Daring Shy and the Reunion Gone Wrong
Rainbow Dash soared above the forest, flapping her wings every few seconds in order to stay aloft. She kept her cerise eyes pointed downward, trying to get a detailed layout of the forest ingrained in her head quickly. This was the fifth location she'd checked in as many weeks, and if it turned out to be another wild goose chase, she wanted to get through it as fast as possible. There weren't any large clearings among the trees, which she supposed was fitting, although it made her job harder.
Finally, she managed to build a mental map of the forest, before suddenly descending, looking for a good place to land. After a few minutes' debate, she decided to do so outside the tree line, not wanting to risk bumping into anything on her way down. She beat her wings a few more times, before coming to a rest on her hooves in the soft dirt, staring down the forest entrance. There was a trail leading inside, but she knew her search would take her off of it. That fact was inevitable.
"Okay," she muttered to herself, since there was nopony else around, "let's see if I've finally got you."
Rainbow then began trotting through the woods, occasionally zipping into the air to avoid stepping into a mud puddle or other such inconvenience. There were plenty of animals in the area, including deer, insects, birds, mice, and Rainbow was pretty sure she saw the shadow of a bear once. However, they all fled at her approach, and she knew better than to try and follow them. Sure, some of the animals might go to her destination, but if she had the right place, they'd end up giving her away.
Rainbow eventually reached a tree she'd previously spotted during her arial scouting. It was one of the largest in the forest, with a much wider trunk and branches that stretched nearly up to the clouds. The mare had mentally marked this tree as the most likely candidate, and felt some relief that she'd managed to find it so quickly. Her mood was steadily rising, hope beginning to take root.
She turned one of her ears, pressing it against the wood, while at the same time tapping against the tree with one hoof. Her heart leaped when the sound echoed, indicating the tree was at least partially hollow on the inside.
"Perfect," she whispered under her breath, not wanting to alert the potential occupant with her voice. "Now all I need is to get inside. After all, how many ponies live inside hollow trees in the middle of nowhere?" She refrained from mentioning Twilight, reasoning that the librarian didn't count.
Rainbow then took to the air once more, circling the tree and checking every inch of its surface. She didn't expect there to be any windows, all things considered, but there had to be some kind of entrance. And she wasn't talking about the little holes that the birds and other tiny animals probably used to get in. There had to be a pony-sized door somewhere. Finally, her eyes landed on a spot where there was a gap in the wood. Like the outline of a door. Of course, there was no handle, so that meant it had to open another way.
After trying to push the door inward for a minute, Rainbow backed off, and began searching for alternate options. Just like there always was in the books, there had to be some sort of secret, door-opening mechanism hidden on the tree. A few seconds of searching revealed a branch that didn't seem natural, like it had been attached to the tree artificially. Her suspicions aroused, Rainbow reached out with one foreleg, and pressed down on the branch.
The length of wood bent downward, and a loud clicking sound reverberated inside the tree. With a loud thunk, the door slid open, revealing the hollow interior of the tree and leading directly to a living room.
The room itself was spacious and calm, which Rainbow had expected. There was a soft-looking couch, a couple of chairs, a staircase leading upwards, and a cabinet with pictures set on top. Rainbow was pleased to see a photo of herself sitting on it. There were also a couple of empty bowls on the floor, probably from feeding time.
What Rainbow didn't notice, however, was the tripwire stretched in front of the door. When she stepped through, her foreleg snapped the wire, causing a hidden compartment in the wall to open, out of which a net was launched. Rainbow Dash was snared by the net, knocked off her hooves, and sent tumbling to the ground with a pained yelp. Her wings were pinned to her sides, and the threads of the net were strong enough that even her teeth couldn't rip them apart.
As she struggled in the net, a small, white rabbit came out from under the couch, bouncing over to Rainbow. She stared at the rabbit, who glared back, then reached in with one paw to poke her in the eye.
"Hey, I know I'm uninvited, but you don't have to be such a jerk about it!" Rainbow snapped. The rabbit only glared at her, then thumped his foot on the floor a couple of times.
There was a sudden whoosh by the stairs, and suddenly, Rainbow's vision was filled with a set of butter-yellow hooves.
"Good job, Angel!" came a mare's voice. "I don't know how you found me, Dr. Caballeron, but I—RAINBOW?!"
Rainbow's eyes slowly looked upwards at the pony she hadn't seen since flight camp. She'd gotten older, and had cut her pink mane into a more spiky style that Rainbow couldn't help but approve of. She wore a magenta-colored coat, a ridiculously wide-brimmed hat, and a pair of red glasses attached to her muzzle, but Rainbow would recognize this pony anywhere.
"Hey, Fluttershy," she said, unable to suppress a small laugh at the situation. "I don't suppose you could let me out of here, could you?"
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" Fluttershy exclaimed, her wings springing outwards under her coat. "Of course I'll get you out! Angel?!" She turned to the rabbit, then indicated the net with one hoof. The rabbit (Angel, of course) responded with a gasp, then shook his head. "Angel, she's good, we can trust her." Angel was unmoved. "Angel, please let her out! I'll get you some extra carrots!" This final plea was accompanied by Fluttershy giving the rabbit her best begging eyes.
This seemed to win Angel over, as he shrugged, then hopped over to the net, and began gnawing on the linked threads. Rainbow was about to ask Fluttershy if she had a knife or something that would make the process much faster, but before she'd even finished the thought, Angel had chewed through several of the knots, creating an opening that got larger and larger. Rainbow was able to slip out in less than a minute.
"Again, I'm very sorry," Fluttershy insisted. "I don't get many visitors out here, because most ponies don't know I live here anyway, and Angel here thought it would be a good idea to install some security measures. Don't step on that rug, by the way. Th-that is, unless you like getting caught in traps."
"It's no big deal," Rainbow replied, climbing back to her hooves. "Though I never would've expected something like that from you. At least, not until recently." A confidant smirk found its way onto the pegasus' face. "F. S. Butters."
Fluttershy flinched back, as though Rainbow had taken a swing at her. "Wh-what?!" she squeaked out. "What did you call me?!"
Rainbow couldn't suppress a small chuckle at her friend's expression. "I know about your little double life, 'Shy," she laughed. "As soon as I realized who the author behind those books was, I knew I had to track you down. Also, you might want to change your pen name. Butters just invokes you, at least in my head. Plus, you used your actual initials. I bet some of the others from flight camp have figured it out, too."
Fluttershy opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, as though her brain was trying to come up with a response, but utterly failing in that regard. She finally took a deep breath, getting her bearings.
"Don't be silly, Rainbow Dash," she insisted. "I'm no author. I couldn't come up with an original story to save my life."
"Oh, really?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Then how do you explain the fact that you have a sidekick rabbit with the same name as Daring Do's?"
Fluttershy blinked. "Uh...I named Angel after that character—"
Rainbow Dash was unmoved. Fluttershy eventually rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.
"Fine. You win. I'm F. S. Butters. Happy?"
Rainbow pumped her hoof, throwing her other one in the air. "YES! I knew it! I knew it had to be you!"
Fluttershy groaned, rolling her eyes. "Rainbow, do you have to gloat about it?"
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist! It was awesome when I recognized the writing style you used, but seeing it in real life is even awesomer!"
"Awesomer isn't a word," Fluttershy snarked, but her smile revealed that she was enjoying this moment as well. Then her eyes widened. "Oh, shoot, I'm sorry! I never offered you tea or anything! I'm sorry, I'm a terrible host—"
"Oh, forget about that!" exclaimed Rainbow. "We've got much more important things to discuss! Where do you get your ideas? Is Daring Do based on anypony you know? She's based on me, isn't she? I knew there was a reason I thought she was so awesome! I mean, I know she has a pet rabbit you named after your own, but " Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait a minute. Why'd you call me Dr. Caballeron when I got caught by the trap?"
Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but closed it quickly, as some thought apparently occurred to her.
"Rainbow, you didn't tell anypony else about me being the author, did you? And how'd you figure out where I lived after all this time? We haven't seen each other since Flight Camp. And, seriously, how did you know it was me? It couldn’t have just been the pen name."
Rainbow narrowed her eyes. Fluttershy was starting to act suspicious, as though there was some even deeper secret Rainbow had yet to uncover. Why else would she be afraid of anypony finding out where she lived? Come to think of it, why did she live in the middle of nowhere, anyway? Then again, from the conversation they'd had so far, Rainbow could tell Fluttershy's old shyness was intact. Perhaps she just valued her privacy.
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow prepared to launch into an explanation she knew she'd hate to give. In retrospect, she probably should've expected she'd have to do so when she set out on this journey.
"Okay, I know you're gonna be angry at me for this, but please try to bear with me. I...kinda bribed your publisher to tell me where you were, but all he could tell me was that you lived in a forest somewhere, since you send in all your manuscripts by the mail, and I'm starting to get the feeling you're angry..."
Indeed, Fluttershy was giving Rainbow an annoyed glare. Rainbow had to admit, Fluttershy had an impressive stare, one that looked like it could bore into one's soul if they stared long enough.
"As for how I knew it was you..." Rainbow reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a copy of "Daring Do and the Temple of the Chimera," and flipped open the cover, revealing the signature of F. S. Butters. "I bought this at a fan convention, and I recognized your hoof writing. Anyway, back to what I was asking before..."
But Fluttershy didn't appear to be listening. She picked up the book, staring down at her own signature, her jaw dropping in shock. Her ears began to quiver on her head, and she swallowed.
"This book was stolen a long time ago," she said, "after I gave it to a friend. If you have it now..."
She reached up with one foreleg, yanking the hat off her head. Then she pulled off the magenta cloak, revealing that she wore a green safari outfit underneath. She began flapping her wings, ignoring Rainbow's questions in the process, and flew over to one of the cupboards before flipping it open. She reached inside and pulled out a pith helmet that she crammed onto her head.
"What are you doing?" Rainbow demanded. "Is this some kind of cosplay, or—"
"Shush!" insisted Fluttershy. "Rainbow, listen up! The Daring Do books are based on my real life adventures. If you have that book, that must mean that Dr. Caballeron has used you to find out where I live! We're in terrible danger!"
Rainbow blinked a couple of times, before she suddenly burst into laughter, falling onto her back.
"Good one, Fluttershy!" she managed to wheeze out between chuckles. "Based on your real life adventures! There's absolutely no way—"
She didn't get to finish, as a glass potion vial, filled with grey liquid, came flying through the door, over the two mares' heads, and shattering against the ground. From the impact site came a burst of grey smoke, billowing and spreading across the room. Rainbow and Fluttershy both gasped in shock, and Rainbow accidentally inhaled some of the smoke, leading her to begin coughing. The yellow pegasus was quicker to recover, grabbing Rainbow with one foreleg and Angel with the other, and flying up with them above the smoke.
More smoke potions came flying through the entrance, and the smoke spread further throughout the tree. Fluttershy tried flapping her wings to blow it away, and Rainbow, getting the hint, joined in with her own, but there was so much, they only succeeded in pushing it around the room, and sending some upstairs. It didn't help that there were no windows. Fluttershy dug into the pockets of her jacket, grabbing two loose pieces of cloth. She shoved one into Rainbow Dash's hooves.
"Hold this over your mouth!" she yelled. "You don't want to breathe it in!"
Rainbow, already freaking out quite a bit over this latest development, willingly obeyed, covering her muzzle. Fluttershy did as well, and the two pegasi plus one rabbit made a move to fly out the door. However, they'd only crossed a bit of the distance when an earth pony wearing a mask leaped into the doorway, tackling them.
Rainbow Dash yelped as a hoof found its way into her face, smacking her out of Fluttershy's grip and sending her plummeting to the floor. She couldn't see very well through the smoke, but she heard Fluttershy take a punch from their mysterious assailant, followed by a wicked and cruel laugh.
"Oh, Daring Do!" cackled the mysterious voice. "You really must learn to take better care of yourself!"
Rainbow Dash tried to climb to her hooves, but a length of chain was suddenly levitated over to her by magic, and wrapped around her legs and wings, forcefully grounding her. She strained and pushed against the metal, but it only tightened, digging into her skin and pulling her down. A second spell enveloped her body, pushing her over onto her side.
Another spell pulsed, clearing the smoke from Fluttershy's living room. Rainbow, struggling from her spot on the floor, saw the stallion who'd attacked Fluttershy keeping the yellow pegasus pinned to the floor. The earth pony had a black coat, with his facial features obscured by the mask. Two more stallions trotted into the room. One was a bald, grey unicorn, presumably the one casting all of the spells. The other was a dark brown earth pony with a slicked-back black mane, stubble, and a golden skull artifact for a Cutie Mark. Rainbow instantly recognized him from the descriptions in the Daring Do books.
"Dr. Caballeron!" she gasped.
The doctor turned to Rainbow, giving her a sadistic smirk. "I'm not used to having witnesses to my triumphs. At least, not ones that don’t work for me," he chuckled, "but I suppose I could get used to it."
By now, Caballeron's other henchpony had wrestled Fluttershy onto her stomach. He shifted her around, forcing her to face Caballeron. Her jaw smacked against the floor, bringing tears to her eyes from the pain. She looked up at Dr. Caballeron, her ears swiveling backwards under her helmet.
"I finally found your hideout, Daring Do," Caballeron gloated, "and it's all thanks to your rainbow friend here."
Fluttershy gasped again, turning her face towards Rainbow, a look of utter betrayal gracing her features. Rainbow, catching on quickly, began shaking her head frantically.
"Fluttershy, I had nothing to do with this! I swear!"
"Don't worry, Daring. She's telling the truth," Caballeron replied. "At least, she wasn't willingly working for me." He reached for the floor, picking up the book. "After figuring out your real name, it wasn't hard to find out where you went to flight camp, and who your best friend was. I learned the two of you hadn't been in contact in years. What better way to convince her to track you down than to reveal to her that Daring Do was her old friend?"
Rainbow grunted, releasing a very annoyed expletive. She'd been played like a complete fool. She'd carelessly searched for Fluttershy without thinking, and led one of Fluttershy's greatest enemies to her doorstep. Now, Rainbow couldn't think of a way to get out of this. She again tested the chain that had been magically tied around her, pushing it with her wings and legs, but even with her athletic body, she couldn't break it. The links bit into her skin and kept her down.
Dr. Caballeron advanced on the struggling Fluttershy, who was clearly not gaining any ground against her opponent. From the other side of the room, Angel Bunny rushed over to try and help, but a quick burst of magic from Caballeron's unicorn henchpony sent him flying into a wall, and he fell face-first to the floor.
"ANGEL!" Fluttershy gasped.
"I wouldn't be too concerned about your little rabbit, Daring," Caballeron laughed. "I'd worry about the fate I have in store for you—"
The rest of his evil gloating would remain unheard, as Fluttershy suddenly tensed every muscle in her body. An enrage glare entered her eyes, something Rainbow Dash had never seen before. Fluttershy placed the tips of her wings against the ground, and pushed with all her might, shoving the henchpony off of her and causing him to crash into the unicorn.
"You. Big. Dumb. MEANIES!" she shrieked, spreading her wings and gritting her teeth. She placed the tips of both her forehooves into her mouth, and whistled.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Dr. Caballeron and his minions all stood around, wondering exactly what Fluttershy had been trying to accomplish. Rainbow was baffled as well, and quietly hoping her old friend hadn't completely lost her mind.
As it turned out, she needn't have worried. A low buzzing began to catch everypony's attention, and the source was soon revealed to be a massive swarm of insects that swooped into the living room. Fluttershy gave another whistle, presumably some sort of command, and the bugs began assaulting Dr. Caballeron and his cronies, the wasps stinging them painfully, the mosquitos biting, and the flies zooming into their eyes, blinding them. The stallions screamed and thrashed, but nothing could stop the never-ending swarm. The unicorn used his magic to pick up the Daring Do book and begin swatting the creatures, but for everyone he took down, a dozen more swooped in to replace it.
Fluttershy's incredible animal summon didn't stop there. The bugs were followed by an angry flock of birds, all colors of the rainbow, that latched onto Caballeron and his minions, viciously pecking them. More animals poured in, from squirrels and mice to deer that charged at the stallions. Even the bear that Rainbow Dash had previously seen came barreling into the room, and the unicorn, under attack from critters, could barely project a shield to save himself.
Rainbow Dash could only stare in awe. She'd known Fluttershy had a talent with animals, but this was beyond incredible. She noticed that none of the animals, not one solitary wasp, tried to go after her. In just those few whistles, Fluttershy had convinced the animals to attack Caballeron and his thugs, but to leave Rainbow Dash in peace. How she managed to pull that off, Rainbow had no idea, but it was incredible.
Dr. Caballeron's minions continued frantically swinging to try and beat back the stampede of nature, but to no avail. The unicorn could barely shield against the continuous assault of the bear. Eventually, the two stallions looked at each other, presumably communicating that this wasn't exactly what they'd signed up for. The unicorn grabbed the earth pony, and with a flash of his horn, the two teleported away.
"YOU COWARDS!" screamed Caballeron. "HOW COULD YOU ABANDON YOUR LEADER?! I'LL HAVE YOUR—"
He was cut off again, as the bear suddenly charged through the crowd of animals, prompted by yet another whistle from Fluttershy. The hairy beast reached down with massive paws, seizing Dr. Caballeron by the neck and pulling him off his hooves. The stallion could only swallow in sheer terror at his predicament. Fluttershy whistled once more, and the crowd of animals parted, allowing her to stroll up to face her old nemesis.
"Listen here, Caballeron," she sneered, staring furiously into his eyes. "You can hunt me down, beat me up, try to throw me into lava all you want, but when you hurt my friends, you've crossed a line!" She reached down and picked up Angel Bunny from the floor, then pulled out a pair of bolt cutters and cut the chains, allowing Rainbow Dash to stand up. Then she turned back to face Caballeron.
"If you ever do something like that again, I promise you, I will make what you saw today look like a joke. Do you understand?" Dr. Caballeron managed a weak, terrified nod. She whistled, and the bear released his captive, allowing Caballeron to drop to the ground with a painful thump. "Good. Now go think about what you've done!"
The stallion climbed to his hooves, keeping his head down, as if the sights that surrounded him were so horrible he couldn't bear to look at them. He turned and galloped out of the tree as fast as his legs could carry him, and slowly vanished from view.
Rainbow Dash could only stare after the retreating villain, her mouth still wide open. If her jaw could've stretched down to the floor, she was pretty sure that's where it would've been. Fluttershy whistled once more, causing her animal allies to begin filing out, then trotted over to her after placing Angel Bunny on her back.
"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching over and placing a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "They didn't manage to hurt you very badly, did they?"
For another few seconds, Rainbow didn't answer. She turned her head, looking deep into Fluttershy's eyes, as her brain tried to process the events of the last few minutes. Fluttershy began to look worried, waving her hoof in front of Rainbow's face to try and elicit some reaction from her.
Finally, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, counted to ten, then crouched down and jumped so high her head smacked into the ceiling. She didn't care, though.
"THAT WAS THE AWESOMEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!" she screamed, bouncing up and down on her hooves. "I'VE NEVER DONE ANYTHING CLOSE TO THAT AWESOME! MY OLD BEST FRIEND IS DARING DO! THAT'S SO AWESOME I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA EXPLODE!"
"Uh, Rainbow..." Fluttershy tried to interrupt.
"MY ENTIRE WORLD VIEW HAS BEEN FLIPPED UPSIDE-DOWN! MY BEST FRIEND IS THE COOLEST PONY TO EVER GRACE EQUESTRIA! I'VE GOTTA GO BACK AND REREAD ALL THE OLD DARING DO BOOKS TO SEE IF THERE'S ANYTHING I MISSED! I—"
"RAINBOW!" Fluttershy yelled, having apparently realized that a normal speaking volume was useless in this situation.
Rainbow stopped her frantic jumping, coming to a rest on her rear end. She was panting from all the exertion, but that didn't seem to dampen her spirits at all. She turned to Fluttershy, keeping the ridiculously wide smile on her face.
"Oh, Fluttershy, this is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me in my life! Why don't you tell everypony about this? They'll all love you! They'll go crazy for you! They'll—"
"Rainbow." Fluttershy put a hoof in her friend's mouth again. "Look, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I'm still not crazy about attention, even after all this time. Why do you think F. S. Butters is so secretive? Plus, ponies knowing about my double life tends to lead to things like," she gestured to the room around them, "this."
Rainbow took a moment to look at the tree house. Now that she was paying attention, the place had been wrecked pretty badly. There were scratches in the wood floor, animal hairs and feathers scattered about, pieces of broken glass from the smoke potions, and the little furniture that remained was cracked and broken. Most of it had probably been caused by Fluttershy's animal rampage, but Rainbow realized it had been necessary because of her actions. If she hadn't tracked down Fluttershy, none of this would've happened. Her ears fell at the realization.
"I'm sorry, Fluttershy," she said, unable to look at her friend anymore. "I just wanted to see you again after all this time, and I was so excited when I realized who you were. I never considered it would lead to something like this."
Fluttershy smiled warmly, then extended her wing and patted Rainbow on the side. "It's okay, Rainbow," she insisted. "There's no way you could've known. Plus, I've been looking into finding a new place to write for a long time."
"Are you sure? I kind of ruined your home, I shouldn't go unpunished for that—"
"No, it's alright. Plus, this means we won't lose touch again." She pulled Rainbow into a hug. "Maybe you could help me find a place closer to you? Plus, F. S. Butters could use a new proofreader..."
Rainbow couldn't stop the squeal of joy that escaped her mouth.
