//------------------------------// // Towards the Climax // Story: The Two Sides of Daring Do // by Godzillawolf //------------------------------// The Two Sides of Daring Do Chapter 4 Towards The Climax “Ow...” Yearling muttered, leaning against a wall once they'd gotten away. “As if I didn't have enough bruises...I think this might be a new record...” “...W-Why did you save me?” The author blinked, looking to her clone. She just looked so...lost. Yearling had no idea what to make of her. She looked less like the fearless, brave adventurer...and more like a lost and scared child who'd stepped into a situation they didn't understand. “...Why wouldn't I?” “Because...before A-Ahuizotl attacked us...” The author gave a sigh, trying to have some semblance of composure. She had her pride. “...I said...I can't say I didn't mean what I said...but...have you ever abandoned a innocent person to the bad guys when you thought they needed you?” “I...I don't remember ever doing it...” The author raised an eyebrow at the way she said that. “...I'm like that...I don't do this just so I can say 'I found the Sapphire Statue'...though being able to say that is awesome...I just can't stand the thought of a maniac like Ahuizotl hurting ponies if I don't help stop him...” 'Here I've been, worrying so much about who was better...not about the ponies that might get hurt if Ahuizotl got his claws on the Belt...' the author admitted to herself. Yes, she liked the fame. She liked the recognition...but stopping monsters from getting their way was more important than that. She thought about how she'd acted. How impulsive she'd been trying to prove herself better. That wasn't like her. Yearling didn't notice, but her Cutie Mark had continued to become less faded and the flickering slowed even more. “I...I get it...I don't remember Ahuizotl being that strong...he's supposed to be an over the top baddie that hides behind his cats...He told me I was mistaking him for the one in the books...” “...The publishers...when a character is fictional, them saying 'I'm going to hurt ponies because I can' is hard to take seriously...and after Discord, they told me playing him seriously was 'too soon'...” “...Who's Discord?” “...A very bad monster...well...he used to be...he's supposedly reformed now...supposedly.” “...I don't remember him...” “I...never put him in the books because he wasn't a villain in my story...and no pony wanted to read 'Daring Do ends up trapped in a death trap by Discord that keeps changing just when she thinks she's escaped it, for hours on end, and ends up needing psychiatric help.' Especially when a lot of them had their own scars to heal from...” “I see...Let me guess, stealing the Sapphire Statue wasn't as easy as swinging over Ahuizotl's head and grabbing it from out of his grubby hands?” “No...I had to fight a small army of cats and barely escape by the skin of my teeth...” Yearling replied with admittedly a small bit of pride in her tone. “...Why didn't you put that in your book?” “Because the book was running too long for my publisher's liking. I had to cut things short and they said 'the death trap was enough of a climax.' In their defense that was one of Ahuizotl's better ones...” “...I see...but one thing?” “Yeah?” “I never read your books...so how do I know you didn't put that in them?” Yearling felt like she had just answered a question without being asked. “...I'm not real, am I?” Yearling's eyes went wide. “...I...Why do you ask?” Daring began to tremble. “When Ahuizotl said that...I remembered what you said...that you made me. And then I realized...I don't remember doing things I know I should. I only remember nightmares, never dreams, but I know what dreams are. I don't remember going to bed, just that it's the next day, sometimes a nightmare, but I know what sleep is. I don't remember getting up most of the time...I...I don't remember my foalhood outside of a couple things here and there...my memories are like a puzzle somepony forgot to finish!...And I don't remember anything about Ahuizotl except 'he's my enemy and came out of a temple that got opened.' Tartarus, I don't remember anything between adventures at all...None of my memories make any sense with what I know is supposed to be...I just didn't want to admit it until...” Yearling was speechless. Daring Do had become more and more desperate as she spoke. Yearling imagined she was experiencing the other side of having a quick mind that can analyze everything around her. When she realized something, she didn't have much trouble piecing together all the clues. Daring put a hoof to her eyes and lowered it to show tears. “...I've never cried before...not once in my entire life...I remember that my mother is dead, but I don't remember crying when it happened.” “...I...Look...I...” Yearling tried to process what to say. She hadn't gotten off on the right hoof with the clone...that would be the understatement of the century. But how do you tell somepony 'You're a fictional character?' Not only that...well, she was inspired for that part of her backstory from somewhere. “The...the Chisel activated and you were there...so...” “So I'm a bucking fictional character!” the mare snapped, terror in her eyes. “...If I was from another universe, I wouldn't have holes in my memory the size of an airship. I wouldn't have gotten my flank handed to me by Ahuizotl because I'd know how dangerous my mortal enemy is...I'm not some genius with a huge encyclopedia in my head, everything I know is what you put there...Everything I thought I was...everything I am...it's all a lie...I'm a lie...I don't exist...” Yearling gasped as she noticed something. Daring Do's Cutie Mark. It'd began to run. Like wet ink. It made her blood run cold. “...I'm not Daring Do...I'm just a character based on her...that's why I couldn't beat Ahuizotl...because I had to deal with some cheap knock off of him my entire 'life' if you can call it that...” The Cutie Mark kept melting. The author had been out of Equestria when Lord Tirek was on the war path, but even then the stories of his drain making Cutie Marks disappear had frightened her. Why wouldn't it? A Cutie Mark was an expression of your soul. “Y-Your Cutie Mark...” “No...yours...you're the real Daring Do...I'm just a copy...I never earned my Cutie Mark, this is my first adventure...I...I don't love adventure because it's what I love...I love it because I'm written to love it!” Daring Do's Cutie Mark ran off completely. Like it had just been erased. Yearling took a step back in utter horror. Eyes frozen on the blank patch of brown fur. It made her want to hug herself and check her own Cutie Mark to make sure it was still there. The broken pony's head drooped, ears pinned. “...I'm not real...I'm just a fake...the character you made turned into a walking mass of mana...A figment of your imagination.” The author stood for a few moments. A part of her had WANTED the 'fake' to admit she was just that...and now she got it. And it left her staring at what had once been a cocky, over the top adventurer...now looking more like a broken foal who didn't know what to do. A blank flank...foal...A child. A filly...A newborn. Yearling once more felt like the sky had fallen... Daring continued looking down, not moving, tears streaming down her face...and then Yearling took her hoof and put it on the author's front ankle joint. “What do you feel?” “...A pulse...” Yearling moved the hoof to Daring's wrist. “And now?” “...A pulse...” The author trotted in front of the clone and set down. “You're afraid, aren't you?” “...Yeah...” “Guess what? I've never written you to be afraid.” “So?” “If I never wrote you that way, why are you afraid? How can you be afraid?” Daring's eyes widened for a moment. “I...I don't know...” “Were you worried when old three hands beat the Tartarus out of me?” “...Y-Yeah...” “I may have written you being concerned before...but you wouldn't have felt it if you were just a mana clone. You wouldn't have cared about me, so much as known you should...because caring for someone else comes from the soul...ugh...that sounded so cheesy, can you tell heart to heart stuff isn't my strong point?...If you weren't alive, if you didn't have a soul...you wouldn't be able to care...and you wouldn't care if you existed or not...because I never programmed you to be able to do that.” Daring Do looked confused. “But...but...the Chisel...” “...Gives life to a work of art...Galatea was flesh and blood. She married Pygmalion. They had a child. They loved. It didn't just make a mana clone of Galatea, it made her real...you came from my books...but you're not just some puppet acting out what I programmed into you...you're alive...” She ran Daring Do's earlier sentence through her mind again. Realization dawned on her face. “The character...I made...” she whispered to herself... “That...I made...” “...I made you...my quill gave you life...what does that mean?” “...I...I don't know...” Yearling looked uncertain herself. “...Look...I was worried you were taking my place...that I was being replaced. That you were better than me...but I never thought of you as a life I that I'm responsible for...I barely thought of you as alive at all...I'm sorry...” Daring was shell shocked. “I...I was the one tha-” “No...you didn't ask for a magical artifact to make you...I knew from the moment I checked your pulse you were real and I treated you like some interloper trying to steal my life instead of another pony...that's not the pony way.” Yearling stopped herself. Letting her emotions out didn't come easy. It'd taken Rainbow Dash coming to save her and actually competently sending her friends to distract Ahuizotl for her to let her in. Daring did pick up the feeling there was more she was tempted to say. “...So what do I do?” Daring asked, looking at Yearling with desperate eyes. “...If you want to be real...do what you want to do...I'm not your author anymore, just your creator...everypony is the author of her own story.” “...I...I guess I can try it...” “...And look...if we make it through this mess, you can stay at my cottage, we'll work something out...and if we don't, maybe my sister wouldn't mind letting you stay with her or something. I'm not going to just kick you out with nowhere to go...I'd be a bad creator if I did that...” Yearling didn't look directly at her clone. Her posture was more one of awkwardness than hesitance, however. “Uh...t-thanks...wait, sister?” “Yeah, derpy mailmare, but a sweet one and almost as determined as me...I need to visit her more...she sure was there for me when I ended up getting 'ray-dye-ation' poisoning.” “That never happened to me...” “Be glad it didn't...I really need to talk to her more, her and her...her kids...Look...just...stop acting like you're not alive, okay? That...doesn't end well...” “...O-Okay...Thanks...I...I needed that.” “...Welcome.” Yearling backed up and looked at Daring's still blank flank. Instinctively she looked back at her own completely solid one to make sure it was still there. Even with that confirmation she shuddered a bit. Daring followed her gaze and frowned. “...It's still gone...” The author put a hoof on her shoulder. “It's okay...If this stuff is your real talent...maybe you need to discover that for yourself...Remember what I said about you being your own author now?” “T-Thanks...Once this adventure is done...oh no!” Yearling blinked. “What?” “Ahuizotl! He's about to use the Rings of Scorchero to corrupt the Belt and this whole place to hijack the Princesses' power!” Daring checked a watch. “We've got ten minutes before Ahuizotl makes the planet a desert!” Yearling's eyes went wide. “That's not good...Well, somepony needs to stop him, don't they?” “...But he just kicked both our flanks...” “...Individually, yes...but...there's two of us...Maybe in this case two Daring Do's is a good thing...” the author said, gears turning. “You said he's using the Rings?” “Yeah, something about them being similar to the Belt or something.” Yearling put a hoof to her chin. “I see...So we have ten minutes to defeat a superpowered Ahuizotl, disrupt a dark ritual to steal the powers of two Alicorns, and save the world?” Daring looked hesitant...but slowly became more serious. How many ponies would be hurt if they didn't do anything?...Too many. “...I don't know if it's me...but I don't want to let old three arms win.” Yearling adjusted her glasses. “You wouldn't care about that if it wasn't you. Now come on, we've got a world to save.”