Twilight Sparkle has been called to Canterlot on royal business: a university's archeology department needs help with a tricky project. All very routine and hum-drum for her... but for Rainbow Dash, it's a chance to get an inside view of the exciting and fast-paced world of ancient history! But how much does she really know about the field? A chance meeting with a larger-than-life pony teaches her about the difference between reality and imagination.
Update: This story is followed by a full-length sequel. Check out The Death of Daring Do: Engine of Eternity"!
Chapters (1)
THis is good. I like. And also.
THANK YOU!!! you know how to indent new paragraphs! THANK YOU!
Needs to be continued!!! I wanna see more!!!
This should be featured.
545187
Thanks, but... it seriously only took you five minutes to read it? Is that normal? Maybe I just read slow.
545359
More of what? It pretty much did everything it was meant to do.
I have some longer stories loaded and ready, if it pleases you. All they need is a good round of brutal editing.
Derring-doo's a bitch.
545456 I don't actually have time to go and read every story. So what I'll do is skim it. Generally I give rating on stories based on content and how well it's written. I'll only really read a fic if it strikes my attention. I didn't actually reqad it through. But from what I skimmed I could tell it was good.
545550
If this isn't the reader's first reaction, I have failed as an author.
She has her reasons, though.
Well, we all knew something mortifying was going to happen when Derring-Do found out what books Dash really meant - and it's a painful scene to go through - but I wasn't expecting that to be the last bit, or Dizty's bit. Both of which make the fic better, so
Basically, loved it
545605 What? How is having a caricature of yourself inspire the foals of Equestria to become archaeologists a bad thing? And on top of that, how can she possibly be mad at her sister for trying to cheer her up when she's in the hospital? She is just being mean for the sake of mean.
545663
There's many who genuinely think that way.
There are positives but there's also people who fail to see them due to personal desires.....
Derring-Doo is one of them.
Wow. That was brilliant. Poignant too. Well done.
545687 She could still be taken seriously as an archaeologist if she just stopped whining about there being a fictional character based on them.
Very nice. Wasn't expecting that surprise at the end [spoilers:
], I was kinda thinking that it really was Derring who wrote those books and was using this as an excuse so she wouldn't be shamed before the intellectual community (Because [massive sarcasm] fiction NEVER makes a lasting difference in the real world. [end sarcasm]). Love where this is going. Have a favorite.
Very well done. You kept to the genre, defined your pace and let the characters remain themselves while still presenting a story of your own. I especially respect how you formatted the story in such a way that it makes it easier for someone to read, rather than putting rectangular boxes of text one after the other. One of my more favored styles of writing on this sight, and I hope you'll be able to deliver more in the future.
This is probably one of the few stories I've read out there that doesn't have anything wrong with it except for the minor error here and there, so I really can't complain here. Take care and good luck in the future and once again, I congratulate you on a job very well done.
Oh glob, this is seriously great. It deserves to be featured, and you need to write more.
This would really make a great two-parter. But I can see why you left off where you did.
Dash says "nobody", early in the first chapter.
I have a problem with that.
545729
I don't think that her reputation as an archaeologist is her main concern, since it seems that none of her colleagues actually know about her being the model for a fictional character. She even is depicted as a quite acknowledged expert in her field, but not as prestigious - and that is, as I take it, part of the actual problem: Although she certainly loves her job on its own, she could have become really well-known (at least in the scientific community) if the accident hadn't happened, after which she didn't get a lead role in an expedition (and probably other career chances) again, and the way she defends her accomplishments towards RD shows that she is quite frustrated with that and jealous of the fame of her fictional self. Also, Derring-Do is just one of these persons who are very stern about their profession, and therefore she feels downright offended by the way the novels trivialize not only archaeology but also her as a person, which is, in my opinion, a plausible reason for her anger at her sister even before the novels became famous. That makes her no less a bad person, but I think that there is also a lot of bitterness. Just my interpretation, though.
... um. Many words just to express that I personally think that Derring's characterization is authentic and well done. What I find odd is that she doesn't herself conclude that RD, who apparently has no conception of archaelogy but claims to be a fan of her, actually is a fan of the novels. With regard to the writing style I think that the dialouge occasionally could be embedded into more detailed descriptions. However, these are just minor issues. I like the story.
There is just one linguistic matter: I have been taking Latin courses at school for six years now, and I know that the term "amatorem nom" or rather the vocable "nom" doesn't exist in Latin. As far as I know, "amateur" is taken from the latin word amator, which translates to "lover", but there are indeed websites which say that it is derived from "amatorem", which is the accusative of "amator". On some of these, the following is written: "French amateur 'lover of' [...] from Latin amatorem nom. amator [...]". This is a misleading formulation. I guess you used one of these sites as reference for your story and thought that "nom" stands for the Latin version of the preposition "of", but it is actually short for "nominative" and refers to amator.
547726
Hey, I finally got a comment! :)
I'm glad you like it. My original draft posed Derring-Do as a full-on celebrity scientist, but it was pointed out that a) Twilight would certainly know of such a person, and b) famous scientists often cultivate and encourage celebrity status to increase the public repsonse to their study. Dash's statement is entirely correct: it's good PR, and draws new people to become interested.
I toned it down and made her very competent, but also bitter and obscure. Much better.
About the latin: you are probably correct. I wasn't particularly thorough. I shall look into this and edit.
547887
Or, you could just 'cheat' and say that 'amatorem nom' is Ancient Equestrian instead of Latin.
548018
Cheating is wrong.
(shifty glance)
Nicely done. You'd better brace yourself for the incoming tsunami of story views and accolades.
548709 If you cheat right, nopony will be sure you cheated at all.
550212
Unfortunately, the story will have to wait a bit longer for this: EQD kicked it back for further editing. They suggested I send it to the Ponychan training grounds. I've already done this twice.
*cracks knuckles*
Round three... fight!
550871
*I* would be sure I cheated.
Sadly, I don't yet know the rules well enough to snap them over my knee. Someday... someday.
DuncanR is my name.... Identity theft
Gotta agree with Derring-Do at one point...Rainbow is pretty stupid...
The story has now been overhauled, posted, and sent to the EQD pre-readers for a second pitch... let us see if my batting has improved at all.
545769 Yeah. The writing style is very professional like a published novel, the pacing was good, and the idea of story vs. reality made for provoking thought about what Dash must be feeling seeing that her idol was not how she imagined. Even you're descriptons are also on par with that of novels. I wish there was at least one more scene with Derring where Dash rebuttles her remarks from before and says something like how the stories maybe fake, they mean alot to others. Besides that, this was really, really good, especially when it makes the reader want to go up to Derring and make her realize how she almost broke an innocent fan's heart
.
OHHEYDUNCAN! I have an idea for a sequel to this that I wanna write. You cool with that?
599111
No. I am not cool with that. It doesn't need a sequel. It is a complete story with a complete message, and an unnecessary sequel would only devalue the ending.
Firstly:
Secondly:
Go ahead! It's not like I can stop you from writing it. If my story gave you an idea for a good story, then I encourage you to write it! But for goodness sake, don't just use my story as a crutch. As long as your idea is good and original, and you write it well, and you give it your own voice, I've got nothing to complain about.
Well... if you only write it to add a feel-good happy-sappy ending where everypony gets hugs and muffins, I'd definitely complain.
603600
...okay. I had multiple chapters anyway.
Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I don't get the part at the end, with
...Now I want to write a story where RD starts getting into actual archaeology. Still with a big Daring-Do streak and not impartial to the occasional temple trap, but...
And the others think there's something wrong with her, of course!
553155 EQD? Same happened to me with one of my better-written stories until I gave up. :/
547726 Excellent analysis!
Oh wow. Wow. That was really, really good, dude. The writing style, formatting, and storytelling were pretty good, but what really stands out is the characters.
You did an excellent job of portraying Twilight and Dash, but Daring Do was simply amazing. Yeah, she was a total bitch, but you made it reasonable and believable. Her being bitter and rude and angry isn't unbelievable. Dash did say and do some pretty stupid things, which were totally to be expected of her in that situation. And if anything, the embitterment of Daring Do is more realistic than her having an optimistic outlook. Its saddening, of course. Crap, I felt so depressed when she finally went off on Dash, because I felt so sorry for both of them. Like, seriously ripping at my heartstrings... But dammit man, I applaud your characterization!
I'll admit, I had hoped that maybe Daring could be... well, "redeemed" isn't the right word. But I was hoping she might soften up, lose a bit of the bitterness, or perhaps apologize to Dash. Something to pick her up a bit out of the darkness she's in. But she didn't. And that's okay, because really... that's the most realistic outcome. And you chose to go with the more realistic outcome, rather than the outcome that would fit the MLP setting or readers' expectation. And that says a lot for you as an author, good sir.
636764 The ending with Ditzy actually says a lot. It shows that Dash is trying to avoid turning into Daring. She's been totally crushed, much like Daring, but she has resolved not to let it crush her spirit and dampen her passion. And her being nice to Ditzy is her attempt to be the opposite of Daring. Think about it. Dash looked up to Daring, and she pretty much exploded at her and made her feel like trash. Ditzy seems to look up to Dash, and how has Dash been treating her? Rudely and without respect. So there's an echo between the relationship of Daring/Dash and Dash/Ditzy. Dash recognizes this, and she realizes that she does not want to be like Daring. So Dash has resolved to be nice to Ditzy, respect her, and try to forge a friendship - the opposite of how Daring reacted to her fan. Yay, character development!
Phew... Well, I certainly had fun doing literary analysis of this work and its content. Who says an English Literature Degree is useless?
639601 Ah, I see! thanks.
Awsome!
Now did somepony slip and give it a thumbs down? Butterhooves I guess.
“That’s kind of dumb. Can’t you keep your floors up-to-date?”
Best line ever!
I've had this on my soon to read list for quite some time. I had to make sure i had a ling enough block of time before I jumped in. Glad I finally did. This was fantastic. Very much worth my time. Thank you for taking the time to entertain us with your story.
1256171
I think this is the most satisfying complement I've ever gotten. Thank you for taking the time to read it!
This has me in a writin' kinda mood again... I think it's time I cracked my writer's block wide open.
Gotta say that this was an excellent, excellent story. I loved the interaction (not to mention the "misunderstanding") between them and the way everybody else seemed to move around it too. Always a shock when reality doesn't match up to fantasy, but I think it was handled well. Two thumbs up.
1312714
Thanks for the comment! Some days, reader feedback is the only thing that keeps me going.
>I loved the interaction (not to mention the "misunderstanding") between them
To me, the most important part of any story is characters interacting. I always start with an interesting character, and see where it goes from there.
>and the way everybody else seemed to move around it too.
I'm so glad this worked! I wanted the final conflict to come out of nowhere as a shock, but it also had to be obvious and believable in retrospect.
1314022 I loved this story.
Your characterization was extremely detailed, taking into account the complex relationships between the individuals and extending that far beyond the scope of the story itself. I couldn't help but notice it when you overtly stated how the prof. felt about her own sister, simply by having her call RD retarded. I only spotted a few small errors in spelling, like a 'teh' where a 'the' should be, but all easily ignoreable. In conclusion, this story is going in my vault where I will appreciate it again sometime. I thought it deserved more than just a 
or even a simple 
. If this is a good example of the rest of your work, then I shall have to seriously consider following you as well.
Its structure was perfect. You led me from one plot point to the next one so seamlessly that it would have been impossible for me to stop halfway through. I loved the slight twist you gave to the ending. You made it so that it was unexpected and completely satisfying. Every single one of RD's reactions appeared in character, and you wrote her so well that I as a reader couldn't help but form a simpathetic connection with her as she endeavoured to meet her hero. The let down which so devastated RD caused a tear in my eye as well.
Though it will not be enough,
BeauZoe
I don't know why this was added to Twilight's Library since it's already been accepted, but I added it to another folder, "Slice of Life".
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/410/405/ae1.png
2448363
It is entirely possible I submitted it twice and forgot about it, or somebody else added it and I never noticed. Either way: terribly sorry for the mix-up, but thank you kindly for adding it!
2448369
Moar is, in fact, available right now! Check out the sequel.
Of course she doesn't really die in the end. That'd just be silly.
2448440
2448456
Ahh... just giving the fans what they want.
In all seriousness, though, of course she dies at the end. Anything else would be silly.
C-c-complete? Why complete? I require a sequel!
2534228
Ask, and ye shall recieve.
2536032
I like you.
Interesting idea, well written, and really well thought out. I can fully see why Derring is so grumpy.