The Legend of Daring Do

Chapters

Daring Do and The Beginning
Daring Do and the Golden Oak
Daring Do and the Temple of Vines
Daring Do and the Legend of Redblood
Daring Do and the Legend of Minute Maker
Daring Do and the Silent Struggle
Daring Do and the World Beyond
Daring Do and the Legend of Free Fall
Daring Do and the Secret Untold
Daring Do and the Real Life Savior
Daring Do and the Legend of Slow Burn
Daring Do and the Words Left Unsaid
Daring Do and the Empty Desert
Daring Do and the End of Time
Daring Do and the Pictures on the Wall
Daring Do and the Hidden Hero
Daring Do and the Final Battle
Daring Do and The End
Rainbow Dash and the Legend of Daring Do
Daring Do and the World In Between

Daring Do and The Beginning

“I’m telling you, Rainbow, it’s a real thing.”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “Riiiiiiight,” I say. “Because obviously the first thing you want to do with a Hearth’s Warming gift is give it away.”

“See, that’s the trick! You don’t know if it’s going to be a great gift or a horrible one! That’s the game!” Cloud Kicker rummages through her locker before pulling out a rubber chicken. “See? You might get Wonderbolts tickets, or you could get this. Now if you got this, wouldn’t you want to trade it off?”

“Give it up, Cloud.” Blossomforth chuckles. “I don’t think you’ll ever convince us that a ‘While Elephant’ is a real thing.”

“White Elephant,” Cloud Kicker replies, shoving the chicken back into her locker. “And come on, Rainbow! Where’s your holiday spirit?”

From behind us another voice scoffs. “Cloud, you know how Rainbow feels about Hearth’s Warming.” Raindrops brushes past us, glaring at Cloud as she leaves.

“Oh, mark my words,” Cloud Kicker mutters. “I have five days. That’s plenty of time to convince you!”

I laugh at that. “Keep trying, Cloud.” With that, I turn around and leave the locker room. The weather dispatching center isn’t all that big or grand, but it does the job just fine. The pegasi from the previous shift are filing out, waving goodbyes as they take to the sky and head on home.

“Ready, boss?” Blossomforth asks as she trots up to my side.

I nod, and the two of us spread our wings and fly off.

Blossomforth’s fairly new to Ponyville, having moved in from Cloudsdale a few months ago. It kind of became a thing for her to follow me home after our shift. It started after her first day, as she asked me all sorts of questions about the town, the job, and everything else in between.

It was kind of annoying at first. Mostly because she slowed me down. But hey, eventually it became a little tradition for us to head home together, since my house is on her way and all. And it’s always nice to know that someone looks up to you.

As Blossom launches into some story, I absently tune her out, thinking about what Raindrops said earlier. It’s not really that I hate Hearth’s Warming, it’s just kind of a rough time for me. I mean, yeah, it’s been three years, so I guess I’m over it, but it’s still weird to think about it.

I try to shake off my thoughts and focus on the watermelon-maned pegasus flying next to me.

“Anyways, that’s around the point where I realized Cloud Kicker is an idiot. I know you warned me about her, but still, she never ceases to amaze me. Uh, you alright, Rainbow?” Blossomforth tilts her head to stare at me.

I shake my head and clear my throat. “Yeah, I’m always fine, Blossom. I’m more than fine, in fact I’m great. And yeah, I told you Cloud isn’t the brightest tool in the shed… or, uh, sharpest.”

Blossomforth rolls her eyes at that statement. “Well said, Rainbow.”

“I know, I’m like the best at saying things.” Better change the topic. “How’s Ponyville for you so far?”

“Oh, it’s fine. It’s taking some getting used to, but I think it’s growing on me.” We begin to descend, with my house appearing in the distance.

Squinting, I spot a gray pegasus waiting outside. She waves at us as we land. “Hey, Ditzy,” I say, “what’s hanging?”

“Hiya, Rainbow! Hi, Blossom!” Ditzy digs around in her bag, a few letters falling out in the process. “Glad I caught you! I got a package for you! Couldya sign here?”

I nod and take the pen she offers me in my mouth, scribbling my signature on her clipboard. She hoofs me the package.

“There’s also a letter that came with it,” Ditzy says as she passes me the envelope. I’m a bit surprised she managed to keep them together, given her track record.

“Who’s it from?” Blossomforth asks.

My eyes just skim the address, but I recognize it instantly. “My parents,” I tell them. I open the letter and read it to myself.

Dear Rainbow,

I was cleaning the house the other day and I found some of your sister’s things. Your mother and I both thought that you might know what to do with them. Consider it our early Hearth’s Warming gift, I suppose. Can’t wait to see you soon.

Lots of love,

Dad.

I blink, taking it in. “Huh. Dad says he found some of my sister’s old things.”

Blossom’s face lights up. “I didn’t know you have a sister!”

Ah, crud. That’s right, she doesn’t know. Ditzy flinches at that statement, and I realize I better clear it up quickly. “I, uh, had a sister,” I say awkwardly, eyes falling to the cloud underneath me.

Blossom’s eyes widen in dread. “Oh! Rainbow, I’m sorry--”

I wave my hoof in the air. “It’s fine, Blossom, you didn’t know. She died before you moved here.”

“What happened?” she asks.

“It… it was stupid. She was visiting some ancient ruins in a mountain range or something, then there was a rockslide. They say it, uh, came out of nowhere… and she tried to get everyone out, but... “

Blossomforth cuts me off by hugging me. “Rainbow, I’m so sorry! You don’t have to talk about it, I shouldn’t have asked.”

I tense a little bit at the contact. “Hey, it’s fine. It’s been three years. The anniversary’s actually in three days. Kinda sucks that it’s so close to Hearth’s Warming, you know? Kills the mood a little bit.”

“I’m sure your sister was a great pony,” Blossomforth says.

“Yeah, I guess she was,” I reply.

Ditzy nods, hugging me as well. “Hey, if you ever need to talk to anypony, we’re here.”

It’s a little too much contact for my taste. “Yeah, thanks guys. But it’s been three years, I’m fine.”

Blossomforth nods and steps back. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, Rainbow!”

I return the nod and watch as they both fly away. I tuck the package under my wing and head inside. A frown slips on my face as soon as I step through the doorway. Has it really been three years? I guess I never thought about it until I said it to Blossom. I sigh, wondering where all the time has gone. Why does that package feel so heavy?

I make my way upstairs to my bedroom, gingerly putting it on my nightstand. I collapse on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Three years. Three years since I last saw my sister. Three years ago some stupid accident took her away.

But I’m fine. I told that to Blossom, and I meant it. Because it’s been three years. I’m over it. Aren’t I? Wait, if I am over it, then why do I still hate Hearth’s Warming? Is it because every time it comes, I think of her? Am I scared of it?

No. No way. I’m Rainbow fricking Dash, the bravest, most awesomest pony in Equestria. I’m not scared of some old memories. It’s in the past, idiot. It can’t hurt you.

With newfound confidence, I swing my legs off the bed and head to the table. I tear open the package and take a deep breath before looking inside. Almost immediately my ears droop in disappointment. A few books and papers stare back at me.

Great. All that worry for some books. Then again, this ismy book-loving sister, so I probably should have seen this coming. I pick up the first book, turning it over in my hooves. I’m no expert on books by far, but this one seems different.

I flip it open to a random page and notice that the book looks like it was mouth-written. There are notes scribbled in between the lines on top of that, and numbers and words dot the margins. There are also some small pieces of paper clipped to the pages with paperclips.

I shut the book to look at the cover. “The Legend of Daring Do,” I read aloud. Not the best of titles, I chuckle to myself. My eyes go to the bottom of the cover to find the author’s name and my heart stops. “A novel by Daring Dash.”

That gets me. Daring always wanted to be a writer, as much as I wanted to be a Wonderbolt. It was all she would talk about those days. It seemed like she always had some story she wanted to tell.

I shake off the memory and open the book again. A note was tucked in between the cover and the first page. ‘Twilight: Read me,’ it says.

Twilight? Why would she leave a note for her? My eyes drift to a framed photo on my desk.

My sister stares back at me, with her red eyes watching me through her gray toned mane, daring the world to take her on.

That settles it then. I shove the book in my saddlebags and head for the library. “Alright, Sis. What else are you hiding from me?”

Daring Do and the Golden Oak

I don’t often frequent the library. I just never understood the appeal of reading books. Of course, Twilight would probably hit me if I ever said that to her. She does literally live in the library after all.

The Golden Oak Library is hard to miss, given the fact it’s a giant tree. Yeah, I don’t know either. Twilight tried to explain it to me once, but I lost her when she started talking about ‘sym-bi-osis’ or something. I only remember the word because it sounds kinda funny.

Anyways. I find her sitting at one of the tables surrounded by books, a blob of purple in a sea of paper.

Her ears perk up as she hears me approaching. “Hey, Rainbow!” she answers me in a quieter voice, probably hoping not to disturb the other patrons of the library.

“Hey, Twi, you got a minute?”

Twilight nods, closing the book she was reading. “Sure. Spike can watch the library for a bit.” She gestures for me to follow and leads me to the back of the library and up the stairs into her quarters.

We enter her living room, which consists of a few couches and a coffee table. “I’ll go make some tea,” Twilight says. “Make yourself at home.”

I nod and throw myself onto the couch, shrugging off my saddlebags. I take out the book again and run a hoof over the cover. I can almost hear my sister’s voice as she eagerly told me about her newfound love for writing.

“Look, Sis,” she said, “I got a smiley face on my story! The teacher even told me it was very well done!” She smiled with as much pride and joy as if she had just been accepted into the Wonderbolts.

That thought brought a smile to my face for a second. “Those were the days.”

Twilight returns, levitating a tray of tea. “Okay, what did you want to talk about?”

I hoof the book over to Twilight. “My dad sent me some of my sister’s stuff. This book was amongst it, and it had your name on a note. Do you know anything about it?”

Twilight holds the book carefully, as if she might break it. “Hm. I can’t say I do, Rainbow. But it looks like she wrote this by mouth. You said my name was on it?”

“It’s on a note on the first page.”

She opens the book and unfolds the note, reading it silently to herself. Her eyes widen as she finishes. “Oh!”

“What’s up?”

Twilight blinks, setting the book and paper down on the table. “Well, Daring asked me something years ago, back when I first arrived in Ponyville. We didn’t talk much, but she was really interested in spells.”

I nod. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”

Twilight sighs, shaking her head. “She was one of the brightest ponies I knew, Rainbow. She showed me some of her works. Her writing skills were remarkable, and her knowledge of history was almost as good as mine. I swear, the first time I read one of her essays, I thought I was reading a master’s thesis on the study of rhetoric and understanding in the modern sphere of life.”

I have no idea what the last sentence meant, but I’ll just assume she’s saying that Daring was smart. “What did the note say?”

“Daring and I used to talk a lot. She asked me about false reality illusionary spells and the plausibility of setting up temporary worlds in which--” She pauses, noticing my expression. “Sorry. Basically, she wanted to know if I could bring a story to life.”

I think about that for a second, drinking my tea. “Yeah, sounds like something she’d do.”

Twilight turns her attention back to the book. “I remember telling her it might be possible, but it’d be much easier if the caster could simply follow a script instead of making it up as they went along. The stress of keeping up such an illusion would have been taxing enough, not to mention the improvisational and creative skills required to--”

I jump in, because if I don’t, Twilight will go on for hours. “So did it work?”

“I don’t know. The last time we spoke, Daring said she might need my help with something.” She holds up the book. “I think this is what she was talking about. This might be her manuscript, something that a spellcaster could follow to create a world.” Her eyes light up in excitement. “Oh my gosh! This could be it! Oh, the possibilities!”

“So what you’re saying is that my sister wrote this script thing? And with magic you can make it real?”

Twilight nods. “Pretty much.”

I snort and roll my eyes. “Sounds kind of stupid. What’s the point if none of it’s real?”

The look Twilight gives me almost scares me. “Rainbow, there’s something else. I think Daring wrote this with you in mind.”

That made me freeze. “What do you mean?”

“The note gives me instructions as to how to set up an adventure. It mentions you by name.”

I hesitate before responding. “So… she wrote this story for me?”

“More than that. She wants you to go on an adventure.”

I rub the back of my head. “I don’t know, Twi. I mean, I remember Daring would always talk about how she wanted to go on some crazy adventure, but I never understood that. I always thought it was just a phase or something, and eventually she’d grow up and be… normal.”

Twilight lays a hoof on my shoulder reassuringly. “Rainbow, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but for what it’s worth, I think Daring really wanted you to do this.”

There’s a thought. The more I think about it, the more I think that Twilight’s right. This does sound like something my crazy sister would do. I can almost hear her voice in my ear, urging me to go out and take an adventure with her.

An adventure. That was all life was to her. One big adventure. I could never figure it out. But I did remember the last thing she would say before leaving on some research expedition. “Don’t worry, it’ll be an adventure!”

And she did ask me to go with her. So many times. But… I never did. And that was one of my biggest regrets. I guess I just never found the time. Sure, it was fun when we were young, but I guess I just got busy. Maybe this is a chance for me to do her right? A chance to make up for all the times I called her writing ‘stupid’. A chance for not spending enough time with her.

Or maybe not. It’s just a stupid book, after all. But what matters is that she wrote it, and she’s not here now, but this book is.

“Okay,” I finally say. “What do I have to do?”

Twilight smiles at me. “You really don’t have to do anything, I’ll be doing most of the work. You just have to react to what happens however you want. Oh, and remember that this is all just imaginary. It’s an illusion. You won’t be hurt or killed, and whatever you see isn’t real. I can also stop the action whenever it gets too intense.”

I scoff, rising from the couch. “Too intense? Twi, come on, I’m Rainbow Dash. I don’t think a book is going to be too intense for me.”

Twilight rolls her eyes. “Okay, Rainbow. Ready?”

I nod and Twilight’s horn lights up. The world around us fades away.

Daring Do and the Temple of Vines

I blink and the library is gone. In fact, everything is gone. I’m standing in a plain white world, with nothing stretching into every single direction.

“Wow. This is quite the adventure,” I deadpan.

“One more thing,” Twilight’s voice says. I look around but fail to find her. “Daring wrote in her notes that you need to take this seriously, no matter how silly you think it is. This spell will also grow stronger based on the faith of the participant, so the harder you try, the easier it is on me.”

I shrug. “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

I turn around again and spot a writing desk stacked high with books. There’s a pony seated at it, intently studying a book. I roll my eyes and approach her. “So, who are you?”

The words barely leave my mouth when she suddenly slams me to the floor.

I gasp for air as my senses realign themselves. The first thing I see is the sharp end of a blade aimed right at my throat. Then I see the pony wielding the blade and my heart stops. “D-Daring?”

The mare standing over me is a spitting image of her. The black and gray mane, the dark green coat… it looks exactly like her. But it can’t be her. Because she’s dead.

She blinks and jumps up in surprise, hovering in the air. “Rainbow? What the hay are you doing here?”

I scramble to my hooves, growling. “Twilight, this isn’t funny!”

There’s a sigh to my right, and Twilight appears next to me. The form of the pony who isn’t my sister is still there, hovering in the air in shock. “I’m just doing what the instructions are telling me to do,” Twilight says.

“Then what the hay is the meaning of that?” I ask, pointing a hoof at my not-sister.

Twilight rolls her eyes. “Rainbow, it’s not your sister. It’s her character. I skimmed Daring’s notes, and she plays a pretty important part in this story, so if you want to do this, you’ll have to get used to her.”

“But how?” I rub my face with my hooves. Maybe this was a mistake after all. “She’s not my sister! She’s just some… magic illusion thing!”

“Why don’t you just think of her as your sister?” Twilight suggests. “For all intents and purposes, I think this character was a self-insertion. It’s a representation of your sister reflected in the story.”

I hesitate. “So… you’re saying it’s really her?”

“Basically, sure.”

I take a deep breath, shaking my head. “Okay. Okay, fine.” This already isn’t off to a great start, I think to myself.

Twilight disappears again and I take another look at my… sister.

The first thing I notice is that her clothes are weird. She’s wearing a light green vest of some kind, along with a ridiculous tan helmet with a brown band around it. It also looks like she’s got some knives or something taped to her hooves.

“Uh… you mind putting those away?” I venture, pointing to the blades.

Daring blinks. “Oh, right.” She lands, striking her forehooves down on the ground and pushing the blades back into their sheaths. I see now that the knives aren’t taped to her forelegs, but instead she’s wearing some kind of strap that can hide them.

She hesitantly walks up to me. “So… what are you doing here?”

“Dad sent me this book you wrote, and--” I groan, shaking my head. “This is too weird. I mean, I’m talking to my dead sister for Celestia’s sake.”

Daring’s face lights up suddenly. “Oh! You found a book, huh? Well, I guess that means you’ve decided to go on an adventure with me!”

“Uh, sure. Something like that.”

That earns me a glare. “Look, if you’re going to do this, I need you to promise you’ll take it seriously.”

I let loose a harsh laugh. “Seriously? How can I take this seriously? You’re not even real, just some magic thing that Twilight made up.”

My sister crosses her forelegs, scowling at me. “See, this is exactly the reason I never told you about this. Because I knew you wouldn’t take it seriously. You know what, why don’t you just leave if you think this is so stupid?”

That hurts me. I did call her obsession with books stupid back in the day, didn’t I? Great, how many more mistakes is this illusion thing going to call me out on? “Okay, fine, I’ll take it seriously,” I grumble. “What are we doing?”

“First things first, ground rules. I am not Daring Dash. I am Daring Do, world-famous adventurer and renowned hero!” She strikes a pose and smirks.

“Also super humble,” I snark.

“Oh, you’re on to talk about being humble,” she shoots back.

“What’s that supposed to--”

“Anyways,” she cuts in, “I am searching for an ancient treasure lost to ponykind: the Amulet of the Forgotten, an ancient pendant said to capture the souls of those who pass too early. It is said to be guarded by a being called Pentagony, a spirit with five-souls that can take any shape or form.”

I gape at her before facehoofing. “This is so cheesy.”

I flinch as Daring suddenly punches my shoulder. “Are you going to bucking help me or not?”

“Yeah, fine. Just tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

Daring grumbles something under her breath, but turns back to her desk. Twilight’s voice fills the room. “Imagine yourself in a forest, somewhere far outside of Equestria. The sun is shining high above the treetops, and branches and leaves crack underneath your hooves. Trees tower above you in every direction, with vines dangling from high above...”

As she speaks, the white room changes into the place she describes. Animals cry out from somewhere inside the forest. Like Twilight said, there are trees all around us, taller than any skyscraper in Manehattan. A few flies buzz past my ear, and some bird cries out from deep within. Daring pushes past me. “Try and keep up. You stand out like a cat at a dog show, and I doubt you’d last against some of the forest creatures.”

“Please,” I scoff. “As if some monkey could stop me.”

“Suit yourself.” Daring flicks both of her forelegs out, and her blades slide out. She hacks her way through the vines, making a path through the brush. I follow behind, all the while taking in the forest.

I wasn’t expecting it to feel so… real. I know that magic’s pretty powerful, but I never expected that it could do this.

I turn to the illusion-pony-thing. “So, what exactly are you?”

Daring grunts. “I’m Daring Do, I told you.”

I roll my eyes. “No, I mean really. You can’t be my sister because she’s dead. So who are you?”

She suddenly freezes at that, and I almost crash into her. “Don’t say that, okay?” Her voice is a lot quieter than it was before. “I’m not really… over being dead. It’s weird to think about. So just… don’t say that.”

That makes me raise an eyebrow. “Wait, aren’t you just some made-up character? I thought you were just Twilight, reading off some script. How do you know that-”

“Well, I’m not, okay? Or maybe I am. I just…” she trails off before taking a deep breath. “And no. There’s no ‘script.’ Just instructions for Twilight. How to set up the scene, what’s there, that stuff.”

There’s a bit of awkward silence. “So what are you?”

She thinks for a long time before answering. “Nopony important, I guess.” With that, she continues on, like nothing happened.

We keep walking in silence. I try to ask her more questions about what she is, but she brushes them off without answering. Giving up, I try to change the subject. “So, I didn’t know you wrote these things in your freetime.”

“Yeah, mostly because I never told you. I mean, I would have eventually, it’s just… I don’t know. Stuff happened.”

My eyes drop to the dirt beneath us. “Yeah, I guess.”

A bit more silence passes between us. “So… how is everything? You know, with mom and dad and all that,” she asks.

I blink. “Oh, they’re fine. They’re actually coming to visit me soon.”

“Right, Hearth’s Warming is coming up and all.” She looks like she’s about to ask me something else, but she hesitates. “That’s good to hear, I guess.”

I can’t help but notice how… natural she looks. Even while she’s talking she doesn’t miss a beat, slashing through the vines and plants in front of her. It’s like she’s her own rhythm. I can’t see her face from back here, but I can picture that fierce determined look in her eyes. The same one she carried around whenever she set her mind to something.

“Keep your head on a swivel,” she suddenly says aloud. “Not a clue what’s out there.” She pauses, as if realizing something. “What’s your name, by the way?”

I raise an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean? My name’s Rainbow Dash, duh.”

“No, stupid. I meant your adventuring name.”

A loose leaf whacks me in the face. I curse and swat it aside before answering. “My what?”

Daring sighs in annoyance. “You know. Here my name is Daring Do, not Daring Dash.”

I think about that for a second. “So what’s my nerdy name?”

“I’m sorry I asked,” she mutters.

I can’t help but laugh. “Sorry, Sis, but I think I’ll stick with my real name. Can’t think of an awesomer name than Rainbow Dash after all.”

“And does the awesome mare Rainbow Dash want a weapon?”

That makes me raise an eyebrow. “Why? Are you expecting trouble?”

Daring ducks underneath a low hanging tree branch. “Maybe,” she says vaguely.

“Please, I can beat anything here with my bare hooves,” I say with a toss of my head.

Daring just rolls her eyes again. Dad always said that eye-rolling was a habit we both picked up from mom. “Well, just in case your awesomeness isn’t enough, you better take this.” She pulls a small knife and a sling from her pack and passes it to me.

I realize then that we’ve reached a clearing. There’s a pretty big stone temple lying in a field in front of us. A ring of trees surround it, stretching far into the sky. Sunlight breaks through the clouds in rays, throwing some light over the temple and bathing it in a yellow light. All in all it looks pretty peaceful.

“There it is,” Daring says. “The Temple of the Vines.”

I scoff. “Really, Temple of the Vines? Sounds kinda lame.”

Daring sighs in annoyance. “Well, it was just a placeholder name. I was going to name it something else, but… you know, I kind of died.”

That puts a damper on the conversation. Daring recovers pretty quickly though. “Um, yeah. Temple of Vines.”

“Right,” I say. I tie the sling around my chest and trot off towards it when Daring calls out after me.

“Rainbow, wait--”

Before I can turn around again to face her, something slams into my side, knocking me to the ground. I scramble to my hooves. Behind me, four weird-looking plant things shoot up out of the ground. Vines and tendrils are spiraling around, shooting out of their bodies as they take a form that vaguely resembles ponies. I can see bits of dead leaves and flowers interwoven into their coats, with grass and plants sticking out of their heads. Instead of eyes they’ve got holes in their faces, a white light shining out from inside.

“What in the world--” One of the vine things snarls. A vine shoots out of its side and I narrowly dodge it. “What the hay is that?”

“You are suddenly attacked by Divines,” Twilight’s voice says. “Divines are creatures said to live forever and have a physical form of plants and vines.” As she’s talking, the other Divines form a circle around me, hissing and spitting at me. “Said to be possessed by a divine spirit of the forest, Divines are fragile but dangerous beings--”

“How do I kill them?!” I dodge as another vine-arm lashes out at me.

“Oh! Divines are vulnerable to bladed weapons,” Twilight says.

I nod and grab the knife in my mouth, dropping to a lower position. I look around for my sister but don’t see her. “Alright, let’s do this.” I shoot up to the sky to get some distance.

I look behind me to see a bunch of vines shooting out after me, closing in quickly. I do some quick maneuvering and manage to lose most of them, but one stubborn vine keeps following. I whirl around and slash at it with the blade in my mouth. I cut the tip off of it, sending it falling to the ground.

I smirk. Stupid plants, think they can beat me! I turn my attention back to the other vines. One slashes at me, but it’s way too slow to be a real threat. I cut the tip off, and the Divine screams at me.

Before I can do anything else I feel something wrap against my back hoof. I curse, realizing one of the vines got past me. I reach to cut it off, but before I can another vine latches around my right forearm. The next thing I know there’s vines all over my body, pulling me down. I hit the ground with a grunt, still clenching the knife in my teeth.

Suddenly the tension snaps and one of the Divines hisses in pain as Daring cuts one of the vines off with her knife. I scramble up to my hooves and fly up to her side as the other Divines regroup.

“What happened to beating them with your hooves?” she teases.

I growl at her. “What took you so long?”

“Just stand back and let me handle this,” she says. With a maniacal grin she dives towards them. Another vine lashes out at her, but she banks to the right and dodges.

Her speed is crazy. Soon she’s right on top of them, slashing out the vines that attack her as she flies.

With a quick swipe she lops off the head of the first Divine. It staggers backwards, and Daring plungers her knife-sword-thing deep into its body. It stumbles before collapsing in a heap.

Seeing her fight is… weird. It just goes against the image I had of her. I just remember her as awkward and kind of nerdy. As the mare who would say “Thanks, you too,” after you said “Hello.” Now I’m watching her fight off a bunch of vine monster things.

The second Divine gives up trying to grab her and charges forwards instead. Daring dodges and lashes out at it, cutting it hard down the side.

The third and fourth push together. Just as I figure I better go help her, Daring shoots up into the air and comes down hard on the Divine on her right. At the same time she plunges her knives into the head of the left one and slicing downwards.

Then she sticks both blades into the body of the one under her. The Divine staggers about before collapsing onto the ground. With a satisfied nod, Daring gets off the body and adjusts her helmet. From each pile of vines a small blue orb rises. The orbs turn and flee into the forest.

Daring takes a few calming breaths and retracts her blades. She adjusts her helmet and turns to me with a smirk. “See? Easy.”

I open my mouth and close it again. My brain just can’t… I… what?

Daring just winks at me. “What, jealous of my fighting prowess?”

“That… Ugh, Twilight!”

There’s a light pop, and my friend appears next to me. “What, Rainbow?”

I huff in annoyance and cross my forelegs. “You’re getting her all wrong.”

Twilight rolls her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

I point a hoof accusingly at Dar--the pony that’s not my sister. “That isn’t her at all!”

“Well of course I’m not, stupid! I’m Daring Do!” She slams a hoof to her face, shaking her head.

That catches me off guard. I kind of figured that the pony would just freeze now that Twilight isn’t controlling her. Not-Daring folds her arms and sticks her tounge out at me.

Weirdly enough, Twilight doesn’t seem to notice. “Rainbow, I know that this might not be how you remember your sister. I certainly don’t remember her doing anything this… violent, but I’m going off of what the book says.” Twilight shudders a little bit. “And even if the Divines aren’t ponies, that scene was a little bit… too much.”

Not-Daring rolls her eyes. “Pansies,” she mutters. “Just can’t handle my awesomeness.”

I groan and put a hoof to my face. “Fine, fine. Let’s just keep going.”

Twilight disappears again, and I approach Daring. “Okay, congrats. You beat up a bunch of plants. Can we get on with it?”

My sister rolls her eyes. “Fine, killjoy.” She leads the way towards the temple. It looks pretty small, built in the shape of a pyramid. It reminds of the pictures they used to show as schools, of the ancient pony tribes that used to live in Equestria. The stones look old and cracked, worn with age. There’s two large stone statues of armored ponies on the side of the entrance.

“Remember, Sis, head on a swivel,” Daring says. “In places like this, you just don’t know--”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” I reply. I trot forwards, past the two statues.

“Rainbow, look--”

I barely hear her warning when something heavy connects with the back of my head.

Daring Do and the Legend of Redblood

When I open my eyes, I’m staring at a stone ceiling. Which confuses me because I don’t really remember closing them. My head is pounding like I just flew full speed into a brick wall. I try to sit up, but can’t find the strength.

What the hay happened? All I remember is seeing something lunge at me, then my sister yelling something. And why does it hurt so much? This isn’t even real!

I keep repeating that thought in my head, but it doesn’t make the pain go away. My ear twitches when I suddenly hear voices. Opening my eyes, I find myself lying on a creaky old bed in a dark room. There’s a closed window on the right wall letting in some light. The floor and walls are made of wood, with shelves filled with weird objects surrounding me. I turn my head to the right and see a door slightly open.

“... surprised you took on somepony new before you asked us,” a voice is saying. I don’t recognize it. My heart starts pumping faster when I realize that I have no idea where I am, or who’s outside.

“Well, you would too if you were in my position.” I hear Daring’s voice and calm down a little bit. “Trust me, she’s a good pony.”

“I’ve heard that one before,” grumbles the other voice. “And how good can she be? She barely survived ten seconds with you!”

Hey! Jerk.

The door opens and my sister enters. She’s chuckling and shaking her head. “You worry too much. She’ll be fine. Speaking of which, how are you feeling, Rainbow?”

I groan. “Oh, I feel great,” I deadpan. “What happened?”

“You got knocked out by the statue. You know, the one guarding the door?”

“You’re telling me that thing was alive?”

The other pony behind her scoffs. “If a moving statue is enough to surprise you, you sure aren’t ready for this.” The jerk-pony is wearing some sort of metal armor around her that covers her white coat. And she’s judging me with her seedy blue eyes.

Daring coughs. “Rainbow, this is Mad Doc Redblood, an associate of mine. I brought you to her place after that statue knocked you out.”

“Do not call me that,” Redblood snaps. “If you know what’s good for you, call me Redblood.”

My sister breaks out laughing. “Don’t listen to Red,” she says. “She’s just a big grump.”

Redblood rolls her eyes and scoffs. She goes over to one of the shelves in the room. A metal arm suddenly extends from the back of her armor and pulls a heavy book off the shelf. “Rightfully so. Anypony who spends as much time dealing with you would be a grump.”

“That’s not true and you know it,” Daring says.

“Hey, can you stop arguing? It’s doing my head in,” I grumble.

“Oh, quiet. You don’t even have a concussion, so quit your whining,” Redblood snaps before exiting.

I sigh, staring up at the ceiling. “What kind of a doctor is she?”

Daring rolls her eyes and pulls up a chair. “You’ll get used to her.”

I raise an eyebrow at that, but don’t say anything.

In the silence, Daring’s grin slowly slips off her face. She takes off her helmet and starts playing with it. “So, about some of the stuff you said earlier.”

“What stuff?”

She shifts in her seat. “You know. The stuff about me not being your sister.”

I sit up on the bed. “What do you mean? You’re not my sister, you’re just some thing that Twilight made.”

That makes her flinch. “Is that really all you think of me?”

Great. Now I feel bad about insulting her. “Look, it’s just hard for me right now, okay? I haven’t seen you in years, and then all of a sudden you appear again, and… and I just don’t know what to think,” I say.

She nods absently. “Yeah, I guess. But, like, about all the stuff you said. Was that really how you saw me? That I wasn’t capable of doing all this?”

I don’t really know how to respond to that. Daring’s confidence from earlier is gone now. She just looks hurt.

“Hey, don’t get me wrong. You’re pretty cool and all, especially when you were fighting those vine things. It’s just like I said, I’m just having a hard time dealing with all of this right now.”

That seems to settle her. She smiles and nods. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“So what was in that temple, anyways?”

Daring smirks. “Oh, right. After you got knocked out I had to go through a trapped hallway, narrowly avoid a pitfall, pass a sphynx--”

I sigh, my headache returning. “Did you find the stupid amulet or not?”

“Oh, the amulet wasn’t there,” she says nonchalantly.

I blink. “Then why did we go there?”

She just shrugs and smiles. “I wanted to see if you were really going to take this seriously.”

“So I got knocked out for nothing?”

Daring stands and shrugs again. “Your words, not mine.” With a wink, she leaves the room.

I grunt and swing my legs off the bed to go after her. It takes me a bit to get my balance back, but soon I’m trotting out of the dark room Redblood stuck me in.

Exiting the room, I find myself in some sort of workshop. There’s bits and pieces of machinery everywhere, and a huge board with tools mounted to it takes up the far wall. In between the metal pieces are papers with scribbled figures, and charts of all kinds. It reminds of Twilight’s study, except with a lot less books and a lot more pointy things.

Curious, I approach one of the devices and reach out to it.

“Don’t touch that.”

I whirl around and unfurl my wings in defense. I somehow missed Redblood sitting at one of the cluttered desks, wearing some weird thing over her eye while she fiddles with a small machine.

“Why not?”

Redblood rolls her eyes. “If you’ve got a death wish, then go ahead and touch it. Not my problem.”

“For a doctor you have horrible bedside manner.”

Redblood scowls at me. “Yeah? You’d be a little bit peeved if you’ve seen the things that I’ve seen.”

“You’re like Doctor Hooves, but a lot more grumpy.”

“Doctor who?”

I snort in amusement at that. “No, Doctor Hooves, but never mind. How do you know my sister?”

Redblood sighs, looking down at her work. “Your sister lives a dangerous life. She doesn’t always look out for herself, so sometimes it takes a pony like me to rein her in. Deep down I know her heart’s in the right place, but…” She glances towards the door as she trails off. “I don’t know.”

That sounds surprisingly ominous. For a second I wonder what Redblood’s trying to tell me, but before I can figure it out, a shout interrupts us. “Red!”

Redblood jumps up and heads to the door, throwing it open.

I look outside to see a city road, and several other buildings across the street. The black roads and gray sidewalks reminds me of Canterlot, although the streets seem to be a lot wider. It’s dark out, with only a few streetlights providing light.

Redblood takes a step outside and freezes. It’s not hard to see why.

Daring is hoovering in the street outside. She’s surrounded by… herself? Sure enough, there’s a crowd of about five or six other Darings.

“What the buck is this,” Redblood mutters in disbelief.

One of the Darings points at the other. “She’s a fake!”

That Daring snarls and flares out their wings defensively. “No, she is!”

“No, I’m real!”

Redblood just slams a hoof into her face. “Ugh. It’s too early for this.”

I raise an eyebrow, eyes darting in between the Darings. “What are we supposed to do? Ask them a question only the real one knows or something?”

The mare just shakes her head and grins. “I’ve got a better idea.” She presses a button on the console attached to her foreleg. A weird radar dish extends from the back of her armor.

Nothing happens at first. Then, all of the Darings suddenly cower down, covering their ears and hissing. All except for one. The real Daring gives a hoof pump. “Nice one!”

“Wait, what’s going on?”

“Changelings,” Redblood explains. “I used a sonic disruptor to mess with their frequencies. It doesn’t affect real ponies, but messes with the transformation process of--”

“That’s not how Changelings work,” Twilight’s voice interrupts. “I guess this is what Daring meant when she talked about creative liberties--”

“Twilight,” I hiss.

“Right, sorry.”

The fake Darings slowly get up, their coats and manes fading away until they don’t resemble ponies at all. Instead they look like giant oversized bugs. They hiss, spitting out some green stuff on the ground.

Redblood steps forwards. “Let’s dance.”

The first changeling spreads its wings and charges her. Redblood raises a hoof, and a blast of energy shoots out. It catches the changeling right in the chest and sends it flying backwards.

The other four surge forwards. Redblood lowers her stance and plants her hooves. She reaches behind her and pulls out a long metal rod, placing it in her mouth. As the second changeling attacks, she swings it hard, the rod making contact with its head.

It stumbles backwards, and Redblood takes the oppurtunity to smack it again on the side of the head. After knocking it down, she stomps on its chest and it screams out in pain. The final changeling hesitates, probably realizing that charging her down isn’t the best idea.

Daring and I both drop into defensive stances, daring it to make a move.

“Go on, git!” Redblood snarls.

With a hiss, it spreads its wings and flies away. Daring slaps Redblood on the back. “Way to go, Iron Mare!”

“Don’t call me that,” she snaps.

Daring just laughs. The way they talk almost reminds me of some of my own friends.

“So what are you looking for this time?” Redblood asks.

“The Amulet of the Forgotten,” Daring replies. “Said to be guarded by the fierce five-souled monster known as Pentagony.”

Redblood just shrugs. “Great. Where are we going next?”

“Wait,” I say, “you’re coming with us?”

“Of course,” Redblood says. “Somepony’s gotta patch up your wounds.”

I scoff. “As if I’d get hurt.”

“Statues,” Redblood coughs.

“That was one time!”

Daring comes in between us. “Break it up. Save the fighting for later. And to answer your question, we’ve got to go to the city museum. There’s something there that I need.”

With that, Daring heads off down the street, leaving Redblood and I to follow. As we head through the town, I can’t help but take in all the details. Everything from the bricks on the buildings to the clouds in the sky seem so real. There’s lights shining through the windows of buildings, and when the doors open I can hear bits of conversation flowing through. The street lights flicker as we pass, casting shadows in every direction. It’s hard to believe that everything’s just an illusion.

“So, you’re Daring’s sister, huh?” Redblood asks.

“Yeah, why?”

Redblood shrugs again. “She speaks highly of you.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. She’s doing this for you, you know.”

I stop in my tracks. “Doing what?”

Daring keeps walking, apparently oblivious that we stopped.

The mare waves a hoof around. “All of this. Yeah, she writes a lot, but she wrote this one for you. She could have gone anywhere in this world. And she might have gone alone, too.” Redblood’s face falls for a second. “That’s always been my worry for her. It took a long time for her to trust me. And she took you onboard in a heartbeat. I hope you know how important that is.” With that, she trots forwards.

The rest of our walk is in silence. Redblood’s busy brooding or something, and I have so many questions that I don’t even know what to ask. What does she mean by trust? And does she know that she isn’t real either? Why is she acting like she knows my sister better than I do?

Soon we stop at a huge building with several pillars in the front. The words ‘Museum’ are clearly written on the front of it. We head up the marble staircase and through the entrance.. Daring leads us through a bunch of glass cases and weird statues until we reach somepony’s office. She fishes a key out of her vest and unlocks the door.

The office is pretty cramped, with papers covering just about every available surface. The bookshelves are so full of books that they look like they’re about to fall off the wall. In a way it reminds me of Twilight’s study. “Is this your office?” I ask.

Daring scoffs. “Nah. It’s one of an… acquaintance of mine.”

She canters over to the desk and starts rifling around before finding a sheet of paper. “Here we go.”

“Wait, so you’re stealing something?”

“Stealing something back,” Daring replies. “I had this map for ages, then some horrible pony pinched it from me. They thought they got away, but I just never had the time to deal with them.”

Redblood nods sagely. “Not really theft if it’s your stuff.”

Daring points a hoof at her. “See! She gets me.”

Suddenly, the door opens. “What in blazes--Daring Do!”

My sister growls. “Dr. Cobble Iron.”

Daring Do and the Legend of Minute Maker

“Your group leaves the city, headed North,” Twilight’s voice says. “Far away from the stretches of civilization lies a wild, untamed land, filled with horrifying creatures and monsters…”

“The North Zone,” Daring cuts in. We’re suddenly standing on a mountainside, overlooking a very dark valley. It looks like there’s a city or something down there, but it keeps fading in and out of view.

Redblood frowns. “The North Zone? Why are we here, Daring?”

“We need to find three keys to unlock the temple of Pentagony,” Daring explains. “One of the keys is located somewhere here, in the Valley of Shadows.”

“What’s so dangerous about the North Zone?” I ask, confused.

Daring sighs. “It’s inhabited by Shadows, weird beings who can phase through objects. They’re almost impossible to fight physically, which is why I asked for assistance.”

“Another acquaintance of yours?” Redblood asks.

“Think more like you and less like Cobble Iron,” my sister smirks.

“Oh, if I were anything like Redblood I think I’d kill myself!” We all turn to see a blue unicorn heading towards us. She’s wearing some more traditional armor, with red and gold highlights on it. Judging by the sword hanging from her side, I’d say she’s a royal guard.

Daring smiles and trots over to her. They exchange a quick hug.

“Minute Maker,” Redblood says neutrally. “You’re still alive.”

“Same to you, you old nag!” The mare named Minute Maker then turns to me. “And who’s this?”

“This is Rainbow Dash, my sister,” Daring replies. “She’s going to help us. Do you have a plan?”

Minute Maker just smiles. “Oh, don’t I always? Pleasure to meet you. So what’s it like, living with a legend like Daring?”

I blink. “Huh?”

“Hasn’t Daring told you about all of the things she’s done? Remember that one time in--”

“Don’t listen to her,” Daring cuts in. She glares at Minute. “She likes to talk.”

Minute just grins. “You should ask her about her adventures sometimes. Anyways, yes. I do have a plan!” She turns her attention to the city far below. “We can’t just run into the city blindly. That would be a death sentence since it would get the attention of every Shadow in the North Zone. I might be powerful, but I’m not that good. Luckily for you, being in the guard means that I’ve got some tricks in store.”

Redblood scoffs. “They haven’t kicked you out yet?”

“What can I say? I have the discretion to do whatever I want. Perks of being a free agent.”

Redblood rolls her eyes. “I refuse to believe that you make more bits than me,” she grumbles.

Minute reaches a hoof to her ear, and I realize she’s wearing some sort of earpiece. She presses a button on the side, and her horn lit up. An almost invisible beam shot out of it, landing somewhere in the city. “Warthog, this is Ground, requesting flyover on my mark.”

“This is Warthog, good copy. Strike inbound.”

Minute smirks. “You might want to cover your ears.”

“Why?” I ask. Minute just shrugs and gazes up at the sky. Squinting, I see two forms flying high in the sky, just below the clouds. They dive lower and lower until they’re almost above the city.

Then the sky explodes.

Or, that’s what it feels like. There’s a roaring noise that destroys my ears. From up above, lasers shoot out of the two figures, striking the city. Everywhere they hit, a massive tunnel of fire erupts, sending deafening explosions rocketing across. The ground shakes like a dragon just fell out of the sky.

I only flinch a little bit. “Geez,” Redblood says. “For everything Daring says about you, you scream like a filly.”

Okay, so maybe it caught me a little off guard. Daring laughs and walks over to me. “Get off the ground, Dash.”

She offers me a hoof, but I swat it away. I get up, waiting for the ringing in my ears to go fade before I speak. “What the hay was that?!”

Minute just grins at me. “That, my friend, is the power of the royal guards. Or, to be more technical, a specialized rig on a very fast pair of pegasi that just so happens to have two mounted weapons.”

Redheart gives a hoof-pump. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

Okay, she’s right, that was pretty awesome.

“Nothing like an air strike to get the adrenaline going,” Minute says. “That bought us some time by drawing the Shadows’ attention. We should move before they lose interest.”

Daring nods. “Right, let’s get a move on.” With that, she leads the way down the mountain, towards the town.

I pick myself off the floor and follow. Somehow, Minute Maker falls in step with me.

“Your sister is a pretty cool pony, you know!”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “Maybe. She’s not as cool as me though. Don’t you know I’m like the most awesomest pony in Equestria?”

Minute giggles. She winks at me. “Don’t let her hear that! Daring hates it when somepony cooler than her shows up!”

“Like you?”

“Well of course not! Daring would never hate me, I’m her friend!”

Redblood mumbles something and shoves past us.

Minute just sticks her tongue out at her. That gets a chuckle out of me. “Royal Guards, huh?”

“At your service! Well, I technically am a royal guard, but I’m a free agent. That just means I can do whatever I want.” A cold wind blows through my fur, sending some bits of snow flying around. The path down the mountain is lined with tall trees, all capped with white snow.

A twig snaps under my hoof. “How does that work?”

She winks at me again. “I can’t tell you! That’s classified!”

“Sounds like a cop-out to me,” grumbles Twilight’s voice. “The royal guards don’t have any sort of position resembling that...”

Minute Maker just giggles. “There she goes again. She never changes, does she?”

I blink in surprise. “You can hear her?”

She grins mischievously. “Why, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” With that, she swishes her tail and trots to catch up with Daring.

“..may resemble the position of an infiltrator, but that post was formally commissioned by Captain Battle Axe shortly after--”

“Twilight,” I hiss.

“Hm? Oh, sorry.” She clears her throat. “Soon your group approaches the city, which is eerily empty. Your group hears howling and the sound of wind, while strange shadows flicker in and out of reality.”

The city itself looks pretty normal, until the buildings start fading away. They reappear shortly after though, in this weird black haze. The mountains and trees surrounding the city stay still, moving slightly in the wind.

“Alright,” Minute says. Her tone suddenly goes from light to serious. “These things can seriously mess you up. Everypony needs to stay alert, and if you see something, let me deal with it.”

Redblood looks annoyed, but she only offers a grunt. Daring nods. “Don’t worry, Minute, I trust you.”

Something about that rubs me the wrong way, but I can’t really place it. I guess it bothers me that I’ve just met these ponies, and Daring trusts them more than she trusts me. But it makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, these are some of her close friends. Of course she’d trust them. So why is that making me… mad?

Minute’s face lights up again at that. “Alrighty! You know where you’re going?”

Daring nods. “I’ll know it when I see it.”

“Good enough for me.” Minute leads the way as we maneuver down the streets.

There’s a cold wind blowing through the town. It’s not a natural wind either. That much I can tell. Out of the corner of my eye I swear I see something move, but when I turn to look it’s gone. “What the hay is this place?”

“It’s said to be the City of Drifting. Once upon a time it was ruled by two powerful mages. Then there was a falling out between them, one left and the city fell apart. The citizens turned into spectres, shadows of who they once were,” Daring says grimly.

That sends a shiver down my spine. It’s probably the wind, but it just might be because this story just took a weird, dark turn.

All of a sudden something appears in the street. It’s like it just floated out of the ground. Minute stops suddenly, her horn glowing. It turns around, looking at us with hollow, cold eyes.

It looks like a pony, but it’s partially transparent. There’s a weird light behind its eyes that seem to fade in and out. It stares at us for a long time, before it turns and drifts down the street.

Minute exhales in relief. I didn’t even realize she was holding her breath. “Close one. Come on, let’s go.”

She leads us down the streets and alleyways, littered with trash and strange black objects. I swear I hear whispering around us, and I feel something staring at me from a building window. Of course, when I look there’s nothing there. Eventually we stop at some run-down building. There’s a huge iron fence around it, but the gates are wide open.

“Here’s the building,” Daring says. “Wait out here, this won’t take long.”

“No way, I’m going with you,” I say.

She holds up a hoof. “No, Rainbow, it’s dangerous.”

I shake my head. “So? I’ve faced worse! I beat Nightmare Moon for Celestia’s sake.”

Redblood snarls. “Listen here, there’s no time to act like a foal!”

“Who asked you?!”

“Hey!” We all flinch as Daring suddenly raises her voice. “Redblood’s right, we don’t have time to argue. If she wants to come, let her.”

Redblood opens her mouth to interject, but Daring cuts her off. “Red, I’ll be fine, trust me. I need you to hold the perimeter with Minute.” She shoots her a reassuring grin. “Please, Red. Trust me.”

Minute lays a hoof on Red’s shoulder. “Come on, Red. She’ll be fine, and we’ll be right here if she needs us.”

Redblood’s ears droop. “Fine. But I’m not dragging your body out of there if you die, alright?”

Daring just laughs and trots through the gate.

Something about that conversation rubs me the wrong way. I glance back to see Minute saying something to Redblood. Redblood shoots me a dirty look. I roll my eyes back at her and set off after my sister.

“What was that all about?” I ask.

“Redblood just cares a lot about my safety,” Daring answers. “Come on, I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.” With that, she leads the way down the hall.

The building’s dark and dusty, with the windows boarded up and weird stains all over the floors. I can barely make out some dark shapes covered in sheets, tucked away into the corners of the hallway. We enter a room at the far end of the hallway. “We’re looking for a simple metal key. Keep an eye out.”

“Uh, sure.” There’s a few boxes scattered about the place, along with some more weird covered objects and a desk at the far end of the room. The room looks eerily familiar. Daring moves to my right and pulls one of the sheets off to reveal an old faded couch underneath.

She tosses aside the cushions, then runs a hoof along the bottom of the couch.

“What’re you doing?” I ask.

“Checking for hidden compartments,” she says. “I don’t know where exactly it’s hidden, I just know that it’s here somewhere.”

“Didn’t you write this story? How do you not know where it is?”

Daring just gives a noncommittal shrug. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what’s going on anymore.”

I open one of the cardboard boxes and peer inside. Nothing. “What does that mean?”

“It means that I honestly have no idea what’s going on. You were right. I shouldn’t know that I’m dead. I’m not even supposed to be Daring Dash, I’m supposed to be Daring Do. And yes, there’s a difference.” She goes over to the next sofa and whips off the cover.

“What’s the difference?” I ask.

“The difference is that Daring Do doesn’t have a sister, Daring Do isn’t useless, and Daring Do didn’t die in some stupid accident three years ago.” She gives the couch a frustrated kick.

I give her a nervous glance. Where did all that anger come from? “So… you’re saying that you’re not supposed to know about your death?”

Daring sighs, turning her attention over to the wall. “I don’t know anymore. My research mainly said that the strength of the spell depended on the belief of the audience. So in essence, I’m who you want to see me as. And you apparently want to see me as more than some random pony who looks like your sister.”

“Wait, so you’re saying you know because I wanted you to know?”

“I’m saying that you want me to be real because… well I have no idea. But I’m not real. And that’s bothering me.” She pauses in front of a painting on the wall. “Ah.” Daring takes it off and sets it aside, revealing a small box hidden in a hole behind it. She takes out the box and opens it to reveal a small metal key. “Well, there we go.”

“Good,” I say. “So we can get out of here now?”

Daring looks up and suddenly freezes, her eyes going wide. “Rainbow, don’t move.”

I blink. “Why?” Suddenly I feel a shiver on my back. Instinctively I turn around, only to see one of the shadow-things standing right behind me. I lock eyes with it, staring into the empty white pits on its face.

Then the room around me starts fading away. There’s a noise that sounds like wind mixed with one of Pinkie’s balloons deflating as the Shadow stares into me. I try to move, to yell, but I can’t. I’m frozen in place. Then the shadow starts moving closer to me. The noise gets louder, and I can feel my heart beating like crazy.

The Shadow gets closer and closer, and with every step it gets bigger. The hissing becomes howling, and I swear it sounds like this thing is laughing at me. Through the noise I hear a voice. “Tell me, are you afraid of death?”

“Oh, buck you,” I think. I grunt, trying desperately to do something, but the shadow gets closer and closer. Its mouth starts opening, the jaw getting lower and lower until it touches the ground.

Before anything else can happen, there’s a flash of light and the shadow is blasted to its side. It lets out a screech before scrambling to its hooves. I stumble backwards, suddenly in control of my own body again.

Minute Maker stands in the doorway, her horn glowing. She scowls at the Shadow as it screeches at her. With another spell she knocks it back down. This time, instead of getting back up, the shadow stays down before melting into the floor.

Daring’s at my side. “Rainbow! Are you alright?”

“I-I think so,” I mutter. “Kind of dizzy. What was that?”

She sighs. “You’re not supposed to look into their eyes. I should have warned you. Sorry about that--”

Minute glances out the door and interrupts. “Daring, we’re out of time. We need to go, now.”

She nods. “Yeah. We got the key. Let’s get out of here.”

The two mares head for the exit. I start to follow but hesitate, giving the dark and dusty room one last glance before leaving. Suddenly I remember why it looks so familiar: it’s our living room. The painting that Daring took off the wall catches my eye. It shows two proud pegasus parents, standing with their two daughters. The glass is cracked and the frame is damaged.

“Rainbow, come on!”

I turn away from the room, trotting after them, a million questions in my mind.

Daring Do and the Silent Struggle

“Your party quickly leaves the shadowy lands of the North Zone behind, boarding a train back towards civilization,” Twilight’s voice says. The world shifts around me again, until the mountains and valleys give way to a city. This one’s different than the one we met Redblood in. It’s a lot brighter here, and the buildings aren’t quite as tall. “Upon leaving the train, you enter a small restaurant to take a break.”

Sure enough, the building comes into view. There’s several groups of ponies milling about, talking to one another as they head up and down the road. Every table around us looks to be occupied, with some uniformed waiters scurrying around and taking orders. We’re sitting at some sort of cafe, staring at a map spread out on the table.

“So the first key was in the North Zone,” Daring’s saying. “The next key is supposed to be here, in Skyfall City.” She taps a hoof on the map.

Redblood nods, taking a sip from the cup she’s holding in her hooves. “Sounds good. Gives me a chance to test out some of my stuff.”

Minute Maker scoffs. “Shouldn’t be as dangerous as the North Zone anyways, right?” She reaches across the table and steals one of Redblood’s hay fries.

“Hopefully,” Daring says. “Just in case we need help, I’ve arranged for another friend to help us out.”

I sigh, glancing around the city. “So where are we right now?”

“Spark City,” Daring replies, tapping another hoof on the map. “And we’ll set off right after this. I don’t want to stay here a second more than I have to.”

That makes me raise an eyebrow. “What’s the rush?”

Daring sighs. “Spark City isn’t exactly the safest place in the world.”

“Better than Detrot,” Redblood mutters.

Minute reaches over and steals another fry. “It was one bad day, Redblood, you can’t judge a city based on one day!”

Redblood rolls her eyes. “Trust me, one day was enough.” She swats Minute’s hoof away from her food. “And stop taking my fries.”

“Still,” Daring says, “there’s no point in wasting time here. We should get a move on as soon as possible.”

“Well, well, well,” says a voice behind us. I turn around to see three pegasi lounging at a table near us. They’ve all got long manes that cover their eyes, but I can still feel them leering at us. “If it isn’t the nerd gang.”

Daring blinks before tensing up. “Damnit,” she mutters, “I must have forgotten to take it out.”

“What?”

She sighs, eyes drifting down to the table. “Just leave them. They’re not supposed to be here.”

The three pegasi just laugh. The tan one nudges the brown one. “Check it, looks like the nerd found a new friend.”

The brown one whispers something in the ear of the black one, and the three laugh.

I frown. That laugh sounds awfully familiar. “Sis, why are Hoops, Score, and Dumb-bell here?”

Daring sinks her head into her hooves, whispering something under her breath. “...Should have known Twilight would do that…. Stupid, why didn’t I take it out…. Shouldn’t even be here….”

The three bullies leave their seats and head over to us. “So tell me, you read any good books lately?” Score asks.

“Yeah, I hear ‘How to Make Friends’ is a pretty good one.” Dumb-bell chuckles. “But I don’t know if she’s read that one.”

Hoops laughs. “Please, a book that Daring Dumb hasn’t read? That’d be the day!”

Redblood growls and stands up, but Daring shakes her head. “Don’t. It’s not worth it.”

“Oh, bullshit it isn’t,” Redblood snaps. “Come on, Daring, what makes these idiots any different than changelings or Shadows?”

“Because,” Daring replies tersely, “changelings and Shadows are actually dangerous.”

Hoops suddenly scowls and spits on the ground. He walks over confidently and swipes a glass of water off the table. The sound of shattering glass kills the conversation, as all the other patrons suddenly stare at us. Hoops comes closer, sticking his muzzle right in her face. “What was that?”

Minute Maker stands up as well, horn glowing. Daring makes eye contact with her and shakes her head before turning her attention to Hoops. “Look, just say your piece and get out of here.”

Hoops spits on the ground. “I don’t think you understand how this works. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

Daring just sighs. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

That’s when I decide to intervene. I stand up, slamming a hoof on the table. “Hey! Who do you think you are?”

If they recognize me, they don’t show it. “Come on, you’re not seriously standing up for this nerd,” Hoops says.

“This nerd is my sister,” I spit back. I lower my stance, spreading my wings defensively. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“Rainbow,” Daring hisses at me, “it’s not worth it!”

Redblood and Minute seem to disagree, as they move around the table to face the three. There’s nervous whispering and rustling as the other customers scramble to get to safety.

Score just smirks, cracking his neck. “Oh, look at this, the nerd has to get other ponies to stand up for her.”

Daring gives a frustrated groan and stands up, facing Hoops. She shoves him backwards. “Look, just say your piece and let us--”

Before she can finish, Hoops suddenly swings a hoof at her. “You don’t get to touch me, you--”

This time it’s my turn to cut him off with a hoof across the jaw. Hoops stumbles backwards in pain. “Bitch!” He snarls and recovers, charging at me again.

Hoops throws a clumsy punch at me that I easily dodge. His momentum sends him crashing into the table we were sitting at, spilling food and drink everywhere. I glance behind me to see Minute and Redblood taking on Score and Dumb-bell, leaving Hoops all to myself.

As he struggles to his hooves, I advance on him. I deck him again before he can get up. Hoops goes crashing down to the floor again, scowling and cursing the entire time. He suddenly bucks at me with his hind legs, connecting with my face.

I grunt and stumble backwards. Before I can fully recover he lands another cheap shot on me. “Hah! Take that,” he gloats. He throws another heavy punch, but this time I can dodge it. I grab his arm and yank hard, sending him falling to the ground. I’ve got him on his stomach now, gripping his leg tightly. Just as I’m about to break his foreleg, Daring grabs my shoulder. “What are you doing?” she hisses as she pulls me off of him.

“What does it look like? He attacked you first!”

Daring sighs angrily and pulls . “I had that under control--”

“Watch out,” Redblood shouts.

I whirl around to see that Hoops has picked himself off the floor and is throwing another punch at me. I try to dodge but can’t maneuver fast enough, and he clips me on the side of my face. Daring springs into action, hitting him once in the face and a few more times in the chest before giving him a kick to the groin.

“Thanks,” I mutter, wincing as I feel the place he hit me.

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” she mutters.

To our right, Minute Maker sends Dumb-bell flying through the air with a blast of magic, while Redblood’s mechanical arm holds Score upside down by the tail.

The other cafe customers have cleared out by now, screaming and yelling in panic. Dumb-bell struggles to his hooves before groaning and collapsing on the ground. After giving him a few good smacks, Redblood drops Score to the ground, giving him a kick in the chest for good measure.

“Nice one.” I go over to where Hoops is lying and spit on his face, earning a chuckle from Redblood.

Daring however is less than pleased. “You idiots! I told you to leave them!”

Redblood frowns at that. “Come on, Daring. They obviously weren’t going to leave.”

“Yeah,” Minute agrees. “Besides, they did kind of start the fight.”

Daring just shakes her head in disgust.

“Why’s it so bad that we beat up a bunch of bullies?” I ask.

My sister facehoofs. “That’s not the point,” she stresses. “The point is… Ugh. It doesn’t matter now,” she grumbles. “Let’s just get out of here.”

With that, Daring turns and leaves the wrecked cafe. I exchange a glance with Redblood and Minute before following. Daring sets a quick pace, leading us out of the city. For a long time she won’t talk to us. As the cityscape gives way to a well worn dirt path, the sun starts to break through the clouds. Even with the sun and chirping birds, the mood among us is still tense.

“Come on, Daring,” Minute finally says. “You know those three had it coming.”

Daring exhales in frustration. “Maybe they did, but that isn’t the point. Beating them up isn’t going to change anything.”

“But it’s better than lying there and taking it,” Redblood argues. “I’ve been trying to tell you that for years.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Years? Daring, how long has this been going on?”

Daring doesn’t reply.

“A while,” Minute answers sadly. “Those bullies just don’t know when to quit.”

I freeze. “Daring, you were getting bullied by those idiots? Why didn’t you tell me?”

My sister throws her hooves up in anger. “It wasn’t bullying, okay? Yeah, they were annoying and all, but they were just being idiots. I told you, I was handling it!”

I stomp on the ground. “You still could have told me! I would have helped you!”

“What would you have done? Beat them up? Throw them off a cloud somewhere? How would that have solved anything? Because yeah, you can get rid of them, but there will always be ponies like them, lurking in the corners, waiting for their chance!” Daring’s voice rises as she speaks until she’s practically yelling.

I open my mouth to respond, but Minute shoves herself between us. “Hey! Both of you, that’s enough.”

Daring grunts, turning away from me. “Damn right it is,” she spits. She pushes ahead, picking up her pace. Redblood glances at Minute and trots to keep up with her. She whispers something to her which makes Daring frown.

“What was that all about?” I ask Minute. “I’ve never seen her that angry before.”

Minute chews her lip for a few seconds. “Rainbow, I think it’s mostly what you said, about her not telling you. I think she did tell you. You just weren’t listening.” She looks at me sadly.

“Wait, what does that--” Before I can finish the sentence, the world around me fades away.

Daring Do and the World Beyond

When I blink I’m back in the library. Twilight lowers the book back onto the table, stifling a yawn while she does so. “Sorry, Rainbow, but it’s getting late.”

I glance out the window to see that it’s already dark outside. “Oh. Right.”

Twilight goes over to the table and starts gathering the books and papers in her magic. “I think that was an interesting experience, don’t you?”

“Yeah, it was alright.” I suddenly remember some of the stuff Daring said earlier when we fought the bullies. “Twilight, why were Hoops, Score, and Dumb-bell there?”

Twilight blinks and pulls out a piece of paper in her magic. “Oh. Well, I was just going off the papers and notes Daring left in the pages. This letter was one of them. Although it would make sense if it wasn’t supposed to be included in the story. The truth is I kind of lost myself in the rhythm of things and wasn’t really paying attention to what exactly I was reading.”

She hooves me the letter, and I skim through it. “So, this was like a personal thing?”

“Maybe. I’m thinking that Daring was still tweaking it, so she might have left some personal notes in there that she didn’t mean to.” She rubs the back of her head sheepishly. “So I guess you weren’t supposed to know about that.”

I shrug and stuff the letter and book into my saddlebags. “I don’t know. It’s just weird, you know? I thought I knew her, but she never told me about any of this.”

“I’m sure she was planning on telling you at some point,” Twilight reassures. “She just… ran out of time. But still, this is amazing! It’s almost like this story has a mind of its own!”

“Yeah, maybe. I’ll come back tomorrow then. See you,” I say.

Twilight nods and walks me down the stairs to the door. “See you tomorrow,” she says with a wave.

I nod and wave back before spreading my wings and flying off towards my house. As I fly through the air, my thoughts drift back to the story and the others. I wonder what Minute meant when she said Daring did tell me?

“She’s right, you know.”

I do a double take and see Daring on my right, flying next to me. She gives me an awkward wave.

“What--how are you here? We’re not even in the story anymore! And Twilight’s not even here!”

Daring just shrugs. “Like I said, it’s something to do with your imagination or something. I’m only here because you want me to be here.”

I falter in my flight a little bit. “So, what are you? A ghost or something?”

“No idea,” she replies neutrally. “But the point is I’m here whether I want to be or not.”

She looks pretty much the same as she did in the story, still wearing her helmet and vest. But she seems a lot less active now, more calm and a little bit tired.

“Uh, alright, but why would I want you to be here, outside of the story?”

Daring shrugs again. “I don’t know. Maybe you don’t realize it yet. Either way, I can’t answer that for you.”

“Sis, Minute said that you were asking me for help, but I didn’t realize it. What was she talking about?”

My sister chuckles and shakes her head. “Well, neither of us are the best at sharing our feelings. Think about it, whenever you needed help, did you outright say it?”

I guess she’s got a point there. “So, you’re saying I just missed it?”

“I guess. I can’t blame you though, I was pretty subtle about it all. And besides, I did have some friends to help me out.”

“Like Minute and Redblood?” I ask.

She shrugs. “Sort of. But it’s hard to explain. I guess I tried to hint it towards you, but I was so sure I could handle it myself that I never told you.”

My house appears in front of us as we talk. I open the door and head in, Daring trailing behind. “Why don’t you just read the letter Twilight gave you? It might help explain some things.”

I shrug, dropping my bags to the side and fishing out the letter. I sit down on the couch and unfold it, reading it to myself. I can’t help but hear Daring’s voice as I read the words.

“Hey. I’m not really sure how to phrase this, but I think you’re right. I don’t think I’m okay. It’s just so hard to ~~see~~ tell figure out what’s wrong with me. I’ve just been having trouble lately. I’ve told you about those three idiots, Hoops, Score, and Dumb-bell before. They’re the black, tan, and brown pegasi with only half a brain cell between the lot of them. They’ve been ~~bullying~~ harassing me lately. I think I can handle it though.

“I tried to drop hints to Rainbow about it. I asked her how she would hypothetically deal with annoying ponies, but she just kept saying she’d tie their wings and throw them off a cloud. I don’t think she took me very seriously. I mean, yeah, she stood up to them during Flight Camp, then she showed them up during the Best Young Flyer Competition and stuff, but that didn’t keep them away from me.

“And before you can ask, I’m fine. It hasn’t gotten physical yet, and I know that I’ll have to bring it up when if it does. I can take care of myself. I know you’re worried for me and just want the best, but trust me. I’m fine. They’re just a bunch of idiots looking to have some fun. Besides, better me than someone with thin skin. I can take it, right?

“So what I’m trying to say is ~~I’m not okay I’m perfectly fine I don’t need help~~ Oh, screw it. I don’t how the buck I’m supposed to feel. I keep making mistakes, and it’s starting to show. It’s like there’s this nagging voice in the back of my head, saying you can do better than that, Daring, you NEED to do better than that, Daring, but it’s like I can’t. And everytime I see them I hear it. Don’t fight them, don’t make it physical, leave them alone. Because you are BETTER than them, Daring, and if you fight you stoop to their level, Daring, and it’s just

“Oh buck this. This was a failure from the start.”

I blink, putting the letter back on the table.

“Kind of heavy, huh?” Daring asks. She sat down while I was reading, watching me with sad eyes. “And no, I never sent it. I tried to, but I couldn’t word it right. That letter was my last attempt before giving up.”

My mind’s racing now, trying to remember my conversations with her. I search through my memories, trying to figure out what clues I missed and how I could have let this happen.

And it comes to me, in bits and pieces. Her asking weird questions and me brushing them off, because I was trying to train and thought she was joking. Her tensing up and shying away when we passed them in the streets once, while I thought their insults were directed at me. Her giving me a weird, sad look when I was explaining who they were to Rarity, telling her they were harmless idiots.

Daring lays a hoof on my shoulder. “Hey, it’s not your fault.”

“But it is!” I blurt out. “Damnit, how did I not see this?”

“Rainbow, listen to me. It’s my own fault for not clearly asking for help. I knew that you would never fully understand what I was implying. That’s because I was too scared to ask. I thought, if you can handle them then why can’t I?” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “So, I tried to just ignore them. Let them have their fun. Told myself it didn’t bother me and that I could take it.”

I grit my teeth. “When I see them again, I’m going to--”

“You’re going to do what? Beat them? Hit them? Kill them? What would that accomplish?” Daring rubs her head in frustration. “That’s the whole point. I didn’t want to just become them. If I started fighting then I’d be no better than they are.”

“No, because they deserve it. If that’s all they understand, then you have to beat them with it,” I reply.

“Fine, if that’s what you want to believe,” Daring says, throwing her hooves up in the air. “Not like it matters to me.”

I shoot to my hooves. “It should matter!”

“Why?”

“Because maybe I’m not okay with you being dead!”

The room falls quiet after that outburst. Eventually I look up to see that she’s gone. I take a few deep breaths, realizing how fast my heart’s beating now. “It matters,” I say aloud. “You mattered.”

Eventually I wander into my room and collapse onto my cloud bed. I clutch the book in my hooves, absently turning the pages but not reading any of the words. “You matter. You matter.”

The next thing I know my alarm’s ringing. I knock it off my nightstand with a swipe of my hoof, letting out a huge yawn while I do so. I set the book on the nightstand, rubbing the back of my head as memories of yesterday fill my head.

I blink a few times before looking around my room. The sun’s just starting to rise outside, sending rays of light through the window. The book’s lying by my side, opened to a random page. Daring’s nowhere in sight.

After a few more seconds of sitting on my bed, I swing my legs off, heading for the bathroom. I stand in front of the mirror, staring at my own reflection.

My reflection morphs into a picture of my sister, staring right back at me. Her words ring in my head. “If that’s what you want to believe. Not like it matters today.”

I shake the thoughts off, tearing my eyes away from the mirror and step into my shower. I give the shower cloud a quick buck, letting the water wash over me. I close my eyes as the water rushes over me.

Suddenly the water becomes raindrops, and instead of being in my shower I’m running down Ponyville’s main street, the wind whipping through my mane. Someone behind me calls out my name, but I ignore them. I leap off the street and into the air, spreading my wings and heading for the clouds. An accident. Somewhere in the mountains. Crystal Empire. Critical condition. The words fly through my mind faster than I could ever hope to fly.

Then I blink and the memory fades. I curse, giving the cloud another buck to shut off the water. I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to get to work. Without my direction the weather team is going to fall apart in ten seconds flat. Not to discredit them or anything, but the last time I left Cloud Kicker in charge it took weeks of formal apologies and mountains of paperwork to get things running again.

After running a towel through my mane, I take flight, headed for Ponyville to grab some breakfast before I go to the weather office. The town’s just starting to wake up, a few ponies trotting up and down the street on their way to work.

I do a few corkscrews in the air to limber up my wings before executing a perfect landing in front of Sugarcube Corner. The smells of freshly baked good reaches my nose, forming a smile on my face.

“Good morning,” chimes in Mrs. Cake from behind the counter. “Ah, hello Rainbow!”

“Morning,” I greet. “Could I get my usual please?”

“Of course,” Mrs. Cake answers. “And I’ll let Pinkie Pie know you’re here.” She disappears into the kitchen, and the noise of kitchen machinery bleeds through for a brief second. I trot over to one of the tables and sit down.

I sigh, staring out the window as ponies move around outside. I realize that there’s only two more days until the anniversary, and there’s still a lot I’ve got to do. Slowly, my thoughts turn from my sister and her book into the long list of errands that I’ve got left.

I’m suddenly pulled out of my thoughts when the door opens again and a white-coated mare trots in. She looks around before going to the counter and ringing the bell.

“Give me a second,” Mrs. Cake calls from the kitchen.

“Take your time,” the mare responds.

Wait, that voice. I narrow my eyes and turn to stare at her. The mare’s got a white coat and a pink mane tied up in a bun. Her blue eyes scan the menu. I’ve seen those eyes before.

“Redblood?”

She looks exactly like her, minus all the battle armor and the signature scowl. Redblood turns around to give me a confused glance. “Were you talking to me?”

I stand up and approach her. “So you are a real pony?”

Redblood takes a step back, glancing towards the door. “Uh, do I know you?” Her voice sounds exactly like Redblood’s, although it’s missing her aggressiveness.

“I’m Rainbow Dash! I think you were friends with my sister!”

She opens her mouth and shuts it again, before she shakes her head and tries to regain her composure. “I’ve worked with many ponies, I’m afraid. What was her name?”

“Daring,” I reply. “Daring Dash.”

At the name, a million emotions flash across her face. First she looks surprised, then angry, then sad. Redblood opens her mouth to speak when Pinkie Pie suddenly appears at the counter. “Hiya Dashie! Oh, hiya Nurse Redheart! Y’know I had the feeling that you were coming today because when I woke up I sneezed four times, which meant that both of you were going to come and ask for your usual, and then--”

Redblood--Redheart’s face goes neutral. She nods blankly and takes the brown bag Pinkie offers her. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Red-whatever says to me.

“Wait--” I try to stop her, but Pinkie gets in between us.

“--thought it was kind of weird because usually when that happens it means that I’ve done something wrong, but I was watching carefully and--”

Redheart takes advantage and turns for the door. She walks out without looking back. Pinkie keeps talking, but I’m not hearing her. Out of the corner of my eye I see Daring, sitting in a chair facing out the window, sadly watching her friend walk away.

Daring Do and the Legend of Free Fall

After work I head for the library as fast as I can. I practically kick down Twilight’s door in anger before telling her what happened with Redblood/heart. I pace the room back and forth as I talk. “I just don’t get it, Twi. What does any of this mean?”

Twilight sighs, rubbing her chin in thought. “Well, first of all I think it’s clear that Daring must have based the characters in her book on ponies she knew in real life, like we saw with Dr. Cobble Iron. But since Redblood is a hero in this story, I think it’s safe to say the two definitely shared some sort of relationship.” Twilight takes the book out of my saddlebags. “It makes me wonder who the other characters are. Come to think of it, Minute Maker sounds awfully familiar to me.”

I throw my hooves up in the air. “But why would Redheart just deny knowing her?”

“I don’t know, Rainbow,” Twilight answers. “But it sounds like Nurse Redheart might have just been caught off guard by your questions. I mean, it has been three years since the accident. Maybe she hasn’t moved on yet.”

I shrug. “Maybe. I’ll talk to her later if I can find her.”

“That might be good. Are you ready to continue?” Twilight asks.

I nod, and Twilight opens the book, lighting up her horn. She clears her throat before speaking. “Your party leaves Spark City far behind and sets off once more, headed to the airborne city of Skyfall.”

The library fades away, and this time I find myself standing on an old dirt path. There are hills and mountains reaching up to the sky all around me, making for a pretty awesome scene. An old wooden fence follows the road on both sides to keep ponies off the grass. Clouds fill up the sky in small groups, letting the sun shine through to light up the area.

My ear twitches as I hear a few wingbeats. I look up to see Daring descending, a cloud in tow.

“Alright gang,” she says as she lands. “We’re headed up now. Remember, Skyfall City is going to be a bit difficult to navigate for you two, but Rainbow and I should be fine.”

Minute Maker nods, taking the cloud in her magic. She casts a quick spell and a blue aura surrounds her hooves. “Right. Nothing a cloud-walking spell can’t handle.” Minute shoots a quick glance to Redblood. “You sure you don’t want one?”

Redblood shakes her head. “Nah. I’ll take things my own way.” She presses a button on her hoof console, and her battle armor whirs and clanks before two large metal wings shoot out from the sides.

Daring raises an eyebrow and lets out a low whistle. “Wow. I take it you’ve been busy then?”

Redblood shrugs nonchalantly. “Little bit. What are we waiting for?”

“Nothing, I guess.” Daring takes to the sky, followed by Minute who levitates the cloud with her magic. I spread my wings and follow, with Redblood right behind me.

As we fly up, I glance at Redblood, remembering my earlier conversation with her real life counterpart. I slow down a bit to keep pace with her. “Hey, Redblood?”

She grunts in response.

“I was wondering, why do you care so much about my sister?” I ask.

“Is that going to be a problem?” she replies defensively.

“No! Hay, I know loyalty when I see it. It’s just… you seem really protective of her. I was just wondering why.”

Redblood closes her eyes and draws a deep breath. “Look, your sister… is a great pony. But she doesn’t see it in herself. She used to say that she just felt lost all the time. That she didn’t know what her purpose was, or what she was meant to do. She always joked that it was ironic since her special talent was finding things.” A small smile appears on her face. “I tried to look out for her. Talk some sense into her when she got carried away, to pick her up when she fell down.” The bliss leaves her face pretty quickly after that. “And of course, I failed in the end.”

I’m not really sure how to respond to that turn. “Hey, it wasn’t your fault, but I guess I know how you feel. I beat myself up pretty badly after she died too.”

Redblood sighs. “Maybe.” She turns to look me in the eye. “I might not like it, but right now she needs you more than she needs me. You better not let her down.”

“I don’t intend to,” I reply.

In front of us, Daring calls out, “There it is! Skyfall City!”

Above us I see a city carved into the clouds, with towering buildings that rise up into the air. In the distance pegasi fly in and out of the city, headed in every direction. A few airships dot the horizon as well, mixed in with some hot air balloons and zeppelins. The sun’s almost right above it right now, throwing light all over the city.

As we get closer, I realize how similar it is to Cloudsdale. I guess it would make sense for Daring to base the city around Cloudsdale since we both grew up there. Skyfall does seem to dwarf Cloudsdale in size though, and it probably has a population triple the size.

Soon we arrive at the edge of the city, landing near what looks like the port. The port’s pretty crowded, with pegasi flying around loading and unloading ships. A few griffins are mixed in with the crowd as well, flying between ships and calling out to each other. I even spot a yellow and red maned unicorn, trotting towards an airship that was headed to… a place called Freeport according to the sign.

“Alright,” Daring says, “let’s try and keep a low profile. Skyfall Port isn’t really forgiving to newcomers.”

The others nod, and we head off, cutting a path through the crowds. A few pegasi give us some odd glances, but nopony really says anything. All of a sudden, Daring stops and we all crash into each other.

A group of ponies suddenly step out of the crowd, surrounding us. A few of them have eye patches and peg legs, but all are wearing the same black jacket with a weird symbol over the heart.

The patch seems to depict some sort of weird looking animal. It looks like a cross between a monkey and a dog. Whatever it is, it’s got a dark blue coat with lighter blue fur over its stomach, and a hand sticking out of its tail. It honestly looks like something a filly would draw, if that filly maybe had four sugar cookies and a gallon of soda. “Well, well, well,” says the lead pegasus, who’s got the same color coat as the monster thing. “If it isn’t Daring Do.”

Daring growls. “Arizotyl.”

“Your group runs into the infamous Arizotyl, the leader of the group known as the Valkyries,” Twilight narrates. “A gang of air pirates who terrorize airships and pegasi alike. They are ruthless and deadly, and know no limits when it comes to robbery.”

Arizotyl steps forwards, scowling. “Don’t think I forgot how our last encounter ended,” he spits.

“How could I forget throwing you off the edge of Skyfall,” Daring shoots back.

That seems to upset Arizotyl’s henchponies. They rustle their wings in impatience, growling and shooting daggers out of their eyes.

Daring scans the area, probably looking for a way out. If it was just us we could probably get away, but Minute and Redblood are too slow. Looks like we’ll have to fight our way out.

“Look, I’ve got places to be, so if you idiots want to fight, then let’s fight,” Daring says, flicking her hooves outwards. “But if anypony wants to spare themselves humiliation, I’d leave now.”

“That’s it,” Arizotyl shouts. “You’re dead meat!” The group charges at us, brandishing knives in their teeth.

A large black pegasus is on top of me in seconds. He swings at me with his knife, but I’m able to duck underneath it. I give him a good kick in the stomach but he recovers quickly. He throws a punch at me that narrowly misses my jaw.

I hit him again, knocking the knife out of his teeth. As I go for another hit, he blocks it and drives his front leg upwards into my stomach. I stumble backwards in pain when he throws another punch, smacking me in the side of my head. I fall to the ground, clutching my jaw in pain. I move it a little to make sure everything still works and get to my hooves.

“Okay, that’s it,” I grumble. Turning, I throw another punch with my left hoof, which he blocks. While he’s distracted, I swing my other hoof at him with all my might, hitting him right in the jaw. He lets out a cry of pain and stumbles backwards before falling onto the cloud.

I take a few breaths, wiping some blood from my mouth and looking around. A huge crowd’s formed around us now, cheering and yelling at us. Nopony else seems interested in helping. I see Redblood taking on two pegasi easily, sending one flying into a stack of crates. The second one attacks from behind her and tries to choke her. Redblood bucks him forwards, knocking him onto his back before slamming a hoof into his face.

On my left Daring is facing off with Arizotyl, who’s got a sword of some kind in his mouth. There’s a clang of metal as their blades lock, punctuated with grunts of effort from both ponies. Daring swipes at him and narrowly misses, cutting a chunk out of his mane.

Arizotyl goes low, forcing Daring to use both blades to block the attack. After a few seconds they disengage again, backing up and staring each other down.

Then I see Minute, who’s been forced to the edge of the cloud. There’s a crowd of three pegasi around her, trying to dodge her spells. She clips one Valkyrie’s wing and he crashes to the ground. I move to help her when out of the corner of my eye I see another pegasus flying up from behind Minute. “Minute, watch out!”

She whirls around and fires off a spell. It hits the pegasus, but doesn’t stop him. He body-slams her and knocks her off balance. She tries to recover but can’t control her momentum. Before I can do anything, Minute’s falling from her cloud, headed straight for the ground.

“Shit!” I burst forward, knocking two of the pegasi out of the way and diving after her. She’s already pretty far down, but I can probably reach her--

Before I can finish my thought I see another streak of light below me. Another pegasus has already dove after her. A light blue pegasus with a white-gray mane’s jumped off the cloud after her. She maneuvers under her and catches her with ease. A few wingbeats later the pegasus sets her back down on the cloud.

“Geez, when I said we should hang out more, this wasn’t what I had in mind,” the pegasus jokes.

“Thanks, Free Fall,” Minute says as she regains her balance. “I owe you one.”

Free Fall then turns around to face me. She’s wearing a pair of goggles that obscure her eyes and a bandana over her face. The pegasus’s also wearing a black unzipped trench coat with some straps going around her waist. “She one of them?”

“No, she’s on our side,” Minute says. One of the Valkyries dives towards us, but Minute knocks him out of the air with a spell. He falls to the cloud with a surprised grunt, and Free Fall advances on him. She stomps hard on his foreleg, making him drop the knife in his teeth. He wirths on the ground in pain until she knocks him out with a slam to the head.

Another three Valkyries follow suit, attacking from above. Free Fall spreads her wings and charges at them. I see a glint of metal on her and realize she’s got some sort of blade attached to them.

She slashes out at the closest Valkyrie, her wing blade leaving a deep cut across the mare’s face. The Valkyrie screams and falls to the cloud, clutching her face. Free Fall doesn’t show any mercy, punching her in the stomach a few times.

Seeing his friend fall, the second Valkyrie falters, eyes widening in panic. Free Fall takes advantage of this and punches him in the face, knocking the knife out of his mouth along with some of his teeth. She slashes at him with her wing, leaving a deep gash across his chest. He tries to fly away, but Free Fall seizes his rear leg and drives an elbow into the joint, breaking it.

The third pegasus then attacks from behind, trying to get her in a choke hold. Free Fall rams her elbow into his stomach, making him cry out in pain. She whips around and puts two more punches into him, sending him falling to the ground, landing on his stomach. Free Fall flies up into the air and dives down on top of him as he tries to get up. The pegasus whimpers in pain and tries to crawl away before he gets a hoof to the eye.

I turn my attention back to Daring, who’s finally disarmed Arizotyl and has a blade to his neck. Redblood flies over to us. “Minute, you alright?”

“Fine, thanks to Free Fall,” she answers. “But I’d rather not do that again.”

“Works for me,” Daring answers before turning her attention back to the cowering pegasus under her. “You’ve wasted enough of my time already. Now get lost!”

Arizotyl scrambles to his hooves and flies away. The Valkyries that are still conscious take flight after him, glaring at us as they leave. Daring huffs in annoyance and readjusts her pith helmet. Her face lights up again when she sees Free Fall. “Hey, you! You got my message, I take it?”

Free Fall nods. “Sure did. And I think I know where you’re talking about.”

The crowd around us starts to disperse, losing interest now that the fight is over. “Oi!” a voice suddenly shouts out from somewhere in the back. “Port Authority! What’s going on here?” A group of badged pegasi in yellow and black jackets are flying towards us.

Free Fall jerks her head towards them. “Looks like we overstayed our welcome. Let’s get out of here.”

Daring nods, and we all take to the sky, leaving the port behind us. The Port Authority ponies shout at us but don’t follow, concerning themselves with the injured Valkyries instead. As we fly, I shoot a look at Free Fall. I can’t quite place what I’m feeling, but I think I recognize her from somewhere.

Daring Do and the Secret Untold

As we fly through Skyfall, I find myself next to my sister and realize we haven’t really spoken since our argument the other night. “So, uh, about last night,” I venture.

Daring sighs. “I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”

“See, that’s the thing. I think we need to talk, but I just… don’t know what to say. There’s all this stuff I’m finding out about you now that I feel like I should have known before. At first I thought it was just because you didn’t tell me, but I guess that’s kind of selfish. So I want to know you, Sis. I don’t want things to be awkward between us.”

My sister frowns, staring off into the sky. “Yeah. I don’t want that either. I can’t lie, Sis, but I was kind of upset when you started hanging out with your Element friends. It felt like I lost you to them. We didn’t talk as much anymore, and you were out doing all sorts of awesome stuff… Hay, the coolest thing I ever did was get a book signed by Tom Prancy.”

“But what about all your expeditions and trips and stuff? Weren’t those cool?” I counter.

Daring thinks about that for a second. “Well at the time, yeah, but it’s nothing compared to the stuff you and all your friends do. I can’t even write anything cooler than what you guys did with the Elements.”

“I’m sorry about leaving you behind like that.”

Daring waves her hoof dismissively. “It’s fine, Rainbow. Really. I have my own friends. I wasn’t completely alone.”

She shakes her head and points at a small building on the horizon. “But enough about that. There it is.”

The building looks similar to everything else in the city: white and made out of clouds. It’s pretty rundown, but not as much as the one in the North Zone. We land in front of the main entrance.

“Hey, you never introduced me to your friend,” I realize.

“Oh, right. Rainbow, this is Free Fall, a bounty hunter and another friend of mine,” Daring says, using her wing to point.

Free Fall fires off a quick salute at me.

“Free, this is Rainbow Dash, my sister.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” she says as we shake hooves. “Sorry I couldn’t be here sooner. My last bounty took longer than expected.” Free Fall scoffs in disgust. “Who would have thought one stupid robot and its self-destruction protocol could be such a pain in the flank.”

“Glad to have you on board,” Minute tells her. “So we’re looking for another key?”

Daring nods. “Same as the first one, just a small metal key. This building used to be a Port Authority office until they opened a newer one downtown. My sources say a corrupt PA officer took the key off a Valkyrie and hid it somewhere here, but they were exposed and arrested before they could do anything with it.”

“So we’ll split up and search then?” Redblood asks.

“Works for me,” Free Fall replies. “Mind if I take Daring as my partner? We’ve got some catching up to do.”

The others nod, and we enter the building. We split up and maneuver around the building’s tight hallways and long corridors.

While it’s old, it doesn’t look as abandoned as the building we explored in the North Zone. It looks like the Port Authority took most of their stuff with them when they left, but there’s still a few filing cabinets and chairs lying around. The building’s still got traces of life, like chairs and tables, giving it a more vacant feel than an abandoned one.

We go through the reception area and come across a stairway. “I’ll search down here, you guys take upstairs,” Redblood says.

“Watch yourself,” Daring replies. Redblood nods and trots off to look around. The rest of us go up the stairs, with Free Fall and Daring heading left while Minute and I go right. We enter a room marked ‘Evidence’.

The evidence room is disappointingly empty. There’s several rows of filing cabinets and bare metal shelves along with a desk at the far end of the room. “Looks like they brought all their stuff with them,” Minute notes. She starts to dig through some of the cabinets while I take the desk.

“So,” Minute says casually, “I hear you and Daring got into a bit of an argument.”

I shrug. “I guess so. We still have stuff to work out.”

Minute nods, slamming one of the drawers shut. “I understand. My first argument with her went something like that too.”

“You fought with her?” I ask, surprised.

“Oh yeah. At first I thought she was a weird loner. I never really talked to her much until I found out we had similar interests. I tried to get her to open up a bit, but she lashed out instead.” She shakes her head sadly. “I almost gave up when she finally reached out to me. Thanked me for being persistent. Daring’s a good mare, just a bit stubborn.”

I sigh, opening one of the desk drawers. It’s mostly empty besides a few pencils, some pens, and a few blank sheets of paper. “I know. I guess it runs in the family.”

“She never blamed you for anything,” Minute says. “I hope you know that. She always looked up to you.”

“Yeah, I know.” I close the last drawer and take a deep breath. “Thanks. I’m going to go check the other rooms.’

Minute nods, and I head out the door. I step out into the dark hallway and look around. I don’t see my sister anywhere. I head to one of the next rooms and see a door marked ‘Interrogation’. I push it open and go in.

There’s a desk and more filing cabinets lining one wall, and a one-way mirror on the other. Through the mirror I see Daring lying on the table, talking with Free Fall. Her pith helmet is lying on her chest as she stares up at the ceiling. I can hear their voices through some hidden microphones.

“--just feels weird to me,” Daring is saying. “Like after a movie, when the credits are over and everypony’s left, but you’re still sitting there, alone.”

Free Fall nods, settling down into one of the chairs.

“And I know I’m not alone. But it just feels… weird, you know? Like I’m just not supposed to be here.”

Free Fall puts a hoof on her shoulder. “Daring, you know we’ll always be here for you, right? No matter what?”

My sister sighs and nods. “Yeah. And I’m sorry about leaving you guys behind like that.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault. Nopony could have seen this coming.”

I turn away from the mirror and start digging through the filing cabinets, only half listening to their conversation.

“But we had plans, didn’t we?” Daring asks. “I was going to come back home and we would all meet up, have a party, then go out and do some crazy stuff. What happened?”

“Plans change,” Free Fall answers. “You and I know that more than anypony does.”

I hear my sister sniff and I glance through the mirror again. Daring rubs her eye with the back of her hoof. “I saw Redheart again. But it’s like she didn’t know me. She just left. What, did she forget about me?”

Free Fall sighs. “Redheart never took your death well,” she answers carefully. “To be fair none of us did, but you know how she is. She wanted to protect you, to be there to save you. And she wasn’t.”

“Yeah, but it’s not her fault!”

“She thought it was,” Free Fall replies. “We all ended up blaming ourselves. But I don’t think Redheart’s really ready let you go yet.”

Daring sits up to look at Free Fall. “What about you? Did you let me go?”

Free Fall pulls up her goggles, revealing a pair of dark purple eyes. “Yes and no. Because you’ll always be right here,” she says, tapping her heart.

I roll my eyes at that sappy statement, but it makes Daring smile.

She wipes her eyes again before speaking. “I miss you.”

“And I won’t ever stop missing you,” Free Fall replies. She pulls off her bandana, letting it hang around her neck and showing her face to me for the first time.

I freeze, eyes going wide. I realize why she’s so familiar: because her face is on a poster in my room.

Free Fall then stands up, trotting to Daring’s side. She wraps her hooves around Daring’s chest and pulls her in. She kisses her on the forehead with a smile. “I love you,” she whispers.

Daring blushes a bit, but nuzzles Free Fall’s chest. “I love you too.”

It takes a few seconds for my brain to fully process what I just saw. Before I can think of what to do, the door on their side of the room opens and Redblood sticks her head in. “Hey, is this the--Oh. Am I interrupting?”

“No,” Free Fall answers, breaking the hug. “Did you find it?”

Redblood holds up a small silver key in her hoof.

“That’d be it,” Daring says, swinging her legs off the table.

“Great! Let’s grab the others and get out of here,” Free Fall cheers.

My mind finally catches up with me, but I’m still not sure what to do. Because Free Fall is really Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts. And she just kissed my sister.

“Twilight, what… what?” I finally manage to say.

The world shifts back to the library. Twilight awkwardly rubs the back of her head with her hoof. “I, uh, may have gotten carried away again,” she mutters.

“Huh?”

She takes a picture out of the book and shows it to me. The picture shows my sister being kissed by none other than Fleetfoot herself. Daring’s blushing a little bit, but she seems to be enjoying it. I can see a light blue unicorn that looks like Minute Maker in the background, frozen in mid-cheer. The words ‘Finally! It’s about time!’ are scrawled across the top.

I fall back onto my haunches. “So my sister was… dating Fleetfoot?”

Twilight takes the photograph and sets it back on the table. “I… was hoping you’d know,” she confesses.

I shake my head. “She never… talked about it. I didn’t even know they knew each other. I didn’t even know she was into mares!”

Twilight cringes as I raise my voice. “Rainbow--”

“It’s like I never knew her!” I blurt out. “Why?! Why didn’t she tell me?!”

“Because she wasn’t ready,” Twilight answers firmly. “Here, just read this.” She passes me another letter.

As I read it, I start to hear Free Fall’s voice narrating. Out of the corner of my eye I swear I can see her, lounging on a couch and talking.

“Dear Daring,

“Hey! Sorry for the delay, training has been a real pain lately. That’s what you get when you be a Wonderbolt I guess. Counting down the days until my leave is all that’s keeping me going now. Because that means I get to see you again.

“About your last letter. I know that last time we talked you were still scared of coming out. I just want you to know that I’m not going to force you to. I do think you’re going to have to do it eventually, but take your time. There’s no rush.

“But remember, this is your family! I’m absolutely certain they’ll love you no matter what. I haven’t actually met your parents yet, but from what you’ve told me, I know they’ll support you. And Rainbow’s your sister for Celestia’s sake! She won’t stop loving you no matter what.

“And even if they did cast you aside (which they won’t) you won’t be alone. You have us. We’re here for you, Daring. And all of our friends are cheering for us too. I’ll be at your side, no matter what happens. And even if you’re not sure what you feel right now, it’s okay. These things take time to figure out. It’s weird and confusing, but if you have enough faith, everything will work out in the end.

“You said you’re not sure what you are, if you’re into mares or stallions or both. That’s fine! We’ve got plenty of time to figure things out! I might be a stunt flier, but that doesn’t mean speed is a key to everything. Taking things slow every once in a while is perfectly fine.

“Keep your head up, Daring. I might not be there right now, but know that you’re never alone. Love you, Fleetfoot.

“(Oh, and I know you were worried about introducing me to Rainbow. You thought she was going to freak out or something since she’s such a huge fan. Just to let you know, I do have a few VIP passes I can throw around to calm her down. Or maybe that’ll amp her up more. Hehe, who knows?)”

I raise an eyebrow at that last line. “What does that mean? She thinks I’ll freak out?”

“Daring was probably nervous about introducing you two because she thought you’d be mad at her for dating your idol and not telling you,” Twilight says.

I run a hoof through my mane. “That doesn’t matter! She should have told me! I’m her sister, I’m suppoused to know--”

“Rainbow,” Twilight cuts me off, “I think this is why Daring wrote this book. Because you don’t know her. But this story she’s telling, I think it’s her way of teaching you what you didn’t know about her.” She puts a hoof on my shoulder.

“I-I just wish she didn’t have to do this,” I whisper. “I wish she would have just told me.”

“She is telling you.” Twilight closes the book and passes it over to me. “This isn’t just some fantasy story that she wrote, Rainbow. This is her story.”

Daring Do and the Real Life Savior

“Rainbow?”

My ear twitches at the sound of my name. Looking around, I realize that I’m in the weather office. Cloud Kicker is looking at me curiously from the other side of my desk. “Are you alright?” she asks.

I shake my head, trying to gather my thoughts. I don’t really remember much of yesterday, other than sitting on the floor of the library and crying. “Uh, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? Like, really really sure?”

I grunt in annoyance. “Yes,” I snap at her. “Why?”

“Because according to today’s deployment you’ve assigned Raindrops to four sectors and have Blossomforth covering a nonexistent area.” Cloud Kicker slides the day’s paperwork across the desk for me to see.

Looking it over, I realize she’s right. The orders I gave don’t make a lick of sense. “Well, it was a… test! To see if you were paying attention!”

Cloud Kicker rolls her eyes. “Look, boss, if you need some time, I get it.”

I open my mouth to protest, but Cloud holds up a hoof and keeps talking.

“Nopony’s going to blame you if you need to take a break. We can run ourselves just fine for a day, Rainbow. Please, go take care of yourself.”

Cloud Kicker comes around the desk and basically starts pushing me out of the office. “Hey!” I protest. “I’m fine, really! Stop pushing!”

“Nope! You’re taking the day off, Rainbow! No exceptions,” Cloud says as she shoves me out the door.

“Wait, I’m your boss! You can’t just--”

“I just did! Bye Rainbow!”

I blink again as the door’s slams into my face. I take a second to consider my options. Cloud really doesn’t have the authority to do what she just did. But then again, my heart isn’t really set on weather work right now.

As I’m standing in the hallway, trying to sort myself out, I hear a chuckle behind me. I turn around to see Daring leaning against a wall, forelegs crossed. “Did you just get kicked out of your own office?”

I scoff. “Of course not. I can totally go back in if I wanted to.”

Daring cocks an eyebrow at me. “Oh, yeah? Then why don’t you?”

I hesitate at that. “I… just have stuff to think about.”

Daring shrugs and pushes off the wall, examining the pictures and notices hung on the cork board. “Right. Something to do with me, I’m guessing?”

“Maybe. You know that you’ll always be my sister, right? No matter what?”

She sighs. “Yeah, I know. But that didn’t make things any less scary, you know? I had so much left to figure out.” My sister takes off her helmet and runs a hoof through her mane. “It’s kinda funny now that I think about it. Fleetfoot would always tell me that I had time to figure things out, that I could afford to take it slow. Heh. Guess she was wrong, huh?”

“I could have helped you, you know. That’s what a sister’s job is,” I say.

“I don’t know, Rainbow. I wasn’t even sure of myself. I guess that’s another reason I didn’t tell you. I kept telling myself that once I figured myself out, I could show you who I am.” She turns away from the wall to look at me. “I always thought that one day I’d figure it out. I guess now we’ll never know.”

Before I can answer her, somepony behind me clears their throat. “Hello, I’m assuming you’re Rainbow Dash?”

I turn around to see a familiar light blue unicorn with a two-toned blue and gray mane behind me. Minute Maker smiles at me, waiting for a response.

“I, uh, yeah. Yeah, I am.”

Minute gives me a huge smile. “Great! My name’s Minuette. I either work for the government, or I’m a dentist. One of those is a lie. Anyways, I was wondering if I could talk with you for a second?”

I nod. “Yeah, sure. Why don’t we go outside?”

She nods and lets me lead. I glance behind me to see that Daring’s disappeared.

I take her to the little courtyard outside the Weather Management building. It’s got a few benches and tables for ponies to take their lunch breaks, but it's generally pretty quiet. Minuette sits down at one of the picnic tables, looking around the courtyard as she does so. “Nice place.”

“I guess,” I reply neutrally. “So, uh, why are you here?”

Minuette chuckles. “Right down to brass tacks, huh? Alrighty, I can work with that. A friend reached out to me, told me that some mare was asking some questions about Daring Dash.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Twilight?”

“No, Redheart. I haven’t spoken to Twilight in quite some time.” Minuette sighs and shakes her head. “But that’s not important. Redheart told me you kept calling her a weird name. Redblood?”

“Yeah,” I reply. “It’s… well, it’s a long story.”

Minuette smiles again. “Is it? I’m assuming you’ve found one of Daring’s books.”

That gets my attention. “You know about that?”

“Yeah, she showed me some rough drafts of her work. She really was into it.” Minuette chuckles at that. “Your sister had a way with words. I always told her she would have made a great author someday.” The smile falls off her face. “She was taken from us far too soon.”

“You’re telling me,” I say, my mood souring as I’m again reminded of her untimely death. “So what’s the deal with Redheart? Why’d she freak out like that?”

Minuette shrugs. “Redheart’s never been… the greatest at showing her emotions. I suppose it came with her being a nurse. She’s tough, and insists on soldiering through. She never really talked to us about losing Daring, but we could tell it hurt her. You just surprised her, coming out of the blue like that. You forced her to think about things she shoved away a long time ago.”

I nod slowly. “Yeah, I gathered that much.”

“I didn’t take it all that well, but I told myself I needed to be strong. For her and for everyone else. So I put on a brave face and faced the truth.” Minuette looked up to meet my eyes. “How did you take it?”

“Well, hard, I guess. I mean, she was my sister and everything.” I rub the back of my head with a hoof.

“You know, we spent a long time debating whether or not to reach out to you. I guess we decided not to in the end,” she remarks sadly.

I shuffle in my seat. “It’s been three years. I’m fine.”

“Time can only heal your wounds if you let it.” Minuette observes she points to her cutie mark, and I see that it’s an hourglass. “That’s something that your sister taught me. We have to learn how to hurt before we can learn how to heal.” She sighs again, staring off into the distance. “When I first met her, I truly believed that things would just get better with time. But your sister? She called me out. She told me that if I really wanted things to change, I’d have to make the change myself.” She clears her throat and turns her attention back to me. “I didn’t know it at the time, but that advice saved me. It got me out of a bad place and a horrible job, and into a wonderful place.

“When I told her she saved me, she didn’t believe it. Daring always said that saviors are only things in stories. But that’s the thing, to me she was that. A real life savior. I just wish she saw that.”

“What do you mean?”

Minuette thinks for a second. “Well, I don’t think Daring ever saw her own potential. We talked alot about her research and writing, and it just blew me away. But she was always looking to improve, to make it better. That’s what I respected the most about her. And she saw the best in everypony, even those that didn’t see the best in her.”

I take in her words. I can see Daring sitting on a bench across from us, rubbing a foreleg and looking away in embarrassment.

“But she never once called herself a hero,” Minuette continues. “She always said she was just a pony. She often said that Daring Do was who she wanted to be, but Daring Dash was who she really was. I disagreed. I think that it takes a true hero to do the things she did.”

She trails off after that and we sit there in silence for a while.

“For what it’s worth, I think you were a great friend to her,” I say.

Minuette smiles. “Thanks. And you’re a good sister, Rainbow. I hope you know it.”

Daring Do and the Legend of Slow Burn

I end up waiting in the library for a half hour before Twilight can finally get to me. “Sorry, Rainbow,” she apologizes. “I got a bit carried away with one of my experiments.”

I decide not to question why she’s got some burn marks on her coat or why she smells like smoke. “It’s cool.”

She hesitates before continuing, “So, how are you feeling?”

I blink. “Fine, I guess. Why?”

“Well… today is the anniversary after all.”

“No it isn’t, it’s… Oh, crap. It is.” The realization hits me. On this very day, three years ago, I lost my sister. “I guess I lost track of time.”

Twilight gives me a concerned glance. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I shrug. “Yeah. I guess reading this story has been helping. It makes it hard to forget that she’s gone, you know?”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that this is helping you,” Twilight replies. She hesitates before adding, “But if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

“I know.”

With a reassuring smile, Twilight opens the book again. “Okay. Where were we?” She clears her throat before reading. “You and your group leave the treacherous skies of Skyfall City far behind, heading for the far west instead. Soon the lush green countryside gives way to barren desert land, with sand and dust embedding itself in the world around you…”

“I hate the desert,” Redblood mutters from my right. We’re standing in the middle of an old western town, the kind I’ve seen in movies. The streets are unpaved and dusty, with old wooden buildings lining the sides. Everypony around us is wearing cowpony hats, making us stand out.

Free Fall just laughs. “You hate everything, Redblood. I’m not surprised.”

“She’s got a point,” Minute states. She points to a saloon on the far end of the street. “Is that where we’re heading?”

Redblood’s ears perk up. “A drink? Fine by me!”

Daring facehoofes and shakes her head. “No, we’re not going to get a drink. Remember what happened last time?”

Free Fall wiggles her eyebrows at Daring. “I remember what happened last time.”

I laugh as my sister blushes and gives her a shove. “Shut up!”

Redblood and Minute set off towards the saloon as Daring shouts after them, “Hey! You are not doing what you did when we went to Manehattan!”

“Chill out! It’s just a few drinks,” Redblood shots back.

With a grumble of annoyance, Daring heads off after them. “Stay right there,” she says to Free Fall.

Free Fall rolls her eyes and gives a sarcastic salute as my sister runs off after her friends.

“Should we go help her?” I venture.

“Nah. She’s got it,” Free Fall says dismissively.

I look her over again, noting all the similarities between her and Fleetfoot. “So… you and my sister, huh?”

Free Fall glances at me awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. Did she, uh, ever tell you? About us?”

“No.” I can’t help but laugh inside at how weird this is. One of my idols, acting awkward aroundme.

Free Fall’s eyes dip to the ground and she kicks at the dust absently. “Oh. Well, it’s kind of a funny story. When we first met, I crashed into her while practicing. It was dark, and I didn’t think there’d be anypony at the park. She kind of got mad at me, so I had to watch out for her when I practiced at night. But then we talked and got to know each other.”

“And that’s where this whole thing started?”

“Well, after a while we went out for some drinks. And, er, we had a little too much to drink--”

My wings suddenly flare out defensively. “Wait, so you’re saying you--”

“No, nothing like that! She just got really drunk and ended up kissing me! I swear that’s all that happened!”

I cock an eyebrow suspiciously. Wait, this is my idol we’re talking about. Why do I have her cowering in front of me like a filly?

Because this is my sister we’re talking about, I realize. As a big sister, this is kind of my job. “Then did you do anything after that?”

Free Fall sighs. “No. Look, after we kissed… she was scared. She said that she had a lot to figure out and wasn’t comfortable going any further. So I said okay, and that she could take as much time as she needed to figure things out.” A look of regret comes across her face. “We were just doing that when she… died. Figuring it out.”

The sad look on her face kills whatever rage I have left inside of me. My wings droop down and I sigh. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I can understand, I wanted the best for her too.” Free Fall shakes her head and chuckles. “I didn’t even trust Redblood when I first met her. Thought she was a horrible influence. Glad to see I was wrong though.”

I look around, watching some of the locals as they pass by. “She really liked you, didn’t she?”

Free Fall just shrugs. “I hope she did.”

Before she can elaborate, the saloon’s doors suddenly slam open and a black stallion comes flying out. He rolls on the ground a few times, but doesn’t get up. Then, a panicked crowd comes surging out, screaming and yelling and glancing at the door.

Redblood trots out, shaking her head in disgust. “Touch me there again, why don’t you,” she spits.

She’s followed by a laughing Minute Maker, who slaps her hard on the back. “Oh Celestia, the look on his face! That was great! We should do that again sometime!”

An angry stallion in an apron shouts after them, while Daring quickly apologizes to him. She reaches into her bag and gives him a sack of bits, which he snatches with an annoyed huff.

“One time! We can’t go out for drinks one time without you lot starting a bar fight,” she hisses as she rejoins us.

“Aw, did I miss out again?” Free Fall pouts.

Daring opens her mouth to reply, but before she can, a baritone voice yells at us, “Hey!”

A group of earth ponies in black vests and hats are trotting towards us. The lead pony’s got a black mustache and a scowl on his face. He points a hoof at the unconscious stallion on the ground in front of us. “That there’s an Outlaw you just hit!”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I ask. “Why’s he so upset?”

My sister groans in annoyance. “The Outlaws are a gang that live out here. They’re also very defensive of one another and don’t like it when you knock out one of their members.”

Redblood just shrugs. “Whoops.”

The Outlaws then rear up onto their hind hooves and draw revolvers from their belts. The townsponies around us duck for cover and scramble to get out of their way. Bullets riddle the ground and the sounds of gunshots fill the air.

“Get down!” Minute yells.

All of us run for cover as they start shooting at us. A bullet whizzes over my head and shatters a window at the nearby general store. The nosie is pretty defeaning at first, but my ears quickly adjust. “What’s the plan?” I shout to Daring.

“Put them at range,” she shouts to Minute and Redblood. Daring and I end up on the right side, behind some barrels while Minute and Redblood end up by the general store. The Outlaws divide themselves into teams, with half of them providing cover fire while the other half reposition themselves. This definetly isn’t their first rodeo.

Minute lights up her horn and blasts one of the Outlaws square in the face. He falls to the ground, gun tumbling out of his hoof. Another Outlaw quickly goes to his side and drags him aside while two more Outlaws cover him. Damn, they’re coordinated!

Daring turns to me. “Luckily for us, these’ dolts can’t aim. We’re going to have to be fast.”

“Fast? Do you know who you’re talking to?” I flash her a confident grin. The grin falters a little bit as another bullet flies over my head.

“Right. Ready?”

After I nod, we take off into the sky. I get some altitude before glancing down. Most of the Outlaws have scattered now, taking cover from Minute’s spells and Redblood’s cannon-thingy. A few are still standing in the street and shooting with their hooves while others are shooting with their mouths. It looks like they’re still using their tactic of covering fire, making it hard for Minute and Redblood to return fire.

I set my eyes on the mustached pony, who’s in the middle of the road shouting orders at the others. With a smirk, I dive down towards him. At the last second he hears me and starts to turn, but it’s way too late for him.

I slam my hooves into his stomach, and he crashes to the ground with a surprised yell. The revolver goes flying out of his hooves. His hoof immidetly goes to his vest, and I’m pretty sure I know why. Sure enoguh, he pulls another gun out of a hidden holster. I grab at it with both of my hooves.

We wrestle for control, and I quickly realize he’s stronger than I am. I’m able to pull it towards myself, barrel pointing away from me, but he still won’t let go. So, I do the one thing I can think of: spit on him.

Somehow it works, and his grip falters just enough that I yank it out of his hooves. I turn it around, gripping the barrel instead of the handle, and bash at his head with it. I don’t stop until I’m sure he won’t get up soon.

As I get off him, one of the other Outlaw sees me and turns his gun on me. “Shit!” I might be fast, but I don’t think I’m faster than a speeding bullet. Before I can move though, a gray blur knocks him into the dirt. The two ponies tumble around for a few seconds, cursing and swinging at each other.

My sister’s able to get the upper hoof, trapping the stallion on his stomach. She seizes one of his foreleg and applies pressure, twisting it in an unnatural way. If you didn’t hear the snap, you definitely heard his scream. A quick elbow to the head and he stops moving. “You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks,” I reply.

Then, I realize there’s another group of ponies approaching. “Hooves in the air! Reach for the skies!”

“Everypony scatter!” one of the Outlaws yells. The remaining Outlaws quickly drop their weapons and run. Ponies in brown dusters and wearing badges chase after them, rifles and shotguns slung across their backs.

As we regroup, a yellow-coated earth pony in a brown hat and duster approaches us. “Well Ah’ll be. If it ain’t Darin’ Do herself. Never thought Ah’d see you ‘round these parts again.”

Daring tips her helmet at him. “Hey, Burn. Guys, this is Marshal Slow Burn, chief law enforcement officer of the Empty Desert.”

He nods and touches the brim of his hat. “Pleasure. And next time if you could avoid pissin’ off the local gang, that’d be mighty fine.”

Daring coughs and nudges Redblood. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

Slow Burn just shakes his head and laughs. “Ain’t no trouble, at least nopony died. So how can Ah help you today?”

“We’re trying to locate the Amulet of the Forgotten,” Daring explains. “My research indicates that the final key is located in the Temple of Pentagony, but I haven’t been able to figure out where it is.”

Slow Burn rubs his chin in thought. “Hm, reckon Ah might know what you’re talkin’ about. There’s some old ruins just west of here, ain’t nopony brave enough to go near ‘em. Ah could take you if you want.”

Before Daring can respond, I see movement from the corner of my eye. The lead Outlaw we knocked out earlier is up now, gun in hoof and aimed at us. “Die, you sorry bastards!”

It’s hard to process what happens next. In a swift movement, Slow rears up on his hind legs and draws his rifle from the holster in his saddle. Without pausing he raises the gun up to eye level and fires.

The Outlaw yelps in pain as the gun is shot out of his hooves. Two deputies then converge on him and wrestle him to the ground.

Slow just blinks like nothing happened and drops back to all four hooves, reholstering his weapon. He catches my eye and winks at me. “You only see that in movies,” he jokes.

“Nice shot, you old cow puncher,” Minute says.

“It’s why I’m here, ain’t it?” He chuckles. “Oh, and you folks are probably gonna have to pay for that broken window.”

“But it wasn’t even our fault,” I protest.

Redblood rolls her eyes and turns back to the saloon. “If I didn’t need a drink before, I sure do need one now.”

Daring Do and the Words Left Unsaid

I watch as Daring and her friends trot off towards the saloon, laughing and joking amongst each other. “Hey, Twilight? Do you mind if we end early today? I should probably go visit her.”

The world fades away again and Twilight nods. “Of course, Rainbow. I understand.”

She hoofs the book back to me and I stick it in my saddle bags. “Did you want to come along?” I ask her.

“I wouldn’t want to intrude,” she replies. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Rainbow.”

With a wave, I exit the library and take to the sky. I head towards the cemetery on the outskirts of Ponyville, taking in the night sky and stars above.

Burial traditions among pegasi are pretty different from those of unicorns and earth ponies. I never really realized it until her funeral. But I guess it makes sense since we live on clouds and all that. When a pegasus dies, it’s traditional for them to get cremated, followed by a release of their ashes into the sky.

I shudder at that. To me it makes sense, as I’d much rather spend forever flying in the air than being trapped underground in a coffin. But even if it was tradition, I still didn’t like it. The thought of destroying her, so I could never see her again…

I frown. The memories from three years ago are coming on strong now. The yelling and arguing with my parents over what was best for her, the days of anger and denial, being consoled by my friends… it’s too much.

Eventually I touch down outside the cemetery and trot in, past the rows and rows of graves and tombstones, and the many statues of the princess, acting as a silent guardian. There are a few flowers scattered around, adding some color to the grays and blacks.

The path to her grave is burned into my memory. I remember walking it so many years ago, eyes forward and mind numb. I remember my parents and my friends behind me, silent and solemn. And just vaguely I think I remember seeing the others, a blue unicorn, a white mare, a light blue pegasus, a yellow stallion.

I remember going up to the open coffin, and staring at her. It was kind of surreal, knowing that her body had to be magically reconstructed after she was crushed by tons of falling rocks. She looked at peace, like she was just taking a nap in between research sessions, looking like any second now she would wake up and the nightmare would be over.

Of course she never did wake up. I watched as they took the coffin to the crematorium, and watched as my sister became ash and bone. I watched as my mother and father took the urn to the highest cloud and released her spirit, sending it flying off into the wind. I watched the grave for a long, long time, hoping that somehow everypony would be wrong and I’d have my sister back.

I make my way over to the grave, fighting back the memories that push their way forwards. Every year I go through the same struggle, but this year it feels a bit… different. It feels like Daring’s right beside me, helping me. Rubbing a hoof on my back, whispering in my ear that everything’s alright.

As I approach the grave, I pause, realizing something’s out of place. There’s another pony standing in front of it, laying a bouquet of flowers down. The pegasus is wearing a gray hoodie that’s covering her face, but I get the feeling I know who it is.

I walk up behind her and clear my throat. The mystery pegasus whips around, showing me her face from underneath her hood. “Oh! Sorry, you startled me,” Fleetfoot says.

I shrug. Normally I would be bouncing off the walls after running into one of my heroes, but not tonight. “Sorry.”

Fleetfoot awkwardly scuffs at the ground. “I’ll leave, if you want a moment.”

“No!” I flinch at how loudly I said that. “No, it’s fine. You can stay.”

She nods hesitantly but doesn’t leave. Fleetfoot turns back to the grave silently. I trot up next to her, not really sure of what to say.

“You’re Rainbow Dash, aren’t you?” she asks quietly.

I nod.

“Then I’m assuming you know who I am.”

I nod again, and Fleetfoot sighs. She takes off the hood and shakes her mane lose. “Were you at the funeral?” I ask.

“Yeah. I wasn’t really sure how to approach you, and I didn’t want to be recognized, so I hung out at the back most of the time.” She gives an apologetic smile.

“It’s fine, I get it.” I sigh, reading the name on the grave to myself. “I had no idea you two were so close.”

Fleetfoot flinches at that. “Yeah. We… we never really agreed what we were. Besides friends, I mean.”

I hesitate. “Did you… did you love her?”

“Yes,” she answers immediately. “I did. I… wish I knew if she loved me too.”

I can sense Daring next to me, staring at her own grave. I wish I knew what she was thinking right now. “I’m sure she loved you,” I reply. I realize that I’ve still got Daring’s book with me, and an idea comes into my head.

I find the picture of their first kiss and take it out. “I was actually going through some of my sister’s things and found this.” I pass her the photograph. “I guess you might want it.”

Fleetfoot’s face lights up when she sees it. “Oh, I remember this! I completely forgot Brae had his camera with him.” She chuckles, shaking her head at the memory. “Those were the days. Thanks for this.”

“Yeah, no problem.” We stand there in silence for a while. “Do you miss her?”

She blinks at that question. “Of course I do. Why?”

“I… I dunno. I’ve just always thought that one day I'd stop missing her, and it’d just stop hurting so much.” I’m not really sure why I’ve decided to start confessing to her, but the floodgates are already open. “It sucks, you know? I hate feeling like I should’ve done something else and stopped this.”

Fleetfoot reaches out and sets a hoof on my shoulder. “Listen, Rainbow. You’re not alone like that. But if there’s one thing I can tell you, you should never want to stop missing someone. Forgetting them or shoving them away isn’t going to make the pain stop. I… we learned that the hard way. Loss sucks, and it’s always going to suck, but if we remember them and keep them in our hearts, it’ll help so much more in the long run.”

My ears droop at that. “Yeah, I guess. But it’s just… I can’t… I’m not…” I blink hard as I feel tears well up in my eyes. Damn it, not now.

Fleetfoot drapes a wing over my shoulder. “It’s okay, Rainbow. Letting it out doesn’t make you weak or less awesome.”

I wipe the tears from my eyes, but they keep coming. On my back, I swear that I feel another set of wings over Fleetfoot’s. I glance to my right and see the blurry form of my sister, hugging me tight. “But I have to… I have to be strong.”

“You are strong,” Fleetfoot tells me. “Don’t ever think that you’re not. We’re all just ponies, Rainbow. Even the best of us have to cry sometimes.”

We sit there for a while, in front of the grave. It takes some time, but I get myself under control. Fleetfoot steps back with a sigh. She tucks the photograph into the pocket of her hoodie. “You’re a great sister, Rainbow. Daring always looked up to you. She loved you as much as I loved her.” She wipes her eye with a foreleg before smiling. “Oh, and you didn’t hear this from me, but your flying skills have our attention.”

I blink. I just got a compliment. From a Wonderbolt. And I’m not flipping out. Instead, I’m smiling and shaking her hoof. “Thanks.”

Fleetfoot nods and spreads her wings, flying away.

As I watch her go, I take a few deep breaths. I still feel sad, but somehow I feel… lighter. Like a weight’s off my wings now. “Hey, Sis,” I say aloud, “a lot of ponies loved you. I hope you know that.”

I’m not sure how long I stand there, in the cold winter night, in front of my sister’s grave. My ear twitches when I hear someone coming up behind me. I turn around to see Nurse Redheart, giving me a sheepish smile.

“Oh. Hello, Rainbow Dash. I… didn’t expect to see you here,” she says.

I shrug. “Hey, Nurse. I was just paying some respects.”

Nurse Redheart nods. “I understand. Do you mind if I join you?”

“Not at all.”

She trots up next to me and pulls some flowers out of her saddlebag. After laying them on top of the grave, she takes a step back respectfully. “I want to apologize for my actions the other day,” she says. “I had no right to treat you the way I did.”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Hey, it’s cool. I kind of came at you pretty heavy there.”

Nurse Redheart sighs. “Maybe so. The truth is I was lying to myself. I kept saying that I was over her death and that it didn’t bother me anymore. It took a long time to realize that lying wasn’t going to work.”

I nod, remembering some of the things I heard from Minuette and Fleetfoot. “I get it.”

“It’s kind of funny. In my line of work, you have to avoid getting attached. Loss comes with the job. You try to prevent it, try to fight it, but you don’t always win. But it’s so different when you lose someone close to you.”

“Does loss ever get easier?”

“I can’t say it does,” she answers. “But pain is an important part of healing, whether we like it or not. I had to hurt before I could heal.” Redheart pauses before continuing, “Minuette tells me she spoke with you. Did you meet the others?”

“I met Fleetfoot earlier,” I answer.

“What about Braeburn?”

I shake my head. “Who’s he?”

Redheart smiles. “He moved out some time ago. Lives somewhere in the South now, I believe. You should talk with him if you get the chance. Actually, I think you might know his cousin, Applejack?”

“Yeah, I know her.”

“Right, stupid question,” Redheart chuckles. “Of course you know her. She might be able to get you in contact with him.”

I nod. “I’ll ask, thanks.”

We lapse into silence again after that. Redheart wipes her eyes with a foreleg. “Daring, wherever you are… we miss you.”

From somewhere behind me, I hear a reply. “I miss you guys too.” Her voice is lost in the wind, blowing through the wind. I close my eyes and start to cry.

Daring Do and the Empty Desert

The smell of apples fills my nostrils as I touch down outside of my friend’s farm. If you’ve been in Ponyville for a second, chances are you’ve heard of Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack likes to say that it’s her farm that keeps the town running.

To me, it’s just a great, open space to practice in. Also the trees are great to nap in. But I didn’t come here to sleep or practice, not today. I pull the letter out of my saddlebag and give it a quick read over.

Braeburn,

My name is Rainbow Dash. I heard you were friends with my sister, Daring Dash. I’ve been trying to connect with some of her friends recently, and I’ve learned a lot about her that I didn’t know before. I was just wondering if there was anything you could tell me about her.

Thanks,

Rainbow Dash.

Satisfied, I stick it back in the envelope and set off to find Applejack. I track her down pretty quickly on the north side of the farm, bucking a tree like she always does. “Howdy, RD,” she greets. “How can Ah help ya?”

“Hey AJ,” I reply. “I’m trying to track down one of your cousins.”

Applejack scoffs and wipes her brow. “You and Ah both know you’re gonna have to be more specific than that.”

“Does a stallion by the name of Braeburn ring a bell?”

Her face lights up at the name. “Brae? Well, ‘course Ah know him! Wonder how he’s doin’, that crazy pony.”

“Great.” I pull the letter out of my bag. “Could you get this letter to him? As fast as possible?”

Applejack takes the letter and nods. “Sure thing. What’s this about?”

“I just had some questions for him. Apparently he knew my sister or something.”
Applejack grimaces at that. “Oh, it’s that time of the year, ain’t it?”

“Yesterday, actually.”

She sticks the letter in her hat and trots over to me. “Ah know you’ve probably heard it a million times, but Ah’m mighty sorry for your loss.”

I nod in appreciation of that. “Thanks, AJ. And I’m fine. I’ve been working through some stuff, but I think I’ll be alright.”

My friend smiles at me. “Alright. And if you ever need us, we’re here for you.”

“I know.”

Applejack then steps back and readjusts her hat. “You goin’ to Pinkie’s Hearth’s Warming party?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I reassure her. That reminds me, with the anniversary gone, that only leaves three days until Hearth’s Warming. Where the hay is all the time going?

“See you there then,” Applejack replies. “Now git! Ah’ve still got work to do!”

I laugh and spread my wings. “Sure you do. See you around, AJ!”

With that out of the way, I take off and head for the weather office. It’s time I have a word with Cloud Kicker. Nopony kicks me out of my own office and gets away with it.

After work ends, I head off to the library again. I end up sitting around for a while while Twilight chews out some poor colt who dropped his book into the shower or something. According to Spike, she’s mostly upset because this isn’t the first time this has happened.

“I can’t believe it! How hard is it to keep literature away from water sources,” Twilight grumbles as she enters. “If he keeps it up, he’ll destroy half of the library!”

I raise an eyebrow at that statement. “Why don’t you just… stop giving him books?”

“And deny a pony the chance for literature? His heart’s in the right place, and he does want to learn. He just needs to learn how to be more careful.” Twilight clears her throat. “Anyways, how have you been holding up?”

I shrug. “Fine. I’ve been meeting some of Daring’s friends recently. It’s been really interesting.”

She smiles. “That’s great to hear. Ready to continue?”

I nod, getting off the couch.

“With the assistance of Marshal Slow Burn, your group travels off into the Empty Desert, a dead and barren land in the far reaches of Equestria…”

This time I find myself standing in the middle of a huge, sprawling desert. There are no roads whatsoever, only sand dunes stretching far in every direction. Looking behind me I can see the town in the distance. I can see our hoofprints in the sand and realize how easy it’d be for something to follow us.

There’s a few cacti dotting the area, and the occasional tumbleweed, but other than that it’s pretty quiet. Slow Burn’s in the front, leading the way forwards. “Y’all gotta keep an eye out,” he says. “Things can go sideways mighty quickly out here.”

Daring nods and turns to Free Fall. “Circle around for me, let me know what you see.”

As Free Fall takes to the sky, Daring pulls out her map and frowns. “I don’t see any landmarks out here. How do we know where we’re going?”

“You’re just gonna need to put faith in me,” Slow Burn answers. “Ah know this land like Ah know my own parents. It ain’t gettin’ lost Ah’m worried about.”

Free Fall dives back down and hoovers near him. “Hey, there’s something following us. I can’t really tell what it is.”

Slow Burn scowls. “How many did you count?”

“One,” she replies. “Why?”

“We might get away with it,” Slow muses. “Keep an eye out, wouldya?” He glances at us. “Darin’, you and your sister might want to help her out with that.”

Daring and I nod and take to the air, following Free Fall. Up high, I take in the endless expanse of desert that falls beneath us. Squinting, I see a strange brown blob far away from the others. It looks like there’s something burrowing underneath the sand. “Is that it?”

Free Fall nods. “I almost missed it at first, it blends in pretty well. What do you think it is?”

“Nothing good,” Daring answers. “Let’s keep our eyes peeled.”

We hover above the group, scanning the area and searching for movement. “Hey, Rainbow,” Daring says. “I just wanted to say thanks. For all the stuff you’ve been doing.”

I raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You know, taking the time to talk to my friends and stuff. It’s been nice to see them again. And I think it’s been helping you out too.” She gives me a small smile.

“I guess it has,” I answer.

Free Fall suddenly nudges me. “Hey, do you see that?” I squint where she’s pointing.

“No, what--wait.” I look closer, and realize that something is moving down there. “Holy… yeah, I do.” We’re still too high to tell what exactly we’re looking at, but whatever it is, it’s big. And moving pretty quickly.

“Two more on the right side!” Daring suddenly shouts.

I scan the area again, knowing what to look for this time. “Yeah, I see two--no, three on the left.”

“Four in the middle,” Free Fall says. “We should probably go tell Burn.”

Daring agrees and dives down towards him. “Slow, we got a lot of movement coming from the town. At least nine or more… somethings.”

“What is it?” Minute asks, concern on her face.

Slow Burn growls. “Desert Crawlers. One of the reasons ponies don’t usually come out this way.” He stops and turns around to face us. “Ah don’t rightly know what they are, but Ah do know they kill. Look for movement in the sands. If you see somethin’, shoot it.”

Minute and Redblood nod, preparing their spells and weapons respectively. Slow Burn draws his gun. “Ah need y’all to spot for us. Let us know if you see somethin’ move.”

The three of us nod and fly upwards again. We scan the area, searching for anything out of place, while Slow, Minute, and Redblood form a half circle beneath us.

Then there’s the sharp crack of a gunshot. I glance down to see Slow’s shot at the sand. There’s a horrible screeching noise, and a giant bug pops out of the sand. It looks sort of like a giant beetle, with sandy brown wings and two large antennae. It’s also got a massive horn on the front of its head, and a huge jaw with plenty of teeth in it.

The crawler that Slow shot is bleeding green blood from its front, but doesn’t seem to notice. Minute and Redblood hit it a few more times before it finally keels over.

“Minute, on your right!” Free Fall shouts. Sure enough, I catch something moving towards her very rapidly. She turns and fires a volley of spells into the ground, unearthing another crawler.

“We need to divide and conquer,” Daring realizes. “I’ll cover Minute, Free Fall cover Burn, and Rainbow, you cover Redblood!”

I nod, and focus my attention on the mare below me. She fires her laser cannon at a crawler but misses, the crawler burrowing deeper into the ground instead. “Yo, your right, Red!”

She turns and fires, sending a blast of sand flying through the air and knocking out another bug. Before she can do anything else, another crawler flies out of the sand on her right. Redblood grunts in surprise and falls to the ground. The crawler opens its massive jaws and lets out a roar before advancing on her.

Slow whips around and fires several shotgun slugs at it, knocking it out. “Look out!” Free Fall calls as another crawler unearths itself a few feet behind him.

Slow drops his shotgun and seizes his pistol, turning to face it. With one hoof he fires off six shots, landing each one on the head of the crawler. Minute helps out too by firing another spell, letting loose a blue barrage from her horn. The spell seems to explode on contact, sending energy rippling through the air.

“Thanks,” Redblood says as she gets to her hooves.

“Don’t mention it,” Slow replies. He holsters the pistol and draws his rifle, leaving the shotgun on the ground.

“One far right, by the rock,” Free Fall reports.

The Marshal heaves himself onto his hind legs and fires. There’s another shriek of pain and the movement stops. Slow pulls back the metal bolt on the side of the gun, loading another round. “Finish the last few off, then we should be alright!” he shouts.

“Minute, two by the cactus!” Daring shouts.

As Minute turns to examine that area, I catch a slight movement out of the corner of my eye. “Watch--”

Before I can finish the warning, another crawler shoots up directly underneath her, sending the unicorn flying through the air.

“Ah, shit!” Free Fall reacts first, diving down towards her. Both of them grunt as Minute lands in Free Fall’s hooves. “Second time today,” Free Fall jokes. “Now you owe me two!”

Slow and Redblood knock the bug out of commission and rejoin Minute and Free Fall. Slow glances up at us and shouts something, pointing a hoof behind us.

I glance in that direction and realize the remaining crawlers have gathered and are flying in circles. My eyes widen as they make a huge funnel of dust and sand.

“We gotta go,” Daring shouts. She grabs my hoof and we both fly away as fast as we can. We don’t get far before we’re suddenly caught in the storm. The sand and dust sting my eyes and blind me as the wind rips through my fur. My hoof slips out of Daring’s grip, and I’m suddenly blind and alone. I open my mouth to call out to her, only to have it instantly filled with dust. With a hacking cough, I spiral out of control and start to fall.

Daring Do and the End of Time

“Rainbow?”

I vaguely hear somepony calling out my name. I try to move, but my body doesn’t cooperate. I groan, holding a hoof to my head. Somepony keeps shaking me. “Rainbow! Get up!” I try to open my eyes, only to be blinded by a blast of sunlight.

“What happened?” I ask groggily. As my eyes readjust to the light, I can see Daring sitting beside me, shaking me with concern.

She lets out a sigh of relief. “I don’t know. We got separated from the others. Are you okay?”

I sit up, shaking off the drowsiness. “I think so. Nothing hurts, except for my head.”

“Good.” Daring stands up, looking around us. “You hit the ground pretty hard there.”

“I’ve had worse crashes,” I reply as I get to my hooves. “This is nothing I can’t handle.” I shake the dust out of my wings and glance around. Sure enough, there’s no sign of the others. I can’t see the town anymore either.

“We should probably get going. I don’t want to deal with any more giant bugs,” Daring says.

I nod my head in agreement, and we take off to the sky. I scan the horizon, but don’t see anypony. Just a bunch of cacti and sand. I glance at my sister and realize she’s pretty tense. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

She blinks and stares at me. “Nothing. You just crashed pretty hard, that’s all.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “Sis, you’ve seen me wipe out a lot harder than that while practicing.”

“I know! I just got scared when I lost you.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “In the dust, I mean. When your hoof fell out of mine. I thought you were gone, Rainbow.”

I put a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about me. That’s my job, okay? I’m fine.”

She opens her eyes and shudders. “Rainbow… I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I just went out and died on you. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”

“Daring, look. These past few days I’ve had a lot of ponies telling me that what happened wasn’t my fault. I never thought I’d need to tell you this, but it isn’t your fault either. It was an accident, and it was stupid, but it wasn’t anypony’s fault.”

My sister looks at me skeptically. “But, if I hadn’t gone on that trip--”

“If you’re going to blame someone, blame me,” I tell her. “If I reached out and realized that you needed help, maybe you’d still be alive. But blaming each other isn’t going to solve anything. It won’t bring you back.”

My sister wipes at her eye with a hoof. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. But I never meant to put you guys through this.”

“We know,” I affirm. “And we don’t love you any less.”

With a few deep breaths, Daring straightens herself out and confidence returns to her eyes. “Right. Okay, we need to find the others. Shout if you see anything.”

We fly on for a little bit, climbing higher to give us a better view of the area.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Daring asks after a bit. “Have you spoken to Mom and Dad recently?”

“I’m going to go visit tomorrow,” I answer. “Why?”

She shrugs. “No reason. I was just wondering how they’ve been doing.”

“They’re fine,” I reassure her. “They miss you a lot, but they’re the same as ever. Still supportive of everything I do, to the point where it’s kind of annoying. I mean, I love them and all, but sometimes they can be a bit overprotective.”

Daring considers that. “They probably don’t want to lose another daughter,” she observes quietly. “And your line of work isn’t exactly safe.”

I pause to reflect on that for a second. “You’re probably right,” I admit. “But I don’t want to be a weather manager forever.”

“I’m sure you won’t,” Daring answers. “But it must be hard for them. On one hoof they want to support you no matter what you want to do, but on the other they don’t want to lose you like they lost me.”

We fly on in silence, with that note weighing in my mind. I never really stopped to wonder how hard losing Daring was for them. I mean sure, I noticed some tension and arguments between them from time to time, but nothing too serious. But then again, I wasn’t exactly the most attentive pony in the world. I wonder how much more I’ve missed picking up.

“Rainbow, do you see that?” Daring interrupts my thoughts by pointing out a pummel of dust rising into the air.

“Yeah, but what the hay is it?” I reply. We speed down towards the dust, ready for anything.

As we near the disturbance, I feel my jaw drop. Standing in the middle of the sand is a giant moving cactus, covered with spikes and swinging its arms around. It's also got a huge pink flower on its head, and while it doesn’t have eyes, it’s got two huge fangs sticking out of its mouth. I was definitely not expecting this. “Uh… what?”

Daring rolls her eyes. “I, uh, ran out of ideas,” she muttered.

Looking closer, I realize that the cactus is attacking something. I see the forms of Slow Burn, Minute Maker, Redblood, and Free Fall, desperately trying to fight it off. “There they are!”

“Got any ideas?” Daring asks, running her eyes up and down the oversized plant.

I shrug. “No, but we better get its attention before it crushes them.”

“Good call,” Daring answers. We fly towards it, circling around its head.

Even if it doesn’t have eyes, the cactus seems to notice us, growling through its fangs. It swings an arm at us, forcing us to seperate.

I glance down again to see Minute fire a spell only to have it get absorbed by the cactus. They can’t do anything against it, I realize. Looks like it's up to us. I search the sky until I find my sister, who keeps flying a pattern around it, trying to draw it away from the others.

My eyes run over the cactus again, searching for any weak points. If Redblood’s laser, Minute’s magic, and Slow’s gun can’t do anything against it, then I doubt stabbing or punching it will work. And those spikes all over its body would mean that a direct attack would end up being extremely painful.

The cactus roars again and swipes at me, breaking my concentration. The arm is so huge that I have to drop my altitude quickly to avoid being slammed out of the sky. As I regain control, I notice something. The cactus doesn’t seem to have spikes on its head. That gives me an idea.

I quickly fly over to the others. “Glad to see you’re still alive,” Minute shouts. “Got a plan?”

“Just one,” I answer. “How have you guys been doing against it?”

“Not well,” Redblood answers. “Laser blasts and bullets just go right through it, and it’s too big for us to do any damage. It also just absorbs anything Minute throws at it.”

“Goes through it, huh?” A plan comes together in my mind. “Okay. I think I know what to do. You guys might want to get clear.”

I shoot up into the sky again and fly over to Daring. “Hey, I’ve got an idea. Can you keep it distracted?”

“Yeah, what’re you thinking?” Daring asks.

“I think I’m going to need a lot of speed,” I answer.

My sister raises an eyebrow but doesn’t try to stop me. “Alright, if you’re sure. Good luck.”

I nod in thanks and speed off, flying away from the cactus. I build up speed, feeling the familiar rush of adrenaline mixed with the wind in my ears. The ground beneath me becomes a blur as cacti and rocks whiz by far below. As the world warps around me, I angle myself upwards before turning back around.

The wind’s almost deafening now. Water fills my eyes, but I squint and push through. Colors start to blur around me, and I push myself harder. Soon I have the giant cactus monster in sight. It senses me coming and turns to face me, but it’s way too slow. I smile, narrowing my eyes at it. “Eat shit, bastard!”

There’s a boom as I break through the sound barrier in a wave of color. I slam hooves first into the front of its head…

… and go straight through. As I punch through to the other side, I hear it screaming out in pain through the wind. I glance back to see it stumbling around before falling to the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and sand.

It takes me a while to lose all of my momentum, but eventually I slow down enough to land. I stumble before collapsing onto the ground myself, trying to catch my breath. I roll onto my back, a goofy smile on my face. I close my eyes, resting under the sun while I recover.

Eventually the others catch up to me. “Now that’s what Ah’m talkin’ about!” Slow cheers.

“You went right through him! Knocked him the buck out!” Minute agrees.

Redblood kneels beside me, offering a canteen of water. I gladly accept it and chug it down. “You alright?” she asks.

I wipe my mouth after finishing off the water. “Never better,” I gasp.

“Good,” she says with a smile. “Because I think you might be useful after all.”

Daring lands besides me and gives me a punch on the shoulder. “That was awesome! Way to go, Rainbow!”

I smile at all the praise from the others. As they chatter and laugh amongst themselves, Daring extends a hoof to me. I bump it and laugh. “You think you could come up with that for a book?”

“Never in a million years,” she answers. “Because I don’t think there’s anypony in the world besides you that could pull that off.”

We look at each other and smile, and just for a second, everything’s okay again.

Daring Do and the Pictures on the Wall

For a city that’s never in the same place twice, Cloudsdale really doesn’t change all that much. The roads I’m trotting down today are exactly the same as the ones I went down as a filly. The buildings and houses still shine in the sun, and foals still laugh and play in the streets. You can still see the weather factory in the distance, and if you’re lucky you might just see a Wonderbolt flying through the air.

I glance to my right to see Daring following behind me, taking it all in. “You were right, it really hasn’t changed,” she says.

“You said that about Ponyville too,” I answer. “You probably just don’t notice what’s different.”

My sister shrugs and falls silent, glancing up and down the street. The houses might all look the same, but the families that live in them are way different. That was something we learned by living here all those years ago.

I come to a stop in front of a familiar two story house, one that both of us spent our early years in. I glance at my sister and chuckle at the nervous look on her face. “Why are you scared?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “I guess it’s just been a while.”

I scoff. “Please, it’s Mom and Dad. How could you ever be scared of them?” I turn around and knock on the door.

After a few seconds it opens, and I’m basically tackled to the ground. “Hey, look at you! You haven’t changed one bit! How are you?”

“Dad!” I pat my hoof against his back as he ropes me into a bear hug. “Can’t breathe!”

He releases me from the hug, and I swear I can hear my sister laughing at me. “Sorry, Dashie. Windy, she’s here!”

My mom trots up to the doorway and gasps, rushing over to pull me into a hug. “Rainbow, it’s been so long! How have you been? Have you been eating well?”

I break out of the hug, sighing at their endless questions. “I’m fine, Mom! And we just saw each other like a month ago!”

“Has it really been that long?” she gasps.

“How are things going with the Wonderbolts?” Dad asks. “Did you make it in yet?”

My mom gestures for me to come in. “Bow, let her come in! She’ll freeze to death out there!”

As they lead the way into the house, I shoot a wary glance at Daring. “See? They haven’t changed a bit.”

Daring shakes her head and chuckles. I enter the house, trotting down the hallway and into the living room. My parents sit themselves down on the couch and motion for me to take a seat across from them.

The living room looks almost the same as I left it. Photographs take up every available space on the wall, along with some of my old medals and recognitions. A bookshelf’s tucked up against the far well, holding mom’s prized Princess Celestia collectible plates.

“So, dearie, how is life in the weather service?” mom asks.

I roll my eyes. “The same it’s always been, Mom.”

“That’s good to hear,” dad says. “You save Equestria again lately?”

“If I had, I think you would have heard about it,” I reply.

That gets a smile out of them. My dad wraps a wing around mom and pulls her close, both of them beaming with pride. I swear, it’s like this every single time I visit. I can’t even imagine what it’d be like when I finally become a Wonderbolt.

I notice Daring out of the corner of my eye, her back turned to me as she looks at some picture on the wall. I clear my throat. “Hey, Dad, I got your package.”

A grim look passes over his face for a second. “Oh! That’s good. I wasn’t really sure what to do with it, but I’m sure it’s better off with you than sitting here with us.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” My eyes drift to the wall of pictures, and I notice that Daring’s strangely absent from most of them. Has it always been like this since her death? For some reason I can’t remember.

Mom sighs, her eyes falling to the table. “We never knew that Daring was so interested in writing. I wish she told us. How is her book? Is it good?”

I nod. “It’s pretty cool, yeah. Did you guys find any other books?”

Mom and dad share a glance with each other and their ears droop. Dad rubs his foreleg awkwardly before talking. “It’s… kind of funny, actually. We haven’t really been in her room since the accident.”

Mom nods. “We go in occasionally, to clean out the dust and whatnot, but we try not to touch anything.”

“It’s stupid, I know, but it just feels… wrong to go in there,” dad says. His voice drops low and he blinks a few times, fighting back tears. “It’s all we have left of her. I don’t want it to change, because…. Because then we’ll lose her.” He spreads a wing across mom’s back and hugs her tight.

The room falls silent before mom starts talking again. “That book was the first thing we ever took out of her room. It was tucked away in a little box underneath her bed. I found it while cleaning some of the dust bunnies out.”

I’m… not really sure how to react. All my life I’ve known my parents to be strong. That didn’t change at the funeral, even with us all hugging and crying together. Back then, I kept looking up to them. Thinking that if they could be strong, then I could be strong too.

But looking at them now, they’re nothing like the strong guardians I knew them to be. They sulk over, fighting back tears as they hug each other tightly. I can’t bear to see them like this.

I get off the couch. “Do you guys mind if I see her room?”

Dad blinks and shakes his head. “No, not at all. This is still your house, you don’t need our permission.”

I nod and leave the room. I trot up the stairs and pause in the hallway. My old room’s on the right, and through the open door I can see some old posters and toys scattered around. On the left is my sister’s room. The door’s closed.

I go up to the door, laughing at the old signs Daring hung on it. Things like ‘Keep out!’ and ‘Knock first, I’m busy!’ Those signs never stopped me or my parents from just barging in, much to her dismay. With a deep breath I push the door open and walk in.

It’s dark. I flick on the lightswitch and the room is bathed in light. After my eyes adjust, I look around. I see her bed’s still sitting in the center of the room, the sheets made and ready. Even if nopony’s slept in them for years. Her bookshelf is still crammed with books and journals. The desk on the other side of the room’s still full of neatly stacked papers and journals, along with a lamp and a cup full of pens.

Mom and dad were right when they said they hadn’t changed it. The only thing I notice that’s different is a cardboard box sitting on top of her desk. I go over and open it to find that it’s full of photographs. Photographs of her.

“What’d I do wrong?” I glance behind me to see Daring lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, with her pith helmet on her chest. “I mean, did I disappoint them so badly that they couldn’t bear to look at me anymore?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Are we talking about the same ponies? You saw how they were. They miss you more than anything.”

“Then why did they take down all of my pictures? Why close the door to my room and lock it?”

I sigh, sitting down in the chair at her desk. “Because they’re hurting, Sis. I think I was the same way years ago.” She doesn’t reply, so I continue, “For a while it was painful just to think of you. I couldn’t look at a picture of you without missing you and hating myself for it. It took me a long time to get over it, but… I don’t know if mom and dad ever did get over it.”

Looking into the box, I spot a photograph that looks surprisingly familiar. The glass is cracked down the side, like it fell off the wall, but other than that it’s pretty intact. Turning it over in my hooves, I realize it’s the same photo that I saw in the North Zone.

My ears twitch as I hear a shuffling at the doorway. “Rainbow?” my mom’s soft voice calls.

I turn around and smile at her. “Hey.”

She bites her lip, glancing at dad. “How are you holding up?”

I shrug. “Fine, I guess.”

Dad nods at the box. “We never meant to lock her away like this,” he says quietly. “It was just too much to handle. I couldn’t look around the house without being reminded of her and thinking that I failed.”

“You didn’t fail,” I tell him. “You did everything you could.”

He shakes his head in anger. “No, because a parent’s job is to keep their kid safe! If I can’t even do that--” His voice breaks, and mom drapes a wing over his side.

“We tried,” she says. “We tried to move on. We took down her photos, telling ourselves that we would look at them when we had healed. When we could handle the pain.”

“But we never could,” dad sobs. “Not even after all these years.”

I get off the chair and join them. Mom pulls us all into a group hug. I feel my own resolve crumbling as tears well up in my eyes. “Mom, Dad, you were the best parents she could have asked for,” I tell them. “She loved you.”

We hold the hug for a long time.

“You know,” I say eventually, “I heard something the other day. Somepony told me that you have to hurt before you can heal.”

Mom and dad glance at each other and sigh. “Maybe they’re right,” dad says. “We’ve been putting this off for far too long.” They both step forward, through the doorway and into her room.

They go over to the box on the desk and start taking out the photographs, smiling at the memories that go with them.

Something occurs to me. “Hey, Mom? Dad? Are you… okay with me being an Element and everything?”

Dad pauses before replying. “Well… I can’t say I’m completely thrilled with it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve done, but…”

“But we’re worried about you,” mom finishes. She takes my hoof and looks me in the eye. “Rainbow, honey, we’ll support you no matter what you do, but please… promise us you’ll be safe.”

I give a confident smile and a nod. “I will, Mom. I will.”

Twilight’s practically bouncing off the wall when I enter the library. She’s prattling one about some new machine or something the princess gave her.

“Think of the possibilities!” she gushes. “These are top of the line, weather and waterproof, and even come with extended warranty!”

“That’s cool, I guess. I still don’t know what it does,” I reply.

“Well, the anemometer measures a pegasus’s raw slipstream and can be configured to calculate things like raw wing power—”

“So it measures how fast you go,” I cut off.

“Well, exactly, it’s actually more similar to a log wins profiler in that—”

With a groan I shove the book into Twilight’s hooves. “Can we please, please, please just get on with this?”

She glares at me, probably because of the abuse of a book, but clears her throat. Twilight flips through the pages, her eyes skimming the pages as she tries to find where we left off. “Outlaws, sand crawlers, giant cactus… ah, here we go. After a brief rest, your group continues through the Empty Desert. Eventually you come across a massive sandstone temple…”

The temple starts to form as she speaks. Massive doesn’t even come close to describing it, as this thing is twice the size of the Canterlot castle. It’s shaped sort of like the Temple of Vines, but the top is so far away that I can barely see it.

“Alright everypony,” Daring says. “This is it. The third key should be inside the temple itself, but I have no idea what to expect. And remember, the Amulet is said to be guarded by Pentagony.”

“What is Pentagony?” Minute questions.

“Nopony knows,” Daring replies. “Are we all ready?”

After nods from the group, we enter the temple. Daring lights a torch and leads the way through a long dark tunnel. Cobwebs line the ceiling and sand shifts underneath our hooves. Eventually the sand gives way to cold stone, but the hallway just gets darker and darker.

Suddenly we end up in a huge empty room. The ceiling spans high, far beyond the light of Daring’s torch. At the end of the room is a heavy iron gate with three locks on it. In the center of the room lies an old wooden chest that’s strangely unlocked.

“This looks like it,” Redblood says.

Daring raises a hoof in caution, passing the torch to Slow Burn so she can speak. “Be careful, it might be booby-trapped.” She circles the chest cautiously, looking at it from every angle. Finally, she goes up to it and noses it open. Inside is a blue metal key. Daring takes a deep breath. “Everyone get ready, Celestia knows what might happen when I take it out.”

We all nod. Redblood readies her laser, Minute lights up her horn, and Slow draws his gun. Free Fall and I hover above the group, ready for anything. Daring takes the key out of the chest.

For a second nothing happens. Then, there’s a deep rumbling, followed by a deafening roar that makes everyone flinch. Light suddenly fills the room as several mounted torches catch fire. Hundreds of hidden doors open in the walls, and monsters and ponies surge out.

My eyes widen as I realize what’s happening. Coming out of the walls is everything we’ve been fighting. Divines slither from the ground while giant stone statues lumber behind them. Changelings hiss and buzz as they fly down from the ceiling, mixed in with a few Valkyries. Desert Crawlers move up and down the walls, snapping their jaws at us. Outlaws join the mix, weapons raised. Everything has glowing red eyes and a look that radiates anger.

They surge forwards and we’re almost immediately on the defensive. I roll to the right as a Divine’s tendril lashes out at me. I have to dodge again as a Valkyrie attacks. I take the knife Daring gave me ages ago and slash the vine before stabbing the Valkyrie. Instead of blood, a weird black ooze drips out of the wound. It falls to the ground, lost in the crowd of monsters.

Scanning the horde, I curse to myself. My friends below are being overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies. Minute’s thrown up a protective shield around them, but it’s starting to crack from the pressure. Explosive spells and laser shots clear out large groups of enemies, but they’re replaced almost immediately by another wave.

I regroup with Free Fall and Daring. “What do we do?!”

“I don’t know,” Daring shouts as she stabs a Valkyrie that gets too close.

“We need to do something,” Free Fall hisses. She kicks a changeling away and bucks it to the ground, knocking out a Divine as she does so.

“I need a minute to think,” she grunts. I glance downward to see Minute’s shield break from all the blows.

Slow Burn opens up with a volley of shotgun blasts, taking down a score of Outlaws and crawlers. Redblood fires her laser cannon into the crowds while wielding her pole to knock out some changelings that get too close. But Minute’s on the ground, panting in exhaustion. Her horn flickers, and I realize how much energy that shield must have taken out of her.

Suddenly a changeling breaks through and knocks her to the ground. “Crap!” I dive out of the sky, driving my front hooves into the changeling’s face and sending it flying. Before it can get up, Slow puts it down with a shot to the face. I grab Minute’s hoof and pull her to her hooves. “You alright?”

“I think so,” she grunts. “But my reserves are depleted, I can’t--”

Before she can finish, a vine shoots out and wraps around my rear leg. The Divine tries to pull me into a crowd of crawlers, but Redblood takes it out with a well-aimed laser shot. “My cannon’s almost out!” she warns.

“Ah’m on my last shots too!” Slow replies.

I look up at Daring to see if she’s got a plan. All of a sudden, something catches my eye. In the far corner of the room there’s an Outlaw with a sniper rifle in his hooves. And he’s aiming up, at Free Fall.

Free Fall doesn’t see him. She’s got her legs and wings tangled up in vines and is struggling to get out. My eyes widen and I shoot up to the sky. But I’ll never make it in time.

Someone else gets there first. A green blur shoves her aside, slashing enough of the vines away so Free Fall can maneuver. Then, above the chaos of the battle, there’s a lone gunshot.

My world stops. “NO!”

Daring Do and the Hidden Hero

“NO!” I yell so loudly that the world around me shakes. The battle fades away into the library. I snarl and whirl around, glaring at Twilight. “Why?! Why did you do that?!”

Twilight’s apparently just as shocked as I am. She rereads the page over and over again, mouthing the words and furrowing her brow. “Rainbow, I-I’m sorry, but this is what Daring wanted to happen.”

I snatch the book out of her hooves and scan the page. The words don’t stick except for one phrase: Then I die. Tears well up in my eyes again, but this time they’re not from sadness. I turn around and throw the book across the room as hard as I can.

“Rainbow!” Twilight yells in shock.

“I can’t!” I shout back. “I can’t lose her! Not again!”

I fly at the door, nearly bowling over Spike. “Rainbow, what--”

I ignore him and fly out of the library as fast as I can. She can’t be dead again, she can’t. I don’t even know where I’m going, but somehow I end up at the graveyard. In front of her grave. “Sis! Please! Please don’t tell me you’re gone again! Please!”

There’s no response.

Near her grave there’s a tree. I forget what kind it is, but it doesn’t matter. I go up to it and buck it as hard as I can. Leaves and twigs go flying through the air, but it’s not enough. I turn around and punch it as hard as I can. My hooves scream out in pain, but it doesn’t matter. I hit it again. And again. And again.

I hit it like the tree is that stupid Outlaw, the one that scored a cheap shot on my sister. I don’t even know what he looks like. It doesn’t matter. I lost her again. And this time, it’s my fault.

I should have been faster, I should have stayed up there, I should have saved her.

I collapse onto the ground and scream. I vaguely hear two pegasi touch down behind me and I feel their hooves on my back.

“Rainbow! Calm down!” Cloud Kicker says.

“What happened?” Blossomforth asks.

I don’t answer. I can’t answer. How am I supposed to say that I’ve just lost my sister again? They won’t understand. They can’t understand. Instead I stare at the gravestone. The grave stares back at me. But it’s not my sister.

I wake up bleary-eyed in my own bed. I don’t remember much of yesterday and last night. I can remember Twilight running into the graveyard while Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth held me. I remember being carried home and I remember them cooking me dinner. Saying things to me. Trying to get me to eat.

Eventually they left and I collapsed into bed. I faded in and out of sleep, shadows dancing in the corners of my mind. I searched for my sister’s face, but couldn’t find it. I listened for her voice, but never heard it.

I don’t know if I slept at all, but it doesn’t really matter to me. I turn to my right and glance at my nightstand, only to find it empty. That makes me sit up straight. “Where the hay is--” Oh, right. I threw it across the library.

I hop out of bed, glancing at the time to find that it's almost noon already. With a curse, I fly out, making a beeline for the library. I barge through the door, earning some dirty looks from the patrons and making Twilight spill her tea.

“Gah! Rainbow, what--” she quickly recollects herself. “How can I help you today?”

“The book,” I ask. “Where is it?”

She smiles and pulls it out from under the desk. “Relax, it’s right here.”

I exhale in relief, taking it in my hooves. I turn it over to see it’s a little bit damaged and feel a twinge of regret. “Thanks. Look, I’m really sorry about yesterday--”

Twilight waves a hoof dismissively. “It’s fine. I can’t say I was expecting that either. But you have to remember, Daring wrote this before she died. I don’t think she meant for you to go through that.”

I sigh and nod. “Yeah, I know. I just… I just couldn’t lose her again, you know?”

Twilight goes around the desk and lays a hoof on my shoulder. “I understand,” she says. “But you still have this book. And with that, you still have her.” She blinks in realization and grabs an envelope in her magic. “Oh, and Applejack came by this morning. Said she had a letter for you from her cousin?”

I raise an eyebrow. “She wasn’t kidding when she said fast.” I check the sender’s address and confirm that it’s from Braeburn.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Slow Burn enter the room with an easy smile and a gleam in his eye. I tear open the envelope and start reading. As I read to myself, I can hear Slow’s voice narrating.

“Dear Rainbow Dash,

“Well, Ah’m mighty surprised to hear from you! Ah do remember seein’ you at the funeral, and Ah recall goin’ up and offerin’ my condolences, but Ah won’t blame you if you don’t remember. Ah really do regret not reachin’ out to you sooner.

“Your sister. Hoo, boy, was she somethin’. You ask any of us about Darin’ and we’ll all say the same praise. She was the greatest pony we ever knew. Ah can’t really decide what Ah admired most about her, but she always had a plan. And Ah found that mighty impressive, because even if her plan failed she’d have another one ready to go.

“It was like havin’ a map, she said once. She needed to know where she was goin,’ and she wanted to make everythin’ count. There wasn’t a thing she did that didn’t have a reason. But… for all her plannin’, she just couldn’t figure herself out.

“Let me explain. Ah was visitin’ AJ in Ponyville when Ah first met her. It was late night at a local bar, and she was cryin’ in a booth all alone. So Ah went up to her and asked what was wrong. And she told me that she was just lost. To her it was a problem, because her special talent was findin’ things, and she was frustrated that she just couldn’t find herself.

“Her and Ah had a real long talk that night. Ah don’t rightly remember everythin’ Ah said, but Ah do recall sayin’ somethin’ like ‘everypony gets lost sometimes, but that ain’t the point. The greatest explorers are those that get lost, after all. They’re the ones that make new paths and find new lands.

“Ah don’t think Ah made much sense, but it was enough for her. She said she was at a low point, bein’ so unsure of what she was meant to do. Ah reassured her that it would be fine, as lots of ponies change their minds about what they wanna do. And ain’t nothin’ in Equestria that’s makin’ you stick to your guns.

“She introduced me to the others after that and we became friends. We sure did get pretty far in the time Ah knew her, even if Ah lived pretty far out. She wrote a lotta letters to me, keepin’ me up to date on what was happenin’ and askin’ me for some advice. Ah don’t rightly think the advice Ah gave was the best, but Ah’m honored she thought me worthy to ask.

“Ah reckon Ah’m ramblin’ now. Apologies, Ah love to talk. Next time Ah’m in town Ah’ll come meet you, then we can talk in pony about these things. But you should know that your sister was amazin,’ and more than that she looked up to you. You were her hero.

“And now that Ah think about it, Darin’ was a hero too. No, more than that. A legend. Yeah, she was a legend. Ah’m Ah makin’ sense? Sure hope so. Anyways, if you got any more questions, Ah’m always here to lend an ear, Braeburn Apple.”

I blink as I set the letter back down. Braeburn’s words pretty much confirm what everyone else said, but reading them gives me confidence again. Daring wouldn’t just kill herself off without a reason. There has to be more to the story than that.

I turn to Twilight. “Hey, are you busy right now?”

She glances around the library and shakes her head. “Not at the moment, why?”

I hold up Daring’s book. “I want to… no, I need to finish this. For her.”

Twilight nods and leads me upstairs again. She gives me a concerned look, but I nod to her confidently. I can handle it, because I have faith in my sister. Faith that she wouldn’t let things end like this.

The library fades away into the temple again. Slow Burn, Free Fall, Redblood, and Minute Maker are standing near the door, apparently in an argument.

“We have the keys, we can take it!” Redblood shouts. “It’s what she would want us to do!”

Slow Burn shakes his head. “We can’t risk it. Darin’ knew the most about this. What if there’s a trap in there that we aren’t ready for? What if we lose somepony else?”

I trot up to them, getting their attention.

“Rainbow,” Free Fall says. “She’s… gone.”

Everypony glances to the right, and I see a pony-shaped form draped in a sheet.

“We’re trying to figure out what to do,” Minute says.

Something’s not right about this. I’ve met their real life counterparts and I’ve seen how torn up they were over Daring’s death. So why are these ponies not crying their eyes out?

I shake off the doubts. “I say we continue. Redblood’s right, Daring would have wanted us to carry on without her. We have the keys, and we’re here now. I say we do it.”

Nopony disagrees. Redblood pulls out the blue key and sticks it in the blue lock. Minute levitates the silver key into the silver lock, and I take the gold key and put in the gold lock. As the locks fall away, Slow Burn and Free Fall pull the door open, and we trot inside.

The doubt in my mind’s still there. Something about this just feels so wrong. But glancing in between the group members, nopony seems to notice. So we push on. We go down another hallway, this one lit up by torches, until we end up in another large open room.

Instead of a floor, this one has sand and rocks. A pedestal sits in the center, raised above the sand and facing the sky. There’s no ceiling and the sun shines above us. Five giant doors are placed around it. Other than that there’s nothing. No giant monster, no hallway of traps, and no Pentagony.

“This feels wrong,” I whisper. Nopony seems to hear me as everyone just trots straight to the pedestal, climbing the stairs.

“Come on, Rainbow,” Free Fall calls. “We’re here.”

I blink and follow them. There’s another chest on the pedestal, made out of a rich brown wood.

“The amulet must be in here,” Redblood muses.

Minute Maker nods. “Why don’t you do the honors, Rainbow?”

I scan the area like Daring did, searching for traps or anything out place. Not finding anything, I throw the lid of the chest open. Then, my face scrunches up in confusion. “It’s empty?” Sure enough, there’s absolutely nothing inside. Not even a speck of dust.

“Empty? Huh. How strange.” Redblood lets out a grim chuckle.

“Indeed,” agrees Free Fall. “I wonder how that could have happened.”

In anger, I throw the box as far as I can. “Are you kidding me?! We came all this way for nothing? My sister died for nothing?!” I’m so overcome with anger that it takes me a second to realize that nopony’s responding. “Guys?” I look over my shoulder and my blood runs cold.

Their eyes are glowing red, just like the monsters we faced in the last room. All of a sudden they begin to circle around me, grinning like sharks who smell blood in the water.

“But what of the Five-Souled guardian,” Minute asks, smirking. “Where oh where could he be?”

“The number five sure does sound familiar,” chuckles Slow. “Five, five, five, why, where else have we seen that number?”

The four ponies suddenly stop and I’m overcome with a sense of dread. “Ah. Five adventurers, five souls,” says a voice from above. All four ponies stoop low, bowing their heads.

My ear twitches and I look up to see a pegasus descending. Her back is to the sun, which makes it hard to see, but I don’t need to see to recognize her voice. “Daring?!”

“Well, well, well. Looks like I lied to you, Sis.” Daring chuckles as she lands. “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t see this coming.”

I growl, tensing up. “What the hay? You’re dead! I saw you die! And what do you mean, lied to me?”

“Surely you can see,” my sister taunts. She pulls a black and green amulet out from underneath her wing. “Oh? What’s this? The Amulet of the Forgotten? Why, how’d that get there?”

“Wait, so you had the amulet? This whole time?” Something wasn’t adding up.

The four ponies around me laugh. Daring shakes her head sadly. “You misunderstand. I didn’t just happen to have it. I am it’s guardian.”

Then it hits me as I remember what Slow just said. Five-Souled guardian, five adventurers on a quest. “So you guys are Pentagony?”

Daring smirks and bows. “At your service. But the deal still stands. Defeat us, and the Amulet of the Forgotten is yours. Lose, and your soul is mine forever.”

I try to backpedal, but the others are standing now, trapping me. I could probably fly away, but Free Fall could catch me easily. “I-I can’t fight you!”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.” My sister then removes the straps on her hoof blades and gives them to me. She offers me a small, grim smile. “If you fail, you will lose much more than me. Good luck.” There was a flash of light, and everypony was gone.

Daring Do and the Final Battle

When the lights come back, I’m standing alone on the center pedestal, still holding my sister’s weapons. I hastily strap them on, my eyes scanning the arena. My heart’s beating like crazy, and my stomach is churning. For the first time since I started this stupid adventure, I’m scared.

My ear twitches as one of the five doors creaks and groans, the wooden gate raising. A familiar white-coated earth pony trots through, eyes glowing a bloody red. A smirk lies on Redblood’s muzzle as she approaches.

“Easy now.” I jump as Daring’s voice suddenly fills my head. I look around the arena but don’t see her. “Don’t fight her on her terms. Fight her on your terms.”

What the hay is that supposed to mean? Before I can ask, Redblood snarls at me. She presses a button on her armor, and her metal wings extend from her back. She surges forwards, metal pole in her mouth and death in her eyes.

I react on instinct, dodging as she swings the pole at my head. “Redblood—”

She doesn’t react to the name and swings again, forcing me to block it with my hoof. I scream in pain as the metal rod slams into my foreleg.

That does it. I flick out my hooves like I’ve seen Daring do and charge. I slash at her but she blocks, the blade hitting her armored foreleg.

I grunt in frustration as she swings at me again. I duck underneath it, but she follows it up with a jab to my chest.

This isn’t working. I’m never going to beat her like this! I remember Daring’s advice and suddenly realize what she meant. There’s no way I can beat Redblood hoof to hoof, so why fight her like that?

I spread my wings and take to the air. As expected Redblood follows, using her mechanical wings to give chase. Her flight isn’t as smooth or as fast as me, giving me the upper hoof.

Redblood fires her laser at me, but I bank to the right and dodge easily. I climb upwards, gaining altitude and position myself until I’m right on top of her. She tries to fire her cannon again, but she can’t hit me from the angle.

I grit my teeth and dive down toward her, blades extended. Redblood’s eyes widen and she tries to dodge, but she’s too slow. I slam into her, driving my blades into her mechanical backpack.

Her wings spark and lock up, and she plummets from the sky. I wince as she hits the ground and dive towards her. We weren’t that high, so I really hope that didn’t kill her.

To my dismay Redblood staggers to her hooves. But then the red fades out of her eyes and she smiles at me. “Heh. I knew you were a fighter.” She lies down and closes her eyes with a sigh.

I rush to her side. Her chest is still rising and falling, so she’s clearly alive. This is insane, I think to myself.

My ear twitches as I hear the second of the five doors opening. Out strolls Minute Maker, a challenging grin on her face.

“Remember,” Daring says, “magic is very specific. You’re going to have to get creative.”

Minute drops her stance and fires a bolt of blue magic at me. I roll to the right, grimacing as I feel the heat raging from the spell.

Quickly I spread my wings and take to the air again. The sky’s probably my best bet against them, so I might as well use it.

Minute doesn’t seem fazed as her magic blasts explode in the air around me. I dive towards her, blades extended, only to be cut off when she throws up a defensive shield.

I slash at the shield, but it doesn’t even put a scratch in it. Minute fires another spell that goes right through the shield and hits me. It sends me flying through the air, and I hit the ground hard. I stagger to my hooves, a seething pain forming in my stomach.

I fly up again as another spell lands where I just was. I burst towards her faster this time, only to be cut off by another shield. I bounce off this time and go skidding across the dirt.

“Gah!” As I get up, I kick the ground in frustration, sending a pebble flying through the air towards her. “What the hay am I supposed to do?”

That’s when I notice something. The rock I kicked easily passed through her shield. An idea pops into my head as I remember how tired Minute was after putting up her shield earlier. “Get creative, huh? Here goes nothing.”

I dodge another magical blast from Minute and fly up again. As I dive towards her, she forces more energy into her shield, but this time I don’t dive into it. Instead I skid to a stop in front of her shield and flap my wings, sending sand and dust right at her. The sand has no problem getting through the shield and into her eyes.

The blue shield wavers a bit as she throws a foreleg against her eyes. Seizing my moment, I blast through it and shatter it to pieces.

Minute growls, unsheathing her sword with her magic and takes a defensive stance. Her guard training probably means she’s more than capable of easily skewering me, but she’s still half blind from the sand attack. I don’t have much of a window here, so I’ll have to make it quick.

I dodge the first pass easily and get a slash in with my hoof blades. It makes contact with her armor, leaving a scratch on the metal. Minute blocks my second attack, our blades locking for a second before she suddenly disengages and stabs at me.

I block again and close the distance between us. My hoof makes contact with her jaw and sends her stumbling back. Not wanting to take any more risks, I surge forward. Her blade cuts me on the side, but I’m able to get two more punches in.

Her sword falls out of her magic as I knock her on her back. She bucks at me, rear legs connecting with my stomach and sending me back a little bit. I recover and fly forwards again, dropping an elbow onto her face.

“Not bad,” she mutters as she spits blood onto the dirt. “You’d make a great guard, you know?” She sighs and closes her eyes.

I take a few seconds to catch my breath before the next door opens. A blue blur shoots up into the sky.

“Speed isn’t skill,” Daring offers. “Fleetfoot may be a Wonderbolt, but Free Fall is not.”

Free Fall puts on a burst of speed, and she’s on top of me in almost a second. She rains down blows on me, forcing me to move to the defensive.

I can only block about half of her hits and the rest pummel my body. She rams an elbow into my chest, causing me to scream out in pain.

I disengage and fly off as fast as I can, trying to catch a break. To my dismay she flies off after me. I glance back to see she’s literally on my tail.

I clench my jaw and push myself to fly faster. Time to show this washout why I’m the fastest pegasus in Equestria.

A quick glance shows that Free Fall has no problem keeping pace with me. I push myself harder again, and for a second I gain some distance.

Looking forwards, I realize I’m running out of room, and I’m going to slam into the wall soon. Suddenly, I realize that might not be a bad thing. If this doesn’t work, I’m probably dead.

As the wind whips through my mane I fly faster and faster, with Free Fall staying right behind me. Tears fill my eyes again and I regret not having goggles with me. I check my distance one last time and hold my breath. Now or never.

Milliseconds before I hit the wall I bank upwards. The Wonderbolts call this a suicide run, a trick where you fly as fast as you can before evading at the last second. I pray that Free Fall doesn’t know this one.

I look down to see that she tries to dive down, but she can’t maneuver in time. Her wing clips the wall, and she falls to the ground. Free Fall collapses in a plume of sand and dust.

I dive towards her, half expecting her to come flying out at me, but she doesn’t. Free Fall’s lying on her side, grunting in pain. She looks at me and smiles. “Now that’s a skill worthy of the Wonderbolts,” she says. Finally, she lays her head down and sighs.

Before I can make a move, there’s the sharp crack of a gunshot. I whip around, but can’t see where it came from. Judging by the fact that I’m not dead, that was probably a warning shot.

“Patience is key. Look for something out of place.”

How is that supposed to help? I scan the arena again but don’t see Slow. But he apparently sees me, because a bullet whizzes right by my face. I drop to the ground and crawl towards one of the bigger rocks. I realize that my blue coat and rainbow mane stand out pretty badly when everything is brown.

Cursing my own awesomeness I scan the area again, trying to figure out where the hay he is. I grit my teeth, not finding anything at all on the outskirts of the room. I’m not known for my patience, Daring!

I weigh my options. Judging by the fact he hasn’t put a bullet in between my eyes yet, he either lost me or doesn’t have an angle on me. I’m not sure if I’m fast enough to outmaneuver a bullet, but I really don’t want to find out right now.

I scan the arena again, this time focusing on the pedestal in the center. Something catches my eye. The sun glints off of something. I squint harder and I see it again. A glint of light bouncing off of a rifle scope.

A smirk falls onto my face. I look up to figure out where the sun is and take a deep breath. Do or die. Spreading my wings, I shoot up into the sky as fast as I can. I do a corkscrew to throw him off further and position myself so that my back’s to the sun.

I can finally see him now, crouching behind the empty chest. He squints, blinded by the sun, and I take my chance by dropping towards him.

I can see his red eyes widen and he throws the rifle aside, reaching for his shotgun. Luckily I get there first, and kick him square in the chest. The shotgun goes flying from his hooves as he tumbles off of the pedestal, landing in the sand with a thud.

He’s not out yet though. Slow sits up, reaching into his coat for his pistol. I jump off the platform, ramming my body into him. I stomp on his foreleg and he drops the gun. “Not bad,” he says. “Well-fought, well-earned.”

That leaves one left, and this is one fight I’m not looking forward to.

“Good luck.”

The final door opens and my sister steps out. She smirks at me, silently daring me to get her.

I frown, trying to figure out her next move. For a long time she stands there, not moving. I decide to move and land in front of her. We start to circle each other slowly. While adrenaline is rushing through my system and my heart pounds in my ears, Daring is calm.

I move first, trying to catch her off guard. I slash out at her with a hoof-blade, but the move is checked almost instantly. While my right leg is still swinging, she slashes at me with her own blade. I hiss in pain, and looking down I see a thin cut on my coat.

She strikes again, and forces me to switch to defense. I block a strike to my face, then another to my chest. And all the while she smiles at me. When she swings her left arm at me, I spot an opening and lunge at it. It’s a trap.

As I push forwards, Daring lays a hoof on my back and uses my own momentum against me. She shoves me forwards and I hit the ground. I flip onto my back to see her advancing, still with that shit-eating grin on her face. “Come on, Rainbow. I thought you were better than that.”

With a growl I push myself up again and use my wings to push forwards. I slash out again, trying to get something to connect, but Daring just sidesteps my blows. She hits me again in the head, and now the world’s starting to spin. In a final move of desperation I stab at her chest. Daring just grabs my foreleg and spins me around. With a blow to the chest I fall on my back.

Daring stands on top of me and raises her blade. As she swings the blade down, I try to push her off me, thrusting my hooves forwards. I forgot about the blades. Daring lets out a small gasp as the two blades pierce into her chest.

My own eyes widen and I pull them out. Daring stumbles backwards, looking down. She puts a shaky hoof to the wound and it’s immediately soaked with blood. She glances up at me, her eyes returning to their normal color.

“Sis…” I take a step forwards, not really sure what to do.

Blood drips out of her mouth, but she smiles at me. But it’s not a malicious smile, rather one of warmth. “Nice job, Sis,” she says. “I knew you had what it takes. You are a hero after all.”

She falls onto her side, her helmet tumbling off. She takes a shuddering breath and pulls the amulet out of her shirt pocket. I rush to her side, but there’s nothing I can do. “Here,” she says as she passes me the amulet. “You earned it.” With that, she closes her eyes. Her chest rises and falls once. Then it doesn’t move.

I look at the amulet in my hoof, suddenly feeling very dizzy. I stumble around before collapsing on the ground. Tears blur my vision as my body is wracked with sobs. I don’t know how long I stayed there, cradling my sister’s helmet and crying, but I tense when I felt a hoof on my back.

Daring Do and The End

“Was it too much?”

I blink at my sister’s voice. I look up to see that, yet again, Daring is alive. She’s missing her gear and weapons and is resting a hoof on my shoulder. She looks at me with concern.

“W-what?”

“The ending. You know, all of this,” Daring says as she waves a hoof around the temple. “I, uh, wanted to do a plot twist, you know? Something you wouldn’t expect. Was it… Was it too much?”

I blink, wiping the last tears from my eyes. Get it together, Rainbow. I clear my throat and shake my head. “No, it was… it was great. I can’t say I expected it.”

Daring smiles at me and nods. “Oh, good.” A moment of silence passes between us. Daring’s eyes fall to the ground as she rubs one foreleg with the other. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah. I guess I did.”

“Great!” The temple begins to fade away, returning us to the white room that we started in. Daring trots back over to her desk, shuffling some papers around. “That’s all this really was. Just a game.”

“A game,” I repeat. “Right.” I take a breath to steady myself and remember that none of that was real. “Yeah. It was fun. I never thought that beating up a bunch of imaginary jerk-faced monsters would feel so good.”

Daring snorts and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, and saving the day feels pretty good too, doesn’t it?”

I nod absently and look down to see that I’m still holding her helmet. “Oh. Here.”

“Hm?” Daring looks up from her desk. “Oh, thanks.” She takes the helmet and puts it back on her head before going back to her notes.

“So, what happens now?”

Daring tenses at the question. “I… You know, I don’t know. The story’s over now. You can go back to your world now, maybe take a nap. Or whatever it is you do nowadays.”

I move forwards, closing the gap between us. “What about you?”

She blinks and doesn’t meet my eye. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll just… be here.”

Awkward silence passes between us. I have no clue what I’m supposed to say next. Do I hug her, because I might not ever see her again? Do I punch her for trying to get me killed and making me fight her? Do I tell her I love her and… that I’m sorry?

Daring breaks the silence. “Hey, Sis, I need to tell you something, before you go. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I tried to put so much distance between us. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

That catches me off guard. “What?”

“You know. I was jealous of you, Rainbow. You were always just so… awesome. All my school friends would talk about how cool you were. It got kind of tiring, you know? And don’t get me wrong, I was so frickin’ proud of you, but I didn’t want to grow up in your shadow. So I took my trips, tried to be my own mare. I’m sorry I didn’t give you time to--”

“Hey!” I cut her off without really thinking about it. “You have nothing to be sorry for! I’m the one that needs to be sorry! I just shoved you away because I didn’t think you were cool enough! I didn’t read any of your books, or meet any of your friends, or even be a good sister!” I feel the tears coming, but this time I can’t stop them. “I should have known that you were left out! But I didn’t! I… I never even told you that I loved you!”

I wipe my eyes with a foreleg. “And I… I… Damnit, I can’t even say I’m sorry!”

I hate it. I hate myself and my stupid pride, and my inability to just tell her that I’m sorry. I’m such a--

She hugs me. Daring throws her hooves around me and pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. “Rainbow, you never needed to say that, because I knew. I knew that you loved me, even if you had your own way of showing it.”

We stay there, crying into each other for a while. She pulls back, smiling at me. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

There’s a ripple behind her and Twilight steps through with an apologetic smile. The book is still in her magic, along with another piece of parchment. “Sorry, I know you didn’t want me to interrupt, but there was a note tucked in between the last pages. I think you should hear what it says.”

I nod and wipe my eyes again, trying to compose myself, even if Twilight’s been watching my breakdown this entire time. Twilight starts to read. As she reads, Daring starts to speak, and their voices blur together.

“Hey, Sis! Happy Hearth’s Warming! I hope you aren’t too tired out from bouncing off the walls, or whatever it is you did after you got those Wonderbolt tickets. And before you ask, yes, I do have some connections, and no, you can’t ask me about them. Anyways, the tickets were kind of a no-brainer, but I wanted to give you something else. I remember you said a while ago you wished you understood why adventuring was so inspiring to me, so I thought I’d show you. I wrote this book with you in mind, Rainbow, so you could finally see what heroism means to me. It means so much more than just saving the day. It means being there for those who need you, it means being courageous, brave, and loyal.

“Maybe I never told you this, but you have all of those qualities. It might sound a bit too sappy for you, but you’re my hero, Rainbow. I'm sorry I couldn’t be there to share this adventure with you, but maybe we could take it again when I get back. I promise I’ll be home soon, and I really do hope you liked it.

Lots of love, your sister, Daring Dash.”

Twilight looks up at me. “Do you know what it means?”

“Yeah,” I say. My voice breaks a bit as I look at my sister. “I guess this was her Hearth’s Warming gift to me. She was travelling at the time, so I guess that’s what she meant by not being there. Heh. If only she knew.”

Twilight goes over to me and rests a hoof on my shoulder. “I see. Well, Rainbow, the story’s over now.”

I hesitate, knowing what she means. “Wait, before we end, can I have a moment with her?”

She nods and smiles. “Of course.”

As she disappears, I approach my sister again. I take a deep breath, choosing my words carefully. “Daring. I’m… sorry.” I flinch at first. It just sounds unnatural coming from me. “I’m sorry for everything. For a long time I thought all of this was my fault. I never really thought about what you’d think, but I guess that doesn’t matter now. It wasn’t anypony’s fault. I still miss you, and I still wish it was me instead of you sometimes. I know mom and dad feel the same. Daring, I never said it then, so I’ll say it now. You are the best sister I could ever ask for. And you know what, you are a hero, Daring. You’re a hero to your friends and to me. I love you and I’ll never stop loving you.”

I pull her in for another hug. “Rainbow, you really mean that?”

I smirk and give her a quick noogie. “Of course I do, silly. You’re a hero, Daring. Don’t you ever think otherwise.”

Finally, we break the hug and take a step back. We both have big goofy smiles on our faces. “Thanks for that, Sis. Now you better get out of here.”

“Of course. See you around, Daring,” I say.

She winks at me. “See you around, Rainbow.”

I turn away and sigh, closing my eyes. When I open them again, I’m back in the library.

“So I guess that’s that,” Twilight says as she levitates the book back onto the table.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I sigh, shaking my head before glancing at Twilight. “Oh, and could you… not tell anypony about this? I mean, I have a reputation and everything.”

Twilight rolls her eyes and smiles. “Of course, Rainbow. I won’t tell anypony you read a book and you enjoyed it.” She sighs, her eyes drifting to the book again. “But that really was fun. I wonder if she wrote any other books?”

“I’d have to ask my parents,” I say, stretching my wings. “And yeah, I guess it was pretty fun. If I find any other books, I’ll let you know.”

Twilight walks me out. As we reach the door of the library, I pause, staring up at the stars.

“Here,” she says as she puts the book back in my bags. “And for what it’s worth, I truly am sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks,” I reply. “This really did help me, Twi. I feel… at peace with it now. Still miss her, sure, but it’s like a huge weight off my shoulders now.”

She nods sagely. “That’s good to hear. You better get going now.”

“Right. See you around, Twi.”

“Good night, Rainbow.”

As I spread my wings and head home, I can almost feel another pegasus with me, flying right beside me, ready to take on the world.

Rainbow Dash and the Legend of Daring Do

A light snowfall had started when I reached home, but it didn’t dull my mood. I skipped the door and went straight through my window, landing right in my room. I set the book on my desk and go to the closet, rummaging through some old Wonderbolts memorabilia and odd pieces of clothing. Finally, I find what I’m looking for: a dusty old record player and a plain black record, still in its sleeve.

I set it on my nightstand, hooves working on autopilot. I barely register that it’s started when I hear a familiar old song come out over the speaker. I never liked the song. I always thought it was kind of sappy, but tonight it just seemed… right. I closed my eyes, remembering the words.

“But I hear you singin’
Slow down, you’ve figured it out,
I know I’ll see you soon.
Some day,
We’ll find a way,
Until then
I hope I’ll see you again
I hope I’ll see you again, love.”

“That’s the song mom used to sing every night,” comes a soft voice from behind me.

“Sure is,” I say. I turn around to see Daring sitting on my bed, swinging her rear legs absently.

She nods, smiling. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard it.”

“Me too, Sis.”

“Oh, love, it’s alright, it’s alright,
Everything’s alright,
My love, it’s alright, it’s alright,
Everything’s alright...”

Daring sighs, hopping off of the bed. “Well… I guess it’s time for me to go.”

I nod. “I wish you could stay, but I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

“Keep me?”

I chuckle and point behind her. Daring turns as the bedroom fades away into the white room. In the distance, a group of ponies are conversing. I fly towards them, motioning for her to follow.

As we draw closer, the group notices us and parts so we can land. Daring blinks in surprise as she looks around, recognizing every single face that stood around her. On our left stands Redblood, Minute Maker, Slow Burn, and Free Fall. On our right are their real-life counterparts; Redheart, Minuette, Braeburn, and Fleetfoot, along with Twilight and our parents.

“It’s time to go, Sis,” I say sadly.

Free Fall steps forwards and offers Daring her pith helmet. Daring blinks in surprise before taking it, placing it atop her head. Free Fall smiles and pulls her in, planting a quick kiss on the cheek. She takes Daring’s hoof and starts walking towards the others.

Daring hesitates and turns to look at me.

“Time changes everything,
But I love you, can’t you see.”

“Rainbow, I don’t want to go,” she whispers. “I’m scared.”

“You’re in good hooves,” I reassure. I feel my eyes getting damp again, but fight it back. “And it’s okay to be scared. But remember, you’re a hero. You can conquer anything.”

“Time changes everything,
Even you and me.”

Behind me, the real ponies gather up, giving her comforting smiles. Daring turns again, seeing her fictional friends patiently waiting. She extends a wing around Free Fall’s body and hugs her tightly before taking a deep breath. “Okay. Goodbye, Rainbow.”

“Goodbye, Daring.”

With a final wave, Daring Do turns again and joins her friends. They share a hug before walking off towards some adventure unknown. On the other side, I watch my sister fade away until she’s gone. A single tear falls down my face, but it doesn’t stop my smile.

“Oh, love, it’s alright, it’s alright,
Everything’s alright,
My love, it’s alright, it’s alright,
Everything’s alright.”

End.

Daring Do and the World In Between

“Okay, I need to take a break,” Twilight suddenly says.

The museum office suddenly fades away, and I’m standing in the middle of Twilight’s living room again. “Hey!”

“Sorry, Dash, I promise I’ll be right back.” Twilight scrambles off to one of the other rooms, probably to use the bathroom.

Left alone, I sigh and collapse onto the couch. Truth be told I’m kind of glad we’re taking a break. This is a lot of stuff to wrap my head around. I frown, replaying the previous events in my head. The name ‘Cobble Iron’ sounded really familiar, but I hadn’t gotten a really good look at him before Twilight cut us off.

Actually, come to think about it, something’s familiar about Redblood too. I just can’t place it. And what the hay was she on about anyways, saying that Daring wrote this for me? She never had a reason to. All I ever did was say that writing was what nerds did.

That thought makes me cringe. The more I think about, the more I realize I never got behind her idea of being a writer. I wonder how that made her feel. I mean, Mom and Dad were always going to support us no matter what we did, but Daring was also super supportive of me being a Wonderbolt. Damn, maybe I should have told her… I don’t know. Something.

“This place hasn’t changed a bit.”

I jump at the voice. Sitting where Twilight sat is Daring herself, still wearing her pith helmet and vest. She looks around the room, taking it all in. I look around, but Twilight’s nowhere in sight.

“Sis? How are you here?”

Daring shrugs and points a hoof to the book. “I’ve always been here. Guess you just never noticed. But to be fair, I guess I never told you.”

I get off the couch, trying to figure out how she’s here if we’re not in the story anymore. “But, why--”

Daring ignores me, going over to the table. She sighs as she reads the cover. “And of course you’d find this one first. Ugh. There’s so much left unpolished in that one!”

“What?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. The changeling fight, Redblood’s armor, all of it. It’s underdeveloped and not thought out at all. Still, Twilight does a nice job filling in the gaps.” She stomps a hoof in frustration. “Most of it was just filler anyways. I meant to do more research but I ran out of time.”

I walk over to her side. “I mean, I thought it was fine.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t perfect,” Daring sighs. She turns away from the book to look at me. “So how are you enjoying it so far?”

“It’s interesting,” I say. “But I gotta say, a lot of this stuff feels familiar.” Suddenly, I remember something. “Wait, Dr. Cobble Iron wouldn’t happen to be Dr. Caballeron, would it? That one professor you had that railroaded you the entire year?”

Daring giggles. “There might be some resemblance there.”

Okay, from what she told me about Caballeron, I can guess why he’s a villain in the story. Apparently he shredded her paper in front of the entire class, saying he was just trying to help while he criticized every single angle of it. Daring came home crying that night, and I remember swearing that I’d go beat him up or something.

Don’t really know what happened to him, but I think he got into some sort of incident where he stole work from somepony and put his name on it. I think he got fired or something, but that was years ago.

I clear my throat. “And all that other stuff with the vines? And changelings?”

“A good adventure needs monsters to fight,” she says evenly.

I grunt and roll my eyes. “I just don’t get it, Sis. Why didn’t you tell me about… about any of this?”

Daring sighs and drops her gaze to the ground. “Believe me. I wanted to, but I knew you wouldn’t care. But… it was hard, trying to find other people to listen. You probably wouldn’t understand what it’s like.”

Is she… saying what I think she’s saying? “What about Redblood? Who was she to you?”

Daring blinks and opens her mouth, but before she can answer, Twilight comes back in. “Sorry about that, Rainbow.”

I wave my hoof dismissively. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.” I see Daring in the corner of my eye, wandering out of the room.

Twilight gives an awkward smile. “So, how are you holding up? I mean, I’m guessing this is still kind of weird for you, especially since it’s been so long since you’ve seen her.”

I nod. “Yeah. I didn’t know she saw herself like this either.” I head back to the couch. “Hey, Twi, what do you think about some of the stuff Redblood said? You know, about her being a loner or something.”

Twilight rubs her chin. “I don’t really know to be honest. When she came to the library, she was alone. But I’m sure she had friends. She just didn’t mention them.”

I frown. “You sure? I don’t know. I just remember us kind of getting… distant after the whole Nightmare Moon thing. After I met you guys and we became elements, I just started seeing her less. Then she started taking all those trips and stuff.”

Twilight lays a hoof on my withers. “Hey, don’t blame yourself for what happened. It’s not your fault.”

“But what if it is,” I blurt out. I don’t even know where these words are coming from anymore. “What if it is my fault? What if I didn’t make enough time for her? What if she felt intimidated or something by you guys, or--”

“Rainbow, this is all speculation. And besides, Daring was a smart mare. She was more than capable of making her own decisions,” Twilight says reassuringly. “I know you miss her, and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you weak.”

I take a deep breath. “Right. Sorry, I don’t know where that came from.” Daring reenters the room, standing near the doorway and eyeing me with concern.

“It’s okay, Rainbow. Do you want to take a few more minutes, or--”

“No,” I say. “Let’s get back into it.”

Twilight looks hesitant but nods. “Okay.” She picks up the book and clears her throat. “Daring Do, Redblood, and you find yourselves in the office of Dr. Cobble Iron when a deep, booming voice calls out from behind you…”

The world shifts again, and the library fades back into the office. I turn around and finally get a good look at this ‘Cobble Iron’ and dear Celestia. Cobble Iron is hideous. He’s got a huge white beard, and red dots and acne dot his face. He’s wearing a pair of stupidly thick glasses that are stained and cracked, with a piece of white tape on the bridge. Cobble Iron’s face also looks ridiculously red and swollen, like he just swallowed a beehive. And is that a rash across his face or something else? And what is that smell?

“What are you doing here?” Oh Celestia, his voice. It’s high and squeaky, like a foal who’s barely reaching puberty. “You can’t take that! That’s mine! Mine!”

I groan and turn to Daring, who’s wearing a stupid smirk on her face. “Seriously?”

She shrugs. “Hey, any resemblance to real life ponies is purely coincidental.”

Cobble Iron stomps his hooves. “You’re nothing! Just a wannabe explorer! I have degrees! I am respected!”

“Yeah, by your mom probably,” Redblood mutters.

He then lets loose a horrible laugh. “Hehehe! You think you can stop me, the greatest pony to ever grace this side of Equestria?! Hah!” Cobble Iron reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a cell phone dramatically. “Behold! The object of your demise! With but the push of a button, I can call security and have you expelled from the building!” He cackles again before breaking out into a hacking cough. He recovers quickly though and launches into a monologue. “You see, when I was but a young colt growing up in the streets of Detrot--”

Alright, I’ve had enough. I go right up to him and deck him. Cobble Iron crumbles to the floor.

“Out like a light.” Redblood laughs. “Of course he’d have a glass jaw.”

“Nice one, Rainbow,” Daring says. She goes back to the map. “Okay, according to this, there’s a few keys we need to find to unlock the temple itself. The nearest one is in Sky City.”

I nod. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Yeah, let's get out of here before security finds us,” Daring says. She gives Cobble Iron a kick in the stomach before we leave.