Double Dare

by Wordplay42

Chapter 4

Chapter 4-

The freighter creaked and groaned as it rocked and rolled over the waves of the sea. Despite Rainbow’s initial misgivings about the seaworthiness of the vessel, Daring assured her that she’d traveled on the Intrepid Wind before with little to no issues. She also told Rainbow that they wouldn’t be going very far in the rusting ship: they’d be following the canal out of Shanghoof and into the ocean, were they’d be mostly keeping to the coast and then turn into port at one of the sea towns that would allow both she and Rainbow access to the mainland of Equestria. There, Daring could safely return to the museum which sponsored her, and Rainbow could get safely back home.

For now, both mares found themselves wasting time in the ship’s captain’s – Rusty Anchor’s – quarters, which he had been kind enough to give up to them. There were others members of the ship, and Rainbow Dash had seen a few around. Rough sailor ponies, all well-muscled, with few words to say and mostly consisting of earth ponies. Some of them were even larger than Big Mac, something that Rainbow Dash hadn’t realized was possible.

“So, what was that amulet you were after?” Rainbow asked, as she sat on the bed in the captain’s quarters whilst Daring paced nearby. Once in a while she went to the porthole on one side of the small room, looked out at the dark water, then turned back and started pacing again. Rainbow figured it had something to do with whatever the unicorn back in Shanghoof – Fortune Cookie – had stolen from her.

“It’s a rare stone,” Daring replied, sounding a little distracted. “The Phoenix Amulet. It is said to be made from the tears of a Phoenix that crystalized. The amulet was once thought to have great healing powers. It was used, hundreds of years ago, by a tribe of Buffalo that once roamed the plains. They’re long since gone, and the Phoenix Amulet was found and given to the museum in Manehatten. I should know: I was the one who found it. But Fortune Cookie sent a couple of his goons to steal it. I’ve been hunting him down for months now, trying to get it back. And I almost had it, too.”

“I’m sorry,” Rainbow Dash said. Daring shook her head in response.

“Not your fault,” she replied. “I underestimated him.”

“Who is Fortune Cookie anyway?” Rainbow asked, interested. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“Fortune Cookie is a….rival of mine,” Daring answered, finally sitting down and folding her wings against her body. “But he’s not interested in the historical value of the items he takes. He’s only interested in the money, or occasionally the power that comes with the items.”

“Oh,” Rainbow answered. “I’m sure you’ll get it back.”

Daring took her hat off her head and fiddled with it.

“I hope,” she replied. “But it’ll take months to try and track him down again. It took months to track him down to that sleazy little nightclub in Shanghoof. I don’t know where I’ll go from here.”

She sighed and Rainbow immediately felt sorry for her. She was beginning to forget the fact that Daring was an awesome, amazing archeologist/adventurer from the books she loved and beginning to see her as just a normal pony.

“If only I’d been faster,” Rainbow said, flopping down on the bed and staring up at the ceiling above her. Even the ceiling of this ship was rusty. It seemed like the rust was the only thing keeping it together and floating. “I could have beaten that stupid unicorn into the pavement. Stupid wing.”

At the words, she wriggled the injured appendage slightly, trying to get it into a more comfortable position. She glared at it.

Daring glanced up at her.

“Yeah, what happened?” she asked. “I saw you crash into the street. What did you do?”

“It’s just a little sore,” Rainbow replied. She was annoyed, but not at Daring. She was annoyed for the fact that she’d allowed the pain to get to her like it had. It wasn’t even that bad of an injury. Just a bad knock. She should have been tougher than that.

“I hit it flying through a window. It cramped when I took off in the street.”

“Let me see it,” Daring said, standing up, placing her hat back on her head and walking over to where Rainbow lay on the bed. For a moment, the cyan pegasus seemed uncertain, but after all, this was the Daring Do. And…she didn’t want the other pegasus to think she was a wimp or something. Reluctantly, she rolled over her let the brown mare examine the wing.

Daring took it in a hoof and stretched it out. Rainbow winced a tiny bit, but forced herself to play it cool.

“Looks like you just bruised the joint, near the base of it,” Daring surmised, gently releasing the blue pegasus’ wing and letting her fold it back close to her body again. “It’s not serious, but it’ll hurt like heck for a little while. You’ll be fine in a day or so.”

“I should have been fine back there,” Rainbow responded sourly. Daring touched her shoulder with a hoof.

“It’s fine,” she replied. “Trust me, I’ve had the same thing happen. You’re not too bad, kid. You showed a lot of guts.”

Rainbow Dash’s heart skipped a beat at the adventurer’s words, and she smiled widely.

“Really?” she asked, and then realized what she was saying. She cleared her throat and looked away, trying her best to play cool.

“I mean, well, you know. I knew you could use some help.”

Daring rolled her eyes.

“Look,” she said, “move over on the bed a bit. I’m exhausted, and I bet you are too, coming all this way from Ponyville.”

Rainbow nodded her agreement and moved a bit over on the bed. Daring climbed in and took up a position at the opposite end of the bed, at the foot, while Rainbow took the head. The adventurer used her saddle bag as her pillow, while Rainbow tried to make the flat, lumpy pillow left by Rusty Anchor more comfortable. She shoved it under her head, gritting her teeth at the feeling of it under her. It felt like it was filled with rocks.

“How’d you get here, anyways?” Daring asked. Rainbow sighed. Honestly, she didn’t know herself. And what was she going to tell Daring Do? Nothing she could say would sound in the least bit believable.

“It’s…a long story,” she replied. The other pegasus raised an eyebrow.

“Really?” she asked. Rainbow shook her head.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

Daring laughed a bit.

“I know that answer pretty well,” she replied. “Well, don’t worry, Rainbow Dash, we’ll be back on mainland Equestria soon enough, and you’ll be able to get back to your home, I promise you.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and smiled as the other mare leaned over and blew out the oil lamp hanging in the small captain’s quarters.

The flame went out, plunging the room into darkness and silence. Only the sound of water lapping against the sides of the freighter could be heard.

Rainbow Dash looked out the porthole at the blackness outside. She could barely even see the stars. She sighed. Yeah, she’d get home.

If she could ever find it.

~**~

Rainbow Dash was suddenly, startlingly awoken by a great, heaving force that knocked both she and Daring Do out of the small bed and onto the floor of the cabin. But instead of solid, hard floor that the two pegasi met, they found themselves splashing down into cold, salty water.

Rainbow Dash spluttered and stood, trying to see in the dark. The water wasn’t too deep, but it was not what she had been expecting to fall into. And she knew that this could not be good.

The ship tilted alarmingly, and both Rainbow and Daring struggled to stay upright.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked, alarmed. She glanced wildly around, trying to piece together her surroundings and her situation. The view outside the porthole was broken by waves aggressively crashing against and over the glass, and during the moments when the small window did break above the water level, Rainbow could see the lashing of raindrops against the circular pane. Lightning lit up the sky, revealing that the inside of the captain’s cabin was definitely awash with sea water.

“Get above deck!” Daring said, making her way to the door of the cabin. “We’re taking on water!”

Rainbow followed Daring as they stumbled from the rapidly-flooding cabin out into the lower decks and then struggled to find the ladder up to the top deck. Daring shoved open the door and rain immediately began lashing at the two mares as they struggled up onto the ship’s slick, rocking deck. Lightning arched crazily overhead, illuminating a sea that was lashing at the freighter like greedy talons clawing at prey. Foamy water splashed over and onto the deck, battering the two mares, plus the other members of the crew that were desperately trying to hold the freighter together. But Rainbow Dash could tell it was a losing battle.

“Rusty!” Daring shouted over the thunder, the hammering rain, the cresting waves and the roaring wind. The entire deck swayed from side to side, and both Rainbow Dash and Daring Do struggled to just keep their balance. Both staggered forward as the waves threatened to sweep them over the sides of the freighter and into the churning sea if they weren’t careful.

“Daring!” a voice broke above the deluge. Rainbow squinted through the mixture of rain and sea water that was obscuring her view to make out the outline of the rust-colored pony she’d seen earlier. “We’re trying to keep her together, but she’s taking on water! She won’t last long!”

“Hey, careful!” Rainbow called, seeing a group of crewmembers attempting to save a pile of cargo crates from being washed away. She ran to help them, grabbing onto a snapped rope with her mouth and just stopping the boxes from toppling over onto another pony. She nodded to him as the others helped to try and steady the crates once more.

“Leave it!” Rusty yelled to his crewmembers. “Our best bet is to abandon ship! Daring, you and your friend had better, too.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Daring called to the blue pony. “You heard the stallion! Let’s get out of he-“

Daring’s warning was cut off abruptly when a rope coil she’d unknowingly stepped into suddenly pulled taught, catching around her hoof and throwing the light brown pegasus to the side of the ship as it tilted almost fully onto its side and the heavy cargo attached to the rope shifted. The pegasus was hurled from the ship and careened towards the water.

“Daring!” Rainbow Dash yelled, spotting the pegasus’ descent just in time. The cyan mare let go of the rope she’d been holding in her teeth, took to the air and dived towards the pony that was in very real danger of being dragged into the raging sea. Rainbow grabbed her hoof, but just as the blue pegasus reached for her brown and grey-scale lookalike, the ropes that had been barely securing the freighter’s heavy cargo snapped. Crates toppled, tossed by the storm’s vengeful spirit, and the stallions lost their battle in trying to maintain their precious revenue. Rainbow Dash heard the snap, but didn’t have enough time to process the danger that that one simple sound, barely audible over the churning sea, the whipping rain, and the pounding thunder meant until it was too late. A crate, heavier than she could have imagined, careened into her, knocking her from the air. Still clinging to the hoof of Daring, the blue pegasus found herself meeting the boiling sea as the ship once more rolled to the side and the cargo freed itself from its bondage.

The water hit both ponies like cement, the force driving them apart. Rainbow Dash was immediately separated from Daring, as crates and ship debris broke through the crashing waves around her. The water was cold and the current was strong, and Rainbow’s only thought was to try and find the surface. But in the swirling, churning darkness, she couldn’t tell which way was up.

She spun in what seemed like endless space, kicking wildly at the water surrounding her but only seeming to push herself sideways and in spinning, flipping circles. Her lungs screamed, her eyes burned from the salt. Panicked, she lashed blindly out as she seemed only to be sinking.

Her vision was turning red, and she knew she needed air desperately. In a burst of panic, she opened her mouth and let out her last breath, sucking in water. As the lungfuls of water only added to her pounding terror, she did notice the fact that the air she’d let out was ascending in bubbles, compelled towards the surface by simple physics. Rainbow Dash didn’t entirely care why the breath from her lungs did this, but what she did know was that it was showing her the way to the surface.

Her eyes wide with terror, she struck out once more, pushing her hooves against the water and propelling herself after the bubbles in blind terror. Her vision was beginning to become speckled with black, but she forced herself on.

Finally, when it seemed as if she would never find air again, she broke the surface. She threw her head back, sea and rain water washing over her face, and gulped in breath after breath as she tried to control her panic and refill her lungs. She coughed, but her victory was short lived as wave after waved crashed against her body, pushing her first one way, then another.

“Daring!” she called into the storm, but her words seemed to be swallowed by the wind. She tried to find the ship, but failed to do so. Between the thrashing waves and the pelting rain, she just couldn’t seem to make it out. Besides, she had no idea how far she’d drifted away from it. For all she knew, it might have been destroyed.

Unable to spot Daring, or any of the other crew members, Rainbow struck out in attempts to swim away from the wreckage. But the sea tossed her around like a sack of potatoes. The current and waves kept pulling her under, and every time she surfaced, she sucked in just as much water as she did air. Soon, she was beyond exhausted, struggling just to keep her head above the surface. Her wings were far too wet to carry her in flight, and even if that was an option, she was too tired to be able to stay air born for very long as it was.

Eventually, reprieve came in the form of a floating crate, which Rainbow mustered up just enough strength to swim to and pull herself up on. She clung to it, riding the waves as the storm continued its relentless attack on the ocean. She still wasn’t sure where Daring was, or where she was, but after a while, it didn’t really matter. Maybe she was all that was left. She honestly could care less, she was so exhausted. She continued to cling to the wooden crate, gasping for breath, her wings splayed uselessly to the sides, dripping wet. Another flash of lightning lit the sky. Rainbow Dash slumped forward, her head resting on the solid, if wet, wood of the crate. Her multi-colored mane drooped into her eyes, but she didn’t care enough to push it back.

She knew she needed to stay awake, just in case the storm got worse. She needed to stay alert and hold onto this box so she didn’t get washed off by the waves.

She needed to look out for Daring, and the others….

She needed to stay awake….

She needed to….

Rainbow Dash’s eyelids drooped as her body succumbed to darkness, even as she was tossed about by the waves.