The Do Dilemma

by Metool Bard

Disappearing Act

Chapter 7:
Disappearing Act

"Well, at least they're safe," said Twilight as she read of Scootaloo and Tailspin's antics alongside Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash with a snort. "But I'd still like to give that Tailspin jerk a piece of my mind."

"Hey, you and me both," said Daring Do, who was still browsing through books. "But trust me, she's not that bad. She just needs to get her act together."

"If you say so," said Rainbow. A wan smile then appeared on her face. "I'm sure once Scoot gets her own act together, she'll be fine. She may be a kid, but she's a kid with a lot of guts."

"But you're still worried about her, right?" asked Daring.

Rainbow blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "Y-yeah. I, guess I am. She's like a little sister to me. I've even taken her under my wing."

"Hmm. You don't say," said Daring. Although her attention was still fixated on the bookshelves, her voice reflected genuine interest and curiosity.

"Yep. She's always looked up to me as a role model," Rainbow gushed. "Honestly, I don't blame her. I am pretty awesome, after all."

"I'll take your word for it," said Daring with a chuckle. "So, what's her special talent? The book hasn't mentioned it."

"Oh, she hasn't found it yet," said Rainbow. "But it's not for a lack of trying. Seriously, she never gives up. Although sometimes she tends to get in over her head."

"Heh, sounds like somepony else I know," said Daring, an amused look on her face. "Except replace 'sometimes' with 'all the time.'"

She then noticed something on a particular shelf, and the smile slowly faded into a curious frown. Cautiously, she took a book off of the shelf and opened it. Her eyes went wide.

"Okay, that's not ominous or anything," said she.

"Huh? What is it, Daring?" asked Rainbow.

"See for yourself," said Daring, tossing the book over to the cyan pegasus. Rainbow caught it in her hooves and looked at it. It was Twilight's copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, except that the cover page was incredibly faded.

"Huh. That's weird," said Rainbow, sounding a tad befuddled. "Hey, Twilight. Did Spike forget to dust that shelf or something?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Twilight inquired.

Rainbow flew over to Twilight's side and showed her the book. Twilight raised an eyebrow and opened it with her magic. What she saw caused both her and Rainbow Dash to gasp in horror. A good portion of the pages were blank, and when they had gotten to a page with words, they were vanishing one by one. It was as if they were grains of sand being blown away by the wind.

"My thoughts exactly," said Daring. "Call it explorer's intuition, but I think it might be connected to the booby trap in Argoats that caused this mess in the first place."

"What makes you say...? Yeow!"

Rainbow Dash looked over at Daring, and her jaw dropped. For a brief second, the great adventurer became transparent right before her very eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Daring, tilting her head.

"Are you?" Rainbow Dash responded. "You just turned all see-through for a second there!"

Curious, Daring gave her body a once-over. "Nope, still seems rather solid to me. But come to think of it, everything did look kinda blurry. It was just for a brief moment, though."

Twilight gulped. "I-I don't want to jump to any conclusions here, but..."

"But what?" asked Rainbow.

Twilight used her breathing technique to calm herself before responding. "It might be that Daring Do's adventures are being erased."

"E-erased?" said Rainbow nervously. "Wh-what do you mean erased?"

"Like erased from existence. It may get to the point where Daring Do will cease to exist altogether, even in a fictional sense," said Twilight, equally nervous. "Of course, I'm not really sure. I-it's just a theory."

Rainbow glanced over at Daring Do, worried about how she was taking the news. However, she was perplexed to find that the literary heroine was merely stroking her chin in thought.

"Hmm. Yeah, I'm coming to the same conclusion, Twilight," Daring mused. "And with Scootaloo taking part in my latest adventure, she's gonna be in trouble, too. More than she already is in, anyway."

Rainbow gave Daring an odd look as she made her way over to her. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?" she asked, her voice reflecting concern.

"I gotta say, I'm not too happy about this whole 'being erased from all existence' thing," said Daring. "However, it won't do us any good if we panic. Keep in mind, I've been on a lot of adventures. Presuming that all of them have been published, we have plenty of time to figure things out and fix whatever needs fixing."

As if by magic, Rainbow Dash's fear and concern gave way to confidence and determination. "Hey, you're right! As long as we work together, we've got nothing to worry about."

"Exactly," said Daring with a nod. "Good to see we're on the same page, Rainbow Dash. Er, no pun intended."

"Wow," said an awestruck Twilight. "I knew you were confident under pressure, Daring, but this is amazing!"

Daring blushed. "Hey, I wouldn't be much of an adventurer if I let my nerves get the better of me," she said sheepishly. She then cleared her throat. "Alright, that's enough of that. We might have time to burn, but we're still on a schedule here. Anypony have any ideas?"

"Maybe we can find something in the Canterlot Archives," suggested Rainbow.

"No, that's too far away," said Twilight, shaking her head. "And I don't think I have anything in my library that can fix this, either."

Daring paused as she pondered for a moment. "Hmm. Sorry if this seems like a weird question, but would either of you happen to know a zebra shaman by any chance? In my experience, they seem to know what's what."

Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other and shared a smile.

"As a matter of fact, we do," said Twilight with a nod. "She lives in the Everfree Forest, not too far from here."

"Heh. Talk about a lucky break," said Daring, adjusting her hat. "Alright, that should be our first stop. Not sure where we'll go from there, but I've got a feeling that it'll be quite the adventure."

"Sounds like we've got ourselves a plan," said Rainbow, radiating a take-charge attitude. "I'll lead the way to Zecora's place. Think you can keep up with me, Daring?"

"Are Ahuizotl's deathtraps needlessly complicated?" Daring answered rhetorically, spreading her own wings.

"Wait," said Twilight. "Let me come with you. I think if I get some more information about this, I can find a better solution."

"Hey, no prob, Twilight. Of course you can come," said Rainbow. "I'll even get my copy of Daring Do and the Treasure of Das Reingold so you can check it for enchantments. Just, don't expect me to slow down for you."

"I've got no objections, either," added Daring. "I know I feel safer with a unicorn around."

"Alright, it's settled then," said Rainbow Dash, a twinkle in her magenta eyes. "Now, let's move!"

With that, she zipped out of Twilight's home in a burst of radiant color. Daring snickered.

"It's like looking at a younger me," she said to herself, taking off after the cyan speedster. After the pegasi left, Twilight got herself together and packed her saddlebags. As she did so, the last words of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone disappeared without a trace, and the book became nothing more than a blank cover housing empty pages...

Comments

[Rainbow87dash]

Did I ever say how awesome this story is yet?

[englishwitch]

There's calm under pressure then there's Daring Do.
I'm calm in an emergency but learning I'm being erased would be too much.

Awesome character. Awesome story.

fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/273/8/0/rainbow_dash_approved_by_ambris-d4bdn33.png

[Ellington]

I've always thought Daring and Rainbow being close to the same age.

[That_G3_Obsessive]

I wonder if Dash will become more like Daring when she gets older and past the whole "I'm awesome nothing can stop me" phase.
On second thought, that seems ridiculous. This is RAINBOW DASH we are talking about!

[BenRG]

Ten bits says that Zecora has met Daring before, as impossible as that sounds.

"Daring Do! Once again we do meet,
"The wingbeats of fate are indeed fleet!
"Of course, you seem to be in your prime,
"So, mayhaps, for you this is the first time?"

[theNDinspector]

Definitely getting a Back to the Future vibe with the material from the book disappearing along with Daring Do herself. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if that story device was in other places too.