A Daring Duo

Around midnight, Daring finally ran out of wood for their fire. Rainbow Dash had long-since fallen asleep, so at least she wasn't making the situation stressful by panicking. Daring couldn't resist a shiver as the flames began to finally flicker and die. Soon the midnight cold would set in. At least Rainbow Dash had the blanket to keep her somewhat warm. Daring would survive the cold, but it wouldn't be a pleasant experience.

Daring pursed her lips as she thought. There was another option... her eyes drifted to Rainbow Dash. Daring still didn't know if she could trust the strange mare, and she had proven to be a stubborn nuisance. And yet, as Daring felt for the small golden shards in her pocket, she couldn't find it in herself to distrust the girl. Maybe she was just tired, or maybe the strain of this mission was getting to her...

But she gave in. Daring Do left her seat by the fire and walked over to where Rainbow Dash was lying down. Slipping off her hat and coat, she set the hat aside and folded her coat into the shape of a pillow. Careful not to disturb the sleeping pony, she lied down beside Dash and leaned against her. She could feel Dash's body heat through the blanket, and it gave her the unspoken assurance that she wasn't alone.

Closing her eyes, Daring muttered a quick, arcane word. Immediately the heat of the warming spell began to encompass both their resting forms. It would supply them with the additional heat they needed, but was no substitute for the comfort that their physical contact brought. Another brief incantation warded away the potential dangers of the night, keeping them away with magic like the fire was supposed to do on it's own.

Feeling relaxed for the first time in weeks, Daring snuggled closer to Rainbow Dash and let herself drift off to sleep.

***

Rainbow Dash woke up as soon as the blanket was pulled off of her. The sun wasn't yet high enough for it's rays to hit the western horizon. Very groggily, she stood up and began to dust herself off. Sand fell off her mane and coat in clumps, and she had some trouble pushing her mane out of her eyes.

“Tired?” Daring Do asked, already up and dressed herself. She was stuffing the blanket she took from Rainbow Dash into her saddlebags, the last item she had to pack. Their camp was officially taken down.

“No,” Dash lied, wobbling where she stood. Her muscles were just as sore as the morning before, and as she began to stretch she caught sight of Daring chuckling out of the corner of her eye.

The adventurer then extended her wing and observed it, making sure it would hold her through the remainder of the day. But more unnerving than that was the subtle wind that was already building. Sand was slowly filling their fire pit from the night before.

Daring gulped and looked around. The sky in the desert was always free of clouds. This made it incredibly easy to tell what time of day it was, as well as what the cardinal directions were. And direction was Daring Do's specialty. From just one map and a few hours, she had determined exactly where they were in the desert and which direction they needed to head in order to reach their destination, the temple lost to the ages, hidden from pony and even zebra life for untold generations.

But clear skies had another side effect, one that wasn't nearly as pleasant. With no clouds, it was going to be impossible to tell what kind of winds they would be facing. And as the two made their final preparations to take off that morning, they knew the winds were going to be a doozy.

“Ow!” Daring Do cried, “Not so tight!” Rainbow released the straps holding Daring’s saddlebags in place.

“Sorry,” she replied, not meaning it. She blinked; the wind was kicking up sand into her eyes. She would be happy to be off the ground

“I still have to fly with this thing on,” Daring reminded her. She stretched out her wings and examined her damaged one once more. She was struggling to keep them open against the growing breeze. “It’ll be fine,” she asserted, pulling them closed, “Let’s go before this gets any worse.”

The two spread their wings and pushed themselves quickly off of the ground. Rainbow was pulled back by the current but quickly adjusted herself until she was floating above the low wind stream. Daring was just a few yards away, flapping her wings hard to keep steady. Glancing up towards the sun to get her bearings, Daring Do took off in the right direction, and Rainbow Dash followed.

Higher up, the headwinds only got worse, and the two mares had to fly directly into it. Rainbow could barely keep her eyes open. The winds were so strong that she was tearing up. She had to keep glancing away, and could only barely keep a view of Daring.

Daring Do herself wasn’t doing much better. Tears formed in her eyes as well, but she refused to turn her head and refused to blink. Her goal was getting closer, she could feel it. And this time, she wasn’t going to let it slip through her hooves again. A knot was forming in her stomach at the thought of what awaited her, but she ignored it.

Something flew into the edge of Daring’s peripheral vision. Fearing the worst, she chanced a glance over. But there was no griffin in sight. She looked around, but there was nothing nearby. Still unsettled, she called back, “Rainbow, keep an eye out for-”

Something flew over Daring’s head, brushing against her mane. Panicking, Daring froze for just a moment, long enough for her wings to lose their rhythm and let her drop a few feet. Angry now, she looked up at Rainbow Dash, who had given up all hope of stealth and was now doing spins and loop-de-loops in the air above her.

“RAINBOW DASH YOU FOAL!” Daring cried, but her voice was drowned out by the roar of the wind.

Rainbow continued her maneuvers, swiftly and easily cutting through the choppy air. It was so much easier than flying directly against the wind. She knew that all that hard training to join the Wonderbolts was going to pay off one day. She just didn’t realize that she would be using the techniques she learned to fly through desert winds with a hero other than the Wonderbolts themselves.

Over the howl of the wind came another sound. It was nothing more than a tickle in Rainbow’s ear, just a whisper, but it seemed so familiar. Turning around to look for the source, Rainbow saw Daring Do hovering down close to the ground. She seemed to be shouting at Rainbow Dash.

Figuring that to be the source of the sound, Rainbow quickly changed course to meet up with her, continuing her loops and flips to slice through the air. She saw Daring’s eyes open wide in fear as she approached at breakneck speeds. Smiling, Dash turned sharply and circled around the frightened pegasus, coming to a screeching halt and floating there.

Her smile disappeared at the sight of Daring Do’s face. “Rainbow,” she said darkly, raising her voice to be heard over the gale, “I told you to stay low and follow me! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“It’s easier to maneuver around the wind than to fight it!” Rainbow explained.

“This isn’t about taking the easy way out!” Daring cried, shouting now out of anger rather than necessity, “We have to be methodical!”

“You and your methods!” Rainbow Dash cried, rolling her eyes, “I thought you were good at this! But I can clearly see that you don’t have the confidence to handle this!”

Struggling to stay still against the rapidly shifting gusts, Daring yelled back, “I got good at this because I worked carefully to get where I am! Who are you, anyway?! What do you have to offer?! No, you’re right! Apparently I don’t know what I’m doing, because I agreed to let you come along!”

“I WANTED TO HELP!” Rainbow cried at the top of her lungs. The wind was now at hurricane speeds, and the desert below them was churning as it sent the sand flying. The sound was like crackling laughter in their ears, and they almost couldn’t hear each other at all. But the two mares were so focused on their rage that the obvious signs of danger were lost to them.

Rainbow continued, “MAYBE IF YOU WERE BEING A BETTER PARTNER INSTEAD OF TRYING TO BOSS MY AROUND, I’D BE MORE HELPFUL!”

“IT’S MY MISSION!” Daring bellowed, “I’M IN CHARGE AND I WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO!”

Then the desert below them exploded. Sand filled the air, blocking out the sun and casting them into total darkness. Neither mare could keep their balance and instantly lost control. As Rainbow Dash was thrown backwards, she felt something grab onto her mane. It was Daring Do, who had leaned forward and bitten into Rainbow’s hair in order to avoid being separated.

Laughter filled their ears, and as the two were thrown around the sandstorm in a wild frenzy they could see glowing blue eyes watching them. If they could have said anything without their mouths filling up with sand, they would have cursed their foolishness at ignoring the approaching threat.

With no sense of up or down, the two were stunned when they hit the desert floor. Rainbow Dash felt something pull against her mane before it let go. But there was no time to worry about that. Her wings were still open and the wind was trying to pull her away. Digging her hooves into the ground, she slowly struggled to force her wings close.

Daring Do landed several yards away. She pulled her wings closed and spat out the hair that she had pulled from Rainbow’s mane. Glancing around and holding her leg up to block the sand from her eyes, Daring caught sight of Rainbow nearby, still struggling to close her own wings. Daring jumped forward and wrapped her front legs around the pegasus’ neck, forcing her to the ground.

The two mares stayed against the ground until the storm ended, occasionally shaking off the sand that continued to pile on top of them. It was a long time before the sound of rushing winds died down and the two dared to raise their heads. Daring let go of her companion and stood up, looking around.

She recognized nothing. The landscape had been radically altered by the storm, of course, but the sun was in a much different position than it had been before. Daring didn't know if it was because the storm had lasted so long or because they had been thrown so far off course. Either way, they were officially lost.

Rainbow Dash pulled herself from the ground and stretched her sore limbs. She could see the scattered remains of their supplies all around them. Their saddlebags had been torn open and their contents thrown across the desert.

“Shame,” Daring said, not turning to face Rainbow Dash, “We were doing so well.” She rubbed a hoof against the pocket containing the golden shards. They were safe, but without the map any hope they had of reaching the temple was gone.

Rainbow walked over to stand beside her. The adventurer was gazing off into the desert, but seeing nothing. She blinked once and looked over at Rainbow, saying, “We’d better take inventory of what we have.” Her voice was cold and dead. She had lost any sense of her earlier anger, but also any joy at the prospect of continuing on.

Silently, Daring Do and Rainbow Dash picked up their scattered supplies, leaving their hoof prints in the fresh warm sand. When they had collected their things, piling them together near the empty saddlebags, they sat down in the heat of the afternoon sun and contemplated what they had left.

Only a little bit of the food had survived. Both mares knew it wouldn't be enough to last them the rest of the journey. But amidst the pile of things that did make it through their ordeal were a thin rope, a pair of binoculars, a canteen, the iron knife, and a cracked compass.Daring held the compass in her hoof and looked at it, sighing. “We were doing so well,” she repeated, letting it fall and plop in the sand.

“Hey,” Rainbow cooed, smiling softly, “It’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad?” Daring asked, remembering her earlier anger. She turned to Rainbow Dash and shouted, “Because of your foolishness, we’re now completely lost and without any supplies! What do you mean, ‘not so bad’?!”

“Well we still have the clues, don’t we?” Dash cried.

“For all the good they do us! Where the buck are we?! Can you tell me that, Rainbow Dash?! You seem to have an answer for everything else!”

“You’re the adventurer!” Rainbow snapped, “You tell me how you get out of situations like this!”

“I don’t get into situations like this! I’m smart enough to avoid them!”

“Oh yeah, look at me,” Rainbow Dash retorted, rolling her eyes, “Outsmarted by a storybook character.”

Rainbow quickly brought her hoof up to block her mouth, but it was too late. Daring Do had heard what she said, and was now staring at her with a puzzled expression on her face. “What?” she asked.

“Never mind,” Rainbow quickly replied, turning away to avoid her gaze.

“No, tell me what you meant by that,” Daring insisted, “What did you call me?”

Rainbow decided that she couldn’t take it anymore. Looking her straight in the eye, she informed the pegasus exactly what she was. “I said you’re a storybook character. You only exist inside a book. I was brought here when a friend of mine accidentally cast the wrong spell. I thought that going on an adventure with you would be fun, but I guess that my friend wasn’t the only one who made a mistake.”

For a moment, Daring just stared at her, not comprehending. Then she blurted out, “You’re insane! You know that, Rainbow Dash? Is that all I am to you? Some character out of a book who always comes out on top?! I’m just as real as you are.” To illustrate this last point she raised her leg and jabbed Rainbow Dash in the chest with her hoof.

Rainbow Dash brushed her hoof away and said, “You broke your wing shortly before going to search for the Sapphire Statue, the one that Ahuitzotl almost got away with. Not long after, you faced off against a giant two-headed snake that almost hypnotized you, but you outsmarted it by jumping into a lake, causing it to be hypnotized by its own reflection and allowing you a chance to escape.”

“You could have learned about that from anywhere!” Daring tried to interrupt, but Rainbow kept on going.

“In the third book, you went romping through a series of caves on a secret mission for the mayor of Fallstreak, chasing down a group of thieves that had stolen the city’s treasured prize, an aquamarine stone known as the Jewel of Icy Weather. You retrieved it, but were so dirty when you returned that the mayor commented that you needed a bath. You told him it was all in a day’s work, but secretly you couldn’t wait to go home and take a nice bath. Not that you would admit that to anypony.

“And then,” she continued, on a roll now, “Ahuitzol appeared again searching for an ancient city that supposedly held the remains of a Lindworm, an ancient, wingless type of dragon with deadly venom. He knew that if he devoured its shed skin he would gain incredible wisdom and knowledge. When you arrived, though, you two found the Lindworm preserved in amber, still capable of being revived by a sequence of spells left by the ancient ponies who worshiped it. After defeating Ahuitzol, you buried the city beneath a mountain of rock and vowed never to speak of it again.

“After that, you were visited by an earth pony named Didgeri D-”

“ENOUGH!” Daring shoved a hoof in Rainbow’s mouth to get her to stop, “I need some time to think,” she said softly, and Rainbow could see that there were tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Rainbow Dash shut her mouth and sat down on the warm sand, watching as Daring Do turned and walked away.

She stopped after a few yards and stood there, staring out into the sky. Rainbow couldn’t begin to imagine what must have been going through her head at that moment. Rainbow Dash had accurately exposed a good chunk of her early adventures, including some very deep secrets. And the fact that she knew about Didgeri... from what that book revealed, it was no wonder that Daring didn't want to hear about her.

Rainbow began mindlessly drawing in the sand with her hoof as she waited for Daring to return, thinking about some of the events in her own life. She thought about the things she did with her family, with Scootaloo, with her friends… and the way that she treated them all.

Rainbow Dash had her head down when Daring approached, casting her shadow over the image she had drawn. Rainbow quickly brushed the picture, a crude drawing of her with her parents, away and stood up.

The expression on Daring’s face was impossible to read. She took a deep breath before looking directly at Rainbow and saying, “I’ve thought about what you said.” Rainbow waited silently for her to continue. “Based on what you know, it seems like you have some very compelling evidence,” she told Rainbow Dash, “nor can I ignore the possibility that you’ve deceived me somehow. But it doesn’t matter.

“I came out here to do a job, and to save the world. Storybook character or not, that’s what I’m going to do.” She looked more confident now; she was sure of what she was saying. “If we need to, we can settle this whole affair later. Right now, I have a serious threat to stop.” Rainbow could see her reflection in Daring's watering eyes as she finished, “And I could appreciate a second pair of wings at my side.”

Rainbow smiled and rested her hoof on Daring’s shoulder, saying, “I’m here for ya, pal. Just show me the way.”

“Well, that's the problem,” Daring said, pulling away and wiping her eyes dry. She explained, “I can tell which direction is which based on the movement of the sun, but I have no idea where we currently are. Our map would be useless even if we still had it. We’re going to need to find another one that has our position marked.”

“Where are we going to find one of those?” Rainbow asked, suspecting that she already knew the answer.

“The same place we found the first one,” Daring replied, turning around, “Come on, and let’s fly a little higher this time. We need to be able to see as far out as we can.”

Rainbow Dash had to admit to herself that there really was something about Daring Do that impressed her. It wasn’t just her talent or lust for adventure. Somehow, she had managed to shake off a world-shattering revelation and focus on the task before her.

Dash couldn't see it, but as soon as Daring turned away she had to fight to repress a sob. Tears ran freely down her muzzle, and she wanted nothing more than to fall to the sand and cry. But she shook her head to clear it of these thoughts and stretched her wings. She had a mission to complete, after all, and this was no time to give in to despair.