Daddy Dearest

by AlextheBordercollie

Family Reunion

"ScrewBall!" Archie watched, mouth agate, as his father teleported to the door. Now blocking his view of the mare Discord scooped her up into his arms and proceeded to drag her inside dancing about the living room with her.

"Daddy!" she cheered as she warped her hooves around his lanky neck.

"Oh my little ScrewBall, I thought I lost you!" Discord cried with childlike joy.

Archie looked on in utter confusion before turning to his brother. Chaos shrugged and mirrored Archie's confusion and their grandfather simply stared. Just then FlutterShy and their grandmother stepped in from the kitchen.

"What's all the commotion out here?" FlutterShy stopped dead when she saw the mare in Discords arms.

Discord beamed proudly down at his wife as she looked up at him with a confused expression.

"Guess who came home for the holidays?" He chimed as ScrewBall clung to his neck smiling and giggling.

FlutterShy stammered for a moment.

"Go on guess!" Discord urged with excitement, knowing full and well FlutterShy didn't know the answer.

"Seriously dad, what's going on?" Archie said at last. He hated it when his father toyed with them like this.

"Yeah" Chaos chimed in. They all gathered around the draconequis and the pony he cradled. Discord smiled, he tried to speak but only managed to laugh, he cleared his throat and finally said.

"Boy's I want you to meet your big sister ScrewBall."

"Big sister." The words made Archie's head reel with questions. He rubbed his forehead with his hoof for a moment trying to make sense of it.

"ScrewBall," Discord announced, "I'd like you to meet your stepmother FlutterShy, your little brothers, Chaos, and Anarchy, your grandparents, and your uncle Zephyr."

"Aww they're soooo cute!" ScrewBall cooed as she leapt down to invade Archie's personal space. Archie recoiled instantly as he saw the strange mare rushing towards him. In a moment of fight or flight he summoned up a sturdy wall between himself and ScrewBall.

ScrewBall crashed into the wall but didn't seem fazed. "What no hug for your big sister Anarchy?"

"Uhm... Just Archie is fine," He stammered awkwardly. He was never much for physical affection, much less from strangers. His voice cracked a bit as he called out for help. "Mom!"

"I'll give ya all the hugs you want baby, come to uncle Zephyr" Zephyr chimed as he seemed to be the first to recover from the surprise.

Zephyr reached out to hug his new niece only to be utterly rejected. He attempted to recover with grace after she hopped away from him. "That's cool, it's cool, we'll work up to that."

"Well Dinners just about ready, what do you say we sit down and get to know each other over a nice home cooked meal?" Grandma chimed in.

"That sound like a lovely idea," FlutterShy replied as confidently as she could.

"Woo food!" Screwy cheered. Chaos joined in with her excitement as they both rushed for the kitchen table. Everypony else followed suit leaving Discord and FlutterShy dragging up the rear. FlutterShy pinned Discord's tail with a hoof before he could follow the others. He looked down at her sheepishly. Her expression was stern and he knew he would have a lot of explaining to do.

Dinner was a tad uncomfortable. Partly because the table was small and partly because Screwball had never learned to chew with her mouth closed. They were now short a seat, Screwball however it seems also possessed chaos magic as she used it to provide herself with a chair which she managed to wedge between Archie and their grandfather. Archie noticed his father would cringe slightly whenever she used her magic. It stuck him as odd but nopony else seemed to notice and his father did have a habit of doing odd things.

"So Discord," Grandma said, carefully choosing her words as she watched Screwball devour her meal which she had chosen to coat in cotton candy. "So, uhm" she tore her eyes away from the purple mare to look up pleasantly at her son'n'law. "So were you married before?

"Uhm, no, not exactly..." Discord replied awkwardly as he looked back and Screwy.

"Daddy made me out of cotton candy and liquorish!" Screwball chimed, spitting out half chewed food as she spoke.

"Oh is that true?" Grandma asked with surprise.

"It was a long time ago..." Discord replied hastily, suddenly beginning to regret his daughters presence.

"Well we knew you were a man of many talents, but I didn't know you were capable of anything like... well.." Grandpa stuttered as he tried to find the right words.

"Well I think she's beautiful, you're beautiful honey." Zephyr recovered for his father.

"Thanks, Uncle Zephyr" Screwball smiled spitting out more food.

"Uhg," Archie cringed. "I hope you're enjoying that food I worked hard on it."

"As a matter of fact I am." Screwball spat smugly at her newfound baby brother.

"That's disgusting," Archie complained as she spat bits of food on his shoulder. "It's bad enough you had to go and ruin our hard work with that sugary garbage but you can't even be bothered to learn basic manners."

"Manners smanners!" Screwball replied, making sure to show off all the prechewed food in her mouth.

"Screwball can I talk to you in the other room for a second?" Discord more demanded than asked as he teleported out of the tight space between his n'laws.

"Ok," Screwball replied. She got out of her seat which was one of the chairs not wedged against a wall and followed him into the living room.

"What's up daddy?" Screwball squeaked as she looked up her dad. They stood alone in the living room. The only light came in from the kitchen door and Screwy stood in the tall shadow her father cast. Discord looked down at her small frame and his frustration eased a bit. He knew her nature all to well. He knew pestering ponies with poor manners was only a drop in the bucket compared to the things she could do. The things she would do. He got down on one knee and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Screwy listen," he pleaded. "You know I love you and I'm happy to have you back, but things can't be like they were before."

Screwball looked up at him with a touch of confusion and disappointment.

"I've worked really hard to put this family together Screwy." Discord tried to explain. "You have a mother sitting in that room behind me. Two brother, two lovely grandparents and pretty cool uncle. That's something I couldn't give you before. Please don't ruin this."

Screwball looked back towards the kitchen where the rest of the family was now eating, talking and making merry. She looked back at her father and the sternness on his face. She had never seen him so sober. "Yes daddy." She replied halfheartedly.

Discord reasoned it was good enough and they returned to the dinner table.