by G. M. Berrow
“I can totally do this,” she says. “I’m Daring Dash!”
Suddenly, the sound of deep laughter echoes through the trees. It sends shivers up Rainbow Dash’s spine.
She knows she needs a plan if she is going to find the entrance to the Spirit Circle before the thief does.
“Where did I put that map of Equestria?” she wonders, stopping to look through her pockets.
There is a low gurgling noise, followed by a loud SNAP!
Rainbow Dash turns to see a Colossa-gator!
It has shiny, scaly green skin and red eyes. It is like a normal alligator, except much bigger and stronger.
Rainbow Dash flies up into the air, but the trees hang too low. She can’t get high enough to be safe from the gator!
Rainbow Dash reaches into her pockets and flings the first thing she can find at the gator: one of Pinkie’s green cupcakes. She chucks the baked dessert right into the gator’s open mouth.
It swallows the cupcake, burps, and slinks away.
Rainbow Dash can’t believe her eyes. “Pinkie Pie, you’re a genius!” she shouts.
Rainbow Dash continues on her quest, throwing cupcakes at oncoming gators. Soon she escapes them with only one green cupcake to spare. Shrugging her shoulders, Rainbow Dash eats it.
She keeps searching for the Dual Stronghold. But all she finds are old castle ruins. Rainbow Dash wishes that Twilight Sparkle were there. Twilight would definitely know where to find the entrance. Rainbow Dash sighs. It’s too late now. She continues trotting deeper into the unknown.
Chapter 10
Soon Rainbow Dash spies strange glowing red smoke swirling through the forest. Hoping it will lead her closer to the Spirit Circle, she follows it. It leads her to a clearing covered with soft white sand.
The red smoke hovers over the sand before disappearing into the woods.
Rainbow Dash leaps into the air, beating her wings. She is halfway across the sandy clearing when she feels herself falling! It’s as if her wings are frozen.
Wooompf! Rainbow Dash lands in the soft sand. She reaches out her right hoof to pull herself up. But every step pulls her deeper into the sinking sand.
“It can’t be!” Rainbow Dash says in a panic. “Quicksand!”
She tries to spread her wings, but they are still frozen by some sort of magic.
Rainbow Dash knows if she doesn’t act fast, the sand will swallow her up completely.
She looks around. A low, sturdy bush sits at the edge of the sandpit about ten trots away. If she had something to reach it with, she could pull herself to safety. But what?
“Applejack’s rope!” Rainbow Dash yells. “Of course!”
She reaches into her pockets and grabs the rope. She swings it around in a circle and tosses the rope toward the shrub. It bounces off and falls to the dirt.
“No!” Rainbow Dash shouts, now waist-deep in sand. Lassoing is harder than it looks. She makes a mental note to compliment Applejack on her lasso skills when she gets home.
If she gets home!
Thinking about her friends, Rainbow Dash pulls the lasso in and gives it another shot. This time, the loop hooks around the bush. Rainbow Dash pulls herself slowly toward the solid dirt. She’s never been happier to have her hooves firmly on the ground.
Chapter 11
After trotting through the forest for what seems like forever, Rainbow Dash realizes she’s lost. And she misses her friends.
Rainbow Dash riffles through her pockets. She cuddles Fluttershy’s teddy bear tightly. She pulls out the Sapphire Stone bookmark that Twilight Sparkle gave her and stares at it. This gift doesn’t make any sense.
“I wish I were at the Dual Stronghold right now!” Rainbow Dash sighs.
Suddenly, there is a blinding white light. When she opens her eyes, Rainbow Dash finds herself in front of a large, crumbling stone building. Twilight Sparkle’s bookmark has magically transported her to the Castle of the Two Sisters!
“This must be it!” Rainbow Dash shouts. “So that’s what Dual Stronghold means. Dual means two, and stronghold is just a fancy word for castle.”
“Daring Dash has finally arrived!” a deep voice bellows from within a red smoky mist. “I wasn’t sure if you had survived.”
“Show yourself, you… coward!” Rainbow Dash squeaks.
“Prepare yourself to be amazed!” the voice cackles. The red smoke parts, and out steps a massive Zebra. “For you are graced by the presence of Braze!”
He has blood-red eyes and an earring made of orange-and-yellow feathers. His stripes are red, orange, and yellow and look like the flames of a raging fire.
“I’m not afraid of you, Braze!” Rainbow Dash says boldly. But she’s not telling the truth.
Blaze makes a sweeping motion with his hoof to reveal Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all tied together with a magical red fire-rope.
Rainbow Dash gasps. “What are you ponies doing here?!”
“We’re sorry, RD,” Applejack says. “But we just wanted to make sure you were safe!”
Rainbow Dash reaches for the fiery rope to untie her friends, but it burns her hoof.
Braze laughs cruelly. “Do you think I’d make it that easy? Come here, Daring Dash, this choice will be breezy!”
Then Rainbow Dash sees it: the entrance to the Spirit Circle! She remembers Twilight telling her that the entrance is visible once every five seasons, on the seventh day of the third week of the year. Twilight was right about today being that day! The entrance is a large stone door covered in ancient pony carvings. But Braze can’t get in.
In the middle of the door is a large U-shaped slot. The slot must be made for the Half-Gilded Horseshoe, the key that could unleash scary spirits into Ponyville.
“The spirits will only open the room for the one who can do a huge Sonic Rainboom,” chants Braze.
He tosses the Half-Gilded Horseshoe into the air to show off. Rainbow Dash notices that when its edge grazes one of the fire-ropes, the horseshoe slightly cuts the rope. That gives her an idea.
“I will open the door to the Spirit Circle for you,” Rainbow Dash says, playing along, “and then you’ll let my friends go?”
Braze throws the Half-Gilded Horseshoe to Rainbow Dash. “Yes! I will disappear with my treasure, and then you can leave at your leisure,” he rhymes.
The other ponies stare at Rainbow Dash. Is she really going to open the door? What about the bad spirits getting out? But Rainbow Dash gives them a wink.
Pinkie Pie seems to understand Rainbow Dash’s plan. “Hey, Mr. Braaaaaaze?” she chirps. “Do you have any snacks? I’m sooo hungry!”
Braze turns around and growls.
That distraction allows just enough time for Rainbow Dash to switch the Half-Gilded Horseshoe with the regular one Rarity gave her. She slips the Half-Gilded Horseshoe into one of her pockets.
“One haunted room full of treasure coming right up!” Rainbow Dash says, sliding the regular horseshoe into the slot. Slowly, she pulls down the lever.
Chapter 12
Rainbow Dash’s plan is going better than expected. “See? It doesn’t work.” She pushes on the lever again, but the door doesn’t budge.
Braze is furious. “No! No! This cannot be! I have secured both the Pegasus and the key!”
Braze hasn’t noticed the horseshoe has been switched.
Rainbow Dash flashes the precious horseshoe in her pocket to her friends.
“The Half-Gilded Horseshoe!” Twilight Sparkle exclaims.
“What?” Braze gallops over.
Past his shoulder, Rainbow Dash can see that the entrance to the Spirit Circle is starting to fade away. She just has to keep the Half-Gilded Horseshoe away from Braze until the entrance is gone. Then she can cut her friends free, and they can escape!
“I’ll never give it to you, Braze! I’m the fastest Pegasus around!” Rainbow Dash shoots up into the air. “Hey, Braze! Watch this!” she hollers. She throws the Half-Gilded Horseshoe
like a boomerang right at her Ponyville friends!
The horseshoe slices through the fire-rope, then doubles back to Rainbow Dash. She catches it and puts it away.
The ponies break free and cheer. “Go, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie squeals.
Braze lets out a sob as the door vanishes. Now there is just grass where it once stood.
“You may have won this time, Daring Dash, but I will be back to claim my stash!” Braze rhymes before disappearing in a burst of flames.
“And I’ll be ready for him!” Rainbow Dash proclaims. Then she smiles around at her friends. “I mean—we’ll be ready for him.”
“And so, with Braze defeated and the Half-Gilded Horseshoe secured,” Twilight cheers, “Ponyville is safe once again, thanks to Daring Dash!”
“And her amazing friends!” adds Rainbow Dash.
Chapter 13
There is a buzz of excitement in Miss Cheerilee’s classroom at the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Today’s visitors are local heroes Daring Dash and her friends.
“My sister, Applejack, was there when Daring Dash defeated the evil Zebra, Braze!” Apple Bloom brags.
“And so was mine!” says Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle.
“All right, let’s calm down, my little ponies,” Cheerilee says. “Let’s all give a warm welcome to… Daring Dash!”
“Hey, adoring fans!” Rainbow Dash trots in, waving.
All the fillies and colts have questions for the bravest Pegasus in Ponyville. But before Rainbow Dash answers any of them, she has something important to say.
“Remember, it may seem cool to be brave and daring—and it is awesome—but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that…” Rainbow Dash pauses. She looks around at Rarity, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy with a smile, and they smile right back at her. “Sometimes the bravest thing a pony can do is accept help from her friends, even when she doesn’t think she needs it!”
Rainbow Dash claps her hooves together. “Now, who wants to hear about how I was wing-deep in quicksand and used a lasso to pull myself out?”
Keep reading with Little, Brown.
Get activities, videos, reading guides, and more!
LittleBrownYoungReaders.com
Facebook.com/LittleBrownYoungReaders
Instagram.com/LittleBrownYoungReaders
Twitter.com/LittleBrownYR
Youtube.com/LittleBrownBooks
Pinterest.com/LittleBrownYoungReaders
