Where Would Rainbow Dash?

by CommissarAJ

Rating: teen
Tags: Sex, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Romance, Adventure
Length: 55815

Memories are the soul of the self; it defines the past, shapes the present, and guides the future. But what's a pony to do when she's convinced her memories are real?

Memories are the soul of the self; it defines the past, shapes the present, and guides the future.

A year has passed since the events of What Would Daring Do. The memories of their struggles have bonded Applejack and Rainbow Dash into a union of love. But when those memories are lost, can Applejack find the strength and resolve to save the pony she loves? A broken mind is a catastrophe; a broken heart, tragedy.

Published 2013-03-31 13:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-13 15:08:57 UTC

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

A year and two days ago, Applejack had paced through the halls of a Manehattan hospital, fraught with worry over a girlfriend who had just been in a terrible crash. She could still vividly remember the impotence she felt as she watched Rainbow Dash risk her life to save Spitfire and Fleetfoot from the inferno that spread across the field. The sting of the smoke, the heat of the flames, the heart-crushing weight of the guilt, Applejack could still recall it all with perfect clarity.

It was the cruel whims of fate that Applejack once again found herself trapped within the halls of a hospital, chained to her seat by guilt and anxiety. She had already tired herself out pacing through the halls. The saddlebags she wore may have only carried a few items but they felt like lead bricks when coupled with the weight of her guilt.

The argument, that stupid, petty argument, kept playing over and over in her mind. Why did she have to snap like that? She knew how Rainbow Dash reacted to anything that resembled work and responsibility. The knee-jerk response of aversion was typical of her but that never meant that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have warmed up to the idea eventually. This was the same pegasus that napped in her orchard just so she could be closer to Applejack when help was needed. If she had just been more patient maybe Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have become so defensive.

Maybe Rainbow Dash had been right; maybe she had let the news of Spitfire’s pregnancy influence her thoughts. She could have just slept on the idea and brought it up later. Why did she have to bring it up on her anniversary? Applejack felt an overwhelming urge to put a face-sized hole in the wall next to her but held her temper in check.

The smell of scorched mane and the image of her love, broken, was burnt into her mind. She could see it every time she closed her eyes. She could have stopped Rainbow from leaving. She could have grabbed her by the tail and kept her in the house. She could have just conceded the argument and not be so darn stubborn like she always was. She could have—

“Miss Applejack?”

An unfamiliar voice snapped the farmer pony from her self-inflicted guilt trip. When she glanced up, she saw a unicorn carrying a clipboard and wearing a long white coat. It was about time the doctor showed up.

Applejack shot a sideways glance over to a nearby couch where Soarin’ and Spitfire were. They were still sound asleep as they had been for the past few hours. The two were wrapped in such a warm embrace that Applejack didn’t have the heart to wake them up. It had been a long night for them all so it was best to just let them have their rest. A part of her wished she had taken the opportunity to nap as well, but she’s been too worried and restless.

Hopping out of her own seat, Applejack led the doctor to another part of the hallway so they could talk in private. “How is she, doc?” Applejack asked with understandable worry.

The doctor adjusted his glasses as he gave his clipboard a final read-over. “Physically, Rainbow Dash only suffered some minor injuries from the crash.”

“But what about her head? She can’t remember anything!” Applejack interrupted as her impatience overrode her usual good-natured politeness.

“I was getting to that,” the doctor replied. He flipped a page on the clipboard and trace his hoof along the page. “From what we can tell, she seems to have lost all of her long-term memories along with some short-term memory issues.”

“Ah already knew that!” The combination of impatience and worry was taking its toll on Applejack. She was three steps away from knocking the doctor out and taking the clipboard for herself. Thankfully, she didn’t possess the same volatility as Spitfire and she was able to beat her frustrations back. “Can you fix it, doc? That’s what Ah need to know!”

“I’m afraid in terms of modern medicine, there’s nothing more I can do,” the doctor replied in a sympathetic voice that felt synthetic and hollow to Applejack. “The psyche is the least understood part of a pony. We don’t know how or if she’ll ever regain her memories, nor can we tell how her mind in its current state will react. The best thing for her now is that she’s able to rest someplace where she’s surrounded by close friends and family. The next few days or weeks are going to be very turbulent for, and its important that somebody she can trust is with her.”

“So Ah’ve basically gotta earn the trust of somebody who just sees me as another stranger?” Applejack remarked.

“Well not necessarily,” the doctor continued to explain with a growing hint of reassurance in his voice. “Rainbow Dash should still possess a great deal of her implicit memories.”

“Her what now?” Medical jargon was obviously not something that Applejack knew much about.

“Implicit memory,” the doctor reiterated as though saying the term again would help. “In simple terms, its subconscious memory built from experience. For example, Rainbow might not remember going to flight camp, but she’ll probably still be able to fly just as well as she did before the accident. The longer she’s had experience with something, the more likely she’ll be able to draw on implicit memories, even if she’s not aware of it.”

“So...she might not remember who Ah am, but she might subconsciously remember to trust me?”

The doctor smiled and nodded. “It’s not a guarantee, but it might be her best chance to regain her old memories.”

“Can I see her now?” The prospect from the doctor did not fill Applejack with much hope but her love and sheer stubbornness was not going to allow her to abandon Rainbow Dash in her hour of need. She still wished she had some clue as to how to help her love but she knew nothing of amnesia other than what she’s read in old novel, and those were hardly an accurate portrayal of a serious medical condition.

The doctor nodded and motioned for her to follow. “Just stay calm and take it slowly with her. This is as much of a shock to her as it is to you.”

Applejack felt her heartbeat steadily rising as she was led down the corridor into a hospital room that still smelled of sterility. The two ponies stopped just outside the open door. Applejack felt her heart take another hit from what she saw. Sitting by the open window, where the morning sun was shining through, was Rainbow Dash. She had a newspaper with her and was casually flipping through it with the hopes that something in it would seem familiar to her. Alas, the only things that stood out were the things that she had recently been told of: she was in Ponyville, her name was Rainbow Dash, and she fell through a ceiling after getting hit by lightning.

“You’re free to take her home whenever you both are ready,” the doctor explained in a hushed tone. “It’s best she be in a more familiar setting.”

“Thanks, doc,” Applejack replied with a curt nod.

“Please, just call me Tenderhoof,” the doctor replied before he trotted off to attend to his other duties.

Taking a slow, deep breath to calm her nerves, Applejack slowly trotted in and knocked against the doorframe. “Heya,” she greeted in a gentle voice.

Rainbow Dash glanced up from her newspaper to the mare entering the room and smiled. She still couldn’t remember anything about Applejack, but she could tell that the pony cared a lot about her and that had to mean something.

“Hi, um...it’s Applejack, right?” Rainbow replied.

Applejack nodded as she made her way over to where Rainbow sat. She could tell right away there was a marked difference in the pegasus before her. Without the memories of her childhood victories, that boisterous zeal of Rainbow’s was missing and replaced with the caution to be expected from a pony who had awoken to a world that was a complete mystery to her.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Good,” Rainbow answered but in an unconvincing tone. It sounded she was trying to convince herself of this more than Applejack. “My head is still a bit sore but that’s kind of a minor issue.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Applejack wasn’t being very honest herself either but she put on a brave face for Dash’s sake.

Sadly, it didn’t take long for an awkward silence to envelope the room. In a normal situation, Applejack could think of a dozens things to say and that wasn’t taking into account the hundreds of things that Rainbow Dash might say. The air in the room felt cold and alien to the farmer. It felt more like she was looking at an old photo than talking to the love of her life.

“Who are you exactly?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, I know your name but how do you know me? Are we, like, friends or something?”

Applejack knew that question was bound to come up. She was still working out in her head how she was going to explain it. She hadn’t yet decided whether to ease into the subject or just state it flat-out. In the end, Rainbow Dash asking the question made the choice for her.

“You’re my girlfriend,” Applejack answered. To her dismay, Rainbow Dash appeared to be surprised by this fact.

“We’re—I mean, you and I are—”

“Eeyup.”

“Wow,” Rainbow murmured under her breath before running a nervous hoof through her mane. “A-and how long have we been together?”

“A year. It was actually our anniversary yesterday.” Applejack watched the other mare’s reaction closely. There wasn’t even a flicker of a smile on Rainbow’s face. The news only seemed to make Dash look more worrisome.

And why wouldn’t Rainbow Dash be worried? Here was a pony stating that she had been in a relationship with her for the past year, and she felt nothing towards Applejack. She wanted to believe her; there was no reason for the earth pony to lie. What Rainbow Dash saw in the other ponies eyes was affection and concern, but also expectations—expectations that she didn’t think she could fulfill in her current state. It made her feel like a failure without even having crossed the starting line.

And she hated the feeling of failure.

“I take it you were part of the reason I was flying through a thunderstorm that bad?”

It took all of Applejack’s willpower not to grimace at the question. She was the entire reason that Rainbow Dash was flying in through that monster of a storm. It was already bad enough that Applejack was beating herself over it. Adding Rainbow’s animosity to it wouldn’t just hurt Applejack’s feeling but it could also impede the pegasus’ recovery.

“S-something like that,” Applejack answered in her best attempt to omit the vital details of the truth. It wasn’t lying so much as remaining vague on the details. Once Rainbow Dash got her memories back, she’d understand why Applejack didn’t want to bring up their previous fight.

In order to avoid lingering on that subject any longer than necessary, Applejack quickly changed the subject. “How about I take you home, hm? Then Ah can round up all of our friends and we can help you through this.” She sweetened her offer with a warm, welcoming smile. The late hour of the incident had kept her from telling everyone else about the disaster, and she felt like she was withholding something important from them.

Rainbow Dash mulled over the other pony’s offer for a few moments. It was hard for her to shake the uneasiness that came with the loss of self she was experiencing, but on the other hoof, her gut was telling her to trust Applejack. She knew nobody else, after all, so what choice did she have?

“That sounds like a good place to start as any,” Rainbow Dash answered with a hint of her usual confidence beginning to show.

“Oh, and one last thing,” Applejack said as she reached into her saddlebag. The pegasus raised an eyebrow when she saw the pith helmet that was produced and held out to her. The anniversary gift had been left behind at her place, and it seemed only fitting to give it back. “This belongs to you.”

“Really?” Rainbow inquired as she picked up the hat to examine it closer. “What kind of weirdo wears a hat like this?” Despite her initial aversion, Rainbow felt a strange draw towards the accessory. Curious, she sat the helmet upon its rainbow-coloured throne.

It felt right, as if it belonged there.

*******************

In the end, Applejack chose Sweet Apple Acres as a good setting to bring all of their friends together. The familiarity would hopefully keep Rainbow Dash comfortable, and the farm offered far more peace and seclusion compared to other locations like Sugarcube Corner or the library. She also didn’t want to spend too much time in Ponyville given Dash’s current condition. Rainbow Dash was too well-recognized and too many ponies at once might overwhelm the pegasus’ mind. Things needed to be taken slow, which necessitated a controlled environment.

Soarin’ and Spitfire, now awake and brought up to speed on Rainbow’s condition, trailed behind the couple by a few meters. They were both equally worried about their friend, but both felt it was wise that Applejack took the lead in Rainbow’s rehabilitation.

Applejack used the time between the hospital and the farm to refresh Rainbow’s memory about their friends. Whether it was this implicit memory that the doctor mentioned or Applejack was just really good at selling her friends, Rainbow Dash appeared optimistic about meeting them.

“Okay, now which one is Pinkie Pie?” Applejack asked as they continued through town. She figured a little quizzing would help Rainbow remember since, as she had discovered on the walk over, the part about short-term memory problems was proving true.

“The...yellow one?” Rainbow answered sheepishly.

It was the third time that Applejack has had to remind her which one was Pinkie Pie. One would think the name would make it an easy enough task for anyone to remember.

“It’s okay, hun,” Applejack said as she gave the other pony a reassuring pat on the back. “It’ll be easier once you actually see them, and ain’t nopony gonna blame you if you need a reminder every so often.”

“Speak for yourself,” Rainbow murmured under her breath.

When Applejack asked what she had just said, she shrugged it off. While it was true that others might be accepting of Rainbow’s mistakes, but she sure as hay wasn’t enjoying it. It was frustrating to her to see things that she knew in heart she should recognize but her mind drew nothing. It was like a bad dream that she wanted to wake from. Was she going to be stuck like this for the rest of her life? That thought alone was terrifying.

Unfortunately, while it had been Applejack’s hope that they could get out of Ponyville without drawing much attention to themselves, such good fortune was not to befall them. Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack noticed a familiar pony galloping towards them. It was the Mayor.

“Rainbow Dash!” Mayor Mare called out as she slowed to a trot upon closing in on the pair. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. This overcast needs to get cleared up quickly before the marketplace opens up.”

A quick glance skyward did confirm the obvious fact that there were still numerous clouds floating through the sky. They must have been the remnants of last night’s thunderstorm, which would have been Rainbow’s responsibility to take care of first thing in the morning, or at least first thing once Applejack found out about it and told her to do her job.

Applejack hated the idea of having to disappoint the Mayor, but she felt compelled to speak on Rainbow’s behalf. “Miss Mayor, Ah don’t think that’d be a very good idea,” she said as she stepped between the Mayor and Rainbow Dash. “Normally, Ah’d be the first to agree with you, but Rainbow Dash isn’t feeling very well today. She had a bit of a mishap last night and the doctor says she should be taking it easy.”

“Well hold on a second,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “My brain might be a little fried but that doesn’t make me a cripple. If it’s my job to keep the sky clear, then I should do it.”

“Dashie, ain’t nopony is going to expect you to work in your state.” Applejack was surprised that, for a change, she was taking the argument for doing less work. She just didn’t want Rainbow Dash pushing herself so soon after a serious crash.

“If it’s my responsibility then its the right thing to do!” Rainbow Dash’s sudden conviction towards work ethics stunned the other ponies. Glancing skyward once more, Rainbow Dash knew that this was something she had to do. She wondered if it was something deep in her mind trying to force its way back to the surface. It could also just be that she felt selfish ignoring a responsibility that she knew she was physically capable of still performing. “Here, hold this,” she said as she handed her hat over to Applejack.

Ignoring any further objections from the farmer, Rainbow Dash took to the sky. The feel of the wind blowing through her mane felt familiar and comforting to her. She remembered Applejack telling her that she had a fondness for flight so it made sense that a subconscious part of her would still remember the exhilaration. Such emotions wouldn’t feel so bittersweet if she could understand why she felt that way.

“Okay, just gotta knock a few clouds out of the sky. Sounds easy enough,” Rainbow said to herself as she closed in on the closest cloud. “Whole sky shouldn’t take more than a minute or two.”

She slowed to a hover in front of a sizeable dark cloud that loomed over Applejack and the others. For a brief moment, Rainbow felt a sudden wave of deja vu hit. She took it as a good sign—that her mind was beginning to recall things buried deep within. Spurred on by her desire to regain herself, Rainbow Dash gave the cloud a solid kick. The cloud burst into a million pieces, but not before some of its residual electric charge sparked with a loud snap.

Rainbow Dash got her wish: the electrical discharge did spur some memories to come rushing to the surface. Unfortunately, they weren’t the ones that she wanted. Flashes of the prior night rushed through her mind. She remembered fighting against a powerful wind shear, a blinding flash, and then plummeting back to the earth. Her mind flooded with strange feelings of pain and anguish. Were these what she was feeling back during the storm? Her muscles tensed as a paralyzing fear took grip of her body. So tight was its hold that she couldn’t even manage a scream as her wings locked down tighter than Fluttershy’s cottage on Nightmare Night.

Thankfully, Soarin’ was quick to respond. Rainbow Dash didn’t even make it halfway to the earth before she was snatched out of the sky by the speeding Wonderbolt.

“Easy there, girl, I got’cha,” Soarin’ reassured the distressed pegasus. He drifted back to the earth where a still-worried Applejack was waiting for them.

“Rainbow! Are you okay? What happened?” Applejack asked as she helped ease the pegasus to the ground. She knew that Rainbow’s condition could lead to some complications but this was completely unexpected. The once fearless and boisterous pony was huddled on the ground, trembling like a terrified filly. At first, she didn’t even respond to Applejack’s calls, as if in some form of catatonic shock. “It’s okay Rainbow,” Applejack whispered as she wrapped her hooves around the timid pegasus and held her close. “Ain’t nothing to be scared of. You’re safe now.”

Once in her embrace, Rainbow Dash clung to the mare as though she were the only thing keeping the pegasus from being dragged away. At first, all she could hear was the subtle ‘ba-dum ba-dum’ of the earth pony’s heartbeat. After about a minute, Applejack’s voice began to seep through the mental barriers, and the gentle reassurances slowly brought the frightened pegasus’ mind back into focus. The fear soon subsided and released its choking grip upon her.

“Wha-what happened?” Rainbow Dash murmured as her mind began to collect itself.

“You tell us,” Applejack replied with a hint of her own confusion. “One second you were flying up to kick a cloud and the next you were plummeting like a fresh apple.”

“I’m not sure,” Rainbow recalled. “I just kicked the cloud and then all of a sudden I just...froze.”

Applejack was willing to be that it had a lot to do with the small bolt of lightning, which made her all the more eager to get Rainbow Dash someplace quieter. “Come on, Dashie,” Applejack encouraged as she helped the pegasus back to her hooves. “Let’s just get you some place where you can rest and be with your friends.”

“That’s starting to sound like a better idea by the second,” Rainbow reluctantly agreed.

“I’m terribly sorry about this,” Mayor Mare said in offering of an apology. “Don’t you worry about the weather. You just focus on getting better.” This still left the Mayor with a heavy overcast to deal with, but a marketplace wasn’t going to get ruined by a lack of sunshine.

“Hey, maybe we can take care of your cloud problem,” Spitfire suggested. While she hadn’t cleared a cloudy sky since her days in the Wonderbolts Academy, she was still the daughter of a former weather manager.

“You would do that for us?” The Mayor was elated, as to be expected, to hear that two Wonderbolts were offering up their services for her town. Not only did it save her the extra work of having to track down a replacement for Rainbow Dash, but it also meant that she could have a clear and sunny sky in time for the opening of the marketplace.

“Well not me specifically, but Soarin’ can. He stuffed his face with pizza last night so he could use the exercise,” Spitfire explained as she shot a none-too-subtle glance over to her partner. “He’ll handle the cloudbusting while I’ll supervise.”

“Hey! You had just as much pizza as I did,” Soarin’ protested. “Why do you get to slack off?”

“Because I ate for two, remember? Plus, I need to conserve the calories.” Spitfire's smug chuckle was enough to win the argument. With quiet grumblings, Soarin’ took to the sky to get started on his new assignment. “Boy, I can get away with almost anything when I’m pregnant,” she mused with a barely-contained snicker. The Wonderbolt Captain then turned her attention to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “You don’t mind if we take care of this, right?”

Spitfire didn’t want to make it seem like she was bailing on the couple, but she honestly felt she could do more good by making sure that Rainbow’s responsibilities around town were taken care of, thus allowing her friend to focus on recovery.

“It’s okay,” Applejack replied. “We’ll be at the farm so you two just catch up when y’all are finished.” In truth, Applejack hoped that some more time alone with Rainbow Dash would help the most in her recovery. She figured that Rainbow Dash could also use some rest and a good meal, neither of which required the Wonderbolt’s presence.

With a terse goodbye, Applejack and Rainbow Dash continued on their way to Sweet Apple Acres.

*******************

Much to Applejack’s relief, they were able to reach Sweet Apple Acres without any further incidents. They were delayed briefly at the main gate by an inquisitive Apple Bloom, who had come out to greet the couple, but little sisters were easy to handle. All it took was a quick remark about Rainbow Dash not feeling well and in need of some rest and the younger sibling was sent on her way without further questioning.

“There aren’t any brothers or sisters I’m forgetting, right?” Rainbow Dash asked as the pair headed inside the homestead. It was bad enough forgetting all of your best friends, but forgetting family would just add further insult to injury.

“If you do, that’d be news to me,” Applejack answered. In all honesty, the topic of Rainbow’s family had never come up that often between them. Perhaps because of how close Applejack was to her own, talk of family was never of much interest to either of them. She made a mental note to find out more about Rainbow’s family when she had the time.

Like every other locale, Rainbow Dash could remember nothing of the homestead other than the fact that this was where she crashed. She didn’t expect any miracles, but she hoped that at some point something or someone familiar would help her recover some of her lost memories. Nonetheless, it was a nice home and Rainbow Dash could see why she was brought back here. It was probably nicer than her own home.

In fact, where was her home? Rainbow Dash assumed she had a home somewhere. Given that she was a pegasus, it was probably up in the sky, which would also explain why they didn’t go there instead. Still, she would have liked to have seen her own home. There might have been something there that could’ve jogged her memory better. Unfortunately, with Applejack there didn’t seem to be much of a chance of that happening anytime soon. The farmer pony seemed intent on assuming the mantle of caretaker.

“How about we get you settled in upstairs,” Applejack said as she guided the pegasus up the stairs. “Can Ah get you anything to eat? Maybe a drink? Ah reckon you gotta be famished after by now.”

“What about you? You look pretty tired,” Rainbow said. She hadn’t made mention of it before since they were walking from the hospital, but now that Applejack was home, Rainbow was a bit worried. She began to think that it wasn’t her that needed the rest. “When was the last time you slept?”

“Yesterday morning but this ain’t about me,” Applejack insisted.

Rainbow disagreed with that assertion. What was the point of trying to care for her if one could not take care of themselves in the process? As Rainbow had suspected, Applejack hadn’t slept the entire time she was at the hospital, which meant the farmer pony likely hadn’t had any sleep in at least twenty-four hours.

“You really ought to get some sleep, Applejack. That just ain’t healthy,” Rainbow countered.

“Ah told you, Ah’m fine.” Applejack’s stubbornness might have carried more weight had it not been interrupted by a small yawn soon afterwards. The mere mention of sleep triggered a wave of fatigue to crash into her. Sleep deprivation seemed to be just as stubborn in harassing her. “Gosh darn it, all this talk of sleep is making me yawn. Ah ain’t,” another yawn interrupted the pony’s words, “tired at all.”

“You sure? You look pretty sleepy to me. Maybe you should just lay your head down for a spell.”

“No, no, no! Ah’ve got look out for you first,” Applejack continued to protest despite an ever increasing barrage of yawns interrupting her tempo. All the talk about sleeping, however, was playing havoc with her subconscious, which was begging for rest now. She knew she had to fight it. It was just a matter of willpower and determination, or sheer stubbornness in her case.

Carefully wrapping a wing around the pony, Rainbow took the lead and began guiding Applejack towards the bedroom. “Let’s get you someplace nice and comfortable to lay down,” she said with an inviting tone.

A warm bed did sound quite tempting. “Ah ain’t sleepy, Ah’m just a bit groggy,” Applejack said in an increasingly sluggish voice. Though she protested the idea, her body began to follow the pegasus’ lead on auto-pilot, carrying her towards the bed. “Ah’ll hit mah second wind at any moment now. Sleep can wait until later.”

“Of course you will.” By this point, Applejack was too groggy to realize that Rainbow Dash was just placating her. In fact, as the waves of sleep-deprived fatigue battered down her defenses, Applejack was soon no longer even able to resist the other mare’s guide.

Entering her bedroom, with its makeshift patch job in the ceiling, Applejack could hear her bed calling out to her. Come, stay and sleep. It was like a siren’s call to the weary pony. It wasn’t long before that voice in Applejack’s head that was telling her to tough it out was now nodding its head in agreement. A little sleep wouldn’t hurt, now would it? A quick nap and Applejack would be able to look after her love through the whole evening and beyond.

“Ah ain’t...Ah ain’t...tired at all...” Applejack murmured in her last attempts at defiance. Her eyelids were beginning to feel quite heavy now, as well as her limbs. With Rainbow Dash’s help, she stumbled across the bedroom and onto the bed while still insisting that she didn’t need any rest. Alas, the bed sheets soon encircled the pony in their comforting grasp, pulling her in and refusing to let go. The pillow, so soft and warm, drew her in like a magnet. “Ah can still...keep...go...ing...”

While defiant to the end, Applejack was soon down for the count and swept away into a blissful slumber. Rainbow Dash paused for a moment as she watched the pony slumber. One could be forgiven for assuming that all was right with the world given how peaceful she looked. Too bad it wasn’t a sentiment that Rainbow shared. Nothing like no past to hold onto to make one feel like they were adrift in the world, but if the world thought that Rainbow Dash was just going lie down and take it then the world clearly did not know Rainbow Dash!

Applejack may have wanted to take things slow but Rainbow had no patience for that. With the farmer asleep, she slipped downstairs to the kitchen and helped herself to some of the contents of the pantry. She figured it was okay since Applejack had already offered to bring her some food. All Rainbow was doing was a bit of self-service. The farmer obviously wouldn’t want Dash to go hungry.

After stuffing her face with several apple fritters and half of a pie, Rainbow Dash checked back on the slumbering farmer. Unsurprising, Applejack was still out cold. Since it would likely be a long time before the farmer regained consciousness, Rainbow Dash decided to take charge of her own recovery process.

“No point sticking around here,” Rainbow Dash concluded. Perhaps she could find some of these friends that Applejack had mentioned earlier. It would help if she could recall their names. She decided that it could be an adventure of its own: a literal journey of self-discovery. Heading out the door, Rainbow Dash set her sights on Ponyville and proceeded with all speed.

*******************

One good thing about being a pegasus was that it was very hard to get lost no matter how little you knew about your surroundings. At any point that Rainbow Dash felt a little confused as to whereabouts in town she was, all the pegasus had to do was fly about fifty feet in the air and look around until she could spot something familiar. Rainbow was able to trace her steps through town easily enough but as she didn’t want to return to the hospital, she took a few extra turns and began to wander into unfamiliar lands.

Things seemed to go well enough at first. A few ponies appeared to recognize her and said hi to her as she passed by. Judging by the fact that none of them stopped suggested that they weren’t much more than just acquaintances. However, after about a dozen hi’s and hello's, Rainbow Dash got the impression that she was quite well-known throughout town. It was relieving to know that she probably wouldn’t have any nasty surprises waiting for her around the next corner.

Though speaking of corners, when Rainbow Dash trotted through what she presumed to be the marketplace, which was still being set up whilst the two Wonderbolt volunteers cleared the sky above, she heard her name being called out yet again. To no surprise, Rainbow couldn’t recognize the voice but it sounded more than just the call of a random passer-by. A flash of movement from the side brought her attention to a purple unicorn trotting up to her, though Rainbow had to contain her surprise when the unicorn turned out to have wings as well.

“Good morning Rainbow Dash,” Twilight greeted.

“Uh-oh. Which one was the purple one again?” Rainbow Dash could remember Applejack mentioning that one of her friends was an alicorn, but for the life of her, she couldn’t put a name to the face. “It was Fluttershy, right? No, wait! Fluttershy was pink. Wait, or was it just a pink mane? This one has got pink in her mane, or is that more of a fuschia?”

“Hey...you.” Rainbow stumbled with her words at first, but if a mistake had been noticed, the other pony didn’t say anything about it.

“I’m surprised to see you out and about so early,” Twilight commented. She chuckled a bit as though there was some insider joke that Rainbow should have caught. “I figured you’d still be hanging out with Applejack.”

“Applejack? She was...um, really tired after last night so she’s still resting,” Rainbow explained with a small omission of truth.

“Oh, I can imagine.” Twilight chuckled again as she glanced up to the pith helmet that still adorned Rainbow’s head. It took Rainbow a few seconds to clue in as to what was so funny. Thankfully, Twilight didn't make any jokes about the flourish of crimson forming upon the pegasus’ cheeks. “But anyways, it’s actually a good thing I bumped into you because there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh? About what?” Rainbow didn’t like where this conversation was going. What did this pony want to talk to her about? She still couldn’t remember her name, let alone what she might want. It might have been easier to just tell Twilight that she had lost all of her memory, but the words kept getting lodged in her throat. Applejack said this pony was her friend so why couldn’t she bring herself to admit the truth?

“Well it’s about yesterday,” Twilight began while tapping at the ground with her hooves in an uneasy fashion, “and I was just thinking that, uh—have I mentioned how good a friend you’ve always been?”

“Um, maybe?” Rainbow suspected that she’d be confused even if she did remember what had happened yesterday. Something about this line of discussion was making the other pony uneasy.

“I know you said ‘no’ yesterday but I was really hoping you’d reconsider.” Great. The other pony was already operating under the assumption that Rainbow Dash knew what this was all about. “Maybe we could work out a deal or a time table, or maybe there’s something I can do for you in exchange.

“I’m sorry, but the answer is still no.” Given that the only thing she knew of this topic was that she said ‘no’ to the request yesterday, it seemed reasonable not to change that stance. To be fair, she did feel bad about having to say no to her friend.

Unfortunately, hearing ‘no’ appeared to cause a sudden change in the other pony’s temperament. Twilight’s eye began to twitch as the answer resonated in her head. An unsettling grin appeared on her face as she saddled up alongside Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, come on Rainbow, we’re all reasonable ponies here,” Twilight persisted as the tension began to show in her voice. “We’re friends, and good friends share everything! You wouldn’t hold out on a good friend, right?” She must have really wanted it bad—whatever it was.

“Th-this really isn’t a good time to be talking about this,” Rainbow replied. The conversation was going in a direction that was making her a bit uncomfortable, and not just because it was hard to say no to something she knew nothing of.

“Don’t hold out on me, Dash!” Twilight snapped as she suddenly hooked both hooves around the pegasus’ neck. “I know I don’t usually impose myself like this but I need it!”

“Need...it?” What was this alicorn going on about? “Is she...trying to come onto me?”

“Yes! Yes, oh by the heavens, yes!” The alicorn was starting to sound a bit unhinged, which only made Rainbow Dash feel more uneasy. If the other pony didn’t have wings, she would have flown off by now. “I know it seemed like I was playing it cool yesterday but I really, really, really need it!”

Now Rainbow was feeling more compelled to leave than ever. Maybe if she could remember who this pony was, she could recall what Applejack said about them. Perhaps this was Pinkie Pie—Applejack did describe her as a bit intense.

“I...I really need to get going,” Rainbow said in an attempt to excuse herself. Pushing away from the alicorn, Rainbow tried to make her escape to the skies. However, escaping from a pony with potent magics proved more difficult than she anticipated.

“You can’t!” Twilight yelped as her magic dragged the pegasus back to earth. “You can’t hold out on me like this, Rainbow! You have to let me have it! I promise I’ll be gentle—I won’t tell a soul!”

“I really think this is a bad idea!” Despite pulling and tugging, Rainbow couldn’t free herself from the alicorn’s magic.

“I won’t need it for long. You can give it up for just a week, right? Or maybe a few days? An hour, even? Just let me have the book! I need to know what happens!”

Rainbow Dash ceased her struggling upon the mentioning of a book. Was this frantic half-begging, half-hostile negotiation all over a book? Not only was Rainbow wondering why the alicorn was so obsessed over a mere book, but also as to why said ‘no’ to this request in the first place.

“This is for a book?” It wasn’t until a second after Rainbow’s outburst that she realized she may have just outed herself. That sense of dread and apprehension intensified as the other pony’s face contorted under the strain of confusion and bewilderment.

“Of course this is about the book,” Twilight remarked before releasing her magical grip on the pegasus. “Is everything okay, Rainbow Dash?”

“E-everything’s fine!” Rainbow insisted with all the convincing mettle of a filly with their hoof still in the cookie jar. “Why wouldn’t they be? Yup! Everything’s just fine and dandy!”

“Rainbow,” the alicorn said in an accusatory sneer.

It was enough to crack any remaining resolve Rainbow Dash had. “Okay, so maybe everything isn’t fine,” Rainbow said followed by a sigh of resignation. She took a slow breath to calm her nerves and find the right words to explain everything in a clear and concise manner. “I got zapped while flying and now my brain has been scrambled.”

For a second, Twilight just stared at her friend in disbelief. Zapped? Scrambled? “I’m sorry, but what happened exactly?” she asked in order to get some clarification.

“I got hit by some lightning and now I can’t remember anything.”

“Anything? You mean like you don’t remember anything at all?”

That was what Rainbow had just said and if Twilight continued repeating everything in the form of a question, this conversation was going to take twice as long. “Everything. I don’t even remember who I am.”

“So you have no idea who I am.”

“Fluttershy?”

“Oh my, this really is bad,” Twilight said as the severity of the situation began to sink in. “Then where’s Applejack?”

“I wasn’t really lying about that part,” Rainbow explained. “She really was tired after staying up all night at the hospital. She fell asleep so I just sorta left her back at the farmhouse.”

“And you just left her there?” Twilight could only imagine how worried Applejack was for her girlfriend’s well-being. The fact that she was asleep at a time like this was the only thing that convinced Twilight that Applejack had, indeed, stayed up all night. “Maybe we should go back to Sweet Apple Acres then. I’m sure Applejack would be worried sick if she saw you walking around on your own.”

However, as Twilight took a few steps in the general direction of the Apple family homestead, she noticed that Rainbow remained where she was.

“Um, aren’t you coming?”

Rainbow Dash said nothing at first, and instead stared at the idle hoof she was scuffing the ground with. “I’d rather not go back there,” she admitted after some reluctance.

“What do you mean?” Twilight inquired as this behavior ran completely contrary to Rainbow’s normal behavior. “But you and Applejack are so close. You mean the world to her.”

“No, the old me means the world to her,” Rainbow snapped back with a mixture of disappointment and contempt. “I’m not that pony anymore, but she keeps looking at me like I am.” With another sigh, the pegasus’ sank to her knees. “I appreciate everything she’s done for me, and she seems like a nice pony, but I just can’t be who she wants me to be.”

It was always disheartening to see a friend so broken up. Twilight could only venture a guess what was going through Rainbow’s mind as she struggled to understand just who she was. She trotted over to her and gave the pegasus a supportive hug.

“It’s not your fault, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “You had a bad accident. An injury of the mind is no different than one of the body. You need to be patient and give yourself time to recover.”

“Except do you have any idea how frustrating this is? Everyone is looking at me like I’m somebody that I have connection with,” Rainbow explained as said frustration began to flare up in her voice. “Everyone is expecting me to be somebody that I’m not anymore. I feel things that I don’t understand where they’re coming from, and nothing makes sense to me anymore!”

“They just don’t know what’s happened, Rainbow,” Twilight replied with the hopes of calming her friend down. “They’ll understand, and I promise you that nopony will think less of you because of your condition.”

“Except I think less of me because of this!” The attempts to ease her worries seemed to only exacerbate things. “I’m supposed to be this great flier but when I tried to earlier, I completely froze. It’s bad enough knowing everything I was is gone, it's even worse when you don’t know what it is that’s missing.”

Twilight wished she could more than just offer her support as a friend, especially since what her friend wanted put her at odds with another friend. If she took Rainbow Dash back to Sweet Apple Acres or went there alone to wake Applejack up, that would be going against Rainbow Dash’s expressed desires. She was Rainbow’s friend but she had to respect her friend’s wishes even if she didn’t necessarily agree with them. In the end, Twilight reasoned that she couldn’t abandon Rainbow Dash in her current state so it was best if she at the very least kept an eye on the amnesiac pegasus.

“Well, if its any consolation, I vow to try and treat you as who you are now rather than who I remember you to be,” Twilight said in a novel approach in earning the pegasus’ favor.

“Thanks, though I get the feeling that’s not going to help me get my memory back any faster.” Though Rainbow still sounded defeated, at least she wasn’t angry. “So which one of my friends are you again?”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Rainbow pressed her scrambled memory for what she could recall from Applejack’s lectures. “Twilight, huh?” she mused as she tapped her hoof in thought. “Oh! You’re the one with the magic. Wait a minute, do you think there’s some kind of magic spell that could fix my head?”

While every problem Twilight encountered prompted her to either check the library or try a spell, she was hesitant to fulfill this request. “I don’t think that’s a great idea,” Twilight said with some reluctance. “Magic isn’t used for healing often for a reason. It can upset the delicate balance of vital energies.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that it’s risky business,” Twilight explained in simpler terms. The finer details of the inner workings of magic would have been lost on the pegasus and would’ve made no difference in Rainbow’s decision—or at least the old Rainbow Dash’s decision-making.

“And you think being stuck like this is any less risky? I might never get my memory back the regular way,” Rainbow argued. At least the pegasus’ lack of patience had still been preserved.

While her friend presented a valid argument, Twilight still had her reservations about this plan. “I don’t even know if that spell would work in this situation,” she reasoned.

Unfortunately for Twilight, Rainbow was astute enough to pick up on the her wording. “But you do know a spell.”

“Well, yes.” Twilight was backed into the proverbial corner now. She could tell that Rainbow was desperate for a solution, and to withhold even a small hope seemed cruel. “There is the memory spell that I used back when you and the others were under Discord’s influence, but I don’t think this spell is meant to treat memory loss of this nature.”

“Just give it a shot!” Rainbow Dash insisted. Her impatience was climbing faster than Pinkie waiting for a cake to finish. “What have we got to lose?”

Another salient point presented by the pegasus and to which Twilight had no counter-argument. It was a simple memory, after all, but there could be risks neither of them were aware of. As far as Twilight knew, nopony had attempted to use that particular memory spell on a pony with traumatic amnesia. It could wind up confusing Rainbow Dash even further, but that seemed like a risk worth taking.

“Okay, we’ll give it a shot,” Twilight said. She gestured for Rainbow Dash to have a seat, as some dizziness was common with the spell. “Just close your eyes and relax,” she cautioned.

Rainbow heeded the alicorn’s instructions as a vibrant purple glow began to emanate from the other mare’s horn. There was a sudden surge of heat and a blinding flash.

But nothing else happened: no memories, no flashbacks, no mental pictures, not even a sense of deja vu.

“What the hay?” Rainbow exclaimed. “Nothing happened, Twilight!”

While the pegasus might have been confused, Twilight was disappointed but unsurprised by the results. “I warned you that this spell wasn’t designed to work with this kind of memory loss,” she explained. “The spell was meant to work against magical influences blocking your memories; it’s not as effective against physical ones.”

“Well, can’t you try harder?” Rainbow demanded. “Applejack says you’re the super-magical pony around here.”

“I could try enhancing the spell’s focus,” Twilight postulated. Her lips pursed in pensive recollection as she delved into the depths of her arcane knowledge. “Maybe if I use a cherished possession, the emotional bond could be used to better focus the spell’s effects.”

“Come again?” the befuddled pegasus asked.

“I just need something that means a lot to you,” Twilight deadpanned.

Easier said than done, Rainbow Dash thought. Without any memories, she didn’t even know what did have an ‘emotional bond’ with her. As she scratched her head puzzlement, she realized that sitting atop of her head was one such item.

“Could this work?” Rainbow asked as she took off her hat.

“That’s perfect!” Twilight exclaimed as she eagerly took the item. “You’ve had this hat for years ever since I introduced you to Daring Do.”

Both ponies closed their eyes in preparation for the second attempt with Rainbow’s pith helmet levitating about half-way between them. Digging her hooves into the ground, Twilight began to focus her magic to an even greater extent than before. The aura around her horn grew several times in intensity until it was almost shining like a beacon, which caught the attention of more than just one passerby. Then, like a laser, she shot a blast of magic into the pith helmet. The accessory was soon enveloped in its own shimmering aura for a few seconds before an even more focused beam of energy shot from the helmet into Rainbow Dash. The pegasus’ body seized as the magic hit her, which soon overpowered all her senses and caused her to black out.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” a winded Twilight said as she hurried over to her friend’s side. A cursory glance suggested that the pegasus was little more than just disorientated, which would be expected if her spell did as it was intended to do. “Did it work? Do you remember who I am?”

Slowly, the pegasus’ eyes fluttered open. She stared up at the alicorn with tired and confused eyes. “Did what work? What happened?”

A little confusion was to be expected, though it was a bit worrying to Twilight. “The memory spell. Did it work? Do you remember who you are?”

“Of course I remember who I am, why would I forget?” Rainbow quipped much to her friend’s delight. “I’m Daring Do.”

“What?” Twilight’s jaw almost hit the ground.

“You mean you haven’t heard of me?” Rainbow replied with an equally surprised look. “Professor of Archaeology at the Royal Canterlot University. World famous explorer and treasure hunter. Does that not ring any bells?”

“I couldn’t have cast the spell wrong.” This made no sense to the alicorn. This wasn’t what the spell was supposed to do at all! Failing to restore one’s memory was one thing, but replacing them with something else altogether? This was impossible! Mentally backtracing all of her steps, Twilight’s mind went into a frantic search to figure out where she might have erred.

The only other variable she could think of was the hat, but that made even less sense. Twilight could recall the day that Rainbow Dash bought the hat from that costume shop in Canterlot. Rainbow Dash has been the only pony in possession of it.

But then Twilight Sparkle took a look at the aforementioned hat and noticed for the first time that it looked older and more worn out than it should’ve been. She picked up the hat and flipped it over. There, scrawled in black permanent marker, were the words ‘property of Dr. D. Do’.

“Hey purple pony, can I have my hat back now?”

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Even after becoming a Princess, Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to failure. Her first week as an alicorn was sufficient testimony that not only was failure not foreign to her, but it was practically her second language. Her wings alone accounted for numerous mishaps involving closing doors, spilled drinks, knocked-over vases, obstructing other ponies’ views, and at least a half-dozen crashes. Then there was magic, which for even the best of ponies was a long process of trial and error. A messed-up spell was not uncommon, but for the most part, Twilight never messed up a spell that she couldn’t figure out a way to undo.

Staring at the rainbow-maned pegasus who was now convinced that she was the famed archaeologist, Daring Do, Twilight Sparkle was not only left uncertain of how to correct this but also how to even react. The first notion that crossed her mind was calling for the Royal Guard because Applejack was going to be furious when she found out about this.

The second, and more rational, thought was to try using some sort of counterspell to undo the damage. Sadly, no exact spell came to mind. Rainbow Dash wasn’t under any persistent magical effect so there was nothing to dispel. Undoing her damage meant Twilight would have to rip those memories out, and that seemed like an even more dangerous idea.

“Okay, I can still fix this,” Twilight mumbled to herself as her brain continued churning to concoct a solution.

“Helloooo!” Rainbow called out. “Daring to purple pony, do you hear me?”

Twilight Sparkle was still staring dumbfounded and slack-jawed like some young filly who had never seen a spell cast before. Eventually, her brain was able to kick itself back into action, but not before Rainbow Dash had snatched her hat back.

“Don’t panic,” the alicorn continued muttering to herself, “this is just a minor setback. It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Speak for yourself,” Rainbow remarked. She let out a quiet groan as she rubbed her forehead. “I’ve got a headache the size of Celestia’s backside, and its got ‘ouch’ written all over it.”

As the alicorn still seemed to be trapped into her own brain short-circuit, Rainbow Dash decided to take a better look at her surroundings. While she didn’t recognize the exact layout, it bore a striking resemblance to the Ponyville. However, the last time that Daring Do visited Ponyville, it was little more than a fledgling town built around an apple orchard and its unique, magical produce. Nonetheless, the sight of Canterlot in the distant mountains left few other possibilities.

“What happened to me anyways? Everything is fuzzy,” the pegasus added. It appeared that even in her current state, Rainbow struggled with her memory. She could recall something about a sorceress of some sort or at the very least something involving a lot of magic getting thrown about.

“N-nothing!” Twilight insisted. “Just a—um, spell that didn’t quite work out.”

“You did this to me?” Rainbow snapped. She didn’t know what ‘this’ was, but in Daring’s experience, magic frequently meant trouble. “You better start—” Rainbow cut herself off mid-sentence when she pointed an accusatory hoof at the other pony. Her gaze fixated on her hoof—her blue hoof. Babbling incoherently, Rainbow Dash began looking to the rest of her body. Blue wings? A cutie of mark of a rainbow-coloured lightning bolt? What madness was this? As panic began to rise up her spine, Rainbow dashed to the nearest reflective surface she could find, which happened to be the glass pane of a storefront.

“Wait! I can explain!” Twilight called out as she chased after the pegasus.

However, Rainbow Dash was more fixated on staring at the reflection of a pony she could not recognize. Shock, horror, and traces of panic swept across her visage as her mind tried to come to grips with this dissonance. She couldn’t understand how the pony staring back at her was not the visage of Daring Do that she remembered.

“Wh-what’s happened to me? My gorgeous tan! My beautiful salt-and-pepper mane!” Rainbow lamented. All of her confusion reached the same logical end: the magic spell the other pony said she casted. Confusion turned to anger as she swung around to face Twilight. “You! Who are you and what have you done to me?”

The sudden confrontation tripped Twilight even further as she tried to maintain control of the situation. “I-I can explain,” she stammered. “I was using a memory spell and—”

Unfortunately for Twilight, the mentioning of memory spelled had an unforeseen reaction in Rainbow. “Trying to pry open my memories, huh?” Rainbow accused. Her mind began piecing the fragments of Daring Do memories into cohesive patterns until it reached a logical conclusion. “You’re working for Azura! Well, you’ll never get the secrets of the Alicorn Temple from me!”

Before Twilight could even ponder who Azura was or its connection to any temple, a swift kick from the defiant pegasus sent her sprawling across the ground. As Rainbow flew off, the downed princess tried to call out after her, but the blow had left her gasping for air.

“What was that all about?” Twilight groaned once she had the strength to return to her hooves. Rainbow Dash was already long gone by the time Twilight took to the sky. Nonetheless, she flew off to search for her friend. Under normal circumstances, Twilight could never match Rainbow’s speed in the air, but hopefully the pegasus didn’t remember just how fast she could fly.

However, while Rainbow might not have remembered the full extent of her aerial dominance, she did remember how Daring Do eluded her pursuers in the Gryphon’s Goblet. Often the best place for a pony to hide was in plain sight. When Rainbow saw the number of ponies milling about the town’s marketplace, she saw the perfect place to hide from an evil sorceress.

Landing amongst the crowds, Rainbow began trotting off to the busier sections of the marketplace. The various tents and stalls offered plenty of cover from any aerial snoopers, and whatever magic has changed her appearance meant that few ponies would recognize her as Daring Do. However, while none would recognize her as Daring Do, there were numerous that seemed to insist on referring to her as ‘Rainbow Dash.’

“Morning, Rainbow!” The first time caught her by surprise, and it took the pegasus a few seconds to realize that it came from the pony by the flower cart.

“Oh! Um, good morning,” Rainbow replied. Noticing that the flower cart had a sizable awning attached to it, she trotted over to take advantage of the cover. She figured if she acted like another random patron, it would make it harder for that purple witch to find her.

“That was quite the nasty storm we had last night, wasn’t it?” the flower-vendor commented. “I’m surprised you’re not still cleaning it up.”

“It’s being taken care of,” Rainbow replied as she played along with the line of conversation. “By the way, hypothetically speaking, where would I go if I needed to get an evil spell undone?”

The other pony raised an eyebrow in confusion before chuckling to herself. “Oh come on, Rainbow Dash, you of all ponies should know that Twilight is the only pony in town that can do that,” she answered. “What mess did you two get yourself into this time?”

“It’s personal,” Rainbow answered, which was not too far from the truth. Thankfully, that appeared to be enough to deter the flower-vendor’s curiosity. “Do you know where I can find her?”

“The library, maybe?” The vendor had little else to offer other than an uncertain shrug of her shoulders. “She’s your friend, though, so you should know better than I.”

“O-of course, I knew that!” Rainbow Dash was beginning to think that the spell used upon her did not simply transform her into a different pony, but perhaps transplanted her into the body of somepony else. If that was the case, then the real Rainbow Dash was probably roaming about as Daring Do. It made perfect sense! If Daring Do had become a threat to the evil sorceress, Azura, then what better way to throw the archaeologist off then by dumping her into some random pony? Now all she needed to do was find this Twilight and her real body.

But where would Daring Do be? Rainbow pressed her memory but came up empty. Being body-swapped must have had a greater impact on her mind than she realized. Rainbow could barely even remember who Azura was aside from the fact that she was trying to stop the sorceress from taking over Equestria.

“How’s AJ?”

Rainbow Dash froze on the spot. Given the sensitive nature of ‘saving Equestria’, she didn’t want to make it known that she wasn’t who she appeared to be.

“Is something the matter?” the vendor asked.

“N-no!” Rainbow insisted. “Everything’s just fine! AJ and I are fine. Stop being so nosy!”

“Ohhhh. I think I know what’s wrong,” the flowerpony said with a knowing grin and a chuckle that made Rainbow feel uneasy. “Somepony’s in the doghouse, aren’t they?”

Given that ponies were much more likely to believe a lie if deduce it themselves, Rainbow rolled with the presumption. “I-it’s nothing like that at all. It’s really not a big deal” Rainbow said as she feigned avoidance of the issue.

“That serious, huh?” The flower vendor paused for a moment to think. Another brilliant grin flashed across her face just moments before she grabbed a large bouquet from her cart. It had a simple glass container stuffed with over a dozen red flowers. “Nothing says ‘please forgive me’ like a nice bouquet of carnations, roses, and alstroemerias.”

“They’re nice, but I don’t have the money to be buying flowers right now.” The flowers looked more than nice: they looked gorgeous. It was almost enough to make her lament the broken love life of Daring Do.

Being a globe-trotting archaeologist never left much time for romantic pursuits, and most ponies she did meet were either hot-headed adventurers that wouldn’t know a book if it hit them in the face or boring scholars that melted under the smallest bead of sweat. This ‘AJ’ pony must have held great significance to the real Rainbow Dash to warrant such a bouquet. All Daring Do had was a list of short-lived dalliances. She’s had longer relationships with cartons of milk.

Despite Rainbow’s protest, the vendor gave the flowers over to her. “Take ‘em, I’ll put them on your tab,” she explained.

“I have a tab?” Rainbow got the sudden impression that this was not the first time she’s needed flowers on short-notice. Since she had been playing along thus far, she decided not to buck the trend and accepted the gift. “I’ll be sure to pay you back later,” Rainbow said. Hopefully, such a debt could be paid off by the real Rainbow Dash.

After carefully balancing the bundle of flowers upon her back, Rainbow Dash gave her thanks to the flower-vendor whose name she still did not know nor dared to ask.

“Well that was weird,” Rainbow thought as she carried on. She wondered what she was going to do with a bunch of flowers, but for the moment she figured they would help aid in her attempts to blend in. Casting a wary eye to the sky, she saw a few pegasus soaring high above. As she couldn’t be certain whether that purple pony was amongst them, Rainbow decided to find a building to duck into. A cafe called ‘Sugarcube Corner’ seemed as good a choice as any.

****************************

Applejack could barely even hear her own voice over the pounding rainstorm. Heavy droplets pelted against her face with all the fury of the heavens as thunderclaps rattled her to her very core. Yet while most ponies would have taken cover from such a watery onslaught, Applejack continued her charge out into the orchard. The farmer pony galloped with all her strength and speed, even as the gale-force winds buffeted her movements.

“Rainbow Dash!” she shouted. Amidst the dark blanket of thunderclouds, she could see a faint flicker of blue feathers. She tried shouting out once more, but another bolt of lightning drowned out her voice.

Applejack knew she couldn’t give up. She had to keep chasing! The pony shouted and shouted until her voice was strained to its breaking point, but no matter how loud she bellowed, the pegasus above continued flying further into the distance. In her desperation, Applejack lost focus on where she was running, and her hooves slipped upon the rain-soaked grass.

The farmer pony fell headlong into a mud puddle, which normally shouldn’t have been any concern to a pony who spent half of her day working in the fields. However, when she tried to get back to her hooves, the mud clung to her like glue.

“What in tarnation?” she growled as she struggled against her gelatinous prison. Even with her strength, she could not pull herself free. It seemed as though the more she struggled, the tighter it held onto her. “Rainbow! A-Ah’m stuck!”

Alas, her cries for help were as futile as before. Her love was little more than a blue speck in the distance. Though trapped and unable to project her voice beyond a few meagre metres, Applejack refused to give in. The earth pony cussed and grunted as she began to pull with such strength that she was certain her limbs were going to be pulled from their sockets.

For an instant, Applejack thought she might just be able to pull herself free, but another lightning struck drew her attention skyward. The blue speck that was her errant love was no longer flying away, but instead plummeting to the earth like a clipped bird.

“Rainbow!” With her final fervent cry, Applejack came tumbling out of her bed and crashed upon the hardwood floor. Knocked wide awake, the farmer pony sprang to her hooves in a panic. “Who? What? How in the—oh! It was just a bad dream.”

The realization that her ordeal had been entirely in her mind came as a huge relief to Applejack. She breathed a quiet sigh to steady her nerves before repeating her last few words in a mumble.

“For a second there, Ah thought Rainbow had—” Applejack came to an abrupt halt in her train of thought as her awakening mind recalled the moments before she went to sleep. “Rainbow!”

A quick glance about the room revealed the obvious fact that the pegasus had long since flown the coop. Applejack wasn’t certain whether she should be angry or worried. In the end, she felt a bizarre mixture of the two. She wanted to both hug and strangle that pegasus. Perhaps an affectionate chokehold would be suitable. Either way, Applejack knew that she’d need to track that pegasus down before she got herself into trouble. Before galloping out the door, the farmer pony made sure to grab a bundle of rope just in case Rainbow Dash tried to give her the slip.

“Ah guess this is that ‘tough love’ everypony is always talking about,” Applejack muttered under her breath. The idea of having to hog-tie her girlfriend just to help did not sit well with her, but she may not be left with any other option.

Upon charging out the front door, gung-ho and ready to wrangle a pegasus back to earth if necessary, Applejack wondered how in the world she was going to track down a pony who could be anywhere in Ponyville by now. The first thought that came to mind was Twilight Sparkle. If anypony could track Rainbow down, it would be Twilight and her magic.

****************************

Much to Rainbow’s relief, Sugarcube Corner did not appear to be frequented much in the early hours of the day, or perhaps she had lucked out and caught the cafe during an unusually quiet time. The proprietor of the establishment was a kind gentlecolt who had been quick to offer her a milkshake shortly after her arrival. Rainbow had to conclude that the real pony that inhabited her body was a frequent customer. Sadly, with no bits on her, the pegasus had to decline and made up the excuse that she was waiting for AJ.

Rainbow decided to pass the time by trying to piece together the bits of her memory that still floated about her mind like peas in broth. What was she forgetting? Using a nearby napkin and a borrowed pen from the yellow stallion behind the counter, Rainbow began jotting down every recent memory of her life as Daring Do. She remembered a bit about an evil sorceress named Azura. There was something about a Temple of the Alicorns as well, but despite what she had claimed earlier, she couldn’t remember anything on the subject. Knowing how Daring usually picks her adventures, no doubt there was a connection to an ancient relic. She remembered there being a forest too—a dark, dangerous forest.

The pegasus’ memory mining came to an abrupt halt when yet another pony recognized Rainbow Dash. A blue-maned pegasus had trotted into the cafe, looking proud but fatigued, and was about to order when he saw Rainbow sitting at the nearby table.

“Rainbow? What are you doing here?” Soarin’ said. “Shouldn’t you be resting at the farm?”

“I...um, needed to get out,” Rainbow replied after covering up her notes with her helmet. While the stallion seemed uninterested in what had been written down, he did take a seat on the opposite side of the table. Rainbow wished she had some idea as to who this pony was.

“Well, okay, if you say so,” the stallion replied with some reluctance. “I know things are a little tough right now, RD, but you’ve got to hang in there. I’m always here for you if you need somepony to talk to.”

He seemed quite concerned about Rainbow’s well-being. He could just be a friendly colt, but the idea floated through her head that perhaps he was that ‘AJ’ mentioned by the flower-vendor. There did appear to be a casual familiarity between the two, and he did look like potential boyfriend material.

“I appreciate your concern,” Rainbow replied as she tried to keep a friendly, open tone. “I’ve just got some really important stuff to deal with right now, and I need to deal with it on my own.”

“You know that’s not necessary, Dash,” Soarin’ said before leaning forward to rest his fore legs on the table. “Nopony will think less of you for coming to them for help, especially me. Considering everything, I doubt there’s much you could ask that I wouldn’t do for you.”

Rainbow couldn’t remember the last time that a pony showed that level of concern for Daring’s well-being. Even Blondie’s concern from years ago was built upon a mutual need to survive through the day. It was tempting to take some advantage of Rainbow’s pre-existing relationships, but the archaeologist inside her knew that there were more important things to worry about. Perhaps it was that ‘work first’ mentality that resulted in so many nights alone for Daring.

After thinking it over for a moment, Rainbow decided to take the stallion up on his offer. “Actually, I’m kind of looking for Twilight. Do you know where I can find her?”

“Beats me,” Soarin’ said with an uncertain shrug. “At this hour, she’s probably at the library.” He was about to leave it at that until he remembered that Rainbow was having memories issues, which was probably why she was asking him such a seemingly simple question in the first place. “It’s the big tree-building just a couple blocks west of here.”

“Thanks!” It was one step closer to her goal. She wished she could have told the stallion what was going on, but it was probably for the best that he remained oblivious. The last thing she needed was a fretting boyfriend getting in her way. There was one idea that came to mind, however. Grabbing the bundle of flowers, she slid them across the table to Soarin’. “Here, I got you these.”

“Wha—? For me? Aw, geez, Dash, you shouldn’t have!” In fact, the more Soarin’ thought about it, the less sense it made. Rainbow had never been the type for spontaneous gifts, particularly flowers. “Spitfire didn’t put you up to this, did she?”

“Spitfire?” Rainbow was beginning to suspect her instincts had been misplaced.

“My fiancée,” Soarin’ reminded his fellow pegasus. “I know pregnancy and hormones can make a mare act a little off, but this seems strange even for her.”

Rainbow realized that she may have made a critical mistake, but quick-thinking had always been a Daring Do trademark. “Oh, no no! These are for you so you can give them to Spitfire,” she explained. “I’m sure she’d appreciate the surprise, and you look like you’ve been rather busy as of late.”

“Hey! That’s a great idea,” Soarin’ said eagerly as he accepted the gift. “And Spitfire says I never do anything for her.”

The conclusion of their conversation could not have come at a better time as Spitfire came trotting into the establishment just a few moments later. Much like her fellow Wonderbolt, she expressed confusion upon seeing Rainbow Dash out on her own.

“Shouldn’t you be at the farm with Applejack?” Spitfire asked with far more concern than Soarin’ had expressed earlier.

“Apparently, she has stuff she needs to take care of on her own,” Soarin’ explained.

“Well, if Applejack is okay with it,” the Wonderbolt Captain said but trailed off at the end. She wasn’t going to butt too much into Applejack’s relationship, and she figured that Rainbow wouldn’t be out if the farmer pony hadn’t given her blessings. Before she could say anything further, Spitfire’s attention was drawn to the bundle of red fauna. “Hey, what’s with the flowers?”

Seizing the opportunity, Soarin’ slid the bouquet over to his partner. “They’re for you, my beloved!”

“Oh, Soarin’! They’re gorgeous.” Nothing like flowers to brighten a mare’s day. As her face beamed with joy, Soarin’ leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Spitfire, however, wanted to repay the act with a bit more intensity, and she took hold of her love for an even more passionate kiss.

With the two Wonderbolts now preoccupied with each other, Rainbow Dash took her opportunity to slip out unnoticed. With the directions to the library fresh on her mind, she knew what her next step would be.

“You are just the sweetest stallion there is,” Spitfire cooed, oblivious to Rainbow’s departure. Her attentive eyes caught sight of a small card nestled within the red petals of her bouquet. Plucking the card out, the pegasus read the small inscription. “‘To my dearest Applejack’?”

“Er—I can explain!”

****************************

“Back in fifteen minutes?” Rainbow shouted in her outrage. Here she was, so close to her objective but was shut down by a cardboard sign taped to the library door. Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder if that purple sorceress may have had something to do with this. Perhaps she or Azura knew that Twilight Sparkle was the only one who could help restore Daring Do. If anything, this at least implied that she was on the right path.

“Maybe there’s a clue inside,” Rainbow muttered to herself before she began to open the door. Having cracked into ancient tombs, she figured that breaking into a simple library would be a piece of cake. A flimsy wooden door was hardly an obstacle to the great Daring Do, especially when somepony didn’t bother to lock it before leaving. A simple nudge and Rainbow was inside.

For a small-town library, the place appeared to be well-stocked. It wasn’t the library at the Royal Canterlot Museum or the university, but the sight of leather-bound tomes brought a small sense of peace and reassurance to the pegasus. There was just something therapeutic about the feel of paper beneath your hoof and the gentle crinkle with the turn of each page. It was hard for her not to get a bit distracted as she casually browsed the various titles on the shelves.

“A lot of books on magic,” Rainbow commented. “I guess that would explain why she’s the magic expert.” However, a librarian might not be as much use to Rainbow as she had hoped. Librarians weren’t known for their interest and aptitude in the hooves-on side of research.

During her brief walkabout of the library, one particular book caught her eye. It was in a pile of fictional books, and probably would not have caught her eye had it not been for the image of Daring Do on the cover.

“What in Equestria?” Overcome by curiosity, Rainbow picked up the book and looked it over. “‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone’,” she read aloud. “I remember that expedition. Who’s been looking through my journal notes?” She began flipping through more of the pages and reading it in more depth. “And who wrote this garbage?”

She was going to have a serious word with her publisher once she got this particular mess sorted out. If anypony should be getting money off of her exploits, it should be the pony who stuck her neck out for them in the first place. Before Rainbow could further investigate the depths of this literary theft, the sound of an opening door drew her attention away. Standing in the doorway was a familiar-looking blond-maned pony who looked equally surprised to see Rainbow Dash.

“Blondie!” Rainbow shouted. Overcome by relief, she almost tackled the other pony in her haste to embrace the nameless mare. “You have no idea how relieved I am to see you!”

“Wh-what in the hay are you talking about?” Applejack stammered back. This wasn’t the reaction the farmer pony had been expecting.

“It’s me, Daring Do! I know I look a little strange right now, but you’ve got to believe me!” Rainbow insisted, which did not help alleviate Applejack’s confusion.

“What in blazes are you babbling about? You ain’t Daring!”

“I’m serious! Some evil sorceress has put a hex on me or something,” Rainbow explained with growing concern. “Here, I’ll prove it to you!”

Equal parts bold and daring, Rainbow put her hopes that her memories of their time together was equally strong in the other pony. Giving Applejack no time to even contest, Rainbow hooked her hooves around the other mare and dove lips first into a passionate embrace. Her hooves loosened a bit once she felt the earth pony begin to soften in her grasp. She shifted her hooves to gradually caress through that familiar soft, golden mane.

For her part, Applejack was too surprised at first to react. Not too long ago, Rainbow seemed cold and distant to her affection, but now it seemed to have returned in all its glory. It was hard not to get lost in the passion; the warmth of the pegasus’ embrace and the gentle tingle as hooves traced across her frame were almost intoxicating. One could hardly blame Applejack for wanting to hold onto this familiar feeling for as long as she could. She wanted, if only just for a second, as those blue wings wrapped around her frame, that she had her Rainbow Dash back.

But she knew it was just a fantasy. The prior talk about Daring Do left too many questions on Applejack’s mind, and when those questions finally bubbled to the surface, she broke away from the embrace.

“Rainbow, what in the hay are you going on about?” Applejack snapped in an attempt to conceal the carnal desires the kiss had stirred in her. “And why do you keep calling me Blondie?”

Shock and confusion danced across Rainbow’s visage. After taking a step back to look the earth pony over in more detail, it became apparent to her that this was not Blondie, but just another blond-maned earth pony with a countryside twist. The presence of a trio of apples upon the mare’s flank would have been a dead giveaway had Rainbow noticed it earlier.

“O-oh! I...uh, s-sorry! I thought you were someone else,” Rainbow stammered upon realizing the gravity of her error. On the bright side, it wasn’t a half-bad kiss. In fact, it was a bit too passionate on the other pony’s part to have been just a case of kissing a random stranger. This left only one logical conclusion. “Y-you must be Applejack, right?”

“Well at least one part of your memory ain’t busted. Now would you care to explain what’s going because being left in the dust ain’t good for mah patience.” Thankfully, Applejack wouldn’t need to hear Rainbow’s attempt to explain the situation with only a sliver of memory to call upon.

A new voice echoed from just outside the library. “Applejack, wait!” It was Twilight Sparkle.

No sooner did the memory-addled pegasus spot the incoming pony, she tried to make a break for an exit. “Oh horsefeathers, she found me!” Rainbow yelped as she flew to the nearby window.

“Don’t let her get away!”

Applejack glanced between the inbound alicorn and the outgoing pegasus, uncertain of what to do. An explanation would be nice, but it seemed that nopony wanted to give her the courtesy of one. Seeing that Rainbow Dash had no interest in sticking around, Applejack knew the only way to get some semblance of an answer was to keep the pegasus in the room.

Thankful that she brought her rope along, Applejack quick reflexes enabled her to lasso her errant lover before Rainbow could make it out the window. The precision-aimed lasso snagged Rainbow around the midsection, pinning her wings against her body. Combined with a sharp, powerful tug, the lassoed pony came crashing back into the library.

“Hey! Let me go!” Rainbow shouted as she tried to wrestled free of the rope. However, the experienced rodeo pony had the pegasus hogtied and helpless within a few seconds.

Ignoring the pegasus’ pleas, Applejack turned her attention to Twilight. “Now would somepony please explain to me what the hay is going on here!”

“Maybe it’d be best if we spoke in private first,” Twilight suggested with a sheepish chuckle. While Twilight was glad that Rainbow Dash had been contained, this left her with the unfortunate task of explaining the situation to Applejack. Much to Twilight’s relief, however, her terms were deemed reasonable and the two ponies convened in a separate room once Rainbow Dash was secured in the basement.

“Would you care to explain to me why Rainbow Dash is acting like she’s gone on another Daring Do marathon?” Applejack asked with growing impatience.

Twilight felt a growing nervousness clawing at her. While she feared upsetting her friend, she knew that saying nothing would only let down another friend. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Twilight decided to approach it with the same strategy as removing a band-aid.

“I ran into Rainbow Dash a little while ago, and she explained what happened,” Twilight began in a hurried voice. “And I know how you usually like doing things without magic, but Dash asked me to try something. So I tried the memory spell that I used back during our encounter with Discord, but it didn’t do anything.” As the words spilled out, her anxiety grew worse, which just made the words cascade even faster. “I didn’t want to push it further but she begged me to try harder. When I tried a more powerful version of the spell, I only made it worse. Please don’t be mad at me!”

Applejack remained silent as she stared at her friend, who was already half-braced for a thunderous reprimand. But the farmer pony only let out a quiet sigh. “Ah ain’t mad, Twi,” she said.

“You’re not?” Twilight wasn’t going to complain, but it did come as a shock. “Not even a little?”

“Well Ah ain’t happy about it if that’s what you’re asking,” Applejack replied, “but Ah can’t say Ah blame you for wanting to help a friend. Why if Ah hadn’t been passed out in mah bed, Ah probably would’ve asked you the same thing.”

“You would?”

“You didn’t see what Dashie was like earlier today,” Applejack continued as her tone became more morose. “She tried to go clear up some clouds, but she completely froze. Ah ain’t ever seen her so terrified before.” Just recalling the incident was almost enough to make Applejack tear up. “She’s just...she ain’t the same pony anymore. All that confidence and energy is just gone.”

Twilight Sparkle could only imagine the kind of heartache that Applejack was going through. Losing somebody close to you was hard enough, but to have them still physically walking around was just a reminder of the hole left in your heart.

“So how exactly did your memory spell go from nothing to making her think she’s Daring Do of all ponies,” Applejack asked. She was willing to chalk it up to ‘it’s magic’, but knowing a bit more about the situation might help them figure out a way to fix it.

Twilight didn’t fully understand what went wrong, but she had a theory. “Well, the memories are still somewhere inside Rainbow’s mind, but she’s lost them. Her mind doesn’t know how to find them. So in order to enhance the memory spell, I used an object that Rainbow shared a lot of memories with. The idea is that it’s used as a kind of map for the mind to find its way back to those memories.”

“Okay, so what did you use?”

“Her hat, or at least I thought it was her hat.”

“She’s had that hat for a day,” Applejack explained. "You were there when Ah bought it, remember?"

“I forgot, okay?” Twilight admitted. “I mean, it looks just like the one she’s had for years. But worse than that, that hat used to belong to the real Daring Do!”

Applejack eye’s widened at the news. “You mean she’s real?” she exclaimed. “Ah thought those stories were all just crazy made-up stuff!”

“Well I don’t know how accurate the stories are,” Twilight continued, “but there was a real Daring Do who was a real archaeologist and traveled the world. So using Daring’s hat caused Rainbow’s mind to find its way to all of her memories of the books she’s read. Since that’s now the only memories she’s got, her mind naturally thinks they’re her own.”

On the bright side, at least Daring Do was a known entity, which meant that Applejack wouldn’t be completely clueless as how to handle the pegasus. However, knowing Daring Do, it was going to be difficult to convince the pegasus that this was a freak accident involving memories and not a body-swap as Rainbow claimed. Crazier things had happened to Daring Do according to the books.

“So what do we do now? There ain’t no way she’s going to rest and recover if she thinks she’s Daring Do,” Applejack asked as her own attempts at coming up with a plan fell short.

“Before she ran away from me, she mentioned something about a Temple of the Alicorns.”

“‘Daring Do and the Temple of the Alicorns’ is the title of the latest book.”

“Of course! The memories of that book would be the freshest on her mind, so naturally she’d think they’re the most recent,” Twilight exclaimed with growing confidence. “That means Daring—I mean, Rainbow Dash will try to continue her quest.”

“And how does that help us get Rainbow back?”

The triumphant grin on Twilight’s face promptly evaporated under her friend’s scrutiny. “It doesn’t, but at least we’ll have an idea of what Rainbow will try to do next.”

“Except Rainbow’s the only pony who’s read the book,” Applejack informed her friend. “Ah’ve only heard a few bits and pieces. It’s something about an evil sorceress named Azura trying to find some lost relic.”

“Maybe I should go get the book, it might help us convince Rainbow that she’s not who she thinks she is,” Twilight suggested. At this point, the two ponies were trying to find whatever semblance of a plan they could. At the very least, it would give them a lead if Rainbow tried to run off again.

“Ah’ll go get it,” Applejack insisted.

“Are you sure?” Twilight expressed her doubts. “You saw how Rainbow Dash was reacting to me earlier.”

“Ah can’t fly or do magic, Twilight,” the farmer pony explained plainly. “If she escapes, Ah can’t track her down like you can. Just make a force field or something. How hard can it be to keep one pegasus inside?”

A salient point, Twilight had to admit. She typically used force fields to keep things out rather than somepony in, but it held the potential for a short-term solution. Once Applejack got the book, they could maybe confront Rainbow Dash with it. In the meantime, Twilight could use the opportunity to maybe convince Rainbow Dash that, at the very least, that there was nothing to fear from the alicorn. After Applejack hurried on her way back to the farm to find the aforementioned Daring Do tale, Twilight Sparkle made her way downstairs where she was relieved to find that Rainbow Dash was still bundled up.

“So? Have you come to torture the answers out of me? You won’t get anything from me,” Rainbow said with all the defiance a hogtied pony could muster.

“Rainbow—”

“Daring! If you’re going to interrogate me, the least you could do is get my name right.”

Twilight tried to contain her annoyance but her eyes still did a few barrel rolls in response. “I’m not here to interrogate you, Daring,” Twilight continued. “I don’t work for Azura. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and, believe it or not, I’m your friend.”

“You mean you’re Rainbow Dash’s friend,” the incapacitated and irritated pegasus snorted back. The animosity was understandable, but Twilight was determined to fix things between them. It would be hard to help her friend if said pony didn’t believe they needed help in the first place.

“Meaning that I’m not here to hurt you.”

Now it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to roll her eyes. Had she not tired herself out struggling against the ropes, she would have tossed in a few more pithy retorts. For the time being, she settled for quiet brooding. Since words alone weren’t going to win the pegasus’ trust, Twilight decided that it would be best if she displayed a bit of trust on her part. While it was risky, it felt wrong keeping her friend tied up. Without a word, Twilight used her magic and undid the ropes binding the pegasus.

Rainbow was surprised at first. She exchanged glances between the slacking ropes and the alicorn before slowly raising to her feet. “Th-this doesn’t change anything,” Rainbow insisted. Her defiance was met with her a growing sense of uncertainty. Perhaps she had been hasty in judging this Twilight Sparkle. Everypony that Rainbow met spoke of the alicorn with reverence, which made her being in league with an evil sorceress like Azura seem improbable.

“I want to help you,” Twilight stated.

“You want your Rainbow Dash back, right?”

Twilight nodded.

“Then help me find Azura and undo whatever curse she’s put on me,” Rainbow said. “That will fix all of our problems.”

Twilight was tempted to try and reiterate that Rainbow was not the real Daring Do, but it would just fall on deaf ears and ruin what progress she’s made in building trust. Once Applejack brought the book back and they could show Rainbow what happened to Azura, the situation would be better contained and they could focus on finding a solution.

“I’ll help in whatever way I can if it means getting my friend back,” Twilight agreed. It wasn’t a lie, but she felt bad misleading her delusional friend. She reminded herself that this was for the best. “How about we go back upstairs and you could help me with some research? I might be able to find some information that could help us figure out what spell Azura used on you.” Okay, that was a lie, but it was a necessary deception to keep Rainbow from flying off on her own again. She kept Applejack’s idea of a force field around the library in mind, but refrained from using it just yet as it would turn the pegasus against her in an instant.

“I could go for some quiet research,” Rainbow said with a tired sigh. “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

“Where in tarnation is that blasted book?” Applejack grumbled to herself as she shook loose the last contents from Rainbow Dash’s saddlebag, which had been left at the homestead since the accident. The farmer pony had been spending the better part of an hour turning the contents of her home upside-down in an effort to find that book but has since come up empty-hoofed. All the obvious places turned up empty, and even the less obvious spots failed her. How hard could it be to find one book?

“Big Mac!” Applejack shouted at the top of her lungs. Normally, Applejack would stubbornly stick to the principle of doing things on her own, but she was in too much of a hurry to let pride stand in her way. Fortunately for her, her bellow did not have to travel far to reach the ears of her older brother. No more than a few seconds afterwards did she hear the familiar clip-clop of his heavy hooves marching up the stairs. When she saw the familiar red stallion standing in her bedroom doorway, she was quick to ask, “Have you seen that book that Rainbow’s been reading lately?”

“Nope,” Big Macintosh answered in his typical terse manner.

A part of Applejack wondered why she had waited for him to arrive before asking given that the answer was what she expected. Why would her brother keep track of Rainbow’s books? While unhelpful, Applejack couldn’t fault him for it.

“Well could you look around for it?” Applejack asked. “It’s a Daring Do book, so it’s got that archaeologist pegasus on the cover, and Ah think there’s a picture of a big, half-buried temple behind her.” That probably described most of the covers in the Daring Do series, but Applejack figured that the odds of there being more than one book matching that description in her home to be pretty slim; Rainbow Dash was good at taking her books home with her.

“I’ll let you know if you I see—oh!”

Big Macintosh’s abrupt cut-off piqued the younger sister’s curiosity. When a stallion used words as sparingly as he did, one took notice when a situation causes him to drop one.

“What’s going on? What is it, Big Mac?” Applejack inquired as she rushed to her brother’s side. She had no patience for his usual brevity and was prepared to extract the words with her bare hooves if necessary. “Tell me! This is important!”

“Apple Bloom asked me where we kept all the shovels and picks,” Big Mac quickly answered. He knew better than to ever stand between his little sister and something she wanted.

Shovels, picks, and a missing book about an adventuring archaeologist? One did not need fancy mathematics to put the pieces together. “Oh for Pete’s sake! Didn’t she already try for a cutie mark involving shovels or something?”

“I think that was for paleontology.”

“There’s a difference?” Applejack paused for a moment, and her brother was about to answer but was cut-off. “Don’t answer that.” When it came to cutie marks and Apple Bloom’s obsession with them, it was best to leave logic and reasoning at the door. It was better just to deal with the issue before the youngest Apple kin got herself into trouble; Applejack could worry about the reasons afterwards. “Ah better go find her before she digs up the orchard again.”

Knowing her little sister, the west orchards would be the first place she would take her friends. It was close to their clubhouse, secluded, and out of the way enough that a less-observant Applejack would otherwise have not noticed their hijinks. Any other day, she would not have even cared about her sister’s particular direction of enthusiasm, but if she had the Daring Do book with her for inspiration or guidance, then it became Applejack’s business.

Tracking down the wayward sibling wasn’t a difficult task for her. Applejack had a rough idea where the filly was going; all she needed to do at this point was to keep her ears on alert for the sound of their shrieks when things inevitably went belly up.

Why would they even try archaeology? She did not begrudge those that pursued more academic paths in life, but Applejack couldn’t see her little sister being that interested in digging up old pots and relics for the rest of her life. She had little doubt that this little endeavour would result in nothing more than a trio of dirt-covered fillies and a lot of holes to fill in.

As the farmer continued her journey to the west orchards, her mind began to mull over her predicament. There hadn’t been much time for her to think things over. Having her girlfriend under the illusion of being Daring Do was bothersome, but in a way, it was still better than what she had been dealing with prior. The scared, timid Rainbow Dash she had before was heartbreaking to watch; Daring Do was just going to be irritating at worst. And Applejack was able to console herself with that hope that, perhaps, a small part of Rainbow Dash had been awoken along with Daring Do.

After all, the memories came from the books and those were only words. Those memories were going to be filtered and coloured by Rainbow Dash’s own mind and how she remembered them. Why else would Rainbow Dash have mistaken Applejack for Blondie? Their kiss in the library wasn’t the first time she had been called Blondie in the heat of the moment. There were hints of Rainbow Dash buried behind the facade of Daring Do; all the farmer pony needed was that book so she could browbeat the obvious into that stubborn pegasus.

Actually, what would fix her problem was if she had the real Daring Do around. Even a pony under the mistaken pretense of being Daring Do would have to yield to the logical conclusion when confronted with such concrete evidence. But was the famous archaeologist even still alive at this point? Perhaps a pony who paid more attention to the books would be able to put a time period to the adventures. Applejack made a mental note to ask Twilight about it when she returned to the library.

“What did I tell you, girls? This archy-ology stuff is going to be our ticket to getting our cutie marks!”

Apple Bloom’s distinctive elation was enough to derail the older sister’s train of thought. The fit of laughter that followed shortly afterwards confirmed that she was heading in the right direction. As it was laughter and not shrieks of horror, it meant that there would not be a disaster awaiting for the farmer upon her arrival, which was a small relief for her. When she finally tracked down the source of the chatter, Applejack found that her sister and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had managed to dig out a sizeable hole in the orchard and had even flagged it off with yellow tape and little flags. The little fillies did not spare any expense in their exuberance, that much was certain.

“It’s pronounced archaeology,” Sweetie Belle, who was covered head-to-hoof in dirt, replied. “Also, this seems an awful lot like when we tried to get our cutie marks in treasure hunting.”

“Just help me dig!” shouted a tired and irate Scootaloo. “You two have spent more arguing than digging.”

“Apple Bloom!” the elder sister called out as she trotted up to the makeshift excavation site.

“Oh, hey sis!” Apple Bloom greeted with more enthusiasm than her sibling had anticipated given the size of the hole. In fact, the filly sounded proud of her accomplishments, whatever that might be. “We were just about to come find you. We’ve just made a huge discovery that’s going to make the Cutie Mark Crusaders famous!”

“Uh-huh,” Applejack muttered in a half-hearted attempt to sound interested. Her thoughts were too focused on her own crisis to worry about whatever mischief her sister may have been literally digging up. A few holes could be handled later once she didn’t have to worry about her girlfriend starting her own archaeological adventures. “Listen, you didn’t happen to take a copy of a Daring Do book from home, did ya?”

“We were just borrowing it so we could learn how to be globe-trotting archaeologists just like Daring Do,” Apple Bloom explained as she went to the immediate and reasonable assumption that her sister disapproved of this endeavor.

“Yeah! She’s like the second-coolest pegasus ever!” Scootaloo chimed in before tossing another shovel-full of dirt onto the ever-growing pile. “When even Rainbow Dash thinks she’s awesome then you know it must be true.”

“So we’ve been digging around the old orchard cause Granny Smith said that she once had Daring Do come visit the orchard,” Apple Bloom continued to explain. “We figured maybe she missed something the first time!”

“Yeah, that’s nice,” Applejack said with a curt nod to keep the conversation moving. So focused was she on recovering her book, she didn’t catch her sister mentioning the same famed archaeologist’s past connection to the farm. “Now do you have the book or not?”

Before the youngest Apple filly could even answer, Sweetie Belle took it upon herself to handle the request. “I’ll get it for you,” she announced before hopping out of the excavation pit. A bundle of saddlebags sat underneath a nearby apple tree along with an assortment of other tools. The filly unicorn sifted through the various items and soon produced the desired book. “Here you go!” she exclaimed upon handing the book over. “We really liked the part where Daring Do went to the Everfree Forest.”

“Ah don’t think these books are quite appropriate for a filly your age.” Between the violence, the suggestive themes, and Blondie’s questionable ethics, there was a good reason why the books that included the nameless mare were considered by critics to be a spin-off of the rest of the Daring Do series. In fact, Applejack remembered Rainbow mentioning that there were some who wondered if the books with Blondie were even written by the same pony. Right now, Applejack didn’t care if that were true or not because Rainbow Dash’s brain was treating them as real memories.

Applejack was about to head on her way, content to leave the trio of fillies to continue tearing up the family orchard, when an elated gasp from the still-digging pegasus caught everypony’s attention.

“Hey, I think I found something!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she began to dig with greater zeal.

“Oh, what do you think it is?” Apple Bloom asked. The excitement of the potential discovery, and perhaps a cutie mark with it, left the filly bouncing around the excavation site rather than trying to help her friend speed up the process. “Maybe it’s an ancient arrowhead! Oh! Or maybe it’s an idol from a lost civilization!”

“Or maybe it’s a hairpin,” a disappointed Scootaloo announced as she held up the small, dirt-encrusted fashion accessory. “That’s the fifth dud this morning.”

Apple Bloom’s excitement deflated like a popped balloon. “Throw it in the pile with the others,” the dejected filly instructed. “At least it wasn’t a stale cow patty this time.”

The aforementioned pile sat not too far from where Applejack stood. It consisted of an odd collection of old bottle caps, a rusted key, several rocks, three of Winona’s lost chew toys, a half-dozen bottles, and a bent spoon. To be honest, Applejack was surprised that the Crusaders managed to turn up more than just rocks and bottle caps. It was a shame that so much junk got left behind on their farm, but thoughts about orchard litter were put on hold.

“Ah’m afraid you ain’t gonna find much except what Winona’s buried,” Applejack commented as she held out her hoof to Scootaloo. “Give that here. Ah’ll ask around town and see if anypony knows who it belongs to.”

Winona usually knew better than to bury things that didn’t belong to her, but Applejack wasn’t going to discount it as the most likely possibility. She gave it a quick look-over once it was handed over, and she noted it was definitely not some bit-store hairpin. Hidden beneath the dirt was gold and silver wiring entwined into the shape of a rose. Perhaps it belonged to Roseluck, she thought. Given that it looked valuable, Applejack decided to hold onto it until she found its rightful owner. After tossing it under her hat for safe stowage, the farmer pony hurried on her way back to the library.

“Ah want these holes filled before Ah get back!” Applejack added as she galloped away. She hoped that Twilight did not have her hooves full with Rainbow Dash.

************************

“This is intolerable!” Twilight shrieked as her hooves slammed against her desk with enough force to topple over several ink vials. “How can you say something like that?”

“You’re the one that’s being obtuse,” Rainbow shot back in an attempt to put the alicorn on the defensive. The fact that Rainbow seemed so indifferent to her own remarks just irritated Twilight further. “I’m just saying that there’s still unsettled contentions about the real extent of Star Swirl the Bearded’s contributions to the advancement of magic.”

“You’re saying he’s a fraud!”

Rainbow knew she was hitting a sensitive spot with Twilight, but since when has Daring Do ever backed down from a fight, verbal or otherwise? Rainbow, who sat at the far end of the library, simply leaned back against her perch upon the stairs. Her calm, unflinching demeanour only further annoyed the librarian by making it seem as though the topic, which was dear to Twilight, was trivial.

“Now I never used the word fraud,” Rainbow insisted, calm as ever, “nor am I saying he wasn’t a major influence in the development of modern magic theory. A lot of his spells had questionable veracity.”

Despite their original intent of research, the two ponies had managed to steer their conversations towards the subject of Star Swirl the Bearded. Twilight had been combing through his research notes in hopes that the famed unicorn had delved into the topic of memories when Rainbow Dash made an off-hoof comment about it being pointless to turn to Star Swirl’s knowledge. That invariably led to the two debating the merits of the famous spellcaster.

“He created over two hundred of them!” replied the ardent supporter of Star Swirl.

“Allegedly,” Rainbow scoffed. “Most ponies would consider ‘turn into an apple’ and ‘turn into an orange’ to be essentially the same spell.”

“Changing one thing into another is not as simple as it sounds,” Twilight insisted with a hint of indignation. “You can’t compare apples and oranges; plus, you’re a pegasus! What kind of expertise could you even have on the intricacies of magic?”

“Hello? PhD in archaeology!”

Twilight was about to shout that Rainbow Dash did not have any such degree, but she managed to hold her tongue. Challenging the pegasus’ belief in her own identity would only drive Rainbow away. Twilight had to imagine how she would handle the conversation were she debating with the real Daring Do.

“That’s an unrelated field. You study ancient relics and past civilizations, not modern magic theorems.”

“The pre-classical era can fall under my purview, not to mention history in general is a hobby of mine,” Rainbow explained. The real Rainbow Dash had never so much as cracked open a history book, which made Twilight wonder where the other pony was drawing her opinion from. “You can’t overlook the fact that three other prominent conjurers of the time accused him of stealing their work, as well as the Unicorn Tribunal Ruling of 128BPC.”

Sadly, her recollection of the many Daring Do novels was not as ironclad as Rainbow’s had been. She remembered that ‘Daring Do and the Curse of the Weremare’ had the ghost of Star Swirl play a minor role, but she had always been skeptical about whether there was any truth to that part.

“He was the most prolific conjurer of his time,” Twilight argued. “Of course a few other conjurers were going to think his work copied theres, especially when he worked in the same field. And that court ruling was completely biased! Everypony knows they were trying to protect their monopoly on magical services.”

“A biased individual can still make a valid complaint. The fact remains that nowadays, Star Swirl’s reputation makes it impossible for anyone to objectively measure him. Even the ‘official’ counts for the number of spells credited to him can be considered suspect because they were all tabulated by former students of his.”

Twilight had finally had enough of listening to the pegasus throw such slanders at one of her idols. How could a pegasus know what it took to be a proper wizard? “Star Swirl was the best wizard and we’re not having this conversation anymore!” Twilight shouted with the level of force befitting of a princess.

Rainbow Dash realized that she may have pushed her case a bit too hard, and it had clearly left the other pony in a sour mood. A small pang of guilt ran through the pegasus, and she realized that she needed to fix this.

“Sorry,” Rainbow Dash said after a brief silence. “I can get a bit carried away when I get into a debate.”

It took a few seconds for Twilight to calm down, but once she had, she felt equally guilty for snapping at her friend as she had. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that,” she replied. “I just don’t understand why you’d want to bring down somepony’s accomplishments, especially one as significant as Star Swirl’s. What is there to gain by reducing him?”

“The truth,” Rainbow answered plainly. “That’s what archaeology is all about in the end - digging through the stories, myths, and legends to find the truth at its core. I don’t relish the idea of denigrating our own heroes, but one should never hide from the truth. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to be honest and truthful of our history.”

Twilight had to admit that Rainbow made a compelling and passionate argument for her case. As an academic, she couldn’t argue against the quest for truth. She had spent most of her life in the search for knowledge, and she depended on those who came before her to be truthful about what they wrote.

“I hadn’t thought of it like that,” Twilight acquiesced. “I guess it can be hard to stay objective when you’ve invested so much in one side of the argument.” In this case, it was emotional investment along with all the time she had spent studying. The idea of one of her heroes might not have been as infallible as she liked to imagine was a notion that her mind did not find comfortable at all. Then again, she knew first-hand that Star Swirl was not perfect from the incomplete spell that nearly ruined the lives of her friends. “Don’t suppose we could try and focus on something else? We’re trying to fix your memories, remember?”

“Well have you found anything? All the books I looked through had nothing on memory restoration.” Rainbow gestured to the large pile of books that she had left beside the stairs. Twilight had to admit that she was a bit impressed to see Rainbow go through so many books in such a short period of time. Normally only Daring Do titles could keep the pegasus’s muzzle in a book for that long a period. “Maybe I’d have better luck if I tried retracing my steps,” Rainbow suggested before hopping back to her hooves.

With Applejack and the latest Daring Do book still unaccounted for, Twilight had to keep the pegasus from leaving. “Oh, you don’t have to go already, do you?” Twilight asked in a desperate attempt to stall Rainbow while she thought up a valid excuse. “I mean...couldn’t you stay for a little while longer? Maybe we could have some lunch and chat? I’ve always been a huge fan of your work and I’d love to hear more.”

She could only hope that Applejack would return soon. Twilight’s research had yielded nothing that she could use to revert what she had done to Rainbow Dash, and sooner or later, the pegasus would want to venture out on her own.

Thankfully, the mentioning of food prompted a subconscious gurgle from Rainbow’s belly. “A little food and a quick break might help our focus,” Rainbow agreed and flashed a sheepish smile. She figured she could indulge the alicorn a bit since she was a fan of her exploits. Most ponies who knew of the name Daring Do wanted her to find something for them or strap her to an arbitrarily slow-moving death trap.

With the pegasus’ attention now on food rather than adventuring, Twilight led her friend to the kitchen and set about preparing a nice lunch for the two of them.

“I hope I didn’t upset you too much about the Star Swirl thing,” Rainbow said as she lent her assistance in preparing the meal. “I can get carried away when I’m having fun.”

“You thought that was fun?” Twilight asked with a bit of confusion. That sense of puzzlement did not alleviate when the pegasus nodded her head. In fact, it took a few moments before Twilight realized that a small part of her had enjoyed the debate too. “I guess it was kind of nice to have an actual academic discussion with someone. Most of my friends seem to get bored when I try to talk about modern transmogrification or the merits of Coperneighcan doctrine.”

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow said with a terse chuckle. “All the other profs in the archaeology department love talking about pre-Imperial gryphon culture, but the second I bring up the Gryphon’s Goblet and suddenly they don’t want to hear about it. According to them I don’t do ‘good archaeology’. Ungrateful swines.”

“You did destroy an ancient catacomb in the process,” Twilight reminded her friend.

“That was totally not my fault.”

Twilight stifled a small giggle while she put the finishing touches on her daisy sandwich. Her friend may have been delusional, but it did feel a bit like she was talking to the real Daring Do. It was probably the closest that Twilight would ever get to living out one of her old childhood fantasies. Once the two ponies had a hearty lunch set up, they moved their conversation to the nearby dinner table.

“So I was under the impression that Princess Celestia was the only alicorn in Equestria,” Rainbow began as she shifted the topic to the other pony. “Where did you come from? Are you, like, the Princess of Ponyville or something?”

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of being the Princess of Ponyville. “Oh no, I’m no princess,” she insisted despite technically having the title. It took her months to convince the townsfolk to stop calling her ‘Your Highness’ or bowing whenever she showed up at Sugarcube Corner. At the time, she almost found it aggravating, but now the librarian just looked back upon those moments and laughed. “I was actually born a unicorn, but Princess Celestia took me in as her personal student. Apparently if you finish Star Swirl’s unfinished spell, you get to become an alicorn.”

It was an oversimplification of the events leading up to her ascension, but if Twilight tried to recount the whole story, she would never get to eat her lunch.

“That’s pretty impressive,” Rainbow said before taking a bite of her own lunch. “So that means we’ve got two alicorns now.”

“Four.”

“Did Celestia have kids?”

“No, you’re forgetting Princess Luna and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Nightmare Moon is back?” Rainbow gasped as she sprang back to her hooves. “Why didn’t somepony tell me sooner? We’ve got to stop her before she plunges the world into total darkness!”

A loud ‘ahem’ followed by Twilight motioning towards the nearby window where the sun shone through unimpeded. “That’s already been taken care of,” she explained as she held back another chuckle. “Note the lack of eternal darkness.”

Rainbow Dash looked more disappointed than relieved to hear the news. “You mean I missed it? Well that’s just great!” she lamented as she sank back into her seat. “I was looking forward to it, too. Well, at least I didn’t miss the return of the Crystal Empire.”

“Actually...”

“Oh for the love of—!” In order to keep her temper from exploding, Rainbow suffocated her anger in gluttony by shoving the rest of her sandwich down her gullet. By the time she managed to chew her way through it, her temper had simmered down. “What other great adventures did I miss? Let me guess - Discord broke free of his prison?”

“Yup, and he’s been reformed from his evil ways,” Twilight said with a curt nod. “There was also a Changeling invasion of Canterlot.”

“Great, I missed out on all the cool exciting stuff,” Rainbow grumbled as her mood sank as quickly as her head did. Folding her hooves on the table, she rested her chin down and let out a long sigh. “I’d love to meet the pony who stopped Nightmare Moon.”

“You already have.” It was hard for Twilight not to let a bit of pride slip into her voice. With so many accomplishments to her name, it was hard to keep humble about them at all times. “I stopped Nightmare Moon, as well as Discord, using the Elements of Harmony. You were there too, or I should say that Rainbow Dash was. She played an integral part in stopping both of those disasters, as well as helping to save Canterlot and the Crystal Empire.”

Rainbow Dash was left in an awe-struck silence for a brief moment. She had trouble believing that a librarian of all ponies was able to save Equestria time and time again. Perhaps the alicorn was not the stuffy bookworm that she had been expecting. “And you’re the town’s librarian?” Rainbow remarked in disbelief.

“Librarian is just my day job,” Twilight countered. “Besides, most ponies wouldn’t expect globe-trotting adventures from an archaeologist either.”

A salient point, Rainbow had to admit, though she was still surprised and intrigued to learn that this librarian had adventures that rivaled her own. Perhaps Twilight was just the pony she’d need if she were going to stop an evil sorceress. “I guess I don’t need to worry about you when we catch up to Azura,” Rainbow commented. “In fact, I almost feel sorry for her now that I’ve got Celestia’s prized pupil on my side.”

“You keep mentioning that name,” Twilight asked between mouthfuls of daisies, “but who is this Azura? I’ve never heard that name before.”

“That’s because she was a magicless hack until she stumbled upon some magical trinkets,” Rainbow explained. Evil ambitions and magical artifacts sounded like the kind of adventure that Daring Do would get involved with. “She’s managed to steal a whole trove of them - rings, amulets, bracelets, hair pins, necklaces, brooches, you name it. Now she’s got her eyes on another prize, and I’m not going to let her beat me to it!”

“I doubt we’ll have to worry about that,” Twilight said, which the other pony mistook as a vote of confidence. Given that Twilight had never heard the name Azura before, there was a good chance that the end of the latest Daring Do book ends with Azura thoroughly dealt with. A magic-trinket-powered unicorn running amok across Equestria would not have escaped Twilight’s many history lessons.

Before the conversation could go any further, the pair heard a loud thud as someone barged in through the front door. A familiar voice calling out for Twilight confirmed that Applejack had returned. The librarian excused herself and hurried to meet with her friend.

“Did you find the book?” Twilight asked in a hushed voice as to avoid any eavesdropping by the pegasus in the other room.

“Got ‘er right here,” Applejack replied as she gestured to her saddlebag. “Didn’t have any troubles with Rainbow while Ah was gone?”

“No problems at all.”

The news came as a huge relief to Applejack. She didn’t relish the idea of having to chase Rainbow Dash across town again. “Any luck finding a way to fix this?” A long-shot of a question, but hope was all that Applejack had at the moment.

“I’m afraid not. It seems like nopony has ever spent much time researching this sort of thing.” Then again, what unicorn would think of conducting research into accidentally causing ponies to think think they are historical or fictional literature characters. Were she not so concerned about her friend’s well-being, Twilight would have been taking notes of the whole ordeal for her own research.

“Well, maybe some zebra might know something!” Applejack suggested as the thought popped into her mind. “Ah sure do hope that a certain zebra is nearby to help us fix this,” she added expectantly. Unfortunately, as the seconds ticked by, there was a distinct lack of any zebras showing up at the library. “Dang, Ah guess her zebra senses ain’t working today.”

Twilight refrained from pointing the obvious, and instead focused on the important part of the suggestion. “That’s a great idea, Applejack,” she said.

“You think we can convince Rainbow Dash to come with us to the Everfree Forest?” Applejack asked with a small hint of concern. She didn’t want to run the risk of Rainbow Dash bailing on them because she didn’t want to stop being Daring Do.

“I’ll do it!” Rainbow Dash announced as she landed next to the other two ponies. “If this Zecora can help fix me so I can have my proper body back, then I’m all for it. No offense to Rainbow Dash or anything, but I can’t understand how she stands being like this all the time. It’s like I can’t stop moving. I feel like I have restless leg syndrome.”

“Um...right, sure.”Applejack wasn’t sure how to respond to that sort of remark. She wanted to reiterate that the pegasus was not the real Daring Do, but decided against beating that dead tree. Like Twilight, the farmer pony decided that it would be easier to just play along with the delusion until they fixed Rainbow Dash. A quick trip to Zecora’s and hopefully they would have this all fixed and they could laugh about it later.

************************

“And now we’ve lost her,” Twilight remarked as the two slowed to a halt. Her voice echoed through the thick canopy of branches and dark leaves, reminding the two ponies of how far off the path they had just wandered.

“Ah looked away for a second and then she said something about ‘I remember going this way’, and then she was just gone,” Applejack explained in a half-hearted attempt to defend herself. It was hard to absolve herself of guilt given that she had been tasked with keeping an eye on Rainbow Dash. The journey to Zecora’s hut was supposed to be quick and simple, but instead the pegasus made a sudden departure, leaving the pair in a small clearing with no clue as to which way their errant friend went. “Did you see which way she went?”

It was a slim hope, Applejack knew, but there was no harm in asking. Alas, Twilight had spent most of the journey at the back of the convoy with her nose in the Daring Do book. “She was gone before I even got a chance to look,” she explained.

Though it likely would not have made much difference, Twilight still felt a bit guilty that she had been reading her book rather than keeping watch over Rainbow Dash. Their brief gallop through the Everfree Forest in hopes of finding a sign of the pegasus had proven futile. Now not only did they not know which way Rainbow had went, but they may have just ran in the opposite direction like a bunch of blind and clueless fillies.

“Why in the hay would Rainbow Dash just fly off like that?” Applejack asked as she turned to the bookworm for answers. “She said she remembered something. Is there any mention of the Everfree Forest in that book?”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight said as she pulled the book out once more. “I’m only partway through chapter four.” Though it ran against every grain in her book aficionado ways, she had no choice but to skip ahead a few chapters. Hastily scanning through the pages, Twilight stopped about halfway through the book. “Here we are! It looks like Daring Do travelled into the Everfree Forest to find—” Twilight’s words were interrupted by a sharp gasp from the alicorn, “—the lost secrets of Star Swirl the Bearded!”

“Now why in the hay would she be looking for those?” Applejack inquired.

“I don’t know! I just had to skip almost a quarter of the book.” Twilight continued flipping frantically through the pages to put some context to the revelation. She made a mental note that when all of this was finished, she would have to find a way to wipe out all the memories she had of the book so that she could enjoy reading it in the way that it was meant to be.

“Well where in the hay are these secrets kept? Ah doubt there will be road signs for it.” Applejack’s growing impatience was understandable. Every second the two spent combing through the Daring Do book for details was time they could have spent finding Rainbow Dash. Even with Daring Do’s memories and bravado, the Everfree Forest was no place for a pony to be wandering through alone. The old Rainbow Dash would know how to avoid timberwolves or poison joke groves, but Daring Do might not. However, if Rainbow Dash were reduced to a bumbling, crashing klutz as a result of another encounter with poison joke, it would make finding her easier.

Twilight became more desperate in her search as Applejack pressed for answers. It was hard to comb for answers while trying not to ruin the story for herself. In addition, the nagging thoughts about Star Swirl’s made it tempting for her to search for more about the aforementioned secrets.

“Ah-ha! Here it is!” Twilight exclaimed. “Daring Do went to the old castle ruins of the Royal Sisters.”

“Wait, you mean where you found the Elements of Harmony all those years ago?”

“According to the book, yes.”

“Don’t remember seeing anything about Star Swirl or secrets there.”

“Well if they were easy to find, they probably wouldn’t have stayed secret,” Twilight quipped. “Plus, we were kind of focused on other things at the time.”

Indeed, the matter of stopping Nightmare Moon had been the primary focus when they first visited the ancient castle ruins. In the aftermath, none of them had any compelling reason to explore the ruins further. With a destination in mind, Applejack and Twilight looked to their surroundings in order to regain their bearings.

“Do you remember which way it was?” Applejack asked. “We really ought to put up some signs or something around here.”

“We tried that, remember? It was one of my first initiatives as Princess to improve safety around Ponyville.” Twilight reminded her friend. “And do you remember what the timberwolves did to all of our expertly crafted, wooden signs?”

“Oh right.” The brief mention was enough to flood her mind with memories of the incident, and Applejack shuddered at the thought. “Ain’t enough cider and therapy in the world to undo what we saw. Brings a whole new meaning to the word ‘hardwood’.”

“Come on, Applejack,” Twilight said as she motioned for her friend to follow along. “I think the old castle ruins are this way. If we’re lucky, we can find Rainbow Dash before something else does.”

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

As far as dangerous, cursed, and/or haunted forests went, the Everfree Forest was hardly the worst place that Daring Do had ever visited. If anything, it would rank third in ‘most dangerous forests’, right behind the unsettling Haunted Shales, and the dangerously misleading Peachy Meadows. She could die a happy mare if she never had to set a hoof in that horrible Peachy Meadows again. Considering the Everfree Forest’s lack of vampiric jackalopes, Rainbow Dash felt a great deal less troubled by the challenges that lay ahead of her.

It took the pegasus about a quarter of an hour before she realized that, in her haste to retrace her old steps, she had left behind her traveling cohorts. A more sensible pony might’ve doubled-back in order to find them so that they could carry on their mission to find this Zecora character, but Rainbow Dash felt something drawing her in a new direction. She wasn’t sure if it was instinct, a residual memory, or something deeper, but she knew she had traced these steps before. Thoughts of Twilight Sparkle or Applejack were at the back of Rainbow’s mind as she pushed forward, driven by her insatiable need for answers, and to unravel the mystery within her mind.

“They’ll catch up eventually,” Rainbow reminded herself. Worst case scenario, she will have wasted a few hours chasing a wild goose. It wasn’t as if she could get lost since all she needed to do was fly straight up until she could get a clear view of Ponyville.

Slowing her pace, Rainbow took a bit of time to take careful consideration of her surroundings. To the common pony, one tree may look the same as the next, but every rock, tree, and shrub painted a picture that would, in turn, unfold into a map.

“I swear, I’ve seen that tree before,” Rainbow commented as she trotted past a rather ghastly-looking part of the forest. In poorer lighting, she might have mistaken the tree’s twisted bark for some kind of grim visage, but the idea of being scared by simple trees just made the pegasus chuckle to herself. Now treants were something worth being scared about, but the Everfree Forest was hundreds of miles away from their normal habitats. Plus if there had been any treants, they would’ve tried to take a swing at Rainbow Dash the last time nature called.

Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash had been so fixated on the tree that she had neglected to watch her step. It wasn’t a cliff, but the pegasus failed to notice the small drop in the forest floor until she had almost tumbled down face-first. Only quick reflexes and the use of her wings kept her from falling into the flowerbed below her. For a few brief seconds, the pegasus hovered with her face just inches from the blue blossoms and with her hooves sprawled to the sides to keep any part of her from making contact.

“Too close,” she silently sighed. The pegasus dared not to even breath in case the puff of air knocked a pedal loose or kicked up some pollen. As cautiously as possible, the pegasus flew up to a safe distance from the flowerbed, and then landed in a clearing on the other side of them.

Rainbow Dash was about to carry on when she paused for a brief moment to look back at the flowerbed. Once again, she found herself wondering where the source of the familiarity came from. She had seen these flowers before, and even though she could not put a name to them, she knew they were dangerous. For a brief instant, she had flashes of a tiny pony, spit flying everywhere, and something involving a witch’s brew. These weren’t the memories of Daring Do, so the only logical conclusion was that they belonged to Rainbow Dash. But why was she getting flashes of another pony’s memories? None of it made any sense to her, especially the evil dances, so Rainbow Dash pushed those thoughts out of her mind.

“Focus, Daring!” Rainbow reminded before giving herself a sharp slap across the face to focus her thoughts. If she was going to reclaim her life as Daring Do, she couldn’t allow herself to be saddled down by doubt and second-guessing. Her instincts had already carried her this far through the Everfree Forest, and Rainbow was determined to follow them, wherever they might lead her.

Though uncertain of where her path may lead, Rainbow Dash continued forward through the Everfree forest. The thick canopy overhead made the sun almost a distant memory, and left foreboding shadows at every corner. Her once steady pace had slowed to a careful trot; her eyes darted from side to side in constant vigilance for the forest’s many threats.

Suddenly, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. It may have been her imagination or a trick of the light, but she heard a rustling in a nearby bush, as if something had just dove into it. Was she being stalked? There may not be any vampiric jackalopes, but the Everfree forest had plenty of other dangers to be mindful of. At the very least, she knew it wasn’t a timberwolf since she would have smelt it coming from at least twenty yards away, if not more.

Keeping her gaze fixated on the bush, Rainbow Dash crouched low and crept towards it. After a few moments of careful watch, she was about to dismiss the whole issue to a wayward breeze or her imagination, but then she saw the bush rustle once again. There was definitely something in it!

“I know you’re in there!” Rainbow called out. “You may as well just come on out if you want a piece of me!” If someone was following her then chances were it would either step forward or be frightened off, either of which would solve Rainbow’s immediate concerns. At first, nothing happened; Rainbow decided to take another step forward. “This is your last warning! Come on out, or I’m going in after you!”

Finally, the source of the commotion revealed itself as a tiny, violet creature emerged from the brush. It looked like some kind of insect with a round, colourful body, large wings, and big beady eyes that gazed up at Rainbow Dash with a look of curious wonder.

“Hey there little guy,” Rainbow said. Her previous tension subsided as the adorable critter put her worries at ease. As Daring had no experience with parasprites before, the pegasus watched in amusement as the small creature fluttered over to her. It made a curious purring sound as it sniffed at Rainbow’s outstretched hoof. “Heh, you’re kinda cute, you know that? What’s an adorable little thing like you doing in a scary place like this?”

The parasprite did not answer, obviously, as it flew over to Rainbow’s wing and nestled itself within the feathers. Within a few seconds, it seemed to have fallen asleep in its new makeshift bed.

“I guess there’s no harm if you tag along for a little while,” Rainbow said with a quiet chuckle to herself. She felt a little guilty knowing that her adventures would inevitably disturb the slumbering critter, but until then she figured she may as well indulge it. It was reassuring to know that even in a place as dark and dangerous as the Everfree forest, such colour and peaceful creatures could still thrive. Just as Rainbow was about to leave, however, she heard another familiar coo coming from the bush. A moment later, a second parasprite popped its head out from beneath the brush.

“Oh! You have a little friend,” Rainbow commented as the second parasprite began to inspect the pegasus in a similar fashion as the first. “You guys probably live in colonies, huh? I bet that’s how you ward off larger predators.” Were she not so busy trying to reclaim her lost memories, Rainbow would’ve enjoyed taking time to study these creatures. With the second parasprite taking refuge in her wing, Rainbow was beginning to feel like a mother duck. Maybe she could take them home so she could study them further.

However, before that thought could settle in her mind, Rainbow heard yet even more noises emanating from the bush. The next thing she knew, a half-dozen more of the strange creatures had emerged and were now swarming around Rainbow. The cute factor had worn off in short order, and the pegasus was now trying to shoo the creatures away.

“Okay, that’s enough!” Rainbow shouted, swatting at the parasprites. The ruckus she created must have alerted others because more of the colourful pests came flying out of the bush. “Shoo! Shoo! Leave me alone! You’re not cute anymore!”

Unfortunately, the parasprites appeared to be neither threatened nor dissuaded by Rainbow’s remarks. They would part way only briefly to avoid the flailing hooves before attempting to cozy back up to her. And so it was that the intrepid explorer, who had braved ancient tomes and cursed ruins, was reduced to fleeing like a scared filly as a multi-colour cloud of parasprites followed in close pursuit like a swarm of bees. Rainbow Dash wasn’t certain what the creatures wanted, but she was uncomfortable with the idea of so many of them wanting something from her at the same time. All of a sudden, timberwolves seemed like a pleasant alternative; at least she knew how to deal with those.

Retracing her steps became a distant concern as Rainbow Dash tried to put more distance between herself and the parasprite swarm. She tried darting through the trees and using the foliage to mask her trail, but the parasprites stuck to her tail like Pumpkin Cake to a rubber chicken. Her last resort was to fly up and out of the forest and use her superior speed to lose the parasprites, but that meant losing all her progress through the forest. If she could survive a buffalo stampede, she was not going to be scared off by a flock of polka dots!

Rainbow Dash didn’t want to think what those things would do to her if they caught up, but as the situation began to look bleak, she spotted a river up ahead. With any luck, the parasprites wouldn’t be able to follow her if she dove into the water.

The one thing Rainbow hadn’t counted, however, was the possibility of something even bigger being in the river. As the pegasus was about to dive into the cold embrace of her new sanctuary, something else came out of it; something big. Eclipsing the afternoon sun, the creature sprang forth from the river like the fury of the untamed seas. Its long and scaly frame towered over Rainbow Dash for a few brief seconds before a mighty roar shook her to the core. Rainbow skidded to a halt just inches from the riverbed while her mind reeled at the sheer size of the monstrosity. The parasprites, thankfully, were frightened off and flew back into the relative safety of the wooded areas.

“Oh my,” Rainbow gulped as her eyes craned upwards to try and get a full glimpse of the monster. She could see little more than dark shadows and bared teeth, but it was definitely looking down upon her.

“Ha! Got’cha!” the creature said before bursting into a hearty laughter. The creature began to sink back into the water, allowing the daylight to reveal his grinning visage and orange, slicked-back hair. “Oh, you should have seen the look on your face, Rainbow Dash; I got you good that time!”

“A sea serpent?” Rainbow was still left stunned when the realization dawned upon her, and it took several more seconds to notice that the river creature was addressing her by name in a friendly tone. “He-heh, y-yeah, you totally had me fooled” Rainbow said with a nervous chuckle.

“My acting coach says I still need to work on my resonance,” the sea serpent continued as he began to lounge in the riverbed. “Be honest with, Rainbow, did I rattle your bones with that?”

“Definitely. I thought I was going to be shaken out of my horseshoes,” Rainbow replied. If there was one thing that the adventures of Daring Do had taught her, it was to be flattering when a giant reptilian creature asked you a question.

And sure enough, the sea serpent was elated to hear the glowing review. “Oh, that’s just wonderful!” he said while clasping his hands together. “You have no idea what this means to me! The audition is only a few days and I have been working ever so hard for the role of the villain. I had hoped for the lead role, but that would’ve needed to shave off my moustache, and that just won’t do!”

“Right, of course.” Rainbow Dash hadn’t the slightest clue what the serpent was going on about, and she opted to just smile and nod in the meantime. As with any new contact, Rainbow was hesitant to reveal her current condition.

“So what brings you down this way, hm? I haven’t seen you since I took you and Applejack on that sunset cruise along the river.” The serpent let out a contented sigh as his eyes seemed to light up at the mentioning of the cruise. “Oh, we simply must do that again. It was just so romantic the first time around, and I promise you that I can do a much better job serenading the next time. My acting coach has said that I make an excellent tenor.”

Talks of river cruises and serenades made the pegasus wonder about the kind of romantic life Rainbow Dash had led. It was definitely a colourful one if she had managed to get a sea serpent to sing serenades for a date. It even made the love life of Daring Do seem rather quaint in comparison. Granted, Daring Do’s romantic pursuits had always been muddled by whatever escapade she had undertaken, and relationships built upon adrenaline were often unstable once the danger passed.

“Just out for a stroll, sort of,” Rainbow explained, maintain her current strategy of telling half-truths when uncertain of the other party’s loyalty. Romantic serenades, while pleasant, were no measure for trustworthiness. “I think I may have gotten a bit lost, though. Is there anything...important around here? You know, like old ruins or a burial ground?”

“Only the old castle,” the sea serpent answered with an uncertain shrug.

Old castle? Now that sounded familiar to Rainbow. “Which way?” she asked with an eagerness that betrayed her once calm composure.

“Over that way, of course, though I don’t know why you’d want to go back there,” he said as he pointed to the far side of the river. Fortunately for Rainbow Dash, the sea serpent did not pry for the pegasus’ reasons.

After bidding a quick farewell, Rainbow continued on her way into the Everfree forest. Her thoughts, however, remained fixated on the prior conversation. It would appear that the true Rainbow Dash led a very colourful life: a casual friendship with a sea serpent; romantic cruises, a prior visit to an old castle ruin, and a close friendship with an alicorn princess. While it didn’t measure up to a world-famous archaeologist and globetrotter, it did make her sound more and more interesting. Perhaps once she was back to being the proper Daring Do, she’d pay the pegasus a visit. Perhaps Rainbow Dash would be interested in a future in archaeology.

With the idea of potential partnerships on her mind, she contemplated the possibility of making the suggestion to Twilight Sparkle instead. She had the wits and magic to make a great archaeologist, and she was no stranger to the perils of the outside world. Rainbow made a mental note to broach the subject the next time that she saw the alicorn princess, assuming Twilight ever caught up.

As tempting as it was to take to the sky to find the old castle, Rainbow still clung to the hope that retracing her steps by hoof would help her memories. A temporary stop at a rickety rope bridge brought back a sense of deja vu for the pegasus. As usual, it only left her with more questions, but at least she knew she was on the right track.

“I wish I had an idea of where I was going,” Rainbow commented after touching down on the far side of the bridge. “If only there was some kind of sign.”

Rainbow’s lamentations came to an abrupt halt when she noticed a tree that was not quite like the others. In fact, it wasn’t a tree, but rather a wooden signpost; or rather it used to be given that it appeared to have been roughed up. It sat at a slight angle and had extensive claw markings all over it, but the writing was still legible with an arrow pointing back across the bridge with the words ‘Ponyville’ next to it.

“I wonder what happened here.” A cursory examination of the signpost didn’t reveal any obvious tells, but when she caught a faint odour of a very familiar stench, her questions were laid to rest. “Hmm...smells like timberwolf,” she murmured. With that in mind, she didn’t want to think about what fate may have befallen the signpost.

As she was about to continue on, the same familiar odour graced her nostrils once more, but it was far more potent. It was the kind of pervasive stench that rammed its way up one’s nostrils and set up camp in the back of the throat. Rainbow came close to gagging, but managed to hold her composure. The only thing stronger than the stench was the dread that came with knowing what that kind of odour meant.

“Smells like something curled up and died,” Rainbow said with a shudder. Her eyes followed the trail of the scent until she spotted its source - a timberwolf that was creeping out from the thick brush. “Not quite, but ugly enough to be mistakened for death,” she quipped.

Unfortunately, Rainbow’s pithy remarks were ignored by the lumbering beast. On any other day, Rainbow Dash would have just left the timberwolf in the dust without a second thought. However, she had just finished running away from a flock of overly-affectionate pixies, and almost had her heart stopped by a sea serpent with a pompadour; the time for running was over. Digging her hooves into the earth, Rainbow stared down the approaching timberwolf. A part of her wished that she had Blondie at her side to help tackle this threat, or at the very least, Blondie’s trusty rifle.

However, Rainbow was armed with more than just her bare hooves: she still had her wits about her. After scanning her surroundings, she spotted some nearby hanging vines. The pegasus grabbed hold of a sturdy vine and pulled it free. Just as the timberwolf was ready to pounce, Rainbow took her new length of vine and gave it a sharp flick of her fetlock. The loud crack of the vine-whip caused the timberwolf to recoil back for a brief moment, as if startled by the pegasus’ sudden display of ferocity.

“Come on, you oversized piece of kindling,” Rainbow said with a daring grin, “let’s dance!”

************************

“Twilight, could you take your muzzle outta that book for one second? You almost walked into a branch again,” Applejack warned as she held the aforementioned branch to the side. While the distracted alicorn was not proving to be too difficult to watch over, Twilight’s fascination with her book was keeping the pair from maintaining a steady pace.

“Sorry!” Twilight apologized despite not heeding her friend’s advice. “If I can just finish this chapter, I might be able to figure out where exactly this ‘secret’ is that Rainbow is looking for.”

Under normal circumstances, Applejack might have appreciated Twilight’s more cerebral approach to solving their problem, but she didn’t want to waste precious time with a book while Rainbow was continuing to put more and more distance between them. What was the use in knowing what Rainbow was looking for if the pegasus was gone long before they ever got to the castle? Applejack and Twilight had gotten lucky in getting directions from the sea serpent, but there was no telling how far ahead the pegasus still was.

“How about we worry about that once we’re inside the castle,” Applejack suggested, but to no avail. Her friend remained plastered in her reading, guided only by the sound of Applejack’s own hooves. “Anyways, I think Rainbow’s been through here recently.”

“What makes you so sure?” Twilight asked despite not prying her eyes away from her reading. Her distraction also meant she failed to notice Applejack roll her eyes in annoyance. It wasn’t until Applejack physically pushed Twilight’s face in the necessary direction did she see what the farmer pony had been referring to. There was a timberwolf just ahead of the pair, but rather than a dangerous, snarling beast, the creature had been bound. All of its limbs and it muzzle had been secured with vine, while another piece kept the beast tied to a nearby tree. What had once been a terrifying stalker of the Everfree forest had been left whimpering and fruitlessly struggling against its bindings.

“Wow, I never knew Rainbow could do that,” Applejack commented after taking another moment to admire the scene.

“What? Take down a timberwolf?”

“No, tie a constrictor knot. That is some fancy rope work.”

Despite the surprising quality of Rainbow Dash’s knotting skills, Applejack and Twilight decided to keep moving before the timberwolf found a way to free itself.

“Have you found anything useful in that book yet?” Applejack asked out of idle curiosity as she resumed her position as point-pony. Since she could not convince her friend to lay the book down for a few minutes, even if to avoid a low-hanging branch or two, she figured she may as well pick the unicorn’s brain for information.

“Not yet,” Twilight replied. “I lost my place when I almost fell into the river. Do you know if the Everfree forest was before or after the escape from Canterlot?”

“Beats me.”

“Well doesn’t Rainbow usually read it out loud? Surely you must’ve overheard something.”

For a brief moment, Applejack was thankful that her friend was still too busy combing through the pages, or else she might’ve noticed the faint shade of red that swept across the farmer’s face. “I was...usually busy when that happened,” she explained with a satisfactory half-truth. With her friend’s muzzle buried back within the Daring Do book, Applejack fell silent.

Fortunately for the pair, but more so for the preoccupied princess, the rest of the journey was free of timberwolves, manticores, flimsy rope bridges, poison jokes, and other pitfalls that normally made any journey into the Everfree Forest a dangerous proposition. The ancient castle ruins stood before them like an old grave, cold and haunting. In her pressing need to find her love, Applejack raced ahead to the castle and discovered the main door already open. Judging by the state of the timberwolf they had passed, Applejack figured that the wayward pegasus couldn’t be too far ahead of them.

“Okay, let’s go find that silly pegasus so we can drag her to Zecora and get this whole mess finally fixed,” Applejack announced. They had only explored a small section of the ruins when they first came to the place in search of the Elements of Harmony, but the empty chambers and stone corridors would be easy to search in a hurry. It was tempting to suggest splitting up, but there was no telling what forest denizens might have taken up residence since the castle fell to ruin. On the bright side, the ruins felt a lot less imposing than Applejack remembered, but that probably due to Nightmare Moon’s presence the last time.

The pair ventured deeper into the keep, calling out Daring’s name in hopes of coaxing the pegasus out. Actually, it was only Applejack who did the calling, as Twilight was still too busy reading. The earth pony felt weird using Daring’s name, but she feared that Rainbow might not respond to her forgotten name.

“You could try helping,” Applejack remarked when she noticed the absence of her friend’s voice.

“Just give me a few minutes, I’m almost to the castle part,” Twilight answered without even batting an eye away from her book.

“Would it kill you to stop reading for five minutes?”

“No, but it might save us five minutes if I can figure out where Rainbow’s memories would be leading her.”

Applejack just rolled her eyes once more and left Twilight to her page-scouring. She reconciled with herself that a second voice wouldn’t change the outcome anyways. Their continued search seemed to be in vain—between the years of decay and the exposure to the raw, uncontrolled elements of the Everfree Forest, there was barely anything left of the castle but worn stone and overgrowth. Whatever secrets may have existed in the castle, there was a good chance that they were long gone by now. A speedy pegasus like Rainbow could have scoured the entire castle in a few seconds and left already.

It was beginning to feel like an exercise in futility when Applejack caught a glimpse of moving shadows out of the corner of her eye. “Rainbow!” she blurted out without even thinking. If it had been their missing pegasus, she was being more obtuse than Twilight as the only noise to respond was a distant echo. Not wanting to let Rainbow slip away again, Applejack dashed off down the corridor. “Come on, Twi!” she said before sprinting off.

The movement she had seen moments earlier had only lasted a second: a flicker of a shadow that disappeared beyond the next corner. Fueled by a need to find her love, Applejack reached the next corner just in time to see the same flicker at the next corner further down the hallway. Spurred on, she raced to the next hallway with even greater speed, but with every corner turned, her quarry seemed to be just finishing the next.

After several turns and bends, and even a flight of stairs, Applejack started to feel a bit winded and frustrated. “Oh for crying out loud,” she growled in her growing contempt, “I think these dang shadows are just playing tricks on me now. Tell me you’ve had better luck with your book, Twi.”

But when Applejack turned to consult her friend, she found herself standing alone in the corridor. There was not even the sound of stomping hooves of an alicorn princess trying to keep up, which meant that Twilight had been so busy with her book that she didn’t even notice Applejack run off. A part of her wanted to be frustrated with Twilight again, but Applejack realized that she should have known better than to run off without making sure her friend was following.

Just as she was about to start tracing her steps back with the hopes that Twilight had, at some point, noticed Applejack’s absence, she caught the sound of hoofsteps coming from further down the hall. “Rainbow?” she called out with a faint flicker of hope in her voice.

No answer.

“Twilight?” A long shot, but it was the next likely possibility. Again, however, there was no answer.

Applejack was about to dismiss it as yet another trick on her senses when she heard the hoofsteps once more. This time around it was much clearer, obviously coming from a closer source, but it came from a different corridor. Since any movement was a possible sign for Rainbow Dash, Applejack went in search of the source, albeit at a more cautious trot. While she did not consider herself to the easily intimidated type, Applejack would have been lying if she said she wasn’t feeling a bit anxious. The unknown made her twitchy, and ancient, run-down castles in the middle of the most haunted woods in Equestria just made the situation worse.

At least it wasn’t a timberwolf since all she could smell was stale air and dust.

On a whim, Applejack tried something a little more desperate. “Daring? Are you out there?”

Still nothing but frustrating silence.

On the bright side, the corridor soon dumped Applejack into what appeared to be the old throne room of the castle. A crumbling throne lay before the earth pony, flanked by the eroded remains of marble busts. She may not have been much of a history student, but Applejack could get a sense of the splendour and significance of where she stood. Once upon a time, it was the heart of Equestria, and, if the stories were to be believed, where the two Royal Sisters confronted each other, ending in the banishment of one.

After trotting up to the throne, Applejack took a few moments to cast a wary eye about the room. There was no sign of Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle. It was disappointing, but not surprising given how nothing else had worked in her favour thus far. As she turned to leave, she flinched when she stepped upon something. Lifting up her hoof, she saw a small silver bracelet on the ground, protruding from between two tiles. Judging from the dust it had gathered, the piece of jewelry had been stuck there a long time.

“I wonder where this came from.” Upon closer examination, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the accessory: it was made of two intertwined silver threads, linking together around a small, jeweled crescent moon. She concluded that it must have once belonged to Princess Luna. Figuring the aforementioned Princess might want it back, Applejack pried it free from its stony vice and stashed it away in her hat. Even if it didn’t belong to Luna, she figured that Rarity might like it.

Just as she was about to leave, she heard those same familiar hoof steps...coming from directly behind her.

“What was that? Who’s—”

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

If history had a corporeal form, Rainbow Dash would have been rolling around in it with the same unbridled glee as a pig in a fresh mud hole. The old library had not proven easy to find, but the maze of corridors were no match for the lingering memories that drew the pegasus to this location. Centuries ago, the library had served as a study hall for the famed wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded, and while Rainbow Dash may have espoused a less-than-favourable stance on the unicorn, one had to admire his dedication to his studies.

The shelves may have crumbled after their eons of disuse, and the work desk that the wizard spent hours toiling over was now flattened beneath a collapsed pillar, but the rich tapestry of history could still be felt in the air and seen in what remained. Rainbow could pinpoints the grooves in the floor that had been left behind by a certain wizard pacing back and forth across the same path thousands of times over.

Glancing to a nearby wall, Rainbow noticed a faded black scorching across the stone surface. “That must be where Star Swirl first manifested his infamous solar flare spell,” she remarked with a faint sense of awe. She could only imagine the reaction the Royal Sisters had when they heard the earth-shaking blast that Star Swirl had conjured up, or the look on their faces when they saw that half the library had been set ablaze.

Further examination of her surroundings revealed a noticeable indentation in the ceiling. “Heh, I bet that’s where Star Swirl first tried out his reverse gravity spell. Lucky for him that he wore a helmet for it.”

It was a shame that she could never study magic in the way that a unicorn could—it seemed like fun. It had similar principles with its long hours of careful study, dedication, and discovery of the unknown. However, it just didn’t have the same level of appeal as being the first pony in a hundred years to set foot in an ancient tomb, but it would have made for a good hobby. Archaeology just had a more tangible sense of accomplishment to it, or at least that’s how she felt; perhaps as a pegasus, she simply could not fully understand the wonders of wielding magic.

And speaking of discovery, Rainbow Dash was still in search of her next big one. The tangled mess that was her mind had led her to the library, but finding the library had yet to yield answers. The room felt very familiar to her, and everything in her memories said that she had been here before, but to what end?

“There has to be something here,” Rainbow said with Daring’s trademark determination. She began combing through the library, searching both the upper and lower floor. What tomes and scrolls had been left behind after the transition to Canterlot had long since crumbled to dust, leaving behind only empty leather husks.

Sweeping the first floor again, Rainbow Dash stopped in front of the old fireplace. Above the mantle was a cobweb-covered carving that displayed the old heraldry of the Royal family, which still bore Luna’s sigils that were later removed from the heraldry after her banishment. It was a familiar symbol to the pegasus, and just because the newer variations still adorned the Royal Palace in Canterlot. There was something about the symbol that was calling to Rainbow Dash in the same way the library had called to her.

Sadly, despite her intense stares, she was unable to coax any answers out of the wall decoration. She knew there were answers, but all she had was just an empty space in her brain that felt like the gaping maw of the abyss. It was nothing more than a carving, but it may as well have been laughing and mocking her. A faded carving covered in dusty cobwebs felt like a suitable metaphor for how her mind felt at that moment, much to her continued annoyance.

“Why can’t I remember?” Rainbow growled as her frustrations continued to boil. Why did it feel like she had been through these motions before, and yet could not recall the details of them? Daring Do recovered the Sapphire Stone and the Gryphon’s Goblet; she unraveled the mysteries to the fate of Marelantis; she stopped Ahuizotl from unleashing the power of Nightmare Moon; and she even got a blind date for Princess Celestia! How in the name of all Equestria was a mere stone carving on the wall proving to be an insurmountable obstacle? This should have been child’s play.

“What is wrong with me?” In a fit of anger, the pegasus lashed out at the nearest thing she could, kicking over one of the broken down bookshelves. Due to decades of decay, it collapsed into a heap of broken wood and stone, and it knocked up a cloud of dust in the process. While she was typically more respectful of ancient ruins, Rainbow Dash felt an odd sense of satisfaction afterwards.

The crash of the collapsing shelf had the beneficial side-effect of attracting the attention of someone nearby.

“Rainbo—er, I mean Daring!” It was Twilight Sparkle, who came galloping into the library after hearing some kind of commotion echoing from the chamber. “We’ve been looking all over for you and—did you kick over that shelf?”

“Umm, maybe?” The half-hearted grin Rainbow shot back was completely unconvincing.

Twilight could have gone into a lecture about how irresponsible such an act was, but she was too relieved to have found her friend. “Is everything okay?”

Despite a nagging ego that insisted on denial, Rainbow pushed her pride aside. Hiding the truth from Twilight wasn’t going to solve anything, and there was a chance that a second set of eyes might find what had been eluding the pegasus thus far. “This is Star Swirl’s old library,” she explained, even though her friend knew this fact already. “I’ve stood in this room before, and that carving over the fireplace has some significance. I just...I just can’t seem to quite remember what.”

Rather than express worry, concern, or sympathy for her troubled friend, Twilight instead looked to the carving on the wall and smiled. “Maybe I can help you with that,” she said with a tone that suggested she knew more than she was letting on. Twilight set her hoof upon a small star-shaped section of the engraving, and applied gentle pressure to it. Her hoof sank into the wall, followed by a subtle click, and the slow grind of moving stone.

“Of course!” Rainbow exclaimed. “A secret chamber; why didn’t I think of that?” It was ‘Reclusive Wizard 101’ to have a secret chamber in the study hall, and Rainbow felt silly for not realizing it sooner. The stone backing of the fireplace began to recede, revealing an inner chamber that the pegasus did not hesitate to barge into. “Now maybe I can finally get some answers…”

Rainbow Dash’s words trailed off as she slowed to halt in the middle of the room. It was empty. At best there was an empty pedestal in the center of the room and a simply workbench on the far side, but aside from those meagre furnishings, the room was even more barren than the library.

“There’s...there’s nothing here,” Rainbow murmured in disbelief. Her instincts had always steered her in the right direction, and everything in her heart and soul told her that this room held something that would unravel the mystery in her mind. She began to scramble about the room, prodding every stone and surface in a desperate attempt to find another secret switch or a hidden compartment. But her frantic search turned up nothing: the room was as barren as the void in her mind where the memories of this castle should be.

How could there be nothing? There wasn’t even a scrawled ‘Daring Do was here’ on the wall to give her some sense of satisfaction in knowing that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her.

Feeling dejected, Rainbow Dash slumped to the haunches and sighed. “I feel like my mind is slipping away from me,” she said in dismay. “Tell me I’m not just going crazy, Twilight!”

“You’re not,” the alicorn princess reassured her friend. She had followed her friend into the secret chamber, but had kept her distance with the hope that Rainbow Dash would remember something. “You have been here before. You found this room in your search to find the lost tome of Star Swirl the Bearded. And you did find it, that’s why the room is empty.”

Rainbow Dash held a morose look upon her as she turned to her friend. “Why didn’t you mention any of this to me sooner?”

“I only just started reading the latest book, and you ran off before I could even get that far,” Twilight explained.

“I don’t suppose I could borrow that book for a little while?” Rainbow asked with a more hopeful glint in her eyes. “It’s strange that I can recall most of my adventures with no problem, but this place seems to be so...elusive.”

Twilight suspected that it had to do with the fact that the latest Daring Do novel was still fresh in Rainbow Dash’s mind at the time of the accident. In fact, she was fairly certain that the pegasus hadn’t even finished it before the lightning strike robbed her of her memories. The librarian was hesitant to give the book over; she worried that it would only serve to further validate Rainbow’s misplaced sense of identity. However, it might also prevent Rainbow from going on any further impromptu adventures to fill the gaps in her memory.

“How about we try that if visiting Zecora doesn’t help?” Twilight suggested. She would prefer to run the idea past Applejack before attempting it, as her initiative had already caused enough trouble as it stood. And speaking of Applejack, she still needed to find her other friend so they could resume their original journey. “Now come on, Daring, we need to find Applejack soon if we want to get to Zecora’s hut before it gets dark.”

However, as the two ponies turned for the exit, the secret chamber’s door suddenly slammed shut on them.

“What the hay?” Rainbow remarked, now shrouded in complete darkness. “Twilight, did you step on some kind of trigger plate?”

“I don’t think so,” she answered. Though she hadn’t been paying that close attention to the floor, she believed she would have noticed if a particular section of the floor was looser than the others. “Maybe the door release is on a timer. I’ll teleport out and push the button again.”

A bright flash and a faint pop accompanied Twilight as she vanished from sight, but she re-appeared with a similar flash a second later and in the exact same spot she stood before.

“What? This isn’t right,” Twilight commented upon realizing she was still inside the chamber. She tried to teleport again, but it had the same end result: a confused alicorn standing in darkened chamber. Not wanting to continue the conversation in the dark, Twilight channeled some magic through her horn in order to project enough light to fill the room.

“This room must be lined with some kind of enchanted stone to keep magic from crossing over,” Rainbow concluded. “It was a very common construction practice in pre-classical architecture, especially in castles in order to keep intruders from teleporting inside.”

In better circumstances, Twilight would have taken a moment to marvel at the fact that Rainbow Dash had just given her a history lesson; however, her thoughts were more concerned with getting out of their new twelve-by-twelve prison cell.

“They wouldn’t have built a secret chamber that you could lock yourself in,” Twilight reasoned as she began searching about the room. “There has to be a way to open the door from the inside.”

As far deathtraps went, being locked inside a room was one of the slowest kinds imaginable, and the slower a deathtrap was, the more time one had to plot an escape. The two ponies began pawing their way about the room, their searched hindered slightly by the limited light. Unfortunately, Twilight became so focused on scouring the room that she wound up tripping upon an unevenness in the floor. Her startled yelp was accompanied by a loud thump and her light going out.

“Are you okay?” Rainbow called out in the darkness.

“I’m fine,” Twilight answered. “I just tri—ow! That’s my tail you just stepped on!”

“Sorry! I can’t see anything like this.”

“Could you help me up?”

“Hey! I think I found something.”

“That’s my flank.”

“Really? Have you considered using a treadmill.”

Due to the darkness, Rainbow was spared from having to endure a fiery glare from Twilight Sparkle. “This is no time for joking around,” Twilight scorned before pushing Rainbow away. Just moments after getting back onto her hooves, she heard a loud and distinct clicking sound emanating from the far wall. “Was that you Daring?”

“That wasn’t me.”

A distinct clicking sound soon echoed from the far wall. Twilight brought back her light just in time for her and Rainbow to see dozens of slots opening up across the entire width of the far wall. Within each slot was a locked and readied, razor-sharp bolt. One did not need to be a globe-trotting archaeologist to know where those bolts were about to go. Rainbow Dash would have spent a moment analyzing the room to deduce the best position in order to evade the bolts, but the bolts were in the air before her mind could even process how many there even were.

“Twi!” Not the best last words to have, but they were the first thing that came to mind.

There was another bright flash before the room fell into darkness, followed by what felt like she had just flown through a flock of pigeons. However, a flock of bird was far less painful than what a flurry of bolts should have.

“Ow,” Rainbow groaned, sprawled across the ground in a sore heap. “Are you still there, Twilight?”

“I’m a little bruised, but I’m okay.”

“How are we still alive?” Rainbow wasn’t one to question fate, but even bolts dulled by time could penetrate at high enough velocities. She had a feeling that the alicorn could shed light on the seemingly miraculous survival. “What did you do?”

“The first thing that came to mind,” Twilight answered. It took a few moments for the numerous aches across her body began to dull, after which she was able to summon a source of light.

In the glow of the fresh light, Rainbow Dash could finally see what had transpired. Scattered across the floor around the two ponies were the bolts, but instead of sharpened tips, each shaft was now tipped with a plump, round orange.

“Did we just get pummeled with fresh fruit?” Rainbow quipped with a hint of bewilderment.

“Like I said,” Twilight explained as she got back to her hooves, “it was the first thing that came to mind.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the fruit-tipped bolts in utter silence for a second before having a small chuckle. That chuckle, however, turned into an unbridled laughter when she saw Twilight Sparkle, who had an orange impaled on her horn. As far as escapes went, this was not the kind of daring deed that got ponies into history books, but it was one that would not soon be forgotten. It was not of the brightest moments of her career, but it was one of the tastiest.

“How about next time, Twilight, you try something a bit softer? Maybe a tomato,” she suggested.

Twilight had her own little laugh when she realized she was sporting a new horn ornament. “I’ll try to keep that in mind,” she said while tidying herself up. “We still need to find a way out of here.”

“What I wouldn’t give for a little dynamite right now,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Sorry, but Blondie isn’t here, so we’re just going to have to make do.”

They may have been lacking in the demolition expertise of an unnamed gunslinger, but when the door started sliding open once more, they were greeted by another familiar blonde.

“Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed upon seeing her friend. “You have no idea how glad we are to see you.”

“Maybe next time you’ll listen when I warn ya about paying attention,” Applejack remarked. Despite the harshness her words may have carried, the farmer pony was just as relieved to see her friends, and was receptive to the ‘thank you’ hug that Twilight offered up as a reward.

Rainbow Dash followed the alicorn out, but refrained from offering any hugs. Nonetheless, she expressed her gratitude at the timely rescue. “How did you manage to find us?” she inquired.

“I was trying to find Twilight given that she wandered off on me,” Applejack began to explain. “I heard some noise coming from here, but I couldn’t find anypony here. I was just about to leave when I heard a lot of clicky sounds and ‘ow ow ow’ coming from behind the wall. So what happened exactly, and why does Twilight smell like orange juice?”

Twilight and Rainbow just exchanged awkward glances followed by a nervous chuckle. They decided to postpone sharing the details of their ham-hoofed stumbling about in a darkened chamber they had managed to lock themselves in. It was easy to convince Applejack to focus instead on concluding their business in the castle, and returning to their original journey back to Zecora’s hut.

“So, Daring, did you find what you were looking for?” Applejack asked as the three ponies headed on their way out.

“No, just an empty room and more questions,” Rainbow replied morosefully.

“We’ll help you find your answers,” Twilight reassured the pegasus. “Just warn us next time before you run off again, okay?”

Having learned her lesson, Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, followed by a quick apology for her hastiness. “I guess I’m used to just running off on my own,” she explained. “I mean, danger usually follows me but that’s a given.”

“Danger Duke was one of your better field assistants,” Twilight added with her own expertise on Daring Do. “Though aside from the occasional timberwolf and cockatrice, the Everfree Forest isn’t as dangerous as everypony says.”

“Speaking of timberwolves,” Applejack said as she directed everyone’s attention to the front. Stomping through the doorway ahead were a band of large timberwolves, one of which still had pieces of vine trailing from its ankles. “Friend of yours, Daring?”

“Persistent critters.” One timberwolf against three ponies might have been a challenging, but not too dangerous, task, but five timberwolves were cause for concern. Such persistence in their predation was unusual, but none of the ponies were interested in discussing the academics of the perils that were staring at them with hunger in their eyes. “I think running might be in order.”

“Agreed!” Applejack hastily concurred before sprinting in the opposite direction, followed soon afterwards by Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

A smart pony knew when the odds weren’t in their favour, and each of the ponies knew that five was pushing their luck. Twilight suggested that they try to lose the timberwolves in the castle halls, and perhaps tackle one or two of them if the need was urgent and they could get it isolated. As decent a battleplan as either of the others could think of, Rainbow Dash and Applejack fell into step behind the alicorn.

Barreling through the castle corridors, Twilight shot a brief glance over her shoulder and saw that the timberwolves were in close pursuit. “Hurry! They’re gaining on us!”

“No, really? I was just about to slow down,” Applejack quipped.

While it hadn’t been planned, the two winged ponies were forced to slow to a halt when a section of the flooring gave out from beneath them. It was another castle trap, and although Rainbow and Twilight were able to use their wings to avoid plummeting down the darkened chasm, Applejack lacked the means of flight and had been taking up the rear. With a yelp and flailing hooves, Applejack went over to the edge, crashing into the mid-air Rainbow Dash. This threw the pegasus into Twilight’s backside, causing both ponies to fall into a tumble that sent them hurtling down the darkened pit to the chorus of shrieks of profanities.

Neither managed to regain their senses until they hit the ground. “Not what I had planned,” Rainbow groaned, now laying atop of Twilight.

Twilight was less concerned about the pegasus planted upon her posterior than she was about the status of their third friend. “Are you okay, AJ?”

There was no answer, however, and it took the confused alicorn princess a few seconds to notice that Applejack was not down in the pit with them. Casting her gaze upwards, she saw her friend clinging to the edge of the trapdoor.

“Applejack!” Twilight called out to her friend.

“I’m okay...sorta.” With a bit of scrambling and grunting, Applejack was able to pull herself back up. She didn’t have much time to enjoy her victory over gravity as the approaching timberwolves reminded her of why she had been running in the first place. For a brief instant, she was gripped by apprehension as she glanced between the inbound predators, and her friends still at the bottom of the pit. The hesitation was momentary, though, as Twilight shouted at her friend to just run for it, to which the farmer pony complied.

And as the saying went, no good deed went unpunished, and Twilight’s selflessness in commanding her friend to keep running was rewarded with four of the five timberwolves jumping down the trapdoor in pursuit of the winged ponies. With four giant beasts coming leaping down, Rainbow and Twilight were forced to find a new path. Surveying their surroundings, Rainbow Dash noticed some loose bricks in the wall.

“This way, Twilight!” Rainbow said as she dashed over to the loose bricks. With a mighty kick from both hind legs, she knocked down the decayed section of wall, revealing an adjacent corridor on the opposite side. Neither knew where it led, but the unknown of the path ahead was far less ominous than the known danger behind them. On her way through the opening, she grabbed one of the fallen bricks and took it with her.

Holding back for a brief moment, Rainbow Dash waited for one of the timberwolves to poke its head through the opening, upon which she kicked the brick towards it, nailing the creature square in the jaw and shattering its head into a shower of twigs and splinters.

“Nice shot, Daring,” Twilight complimented before the two resumed their flight.

“Out of curiosity, I don’t suppose you know any fireball or lightning bolt spells?” Rainbow asked.

“Not really. I kind of avoided fire magic after ruining Celestia’s favourite curtains when I was a filly,” Twilight admitted with an embarrassed grimace. Though the incident had been years ago, the impressions left upon the younger Twilight had been strong enough to deter her from making any future attempts. In hindsight, perhaps she should’ve revisited those old lessons now that she was a Princess and in more control of her magic. “However, I do have this - you might want to cover your eyes!”

It may not have included fire, but Twilight’s magic was far from helpless. Standing her ground, the alicorn Princess began focusing her arcane might, shrouding herself in a vibrant violet aura. The energies soon coalesced at the tip of her horn, growing in size and intensity like a brewing storm. Once the power became too much to contain, Twilight unleashed it upon the advancing timberwolves. The volatile beam of magic slammed into the face of the first beast, echoing with thunderous blast and filling the corridor with a violet-tinted smoke.
“Ha, take that!” Twilight shouted in triumph.

However, her celebration was discovered to be premature, for when the smoke dissipated, the timberwolves were still standing there. With the exception of a small singe mark upon the forehead of the lead creature, they appeared to be no worse for the wear.

“A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” Rainbow deadpanned upon witnessing the results.
For a brief moment, Twilight was more puzzled by her friend than the impending threat. “Wait, was that Shakespeare?” Before she could get an answer, however, an irate snarl from one of the timberwolves reorganized her priorities, and prompted both ponies to resume their hasty retreat.

Their flight from the timberwolves hit another snag when a large iron grating came crashing down from the ceiling just a few short meters ahead of them. “Oh great, more traps,” Rainbow cursed after skidding to a halt. She prodded at the iron bars, but a cursory evaluation revealed no structural weaknesses or ways to bypass.

“And odd place to put a portcullis,” Rainbow Dash mused with mixed confusion and annoyance. Once again, she was left wondering how this trap could have been sprung given that neither of them stepped on any trigger plates, as far as she was aware, and it was too far ahead of the timberwolves for them to have been the culprits. “Twilight, teleport to the other side.”

“But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” Rainbow insisted, “save yourself.”

“Like hay I’m leaving you behind,” Twilight retorted. The brave words, however, needed more than just sentiments to be of any value to either of them. However, the mentioning of portcullis reminded her of something she had just reading in her Daring Do book. “In fact, you wait right here,” she suggested while stepping forward. “I have a cunning plan.”

Rainbow Dash felt a growing sense of apprehension as she watched her friend trotting forward. Were it Blondie suggesting a plan, she would have felt more inclined to take cover and wait for the inevitable explosion, but instead she just felt a sense of concern and unease. Cunning plan or not, it took a lot for one pony to handle three timberwolves at once. Twilight continued her slow, cautious trot, examining the floor with each step. She eventually stopped a seemingly arbitrary point along the corridor and watched as the timberwolves came barreling through the corridor. Rainbow, for the life of her, couldn’t fathom what the alicorn was planning, but she felt an almost intrinsic trust towards her. It was a strange, inexplicable feeling for the pegasus, but she trusted her instincts.

As the timberwolves continued their frenzied rush towards Twilight, the alicorn princess held her ground with unflinching resolve. Only when the beasts leapt into the air to pounce upon the seemingly defenseless pony did she act. In a flash, Twilight Sparkle teleported herself out of danger, rematerializing next to her friend. The significance of this act became readily apparent when the timberwolves hit the ground, landing squarely on a trigger plate. Throughout the entire length of the corridor ahead of Rainbow and Twilight, more slots opened up and launched a thick volley of sharpened bolts across the hall. The two ponies watched as the timberwolves were torn into kindling by the barrage.

“How did you know that trap was there?” Rainbow asked once the shock of awe had settled.

“It was in your book,” Twilight answered as though the pegasus should have known that already. “Now come on, help me with this gate.”

“It was pretty easy to get rid of that timberwolf once all of his friends ran off after the two of you,” Applejack explained as the three ponies continued their journey through the Everfree Forest. “There’s a lot of tight corners in that castle, so I just found one with a doorway, and waited for the ugly critter to show up. The moment he stuck his noggin through the door—BAM! I slammed it shut square in his face.” She was quite pleased with herself, and was equally relieved when Twilight and Rainbow Dash detailed how they handled the remainder of the pack.

“Five timberwolves in one outing,” Rainbow remarked as she took a second to perform a triumphant backflip through the air. “Not a bad showing for a day’s work. I should go adventuring with you two more often.”

“Except we spent almost the entire day on that detour,” Twilight reminded the over-enthusiastic pegasus.

Through the forest canopy, all three could see that the sun was beginning to set in the distance. It would soon be nightfall, and the dangers of the Everfree Forest during the day would feel like a pleasant dream in comparison to what may lurk in the shadows. Twilight could still recall her encounter with the cockatrice from years ago, and she didn’t want a repeat performance as a garden ornament. Being stone for one afternoon was a gruelling experience, which gave her some insight into why Discord was so troublesome after spending centuries imprisoned. If she had to spend another day trapped that way, she would be liable to lose her mind.

“It wasn’t that big of a waste,” Applejack said in a surprising defense of the pegasus. “It’s important that Daring Do remembers what she’s lost, and if a little saunter through a castle helps, then I say we go for it.”

“See? Applejack agrees with me.” Rainbow felt emboldened by her friend’s encouragements, and blew a quick raspberry to the nay-saying princess. “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen if we’re a little late to Zecora’s? If she lives here like you said, then we’re sure to catch her at a good time.”

Twilight refrained from entertaining her friends with the laundry list of potential problems that could arise due to their late arrival. It was surprising to see that Applejack seemed unconcerned about Rainbow Dash’s recovery, but she was willing to attribute that to keeping the pegasus’ trust in them. Wanting to change the subject from something that didn’t have the other two ponies ganging up on her, Twilight steered the conversation towards the first thing that caught her eye.

“Hey Applejack, when did you start wearing that hairpin?” she inquired upon spotting the glimmering trinket in the farmer’s mane.

“What? Oh, I-it’s nothing, really.” It appeared that Applejack had been caught by surprise, and became surprisingly modest about it. She adjusted her hat such that its brim obscured the accessory from sight. “It’s just a little something new I’m trying out.”

Given that Applejack had never been the type of pony to toot her own horn, Twilight was willing to ignore the way in which her friend avoided the subject. She was unaware that Applejack wasn’t eager to explain how Apple Bloom dug the thing up from the orchard earlier that day.

“Well, I think it looks really nice on you,” Twilight said before letting the issue drop.

Fortunately for all of them, but for Twilight most of all, they were soon able to find the secluded residence of Ponyville’s favourite apothecary (and not-so-evil enchantress), Zecora.

“Nice place,” Rainbow remarked, “reminds me of the villages I saw while in the outskirts of Buckswana.”

“Just...um, let me handle the talking, okay?” Twilight said as she took the lead. Remembering that Rainbow Dash was under the impression they were going to restore the memories belonging to a famous archaeologist, Twilight Sparkle decided that it would be best to talk to Zecora in private first. Plus it would be easier if Zecora was brought up to speed on the latest events without having to listen to Rainbow Dash’s conflicting story about an evil sorceress and body-swapping.

Twilight knocked on the door, and prayed to Celestia that the Zebra hadn’t taken an extended day trip into Ponyville. Luckily for her, the door swung open and the smiling visage of her zebra friend appeared. “Twilight Sparkle, my dear friend! To visit so late, is there assistance that I may lend?”

“We’ve got a huge problem!” Twilight began as she accepted the zebra’s invitation inside. “It’s kind of a long story—actually, it’s kind of short. Anyways, Rainbow Dash got hit by a lightning bolt and lost her memory. I tried to fix it with magic but now she thinks she’s Daring Do.”

Zecora raised a single brow at Twilight’s quick rendition. Between poison joke and cutie pox, a little identity crisis didn’t strike her as unusual. “Do what my ears hear be true? Your friend thinks that she is the famous Daring Do?”

“You know of her?”

“The journeys of Daring Do go far and wide,” Zecora explained. “In villages across my homeland has she once reside.”

“So do you think you can help her?” Twilight asked with restrained optimism. “Anything you can do to help would be really appreciated, even if it’s just to undo the mistake I made.”

Zecora paused briefly to contemplate the situation. Needless to say, it was a unique conundrum that the ponies had found themselves in, but it was not in Zecora’s nature to shirk from a challenge. “Permit me a moment to examine your friend, so that I may see the best way in which to mend. Alas, I cannot offer a guarantee, but I promise my best to devise a remedy.”

Twilight nodded in agreement and headed back outside to send Rainbow Dash to meet with the zebra.

“Does she think she can fix her?” Applejack asked in a hushed whisper while the amnesiac pegasus headed indoors.

“She’s going to give it her best.”

Applejack and Twilight didn’t know what kind of herbal magic that Zecora could work, but they remained hopeful that she could undo some of the damage that had been done. At the very least, Twilight hoped that this experiment wouldn’t wind up as catastrophic as her attempt. The pair waited just outside the hut, giving Zecora the space she needed to conduct her examination.

“So did going to the castle help her at all?”

Twilight shrugged and gave an pessimistic frown. “It seemed to disappoint her more than anything. She’s trying to piece together her identity as Daring Do, but she’s chasing after very old footsteps.”

“Maybe she’ll finally realize that it’s not who she actually is,” Applejack commented. It was a faint hope, but knowing Daring Do’s character, the pegasus was more likely to double-down her efforts than give up. After all, Daring Do was undeniably unstoppable: the real Daring would not be stopped by mere memory loss.

Before their conversation could continue, Zecora and Rainbow Dash emerged from the hut. “Good news, she thinks she can fix my head!” Rainbow reported.

“There is a ritual that I could try,” Zecora added in, “but, alas, the herbs we need are in short supply. Come tomorrow’s light, I shall take flight. To find the herbs shall be my mission, so we may restore your friend to her true condition.”

“You mean we need to come back tomorrow?” Twilight asked. Under normal circumstances, that would not have been an unreasonable request, but considering the lengths they went to in order to bring Rainbow Dash once, a second trip was best avoided.

“Were it not almost night, I would go search right away, but it is a job that must wait for another day,” Zecora reassured the ponies. She smiled warmly and gestured to the open doorway. “Please come inside and be my guest. Give your tired hooves and weary head a most well-deserved rest.”

“Thank you very much, Zecora,” Twilight said with a polite bow of her head. She hadn’t counted on staying overnight in the Everfree Forest, but a night’s rest at Zecora’s hut was a better alternative to returning to Ponyville only to make a second trip into the woods. With additional thanks, the three ponies followed their zebra friend inside, and got settled in for the night.

“Oh! We should totally tell ghost stories!” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“I think we’ve had enough spooks for one day,” Twilight replied with a tired, but humored sigh.

The Everfree Forest was just as unsettling during the night as it was through the day. It reminded the ponies of their first venture through the forest when they chased after the Elements of Harmony: the dark, cool air, the subtle creeks of the dried trees in the night breeze, and the pervasive sense of dread as though death itself was stalking you from the shadows.

Thankfully, though, all those troubles and horrors felt quite distant inside the warmth and security of Zecora’s hut. A trio of candles were scattered about the main room where the ponies slept, offering a faint, reassuring light through the night. Applejack was curled up in the corner with her hat drawn down over her eyes, and the closest thing to a peaceful look upon that she’s had since the troubles with Rainbow Dash started. A few feet away was Twilight, asleep near a candle and her face laying atop the cover of the Daring Do book.

All was quiet in the hut, with the one exception of Rainbow Dash, who hadn’t been able to sleep for several hours. Not wanting to give up or waste her time, the pegasus stalked across the room towards the slumbering alicorn. Twilight’s mentioning of having read about Daring Do’s first trip into the castle ruins had hung upon the pegasus’ mind since the orange barrage. Rainbow hoped that perusing through Daring Do and the Temple of the Alicorns would help jog her memory, and maybe put her on the right path.

Azura… temples… alicorns… Star Swirl… all of these things somehow played a role in how she found herself trapped in the body of a rainbow-maned pegasus. Restoring her memory was the only way to figure out what happened, and how it all fit together.

Standing over Twilight’s sleeping figure, a small challenge arose in separating the sleeping princess from her precious book. To overcome this obstacle, Rainbow Dash had grabbed a random book from Zecora’s shelf. Now it was just a matter of replacing one with the other.

“You can do this, Daring,” Rainbow murmured to herself. After taking a few calming breaths, the pegasus carefully set the decoy book next to the Daring Do tome. Using her teeth to grip Twilight by the nape, she began to delicate process of sliding the first book. Inch by inch, the book was pushed to the side, its first edition hardcover brushing against the alicorn’s cheeks and lips. Suddenly, Twilight let out a quiet groan and smacked her lips, prompting the pegasus to halt in her tracks. Without even daring to breath, Rainbow Dash held her position with Twilight hanging from between her teeth, a heavy book balanced on one hoof, and the Daring Do novel less than an inch beneath the princess’ nostrils.

“Just...one more chapter…” A few seconds later, Twilight was clearly sound asleep once more. Not wanting to risk another close call, Rainbow deftly swapped the novel for the decoy book. She was about to lower the slumbering pony’s head back onto its perch, but when her lungs screamed for air, Rainbow took a sharp breath in through her nose. This sucked in several strands of the alicorn’s mane, tickling at her nostrils.

“Ah-choo!” The sneeze came about faster than Rainbow could react to it. Not only did she just sneeze into the back of Twilight’s head, she unceremoniously dropped her friend onto the decoy book. The alicorn hit the book with a quiet thump, although to Rainbow it may as well have been a thunderclap. She braced herself for the startled yelp that would inevitably come, followed by Twilight inquiring as to why there was saliva across her mane.

But that never happened. Despite thumping face-first onto the cover of Supernaturals, Twilight remained sound asleep.

“Too close.” Allowing herself a quiet sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash took her prize and retreated to a quiet corner with a candle. Browsing quickly through the book, she was able to find the chapters detailing the castle ruins. In it, she found the paragraphs detailing how Daring Do eluded the numerous traps through its darkened halls, including the same trapped hallway that Twilight turned against the timberwolves.

“Wait a second,” Rainbow muttered to herself as she came across some suspicious passages in the book. “‘Daring Do came to the startling realization just five seconds too late. She should have seen the betrayal coming, but it wasn’t until Azura pulled the lever, sealing the fireplace chamber shut, did that truth hit home.’” At first, she thought it might have been a simple oversight in the narration, but as she scoured the pages, the truth set in with just as much force as a closing stone door for a secret fireplace chamber. Neither Twilight nor Rainbow had triggered the traps inside the secret chamber; they’re only activated from the outside.

“Who would set that trap on us?” Rainbow Dash pondered. “Someone else must’ve been at that castle…”

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Daring Do’s head was spinning faster than the business end of a lathe. It was a feeling that she was all too familiar with, especially after a long night of drinking. It had the same pounding headache, the same empty void in her memory where the past several hours should’ve been, and a lingering taste on her tongue that reminded her of the time a dung beetle crawled into her mouth. The whole situation felt oddly familiar to the pony, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. It didn’t help that her brains felt like scrambled eggs at the moment, making any attempt to dredge up memories a fruitless endeavour.

Normally when Daring awoke with these feelings, she would grab her bedsheets, roll over, and try to get some more sleep. However, there were no sheets to grab, and the pegasus soon realized that she was laying on a hard dirt floor rather than the comfort of her own abode with a broken flask laying next to her.

“I have got to drink more responsibly,” Daring groaned before letting out a few muffled coughs. She was a professor of archaeology for Celestia’s sake, she needed to start acting in a manner more befitting of her station. Getting blackout drunk was what ponies like that insufferable Blondie did, not respectable mares with tenured positions.

Eventually, the sunlight pouring into the room was too much for Daring Do to ignore. Despite making her headache worse, her eyes creaked open like a rusty gate. Standing over her was a strange-looking zebra, adorned with bone piercings and gold rings, who gave the semi-conscious pegasus a curious gaze.

“Je, wewe ni sawa?” the zebra spoke as she nudged at Daring with her hof. “Unaweza kuniambia jina lako na wakati wa siku?”

Daring Do just blinked in a brief lapse of confusion as her mind processed what was happening. She didn’t recognize the zebra, which was odd because Daring considered herself to be adept at telling zebras apart.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Daring said in a weakened voice.

Taking another look-over over the zebra, Daring figured that she was staring at some kind of medicine mare from the Buckswana regions. It might explain why she felt like the bad end of a night-long bender: strange medicines weren’t the only things those zebras were good at brewing.

“Mimi naogopa kwamba kitu amekwenda vibaya,” the strange medicine mare continued. “Akili yake bado inaendelea ambapo siyo ya.”

Daring wasn’t sure why she bothered listening to the zebra; it wasn’t as though the words were going to suddenly make sense to her. However, a quick glance at the zebra when she spoke revealed that she was not speaking at Daring Do, but rather somebody at the other side of the room. She followed the gaze to its target: two ponies sitting casually at the sidelines as if awaiting Daring’s revival. Unlike the zebra, who had elicited nothing but confusion and curiosity upon first sight, seeing the two ponies prompted a surge of adrenaline to spur Daring back to her hooves.

“Blondie!” she exclaimed. The sense of shock was clearly not mutual, as the nameless gunslinger pony regarded Daring Do with a detached, almost contemptible, stare. It was the kind of penetrating glare that made the pegasus wonder if she was about to be standing on the wrong end of a gun barrel. She couldn’t understand why her former colleague held no joy in seeing Daring, but it likely had something to do with the pony standing next to the gunslinger.

Shock turned to anger when Daring’s eyes fixated at the blue-maned unicorn who stood alongside Blondie. Adorned in glittering jewelry, there was no mistaking who this figure was.

“Rise and shine, Daring Do,” the unicorn taunted with a sinister smirk. “Have a nice sleep?”

“Azura! I should’ve known you’d be behind this,” Daring snapped back. It was more bravado than actual fact, as Daring’s memory felt as full of holes as a colander. Nonetheless, her instincts told her that any situation involving that evil enchantress was bad news for her. It wasn’t even very good bravado as it was clear that the three-on-one odds put Daring in a corner. “Whatever you’re planning, you won’t get away with it.”

“Poor, foolish Daring, you never did know when to give up,” Blondie said as she took a menacing step forward.

“Blondie, whatever crazy thing Azura has offered you, I guarantee you that it isn’t worth it.” It was a long shot, but Daring was willing to bet that it would have taken a lot more than just money to convince her former lover to turn against her. But the nameless gunslinger just kept advancing, seemingly indifferent to Daring’s pleas. “Come on, Blondie, you don’t want to do this!”

“There’s no use, Daring,” the enchantress continued to taunt. She laughed a most vile and bone-chilling shrill. It may have been unsettling, but it was also telling: it meant that the arrogant unicorn had some kind of ace-in-the-hole.

There was only one kind of ace that would make an enchantress like Azura so cocksure, and it made things even more discouraging for Daring. “Snap out of it, Blondie! Azura has you under some kind of mind control spell or something.” Unfortunately, impassioned pleas were a far cry from the kind of power that was usually needed to break a mind control spell, of which there were dozens of different forms and each with their own peculiarities.

Blondie continued forward undaunted, the malicious intents visible in her eyes. “You will tell us where the book is,” the gunslinger warned. “Where is it ?”

“The...book?” It took Daring’s mind a few seconds to piece the clues together and remember about the lost tome of Star Swirl the Bearded. As much as Daring would have enjoyed pointing out that whatever she had just drank made it impossible what she had for breakfast, let alone where Star Swirl’s book was, the hungover archaeologist suspected that such an admission would not help her situation. At best, it would give Daring a small sense of satisfaction before Blondie attempted a blunt-force style of mnemonics.

The mentioning of the book did jog some of Daring’s memories. She remembered a castle, and deadly traps. There was also somebody else in the castle; a purple pony or something. Were it not for the blonde-maned pony ready to beat answers out of Daring, she would have had the time to focus on putting a name to the face that was lingering just out of her mind’s reach.

“Listen Daring, we can do this the easy way...or the fun way,” Blondie warned one last time while she flexed her hooves in anticipation. “Please say the fun way.”

Since surrender was not a part of Daring’s vocabulary, she merely smirked and replied, “You think a beating will make me tell you where Star Swirl’s book is? Ha! Bring it on!”

As the saying went, ‘a general goes to war with the army they have’, and the only army that Daring had at her disposal was her hat. It wouldn’t be the first time that Daring has had to rely on her trusty pith to get out of trouble. After casually removing her helmet as though in preparation for a fight, she sent the headgear hurtling towards Blondie with a quick flick of her hoof. The attack caught Blondie by surprise with the helmet smacking her in the face, throwing the gunslinger off-balance long enough for Daring Do to crash-tackle the earth pony to the floor.

That still left Azura and the zebra to contend with. While Daring did not know what allegiances the zebra held, she decided not to take any chances. She rushed the zebra, who seemed to have been taken completely by surprise by the sudden violence, and proceeded to throw her into the oncoming Azura, knocking both of them into a nearby table..

With a surprisingly easy victory secured, Daring grabbed her hat and made for the exit. If Azura was still on her tail about the book, then Daring Do had to make sure that she got to it first.

“What just happened?” Twilight groaned as the weight of Zecora atop of her robbed the librarian of what strength remained.

“Before or after Rainbow Dash wigged out?” Applejack quipped in response, still rubbing the sore spot on her face.

The interior of Zecora’s hut had been thrown into disarray thanks to Rainbow Dash’s sudden burst of violence. The table that Twilight and Zecora had crashed into had thrown its entire contents across the floor, which included a large number of vials and flasks, ground up herbal ingredients, and Applejack’s half-eaten breakfast. There were few things as depressing as a ruined breakfast.

“I don’t understand,” Twilight said whilst helping Zecora back to her hooves, “you said that potion was supposed to help put Rainbow in a trance.”

Thankfully, aside from being a bit dazed, Zecora did not appear to be injured in any way. Nonetheless, she looked to be as confused to the outcome as the others. “Indeed, a trance was the effect of the potion drank. I cannot say why it made her turn and kick our flank.”

“Well whatever the reason, Rainbow Dash is acting crazier than that time Big Mac ate those bad mushrooms,” Applejack said before grabbing her fallen hat. “She was calling you Azura and saying stuff about Star Swirl’s book. She must be hallucinating or something.” It was bad enough that Rainbow Dash thought she was Daring Do, but now it seemed that she thought everything around her was pulled from Daring Do’s world as well. Once again, they were forced to track down the wayward pegasus before the situation got worse. If Rainbow Dash thought that Twilight was an evil sorceress, there was no telling who she might mistaken others for.

Twilight nodded in agreement. “I’ll fly ahead and see if I can catch up to her.” Unfortunately, while her spirit was willing, the body was less so. When Twilight tried to unfurl her wings, one immediately snapped inwards and sent a shock of pain up her body in an act of protest. “Ow! I think I twisted my wing when I hit the table.”

“Maybe you ought to stay behind, sugarcube,” Applejack suggested. “I’d hate to see you get hurt more.”

“It’s just a wing, I’ll be fine,” Twilight insisted. As time was not on their side, the farmer pony decided not to argue any further with her friend.

Before they left, Twilight turned to their friend, Zecora, who already had set to work trying to reorganize her wrecked hut. She wondered what it was about Rainbow Dash that always led her to wreck whatever room the pegasus happened to be in.

“Zecora,” Twilight began, lending some assistance in arranging the furniture with her magic, “do you think you might be able to find out what went wrong, and maybe some way to fix it?”

“To fail in such a manner is no error that I would make,” Zecora replied in defense of her pride as an herbalist. “For my friends and my pride, this task I shall not forsake.”

Daring Do could not believe what she saw as she wandered into the nearby town. Though things had changed, including considerable economic growth, the archaeologist recognized the once quaint little town of Dusty Trails. It was the same fledgling town that she had wound up in with Blondie back during her pursuit of the Amulet of the Equilla. She had to admit that it was impressive to see how much the town had changed in the five years since Daring had lasted visited. One would have been hard-pressed to tell that a gunfight involving Daring Do and Blondie resulted in the collapse of a water and blowing up a two-story saloon.

Those were the good days.

Now it was Daring who found herself on the wrong of Blondie’s pursuit, and she knew from experience how the nameless gunslinger operated. Running was out of the question; unless Daring was prepared to live the rest of her life on the run, Blondie would never stop in her pursuit. On top of that, Daring had to find a way to beat Azura to the book, and she couldn’t do that if she was constantly looking over her shoulder. That left Daring Do with only one option, and that was to stand her ground against her pursuers.

That was going to be a more difficult prospect than she could even imagine. Blondie was a hero to the Dusty Trails, which meant that she couldn’t and wouldn’t expect their help in confront the gunslinger. And speaking of gunslinging, Daring was unarmed, while Blondie would no doubt be bringing some kind of firepower to this fight. The archaeologist didn’t even have a knife to bring to this potential gunfight, nor any bits to her name in order to acquire one. And as much as Daring didn’t want to admit it, she was hesitant to use such force against Blondie. Adversaries or not, she still cared about that hot-tempered wanderer, and preferred to find a way to avoid a direct fight with her.

Undeterred, Daring headed into town in search of a means to her end. The weather was surprisingly mild for a desert town, but she had more important things to worry about than unseasonable weather. She began slowly wandering through the town, up and down the dusty streets, in hopes of finding inspiration. So much had changed that she began to think that she would be better off seeking help from the townsfolk. With any luck, some would remember the name Daring Do and wouldn’t ask too many questions about the kind of assistance she needed. If they found out she was working against Blondie, they may become hesitant to help.

For a brief moment, Daring Do thought about tracking down her old friend, Doc Tenderhoof, and perhaps enlisting some aid from him. However, the same problem arose as Tenderhoof owed more to Blondie than he did to the archaeologist. She ultimately decided it was best to leave the doctor uninvolved with this situation.

“Oh my gosh, it’s Daring Do!”

The sudden yelp of childlike wonder and awe caught the pegasus by surprise. Though her globetrotting escapades had brought a level of fame and prestige to her name, Daring was not accustomed to the starstruck adoration of little fillies. Most youth who uttered her name did so in a frustrated groan after she announced a surprise exam, or handed out the course syllabus.

“Oh, um...hello there,” Daring Do replied to the three little fillies that now stood before her. There was a pegasus, a unicorn, and an earth pony, but she didn’t recognize any of their faces. However, given that it had been almost five years since her adventure in Dusty Trails, these ponies would have been barely out of their diapers had they been in town back then.

“What’cha doing Daring Do? Out for more adventures?” the pegasus filly asked with an enthusiasm that was not matched by either of her cohorts.

“Something like that.” Once again, Daring did not to let any of the townsfolk know ahead of time that she had fellow Dusty Trails heroine, Blondie, out for her blood. Thankfully, the fillies seemed far less concerned about the specifics, and more about the idea of an adventure as a whole. “I can’t tell you much about it, though - it’s very hush-hush.”

“Cool! Anything we can do to help?” This time, all three fillies appeared equally interested in the prospect.

“Good idea! Maybe we can get some cutie marks in adventuring,” chimed in the young earth pony before she turned to Daring. “Can we help, please?”

At first, Daring was hesitant to get the fillies involved, but a good adventurer made use of what tools were available, even in imperfect situations. She realized that she could make use of their offer without having to put them in harm’s way. Plus, it was extremely difficult to ignore their pleading stares.

“Okay, but you can’t tell anypony that I sent you,” Daring answered.

All three fillies immediately cheered in unison, “We promise!”

“I need you get me some things from the general store,” Daring explained as she gestured for the three fillies to gather in close. “I’m going to need at least two bags of flour, a bag of cornstarch, a bottle of corn syrup, a large pot to mix it all in, and access to a stove.”

“What do you need all that for?” the filly unicorn inquired.

“It’s a secret. Just trust me on this,” Daring reassured them with a wink. “Also, do any of you know where I can get some rope and access to someplace secluded?”

“That’s easy,” the young earth pony answered. “You can use the barn out by my family’s farm.”

“Good, let’s get to work! I’ll meet you all by the water tower in an hour.” As she watched the three fillies race off, giggling to themselves in their childish glee, Daring couldn’t help but feel a bit more optimistic about her chances now. She may not be able to match Blondie for raw strength, but she had her superior wits, and that would make all the difference today. It was time for the hunted to become the hunter.

“Something ain’t right,” Applejack concluded as she and Twilight came to a halt in the center of town. “Rainbow Dash could gone from here to the other side of Equestria in all the time we’ve been searching, but everypony I’ve asked have kept telling that they saw her wandering around town ‘a few minutes ago.’” Given that they last saw Rainbow Dash fleeing into town like a Daring Do with a stolen idol, it made no sense to either of them that the pegasus would suddenly stop and loiter in town so openly.

“Remember, Rainbow Dash doesn’t just think she’s Daring Do, she believes she’s reliving one of her adventures,” Twilight reminded her friend. “She mentioned something about Star Swirl’s book, so that would make this somewhere in the earlier chapters of ‘Daring Do and the Temple of the Alicorns’. She might be thinking that Ponyville is Dusty Trails.”

“But Blondie wasn’t in that part of the story, and she reacted to you as if you were evil, but Azura didn’t betray Daring until much later.” Applejack knew only bits and pieces of the latest Daring Do story, but she did recall those particular details, as Rainbow Dash talked about them constantly for days after reading those parts of the novel.

Twilight paused briefly to contemplate what her friend said. She stroked her chin in pensive thought until she was able to deduce an explanation. “Her memories must still be fragmented,” she concluded, “so her mind is trying to piece together a reality based on what memories are present, including Rainbow’s knowledge of the later chapters.”

While Applejack was appreciative of her friend’s deductive reasoning behind this phenomenon, it all academic with no practicality behind it. “That’s all well and good, but does that get us any closer to finding her?”

Once again, Twilight fell into a pause of pensive pondering. “Well, when Daring Do was in Dusty Trails, she was searching for clues about Blondie’s whereabouts.”

“Except Rainbow thinks that’s me,” Applejack pointed out, “and you saw how she reacted to that. She thinks I’m working for you—er, I mean Azura.”

“Daring is still in love with Blondie, she’d never give up on her.”

“So you think she’ll come for me again?”

“It’s the only reason that Daring would keep in town, otherwise she’d be trying to beat me to the Star Swirl’s book,” Twilight was about to suggest a plan to Applejack when they both noticed that the once sunny afternoon became markedly darker. Neither pony recalled any forecasts for bad weather in the coming days, prompting both to follow their curiosity upwards to the single cloud hovering over them. At first they both thought it was just a rogue raincloud that got loose from the weather team, but then they noticed it was a bizarre cream-like colour and was bulging in its saturation.

“What in Equestria is up with that cloud?” remarked an utterly baffled Applejack.

The same question ran through Twilight’s mind with the exception it reached a conclusion much sooner than her friend. The only words that Twilight managed to utter before the cloud was dropped from the sky were a meek, “Oh no.”

Neither pony had time to react as the strange-looking cloud landed atop of Twilight Sparkle, exploding like a water balloon and covering the pony princess in a thick, yellowish goo.

“Twilight, are you okay?”

“I think I’m okay,” the saturated alicorn answered. However, when she tried to move, she discovered that her new viscous coating was holding her in place. “I...I’m stuck!” Twilight tried lifting a hoof off the ground, only to have the goo pull it back to its spot on the ground like a rubber band. “It’s some kind of glue.”

“Here, lemme help ya out.” Applejack was about to grab hold of her friend’s hoof when a cry of ‘wait’ halted the farmer’s actions.

“Don’t touch me! You might get stuck as well,” Twilight warned. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that a glue-infused cloud had landed on the alicorn’s head. This mess had Daring Do written all over it.

“Are you able to...you know, magic your way out of that mess?”

“I might.” Unfortunately, the librarian’s uncertain tone betrayed what she really thought. “But if I try to separate myself from the glue, I might accidentally separate myself from all of my fur.”

There was an unpleasant thought to behold. “You best stay put then, sugarcube,” Applejack insisted. As much as she would have liked to have Twilight’s help in chasing down Rainbow Dash, she was not going to jeopardize her friend’s fur and dignity in order to accomplish that.

Given that clouds didn’t just fall onto ponies at random, save for that one time that Derpy had been left in charge to supervise cloud positioning, Applejack began scanning the cloudline and the crowds for any sign of a multi-coloured pegasus. By sheer luck, she spotted a flicker of a rainbow-coloured tail disappear down a nearby street.

“Wait here,” Applejack reassured her bogged-down friend. She hated the idea of having to abandon her friend in such a predicament, but she could not let Rainbow Dash slip away again.

The gathering crowds of ponies parted way as the farmer galloped after the fleeing pegasus. She was getting sick and tired of always having to chase down Rainbow Dash whenever something went wrong. It was so typical of that fool-hearted pegasus, even when she was delirious. Rainbow Dash was always the first to charge headlong at a problem, but whenever the problem was the pegasus herself, all of a sudden she was nowhere to be found. Some days it felt like her life and their relationship would go a lot smoother if Applejack had some wings of her own. Applejack swore if she caught up to Rainbow Dash, she was going to strap down her wings in iron chains until this whole sordid affair was settled.

Perhaps if Applejack were not so preoccupied by her own frustrations, she might have spent a moment wondering how in the world she was managing to keep up with Rainbow Dash. Despite the fleeing pegasus’ attempts to lose the farmer by weaving through a crowded marketplace, it should have been obvious that Rainbow Dash was not trying her best to lose her pursuer. It wasn’t until Applejack had been led out of town, towards Sweet Apple Acres, that she finally clued into the fact that something was amiss.

“What in tarnation,” she murmured under her breath, slowing her pace as Rainbow Dash surge ahead. Why was Rainbow Dash leading her back to the farm? It was a perplexing puzzle. Normally, Dash would have retreated to the clouds, where Applejack would be unable to reach, or perhaps into the orchard where the thick foliage would have kept the farmer guessing for ages. However, she soon realized that she was going about the issue the wrong way. She shouldn’t have been asking herself what Rainbow Dash was thinking, but rather consider what kind of plan Daring Do would have in store. Why would Daring Do lead her back to Sweet Apple Acres?

When Applejack saw her quarry fly into the Apple family’s barn, it became clear to the farmer that Rainbow Dash was plotting an ambush. Little did the delusional pegasus realize that Applejack had the advantage of being on home ground. Rather than chasing the pegasus blindly through the barn’s main doors, Applejack looped around to the side of the barn. After creeping up to a nearby window, she carefully peered inside the barn. The interior was just as she had last left it: bales of hay, barrels, and empty pens. At first, there appeared to be no sign of the pegasus. The possibility of Rainbow having used the barn to simply block the line of sight before taking to the sky had crossed the farmer’s mind, but it seemed like as unnecessary as taking cover from a blind pony. However, after careful scrutinization, Applejack caught a glimpse of the pegasus’ trusty pith helmet, taking cover behind some stacks of hay.

“We’ll see who gets the drop on who,” Applejack mentally snickered to herself. Knowing the layout of the barn like the back of her hoof, the farmer ventured around to the back of the barn. Using her earth pony fortitude and her lassoing skills, Applejack used her rope to climb up the side of the barn and enter into the hayloft from an upstairs window. Like a cat stalking its prey, Applejack crept across the crossbeams until she was right above where she needed to be. “Ah’ve got you now.”

As tempting as it was, she refrained from any victorious battlecry as she leapt from the rafters, descending upon the unsuspecting pony with a thunderous crash that kicked up a cloud of dust and loose hay. In a flurry of speed, precision, and frantic hooves, Applejack put all her roping skills to the test as she hog-tied her quarry with blinding speed. So blinding, in fact, that she didn’t even realize that she had just tied up a mannequin that had been fitted with Rainbow’s hat and a wig made out of hay.

“What in the—HAY!” Applejack’s confusion was abruptly interrupted when a rope-trap snared around her hind legs, snapping shut and hoisting the farmer in the air. It took her brain a few seconds to orientate itself from its inverted position and realize that she had just been duped. She may as well have just put a bow on her head and tied her own hooves for all the good her sneaking around did.

“Hello there Blondie,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, her voice echoing from a far corner of the barn where she had been hiding all along. “Nice to see you...dropping in.”

“Very funny,” Applejack deadpanned. “Now let me down, this instant. Yer acting crazy, Rainbow. Well, crazier than usual, that is.”

“You know I can’t do that Blondie,” Rainbow said with a noted sadness lacing her voice. “I don’t know what Azura has done to you, or told you, or promised you to make you work for her, but I can’t let her use you like this.”

For a brief instant, Applejack was worried about what Rainbow had in mind. She knew that the adventurer, Daring Do, would stop at absolutely nothing to claim her prize, but what would that mean for one tied-up pony? Applejack could see the conflict raging inside the pegasus’ eyes - the look of a pony who was clearly torn between two extremes of their conscience.

Despite having her fore hooves free and fully capable of trying to knock some sense into the pegasus, Applejack remarked motionless as Rainbow stepped closer and gently stroked her cheek. “I won’t lie to you, Blondie...I’ve missed you, missed us, but this needs to be done,” the pegasus whispered. Rainbow’s voice carried the same kind of regretful morose that reminded Applejack of the time that she had to explain to Winona why she was putting her on a diet. Each passing second made the farmer more anxious as to what was about to happen.

“Come on, Rainbow, snap out of it,” Applejack pleaded, bordering on the mental state of panic. “Don’t you recognize me? It’s me, Applejack! We love each other. We don’t tie each other up in the barn...well, most of the time we don’t.”

Applejack tried to plead her case further, but in an unexpected move, Rainbow leaned in and embraced the other mare in a tender kiss. The earth pony ceased her struggles as her anxieties began to melt away under the warmth of their passion. Even if she didn’t have Rainbow Dash’s memories, the pegasus knew how to kiss like her. It may have not held the same level of emotion and love as her Rainbow, but for a pony whose hearted long for relief as much as Applejack, even a sip of water was better than the continued thirst.

Their embrace came to an abrupt halt when the barn door suddenly swung open to reveal a trio of little fillies. “Hey Rainbow Dash, we just—” Apple Bloom’s words were cut short as the three fillies stared slack-jawed at the two adults.

With the exception of Rainbow Dash, every pony’s face went through a cycle of a half-dozen shades of red before all three Cutie Mark Crusaders bolted out the door without another word.

“Apple Bloom, wait! It ain’t what it looks like!” Despite Applejack’s protests, the trio of fillies were long gone in a matter of seconds. Of all the days for Apple Bloom to actually heed her older sister’s insistence on privacy.

“Probably for the best,” Rainbow Dash murmured to herself as she stepped away from the still-hanging pony. "It's best if they don't see this."

Applejack’s worries intensified as the pegasus meandered over to a nearby chest, wherein the Apple family stored some of their tools, and began rummaging through its contents. There were a lot of tools in there that could some real harm to a pony when used with malice: hammers, shears, pliers, hacksaws, and even a crowbar if her memory served her correctly.

“Y-you don’t have to do this, Rainbow,” she pleaded with an overwhelming surge of anxiety. “You have to remember who you are! And...and that Ah love you!”

For reasons unknown to Applejack, her words appeared to have gotten through as the pegasus abruptly ceased what she was doing and looked to the suspended mare with a disheartened expression.

Rainbow Dash let a quiet sigh before averting her gaze to a nearby window. “I want to believe that,” she answered back, “I really do. You have no idea how many years I spent trying to find you. I knew you were alive, but eventually I had to accept the truth: if you had wanted to be found, you would have let me.” Rainbow turned back to the tool chest and began searching through it again. “I’m sorry, Blondie, but I’ve moved on.”

That was not the heartfelt revelation that Applejack had been hoping for. Perhaps if she were the real Blondie, she’d have a better idea of what to say, but as it stood, everything she said was filtered through the pegasus’ addled mind into something different. As Rainbow turned to face the helpless mare, Applejack braced herself for whatever fate had in store for her.

“A ball?” Applejack was a bit surprised to see the pegasus returning with a rag and a small rubber ball. “So that’s where Winona lost that thing.”

Concerned turned to confusion as to the purpose of Rainbow’s scheming, but any questions were short-lived as the pegasus set to work. She set the rubber ball in the center of the rag, and then wrapped the cloth around it like a burrito. By the time Applejack realized that the other pony was simply making an impromptu ball gag, it had already been shoved into her mouth and secured around her head. The earth pony made a few fleeting attempts to voice her protest, but her muffled indignation did little to sway Rainbow Dash. Her captor finished securing her by binding her remaining hooves with another length of rope secured to the overhanging crossbeam.

“Well this is undignified,” Applejack lamented in silence, now hanging like a piñata.

“Once I’ve secured the book, I’ll send somebody to get you,” Rainbow Dash explained before she headed for the exit. “And for what its worth, it’s good seeing you again.”

The parting words provided little comfort for Applejack, who could respond with a disheartened and muffled sigh of resignation. How did this all get so out of control? This kind of madness was supposed to happen to other pony’s relationships, not hers. It was only a few days ago that she and Rainbow Dash were riding the emotional highs of their love. Everything was perfect and care-free with the rare exception of a girlfriend who occasionally forgot important dates. It was enough to make her want to buck a tree over. Now here she was, tied up and alone, wondering if she’d ever get the love of her life back. She was even willing to give up on the whole kids thing if it meant getting Rainbow back to normal.

For a brief moment, Applejack wanted to just break down and cry. Everything was going wrong, and it was all because she had to go and lose her temper at Rainbow Dash. She had become so worked up over the future that she had neglected what was right in front of her in the present. Whether it was the quiet solitude or the excessive amounts of blood rushing to her head, but hanging upside-down afforded her a great deal of insight.

It was hard for Applejack to keep track of time, but she wagered about a half-hour passed before she finally resigned herself to her dangling fate. Eventually somepony would wander into the barn, either Apple Bloom or Big Mac, and they’d get her down, perhaps after a few awkward stares and intrusive questions. She just hoped that Big Mac didn’t decided to pull extra hours in the orchard to make up for her unexplained absence.

Just then, however, she heard some scuffling at the barn door. It was an unfamiliar sound, not anything a pony would normally make, but the source soon revealed itself as the barn door was pushed open and in walked Winona. It may have not been Big Mac or anypony else, but Applejack was nonetheless relieved to see someone. The dangling mare began squirming and making muffled grunts to get Winona’s attention. The faithful dog let out a few happy barks before scampering over to see what was happening.

“Errmmph mmpphh merf!”

Sadly, Applejack’s attempt to convey her sense of urgency was lost somewhere in the translation. Winona merely stared with a half-tilted, quizzical look as the pony dangled overhead. She then noticed something peculiar in the pony’s mouth - something round. Drawn in by curiosity, her eyes fixated at the mystery object. The canine knew not what it was, only that she wanted it. With a short hop, Winona grabbed hold of the rag with her teeth, and began a tug-of-war with Applejack. The farmer pony pulled with all her might, lifting Winona off the ground for a brief moment before the dog’s weight tore the rag open.

With joyful cheers and barks, the rubber ball fell to the ground, bringing Applejack one step closer to freedom. “Good girl, Winona!” Applejack exclaimed. “Someone’s getting an extra treat for dessert this evening.” Now Applejack just had to figure out how to use Winona to free herself from the ropes.

Winona, however, had other ideas in mind. She grabbed the rubber ball with her mouth and looked up to Applejack with expectant eyes and a wagging tail.

“Now ain’t the time for playing fetch, Winona.”

Despite the insistence otherwise, the canine maintained her eager gaze.

“No, Winona. Put the ball down,” Applejack said with a more firm tone. This time, the words got through. Despite a whine of protest, Winona let the ball go. “Good girl. Now Ah need you to listen very closely,” the pinata pony continued, “Ah need you to go out and bring back help. You understand me? You gotta find help.”

After barking back what Applejack could only assume to be an acknowledgement, Winona bolted out the barn door. Now all the farmer pony could do was hang around and hope that help came back soon. She had no idea when or if Winona would return, and the thought of screaming for help did cross her mind. However, by her mental clock, Big Mac would be somewhere out in the southern orchard at that particular time of the day, and Apple Bloom had run off with her friends to Celestia knows where. The only pony who might be in earshot was Granny Smith, and she could sleep through a gale force hurricane without issue. In the end, Applejack decided to spare herself the strain and indignation of screaming for help until her voice went dry.

Once again, Applejack had to guess how much time had passed before she finally heard the sound of approaching footsteps. They were too light to be a pony, which meant that it seemed Winona had returned without a pony in tow. The loyal canine companion barged into the barn, carrying something in her mouth. It looked like some kind of green cloth, which only served to confuse her further until Winona set it down beneath her.

“Winona, I said to get help - help,” Applejack said with a disappointed sigh. “What am I supposed to do with a piece of seaweed anyways?”

She was about to dismiss Winona’s curious brand of help when the sound of approaching hoofsteps drew her attention back to the door.

“Winona, come back here with that!” Rarity shouted as she raced in. “I need that for my spa—” Both the unicorn’s words and pace came to a screeching halt as she saw her friend suspended from the ceiling. Confusion was the foremost expression upon Rarity’s face as she took in the scene of a rope-bound farmer and her dog. “Applejack, what in Equestria is going on?”

Rarity would not have been Applejack’s first choice for a rescuer, but she recognized that she was hardly in a position to be picky over such details. “It’s kind of a long story. Well, actually it’s kinda short, but that ain’t important right now. Have you seen Rainbow Dash?”

“Rainbow Dash? Why?” Rarity asked before giving a playful smirk. “Should I go find her and send her this way?”

“What? N-no! It ain’t like that,” Applejack stammered in response. “This is serious: Rainbow Dash is in trouble! Now are you gonna keep gawking or are you gonna help me down?”

Author's Note

My apologies to any of my readers who might actually know Swahili. I only used Google Translator so I could get a slight feel of authenticity to it, but I haven't the slightest how accurate it was.

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

For a brief moment, Rarity just stared at the farmer pony, her lips partially drawn back in a look of mixed bewilderment and concern, as if Opal had just jumped onto the breakfast table and vomited a ten-carat diamond right onto morning breakfast.

“So you’re telling me that Rainbow Dash lost her memory, and when Twilight Sparkle tried to help her, she ended up making Rainbow believe that she’s Daring Do? And then after attempting some kind of trance therapy with Zecora, our friend is now galavanting through Ponyville on what can be best described as a literary brain-bender?”

“Is it really necessary to repeat everything I had just told you not ten seconds ago?” Applejack deadpanned in response.

“You’ll have to forgive me for being a bit taken off-guard given that your story does sound a bit...unbelievable at first,” Rarity explained in a polite apology. “I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t misheard you, or that Discord wasn’t just playing a prank on us again.”

“Believe me, Ah wish this was one of his jokes.” If Discord had been involved in this entire ordeal, he would have been rubbing it in their faces the entire time. The avatar of chaos was many things, but subtle was not one of them. Given how desperate the situation was, even asking him for help was beginning to sound like a worthwhile course of action. However, there was a reason why nobody ever asked Discord for help, especially not since last Winter Wrap-Up Day; some of the trees still smelled of cinnamon.

By the time that Applejack had finished bringing her friend up to speed on this week’s disaster that made life in Ponyville anything but dull, they had arrived back in town to search for Twilight. Applejack had abandoned her friend in a rather sticky situation and felt compelled to help her before resuming their joint venture in finding Rainbow Dash.

However, upon returning to the scene of the glue-bombing, their friend had already left the scene. All that remained were smears of dried glue across the ground with a pony-shaped void in the center, along with tufts of fur, mane, and feathers. For a brief moment, Applejack was worried that Rainbow Dash may have returned to the scene to ‘take care’ of the pony thought to be the evil sorceress, Azura.

“You don’t think Rainbow Dash came back for her, do you?” Rarity inquired.

“Ah sure hope not,” Applejack said with growing worry, “Daring Do never struck me as the type to kick a pony when they’re down, but she also don’t stop at nothing to get what she’s after.”

Regardless of the how, that still left the unanswered question as to where their friend had made off to, but that mystery was a brief one as Rarity spotted some glue-stained hoofprints leading down a side street. Like detectives following the trail of a glue-store robbery, Applejack and Rarity followed the trail of glued feathers and fur all the way back to the Ponyville Library, which in hindsight should probably have been their first guess as to where Twilight had run off to.

“Ah hope she’s okay,” Applejack commented before setting a hoof on the door and giving it a push. “Hey Twilight, are you—” The farmer’s words came to an abrupt halt when, rather than yielding to the farmer, the door remained stubbornly shut, resulting in a face-first encounter with solid mahogany. “Consarnit! What in the hay? Since when does Twilight lock her door?”

“What if Rainbow Dash did go back for her?” Rarity said with a startled gasp.

Daring Do had left Applejack gagged and suspended from a rafter in a barn outside of town, and that was the treatment for a former lover. One could only imagine the kind of situation a delusional Rainbow Dash would have left Twilight in if she thought that the alicorn princess was an evil sorceress. Sadly, Applejack had a very vivid imagination, and her thoughts were soon flooded with thoughts of Twilight Sparkle being tied up and hung from the ceiling, hounded by a delusional pegasus who thought the librarian was after a priceless artifact. That imagination was helped along when they heard a sharp, distinctive yelp of pain echo from an upstairs window. There was no mistaking that voice for anyone but Twilight.

“Oh sweet, merciful apples,” the farmer muttered to herself once the horrid images in her mind proved too much to bear. “Ah’m a-coming, Twi!” Without further consideration, such as using a window or climbing up to the balcony, Applejack loosed her apple-bucking legs upon the library door. Whether it was a tree or a door, all wood yielded to the veteran apple farmer when she unleashed her full fury upon them. While the door was resilient, the frame in which it was housed was less so - the hinges shattered instantly. Wooden splinters and busted screws were sent scattering across the library, followed seconds later by the resonating ‘thud’ of the library door.

Of course, upon entering the library, the two ponies did not see any captive Twilight to be rescued, but rather a startled and confused looking Spike, who had just dove for cover to avoid being hit by a flying slab of mahogany.

“Opps, sorry about that, Spike,” Applejack apologized with a sheepish grin upon seeing the startled little dragon.

“It’s a good thing that Twilight budgets for library repairs,” Spike muttered once he got up and dusted himself off. Equally fortunate was the fact that library repairs had been under budget for the last fiscal quarter, which could be attributed to Twilight finally mastering the use of her wings and her royal duties impeding with her experimentations.

Noticing that Spike was acting rather casual, with the exception of having almost been pancaked by a door, Applejack began to think that she may have been a bit hasty in rushing to the rescue. “Is...everything okay here, Spike?” she asked. “Twilight’s not in any kind of danger is she?”

“Beats me,” Spike answered with equal confusion as to the earth pony’s unusual questions. “One second I’m minding my own business, and then suddenly Twilight comes barging in, and locks herself in her bedroom.”

“Was she okay?”

“I don’t know.” Spike shrugged his shoulder to emphasize his uncertainty. “I was cleaning the basement when I heard her come in. By the time I got up here, she had already gone upstairs. When I tried to ask what was going on, she just told me to go mop up the mess.” The dragon then directed the two ponies’ attention to a nearby mop and bucket, both of which had been crushed underneath the door, creating a mess that Spike would have to clean.

While Applejack was able to breath a sigh of relief with the knowledge that her friend was not in any danger, she was still curious as to why the alicorn princess retreated to her library in such a hasty fashion. Leaving Spike to tend to his cleaning duties, the two ponies headed upstairs and discovered, unsurprisingly, that Twilight’s bedroom door had also been barred.

With more restraint this time around, Applejack knocked upon the bedroom door. “Twi, are you in there?” she called out, her voice still full of concern but now with less urgency.

“Oh? Applejack, is that you?” Twilight’s voice echoed from the other side of the wooden barrier. Her voice sounded a bit frantic, as though her attention was drawn to something more urgent. “Did you manage to get Rainbow Dash?”

“Um, no. She got away,” Applejack reported. “Are you alright in there, sugarcube?”

“Who? Me? Oh, I’m fine. Perfectly fine. Yup! Everything is a-OW!-okay in here!” Twilight’s hasty and haphazard response conveyed the sense that things were anything but ‘fine’. She would have had better luck convincing them that she was Nightmare Moon. Something was wrong, that much was obvious, but without any sign of immediate danger, kicking down the door now seemed like too extreme of a solution.

After concluding an eyeroll that threatened to launch her eyes from their socket, Applejack gave it another shot. “Well, could you open the door then so we can talk? Ah need your help if Ah’m going to catch up to Rainbow Dash.” With any luck, appealing to Twilight’s helpful nature would prompt a more honest response.

“I...uh, can’t right now. I’m in the middle of something super important.” Once again, Twilight’s response was as convincing an apple swearing its a banana. “You go on ahead without me. I’ll catch up as soon as I can. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine! Er, I mean, of course I’ll be fine because there’s nothing wrong with me!”

Applejack and Rarity exchanged worried glances before the farmer pony stepped aside and motioned for her friend to try her luck at coaxing the reclusive alicorn out. “Twilight, dear, it’s me,” Rarity began, trying to allow her voice to be a warm blanket to comfort her friend. “Could you please open the door so we can talk? If there’s something troubling you, I’m sure we can work through it together.”

There was a brief, but tenseful pause before finally a sigh of resignation echoed from the other side. “Okay, but you girls have to promise not to laugh...or scream, in Rarity’s case.”

“Now why in Equestria would I—SWEET STARS OF CANTERLOT!”

Despite her best efforts, shock and bewilderment got the better of Rarity’s composure when the door opened up. On the other side was a mangy-looking Twilight Sparkle, with huge clumps of fur missing, exposing red, sore, and raw flesh beneath, and a ruined mane that looked as though it had just been on the losing side of a duel with a pair of deranged hedge clippers. Her wings had not been spared either, both of which had been robbed of a large portion of their form and colour, leaving little more than twitching appendages curled against her side like timid woodland creatures.

“Hey Twi, you’re looking… um, swell,” Applejack greeted with her best attempt to maintain her composure. “How’d you get out of that glue mess?”

“A pair of scissors and a lot of shrieking,” Twilight deadpanned whilst ignoring Rarity’s flabberghasted stares. “I take you didn’t have any better luck?”

“Ah may have been lured into a trap and strung from the ceiling by mah fetlocks,” Applejack admitted with some reluctance. She then motioned to her unicorn friend, who was still staring at Twilight’s mane as though it had sprouted eyes. “Lucky for me, Winona managed to get Rarity’s attention, and she helped me down.”

It took a sharp nudge from Applejack, but eventually the dumb-founded Rarity was brought back to her senses. “Oh! I...er, anyways, Applejack explained to me what happened, and I was hoping there might be some way I could help. Perhaps I could start with helping you with your mane, or what’s left of it at least.”

“Rainbow’s safety is top priority,” Twilight explained as she stepped aside to allow her friends to enter. “Although, I’m beginning to run out of ideas at this point. I mean, between Rainbow’s speed and Daring’s cunning, I feel like we’re a bit out of our league.” Although it was tempting, once her friends were inside, Twilight refrained from closing the door behind them. “And I’m sorry for trying to brush you off earlier. I was letting my vanity get the better of me.”

The disheveled princess promptly received a reassuring pat on the back from her trusty and honest friend. “Don’t you worry about it, Twi,” Applejack told her. “The sooner we get this Rainbow problem solved, the sooner we can work on fixin’ yours.”

The three ponies paused and pondered their precarious problem, pacing about the room with hooves scratching their chins. Finally, Rarity turned to the others with an idea in mind. “Sometimes when I’m having trouble getting Opal into her travelling basket, I have to coax her into coming out with some treats or one of her favourite toys.”

“Ah think you might be onto something there, Rarity,” Applejack nodded in agreement with eager grin spreading across her face. “Daring will also go to wherever her goal is, so we just gotta use that to make her come to us. She kept mentioning something about a book - she must be referring to that lost Star Swirl book.”

“Except we don’t have it,” Twilight pointed out.

“We also don’t have an evil sorceress, but that didn’t stop Rainbow from thinking that was you,” Applejack explained. “We just need a book and we gotta convince her that it’s the book she’s after.”

“And how exactly do we convince her that we’ve got the book when we can’t even convince her that we’re not who she thinks we are?” Twilight didn’t want to be a nay-sayer, but she was having trouble thinking of how they could convince a pegasus, who happened to be delusional and convinced they were the enemy, that a random book was the book that everypony was after. “Even what we say is distorted by her delusions.”

“Perhaps she would respond better to you if you tried to play along with her,” Rarity suggested.

The suggestion made Applejack think back to her conversation back in the barn with Rainbow Dash, and to how the pegasus responded to her. “That might actually work,” the farmer pony agreed. “Back in the barn, some of the things Ah said did seem to get through.”

“Well, you and Blondie do share certain qualities,” Twilight added as she began to see the reasoning behind their new plan. It was a longshot, but they were starting to run out of options. “One other thing, Applejack, I know you didn’t want to make a huge issue out of it, but I think it might be time to get some extra help.”

As Daring Do had often learned in her adventures, quite often the best place to hide when ponies were looking for you was out in the open, or more specifically, in the midst of a crowded restaurant. It had the added benefit in that she was famished, and it was hard to save the world on an empty stomach. To the casual observer, she was just another pony out of many enjoying a nice, hearty lunch. It served as a good distraction, too, as the incident with Blondie was still weighing heavily on her mind. She had said that she had moved on, but Daring wondered if that remark was more to convince herself than her prisoner. After five years, Daring Do had long since abandoned any hope of finding the remarkable mystery mare, so why did it bother her so much?

Maybe she hadn’t abandoned hope. Telling Blondie off put closure to a long-standing uncertainty in her life, but it had been a comforting uncertainty. Clinging to the forlong notion that one day Blondie might come waltzing back into her life made it easier for Daring to forsake intimacy. It made it easier to endure the many long, solemn nights in her cottage retreat. Now what did she have to look forward to at the end of the day other than smug self-satisfaction and an empty bed?

Daring Do’s spiralling sense of emotional turmoil came to an abrupt halt when a siren-like shriek of a young filly cut through the air. Bursting through the restaurant door was a familiar-looking pegasus filly - the same one that had helped her earlier in the day.

“Quick, we need a doctor! It’s Blondie, and she’s hurt real bad!”

There were gasps and confused murmurs amongst the patrons, but alas no doctors to step forward. After a frantic scan across the room to confirm the lack of volunteers, the filly raced out the door once again to continue her apparent quest to find help. Once she had left, Daring quickly tossed a few bits onto her plate and bolted for the door. Her instincts warned her of a trap, but she had left Blondie tied up in a barn so if anything had befallen the gunslinger as a result, then Daring would have that on her conscience.

Outside the restaurant, a crowd of ponies had already begun to gather. She could heard the murmurs and gasps of horror, all of which motivated the archaeologist to push her way to the front. In the center of the crowd, covered in caked sand and smeared blood, was the nameless mare.

Concern overrode Daring’s usual sense of caution as she quickly raced to the gunslinger’s side. “Blondie! Blondie, can you hear me?” From a cursory examination, it seemed as though somepony had worked over the gunslinger like the proverbial piñata. “Come on, wake up you stubborn mare!”

It took a few more ‘encouraging’ pats on the cheek, but gradually the nameless mare came to. “D-Daring?” she murmured, her voice strained and weakened.

“Don’t you worry, Blondie, I’ll get you to Doc Tenderhoof and we can get you fixed up in a jiffy!”

“No time,” the nameless mare groaned as she reached out for Daring. “You were...you were right. Azura...double-crossed me. She’s...she’s going after the book. Ya...gotta stop her...’fore it’s too late.”

The book!

Although Daring Do knew the importance of stopping Azura’s plot, it felt wrong to just abandon Blondie again. “But what about you? I can’t leave you like this, Blondie.”

“Go, ya dang fool!” Blondie said in the best attempt at a barked order she could muster with the limited strength she had left. “Equestria itself...could be in peril.”

Despite being torn between loyalties, however fleeting one of them was, Daring Do knew that the safety of Equestria had to come before all else. “Which way did Azura go?”

“Towards...Madame Violet’s parlour…” With her last ounce of strength, the struggling gunslinger pointed a hoof towards a building down the road: a large and ornate building that was far above the income level of everyone else in town. Before Daring could question Blondie further, the mare fell into the cold embrace of unconsciousness. Now she had two things motivating her to get Azura: saving Equestria, and exacting revenge for what happened to Blondie.

“Make sure she gets to a doctor!” Daring instructed before flying off towards the aforementioned parlour. In a strange, grim way of looking at things, Blondie’s incapacitation meant that she no longer had to worry about confronting the gunslinger. Now she was free to show Azura just how daring she could really be. No matter what happened, Daring was determined to finish this.

She was getting tired of playing on the defensive anyways; running and hiding from adversaries had never been her style. It was time to take the offensive, which sometimes meant throwing caution to the wind and drop-kicking your way through a window. Who needed subtlety anyways?

“All right, Azura, it’s time to end this!” Daring Do shouted out shortly after landing inside the parlour. Unfortunately, in her haste, all that Daring accomplished was break a window and land in the midst of a room full of mannequins, all adorned in a plethora of attires. There was no sign of anypony, but the absence of evidence was not the evidence of absence. Cautiously, Daring Do began to skulk through the forest of fabrics, eyes alert for any sign of movement.

All of the curtains had been drawn, casting darkness through the entire room, save for the window that Daring had come in from. Unfortunately, as the outside breeze came through the opening, the fluttering curtains played with the lighting, causing the shadows to dance across the walls. It was hard to keep track of every moving shadow; in fact, she didn’t even see the stallion standing just a few feet away from her until he had tackled her to the ground with all the force of a locomotive.

“Well look who finally decided to drop in,” a voice echoed from beyond the shadows. The faint glow of a magic aura drew Daring’s attention to a large, leather-bound tome that floated into her view. “Looking for this?”

“Maybe—why don’t you bring it a bit closer so I can see it better,” Daring sneered in response. Unfortunately, her pithy comeback only earned her a mocking laugh from the disembodied voice.

“Give it up, Daring, you’ll never beat me,” the voice continued taunting as the book hovered closer in order to tease the pegasus further. “If you want the book so badly, maybe I’ll just let you have a little peek inside.”

As the book began to drift closer, the trapped archaeologist saw an opportunity to capitalize on Azura’s hubris. With a quick flick of her head, Daring Do tossed off her helmet and caught it between her teeth. The extra bit of reach it proved was all she needed to knock the book aside, disrupting the magical field enveloping it, followed by a surprising surge of strength to buck the stallion off of her back.

“Quick, somebody stop her!” the voice shouted as Daring Do grabbed the book.

The hefty-sized stallion quickly jumped to his hooves and attempted to crash tackle the archaeologist once more. This time, however, Daring Do was ready to receive the lumbering goon, diving low towards him just as he began his tackle. As his legs were bowled out from under him, his considerable momentum carried him across the room and crashing into a collection of mannequins. But Azura had brought more than just one stallion to help her; a second stallion emerged from the shadows and charged at the pegasus.

“Catch!” Daring shouted as she did the unexpected and tossed the book towards the stallion. Thankfully, his reflexes were quick enough that he caught the book just before it struck him in the face, but at the same time his charge skidded to a halt. He didn’t realize how open his defenses were until a sharp kick right to the gut left him crumpled on the ground like a used dishcloth.

“Give that book back!” The disembodied voice revealed itself as the robed unicorn, Azura, stepped out into view. “Just put the book down, Daring, and I won’t have to resort to using my magic.”

Daring paused for a second, glancing to her surroundings as she mulled over her options. “You’ll have to catch me first!” she boldly declared before diving into the forest of mannequins. Between all the shadows and fancy hats adorning the felt models, the archaeologist vanished like dust into the breeze.

“You can’t hide from me, Daring Do!” Azura scoffed.

As tempting as it was to just charge headlong in the hopes of finding Daring before she got too far ahead, Azura could see an obvious lure when it presented itself. Instead, she simply used her magic to move the mannequins from one side of the room to the other. In clusters of five or six, the figures were carried across, whittling down Daring’s cover bit by bit. Azura kept a look out for a telltale sign of a pith helmet or a gray-toned mane. However, the sorceress’ attention was so focused on finding a pegasus hiding beneath cover, she failed to notice that amongst a cluster of mannequins, Daring Do had taken the place of one of the figurines, clothing and all.

The statuesque pegasus waited until Azura set her down on the other side of the room before making a stealthy shuffle to the exit. Given that Azura would soon have the entire mannequin stock displaced, whereupon she’d realize Daring’s plot, the archaeologist bolted out the door as soon as she was out of the sorceress’ sight.

“Ha! Too easy,” Daring chuckled in self-congratulation. She gave one last glance over her shoulder to ensure that there were no followers before deciding to take to the sky. Sadly, the second she went back to looking ahead, all she saw was a blur of orange and yellow before running headlong into something solid and coma-inducing.

“How in the—Rarity, quick! Rainbow must have slipped past us somehow!” Surprised didn’t even begin to describe the cloak-and-jeweled-adorned Twilight when she moved the last of the mannequins, only to find more empty floor space and a single, undressed mannequin removed from its stand.

Rarity was still over helping a weary-looking Soarin’ and Big Mac, both of whom were slow to get back to their hooves. “She’s escaped?” Rarity replied. “And she still has my diary? Oh, why did I agree to let you use that for the bait?”

Wasting no time in making a run for the door, Twilight motioned for the other ponies to follow. “If we hurry, we might be able to catch up to her,” she explained.

Unfortunately, not everypony was up for the task. “You go on ahead,” Soarin’ said with a pained groan while still doubled-over. “I just...need a minute to collect myself. Good thing that Spitfire is already pregnant.”

Leaving the pegasus in Big Mac’s care, Rarity and Twilight raced out the door, intent on chasing full speed after Rainbow Dash...only to skid to a halt just meters from the door. There, sprawled across the ground, was a semi-conscious Rainbow Dash, and standing over her was Spitfire with a dented garbage can lid in her hooves.

“Lose something?” Spitfire quipped with a small triumphant smirk. She couldn’t help but chuckle as the other ponies just stared at her in awe-struck silence.

“Did you...knock her out with a garbage can lid?” Twilight asked.

“Well you told me to keep an eye out for her, and when I saw her running from the boutique, I stepped in and stopped her,” Spitfire explained while she pounded out the bend in the aforementioned garbage lid. “I believe the proper response should be ‘way to go Spitfire, good job’.”

Twilight’s expression gave the message that she was anything but impressed with the pegasus. “You could’ve seriously injured her!” she shouted.

“And judging from that high-pitched, girlish scream I heard thirty seconds ago, Rainbow just ‘seriously injured’ my husband-to-be,” Spitfire pointed out. “Besides, my plan clearly worked better than your silly ideas with your costumes and booby-trapped books.”

Just at that moment, Rainbow Dash let out a dazed moan. The pegasus was slowly coming back to reality, but was still underneath the heavy haze of the blunt-force anesthetics. Spitfire was the first to notice the stirring pony, and promptly picked up the stolen book. She held the book a few inches from Rainbow’s face and opened it up, triggering the hidden trap inside that released a small cloud of knock-out gas directly into the victim’s face. With one last dwindling groan, Rainbow Dash fell back unconscious.

Twilight and Rarity were able to breath a small sigh of relief, both at the safe return of Rarity’s diary and their success in capturing the runamuck Rainbow Dash. With their friend safely subdued, they gathered their things and returned to the library.

“And that's when Spitfire smashed you in the face with the garbage can lid.”

“Hey, I wasn't about to try and tussle with her; I'm pregnant, remember?”

Despite the vocal protest, Twilight ignored the pegasus' remarks and continued explaining the situation to the now-recovering Rainbow Dash, who still had an ice pack over the bruise on her head.

“Anyways,” Twilight carried on, “once we got you back to the library, Zecora was able to brew an antidote, and we were finally able to make you better.”

Better was a relative term. While the aching pegasus wasn't mistaking Twilight for her nemesis, her memories were still about as fragmented and misconstrued as they had been before her delusional bender. The events explained by the alicorn left Rainbow feeling humbled and extremely apologetic, particularly to Soarin' who was still off in the corner of the library with his fiance upon his shoulder and an ice pack between his legs. Twilight, too, was still recovering from her 'injuries', but thanks to an application of some growth magic, she no longer had patches of fur missing.

“I still don't understand how Zecora's treatment could have had such a disastrous result,” commented Rarity, who stood behind Twilight with several combs and a pair of scissors. The growth magic had not restored the Princess' mane to its original state, but Rarity had graciously volunteered to make the necessary alterations while the others conversed.

“According to Zecora, powdered poison joke got mixed into her brew somehow,” Twilight explained. The mentioning of the familiar blue plant surprised everyone in the room, save for Rainbow Dash. “Now I believe Zecora when she said that there was no
way she would've used poison joke by mistake. Unfortunately, that only leaves one alternative.”

Applejack gasped upon realizing her friend's implications. “Somepony poisoned her on purpose? But you, me, and Rainbow were the only other ponies there.”

“Azura!” Rainbow blurted out. While most of the ponies in the room just gave the pegasus a blank stare, Twilight looked on with genuine confusion.

“That's impossible,” Twilight said. “Why would Azura come after you now of all times?” There was also the minor problem in that Rainbow was not the real Daring Do, but the princess decided against bringing that point up since it would be dismissed immediately by the amnesiac pony. Twilight also figured that Azura would have been defeated at the end of the last Daring Do book, although she hadn't read that far so the sorceress' ultimate fate was unknown to her.

“What would she even be after that would benefit from making Rainb—er, I mean, Daring Do act all...crazy?” Rarity postulated between snips of Twilight's mane.

Sadly, with Rainbow's memory still in shambles, the only source of reliable information was the Daring Do novel. “Maybe there's some clues in the book,” Twilight said as she levitated her saddlebag over to her. However, upon opening it up, she found a copy of 'Supernaturals' sitting where the novel should have been. “What in the—? Where did my book go? And how did this get in here?” She cast a suspicious glance to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Did either of you see it?”

“I might have taken it last night,” Rainbow sheepishly admitted. “I was going to read it through, but then I fell asleep about twelve chapters in. When I woke up, it was gone so I assumed you had taken it back.”

“Well I never took it out of my bag since this morning,” Twilight added. Despite possessing similar size and weight, there was no chance anypony would have mistaken Zecora's copy of the natural remedy book for the latest exploits of Equestria's famed explorer. And since most of her day had been spent dealing with Rainbow Dash's hallucinogenic rampage, she had never bothered to check.

While Twilight and Applejack were contemplating how the mix-up might have happened, Rainbow Dash dove headlong to her preferred conclusion.

“I told you, it's Azura. She's back and she's after the lost tome!” Rainbow asserted as she hopped to her hooves. “How's your wing, Twilight?”

“My wing? It's still a bit stiff, but I should be able to fly,” Twilight reported. She was half-tempted to lie and say that it was still too painful to fly, but she suspected such a fib would deter Rainbow Dash, whose plan was so obvious, it may as well have been written across her forehead.

“Good,” Rainbow said with a sudden burst of renewed vigor, “because we’re going on an adventure! We’re going to find that lost tome and put a stop to Azura’s evil plan! We’ll need to search high and low, probably brave a few dungeons, and maybe even a monster or two. But this is for the sake of Eques—”

“Actually, the book is in Canterlot,” Twilight interrupted.

“It is? Seriously?”

“It’s in the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the royal archives.”

“Okay then,” Rainbow said with a now deflated sense of enthusiasm, “I guess we’ll be going to Canterlot then. Maybe we’ll get to...uh, deal with an unruly security guard or something.” Despite the underwhelming sense of adventure their destination brought, Rainbow Dash was nonetheless in a hurry to get on her way. However, just before she could make a hasty exit out the window, her take-off was interrupted by a sharp tug on the tail from a surly-looking farmer.

“Where in the hay do you think you’re flying off to?” Applejack asked in a rhetorical fashion. Since the answer was obvious, the other ponies simply waited for her to voice her actual objection. “Listen, missy, we just spent all dang afternoon chasing your blue, fuzzy hide across Ponyville, and now that we’ve got you acting normal, relatively speaking, you’re proposing to go flying off again?”

The sudden interruption left Rainbow Dash looking just as annoyed as the pony at the other end of her tail. “The book isn’t going to just fly to us,” she snapped back. “Maybe you haven’t realized it yet, but all of this mess with my mind, your girlfriend, and Azura are connected. You want your Rainbow Dash back; I want my old body.”

The atmosphere of the library had been so tranquil that the ponies could hear Applejack’s grinding teeth as she held back her temper, lest she attempt to browbeat the truth into the stubborn pegasus. She placated her temper by reminding herself that playing along with the Daring Do delusion was the best way to keep the pegasus under control.

Thankfully, Twilight spoke up to try and ease her troubled friend. “I’ll go with her, Applejack,” she began, as she trotted over to the farmer and placed a reassuring hoof upon her shoulder. “We’ll go to Canterlot, get the book, and come right back, I promise.”

Applejack cast a cautious glance between Twilight and Rainbow Dash before motioning for the princess to lean in for a more private word. “Twilight, this is getting ridiculous,” she whispered with barely-restrained irritation. “What Rainbow Dash needs is rest and time around her friends. Flying off to Canterlot ain’t gonna help her.”

“But what if there’s something in Canterlot that could help?” Twilight suggested. “Starswirl was one of the greatest wizards in history. There might be something in his old writings that could help. If not, then perhaps somewhere else in the archives, or maybe even Princess Celestia.”

“More magic?” Applejack snapped, which was loud enough to pique everyone else’s attention as to the nature of the conversation. She was quick to tone down the volume before continuing. “Twilight, you tried magic already and look where it got us. Rainbow ain’t some schoolwork problem - she’s a pony. She’s mah girlfriend; she’s mah responsibility; she’s—”

“She’s leaving,” Spitfire chimed in.

Sure enough, both ponies turned their heads just in time to see a rainbow-hued tail disappearing out the window.

“Oh for the love of—!” Applejack managed to rein in her anger before she unleashed a very unladylike string of profanities. “Now look what you’ve done, Twi! Now Ah got to go and wrangle her...again!”

“How? You can’t exactly fly after her,” Rarity remarked.

“I could go get her,” Spitfire volunteered.

Applejack, however, scoffed at the idea. “So you can knock her out again? Thanks, but no thanks. How about Soarin’?”

“He still can’t walk straight,” the Wonderbolt Captain replied. “And if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to keep the possibility of a second child on the table.”

Seeing her options running dry, Applejack let out a low, irritated grumble. She cast a sideways glance to Twilight, who had been waiting patiently with a nervous, expecting smile. It was obvious that Twilight wanted to help, but she knew all too well how difficult it was to force help onto a pony as stubborn as Applejack.

Though the grumbling sigh hinted at her apprehensions, Applejack realized she didn’t have much choice. “Just bring her back,” she instructed in a firm voice, accentuated by a light jab to the princess’ chest.

“I’ll bring her back, Applejack, I promise,” Twilight answered. She could see how the situation was wearing on her friend’s patience and nerves. It didn’t excuse all of Applejack’s behavior, but she could sympathize with those feelings. If the situation were reversed, Twilight had no doubt that she would be feeling equally frustrated, and that crankiness would be wrought upon those around her. All she could now was help her friend as best she could.

Once Twilight had departed out the library window, the still-simmering farmer got a scrutinizing glare from the other mares in the room.

“I know you’re under stress, dear, but that was a bit harsh,” Rarity spoke up first. Having finished with Twilight’s mane, she had been lingering around while she tidied up the mess, but now stayed due to concerns for her other friend. “Twilight’s only trying to do what she thinks will help the most.”

“Well her ‘help’ isn’t being very helpful!” Applejack shot back.

“Knock it off, AJ!” Spitfire barked. Thanks to all her time as a drill instructor at the academy, her voice carried enough force on it to even stop the stubborn farmer in her tracks. “Listen to yourself for a second. I know things haven’t been going well but that is no excuse to take it out on your friends!”

For a second, Applejack returned only a blank stare to the pegasus. Suddenly, as if someone had just flicked on a light, the farmer’s expression softened, accompanied by a disheartened sigh. “Y-you’re right,” she eventually stammered out. “Ah’m real sorry, folks, Ah don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s okay,” Spitfire said in a swift change to a more reassuring tone. “Nobody blames you for being stressed or frustrated, but you gotta remember who your friends are. And from a pony with a temper that makes dynamite seem stable, believe me when I say that it’s important not to knock your friends when things get rough.”

“Tell that to the scar on the back of my head,” Soarin’ murmured afterwards.

“Still bugs me that Twilight is the one with her rather than me,” Applejack commented as the bitterness began to return to her voice. “She’s mah girlfriend, Ah’m the one that should be takin’ care of her. This ought to be mah responsibility.”

“She is also Twilight’s friend,” Rarity interceded, “as well as mine. We all deserve to be involved.”

“Well somepony needs to be the one making the final decisions, and not get all distracted with talks about magic books and treasure hunts.” Applejack was defiant, but could see that she wasn’t going to persuade any of the ponies in the room. Rather than face the mounting objections, she decided leaving would be the best method to handle things. Besides, she had no intention of just sitting around and waiting for Rainbow Dash to be brought back.

“Where are you heading off to?” Spitfire asked upon noticing the farmer walking towards the exit.

“Ah’m going to Zecora’s place to find that dang book of theirs,” Applejack answered with a marked note of impatience lacing her voice. “Maybe Ah can use it to knock some sense into those two…”

Only a short distance from the library, Twilight Sparkle was making slow progress due to her still-sore wing. Despite her claim of being well enough to fly, she could only manage a leisurely pace that would be comparable to walking. It had only been a few minutes, but she was already worrying that she might not be able to fulfill her promise to Applejack. While normally not cause for major concern, her friend’s souring mood motivated the princess to accomplish her task.

Sadly, at the rate she was flying, Twilight would reach Canterlot around the same time that winter would. Perhaps she should have argued for Spitfire to go, but a part of her felt responsible for the situation, which meant a compulsion to set things right. She was just reaching the outskirts of Ponyville when she heard a voice from the last pony she expected.

“Hey, Twilight! Up here!”

It was...Rainbow Dash? The voice was unmistakable, but Twilight was nonetheless confused and skeptical. It wasn’t until she glanced skywards and saw a blue hoof, partially concealed in a cloud, waving her over. Overcome by curiosity, she flew closer and discovered the missing pegasus lounging comfortable upon her white, fluffy perch.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were flying to Canterlot,” Twilight asked the most obvious question first. She didn’t get an answer right away, at least not a verbal one. Rainbow Dash invited the other pony over by patting the patch of cloud next to her.

It was only until Twilight took up the invitation that the pegasus offered an explanation. “To be honest, I kinda just needed to get away from Applejack for a little while.”

“Why would you want that?”

“She makes me uncomfortable, okay?” Rainbow admitted with some reluctance. “I mean, I’m really grateful for all her help, but every time she looks at me, I can see all the pain she’s in just because I’m not who she wants to see.”

“That’s nonsense; she loves you.”

“No, she loves Rainbow Dash!” The sudden outburst made Twilight cringe inwards, but she held her tongue for the moment. The frustration was evident, but she wasn’t sure yet how to address such an unusual concern. “It feels like she’s trying to force me to be that pony, but I can’t do that.”

Twilight drew upon every iota of knowledge she possessed about the famed Daring Do from her many years of reading. It was one thing to know every detail of the exploits of her hero, but it was more difficult to understand the pony behind them. A product of delusion or not, Daring Do was still a pony with all the complexities and nuances that ponyhood entailed. What would Daring Do be feeling in this situation?

“Daring, you can’t blame yourself for what Applejack is feeling,” Twilight said in a gambit to offer some reassurance to her friend.

“Why not? All I’ve done these past few days is screw over her life and leave her hanging upside in a barn,” Daring Do answered, followed thereafter by an exasperated sigh. “I’m supposed to be better than this, but my freaking brain feels like its trying to fly through molasses.”

“Have you considered trying to talk to Applejack about this? I’m sure she’d understand.”

“My name is Daring Do, not Daring ‘Talk About Your Feelings’. I’ve never been very good at the whole expressing yourself thing,” Daring lamented.

Twilight let out a small giggle at the sight of her friend being so modest. “Neither is Rainbow Dash; AJ will understand. She cares a great deal about you, even if you’re not exactly who she sees you as, but she can get a bit...stubborn when she sets her mind on something.”

“Reminds me of a certain free-ranging pony,” Daring replied with a brief chortle of her own. “Okay, I’ll try talking to Applejack, but on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“You have to help me get Starswirl’s lost tome.”

“But I promised Applejack I’d bring you back to her!” Twilight insisted.

“And you will,” Daring shot back, “right after we get that book. Listen, if I’m right and Azura is involved, then that book is in danger. We just need to secure it in order to keep it safe. Once we do that, then I promise you, I will go wherever and do whatever you need me to do.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she scrutinized both the pegasus and her offer. “I don’t know,” she pondered out loud, “I could just bring you back to AJ and then get the book myself.”

Rainbow Dash responded with a brief, scoffing chuckle. “I’ve seen you fly, Twilight; not only would you take forever to get to Canterlot, but I could just as easily outrun you. I’m going to Canterlot, with or without you.”

When Rainbow Dash made it sound more like an ultimatum than an offer, Twilight found herself with few alternatives but to cooperate. It wasn’t the best solution, but it was the best way to fulfill her promise to Applejack. She could use her magic to try and restrain the pegasus, but she didn’t want to risk upsetting her friend and provoking a struggle.

“Very well, we’ll do things your way,” Twilight acquiesced. “But if I’m so slow, how do you intend to get us both to Canterlot quickly?”

“That’s easy,” Rainbow said before hopping off the cloud. She flew around to the side and braced both hooves against the side. “You just relax, princess, and I’ll push!”

While one side of Twilight didn’t appreciate the connotations of ‘princess’ and being pushed around like the cloud was her personal chariot, she couldn’t argue with the efficiency of the plan, as well as the relief that came with not having to fly to Canterlot on a sore wing. Thus, despite her initial misgivings, Twilight settled into her makeshift chariot as her friend began pushing it towards Canterlot.

Chapter One

Where Would Rainbow Dash?

By Commissar AJ

Chapter One

The temple may have been on the brink of collapsing around her, but Daring Do was not yet ready to concede defeat. She had not travelled across the length of Equestria, braving untold threats, just to be buried under rock because of the poor judgment of an evil, megalomaniacal enchantress. Though bruised and tender muscles still harried her movements, Daring struggled back to her hooves. Another shockwave, followed by the screams of fleeing ponies and goats, knocked the archaeologist down to her knees. Her chest still burned, but she gritted her teeth and pushed forward.

“Blondie!” she called out. A suicidal move, perhaps, but the rampaging gunslinger was going to tear a hole through the earth at the rate she was going. Another tremor shook the entire temple with numerous stress fractures beginning to spread across the floor. The crumbling infrastructure was drowning out her voice, so the pegasus tried again, “Blondie!”

It took a few more shouts to work, and by the time that Daring managed to get the nameless mare’s attention, every living soul in the room was either fleeing for their lives or already unconscious. The only exceptions to this were the two at the epicenter of the chaos. Blondie’s attention swiveled to the injured pegasus, but Daring only saw hate and rage within the glowing red gaze. For a brief instant, she felt the cold hoof of fear making its way up her spine. All it would take was one uncontrolled outburst and Daring would know what it felt like to be an ant beneath a hoof.

“You’re going to bring down the whole mountain at this rate!” Daring shouted before sidestepping to avoid a few falling stones. A few moments later, one of the chamber’s main support columns came crashing down, landing with an earth-shaking thud between the two mares. The resultant cloud of dust scratched at Daring’s throat and robbed her of any further words.

“You’re telling me what to do now?” Blondie replied, her voice resonating throughout the entire temple. The dust cleared to reveal the nameless mare standing atop the ruined pillar with crimson orbs gazing down upon the half-choked archaeologist. “With this kind of power, Ah don’t have to take orders from anypony ever again!” The nameless mare then let out a resonating cackle, which seemed to shake the very earth beneath her hooves. “Can you feel it Daring? The very earth bends to mah will! Even Princess Celestia wouldn’t dare to get in mah way!”

*******************

“Oh, wow,” Rainbow Dash murmured to herself in a hushed gasp as she turned the page in her latest Daring Do tale. The riveting story had kept the normal flightful pegasus rooted to her spot behind the tablecloth-draped desk for the better part of an hour. Every muscle cycled through tension and relaxation with every page turned. Her heart was ricocheting off the walls like Pound Cake on a sugar high. “Oh my gosh!”

Unfortunately, not everybody in the library was keen to listen to Rainbow’s running commentary. It was from the second floor of the library that the magical princess, Twilight Sparkle, reared her frowning face.

“Do you mind, Rainbow? I’m trying to study up here,” Twilight called out to the pegasus below. She had thought that since Rainbow and her were the only occupants in the library at the time, and that the pegasus was barely visible at the far side of the room behind her table, that she would’ve been able to cope. Turned out that the library had very good acoustics.

“Sorry,” came the pegasus’ response.

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but wonder why Rainbow was being so particular vocal about this novel. She had been known to read her Daring Do books aloud, but the pegasus seemed to have kicked that habits months ago. With silence restored to the library, Twilight breathed a small sigh of relief and returned to her own work desk. A recent magic conference in Canterlot that she had attended a few weeks prior had given Twilight a vast array of new books to pour over. At this rate she was going to need to add more bookshelves to her library just to house her growing collection. Thankfully, having wings of her own meant that high bookshelves were even less of a concern than before.

“Oh yes!”

Twilight had just picked up her book when the cry rang out, which resulted in a loss of concentration and a five-hundred page textbook landing right on her hoof. The sharp yelp of pain gave Rainbow warning as to what was to come.

“Rainbow!”

An embarrassed Rainbow flashed a flustered, apologetic smile back to the alicorn. “He-heh, sorry! Just got to a really good part.”

Twilight let out a low, frustrated growl before rolling her eyes. She enjoyed a good book as much as the next mare—even more so, in fact—but even she knew how to show some tact. Alas, her retaliation would be limited to an angry, disappointed frown whilst folding her hooves beneath her chin. After watching Rainbow Dash behind her little skirted desk, the librarian concluded that something was not quite right with the picture.

“Which Daring book are you reading anyways?” Twilight inquired.

Rainbow Dash had a sinister grin when the question came up. It was almost as if she had been waiting for it. “Daring Do and the Temple of the Alicorns,” she announced proudly as she held up the book cover for Twilight to see. The image of the famous adventurer-archaeologist silhouetted by a rather ominous looking spire was an unfamiliar sight for the librarian. It took a few seconds for the obvious realization to smack her across the face.

“What? How did you get that?” Twilight exclaimed before bolting across the library until she was hovering above the table. “The new Daring Do book isn’t supposed to come out for another two weeks. Let me see!”

As Twilight tried to reach for the book, Rainbow pulled it away and hugged it close to her chest. The playful pegasus was clearly taking pleasure in this torture. “Spitfire got it for me,” Rainbow explained with no attempt to hide her smug satisfaction. “Turns out the company that publishes her biography and flight books also publish the Daring Do series. She called in a few favors and got me an advanced copy.” She blew a quick raspberry before opening the book once more so that she could continue reading. “Spitfire said that it’d ruin sales if I let anypony else read this before its released. You’ll just have to wait until then.”

Wait for a book? Such madness was unheard of for Twilight. She was a Princess for crying out loud; why did she need to wait for a book? “Oh come on, Rainbow, please!” Twilight pleaded with clasped hooves.

“Nope!”

“Oh please, oh please, oh please!”

“No can do, Twilight,” the pegasus continued to tease.

Twilight let out a low growl as she leaned in closer. She then noticed something else that was odd. “You okay, Rainbow? You’re looking a little flushed,” she asked. She hadn’t noticed the slight redness in the pegasus’ cheeks until she had flown closer.

“I-it’s just a little warm in here,” Rainbow stammered in response. “Now could you back up? I’m about to get to the part with the super-dark secret of Starswirl the Bearded. Did you know he’s—”

The threat of an imminent spoiler prompted an immediate reaction from Twilight. She firmly planted both her hooves over her ears and sang, “Lalalalalala! I can’t hear you!” Not wanting to risk hearing anything else that might ruin the story for her, Twilight retreated back to the top of the stairs.

With the librarian slinking away to her room, Rainbow Dash breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “That was a close one,” Rainbow said.

A moment later, the skirt of the tablecloth lifted and from underneath the table emerged an equally flustered Applejack. “Are we safe? She didn’t hear me, did she?” she asked as she cast a wary glance about the room. She eventually followed Rainbow’s gaze up to the closed bedroom door, which reassured them both that Twilight was out of sight.

“I think we’re safe,” Rainbow stated unnecessarily. She then cast a disapproving glance to Applejack. “Did I say you could stop?”

“Really, Dash?” the other pony replied with mock annoyance.

“Hey, you’re the one who lost the bet,” she reminded Applejack. However, any further debate was cut short when they both heard Twilight’s door opening again. Rainbow was able to shove the other pony’s head back under the table just moments before Twilight appeared at the top of the stairs again.

“Okay, I’ve got to go meet Rarity and Fluttershy for dinner,” Twilight announced. Despite her annoyance with Rainbow’s behaviour, the distraction from her studies did allow her to take note of the time. It was getting late in the afternoon, which meant that she was almost at the end of the time she had set aside for personal studies. She may have been Equestria’s newest Princess, but that was no reason to be tardy or ignore one’s scheduling. Besides, keeping a strict schedule was one of the few pleasures that Twilight maintained so as to not forget her humble beginnings—as if such a thing were possible while living in a library.

And though it was a dinner date with her friends, Twilight figured that a bit of light reading couldn’t hurt if the opportunity presented itself. To that end, she packed her saddlebags with a few books to take with her. “Try not to stay too long, Dash, but don’t worry about closing up when you’re done—Owloysius can take care of that.”

“I’ll be fine,” Rainbow answered while giving a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Rainbow Dash always has the situation under control.”

“I just don’t want you to be late, that’s all,” Twilight reminded as she trotted to the exit. “Heavens knows how you can get a bit distracted when you’re reading.” When she saw that Rainbow was giving her a quizzical stare, she presumed that the pegasus was oblivious as to what she was referring to. “Come on, Dash, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what day it is.” Again, she got a silent stare and took it as a confirmation. “How could you forgot your own anniversary?”

“N-no, I haven’t!” Rainbow was quick to defend. It was hard for Rainbow to believe that a year had already passed. It still felt like only a few weeks had passed since she chased after Applejack to Manehattan and win her heart. In fact, there were parts of her that were still convinced she had been living a dream these past twelve months. Time seemed to fly faster than she could when it came to spending time with Applejack. Whole days could melt away just lounging with the farmer pony in the orchards, which considering Rainbow’s need to almost always be flying made such days a small miracle in themselves.

Unfortunately for Dash, the librarian was unconvinced and remained steadfast in her preconception of a lackadaisical pegasus. “I can’t believe I have to remember your own anniversary,” she scolded. “I mean, it was only a year ago that you went to Manehattan, confessed your feelings to Applejack, and then saved the Wonderbolts. What’s not to remember about that?”

Rainbow Dash appreciated neither the sarcasm or the lecturing, but apparently her word wasn’t enough for Twilight Sparkle. “I haven’t forgotten,” she insisted, “I just didn’t realize that’s what you were talking about.”

“Well then what did you get for her, hm?”

“I-it’s a surprise.” While that was the truth, Rainbow’s answer did little to convince the alicorn that merely interpreted the response as further evasion. The pegasus’ fidgeting and nervous glances didn’t help sell her case either.

Sadly, Twilight Sparkle was not the only pony who was unconvinced by and this was brought to Rainbow’s attention via a sharp strike to her leg.

“Ow!” the pegasus yelped in surprise. She was about to fire off one of her harshest glares at the occupant under the table but the presence of the puzzled princess meant maintaining a calm composure.

“Something wrong, Rainbow?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Leg cramp.” Not the most convincing of lies, but even Rainbow’s haphazard delivery seemed to be enough to sate Twilight’s curiosity.

“You know, there’s still time to get something done,” Twilight continued with the main topic of discussion. She may have had a dinner date scheduled but that didn’t mean she couldn’t render what aid she could to a friend in need. “You could run out to the store and get some flowers, or maybe make some reservations. I’m sure Applejack will understand if it slipped your mind.”

“Would you stop worrying about it? I said I’m on top of it,” Rainbow Dash insisted once more. “Now you should get going before Fluttershy and Rarity start to wonder where you are.” Thankfully, pressing the schedule upon Twilight was enough to make the alicorn give up her attempts in order to fulfill prior commitments. Another mentioning of Star Swirl’s terrible secret was the final push needed to get Twilight out the door. Now if only that had been the end of Rainbow’s troubles. Another sharp blow to her other leg reminded Rainbow of the other pony in the room.

“Ow! What the hay was that for?” Rainbow snapped as she lifted the skirt of the tablecloth.

“Ah recognized that tone,” Applejack began as she emerged from hiding, “that’s your ‘don’t want to admit the truth’ voice. You did forget our anniversary, didn’t you?”

“W-well, no! Not exactly,” Rainbow stammered as she found herself at the receiving end of further accusations. Twilight might’ve had a preconception of a lazy Rainbow Dash but at least she was willing to listen to reason. Applejack, however, was just plain stubborn once she got an idea into her head.

“I can’t believe you, Rainbow,” the farmer pony scoffed. Her frown intensified as she started pacing around the room in her anger and disappointment. “It’s our anniversary—our first anniversary! We’ve been talking about this for weeks, and you kept saying you’d take care of it.”

“I am—er, I mean I will!”

“Just like how you said you’d take care of the compost heap?”

“I did that yesterday.”

“Ah asked you to do that a week ago!” Applejack shouted back with a stomp of her hoof for added emphasis. “You know Ah love you, Dashie, but would it kill you to think more than five seconds ahead of yourself?”

Rainbow soon fell silent and was unable to keep her gaze from dropping to the ground like she had anchors for eyes. It didn’t matter what she said at this point because it would all just sound like excuses and that would only make things worse. But if she was trying to coax sympathy out of Applejack, it worked. As annoyed and disappointed as she was, the farmer just couldn’t stay mad at the pegasus. Yes, it was their first anniversary, but it wasn’t the end of the world, and Applejack hoped that there would be many more to celebrate together.

“Ah’m sorry Ah yelled at you,” she apologized. The farmer trotted back over to her love and sat down next to her. Throwing a hoof across the pegasus’ shoulder, Applejack leaned against Rainbow and rested her head into the crook of her lover’s neck. “How about we go back to my place and Ah’ll whip us up a nice dinner, and then afterwards we can settle down by the fireplace with a couple of pints of cider. How’s that sound?”

“That...sounds pretty awesome,” Rainbow admitted with some reluctance. She returned the other pony’s affection by wrapping a wing around her and keeping her close. It was moments like these that reminded her why Applejack was such an amazing pony to be with. Most ponies would probably have thrown a fit over a forgotten anniversary, but Applejack was just glad that she could spend it with her. It wasn’t as if the farmer cared for material gifts or fancy restaurants. To Applejack, it was the company that mattered and nothing else, and she didn’t need one particular day out of the year to remind her of what she felt every other day.

“Oh, and before Ah forget,” Applejack said as she stuck her head back under the table, “got you a little something under here.” A moment later, she pulled out a gift-wrapped box and set it down on the table.

The sight of a gift was more than enough to uplift Rainbow’s spirits. With a giddy laugh, Rainbow Dash pounced on the present and began tearing into it like Pinkie Pie on a fresh cupcake. Shredding through the outer wrapping revealed a rather mundane-looking box, but Rainbow knew this was just another layer to be dealt with.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Rainbow squealed upon breaching the boxes defenses. In her hooves she held aloft a peculiar-looking pith helmet. It was just like the kind worn by Daring Do, which she did have a replica of already at home, but this one looked like it had actually been worn out in the field rather than spent its entire life on a shelf.

“Picked that beauty up in an antique shop in Canterlot a month ago,” Applejack explained as she allowed herself to indulge in a bit of pride. “They had all sorts of neat stuff in that shop. You should tag along next time Twilight drags us out there.”

“Maybe, but I’m not calling it ‘antiquing’. That shouldn’t even be a word.”

Applejack laughed in her agreement. “Come on Daring,” she said before taking the pith helmet and setting it upon Rainbow’s head. After grabbing the copy of Daring Do, the pair headed on their way out back to Sweet Apple Acres.

*******************

“So Blondie returns in the latest book?” It was a rhetorical question on Applejack’s part given how much Rainbow Dash had been talking about the new book but far be it for her to deny the pegasus a chance to talk about something she loved. Besides, the conversation had been dominating by the fangirl’s gushings about the latest novel so it seemed pointless to try and steer it elsewhere. The farmer pony also suspected that the conversation wouldn’t stop just because they had reached her home at Sweet Apple Acres.

“Well at first they make it seem like a rescue,” Rainbow explained just before the pair stopped at the barn’s front door. “By the later chapters, however, it turns out to be anything but a rescue! I don’t want to spoil the rest but it’s a real page turner.”

Applejack got the impression that the only way to avoid having anything spoiled was to be as far away from the pegasus as possible and that wasn’t an option for tonight. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat,” Applejack said as she led the other mare inside. Within an instant of entering her abode, however, her nose caught a whiff of something. “Is that...apple pie? Who’d be baking at this hour?” Pie baking was usually a late morning or early afternoon activity for the Apple family. Between dinner and the fatigue of a long day, there was rarely any want or need for a fresh pie, or two judging by the strength of the aroma.

Following her nose to the kitchen, Applejack was stunned at who she saw. She had expected perhaps Big Mac to be the culprit—baking a pie for a friend or maybe some lucky mare—but instead her kitchen had been occupied by Spitfire and Soarin’ of Wonderbolts’ fame.

“Oh, hey! Didn’t think you’d be home so soon,” Soarin’ greeted with a jubilant grin. The high-flying stallion appeared to be the one responsible for all the activity in the kitchen as evident by the sauce-stained apron he wore.

“Spitfire! Soarin’! What are you two doing here?” Applejack replied. Seeing the two brought about a mixture of joy and confusion in the farmer pony. Despite her friendship with the pair, the life of a Wonderbolt made it hard to find time for social calls.

“What? Can’t a couple of friends just swoop in unannounced and cook up an anniversary dinner in your kitchen?” Spitfire answered with a playful chuckle. Judging by the discarded apple cores that littered the dining room table, the Wonderbolt Captain and her partner had been waiting for quite some time. “Besides, we technically have the same anniversary, too, so we thought we’d make a special occasion of it. Except somepony apparently couldn’t keep you busy like they said they would.”

“Keep me busy?” It took Applejack a second to realize what Spitfire was referring to. As the farmer swung about to confront Rainbow Dash, she was halted by a well-aimed kiss right on the lips.

“Happy anniversary, Applejack.”

She might not have been a pegasus like the other ponies in the room, but to Applejack it felt like her heart was about to sprout wings and burst out of her chest. “Oh, you did remember!” she exclaimed as she threw her hooves around Rainbow Dash in a near-crushing embrace. “Ah-heh, you sure had me good there, thinking you had forgotten and all.”

“How could I forget about the day I fell for the most amazing pony in the world?”

“Second most amazing pony in the world,” Applejack teased as she returned the compliment with a quick peck.

“Well, I didn’t want to seem like I was bragging.”

Fighting down a rising chuckle, Applejack released her vice-like grip on the pegasus and the two trotted over to join Spitfire at the dinner table.

“Hey Rainbow, how about you give me a hoof over here,” Soarin’ said as he motioned for her to join him by the oven. Though Rainbow Dash was averse to all concepts of work, she was always willing to make an exception for Applejack. Joining the Wonderbolt in the kitchen, her attention was directed to a nearby egg timer. “Okay, when that egg timer goes off I need you to flip all the spinach puffs over and put ‘em back in the oven for another ten.”

While their partners handled the cooking, Applejack and Spitfire headed over to the den instead to catch up. “Now be honest Spitfire, was this Rainbow Dash’s idea?” Applejack asked after they had relocated to the couch. While under normal circumstances Applejack would have been content with the way things were but considering the ordeal that occurred a year ago because of such presumptions, she was always a bit wary of taking things the wrong way.

“Yes, this actually was Rainbow’s idea.” Spitfire had no qualms reassuring the other pony since she understand Applejack’s caution. Since she had played a part in the debacles of misconceptions, better known as dating, Spitfire felt she forever owed Applejack the truth. “She popped the idea a couple of weeks ago. Originally, she just came by to ask for ideas, but after a bit of brainstorming we all decided on this.”

“Aw shucks, you and Soarin’ didn’t need to go through all of this for me.” Applejack felt a bit of guilt that Soarin’ and Spitfire were spending their anniversary catering to her and Dash, but it was a heartwarming gesture nonetheless.

“Well the way I see it, Soarin’ and I wouldn’t be celebrating tonight if it hadn’t been for you,” Spitfire said. “Besides, Soarin’s been quite eager to put his cooking skills to use.”

“Ah didn’t realize he could cook.”

A faint whiff of smoke followed by the characteristic woosh of a fire extinguisher going off gave Applejack a rough idea of the extent of the aforementioned cooking skills.

“In a loose sense,” Spitfire deadpanned.

“Why would somepony invent a second scale for temperatures?” Soarin’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “All it does is complicate things!”

Applejack shot a nervous glance back to Spitfire. “He ain’t gonna set mah kitchen on fire, is he?”

“I think he’s past that phase for the most part,” Spitfire reassured her before chuckling quietly to herself. “Alas, the same can’t be said for my kitchen. But you know how the saying goes, ‘a crash is only a failure if you fail to learn from it.’ Besides, I needed an excuse to buy a new oven.”

With all the talk about anniversaries and cooking, Applejack realized she had neglected her duties as a gracious host. Unexpected they may be, Spitfire and Soarin’ were still guests in her house. “Can Ah get you a drink? We’ve still got a few barrels of cider from the last season.”

“You have no idea how tempting that is, but I’m afraid ciders off the menu for me,” Spitfire said with evident reluctance.

Applejack was genuinely surprised to see Spitfire turn the offer down especially since she had taken such a liking to the Apple family brew. Over the past year alone Spitfire ordered a half-dozen barrels for her personal use and that was outside normal cider-making season. When Applejack expressed her confusion, she could see that Spitfire was hesitant to explain.

“Well, it’s n-nothing,” Spitfire explained at the start. She seemed to immediately regret the mentioning of cider. However, she soon remembered her promise to always stay honest with Applejack. The night was supposed to be about the anniversary and Spitfire felt like she was about to steal the show. “Okay, the thing is—”

Before Spitfire could finish her sentence, however, Soarin’ poked his head in from the kitchen. “Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m afraid there won’t be any cider or wine on the menu tonight. Spitfire’s pregnant and you know how jealous she can get.”

Jealousy wasn’t the only vice that Spitfire possessed. The mood in the living room was torn between Applejack’s joy and surprise and Spitfire’s simmering anger. “Soarin’, you blithering dolt! I told you to let me break the news when I’m ready!”

“Oh.” While a bit surprised that Applejack hadn’t been informed yet, Soarin’ was unphased by the Wonderbolt Captain’s anger. “I thought you had already told her.”

“I am going to strangle you in your sleep,” Spitfire growled. While Applejack wasn’t worried about the pegasus carrying out such a threat, she was worried that something might catch fire if the hot-blooded Wonderbolt didn’t calm down.

As usual, Soarin’ just seemed to laugh off the threat. “Oh, you say that now but then who’ll massage your wings at the end of the day?” With another hearty chuckle, Soarin’ trotted back to the kitchen muttering something about spinach puffs.

Spitfire let out a quiet, annoyed sigh as she folded her hooves across the armrest and rested her chin upon them. “He’s got a good point there,” she murmured. On the bright side, she didn’t have to worry about how she would break the news to Applejack and technically she didn’t have to worry about being blamed for making the night about herself.

In a move that shouldn’t have surprised Spitfire, the only thing that Applejack felt about the news was happiness for her friend. “You’re pregnant? Well fry me in dough and call me a fritter, that’s wonderful news!” she exclaimed with unbridled excitement. “How far along are you? Do you know if its a boy or a girl yet?”

“It’s only been about three months, so I’ve still got another eight to go,” Spitfire answered. She didn’t want to make the night about her but she couldn’t help but indulge Applejack’s curiosity. It wasn’t as though she didn’t like the subject either. Even as she spoke, a warm smile crept upon her face and she moved one hoof to overtop of her belly. “And call me old fashioned, but I want to keep it a mystery for a little while longer.”

Applejack did some quick mental calculations in her head and noticed a particular overlap in dates. “Ah don’t suppose this has to do with why you pushed your wedding up a few months?”

“Well can you imagine me getting married while ten months pregnant?” Spitfire laughed at the thought and was soon joined by the other mare. “I’d be walking down that aisle looking like a blimp.”

“But you’d also be the sexiest blimp in Canterlot,” Soarin’ chimed in from the kitchen.

Another laugh was had at the somewhat unorthodox compliment. “Ah thought you said you weren’t going to think about kids until after the honeymoon.”

“That was the plan,” Spitfire said before rolling her eyes. Having kids had been her plan the whole time but she would’ve preferred having more time to prepare. She imagined a lot of parents had similar thoughts. “The plan was working fine up until the point that somepony accidentally filled my pillbox with dinner mints!”

Once again, Soarin’ lobbed his response from the kitchen. “It’s not my fault the mailmare mixed up our packages!”

“You didn’t stop to wonder why they looked nothing like my usual pills?”

“And you didn’t stop to wonder why your pills left your breath minty fresh?”

Ears, eyes, and hooves dropped as Spitfire admitted defeat in the battle of words. Folding her hooves across her chest, she pouted, “I thought they were flavored.”

Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at the exchange. There was never any malice behind the words. It was more like the playful banter between old friends, which wasn’t too far from the truth. “Ah guess that means we won’t be seeing much of you at the air shows for a little while,” Applejack remarked. No doubt Rainbow Dash was taking that news hard, as would many Wonderbolt fans once the news broke out.

“I’m afraid so,” Spitfire said. It was no surprise that being absent from the aerobatics scene was the biggest drawback to starting a family. While she accepted this fact of life, it didn’t make it any less unpleasant for the pegasus who loved to fly. “On the bright side, Soarin’s offered to split some of the paternity leave with me so I can at least stand attending practises.”

“Well good to hear that he’s being supportive.”

“Soarin’s actually really keen on the whole father thing,” Spitfire said as she peered over the couch towards the kitchen. Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash appeared to be having some trouble with the main course. “A few months ago, Soarin’ barely knew how to turn on the oven, and now he’s got himself enrolled in half a year’s worth of cooking courses, baby care lessons, and he’s even been practicing with a bag of flour on the weekends. He’s really pulled his act together.” The pegasus let out a contented sigh as she continued to watch her love working the kitchen. The pregnancy might have been unplanned, but it appeared to her that fatherhood might be one of the best things to happen to Soarin’. She was proud of him.

That sense of pride lasted only a few seconds. A moment later, there was some muffled profanity followed by a rather loud bang that resulted in the nearby wall becoming coated in a thick red paste.

“Don’t worry, it’s just tomato sauce!” Rainbow reassured everyone.

“Ah somehow doubt Dash would react the same to the idea of kids,” Applejack remarked. Of course, being two mares meant that they never had to worry about unwanted pregnancies. In fact, they didn’t have to worry about kids at all as far as Applejack knew. She’d be lying if she said a part of her didn’t feel envious of Spitfire. In a few months the Wonderbolt would be starting her own family—something that Applejack still held her own hopes for.

“By the way,” Spitfire spoke up, snapping the contemplating farmer pony from her train of though, “I think the mailmare must’ve lost your RSVP. You and Dash can make it to the wedding, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Applejack replied.

Just then another loud clamour came from the kitchen, which sounded akin to a bag of tomatoes getting shot out of a cannon into a brick wall. A few seconds later, from the kitchen emerged two pegasi that were covered from head to hoof in tomato sauce and various herbs and flecks of vegetables.

“So when’s dinner?” Spitfire inquired while holding back a giggle.

“It was a hard-fought battle,” Soarin’ began as he straightened his posture, “we did everything that we could, but a true general knows when he is defeated. There is no shame in admitting that.”

Applejack was a bit surprised that Soarin’ managed to deliver that with a straight face. “So what’s our plan now, general?” she asked.

“I already ordered for pizza before we came,” Spitfire answered before glancing to a nearby wall clock. “It should be arriving pretty soon.”

“Hm, on the one hoof, you apparently had no faith in my cooking skills from the start,” Soarin’ remarked with a pensive look in his eyes, “but on the other hoof, I am getting pizza. I think I can call that a fair trade.”

“Well Ah ain’t got no problem with pizza,” Applejack said before she hopped off the couch. As far as she was concerned, the company she spent the evening with was far more important than what they were eating later on. “Ah’d best see about getting some of that mess in the kitchen cleaned up.”

As she trotted towards the kitchen, Rainbow Dash swooped in front to bar her path. “Um, just before you go in there,” Rainbow said with a nervous smile, “I just want to say that I love you.”

“Well Ah love you too, hun, but Ah don’t see what—Sweet golden throne of Canterlot! Mah kitchen!”

*******************

By the time that Spitfire and Soarin’ had to leave, night had already overtaken Sweet Apple Acres. One could barely see more than a few feet past the glow of the barn’s lanterns but that was not Applejack’s major concern. If it had been just dark out, she would not have had any objections to Spitfire or Soarin’ leaving but the heavy overcast was soon dropping rain by the bucket-loads upon the orchard.

“Ah thought Ah asked you to talk to your supervisor about postponing tonight’s rain,” Applejack remarked as she shot an annoyed glance to the pegasus beside her.

“Oops,” was all Rainbow could respond with.

"Don’t suppose you could go out and just clean that all up?” Applejack asked.

“Oh no, those are some serious class five cumulonimbus clouds up there,” Rainbow Dash said with an unusual display of academic knowledge. “Anypony who flies through one of those is going to end up a crispy critter...except maybe me, of course.”

Applejack just rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her guests. “Maybe y’all should stay for the night,” she suggested. “You two can use mah bedroom, and Ah’ll sleep down here on the couch.”

“Once again, we seem to be in your debt,” Soarin’ said with a polite nod. He knew that Spitfire wouldn’t have been put off by a little bad weather, but he wasn’t about to let a pregnant mare fly out into a thunderstorm. The easiest way to accomplish that goal was just to make it more enticing to stay where she was. “Come, my dear, you should rest those weary hooves,” he continued. On par with his trend of melodramatic charm, he swept Spitfire up into his hooves and proceeded to carry her up the stairs.

Spitfire, while a bit surprised and embarrassed at first, was quick to fall into the role of the happy maiden. She hooked her hooves around his neck and nestled her head against his chest. As the pair disappeared up the stairs, Applejack couldn’t help but hope that there wouldn’t be any disturbances in the night.

“Try not to make too much noise,” Applejack called out to them, “there are still little fillies sleeping under this roof.”

Applejack wasn’t sure if the couple heard her or not but either way she decided to let it go. It was their anniversary, too, so she figured it would be best to give them some privacy. With a belly full of pizza and muscles worn out by cleaning up a disaster of a kitchen, Applejack figured she may as well retire for the night too. She had hoped to take a stroll through the orchard with Rainbow Dash after dinner, but the rainstorm had quashed those plans.

Only a few seconds after settling down on the couch, Applejack felt the familiar warmth and touch of a feathered appendage draping across her frame. Instinctively, the earth pony leaned and rested up against the pegasus beside her to share in the warmth of her embrace.

“Happy anniversary, Dashie,” Applejack whispered before settling her head across her folded hooves.

“So you wanna be big spoon or the little spoon tonight?” Rainbow asked with a playful laugh. “I messed up dinner so you get to choose.”

“Come on, Rainbow, just go to sleep.” Though the offer was tempting, Applejack just wanted to sleep right now. Plus they were sleeping on her couch, which barely had enough space to begin with.

Disappointed, Rainbow Dash went along with it and pulled a nearby blanket over the two of them. However, it didn’t take long for Applejack to realize that perhaps she wasn’t as fatigued as she had originally thought.

“Hey Dash,” Applejack whispered as she gave her love a gentle nudge. “You awake?”

“I am now,” murmured the pegasus in response. “What is it?”

Applejack paused for a second to collect her thoughts. It seemed like such a trivial issue but it continued to nag at her mind. “You don’t mind the idea of kids some day, right?”

In the darkness, Applejack couldn’t see the pegasus cocking a tired eyebrow at the question. “I dunno,” Rainbow replied after a period of silence. “Kids sound like a lot of work. Between me and the Wonderbolts, and you and the farm, where would we find time to raise a kid?”

“Well it ain’t impossible,” Applejack reasoned by drawing upon her own experiences. “Granny Smith and Big Mac helped raise me when I was a little filly, and Ah helped raise Applebloom after she was born.”

“Okay, fine...whatever.” The pegasus’ dismissive response only irked the farmer pony.

“That’s it? Ah bring up the subject of kids and you’re response is just ‘okay, fine...whatever’?”

“Well what do you want me to say?” Rainbow shot back, though fatigue was keeping her from raising her voice.

“Something. Anything! Ah’m talking about our future and you just shrugged it off.”

“Why are you so worried about the future? That’s the beauty about it: it hasn’t happened yet. We can worry about it later. Why not just enjoy the moment now?”

“Cause it’s important,” Applejack said as she rose up on the couch. “Plus Ah’m a farmer, it’s in mah nature to have things planned out. Ah always know where Ah’m going days, weeks, and even months in advance. You, on the other hoof, can barely plan for dinner after breakfast.”

Such a slight could not go unanswered by Rainbow Dash, who rose up to meet Applejack’s gaze. “Hey! I planned all of today like two weeks ago.”

“Oh yeah? And what are you going to do tomorrow?” Applejack held a smug grin when the pegasus was unable to answer with little more than an indecisive stammer. “See? There’s a difference between planning a single day and planning out your future. And it’s not just my future Ah’m worried about, it’s the future that we’re gonna share. Is it so wrong that I just want a proper discussion about us?”

“And now she’s gone baby crazy,” Rainbow Dash grumbled under her breath. Sadly it was not quiet enough to elude the mare two inches away from her.

“What did you just call me?” Applejack growled while glaring daggers at Dash.

In most situations like these, there’s a small voice in the back of one’s head that starts sounding an alarm. It’s the same alarm that takes part in the ‘fight or flight’ reaction that most living things possess. It is a valuable aid in the flight response in helping the pony recognize that the snarling timberwolf in front of them isn’t interested in making friends. However, in some ponies, like Rainbow Dash, the reaction to danger was not flight but rather embracing it, and jumping headlong into the abyss. After many years of this behavior, the brain just stopped trying.

In ancient times, such ponies usually removed themselves from the gene pool quickly.

“Baby crazy,” Rainbow snapped back. “Spitfire’s pregnant so now it’s got you thinking with your egg-factory and its screaming at you to do something about it. Well I hate to break it to you, Applejack, but I’m a mare. I can’t make you pregnant!”

Now anger was beginning to override her fatigue, leading to Applejack grumbling under her breath. “Don’t remind me,” she growled.

“Well excuse me for having the wrong parts.” A problem with two overly competitive ponies in a relationship was that every argument was seen as just another competition to win, and neither ponies were the type to give up easily in any kind of a fight. “And even if I did, maybe I just don’t like the idea of having to take care of a little kid.”

“That’s just because you don’t like having to tie yourself down to anyone or anything.”

“Well d’uh! I’m a pegasus: I’m born to fly free. I thought you understood that.”

“What I understand is a pegasus so scared of work and responsibility that she’ll do whatever it takes to avoid it.”

Rainbow Dash let out a bitter growl before flaring her wings up. “That’s it, I’m not having this discussion. I’m going home,” she announced before flying to the nearest exit, which happened to be a nearby window.

“Oh sure, fly off again like you always do!” Applejack scolded as she threw up her hooves in dismay. She didn’t even bother trying to stop Dash from leaving since the pegasus would be gone before she even got a chance to grab her rope. Besides, if she had to physically tie Rainbow Dash down just to talk then it wasn’t something that could be fixed by a single conversation.

It wasn’t until watching the pegasus disappear out the window that the gravity of the situation sunk in for Applejack. A crippling dose of reality hit her like a dropped anvil, and her heart sank as such. “Oh god, what have Ah done now?” she groaned before burying her face into her hoof.

“Applejack?” a faint voice called out. Glancing over to the stairs revealed Spitfire standing at the top. “I heard some shouting. Is everything okay?” Spitfire didn’t need a verbal response to her question as the empty room and the look on Applejack’s face told her enough. “Oh, you poor dear,” Spitfire said as she offered her sympathies. She gestured for Applejack to come up, which the farmer readily did, and gave her friend a reassuring hug. “Come on, AJ, how about we sit and you can tell me all about what’s going on.”

Spitfire led the dejected pony back to the bedroom, wherein Soarin’ was quite surprised to see the pair. Thankfully, quick reflexes and a nearby pillow kept the situation from getting too embarrassing for the trio. “Honey, what’s going on?” an anxious Soarin’ asked. He remembered having dreams that began as such but he was certain that this wasn’t going in that direction.

“She and Rainbow Dash got into a fight,” Spitfire explained. She carefully led Applejack to the side of the bed where the two mares took a seat. She offered her shoulder to Applejack to rest upon.

“We were just talking about kids and the future,” Applejack began to explain as she took up the pegasus’ offer, “and she just started brushing it off. Ah just...Ah just snapped at her, and it all went downhill from there.”

“Please tell me you didn’t go baby crazy,” Soarin’ remarked, which earned him a very swift smack from his Captain. “Ow! What was that for?”

Spitfire shot him her trademark fiery glare. “That was uncalled for,” she chastised.

“It’s true, though. We got into a few squabbles over kids when we started going out.”

The fact that Spitfire couldn't come up with a snappy retort was her way of acknowledging the truth in his words, as loathe as she was to admit it even to herself. However, using her as an example was always problematic because she was known for having a volatile temper. If one tried to use her past as a list of topics or things to avoid, there would be very little left over for a couple to enjoy.

There was, however, one important lesson that Spitfire could take from her own relationship and with that in mind she turned her attention back to the mare beside her. “Listen, every relationship goes through a bit of turbulence,” she explained to Applejack. “Soarin’ and I have argued about pretty much everything at one point or another. The important thing is to know how to handle a fight afterwards. I suggest you give yourself and Rainbow Dash a little bit of time to cool off, and then you two can sit down and have a nice, civil conversation on the subject.”

“And then comes the make-up sex!”

“Must you ruin every moment?” Spitfire said in a low growl.

Yet while Spitfire was a simmering low-flame, Applejack just chuckled at the couple’s antics. If they could make a relationship work with Spitfire’s volatility, then Applejack and Rainbow Dash could get over a petty little argument. Besides, their friendship had been littered with disagreements in the past and they always fixed things up afterwards. During the Annual Running of the Leaves, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were at each other’s throats by the end of it and they still patched things up afterwards.

“Maybe Ah was a little hard on Rainbow Dash,” Applejack admitted after her laughter had died down. “It’s just...hard for me not to think about these things. Y’always have to be thinking ahead in the farming business.”

“I imagine you both have things to learn about life and relationships,” Spitfire added with a friendly pat on the back. “The important thing is that you both must be willing to learn them together, and that you remember those lessons.”

Feeling a bit more secure in her future and filled with a renewed sense to make amends, Applejack expressed her sense of gratitude by giving Spitfire a tight, affectionate hug. She knew this wasn’t the end of her problems as she still had to go talk to Rainbow Dash but at least she would be going into that discussion with the intent to make things right rather than try to win the previous argument. A loud and sudden thunderclap, however, reminded Applejack that the storm outside made going after the pegasus a risky prospect.

“Ah just hope Ah can get to her soon,” Applejack said as she glanced to the nearby window. The weather outside was getting worse by the second. As fate would have it, she would be finding Rainbow Dash far sooner than she had expected. A section of the ceiling came crashing down in a shower of water and splinters. In the midst of the broken timbers and shingles was the aforementioned pegasus, twitching and singed from a close-encounter with nature’s fury.

“Oh my—Rainbow!” Applejack’s heart almost jumped out of her chest both from the shock of the sudden arrival as well as seeing her love in such a broken state. By a small miracle, if one could call it that, Rainbow's crash had been softened by the bedand narrowly missed the other ponies.

“She must have been struck in the storm,” Spitfire stated as she rushed over to the fallen pegasus’ side. Judging by the singed mane, lightning was indeed the culprit behind the crash. Using what little first aid knowledge she possessed, Spitfire checked the pegasus’ condition. “Pulse is still there,” she reported after a few seconds. “Breathing is a bit erratic.” Spitfire looked up to her fellow Wonderbolt. “Soarin’, get help! Remember to fly low.”

“Right!” With a quick snap salute and an even quicker departure, the Wonderbolt headed out the window towards Ponyville Hospital, remembering to fly low to the ground so there wasn’t a repeat of this catastrophe.

Applejack desperately wanted to do something to help, but she had no idea how. She was just a farmer pony: she had no experience in treating the injured beyond the minor scrapes and bumps that little sisters would invariably return home with. She felt powerless to help, and when it was somebody that you loved, it made it the worst feeling in the world.

“Is she going to be okay?” a fretful Applejack asked.

“Doesn’t look too bad,” Spitfire reported as she sifted through the pegasus’ mane to look for signs of serious injury. “Problem is you can never tell how bad a lightning strike is until they wake up. I remember taking a small zap about eight years ago and I couldn’t do basic math for the rest of the day.”

Applejack shuffled over to Rainbow’s side, laying down beside the pegasus with growing anxiety. “Come on, Rainbow, wake up,” she whimpered as she nudged her love’s cheeks with her nose.

Just then, the unconscious pony let out a quiet murmur followed a second later a prolonged groan. When Rainbow Dash began to stir, Applejack let out a gasp.

“Rainbow!” she called out as though volume would speed up the process.

Whether it was through Applejack’s voice or a simple stroke of luck, the pegasus gradually came to her senses. At first, to Rainbow Dash everything was just one giant miasma of unrecognizable sounds of figures. She heard voices but could not put names to them, and her vision was still too blurred to make anything out.

“What...happened?” Rainbow murmured in a weakened voice. When her eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting in the room, she found herself staring face-to-face to a one very relieved pony. There was only one immediate problem with the situation. “Who are you?”

Applejack’s smile of elation fell faster than Rainbow had through her roof.

“Don’t worry, AJ, a bit of memory loss isn’t uncommon with high voltage injuries,” Spitfire interjected while trying to remain calm and rational. Tapping her hoof against the fallen pegasus’ face, she guided Rainbow’s gaze over to her. “Do you know who I am?” she asked in a slow, hospitable tone in order to keep everyone calm.

Rainbow shook her head.

“Do you know where you are?”

Another shake.

“Do you know what day it is?”

“Tuesday?”

It was Sunday. Spitfire shot a worried glance over to her friend.

“Do you remember your name?”

Rainbow Dash did nothing at first and stared blankly into space. “I...don’t,” she answered as the realization dawned upon her.

“Okay, now we can worry.”