Poppy continued to run from the fortress long after she could no longer hear their hoof steps. The vines and vegetation of the jungle had been thick tangling into Poppy's fur as she galloped. She could feel every time thorn ripped out some of her fur or tore into her flesh. The ground had also been uneven causing her to fall several times but each time she had gotten back up. The sun was starting to set by the time Poppy was sure that she was safe. It had been hours since Poppy had watched as the captain betrayed his crew. She had no clue what to do except to keep galloping.
Poppy only came to a stop when she found the entrance to a cave. The entrance was partially obscured by vines and other vegetation. Poppy decided that it would be best to hide in the cave before the sun set and it got dark outside. What she found inside the cave caused Poppy to pause. Looking around the interior of the cave she found that someone else had been there, fearing that it might be pirates Poppy made to leave. “Crack Crack” The sound of hoof steps sent Poppy's chest racing. Lowering herself to the ground, she slowly backed up towards the cave entrance. Her eyes darting all over the cave looking for some unseen pirate ready to charge sword raised to cut her down. Continuing to back up towards the cave entrance Poppy was suddenly stopped when a thick piece of leather rapped around her left hind leg. Before she could even let out a yelp the rope yanked hard. The world went spinning as her leg was pulled out from under her sending her head into the muddy cave bottom, pain lancing through her jaw. Poppy's eyes squeezed closed until the pain subsided. Reopening her eyes, Poppy blinked a few times as she struggled to understand what had happened. A rope was tied around her hind legs keeping her down.
A voice from behind her finally caused Poppy to stop struggling against the ropes. The voice belonged to a mare and from what Poppy could hear from her accent she was from the Ponyville region. Struggling to turn her head towards the voice Poppy wiggled and twisted her body to face the voice. When she was able to see who had attacked her Poppy realized she recognized the pony before her. The mare standing in the cave entrance was a yellow pegasus with a pith hat and a muddy tattered vest. The mare looked down at Poppy. Poppy could see the look of exhaustion around the mare's eyes. Her yellow coat was caked in mud, and she had numerous cuts some of which had dried blood caked around them. Poppy watched as the mare inspected her from hooves to muzzle before finally asking.
“You're with the Crystal Navy?”
Poppy could swear she recognized the mare or at least she thought she did. The look in the mare's eyes was one of anger and desperation and so Poppy answered the mare trying to hide her fear from her voice.
“Yes and no.” Poppy answered.
The answer only seemed to anger the pegasus as she tightened her grip on the rope causing Poppy to let out a small yelp the rope digging into her fur. The mare asked Poppy again if she was with the Crystal Navy. Doing her best to give a straightforward answer Poppy came out with her whole story of who she was and how she had gotten on this Celestia forsaken island. By the time Poppy finished her story there were tears sparkling in her eyes and she took a few shaky breaths. The pegasus sighed before untying the roped around Poppys legs. Poppy jumped back to her hooves not sure what to expect. The quick action caused some pain in her leg where the rope had rubbed into her soft flesh. Poppy tried to shift her weight only to collapse back on her flank with a yelp. Her legs still had not recovered from the jump off the wall. The pain was just too much, and Poppy felt a few tears roll down her cheek.
The pegasus took notice at Poppys pain and seemed saddened that she had caused it. Rubbing her injured leg Poppy noticed for the first time just how many scrapes she had picked up during her gallop through the woods, some of which had drawn blood. Her normally well groomed appearance was tangled and some of her matted fur was missing with patches that were bare skin.
The strange mare sat down on a log near the fire pit before picking up a stick and using it to idly poke at the coals in the makeshift fire pit. The pegasus looked defeated. Not knowing exactly what to say Poppy decided to join her. Sitting opposite the yellow pegasus Poppy looked at the mare the more she stared the more she began to recognize her. The green vest, the pith hat had all seemed so familiar. The more she thought about it began to put the pieces together until finally the last piece clicked in her mind. With a loud shout and a yelp of pain when she stood up to shout your “Daring Do” The mare said nothing at Poppy outburst until she finally sighed before nodding.
As soon as Daring had finished nodding the questions started to pore out of Poppys muzzle like a freight train. Questions like how did she got here and would she sign her copy of Daring Do and the Pyramids of the Neghial. Daring did not seem to be paying any attention. On Poppy fifteenth unanswered question Daring finally seemed to have enough. Daring placed her wing over Poppy's mouth until she finally stopped talking.
“Are you quite finished with all your questions.” Daring asked her wing firmly pressed over the Poppys muzzle.
Poppy nodded her head, her ears flattening a bit at having her idol basically tell her to shut up. Sorry was the first thing Poppy said when Daring removed her wing. Looking down at the smoking embers of the fire pit the two mares sat in silence for what seemed like forever. Finally, not able to take the silence any longer, Poppy asked the one question Daring would answer. “Now what?” At this question Daring looked up at her companion. First it seemed the pegasus would return to poking at the embers, but her expression softened, and she finally spoke. Her tone was one that clearly spoke from experience. “For now, we wait until sunset then we will try to make our way to the beach. I assume you came on a ship? We will use that to make our escape.”
Poppy loved the idea of leaving this horrible island and the captain, who she had ignored all the evidence of his betrayal and trusted him. Although she wanted to leave for all these reasons, she knew she could not. The crew still needed to be rescued and even if she was willing to leave the captain knew where the long boats were supposed to come and pick them up.
“I can't just leave my crew. The pirates are holding them captive and besides my ship's captain is one of them. He knows where the long boats were supposed to pick us up.” Daring frowned at Poppy and returned to poking at the embers.
Every Pony in Equestria had heard of Daring Do the great adventurer, the defender of the weak against the powerful. Yet as Poppy sat here the mare in front of her just seemed small and defeated. Not like the mare from the stories.
Poppy knew she would need Darings help to rescue the captive crew. There was just no way she could do it alone. The Daring from the books would rise and help her but the longer they sat in silence the more Poppy doubted that it would be that easy to convince the pegasus to help her and sure enough as Poppy tried her best to convince the pegasus all she got was silence in response. When Poppy finally ran out of things to say she sat defeated, her ears drooping forward. The cave was once again filled with just the sounds of silence. After what seemed like an eternity Poppy looked up at the yellow mare and went for broke by just asking her “will you help me” poppy could hear her own desperation in her voice. For a moment there was just more silence until Daring sat down her poking stick and looked up into Poppys eyes. Daring's voice was cold and hollow as she spoke, her ears drooping against her skull. Looking into Poppys eyes a tear fell staining her fur before as she gave her answer a simple one word answer. “No.”
“I am sorry, but did you say no?” Poppy asked.
“I did. It's pointless to try and rescue your crew. It's better to just give up and be happy knowing you weren't captured as well.”
Poppy knew something must have happened to Daring for her to just give up and leave others to death or enslavement and so Poppy got up from her spot on the opposite side of the fire pit and walked over to the yellow pegasus. Poppy lifted her hoof to Daring's chin and lifted it up, so they were face to face. Poppy spoke her confidence lifted by the spark of life she could see in Darings dark eyes. Speaking to Daring in a voice, that resounded off the walls of the cave in a tone of confidence, Poppy dug deep as she spoke. “There's nothing we need to worry about with you on the case there is nothing standing in our way. Afterall, you have fought legions of indigenous ponies and came out without a scrape.” Daring reacted to Poppy's parse and abundant enthusiasm with disdain. Still looking at Poppy but now with anger in her eyes Daring brushed Poppy green hoof back and practically spat at her when she spoke. “What about no did you not understand. For Celestias sake I will not help you. I simply want to leave this sun forsaken island and go home.” Then for good measure and to dash any last shred of hope in Poppy's soul Daring added “I am done. I don’t care anymore.”
Falling back on her haunches from the shear ferocity in Daring's voice, Poppy sat there in stunned silence, her ears limp, and her tail sat motionless. How could it be that Daring Do adventure extraordinaire so Poppy asked not knowing if Daring would answer her or not, but she needed to know what could have made her throw in the towel. Trying to formulate the right words to ask the question that now burned her with curiosity. With a final breath of courage Poppy asked. “What happened to you.” Again, there was silence, and this silence was loud and defining as she waited for the pegasus to answer. Finally, Daring looked up from the fire pit again, the anger and ferocity was gone, replaced by sadness. Her face covered in fresh tears as her expression was one of the deepest kinds of hurt. The kind of hurt that one felt at losing someone. That expression told Poppy a lot. Whatever had happened had torn this mare apart from the insides. And so, Poppy sat there as Daring slowly spoke of the events of the last few days.
As it had turned out, much like Poppy Daring had been on a ship named Calm Seas near the port of Deer Hollow. Daring explained that she had been traveling with a friend and his son. The stallion a grey pegasus named Professor Brazen Ruff. Poppy recognized the Professors name from some of the Daring Do books she had read. The Professor was a longtime friend of Daring Dos. The stories always had Daring meet with the professor to gather information about her destination or the artifact she was to find before going out on her adventure. Daring explained that this was the first adventure the stallion had gone on with his son. The colt, a small unicorn with a blue mane and red fur had been excited to go with his father. The journey had started out normally when they left Crecent Bay. It was on the third day, however, just outside Dear Hollow when the ship was attacked by the Storm Kings Pirates. Daring explained that they were supposed to have received an escort from the Equstrain Navy, but the ship had never shown up and when the pirates had attacked without warning, the crew had no time to defend the ship. Daring explained that their ship was blasted with cannon fire just before dawn. She described how she had woken up inside her cabin with water rushing in. Daring described how she could hear the screams of the other passengers and the smell of gun powder all around her. By this time in her story Daring was starting to shake, her whole body was tensed up and tears were flowing down her cheeks. Poppy knew this was hard on her, but she also knew that if it was kept bottled up then Daring would just wallow in her misery. Placing her hooves around the pegasus back she encouraged her to try and continue the story.
Making it to Brazen Ruffs cabin she had helped her friend get his son out of the quickly filling cabin that the two had shared. The three had managed to make their way to the main deck. On their way up Daring had noticed her own cabin had been demolished by cannon fire. Not dwelling on how close she was to having been killed they had made their way to the hatch leading to the ships main deck. They could hear more screams and the sounds of swords clashing and musket fire. Daring left through the hatch first galloping straight to a longboat. Brazen and his son were next out of the hatch. The two trying to make it to the rail. Unfortunately, they never made it. Daring watched as a wayward mucket ball struck Brazen in the side. He fell to the ground.
This is where Daring stopped her story again, eyes watering. Her breathing became labored with short little breaths. Reaching out with her hoof Poppy wiped away the tears before brushing Daring's banes back. “Go on” Poppy said as Daring looked into Poppys eyes. Her eyes were pleading to stop but with Poppy soothing words Daring continued the story.
Brazen hit the deck with a thud. His son fell off his back next to him. Blood started to pool around the deep bullet wound in his side. Daring galloped back towards her wounded friend, but the pirates were faster than Daring encircling the young colt as he tried to nudge his father into standing.
Poppy could tell by Darings own description that the professors wound had probably been fatal. Poppy continued listening to the story; her own heart felt saddened.
Daring could only watch as the two of them were taken prisoner. The colt screaming for his father to get up. Just before a pirate grabbed him, the colt gave Daring a look of fear as he was taken away. The look broke Daring into tiny pieces but with no time to think she stepped back; the pirates having noticed her. She had wanted to help her friend, but the pirates had taken the deck. The fighting started to slow down as the crew of the Calm Seas surrendered. Knowing she had to flee if she wanted to help, later Daring flared her wings pumping them hard. Several muskets sounded off towards her. They missed as Daring flew off the deck. After a few moments the pirates seemed to stop taking notice of her. They knew she was not much of a threat on her own and not worth the trouble of trying to shoot her down.
Scanning the now sinking Calm Seas Daring tried to locate her friends. She eventually found them just as one of the pirates was throwing Brazens limp body into the long boats. The pirate did not care as Brazen smacked into the bottom of the boat with a wet squelch. From where she was hovering Daring could not tell if he was alive, but the red splotch on his side was growing by the minute. When the pirates had finished loading all the survivors of the attack into longboats they began to sail to the south. Daring had followed them.
When the story ended Daring was sobbing. Poppy draped her forelegs around the other mare's shoulders pulling her into a tight hug. Nuzzling into Poppys embrace the great adventure sobbed. She sobbed because her friend may be dead, she sobbed because she did nothing to help instead the great Daring Do had run from danger. Poppy continued to hold her close brushing her mane with a hoof. The two continued to embrace for some time keeping warm with each other's heat. The shadows of the two mares danced on the cave walls as the last light of the setting sun filtered into the cave. Poppy held the still whimpering pegasus in her forelegs rocking her back and forth. After some time, the tears had dried and the two just sat in silence listening to the crackling of the fire. Feeling her companion relaxing, Poppy pulled back Daring looked up at her. Poppy could see the fur under her eyes was matted from the tears. Poppy smiled at the smaller pony and Daring returned it.
With the two no longer keeping each other warm Daring offered to rekindle the fire and after a few moments of adding some new firewood a fire was born. The heat helped to lift both of their spirits. The two did not say much the rest of the night, instead they just took comfort in each other's company. Eventually they both drifted off to sleep.