//------------------------------//
// Grumpy Gus 
// Story: Domestic Drabbles of Discord's Dimension 
// by GeekCat 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy hummed a simple tune, herding a couple of dust bunnies back under the couch. Discord had left hours ago for a small convention, where he would be showing off a new expansion of O&O to any interested players.

She glanced up at the clock. He'd be back home any minute now, and she wanted everything to be nice and chaotic when he arrived. Still humming her little song, she tossed some flour on top of the table, spreading it out with her hoof until it was a thin dust.

Just as she had put away the flour and was turning a painting in the kitchen upside down, she heard the door slam open. She quickly flew into the living room. "Welcome back!" she said cheerfully. "How was—"

She froze in place, a tiny squeak coming from her throat. Discord was scowling and glaring—not at her, it seemed, but just everything in general. "It," he hissed between grit teeth, "did not go as well as I had hoped."

With a snort, he hovered over and flopped down on the couch, crossing his arms and glaring up at the ceiling. A tiny volcano appeared where he was glaring, spewing lava over the surface. He huffed, tiny clouds of smoke pouring out of his nostrils.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she said.

He growled. "No! I'd rather not have to relive the last few hours, thank you!" he snapped. An armchair skidded across the floor, crashing down the hallway. With another snort, this time with a spurt of flame, he flopped his head down on the closest pillow.

She backed away slowly. "Oh...I'm sorry." She went back into the kitchen, quickly pulling out slices of bread, carrot extract, and ginger. In just a few minutes, she had whipped together the carrot ginger sandwiches he liked so much (with an extra sprinkle of ginger), making sure to cut off the crusts and separate them from the sandwiches.

After arranging them on a large plate, she opened the fridge and grabbed a pitcher of lemonade, pouring it into a tall glass and adding a hoofful of star-shaped ice cubes. She set the plate on her back, and grabbed the glass with her wing, then walked to the living room.

"Here you go," she said, sliding them onto the small table beside him. "I thought you might like something to eat."

"M'not hungry," he muttered.

She frowned. "Is there anything you need? A book, a puzzle..."

He shifted his head and glared at her. "I'd like to be left alone to wallow in my misery!" he howled, before turning so that his back was facing her. He crossed his arms with a snort, and a small, rumbling black thundercloud appeared above his head.

She took a few steps back, her ears pressed flat against her skull. "...Alright," she said, turning and starting to fly out of the room.

Just before she went into the hallway, she heard Discord call, "W-wait!" She turned and saw that even though the black cloud was still hovering near him, he had sat up, and was reaching an arm out towards her.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you," he quickly said. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying to help me, and I-I love you for that." He clasped his hands together, twiddling his thumbs.

"I don't want to talk...but having you closer makes me feel...better," he said. "Could you...?"

She nodded and flew back over to him, taking a seat on the other end of the couch. "Do you want a hug?" she asked, stretching her hooves out to him.

He shook his head, curling his tail away. "I'd rather not be touched right now, thanks. Just being close is good."

She smiled and nodded, putting a few inches between herself and his tail. She waited and watched as Discord muttered to himself under his breath, clenching and unclenching his fists, and bit at the corner of his pillow.

At some point, he starting shoving carrot ginger sandwiches into his mouth angrily, nearly swallowing them whole. As he made his way through the sandwiches, though, he began to slow down and actually chew his food, washing it down with gulps of lemonade.

As he nibbled at one of the sandwich crusts, his tail shifted closer to her lap. "Discord?" she said quietly, pointing his tail out when he glanced up at her. "I wasn't sure if you still didn't want to be touched..." She shifted a little bit away, but bumped into the arm of the couch before she could get far.

He rolled the crust in his mouth, then said, "I think I'd like to take you up on that hug." He bit his lip. "That is...if you're still offering."

She opened her forelegs, smiling softly. He swallowed his crust and flipped backwards in the air, so that now he was looking up at her, upside-down. He slithered over to her, hesitating for a second before gently pressing himself against her chest.

She slowly wrapped her hooves around his neck, keeping her touch as light as possible, so that he could pull away if he had to. He whined, pressing his cheek against her chest.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You're so wonderful. I love you. I'm sorry."

She shushed him, brushing at his mane with a hoof. "It's okay. You were in a bad mood. You just needed some way to vent your frustrations."

"That doesn't excuse it," he growled. The black cloud orbited around the two of them, rumbling. "Especially when the reason for my bad mood is a stupid, idiotic one."

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, brushing behind his ear with the tip of her wing.

He scowled. "It's stupid," he grumbled.

"Talking about it might make you feel better," she said. "And you can stop at any time you want. I won't pry."

He shifted, letting his arms fall to his sides on the couch, and his head relax against her chest. "Well, the convention...didn't go as well as I had hoped for," he said. "Oh, it was fine at first. Small groups of creatures, all interested in the game, very polite and friendly about it."

He clenched his fists, and growled, "Then he came."

"He was some stallion, being dragged along by a younger mare—his daughter or niece, some kind of relative. Anyway, she was very interested in the game, and was eager to sit down and play. The stallion just sort of...hung back, scowling." Discord scowled himself, "But we needed one more player for an ideal party, so she invited him to take a pre-rendered character and join in. That's when things started to get dicey, and not the fun kind."

"First of all, he was pretty grumpy about having to join in. Then, he took one look at his character sheet and said he wasn't going to play as a dragon of all things. That upset the dragon player who was at the table. I managed to find a character sheet for a pony, but then he got upset with me because I grabbed one for a barbarian, and he thought I was insulting his intelligence."

"So his younger relative rolled him up a unicorn wizard, just to keep him quiet. So finally, with six players, we could start the game. I figured that even if he didn't want to join in, he would hang back and let his daughter-niece-whatever have fun." The black cloud rumbled. "My mistake."

He flopped his head against her chest roughly. She winced. "Sorry! So sorry! I forgot you weren't my pillow," he said quickly. She pat his head, quietly assuring him she was okay.

"But anyway, I made a mistake thinking he would either join in or keep quiet. As we started the game, he made fun of the voices every creature was using for their characters, and mocked the player who was roleplaying as a barbarian."

"Then as we continued, he called the rouge 'morally depraved', the changeling bard a 'lovesucking trickster', and the druid a 'treehugging hippie'. Everyone was upset, but they thought he was just trying to get into the whole roleplaying thing, so tried to go along with it."

"But as we kept going, his comments just got worse and worse...and then he started making comments about the mare he came with." Steam started pouring out of his ears. "He criticized her decisions in the game, especially in combat. He snapped at her when she tried roleplaying her cleric. And then he started asking why she even bothered spending bits on something she doesn't even get something out of."

"That was when I stepped in. I called for a break, and pulled him to the side." A projector suddenly appeared, showing Discord and a middle-aged pegasus, talking separately from a group of younger creatures, who were eyeing the two nervously.

On the image, Discord hissed, "Look, you're ruining the game for everyone else, including the mare you came with. Knock it off with the comments."

The stallion scoffed. "Oh, please. It's just a game. Besides, it's time she grew up and gave up these childish hobbies anyway."

Discord growled, clenching his fist and jabbing a finger at his muzzle. "You are walking on very thin ice right now, good sir," he said, pupils glowing red. "You realize you are talking to someone who also plays this game, and has seen hundreds more lifetimes than your feeble mind could even start to comprehend."

The stallion shoved his finger away and scoffed, "And have you accomplished anything of worth? Done anything for the good of the world? Or have you just wasted hours on useless distractions, ignoring everypony around you?"

Discord snorted, smoke pouring out of his nostrils. "Shut up."

"Have I struck a nerve? Made you see that by wasting your time on foolish things like this, you've ignored the more important things like—"

Whatever he was going to say next would be unknown. Discord snapped his fingers, and the stallion disappeared in a flash of light. "Who's up for LARPing?" he yelled back at the group, who were watching with stunned expressions.

He snapped his fingers, and he and the group appeared in a fantastical world—the world of Ogres and Obulettes. The rude stallion was standing there in wizard robes, looking shell-shocked.

Discord hovered overhead, shaking a handful of colorful dice, cackling. The image faded to black, and the projector hummed and shut down.

"I got in trouble for that," he said. "The convention wasn't happy that I dragged creatures into another dimension. That stallion wanted me to be kicked out, but the others stood up for me—even the mare. They said they had fun, and he was a jerk, anyway."

He sighed. "But because of his complaints, they...they might not invite me back for the next convention." He held up a hand puppet of a pony. "We'll need to consider all statements about today's incident before you can work for us again."

He sighed again, the black cloud deflating like a balloon and flopping to the ground. "Yeah. Like I said. A stupid reason to be angry," he muttered.

"Don't say that," she said, gently running a hoof down his cheek. "That stallion was rude to you and everyone else. And he only got ruder when you tried to politely confront him." She tightened her hug. "Anyone would be mad because of that."

"That annoyed me, yeah, but...the main reason I'm angry at him is the really idiotic thing," he grumbled.

She tilted her head. "Was it because he might get you barred from future conventions? Because—"

He shook his head. "I'm annoyed about that, too, but...what really made me mad was that he tried claiming that I've 'ignored important things'."

"I don't know what he thought was important—maybe it was holding a job, getting rich, helping one's fellow creature—and I don't care, either. But I'll be barbequed before someone tries to imply that my Fluttershy is somehow less important than anything else in my life, or that I've neglected my role as a husband!"

She placed a hoof to her mouth, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. He was quiet for a second before stammering out, "O-of course, implying the Council of Friendship isn't important was also pretty—"

He froze as she tightened her hold on his neck, burying her face in his fur. "Discord," she choked, "That's one of the sweetest things I've ever heard you say." She kept nuzzling into him.

He flushed a bright red, stammering out a few syllables. "W-well, I still don't think that excuses how I treated you earlier," he finally said. He snapped his tail feathers, and the volcano sank into the ceiling, taking the lava with it, and the armchair flew back into the room with butterfly wings.

He snapped his fingers, and a complete teaset appeared on the table. "Would something like this perhaps begin to make it up to you?" he said, pouring a cup of tea with one hand, the other wrapped around her back.

She smiled, slowly letting go of his neck. "Discord, I already forgive you," she said. "But what about you? Are you feeling any better?"

He handed her the full cup, nodding. "Oh, yes. Well, I can't say I've forgiven the rude git, but I don't feel like sending a swarm of parasprites to eat his coat off anymore," he said, taking a sip of tea. "I guess I just needed to get it off my chest." He opened a panel above his heart, pulling out a large black dumbbell and tossing it to the side.

She giggled, taking a sip of tea. "You know I'll always be here whenever you're upset, right?"

He nodded, placing his hand on her head. "And I for you, my dear sweet Fluttershy."

He pulled away, tossing another sandwich crust in his mouth and glancing about the room. "I have to say, my dear, I love what you've done with the place! Is this chaos all just for me?"

She nodded. "It's just a few small things, but I wanted to surprise you."

He smiled softly at her, pupils forming into the shape of hearts. "It's wonderful," he said, not taking his eyes off of her. She smiled back, a blush forming on her face.