Rainbow Dash was laying in her bedroom reading the last book in the Daring Do series. (For the second time.) “‘With Zowezodel sealed within the volcano and the Golden Edge returned to its perch atop the Iron Mountain,’” Rainbow Dash read aloud, “‘Daring Do finally found time to rest as Equestria returned to a state of peace.’” Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief as she closed the book and tossed it to the side of her bed. “Man, I think that book was better the second time. Oh well, time to go back to the library and ask Twilight for the first book for the third time.” Dash then put on her saddlebag, put the book in it, and flew out of her house towards the library.
It was a pretty peaceful day in Cloudsdale that day. Had Rainbow Dash paid attention, she would have noticed this was due to an absence of a particular clumsy pegasus, but this wouldn’t have bothered her anyway. She just wanted an excuse to leave Cloudsdale before a huge thunderstorm scheduled nearby for that afternoon. Dash flew by several other working pegasi on her way down to Ponyville, almost all of which waved to her as she passed. Dash waved back as she knew most of these ponies, but she kept on flying towards Ponyville. Once Dash got to Ponyville, she made her way to the library where Twilight was in the other room working on something. “Twilight!” Dash called when she got inside the library. “Are you here?”
“Yeah,” Twilight called from the other room. “Give me a second. I’ll be right out.” Rainbow Dash waited for a moment in the doorway before Twilight stepped out from a door in the back of the library. “Good to see you Rainbow Dash. What brings you by?”
Rainbow Dash reached into her saddlebag and pulled out her Daring Do book. “I’m here to return this book,” Rainbow Dash said. “Also I’d like to check out Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue again.”
Twilight took the book in her energy field and trotted over to where the Daring Do books were kept. “You know, Dash, a new author recently wrote a new Daring Do book and published it. I have it here, but I haven’t read it yet, myself.” Twilight used her magic to replace the book Dash gave her and pulled out another book next to where the first book went. “It’s a pretty strange title, though.” Rainbow Dash excitedly took the book and placed it in her saddlebag without even looking at the cover. She then made her way out the door, but not before Twilight stopped her. “Hold on a second, Dash. You’re not even going to look at the cover?”
“I guess I could...” Rainbow Dash said, pulling the book out of her saddlebag. “Hmm, let’s see. ‘Daring Do: A Derp in Time.’ That is a weird title.” Rainbow Dash then examined the cover image. However, the color was incredibly faded despite being a new book. All Dash could gather was that there were four pegasi (one of which, she guessed, was Daring Do) and some small box that looked like it could barely fit one pony inside. “I might be able to get my hooves on some rainbow to restore this cover image when I get back to Cloudsdale. See ya soon, Twi.” Rainbow Dash then placed the book back in her saddlebag and flew off back towards her house in Cloudsdale, flying as fast as she could to avoid the thunderstorm that was already almost ready to begin.
Once Dash got home, she quickly went to her room and pulled out the book. “The cover can wait,” she said to herself. “I’ve got some reading to do.” Dash excitedly opened the book to the first page. “‘Chapter one: The Pegasi in the Box.’ Maybe this will explain those three other pegasi and that box up front. ‘Daring Do was relaxing on a cloud high above the Everfree Forest not too far from the rest of Cloudsdale. With Equestria at peace, she had some time to rest. However, her rest was about to be cut short.’ Already awesome!” Rainbow Dash said, closing the book for a moment and holding it close to her chest. She then opened the book back up and continued reading.
Daring Do woke up slowly as she noticed a shadow move over her face. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that another pegasus had moved a cloud over the one he was laying on. “Hay!” she shouted, flying off of the cloud she was laying on. “What’s the big idea, huh?”
“Terribly sorry,” the pegasus who moved the cloud said. “I needed some way to get your attention.” The pegasus flew over into Daring’s view. he was a brown stallion with a dark brown mane and blue eyes. His cutie mark was an hourglass and he spoke with an accent that Daring wasn’t quite familiar with.
“Who exactly are you?” Daring asked.
“Oh, right,” the pegasus said. “I’m the Doctor.”
Daring was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry. Doctor who?”
The Doctor smiled a little when Daring asked this. “Ah, I never get tired of hearing that. In fact, can you ask me that question again?”
“Doctor who?” Daring asked, though this time asking it as though she were saying a regular sentence as a question. (e.g. Pony 1: “Is my mane frizzy?” Pony 2: “Uh... no?”)
“Oh yes. Just one more time, please?”
“Look, can you just tell me why you woke me up?” Daring asked, getting a little angry now.
“Oh, right.” The Doctor took a second to try to remember why he was there in the first place. “I’ll just get right down to business. I need your help.”
“My help? With what?”
“Saving Equestria and several other worlds from certain destruction.” Just then, it began raining on the two.
“What’s the big idea?” Daring asked, getting very angry now. “Am I on some hidden camera show?”
“Terribly sorry about that,” the Doctor said. “That’s just one of my other companions, Derpy Hooves.”
Rainbow Dash quickly dropped the book when she read that name. “Derpy?” she shouted out loud. “In a Daring Do book?” Just then, she took another look at the cover image. All four pegasi were completely grey. Upon closer inspection, however, Dash found that one of the ponies did have the same crossed eyes as Derpy. “This can’t be right. This can’t be right at all.” Dash then rushed out of her house with the book in her hooves towards the weather station where the rainbows were made. She did her best to cup some of the colorful liquid in her hooves to place it on the cover of the book, but she was unable to keep it in her hooves. After several attempts, she finally gave up and dipped the whole book in the rainbow. After about a second, she took the book out and wiped the excess liquid off of the cover. The whole thing was in color now and the four pegasi were easily identifiable. First, Dash found the pony who she already knew was Daring Do because of her hat. Next to Daring was the Doctor as described in the book. Behind him was Derpy, every detail of her an exact match with the Derpy Hooves she already knew. But that wasn’t all. On the other side of Daring was one pony who Rainbow Dash would never mistake for anypony else. A pony who she could always point out in a crowd in less than five seconds.
Herself.