Learning to Love: A Daring Spectrum of Apples

Chapter 3

Daring dodged left and right as the bear took swipe after swipe at her. Applejack kicked her left hind leg up and flipped out her own knife, catching it in her mouth tightly, rushing forward to help. She buck-kicked the bear in the small of the back and bounced away from the enraged bear. The bear snarled, spinning around and batting at her. She ducked, slashing up and cutting open its paw. She jumped back and Daring kicked the bear in the legs from behind. The bear snarled then turned and backhanded Daring to the side. She hit the ground hard and rolled, Applejack cut into the bear's back to distract it from her. Roaring in pain and something akin to frustration, it turned back to Applejack and grabbed her by the tail. It jerked her up then back into the air. It spun her like a lasso then tossed her into the ruined throne of the sun goddess, which she hit with a sickening thud.

Applejack bounced off the throne and hit the ground hard, groaning softly and she slowly pushed herself up, shaking her head. She looked down then gasped and yelled, "Wait!" Daring moved out of the bear’s range looking to Applejack in shock. Standing on shaking hooves, Applejack held up a small cub a light grin dancing on her face. "Yer a smart cookie, right miss bear?" The bear growled and slowly fell to four paws, Applejack nodded then tossed the cub towards her. "Take this and let us go." The bear caught the cub in her mouth then rushed off, causing Applejack to sighed in relief.

"Great thinking, Miss Applejack. Are you okay?" She looked up at Daring, who held a hoof towards her. Applejack blushed lightly then took it and nodded.

"Ah'm fine. Just some quick thinking. You okay?" Daring nodded turning away to look around the room. Twilight herded the others in and Pinkie cheered for Applejack and Daring. Dash was pouting and pointedly glaring at Twilight. "I could have helped them."

"No offense Dash but it seems like Daring and Applejack had this covered." Dash glared at Twilight and soon they began to argue. Daring rolled her eyes then looked around. "Now we look for the entrance to the underbelly." She jumped down from the ruined throne and trotted down the throne stairs to where everyone was waiting.

Fluttershy fluttered away from the group, over to Applejack and hugged her tightly. "Thank you Applejack! I'd hate for anyone to get hurt." Applejack waved off the pony with a smile before following the timid mare off the throne and towards the group. Applejack winced lightly as her leg pulled and protested. She gulped softly then set her chin. She wasn't hurt just a bit tense was all. She nodded and trotted over to Dash and Twilight.

Dash and her hoof bumped while Daring frowned as she scanned the room. "Princess Celestia said when the sun dips, only then will the path be clear. So I guess all we can do is play the waiting game." The other mares nodded and she took a seat, closing her eyes.

Applejack looked around and frowned at Daring, who was sitting with her eyes closed. One of her hooves was holding a cup and another hoof was a bottle of water. She was breathing deeply as if she were sleeping, her face blank. She slowly moved the hoof with the bottle towards the hoof with the cup but paused when they were an inch apart. Her eyes snapped open and she looked around. "It's time." The other mares looked up from their activities and packed up before trotting over to her.

Applejack moved at a slower pace, wincing. She hadn't want to admit it before but now it was clear she was injured but she just didn't know just how badly her leg was damaged. She winced again and hoped nothing else would surprise them when they went down there. The sun was beginning to dip as Daring was scanned the room. The others did the same and Pinkie squealed. "Look!"

They spun around and gasped as the statue of Princess Celestia began to glow and a beam of light shot out of her horn and hit the ground under them. "Quickly! Out the door!" They rushed out as the room behind them began to glow and the sound of crashing broke the silence that had surrounded the kingdom they were in. As soon as the noise ended, rather abruptly really, they turned back.

They trotted back in cautiously, gasping simultaneously as they realized the ground was gone from where they had just been standing and a flight of stairs in its place. Daring looked back and nodded her head to them. "Okay, team, stay close. We don't know what else could come out and try to harm us." They nodded and trotted down the stairs, keeping close to their temporary leader. Daring looked to Twilight, who nodded, and shot a beam of light shot out of her horn, lighting the corridor. Everyone gasped as the light went from her horn to the jewels that aligned the walls causing it to become lit and glow a pale lavender. Daring grinned at Twilight and they began forward.

They weren't very deep in when they came to a large room. She looked around then forward and stopped everyone. They looked past her and found two passageways. Frowning deeply, she looked at them both and Pinkie bounced over. "Cool! Looks like we have to split up!" Daring nodded and looked to Twilight, who was examining the tunnels with glowing eyes.

"I can't tell which one will lead us to the statue but if we split up one team is sure to find it." Daring nodded and was about to speak but Pinkie bounced over and said, "Okay team! Rarity, Fluttershy and I will take the left tunnel! You guys take the right!" They looked at her in confusion then to Daring, who coughed and nodded.

"Um, I guess that's okay." Twilight frowned slightly, since it seemed they should have Applejack go with the others but nodded at Daring look, then trotted over to Rarity. "Rarity do you trust me?" Rarity nodded in confusion and Twilight's horn lit up, before she leaned forward and pressed it against Rarity's. Rarity flinched and moved back but Twilight hushed her softly,moving with her and closing her eyes.

Rarity's eyes widened briefly then slowly slid shut and she leaned into Twilight. For a short second everything grew to a painful brightness, leaving an imprint of the scene as it slowly dimmed. Twilight moved back, still a little groggy from the use of her magic to that extent.

"Okay. I synced Rarity's mind to mine for the next few days. I know we're probably only going to be down here for a short while but I still want to make sure that we have a way to communicate." They nodded and she looked to the left tunnel and carved an R at the top then did the same for the other but a T in place of the R. "T stands for Twilight, R for Rarity. If one group comes back empty handed then head down the other path to meet up with everyone." They nodded again and with a look to one another they began down their trails.

Applejack winced again as her leg protested painfully, threatening to buckle once again. Their tunnel led them up and down and all kinds of around, yeah, it was a feeling she didn’t like. Daring and Twilight were talking about the statue, while Dash admired Daring from behind. Applejack was a bit thankful Daring had ordered her to take rear in their group, she hated looking weak in front of others. Especially a certain cyan pegasus, who was looking at damn Daring! Applejack grimaced as her leg buckled again and finally decided to call out,"Hey Twi', how much farther do ya think?" Twilight stopped talking then frowned. "Not sure. The statue is said to be in the center of the kingdom. The garden is the center of the kingdom but that’s miles from the front of the castle."

Applejack held in a pitiful groan as she looked back and blanched at how pale her leg looked. It was a light shade of yellow orange while the rest of her was orange. Not good. Not good at all. Dash was still grinning at Daring, who was looking around. "How about a break?" Dash nodded and Applejack collapsed onto her haunch in relief. Twilight pulled out some food and offered it to the other mares, who took it happily. They began to eat slowly and Dash smiled as Daring looked at her and said, "So Dash, how do you like your first adventure?"

"Great. Is this what it mostly is? Seems easy." She leaned against a wall trying to look cool but failed when she slipped and fell back, causing Applejack and Daring to laugh.

"Sorry Dash, that was just too cute, but yes this does seem easy. Too easy." She frowned then studied the wall, her eyes widening in panic. "Dash, don't move!" Dash grew tense and looked around with her head.

"What? What's wrong?!" Daring moved towards her and tried to pull her forward but Dash flinched, moving fell back reflectively. She moved into the wall and winced as a clicking sound came from behind her. "What was that?" She whispered. Suddenly a low rumbling came and filled the room, causing them to look around, nervously. Daring winced then looked up. Her face paling slightly. "Oh dear."

"What was that?"

"It seems a booby trap had been activated." The rumbling grew and they turned to see a huge rock heading towards them. They froze all froze for half a second before taking off. "Damn it Dash!" Was the only thing that could be heard as the mare’s ran for their life.