The young Daring Do was on her lunch break. She was still feeling the thrill from her first few weeks on the job in Canterlot, and her first expedition had been a resounding success. Now that she had a chance to get away from the hurly burly of the office life - she was still reeling from the birthday song they'd all sung for one of the lucky mares on her floor - she'd decided to step out and take a look around town for somewhere nice to eat.
Doughnut Joe's caught her eye. The establishment blended in with the rest of the opalescent street, but to walk inside it was like walking into a cushion of chatter, with laughter and pleasant voices all talking about how their days had been. Nopony was wearing fancy dress or trying to look standoffish. Well, one or two were, but they were the exceptions; most of the patrons were free of clothing, and the few who weren't were wearing all sorts of strange and exotic fashions. It looked like a favourite hangout for international types; the occasional griffon, donkey, zebra, and minotaur dotted the groups. A mare with a pith helmet and a green shirt wouldn't draw so much as a raised eyebrow here.
After squeezing her way through the throngs, she ordered a platter of custard doughnuts at the bar and squeezed her way back for somewhere to settle. Luckily, she soon found a lone table tucked away in the corner and sat down at once with her back to the wall so that she could look out over the socializing customers if she wanted. To her surprise, the plump stallion behind the bar came to her table with speed and set down the platter as though on a time limit.
"Enjoy your meal, Miss Do!" he said, barely containing a grin before tipping his hat and rushing back. She didn't even have time to thank him.
They're big on their service here, she thought. She only later remembered that she had never once mentioned her name, but at the time she simply didn't notice this detail.
Daring plucked a doughnut from the platter and opened her journal, spreading it out onto the table before her. While she chewed, letting the rich custard spread over her tongue and the doughnut leap and pat from cheek to cheek, her eyes absorbed the wall of writing before her. It was as if Professor Heritage were speaking through it to her, telling her about the intrigues and plots of the ancient pony tribes before classical times, and how evidence from the site in the Badlands had shown where the oldest unicorn city of history had been carefully built from sandstone and marble.
Her wings soon drooped. Her initial anxiety over visiting a new place gently calmed down. With the soothing background warmth of dozens of conversations around her, this was like being back in the familiar common room of the museum. Relaxing by the fireplace, with her peers quietly reading in their armchairs, and the museum's common room windows tightly shut...
Some time passed before she noticed she was being watched. A shadow fell over her journal, and she glanced up to see three mares looking either very pleased or very frightened to be this close to her. They giggled nervously.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
After a lot of nudging and more nervous giggles, one mare stepped forwards. "Sorry. Excuse me, but... Are you... Daring Do?"
Daring blinked in surprise. "Yep, that's me."
The mare - and her companions - held out a hardback each. "It's so awesome to actually meet you! I really like your book. All that cool stuff you did was incredible! C-Could I have your autograph?"
It took a while for Daring's memory to catch up, and she caught sight of the titles. Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, every one of them.
Oh yes, she thought. That book. She hesitated for a moment, slightly put out by the interruption, but it seemed rude to just turn them away and carry on reading. Why not humour them?
She took out a pen from her pocket, with that bizarre ability to 'grip' things with her hoof that everypony could do and that nopony seemed able to explain without invoking magic. "Uh, sure. Why not?"
All three opened their books to the front page. She simply signed her name on each one; a short message would send them away faster, and anyway they seemed pleased just to have the chance to meet her. Once done, they all said - again - how much they loved the book and thought she was awesome, and then left.
Daring let the scene sink in for a moment. She hadn't actually written the novel. If anything, she'd been surprised at the idea. when it was presented to her, shortly after she returned from the Amaponian. But it seemed like something pretty fun on the side, and why not if it gave ponies pleasure?
She went back to her journal. Professor Heritage had just gotten to a good bit about fragments of pottery and metal scraps where the earth pony craftsmares had once set up shop, and was drawing a parallel between the switch from unicorn craftsmareship to earth pony work and the political emancipation of the earth pony underclass by the heads of both tribes. Daring found herself wondering at which stage the Amaponian tribes had been when this historic moment happened. She was disturbed, however, by the rise in the number of whispers she kept hearing around her. It was as if the fire in the fireplace had diminished.
Another shadow fell across the table. She looked up to see some more ponies crowding around her, and two griffons and a minotaur were among them.
"Miss Do, could we have your autograph, please?" said the minotaur. Everypony held out a book each.
As quickly as she could, Daring agreed and signed each one, again with just her name. They thanked her and, like the previous group, told her how much they loved the book and thought she was awesome, and then left.
She went back to her journal, and was irritated to find that she'd lost her place. Quickly, she skimmed over each paragraph's first sentence before she found the one she'd left off.
"It's really her, guys," murmured a voice not too far away.
"Daring Do?" said a mare going back to her table.
"It's Daring Do!" said a filly, pointing directly at her.
"Is it really?"
"You're sure?"
She wasn't even pretending to read by now. In fact, she was glancing from speaker to speaker as more patrons in the shop became aware that she was sitting there. Another group came up to her and asked for an autograph. Daring blushed and meekly got out the pen, but no sooner had the group moved on that another group came up and asked for the same. Yet a third group met up behind them while she signed away, and meanwhile more and more gazes were zeroing in on her.
Suddenly, the atmosphere was changing around her. Daring Do began to blush as more ponies crowded around her. She didn't have the heart to say no, and could only sweat as the press of bodies kept coming and more and more ponies asked for autographs. She couldn't possibly sign them all. Her lunch break would be over soon, and she hadn't even reached halfway through Heritage's article. She could've completed it before lunch break ended, and had hoped to do so.
When she felt the queue now forming before her was getting too long, she thought, I wish they weren't all looking at me. There's so many of them! I'll sign just one more, and then I'll say no.
After signing three more books, she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry everypony, but no more autographs today."
"Aw, come on," said the stallion over the groans of the crowd. "That's not fair. I only just got here."
"Um... er..." Daring said.
"Can't we just have one autograph? Even initials will do!" said somepony else further back.
"It's only a little thing. Oh, please?" This one had to be shouted over the rising din of complaints.
"Why not? You happily did it for those other guys back there."
"Yeah. Why do we have to be left out?"
Daring tugged at her shirt collar. So many voices... she thought. Glares and pleading looks surrounded her. She suddenly felt very alone, pressed up with her back against the wall and only a thin wooden table between her and the mob. "I'm sorry," she managed to say, "but..."
"But you're Daring Do! I can't pass up this opportunity! My sister would kill me!"
"You'd be doing us an honour!" said a griffon aggressively.
"And a favour!"
Just say no... Just say no... Her traitorous tongue refused to do it. Daring tried to fight off her own growing headache and gritted her teeth.
"OK, then, OK..." she found herself saying, and slumped in her seat. The crowd quickly settled down, but not before a cheer passed like a Mexican wave from front to back.
Daring glanced sadly at her journal. She almost felt like Professor Heritage was in the room with her, shocked that all his and his colleagues' hard work had been abandoned just when it was getting to the good part. The doughnuts lay uneaten on the platter beside it. One or two cheeky patrons even took a doughnut each off the pile once she'd signed their copies.
Daring spent so long trying to get rid of them quickly that she was shocked to find lunch time had finished. Despite the cries of the crowd, she pushed aside her unfinished doughnut, slipped the unread journal back under her hat, shot up from her seat with wings flapping, apologized to all assembled, and rushed out the door.
As she left the eager cries far behind, she decided to wear different clothes the next time she went in there. Doughnut Joe's had been nice at first. She just had to do something about those crowds...