Rainbow Dash let out a yawn as she awoke on Sunday morning. Last night’s events had kept her up far longer than usual. Thankfully she did not have to work today and could sleep a bit longer. While stretching her limbs she thought of the plans for today.
The first thing on her mind was the latest Daring Do book and what she had discovered. After re-reading several passages in the older books she was sure to be on to something. Now she needed Twilight to help her piece the puzzle together. Knowing the lavender unicorn she would have most likely finished the book around the same time as Rainbow Dash, even though she had started much later.
Before going to the library she still had business to take care of at the Rich family’s mansion. So that would be her first task of the day. With a grunt she got up and trotted towards her bathroom.
A quick shower, a quick (but healthy) breakfast, feeding Tank and gathering her research material in her saddlebags was all she did, before heading out of her home three quarters of an hour after waking up. She flew past Twilight’s home, but merely hid her saddlebags in the branches before speeding of to her first destination.
Using clouds as cover she carefully hopped from one to another and remained unseen by the ponies on the ground in front of the luxurious mansion. Once she was close enough she dug a small hole in the cloud and used it to observe what was going on down below.
The butler had just finished cleaning the carriage and dropped the cloth he had used into a large bucket full of muddy water. He wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and took the time to polish a few more shiny elements of the vehicle to perfection.
Rainbow Dash would have flown down to knock some manners into him, but the presence of another stallion made her wait for a better moment. The aforementioned stallion was currently slipping into the harness in front of the carriage. No doubt he was the one that would pull it wherever the Rich’s wanted to travel to today. He was a light brown earthpony with an orange mane and tail. Even from her point of view she could tell that he was muscular and bore an expression of extreme grumpiness.
For a while nothing happened and Rainbow Dash toyed with the idea of coming back later. Then the stallions exchanged a few words and the butler moved towards the house after hiding the bucket behind a statue of a mare standing in an oyster. Her eyes lingered on the bucket for a few moments before watching the butler again. A plan was beginning to form.
Once he entered the building, she took the chance and swooped down silently. With some effort she managed to pick up the full bucket and carefully began flying towards the carriage as quietly as possible. To her luck the doors were currently open, all that she needed to avoid was being seen by the pony in the harness. She was sure that her flapping could be heard, yet he just kept staring straight ahead.
A quick glance inside the carriage revealed that it was empty. The floor was layered with a thick red carpet matching the color of the plush seat in the back that could easily seat four ponies. Without hesitating she landed inside, even though it was a tight fit to get the bucket through the doors.
She looked out of the window in front and saw that the stallion still had not moved an inch. For a moment she thought she saw his ear twitch, but it could just have been her imagination. Unceremoniously she began dumping the muddy water on to the seat. The red material greedily soaked up the fluid and dirt. Rainbow Dash made sure to cover the entire seat before diving out the door opposite the one she had entered. She put the bucket down beside the left rear wheel and decided to crawl under the carriage to see what would happen next.
Just as she had whipped her tail out of view the massive front doors of the mansion opened and the owners emerged followed by the butler.
Trotting in front was Diamond Tiara wearing an elaborate dress that matched her pink coat. No doubt it was supposed to make her look like a princess, but all Rainbow Dash could see was a spoiled brat. Following her were her parents, Flithy Rich and his wife Trophy. It was fairly obvious that Diamond Tiara had more of her mother than her father, as she was almost a copy of the mare behind her except for the hair. Trophy’s hair was straight, while Diamond’s had curls.
Rainbow Dash pressed herself further into the shadows hoping that none of them would accidentally look under the carriage. They were now right beside the vehicle and Rainbow Dash heard them talking.
“You can expect us to be back from our trip at one o’clock. Please see to it that the staff has our meals ready on time this time. Not like last Sunday where we had to wait for fifteen minutes.” Filthy Rich said to his butler, who bowed his head in acknowledgment.
Diamond Tiara climbed into the carriage and her little hoofsteps could be heard by Rainbow Dash almost directly below her. The pegasus heard a grunt from inside as the filly jumped on to the seat, then she heard a loud squelching sound.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”
Rainbow Dash folded her ears down at the sudden alarmingly high pitched shriek.
“Oh dear Celestia! This is horrible!” Trophy wailed as Diamond Tiara bolted out from the carriage. Her pink dress was now thoroughly stained with wet muddy water. It had even coated her mane, causing it to drape over her face.
“My precious!” Trophy gasped and theatrically fainted over her stunned husbands back.
“Get it off! Get it off!” Diamond Tiara kept frantically repeating and skipped from hoof to hoof. After seeing that no help would come from the stunned adults, she ran off back into the mansion.
It took a few seconds for Filthy Rich to come to his senses. Angrily he turned to his butler.
“What is this incompetence?! I thought I had given you crystal clear instructions to clean our carriage this morning.” He was now just a few inches away from his butler’s face, who shrunk away from his angry employer. “We shall have a talk about this later. See to it that his mess is cleaned up immediately!”
With those words Filthy Rich began carefully trotting back to his mansion with his unconscious wife draped across his back. The butler stared after them with wide eyes. Once they were out of sight he composed himself a bit and rounded on the stallion in front of the carriage.
“What happened here!?” he snarled at the driver.
“I don’t know.” the driver casually replied.
“You didn’t see anything? How can that be? You are just a few feet away!”
“As you know I am expressively forbidden to look back into the carriage at all times, as per Filthy Rich’s instructions.” He answered and took off the harness, as it was obvious that the ride had been cancelled for now.
“Get out of my sight.” The butler hissed at him. Rainbow Dash watched as the driver stepped away from the carriage and made his way over to the living quarters for the staff. He glanced back and locked eyes with her for a brief moment. Then he winked at her before trotting off at a leisurely pace.
Guess not all ponies here are total flankheads.
Rainbow Dash waited until he was out of sight, all the time listening to the mutterings of the butler. When she was sure to be alone with him she crawled out from under the carriage and walked up behind him.
“Not so much fun is it?” she said causing the butler to spin around with shock plainly visible in his face.
“Wh….what?” he stammered.
“Taking the blame for something you didn’t do.” Rainbow Dash slowly advanced on him, while he began to back up.
“What are you talking about? What are you doing here?”
“I think you know what I mean. That package yesterday wasn’t broken when it was delivered, was it?” He backed up into the side of the carriage and Rainbow Dash stopped her advance when she was merely a legs length away from him.
“Th…that? The mailmare broke it and sped off before I could stop her.” His eyes darted left and right hoping to find somepony to come to his aid.
“That’s a lie and you know it! I bet you didn’t want any trouble so you pinned it on her to get away with it. Am I right?”
Any defiance he might have had up until this point melted away like butter in the hot sun. Instead of answering he sighed and nodded.
“Oof!” the air in his lungs was violently expelled as Rainbow Dash lurched forward and pinned him to the side of the carriage with her forelegs against his chest. She leaned in close enough for their muzzles to almost touch and with fire in her eyes.
“If I ever catch you blaming others for your mistakes again, we are going to have a little talk.” Her voice was almost a growl as she spoke.
Without waiting for an answer she let go of the butler and took off, leaving the butler still leaning against the carriage. After a few moments he regained his composure somewhat and silently vowed not to cross paths with that crazy mare every again.
_________________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash took her time flying to the library, trying to get down from her adrenalin fueled high. It still ticked her off that he had done such a thing. She was no saint herself and was the first to admit it. In the past she had tried both successfully and unsuccessfully to hide mistakes she had done, but never once did it even occur to her to blame somepony else for them. In her book that was lower than low and she simply could not idly stand by when one of her friends was blamed. She felt as if she had gotten her point across and her anger had vanished when she reached the library.
The cyan pegasus circled the large tree a few times after retrieving her saddlebag from the branches. To her surprise every window was barred with a small note on the outside. Intrigued she took one of the notes and read it out loud.
“Use the front door, Rainbow Dash.” She scoffed at the piece of paper in her hooves. “Doors are so overrated.”
With no options left she landed at the front door and entered. She was greeted with the usual sight, namely Twilight sitting at her reading desk flipping through a book. The unicorn glanced up and smirked at her friend.
“I see you found my note.”
“Yeah, very funny. If you had wings you wouldn’t like using doors either.” The pegasus said and trotted over to where her friend was sitting.
“I doubt that will ever happen.” Twilight said and closed the book she had been looking at.
“Did you read the book?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Yes, I did just like you insisted. Finished it last night.” Twilight looked at the pegasus, genuinely intrigued what had caused Rainbow Dash to act the way she did yesterday.
“And?” there was a hopeful spark in Rainbow’s eyes.
“It’s good and I enjoyed reading it. It may not be on par with some of the other books in the series, but still it was definitely one of the better ones. I thought the idea of giving Daring Do a sidekick was going to be a bad idea, but the author certainly managed to make her interesting enough to not be annoying. Overall I would give that book a nine out of ten.”
Rainbow Dash waited a few seconds hoping that Twilight would continue her assessment of the book. It was apparent however that the unicorn had no more to add to it.
“And you didn’t notice anything?” Rainbow Dash finally asked.
“Like what?” Twilight gave her a confused look.
“Like her sidekick? Like the evil ones in the story?”
“What are you implying? I can’t follow.”
“There us, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said and flared her wings to make her point.
“Excuse me?”
“The sidekick for example. Books McStyle is a mash up of you, Rarity and Pinkie Pie.”
“Errr…I think you might be reading a bit too much into that fictional character.” Twilight emphasized the fictional part. “She doesn’t sound anything like me, Rarity or Pinkie Pie.”
“Oh yeah? Listen to this.” Rainbow Dash took out one of her research papers from last night. She scrolled through her written points for a bit, before putting them aside and flipping open the Daring Do novel to the page she had noted.
“Daring Do flung herself against the ancient rusted doors with all her might. The rusted and worn hinges snapped under the force of the adventurer. Dust bellowed out of the room beyond as the door she had hit slammed down onto the ground. Coughing she made her way inside illuminating the way with a magic crystal. Behind her Books McStyle recoiled slightly from the cloud of dust, but followed her friend into the ancient room that nopony had seen for thousands of years.
“Look at this, Books! This must have been a library a long time ago. Check out all these scrolls here.” Daring Do said and shone her light at the nearest wall. Huge shelves came into view, packed to the brim with scrolls and tomes of unknown origin.
Books McStyle let out a gasp of joy at the sight. Daring Do suddenly felt the weight of her companion on her back. Seemingly out of nowhere she had climbed on top of the adventurer and now began hopping on her back, all the while giggling like a filly in a candyshop.
“This is simply astounding! These surely must hold all kinds of interesting secrets and forbidden knowledge! Oh I can’t wait to read all of them! If only it weren’t so dark and filthy here.” Books cast a glance at her adventuring outfit she had made for herself. It was already in bad shape so a few specks of dust wouldn’t matter all that much.”
Rainbow Dash stopped reading the passage from the book and looked at Twilight while smirking. Twilight gave her a flat stare in return.
“I am not obsessed with books.” she stated and gave a little snort of contempt at that idea.
“Oh, before I forget. I heard that they found a scroll during a dig near Las Pegasus. Apparently it might be a lost scroll from Starswirl the Bearded.” Rainbow Dash casually remarked.
“What? Really? Ooooooh….where were they digging? Did they find anything else? Is it still there or is it being transferred someplace else? How did you hear about it?” Twilight was now excitedly skipping in place. Her sudden enthusiasm died down as she saw the big grin on Rainbow’s face.
“Very funny.” she glared at her pegasus friend.
“What was that with you and books just now?” Rainbow Dash teased.
“Yes, fine….I get excited sometimes about knowledge. Is that such a bad thing?”
“Of course not. Just maybe sometimes a bit creepy.”
“Hmpf. There wasn’t really a dig at Las Pegasus was there?” Twilight hopefully asked.
“Nope. I just made that up. But don’t you see what I am trying to get you to see?”
Twilight sort of could see where Rainbow Dash might have valid points.
“You know that might just be a coincidence? That you are just reading us three into that character?”
“Really? Books McStyle is obsessed with books and stuff like that. She always dressed for the occasion and has a few prissy moments. And she does random stuff like Pinkie always does as well. A bit of a big coincidence if you ask me.”
“Well….” before Twilight could elaborate Rainbow Dash cut her off.
“And what about the villains! Half snake, half pony and can shapeshift into any kind of inanimate object to cause chaos in the name of their ruler, the evil Chaosette who takes pleasure in that? That’s just a mix up of Discord and the changelings.”
“Those events are pretty much public knowledge. Anypony could have taken those events as an inspiration.” Twilight objected.
“Ok, then just look at the timeline. The Daring Do book before this one was released just after you came to Ponyville. This latest one was released after you have been here for a while and we all became friends. And all of a sudden Daring Do gets a sidekick that just so happens to have some of your traits.”
“Could still just be a coincidence.” Twilight objected, but began feeling a bit unsure of herself.
“Then what about this and this is the best part. Daring Do is me.” Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings and barely managed to not strike a heroic pose.
“Really?” Twilight stated flatly and raised an eyebrow.
“Just look at her.” Rainbow Dash held up a book so Twilight could see the cover. “She looks just like me, except for the colors of her coat, tail and mane, the cutie mark is different of course. She even has my eyes.”
Twilight could indeed see the resemblance and had noticed it in the past, but merely put it off as her imagination.
“These books have been published for some time now. Why hasn’t anypony else come forward with these connections?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I guess besides you and me not a lot of ponies read these stories.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.
“I doubt that. The Daring Do series has been a major success in the past.”
“Well perhaps it’s one of those things were you don’t see what’s right in front of you the entire time.” Rainbow Dash tried to explain and Twilight gave her credit for making a valid point.
“I read all of the books and only now did I see the connection. I spent last evening and a lot of the night going through older books to see if I was right.” Rainbow continued. “Looking back it is pretty obvious that Daring Do is a mash up of me, Applejack and Fluttershy. Mostly me of course.”
Twilight could not help but laugh.
“Fluttershy? Are you serious?” One look at her friends face did indeed confirm that she was serious.
“Several of the books mention Daring Do sneezing really softly. That’s Fluttershy right there. If I sneeze you know it’s me.”
“And Applejack?”
“I think I sneeze louder than her, but she also does not sneeze softly.”
“I meant her connection to Daring.”
“Oh. In the flashback sequence of the fifth book we learn that Daring grew up on her family’s farm. That’s where she discovered her cutie mark for adventuring.”
Slowly puzzle pieces clicked together in Twilight’s mind.
“And we know that Daring is very honest. And she nursed that manticore back to health in the fourth book before rescuing it’s young ones. I don’t believe it, but you might actually have a point Rainbow Dash.” Twilight’s mind was now racing to remember everything she had read about Daring Do.
“Well I might do something like that too.” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“But why you three? And why us three now?” Twilight asked.
“I thought about that as well. Before you came to Ponyville I didn’t really hang out with a lot of ponies. Except Fluttershy and every once in a while Applejack. I kinda always thought that Pinkie was a bit too strange and Rarity was only interested in dresses and stuff like that. Only after you came here did I actually hang out with all of you more and I am guessing that the author wants us to be together in the books as well.”
“You may be right.” Twilight gasped. “Do you know what this means?”
“Yeah, that I am even more awesome than I had thought!” Rainbow Dash grinned wide.
“It means we have an award winning author perhaps living here in Ponyville!” Twilight ignored her friends previous thought on the matter.
“So…. Who do you think it is?” Rainbow Dash asked.