//------------------------------// // Daring Do and the 4 Theives // Story: Discordian Nights // by Pegashy //------------------------------// Discord lazily opened one eye as the morning sunlight streamed through the window. Suddenly, he remembered that Fluttershy had promised to finish the story this morning. He jumped out of bed excitedly and ran out the bedroom door. A startled maid began to call his name, but he disregarded her and kept running down the hall. Discord changed into his pony form and hurriedly ran through the town until he arrived at Fluttershy’s doorstep. He breathed heavily for a few moments, and quickly knocked on the door. A couple of minutes later, a sleepy Fluttershy appeared in the doorway. “Discord? ….Yawn…. What are you doing here ….yawn…. this early?” Fluttershy looked up at him, and mentally facehoofed. “Oh yes…. Come on in, I’ll read you the rest after I make some tea.” Fluttershy gestured for him to come in and walked into the kitchen. Discord sat down in front of the small wooden chair and waited anxiously. Fluttershy soon came out with a steaming cup in her hoof. Grabbing a scroll from the little shelf, she sat down. She took a sip of the tea and opened the scroll, looking more awake. “Where were we? Oh, here it is. Daring Do went to the market that day, not realizing the thieves suspected someone of taking their treasure….” Daring Do went to the market that day, not realizing the thieves suspected someone of taking their treasure. She was careful with what she bought as to not be suspicious, but still ended up buying a couple of things she may have not been able to afford before. The henchpony questioned the stall owners that were selling more luxurious items, asking if they had had any customers that usually didn’t buy anything expensive. One of the them said he had sold some merchandise to a pony who didn’t seem rich, and the thief asked him where her house was. He told him the directions, and went to the house. The thief used a piece of chalk to mark the doors he wouldn’t forget the house, and reported back to his master with the information. When Quibble saw the chalk, he suspected something bad was afoot and erased it. The next day, the thief was confused as to which house it was and spent an hour wandering the town. The commander quickly fired him and left him on the streets, and told another henchman to find the house again tomorrow. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, the thief memorized the look of the house so he wouldn’t forget it. He reported back to the commander and led him to the house. The commander dressed up as an oil merchant, with a cart with 4 jars covered with cloth in it. 3 of them contained the henchponies, and the fourth had oil in it, replacing the other pony. He knocked on the door and asked Daring Do to give him a room for a night. Not recognizing him, she let him in and showed them to the vacant room. The commander whispered to the henchponies in the cart, “Do not leave yet, I will tell you when I am ready” ,and left to get ready for dinner.. Quibble was walking past the room where the henchponies were and heard one of them them say “Master, can we come out?” Devising a plan, he imitated the commander’s voice and replied, “No, not just yet.” Quibble then quickly boiled a pot of oil and brought it upstairs. He poured the boiling oil into the pots, killing the henchponies. When the commander came back he found them all dead. The commander left, swearing revenge. The next day, he dressed as a beggar and asked Daring Do if she would let him in again, and not realizing it was the same pony, let him in. Quibble saw the commander and recognized him, and also saw that he had a dagger underneath his vest. Acting quickly, he dressed up as a dancer and took a knife from the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and Daring Do let him dance for them. Quibble danced around the table, faking jabs at the commander and Daring Do with the knife. At the last second he plunged the knife into the commander’s chest. Daring Do gasped. “Quibble! What in Equestria….” But Quibble cut her off, taking off the commander’s disguise. “See, this was the commander of the four thieves that you saw. He was planning on killing you with this dagger, so I was only protecting you” Quibble opened the commander’s vest, revealing the dagger. Daring Do stamped her hoof on the table. “Why didn’t I realize it sooner? I let him into the house!” She shivered. “Thank you, Quibble.” From that day on, the family of Daring Do never was poor again as they continued to use the bounty of the cave. “....The end.” Fluttershy rolled up the scroll and put it back. “I’m guessing you won’t want to miss breakfast at the palace,” Fluttershy gestured to the door, “So you should probably get going.” Discord’s eyes clouded over, and he stood up. “Thanks for reading that story to me Fluttershy,” he smiled and looked over at the shelf. “Like I said, there’s not much to read at the palace. Do you mind if I borrow a couple of these?” Discord reached for the shelf. “Wait, Discord!” Fluttershy flew in front of him. “How about I read you a story again tonight?” Discord put his paw to his mouth, and his brow furrowed in thought. “Hmm…. That does sound nice…. Okay, I’ll be here at 8 o’clock to get an early start.” “Okay, I’ll be ready then.” Fluttershy smiled and opened the door for him, waving as his form slowly disappeared. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief and went back into the kitchen to make breakfast. Hopefully her plan would work, and Discord wouldn’t get any ideas. Angel hopped across the floor, squeaking and pointing to his bowl. Fluttershy smiled and got out a bunch of carrots as Angel took them excitedly.