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The fancy buildings of Canterlot gave the city a royal atmosphere as ponies in their fancy clothes walked on the sidewalk, walking in their fancy ways. Carraiges sped by with their fancy passengers. The talks that the ponies had were mostly about topics that required the knowledge and proper usage of high-falutin vocabulary in order to not just carry out the conversation but to also fit well with the society. Anything less guaranteed at least the looks of a few ponies who were wondering why you were in Canterlot in the first place.
Everything else seemed to fit in with the royal atmosphere. There were the well-kept roads and the elegant streetlights, there were the foods and the drinks that exuded a sense of regality and a sense of being uncommon, there were the shops and the stores that displayed simple products behind windows along with price tags with exuberant, even exaggerated prices. Despite the prices, a steady stream of ponies went in and out of those shops and stores, acquiring new items while losing a considerable amount of bits.
Canterlot, for the most part, seemed royal and fancy.
Except for one building.
The building was tall and, on the outside, looked royal and fancy like the other buildings beside it. However, a line of enthusiastic, smiling poines was in front of the building and the line was long, reaching corners and even multiple sidewalks. Several of them were wearing adventurer clothes—a green vest and a pith helmet. At the entrance of the building, above the doors, was a poster that proclaimed, "Daring Do Canterlot Convention!"
A few of the fancy ponies that walked by sneered at the happy ponies there. Others just ignored, walking on towards some place. Still, others stopped and took a glance at the line of ponies waiting to get inside.
The ponies in line were eager. A lot of them were carrying books, all of those books being a Daring Do book with the eponymous heroine and adventurer on the cover. Several ponies were jittery, unable to contain the excitement. A few ponies were already waving their tickets although they weren't that close to the entrance.
They were all smiling.
All except one.
A brown stallion looked impatient. He was wearing that green vest and that pith helmet, very similar to the outfit of Daring Do. He was holding a book, also. There was also a ticket on that same hoof. However, he looked impatient, annoyed even.
As the line moved, as the royal guard approved of each ticket one by one, some ponies in the line grew even more excited. There were conversations throughout the line, and they only grew more earnest and more joyous as the ponies who were talking stepped closer and closer. Quibble Pants, however, maintained his impatient face.
Then, after a few minutes, amidst the loud talk behind him, he was standing right in front of a royal guard wearing his armor and helmet.
"May I see your ticket, please?"
Quibble quietly placed the book in his bag and showed the guard his ticket.
The guard stamped it.
Now, on the ticket was a stamp.
"Enjoy the Daring Do convention," the guard said rather monotonously. He looked bored, even tired.
"Thanks," Quibble said right before he walked inside.
The guard looked at him. "I don't get these fans."
Inside, it was a convention. Numerous ponies walking around, talking, laughing, having a great time together. There were many stalls advertising this fan product or some service or adventure tour that would entertain any fan of the Daring Do series. Many ponies were wearing those green vests and pith helmets, looking very similar to Daring Do. Some of them were even wearing cardboard wings.
The chats of the ponies were happy, ponies smiling as they talked, some of them showing off the new fan item they've just bought or another Daring Do book.
At several of the stalls, salesponies of different personalities—from the over-upbeat kind to the bored kind—were showing and presenting whatever product they were trying to sell. At other stalls, there were the ponies that were selling Daring Do books. The ones that gathered many ponies were the ones that boasted the full collection of Daring Do books, all nineteen of them. The stacks of books towered over the customers.
There were the stalls that were selling food and drinks that fit the jungle adventure theme of the Daring Do books. Drinks were served in wooden cups. Food was delivered on wooden plates. The wooden tables complimented it all.
"Everypony!" a loud voice announced through the speakers. "A.K. Yearling has arrived at the signing table, so, if you want your Daring Do books to be signed by the writer herself and maybe even have a small chat with her, then go!"
"Eh," Quibble blurted out, "it's worse now that the announcer even forgot to tell ponies where to go." He looked at the swarm of ponies rushing their way towards a small table.
"Now, everypony!" the voice yelled. "Please form an orderly line! Let's be patient, everypony!"
Quibble Pants made his way to the forming line.
As excited and cheerful ponies were happily waiting in line, Quibble kept his impatient face on. He brought out his book from the bag and leaned to the right.
At the table, there was A.K. Yearling herself, wearing her purple robe, her red glasses, and her nice gray hat with a white ribbon. She was smiling like most of the ponies in line. She picked up a ballpen, signed the first page of the book in front of her, closed it, and smiled at the smiling fan in front of her.
The fan immediately grabbed the book, screamed, and ran out of the line.
Finally, after a long while of waiting, Quibble Pants was now right in front of the writer.
The writer looked at him.
Her smile went away.
"Oh, it's the rabid fan."
"Well, yes, A.K. Yearling," he said.
"Wait, haven't I signed all of your books?" she asked, concerned. "Unless you wanted a short talk, which would be fine as long as you don't spend an hour talking about the inaccuracies of my later books."
"Which is why I'm not going to be waiting any longer."
Quibble firmly placed a hoof on the table.
The thud could be heard by the many ponies around.
A.K. Yearling gasped.
"Meet me at the cafeteria and make sure nopony can hear our conversation," he said. His voice was quiet yet threatening, accompanying a voice that portrayed more than just irritation, more than just annoyance. It was a leaking fury.
Some of the ponies in the line gasped. Many muttered and whispered.
A guard took a step towards him, eyeing Quibble.
"Look, Quibble Pants," she whispered, "this is not the best way to ask for a talk with me. But, I will listen to you if you don't make everypony even more worried. Because, honestly—" Her eyes narrowed "—this is dangerous for a fan like you."
"Why?" Quibble answered back. "Are the publishers watching your every move? Are the companies afraid of fans like me, the ones who can topple this evil plan?"
"Now, you're just getting ridiculous." She pointed a hoof. "Get away! I'll meet you when I choose to meet you, OK?!"
Quibble maintained his impatient face. "OK."
And, he walked away.
The ponies in line and even outside the line looked on at the fan storming off from their favorite, cherished writer.
They looked at A.K. Yearling.
She was smiling. "Next pony!"
The smell of steamed carrots wafted through the air, enticing and attracting ponies to enter the cafeteria with its wooden tables, wooden cups, and wooden plates. Ponies ate and drank happily, exchanging conversations, discussions, and stories. The more devoted fans were gesturing as they talked of theories and of fan fiction, explaining what this event meant or what happened between this and that.
Quibble Pants just sat on the wooden bench and took a bite from one of the carrots on his plate. He took a sip of the apple juice from his wooden cup. His face still looked impatient, now bothered as well.
He looked at the ponies enjoying their time, buying and selling, all while smiling.
"Whatever happened to her?" he said. "What happened to A.K. Yearling? OK, she's also Daring Do, but...why?" He snickered. "Those mere fans have no idea that they're talking to Daring Do herself." Then, he frowned. "Still, it was just one adventure. Maybe it was just that adventure that was filled with too much action. I don't know about the rest." He placed a hoof on his chin. "Or, maybe the publishers and the book companies wanted more action, requiring a watering down of the series." He frowned, becoming angry. "But, Daring Do or A.K. Yearling had a choice! She could just change publishers! Maybe it's the money. The money." He placed a hoof on the table and looked at the ponies again.
Ponies were chatting and talking and laughing and eating and drinking and Quibble Pants placed a hoof on one of his ears.
"I'll just wait for her, then!" he yelled. "At this point, I must know why A.K. Yearling dumbed down her books!"
And several ponies looked at him.
He looked back at them and drank more of his apple juice. "You should care, too!"
The ponies muttered and whispered, walking away from him or just ignoring him and continuing their own discussions and conversations.
Quibble groaned. "I guess Rainbow Dash is alright and awesome, but, that doesn't justify what Yearling did." He looked around again. "What I want is to get answers from Yearling herself. Or Daring Do." He sighed. He took another bite of the carrot. "Does it matter what her real name is?!"
"Quiet!" a voice whispered.
He looked beside him.
There was A.K. Yearling.
"Ah!" Quibble recoiled a little, looking surprised. Then, his face looked impatient and bothered again. "Oh, it's the writer and author who has to explain herself." He set aside his food and his drink.
"I'll be explaining myself a lot if you don't keep yourself quiet!" she whispered, emphasizing her point with a hoof. "If anypony else knows about what I actually do, then I'll be in big trouble!"
"Don't worry," Quibble replied, extending a hoof at her, looking away. "I still have respect for my favorite author, even though she did descend into cheap, money-making techniques."
She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Really? Look, I have many other activities to do to make the rest of my fans happy, I have to take pictures with more of my fans and also the ponies who organized this entire event, and I'm at least trying to be a nice author by attending all of the Daring Do conventions. And, unlike most other authors, I actually have more things to do than just writing the books I love." She slammed a hoof on the table. "So, if you want to talk about anything, make it serious!"
And the two ponies stared at each other.
They glared.
"OK, I'm here, Quibble. What do you want to talk about?" She looked around the area. "I'm trying my best to not to have lots of ponies asking for me to sign their books again. It's good that my fans know that I need some time for myself."
Quibble chuckled a little. "I just wanted to ask you a question, Yearling."
"Just one question, then I'll go." She grabbed Quibble's cup and plate. "Alright?"
The stallion moved backwards on the bench, sweating a little on his face. "Alright."
"Then, what's the question?"
Quibble smirked.
"A.K. Yearling, why did you sell out?"
Yearling groaned again. "I should've known that given you talked about 'cheap, money-making techniques.' This is common sense, Quibble." She firmly placed an authoritative hoof on the table and leaned closer to him. "I write my adventures. I don't make it up."
Quibble chuckled, keeping his smug smile. "OK, then what about the undeniable fact that the first three books, the original trilogy, are smart, witty, and just plain cool while every book after the original trilogy was just a cheap adventure story written just to make money out of ponies loving action sequences no matter how impossible they were and no matter how far they were from reality? Gone were the puzzles, gone was the thinking, now it's just explosion after explosion, fight after fight, battle after battle, and even the arguments and the speeches are just lazy! So, let me ask you again, A.K. Yearling, why did you sell out and just turned the Daring Do book series into just a thing that produces money for you?"
A.K. Yearling looked at him.
There was silence between the two ponies.
"I just told you that I write my adventures, Quibble," she whispered. "Anypony that wants to write a good adventure novel has to think and imagine a good story. Me?" She pointed a hoof to herself. "I have my own adventures then I write them down. Then, I just leave it to the publisher. They also have no clue about me being...you know, that adventuring mare." She smiled. Then, quickly, she frowned. "You could honestly ask that question to any other writer. I'll just tell it to you again, Quibble, I have my own adventures then I write them down."
She grabbed a carrot from Quibble's plate and took a bite from it. "Since you asked such a dubious question, you don't deserve this carrot."
"That still doesn't answer everything!" Quibble said.
"Quiet!" she whispered. "Any more attention and you risk jeapordizing everything!"
"Well, why do you have adventures that have impossible action sequences with almost no puzzle-solving?"
"Do you think I choose the temples that I go to? Do you think I choose the treasures I have to get? Do you think I choose who the villains are?"
Quibble sighed. "Fine! I accept that you don't plan out every single adventure you go through. But, what about the inconsistencies in the books?"
"I'm not a perfect writer," Yearling replied gruffly. "I make mistakes. OK? I can make another edition of the books, if that's what you want." She eyed him. "Now are you happy? Can I now go and just take a relaxing walk for a few minutes?"
"Not really," Quibble said.
Yearling groaned again, rubbing her head with a hoof. "This is stressful. What else could you complain about?"
"Why the first three books were actually pretty good while every book after that was terrible. That means that the first three adventures you had were good while every adventure after those first three were bad. That is not just a problem of probability."
"I don't know," she replied with exasperation, raising a hoof in despair and anger and then bringing it down to the table. "Maybe Doctor Caballeron has changed strategies over time. You could say that Ahuizotl did the same, too. Maybe they thought that, if puzzles cannot stop me, then maybe just employing battle after battle might tire me out. It certainly did surprise me when I first encountered that."
Quibble opened his eyes wide. "Just like when you were tired from the many battles you fought back in 'Daring Do and the Trek to the Terrifying Tower'!"
Yearling rolled her eyes again. "I still don't know how dedicated you fans can be."
"Which means, that explains why you were not so fast at solving the puzzle when I and Rainbow Dash went with you!"
Yearling glared at him.
"OK," he said, backing away from her a little, smiling nervously. Then, he smirked again. "That means you were so used to the villains' strategy of giving you fight after fight with no rest that you started to wear out your puzzle-solving skills!"
Yearling took another bite of her carrot. "Does that mean you're OK with my answers? Because you're taking up a good chunk of my time just asking me questions."
Quibble sighed again.
"Look, I'm going to talk to you not as Daring Do but as A.K. Yearling—do you see all the ponies enjoying the convention?" She gestured a hoof towards the ponies walking and talking.
The ponies, some of them wearing their adventurer outfits, smiled as they went about with buying books, eating food, drinking drinks, and just having a great time together as they talked about Daring Do and her adventures.
"Have you been spending the last few times at the Daring Do conventions just waiting for the opportunity to ask me that question about me being a sell-out?" she asked. "Did you really sour the entire experience yourself all because you thought I was trying to dumb down my books? Look at the other ponies there. It doesn't matter what opinion they hold about my books, as long as they love them. You just wasted precious time going to a Daring Do convention and only spending your time at the sections that were involved with only the original trilogy. And, as an author, I think that's not a good idea."
A group of ponies laughing, all wearing the adventurer's outfits, walked by the two sitting on the bench.
"Whatever Daring Do did—whatever I did—happened, even the adventures past the original trilogy. You're just limiting yourself if you think that there are no more real Daring Do books other than the first three books. Because, I learned more lessons after my first three adventures. I am now wiser, better than I was before."
"And somehow forgot how to solve puzzles and think through situations at a fast pace."
She glared at him.
"OK!" Quibble yelled, moving away from her again, pleading with his two front hooves. "Alright, I'm not going to interrupt you!"
Yearling stood up. "So, I hope you're happy with my answers." She smiled. "Please enjoy the rest of the Daring Do convention. I heard that they finally fixed the part of the convention that was related with 'Daring Do and the Trek to the Terrifying Tower.'" She looked somewhere. She looked back at Quibble Pants. "I suggest you start there." Then, she walked away.
Quibble looked at her. He took a bite of his carrot and looked at his drink, his apple juice.
He looked at the stalls in front of him. He looked at the many ponies that were lining up for many of the stalls. All of them were smiling, all of them were glad. He heard loud laughs. He saw ponies talking, involving themselves in friendly conversation. Then, ponies were running towards A.K. Yearling. She smiled.
Quibble Pants smiled.