The arrival of Ford Mustang

Chapter 12 - Feather Flu

"Amongst the graveyard of broken ships, Daring Do flies across the cataclysm towards the Majestic Unicorn.  Delicately, she lands on the fragile ship.  As she begins her exploration within the deserted cabins, Daring Do quietly sneaks around the ship.  Every delicate step she takes, a loud creak is made on the squeaky floorboards.

At long last, she arrives at the chambers of Captain Blackjack.  Staring right in front of Daring Do is a grinning pony skeleton wearing a captain pirate's uniform and displaying a nasty scar on his right eye.  And in his grimy, boney hooves is a small treasure chest.  Carefully, Daring Do approaches the motionless skeleton.  With a steady head, she reaches for the chest that was held tightly in the dead captain's grip.  Using her jaws, she pulled one of chest's handles with all of her might and manages to break it out of pirate's grasp.  The rusty chest makes a loud thud after it lands on the floor.  It startles Daring Do for a bit as she was afraid on how the loud noise might wake up something, but nothing else in the room moved.  With a sigh of relief, Daring Do looks back at her prize with anticipating eyes."

I smile to myself as I quietly listen to Rainbow's reading-along.  I really admire how energetic her storytelling was.  Makes me kind of wish I was a kid again.

"Unbeknownst to Daring Do as she eagerly examines the lock on the ancient chest, the hollow eyes of a skeletal pirate start to glow menacingly.  Soon the bones start to rattle as the undead captain begins to rise from his chair."

I eagerly eavesdrops the exciting climax that's about to come, but then, something starts to build up in my nose.

"Ah..."  Oh no.  Not here!  Not now!

"Blackjack quietly unsheathes a jagged sword nearby.  He then creeps up to the distracted archeologist with bloodlust eyes."

"AH..."  No no no no no no!  Don't do this to me, nose!  Don't you dare do this to me!

"Like a Manticore readying its stinger, Blackjack lifts up the nasty blade in the air to lay down the execution on the defenseless Daring Do.  And just when he is about to strike--"

"AH-CHOO!!"  That cursed sneeze of mine breaks Rainbow's concentration as she is scared right off her chair and plops on the wooden floor.

"Dang it, Ford!" Rainbow groans as she gets back off the floor.  "I was just getting to the good part!"  I slightly whimper in shame for doing that towards Rainbow Dash as I partially hide behind the covers.

"Oh, sorry!" Rainbow quickly apologizes.  "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that!  You've already had a pretty rough day as it is."

"You don't even know the half of it." I chuckle weakly.

"Wait."  I'm losing track on some of my unanswered questions here.  "How... did I get back here?"

"Simple." Rainbow answers matter-of-factly with a smile.  "I brought you here myself."

"You did?" I respond astonishingly.  "But... how did you find me?"

"Well, I was in charge of weather duty this morning.  Had to prepare a downpour that was needed for the crops around Ponyville.  So, once I was all finished up, I saw you lying there motionlessly on the ground.  I've notice how sick you were, so I immediately carried you across town and brought you back to Sweet Apple Acres.  After I told them what happened, Applejack and her family helped you up to your room."

"Well..." I faintly smile towards Rainbow.  "I guess this makes up for missing your chance to save my flank last month."

"Yeah, I guess..." Rainbow smiles to herself.  "...but without any dragons to take down though." She mutters to herself with a small frown.