Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare Read online

  “Of course,” said Rainbow anxiously. “And it’s nice to meet ya, Will. But please sit down now so we can get on with it!” It felt like everypony moved slow on purpose to frustrate her. Where was the hustle?!

  But still, Rainbow was happy to see that all her friends had shown up for the meeting. The discussion was bound to get really heated and not just because they were going to talk about the Volcano of Destiny. She was going to impress everypony with her new theory. Rainbow was pretty sure that the Volcano of Destiny would become the Hollow Hideout of the prophesied Stalwart Stallion of Neighples in the next book. Surely, nopony else had made the connection between the newly recovered ancient map of the underground fortress of Mount Vehoovius in chapter four and its similarity to the one mentioned in Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet. It had to be the same one! She just knew it.

  “All right, everypony. Find a seat and we’ll get started!” Twilight announced. There was a twinkle in her eye. Clearly, anticipating a whole evening of talking about books with her friends had brought her to almost the same level of enthusiasm as Rainbow Dash.

  Twilight had certainly worked hard to make the event very official. The room was arranged so that the ponies could sit in a semicircle. It was a little bit like a classroom but more casual. The book-lined walls of the hollowed-out tree set the mood nicely. A big chalkboard listed the order of business for the meeting.

  “Welcome!” Twilight chirped. “I’m so glad you’re all here to share in the joy of reading with me! In my opinion, there are not enough events in Equestria purely for celebrating books, especially the Daring Do series!”

  For once, Rainbow Dash wholeheartedly agreed. She didn’t even care if it made her an egghead.

  CHAPTER 4

  The Double Dare

  Pinkie Pie squirmed in her seat next to Rainbow Dash like she was sitting in a pile of ants, except she had a huge grin on her face.

  “Oh my goodness, Rainbow! You must be so thrilled! I mean, Daring Do is, like, your favoritest pony character ever, and we’re about to spend hours talking about her! What are you thinking right now? What are you feeeeeeling?” Pinkie leaned in until she was about an inch from Rainbow’s face.

  “I’m thinking I want to talk about Daring Do and I’m feeling annoyed that we aren’t yet,” Rainbow deadpanned.

  “Great, great. Okay, that’s great.” Pinkie nodded as she scribbled something on a notepad. “And how does that make you feel?” She propped her chin on her hoof.

  “Pinkie Pie!” scolded Twilight. “We’re starting! Shhhh.”

  “Consider my lips zippified!” Pinkie procured a zipper out of thin air and taped it to her mouth.

  “So…” Twilight motioned to her blackboard, which was filled with tons of writing and diagrams. “I’ve done some extensive research into how to run a book club meeting,” she explained excitedly. “Number one on the agenda should be introductions of each member of the group.”

  “I think we all know each other already!” Rainbow shot back. “Moving on!”

  “Nuh-uh!” said Pinkie Pie, the zipper falling off her mouth. She pointed to Bon Bon. “Have you all met Confused yet?!” Bon Bon shook her head in defeat.

  Twilight ignored the exchange. “Okaaay, so if we skip that part… next should be a quick recap of each chapter in the book to refresh everypony’s memory. Then, we’ll move on to general interpretations of the text and its meaning, and last we’ll go through the list of discussion questions. We’ll have one ten-minute snack break in the middle, so please wait to visit Applejack’s treat table until then.”

  Rainbow Dash looked around the room. A quick survey of the skeptical faces confirmed that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t think Twilight’s schedule sounded all that fun. Rarity was busy inspecting her new hooficure, Bon Bon was staring out the window, and Lyra Heartstrings was slouching down in her chair with her hind hooves dangling in front of her. She looked indifferent.

  Rainbow jumped in before things got worse. “I think I speak for everypony here when I say we can cut straight to discussing the ridiculously sweet action sequences.” Plot Twist nodded her wavy orange mane in agreement.

  Applejack interjected, trying to be a bit more gentle, “I think what she means is maybe we should giddyup on gettin’ this thing goin’.”

  Twilight had the best of intentions, but sometimes she was an overplanner. And right now she looked pretty disappointed that her Library Society agenda hadn’t gone over so well.

  Fluttershy felt bad. She raised a hoof and said, “Twilight, if it’s okay with you, William Wormsworth and I would love to stay after and discuss all your talking points. He usually has a lot to say, the little chatterbox!” William sat on his chair, smiling but not saying a peep. He hadn’t said a single word yet. He tipped his pith helmet to Twilight like a gentleman.

  “It’s all right.” Twilight sighed. “Rainbow Dash, maybe you should take over.” Twilight found an empty seat. She was a good friend for trying, but Rainbow was more than happy to take the reins of this meeting. Now they might actually get somewhere.

  “First things first: I can’t believe that move Daring Do did where she hitched a ride on the back of that dragon and let go right when she was over the middle of Ahuizotl’s encampment! I can’t wait to try that out sometime! Of course, I’ll need help finding a dragon.…”

  “At your service!” said Spike proudly. It was silly because he was still just a baby—and far too small to pull off a stunt like that. It was better to change the subject before he got his feelings hurt.

  “Riiight.” Rainbow clapped her hooves together. “Anywaaaay, how about I tell you all my amazing and totally brilliant theory on the ancient map of Mount Vehoovius?!” This was her moment to wow them. “So, you know how in book two—on page one hundred sixty-three, to be precise—Daring Do is looking for the griffon’s goblet when she happens upon a tablet that refers to an ancient map? I think that—”

  Wild Fire raised her hoof, interrupting Rainbow’s flow. “Um, excuse me?”

  “Yeah?” Rainbow replied, trying to hide her annoyance. She didn’t like being interrupted. Especially when she was about to say something so epic that it was going to blow everypony’s minds.

  “I like Daring Do as much as the next pony, but do you really think that all those daring things she does are realistic?” Wild Fire flipped through her copy of the book, frowning. “No way could a pony ever really do them in real life!”

  “She has a point,” said Lyra. She nodded and bobbed her mint green mane.

  “Some of it is pretty far-fetched,” added a blue Unicorn seated in the back. A couple of other ponies murmured in agreement.

  “Like the part where her wing injury is acting up, so she has to step out onto an invisible rope bridge to cross the canyon?” said Bon Bon, flipping to the page of the scene in her book. “No way would anypony risk that.”

  They were clearly missing the point of a fun adventure story. Twilight chimed in with a serious counterpoint. “I don’t think the purpose of the books is to—”

  “Are you guys kidding me?!” Rainbow shrieked, interrupting Twilight. Her eyes grew as wide as a couple of Granny Smith’s prized giant zap apples. “Of course, all the stuff she does could be real! Daring Do is the bravest pony ever. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were real!” Rainbow puffed up with pride.

  Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie each shot Rainbow a warning look. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to say too much.

  “I guess I’d just have to see it to believe it, is all,” Wild Fire said, giving a little shrug.

  “Well… maybe you can,” Rainbow Dash said, walking up to Wild Fire. The expression on Rainbow’s face was a familiar one—determination. She’d looked the same when she saved Rarity by performing a Double Rainboom in the Cloudsdale Best Young Flyer competition. Just like nothing would have gotten in the way of saving her friend from falling then, nothing was going to stop her from proving her point now.
<
br />   “Oh yeah?” replied Wild Fire, standing up to challenge her. “And just how are you going to do that?”

  Applejack stood up and positioned herself between the two ponies. “All right now, everypony, why don’t y’all just slow yer trot for a second? This is just a book club.”

  Rainbow Dash and Wild Fire stared at each other. Even though things were getting heated, it was a friendly challenge.

  “Oooooh, I sense a dare coming on! This meeting is already way more exciting than I expected it to be!” Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down. “And I was already excited.” She pointed to her name tag. “See?”

  Rainbow turned to the rest of the ponies in the room. She climbed on top of a chair for dramatic effect. “I… I dare anypony here to dare me to do anything Daring Do could do!” She put her hooves on her hips in triumph.

  “And I… dare you to do so!” replied Wild Fire. She narrowed her eyes. “No—I double dare you!”

  Everypony gasped. To Rainbow Dash, a dare was unbreakable. But a double dare? That was a whole new crate of apples.

  “Called it,” said Pinkie.

  CHAPTER 5

  The Daring Dash–Board

  The next day, there was a big stir in the Ponyville town square. Everypony was gathered around the center, trying to catch a peek at something. Pinkie Pie had taken the lead in helping Rainbow Dash carry out her dares.

  Pinkie Pie stood proudly next to a giant rainbow-colored scoreboard, making grand motions with her hooves and urging ponies to come up and write their challenges on it. The frame was surrounded in decorative glittery clouds made of cotton balls and said DARING DASH–BOARD in bubble letters at the top. The proud expressions on the faces of the Cutie Mark Crusaders—Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle—were dead giveaways as to who had helped make it. Those three little fillies loved arts-and-crafts projects. Their teacher, Cheerilee, who had many hoof-made cards from them at home, could vouch for that.

  Rainbow Dash trotted up and waited for the ponies to start showering her with words of praise and adoration. But they were all so busy admiring the Dash-Board that they hadn’t even noticed the guest of honor had arrived! Rainbow cleared her throat loudly to get their attention. “Umm, guys? Bravest pony in Ponyville present. You can all chill out now, because I’m here.” She turned her nose up to the sky and closed her eyes.

  “Oh wow, it’s Rainbow Dash!” shouted a small green Unicorn filly, jumping up and down in glee. “Is she really going to do whatever anypony dares her to do?”

  “She’s here! She’s here!” shouted Scootaloo. She was Rainbow Dash’s number one fan; a rainbow-colored hat was pulled down over her short pink mane. “Come on, Rainbow!”

  “Or you can all go wild,” said Rainbow nonchalantly. “That’s cool with me, too.”

  Everypony watched as Rainbow Dash parted the crowd with her confident trot and took her place next to Pinkie Pie. Rainbow now saw that the board had a bunch of lines where ponies could write their names and dares, and a spot for a check mark if Rainbow completed the dare successfully. Even though she hadn’t read any of the dares yet, Rainbow had no doubt that every row would have a check mark next to it soon. She was fearless, after all. Just like her hero, Daring Do!

  “Thanks for coming!” Rainbow shouted to the crowd. “I’m pretty pumped to see you all see me do some awesome stuff!” She took notice of Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack entering the town square. They all had funny looks on their faces. What was the big deal? She was just trying to prove how brave she was.

  “Pssst, Pinkie, will you do the honors of reading the first dare?” whispered Rainbow Dash. “It looks cooler if I have an assistant.”

  “Sure thing, Rainbow!” Pinkie chirped, and then faced the crowd. “Fillies and gentlecolts! The amazing Daaaaaring Dash will now take on all these extremely difficult challenges to prove that her hero Daring Do could also do these dares that she will do!” Pinkie made a grand sweeping motion toward the Dash-Board. “Then she will defend her title as Ponyville’s very own most brave, most fearless, most DARING pony!”

  The townsponies cheered. Rainbow smirked.

  “Daring Dash’s first dare is…”—Pinkie paused for effect—“to cross the Ghastly Gorge…”

  Rainbow rolled her eyes. That was hardly a challenge. If she was going to make her point, these ponies needed to get a little more creative than that.

  “… on a tightrope…”—Pinkie continued, making a dramatic face—“without using WINGS! Over the lair of the quarray eels!”

  “All right!” Rainbow shouted, flying up into the air. “Now that’s more like it! Everypony follow me to the gorge!” Rainbow shot off into the blue sky, leading the way. The crowd dutifully followed, trotting below. Would Rainbow chicken out and use her wings? Or would she make a misstep and risk falling into the jaws of a giant, scary quarray eel?!

  Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy followed but stuck to the back of the herd.

  “Is this all really necessary?” Twilight asked her friends, walking at an easy pace. “We all already know how brave Rainbow Dash is, but sometimes she takes it a little too far.” Twilight thought of the time Rainbow had become boastful after saving some townsponies and becoming a local hero. Her friends had devised a plan to remind her to keep her hooves on the ground and be modest. Clearly, that lesson was beginning to wear off.

  “Don’t you fret, sugarcube!” assured Applejack. She trotted alongside Twilight. “I reckon she’ll do a coupla dares and it’ll all be over in two shakes of a filly’s tail. Now come on!”

  Rarity trotted up to join them. “Well, if anypony understands the allure of attention, it’s me. But somepony ought to tell her that if she’s going to be famous, she should look the part. A costume would really add a certain something.”

  “Rarity, I don’t think that would do much to discourage the whole thing,” scolded Twilight.

  “I was just saying,” Rarity huffed. “Besides, it doesn’t look like she’s giving up her new persona anytime soon.”

  Up front, Rainbow was doubling back through the crowd, hoof-bumping anypony she passed. She did a corkscrew flip and flew to the front of the group. “Ghastly Gorge, watch out!”

  “It looks like she’s having fun,” said Fluttershy, walking alongside her friends. “I just hope she’s careful.”

  “Me too, Fluttershy,” said the concerned Twilight. She watched as Rainbow dived straight toward the ground. At the very last second she did a one-eighty and flew up into the sky, full speed ahead. “Me too.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Heating Up

  It had been a busy day for Rainbow Dash and the ponies who had been following her daring escapades. They’d been all over Ponyville and back again, watching as Dash took on a multitude of crazy challenges. Some were totally thrilling—like when Snips and Snails had dared her to swim to the bottom of the disgusting swamp, Froggy Bottom Bogg. Rainbow had gotten completely covered in green slime and gook, but everypony had been impressed.

  Others were not quite as exciting—like Pinkie’s dare for Rainbow to babysit her favorite yellow balloon for an hour. (“So many things could happen if he’s left alone! It’s very risky,” she’d insisted.) But still, Rainbow Dash had completed each and every task, no matter the level of difficulty.

  Rainbow took off into the air and felt the cool rush of the wind in her mane. “What else ya got for me?!” she shouted to the ponies below.

  There was only about an hour left of daylight before Princess Luna would be lowering the moon over Equestria. But that was more than enough time to get a few more dares in. Rainbow Dash’s friends had been following her all day, but as the hours wore on, they were getting more and more worried. She’d proved her point; why didn’t Rainbow just put an end to the madness already?

  “What was it you said again?” Twilight turned to Applejack. “Just a few dares and she’ll be done? Look at her—she’s been doing daring things like Daring Do all day!”

  Applejac
k shrugged. “Maybe we can try a different approach to get her to give it up.” She trotted up to Pinkie and whispered something in her ear. Pinkie nodded and scribbled a new dare on the board.

  Rainbow Dash landed and trotted to the middle of the dwindling crowd, nose turned up to the sky. “Pinkie Pie, let’s go over all the amazing feats I have completed so far.”

  “Oooh, fun idea!” Pinkie said, turning to the Daring Dash–Board. She pointed to each item with a long, glittery wand. “First, you tightrope-walked across quarray eel dwellings at Ghastly Gorge with no wings.” The crowd murmured their approval.

  “Piece of apple cake!” said Rainbow, hoof-bumping a nearby stallion.

  “Then, you went inside the scary, old abandoned barn filled with bats.…” Pinkie touched her pointer to the dare.

  “I wasn’t scared for a single second!” Rainbow assured her fans. “If anything, those bats were afraid of me.”

  “Awww,” said Fluttershy, thinking of the poor little bats. “I hope they’re okay.”

  “Then…” Pinkie took a long, deep breath and then said very fast, “… you swam in the bogg, babysat my balloon, spun around in a circle two hundred times until you were totally dizzy, gave Rarity’s kitty-cat, Opal, a bath, knocked on Cranky Doodle Donkey’s door during his bridge game, performed a Sonic Rainboom through the tree obstacle course at Sweet Apple Acres, and now you’re about to eat the hottest chili peppers in all of Equestria!”

  “Woo-hoo!” Rainbow smiled, satisfied with her success. Then the last part registered. “Wait—did you say something about chili peppers?” Rainbow disliked hot peppers more than any other food in existence. And there was only one pony she’d told that secret to: Applejack!

  “Yeah, she sure did,” said the yellow country pony, stepping forward. “Peppers from South Amareica. I just got some down at the Fillydelphia market last week when I was making my pie deliveries. The pony who sold ’em to me carried them across the San Palomino Desert. He said a couple of those guys around the orchard would keep out pesky pests,” Applejack explained. She leaned in close to Rainbow Dash and looked her straight in the eyes. “He also said that one lil’ bite of one of ’em would make fire shoot straight out yer ears.”