Daring Dash and Rosetta Sparkle in the Jungle of Perils

by elPossenreisser

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

When she woke up, it was dark. Judging from the position of the moon that shone through some holes in the canopy, she assumed that it was around two in the morning. With grim determination, she went to work.

First, she broke off the tip of the spear she had brought. It was reasonably sharp, and she needed a cutting tool for the next step. The tip was clean since it wasn’t the one she’d been cut with, a thought that made her slightly queasy. Feeling a little bit guilty, she cut the bands off her trusted saddlebags. They had served her so well in this adventure, and now she had to defile them like this… But she needed something smaller.

Twilight loosely bound the bands of the saddlebag around her waist and cut out a small piece of fabric from the bags. She wrapped the fabric around the spear tip and shoved it into her makeshift belt. It wasn’t perfect, but at least she could carry it without using her magic. She pulled it out again and cut out another strip of fabric from her poor bags and tied it around her head. With a satisfied nod, she left the remains of the bags. Even though it hurt her to leave innocent books out here to rot, they were just too useless for the task at hoof.

She carefully sneaked back to the river. It was bright enough in the pale moonlight so that she didn’t need to light up her horn. She stopped in front of a patch of reeds, took out her makeshift knife and cut off two big reeds. She quickly cleaned off the leaves and cut off the tips and made sure that the reeds were hollow. She stuck one of them into her belt for later use. In the distance to her right she saw the lonely lantern on the pier of the goat camp.

Swallowing down her apprehension of the water and potential crocodiles, Twilight stepped into the river. The water was warm and felt a little slimy, and she could almost hear Rarity scream in agony at what she did to her coat. At least the coolness felt nice on her injured leg. She submerged her head under the water and took tip of the reed in her mouth, trying to breathe through it. It worked quite well, but she couldn’t see much in the murky water.

She slowly started swimming towards the pier, mostly underwater, but taking breaks every now and then to make sure she was still on target. After half an hour of slow swimming, she was close enough to see the shine of the lantern on the pier from under the water. She could now also see the guard on the pier. He was still slumped on his chair and looking into her direction – that is, if he was awake. But Twilight decided to not take a chance. She submerged again and stayed under water until she was right next to the pier.

Taking a deep breath, she dove deeper to swim underneath the pier. She carefully exhaled through the reed to keep the water from flowing in until she could lift the reed’s tip through the water surface again on the other side of the pier. Taking a few seconds to catch her breath, she carefully levitated her spear tip out of her makeshift harness and stuck it into one of the pier’s barrels.

Then she very slowly and carefully reemerged. The guard didn’t react; he either hadn’t heard her or he was really asleep. She stayed in the water almost motionlessly and listened for any sound from the guard. She could hear faint snoring and smiled.

“Rainbow?” she asked telepathically.

“I’m awake, Twi. You coming?”

“I’m already here”, the unicorn chuckled. “Can you somehow lure the guard on deck to you? Demand some water or something?”

“Sure, no problem.”

Immediately, Twilight heard Rainbow’s muted voice from inside the boat. Somepony gave a grunting advice on the deck, then she heard hoofsteps walking down some stairs. It was now or never. Hearing Rainbow’s real voice seemed to give her bit of extra confidence as she carefully pulled herself onto the pier, never leaving the guard on his chair out of eyesight, and secured her reed in her belt. He didn’t react; apparently he had dozed off. Twilight quickly grabbed his gun with her magic and slowly submerged it into the river before she continued on to the boat.

She silently made her way up the narrow wooden gangway. With the light of the lantern on the pier behind her, she could see rather well, but cast a huge shadow in front of her. Luckily the moonlight helped. To her right there was a cabin with an open door from whence faint light was shining, and she assumed that Rainbow was held somewhere in there.

Suddenly somepony barked, “Halt! Wer da? Stehenbleiben!“, and she heard the click of a gun being cocked. She startled, her heart pounding in her throat, as she had not expected another guard here. Her thoughts started racing. She was going to get shot, and this time it wouldn’t end with a dart being stuck harmlessly in the bands of her –

Darts! Leather bands!

Without even thinking about it, she reached out to her belt with her magic and took one of the two alpaca darts that still stuck there. Even though she didn’t have a blowpipe, she could just propel a dart with her magic.

“Wer da?” the goat asked again, giving her a much better idea of where he was. Praying that the tranquilizer on the darts hadn’t washed off during her bath in the river, she hurled the dart in the direction the voice had come from. “Was zur – “ the goat stammered, then there was the thud of a collapsing body. Twilight let out a relieved sigh. But she wasn’t safe yet, as there was still the other goat who had gone downstairs to Rainbow Dash. And she could only hope that the sleeping guard on the pier had not suddenly become the wide awake guard on the pier.

Twilight carefully walked to where the goat had collapsed and levitated his gun away, slipping it very slowly into the river to avoid splashes. Then she edged towards the half-open cabin door. Downstairs, she could hear the muffled voices of Rainbow Dash and a goat. That meant the goat was still distracted. She silently moved down the stairs which led into a narrow corridor. The goat was standing in front of a locked door at the far end of the corridor.

Not even caring about staying silent anymore, Twilight walked up to the goat. Three steps in and he finally noticed her and turned around, puzzled. As soon as he turned, Twilight started galloping towards him at full speed. The goat raised his gun, but Twilight was too fast for him. She launched herself at him and hit him in the chest with two outstretched hooves, knocking the goat over. Before he had time to get to his hooves again, she quickly bucked him against the chin, knocking him out.

“Twi? Is that you?” Rainbow Dash asked from the other side of the door.

“Yes, Rainbow, I’ll have you out of there in a second.” Twilight hastily searched the unconscious goat and found a key ring. She took it and soon found the right key to open the door. As soon as she did, a cyan pegasus launched herself at her and wrapped her hooves and wings around her. Almost sobbing from happiness, Twilight returned the hug and buried her face in the rainbow-colored mane. “Rainbow Dash!”

“I knew you wouldn’t leave me hanging”, Rainbow Dash whispered in her ear before she released her and closely examined her. “Are you hurt?” she asked with a worried frown, pointing at the leaf bandage.

“Just a little cut”, Twilight answered dismissively. “I ran into some alpacas when I followed the goats; apparently they are still after the Golden Princess.”

“You sure you’re okay?” the pegasus asked, not sounding convinced.

“Yes, I’m sure, Rainbow”, Twilight said with a reassuring smile. As the frown wouldn’t leave Rainbow’s face, Twilight leaned in and gently kissed her on the lips. “I’m fine, promise. Now let’s get out of here and find Manehattan Silver.” Rainbow Dash nodded her agreement, now much more enthusiastic, and the two ponies carefully trotted back upstairs.

Apparently the pier guard had not slept through everything, as they almost ran into a few guards on the pier. Four goats had taken position on the pier, guns at the ready, as they could see in the light of the single lantern. Just in time, they dove back into the cabin as the goats fired of a couple of rounds.

“I have prepared for this”, Twilight just said and started concentrating on her magic. The grabbed the spear tip she had left stuck in the barrel and with one powerful push thrust it under the barrel’s hoop, causing the hoop to dislodge from the barrel and the barrel to burst open. Almost immediately they heard the surprised shouts of the goats outside. Twilight carefully peeked out of the door and saw the last of the goats falling into the river as the pier capsized.

“That was awesome!” Rainbow Dash commented.

“Let’s get back ashore”, Twilight replied, pulling the two reeds out of her belt and giving one to Rainbow Dash. As the pegasus looked at her in bewilderment, she explained, “We’re diving so they don’t know where we are. We’re going ashore right next to Silver’s house, and then Celestia help him! Let’s go!” With that, she took the reed in her mouth and just jumped over the railing on the starboard side of the ship, as far from the still swimming goats as possible, and Rainbow followed her.

In the water, Twilight quickly entwined her tail with Rainbow’s so they wouldn’t lose each other in the dark water. Then she started swimming towards the center of the river. They needed to swim around the remains of the pier and the angry goats, and she rather wanted some distance. Even though their guns were probably wet and useless, it was better to not take unnecessary risks.

It took them a while to swim around the pier chaos, and they didn’t dare emerge, keeping their tails tightly entwined. After a few minutes of swimming downstream Twilight estimated that they should be level with Manehattan Silver’s hut, and they carefully lifted their heads out of the water. Apparently they had even swum a bit too far and were now in a safe distance to the pier.

There was a huge commotion on the banks where goats tried to salvage the pier and generally figure out what was going on. Manehattan Silver’s hut was still lit.

They swam towards the shore, not bothering with diving down again as clearly nopony was looking in their direction. Soon the sneaked onto dry land and hid against the wall of the hut. They heard the agitated shouts of the goats at the pier, but around them everything was quiet.

“Through the window!” Twilight whispered. With a quick glow of her magic she opened the window in the rear wall. Not hesitating, Rainbow darted inside first, Twilight climbing in after her.

They found themselves in the large main room of the hut. Manehattan Silver and Hauptmann Hornmeyer were standing at the front windows with their backs turned to them, staring outside at the commotion that was going on outside.

“That’s it, you traitorous jerk!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

The stallion and the goat snapped around. “You!” Manehattan Silver gasped. Quickly, he grabbed his saddlebags which hung over a chair behind him. “Hauptmann, you deal with them, I’ll get the statue to the Empire!” and ran out of the front door.

“No! Come back!” Rainbow yelled after him.

The Hauptmann muttered a suppressed curse and drew a sabre, menacingly coming closer, threateningly swinging his blade. Twilight and Rainbow Dash backed off, but after only two steps they had the wall in their back. Hornmeyer came closer.

“You know he’s gonna screw you over”, Rainbow taunted.

“I vill deal viz him venn I have dealt viz you”, the Hauptmann growled, slowly getting closer.

Twilight let out an exasperated groan, quickly grabbed the remaining alpaca dart in her magic and shot it at Hornmeyer. It hit him in the neck. With a funny look on his face, he dropped his sabre and fell over. “We have no time for this”, Twilight grumbled grimly. “Let’s get Silver!”

They carefully approached the front door to make sure there were no guards coming for them, but all the goats where still gathered around the sunken pier. Suddenly, the loud roar of a starting engine cut through the night – somepony was starting up the plane!

“We can’t let him get away!” Twilight shouted. Rainbow just grunted in agreement, and before Twilight could come up with anything else, she picked up the lavender unicorn and darted out of the hut and towards the pier. Several surprised shouts welcomed them, and at least one goat brought his gun to aim and fire some rounds at them, but missed.

Despite Rainbow’s speed, they were too late. The plane was already picking up speed along the river. Rainbow, holding Twilight in her hooves, cried out a curse as the plane slowly rose out of the water. Except for the red and green position lights it was barely visible in the pale moonlight as it climbed above the canopy. Rainbow changed course and followed the plane. Some more bullets were fired after them, but they were quickly getting out of range.

Higher and higher rose the plane, and the pegasus kept as close as possible. Even though she was the fastest flier in all of Equestria, carrying another pony meant she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the untiring plane forever. She had to get to it sooner rather than later, or they would lose Manehattan Silver.

She increased her efforts and managed to slowly reduce the distance to the plane. As if she knew what she needed to do to make Rainbow’s life easier, Twilight wrapped her hooves around her neck and held on tight, releasing the strain on the pegasus’ hooves. Being able to move a little more freely, she managed to at least keep up her increased speed despite her strength quickly waning.

“I will not let him get away!” she growled. Twilight encouraging nuzzled her ear which seemed to free some additional reserves. With a last mighty push she managed to level with the plane’s tail. Exhausted, she grabbed the rudder and pulled herself on the cabin top, releasing Twilight who instinctively crouched as to not lose her balance.

Slowly and carefully, Rainbow still out of breath from the chase, they crawled along the cabin roof towards the wings where the doors were located, Twilight now taking the lead climbed down onto the wing, and when Rainbow joined her, she pulled the door’s handle. The wind almost tore it out of her hoof, and some smaller items were sucked out of the door by the howling wind.

Aware that their presence was no longer a surprise for Manehattan Silver, they quickly slid inside. The cabin was empty except for some big nets to fix big cargo items. The cockpit door was open, and they saw the faint glow of the plane’s instrument lights.

“You should have stayed in that darn temple and just died there!” they heard the stallion scream from up front, but he didn’t dare come at them and leave the plane’s controls.

“It’s over!” Rainbow yelled, but it was Twilight who took the lead and charged into the dimly lit cockpit. Manehattan Silver awaited her with his gun drawn, using only one hoof to control the plane. He fired once, but between steering and the motions of the plane, he missed her by far.

Twilight didn’t wait for him to try again and snatched the gun out of his hoof with her magic and threw it behind her. “It’s over”, she repeated calmly. “Just give up.”

“You two annoying meddling–!” He didn’t finish the sentence and suddenly jumped out of the pilot’s seat and launched himself at Twilight. She took a step back to evade him, but her injured leg picked that exact moment to give in, and so instead she stumbled against the cockpit wall. Manehattan Silver immediately noticed her weak spot and planted a well-aimed kick on her leaf bandage. Twilight screamed in agony.

“Leave her alone!” Rainbow yelled and darted at him, even though her wings were still killing her. She crashed into him, knocking him back into the plane’s dashboard. Manehattan Silver hit her head with a hoof punch, but she simply shook off the pain and returned the favor, leaving the stallion dazed.

Meanwhile, Twilight got back to her hooves and stared out of the front window. With nopony in control, the plane had started to descend and was quickly losing altitude, and all she could see was a black wall of nocturnal jungle coming right at her. “The plane!” she shrieked. “We’re going to crash!”

Rainbow Dash glanced out the front window too and immediately let go of Manehattan Silver to get behind the plane’s controls. Making use of Daring Do’s comprehensive adventuring knowledge, she tried to stabilize the plane. “Pull pull pull!” she growled through gritted teeth, but the plane was already too low. She just saw the faint glitter of moonlight reflecting from one of the bigger ponds before the plane impacted in the water with a mighty splash.

Comments

[mayrothwell]

Oh mah gowsh! epic chapter!

[Verum Nexum]

I love the Indiana Jones reference when the Hauptmann is swinging the sabre and Twilight's just like "I don't have time for this" and shoots him with a dart.

[Ryoko-hime]

Homg SO MUCH action! 8D

[TwiDasherboop]

Hauptmann: You are going to die!
Twilight: Bro. I think not.
Her face: https://www.google.com/search?q=twilight+unamused+face&rlz=1C1CHZN_enUS948US948&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiq85S6pavyAhWQlGoFHcqNAooQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1536&bih=722#imgrc=E5P5u0v9XLT8YM