Daring Do

Daring Do, also known as A.K. Yearling, is a female Pegasus pony, the titular character as well as the author of the Daring Do book series, based on her adventures. She is featured in five episodes, having major roles in Read It and Weep and Daring Don't, and makes small cameos in A Friend in Deed, Too Many Pinkie Pies, and Trade Ya!

Daring Do's name is a play on the phrase derring-do, meaning "brave and adventurous, often reckless actions". She is a palette swap of Rainbow Dash with a similar personality, differing only in cutie mark (a compass rose), coat color, and her "rainbow" hair which is in grayscale; when she snatches the Sapphire Statue from Ahuizotl's hands, she leaves a grayscale rainbow trail behind her, like Rainbow Dash does in several episodes. She is called Daring Do Dazzle in some merchandise.

Development
Writer Cindy Morrow said that Daring Do's name was "Bravely Blue" in her pre-script, first outline.

A.K. Yearling is a nod to and pun of British author J.K. Rowling. The name "Yearling" also refers to a horse between one and two years of age. In early December 2013, Dave Polsky was asked whether A. K. Yearling is a reference to Amy Keating Rogers and answered "Consciously, no. But subconsciously? Wow, I am so totally busted."

Appearance
Daring Do is very similar in appearance to Rainbow Dash. Her body color is somewhere between dark khaki and arylide yellow. For most of Read it and Weep, she has one wing wrapped up in a series of white bandages. Her manestyle is identical to Rainbow Dash's, and consists of six shades of grey that correspond to the six colors in Rainbow Dash's mane, this color combination is often referred to as a grayscale rainbow. Her eyes are raspberry red, with straight eyelashes, exactly the same as Rainbow Dash's. Her cutie mark is a compass rose, which probably represents a talent for exploration and a strong sense for adventure, as would befit her name. Daring's outfit consists of a dark olivine vest and a tan pith helmet with a dark olive band.

Daring Don't reveals that Daring Do and author A.K. Yearling are actually the same pony. In her guise as the reclusive author, she disguises her appearance with a purple shawl, a grey cloche and heavy red-framed spectacles. She also evidently hides that she is a Pegasus. It isn't clear if A.K. Yearling is a pseudonym or if it is 'Daring Do' who is the false identity, used for her dangerous adventures.

Read It and Weep
Daring Do and her books are introduced in Read It and Weep, when Twilight Sparkle brings Rainbow Dash the first book in the series, Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. Twilight says she owns all the books in the series, and mentions to Dash that "You'd like Daring. She's a lot like you. Adventurous, fierce, and undeniably, unquestionably, unstoppable."

Later in the episode, Twilight calls the book Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue instead of Sapphire Stone, and goes uncorrected.

The book series depicts Daring Do as an adventurer and treasure hunter, exploring long lost temples and ruins for ancient artifacts. The aforementioned first book in the series sees her discovering a temple she'd searched for over two months. She surpasses the booby traps within and liberates a sapphire statuette shaped like a two-headed Anubis, all with an injured wing. Her search for this treasure puts her at odds with a dog-like creature named Ahuizotl. Through various trials and tribulations, Daring Do secures the sapphire statue from Ahuizotl's clutches and, in doing so, saves the world.

At the end of the episode, Rainbow Dash reads another book in the series, Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet.

A Friend in Deed
In A Friend in Deed, Rainbow Dash reads a Daring Do book in Twilight's library. The book has a similar spine and cover as The Griffon's Goblet, but the title on the cover is Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone.

Too Many Pinkie Pies
In Too Many Pinkie Pies, Rainbow Dash is seen reading The Sapphire Stone again.

Daring Don't
In Daring Don't, it is revealed that the author of the Daring Do books, A.K. Yearling, is the same pony as Daring Do herself. It is established that the adventures recounted in the books are actually based on Daring Do's real adventures against treasure hunters and the series' villains, including the creature Ahuizotl.

Testing Testing 1, 2, 3
In Testing Testing 1, 2, 3, Twilight Sparkle tells Rainbow Dash "I don't know anypony that's read more Daring Do books than you."

Trade Ya!
In Trade Ya!, Rainbow Dash goes to the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange seeking a first-edition copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. Like in Read It and Weep, the book is referred to as Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue several times. The two versions of the book shown in Trade Ya! present no distinction. However, they do differ from the version seen in Read It and Weep in that the back covers also contain a few darker lines in Trade Ya!

Personality
Daring Do is depicted as a very cunning and determined explorer. She has been shown to be incredibly intelligent, using her wits to solve puzzles, pull off disguises, and escape many of Ahuizotl's death traps. However, it is revealed in Daring Don't that she is a loner, often rejecting company and help whenever it is offered to her, as seen when she turns down Rainbow Dash's efforts to help her multiple times. It is revealed that through all of the secrecy that comes with her dangerous adventures, Daring Do taught herself not to trust anyone at all. Yet during the climax of the episode, she does open up a little after Rainbow Dash rescues her from Ahuizotl's trap and asserts her friendship towards Daring, and she later admits that sometimes even she could use a little help. At the very end, Daring seems to have lost some of her introverted nature as she develops a bond with Rainbow Dash to the point where she writes about her in her latest book.

Homage to Indiana Jones

 * See also the section for Read It and Weep on the list of allusions

There are several allusions to the Indiana Jones franchise in Read It and Weep and Daring Don't:
 * The harp plucking that plays when Daring Do first enters the temple bears a strong resemblance to the music that plays in the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indiana Jones casually brushes spiders off of his back.
 * The sunlight shining into the chamber is a reference to the map room scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the sunlight shines on a crystal at the center of the room.
 * The way Daring Do makes her way to the Sapphire Stone's pedestal mirrors a scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where the titular hero navigates a trap floor by only stepping on the correct tiles.
 * The scene where Daring Do retrieves the Sapphire Stone mirrors a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which Indiana Jones retrieves an idol statue from a pedestal.
 * In Daring Don't, Daring Do briefly makes use of a whip, the signature tool of Indiana Jones.

Nightmare Night costume
A layout artist for the show explained the similarity between Daring Do's outfit and one of the costumes featured in Nightmare Night which occurred in the episode Luna Eclipsed. In order to fill out the crowd scenes and due to time constraints, Daring Do's shirt was recolored and the outfit was then used as a costume, worn by the pony Berryshine. The shirt was recolored so that there were no future episode spoilers.

Depiction in comics
On page 22 of the story The Return of Queen Chrysalis, Rainbow Dash says "I feel like Daring Do! A pony of adventure! We're off on a quest!" On page 6 of, Twilight Sparkle mentions having "read Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue". An outfit with the same design and color scheme as Daring Do's outfit is worn by Rainbow Dash on the Hot Topic cover of.

On page 10 of the story, Daring Do appears with another pony in Rainbow Dash's imagination, and Rainbow Dash says "Aw, man! Daring Do would, like, make a crazy explosion out of, like, ducktape and Applejack's hair and boom! We'd be free!" in response to Applejack saying "I wish Daring Do was here to help us now." On page 18 of, a pony resembling Daring Do appears at the Ponyville Flea Market wearing a hat similar to Daring Do's pith helmet.

A parade balloon of Daring Do appears on page 6 of the story. On page 8 of the story, a plaque reading "Daring Do" appears on a wall with other awards in Shining Armor's flashback; this unscripted detail was added by artist Andy Price, who has stated that it "could be 'the Daring Do Award', or something like that... Imagination comes into play :)" and that "it could be a Daring Do Award for Authors... or an award for a book about the character rather than the DD series..."

A comic book featuring Daring Do appears being read by Spike on pages 1, 2, and 3 of. Daring Do appears in book pictures in cover B and the Hot Topic cover of, and she herself appears in the issue's story. As Rainbow Dash assumes the role of Daring Do in the world of one of her books, the fictional Daring Do appears in Ponyville. Of, an outfit with a similar design to and the same color scheme as Daring Do's outfit is worn by Rainbow Dash on a cover, Daring Do appears on cover RI, and the fictional Daring Do in Ponyville helps Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike before she is sent back.

Merchandise
A Daring Do Dazzle miniature collectible is included in the Daring Pony Story Set with Princess Twilight Sparkle and rainbowfied Rainbow Dash. Daring Do appears on the Season 2 poster.

Series 1 of Enterplay's trading cards includes a Mare Do Well & Daring Do card, #28. The back of the card shows their names both with trademark symbols. They are listed as a unicorn and pegasus, respectively. The description is divided into two paragraphs, one for each character, with Daring Do's reading "Daring Do is a treasure-hunting pony and the star of Rainbow Dash's favorite book series. Whether escaping crushing walls, a pit of snakes, or a giant rolling boulder, Daring Do is undeniably, unquestionably unstoppable!"

In Enterplay's collectible card game, α #152 R and α #ƒ40, cards of Ahuizotl, attribute to A.K. Yearling the quote "When writing a villain it's important that he comes to life as vividly in the reader's imagination as he does for the author."

My Little Pony mobile game descriptions
A Pegasus pony who hunts for treasure, Daring Do is adventurous, fierce, and undeniably, unquestionably unstoppable.

One of Equestria's most famous novelists, A. K. Yearling is the author of the best-selling "Daring Do" book series which includes such classics as "The Quest for the Sapphire Stone" and "The Griffon's Goblet".

Chapter books
Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell mentions in chapter 1, "A Crown Achievement", that Spike shows Twilight a book in her library, "Daring Do and the Trek to the Terrifying Tower", and that Twilight "had already read all the books in the series about the fearless pony adventurer at least three times." Spike uses the book to explain to Twilight that she should seek guidance about her new role as a princess from others with similar experience, as Daring Do seeks tips from "Professor A. B. Ravenhoof" about overcoming her fears.

In Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare, "Rainbow Dash has always been a huge fan of the Daring Do series, but when the newest book comes out, it's Daring Do madness! The pony wants to prove she can be just a brave and 'daring' as her hero. Before she knows it, she becomes 'Daring Dash. [sic]' and is doing all sorts of crazy things—tightrope walking (no wings!), hot chili pepper eating, and even sneaking inside a spooky old barn. But when Rainbow Dash offers to help Zecora by entering a scary, haunted forest alone, her friends worry she's jumping into too much danger. Just how daring should one pony be?"

A collection of three novels starring Daring Do entitled The Daring Do Adventure Collection will be released on October 7, 2014. The novels are credited to being written by A.K. Yearling but in reality are written by G.M. Berrow. The book even includes an "about the author" about Yearling:

''A.K. Yearling's adventure novels starring the fearless Daring Do have been recognized as the best-selling series in Equestria history. Yearling holds a degree in Literature from Pranceton University. After college, she briefly worked as a researcher at the National Archives for Equestrian Artifacts and Ponthropology in Canterlot. During that time, she wrote an essay based on her findings on the Griffon territories entitled "What was the Name of that Griffon Again? Or Beak and Roaming Studies Recalled." It was published last year by the University of Equexeter's journal, Pegasus. She enjoys quiet time at home alone and long trots on the beach.''

Quotes
"You won't get away with this, Ahuizotl!"

- Read It and Weep

"Another day, another dungeon!"

- Read It and Weep

"Better luck next time, Ahuizotl!"

- Read It and Weep

"Daring Do doesn't need help. She handles her business herself."

- Daring Don't

"I...work...alone."

- Daring Don't

"Now, Ahuizotl, you know I love you, but I can't give you the ring 'til I've properly proposed."

- Daring Don't

"Bring it!"

- Daring Don't

"Could never have done this without you, Rainbow Dash."

- Daring Don't

"Another adventure awaits..."

- page 11

"When writing a villain it's important that he comes to life as vividly in the reader's imagination as he does for the author."

- Enterplay collectible card game α #152 R and α #ƒ40 cards of Ahuizotl