Chapter Six
If history had a corporeal form, Rainbow Dash would have been rolling around in it with the same unbridled glee as a pig in a fresh mud hole. The old library had not proven easy to find, but the maze of corridors were no match for the lingering memories that drew the pegasus to this location. Centuries ago, the library had served as a study hall for the famed wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded, and while Rainbow Dash may have espoused a less-than-favourable stance on the unicorn, one had to admire his dedication to his studies.
The shelves may have crumbled after their eons of disuse, and the work desk that the wizard spent hours toiling over was now flattened beneath a collapsed pillar, but the rich tapestry of history could still be felt in the air and seen in what remained. Rainbow could pinpoints the grooves in the floor that had been left behind by a certain wizard pacing back and forth across the same path thousands of times over.
Glancing to a nearby wall, Rainbow noticed a faded black scorching across the stone surface. “That must be where Star Swirl first manifested his infamous solar flare spell,” she remarked with a faint sense of awe. She could only imagine the reaction the Royal Sisters had when they heard the earth-shaking blast that Star Swirl had conjured up, or the look on their faces when they saw that half the library had been set ablaze.
Further examination of her surroundings revealed a noticeable indentation in the ceiling. “Heh, I bet that’s where Star Swirl first tried out his reverse gravity spell. Lucky for him that he wore a helmet for it.”
It was a shame that she could never study magic in the way that a unicorn could—it seemed like fun. It had similar principles with its long hours of careful study, dedication, and discovery of the unknown. However, it just didn’t have the same level of appeal as being the first pony in a hundred years to set foot in an ancient tomb, but it would have made for a good hobby. Archaeology just had a more tangible sense of accomplishment to it, or at least that’s how she felt; perhaps as a pegasus, she simply could not fully understand the wonders of wielding magic.
And speaking of discovery, Rainbow Dash was still in search of her next big one. The tangled mess that was her mind had led her to the library, but finding the library had yet to yield answers. The room felt very familiar to her, and everything in her memories said that she had been here before, but to what end?
“There has to be something here,” Rainbow said with Daring’s trademark determination. She began combing through the library, searching both the upper and lower floor. What tomes and scrolls had been left behind after the transition to Canterlot had long since crumbled to dust, leaving behind only empty leather husks.
Sweeping the first floor again, Rainbow Dash stopped in front of the old fireplace. Above the mantle was a cobweb-covered carving that displayed the old heraldry of the Royal family, which still bore Luna’s sigils that were later removed from the heraldry after her banishment. It was a familiar symbol to the pegasus, and just because the newer variations still adorned the Royal Palace in Canterlot. There was something about the symbol that was calling to Rainbow Dash in the same way the library had called to her.
Sadly, despite her intense stares, she was unable to coax any answers out of the wall decoration. She knew there were answers, but all she had was just an empty space in her brain that felt like the gaping maw of the abyss. It was nothing more than a carving, but it may as well have been laughing and mocking her. A faded carving covered in dusty cobwebs felt like a suitable metaphor for how her mind felt at that moment, much to her continued annoyance.
“Why can’t I remember?” Rainbow growled as her frustrations continued to boil. Why did it feel like she had been through these motions before, and yet could not recall the details of them? Daring Do recovered the Sapphire Stone and the Gryphon’s Goblet; she unraveled the mysteries to the fate of Marelantis; she stopped Ahuizotl from unleashing the power of Nightmare Moon; and she even got a blind date for Princess Celestia! How in the name of all Equestria was a mere stone carving on the wall proving to be an insurmountable obstacle? This should have been child’s play.
“What is wrong with me?” In a fit of anger, the pegasus lashed out at the nearest thing she could, kicking over one of the broken down bookshelves. Due to decades of decay, it collapsed into a heap of broken wood and stone, and it knocked up a cloud of dust in the process. While she was typically more respectful of ancient ruins, Rainbow Dash felt an odd sense of satisfaction afterwards.
The crash of the collapsing shelf had the beneficial side-effect of attracting the attention of someone nearby.
“Rainbo—er, I mean Daring!” It was Twilight Sparkle, who came galloping into the library after hearing some kind of commotion echoing from the chamber. “We’ve been looking all over for you and—did you kick over that shelf?”
“Umm, maybe?” The half-hearted grin Rainbow shot back was completely unconvincing.
Twilight could have gone into a lecture about how irresponsible such an act was, but she was too relieved to have found her friend. “Is everything okay?”
Despite a nagging ego that insisted on denial, Rainbow pushed her pride aside. Hiding the truth from Twilight wasn’t going to solve anything, and there was a chance that a second set of eyes might find what had been eluding the pegasus thus far. “This is Star Swirl’s old library,” she explained, even though her friend knew this fact already. “I’ve stood in this room before, and that carving over the fireplace has some significance. I just...I just can’t seem to quite remember what.”
Rather than express worry, concern, or sympathy for her troubled friend, Twilight instead looked to the carving on the wall and smiled. “Maybe I can help you with that,” she said with a tone that suggested she knew more than she was letting on. Twilight set her hoof upon a small star-shaped section of the engraving, and applied gentle pressure to it. Her hoof sank into the wall, followed by a subtle click, and the slow grind of moving stone.
“Of course!” Rainbow exclaimed. “A secret chamber; why didn’t I think of that?” It was ‘Reclusive Wizard 101’ to have a secret chamber in the study hall, and Rainbow felt silly for not realizing it sooner. The stone backing of the fireplace began to recede, revealing an inner chamber that the pegasus did not hesitate to barge into. “Now maybe I can finally get some answers…”
Rainbow Dash’s words trailed off as she slowed to halt in the middle of the room. It was empty. At best there was an empty pedestal in the center of the room and a simply workbench on the far side, but aside from those meagre furnishings, the room was even more barren than the library.
“There’s...there’s nothing here,” Rainbow murmured in disbelief. Her instincts had always steered her in the right direction, and everything in her heart and soul told her that this room held something that would unravel the mystery in her mind. She began to scramble about the room, prodding every stone and surface in a desperate attempt to find another secret switch or a hidden compartment. But her frantic search turned up nothing: the room was as barren as the void in her mind where the memories of this castle should be.
How could there be nothing? There wasn’t even a scrawled ‘Daring Do was here’ on the wall to give her some sense of satisfaction in knowing that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her.
Feeling dejected, Rainbow Dash slumped to the haunches and sighed. “I feel like my mind is slipping away from me,” she said in dismay. “Tell me I’m not just going crazy, Twilight!”
“You’re not,” the alicorn princess reassured her friend. She had followed her friend into the secret chamber, but had kept her distance with the hope that Rainbow Dash would remember something. “You have been here before. You found this room in your search to find the lost tome of Star Swirl the Bearded. And you did find it, that’s why the room is empty.”
Rainbow Dash held a morose look upon her as she turned to her friend. “Why didn’t you mention any of this to me sooner?”
“I only just started reading the latest book, and you ran off before I could even get that far,” Twilight explained.
“I don’t suppose I could borrow that book for a little while?” Rainbow asked with a more hopeful glint in her eyes. “It’s strange that I can recall most of my adventures with no problem, but this place seems to be so...elusive.”
Twilight suspected that it had to do with the fact that the latest Daring Do novel was still fresh in Rainbow Dash’s mind at the time of the accident. In fact, she was fairly certain that the pegasus hadn’t even finished it before the lightning strike robbed her of her memories. The librarian was hesitant to give the book over; she worried that it would only serve to further validate Rainbow’s misplaced sense of identity. However, it might also prevent Rainbow from going on any further impromptu adventures to fill the gaps in her memory.
“How about we try that if visiting Zecora doesn’t help?” Twilight suggested. She would prefer to run the idea past Applejack before attempting it, as her initiative had already caused enough trouble as it stood. And speaking of Applejack, she still needed to find her other friend so they could resume their original journey. “Now come on, Daring, we need to find Applejack soon if we want to get to Zecora’s hut before it gets dark.”
However, as the two ponies turned for the exit, the secret chamber’s door suddenly slammed shut on them.
“What the hay?” Rainbow remarked, now shrouded in complete darkness. “Twilight, did you step on some kind of trigger plate?”
“I don’t think so,” she answered. Though she hadn’t been paying that close attention to the floor, she believed she would have noticed if a particular section of the floor was looser than the others. “Maybe the door release is on a timer. I’ll teleport out and push the button again.”
A bright flash and a faint pop accompanied Twilight as she vanished from sight, but she re-appeared with a similar flash a second later and in the exact same spot she stood before.
“What? This isn’t right,” Twilight commented upon realizing she was still inside the chamber. She tried to teleport again, but it had the same end result: a confused alicorn standing in darkened chamber. Not wanting to continue the conversation in the dark, Twilight channeled some magic through her horn in order to project enough light to fill the room.
“This room must be lined with some kind of enchanted stone to keep magic from crossing over,” Rainbow concluded. “It was a very common construction practice in pre-classical architecture, especially in castles in order to keep intruders from teleporting inside.”
In better circumstances, Twilight would have taken a moment to marvel at the fact that Rainbow Dash had just given her a history lesson; however, her thoughts were more concerned with getting out of their new twelve-by-twelve prison cell.
“They wouldn’t have built a secret chamber that you could lock yourself in,” Twilight reasoned as she began searching about the room. “There has to be a way to open the door from the inside.”
As far deathtraps went, being locked inside a room was one of the slowest kinds imaginable, and the slower a deathtrap was, the more time one had to plot an escape. The two ponies began pawing their way about the room, their searched hindered slightly by the limited light. Unfortunately, Twilight became so focused on scouring the room that she wound up tripping upon an unevenness in the floor. Her startled yelp was accompanied by a loud thump and her light going out.
“Are you okay?” Rainbow called out in the darkness.
“I’m fine,” Twilight answered. “I just tri—ow! That’s my tail you just stepped on!”
“Sorry! I can’t see anything like this.”
“Could you help me up?”
“Hey! I think I found something.”
“That’s my flank.”
“Really? Have you considered using a treadmill.”
Due to the darkness, Rainbow was spared from having to endure a fiery glare from Twilight Sparkle. “This is no time for joking around,” Twilight scorned before pushing Rainbow away. Just moments after getting back onto her hooves, she heard a loud and distinct clicking sound emanating from the far wall. “Was that you Daring?”
“That wasn’t me.”
A distinct clicking sound soon echoed from the far wall. Twilight brought back her light just in time for her and Rainbow to see dozens of slots opening up across the entire width of the far wall. Within each slot was a locked and readied, razor-sharp bolt. One did not need to be a globe-trotting archaeologist to know where those bolts were about to go. Rainbow Dash would have spent a moment analyzing the room to deduce the best position in order to evade the bolts, but the bolts were in the air before her mind could even process how many there even were.
“Twi!” Not the best last words to have, but they were the first thing that came to mind.
There was another bright flash before the room fell into darkness, followed by what felt like she had just flown through a flock of pigeons. However, a flock of bird was far less painful than what a flurry of bolts should have.
“Ow,” Rainbow groaned, sprawled across the ground in a sore heap. “Are you still there, Twilight?”
“I’m a little bruised, but I’m okay.”
“How are we still alive?” Rainbow wasn’t one to question fate, but even bolts dulled by time could penetrate at high enough velocities. She had a feeling that the alicorn could shed light on the seemingly miraculous survival. “What did you do?”
“The first thing that came to mind,” Twilight answered. It took a few moments for the numerous aches across her body began to dull, after which she was able to summon a source of light.
In the glow of the fresh light, Rainbow Dash could finally see what had transpired. Scattered across the floor around the two ponies were the bolts, but instead of sharpened tips, each shaft was now tipped with a plump, round orange.
“Did we just get pummeled with fresh fruit?” Rainbow quipped with a hint of bewilderment.
“Like I said,” Twilight explained as she got back to her hooves, “it was the first thing that came to mind.”
Rainbow Dash stared at the fruit-tipped bolts in utter silence for a second before having a small chuckle. That chuckle, however, turned into an unbridled laughter when she saw Twilight Sparkle, who had an orange impaled on her horn. As far as escapes went, this was not the kind of daring deed that got ponies into history books, but it was one that would not soon be forgotten. It was not of the brightest moments of her career, but it was one of the tastiest.
“How about next time, Twilight, you try something a bit softer? Maybe a tomato,” she suggested.
Twilight had her own little laugh when she realized she was sporting a new horn ornament. “I’ll try to keep that in mind,” she said while tidying herself up. “We still need to find a way out of here.”
“What I wouldn’t give for a little dynamite right now,” Rainbow grumbled.
“Sorry, but Blondie isn’t here, so we’re just going to have to make do.”
They may have been lacking in the demolition expertise of an unnamed gunslinger, but when the door started sliding open once more, they were greeted by another familiar blonde.
“Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed upon seeing her friend. “You have no idea how glad we are to see you.”
“Maybe next time you’ll listen when I warn ya about paying attention,” Applejack remarked. Despite the harshness her words may have carried, the farmer pony was just as relieved to see her friends, and was receptive to the ‘thank you’ hug that Twilight offered up as a reward.
Rainbow Dash followed the alicorn out, but refrained from offering any hugs. Nonetheless, she expressed her gratitude at the timely rescue. “How did you manage to find us?” she inquired.
“I was trying to find Twilight given that she wandered off on me,” Applejack began to explain. “I heard some noise coming from here, but I couldn’t find anypony here. I was just about to leave when I heard a lot of clicky sounds and ‘ow ow ow’ coming from behind the wall. So what happened exactly, and why does Twilight smell like orange juice?”
Twilight and Rainbow just exchanged awkward glances followed by a nervous chuckle. They decided to postpone sharing the details of their ham-hoofed stumbling about in a darkened chamber they had managed to lock themselves in. It was easy to convince Applejack to focus instead on concluding their business in the castle, and returning to their original journey back to Zecora’s hut.
“So, Daring, did you find what you were looking for?” Applejack asked as the three ponies headed on their way out.
“No, just an empty room and more questions,” Rainbow replied morosefully.
“We’ll help you find your answers,” Twilight reassured the pegasus. “Just warn us next time before you run off again, okay?”
Having learned her lesson, Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, followed by a quick apology for her hastiness. “I guess I’m used to just running off on my own,” she explained. “I mean, danger usually follows me but that’s a given.”
“Danger Duke was one of your better field assistants,” Twilight added with her own expertise on Daring Do. “Though aside from the occasional timberwolf and cockatrice, the Everfree Forest isn’t as dangerous as everypony says.”
“Speaking of timberwolves,” Applejack said as she directed everyone’s attention to the front. Stomping through the doorway ahead were a band of large timberwolves, one of which still had pieces of vine trailing from its ankles. “Friend of yours, Daring?”
“Persistent critters.” One timberwolf against three ponies might have been a challenging, but not too dangerous, task, but five timberwolves were cause for concern. Such persistence in their predation was unusual, but none of the ponies were interested in discussing the academics of the perils that were staring at them with hunger in their eyes. “I think running might be in order.”
“Agreed!” Applejack hastily concurred before sprinting in the opposite direction, followed soon afterwards by Rainbow Dash and Twilight.
A smart pony knew when the odds weren’t in their favour, and each of the ponies knew that five was pushing their luck. Twilight suggested that they try to lose the timberwolves in the castle halls, and perhaps tackle one or two of them if the need was urgent and they could get it isolated. As decent a battleplan as either of the others could think of, Rainbow Dash and Applejack fell into step behind the alicorn.
Barreling through the castle corridors, Twilight shot a brief glance over her shoulder and saw that the timberwolves were in close pursuit. “Hurry! They’re gaining on us!”
“No, really? I was just about to slow down,” Applejack quipped.
While it hadn’t been planned, the two winged ponies were forced to slow to a halt when a section of the flooring gave out from beneath them. It was another castle trap, and although Rainbow and Twilight were able to use their wings to avoid plummeting down the darkened chasm, Applejack lacked the means of flight and had been taking up the rear. With a yelp and flailing hooves, Applejack went over to the edge, crashing into the mid-air Rainbow Dash. This threw the pegasus into Twilight’s backside, causing both ponies to fall into a tumble that sent them hurtling down the darkened pit to the chorus of shrieks of profanities.
Neither managed to regain their senses until they hit the ground. “Not what I had planned,” Rainbow groaned, now laying atop of Twilight.
Twilight was less concerned about the pegasus planted upon her posterior than she was about the status of their third friend. “Are you okay, AJ?”
There was no answer, however, and it took the confused alicorn princess a few seconds to notice that Applejack was not down in the pit with them. Casting her gaze upwards, she saw her friend clinging to the edge of the trapdoor.
“Applejack!” Twilight called out to her friend.
“I’m okay...sorta.” With a bit of scrambling and grunting, Applejack was able to pull herself back up. She didn’t have much time to enjoy her victory over gravity as the approaching timberwolves reminded her of why she had been running in the first place. For a brief instant, she was gripped by apprehension as she glanced between the inbound predators, and her friends still at the bottom of the pit. The hesitation was momentary, though, as Twilight shouted at her friend to just run for it, to which the farmer pony complied.
And as the saying went, no good deed went unpunished, and Twilight’s selflessness in commanding her friend to keep running was rewarded with four of the five timberwolves jumping down the trapdoor in pursuit of the winged ponies. With four giant beasts coming leaping down, Rainbow and Twilight were forced to find a new path. Surveying their surroundings, Rainbow Dash noticed some loose bricks in the wall.
“This way, Twilight!” Rainbow said as she dashed over to the loose bricks. With a mighty kick from both hind legs, she knocked down the decayed section of wall, revealing an adjacent corridor on the opposite side. Neither knew where it led, but the unknown of the path ahead was far less ominous than the known danger behind them. On her way through the opening, she grabbed one of the fallen bricks and took it with her.
Holding back for a brief moment, Rainbow Dash waited for one of the timberwolves to poke its head through the opening, upon which she kicked the brick towards it, nailing the creature square in the jaw and shattering its head into a shower of twigs and splinters.
“Nice shot, Daring,” Twilight complimented before the two resumed their flight.
“Out of curiosity, I don’t suppose you know any fireball or lightning bolt spells?” Rainbow asked.
“Not really. I kind of avoided fire magic after ruining Celestia’s favourite curtains when I was a filly,” Twilight admitted with an embarrassed grimace. Though the incident had been years ago, the impressions left upon the younger Twilight had been strong enough to deter her from making any future attempts. In hindsight, perhaps she should’ve revisited those old lessons now that she was a Princess and in more control of her magic. “However, I do have this - you might want to cover your eyes!”
It may not have included fire, but Twilight’s magic was far from helpless. Standing her ground, the alicorn Princess began focusing her arcane might, shrouding herself in a vibrant violet aura. The energies soon coalesced at the tip of her horn, growing in size and intensity like a brewing storm. Once the power became too much to contain, Twilight unleashed it upon the advancing timberwolves. The volatile beam of magic slammed into the face of the first beast, echoing with thunderous blast and filling the corridor with a violet-tinted smoke.
“Ha, take that!” Twilight shouted in triumph.
However, her celebration was discovered to be premature, for when the smoke dissipated, the timberwolves were still standing there. With the exception of a small singe mark upon the forehead of the lead creature, they appeared to be no worse for the wear.
“A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” Rainbow deadpanned upon witnessing the results.
For a brief moment, Twilight was more puzzled by her friend than the impending threat. “Wait, was that Shakespeare?” Before she could get an answer, however, an irate snarl from one of the timberwolves reorganized her priorities, and prompted both ponies to resume their hasty retreat.
Their flight from the timberwolves hit another snag when a large iron grating came crashing down from the ceiling just a few short meters ahead of them. “Oh great, more traps,” Rainbow cursed after skidding to a halt. She prodded at the iron bars, but a cursory evaluation revealed no structural weaknesses or ways to bypass.
“And odd place to put a portcullis,” Rainbow Dash mused with mixed confusion and annoyance. Once again, she was left wondering how this trap could have been sprung given that neither of them stepped on any trigger plates, as far as she was aware, and it was too far ahead of the timberwolves for them to have been the culprits. “Twilight, teleport to the other side.”
“But what about you?”
“I’ll be fine,” Rainbow insisted, “save yourself.”
“Like hay I’m leaving you behind,” Twilight retorted. The brave words, however, needed more than just sentiments to be of any value to either of them. However, the mentioning of portcullis reminded her of something she had just reading in her Daring Do book. “In fact, you wait right here,” she suggested while stepping forward. “I have a cunning plan.”
Rainbow Dash felt a growing sense of apprehension as she watched her friend trotting forward. Were it Blondie suggesting a plan, she would have felt more inclined to take cover and wait for the inevitable explosion, but instead she just felt a sense of concern and unease. Cunning plan or not, it took a lot for one pony to handle three timberwolves at once. Twilight continued her slow, cautious trot, examining the floor with each step. She eventually stopped a seemingly arbitrary point along the corridor and watched as the timberwolves came barreling through the corridor. Rainbow, for the life of her, couldn’t fathom what the alicorn was planning, but she felt an almost intrinsic trust towards her. It was a strange, inexplicable feeling for the pegasus, but she trusted her instincts.
As the timberwolves continued their frenzied rush towards Twilight, the alicorn princess held her ground with unflinching resolve. Only when the beasts leapt into the air to pounce upon the seemingly defenseless pony did she act. In a flash, Twilight Sparkle teleported herself out of danger, rematerializing next to her friend. The significance of this act became readily apparent when the timberwolves hit the ground, landing squarely on a trigger plate. Throughout the entire length of the corridor ahead of Rainbow and Twilight, more slots opened up and launched a thick volley of sharpened bolts across the hall. The two ponies watched as the timberwolves were torn into kindling by the barrage.
“How did you know that trap was there?” Rainbow asked once the shock of awe had settled.
“It was in your book,” Twilight answered as though the pegasus should have known that already. “Now come on, help me with this gate.”
“It was pretty easy to get rid of that timberwolf once all of his friends ran off after the two of you,” Applejack explained as the three ponies continued their journey through the Everfree Forest. “There’s a lot of tight corners in that castle, so I just found one with a doorway, and waited for the ugly critter to show up. The moment he stuck his noggin through the door—BAM! I slammed it shut square in his face.” She was quite pleased with herself, and was equally relieved when Twilight and Rainbow Dash detailed how they handled the remainder of the pack.
“Five timberwolves in one outing,” Rainbow remarked as she took a second to perform a triumphant backflip through the air. “Not a bad showing for a day’s work. I should go adventuring with you two more often.”
“Except we spent almost the entire day on that detour,” Twilight reminded the over-enthusiastic pegasus.
Through the forest canopy, all three could see that the sun was beginning to set in the distance. It would soon be nightfall, and the dangers of the Everfree Forest during the day would feel like a pleasant dream in comparison to what may lurk in the shadows. Twilight could still recall her encounter with the cockatrice from years ago, and she didn’t want a repeat performance as a garden ornament. Being stone for one afternoon was a gruelling experience, which gave her some insight into why Discord was so troublesome after spending centuries imprisoned. If she had to spend another day trapped that way, she would be liable to lose her mind.
“It wasn’t that big of a waste,” Applejack said in a surprising defense of the pegasus. “It’s important that Daring Do remembers what she’s lost, and if a little saunter through a castle helps, then I say we go for it.”
“See? Applejack agrees with me.” Rainbow felt emboldened by her friend’s encouragements, and blew a quick raspberry to the nay-saying princess. “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen if we’re a little late to Zecora’s? If she lives here like you said, then we’re sure to catch her at a good time.”
Twilight refrained from entertaining her friends with the laundry list of potential problems that could arise due to their late arrival. It was surprising to see that Applejack seemed unconcerned about Rainbow Dash’s recovery, but she was willing to attribute that to keeping the pegasus’ trust in them. Wanting to change the subject from something that didn’t have the other two ponies ganging up on her, Twilight steered the conversation towards the first thing that caught her eye.
“Hey Applejack, when did you start wearing that hairpin?” she inquired upon spotting the glimmering trinket in the farmer’s mane.
“What? Oh, I-it’s nothing, really.” It appeared that Applejack had been caught by surprise, and became surprisingly modest about it. She adjusted her hat such that its brim obscured the accessory from sight. “It’s just a little something new I’m trying out.”
Given that Applejack had never been the type of pony to toot her own horn, Twilight was willing to ignore the way in which her friend avoided the subject. She was unaware that Applejack wasn’t eager to explain how Apple Bloom dug the thing up from the orchard earlier that day.
“Well, I think it looks really nice on you,” Twilight said before letting the issue drop.
Fortunately for all of them, but for Twilight most of all, they were soon able to find the secluded residence of Ponyville’s favourite apothecary (and not-so-evil enchantress), Zecora.
“Nice place,” Rainbow remarked, “reminds me of the villages I saw while in the outskirts of Buckswana.”
“Just...um, let me handle the talking, okay?” Twilight said as she took the lead. Remembering that Rainbow Dash was under the impression they were going to restore the memories belonging to a famous archaeologist, Twilight Sparkle decided that it would be best to talk to Zecora in private first. Plus it would be easier if Zecora was brought up to speed on the latest events without having to listen to Rainbow Dash’s conflicting story about an evil sorceress and body-swapping.
Twilight knocked on the door, and prayed to Celestia that the Zebra hadn’t taken an extended day trip into Ponyville. Luckily for her, the door swung open and the smiling visage of her zebra friend appeared. “Twilight Sparkle, my dear friend! To visit so late, is there assistance that I may lend?”
“We’ve got a huge problem!” Twilight began as she accepted the zebra’s invitation inside. “It’s kind of a long story—actually, it’s kind of short. Anyways, Rainbow Dash got hit by a lightning bolt and lost her memory. I tried to fix it with magic but now she thinks she’s Daring Do.”
Zecora raised a single brow at Twilight’s quick rendition. Between poison joke and cutie pox, a little identity crisis didn’t strike her as unusual. “Do what my ears hear be true? Your friend thinks that she is the famous Daring Do?”
“You know of her?”
“The journeys of Daring Do go far and wide,” Zecora explained. “In villages across my homeland has she once reside.”
“So do you think you can help her?” Twilight asked with restrained optimism. “Anything you can do to help would be really appreciated, even if it’s just to undo the mistake I made.”
Zecora paused briefly to contemplate the situation. Needless to say, it was a unique conundrum that the ponies had found themselves in, but it was not in Zecora’s nature to shirk from a challenge. “Permit me a moment to examine your friend, so that I may see the best way in which to mend. Alas, I cannot offer a guarantee, but I promise my best to devise a remedy.”
Twilight nodded in agreement and headed back outside to send Rainbow Dash to meet with the zebra.
“Does she think she can fix her?” Applejack asked in a hushed whisper while the amnesiac pegasus headed indoors.
“She’s going to give it her best.”
Applejack and Twilight didn’t know what kind of herbal magic that Zecora could work, but they remained hopeful that she could undo some of the damage that had been done. At the very least, Twilight hoped that this experiment wouldn’t wind up as catastrophic as her attempt. The pair waited just outside the hut, giving Zecora the space she needed to conduct her examination.
“So did going to the castle help her at all?”
Twilight shrugged and gave an pessimistic frown. “It seemed to disappoint her more than anything. She’s trying to piece together her identity as Daring Do, but she’s chasing after very old footsteps.”
“Maybe she’ll finally realize that it’s not who she actually is,” Applejack commented. It was a faint hope, but knowing Daring Do’s character, the pegasus was more likely to double-down her efforts than give up. After all, Daring Do was undeniably unstoppable: the real Daring would not be stopped by mere memory loss.
Before their conversation could continue, Zecora and Rainbow Dash emerged from the hut. “Good news, she thinks she can fix my head!” Rainbow reported.
“There is a ritual that I could try,” Zecora added in, “but, alas, the herbs we need are in short supply. Come tomorrow’s light, I shall take flight. To find the herbs shall be my mission, so we may restore your friend to her true condition.”
“You mean we need to come back tomorrow?” Twilight asked. Under normal circumstances, that would not have been an unreasonable request, but considering the lengths they went to in order to bring Rainbow Dash once, a second trip was best avoided.
“Were it not almost night, I would go search right away, but it is a job that must wait for another day,” Zecora reassured the ponies. She smiled warmly and gestured to the open doorway. “Please come inside and be my guest. Give your tired hooves and weary head a most well-deserved rest.”
“Thank you very much, Zecora,” Twilight said with a polite bow of her head. She hadn’t counted on staying overnight in the Everfree Forest, but a night’s rest at Zecora’s hut was a better alternative to returning to Ponyville only to make a second trip into the woods. With additional thanks, the three ponies followed their zebra friend inside, and got settled in for the night.
“Oh! We should totally tell ghost stories!” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“I think we’ve had enough spooks for one day,” Twilight replied with a tired, but humored sigh.
The Everfree Forest was just as unsettling during the night as it was through the day. It reminded the ponies of their first venture through the forest when they chased after the Elements of Harmony: the dark, cool air, the subtle creeks of the dried trees in the night breeze, and the pervasive sense of dread as though death itself was stalking you from the shadows.
Thankfully, though, all those troubles and horrors felt quite distant inside the warmth and security of Zecora’s hut. A trio of candles were scattered about the main room where the ponies slept, offering a faint, reassuring light through the night. Applejack was curled up in the corner with her hat drawn down over her eyes, and the closest thing to a peaceful look upon that she’s had since the troubles with Rainbow Dash started. A few feet away was Twilight, asleep near a candle and her face laying atop the cover of the Daring Do book.
All was quiet in the hut, with the one exception of Rainbow Dash, who hadn’t been able to sleep for several hours. Not wanting to give up or waste her time, the pegasus stalked across the room towards the slumbering alicorn. Twilight’s mentioning of having read about Daring Do’s first trip into the castle ruins had hung upon the pegasus’ mind since the orange barrage. Rainbow hoped that perusing through Daring Do and the Temple of the Alicorns would help jog her memory, and maybe put her on the right path.
Azura… temples… alicorns… Star Swirl… all of these things somehow played a role in how she found herself trapped in the body of a rainbow-maned pegasus. Restoring her memory was the only way to figure out what happened, and how it all fit together.
Standing over Twilight’s sleeping figure, a small challenge arose in separating the sleeping princess from her precious book. To overcome this obstacle, Rainbow Dash had grabbed a random book from Zecora’s shelf. Now it was just a matter of replacing one with the other.
“You can do this, Daring,” Rainbow murmured to herself. After taking a few calming breaths, the pegasus carefully set the decoy book next to the Daring Do tome. Using her teeth to grip Twilight by the nape, she began to delicate process of sliding the first book. Inch by inch, the book was pushed to the side, its first edition hardcover brushing against the alicorn’s cheeks and lips. Suddenly, Twilight let out a quiet groan and smacked her lips, prompting the pegasus to halt in her tracks. Without even daring to breath, Rainbow Dash held her position with Twilight hanging from between her teeth, a heavy book balanced on one hoof, and the Daring Do novel less than an inch beneath the princess’ nostrils.
“Just...one more chapter…” A few seconds later, Twilight was clearly sound asleep once more. Not wanting to risk another close call, Rainbow deftly swapped the novel for the decoy book. She was about to lower the slumbering pony’s head back onto its perch, but when her lungs screamed for air, Rainbow took a sharp breath in through her nose. This sucked in several strands of the alicorn’s mane, tickling at her nostrils.
“Ah-choo!” The sneeze came about faster than Rainbow could react to it. Not only did she just sneeze into the back of Twilight’s head, she unceremoniously dropped her friend onto the decoy book. The alicorn hit the book with a quiet thump, although to Rainbow it may as well have been a thunderclap. She braced herself for the startled yelp that would inevitably come, followed by Twilight inquiring as to why there was saliva across her mane.
But that never happened. Despite thumping face-first onto the cover of Supernaturals, Twilight remained sound asleep.
“Too close.” Allowing herself a quiet sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash took her prize and retreated to a quiet corner with a candle. Browsing quickly through the book, she was able to find the chapters detailing the castle ruins. In it, she found the paragraphs detailing how Daring Do eluded the numerous traps through its darkened halls, including the same trapped hallway that Twilight turned against the timberwolves.
“Wait a second,” Rainbow muttered to herself as she came across some suspicious passages in the book. “‘Daring Do came to the startling realization just five seconds too late. She should have seen the betrayal coming, but it wasn’t until Azura pulled the lever, sealing the fireplace chamber shut, did that truth hit home.’” At first, she thought it might have been a simple oversight in the narration, but as she scoured the pages, the truth set in with just as much force as a closing stone door for a secret fireplace chamber. Neither Twilight nor Rainbow had triggered the traps inside the secret chamber; they’re only activated from the outside.
“Who would set that trap on us?” Rainbow Dash pondered. “Someone else must’ve been at that castle…”