//------------------------------//
// Pegacuddles & Storybooks 
// Story: Daring Dash & the Distressed Filly 
// by NavelColt 
//------------------------------//

"...I was scared, too."

Scootaloo studied the blades of grass and trails of dirt below her hooves as she walked. Just a few feet in front of her, Rainbow Dash lead the way back through the woods to the cave they had all been camping in. The rainbow pony's swishing spectrum tail kept popping up in the filly's peripheral vision.

To think that the fastest, coolest pegasus ever was going to take her under her wing, teach her everything she knew, and become like her big sister!

That said, one thing was still prodding Scootaloo's mind. Something simply didn't make sense.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah, squirt?" The mare responded, using a hoof to push aside some bushes and branches. The gaping wide entrance to the cave was now in sight, and Dash made a triumphant snort, as if it was some great accomplishment to relocate the cave cliff, visible over the trees as it was.

"I was just wondering about something. How did you know how to find me? I thought you were sleeping when I left the cave."

Dash's trot came to a steady walk. She cocked an eyebrow, looked back over her shoulder and made eye contact with the filly as she trotted into the mouth of the cavern. She lowered her voice noticeably as to not make an echo that'd wake the others.

"Well, it was kinda weird, actually," she began. "I had a dream where I was in the Wonderbolts. We were flying around and showing off our stuff at a show rehearsal—you know, like you do. All of the sudden, just before I was gonna wow Spitfire with my moves, Princess Luna popped out of nowhere and told me you were in trouble, and that you'd run off into the woods. I woke up and saw you weren't there, so I came out lookin' for you as fast as I could. Heard your voice over by the river after following your scooter tracks. Turns out I got there just in time, as always!"

S-She got visited by the princess, too!? 

Scootaloo bit her lip. Her tiny bumblebee-reminiscent wings fluttered so fast they made a buzzing sound. Princess Luna really had been looking out for her, hadn't she?

"Well, here we are. Home sweet cave. Now it's seriously time for some of that shut eye I've been cravin'." 

Dash flopped onto her sleeping bag with a thud. She tucked her hooves down inside and gave a contented smile as cool fabric cradled her. Within moments she was happily tucked against her pillow, blissfully unaware of the tangerine filly, who was now garnishing a sudden wide-eyed expression.

Returning thoughts of the horse from her nightmare began flooding Scootaloo's mind. She peered around, expecting to find a dark shadow, or to hear that horrible neigh she had heard before fleeing the cave in the first place. That noise just had to have been the Headless Horse. What other creature could have made noises like that? Even if it had followed her out from the cave, it might have followed her and Dash back in.

What if it got her? Or Rainbow Dash? Or one of her friends, or their sisters?

The cave was quiet for a moment. Scootaloo made a nervous sigh and trotted over to her own sleeping bag, throwing the covers over herself and trying her best to ignore those thoughts. A rock dislodged and tumbled down from the walls somewhere out of view, and the filly's heart jumped into her throat.

"R-Rainbow Dash..." she said with a weary voice.

"Mmmm?"

"I-I really don't feel that sleepy."

Dash groaned. After a moment, she sacrificed her more than comfortable position and sat up, laying on one elbow. She stared at the filly, who, now suddenly put on the spot, loudly cleared her throat and chuckled meekly. Dense and fatigued as Scootaloo's 'big sister' was, though, she didn’t seem to catch on.

"Alright, fine, I'll bite. Why can't you sleep?"

"I, uh...well, I guess I'm just still a teeny tiny bit—"

"—are you all wired up cause of your dip in the river? I bet the water must’ve been kinda cold this time of night, huh?"

Scootaloo stopped mid-sentence. After a moment of blank-faced thought, she giggled and nodded. 

"Hah, umm, yeah, it was pretty cold."

Rainbow nodded knowingly and got out of her sleeping bag, circling around and prodding the covers for something.

"Thought so. Well, how about this: AJ brought along one of my favorite books, cause I figured I might get bored at some point along the trip. I could read some of it to you if you want. It's a pretty awesome story."

Dash made a barely audible 'aha!' when she found said book hiding underneath the end of her pillow. Grabbing it with her mouth, she stood up straight, made a glance or two at Applejack and Rarity's sleeping tents, then put the book back down.

"Maaaaybe it'd be a better idea if we read out by the campfire. I don't need AJ or Rarity getting on my case about waking them up with my reading. 'Rainbow Dash, I'll have you know I need my beauty sleep, and I can't have any with you reading so loud.'"

Scootaloo couldn't help but giggle at more of Dash's Rarity impression. She had to admit, the idea of a story-a non-spooky story no less-sounded like a good way to keep her mind off of the Headless Horse. More reassured than before, she followed her idol out of the cave. Dash had begun dragging her nap sack with her.



With the campfire relit, Dashreintroduced herself to the comforting inner folds of her nap sack. Sighing and laying the book out in front of her, she laid back against the wrapped up head of her sleeping bag.

"Alright squirt. Figure out where you're gonna be, cause' I'm all set."

Scootaloo nodded, forcing a smile. Unfortunately, she’d blundered. Her own sleeping bag was still off in the cave, and she wasn't about to gamble a meeting with the Headless Horse or even the Olden Pony by going back alone to grab it, now. She scuffed her hoof against the ground, muttering an 'umm' or two before forcing herself to trot up to Dash, who had already started to reread the opening of the story to herself quietly.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, do you think I could just sit with you? Heh, I forgot my sleeping bag and don't wanna go drag it all the way out here. Ya know, since you already have yours, and all."

Dash had finally turned her attention away from the story, and was about to reply, but the wind howled, and branches shook as leaves swirled in a spasmodic dance by the fire, causing shadows to float along ground.

A moment later, Dash found the orange filly already in the sleeping bag with her. 

"Uh, yeah, sure, whatever. Alright, here we go. You're gonna love these stories—even I couldn't put them down. This one's called, 'Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue'. Twilight showed me it this one time when I broke my wing, and I was stuck in the hospital forever. I was hesitant, but then I found out that not all books are brainy or boring."

Off in the distance, the wind rattled the trees further, and an animal scurried around in the bushes. Scootaloo simply pressed herself against the warm blue pony even more. Dash smiled a little, instinctively wrapping her free hoof around her sister’s back.

"You're bein' awfully clingy, squirt. Don't tell me you're still spooked over those ghost stories I was telling you earlier."

"Me? Hahaha, n-no, not at all, no way! I'm not scared of those silly old stories anymore! Heh, yeah, no fear here! Erm, I'm just cold. The fire isn't that warm, ya know?"

"If you say so. Well, I suppose this pegasus can double for a pillow as well as the storyteller pony for tonight," Dash remarked, playfully ruffling the filly's mane before beginning to read.

Just as Rainbow Dash herself had done when she first traversed through the hot, mosquito-filled tropical jungle with Daring Do in her adventure to find the Sapphire Statue, Scootaloo listened intently, hanging on every word. When the jungle cats attacked, Scootaloo's mouth hung slightly open as she attempted, and failed, to read further ahead of where Rainbow Dash was. When the mare was caught by the dastardly Ahuizotl and placed in an impossible trap, the filly made the appropriate 'whoa...', and then when she escaped, 'awesome!'

As pages went by, the strength of the campfire’s flames diminished, and so too did the filly's consciousness. The Dash hadn't budged since the story had begun, and Scootaloo was sure she had found the comfiest thing to rest against, ever. By the time Daring Do had swiped the statue from Ahuizotl's clutches and left the beast to yell her name in frustration, the filly had lopsidedly fallen asleep against Rainbow's chest.

"Out like a light," Dash said in a whisper, closing the book and using her wing to maneuver the filly out of the sleeping bag. Packing up her things and gently placing Scootaloo on her back, she walked back into the cave. She laid Scootaloo down into her own sleeping bag, let the rest of her own things down on the cave floor, and then, for what she hoped would be the final time that night, flopped into her bag and let her head hit the pillow.

Upon the moon, visible to nopony, the regal face of a smiling alicorn peered down on her kingdom of night below, satisfied with her sleeping subjects.