> Wait...Who's Real?! > by Melody Song > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Wait...She's Real?! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Snap Shutter stepped off the train in the familiar town of Ponyville, his wife, Mane Allgood, behind him "I can't wait to see our daughter, Mane, you?" Snap asked "I hope she hasn't missed us too much." Mane Allgood responded, carrying her bag with her wing "Naw, she's got my sister and Lofty to take care of her." Snap Shutter assured her, leading the way to Lofty and Holiday's house. "The door's unlocked." Mane commented, pushing it open "Scootaloo, are you here?" she called "Mom!" Scootaloo cried, and they followed her voice to a bedroom. She was curled up on the floor with the mare they recognized as Rainbow Dash "You're the pony who got the Cutie Mark Crusaders a Wonderbolt Salute." Snap said "Spit, Fleet, and Soarin were happy to do it, I just had to ask." Rainbow shrugged it off "Yeah, Soarin did all the convincing because he's got a crush on youuuu." Scootaloo said, and Rainbow shoved her a little "That's not true. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin just respect me as a friend and teammate, and agreed to do it." Rainbow objected, but she was blushing "What are you doing here?" Mane asked "Lofty and Holiday asked me to watch the squirt for a few hours so they could finish packing up their old house." Rainbow answered "We were just reading a book from the most amazing book series ever!" Scootaloo exclaimed, wings fluttering excitedly on her back "Oh, and what's that?" Snap Shutter asked "Daring Do and the Forbidden City of Clouds!" Scootaloo said, holding it up "I've been showing them to Scoot, and she's hooked. Pretty soon she'll be all caught up on the series." Rainbow explained "Scootaloo, these books don't properly depict what adventures are like, you know this." Mane Allgood said "Yes, they do." Rainbow said harshly "Are you kidding, none of these adventures have anything to do with real adventures. The author clearly doesn't know what she's talking about." Snap Shutter butted in "Look, I've met a stallion who acted that way before, and I managed to convince him that everything in those books is 100% real." Rainbow said "Wasn't Quibble Pants a fan of the books though?" Scootaloo asked "Not important. But I'll have you know that those books are totally real." Rainbow said "They can't be." Mane Allgood said "The stories are completely ridiculous." she retorted "They are not, I'll prove it to you, the author, A.K Yearling, is signing books at the Ponyville book store today. She'll be able to prove it to you, come on!" Rainbow snapped, standing up "Can't they just believe what they want Rainbow?" Scootaloo asked, but none of the adults heard her, leaving the room. Scootaloo followed with a sigh, taking the book with her The ponies made their way through town, towards the bookstore nearby. There was a line inside, which Rainbow brushed past rudely, ignoring the shouted complaints. A mare in a purple cloak, wearing a gray hat and red framed glasses was sitting at a booth. She looked up as they approached, then turned back to the pony who was standing there "Rainbow, if you want something you can wait in the line like everypony else." the mare commented, scrawling a quick signature across the pony's book. They squealed in excitement and moved away, then the next pony came up "A.K, this is important." Rainbow hissed "How is it important Dash?" the author sighed, opening the book the pony had sent in front of her "These two-" Rainbow began "Let me guess Rainbow, they don't believe you-know-what and you're somehow going to get roped into another adventure that-" A.K Yearling lowered her voice as she sent the pony on their way "Daring Do will have to save you from?" she asked "Not exactly like that, but yeah." Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her neck. A.K Yearling sighed and stood up "Sorry everypony, It's time for my break, I'll be back soon." she announced, and the fans sighed, but turned to each other and began talking. A.K Yearling gestured for them to follow her and led them to the back of the store. Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood were confused, but their daughter seemed to know what was going to happen, and followed eagerly. A.K Yearling glanced at Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood, then grabbed Rainbow and tugged her to the side. "You know how I feel about this sort of thing. I am aware that I'm not going to please everypony Rainbow Dash, and I'm perfectly fine with that." she hissed "They're adventurers, and they think your stories are unrealistic. They said the Daring Do series doesn't properly depict the life of an adventurer." Rainbow whispered back "They. Said. What?" Daring asked, then turned to face the mare and stallion "Can we trust them?" "Yeah. They won't tell anypony A.K." Rainbow responded, and A.K nodded, trotting up to them "So, you two don't think that the Daring Do series is real?" A.K Yearling asked them "The Daring Do series isn't an accurate description of what an adventurer's life is like. How would an author know how to properly describe it?" Snap Shutter asked Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood didn't expect Daring to respond, but she did, in the most surprising way "Because of this." A.K Yearling removed her glasses and hat, then, her cloak shifted, and was tugged off as golden wings spread from her back. When the cloak was removed, it revealed an olive green adventurer shirt not unlike Mane Allgood's. She had transformed from an Earth Pony to a Pegasus. she stretched her wings in pleasure, sighing with relief "I really needed to stretch out my wings, they've been getting stiff under that cloak." she muttered, reaching down and pulling a tan pith helmet out of the cloak, slipping it casually onto her head "Wait...y-you're..." Mane Allgood trailed off "I love doing that." Daring Do chuckled, smiling "Yep, I'm Daring Do, and every single one of those adventures actually happened." "I believe we owe you an apology. Here I thought that your stories were nonsense and you're right here to show that they're not." Snap Shutter said "I get ponies like that a lot. Honestly I wouldn't have agreed to do this if you weren't adventurers yourselves. You of all ponies should know the things I write about are possible." Daring said "We're just so used to doing one type of adventuring, I guess we didn't stop to think there are other kinds, like hunting treasures." Mane Allgood said "I prefer to think of it as 'relocating' priceless artifacts to museums, which is where they belong, instead of letting them get stolen and sold for a couple bits." Daring replied "Either way, we apologize for not believing you and Rainbow Dash at first." Snap Shutter said "Apology accepted." Daring then smiled down at Scootaloo "This the kid you were telling me about Rainbow?" "Yeah, that's Scootaloo. She's been cool with your books, unlike her parents." Rainbow said "I'd offer to sign the book she's got but I assume it's yours?" Daring teased "How'd you know?" Rainbow replied cheekily "Lucky guess." Daring rolled her eyes and picked up her disguise "I'd better get back in there, or the fans will come looking for 'A.K Yearling'." she said "See ya Daring." Rainbow said, holding out her wing "See ya Rainbow." Daring Do responded, putting her own wing on top of Rainbow's, before pulling her cloak back on and stowing her pith helmet inside. After adjusting her glasses and covering her messy grayscale mane with the gray hat, she headed inside, leaving Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood staring after her in awe.