WHY DO I HAVE HOOVES?!

by Cydon

Chapter 9 Reading Rainbow

Chapter 9 Reading Rainbow

The sun was shining and the birds were chirping on another bright sunny day in Equestria. "Hey Kevin, you up?"

'Unfortunately.' I mutter as Rainbow gets up and stretches.

"Heh, well I have a weather schedule to keep. It's rain all day today." We head downstairs. A quick glance out the window revealed a bright and shiny day free of clouds.

'looks like sun to me.'

"That's because I haven't started." Rainbow makes breakfast for Tank and quickly devours her own daisy sandwich. "Tank! Come and get it!" Tank buzzes into the room and sets down on the table. "I'll be back later Tank, it's going to be rain today so stay inside okay?" Tank nods his head slowly and goes back to his food. "Atta boy." Rainbow heads out the door and lifts off into the sky.

'So how is making rain different from clearing the clouds?' I ask as Rainbow heads towards an angry looking and very very massive thunderhead.

"Well first off I have to get the clouds. Then the weather team would move them into position over Ponyville, after that a good kick will set them off."

'Sounds simple.'

"It would be if the entire team didn't call in sick today."

'They all skipped out on us?'

"Yeah, now it's going to be a few hours before we finish." Rainbow flew up to a group of fluffy white clouds resembling a small office and flew inside.

"Morning Dash here for the rain? Hey where's your team?" A brown pegasus stallion said from behind his cloud desk.

"Hey Cloud, they called in sick, so which ones are Ponyville's?" Cloud waves a hoof over to the window pointing out a group of nearby dark clouds. "Thanks Cloud see ya!"

"Later Dash!" Rainbow flies out and heads over and grabs a cloud pushing it back to town and dropping it off before going back for another. 'Oh man this is going to take ages.'

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Several very boring hours later

"And were done."

'What! Really?' We looked out over Rainbows hoofwork, a blanket of grey clouds covered all of Ponyville and some of the surrounding area.

"And now for the kick off." Rainbow raises our fore hooves high and slams them down hard creating a rippling shock wave that quickly spread across the clouds, a few seconds later the sound of rain beginning to fall reaches our ears.

'Looks like another job well done for the Dash.'

"I know I'm awesome."

'I Think we should check up on Twilight I want to apologize again for blowing up on her.'

"Okay lets go." Rainbow bust a hole in the clouds and dove through them closing it back up behind us. The rain was coming down in buckets as we made our way to the library, Rainbow rapped on the door quickly and waited. We didn't have to wait long before the door opened revealing a small purple lizard with a bored look on his face.

"What is that?"

"What is what?" Said the purple lizard in a male voice looking around with a confused look on his face. "And who said that?"

"Hi I'm Kevin I'm currently living in Rainbow's head until Twilight can fix it, now what are you? Some kind of magic lizard?"

"Uh..." Rainbow waved a hoof in front of his face and he shook himself to snap out of his confusion. "I'm Spike. I'm a dragon, you know eats gems breathes fire that kind of stuff."

"Oh that makes sense, of course there are dragons here. We already have unicorns and pegasi. You know what? Why not griffins too!"

"O..kay?"

"Don't mind him he's not from around here. Can we come in? It's kinda raining." Rainbow says waving a hoof about.

"Oh yeah sure come on in." Spike the dragon stepped aside and let us in closing the door behind us. A lavender unicorn was muttering to herself as she poured over several book at once making notes as she went. Rainbow starts to approach when a Spike grabs our tail. We stop and give him a look. "Let me get you a towel your dripping on the floor." Rainbow looks down and sure enough we have a small puddle forming beneath our hooves. Spike rushes up the stairs and returns a moment later handing over a towel as he gets close.

"Thanks." Rainbows uses the towel to dry off as Spike goes back to whatever he was doing before we got here.

"No problem." Rainbow tosses the towel into a nearby basket before flying over to Twilight.

"Heya Twilight whatcha workin on?"

"Ah! Rainbow you startled me." Twilight shouts as she jumps before turning to look at us.

"Sorry. What are you doing?" Twilight goes back to her books.

"I'm just working on the return spell, for some reason I can't find... AH! Here it is." Twilight levitates a piece of chalk over to the blackboard and starts scribbling something I can't even begin to understand.

"Hey Twilight?"

"Hmm?" Twilight doesn't stop her furious scribbling.

"About yesterday again I'm sorry I know you're just trying to help." Twilight stops her furious scribbling and looks up at us a look of sympathy on her face.

"It's okay I understand that this situation is not something that anypony should deal with."

"So we good?"

"Yes Kevin we... good." Twilight starts to go back to her work.

"Cool. Hey Twilight, did that new Daring Do book come in yet?" Twilight stops her furious scribbling to think.

"Hmm, uh yeah, I think so. Spike!" Spike pokes his head out from the top of the stairs.

"What is it Twilight?"

"Can you check the new books stack for Daring Do and the Dragon's Amulet?"

"Sure thing Twilight." Spike heads down the stairs and goes over to a large pile of books in the corner of the room. He sifts through them for a minute before coming up with the aforementioned book. "Here you go." He says handing Twilight the book.

"Thanks Spike. Here you go Rainbow, we haven't registered it yet so you can't take it home but you can read it here."

"This is soo Awesome! I get to be the first pony in Ponyville to read it!" Rainbow squealed a little earning a look from Spike. "Eheh heh I mean cool." With a bounce in her step Rainbow took the book over to a cushion and sat down to read.

"Who's Daring Do?"

"Daring Do is just the awesomest pony ever! Besides me of course. She goes on epic adventures to find lost treasure in ancient tombs and stuff all while beating the bad guys like Ahuizotl."

"Reminds me of a human adventurer named Indiana Jones. This should be interesting." Rainbow opened the book to the first page and began to read.

"Daring Do and the Dragon's Amulet Chapter one." Rainbow begins a large grin plastered on our face.

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Daring was on a mission, high atop a mountain in the distant Himaneighas she made her way through the freezing snow and blistering winds in search of the ancient Dragon Temple. 'Okay the map says that if I stay on this path it will take me to the ice caverns.' Daring looks up in an attempt to follow the trail, but finds her luck running thin as a storm crests the peak and starts heading down the mountain. 'I can't go back so I have to reach the caves.' Daring rubs the fog off of her goggles before continuing up the mountain and into the storm.

Daring pressed on through the cold and snow looking for any signs of the path that was long ago buried by the blizzard. A light in the distance attracts her attention as the storm continues to increase in intensity. 'Have.. to get to... shelter.' She thought as she trudged through the rising snow towards what she hoped was rescue.

Mountain Top warmed his hooves by the crackling fire trying to rub off the cold that chilled him to the bone as the blizzard raged outside. With a contented sigh he sat down on his favorite chair and opened a book to read. 'How to bake the perfect pie in ten easy steps.' He was about to learn how to do step one when a knock came from the door. 'Who could that be? No one comes to visit me up here and theirs a blizzard right now!' Mountain Top stared uneasily at the door hoping he was merely hearing things when another sharp knock came. With a frightened step he approached the door listening closely for any noise that could be heard over the howling winds when he stood before the door he steeled himself and swung it open.

The cold mountain winds swept into the small home chilling the occupant and threatening to douse the fire. Before Mountain lay an unconscious and shivering pony covered in several layers clothing that seemed to do little to protect from the cold. Mountain picked up the pony closing the door behind him and was surprised by how light it was 'Must be a pegasus.' he thought as he took the pony over to his chair by the fire and removed the wet clothing. Mountain was startled by what he saw. 'A mare?' Her shivering began to quickly grow worse. Mountain quickly gathered the blankets from his bed and wrapped the still freezing mare tightly into them before adding more wood to the fire.

Daring woke to the smell of soup wafting through the air. She took note of the crackling fire and the warm blankets she was wrapped in before spotting the steaming soup on a nearby table. She struggled a little to free a hoof from the warm cocoon before reaching out to pick up the soup. She stared at it giving it another big whiff before letting out a sigh. She slowly drank it down savoring the warmth that spread through her body. A smile began to creep up her face as she sat before the fire remembering times she had as a foal, a deep voice interrupted her daydreaming.

"Morning stranger." Daring turned to look at the source of the voice, a massive coal grey earth pony stallion with a light brown mane stood in the doorway watching her. "What brings you to my mountain?" He stood staring at her intently waiting her answer.

"My name is Daring Do and I've come in search of the Dragon Temple." The stallion thought about it for a moment before responding.

"No good comes to those who search for that ruin." Something flashed in his eyes, Sadness? Remorse? Fear? Daring took a moment to respond after she saw this.

"I've heard some of the stories." Daring said waving a hoof in the air.

"And yet here you are. You must be a fool or just plain crazy." The stallion replied a hint of anger in his voice.

"I've answered your question now tell me, who are you?"

"I'm Mountain Top and this is my mountain. My family has lived here for generations."

"Why? Surely the valley below would be better?"

"This mountain is my home, I cannot leave it." The two were silent for a time. Daring broke the silence.

"Thank you, for helping me. I would have died out there." Mountain seemed a little taken aback by this.

"Any good pony would do the same." He replied a little warily.

"Maybe but you have my thanks." Mountain grunted and turned to leave.

"Get some rest, if the weather is good you can leave tomorrow." Mountain Top left as Daring turned to stare into the roaring fire, she shivered again and felt fatigued. 'Maybe I can convince him to be my guide, if he's lived here all his life surely he can help me find the Temple. Ehh tomorrow I'm tired.' Daring drifted off to sleep to the sound of the crackling fire.

Mountain Top stood in the doorway watching the tan pegasus mare sleep. 'She is determined, I can see it in her eyes. Can she break my family's curse?' Mountain sighed and turned to the door gathering his snowshoes and coat he went outside. 'The herbs in the soup will keep her asleep until nightfall but I plan to be back before then.' The stallion trudged along a path visible only to him a path he traveled nearly every day. A few hours later he had climbed a nearby ridge overlooking his home. Five tombstones sat near the edge seemingly out of place on the frozen mountain.

"Hey, I'm back, I found a mare on our doorstep last night. She was nearly frozen solid but I warmed her up and she's fine now. She calls herself Daring Do, she says she's looking for the Dragon Temple." The stallion shifted in his shoes before continuing. "I think she might be the one to break the curse, I don't know what it is but their's just something about her. I have to go, I need to be back before nightfall." A warm breeze blew up over the ridge caressing the stallion causing him to smile as he began his journey back down the mountain to his home.

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A purple claw snapped in our face garnering our attention. "Rainbow. Hey Rainbow you in there? The libraries closing."

"Oh sorry Spike I was just really into this book." Rainbow got up and stretched.

"I can tell I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes."

"Heh it was good? Well anyway We'll see ya later Spike!" Rainbow flapped our wings and took to the air flying out the door and into the sky.

'Just as it was starting to get good too.'

"Yeah I can't wait to check it out so I can finish it!" Rainbow barrel rolled the rest of the way back to the cloud house giggling madly.

'Urk! If I wasn't part pegasi right now I think I'd be sick. Ugh.'

"Oops sorry." Rainbow said as she landed. "But it was fun right?"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH!"

"Oh man that's fun."

"Hey don't abuse that he might catch on."

"Your right. Hmm, no more than twice a day should be okay." Rainbow shook our head and went inside. Where a green blur made contact with our face.

"Hey Tank did ya miss me?" He responded with a wet lick to the face making Rainbow giggle. "Come on Tank let's get you dinner." Rainbow placed the Tortoise on our head and trot into the kitchen, she quickly made some sandwiches and shared them with Tank. "Goodnight Tank." The tortoise yawned and buzzed out of the room. Rainbow climbed the stairs heading into her room and lay down on the bed. "Goodnight Kevin."

"Night Rainbow." When she fell asleep I stood us up and headed for the door. 'Now it's my turn to drive. After all, how hard can it be?'

Author's Note:

I had this idea to try showing a little of Rainbow's egghead side and this is what I came up with.