“Hey, Pinkie! Spike!” Rainbow Dash called out as she hovered near Pinkie’s open window.
“Oh, hi, Rainbow!” Pinkie waved, while Spike continued to write out the last few lines Pinkie had dictated to him.
“Whatcha doing there with Spike?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh, he’s helping me to write a story for Twilight, because Twilight had a really bad morning, and I thought this might cheer her up!”
Rainbow ran her hoof down the back of her head, trying to look off in the distance. “Yeah, I, uh, heard about that.”
“Hey, I know!” Pinkie trotted to the window. “You want to help? The more the merrier, I always say!”
“Er, I don’t know—” Rainbow started, but was interrupted as Pinkie dragged her inside.
“Oh, here, maybe you’ll want to help after you see what we’ve already written!” Pinkie dropped Rainbow inside, and pointed to the small stack of parchment that Spike had already written.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, and then plopped herself next to the stack, pulling off the first page to read. “Fine, let’s see here—” It only took a moment for her to stop. “Geez, you guys! This is boring! Where’s the action? The adventure? Pinkie pigging out on candy isn’t much fun to read,” Rainbow criticized.
“I dunno,” Spike offered, placing the latest sheet onto the pile. “I think this is pretty fun so far.”
Pinkie smiled, giving a wink to Spike. “You know, you could always add some of that action and adventure to this story.”
Rainbow’s face lit up. “You’re right! I always wanted to try to write about Daring Do! Let me see what I can do to help!”
“That’s the spirit, Dashie!”
Rainbow sat up straight, and coughed to clear her throat. “Okay, here we go. ‘Daring Do had just stolen the Lunar Grail right out from the talons of the Grimacing Griffons. With the full force of the Griffons on her tail, Daring made to return the Grail to its rightful owner—herself.”
Pinkzilla had made a circuit of the gorge, still sniffing the air and seeking its prey. Each step brought more pebbles tumbling down the sides of walls of Ghastly Gorge. Twilight remained in the shelter of the rocks, more for protection from the potential rockslides than to hide from Pinkzilla.
A loud clamor echoed into the gorge; Twilight guessed it might have been a tree falling over from the cracking sound, but couldn’t tell for sure. But more importantly, it caused the massive pink creature to flick its head towards the noise, and it started to waddle away.
Twilight took immediate advantage of the situation, fleeing her makeshift shelter and galloping down the length of the gorge in the opposite direction.
There was another crashing noise from above, drifting into the walls of the gorge. It came uncomfortably closer than the last disturbance, and Twilight could tell from the rumbling under her hooves that Pinkzilla was still nearby. She feared teleporting herself out of the gorge, not knowing what was making the sound or where Pinkzilla was heading towards.
A shadow crossed over the gorge’s floor, followed by a heavy ground-rattling thump. Twilight skittered to a stop, trying to cover her head as a fresh shower of pebbles and smaller stones fell off the gorge’s walls. She looked up to catch the end of the thick pink tail disappear out of sight, and guessed that Pinkzilla must have just jumped over the gorge. But as she watched, the rock face she was against started to collapse, and several large boulders began to fall directly towards her.
Twilight was stunned in terror, and couldn’t move or think. “HELP!” she shouted, believing the cry would go on deaf ears.
“Don’t worry! Here I come!” a voice from the distance shouted.
Twilight turned down to look in the direction of the voice, but only had a moment to see a blurred figure rush in and grab her before a large rock crashed down on the spot where she had been standing, knocking the wind out of her.
Twilight was agape, looking back at the point of impact, but soon realized she was being carried by somepony, rising out of the gorge. She turned to look at her rescuer.
“Daring Do?!” Twilight shouted in a panic. The pith helmet was unmistakable, as well as the olive-colored shirt.
“Hey, don’t squirm!” the pegasus complained, closing her hoof around Twilight’s barrel to maintain her grip. Daring readjusted the loop of rope around her other forehoof as they swung out of the gorge. “I don’t think you want us to fall now.”
“But— but—” Twilight stammered.
They started to reach the apex of the rope’s impossibly long swing, the top of the gorge appearing in view. Daring eyed the gap, and let go of the rope at the right time to drop her and Twilight safely onto the grass along the edge of the cliff.
“And another damsel in distress saved by Daring Do!” Daring proudly exclaimed as she released Twilight, then took off her hat and bowed to her.
“But— but—” Twilight continued to struggle with the situation.
“Is that all you can say?” Daring asked, her eyebrow raised. She looked across the gorge, where Pinkzilla’s unmistakable mass of curls could be seen above the tree level, anxiously looking for something among the forest there. “That lure’s going to keep it busy for awhile, but we’re going to have more trouble on our hooves soon if we don’t get moving.”
Twilight finally caught her breath. “You’re just a fictional character! You can’t exist!”
“A character? I’m Daring Do, in the flesh!” The adventurer spotted something down within the gorge, and peddled backwards. “Hurry! It’s the G.G.!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “The Grimacing Griffons? Don’t tell me they’re here too?” she asked exasperatedly. She stepped over to try to peek over the edge, but was yanked back by a tug on her tail.
“Come on, you can gawk at them later. They’re after us!” Daring shouted, expertly tossing Twilight up into the air from her tail and catching the surprised unicorn on her back. The mare then broke into a gallop into the forest.
Twilight was caught momentarily off-guard by the move, and hurried to grab at the edges of Daring’s shirt to hold her balance.
“What’s you’re name, miss?” Daring asked, expertly dodging trees and bushes that appeared in her path.
“Uh, Twilight. Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight responded, still in a daze, trying to get any sense of sanity or bearing.
“Nice to meet you, Twilight. I’d like to talk more, but we need to get away from the Griffons first. Just hang on tight!” Daring broke into a faster pace after finding an older path that cut through the forest in more-or-less a straight line.
Twilight tried to clear her head. Daring Do. She was riding on Daring Do, a fictional character, which she knew was an impossibility. Just like the candy town, or its strange citizens, or Pinkzilla. But there was no connection between them whatsoever, unless...
“Oh, no. Now I’m in Rainbow Dash’s imagination!” she moaned aloud.
“Who’s this Rainbow Dash?” Daring asked, her breath short as she continued her pace.
“It’s a long story,” Twilight grumbled.
Twilight took time to look at the forest as it raced by. She had read all of the Daring Do books. But ever since she had introduced the series to Rainbow Dash, her friend had become fascinated by its world, and had a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of Daring’s adventures, putting Twilight’s own appreciation of the series to shame. But even so, the forest didn’t seem like anything out of the books. The Grimacing Griffons, on the other hoof, were a common antagonist in the series. A very bad idea formed in Twilight’s mind.
“Uh, Daring, if I may call you that, why are you being chased?”
Daring responded while dodging the occasional tree. “Oh, the Griffons are upset that I stole the jewel-encrusted Lunar Grail from them. It’s supposed to give anypony that drinks from it eternal youth.”
Twilight was sure that none of the Daring Do books to date had mention of the Lunar Grail. She rationalized that Rainbow must be fantasizing her own story, something that she took a bit of pride in but helped little in the current situation.
A large crash broke Twilight out of her thoughts. She saw movement behind them, slowly catching up to them, and a dark shadow started to consume the forest behind them.
“Do you know how many Griffons are chasing you?”
Daring didn’t break stride but her voice faltered. “Er, maybe, all of them?” she replied sheepishly.
Twilight grimly recalled that the Griffons forces in the books numbered in the thousands. “Keep your pace, I’m going to help you out,” she ordered Daring. She turned around on Daring’s back, grabbing at her tail with one hoof while retaining her grip on Daring’s shirt. Taking a deep breath, she cast a levitation spell on herself. Immediately, with her weight negated by her magic, she flew off Daring’s back, but had a firm grasp of Daring’s tail. With their pace, Twilight fluttered behind the pegasus like a flag in a strong wind.
“Oh, hey, that’s tons better!” Daring commented, already her pace quickening. “Why didn’t you do that before?”
“Sorry, I was a bit lost in my thoughts,” Twilight offered meekly as she adjusted her grip. She looked back, assured that they were at least starting to outpace the dark shadow behind them.
“So, Twilight, what’s a nice young mare doing out here?” Daring asked behind heavy breaths.
“I really really don’t know,” Twilight explained. “I was leaving Ponyville’s spa one minute, and next I found myself in a land full of candy. And then it was attacked by a giant creature named Pinkzilla. And then you saved me from that falling rock, and then...” She paused, laughing a bit at herself. “I know, that must sound really ridiculous.”
“I know my adventures are amazing but you’ve gotta be kidding me! Are you sure you didn’t hit your head on something?”
“I’m pretty sure. This all feels real to me, but—” Twilight caught something moving in on them from the side. “Uh, Daring, I hate to point this out, but I think they’re trying to flank us!” She pointed to their right with a hoof.
Daring snapped a look back at Twilight and then towards where her hoof was pointing. Another large shadow was darkening the forest, closing in on them fast. “No worries, we’re right about where we need to be,” she said with confidence.
Twilight fretted, assuring her grip on Daring’s tail a bit more. “Where’s that?”
“I know a ruined town just ahead, we’ll be able to hide there. Hold on tight!”
The forest suddenly gave way to open air, and the path beneath them disappeared over a cliff face. The two started to free fall. Twilight couldn’t help to scream. “Daring!”
Daring didn’t say a word, continuing to fall, right into the center of a town. Twilight caught glimpses of stone-work buildings rushing up to meet them.
Twilight looked back, attracted by a loud cacophony of voices came from above them. Numerous streams of griffons, donned in grey shirt uniforms and helmets, exploded out of forest on the cliff. Dozens of small groups flew in formation, spreading out to search for their prey. One pointed down towards the falling ponies and alerted the others in a harsh, guttural voice. The rest of the forces immediately took off in the same dive, like a swarm of bees to honey.
“They’re here!” Twilight screamed again.
“Lady, you worry too much,” Daring said excitedly. “Just a bit more...”
Daring had actually tucked her hooves in, speeding their descent. Twilight slammed her eyes closed, the ground closing dangerously fast.
The sound of the air whooshing around them changed. Twilight knew they should have hit the ground already but yet they were still somehow speeding through the air. She opened one eye to find ruined buildings racing alongside them. She looked up to see that Daring had unfurled her wings and was using the momentum she had built up to soar through the desolate town. The lead griffons had to stop short out of their power dive to avoid crashing into the ground and reorient themselves, but many others were already on Daring’s tail into the town.
“See, I told you, everything’s fine,” Daring offered casually.
“Er, we still are being chased by the Griffons,” Twilight said, pointing back behind them.
Daring snorted “Hey, I deal one problem at a time. I got us out of that forest, right?”
Twilight was able to take a look at the town they were in as the buildings zipped by. She wasn’t aware of any such architecture like these stonework buildings in Equestria, but recalled that some of Daring’s published adventures took places in such towns left desolate by the Grimacing Griffons. Even at the speed Daring flew them through town, Twilight could see most of the buildings were in a state of disrepair, some even having collapsed in on themselves.
Motion from behind them caught Twilight’s attention. “They’re gaining on us!” she shouted to the mare. She watched as further griffons joined the ones in pursuit. Most were flying but a few were even gaining speed as they galloped along the ground.
“We need a distraction!” Daring shouted. Her eyes shot around the street in front of them. “There! That clock tower! Knock it down!”
Twilight looked ahead. A dilapidated tower stood to one side of the street, its walls pot-marked with broken stonework. Wooden scaffolding was erected by its side, reaching to where one whole section of wall was missing, replaced with wooden beams.
“Got it! But I’m going to have to give up my levitation spell—”
“No worries, I gotcha!” Daring shot a glance back to their pursuers. “On the count of three...”
Twilight instantly recalled one of her powerful force projection spells, ready to unleash it at the tower.
“THREE!” Daring yelled, pulling up to a vertical climb.
“Agggghhh!” Twilight screamed, more surprised by the suddenness of Daring’s command than the direction change. It took her a moment to recover but looked back down to find her target. She gave no heed to the fact that several of the griffons were following them into the power climb. “Here goes!”
Twilight let her levitation spell go, feeling her weight start pulling down on Daring’s tail. Taking a moment to aim, she channeled her magic into her spell. A lavender beam shot from the tip of her horn, striking the wooden beams at the clock tower dead center. “Got it!” she yelled to Daring, as the creaks of wood splintering started to come from the tower.
“Great! Now let go!”
“WHAT?!” Twilight shouted. She grabbed harder at the tail.
Daring looked back at her, a confident smile on her face. “Trust me, just let go!”
A flash of memory came to Twilight—dangling over a cliff-face in the Everfree Forest, Applejack saying the same thing to her. With a moment’s trepidation and her eyes shut, Twilight let off her precious grip of Daring’s tail.
The vertical momentum kept Twilight moving for a few seconds, but soon she hit her apex as gravity started to drag her down. She peeked out of a closed eye, watching the griffon forces flying straight at her. “Uh, Daring! HELP!” she cried.
“Don’t worry, I’m coming!” Daring had shot off ahead once Twilight’s weight was gone, gaining a great deal more height. Suddenly, she pulled into a loop, coming out of it right into Twilight’s downward fall and angling towards the ground, directly towards the ruined clock tower. She bit down on Twilight’s tail as the mare passed her in free-fall, pulling her out of the immediate path of the rushing griffon forces.
Twilight winced at the pain at her tailbase, but didn’t care, Daring had caught her, and had used her added weight to accelerate her descent. Twilight, being pulled backwards, saw the Griffons turned sharply to follow them like a horde of locusts. She glanced ahead to the tilting clock tower. Pieces of stone and wood rained from its upper levels as it shifted away from the base of the structure.
“Okay, this is going to be tight, Twilight. Hang on!” Daring said through her clenched teeth. She picked up speed in the dive, aiming at a spot on the road where the clock tower was about to fall.
Twilight’s mind was racing, making mental calculations on their situation. “We’re not going to make it!”
“I’m Daring Do, of course we’re going to make it!” the adventurer assured her.
The tower has tipped passed its center of gravity, and was rapidly falling to the ground. Daring, still gripping Twilight’s tail by her teeth, shoot forward, just under the falling ruin. Twilight felt a few small pieces of debris fall on them as they passed under it. The ground just missed grazing Twilight’s cheek.
With a loud crash, the clock tower collapsed into the street, sending a large dust cloud into the air. The griffons that had been hot on their tail skittered to a mid-air stop, and were soon lost within the dust.
“We did it!” Twilight cheered as they flew off.
“It won’t stop them for long though,” Daring commented. “We need to hide, and now!”
Twilight scanned the buildings ahead, and her eyes caught a one two-story building, still mostly standing, sandwiched between the ruins of its two neighbors. She thought it might have been a restaurant at one time, but was more interested in that its doors and windows were nearly all boarded up, which would provide them the cover they need. “There!”
“Got it, hang on!” Daring altered her course, and moments later had neared the building’s unbarricaded front door. She let go of Twilight’s tail a few feet off the ground.
Twilight winced in pain as she landed on her side but got to her hooves quickly. She was already focusing her magic on the door, prodding the worn rusty latch to move. Moments later the door flew open. “There, let’s go!”
The two raced in, slammed the door behind them, and then grabbed at any pieces of furniture nearby to barricade it.
The muffled sounds of gruff orders and packs of griffons flying around can from beyond the door. Twilight took a peek through a slit on the window to see the Griffons darting past their hiding spot, spreading out into small teams to search among the ruins of the town.
Daring fell to the ground, panting and wiping her brow with a hoof. “Phew, we made it!”
Twilight felt her own breath to be short, but found herself enjoying it. “So these are what your adventures are like all the time?”
“You got it, Twilight!”