History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E4DaringDont

* BigEater: Dr. Caballeron and his mooks chow down on some large haystacks when Daring Do and Rainbow Dash discover them with the ring.

* ATrueStoryInMyUniverse: The Daring Do novels are actually about A.K. Yearling's own adventures under a nom de guerre. Played with, as neither her readers nor the characters she encounters as Daring Do know they're the same pony.

* AnAesop: Three but only the first is pointed out at the end of he episode and recorded in the journal.

* FoeRomanceSubtext: Daring Do and Ahuizotl have this In-Universe; see page quote. Rainbow Dash gets knowing smile after a certain ShipTease.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Rainbow Dash has accomplished some amazing things (Sonic Rainbow, fighting the Changeling army, toping evil gods with her friends, etc) but has built up Daring Do so much she herself feels inadequate. Twilight snaps her out of it in time for the final act.

* ShapedLikeItself: Pinkie Pie, master of tautology: "You might say the secret ingredient is... ''a secret!''"

* SymbolSwearing: One of Caballeron's mook has grawlix as a cutie mark. The others, similarly, have different comic book effects for cutie marks.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: A.K. Yearling is a clear nod to Creator/JKRowling of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fame, though the parallel to staff writer Amy Keating Rogers has also been acknowledged.

* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Daring Do is clearly annoyed at Rainbow Dash's getting in her face and fangasming over her. She warms up to Dash at the end, though when she gets hugged for longer then she's comfortable with, she has to gently push Rainbow away as if to say "Yeah, I think that's enough."

* BrokenPedestal: Interestingly played out, in that it wasn't so much that Daring Do let Rainbow Dash down by being a jerk (though it could be justified in that Dash ''was'' being a creepy fanfilly), but that Rainbow felt she let ''Daring'' down for getting the latter distracted, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone then captured by the enemy]]. Thankfully though, the rest of the Mane Six convince Dash to go back and help Daring anyway, and the two make amends at the end of the episode.

* MenOfSherwood: An evil example in Caballeron's henchponies. Though none of them clear the temple before it collapses, they are shown to pull themselves out.

'''PinkiePie:''' Maybe...or, maybe A.K. Yearling's just a terrible, horrible, unbelievable slob!

** A. K. Yearling is an {{Expy}} of Creator/JKRowling, as well as a play on series writer Amy Keating Rogers (in initials and status among the fandom).

** So the hero worshiper intervenes in a battle between TheHero and the BigBad, causing the latter to use her as leverage in defeating the hero. [[WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie Where have we heard that before?]]

** During the fight with Caballeron's {{Mooks}} Daring Do sends one flying across the room with a hip-check.

** This is averted with Caballeron's mooks, who eventually dominate her by attacking all at once.

* ActuallyIAmHim: A.K. Yearling is revealed to ''be'' [[SilkHidingSteel Daring Do]] (previously thought to be a fictional character in-universe) near the beginning of the episode.

* AscendedFanboy: Rainbow Dash has the chance to become this when she offers to help the author of the ''Daring Do'' series finish her latest book, and later help Daring Do on her latest adventure. As a result, Daring Do writes Rainbow into her latest book.

* OneManArmy: Whereas Daring Do mostly evaded Ahuizotl's cats in ''Quest for the Sapphire Statue'' (most likely due to her injury), here she is able to easily gain the upper hand in combat against multiple enemies. Rainbow Dash says that fighting armies by herself is one of Daring's many accomplishments.

* [[ActuallyIAmHim Actually, I Am Her]]: A.K. Yearling is revealed to ''be'' [[SilkHidingSteel Daring Do]] (previously thought to be a fictional character in-universe) near the beginning of the episode.

* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fanfilly]]: Rainbow Dash has the chance to become this when she offers to help the author of the ''Daring Do'' series finish her latest book, and later help Daring Do on her latest adventure. As a result, Daring Do writes Rainbow into her latest book.

* [[OneManArmy One-Mare Army]]: Whereas Daring Do mostly evaded Ahuizotl's cats in ''Quest for the Sapphire Statue'' (most likely due to her injury), here she is able to easily gain the upper hand in combat against multiple enemies. Rainbow Dash says that fighting armies by herself is one of Daring's many accomplishments.

** To Rainbow Dash's love of books from [[Recap/ReadItAndWeep "Read It and Weep"]]; this time she gets to meet the author of her favorite book series. Twilight even reminds Rainbow that she wouldn't even be a fan if she hadn't introduced the latter to them in the first place.

** Rainbow Dash gets plenty of squeeing fangirl moments around Daring Do, so much that she makes her famous [[Recap/ApplebuckSeason "So Awesome!"]] face. She also gets one at the end when she gets an advance copy of the book she was desperate for and says "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!!!"

* LoonyFan: Rainbow Dash's reason for finding/stalking A.K. Yearling is to take care of whatever mundane activities are keeping the author from finishing the next book in the series as soon as possible. She's willing to cook her meals, do her laundry, ''anything'' to have Yearling spend every waking moment writing her next book. Strangely, Twilight -- the fangirl who inducted Rainbow to the fandom -- was the only one who found the proposal creepy.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Raindbow Dash has accomplished some anything things(Sonic Rainbow, fighting the Changeling army, toping evil gods with her friends, etc) but has built up Daring Do so much she herself feels inadequate. Twilight snaps her out of it in time for the final act.

* StopHelpingMe: [[invoked]]Daring Do's reaction to Rainbow Dash tagging along. She warms up to her over time when it turns out she ''does'' need the help.

* MatchCut: When Rainbow Dash is retelling Daring Do's lattest book at the beginning, the transition to the story match Rainbow Dash with Daring Do. The end of the ImagineSpot is marked by the sudden replacement of Ahuizotl by Fluttershy.

** Nor is it the first time that one of the Mane Six [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E18AFriendInDeed relentlessly follows around someone she's trying to impress]], despite the protestations of the one being followed.

* LoonyFan: Rainbow Dash's reason for finding/stalking A.K. Yearling is to take care of whatever mundane activities are keeping the author from finishing the next book in the series as soon as possible. She's willing to cook her meals, do her laundry, ''anything'' to have Yearling spend every waking moment writing her next book. Strangely, Twilight - the fangirl who inducted Rainbow to the fandom - was the only one who found the proposal creepy.

* NoodleIncident: A series of plotlines from previous Daring Do books are mentioned briefly in an argument between Rainbow and Twilight.

* ShapedLikeItself: Pinkie Pie, master of tautology: "You might say the secret ingredient is....''a secret!''"

** Just as with "Read It And Weep", there's many shout-outs to Franchise/IndianaJones:

*** Look closely and there's an internal shout out on that cover as well. It appears as though A.K. Yearling considers Rainbow Dash to be the Derpy Hooves of her fictional world.

** Pinkie's fez with her mark on the front could be seen as a shout of out to Grunkle Stan's fez from [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Gravity Falls.]]
** The plot of the episode (an adventurer who writes novels documenting his/her real life adventures, disguising it as pulp fiction) seems to be a big shout out to the 1986 movie Film/JakeSpeed, a film similarly inspired by Franchise/IndianaJones.