The Do Dilemma

by Metool Bard

Switcharoo with Scootaloo

Chapter 3:
Switcharoo with Scootaloo

Rainbow Dash awoke to the sound of a sizzling skillet and a savory aroma wafting from her kitchen. Dazed and confused, she slowly sat up and placed a hoof to her head.

"Mmph. What just happened?" she pondered aloud. "Last thing I remember, I was reading with Scootaloo, and the next thing I know..."

"Ah, you're awake. Good, good."

A voice made itself known from the kitchen, and Rainbow perked up to see who it was. As the owner of the voice trotted into her bedroom, her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.

"You're not going to faint on me again, are you?" the oddly familiar mare asked as she carried a tray over to the perplexed Rainbow Dash. "Here, I took the liberty of fixing you a little something to munch on. Hope you don't mind."

Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a rumbling in her tummy.

"Well, I am getting kinda hungry," she admitted. "Thanks. Um, what'd you say your name was again?"

"Daring Do," said the pegasus, setting the tray on Rainbow's bed. "I'm a professor at the Royal University in Canterlot. At least, that's the boring part of my job."

Rainbow Dash's face lit up. "You mean, you're Daring Do? As in the Daring Do?"

"Last I checked," said Daring. "Why? You've heard of me before?"

"Have I?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "You only have the most awesome book series ever!"

"Book series?" inquired Daring, blushing a little. "I think you might be exaggerating a bit, pal. My stuff hasn't been officially published. You can only get it at the university bookstore, and it isn't really required reading for the course."

"No no no, you don't understand!" said Rainbow Dash. She zoomed over to her personal stack of books and zoomed back, holding a copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone in her hooves. Daring looked over the book with interest.

"Huh. I remember that," she said. "Can't say I remember the bit with the crocodiles, though. Ahuizotl was the only one who gave me any trouble, and that's only because he got the drop on me."

Rainbow's eyes sparkled. "Omigosh, it really is you! I-I can't believe it! Daring Do, right here in my house! Aaaaaaaah~!"

Daring didn't know whether to feel flattered or frightened by Rainbow's overreaction. "Heh, alright. Settle down," she said with a nervous chuckle. "I, actually have some questions for you. See, I don't know where I am right now."

"O-oh, right." said Rainbow sheepishly, her face turning bright red. "S-sorry. This is just so awesomely amazing!"

"Those aren't exactly the words I'd use," said Daring with a snort. "I'm actually more irritated than awestruck."

"Hmm, I guess you would be, huh?" said Rainbow, casting her eyes downward.

Daring gave Rainbow a warm smile. "Hey, it's cool. I'm not mad at you. If anything, I'm more mad at myself for not noticing that stupid booby trap."

"Ah, don't beat yourself up over it," said Rainbow. "I didn't see that coming, either."

Daring gave Rainbow a quizzical look. "What do you mean you didn't see that coming?"

Rainbow awkwardly glanced around the room. "Well, you see, this is kinda hard to explain..."

"Try me," said Daring with a smirk as she folded her forelegs.

"You promise you won't freak out?"

"Do I look like I'm the kind of pony that's easily freaked out?"

"Good point," said Rainbow, taking a deep breath. "Well, I was just reading your latest adventure, see, and I got to the point where you found the map to the treasure of Das Reingold."

"Yeah, go on," said Daring, seemingly unperturbed.

"And well, while I was reading, there was this bright flash. And after that, you appeared."

Daring stroked her chin in thought. "Hmm. Interesting," she mused. "And, where am I, exactly?"

"Oh, right. I didn't get around to answering that, did I?" said Rainbow, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, you're in Ponyville right now."

"Ponyville, huh?" said Daring. "Hmm. I wonder why the booby trap sent me here of all places."

"Hey, beats me," said Rainbow with a shrug. "I don't even know how we're having this conversation right now."

"Um, what do you mean by that?"

Rainbow nervously twiddled her hooves. "W-well, I don't know how to put this. I didn't know you were, well, real."

Daring raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be real? Haven't you ever read Haycartes?"

Rainbow gave Daring a blank stare.

"Cogito ergo sum?"

Rainbow blinked in confusion.

"Ugh, 'I think, therefore I am?'"

"Oooooooh," said Rainbow, finally understanding. "Yeah, sorry about that. The only stuff I really read is, well, your adventures."

"I see," said Daring, clearing her throat. "Well, that aside, it looks like we both have a bit of a conundrum on our hooves. We'd better find somepony who has a better idea of what's going on. Don't you agree, Ms...."

She then blushed. "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, yeah," said Rainbow. "I'm Rainbow Dash."

Daring's eyes went wide. "Wait a second. I know that name! The runes mentioned you before the booby trap was set off!"

"Yeah, honestly, I don't know what that's all about, either," said Rainbow. "I think it's my friend Twilight trying out this new spell or something. Scootaloo and I were just going over to..."

She trailed off as a realization hit her. "Hey, where is Scootaloo?"

"I'm sorry, who?" asked Daring.

"My pal Scootaloo. I was reading your latest adventure with her just a minute ago," Rainbow explained.

"Well, I didn't really see anypony else here. Just you," said Daring with a shrug.

Rainbow gasped. "Wh-what?! What do you mean you didn't see anypony else?!"

"Hey, calm down," said Daring sternly, gripping Rainbow's shoulders with her hooves. "We're not going to get anywhere by panicking. Now, think. When do you last remember seeing her?"

"Right before that big flash," said Rainbow. "She was right next to me. Then I heard her saying something about feeling strange, and... Oh no."

"Oh no what?" asked Daring.

Instead of answering, Rainbow picked up her copy of Daring Do and the Treasure of Das Reingold and flipped open to the page where she left off. Her eyes widened.

"Um, Daring? I think you should see this..." said she.

***

When Tailspin recovered from the flash, she found herself pressed against the far wall. Quickly, she shook herself and surveyed her surroundings.

"That was pretty intense," she said. "Wonder what that did? I sure hope..."

She then caught sight of a piece of tattered parchment on the floor. Her eyes sparkled as she galloped over.

"Wow. That's a relief," she said with a sigh as she scooped up the map in her hooves. "Hey, Dare! The map's okay! Ha, some booby trap that was, huh?"

But Daring Do didn't answer her. She took a look around, and found that her professor was actually nowhere to be seen.

"Now that's odd," she pondered aloud as she tucked the map away for safekeeping. "Dare?! Professor Daring?!"

She trotted around the room for a while before tripping over something. She used her wings to catch herself before she hit the ground, and turned to see what she had tripped over. To her confusion, it was a little orange pegasus filly with a purple mane, lying unconscious on the ground. Tailspin flew over to the mysterious pegasus, tilting her head.

"Hmm. I don't remember seeing you here," she said. She then began prodding the child with her hoof. "Hey, wake up."

The filly squirmed as she slowly came to her senses.

"Huh, what?" she said in a scratchy voice. "Wh-what happened?"

As her vision returned, she found herself face-to-face with Tailspin. She shrieked, springing up and backing away from the older mare.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tailspin asked, her voice reflecting concern. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Wh-what's going on?!" the filly asked, her breathing becoming erratic. "Wh-where the hay am I?!"

"Well, you're in a temple in Argoats," said Tailspin. "Although I'm not sure why. Maybe Daring will have some answers, assuming I can find her."

"Daring?"

"Yeah, Daring Do. She's my professor," said Tailspin. "Oh, sorry. I don't think we've met. My name's Tailspin. What's yours?"

The orange filly gulped. "I-it's Scootaloo," she murmured, her violet eyes still reflecting a great deal of panic. "Wh-what's going on? Where's Rainbow Dash?"

"Rainbow Dash? You mean that name the runes formed?" asked Tailspin.

"Yes. I mean, no! I mean, I don't know," said Scootaloo as she began to cry. "I don't even know what I'm doing here. I'm just so confused right now. I want Rainbow Dash. I wanna go home."

Tailspin sighed. "Look, mate. I don't know any more than you do, so there's no use crying over it. Besides, I'm pretty scared myself. I still have no idea what happened to Daring. But we can't afford to lose our heads now."

Scootaloo opened her mouth to respond when a sinister noise was heard from outside. She yelped. "Wh-what was that?" she asked.

"Not sure," said Tailspin, equally spooked. "C'mon, mate. We should probably get out of here. We'll have more time to talk later."

"O-okay," said Scootaloo, drying her eyes and picking herself up. "So, how do we get out of here?"

Tailspin's expression drooped, and a tinge of panic could be heard in her voice. "Actually, I have no idea."

***

"Oh no oh no oh no!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, going into full panic mode. "This is bad! This is very, very bad!"

"You're telling me," said Daring. "I had no idea Tailspin was so bad with kids. She should really learn to be a bit more sensitive."

"I'm not talking about that!" Rainbow shouted. "I mean that somehow Scootaloo is in this book while you're out here!"

"Oh, right. Sure. That too, I suppose," said Daring, still maintaining a calm demeanor. "So, what're we going to do about it?"

"We have to go see Twilight, now!" said Rainbow. "Only she can fix this!"

Before Daring could inquire further, Rainbow darted off out of her window.

"Rainbow Dash, wait! I don't know where your friend lives!" Daring called out. Unfortunately, her exclamation fell on deaf ears. "Ugh, why is it that I always have to figure things out the hard way?"

She then spread her wings and flew after the cyan speedster the best she could.

Comments

[Rainbow87dash]

this is exactly hoe I imagined this chapter, good job

[Tachyon Xenophile]

Will we get to see Ahuizotl?

[Metool Bard]

2177993 I haven't quite decided that yet. I have some plans involving antagonists, and I'd have to see if he falls into those plans neatly. He might appear in one form or another; I'm just not sure what form it would be. I'd expound upon that further, but that'd be giving the game away.

[kingtiger666]

Daring seems to be taking the whole 'being fictional' thing rather well. Reminds me of Last Action Hero.

Sylvester Stallone as The Terminator. I'd watch the fuck outta that.

[Metool Bard]

2178604 There's actually a reason for that, believe it or not. What is that reason? Well, you'll see.

[englishwitch]

Daring seems rather calm about the whole thing. Maybe the shock hasn't set in yet.

[Metool Bard]

2179654 Like I said, there's a reason for that. Don't worry, you'll get to see what that reason is soon enough.

[Cold Spike]

Still cute, MOAR!

[Ellington]

Um...How is Tailspin being insensitive? She seems to be handling it fine to me.

[Metool Bard]

2668365 It becomes more apparent later on. Beyond that, I guess it's just a matter of perspective.