CHAPTER 5
Daring awoke to soft sunlight coming through her cloud-cover. She felt relieved; at least she hadn’t had another nightmare. She stuck her head out of the cloud and looked around. The morning sun was just rising above the cloud-edge. She turned around and was filled with horror as she found herself just a few feet in front of
the Temple’s steps. Then, she looked down and saw that she was, indeed, a filly!
She gasped, Oh, no! It wasn’t a nightmare!
She pulled herself out of the cloud and sat down to consider what she was doing to do now. Okay, I’m not going to panic like I did last night, she thought. The memories of the previous night returned to her in a blur. Excitement, anger, and fear all battled inside her mind, each suggesting a different course of action. Daring struggled to tamp down the emotions and think clearly, but she wasn’t getting very far.
Suddenly, a new and overpowering sensation hit her: hunger. She realized that she was starving. I have to get something to eat before I do anything, she thought. She recalled that she packed some sandwiches and apples in her saddlebags, but they (and her trusty hat!) were lost in the Eternity, out of reach. Guess I gotta go back to camp. Slowly, she pulled herself to her hooves and began trudging away from the Temple.
While she walked, Daring tried to keep her mind off her hunger and tried to make some sense of this situation. She was finally beginning to accept that she might have to live her foalhood all over again. I guess there are worse things that could happen, she thought to herself, trying to cheer herself up a little.
But, said the small voice in her head, that doesn’t even matter if you can’t get off this cloud. That deflated her one small bit of hope. Daring quickly ran through all the ways she could think of to get back to the ground, but all of them lead her to one conclusion: she needed help. There was absolutely no way she could leave by herself, not unless Shifty was stupid enough to leave the balloon unattended. She very much doubted that. She began to wonder; could Shifty really abandon somepony — a filly, even — when they were hopelessly trapped? He couldn’t just leave her to die up here. She didn’t think anypony was capable of that.
After a few minutes, Daring spotted the camp in the distance, still at the edge of the chasm they had encountered earlier. She picked up her pace; trying to remember what food she had left at camp. A second later, her eyes widened when she noticed a familiar brick-red form emerging from her tent.
A growl formed on the filly’s lips and she began to gallop. Seeing Shifty again stoked her anger. That, that, her mind stammered, I’m gonna-! She stopped mid-thought when she got close enough to see what Shifty was doing. Oh, he’s not…
It certainly looked like he was. He was taking the food from her cooler and stuffing it into one of his saddlebags. Next to him, she saw the other cooler lying on the cloud, already empty. It was unbelievable! Not only would he abandon a filly somewhere she couldn’t escape, he would leave her without food!
Daring could have kicked herself! She’d been so stupid to go anywhere with that guy! She knew he was a liar, yet she went with him anyway. Why?!
She didn’t have time to answer her own question. Daring had just reached the camp when, caught up in her anger and unfamiliar with her new body, the little pegasus suddenly tripped over her own hooves. She tumbled forward and hit the cloud surface with a high-pitched grunt. Shifty looked up at the noise and turned to face Daring. He burst out laughing.
“Well, well, well. Look at you! Aren’t you the cutest thing?” he sneered.
Daring was beyond words. She jumped back to her hooves, snorted, and charged at the other pegasus. Still laughing, Shifty waited until Daring got close, and then picked her up between his front legs.
Daring gasped, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. But Shifty was now much bigger and stronger, and he effortlessly held her. The older pegasus set her down, but continued to hold her in place. He suddenly delivered two hard smacks to her rump.
“There! Now, learn to behave around grown-ups or I’ll have to do it again.” He mocked.
Daring was shocked to actually feel like crying after that. Her younger body was apparently much more sensitive than before. Nevertheless, she didn’t hesitate to turn around and launch herself back towards the red pony. Shifty laughed again as he stopped her by pressing a hoof against her forehead, keeping her out of reach.
“I used to be weak and helpless like you are now,” he continued, “But I stopped being that way a long time ago. Bye now.”
With that, he gave her a hard push that sent her sprawling on her back. He quickly grabbed whatever was left in the cooler and took off, leaving a stunned Daring behind.
***
Daring lay on her back, sore and demoralized: her sound defeat caused her to lapse back into depression. She didn’t even bother to watch where Shifty flew off to, instead looking once again at her small body. Shifty’s words weak and helpless continued to echo in her head and, worse, her hunger came back with a vengeance. She rolled onto her stomach and stood up, only to sit back down again.
What’s the point? she thought, glancing at the empty coolers. Shifty took everything; I don’t have food. Even if I did, I’d still be stuck here.
The pegasus looked back up at the sky where Shifty had flown away, feeling a rare sense of having no idea what to do next. The situation was spiraling out of her control, and things kept getting worse.
“Shifty is gonna get away with this…” Daring muttered, trying to ignore her growing sense of defeat and hunger, “But I can’t just give up… can I?” Only the wind answered her.
With a long sigh, she began mentally forcing herself to regain the spirit that had saved her so many times before, with limited success.
Daring looked over at her tent, its flap still hanging open. She stood up and walked over to it and looked inside. It wasn’t as bad as she thought. Her sleeping bag and much of her personal items were untouched. Her saddlebags had been emptied and anything that Shifty considered “not useful” was scattered in one corner. As she stepped inside, Daring nearly put her hoof on top of a small, purple object. She glanced down; apparently, Shifty had dropped a plum.
She ate it quickly enough that she couldn’t remember the taste and looked around the tent to see if Shifty had left anything else behind. She sighed when she couldn’t find anything. I can’t just sit here and starve, but where can I find something to eat? She mused. Let’s see, wherever Shifty is. We also brought two coolers that we left in the balloon. Unless Shifty took everything there, too.
Daring thought over her recent encounter with Shifty and decided that she might as well check out the balloon. Of course, Shifty could be there, in which case she'd have to keep away until he left or was asleep. She was just too hungry to not take the chance, though. She left the tent and looked out towards where they had landed. She saw the top of the balloon, but it seemed further away than she remembered. Also, she had to cross the chasm to get to it.
She sighed dejectedly as she looked across the gap. Great. How do I cross this? She sat a moment and then shrugged. It was worth a try. She spread her tiny wings and began flapping as hard as she could. It took all her effort to lift a foot off the ground and she couldn’t maintain her hover for long. She fell back to the cloud, her wings aching. She had forgotten how hard that was.
She sighed again and thought. How did foals get from cloud to cloud in pegasus cities? Daring wasn’t sure; she grew up in Canterlot, where a pony could simply walk around. Her mind returned to the previous night, when her anger had fueled her pursuit of Shifty. The rain-room! Of course! She began pulling pieces of cloud from around her and putting them together.
When her makeshift cloud-raft was finished, she climbed aboard and, clinging tightly to it, began to flap her wings again. They were still pretty sore, but soon she was going fast enough that she was able to stop flapping and just let the cloud coast forward.
Before long, Daring reached the other side and jumped off her raft. Breathing heavily from the exertion, she looked towards the balloon again and noticed that it was no longer sitting on the surface of the Governing Cloud. Instead, it was about twenty feet above the surface, its landing ropes attached to two clouds about ten feet away on either side of the gondola. Shifty had been here, too. No surprise, thought the yellow filly, annoyed. She took a quick look around to make sure that he was gone.
On the plus side, Shifty had taken the effort to put the balloon out of reach. That meant that he was probably still using it to store supplies. Now all I have to do is get up there. Daring thought a while. She considered using her cloud-raft, but she doubted her wings could generate enough lift to pull the weight of herself and the cloud very high. Besides, her wings still felt like they were about to fall off from their previous efforts.
She had another idea. This isn’t going to be easy, but I bet it’ll work, she thought as she started pulling more cloud from beneath her. She formed another raft and, jumping upon it, reached out and pulled her first one over. She placed it a step above where she was standing and stepped up onto it. She reached down and pulled the new raft up, placing it another step above her feet and repeating the process.
Daring used her hoof-made stairway to slowly climb up towards the balloon’s gondola. The work was exhausting and, as she got higher, she began to run out of energy. Fortunately, she was getting close and her pride in her ingenuity was a good motivator. Only a few more feet, she thought, impatiently. She almost slipped on the next step, but managed to catch herself.
A minute later, Daring was level with the gondola. She let loose a heavy breath and carefully flapped her wings, so not to strain them again, moving the cloud to the basket’s edge. She peered in, and found herself hopping up and down in excitement. She had been right. Two small green coolers sat among softer tool bags, apparently untouched.
She jumped down next to one of them, opened it and saw that it did, have food. She grabbed a sandwich and, tearing off the paper, devoured it in a second. She then ate another one, this time taking a second to relish the taste.
Daring decided that one good thing about being a filly is that it takes less food to fill you up. Her hunger finally sated, Daring lay down in the gondola and closed her eyes, and tried to get some rest. She found that, despite her fatigue, she couldn’t fall asleep. Without her hunger to motivate her anymore, the dark thoughts returned, haunting her. After a few minutes, she decided it was no use and sat back up. She looked up and, upon seeing the burner her previous idea struck her once again. I can use the balloon to leave!
Suddenly filled with new energy, Daring stood up and jumped to try to reach the control valve on the burner. She came nowhere close. She looked through the equipment to see if there was anything she could use to reach the valve. There were a couple of shovels, but they proved too heavy for Daring to hold steady. Swinging a shovel at a gas control valve is probably a bad idea, anyway, she thought.
Finding nothing else, Daring tried stacking the coolers and jumping from that. She could barely reach the valve; the burner could be turned on, but the young pegasus doubted she could control it that way. She wasn’t even going to try jumping at it from the basket’s edge: she’d just as likely fall out of the balloon.
After a few more minutes of trying to reach the burner, Daring sat down on the cooler. It’s no use, she sighed, I have to find another way. She reluctantly decided that she would have to give up on the balloon idea. She’d have to go back to the cloud surface. Not all was lost, however. Even if she couldn’t use the balloon to escape, she now had the chance to take food and other supplies. She sighed again as she looked around. Getting everything she was going to need down to the cloud wasn’t going to be easy, and she was already tired.
She forced a look of determination onto her face. I have to get this stuff outta here now, she reasoned, If Shifty comes back, he’ll know I was here and probably take it all away! That thought prompted her to get to work.
***
It was more arduous than she imagined. Daring separated out all the equipment she thought would be useful (and wasn’t too heavy for her to lift) and put it all into one bag. She strained herself pushing the heavy load up over the basket’s edge and onto the cloud-raft. Luckily the bag was enchanted and didn’t fall through, she thought. After that, the explorer had pushed the coolers out onto the cloud; and watched in horror as the raft started to sink slowly under the weight. She tried to scramble onto it before it was out-of-reach, but only ended up falling back to the gondola floor.
Well, at least the stuff got down, Daring chuckled bitterly as she got back to her hooves. Now how do I get down? She remembered rejecting a heavy rope when she was sorting through the equipment. She found it and tied one end to one of the spare cloud anchors and took the other end in her teeth. Pain shot up her neck as she tried to toss the rope over the gondola’s side. After three tries, she got it over the edge.
As with most pegasi, heights didn’t bother Daring. She carefully shimmied down the rope and was soon standing next to the cloud-raft. All she felt like doing was lying down to rest, but she decided she had to get away in case Shifty came back. She had very few choices of where to go, however, and finally chose to head back to the camp, as Shifty seemed to have no interest in staying there.
Pushing the raft to the chasm and making the necessary two trips across the chasm to get everything across was an odyssey. After pulling the last cooler off the raft, Daring collapsed. The energy reserves that served her so well today were almost entirely spent and, furthermore, whatever motivated her was gone. Her depression returned with a vengeance. Despite her tremendous efforts, all the filly could think of was how hopeless everything seemed. She wished something would cheer her up.
As she continued with her thoughts, Daring noticed a shadow slowly surround her. She sighed dejectedly. “Great… just the thing I need,” she muttered wryly as she began to look up to find the shadow's source.
“HIYA, FILLY-DO!”
“GAAH!” Daring, suddenly startled out of her funk, jumped up and spun around to face the source of the impossibly bright voice. She immediately recognized the chocolate-brown earth pony with a fluffy deep brown mane and near-permanent, incredibly huge smile. Chocolat’ Jasmina Pie, “Coco” to her friends, described herself as a “travelling salespony,” but she really was more of a collector and trader of unusual and hard-to-get items. She was also a skilled information broker and seemed to know just about everypony in all of the major cities.
Daring met Coco during her first expedition, and the two got on well despite the earth pony’s odd quirks, extreme hyperactivity, and unflappable verve. It was Coco that gave (or sold, rather) Daring her now-trademark hat, and Daring had come to rely on the chocolate-colored pony when she wanted to buy or sell various objects and equipment. The exuberant mare also had the uncanny ability to appear at the most unusual times and places with exactly what Daring needed to help solve some problem or other. While there was an unspoken understanding that Coco expected the adventurer to “pay” for her help by bringing back interesting items, the pegasus was certain that the trader had her best interests at heart. Daring desperately hoped that her friend’s sudden appearance meant that her fortunes might change. Or, she would have if her tired brain wasn’t desperately trying to catch up with the situation.
“COCO!! How’d you? I mean…how’d…I mean what are you doing here?! How’d you know it was me?!” stammered the startled pegasus, adrenaline overriding her previous fatigue.
“Oooh, it was easy! Like I’d never recognize one of my favorite customers if they were transformed into a filly. I’d be a terrible shopkeeper if I couldn’t recognize my own customers, even if they’re in a sticky situation,” Coco replied, sounding like she had a lot more experience with this particular “sticky situation” than Daring was comfortable thinking about. Before Daring could completely finish that thought, though, the chocolate mare continued: “…and I’m here to visit you! I saw you up here and you looked sooo lonely and sooo sad and you looked like you needed help, and-”
“I meant, how’d you get up here?” Daring interrupted.
“That’s what I was just telling you, silly! Look!” Coco chirped, as she gestured straight up with one hoof. Daring looked up and blinked in disbelief as the source of the shadow she had noticed earlier became apparent. You have got to be kidding me! Just where in Equestria did she get an airship? The pegasus continued to stare at the modest-sized dirigible. It had a cream-colored envelope and brown gondola. Slowly bringing her head back down, she saw a rope extending from the gondola and holding up a small wooden platform, upon which Coco was standing. So I might not be going crazy, thought the bewildered pegasus. She isn’t actually standing on a cloud.
“That’s my flying emporium! Isn’t she super? I call her the Sweet Dream! Flies like one too! I just got her a few weeks ago from the Spiny Mountain Aircraft and Expedition Company out of Trottingham! Had to trade five unique gems and twenty pounds of spices, but it was sooo worth it!” Coco explained in about a second, hopping up and down on the platform, which miraculously showed no sign of turning over or breaking.
“Anyway, I was taking the Dream up from Trottingham for her maiden flight and on the way I saw a group of clouds waaay high up! I told the captain ‘I see something up there!’ and he was all ‘that’s probably nothing.’ and I said to him ‘silly! If it was nothing, then I wouldn’t be able to see it! Let’s go up!’ and he said something about it being too high and a diversion or something like that. But then I begged him to take us up, and he said something about being the only way to remain sane and brought us up! And then I looked down and saw a little filly and said to myself, ‘she looks sooo lonely and sooo sad and she looks like she needs help!’ And here I am! Are you surprised? Are you? Huh, huh, huh?” This explanation took about three more seconds and was accompanied by even quicker bouncing.
Daring could only gape in shock as her brain simply gave up. Coco took advantage of the opportunity to continue: “Oohhh! I have something to give you before I forget. Here!” The mare pulled something out of her mane with her teeth and passed it to Daring with another huge smile. Daring examined it — it was a bar of chocolate with a distinctive yellow and red wrapper.
“Sweet Tooth & Son Chocolatiers, Trottingham.” Daring dully read off the wrapper, focusing on the only thing that seemed to make sense since meeting Coco.
“Yeah! Every filly deserves chocolate! Best chocolate in the whooole region! Hard to get outside of Trottingham itself, though. The best way-”
Daring decided that she needed to try to change the subject before the earth pony talked her ears off. Not sure of what to say, she eventually managed to sputter out: “But…but aren’t you wondering why I’m up here and a why I’m a filly?”
“Ohh! I just figured you were on one of your crazy expeditions (don’t stop, though; you always bring back the most interesting stuff!). I mean these are ruins, right? I was wondering why you were a filly, now that you asked it.” A concerned expression crossed Coco’s face. “Are you feeling okay, Daring? You are feeling like ‘yourself,’ right? I really hope those mean old cultists didn’t carry out that threat. I’d hate to see innocent ponies become-”
“CULTISTS?! THREAT?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, COCO!!” shouted Daring, now more than a little unsettled.
“Erm…Nothing you need to worry about.” replied Coco, looking a little embarrassed. “But you’re a filly now! Soo cute!” she abruptly squealed, grabbing Daring into a tight hug before suddenly dropping the struggling filly back onto the cloud. “Oh, that reminds me! I have something for you!” Coco reached into her pack and extracted a filly-sized pair of saddlebags as well as a small pith helmet that looked exactly like Daring’s own. “You looked too small for your hat, so I decided to bring you one that fits better!” said the hyperactive pony, placing the new hat on the filly’s head. “There! Much better!”
“Thanks, Coco, but how’d you know-” Daring managed to say, a new wave of confusion overtaking her previous fright and discomfort.
“And I have just the thing for exploring cloud ruins! …Here we go,” Coco said, fishing through her pack and extracting four blue-white objects. “They’re cloud anchors! Not just any cloud anchors, though. They’re magic cloud anchors. Made out of ice enchanted by unicorns. They’re much smaller and lighter than normal anchors. Which makes them perfect for you!” the earth pony finished brightly.
“How could you have possibly-” began Daring.
“One more thing! Here! I wanted to make sure I gave you one before I had to leave!” Coco interrupted as she reached into her mane and pulled out another chocolate bar, wrapped in yellow and red.
“But you-”
“Yeah! Every filly deserves chocolate! I just got five crates of these last week. Had to trade eight barrels of pickles and a crate of kumquats, but it was sooo worth it! Deal was brokered by the Mirror Lake Trading Company out of Trottingham and-”
“COCO!”
“Oh, yes?”
“…Sorry. While you’re here, I have a question that maybe you can help me with.” Daring said as she slipped the chocolate bars and cloud anchors into her new saddlebags.
“Sure thing, Filly- I mean, Daring!” chirped Coco.
“I was wondering if you know a pegasus named Shifty Gaze. He’s small, with a red coat, olive mane, and green eyes. Knife for a cutie mark. Looks like everything he says is a lie?”
“Hmm…Noooo. I don’t know him personally,” began Coco, “…but I know somepony who knows him.” She added quickly as a disappointed look began to form on Daring’s face.
“Who? Who?!” asked Daring, hoping to finally receive some useful information.
“He’s another customer of mine. Name’s Flyleaf; from Canterlot. Kind of a silly name, if you ask me, but probably what you’d expect for somepony who reads all the time. I mean, he’s always in that library of his. How can you read all the time? But he knows a lot. I mean, a lot. I’d probably know a lot too, if I spent that much time in the library. You can probably find out anything in a library that old. An-y-thing! History, magic potions, cures for weird diseases, maps to the legendary Fountain of Youth-”
“COCO!”
“What?”
“Shifty Gaze?”
“Oh! Weeelll,” the earth pony started, her demeanor becoming uncharacteristically serious. “Flyleaf mentioned his name when he gave me a handy list of customers not to trust. Said Shifty was bad news — somepony who’s only in it for the money. He’ll sell anything. Poisons, secrets, stolen goods, forbidden magic, an-y-thing! To anypony! Well, any pony who pays him enough. Doesn’t seem to care what they do with it.” The worried expression appeared on Coco’s face again. “Why? Do you know him?”
“…Yeah…we met,” replied Daring grimly.
“Awww! Don’t be sad, Filly!” Coco said, her usual smile returning. She reached back into her mane. “Here, I got just the thing to fix you up!” She reached back into her mane and pulled out a familiar yellow-and-red-wrapped sweet. “I wanted to give you one of these before I forgot. Every filly deserves chocolate!”
“But…” started Daring once more, but she decided that whatever it was she was about to say wouldn’t have done any good. Besides, she just thought of something else to ask the earth pony. “Can you do one more thing for me, Coco? Please don’t tell anyone about this, especially Derring! Please?” she begged.
“Sure thing! My lips are sealed,” replied Coco while making some cryptic set of gestures with her hooves. Coco may have been loopy and random but Daring knew that she could rely on her friend’s promises.
“…And don’t you worry!” continued the earth pony, “I’m sure you’ll find some way to grow up again! The great Daring Do can do just about anything!”
“Thanks, Coco! …For everything.” Daring smiled, despite herself. The chocolate-brown pony always had a way of cheering her up when things looked bleak. In fact, she felt so much better than she did before her friend’s surprise visit. The chocolate mare’s very presence could obliterate any rut one of her friends found themselves in.
“You’re welcome, Filly- I mean, Daring! Did you want a ride outta here? Plenty of room aboard the Dream!”
A ride?! Daring nearly jumped at the chance of escape, but then she thought about what Coco had said about Shifty. Daring was beginning to get an idea of what he was up to. If her suspicions were correct, Shifty needed to be stopped, and soon. And right now, she was the only pony who had even a chance of doing the job. It felt so good to have a purpose again; she couldn’t just abandon it. Besides, Daring said to herself, if there were any way of becoming normal again, it would probably be up here. How can I go back now? No way am I ever letting Derring see me like this.
“Naw, I’m fine. There's still some stuff I gotta do up here,” the reinvigorated adventurer replied.
“Okey-dokey! I hafta get back before those bundles of cheese stink up the hold. Got two-dozen of them three days ago from Dawn Harvest Provisions out of Trottingham. Had to trade three crates of lemons, but it was sooo worth it! Anyway, be careful, and don’t forget to bring back something interesting!” said Coco; giving the rope two sharp tugs.
"Thanks again! Be seein’ ya!” replied Daring as her friend began slowly rising towards the ship above.
“OOH! WAIT! I ALMOST FORGOT!” Daring heard from above a few seconds later. Daring looked up just in time to see Coco drop something over the side of the platform. She instinctively ran up and caught it before it fell through the clouds below. “…Deserves chocolate!” Daring faintly heard as she smiled and dropped the confection with the now-very familiar yellow and red wrapper into her saddlebags.