The Legend of Daring Do

by The Red Parade

Daring Do and the World In Between

“Okay, I need to take a break,” Twilight suddenly says.

The museum office suddenly fades away, and I’m standing in the middle of Twilight’s living room again. “Hey!”

“Sorry, Dash, I promise I’ll be right back.” Twilight scrambles off to one of the other rooms, probably to use the bathroom.

Left alone, I sigh and collapse onto the couch. Truth be told I’m kind of glad we’re taking a break. This is a lot of stuff to wrap my head around. I frown, replaying the previous events in my head. The name ‘Cobble Iron’ sounded really familiar, but I hadn’t gotten a really good look at him before Twilight cut us off.

Actually, come to think about it, something’s familiar about Redblood too. I just can’t place it. And what the hay was she on about anyways, saying that Daring wrote this for me? She never had a reason to. All I ever did was say that writing was what nerds did.

That thought makes me cringe. The more I think about, the more I realize I never got behind her idea of being a writer. I wonder how that made her feel. I mean, Mom and Dad were always going to support us no matter what we did, but Daring was also super supportive of me being a Wonderbolt. Damn, maybe I should have told her… I don’t know. Something.

“This place hasn’t changed a bit.”

I jump at the voice. Sitting where Twilight sat is Daring herself, still wearing her pith helmet and vest. She looks around the room, taking it all in. I look around, but Twilight’s nowhere in sight.

“Sis? How are you here?”

Daring shrugs and points a hoof to the book. “I’ve always been here. Guess you just never noticed. But to be fair, I guess I never told you.”

I get off the couch, trying to figure out how she’s here if we’re not in the story anymore. “But, why--”

Daring ignores me, going over to the table. She sighs as she reads the cover. “And of course you’d find this one first. Ugh. There’s so much left unpolished in that one!”

“What?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. The changeling fight, Redblood’s armor, all of it. It’s underdeveloped and not thought out at all. Still, Twilight does a nice job filling in the gaps.” She stomps a hoof in frustration. “Most of it was just filler anyways. I meant to do more research but I ran out of time.”

I walk over to her side. “I mean, I thought it was fine.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t perfect,” Daring sighs. She turns away from the book to look at me. “So how are you enjoying it so far?”

“It’s interesting,” I say. “But I gotta say, a lot of this stuff feels familiar.” Suddenly, I remember something. “Wait, Dr. Cobble Iron wouldn’t happen to be Dr. Caballeron, would it? That one professor you had that railroaded you the entire year?”

Daring giggles. “There might be some resemblance there.”

Okay, from what she told me about Caballeron, I can guess why he’s a villain in the story. Apparently he shredded her paper in front of the entire class, saying he was just trying to help while he criticized every single angle of it. Daring came home crying that night, and I remember swearing that I’d go beat him up or something.

Don’t really know what happened to him, but I think he got into some sort of incident where he stole work from somepony and put his name on it. I think he got fired or something, but that was years ago.

I clear my throat. “And all that other stuff with the vines? And changelings?”

“A good adventure needs monsters to fight,” she says evenly.

I grunt and roll my eyes. “I just don’t get it, Sis. Why didn’t you tell me about… about any of this?”

Daring sighs and drops her gaze to the ground. “Believe me. I wanted to, but I knew you wouldn’t care. But… it was hard, trying to find other people to listen. You probably wouldn’t understand what it’s like.”

Is she… saying what I think she’s saying? “What about Redblood? Who was she to you?”

Daring blinks and opens her mouth, but before she can answer, Twilight comes back in. “Sorry about that, Rainbow.”

I wave my hoof dismissively. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.” I see Daring in the corner of my eye, wandering out of the room.

Twilight gives an awkward smile. “So, how are you holding up? I mean, I’m guessing this is still kind of weird for you, especially since it’s been so long since you’ve seen her.”

I nod. “Yeah. I didn’t know she saw herself like this either.” I head back to the couch. “Hey, Twi, what do you think about some of the stuff Redblood said? You know, about her being a loner or something.”

Twilight rubs her chin. “I don’t really know to be honest. When she came to the library, she was alone. But I’m sure she had friends. She just didn’t mention them.”

I frown. “You sure? I don’t know. I just remember us kind of getting… distant after the whole Nightmare Moon thing. After I met you guys and we became elements, I just started seeing her less. Then she started taking all those trips and stuff.”

Twilight lays a hoof on my withers. “Hey, don’t blame yourself for what happened. It’s not your fault.”

“But what if it is,” I blurt out. I don’t even know where these words are coming from anymore. “What if it is my fault? What if I didn’t make enough time for her? What if she felt intimidated or something by you guys, or--”

“Rainbow, this is all speculation. And besides, Daring was a smart mare. She was more than capable of making her own decisions,” Twilight says reassuringly. “I know you miss her, and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you weak.”

I take a deep breath. “Right. Sorry, I don’t know where that came from.” Daring reenters the room, standing near the doorway and eyeing me with concern.

“It’s okay, Rainbow. Do you want to take a few more minutes, or--”

“No,” I say. “Let’s get back into it.”

Twilight looks hesitant but nods. “Okay.” She picks up the book and clears her throat. “Daring Do, Redblood, and you find yourselves in the office of Dr. Cobble Iron when a deep, booming voice calls out from behind you…”

The world shifts again, and the library fades back into the office. I turn around and finally get a good look at this ‘Cobble Iron’ and dear Celestia. Cobble Iron is hideous. He’s got a huge white beard, and red dots and acne dot his face. He’s wearing a pair of stupidly thick glasses that are stained and cracked, with a piece of white tape on the bridge. Cobble Iron’s face also looks ridiculously red and swollen, like he just swallowed a beehive. And is that a rash across his face or something else? And what is that smell?

“What are you doing here?” Oh Celestia, his voice. It’s high and squeaky, like a foal who’s barely reaching puberty. “You can’t take that! That’s mine! Mine!”

I groan and turn to Daring, who’s wearing a stupid smirk on her face. “Seriously?”

She shrugs. “Hey, any resemblance to real life ponies is purely coincidental.”

Cobble Iron stomps his hooves. “You’re nothing! Just a wannabe explorer! I have degrees! I am respected!”

“Yeah, by your mom probably,” Redblood mutters.

He then lets loose a horrible laugh. “Hehehe! You think you can stop me, the greatest pony to ever grace this side of Equestria?! Hah!” Cobble Iron reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a cell phone dramatically. “Behold! The object of your demise! With but the push of a button, I can call security and have you expelled from the building!” He cackles again before breaking out into a hacking cough. He recovers quickly though and launches into a monologue. “You see, when I was but a young colt growing up in the streets of Detrot--”

Alright, I’ve had enough. I go right up to him and deck him. Cobble Iron crumbles to the floor.

“Out like a light.” Redblood laughs. “Of course he’d have a glass jaw.”

“Nice one, Rainbow,” Daring says. She goes back to the map. “Okay, according to this, there’s a few keys we need to find to unlock the temple itself. The nearest one is in Sky City.”

I nod. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Yeah, let's get out of here before security finds us,” Daring says. She gives Cobble Iron a kick in the stomach before we leave.

Comments

[Ninjadeadbeard]

I wave my hoof dismissively. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.” I see Daring in the corner of my eye, wandering out of the room.

No, what? No. No. No. Do not ignore the Ghost in the room! How!? Why!?

[The Red Parade]

10032186
Nobody ever notices the ghost in the room. Kinda weird, huh?

[TartarusFire]

I chock the ghost up to the fact that Rainbow is hopped up on on magic/sensory confusion and is very confused right now. She's hallucinating her own mental representation and exploring what the really thinks since she represses the ideas.