> The Flour Trick
>  by Grey Faerie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Baking is Fun!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It had been a few weeks since Discord's release, and in that time he had come to visit Ponyville very often. He liked seeing the still anxious looks on the citizen's faces. It made him feel like he was still the villain he felt himself to be. He also like visiting the residential Elements. Two in particular. Today, he was going to visit Pinkie Pie. She had some how convinced him to learn to bake.

A few weeks ago....
"Pinkie!" Discord yelled as he swept into the bakery. 
"In here!" she yelled back. Discord moved further into the bakery. He could smell the freshly made desserts coming from the kitchen. "Hey there Discord! What's up?" Pinkie asked with a giggle. 
"Ohh, I was just in town and looking for something fun to do, and who better to ask than the very element of laughter? So! what will it be today? Pranks? Gags? Making Twilight illiterate for the day or turning all her books into pure gibberish?" He said with enthusiasm. 
"Baking!" Pinkie replied proudly, "I have to get a few orders done before the end of the day." 
Discord face-palmed. "Baking?" he said with a little whine in his voice, "But that's boring!" He empathized by throwing himself over the counter. 
Pinkie laughed again. "It's fun! Trust me on that. It can be more fun than you think." Discord looked at her unconvinced. "Come join me!! I could use the extra help!" 
"Okay. But it better be fun or I'm out of here." he said resignedly. He got off of the counter and slumped into the kitchen.
"Great! First, I need you make the batter. It's just plain vanilla for now so it's suuuper easy." Pinkie laid out the ingredients. She showed him how to measure the different amounts needed, and when to add a certain ingredient in the process. "As you see, most recipes tell you just to put all the dry and wet stuff together, or in a certain order. Personally, I like putting the wet all together and then adding the dry. Okay! Now you stir!" passing the bowl filled with the slush of unmixed batter to him. "This is one of the most fun parts of baking!" Discord looked at the bowl in between his claw and paw. 
"Really?" He said dryly. 
"Yeah!" Pinkie then went to put on some music. "I love dancing around when stirring up a yummy pastry. Wee ~shake it and stir, don't spill a drop but let that booty pop~ Yay!" Chuckling, Discord joined in her impromptu dance party. They then set to filling the molds for cupcakes.
"These are just regular cupcake trays, but I love putting it into all different types of shapes! I once put cake batter into a decorative cookie sheet and they came out burnt." Pinkie chortled. "I had to put the temperature down a little, and have them in a little longer but!" Pinkie took in an enormous gasp, "Oh my gosh, they were sooo fluffy! You couldn't really see the front design very well but it didn't really matter. They were really fluffy super delicious cake cookies!"
Discord smirked, "Cake cookies? That does sound fun. Do you have any?" 
She shook her head. "Ohh no, they take a lot of time because you can only fill the molds so much, and it takes longer than a regular cake or cookie. But I could probably make some for you when I'm not too busy." 
"That would be wonderful. What's the next fun part hmm?" Discord asked. 
"Well, frosting is, but we have to wait for the cupcakes to get done. For now, we'll start on the pies. I've gotten the crusts already made, so we don't have to worry about that." Pinkie replied. They set off to pouring the filling in and placing the crust on top. Pinkie showed him what designs to cut in, and even how to do a lanyard.
Soon the cupcakes were done. They pulled them out and set off to frosting them. Pinkie had to show Discord that there was a special way to frost the cupcakes. He had a rough start but got the hang of it pretty soon. "See! This was fun!" Pinkie said, "But obviously my favorite part is eating them. These though are for an order and I can't do that." 
Discord looked at one of the more messier cupcakes. "Not even one?" 
"No, everything is baked in dozens, and it would be hard, and wasteful to get out the ingredients for just one replacement cupcake." Discord grumpily nodded at this. It was understandable, but he still wanted to try one of the cupcakes he worked so hard to make. As much as he would hate to admit it, this mundane chore was, in fact, fun. There was a simple joy of mixing together random ingredients, and getting a delicious pastry at the end. But of course, he wouldn't admit that. The spirit of chaos is exciting! Beyond the norm! Like fireworks or upside down trees. Not baking cupcakes.
It had gotten late and, unfortunately, it was time to go. Discord stretched dramatically. "Well, this was interesting." 
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Pinkie remarked "I hope next time I'm not too busy so we can go pranking. Harmless pranks of course."
"Of course." Discord replied. He then got up to leave.
"And Dissy?"
Discord turned swiftly around at the question and the nickname. "Yes?"
"I think making all the books gibberish is a great idea. Though I think Twilight would probably die if she were illiterate." 
"Heh, I agree." With that, he left the bakery.

Discord came back to Ponyville many times and caught Pinkie on a busy day a few times. On some of her free days she showed him some of the harder recipes. Pinkie wouldn't admit it, but she really enjoyed those times together. It was just a simple joy shared between friends. However, it was on one especially busy day when she would find out how Discord really felt about their time together.
> A Very Busy Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	 It was an ordinary day when Discord came to visit. He was excited to know what fun he would be getting up to today. That is, until he entered Sugarcube Corner and saw Pinkie dashing about everywhere in the bakery.
"Hello, what can I... Oh! Hi Dissy, I can't talk now, Lot to do! Hey can you help me?" Pinkie said in a rush. 
"Sure, what do you need?" 
"Can you watch the front for me? I don't have much time to take care of customers."
"And why is that?" 
"Well," she said, taking a break. "The Cakes are out for the week. They're in Manehattan catering a party for a friend. They left the shop for me to watch. But anyway, there are three different orders for me to fill, and deliver across town, so I'm too busy right now to talk to customers. In fact, I'm a little too busy to be talking to you." She said running back into the kitchen. Discord followed with mild amusement. It was always funny watching Pinkie rush about frantically.
"I'll watch the shop front. Is there anything else you need me to do?" he asked. 
"No not really, just if it gets too overwhelming you can close the shop and get one of my friends to help. If they're not too busy as well. Or you can get one of the people on the list under the counter. They're qualified to work here part time." And with that she went back to work. Discord just rolled his eyes and sat at the front. He was more then qualified! And he wouldn't get overwhelmed. He had done this many times before and it wasn't that hard, even during the morning rush.



Sometime later, Pinkie came out of the kitchen with lots of pink boxes. Discord went to the back and got the rest, for which Pinkie was grateful. "Okay I'm off, I have no idea when I'll get back. There's at least one party to cater, and the other two aren't nearby at all!" Pinkie said upset. 
"A party without you planning it? I thought I wouldn't see the day." Discord said dramatically. 
With a giggle she said, "Well of course! Ohh ohh ohhh, I forgot ohh! how can I forget, just with you here and the baking. I forgot the twins. Can you watch them? They're in their room right now. I know I showed you how to care for them. A little bit, but it's simple." 
"It's fine, I know what to do. With my age you get to learning a lot of different things, and I've watched you with them. They'll be fine until you get back. Okay?"
Exhaling, Pinkie said, "Okay, thanks again."
"Not a problem." With that Pinkie left.
Discord went back in to man...beast...draconequus...whatever, the counter. He didn't expect there to be much going on today. Sigh, Maybe she'll finish up sooner than expected, and we can have some fun together. He mused to himself. Then the phone rang.
"Hello? This is Sugarcube Corner." Discord said exactly like he had been told. 
"Yes I'd like to place an order."
What's with today and orders? "Yes and what will that be?" Discord nodded as he wrote down the order. It was for three dozen blueberry muffins. "Okay it'll be done in two hours so swing by then." He hung up the phone. Well time to get to work.
He went to the back and had started to work on the batter when the door chimed. He then went to the front and dealt with the customer. "Hello, and what can I get you today?" he said leaning on the counter.
"Ohh, it's you." the grey pony said nervously "Is Pinkie here?"
"No she's out and probably will be all day." Though I really hope not. 
"Ohh, okay well, I'll be getting a bear claw." 
"Coming right up." Discord got the pastry and told the pony the price. He even waved after the customer as they left. There had been one time he had given somepony a real bear claw but... Pinkie can be scary when she's mad. 
Discord went back to continue working on the muffins when the door chimed again. This time it was Twilight. "Why hello there! And what can I get you today?" He said with a little charm and his widest smile.
"What do you think you are doing?" Twilight was still very wary around him. She didn't think Pinkie should be trusting him in the bakery. What if somepony got hurt? It could ruin the Cakes. 
"Why I'm helping out of course. Pinkie's out delivering orders, so I'm here to watch the shop and watch the twins." He said proudly. 
"You? By yourself? With the twins?" Twilight said.
"That is what I said, isn't it?" Discord replied. "Okay. Well I'll just go then." Twilight said as she turned around. 
"But aren't you going to get anything?" 
"No I was just... coming in to say hi." Then she left.
Well that could have gone better. That's when he heard the twins crying. Great, and I haven't even gotten the muffins in the oven yet.
It turns out that the twins were just tired of being left alone, so he carried them down to the kitchen, and put them in their play pin. He then set out to making those muffins.
He managed to get the first batch in the tin before the phone rang again. It turns out that with all of the great weather, a lot of ponies were having picnics and outdoor parties. The pony on the phone requested two dozen cupcakes, which wasn't all that much, except that it was a bunch of different combinations of flavors.
He went to the back and put the muffins in the oven. He was just going to start on the next batch of muffins and then to prepare the cupcakes when the door chimed again. It was Twilight and her friends. They had come to 'help' him out.

> Help (not) Wanted
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of you that have read the first two chapters before 3/28/13, I ask you to reread them. I got a chance to go over them with my editor Scarmask. They are much better now. I may still rewrite them more later on but for right now I'm just going to leave them the way they are. The next coming chapters are going to take longer to get out only because I'm going to take the time to look over them first. Thanks.
#########################################################################################

"Hello Discord." Twilight announced as she and her friends moved into the front room.
"Hello, again, Twilight." Discord replied wary, "Are you going to stutter and run away again?" he asked with a wicked smile.
"No! I mean, we're here to help you. While Pinkie's away." Twilight replied proudly. 
"Really? I know Applejack helps out from time to time, but the rest of you?"
"Yeah! We'll going to help make this place rocking for when Pinkie gets back." Rainbow Dash exclaimed. 
He still wasn't so sure about having them help out. Especially since there was no major rush going on right now. But, Pinkie did say they could help out and it would be nice to just have to be by the counter, and have them do all the work. Yes, I think this might work out. he thought to himself, convinced.
"Okay, but first let me explain what I need you to do. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, I need you to finish the muffin order. It's a basic blueberry, so it shouldn't be any trouble. Twilight, you work on the cupcakes. The recipe's on the counter. Finally, Rarity and Fluttershy, you two get to watch the twins for me. I think they might be getting hungry, so give them some baby food. Okay?" They all nodded, "And I'll stay here to deal with the phone and customers."
With that, they all moved into the kitchen to get to work. Discord felt good about this. See Pinkie, I can manage the store on my own. I don't even need your friends to help but I'm still using them and getting along with them. Isn't that nice?
After a while, too short if you asked him, he started to hear a commotion in the kitchen. It was the twins sounding upset. When he went into the kitchen, he saw Rarity was trying to measure them while going on about what kind of designs she could make for the foals. Fluttershy, though, was trying to entertain them by waving different toys in front of them. The rapid movement agitated them. "Be more gentle with them Rarity, and Fluttershy, dear, they aren't dogs. Be slower with the toys." Discord said comfortingly. He went back to the front afterwards.
It was another few minutes when there was a crash behind him as Rainbow Dash had been fighting with Applejack for the bowl. "Your way takes too long!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "I do this all the time and this is the right, proper way to make muffins!" Applejack yelled back.
"Will you two stop it?" he commanded. Then the phone rang. He had to move back to the front to answer it.
"Hello? Yes, Okay that will be 5 bits. About 30 minutes. Thank you goodbye." he said as he hung up. He then moved back into the kitchen. "Applejack! Here's another order. Work on this one, and just leave Rainbow Dash to the muffins."
"Alrighty then." she said as she got to work on it.
Meanwhile, Twilight wasn't having as good of a time with the cupcakes as she had hoped. How exactly am I suppose to make sure I have a cup of flour? Do I pack it down so there are no air pockets or leave it loose? The latter doesn't make any sense. It's a cup of flour, not a cup of flour and air. The same goes with the sugar. I can always melt the sugar but then that will change the taste. Also, I don't get why it has me stir the sugar and eggs till fluffy. Aren't I just adding air? I'm pretty sure when the baking powder releases carbon dioxide; it will be adding the necessary fluffiness to the mix. Twilight continued to over-analyze the recipe for a while.
Fluttershy wasn't having a great time either as she started to worry more and more about how to care for the twin foals. The twins were getting a little fussy and were crying "Food!, hungry!" Fluttershy went to look for their baby food in the cupboards. "Oh where is it? Where do they keep the baby food?" she managed to find the jars in one of the cupboards. "Oh dear, do they always keep their food unrefrigerated? I hope it's alright." She then went to look for some spoons. When she did, she brought the foals their meal.
"Now say ahhh." she told them. They looked at her like she was crazy. "Choo choo, here comes the train." They were unimpressed but hungry. So, they ate the spoonfuls she gave them. It was going fine until they coughed and spit up their lunch.
Discord was feeling like everything was working out until Fluttershy came running out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. "Where's the fire?" he said with a laugh. Oh Chaos let the kitchen not be on fire. he thought internally.
"Oh Discord! It's the twins, I think they're sick. I was going to get them some medicine." she said trembling. 
"Let me see them." he said, worried now. This is just great, Pinkie will never forgive me if something bad happened to the twins. Not to forget, they looked fine just a few minutes ago.
Once he got inside the kitchen, he saw that they were fine, just spitting up like babies do some times. Only problem was Rarity had been left with them and was frantically trying to clean them up. Pound cake just so happen to need to spit up when Rarity was trying to clean him.
"Aaahhhh!" she yelled, reeling back after Pound cake almost threw up on her. She ended up hitting the island and knocking over Twilight's bowl and the stack of ingredients around her. The bowl itself was near empty as Twilight had been spending way too much time trying to figure out how to get the right amount of ingredient in the measuring cup. "Oh goodness, I'll clean it up." Rarity stated.
"No, it's fine. Just focus on the twins. And stop worrying Fluttershy. Babies will do that sometime. The twins look fine too." he reassured again. The twins were fine, just a little messy. Twilight though was upset about all her hard work going to waste. 
"Twilight?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"Can you restock the candy shelves? They are looking a little low."
"Okay." She replied as she left for the basement to get the box of candies. Applejack had managed to get the cake in the oven but hadn't yet completed the muffins. With Twilight gone, she and Rainbow Dash had to take over the cupcakes as well. Discord moved back into the front as there were customers entering.
It was while he was gone that the true chaos began. Rainbow Dash was getting impatient with how long it was taking to mix together one kind of cupcake--"It's taking forever!"--and decided to help speed up the process by dumping a bunch of the ingredients in the bowl "Are ya crazy!?" This obviously caused a mess as the flour and partial batter went everywhere. And unknowingly to Applejack, Rainbow Dash had turned up the temperature on the oven, "That will make it go faster for sure!"
Rarity, on the other hand, was having a fit. She had to clean up the twins and get them in some new clothes. They hadn't been wearing clothes but, "They would look so cute!" Fluttershy was still a little upset over them spitting up their food, but now had to try to calm them down as Rarity dressed them up. "I don't think they like it."
Twilight wasn't having as much luck. She had to use the ladder as there wasn't any room for her to stand back and see up to the shelves. There were a few customers in the store, looking around the many different displays. They would have consistently bumped into her and gotten in the way. It was hard for Twilight to balance on the ladder while holding the candy. She didn't use a ladder very often as she either used her magic to get something or Spike got it. How is it Spike manages to do this all the time? It was unfortunate that she didn't get much practice seeing as how she was now falling backwards. In an attempt to keep from falling, she grabbed the shelf in front of her. That only succeeded in pulling out the entire shelf and its contents. 
"Aahhh!" she yelled as she came crashing down. "By Chaos! Are you alright!?" Discord called, stunned. "Yeah! Don't worry, I'll clean it up." She called back as she started to attempt to clean up the disaster she caused.
Discord was trying to finish up with the customers when a bowl of batter came flying out of the kitchen and smashing on the wall to his left. Rainbow Dash came flying out soon after covered in batter yelling at Applejack, "Is that your best shot?" The batter on her flapping wings sprayed out everywhere causing the already startled customers to rush out of the way. That succeeded in knocking over the tables and a few of the displays.
Twilight, upon seeing the on coming mess, dove to close a box of cupcakes. The cupcakes ended up knocking into each other which got the frosting moved around. And of course, We can't have that. I'll fix it so there is an even amount of frosting. She then moved into the kitchen to get a spatula and fix the frosting problem.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Discord yelled at Rainbow Dash. She didn't listen to him as Applejack had yelled to, "Get back here so ah can teach you a lesson!" Rainbow Dash then proceeded to fly back into the kitchen.
Discord was rather stunned by the sudden turn of events. With the customers now gone, scared off by the batter flinging pegasus and broken glass, Discord could now go to the kitchen and see what kind of hell the Elements had created.

> Taming the Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The place was a mess. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were fighting over how long the cake was going to take, Fluttershy was trying to keep the twins from crying too loud as Rarity put them into more 'fashionable' clothes, and Twilight was trying to make sure all the cupcakes had the same amount of frosting on them but just ended up with taking almost all of it off. Not to forget, the front was a mess and the phone was ringing. But worse of all, Pinkie could be coming back at any moment.
"Enough! Out! Get out! All of you. I don't need your help, I don't want your help. Okay!?" Discord was fuming. He had worked so hard to keep everything as orderly as he could but it had just blow up in his face. Oh no, did I just say orderly!? Looking around, he fully realized the situation. It was chaos. Unadulterated, nonsensical chaos. And he hated it. That's it, I've gone mad. I've gone so mad I've gone sane. He face-palmed and dragged his hand down his face. When he looked up all the ponies were still. 
"Well? You heard me. Leave."
"We were just trying to help..." Twilight replied. She was a little scared as she didn't know what he would do.
Sighing, "Does this look like helping to you?"
They looked around at the mess they had made. The cake was most likely burning, the twins were whimpering, and the phone had started to ring. "Just leave, don't even try to clean up or move anything. Just leave." He said. He then moved toward the counter and answered the phone.
"No, your order won't be ready for another half hour....Yes....I understand, sorry for the delay." He then hung up the phone. When he turned around he saw that the ponies had moved toward the front. When they got there, they stopped.
"We're awful sorry for making such a mess Discord" Applejack said apologetically. "We were just trying to help ya out until Pinkie got back."
"No, you weren't." he started, leaning on the counter with both arms straight. "You were here to spy on me, see if there was any dirt you can get on me and report it back to your precious princess! Or no, maybe you were seeing if I was going to hurt the twins or worse. Maybe you were trying to help me because you want to protect Pinkie Pie's home. Whatever your reason, it wasn't to help me. And even if it was, you did a horrible job at it." Exhausted, he leaned back to get a good look at them. They seemed sincerely apologetic, but it still didn't fix the mess they had made.
Sighing, I seem to be doing that a lot today, he moved around the counter toward them. He stopped in front of them and waved his hand in the direction of the wall. The mess started to disappear and the displays righted themselves. "Look, Pinkie left me in charge because she trusts me. I know how to run the bakery in her absence and I can assure you, no harm will come to the twins. It'll be easy for me to clean the mess myself. I have all the powers of chaos and part of that is being able to make chaos disappear. Though, I would rather not in most cases." he said, chuckling at the last part.
"Okay then." Twilight said resignly. "But," biting her lip, "If you do need help, we can help you. We'll do better next time."
"Fine, now off with you. I have som... a lot of work to do." he said mutely as he saw the full extent of the mess.
With that, they said their goodbyes and left the store. He quickly set off to snapping his fingers at the various locations in the bakery and the mess started to right itself. Order. Unwanted chaos. Who would ever, ever! think I would be saying, or rather thinking, that way. Certainly not me.
He went into the back and accessed the damage. It was messy, that was for sure. But it was manageable. After he snapped to get the kitchen cleaning itself he went to check on the twins. They were in their play pin and looking none too pleased with the recent events.
"Ahh, did you not like the prissy pony dressing you up?" he said in a baby talk manner. "Pppphhhhlllllbbbb" he got a raspberry in respond. 
"Well, I agree. I don't think I would have liked it anymore than you did." he said scrunching up his face. 
"Ppphahaha" they laughed. He smiled, happy they weren't upset anymore.
When he turned back around the kitchen was still in a sorry state but at least it's clean. The first thing he did was refrost the cupcakes. Which was easy as Twilight had pretty much taken all of it off. He then went back to the twins to see if they would be needing a bath later. Turns out they didn't, seeing as Rarity got them cleaned up to try on new clothes. The burning cake was the next issue. It had to be taken out and simply thrown away. He then remade the batter for the cake and poured it into the cake tin. He then put it in the oven after turning the temperature to the right setting. He still needed to finish the muffin order and start on the cupcakes.
He had managed to get the second batch of muffins in the oven when the door chimed. Discord went to go see who it was. By everything I hold dear and my own developing sanity, please let it not be Twilight and her friends again.
It turned out to be the pony who ordered the cake. "Hello, we talked on the phone. I had ordered the strawberry cake."
"Coming right up. It's cooling right now so I'll need a second to frost it." he said trying not to upset the already disgruntled customer.
"Just what is going on here? It's been almost than an hour and my cake still isn't done." she commented.
"I had run into an unexpected problem. I assure you it isn't always this way." he said smoothly. He then went back into the kitchen. He had removed the cake before putting in the muffins. It had cooled down by now. He snapped his fingers and the frosting set off to decorating the cake itself. How does Pinkie manage to run this place by herself at times? Of course she doesn't have a disaster happening every time but still. All this running back and forth. Checking on everything. And she doesn't even have magic! Or... at least I'm not sure you can consider whatever it is she's able to do 'magic'.
With the cake done he moved back to the front and delivered the cake. It was pretty obvious she didn't tip well. So, with her gone he moved to make the last batch of muffins. They were just getting in the oven when the door chimed again.
It was three mares. They had come to pick up their muffin order.
"I'm terribly sorry. The last batch was just put in the oven so it's going to be about 15 minutes" he explained.
"That's okay. Can we have the ones that are done while we wait for the rest?" the orange maned mare asked. It was nice that she was cool with the wait. He didn't want to have to deal with three unhappy customers.
Fifteen minutes later, the muffins were done and he brought them out the awaiting group. A blonde maned grey mare paid for the muffins. "Here you go!" she said as she gave him a muffin. The other mares just shook their heads at the 'tip'. They were nice enough to wave as they left.
Then the phone rang again.
It was the stallion who had ordered the cupcakes. He had sent his son to pick them up and would be there shortly.
There's no time to make those. Well, so much for homemade. He thought as he snapped up a box full of freshly made cupcakes.
A colt he can only assume as the son of the stallion on the phone came in.
"Hello? My father sent me here to pick up the cupcakes." He was nervous. Either it was because of who he was talking to or cause he was uncertain of what to say. Maybe both. Discord thought to himself.
"Yes, they're right here." He said as he waved his hand over the box on the counter. "Did your father give you the right number of bits?"
"Y-Yes, I think so. Here you go." he said.
"Okay, here's your receipt. Have a nice day!" he said as he waved to the exiting pony.
"Ahhhaaa!" he sighed slumping over the counter. Please let the rest of the afternoon be uneventful. I don't think I can stand this order thing for much longer. Not to forget, having to be polite to all the different ponies.
The universe probably would have listened to his plea if it wasn't time for the lunch rush. But it was.


> What Sense is there in having Fun?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After the disaster that were the Elements of Harmony, Discord was almost thankful for the lunch time rush. Most of the customers were nameless faces he had seen before but never had time to interact with. The others were ponies you could almost say he was friendly with. It was rough trying to deal with so many ponies at once, but luckily Pinkie had thought ahead and had baked extra for the display counters.
The only small problem he had at the beginning of the lunch rush was having to put the twins down for their nap.
"Wahhhh!" the twins were both crying at the top of their lungs from their playpen. "One moment." Discord asked the customer in front of him. He was wincing from their shrill cries. "Come now, I'll put you to bed." Discord tried to soothe them as he carried them up to their crib. "I think all that activity downstairs has really gotten you tired." he said with a smile.
"Pppllbb" another raspberry. It always seemed to calm him when he was with children. They enjoyed his nonsense. The younger ones though, they made his heart clench for a moment. Such innocence held no hate or prejudice. It was unfortunate that they would have to grow up and come to know those things.
"Discord!" Pumpkin called as he put them into the crib. "Alright, but then I got to leave. It's very busy down there." In the quiet of the room, so removed from the till of the bakery floor, Discord began to sing to them. When he was done, they were fast asleep. He left them then to sleep.
When he got back down the stairs, the hubbub of ponies walking around hit him. There were already a line of ponies waiting to ring up their purchases. Some were getting a little anxious about what time they have left. Discord worked quickly to get them taken care of and out the door.
He ran into a bit of a problem with a mare that smelled of wine. "What do you mean there's no alcohol in rum balls!?"
"They are made with rum but only for the taste. All the alcohol gets burned off."
"Then what am I buying these for then!?"
"Cause they taste good." Discord couldn't help but let slip comment. Luckily it wasn't a rude one.
She just looked at them and came to a conclusion. "Fine. But don't think I won't remember this." She processed to buy the box of rum balls and leave. I highly doubt you remember much at all, tipsy. Discord thought with a little malice.
The next few people were subdued and left without a problem. Three mare then came up to the counter. They were the local flourishes. "Do you have any daisy croissants in stock?" one asked, "I would like lily eclairs!" another called, the last asked "Can I have a rose hip muffin?"
"Alright, it was a daisy croissant, a lily eclairs, and a rose hip muffin." he recounted.
"No, I want two croissants- I want three eclairs!-three are you crazy, you're on a diet-I can indulge once in a while!" the two mares started to bicker. The last one, a rather flighty cream-colored mare, looked between the two and him.
"How about just two for each of you? There are other customers waiting." He said trying to mediate the situation.
"Hmmph, fine." He went to get their order and rang them up. Glad that ended quickly. I really don't need another disaster happening today.
Like before, there were a few ordinary customers until there was a problem. This one though, had nothing to do with the food.
"So, you're here again. Trying to pretend to be all goody two shoes for the princesses?" 
It was a gray pony with clovers as a cutie mark. He still held a disdain for Discord; believing him to only be pretending to be good as a scheme to get everyone's guard down.
"What will it be today? Maybe a nice prune bran muffin? You're looking a little constipated." Discord said with sneer.
"Why I outta, you don't fool me! I know you're nothing but evil. I won't be buying anything while you're still here. I can only imagine what horrible things you put in the food." He retorted.
"Well you don't have to only imagine it for much longer!" He called out as he took a muffin and stuffed it into the stallion's mouth. The stallion involuntarily bite down and realized the muffin was full of live worms. He spit it out and went screaming out the door. All while Discord was laughing maniacally. It was only afterward that he realized his mistake when he saw all the scared faces of the ponies in the shop.
"Ah, um, cough, I don't allow such behavior in this establishment." He said, trying to smooth things back over. "You don't have to worry. Pinkie and the Cakes' cooking is great!" He hoped the name drop would help. Luckily it did as he saw the ponies relax. That was close. He mentally sweated. I got to watch what I do more closely. I just hope this little 'incident' doesn't get back to Pinkie.
That incident brought back to the front of his mind thoughts that had been bugging him for a the last few weeks. Thoughts that he was able to keep back by having to deal with the rush of customers. The most potent of the thoughts was about his own self identity. Did he really want to continue being the villain? Or was friendship and acceptance worthwhile? He wasn't so sure anymore. 
He had always been the villain. Or more definitively, he had always simply done what he wanted. It never mattered to him if the ponies around him didn't like it. He was having fun. But, deep down, he wanted others to have fun with him. To play with him and enjoy all the wondrous things he could do. He would never admit it, but in the beginning he never realized his fun was hurting others. He didn't understand why they tried to drive him out. Then being stuck in stone for a thousand years didn't help the problem.
Now he was stuck at a proverbial crossroad. Will he conform to this world's rules and sense of fun? Or will he resist and try to make them conform to his own, and only, sense of fun? 
But of course, he didn't have time to contemplate this. Now did he?
No further problems arose other than the customer not knowing exactly what to get. Eventually, lunch time came to an end and he closed the shop. It was time for his own lunch break. Discord only now realized how hungry he was. The last thing he had eaten was the muffin from this morning. He went to the kitchen to dig around for something the eat.
Without the rush of customers coming in he had a moment to ponder a question that had started to nag him.
Why? Why did I want to keep this place perfect so much? Why is it... I feel like I don't want to disappoint her? Like I want her to be... proud of me. Maybe it's just because if she's mad at me, she won't be wanting to hang out with me. But why is that so important? To be spending time with this pony. I'm just over thinking this. It's just because she's one of the only people who actually likes my chaos and really, truly, want to spend time with me. Yes! that's it. I'll just be losing a fellow playmate. A comrade in chaos. He nodded to himself. Though, strangely unconvinced by his own conclusion.

> What I Want
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord looked up from his sandwich. It was the twins crying. Seems they've woken up. He threw the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and went to them. He entered their room to see Pound on the floor trying to hold onto a toy his sister was telekineticly pulling from him.
"That's enough you two." he said as he pulled the toy away. 
"Want to have some real fun?" he asked. They nodded vigorously. 
"Okay then" Discord said enthusiastically. He snapped his fingers; setting the toys to start dancing around. He picked up Pumpkin and set her down next to Pound.
"Let's see what we have here." Discord said as he gathered up the kids' toys. "Once upon a time, there was a family of..timberwolves. And one day, they went into.. the Everfree Forest." The twins rolled their eyes. "They were looking for a secret.. cockatrice factory. Where the cockatrice were turning stones ponies into raw magical essence." Pumpkin and Pound looked at each other questioningly. "So three timberwolves rushed them with a savage attack while the others maneuvered to the right flank..." he paused for a moment "... and attacked anything.. still moving." Pumpkin and Pound were confused but were entertained none the less. Discord sighed, "And not one wolf was left behind that day. They got them all. Even the teeniest, littlest wolf of all..Rodriguez." he said as he held up the chicken toy.
He looked up at them to see they were not smiling. "Hungry." Pound cake said as he rubbed his stomach. "Food!" Pumpkin called out as she mimicked her brother.
"Oh, time for a snack then?" Discord asked. They nodded. He picked them up and carried them down to the kitchen. After placing them into the high chairs, he looked through the cupboard to see which kind of snack to give them. He settled on a biscotti. It was hard enough for them to teeth on without the fear of it breaking apart and choking them. Mrs. Cake had told him about how she makes them her own teething biscuit after hearing from another mother the dangers of some teething biscuits. She also likes to know what's in the food they're eating.
Everything was fine for a while until they got bored and started to cry.
"Do you want another biscotti?-they shook their heads-How about a macaroon?-again no-Oh! how about I make your toys talk again?" They shook their heads and continued to cry.
"I know what can make you smile!" he said triumphantly. Discord went over to the flour bin and grabbed a small bag. He came back in front of the twins and dumped the entire bag on his head. He was greeted by howls of laughter after performing their favorite thing, the flour trick. I'm glad the Cakes leave those bags around for this purpose.
He then gave them another biscotti and a sippy cup of juice. It was then he heard the bell chime announcing the arrival of somepony in the store front. Strange, I thought I put the sign to closed? Maybe it's Pinkie!
Discord went to the front only to see it was Twilight with Spike. At first, he didn't know why they were giggling.
"Did we interrupt something?" Twilight asked. It was then that Discord realized he was still covered in flour.
"Oh! No, I was just entertaining the twins. Did you need anything?" he asked as he snapped away the flour.
"I had promised Spike a cookie and didn't have anymore at home." she then gave Spike a stern look. It can be easily assumed that Spike had eaten all the cookies behind Twilight's back.
"It's okay. I still have plenty." he then moved behind the counter's display case. "Which one did you want?" At the question Spike ran up to the case and salivated at all the different kinds. "Oh, there's chocolate chip, chocolate cookie, double chocolate chip chocolate cookie!"
"You can only have one." Twilight reminded him. "Ahhh" Spike turned back to the case and processed to figure out which one he wanted. Twilight went up to Discord with the intention to start a conversation.
"Sooo, I heard you scared off a pony with a baked bad." she winced as it wasn't exactly how she wanted to start out.
"It wasn't so much of a baked bad as simply a muffin filled with live worms." he laughed at the memory but after seeing the look on Twilight's face recounted, "He deserved it. He was being very rude to me and trying to scare the other customers." Discord crossed his arms to show his resolve.
"Okay, I believe you. What I really wanted to come here for was... well, to say how sorry I am. You were right. I only came here to see if you were up to no good. After so long...-You still don't trust me- Yes, but not just that! I should trust you. Fluttershy and Pinkie trust you. Pinkie even trusts you enough to leave the store and the twins with you. It's hard, to get over past events. After so long, I should have seen how much you've changed. You're still, well, you.-he nodded at this- But you're not going to turn Ponyville into chaos again." She ended it with a smile.
"I'm glad you think that way. It would help to keep today's 'events' from happening again." he laughed fully from the memory. Twilight even laughed with him. "It's funny looking back at it how much damage we caused."
"Ah ha!" Spike announced. "I know what I'm getting. It'll be one triple chocolate truffle cookie please."
"Coming right up!" Discord said with the same amount of enthusiasm. "That's a fine choice you've made there." Spike dove into his cookie, savoring the tasty treat.
"We should be going. There's still much we have to do today." Twilight said. "Goodbye!" "Yeah, goodbye Discord!" Spike called out as well. They left the bakery talking amongst themselves about the other errands they have to do.
He went back into the kitchen and checked on the children. They had almost finished their food but needed a refill on their juice. It was getting to be time for him to reopen the shop, so he moved the twins into the front with their play pin.
Discord was very glad that the rest of the evening was uneventful. When 6:00 rolled around, he closed up the shop. All the left over pastries that couldn't be saved for tomorrow, he put into a box for pick up. The Cakes leave the leftovers by the back door for the local shelters to pick up. The Cakes liked not wasting food and helping out the shelter was a great way to do that.
He started dinner and put the twins into their high chairs. When he heard the front door being unlocked, he knew it had to be Pinkie. He scooped up the twins and left for the front.
"Pinkie!-Pie!" the twins called out each.
"Hello there, cuties!" Pinkie back. She looked tired but took the twins none the less. Discord couldn't help but say, "Ahh, I know! I'm adorable." He struck a few poses. Pinkie laughed. "I've got dinner cooking right now so let's go to the kitchen." he told her.
They walked to the kitchen and got settled. Discord finish cooking up a meal of mashed potatoes and mixed salad. He placed the plates in their spots and got the children their dinner of just mashed potatoes. He knew to not start eating until Pinkie said grace. Even though she hadn't lived at with her parents for years, and only visited every so often, she still stuck with the habit of saying a grace before meals.
"Please bless this meal and make sure no one gets injured or sick. Watch over all those here and our loved ones. Amen." "Amen" "Ahhhmun!" With that they started eating.
"Tell me about your day." Discord asked Pinkie.
"Ohh brother, it was horrible! Everything started out fine and I didn't expect to be out for very long. By the way! I'm sorry for leaving you here all day. Haha that rhymed but really I was going to come back soon-It's fine-So anyway, I got all the way to the park to deliver the first order and couldn't find them. I looked everywhere! It turned out they had moved to the lake because it was nicer there but forgot to tell me-That's awful-I know right! I figured it out when I decided to go there just in case.
"I had to stay there to make sure the food was correct and set it all out. Then I ran into another problem when they forgot to have the total payment for me. Sooo, me and one of the stallions-the stallion and I- had to go into town to the bank to get the rest of the payment. After that, I went to deliver the next order. It was on a field by Fluttershy's house. which reminds me did you need their help today?" she asked him.
He mentally bit his lip, trying to think of what to say. "No I didn't need their help but they did come over to do so. They..made it more..entertaining around here. Yes! they made it more fun and entertaining in the shop today." He hoped she would believe his version of the truth.
"Okie doki loki! I'm glad they were able to be so some use. I know you can take care of everything yourself but! it's always more fun with others. Back to today..." He was very glad she believed him. He didn't want to tell her what really happened. She might not trust me as much if she knew. I don't want any reason for her to dislike me. What!? I mean, I don't want her to dislike me because she's my friend. Of course, that's what I meant. Pinkie had continued to recount her day as he was mentally wrestling with himself. 
"...And I finally got there! They were nice enough as to not be upset at me for being late. Afterwards, I had to leave for the party. I don't want to bore you with all the details but I ended up getting stuck helping out. It was a filly's birthday and her mom needed me to stick around in case they ran out of food and to keep the foals out of trouble. Apparently, she knew I babysat the twins so she knew I had knowledge about dealing with small children." she sighed after finishing her tale.
"You know, I'm really glad you're here." Pinkie told discord. "Really?" he asked.
"Yeah, really really." she told him with a smile. She then gave him a kiss on the cheek as thanks for helping. Discord blushed at it while Pinkie turned back to her food.
Discord looked around and fully realized his situation. He was sitting around the dinner table with the girl he likes and two happy children. It was Almost like a family. Is this what I want? What I need? Yes, I'll finally admit it. I like Pinkie but this... it's so peaceful and yet I feel complete. No chaos needed. Discord finish his meal and took the other's plates. It felt different living like this and strange to imagine continuing to live like this. In all his life, even in his home before coming to Equestria, he had never thought his life could be like this.
Pinkie spoke up as she pulled the twins out of their high chairs. "I'll put the foals to bed. You can stay here and relax." She left with them. Discord was left with his thoughts. He still wasn't sure what to make of all these new emotions.
"Discord!!!" He heard Pinkie call for him. He went up to the children's room. "Discord, they don't want to go to sleep. They keep saying your name."
"Well, aren't I popular today." he joked. "Let me guess, you want me to sing to you?"
"Yeah!" they cried. "Okay." Discord processed to sing to them. Soon afterward they fell asleep.
"Wow! What was that? A super special sleeping spell? They fell asleep so quickly." Pinkie asked. She was genuinely wondering about it. She never knew he sang or had a special song the foals only knew.
"Oh that? It's nothing. Just a song I know." Discord tried to tell her. "Dissy." she said sternly. "Okay okay, it was my lullaby. My uncle used to sing it to me. He was very good to me." Discord said it in a wistful way and for a moment, was lost in thoughts of his uncle. "I didn't know you had an uncle. In fact, I don't know anything about your family or! where you came from."
"Let me stop you there. Pinkie, please, I don't want to talk about it." he said it such a way that Pinkie knew not to press any further. Even though she really wanted to.
"Do you want to stay the night?" she asked. "What?" he was a little thrown off by the frowardness of the question. She giggled. "I don't mean it in that way. It's late and I thought you would be happier staying here instead of having to travel all the back to Canterlot. And! since we were so busy today. I thought tomorrow we could have some fun."
"I think I would like that." Discord replied. They went up to Pinkie's room and laid on her bed. He still wasn't sure about the situation but accepted it none the less. They fell asleep with thoughts of what type of fun they will have the next day.
> Extra Bits and Crumbs! The unfinished chapters.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought it would be nice to publish the extra parts that either never made it into the story or were part of an unfinished chapter. Finally! This story will be done. Enjoy!




"Wait! wait, I got them" Discord said, running toward the crying children. He took pumpkin from Luna and picked up Pound.
"Since when did you become such an expert on children?" Celestia asked.
"Since Pinkie taught me. Sometimes she needed me to watch them while she and the Cakes ran the bakery. Sometimes, we even had to take them with us out on the town."
"And the Cakes trusted you?"
"Pinkie trusted me. And the Cakes had no reason to doubt her. She might be a happy-go-lucky party pony but she would never let that get in the way of taking care of the foals."





"There is one foolproof way to make them happy."
"What is that pray tell?"
"Dumping a bag of flour over your head! Even the Cakes do it at times"





"It seems you have matured since the last time I saw you. You've learned how to moderate your chaos and use it for good." Celestia noted.

"Yes I did and not one bit of it from one of your schemes."

"Oh? And how did this happen? What exactly have you learned?"

"Well, I've learned...having fun is important... but, you can't be doing it all the time. You need to remember your responsibilities. The fact that people rely on you. All work and no play may you very dull but all play is very...empty. There's no gratification from it. After working for a while, what fun you do have, or make time for, seems all that much better."There will be days, borrring days of course, that you have no time for play but that doesn't mean there won't be time for it later."

It was getting hard for him to admit these things. These hard-to-place/emotional things. But still, he could feel his words coming out smoother than before.

"Also, there are rules you have to follow. Ponies like rules almost as much as they like fun. It keeps things sane. It also keeps things in order so they know when it's time to have fun and how much to appreciate it. I think, and I'm going for a long shot here," They rolled their eyes "but I think, I'm going to use my chaos in a 'controlled' manner. Like a fun house! It'll still be just a wonderful and better than order but in a more confined way. I'll help Pinkie Pie with her parties and make bizarre food with her and I'll go pranking here and there but nothing malicious." 

Discord still wasn't sure how to phrase it. He was still going to use his chaos to make the world more..chaotic, but in small doses. Like Pinkie Pie's parties, every once in a while he'll be there to show the ponies how to let loose. To have fun and enjoy the spontaneous. He understands that ponies still need to work. They still need to do everyday things that seemed too boring and ordinary for him. And most of all, he understands that his chaos caused harm. Ponies can't realistically live in total chaos like he can.

Celestia held up her hoof to keep him from speaking any more. "I think I understand." She looked to her sister who nodded. "We both understand what you are saying and are very proud of you. This is a momentous breakthrough."

He just smirked and said dramatically "Gosh Celly, you don't have to make me feel like foal bringing home a picture you're going to put up on the fridge. I am only a couple of centuries older than you."
He was happy she understood, even though he didn't really understand it entirely himself. This new understanding he had; it was to much for him to explain.

"So I take it you're not coming back to Canterlot?"

"No, I'm going to stay here, in Ponyville. Live here, from now on. I'll whip up myself a cozy mismatched house and see about..continuing to find a new place in this world."

"Best of luck to you."

"Yes, may luck be on your side."

And with that, they left.