“And that is why Ring of Destiny is the most awesome Daring Do book ever!” Rainbow Dash concluded her argument before the Golden Oak Library Memorial Society.
The Golden Oak Library Society had undergone a rather drastic downsizing since the Golden Oaks Library was unfortunately destroyed by Tirek. From its ashes, literally and figuratively, Twilight decided to found the Golden Oak Library Memorial Society for the most die-hard of Daring Do fans. The GOLMS met twice each month at Sugarcube Corner to read and discuss in depth each book of the Daring Do book series. They had been keeping up with news about future books and A.K. Yearling as well. However, broadening their topics of conversation led to the club’s more creative members suggesting they discuss some of their headcanons as well.
The GOLMS was pretty modest in size. There was Twilight Sparkle, who was the founding member and president.
Rainbow Dash was their second addition. In her time there, she had worked her way up to vice president.
Scootaloo, who idolized Rainbow Dash enough to follow her through the Gates of Tartarus if need be, developed a sudden interest in Daring Do not long after Rainbow did. Eventually she became the youngest member of the group to join.
Then there was Derpy Hooves, the local mailmare. Even though she and Rainbow had known each other since they went to flight school, Rainbow had not known Derpy was a fan until she saw her at the first meeting. Derpy had been unable to attend the first meeting of the original Golden Oak Library Society.
Then there was Pinkie Pie, who was the reason they could have their meetings as Sugarcube Corner.
Finally, there was Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. Lyra had been acquainted with Twilight since they attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Bon Bon was Lyra’s best friend and roommate. Ponies made of that what they would.
They all sat around their table, each with their own copy of the book in question. Rainbow had her own special-edition copy that she received a week before anypony else. It was even autographed and personalized by “A.K. Yearling.”
The GOLMS had gathered to discuss Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny, and Rainbow Dash had just given her spiel as to why this book in particular was the most awesome of the series. Her argument mostly concerned the new character introduced in the book: Prism Rush, the plucky, prismatic colored archaeologist-in-training Daring reluctantly allowed to join her on her adventure.
Rainbow grinned at what she felt was a job well done. With the exception of Scootaloo, the others looked a bit unconvinced.
“What?” Rainbow asked, somewhat confused.
Everypony looked at each other, hoping somepony else would speak first.
“Well, you make a good argument,” Lyra began diplomatically. “Having said that though, I think Prism Rush’s presence kind of detracts from the story.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Derpy said, “Daring works alone for all her books and then suddenly Prism Rush shows up out of nowhere and then they’re like best friends. It’s a bit rushed and kind of OOC for Daring.”
“Yeah, she’s totally a Marey Sue,” Bon Bon said.
“A Marey Sue? A Marey Sue?!” Rainbow pointed a hoof at Bon Bon. “Prism Rush is not a Marey Sue!” Rainbow turned to Twilight sitting next to her on her left. “What’s a Marey Sue?”
“A Marey Sue is a character in a fictional work that has been idealized and overpowered to the extent that they’re no longer challenged by the narrative,” explained Twilight. “Given that definition, Rainbow is right. Prism Rush is not really a Marey Sue.”
“Hah!” Rainbow cried in triumph as she pointed at Bon Bon. “Besides, they don’t become best friends immediately,” Rainbow added much more calmly. “Remember, Daring didn’t want to trust her at first. Prism had to earn her trust by saving Daring from Ahuizotl’s deathtrap.”
The other members of the club mulled this over for a minute.
“Anyway,” Lyra said, “it’s not like Prism Rush ruins the book or anything. For me, it’s awesome because it totally confirms the Darizotl ship!”
Everypony else, except Pinkie and Scootaloo, facehoofed and groaned.
“Lyra,” Derpy said on the cusp of exasperation, “that was a joke. Daring doesn’t really want to marry Ahuizotl!”
“You only say that because you ship her with Lancer,” Lyra replied.
Derpy responded by glaring at her. At least, it was a glare until one of Derpy’s eyes began to swivel off in the opposite direction.
“Be that as it may,” Rainbow said as Derpy proceeded to glare at her as well, “what’s your obsession with Ahuizotl anyway?”
“Oh boy,” Bon Bon said, rolling her eyes. “Here we go.”
Lyra’s horn glowed with a golden hue as a scrapbook floated out of her saddlebag. She opened it and started flipping through the pages. The book appeared to be filled with fanart that had been clipped out of Tenochtitlan Daily, the premier Daring Do fanzine. Finally, Lyra came to the picture she had been looking for. She then pushed the scrapbook to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow looked at the image. It was a fan-drawn close up of Ahuizotl’s face as he looked up to the sky and laughed. He was holding his paws in front of his face with the monkey paw on his tail held above his head. Rainbow could swear that Ahuizotl’s paws seemed a bit bigger than they normally appeared in the illustrations that headed the chapters of each Daring Do book.
Rainbow just looked back at Lyra, pretty much unimpressed. Lyra looked back at her with a wide smile and an excited look in her eyes.
“He has HANDS!” Lyra said. “Not just two, but three!” Lyra took back the scrapbook and looked at the picture wistfully. “Just imagine what he could do with those wonderful HANDS!”
Everypony, except Pinkie and Scootaloo, suddenly looked uncomfortable.
“Hasn’t he tried to strangle Daring Do with those wonderful hands?” Bon Bon asked.
Lyra ignored her.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you won’t be getting hot and bothered over Ahuizotl’s hands if he got handsy with you in real life,” Rainbow added.
“If only he was real,” Lyra muttered as she continued to look dreamily at the picture.
Rainbow thought about it for a moment. She was pretty sure Daring had a good reason for passing off her adventures as works of fiction. She probably would not appreciate Rainbow running her mouth about how Daring Do was real. There might be serious consequences for doing such a thing. Then again, she already wrote about in quite a bit of detail in their Friendship Journal that Twilight published, and pretty much everypony in Equestria had read that. She might as well go for it.
“What if I told you he was?” Rainbow Dash asked.
This immediately got Lyra’s attention, although she still looked questioningly back at Rainbow Dash. Bon Bon joined her as well.
Twilight, on the other hand, began to get anxious. Admittedly, Daring had not sworn her friends to any kind of secrecy, but it was clear that Daring had gone through a lot of trouble keeping the truth behind her exploits hidden from the general public. She was reasonably certain Daring would not appreciate Rainbow Dash going around blabbing about it. Rainbow’s exploits with Daring were in the Friendship Journal she had published, and for the life of her, Twilight could not figure out why she did not think to edit those parts out. Perhaps editing skills didn’t run in her family. Either way, Twilight had no intention of making this same mistake again.
“Uh, Rainbow...” Twilight began, before she was interrupted.
“What are you talking about?” Bon Bon asked in a gruff tone.
“Rainbow…”
Rainbow Dash ignored Twilight. She sat up straight, brimming with pride, and put her hoof on her copy of the book before her.
“Well, it just so happens that when this book was delayed a couple of years ago, I went and found A.K. Yearling and discovered that she is in fact Daring Do!”
Rainbow paused for dramatic effect and eyed each pony at the table. “Everything in her books really happened, and I even faced off with the dreaded Ahuizotl himself!”
Oh no! Twilight thought as she looked absolutely panic-stricken.
Lyra, Bon Bon, and Derpy all just stared at Rainbow, too nonplussed to know how to answer. After a beat, Bon Bon was the first to dare to do so.
“Right,” Bon Bon answered wryly.
“Seriously! I wrote all about in the Friendship Journal,” Rainbow said. “Didn’t you guys read it?”
Derpy shook her head, causing her eye to once more swivel off. “I got a copy for Dinky. She loved it, but I didn’t think it’d be that interesting to me,” she replied.
“It seemed a little too overhyped to me,” Bon Bon responded. “That kind of killed my interest in it.”
“I got one,” Lyra answered.
Bon Bon turned to her. “Really Lyra,” she said with a hint of contempt.
“Well, I didn’t read the whole thing,” Lyra explained. “I only read the parts about Twilight’s adventures in the other world with tall, fleshy, two-legged creatures with hands.”
Bon Bon facehoofed.
Meanwhile, Rainbow decided on a different tact. She pointed at Twilight next to her and Pinkie across the table from her. “Twilight and Pinkie can vouch for me! They were there too! And Pinkie even came with me to convince Daring Do not to retire!”
Twilight did not respond. She just sat there as her right eye started twitching. Pinkie shook her head with a bit of remorse.
“No can do, Dashie,” Pinkie said. “You know what I say. She’s your friend, and losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!”
“But…”
“FOREVER!”
Bon Bon snorted in quiet contempt.
“This just like Pinkie’s cockamamie theory that Joe the Donut Pony is Con Mane,” Bon Bon said.
“Hey!” Pinkie snapped back, pointing at Bon Bon. “I may have been wrong about Mulia Mild and Gustave le Grand, but Joe the Donut Pony is so totally Con Mane!”
“Those Con Mane spy movies are terrible anyway. He’s always bedding some mare or another. Kind of like Cloud Kicker if she was a colt. I can’t imagine,” Lyra said with a grimace, “Pony Joe doing that kind of thing.”
“So, do you have any actual proof of this, besides your friends who won’t answer either way?” Derpy asked.
“I mean, I’m on the cover of the book!” Rainbow pointed at herself. “I was Prism Rush! What more do you need?”
Lyra, Bon Bon, and Derpy all looked at their copies of the book. They looked at Rainbow Dash. They looked back at their books. They looked back at Rainbow Dash. This time she was posing with her leg up, head turned, and wings spread in imitation of Prism Rush on the book’s cover.
“There is a resemblance,” Lyra admitted.
“Okay,” Bon Bon began, “I can accept that you stalked A.K. Yearling.”
Rainbow glared at Bon Bon.
“You found out where she lives and somehow hit it off with her to the point where she’ll send you an autographed copy of the book a week early and even put you in the book as Prism Rush.” Bon Bon paused. “Having said that, I have a hard time believing she’s actually Daring Do and all this stuff happened.”
Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. “Well, I was there and all that did happen!”
“Also, if what Rainbow says was the case,” Derpy added, “why would Daring write her adventures as a book series? It doesn’t quite add up.”
“I don’t know.” Rainbow shrugged. “I never asked her.”
“And you said Twilight and Pinkie were there too,” Lyra said. “How come they’re not in the book?”
Rainbow put her forelegs behind her head and leaned back. “Well, I guess they were overshadowed by my sheer awesomeness.” Rainbow responded.
Twilight and Pinkie simultaneously glared at Rainbow.
“Twilight, you’re a reasonable pony.” Lyra asked, “What’s your say on all this?”
Up until this point, Twilight had been silent. She had stopped twitching once Pinkie Pie gave her answer, relieved that none of their other friends were willing to believe Rainbow’s story. Now Lyra was putting her on the spot.
On the one hoof, she did not want to seem like she was not being loyal to Rainbow by not backing up her story. On the other hoof, she wanted to respect Daring’s choice to keep her activities secret.
“Well,” Twilight began. “You see…”
“Twilight!”
Twilight turned to the entrance of Sugarcube Corner. There was her number one assistant running in with a scroll clutched in his hand.
Saved by the dragon. Twilight sighed in relief.
Spike ran up to Twilight at the GOLMS’s table and handed her the scroll.
“This just came in from Princess Celestia,” Spike said.
Twilight took the scroll in her magic and unraveled it. After taking a cursory glance at it, she widened her eyes and gasped in an exaggerated manner.
“What is it?” Lyra asked.
“I’m sorry, guys,” Twilight said, smiling in thinly veiled relief. “It looks like the Princess needs me to do some important… princess business.”
Twilight stood up. “Looks like I’ll be going. Just finish the meeting without me. Got to go!”
Twilight then rushed out of Sugarcube Corner. Spike just looked out the door quizzically for a moment before he scurried after her.
“Anyway,” Rainbow began to get the conversation going again. Now that Twilight had left, Scootaloo was sitting next to her. Rainbow Dash turned to her. “What about you Scootaloo? You believe me, right?”
This was the first point at the meeting that Rainbow Dash had really looked at Scootaloo. She tended to be rather introverted at these meetings and just basked in Rainbow’s presence. This time, however, there seemed to be a different reason for her quietude.
Scootaloo was leaning on the table with her head propped up on her foreleg. Her eyes were half-open, as if she was trying to fight off sleep. Rainbow Dash addressing her startled her. She sat back up and looked back at Rainbow, now fully awake.
“What? What was that?” Scootaloo asked.
Rainbow looked at her with concern. “Hey, Scoots, you okay?”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Scootaloo answered with a dismissive wave of her hoof.
Rainbow’s eyes bored into her.
“Okay, okay. I didn’t get that much sleep last night. I was having this really awesome dream! But then it got… weird. I woke up, but then I couldn’t really get back to sleep.”
“Maybe you should just head home and take a nap or something,” Rainbow said.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Scootaloo replied. “Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty are probably expecting me.”
Derpy then turned to Pinkie. “Hey, Pinkie, what time is it?”
Pinkie looked at the clock on wall. “It’s almost five.”
“I should get going,” Derpy said as she stood up. “I have to go pick up Dinky from her dance class.” She turned to Scootaloo. “If you’d like, I could walk you home on my way there.”
“Yeah, I’d appreciate that,” Scootaloo said.
After they said their goodbyes and picked up their books, Scootaloo followed Derpy out the door.
“You know, I’ve always wondered about Derpy’s kid,” Bon Bon said.
“What do you mean?” Rainbow replied in confusion, with just a hint of defensiveness.
“It’s nothing bad,” Bon Bon said backpedalling a bit. “I just mean, where’s her dad?”
“You don’t know?” Pinkie asked.
“Know what?” Bon Bon asked.
Rainbow Dash sighed. Rainbow had been Derpy’s friend for a very long time. Derpy’s story was not a pleasant one. It always took a lot out of Rainbow Dash whenever she had to tell anypony and left her emotionally drained.
“All any of us ever knew was that somepony knocked her up when she was fifteen,” Rainbow began. “Derpy had to leave flight school to raise her. But she’s never told anypony who the father was. Not even me, and I’m Dinky’s godmother.”
“Wow, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Bon Bon said, her face pained with remorse.
“It’s okay,” Rainbow replied listlessly. She folded her forelegs on the table and laid her head on them.
“Well, I for one am glad Derpy decided to keep her baby,” Pinkie began, “and not… you know.”
“Know what?” Bon Bon asked quizzically.
“You know,” Pinkie merely said while looking at Bon Bon and raising her eyebrows. “That thing that some ponies do when they’re having foals and haven’t planned for parenthood.”
Pinkie suddenly smiled. “But that’s just silly.” She waved her hoof. “Who wants a baby that’s planned? Babies are the best surprises!”
Pinkie ducked under the table, then popped up between Lyra and Bon Bon wearing a baby bonnet, a bib, and with a pacifier in her mouth. They turned and stared at her.
“Surprise!”
Rainbow, her head still on the table, just stared at Pinkie, her eyes widened in confusion. “You know, maybe I should just call it a day,” Rainbow said as she sat back up and stretched. “A nap doesn’t sound like a bad idea either. I’ll see you guys around.”
Rainbow stood up, picked up her book, and then trotted out the door.
Lyra and Bon Bon just continued to stare at the baby Pinkie Pie sitting between them. Pinkie looked at Bon Bon. She turned and looked at Lyra, then took the pacifier out of her mouth.
“Hey, what time is it?” Pinkie asked.
“You just told Derpy it was almost five a few minutes ago,” Bon Bon answered with slight annoyance.
Pinkie gasped. “It’s almost time for the early evening Sugar Rush Hour! I got to go! Bye!”
Pinkie ducked back under the table. She popped again behind the counter sans baby bib and bonnet.
Lyra and Bon Bon turned towards each other. It was better not to question Pinkie Pie and just get on with it.
“Well, I guess it’s just you and me then,” Lyra said.
Bon Bon nodded in agreement.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about this interesting headcanon I have.”
Bon Bon glared at her.
“It has nothing to do with Daring and Ahuizotl.”
Bon Bon nodded for her to continue.
“You know how in Daring Do Vs the Swamp Monster, Daring goes on a quest to find her long-lost mother Breezy Burbles and finds her with her husband Arch Flamefoot and his brother Prism Flame. But then she ends up getting Prism Flame brutally murdered by the villainous Gilded Griffon and his storm dragon.”
Bon Bon nodded once more.
“Arch Flamefoot and Prism Flame both have rainbow-colored manes like Prism Rush. Her name and Prism Flame’s name also both start with ‘Prism’. And Daring Do and Prism Rush both have rose-colored eyes just like Daring’s mother.”
“Yeah.”
“What if,” Lyra said, holding her hoof up, “Prism Rush is Breezy Burbles’ daughter with Arch Flamefoot?!”
Bon Bon’s eyes widened. “That would make Daring Do and Prism Rush long-lost sisters!” She turned to Lyra with a proud smile. “I never really thought of that. My mind is officially blown.”
Rainbow Dash alighted upon the front step of her cloud home. She trotted inside into her rather large foyer. She made her way up the stairs into her bedroom where she placed her Daring Do book on her nightstand. She lied down on her bed on top of the covers and started getting comfortable for a well-deserved nap.
She turned her head to her right and her eyes fell on a framed picture. The frame held a photo of a filly Rainbow Dash holding a Cloudsdale flag in her mouth. She was sitting on top of the head a stallion of violet-blue hue with yellow eyes and a rainbow-colored mane just like the little filly. His cutie mark of a rainbow shooting star. This pony was Rainbow Blaze, and he taught Rainbow Dash everything she knew.
Rainbow Blaze was her father’s younger brother. He was a welcome presence in Rainbow’s early life with his frequent visits to her family. Her parents could be smothering, but Blaze always gave her space. He became like an older brother to her. Like she had said to Scootaloo, she wasn’t always the best flier. Blaze was the one who changed all that. Though he was a mere weather pony, he had aspirations of joining the Wonderbolts. He had spent years practicing and studying all the Wonderbolts’ routines, training regimens, and history. When Rainbow came back from her first race in the senior competitive circuit beyond dead last, Blaze sought to rectify that. Everything he had learned over the years of trying to become a Wonderbolt, he passed on to Rainbow. Slowly but surely, Rainbow steadily improved under Blaze’s tutelage. Sure enough, she started winning those competitions. Rainbow owed all of that to Blaze.
She knew Blaze have been would have been proud to know that Rainbow became a Wonderbolt. Secretly, that was probably the biggest reason she wanted to become a Wonderbolt, more than any other. She didn’t share that with anypony else so they wouldn’t think she was too sappy.
Rainbow smiled fondly as she remembered the moment immortalized by this photo. She never forgot that day. It was right before she and Blaze had gone to hear the announcement of the location of the next Equestria Games. Even though Rainbow was disappointed when they announced that the Games would be held in Fillydelphia and not Cloudsdale, Blaze took it upon himself to spend the rest of the day having fun with Rainbow to show her all the fun the Games’ spectators would be missing out on. She counted that day as a good memory. Blaze was cool like that; he could turn a bad day into a great one.
But he could do that no more for his little Dashie. Rainbow sighed and frowned a bit as she was once more reminded that Blaze was no longer with her or her family.
Rainbow didn’t know all the details of what happened that fateful day. What she did know was that a monstrous, out of control wild storm had suddenly made its way to Cloudsdale, seemingly out of nowhere. Rainbow Blaze being an expert weather pony was among those who set off to tackle the storm. However, the storm proved to be too much for him. Blaze was struck by a massive lightning bolt. He plummeted to the ground and died upon impact. Rainbow was finishing up flight school when she heard that something had happened to Blaze. She immediately rushed home to find out what had happened, and her parents tearfully broke the news to her that Blaze was gone. Rainbow wept for days in her grief over Blaze’s passing. She didn’t know what would become of her now that the pony who was practically her brother was gone. She wasn’t sure if she could really handle only having her overbearing parents. If that wasn’t bad enough, her sudden prolonged absence from flight school led to her expulsion. Despite the extenuating circumstances, the school was unwilling to reinstate Rainbow due to her history of misconduct. With all that had happened, Rainbow wasn’t sure she could continue to stay in Cloudsdale anymore. Eventually, her birthday came, and she packed her things and moved to Ponyville. Now, more than a decade later, Rainbow was lying in bed in her home above Ponyville remembering all this.
She reached out and touched the picture frame. “I really miss you Blaze,” Rainbow whispered. Rainbow then pulled her foreleg back.
Lying once more on her back, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and readied herself for her nap.
It was at that moment that she became acutely aware of music playing somewhere in her house.
Rainbow’s eyes shot open as she sat up in her bed.
“I didn’t leave my radio on today. I don’t think I even turned it on at all!”
Rainbow listened for a moment as she tried to place the song. Her eyes widened. “That’s my Songbird Serenade album!”
She thought for a moment. “Wait a minute! If I didn’t put my album on, that must mean...” Rainbow Dash gulped as she came to a shocking realization. “Somepony else is in my house!”
Rainbow made her way down the stairs from her bedroom that led to her house’s sitting room. Next to the stairwell stood a table with a gramophone. Just as she suspected, her Songbird Serenade record was on it and the album cover was sitting on the table next to it.
Rainbow took the needle off the record, bringing the song to a halt. She looked around warily, but saw nothing amiss. Rainbow took a deep breath and put on a brave face.
“Okay, whoever is in here, you better show yourself or--” Rainbow thought for a moment--“you’re going to regret it!”
The only answer Rainbow received was a scraping noise.
Rainbow looked around, trying to discern the source of that noise. Her eyes and ears fell upon the back of a bean bag-shaped cloud chair in the middle of the room. Before said chair was a second smaller cloud that Rainbow used as an ottoman/coffee table. Rainbow had found that putting the two together often came in handy for quick naps.
Rainbow pointed an accusatory hoof at the chair. “I know you’re sitting in my chair!”
The trespassing pony said nothing. Whoever it was just continued to make that scraping noise.
Rainbow’s anger at having her home invaded by such a cavalier pony was beginning to overcome any wariness she had felt. She snorted, flared her wings out, and then trotted around the chair to face her invader.
Any ill feelings she had towards this perpetrator evaporated when she saw who it was. Rainbow’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she gasped.
Sitting before her in her chair was a golden pegasus mare. She wore an olive-green shirt and white pith helmet. Her head was tilted down so that the helmet covered her rose eyes. Her gray-and-black mane peaked out from under the helmet, matching with her tail. Her flank was emblazoned with a green-and-gold compass rose cutie mark.
She was Daring Do.
Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and hovered. She clapped her hooves together and began to squee in excitement.
“Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! Daring Do is in my house! Daring Do is in my house!”
Daring Do said nothing. Rainbow landed on the floor once more and looked at Daring.
“So, Daring, what are you doing here?”
Rainbow still received no answer. It was then that she saw what the source of the scraping sound had been.
In her left hoof, Daring held a whetstone. In the other, she held a rather large knife. The scraping sound came from Daring sharpening this knife against the whetstone.
Rainbow began to chuckle nervously. She anxiously rubbed her right foreleg on the back of her neck. This whole situation was starting to creep her out. Rainbow asked the only thing she could think of at the moment.
“So, what’s up?”