Of course after a few minutes Dash was bored. I wasn't sure exactly how long, but I should have known she'd be the type to rush though the exhibits. The fact she enjoyed them at all was still a shock. Eventually she started telling us all stories her mom had told her. Some were exaggerated slightly, but were historically accurate.
"So yea, some ponies would lose a whole leg or whatever. Is that hardcore or what?"
Rarity shook her head. "Rainbow, you do realize you have a strong tendency to focus on the grisly, do you not? I mean I know such things happen, but only outside Equestria, and most often in the distant past."
"Hey the world war wasn't that far in the past. I mean once Celestia and Zephyr decided to intervene that was it, but before that it was seriously intense."
I sighed. "It wasn't just King Zephyr, several other so called god kings and queens also intervened as well. Most notably the Jade Emperor of Long."
Dash rolled her eyes. "Oh whatever, it's not really important who else intervened, the lord of the sky and the sun would have been enough by themselves."
"Zephyr is the most powerful of the Olympian gods, though Celestia always hated the idea of being worshiped. Queen Gaia apparently agreed, and literally distancing herself from the rest of Europe is why she and her daughters found Equestria in the first place."
"Oh, and then the bad thing happened." Said Fluttershy
I nodded. "Yes. It's not clear what was going on exactly, but something destroyed or corrupted a great deal of the records in Equestria. The story of the founding persisted, and a few other key events, but then there is a large gap.
"And Luna and Celestia are in charge after defeating some terrible king. Mom said she figured out a few things about it, but Celestia found out and now she can't say. Course I just bugged her more, but she never said anything."
I sighed. I had bugged Celestia too. Eventually she told me one thing, and after seeing what that did to her I never asked again. Her mane was the same colors, but had turned into a raging inferno. It took nearly an hour to convince me she wasn't really angry with me. "It was Discord." It raised more questions than it answered. It could be the name of the king or simply the general state of things at the time. It's most often referred to as either the age of destruction or the age of insanity. As curious as I was, I didn't want to see Celestia like that again. There was suddenly a flash and I covered in confetti. I was not remotely surprised to see a smiling Pinkie in front of me when my vision cleared.
"Come on, wipe that frown away, this is just the sort of place you love, right Twi Twi?"
"You're right Pinkie. Lets move on to the King Tutencamel exhibit."
"Finally. Come on, I'll show you the best part."
I followed Dash as she zipped into the room. She really did fly just about everywhere recently. She was hovering in front of a large picture. I had seen it before many times, an old picture of the team that uncovered the tomb. Then I realized she was literally in front of it, motioning to another only somewhat smaller picture next to it. It was one I think I had seen once before. An even larger group of ponies standing in front of a room with bright paint. It was a truly amazing find. The preservation spells on the records room hadn't faded, even keeping the paint intact, as well as countless scrolls. It was all extremely dry information, but it painted such a clear portrait of the ancient camel kingdom. It was almost beyond belief the wealth of information that had been uncovered.
I was briefly confused why before Dash outright pointed to the newer color photograph, but then noticed something. In the center was a tan pegasus mare wearing a brown hat and a whip wrapped around her neck. Her cutie mark was a compass rose in a style similar to many old maps. Her mane was a full spectrum of greys, white at one end and black the other. Obviously I recognized her instantly. Then I saw there was a little filly on her back, waving to the camera. A very familiar sky blue filly with a rainbow mane. Who even had a familiar sort of smugness that erased any doubt that even if there was another pony with such a mane it could be anyone else.
"Your mother is Daring Do?"
Dash nodded.
"Omigosh. Omigosh, omigosh…"
Then I degenerated into incoherent schoolfilly giggling and tittering. After a few moments I realized I was bouncing and trotting about at random. I also realized my friends were all standing around me and staring. I stopped mid hop and blushed. Pinkie of course giggled at this.
"Sorry, it's just I had no idea and I'm such a fan of your mother's work."
Dash raised an eyebrow. "If you're really such a fan you should have at least eventually figured it out. I mean I'm in a few of her books. In one I even…"
Then Dash fell to the floor laughing and pointing. Rarity joined me in glaring at Dash, and eventually, so did Applejack.
"Now that's enough of that there Dash. That is more than a bit rude."
"But she's only read the…" She laughed again "She's only read the boring books. That's just priceless. Seriously have you even read any of the adventure books?"
"A few, but after that scene in the one book where she knocked out that sword wielding pony with a single crack of her whip I couldn't take the ridiculousness of it all."
"Oh mare, you totally missed my big entrance. I mean sure mom's stories make it seem about 62% cooler than it actually was, but it was still awesome."
"I'm in one of them briefly, well, sort of." Said Fluttershy
Dash laughed. "Yea, Flutter asked if she could hide her identity like some of the other ponies in her books, so mom made her a pink pegasus with blonde hair named Butter Rye with a butter churn cutie mark, but it's still obvious it's Flutter if you know her."
"I must say your mother's books are a bit too action packed for my usual tastes, but a little variety is good I suppose."
"Ah ain't finished more 'an two of em, but they're good when ah get the chance."
"I still say she should have called that one the temple of doom." Then Pinkie gasped. "Oh oh, but that makes the joke almost too obvious."
"What joke?" I turned to Dash "Is there some joke in one of the books that…"
"No, I don't know what she's talking about either." Then she laughed again. "I still can't get over you actually think mom is awesome because of the scientific junk."
I sighed. "So your mother clearly impressed the importance of history into you, but not the importance of the work to uncover it."
Dash rolled her eyes. "Oh she talked about that stuff way too much, so I know, but I just don't care. I mean it's so boring. Still, she does like that sort of boring stuff too, so I'm sure she'll love to meet you. I'll introduce you next time she's back in Equestria."
I smiled so hard it hurt. Then things got strange, and I felt really lightheaded. My last thought was "I'm going to meet Daring Do."