"Darn it, I knew it!" Twilight scolded herself, pacing jitterishly about the kitchen. "And it's...."
She cut herself off, raising her head at Dipper, who had finally placed down his slice of buttered toast, after hearing the mare rant for what seemed like hours. With an exasperated sigh, the bread had plopped back onto the saucer.
"Come on, It's not your fault," he hungrily eyed the melting butter that dribbled over the edges of the toast, "Danny'd wanted to go out on that one-person search party for Ivor, for the longest time now,"
"What are-- what do you mean?"
The cervitaur had taken a quick bite with an audible crunch, "He told me last night."
"AHA! I knew it!" Twilight announced, before a mild look of fierceness crossed her features, "So he WAS just blowing off his anger at me-- a-and with an almost logical excuse!"
"I-I'm pretty sure that's NOT--"
"No, no, listen!" Twilight had waved a foreleg hysterically, "I'm going out to find him-- and Ivor."
Her ears had merely perked as Dipper groaned, graining the toast in his hand. There were ashes of burnt bread littering his fingers, and black blotches that stained his hands from previous encounters of the situation. It'd already been a long morning since their little... predicament, while Dipper had placed himself on the ottoman he dragged across the living room to eat his breakfast toast on, he was no longer permitted to leave his spot.
"Look, the worst thing you could possibly do right now is go out into the wilderness to find them. Danny can take care of himself; I'm pretty sure he's done more than just prove it to us,"
"But Ivor, Dipper," Twilight argued, throat tightened, "If Daniel had any chance down there without getting eaten whole by whatever in Equestria lives in these woods-- Ivor?"
The room had fallen silent yet again, as the two had almost avoided eye contact, both clearly deep in thought. Her legs had gotten sore after a few seconds of silence, and began shifting hooves. Daring a quick glance up at Dipper, who'd been glancing her up and down, lunch long forgotten.
He breathed a long sigh, draping a thin, gray bedsheet over his shoulders. "Danny.... is going to be fine."
Twilight grunted, stomping a hoof into the wood, "Why are you so obsessed with telling me his whereabouts? I know he's fine, YOU know he's fine!" Her face had heated in rage, huffing as she glared down at the tiles, somehow unable to clearly direct her anger to the boy.
"Because," Dipper started, pushing himself steadily off the ottoman he'd earlier scooted across the room, "I know you're worried about him,"
This only seemed to irritate Twilight further, "Worried about him? How about you?" she motioned to Dipper accusingly, "You're the one who keeps bringing him up all the time!"
"I-I know," he crossed his arms firmly, "But I'm not afraid to admit how worried I am about him-- unlike you,"
"Don't be ridiculous," Twilight sighed, trotting up to the seat and placing herself next to the preteen, "The last thing on my list of concerns right now is Daniel. You've said it yourself; he's independent-- although clearly immature at times. And I'm not going to worry over someone night and day who's able to take care of themself,"
"Now, uh, remind me; hooow many times have you disproved that logic?" Crunch.
It was Twilight's turn to reply with wordless silence. And for a second, she listened to her own breathing as though there had been nothing else to listen to. Besides, the awkward silences had taken a toll on her, only dragging her closer and closer to the ground in defenselessness. And though she'd kind of hated to admit it, Dipper had been right. But he didn't need to know that, did he?
"That was the past, Pines," Twilight raised her head in mock assurance, "Plus, with everything going on back at home, we've all been pushed to accept the roots of that. The root fact being that with all lives at stake with the ground able to open beneath us and swallow us all whole, fretting over anypony who is noticeably responsible of their duties is just a waste of heart,"
She wished she could only swallow back her words, even if she had to choke them back down.
"Right..." Dipper breathed, "Yeah, I... can't exactly come up with a rebuttal for that one," he breathed a laugh this time, rising steadily off the chair as Twilight raised a brow.
"And you're going where..?"
"To go check out the area," he announced, planting his fists against his waist in an almost heroic stance, "Because who knows what anomalies lurk just around the corners of--"
Dipper glanced up, dropping his stance as if to ponder something, "Uh... this very house!" He motioned dramiatically towards the front door.
"Right," Twilight creaked open the refrigerator with an audible pop, "Don't go too far. I know I can trust you not to stay out too long,"
Whilst she stuck her head inside the fridge to search for a box of instant rice, or something of the sort, she'd heard the excited clopping of hooves against the wood floor, soon hearing the door swing open. And not a second later, something slamming into the doorframe. Twilight sighed, finding herself a bag of 'Omelette mix' which was certainly not supposed to be boxed and refrigerated.
"Somewhat, at least."
"Totally meant to do that!" Dipper had called back before disappearing into the greenery.
Hop.
Hop.
Skip.
Hop.
Daarin's tiny animal body had skidded down the slope with such ease, that it appeared almost impossible to slip and break a few bones.
Maybe it's just a... Daarin thing, Danny had thought, feet-- no, paws-- clipped at the edge, still, watching in mild horror at the height between him on the shelf of it, and the very bottom.
The smooth, grassy, green, bottom.
He wanted to get down so bad, but--
"Hey!" Daarin had eventually become aware of the absence of the werewolf from behind him. "Are you comiiiing?"
Danny had opened his maw to reply, but the only sound that escaped his mouth were broken fragments of a word. Then he groaned instead, lowering his head in frustration.
It hasn't been that long, has it...?
Finally, the words came.
"Uh..." Danny was barely able to manage, "Uh, yeah. So, how exactly am I gonna get from here to there without falling and..."
"Oh, it's easy!" Daarin called back, his small voice echoed in the empty space down below that had much resembled a sinkhole. "Just... kinda fit your paws into the... the crevices and stuff, and you're good!"
He continued to hop along the rest of the slope, leaving Danny with his thoughts, and the-- yet again-- semi-unhelpful advice. But it'd worked before, in a way, so... why not?
Daarin sighed, leaping to the very bottom of the plain, giggling a bit to himself as he embraced the tickling dew of the grass that now dotted his hide. He rolled to his side, enjoying the chilling feel of water blotching his coat, as he began rolling around in the shorter patch of green.
His bright, blue eyes shut, as Daarin sighed again, inching his head upwards just enough for the peaking sun looming over the earth warmed the fur atop his head.
Then the warmth vanished.
"Hmm?" He popped an eye open disappointingly, a second before he glanced up at a menacing-looking silhouette that now blocked the sun.
"Get out of the way or you're gonna be squashed!" The large werewolf called out to him, before leaping off the edge, appearing suspended in the air in the eyes of the young mutant.
Daarin's first instinct alerted him to flee, but his eyes cast over the majesty of the great, white, werewolf that seemed to loom even over the sun--
Get out of the way, Daarin! Even his subconscious had scolded him, before he emitted a frightened yap, skidding out of the way before, as he felt his head graze the tips of sharp claws.
THUD.
Daarin hunched over, shielding his head with his forelegs, before peaking through the little hole that a ray of sunlight had snuck into.
Danny had shakily landed on all fours, legs wobbling beneath his although he wore a look of victory.
Daarin exhaled, rising back up to admire Danny again, "Woahhh.... that was so cool! Can you do it again?!" The trio of eyes that were his tail blinked up at him with admiration.
"Uh, maybe when we get back," he glanced behind his shoulder for an eyeful of the bright and glistening sun that projected off the crashing and sprinkling of the waterfall that basked in the glory of mid-autumn. "What about that, uh, cave thing?"
"Oh!" Daarin was practically vibrating with excitement, "I can't wait to show you! It's super cool! Come on!"
He pranced off again, across the grassy plain, and through the little patch of rocks that protruded from the ground just in front of a large opening that looked as if it lead to some sort of wild cavern.
So Danny followed behind, resisting any hesitance that tugged at his pelt whilst stalking cautiously behind. Or... maybe it was just the stones.
Skidding between the last set of boulders that seemed to grow at the cave's entrance, his eyes had widened at the glistening stalactites that first came into view, and the crystal-like rocks that sprouted from every which way. Daarin had been bouncing excitedly before Danny, just about ready to explode.
"Isn't it awesome?!" he announced, twirling a bit, then poking his muzzle at one of the more fragile-looking crystals that seemed to glow a light blue, "I've seen so many crystals in soo many caves, but these?"
He motioned to it with a foreleg, "They almost look magical!"
Danny inched closer, giving the collection of transparent rocks a better look. He hummed to himself, "Yeah... magical..."
The slight ounce of suspicion in his words went well past the head of Daarin, who only beamed brighter. Something about these rocks-- or crystals-- had been at least somewhat interesting enough to have both of them dragged down here. And Daarin, so many more times than he'd thought was possible.
"Come on!" Daarin had interrupted the train of thought, "Past the cave stream is some other really cool stuff I wanna show you!" A few seconds had passed as he glanced up at the wolf, awaiting his signal to go ahead.
"Uh-- right, lead the way!" he tilted his head up in approval, as the younger creature stared up at him, returning an excited smile.
"Okay." Daarin had puffed out his chest, standing firmly over the edge where a darkened shade of a waterfall rushed downwards, into the bottom portion of the cave. "Okay!" His voice had seemed to tremble, legs wobbling beneath him, and yet still tried to convince himself that he certain-as-heck could find himself down there.
"OKAY!"
"Uh, dude, have you ever even... been down there...?" Danny craned over the edge, quickly backing up as he felt the slippery surface of the stone. "And what about that... crawlspace thing? That you mentioned? Before...?"
"About that..." Daarin pinned his ears back, as the tail-eyes had shut tight, "I kinda just realized you wouldn't be able to fit down there... I guess that's why I only find birds and those weird blood-sucky worm thingies down there."
"Wait, you mean there are--"
"Buuut..." Daarin had mindlessly cut off, stepping backwards into the shallow part of the rough stream, "Maybe you might know a way down...?"
"I've never even been in here in my life! Besides, I'm pretty sure you'd know at least another way down there; I mean, you practically live here!"
"I live everywhere!" Daarin reminded, sitting back on his haunches as the water trickled around him, "But, maybe you're right-- I mean, I don't know any other way down except for the super tiny crawlspace, and the waterfall... which is prooooobably not the best idea..."
The kid almost looked distraught for a second, before shaking his head briskly, sprinkling water from his hide. He tapped his forelegs together, as if pondering deeply, then his ears perked up.
"I mean, since we can't.... I guess you could go back to your human form, now," there was still that chipper tone in his voice, although it simmered down by a longshot. His body was then encased in a bright, neon blue light, before a young human had replaced the small animal.
Danny followed suit, sitting back against the side of the cave wall now, eyes trailing over the bottom of the cave, where the water had pooled up in one stony bay, splitting out at the sides and leading down the remainder of the cavern.
Hmm.
"I mean... we could just jump,"
Daarin's ears had perked up, as his face disguised in the shadows had almost lit up. Then a shadow of doubt crossed over his features instead.
"But... I.... don't want you to get hurt! Look at your hands!"
His eyes pinned on the halfa's palms, which had indeed stopped bleeding for the most part, but the gashes from the rock still left open wounds from finger to wrist. But Danny shook his head. "It's fine; I'm the least you should be worried about."
Daarin paused for a moment, then smiled. "A-Alright..! But..."
"But...?"
"But only if you.... uh, make sure I don't fall. I-I mean, the wrong way..." he wouldn't remove his eyes from Danny's, awaiting his approval again. "You have to promise!"
"I promise."
As if that had been the magic word, Daarin had sprung out from the thin stream, standing up on the other side now and brushing off his shorts, possibly out of habit. Or maybe nervousness; he eventually glanced up to face Danny, gripping the edge of one of the selenite crystals that broke through the cave wall.
"Alright... I'm ready!" he had almost forced out the words, his twitching fingers only taking away from his disguise of bravery.
It hadn't even taken a quick look-over for Danny to come to the conclusion that Daarin certainly hadn't thought any of this through, or perhaps, had avoided it at all costs. But whatever was down there to push him to limits of jumping a literal cliff, had to be worth it, hadn't it?
"You know you don't have to do this, right?" Danny mentioned, as Daarin stalked to his side to glance down into the abyss. He only shrugged.
"I know, but.... It's really worth it! As long as nobody gets hurt, I mean!" his voice wavered, but he puffed out his chest instead. "I'm ready."
Danny nodded briefly, waiting for any symbol of movement from the kid, who just stared down into the dark, as if his answer were written into the faint rocks and ripples that surfaced the river. Then he blinked, as if returning back to reality.
His arms wrapped around the halfa's waist, gripping the leather of the hoodie as if his life depended on it. Danny only watched in silence, until he had his own reality check and hesitantly wrapped his arms just below the Daarin's shoulders, meeting his hands at his back.
There was a short silence, as the two had only listened to the sound of the trickling of cave water, and the faint rushing of the falls from outside. The sound of feet reluctantly scuffing the stone.
"You're ready...?" Danny had finally managed, making sure he was holding onto the boy tight. Just a piece of him had wanted a different answer than he'd received. A piece of him wished that he had said no. Something was different than it... than it had been...
"Yep."
They both had shuffled their feet until Daarin had gasped, as his heel had skimmed the sharp edge of the drop, prompting the older teen to back up an inch. But he hadn't wanted Daarin to fall first.
Shuffling around again, Danny had faced his back to the edge, inching back until his boot had touched the very end. He nodded alone to himself, breathing out words of assurance to himself, that he wished there had been enough control to keep inside his thoughts.
He forced a breathed laugh, "If you say so,"
As if had been done many a times before, he stepped back, and then the light and the surface vanished, as Daarin had yelled out in excitement. It sounded like the sounds that were always left at the top as his breath had been left in a box as he tried the leap of faith time and time again. But this time there was the explosion of cool and the fogging of their vision as gravity slowed.
Plunge.
Oh, he didn't want these.