Daring Do



""Another day, another dungeon!""

- Daring Do

Meet Ms. Daring Do, the strong and clever head of the Royal Canterlot University Department of Equinology. She has made it her mission in life to learn everything she can about the long lost civilizations of the world, by hunting down their treasures, great and small, and preserving them back at the Canterlot University. But unfortunately for her the mysterious Ahuizotl is out to get them first for aims that aren't clear to anyone, least of all Ms. Do herself...

The Adventures Of Daring Do is a series of Adventure/Action/Fantasy novels written by a secretive author under a variety of pen names and published by Polo House, Inc. in Canterlot. The books are written in a Anachronic Order, starting close to the beginning of Do's adventuring career, and then skipping around the various missions and adventures, with little to no explanation. Bits and pieces of Do's backstory have been revealed but nothing concrete; there also appears to be a Myth Arc, but it seems to be happening out of order.

This is largely attributed to the strange manner in which the books were published: the manuscript of the first published book Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone was found in a desk drawer at the back of the Canterlot Royal Library by acclaimed Editor and Literary agent Hard Cover. Later more and more such manuscripts began turning up in the Library until eventually all sixteen Daring Do books were published. According to Polo's spokesmen they began regular correspondence with the author (who would occasionally be referred to as T. Ropers by Polo House because the manuscripts were bound in twine rope when discovered) directly at some time early in the series's release. The "Core Sixteen" make up a loose canon; though numerous Expanded Universe/Spinoffs exist, many fans refuse to accept them as canon. The stories quickly became one of the most well-known classics in modern Equestrian literature, and are popular with grade-school pony classes. There's also a large adult fanbase as well; Princess Celestia herself has even praised the series. It is as of yet unknown if the series as a whole is complete or if further volumes will be "found".

The Core Sixteen of the series contains the following titles (In Order Of Publication):

 * 1) Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone: After crash landing in the jungle, Daring Do must elude Ahuizotl and his minions as she attempts to recover the eponymous stone from an ancient temple.
 * 2) Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet: Daring Do is hired to track down a mystical goblet; her search leading her to discover a conspiracy that reaches all the way into her past.
 * 3) Daring Do and the Curse of the Yeti: While excavating an ancient Pegasus settlement atop a remote mountain, she discovers her lost father imprisoned and helps him escape. They are attacked by a strange creature. As Daring evades its attacks, she tries to uncover its origin and figure out how to stop it.
 * 4) Daring Do and the Wooden Mask: Daring Do's assistant Herpy purchases a tribal mask while accompanying her on a trip, little knowing that it's part of Ahuizotl's plan to turn Daring Do to the dark side.
 * 5) Daring Do and the Platinum Crown: Daring Do's sister Derring-Do challenges her to a race to see who first complete the only quest that their parents were never able to finish: the search for the legendary Platinum Crown.
 * 6) Daring Do and the Gardens of Equestria: Daring stumbles upon a previously unknown valley full of life in the otherwise barren Himineighen Mountains, but its Gardener does not take kindly to animals intruding on his verdant paradise.
 * 7) Daring Do and the Alicorn's Shadow: Has Daring truly found the legendary battlefield where Celestia defeated and banished Nightmare Moon? And does some trace of the evil mare still linger?
 * 8) Daring Do and the Cove of Candles: Daring Do embarks on a quest to recover the legendary pirate treasure of Three-Legged-Blackmane.
 * 9) Daring Do and the Trident of the Seaponies : While on a trip to study ancient civilizations with her class, Daring gets involved in one of Ahuizotl's plots and must find out more about her parents and what happened to the seaponies if she is to survive.
 * 10) Daring Do and the Temple of Nightmare Moon: Ahuizotl attempts to use the artifacts he has collected to draw on Nightmare Moon's power, and cast Equestria into eternal night.
 * 11) Daring Do and the Legacy of Nightmare Moon: Daring Do discovers that the Dragon Inti is plotting to use the power of the stars to take over Equestria and must track down the remnants of Nightmare Moon's power to stop him. Notable for being the only book in the series to be a direct sequel (to Temple of Nightmare Moon) as well as being the only non-prequel book that doesn't include Ahuizotl.
 * 12) Daring Do and the Shrine of the Silver Monkey: While on vacation with her family, Daring Do hears about a series of mysterious disappearances at a nearby shrine. When she investigates, she finds that an old enemy is behind it.
 * 13) Daring Do and the Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded: Daring recruits her old rival Bravado to help her track down and assemble pieces of an ancient Wizard's legendary staff in time for a Solar Eclipse that will supposedly grant awesome power to its wielder.
 * 14) Daring Do and the Trials Of Unity: Derring-Do returns to Daring Do with a most peculiar item: a map leading to a treasure that can only be discovered by siblings. The trials that guard the enigmatic treasure will put the sisters' already uneasy relationship to the ultimate test.
 * 15) Daring Do and the Spear of the Windigos : Newly appointed member of the Royal Canterlot University Department of Equinology is sent on her first field assignment to excavate an old unicorn castle that may have ties to her long lost parents. As the sweet and mild bookworm fumbles her way through her first dangers, she may get more then she bargained for...
 * 16) Daring Do and the Ring of the Marengeti: Daring is captured by one of Ahuizotl's minions and Herpy must track down an artifact all on his lonesome in order to trade it for her safety.

There is also a series of shorter Daring Do stories aimed at young foals called The Young Adventures of Daring Do which take place prior to the main series, though whether these are in continuity, or even done by the same author is hotly debated amongst fans (as is the rumor that Princess Luna, since her return, likes to read them aloud to her friends and one of her toys).

The "Young Daring Do" series contains the following titles:

 * 1) 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 Lost World's numerous dangers, but especially from its supreme overlord: a Tyrannosaurus Rex named Grouchy!
 * 2) Daring Do and the Ballad of Chickerufus: Daring and her friends go camping in the Brickabrack woods, but after a spooky campfire story and a strange painting of an eye, our young hero finds herself face to face with a terrible half-bird beast!
 * 3) Daring Do and the Children of Primus: Daring stumbles upon an ancient ship, filled with mysterious statues of strange beings. But are there more to these statues than what meets the eye?
 * 4) Daring Do and the Cloud-Held Eternity: Daring explores a string of cloud ruins higher up than most anypony else would dare to fly with a new companion, Shifty Gaze, who quickly betrays her with the use of an ancient vat of unused rainwater with Fountain of Youth properties. With her flight and her cutie mark gone, Daring must use her wits to stop Shifty and return to her rightful age.
 * 5) Daring Do and the Mark of the Trickster: A series of strange dreams causes Daring to believe that she is developing a strange mind-link to the primordial trickster, Anasazi. When no-one believes her, however, she realizes that she must find out about Anasazi all by herself - and that there is more to this mysterious trickster than it may seem...
 * 6) Daring Do and the Swords of the Sun: A vacation to the Neighpon provinces proves to be anything but relaxing when Daring is thrust into action alongside a team of local superheroes. With danger never far behind, Daring will have to learn to work as part of a larger team to help stop a powerful new adversary and his army of giant monsters.
 * 7) Daring Do and The Return of the Fire of Friendship: Daring is called on by Princess Celestia to recover the stolen Fire of Friendship from Changeling Island, home of King Mayhem and his subjects. She gets the help of Lady Blue-blood, Lady Dove, and Lady Sun Sparkle, but which is really a Changeling in disguise?
 * 8) Daring Do and The Moon Ponies: Daring Do awakes up on the Moon and meet the Moon Ponies and have to prevent Scream Star from awaking Nightmare Moon.

Over the decades since the original author stopped publishing, Polo House noticed there was still an insatiable demand for new Daring Do works. As such, they started allowing authors to publish novels starring the eponymous heroine. However, to insulate Polo House from potential backlash (especially if new manuscripts are "discovered"), the Daring Do Expanded Universe exists separately from the main series (using it as the starting point), and even from each other (though there are various "continuity families").

Please note: to avoid any Canternet Backlash regarding Mahavir/Mahiavar's name in these descriptions, we will be using the spelling that corresponds to the earliest appearance of the name in the first print of the relevant book. This is to help avoid confusion like in Scepter Of The Chaos Beast where his name alternates almost every time it appears and even between print runs. THIS IS FINAL!!!

Other Daring Do Expanded Universe novels. If the mane author did not write it, the author's name is given.
Already published:
 * Daring Do and the Eye of Discord: Daring, Herpy, Mahavir, and Storm Talon look for an ancient red-orange sphalerite gem from the ancient land of Morpheum Vale, that Ahuizotl has other plans for.
 * Daring Do and the Buffalo Burial Grounds: By Kevin J. Canterson: On the way to a dig at Aztack ruins, Daring stumbles across an ancient cemetery in Buffalo territory. The Buffalo are less than pleased at what they perceive as disrespect. Officially declared Canon Dis Continuity due to its Unfortunate Implications, and the author, who was running low on ideas anyway, had somepony else write the next story.
 * Daring Do and the Ruby of the Blank Village, by Gusty Lulamoon: While Daring and Storm Talon are with a group investigating ruins in the Everfree Forest just outside Ponyville, they find a village where nopony has a cutie mark. Two of the party are killed for having cutie marks, and that is not even the village's deepest secret.
 * Daring Do and the Skull of Ages: While investigating the city of Xiatropolis, Daring finds a gilded donkey's skull that turns out to be not only an artifact of power, but also a sacred artifact to the locals.
 * Daring Do and the Obsidian Sentinel, by Waterfire M. Trotton: Daring is studying the ruins of Midnight Castle when a living statue starts terrorizing the group. What is its purpose, and what does it have to do with another mare's late coltfriend?
 * Daring Do and the Basin of Plenty, by Medley McLargehooves: While investigating an Aztack temple, Daring finds a stone basin that supplies the team with all the food they need. An end to famine! But it's too good to be true...
 * Daring Do And The Amber of the Smooze: Daring learns from Mahiavar that a dangerous religious order had recovered a powerful artifact hidden in the Saddle Arabian Desert. Calling themselves the Colt of Smooze, they seek to unleash the eponymous Smooze and drown the world in its ooze. Surprise turns are everywhere when not only is Desert Rose implicated in having ties to the Colt of Smooze, but Ahuizotl himself is actually trying to save the world (albeit for purely selfish reasons).
 * Daring Do And The Coronet of Chaos: Daring and her friends must team up to stop the unleashing of the most horrible monster Equestria has ever faced: Krastos The Gluemaker. Probably one of the biggest Base Breakers in the series and falls under Love It Or Hate It, due to Krastos' characterization.
 * Daring Do and the Scepter of the Chaos Beast: Daring is investigating an ancient Morphean temple when one of the team accidentally unleashes a creature of Discord.
 * Daring Do and the Mystery of Flutter Valley, by Bowtie Whooves: Daring returns to Flutter Valley (last seen in Mark of the Trickster) to find that the Flutter Ponies have vanished.
 * Daring Do: Star Quest: By Gene Trottenberry: After Princess Luna returns, she uses her magic to pull some of Equestria's greatest adventurers from the halls of time. Aboard the New Explorer, Daring meets an entire crew of others much like herself, ready to make the journey where no pony has gone before, but what mystery, what danger awaits beyond the stars in this three-part epic of astronomical proportions?
 * Daring Do and the Plot Against the World: Daring is enlisted in the quest to stop an alien menace from destroying our world. But who pulls their strings?
 * Daring Do and the Defeat of Celestia: Inti zaps Lieutenant Commander Woof, the chief of security, into the final years of Princess Platinum's reign. Woof has either done something or failed to do something with the result that the timeline is horribly changed: not only does Discord rule the world, but there is now no stopping from destroying the galaxy. Chief Engineer LaHorse takes himself and Daring back in time and find that the alteration relates with a visionary stallion who ran a charity. A stallion with whom Daring finds herself in love.
 * Daring Do and the Cube of Horrors: A strange ship arrives above Equestria in order to spread a twisted parody of harmony.
 * Daring Do and the Sultan's Curse: While on a dig in Mareabia, Daring loses her wings to a mysterious stallion's alchemy.
 * Daring Do and the Curse of the Golden Key, by Gusty Lulamoon: Digging through some paleopony period sites in Brumbiland, several members of the expedition become possessed by an anachronistic artifact. Soon many others, including Outback Jack, are under the spell, and the entities behind the key mean to use Brumbiland as a springboard to Take Over the World.
 * Daring Do and the Wrath of Hammerhoof, by J. Thunderlane Hurricane, Jr.: Everypony's favorite Thinly Veiled Expy of Emperor Incitatus comes back as a Nightmare, and wants vengeance on Daring, Herpy, and Darren.

Pending:
 * Daring Do and the Amethyst Penguin, by Wingsong Set (due out this coming Summer Sun Celebration): While investigating a Blinkan ruin, Daring discovers a bird sculpture. What is Ahuizotl's interest in it?
 * Daring Do and the Purloined Stone, by Wysteria Roseluck (due out around this coming Running of the Leaves): All that is known so far is that an artifact Daring needs to stop Ahuizotl gets stolen by an Australopithecus troop.

There have been art books and collectible books dedicated to Daring Do under Polo House, Inc. High budget stage adaptions have been made based on the first four books with a fifth in the works starring Hairerion Trot in the title role. Fillywood also recently did a remastered rerelease of Sapphire Stone, but excessive use of the magic effects budget as well as several other changes has given it mixed reviews. There have also been several radio plays done for each book in the canon series as well as numerous lesser stage adaptations. For a short time, there was a comic book series by Mareval about the hero, but it was critically panned and only lasted ten issues. There is also an arcade machine called Daring Do and the Bauble of Mystery, but it isn't very good and is not canon in the slightest, although it has produced a number of in-jokes and memes in the Daring Do fandom.

For more information on this classic series of Equestrian literature,

Has a developing character sheet and a Famous Last Words list.

This Series contains examples of:
"Daring: I flew up to look for signs of the pirates like you suggested, but I didn't see anything noteworthy.
 * Action Mare: Who else but the eponymous pony herself?
 * Accidental Marriage: Stongly implied, but never made explicit. See Noodle Incident below.
 * Adaptation Decay: The inevitable result (to varying degrees) when the stories are brought to stage, radio, and comics. Some particularly picky ponies refuse to read or listen to any of the spinoffs.
 * Advanced Ancient Acropolis: The Ancient Pegasus cloud ruins of Cloudyon in Cloud-Held Eternity seem like this. It certainly has technology that would not be developed for centuries.
 * Adventurer Archaeologist: Daring Do. Quite possibly the most triumphant example in Equestrian literature.
 * The entire Do family has a history of it.
 * All Just a Dream:
 * Some parts of Cove of Candles are this...but which?
 * All Myths Are True: 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
 * All-Star Cast: The current Fillywood movie series has a large number of heavy hitter actors, like Sean Trottery, Bruce Campfire, Shia LaBuck, as well as international actors like Samuel L. Hawkson and David Bowwow.
 * Granted, not all the actors chosen were well received.
 * Aloof Big Sister: Derring-Do is this to Daring
 * 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 Death Trap and, instead, 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 it's more fun to struggle with her.
 * Subverted in Shrine of the Silver Monkey, when
 * Ambiguous Gender: Some books refer to Calypso as male while others, female.
 * Ambiguous Syntax:

Greens: Well maybe they're camouflaged. And don't call me Noteworthy!"

"Minuette:(Delighted, aside to Lyra.) No mask? No mask!"
 * An Alicorn Am I:
 * Alchemy Is Magic: This trope is played completely straight with Kibrit in Daring Do and the Sultan's Curse.
 * Anachronic Order
 * And I Must Scream: See Fate Worse Than Death below.
 * And the Adventure Continues: Every book except for the first (since it wasn't a series yet) and the Nightmare Moon arc.
 * Androcles Tyrannosaur: Near the end of The Valley of Grouchy,
 * Arc Number: In the Expanded Universe novel "The Skull of Ages", the recurring number is "twenty-nine"
 * Arc Words: 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 Dream Sequence. 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: 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.
 * 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
 * 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 Real Life "Temple of Nightmare Moon", in reality it was just Princess Luna's (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.
 * Ascended Extra: 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 Put On a Bus in Cove of Candles where Daring remarks that he is working on getting his own degree in Equestrian Economy. . 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 Expanded Universe
 * Ass in Ambassador: 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 smacks him over the head with his prosthetic tail.
 * Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: The eponymous Ring of the Marengeti is used to
 * Author Avatar: 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".
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: 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.
 * Batmare Gambit: After
 * Badass Andalusian: Bravado, and how!
 * For example, he fought off nine of Ahuizotl's Mooks using nothing more than his knowledge of the Venetian backstreets, a vegetarian stroganoff, and his mandolin.
 * Not to mention the fact he can hold his own against Daring in a fight, which is no small feat by any means.
 * Badass Bookworm: Daring, of course!
 * And Derring-Do as well.
 * For the majority of the series, Herpy only fit the "Bookworm" category - until his Big Damn Heroes 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 Beware the Nice Ones below.
 * Badass Bystander: Sea Shanty, see Memetic Badass.
 * Badass Family: The Dos. Unquestionably. Griffon's Goblet and Trials of Unity both showed how unstoppable this family can be when they come together.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Daring and Bravado, in spades!
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Kindly, forgiving Okpono takes on Ahuizotl when the latter threatens the U. Ahuizotl... doesn't fare too well.
 * Big Bad: Ahuizotl is this for the series as a whole, as he's often revealed to be the one 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 Dragon With an Agenda.
 * Inti was this in Legacy of Nightmare Moon
 * Various other villains take this role in the Expanded Universe books, among them being the Colt of the Smooze and Krastos.
 * Big Damn Heroes: 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... 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
 * Big Little Brother: Daring and Derring's younger brother Darrin. He appears to handle the logistics of the operation, while Daring and Derring do the actual adventuring.
 * Big "What?": Once per volume, and always by one of the main cast.
 * Played straight in the original canon series, not so much in modern interpretations.
 * Blind Alley: Dashing into one of these to escape a swarm of bees leads to Daring's Dungeon Bypass in Wooden Mask.
 * 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.
 * Body Horror:.
 * Bombproof Appliance: Daring protects herself from one of Inti's fireballs by hiding in a refrigerator.
 * Bond Villain Stupidity: 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 too bored if she wasn't around.
 * Booby Trap: Includes almost every variety under the sun and in at least one case, all of them at once. Including:
 * Rise to The Challenge
 * Spikes of Doom (see below)
 * The Walls Are Closing In
 * Animal Assassin of every kind imaginable: scorpions, snakes, spiders, you name it. It crawled out of walls of a trapped room.
 * Bound and Gagged: 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.
 * Brown Note: 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 Daring Escape no less.

"Roseluck: What? You're real?? I thought you were just a character in a book!
 * It is believed that this cursed play, when performed in its entirety, is a summoning ritual for, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Neighed.
 * From the Expanded Universe: 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.
 * Calling Card: The Chickerufus always paints an eye on the tent he visits, then comes back the next night for his dinner.
 * Canis Major:
 * Carnivore Confusion: 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. How the hay the former can feed the latter without risking the lives of their fellow plant-eaters is never brought up or explained.
 * Cash Cow Franchise: By far one of the best-selling book series in Equestria.
 * Casual Danger Dialog: 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.
 * Cats Are Mean: The Big Bad Ahuizotl's many minions are all cats.
 * Character Name and The Noun Phrase: Every book follows this pattern for titles.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Also, Herpy's knowledge of snakes.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: 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!
 * City of Adventure: Subverted, 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 abnormal, vivid detail. There are odd Meaningful Background Events 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.
 * Coachmare's Holiday: The Young novel Swords of the Sun.
 * Cock a Doodle Dawn
 * Comic Book Adaptation: 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 Ultimate Universe 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.
 * Comic Book Time: 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.
 * Convection Schmonvection: 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.
 * Cool Airship: The Explorer, loaned by the university, which carries Daring and Bravado around the globe in Staff of Star Swirl.
 * 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.
 * Cool Pet: Grouchy the T-rex, while not exactly a pet per se, is considered one by Daring and company.
 * The Corruption: The Wooden Mask. It does some...interesting things to Daring.
 * Covers Always Lie: The scene depicted on the cover of Sapphire Stone never actually happens in the book.
 * Creator Backlash: Kevin J. Canterson really hates Buffalo Burial Ground.
 * 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.

Daring Do: Real as the sun, Missy. Speaking of books, I did lose my journal a while back..."

"Daring: How much time do you spend thinking up these things?
 * 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 Shards of the Void has all three!
 * Curb Stomp Battle: 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.
 * Cute Witch: Mistress Spark, the Arkhoof artifact thief, complete with an enormous witch hat.
 * Darker and Edgier: 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 Once Per Episode for just one example of the more somber tone.
 * The Expanded Universe book Daring Do and the Coronet of Chaos, as it introduced Krastos, possibly one of the most evil characters in Equestrian history.
 * Daring Escape: Trope Namer, of course. The iconic scene comes from The Griffon's Goblit.
 * Daring Hat Roll: The Trope Namer. Averted in the first book. Played straight in most of the subsequent ones.
 * Daring Ploy: 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.
 * A Day in The Limelight: The first half of Ring of the Marengeti focuses quite heavily on Herpy.
 * As does The Wooden Mask, where, 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.
 * 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.
 * Deadpan Snarker: 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.
 * Dear Princess Celestia: What Have I Done?:
 * Daring when she learns what the wooden mask made her do.
 * Death Trap: 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 the spiked walls are closing in, while the room fills with spiders, cobras, and quicksand. They get even more over the top from there.
 * This was eventually lampshaded in Cove of Candles.

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!"

"Blinkamena: Can you teach me to do that somersault over the head.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Dei Ex Machina In Shrine of the Silver Monkey, ape gods Margarita and Balthasar come to Daring's rescue.
 * Do Not Do This Cool Thing: 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.

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."

"Daring: Yeah...Should have seen that one coming."
 * Doorstopper: Daring Do and the Ring of the Marengeti, sweet Celestia.
 * Do Wrong Right: In Legacy of Nightmare Moon, Professor Storm Talon catches Herpy trying to steal an airship to gather Daring's allies for a rescue, berates his for his theft... then shows him how to bypass the security measures.
 * Drama Preserving Handicap: 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.
 * 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.
 * Drunk On Milk: Diamond Dogs find chocolate delicious. And inebriating. And toxic.
 * Dungeon Bypass: 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.
 * Durable Deathtrap: 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.
 * Early Bird Cameo: Bravado turns up for single chapter in the Griffon's Goblet where he is perusing his own adventure that has nothing to do with Darrin'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..
 * It's believed that Mistress Spark's background appearances were intended to be Early Bird Cameos that never came to pass.
 * Early Installment Weirdness: 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.
 * Eldritch Abomination: The Great Beast of Chaos mentioned in Alicorn's Shadow. Krastos, Smooze and  from the Expanded Universe.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: Ahuizotl had one of these for two books before it was never mentioned again.
 * Enemy Mine: Several Expanded Universe works involve Daring Do and Ahuizotl teaming up to stop another villain from destroying the world with an Artifact of Doom, 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

"Just hurry up and stick it in already!"
 * Even Evil Has Standards: In the Expanded Universe book The Skull of Ages, Marshal 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.
 * Everything Is Better With Monkeys: The eponymous Shrine of the Silver Monkey has a primate based theme going for it. . Scary stuff.
 * Then the ancient ape gods Margarita and Balthasar come to her rescue
 * King Hammerhoof has the exact same species of ape that Margarita and Balthasar were supposed to be.
 * Evil Is Hammy: Another must have for the villains in this series. Ahuizotl is the most obvious example, though.
 * Exact Words: 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 Fate Worse Than Death below.
 * Professor Neighton, attempting to control  This is quickly and horribly subverted.
 * Exit, Pursued By a Bear: In Ring of the Marengeti, both griffon guards are dispatched in this way. Don't buck with sea lizards.
 * Expansion Pack Past: The Young Dering Do series is quickly becoming this.
 * Expy: Platinius from Griffon's Goblet is 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 The Miniature.
 * Fate Worse Than Death:
 * Fighting From the Inside:
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: 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.
 * Food Porn: The three paragraph long description of the grasses, herbs, and wildflowers in the Marengeti certainly got this tropony drooling!
 * Foreign Queasine: The griffon territories use a wide variety of meat-based dishes, which is sickening enough for most Equestrians. However, horse meat is considered a delicacy, which as the closest non-sentient relative to ponies, makes it particularly Squicky.
 * The chilled horse brain scene can be nauseating for first-time readers.
 * Fountain of Youth: Central to the plot of Cloud-Held Eternity.
 * The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: A part of The Cove of Candles has a plot twist turn out to be that certain events of the book . The thing is, the book never tells you which parts were and weren't.
 * Freudian Excuse: Ahuizotl gives one of these in Unity, about how he was neglected by his parents and abused by his many siblings.
 * Friendly Rival: 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.
 * Gambit Pileup: 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, 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.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Having a magical lock that can only be unlocked with your horn could be innocent by itself. However, the following line of dialogue HAS to be intentional.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Having a magical lock that can only be unlocked with your horn could be innocent by itself. However, the following line of dialogue HAS to be intentional.

"I see you're using your pay as wisely as ever, sister dear."
 * Also,

"Shifty Gaze: "I just want to make sure you know everything so we don’t run into any trouble."
 * Genius Bruiser: 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 handedly overpower all of Ahuizotl's minions in a straight up fight, and even landed a solid hit on the big man himself.
 * Genre Shift: Chapter 4, "Disappearance" in The Wooden Mask is much more Noir-like than the rest of the book, with Herpy aggressively trying to find any lead-ins to Daring.
 * Ghost Pirate
 * Gondor Calls for Aid: When Herpy in Temple Of Nightmare Moon.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: The pieces of Star Swirl's Staff.
 * Gratuitous Andalusian: Bravado occasionally slips into his mother tongue.
 * Most definitely a case of Everything Sounds Sexier In Andalusian. He even deliberately invoked this when pretending to flirt with Daring during that incident in Granoldia.
 * Great Offscreen War: The third Griffon-Diamond Dog War, which ended not long before the series is set.
 * Group Hug: Unity ends with the entire Do clan engaging in one.
 * Ham to Ham Combat: Ahuizotl vs. Bravado in Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded.
 * Haunted House: Normally a staple of such stories, this only comes up in about half of the books and two Cold Opens. Differing standards and practices for children's literature mean that their existence could only be implied in the Young Daring Do books.
 * Heh Heh You Said X: 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.
 * Hero of Another Story: Every time Bravado shows up  he is always doing something completely different from Daring, they always end up trading favors and (usual) part ways with a little flirting. Derring is also implied to be having her own adventures while not working with her sister.
 * Hijacked By Ganon: Daring Do and the Cove of Candles was originally played up as featuring a completely new antagonist, the of Blackmane. Guess who shows up two thirds of the way through as the real villain?
 * Really, this ends up happening in pretty much every book except Legacy of Nightmare Moon and Spear of the Windigos.
 * Played With 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.
 * 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.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard:
 * 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
 * In Cloud-Held Eternity, after Daring returns to her normal age and saves Shifty Gaze from the crumbling architecture of Cloudyon,
 * Howling to The Night
 * I'm An Equinitarian/I Ate What?: The evil baker 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 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.
 * Explain Explain Oh Horseapples: Daring notes that "That doesn't make any sense. There aren't any horses around here, only-- Hey! Where's ?"
 * And when
 * Impostor Reinie Has No Accent: In the Young Daring Do Expanded Universe book Return of the Fire of Friendship, Lady Blue-Blood noticed that did not  anymore, and investigated.
 * The Incitatus: King Hammerhoof in Platinum Crown. He is a clear expy of the historical Incitatus, right down making his pet ape a senator.
 * In the Blood: 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 Parental Abandonment.
 * In Medias Res: Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, the first novel of the series, starts off with, "As Daring Doo 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!
 * Insufferable Genius: 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)
 * Ironic Echo: 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?
 * Just Toying With Them: 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.
 * Kaiju: from Ring of the Marengeti
 * Karmic Death: . Sure, it was pretty nasty, but you can't say didn't deserve it.
 * Killed Off for Real: It seems that this was supposed to be the case for  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.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Occurs frequently.
 * From Cloud-Held Eternity:
 * Lampshade Hanging: Occurs frequently.
 * From Cloud-Held Eternity:

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.""

"Darrin: Can't you stop the floor with your hat or something!"
 * Large Ham: Several characters, but Ahuizotl is the most prominent
 * Lighter and Softer: Shrine of the Silver Monkey, most likely as an Author's Saving Throw after the Darker and Edgier Temple of Nightmare Moon and the lukewarm response to Legacy of Nightmare Moon. It's generally considered a return to form for the series.
 * Living Statue: The titular character in the Expanded Universe story Daring Do and the Obsidian Sentinel.
 * Lost World: The eponymous Valley of Grouchy.
 * Lovable Rogue: Bravado, Daring's on-and-off love interest, is certainly this. He can be quite the goofball.
 * MacGuffin: Once an Episode. Whatever treasure Daring Do is currently seeking to recover is essentially one of these
 * MacGuffin Delivery Service:
 * MacGuffin Title: Yup.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Made of Evil: The eponymous Wooden Mask.
 * Made of Indestructium: Daring's hat. It's been shot, thrown, crushed, and once time even set on fire, yet still sits proudly atop her head.
 * Lampshaded in Shrine of the Silver Monkey:

"[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."
 * 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.
 * Manipulative Bastard: 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.
 * Market-Based Title: 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.
 * Minored In Plot Kicking: Daring Do.
 * Mood Whiplash: After  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." He gets yelled at for making light of the situation given what happened to , but is quickly forgiven because he was getting lightheaded from the stab wound Mrs. Hoovett gave him, and thus wasn't thinking completely straight.
 * Mr. Exposition: 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.
 * Mundane Wish: 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.
 * Never Found the Body: Earth Song in Obsidian Sentinel was never found after the cyclone,
 * Nice Hat: 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.
 * Ninja: The Night Wings in Griffon's Goblet.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: 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.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: 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, the Windigos will probably return), however the (then era) Wonderbolts are mentioned by name occasionally and Princess Celestia appears in person several times.
 * No Name Given: 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.
 * Non-Action Stallion: 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.
 * Non-Malicious Monster:
 * Noodle Incident: The Squid Beak Clipper Caper.
 * Bravado begins to mention to Herpy an adventure he had with Daring in Lyrland involving 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':

""...We're bucked.""
 * Don't ask Ahuizotl what happened in Fillydelphia three years ago. You'll only get thrown in the dungeon.
 * Apparently it involved a burrito and him being on the run from Canterlot.
 * Not Even Bothering With the Accent: 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.
 * Not in Front of The Parrot: 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.
 * Obviously Evil: 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.
 * Odd Name Out: Most of the griffons have Badass sounding names, but Platinius has a periodic table based name. Justified as such names are actually more common.
 * Oddball in The Series: 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.
 * Off Hoof Back Hoof: Professor Storm Talon nailing Ambassador Hawkwings with his 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 with only her wing.
 * Sea Shanty's Frying Pan of Doom can seek out those who serve evil, even when its master cannot sea them.
 * Old Dark House
 * Once Per Episode: Daring defeating a trap with her hat. It's frequently joked by fans that Ahuizotl would win instantly if he just took it away from her.
 * The above brutally subverted in Nightmare Moon. When Daring tossed her hat, the fandom sat back and waited for the usual awesome to unfold.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Laurentia of the Red Mane in Temple of Nightmare Moon. Stress on "Wonder".
 * Sweeney Trot from Staff of Star Swirl is an evil two-scene wonder. He gets a group of ponies to help him make cupcakes, and said ponies are never seen or heard from again.
 * One Steve Limit: 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 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.
 * The Only One: 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.
 * Only Smart Ponies May Pass: Many of the traps Daring overcomes require figuring out a riddle.
 * 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.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: 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.
 * Parental Abandonment: Daring is hinted to have essentially been raised by her big sister after their parents went missing while hunting down the Platinum Crown..
 * Perspective Flip: 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.
 * Phantom Thief: 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. A pity is this all second-hand information and all she's done in the narrative is stalk Daring around the city.
 * Pinball Projectile: Daring's hat is quite often used as this, would be a Precision Guided Boomerang, except it never actually comes back on its own.
 * Except in
 * Pirate Booty: The MacGuffin of Cove of Candles.
 * The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: 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 . It's also implied that   had them working themselves to death in order to get more treasure for the stash.
 * Proud Warrior Race: The tribesponies of Kuhestan are portrayed as this in Expanded Universe audio drama Daring Do and the Helm of Bucephalus.
 * The Marabian Pegasi in The Sultan's Curse.
 * Power Trio: The Do siblings. Daring/Id, Derring/Superego, Darrin/Ego.
 * Precision B Strike: Daring almost never swears, going through most of the series with hardly a 'darn'. Then, when ...
 * Precision B Strike: Daring almost never swears, going through most of the series with hardly a 'darn'. Then, when ...

""Tell... Okpono... I'm..." Daring was sure the last word was "sorry", but it was really quiet. Then Deborus Mane Nagridge was gone."
 * Pre-Plotkicking One-Liner: Before completely owning the super Diamond Dogs, Laurentia of the Red Mane says "Meow".
 * Quicksand Sucks
 * Red Herring: 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.
 * Reality Subtext: There actually is a Royal Canterlot University Department of Equinology, but with considerably fewer action mares undercover as employees.
 * Redemption Equals Death: Likely Nagridge.


 * Red Pony, Blue Pony: Bravado is the red to Daring's blue, but Daring is the red to Derrin's blue.
 * From Goblet, Ambassador Hawkwings and Platinius.
 * Right-Hand-Cat: Though Ahuizotl has a large variety of cats, it's the small white kitten Ripper that fits this roll.
 * Rule of Pool: 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.
 * Running Gag: In every book except the first and the fifteenth, Daring Do is introduced teaching a class and is invariably 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.
 * Bravado having found a Mundane Solution to a trap or puzzle Daring nearly broke her back over.
 * Someone asking Ahuizotl about what happened in Fillydelphia three years ago... and being promptly thrown in the dungeon.
 * Scooby Doo Hoax:
 * Secret Test of Character:  in Cove of Candles.
 * She Knows Too Much: Why King Mayhem kills.
 * 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.
 * Ship Tease: Daring and Bravado, most heavily in The Staff Of Star Swirl. Herpy and Daring in The Ring of Marengeti.
 * Shout Out: 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 Shout Out to the legend of Eureka. Unfortunately, they're both the same density..
 * Some of the Expanded Universe works contain overt references to H.P. Hoofcraft's Dirge of Discord series.
 * Shown Their Work: Surprisingly, Zebra culture is depicted rather accurately.
 * Gusty Lulamoon, author of two Expanded Universe novels, is an equinologist specializing in the paleopony period, and it shows in her writing.
 * Sibling Rivalry: Oh Celestia, is there ever.
 * Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying: While the dinosaurs of The Valley Of Grouchy are surprisingly accurate in terms of anatomy (including feathered raptors), they are obviously millions of years and thousands of miles out of place. Also, mammoths and saber-toothed "tigers."
 * Somewhere a Mammalogist Is Crying: In Sapphire Stone. Rats aren't predators? Oatwell knew better; the threat of hungry rats is how Whinnyston Smith is made to give up.
 * Spell My Name With an "S": Mahavir/Mahiavar of the Expanded Universe Also Daring, her sister Derring, and to a lesser degree their younger brother, Darrin.
 * Spikes of Doom: 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.
 * Spot the Impostor: The Young Daring Do Expanded Universe novel Return of the Fire of Friendship
 * Super Serum: Ahuizotl's unicorn serum in Temple of Nightmare Moon.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Frequently done in the expanded universe comic series. Lampshaded on a few occasions by Herpy.
 * Throw It In: The second book in the series contained a minor character named Harpy. However, his name was misspelled as Herpy, and fans latched onto that spelling and embraced the silly pony. Later on, Herpy returned as a major character.
 * Team Pet: Calypso, Daring's purple macaw. However, he's usually kept at the university while Daring is adventuring.
 * The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: 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.
 * The Stars Are Going Out: Part way through the Star Quest Trilogy, something causes the stars to blink out of existence.
 * Tickle Torture: Used by Ahuizotl to get Daring Do to reveal the location of the treasure in Cove of Candles. It doesn't work.
 * Title Confusion: 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.
 * The Trickster: Anasazi.
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore: 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.
 * 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 Brown Note above).
 * Tyrannosaurus Rex: Grouchy.
 * Ultimate Universe: As mentioned above under Comic Book Adaptation. 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, and the Do siblings' father will be the still-missing parent, rather than their mother.
 * The Unpronounceable: 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.
 * The Watson: Herpy often is the one in this role.
 * Unwilling Roboticisation: An ability of the eponymous artifact of the Expanded Universe story The Curse of the Golden Key.
 * Villain Song: A number of stage adaptations give Ahuizotl one of these
 * Villainous Breakdown: Ahuizotl goes through these once a book.
 * "Well Done, Daughter" Pony: In Griffon's Goblet, Daring discovers
 * Wham Episode: Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded has the murder of.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Sometimes characters will over react to seemingly mundane things -- often when they know something that the rest of the characters haven't learned, yet.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: The crazy pony insisting that no pony should play ping pong may be on to something....
 * What Do You Mean Its Phlebotinum: Some of the MacGuffins were finally found out in plain sight, and one such turns out to be an Artifact of Doom.
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: 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.
 * What You Are in The Dark: 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."
 * Who Is This Guy Again?: Many villains can't remember who Darrin is when meeting him again, and even forget his name after a clear reintroduction just moments ago!
 * Worthy Opponent: Ahuizotl comes to consider Daring Do one of these. The feeling is not mutual.
 * Xanatos 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. 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.
 * 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 Invulnerable, the treasure doesn't destroy him, but it still teleports him far away where he can't immediatley threaten the Do Sisters.
 * You Have Failed Me: Ahuizotl. Failing him is not an option.
 * Zombie Apocalypse: The backstory for the sought-after artifact in one volume, and the (unsuccessful) threat made by the antagonist in another.