//------------------------------// // Thorns and Temples // Story: When Two Hearts are Daring // by Pigeonsmall //------------------------------// Chapter7 Dumbbell  left Rainbow Dash’s home and returned to Cloudsdale late that night. To his relief, Hoops wasn’t waiting for him creepily in the dark like the night before and his bedroom door was closed. He pressed his ear to his roommate’s door and heard the distinct rumble of snoring. Good, at least he hadn’t passed out in a tree. He crossed the living room and went up the small enclosed stairway that led up to his room which was in truth just a large storage space converted into a place to sleep. It wasn’t too restrictive but it was definitely small for a pegasus, but very much affordable. The slowly building clutter did little to help the cramped appearance and Dumbbell told himself that he really needed to sweep the place out tomorrow.   His bed was pushed against the south wall, and an old brown couch  on the east, it was a lot lumpier and less attractive than the one downstairs. The walls were covered in posters depicting various pony athletes, mostly pegasi and sporting events from the last Equestria Games. Though most of them were old since the last time the games had been held in Cloudsdale felt like a forever ago. He also had a poster of the Wonderbolts. Well, one Wonderbolt at least. He didn’t like to admit it but he was envious of their daredevil flying abilities and talent to put on a good show in the air.  The poster was a striking  full body display of Fleetfoot, his favorite.  There was also a small desk stacked with various books, papers, more books and a basketball. That wasn’t his, he tossed the orange ball back down the stairs. How many times did he have to tell Hoops to keep his stuff on his side of the apartment? Sure his small room was cluttered due to a lack of sufficient storage space but at least it was all his junk. He didn’t need his friend to add to the pile, but that wasn’t his current concern. The Daring Do fanatic didn’t believe him. It was time to change her tune. He tossed his bag down on the couch and with one push moved his bed away from the wall. It hid a piece of the floor that was removable, roughly half the length of the bed, the same width , and about three feet deep.  Dumbbell gingerly removed the slats of wood and yanked away the plain white sheet that covered what was inside. There lay several glass cases with wooden frames filled with different objects collected from the various ruins he had visited over the years. Each one was a little piece of what he liked to call “Daring Do’s map of the world”. A glass case for every book, pottery fragments, spear tips, broken jewelry, ancient coins, souvenirs from whatever environment the adventure hero had supposedly trampled through in her many quests to vanquish foes and rescue innocents from evil.  Of course he didn’t believe Daring Do was real, she was just the product of A.K. Yearlings active imagination.  A well to do older pony who had the time and the means to visit remote locations steeped in stories and bones of the past and project her avatar on to them.  Daring Do hadn’t actually caused  the Great Carrion Crawler’s Cathedral in the heart of the badlands to collapse, or find the elusive Skullmere Lake and unveil the ancient library hidden beneath its depths, but no pony would be interested in buying “The Fanciful Travels of A.K. Yearling. So a little exaggeration went a long way. “Let’s see, yeah..here it is.” The stallion pulled one the cases out from the compartment, examining it thoughtfully.  It didn’t seem to hold anything of immediate value, just a small slab of stone.  But then again how many ponies would know that it was a piece of a ruined idol that lay inside the half destroyed Crimsoncroak Temple? A page from  ‘The Jungle of Dread’ had a detailed illustration of the intact idol before Daring Do smashed it to bits,  the details and imprinted designs were easy enough to recognize, even if the meanings remained wholly obscure to him. He had quite a flight ahead of him, it was time to get some shut eye. __________________________________________________________________________________________ “I’ve been waiting for hours! It’s about time you showed up.” said Rainbow Dash when Dumbbell landed next to her on her some time before dawn. Dumbbell rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Didn’t you go to sleep?” he asked. Yeah! Well sort of. I spent most of the night thinking about this.” she answered while adjusting the saddle bags to sit more comfortably against her side. “You had better not be making this all up.” Rainbow Dash warned. Dumbbell frowned. “You really think I would go through all this trouble for a lie?” Dash eyed him warily which only served to agitate him further. “Let’s just go before I change my mind.” Dumbbell growled and launched off the roof, heading south. “Alright, alright, geeze!” Rainbow huffed, quickly catching up with him as they began their impromptu and frankly impulsive journey to the edge of Equestria. It wasn’t the true “edge”, technically Equestria included the badlands in any topographical map to be seen. It’s just that most Equestrians were cautious about living anywhere past the Macintosh Hills. The Dragon-Thorn Jungle lay several miles beyond them and acted as a natural boundary between what was  inhabitable and what wasn’t. And the badlands certainly weren’t considered pony friendly or even inhabitable by most means.  It wasn’t a sustainable landscape, nothing grew there yet  anything could die there with only the most long suffering of creatures such as dragons being able to survive in its wastes for a prolonged amount of time. The two pegasi had already managed to travel a good distance before the sun reached its zenith but there was still several hours between them and their destination and Rainbow Dash began to wonder just how long she could handle the silence between them. Not out of any sense of obligation but out of boredom. She flew in close to Dumbbell so that her voice could be heard better while flying.   “So, uh, I haven’t seen you in a while, how’s it going?” Before Dash even finished the question she knew it sounded like a forced attempt to start a conversation. She saw Dumbbell glance at her from the corner of his eye, his expression made it clear that he hadn’t expected this kind of question to come his way. “Fine. Everything’s goin great.” he said while keeping his eyes forward. He started to drift away from her almost unconsciously. ‘Well that didn’t work.’ Dash thought sourly. Maybe a different, if not more direct angle would work. They were flying out to what was practically the edge of Equestria to visit a lonely temple that sat in a deep dark jungle. “So what got you into reading Daring Do?” she tried a second time. And this time she knew the brown stallion’s response could lead somewhere. He tilted his head back with a smile. “Because she works alone” he said bluntly. This response confused Rainbow Dash.  That wasn’t the answer she had expected.  “Not because she’s so cool?  An awesome adventurer who’s like, practically a superhero in her own right!  Saving the world from countless unfathomable evils?” “Well yeah that stuff too!” Dumbbell said.  “Even Though, I swear she’s got a partner she isn’t telling us about. The amount of crap she manages to get herself out of insane.” “She’s just that great.” Rainbow Dash said. “But, why is Daring Do working alone the thing you like most?” “Think about it. Have you ever wondered what the rest of the world is like? Outside of Equestria?” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. “I bet it’s exciting!” she said with a smile.  “I mean I haven’t left Equestria too many times, but the one time I did it was awesome!.” “The one time?” “Yup! It may not be a well known fact in your particular social circles, but I happen to be an expert dragon wrangler!” “What?” Dumbbell’s mouth spread into a dubious sneer. “Done it twice.” The blue pegasus performed two tight loops in the air for emphasis. “You probably remember back when that big dragon  was covering the sky with smoke” Dumbbell nodded. “Yeah I remember. It was a real pain in the flank clearing the sky of all that mess.”  And since that day everyone had dubbed the dragon’s temporary nest Smokey Mountain. “Well I was the one who got it to leave.” she said smoothly. “Yeah it took a little convincing but he eventually caved. It was either leave, or leave with more than just a few scales missing!” “Uh huh.” Rainbow Dash continued unabated. “The second time was when a friend of mine got himself mixed up with some bad characters. Which happened to be dragons, smaller ones but still dangerous all the same. He was in way over his head, but I got him out of it..” Dumbbell rolled his eyes. And ponies called him a braggart? At least he told the truth! “Yeah, you’re right. It’s a miracle that your name hasn’t been buzzing all over Cloudsdale.” They continued talking as they flew south through they stuck with more obvious polite topics not really breaching any intimate territory. The land below them was starting to change as rolling green hills and forests faded into the dustier dryer terrain called the San Palomino Desert. With the Oxtail Lake directly below them and the visage of Broken Saddle Plateau steadily growing in the distance. It was a part of Equestria Rainbow Dash didn’t see too much of, save for the odd trip out to Appleloosa, and those didn’t happen very often. They had passed over Appleloosa several hours ago, the entire landscape ahead of them looked arid and barren under the sun but further in the distance she noticed a thin strip of mountainous range running along the horizon. “How much further is it?” asked Rainbow Dash. Dumbbell nodded. “We’re close! Just on the other side of that ridge. We’ll be there in no time if we put on some speed, besides we’ve got a good wind behind us.” The blue pegasus caught on quick. “Race?” Dumbbell gave his wings a long powerful flap as they both began to pick up speed. “You bet!” It wasn’t long before Rainbow Dash zoomed over  the highest point of the elevated crest, the view was amazing. A near unbroken sea of green pushed out from the ridge for what looked like miles, maybe the entire length of the mountain range itself.. The jungle pushed down into a large dip in the earth for at least half that distance so that the entire jungle sat in a massive bowl. From her height, Rainbow Dash couldn’t see the forest floor due to the density of the trees but several in particular sprung wildly upwards with various distance between each other. The tallest of which were covered in thorn laden vines, the thick trunks twisted ferociously about themselves capping off with massive misshapen wooden lumps giving the eerie impression of two dragons trying to wrangle each other in a battle for dominance. Confronted with the sight, the blue pegasus slowed her momentum to take in the sight in full, giving Dumbbell enough time to catch up and pass her by. “The race ain’t over until we touch down!” he shouted while dashing up to the twisted boughs. “Hey, not fair!” Rainbow Dash picked up speed again ready to pass up the stallion until she saw him fly straight into the craggy maw of one of the wooden dragons. Much to her surprise the thing was hollow and Dumbbell unhesitantly flew straight inside of it. “W-wait a minute!” Dash shouted as she flew towards the opening.  It was massive and dark, she’d never come close to being swallowed whole by a beast as big as a dragon despite her devil may care attitude, except for the time she kicked a dragon in the snout, and that definitely wasn’t a pleasant experience..   “It’s dark...” she said to herself feeling her skin tingle. It took maybe three seconds for this emotion to be pushed backwards as she threw herself headlong into the opening. She half expected to hit the wooden inside but the trunk’s interior was in fact so large that she had no trouble making her way down. Her wings didn’t even touch the sides, and there was just enough ambient light from the outside to give her a good view of where to turn. And down she went, sailing along a spiral staircase with no steps to walk on, turning round and sometimes looping upside down, down, and down some more. Then the light suddenly cut out and she knew she had made it under the canopy. It was a sensation close to being underground, with no light she quickly began to lose bearings and any sense of orientation. She had not realized her loss in altitude until her hoof clipped roughly against the wood. “Woah!” She couldn’t stop herself despite how much she wanted to. The momentum threw her down onto the slimey mossy interior of the trunk but instead of grinding to a halt she kept going forward. The tunnel had become a slide! Before she could get back on her hooves, Dash was flying out of the trunk like a sled off a snow bank, out and up she went screaming until she collided into a tangle of low hanging vines which were strong enough to stop her solidly. In her efforts to pull away from them she got even more stuck, the vine falling around her like spider silk, it held her tight and left her to sway upside down. Dizzy and a little disoriented, Rainbow Dash heard Dumbbell’s laughter before she saw him standing under her, eyes shut tight and half doubled over. “Yeah go ahead and yuk it up while you can, just wait til I get out of this!” she growled. Her struggles proved fruitless and she was far too prideful to ask for help. But Dumbbell wasn’t going to stop any time soon. “I had no idea you’d screw that up so bad!” He said between choking laughter. “I should have brought a camera!” “You had no idea?” Dash repeated, getting angrier by the second. “You lead me down that stupid tree on purpose!” she pulled herself up bit down on the stubborn vine trying to sever it with her grinding teeth. Much to her surprise the bunch of vine shuddered and fell away, releasing her from its grasp. She flapped her wings and tried to dive bomb the brown stallion however he jumped away in time. “I thought you’d figure it out.” replied Dumbbell still chuckling in amusement. “You don’t fly down it you slide down it. That way you don’t hit your head on the way.” Rainbow Dash stood up and rubbed roughly behind her ear. “Or you could have not been a complete jerk and just told me ahead of time!” She stopped , thankful there wasn’t a bump or anything to worry about. “I evened the playing field a little is all. And what do ya know? I won.” said Dumbbell. “I didn’t actually tell you to follow me did I?” Rainbow Dash bit on her tongue. She had indeed lost and technically it was her own fault for slowing down. But at the same time, she wasn’t familiar with this jungle and had assumed flying into the tree was the only way to get under the canopy safely. She sighed, that was what she got for over thinking. Dumbbell fished her saddle bags out of some bushes they had fallen into when she shot out of the  hollow thorn tree, and tossed it her way. “Here, you dropped this.” he said. Rainbow caught it without trouble. “So where do we go from here?” she asked. “Not far. These massive trees are like landmarks. If you ever get lost all you need to do is look up.” Rainbow Dash did so, the base of the tree itself was so massive that it filled her view. The roots themselves looked like a dragon’s claws gouging into the soil and sure enough, as long as she had a view of the sky she could see the enormous coiled trees looming over her at all times. Spooky. “I’ll keep that in mind so lets get going.” Dash insisted as she made sure her saddle bag was secure and followed Dumbbell deeper into the Dragon-Thorn jungle. The walk was quiet and uneventful. The trees were so tall that distance between the tops of the trees and the jungle floor left enough room for temporary flight. The short journey took them away from the chain of mountains and down into the center of the bowled valley. Dumbbell stopped and landed just short of a  long trickling stream, he leaned forward, trying to see something on the other side, Rainbow Dash landed next to him and followed his gaze, she saw nothing but trees. Yet despite that, Rainbow Dash picked up on the sense that she needed to be quiet. Dumbbell pawed at the earth with his hoof as he squinted his eyes, then he backed away from the stream and turned around, beckoning Rainbow Dash to follow. She spoke when they were several yards away from the water. “Hey whats up? Why’d we turn around?” she whispered. “Didn’t like the way something felt over there, so we’re goin around it. Just a little detour.”   Dumbbell said. Rainbow Dash hadn’t sensed anything strange and Dumbbell wasn’t exactly sure what it is he saw, but this place was new so she’d take his word for it.  They gave that area a wide berth and doubled back, crossing the bubbling stream at a further point. From there it was fast going and only a few minutes later, Dumbbell and Rainbow Dash entered a clearing full of nothing but creeping plants extruding from one location at its center. They snaked out to crowd the valley’s floor and the empty air, wrapping around the  surrounding trees, anchoring firmly in place with sharp thorns. Dumbbell lept up and hovered over the slithering plants. “Welp here we are!” he announced. But Rainbow Dash looked very much bewildered. “Here...we are?” she asked. “Nothings here.” The novel ‘Daring Do and the Jungle of Dread’ described the Crimsoncroak temple as sitting in a clearing, yet due to the  way Daring had entered the temple, which was bound, and unconscious, details on the exact location were vague. Dumbbell landed carefully on one of the thick tendriled vines,  which were big enough that he could stand on an individual one with no overlap, and gingerly pushed a neighboring one aside. Rainbow Dash fluttered over and landed next to him. From under the moved vine, at first she saw nothing until her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and a small amount of light filtered inside. What she could see  at the bottom of  the massive pit was enormous, red, and didn’t look happy to see them.