//------------------------------//
// 2 - Setting Out 
// Story: Out of Body 
// by zaponator 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash awoke the next day feeling considerably more refreshed. The sun had risen well clear of the horizon by the time she opened her eyes, and slanting beams of bright light shone through her windows to paint glowing patterns across her floor.

Her head still hurt, but it was more of a dull throb that could easily be pushed into the back of her mind. Rainbow did just that, and then rolled out of bed onto all fours. She paused to let out a long yawn, accompanied by a languid stretch that elicited several satisfying pops and cracks from her stiff limbs.

It was at that moment that Rainbow realized how empty her room was. For a brief second, she couldn't recall why that was strange, until her sleep-addled mind finally caught up with her and she jolted in place.

"Daring?" Rainbow's voice echoed through the cold house, and then silence.

Her head spun. Was none of it real? She'd had her doubts, but by the end of the night she'd been almost positive that Daring Do was telling the truth. Rainbow's breaths grew erratic as she desperately cast her gaze about the room. She trotted out into the hall and called out again.

"Daring Do? Where are you?" Rainbow's voice sounded more desperate than she would've expected. She slowly lowered herself to a sitting position on the hardened cloud floor and hung her head. Her eyes clenched shut and her ears pressed against her head so tightly that she almost didn't hear it when a familiar scratchy voice broke the silence.

"Sorry, kid, you say something?" Daring flapped in through the living room window just as Rainbow snapped her eyes towards the source of the voice.

"Daring!" Rainbow Dash leaped toward the adventurer with one mighty beat of her wings, only to pass right through and tumble into the couch. She decided to ignore the cold chill she'd felt and instead pushed slowly to her hooves and glared at her houseguest.

"Where in the hay were you? You had me thinking I'd really gone crazy!"

Daring smiled sheepishly. "Well it's not like I can sleep, y'know? I was just out having a fly around the neighborhood. Honestly, took you for more of a late sleeper."

"Grgh…" Rainbow Dash rubbed her temples. "Normally, I'd love to go back to bed, but we've got places to be, adventures to adventure. We gonna get started on that or what?"

Daring blinked. "Now?"

"Now."

"Now now?"

"Now, Daring!" Rainbow growled. "What's with the cold hooves all of a sudden?"

Daring made a placating motion with her forehooves. "Not me, I just figured you'd wanna tell your friends or whatever."

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "So I'll leave a note for Fluttershy to feed Tank. I just wanna get this thing over with and figure out once and for all whether you're even real."

"You're still on about that?" Daring raised one eyebrow. "I thought you believed me now."

"Meh," Rainbow Dash meh'd as she marched into the kitchen and started pouring a bowl of cereal. She looked up between bites and said, "It's not that I believe you, but I don't… not believe you."

Daring nodded sagely. "That makes no sense."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, paused for another spoonful of cereal, then elaborated, "I just figure there's a chance I'm wrong either way, but if I choose not to help you and I'm wrong, that's gonna super suck for you. If I do choose to help you and I'm wrong, then all I've done is waste my time. No big."

Daring tapped her chin. "Sorta like Pascolt's wager, but with more adventuring and badflankery." She grinned crookedly. "I like it!"

"Whatever," Rainbow mumbled as she put away her dishes. "Let's just get this show on the road already." She started towards the door, only to jerk to a halt with it half open. "Wait, where are we even going?"

Daring grinned in a manner that managed to both unsettle and excite Rainbow Dash. "You're gonna want to pack a bag. We've got a long trip ahead of us."





A couple hours later, the pair were well on their way down a winding dirt road through the Whitetail Woods just North of Ponyville. Rainbow wasn't normally one to hoof it on a long journey unless she was traveling with some of her less-winged friends, but the doctor had recommended no hard flying for the next few days. Her saddlebags bounced slightly at her sides with each step, packed to the brim with items that Daring Do had insisted would come in useful.

As reluctant as she had been to agree to the journey in the first place, Rainbow was enjoying the trip so far. The sun shone down pleasantly from a sky dotted with just enough clouds to prevent sweltering heat. The woods on either side of the well-worn road resounded with a cacophony of birdsong and other friendly wildlife. A cool breeze drifted in every so often and rustled Rainbow's feathers. She closed her eyes in contentment and fluffed her wings as the gentle rush of air washed over her.

Daring, meanwhile, had opted to fly after Rainbow Dash commented that her utterly silent hoofsteps were unsettling. She had been hovering alongside Dash, but was now a short distance ahead. It was still odd seeing her without the signature hat and shirt. When asked about it, Daring had simply shrugged and said that was how she'd woken up. She claimed it must have had something to do with how the Mirror of Souls worked, though even Daring herself knew next to nothing about the strange artifact.

The day dragged onwards as the pair made slow but sure progress. Daring Do fell back to hover at Rainbow's side once more, but there was little conversation. Rainbow was still weirded out by the whole situation, and was still in the process of trying to sort everything out in her head. 

Daring Do remained equally silent, though she too shot the occasional fleeting glance towards her traveling companion. All in all, it was the most uncomfortable silence that either mare had ever experienced, but neither of them seemed intent on breaking it anytime soon.

Still, after an hour or two of nothing but silent walking, Rainbow found herself desperate for anything to break the monotony. Eventually, the silence became too much to bear, and Rainbow decided to risk a conversation.

"So how'd this happen anyway?"

Daring blinked and shook her head, apparently jarred out of some deep train of thought. "Sorry, what?"

Rainbow Dash gestured vaguely towards Daring. "Y'know… this. How'd it happen?"

"Oh," Daring Do replied. "I thought I explained it already. See, there was this ancient artifact called the Mirror—"

"No, no," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "I got that part. What I mean is, how did you, the Daring Do, fall for some dusty old artifact's trap? I feel like you'd be more careful than that."

"It's not about being careful." Daring Do sighed. "I'm as careful as I ever can be, in everything I do, but no amount of care is gonna beat simple probability."

"Say what?"

Daring turned around to hover backwards, gesticulating with her hooves as she talked. "It's like this: Every time I dive into some cave or break into some temple or whatever, there's all sorts of stuff that wants to hurt me or trap me or whatever. If I'm careful, I can minimize the chance that any of that stuff is successful, but I can never eliminate it. It's a roll of the dice, every time, no matter how you look at it. Sure, I've had the game rigged in my favour for a long time, but it was only a matter of time before it came up snake eyes, ya feel me?"

"I… think so," Rainbow said slowly. "I guess it's just a good thing you didn't get hurt then, right?"

"Right…" Daring Do muttered. "I guess, all things considered, this mirror really isn't the worst that could happen, eh?" She chuckled, but it was a hollow thing.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound too convinced, yourself."

Daring Do was silent for several long moments. Still flying backwards, she seemed to stare straight through Rainbow with distant, unfocused eyes. Just when the silence was returning to uncomfortableness, Daring finally spoke up.

"I guess it just doesn't matter what the consequences were. The point is that I failed. I took a risk, the same kind of risk I take every damn day, and I came up short." Her eyes were still unfocused, and even her voice seemed directed at nopony in particular. "It really makes you look back on things differently. I've risked my life on a gamble so many times, and for what? Some old relic or treasure that just ends up behind a glass case for foals on field trips to glance at and ignore?"

Rainbow gaped silently as Daring continued in a low tone, "It always seemed worth it at the time, but you know what? This Mirror seemed worth it too. Now I've roped you into this mess, and we don't even know what shape my body will be in when we find it. Now… I'm not even sure it was worth the risk at all."

The road fell completely silent for several moments. It took a beat for Daring to realize that even the sound of Rainbow's hooves had ceased. Rainbow Dash stood stock-still and wide-eyed, her gaping expression staring silently at Daring Do.

Daring winced. "Ah, jeeze, sorry about that. I guess I got a little heavy for a moment there."

Rainbow stared in silence for several more moments, then nodded slowly.

"Look," Daring said, "just ignore everything I said. Everything's gonna be tickety-boo, we're gonna have a fun little road trip, and we're gonna get me back in my body just fine, alright?"

Rainbow finally muttered, "…Alright." She continued trotting for a few steps, but paused to cast a sidelong glance Daring's way. "Do you regret it all? All those pointless risks, I mean."

"Regret?" Daring raised an eyebrow. "Nah, not at all. It was dumb, and it was crazy, but damnit if it wasn't awesome too!"

The chuckle that escaped Rainbow's lips at that came as a surprise to her, but it did manage to coax a smile onto her face. With that, both travelers felt that nothing more needed to be said. They continued down the road in silence once more, but this time they were both a little more comfortable with it.





The scenery remained much the same for the first few hours out of Ponyville. Whitetail Woods was a beautiful, if not terribly exciting place. Lush trees and light undergrowth surrounded them on both sides, joined every so often by a patch of multi-coloured wildflowers. 

The whole way, Rainbow Dash distracted herself from the dull, thudding ache in her head by glancing around at the passing scenery.

It was drastically different from the Everfree Forest that bordered the other side of the town. Where the Everfree was foreboding and dark, the Whitetail Woods seemed to allow plenty of sunlight to stream in through the branches high above. Where the Everfree felt like it was closing in tightly, suffocating anypony foolish enough to enter its grasp, the Whitetail Woods felt open and inviting, never constricting one's freedom of movement or confusing one's sense of direction.

Happily chirping birds and skittering little critters provided an almost musical backdrop, adding yet more to the cheerful nature of the place. The path itself was well-maintained and relatively straight, though it did gently wind and bend here and there. Even though there were trees all around, the canopy overhead provided minimal coverage, and left a mostly unimpeded view of the shining blue sky beyond.

Rainbow Dash realized that it had been a long time since she'd actually journeyed through such pleasant scenery rather than just flying over it. She took the time to enjoy it, glancing around at her surroundings as the day wore on. Eventually, they had to stop for a quick lunch, which simply meant that Rainbow sat down on the side of the road and ate a few tasty wildflowers before they were on the move once more.

The sun passed its zenith, morning turned to afternoon, and still Rainbow Dash trotted onwards. One way or another, she was determined to put this mess to rest once and for all. In the stretches of silence between idle small talk, Rainbow Dash found her thoughts drifting to her unexpected companion, or rather, whether or not said companion was even real.

She still didn't know if she believed it, but… the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't outright dismiss the notion. After all, she and her friends had dealt with much stranger things in their adventures, and it did seem like precisely the sort of trouble Daring Do would get herself into. The odds that it was all true were slim, but they were there, and they were impossible to ignore.

Eventually, Rainbow's deep thought was interrupted by a much-needed change in scenery. Up ahead, she could see the trees thinning out and the terrain growing rockier. The edge of the Whitetail Woods was approaching, and beyond that Rainbow was unsure of exactly what awaited them.

Daring Do flew on ahead, weaving between trees until she disappeared from sight. When she flew back moments later and motioned for Rainbow to hurry up, a vibrant grin was plastered across her face.

Rainbow picked up her pace slightly, and in a few minutes, the trees had thinned enough for her to see the landscape that lay before them. The road wound across wide grassy plains dotted with boulders and patches of rocks. The plains quickly became hills of all sizes, tall or wide, rocky or grassy. The road wound over and around and between the hills, but whatever lay on the other side was impossible to say from Rainbow's current low position.

Rainbow didn't slow down out of the woods, and a wide smile graced her features as the landscape became slightly more interesting. They followed the road as it wound around a small mound, then inclined up towards the peak of a large, steep hill. Rainbow Dash was panting halfway up the hill, and her pace slowed slightly, but they eventually reached the top and paused for her to catch her breath. It was one of the taller hills in the area, being larger than the town hall in Ponyville.

At that height, the world opened up around them. Rainbow's breath left her as she slowly rotated in place to take in the view. Rocky hills surrounded her in a patchwork of green and grey, all tinged slightly orange by the distantly setting sun. To the North, in their direction of travel, stretched more hills nearly to the horizon, some topped with rings of ancient stone blocks that had once been towers belonging to some long-gone civilization. The towers had collapsed and been worn down, but the hills remained, still wearing their ancient crowns given by long-dead kings and emperors. 

To the East was a mountain range that cut the horizon into jagged shapes, harsh and beautiful. They were topped with snow and ringed by clouds, distant enough to look small even though Rainbow knew that some were as tall as Canterlot itself.

To the West, the aforementioned capitol stood out proudly as the most prominent landmark. It towered above the relatively flat landscape surrounding it, not a part of any mountain range. Canterlot stood alone atop its lonely mountain, glinting in the light of the setting sun, nothing more than a shining speck atop a great spire of stone. The mountain's shadow laid across the land like a great black arm, reaching out and casting a portion of the landscape into an early night.

Finally, slowly, Rainbow allowed her vision to turn Southward.

The massive expanse of Whitetail Woods stretched out behind them. Looking at the great ocean of green laid out, Rainbow was impressed that she'd managed to traverse it in only a day. The woods extended for miles to either side, and almost reached all the way back to the horizon. They didn't quite manage to block Rainbow's view of the horizon, however. There, straddling the fine line where earth met sky, she could still make out a blurry shape, not much more than a brown blob even to her pegasus eyes. If she focused long enough, however, she could almost make out the lines and corners of buildings, and she knew that she was looking at home. 

Ponyville was still visible, if only barely. Rainbow had made good time. For a moment, her wings twitched against her sides. Her hooves shifted almost on their own accord, and Rainbow found herself turned around to face her hometown. The wind atop the hill whipped her mane against her neck, and Rainbow bent her legs to leap into it. It was a Southerly wind; it would carry her all the way back to her friends, her house, her life.

Then her ears twitched to a voice that spoke in an uncharacteristically somber tone.

"Tears at you, don't it kid?" 

Rainbow flinched. Her wings clenched against her sides as she spun to face the voice. Daring Do was standing there, her mane hanging perfectly still even in the whipping winds. The adventurer bore a sad smile, and her eyes were locked onto Dash's, unblinking.

"Seeing your home as nothing more than a dot on the horizon, it's not a good feeling." She took a long breath. "But it's not a bad feeling either. I know exactly how you feel. You want to jump into the wind and fly straight back to your old familiar house and all the old familiar faces there." Her lips curved a little more. "But at the same time, you don't. You want to see where this road goes, what lies beyond that mysterious horizon. You want to see where this adventure will take you, and that desire contradicts everything else your heart is telling you.

"It's beautiful… and it's terrible." By the time Daring finished, though her eyes remained locked onto Rainbow's, she was no longer looking at the other mare. Her focus was a thousand miles beyond Rainbow's own eyes, somewhere hidden behind the horizon.

Rainbow Dash gulped a dry lump down her throat. "Is… is this how you feel? Every time you leave for another adventure, I mean?"

Daring seemed to snap back to reality. "Hm? Oh, no. I haven't felt that way in years." She chuckled, but it was a hollow sound. "Doesn't really work if you don't have a home to look back on, y'know?"

Before Rainbow could respond, Daring quickly turned away and marched briskly down the North side of the hill. Rainbow was left alone on the hilltop, the wind in her ears doing nothing to drown out the maelstrom of thoughts consuming her troubled mind. She was only broken from her reverie by a voice carried back on the breeze from the bottom of the hill.

"Come on, kid! Daylight's burning!"

Rainbow sighed. Her wings flexed and unflexed, but remained coiled tight to her sides. With one last lingering look to the South, she ever so slowly turned her back on Ponyville. She released all the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in one prolonged exhale as she took the single longest step of her life. The next step came a little easier, and the one after that easier still. 

By the time Rainbow crested the edge of the hill and trotted down the other side, she didn't even look back to see Ponyville disappearing beyond the horizon.

They made camp about an hour later on a flat spot about halfway up a medium sized hill. The site provided shelter from the winds, which allowed Rainbow Dash to start a crackling fire using fallen tree branches and the matches Daring had made her pack.

"See, kid, adventuring ain't so bad if you do it in style." She tossed a smirk Rainbow's way across the flickering firelight. "We might as well be camping. Bring any marshmallows?"

Rainbow giggled and laid down on her belly, resting her head on her forehooves. "That's more Rarity's thing than mine."

"I'll pretend to understand that."

"So, Daring," Rainbow Dash paused to stifle a yawn before continuing, "what'd you mean back there, on the hill, 'bout not having a home?"

Daring's expression was hiding behind the dancing flames, but she almost seemed to hesitate for a second before responding, "Oh, don't worry about that, kid. I adventure a lot, y'know? I don't exactly have one town or house that I call 'home'. Hay, my books sell more than enough for me to rent places in every city from Manehatten to Mareami." She chuckled. "So I do, of course."

Rainbow took a moment for her sleepy brain to consider that. "Still," she mumbled before pausing to yawn, "that sounds kinda sad. I think I'd always want someplace I could come back to. Maybe," another yawn, "maybe once this is over, you can get a house in Ponyville. You seemed to like it a lot. It could totally be your home. Then… then you would always have a place… a place to look back at and smile."

Rainbow's voice grew soft and slurred as she spoke, and by the end of her speech she was practically whispering. Within moments, Rainbow was fast asleep, her chest rising and falling with even breaths in the orange glow of the fire.

Daring Do looked down at the slumbering pegasus and tried to smile, but the expression came out looking broken beyond repair. 





Rainbow Dash dreamed of steel and talons.