//------------------------------//
// Get a job, Discord! 
// Story: So, what now? 
// by SwordFlare 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2 - Get a job, Discord!

The rain which had been relentlessly, almost violently falling to the ground, had finally stopped, and Discord and the princesses had decided to go for an afternoon stroll in the fading sun. This was Discord's first time in the gardens, and since had never been able to properly appreciate the natural beauty of the world of Equestria before, it struck him hard. His heightened senses from the several types of animal of which he was made of, made sure he was capable of experiencing the garden to its maximum. As he looked around, he could see birds begin to fly from their nests, onto open branches. Bees who had been sheltering previously, began to land on flowers to get the sweet nectar within. Discord, it seemed, was really starting to regret the hate that had clouded his vision to such natural wonders. He realised that, even without discordance, the world was just as strange and wonderful as the things he could create.

As they neared a central part of the gardens, almost in a park area, there was a certain, segregated area by small hedgerows in a circle formation. In the centre of the circle, an empty flat circular tablet of stone lay.

Celestia decided to explain what may have been the obvious to regulars in the gardens. "You see that circle of stone, Discord?" Discord nodded to her patiently, even though he had already spotted it, and had found it curious even before Celestia had mentioned it. It seemed to be of some importance, considering where it had been placed.

"That's where you used to be." Celestia said ominously.

Discord glanced at her, alarmed. "Who m-me? What do you mean?" He questioned her statement. Celestia remained silent, waiting for him to figure it out himself, feeling that it would be better if he realised what she had meant. "Aaah... I see now. That's where you kept me before. Whilst I was a statue?" He said, looking for confirmation. It was all coming back to him again, but it felt as though it had been such a long time since he was there.

Luna, who had remained silent beside the two, nodded regally. "Indeed, Discord. You, in your prison of stone, were on display to all the ponies of Equestria. " She explained, giving him the confirmation that he had sought.

"Why, Celestia. I'm flattered! Such popularity for me, but why?" Discord asked, wondrously.

Celestia looked at the plaque carefully. "Well... it was the perfect idea, I guess. I wanted to warn anyone who was considering creating disorder of what would happen to them." She paused, and then continued again with another reason. "Also, though... Since I felt so bad for encasing you in stone, I thought a good way to repay you for the damage I'd done was to make sure you weren't forgotten. It was also a direct reminder to myself of why I shouldn't forget what I did to you, if I so much as considered doing anything of the sort again."

Silence followed shortly after this speech. Discord, feeling the mood to be falling into a depressing tone, decided to try and lighten things up again. "Well, with all this free time on my hands, what the hay am I going to do with it? Part of me wishes you left me encased in stone, so that I didn't have to worry about what I have to do with myself. In fact," He walked over towards the circle tablet of stone, "I think I may just resume position there!"

He had almost reached it, when Celestia suddenly remembered something. "WAIT, NO! I put a spell on that which repels you if you try to -" She cried out, but it was too late.

Discord, who hadn't quite registered Celestia's outburst, reached the stone tablet and promptly went flying backwards, launched into the air.

"CELESTIAAAAAAAA!" He shouted, his speech getting quieter as he was launched further away into the distance.

THUD! Discord landed about 50 metres away from the princesses in a rather large bush, luckily breaking his fall. As Luna and Celestia cantered towards his position, he emerged dripping wet from the bush, which had been rained on just a few minutes before. "Thanks for the warning, but... I don't think it did much good." He said, looking a little crestfallen.

Discord looked at Celestia. Celestia looked at Luna. Luna looked at Discord. Suddenly, they all burst out in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Celestia exclaimed, "I'm glad you're not hurt, Discord, but I don't think I've seen anything quite so funny in all my life!"

"My sides, my sides! Oww!" Luna rolled about on the floor, crying out with laughter. 

Discord also couldn't keep himself from laughing, as it hadn't really hurt, and being launched into the air without meaning to be, was quite the funny feeling.

Eventually, they calmed down again, and Discord spoke again. "Being launched into the air doesn't solve any of my problems, mind you. What am I meant to do now?" He asked openly.

The two princesses were silent in thought for a short while, when Luna spoke out. "You should get a job, Discord! You know, to keep you occupied!" She said miraculously, and enthusiastically.

Discord looked shocked. "A... job? Like, working?" He enquired, a little surprised.

Celestia seemed to agree with her sister. "Yes, that's a great idea! A job would keep you busy most days, and would make your free time seem more rewarding, when you have it. You should try and find a job really suited to you." She said matter-of-factly.

Discord was interested by this concept. "Hmm... Well, the more I think about it, the more rational it seems. A job, yes?" He paused before making his decision. "Then a job it is! No time like the present, I should start looking immediately!" He decided, seemingly determined to find one now that the concept had been mentioned to him.

Celestia and Luna were happy they had been able to help him. "Well, we have some work to do back at the royal courts, so if you would excuse us, Discord, we'll be off!" Luna said contently.

"Good luck on your search, Discord. And remember, if at first you don't succeed, try again!" Celestia told him, as the two trotted away steadily, leaving him wondering what to do next.

"Where to begin?" He asked himself, not expecting an answer.

**********

Discord figured the best place for him to get a job, was indeed, most likely in the centre of Canterlot. After all, almost all the businesses were run in the busy city centre, and there was sure to be someone who needed a little help with a shop, or administration. It wouldn't be so hard to land himself with your everyday, simple working pony's job, right? Well, he was going to find out whether this theory was correct, or not.

Just before leaving the park, Discord, amongst the chirping birds and the general hustle and bustle of the wildlife, and other ponies around, thought he could hear something which didn't quite sound right... He stopped moving, and tilted his head to better hear the sound.

Unnghh!

Grrr! Come up!

He suddenly heard the mare's voice amongst the sounds of hard work being done. He looked across from him, and sure enough, there seemed to be an almost run-of-the-mill pony, wearing a kind of gardening apron, trying to pull up some weeds. 

Why...won't...you...give..up!

Discord heard her say. He wondered who exactly she was talking to, if not the plants. Then again, he'd seen some pretty crazy gardeners in his time. Perhaps she was just talking to the weeds, as if it was going to make a difference. 

However, the new, reformed Discord, out of the kindness of his heart, decided to wander over and check on exactly what this particular mare was up too. Perhaps he could help?

Once he reached her, he tapped her on the shoulder and spoke, "Hey there, looks like you need a hand with that! What're you trying to do?" He asked politely.

The mare turned around to face him, and stood up, giving Discord a better view of exactly what she looked like. The mare was an earth pony, with a pale goldenrod coat, with a distinctive carrot as her cutie mark. Her mane and tail was the same colour as carrots, and as she gazed up at him, wondering who he was, he noticed her dark, olive green eyes. "Who are you?" She asked, perhaps a little rudely, but Discord realised there was only one of him, and maybe she hadn't seen him before.

"Oh, sorry. Wasn't very polite of me, was it? I'm Discord, although you may of heard of me already. I'm new here in Canterlot." He explained to her patiently, despite her abrupt manner in which she had spoken to him. However, this clear explanation was only rewarded with a blank stare, and silence, from the mare. "And you are...?" He hoped the carry the conversation along a little.

"I'm Carrot Top. One of the many gardeners here at Canterlot gardens. Pleased to meet you, Discord!" She said, a little more friendlier than last time. That was much more promising to Discord, knowing he hadn't just been disregarded. "As you can see, I'm having a little bit of trouble with these weeds... They won't budge, and I need to pull them up, to put some of these magenta flowers here in their place." She said, with a defeated tone.

"That's all?" Discord said, blinking a few times at the mare.

"Yup. It's a shame that this weed had to grow here, really. The soil never stays the same after this particular species takes over..." Carrot top continued with her flat tone, with regards to the weeds.

"Well, let me see here... Shouldn't be too difficult, if I just..." Discord trailed off, focussing his mind on what he wanted to do, and then with a quick click of his fingers, the weeds simply burst into flames, and from the ashes, rather like a phoenix, burst the magenta flowers, in a perfect row next to each other. "Does that suit you?" He asked innocently. When he didn't receive a reply, he turned towards her.

Without a doubt, Carrot top was completely bowled over by this act of kindness, and the impressive nature of it. After a while of recovering from her initial shock, she still found it difficult to form words. "But, how, how did you... You, made them... into, huh?" She prodded the flowers a little with a hoof, checking that they were real and weren't just some sort of strange product of a magic trick. "That's amazing! I've never seen anything like it... Those weeds, THOSE weeds, dealt with so quickly, and elegantly! Bravo, Discord, bravo!" She said enthusiastically. 

"Oh, it's nothing, really. Honestly, I can do much more than that!" He exclaimed, hoping to calm the mare down. But it was an impossible task.

"Oh... imagine such power channelled into the garden, the gardens we could create, the rarest of flowers, here, in the Canterlot gardens! Say, Discord, how would you considered taking up a job here, in the gardens?" She asked him excitedly.

Suddenly, Discord snapped out of his thoughts of what he could in fact have done, instead of the simple spell he had cast. "Me? A job here? Well, I-" Carrot top cut him off quickly before he could finish.

"You have such remarkable talent, Discord, and I truly believe it belongs here!" She tried to convince him, desperate for him to be part of the gardening workforce.

"Well, I'd have to sleep on that one... It's a big decision and I've only just started looking for a job... will you be here, at the same time in a week, in the afternoon?" He asked, in an organised way.

"Uh, well, I suppose so, yeah! If you could come by and let me know, any time really, that would be GREAT!" She said, compromising to her ideals of him instantly signing up. After all, anything was worth having the chance for him to be become a gardener at the Canterlot gardens!

"Well, thanks for the offer, I'll see you soon!" He bade her farewell politely, and walked off in his original direction, towards the city centre.

However, he decided to sit down on an empty bench in the garden's sitting area, to think about what he had been offered, first. He also, in general, wanted to try and find out what exactly it was he was looking for. Gardening wasn't really his thing... was it? He liked the nature element of it all, and everything, but it just wasn't something he particularly could see himself doing in the future, day in, day out. Wouldn't it get kind of tedious? Also, it would seem a little like cheating, seeing as he possessed some very strange and powerful magic. He would certainly feel less rewarded for using his magic in such a way.

He just wanted to find a job that was more sort of... him. More random, more like a roller-coaster ride than a monotonous cycle of events. He didn't, however, know where to find such a job.

"Hello, Discord." A voice next to him suddenly spoke, draining the pool of thoughts from his head, like a plug had very suddenly been pulled.

"AAAH!" He jumped about a foot in the air off of the bench, coming down hard on the wooden surface again. "OW!" He quickly snapped his head to the right of him, seeing as he had been sitting on the left of the bench, and there sat an alicorn, however, this was not one of the princesses. This alicorn had a pale pink coat, and a multicoloured, striped mane. The mane consisted of a pale yellow, violet, and a deep pink. She had a mischievous expression on her face, and looked as though she was expecting something fun to happen. "Who are you?" Discord simply asked, before realising this was the brash term the gardener had used with himself. He wanted to kick himself right there.

"I'm princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but it's Cadence to you, Discord. Glad to have finally met you!" She said in a certainly glad tone.

Now Discord recognised her description from conversations with the princesses, although they had not met before, and it had taken the name for him to realise who he was speaking to. "Oh, I've heard about you, Cadence! It's good to meet you too. What are you doing out here on this, now fine, although previously horrid, afternoon?" He said, in a long winded sentence.

"Oh, just out checking on the ponies of Canterlot, and such. Seeing what I can do for who, and trying to put a few things right, etcetera." She said nonchalantly.

Discord regarded her warily. "Put a few things right? What would those things be?" He asked, with a quizzical look in her direction. Instead of explaining, Cadence nodded in the direction of a bench diagonally placed from theirs. 

"You see that couple there? Tell me what you see." She instructed him.

He watched them for a few seconds, and then stated, "They don't seem to be getting on very well, do they? They look like a couple, but they're just ignoring each other.".

Cadance nodded. "Right you are, Discord. I've been trying to get those two to fall in love for ages. I've seen the signs. I know that they love each other, deep down. But they just don't seem to be put in any situation that allows the love between them to break free!" She said to him carefully, so that they wouldn't hear her talk about them. They weren't talking to each other, so they would most likely be focusing on something else around them to avoid facing the awkwardness of the situation.

"Maybe they just need to be put in such a desperate situation that they're forced to be together in some way." Discord mused.

"Perhaps..." Cadence agreed, before adding, "Do you have any ideas?"

"Hmmm... leave it to me." Discord whispered to her, already formulating a plan in his mind.

A feather fell on top of the stallion across from them's head. He lifted his blue eyes to the sky, wondering what had caused this tickling on his forelock. Suddenly, he spotted something. Was that... a falling sack of flour? It was heading right for the mare below. However, he had no time to warn her. He dived towards her, grabbing the sack and saving her from injury in the process. But by this time, it wasn't just one sack of flour. It was TEN! Ten, huge, heavy sacks falling from the sky. What IS THIS? the stallion exclaimed in his mind. "Look out!" Whilst he still had the time, he warned the mare. But the heavy sacks all landed in his front legs, and although he held them for a second, he couldn't hold them for longer than it took for the mare to escape and he was trapped underneath the heap of sacks."I can't... breathe..." The stallion said faintly.

"Don't worry! I'm coming!" The mare cried out, cantering towards him. She charged full pelt into the sacks of flour on top of the stallion, knocking them free, and thus allowing him to get up. Once dusted off, they stared into each others eyes in awe at what had just happened, with occasional glances to the sky. "You saved me..." The mare whispered to the stallion.

"You saved ME..." He whispered back to her. Suddenly, they threw themselves together and promptly began kissing in a tight embrace.

Cadence was speechless. What the HAY had she just witnessed? "Did you just... do all of THAT?" She asked, confused.

"Yep. I'm sorry it wasn't a better show than that." Discord said, a little disappointed in himself.

Cadence gave him an odd look, before bursting out in a fit of giggles. "SACKS OF FLOUR?! Is that ALL you could think of? How in equestria... Well, at least it worked!" She exclaimed, pointing a hoof at the still kissing couple. "You know, we should do this more often, Discord. You've turned out to have real talent for... what I call, the art of romance." Cadence said to him mischievously. 

"I'd love to stay and help more, but I've gotta get into town and look for a job, but I'll meet up with you sometime else, okay? I promise we can do a bit more then. I've got a lot more in me than sacks of flour!" Discord chuckled at the concept of it, whilst making her an offer.

"I look forward to it, Discord!" She confirmed with him. 

Discord, after saying goodbye as such, continued what seemed to be an endless walk in to town. 

Whatever NEXT?!

END OF CHAPTER 2