“My name is Daring Do and I have written six of the top twenty best-selling novels of all time under the pen name A. K. Yearling. I have traveled the world, saved ancient art, won an Olympic bronze medal in javelin, and even thwarted the plans of the infamous drug lord, Auitzotl. Even though I live this life of mystery and adventure, I still ask for more out of this world. That’s why I assembled my team: Deathtrap Daisy, Blazing Banner, and Constable Courage to help uncover the great mysteries of this pale blue dot. This is Earth’s Enigmas.”
"Ohmygoshohmygoshomygoshomygoshomygosh! Guys! Get in here it’s already started!"
Rainbow Dash hardly ever watched TV, but for this particular occasion she managed to go out of her way to find the channel number for the History Channel in HD. Before she saw the commercial for Earth’s Enigmas, Rainbow was perfectly content with swapping back and forth between the ESPN and American Heroes for her entire life. She barely knew the History Channel existed.
In this world, Twilight wasn’t there to introduce Rainbow to A. K. Yearling’s novels. Rainbow found interest in her books the old fashioned way—by being forced to read them for a group project in school.
“Didn’t they have any cider or whole milk at the store when you went?” said Applejack as she set a bottle of unnatural looking liquid on the carpet. Blue raspberry soda was nectar of the gods to Rainbow Dash.
“Most people prefer to eat their meals AJ, not drink them,” remarked Rainbow without shifting gaze from the television.
Sunset Shimmer was the last to walk in the living room with an unreasonable amount of popcorn, especially without Pinkie Pie around. “You’re one to talk with your blue raspberry soda, Rainbow Dash. In fact, maybe I should just take it off your hands for ya. Your coaches probably want your fridge stocked with bottled water and Muscle Milk for the rest of the season,” said Sunset playfully envying the sugary beverage.
“Hey! We use whey protein now, and you can finish off the sparkling water Rarity left in the fridge,” replied Rainbow actually considering if it was the right move to treat herself tonight.
“We did a lot of weird things in Equestria but we never drank that peroxide. So what’s Daring Do’s first mission? I’m still getting used to saying that. She was sort of a recluse back in Equestria and she never dropped the pseudonym."
Despite her prior objections, Applejack popped open a bottle of the “nectar of the gods.” “Media must have gotten to ‘er I guess. Ain’t no privacy in this world anymore.” Their attention turned back to the Dash house’s forty-inch.
“Welcome to my HQ: La Ciudadela de Flor y Canto. When my own humble abode grew too small for the operations I was running, I decided to take my project to the very place where I planned the trap that captured Auitzotl. Here at the CFC, we have a highly secure museum where I have gathered the priceless pieces of history I’ve found for all the world to see.”
Rainbow Dash squealed with delight upon seeing the artifacts she recognized from her books over a TV screen. “That’s the Macuahuitl of the Shorn Ones! And that’s the Anaconda Sabre! OHH and those are the Great Gemstones of the Capri!” She was working on memorizing every detail of the CFC.
Applejack actually liked reading the Daring Do books with Rainbow Dash for school, but her patience was tried when Rainbow’s fan-girl was exposed this prominently. “You’ve seen pictures of those artifacts before haven’t you?”
“Well duh. But now they are on TV with Daring Do! Now shhh! They’re in the situation room,” squealed Rainbow as Daring Do and her gang surrounded a table that housed thousands of dollars in gadgets and funky monitors in its surface.
“Alright, Daisy. Whadaya got for me today?”
“I have a former Cobra Pharmaceuticals employee that claims he's been forced to mule bio-weapons in trucks that are supposed to be hauling meds."
“This isn’t gonna be another Largest Ever Pet Shop conspiracy is it? I mean, are you trying to say that Cobra is spreading disease or something?
“Everything I have today went through the prescribed background checking. Since bio-terrorism could be the future, its crucial that we start learning about it. Even if we don't uncover anything, we could still learn a thing or two from the leaders in biotechnology.”
“Well we’ll see but I prefer we not go into it. Banner. Go.”
“Two words: Gigantopithecus Canadensis. I got—”
“Nope. Not yet. We’re not ready jump the shark in the premier, Banner. Constable, tell me you have something good.”
“Indeed I do Daring. More runes found in Minnesota this time! Remember that case for Templar gold we had back in 09’? Well here it is again. The pictures of these runes match the same that we saw in Nova Scotia, This time, about an hour North of Duluth”
“Now this is what I like to hear, Constable. Get your winter coats guys. Let's roll out.”
Like an encyclopedia, Rainbow was on this, “The runes! If those are legit, that means that—”
“The Templar could have arrived in the West 300 years before Questmaster and then reached over 1500 miles inland!” interrupted Sunset. Everybody on the block knew that Sunset was smart by now. She was a master of mathematics and the hard sciences but even Rainbow was stunned by her knowledge of this world's history when she had a mind full of another's. Especially when she didn’t care about history for the first three years she was in the human world.
“Ooooh. It looks like Sunset’s catching up to your Daring Do knowledge Rainbow.” Applejack threw a popcorn kernel at Rainbow, but being a good sport, Rainbow didn't mind. Especially when she was in this good of a mood already. It did, however, give her an idea.
“I take that as a challenge Applejack. Sunset, we’re having a quiz-off once this is over. Winner takes the rest of the nectar of the gods home”
“What?!" Sunset's voice cracked replying to the out of nowhere challenge. "I have to answer for a challenge that Applejack called?”
“I didn’t even call the challenge, Rainbow did,” interjected Applejack.
“It’s settled then. Sunset and I. Head to head. Mano a horso. Daring Do and history trivia."
“Horso?! Oh it’s on, monkey girl."
“It took a whole fifteen minutes, but I finally got together enough questions for a halfway decent trivia competition.”
the two watched as Applejack walked in the living room with the modest stack of note cards. The high from watching the show suddenly died when Rainbow realized that she challenged Sunset Shimmer, of all people, to a game of wits. Not to let any sort of foe get to her, the grin reappeared on her face.
“Bring on the questions, AJ.”
“In what battle did president Bull Moose order a charge of his Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War?”
Sunset’s inner student resurrected itself for a swift hand raise, “Ooh! Ooh!”
“Uhh… Sunset”
“The Battle of San Juan Hill”
“Correct. Hey, how are we scoring this?”
“Ascending point values, first question is worth two points, add two every round," suggested Rainbow. She figured if she could negate Sunset’s first answer while simultaneously putting more pressure on herself as the competition goes, she could pull off an unlikely win.
Sunset and Applejack both knew Rainbow would try to do all she could to win. Sunset saw it as just gamesmanship, but Applejack knew exactly what Rainbow was thinking. In an instant, she could see when her hyper-competitive pal knew she was at a disadvantage. Applejack reviewed her questions and shuffled them around a bit. “Does that sound fair to you, Sunset?”
“Sure, makes sense,” replied Sunset with a clear, but understanding glare at Rainbow Dash.
“For four points. At its peak, this empire was the largest of all time. Name the empire.”
Dash’s body jolted. “Mongolian Empire!”
The answer was so fast that Applejack barely understood it. She understood it enough, however, to say “Nope.”
“What!?”
Without giving it much thought, Sunset threw in her answer. “The British Empire.”
“You got it.”
“Woo! The Mongolian Empire was the largest contiguous land empire, not the…”
Rainbow’s previous fan-girl eyes were now completely engulfed by the flames of competition. Sunset was silenced.
“Six points. Who played Daring Do in the 2011 film, At the River of Souls?”
“Candy Sweetheart!”
“Six points for Rainbow.”
Rainbow was getting cocky already. “It’s all tied up Sunset. Are you sweating yet?”
“Please, we’re three questions in.”
“Actually, I only made five questions.”
“So this next question is worthless then? Rainbow always gets her x-factor in the last fifth of any game! And how exactly is five questions a trivia competition?”
“Hey, I didn’t create this point system. Eight points. What historical leader did Daring Do call the most interesting person in history’?”
Sunset passed a squint between Rainbow and Applejack knowing that it wasn’t even worth it to throw out a guess. Rainbow Dash, however, had every intention to stack the scoreboard.
“Admiral Thundersail.”
“Correct, Rainbow. I guess it doesn’t really matter though. Last question and I made this one a doosy. What Greek hero was the inspiration for Daring Do’s only best seller that was not a Daring Do title?”
A moment of silence passed between Sunset and Rainbow. Rainbow’s eye registered a slight twitch. Sunset held her hand to her lips.
“Really? Looks like I stumped y'all. Hehe”
“Theonikas,” blurted a muffled voice from behind Rainbow’s front door.
A confused glare passed between all three girls but then the host sighed as she figured out exactly what was happening. She shuffled to the front door, which was suddenly far too thin for Rainbow.
“Knock knock, Dashie!” yelled the door voice.
The bummed-out girl opened the door and answered to Indigo Zap with a half-hearted, “What’s up Zap?”
“I was just in the neighborhood and thought, ‘Hey. I should pay my favorite Wondercolt a visit.’”
“Is that it?”
“Well I was also wondering when you were having your officer interview. Mine is tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I’m gonna rock it.” Rainbow had went through many of the same processes for NROTC as Indigo Zap. When it is not reasonable to become part of an elite team of pegasi, Rainbow shot for the slightly more realistic goal of a Blue Angel.
Rainbow’s eyes opened wide with the same somewhat intimidated expression that she used when she realized that she was playing Sunset in a Trivia game. She was reminded of her fast approaching responsibilities. Her recovery was swift though. “It just so happens that mine is tomorrow morning too. You better hope you don’t follow me cause I’m gonna blow lieutenant away with my unadulterated awesomeness.”
As a fellow athlete, Indigo Zap was quite familiar with this posturing. “Pssh. Let’s just hope we both make a stronger impression than Lightning Dust.”
Upon the mention of her name, both girls were thinking the same five-letter word. Indigo didn’t like the fact that her academic misconduct ripped a total stud out from CPA’s Friendship Games team among other things. Rainbow still hadn’t forgiven her for a dirty slide that put the softball team’s catcher out for the season after game two.
“So… yeah, I just came to stop by. It’s already 10:00. I want to be well rested if I’m gonna be astounding Lieutenant Soarin’ at 8:00 tomorrow.”
“Soarin’. I’ll have to remember that name.”
Indigo passed Rainbow a smirk. “I don’t even know how you got this far in the process, Dash.”
As Indigo walked back to her car, Dash remembered one detail that slipped under her radar at the beginning of their conversation. “Wait! How do you know Daring Do stuff?”
“I don’t. It’s called Greek Mythology 101, Dash. I suppose at CHS you’re too busy skipping class and fighting magic to learn.”
Before closing the door, Rainbow aimed a legitimate smile in Indigo’s direction. She loved to be reminded of her reputation, especially coming from one of her chief rivals.
“I’m glad to see you’ve made friends with people at CPA other than Twilight,” said Sunset after she subtly swiped the last two liter of blue raspberry soda.
“I should have asked her if Twilight likes Daring Do. She seems like the kind of egg-head to read adventure novels.”
After Rainbow made this remark, Sunset immediately picked up her book and started scribbling.
Applejack easily noticed what she was writing. “I don’t know if pony Twilight will exactly be in the same situation.”
It only took a second and Sunset’s book came in with a message.
She smiled at Applejack and after she read the message. “It looks to me like Twilight might give Rainbow a run for her money for Daring Do fan-girl of the year.”
“What! Gimmie that!”
After reading the passage, Rainbow shut the book and stared blankly at the wall. “There is another world with an entirely different official continuity of Daring Do. I NEED to read them.”
“Umm. I was having a conversation there.”
Quickly ignoring Sunset's comment, Rainbow continued on her new scheme. “I need to get in contact with the Twilight here and see if she likes Daring Do then I'll find a way to get pony Twilight to get me those books. Maybe I can even meet two Daring Dos!”
Applejack set her hand on Rainbow’s shoulder to settle her restless friend. “Maybe we should go so you can get some rest if your interview is at 8:00.”
Too much sugar and Daring Do was in the hyped-up girl’s system. She took a deep breath and thought about what Applejack said. “If you want to go, you guys can. Just wish me luck for my interview.”
Sunset already had the blue raspberry soda in her backpack. “Good luck Rainbow! I think I’m about to head out too. Do you want us to pick you up after for a victory brunch, like 10:00 maybe?”
“That’d be great.”
Sunset and Applejack drove off in Applejack’s beat up truck while Rainbow settled into bed after an hour of interview prep on the computer. There was far too much on her mind to sleep now. A night of staring at the ceiling was her fate for the next few hours. If she were lucky, she would get a Daring Do adventure dream. More likely though, she would get a fevered dream about competing with Indigo and Lightning Dust. After taking a near loss tonight, she wasn’t about to take one tomorrow.