Becoming Daring Do

by ThunderChaserCreate

Showtime

I stretched my wings, each touching a pony beside me. Soarin's mane had been tamed, his hair now laying much flatter, but remaining the same color. His body had been painted over black, and Rarity had wrapped a dark piece of stretchy cloth tightly around his midsection. His wings were completely invisible. He was wearing a fedora and neckerchief, William's traditional attire. His winged lightning bolt had been covered, and replaced by the comedy-tragedy masks. the character William had been in show business before he was pulled along with Daring, and was therefore a bit over-dramatic about a lot of things.

My left wing, when stretched straight out, just brushed the top of Scootaloo's head. She was dressed as Small Fry, wearing a baseball cap adorned with the Manehatten Hawks' logo. Her colors had actually stayed the same, but her hair was flattened to fit properly under the cap. In fact, she looked a bit like Babs. She had been ecstatic to receive a cutie mark, albeit a fake one, in gambling. The character Small Fry was, although at least half the required age, a gambler and a cheater.

I had gone through the most change. May once eye-catching mane was now a dull, monochromatic drab which hung next to my face limply. I had, with the help of Rarity, painted my coat over with a yellow-tan color. My friends had helped me gather the props, and I had a mysterious-looking goblet in a saddle bag.

The plan was to run through main street, shout some crazy nonsense things, pull some stunts, and toss the goblet back and forth to each other. We would act like we were being chased, then book it to the Everfree and hide somewhere.

"I can't believe we're really doing this!" Scootaloo squealed, hopping up and down. I quieted her, not wanting to draw attention to the little ally we were tucked into.

Soarin looked over at me, and I nodded to him, pulling out the goblet. he rocketed out of the ally, quickly followed by me and Scootaloo.

"Daring, move! I can see the comet! It's almost in position!" he ad-libbed perfectly. About twenty heads snapped up to the sky searching for the comet.

"W-why is that bad?" Scoots stuttered, feigning fear.

"If we can't get the goblet onto the sun pedestal by the time the comet is directly above us, Ahuizotl gets a power surge! He'll be able to release the army!" I yelled, tossing her the goblet as I tucked and rolled through a small cluster. Ponies were staring, and whispering. We sure were causing a scene.

"The timber wolf army?!" Soarin panicked, swiveling to face me.

"Exactly! Now let's MOVE!" I hollered, scooping up Scootaloo and taking flight, zipping over the crowd.

"Wait up!" Soarin called, the fabric by his sides stretching as he instinctively spread his wings.

"We can't, Will! Just... run faster!" I yelled, knowing that we didn't have much time before some form of authorities showed up.

Soarin put on an extra burst of speed, bobbing and weaving around the crowd with expert agility. As a finale, he leaned to his right, getting both hooves on that side on the wall, then shoved off it, launching himself through the air. He landed expertly, not using his wings at all. The shock hit him hard, but he managed to book it and catch up with the two of us.

We sped down the street, skidding around a corner that put us in the direction of the Everfree. We didn't say anything more, just ran as fast as we could. Scootaloo kept a firm hold of my mane, her back legs lifting off my back every once in a while.

I could see the forest, just beyond a small bit of barren land. We put on a burst of speed, shooting over the exposed land and into the cool darkness of the Everfree. Soarin slowed himself to a trot, the sat behind a tree, panting.

"Hey, Rainbow?" He said between pants, "Could you get this thing off me? I can barely breathe." He pulled at the fabric with his front hoof, struggling to get the constricting fabric away from his neck.

I trotted over, not much energy left in my own joints, and carefully unwrapped the fabric with my mouth.

Soarin took a gasping breath, stretching his cramped wings out of their uncomfortable position.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, concerned by his struggling breaths.

"F-fine. I think your friend Rarity is used to putting corsets on mares, not... whatever that is on a stallion."

"That was so AWESOME!" squealed Scootaloo, fluttering her wings and hovering about two inches above the ground.

I chuckled, putting a hoof around her, "Yeah... it was pretty cool."

The filly giggled girlishly, snuggling into my chest. I ruffled her mane affectionately, looking over at Soarin.

"Hey! Soarin's an alicorn! All hail princess Soarin!" I joked, noticing that he was still wearing the fake unicorn horn. I bowed a bit, and he sighed, struggling to get the horn off.

"I'll get it," I laughed, helping him to pull it off, "I think Rarity might've done well to remember our race. She made this stuff so it can be used with magic, not hooves."

The headpiece eventually slipped off, and I set it on the ground by the fabric.

"It's okay. I'll talk to her about it for next time."

"Next time?!" both ponies responded in unison, Scootaloo excited while Soarin was more shocked.

"Y-yeah..." I mumbled, "next time..."

"I didn't commit to a next time!" Soarin complained.

"I would LOVE to do this again!" Scootaloo squealed.

Before I knew what was happening, the two were arguing with each other, and yelling different things at me.

In the distance, I heard a gruff voice. It grumbled something, and was followed by what sounded like consent from another couple of equally deep voices.

I stuck a hoof in each of the ponies' mouths, then pulled them down into the nearest bush. They must be authorities, come to yell at us for disturbing the peace.

"I heard them here just a second ago..." whined a not-so-bright sounding one.

"Idiot!" there was the sound of an impact, followed by a yowl from the first voice," Your ears are terrible. Let me smell 'em out." This voice was deeper than the first, and it seemed to growl a bit with each word.

'Smell?' Soarin mouthed, looking confused. I was, too. After all, ponies aren't known for their sense of smell.

I heard the snuffling breaths as the lead pony sniffed the air, and heavy footfalls as he moved closer and closer to the bush we sat in.

I held my breath, closing my eyes and praying to Celestia that the cops wouldn't find us. As my eyes were closed, I felt something warm on my shoulder. I thought maybe it was the sun, but I felt it drip down my leg and into my armpit. Very slowly. Too slowly.

I heard hushed exclamations of disgust from Scootaloo, followed by Soarin, and opened my eyes reluctantly. There was a huge dribble of what could've been spit on my shoulder, but it smelled like... syrup. Maple syrup. Which meant it was tree sap, or something like it.

Slowly, uncertainly, I turned my head upward. I was met with the dagger-like, wooden teeth of a timber wolf. I almost screamed, remembering what had happened last time we'd had a run-in with timber wolves.

I reached over, wrapping a hoof around Scootaloo's front ankle, standing up as slowly as possible once I had secured my grip. Scootaloo and Soarin stood with me, and I tensed my leg muscles for a quick, upward burst of speed. I spread my wings, crouching as low as I could get, before rocketing into the sky. I launched myself straight up, and I thought I'd made it out.

Well, I nearly did. The timber wolf jumped less than a second after I had, clamping his teeth around my tail. In a moment of panicked, I threw Scootaloo to Soarin as I was pulled to the ground. Soarin just barely caught Scootaloo, and hovered there, just out of reach of the wolves.

"GO!" I heard Scootaloo yell, "WE GOTTA HELP HER!"

I hit the ground hard, and it knocked the wind out out of me. I struggled for air, hearing Soarin call my name.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the small blue blob of Soarin, rushing at me with a little orange dot tucked close to his chest.

Comments

[LeopardCay]

Ooooooo.... tense... gotta HATE dem cliffhangers

[ThunderChaserCreate]

2871380
Ha ha.