Equestrian Mythology: Dead Days

by Equestrian Mythologist

The Seeds of Doubt

Rainbow Dash closed the book with an audible snap and let it fall onto her lap. That little section had got her thinking. If it was related to Starswirl the Bearded then there would be plenty of information to prove or falsify this. Rainbow blinked her eyes and scrunched up her face, she was becoming an egghead! First the books, now research! Rainbow banged her head against the wall behind her and groaned, this was all Twilight's fault. If she hadn't gotten her hooked on the Daring Do books then she wouldn't have been interested in all of this mumbo jumbo.

She also would have been very bored on those miserable rainy days.

Rainbow opened her eyes and looked out the window to see how much time had passed, just fifteen minutes or so. Rainbow shrugged and jumped out of her bed and flew through her house and out the front door. She wouldn't let this perfect day go to waste by reading a book. As she was flying around just enjoying the good day she had provided, she started thinking about the mysterious creature. What was it? A Daedesol? She thought of how awesome it would be to have one as a pet, a creature that had wings and ferocious talons that was incredibly loyal but massively intimidating.

She imagined herself walking down the streets of Ponyville with her Daedesol at her side with its scaly hide and large teeth sticking out of its mouth because they were too big. She imagined the look on everypony's face as they saw her Daedesol. It was too perfect to be true.

Rainbow Dash looked around her as she came back to the real world and found herself at the outskirts of Ponyville near Twilight's castle. It was too good to be true. Rainbow flew over to Twilight's place and landed at the enterance before walking in, exploring the place wasn't a bad idea as Twilight hadn't yet managed it. Rainbow walked the halls of the shiny walls and floors, it was actually quite stunning. She still thought it would look better with more red, yellow and blue.

Rainbow found herself walking into the main Chamber of the castle with the six seats laid out for her and her friends. Spike's chair didn't count. Rainbow trotted over to her throne and plopped down in it, it was actually kind of comfortable; it wasn't cloud soft but it fit nicely. She idly tapped her hoof on the arm rest and wondered what to do now. Rainbow was about to get up and continue exploring when the ground started to rumble and a table sprouted out of the ground in front of her!

Rainbow Dash stared at the table for a couple of seconds before realizing that it wasn't a table, but a map. Rainbow leaned forward and examined it closely, it only showed Equestria, not any other countries. She marveled at the detail that the map showed and wondered who made it. A small red lightning bolt flashed on it. Rainbow stared at it for a couple of seconds before frowning, it was flashing over a section of forest that seemed oddly near Daring Do's cottage... She wasn't stalking her!

Rainbow reached over the map edge and gently tapped the icon, to her surprise the map zoomed in and focused on a very accurate scale model of Daring Do's cottage. This was definitely wierd. Rainbow watched as a miniature Daring Do walked out of the Cottage door and looked around almost wistfully before sighing and turning back inside. Strange, wonder what was bothering her. Rainbow leaned back from the edge of the map and it lowered back into the ground with a similar rumble.

Why had that happened and what was she supposed to do that involved Daring Do? Maybe she was supposed to visit? That made sense anyway, if she was supposed to help her with something then she would have to go there anyway. Yeah, thats what she would do, she would visit Daring Do. If she didn't need anything then she could just say it was a friendly visit.

~~~>One Day Later<~~~

Rainbow stood outside Daring Do's Cottage and was relieved to find that it was in much better condition than the last time she had been there. She walked up to the door and was about to knock when the door opened inwards anyway.

"What do you want, Rainbow Dash." Darimg Do didn't look her best despite her Cottage being in better shape, she also sounded like she didn't want visitors.

"Umm... I was wondering if you needed anything." Rainow self-consciously rubbed her hoof against her other foreleg when she was rewarded with raised eyebrows. "What do I want? I want to know what you are doing here. If you are looking for an exciting adventure then I'm afraid you have reached the wrong mare. Nothing going on around here with taking note of, or writing a book about." Daring Do seemed crestfallen as she looked behind Rainbow's shoulder and sighed to herself.

Rainbow was uncertain what to do, was Daring Do just bored? Was that why she was supposed to come down here? To releave her boredom? Rainbow snorted at the thought and instead tried to start up a new conversation.

"Well I was wondering if maybe you would help me with something? If you aren't busy..." Rainbow trailed off as she remembered that Daring Do had just told her that there wasn't anything happening. "I read a book about a creature that may or may not exsist and I was wondering if you were willing to help me find out? It would be stress free and get you out of the house."

Daring Do stared at Rainbow with winder in her eyes. "You want me, to come with you, to search for a possibly imaginary creature just to get me out of the house?" When Rainbow Dash nodded she sighed "Fine, I'll come with you, maybe something exciting will happen on the way." Daring Do didn't even bother getting packed, she just waalked out her house and closed the door. "Lead the way."

Rainbow Dash drew a blank card, what was the next step? She hadn't actually planned on her coming so willingly. They could ask around for any Mythological enthusiasts to see if they had any clue to the creature. Then she remembered something.

"Hey, do you like Myths and Legends?" Daring Do brought a small smirk on her face as she followed Rainbow Dash through the winding trails of the forest. "I love them, if they didn't have a small degree of truth to them then they wouldn't be. However, thats the tricky part, what is the true part to the Legend or Myth? Sometimes it might be a name, a detail, a place, or the general guidline of the story. Why? Are we hunting for facts here?"

"Uh, yeah, there was a myth that I found rather interesting so I figured you could help me figure out if it was true. This way you could get out of the house and I could have my curiosity cured." Rainbow Dash hoped that Daring Do wouldn't turn around now that she knew it wasn't as action packed as either of them probably wanted.

"Sounds fine to me. Wait, how did you know I needed to get out of the house?"

Rainbow Dash started to panic, she couldn't tell her that she had seen her, that would be creepy. What could she say?

"Oh whatever, I guess it was just the Elements of Harmony talking to you. What is this Myth anyway? I have heard of a lot of them so I might have a clue to begin with."

"Its A myth about a creature actually, one called a Daedesol. Ever heard of it?" Rainbow Dash turned around to see Daring Do staring at the ground in fromt of her hooves with a heavy frown. "Whats wrong?" Daring Do didn't respond in words but instead sat down with a heavy thump. Rainbow Dash rushed over to her ideal and wasn't sure if she should comfort the rock-hard pegasus or if she should just stay quite. Indecision made her fidget. Eventually though Daring Do spoke up.

"Is that a creature that was made from a Mortuus Diebus by any chance?"

"Y-Yes." Rainbow wasn't sure where this was going.

"I'm sorry. But I won't be joining you on this journey. I would be a foul if I told you to not do the same. Only bad things have happened to the Ponies that looked for that creature." Then in a smaller voice she said "Even the ponies most qualified."

Rainbow Dash was shocked, Daring Do giving up on an adventure that hadn't even started? Something really bad must have happened.

"U-uh ok, well we can do something else if you wan-" Daring Do was shaking her head "No Rainbow, I'm going back home." Rainbow Dash sat in stunned silence as she watched Daring Do walk back down the trail towards her Cottage. Then she flew in front of her.

"Hey! Whats gotten in to you! I wouldn't think Daring Do herself would ever turn down a fight. Why now?" Daring Do snapped her head up to Rainbow Dash and shouted at her with tears forming in her eyes.

"BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME BACK!!" Daring Do stopped walking and tried to hide her tears with her hoof as they freely flowed for the first time in almost eight years.

Rainbow had landed as she was shouted at by Daring Do, something definently was wrong, who hadn't come back. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know that that was such a touchy subject."

"How could you? You are the only other pony who knows that now. Look, I understand if you want to keep looking for this cresture but don't expect me to come with you. The only thing I can do for you is tell you where he last went, maybe it will help, as long as you find out what happened to him. I need to know." Daring Do had stemmed some of the tears to look at Rainbow as she ofered her hoof to the other pegasus. "Deal?"

Rainbow stared at the hoof as she considered what Daring had told her. She needed to find this lost Stallion? Was that why the map told her to come here? Making up her mind, Rainbow leaned forward and hoof bumped Daring Do's raised hoof.

"Deal."

Author's Note:

The comedy tag will come into clearer detail soon, I promise.