And now for an Crossover Cameo.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Charles, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

Chapter 42: Read it and Weep

Rarity and Pinkie Pie looking into the sky as jet-engine sounds play. They are joined by Twilight Sparkle and Charles d'Artagnan. "Hey Rarity, hey Pinkie Pie. What are you looking at?" Twilight asked. "Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie answered as Rainbow briefly appears in a shot performing an aerial corkscrew. "Isn't she the most daring devil? I mean, the most devilish darer? I mean-" Pinkie says. "She's dazzling!" Rarity says. "Ooh yeah that's a good word. She's dazzling!" Pinkie says. The four ponies on the ground who watch in admiration, with Pinkie Pie going as far as to twist her neck around twice to keep track of Rainbow Dash's flight. Then something happens. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Twilight says. "Ayiyiyiyi!" Pinkie says as Dash plummet to the ground, followed by the sound of a crash and wood crackling. "Oohh." The three girls said. "That's going to hurt a while!" Charles explained. "So much for dazzling." Pinkie says. "Quick take Rainbow to the hospital while I'll tell Fluttershy and Applejack what happen." Charles says as he went.

At the Ponyville hospital Rainbow saw her six friends are blurred. "Is she gonna be okay?" Applejack's muffled voice asked. "Not until we get the results from the X-ray." Charles' voice also muffled answered. "Oh, I'm so worried!" Fluttershy's voice also muffled said. "Is her face gonna stay that way?" Pinkie's distinct voice asked. Rainbow Dash barely waking up, she had a bandage on the right side of her forehead, and bandages wrapped around her wing on the same side. She rubbed her head and suddenly faced towards her bandaged wing. She rubbed it and then groaned. "Awwww."

Meanwhile, the doctor was looking at some x-rays of Rainbow Dash's wing, which seemed to be broken.

"How is she, doctor?" Twilight asked him.

"She's going to be fine. Luckily she has friends like you who got her over here in a jiffy."

"Huh, how long do I need to lie here? I've got things I need to do!" Rainbow Dash argued.

"Well, that all depends on your recovery, but I'd say a few days minimum."

"You guys have gotta get me out of here, I'm gonna climb the walls!"

Pinkie Pie quickly ran over to Rainbow Dash. "Ooh, just like a spider!" She turned her body towards the doctor and placed her hooves on him. "Did the crash somehow give her super-duper spider powers?"

"Nnnno…" He turned away, causing Pinkie Pie to fall on the ground. "Nor did it give her amazing healing powers. She needs to stay in bed for a few days."

"Few days?" Rainbow questioned, falling back on the pillow and lying down. "Might as well be a few months, or few years!"

"It's not so bad Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy assured.

"I bet the chow in here is hoof-lickin' good." Applejack encouraged.

"And the hospital gowns, they match the curtains!" Rarity added, holding one up near the window where the curtains presented themselves.

"And look!" Pinkie Pie pulls away the curtain revealing an pony, who is almost completely bandaged and immobile except for his eyes. "You have a roommate!"

She sighed and looked back at the ceiling. "Well, what am I going to do for a few days while I'm here?" After, she covered herself with the blanket.

Twilight rubbed her chin and noticed a cart of books being pushed past the room. She smiled and ran towards the cart bringing back a book for Rainbow Dash. She held it near her and poked her with it, placing it by the side of her bed afterwards.

"What's this?" Rainbow Dash questioned in an irritable tone. She picked it up and analyzed the cover. "'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone'."

"This is the first story in the series." Twilight patted the book cover. "I own all of them." She released a squee.

However, Rainbow Dash returned an annoyed look at her. "No thanks. I so don't read. I'm a world-class athlete. Reading's for eggheads like you, Twilight." Rainbow Dash responded as Twilight formed narrowed eyes. "Heh, no offense, but I am not reading. It's undeniably, unquestionably, uncool."

However, Charles and the rest of the girls laughed.

"Is she serious?" Applejack asked. "Who doesn't like to read a bang-up tale from time to time?"

"Why, a good book is almost as magnificent as silk pajamas on a Sunday morning, heh!" Rarity expressed.

"Reading is for everypony, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight agreed, placing the book back in front of her.

"Yeah! I love reading!" Pinkie Pie added, hopping excitedly. "And my head isn't even close to the shape of an egg! It's more the shape of an apple, or maybe an orange, but a big orange, more like a grapefruit really..." She placed her hoof to her chin to think about it.

"Yeah! Don't knock it until you try it." Charles added.

"All right, my little ponies." One of the nurses announced from the door. "Rainbow Dash needs her rest. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

The girls and Charles began walking out except Twilight "I think you'd like Daring." Twilight explained to Rainbow Dash as she began walking out as well. "She's a lot like you. Adventurous, fierce, and undeniably, unquestionably, unstoppable."

She stood at the door, waiting for a response from Rainbow Dash, but she merely flicked her hoof away. Rainbow Dash is bouncing a ball off the wall with a bored expression on her face. She continued bouncing the ball until the ball didn't bounce as high as it did before and hit the bottom of the bed, rolling back towards the wall, causing Rainbow Dash to sigh quietly and lower her head. The French Narrator from Spongebob comes in and says "ONE HOUR LATER." Rainbow Dash, who have a tray of food on her bed contained the same bored expression on her face as she stared at the food. She placed her snout in the glass of juice to try to take a drink, but when she lifted her head up, the glass was stuck on it. She then used both of her hooves to try to take it out, but it didn't. However, when she released her hooves, the glass slipped out, dropping on the floor. The French Narrator from comes again in and says "TWO HOURS LATER." Rainbow Dash repeatedly clicking the button on the lamp, flicking the light off and on and off and on many times. She was bored again. After clicking the button with her hoof a few times, she then formed an aggressive face and clicked the button harshly and rapidly, but then she returned to her calm pressing. The French Narrator from comes in a third time and says "THREE HOURS LATER." After that line Patrick Star from Spongebob comes in and says "Can you move it along, I'm all out of time cards?" After that Karsap (the author) suddenly realize this and stops the fanfic to look at the pink starfish and say. "Patrick?! What the buck are you doing here?" The pink starfish says "Helping!" This got Karsap gets mad. "This is The Hub Not Nick go back to Nickelodeon Studios." he says. "Okay okay I'm out." Patrick says as he leaves. Our favorite pink pony then comes in. "Who was that?" Pinkie asked. "Oh hi Pinkie haven't seen you in awhile that was Patrick Star kinda like you but not very bright." Karsap answered. "Ohh!" Pinkie says. "Sorry about that everypony lets get back to the fanfic!" Karsap says.

Rainbow Dash then tells jokes to her roommate, who still remains silent and immobile. "To get to the other side! Get it?" She asked as she grinned. The roommate still remains silent and immobile. Then Rainbow Dash close the curtain lying back on her side again. "Nevermind…" She added. A new Narrator who sounds like the French Narrator from Spongebob but without the French accent comes in and says. "SO MUCH LATER THE OLD NARRATOR GET TIRED OF WAITING AND THEY HAD TO HIRE A NEW ONE." Rainbow Dash staring tiredly at the clock noticed that it was exactly one in the afternoon. After a moment, the long hand moved a minute to the right. Rainbow Dash dropped her jaw and growled in frustration into her blanket. Afterwards she sighed and banged her head on the back of her bed three times.(1)

She remained silent and eyed the book. She stared at the cover for a moment but then turned away crossing her forelegs, but then she opened one eye at it, staring at the cover again. Then, she placed hoof to her chin and seemed to think about it for a moment. She sighed.

She stretched her hooves towards the book and began reading the cover. She turned to the first page, looking uninterested and speaking unenthusiastically. "As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere and fly up into the cool blue sky. But her crash landing in the jungle had injured her wing and she was grounded for a few days. Few days... it might as well be a few months, or a few years! Huh." She looked at her wings. "I'm right there with you, sister." "The mosquitoes buzzed loudly. The macaws cried from the high trees. Yet all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step…"

The scene fades to the events in the book, where Daring Do a brown-coated, grey-maned pony with the same style as Rainbow Dash herself, finds herself surrounded by a tiger, a panther, a lynx, a cheetah, and a white housecat. Daring Do makes a run from the wild cats, using a vine to swing across a chasm. Dash's narration returns. "Safely landing on the other side, Daring finally allowed herself a moment to breathe. She turned around to find herself face to face with the long lost temple that she had sought tirelessly for over sixty days and nights!" The scene cuts to Rainbow Dash. She now discovered the joy of reading. "I hate to admit it to myself, and would really hate to admit it to my friends, but... I love this story!"

She picked the book back up and began reading it once again. "The smell of decay and danger hit Daring Do as she peered into the dimly-lit entrance of the ancient temple…" Red glowing eyes peer at Daring Do from inside a statue of a skull, and the floor is crawling with insects. Daring Do steps on a tile which sinks with mechanical noises and a series of hazards plague Daring Do: axes fly at her from the wall, flames rise from a gap that opens in the floor, alligators snap their jaws at her from the ceiling, darts fire at her, spikes emerge from the floor one by one, and eventually a stone door nearly lowers onto her while she narrowly escapes to the next chamber. The frame cuts to a different chamber and strange noises are played while, off-screen, Daring Do makes it to the next chamber, again narrowly escaping from underneath a lowering door, this time with darts stuck in her pith helmet. Daring Do clears her helmet of the darts and turns to look at the chamber. A beam of light shines from a skylight above and onto "the legendary sapphire statue", placed on a pedestal at the other end of the chamber. The scene switches from Daring Do's enamored expression to Rainbow Dash's right as she is interrupted by a knock on the door. She quickly hiding the book under the covers and sitting on the bed nervously. The door then fully opened to reveal Charles, Fluttershy and Twilight. "Hi Rainbow Dash!"

"Uh, hey, guys..." Rainbow Dash answered uneasily.

"We thought we'd come and cheer you up!" Fluttershy responded to Rainbow Dash.

"We brought your favorite board game!" Twilight pulled it out with her magic and placed it on the bed, setting it up.

"We know how much you like to win!" Fluttershy stated.

"And we can be on teams." Charles added as he went next to Rainbow.

"You go first, Rainbow Dash and Charles!" Twilight directed.

Rainbow Dash released a short nervous laugh. "No no, you first."

The three of them returned confused looks.

"Alright…" Twilight answered. "uh... cloud three."

"Aw, shucks, you... rained on my cumulus, heh." She quickly responded. "Go again!"

"Um... sky five?" Fluttershy guessed.

"Whoaa, you found my seagull." Rainbow Dash picked it up and tossed it aside. "Uhh Rainbow why are you letting them win?" Charles asked confused.

"Uh... cloud two?" Twilight asked.

"You zapped my weather pony!" Rainbow Dash responded and continued to answer the same thing for every move the girls made, not even giving her and Charles a turn. "Uh-huh, you stung my bumblebee. Oh, my thunderbolt. Aw, and that's our last cloud. You found it. Guess you guys win, we lose."

"But Rainbow Dash, you, you and Charles didn't even get a turn." Fluttershy pointed out as Rainbow Dash tried to force the game box to close.

"You win some, you lose some."

"But you don't lose some. I don't think you've ever lost a game of—"

Rainbow Dash yawned, interrupting Twilight. "Thanks for coming!"

"But yesterday you were desperate for things to do!"

"Do?" Rainbow Dash answered defensively, giving the game back to Twilight. "Who said anything about Daring Do? I told you I'm not interested in reading." She yawned again, turning off the light. "It's nap time for me!" She began to snore mockingly, pretending to fall asleep…badly…

"Glad we could... cheer you up?" Fluttershy replied.

"Yeah..." Charles said.

However, Twilight remained there furrowing her eyebrows at Rainbow Dash as she opened one eye. Twilight moved her head closer to Rainbow Dash, which caused her to stop snoring and yawn loudly.

"Alright then…" Twilight responded and the three began walking towards the door. As soon they left, closing the door behind them. Rainbow Dash sat up from her bed and checked to see if they were really gone. She briefly and pulled out the book from under the covers. "Daring Do stood at the entrance to the central temple chamber. At last, she was face-to-face with the legendary sapphire statue!"

Daring Do starts to walk towards the statue but stops herself and surveys the room. She kicks a rock onto one of the floor tiles which then sinks, followed by a hail of darts that fly over the tile and embed into the wall. Daring Do looks for a pattern in the tiles, "Hmm, there must be a pattern here. What do all these animals have in common?" Daring says as she is wondering. "Ah-ha! These animals are all predators... except... rats!" she say as she got an conduction. She carefully places her leg on one of the rat-tiles, and seeing that no trap springs she proceeds to hop from one rat-tile to the next in acrobatic jumps and flips. She reaches the sapphire statue's pedestal, surveys it, and prepares to snatch it. She eventually just picks it up with her teeth with a bored expression on her face and places it under her hat. A cylinder slowly emerges from the pedestal where the statue stood, and the room starts to collapse, with debris falling from the ceiling and the floor crumbling into boiling fiery lava. The chamber's pillars collapse one by one while the lava rises, and Daring Do hops back onto the pedestal to escape it. When the lava almost reaches her hooves she jumps from one collapsed pillar to the next until she's underneath the chamber's skylight. Right as the lava swallows up the pillar she was standing on, she lunges towards the skylight and holds on to its rim by her teeth.

Daring Do makes it outside, and gets blown clear by a gust of air from inside the chamber, which lands her in the jungle, right at the feet of a strange creature. The creature cheerfully says "Helloooo, Rainbow Dash" with Pinkie Pie's voice.

Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity walk into the room. Of course, Rainbow Dash immediately hid the book under the covers.

"How are our patient doing today?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow Dash begin to sweat nervously, causing Applejack to notice. "Ugh, we need to get some fresh air in here. You're lookin' sweatier than a pig wrangler on a summer's day."

"Uh, well, guys, thanks for visiting, but—

"Okay, now, dinner time for Rainbow Dash." Another nurse came by and announced. She walked and left the cart in the middle of the room. Rainbow Dash grabbed her tray.

"Oh, just in time. I am soo hungry." Rainbow Dash emphasized, but didn't actually mean it.

"Oh, well don't mind us Rainbow Dash." Rarity responded.

"Yeah, just go ahead and eat up." Applejack added.

She then moved her head towards the green mush and bit it a bit inappropriately, making exaggerated eating noises. "NOM NOM NOM!" She then literally licked her plate clean, grabbing the gelatin and chewing it noisily as her mouth remained open. The girls were shocked as she continued to swing her head in the rest of the green mush, causing for Rarity to place her hoof on Pinkie and lead the rest of them out.

"Uh, on second thought—

"Uh, we'll see you tomorrow, Rainbow Dash, aheh..." Pinkie Pie commented and closed the door after they left.

After, Rainbow Dash spat out the food in her mouth and cleaned it. Rainbow grab the book and speak a little quieter. " 'You thought you could evade me and capture the relic for yourself, but you are sadly mistaken, Miss Do.'"

Ahuizotl is properly introduced. He walks on all fours, with dog-like hind limbs and ape-like forelimbs, and a long monkey-like tail with a hand on its end. He has a dog-like head, except his eyes are positioned over his nose at the end of his snout. He takes the sapphire statue which Daring Do had obtained at much personal peril. "And now, you shall meet your doom!" With Daring Do having fallen, with his hand at the end of his tail, he blows a cat-shaped whistle. The whistle makes a whistling and meowing sound, and the tiger, the cheetah, the lynx, and the panther hop from out of the bushes, carrying a mace, two lengths of rope, and a spiked club. The white house-cat also shows up, affectionately purring. Ahuizotl laughs maniacally, and the scene briefly cuts to Dash reading the book, "Whoa! Who is this dude?" she exclaimed out loud. Then sh returns to the story.

Daring Do is tied up on some kind of altar and says, "You won't get away with this, Ahuizotl", and he replies "But I already have." He pulls a lever. "Not again..." Daring says as she groans. Ahuizotl then waves goodbye, and leaves with his cats, while the room begins to rumble. The walls start closing in, spikes extend from from sockets on the walls, spiders crawl over the spikes, cobras issue from the mouth of an ornament on the wall, and quicksand starts pouring into the room. "Quicksand!" says as she tries to get free. "Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow Dash's doctor's voice called. "Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Da-ash!" He interrupts the story, and the scene cuts back to the hospital, Rainbow under the covers suddenly began moving around. Then, she popped her head out from the other side of the bed with surprised eyes and a slightly agape mouth. "H- oh, good evening—

"Morning." The Doctor corrected her, continuing to smile.

"-morning. Doc." Rainbow Dash expressed, using that correction and stretching her hooves, saluting as well. Then, she suddenly looked out the window to observe the sky.

"Have you been up all night?" The doctor asked, observing the lantern full of fireflies with his glasses.

"Of course not." Rainbow Dash quickly replied, grabbing the lantern with her hoof and blowing the fireflies out.

The doctor chuckled. "Well, I'll be quick." He looked at her. "Congratulations Rainbow Dash, we're checking you out of the hospital."

Rainbow was surprised. "What? Later today?" She began biting her hoof.

"No." he says as he shook his head. "Right now!"

"Right now?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "'Right now' right now?"

"'Right now' right now." The doctor answered happily, causing two of the nurses to come in with a wheelchair and struggle to place her on there. Rainbow Dash's robe and bandages were thrown.

"But I don't feel better!" Rainbow Dash argued.

"Now take it easy, Rainbow Dash." He ignored. "Remember to stay off that wing for a week." The doctor began leaving as the two nurses pushed Rainbow Dash out in a wheelchair.

Finally, the nurses pushed Rainbow Dash out of the hospital with her wheelchair.

"How will I ever find out what happens to Daring Do?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed loudly, motioning her hooves as well.

"Is Ahuizotl going to get away with the statuette?" She continued to panic as she paced around the road. "What's gonna happen to Daring? Ah-ha! Twilight has a copy of the book! Uh, but I can't ask her after I called her an egghead and all..." She placed her hooves on her head and fell to the floor, groaning. "Ugh, this is making me sick all over again!" She then grew a devious smile. She then traveled over to the doors and walked in, holding her hoof to her forehead over-dramatically. "Owww..." She grunted in pain, most unrealistically. "Oh, the pain... the pain!" She fell towards the cushions on the side of the room.

"Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here, a, anything wrong?" The Doctor asked, creating a worried expression, as well as the same type of tone.

"Well, uh, my wing!" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "It's still hurtin', Doc." Rainbow Dash presented and then placed herself on the cushions. The Doctor walked over to her and began touching her right wing... "Oh, ouch! Right there."

The Doctor returned a stern and irritated face. "I was touching your good wing."

"Uh, right… Well, I think that one's hurting now too!" Rainbow Dash responded as she continued to flinch that wing.

The Doctor chuckled and smiled. "I think I know what the trouble is." He answered as Rainbow Dash whimpered. "A severe case of lazy-itis." Afterwards, he pushed her outside.

"B-But, you got me all wrong, Doc! I'm not being lazy!" Rainbow pleaded, ironically speaking the truth.

"You're fine, Rainbow Dash. Give it some time and you'll be right back in the swing of things." The Doctor explained and then walked back into the hospital.

"Good day, Rainbow Dash." The first nurse stated and followed the Doctor.

"Take care!" The second nurse added, repeating the same action.

"What am I gonna do? I'll never get to sleep without knowing what happens to Daring Do!" Rainbow Dash announced and then paused. "...Which may not be such a bad thing..."

Later that night...

Rainbow Dash decides to enter the hospital at night to retrieve the book. Unfortunately, a new patient is occupying her bed, but she finds the book underneath. She crawls under to continue reading the book.

"Feels like the harder I struggle." Daring says as she grunts. "The tighter the ropes get!"

"Help! Burglar, burglar!" the new patient cry interrupts the story. Rainbow bangs her head on the bed. "Someone's trying to steal my slippers!" the patient cried again. Rainbow take her head out from under the bed hugging the book. "I'm not trying to steal your slippers, I'm trying to steal this book!" She explained. The patient throws a lamp but Rainbow ducks it. She went out of the room with the book in her teeth. But one of the nurses comes out "Stop, thief!" she cried. Then the other hospital staff and starts to chase after Rainbow out of the hospital and through Ponyville. This woke her friends up. And make their way to the library where Twilight and Charles open the door. "Rainbow Dash, what in the world is going on? Why are you stealing slippers?" The Doctor asked, demandingly. Their was still barking, causing them to look at where the sound was coming from. It was one of the patients…

"Hey, get back to the hospital!" The security guard that was with them ordered and ran her to the hospital.

"What's all the ruckus?" Applejack asked as she walked towards them.

"Oh, I'd say it's more of a fracas than a ruckus." Pinkie Pie randomly popped up in front of them.

"What's going on, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah!" Charles saidd, highly intrigued on why she's in the situation she is now, as the Doctor gave her the same look.

Rainbow Dash hesitated and crossed her forelegs. Finally… she sighed. "I'm an egghead…"

"Pardon?" Rarity questioned.

"See, I was trying to get back into the hospital to finish the last chapter of—

"-'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone'!" Twilight finished Rainbow Dash's sentence.

"You got me…" Rainbow Dash responded, lowering her head in angry shame.

"Wow, I knew the book was good, but I didn't know it could drive a pony to petty theft!" Twilight commented.

"Good? Try awesomely amazing." Rainbow corrected. "That book is undeniably, unquestionably, un-put-down-able! But then I had to put it down; I was sent home before I could finish it."

"Well, I'm glad that's all this is about." Twilight replied.

"There's no reason to go around causin' a ruckus—

"Fracas!" Pinkie Pie interrupted Applejack, sticking her tongue out and closing her eyes afterwards.

"...causin' a fracas…" She corrected. "Just because you like to read."

The hospital staff sighed and left almost angrily.

"Do you feel better now, Rainbow Dash?" Charles asked, helping her up from the ground. "No pony here cares that you called us an egghead. We actually just care that you finally discovered reading to be a nice way to spend your time."

She smiled lightly. "You're right…" She looked over to Twilight. "Twilight! I need to borrow that book right now!"

Twilight giggled. "Of course Rainbow Dash, come on in." she said. She and Charles led her inside.

"Like I said, I have every book in the series, and you can borrow them all, any time you like!" Twilight said as she gave the book to Rainbow. "Oh, thanks Twilight. I'm sorry I made such a big deal about all of this. I thought reading was just for smart ponies like you." Rainbow said. "Rainbow Dash, just because you're athletic doesn't mean you aren't smart!" Twilight said. "Yeah, just look at me!" Spike said as he kiss his arm. "Or me!" Charles added. "Reading is something everypony can enjoy, if they just give it a try." Twilight said. "Yeah, I get it. I shouldn't knock something until I've tried it." Rainbow said. "Hey that's what I said." Charles said. "That's a great lesson, and it would make a great letter to the Princess." Twilight said. Rainbow went up to Spike "Didja get all that?" she asked. "Yeah?" Spike said confusedly. "Great! You write the letter, I've gotta finish this book!" Rainbow says as she grabbed the book with her teeth and runs back to her house.

The story continues with Daring Do stretching her hat with her mouth over one of her hooves and launching it off. After a complex trajectory it hits the lever that Ahuizotl pulled, and the walls reverse, the sand lowers, and a door leading to the outside opens. She breaks free and concludes, "another day, another dungeon." The scene cuts to Ahuizotl petting the white house-cat. "With Daring Do out of the way, the world will suffer mightily at my hands. I am victorious!" He says as he laughs maniacally and holds up the sapphire statue with his tail-hand, at which moment Daring Do swings on a vine and snatches the statue from him "I'll take that!" Daring says. He calls out "What? Nooo!" "Better luck next time, Ahuizotl!" Daring says. "Curse you, Daring Do!" Ahuizotl says as he cried.

Daring Do runs towards the frame with the sunset behind her, while Rainbow Dash narrates And so, with Ahuizotl defeated, and the sapphire statue secured. The world was safe and sound once again, thanks to Daring Do! Rainbow Dash finishes reading the book in her bedroom, and delightedly picks up another book. "Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet... Awesome!" Rainbow says as she sighs.

Notes:

(1) Most of this I got is from this video.