All of the volunteers at the sanctuary had a handle on things, so Fluttershy decided to surprise Discord by going home for lunch. Everyone was such a hard worker—Lucky Clover had even learned how to feed all of the animals properly, and when assigned to work with friends, it was his favorite task.
She smiled at that thought as she flew through the portal and to the door. "I'm home!" she said as she stepped inside.
No response. He must be out, she thought with a sigh. But as she moved towards the kitchen, a subtle movement caught her eye.
She turned her head and saw that Discord was lying on the couch on the far wall, facing away from her. He had shifted on his side, his wings fluttering as he moved. "There you are," she said, flying over to him and placing her chin on his neck. "I thought it would be nice to have some lunch together."
"...'m not hungry," he mumbled.
She pulled away, tilting her head. "Discord...is something wrong? Are you sick?" She felt at his forehead, but his temperature wasn't any higher than usual.
"No..." he sighed, rolling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling, his hands clasped over his stomach. "It's just..." he glanced at her. "It's nothing, really."
"Discord, you look and sound very upset about something," she said, sitting down on the floor. "Please tell me what's bothering you. Maybe I can try to help."
He looked at her, his lip wavering. "Oh, Fluttershy!" he moaned, throwing his arms into the air. "I can't think of any new ideas for chaos!"
He flung his arms around her and buried his snout into her mane, making tiny whimpering sounds that broke her heart. "Discord," she said, patting his back. "You've been so chaotic the past few days! You fought off a sandstorm last week, and you told me you pranked some nobles last Sunday..."
"But it wasn't anything new," he bemoaned. "Fighting the sandstorm, it felt like fighting hundreds of other sandstorms, the same motions and quips. I used the same old pranks on the nobles as ever...even their reactions felt the same as ever!" He pulled away and gestured to the living room. "I mean, look at this room!"
Fluttershy did so. The purple walls with wavy stripes, the one wall that was blue with pink polka dots. The couch and grandfather clock on the ceiling, with a gem chandelier. The fuzzy neon green rug on the floor, covering the pink carpet. A blue couch and orange armchair, plus the couch Discord was spread on. A donut swing, a tree with melting clocks on its branches, and a mirror were shoved into the corners of the room. The windows were covered by knit pink curtains, and various paintings and framed photos were hanging on the walls.
"What do you mean?" she said. "This room looks very chaotic."
He groaned. "But I haven't changed anything about it for a month. A month! The only change is that we added that new painting." He pointed to a painting of the sanctuary, Fluttershy surrounded by all of her little forest critters as she sang a song to them.
"But you've made some changes to other parts of the house," she said, and started to count on her hooves. "You expanded the memory museum, added a new statue to your statue collection, put new furniture in the Cloud Lounge..."
He waved her off. "Not very big feats of chaos, those. The memory museum just got a little bigger so there was space between exhibits. That statue isn't really new, it's just something I liked in one of the noble's gardens, so I copied it with a few tweaks. And the new furniture was a cloud chaise and cabinet—not really anything exciting."
He sighed and laid back on the couch. "And besides...I haven't done anything to the house in a week." His fists squeezed shut. "Maybe...I've lost my creative spark."
Fluttershy pressed her muzzle into his neck. "That's not true!" she said. "You're the most chaotic, creative being I've ever known! I just know that you'll be coming up with new ideas again soon."
He sighed, staring up petulantly at the ceiling again. "I'm still not very hungry," he said. "But I can make lunch for you." He snapped his fingers, and a notepad and pen appeared in his hands. "But I'd appreciate some time alone...to brainstorm and mope."
"Oh...okay," she said. "Could I have a salad, then, please?" He snapped his fingers and pointed to the kitchen. She nodded and walked away, glancing over her shoulder to see him pressing the pen into the notepad, but not writing anything.
She sighed as she ate her salad, trying to think of a way to help him.
When she finished her salad, she came out to see that Discord was still moping, a few crumpled pieces of paper scattered around him on the floor. He glanced up at her, then looked back to his notepad. "Back to the sanctuary, I presume?" he said.
She shuffled her hooves. "Actually, I...I want to stay and help you." His ears pricked up, and he turned to look at her. "Sometimes...I run out of creativity, too. I'd like to help you get past it," she said.
Discord chewed on the end of his pen, mumbling under his breath as blue ink spilled onto his lips. He glanced between her and the notepad. "Can you give me, say...another half hour to figure this out?" he said. "You can use that time to prepare...whatever your plan is. And that might be enough time that I can figure something out myself."
I'm not sure you will, she thought. But she nodded and said aloud, "Alright. I'm going to head into town for a bit, then."
He grunted, already pressing his pen against the notepad and glaring down at it. She paused for a few seconds, watching him worriedly, before shaking her head and turning to fly through one of the portals outside, scooping up the saddlebags by the front door.
She came back about twenty minutes later, only to find Discord hanging upside-down from the ceiling, his scowl even deeper, with even more crumpled pieces of paper around him. She took a quick look, and noticed that most of the papers were either covered in scribbles, or just soaked in a puddle of blue ink.
She quickly left the room, Discord not even acknowledging that she had been there, and started boiling a pot of tea in the kitchen. She quickly threw together a few peanut butter and pickle sandwiches for them to snack on, then flew out of the room to gather some paper, crayons, and markers, stuffing them inside her saddlebag with the other items she had collected.
With that done, she quietly snuck between the kitchen and living room, setting up the tea kettle, teacups, and sugar bowl on the table, before finally placing the sandwiches down, with the crusts on a separate plate.
She glanced over at the grandfather clock. A half-hour had passed since she and Discord had last spoken. She carefully approached him, then coughed into her hoof. He jolted, dropping his notepad and pen.
"It's been half an hour," she said. "May I please start helping you?"
He pursed his lips, then groaned and drifted to the ground. "Yes, please," he said. "I haven't had a single good, chaotic idea this entire time." He pressed an ice pack against his head. "It's honestly quite aggravating."
She sat down and placed a hoof gently on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said, brushing her lips delicately against his temples. "Why don't we both sit down and have a nice tea party together?"
He stared at her blankly. "Um. How does that help with my problem?" He shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, it sounds lovely. But...I really want to fix the problem first."
She hugged his neck. "I know, sweetie. But trust me, taking a break, even a short one, will help you." His eyes were flicking between the tea party and his notepad. "Plus, I promise that after the tea party, I'll help you do something chaotic."
That was enough to convince him. With a groan, he was pulled onto his feet like a puppet on strings, and floated over to the table. He laid himself on the couch while Fluttershy poured him a cup of tea. He took a small sip, nibbling on one of the sandwich crusts.
"How long would you like for this tea party of ours to be?" he said, dipping his crust into his teacup.
She had just finished pouring her own cup and sat down. "Oh, well...I suppose as long as it needs to be," she said. "Maybe until we drink all of the tea?"
He nodded slowly, then picked up the tea kettle and opened his mouth, tilting it as though about to pour it in his mouth. "Don't do it," she said in a warning tone.
"'Y not?" he said, mouth still open.
"First, that tea is boiling hot—you'll burn your throat!" His eyes widened, and he slowly closed his mouth and began setting the pot down. "Second, I...want you to take a break, to not think about your troubles for a while."
He carefully set the kettle back down, and began crunching away at a sandwich. They sipped their tea and nibbled on the sandwiches, Fluttershy petting his neck and arm as he ate, nuzzling him when his expression became particularly troubled.
Time passed, and there were only crumbs of sandwiches and dregs of tea left. Discord still had frown lines around his eyes, but there was a soft smile on his face, and he looked much less tense.
She gathered up the dishes, kissing Discord on the cheek as she flew back into the kitchen and carefully dropping them into the sink. She paused in the doorway for a second, watching Discord as he lounged on the couch.
He was smiling with his eyes closed, but his tail was trashing, his hands curling and uncurling. It's still bothering him, she thought with a frown. He's not going to rest until we fix this.
She stepped into the room, getting his attention by kissing his forehead. "Now that we've taken a break," she said as he opened his eyes, "Why don't we redecorate the living room?"
He nodded and flicked his hand, shuffling the furniture in the room before laying back on the couch. She sighed and shook her head.
"A complete redecoration," she said. "You were upset that you haven't changed it in so long, right?" She pulled some blank papers out of her saddlebag. "Well, now sounds like a good time to fix that."
The table had been replaced with a loveseat, so she spread the papers on the floor, placing the markers and crayons next to them. "I'd like to help you figure out some new ideas for the room," she said, "If you'd like me to help, that is."
Discord humped, sliding off of the couch and rolling over next to her. "I suppose," he said. "Although you're probably going to have much more chaotic ideas than I am, at this rate."
She frowned, rubbing a hoof on top of his head. "Well, why don't we start with the walls?" she said. "They should all be different colors if we want them to be chaotic, right?"
"And different patterns," he added. "But I just don't know what colors to use... there are only so many colors before you start repeating yourself."
"That's why I made a stop in town!" Fluttershy said, grabbing her saddlebags and dumping the contents on the floor. Paper color samples fell to the ground and spread out. "I got these from a home improvement store. Oh, and..." she shook the bag, and some catalogs fell on top. "I grabbed some of their furniture catalogs, too. Maybe they'll give you some ideas."
He grunted, already shifting through the color samples. "Blissful Cherry Blossom? Burning Passion? Ocean's Love?" he read as he held up a pink, red, and blue sample. "Is there a pony out there whose job is to give colors fanciful names?"
She giggled. "Maybe. Are there any colors that stick out to you?"
He hummed, tossing each sample to one side or the other. "I suppose these ones are nice," he said, holding a handful of them out to her. "Bashful Blush, Custard Yellow, Prideful Purple, Seafoam Blue, and Mocha Brown," he said.
She nodded. "Those do look nice," she said. "Now we just need to figure out which ones go on which walls, and figure out the patterns."
He grunted and grabbed a paper, scribbling on it with a marker. "What about..." In one corner, he drew wavy stripes, in another polka dots, and in another, one giant circle. "And leave the last one just one solid color," he said, tossing away the marker.
"But that's..." she quickly counted in her head. "Seven colors. Do you want to repeat two of the ones you picked, then?"
"Ehh..." he said, leaning his cheek against his fist. "That's not very chaotic. Why don't you pick two colors, Flutters?"
She hummed, sifting through the pile. "These two," she said. "Ruby Red and Sunshine Gold."
He nodded and placed them with the colors he had chosen, taping them as a pile to the paper he had scribbled on. "So we have the walls now," he said, rolling onto his back. "What now?"
"Let's figure out furniture," she said, grabbing one of the catalogs and handing a marker to Discord. "Circle anything that you like. Oh, and after that, we can think about the carpet and drapes."
He nodded and shifted to lay behind her, looking over her shoulder at the catalog. She leaned back against him and flipped through the catalog, pausing every so often to point something out to Discord. He would usually shrug and scribble something on a nearby piece of paper, and would less often circle the item.
Time passed, with Fluttershy pointing things out, and Discord drawing things on the pieces of paper. Every so often, Fluttershy would circle something she liked. Eventually, Fluttershy reached over for another catalog, only to find empty carpet. "I guess that was the last one," she said. "Do you want to go through the furniture ideas we picked? To see what we want to put in the room?"
"Sure," he said, whipping out a pair of scissors and slicing through the catalogs, snatching only a few small, circled furniture pieces out of the air. "To be honest...not many things in here seemed that great."
"You drew a lot of furniture ideas, though," she said, pointing to the paper next to him.
"I suppose so," he said with a shrug. "But enough of that, let's figure out which ones to use."
They brought all of their ideas into one pile, pouring over them and discussing each one in turn. Discord rejected a few ideas, both his and hers, while she politely said that a few of his choices might not be a good idea to have in the living room...like the glass tree with needles sharpened to small spikes. "Maybe in a...different room, for Hearth's Warming," she said.
He had nodded and set it aside, bringing out his next furniture idea. As they worked, he folded several pieces of paper into the shape of a rectangular room, folding out the walls and the ceiling so they could peer inside. He colored the walls and floor with crayon, and added plastic replicas of the furniture they chose into the room, adjusting them until he was satisfied.
A few hours later, they had gone through all of their ideas, and filled the replica room with furniture. Discord looked at the design they had made. "Are you happy with this? Any more revisions you'd like to make?" he asked, raising his fingers into a snapping position.
She nodded. "Are you happy with it?"
"It's chaotic enough for me," he said. "Besides, I can always make changes if we choose." He snapped his fingers, and Fluttershy was blinded by a bright light.
Once she had blinked the spots out of her eyes, she turned and took in the new living room.
Each of the walls had a different color and pattern, the ones they had chosen. The carpet was now thicker, and a bright neon pink color. A 'welcome' mat (bright orange) was right by the door, and the drapes were all a different color and pattern, from plaid to tye-dye. But not even the curtains on the same window matched in color or pattern.
As for furniture...a pendulum clock swung from side to side on one wall of the room. There were two couches, one white and one black, alternating positions every few seconds from the floor to the ceiling. An ornate crystal table was on the floor, gleaming, with an image of a triumphant Discord carved into it. A few new paintings were on the walls (though the one of her in the sanctuary was still there), along with some photos of the two of them—some in ornate gold and silver frames, others in wooden, handpainted ones. A glass pillar in the corner glowed bright orange, pink blobs rising in it like a large lava lamp.
These were the things that first struck her, and the more she looked, the more chaos she saw. She smiled and reached over to gently brush Discord's shoulder. "It's...wonderfully chaotic," she said, staring at a tree in the corner whose leaves keep changing from cherry blossoms to wisps of cotton candy.
"I suppose..." he said with a sigh, getting up onto his feet. "Thank you for the tea and for helping me decorate, Flutterbuddy," he said. "But now, I should really focus on the problem at hand."
"You mean, your lack of ideas?" she said.
He grunted and crossed his arms. "You don't have to rub salted lemon juice into the wounds, my dear."
She shook her head. "Discord...look at this room. What did you spend the last few hours doing?"
He glanced around halfheartedly. "Yeah, sure, I redecorated," he said. "But you were helping me! Doesn't count."
"What about all of these?" she said, holding out the furniture ideas he decided not to use. "You were the one who came up with all of these. You can't say I helped you here."
He carefully took the papers, looking at each one in turn. "Yes, I...I came up with these," he said. "And...there's more ideas! I can expand on all of these, make great things!" He frantically scribbled on the papers in marker and crayon.
He froze and looked up at her. "How did—did you know this would work?"
She rubbed at her foreleg. "I hoped it would. I've always found that...it can be hard to think of new ideas. But I've learned that some of the best things to help your creativity are to start with small things, and to take breaks so that you aren't so worried about things."
"I just...tried my best to do both of those things. Take your mind off of things, and then help you start small," she said. "And...you said you have lots of ideas!"
"Oh, yes!" he said. "I was so focused on simply doing something, I didn't consider that taking a break would make things better!" He snapped his fingers and created a teapot with bat wings, which fluttered its way into the kitchen. "My dear, you were absolutely right!"
She smiled. "I'm just glad you're feeling better."
"Much better!" he said, nuzzling the top of her head. "Fluttershy, I'm sorry I was such a grump to you. Allow me to make it up to you with dinner." He bowed low, a plaid waiter's suit flashing onto his body.
She glanced at the pendulum clock, taking a few seconds to read the time. "Not for another hour," she said. "You have a lot of ideas now, right? Why don't you cause a little chaos before dinner?"
"That sounds fantastic!" he said, scooping her up into his arms and giving her a big kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you in an hour, my love!" He placed her back on the ground with a bouquet of flowers in her hooves before doing a backward summersault out the door.
She stood by the front window and watched as he swam through the air, snapping his fingers and adding new things to the dimension, like a glass house on one of the nearby islands, an octopus that swam through the air next to him, changing colors as it went, and a rubber road to nowhere, before he dived downwards and out of her sight, leaving a trail of musical notes behind him.
She smiled softly and looked at the bouquet he had handed her, whose flowers were made of crystal. Curious, she lowered her muzzle and sniffed, realizing they still had the perfume of normal flowers. She could see her reflection in the petals, and saw that Discord had left a large lipstick mark where he had kissed her.
She chuckled, glancing back out the window. "You're never going to run out of ideas," she said. "I just know it." She sat down and watched as a series of fireworks lit up the sky, the largest one a heart with her and Discord's faces inside of it.