A gentle breeze washes over the underbrush, the air disturbed by the sudden descent of two pegasus mares. Their hooves skid across the ground, throwing dirt in every possible direction before the older of the two grabs her partner and leaps into a nearby shrub. Silence washes over the dense forest. Not even the birds dare to make a peep as a dark shadow passes over them. It lingers for far longer than any creature in the forest is comfortable with, only daring to move when a small object is thrown above the treeline. Said object promptly explodes with a loud “bang” and a multitude of colors, scaring off the unwanted guest.
“Oh, thank Celestia. It’s gone.”
Letting out their held breaths, the two mares emerge from their hiding spot red-faced and exhausted. The elder of the two is a golden-coated mare with a black-and-gray mane. She wears a well-tailored shirt and hat, but both are coated in dirt, twigs, and faint traces of long-dried blood. Her junior looks just as rough, with her blue coat and rainbow mane both in desperate need of some TLC.
For a moment they say nothing, letting their deep breaths and sweaty brows do the talking for them as they regain their composure. Eventually, however, it’s the ever-famous Rainbow Dash that speaks up first.
“That… was… awesome! Super smart thinking, bringing a firecracker with you!”
“Yes, yes, we narrowly escaped that roc with our lives.” Daring Do, famed adventurer and protagonist of a massively popular book series, rolls her eyes playfully as she removes her hat and begins to fan herself with it. “Not really sure where I got the firecracker, though. And, more importantly, we made it out with the Neck Twister idol.”
“What is that ugly thing, anyway?” Dash asks as Do pulls a small idol depicting a stallion with a long, twisted neck from her shirt. “I mean, I get that a cult worshipping an idol is a bad thing, but we didn’t stick around long enough for you to tell me why it’s bad.”
“The Brotherhood of the Neck Twisters worships an ancient god known for preying on the innocent. You can probably deduce how it does them in.”
“Ew. And let me guess: That idol would have let them summon it, and that’s why we had to swipe it from them?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?” she repeats with a tilt of her head.
“It’s hard to say for certain if their god is even real or not, but when you’ve been in the business of treasure hunting for as long as I have, you start realizing that almost every time you ask a question like that, the answer is yes.” Do stuffs the idol back into her shirt before turning away from Dash, motioning for her to follow. “Anyway, let’s get this stashed away and I can start working on that book you’re so desperate for me to finish.”
“YES!” Dash shouts as she pumps a hoof into the air. She begins to fly a few feet above the ground as she follows her casually sauntering role model. “I can see it now! ‘Daring Do in the Escape of the Ancient Gods!’ Featuring Rainbow Dash, of course.”
“Eh.”
“Too much?”
“I’ll workshop it.”
The pair share a laugh as their trek through the forest continues. Their idle chatting slowly fades, replaced by the bored sighs of Dash.
“We’re almost to your house by now, right?”
“Yeah, it should only take a few more minutes. Considering how late it’s getting, you can crash on my couch tonight if you want.”
“Really?!”
Do raises an eyebrow as she looks at her with concern.
“What’s so exciting about that?”
“I get to sleep on THE Daring Do’s couch! How is that not exciting?!”
“Ugh.” Do rolls her eyes yet again, but her annoyance fades in an instant as they snap back open. “Speaking of, I’m gonna need you to stop calling me Daring Do.”
“Er, why?”
“Because I’m A.K. Yearling to other ponies, remember?”
“Well, yeah, but isn’t it just the two of us out here?”
“Not anymore it’s not,” she sighs as she focuses her attention on the path before them. “I’ve got a… roommate now.”
“WHAT?!” As if on cue, Rainbow Dash flies directly in Do’s face, causing it to scrunch up in mild annoyance. “Why would you need a roommate with all of the money you get from your book sales? And who would want to live way out here?!” She motions to the forest around them, her voice echoing between the trees. “N-no offense.”
Yet another sigh escapes Do’s lips.
“That would be because he’s my boyfriend, Dash.”
“...Hah! Good one, Do.” The glare she receives as she is in the middle of literally slapping her knee is enough to make her freeze in place. “You’re serious?”
“Completely. And,” she starts as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, “he doesn’t know that Daring Do is a real pony.”
“You haven’t told him?”
“Nope. To him I’m just A.K. Yearling, the eccentric mare that writes adventure stories in the middle of the woods for fun and profit.”
Dash’s eyes glaze over as they steadily approach Do’s secluded home in the woods. A million thoughts race through her mind, more than a few of which involve an orange-coated farmer waiting for her back home.
“L-look, I’m not the smartest girl around when it comes to relationships, but I don’t think lying to your partner is a great idea in the long run.”
“When the truth could get said partner killed, I consider it a necessary precaution.” Do’s expression hardens. “I have a lot of enemies, Dash. If they knew Nonny existed, I wouldn’t put it past them to drag him into my problems.”
“But why not tell him that? Also… ‘Nonny?’”
Do looks away as her cheeks grow red from her slip of the tongue.
“Th-that’s his nickname, yes. And I don’t tell him because he’s a big dumb lovable idiot that will absolutely blab about it, intentionally or otherwise.”
“Uhhhhh huh.” Dash shakes her head as the small, unassuming home finally comes into view between the thick tree trunks around them. “So I need to pretend like we didn’t just go on an adventure?”
“Right. I have a carefully crafted web of lies I’ve been maintaining to keep up appearances. Just follow my lead and don’t say anything unnecessary, got it?”
“Y-yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” She doesn’t waste any more words as she tries for the door handle. Sure enough, it’s completely unlocked. “Nonny? I’m home.”
“Hey, honey!” A tall, bipedal figure emerges from around a corner as the two mares step into the home. He has a stocky, almost imposing build, but his scar-covered face is home to a pair of bright, friendly eyes. “How was your trip to… o-oh! I didn’t know we were having guests.”
“It was an impromptu decision,” Do stutters as she removes her hat and gingerly places it on a nearby coat hanger. “Rainbow Dash, this is Anon. Anon, Rainbow Dash.”
“Nice to meetcha!” Dash says with a wide grin as she steps past Do, offering Anon her hoof. “She’s told me a lot about you!”
“Wow, the Rainbow Dash! It’s an honor, really!” After firmly shaking Dash’s hoof, Anon looks towards Do with an excited smile. “You didn’t tell me you were friends with one of Equestria’s heroes!”
“Heh,” Dash chuckles before Do can respond.
“Yes, well, she does make frequent guest appearances in my books. That’s why I have to meet up with her so often.” Her words become slightly muffled as she says them through a forced smile, her eyes darting to Dash anxiously as if to imply something. “Right, Dash?”
“No, we meet up to– RIGHT! W-we discuss her books, haha! Gotta… gotta make sure she gets my good side, right?”
“Hehe, I suppose this would be a very different kind of meeting if Aki included you without your permission.”
“Eh, I wouldn’t really object. She is so cool!”
“Wow, you really like her writing, huh?”
“Well, yeah! You don’t see ME writing novels about all of my awesome adventures!”
Do clears her throat awkwardly.
“What Dash means to say is that we met over our shared love of fictional stories. She might live out more ‘realistic’ adventures, but we both enjoy a good tall tale every now and then.”
Do pats Dash on the back forcefully enough to knock the wind out of her.
“R-right,” she squeaks out.
“Well, either way, I’m glad you’re making actual friends out there, Aki.” Anon lets out a sigh of contentment as he removes his marefriend’s saddlebag for her and hoists it over his shoulder. “And it’s a pleasure to have you around, Rainbow Dash. A friend of Aki’s is a friend of mine.” A warm smile spreads across his face as he looks back towards Do once again. “I’ll bring this upstairs for ya.” He looks her up and down before letting out a single chuckle. “And I’m not sure what kind of writing meetup gets you covered in all of that, but you can leave the shirt in the laundry room. I’ve already got a second load about to go into the washer.”
“Thanks, Nonny.”
With a wink and a nod, Anon disappears around a nearby corner and begins to head towards the second floor of the house. It isn’t until a door audibly shuts that Do swiftly turns to Dash with focused eyes and a furrowed brow.
“Watch it, Dash,” Do whispers as she begins to lead her jittery friend into the living room.
“Hey, I think I’m doing pretty good!”
“Ugh, just… don’t open your mouth unless spoken to directly, okay? And don’t say anything unnecessary. Leave the talking to me.”
“Er, okay? You never really seemed like the talking type to me, though,” Dash replies with a tilted head as she and Do take a seat on her well-made but worn-with-age sofa.
“I’m not.”
“Touché.”
“So, Aki,” Anon starts as he enters the living room behind them. “How was the convention?”
“As well as could be expected,” Do calmly replies with practiced ease. “A few overly excited fans, but nothing I can’t handle.”
“Yeah? And what about you, Rainbow Dash?”
“M-me? Oh, it was, uh… great! I, er, got my copy of Daring Do and the Eternal Flower signed, so that was fun!”
“Hah! Must be awkward giving an autograph to a friend, eh, Aki?”
"Why do you call her 'Aki?'" Dash asks with a tilt of her head, earning her a stern glance from Do.
"Because she won't tell me what 'A.K.' stands for."
"Ugh," Do groans. "We've been over this before. That information is only given on a need-to-know basis."
"And I, of all creatures, don't need to know?"
"Not yet, you don't."
"Wait, Rainbow Dash, what do you call her?"
She recoils slightly in her seat, her eyes darting towards her more stoic, yet still visibly anxious secret-holder in crime.
"Er, I just call her... Yearling. Yeah."
"Like most ponies do!" Do interjects. "And like I wish you'd start doing."
"Not gonna happen, Aki." Anon places his hands behind his head, giving the mares a playful smirk. "Or would you prefer I guess?"
"Anon, don't–"
"How about Amazing Knitter?"
"Stop–"
"Or Akeno Himekima."
"What does that even–"
"Oh, oh, I got it! Alaska!"
"Stop!" A quick hoof to the abdomen from the blushing author takes the wind right out of Anon's lungs, dragging his toothy grin away with it. "Just stick to 'Aki,' okay?!"
Anon and Dash share a laugh at the rapidly reddening adventurer next to them. She instinctively reaches for the brim of her hat to cover her face with, only to be reminded that she isn’t wearing it anymore.
“Love you, Aki!”
“Shut up,” she grumbles, her blush refusing to fade. “And I hope you didn’t get into any trouble while I was gone.”
“What could I have possibly gotten in trouble for way out here? The closest town is an hour away.”
“Just saying.” Do lifts her head slightly to look Anon in the eyes, her own expression hardening very briefly. “I heard there was a roc sighted not too far from here, so we should probably be careful.”
“Oh? I did hear some sort of an explosion earlier. It wasn’t too long before you got here, actually.”
“Huh. Who knows what might be lurking out there?” Do shrugs.
“Uhh, Dari– I mean, Yearling?” Dash questions with a tilt of her head. “That was–”
“Probably something dangerous, yes!”
If looks could kill, Dash would promptly and horrifically explode.
“I was just thinking that you should have heard it,” Anon mumbles as he rests his head in his hand. There’s a twinkle in his eye and an almost smug smile on his face. “Guess you were probably too engrossed in working out the details of your latest book with your favorite guest star, right?”
“Right!” Do replies with more enthusiasm than she intended. “Speaking of, I invited Dash here to workshop how we’re going to portray her in my latest draft, but I misjudged how late it was getting. Is it cool if she crashes on the couch tonight?”
“Hey, it’s your house!” Anon grins while putting his hands up innocently. “But I have no objections either way.”
“Thank you,” Dash mutters with a bow of her head. “I’ll try not to annoy you too much–”
“But I do have a condition!” Dash and Do both freeze in place at the sudden raising of his voice. He lets the silence linger for just a moment longer than anyone is comfortable with before a playful smirk spreads across his face. “You both really need to take a shower. I don’t know how you got so filthy out there, but I got this place cleaned up nice during your little convention and I don’t need you stinking up the place!”
“...Snrk.”
“You do have a point,” Do sighs. “Guess we should take care of that before we get too tired. I’ll go take mine first so Dash can spend as long in there as she needs.” Do lifts herself from the couch, only to be stopped by Anon doing the same while letting out a loud whistle of disapproval. “What?”
“Shirt.”
“Oh. Right.”
Do awkwardly clears her throat as she nonchalantly removes her sweaty, stained, beat-up shirt and tosses it to Anon. She gives him a smile, but just as she turns to leave she realizes that he’s waiting for something. The room falls silent yet again as his smile grows and he gently spreads his arms.
“Anon, don’t.”
“Come on.”
“Not in front of Dash!”
“I’m not taking no for an answer~!”
“Grah, FINE!”
Rainbow Dash blinks as Daring Do, a figure she’s long idolized and looked up to as a stalwart figure of bravery and girlbossishness, is scooped up into Anon’s arms and held tight against his chest. Her eyelids droop and her face goes beet red as he peppers her with kisses, and although her body language is stiff and hesitant, there’s a clear restraint on her face doing everything it can to stop a content smile from taking over.
When he breaks the embrace by planting one final chaste, loving kiss on her lips, Dash can’t help feeling her own cheeks going a bit pink as she mutters the word “cute” underneath her breath.
“I’m… gonna take my shower now,” Do mumbles.
“Love you, Aki.”
“Love you too, Nonny.” Her words are so quiet, no one but herself is able to hear them.
Then, without making another peep, Do rushes up the nearby stairs and slams the door to the bathroom behind her, leaving only Anon and Dash in the living room.
“You two are pretty close, huh?”
“More than you know,” Anon sighs as he sits back down with Do’s shirt still in hand. “It takes an awfully brave gal to accept someone like me, and it takes an incredibly kind one to fall in love with him. She’s… everything to me.”
Although he’s barely stopped smiling since she arrived, Dash notices Anon’s expression turning warmer and calmer. It’s enough to make her smile right alongside him.
Only for that smile to turn into abject horror when he pulls a familiar idol out of Do’s shirt pocket.
“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh I don’t think you’re supposed to see that!”
“Why not?”
“It’s, er… a gift!”
“A gift?”
“Y-yeah! She got it at the convention and totally meant to, er, surprise you with it! Yeah.”
“...Ohhhhhhh. That’s awfully sweet of her,” Anon chuckles as he inspects the strange icon. “The Neck Twister idol is an odd thing to give someone, though.”
“Yeah, I imagine it’s– wait, what?”
There’s a brief moment where Anon doesn’t answer, opting instead to polish some of the grime off of the idol with the hem of his shirt before looking up at her with a knowing grin.
“This is what the two of you went to retrieve, right? To prevent the resurrection of some ancient god?”
“Uh… haha, I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Dash’s voice is shaky and fearful as her eyes dart around the room. “What, do you think we just went on some grand adventure while you weren’t looking?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what you did.” Dash, flabbergasted, begins to stutter, unable to find her words. However, Anon continues before she can anyway. “Don’t worry, Dash. I already know Aki and Daring Do are the same mare.”
“Y-you–”
“And I know she doesn’t want me to know that. That’s why I feign ignorance when she’s around. If it’s all the same to you I’d prefer to keep that little deception going, so keep this between us, okay?”
He winks, and after taking a few seconds to allow the shock to wear off, Dash takes a deep breath.
“You two sure like your secrets.” She leans back on the couch, resting the shoulders she hadn’t realized she’d been tensing since she walked into the home. “And you don’t have a problem with her lying to you about going on all those dangerous adventures?”
“She wants to keep me safe. If it gives her peace of mind to believe that I don’t know her little secret, then I’ll let her keep up that belief. Her line of work doesn’t allow her to have too many allies, so I’ll gladly do what little I can to help her.” He chuckles. “Who do you think slipped that firecracker into her shirt before she left?”
“That was you?”
“It was.” Anon sighs and stands from his seat, Do’s shirt still in hand. “And I have to thank you, too. It’s reassuring to know she’s got someone as loyal as you in her corner.” After deliberating for half a second, he nods to himself and tosses Dash the idol. “Here, you can tell her that you swiped it out of her pocket without me noticing. I’m gonna go wash this.”
“W-wait, what?”
“I wasn’t lying about the two of you being stanky. I work hard keeping this place nice and livable for when she gets back, darn it!” As if on cue, the sound of a running shower from overhead suddenly ceases. “But you’re welcome to stay as long as you need.”
With a smile and a wave, Anon saunters out of the living room, leaving Dash all alone. She’s not sure how long she remains there, dazed by the roller coaster that the past couple of hours have been, but she is eventually broken out of her trance by a wet-maned Daring Do waving a hoof in front of her face.
“Hello? Equestria to Rainbow Dash?”
“Woah!”
“Nice to see you’re in there,” she laughs. “Shower is all yours. Hot is on the left, cold is on the right. Don’t use too much of my shampoo, alright? It’s imported from Griffonstone.”
“Th-thanks, Do.” Gently shaking herself, Dash finally stands from her place on the sofa and turns to make her way upstairs. Before she can, however, she tosses Do the idol she’d been hiding. “Here.”
“Oh, shoot, I can’t believe I forgot this! Anon didn’t see it, did he?”
“...Nope! I swiped it from the shirt before he could notice.” Dash closes her eyes and forces a smile, but when her eyes open again said smile slowly morphs. There’s a warmth behind her eyes, and her voice gets quieter. Calmer. “You know, you’re lucky.”
“Hm?”
“I’ve had ponies willing to support me for as long as I can remember, but you haven’t. I’m glad that you’ve found someone to stay by your side.”
“Dash, are you trying to guilt trip me into telling Anon the truth?”
“No.” Her voice is confident and stern, but still warm. “You’re doing it because you care. I just hope you can see how much he cares, too.”
After a brief pause, Do smiles and lets out a defeated, albeit content sigh.
“I do. I wouldn’t trade him for the world.” She gives Dash a light smack on the back. “Same goes for you, too, by the way.”
“Yeah, well.” Dash unfurls her wings and strikes a confident pose. “I am awesome.”
“Awesome and covered in dirt. Get up there,” Do chuckles, finally shooing her friend upstairs. “And… thank you.”
With a smile on her face, Do silently slips further into the living room and opens a nearby closet door, carefully tucking the idol away deep within. After nodding to herself, a delicious scent reaches her nostrils.
“Ooo, wonder what Nonny’s making for dinner.”
The grin still spread across her features, Do trots out of the living room to greet her beloved human partner. Certainly, their life is unorthodox and filled with more deception than most relationships should be. However, the bond that they share is as undeniable as it is unshakeable.
Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, prepares to take a very long, very hot shower.
Author's Note
I've gotten a number of requests for Daring Do from friends and strangers alike. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Also, brownie points for those that got the reference.
