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There have been art books and collectible books dedicated to Daring Do under Polo House, Inc. High budget [[UsefulNotes/{{Broadway}} Bridleway]] stage adaptions have been made based on the first four books, starring Hairerion Trot in the title role. A fifth had been in DevelopmentHell for some time, as the Applewood film series (also starring Trot, though almost none of the other stage actors) started shortly after the closing of ''Wooden Mask'' and the filming schedule left Trot unavailable. The Bridleway series was revived last year with ''Alicorn's Shadow'', albeit with Shauna Flankery taking over the lead role.
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There have been art books and collectible books dedicated to Daring Do under Polo House, Inc. High budget [[UsefulNotes/{{Broadway}} [[Platform/{{Broadway}} Bridleway]] stage adaptions have been made based on the first four books, starring Hairerion Trot in the title role. A fifth had been in DevelopmentHell for some time, as the Applewood film series (also starring Trot, though almost none of the other stage actors) started shortly after the closing of ''Wooden Mask'' and the filming schedule left Trot unavailable. The Bridleway series was revived last year with ''Alicorn's Shadow'', albeit with Shauna Flankery taking over the lead role.
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* [[LetsMeetTheMeat Let's Meet The Beet]]: In ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark'', Beauty Mark mentions a celebration she went to when she was young and somepony used magic to bring the food 'to life'. Anne assumes they wanted to go down this route but instead all they got was a [[JustForPun foodfight.]]
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* [[LetsMeetTheMeat Let's Meet The Beet]]: In ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark'', Beauty Mark mentions a celebration she went to when she was young and somepony used magic to bring the food 'to life'. Anne assumes they wanted to go down this route but instead all they got was a [[JustForPun [[{{Pun}} foodfight.]]
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#'''Demons Die:''' Horrified by what she did on her last venture, Daring devotes herself to finding a way to destroy the Diamonds, storing them in a remote cove for safety. After several fruitless efforts, she is forced to put her research on hold when she is informed of a new Blood Diamond in the possession of a rogue changling swarm.
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#'''Demons Die:''' Horrified by what she did on her last venture, Daring devotes herself to finding a way to destroy the Diamonds, storing them in a remote cove for safety. After several fruitless efforts, she is forced to put her research on hold when she is informed of a new Blood Diamond in the possession of a rogue changling changeling swarm.
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Howling To The Night has been disambiguated
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* HowlingToTheNight
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trope rename/retool
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* PteroSoarer: Averted with the ''Quetzalcoatlus'' in ''The Valley of Grouchy'', [[ShownTheirWork which is not only furry and quadrupedal, but also a ground-based hunter according to recent studies]].
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No Pronunciation Guide is now a disambig. Dewicking
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* NoPronunciationGuide: For quite a while, the base was ''very'' confused about how to pronounce "Ahuizotl".
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Now a disambiguation
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* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: The Amethyst Penguin from the ExpandedUniverse novel of the same name. And real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Penguin penguins]] show up in chapter seventeen.
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#'''Daring Do and the Valley of Grouchy:''' On a college study trip, Daring discovers a mysterious valley, filled with dinosaurs! She soon finds herself fleeing for her life from the LostWorld's numerous dangers, but especially from its supreme overlord: a [[KingOfTheDinosaurs TyrannosaurusRex named Grouchy!]]
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#'''Daring Do and the Valley of Grouchy:''' On a college study trip, Daring discovers a mysterious valley, filled with dinosaurs! She soon finds herself fleeing for her life from the LostWorld's numerous dangers, but especially from its supreme overlord: a [[KingOfTheDinosaurs TyrannosaurusRex UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex named Grouchy!]]Grouchy!
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* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: To put down [[spoiler: Krastos and the Assembler]], Daring detonated a leyline by imbuing it with chaos magic to destabilize it and then activated several powerful artifact explosives next to it. To give an idea how powerful a blast this is, it's described as being able to turn the Everfree Forest into the Everfree ''Crater'' (no, it wasn't done there).
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* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: To put down [[spoiler: Krastos and the Assembler]], Daring detonated a leyline by imbuing it with chaos magic to destabilize it and then activated several powerful artifact explosives next to it. To give an idea how powerful a blast this is, it's described as being able to turn the Everfree Forest into the Everfree ''Crater'' (no, it wasn't done there).
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* [{{Blackface}}: Rare non-racist example in ''Alicorn Amulet''; [[spoiler:in order to simulate turning a stallion into a mare, Herpy has Daring painted up to look like a female version of Okpono]].
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* [{{Blackface}}: {{Blackface}}: Rare non-racist example in ''Alicorn Amulet''; [[spoiler:in order to simulate turning a stallion into a mare, Herpy has Daring painted up to look like a female version of Okpono]].
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Dewicked trope
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* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Grouchy exists mainly for this reason. Also, ''The Valley of Grouchy''.
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* CoolPet: Grouchy the T-rex, while not exactly a pet per se, is considered one by Daring and company.
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* PragmaticAdaptation: According to early information on the ''Trials of Unity'' adaptation, [[Music/DavidBowie David Bowwow]] doesn't have the build to pull off a convincing Rex, which is why his [[WeaponOfChoice diamond-claw gauntlets]] will be given magical strength-enhancing properties, and he'll be made out to be a BadassBookworm instead of a GeniusBruiser.
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* PragmaticAdaptation: According to early information on the ''Trials of Unity'' adaptation, [[Music/DavidBowie David Bowwow]] doesn't have the build to pull off a convincing Rex, which is why his [[WeaponOfChoice diamond-claw gauntlets]] gauntlets will be given magical strength-enhancing properties, and he'll be made out to be a BadassBookworm instead of a GeniusBruiser.
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* StockDinosaurs: ''The Valley of Grouchy'' features ''Tyrannosaurus'', ''Allosaurus'', ''Spinosaurus'', ''Deinonychus'', ''Quetzalcoatlus'', ''Smilodon'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Parasaurolophus'', ''Triceratops'', ''Ankylosaurus'', ''Compsognathus'', and mammoths. It also averts this with ''Gigantoraptor'', ''Wannanosaurus'', ''Repenomamus'', ''Kelenken'', ''Masiakasaurus'', ''Hypsilophodon'', ''Ouranosaurus'', ''Megatherium'', ''Therizinosaurus'', and ''Sauroposeidon''. And ''Tanystropheus'', of all things, not only shows up but is noted to not be an actual dinosaur.
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* CasualDangerDialog: Daring seems a bit nonchalant about all the deathtraps she ends up in. Justified in that she's been in so many, she probably isn't surprised anymore.
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* CasualDangerDialog: CasualDangerDialogue: Daring seems a bit nonchalant about all the deathtraps she ends up in. Justified in that she's been in so many, she probably isn't surprised anymore.
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Baleful Polymorph is no longer a trope
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* BalefulPolymorph: In ''Ahuizotl and the Giant Chess Pie'' most of the Tricksters pranks involve transforming Ahuizotl.
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* ForcedTransformation: In ''Ahuizotl and the Giant Chess Pie'' most of the Tricksters pranks involve transforming Ahuizotl.
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope
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** Taken [[UpToEleven up to eleven]] with ''Birds of Prey'', which got so absurdly dark and depressing it was almost comical.
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** Taken [[UpToEleven up to eleven]] eleven with ''Birds of Prey'', which got so absurdly dark and depressing it was almost comical.
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* ColdBloodedTorture: In ''Tinker's Seal'', after making it back from the Blank Village, Mareton manages to capture Storm Talon and in an attempt to find out about the progress of the others, he breaks his wings. When he's only answered with swears, insults, and the occasional thanks for offing professor Nagridge, threatens to [[Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}} cut out his tongue and shove a parasprite down it]]. Ghoul manages to sniff Mareton out, but he manages to escape unscathed.
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* ColdBloodedTorture: In ''Tinker's Seal'', after making it back from the Blank Village, Mareton manages to capture Storm Talon and in an attempt to find out about the progress of the others, he breaks his wings. When he's only answered with swears, insults, and the occasional thanks for offing professor Nagridge, threatens to [[Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}} [[Fanfic/CupcakesSergeantSprinkles cut out his tongue and shove a parasprite down it]]. Ghoul manages to sniff Mareton out, but he manages to escape unscathed.
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Nice Hat is now a disambig.
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* CuteWitch: Mistress Spark, the Arkhoof artifact thief, complete with an [[NiceHat enormous witch hat]].
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* CuteWitch: Mistress Spark, the Arkhoof artifact thief, complete with an [[NiceHat enormous witch hat]].hat.
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* NiceHat: Daring's trademark pith helmet.
** In ''The Valley of Grouchy'', it's shown that the helmet is given to Daring as a gift from Coco Pie and, like Coco, it's appeared in every book since.
** In ''The Valley of Grouchy'', it's shown that the helmet is given to Daring as a gift from Coco Pie and, like Coco, it's appeared in every book since.
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* SignatureHeadgear: Daring's trademark pith helmet. In ''The Valley of Grouchy'', it's shown that the helmet is given to Daring as a gift from Coco Pie and, like Coco, it's appeared in every book since.
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trope split
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* HauntedHouse: Normally a staple of such stories, this only comes up in about half of the books and two {{Cold Open}}s. [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad Differing standards and practices for children's literature mean that their existence could only be implied]] in the ''Young Daring Do'' books.
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* HauntedHouse: Normally a staple of such stories, this only comes up in about half of the books and two {{Cold Open}}s. [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad [[PoliticalOvercorrectness Differing standards and practices for children's literature mean that their existence could only be implied]] in the ''Young Daring Do'' books.
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Foe Yay has been cut
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* SickeningSweethearts: In ''Universal Cracks'', one of the alt universes had ''[[FoeYay Daring and Ahuizotl]]'' as these.
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* SickeningSweethearts: In ''Universal Cracks'', one of the alt universes had ''[[FoeYay Daring ''Daring and Ahuizotl]]'' Ahuizotl'' as these.
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Deleting more examples without context, just in case so it's not too long again.
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* LostWorld: The eponymous Valley of Grouchy.
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* LoveableRogue: Bravado, Daring's on-and-off love interest, is certainly this. He can be quite the goofball.
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* MacGuffinTitle: Yup.
* MadScientist
* MadeOfEvil: The eponymous Wooden Mask.
* MadScientist
* MadeOfEvil: The eponymous Wooden Mask.
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* OldDarkHouse
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* SiblingRivalry: Oh Celestia, is there ever.
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* TheWatson: Herpy often is the one in this role.
* UnwillingRoboticisation: An ability of the eponymous artifact of the ExpandedUniverse story ''The Curse of the Golden Key''.
* UnwillingRoboticisation: An ability of the eponymous artifact of the ExpandedUniverse story ''The Curse of the Golden Key''.
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* WomanScorned: Mareton learns this the hard way.
* WorthyOpponent: Ahuizotl comes to consider Daring Do one of these. The feeling is ''not'' mutual.
** Daring (grudgingly) sees Irene as this.
* WorthyOpponent: Ahuizotl comes to consider Daring Do one of these. The feeling is ''not'' mutual.
** Daring (grudgingly) sees Irene as this.
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Removed examples without context to merge. JFF pages probably don't need trope subpages.
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[[index]]
* DaringDo/TropesAToB
* DaringDo/TropesCToD
* DaringDo/TropesEToK
* DaringDo/TropesLToP
* DaringDo/TropesQToS
* DaringDo/TropesTToZ
[[/index]]
* DaringDo/TropesAToB
* DaringDo/TropesCToD
* DaringDo/TropesEToK
* DaringDo/TropesLToP
* DaringDo/TropesQToS
* DaringDo/TropesTToZ
[[/index]]
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*
*
*
*
*
[[/index]]
** In ''Mirror Pond'', [[spoiler:being forced to admit the truth Greyhoof has been evading for so long to create the Cutie Pox cure (and realizing there was one) broke him on a fundamental level. He drank himself to death right afterwards, using a combination of some 470-proof hard apple cider and a torch.]]
* AlienGeometries: [[spoiler:Steam Whistle's workshop]]. The straight hallway that loops is probably the tamest anomaly.
* {{The Alleged Car}}riage: Herpy has one at the end of ''Ring of the Marengeti'' and the beginning of ''Ring of Destiny''. Something's always breaking.
* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: There is a stage show, and it is indeed a musical. Oddly, it focuses on the villains [[Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet Sweeney Trot and Mrs. Hoovett]], not on the Do family. The latest revival featured [[Creator/JohnnyDepp Cloppy Depp]] as Sweeney and [[Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter Hoofena Bonham Trotter]] as Hoovett.
* AllMythsAreTrue: The series makes heavy use of both Equestrian and non-Equestrian mythology, including the more mythological aspects of real historical artifacts. However, with the release of Nightmare Moon and Discord (who matches the description of the Great Beast Of Chaos in ''Alicorn's Shadow''), there is talk that maybe the myths really ''are'' true.
** Subverted with [[spoiler:"The Poodonkus". That one was revealed to be false.]]
** Something of a weird case in ''Tinker's Seal'', where Star Shimmer is vaguely implied to have been a descendent of the Dark Lord of Ultima Mule. However, after the return of the Crystal Empire, scholars have noted that Ultima Mule had many trappings of the Crystal Empire (crystal motif, evil ruler, lost in time). That said, Ultima Mule was supposedly banished because it was just as wicked as its ruler, whereas the only true evil in the Crystal Empire was King Sombra and his personal retinue, and it was cursed to be lost in time by King Sombra as a final "buck you" to the Princesses. WordOfGod decided to go with Star Shimmer being a descendant of King Sombra and one of his dark consorts when asked about it.
* AllStarCast: The current Applewood movie series has a large number of heavy hitter actors, like [[Creator/SeanConnery Sean Trottery]], Creator/{{Bruce Camp|bell}}fire, Creator/{{Shia LaB|eouf}}uck, Creator/{{Anne H|athaway}}oofaway, [[Creator/JohnnyDepp Cloppy Depp]], as well as international actors like [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Samuel L. Hawkson]] and Music/{{David Bow|ie}}wow.%%In-universe
** Granted, not all the actors chosen were well received.
* AlternateUniverse: Multiple are seen in the ExpandedUniverse story ''Universal Cracks.'' Most notably, [[spoiler:the one where Daring died in place of Zapapple Tock.]] Others seen include [[spoiler:one where Daring and her friends wield the Elements of Harmony, a Genderswapped Universe where Daring is a male, and the BizarroUniverse that serves as the origin of the Leader of the Colt of Smooze.]]
* [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Always Somepony Better]]: Derring-Do has repeatedly proven that she's a better explorer than Daring is. Interestingly, Ahuizotl can't stand her and when she gets involved in one of his schemes, instead of Daring, he forgoes the usual DeathTrap and, instead, [[CurbStompBattle curbstomps]] her and takes the artifact. Daring must then retrieve it along with rescuing her sister. Ahuizotl claims he could do the same to Daring as well, but chooses not to, since [[WorthyOpponent it's more fun to struggle with her.]]
** Subverted in ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'', when [[spoiler:both Derring-Do and Daring Do get placed in identical death traps. Daring escapes easily due to her prior experience with such things while Derring needs to be rescued.]]
* AmbiguousGender: Some books refer to Calypso as male while others, female.
* AmbiguousSyntax:
-->Daring: I flew up to look for signs of the pirates like you suggested, but I didn't see anything noteworthy.
-->Greens: Well maybe they're camouflaged. And don't call me Noteworthy!
* AnArmAndALeg: According to the legend, the Assembler takes body parts from its target during the night, and the victim later wakes up with a sutured stump in its place.
* AnachronicOrder: The novels, as mentioned above, though some stage and radio adaptations have averted it, choosing to begin with ''Spear of the Windigos''. The Bridleway plays stuck with the books' order while Hairerion Trot was in the role, as did the first seven Applewood films before various circumstances resulted in the producers fiddling with the schedule: ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'' was moved forward due to Pony Jay's failing health, ''Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded'' was moved up due to the success of ''Sweeney Trot'''s Bridleway run, ''Trident of the Seaponies'' was delayed as the amount of swimming and diving training involved would have put the film months behind schedule, and, most controversially, ''Alicorn's Shadow'' was cancelled during production due to a falling-out between Agister Jolie (Derring) and Brad Pinto (Mareton). This resulted in Mareton being written out of the ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''. Both of these are back on track, however, thanks to Hairerion Trot taking lessons on her downtime, and Haystack Leaves being cast as Mareton.
* AndIMustScream:
** Victims of Dr. Zerato in general suffer this, as they are dissected multiple times, but special mention goes to the eight-legged pony, the pony whose neck is made of spliced together necks, and the griffin with no limbs.
** What Dr. Zerato was going to do to Sebastius and Bravado was particularly horrifying as well: [[spoiler:he would have spliced their bodies together so that they [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead shared one brain and thought each others’ thoughts.]]]]
* AndTheAdventureContinues: Every book except for the first (since it wasn't a series yet) and the Nightmare Moon arc.
* [[AndroclesLion Androcles Tyrannosaur]]: Near the end of ''The Valley of Grouchy,'' [[spoiler:the eponymous dinosaur swallows Daring whole before he is subdued by the royal guards. Daring discovers a bone stuck in his throat and dislodges it, for which Grouchy is extremely grateful.]]
* ApocalypticLog: Subverted by [[spoiler:Steam Whistle]]'s journal. Both Daring and Herpy expected it to end on a catastrophe, but the last entry is simply [[spoiler:Steam Whistle]] expressing his hopes that "future generations understand that we did this for them" and casually mentioning [[spoiler:he plans to get himself [[HumanResources scrapped]] once he's done writing it]].
* ArcWords: Throughout ''Trident of the Seaponies'', the phrase "Sea bears foam, Life bears dreams; both end the same way: CRASSSH" are uttered by both the old oracle an during the DreamSequence. This on its own is a subtle shout out (or probable origin, considering the uncertain time of writing of the series as a whole) of a phrase used in an unrelated work: [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening The Awakening of the Wind Fish]]
** A less obvious example is in ''Cove of Candles''. Every clue given to Daring regarding Blackmane's treasure contains the phrase "You have to go inside", from the obvious, to the spelled out through misplaced capitalization to [[spoiler:written in invisible ink on the scroll]].
** Two of the villains in the ExpandedUniverse have ArcWords associated with them-books involving The Smooze often contain the phrase "Nothing can stop The Smooze", while books where Krastos appears have "All is one, one is all", [[spoiler:referencing his final GrandTheftMe plan]].
*** The Smooze's arc words sometimes have a minor variation, but in ''Secrets of Hydia'', one of these variants becomes ArcWords in and of itself: [[spoiler:"No one can save The Smooze."]]
** The phrase "Someday I'm gonna go home" is an Arc Phrase that appears throughout the Colt of Smooze/Colt Leader subplot in the ExpandedUniverse. This is brought to a conclusion in TheStinger for ''Tinker's Seal'', which leads into the Colt Leader-centric ''Universal Cracks'': "I'm going home."
** In ''Tales of the War'', the phrase "End the War Tonight" appears frequently in the story ''Sacrifice of Alicorns'', and to a lesser extent, ''No Matter The Cost''.
** The word "sleepless" tends to be used a lot around Nightmare Moon. By contrast, Princess Luna is associated with the words "rest" and "dream".
* AristocratsAreEvil: Agate comes from some sort of aristocratic family though he keeps it purposefully vague as to what he actually is.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Sweeney is hit with a pair before he grabs the Staff fragment.
-->"Oh, come on, Sweeney! [[spoiler:Even if the artifact's power could bring back your wife, would she even want you after all this? Would Linnet?]]"
* [[ArtisticLicenseHistory Artistic License - Equestrian History]]: The series ping pongs on it. For the most part the ''actual'' Royal Canterlot Equinology Society praises the series for its accuracy (right down to the number of bells on the hat of acclaimed wizard Star Swirl The Bearded), but they do note that some of the twists are impossible and directly contradict facts, most notably [[spoiler:in the Nightmare Moon arc, where the villains' plans revolve around channeling power directly from the eponymous goddess in her prison. Ahuizotl, in order to destroy Canterlot with the use of the artifacts Daring has been collecting; and Inti, simply destroying much of Equestria and reshaping it to his liking. It's noted that channeling such power would be impossible due to the nature of the seal on Nightmare Moon and the fact that many of the cultures the artifacts come from [[AnachronismStew predate Nightmare Moon's imprisonment]].]]
** Also from ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'', the eponymous Temple is said to have been Nightmare Moon's main fortress when she began her campaign against the Sun. While there was a RealLife "Temple of Nightmare Moon", in reality it was just Princess Luna's ([[BigFancyCastle rather elaborate]]) summer retreat home converted into a place of worship for Nightmare's followers and served no military value during the Equestrian Civil War.
** One of manuscripts contained a series of frustrated notes, where the author debated telling a good story versus accuracy. Apparently, the author went with a good story.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology:
** While the dinosaurs of ''The Valley Of Grouchy'' are surprisingly accurate in terms of anatomy (including [[ShownTheirWork feathered]] [[RaptorAttack raptors]]), they are obviously [[AnachronismStew millions of years]] and [[MisplacedWildlife thousands of miles]] out of place. Also, mammoths, giant ground sloths, terror birds, and saber-toothed "tigers."
** The animal behaviors are also pretty accurate, such as ground-hunting ''Quetzalcoatlus'' and fishing ''Spinosaurus''.
* AscendedExtra: In ''The Griffon's Goblet'' Daring briefly stops to talk to Herpy, a somewhat silly, but surprisingly competent Page for the University. Later on he becomes more prominent, becoming Daring's assistant and helping out with her research and the like. He is PutOnABus in ''Cove of Candles'' where Daring remarks that he is working on getting his own degree in Equestrian Economy. [[spoiler:He comes back for a minor BigDamnHeroes moment in ''Temple Of Nightmare Moon'' and later gets ADayInTheLimelight for a large chunk of ''Ring of the Marengeti'']]. In "The Spear Of the Windigos", although not mentioned by name, Daring complains about how a pony matching Herpy's description drank all the coffee.
** Mahavir/Mahiavar was only given a passing mention in the main series of books is given a prominent role in the ExpandedUniverse
** Swinn and Dell, a pair of traveling Con Artist sisters who had popped up as joke characters for several volumes, actually help Daring in ''Cove of Candles'', and again with [[GondorCallsForAid several other characters]] in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon.''
** Dr. Capacitor's cousin, Lemon Johnson, originally given a brief mention in ''Tinker's Seal'', becomes a Supporting Character in ''Universal Cracks.''
* AssInAmbassador: Ambassador Hawkwings is a rude, obnoxious and outright abusive guy who only really got his job via nepotism, and who by the penultimate chapter of Griffon's Goblet only avoids a righteous beating by the Dos by claiming it could create a serious international incident. At which point Professor Storm Talon casually walks by and [[OffhandBackhand smacks him over the head with his prosthetic tail]].
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The eponymous Ring of the Marengeti is used to [[spoiler:awaken Sobek, an enormous crocodile with a taste for horseflesh.]]
* AuthorAppeal: ExpandedUniverse author L. Heartstrings has a ''weird'' obsession with hands, the appendages where the forehooves would be on Minotaurs and apes. She's also very big on the mythology of humans (think Incitatus' unique ape, Calligula, or the series ''"My Small Human"'').
** Ember Roundup is a huge fan of [[Music/SpikeJones Feetlebaum and his City Slickers]], and it shows.
** A few excerpts from ''Alicorn Amulet'' indicates that Beatrix Lulamoon has an interest in vanquishing Ursas and the [[MagicalGirl Magical Filly]] genre.
** Every few chapters in ''Mystery of Flutter Valley'', a stallion is rolling. And Herpy rolls in the ''Crystal Message'' preview.
* AuthorAvatar: Fans have searched the books to find a character who might be operating as one of these. The most intriguing (because the most badass?) is Laurentia of the Red Mane from ''Temple of Nightmare Moon".
** Another possibility is Mirror Dreams, who first appeared in ''Alicorn's Shadow''. Mostly due to her ''freaky'' knowledge of everypony's backstory.
** A third option is Herpy, which is brought up because of another rumor that the author's major is in Equestrian Equinology and that s/he based Daring Do off of a pony s/he was a grad student to.
** Haystack Leaves has died, before the release of the film of ''Alicorn's Shadow''.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Herpy's modus operandi when it comes to death traps. While Daring Do simply charges ahead and dodges by reflex, he tends to study trajectories or find ways to trigger or disarm the traps.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:After losing the first few artifacts necessary for his doomsday weapon to Daring Do, Ahuizotl starts ''letting'' Daring Do retrieve the other artifacts, so that she'll gather them all in one place. He can then swoop in and steal them all from her at the same time.]]
* BadassBookworm: Daring, of course!
** And Derring-Do as well.
** For the majority of the series, Herpy only fit the "Bookworm" category - until his BigDamnHeroes moment in ''the Ring of the Marengeti,'' which forever earned him the title of "Badass."
** Okpono only fit the bookworm category until ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''--see BewareTheNiceOnes below.
** Tabula Rasa as well, in her few adventures outside the university.
* BadassFamily: The Dos. Unquestionably. ''Griffon's Goblet'' and ''Trials of Unity'' both showed how unstoppable this family can be when they come together.
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Silver in ''Cloudfall Conspiracy'' - Masra is killed, and her reputation is so badly tainted that the University board decides to go in an entirely different direction with her replacement. That said, he doesn't live to enjoy said victory.]]
* BagOfHolding: Discussed and subverted in ''Short Stuff and the Amazing Vacuum''. Short Stuff asks Dr. Flux if the titular vacuum works like this. Dr. Flux reveals instead that everything is either absorbed for energy or compacted to fit.
* BalefulPolymorph: In ''Ahuizotl and the Giant Chess Pie'' most of the Tricksters pranks involve transforming Ahuizotl.
* BalloonBelly: Dell gets one in ''Ahuizotl and the Giant Chess Pie'' after eating the titular [[spoiler:Ahuizotl transformed into a]] giant chess pie. Miss Starlight also gets one in the end.
** In ''Equestria and the Attack of the Jello Slimes'' [[spoiler:a majority of the cast, the guards and a bunch of random civilians.]]
* BallroomBlitz: The San Palomino Ball in ''Mystery of Flutter Valley''. See RippedFromTheHeadlines below.
* [[BatmanGambit Batmare Gambit]]: Ahuizotl's plan to get rid of the Do Siblings in ''The Trials Of Unity''. He found an ancient treasure that destroys (and teleports) anything around it whenever it comes into contact with sunlight, and moved it to an equally ancient temple that hosts the eponymous Trials Of Unity: a series of challenges that are magically enchanted to only be solvable by siblings. He placed the treasure within the trials and sent a map to Daring's sister Derring. He knew that the sisters' obsession with finding treasure would make them willing to co-operate, but he also planned for their rivalry to interfere with their performance in the trials, leading to their destruction.
** XanatosGambit: Even if they somehow succeeded, the treasure waiting for them at the end would also destroy them as soon as they took it outside. Whether they win or lose the trials, Ahuizotl wins.
*** TakeAThirdOption: Fortunately, the Do siblings deduce the nature of the treasure just in time and throw it into Ahuizotl's arms as it activates. Being {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le, the treasure doesn't destroy him, but it still teleports him far away where he can't immediately threaten the Do Sisters.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor/[[LiteralGenie Literal Genie]]: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''City of Anarchy''. When it turns out that the whole conflict involving the Witch Tear is an issue of simple greed, Daring questions why it's taken [[spoiler:Softclaw]] so long when he has the means to use it already and they respond that it was to have time to study and run tests to make sure this didn't happen. [[spoiler:Then played straight when he's interrupted when asking to 'be wealthy' and instead asks to 'be wealth' and then slowly collapses into bits. Equestrian bits.]]
* BerserkButton: The Ape King Scorpan from ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'' gets really mad if anypony mentions the time he was transformed into a monster.
* BeTheBall: In ''Short Stuff and the Amazing Vacuum'' this is what happens to Page and Header after being sucked into the machine. Luckily their fine, if a little banged up, sore and dizzy, due to how the machine works.
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** Kindly, forgiving Okpono takes on Ahuizotl when the latter threatens the U. Ahuizotl... doesn't fare too well.
** In ''Equestria and the Attack of the Jello Slimes'' a squad of Jello Slimes get close to Desert Rose by pretending to be lost creatures. Whilst she's away they taunt her animals about what they'll do to her. [[spoiler:By the end of the day Desert Rose is stuffed with jello her animals 'made' for her.]]
* {{BFG}}: The Hoof-Held Cannon in ''Tinker's Seal''. Mareton, who's very strong even for an earth pony, has a ton of trouble carrying it around, let alone aiming.
* BigBad: Ahuizotl is this for the series as a whole, as he's often revealed to be the one [[TheManBehindTheMan giving orders to the other villains]].
** Sebastius Mareton is this in ''Alicorn's Shadow''. Unlike other villains, he didn't take orders from Ahuizotl...until ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'' where he's the DragonWithAnAgenda.
** Inti was this in ''Legacy of Nightmare Moon'' [[spoiler:until his FateWorseThanDeath demise due to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard his own plans]].]]
** Various other villains take this role in the ExpandedUniverse books, among them being the Colt of the Smooze and Krastos.
** ''Tinker's Seal'' has a veritable BigBadEnsemble, with Ahuizotl, Krastos, and the Assembler all fighting for control of Steam Whistle's creations.
* BigDamnHeroes: Herpy gets an awesome one in ''the Ring of the Marengeti'' when he saves Daring Do. Who knew he had it in him?
** This is how Derring-Do is introduced in ''The Platinum Crown''. In the beginning Derring-Do saves her sister from an especially nasty death trap and carries her to safety... [[{{Jerkass}} only to incessantly rub it in Daring's face after the fact]]. Later on, Daring gets a BDH moment of her own when she saves Derring from Ahuizotl and his forces.
** The climax of ''The Valley Of Grouchy'' involves [[spoiler:a reconciled Daring and Grouchy saving Derring from Hammond's regiment and throwing Hammond into prison.]]
** [[spoiler:Sweetie Bottle]] in ''Universal Cracks.]]
* BigLittleBrother: Daring and Derring's younger brother Darrin. He appears to handle the logistics of the operation, while Daring and Derring do the actual adventuring.
* BigWhat: Once per volume, and always by one of the main cast.
** Played straight in the original canon series, not so much in modern interpretations.
* BizarroUniverse: The existence of one is hypothesized by Daring as the origin of the Colt Leader. [[spoiler:Proved in ''Universal Cracks'' to be correct.]]
* [{{Blackface}}: Rare non-racist example in ''Alicorn Amulet''; [[spoiler:in order to simulate turning a stallion into a mare, Herpy has Daring painted up to look like a female version of Okpono]].
* BlindAlley: Dashing into one of these to escape a swarm of bees leads to Daring's DungeonBypass in Wooden Mask.
* BloodierAndGorier: ''Blood Diamonds'' is this, though not so much that the books have gratuitous carnage, but the source material is clean enough that even moderately violent adaptations are this trope.
* {{Blooper}}: One of the print runs accidentally put the title for ''Quest for the Sapphire Stone'' on the cover of ''Griffon's Goblet'' while keeping the correct picture. While it was caught in time, the books were distributed as collector's items at a convention.%%In-universe
* BombproofAppliance: Daring protects herself from one of Inti's fireballs by hiding in a [[MadeOfIron refrigerator]].
* BondOneLiner: In ''Tinker's Seal'', [[spoiler:To Page and Header in response to their debate on who would win between Krastos and The Assembler after blowing them up "The answer is Daring Do!"]]
* BondVillainStupidity: A must have for almost ''every'' villain in this series. They just can't resist a good death trap. It's eventually implied that Ahuizotl deliberately makes his traps escapable because he would be [[JustToyingWithThem too bored if she wasn't around]].
* BookEnds: The Blood Diamonds arc begins and ends with Daring giving Storm Talon a DeathGlare. In the beginning, because of a NoodleIncident, and at the end when Storm Talon thinks she's been on vacation.
** ''The Surgeon of Marabia'' begins and ends with (not counting the prologue or the epilogue) Sebastius Mareton sitting in certain Marabian bar under a broken lamp.
* BoundAndGagged: It's not uncommon for Daring and her friends to be left tied up on top of whatever death trap they're stuck with, just to make it that much harder.
** In ''Worship in Fear'', after being knocked out in mid-sentence, [[spoiler:Noteworthy Smith]] comes to in Talonus' base to find that he's BoundAndGagged--and Talonus is about to [[ColdBloodedTorture really get to]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath work on him]]. Although given what a [[AssholeVictim loathsome character]] he is...
* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the Creator/CelestiaRadio dramas, Storm Talon is notably less vulgar, frequently invoking Celestia's name instead.
* BreakingTheFellowship: Daren, Storm, and Ghoul ended up having to end their adventuring days as a team with the outbreak of the war.
* BreakTheCutie: Talonus' {{Mook}}s do this to Kimmy. [[spoiler:When Daring finds her, she's lost in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 her own sugary-sweet world]]]].
* BrickJoke: Early on in ''Unknown Country'' Daring is told offscreen about the race she's going to see and, aside from a bit where Daring checks rations for 'offending foods' and informs her companions not to forage and surprise when they first meet, we get no real information on them. Until near the end where it's revealed that they are [[spoiler:sapient apples (yes, the kind you eat) bought to life by ambient magic left in the wake of a highly magical event long in the past.]]
** In ''Sins of the Father'' it's established early as part of the mundanity, that Daring has caught a cold, though it isn't really mentioned after the plot kicks in. [[spoiler:A weakened and diminished Erebus learns that getting in the face of a mare who needs to take deep breaths, whilst in a gaseous form, isn't the best idea.]]
* BroadStrokes: The ''Tinker's Series'' made a concerted effort to [[ContinuityNod tie together as much of]] the ExpandedUniverse as possible (except ''[[CanonDiscontinuity Buffalo Burial Grounds]]''), but since ExpandedUniverse works were not mandated to fit together except within their own sub-series, there are a few things that had to be shuffled around. For instance, ''Ruby of the Blank Village'' and ''Scepter of the Chaos Beast'' take place over the same period in vastly different areas, so the assumption is that one happened after the other in the production order. Meanwhile, Silvia Clawson is stated to be Hawkwings' illegitimate daughter in ''Eye of Discord'', but she's his mistress in ''Burning Heart''. The ''Tinker's Series'' hangs a lampshade about these two positions but doesn't actually take a definitive stance.
* BrownNote: ''The Princess in Pink''. Little is known about the play, other then it involves a costume party, the Vivid Balloon, the Pink Mark, and is ''freaking hilarious''. Herpy reads it and ends up laughing uncontrollably, all throughout a [[IndyEscape Daring Escape]] no less.
-->'''Minuette''':(Delighted, aside to Lyra.) No mask? No mask!
** It is believed that this cursed play, when performed in its entirety, is a summoning ritual for [[spoiler:Hosstur]], He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Neighed.
** From the ExpandedUniverse: The Song of the Smooze. It gets in your head and tells you "Nothing can stop the Smooze", and those who hear it are compelled to forward its agenda.
* [[KickTheDog Buck the Dog:]] Numerous times throughout the series.
** In ''Amber of the Smooze'', after taking over Desert Rose's body, one of the first things the Colt Leader does is screw with Gypsy Bard, who had just made friends with Desert Rose and could distinguish the very subtle visual differences between them.
* ButtSticker: In ''Miss Jumbo and the M█████████ Tattoo'' this [[spoiler:happening to Mahavir is the source of the tattoo.]]
* CallingCard: The Chickerufus always paints an eye on the tent he visits, then comes back the next night for his dinner.
* CameBackWrong: Sebastius does this three times in ''The Surgeon of Marabia'', then comes back right on the last try.
* CanisMajor: [[spoiler:Anasazi's true form is a giant, talking, animated Buffalo painting of a coyote.]]
* CantHoldHisLiquor: Trench from ''Blood Diamonds''. In ''Swimming in Red'', he mistakes Rumble Saddlon for a mare, addressing him as Daisy, and when told that's not his name goes on to call him various other mares' names, culminating in [[EpicFail Celestia]]). Then he flirts with a barstool...
* CarnivoreConfusion: Daring and her allies are perfectly happy with having a pet T-rex, though he IS technically kept in a zoo. Ponies are herbivores; T-rexes are carnivores. [[FridgeHorror How the hay the former can feed the latter without risking the lives of their fellow plant-eaters is never brought up or explained.]]
* [[BusCrash Carriage Crash]]: If you don't view ''Blood Diamonds'' as canon, Noteworthy Smith's long overdue demise (reported at the beginning of ''Ring of Destiny'') is this.
* CashCowFranchise: By far one of the best-selling book series in Equestria.%%In-universe
* CasualDangerDialog: Daring seems a bit nonchalant about all the deathtraps she ends up in. Justified in that she's been in so many, she probably isn't surprised anymore.
** Subverted when Shūbidū has been kidnapped by Tsunami.
* CatsAreMean: The BigBad Ahuizotl's many minions are all cats.
* CatchPhrase:
** Daring has "Another day, another dungeon!" with plenty of variations on that last word.
** Ahuizotl has "CURSE YOU, DARING DO!"
*** At the end of ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'', [[spoiler:when he comes to to find that he's headed for the dungeon, he cries out "CURSE YOU, SCORPAN, FOO!"]] [[SarcasmMode Which endears him to the simian guards no end]].
*** Interestingly, he forgoes it at the end of ''The Ring of Destiny''. "DARING DO! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"
* TheCavalryArrivesLate: in ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark'', Mary Reading shows up just after Anne has the situation in control.
* CharacterFilibuster: The penultimate chapter of ‘’The Surgeon of Marabia’’ halts the plot right in the middle of a dramatic revelation so that Daring and Storm Talon can preach the gospel message. Magic Step was hoping that readers wouldn’t mind this interlude, since Bravado’s conversion is more of an incidental occurrence rather than the main plot or moral. She likens it to a brief scene in which any character who’s been through hell over the course of the book pauses to have a heartwarming moment with a friend or loved one. Most readers were still annoyed.
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase: Every book follows this pattern for titles.
* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhooves' Gun]]: [[spoiler:Every major artifact Daring has recovered in her adventures returns in the last (in-verse chronologically wise) book as a part of Ahuizotl's master plan. Since this book wasn't the last one published it has the rare honor of having the pay off to "guns" that haven't shown up yet, as well as a few artifacts we still haven't seen outside of it. Some of the artifact descriptions are deliberately vague to allow for later books.]]
* [[ChekhovsGunman Chekhooves' Gunmare]]: [[spoiler:Linnet Bird, the filly-next-door is Sweeney Trot's daughter.]]
* [[ChekhovsHobby Chekhooves' Hobby]]: Herpy's knowledge of snakes.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Besides his main betrayal, Shifty Gaze at various points robs Daring's cooler of everything in it, abandons her early into the temple after she's caught in a trap, and lies about an expedition with a different pony to make it sound like he did all of the work. All in the first third of the book!
* ChunkyUpdraft: The Steelclad Sorceror tends to cause this when particularly angry. Which is very, very often.
* CityOfAdventure: Subverted, [[WildMassGuessing so far at least]], with the city of Arkhoof. Daring has only visited a few times, usually to study a book at Agaether University, but strange narrative events constantly happen there. The city as a whole is described in [[SceneryPorn abnormal, vivid detail]]. There are odd {{Meaningful Background Event}}s that never actually come to anything. A number of locations are brought up, repeatedly sometimes, that Daring never actually visits. Weird things are happening in town but Daring doesn't have the time to investigate. It seems like Arkhoof was being set up to be significant, the setting of a whole book perhaps, but it never came about.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Arthur, King of the Trots. Lampshaded by Linnet Bird:
-->"What a ''strange'' pony..."
* ColdBloodedTorture: In ''Tinker's Seal'', after making it back from the Blank Village, Mareton manages to capture Storm Talon and in an attempt to find out about the progress of the others, he breaks his wings. When he's only answered with swears, insults, and the occasional thanks for offing professor Nagridge, threatens to [[Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}} cut out his tongue and shove a parasprite down it]]. Ghoul manages to sniff Mareton out, but he manages to escape unscathed.
* ComicBookAdaptation: There have been a few. The most recent series almost reached 46 issues before the publisher went bankrupt. The best known series was illustrated by the famous artist Crow Quill Nib roughly seventy-five years ago. Occasionally, collected reprint graphic novels are released by various publishers.
** An artist from Fillydelphia has recently started talks with Polo House to start an UltimateUniverse series.
** Arguably the most infamous of all the comic adaptations is the limited Mareval print run, which only lasted for ten issues before bad publicity and low sales killed it. They were later collected into graphic novel format and redistributed, oddly enough leading to the formation of a cult following of the comics in question.
* ComicBookTime: Particularly blatant in ''Trials of Unity'', where the technology is leagues beyond what was capable back when ''Griffon's Goblin'' was published decades ago. All the recurring characters otherwise remain frozen in time, although Calypso at least {{Lampshades}} this hilariously to the confusion of everypony.
* [[ShowWithinAShow Comic Book Within a Novel]]: Various characters seem to be secretly fans of the SoBadItsGood comic book ''Sasquatch Mafia''.
* ConspiracyTheorist: PlayedForLaughs in ''Rainbow Factory'', which satirizes a real conspiracy theory.
* ContestWinnerCameo: Though she had a much bigger role than most examples Rainbow Dash's appearance in ''Ring of Destiny'' was commonly considered this, since she won the publisher's fan contest the previous year. However the publisher officially denies it and the fact that A.K. wrote Rainbow Dash into her next two books goes against this trope and while her role in ''Seven-Sided Chest'' can be excused due to part of the plot involving Daring hiding at a fan convention the fact that A.K. makes Rainbow Dash the {{Deuteragonist}} of ''Lost Hope'' and has her bring Pinkie Pie (who is NOT known to be a fan of the series) along cannot. Since A.K.'s publisher Twilight Velvet is the mother of Princess Twilight Sparkle many fans now believe that Rainbow Dash and A.K. Yearling simply became unlikely friends through the Princess and her mother, though niether Rainbow Dash or Princess Twilight have commented on these rumors.%%In-universe
* ContinuityPorn: ''Daring Do and the Revenant's Effigy'' has a lot of references to previous ExpandedUniverse works.%%In-universe
** ContinuityLockout: It also gets a bit hard to read if you're not familiar with them.
*** This gets worse for ''Tinker's Seal'', which requires previous knowledge of pretty much the entire expanded universe, barring both the ''Star Quest'' and ''Blood Diamonds'' series.
** In ''Sins of the Father'' there are a bunch of overt references towards the ''Darren Do Adventures'' series of books, with scenes such as Daring finding Darren's journals or the cast namechecking most of the characters from those books when trying to find out who the antagonist is.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Daring Do's escape from a room filling with lava, at one point with her standing inches above it (bare-hooved, even), without harm. She even gets a face-full of steam with no ill effects.
* CoolAirship: The ''Explorer'', loaned by the university, which carries Daring and Bravado around the globe in ''Staff of Star Swirl''.
** In the first ''Blood Diamonds'' book, main villain Colonel Talonus has an enormous armored war zeppelin called ''The Iron Fist''.
** Coco Pie's airship,''The Sweet Dream''.
** Storm Talon's last command, ''The Storm's Vengeance'', a Tiger-Hawk class aerial dreadnought, makes a brief appearance in ''Griffon's Goblet'' and was one of the ships brought to bear against Inferno in ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey''.
** In ''The Skull of Ages'', Marshal Goldstar has an enormous zeppelin called ''The Executor''. [[spoiler:Anne Bonfire later kills him and takes it for herself]].
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute The Marabian prince]] executes prisoners by using them as balls in a giant pinball game.
* CoolGate: [[spoiler:The Assembler's modus operandi: With the information provided by its infiltrated constructs, it pinpoints the location of another suitable target, and turns a door or window nearby into a portal, which it uses to flood the area with anesthetic gas and [[AnArmAndALeg start cutting]]]].
* CoolPet: Grouchy the T-rex, while not exactly a pet per se, is considered one by Daring and company.
* {{Corpsing}}: Nagridge has a few instances in the film of ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''.
** The GagReel of ''Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded'' has several outtakes of Shia [=LaBuck=] as Herpy corpsing at Lightning's funeral.
* TheCorruption: The Wooden Mask. It does some...interesting things to Daring. [[spoiler:Rest in peace, Tennis Set.]]
** The Blood Diamonds in the series of the same name give their bearers homicidal urges, the extent of which varies depending on the bearer in question, as well as which and how many of the Diamonds they possess.
** This is basically Krastos' MO-just being around him causes it, although the stronger the pony's will is, the less effect it has. [[spoiler:Those who let it fester in them too long eventually have their consciousness subsumed by his, turning into a copy of him]].
* CoversAlwaysLie: The scene depicted on the cover of ''Sapphire Stone'' never actually happens in the book.
** Though it does appear in ''Zapapple Tock and the Sapphire Statue'', as a DevelopmentGag.
* [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Cover This, I'm Outta Here]]: Ahuizotl's ocelot in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''.
* [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer Cowcolt Bebop at his Computer]]: Frequently, especially in the ''Equestria Inquirer'': [[http://joestevensinc.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d4orecz one infamous article,]] concerning yet another [[MoralGuardians series of complaints]] over Herpy's portrayal in ''Griffin's Goblet'', incorrectly stated that Herpy was female[[note]]In reality, Herpy was based on this article, but we decided that Herpy was a male.[[/note]].%%In-universe
* CrapsaccharineWorld: [[spoiler:Mareahnee, R'ni's EvilTwin culture]], in ''Caverns of R'ni''.
* CreatorBreakdown: In-universe, with Star Shimmer's paintings becoming terrifying after Earth Song disappears.
* CreatorProvincialism: the Brumbiland setting of Ember Roundup's ''Curse of the Golden Key'', as well as its heavy focus on Outback Jack's family. Though it seems to be an isolated example, as her previous book was set in Saddle Arabia and she had little-to-no involvement with the Outback Jack sideplot in ''Tinker's Seal''.
* CreepyChild: Sebastius was apparently so creepy he drove his mother out of the house.
* {{Crossover}}: Not in the main book series, but there was a memorable episode of the popular Trottingham radio series ''Professor Whoof'' where the good Professor and his companion met Daring Do on one of her adventures. No, really.
-->'''Roseluck:''' What? You're real?? I thought you were just a character in a book!
-->'''Daring Do:''' Real as the sun, Missy. Speaking of books, I did lose my journal a while back...
** Daring also played a major part in a recent issue of the ''Mysterious Mare-Do-Well'' comic book series, accompanying MDW on a museum heist mystery.
*** The upcoming [[http://askponyinabox.tumblr.com/post/22126565042/more-random-brainstorming-by-matt-art-by Shards of the Void]] has all three!
* CurbStompBattle: Ahuizotl vs ''anyone'' when he gets serious. Except Rex. Rex is probably the only character Ahuizotl couldn't crush in a straight-up fight when he wasn't holding back. Which is why Ahuizotl later resorted to more underhanded methods.
** Blackmane is also something of a subversion. Ahuizotl curb-stomps him SEVERAL times over the last third of the book, but Blackmane keeps getting back up [[spoiler:due to being dead already]].
** Ahuizotl was on the ''receiving end'' of one from [[spoiler:The Pikmin of all creatures. They were enraged that he would mess up their home, The Gardener's Garden. They literally swarmed all over him, not a pleasant thing. Counts as a [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Did You Just Buck Out Discord?]] since a single one is the about the size of a grain of rice.]]
** The two golem siblings vs. anypony. Of course, them being war machines crafted by the [[UltimateBlacksmith Mad Tinker]] himself, this isn't that surprising.
** In ''Equestria and the Attack of the Jello Slimes'' the Jello Slimes dole these out, but when their many, though odd, weaknesses are revealed they end up on the receiving end.
* CuteWitch: Mistress Spark, the Arkhoof artifact thief, complete with an [[NiceHat enormous witch hat]].
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: The Steelclad Sorceror makes these all the time. He [[spoiler:almost]] never carries them out.
* DamselOutOfDistress: Holy clopping horseapples, Shūbidū in ''Vault of Posteidon''.
* DareToBeBadass: In ''Griffonland Grumblings'' Kitty Hawk witnesses Silvia Clawson lifting heavy rubble off the injured and ending the situation by tossing it at their opponents. This causes her to revise her opinion that, while she still 'represented the worst of the old Griffon Kingdom' it's not due to being an example of 'Nepotism, Greed, Laziness and Weakness', but instead shows how it took Griffons with potential and ruined them, before trying to convince Silvia to actually apply herself at something and 'just try for once damn-it'. [[spoiler:It seems to work.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Daring Do and the Temple of Nightmare Moon'' (not to be confused with the more recent book ''Legacy of Nightmare Moon'') is considered one of the darkest entries in the Core Sixteen series and one of the only movie adaptions likely to receive a 'PG-13' rating. See OncePerEpisode for just one example of the more somber tone.
** ''Blood Diamonds'' starts extremely grim for a Daring Do series, and gets worse from there.
** The ExpandedUniverse book ''Daring Do and the Coronet of Chaos'', as it introduced Krastos, possibly one of the most evil characters in Equestrian history.
** ''Breathing Weapons'', featuring an antagonist who kidnaps griffon children and turns them into weapons, and the [[spoiler:deaths of no less than ''five'' characters over the course of the story.]]
** Taken [[UpToEleven up to eleven]] with ''Birds of Prey'', which got so absurdly dark and depressing it was almost comical.
* [[IndyEscape Daring Escape]]: TropeNamer, of course. The iconic scene comes from The Griffon's Goblet.
* [[IndyHatRoll Daring Hat Roll]]: The TropeNamer. Averted in the first book. Played straight in most of the subsequent ones.
* [[IndyPloy Daring Ploy]]: [[TropeNamer Take a guess]].
** Platinius could give her a run for her money in this department. The bit with the mallet comes to mind.
** Mareton utilizes these as well.
* DashingHispanic: Bravado, and ''how!'' For example, he fought off nine of Ahuizotl's {{Mook}}s using nothing more than his knowledge of the Veneightian backstreets, a vegetarian stroganoff, and [[ImprovisedWeapon his mandolin]]. Not to mention the fact he can hold his own against Daring in a fight, which is [[ActionGirl no small feat by]] ''[[ActionGirl any]]'' [[ActionGirl means]].
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** The first half of ''Ring of the Marengeti'' focuses quite heavily on Herpy.
** In ''The Wooden Mask'', after three chapters of Daring being manipulated and subtly controlled by the mask, "Disappearance" and most of the rest of the book focuses on Herpy's attempts to find Daring.
** ''Staff of Star Swirl'' is one for Bravado, with him actually serving as the main character for the first fifth or so of the book before [[spoiler:the ''real'' Daring Do shows up]].
** ''The Curse of the Golden Key'' gives some focus to Outback Jack in the first three chapters, who is investigating odd going-ons around a village, such as new wildlife, which, as it turns out, is actually old wildlife but in newer, more metallic forms.
** Swinn and Dell get to actually help out with the mane plot in ''Cove of Candles''.
** ''The Surgeon of Marabia'' stars Bravado and Sebastius, with Swinn and Dell getting two chapters near the start from their perspective.
** ''Lost Hope'' actually makes Rainbow Dash a full on {{Deuteragonist}} and even explores part of her personal life by having her real life friend Pinkie Pie tag along and every one of the NoodleIncidents they mention while reminiscing are actual things that really happened to the two of them and their friends in real life.
* DeadpanSnarker: All of the Do's have shades of this, although Daring herself displays it the most. Even her pet macaw Calypso has shades of this. Though Mirror Dreams can out-snark Daring when she wants to.
* DeathByIrony:
** [[spoiler:Mrs. Hoovett is shoved into her own oven.]]
** [[spoiler:Fuergott, from the ExpandedUniverse, is a fire-based villain who is killed after being thrown into the sun. [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Screaming all the way]].]]
** In a radio adaptation of ''Ruby of the Blank Village'', Starlet is among those responsible for murdering Ruby after she gets her cutie mark, and takes such sadistic pleasure in it that she immediately ends up with a cutie mark of a bloodstained knife. This instantly gets her killed by Greyhoof, and the irony is lampshaded by Roneo, [[WebVideo/FamiliarFaces who then gets a cutie mark for irony appreciation]], and is likewise killed. The same joke appears in the book, but is a lot subtler - the marks are described, and the basic order of events is given, but the reader is left to fill in the implications.
** In ''The Surgeon of Marabia'':
*** [[spoiler:Bravado would have escaped dying in the Marabian prison theater, except that the criminals scheduled to go before him had their bail paid… with Bravado’s own bits. Sebastius, on the other hoof, probably could have escaped from the actual prison theater, except that his escape method was diving down the supposedly safe Hole 7… [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice which turned out to have spikes on the bottom.]]]]
*** [[spoiler:Doctor Zerato]]'s last words were "Do you have any last words?”.
* DeathIsCheap: The following characters have actually died and have come back, either true resurrection or as some form of undead in either the main series or the EU (alternate reality versions of them dying don't count): [[spoiler:Ahuizotl (twice, once in the main series and once in the EU, both unexplained), Commandant Rex (comes back as a revenant), Attic Fan and the other imprisoned surviving members of the Colt of Smooze (turned into soulless by the Assembler), Gas Whole, Charity, Applesack (ghosts summoned by the Wandering Whistle), Princess Sparkler (ghost, unspecified manner of return), Sweetie Bottle (rebuilt as a golem by Princess Sparkler), King Hammerhoof (returns as a Nightmare), the entire Blank Village and the victims of Sunnytown (due to the curse, they return as Nightmares or Bone Fiends, or in Ruby's case, a ghost), Inferno (stated to be a zombie under Ahuizotl's control in ''Trial'')]]
* DeathTrap: Ahuizotl ''loves'' these, and seems to be attempting to top himself in each subsequent book. He starts with tying Daring Do to an altar in a room where [[TheWallsAreClosingIn the spiked walls are closing in]], while the room fills with spiders, cobras, and quicksand. They get [[SerialEscalation even more over the top]] from there. This was eventually lampshaded in ''Cove of Candles''.
-->'''Daring''': How much time do you spend thinking up these things?
-->'''Ahuizotl''': If you'd actually stick around long enough in one of them to '''die''', I wouldn't have to keep trying to top the last one!
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler:Neighdrah pon'Jethhay]] in ''Caverns of R'ni''.
* {{Defictionalization}}: Several of the items Daring searched for in the series were made into actual objects and most were sold at a Canterlot auction last year, half of which were bought by ''THE'' esteemed publishing tycoon pony J. P. Quillhorn.%%In-universe
** Inverted with the Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded; the genuine article has been on display in the Canterlot Museum for the last couple centuries, and has been on several traveling tours in the last few decades.
* DemonicPossession: Snazzy Shades is possessed by a Windigo in ''Spear of the Windigos''
* DespairEventHorizon: Daring spends the start of the fifth book of Blood Diamonds here, attempting to get over the trauma of almost [[spoiler:committing cold-blooded murder at the end of the previous book.]]
* DeusExMachina:
** In ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'', ape gods Margarita and Balthasar[[note]]Megan and Danny[[/note]] come to Daring's rescue.
** The mysterious Laurentia of the Red Mane gets Daring and co. out of a tight corner involving Diamond Dogs with augmented magical abilities in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''.
** The equally mysterious Banizacherla deals with the Raptorians in ''Spear of the Windigos''.
* [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Did You Just Buck Out Discord?]]: In ''Amber of The Smooze'', Desert Rose used the Eyes of Fatima on the Smooze as it was [[spoiler:trying to submerge her while she was trapped in the Colt Leader's body. It cowed the Smooze into returning Desert Rose to her own body.]]
* DirtyCoward: Dr. Zerato doesn’t overtly talk or act like a coward, but fans have noticed that he never attacks anypony unless he has a huge advantage over his opponent or can attack in a underhanded manner. This ranges from sneaking up on foes to attacking ponies he’s strapped down to using excessive telekinesis, teleportation, and a heavy battle axe. On the other hoof, he could just be a CombatPragmatist.
* DiedDuringProduction: Gusty Lulamoon was slated to write a sequel to ''Ruby of the Blank Village'', before she was found dead in suspicious circumstances in the Everfree Forest. Her notes were left to J. Thunderlane Hurricane Jr, who used some of her ideas in ''Tinker's Seal'' and ''Mirror Pond''.%%In-universe
* DisappointedByTheMotive/[[MotiveMisidentification Motive Misidentification]]: In ''City of Anarchy'', after a book of Kitty Hawk's grand speeches on her beliefs of an anarchistic world, Daring finds out that the whole Witch Tear issue is not about some way to further that goal but instead just a griffon looking for profit.
* DistinctionWithoutADifference: ''Never-Ending Nightmare'' contains what may be the darkest use of this trope in the history of Equestrian literature.
-->'''Daring Do:''' You can't seriously be asking me to [[spoiler:kill you]]!
-->'''Princess Luna:''' I do not ask this, Daring Do, I ''order'' it!
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Nearly every time a new book comes out, some silly Pegasi decide to try the aerial maneuvers Daring Do does. It rarely ends well...
** Which is why the author included the following exchange in the Young Daring Do novel ''Valley of Grouchy'', after the first encounter with a dino.%%In-universe
-->'''Blinkamena''': Can you teach me to do that somersault over the head.\\
'''Zapapple''': That was sheer luck, nothing more. You'll probably get yourself killed if you try it. I'd probably get myself killed if I actually ''tried'' to do it.
* DoorStopper: ''Daring Do and the Ring of the Marengeti'', ''sweet Celestia''.
** ''Alicorn's Shadow'' could give it a run for its bits.
** Both topped by ''Tinker's Seal''. The thing could easily be split up in at least five volumes, and each could easily pass for a normal book.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:''Cloudfall Conspiracy'' - Masra is dead, her reputation with the university board remains ruined (though not with the staff, for the most part) and [[ForegoneConclusion and we know that Tabula won't be acting President for long]].]]
** ''Birds of Prey'' - The Greifvogel, Arzt, and ''Celestia'' are dead, Daring has fully succumbed to Krahe's brainwashing, and accepts her fate to bring death and destruction wherever she treads.
** ''Idol of Boreas'' - Daring Do's attempts to retrieve the Idol are thwarted, and the civil war forces her out of Griffonstone.
* DoWrongRight: In ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'', Professor Storm Talon catches Herpy trying to steal an airship to gather Daring's allies for a rescue, expresses disappointment in him... then shows him how to bypass the security measures.
* DramaPreservingHandicap: In ''Sapphire Stone'', Daring's wing is injured upon making it to the island where the eponymous stone is found, and she's unable to fly for a few days. Conveniently, none of the temple's traps require her to fly, though it would have made it easier. Later books have more traps that have fliers in mind, so the author doesn't have to resort to this as often.
** ''Zapapple Tock and the Sapphire Statue'' does something similar, with Zap being temporarily blinded in one eye.
** Daring spends much of ''Cloud-Held Eternity'' as a filly, rendering her unable to fly, which makes navigating an Ancient Pegasus ruin that much harder. The loss of her cutie mark also dulls her instincts concerning traps and makes it somewhat harder to call on her knowledge and experience.
* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: The only way to make the Windigo un-possess a pony is to take off the Windigo’s Frozen Soul amulet. Since that requires getting close to the possessed pony, and said pony is trying to devour your flesh, you can bet that necklace will not be removed calmly.
* TheDreaded: Anypony who has ever heard of the Assembler is completely terrified when it starts to show signs it's back.
* DrunkOnMilk: Diamond Dogs find chocolate delicious. And inebriating. [[WeaksauceWeakness And toxic.]] Ghoul is known to snort cocoa powder and shoot chocolate sauce into his veins, and [[ImmuneToDrugs is still alive]].
* DungeonBypass: In ''Daring Do and the Wooden Mask'', Daring manages to bypass most of the traps in the temple by forcing her way through a locked door in what was supposed to be a dead end.
** [[FanNickname Claddie's]] dungeon crawling method can be summed up as "make an educated guess as to where's the exit and tear down the walls between you and it".
* DurableDeathtrap: This is normally played completely straight, but subverted in ''Wooden Mask'', where the lock mechanism on one of the doors failed, leading to a surprisingly easy path through the temple.
** Inverted in ''Amethyst Penguin'', with a temple that has no (intentional) death traps, but is dangerous because it's falling apart.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Bravado turns up for a single chapter in ''Griffon's Goblet'' where he is perusing [[HeroOfAnotherStory his own adventure that has nothing to do with Daring's current one]] at the Summit. He helps Daring get the key needed to steal back the eponymous Goblet from Ahuizotl's minion in exchange for helping him get his hoofs on a satchel of unknown contents. [[spoiler: It's implied later to be one of the pieces of Star Swirl's staff that he ends up losing and has to help Daring recover later on]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Because the author didn't know it would be a series yet, ''Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone'' is the only book not to explicitly include supernatural elements; the Sapphire Stone is never even hinted to have any supernatural powers. It is also the only book where Daring goes on the expedition completely by herself, she does not own Calypso yet, and it is surprisingly short, making it seem no less epic but set in a vastly smaller world than what is established later.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: ''Tinker's Seal''. It took several near-death experiences, an invasion of [[spoiler:[[TheSoulless soulless soldiers]]]], more {{Artifacts of Doom}} than you can shake a stick at, and [[spoiler:an explosion that could have taken the Everfree Forest off the maps]], but the artifacts were secured, and [[spoiler:Krastos and the Assembler]] were finally taken down.
* EatTheEvidence: In ''Daring Do and Marey Sue's Totally Awesome Adventure'' Daring decides to get rid of the fanfiction by feeding it [[spoiler: and, unintentionally, it's author]] to a goat.
* EldritchAbomination: The Great Intellect in ''Curse Of The Yeti'', The Great Beast of Chaos mentioned in ''Alicorn's Shadow''. Krastos, Smooze, [[spoiler: Nightmare Inti]], [[spoiler:the Assembler]] and [[spoiler:the world-eater]] from the ExpandedUniverse.
* EldritchLocation: [[spoiler:Steam Whistle's workshop]] in ''Tinker's Seal''. The creation and (temporary) containment of so many [[ArtifactOfDoom insane artifacts]] combined with centuries of abandonment has [[AlienGeometries seriously messed up the place]].
* ElectricTorture: The asylum Sebastius spent his foalhood in used this as a means of therapy and, [[UnreliableNarrator according to Sebastius Mareton]], even killed some of the patients this way accidentally.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Ahuizotl had one of these for two books before it was never mentioned again.
* EnemyMine: Several ExpandedUniverse works involve Daring Do and Ahuizotl teaming up to stop another villain from destroying the world with an ArtifactOfDoom, like in ''Amber Of The Smooze'' and ''Scepter of the Chaos Beast''.
** Bravado and Daring (who normaly compete with each other) have one at the start of ''The Staff Of Star Swirl'' [[spoiler: Daring and Ahuizotl have a canonical one near the end of the book. It lasts all of five minutes before he double crosses her for his own aims. Even Daring acknowledges that it was stupid to trust him to any degree.]]
--> Daring: Yeah...Should have seen that one coming.
* [[HumanResources Equine Resources]]: [[spoiler:The Assembler, who uses whatever flesh it's gotten to create new members for its army, and recycles existing constructs for raw materials as it sees fit]].
** In ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark'', Beauty Mark has ponies melted into still aware goo and then injected into herself to keep her pretty or to tone up her assets.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In the ExpandedUniverse book ''The Skull of Ages'', [[FourStarBadass Marshal]] [[TheDragon Goldstar]] briefly considers testing the power of his death ray on the lost city, but decides against it because he's unwilling to commit cultural genocide.
** In ''Almost Got 'Er'', Mareton gives a very... ''[[NauseaFuel graphic]]'' description of his current plans for Daring and Herpy. Rex, Swinn, Dell, and, yes, even Ahuizotl all react with the appropriate amount of [[{{Squick}} disgust.]]
** In the Core Sixteen, even other mobsters hate Noteworthy Smith.
** Sebastius would never become a psychologist, because "even I have standards".
* [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Everypony Can See It]]: The ''chemistry'' between Stalwart Shield and Mirror Dreams in ''Alicorn's Shadow''. Of course, they're too busy fighting with each other to notice.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Grouchy exists mainly for this reason. Also, ''The Valley of Grouchy''.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: The Amethyst Penguin from the ExpandedUniverse novel of the same name. And real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Penguin penguins]] show up in chapter seventeen.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Sebastius doesn’t really understand how a conscience works, and Bravado can’t manage to explain it to him.
** The world-eater is deaf to any dissuasion from his goal of total multiversal annihilation, as nothing lasts forever anyhow.
* EvilIsHammy: Another must have for the villains in this series. Ahuizotl is the most obvious example, though.
* EvilVersusEvil: The Blood Diamonds eventually set Wou Ban and Colonel Talonus against each other. [[spoiler:Talonus wins, but is weakened]].
* ExactWords: Inti was too clever for his own good when he tried ''interpreting'' the whispers of Nightmare Moon in a way that suited his goals. See FateWorseThanDeath below.
** Professor Neighton, attempting to control [[spoiler: Sobek, believes that he'll be safe from him because Sobek craves horseflesh, and Neighton is a pony.]] This is quickly and horribly subverted.
** In ''Short Stuff and the Amazing Vacuum'' Dr. Flux reassures Short Stuff that he made sure his invention wouldn't absorb 'every race he could think of'. [[spoiler: The never seen before creature on the other hoof he didn't think of.]]
** In ''Daring Do and the Disembodied Voices'' one of the things that increases the rate of disappearance is familiarity with Daring. [[spoiler: That dosen't mean it had to be friendly as Ahuizotl finds out to his cost.]]
* ExitPursuedByABear: In ''Ring of the Marengeti'', both griffon guards are dispatched in this way. Don't buck with sea lizards.
** In ''Seven-Sided Chest'', [[spoiler:Caballeron]] runs afoul of a Cipactli.
* ExpansionPackPast: The Young Dering Do series is quickly becoming this.
* ExpandedUniverse: One of the more expansive of Equestrian literature. Originally, ExpandedUniverse works were not required to be in-canon with each other, but with increasing collaboration between authors, and especially after the massive work that was the ''Tinker's Series'', this line is becoming increasingly blurred. Furthermore, information revealed in the ''Tinker's Series'' has been adopted as background canon for EU works, even for authors who don't write sequel material to it, because many of the original authors had given their input to that series.
* {{Expy}}: Platinius from ''Griffon's Goblet'' is [[Literature/{{Retief}} Mane Retief]] in a less comic setting.
** The Diamond Dogs in ''Trials of Unity'' are Expies of the three Diamond Dogs in J.R.R. Tackien's ''[[Literature/TheHobbit The Miniature]]''.
** Fuergott, from the ExpandedUniverse book ''Burning Heart'' has been dubbed by displeased fans as a ripoff of both Inferno and Sweeney Trot, in that she is a fire-based villain with a tragic backstory. [[BrokenBase Other fans]] claim that a few similarities do not a ripoff make.
** Sterling Silver, from ''Cloudfall Conspiracy'', has been accused by some critics as an Expy of Sebastius Mareton.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Assuming it actually died, [[spoiler:the Assembler,]] in ''Tinker's Seal.'' It recognizes [[spoiler:the leyline's detonation as being (potentially) fatal to Krastos]], and simply considers his duties to be fulfilled.
** [[spoiler:Masra in ''Cloudfall Conspiracy''.]]
* FakingTheDead: The Steelclad Sorceror pretended to die and locked himself in his crypt for a few centuries to [[StopWorshippingMe avoid everypony that worshipped him as a hero]].
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:Sweeney Trot.]] Also, in the Extended Universe, [[spoiler:Fuergott.]]
* {{Fanfare}}: The music for one of the plays got fillies humming it for years.
* FantasticNuke: In ''Tinker's Seal'', we have Daring blowing up a Leyline by feeding it Chaos Magic then setting off a large explosion next to it. Leylines are normally extremely stable, the use of Chaos Magic to destabilize one only really exists in theory.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Inti. Oh dear Celestia, Inti.]]
** [[spoiler: [[ATwinkleInTheSky He ends up nailed to the sky as a living constellation]], bound in chains made of star matter that burn even hotter than dragon's fire, whose new found immortality protects against death but not hunger nor suffering, [[AndIMustScream where the lack of air prevents him from even screaming in pain]], with his only company being [[EvilLaugh Nightmare Moon's mocking laughter in his head]].]]
** [[spoiler:The Colt Leader's death by MySkullRunnethOver in ''Universal Cracks'', as her access to the Multiverse overloads her ability to control it, causing countless thousands of Alternate Realities to flow through her.]]
* FelonyMisdemeanor: The crazy pony insisting that no pony should play ping pong may be on to something....
* FightingFromTheInside: [[spoiler: The only way to overcome the Wooden Mask is to let it take control of you - and then defeat it with the PowerOfLove.]]
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Averted in the ''Star Quest'' trilogy; a mental-chronological-aclimation spell is included in Princess Luna's time-pull summon.
* {{Foil}}: Platinius is this to Ambassador Hawkwings.
** And the Assembler to Krastos, in the expanded universe.
* ForeignQueasine: The griffon territories use a wide variety of meat-based dishes, which is sickening enough for most Equestrians. However, wild horse meat is considered a delicacy, which as the closest non-sentient relative to ponies, makes it particularly {{Squick}}y.
** The chilled horse brain scene can be nauseating for first-time readers.
* ForgettableCharacter:
** Many villains [[RunningGag can't remember who Darrin is]] when meeting him again, and even forget his name after a clear reintroduction just moments ago!
** Herpy has a similar problem with Swinn and Dell: he knows who they are, he just seems physically incapable of remembering their names.
* ForScience: Dr. Zerato claims this as his motivation.
* FortuneTeller: Mirror Dreams in ''Alicorn's Shadow''. She tries to coach Daring through the academic portion of dream interpreting after her first encounter with the titlar Alicorn's Shadow, but alas...
** Though Daring can at least make educated guesses regarding the visions after the second and third encounters, thanks to Mirror Dreams's tutelage.
** She also pops up again later in the series, most notably at Canterlot University. Her showdown with Nagridge was ''EPIC''.
* FountainOfYouth: Central to the plot of ''Cloud-Held Eternity''.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: A part of ''The Cove of Candles'' has a plot twist turn out to be that certain events of the book [[spoiler: may not have been real, an illusion cast by Blackmane]]. The thing is, the book ''never tells you'' which parts were and weren't [[spoiler: grounded in reality]].
* FunetikAksent: Part of [[FanNickname Claddie's]] [[ViolentGlaswegian charm]].
* FriendlyRival: Bravado, a dark grey Spanish pony falls under this heading. Like Daring, he is a treasure hunter. Unlike Daring, though, he sells what he finds to the highest bidder. There are no hard feelings between the two, however; they often help when the other is in danger. Subtle hints have been dropped in several books that suggest there may be more than just a rivalry between them... Several fans have latched on to this insinuated relationship, creating fanfictions with scenarios that range anywhere from unrequited love, torrid romance up to outright marriage.
* GambitPileup: Holy horseapples, ''Griffon's Goblet''. Daring wants to get the goblet for a museum, Ahuizotl is playing Hawkwings like a string bass in order to [[spoiler:take over the griffons]], Platinius is desperately improvising to prevent an international incident, Nimbusbeak wants revenge on Hawkwings for backstabbing her for a promotion, and Copperbeak's Nightwings are stirring the pot everywhere.
* {{GASP}}: in the original canon series the main characters rarely do this, although minor or supporting characters who are caught off-guard do.
* GeniusBruiser: Darrin-Do. While he was always physically larger than both of his older siblings, and acted as the brains behind every single one of their operations, Darrin didn't prove that he had the "Bruiser" part until ''The Temple of Nightmare Moon'' where he became the only person in the entire series to single-hoofedly overpower all of Ahuizotl's minions in a straight up fight, and even landed a solid hit on the big man himself.
* GenreShift: Chapter 4, "Disappearance" in ''The Wooden Mask'' is much more [[FilmNoir Noir]]-like than the rest of the book, with Herpy [[TookALevelInJerkass aggressively]] trying to find any lead-ins to Daring.
* GondorCallsForAid: When Herpy [[spoiler:manages to mobilise a whole group of past characters including Bravado, Outback Jack, Desert Rose, Mirror Dreams, and Swinn and Dell]] in ''Temple Of Nightmare Moon''. [[spoiler:Even Tabula Rasa provided the directions, and Starlight lent them her airship... and Coco Pie provided snacks!]]
** A similar reunion occurs in ''Tinker's Seal'', with all of the above and more rallying together to hunt for Steam Whistle's inventions.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The Colt Leader's Draconic abuser claimed he only abused her the way he did to make her strong. And she was. Strong enough to kill him at least.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: In ''Equestria and the Attack of the Jello Slimes'' the Jello Slimes were an attempt to make a moving food source based on creatures known as slimes. It worked for a while but a batch of them became intelligent and took over.
* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:Attic Fan]]'s death. We only get to hear him scream for help while [[spoiler:the Assembler [[HumanResources scraps him whole]] [[BerserkButton while he's awake, for his involvement in]] [[CallBack the Colt of Smooze]]]].
** In '''Tinker's Seal'', both Mareton's beating at the hooves of Claddie and the Blanks getting an impromptu lesson on [[MoreDakka firearms]] courtesy of the Marksmare are [[MoodWhiplash covered up]] by the book's most heartwarming moments.
** In ''The Surgeon of Marabia'', we never hear a description or narration of Sebastius Mareton getting chopped up; we just hear Swinn and Dell’s comments on it. Similarly, later in the book, [[spoiler:when Sebastius tears his limbs off to escape his bonds, his eyes are closed, so we don’t get very much description ''there'' either.]]
* GottaCatchThemAll: The pieces of Star Swirl's Staff.
* GratuitousSpanish: Bravado occasionally slips into his mother tongue, most definitely a case of [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Everything Sounds Sexier In Andalusian.]] He even [[InvokedTrope deliberately invoked this]] when pretending to flirt with Daring during that incident in Granoldia. [[spoiler: She doesn't fall for it.]]
* GreatOffscreenWar: The third Griffon-Diamond Dog War, which ended not long before the series is set.
* GroupHug: Unity ends with the entire Do clan engaging in one.
* GuiltByAssociationGag: The ‘’The Surgeon of Marabia’’, Bravado didn’t even do anything to deserve [[spoiler:his arrest]] (as he complains repeatedly). Even Zulu admits his crime was ‘being in a thieves’ market’.
* HamToHamCombat: Ahuizotl vs. Bravado in ''Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded''.
** And Ahuizotl vs. [[FanNickname Claddie]].
* HappilyAdopted: Linnet Bird is very happy with the Bloom family.
** ''Amber of the Smooze'' reveals that Short Stuff was adopted by Professor Ed and his wife.
* HauntedHouse: Normally a staple of such stories, this only comes up in about half of the books and two {{Cold Open}}s. [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad Differing standards and practices for children's literature mean that their existence could only be implied]] in the ''Young Daring Do'' books.
* HehHehYouSaidX: No matter how dangerous the situation may be in the ''Cove of Candles'', Daring can't help but inwardly snicker whenever Blackmane so much as mentions the poopdeck.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Bravado dies protecting Daring and Storm Talon]] early in ''Seven-Sided Chest''.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Every time Bravado shows up [[spoiler: except for ''Star Swirl's Staff'']] he is always doing something completely different from Daring, they always end up trading favors and (usually) part ways with a little flirting. Derring is also implied to be having her own adventures while not working with her sister.
* HeroicBSOD:
** A little past halfway through ''Blood Diamonds'', Miss Do has a pretty bad one when [[spoiler: she almost kills the bandit leader.]]
** In ''Alicorn's Shadow,'' Derring goes through one after a particularly nasty BreakingSpeech by Sebastius Mareton.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler:Winchester Tock's]] StartOfDarkness.
** A major theme after [[spoiler:Mareahnee falls]] in ''Caverns of R'ni''.
* HighTurnoverRate: The only three consistent members of the Griffon Embassy are Hawkwings, Platinius and Silvia Clawson. Few others show up more than one book and ExpandedUniverse works do a LampshadeHanging on this by claiming that few can stand dealing with Hawkwings and to a lesser extent Silvia.
* HijackedByGanon: ''Daring Do and the Cove of Candles'' was originally played up as featuring a completely new antagonist, the [[spoiler:ghost]] of Blackmane. Guess who shows up two thirds of the way through as the real villain? This ends up happening in every book except ''Legacy of Nightmare Moon'' and ''Spear of the Windigos''.
** PlayedWith in ''The Staff Of Star Swirl, Daring spends about half of the book thinking that Ahuizotl is the one she's working against only to learn a third party is the real enemy. [[spoiler: He reclaims his role as villain after pulling a EnemyMine for all of five minutes]]
** By the time ''Ring of the Marengeti'' came out, they didn't even bother pretending anymore. Ahuizotl's minions show up in the very first chapter, and even on the cover.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Inti. It seems that, even imprisoned in the Moon, Nightmare Moon should not be underestimated.]]
** In ''Ring of the Marengeti'', Ahuizotl's habit of using the artifacts in his doomsday plots literally comes to bite him in the flank as [[spoiler:he is the first target of Sobek.]]
** In ''Cloud-Held Eternity'', after Daring returns to her normal age and saves Shifty Gaze from the crumbling architecture of Cloudyon, [[spoiler: he tries to throw her back into the FountainOfYouth, only for an expectant Daring to dodge and cause him to fall in himself.]]
** In ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark'' Beauty Mark melts down ponies into still aware goo and injects them as a beauty product. In the end she too is melted down. [[spoiler: Then accidentally injected into Anne's backside.]]
** In ''Daring Do and the Crystal Statue'' Agate not only gets [[spoiler: turned into crystal by his artifact and shattered, but his hoof picked mercenaries take parts of him as impromptu payment leaving him with heavy scarring.]]
** In ''The Student'', Silvia Clawson is hit by a spell that puts her in a feral state. It ends poorly for the mook who cast it. [[spoiler: And their Zompony leader.]]
* HorrorHunger: After Snazzy Shades puts on the ‘Windigo’s Frozen Soul’ amulet:
-->“I’m suddenly feeling really, really… ''hungry''.”
* HotterAndSexier: The rather infamous erotic comic series by John Poniesco.
* HowlingToTheNight
* IWantSong: Mirror Dreams gets one in the Bridleway verison of ''Alicorn's Shadow''.
* IKissYourFoot : In ''Silvia Clawson and Her Little Pony'', Silvia says that she'll make Caballeron do this but reveals shortly afterward that she's joking.
* ImAHumanitarian: The evil baker [[Theatre/SweeneyTodd Sweeney Trot]] from ''Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded'' made everypony in Trottingham unwitting cannibals.
** He only got found out when Professor Storm Talon, finally getting around to having his leg re-adjusted after [[GrievousHarmWithABody mis-aligning it]] in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'', pointed out that he could taste fresh horse meat in the cupcakes and while as a griffon that's not a problem, it was supposed to be illegal to sell meat-based products in Equestria without clearly labeling them (most meat-based foods being pet food anyway).
** [[ExplainExplainOhCrap Explain Explain Oh Horseapples]]: Daring notes that "That doesn't make any sense. There aren't any horses around here, only-- Hey! Where's [[spoiler:Lightning]]?"
*** And when [[spoiler:they find Trot preparing to carve Lightning's corpse, Storm Talon draws a knife. Sweeney tries to use the Staff fragment, which liquifies his flesh and muscle.]]
** Putting on the ‘Windigo’s Frozen Soul’ amulet lets said frozen soul possess the wearer, who will then try to hunt and eat ponies. Snazzy Shades’ reaction when the necklace is removed is one of denial turning to slow horror.
** Subverted in ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark''. When Beauty Mark mentions how an encounter with magically bought to 'life' food led her down the path of using [[HumanResources Pony Resources]] Anne assumes she's this. She's not.
* ImHavingSoulPains: How [[spoiler:Reaper!Winchester Tock]]’s scythe works.
* ImmortalLifeIsCheap: Since the entire premise of ''The Surgeon of Marabia'' is that the characters find a magical potion that can cure death, you can bet the characters will have to die a lot to show this off. In fact, ''The Surgeon of Marabia'' features the deaths of more major characters than any one story!
** Well, that’s depending on how you count ‘major’. Plenty of characters died in the Blood Diamond Books; just because the characters in each didn’t do anything ''outside'' of their book doesn’t mean they aren’t major characters.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:How Sebastius and Bravado and the two guards with them die in the Marabian prison theater in ''The Surgeon of Marabia''.]]
* ImpossibleTheft: Unfortunately for Snazzy Shades, his thieving skills avail him not in snatching artifacts from ancient temples. [[MacguffinDeliveryService Taking the artifacts from Daring after she’s already retrieved them, on the other hoof…]]
* ImpostorForgotOneDetail: Impostor Reinie Has No Accent, because in the Young Daring Do ExpandedUniverse book ''Return of the Fire of Friendship'', Lady Blue-Blood noticed that [[spoiler:Lady Dove]] did not [[spoiler:tap the rigging with a forehoof thrice for good luck]] anymore, and investigated. [[spoiler:King Mayhem got wise to her investigation.]]
* TheCaligula:
** The Incitatus was King Hammerhoof in ''Platinum Crown''. He is a clear expy of the historical Incitatus... [[CaligulasHorse Incitatus' Ergaster]] ...right down making his pet ape a senator.
** Dride, the drone leader of the changeling swarm in the semi-final ''Blood Diamonds'' book, is paranoid, incompetent, petty, and has random migraines and violent fits, with only some of his problems being caused by his Blood Diamond's thrall.
* InTheBlood: Darrin is so far the only member of the Do Family to display no interest in archaeology. Even then it's heavily implied in ''The Trident of the Seaponies'' and at the start of ''The Trials Of Unity'' (where he refuses to partake forcing Derring to ask Daring for help) that it's mostly out of bitterness from the ParentalAbandonment.
* InTheHood: Sebastius temporarily dons one of these during ''The Surgeon of Marabia'' to hide his missing eye and ruined legs. A duplicate of the cloak is used later on Bravado to hide the fact that he’s [[spoiler:tied up.]]
* InMediasRes: ''Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone,'' the first novel of the series, starts off with, "As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere and fly up into the cool blue sky, but her crash-landing in the jungle had injured her wing and she was grounded for a few days. ''Few days. It might as well be a few months. Or a few years!''" The reader only finds out who she is, why she was on a plane, why she is on this mission, and her relationship with Ahuizotl through flashbacks over the course of the next few hundred pages. But before exposition, we get ACTION!
* InMemoriam: Gusty Lulamoon was given a mention in the introduction to ''Tinker's Seal'', with a short biography written by her college friends and longtime housemates J. Thunderlane Hurricane and Ember Roundup, who described her as a great writer and a great friend.%%In-universe
* InsistentTerminology: Outside of Equestria and other equine-held lands, most creatures use the more obscure -"body" suffix as opposed -"pony", as in "anybody", "everybody", or "nobody".
** Also, in books where Changelings are featured as characters, they use their equivalent of these words with the even more obscure -"ling" suffix, such as "everyling" or "anyling". [[spoiler:This becomes a plot point in ''Return of the Fire of Friendship'', as Lady Dove's ingrained and habitual use of these words tips Daring off to the fact that Dove is the disguised Changeling.]]
* InsufferableGenius: Derring-Do is damn good at what she does. Unfortunately, she'll never skip an oppotunity to let you know it. (especially if Daring Do is around)
* InsultToRocks: Using "soulless" as an insult around the Steelclad Sorceror [[BerserkButton pisses him off more than anything else]].
-->"[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I. Beg. Ye. PARDON!?]]"
* IronicEcho: At the start of ''Griffon's Goblet'', Daring states to her class that most archeology is done in an archive, looking through tomes and scrolls because "there is no large checkmark indicating the right place." Guess what she finds on the large tile sealing the Knight's tomb?
** A heart-wrenching one happens in the Blood Diamonds novel ''Never Forgive Me'': As Kimmy was originally to be Kimono of Harmony Sentai Ponyranger but changed at the last minute, she used Kimono's CatchPhrase, "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 This... is why I live out of town]]." When Daring finds her delusional, she's just been advising an imaginary BadLiar about supposed "welcome signs" that she tells Daring are obviously a present. She then comments the CatchPhrase.
** In ''City of Anarchy'', when talking about the Idol of Boreas Kitty Hawk claims 'That's dente. You don't have it, we don't have it' with an irritated Daring pointing out the Night Wings still win with it gone. Later Kitty Hawk asks Daring about the now destroyed Witch Tear and she throws this line back in her face.
* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: In ''Short Stuff and the Amazing Vacuum'', this is Short Stuff's stated reasoning behind taking the vacuum with her to find Page and Header. It's actually because she thinks it's too dangerous to leave with Flux.
* JustToyingWithThem: There are numerous occasions where Ahuizotl could finish Daring Do off, but he lets her go or sticks her in an easily-escapable deathtrap because that's more fun.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Sweeney Trot]]. Sure, [[BodyHorror it was pretty nasty]], but you can't say he didn't deserve it.
** Even more karmic was the death of [[spoiler:Mrs. Hoovett.]] Evil as Sweeney is, she had to ''go''.
* KidAppealCharacter: Probably the only reason why the Pikmin are included in certain scenes.
* KilledOffForReal: It seems that this was ''supposed'' to be the case for [[spoiler: Ahuizotl, after Daring Do shoots him in the head with a cannon]] in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'', especially given his conspicuous absence in ''Legacy of Nightmare Moon''. Fan outcry resulted in his return in ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey''.
** [[spoiler:Seems to have been finally played straight at the end of ''Ring of the Marengeti'', considering he was Sobek's first victim, there's no mention of him after the beast is defeated, and it's the last printed book of the Core 16. Of course, given the nature of the ExpandedUniverse works, it's likely he'll still be making plenty more appearances in the future, possibly with some LampshadeHanging.]]
** [[spoiler:Played more straight with Inti, although he wasn't exactly ''killed''. It's possible that he could return, but the lukewarm fan response to ''Legacy of Nightmare Moon'' makes this unlikely.]]
* KillItWithFire: [[AchillesHeel One weakness]] of the Smooze, though it requires at least six fully-grown dragons to do much damage.
* LampshadeHanging: From ''Cloud-Held Eternity'':
-->'''Shifty Gaze:''' "I just want to make sure you know everything so we don’t run into any trouble."
-->'''Daring Do:''' "If you don’t want to run into trouble, then you’ve picked the wrong pegasus. I ''always'' seem to run into trouble."
* LandDownUnder: Brumbiland as depicted in ''Curse of the Golden Key''. Outback Jack, Alice Springs and other residents of their town fit most of the stereotypes, though Sydneigh residents like Orange Burn don't.
* LargeHam: Several characters, but Ahuizotl is the most prominent.
** From the stage musical adaption ''Platinum Crown'', if the actress playing Derring isn't completely tearing the house down with the song ''Derring's Turn'', she's doing it wrong.
** From the show ''A Very Daring Musical'', everypony is this at least once. The most obvious have to be Ahuizotl (of course), Mareton (no, seriously), Coco, Derring, Swinn, and Daring herself.
* LessEmbarrassingTerm: In ''Prism Rush Presents'', he doesn't wear prescription glasses, he wears a hoofin' set of shades (that happen to be prescription).
* [[LetsMeetTheMeat Let's Meet The Beet]]: In ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark'', Beauty Mark mentions a celebration she went to when she was young and somepony used magic to bring the food 'to life'. Anne assumes they wanted to go down this route but instead all they got was a [[JustForPun foodfight.]]
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Essentially the whole plot of the Mare-Do-Well one-shot, where Ahuizotl plays the two mares off against each other to distract them from his mass theft of ancient artifacts.
* LighterAndSofter: ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'', most likely as an AuthorsSavingThrow after the DarkerAndEdgier ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'' and the lukewarm response to ''Legacy of Nightmare Moon''. It's generally considered a return to form for the series.
** The ''Prism Rush Presents'' series is a lighter and softer take on assorted infamous stories. The in-universe explanation is that Prism Rush is being affected by the side-effects of his medication, and starts improvising when the subject matter gets too depressing. The ''Rainbow Factory'' campfire story has Prism Rush start getting depressed, so he starts improvising, and the story has a happier ending when they find an alternate source of rainbows in family pictures and crayons. One of the factory workers blurts out at this revelation "Oh man! We're going to pony hell for nothing!" That said, he does tend to [[CrossesTheLineTwice Cross The Line Twice]], since he doesn't quite realize some of the more horrible things he's saying between weaving in and out of the story he's reading, other stories he's thinking about at the moment, and the improvisation. The ''My Little Shadie'' story particularly has a bit where the eponymous heroine is having a great time sharing a love song, but the love interest is at that point some fusion of a gorilla and the main nemeses of the [[Franchise/HarryPotter Harry Trotter]] and [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batmare]] series, and is acting accordingly.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Daring and Derring are both very much their father's daughters.
** Subverted by [[spoiler:the Tocks and the Maretons. Winchester Tock was a murdering plotter who killed Rodolphus Mareton, a good pony, for his own ends. Their children, Zapapple Tock and Sebastius Mareton, each turned out the exact opposite of their fathers, with Zapapple being courageous and loyal, and Sebastius being a manipulator and monster.]]
* LiterallyShatteredLives: In ''Daring Do and the Crystal Statue'' this happens to [[spoiler: Darrin and Agate. Thankfully the artifact [[PullingThemselvesTogether fixes that too.]]]]
* LittleMissSnarker: Linnet is impressively sarcastic.
* LivingStatue: The titular character in the ExpandedUniverse story ''Daring Do and the Obsidian Sentinel''. [[spoiler: Subverted when the Sentinel turns out to be Star Shimmer's lost lover Earth Song, who was brainwashed and forced to wear the Obsidian Armor by Ahuizotl.]]
** The Steelclad Sorceror, too.
* LostWorld: The eponymous Valley of Grouchy.
* LotusEaterMachine: In ''Witch's Circus'', Somnambula keeps the townsponies from realizing what's happening to them by making them think they do what they like best.
* LoveableRogue: Bravado, Daring's on-and-off love interest, is certainly this. He can be quite the goofball.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Rodolphus to Bravado, although Bravado learns it secondhoof before hearing it from Rodolphus. ]]
* MacGuffin: OnceAnEpisode. Whatever treasure Daring Do is currently seeking to recover is essentially one of these
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: [[spoiler: Turns out each of the treasures is a necessary part of a device Ahuizotl plans to use to TakeOverTheWorld.]]
* MacGuffinTitle: Yup.
* MadScientist
* MadeOfEvil: The eponymous Wooden Mask.
* MadeOfIndestructium: Daring's hat. It's been shot, thrown, crushed, and once time even set on fire, yet still sits proudly atop her head.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'':
-->'''Darrin:''' Can't you stop the floor with your hat or something!
** As opposed to Derring's hats, which typically get destroyed within one or two scenes of her entrance. In ''Trials of Unity'', Daring discovers that her sister typically packs about a dozen or so extra hats because they get ruined so often.
* ManipulativeBastard: Darrin shows signs of this. In ''The Trials of Unity'', his refusal to help Derring-Do initially appears to be the result of disinterest and bitterness, (since ''The Temple of Nightmare Moon'' proved that he's more than capable of helping out) but it's later implied that he was trying to force Derring into asking for Daring's help, knowing that their mutual love of treasure hunting would ultimately trump their sibling rivalry. He hoped that their adventure would bring them closer together. From the looks of things at the end of ''Unity'', he appears to have succeeded.
* MarketBasedTitle: ''Ring of the Marengetti'' got renamed to ''Daring Do and the Noetherian Ring'' for the edition released in the Marengetti, presumably because it didn't sound exotic enough.
* MeaningfulName: All griffon dreadnoughts are named "The [name of its first captain]'s Vengeance". Storm Talon came to command it shortly after the death of his family.
** A bit of trivia: these ships are only ever renamed in the case where a captain performs above and beyond the call of duty, or if the captain commits high treason.
* MindHive: In ''Disembodied Voices'' Daring ends up becoming one of these.
* [[MinoredInAssKicking Minored In Plot Kicking]]: Daring Do.
* MobileMaze: Mareahnee has some in ''Caverns of R'ni''.
* MoodWhiplash: After [[spoiler: Sweeney Trot]]'s [[BodyHorror horrific death]] due to the staff fragment in ''Staff of Star Swirl'', the assembled individuals stare in shock in the aftermath before Storm Talon breaks the silence by quipping, "Well, I'm not touching it." [[WhatTheHellHero He gets yelled at for making light of the situation]] given what happened to [[spoiler: Lightning Kicker]], but is quickly forgiven because he was getting lightheaded from the stab wound Mrs. Hoovett gave him, and thus wasn't thinking completely straight.
** All of ''Revenant's Effigy''. We have [[NoIndoorVoice the]] [[UnstoppableRage Steelclad]] [[{{Angrish}} Sorceror]] on one side, The Assembler on the other, and the result is quite jarring.
*** The two golems seem to be masters of this. In ''Tinker's Seal'', the two most heartwarming moments are sandwiched by either of the siblings utterly thrashing somepony.
** In ''Universal Cracks'', Applesack restates her UndyingLoyalty to Charity, then asks what's the problem they need to solve, using sociopathic metaphor.
*** After humiliating the Colt Leader trying to distract her, Storm shoots the Colt Leader in the face in a genuine attempt to kill her, fails due to Smooze regeneration, and gets his wing impaled with a Smooze tentacle.
** ''Never-Ending Nightmare'', despite the name, is more of a comedic BreatherEpisode after the events of the rest of the Pentalogy, using the dreamworld as an excuse for surrealism and ToonPhysics whilst engaging in lighthearted [[ContinuityNod ContinuityNods]] to characters and events across the series. Then, near the end, [[spoiler:Princess Luna reveals the antagonist comes from her own personal issues and asks to be killed to stop it.]]
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Zerato is an actual doctor and also this. (Assuming he actually ever went to medical school, which is admittedly unlikely, but he does heal creatures at least.)
* MortonsFork: While trying to get Daring to [[spoiler: kill her so that the Tantabus will die with her]] near the end of ''Never-Ending Nightmare'', Luna tells her that disobeying orders from a Princess would mean being branded a traitor. Daring sarcastically asks what sort of patriot she'd be hailed as for [[spoiler:committing regicide]].
* MrExposition: In most of the novels, Daring at some point gives a description and summary of the MacGuffin of the book (usually to Herpy). Sometimes, this role is fulfilled by other characters, such as Professor Storm Talon in ''Griffon's Goblet'', the Zebra Chieftan Zibrahim in ''Ring of the Marengeti'', and Princess Celestia in the Nightmare Moon series.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Sometimes characters will over react to seemingly mundane things -- often when they know something that the rest of the characters haven't learned, yet.
* MundaneWish: Daring and Herpy spend a bunch of time discussing what they'd wish for if the rumor that the Staff of Star Swirl grants a wish is actually true. Eventually, Herpy suggests that they should just wish for cake. This was before what happened to Lightning Kicker.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Daring Do has a moment of this in ''Blood Diamonds'' when those same Diamonds drive her to [[spoiler:almost kill a group of grave robbers]].
** [[spoiler:Hammond in ''The Valley of Grouchy'' surrenders to the authorities after witnessing Grouchy's rampage thanks to his own public revealing of the tyrannosaur GoneHorriblyWrong.]]
** Daring when she learns what the wooden mask made her do.
** [[spoiler:Sweeney became evil because he was mad from grief upon being separated from his daughter. When he finds out she was living next door to him the whole time...]]
--->"I'm sorry, [[spoiler:Linnet Bird]]... I've been a bad dad, haven't I?"
** Silver in ''Cloudfall Conspiracy'' when he learns that [[spoiler:Masra has been slowly and painfully bleeding to death, rather than the quick death he wanted for the both of them.]]
* MysteriousPast: Dear Celestia, Mirror Dreams. Even in the ''Expanded Universe!''
* MythArc: The books themselves are very episodic, with details only being referenced as CallBack between them. One of the few threads through out the books however, are Ahuizotl's efforts to control the Tenochlitan Basin.
* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: In ''Seven-Sided Chest'', Daring hides out in [[spoiler:a fan convention, masquerading as a cosplayer]]. Turns out [[spoiler:Caballeron masquerades as a cosplayer to get at her and [[FanGirl Rainbow Dash]] is the only one to recognize either of them]].
* NerdsAreSexy: Herpy for the female fans, Tabula Rasa for the male fans.
* TheNeutralZone: [[JustForFun/{{Equestria}} Rostrum]] is this, much like in [[TruthInTelevision real life]]. But since it also doubles as a CityOfSpies in-universe, it doesn't stop Daring from getting chased by Ahuizotl's henchponies, the city guards, Caballero's mobsters, Gryphon saboteurs, and Equestrian secret agents [[GambitPileUp all at once]].
* NeverFoundTheBody: Earth Song in ''Obsidian Sentinel'' was never found after the cyclone, [[spoiler: and turns out to be alive, but [[BrainwashedAndCrazy not exactly himself]].]]
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Especially crocodiles that HANG FROM THE CEILING.
* NiceHat: Daring's trademark pith helmet.
** In ''The Valley of Grouchy'', it's shown that the helmet is given to Daring as a gift from Coco Pie and, like Coco, it's appeared in every book since.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Previews from the ''Bag of Tirek'' indicate that the heroes' dimension hopping allowed the eponymous bag to find its way home.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Thanks to [[spoiler:Somnambula's Lotus Eater spell]], Okpono is finally able to work out that mathematical theorem he's been working on for years.
* {{Ninja}}: The Night Wings in ''Griffon's Goblet''.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: In ''Daring-Do Adventures #1,'' Daring meets her robot clone, Daring-Don't. The public outcry against this element, in addition to poor storytelling and terrible art, contributed to the cancellation of the comic.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Several controversial public figures appear over the course of the story as thinly veiled Expys (Most notably Nagridge, who is a clear jab at controversial Governor Maggie Thadder; no discussing whether she comes close character-wise, as if the animosity between left-hooved and right-hooved gets much worse, [[ApocalypseHow the Windigos will probably return]]), however the (then era) Wonderbolts are mentioned by name occasionally and Princess Celestia appears in person several times.
** In ''Shūbidū and the Vault of Posteidon'', Tetra Blues is a clear {{Expy}} of Trot Cousteau.
** In ''Legend of the Zomponies'', Dawn Glow is a clear {{Expy}} of Twilight Sparkle.
** In ''Ring of Destiny'', national heroine Rainbow Dash appears as a main character and then reappears in ''Seven-Sided Chest'' with a slightly reduced role and is the {{Deuteragonist}} for ''Lost Hope'' which also features Rainbow's real life friend and fellow national heroine Pinkie Pie.
* NoManOfWomanBorn:
** Ahuizotl is able to acquire a number of artifacts because the prophecies associated with them state "Nopony will find X" or "Nopony can wield X".
** It gets turned on its head in ''Ruby Of The Blank Village''. Near the climax, Ahuizotl taunts Daring after she steals the artifact that the Nightmares will not listen to "Those who would bear the Curse Marks". Completely nonchalant, she passes it to Professor Storm Talon.
* NoNameGiven: The author, or several if we are to believe the history books, has no actual name except for whatever pen name appears along with the manuscripts. The obscurity and mystery behind this (these?) pony scribe(s) is what fascinates most fans to this day, rather than the stories themselves. Because there is no estate from where the rights go to, the rights to the books are currently held by Canterlot's esteemed publishing company Polo House Inc. Her Highness the Princess Celestia of Canterlot denied knowing the author's identity when confronted by the press.
* NonActionGuy: Darrin, at least until ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''.
** Herpy is a straighter example. The first half of ''Ring of the Marengeti'' is all about his efforts to grow out of it.
* NonindicativeName:
** ''Prism Rush Presents: Captain Hook and the Biker Gorilla'' is a retelling of the infamous ''Rainbow Factory'' campfire story.
** In ''Unknown Country'' the Sea Beasts, whilst amphibious, seem to prefer land.
* NonMaliciousMonster: [[spoiler:Grouchy. The only reason he was grouchy was because he had a bone stuck in his throat, which was removed by Daring.]]
* NoodleIncident:
** The Squid Beak Clipper Caper.
** Bravado begins to mention to Herpy an adventure he had with Daring in [[{{Oireland}} Lyrland]] involving [[TheFairFolk Flutterponies]], a misunderstood ritual and an awkward morning after, but Daring cuts him off before he can finish.
** Platinius reminds Ambassador Hawkwing of "the incident in diamond dog territory."
** From 'The Cloud-Held Eternity':
-->[Daring] couldn’t even count on the re-shelving job at the library; after what happened the week before finals, the librarian probably wouldn’t want to see her for a few months.
** Don't ask Ahuizotl what happened in Fillydelphia three years ago. [[RunningGag You'll only get thrown in the dungeon.]]
*** Apparently it involved a burrito and him being on the run from Canterlot.
** [[spoiler:Steam Whistle]]'s journal hasn't aged well. As a result, there's a ton of these alluding to projects, collaborators and events we never know about.
** The years that Ghoul spent in the Gallopagos during his IntrepidReporter days are never fully elaborated on. He claims to have helped several other reporters topple a drug smuggling ring, and Daring suspects that it's also where Ghoul discovered his second-most-favorite vice, Witch-Weed.
*** [[Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas Another of Ghoul's books]] apparently details two weeks spent in Las Pegasus with his former attorney, one Doctor Fozzie. The trip apparently resulted in multiple destroyed hotel rooms, two destroyed and very expensive rental carriages, and a massive bill that Ghoul refuses to pay off.
** A more dramatic one: the events and reason behind [[spoiler:Winchester Tock's murder of Rodolphus Mareton]] are shrouded in mystery.
** What happened to Princess Sparkler's old friends is left vague but implicitly unpleasant.
** In the expanded universe, Swinn and Mareton used to date. And as of ''Trial'', they're back together (for awhile). We're probably better off not knowing how that happened.
** A fair number of Daren's adventures, which became the subject of its own series.
** ''Curse of the Yeti'' opens, as usual, at the end of one of Daring's lectures, with the line "...and that is why you do not want to make Seaponies angry." This one may have been explained in ''Trident of the Seaponies'', though the author hasn't confirmed it. This line has since become a RunningGag in the Expanded Universe and in various stage and radio adaptations.
** At one point in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'', Storm Talon says that when Ahuizotl attempted to take a class hostage wasn't the first time Okpono [[LetsGetDangerous got dangerous]]. We know nothing about when or the circumstances of this/these previous occasion/s, however.
** In ''Universal Cracks'', Ghoul comes across his alternate self in the Blank World, who is convinced that Normal!Ghoul is a hallucination like the other one. So, either Blank!Ghoul hallucinated the other one, or there was another group of our heroes going around.
** Swinn claims she doesn’t trust Sebastius Mareton as a translator “ever since that incident in Ortogona”
-->'''Sebastius:''' ‘’Feckelia’’ really ''can'' mean either ‘kiss’ or ‘money’!
** Whatever Mahavir did to irritate Storm enough for him to [[spoiler: tell Miss Jumbo he didn't see anything and leave him stuck]] in ''Miss Jumbo and the M█████████ Tattoo''.
** Theres a RunningGag in which somepony will ask Darrin if he ever met a member of such and such species that he found attractive. Darrin answers yes and starts to tell a story about it but is cut off.
** Krähe once or twice mentions a test subject named Fledermaus that turned out poorly, but the most he ever says on the subject is "It was a mistake to think I could use their kind," which would seem to imply that Fledermaus was not a griffon.
** PlayedWith when Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie reminisce about their past exploits in ''Lost Hope'' as while the vast majority seem bizarre and are never explained in the book every single one of them are things that actually happened to them and their friends and are a matter of public record, so anypony could get the details if they know where to look or who to ask.
* NoPronunciationGuide: For quite a while, the base was ''very'' confused about how to pronounce "Ahuizotl".
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: In-universe example. Daring Do is fluent in a wide variety of languages, but appears to be incapable of speaking with any kind of foreign accent.
* NothingIsScarier: The Pony in a Box Productions radio play, ''Daring Do Adventures'', takes full advantage of its medium in [[http://youtu.be/PSO9f78-WmU Herpy In The Dark]] by only hinting at the horrors being inflicted upon poor Herpy in a way that no stage performance could match.
** In ''The Crimson Horde'' we do not know what tortures Saberwing inflicted on Leather Couch to make her spill the beans on Kimmy. Nor do we know what tortures Saberwing inflicted on Kimmy herself three books earlier.
* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: It's a running gag to have Herpy or Darrin say something confidential in front of Calypso only for it to be repeated to other ponies, including Daring herself, at the most inopportune times. He probably does it on purpose.
* ObviouslyEvil: Shifty Gaze is perpetually on edge even before reason is given not to trust him, and his penchant for backstabbing comes with a knife cutie mark. He claims it's for salad-making.
* OddNameOut: Most of the griffons have badass sounding names, but Platinius has a periodic table based name. Justified as such names are actually more common.
** The existing Greifvögel all have names that are Germane for birds, but Krähe briefly mentions an early test subject named Fledermaus (bat).
* OddballInTheSeries: Had ''Children of Primus'' seen official publication, it would DEFINITELY be this.
** The new ''Swords of the Sun'' definitely fits the bill, focusing more on the idea of superheroes fighting giant monsters. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, though; enough fans enjoyed it that Polo House is giving the Poniranger team their own comic book series.
* [[OffHandBackHand Off Hoof Back Hoof]]: Professor Storm Talon nailing Ambassador Hawkwings with his prosthetic tail while casually walking by him.
** Daring has gotten in a number of them as well, notably flooring one of Ahuizotl’s pouncing cats[[note]]It was the little white kitten but still.[[/note]] with only her wing.
** [[FanNickname Sea]] [[MemeticBadass Shanty's]] FryingPanOfDoom [[MemeticBadass can seek out those who serve evil, even when its master cannot sea them.]]
* OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUs: In ''Daring Do and Marey Sue's Totally Awesome Adventure'' this is a major part of the plot.
* [[OhCrap Oh Horseapples]]: Numerous throughout the series and ExpandedUniverse.
** Like in ''Tinker's Seal'', when Ghoul, Storm and Rayback realize that the gem that was acquired back in ''Ruby Of The Blank Village'', which would have let them control/ward off the inhabitants of Sunny Town, no longer works.
*** Mareton has an ''epic'' one in the same book, when he fires [[{{BFG}} the Hoof-Held Cannon]] at Claddie, and [[NoSell he doesn't even get dented]].
-->'''Claddie''': [[LampshadeHanging "What, did that not go accordin' ta' plan?"]]
*** [[MassOhCrap The entire university staff gets one]] when Claddie finds out about Sweetie Bottle's depression, and is convinced they're at fault. Herpy sums it up quite well:
-->"...why aren't you yelling?"
** In ''Spear of the Windigos'', the Raptorian force, which has Daring et al. pinned and doomed, has this reaction when Banizacherla shows up to kick their plots.
** In ''Daren Do and the Wrath of Zeb'', Erebus has this reaction when he learns that [[spoiler:Pegasi can dispel clouds and Daren is about to dispel ''him'']].
* OldDarkHouse
* OncePerEpisode: Daring defeating a trap with her hat. It's frequently joked by fans that Ahuizotl would [[FridgeLogic win instantly if he just took it away from her.]]
** The above is subverted in ''[[DarkerAndEdgier Legacy of Nightmare Moon.]]'' When Daring tossed her hat, the fandom sat back and waited for the usual awesome to unfold. [[spoiler: But it turns out the lever that had been conveniently left in the death trap [[NiceJobBreakingItHero sets the villain's plan in motion and]] ''speeds up'' the death trap! Do ''not'' mess with Inti.]]
* OneHitKill: The Hoof-Held Cannon, one of the first artifacts retrieved in ''Tinker's Seal'', will kill anything in one shot, according to Steam Whistle's journal. It doesn't work on anything that isn't alive (Claddie didn't even get dented by it) [[spoiler:and even then, Herpy survives a shot]].
* OneSteveLimit: One of the rare aversions. Apart from the obvious Daring/Derring thing, the background characters have a realistic distribution of names, including duplicates. For example, a character named Sunny Days is mentioned in winter festival scene of ''Curse Of the Yeti'', but another Sunny Days shows up as one of the [[{{Redshirt}} Redcoat archeologists]] searching for the staff of Star Swirl. Of course it is also possible that the author didn't expect fans to pay so much attention to background characters, so it may be an unintentional aversion.
* TheOnlyOne: In ''The Cloud-Held Eternity'', Daring Do is the only one who can stop Shifty Gaze, as they are the only two in the ruins.
* [[OnlySmartPeopleMayPass Only Smart Ponies May Pass]]: Many of the traps Daring overcomes require figuring out a riddle.
* [[OneeSama Oneigh-sama]]: Derring occasionally has shades of this, in the flashbacks to when she and her siblings lived together after the disappearance of their parents. It's especially true in the spin-off stand-alone ''Derring-Do and the Book of Moon'', which took place while she and her siblings were foals attending a boarding school.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Okpono gets dangerous, you know something's bad.
** It's assumed this is happening to Count Vryko Lakas, who usually keeps to himself until dragged in by others. In the newest [[ExpandedUniverse EU]] book announced, he's breaking into various museums to steal artifacts.
** Interrobang knows Snazzy is truly shaken after the Windigo stops possessing him because Snazzy lets his sunglasses and scarf fall off without stopping to pick them up.
* OrificeInvasion / ForceFeeding: A weird mix of the two in ''Equestria and the Attack of the Jello Slimes''. The Jello Slimes were designed as a self moving food source and one of their instincts is to leap down the mouth of other beings. [[spoiler: Since the intelligent slimes can be confused into following this instinct this trope is used heavily in the climax]]
* [[OurElvesAreDifferent Our Mearas Are Different]]: Tackien-style mearas appear in ''Fires of Family''.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Eichelhäher calls herself a, "ghost", despite the reveal that she still has a body, albeit a heavily rotted and decayed one.
* [[OutrunTheFireball Outfly The Fireball]]: In ''Tinker's Seal'', when [[spoiler:the Chaos magic-flooded Leyline detonates, presumably killing Krastos and the Assembler]], Daring is forced to grab Herpy by the scruff of his mane and fly at what is described as near-Rainboom speed to escape the magical outpouring.
* PaperThinDisguise: Apparently, all it takes is dyeing your fur and putting on a fake cutie mark, and everypony will think you're a completely different pony.
** Especially egregious when said fake cutie mark is literally a piece of paper taped to one's flank.
** Also occurs in ''Rings of the Marengeti'' when Herpy tries disguises himself as a zebra with a quick paint job. Subverted by Bravado, who tries and fails to disguise himself by sticking on a false mustache and a pair of flat-lens glasses.
* ParentalAbandonment: Daring is hinted to have essentially been raised by her big sister after their parents went missing while hunting down the Platinum Crown. [[spoiler: Her father is revealed to be alive in ''The Griffon's Goblet'']].
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The murder of [[spoiler:the title character]] in ''Wrath of Zeb'' is [[spoiler:Winchester Tock's]] StartOfDarkness.
* PerspectiveFlip: The first few chapters of ''Staff of Star Swirl'' are told from the perspective of Bravado, including some flashbacks to his earlier interactions with Daring in previous stories from his own vantage point. This turns out to be because [[spoiler:the "Daring Do" who initially asked him to help her find the pieces of the staff was an imposter working for the bad guys. When the real Daring shows up again she's the main character for the rest of the story]].
** ''Tinker's Seal'' switches between each group of adventurers during their respective hunts for Steam Whistle's creations, with each group being written by a different author. Daring, Herpy, and Claddie search for another of Steam's golems (Kit Saddler); Bravado and Outback Jack hunt for the Great-Grandfather Clock (Steeplechase Moffat); Daren, Desert Rose and Starlight investigate his abandoned laboratory (Ember Roundup); Ghoul, Storm, and Rayback search the Blank Village for what Greyhoof stole (J. Thunderlane Hurricane Jr.); Minos relating what happened when Ahuizotl attacked his labyrinth (L. Heartstrings); and so on, with the various other groups (mostly Grant Mareson). With so many subplots and stories, it's little wonder that ''Tinker's Seal'' is such a DoorStopper.
* [[FreudianExcuse Pferdian Excuse]]: Ahuizotl gives one of these in ''Trials of Unity'', about how he was neglected by his parents and abused by his many siblings. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when it turns out he was just using the tale to distract the Do siblings.]]
** It is revealed in ''Ring of the Marengeti'' that Nagridge had a very traumatic experience in her foalhood involving an abada diplomat who developed a brain tumor and went on a rampage.
* PhantomThief: Mistress Spark. Arcane artifacts throughout Arkhoof simply vanish from their collections, defenses and guards simply bypassed, and replaced with a letter explaining why the item is better off in her care. [[InformedAbility A pity is this all second-hoof information and all she's done in the narrative is stalk Daring around the city]].
* PinballProjectile: Daring's hat is quite often used as this, would be a PrecisionGuidedBoomerang, except it never actually comes back on its own.
** Except in [[spoiler: Temple of Nightmare Moon]]
* PirateBooty: The MacGuffin of ''Cove of Candles''. [[spoiler: It's also cursed.]]
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: In ''Daring Do and the Cove of Candles'', it appears that the only purpose of pirates is to hang around and provide clues to their secret treasure stashes. One wonders where it came from in the first place.
** It's implied that most of the pirates are only there due [[spoiler: Blackmane's curse]]. It's also implied that [[spoiler: Blackmane]] had them working themselves to death in order to get more treasure for the stash.
* {{Planimal}}: The Pikmin: bizarre tiny creatures that used to live in The Gardener's garden, but then followed Daring out of there and now turn up in weird places.
** The Gardener's Garden is actually only populated with this kind of lifeform, save The Gardener. Alongside the Pikmin are leaf monkeys, dinosaurs with bulbs and leaves on their backs, necks and heads, literal leaf-tailed geckos, leaf monkeys, cotton sheep, deer with branches for antlers, ivy snakes, a turtle with a whole tree growing out of its back... and a potato frog. He also has a dog made of wood (which he claims was bred from a wolf made of timber, if such a thing exists...)
* PlotTumor: Anything with the Colt of Smooze. If you don't care for them, it is difficult to like the series at this point in time.
* [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Powered by a Forsaken Foal]]: In ''Caverns of R'ni'', it turns out that [[spoiler:literally everything in Mareahnee is powered by slaves whose taskmasters make [[Literature/UncleTomsCabin Simon Whinnee]] look positively compassionate by comparison]]. Haytrus and Daring are horrified to learn that Daring's innocent request to up the difficulty on [[spoiler:pon'Jadgray's MobileMaze]] likely killed several geldings.
* PragmaticAdaptation: According to early information on the ''Trials of Unity'' adaptation, [[Music/DavidBowie David Bowwow]] doesn't have the build to pull off a convincing Rex, which is why his [[WeaponOfChoice diamond-claw gauntlets]] will be given magical strength-enhancing properties, and he'll be made out to be a BadassBookworm instead of a GeniusBruiser.
* ProperLady: Linnet Bird is always very polite, though that doesn't stop her from snarking at [[CloudcuckooLander Arthur]].
* ProudWarriorRace: The tribesponies of Kuhestan are portrayed as this in ExpandedUniverse audio drama ''Daring Do and the Helm of Bucephalus''.
** The Samawat in ''The Sultan's Curse''.
* PoliceAreUseless: In ''Anne Bonfire and the Unsightly Beauty Mark'', it's implied that the local police force will play a part in the story. All they do is (offscreen) inadvertently inform Mary Reading that the beauty parlour Anne is visiting might be dangerous.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Dr. Zerato will insult earth ponies to their faces without any provocation. He seems to believe that earth ponies are too stupid to realize that they’re being insulted.
* JustForFun/PoniesWithPikes: The [[TheCavalry Equestrian Royal Guard]] makes some [[TheCavalryArrivesLate late appearances]], though typically as [[PluckyComicRelief highly]] [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderised]] versions of the RealLife organisation. [[BritishRoyalGuards Fun with not-moving guards]] [[HilarityEnsues ensues]].
* PowerTrio: The Do siblings. Specifically, a [[FreudianTrio Pferdian Trio]]: Daring/Id, Derring/Superego, and Darrin/Ego.
** A meta-example, the Expanded Universe writers [[TwoGirlsAndAGuy Gusty Lulamoon, Ember Roundup and J. Thunderlane Hurricane Jr]] have been one since their early college days, and Ember's account of their history together paints [[EmbarrassingFirstName Thunderlane]] as [[TheKirk the Ego]], Gusty as [[TheMcCoy the Id]] and herself as [[TheSpock the Superego]] - something she has tried to work on since the loss of their friend.
*** The three also fall under TokenTrio - Unicorn mare, Pegasus stallion, Brumbilander Earth Pony mare - as well as an odd mix of PlatonicLifePartners and (formerly) HeterosexualLifePartners.
* PowersViaPossession: When Snazzy Shades is possessed by a Windigo, he gains the abilities to fly, freeze things, control wind, slip through ridiculously small cracks, and glow in the dark. He simultaneously loses control of his body…
* [[PrecisionFStrike Precision B Strike]]: Daring almost never swears, going through most of the series with hardly a 'darn'. Then, when [[spoiler: she finds out Ahuizotl's plan in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'']]...
-->''"...We're bucked."''
** Can't forget the line, "No one gives a flying feather!" from the same book.
** ''[[ShrinkingViolet Desert Rose]]'', of all ponies, gets one in ''Wooden Mask'', during an argument with Outback Jack over her treatment of Billabong. After getting sidetracked by Outback's reference to a confusing NoodleIncident, she snaps "That's not the bucking point!"
** Darrin in ''Platinum Crown''.
-->"...and if [Derring] gives a buck what happens to us now, I'll eat my hat."
** And in ''Minotaur's Maze'', Daring confronts Lepus:
-->"You've spent this whole time alternating between ogling my plot and my sister's. If either of us catches you doing so again, we will bucking GELD you!"
** ''Ring of the Marengeti'':
* [[PreAsskickingOneLiner Pre-Plotkicking One-Liner]]: Before completely ''owning'' the super Diamond Dogs, Laurentia of the Red Mane says "Meow".
* PteroSoarer: Averted with the ''Quetzalcoatlus'' in ''The Valley of Grouchy'', [[ShownTheirWork which is not only furry and quadrupedal, but also a ground-based hunter according to recent studies]].
* ThePurge: Whatever remained from the Colt of Smooze gets offed by [[spoiler:the Assembler]] in ''Revenant's Effigy''. [[spoiler: It's implied that the leader survives]].
* QuicksandSucks
* RaptorAttack: Averted by the ''Deinonychus'' pack that attack the cast in ''The Valley of Grouchy''. They are correctly depicted with [[FeatheredFiend primary feathers]], [[ShownTheirWork including wings and a tail fan]].
* RealityIsUnrealistic: Sparkleworks from ''Razor of Dreams'' had a third set of cones in her eyes, and some said that wasn't plausible. Well, some ponies do, most notably Element of Harmony bearers Pinkie Pie and Rarity Belle.
* RealitySubtext: There actually is a Royal Canterlot University Department of Equinology, but with considerably fewer [[ActionGirl action mares]] undercover as employees.%%In-universe
** Greyhoof's usage of the Mirror Pond as the source of his body duplication powers was based on an incident that happened in L. Heartstrings' hometown of Ponyville.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Storm Talon likes giving swear-laden rants disassembling people he doesn't like. Hawkwings gets one for being a useless, obstructionist, ungracious jerk, Nagridge gets one for being a disruptive, speciesist witch, and Sweeney Trot gets one for being a murderous nutcase who treats personal tragedy as an excuse to hurt others.
--> "You lost someone close to you? Well guess what, *squawk*-wit? You and bucking everyone else!"
** Darrin to Derring in ''Platinum Crown'', calling her out for leaving him and Daring without even bothering to call or write for seven years.
-->"I have one thing to say to you, Derring: ''GROW UP''."
** Daring gives a short but epic one to Mareton in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''.
* RecycledInSpace: The ''Daring Do: Star Quest'' series, by Gene Trottenberry.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Likely Nagridge.
-->"Tell... Okpono... I'm..." Daring was sure the last word was "sorry", but it was really quiet. Then Deborus Mane Nagridge was gone.
** [[spoiler:Swinn]] in ''Silver Menace''.
* RedHerring: In Daring Do and the Return of Fire of Friendship, Lady Blueblood does a lot of damage to any vehicles, making Daring think she is the Changeling. [[spoiler: Daring Do as well as the readers are surprised/shocked when Lady Blueblood is killed off. After the successful return of the Fire of Friendship, Lady Sun Sparkle tells D.D. that Lady Blueblood told her that Lady Blueblood thought that the Princess Celestia ordering them on the mission was a Changeling, and was going to bring in Changelings with the fake Fire of Friendship into Canterlot to conquer it.]]
* [[RedOniBlueOni Red Pony, Blue Pony]]: Bravado is the red to Daring's blue, but Daring is the red to Derring's blue.
** From ''Goblet'', Ambassador Hawkwings is red to Platinius' blue.
** For the foreign teachers, Storm Talon is red to Ghoul's Blue, while Ghoul is red to Okpono's Blue.
** In order from most Red to most Blue, the Mane Six Mares [[note]]a name commonly given in merchandise, and a strange one given that the six rarely appear together in one book[[/note]] are: Coco, Daring, Outback Jack, Starlight, Tabula Rasa and Desert Rose.
* RiddleForTheAges: In ''Unknown Country'': Did Daring leave the artifact with the 3 races to serve as a symbol of unity, ala the Fire of Friendship? Or did she take Storm's advice about the harm hanging your faith on a symbol can do, ala the Idol of Boreas, and take it with her?
* RightHandCat: Though Ahuizotl has a large variety of cats, it's the small white kitten [[FanNickname Ripper]] that fits this roll.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The Pikmin are tiny plant-animal hybrids whose main purpose in the books is to act cute and get killed by things.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: In the ''Changing Times Pentalogy'' the Witch Tear artifact when used warps reality in one asked for way and one random way. Imbibing Witchweed pre-change allows you to remember what the Witch Tear artifact has randomly changed, whereas no-one's memories are affected from the intentional change.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The way the San Palomino Ball goes to pieces in ''Mystery of Flutter Valley'' is clearly based off the Grand Galloping Gala fiasco earlier that year.
** Common in the books of L. Heartstrings, due to her hometown being something of a real life [[CityOfAdventure Town of Adventure]].
** Sweeney Trot and Mrs. Hoovett were based on the RealLife bakers/murderers Quick Bread and Surprise Cake in Witherspool.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Bend-Or and his faction among the Unseen in ''Caverns of R'ni'', after [[spoiler:Mareahnee falls]].
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: King Scorpan of the apes.
* RuleOfPool: Although the first time is an unimportant incident in ''Gardens of Equestria,'' this is used as an actual plot point in both ''Trident of the Seaponies,'' and ''Cloud-Held Eternity,'' but [[spoiler: completely subverted in ''Cove of Candles'']].
* RummageSaleReject: That minotaur dress, as far as Margarita is concerned, as [[FurryReminder she sees colors differently]]. Given that griffons have even more cones due to their eagle heritage, when Ambassador Hawkwings' secretary sees it later, she calls it a crime against fabulosity.
* RunningGag: Most of the canon books open with Daring Do teaching a class before invariably being pulled away early to start her adventure. After Herpy becomes more prominent, it's almost always him that pulls her away.
** In ''Ring of the Marengeti'', she gets pulled away a bit more literally than usual.
** Calypso revealing secrets that Herpy or Darrin told him.
** Herpy emptying the coffee pot from the fourth book on.
** Ponies jumping whenever Mirror Dreams pops up. Partially justified, as she finds it amusing to do so ''literally'' more often than not.
** Bravado having found a MundaneSolution to a trap or puzzle [[HardWorkHardlyWorks Daring nearly broke her back over.]]
** Someone asking Ahuizotl about what happened in Fillydelphia three years ago... and being promptly thrown in the dungeon.
** Ambassador Hawkwings' obsession with [[FingerlessHands how ponies pick things up with their hooves.]]
** In ''Coronet of Chaos'', the [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon bizarre horrors]] Krastos wishes to unleash on Banizacherla, Laurentia of the Red Mane, and several other alicorns of whom nothing is known.
** Various random characters seem to be secret fans of the In-universe comic book "Sasquatch Mafia".
** In ''Curse of the Yeti'', Rayback swears servitude to everypony who saves his life, citing a Dragon's Code. In the case of Tabula Rasa, it sticks, but only after he agrees to sign an employment contract with the university, and when he tries it in later books, Tabula has to remind him that his contract is [[ObviousRulePatch explicitly]] more binding than his Code.
** In ''Amber of the Smooze'', Princess Sparkler's incomplete dye jobs.
*** RunningGagged: Her return in ''Alicorn Amulet'' intends to return her to her natural coloring.
** In ''Seven-Sided Chest'', Minty Twister's minimalist cosplay. Standouts include her Laurentia and Caballeron costumes (the latter is a ''cardboard box'' painted with Caballeron's muzzle).
* ScienceMarchesOn: In ''Wrath of Zeb'' the cloud creature Erebus is defeated when Daren disperses his cloud body, which is treated as total annihilation for the clouds as was the general thought at the time. Since it was published, it was found that dispersed clouds are just rendered into their base components which are then collected and made into more clouds. [[ParanoiaFuel Which means Erebus could still be alive and come back at any time.]] [[spoiler: As he does in ''Sins of the Father''.]]%%In-universe, maybe? I'm too scared to make a Trivia page for a fake Just For Fun work...
* SceneryPorn: Most of the books, though ''Sapphire Stone'' is especially loaded with it, taking up a significant percentage of the book. Surprisingly, this factor doesn't usually alienate new readers, even those [[JustHereForGodzilla mainly in it for the action]].
* ScoobyDooHoax: [[spoiler: The conclusion of Ballad of Chickerufus.]]
* SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler: Blackmane's Treasure]] in ''Cove of Candles''.
* SelfDeprecation: In ''Unknown Country'', there's some towards the author themselves. After the 3 races come together to create one unified fledgling civilization, Herpy ruminates on the future, [[TitleDrop 'The Unknown Country'.]] Daring points out that she always thought that referred to death, and refuses to drop it as Herpy continues.
* SequelHook: [[spoiler:Steam Whistle]]'s many [[ArtifactOfDoom unsuccessful]] [[MechanicalMonster projects]]. He mentions he never bothered to scrap them, and considering he made both [[spoiler:Claddie]] and [[spoiler:the Assembler]], and the entire can of worms that [[spoiler:the Assembler]]'s sudden resurgence opened, they're bound to show up soon.
** ''The Surgeon of Marabia'' ends with two of these: [[spoiler:the revelation that Rodolphus Mareton, Winchester Tock, and Zapapple Tock may still be alive, and the revelation that Steam Whistle had a time machine, to which Daring says, “I have a bad feeling about this…”]]
** ''Tinker's Seal'' has a massive one amongst the epilogues. [[spoiler:The Leader of the Colt of Smooze shows up at Steam Whistle's abandoned workshop, quickly dispatching the guards, and is able to enter the building thanks to a secret entrance, the location of which was apparently provided by ''Greyhoof.'' The Colt Leader proclaims that she is "going home", and the scene ends.]]
* [[ShaggyDogStory Shaggy Diamond Dog Story]]: The artifact that Greyhoof stole from Steam Whistle turned out to be the Cutie Mark Replicator. Which he destroyed. Making the trip to the Blank Village in ''Tinker's Seal'' pointless.
* ShapeshiftingTrickster: Anasazi. [[spoiler:It helps that his true form is shaped like a coyote, who was considered by the original trickster in [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology Buffalo mythology.]]]]
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch She Knows Too Much]]: Why King Mayhem kills [[spoiler:Lady Blue-Blood]].
* [[SherlockScan Sherclop Scan]]: Daring and Derring can do this with ancient artifacts to identify how old they are, what material they're made of, and the history of the area in which they were found. Early in ''The Platinum Crown'' Daring and Derring get into a Scan battle to identify a slab of stone that had recently been put on display in a local museum.
* ShipTease: Daring and Bravado, most heavily in ''The Staff Of Star Swirl''. Herpy and Daring in ''The Ring of Marengeti''.
** Bravado and Outback Jack get some in ''Tinker's Seal''.
* ShootTheShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: Greyhoof finds out there was a cure, one that could be found by speaking the truth. The two things that defined his entire life and unlife was trying to find a way to stop the spread, and hiding from the fact that he was the one responsible. [[DrowningMySorrows He downs all of Ghoul's 470-proof cider]]. [[SelfImmolation Then swallows a torch.]]]]
* ShoutOut: The scene in ''Platinum Crown'' where Daring tries to tell apart the real and fake crowns by using water displacement to calculate density is a ShoutOut to the legend of Eureka. Unfortunately, they're both the same density. [[spoiler:The crown isn't made of platinum, it was just owned by Princess Platinum]].
** Some of the ExpandedUniverse works contain overt references to [[Creator/HPLovecraft H.P. Hoofcraft's]] [[Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu Dirge of Discord]] series.
** In a recent stage adaptation of ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'', there were statues of the Core Six from ''My Small Human''.
*** ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'' itself is this to ''Series/LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple''
** A fair number of Sweetie Bottle's lines are references to [[Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep "Do Golems Dream of Ceramic Sheep?"]].
** The incident with the multiplying hats in ''Razor of Dreams'' comes straight out of ''Bartholomew Cub'' by [[Creator/DrSeuss Doctor Sûws]].
* ShownTheirWork: Surprisingly, Zebra culture is depicted rather accurately.
** The late Gusty Lulamoon, author of two ExpandedUniverse novels, was an equinologist specializing in the paleopony period, and it shows in her writing.
** Changeling characters usually make use of the little-known "-ling" suffix that is used exclusively by Changelings.
** In ''Legacy of Nightmare Moon'', one sees that Yearling knows her herbal remedies.
** ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'' has some very well researched depictions of canine and simian body language, such as Beta Max going in circles before sleeping and the head-scratching gesture King Scorpan makes while pondering how to defeat Ahuizotl.
*** Also, apes of that genus have a third set of cones in their eyes, and so when Margarita visits the tailor she sees the colors on the first dress shown as clashing hideously, a fact that Derring quickly points out when the tailor takes offense.
** The proto-Ehwazic culture and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Germanic_language language]] in the flashbacks from ''Terror of the Headless Horse'' are very thoroughtly researched.
** Every one of the NoodleIncidents Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie mention when reminiscing about their past exploits in ''Lost Hope'' are things that actually happened to them and their friends in real life.
* SiblingRivalry: Oh Celestia, is there ever.
* SickeningSweethearts: In ''Universal Cracks'', one of the alt universes had ''[[FoeYay Daring and Ahuizotl]]'' as these.
** You want sickening? ''Swinn and Mareton''. Seriously. She calls him ''puddin'.''
* SicklyGreenGlow: In ''Tinker's Seal'', when the Great-Grandfather Clock sends ponies back in time, the numbers and hands glow green. [[spoiler:Also serves as foreshadowing, since Tight Ship, who controls the clock, is always seen in a green suit coat.]]
* SigilSpam: The titular Tinker's Seal, a pointed steam whistle, brands every one of Steam Whistle's works. Which is fortunate, when you [[ArtifactOfDoom get to]] [[MechanicalMonster know them firsthoof]].
* SinisterScythe: [[spoiler:Reaper!Winchester]] wields one of these in ‘’The Surgeon of Marabia’’, to match his grim reaper motif.
* SoLastSeason: In ''Ruby of the Blank Village'', the eponymous blanks ignored non-Cutie-Mark-based lifeforms, which allowed Ahuizotl and Storm Talon to move about unmolested. Picking up on this, in ''Tinker's Seal'' Storm and Ghoul are the ones sent to deal with the village (and Rayback sneaks in with them), only to find out that the town has branched out their paranoia as a result of the incident.
* [[SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb Somepony Set Up Us The Bomb]]: In ''Spear of the Windigos'', [[spoiler:Banizacherla leaves the Raptorian commander a present]].
* SomewhereAMammalogistIsCrying: In ''Sapphire Stone''. Rats aren't predators? Oatwell knew better; the threat of hungry rats is how [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Whinnyston Smith]] is made to give up.
** In the ''Daring Do Adventures'' adaptation by Pony in a Box Productions, the rats are replaced with sheep for precisely this reason.
* SoulJar: The diamond amulet known as the ‘Windigo’s Frozen Soul’ is presumed to be this.
* SpannerInTheWorks: The Steelclad Sorceror's specialty, which Ahuizotl learns the hard way. In Daring's words, "If your plan involves him then it's already a failure".
* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
** As seen on the main page picture, "Daring-Do" was written with a hyphen on the cover of the first book, but it fells out of usage fairly early in the series.
** Mahavir/Mahiavar of the ExpandedUniverse.
** Also Daring, her sister Derring, and to a lesser degree their younger brother, Darrin.
* SpikesOfDoom: Appears oh-so-very-often and every form imaginable, starting in ''Sapphire Stone''. The only books that ''don't'' have them in some form are ''Gardens of Equestria'', ''Trident of the Seaponies'', and ''Ring of the Marengeti''.
* SpoiledByTheFormat: Magic Step at least made an effort to avoid spoiling the fact that [[spoiler:Bravado and Sebastius don’t go to hell after they become ghosts]] by giving the final chapters misleading titles, but it doesn’t really work…%%In-universe
* SpotTheImpostor: The Young Daring Do ExpandedUniverse novel ''Return of the Fire of Friendship''
* StatingTheSimpleSolution: ''In Tinker's Seal'', after the initial fallout of Rayback sneaking into Storm's luggage in order to go with Storm and Ghoul to the Blank Village, Rayback offers all his qualifications while Ghoul is trying to think up all sorts of contingency plans on how best to keep the kid safe on their journey through the Everfree Forest so Dr. Tabula Rasa doesn't fillet them for putting him in danger. Storm points out they're at a hotel. They should just ''leave him at the hotel'' and have a Pegasus chariot pick him up after they leave (they couldn't make sure the chariot picks him up because they had to leave early due to time factors).
* [[StatusQuoIsGod Status Quo is Celestia]]: Parodied in ''Ahuizotl and the Giant Chess Pie''. The Trickster decides to set everything right, turning back time and wiping everypony but Ahuizotl's memories, then leave. However he absent-mindedly leaves Ahuizotl [[spoiler: as a chess pie, which is promptly eaten by Miss Starlight.]]
** Zigzagged in ''Short Stuff and the Amazing Vacuum''. After Page and Header return they find that Flux has made notes on how to 'fix' his machine at the cost of making it more dangerous. They decide to make them 'mysteriously disappear' but the notes are found by Short Stuff who has the partially broken device. After thinking about keeping it, she agrees and sucks up the notes with the vacuum which causes it to fully break [[RunningGag and explode.]]
** Subverted in ''Silvia Clawson and Her Little Pony''. The artifact that could have undone everything falls into the things of The Wandering Dragon as he leaves for further adventure and Silvia decides to keep Caballeron.
** Disscussed in ''Griffonland Grumblings'' where Kitty claims that when Silvia goes back to the embassy, the 'last slice of the old kingdom', she'll just become a greedy lazy idiot again which does seem to be the case at first. [[spoiler: Her final scenes imply this is somewhat averted as whilst Silvia resumes her old no effort job, and continues to showcase her eating and sleeping habits, she seems to have realized she needs to be more active in important things and uses her ability to get 'Gory' to do what she wants to push Platinus's proposals through.]]
* StockDinosaurs: ''The Valley of Grouchy'' features ''Tyrannosaurus'', ''Allosaurus'', ''Spinosaurus'', ''Deinonychus'', ''Quetzalcoatlus'', ''Smilodon'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Parasaurolophus'', ''Triceratops'', ''Ankylosaurus'', ''Compsognathus'', and mammoths. It also averts this with ''Gigantoraptor'', ''Wannanosaurus'', ''Repenomamus'', ''Kelenken'', ''Masiakasaurus'', ''Hypsilophodon'', ''Ouranosaurus'', ''Megatherium'', ''Therizinosaurus'', and ''Sauroposeidon''. And ''Tanystropheus'', of all things, not only shows up but is noted to not be an actual dinosaur.
* [[StockholmSyndrome Stockhorse Syndrome]]: Azure Lightning falls in love with Aureli, but then again she isn’t really holding him captive; that’s her older brother’s doing. Sebastius drops this trope name when he observes their romance.
* StopWorshippingMe: See FakingTheDead above.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: From Sebastius’ [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmKnGvjxFUA ‘’Asylum Song’’]]:
--> Step one, violence will be punished with more violence,
-->Two, counselors asking probing questions,
-->Three, just forget about your freedom,
-->Four, hope you like electric therapy!”
* SuperSerum: Ahuizotl's unicorn serum in ''Temple of Nightmare Moon''.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: The made-up country of Marabia bears a striking resemblance to the real-life country Saddle Arabia, right down to the color of its prince’s coat. The author, Magic Step, said she had originally written the book using Saddle Arabia, but relationships being as tense as they are, the publisher decided it was too risky; although other Daring Do books take place in Saddle Arabia, this book specifically accused the monarchy of cruel and unusual punishment. (Which is true, by all accounts, but that doesn’t make it okay to mention it in a book.)
* TakenForGranite: In ''Daring Do and the Crystal Statue'' there is an artifact capable of transforming others into the titular substance.
* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: When Snazzy starts aging in ''Witch’s Circus'', thus losing his good looks, he tries to poison himself. Dr. Caballeron calms him down by assuring him that he can think of at least a dozen FountainOfYouth legends just off the top of his head, and he’s sure one of them must be real.
** Near the climax of ''Eternal Nightmare'', Daring has to talk [[spoiler:Princess Luna]] out of sacrificing her life [[spoiler:so that the Tantabus will die with her.]]
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Frequently done in the expanded universe comic series. Lampshaded on a few occasions by Herpy.
* TalkToTheFist: Bravado is perfectly aware of Mareton's way with words, and any situation with both of them involved ''will'' end in this. It helps that Bravado absolutely hates him.
* ThrowItIn: The first book in the series makes a passing reference to a University page called Harpy. However, his name was misspelled as Herpy, and fans latched onto that spelling and embraced the silly pony. Herpy appeared briefly in the second book, typo intact and with his fanon personality. Later on, Herpy returned as a major character.%%In-universe
* TeamPet: Calypso, Daring's purple macaw. However, he's usually kept at the university while Daring is adventuring.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: To show the power of the Scepter of the Chaos Beast, the narrative gets messed with. One way it does so is that Mahavir/Mahiavar's name alternates constantly, to the point where even different print runs will have different name combinations.
* TheLoad: In ''Griffonland Grumblings'' Silvia Clawson is often an impediment due to her laziness, greediness and cowardice. [[spoiler: Until about halfway where Kitty [[DareToBeBadass convinces]] Silvia to apply herself and her strength and speed become quite helpful.]]
* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: To put down [[spoiler: Krastos and the Assembler]], Daring detonated a leyline by imbuing it with chaos magic to destabilize it and then activated several powerful artifact explosives next to it. To give an idea how powerful a blast this is, it's described as being able to turn the Everfree Forest into the Everfree ''Crater'' (no, it wasn't done there).
** Though considering what they are, that may not have been a permanent solution.
* [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow These Are Things Pony Was Not Meant To Know]]: A variation in ''Short Stuff and the Amazing Vacuum''. The never before seen dragon sized creature is implied to be the Trickster from ''Ahuizotl and the Giant Chess Pie'' and the[[spoiler: titular vacuum partially breaking down after absorbing it is implied to due to absorbing a few of these. The characters, however, put it down to (not-so) ExplosiveOverclocking]]
* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Part way through the Star Quest Trilogy, something causes the stars to blink out of existence. [[spoiler: Turns out, it's Inti, no longer bound by Nightmare Moon and having finally broken free of the chains that bound him, ''EATING THEM'' for power.]]
* ThreateningShark: [[spoiler:Attracted by the title artifact]] in the short story ''Shūbidū and the Ruby Shark''.
* TickleTorture: Used by Ahuizotl to get Daring Do to reveal the location of the treasure in ''Cove of Candles''with a tickle machine on her belly. She talks but is able to break free before Ahuizotal can take the treasure
* TitleConfusion: The Sapphire Stone is set into a small blue statue, and so the MacGuffin is referred to as "the statue" very frequently in the action and dialogue. Because of this, even the most pedantic fans tend to call ''Quest for the Sapphire Stone'' "Quest for the Sapphire Statue" about half the time.
** This got an amusing ShoutOut in the title of Muffin Parcels' recently published AlternateUniverseFic, ''Zapapple Tock and the Sapphire Statue''.
* TooDumbToLive: Dr. Zerato never caught on that it was a dumb idea to call Sebastius an inferior being to his face.
* TookALevelInBadass: Balthasar in ''Shrine of the Silver Monkey'' is more of an action ape than in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends Classical Mythology]].
* TheWorldIsNotReady: Minos' motivation for keeping the secret of the Labyrinth of Legends.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: Several are mentioned, including: Hamdani Hadban's ''Mikrohippocon'', Furler's ''Leises Pferden-Erscheinen'', and the ''Barbaequus'' of Celeres.
** The Neighcronomicon is brought up by Herpy in ''The Staff of Star Swirl'', but is dismissed by Daring as being just a bunch of made-up hooey. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the original print of that very book contains the clue to find the last piece of the Staff.]]
** A copy of the ''Unaussprechlichen Colten'' can be seen in the comics for a single frame of the first issue, on Daring's office bookshelf along with ''Le Colt Des Goules'' and ''The Princess in Pink'' (see BrownNote above).
* ToonPhysics: Short stories by the writer D.Cord tend to feature these. In ''Ahuizotl and the Giant Chess Pie'' it's stated to be the work of the Trickster and it's implied, though not stated, to be because of it in the other stories too.
* TournamentArc: In the second book of the Blood Diamond series, Daring Do has to enter one to get the artifact she was after.
* TownWithADarkSecret: Almar's Cliff, from ''Revenant's Effigy'', [[spoiler:whose inhabitants are all [[TheSoulless soulless]], and part of the Assembler's army]].
* TranquilFury: The Steelclad Sorceror at his angriest is surprisingly quiet and relaxed, and could almost pass for calm if he weren't shaking uncontrollably from all his rage.
-->"Ya see, I can't afford ta get mad right now, I'd jus' tear 'is head off in a moment. And we both know he deserves worse than that."
** Fuergott is also very contained in her emotions, only letting the bitter surface leak through.
* TransformationOfThePossessed: When possessed by the Windigo, Snazzy Shades’ black mane turns white and blows around like flames in a fire. Also comes with GlowingEyesOfDoom
* TwitchyEye: Mirror Dreams. ''In spades.'' She detests the destruction of ''anything'' with historical/magical value, which, unfortunately, tends to happen a lot.
** So, this is a semi-permenant state for her?
** Mareton develops one when Daring points out that for all her racism, jackassery and treachery, Nagridge was still the objectively better pony.
* TwoBeingsOneBody: Doctor Zerato’s plan to [[spoiler:fuse Sebastius and Bravado into one pony.]]
* UltimateUniverse: As mentioned above under ComicBookAdaptation. Among other differences from the main canon, the story is set more in present-day, so Princess Luna is set to be included as a character alongside or sometimes in place of Celestia [[note]]how this would affect the ''Nightmare Moon'' story arc is unknown[[/note]], and the Do siblings' ''father'' will be the still-missing parent, rather than their mother.
** The upcoming Pony in a Box Productions radio play entitled ''Daring Do Adventures'' plans to make significant changes to the canon as well, while still taking strong inspiration from the original series. One of the biggest changes is that Ahuizotl will be given less focus in favor of other villains.
* TheUnpronounceable: For years, fans were baffled as to how you're supposed to say the name 'Ahuizotl'. Many were quite surprised when the first movie adaption came out and revealed it.
** Elementum's actual name is ''ʿUnşur''. No wonder Daring Do just sticks with "Elementum".
* TheUnreveal: The Church of the Shining Void claims to have documented all the true events that happened during the foundation of Equestria as it is in modern day. The documentation is a room with hierogyphs and pictograms on the walls, floor, and ceilings that Daring Do can't completely decypher herself.
** Subverted somewhat in that later in the story Daring is able to come back with some equipment and can read enough to get a basic idea of most of the story, though some details and the beginning and ending are still to hard to translate. She sees that Discord [[spoiler:was a denizen of Tartarus that was accidentally released and given sentience by the pony immigrants]],that he [[spoiler: either created or gave power to the Alicorn race]], and that Celestia and Luna [[spoiler:were his top agents before they turned on him and reversed his magic to create the Elements of Harmony to usurp him.]]
** In ''Revenant's Effigy'', [[spoiler:Steam Whistle]]'s journal never fully explains what would warrant [[spoiler:the Assembler]]'s creation.
* VillainsOutShopping:
** In ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'', there is a brief scene where Professor Nagridge is at a bar discussing [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny who would win in a fight between Starswirl the Bearded and The Great Beast of Chaos]] with Page and Header.
** Early on in ''Vaults Of Celestia'', Daring is wondering what schemes Ahuizotl is plotting at this moment. Cut to Ahuizotl making tea in a fez and bathrobe, feeding his cats, and reading a newspaper in his stronghold. Subverted when Rex and his troops bust in through the front door and the resulting fight ends up destroying several floors.
** In the Disneigh adaptation of ''Children of Primus'', Thundercracker writes plays (but not very good ones).
* TheWatson: Herpy often is the one in this role.
* UnwillingRoboticisation: An ability of the eponymous artifact of the ExpandedUniverse story ''The Curse of the Golden Key''.
* UnwinnableByDesign: Hoo colt, ''Archeological Quest''.
** ''Archeological Quest I'':
*** Forget the mirror? You can't get ye flask. No flask? No medication.
*** Can't guess the Flutter Pony's name in the time allotted? No flower. And the formula is notoriously counterintuitive.
** ''Archeological Quest II'':
*** Made even one unnecessary trip over the bridge? Too bad, it breaks when you make a fourth crossing and you go splat.
*** You cannot know in advance that it is the apple you need from the fruit stand, rather than the pear or the orange.
** ''Archeological Quest III'':
*** What's that? You didn't chase Ripper off? You're bound in that one cul-de-sac for good.
*** Did you make sure to haggle three times with the vendor who wants to buy your shining stone from the previous game? If you got any less money than three haggling requests, you won't have enough money to win the game.
* VanishingVillage: The populated Blank Village only appears at certain times. Otherwise it's just ruins.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Lawrence T. Change claims that ''Unknown Country'' is inspired by real events related by a friend, though things went a lot smoother in reality.
* VillainSong: A number of stage adaptations give Ahuizotl one of these
** Seeing as how one stage adaptation focuses solely on Sweeney Trot and Mrs. Hoovett, every song (with the exception of ''Nightangale, Blackbird'' for Linnet Bird and ''[[OneWomanSong Linnet Bird]]'' for Anthony Hopewing) is one of these. The most obvious is ''A Bit of Priest'', which is sung by the evil duo about baking the residents of Trottingham into cupcakes.
** Fuergott's ballad, ''Set the Rain Ablaze.''
** Both [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WgATwzubq8 Krastos]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnbl6kFhNHE the Assembler]] have Leitmotifs.
* VillainousBreakdown: Ahuizotl goes through these once a book.
** Sweeney, [[spoiler:after he finds out his daughter is still alive.]]
** The unknown villain Claddie fought in his backstory apparently had a nasty one when [[YourSoulIsMine his favorite technique]] [[NoSell didn't work on him]]. Nasty enough that he apparently didn't even try to dodge.
** Snazzy Shades when the effects of the Witch’s Circus start aging him.
-->'''Snazzy Shades:''' I knew this would happen someday, but not this fast! '' [Sobbing, staring at his reflection in his hoofheld mirror]'' What happened to that stallion I used to love? Gone! Gone Forever!
* VillainOverForDinner: In ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'' Mareton has a brief pleasant conversation with Silvia in order to keep the usually cowardly Hawkwings from attempting to run or get help.
* VolleyingInsults: [[OneSceneWonder Arthur,]] [[InsistentTerminology King of the Trots]] and [[LittleMissSnarker Linnet Bird]].
-->'''Arthur:''' I blow my nose at you, you silly pony!
-->'''Linnet:''' ...what a ''strange'' pony.
-->'''Arthur:''' I blow a raspberry in your general direction!
-->'''Linnet:''' Yeah? Well, I request that you get off my porch, you son of a silly pony!
-->'''Arthur:''' Go boil your tail, you maggot!
-->'''Linnet:''' Your mother was a parasprite and your father smelt of griffon droppings. Now, get off my property, or I shall taunt you a second time!
-->'''Arthur:''' ...taunting brat...
* WarForFunAndProfit: The reson Colonel Talonus wishes to start a huge war is simply that he is the head of a mercenary army and he personally believes that WarIsGlorious.
* WeaksauceWeakness: In ''Equestria and the Attack of the Jello Slimes'' the Jello Slimes have a bunch. Sucking on them causes them to destabilize, they can't damage stomach lining, are extremely weak to stomach acid and have a barely repressed instinct to force themselves down ponies throats. [[spoiler: And it takes very little to unrepress that instinct.]]
* WeaponsThatSuck: In ''Short Stuff and the Amazing Vacuum'' [[spoiler: the vacuum is used as such against a dragon sized creature.]]
* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Daughter" Pony]]: In ''Griffon's Goblet'', Daring discovers [[spoiler:her dad is alive. In the following volume, her dad is an actual character whom she feels she had to live up to his standards growing up, and the volume puts a good deal of focus on their struggling to get along.]]
* WhamEpisode: ''Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded'' has the murder of [[spoiler:Lightning Kicker]].
** [[spoiler:Swinn]] is KilledOffForReal in ''Silver Menace''. The fanbase has reacted... variably.
** ''Seven-Sided Chest'' kills off both [[spoiler:Bravado and Caballeron]].
* WhamLine: ''Staff of Star Swirl'':
-->'''Mrs. Hoovett:''' Mr. Trot--I'm sorry--they only escaped because that stupid filly, Linnet Bird-- ''[[OhCrap (freezes as she realizes what she just said)]]''
-->'''Sweeney Trot:''' That filly next door--the one who--she... [[spoiler:She has the same name as my daughter?]]
-->'''Mrs. Hoovett:''' NO! I mean, yes, the same name, but--
-->'''Sweeney Trot:''' ''(realization)'' [[spoiler:That filly next door... ''is'' my daughter, isn't she?]]
-->'''Mrs. Hoovett:''' NO! NO! I would never--!
-->'''Sweeney Trot:''' Don't lie to me! Is she?!
-->'''Mrs. Hoovett:''' ...[[spoiler:yes.]]
** When Daring is puzzling out what happened to her father's old cadre of archeologists, she assumes that [[spoiler:since Daren's former partner Rodolphus Mareton was the father of Sebastius Mareton, he must have been the one to betray the group by murdering Winchester Tock.]] To readers, this would make sense, since [[spoiler:Sebastius Mareton is a ruthless monster, and Winchester's daughter Zapapple was one of Daring's closest friends.]] Daren's response?
-->'''Daren:''' Darling, you have this awful habit of jumping just next to the right conclusion... [[spoiler:it was the other way. Winchester killed Rodolphus.]]
** ''Revenant's Effigy'' has this line from [[spoiler:Steam Whistle]]'s journal:
-->"After so many unsatisfactory projects, I can finally have something to celebrate: [[spoiler:The Assembler]] is up and running"
*** The ''entire thing'' is one big WhamLine.
** From ''Universal Cracks'', after Herpy brings Daring's attention to the knocking on the other side of the Crack:
-->"There's somepony on the other side of this wall... [[spoiler:and they aren't in this building.]]"
** Princess Luna reveals secret knowledge [[spoiler:and psychological baggage]] near the end of ''Never-Ending Nightmare''
-->"There is another way. The spirit would fade if the flesh it was drawn from were slain. [[spoiler:That flesh stands before you now.]] Think not of what will be lost, but of what will be saved. [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious We are prepared when thou art.]]"
* WhatDoYouMeanItsPhlebotinum: Some of the {{MacGuffin}}s were finally found out in plain sight, and one such turns out to be an ArtifactOfDoom.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Outback Jack mentions two unicorns and a pegasus going missing in what turns out to be the eponymous Gardens of Equestria. They are never brought up afterwards.
** Also happens in ''Children of Primus'', where two of the statues are unaccounted for at the end of the book. Popular fanon states that at least one of Bravado's adventures has been directly related to them.
** Other than Skywarp, Optimus, and the unnamed statue in ''The Temple of Primus'', the other statues' fates are never elaborated upon, and aren't shown waking up, the ones that ''are'' shown waking up disappear from the plot afterwards.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Herpy is confronted with the chance for selfish power gain when trying to acquire the titular Ring of the Marengeti and that "Daring would never know." [[spoiler: He only pretends to accept the offer to access a critical clue in a stolen manuscript.]]
* [[PreemptiveDeclaration ...When Both Your Hind Legs Are Broken?]]: The TropeNamer is from ''Ring of the Marengeti'', when a Hoofstapo {{Mook}} threatens to buck Storm Talon's skull in.
* [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Where the Chaos Is Hoofington?]]: Trotham from ''Temple of Nightmare Moon'' looks a lot like Manehattan, but Storm Talon speaks of Manehattan as a separate city.
* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: In ''Daring Do and Marey Sue's Totally Awesome Adventure'' whilst criticizing the fanfiction Daring notes that she feels that even her real adventures wouldn't be that interesting in book form.
* [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude Who Names Their Foal "Tralala"?]]: Blinkamena's reaction to a Flutter Pony's name in ''Mark of the Trickster'' is the TropeNamer.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Sebastius is afraid of [[spoiler:electricity, needles, and doctors.]] All of these objects haunt him throughout the course of ‘’The Surgeon of Marabia’’ (especially the last one.)
* WickedCultured: Noteworthy Smith (from ''Trident of the Sea Ponies'', ''Ring of the Marengeti'', ''Buffalo Burial Ground'', ''Wrath of Hammerhoof'', ''Sad Statue'', and the first three ''Blood Diamonds'' stories) loved classical music and fine art, and was a fairly decent artist himself. He was also a crime lord, a former hit stallion, and heavily implied to be a foal-mounter in the Blood Diamonds series. [[AssholeVictim Nopony sheds any tears when]] [[spoiler:[[PayEvilUntoEvil Colonel Talonus tortures him to death]]]] in ''Worship in Fear''.
* WomanScorned: Mareton learns this the hard way.
* WorthyOpponent: Ahuizotl comes to consider Daring Do one of these. The feeling is ''not'' mutual.
** Daring (grudgingly) sees Irene as this.
* WriteWhoYouKnow: Bowtie Whooves says he based the Flutter Pony Zipzee off his younger sister.%%In-universe
* WrongGenreSavvy: In ''Unknown Country'', after Daring meets the [[DeathbringerTheAdorable Sea Beasts]] she begins to suspect that the hitherto unseen Cute (former) Citizens of Wuvy Dovey Land to be more [[FluffyTheTerrible than they sound.]] She's wrong. So very, very wrong.
** In ''Children of Primus'', Daring assumes that Optimus Prime is a temple guardian there to kill trespassers. Not only is this not the case, but her attempts to evade him lead to her running right into Skywarp, who ''does'' want to kill her, and from whom Optimus [[BigDamnHeroes saves her.]]
* XMarksTheHero: Fuji has an "x" shaped scar on his left cheek.
* YouAllMeetInACell: Dr. Caballeron acquired his main henchponies when he got arrested the same day as Rough Stuff and Snazzy Shades and the same day Interrobang was kicked off the police force in a little made up town called Tailsburg.
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: When Princess Luna returns to speaking in the older dialect she used to use and adresses Daring as "thou", it's a clear sign that she [[spoiler:expects those words to be her last.]]
* YouHaveFailedMe: Ahuizotl. Failing him is ''not'' an option.
** Subverted in ''Staff of Star Swirl''. Mrs. Hoovett is quite relieved to find out that Sweeney won't kill her for failing. [[spoiler:Purposely keeping the location of his daughter hidden from him, on the other hoof...]]
** Talonus can't stand failure either. One of his goons commits suicide rather than face the Colonel's wrath.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:The Assembler kills whoever it finds obsolete, and uses the corpse to make new constructs]].
* YouShallNotPass: In the ExpandedUniverse novel ''Amethyst Penguin'', The Colt of Tirek, working for Ahuizotl, is trying to get at the temple where the title artifact is located. Daring et al. are already inside when the Colt {{Mooks}} arrive, and Odo Bahn, the ornithologist, runs out to stop them. [[spoiler:He takes many of the Colt members and a chunk of the crumbling temple with him]].
* YouWontLikeHowITaste: In ''Crystal Statue'' when Storm and Ghoul question [[spoiler: Inverted Angle]] about what they've found, he cracks and starts begging them not to eat him, even though they've not made even the remotest reference to doing so.
* ZombieApocalypse: The backstory for the sought-after artifact in one volume, and the (unsuccessful) threat made by the antagonist in another.
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* ''A Serene Tale'', by Rainboom20%: The backstory of Daring Do's MissingMom, here named Serenity, is expanded on here. It focuses on her first archaeology expedition, during which she first met Daren Do, her future husband. While this story was very well-received by fans, winning the Derring Do Daily Best Short Story competition, it was, entirely coincidentally, partially [[{{Jossed}} Hossed]] by the release of ''Daring Do and the Fires of Family'' soon after, which established Daring's mother's name as Daria.
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* ''A Serene Tale'', by Rainboom20%: [=Rainboom20%=]: The backstory of Daring Do's MissingMom, here named Serenity, is expanded on here. It focuses on her first archaeology expedition, during which she first met Daren Do, her future husband. While this story was very well-received by fans, winning the Derring Do Daily Best Short Story competition, it was, entirely coincidentally, partially [[{{Jossed}} Hossed]] by the release of ''Daring Do and the Fires of Family'' soon after, which established Daring's mother's name as Daria.
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* ''[[BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Student]]'' by Lawrence T. Change: Whilst Daring Do and co deal with the latest Equestria threating event, Mahavir stumbles across a more mundane but still dangerous plot. Whilst running for his life and trying to stop them leaves him unable to inform the usuals he does manage, mostly accidentaly, to gather help from a number of others. Can he save the day?[[labelnote:Note]] This story is actually quite long and was actually one of the exclusive stories for one of Scenes from a Pith Helmet volumes to encourage purchase by dutiful magazine collectors who already had the stories. [[/labelnote]]
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* ''[[BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo ''[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Student]]'' by Lawrence T. Change: Whilst Daring Do and co deal with the latest Equestria threating event, Mahavir stumbles across a more mundane but still dangerous plot. Whilst running for his life and trying to stop them leaves him unable to inform the usuals he does manage, mostly accidentaly, to gather help from a number of others. Can he save the day?[[labelnote:Note]] This story is actually quite long and was actually one of the exclusive stories for one of Scenes from a Pith Helmet volumes to encourage purchase by dutiful magazine collectors who already had the stories. [[/labelnote]]
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** This video lead to a ''huge'' shipping war at the [[Characters/DerpibooruCommunity Darebooru]] forums.
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** This video lead to a ''huge'' shipping war at the [[Characters/DerpibooruCommunity Darebooru]] Darebooru forums.
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There have been art books and collectible books dedicated to Daring Do under Polo House, Inc. High budget [[{{Broadway}} Bridleway]] stage adaptions have been made based on the first four books, starring Hairerion Trot in the title role. A fifth had been in DevelopmentHell for some time, as the Applewood film series (also starring Trot, though almost none of the other stage actors) started shortly after the closing of ''Wooden Mask'' and the filming schedule left Trot unavailable. The Bridleway series was revived last year with ''Alicorn's Shadow'', albeit with Shauna Flankery taking over the lead role.
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There have been art books and collectible books dedicated to Daring Do under Polo House, Inc. High budget [[{{Broadway}} [[UsefulNotes/{{Broadway}} Bridleway]] stage adaptions have been made based on the first four books, starring Hairerion Trot in the title role. A fifth had been in DevelopmentHell for some time, as the Applewood film series (also starring Trot, though almost none of the other stage actors) started shortly after the closing of ''Wooden Mask'' and the filming schedule left Trot unavailable. The Bridleway series was revived last year with ''Alicorn's Shadow'', albeit with Shauna Flankery taking over the lead role.
