Conventional Approach

by Knox Locke

Chapter 4: Savior

Zephyr frantically ran deeper into the crowd, desperately searching for any hint of Rainbow or the thugs that had taken her. He spotted them a few yards ahead of him. Rainbow was struggling against the ropes binding her feet as the thugs carried her on their shoulders. Occasionally, Rainbow would look around, apparently searching for something.

He felt his blood boil as he watched. After a few moments, he began effortlessly dodging and weaving through the immense crowd that stood between him and rescuing his beloved. She turned to face him when she noticed his masterful movements. He was making great progress until Rainbow seemed to spot what she'd been looking for off to her left.

---

[Daring's Perspective]

Zeph was practically drowning in the sea of ponies as if it weren't a metaphor. His frantic attempts to close the gap between himself and the thugs that were carrying her through the crowd had caught her attention a few moments prior, but now it was quickly becoming painful to watch. She facehoofed with both front hooves (since they were currently tied together) as yet another convention goer easily shoved Zeph to the side.

'So much for my "savior",' she thought.

Then, she saw exactly what she'd been looking for. Off to her left, she spotted a pony who already knew her secret.

"Quibble!" she yelled, catching the stallion's attention.

He turned to face her, saw what was happening, and facehoofed.

---

[Quibble's Perspective]

"I did not sign up for this," Quibble said to nopony in particular as he gave Daring a small nod to acknowledge the situation.

Looking around, he quickly purchased a grappling hook prop and grabbed a large section of decorative netting.

He started running to a part of the convention hall he knew the thugs would have to pass through, but was stopped by a hoof on his shoulder.

"How can I help?" said the pegasus who'd grabbed his shoulder.

"What? What are you talking about?" said a very surprised Quibble.

"I tried to reach her, but I couldn't. I saw her signal to you, now how. can. I. help?"

Well, a pegasus would make the plan he had in mind simpler and easier to set up. As Daring Do herself had once told him, not every Daring Do plan has to be an overly elaborate ploy. This guy also seemed harmless enough. He looked more like a hippy than anything else.

"Follow me." Quibble finally responded in an exasperated tone, heading for the clearest pathway through the convention. "I'll explain on the way."

---

[Zephyr's Perspective]

"That sounds crazy!" Zephyr said as Quibble finished explaining the plan. "And why are we going this way? Aren't we actually getting further away from Rainbows?"

"Rainbows?" Quibble said in a questioning tone.

"Never mind that," interrupted Zephyr quickly. "Why are we getting further away from her?"

'Yeesh!' he thought. 'I know Rainbows isn't what most ponies call her, but it's not that weird of a nickname.'

"Well," started Quibble, "we're going further away so we can find a clearer path through the crowds. That way, we can get in front of them with enough time to set it up."

"I see..." Zephyr responded, only half-lying. He knew getting in front of them was important, and this Quibble guy sounded like he had a good head on his shoulders, so he went along with his plan.

Having taken a very crowded route through the convention hall, the thugs were soon passed by Zephyr and Quibble. After reaching what Quibble deemed a good spot between two stalls, Zephyr tied one end of the grappling hook's rope to the far stall. Quibble looped the other end around a loose nail in the other stall. The rope was not tight between the stalls, so the crowd casually walked over it without issue.

Zephyr went back to Quibble to get the net. Then, he casually flew up towards the ceiling with it.

---

[Daring's Perspective]

It felt like it was taking forever to go through this crowd. She trusted Quibble to come up with a plan, so she'd stopped struggling against her ropes, but now she was actually starting to get bored. She looked up ahead and saw Quibble peeking around the corner of a stall.

'Good,' she thought. 'Almost there.'

After the thugs reached the stall, Quibble ducked behind, but her perch above the thugs' shoulders allowed Daring to see him pulling one end of a rope until it was stretched taught across the convention hall. He hurriedly tied it off and ducked down further. Daring just smiled.

The thugs went down to the floor quickly after tripping on the trip wire, and Quibble hurried to get Daring out of their reach. As the thugs stood back up, Daring got a little nervous.

"Ummm... Quibble?" she asked her friend. "How about you untie me before they take both of us captive."

Quibble just held up a hoof as the thugs drew closer.

"3. 2."

"What are you counting towards?" Daring asked, frantically trying to get her hooves free from their ropes.

"1." Quibble finished his countdown.

Down from the ceiling flew Zeph of all ponies, directly towards the thugs!

"What the?" said Daring in shock. "Zeph?"

Zephyr let go of the net he'd been holding, which quickly landed on the thugs, and tried to fly back up. However, he failed to pull up in time and was sent careening into the thugs.

In the commotion that ensued, the net ended up tied around Zeph, and the thugs started running towards Quibble and Daring once again.

"Oh, no," Quibble said dejectedly.

This seemed pretty bleak, but Daring finally managed to loosen the ropes around her hooves enough to wriggle out of them. She gestured towards Quibble to get a safe distance away, which he quickly did. After the earth pony was safely hidden in the crowd, she turned towards the thugs and promptly beat the everliving daylights out of them.

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

Okay so it looks like Zephyr Breeze try to save "Rainbow" from those thugs but he's having some problems so daring try to figure out what to do next but until he saw another friend Quibble and he knows what's going on so he helped out and he even asked Zephyr to help with this plan and knowing to the fact it almost work to trip over those thugs and try to trap them but unfortunately Zephyr kind of messed up but at least daring do is free and now she can take care of these Goons