//------------------------------//
// Of packing, writing and backgammon 
// Story: Daring Do's Vacation 
// by Smaug the Golden 
//------------------------------//

	Daring sighed. Her vacation was over. She had spent the rest of it seeing the other members of Ponyville, albeit in her disguise, and talking with Discord, Psyche and the rest of those who had helped her defeat Mental, Dissonance and Riddle. 
She was at the train station. She had packed with the help of Discord, who had been forced to do so thanks to that law Dissonance had written about substitute subconscious’s. “I don’t want to help you pack,” he had stated. 
“Discord, read Dissonance’s law.” Discord had done so, and had found that if you didn’t pay the fine you had to serve community service to the one you had been a substitute subconscious to. 
“Fine, but I don’t expect me to match your socks.” The pair had packed everything neatly, with only one sock having the words ‘Discord Rules, Daring Drools’ written on them. Discord had whistled when she had asked him about it, and she had let it slide. 
Psyche had taken over as head psychiatrist in Ponyville, as Mental hadn’t returned from the temple, making her suspect that the tarantulas were doing their job. Twilight had had Celestia send her all of the laws, and she had been getting rid of the ones that Dissonance had contaminated in her spare time. 
Daring smiled at the recollection. This vacation had turned out all right. Despite Discord’s attempts to ruin it, it had been fun. She sighed. She would miss her friends. “Bye. I’ll miss you,” she said, giving them each a hug in turn. 
Discord held up a massive number one glove. “You’ll always be my hero… Until someone more chaotic comes around.” Daring nodded. “Oh, don’t forget to write Daring Do and the Quest to Outwit Her Subconscious. Do it for me, please?”
Daring shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.” Discord grinned and stepped back. Daring said her final goodbyes and stepped onto the train. Well, her vacation was over. Time to go fight Ahuizotl or something. 

When she got back to her cottage she was surprised to see that it wasn’t trashed. Usually it was trashed by some bandit trying to steal some treasure. But then again, it wasn’t that surprising. She hadn’t hunted for any treasure recently, so no one was going to trash it. 
She walked in to see that everything was exactly as it was left. Her pantry was slightly ajar, but that was mainly because she had forgotten to close it when she had left. She walked up to her room to think. 
She was halfway through thinking about what she could do to pass the time until Ahuizotl tried something crazy when a knock sounded on the door. She answered it to see Ahuizotl standing in front of her carrying a suitcase and wearing a large hat. “Daring Do, I have a proposition for you. I decided that I needed a vacation. I’m going for a week to visit my relatives in Trottingham, and I need someone to check my mail. Dr. Caballeron is watching my cats, so all I need you to do is check my mail. I know we’re enemies, but could you help me out?”
Daring gaped for minute before she spoke. “You have mail?” 
Ahuizotl nodded. “I do. I have subscriptions with many different magazines. I don’t want my issues to get blown away by a storm or something. Could you check my mail? It comes around three.” 
“Um… Sure. But, aren’t you going to try and trap me in a chamber filled with spikes or something first?”
“Nah. I’m taking a vacation from that. I got bored of fighting you, so I thought I could go somewhere for a week to give you a break. Would that be okay?”
Daring found herself nodding. “Of course. Have a nice vacation.” Ahuizotl gave her a thankful glance and walked away. “Well… That was odd.”
I agree. 
“Discord?”
No. Discord was just filling in for me while I took a vacation. When you said you wanted a vacation, I left and Discord filled in for me.
“Wonderful.”
I agree. 
“So, what are we going to do?”
You could always write a book.
“Okay.” She pulled up her typewrite and began to write. “'I need a vacation,’ Daring said to herself…'”



“So, what do you want to do?”
“After watching those tarantulas for hours, anything sounds good.” 
“How about cards?”
“Dissonance, you know Riddle and I don’t play anything card related.”
“Fine. How about Backgammon?”
“Dissonance, Backgammon is two players. That would mean that you and I would play, but Mental would be left out.”
“Not when you play Backgammon with a Draconequus. That way is for three players.”
“Fine. We’ll play.”
“Goodie. Now then, when playing three player Backgammon…” 
“Wait, aren’t those the tarantulas?” 
“Argh. You’re right!”
“Run!”
“Save yourself!” 
“Why are they dancing to a Wonderbolt Rap?”