Another Displaced Human Dilemma
By: Stardust Rapture

< 6 >

Daring Don't

"Uh..." I tried to think of a good answer. But after staying in silence for some amount of time, I think I timed out of the window to give a lie. "... Indefinitely."

"What made you say indefinitely? Why do you think you'll stay here for a length of time?" Twilight paused, but it was clear she was thinking of something else to say. "... Is it about your lack of a cutie mark?"

I suppose that's enough of a fair statement actually. "I guess you could say I'm on a journey of self-discovery."

She smiled. "Well, in that case, I'd love to have the chance to talk to you more."

"You're a grown pony who doesn't have your cutie mark! You'll make an interesting case study for me!" Twilight said, revealing her motive for asking. "Sure, there's been ponies like you before, but I'd like to have the chance to study somepony like you myself."

A case study. Well... I dunno, that's one way to stick around Ponyville, right? I mean, I wasn't forcing myself to stay here like most other stories. I was actually being asked to.

Neat how that worked out. Never could quite figure out how to justify this scenario before. I guess some time away did some good. Wait, I thought true outside factors were supposed to be left out of the story?

"I'm part of this episode, silly!" Pinkie exclaimed, standing in front of me. I was so distracted, I didn't even notice her come over to where I was sitting.

"Did I just hear that somepony is staying in Ponyville indefinitely?!" Pinkie asked, looking at Twilight, then me, then back at Twilight again.

Twilight rolled her eyes, smiling. "Only you would be able to hear something like that, Pinkie."

"Then I can finally officially throw Dusty a party!" Pinkie jumped up in joy, then—

"Whoa!" I was yanked into the center of the atrium. Then she plopped a party hat on my head. I looked at the book I was just reading, having lost my grasp on it when Pinkie pulled me aside. "Well, I guess I could just finish it later..."

"That's right!" Pinkie began setting up some tables, hopping around as she did. All the while, she was still looking at me, so clearly she was still talking with me. "That might actually be really important!"

"Important?" I asked, taking the party hat off. Party hats weren't really my thing. "It's a Daring Do book. Unless some craziness with Rainbow is about to happen, how is it important?"

"But of course!" Rarity smiled. "I wouldn't miss one of Pinkie's parties for the world... even if it's for some holiday I've never heard of." The unicorn looked at me and waved. "Hello, Stardust. If you're going to be in Ponyville for a bit, you simply must experience one of Pinkie's parties—they're such wonderful fun. It seems like today's your lucky day—Pinkie had planned a party for... because she could!"

"Different party?" This time, it was Applejack, who had also just arrived. She also waved at me. "Hey, Stardust."

"Dusty is staying in Ponyville indefinitely!" Pinkie explained, setting a bowl of punch on a table.

"Really now?" Applejack said approvingly. "Well that's just great! You'll love your stay here, guarantee it."

"Where are you going to be staying?" Rarity asked. "I mean, the inn is nice, and their prices are fair, but are you going to be staying there for the duration of your stay?"

Yeah, that was going to be something I was going to have to take care of. "If there's any other place I can find that can save me some bits for rooming, I'll try and find one," I said.

"I could help you out with that," Twilight said. "Since you said you'd be agreeable to working with me, I'm sure I can help you set something up in town. Or even stay with me. Whatever we figure out would be best for you."

"Thanks, Twilight." I did have an idea of who I might be staying with, and it wasn't Twilight. Or any of the others.

"I thought he's not allowed to think about those things," Pinkie said. "Isn't it supposed to be a surprise for him?"

"You'll be fine!" Pinkie said. "You wouldn't have known if the original plans went through anyways!"

"No one at all and nothing of your concern!" Pinkie gleefully replied. "Now let's party!"

<<+>>

"Heya, Twilight!" I quickly looked at the door; Rainbow had just arrived. "Aren't you excited that—"

"We're having a welcoming party!" Pinkie exclaimed, blowing her horn again. "And hey, that's a deviation from the script—neat!"

"I mean, first it was supposed to be National Random Holiday Party Day, but this is much better!" Pinkie explained. "Woo hoo!"

"Not that having a party for a holiday I've never heard of is a bad thing," Rarity said, "but it's really convenient for Pinkie to have a more concrete reason for a party." She sipped the glass in her telekinesis. "And the punch is quite tasty."

Applejack looked at Rainbow with an annoyed expression. "I came to invite you personally, but it seems you were a speck too busy reading the last Daring Do book for the twelfth time."

"Yeah, well, in three months and twenty six more days, I'll be able to read the next one," Rainbow said.

Oh. So I guess that's what Pinkie meant by the book I was reading earlier being plot relevant.

"Oh, haven't you heard?" Twilight said. "The release of the next book got pushed another two months."

Rainbow sputtered. "Two more months?! I've been waiting so long already! I don't think I can take another two months! I'll never make it!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie said next to me. "Remember all the hitches in the past seasons? Like Season 3! It only had half the amount of episodes—and Twilight just 'poof'—got her wings in one episode! Everyone went crazy!"

"Well as long as totallynotabrony keeps describing it as meta, we're doing fine!"

"It's not like anyone else is checking, though. And besides—it's not really a meta story."

It was getting weird enough that I just turned my attention back to the regular conversation.

"A.K. Yearling just might be my favorite author," Twilight said. "I know everything about her. Where she grew up, where she studied literature, where she wrote the first Daring Do book..."

"Don't you get it?" Rainbow said. "The new book is obviously delayed because she needs help dealing with whatever everyday nonsense is distracting her from spending her every living breathing second writing! So I— I mean, fans like me, can get to read the new book ASAP! Think about it! We could help her with her laundry, buy her groceries, cooking her meals, whatever! Now, who wouldn't appreciate that?"

I noticed Twilight wince slightly, but she hid it from Rainbow by simply looking away. "Well, yeah, she probably just wants respect for her privacy."

"Well, it still might be worth a shot," Twilight said, trying to appease her friend.

<<+>>

I perked up, brought out from my humming stupor while walking beside Pinkie, who was laying down red tracks to mark our path. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

"What?" I asked her. Oh, right, she brought me along because it was part of her case study as to possible reasons why I didn't have my cutie mark at such an age.

"I just asked you, about your home life, what it was like?" Twilight said. "Just trying to use our time for some progress here—which was part of the reason I asked you if you might want to come along in the first place. Since Rainbow stopped listening to reason about A.K. Yearling's privacy..."

"I think I spotted the house!" Rainbow suddenly exclaimed. "We're super close! This way!" She ran ahead, and the rest of us followed.

"Apparently somepony has intruded on her privacy pretty hard already..." Rainbow said.

She knocked on the door, which promptly crashed down. We took that as a welcome in.

"Hoo-wee," Applejack said as she looked around, "somepony really trashed this place."

Pinkie suggested something else. "Hmm... Maybe... or maybe A.K. Yearling's just a terrible, horrible, unbelievable slob!

Our inspection of the place went on for a bit longer. But probably not even a minute later—

Everyone looked to the door. Rainbow probably summed it up best. "Uh... A... K-K... Yearling...?" She squeed in excitement.

"We're awfully glad to see you're alright," Twilight said as Yearling kept shifting things around. Maybe she was looking for something instead.

Rainbow whistled. "Okay, clearly this isn't the best time, but I've just gotta say how much we all really love your books..." She chuckled nervously. Yeah, you're being real smooth, Rainbow.

Obviously, the author had much more pressing matters, because she clearly wasn't paying attention. Instead, she opened up a book which instead held a secret compartment. She sighed in relief. "It's safe."

"Great!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Maybe now would be a good time for me to ask her how we can help move the new book along a little faster. Chop chop!"

I'm pretty sure I gave her a flat expression, but Twilight was the one with magic, and so pulled Rainbow aside. "Rainbow Dash, a minute please!"

In fact, Twilight was doing the concept of decency a favor by pulling the pegasus out and away from the house, the rest of us following. "A.K. Yearling has made it pretty clear that she wants to be left alone. We need to respect her wishes!"

Well, maybe suspicious was too weak of a word. We all went to the window to watch the confrontation.

And in a moment to our surprise, underneath all of the clothes, was the adventurer herself. Who promptly began kicking ass.

"A.K. Yearling and Daring Do are one and the same!" Twilight exclaimed as we spectated. "My mind is officially blown!"

The choreography, I admit, was pretty good. And the camera angles the show camera was taking were pretty spot-on. The fight got to a point where the ring was thrown into the fireplace.

And to be expected of our pony-Indy, it was skillfully whipped out and cooled with a fallen water pitcher. The scuffle continued...

"Many thanks, Daring Do," this newly arrived stallion boasted. "As you've probably surmised, our earlier search for this treasure was... unsuccessful. So kind of you to find it for us."

"That's Doctor Caballeron to you." That voice was so confident. So arrogant. Really, pretty much on par for a referencing of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"He's from book four, Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams. He wanted to partner with Daring Do on her adventures."

The heated conversation between the two, ending with, naturally, the run-down of his nefarious plan. "... I'm going to sell this to him, make a bundle, and retire from archaeology in splendor."

"Caballeron, you fool!" Daring struggled against her captors. "You're dooming the valley to eight centuries of unrelenting heat!"

"To market, henchponies!" With that, the raiding party left out the door, leaving Daring to slowly recover from the fight she just lost.

Everyone seemed to realize that it wasn't a feature film, but reality. "Oh, right."

Well, I saw all of the movies. I decided trying to push for an epic climax verging on the edge of defeat wasn't preferable, if possible. I took off after the group of bandits. After a few hoofbeats of a running start, I transitioned to silent flight.

See, here's the thing. These guys are just dumb cartoon villains. Not only that, but they were all earth ponies. They can run—but they can't fly.

Granted, nothing bad was likely to happen at the end of this episode even if I decided not to intervene, but seriously—why the hell would I just stand around and worry when I could actually do something about a possible threat to... the region? I think it was the region. Daring said something about a valley.

Regardless, that's not something you're supposed to stand around and wait for someone else to take care of. Not in this sort-of lawless land, and certainly not in the middle of nowhere where no authorities could pin me down for misconduct of vigilantism.

I swiftly navigated between the trees, eventually catching a glimpse of the perpetrators. They had slowed, seemingly confident that they were safe.

The doc seemed to have been comfortably talking about his plans. He looked so content, keeping that ring close to him around his neck.

So I gave the bastard a flying kick that sent him flying a good number of yards to the side, away from his henchponies. I think I heard a crack there too. My momentum carried me to his landing spot.

"Hey," I greeted, skidding to a halt facing backwards, catching a glimpse of his ponies processing the ambush, all the way behind some bushes.

Caballeron, face down in the dirt like he probably deserved, turned his head sideways, trying to look back up at me. "Who in the world are—*HCK*"

I pulled back on the ring, forcefully shutting him up by choking his words in his throat, and putting the pressure on with a hind leg on his back to keep him down.

With my other hind leg, I smashed his face back into the ground. Then I knelt down to his ear. "You know who you remind me of? Nazis. I hate those guys."

His ponies were getting pretty close—between the sudden ambush and the almost comical distance I punted Caballeron, it gave me that much time. The doc probably didn't expect to get his head knocked around like it did, because the ring only met the resistance of trying to get unhooked from his head as I took it in hoof and launched off, leaving leaves rustling in my wake.

I gave a sly chuckle. "Yeah, take that, villain of the week. Asses are getting beat properly and deservedly, now that I'm around."

I caught a flash of movement in the corner of my eye. But it wasn't the bad guys. I changed my course and cautiously went for an inspection.

Fortunately, it was exactly who I needed. So I tried to get her attention, snickering as little as possible. "Doctor Jones!"

Daring snapped her head in my direction, and I spun the ring around my hoof. She ran over to me. "Who the—... you were with the mares back there."

I bobbed my head. "Yeah, I was. Until all of this went down, and what seemed like an important, dangerous artifact was leaving with the bad guys." I held up the ring.

"Huh," was all she replied, taking the ring back. She placed it around her neck.

"...A pony who stops entire armies of bad guys with nothing more than her bare hooves and an attitude..."

"...and—! Ow... That's starting to hurt." And with that, Rainbow was promptly assaulted by Daring.

Daring looked exasperated. "Oh, it's just you." She began to walk back in my direction.

"Wait, don't go!" Rainbow called out. She looked like she was mumbling stuff to herself. "I am suuuuuch a huge fan."

Daring sighed in response. I couldn't blame her. In fact, I think she glanced at me, hoping I could give her some respite from the manic blue pegasus.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rainbow protested. "Let me help you! I promise I could be a huge, huge help if you just give me a chance."

Daring turned. "I. Work. Alone. Besides—" she pointed at me, "—he already did." She spun the ring around her neck as emphasis.

It took Rainbow a moment to get over the fact that I just stole her possible spotlight. "Bu-but why? You won't team up with any pony? It's so useful! Like—like in book—"

"My work always involves secrets," Daring interrupted. "And since you never know who you can trust, it's best never to trust anypony you don't know."

"Got a point, Rainbow," I said. "And it's dangerous stuff... although Temple of Doom did have Indy run around with those two..."

"But just because you can't trust some, doesn't mean nopony can be trusted!" Rainbow countered.

"Look," Daring said, "now's not the time to argue." She looked at me. "What did you do with Caballeron and his thugs?"

"Caballeron got a kick to the gut and the rest of them I left in the dust," I said.

"... Well, not the cleanest solution, but it worked. I'm heading back home for a bit and then taking this," she flicked the ring, "somewhere safe." The adventurer began walking back in the direction of her house.

I took pity on the gold pegasus and started up the conversation first, before Rainbow could... bug her with her blatant fangirlism. "So... Daring, what made you start writing your adventures?"

"Yeah, Stardust," Rainbow interrupted, "you haven't even finished the third book!"

Daring glared at Rainbow, causing the blue mare to shrink. To my surprise, she actually began answering my question. "Felt like sharing them, you know? Adventures, ancient artifacts, doom-bringing—magical items endangering the status quo is a fairly common concept to the common Equestrian, and of course, everypony likes a good legend. What better way to make bits than tell exciting stories of them? And you can't get more vivid and a feel more authentic than the source content."

"Huh," I replied. "That makes sense. So where do you send off the artifacts once you've recovered them? A museum?" I chuckled.

"But—" Rainbow was hushed by Daring's hoof. I could see it in Rainbow's eyes that she was getting annoyed at me stealing her thunder. By being normal.

"It's a closely guarded secret because of the dangers they pose—" Daring said, looking both Rainbow and I in our eyes. She released her hoof from Rainbow's muzzle and began walking again. "Weren't you listening?"

"And writing's your only side job?" I asked. "Although, I do imagine that your successful series rakes in the cash."

"Nope!" Rainbow exclaimed. "She's also an esteemed archaeologist in Canterlot! As A.K. Yearling, of course."

"Better and better by the minute." I decided then to point out something in jest—and was, prior to this episode, because Daring Do was supposed to be a projection of Rainbow's imagination. "New question—did Rainbow Dash change her manestyle to look like you, or did Daring Do change her manestyle to look like a famous flyer that pulled off an incredible aerial feat in Cloudsdale?"

Somehow, that actually got Daring to halt in her tracks and look at Rainbow, then me. "What?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow said, taking advantage of my bringing up of her accomplishment. "I'm totally famous! The Rainbow Dash of the Sonic Rainboom."

"Well, I did recognize that name," Daring said, but this time, not with a bored expression. "And I did read about you in the papers—"

"—but there's really no relation between my mane and hers. Must be a... functionality of simplicity thing."

"Down to the gradients and style," I said. "Copy and paste." I went further for the fun of it. "And eyes, too."

Daring glanced at Rainbow again, this time seemingly a bit wary, probably from the oddity of the scenario. After all, I just told her that they had practically the same eyes.

"Maybe you're related," I jokingly suggested. 'Jokingly'. Because we all know how well that actually ended up. For the record, I still thought it was entertaining.

"That would be so cool though!" Rainbow squeaked. "If I was related to Daring Do!"

"Look," Daring said, turning to Rainbow. "If you really want to help, how about you, uh, go ahead on back and get you and your friends to help clean up my place. It'll make it easier to pack for my trip later. I'm still a bit sore from that scuffle earlier."

Rainbow gasped at the opportunity to please her idol. "Right away!" She flew off back in the direction of Daring's house.

"Hey," she said, clearly addressing me. I looked at her. "I... appreciate the help, but you should get going."

I raised a brow. "As much as I trust your ability to take care of yourself, there's nothing wrong with a pony watching your back."

I rolled my eyes, figuring it wasn't really worth bothering her anymore than she was. "Suit yourself."

"Stardust—" My attention snapped to Rainbow, who was apparently waiting to see what would happen to me.

I halted in my tracks as this big blue... thing confronted Daring. "Give it to me!"

"Ahuizotl!" I stopped paying attention to the confrontation as I tried to make my way around, making sure I would be better hidden from view. I heard some snark about a ring and a proposal, but unfortunately for me, I missed most of it. Sucks.

What I didn't miss, though, was the sound of big cats growling. I took a peek around a tree.

Daring prepared to put up another fight against Ahuizotl's cats. I pretty much trusted her ability to hold her own—I'd read enough of the books so far to know that. So I stuck to the shadows, like an ace up a sleeve. Just in case something went wrong.

If Daring didn't need the help, then that would be great. And if she found herself in a bind, or lost the ring somehow, then I'd take that as a cue to jump in and lend a hoof.

My attention was caught by Rainbow, who was standing out in the open like an idiot, waving Daring's pith helmet around. I saw Ahuizotl eye her. "Rainbow, you idiot!"

Ahuizotl just chuckled sinisterly as he waved me around for Daring to see. And with that break in her defenses, the cats pounced on her and tied her up. Ahuizotl walked over to his tied-up captive, with me still in his tail's grasp.

The ground, at that moment, felt like it was mocking me for being half a second too late tackling Rainbow down.

"You stood out in the open and distracted her from the fight," I told her bluntly, brushing myself off. "So, good job."

There was a soft stampede of hooves off to the side, and it was quickly revealed to be Twilight and the others.

"In here," Rainbow said, pointing at her chest. "Daring Do and the ring have been captured by the dreaded Ahuizotl, and it's all my fault."

She glanced at me, and I shook my head slightly, indicating 'not really'. Her glance turned into a light glare.

"We can't go back now!" Applejack said. "Looks a mite like she needs our help more than ever!"

"Trying to help is how I got in this mess in the first place. You were right, Twilight. We should've stayed out of this."

At that moment, I knelt down in front of Rainbow, then literally began shaking some sense into her. "No, Rainbow, you weren't trying to help. You stood there and watched, or talked, instead of acting."

She gave me a guilt-ridden look, and then looked around at her friends. I could see gears grinding in her head.

Twilight sighed. "Look, there's more going on here than meets the eye. In every Daring Do book, there always is! We can't turn our backs on her!"

"There's no excuse to run, Rainbow," I said. Everyone else said similar things in agreement.

"Where's the Rainbow Dash who would help anypony at the drop of a hat?" Pinkie asked.

"She's here where she's got no business being." Rainbow continued to try to finally open herself up to the idea that she had blinded herself. "She should be at home."

Twilight went into lecture mode. "It's fine to look up to Daring Do, but you've put her so high up on a pedestal, you can't even see your own worth anymore! She's in the fortress, and we're here, and we wouldn't be who we are if we didn't go in after her! And neither would you! "

"Like I said, Rainbow," I said, crossing my hooves, "enough with the words and pity, just get moving."

<<+>>

I let Rainbow take lead, since she'd finally got her self-esteem back to a point where she was well-determined to do the right thing. I figured it would be best if I let her work it out herself, and let her have the spotlight this time. After all, the episode was about Rainbow.

Fortunately, a loud, boasting voice about doom to the region was a pretty clear indicator of where we needed to fly to. We swooped into the chamber where Daring was held, catching her just as she was about to fall into a pit of piranhas.

"Gotcha!" Rainbow motioned towards a hallway to the side to coordinate our movements.

"I was just about to save myself, you know," Daring said, probably unpleased she had to see Rainbow again.

"Of course," Rainbow replied. She took out Daring's hat. "I just thought you might need this."

Daring sighed, but it was quickly clear she appreciated the help. She ran off towards the ritual chamber, and I let Rainbow take point once again. We reached the chamber, and Twilight and company had already began the process of delaying... whatever Ahuiztol's process was.

"Then do it quickly before they notice!" she hissed. She put her hooves on the topmost one, and Rainbow and I followed her direction.

Here's a fact—giant rings are heavy. Gold is a pretty dense metal. As rings get bigger, mass increases.

"If we can remove the giant ring at the bottom," Daring began explaining, "the whole fortress will collapse!"

I lost my grip on the ring as something whacked me in the back of the head, hard. The two mares lost their balance, and the ring we were grabbing fell back to the top of the remaining stack. We were just over halfway through the pile.

"Whoops!" Pinkie exclaimed. "That wasn't supposed to happen. Guess my hooves were a little slippery." She waved at me.

I looked at what hit me. It was the ring from earlier. Instinctively, I picked it up.

At that moment, I had the attention of everyone in the room. Including Ahuizotl and his ponies.

"Stop her!" Ahuizotl objected to our actions up on the pedestal. He sicced his ponies after us.

I did the one thing I figured I should do in the face of an evil trying to use a magical ancient artifact. I held up the smaller ring in defiance and said a line of protest. "It belongs in a museum!"

I swung the ring at another's face, the contact making a satisfyingly resounding clang. "On it!"

Ahuizotl lunged at me. In the same instant, I realized that since this ring needed to go on top, and Daring and Rainbow had basically removed most of the stack, that meant I just had a fancy, dense, insignificant metal object in my hooves.

I tossed up the ring and bucked it as hard as I could. My coordination in my pegasus body needed some live fire testing, after all.

That was a pretty clear signal to leave, so I took my leave through the skylight in the ceiling.

<<+>>

We flew a good distance away to clear ourselves from any danger; on the way, Rainbow and Daring dropped the last ring they were carrying. It shattered, ensuring no further danger would come of it.

I watched as Rainbow spoke with Daring, letting her have her moment. Daring actually looked happy now. They ended with a hug, and I heard something about finishing a book.

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, we wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Dash," I said.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way, by the way," I clarified. "It was her idea to find you in the first place."

Daring nodded. "Well, I didn't think I'd need any help," Daring said. "But turns out I did," she admitted.

"Rainbow's okay. Just a bit... overzealous. And stubborn," I pointed out. "Headstrong and stubborn. You sure you two aren't related? Rainbow never mentioned anything about her mom."

Daring rolled her eyes. "We're not related," she replied flatly. Though, it was clear that she understood it was a lighthearted jest.

"I dunno, Harrison Ford played some characters good at assertively denying... I'm just going to leave the benefit of the doubt."

"No idea who you're talking about, but you can think what you want, it's not true."

"Why do you keep calling me these random names?" Daring waved it off. "Anyways, uh... you keep an eye on her, alright?" she grinned. "Troublemaker. And you... you keep your skills sharp, Stardust..." she pointed at me, and trailed off. She tilted her head.

Daring waved her hoof back and forth. "I like to keep important details straight," she noted. "Helps me make my stories more authentic, even if I end up twisting around a lot of details. You know, help me stay appreciative of the truth. Just 'Stardust'?"

I understood what she, and the story plot, was getting at. Characterization had to move forward, after all. So, naturally, I couldn't, and shouldn't, pass up the opportunity to admit to the truth.

<<+>>

"You know, Stardust," Twilight said, "for all the help you were during the whole debacle, you still always seem to be off on your lonesome at most other times."

I looked up from the Daring Do book I was reading; it had not even been a week since the events that transpired in text above. “I learned to be self-reliant. I worked better that way. Unless you really know that they’re a completely trustworthy companion, I found that it was better to learn how to work alone. Others won’t always be able to be there for you.” I paused. “Now I’m wondering if this was already a friendship lesson or something of the sort...”

“Friendship lesson?" Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "I could always take a look through my records... wait, how did you know about them?”

Suddenly, Pinkie burst through the window. "You know, that was almost the actual lesson of this episode!"

"Pinkie, wha—" Twilight stopped herself, then focused on what Pinkie actually said. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, almost!" Pinkie replied. "Except Rainbow taught Daring Do to trust others! But for you, you're just really skeptical about others' reliability!"

"But is there really?" Twilight asked, seemingly accepting the odd scene that brought up this topic. "Daring Do said she worked alone for various reasons, some of which almost alluded to her considering others as liabilities to her mission. And that it was dangerous work."

I stared forward, processing Twilight's logic. Or, my logic, rather. "Actually, you may be right. Competency matters a lot, Twilight. When messing up means really bad things are going to happen, you want to minimize liabilities—luck shouldn't be part of the equation. I'd say Daring was in the right for her to ask to work alone."

"That's a single situation though. If you're not desperate, then you need to consider if the offered help will actually be helpful."

Pinkie took it, and Twilight and I stood up to receive it. We opened the package, and it turns out, there were two books.

I shrugged. "Let's find out." I opened the book. "'To Twilight Sparkle, on the request of a mutual special somepony. We see our legacy of keeping dangers to Equestria at bay are in good hooves.' Oh, well I guess this one's yours."

"Stardust Rapture is your full name?" Twilight asked, closing the cover of the book in her telekinesis.

Twilight looked at me, and I shrugged in response. I held the book out for her to take, and we swapped.

"Well," Twilight began, "I would've thought Rainbow, but 'legacy in good hooves'? She was clearly talking about that mutual somepony. So not Rainbow, but I must know who it is."

"Sure is," I said. Then again, I do remember this detail in an idea planning, so I knew who it was. Should probably keep that a secret though. Mortals working for the Royal Canterlot Archives presumably kept that detail of their lives hidden.

I looked at the book in my hooves and realized something. "Great. I probably shouldn't read this until I finish the rest of the series."

"Oh, you'll catch up soon enough, Stardust," Twilight said. "You're as much as a bookworm as I am."

"Am not. I have a taste for art and words, but not to your extent. Good stories, though, that's a sweet tooth."

Another Displaced Human Dilemma

by The Grey Pegasus

[6] [S4E04]-Daring Don't