Chapter 3
Rainbow Dash was doing figure eights all the way back to her home. Yes! At long last! The newest in the Daring Do series was hers! And she could hardly wait to read it. Several times already she had tried to read and fly at the same time. This never turned out to be the best idea. More than once she had flown too high and almost hit a bird, or flown too low and almost hit a tree. She actually did hit a tree in a last attempt to read and fly, and she saw stars for a good ten minutes.
“Okay...Maybe I should just wait till I get home.” she said to herself as she stood on unsteady hooves.
It’s a good thing Dumbbell wasn’t here to see that!
A much more circumspect flight saw Rainbow Dash home safely. She galloped through the entrance hall , past the living room, and practically flew up the steps to her bedroom. She threw herself upon the soft fluffy bed, hugging the book for dear life.
“You’re mine at last!”she said with a triumphant shout. Without wasting any time she started to read. Absorbing the words off the page as if they were words to live by.
The first night was blissful but eventually sleep took hold, allowing Daring Do’s amazing adventures to come to life in her dreams. Sometimes she was bold enough to substitute the pith helmeted pony with her own visage. Those dreams were even more enjoyable.
Rainbow Dash arrived at work the next morning exhausted. But she was used to working with lack of sleep, and push come to shove she could always find a far off cloud to nap in. Work went on without incident and Dash went home, pulled a sandwich from the fridge and thought about what to do with the rest of her day.
Hmm, heh, read of course!
“Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash!”
The pegasus was already in her room. curled up in a bundle of pillows.
“Wait a sec, somethings missing...oh yeah!” Dash leapt off her bed and went to a nearby shelf, pulling several of the earlier Daring Do novels off of it in a single sweep. She placed them down on the bed in chronological order before curling back up into her pillows. “This one looks a lot longer than the rest. I”m gonna need some cross references!”
“Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash! Look out!”
It wasn’t until the very moment she was ready to delve into the pages that she became aware of the rattling thuds encroaching upon her cloud home. And beneath all that somepony was outside shouting to get her attention.
“ Rainbow Dash! Look out!”
Rainbow Dash recognized the voice.
“Pinkie Pie?” Or maybe it was Fluttershy, she couldn’t tell anymore through the thunderous beat of something quite large barreling down the path towards her house.
A sudden wave a panic flooded her chest. What was happening? She jumped from her bed and went to the window.
“Whats going on out here!” she shouted moments before a massive green eye filled her entire view, staring fiercely back at her.
“It’s a Hydra Migration!” Pinkie Pie shouted finally before the thing roared straight into Dash’s face. Rainbow Dash hit the wall on the other side of her bedroom, going straight through it of course, as it was made of cloud. Dash floundered until she was able to regain control of herself in mid-air. She turned right side up just in time to see her house get pushed into the valley under the force of the yelling hydra.
“My house!” Rainbow Dash watched in disbelief as her house drifted away. She felt the anger rise in face as she turned to face the multi headed beast. “What’s the big idea?”
The hydra, which Dash realized was somewhat smaller than what she had seen in the past, eyed her with its many green cat-like eyes that wavered back and forth on long slithery snake necks. It was examining her, trying to see if it could snatch her out of the air in a single leap.
Agitated beyond compare, Rainbow Dash was too eager to kick the creatures butt more than anything else.
“I don’t know what you’re doing outside of the swamps but know this! You have picked the wrong pony to mess with!” She reared up, ready to fly at the hydra head on and neck tie it better than Applejack could wrangle a bull, when something yellow and pink crossed her vision.
“Rainbow Dash, stop! Don’t hurt it!”
Dash put on the breaks and shot back into the sky, high enough to be out of the hydra’s reach. From there she saw another pegasus. “Fluttershy?”
The shy yellow pegasus flew up to meet her with a worried look in her eye.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash! I tried to stop this little one before he made it all the way out here but it just wouldn’t listen to me.” she said, looking at Dash’s house that had been pushed several hundred feet from its original position.
Rainbow Dash’s posture slumped at the reminder, the fact that her house had been pushed wasn’t the problem, it was that the force was so strong, she was sure the inside was an absolute mess! It probably wouldn’t have been too bad had she been given the chance to toss an anchor.
“Wait a minute.” She then said, something her friend said clicking finally in her head. “Did you call it a ‘little one’?”
“Yes, it’s not fully grown.” said Fluttershy demurely, as if hoping her friend would take this knowledge as an acceptable excuse for the hydra’s actions. “You see, I just found out, well me and the majority of Ponyville just found out, that the hydra leave the bog and migrate to the ocean every hundred years or so to lay their eggs. But this little one here got a bit distracted.”
“Well then the baby hydra just trashed my house! It’s gonna take forever for me to push it back!” Rainbow Dash said, flustered before stopping to think. “Wait a minute...don’t tell me that thing messed up Ponyville!”
Fluttershy shook her head hastily. “Oh no, Ponyville is okay. Maybe a smashed market stall or two, but he ran clean through it without leaving a mark.”
“Like a razor toothed bulldozer.” Dash said lamely. She couldn't believe how Fluttershy could talk about a rampaging swamp monster like a proud mother.
She looked down at the creature again and noticed that it hadn’t moved. It’s long necks weaved and twirled like a basket of charmed snakes. On top of one its heads she saw Pinkie Pie sitting precariously, with a fishing pole, a cupcake tied to the end of the rope.
“Pinkie Pie what are you doing on its head?” she asked.
Down below, sitting on the third head of the adolescent hydra, the pink pony was having a fairly difficult time keeping the other heads at bay, as all of them were contending for the little cupcake on the end of the rope.
“No, bad Delilah! Delvin you need to learn how to share! Donny, watch your manners!” The smallest head was bold enough to try to snap at the cupcake, which due to its size, nearly snapped Pinkie as well.
“Daphne! Just for that you’re not getting any sprinkles!” Pinkie Pie shouted, dodging the teeth just in time
“Um...if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, Rainbow Dash. We could really use your help escorting our friend back to Froggy Bottom.” Fluttershy put on her best ‘please don’t be mad’ face. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Fine I’ll help.” Dash said in surrender. It wasn’t like she couldn’t help her friends.
As it were, the reason behind this strange one monster stampede were the very cupcakes Pinkie Pie used to keep the creature on track. Fluttershy had asked Pinkie Pie to concoct a batch of cupcakes based on a special recipe that attracted baby animals. Sometimes due to fear or stress they would be unresponsive to Fluttershy’s coaxing as she went about her business making sure they all had proper shelter to last out the winter. To say the least the cupcakes worked well. Too well, which became very clear when the wind carried their sweet aroma all the way into the swamp.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted!” Later that day, as the sun set, Rainbow Dash trudged back through her front door, too tired to try pushing her house back to her prefered place. Heck maybe she was do for a slight scenery change. On the outside at least. But the inside...
Her bed was turned upside down, battered and bent at the bottom of her staircase. This pretty much set the tone of the impromptu redecoration.
“Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie owe me big time!” she grumbled crossly, though not caring enough to try and righten her bed. The couch would do well enough tonight.
The next morning, Dumbbell found Rainbow Dash in the weather factory locker room, snoring with her face pressed into the spine of the book. He thought for a moment about being courteous and waking up the snoring pony but stopped himself. Opting instead to use his hoof to slide the book out from under her head, letting it hit the table with a knock.
“Snnrt...mmm-wu-what?” Rainbow Dash pulled her head from the table, a trail of drool falling from her bottom lip. She looked down and noticed the Daring Do book was missing and immediately woke fully.
“Oh no! Where’d it go?” she exclaimed.
“Gah, this is disgusting! I’m not loaning you this just so you can muck it up with your drool, Crashface!” The brown pegasus held the book aloft, trying to shake it free of Dash’s sleepy leavings. “It’s mine for today anyway, see you tomorrow.”
“Wait!” Rainbow Dash was up now, finally out of her stupor. Dumbbell turned back to see the bedraggled looking pony straight on.
“What in the world happened to you?” he asked. “Looks like you got hit by a-”
“I haven’t finished reading yet!” Dash interjected. “Something happened yesterday after work and I barely got to read a single page!”
“And this is a problem for me, how?” Dumbbell asked mockingly.
“I haven’t even got past the second chapter!”
“Ah I see...” Dumbbell looked around, disinterested. “Let me pretend I care. Okay, I'm done” And he turned to leave.
“Wait!” Dash called again. She was telling the truth and she couldn’t let him leave with that book! Her speed came in handy, she made it to the exit before him, blocking the way so he couldn’t get by. “I can’t let you leave with that book!” she said desperately.
“Move it, Crash.” Dumbbell used a hoof to pry her away from the door despite the mare’s efforts to remain stationary. But Dash’s reflexes were quick. She snatched the book away and retreated to the other side of the room.
“What the-Give it back, Rainbow Dash.” Dumbbell said in annoyance. He wasn’t in the mood to play games, especially not with her.
“You’ve got to give me another day, I swear!” Rainbow Dash was backing away slowly, clutching the book tightly. “I’m telling you the truth, I didn't get a chance to read anything yesterday.”
“We had a deal, Dash.” said Dumbbell dangerously, his voice had an air of finality. The way he often sounded when forcing his will onto other ponies. “Besides you’ve already had two days!”
Dash’s flank hit the lockers of the far wall. She crouched down like a cornered cat, her eyes glinting nothing but enmity towards the stallion. “Not. Getting. This. Book!” she bellowed.
Dumbbell snorted. “I paid for it.”
“Oh, did you really?” Dash pressed her back to the wall, the bags under her eyes made her seem very unbecoming, almost wild.
Dumbbell grimaced, the implication very clear. “You’re so full of yourself that you were probably too busy showing off to—!” He quickly stopped himself, a crooked scheming smile spread across his face and he stepped back, giving Rainbow Dash some space.
“You know, you’re right, Dashy. I've actually had plenty of time, and I am farther than you. It wouldn't be fair if I got to read more if you haven’t had a chance to catch up...now would it.” He tried to sound relaxed but his words made Dash’s heart rate increase.
“Let's see...” Dumbbell tapped his chin, parsing out his thoughts. “You know despite what Daring Do says, she rarely ever actually works alone. She’s got her friends, life lines, allies, sidekicks.”
Rainbow Dash didn't know what to say, she just waited.
“How about I be the nice guy this time and catch you up now.” His voice lowered and his smile became villainous.
"One word:Betrayal.”
Rainbow Dash was on the alert. “Betrayal? Who?” she looked down at the novel’s cover with searching eyes. As usual the picture on the front featured Daring Do as the sole protagonist.
“Oh-ho, now that is the twist! You remember how book six ended on a cliffhanger, right? Remember when Cabelleron kidnapped those archaeology students and was holding them in exchange for the Compass of the Forbidden Sanctum?”
“Well y-yeah, but.” Rainbow Dash knew she needed to get away but for some reason felt frozen in place. Was it a lack of sleep? She felt weak.
“That museum security guard who was actually a secret agent, that guy! He-”
“No!” Rainbow Dash jumped up in an explosive impulse and forced her way past Dumbbell, running for the exit. “Don’t say anything else! I haven’t had a chance to read it yet!”
“You don’t have time to read it, I’m helpin you out!” Dumbbell ran out of the locker room, hot on her heels and laughing like a mad pony.