6: Daring Do and the Dragon Stone
Chapter 6
Daring Do and the Dragon Stone
It was quiet. Too quiet. A bush rustled with a rush of air as Daring Do slipped from her hiding place. She was the wind itself, hurtling through the air like an equine comet, blades of grass bending in reverence as she passed by. The slightest miscalculation or hesitation would mean certain death for the adventurous mare but she was secure in her aerial prowess.
Darkness loomed over the little town. Everywhere she looked doors were locked and shutters were drawn. She lit in the shadows, peering out into the moonlight. Rocks and trees cast long shadows in the desolate town, painting hulking monsters with gnarled claws grasping out from the darkness. From her corner of her eye she caught a little twinkle of light. She turned and it winked out, but she had seen it: the subtle haze of a unicorn’s magic gripping the blinds, pulling them shut.
Daring pushed her hat up and crept up on the window. There was the tiniest crack of light exposed beneath the blinds. She peered through, bracing for what horrors might lie within.
“What do you see! What do you see?!” a voice called from behind her. She turned heard head to silence Meal Worm with a steely-eyed glare but the diamond dog started prancing anxiously in place.
“Shhh!!” Daring put her hoof to her mouth to silence her noisy companion.
“I wanna look!”
“Quiet!”
“Is she in there?!”
“I’m trying to find out!” Daring hissed. Her meddlesome companion quieted, the brave adventurer put her nose back to the window, peering into the bleakness that was the library. There were books aplenty, neatly shelved on every wall. Candles burned dim on every wall. “Sorcery!”
Meal Worm's babbling mouth sprang to action. “Oh! oh! Is it a sorcerer?! Or a warlock! I bet it’s a warlock!”
“I see something... I think it’s a...” Daring narrowed her eyes. Something was moving along the back wall, but it was so dark. It lumbered back and forth, then turned its fiery gaze toward the window. “Woah...”
Meal Worm hopped up and down. “Whaaaat? What is it?! Tell meee!”
“A dragon!” Daring announced. “This could be trouble. Twilight Sparkle could be facing certain death!”
“Woah! Spike’s a supervillain? He must be using his dragon magic to control Twilight! All this time! That’s why she carries him around so much!”
“Or maybe he’s just slow on those stubby little legs,” Daring said, looking back through the crack. The shadowy dragon was gone, perhaps retreated into its vile lair. “This one was a lot bigger. Twilight might really be in trouble!”
“Oh boy another story!” Meal Worm cheered. ‘Daring’ put her hoof to her forehead and shook her head. She floated off the ground and hovered a few inches above her faithful companion. Pinkie looked up at her expectantly. She was wearing two floppy gray ears made from socks, a red linen shirt that was several sizes too large, and her usual indomitable grin that hadn't gone away despite Dash's coaching. “Wait! Where are you going?”
“To save Twilight of course!” Dash said as she floated up to the balcony and peeked over the edge. No monsters. Her heart sank a little as she adjusted her authentic pith helmet. There would be no heroism on the balcony.
“Wait for me!” Pinkie shouted, tugging at Dash’s grey-toned tail.
“Ow! Hey! That’s real!” Dash protested. She yanked it out of Pinkie's grasp with both hooves.
“Oh, right!” Pinkie giggled bashfully into her hoof, trying to avoid looking directly into Dash’s angry gaze. “Sorry!”
Dash's attention turned back to the task before her. “I’ll be back. Just.. wait here Pinkie.”
“Meal Worm!” Pinkie corrected, grinning with her tongue out.
“Right,” Dash said flatly. She rolled her eyes and hopped up onto the balcony deck. A lockpick from her vest slid gently into the keyhole.
Ting!
It snapped in half before the pegasus had even begun to work at the tumblers. Dash frowned, then plucked a feather from her wing and set at it again. It crumpled against the unforgiving metal.
“Hmm... wait--” She pivoted around and lashed out with her hind hooves. The door burst open from the impact, shuddering after it slammed into the wall. It creaked plaintively as it started to swing shut, but the sound was lost to a triumphant surge in the music as the intrepid Daring Do strode across the hearth with determination burning in her eyes. Into the darkness she plunged; down, down down into the yawning lair of the beast. She swooped past mighty towers of books and doorways leading to dark dungeons, ancient temples, the guest bathroom, and Twilight’s linen closet.
Daring blasted through the dungeon door, tearing it from its hinges. She leapt atop it as it began to rattle and slide. Torches whizzed by overhead, faster and faster as she descended down the spiral steps into the darkness below. She crouched low, feeling the wind rush through her mane and tug at her wings. Over the din she could hear anguished cries echoing through the cavernous dungeon. All at once the stairs ran out! Daring flung herself from the door mere seconds before it slammed into the wall and shattered into kindling. She twisted skyward, hooves tucked against her belly as she bled speed in a tight loop and landed nimbly on all four hooves. Now she was alone in the lair of the beast, stalking it through a labyrinth of sinister devices. The adventurer’s mind was filled with horrifying visions of Twilight Sparkle beset with the perils of these fiendish instruments of dark science. At last it stood before her, the great purple dragon. In the shadows Daring could see its bright glowing eyes. It was hunched over a table, tinkering with an ancient artifact with a toothsome grin on its face.
“Hey!” Daring called. “What have you done with Twilight Sparkle?!”
The dragon lifted its head and looked wide-eyed at the intruder. Its ears folded back. “Wha? Daring Do?!”
“That’s right!” Daring shouted, putting her hoof forward. She lifted her head high and proud. “Now give up Twilight Sparkle and maybe, just maybe I'll let you live!” She rose into the air, jaw set, fire in her eyes.
“Wait!” the dragon called, raising its paw in defense.
There was little room in Daring's heart for mercy, least of all for monsters. The dragon roared its pain as the pegasus crashed into its belly full force. The beast staggered back, groaning in anguish from the hero’s stunning blow. Daring lit nimbly on her hooves, then raised her claw to stri- “Wait,” Dash uttered, staring at her altered limb.
Dash held the altered limb before her eyes, skin crawling as slender new digits curled and uncurled. “But I don’t have claws...” She lifted her other forelimb and found that this was definitely no longer the case. She felt the floor falling away as her head grew toward the ceiling. Her mind spun wildly, trying to make sense of things. The new digits, her burgeoning snout, the feeling of her wings tripling in size, blue and bold as the night sky. She stumbled on draconic hindlegs and flopped back to all fours.
“You! What did you- hey!” Her pith helmet tumbled across her eyes, upset from its perch by two slender horns. Dash brushed it off with her new claws. “What did you do to me, dragon?!”
“I tried to warn you!” Twilight groaned, clutching her aching stomach. “Ugh you got me good.”
“Yeah I did,” the new dragon boasted with a toothsome grin of her own. “Now, change me back. I’ll let you go if you hand over Twilight Sparkle.”
“I’m Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight shouted in indignation. She lashed her tail sharply against the ground.
“Gryphonfeathers! Twilight’s a uni-” Dash’s eyes fixed on the purple dragon’s horn. “Oops?” she said, grinning sheepishly.
“Oops? What’s got into you?! You broke down my door, punched me in the stomach, and trashed half my lab!” Twilight struggled to her feet, dusting herself off. A soft nimbus of purple magic rose around her horn and started to collect the books and tools from the desk that broke her fall.
“I was in-character,” Dash said, retrieving her hat before Twilight’s magic could make off with it.
“Quite a character,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “I have almost found a cure!”
Dash tilted her head. “A cure for what?”
“This!” Twilight said, gesturing to Dash and back to herself.
“Oh, that. How?” Dash asked.
Twilight lifted the artifact off the table with both hands, holding it up for Ponyville's newest dragon to see. It was a clay bowl with seven little chambers. Flames burned within them, each a different color. Twilight smiled a little as she watched the little lights dancing in Rainbow Dash’s eyes. This was an artifact just like the ones from her Daring Do books. “Your adventure weekend got a little more real didn’t it?” the unicorn dragon asked.
Dash nodded numbly, mystified. “How can I help?!” she asked, eager to remain a part of the excitement.
“I need to get this to Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight said. She grinned with pride as she studied her handiwork. “I’m worried the flames will go out if I try to warp with it. They’re not regular fires. It’s dragon magic.”
Dash leaned in for a closer look. “Just like Spike’s letter-sending trick.”
“Exactly,” Twilight said with a nod of affirmation. “You can fly it right over, no worry of them blowing out as long as take it slow. Just.. don’t drop them, okay? I don’t even want to think about what that might do.”
“You can count on me!” Dash said, saluting.
“I knew I could.” Twilight smiled as she placed the little bowl of fire into Dash’s eager claws.
Dash's eyes lit up and she ran a claw through her mane groaning. “Oh wait! Meal Worm is still outside!”
“Meal Worm...?” asked Twilight, frowning a little at Dash.
“Pinkie Pie,” the blue dragon corrected. “She’s Meal Worm from Daring Do and the Raven’s Clock.”
“Oh that Meal Worm,” Twilight said, nodding her understanding.
Outside they found Pinkie Pie. On the roof. “Oh hey! Dragons!” she shouted when she saw them.
“Pinkie!” Twilight called. “It’s us.”
Pinkie waved. “Hi there! Just a sec!” She turned to the broken door. “Dash!” she called. “Dashie! There’s real live dragons out here! And one looks just like you!"
“She always breaks character,” Dash lamented quietly. She waved to the mare on the roof. “Hey! It’s us! Come down”
“Just a sec!” Pinkie called down. “Don’t go anywhere! You have to stay you just have to!”
“Right...” Dash grumbled.
Pinkie disappeared into the library’s upper floor. From outside the two dragons could hear “DASH! DAAAASH!” bouncing off all the walls of the empty building, eventually echoing out through the broken door.
Twilight scratched her head. “How did she even get up there?”
Dash shrugged her wings. “I ‘unno,” she mumbled, straightening her pith helmet. Just then Pinkie emerged from the front door.
“She was here a minute ago...” the pink mare said, kicking at the dirt.
“I’m here right now,” Dash said and shook her head in dismay.
“Pinkie, it’s us,” said Twilight, circling around so that her friend could see her better in the evening light. “There’s a spell turning everyone into dragons. Over half of Ponyville is affected already!”
Pinkie looked up, eyes widening in wonder.
“All it takes is a single touch,” Twilight explained. “So be caref-”
Pinkie rushed by her and tackled Dash, giving her a big hug as scales sprouted all over her. The bowl slipped from Dash’s hand and was caught, inches from the ground, by Twilight’s magic. Dash scrambled to get her pith helmet out of her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief when she found the fiery relic floating over Twilight's shoulder, well out of harm's way.
“Pinkie!” the former unicorn barked. “Why did you do that? You almost smashed the relic!”
“Ooooh, neat!” the new dragon cheered, bounding over to get a better look at the colorful dragon artifact.
“I’m taking it to Sweet Apple Acres!” Dash said, retrieving it from where it hovered.
Twilight sighed as she looked the new Pinkie Pie up and down. “Well now you’re infected too,” she said.
“I am,” Pinkie said, smiling. “I couldn’t let you all be alone! What if you couldn’t find a cure? It would be awful to be separated like that! So we all stick together!”
Twilight huffed. “That was reckless!”
Pinkie looked her right in the eye. “Friends. Stick. Together.”
“Well,” Twilight said, trying to relax a little. She brushed her mane out of her face. “I guess I can’t argue with that... logic.”
“And this is so cool!” Pinkie said, giggling as she bounced about. “I’ve never been a dragon before!”
“I know right! So awesome!” Dash said, mirroring her friend’s enthusiasm. Twilight smiled a little, but the day was beginning to take its toll on her.
“Just remember,” she said. “It’s very important that you get that to Sweet Apple Acres. Okay Dash?”
“Right!” Dash said. She took to the sky on leathery wings. “C’mon Meal Worm!”
Twilight grabbed hold of the pink dragon’s tail before she could get too far down the road. Pinkie made one last bound forward, snapped straight, and flopped to her belly. “Oh no, you’re staying right here,” Twilight said.
Pinkie’s eyes watered . “I want to go on the adventure!”
“We’re going. I promise. We just don’t want to spread this around. I’m going to get Spike and then we’ll go. Got it?”
Pinkie nodded. “Got it!”
For a moment the librarian just sat there amongst the heaps of books on the library floor. The place looked ransacked. Nearly everything had found its way to the floor in Daring Dash’s heroic rescue attempt. “Spiiike!” Twilight called. She shook her head in dismay and mumbled her thoughts aloud. “He’s going to have a lot of work to do when this is over.”
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Poor Spike.
Fuck spike he sucks dick........ I LOVE IT
well I'm sure leaving the fragile relic in the claws of Dash and Pinkie will go perfectly well... umm
go to 14 seconds.
Very well done. I like the way you blended the imaginary and real POVs for Daring/Dash. She's obviously a very committed cosplayer.
Oh, poor Rainbow Dash! Another soul lost to the depths of debauchery and eggheadery that is cosplay! Oh, and Pinkie, too.
2092976
Thanks!
I really got a kick out of it. I honestly half expected my proofreaders to tell me I'd lost my mind, but I had already done so many more normal interactions that I wanted to spice things up with Dash so that it wasn't just another accidental transmission.
DARING DO!!!!!! and in real life too. On a completely unrelated note here's the Nostalgia Critic's reaction to this fanfic.
And my reaction in gif form.
iambrony.jsmart.web.id/mlp/gif/gVTJs.gif
2093627 And here's the M. Bison version of your reaction to this fic.