“How do you explain this?!” Twilight pointed at the open book on the table. “There’s nothing in magic or science that would explain—“
“I can still hear you, you know,” a voice said from inside the book. “If you’re going to keep blabbering, at least turn the page. I’m supposed to sneak into the pyramid. Silently sneak into it.”
Twilight’s cheeks reddened. This was the first time she had been berated by her favorite fictional character. A hoof below, Daring Do looked up from the pages of the book and shook her head.
“Told you!” Rainbow Dash said with the smugness of a teapot, only to get a loud shush from the fictional character as well. “Heh, sorry about that,” she whispered, almost as flustered as Twilight. “See? I was right.”
That’s hardly a good thing! Twilight groaned internally. When Rainbow Dash had come raving she’d seen something amazing in the latest Daring Do book, Twilight expected it would be an exciting scene, a continuity reference, or a an entirely new character to the saga. Instead she had opened the book and quite literally looked into Daring Do—the fictional character—in the eyes. Even more peculiar Daring Do had looked back.
“I’m certain this didn’t happen last time I read this.” Or the last ten times, for that matter. “How exactly did it happen?”
“Who cares?” Rainbow shoved her aside to get a better view of her heroine. “Don’t you see what this means? We get to talk to the actual in-book Daring Do! We get to learn all the things that A.K. Wouldn’t tell us.” She rubbed her hooves, an evil grin on her face. “We get to learn who her real romantic interest is!”
“Seriously?” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “A fictional character is having a conversation with us and the only thing you could think about is shipping theories? Besides, it’s clear that it’s Dr. Caballeron.”
“As if!” Rainbow snorted. “Any real fan knows that Daring Do isn’t into stallions. If you ask—“
“It’s Honeydough,” Daring interrupted. Twilight and Rainbow stared at her with blank expressions. “The baker?” Still no reaction. “The pegasus in the neighborhood bakery? The one with the golden mane?”
“So that’s why you eat beagles so often!” Rainbow shouted, only to get shushed by both Daring and Twilight. “Sorry. I mean I was wondering about that.”
“Wait, really?” Twilight blinked. “That’s the reason?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Daring frowned.
“Nothing, Nothing.” Twilight moved back. “I’m just a little bit surprised. I mean he’s never actually been described in any of the books... And he sounds a bit... you know.” She turned to Rainbow Dash for supper, only to receive a blank stare. “I mean he doesn’t sound the adventurous type.”
“That’s the point,” Daring Do said flatly. “What would you prefer after a long and stressful day: rest and relaxation with nice quiet company and a beagle, or someone to drag you to yet another adventure? The secret to a healthy life is to keep work and private life separate. Otherwise it’ll only turn out like me and Caballeron.”
“You were with Caballeron?!” Rainbow Dash gasped.
“Ha! I knew it!” It was Twilight’s turn to be smug.
“Yeah.” Daring sighed. “He’s my ex-husband. That was way before the whole doctor thing. If it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t have even gotten his bachelor’s degree. Not that he’s even thanked me.”
“You were married to him?” Twilight tilted her head, while beside her Rainbow stood in shock, her jaw nearly hitting the table. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“Look, I was young and foolish, okay?” Daring snapped. “Now, if you two won’t mind, I have sneaking to do. So could you kindly turn the page?”
“Yes, of course.” Twilight levitated the page. “Oh, and just be careful not to step on the circular slab! You’ll break a hoof if you do!”
The page flipped over revealing merely text. Twilight remained still for several seconds, just to make sure that none of the characters would start talking to her, then let out a sigh of relief.
“Wow,” Rainbow Dash whispered. “The wedding must have been a mess.”
“The wedding?” Twilight glared at her friend. “Forget the wedding! We just had a conversation with a fictional character! There is no way this could happen!” She started walking round the table. “I mean, I would understand if it was one of Spike’s reality-comics, but this is an adulterated, autographed first edition copy of Daring Do and the Circular Pyramid! It’s not supposed to behave like this!”
“Well, don’t look at me!” Rainbow puffed up her wings. “I just borrowed it because ,y copy got lost in the mail. If I knew how to talk to Daring Do I’d have done it ages ago!”
“You had to have done something!” Twilight made a hundred and eighty turn and kept on walking. “Did you get in an argument with Discord again?”
“Nope. He’s having tea with Fluttershy toda.”
“Done any sonic rainbooms while flying?”
“Not since the windigo incident.”
“Well, there must have been something? Books don’t just gain magical properties out of the blue!”
“What can I tell you?” Rainbow shrugged, flapping next to Twilight as she walked. “I took the book, made a few notes in my favorite sections and poof, Daring Do asked me what was up.”
Twilight froze in her tracks. Wings, ears, and ever hair of man had shot up in the air.
“You wrote notes on my autographed first edition?” Twilight asked in a low menacing voice.
“I always write notes in your books.” Rainbow flapped a few steps back. “I’m really careful, okay? I erase them before I give the book back. Nopony could even tell the difference.”
Sparks appeared around Twilight’s horn. Unexplained phenomenon or not, she never allowed anyone to mistreat her books. What Rainbow had done was the close to sacrilege. To think that one of her closest friends—and a Daring Do fan—would dare to scribble in a first edition, was—
Hold on a moment. The aether glow disappeared. Twilight looked at Rainbow, then at the book, then back at Rainbow again. A theory had popped in her head, a theory that made nearly no sense whatsoever, yet in the absence of any other explanation it was a The only working hypothesis. Without a word, Twilight rushed to the book, and turned the page again.
“Sorry,” she whispered as Daring Do looked up, expression twisted with annoyance. “I just want to check something fast. Rainbow, show me what you wrote.”
“Hey! There’s no need to rub it in,” Dash grumbled. “I promise I won’t—“
“No, it’s not that. I just want to see what you wrote.”
“Oh.” Rainbow’s ears relaxed. “Yeah. Sure.” She flew next to Twilight. “It’s right here, just—“ Her hoof was pointing at the page, yet there were no notes or markings there, just a very annoyed Daring Do patiently tapping the ground with her hoof. “Umm it was here?” She moved closer, her nuzzle almost touching the pages.
“Thank you, Daring Do.” Twilight pulled the book away from Rainbow’s face. “Good luck with the sneaking.” She turned the page again.
“Hey! What gives?” Rainbow crossed her forelegs.
“You wrote it right before you came here, right?” A pencil appeared in the air, next to Twilight.
“Umm, Yeah?” Rainbow tilted her head.
“And you pressed really hard on the page, I assume, right?”
“Not that hard” Rainbow looked at the ceiling. “Kinda sorta hard? I was careful not to tear the page.”
“Perfect!” Twilight levitated the Pencil to the book and started scribbling on the page. However, she wasn’t writing any words or letters, merely moving the pencil tip up and down along the sheet, leaving a consistent layer of graphite.
“Twilight, what are you—“
“Shh!” The alicorn didn’t stop. Line by line the page became gray. Yet, every here and there a white mark would appear: badly scribbled letters strung together in what could be described as a sentence with lots and lots of arrows surrounding it. “She’ll totally see that coming,” Twilight read. “Those are your notes?!”
“Well, she totally would!” Rainbow argued in defense. “I just wanted to note how awesome she is.”
“Rainbow that’s...” Twilight facehooved. I’m starting to understand what my mother must have felt when I played with her books. “That’s not even how you spell ‘totally’.”
“It totally is!”
“Rainbow,” Twilight pointed at a significantly misshaped L, “that character isn’t even a letter in the equine language! It’s what happens when a piece of spaghetti ends up at a Pinkie Pie party!”
“Looks fine to me.”
“It’s not fine! It’s not even—“
“Ahem!” Dr Caballeron, the villain of the Daring Do saga, looked up from the page. “Some of us are trying to work here!”
“Dr Caballeron?!” Twilight gasped.
“Hey! Where’s your accent?” Rainbow Dash shiver closer to the book.
“What? Oh that,” the villain waved a hoof. “I just use it when Daring is close. She found it very attractive during our college days.”
“You mean you’ve been pretending all this—“
“Sorry, gotta go, bye!” Twilight slammed the book shut.
“Hey, what was that for?!” Rainbow shouted. “We were in the middle of a... Twilight? Are you alright?”
Twilight was breathing rapidly, trying desperately not to hyperventilate. Her mind was buzzing with thousands of magic formulas, that made up the fabric of magic, the universe, and reality herself. All her life Twilight has prided herself that she was on the forefront of magic research: she had powerful innate magic, knew the classics by heart, and kept up to date with all the current practices. However, even she had difficulty coming to terms with what Rainbow Dash had discovered.
“Err, Twi?” The pegasus waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s face. “You okay?
“Huh?” Twilight suddenly snapped out of it.
“You suddenly zoned out and went all wide eyed like when you’re about to make some grand discovery and...” Rainbow stopped. “Hey, I’m sorry if I ruined your day, okay? ... and your book. I promise I’ll give you mine once I get it. If Derpy doesn’t send it to the Crystal Empire again,” she added under her breath. “You know what, let’s go to Sugarcube Corner. My treat! Least I could do for this mess.”
“Actually, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Twilight smiled. “I could use a nice break from the unusual. Maybe it’ll give us a chance to catch up without having to deal with a crisis for a change.”
“Heh, we do lead interesting lives, don’t we. So we going or what?” Rainbow zipped outside the window.
“Well going. There’s just something I need to do before that.” She looked up. “Ahem, do you mind? I’d like some privacy here!”