.

“So what was that whole routine at the door about?” Rainbow asked Spike as they walked.

“Last time Rarity was here, she was telling me all about royal court etiquette and all that stuff,” Spike explained. “I looked through some of the books that came from Canterlot, and I found one all about royal court etiquette. I’ve been trying it out, but Twilight doesn’t seem to like it. She wants to keep things simple.”

“No offense, but if your princess doesn’t like it, why do you bother to keep it up?” Daring asked.

“I just think that at least Rarity might be pretty impressed with me if I learn all this etiquette stuff.” A slight smile crossed Spike’s face at the thought of his beloved. They could almost see the little hearts bubbling off his head.

Daring wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but Rainbow nudged her gently with her wing and then beckoned Daring to move in closer.

Rainbow whispered, “Spike has a HUGE crush on Rarity.”

“I see now. That’s actually kind of adorable,” she whispered back.

They arrived at the door to the castle library. Spike threw open the library’s double doors and ushered Rainbow and Daring into the library before he left to conduct business elsewhere.

Not too far away, at one of the library’s many tables sat Twilight Sparkle. She was poring over the contents of a collection of manila envelopes. Once she heard hooves approaching her, Twilight looked up to see Rainbow and Daring Do.

“Oh, hi guys,” Twilight said as she turned to face her company. Before she could continue Daring Do dropped in a low bow, surprising everypony around her.

“Your Highness, it is a pleasure to once more make your acquaintance,” Daring said as she bowed. She straightened up again to face Twilight.

Twilight smiled and forced a laugh. “That’s okay. I don’t adhere to many of the ‘proper princess protocols,’ so to speak. You don’t have to bow or call me ‘Your Highness’ or ‘Princess’ or ‘Princess Twilight’ or ‘Ma’am’ or ‘Mistress’ or ‘Your Worship’ or ‘Your Eminence’...”

“I think she gets it, Twi,” Rainbow said.

Daring nodded. “I just figured I’d make up for not even giving you the time of day the first time we met. Even though you did technically break into my house.”

“Hey, your house was broken into before we got there!” Rainbow said with a laugh.

Rainbow turned to Twilight. “Anyway, Daring has requested that I join her on her latest adventure!” Rainbow clapped her hooves together with barely contained excitement. “Isn’t that exciting?!”

“It is really exciting,” Twilight responded. “I wish you guys the best of luck on your adventure.”

Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively. “Pfft. We don’t need luck.” Rainbow pointed at herself. “We have me! Well, we were hoping to ask you for a little help on getting started. You’re not too busy, are you?”

“Well, Princess Celestia sent me these files to look over.” Twilight cocked her head towards the table. “Apparently, a number of the faculty members of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns have been plagued by nightmares.”

“Nightmares, huh?” Daring asked.

I’ll have to remember that, Daring noted to herself.

“Uh-huh,” Twilight continued. “I think it has something with the upcoming lunar eclipse in a couple of days. The moon moving into our planet’s shadow might be empowering any residual dark energy that might still be present since Nightmare Moon was there.”

“So, you’re pretty much done,” Rainbow stated.

“Well, it’s my prevailing theory,” Twilight explained further, “but I can always take a little break to help you guys out. What do you need?”

“The Journal of the Two Sisters,” Daring answered. “Dash here thinks it may hold some clues to the final resting place of the Blue Moon Medallion.”

Twilight gasped. “The Blue Moon Medallion! Princess Luna’s long-lost magically-imbued necklace. Forged at the request of Princess Platinum as Princess Luna’s cute-ceañera gift. It was set with a rare blue diamond that was said to have fallen from the night sky as a shooting star. It is said that Luna loved the medallion so much that some of her magic was imbued in it, and so any pony who wears it has access to a piece of Princess Luna’s magic. It’s been lost ever since Luna became Nightmare Moon.”

Daring replied, “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“I don’t know how much the Princesses’ journal will help though,” Twilight added sadly. Twilight walked over to a bookshelf and removed the journal from the shelf with her magic. She trotted over to a nearby table and placed the now-opened book upon it.

Rainbow and Daring joined Twilight at her side and looked at the book. “I’ve read this journal cover-to-cover,” Twilight explained. “Now, the Blue Moon Medallion isn’t mentioned until the Princesses write about their cute-ceañera, starting here.” Twilight pointed to the passage in question in the journal. She then flipped through the pages with her magic.

“It gets mentioned a few times after that. Luna mostly saved it for special occasions. But in the months before Luna became Nightmare Moon, her journal entries became much more erratic and nonsensical.” Twilight pointed to a passage as an example. “These pages just say ‘All work and no praise makes Luna a dull pony.’”

Twilight continued, “Luna’s final passages mention nothing about the Medallion. It’s like the Nightmare made her forget how much she loved it.”

“Maybe there’s something in one of Celestia’s sections that might help us find it,” Rainbow suggested.

“Not much though,” Twilight replied. She then turned to one of Celestia’s sections of the journal. “Here’s the last place where she mentions it a few days before Luna became Nightmare Moon.” Twilight cleared her throat and began to read the passage aloud.

I fear Luna’s melancholy is only growing worse. I spotted our young friend Snowdrop in the hallway nearly in tears today. She had been trying to cheer up Luna when Luna snapped at her. She told her, “Only one pony appreciating my nights is just as bad as no pony appreciating my nights.” This is bad. I fear the worst. Luna has all but forgotten her Medallion. It was a gift of another dear friend of ours, Princess Platinum, the last bit we have left of her. I fear this darkness in Luna’s heart may drive her to destroy the Medallion. I cannot let that happen. I cannot lose another bit of our friends again! It pains me to do this, but I must hide it and protect it. Somewhere Luna will never find it.

Twilight looked up from the journal. “And that’s it. After she banished Nightmare Moon, Celestia pretty much stopped keeping the journal. That’s probably why she left it in the Castle of the Two Sisters. She never mentioned anything about where she hid it.”

“So we got nothing,” Rainbow said.

Daring though sat in thought. She was used to working alone, so she rarely shared her thoughts. She shrugged. “I was at least hoping the journal would point us in the direction of the Dual Stronghold.”

“The Dual Stronghold!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Daring turned to Rainbow. “According to some legends, Celestia hid the Blue Moon Medallion in some place called the Dual Stronghold. As of yet, I’ve been unable to determine where that is.”

“But I know where it is!” Rainbow responded.

“What?” Daring asked. “How could you know that?”

“A while ago,” Rainbow began, “this evil Zebra named Braze stole this Half-Gilded Horseshoe from our friend Zecora to open this Spirit Circle. The Spirit Circle was next to this place called the Dual Stronghold, which I figured out was actually the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest!”

Daring just looked back at Rainbow in shock. “Dash, you’re a genius!”

But her shock was not just because Rainbow had figured out what the Dual Stronghold was.

They know Zecora, Daring thought.

“Wait,” Twilight asked, “isn’t there a Half-Gilded Horseshoe mentioned in Daring Do and the Forbidden City of the Clouds? It was part of the Halo of Cirrostrata.”

Daring thought for a moment as to whether she should answer Twilight’s question. The whole point of bringing Rainbow Dash into this adventure was so that she could learn to trust ponies more. Daring’s relationship with Zecora was a rather personal one. One she was not inclined to share at the moment.

“Wouldn’t you agree that the most important thing now is seeing if the Blue Moon Medallion is still at the Castle of the Two Sisters?” Daring stated.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “let’s get moving, Daring.” She turned to Twilight. “Thanks for your help, Twilight.”

“Hold on, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “I’m not going to let you do this alone.”

“I won’t be alone. I’ll be with Daring,” Rainbow replied.

“We both know very well how Daring’s adventures can go,” Twilight responded. “I wouldn’t be a good friend if I let you just walk into that kind of danger.”

Rainbow thought about it for a moment, tapping her chin. Twilight does have a point. Rainbow nodded in agreement.

Daring though rubbed her forelegs. “No offense, Twilight, but I was hoping to keep the potential for collateral damage low on this adventure.”

“Daring, I’m the alicorn Princess of Friendship,” Twilight said. “My friends and I have saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirek, the Pony of Shadows, and the Storm King. We helped Princess Cadance and my brother Shining Armor defeat Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings. We saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombra. We reformed Discord. We wielded the Elements of Harmony, and when they had to be returned to the Tree of Harmony from whence they came, we received the Rainbow Power. We freed the village of Our Town from Starlight Glimmer, and I was able to reform her and make her my friend and student. We marched into Tartarus itself to save Equestria’s magic. Whatever it is you will face, we can handle it.”

“Speaking of Starlight,” Rainbow began, “where is she?”

“Oh right,” Twilight answered. “She’s in Las Pegasus with Trixie helping her set up a new magic show. It’s funny. We kind of just forget her when she’s not around.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow added. She spoke once more to Daring. “Anyway, we’ve already helped you defeat Ahuizotl when he got Rings of Scorcherro and Pinkie helped us out in Somnambula.”

Daring shrugged. “I guess it might help making this a team effort.”

“It’s settled then,” Twilight stated. “Rainbow Dash, you let the other girls know, and we’ll meet by Fluttershy’s cottage tomorrow morning.”

“This is so exciting!” Rainbow said, then gasped. “I could wear that Daring Do costume Rarity made me!” Rainbow turned to Daring. “We’ll look like twins! We’ll be like the Daring Sisters!”

Daring’s right eye twitched. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Anyway,” Rainbow said, “you’ll need a place to spend the night.” She gasped again. “You can stay at my place! We can have a slumber party!”

“That’s okay,” Daring answered, shaking her head. “I don’t want to impose or anything. I can always bed down in the local inn or something.”

“There’s plenty of room here at the castle,” Twilight stated. “You can stay here if you’d like.”

“Well, I can’t deny a princess can I?” Daring said with a smile.

“Oh, this is going to be so awesome!” Rainbow said with the enthusiasm of a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

“I’ll catch you guys tomorrow then. I can’t hardly wait.” Rainbow took off into the air and then dashed out of the room.

“Well, I’ll have Spike prepare a room for you,” Twilight said to Daring. Twilight cocked her head towards the door. “Let’s go see him about that.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Daring replied. Daring then proceeded to follow Twilight out of the castle library.

Chapter 04: An Unexpected Journey

Author's Note

Happy New Year to you all! New year; new chapter! Honestly, this is my favorite chapter that I've written so far. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Chapter 04: An Unexpected Journey

Morning in Ponyville. Celestia’s sun was just creeping over the horizon. This was the morning that the most awesome adventure in Rainbow Dash’s life would begin. As such, Rainbow Dash was already waiting outside Fluttershy’s cottage in the full Daring Do gear that she wore the last time she went on a daring adventure into the Everfree Forest. Her gear was exactly like Daring Do’s, except the band around the helmet as well as the edges of her shirt were rainbow-colored.

Rainbow knocked on Fluttershy’s door. “Come on, Fluttershy! Daring’s probably going to be here any second!”

The door opened as Fluttershy walked out. She was wearing a blue kerchief and and a hat with a string chinstrap.

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “I had to get all my animal friends ready to spend most of the day without me.”

Rainbow just looked at her with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. “What are you wearing?”

Fluttershy was confused. “You said we were going on an adventure and to dress the part.”

“You look like you’re going to watch Breezies or something!”

“Well, going on an expedition to observe the Breezies was an adventure,” Fluttershy replied with confidence. “At least I thought it was,” she added a bit more meekly.

Just at that moment, Applejack and Rarity came walking up the path to Fluttershy’s house. Rarity was wearing a pink scarf and a camouflage sun hat with a rose and pink feather stuck in its band.

“Why Fluttershy,” Rarity said, “I see you’ve made quite a stylish choice in dress today.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you, Rarity. Rainbow doesn’t seem to like it though.”

“And you!” Rainbow Dash flew over and landed in front of Rarity, impeding her and Applejack’s progress up the path. “We’re not going to a fancy garden party, Rarity!”

Rarity stuck her nose up at Rainbow’s complaining. “Just because we’re going on an adventure doesn’t mean I can’t do it in style.”

While Rarity was speaking, Fluttershy walked down the path to join the rest of her friends. Once she was there, Rainbow looked between Fluttershy and Rarity.

“Do you guys even understand the gravity of what we’re about to do here?!” Rainbow demanded. “We’re going on an epic adventure with Daring Do herself--without a doubt, the second most awesome Pegasus in Equestria! And you guys come here like we’re going to some costume party!”

“Says the filly in the Daring Do costume,” Applejack said with a smirk.

“That’s different!” Rainbow looked at Applejack with all seriousness. “Rarity specially designed this costume for going on an adventure like this. Right, Rarity?”

“Well yes, I did take into account a number of practical considerations when I made it for her,” Rarity replied.

“You see,” Rainbow said. “Me and Twilight are probably the only ponies here taking this seriously!”

“What about Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy asked.

Suddenly, a pony dressed as the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well dropped out of sky and landed in a crouching position, startling everypony there. They all stared at this Mare-Do-Well in confusion as she crouched in silence.

“Let’s get dangerous!” the Mare-Do-Well said in Pinkie Pie’s voice.

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. “Pinkie Pie! Why are you dressed as Mare-Do-Well?!”

Pinkie Pie giggled as she stood up straight, reached up, and pulled the mask off. “Well, you were dressing up as Daring Do, so, I dressed up as Mare-Do-Well. I didn’t want you to feel bad probably being the only pony dressed in a costume.”

Pinkie then smiled brightly.

Rainbow Dash groaned. “This is just great! Now, Daring will think all my friends are lame and won’t want to be my friend!”

“But Rainbow,” Pinkie began, “don’t you remember what happened with Gilda? You stuck by my side even though she thought I was lame.”

“Yeah, if Daring Do thinks we’re lame, she doesn’t deserve to have you as her friend,” Fluttershy added. “Of that, I’m sure.”

Rainbow took a few deep breaths and calmed down significantly.

“You’re right, guys,” Rainbow said. “I’m sorry. I’m just really nervous. I really want Daring to like me, you know?”

“Well, why wouldn’t she like you?” Applejack asked. She walked right up next to Rainbow and threw her foreleg around her withers. “You’re probably the best friend a pony could ask for. She’ll be lucky to call you her friend.”

Rainbow patted Applejack’s hoof that was around her neck. “Thanks, AJ.”

At that moment, Twilight and Daring Do flew overhead and alighted before the assembled ponies. Spike was flying at Twilight’s side, still a bit slowly and clumsily, and landed a moment later.

“Hi, girls,” Twilight greeted them. She turned to Fluttershy. “Spike is ready to watch your animals today, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy turned to Spike as he walked towards her. “The animals are looking forward to having you watch them for the day, Spike.”

At the door of Fluttershy’s cottage, Angel Bunny stood with a scowl on his face and his little bunny forelegs crossed. He stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at Spike.

“Well, the feeling’s mutual, pal,” Spike retorted.

Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie. “Why are you wearing your Mare-Do-Well costume?”

Pinkie giggled. “Oh, no reason. I was just being silly,” she said as she slipped off the costume and kicked it off to the side.

Twilight turned to her assembled friends. “Anyway, is everypony ready?”

Rainbow trotted up to Twilight. “I was born ready!”

Their other friends nodded in assent as well.

Rainbow turned to Daring. “Hi, Daring. I’m so excited to be joining you today!”

Daring looked Rainbow up and down, taking in the almost perfect replica of her own gear. She looked a bit uncomfortable with it.

“I see you… um… wore your Daring Do costume.”

“My,” Rarity said as she trotted up to Rainbow and Daring, “you two look like you could be twins.”

“I know, right” Rainbow replied.

Daring looked away, seeming a bit uncomfortable.

After a moment, Daring cleared her throat and loudly addressed the group. “Alright, listen up! If everypony’s ready, I think we should get going.” Daring turned to Rainbow. “Rainbow, you know the way to the Castle of the Two Sisters, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow nodded, holding her hoof up. “I know the way there like the back of my hoof.”

“Great,” Daring replied. “You’ll lead the way with me then.”

Rainbow nodded and clopped her hooves together in excitement. With that, Daring and Rainbow led her friends to the edge of the Everfree Forest, where they began their unexpected journey to the Castle of the Two Sisters.

The Everfree Forest even by day was still a perilous place to tread. Since the Elements were returned to the Tree of Harmony, some of the wild magic seemed to have calmed. Still, that did not mean there were not still treacherous dangers Rainbow and Daring’s group could encounter. So far, the trek into the forest had been relatively peaceful. That opened the opportunity for small talk.

“So, do you ever read Daring Do fanfiction?” Rainbow asked Daring.

“What?” Daring asked in reply.

“You know, the stories that your fans write and send off to be published in the Daring Do fanzine Tenochtitlan Daily,” Rainbow said.

“I’ve come across a few, but I generally try to avoid it,” Daring responded. “Some of those shipping stories are insane!”

“I know, right,” Rainbow replied. “I have this friend, not one of these ponies with us though, who is obsessed with shipping you and Ahuizotl. I mean, come on!”

“Yeah, the worst of it though are the ponies who ship me with Lancer,” Daring remarked.

Rainbow stopped in her tracks for a moment before trotting up again to Daring’s side. “What’s wrong with the idea of you and Lancer getting together?”

“I mean, you cannot be more wrong about us!” Daring said. “He’s immature, arrogant, reckless, entitled. He’s an insult to adventurers everywhere! I despise him!”

“I don’t know though,” Rainbow said. “Having read your books like twelve times over, I feel like there are moments where it seems like you, I don’t know, kind of care about him.”

Daring looked at Rainbow as if she was crazy.

Daring rolled her eyes. “That’s my editor’s doing. She seems to think it’ll sell more books if I drum up what she calls the ‘unrequited sexual tension’ between me and Lancer. Unrequited sexual tension. I’ve had more sexual tension with pieces of cardboard then I’ve ever had with Lancer! If you knew him like I did, you’d understand why it’s crazy to think that.”

“No, I think I understand,” Rainbow said as she smiled knowingly.

I understand how much in denial you are about being in love with Lancer! she thought. No matter what even Daring said, nothing was going to stop Rainbow from being a Dancer--a Daring and Lancer shipper.

“I know my editor does it because she knows the fans love that idea for some reason,” Daring said. “One time, I read this ridiculous story a fan using the name ‘Prismatic-Dancer’ wrote in Tenochtitlan Daily.”

“Oh, did you, now?” Rainbow replied, recalling that story, for she was quite familiar with it.

Rainbow Dash’s House, A Good While Ago

Rainbow Dash sat on her bed as she plucked away at the typewriter she had borrowed from Twilight.

Prism Rush stood between Lancer and Daring Do.

“Can’t you guys see,” Prism said while looking between them, “that you guys are in love with each other?”

Daring looked longingly into Lancer’s deep, baby blue eyes. She saw reflected back in them the same well of passion that she had been holding back in her heart for years. A passion as fiery as the fiery red mane atop Lancer’s head.

“It’s true,” Daring began. “I love you, Lancer. I’ve always loved you. I love you more than a mare has ever loved a colt.”

Lancer felt his heart explode at Daring’s declaration of love for him. But because he was so awesomely cool, he played it cool.

“I know,” Lancer said coolly. “I’ve always known.”

Rainbow clopped her hooves together as she looked over her handiwork. She felt her spine tingle over how awesome her story was. She knew for certain it was awesome. Everything she did was awesome.

“Soon, when the readers of Tenochtitlan Daily think of quality Dancer shipfics, they’ll think of me, Prismatic-Dancer!”

“Well, whoever this Prismatic-Dancer may be,” Rainbow began, “she… or he... was probably a first-time fanfiction writer who struggled to get her… or his point across about how much she… or he thought you guys were in love with each other. I mean, that’s just a guess. It’s not like I know who she… or he is or anything like that.” Rainbow smiled awkwardly.

“Right,” Daring answered wryly, smiling.

“What are you guys talking about?” Twilight asked as she trotted up next to Daring and Rainbow.

“Daring seems to think it’s ridiculous that fans think that she’s in love with Lancer,” Rainbow replied.

“Really?” Twilight asked. “You’re not in love with Lancer?”

“Sweet Luna!” Daring cried in exasperation. “You too?”

“Well, I’ve read your books a couple of times,” Twilight explained, “and I did notice quite a bit of unrequited sexual tension between you and Lancer.”

“Uggh!” Daring groaned.

“Anyway,” Rainbow began once more, “that Prismatic-Dancer story can’t be the most ridiculous fanfic you’ve ever read. I once read this story by a pony called ‘Gloaming-Glitter-Princess’. I mean, what kind of name is that?”

Twilight started laughing awkwardly. This was also a story that she was quite familiar with.

Golden Oak Library, A Long Time Ago

Twilight Sparkle sat at one of the tables in the library, tapping away at her typewriter.

Prism Rush looked up as a golden star descended from the sky. Once the star reached the ground, its light dissipated, revealing a disheveled Daring Do. Her helmet was missing and her head was drooping low. Her mane was draping forward over the top of her head.

Then suddenly, Daring straightened herself up and threw her head back, revealing something new upon her head.

It was a unicorn horn!

Daring Do had become an alicorn!

Prism Rush’s jaw dropped in shock. “You’re an alicorn! You look just like a princess!”

“That’s because she is a princess,” said a voice behind Prism Rush.

Prism Rush turned and saw that Princess Celestia was suddenly there and was now walking towards them.

Twilight nodded and smiled slightly as she looked upon her handiwork.

“Another soon-to-be classic from the Gloaming-Glitter-Princess!”

“Seriously, an alicorn princess!” Rainbow Dash explained. “That doesn’t even make any sense. Who in their right mind would think you’d become an alicorn princess?!”

“Well, it’s not like ponies don’t become alicorn princesses sometimes!” Twilight added a bit more defensively than she had intended.

“Okay,” Rainbow replied, a bit unsure as to what was bothering Twilight. “Anyway, it’s not like there aren’t any good fanfics. Like the ones Bad-Seed-LXXII writes.”

“Oh yeah,” Twilight replied, nodding in agreement. “Those are some really good stories. I wonder who that filly is, though.”

Manehattan, Also A Long Time Ago

Babs Seed was sitting on her bed in her room in her sister’s Farrier Hill apartment in Hooflyn. She should have been asleep hours ago, but she couldn’t help it. Her mind was buzzing with ideas that she had to put to paper.

So, there she was, tapping away at the typewriter her sister had got her for her last birthday. Babs had gotten it after she had mentioned to her sister that she might try to get a writing cutie mark.

Witching hour. The time when magic was strongest.

The parish lantern of the night hung overhead as Daring raced through the mean streets of Manehattan. Daring had traveled far and long on her journey. She had gone from the West and the Best to the East and the Beast. She had faced many difficulties but she finally had her prize in her possession. That was the legendary Ivory Idol. It was said to have been carved from one of the ivory piano keys of Old Scratch himself. It was a prize sought by many. That was the reason Daring raced down the street. A particularly vicious gang of ponies, who also sought the Idol, were giving her chase. They were the King’s Knights. The servants of the secret king of Manehattan. King Orange himself, Bernie Madhoof.

Daring Do turned down an alleyway, hoping to lose them, but ended up in a dead end. Her wings, tired from the day’s flight, were not strong enough to carry Daring over the wall at the end of the alleyway. Daring suddenly heard an evil chuckling behind her. She turned and saw that the Knights were slowly making their way down the alley. At their head was the gang’s leader. He was an Earth pony colt with a coat the color of blood and a mane as black as the sin in his heart. Two playing cards adorned his flank. Daring smirked as she watched the callous colt came to a stop.

“Card Slinger,” Daring called to him, “nice to see Madhoof rolled out the welcome mat for me.”

Card Slinger sneered. “Youze gonna pay fo’ stealin’ from Madhoof. Youze ain’t gettin’ away with dis. He’s the devil in pony flesh. Youze can’t imagine what he’ll do to youze. He’ll peel youze skin off like an orange.”

Babs Seed stopped typing for a moment. She stroked her chin in thought as she looked over her rendering of the Manehattan dialect.

“Looks kinda weird written out like that,” Babs pondered aloud. After a moment of thought, Babs waved her hoof dismissively. “Na. I’ll leave it. Gives it a little flavor.”

She returned to typing.

“It belongs in a museum!” Daring cried. “And away from Madhoof’s hooves!”

“It belongs in Madhoof’s museum,” Card Slinger retorted. “An’ he’ll stuff youze, mount youze, and put youze on display too!” Card Slinger pulled out a black dagger with his hoof and pointed it at Daring. “Dis youze last chance. Hand it ova!”

“Not a chance, Slinger,” Daring answered.

“Youze funeral,” Card Slinger replied as he began to step closer to Daring.

Daring crouched down in a fighting stance. Her hackles rose in anticipation of the coming brawl.

“Bring it!”

“I have to admit, Bad Seed’s stories are probably the best fanfictions I’ve ever read,” Twilight stated.

“The only thing though,” Rainbow began, “is Daring suddenly has a long-lost Earth mare cousin named Carter Blue Blossom. And Daring gets shipped with her! I mean, I can understand shipping her with another mare if that’s your thing. But her cousin? I mean, who would ever get together with their cousin? That’s weird.”

“Well, it’s not that weird,” Twilight responded. “It used to be much more common a hundred years ago. It’s always been legal in Equestria. To this day, it’s even still pretty common among the aristocracy. And just taking Daring and Carter’s situation into account, given that they’re long-lost cousins, the Westermarck effect doesn’t apply.”

Rainbow looked at Twilight as if she had grown a second head. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this have you? Like way too much.”

“Ooh, ooh! We’re here! We’re here!” Pinkie Pie called out as she skipped to the fore of the group.

They all stood at the edge of a ravine where a rope bridge crossed over to the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Chapter 05: The Secret Sofa

Once they had crossed the bridge, they entered the castle’s foyer.

“Okay, this is a big castle,” Daring said to Twilight and Rainbow standing behind her. “We’ll have to concentrate our efforts where Princess Celestia most likely hid the Medallion.”

“Well, according to one of Princess Luna’ diary entries,” Twilight explained, “Celestia’s favorite room in the castle was a secret room she had hidden in the library. That’s where I found their journal in the first place.”

Daring stroked her chin in thought. “A room she loved to hide something she loved.” Daring turned to Twilight. “Sounds like the best place to start. Lead the way, Twilight.”

Twilight led the assembled ponies to the castle library, where she found a table next to a particular set of bookshelves. She went to the chair at one end of the table and pulled it back, setting off a hidden lever that caused the bookshelves to slide open, revealing Celestia’s secret reading room.

Once they had filed into the secret reading room, Daring addressed the group.

“Alright, everypony,” Daring began, “the princess probably hid the Medallion or some further clue to its location somewhere in this room.” The rest of the ponies quickly scattered throughout the room, looking for secret hiding places. “Try looking for a hidden panel or a secret safe embedded in a wall.”

“Or a secret sofa!” Pinkie Pie said.

Daring looked to her side and saw Pinkie inexplicably standing right next to her. Daring had not heard her approach, and she had trained for years to always know when a pony was sneaking up on her.

How’d she get there? Daring thought. But the answer to that would have to wait. There was another question bearing on Daring’s mind.

“A secret sofa?” Daring asked Pinkie.

“Yeah! You know how when you lose something in between the sofa cushions, you can never find it again?” Pinkie explained. “So, a sofa is the best place to hide your secrets. Because if you hide your secrets in a sofa, nopony will ever find them again.” Pinkie beamed brightly. “Secret sofa!”

Daring just looked back at Pinkie, completely flabbergasted. Rainbow walked up to Daring.

“Oh don’t mind her, Daring,” Rainbow said. “Pinkie sometimes can be a little weird. Check this out.” Rainbow cocked her head behind her. “I thought I heard this hollow spot behind this bookshelf when I was knocking on the wall.” Rainbow then put her wing around Daring and led her away from Pinkie.

Once they had left Pinkie, Daring turned to Rainbow. “Is she always like that?”

“Pretty much,” Rainbow answered. “But she kind of grows on you.”

Meanwhile, Pinkie continued to stand there, befuddled as to why neither Daring nor Rainbow took her Secret Sofa suggestion seriously.

“Well, I’m going to go check between the sofa cushions,” Pinkie announced to nopony in particular as she made her way towards a chaise lounge that stood to the right of a stained-glass window decorated with a crescent moon and stars.

Once she made it to the sofa, she lifted up the cushions. She found nothing underneath them.

“Nope. Nada,” Pinkie said. She put the cushions down and sat on the sofa. She began to rock back and forth, stroking her chin in thought. “If I was Princess Celestia, where would I hide the Blue Moon Medallion from Princess Luna?”

Pinkie did have quite a bit of experience hiding things from her own sister. When she and her sister Maud were fillies playing Camouflage together, sometimes Pinkie would find Boulder first and then hide him in Maud’s pocket. Maud never seemed to notice though. She always thought Boulder was just hiding in her pocket.

In the midst of these thoughts, Pinkie rocked back farther than she intended and sent the sofa tipping backwards.

“Whoa!” Pinkie cried as the sofa leaned back. The sofa leaning back engaged a lever attached to its front leg and opened a secret passage in the wall behind it. Pinkie tumbled over the back of the sofa and onto the secret slide in the secret passage.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” Pinkie screamed as she went down the slide.

“Pinkie?” Rainbow asked as she turned towards the sofa.

She saw the tipped-over sofa and the open wall behind it and quickly deduced what had happened.

Rainbow swiftly took to the air. “Don’t worry, Pinkie! I’m coming for you!” Rainbow then flew down the secret tunnel.

The rest of the ponies gathered around the opening of the secret tunnel.

“Is that a secret passage behind a sofa?” Rarity asked.

“Yep. I reckon that’s a secret sofa like Pinkie was saying,” Applejack replied.

Daring was quite excited by this development. Things had just gotten interesting.

“Well, adventure waits for nopony, fillies,” Daring stated. She took to the air and followed Rainbow down the tunnel.

Twilight looked among her remaining friends. “We better go in after them.”

“Darn tootin’,” Applejack replied.

“Um, shouldn’t we just stay here and wait for them to come back?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“And what? Let Rainbow get all the glory if she just so happens to find that Medallion on her own?” Applejack replied. “You know what that’ll do to Rainbow’s ego. Not a chance, missy.”

Applejack reared up and kicked her forelegs in the air. “Yee haw!” she cried as she ran through the tunnel entrance and down the slide.

“If it’s alright with you, I think I’ll just wait up here,” Fluttershy said to her remaining friends with a bit of fear.

“Nonsense, Fluttershy,” Rarity replied. “We could really need you down there. What if Pinkie Pie or one of the others got hurt?”

Fluttershy gasped in shock. “You’re right! They could have gotten hurt. I can’t leave my friends like that.”

Fluttershy gingerly made her way to the tunnel entrance. She took off her hat and kerchief and put them on a nearby floor pillow. “Well,” she said with a gulp, “here I go.” Fluttershy hopped through the entrance and went down the slide.

Rarity peered down the secret tunnel. “There could be mud or dirt down there,” she said with a hint of distaste. “I suppose I should remove these just to be safe.”

She took off her hat and scarf and placed them on the nearby floor pillow with Fluttershy’s accessories.

“Well, here I go as well.” She hopped through the tunnel entrance and down the slide.

Twilight could not help but smile at such a display of devotion by her friends. But now it was her turn. Twilight likewise took to the air and flew down into the secret tunnel.

Rainbow Dash landed just outside the tunnel’s exit once she had finally found it. Rainbow found herself in a dark and shadowy chamber. She could not make out anything about this chamber, how big it was, or if there was anything there. She could not see but for a few inches in front of her own face, at least until her eyes adjusted to the dark. Until then, the darkness would be all consuming.

Rainbow Dash took a few steps from the tunnel’s end. Or it may have been many steps. She could not really tell in this darkness. She looked around, trying her best to make out anything in the pitch-black darkness.

“Pinkie Pie!” she called out. “Pinkie Pie!” All she could hear was her own hoofsteps echoing throughout the chamber.

“Hi!” Pinkie’s voice suddenly called through the darkness.

It was right behind Rainbow. Rainbow turned around and found Pinkie Pie’s eyes immediately in front of her, staring back at her out of the all consuming darkness.

“Gah!” Rainbow cried at suddenly finding Pinkie Pie so close to her personal space. Once her surprise had subsided, Rainbow turned to more important matters. “I’m so glad I found you. Are you okay, Pinkie?”

“Of course I am,” Pinkie said happily. “That slide was fun! Can we do that again?”

“Maybe later,” Rainbow answered. “Listen Pinkie, I’m sorry for doubting you before, you know upstairs with Daring,” Rainbow said. “Sometimes I forget how smart you can be.”

“That’s okay,” Pinkie answered. “Sometimes I forget how smart I can be too.”

“I wish it wasn’t so dark in here,” Rainbow said.

“Ooh! I can fix that!” Pinkie replied excitedly.

By this time, Rainbow’s eyes had adjusted to the dark enough to at least see Pinkie standing before her. Pinkie reached into her mane. The sound of random objects rattling emanated from Pinkie’s mane as she rifled through it.

After a moment, Pinkie pulled out a small box from her mane. Rainbow had to squint to see that it was a box of matches.

“Why do you happen to have a box of matches on you?” Rainbow asked.

“For lighting birthday cakes, silly,” Pinkie replied.

Rainbow could not help but grin. “Pinkie, you’re a lifesaver. Let’s see if I could find one of those torch holder things.”

Rainbow looked around. She could still see very little in the all-encompassing darkness. She looked around where she thought the exit of the tunnel was and found what she had been hoping to find. Up high on the wall, she could just make out one of the disembodied hoof-sconces that dotted the walls throughout the castle.

This must be a tall room, Rainbow thought. Rainbow flew up to the sconce with the box of matches in hoof. She opened it and found there was only one match left.

“Why is there only one match left?” Rainbow asked, calling down to Pinkie below.

“It was Mr. Waddle’s birthday this week,” Pinkie called up to Rainbow. “Did you know he’s like really, really old?”

“Yeah, I always suspected that,” Rainbow replied wryly.

Rainbow very carefully removed the match from the box and struck it on its side. It ignited immediately. Rainbow actually had to squint due the sudden onslaught of light, small though it may be. She had been in that dark too long.

Very carefully, Rainbow moved the lit match forward and touched it to the torch within the sconce. The torch burst into flame. Now, Rainbow and Pinkie had at least a cone of light surrounding the end of the tunnel.

“Now, we’re talking,” Rainbow said as she landed next to Pinkie Pie, who had been waiting for her below the torch.

At that moment, Daring Do exited the tunnel and landed just outside its threshold right in front of Rainbow and Pinkie.

“There’s no need to fear,” Daring began as she pointed to herself, “Daring Do is…”

Daring was interrupted by Applejack suddenly sliding out the tunnel, knocking into Daring Do and sending them both crumpling to the ground. It did not take them long to both get back up, but then Fluttershy came sliding out and knocked them all back down to the ground again.

Before any of them could try to get back up though, Rarity slid out and joined their crumpled, tangled mass on the floor. Somehow as she slid in, Rarity’s horn ended up poking Fluttershy in her flank.

“Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked at having such a sensitive area poked by Rarity’s horn.

Soon after, Twilight joined them, flying gracefully out of the tunnel’s end and alighting next to the crumpled mass of ponies.

Twilight looked over her friends. “Are you guys okay?”

“Um, I think we’re okay,” Fluttershy answered for the group as she slowly extricated herself from the tangled mass of ponies. She became the first of them stand up once more.

Twilight then turned to Rainbow and Pinkie. “How about you guys? Are you okay?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yep!” She pointed towards the slide. “I get first dibs on going down the slide again.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, a bit befuddled. She looked up at the lit torch. “Hey, how did you get that torch lit?”

Rainbow proudly put her foreleg around Pinkie’s withers. “Pinkie had some matches, and I flew up and lit it. Good thing, too. It was, like, really dark in here when I first arrived.”

In the meantime, Daring, Rarity, and Applejack had finally managed to get untangled from each other and were straightening themselves up. Daring happened to look out into the darkness beyond their cone of light.

“Hey, what’s that?” Daring said.

The assembled ponies at Daring’s cue turned and looked out into the darkness. Just beyond the edge of their cone of light in what may have been the center of the chamber, everypony could just make out a silhouette of some kind of platform.

“Huh, me and Pinkie must not have noticed it,” Rainbow said. “I wonder what that is.”

“We’re going to need more light,” Daring said.

“Leave that to me,” Twilight said.

Twilight concentrated and her horn ignited with magic. A small spark flew off her horn and pierced the darkness above the shadowed platform. The spark then exploded like a flare into a ball of light that bathed the whole chamber in lavender light.

The assembled ponies could now finally see the details of the chamber they had been standing in. The chamber was round, and its walls and domed ceiling were constructed of the same dark, golden-brown bricks as the rest of the walls of the castle. More of the disembodied hoof sconces also dotted the walls of the chamber.

On the opposite side of the chamber from the tunnel they had just exited out of was another tunnel that led to literally only Celestia and Luna knew where. In the center right beneath Twilight’s magical flare stood a short dais with a small pedestal on top of it. The pedestal was crowned with a dark-blue sheet decorated with a crescent moon and stars that had a noticeable lump beneath it.

A lump big enough to be a medallion worn around an alicorn’s neck.

“That must be it!” Daring called out. “That must be the Blue Moon Medallion!”

Daring ran up onto the dais towards the pedestal. She paused upon reaching the pedestal and looked behind her at Rainbow.

“Hey Dash, can you come up here?”

Rainbow did not need to be asked twice as she immediately flew up to Daring’s side. “What do you need?”

Daring turned and faced Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, you’ve been a huge help to me on this adventure. So, I think it’s only right for you to do the honors.” Daring indicated the sheet upon the pedestal with her foreleg.

Rainbow’s eyes widened like saucers as she gasped.

Rainbow shook her head. “No way, Daring. This is your adventure. I’m just along for the ride. You do it.” Rainbow likewise also indicated the sheet upon the pedestal with her foreleg.

“But I wouldn’t be here without you,” Daring argued further. “So go ahead.” She cocked her head at the pedestal.

“But you’re the professional adventurer,” Rainbow retorted. “After you.” She likewise cocked her head at the pedestal.

Down at their place on the ground floor, Rainbow’s friends intently watched Rainbow and Daring go back and forth.

“How long do you reckon they’re gonna keep going like this?” Applejack asked.

“I hope they decide soon,” Rarity replied. “I’d like to see this Blue Moon Medallion. Can you imagine? A blue diamond that once belonged to Princess Luna!” Rarity danced in place in her excitement. “I can hardly wait!”

“Hey guys!” Twilight called up to Daring and Rainbow. Daring and Rainbow turned to her. “Why don’t you just do it together?”

“That’s a great idea,” Rainbow replied.

Daring nodded in agreement.

Rainbow and Daring then grabbed two corners of the sheet.

“On three,” Rainbow declared, and Daring nodded. “One… Two… Three!”

With one swift action, Rainbow and Daring pulled the sheet off the pedestal, revealing their prize.

It was a pile of rocks.

“Huh?” Rainbow grunted at the pile of rocks on the pedestal.

Daring just looked at the rocks in confusion. “Hey, what gives?! Where’s the Blue Moon Medallion?!”

“If you desired the Medallion of the princess lunar, you and your band should have arrived sooner,” a deep, menacing voice bellowed out of the darkness.

Chapter 06: Brazen Villainy

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 07: Testing Testing Redux

“Nothing in here,” Twilight said as she closed yet another file.

Fortuitously enough, the hidden alcove Pinkie Pie found led back up to one of the hallways in the castle. From there, it was not too difficult to find their way out of the castle, out of the Everfree Forest, back into Ponyville, and back to Twilight’s castle. That’s where they were now, poring over the files Celestia had sent Twilight to find some connection between all the professors’ nightmares. These files were very detailed. They contained not only the professors’ history with Celestia’s school, but their entire academic history and pertinent details about the nightmares they’ve been having.

Twilight looked about the library and saw all her friends and Daring with their own stacks of files. They didn’t seem to be having any luck either.

“Anypony find anything?” Twilight asked.

Her friends answered with a chorus of “No’s.”

Rainbow Dash was lying on her back, holding an open file over her face. She was still wearing her Daring Do costume but the pith helmet was on a nearby table.

“Uggh! This is hopeless!” Rainbow slammed the file shut and tossed it onto a messy pile of the files behind her.

“I’d hate to say it, Twi, but this is starting to seem a might bit like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Applejack said.

“I mean, what are we supposed to be looking for anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight stepped away at her place at her table and walked up to her friends. “Anything, anything you can find can be helpful. If one of you guys finds two professors with similar elements in their dreams and another one of you guys finds another professor with the same elements in their dreams, then based on those similar elements, we could figure out what Ahuizotl is searching through their dreams for and find out what he’s up to.”

“I’m not sure if I could glean anything of use from this… gentlecolt,” Rarity said with a bit of disdain.

She held up one of her files daintily in her magic by its very corner. On the file’s cover was a photo an unhappy Unicorn stallion with a gray coat and a long, greasy dark gray mane. Rarity’s daintiness was to avoid coming in contact even with an image of this pony’s greasy mane lest that somehow besmirch her.

Twilight walked up to her and grabbed the file from Rarity fully with her magic. Twilight perused the file. “Professor Bezoar,” Twilight said as she read. “He’s the potions master at Celestia’s School. He’s been troubled by nightmares about a potted lily burning in green flames. Has anypony found anything like that?”

Once again, Twilight received a chorus of “No’s.”

“My,” Rarity said as she picked up the next file in her stack. On the cover was a photo of a young Unicorn stallion with a skewbald red and white coat. His mane was black and messy, but not in a bad way. It was in more of a devil-may-care kind of way. He wore round, black horned-rim glasses over his deep-blue eyes. “Who’s this handsome colt?”

Twilight glimpsed the file. “Oh, that’s Scarlet Snow. He’s an associate professor of thaumatology. He’s kind of prodigy. He only graduated from Celestia’s School a few years before I did. Usually, it takes a lot longer just to become an associate professor.”

“Hey, lookee here,” Applejack said as she held up a folder. On it was a photo of a Unicorn mare with a beige coat and an umber-colored mane. “This professor’s an Apple!”

“Professor Apple Polish,” Twilight replied. “Is she a relative of yours?”

“Can’t really tell,” Applejack said. “I reckon there ain’t a lot of Unicorns in my family, but hey, you never know.”

“Ooh! I found something!” Pinkie cried.

Everypony in the library turned to Pinkie in expectation, waiting to hear if what Pinkie found was indeed the clue they were searching for.

“What is it, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie held up a file over her head. On the file was a photo of an elderly Unicorn mare with a cornflower coat. Her dark-gray mane was done up in a bun. Her left eye was swollen almost completely shut.

“She is like the best teacher ever!” Pinkie cried.

“Professor Inkwell. She’s been known to be a little”--Twilight paused, searching for the right word--“eccentric.”

“Yeah, that’s great,” Daring said with impatience. “So, did you actually find anything useful?”

“Nope,” Pinkie replied. “I just want her to be my teacher.”

“Well, Pinkie, you’re not a Unicorn,” Twilight said.

Daring groaned and laid down on her back. “I’m with Dash on this. We’re getting nowhere really fast!”

“We’re doing the best we can, Miss Do,” Fluttershy said.

“Is this really our best?” Daring said.

Daring pointed at Pinkie. “This one’s looking for her favorite teacher.”

She pointed at Applejack. “This one’s looking for her relatives.”

She pointed at Rarity. “And this one is looking for a date!”

“I most certainly am not!” Rarity exclaimed with a harrumph. Rarity then put her head on her hoof and proceeded to stare dreamily at the photo of Professor Scarlet Snow.

“Look, I know we’re all frustrated,” Twilight said, “but this is the only way we’re going to find out what Ahuizotl is up to. It’s not like any of us could just memorize all these files and then immediately connect-the-dots.”

Rainbow Dash sat up suddenly. “Actually, one of us can! Pinkie, grab all the files and meet me on the balcony.”

Rainbow quickly flew out of the room.

“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie responded.

Pinkie gathered up her own files, ran to each pony, and gathered each of their files.

“Wait, what’s happening?” Twilight asked in alarm.

Once she had all the files, Pinkie Pie ran out of the room, following after Rainbow Dash.

“Pinkie Pie! Come back here with those files!” Twilight cried in anger as she chased after Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash was in the air hovering before the castle balcony when Twilight arrived. Pinkie Pie was standing close to the edge with the stack of files next to her. Daring, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy subsequently assembled on the balcony as well, curious to see what Rainbow had in mind.

“Alright, Pinkie, you know what to do when I give you the signal,” Rainbow said.

Pinkie saluted her. “Aye, aye, Captain!”

“Wait, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Okay, pull!” Rainbow cried.

Pinkie threw one of the files into the air, turned, and then bucked the file over the balcony railing, causing the pages within to scatter through the air. Rainbow then proceeded to fly through the sheets of paper as if it were a the obstacle course at the Wonderbolts Academy.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?!” Twilight screamed. “That’s from Princess Celestia!”

Twilight immediately teleported herself to the ground below the balcony, where the pages and file folder were gently wafting down. She quickly gathered the pages with her magic and neatly placed them back into the folder. Twilight growled in annoyance as she noticed the folder was marred with Pinkie’s hoofprints.

“Pull!” Rainbow cried again.

Pinkie once more tossed a file and bucked it over the railing. Rainbow repeated her maneuver.

On the ground, Twilight looked up when she noticed there were more pages wafting through the air.

“Pinkie! You stop this, right now!” Twilight cried, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

“Pull!”

Rainbow, Pinkie, and Twilight repeated their actions until Pinkie had bucked all the files over the balcony and Twilight had gathered them off the ground.

Rainbow alighted onto the balcony next to Pinkie Pie. Twilight then teleported herself onto the balcony along with the files, stacked neatly at her side. She wasted no time.

“Can you tell me what that was all about?!” Twilight asked, aggravated. She floated a couple of files in Rainbow and Pinkie’s faces. “These files came directly from Princess Celestia! You better have a hay of a good reason for defiling them like you did!”

“Chillax, Twi,” Rainbow answered. “You know how you helped me study for the Wonderbolts history exam by finding out that I memorize everything I see while I’m flying.”

“What does that have to do with this?” Twilight asked, irritated.

“I merely applied that same principle,” Rainbow said. “I had Pinkie throw these files into the air, I flew through them, and now, I remember everything that was in the files. All those files”--Rainbow pointed at the stack--”are now right here.” She then pointed at her head.

“Wait, you memorized everything in those files?” Daring asked Rainbow.

“Yep,” Rainbow answered while walking up to Twilight and throwing a foreleg around her withers. “Twilight was the one who helped me figure out I could do that.”

“You’re a mare of many talents, Dash,” Daring said with a proud smile.

Twilight turned to Rainbow. “You’re telling you memorized everything these files said just by flying through them.”

“Why are you so surprised?” Rainbow asked. “You’re the one who found out I could do this.”

“Yeah,” Twilight began to say, “but we yelled things at you from the ground with flashcards and costumes. These are pages. With words. A lot of them.”

“Well, feel free to test me if you need to be sure,” Rainbow said.

“Alright, I will,” Twilight replied.

Twilight walked back to the stack of files and floated one out at random. She opened the file and perused through it.

“Where did Professor Gingersnap do her Master’s Degree, and what was it in?” Twilight asked.

“Mythica University. And it was a degree in Magical Studies,” Rainbow answered.

Twilight chose another file from the stack. “What course has Professor Inkwell taught the longest?”

“Defense Against Chaos Magic,” Rainbow answered. “Next.”

Twilight chose a third file from the stack. “Where did Professor Giddilee do her teaching study?”

“Canterlot Academy,” Rainbow answered. “Are you going to make this hard for me, or what?”

“Okay then,” Twilight responded while returning the file to the stack.

Twilight took a few steps forward with her back to Rainbow Dash.

“Name the professors who presided over my entrance exam,” Twilight said.

“Hmm,” Rainbow hummed as she tapped her chin in thought. “That’s a tough one. I think they were… Apple Polish, Top Marks, Crystal Clear, and Arpeggio Melody.”

Twilight turned around suddenly to face Rainbow, her eyes widened.

She really did memorize everything in the files! Twilight thought.

“They really didn’t think much of you when you first came in,” Rainbow said. “According to her notes, Apple Polish didn’t think you had what it took to be a student there…”

“Yeah, I think you made your point, Dash,” Applejack said, interrupting Rainbow.

“She’s right,” Daring said. “What’s important now is we can figure out what Ahuizotl is after.”

“Right,” Twilight said. “So, Rainbow, what’s the most common nightmare the professors at Celestia’s school have been having?”

Rainbow thought for a moment. Her eyes shifted back and forth as if she was reading an invisible sheet of paper.

“The most common nightmare is seeing a black moon reflected in a black well,” Rainbow answered.

“Do the professors who’ve had this dream have anything in common?” Twilight asked further.

Rainbow read her invisible paper again.

“Pegasus,” Rainbow answered.

“Don’t be silly, Dashie,” Pinkie said. “They’re Unicorns, not Pegasi.”

“No, I think Dash means the University of Equexeter’s journal Pegasus...” Daring’s eyes suddenly widened and her mouth gaped. “Oh my gosh! I know what Ahuizotl’s after!”

Rainbow walked up to Daring. “What, what is it?” she said in concern.

“You know how when the Crystal Empire returned, there was a lot of interest in the history and lore and pretty much everything to do with it.”

“Well, naturally,” Rarity said. “Why a few years ago, there was that trend of putting crystals in your gardens instead of rocks.”

“Don’t I know it,” Pinkie said.

“Anyway,” Daring continued to say, “I’ve written for Pegasus as A.K. Yearling before. So around that time, the editor reaches out to me and says that they want me to write an article about the Crystal Empire. I happened to have been doing my own research on it at the time. So, I took my notes, wrote up a quick article, and sent it to them.”

“What was it about?” Twilight asked.

“A legendary artifact that belonged to King Sombra,” Daring answered. “The Book of Horrors!”

“Not the Book of Horrors!” Pinkie cried.

She then leaned over to Fluttershy and whispered loudly, “I don’t actually know what that is.”

“Of course, very few ponies have ever heard of it,” Daring said. “The legend goes that King Sombra possessed a spellbook, within which he kept the darkest and most secret of spells. One of these spells is supposed to be able to open the gates of Tartarus itself!”

Twilight and her friends gasped.

“Thankfully enough, this spell can only be cast during a full lunar eclipse at the Crystal Palace in the Crystal Empire,” Daring said.

“A full lunar eclipse. Just like the one that’s supposed to happen in less than a week,” Twilight said worriedly.

“He needs the Blue Moon Medallion to open it, too,” Daring said. “Sombra would often lock things with nightmare magic.

“Don’t I know it,” Twilight said, mostly to herself. She shivered, remembering the nightmare door she encountered in the Crystal Empire.

“The dream magic inside the Blue Moon Medallion should be enough to jimmy it open. That’s why Ahuizotl is looking for the Book of Horrors now,” Daring said. “He’s got the Medallion to unlock the book. He’s got the eclipse coming up to make the spell work. Soon, he expects to have the Book itself. On the night of the eclipse, Ahuizotl intends to use the Book of Horrors to open the gates of Tartarus!”

“Well, what are we waiting for?! Let’s find that Book of Horrors before Ahuizotl does!” Rainbow cried with determination.

“That’s not going that easy,” Daring said. “The Book of Horrors disappeared sometime before the Crystal Empire did. It hasn’t been seen since. Nopony knows where it is. Many doubt it even exists.”

“Maybe it doesn’t exist, and Ahuizotl is just wasting his time.” Fluttershy suggested.

“Ahuizotl doesn’t waste his time,” Daring replied. “If he’s looking for it, he knows it’s out there somewhere.”

“Well, how the hay are we supposed to find something when nopony knows where it is?” Applejack asked.

Daring tapped her chin in thought. “I know somepony who might be able to point us in the right direction. My old friend Professor Ravenhoof.”

“Professor Ravenhoof!” Rainbow cried in excitement. “The pony who guided you to the Dark Tower so you could find the Radiant Shield of Razdon in Book Four Daring Do and the Trek to the Terrifying Terror.”

Daring nodded. “The very same. He still owes me a favor. I think I’ll call it in.”

“Great, we have a lead,” Twilight said. “So, where can we find Professor Ravenhoof?”

“He tends to move around a lot. Last I heard, he was in some place beyond the southern reaches of Equestria called Klugetown,” Daring replied.

“Klugetown! We’ve totally been there!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight addressed her friends, “Alright girls, if we’re going to stop Ahuizotl, we’re going to need to find Professor Ravenhoof before Ahuizotl gets to him somehow. We’ve all been to Klugetown before so we all know what it entails. Everypony go home and get ready.” She looked at Applejack and Rarity. “Make any arrangements with your families if you have to. Everypony is to be ready at the outskirts of Ponyville at the crack of dawn. Time is of the essence, so don’t be late. The fate of Equestria is once more in our hooves.” Twilight turned to Daring. “Daring, you can spend the night here again.”

Daring nodded in response.

Twilight continued, “We’ll have to look at some maps and discuss the best route to take.” She turned to her friends once more. “As for everypony else, I’ll see you in the morning.”

While the rest of her friends said their goodbyes and walked off the balcony to exit the castle, Rainbow Dash walked up to Daring Do.

“Don’t worry, Daring, I won’t let you down,” Rainbow said.

“I’m sure you and your friends won’t,” Daring replied.

“Yeah, we won’t, but especially not me,” Rainbow said as she threw her foreleg around Daring’s withers. “I’m going to make you proud.”

“I’m… I’m sure you will,” Daring said with apprehension. She smiled with a hint of awkwardness.

As Rainbow Dash took off from the balcony, Twilight made her way to Daring, having noticed her apprehension.

“Is everything alright, Daring?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” Daring answered though she lacked confidence. “Everything is going to be just fine.”

Chapter 08: The Chamber of Secrets

“See the ponies trottin' down the street! Equestria is where they wanna meet!” Pinkie sang as she marched. “They all know where they wanna go! And they're trottin' in time! And they're trottin', yeah!”

Pinkie thought that her singing would keep her friends’ spirits up as they once more marched through the Bone Dry Desert.

They had awoken at the crack of dawn, just as Twilight had asked. Since then, they had taken the train from Ponyville to a station in the vicinity of Somnambula and the Get On Inn. The train from there went on directly to Mount Aris without any further stops so this was the closest they could get to Klugetown by train. From there, they followed the old stone road that Twilight and her friends found the end of the last time they found themselves at Klugetown. That still left them marching through a seemingly endless desert with no other creatures around save the lonesome bug crawling through an empty, dessicated skull. Nothing more could done about it. So on they marched.

“'Cause we got the beat! We got the beat! We got the beat! Yeah, we got it!!...”

“Pinkie, don’t you know any other songs?” Rainbow asked.

Pinkie looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying in front of her.

“What’s wrong with this one?” Pinkie responded.

“Nothing,” Rainbow answered. “You’ve just been singing it on a loop for the past hour.” Rainbow shrugged. “You know just mix it up a bit.”

Pinkie rubbed her chin in thought. “Alright, how about this?”

She sang once more. “When you're rife with devastation, there's a simple explanation:
you're a toymaker's creation trapped inside a crystal ball!...”

“Maybe not that one either,” Applejack said as she trotted behind Pinkie Pie.

“Okay, how about this one?”

Pinkie sang once more. “So, we wanna stay. But can't find peace while sittin' still. I guess we never will. We're on the way. We won't hurry back again. The journey is the end.”

Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Twilight and Daring led the way. Glancing at the horizon to her right, Twilight saw the sun was going down.

“It’s going to be dark soon,” Twilight said to Daring. “In this desert, it’s probably not the best idea to be out here at night.”

Twilight consulted the map she pulled out of her saddlebag, floating it in front of her. She did a few quick calculations.

“If we camp out for the night now and wake up at dawn again, we should reach Klugetown around mid-morning tomorrow.”

Daring pointed at Twilight’s map. “There’s an oasis just up ahead over that hill. We could make camp there.”

Twilight and Daring crested the next hill, and sure enough, there was an oasis below them.

“Hey! Where you gonna go? We're off to see the world. We don't need to know--oh. Hey! Where you gonna go? We're off to see the world. We don't need to know!...” Pinkie sang.

“Okay girls,” Twilight said once she turned to address the group on the side the hill. “We’re going to set up camp for the night in an oasis up ahead,” Twilight said. “We’ll wake up at dawn again tomorrow and finish making our way to Klugetown.”

Everypony nodded in response.

Once they reached the oasis, everypony began unpacking their saddlebags and pitching their tents in a grassy pitch surrounding the large pond at the center. Rarity walked up to her purple tent levitating the three suitcases she’d brought with her. As she began to unpack her things, Daring walked by. She stopped and began looking inquisitively at all the things Rarity had brought with her.

“Gee, is all that really necessary?” Daring asked.

“Why of course,” Rarity answered matter-of-factly. “These are only the essentials.”

Applejack walked up to them and also looked at Rarity’s luggage. She pointed at one of the suitcases.

“Like that eyelash curler,” Applejack said with a smirk.

“Why would you need an eyelash curler?” Daring asked.

“Well, I certainly can’t meet this all important professor friend of yours with uncurled eyelashes,” Rarity responded. “A lady always makes a good impression.”

“I don’t think he’s really going to care if your eyelashes aren’t curled,” Daring said.

Rainbow landed next to Daring, still looking very similar to Daring in her Daring Do costume. “Don’t mind Rarity. The first time we went camping, she brought this ginormous tent with her.”

“Really?” Daring questioned.

“Yeah, that’s just how she is.” Rainbow threw her foreleg around Daring’s withers and started leading her away. “She has to look good for everything. But despite all her nonsense though, Rarity is generous to a fault.”

Rainbow led Daring over to her green tent, which was pitched right beside Daring’s olive-green tent. “Look, both our tents are green. Can we be anymore alike?”

Daring’s eyes darted off to the side. “Yeah, how ‘bout that,” she said awkwardly.

Later on when the sun had fully gone down, Daring, Rainbow, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were gathered around a campfire at the center of their makeshift camp. They were roasting marshmallows over the fire. Even though they were once again on an epic journey to save Equestria from certain doom, Pinkie Pie still thought it was a good idea to bring marshmallows to roast.

Rainbow Dash was happily munching on a marshmallow. “So,” she said to her assembled friends, “since we’re already sitting around a campfire, why don’t we tell scary campfire stories?”

“You’re not going to tell the one about the Rainbow Factory again, are you?” Fluttershy asked in fear.

“The one about where rainbows really come from?” Daring asked with a grin.

Rainbow cocked her head at Daring. “You know that story? I thought it was just a Cloudsdale thing.”

“It is mostly. When I was a filly growing up in Horseshoe Bay, I knew these kids who had moved there from Cloudsdale,” Daring said. “They tried to convince me the story was true. They even swore they had escaped from the Rainbow Factory.”

Rainbow had to laugh at that.

“Rainbow told me, Derpy, and Cloud Kicker that story late one night when we were at Summer Flight Camp,” Fluttershy said. “It gave me nightmares for a month! I still can’t look at the Rainbow Factory without at least… wondering.” Fluttershy shivered.

“Perhaps,” Rarity began, “we could tell the stories our favorite legends of old Equestria.”

“Or we could tell Daring how we’ve actually met the original Pillars of Equestria,” Rainbow suggested.

“I heard that they had made a comeback,” Daring said with quite a smile. “It’s like every archaeologist’s dream to get the chance to speak to somepony from ancient times. Can’t wait to meet them one of these days.”

“As fun as all that would be, I think it would be best if we all turn in and get a good night’s sleep,” Twilight said.

Everypony agreed, except for Rainbow who let out an audible groan. Everypony stood up to return to their tents.

“Wait, before we go to sleep,” Daring said. “We’re going to need these.”

She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out seven dreamcatchers. She handed one to each of the ponies with her.

Rainbow stared at the dreamcatcher she was given, confused. “Dreamcatchers?”

“They’re not ordinary dreamcatchers,” Daring explained. “These are enchanted with old Buffalo magic to protect sleepers from nightmare demons.”

“I didn’t know Buffalos still had magic,” Twilight said.

“You still find a couple out there with a talent in it,” Daring replied.

“So, these’ll prevent Ahuizotl from sneaking into our dreams, right?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, as much as he acts like one, Ahuizotl isn’t technically a demon,” Daring answered. “But these should even the odds enough. Give each of us a fair fight if it happens.”

Everypony said their goodnights. They returned to their tents, hung their dreamcatchers by their sleeping places, and soon enough fell fast asleep.

Daring Dash stalked cautiously through the corridor of ancient temple that looked so much like the one that had housed the Sapphire Statue. Unlike that temple, this one did not seem to be booby-trapped. So far, things had been quiet. Maybe too quiet. Still, Daring Dash continued to approach the doorway at the end of the corridor. Slowly, she approached the entrance to the chamber at the end of the corridor. Then finally, she crossed the threshold and looked about the chamber. Daring Dash couldn’t believe her eyes.

The chamber was empty.

“Hey, what gives?!” Daring Dash said to herself.

The chamber, though similar to the one that housed the Sapphire Statue, was devoid of anything but the lit torches within disembodied hoof sconces on the walls for it also lacked a skylight. While Daring Dash could see nothing in the chamber, she definitely felt something there. There was an overwhelming feeling of wrongness in the chamber, as if it was somehow wrong for her to be there. It was like the feeling a Pegasus got when flying by a window and unexpectedly seeing a pony in the process of undressing. Though Daring Dash never understood why that would feel wrong; ponies didn’t normally wear clothes anyway.

Suddenly, a slab of stone descended from the top of the doorway and slammed the entrance shut. Daring Dash ran to the slab that now blocked her only means of egress. She pounded her forehooves against the slab, but it was no use; she was trapped.

Then, she heard the loathsome cackle.

Out of a darkened corner opposite the doorway came Daring Dash’s most formidable foe, the dreaded Ahuizotl!

“Hola Prism Rush,” Ahuizotl said as he approached her. “I’ve been waiting a long time to see you again.”

Daring Dash noticed the gold medallion inlaid with a round blue crystal around Ahuizotl’s neck. Seeing it somehow provoked something in Daring Dash’s mind. It made her ask herself a single question.

How did I get here? Daring Dash thought.

Daring Dash then realized that she had no idea how she came to be in this temple. That could only mean one thing.

“This is a dream!” Rainbow Dash said to herself. Her Daring Do costume then disappeared.

“So, it seems Daring Do has provided you with protection,” Ahuizotl said. “It matters not. I was not going to be penetrating you tonight.”

“That better my dreams you’re talking about,” Rainbow retorted.

Ahuizotl laughed. “You flatter yourself, Prism Rush.”

“My name is Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow cried.

“Also irrelevant,” Ahuizotl said. “I may not have full control here, but I can control what I call you, Prism Rush.”

“What do you want with me, you son of a nag?” Rainbow asked with disdain.

“What I want, to put it simply, is revenge,” Ahuizotl said. “And the wrath of Ahuizotl begins with you!”

“With me?” Rainbow asked in response, confused.

“Yes, with you!” Ahuizotl cried. “I will destroy Daring Do by destroying what you think of her!”

Rainbow sat on her rump and crossed her forelegs.

“Well good luck with that,” Rainbow said with confidence. “There’s is nothing you can possibly say that will make me do that.”

“Really,” Ahuizotl retorted. “Do you even know who Daring Do really is?”

“Of course I do,” Rainbow said, scoffing at Ahuizotl.

“You think you do, but you don’t, mija,” Ahuizotl replied. He touched the Blue Moon Medallion. “With this trinket provided to me by my new Zebra, I have been able to collect many secrets. Secrets are the means by which Daring Do lives.” Ahuizotl indicated the wall opposite the doorway. “And they’re all right here. All Daring’s secrets for you to see in this place, the Chamber of Secrets!”

A door of a bank vault suddenly appeared in the wall opposite the doorway.

Rainbow stood back up. She wondered if the fact that this chamber held all Daring’s secrets was why it felt so wrong to be there.

“Why would I want to know Daring’s secrets?” Rainbow asked.

“Because many of them are about you, Prism Rush,” Ahuizotl said.

Rainbow stared back at Ahuizotl in shock.

“You’re lying!” she responded in defiance.

“Am I?” Ahuizotl asked. “Do you truly feel that Daring Do has been completely honest with you?”

Despite her confidence, Rainbow could admit that sometimes Daring seemed a little off. She noticed that she acted weird around her, kind of… guarded. It was as if Daring knew something that Rainbow didn’t and wasn’t willing to share. Perhaps there was something to what Ahuizotl was saying.

“Why would Daring have secrets about me anyway?” she said as if she didn’t care.

“Well, the answer to that question is just behind door Number 1.”

Ahuizotl stepped aside to let Rainbow pass.

Rainbow took a few steps and stared at the vault door. She had to admit, she was tempted. Rainbow didn’t care how many secrets Daring had. She was entitled to them. However, Rainbow was curious as to what Daring was hiding from her. There was a lot Rainbow didn’t know about Daring. Sure, she knew the Daring of the book series, but she didn’t really know the real Daring. What could Daring possibly be hiding that had to do with Rainbow?

But there was a right way and a wrong way. The right way was to be patient and trust Daring to eventually share those secrets with her on her own time.

Finding out in this Chamber of Secrets behind Daring’s back was definitely the wrong way.

“I’m going to have to pass,” Rainbow said.

Rainbow jumped into the air, spun around, and kicked Ahuizotl in the face. Ahuizotl went flying back and struck the struck the wall behind him. The slab in the doorway disappeared.

Rainbow swiftly flew towards the exit.

Ahuizotl picked himself off the floor. He focused on Rainbow Dash, and the crystal in the medallion glowed.

Rainbow suddenly found herself grasped by Ahuizotl’s monkey paw by the scruff of her neck. Ahuizotl slammed her onto the ground on her back. Rainbow struggled against the monkey paw around her throat. Ahuizotl stood over her. He looked into her eyes while the medallion glowed.

Ahuizotl laughed, quietly and deadly. “Now I know how to terrify the heart of the filly you really are.”

Ahuizotl suddenly grew to enormous size. Or was it that Rainbow had gotten smaller? Rainbow looked down at her flank as best as she could and found that her cutie mark was gone!

She was now a filly again with all the fears she had as a filly.

Ahuizotl towered over her. In this right paw, a rusty horseshoe materialized. He raised it above his head, ready to bring it down on Rainbow’s.

“Who’s got my rusty horseshoe?” Ahuizotl said. “You do!”

Tears welled in filly Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “No please!” filly Rainbow cried. “Blaze! Help!”

“Oh, there is no Rainbow Blaze for you, mija. He is dead!”

Ahuizotl brought down the horseshoe. However, as he did so, the horseshoe froze and dissolved into snowflakes.

Ahuizotl stared in confusion at his now empty paw. “¿Qué carajo?”

A wintery wind began to blow through the chamber. The wind grew and grew until Ahuizotl was blown off of Rainbow Dash. He slammed against the vault door and both he and it burst into a cloud of snowflakes.

Rainbow Dash, once more an adult, stood up and faced the doorway. The brightly glowing white silhouette of a Pegasus mare glided gently into the chamber. The mare glowed brighter and brighter until everything was engulfed in a bright, white light.

Rainbow Dash gasped as she woke up back in her tent. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She ran a forehoof through her mane and found it was inundated with sweat.

“Whoa,” Rainbow said with apprehension. “What was that about?”

Twilight Sparkle awoke with a start. She thought she heard something rustling. She looked up and saw somepony pawing at the flap of her tent.

“Twilight! Twilight!” Rainbow whispered as loudly as she could. “I need to talk to you.”

Twilight got up and opened the tent flap. Standing before her was a rather disheveled and panicked looking Rainbow Dash.

“It’s the middle of the night, Rainbow. What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“Ahuizotl was in my dream just now!” Rainbow answered, crying as quietly as possible.

Twilight gasped. “We should tell Daring.”

“No!” Rainbow cried. “I mean, I-I don’t want to get her involved in this exactly.”

“Don’t want to get her involved?” Twilight asked, confused. “What are you talking about?”

Rainbow took a deep breath. “In my dream, Ahuizotl said that he used the Blue Moon Medallion to collect Daring’s secrets, and he wanted to show them to me.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Because they’re about me!” Rainbow cried.

Twilight looked an equal mixture of shocked and confused for a moment.

Then, she said, “You know as well as I do that Ahuizotl can’t be trusted.”

“I know, but,” Rainbow paused to gather her thoughts, “it got me thinking what if he has a point.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“Have you noticed that Daring sometimes acts kind of… off around me?” Rainbow asked. “Like she knows something that I don’t. Like she’s hiding something.”

Twilight hummed as she thought.

“That could be for a lot of reasons,” Twilight answered in a conciliatory manner. “Daring isn’t used to trusting other ponies. Maybe that’s why she seems kind of guarded.”

“I guess, but,” Rainbow looked Twilight right in her eyes, “do we really know who Daring really is? Beyond what’s in the books or what she’s done as A.K. Yearling. Who is she really? Who is Daring Do?”

Rainbow sighed in frustration. She sat and looked down at the ground, disconsolate.

Twilight stepped forward and gave Rainbow a hug.

“There, there,” Twilight said as she rubbed Rainbow’s back. “It’s going to be okay, Rainbow.”

“I just don’t know what to do,” Rainbow said sadly. “I want to trust Daring, but what if I can’t?”

“I think you already know what to do. You have to do what you do best.” Twilight pulled back and looked at Rainbow. Rainbow looked up to her as well. “You have to be a loyal friend. If you are, then Daring, if she even has this secret, will feel comfortable sharing it with you. You can’t discount the possibility that Ahuizotl is trying to break your spirit. Remember what happened with Discord?”

Rainbow snorted. “He was just as bad back then.”

“You see,” Twilight said. “You could be worrying over nothing.”

“I hope you’re right, Twilight,” Rainbow said.

“Now, you should get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us,” Twilight said.

Twilight released Rainbow from her hug. They got back into their respective tents.

Rainbow returned to her knapsack. Instead of going right to sleep though, she looked up at the roof of the tent above her, imagining the heavens above.

“All-Sire, Mother Mare,” Rainbow whispered in prayer, “please let Twilight be right.”

A Prologue

An orange Pegasus filly ran through the dark jungle under the fierce heat of the sun. Her purple mane and tail wafted in the breeze. The cutie mark that adorned her flank was a lightning bolt in a wing on a shield. She wore her usual white pith helmet and olive-green shirt. She was on an adventure. She did not fear the dark either. No, she feared nothing. She was the bravest, most awesome, most adventurous Pegasus in all of Equestria.

She was Scooting Do.

And Scooting Do was on yet another of her globetrotting, ancient-artifact-finding adventures. The treasure she sought was an ancient one and hidden in one of the most precarious of places.

Scooting Do finally burst out of the jungle after running for only Celestia knows how long. She wiped the sweat from her brow with her foreleg. She looked at what lay before her and smirked. She was now on the threshold of acquiring her prize.

Before her, standing proud and mighty, was the highest mountain in all of Equestria: Mount Everhoof. The mountain stood so high that its peak was not visible. It lay hidden among the very clouds it pierced. Any pony who set eyes upon this massive mountain would be struck with awe.

Scooting Do looked up at the mountain with a rather placid expression and shrugged.

“I’ve seen bigger.”

According to ancient Pegasus lore, on the peak of this mountain stood a temple made of solid ice and snow. This temple was dedicated to the Pegasus who first conquered winter by her creation of the snowflake. That Pegasus of course was the great blind master Snowdrop. In the heart of the temple stood an ice sculpture of the Pegasus filly in question. It was enchanted by some ancient, mysterious, and forgotten Pegasus magic that prevented it from ever melting.

The Everlasting Ice Sculpture of Snowdrop. This was Scooting Do’s prize.

Scooting Do tapped her chin with her hoof as she considered how exactly she was going to get to the peak of this mountain. Climbing it was out of the question; it would take too long. And after how long it took already just to get to this point, Scooting Do was not in the mood to wait any longer.

Come to think of it, she was not that sure how she came to be running in that jungle in the first place. It did not really matter though. Her face then lit up as she realized that the easiest way to get up the mountain was to fly up. This was not a problem for Scooting Do, the best flier in all of Equestria.

Scooting Do crouched down low and then launched herself into the air with her incredibly well-toned hind legs. She rose into the air a hundred feet before she spread her large, magnificent wings and pumped them with all her might. She rose up faster and faster, accelerating as she climbed.

In mere seconds, she broke the cloud cover and spotted the peak of the mountain and the icy temple upon it. A few seconds after that, she was high above the mountain peak. A few seconds further, she rose to the point where she could see the stars as if it were the middle of the night.

It was at this point that she dove.

Scooting Do dove down, accelerating faster and faster. It was not long before she simultaneously broke the sound and rainbow barrier, unleashing a Sonic Rainboom. Yet she still accelerated, unleashing a Double Rainboom, then a Triple Rainboom, and then a Quadruple Rainboom, and then so many Rainbooms she lost count. She was like a great rainbow colored shooting star streaking across the sky.

Despite her incredible speed, Scooting Do was able to angle herself just right so that she crashed right through the gates of the icy temple. She hit the floor and then rolled across until she finally came to a stop. Scooting Do picked herself up and dusted some of the loose snow off herself, cracking her neck for good measure.

Scooting Do looked around. Everything was indeed carved from ice and made of packed snow. The temple’s inner chamber was circular. The walls were lined with ancient Pegasopolitan columns that supported the temple’s domed roof. At the center of said dome was a skylight, which directed the sunlight to alight upon an icy pedestal in the center of the chamber. Sitting atop that pedestal was an ice sculpture of a rampant Pegasus. Despite the intense heat of the sun’s rays, it showed no signs of melting any time soon.

This was it. Scooting Do’s prize. The Everlasting Ice Sculpture of Snowdrop.

Scooting Do approached the pedestal. She did so carefully, wary of any potential booby traps, and made it to the pedestal without any incident.

That seemed kind of easy. Too easy, she thought. She shrugged it off. She figured the temple’s builders decided it was so far out of the way that any would-be thieves would think twice about even trying to make an attempt to get to it. Either way, the sculpture was right there in front of her.

It looks so shiny! She just needed to reach out and grab the sculpture. But perhaps the pedestal itself was booby-trapped?

After thinking it over, she decided to throw caution to the wind and, just as she did with the Sapphire Statue, grabbed the ice sculpture with her mouth and stuffed it in her pith helmet.

She had just begun to canter away when she felt the mountain rumble.

The floor of the temple began to crack and steam shot through the cracks. Scooting Do facehoofed.

“Why do I keep doing this?!”

Scooting Do ran, but a crack opened up beneath her. A blast of steam tossed her through the temple gates. She then began to tumble a few yards down the face of the mountain.

Once she stopped, she looked back up at the temple, and it exploded. She clutched her helmet to her head as she felt the snow beneath her give way, and she began to slide down the mountain. Scooting Do was caught in an avalanche.

The rapidly moving snow would not give her enough purchase for her to launch herself into the air. She was forced to just pony-paddle in an effort to keep her head above the snow. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this one.

Suddenly, she noticed not too far below her an icy ledge that jutted out of the mountain’s face. She noticed it had a slight curve to it. It was a crazy idea, but it was just crazy enough to work.

Scooting Do got herself into the right position so that she would be headed right for that ledge, then braced herself. The snow pushed her down the mountain’s face, onto the ledge, and then the ledge launched her right into the air.

Once airborne, Scooting Do spread her wings and began to gently glide back down towards the jungle below.

“WOOHOO!” Scooting Do cried as she pumped her forelegs into the air in victory. “WOOHOO!”

She did it. She acquired the Everlasting Ice Sculpture of Snowdrop, escaped an avalanche, and now was on her way home safe and sound.

Scooting Do landed in a jungle clearing. She continued to whoop and holler over completing yet another successful adventure.

“Another day, another artifact recovered, all thanks to Scooting…”

The jungle before her exploded.

In place of where a number of trees had been now stood Scooting Do’s arch-nemesis, the dreaded Ahuizotl. Scooting Do immediately noticed something new about him. Instead of the golden torc he usually wore, Ahuizotl was wearing a gold medallion similar to the ones Princess Luna and Princess Celestia wore. At its center was a round blue crystal.

This was an artifact she had never encountered before. Nonetheless, Scooting had to focus. There was only one conceivable reason for Ahuizotl to be here.

“Ahuizotl!” Scooting Do yelled. “I knew you’d be after the Everlasting Ice Sculpture of Snowdrop!”

Ahuizotl merely laughed. The medallion around his neck began to glow with blue light. Scooting’s helmet was enveloped by a similar light as it was lifted off her head.

“Hey!” Scooting yelled. The ice sculpture floated out of her helmet and into Ahuizotl’s outstretched paw.

Scooting started to look worried. “How did you do that?”

Ahuizotl just laughed.

“I do not care for your trinket!” Ahuizotl growled. The medallion glowed once more and the ice sculpture melted away. Scooting’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks.

“That’s not supposed to melt!” Scooting exclaimed.

“What I want,” Ahuizotl said, his voice dripping with venom, “is the location of Prism Rush.”

“Prism Rush?” Now Scooting Do was confused. “My assistant who helped me destroy the Ring of Destiny to break your power over the Fortress of Talacon?”

“Si, si, si,” Ahuizotl cut her off as he waved his paw in a circle a few times. “Where is she?”

“What do you want with her?” Scooting asked. “She’s just my assistant.” She pointed at herself with a determined look. “I’m the one you want. I’m the hero of this story!”

Ahuizotl’s response was a malevolent cackle. “You think you are Daring Do.” He continued to laugh while he pointed at her. “You are not Daring Do! You are a worthless little filly playing pretend she is Daring Do!”

The medallion glowed once again and Scooting’s helmet and shirt disappeared. Scooting quickly covered herself with her forelegs, although Scooting did not normally wear clothes. Or rather Scootaloo did not normally wear clothes.

Wait! What’s going on here!? Scootaloo thought. She was shuddering in fear, her eyes were shifting from side to side.

“What is going on here,” Ahuizotl said, “is that this world is an illusion, and I am the illusionist. I am the one in control!”

Scootaloo suddenly found herself suspended before Ahuizotl’s face. He was holding Scootaloo by the scruff of her neck with the monkey paw on his tail. Scootaloo was caught in the stare of his cold, evil eyes.

“I can see your fears and your horrors and make them come true!” Ahuizotl said. “If you don’t tell me where Prism Rush is, I will send you to the Rainbow Factory!”

“NO!” Scootaloo cried in panic. She closed her eyes and started to tear up. “Please, no, anything but that!”

“Then tell me, where is Prism Rush!”

Scootaloo took a few deep, calming breaths. She opened her eyes once more and tried to look as determined as possible to stare down Ahuizotl.

“Prism Rush is a character from a book. She isn’t real. And neither are you. You aren’t real! And you can’t hurt me!” Scootaloo shot back.

Ahuizotl just chortled.

“Oh, she is much more real than you think, mija.” Ahuizotl leaned forward and stared back at her, licking his fanged overbite. “And so am I!”

There was a sudden burst of light, and then Scootaloo found herself dropping to the ground. She saw Ahuizotl fly back into the darkness of the jungle from whence he came.

Scootaloo stood up and looked behind her to see who her savior was. Behind her stood a night-blue alicorn princess, her sparkly night blue mane billowing behind her as if it were the night sky itself.

“Princess Luna!” Scootaloo cried in glee as she turned to face her princess. “I’m so glad to see you.”

Luna looked down at her. “Sleep peacefully, my little pony,” she said as her horned glowed.

With a pop, Scootaloo disappeared, leaving the dreamscape.

Luna turned back to the space Ahuizotl had previously occupied. “I know you are not merely a figment of a young filly’s imagination!” Luna yelled. It was not quite the Royal Canterlot Voice, but it was still pretty loud. “I command you to come forth and reveal to me what manner of night-haunt you are!”

Ahuizotl calmly strode out of the jungle. He smiled and began to chuckle quietly when he saw who it was.

Luna immediately saw the medallion around Ahuizotl’s neck. Luna’s mouth fell agape when she recognized what it was. “No, it can’t be.”

“Hola, Princesa,” Ahuizotl greeted in a faux affable manner. “It’s wonderful to see you again.”

Princess Luna reared up and fired a spell at the zenith of the sky above them. The sky exploded as sunlight overwhelmed the dreamscape.

It was the middle of the night at Canterlot Castle. Sleeping peacefully in her bed within her private chambers was of course Princess Celestia. She shifted slightly in her sleep and had quite the smile on her face.

“Oh Rockhoof,” Celestia mumbled in her sleep. “You really know how to treat a mare.”

“CELESTIA!”

Celestia awoke with a start, quickly covering her nude self with her blankets. After looking around, she realized she was alone, and sighed.

“Just another dream. Wait. Why did I wake up?”

A look of realization came upon her face as she remembered that she had heard her sister scream in the middle of the night.

Thunder clapped. Celestia turned with a start towards the source of the noise at the foot of her bed.

There stood Princess Luna, panting to catch her breath after her rather dramatic teleportation. Luna’s mane was also a bit bedraggled.

Celestia looked at her sister with worry. “Luna, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Ahuizotl!” Luna gasped as she continued to pant. “He has the Blue Moon Medallion!”