The first and most frequently adapted book in the bestselling Daring Do series, written by A.K. Yearling. It introduces Daring Do, Ahuizotl and, within flashbacks, Coco Pie and Darrin Do.
Short Summary
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.
The best known film adaptation was directed by J.J. Thistle-Whistle and adapted for the screen by Minty Coral. It stars Hairerion Trot (reprising her Bridleway role) as Daring Do and Pigroot Cullen as the voice of the MGI Ahuizotl. Ellen De Jennet and Dante Bronco make brief appearances as Coco and Darrin.
Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone contains examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: One death trap that Daring evades are ravaging crocodiles — from the ceiling.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Daring Do, codifying the trope in the process.
- Arrow Outline: One trap triggers a volley of arrows that form the shape of a pegasus pony on the opposite wall.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Daring Do is attacked by a cheetah, a panther, a tiger, a lynx, and an adorable pussycat.
- Big "NO!": Ahuizotl lets one out after Daring Do steals the Sapphire Statuette away from him.
- Booby Trap: Naturally. This one includes:
- Rise to the Challenge
- Spikes of Doom
- The Walls Are Closing In
- And a variation where all three happen at once. With added poisonous animals.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Sets the trend for the later books.
- Con Villain Stupidity: Ahuizotl captures his nemesis and puts her in a Death Trap. Not for the last time, or the first apparently.
- 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.
- Covers Always Lie: The scene depicted on the cover never actually happens in the book.
- Death Course: Several.
- Death Trap: Ahuizotl puts Daring Do in one after he captures her, instead of just having his animals just maul her to death. Then again, it was a really, really good death trap.
- Department of Redundancy Department: "Sapphire Stone" is a tautology: "Sapphire" already means "dark blue precious stone".
- Unless it's the adjective sapphire, which just means "dark blue".
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: 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.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Because Yearling 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 (though Darrin and Coco make brief appearances in flashback as she arranges transport), 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.
- Evil Is Hammy: Ahuizotl
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Ahuizotl's eyes are a little too close to his nose.
- Or, if you compare his head to a canine's, he has eyes where his nostrils should be (with his real, small nose crammed between them).
- Failed a Spot Check: The book opens with Daring Do "surrounded by the sounds of predators", upon which one particularly nasty-looking cat appears RIGHT IN HER FACE.
- Handicapped Badass: Daring Do spends the whole story with a damaged wing, unable to fly.
- Improbable Weapon User: One of Ahuizotl's cats is holding a mace as they corner Daring Do.
- In Medias Res: The book starts off with, "As Daring Do 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!
- Daring Hat Roll: A variation, as Daring doesn't have to rescue her hat.
- Irony: Ahuizotl (who, as in Aztack mythology, is dog-like) surrounds himself with cats, and even has a cat whistle.
- Large Ham: Ahuizotl.
- MacGuffin: The Sapphire Stone/Statue. Apparently Ahuizotl wants it as part of his plan to take over the world, but it's far from clear how.
- MacGuffin Delivery Service: Ahuizotl captures Daring Do and steals the Sapphire MacGuffin as soon as she escapes from the temple with it.
- Hayincatack: The architectural style of the temple where the Sapphire Statue is kept. (However, the statue itself looks like a two-headed Anubis.)
- Minimalist Cast: The bulk of the book is the cat-and-mouse game between Daring and Ahuizotl, and the only other characters given a speaking role are Darrin and Coco, both in brief flashbacks. Some adaptations, such as the Pony in a Box radio series, add appearances by university students and staff such as Masra and Storm Talon, though the Applewood film adaptation sticks closer to the text.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Parodied — a lynx, a panther, a cheetah, a tiger, and an adorable putty tat all chase Daring Do through the South Equestrian jungle. Possibly justified as they're actually Ahuizotl's henchmen.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Daring Do says "Uhhh, not again." when Ahuizotl flips a switch and leaves her tied up in a Death Trap.
-
Padding: Dear Celestia, if it weren't for the Scenery Porn every other chapter, cascading action in the form of repetitive chase scenes, and flashbacks included to give Daring somepony to exposit to, this story would only have lasted about fifty pages. Tropes Are Not Bad in this case, as the book is somehow just as effective as any of its less padded sequels at drawing in new fans. - Panthera Awesome: Ahuizotl employs a pack of them, including a tiger, a panther, a cheetah, a lynx, and an adorable little white kitty cat.
- Pinball Projectile: Daring Do's safari hat when she launches it to release the lever in the deathtrap is one of these.
- Right-Hand Cat: The fluffy white kitten from earlier in the book, to Ahuizotl.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: While talking with Darrin in flashback en route to the island, Daring makes a passing reference to a university page called Herpy. Following numerous complaints, the author clarified that this was a misprint of Harpy, but due to the inexplicable popularity of the as yet unseen and undescribed character, she would
maintain the misspelling if the character did make an appearance. The complaints have since died down somewhat, though not entirely
. - The Runt at the End: Ahuizotl has the aforementioned deadly feline predators, and... the adorable little kitten.
- Say My Name: "CURSE YOU DARING-DOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
- Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: Rats aren't predators? Oatwell knew better; the threat of hungry rats is how Whinnyston Smith is made to give up.
- The rats are replaced with sheep in most recent adaptations for precisely this reason.
- Stealth Pun: The cat whistle.*
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Ahuizotl traps Daring Do in a room with closing spike walls, poisonous spiders, and cobras. All while the room is filling with quicksand.
- 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.
- Two-Hoofed Tales
- Vine Swing: Daring Do swings over a canyon on a vine to escape from the predators chasing her, and again to snatch the statue from Ahuizotl.
- Weight and Switch: Spoofed when Daring Do makes a big show of preparing for it then just grabbing the idol off the platform.
