CH10: Try, try again.
The very next day after school, the girls met back up in the usual place. Although, this time they were accompanied by a rather sour acting Rainbow Dash. It was plainly obvious by Pinkie’s sad demeanor that whatever she had planned failed horribly. It didn't help that none of them knew how to act around a sad Pinkie Pie.
Luckily, Pinkie saved them the trouble by starting the conversation herself. She sniffled, lifting her head from the table and the puddle of tears that sat there, and whimpered, “Sh-she said that she’s going to go back to Equestria.”
Rainbow Dash huffed and leaned back in her seat. “Welp that’s it, we lost. Game over.”
Rarity and Applejack glared at her. “Rainbow Dash,” chided Rarity. “We are not simply giving up like that.”
Coco tilted her head in confusion and asked, “What’s Equestria? I’ve never heard of it.”
Fluttershy smiled back at her and answered, “It’s where Sunset came from. She ran away from home after a falling out with her mentor.”
Coco’s confusion didn't subside. Instead, it grew, as did her curiosity. Despite her time around Sunset and the others, she still didn't know the entire situation. Every time she brought it up, the others would simply shrug the question off. “Is it bad if she goes back?”
Fluttershy opened her mouth, but closed it when she realized that she didn't know what to say. Thankfully, Applejack spoke up and said, “That’s the thing. We don’t really know. What we do know," she leaned forward and gave everyone a serious look "is that Twilight trusted us to help Sunset make some friends. Now, we all know that the first thing we need ‘ta do is make her realize that we’re her friends already.”
“But we failed so now Sunset’s going home,” Rainbow interjected, “Sucks to be her. What’s the point.”
“The point,” Applejack continued, trying her hardest to ignore Rainbow’s remarks, “is that we can’t just let her leave while she’s depressed like this. It just don’t sit right with me.”
Rarity smiled at her friend and nodded. “Very true, Applejack. I’m glad that you still feel that we should help her.” Rarity sent an annoyed glance at Rainbow Dash. “Unlike some people.”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to rebut but Applejack spoke first. “Don’t mind her, she’s just sore that she missed her chance to buy her book yesterday.”
Rainbow Dash scoffed and leaned forwards onto the table. “I waited months to get the new installment, and some jerk goes and buys the last three copies all at once.”
“Don’t you do the same thing?” asked Fluttershy.
She leaned back in her seat and rolled her eyes. “Duh, you need three copies of something awesome if you wanna hold onto it right.” Rainbow began mumbling angrily to herself. “I knew I should’ve gone to get it before school started….”
The group shrugged off Rainbow Dash’s grumblings and decided to get back on topic. They all came to an agreement that it seemed even harder to make friends with Sunset now since they were in a worse position. They were now all aware of what the other students really thought of Sunset Shimmer. Whether or not the nightmares that people claimed to be having were true, the mere rumor was enough to keep Sunset further from redemption. The worst part was that it seemed that Sunset Shimmer herself had given up on making friends with anyone, and she was intent on going back home for whatever reason.
The only question now was not whether they could make friends with Sunset, but how to convince her that they already had.
Rarity sighed and sat her head on her hand. “What do we do girls?” she asked, her voice tired and exhausted, “We need to show Sunset that she can still turn her situation around. Not to mention, even if we can’t convince her to stay with us, we still can’t let her spend the next two years the way she is.”
Fluttershy nervously looked into her bag for an animal to pet, unfortunately, none of her animal friends had decided to join her at school today. In the end, she simply held her bag close to her for comfort. “I don’t know. Not even Pinkie could cheer her up, and we tried everything we could think of. I thought that she would’ve liked animals, but nothing happened.”
Pinkie blew a limp strand of hair out of her eyes. “Parties didn’t work… which is weird because they usually do. Sunset must be a super special kind of sad.” Pinkie gasped quietly and her her eyes went wide with fear. “Advanced sadness….”
Applejack took her hat off and sat it down on the table as she looked up at the ceiling. “We couldn't take her mind off things by working. Shucks, it works for me most of the time.”
Rarity leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I tried to get the populace to accept her with the thing that every lady should love, but it completely backfired and made everything worse.”
Rainbow Dash lifted her hand from behind her head and and said, “I still think we should give up.”
Applejack, now annoyed, turned to the girl next to her and said, “An’ ah still think you should shut up unless you have a real idea. You can get the new Daring whatever book later when they restock. But for right now at least try to be helpful.”
Coco’s head perked up at that last part, and realization dawned on her. “Rainbow Dash likes Daring do?”
“Yeah!” Rainbow cheered, her mood instantly did a 180 as she eagerly began talking about her favorite thing. “It’s like, the best book ever! Why? Do you read it?”
Coco shook her head but smiled and said, “No, but Sunset Shimmer does.” Her smile dropped and got replaced with a look of confusion when she noticed everyone’s surprised faces. Apparently, the concept of Sunset liking anything never crossed their minds.
“Y-you all didn't know that?” All of them shook their heads. “She reads it all the time.” More blank looks. Coco finally began to get frustrated. “It’s her favorite book series… Do any of you know anything about Sunset?” Ashamed, most of them averted their gazes, making it painfully obvious what their answers were.
Rainbow embarrassedly scratched the back of her head. “So… she likes Daring Do, huh? That’s cool.”
Rarity sighed, ashamed that she had overlooked such a vital point. “Coco is right. We’ve tried all the wrong things.” Rarity frustratedly put a hand to her face and groaned into it, “I can’t believe myself. All that time together and I never had any meaningful conversations with her. No wonder she feels like we aren’t friends.”
Rarity removed her hand and sent a determined look toward Rainbow Dash. Leaning over her side of the table, she stuck her face directly in front of Rainbow’s and said, “Rainbow Dash, you’re our only hope left. None of us know Daring Do like you do. You’re the only one who has a chance at even getting her to respond.”
“What?” Rainbow asked. Hesitantly, she glanced around the rest of the table. Everyone else seemed to be in agreement, but she still had some reservations. “Can’t Coco do it? She was actually able to talk to Sunset.”
Coco shook her head sadly. “I don’t know anything about Daring Do. I wouldn't have anything to talk about. At least… that’s what happened last time.”
Rainbow Dash grimaced slightly. “So why do you guys think I have a chance?”
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said softly, “all you need to do is act like you usually do about Daring. Just be your usual passionate self.”
“Yeah,” Applejack added, “If she’s anything like you, all you would need to do is ask her about her favorite characters or somethin’. Find out more about her and get her to open up again.”
Coco also smiled at her and voiced her own opinion. “It’s also possible that she has the new book that you couldn't get.”
Rainbow silently had to admit to herself that she was convinced. In fact, she was even slightly excited to have someone else that knows as much about Daring as her. Unfortunately, however, her ego wouldn't let her give up so easily. She crossed her arms and got up from her chair. “Nu-uh. I’m not doing it.”
Applejack rolled her eyes, all too used to Dash acting this way. “What do you want?”
Rainbow Dash glanced back towards the group. “Buy me snacks during lunch for the next week?”
Applejack groaned loudly and said, “Can’t Pinkie an' me just make you snacks?”
In response, Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out and grinned, “No, because I want you to spend money.”
“Fine, just go,” Applejack urged, waving her off.
Rainbow Dash pumped a fist with a quiet cheer before turning and confidently walking out the door. Applejack and the rest of the group turned back to each other at the table. All of them had nervous looking expressions. Rarity spoke first. “So… what’s plan B?”
“Well, hopefully Dash at least learns more about her so we can have a plan B,” Applejack muttered.
“I just hope that she can actually cheer Sunset up a bit,” Coco added.
“Come on girls,” urged Fluttershy, “let’s at least give her a chance. Rainbow can be really sensitive and helpful at times.”
Rainbow Dash popped her head back into the cafe and yelled out to the group in the back. “By the way, do you guys even know where she is? I’m not really up to date with the local demon hangouts, ya know.”
Applejack put both hands over her face and groaned, “We’re done.”
~~~
As Rainbow Dash entered the library and started to wander around, she began to have second thoughts about her mission. Now how the heck am I gonna pull this one off? Rainbow began looking around the place for her target. Today the library was slightly crowded, with people moving around here and there looking for all sorts of books for various projects and the like. She thought about asking the librarian, but since cool people don’t ask for directions, she shrugged it off.
Eventually she had an idea. She realized that since people avoid Sunset like the plague, she should just look for the least crowded area. She continued to wander around, but this time she had a plan. After searching around the large building for a few more minutes, Rainbow finally managed to poke her head into an out-of-the-way-corner. There in the far corner of the building, sat Sunset Shimmer at a table reading by herself.
Rainbow Dash instantly zoomed in on the book in her hands. I don’t recognize the cover! So she does have the new one. That lucky… Rainbow Dash bit her lip and shook her head. No, I’m here to make friends with her… not that I know exactly how to go about doing that… Rainbow Dash thought about what she could do without making things worse, but eventually, she simply shrugged and decided to make like the Fall Formal, and wing it.
Hesitantly she crept to Sunset, her eyes entirely on the book. “Um… hey, Sunset…” she began.
Sunset Shimmer glanced away from her book. Her voice was low and sad. “I thought I told you all not to try anymore.”
Rainbow deadpanned and raised her arms, saying, “In my defense, I wanted to give up.”
Sunset lowered her book down slightly, “Then why are you here?”
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and gestured to the book that Sunset had in front of her. “Coco told me that you like Daring Do. I just wanted to see if it was true?”
“So what?” Sunset asked, lowering her gaze once more, “Gonna call me an egg head now?”
Rainbow Dash chuckled and sat at the table in front of her. “Nope, reading Daring Do doesn't count. She’s too awesome.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow, “You like Daring Do? You?”
“Hey, I can like books.” Rainbow spat, leaning forcefully onto the table. “Plus, shouldn't I be saying that to you?”
Sunset narrowed her eyes in suspicion, “Are you making fun of me? Is this a trick?”
Rainbow Dash gave her a shocked expression, completely taken by surprise that her loyalty to the glorious epic had been called into question like that. “Are you kidding me?!” she nearly screamed. Sunset quickly shushed her, since she didn't want the librarian to come back there. Quietly, Rainbow continued. “Are you serious? Daring Do is like, my most favorite book series of all time!”
“Uhuh,” Sunset nodded slowly, still not entirely convinced. Lifting her book back up, Sunset went back to reading. “That’s nice.”
Rainbow growled and pushed the book out of Sunset’s face. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I never said that,” Sunset replied taking back control of her book.
Rainbow Dash smirked, sat back down in her chair, and folded her arms. “Go ahead, ask me a question. I bet I know more about Daring Do than you anyway.”
This got a genuine reaction of shock from Sunset Shimmer when she frowned and closed her book completely. “I doubt that.” She too leaned back and folded her arms. “What’s Daring Do’s middle name?”
“Trick question,” Rainbow answered instantly, “Daring Do is just an alias, her real name is Amy Keating Yearling.”
“What is Ahuizotl’s real name and age?” Sunset asked.
“No one knows." Dash said mysteriously. Cracking a smile she leaned back in her seat. "But he claims to be over 1000 years old.”
“Which book did he first appear in?” she asked, following up on her previous question.
“Book one, Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone,” Rainbow Dash said proudly.
Sunset was slightly impressed, maybe this wasn't just a trick. But then again... “In the third Daring Do Book, what was the relic that Daring discovered and what does it do?”
“Pfft,” she scoffed, “Daring Do and the Abyss of Despair. It was a cursed orb. Plus, the orb was just a distraction, the stand was the actual key that gave Daring Do access to the Tenochtitlan Basin.”
“Wrong, it gave Ahuizotl access. In book four, Daring realized that the stand had been the true key, but only after she let it go thinking otherwise.”
Rainbow flinched and silently cursed herself for forgetting that fact. “Fine, fine. My turn. Who was the first person to join Daring on an adventure?”
“Book two,” Sunset answered, “when one of Ahuizotl’s followers, Phantom Wind, tricked her into giving up all of her secrets. He was the reason why Daring refused to have anyone join her after that. In Book eight, Daring Do and the Marked thief of Marapore, who gave Daring Do the information she needed to translate the clues from the book given to her by—”
“Golden Rule,” Rainbow finished, “and Tator Tot was the one who helped her.”
Sunset’s mouth twitched. She was getting excited, but warm up time was over. Here came the serious questions. Things only true fans would bother to know. Without giving Rainbow time to ask her question, Sunset continued. “In one of the more recent books, Daring Do almost fails to solve one of the seven riddles of Yahmatu. Which one was it, recite it and give me the answer they revealed at the end.”
“Oh, playing hard ball now are you? ‘Bout time.” Rainbow Dash cleared her voice and spoke clearly. “‘Thy feet are the key to the answer thou seeks. For the steps they have taken, both forward and backward, shall reveal the final doorway to the temple most grand.’
“Daring thought that she had to retrace her steps to find out where the final piece to the keyhole was. It wasn't until later that she realized that from the moment she entered the temple, the final piece to the keyhole was engraved on her own shoe.” Rainbow Dash grinned widely, though not from answering the question. “My turn. In Spirit Amulet, Spirit Shift gives Daring a bunch of random information when they first meet. What was it?”
“His age, weight, least favorite day, favorite ice cream flavor, the color of his hair, the last video game he played, and where to find the yellowest kind of flower in his hometown.” Rainbow opened her mouth but Sunset immediately cut her off, “And before you ask, Daring finds out later that, in order to activate his amulet, she needed to have a key and a password. The key being the flower, and the password was the first letter or number off of the rest of the things he listed; 11SSB-RK,” Sunset finished proudly. She stuck her nose in the air and gave Rainbow Dash a smug look.
Rainbow Dash chuckled and waved her off. “Alright then. So you know Daring Do. New question. What’s A.K Yearling's favorite song to listen to while she writes?”
Sunset scoffed, “Everyone knows that the only “song” she listens to is the mental playback from the scenes in her head—”
“—when she relives every, single moment of her epic adventure.” Rainbow continued for her.
Sunset relaxed and gazed up at the ceiling in amazement. “It’s almost as if she goes on them twice just so she could write it for us—”
Rainbow Dash copied her with giddy fangirl excitement. “—so that we can feel like we’re right there with her in every story!”
“Just so every single reader can feel unquestionably…”
“Undeniably!”
“Unstoppable!” As both of them screamed the final word, they squealed in typical fangirl fashion. They were so loud, in fact, several students turned the corner just to see what the sound was. This caused them to start muttering amongst themselves, causing even more noise. The librarian, Cheerilee, finally had enough, and with a loud, “Shush,” the library went dead quiet, for a few minutes, before normal library talk resumed.
Glancing awkwardly at one another, neither girl said anything. Rainbow for losing her cool and publicly fangirling about her favorite book, and Sunset because she just realized that she had a huge joyful smile on the entire time, and the fact that it was probably still there. She felt something strange in her chest. It was an odd feeling, similar to when she spent time with Rarity. It was nice, but she quickly told herself that she had given up on friendship. So it probably wouldn’t last long.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash leaned forward onto the table and into Sunset’s face. She had a really hungry look in her eye and a slight blob of drool leaking from her mouth. “Alright, let’s cut to the chase, Shimmer. I want to read your book!”
Sunset just stared at her, confused and slightly weirded out. “Wh-what?”
“Come on. I need this,” Rainbow pleaded, laying her body over the table. “I’ve been waiting for months. I missed out on the first release and I can’t wait till they restock! Please let me read this!”
“SHUSH!” ordered Cheerilee.
Sunset nervously glanced around, their repeated outbursts of noise were beginning to draw attention. “Um… alright?” she whispered. “Just, please sit back down so we don’t get thrown out.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and sat down obediently. With barely repressed excitement, Rainbow watched as Sunset reached into her backpack to bring out another copy of what might as well have been a book explaining the one true religion.
Time ran in slow motion for Rainbow Dash as a golden tome emerged from Sunset's backpack. The words “Daring Do and the Shifting Spirits” was written on the cover in bright bold letters. Daring Do and Spirit Shift sat on the cover picture, looking disoriented and confused at each other while the villain of the arc, Benevelzhe, stood triumphant behind them atop a large monstrous squid-like shadow beast. It was, for all intents and purposes, the final installment to the two parter that had been called the best arc in the series. Rainbow Dash held out her hands in awe at its beauty and splendor as Sunset handed her the book.
Rainbow Dash held the book in her arms with all the love and care she would give an infant. With a small gulp, and held breath, she opened the cover slowly. Golden light immediately swam from the open tome, encompassing everything in the room. Everyone present in the library simultaneously experienced what had to have been pure bliss when their eyes rolled up to their heads and they began spasming in ecstasy.
Sunset Shimmer looked on with confusion as Rainbow Dash slowly opened the book while giving small giddy chuckles. She couldn't help but smile as she wondered what exactly was going on in her head. Whatever it was, she couldn't blame her when she probably had a similar experience.
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5341679 Let me guess, she's in a gated community called Hominid Heights?
First, an em dash is not a double hyphen. An em dash is as follows: —
Secondly, the em dash goes within the quotation marks and have no other punctuation with them.
Third, the second time you used em dashes maybe a paragraph later? No dashes were needed there.
I find it mildly amusing that it took until now to get to that point you promised in the story's description.
5341679
I didn't mention or post it because I try to pretend that song doesn't exist. Mando's been putting out a lot of crummy songs for the past couple years. Unfortunately, that was one of them.
5341833 Yeah, but I don't know how to type an em dash. Thanks for telling me about about the other things. I'll go fix them.
Doesn't help that this story was meant to be little more than a one shot when I first conceived it. Then as the first few chapters came out, I continued to add new plot points and important events. The general plot hasn't changed, though, so I don't think that the description should.
5341863
No need to learn how. Just copypaste it on in.
Fair enough.
5341879 Already done.
I would have guessed he was an ahuizotl.
5341909
I see... well played.
4686522
GTFO man, this story is awesome!
5342111
I don't care that it's a real place. It's still a dumb name.
5342115 Seconded.
5342115
Oh, I completely agree. I just think it's interesting that it actually exists.
This basically explains what happened when JD and JF, two boys in my class found out that I had a copy of The Blood of Olympus.
5342526
Oh.
Fair enough.
Nothing creates a friendship over a common obsession, like seeing who knows more about it.
That is what the entire fandom is about.
5342575 EEEEE I'm almost done it! The epic fight is the next day in the book!
loved the new chapters and cannot wait for more!
On a side note will this be a sunset and dash pairing? It might be cute!
5342115
Let's face it, so is Ponyville. The author's just keeping the stupid name tradition alive. Even Canterlot is better and it's a pun.
Oh man, that was so fun seeing Sunset fangirl out. At first I was surprised Sunset knew so much already, I thought she had only started reading Daring Do after she started hanging out with Rarity, but then I remembered that Sunset is as big a nerd as Twilight; of course she would study up on every detail for fun immediately.
Oh, and I hope Rarity feels ashamed for not having noticed Sunset reading Daring Do every day at Rarity's house.
So why did Sunset Shimmer buy three copies anyway?
5343464
I did mention earlier on that I also wasn't a fan of the name Ponyville.
5344132
Dont you know anything about Nerds and their collectables? You buy 3 so you have 1 to read, 1 to trade, and 1 to lock in a safe thats in a vault thats in a volcano, never to be looked at by human eyes again... you know so that it can appreciate in value.
5357345 You forgot to mention that the Volcano is Booby-trapped to keep would-be treasure seekers away
5357423
A booby-trapped volcano? Don't lets be silly.
It only took 10 chapters but finally the part of the summary that emphasizes Rainbow Dash comes into play.
Really I think the description should be changed to de-emphasize that part.
Your password has one number less than it needs. Shoe sizes don't come in Small, Medium, and Large after all.
BASICALLY. And when you have a friend who starts to join your fandom?
Friend: I started getting into this thing.
Me: Oh my god.
Me: I need to tell you everything about the thing.
And thus, Rainbow Dash's transformation into Daring Do was complete. Wat.
Fun fact: this chapter made me remember the normal battle music of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team so when Dash and Sunset started challenging each other's knowledge of Daring Do I decided to play it. It was surprisingly fitting for the scene: upbeat like Sunset's improving mood in a turn-based "battle" like the game.
Why that song in particular? It's called Try, Try Again.
Word to the wise: Don't mess with two geeks in the middle of quizzing each other. We don't like that.
Either Daring Do magically popped out of the book for a second there, or you got a name mixed up. Though given the similarity, I can't blame ya for that. Dash, Daring, type "Da-" and muscle memory just takes over.
6048940 We think alike. As soon as I saw the chapter title I pulled up that song.
6284741 Gotcha! Fixed. Thanks, mate
The book then melted everyones' faces off, except for those who knew to look away with their eyes closed in time.
Except if you have the social skills of a normal person