The Two Sides of Daring Do
Chapter 5
Fantasy and Realism
By Kendell2
Ahuizotl stood at the top of the statue, the final ring in his claws, the Belt of Atlas around his waist. His cats stood around him, seemingly in anticipation for the ritual to complete. “Soon the time will come when the world will crumble before the might of Ahuizotl! HAHAHA!”
“...Are you sure about this?” Daring asked, trembling a little bit at the sight of Ahuizotl in the flesh. The two of them stood in the hall way to the room, both now wearing their jackets. “Last time he kicked my flank...bad...and I'm still figuring out how the 'real world' works...”
“I know...but remember, I'm from the real world, and it's my plan,” Yearling replied, putting on her pith helmet. Had it been one of her stories, she would have found it laying next to them when they had their epiphany...instead it had been laying in the same hall way she'd left it at and she'd had to pick it and her jacket up. She hoofed her glasses to Daring who removed her helmet and put them on.
Daring actually looked...envious. “...I normally just run in and think as I go...is that bad?”
“That works sometimes...but it won't this one...stick to the plan, unless everything goes to Tartarus, and you should be fine...I'd switch our positions, but my ribs are bruised right now. I can't fly as well as I'd need to.”
“Alright...are you sure you'll be okay?”
“Yeah...You beat his cats, I think I can handle it.”
“Just a few more minutes...” Ahuizotl said with a smirk...right before Daring flew from cover and snatched the final Ring from his grasp.
She then flew back down and landing next to Yearling. “What's wrong, Ahuizotl? Forgot to have your ring fitted?” both asked at the exact same time.
Ahuizotl snarled. “This is why I prepare my elaborate ceremonies well in advance! Get them!” he ordered.
His cats leapt down...the house cat and bobcat carefully making sure to stay on their larger counterparts' backs as they swam across the water.
“Bring it!” both yelled at the same time. Daring flew up, once more dodging the trap triggers expertly and heading right for Ahuizotl. She ducked under his swipe and kicked him in the stomach. It didn't do much, but it got his attention. She dodged his counter strike, though had noticeably less grace with it than Yearling.
Yearling, meanwhile, ducked under the Panther's pounce and gave it a buck in the stomach. She then evaded a slash from the tiger, giving it an uppercut in return. The author chuckled despite her sour ribs. “...Good thing for me you're not the toughest henchcreatures I have to deal with...” she muttered, leapfrogging the bobcat and using a whip to snatch its leg and pull it back, letting it collide with the house cat's head on as it leapt at her.
Daring took a light tail whip, knocking her across the statue's head and leaving her in a good bit of pain. “Ow...Okay...having a plan doesn't mean he doesn't hit like a train...” she muttered, grateful he didn't seem interested in an anti-climatic end to their struggle. She looked back over her shoulder to see the water far below.
She flew up and gave a flying kick to his face, dodging his attack. Superpowered or not, he wasn't completely invulnerable and staggered back from her momentum.
“What's wrong, Ahuizotl? Getting slow in your old age?” she asked, doing it loud enough so Yearling could hear and mimic her exact dialog as she bucked the tiger in the jaw. 'Thank Celestia we had time to brainstorm quips on the way over here to get that trick right...I'm still getting used to this whole 'preparation' thing.'
Ahuizotl chuckled. “Old age? I am actually quite young for my species!”
“What species?! You're the only one!”
Ahuizotl's smirk in response to that made Daring wonder if she WANTED to know.
He charged her and swiped several times, a hit to the ground sending her flying from the force and nearly knocked her off the statue's head, which by now was cracked quite a bit.
The ancient devil charged her, then used his own tail to lift himself up and started swiping with all four limbs.
Daring was surprised and had to avoid the swipes, barely evading the feline claws on his hind legs, but getting batted aside by his right arm, knocking her clear across the platform with what seemed to be a light move of his arm.
Yearling meanwhile ducked under the bobcat and the house cat, resulting in them slamming headlong into one another.
“You're doing well Ahuizotl, but is your memory really that bad?!” she called (Daring joining in as soon as possible), spinning the ring on her on her hoof before using it to smack the panther right in the face with it. 'Just as I thought, with the others in position, this one's enchantment is supercharged... good, just like when the other rings were all plugged into the Fortress.'
“You seem to forget which mare you should be fighting!”
Ahuizotl snarled, turning to face Yearling. “Get me that ring!”
“Maybe it's your eyesight that's failing you,” the two adventurers called in stereo, Daring taking advantage and giving Ahuizotl a massive flying buck to the back, knocking him off the edge.
“Cause you took your eyes off the ball!”
“Ow...” Daring muttered, rubbing her leg. “Still like kicking a brick wall...”
As the monster fell, he triggered several of the pegasi traps. While the resulting arrows and darts didn't hurt him, they distracted him enough he forgot to take the Belt off before he hit the water and began to sink.
Daring flew down and bucked the tiger in the jaw at the same time Yearling did a jumping kick to the panther, both landing on their two smaller comrades.
“Now!”
The two threw Yearling's glasses and Daring's pith helmet to each other and put them on, quickly galloping up the stairs. Yearling slipped the Ring into her jacket.
When Ahuizotl rose from the water without wearing the Belt, both whistled. “Hey big boy!” they called, with a slight suggestive air. “Come and get me!”
The feline terror snarled, getting back to the ground and putting the Belt back on but getting a rock thrown in his face.
He hastily tied it back on and charged after the twin adventurers.
Yearling skidded to a stop while Daring kept flying forwards.
The author did a backflip, dodging his swings. She ducked and allowed his fist, causing it to slam into the wall, burying in it and sending cracks through the entire wall. He then swatted her aside with a light gesture, knocking her farther up the stairs. She had to roll aside to evade a smash that crumbled a good section of the staircase to dust. Yearling did a few backflips to get distance before using her whip to strike Ahuizotl in the head, earning a snarl.
The monster pounced at her and gave her a flick of his hand, sending her flying back to the ground and bloodying (perhaps breaking, she wasn't sure) her nose.
“Give me the ring!”
Yearling smirked despite the blood running down her face. Her eyes fell on the Belt of Atlas around his waist, still hanging loose from his hasty attempt to tie it after falling in the water earlier. “Wrong mare!” she called at the same time Daring, who was farther up the staircase. “Time's running out!”
Ahuizotl looked at Yearling's glasses and snarled before dashing head long at the pith helmet wearing Daring.
The sword trap triggered but Ahuizotl just ripped straight through them in his pursuit, smashing stone to bits during his charge.
Daring stopped on the platform, allowing Ahuizotl to leap at her and crack off a piece of rock from Atlas' already severely cracked head, but not expecting a second pretty bad blow that knocked her across it and left her rib cage burning. “The ring Daring Do!”
The adventure groaned, holding her ribs...then giving a smirk. “Sorry, I/she doesn't have it!”
Ahuizotl looked behind him to find Yearling standing and twirling the ring around her hoof.
“You tricked me!” Ahuizotl snarled, leaping at her just as she flipped backwards, groaning from the pain in her ribs.
“No, that wasn't the trick...” Yearling said independently.
“This is!” announced Daring Do, snaring the stone sword she'd put to weigh down the platform earlier with her whip, tying the handle end to the piece of rock Ahuizotl had dislodged. She bucked the rock, causing it to fall and take the sword with it.
Ahuizotl looked down, noticing he was directly off the now rising platform. He looked up in time to see the sun and moon in Atlas' hooves fall directly at where he was now standing.
He simply caught them both with ease in his super strong hands, giving a laugh. “Did you really think a few tons of rock would be enough to stop me?!”
“No...” Yearling said, flying forwards and making a grab for the belt. “But this will!”
She found his fifth hand around her neck. “Forget something?” her archenemy asked with a smirk.
Yearling returned one. “Did you?”
Daring zoomed by, snatching the loose belt from his waist.
“NOOOOOOO!” the attempted tyrant yelled, his body shrinking down and having to release Yearling so he could fall on his back and use all five limbs to just barely hold up the massive stone orbs with every ounce of might he had.
“Hurry! The Rings!” Yearling yelled, both adventurers dashing to the makeshift Tower of Darkness, ignoring the pain they were in as best they could. “Remove them and this whole place is coming crashing down on his head!”
“How does that work exactly?” Daring asked as they removed the first ring quickly, both groaning quite a bit from the pain in their bodies. “This isn't even their temple!”
“No, but the reason the Fortress collapsed was because...” Next ring removed. “The spell was interrupted and all that magic had nowhere to go but into the temple itself! If Ahuizotl exploited the similarities between the two temples to do this, the same exact thing should happen here!”
Daring groaned as they removed the next ring, starting to feel the beating she'd took from Ahuizotl more and more. While he hadn't hit her much, he still had the strength of Atlas at the time. “And that is why you're smarter than me, I'd never have thought of that!”
Yearling blinked as another ring fell to the statue below them. “...You think I'm smarter?”
“Yeah...it's just...I had no idea who the Tartarus Atlas was...you were the one who figured out how to get here. Heck, I didn't even know where Ahuizotl came from but somehow you knew he was stronger in water...”
“I studied...a lot...just a lot of that doesn't make it into the book.”
“Yeah, and I get twitchy walking through a tomb between traps. I wouldn't have the patience for that stuff. Let alone enough to figure out why the Fortress collapsed. All I knew was 'remove artifact, bad guy's place goes boom.'”
They lifted the last ring, together. “...I...guess I had forgotten how important the study work is in what I do...” Yearling admitted, giving a small smile. “...Thank you...”
“Welcome...”
Both smiled as they lifted the last ring off. Like clockwork, the temple began to rumble.
Yearling stomped down on one of the rings, shattering it. “And with all that magic discharged, the rings are vulnerable! Don't leave one left!”
Daring assisted and in a few second all the Rings were nothing but pieces of broken golden metal.
“Now come on! Let's get out of here!”
The two ran as Ahuizotl gave a roar of fury from his trapped position. “Curse you Daring Do...s! I shall have my revenge!”
The cats wisely ran for it when they recovered from their beat down, the twin adventurers doing the same as the entire temple chamber came crumbling down on Ahuizotl's head, burying him alive.
Daring looked back as the tunnel was collapsing behind them. “So the 'temple collapses behind us instead of all at once' thing actually happens?!”
“It's a magical shockwave! It ripples out through the entire structure causing it to collapse outward when the spell's backfiring goes off!”
“Good to know at least one thing from my world is real!”
The two leapt out of the entrance to the cave, Ahuizotl's cats continuing past them and into the wilderness as the entire mountain the mine was built into imploded into a crater, followed by a nearby lake beginning to drain into it.
The two panted, watching the dust settle.
“So...is Ahuizotl...”
“No,” Yearling replied with a sigh. “He's immortal, that can't kill him. Remember when he got shot directly with a cannon?”
“Oh yeah...I thought that'd killed him for awhile...well, as much as 'awhile' applied to me...”
“So did I and the audience! They gave me so much hate mail for that...”
“So the whole 'Ahuizotl never dies no matter what happens to him' is actually true?...Great...”
“Tell me about it...”
The two gave a laugh...then groaned and fell on their backs, panting...and in a lot of pain. Yearling checked her nose. Yep, definitely broken.
“Ow...On the bright side, at least it should take a long time for him to dig himself out of that...”
“Good...because I think he broke a few of my ribs with that last hit...” Daring muttered, clumsily trying to tape her ribs until Yearling stopped her and helped do it correctly. “...I think...I remember breaking my wing once and my ribs feel like that...”
“Yeah, that sometimes happens...adrenaline rush makes it harder to feel pain...and then we end up very sore...You won't believe how I have to justify a lot of this to ponies when I go back to being AK Yearling...”
Daring managed to nod. “Yeah...I think this will take getting used to...so...I guess this didn't end with me cleanly dying off, huh?”
Yearling shook her head. “No...I think I'm happier it didn't...”
“Huh?”
“Look...I...uh...” Yearling tried to speak as she tended to her clone's ribs with a concern that almost seemed motherly. “...We really need to get to the hospital. We're really beat up...”
“Yeah...hehe...but yah know something?”
“Yeah?”
Daring gave a tired smile, feeling herself as if to make sure she were awake. “...I just helped save the real world...I guess you could say I feel alive now!”
Both laughed at that...then groaned at their injured ribs and other injuries.
“Yeah, we definitely need the hospital...”
Yearling finally set home at her desk. Her nose was bandaged up and she still had her ribs taped up, on top of a lot more minor injuries.
She sighed looking at a newspaper reading 'Daring Do Saves the Day?' She hoped she could just pass it off as a publicity stunt.
Yearling also looked at a manuscript laying nearby called 'Daring Do and the Belt of Atlas' that she hoped would do that job for her. Naturally said book had a metric ton of alterations to it from the reality, since she couldn't have the author being part of her own story, but the story made no sense with only one Daring Do. Also on the desk were a few letters from Rainbow Dash, the two still keeping in touch.
The Chisel was thankfully now safely in the high security wing with other such artifacts, behind a multitude of magic wards to prevent theft. And a strict 'no creators with a large fan base within 50 feet of this' rule.
The author's eyes fell on another, more official looking piece of paper work on the table. The royal seal plain as day.
“Okay, so...changing clothes just to change clothes is weird...” Daring Do said, limping into the room wearing a simple t-shirt and looking at it strangely. She was also likewise bandaged up rather heavily, particularly her ribs. “...and so was finding out how to actually use the bathroom without time skips.”
Yearling cringed at that memory. “Agreed...hey, look...I finally got that letter back from Celestia about you.”
“Yeah?” Daring asked, looking frightened for a moment, an emotion she was still decidedly getting used to.
“She said she can have birth records and everything written up for you quickly, even if you want to be seen as a magical clone. Apparently she had to do something similar with this Doctor guy I've teamed with a couple times. He insisted he be kept out of the books.”
The clone gave a sigh of relief. “Good...”
“...But there is one thing...” Yearling explained, looking uncertain. “...Daring...or whatever name you CHOOSE...You get to choose WHAT those birth certificates say...what your name is...and what your relationships to others are. Within reason of course.”
Daring blinked. “What?”
“...You can say you're officially a magically created pony, or legally a Homunculus (which means the exact same thing, it just sounds fancier), Celestia says that's your choice. There's laws pertaining to artificial life and you're considered an Equestrian citizen with full rights because I was able to more or less prove you are genuinely alive. Apparently Celestia made the into law recently after some incident involving a mirror pool that may or may not have been simple mana clones, but she didn't want to take any risks in the future...Anyway, the point is...you also get to choose aspects of your 'back story' otherwise...who your 'family' is, if you have one...”
Daring raised an eyebrow. “Family?”
Yearling gave a sigh, looking down at the document. “Yeah...Look...it's your choice but...I realized something back in the temple...you were born from something I created. I'm your creator...Ugh! Look, I'm not good at this kind of thing...basically...for all intents and purposes...I'm your mother...”
Daring Do's eyes went wide as she processed what she was told. She couldn't question the logic of it. “...I...I guess so...”
“And...you've still got a lot to learn about the real world...you need somepony to help you fill in the pieces how I created you couldn't...I made you a good adventurer but that's only part of it. And...isn't teaching you all that what a creator...what a mother should do?”
The magic born pony stared in shock. “I...I guess that makes sense...I...I never had a mother...my memories of having mine die were...”
“...It's your choice...I...I just feel like you're my responsibility and I need to do what a good mother should. My sister's an excellent mother, so I hope I could be too...”
Daring looked thoughtfully down at her hooves. If she hadn't gotten a reality check like she did, she probably would've been insulted by the idea she needed someone to teach her anything...but the fact of the matter was...she did. Besides what made sense in her context, she was a newborn, plain and simple. And...in a way, it made perfect sense. There was no denying Yearling had been her creator...
“...I...I don't mind...”
The two didn't spontaneously hug and act like mother and daughter, both knew that'd take time...but they both did smile to each other.
“Thanks...”
“You're welcome...mom. Thanks for having me...so...what now?” Daring Do asked.
“Well...Celestia took a lot of stuff into consideration about you...including the fact you were born with an adult body and never had a chance to have one...” Yearling produced a potion that'd came with the letters. “She tested some of the fur I sent with it.”
Daring Do looked at a small area were her fur had been trimmed. “I was wondering why you insisted on that...”
“...She said due to you only being a few days old, you still have a full life force. You're basically a newborn as far as life energy is concerned...in most ponies a youth reversal spell will simply change their body, not affect age, an old pony won't gain a year to their life, and it's difficult to even get a unicorn that strong to perform the spell...but of course, she's an Alicorn...if you want. She provided me with this potion she created. It will make you a filly, about the same age as my youngest niece. About five.”
Daring Do looked at the bottle. “...I can have a foalhood?”
“You can have a...relatively normal foalhood. And while I DO adventure a lot, you can defend yourself well even if you were a filly, and my other niece loves to foalsit, so it'd work for me too. I can homeschool you, I've got degrees. You can do everything a normal filly could do, earn your Cutie Mark, play in the park, the works...or you can be an adventurer like me and help me out on my quests, which would be helpful. Only real difference is you still have all your fighting skills and proportional physical fitness level so any of my rogues gallery that tries to get to me through you is in a nasty surprise...it's entirely your choice. I won't say which I prefer. Just that both are possibilities.”
The homunculus looked at the potion intently. “...If it doesn't work out?”
“She sent an antidote in case someone mistook it for tea...don't ask.”
“...” Daring trotted over and took it. She looked to her blank flank, then back to Yearling. “...You're sure you'd be okay with this?”
“...I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't. Just know adults don't takes kids seriously.”
“Eh, my social skills aren't the best anyway.”
“And you'll need to go through puberty.”
“I don't know what that is.”
“It's...when your body starts changing. Not fun.”
“Does everypony go through it?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I want to. Even if it sucks.”
“Alright...you'll have to deal with heat sooner or later anyway...”
“What's heat?”
“...I'll tell you when we get there. But also not fun and you'd have to deal with it regardless...”
“I thought you were neutral.”
“I am, I just want to make sure you know what you're doing here...I'd be a bad mother if I didn't.”
“...You're lying.”
Yearling sighed giving a sad chuckle. “...I guess I'm not that good at hiding how I feel...I...I just feel like letting you do this...it's like I'm just writing you out of my story in another way...like us going from me hating you for existing to working like a well oiled machine might as well have never happened...that if this happens we could've just grabbed the Belt of Atlas and never had that fight with Ahuizotl...I guess I feel like it's the 'easy way out.'”
Daring looked at the potion as her mother spoke. The homunculus looked deep in thought. “...You're right...it does feel like the easy way out, huh?” The mare reluctantly put the potion back down. “...And I don't want to take the easy way out.”
“You're sure that's what you want?”
“...Daring Do in my memory is pragmatic, she's not afraid to fight dirty. She'd be willing to use the potion if it'd resolve the situation quicker. So it isn't her...”
Yearling blushed a little. “To be fair, I really am like that when it comes to a lot of fights. I'm not afraid to throw sand in somepony's eyes.”
“I'm surprised that makes it into the books...”
“Fans actually rather enjoy Daring Do being that kind of heroine...that and apparently stallions getting nailed in the stallionhood is funny...You know, you could take 'vacations' in Ponyville as a filly with my sister.”
“...Tempting...but we both know that's not how fillyhood works...I think I'll stay this way. Besides, I can't trash talk bad guys as a filly! And I LOVE doing that!”
Yearling gave a chuckle. “So do I. We'll drive them nuts...Oh! One more thing...” The author took another of the papers. “...If you want...you can pick a new name. Your choice.”
Daring do looked down at the paper. “Yeah, might be a good idea, since I'm trying to be my own gal...I need to think about this...should it be something like other ponies have? Or different? AK Yearling doesn't sound much like a pony name...no offense.”
“Actually...it's short for...Awkward Kindness Yearling.”
Daring couldn't help but chuckle. “Awkward Kindness? No wonder you go by Daring Do.”
“Actually they're both my names...family tradition. My sister and her eldest daughter are the same way...”
“Do I need two names?”
“Pick one for now, get another when you earn your real Cutie Mark. That's how I did it.”
Daring nodded. “Okay...Ugh...This is harder than I thought...I can't just be Daring Do II can I?”
“Well you can, but technically it'd be Baby Daring Do. Griffins use Jr. but ponies use Baby. Tradition started in the First Age or something.”
“No thanks!...Let's see...What's your sister's name?... Names?”
“Ditzy Do is her birth name, her youngest daughter's name is Dinky Do.”
Daring Do looked thoughtful. After all, this was important. She couldn't just rush into it without thinking. “...Hmm...How does Daydream Yearling sound?”
Yearling raised an eyebrow. “Daydream?”
“Well I am something imaginary that came to life, and Daring Do, Ditzy Do, Dinky Do? All initials DD,” the homunculus replied, giving a cocky smirk. “And is really any cheesier than Awkward Kindness? DD Yearling doesn't sound too bad either.”
“Haha...Still, Daydream has a nice ring to it...”
The newly christened Daydream Yearling wrote down her name. “There we go. Got a name of my own...feels nice...like I'm me.”
“I bet...So...since you're staying an adult, and you've got a name...that only leaves one question...What do you want to do?” Yearling asked.
Daydream looked back at her Cutie Mark. Or lack of one. Still blank brown fur. “...I'd like to try and find my Cutie Mark...but I'd also like to help you too...if that's possible...saving the world is good...I actually do kinda like doing that.”
“I'd like that...”
Yearling took out a stack of books and maps. “I was about to begin research myself.”
“Uh...that's not my thing...” Daydream admitted, feeling anxious just looking at the books. “I don't have the patience for that stuff...I'm more of an action type.”
The author chuckled. “I think that'll work just fine, because I love it...I'm also good at planning...”
The homunculus gave a smirk. “And I'm good at improvising.”
“...I think this is going to work out just fine.”
“Same here...mom.”
Yearling chuckled. “...Same here Daydream...I'm looking forward to it...”
The End.