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mlpdestinyverse · 6 years ago

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Destinyverse: Daring Do

A look at Destinyverse’s version of Daring and her backstory!

“My work always involves secrets. And since you never know who you can trust, it's best never to trust anypony."

(Very Long) Summary Under The Cut!

- Daring Do was born within the eastern village of Lokai, most popularly known for being the village the hero Mistmane originated from ((which was canonically inspired by asian culture)). She was born under the name “Astelia Kerria Yearling”. Lokai is a village of beauty and it’s not uncommon for foals to be named after flowers and other wonders of nature. Astelia in particular, however, had the last name of “Yearling” passed down by her mother, who had been an outsider from the west.

- Astelia never knew her parents and was never told what had happened to them. All she knows is that she was directly taken in by her strict grandparents. They didn’t seem particularly fond of her, as if she were a mere obligation compared to the rest of her extended family. Not even her high academic achievements seemed to impress them much. The filly eventually decided that it was partly due to her being the first pegasus in their magical unicorn family line. - Her grandparents were incredibly old-fashioned ponies who strongly believed in tradition. Because of this, they had a specific idea of how growing fillies should be; meek, well-mannered and tidy, writers of elegant poetry or painters of still-life, like many of the elderly mares. They held all of the fillies and mares in their family to this standard. But psssSSSHHH, screw that, right? Astelia had a headstrong, witty, and fearless personality. She was independent. Spontaneous. Daring. She loved blindly throwing herself head first into anything exciting or challenging (hello free-falling from a cloud to test her flight skills. Also hello to tracking down a wild boar), no matter how intimidating or dangerous it seemed to others. More often than not, her grandparents had to reign her in and scold her for her reckless and far too bold behavior. Irritatingly enough, she was even considered a “trouble child” within her family. Then again, no one in her family knew how to handle a speedy, spirited pegasus like herself. - Astelia loved flying off to explore the nearby forests and pretend she was adventuring. She was imaginative and was inspired by the adventure-themed books she would read in the town’s library, which was full of donated books gathered from all across Equestria. Eventually she began writing down a diary of her own adventures, throwing in her wild daydreams to make her stories way more exciting. She would have her younger cousins read her writings, and their interest only spurred her on to write more. She even thought that maybe she could earn her cutie mark this way. - Unfortunately, her grandparents disapproved of her overactive imagination, believing it fed her dangerous ideas and would encourage even more unrefined behavior. They tried monitoring what she read, keeping her from running off outside the village, and even forced her into taking flower-arranging classes while squeezing her into tight dress wear of their choice. But as long as she had paper, she could secretly write down all of her ideas. It wasn’t until her secret writings were discovered and torn up in front of her by her controlling guardians that Astelia had enough of being held back. The next chance she got, the adolescent silently packed up her things and ran off, deadset on freely forging her own path. Because she planned on leading a new adventurous life, Astelia decided to discard her fancy name in favor of one that actually fit her; “Daring Do”. Because she knew she was willing to tackle anything, no matter the challenge or odds. ...it might’ve taken her a week to come up with the name, but you know. - Fortunately for Daring, she had a pretty great sense of direction! Unfortunately for Daring, she knew diddly squat about survival skills. After weeks of trekking, attempts at foraging (and getting sick five too many times), and numerous close-calls with wild bears and coyotes, Daring began questioning if she was really capable of making it on her own. Even doing odd jobs in the towns she passed through didn’t really earn her much to get by. And then she met the professor. The middle aged pegasus mare was pretty annoyed when she found this skinny, fluffed up mess of a young mare clinging to the roof of her cottage. But she did feel slightly impressed to find out Daring had been surviving on her own and had just managed to escape the clutches of a jaguar. The professor never gave her name. All Daring really got to learn about her was that she was a recluse (grumpy) historian who owned a lot of books and liked writing papers. But what the prof did offer Daring was an opportunity to learn how to hone her survival skills; if she helped with all of the mare’s chores and errands that is (oh how the prof hated going into town. Socializing. Ugh…). The professor was a pretty pessimistic, indifferent pony, but over the course of a few months, the two managed to respect and grow on each other. Well, if you consider throwing sassy (yet somewhat fond) jabs at each other ‘respect’. - The professor offered Daring a slew of information; books on the safest berries to forage and their locations in the region, books on the local animals. Heck, the prof gave a few lessons on basic self defense (slimy thieves weren't uncommon. And you might have to bop a snake in the snoot every once in a while). But there was one book in particular that captured Daring’s interest. It was a historic book with a special combination lock, filled with pages upon pages of information on ancient relics, old ruins, and ancient prophecies. While the book faciated Daring, the prof shrugged it off, explaining that she had gotten the book at a market over a year ago. After cracking the code, she was disappointed to find it was simply filled with exaggerated myths and legends. After all, since when could chunks of metal have the power to create eternal night and sink a whole town? Pft. Well, even if was a work of fiction, it was definitely Daring’s favorite book in the prof’s collection. - Daring was still a young and trusting mare at the time. So when a trio of ponies politely approached her in hopes of locating a local historian, intent on gathering information on an item they were writing a paper for, Daring didn’t think too much about it. In fact, she recognized the drawing of the item! It was in the professor’s book! Maybe she wasn’t sure whether her loner of a mentor would like company or not, but who was she to turn away ponies that she could actually help? However, she came to regret her decision upon returning to the cottage. The ponies she guided abruptly tried (and failed) to knock her out and in moments were tearing up the house. In her daze she remembered hearing shouting. She remembered seeing the ponies dragging off a tied-up professor, the relic book in hoof, and running with reckless abandon. At first Daring froze, still processing the robbery and kidnapping. But upon realizing her mentor could be in danger, courage welled up within the young mare and Daring quickly trailed them. At first she tried to locate them from the sky, but after a moment of realization, she used the ground to follow their hoofprints and broken branches. - Trailing and eavesdropping led Daring to some old ruins, where she would for the first time meet Ahuizotl. Apparently the creature had hired pony-help to scout and capture the great Book of Relics that the professor was unlucky enough to get involved with. After threatening the mare, he was able to get the code needed to open the ancient book and gain access to all the information he’d ever need on every artifact. At that moment, Ahuizotl used the newfound information to unleash his latest artifact. Daring firsthand got to witness its great power as the sky was filled with dark, powerful storm clouds that could flood the whole land. Within seconds, the heavens unleashed heavy sheets of rain, drenching Daring to the bone. -While Ahuizotl was distracted with his villainous speech, Daring managed to sneak in and untie the professor. Too bad Ahuizotl’s big cats are never too far from him and Ahuizotl had no more use for the professor and some wannabe kid. Daring soon found herself surrounded Yet, as one of Ahuizotl’s cats lunged at her, a ferocity she never knew she had within emerged. Maybe it was adrenaline, or determination, but Daring bucked and stomped and sunk her teeth into fur and skin like never before. In all the chaos, not only did Daring find an opening for the professor to escape, but Ahuizotl’s smallest kitty managed to catapult right into his face. Daring took the chance to drop kick the giant blue ape-dog and snatch up both the amulet and the book before dashing off. As she and the professor flew through the flooding temple, Daring flipped through the book’s pages and was able to solve the riddle needed to deactivate the relic. And luckily for her, the rising water was able to slow down Ahuizotl and his water-deterred felines, allowing her and her mentor to escape. - Running as far away from the temple as possible, Daring was frazzled and panicked. The stories were real. The curses, the dungeons, the powers, all of it. And that giant mutt almost drowned out a whole nation and thousands of innocent ponies with just one of these relics. Daring didn’t think twice. Ahuizotl had scoured through numerous pages of the book before she had arrived and stepped in. He said it himself in his speech; he now knew the locations of a dozen more relics. And if she and prof didn’t get to them first, then well...she couldn’t even imagine what would happen to Equestria. The professor, however, had other ideas; just burn the cursed book and walk far, far away. She was just a historian after all. All she wanted was to study in peace. She had no business facing criminals who nearly tried to kill her just for having a single book. No, she wanted none of that nonsense. And if Daring knew what was best for her, she suggested the filly should think of herself. Daring was shocked. The professor had seen for herself the destruction a single artifact could cause, how could she leave this be without batting an eye? Daring tried arguing, pleading even for the professor to just work with her. But the professor had made up her mind. And if Daring wasn’t going to listen and wanted to risk her life being some hero, then she wasn’t going to stop her. Daring had already demonstrated that she had what it took. - The two parted without any farewells. Daring had never felt so frustrated and betrayed and bitter, being left to process her new knowledge and shoulder the sense of responsibility by herself. So on that day it was settled; she didn’t need help. Her naive mistake already proved to her that she couldn’t trust just anypony. She swore to herself that she could take care of things alone, for her protection and the protection of everypony. In that moment, her resolve to protect the land and secure the relics earned Daring her cutie mark. Daring matured over the years, becoming tougher and rougher with every quest. - Daring used the Book of Relics as a checklist and guide of sorts. Sure, it didn’t have all the fine details to help her locate her artifacts, but it gave enough information to push her in the right direction. From there, information from locals or the nearest libraries helped create a clearer path. Sightings and talk of wild cats or an unknown blue creature usually helped Daring know what relic to target first. - As if Ahuizotl wasn’t already a hoof-full, eventually Dr. Caballeron came into the picture. After Daring turned down his greedy offer to work as her partner so they could sell relics and share the profits, the stallion turned on her. Daring then found herself with a target on her back as Dr. Caballeron used her trail to help lead him to the priceless artifacts he so desired. It was then that Daring began disguising herself and decided to have a secluded base away from society. - During her down time, whenever she needed to rest and recuperate, Daring found herself writing again. Then the craziest idea went through her head; wouldn't it be cool if she published her stories and her adventures managed to inspire kids? Just like her when she was young...she couldn’t have anypony know all of it was real, though, cause who knew how many other grubby hooves wanted unspeakable power. So after finding a publisher and a cover artist, Daring published her first book. But that meant putting down a different name for the author. So why not just shorten a name she already knew? And thus, the author A.K. Yearling made a name for herself, completely changing the adventure genre as ponies knew it. ------------------ Afterstory:

- When she reflected on it, Daring actually felt pretty touched when Rainbow Dash had chosen to stick with her and help out during their first adventure together, despite how harsh and unwelcoming Daring had been. Without a doubt, the excitable goof grew on her. Through Rainbow's efforts, Daring learned to put down her walls and open herself up to other ponies again. Then came the quest that led her to a gruesome wing injury, forcing her to hole herself up in her cottage until she could recover. The results for her wing’s state looked grim, and as criminals ran freely, Daring found herself at her lowest. What would happen if Daring Do retired…? Who was she then? -Rainbow supported her through these dark days, and even offered to take over her work until Daring healed up and could get back into it. Daring acted as support during these days, doing all the necessary research and secret reconnaissance to give Rainbow the information she would need to act. The two found themselves working together as a great team. Daring decided to use these adventures for a new arc in her books, determined to tell the tale of Rainbow’s strength and loyalty (under an alias, of course; Spectrum Storm). - Whether working together to take down a criminal or simply lazing together after a long day, Daring and Rainbow Dash grew closer than ever before. Even when there was no mission, Rainbow would frequently visit Daring after Wonderbolts practice just to check up on her and make sure her spirits were still up. Daring greatly appreciated Rainbow’s attempts at being there for her during these dark, melancholy days. Although it was a little scary, she felt she could truly let her guard down and depend on her friend. Feelings and tension started to build within Daring, something she felt nervous and incredibly embarrassed over. It didn’t help how flippin OBLIVIOUS Rainbow was. Stupid dorky pegasus, being stupidly cute and stupidly attractive with her dumb, charming grin and- UGH. WELL, turned out Rainbow had feelings for Daring for a long while. It just took some time to realize “wait shit, I’m in love with her, O H”. - After months of recovery, it was finally concluded that Daring’s wing would never be able to fully heal and would permanently affect her flight. Thankfully, Daring was prepared and was able to come to peace with herself. She decided it was probably time to just retire as an adventurer, believing she’d only be endangering herself (and others) by forcing herself to go up against criminals and crumbling dungeons in her new state. At first she planned on finding somepony who’d be willing to take her place and continue where Rainbow left off, but Rainbow Dash immediately waved the very idea away by volunteering to take over permanently. Cause well, that meant she could keep working alongside Daring. And that’s where she wanted to be anyway.. Daring was a flustered (but touched) mess of feathers, to say the least. Eventually these two dummies got married and had two fluffy, hard-headed kiddos together. -------------------- Extra: -Daring still goes by A.K. Yearling in public, but since “Daring Do” was such a prominent part of her, she considers it her true name. Rainbow has come to call her Daring and Dare when they’re alone.

-For her interviews as A.K., Daring made up all the information about where she grew up and where she studied literature. However, there’s a possibility she eventually wrote a prequel to her Daring Do series, revealing ‘Daring Do’s’ backstory. Her backstory, of course. -Daring eventually did return to Lokai. Surprisingly her family was overjoyed to see her alive and healthy, but there was also the disappointment that well...she didn’t come back before her grandparents had passed away. Daring felt some guilt over this, but decided to make up the lost time by getting to know everyone again. Luckily not everypony was stuffy like her late grandparents, and many were genuinely interested in her adventures. Dare visits every once in a while and has brought along Monochrome and Venture Gale once or twice. -Thanks to Daring’s numerous near-death experiences, Daring tends to get nervous over every little thing that could possibly hurt her babies. It sure took a lOOOT of coaxing to convince her that Rainbow Dash could look out for their son on their quests together.

I was never into the idea that Rainbow and Daring were secret relatives. When I acknowledged that, I was like "...I could make a next gen with these two...". And that's how Monochrome came to be. Then when I drew Daring for the first time in 'Admirer', I really liked how she looked and it made me think about how cool it'd be if she were, in our world, asian or part asian. So then I developed this backstory for her. Just two more things; don’t think too hard about the professor and who she is. She just seemed detached enough as a concept that it made sense that a name would not be established. I don’t imagine the two meeting again. Secondly; I actually can’t settle on what happened to Daring’s parents. So that part is free for interpretation! Maybe they died, maybe they eloped and left baby Daring behind. Who knows.

#Destinyverse #Daring Do #A.K. Yearling #my little pony #mlp #mlp art #story

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pixiedustanddragons-blog · 8 years ago

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The True Peter Pan

For the majority of this internal I wanted to lowkey ignore Pan’s dark side and just focus on him as a character. However I came to realise that this eerie backstory of his fit in too well with character development that I just couldn’t leave it out.

Unlike Hiccup, Peter doesn’t have an in-depth introduction, in fact, we don’t really see him until about 6:16 into the film and only then is it just a glimpse. But like all movies and characters, there are narrative features that apply to them. So for Peter, I’ll be discussing two.

Character Representation

Setting

Character Representation

The beauty of Peter is that he is extremely hard to figure out, yet so evidently simple. He has a basic mindset and goal in play: to never grow up and to forever have fun. You’d think that a boy who comes along and relieves children from the worries of adulthood and whisks them away to a world where imagination runs wild, would be a rather cute story. But as you grow up, the realisation of what it actually sounds like, is quite morbid.

But is it okay since Pan is just a child? Having him be portrayed as a näive boy takes away the creepy side to it all. Biologically he’d be hundreds of years old, yet physically he appears fourteen, mentally even younger. A type of innocence in that he doesn’t know what’s right from wrong. Living in a world of make believe.

In all versions of Peter Pan, it’s actually Wendy who is the protagonist. Peter can be considered both helper and a false hero in this movie, which is an unlikely occurrence.

Helper: Pan takes great care in defending Wendy from the grasp of Hook and his crew. Also helps Wendy to fulfil her wish of eternal youth for she doesn’t want to grow up. Until of course she realises it’s a necessity of life.

False Hero: (Slight spoiler alert) in which when Peter is willing to kill his Lost Boys in order to please Wendy, or when Wendy declares she might become a pirate, Peter immediately turns on her and attempts to end her life too. He is very set in stone in his opinions, anyone who dares oppress those opinions faces harsh consequences. And of course my repeated comment about how he c o e r c e s children, particularly boys because they are not smart enough to know he’s a tad dodgy, out of their homes, takes them away to a mythical land and sprinkles them in strange dust to get them to fly-...

But I have no beef with Peter, I think his character is cool and how various companies represent him is quite intriguing. The way in which he speaks sounds extremely advanced for his age.

As for how he’s physically represented, the traditional foliage outfit, messy hair, dirty palmed look only broadcasts to us that he doesn’t exactly live in a clean environment. Typically showing off the shaggy look, he fits in well with his persona. Adventuring allows no time to clean up after oneself.

Mentally and Emotionally, he very much follows make-believe at any given cost. In the movie, Wendy and himself play Mother and Father to John, Michael and the Lost Boys. As a ‘girl’ would, Wendy actually begins to develop real feelings for Peter, whilst he is only faking that love towards her in order to carry on the fairytale. However we soon come to find that this staunch boy is actually capable of sprouting feelings also. The stories that he listens to Wendy tell, all end happily with the main character finding true love; (e.g. Cinderella, Snow White). At a certain point in the movie, Captain Hook finds this information out and uses it against Peter to weaken his foe, shocked himself that Pan is capable of feeling. It seems that he’s only focused on one task at hand, to never grow up. And emotions in his book, are a very grown up thing.

Setting

This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of Peter Pan, not only because Neverland is his signature home, but it also influences his mindsets. When away from the fantasy world of his, we can see he is rather reserved, perhaps uncomfortable. He isn’t quite free to do what he pleases. When ‘collecting’ the lost boys or the Darling family, he tries to hurriedly usher them out. He’s also rather forgetful on the mainland, not remembering names of Wendy’s brothers after only mere moments of meeting them.

However in Neverland, he is greatly respected and loved by all, aside from the Pirates of course. The weather changes when he is there, turns warmer. Flowers blossom and fairies always rush to greet him. Whenever he leaves, the world turns colder, rains a lot more and the ocean slowly freezes over. Noticeably we can see how smug and proud he is to possess ultimate power over a place such as this. He knows that he can practically get away with anything in Neverland, such as banishing people and killing without complaints.

It is quite possible that Peter constantly seems himself as the King of his own fairytale, being able to do what he pleases with no one objecting. Not once does he believe that Wendy will ever disagree with his actions, but there is conflict between the two throughout the film. After realising that growing up isn’t such a bad thing after all, Wendy tries to convince Pan just that. Although in the end he ends up releasing them from his supervision, yet he himself stays in Neverland, we can see the setting physically changing around them through their different stages together.

Such as when Hook slices Peter’s neck, the sky turns grey. But when Wendy kisses him moments after as a farewell, he comes back stronger than ever in brilliant shades of pinks and yellows. Never verbally does he express how he is truly feeling, but Neverland presents those feelings to us on his behalf.

The below video shows an example of this, where Peter believes Tinkerbell to be dead. Around him we can see how dark the world turns, but as she is brought back to life, the sun suddenly shines and the lighting turns significantly brighter.

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He’s such a difficult character to study, why did I have to pick him-...

#Peter Pan #Jeremy Sumpter #Wendy Darling #Peter Pan 2003 #Media Studies #PetersProject #Disney #Movie Analysis

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