Darling Do and a Daring Dash

Rainbow Dash's multi-colored mane blew in her face as the two pegasi stood in front of the Canterlot castle.

"Why are you doing this again?" Rainbow Dash asked Daring.

"Because Celestia's word is my law. " Daring said with a sigh. "I know what happened to Luna when she denied Celestia, and I just-"

"You do realize that-" Rainbow Dash started.

"Legends and old stories have a way of getting the best of me," Daring said, as she tilted her hat over her bray eyes to hide their shame.

Just then, the door opened and a pure white unicorn with her mane and tail braided in crisp strands stepped into the Canterlot morning. The mare nodded to Daring Do and cast rainbow a confused glance. Daring nodded.

"Rainbow, technically you're not allowed to be with me when I enter for the first time." She said with an eye roll that earned her a frown from the white unicorn.

"Okay," Rainbow said. "I'm supposed to meet Fluttershy at our suite anyway," Rainbow said with a concerned smile.

"Aw I'll be fine Dashie," Daring said. "After all, it's just a bunch of snotty pristine ponies in some cult. I've dealt with worse." This earned the author another scowl from her unicorn escort. "You go have fun with Fluttershy," Daring added with a wink that made Rainbow blush.

With that, the bolt blue pegasus grabbed her bags, Rarity had been amazed at how few she brought, and dashed off. Daring blew a loose strand of mane out of her eyes, hoisted her backpack on her neck and nodded to the unicorn.

"I'm ready to explore the ways of this tribal cul-" She began.

"I'm Snowscort and I'll be your personal escort and helper here at the Guild. If you have any questions or concerns about anything or anyone that you encounter, you can come to me for answers. I will be here to make sure that you stay on schedule, stay on task, and stay out of trouble." The unicorn said with a flourish on the word trouble.

Daring shuddered. It was looking like she was going to have her own personal bodyguard.

"Well, my first question is, how can one back out?" She asked sheepishly. Snowscort turned around and pushed the castle's side door open as she responded.

"Well, if you're granted membership by Celestia, you can't," Snowscort said simply. Images flashed through Daring's head. Beams of powerful magic, sobs, smoke. "Ready?" Snowscort asked with a chipper annoyance. Daring nodded.

The main hall was huge. Its ceiling met in a rotunda lined with windows far above their heads. All along the walls, there were portraits of sophisticated high-class ponies. She assumed they were all famous writers. The floor was brilliantly tiled with silver tiles that made a clacking noise when her hoof hit them, and was so polished she could see her face. The walls were white, but the navy blue trim seemed to bring the colors out in everything and make the whole room glow with an intimidating essence. All around the cylindrical room, polished wooden doors with silver doorknobs and numbers lined the spaces in between the portraits. In the space directly across from the entrance, there was an opening the widened out into a hallway if you looked down it.

"This is the main rotunda," Snowscort said. "I'll be giving you a tour until we get to your room." Daring nodded. "All around these walls, you see the faces of our founders. They founded the Guild on the common belief that high-class and classic writing were the only ways to write."

After what seemed like forever, they finally began trotting down the hallway across from them. According to Snowscort, it was the Inspiration Hall. Covering the walls were framed works of classic writing with silver plaques explaining each one. Soon, the whole place seemed to bleed into one big room. The blues and silvers and whites covered everything. They trotted down hallways lined with portraits and framed papers, they scaled spiral staircases that passed over floors and floors of classrooms. Each classroom that they saw seemed the same. Just as elegant, just as perfectly done as the one before. Lounge rooms, dining rooms, auditoriums, amphitheater rooms, special classrooms, and sitting rooms. Finally, the passed through a breezeway to the dorms section of the campus. They scaled some more stairs until they came to the third floor where her room would be. The dorms seemed to be of not the same colors. There were greens and golds instead of the regal blues and silvers from before. Once they reached room 3-b5, Snowscort handed her two keys and advised her not to lose them.

"I'll come to call for you in an hour when all of the new students are to go to the main amphitheater for an orientation with the headmaster." With that, she trotted off.

Once her steps faded, Daring turned the key and opened the door to her dorm.

It was a small two-room space with walls of a faded sort of swampy green and a chipped dark brown trim. She shut the door behind her and heaved her case over to the bed. On one side of the room, there was a little electric fireplace with a sofa and a plushy brown lazy boy chair around a stour coffee table. Near the stove, there was a door that led to a little bathroom with a shower and tub combo, a toilet, and a sink laid in a countertop. On the other side of the room, there was a bed and desk area with a kitchen next to it. In the middle, there was a bright brown rug.

Content enough, Daring dragged her bag to her bed and began unpacking.

An hour later, Snowscort found Daring laughing as she blasted a comedy talk show of a little device she had packed and eating cheese with crackers. With unhappy grunts from both of them, they made their way to the main ampitheater.