Chapter 2: Missing Muffins
At 7:40 in the morning the sky is so beautiful. It's pretty pink, with orange, and the most lovely shade of blue. "This makes it all worth it." Do thought as she arrived at their- Derpy and Do's -building.
"Hello!" Chirped an excited Derpy.
"Ahhh!" Do screamed at the top of her lungs. It took her a moment to realize that it was Derpy that gave her such a fright. "Dear Celestia, Derpy you scared the hay right out of me!"
"Sorry."
"It's all good. Say, what are you doing here? Usually you're not here till eight."
"Muffins are coming early today!"
"Oh, ok. Just don't eat too many. Remember what happened last time." In fact Derpy very vividly remembered what happened last time; she ate so many muffins that she had a stomach ache for hours, and almost had to go to the hospital.
Do headed inside leaving Derpy to wait for the Muffin Man.
"Good morning, Boss!" Miss.Heartening, their newly hired personal secretary, chirped. "It's a lovely day, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is quite charming out. Celestia has done wonders today!" Although she didn't want to make such small talk, she knew that it wouldn't serve well to ignore the pony who speaks on her behalf while she's gone.
"While I have you, Twings from Tuff Guys Security came by; said he was willing to meet with you next Thursday."
"Ok, thanks for letting me know." She said with such a bluntness that the other pony knew the conversation was over. The office door opened and shut as Do entered. "Hope I didn't sound too harsh." She contemplated it for a long second and decided that she had done nothing wrong.
Derpy had been waiting over an hour for her muffins, and she was certain that the Muffin Man had told her "See you tomorrow at 7:30, Derpy!" Yet it was now 7:49 he was almost 20 minutes late. That's what really worried her, because the Muffin Man said he'd be there. She thought that maybe he was just late, or maybe he'd come early and she'd missed him. Derpy decided that he was probably just late and reasoned that she could wait 10 more minutes.
Do's quill was gliding across paper after paper, signing this and signing that. She had never realized how much paperwork was involved in simply running a business and owning a building. "PLEASE LET THIS END!" She begged of nopony in particular. To her it had felt as if an eternity had passed while she was filling out the boring paperwork, when in reality only 13 minutes had really passed. As she was about to begin her sixteenth paper she was startled, once again, by, Derpy.
"HE DIDN'T COME!" She bellowed. "NO MUFFINS!"
"Derpy! Calm down. Ok?" Do knew that Derpy was distraught by the thought of a muffinless day."Are you sure that he isn't just late? I'm sure he'll be coming down the street soon." She reasoned, although she had no idea if he was really late.
"He's 30 minutes late. The Muffin Man has never been this late."
"I'm sure it'll be alright, Derpy. How about we go and see what's happening at his shop?" Within minutes the duo had left for the bakery on 15th Street
After a short walk, down Main Street to 15th Street, they arrived at the tiny bakery with it's iconic giant doughnut sign. The owner greeted them, with his beautiful accent "Hello, Derpy! What brings you by?"
All Derpy said in reply was "Muffins."
"Ah, yes. I came by earlier then expected, so I left them for you on your doorstep. You did see them?"
"No, I did not see my daily order of 3 dozen muffins!"
The baker had been Derpy's Muffin Man for 7 months now and he knew that she was his biggest customer. Without her his bakery would surely sink. "Well, Derpy I simply can't let this go uncorrected!" The baker knew how to fix this. "Give me a moment, Derpy and I'll get you 4 dozen muffins!" Although this would hurt his profits short term, he knew that this was best.
Minutes later the duo exited the small building with 4 boxes of muffins. Although Derpy had instantly forgotten about the missing muffins, Do couldn't help but think that there had to be more to it then just petty pastry theft. With no concrete evidence Do tried to push back the thought, but she had little success.
When they arrived back at their building Derpy immediately tore into the muffins. In most cases Do would tell her to slow down with the muffins, but this wasn't a normal case. Do had to ask Heartening if she'd seen the muffins.
"Hey, Heartening I just wanted to ask if you have seen 3 dozen muffins recently."
"Well, Ms.Do I can't say I have."
"Ok, well thanks anyways." Once again Do ended the conversation with her secretary abruptly. "He says he delivered it, yet she claims to have not seen any muffins recently. Odd." She thought. "Something doesn't add up."
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed chapter 2. It was a very interesting one to write and was much longer than chapter 1
Derpy and Do had recently bought a building on 17th street, a seldomly visited street in Manehattan. While everypony wondered what would become of the building, work was already underway.
Daring Do was interviewing candidates for the secretary job while Derpy was testing the freshly delivered muffins.
"Now, what are your qualifications?"
"Well Ms.Do, I have had years of experience with Celestial Seasons Hotel as head secretary. That is until last month, when the company downsized."
"Do you believe that this makes you qualified to be our personal assistant?"
"I believe that I am more than qualified to work as your personal assistant!"
"Well Miss.Heartening, it looks like you have a job."
"Oh you won't be disappointed, Ms.Do!"
"I certainly hope not," she muttered, while turning her chair toward Derpy. "Derpy!" Do yelled sharply. "What did I say about eating all the muffins?"
Derpy's head drooped as she replied, "Don't."
Seeing this movement Do, now realizing how harsh she had sounded, apologized to Derpy, "Derpy, I know how much you love muffins. It's just a matter of budget right now. I'll tell you what, once we've finished moving in you can have all the muffins you'd like."
Without hesitation Derpy was in a delightful mood again; all she had to hear was "all the muffins you'd like."
"Go home, Derpy. I'll see you tomorrow, and don't be late this time." With that Derpy left her alone in the building. The dusty, raggedy, fixer up building. Do sighed, "What. A. Day." The lights went out as Do said, "bye" to the old building for the night. Do, heading home, didn't know that tomorrow would be when it all started.
Author's Note
Pastry inspectors is one of my favorite shower ideas ever. Of all time.
