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Fanfic / The Two Sides of Daring Do

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The Two Sides of Daring Do is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction written by Godzillawolf, and explores the differences between AK Yearling/Daring Do and the novelized accounts depicted in her books, and what happens when a clone made from those books becomes real.


This fanfic contains examples of:

  • All There in the Manual: Ahuizotl's Omnicidal Maniac characterization is inspired by this trope. His collector card states that if he disposes of Daring Do "the world would be his to destroy."
  • Always Someone Better: Due to Yearling writing Daring Do in the books as being 'herself but better', the clone is this to her, which is the major conflict of the story. As it turns out, while the clone might be superior in some ways, Yearling is smarter and more patient, meaning the two balance one another out.
  • Amplifier Artifact: The Belt of Atlas increases the user's strength to immense levels.
  • Antagonistic Offspring: Ahuizotl is this to his father King Leo. King Leo is apparently a loving ruler, but Ahuizotl is a psychopath, and has every desire to make his father watch his kingdom suffer.
  • Art Initiates Life: The Chisel of Pygmalion has the power to do this, but only if the creator of the work is present and there's a sincere and loving desire for it to become real, which is why an attempt by Ahuizotl to use it to bring a statue to life before the story failed. The Daring Do clone is born due to the fans at Yearling's book signing wanting her to be real.
  • Atomic Superpower: According to Word of God, Princess Celestia has this ability, including being capable of absorbing nuclear radiation which is how she saved Yearling from radiation poisoning once before. Justified, as the sun is basically a gigantic fusion reactor.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Ahuizotl is just as hammy as in canon, but is also a complete psychopath with Super-Strength and a sadistic streak. He outright says he'd destroy the world if he could.
  • Big Bad: Ahuizotl. He's also an in-universe example, being the main villain of the Daring Do books.
  • Buried Alive: Ahuizotl is buried by the Temple of Atlas collapsing on him (along with the mountain it was built under). Due to him having Complete Immortality, it won't kill him and eventually he'll dig his way out, but it was enough to take him out for the time being.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: The Rings of Scorchero from 'Daring Don't' return as a key part of Ahuizotl's plan.
  • Clones Are People, Too: The Daring Do clone is never depicted as being anything other than a living thing and in the end is adopted by Yearling as her daughter. Of note, in universe Equestria has laws acknowledging this trope.
    • Also given a continuity nod to the Mirror Pool incident, and brings up "Mana Clones" which are squarely NOT.
  • Clone Angst: Yearling's clone doesn't take the discovery that she's a clone very well.
  • Complete Immortality: Ahuizotl possesses this due to being a Demi-God. He's not only ancient, but nothing she's hit him with has done more than temporally incapacitate him. She doesn't believe the Temple of Atlas and the mountain it was under collapsing on him was enough to finish the job and is certain he'll dig his way out eventually.
  • Divine Parentage: Ahuizotl is the son of King Leo, the God of the Sea.
  • Durable Deathtrap: AK Yearling once asked Princess Celestia why the ancient civilizations would bother designing elaborate traps to guard ancient artifacts instead of just burying them. Celestia suggested the ancients believed the artifacts could be of use to ponykind in the future, but the traps are a test to make sure only the most worthy could get to them.
  • Embarrassing First Name: It turns out the AK in Yearling's name is the initials of her actual first name, Awkward Kindness. This is apparently a case of Family Theme Naming, as her sister is Derpy Hooves/Ditzy Doo.
  • The Exile: Ahiuzotl was banished from his father's kingdom for his psychopathic nature.
  • Forgot to Feed the Monster: Referenced. AK Yearling has no idea how the sharks in the Shark Pool of an ancient temple are still alive.
  • For the Evulz: Ahuizotl is a sadistic psychopath whose primary motive is causing destruction and pain for fun. Deconstructed, as Yearling points out while this might sound silly on paper, dealing with a lunatic with that mindset is far more frightening and dangerous in reality.
  • Fountain of Youth: Spells and potions that can alter your age are mentioned, but they do not actually affect your lifespan. For example, if an old pony became young again, he would still eventually die of old age in a few years. In one of the endings, Daring Do chooses to start life over as a filly. Since she was technically only a few days old, she still had a full lifespan ahead of her.
  • Graceful in Their Element: While fully capable of moving and living on land, Ahuizotl is an amphibian as in the original myths, and becomes a Lightning Bruiser when he's in the water.
  • Happily Adopted: The Daring Do clone by Yearling in the end.
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • Yearling starts to have one over her clone outdoing her and seemingly rendering her redundant. This reaches its apex when she gets a beatdown from Ahuizotl in her rage. She finally snaps out of it in time to save the clone.
    • The clone has one when she realizes she's a clone. Hers gets so severe that she loses her Cutie Mark. Yearling manages to snap her out of it, but she's still a blank flank at the end of the story.
  • Hijacking Cthulhu: Ahuizotl's plan is to combine the power of the Belt of Atlas and its temple with the Rings of Scorchero to steal the Princesses' power.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: It turns out that Ahuizotl is an amphibian and a lot more dangerous underwater. He nearly kills the Daring Do clone easily when he gets the chance to pull her underwater and exploit it. Justified, as Yearling was very much aware he had this ability and took pains to not fight him when he could exploit it, something the clone was unaware of as it never came up in the books.
  • Joker Immunity: Apparently, Yearling's audience complains about Ahuizotl having this. Justified with the real one because he's an immortal Demi-God and thus can't die.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Ahuizotl, surprisingly enough. The story gets a lot more intense and serious once he shows up.
  • Meaningful Rename: The Daring Do clone renames herself Daydream in the end.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Ahuizotl ends up dishing one out to both Yearling and her clone, the former due to her being enraged to the point of not being able to see straight and the later due to underestimating Ahuizotl. Both walk away from the adventure with broken bones as a result.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • AK Yearling mentions a few of her past adventures, including some she shared with Con Mane and Doctor Whooves. The Doctor asked her not to write about him in her books.
    • In the ending, they briefly mention Yearling had to teach the Daring Do clone how to go to the bathroom, since Daring had no knowledge of things that were not mentioned in the books.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Ahuizotl turns out to be this, as he considers the prospect of turning the planet into a Death World beautiful. His plan is to hijack the Princesses power and use it to fry the world.
  • Our Homunculi Are Different: The Daring Do clone, due to being born from a magical artifact. Inuniverse she's legally called one.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Turns out Ahuizotl started out as this, having been sealed in a temple and been set loose by an expedition. He's temporarily this trope again when the Temple of Atlas buries him, but Yearling notes this isn't going to last for long, but enough for them to recover.
  • Shark Pool: This is one of the death traps in the temple holding the Belt of Atlas. After avoiding it, an exasperated AK Yearling asks how in the world the sharks are still alive after so many years without food.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Take That!: AK Yearling mentions a past adventure she had that resembled the plot of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Her fans thought it sucked.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: The Daring Do Clone doesn't take finding out she's a fictional character brought to life well.
  • What Is This Feeling?: The Daring Do clone asks this when Ahuizotl causes her to experience fear.
  • Younger Than They Look: The Daring Do clone looks like a fully grown mare, but is more or less a newborn. Even in the ending when she decides to become a filly, she's still about the Cutie Mark Crusaders' age and thus still qualifies.
  • You're Insane!: The Daring Do clone calls Ahuizotl this after learning of his motivations. Ahuizotl simply replies that's what his father said before banishing him.

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