//------------------------------//
// Help me, help you 
// Story: Flurry Heart 
// by Buttery Biscuit 
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Discord awoke from his bed and remembered the previous night with Cadence. He sighed, he had offered to help but he couldn’t see a way he could actually help. He would figure out something though, he always did. He grumbled as he got up from the bed, which was on his roof, and went to his couch, which was on the wall. “Sombra, Sombra wake up.”

“Mmmm what?” Sombra grumbled he had stayed the night in the chaos realm. You could summon silently but you couldn’t teleport without making some noise. He did not want to wake Twilight and be bombarded with thousands of questions.

“It’s noon we have to get your stuff and meet Cadence back at her castle. Remember?” Discord asked although who could forget a night like that.

Sombra grumbled he was still quite tired but he did remember. How could he not? “Let's go.”

Discord snapped his fingers and appeared in front of Twilight's castle. Unlike Discord, who could bring his chaos realm and all of his stuff wherever he pleased. Sombra had a few things he had to pick up. Mostly his red shirts which he traded his cape for. He had gotten them as a gift from Rarity when he refused to take his cape off. Sombra knocked on the door, what was he to say. This needed to stay secret that means he’d have to lie, to the Princess Of Frienship….or did he? “Hello, Twilight.”

“Hello, Sombra? I thought you were upstairs.” Twilight said, confusion in her voice. Sombra was living in one of the empty guest bedrooms in the Castle of Friendship. He had nowhere else to go, so they set him up there. Though she really wouldn't call it living since more often then not she would find him sleeping outside the castle or sneaking out of chaos realm portals. She had no idea why though, she had never bothered to ask. She just assumed it was what he liked.

‘Yeah about that...look Twilight. I’m leaving.” Sombra was not good at beating around the bush he never was, he lied or told the truth. No in-between. Now with the extra honesty lessons, he found himself telling the truth more often than lying. It was Discord that was good with manipulation and lying.

“Leaving?” Twilight asked, “to where exactly?”

Discord swooped in to save the day, he knew Sombra had zero tack. “We're going to help Cadence with Flurry. She needs a sitter, hers keep quitting. We'll be gone for a couple of weeks at most.”

“Oh….she could just call me,” Twilight said concerned about why she was left in the dark. Why didn't she know that? She knew everything.

“She doesn’t want to bother you, you're busy being the Princess of Friendship. Sombra and I have nothing else to do.” Discord said in a huff, it was true. He didn't have anything else to do but that fact annoyed him more then he was willing to admit. The fact that that fact annoyed him made him even more annoyed.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense….so you’ll be living. With my family? For a few weeks?” Twilight still decided it would be best to call her sister-in-law at some point. She had more than a few questions.

“Yes don’t worry we will be back, try not to miss us too much.” Discord said sarcastically though somewhere deep inside of him. He hoped they would miss him. His friends meant more to him then he let on.

“I’ll try my best,” Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. Twilight found Sombra pleasant company, more then Discord. Sombra was stoic and smart, a good research buddy. Though she wouldn't call him any more than that.

“So I just need to pick up my stuff then Discord and I will be on our way,” Sombra said as he and Discord stepped inside Twilight's castle. They didn’t know if Twilight knew about the secret but she did know about the nanny’s that was for sure. Just how much she knew beyond that was just a guess. So they both elected to tell her nothing, just in case.

“I'm sure she will find a replacement for us soon, Twilight. So I wouldn’t worry about it too much” Discord added. He knew that would most likely happen. That they wouldn't be needed for that long, that they were only temporary.

“Yeah,” Twilight said as her anxiety grew in her chest, she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with two former villains being around her niece. She couldn't help but feel like she was missing something. If it was a real problem Cadence would have said something to her. Right? She stepped aside so they could go get Sombra's things, she had a million questions running through her head. Why them? Why now? Why? She knew they would not answer her. She watched as they came back down the stairs carrying no luggage. “I thought-”

“I snapped it all to Cadence. There’s one more place I want to go before we go back.” Discord said as he grabbed his tail. He fiddled with it to calm his nerves.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, though she already knew the answer to that question.

“Yup.” Discord said as he snapped his fingers leaving a frustrated Twilight behind. So frustrated and anxious that she was giving Cadence a call right now. She was only thinking about it before-hoof but now she had to know. There was no way she would be lied to or left out of the loop, right? She got up and went to her crystal ball “call Cadence." She told it, bring, bring, bring, it went. Bring, bring, bring, it went again.

“Hello? Twilight is that you? Hello. How are you?” A shaky voice asked.

"Cadence why on Celestia's green Equestria are you having Discord and Sombra look after Flurry. It was supposed to be just once. I could just do it.” Twilight said with a huff.

“Twilight you're busy, you must prepare to become ruler of Equestria. Something that will take time and energy. I know you like seeing Flurry. Don’t worry we will still have playdates but Shining and I need help. Discord and Sombra had nothing else to do, it’s just until we can find another nanny.”

Was….her voice shaking? Twilight had just noticed it...it sounded like she had just been crying. Twilight wasn’t sure what to think. Was Cadence lying to her? Could she lie to her? Or was Twilight worrying about nothing again? She couldn’t be sure but she could find out. For now, she would put the issue to rest, later she would talk to her pony to pony.

Discord snapped his fingers and he was outside Fluttershy's place, he gave the door a knock. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat. Honk, honk, honk, it was a squeaky toy. Yes, his heart was a squeaky toy don’t think about it too hard. You’ll just hurt your head.

“Hello?” Fluttershy answered the door, to her surprise on the other side was Discord. He usually teleported in, always big and showy.

“Hi, Fluttershy it's me Discord."

"And Sombra," Sombra yelled, he wanted to say hello to Fluttershy as well. He liked her a lot, not as much as Pinkie pie, but a lot. Fluttershy was always so kind to him. That he found it impossible to not love her company.

"And Sombra, may we have a quick chat there's something I have to tell you." Discord said as he fiddled with his tail some more. Man, he sure was nervous.

"Oh? Is it serious?" Fluttershy already knew that answer. She knew Discord fairly well by now and she knew he played with his tail when he was nervous.

"Afraid so," Discord said as he looked away from Fluttershy. Would she take it the wrong way? Would she know he was going to lie to her? He really didn't want to lie to her. He really, really, really didn't want to lie to her.

"Oh my well I'll put the kettle on-" Fluttershy was about to suggest. She knew tea calmed him when he was stressed.

"I’m sorry Fluttershy. I'd love to stay but I can’t I have to go back to Cadence." Discord said, maybe he could tell most of the truth. If he told 90% of the truth, that means he wasn't lying, right? No, he was lying to her. He had to, maybe she would understand. Maybe if he asked forgiveness she would be ok with it.

"Cadence?" Now Fluttershy was very confused, how was this serious?

"Fluttershy. Sombra and I will be living with Cadence for the next few weeks. Their sitter keeps quitting and since Sombra and I don't have anything else to do. We have decided to help until she can find a replacement.” By this time Discord wasn’t sure they ever would find a replacement. He could feel his anxiety start to boil but he made sure to keep calm. He promised to keep this secret so he would.

"Oh...that's very sweet of you to offer your help to Cadence.” Fluttershy wasn't expecting the conversation to take this turn. It was serious to Discord but she couldn't understand why. This was great news, he was being so helpful.

"Fluttershy I didn’t just come to tell you that...I'll have to postpone our Tuesday teas’ for the foreseeable future but if you miss me. Just so happen to, at any point...well...here” He said as he gave Fluttershy a whistle “just….blow into it and I'll come. I am just not sure how much of a schedule I'll have. It would be rude to not show up.”

“Oh...I understand taking care of living things can be hard. Thank you for the whistle, I won't forget to call you.” Fluttershy smiled, now she understood why he was so nervous. He thought he would hurt her feelings but she was fine. She understood. She took the whistle from Discord and hung it around her neck. She was proud of the progress he made, offering to help. Although she was rather sad about their tea parties.

Discord smiled down at Fluttershy she was one of the things he hated to leave behind in Ponyville, her and Pinkie but. But he felt Pinkie would be very irresponsible with the whistle, which normally he was all for, but that spell he used seemed to switch a flip inside of him. He felt...differnt still chaos but like not? Did that make any sense? Well, it didn’t matter. “Thank you, Fluttershy. See you later, darling.”

“See you later Discord.”

The two of them snapped back into the castle with Cadence, Sombra's luggage was in the throne room and so were Discord and Sombra.

“Soooo now what?” Sombra asked, he wasn't sure where to go, what to do.

“I’m not sure.” Discord said as he soon realized he also had no idea what he was doing.

"Hello!" Cadence said coming out smiling. Although on the inside she was not, she just got off the crystal ball with Twilight. She hated that she had to lie to her but it was for the best. Well, it was somewhat true.

"Hi Cadence you're looking better," Discord said.

"That implies that I didn't before," Cadence said with a giggle.

"Well, I uh well I didn't say-" Discord said as he panicked, trying to cover his tracks. He had said something a pony didn't like...again.

"I'm teasing Discord. I feel much better, thank you, both of you. I will show you to your rooms." Cadence said she had more than enough time to make them up. A whole day.

"Our rooms?" Sombra and Discord asked more focused on what that meant rather then Cadence's attitude.

"Yes, you both get your own room,” Cadence said as she led them down the hallway, to the right, to the left, and down another hallway until they were at Cadence's bedroom.

Discord and Sombra were beyond confused, they knew where they were but this is where Flurry, Shining, and Cadence slept.

“These are your rooms right across from our's and Flurry's, you should probably be nearby. You know, just in case. Sombra this is your room.” She said pointing to the first door, she opened it with her magic and it was pitch black. “I put blackout curtains on all the windows, painted all the walls and ceilings black. I couldn’t find a black rug so its a deep purple. I hope that’s ok. I did add a little light” She said as she put her hoof to the right of the door frame, just inside Sombra's room. With a click, a very dim lamp just barely lit the room. “I know how you feel about light, you grumble about it a lot. So I hope this makes you more comfortable.” Cadence said as she looked back at Sombra, she hoped he liked it.

Sombra took one look at the room and felt at home, he loved the shadows. He dashed into the room with all the excitement of a young colt. He raced around it checking out all the nook and crannies, “it’s wonderful Cadence. Thank you so much. I love it.”

“Feel free to decorate it as you see fit, you're living here so live here.” She smiled at Sombra, “change anything you like.” She left him to explore his new room. She brought Discord to his room, right next to Sombra's “I felt like you’d want your own room. Now I don’t have chaos powers but I tried my best.”

She said as she opened the door to his room. His walls were painted in clash colors and patterns. Purple and yellow checkers on one, red, pink, and orange triangles on another and different sized dots that were blue, green, and lime. The floor was painted a soft pink and the rug was on the ceiling. It was a mess of a rug, the pattern was just all over the place and never lined up with itself. “I know how you like your chaos.”

Discord went to go duck down to enter, to realize he didn't have to, the door frame was his hight.

“We also expanded the hight of your room, so you don’t have to crouch in it all the time. I hope you like it.” She felt warm fuzz as Discord hugged her.

“Thank you this is the best thing any pony has done for me.” Discord said without thinking about it.

"Oh? It is?" Cadence said with surprise, he was best friends with the element of kindness. This was the best thing to happen to him? All she did was think of him, it wasn't that hard. It gave her a sinking feeling.

"Yes, this is so sweet of you I...can't believe you did this all for Sombra and I. So we would be comfortable.” Discord was utterly stunned at all the work Cadence put into his room. So much consideration had never been taken for him. Of course, he had Fluttershy, who showed him many considerations but nothing quite like this.

"Well will be together a lot now...its the right thing to do” Cadence decided she just had to go to one of those meetings, she needed to see how they were being treated. Whatever she must do to get into one, she would do. Hooves sounded off behind her and she tore from her thoughts to see Sombra. He rushed to her and hugged her.

“Thank you Cadence," he said he gave Cadence a hug, something he was more used to because of Pinkie Pie.

"You're welcome Sombra. Now, are you still willing to look at all that paperwork for us?" Cadence asked hoping Sombra was still willing to take some work off their hooves.

"Of course," while Sombra wasn't stoked about being away from Flurry he knew he had to help Shining and Cadence. Plus it couldn't take that long, also he said he would.

"I'll take you to it," Cadence said as she trotted ahead of Sombra. Discord followed them as well, waiting to see what Cadence would ask him to do for her.

"That be great," Sombra said.

She led them down a hallway, just one right, she opened the door. Paper was everywhere, boxes of papers overfilled with more papers. “That section is the Kingdom's books.” She said as she pointed to a corner considerably more organized than the other one but if you had seen Twilight’s organization it would be considered a disaster. “Over there are our schedules,” she said as she pointed to a mess of a calendar with sticky notes lining all over it boxes of invites and birthday cards lay on the ground. Meeting dates, and invites were in another box. It was an utter nightmare.

"Wow, this is just…..terrible," Sombra said stunned by the sheer disorganization. He had gotten very good at organizing because of Twilight. She liked her things a specific way and if it wasn't that way. Well, you would have Tartarus to pay. She would have fainted on the spot if she was here.

"I know we just don’t have the time, see that button over there” she pointed a hoof to the red button on the wall. “It calls the maids if you need anything please ring them. I’ll be in meetings for the rest of the day. Discord if you could look after Flurry so Shining could come with me to the meetings.”

"Eye-eye captain,” he said as he saluted Cadence.

Cadence snorted “ok Discord. Thank you.” She said as she teleported away.

Discord waited, and waited, and waited but he was never yelled at. He usually was, he expected the classic ‘Discord it’s Princes ____ not' whatever he had called them. He was more than confused but he put his questions aside for the moment and snapped to Flurry, who was in Shining's arms. “Your wife wants to see you.” He said as he grabbed Flurry out of Shining's arms, “while you're in your meetings try and push my chaos agenda. Discords law: the sun must always be a marshmallow.”

“Ha! I’ll try but I very much doubt that will happen.” Shining said as he teleported to his wife in their meeting room. He turned to her and said, “sweetheart Discord wants us to try and turn the sun into a marshmallow.”

Cadence just snorted, “why the Tartarus not? We are supposed to meet with 'Tia again today. Let's do it, her reaction could be funny.”

Discord looked at the empty spot that used to contain Shining Armor, confused. He hadn’t been yelled at again. He was sure he would be, no pony found his chaos funny except maybe Flurry, Pinkie, and sometimes Fluttershy. But the two of them? Flurry fussed and he stopped thinking about it “ok let's get you fed.” He said as he teleported to the kitchen to feed her.


------


Sombra looked at the hot mess that was supposed to be the schedule of Cadence and Shining. “Oh my Celestia,” he said out loud to no pony in particular. He levitated all the sticky notes off of the calendar and just took a look at that. It was jam-packed with all kinds of things. Like if he picked a day at random, let's say Wednesday. On that day Cadence was in meetings from morning to noon, any break she got was spent with Flurry. So she really never got a break, her lunch was all of ten minutes. Then she spent the rest of the day tending to her subjects alternating between a matter of love and kingdom, while also taking care of the books if she could get around to it. Then it was bedtime.

Shining wasn’t any better he spent most of his day splitting his attention between the guard and meetings with Cadence. It looked like he mostly ran between both. He was in charge of everything training them, recruiting more, and the version for young kids that was more of an energy burn than the guard. When he had breaks he also spent them with Flurry. So he got no breaks then he’d help Cadence with matters of the kingdom while also taking care of the schedule if he could. No wonder they were both so tired all the time. They never rested until they collapsed into there beds at the end of the day.

Sombra trotted over to the red button and pressed it, he wasn’t sure what would happen if he did but he waited until a familiar voice said “Hello?”

“Ivy?!”

"Hey Sombra how are you? I haven’t seen you since the night you ‘thanked’ me.” She giggled it was a memory she was very fond of. Discord and Sombra had shown up at her room, with the most burnt cupcakes she had ever seen. They apologized for being such terrible bakers and instead made her flowers out of their magic. Half black crystal, half red, and yellow checkers, she loved them. They still sat on her dresser, she was glad to have befriended these two odd creatures. That’s right she decided to be Discord's friend too.

"I need a drink” he looked back at all the paperwork “a heavy one, doesn't have to be expensive or fancy. I think I will need it. I'm helping Cadence with her schedules and the books.”

“You’re taking on that?" Ivy's voice cracked with surprise, that poor pony. Going through that mess was a fate worse than Tartarus itself.

"Yeahhhh," Sombra drawled out. He sighed, guess he was really doing this. It was much too late to turn back now.

"Wow, I'll go get you something," Ivy said impressed by his noble attempt.

"Thank you, Ivy," Sombra said, he meant it too. He was glad they were friends. That there was another pony on Cadence's side.

"Any time Sombra," Ivy meant that too, she would be more than happy to help him once again.

Sombra let go of the red button, he looked back at the wall. Ok, so a planner for each pony would be a good place to start. He rummaged around until he found some empty books. This would be good enough for now. He grabbed the calendar off the wall and started on a planner for Cadence he drew her cutie mark on the front of it. “Alright, lets plan day to day in this and keep the calendar for monthly events.” He said as he dived into the mass amount of information that surrounded him he was halfway through the first month when he heard a knock on the door. That must be Ivy with his drink, it was going to be a very long day.


7am the next day

Shining and Cadence are in the kitchen, up at seven just like every day but today was different. She and Shining were so well rested, Flurry had slept the entire night. Cadence was about to take a bite of pancake when Discord appeared in front of her with a fussy Flurry. She watched as he grabbed a bottle out of the fridge. Flurry grabbed it out of his claw and hovered it into her face, he shut the door and slid down the fridge. "Discord? You ok?" Cadence asked.

"Uh I'm sooo tired," The world was blurry and Discord was way too tired to think about a single thing.

"Why?" Cadence asked confused, he looked exhausted.

"I was taking care of Flurry all night, why does she wake up so much? Maybe you should talk to Lu-Lu about that. I mean seriously." Discord said as bitterness seeped into his voice "that can't be good."

"But she was asleep?" Cadence asked, maybe he was right, maybe she should talk to Luna about Flurry's sleep. It might be a health problem.

"No, I cast a sound shield on your room, you needed your sleep." Discord said it was true. Cadence and Shining were so sleep deprived they would fall asleep standing up in random places. Which he found very funny, at least until he found Cadence asleep at the top of a set of stairs. Then it was no longer funny, she could have fallen straight down them and gotten hurt.

"Discord-" Cadence started when she was interrupted.

"Sup?” Sombra slurred as he ran into the kitchen door frame. "Ow."

"Sombra are you ok?" Cadence asked as she watched him struggle to enter the kitchen doorway.

"I have much to tell you. So sit down and shut up.” He completely ignored Cadence's question, he was fine just very tired and maybe a bit hungover. He climbed onto the table in front of Cadence and Shining, “ok this is your new daily planner. This shit plans your days. The cutie mark pictures let you know who is whose…. who is whose… whom? Whatever.” He gave Cadence her planner, shining his and he hovered over a calendar, “this shit tracks years. Anything yearly is on it, birthdays, celebrations, that type of garbage.”

Cadence and Shining were blown away by the sheer neatness of their new schedule but something was wrong, just one thing, “Sombra there isn’t anything scheduled on Sunday or Saturday."

"Your new days....dayeses? You're off on those, I had to make a few calls, no worries I wasn’t drunk on them. Those creatures on the phone, they weren’t always happy but screw 'em.” Sombra said with a giggle, he didn't do that often but he was just exhausted enough to do it now.

"Oh." Cadence said, she wondered if she should be more thankful then worried but she could not help it. She was a bit worried he might have made the wrong creatures angry.

"And that's not all, I did the books too,” he said as he hovered over three boxes. “This box is filled with ponies that owe you taxes. I would send those ponies some mail. This box is filled with ponies you owe tax money too. This box is the ponies who are just fine.” Next, he hovered receipts over, “this was the fun part, I did the kingdoms books too. Did you know you bought wood for 500 bits but you have a deal with another kingdom and could have got it for 300? So I made this” he pulled out a paper packet.

“Approach it with the thing you desire most. For example, that wood you bought just approach this paper, think of it, and it'll flip right to it. It'll tell you the kingdom, what you want and how much it'll cost. That way you know you are getting the best deal." Sombra yawned the longest yawn he ever yawned “I also took the opportunity to calculate how much you spent where and why, and made this.” He hovered over a notebook “it list such things. Any questions, that was rhetorical screw you.” He said as he collapsed onto the table and fell into a deep sleep.

“We forgot one thing, we do have to find our replacements at some point.” Discord pointed out, couldn’t forget that Cadence and Shining needed professionals and not a ragtag team of ex-villains.

“No." Cadence stated as she looked down upon the two kindest things done for her in recent years. A full night's sleep and organized life.

"No?" Discord asked, confused as to why she said that.

"I think you both did a fantastic job, better then I thought. Discord you may have the position of Flurry's full-time nanny and track cover-er. Even though Sombra is asleep I will offer him the position of royal adviser-.”

“Uuhhh Cadence. We uh we're villains darling while that is sweet we really shouldn’t be here. We could corrupt your daughter. Do you want another villain? Because this is how you get another villain.” Discord interrupted.

"DISCORD! You will not corrupt our daughter how could you think that? You are really good at taking care of her. You helped me hide this secret, even though that’s probably not the best thing for you to do. And you aren't villains anymore, are you guys going to overthrow Shining and me?" Cadence said as sadness hung in her heart. How could they think such a thing?

"No," Discord said and he meant it, he had put his villainess ways behind him. That didn't mean he should be around an impressionable child.

"Then why are you worried? I trust you, I have to. I want you to trust me too, trust I know what I am doing. I’m not doing this without any thought you know. You're both good at doing what you do. I would love help from both of you.” Cadence said her smile warm and inviting.

"She’s right Discord, she usually is, I trust my wife and if this is what she says needs to happen then it will,” Shining said. He took one look at his wife. He saw the confidence shine in her eyes and he smiled.

Discord stared at Shining and Cadence, were they crazy? I guess they didn't have a choice he had powers they didn't. They needed him to keep Flurry's powers a secret. “Okay,” he said as he finally understood, they were putting up with him and Sombra just until Flurry knew better. As soon as they didn't have to hide Flurry's powers, they would no longer need him. Now that made sense.