//------------------------------//
// 1 - Waking Up 
// Story: Out of Body 
// by zaponator 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash awoke to a throbbing headache and tingling limbs. She was lying on her back in a bed, but not a cloudbed, and a single scratchy sheet was draped over her. A mostly flat pillow rested uselessly behind her head. She tried to open her eyes, but blinding light quickly forced them shut again.

She shifted slightly and another spike of pain shot through her skull, eliciting a low groan from the back of her throat. Her mind was a muddled haze, and for all her efforts Rainbow couldn't make heads or tails of where she was. 

Silence reigned for several minutes as Rainbow lay perfectly still. Even the slightest movement was intensely painful, so she didn't move at all. While her body remained motionless, her mind was abuzz trying to pull itself back together. Slowly, memories began to trickle back to her in clarity. Rainbow Dash absorbed them like a thirsty pony would tiny droplets of water. Each one was miniscule, but she desperately clung to them all.

She remembered waking up that morning and performing her usual morning routine. She remembered going to work. There were a few hours of hazy fog, but that was due simply to the monotony of her day-to-day job more than anything else. After finishing up with the day's weather, she… had decided to practice her tricks. Yes, it was becoming a little clearer now.

Rainbow didn't know how long it had been since she'd awoken. Perhaps she'd been laying there for a couple of minutes, or perhaps she'd been straining against her fuzzy memories for hours, but at long last she was beginning to remember.





"Are you even watching, Twilight?" 

"Yes, yes, I saw your trick. It was very impressive," Twilight answered from her seated position on the ground far below. "I just don't see the point in clapping if I'm the only one here. It makes me feel silly…"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Twilight wasn't exactly the greatest cheering section, but at least she'd agreed to watch Rainbow's stunt routine for the afternoon. 

Whatever the case, she had stunts to practice, and practice she would. Rainbow put her game face back on and shot skywards in a blue blur. She twisted and corkscrewed and performed loop-de-loops. She wound around several clouds that had been set up in a makeshift obstacle course, all at speeds that few pegasi could manage even on a straightaway.

Of course, all of this was just a warm-up. With a daring grin, Rainbow Dash flew straight up until she was several hundred feet above her normal stunt-flying height. 

She paused at the apex of her flight, inhaled a long breath, and glanced downward. The cloud course looked like a tiny flock of sheep against the rolling green meadows below. Twilight Sparkle was barely even visible to Rainbow's keen eyes as a purple speck smaller than a pinpoint.

And exhale. Rainbow Dash plunged downwards at breakneck speeds. The world famous Sonic Rainboom had once been incredibly difficult for her to pull off. As the telltale cone began to form at the tips of her hooves, Rainbow smirked. It hadn't gotten any easier; she'd just gotten better.

BOOM!

The blast was heard all the way back in town, and the radiating rings of colour were seen for miles. Rainbow Dash never got tired of that part. Her jubilant laughter was lost behind her in a wake of sound and colour. Rainbow Dash sped downwards and pulled up on straining wings just meters above the ground.

She didn't slow down there. Flowers and tufts of grass were torn up in her wake, and the entire meadow seemed to shake with her passing. Twilight Sparkle had to plant her hooves to avoid being knocked over as Rainbow Dash flew by in a blink. 

Another blink, and several trees loomed in her path. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and swerved. On straining wing muscles, she managed to just barely weave through the first few trees. Her stomach lurched and her hooves tingled at the g-forces as Rainbow went left and right around and between countless trees, all without losing any speed.

Only when she saw the treeline ending before her did Rainbow Dash let out a triumphant whoop. Her celebration proved premature, however, as she went to weave between a final two trees. Time seemed to slow when she realized that she didn't have enough clearance. Rainbow glanced to the left agonizingly slowly just in time to see the very tip of her wingfeathers graze the tree on the left side. At such impossible speeds, there was no room for error, no matter how small. Rainbow felt a jolt, and she knew it was going to be bad.

Time resumed its normal pace just as Rainbow went careening across the field. Her screams managed to catch up with her as her tumbling flight slowed her to sub-sonic speeds. She tried desperately to regain control, but it was fruitless. The sky and the ground traded places rapidly in her vision, and knew that she was still going way too fast for this to be anything but painful.

Then she hit the ground. Rainbow yelped and bounced hard, impacting the earth again barely a second later. She skipped across the hard dirt, leaving craters in her wake, until finally landing in a tumbling skid. Rainbow tasted dirt and blood as her face met the ground repeatedly for the next couple hundred feet. She was still tumbling across the grass at an impressive speed when her head pointed forward just long enough to see something large and brown loom in front of her.

She had time for one thought, and it wasn't the most eloquent.

'Oh hey, tree!'

And then everything went black.





Rainbow Dash rubbed weakly at her aching skull as the memory brought a fresh resurgence of throbbing pain. She realized that the stiff bed she found herself in was a hospital bed. The scratchy sheets of Ponyville General were all too familiar to her.

Her hooves  still tingled, which probably meant they'd given her some painkillers at some point. That only made the intense pain in her head all the more noteworthy.

She was a mare well-versed in head injuries, and the associated painkillers. For her headache to still be so severe, this had to be one of the worst blows to her cranium in recent memory. Of course, the fact that she could remember it was a good sign…

"Oh cool, you're awake."

A scratchy, familiar voice instantly snapped Rainbow out of her musings. Rainbow Dash's ears twitched at the sudden disturbance. She hadn't heard anypony enter the room. If the stranger had been there the whole time, they'd been awfully silent about it.

She weakly forced her eyes open against the intruding brightness of the room. When her vision finally adjusted to the light, Rainbow looked around for the source of the voice. Nopony was immediately apparent to her lethargic gaze. The room in front of her seemed as empty as it should've been, with nothing but pale blue paint peeling off the cracked walls, and discoloured linoleum flooring to keep her company.

The strangely familiar voice chuckled. "Over here, kid."

Rainbow Dash glanced over to the right side of the room, and the moment her eyes landed on the figure standing there, her breath caught on a prolonged gasp.

"Daring Do!?"

Daring Do, the one and only, stood smirking next to a worn-down table and chair set meant for guests. Her usual hat and shirt were absent, but it was impossible for Rainbow Dash to mistake the mare for anypony else. She offered a small nod and a wink, eliciting a tiny squeak of excitement from Rainbow Dash before the bed-ridden pegasus managed to wrangle herself under control.

Rainbow cleared her throat. "Uh, what… are you doing here?" She winced. "Not that I'm complaining! I'm happy to see you! You're awesome! Uh…"

Daring Do chuckled again, the noise sounding as natural as breathing for her. "Don't worry about it, kid. You have every right to be a little confused."

Daring's expression lost all of its cocksure mirth, and turned deadly serious in an instant. Rainbow Dash could swear she felt the temperature in the room drop by half a degree as Daring locked cold, hard eyes with hers.

"The truth is, I'm in desperate need of your help, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash pulled her meagre blanket against her chest and clutched it there. A tiny voice which she would argue did not belong to her whispered, "M-My help?"

Daring Do nodded. "It'll be hard for me to explain, and you might have a hard time understanding what I'm about to tell you, but believe me when I say this is a matter of life and–"

"Good afternoon, Miss Dash!" The door burst open to reveal a light brown unicorn in a white doctor's coat. He trotted into the room with a clipboard hovering nearby in his magic, and a stethoscope around his neck. Rainbow Dash turned to face his sudden appearance with a gasp of surprise, but quickly returned her focus to Daring Do.

Daring Do was gone.

"It's good to see you're awake," the doctor went on, completely oblivious to Rainbow Dash's gaping stare. "You were only out for a couple of hours, which isn't too bad by your usual standards. We ran the usual magical scans while you were still unconscious –you know the drill– and I have your results right here if you'd like to peruse them yourself. Or, I can just sum it up for you and send you on your way."

Rainbow Dash stared. Her eyes remained laser-focused on the tiny section of the room containing an old table and two worn-out chairs. There was nopony there. The room was completely and utterly empty save for the doctor and herself. There was no place big enough for a full-grown mare to hide, and the window was secured with bars. Daring Do had simply vanished, like she was never there.

"…Miss Dash?"

The doctor's voice finally managed to catch Rainbow's attention. She slowly rotated her head to face him, a totally blank expression on her face.

"She was never there…" Rainbow Dash murmured sadly, barely loud enough for the doctor to even make out.

The doctor blinked. "Erm, perhaps the damage was more severe than we originally thought…"

Fortunately, Rainbow was finally managing to register what he was saying, so she gave her head a quick shake to clear it and then refocused on the doctor.

"No, no… I'm good, doc." She offered a shaky half-smile. 

The doctor scrutinized her for a few moments before slowly responding with, "All right… Might I ask what had you so distracted?" He glanced around the room for whatever might have stolen Rainbow's attention, but found it precisely as empty and boring as it always was.

"No biggie, doc." Rainbow waved a forehoof. "Just getting my head all un-jumbly, I guess."

"Fair enough," the doctor replied. "Well, I'll go ahead and assume you want the usual quick and simple explanation before we cut you loose."

Rainbow Dash nodded, fighting back a wince as the motion caused her head to hurt.

The doctor glanced down at his clipboard, then back at Rainbow Dash. "Well, you're fortunate that Princess Twilight brought you in as promptly as she did, for starters."

Rainbow tilted her head. "Hey yeah, where is Twilight anyway?"

"Your friends all stopped by to visit while you were still out." The doctor smiled kindly. "I've already assured them all you'll be fine, but the truth of the matter is that this was a much more serious incident than your usual visits.

"I won't sugarcoat it, Miss Dash, you took a pretty nasty tumble this time. I know you've been in here a lot for this sort of thing, but this was probably the most concerning incident yet." He looked up from the clipboard to give Rainbow Dash a serious glare. "Rainbow Dash, you are very lucky to be alive."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "What, from a crash? I do that all the time!" She winced. "Uh, I mean, not all the time..."

The doctor shook his head. "I don't know what exactly you were trying to do this time, but at the speed you were apparently going when you hit that tree, you shouldn't have woken up."

Rainbow Dash shuddered, and the doctor noticed. He offered her a sympathetic smile.

"Oh, dear, where's my bedside manner?" He set the clipboard down and gently put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "You're fine, Miss Dash. It was close, but you're a tough pegasus, and more importantly a lucky one. You've got a concussion, of course, but your skull is in one piece and you should be back up to full strength in a day or two.

"Listen," the doctor went on, "I wasn't trying to scare you. I just want you to realize the danger you put yourself in when you go and get hurt like this. I don't want to see you in here more than I have to, alright?"

Rainbow Dash nodded slowly. She already felt a little better, though the news that she'd very nearly bitten the dust was a hard pill to swallow.

"So..." Rainbow's voice cracked and she quickly cleared her throat. "So can I check out of here?"

The doctor smiled. "Certainly. Just make sure you sign with the front desk on your way out, and Miss Dash?" He smirked. "Don't come back."

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but smile at the old familiar goodbye. "I don't plan on it," she responded with a wink.

The doctor chuckled, shook his head, and departed the room without another word.

That's when Daring Do spoke up.

"He seemed like a cool guy."

"Gah!" Rainbow Dash yelped and nearly jumped out of the hospital bed. She violently snapped her eyes back to the table and chair set, where Daring Do was relaxing on one of the chairs with her hind-hooves up on the table.

Daring snickered. "Y'alright there, kid?"

"I… what…" Rainbow shook her head, wincing at how the action made it throb. "Where did you go!?"

"I hid." Daring shrugged.

"Why?"

"Let's just say I didn't want you trying to introduce me to the doctor."

"…Why?"

Daring sighed and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. "Okay, this is gonna sound crazy."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Crazier than you showing up unannounced in my hospital room and hiding under the bed when somepony else enters the room?"

"I wasn't under the—Yes, okay!" Daring's eyebrows formed a straight line. "It's a heck of a lot crazier than that."

Rainbow blinked, but said nothing.

Daring took that as her cue to continue. "It's like this…" She tapped her forehooves together and gazed at the floor. "From what I've been able to tell, you're the only pony who, well, the only pony who can actually… see or hear me." She chuckled nervously.

"…" Rainbow stared for several seconds, blinked hard, then said, "Well, you were right about one thing. That's crazy!" Her eyes widened. "Wait, does that mean I'm crazy!?"

"You're not crazy." Daring Do retorted.

"Oh, good, I was worried—Hang on! If I am crazy then you're just a pigment of my imagination and I shouldn't listen to you!"

"Figment," Daring Do corrected offhandedly, "which I'm not. Listen, kid, the truth is that I need your help. Let me explain myself, at least."

Rainbow squinted. "I'm listening, but don't think you can convince me to rob a bank or wear a melon on my head. I know how you imaginary voices operate."

Daring tilted her head. "Right, I'm just gonna ignore that… slightly concerning tidbit and move right along." She cleared her throat. "It all started a few weeks ago. The adventuring business was on a slow patch, and I was itching for a new lead when one of my contacts finally gave me something to work with.

"It wasn't much, just a brief mention of something called the Kioo cha roho." Daring noticed Rainbow's blank expression and coughed into her hoof. "The Mirror of Souls. In any case, it was enough for me to get started. I managed to track the lead across Equestria to a long forgotten temple in the ancient griffon lands."

By that point, Rainbow was leaning forward intently. Her ears were perked and she gave her full attention to every word out of the adventurer's mouth. It was like having an all-new Daring Do novel narrated by the mare herself, and even though Rainbow was sure it was a hallucination, she couldn't deny that it was entertaining. 

For her part, Daring Do gestured enthusiastically as she told her story through a bright grin. "So this place was totally awesome. Pre-Celestial construction, perfectly preserved, and completely untouched by explorers' hooves! It's not often that I get to break new ground, so I dove in headfirst.

"Well, turns out I might've gotten a bit too excited. When I found the Mirror of Souls deep within the temple, I kinda… accidentally activated it. The next thing I know, I'm getting sucked into the mirror by a crazy strong force! Only I'm not getting sucked in, because I can see myself standing right there staring at the mirror. 

Daring rubbed at her temples. "Then I blink and find myself standing next to your hospital bed, waiting for you to wake up. Like I said, I tried talking to doctors and nurses, but none of them would even look at me. Even tried grabbing one nurse, but my hooves passed right through her. I was almost worried I'd have no way of getting back to my body. Heheh," she chuckled nervously, "you have no idea how relieved I was when you actually responded to me."

Rainbow raised a hoof. "You still haven't explained why you need my help."

"That's just it," Daring sighed. "Obviously, I need to get back to my body, but there are obstacles that I can't get past. I can't just walk through walls, as cool as that would be, but at the same time nothing I do seems to affect the world. I need you, kid, to be my link to the physical world. You need to open doors and navigate the temple for me." She gave a wan smile. "I guess it's fitting, since you were the one who taught me that working alone isn't always the answer. So whadda you say, kid? Willing to partner up once more?"

Rainbow Dash stared. The story was convincing. It sounded and felt like she was talking to the real Daring Do, but once the entrancing tale had reached its conclusion, Rainbow was left without any actual assurance that it was all real. 

At first, she had been positive that it was all a hallucination, but then for a moment she'd found herself almost willing to believe it. Now, her head just hurt. Daring Do, real or not, had asked her a simple yes or no question, but answering it seemed the hardest thing in the world right then. 





"You know, this place ain't so bad for a small town." Daring Do commented as she trotted along next to Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash still hadn't managed to answer the question. Her head hurt, and her mind was a jumble of confused thoughts. Only part of that had to do with her recent head injury. 

The doctor had released her mere moments after Daring finished her pitch, saving Dash from having to come up with an immediate answer. The doctor had warned her against any strenuous flights for the next few days, and a fresh bandage had been applied to her head before leaving, though it was mostly hidden under the tufts of her multi-coloured mane.

Daring Do continued to observe the small town, while Rainbow kept tabs on where her incorporeal companion trotted alongside her. While she was still sticking to Rainbow's side, Daring was also casting her gaze around the tiny village, taking in the ponies and the places with the air of somepony seeing them for the first time. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, painting the town in the oranges and reds of sunset, and capturing Daring's attention all the more.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to reply to Daring Do, but remembered at the last second that she would be talking to the air and quickly thought better of it. She kept her gaze locked dead ahead, studiously ignoring the incorporeal adventurer trotting along behind her.

Daring tore her gaze from a two-story cottage covered in creeping vines and pranced closer to Rainbow. "This place is simple. It's… nice. I don't get to a lot of nice places in my usual travels, y'know? I would've loved to take a vacation someplace as laid back as this."

Again, Rainbow didn't reply, but this time Daring took notice.

"Oh come on, kid. How long are you gonna keep this silent treatment up?" Her brow furrowed. "It's 'cause you still don't think I'm real, isn't it?"

This time, Rainbow's silence was all the reply Daring needed.

"For pony's sake, kid! We can't waste our time with these shenanigans!" Daring leaped in front of Rainbow Dash and trotted backwards while fixing the younger pegasus with a stern frown.

"Listen, this whole quest is time sensitive, ya feel me?" Daring growled through gritted teeth. "So what am I gonna have to do to convince you, huh?"

When Rainbow didn't reply, Daring only grew more frustrated. "Damnit, kid!" She stomped her hooves, which stopped her backwards trotting and caused her to halt directly in Rainbow's path.

Rainbow couldn't help but instinctively wince before she barrelled into Daring, or rather, barrelled through her. Rainbow Dash trotted through Daring Do's form without any resistance whatsoever. A chilly breeze caused the hairs along the back of her neck to stand up, but Rainbow assured herself it was only because of how creepy the situation was.

Daring stood there in the road, blinking, as Rainbow collected herself and continued trotting down the road.

"...really didn't help my case with that one, did I?" Daring mumbled just loud enough for Dash to hear.

Rainbow trotted a little further down the road before she realized that Daring's incessant badgering had, in fact, ceased. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she realized that Daring might have actually vanished. Her question would be answered, she would know for certain that it had been a hallucination… yet for some reason the idea terrified her.

Tentatively, Rainbow Dash turned around with gritted teeth. She couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped when she saw Daring Do standing silently behind her. Only then did she really take in the adventurer's appearance. Daring's ears were pressed tight against her skull, and her head was hanging close to the hard-packed dirt road. A deep frown was present upon her muzzle, and Daring's eyes were locked on her own forehooves.

Rainbow Dash sighed. She quickly glanced around to make sure nopony was near enough to hear her, then nonetheless whispered, "We'll talk at my house."

Daring's ears shot up along with her head. She locked wide eyes on Rainbow Dash, and a slow smile grew to replace her frown. With one fervent nod, she motioned for Rainbow to move along and the two of them continued the way they'd been going.

The road led them to the edge of town, and into rolling plains of bright green grass. The field itself was unremarkable, but the massive construct of clouds hovering a hundred feet above it was quite the opposite. It was a sprawling mansion of beautiful cloudwork. Pearlescent white pillars and balconies were complemented by waterfalls and fountains of pure rainbow. Three stories tall and just as wide, Rainbow Dash's cloud home was quick to steal the attention of anypony nearby, a perfect analogue for the mare who owned it.

Daring Do was no exception to its wonder. Her focused interest in Rainbow Dash was momentarily forgotten as she openly gaped at the epic structure.

"You live here!?" Daring couldn't help the outburst.

Rainbow glanced around suspiciously once more before deciding it was safe to respond. "Yeah, my dad helped me build the place. It's pretty great, but that's sorta what he does."

Daring blinked. "You built your own house, too?"

"Sure! Did you not grow up in Cloudsdale? Every pegasus there builds their own place when they move out." She puffed her chest out. "Not everypony has an awesome cloud architect for a dad, though!"

"Huh…" Daring nodded. "And no, I didn't grow up in Cloudsdale. I'm actually Caneighdian."

Rainbow jolted. "Really?"

"Pfft, no way!" Daring laughed. "Do I look like a pansy to you?"

Rainbow groaned and offered a deadpan look, then spread her wings and shot into the sky with a rush of air. She soared up and away from Daring Do's dwindling form on the ground below, and came to a stop on the front porch of her house. 

Rainbow sighed and rubbed at her temples, but her head still ached. Her bed seemed terribly appealing at that moment. With a slow breath, Rainbow pushed open her front door and trotted inside. She passed right by the kitchen, not feeling particularly hungry. She trotted past her living room and its plush cloud couches, past the lazing form of Daring Do kicking her hooves up on an end table. She went straight to—

"Wait…" Rainbow muttered, freezing in mid-step.

She turned around ever so slowly until her living room came into vision. Sure enough, Daring Do was lounging on one of Rainbow's couches, bearing a manure-eating grin directly at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash stared back, deadpan. "How did you get up here so fast?"

"I have no idea!" Daring exclaimed. "Isn't it exciting? Ooh, I love a good mystery."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and trotted into the room. She took a seat on the floor in front of Daring and stared at the possible-hallucination for several long moments. The silence became increasingly uncomfortable, and only when Daring started to fidget did the older mare attempt to break it.

"So... are we—"

"You can't be real!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, frowning.

Daring blinked. "Okay, but… I am."

"Grrr," Rainbow Dash rubbed at her aching head. "Stop making this difficult. Hallucinations aren't supposed to stick around once you realize what they are. That's totally a rule or something, like how crazy ponies can't realize they're crazy."

"Well I haven't disappeared, so one point for Daring Do, right?" Daring flashed a crooked grin that actually managed to elicit a small smile in response before Rainbow regained her serious expression.

"Look," Rainbow started, clenching her eyes shut and still rubbing her temples. "This is, like, your big chance to tell me something that convinces me you're real. Or at least gives me some shred I can cling to. Right now, I've got a whole lot telling me you're just my concussed brain playing tricks on me, and nothing telling me otherwise."

Rainbow finished by opening her eyes and glaring straight at Daring. The older mare paused, tapping her chin in deep consideration. The silence stretched between them once more, but Rainbow was unfaltering. Finally, Daring Do slowly opened her mouth and spoke with the utmost care.

"I… asked you for help."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Seriously? That's supposed to convince me? I've met the real Daring Do. She hated asking for help!"

Daring pointed. "That's just it, isn't it? If I was just something your brain cooked up, wouldn't I behave exactly how you think I should behave? Instead, I'm going completely against your preconceived notions, because that's the thing about real ponies, they're unpredictable."

Rainbow's jaw hung agape, and when no response seemed forthcoming, Daring Do spoke again in a lower tone.

"Kid… I really do need your help, and I really do hate asking for it." She turned her gaze to the floor. "You know that I have a hard time accepting help, but for the first time ever I'm truly… helpless. I always work alone, but sometimes that's not an option. Sometimes accepting help is all you can do." She looked up with a small smile. "You taught me that, kid."

Again, Rainbow couldn't form a response. She squinted for nearly a full minute before abruptly turning around and marching out of the room. 

"I'm going to bed. Don't do any more weird stuff while I'm asleep," she called out over her shoulder.

Without waiting for a response, Rainbow trotted down the hall to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her and hopped into her bed with a sigh. The day had started out so simple, but had ended with a headache in more ways than one.

Her troubled thoughts didn't allow sleep to come easily. She still couldn't say whether Daring was real, or simply the result of her recent concussion playing tricks on her mind. She certainly sounded real, looked real, felt real.

Then there was her story. If what Daring said was true, then Rainbow was really her only hope of escaping from her incorporeal exile. Which mean that, even if Daring could be a fake, Dash couldn't really afford to take that risk.

"Hey, Daring, you in here?" Rainbow asked to the darkness of her room.

"What's up, kid?" the response came from some corner or other, just as Rainbow knew it would.

"I'll do it."

"Cool. Better sleep tight, then. We've got an adventure ahead of us."

Rainbow was sound asleep within minutes, a placid smile gracing her lips.





Rainbow Dash dreamed of flying far, far away.