Just like you had planned, you had been reading Daring Do all the way up until sleep called. You couldn't stay awake much longer, so made your way to your bedroom.

You said goodnight to Twilight and Spike, before closing your door and sliding into your bed.

Like always, it didn't feel like you were asleep for very long, as you woke up after what felt like 10 minutes. Of course, it hadn't really been 10 minutes, as in reality it had been a few hours atleast.

You weren't quite sure why you were awake, as the moonlight still shone through your window. It was the middle of the night, so there was no point in trying to stay awake.

Closing your eyes, you felt sleep nearing once again. You were thinking about Rainbow Dash's birthday, and that thought had begun to transition into a dream.

You were at Sugarcube Corner, and you were giving Rainbow Dash her gift. It seemed like it made her happy, and she opened her mouth to talk.

Slam!

Instead of her voice, you heard a loud groan and the sound of something hitting something else. That was enough to awaken you from your dream, which didn't really please you as it was one of the few peaceful dreams you had in Equestria.

You shot up in your bed, holding yourself up with your forelegs, listening for the cause of the sound.

It didn't repeat, but you notice something that you hadn't before. There was a faint light creeping underneath your door, faintly illuminating the hallway outside.

The light was coming from downstairs.

Not again, you thought. This was almost exactly how your encounter with that nightmare thing had began when you were sick.

Cautiously getting out of bed, you crossed your room and approached the door.

Opening it even slower, you crept out into the hallway to see where the light was coming from. Sure enough, the light was coming from downstairs.

The library was entirely illuminated, as if it was still the middle of the day. That wasn't the only thing coming from downstairs, though. The sound of scribbling and pages turning also followed.

Now convinced that this was reality, and not some nightmare realm, you slowly made your way down the stairs.

The first thing you saw upon reaching the bottom was a sleeping Spike slouching on one of the couches. If Spike was still downstairs, then that meant that Twilight was too. And if Spike was asleep, then that meant that Twilight was the cause of the sound that had woken you up.

Sure enough, the next thing you saw was Twilight sat at her desk with a quill levitating besides her. In front of her was an open book that she seemed to be writing in.

"Twilight?" you said, causing her to instinctively turn around out of fear. She didn't make a sound, but she seemed a little startled by your sudden appearance.

"Oh, hey, Storm!" she said, seeming a little relieved to find that nopony had broken into the library while she was distracted, "What're you doing up?"

You could ask her exactly the same thing, and that was what you did.

"More like what're you doing up?" you said, approaching her desk to see what she was working on.

"I was just working on my gift for Rainbow Dash!" she explaining, turning back to the book and scribbling down a few words.

"In the middle of the night?" you asked, curious as to why she was doing this now rather than in the day when she is supposed to be awake.

"Sure! The night is one of the best times to work on things alone!" she said, continuing to scrall more words into her book, before flipping the page.

Now getting a closer look at the book, you still couldn't quite make out much of what was on it. Either the writing was too small, or your pony form's eyesight wasn't as good as your human's.

"So what is it?" you asked, suddenly realising that you might've sounded a bit too demanding, "If you don't mind telling me, I mean."

Twilight dropped the quill that she was holding, and got up from the chair that she was sat at in order to give you a better look at her project.

"It's my very own Daring Do book!" she said, enthusiastically.

You had to admit, this wasn't what you were expecting. You had only been here a month, but you still knew that Twilight usually gave Rainbow Dash a book that she already owns for her birthday. Writing her own book was quite a step up.

"Woah! That's awesome, Twilight!" you exclaimed, finally getting to read a few of the words that were on the page.

Twilight's enthusiastic smile suddenly deteriorated into a nervous grin, followed by an even more nervous laugh.

"But I'm having some trouble keeping Daring Do in character..." she said, rubbing one of her front legs with the other.

"I'm sure it's not that bad!" you said, taking a seat at the desk. You looked down at the page, eager to see the events that Twilight had came up with.

-

Daring Do approached the library, the sky nothing but a blank grey canvas. Nopony had been to this corner of Equestria in a very, very long time.
Nopony dared enter the lost city, for it was a cursed place that none returned from. Even worse, the library had not been restocked in over a decade!

The eerie silence of the lost city created an unnerving atmosphere, but Daring Do pressed on, determined to find the legendary book of cooking recipes that was hidden deep within the library.

Entering the silent library, there wasn't a soul in sight. Cobwebs filled the corners of the grand hall, but even worse than that, rows and rows of empty bookshelves lined the halls!
How was Daring Do ever going to find the legendary cookbook here?

-

You stared the story blankly, not quite sure what to make of it.

"Well, what do you think?" Twilight asked, giving you an eager grin.

You didn't want to hurt her feelings, but this wasn't exactly the ideal Daring Do story. While traditional Daring Do stories had her breaking into temples and fighting skeletons, this one had her panicking over the lack of books in a library.

While it did feel very Twilight Sparkle, it didn't feel very Daring Do.

"It's good," you began, not wanting to start with criticism, "But I think some more adventure would make it even better!"

To your surprise, Twilight didn't seem to take offence. If anything, she saw it as an opportunity to improve the story to make it as good as it can be.

"I thought about doing that, but I'm not sure how I can make something adventurous out of a library." she said, as you moved off of the chair, allowing Twilight to sit back at her desk.

"It's an abandoned library, right?" you said, seeing this as a chance to help her improve her story. One thing you were good at on Earth was your creativity.

Twilight simply responded with a 'yeah', and with that, many ideas started flooding into your head.

"So how about, skeletons swarm the inside of the library, all of which were once residents of the lost city." you suggested, proud of what you had came up with.

"Too overdone." Twilight said with a frown.

"Maybe the Headless Horse could be hiding in there?" you said, remembering that the Headless Horse was quite a popular horror story, especially around Ponyville.
Not only that, but it was bound to give Rainbow Dash a few scares considering she was scared of the creature, at first.

"That'd be a crossover, and they don't really end well." Twilight said with a sigh.

You gave her a frown, already out of ideas. It wasn't like you to run out of ideas this quickly, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was the middle of the night.

Slam!

Twilight slammed her face into the desk with another loud groan. How that didn't wake Spike up, you had no idea.

"I'm never gonna get this finished on time for Rainbow's birthday!" Twilight exclaimed with horror.

You looked deep in thought for a moment, and one final idea came to mind.

"I've got one more idea, but... It's a little more complex." you said, seeming to catch her attention. Her ears perked up and she turned fully in your direction.

You could tell that she wanted to hear it, so you didn't wait for an answer.

"Maybe the library can be filled with mythical creatures that were created by a legendary book that is found deep in the centre of the library. The book acts as a prison for tormented souls, allowing all that are held within its pages to break free into Equestria!" you suggested with great enthusiasm.

At first, Twilight looked at you as if attempting to process your plot line. You were worried that it was going to be another fail.

"Storm, that's amazing!" she exclaimed, hurriedly picking up the quill with her magic, "Now that I've got a plot, this'll be a piece of cake!"

You didn't interrupt her, as she seemed pretty engrossed in her writing. The quill was moving so fast you were afraid the book might catch on fire.

"How's this?" she said, lifting the book over to your face so that you could read it.

-

Daring Do approached the library, the sky nothing but a blank grey canvas. Nopony had been to this corner of Equestria in a very, very long time.
Nopony dared enter the lost city, for it was a cursed place that none returned from. Even worse, the library was home to the tormented souls that once resided in the book of binding!

The eerie silence of the lost city created an unnerving atmosphere, but Daring Do pressed on, determined to find the mythical cursed book that was supposedly the doom of this ancient city all those years ago.

Entering the silent library, there wasn't a soul in sight. Or, atleast, that was what Daring thought, as she crept down one of the empty aisles of bookshelves.

It was cold. Abnormally cold. It felt as if something was following her. Something supernatural.

Daring Do turned around in an instant, and before her was the spirit of Valgamore the Enraged, a character that was once the stuff of fiction. He must've been brought to life by the book of binding, and was now nothing more than a tormented spirit.

This ravaging beast earned his name. He was well and truly enraged, and was now chasing Daring Do down the empty aisles of the grand hall of the library.
What was more, Valgamore wanted nothing more than another soul to add to the cursed book of binding.

-

After reading all that, you almost found yourself hoping that it was a real Daring Do book, but unfortunately it was just some fiction made by Twilight. Although, it was some pretty good fiction.

"You wrote all that just now?" you asked, a little stunned that she had wrote all that in what seemed like less than a second. Twilight gave you a happy nod, eagerly awaiting your opinion, "I love it!"

You held the book close to you as if giving it a hug, like it was a piece of art or something.

"You do?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Sure! If you keep writing like that, Rainbow Dash will be all over it!" you said, giving her a reassuring smile. That seemed to be enough to restore her confidence.

She lowered the book back down to her desk, ready to begin writing again.

"Thank you, Storm! I'm gonna keep working on this right away!" she said, hurriedly picking up her quill with her magic. Already, she had begun writing more of the story.

"Don't you think you need some rest?" you asked, seeming a little concerned.

Twilight didn't look up, and instead kept her gaze focused on the page. You had seen this in the show before. Once she had her mind set on something, especially late at night, you weren't gonna change her mind.

"I will, but I've got all night, right?" she said, still not looking up.

You rubbed the back of your head with a hoof, slightly concerned as to her well being. Being one of the princesses, you didn't want her to be sleep deprived.

"Um... Whatever you say, I guess." you said, deciding it best not to try and persuade her, "Goodnight, Twilight."

"Goodnight, Storm!" she replied, still not raising her head from the book.

You weren't quite sure how Spike had barely even budged at all, but somehow he was still in a deep sleep. Speaking of a deep sleep, that was exactly what you needed right now.

And a deep sleep you got.

Sliding into your bed once again, you had barely closed your eyes before you were passed out, subconsciously awaiting the next day to arrive.

…

…

"You'll never impress her, you know?"

…

…

"You'll never perform a sonic rainboom…"

Author's Notes:

Once again, longer than anticipated.

This is the chapter that reveals what Twilight's gift for Rainbow will be. The concept of a fanfic inside of a fanfic seemed pretty cool, and I think it ended up pretty well. Having Daring Do exploring a library might seem a little out there, but isn't that what fan fictions are for?