Chapter 8-
The inside of the light brown stallion’s hut was not what Rainbow would have called ornately decorated, but she could infer that the pony who had rescued Rainbow Dash and Daring Do from the excited and fascinated villagers had a higher standard of living than the rest. The inside of the hut was small, but large enough to accommodate a large rug that covered the dirt floor which was set with several bowls of native fruit and some plates of something brown and steaming that Rainbow wasn’t entirely certain she wanted to try. Looking around she could tell that this one room served as everything from a kitchen to a dining room – as it was now – to a bedroom. Now it served as a place to entertain, but Rainbow Dash could see a bedroll neatly rolled and stashed in a corner, a shelf of bowls and cookware, and a few books and undecipherable bottles that sat in other places.
The stallion motioned with a hoof for Daring and Rainbow to come closer, and he himself sat at the end of the rug which seemed to serve as the table. Rainbow sat on one side while Daring took up a position on the other. Before either mare could question him, the stallion decided to take his chance to speak.
“I suppose you are wondering how I am able to speak common Equestrian,” the light brown stallion who had called Rainbow and Daring into his hut stated.
“It’s not the only thing I’m wondering,” Daring muttered under her breath. Rainbow couldn’t help but agree. The stallion smiled.
“My father was from the tamed Equestria,” he said, stressing the word “tamed” with a certain pride, as if he was glad that he was not one of those civilized city ponies. Rainbow would have given anything to hear Rarity react to this. “He mentioned it once or twice. A city called Fillydelphia, I believe.”
If Daring found the information about the stallion’s heritage interesting, she did not show it. Two ponies came in from outside and began to serve Rainbow Dash and Daring Do from the bowls of fruit and plates of brown stuff. Rainbow felt her stomach growl, but she eyed the brown mush with suspicion.
“Thank you for inviting us into your home like this,” Daring said, raising an apple, but merely holding it whilst she talked. “But if I may ask, who are you?”
“My real name is something you wouldn’t be able to pronounce, as part of the Manegolian language, but you may call me Oracle.”
“Oracle?” Rainbow Dash asked, half a banana stuffed into her mouth. “That’s your name?”
“It’s the Equestrian equivalent of my Manegolian name,” Oracle replied. “In truth, the Manegolian name means something more along the lines of “Seer of Many Things”, but that is a mouthful.”
“I am Daring Do,” the mare with the greyscale mane said in a way of greeting, the pointed to Rainbow Dash. “And this is my friend, Rainbow Dash.”
“A pleasure to meet you both,” Oracle said. “We do not get many visitors here.”
“Wouldn’t know why,” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“You said you were expecting us,” Daring Do said, the apple still in her hoof. “How could that be?”
“I saw you coming in Dream-Sight,” he told her. “You were brought here to help us.”
Daring raised an eyebrow,
“We weren’t brought here,” she corrected him. “We were in a shipwreck. We were heading back to the mainland of Equestria.”
“No, you were brought here,” Oracle insisted calmly. “For a great reason.”
Rainbow Dash and Daring Do shared a look.
“And…what reason is that?” Daring asked. But Oracle shook his head.
“No, no,” he said firmly but not unkindly. “No talk of this during dinner. You must be hungry. Please, eat.”
Once more Daring Do and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other over the table, but Oracle raised his cup, which was carved from wood, and the two pegasi did the same out of propriety. They drank together, then Oracle began to eat and the two pegasi did the same. However, though she partook in the fruit that lined the tables, Rainbow Dash carefully avoided the brown mush piled on her plate.
“You are not eating?” Oracle asked when he saw she had not finished her meal. Rainbow smiled awkwardly and tried not to make eye contact.
“Well, uh….” She stuttered. “I…had a big….breakfast?”
“Eat it,” Daring said flatly, glaring across the table at Rainbow. Rainbow glared back, but Daring mouthed, “Don’t be rude” to her. Rainbow’s ears flattened against her head and she looked down at the glop before her. She grimaced, but held her breath and scooped up a mouthful of it, swallowing it without chewing. It tasted as bad as it looked. She started to cringe, but then noticed Oracle staring at her. She swallowed hard and laughed a little.
“It’s…uh…great,” she lied with a large, fake smile. He smiled back his approval, then turned to grab another banana from the bowl on his opposite side. As soon as his head was turned, Rainbow grabbed her cup and drained its contents, a sweet fruit juice, into her mouth to wash away the taste. She replaced it quickly when Oracle looked back, but it wasn’t fast enough for Daring not to see. The light brown mare glared at the blue pegasus once again, but Rainbow shrugged innocently and looked away. She made a note to herself not to eat the brown stuff again.
~**~
Oracle walked with Daring Do and Rainbow Dash out of his hut and through the village. The villagers still stopped and stared at the newcomers as they went past, but at least they weren’t trying to mob them as they had before.
“Oracle,” Daring said as they walked. “Rainbow Dash and I passed something strange in the jungle. It was like a large crater in the ground – a hole, like a large lightning bolt hit that area. The trees and bushes were gone, and they were turned to diamonds by the force of the blast.”
“Ah,” Oracle said as they walked. The day was beginning to die, the colors of twilight taking over the sky. Soon the sun would be gone altogether, lowered by Princess Celestia. The thought of the Princess made Rainbow Dash wonder where her friends were. “The Great Fire. Yes, I know what you mean.”
“Fire?” Daring asked, confused. “The crater was too deep to have been caused by a fire. And the diamonds…”
“It is not a normal fire,” Oracle stated, pausing at the edge of the village. The village was built on a cliff, and from the edge they could look over the jungle below them, now being colored by the dusk. “It is a magical fire. It comes from the sky, shooting out from the north and raining down upon us. It is great, powerful magic, and we don’t know where it is coming from. But it is why you, Daring Do, have been brought to us.”
“Why would I have been brought to you because of some mystical fire?” Daring asked, standing beside Oracle as the trio looked out over the jungle.
“Miss Do,” Oracle said, turning his full attention to the pegasus with the grey-scale mane. “You are, of course, an adventurer, and an archeologist.”
“How did you know that?” she asked. Oracle chuckled.
“I am a Seer,” he replied. “I see many things. But you are these things, are you not?”
“Yes, I am,” Daring replied haltingly. He nodded.
“Then you have heard of the ancient story of the Alicorn’s Stone.”
“I have,” she said.
“The what?” Rainbow Dash asked, for the first time having a real input into the conversation. Oracle regarded her coolly.
“The Alicorn’s Stone,” he said. “Is an artifact of great power. It is said that it was created by one of the Great Goddesses herself.”
“In this culture,” Daring explained to the lost Rainbow. “Celestia and Luna are said to be goddesses, not just simply princesses.”
“The gem is extremely powerful, imbued with magic with resembles the magic of the alicorns,” Oracle continued. “The Great Goddesses kept it safe, but it was stolen by a corrupted sorcerer. He was ultimately defeated, but the gem was lost.”
“I’ve heard this story,” Daring put in. “According to the legend, the sorcerer caused a great tremor to open up a mountain in this region. The gem was swallowed before the Princesses could retrieve it. Believing it to be destroyed, they made no attempt to find it. They also believed it would be better left lost so no one evil sorcerer could wield its powers in the ways its thief did.”
Oracle nodded wisely.
“But that’s all it is – a legend,” Daring argued. “Nothing more than an old mare’s tale.”
“And your Princesses are but stories to us,” Oracle reminded her. “And yet they are very real. Just as I assure you that the Alicorn's Stone is very real. And it is beginning to wreak havoc on the land again. It wants to be found.”
“How could a stone want to be found?” Rainbow Dash asked, confused.
“It is not just a stone,” Oracle told her. “It is a magical being in and of itself. It has Alicorn-like powers. It is strong. It does what it wishes. And it does not wish to be lost any longer.”
Daring Do shook her head, looking out at the moon that was just rising. To Rainbow Dash’s surprise, she could see the form of Nightmare Moon etched into the big, silver sphere’s surface. She recalled the fact that many of the Daring Do books had been written before Luna’s return. So she was currently at least two years in the past .
That could make it even harder to get back home, she thought sadly.
“I don’t see what you want us to do about it,” Daring said, turning magenta eyes to the brown stallion.
“You must find it,” Oracle said urgently. Daring shook her head.
“Rainbow Dash and I shouldn’t be here,” she said. “We were shipwrecked. We have to find a way back home.”
“But the stone must be found,” Oracle insisted, stamping a hoof. “It is attacking the jungle. Soon it will destroy the lives of my friends and family, my tribe. Maybe more in this area.”
Daring look unconvinced.
“We still need to get back to our homes,” the mare with the grey-scale mane stated. “I have urgent business back at my museum.”
Oracle stared at her for a long time, then lowered his head and nodded.
“Of course,” he said, sounding resigned. “Forgive me. I thought that Daring Do was the greatest of all adventurers, willing to risk her life to help any in need and always searching for the greatest finds. But I am mistaken. Forgive me.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened at the underhanded insult, and she turned to see what Daring would do. The brown mare stomped a hoof, her eyes narrowing.
“I never said that….” She replied, her tail swishing back and force in irritation. Rainbow could see the glimmer of a grin twitching at the corners of Oracle’s lips.
“Perhaps you would like to sleep on it?” he asked. Daring and Rainbow Dash shared a glance. The blue mare shrugged. Eventually Daring looked back to the Seer pony.
“Fine,” she said. “We’ll think about it.”
Oracle raised his head and smiled.
“I hoped you’d say that,” he said. “Please, Miss Do, Miss Dash, let me show you to your resting place for the night. We will discuss the matter again tomorrow.”
Oracle turned and led the way back down the cliff towards the village below. Rainbow watched the stallion go. She didn’t altogether like his disposition, but she knew also not to judge a book by its cover.
“You sure about this?” she asked Daring as the two mares walked shoulder to shoulder after the stallion. Daring didn’t look at her.
“No,” she replied. “He has a point. If the Alicorn Stone is real – and I’m not saying it is – it could be a true archeological prize. Maybe the prize of the century. But my focus now lies in finding Fortune Cookie and getting the Phoenix Amulet back. I hate to disappoint Oracle, but that’s what I have to keep going after. The Alicorn Stone may have to wait.”
~**~
“Are we there yet?” Rarity wondered once again. “My hooves hurt. And it’s hot and humid here. And I’m thirsty. Where is Rainbow Dash?”
“Rarity,” Applejack snapped, pausing to glare over her shoulder at the marshmallow-white mare. “If you say ‘are we there yet’ one more time…”
“Girls,” Twilight said. “This bickering isn’t helping us find Rainbow Dash. And we’re all tired.”
“Oh, it’s getting dark,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe we should find shelter. I don’t think I want to find out what comes out at night.”
“True,” Twilight agreed, stopping and glancing around. The trees were growing increasingly shadowy and the moon was rising overhead. Fortunately, through the shadows, Twilight could make out a rocky cave amongst the jungle brush.
“There’s a cave up there,” she said, pointing with a hoof. “We’ll stay there tonight.”
“Oh, no, no, no,” Rarity protested. “I simply can not sleep in a cave.”
Applejack rolled her eyes.
“Well,” she said. “If you don’t like it that much, you can always sleep outside.”
Rarity’s mouth fell open as the others walked (or in Pinkie Pie’s case, bounced) into the dark opening amongst the rocks. A jungle bird sounded off its eerie goodnight to the surrounding trees whilst a few frogs began their evening chorus. Rarity gasped and glanced around, the sounds of night beginning to filter into her ears. She looked to the dark, most likely damp and smelly cave that her friends had disappeared into, then back around at the wild and untamable forest around her. She whimpered and her lip quivered.
“Wait!” she cried despondently and ran forward. “Wait for me!”
Applejack barely looked up when the white mare entered the cave. Twilight looked around the dark interior. It was dreary, but it would do for a shelter for the night. She just hoped they’d find Rainbow Dash soon enough.
“I can build a fire,” the purple unicorn said. “But we’ll need fire wood. And maybe if we could find something to sleep on….”
“Like these?”
The four ponies look up to find Pinkie Pie standing in the back of the cave with three blankets draped over her back. Twilight gasped.
“Pinkie!” she said, shocked. “Where’d you find those?”
“They were back there,” the pink pony said, pointing a hoof towards the inner depths of the cavern. “There are a few bags of oats or something too.”
The other three ponies shared a look.
“Show me,” Twilight said. Pinkie nodded and bounced deeper into the cave. It was getting darker, and Twilight used magic to light her horn so they’d be able to see better.
Pinkie had been right. As uncanny as it seemed, there was, indeed, a small stock of supplies in the back of the cave, including a bag of oats, a bag of apples, and a bag of what Twilight assumed to be medicines of some sort. She frowned as she examined them.
“By the look of these things,” she said. “Whoever put them here hasn’t been gone for long.”
“These apples are still fairly fresh,” Applejack agreed. “Maybe less than a week old.”
“But where are they?” Rarity asked. “The owners of these things? Out for a nightly stroll?”
“I doubt it,” Twilight replied. “It looks more like a stock, as if these things are kept here for frequent visitors.”
“But how frequent?” Applejack wondered.
“You don’t think they’ll be back, do you?” Fluttershy asked, scared. “Oh, I hope they’re friendly.”
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied. “But they’re not here right now, and chances are they won’t be back tonight. We’ll use their stuff and put it back where we found it tomorrow. They won’t know the difference.”
“Ar-are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, uncertainly. Twilight nodded.
“Of course,” she said confidently. “No one will know.”
But just in case, she thought silently. I’ll put some alarm spells up around the cave tonight.
“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, snapping herself back to the present. The pink pony stood at attention. “Go into the jungle and find some fire wood. Applejack, go with her for safety.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie Pie agreed as she bounced out of the cave into the rapidly-dimming jungle beyond. Applejack followed her, and Twilight turned to Rarity and Fluttershy.
“Let’s see what else was left here. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
And they did indeed get lucky. With the blankets that Pinkie Pie had found earlier, and the bags of apples and oats, the small group of ponies had practically hit a jungle jackpot. After the fire had been set up by Applejack and lit by Twilight’s magic, Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to create for them a decent meal of oat cakes from the bag amongst the supplies. Rarity still seemed unhappy about having to sleep in a cave, and Fluttershy was still anxious about the prospect of unwelcome visitors discovering them, but after they were full and warm by the fire everyone seemed to settle down at least slightly. Twilight, in order not to worry the others, had cast her alarm spells over the entrance of the cave while no pony was looking, allowing her to calm down as well.
“It’s darker than the inside of a bear out here,” Applejack observed as the ponies began to settle down to sleep. Pinkie and Fluttershy shared a blanket while Applejack and Rarity shared another. Twilight had volunteered to take first watch, despite her alarm spells. It would just make everypony feel that much safer.
“I know,” Fluttershy whimpered as she snuggled further underneath the blanket.
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy!” Pinkie chirped. “Nothing’s gonna get you while I’m around!”
“Thank you, Pinkie,” the yellow pegasus said, smiling up at her friend. Twilight looked out at the darkness beyond the cave.
“I hope Rainbow Dash is alright, wherever she is,” the unicorn sighed. Using her magic, she put out the small campfire, plunging the cave into an almost impenetrable darkness. She listened to the others shift around as they got comfortable. Despite the thick trees, the moon shone brightly into the forest. The image of Nightmare Moon made Twilight shudder slightly. She stared up at the glowing silver disc high above her head and sighed.
They had to find Rainbow Dash. They had to.