//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Double Dare // by Wordplay42 //------------------------------// Chapter 5- “Uh-oh.” Applejack looked up from the book and over at Twilight, who was sitting with a look that was a definite mixture of worry and fear. The farm mare smirked. “Ah know, pretty intense, huh?” she said. “Pinkie, Ah think it’s your turn ta’ read.” “Yeesss!” the pink pony cheered, snatching the book from Applejack and holding it up, her blue eyes wide and sparkling as she prepared to read the next chapter. “This is so exciting! Where’d we stop? Okay, here it is.” She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to start, but suddenly Twilight leaped forward and placed a hoof on the book, forcing it down. Pinkie Pie glanced up, confused. “What?” she asked. “Okay, I wasn’t going to sing all of it, just a little – “ “No!” Twilight said, grabbing the book with her magic and quickly flipping through it. “Wait, what? No, never mind. It’s not that, it’s….is this the one? No, it can’t be! I thought it was…..This isn’t good.” The purple unicorn lowered the book and looked with wide eyes at each of her friends which sat around her. Each returned her look with a blank stare. “Darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked, her voice tinged with concern. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” “No, no, no, no, no,” Twilight stuttered, flipping through the book again, confirming her suspicions. “How could I have forgotten? It’s been so long since I read this one, but…how could I have forgotten?” “Twilight, what are you talkin’ about?” Applejack demanded, standing and forcing Twilight to lower the book by using a hoof to grab it from her magical aura. “Don’t you see?” Twilight demanded, her voice rising in panic. “This is The Search for the Alicorn Stone!” “Uh….yeah it is,” Applejack confirmed. “What about it?” “This isn’t good,” Twilight said, grabbing the book back up and flipping to the last pages. “Hey! Those are spoilers!” Pinkie protested. Twilight ignored her. “It’s been so long since I’ve read this one, I completely forgot! Oh, why did Rainbow Dash have to become trapped in this one?” “Twilight!” Spike finally intervened, his voice snapping Twilight from her panic. “What are you talking about? What’s wrong with this book?” “It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember why I didn’t read it more than three times! I didn’t like this one!” “You didn’t like it, so you only read it three times?” Applejack asked, confused. Twilight nodded. “Of course,” she replied, off-handedly. “And the reason I don’t like it is….is….” “Twilight,” Spike said, voice low and tinged with impatience. “What’s wrong with this book?” Twilight swallowed. “The….the companion in this book…well….it doesn’t end well for them.” The ponies plus Spike blinked, still staring blankly at the purple unicorn. It was Fluttershy who broke the silence. “Wh-what do you mean?” she asked nervously. “What happens?” “Well, if I remember right,” Twilight said, flipping idly back through the book. “The original companion in this book that accompanies Daring tries to save her from an avalanche at the end of the book. Daring makes it out alright, but the companion….wasn’t so lucky.” There was a general gasp from the others in the room. “Well, now you just gave the end of the book away,” Pinkie griped, crossing her hooves over her chest. Applejack glared at the pink pony before stepping forward, her grass-green eyes locking with Twilight’s own deep purple ones. “Are you sayin’,” the farm pony asked. “That Rainbow gets trapped in an avalanche?” “Seeing how the events in the book haven’t been changed much just because Rainbow Dash is the new companion, I think the answer to that is yes,” Twilight replied weakly. “But, surely she would just appear back in this world, after we finish reading?” Rarity said, clearly shaken. “It…it wouldn’t be permanent, would it?” “I don’t know,” Twilight answered. “What do we do?” Spike asked, eyes worried, and voice quivering just a little bit. “We – we can’t leave her in there!” Twilight was at a loss for words. She wanted her friend back as much as the others, but nothing like this had ever happened before. She shifted from hoof to hoof. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “There has to be something we can do,” Rarity protested. Twilight looked to the marshmallow white pony, and completely understood her desperation. None of them knew if the spell would reverse itself and bring Rainbow back safely from the book if she went the way of the original character. Would she be trapped forever inside it? Could they take the chance to find out? She didn’t have any answers. But she did know someone who might. “Spike?” she said, turned to her assistant. The little dragon looked up at her, his emerald eyes wide with anxiety. “Send a letter to Princess Celestia. Tell her the problem. Maybe she will have an answer to this.” Spike saluted smartly and quickly scampered away to gather up a quill and paper to compose his letter to the princess. In the meantime, Twilight picked the book up in her magic and flipped nervously through it again. Honestly, she’d give anything just to go back to that morning and avoid this whole thing. She didn’t even want to think about losing her friend. But…what if…? No, she told herself firmly. We’ll fix this. We will. As Celestia is my witness, I will bring Rainbow Dash back. There was a flash of green light from the other room, and Twilight knew that Spike had sent the letter. A tense silence had overtaken the others, and was only broken by the sound of Spike’s clawed feet on the wood floor of the library. He ran back to join them once more. “Sent,” he reported, but Twilight could still hear the uncertainty in his voice. But having a letter on the way to Celestia allowed her to calm down a little. If there was anyone who would know how to fix this, it would be the Princess. “So, what do we do until the Princess responds?” Fluttershy’s voice was tense and softer than normal. The others agreed silently, their gazes riveted on Twilight. The unicorn didn’t have any answers, but they couldn’t just sit around driving themselves crazy while they waited for a letter from the Princess with instructions on what to do to fix this whole thing. Twilight looked at the book that was hanging before her in the air, then moved it to float in front of Pinkie Pie. She set it on the ground in front of the pink pony, open to the page that they had left off when Twilight had realized the danger that Rainbow Dash was in. “Well,” she said. “I guess we’ll just keep reading, for now.” Pinkie Pie snatched the book happily from the ground and held it up so she could see it, but Twilight could tell that the others were less satisfied with her plan. But what could they do? She knew the part where Rainbow Dash would be in the most danger, and it wasn’t for a while. In the meantime, why not continue? It would keep them from driving themselves nuts with worry. “It’s okay,” Twilight assured them. “And it shouldn’t take too long for the Princess to respond.” Pinkie Pie didn’t need to be reminded of her turn, and she was already preparing to start. She took a huge breath, her blue eyes sparkling with anticipation. “Wait,” Applejack stopped her. The pink pony looked with surprise at the farm mare, as she puffed her cheeks up with the breath she’d just taken. “No singing, Pinkie. Got it?” Pinkie let the breath go in one and looked disappointed. “Ah, c’mon,” she argued. “What’s the fun in that? And I was just going to sing a little…” “Just read the story,” Applejack interrupted, rolling her eyes. ~**~ Rainbow Dash groaned and rubbed her head with a hoof. She had a pounding headache, and her mouth felt dry and tasted like salt. For a moment, she wondered if she’d crashed while doing a trick. It would explain the headache, though not really the salt. It also didn’t explain why she felt like there were waves washing over her hind legs. She supposed the best option was just to open her eyes and look. Which she did. The sun was hard and merciless on her throbbing head and Rainbow groaned again, squinting against the yellow, early-morning light. But as the spots in her vision faded, she was greeted by the sight of a long, sandy beach which seemed to stretch out in every direction. The beach sloped upwards, but just beyond the rise she was certain she could spot the distant shadow of trees, a green smudge against the blazing blue sky and the billowy, white cotton-ball clouds which drifted lazily past. The pegasus shook her head, trying to clear it, but the movement only made her dizzy and her headache worse. But the pain focused her mind a little, as she recalled just what had happened to cause her to wake up on some strange beach in the middle of nowhere. Daring. Daring Do. She’d been on a ship with Daring Do. And there had been a storm. At the memory of the storm, Rainbow Dash shuddered in spite of herself. She’d never been that big a fan of the water, being a pegasus, a creature of the air. And having that much water, all around her, choking her and pulling her down….it had not been fun. It was sheer luck that she’d managed to wash up here. Wherever “here” was. Slowly, she gathered her legs under her and stood, flicking sea water from her parti-colored tail. She glanced around, recalling the fact that she’d lost sight of Daring when the two had been thrown from the Intrepid Wind into the water. She wondered if her light brown lookalike was alright. “Ooo-kay,” Rainbow said slowly, glancing around. “I’m on a beach, in the middle of nowhere, and I don’t know where Daring Do is. I don’t even know where I am.” She looked around once more, trying to make up her mind. With a shrug, she took a step forward. “I guess there’s only one way to find out,” she said, trying to make her voice sound optimistic. But despite the cheery tone, she couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit uncertain. She was lost, far from Ponyville, and had no idea how to get back home or where the one friend she had at the moment was. This wasn’t entirely a good situation. Rainbow Dash tried to put those thoughts behind her, and pressed on, walking up the slope of the beach and aiming more inland. She stayed on the sand, deciding that maybe she should stick near the shore and look to see if Daring was somewhere on the beach, unconscious and washed up like she had been. But, even as she stuck to the shore and away from the trees, she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Rainbow Dash paused for a minute and whipped her head around, her magenta eyes landing on the line of foliage that was maybe a hundred yards away. She stood, searching the darkness, but saw nothing. Her eyes narrowed and she carried on. She’d made it a few more feet when she thought for certain she heard something rustling in the thick bushes towards the jungle to her left. She froze and looked again, but once more she saw nothing. Rainbow Dash snorted. “Is something in there?” she shouted, her voice strong. “Come on out and show yourself!” She planted her feet firmly around her, preparing herself for whatever decided to come out of the trees. But nothing came, and after a minute of watching and waiting, Rainbow Dash snorted again. She shook her head, as if trying to shake off the paranoia she felt and continued on, her hooves making soft noises in the sand as she padded along. The third time she stopped, she was certain that she could hear the sound of hooves behind her. She turned and spun, rearing up onto back legs and waving her forelegs before her like a boxer. “Come and get m-“ she started, but was cut off when she saw just who had come up behind her. “Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do called, quickening her pace to catch up with the many-colored pegasus. Rainbow’s eyes widened and she fell back onto all four’s. “Daring?” she asked, almost not believing what she was seeing. “Where have you been?” “I was wondering the same thing about you!” the light brown mare replied, closing the distance between the two pegusi. Her magenta eyes moved up and down Rainbow’s form, checking the mare for injuries. “Are you alright, kid?” Rainbow Dash smiled smugly and waved a hoof dismissively. “Of course I’m alright,” she answered. “It’s gonna take a little more than just a shipwreck to stop me.” Daring herself looked a little worse for wear, but didn’t look outwardly injured. Her shirt was a little wrinkled and stained, and there was sand pressed into her coat, but she still had her hat. Rainbow Dash knew from her reading that there was almost nothing that Daring wouldn’t do to make sure her hat stayed with her. It had been a gift from her first “enemy”, a looter whom Daring had almost defeated, but had been thwarted. The looter had given her his hat, and a few encouraging words. She’d had the hat ever since. “Well, then, you’re tougher than you look,” Daring said, mirroring Rainbow’s smug expression. The blue pegasus started to laugh, but paused when she realized what her counterpart had said. “Wait a –“ she started to protest, but she was cut off once more by Daring. “I’m trying to figure out where we are,” she told Rainbow Dash as she looked around at the scenery. “We were about four hours or so out from Shanghoof when the ship wrecked.” “Is this an island?” Rainbow asked, interested. Daring shook her head. “No, it’s part of mainland Equestria,” she said. “I flew up a little ways and checked it out. But it’s far from where we were supposed to port. I think I saw a village further inland. We should go and see if the locals know where we are.” Daring turned and started for the trees, and for a moment, Rainbow Dash hesitated to follow her, remembering the odd feeling and the strange noises she’d heard from the tree line earlier. But the fearless blue pegasus quickly put uncertainties fears behind her and followed after the adventurer. After all, it couldn’t be that dangerous, could it?