It was a cool day, and music sounded through the doors of CHS band room. The Rainbooms, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, Sunset, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack, all practiced their music, Sunset taking the lead with her guitar and lovely singing voice.
“We... sound...AWESOME!” Rainbow exclaimed as they all finished their last song. “I should let us play Sunset’s songs more often, you are one heck of a writer.”
“Thanks Dash.” Sunset put down her guitar and stretched. “I learned from the best.”
“I’m guessing you mean Flash?”
“Yeah.” She played around with a locket around her neck that contained a picture of her and Flash.
“So who’s hungry? I brought pizza!” Pinkie pulled a box of pizza out of her hair and placed it on the table.
“YES!” Rainbow fist punched the air and sat down followed by the others. She took a book out of her bag and read the last few pages of her new Daring Do book. “You know, it would be pretty awesome if A. K. Yearling was really Daring Do, that would be so cool!”
Sunset chuckled and took out her phone. “Yeah, it would be cool, so what happened this time?”
“You need to read her new book, it’s totally awesome!” Rainbow waved the book in the air with her hand.
“And you called me an egghead?” Twilight took a bite of her pizza and smirked.
“Oh shut it Twi.”
Sunset looked back down at her phone and burst into laughter falling backward in her chair. “Uh...Sunset? You okay?” Rainbow looked over at her friend who was still in a fit of laughter. “You’re acting like Pinkie Pie.”
Twilight picked up Sunset’s phone from it’s spot on the floor. “Who’s Abby Kindheart?”
“No one, just a friend.” Sunset stood up and took her phone back from Twilight.
“I've never heard of her.” Twilight looked around at everyone else, who all shook their heads.
“She doesn't live around here.” Sunset looked back at her phone and controlled her laughter this time as a small beep indicated she had gotten another text. “Guys, I gotta go home...Ray’s waiting for me.” She made a mad dash out the door and everyone looked around at each other.
“Is it me or was that just an excuse to leave?” Twilight looked over at everyone else who looked just as confused.
“I say we follow her.” Rarity jumped up from the table and looked out the window just in time to see Sunset running off in the direction of her home.
“Th-” Twilight was cut of when Rarity grabbed her hand and they ran out the exit with Rainbow at the lead.
“Should we stop them?” Fluttershy turned to her remaining friends.
“Nah, wanna to play cards?” Applejack took a deck of uno cards out of her bag.
“Sure!” Pinkie grabbed them and handed them out.
“That sounds good.” Fluttershy took hers and looked at her cards and smirked. “Sounds like fun…” ______________________
“Okay, Twilight, you go over to that bush, Rainbow, you go with her, and I’ll look around back.” They nodded and ran off to their hiding places.
Twilight and Dash, behind the bush, looked at the driveway, where TWO cars were parked. One was Sunset’s, the other they did not recognize, it was not Flash’s, or belonged to anyone they knew. “Why are there two cars?” Rainbow whispered.
“I don’t know, strange.”
Sunset walked out of her house and rushed to the second car. A person wearing a purple cloak and a large grey hat with a white ribbon tied around it in a bow got out.
“Who’s that?” Twilight looked back at Rainbow Dash.
“I don’t know.”
Sunset hugged the other person and they walked inside, the door shutting behind them. Rainbow stood up and stepped out of the bush followed by one confused Twilight. “Let’s go to the window.”
“Okay.” Both of them walked to the window and peeked through. They could just make out what they were saying, and since they could actually see Sunset’s face, she looked pretty happy.
“So what happened this time?” Sunset asked.
“Can I tell you later? I’m so hungry! I haven't eaten since yesterday morning.”
“Okay, you’re vegetarian right?”
“My best friend is from a place where she’s a pony and cows can talk, of course I’m vegetarian!”
Sunset got up from the couch and left while the other took the remote and turned on a news channel. “Yesterday night, mysteriously, an artifact was found by a few archaeologist's who were camping out and found it just half buried in the dirt by their leader's tent, the artifact was tested and indeed was the one they had been looking for, more on this story tomorrow.”
Sunset came back with two small bowls of salad and some lettuce and tomato sandwiches. “Here you go.”
“Thanks Sunset, sorry I haven't been around more often, work has been crazy with that guy around.”
“I remember you having a crush on him when we were younger.”
“Yeah, weird how he became so evil.”
“At least he didn’t turn himself into a demon that brainwashed everyone.” Here they both laughed, it was strange, Sunset never joked about her past.
Twilight looked over to Rainbow again. “Go get Rarity.”
“Okay, see you in a
…
Sec.” Rainbow was back with Rarity and they looked into the window once more.
“I wish I could have been there!” The other person said.
“It was nice when you came back a few weeks after that before the battle of the bands, I was really lonely.”
“No problem, I’ll be there for you.”
“You can take off that disguise now.”
“I nearly forgot I had it on!” She put a pair of red framed glasses on the coffee table and took off her cloak and hat. She was about the same age as Sunset, she had light golden brown skin, black and gray colored hair, and rose eyes. Rainbow stared while silent.
“So, how are things with Flash?” Daring Do asked.
“Pretty good, I won’t go into detail about what we did thursday night.”
“To think, you were off with your boyfriend, and I was being chased by some guy and his entourage of giant cats! Well, most of them were big, that tiny white kitten is so cute yet so scary!” They both laughed again.
“You want a copy of my book for that one? I need some proof readers.”
“Sure, I’d love to help out.” Daring handed her a thick book.
“It’s nice to have someone to count on, when you have my job, you can’t really trust anyone.”
Rainbow couldn’t take it. She jumped up and before they could grab her, she rushed through the front door while her accomplices went after her. Sunset and Daring Do jumped up from the couch. “WHAT THE HECK?!” They both yelled in unison.
“What’s going on here?!” Rainbow scowled at Sunset.
“I guess there’s no hiding it now.” Daring Do looked over at her fiery haired friend.
It was a sunny day, and spring time was in bloom. A girl with rose petal eyes and grey-black hair walked down the sidewalk in front of Canterlot High with a pith helmet on her head that was twice her size.
Daring stopped in front of a statue, staring up at the Canterlot High school mascot, a free spirited horse. For some strange reason, it began to glow, brighter, and brighter, and she stepped back with wide eyes.
Something flew out of the statue’s base and fell into her. She yelped as they both hit the ground. A young girl about her age sat up and looked around, then moved her hands to inspect them and looked down at her shoes. “Whow.”
Daring stood up and reached her hand out to help the girl up. She took her hand and stood on her feet but wobbled a little bit before she caught her balance. “Thank you.”
“I want to know two things, one what’s your name, and two, how the heck did you just come flying through the statue?!” “My name is Sunset Shimmer.” and she told her everything, about Equestria, Celestia, and everything else.
“Wow…” Daring smiled at her. “Want to be friends? You seem like you need one.”
“Umm, sure!” Sunset smiled and her cyan eyes sparkled with excitement. “It sounds like fun, by the way, what’s your name?”
“Daring Do, pleasure to meet you Sunset.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” They both broke into laughter and walked away from the statue.
“You want to come to my house? My grandmother would be happy to have you over, just don’t mention anything about my parent’s or our house will turn into a swimming pool.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to them?”
“They were murdered! I know for a fact it was that kid Caballeron’s dad! No one believes me though!”
“I’m sorry, but how do you know it was him?”
“I saw him as he stole my mom’s diamond that she was keeping for the museum and he tied me up while he killed them! Then he looked at me and I saw his cold, dead eyes.”
“That’s awful!”
“I know right! No one believes it was him, even my grandma!”
“I believe you.” Sunset smiled at her new friend.
“Thanks, and could you tell me more about this Equestria place at lunch? It sounds cool.”
“Sure, it’s nice to have a friend in this world.” ____________________
Over the next few months, Sunset and Daring became very close friends and were like sisters to each other. Sunset lived with Daring and her grandmother who became her legal guardian. The two stayed together all day, and didn’t go to school but did home school because Mrs. Do was afraid if they were out of her sight for more than a few hours she would lose them to.
After home school, they would play outside with each other, having the best time. They went on adventures and played games together. Everything was perfect, and when they left, they always got in contact with each other and visited all the time. Ahuizotl was always after something, and after each adventure, Daring wrote a book about it and Sunset would proofread it, but when they found out magic had slipped through the portal with Sunset and there were Equestrian relics around hidden and Daring had to stop them, they decided to put a fake name in for Daring, Abby Kindheart, or as everyone knew her as, A. K. Yearling.
Rainbow looked jealous, Twilight looked like she wanted more answers, and Rarity looked shocked.
“You mean to tell me that my favorite book author / daredevil adventure has been your friend for years and you never told me?!” Rainbow shook Sunset very fast and hard, and she started to look very pale like she was sick or something.
Twilight, seeing this, used her levitation to pull Dash away and Sunset collapsed back on the couch with Daring looking at her with a worried expression. “You okay Sunset?”
“Yeah, I think i’m fine.”
Something pink shot through the door with a cowgirl and an eco kid running behind her. “My Pinkie sense was right!” Pinkie pointed to Daring as Sunset and her chuckled nervously.
Twilight told the other three the story and Pinkie let out a way over exaggerated gasp. Fluttershy’s eyes filled with tears. “So those poor kitties are all under his control for real?”
Daring nodded and Fluttershy looked down at the ground. “Everything in those books are real?”
“That’s correct, I did make a few tweaks here and there a few years ago when Sunset joined me.”
Rainbow’s mouth dropped. “Sunset is Ms. Sunshine?!”
“Yeah…”
“And she reads all the books for you before they're published?!”
“Yep.”
“No wonder she’s never surprised when I tell her about the books!”
“Mhm.”
“And you guys grew up together?!”
“Yes.”
“And Caballeron’s dad killed your parents?!”
Daring’s cheeks blushed a light shade of pink at the mention of Dr. Caballeron.
“Don’t tell me you actually have a crush on him!”
“Well, I have, for the past eight years.” Sunset shook her head. “Yep, she has.”
Rainbow’s eyes were wide open. The guy who was a hated character and always gave Daring Do a hard time was her crush? “I-I-and Anon-a-Miss?”
“I had just finished my job in the rain forest and stayed here for a few weeks with her, and I’m not a fan of what you had said to her the night she came back crying.” Daring crossed her arms.
Applejack looked over at Rainbow. “Why she glarin’ at you? We all disowned Sunset.”
“I may have said a few things when you guys weren't around.”
“Like what?” Applejack glared at her as Twilight backed out of the room, knowing the two would start to fight.
“I may have said that I never trusted her, and that I hated her, and then I may have, punched her.”
The Rainboom’s, all but Twilight and Sunset starred at her. Sunset looked over at them. “On the right side that’s how me and Flash got back together.”
Daring let out a slight laugh. “Sorry, I just remembered what you told me about what you two discussed a few days ago.”
“Abby! Don’t tell!”
“I won’t I won’t.” She looked at the rest of the girls. “But you can’t tell anyone about this, got it?”
Rainbow, eager to do anything for Daring Do, nodded her head fast.
“I won’t tell a sole.” Applejack looked back at Rainbow. “But I wan’t a detailed story later of exactly what happened during Anon-a-Miss.”
“Okay, fine, wait, does Flash know you and the Daring Do are technically sisters?”
Sunset nodded. “Ever since we got back together actually, that day he came to my house to check on me.” she went back into thought. “Okay, know I see why what we were talking about a few day’s ago seems funny to you Dare.” Truth be told, they had been talking about names for what they wanted to start in the future. “Hey Dare, how is grandma by the way?”
“She’s fine, I went to visit her at the senior center a few weeks ago, of course I had on my disguise, strange as it is, I saw a lot of the people in there reading my books, I tell ya if Sunset hadn’t read over my last one my writing career would be over.”
“In your defense, you were really tired when you wrote that one, lucky you have that camera on that hat of yours or we couldn’t have fixed it.” Sunset picked up the gray hat her sister had been wearing and separated it from a pith helmet that was underneath it. “Man this thing has taken a lot of arrows since we were kids.”
“Is that why Daring Do never leaves her hat behind in the books?” Twilight stepped back into the room.
“Yeah, I made a mini camera so she could re watch it and put some more detail in there, when you’re running for your life it’s hard to memorize things.” Sunset pointed to the band on the hat which had a very small hidden camera on it.
“How the heck did you build that?” Twilight took the hat and looked at the tiny camera.
“She’s a very talented person, have you seen her art? I especially love seeing the stuff she does around town.”
“Dare!” Sunset crossed her arms.
“Ooops, hehe, I guess we both blew a few secrets today.”
“Your Flanksy?” Twilight put the hat down and looked over at Sunset. “Store owners practically dream of the day some of your art would be on the side of there buildings and stores! Why don’t you take the credit for it?”
“Me and Daring were never much for the fame and stuff. And I swear what I will do to the guy that gave me that nickname.”
“I get enough when I have to do book signings, I swear that one guy just wouldn’t stop talking!” She shook her head. “I just wan’t to show others that they can put there minds to anything and do it, there are a lot of life lessons in my books if you pay close attention, heck, Sunset made a list!”
“Yep. I had to use a scroll from Equestria that list was so long.” Both of the laughed.
“Wow...” Everyone looked around and all of them had smiles on there faces. Daring Do was their secret, but also a new friend.