A Daring Duo

Rainbow Dash and Daring Do were neck and neck as they reached the edge of the desert. Each was followed by their trail, stretched to the limit by how fast they were going. Below them, the sand gave way to short grasses and scattered plant life, indicating that their race was over.

Daring slowed down and landed first. Rainbow came crashing down only moments later. They were both dripping in sweat and ready to rest their sore wings, but neither would admit defeat.

“You were good, Dashie,” Daring said, “But I think I was faster.”

“Are you kidding?!” Rainbow replied, “I totally beat you!”

“Did not!”

“Did so!”

They locked eyes and for a moment each gave the other their hardest gaze before both fell over laughing. As soon as they had collected themselves, Daring held up the disk in the dimming sunlight. It seemed so harmless now, nothing but a heavy plate with a black stone.

“By the way,” Daring said, “that was a good job you did back there, tricking Theseus like that. I guess that a thousand years of disuse really takes a toll on these kinds of things.”

“Actually,” Rainbow admitted, “When he started, I could feel the spell working it's magic, but a voice in the back of my mind told me that something was wrong. Even though it was working, it didn't have any effect. Then I realized that I was doing everything wrong. Instead of resisting the minotaur, I could trick him into thinking that I had joined his side so I could save you.”

“Lucky me,” Daring said, “But why didn't it work on you then?”

“Because I'm the most loyal pony in Equestria!” she cried, “I would never turn on my friends.”

Daring laughed along with her before turning her attention back on the plate. She seemed uncertain, so Rainbow Dash asked, “Aren't you going to destroy it? Hey, wouldn't that have saved us a whole lot of trouble to begin with? Why didn't you just destroy the one piece you got?”

“Because I'm a treasure hunter, Dash,” Daring replied sternly, “I may be a thief by nature, but the archeologist in me refuses to harm a treasure like this, especially when I had to steal it to begin with. No, I'll return the shards to their respective owners. As for this little monster in the middle...”

She hesitated, but asked anyway, “Dash, were you telling the truth about what you said earlier? About... me just being a character in a book where you're from?”

“What? Oh, that...” Rainbow didn't want to answer, but the expression on Daring's face demanded honesty. “Yeah, yeah you are, but that doesn't mean anything! Do you think that's all you are to me? You're as real as I am!” To illustrate this last point she raised a leg and jabbed Daring Do in the chest with her hoof.

Daring just brushed it aside, saying, “I don't know what happened to bring you here, but I do believe that we exist in different worlds. All that means is that you somehow found a window and slipped through.”

“A very dirty window,” Dash corrected, “I've never read about you using magic before.”

Daring smiled before barking out another quick spell. The black gemstone popped from it's resting spot in the plate and she caught it in her hoof. Holding it out to her, she told Rainbow Dash, “It's too powerful for me to destroy, but as long as it remains in this world nopony is safe.”

Rainbow Dash slowly took the gem in her own hoof and looked at it. The diamond, she couldn't remember the actual name that Daring had called it by, seemed nowhere near as threatening as before, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that it was smarter than it pretended to be.

Dash rolled her eyes at this thought. It was a rock! How could it be “smart” to begin with? She told herself this, but she wasn't quite sure she believed it. After all this, Rainbow Dash wasn't sure what she could take for granted anymore.

“Thanks, Daring, but...” her ears drooped, “I still don't know how I'm going to get home.”

Then, to her surprise, Daring offered, “Well, you can just stay with me until we figure that out. It's... kind of fun having you as a partner.” Then, half-jokingly, she added, “And it's nice to be around somepony who understands me for a change.”
She must have regretted saying it immediately, because a pained look crossed her face and she stopped talking. Rainbow Dash knew why.

“Daring,” she said tentatively, “What are you going to do about her?”

Daring Do, the fearless adventurer who would never give up so long as she could still draw a breath of air, sighed and said,

“She's lost to me now. Has been for a while.”

“Daring!” Rainbow shouted, causing her to jump, “You can't give up hope like that. Heirloom wouldn't want you to,” she paused before adding, “and neither would Didgeri.”

Didgeri. The name hung in the air between them. Daring could see her now, standing on her front step, asking to be let in. Didgeri Do, her own mother. They'd never seen eye to eye, and it had nothing to do with her being an Earth Pony, she was just... she was just so much like Heirloom used to be. They were good ponies, just... just not the kind to accept Daring's lifestyle.

But Rainbow Dash was right. Whatever it was that made them so different, Didgeri had always loved Daring, and had always wanted her to do the right thing. And, certainly, she would have wanted Daring to find a way to save her sister, to return her to being the safe, idol daughter that she was supposed to be, that Daring never was.

“Daring?” Rainbow asked, afraid that she had gone too far.

Daring sighed as a thin smile crossed her muzzle. “I don't often say this,” she admitted, “But you're right. Now more than ever, I need to keep fighting. Besides, I doubt she is going to accept this defeat with grace.”

“Well, anytime you need a friend...” Dash offered, smiling too.

But the smile was quickly wiped from Daring's face.

“Is something wrong?” Dash asked, alarmed, “Did they find us?!” She quickly turned in a circle, searching the skies for griffins, but saw nothing in the fading twilight.

“No, you're...” Daring almost couldn't believe what she was seeing, “You're glowing.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash craned her neck to look at herself and gasped. She was glowing, her entire body from mane to tail, as though somepony had lit a bright candle inside of her. And it was getting brighter.

“Daring! What's happening?”

“I don't know,” Daring said, stepping back cautiously.

Rainbow felt another sensation, like a soft tugging against her entire body. It was as though somepony had grabbed her and was trying to pull her somewhere. But where? Rainbow thought she knew the answer.

Smiling sadly, she told Daring Do, “I think I have to go now.” Daring nodded solemnly. Rainbow added quickly, “But I'll be back. I promise, I'll return to help you again someday.”

“I believe you,” Daring replied, “And I'm looking forward to it. Good luck.”

“Thank you,” Rainbow said, as her vision began to swim. She blinked and the world began to come back into focus. But it wasn't Daring Do she was looking at. It was Twilight Sparkle, with a look of worry planted across her face.

“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” she asked, “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to send you into the book like that. How long were you there? You're not hurt, are you? …what's that in your hoof?”

Rainbow looked down to see the familiar black diamond still clutched firmly in her hoof. Smiling, she said, “I'm fine, Twilight. Where's the book?”

“It's... over there.” Twilight pointed to the nearby table where the book was lying, asking, “Are you sure you're okay? You don't seem the least bit angry.”

“Nah, it was fun,” Rainbow Dash said, brushing off her concerns like nothing had changed. She walked over and opened the book, muttering, “In fact, I might want to try it again sometime.”

She scanned through it, surprised to find that it actually did tell about the adventure between her and Daring Do. She paused momentarily to read the last page:

As Daring's new friend faded away, the pegasus turned to wipe a tear from her eye.

“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash,” she said.

Knowing that evil never slept, she quickly took off and flew towards home. Maybe there would be more partners in the future, but for now she was back to business as usual. Daring Do wondered briefly where her next adventure might take her, and what new oddities her world – and others – still had to offer.

Rainbow Dash closed the book. “I'm just going to take this home,” she told Twilight, leaving before the mare could ask any follow-up questions about what had happened while she was in the book.

***

Rainbow lay stretched out on her cloud bed, still thinking about her adventure. What she found most remarkable was how much faster time passed on the inside of the book than on the outside. What if she had stayed longer, like a couple years? Would she have been older when she returned? She was just as dirty and tired when she appeared in the library as she had been when she said goodbye to Daring...

Her gaze wandered over to the desk nearby. Resting on it were the book and the diamond. Every time she saw the thing it stirred up an uneasiness in her heart. Maybe the burden of holding onto it was more than she had realized. But Daring was right – even if it was bad, it was safer with Rainbow Dash. She owed it to Daring to keep it safe and secure, if nothing else.

And there was something else that she kept coming back to. The two of them got along so well in the end, in stark contrast to how they behaved towards each other in the beginning. Dash thought about it for a while, then got up and started turning her room upside down in search of a pencil and a sheet of paper.

Laying the paper out on her desk, Rainbow stuck the pencil in her mouth and began her letter.

Dear Princess Celestia, she wrote, Today I had an amazing experience in which I got to meet my biggest hero. I learned the hard way that idolizing somepony can give you unrealistic expectations of them, because they really are ordinary ponies themselves. But just because you don't make a great impression right away doesn't mean that you can't get along with them, and it certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't try your best to get along with them; they deserve the same respect and patience as everypony else. I discovered that when you can truly love and appreciate the ponies you work with, then you can do amazing things together.

She folded up this piece of paper and left it on the desk. Flopping herself onto the glorious cloud bed, she wondered if she could possible get Spike to send it to Princess Celestia without reading it first. After all, she couldn’t have them thinking that she was going soft. That would just taint the image they had of her as she described the whole adventure to them, her amazing heroics and all.

Of course, some of the private matters they discussed would have to be left out, but nopony would be interested in that stuff anyway, right?