Daring Do and the Stigma of Fear

Chapter 2:

Where Daring Dares

Contrary to many other nights before, there were no nightmares this time. It was the best sleep she'd had in almost two years. She woke with her face facing the closed blinds that had sun leaking in. A particular stream of sun shot her straight in the eye, making her turn over. Once she turned over, she spied a bluish Pegasus with a rainbow mane eying the twin swords hanging above her door. At first, shock filled her and she thought to reach the pepper spray in her drawer, but painfully remembered last night's events.

"Wow." The Pegasus said, breaking Daring's thought train. "I didn't know Daring was a swordsmare."

"I'm not." Daring chose to jump in. Rainbow jerked her head to the mare. "They're just antiques. I found them in the mountains near Griffon Country. Almost got into a territorial war because I wasn't given permission to do an expedition there by them. Had to give them everything we found. They didn't want the swords, and neither did the museum. So, I just kept them for myself."

"Cool." The blue mare said. Daring blushed at the compliment. "How're you feeling?"

"Good. I... made you breakfast." She pointed to a tray on her side table, containing a bowl of ramen, a pack of saltine crackers and water. "Sorry, it was all I could find."

"Is it all you have? You fridge was filled with nothing but TV dinners, ramen and water. I don't know much about healthy dieting, but this can't be good to live-"

"Tough. You're getting it anyway. You're a full grown mare; you can't live on this junk! I can see your ribs, for Celestia's sake!"

Daring closed her robe and continued to work on her meager amount of food, not showing any sign of caring what Rainbow had to say. Rainbow would've countered more, but restrained herself upon hearing her name called. At the doorway, her friend Twilight Sparkle stood with an expression of further sympathy towards the brownish mare.

"She says she's better, but I really doubt it. Did you notice how frail she looks? She's been living on that packaged stuff. That can't be good for a pony."

"It's not. Frozen ramen and TV dinners don't have the essential nutrients needed to make a pony healthy. That Meals on Wheels the desk attendant told us about is probably the main reason she's still alive at all. If we're gonna try to help her, the first thing we can do is at least get her some real food. I know a restaurant not far from here. We could try there." Another glance was directed at Daring. "Rainbow, does she look... duller to you?"

Rainbow Dash eyed the mare, taking in details she had not originally noticed. Other than her grayer mane, the archaeologist did look a little different contrary to what her appearance was on the covers of her favorite series. Although they were made to be flamboyant, they were more realistic-appearing than what the mare looked like now.

"Think about it: Pinkie lost her color and became really crabby when she lost her purpose for throwing parties after thinking no one wanted to go to them anymore. At least that's what you told us, right? You found her throwing a 'party' for a bunch of inanimate objects?" Rainbow shivered at the memory, but nodded. "This may be the case with Daring here. She hasn't left her apartment in three years. What is she gonna discover here aside from her carpet under all of those shreds of newspapers and drawing? Perhaps, like Pinkie, Daring lost her purpose along with her color after losing the will to do her cutie-mark assigned destiny. The destiny of being an archeologist and discovering new things."

Rainbow pondered all of her friend's theories. She and her friend looked at the mare.

"Sorry." Rainbow apologized. Daring looked down at her now empty bowl. She opened the pack of crackers and began gnawing on a piece.

"Yes, Cutie Mark Decay Disorder. I learned about it while teaching at Pranceton."

"I've never read about it before." Twilight said, running a scan through her head in an attempt to remember seeing the name pop up in any of her books. Nothing came up.

"It's a recent discovery in the medical field, and isn't labeled in any medical guides older than a year. Grif's Anatomy makes a reference to it, but not by name. I'm betting the library you mentioned hasn't been updated, so to speak."

"No I guess not." Twilight made a mental note to fix that in the future. She had Grif's Anatomy, though. She made another note to reread it and look for the specific mentioning of the disease.

"It's controversial, too. Neighsayers believe that the disease falls under the category of others like schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder: It's all in your head. Ponies are making it all up. If it were otherwise, it probably would be in all medical books by now." A scowl appeared on her face. "They're saying it isn't real. Well, look at me! Does it look real to you?"

"Yes! It's real! I have it. I've got no purpose in my life other than just withering away in this pit of an apartment."

"Why the heck not?" Rainbow asked, clearly annoyed over the contradicting subject matter.

"She has a social phobia." Twilight spoke calmly, not wanted to raise her voice along with the two Pegasus's. "Agoraphobia or something of the sort. She's petrified of being around other ponies, so she holed herself up in her apartment to cut herself off from others. I bet she got it from a traumatic experience three years ago: Being charged with the murder of five ponies that she didn't do. Lawyers and cops pointing hooves at her, being interrogated, being accused of murdering friends by strangers. Can you blame her? She was lucky the trial ended in a hung jury, otherwise she'd be in prison by now. Very likely, she'd be on a life sentence or, at the worst, death row." Daring winced. Twilight apologized to the mare. "Now the thought of interacting with others horrifies her. Right?" She asked Daring as soothingly as possible. Daring nodded.

"Who says I am?" The ponies looked at the former adventurer, who wore annoyed look. "I wish you two fillies would get the hell out of my apartment and never come back. But I know your type. You're not leaving until you've at least tried to help me."

"Tried? Lady, we ain't leaving until you're just like you are in those books you wrote." Rainbow spoke with high enthusiasm.

"So? The plot, characters, and treasures may not be real; but the main protagonist is, right? She's you, Daring. You built her around yourself and you can be like her, but only if you want to be. The Daring Do in the books wouldn't want to just rot in her apartment for three years. Would she?" Rainbow spoke sagely. Daring again didn't bother looking at the two friends, but nodded. She felt the purple pony place a hoof on her own.

"No. Please, I wanna go back." Daring stood in the archway of the door, only the slightly taller Rainbow Dash standing between her and the safety of her room. "Let me in, please!"

"Daring. I may not know you personally, but I can tell you're a strong and reasonable mare." Twilight filled in. "As an archaeologist and a fellow intellect, you should remember that fear is all in the mind. No one’s going to hurt you for just stepping outside."

"Sorry. Daring, from one Pegasus to another, if you don't want to walk, why not fly? Every Pegasus should have that feeling of not caring for the world when in flight."

"I haven't flown more than a foot in a long time. I doubt I'd even be as good as I was before."

"A Pegasus never forgets how to fly. I have a friend who has the same problem. She barely uses her wings, but can still fly faster than me sometimes." Rainbow turned to Twilight. "Don't tell her I said that." The lavender unicorn giggled, but promised as Dash turned back to Daring. "Okay. Just try it with me." Rainbow broke into a flight-ready position. Hesitantly, Daring followed suit. The two winged horses stood side-by-side, flexing their wings. Twilight stood back observing the two.

"Ready? Flex, get them moving. Now, start flapping." Daring followed the instruction word-by-word. "Make a small jump." Off the ground, she managed to hover in mid-flight. A small laugh emitted from her.

"Wow, this does feel better. So much better. Now I feel—OW!" She exclaimed when she bonked her head against the ceiling. She rubbed the assaulted area with her hoof. "Oh, right. We're still indoors. Okay. Hover… Forward…" On command, she flew forward with ease. "Oh, yeah. This feels great!" She made a U-turn back towards the two ponies she was slowly but surely warming up to. Flying past them with new-found confidence, she bounced off a door at the end of the hall with her hooves making a clopping sound on the hardwood. Sighing in annoyance, an older colt went to answer the knocked door. Upon seeing an airborne Daring and two other ponies in the hall, he grumbled and turned back inside muttering something about "stupid fillies breathing his air."

After four laps around the hallway, Daring landed with a skid on the wood floor. She was filled to burst with eagerness. She knew it would be short-term, but it felt great nevertheless.

"That… was fun." Daring rasped out of breath. "Can't remember the last time I did something like that. I feel so much better."

"Better enough to try for the lobby?" Twilight asked in hope. Daring was reluctant at first, but nodded with a ready look in her eyes. Rainbow looked at Daring with a grin after shutting her door.

The two friends led the trek down the creaky stairs, Daring Do following in cautious pursuit taking slow steps. She was beyond nervous in the unfamiliar surroundings. The lobby was massive to her eyes, and made her wonder if her fear was actually of social contact or wide open spaces.

Despite her fear (which Twilight convinced her to pronounce as irrational), she made it to the bottom of the steps and into the dirty lobby. She didn't mind the filth. Her apartment was no better. Rather it looked uninviting, but still possessed an aura of safety. Not as safe as her apartment, but close.

"Hey." Daring jumped slightly at the sudden sounding of a soft feminine voice, seeing that it belonged to the unicorn. "Now let's adjust to our surroundings here, then slowly make our way to the door outside."

"Daring." Rainbow jumped into the conversation. "If you loved flying in that hallway, you'll love flying outside. It feels-"

"I don't need a lesson on what it feels like to fly. I've done it before." Daring snapped a little harsher than intended, but calmed herself and lowered her voice. "I just... haven't done it in a while."

"Well, hey. Look who finally came out of her cave into the sunlight." The three ponies looked to the desk, where the voice had come from. It was none other than the Neigh Orleans-accented pony himself. The remark may have sounded insulting, but the look in his eyes said it was nothing more than a humble jab.

Nevertheless, it worried Twilight. A simple joke could mean the next best thing to a flat-out insult to somepony with a social phobia. Looking at Daring seemed to more or less confirm her theory. The mare had her head down and eyes away from the talking pony. A blush formed on her cheeks.

Heavy blushing. Refusing to make eye contact. Psychological side effects of Social Anxiety Disorder. As she ran the symptoms to remember through her head, a disturbing thought came to her. Geez, maybe we should test Fluttershy for Social Anxiety Disorder.

"Y-yes. I've decided to go for a... walk." Daring spoke, her timid manner of speaking contradicting her tomboyish voice.

"Well, if you're going somewhere, let me get your key." The desk pony reached onto a chipped wooden board where several other keys lay dormant. He grabbed Daring's key, blew off the dust and politely handed it to her. She whispered thanks in return after putting it in the pocket of her tan windbreaker, but it seems he didn't hear it. "Take care, you three." He spoke with warm caring as he left the room going into a dusty storage room.

"Thank you, sir." Twilight gave her most polite sounding voice. She turned to Daring. "Ready?"

"We'll be right beside you." Rainbow spoke in a voice as soft as her unicorn friend. Together, the three of them started for the door. To her own surprise, Daring went ahead.

Outside, the weather was fair with barely a cloud in the sky. Birds perched and sang above Daring's head. The fresh air felt, tasted and smelled good. The only problem with her first impression made of the outside since the last time she saw it was its condition: A rundown, dirty cesspool of a slum.

"Man, what a dump." She spoke after taking in the sites. Rainbow and Twilight tried their best to restrain from laughing.

"Don't worry." Twilight broke in. "I know... friends in the nicer parts of Canterlot. We'll eat something there." She felt revealing she was an apprentice of Princess Celestia was probably not the best thing to do. It would be nothing short of cruelly ironic that the first pony someone with a social phobia would meet after a number of years was the protégé to the Princess herself.

"I don't think I'm very presentable." She waved a hoof over her worn-out windbreaker, disheveled mane and grayish color.

"Besides, the ponies who wear that fancy junk only do to flaunt it. I'm pretty sure it's not important to be seen in it." Rainbow said, trying to remember the last time she made an official visit to the fancier parts of Canterlot. It was a while ago, but Daring doesn't need to know that. Twilight shot a glare at the confused Rainbow Dash.

"Well... off to nicer Canterlot." Twilight stated. The ponies began to walk off, when Rainbow felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to meet a cocky grin on Daring.

Without another word, the two pegasus' zoomed off. They left a baffled Twilight in their wake.

Daring Do and the Stigma of Fear

by Witchfinder General

Where Daring Dares