I’ll play your game. . .

Daring Do’s thoughts echoed Dash’s just as a chorus of roars erupted from the leaves, nearly deafening her. Two lanky jungle cats leapt from the jungle wall and crossed the gap between them and the heroes before Daring could even gasp. She grunted and tried to roll over, tried to jump out of the way, but Cairo’s magic held her in place.

The cats snarled and leapt, hanging in midair for an eternity before shooting downward at Daring and Rose, paws outstretched and claws gleaming in the high sun.

Cairo’s magic blinked out, and Daring fell flat on her face. She scrambled forward, sliding under the diving cat just as it slashed at where her body had been. A quick kick with her hindlegs had her on her hooves, just in time for the first cat to skid to a stop and spin to face her. The two stared each other down.

Motion out of the corner of her eye. Daring crouched and rolled to the side, letting one of the jungle cats swipe harmlessly at the ground. She rolled to a stop on her back, in time to see one of the cats lunging at her from below. Got you! Those claw-studded paws and that fang-filled mouth made it to within a breath of her face before her hooves caught the cat in the chest and sent it flying onward, tail over head. It wailed in surprise, trying to turn itself upright before slamming into the ground somewhere out of sight.

Daring gave a pump of her wings and flipped upright. Across the field Rose dodged and wove. She was all fluid motion, tearing up grass and dirt, surrounded by a halo of golden mane and tail. She clamped a forehoof to her hat and ducked, letting a clawed paw swing over her, then crouched and jumped up, bashing her forehead under the chin of the cat.

A cat growled right behind Daring. Distracted, she turned too late, and the cat slammed into her from the side.

“Ah!” Daring felt it deep in her side. She landed hard and tumbled, the wind knocked from her lungs and stars glittering in her vision. She struggled onto her back and tried to blink the blur from her eyes. The jungle came into focus, as did a jungle cat.

Time slowed to a crawl, and her thoughts turned to sludge. A massive paw rose up, blocked the sun, and flew down at her, claws slicing through the air. Daring tried to dodge it but it was too late, she was gonna get torn in two—

The slice went wide and the cat shot sideways, collapsing into a heap. Rose’s hooves hung in front of Daring’s face, just centimetres away from her nose, still and unwavering. She scrambled back and felt the world right itself, her balance back, Rose’s voice trying to get her attention clear in her ears, and her thoughts racing ahead. Her notebook. Cairo! She had to catch him before he could escape.

The sky above was clear. Daring took off like a rocket and cleared the treeline, anxiously scanning the ground for a flash of color, anything other than the endless green. Nothing nearby. A low rumbling filled the air. The wind picked up, and dark clouds started forming high above. Cairo was not going to escape this time—

From far below she heard Rose calling up at her.

---

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack hollered. She ran as fast as she could, drawing on her rodeo barrel-racing skills to keep on her hooves, but every time she had to swerve around a fallen log, duck low to avoid a branch, or jump over a ditch, the cats gained precious ground. They were used to this terrain, and she had no idea where to go.

“Git yer ass down here!”

She looked up but only managed a short glance before she had to skid to avoid a tree trunk. Behind her the snarls grew louder and louder. She ran left, then veered right to hopefully stay on course. The soft mossy undergrowth, only a nuisance before, was now a real slipping hazard, and she had to fight to keep her balance while running as hard as her legs would carry her.

The jungle floor was full of obstacles. Mossy hummocks, nicking her hoof as she leapt over. Branches, each lower than the last as she slid under it. More trees—“Ah, horseapples!” She had to skid to a stop to keep from painting herself across a wall of trees, and looked around frantically. Which way? Which way?!

Behind Applejack the howls of enraged animals ruffled leaves and shook the canopy. She turned to face her assailants, not about to go out with her rump to the enemy. Muscles tense, blood pumping, lungs bellowing.

“Go right!”

Without bothering to check who was yelling Applejack lunged to the right, just as a storm of gleaming claws swiped through the air behind her. She rounded the nearest trunk and found herself on an animal path, and poured on the speed. Above was a rainbow-colored blur, low and just ahead and surprisingly comforting.

“Okay, Rose, listen up!” Rainbow yelled.

Rose?!

“Up ahead is a teensey tiny ravine. No problem, but you’re gonna have to jump.”

A ravine?! The trees cleared suddenly and bright sunlight stunned her for a second. When she opened her eyes again the ground in front of her fell away, and she skidded to a stop. A spray of dirt fell off the edge and floated downwards. Right behind her, brush was crunching and branches were snapping.

The other edge looked like it was receding, it was so far away. When she looked down she saw the faintest snaking white line—a river with rough waters.

“Rainbow Dash! Ah can’t jump that!”

Dash swooped around and hovered just above her. “Sure you can. Just don’t think about it!”

“Dash!” she cried, starting to panic. The cats were getting closer, and as little as she’d wanted to fight them before, she liked the idea of facing them with her backside to the ravine even less. She looked up and down the treeline. There! A dozen meters away was a dead tree right at the edge. It looked tall enough. She ran over and lined herself up.

“C’mon, Rose! How about I carry you across?”

AJ had a sudden, vivid vision of herself slipping from Dash’s grip, plummeting through the air, with the watery bottom rushing up at her—

She shook her head. “Not over that drop you won’t!” She kicked with her hindlegs and bucked the tree. The tree barely budged, but there was enough give to reassure her. This was gonna work.

“The tree isn’t tall enough!” Dash insisted.

“It’s gonna have to be!” she cried, as howls of enraged cats blasted from the trees, mixed with snapping branches and the thumping of paws on dirt. They weren't being subtle. Another buck, this time with an audible crunch as some of the roots pulled up through the grass. Not fast enough! “Dash! Help!”

Rainbow Dash swung in just above her and leaned her shoulder into the tree. Her wings pumped hard, pushing huge swaths of air past them, and slowly the tree began to give. Each resounding clash of hooves on wood pushed it further, until with a satisfying crunch the roots gave way and the trunk crashed down, bridging the gap. Applejack whooped, turned, and leapt.

“Wait, no! It’s not—”

Applejack ignored her and scrambled along the trunk, running nearly sideways to keep from slipping. She didn’t bother looking down, just concentrated on her balance and motion of the tree. It was practically bouncing from her rough, ungainly run. Halfway there!

“It’s gonna fall!” Dash yelled.

It was. The top of the tree was much thinner than the base, and the trunk was bending alarmingly.

“Dash!”

“Jump!”

The top of the tree slid over the edge, pitching the whole thing to the left. Applejack kicked off to the right, most of her forward motion spent just getting herself off of the tree. For a moment all she could hear was the thundering in her head, blood pumping furiously. Even Rainbow Dash seemed muted.

Oof! She slammed gut first into the ground, hindlegs and abdomen hanging over the edge, the impact knocking the wind out of her. She scrambled to get her weight onto solid ground but there was nothing beneath her hooves to push against. Her forehooves tore up the grass as she slid backwards, and she desperately tried to catch hold of something. “Help!”

Then the ground slid past her stomach and she was weightless.

“Dash!”

---

Twilight’s cats were gaining on the ponies, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash had just spotted the tree she’d conveniently placed. Before either of them could see her, Twilight leapt behind a boulder to watch. This was the hard part: she needed to support Applejack’s weight when she ran across the makeshift bridge but without being seen; and to do that without throwing AJ off the log, she needed to be close. Unfortunately, the only place close but out of sight was—Damnit. The things she did for friends. Thankfully her chances of falling to her death had dropped dramatically in the past couple weeks.

Making sure the tree wasn’t about to tip just yet, she carefully climbed around and down to a lower ledge, then edged her way along the underside of the ravine until she was underneath the trunk, and out of sight. With a shudder, she lit her horn, and the tree gave a tremendous crack and collapsed, bridging the gap perfectly.

She heard a cry of gratitude and the thundering of hooves. The weight on her horn increased suddenly, and she slipped and ducked her head. The tree above shifted dangerously to the side. The cats skidded past, just missing the bridge. She could feel their paws scrambling on the grass, trying to get to the pony who was just then thundering overhead. Too much weight—she hadn’t factored in the weight of the tree!

Her hoof slipped and she grabbed onto a rock, concentration lost. The log slipped from her grip and off the edge. Applejack!

---

After a few moments, Applejack opened her eyes. She was prone, on solid ground, legs splayed out, with Rainbow Dash standing beside her. Behind her the pack of jungle cats roared helplessly. She rolled onto her back and stared at the sky.

Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “You okay?”

Applejack nodded, not sure she could speak.

“Good. Actually, I’m glad you took the tree. I probably couldn’t have carried you all the way across.”

Applejack groaned.

“We’ve gotta go. Cairo’s got my notebook.”

Applejack looked at her. “Huh?” She twisted to stand up, still feeling like she’d bucked her own stomach.

“My notebook. It’s got all my notes and records from various archaeological sites and digs—”

“Enough with the Daring Do crap!” Applejack roared, fighting the urge to smack her and settling instead with looming over her. “Look around, Rainbow Dash! Whaddya see?”

Rainbow Dash leaned back and looked around. “I dunno. Trees? Blue sky?” She looked behind Applejack, at the growling cats across the ravine. “A jaguar? What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal, Miss Oblivious, is that there ain’t supposed to be no Celestia-damned jaguars in the Everfree Forest! We’re lost!” She stared at Rainbow Dash. “Why ain’t you worried?”

“Duh, AJ! Of course we’re lost! I know there’s no jungle in the Everfree Forest! No jaguars or snakes or cragodiles, or big stone temples, either! Something’s going on. I get it.” She paused, took a breath, then continued, “But Daring Do wouldn’t be scared—I know Daring Do could handle this, and if she could, why couldn’t I? Why can’t you, for that matter? Rock Gambit’s really good at getting out of scrapes. They might be able to get us out of here in one piece, and if we’re lucky, maybe we can get my book back.”

Applejack looked at her like she’d grown a third wing, and said, slowly, “Rainbow Dash, a complete stranger called you Daring Do. A pony that tried to feed us to wild animals just to steal an adventure book. A pony also looking for an imaginary temple with a fake relic that we just made up!”

Dash chuckled. “Hey, do you think there’s actually treasure in that imaginary temple too?”

“Seriously?! Yer gonna keep playin’ make-believe while large, wild animals try to eat us?” she demanded, pointing back at the other side of the chasm.

“You got a better plan?”

“Yeah! Find our way home!” She looked around, as if she expected to suddenly recognize where they were.

“AJ, you said you wanted to have an adventure. You promised. Since when are adventures easy?”

Applejack stared at her. Rainbow Dash had officially lost it. Applejack sat with a thump and exhaled.

The worst part was Applejack already knew she was gonna cave. It was written all over Dash’s face: she usually wore a smirk or a cocky grin, but it was rare that Dash had an actual smile. Applejack wanted to turn around and head home—this had already gotten too real—but she hated to be the pony to wipe the smile from Dash’s face.

Damn it.

And, as much as Applejack wanted to argue, Rainbow Dash made a frustratingly good point. Never mind that Daring Do was an exaggerated, made-up hero, and not a good measure of a pony—it wasn’t any different than any of the other adventures the two had shared over the years.

“Technically, yer the one that asked for an adventure,” she pointed out.

The Pegasus’ ears perked up. “Huh?”

Applejack sighed, standing. “Alright. If ya need yer fantasy to keep from cryin’ like a little foal, Ah’ll play along. But no life-or-death stuff. And,” she said quickly, before Rainbow could interrupt, “you help with the southern orchard.”

Dash tapped her hoof, considering Applejack’s words. “I won’t risk our lives on purpose, but I’m getting that book back, which will probably be dangerous. So, if you’re in, no more of this hesitation and ‘Oh, Ah didn’t think we were gonna actually have fun’ junk. We’re heroes.”

“Heroes.” Applejack nodded slowly. “Ah can do heroes.”

Dash cleared her throat; Daring Do scoffed. “Me? Crying like a foal? I saw how scared you were back there. You need me.”

Rose Gambit sputtered. “We’ll see. There’s still the temple, Sugarcube, and that’s where Ah shine,” she said, unable to keep a note of smugness from her voice.

Daring Do, however, was looking back at the other side of the ravine. “Don’t go celebrating just yet, Rose.”

Rose looked. On the other side, the largest cat was pacing back and forth along the edge. It was carved out of shadow with a face straight from her nightmares that was all fangs and purple evil eyes. Adorning the monster’s forehead was a monster welt, which Rose suspected was shaped and sized exactly like one of her horseshoes. If any of the cats could jump across, that was it.

Rose looked back at Daring Do. The Pegasus’ body was locked with tension and she had a grin on her face. Her enthusiasm was infectious.

“That’s some pretty life-or-death danger right there, Daring.”

“Not my fault.”

“Think we can take it?” Rose asked.

“I think it’s gonna have to put up one hell of a fight.”

Rose grinned. She felt her body surging with adrenaline.

The cat howled louder than Rose would’ve thought possible, and leapt into the air.

---

Just below the edge of the ravine, Twilight hung for dear life, exhausted and out of breath. The problem with being Twilight Sparkle, she decided, was that she now had to live up to her reputation. Make a cat with longer limbs, sharper claws, and a louder roar than normally possible? She could do that. Have it leap through the air and land convincingly, impacting the ground beneath it, all despite being incorporeal? A challenge.

Do it all while out of sight, hanging below the edge of a cliff, because her magic felt like mud when she flew and her flying felt like falling when she magicked?

Deep breath. Alicorns have Earth magic, too. Feel the earth.

And she could feel the earth, if she focused hard enough. She could feel hooves and paws tearing up dirt and grass; leaps and skids exposing motion, action, and intent. Warm feline breath in pony faces. Hot purple bruises on feline shoulders. Scratches. Howls of fury. So much chaotic growth and energy, but safely covered in a blanket of peace and graceful motion. She grew lighter, gained stability, and felt her Pegasus magic cautiously emerging: near misses whipping air past Rose, thundering gusts from Daring Do’s wings nearly knocking the cat over.

The fight lasted only seconds, really. Daring Do and Rock Gambit got into scraps all the time, but for all the heroics they’d actually taken part in, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were terrible brawlers. Twilight had to force her projection to swing too wide, to take a second too long to dodge, and to maneuver too close to the cliff. A well-placed buck hurtled through the cat’s face and Twilight could barely throw it over the edge fast enough.

The glow on her horn faded and her senses returned to normal, including the senses that told her wasn’t on solid ground. She yelped and tumbled through the air for a second before catching herself and flying back towards the ridge.

Silence, for a moment. Twilight could tell Rose and Daring Do were both scratched and stunned, panting hard. Had she overdone it?

—then cheering, that quickly turned to goading. Above her Daring Do and Rose leapt with exhilaration, and despite the weariness that was quickly setting over her body, she felt a surge of pride, both from her success and from having entertained her friends. Her plan was working! Soon they were taunting each other, a sure sign of having fun. She wanted to celebrate with them.

She shook her head, and peeked over the edge. Daring Do and Rose were hurrying onwards, clearly eager to keep up the momentum, and once she was sure they wouldn’t see her Twilight pulled herself up and over. She couldn’t rest: the farther the two adventurers went into the forest, the more forest she had to transform into jungle, and the sooner she’d need everything set up for their adventure.

So much to do, and so little time!

---

Daring Do and Rose Gambit emerged from the jungle on an upward slope, following an old trail worn into the grass that wound and rode its way up to a crest between two larger hills. The humidity vanished with a gust of cool afternoon breeze, and with it went the buzzing and chirping from the jungle floor. From the top of the mountain Daring hoped to find some sign of Cairo.

At the top they stopped beside another stone idol and looked back. The sun was noticeably lower in the sky, and the two could see for kilometers. It was a stunning view, but Rose wasn’t smiling.

“Daring Do, none of that looks familiar.” She gestured towards the endless carpet of tree canopy they’d just trekked through. “Where’s the ravine we crossed? Or all the clearings? Or . . . you know, where’s Ponyville?”

“No idea. Something—or somepony—doesn’t want us finding our way back.” Daring Do wasn’t paying too much attention, though; she was facing ahead, looking past her. The ground sloped gently downwards, while on either side the hill grew towards actual mountains. Grassy hills rolled onwards through the valley, broken by small gullies and the occasional bunch of small trees.

And she thought she’d caught a glimpse of color somewhere in the distance.

Rose was clearly waiting for a better answer, so she continued, “But finding lost ruins is usually a little difficult, Rose—otherwise they wouldn’t be lost.”

“Ah know that! Ah meant, even if we don’t know where we were going, we should still be able to see where we came from.” She sighed. “Ah suppose yer gonna tell me I shouldn’t be lookin’ back anyways, right?”

Daring Do thought about it for a moment. “Being lost didn’t stop us when we had to trek through the southern wastelands, or when we were stuck on the River Antigua. Sometimes there’s no going back.”

Rose Gambit shook her head. “Yeah, yeah. But you didn’t tell me when we set out that this’d be an overnighter.” She started trotting downwards. “C’mon, Daring Do, Ah still need you to get me into the temple. After that, we can go find yer diary.”

Daring felt her eye twitch, but she refused to rise to Rose’s taunt. “My notebook is the key to uncovering the treasure at the bottom of those ruins,” she said calmly. “Cairo stole it for a reason. There’s no point in finding the temple without it.”

“Fair enough.”

The more the ridge behind them obscured the jungle, the more Daring felt like she was passing a point of no return. There was less and less of a link between her and home—between her and safety. At least she wasn't out in the wilderness on her own.

Her gaze travelled forward, where the jungle began again. There! Most of the trees were swaying gently in a breeze, but there was a flash of red hidden amongst the riotous green.

“I think I see something up ahead,” she said. “I’m gonna get a better view.” She pumped her wings and took off before Rose could protest, only slightly disappointed that she didn’t blow Rose’s hat off.

Well, well. A pair of small canvas tents had been erected among the trees, and a sheet of canvas had been stretched over the whole thing. The ponies down below probably figured they were pretty smart, using green fabric for their setup and blocking their tents from the sky, but they’d forgotten that their red, grey, and blue coats didn’t blend in all that well.

No cats, though—at least none that she could see—and no Cairo.

She flew back to Rose. “Found ‘em. Cairo’s goons. They’ve set up camp in those trees.”

Rose looked past Daring, trying to peer into the distant treeline. “You saw Cairo? He got yer notebook?”

“No, but what are the odds of finding any other ponies out here?”

“Hold on—you figure those ponies are working with Cairo, just ’cause they’re nearby?”

“Duh.” Daring shrugged. “We’re not exactly in camping territory, and besides us there haven’t been any other ponies around. Even if they’re not working together, they’ve gotta here for the same reason we are.”

“So two groups of ponies set out at the same time to find the same temple—without knowing about each other?”

“Well, I don’t know who they are, but they’ll know me.” Daring struck a pose.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Alright, famous adventurer. What’s the plan?”

Daring thought about it for a moment, then punched her hooves together. “Barrel in and beat them to a pulp?”

Rose smacked her in the shoulder. “Hey! You may be sure they’re bad ponies but for all ya know they’ve got nothing to do with stealin’ yer notebook.”

“So, you got a better way?”

“We can’t just walk up and ask ‘em, can we?”

Not after bragging about how everypony knew her. “Disguise?” Daring suggested.

“Ah ain’t got any costumes in mah bag.”

“Then I’m out of ideas. You got any? Or have you remembered we took down a bunch of large jungle cats, no sweat?” she teased.

Rose stared at her. “Ah took down those cats. You flew off to find yer diary.”

“It’s not a diary!” Daring protested.

“Fine, fine. What if we sneak in and, Ah dunno, spy on ‘em? See if they really are up to no good.”

Daring considered. She knew Rose was right, and she knew she ought be patient and not rush in, but Rose was gonna have to learn there were times when subtlety and patience didn’t work as well as initiative and hooves. “I dunno . . . ”

“Then, if it turns out they’re no-good bandits, we beat ‘em up. How’s that?”

“I guess. You ever done any spying before?”

“No—Yes. Of course Ah have. Diggin’ through tombs and investigatin’ dead ponies takes lotsa spyin’.” She paused. “Uh, don’t it?”

At least the master spy will learn quickly. “Alright, lead the way.”

---

“What do you think?” Daring whispered.

They’d taken the long way, keeping to the treeline to keep the ponies from spotting them. It had taken them longer than Rose’d expected: by the time she was within sight of their targets the sun had fallen noticeably from its peak, confirming that she wasn’t making it home before sunset. Not that that was a problem for a master tomb raider such as herself, of course.

Now they were hiding behind a dirt mound and some bushes for cover, close enough that they could hear the ponies talking, but not close enough to tell what they were saying. Thankfully, besides talking and moving around the camp, they hadn’t done much else.

Rose thought about it for a moment. Just like sneakin’ up on wanderin’ livestock, right? She frowned. Wanderin’ livestock that fights back.

She said, “First we gotta get the lay of their camp. If there’s no room to move around, or nowhere to hide, we’re outta luck.” She hoped desperately that wasn’t the case. “Also, we gotta find out if there’s any other ponies nearby. Wouldn’t do to have somepony sneak up on us while we’re trying to sneak up on them.”

“Right.” Daring Do turned and looked over her shoulder. “I don’t see anypony else.”

“Well, ya wouldn’t if they were sneaking, would ya?”

“So how are we supposed to find these ponies if we can’t see them?”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut. Fair question. “Maybe one of them will mention another pony, or they’ll have too much gear, or something. Either way, we gotta know we ain’t gotta get ambushed.”

Daring nodded. “And as soon as we know there’s nopony else, we rush in and rough ’em up until they talk.”

“I’m telling ya, ya can’t walk up to random ponies and beat them senseless.”

“And I’m trying to tell you they aren’t random ponies!” Daring hissed.

Rose groaned. “Ah don’t care if they’re random ponies or not. All we gotta do is get yer notebook back. If it’s as important as you say it is, they’ll be as lost without it as we are.”

Daring sighed. “I guess. But, Rose, ya gotta know something. These situations, they have a way of nosediving. Raiders always bring muscle, but there’s never enough brains among ’em.” An evil grin spread over her face. “Don’t expect ’em to be polite if they find us.”

“It’s gonna be fine. Remember? Luck’s mah middle name.”

Daring rolled her eyes. “Right. I can head through the trees, out of sight, while you push in behind their tents. As soon as either one of us gets an opportunity, we snatch the book. Got it?”

Rose didn’t really think that was all that fair, but she certainly couldn’t suggest the opposite. She turned back to the campsite. “Fine. Just stay in sight.”

“No problem.” Daring scanned the canopy above her, then with a pump of her wings, shot up between the branches, soon only a slight flash of gold hidden among the dull browns and vibrant greens of the jungle. Wow, she’s quiet. That meant Daring was waiting on her.

Rose hugged the ground and pulled herself forward. The ground was rough with roots and bushes and creepers that scratched her gut, and her progress was slow; Daring would probably wonder what was taking her so long.

Wish I could climb trees, she grumbled.

Soon Rose was at the encampment. It was a simple setup, filling a small open area in the trees. Two tents were set up side-by-side at one end of the clearing, facing roughly towards each other. In the center there was a small used campfire, and a canvas stretched up and over the whole site. Surrounding the campsite were a half-dozen lanterns, any of which could’ve illuminated the whole campsite at night.

Rose could see two ponies and hear a third. A grey Earth Pony stallion wandered around the perimeter, peering into the trees but generally doing a lazy job of it—neither Rose nor Daring had been spotted yet. A pale blue Unicorn mare kept watch from the centre, sometimes looking around but mostly just talking to the third pony, who never came out of the larger tent. Rose couldn’t tell what the pony was doing in there, only that he didn’t pay much attention to the other ponies and sounded like a stallion. Not Cairo—the voice was wrong.

She caught the occasional exchange between them. The stallion in the tent was their superior, or boss, or something. They never mentioned any other ponies, but neither did they say anything about a notebook. Their conversations seemed to loop over and over, and she quickly grew bored.

Rose spent agonizing minutes sliding herself along the ground, pausing every few moments to push a branch or vine out of the way. She made it behind the smaller of the two tents, on the far side of the camp. The was no way in back here without uprooting the tent posts and causing a commotion, so if she was gonna make it inside she needed to do so in sight of the others.

Getting past the first pony was easy: he hadn’t changed his route since she’d first seen him. The third was an unknown, but he had been hiding in his tent the whole time so it was likely he’d stay put. It was the mare in the middle that made her gulp. She had a good view of the whole camp; and Rose knew that as a Unicorn she’d have some sneaky tricks up her saddlebags.

She thought back to her previous adventures. Of course she’d been in this situation before, right? She imagined loud distractions, or knocking out the bad guys when they were out of sight and stealing their uniforms, or jumping from rooftop to rooftop—

Not helpful. Somewhere up above, Daring would be getting herself into position, possibly waiting on her, definitely getting impatient. She scanned the canopy. Far to her right she could see a dark shape skulking about among the branches, but the canopy was dark enough that Rose couldn’t tell what Daring was doing.

Down below, the grey stallion was peeking inside the small tent, and the Unicorn mare was busy talking to their boss in the other tent. She had a chance, once the stallion continued on his route; if she could just get into position to slip inside—

Daring? Daring was moving, a shadow blurring between tree trunks and under branches. She’d caught the same opportunity, and was rushing towards the first tent. But how was she going to get inside the tent without being seen? And she was travelling way too fast—Oh. Oh!

Daring exited the canopy and shot into the tent just as the stallion turned away and started his next lap. Rose caught only a hint of a rainbow trail left in her wake. A rush of wind blew past her, all directed away from the ponies and the tents. Rose watched the ponies, waiting for one of them to question the rustling tent fabric, the very quiet but very explicit cursing, or the jostled bushes behind the tent, but they didn’t seem to notice. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, and crawled her way to a better view, ready to make a quick getaway once Daring had found her notebook.

The ponies talked to each other, boring conversations they’d likely had several times over—Rose couldn’t imagine much else happening out here—and continued their patrol. Grey Stallion passed Rose, who hid behind a clutch of trees and moved as little as possible. Blue Mare stooped her head into the larger tent to speak with the boss.

Rose looked back to Daring’s tent. The flap was open, ever so slightly, allowing a single eye to peer through at the encampment. Daring had to know the grey stallion was due to return in a minute or so. The Unicorn finished her discussion returned to her seat, planting herself in the middle of the campsite in plain view of the tents. If she didn’t look away, Daring was gonna get caught.

Rose felt her pulse quicken, her breath shorten, and her muscles tense. Of course she was gonna have to fight Daring’s way out of there. She’d have to take out the Unicorn first. Knock ’em unconscious; that was the best way to deal with magic-users. If she’d moved herself so the Unicorn was between her and the Earth Pony she might have had the advantage, but there was no time.

Grey Stallion faced the tent and approached it. Blue Mare watched him. Even the voice from the other tent was quiet. Did they know Daring was in there?

The stallion leaned down and opened the tent flap.

Author's Notes:

Author’s notes are available here. Next time: Heights or Dealing with Cloud Patrons. Leave your guess in the comments below!

With assistance from Daetrin. Cover art by Foxinshadow. Alternate cover art by Diremuffin.

-wr