Chapter 5:
Scrambled Eggheads
A loud crash awoke Twilight Sparkle from her slumber. Groggy and confused, she slowly got out of bed and lit a firefly lantern. Quietly, she made her way downstairs to investigate the noise. When she saw the cause, she had to groan.
"Rainbow Dash, why in Equestria can't you ever use the door?" she groused.
"Ugh. Sorry, Twilight," Rainbow apologized, quickly shaking herself. "It's just that this is an emergency!"
"An emergency?" parroted Twilight.
"Yeah! And I think you have something to do with it," said Rainbow. "Um, not that I think you meant to do it or anything..."
Twilight gave her friend an odd look. "Rainbow Dash, what are you talking about? I haven't done anything."
"Wait, what?"
"Well, I was pretty exhausted from our trip to the Crystal Empire, so I decided to turn in early."
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Wait, but if you didn't do it, then what did?"
"Did what?" inquired Twilight, getting confused.
Rainbow was about to answer when there was a knock at the door.
"Hold that thought. I'd better go see who that is," said Twilight, lumbering over to the door. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she opened it with her magic. When she lowered her hooves, she couldn't believe what she saw.
"Hello. I take it you're Twilight?" said Daring Do. "Rainbow Dash and I have a bit of a problem, and she said you could help."
Twilight stared at the olive-colored pony, her mouth agape.
"Yeah, I seem to be getting that reaction a lot lately," said Daring, letting herself in. "Nice place you've got here. Sorry I'm late, but somepony decided to rush on ahead without telling me where you live."
Twilight quickly shook herself, placed a foreleg to her chest, and took a deep breath. As she released it, she extended her foreleg. When she had regained her composure, she walked over to Rainbow Dash, a knowing smirk on her face.
"Very funny, Rainbow Dash," she said dryly. "But don't you think it's a bit late to be pranking ponies?"
"It's not a prank!" Rainbow insisted. "This is serious!"
Twilight sighed, clearly not believing her. "C'mon, Rainbow. The joke's over. You got me."
Daring stroked her chin for a moment. After a pause, an idea hit her. "Hey, want to see something neat? It's a tablet I got from the lost city of Shetlandis."
Twilight snickered. "Wow, you're not letting up, are you? Everypony knows that Shetlandis doesn't exist."
"It doesn't huh?" said Daring slyly. "Then where do you think I got this?"
She reached into her pith helmet and pulled out the stone tablet. Twilight glanced at it and immediately did a double take.
"Wh—? How did—? HUH?!"
"Heh, it's really nothing that impressive," said Daring with a shrug. "Nothing compared to the treasure of Das Reingold, anyway." She put the tablet away and placed the hat back atop her head. "Oh, wait. I don't think we've been properly introduced. The name's Daring Do. Nice to meetcha."
She extended her hoof to Twilight, who was left utterly speechless. Once again, she placed a foreleg to her chest and took in a deep breath. This time, when she released it, she fainted.
"What is it with ponies fainting around me today?" asked Daring, sounding a bit agitated.
"I, think Twilight can answer that better than I can," said Rainbow with a nervous chuckle. "C'mon, we gotta wake her up."
"Right, sure," said Daring.
***
When Twilight regained consciousness, she almost thought she was seeing double with two similar faces staring over her. When she had remembered what caused her to faint in the first place, her eyes shot open.
"Gah!" she yelped in surprise, leaping back. "H-how are you here?! Y-you can't be here! This makes no sense!"
"Hey, relax," Daring said sternly. "I think I can explain everything, or at least what we know. But you gotta calm down first."
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, you're right," she said, using her breathing technique to regain her composure once again. "Now, what in the wide, wide world of Equestria is going on?"
"Well, here's the short version," said Daring. "Apparently, I set off this booby trap in Argoats that teleported me here to Ponyville. At the same time, this book zapped Rainbow Dash's friend Scootaloo, and now she's in Argoats for some reason."
"Wait, what?" asked Twilight.
"I thought it was because you were perfecting a new spell or something," said Rainbow. "But yeah, Scootaloo's somehow in the book while Daring Do is here."
"Hang on," said Twilight, rushing to her bookshelf. Quickly, she pulled out her own copy of Daring Do and the Treasure of Das Reingold and flipped it open. "Sweet Celestia, you're right! It's right here in the second chapter! Daring Do mysteriously disappears, and her partner Tailspin stumbles upon this orange filly named Scootaloo! How did this happen?"
"Like I said, I thought it was you," said Rainbow with a shrug. "I was just reading my book with Scoot when there was this bright flash, and the next thing I know, she's in there while Daring's in my room fixing me a bedtime snack."
Twilight paused for a moment to process the entire situation. "Hmm. This is pretty strange," she mused. "I don't know of any spells that can do something like this. Unless somepony has gotten their hooves on the Alicorn Amulet, and I don't think that's very likely."
"The Alicorn Amulet, huh?" said Daring, stroking her chin. "That sounds like a pretty neat artifact. You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?"
"Trust me, Ms. Do. Even you wouldn't want..."
"Up bup bup!" said Daring, cutting across the unicorn librarian. "Ms. Do is my mother's name. Call me Daring."
"Right, sorry," said Twilight. "As I was saying, Daring, I don't think you'd want the Alicorn Amulet. That artifact contains a lot of dark magic that nopony should ever use."
"Meaning someone like Ahuizotl might get the bright idea to steal it if I were to donate it to the university museum," Daring mused. "Alright, I see your point."
"I, think we have more important things to worry about," said Rainbow. "Like, how are we going to fix this?"
"I'm not sure," Twilight admitted. "Like I said, I haven't read about any spells that can bring fictional characters into the real world, nor visa versa."
"Um, I'm standing right here, y'know," said Daring, folding her forelegs. "And I'd like to think that I'm real, thank you very much."
Twilight turned to the eccentric adventurer, giving her an pained look. "Uh, I hate to break it to you, Daring, but you're not a real pony."
"Well, of course I am," said Daring. "Haven't you ever read Haycartes?"
"I have, actually. But this is a magical mishap, not a philosophical conundrum," said Twilight. "You're not supposed to exist. You are a creation of somepony's imagination."
"I'm not debating that," said Daring. "I just don't want you calling me fictional as long as I'm here. It makes you sound crazy."
Twilight stared at Daring blankly. "You know, for a pony who acknowledges the fact that she's a literary character, you're taking this surprisingly well."
Daring sniggered. "Hey, you should know that this isn't exactly my first existential quandary. Although, this is the first time I actually traveled to a different plane of existence and it's not just some sphinx messing with my brain."
"Oh, you mean like in Daring Do and the Riddle of the Pharaoh's Toothbrush?" said Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, how'd you know? Oh, wait. Never mind," said Daring with a chuckle.
"Guys, focus," Twilight said tersely. "There's no telling what will happen if this isn't resolved."
"I can't think it's anything good," said Daring, taking the book away from Twilight and reading it herself. "Tch, case in point."
"What? What is it?"
"Tailspin has absolutely no idea what she's doing. I really feel sorry for that Scootaloo kid."
"That's, not really what I had in mind," said Twilight, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her hoof.
Rainbow Dash's expression drooped. "I hope she's okay." she said glumly.
"Um, define 'okay,'" said Daring Do, continuing to read the book. "Do you mean 'she's unhurt' okay, 'she'll be fine' okay, 'she's a trooper' okay, or 'at least she's still breathing' okay?"
Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes bugged out. "WHAT?! What's happening to Scootaloo?!" she exclaimed, snatching the book from Daring and reading it intently. As her eyes scanned the page, she began to hyperventilate.
"Rainbow, what is it?" asked Twilight, her voice reflecting concern. "Are you alright?"
Rainbow didn't answer, but continued staring at the book. Twilight heaved an exasperated sigh and used her magic to pull Rainbow Dash to the ground, looking over her shoulder to see what she was so upset about.
"It was just a question," said Daring with a shrug. "Hmm, I wonder if there are any books on that Alicorn Amulet thing. Even if I might not want to find it, I would at least like to know about it."
She started looking through the books in Twilight's library as the two Element Bearers remained engrossed in what was happening on the other side of the looking glass. Unbeknownst to the three mares, the cover of Twilight's copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone was beginning to fade...