Work Text:
A stallion is cleaning a long dark hallway full of statues, then sees one of a strange creature that has the head of a pony, but has the body of a lot of creatures. He is a bit scared to clean it, so goes past. The next morning, he is helping set up the local book convention in Ponyville.
Meanwhile at Twilight’s treehouse, she is hanging out with Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
”Oh, Rainbow Dash did you hear about the book convention downtown?” Asked Twilight, “Eh…I’m not a MASSIVE reader, but I won’t lie if I said I dabble in some action from time to time. My favorite author is probably A.K. Yearling.” Replied Rainbow Dash, “Oh yeah I love Daring Do! Especially when her evil nemesis the villainous Dr. Caballeron faces off against her!”
”Never thought I’d see the day when Rainbow Dash is nerding out with Twilight!” Applejack chuckles and takes a swig of apple cider. “Nerding out is good if it’s cool! Especially with awesome archeologists and superheroes!” Said Rainbow Dash, “You tell her!” Said Spike, reading a comic about a family of four ponies with superpowers they got from space.
”You three can go, I gotta get back to the farm anyway.” Applejack packs her things and goes. The ponies and dragon go to the convention and look at all the cool memorabilia and merch they than see a stallion in Daring Do cosplay and Rainbow Dash walks up to him.
”Wassup! Fellow Derring Do fan I see!”, greeted the blue mare, the stallion chuckles, “Sup, I’m Quibble Pants! And you noticed? Yeah.” He said happily, “You want to go and meet the author?” Asked Rainbow Dash excitedly, Quibble looked skeptical. “Uhhh I love the books, but mostly the older ones. I heard that she kind of became a rude hag, and it shows in her later writing, especially her newest one.” Explained Quibble, “Whaaat? Pfft- I admit Derring Do and the Curse of the Griffon Idol was a bit blunt in its wording, but maybe she was just in a bad mood when writing it.” Said Rainbow Dash, Quibble side eyed for a moment.
”Maybe you are right, heh. Maybe I’m just being a ‘fandom purist’, she probably was just in a bad mood writing that one, let’s go!” Said Quibble Pants excitedly, they go to a line, Derpy and Dinky are there. “Oh Quibble, this is my coworker Derpy. She’s a bit silly but a great mare, working two jobs, part time factory worker with me and doing the mail runs sometimes. “Yeah, my mom is the bomb!” Said Dinky as Derpy nuzzles her. She is next in line. “Hello Ms. Yearling, my daughter loves your books!”, Yearling scowls at them, “What are you doing?”, Derpy is confused, “You’re an ugly horse. Why are your eyes like that? Also you’re filthy, you look like some pony stuck you into a Factory Funnel for two days straight, also, are you sure you’re even a MARE? Because you look like a stallion pretending to be one. Get out of my sight.” She spits, Derpy’s crooked eyes tear up and she cries in the corner, as Dinky comforts her mother.
The group is disgusted. “What in Equestria is your problem?!” Asked Twilight, “My suspicions were right. You are not the same pony that wrote the classic Derring Do stories. You’re just an old hag!” Said Quibble, “That’s a stupid outfit. Did your grandma make for you?”, “Actually, she did, I love my grandma.” They argue, Rainbow Dash looks at her angrily, “Before I thought you were cool. You wrote these wonderful stories that fillies and ponies alike adore, but you insult my coworker; who might I add only wanted you to sign her daughter’s lunchbox, but you insult her to her face, and you want to know why she has factory grime on her? Because she is a hard working mare. Silly and clumsy, but she is supporting her husband and daughters. I don’t know what your problem is or why you’re such a big fat JERK. I will continue to read your older books, because at one point, you were a nice author, writing these wonderful books, now? You’re if a landfill was a pony.”
The others walk away as Twilight scowls at her. “If Queen Celestia knew what you were doing, she would be very disappointed.” Twilight said calmly, as she trots away, “Who cares about the stupid Queen anyway!”, this makes Twilight furious, but she takes a deep breath and walks away. Rainbow Dash helps Derpy up and they hug.
”I don’t like her anymore. She was mean to my mommy.” Said Dinky, “Well, Dink, maybe you can check out Batmane, he’s this awesome superhero but he doesn’t have powers, he uses his mind, gadgets, and his faithful ward, Sparrow, to get out of situations!” Spike said, showing her the comic book, they chuckle and read it, “This is called ‘Manefall’, this new villain called El Venomous breaks Batmane’s back and-“
”Dear Queen Celestia, today I learned that not everyone you hear about in a positive light is necessarily positive themselves, admiration is okay, and reading their work is fine too without directly supporting her. I will make sure that Derring Do fans hear about her behavior. Your faithful subject, Rainbow Dash!”
later, Rainbow and Applejack are drinking some hot cider together, just hanging out and reading. “This one is called Granny Smith and the lost Apple, my granny used to be an awesome adventurer until her retirement.” They both chuckle together