Edited Details

by ILurvTrixie

Chapter 5 - Action Heroes

Fluttershy hmphed at Angel, who had crossed his arms in a pout, forced to sit in the corner. "I still can't believe you'd do that to Discord!"

Daring smiled lopsidedly. "To be fair, Discord did say something that ended with his foot in his mouth. But hitting him with the artifact was a bit overkill."

Angel chittered at Fluttershy, who still did her level best to stay mad at him. "I know you said the room you were in was empty. But that place isn't safe! There are angry griffons there and who knows what else." Fluttershy perked as the air started to shimmer, breathing a sigh of relief. "Alright, well, this should be-"

Her eyes widened in horror as the flash of light disgorged a jungle warrior griffon rather than the familiar draconequus. The griffon stood slightly taller than a regular pony, and was muscled in the way survivors had to be. Where Daring had a hint of starvation to her, the griffon almost radiated a vicious sort of hunger, desire for some goal. It's brown and gold fur and feathers were interspersed with living green vines and plants, a sign that the creature was not unused to spending time in the jungles outside the ruins it guarded so jealously.

The griffon shrieked challenge, and lunged for Fluttershy, only to find itself flying out the window through Daring's bodyslam. The two fighters tumbled head over hoof in the cascade of glass before separating, standing, panting for breath. Out here in the sunlight, it was obvious something was, to steal the word from Discord, off about the griffon. Its colors were washed out, and it looked incomplete, for lack of better word. Its shadow wavered, and while color was flooding into it, it was still incomplete saturation, a sketchbook doodle being filled over time.

The griffon considered its foe, then the artifact in its claw. It turned tail, dashing off.

Daring took off after it with a snarl. "Get back here you!"

The griffon took to the air, aiming itself into the vaguely home-like tendrils of the Everfree. Daring narrowed her eyes and put a hoof to her helmet, holding it in place. Without her adventurer's jacket she felt decidedly exposed; especially against the claws and beak she was chasing after; but she wasn't going to let it get away.

"Hey! Need a hoof?" Rainbow Dash pulled level with Daring, who smiled wickedly.

"Hue! Great timing, we need to stop that griffon, and whatever you do, don't touch that thing it's holding. Think you can get ahead of it?"

Dash blinked at the name, but saluted. "I'll take the top road, you keep it in the woods." With a flash of her rainbow contrail, she shot into the air above. Daring pulled her helmet down with a serious smile, her own black contrail blurring into being as she kicked up speed after the griffon.

Dash shook her head as she started to pull level over the Everfree. The brown and green of the griffon, combined with its expert jukes and lunges around and through the flora were throwing off her plan of attack. It didn't help that she was pondering what Daring called her.

Hue? Wasn't that the- whassit called- pseudonym Daring wrote for me in Daring Do and The Rings of Scorcherro?

Her head snapped up as she felt the wind shift ahead of her. The griffon was headed for a small clearing in the treetops, and it didn't seem aware that it had two pursuers.

Perfect

Dash narrowed her eyes, and shot up, angling down into a hard turn. It wasn't fast enough for a rainboom, but it was going to be fast enough!

The griffon snapped out of deep cover, shooting across the clearing with a cry of joy. The artifact was almost charged, and they would return it to its resting spot. It was rather startled when a pair of forehooves drove into its back and plowed it into the verdant turf. Dash leaped from the griffon's back as Daring pulled to a stop beside her. Dash and Daring nodded to one another as the griffon scrambled to its claws, turning at bay, only to find the pair pulling back into mirrored haymaker punches. As the blows landed, the artifact flashed, that single moment of contact pulling all three of them along with it.

~*~

Daring had watched Discord's progress with some surprise. The draconequus wasn't getting 'far', but since all previous typing had depended on the appearance of the artifact the fact that he was getting anywhere was a bit shocking.

Discord rounded the corner, panting at the continued effort resistance was requiring. There wasn't much else for it, he needed to stop and rest. But the world seemed to loosen its tension a moment later. A smile played across the Lord of Chaos' face. "Ah, and here it comes again."

The brown glow that had accompanied Discord's progress gave way to the familiar whitish-yellow glow that normally served as a precursor to the machine's rapid disgorging of writing. It wasn't any different this time, although even the first line raised an eyebrow.

Back where the draconequus had begun his exodus, the light flare and shimmer of air once again released somewhat familiar figures; Daring Do and Rainbow Dash landing a combined two-hooved haymaker on the griffon unfortunate enough to be holding the artifact. The second guard gaped in surprise as his comrade slid to the floor limp, before grabbing the yet inert artifact and taking off.

"Hey!" Daring took off after the guard without hesitation. Rainbow Dash followed a moment later.

Rainbow Dash was a cyan blue coated pegasus pony with rainbow colored mane and tail, a lightning cloud with a multicolored lightning bolt for a cutie mark, a cocky attitude, and almost enough skills to back it up. Her magenta eyes tracked Daring's quarry as they both galloped down the hallway, not trusting the narrow expanse to aid them in flight.

The griffon looked back over his shoulder at the pair, grinning to itself. It had the advantage of distance, and its claws were more suited to the rubble and refuse than the hooves of the ponies. It kicked off the floor into the left wall, seeking to leap off into the adjoining hallway to widen the gap.

Only to run headfirst into the stone block Discord had hefted up. The draconequus winced at the impact, looking over the stone at the now floored griffon with eyes rolling around derpily. "Well, that was effective." He used the edge of the stone to dislodge the artifact from the griffon's grip with a satisfied smug smile.

"Discord!" Daring grinned. "How'd you get down here?"

"Discord!" Dash's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What's your game?!"

Discord shook his head. "Sadly, this isn't my game, Dash. Although I do appreciate the bit of misdirected anger." He sniffed, wiping at his eyes. "It feels just like home."

Now having a moment to recover that train of thought, Daring looked at Dash. Dash felt a bit of nerves seeing her hero examining her so closely, but stood still. "You look almost exactly like Hue. Different cutie mark, but... Only slightly." The adventurer scratched her chin. "Well, guess I'd better get used to calling you Rainbow Dash."

"Just Dash is fine Daring, I mean, we've met before." Rainbow smiled warmly. After all, here was her hero again. Daring just shook her head, causing Dash's joy to collapse on itself.

"I'm not sure what's going on right now, but I think... I think you're 'Hue' but from someplace else."

Discord nodded slightly. "Something strange is going on here, and I think we'd benefit from getting someone in here with a little more preparation." Dash rolled her eyes.

"Like you can't just do what you want?"

"Actually Dash, I can't." Discord frowned at the pegasus, who started to grin.

"Reeeeally? So I could get revenge on you for those 'pranks' of yours and you couldn't run away?"

"But I could get revenge as soon as we leave." Discord's eyes narrowed. Dash took a step closer, lowering her head into an offensive stance.

"Who says we're taking you along?"

Discord took his own step forward, a snarl twisting his face. "You arrogant foal. You'd really betray Fluttershy's trust for your own satisfaction?"

Dash's eyes widened, then narrowed. "I'd be protecting her from your influence you overgrown-"

"Gentlebeings." Daring stepped between them with a frown, seperating the two members of the personality clash, both of whom decided to avoid further eye contact. She looked from pegasus to draconequus. "There's probably more to this than I'm aware of right now, but I think we would be best suited arguing about this somewhere safe. And thankfully we have a convenient option in that regard." She nodded to the now glowing artifact on the floor. Dash and Discord looked up, then narrowed eyes at each other. Daring flared her wings, bending them into place as she moved to the artifact, blocking off access from either side. "We seem to be able to transport as a group when we're in contact with each other, as we were when we 'contacted' that guard. So I would suggest you both place a hoof on me so we can get going before the guards get back up."

Dash scoffed. "Come on, we hit that one griff hard enough to floor him, and this other guy just ran into a rock. They're not getting up anytime soon." As if specifically to prove Dash wrong, the nearby guard shifted, groggily starting to raise its head. Dash's eyes widened as she put a hoof on Daring's back. "Shutting up now."

Discord rolled his eyes. "We could only be so lucky." Dash shot him a venomous glance as he placed a hand on Daring's side. Feeling both their contacts, Daring touched the glowing artifact, and the trio vanished in a flare of light and a shimmer of air.

Daring's eyes went wide.

Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy was one of her friends! How could I forget?!

To be fair, Fluttershy was... very easy to overlook. Sweet, but.. quiet.

Daring paced in frustration, staring at the typewriter. She had to get to Ponyville, and see if these situations were related somehow. It would have to be a train in the morning, and it would still take several hours. And then of course came the question of transit for the typewriter. She couldn't just leave the thing sitting here if the solution to the problem did turn out to be in Ponyville.

The author-adventurer sighed, staring out the window. Sometimes she did think life would be easier if she had become an accountant.

Her face broke into a happy grin.

Nowhere near as interesting, though!