"Anything exciting happen today?" Discord asked as he took a bite out of the pizza he and Fluttershy were sharing.
She sighed. "Well...do you remember how a new group of students signed up to volunteer last week?" Discord nodded. "Well, most of them are good workers...except for one."
Discord dropped his pizza, slamming his hands onto the table. "Who is it, how bad are they, and how can I deal with them?" he said.
"It's not that bad!" Fluttershy quickly said. "His name's Lucky Clover, and he's a second-year student. He signed up to work at the sanctuary almost every day of the week!"
She glanced down. "But...he hasn't really done a lot of work yet. I've had to show him how to do tasks several times...and sometimes, he does the tasks so poorly I have to redo them." She sighed again. "Like how he checked all the water filters but didn't write anything down, so I had to check them again to see how the water was..."
Discord grunted, digging his claws into the table. "I can take care of that little slacker," he growled.
She quickly shook her head. "Oh, no! It's fine, really! I'm sure that he just needs to learn how to do everything, and things will be okay. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."
He withdrew his claws and shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way." He reached out to her. "You can tell me anything, my love. I'll try not to lose my head like that again."
She carefully grabbed his paw and pressed it against her cheek, closing her eyes. "I know," she said. "I'm sorry for venting. It's just been...a little stressful." She opened her eyes and smiled. "But...you really don't have to do anything. Just telling you makes me feel better already."
He smiled, trailing his hand up her cheek to scratch behind her ear. "You can vent to me anytime," he said. "And if he really becomes a problem, say the word and I'll fix everything." He slowly retracted his hand and continued to eat his pizza. "But are there any other problem volunteers I should worry about?"
"Oh, no," she said, continuing to eat her own pizza. "They're all good volunteers. Most of them are hard workers, and everyone is doing their best!"
Discord smiled, snapping his fingers to fill her glass of orange soda as she talked about the wonderful volunteers she had. Maybe she's right, he thought. This stallion might just be learning how to do things. He'll figure things out in a few days, and he won't be another source of stress for Fluttershy.
He offered her another pizza, which she politely declined, so he brought out a pizza-sized cookie. I hope to chaos that she's right.
It became increasingly clear throughout the week that Fluttershy was unfortunately not right.
Every evening, and even during times when he visited the sanctuary, she looked frustrated about something, and sometimes even a little tired. When they were home, she would rant about whatever Lucky Clover had done (or more often, not done) that day.
"He didn't get rid of any of the dust and leaves he swept on the cat patio," she finished with a sigh, leaning against his side. "So I had to ask another volunteer to help me redo it, because the cats scattered it all again."
He scratched her behind her ear. She looked up at him and tried to smile. "But...I'm sure I just need to find something else he can do! Something that's easy to learn..."
Discord sighed. "Fluttershy, sweeping seems like one of the easiest possible tasks you could have given him," he said. "Honestly, if he can't grasp that...he probably shouldn't be volunteering at the sanctuary."
She rubbed her hooves together. "But I've never...fired a volunteer before," she said quietly. "It just doesn't feel right to send someone away who asked to work there, and without pay..."
"Fluttershy, I'm going to be blunt," Discord said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "From what you told me, he is a terrible volunteer. Having him at the sanctuary is leaving you tired and frustrated. He's clearly doing more harm than good."
"And think about it: if he was an employee acting like this in any other job, what would the employer do?"
Fluttershy glanced down. "...Fire him. Or send him to be retrained."
"Exactly! So why should he get away with this behavior?" he said. Fluttershy frowned, still looking down at the floor.
Discord sighed. "Look. He's not working this weekend, is he?" She shook her head. "Okay. Just take the weekend to think about it." He kissed the top of her forehead. "I don't want to pressure you, but it just kills me seeing you so frustrated and tired every day."
Slowly, she smiled and nestled into his side. "I will think about it," she said. "But...if I do end up choosing to do it...do you remember everything I said he did? So that there's a clear reason why I did it?"
"I've got you covered," he said, snapping his fingers and creating accounts of what she told him in the form of a newspaper, complete with a picture of her on the cover, looking frustrated with shadows under her eyes.
"Thank you," she said. "But for now, could we eat dinner and talk about something else?"
"Certainly!" Discord said, snapping them into the kitchen and creating plates of spaghetti in front of them. "You know, I was exploring Manehatten today, and I found a quaint little cafe!"
He rambled about the cafe he found where customers could interact with cats, Fluttershy hanging on his every word as she tried to eat her spaghetti without making too much of a mess. Discord was less careful, actually preferring to fling sauce over the table and himself.
After dinner, he brought out desert (bowls of ice cream), then suggested they go for a stroll through Chaosville's forest of cotton candy trees. She agreed, and they set out.
They paused at one point, while Discord looked up to watch a very distant supernova, quickly slapping sunglasses onto his and Fluttershy's faces. As he did so, she pressed her cheek against his hand, planting a soft kiss on his knuckles.
"Thank you, Discord," she said quietly. "I still need time to think about what you said, but...thank you for trying to make me happy."
He caressed her cheek, reaching up to run his fingers through her mane. "Anything for you, my dear sweet Fluttershy," he said.
She smiled up at him, then yawned cutely. "Ah, you must be tired," he said, scooping her into his arms. "Let's get you off to bed, shall we?"
She made an agreeing noise, curling close and snuggling into his chest. He smiled softly down at her before teleporting to their bedroom and tucking her in.
"Discord," Fluttershy said on Monday morning. "I think that you were right."
"Hmm?" he said, shoving another pancake down his gullet. His eyes widened. "Wait...right about Unlucky Clover?"
"Lucky Clover," she said. "And...you were right. He can't just keep getting away with this. He'll just need to find somewhere else to volunteer."
Discord clapped. "Bravo! Bravo!" He snapped up two party poppers and pulled on the strings, confetti flying everywhere. He whistled and cheered, still clapping.
Fluttershy turned away. "I...don't know if it's a good thing to cheer on me firing someone," she said quietly.
"It is when the stallion you're firing is a waste of space who's only volunteering success is stressing you out," Discord said. "Do you need any backup for when you send him away?" He snapped his fingers, and a police officer's uniform appeared on him.
She shook her head. "No, thank you. Although I wouldn't mind that paper of my statements..." He handed her the newspaper, carefully rolled up and tied together with red string.
"Thank you," she said, finishing the last bites of her pancakes. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to head to the sanctuary early today. I need to figure out how to redistribute work."
"Of course, my dear," he said, teleporting over to her and kissing her lightly on the lips and pressing a sack lunch into her hooves. He offered her his arm and escorted her to the front door, which made her giggle.
"Farewell!" he said, waving a white handkerchief as she flew into a nearby portal. "And good luck, my brave and wonderful Fluttershy!"
She smiled and waved back, before turning and flying deeper into the sanctuary. He sighed and tucked his handkerchief away, turning around and humming a merry tune as he skipped down the hallway.
"Goodbye, Unlucky Clover," he said, plucking petals off of a white clover flower. "Your days of stressing my sweet pegasus are over!"
Discord's ears perked up as soon as he heard the door open. He teleported to Fluttershy's side in a flash of light. "Welcome home!" he said, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "I made a vegetable stew for supper tonight, nice and hot!"
"Oh...that sounds nice," Fluttershy said softly.
He pulled away and tilted his head. Fluttershy seemed sad about something, and once again looked tired. "Fluttershy...did something happen today?" he asked, placing his paw on her shoulder.
She bit her lip and stared at the ground. "I couldn't do it, Discord," she said quietly. "I couldn't fire Lucky Clover."
He took her hooves gently in his hands, guiding her over to lay on the couch. He pulled up a nearby chair, and snapped a tweed jacket and grey beard on himself, with a notepad and pen in his hands. "What happened, exactly?" he said. "I'm guessing he didn't suddenly become a good worker."
She smiled a little at his getup, but turned away and looked at the ceiling with a sigh. "No, I...I overheard him talking with another volunteer before I got the chance to talk to him alone."
"He was talking about how...he needed to volunteer locally as a pretty big assignment for one of the classes. And then he said that there wasn't anywhere else that was open for more volunteers...he said that if he hadn't found the sanctuary job, he would have...been very close to failing the class."
She pressed a hoof against her forehead. "How am I supposed to fire someone who needs to work there? Even if he's not great, he hasn't hurt any creature. I felt like it would be petty to fire him, and the thought alone made me feel guilty." She wrapped her forelegs around herself and sighed. "So I just assigned him to the cat patio again, and reminded him to gather the dust he swept up and throw it away before he left."
"And how did that go?" Discord asked, making crude doodles of an evil stallion on his notepad.
"...He did clean up the piles," she said. "But he left some streaks of dust behind...and he forgot a few piles." She sighed. "And I hadn't noticed the first time that he missed sweeping a lot of corners..."
Discord chewed on the end of his pen. "I still don't think he should be working for you," he said. "But I can understand why you're having trouble. You're too pure-hearted for your own good, my love." He gently caressed her cheek.
Fluttershy leaned into his touch. "Well, as I said...he's not hurting any creature. Maybe I just need to pair him up with someone else to make sure he's doing his work properly..."
"I think he's hurting you," he said as he scratched behind her ear. "He's leaving you tired and stressed...and do you have enough volunteers to pair them up on what should be simple tasks?"
She sighed. "No...I don't," she said. "Can we please eat dinner now? I just...don't want to think about this right now."
"Right, of course," he said, snapping his fingers and teleporting them to the dinner table. He placed a bowl of hot vegetable soup in front of her, then after a moment's thought, he snapped his fingers and gave her a cinnamon roll, too. She quietly thanked him and slowly ate her soup.
He kept his eyes on her the entire time through the meal, even as he rambled about exploring undersea caves, up until she was finished and declined dessert, instead wanting to go to bed.
He tucked her in and massaged her shoulders gently until she drifted off to sleep. Once she was unconscious, he sighed and looked out the window. His attempts to distract her this time barely got a smile out of her, and she was so tired she had almost instantly passed out.
"This can't keep happening," he quietly. He kissed her forehead and whispered, "I hope you'll forgive me for getting involved in this situation."
He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light.
He crawled through the student's dorms in the form of a shadow, peeking into any and every room that housed stallions. Once he was sure none contained his prey, he left and went on to the next room.
He watched one potential candidate from the ceiling of his room—a light green unicorn stallion with dark green hair, with stripes of white in it. His eyes were baby blue, and his cutie mark was of a four-leaf clover. Currently, he was sitting on the edge of his bed, chatting with his changeling roommate.
"Today was great, Mandible!" he said. "I got another easy job at the sanctuary. I got done with it early, so I chilled around for a few minutes before I clocked out."
"Uh-huh," the purple changeling said. "Look, Clover—"
Discord's eyes gleamed, but Clover continued, "I'm so glad I found that position! I mean, I know I should have tried to get a volunteer position sooner, but I knew waiting wouldn't hurt." He leaned back against his forehooves, closing his eyes with a smirk. "Lucky isn't just my name, you know."
"Yeah, sure," Mandible said, pulling back the covers on his bed. "But Clover—"
"And I was talking to Raindrop about how it was lucky I got the job, and I think Miss Fluttershy overheard me! So that should be an extra layer of job security on an already-easy job!" Clover sighed. "Yep. Everything's coming up Clo—"
"Clover!" Mandile snapped. "Maybe you've had a good day, but I just worked a long shift at a cafe, gave a group presentation, and spent two hours in a group study session." He jumped into his bed. "A study for the exam tomorrow that I'd like to be well-rested for, and not just rely on dumb luck!"
"Oh, okay," Clover said. "I can just tell you the rest of my story at breakfast, then!"
"Sure," Mandible mumbled, wrapping himself in a cocoon. "I'm all ears to hear yet another story that involved you not taking much, if any, sort of action."
Clover laughed. "Oh, Mandible. I know it's just the long day that's made you a sourpuss." The changeling growled. "Good night, then!"
He used his magic to turn off the light, then used his magic to grab a nearby comic book on his desk and turn on a nearby lamp. Discord's eyes gleamed, and he shifted closer to his found prey.
When he was close enough, he snapped his fingers and teleported himself and Clover to an exact replica of the dorm room that he had made in his dimension. Well...almost exact, Discord thought, resisting the urge to chuckle darkly. Clover's ears flicked, and he looked around for a second, confused, before shrugging and turning back to his book.
Discord moved to the center of the floor and flicked his tail. With a cold gust of wind, the lamp suddenly went dark. Clover looked up. "That's weird," he said. "I replaced its batteries last week." He attempted to turn it on again with his magic, but it only clicked uselessly.
"Huh," he said, jumping out of bed and walking towards his desk. Discord took that as his cue and growled softly, rising from the floor and letting a dark pool of shadow drip off of him onto the floor. Just in time, he remembered to make his eyes glow.
Clover whipped around, yelping as he looked up at the strange being towering over him. "W-w-who are you?" he said, his back legs shaking.
"I am the Spirit of Disharmony, the Chaotic Tyrant, the End of Peaceful Times," Discord growled, making sure to show off his fangs. "I am Discord...and you have earned my wrath, Unlucky Clover."
"A-actually, I'm Lucky Clover," he stuttered. "Because I'm a very lucky pony, understand?"
Discord rolled his eyes and snorted a burst of fire from his nose. "Well, consider your luck used up," he said, lowering his head and glaring the stallion in the eyes. "I've heard that you've been working at Sweet Feathers Animal Sanctuary...and treating it as an easy job."
"Well, yeah," Clover said. "All the tasks I get are easy. I finish them in no time at all! I don't know why they asked for so many volunteers, but it's a lucky break for me."
"They're easy because you don't do them properly!" Discord roared, green fire bursting up behind him. "Let's review your work, shall we?" He reached forward with his eagle talon. Clover yelped and jumped away, running over to his roommate's bed.
"Mandible, wake up!" he cried, shaking his 'roommate'. "Discord's in here, and he's freaking me out! You have to help me!" He wrenched the blankets off of him—only to find a pile of fruit underneath, which all tumbled to the floor.
Discord grinned as Clover looked at him, panicked, then bolted towards the door. He threw it open, only to find a brick wall behind it. He whirled around, looking back at Discord with wide eyes. Discord helpfully pulled back the curtains on his window, showing that there was only a brick wall behind that, too.
"Now, are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Discord said. Lucky Clover pressed himself against the brick wall, staring up at him with wide eyes.
"A-aren't you supposed to be good now?" he said, his legs trembling. "Y-you don't do stuff like this..."
Discord shrugged. "You've already gotten kindness," he said. "And that hasn't led anywhere. So now it's time for chaos to step in." He dove into his own shadow, then lunged back up at Clover's side, pressing his claw against the top of his head.
With a bit of magic, they were looking back on Clover's memories. "Ah, I know this one," Discord said as Fluttershy pointed to the filters around the lakes, handing a clipboard and pen to Clover. "You were supposed to check the water filters."
"And I did!" Clover said. Discord tutted and fast-forwarded through the memory, until he was done and handed the clipboard back to Fluttershy. She thanked him sweetly and set the clipboard aside, while Clover went to clock out.
"Let's get a new perspective, shall we?" Discord said. With a twirl of his finger, they started watching the day from Fluttershy's view instead. He fast-forwarded through it, until Fauna walked up with a clipboard, looking worried.
"Fluttershy, I thought you had someone check the water filters today," she said.
"I did," Fluttershy responded, guiding a sloth to a comfortable resting spot. "I thought it would be an easy task for a new volunteer."
Dr. Fauna sighed. "Well, they forgot to actually fill out the clipboard with the readings." She showed the blank form.
Fluttershy gasped, hooves flying to her mouth. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry, I should have checked it after he gave it to me!"
"It's not your fault," Dr. Fauna said. "If you want, I can check the filters again for you."
"Oh, no, I couldn't ask you to do that," Fluttershy said, taking the clipboard. "You've already done so much today. I should be the one to check the filters."
"Well...alright," Dr. Fauna said. "I'll see you on Wednesday, Fluttershy." She waved goodbye and walked back towards town, while Fluttershy sighed and started checking the filters, filling out the form.
"Let's move on and see what else has happened, shall we?" Discord said, holding up the newspaper of Fluttershy's venting. He went through the list one by one, first showing Clover's assigned task, then how Fluttershy or some other volunteer had to redo it for him after he had left. From failing to completely fill out forms on things he was meant to check, to not cleaning any area properly, he seemed to do each task as lazily as possible.
After watching the second cat patio incident, Discord snapped his fingers and pulled them out of the stream of memories. "Has it become clear yet?" he said, bending down to stare unblinkingly into Clover's eyes. "How you've caused so much stress and extra work for my—for Fluttershy?"
"I-I didn't know!" Clover said in a panic. "How was I supposed to know?"
"I imagine she said some sugar-coated words about how 'that position wasn't right for you'," Discord said. "Maybe she even explained why, but it went in one ear and out the other!" He growled and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "And how in the name of chaos do you not realize you have to fill out a form she hands you, or not know how to sweep!?"
Clover was shaking in his shoes. "I-it's not like there's anywhere else I can volunteer," he said. "The other positions all filled up—"
"Because you waited too long," Discord finished with a growl. "Oh, I've heard. That's why I've thought of three solutions, Unlucky Clover."
He held a finger up in the air. "One! You actually start doing some work around the sanctuary. You ask if work is done right before you clock out. You ask for clarification on tasks. You don't spend a single minute lazing around—if your work is 'done', talk to Fluttershy."
"Two! You quit working at the sanctuary. You accept that there are no other positions, and you fail the class with dignity, or find some other way to make up for the points you lost."
Discord grinned widely, showing off a wide array of fangs. "Or if you don't pick either of those, we default to option three: I find you a different volunteer position for your class—working for me." He widened his pupils, showing an image of Clover running after an impossible beast, trying to catch it, while Discord floated overhead, swirling a glass of chocolate milk in his paw.
"So, what's it going to be?" Discord said, blinking and turning his eyes back to normal.
"The first one, please," Clover squeaked.
"Good choice," Discord said. "But remember—if you don't follow through with that, option three is always open." He used his magic to make the shadows in the room pool towards him, even Clover being pulled into their darkness.
The stallion panicked, trying to light his horn and keep the shadows and bay as they splashed onto his sides, crawling up to his face. "I'll be watching, Unlucky Clover," Discord hissed, fading into the shadow, leaving behind only his glowing eyes and wide, fang-filled smile.
He snapped his tail feathers and teleported them both back to the real dorm room, putting Lucky Clover back in his bed, while he was once again just a shadow on the ceiling. Clover screamed and flared his horn, still fighting off shadows that had been left behind.
Mandible grunted and sat up in bed. "What is it? What?" he growled, head whipping around the room.
Clover opened his eyes. "D-discord!" he cried, head whipping around the room. "H-he was here...he said I had to do better at the sanctuary..." he shivered. "H-he was terrifying."
"Discord?" Mandible said. "The Prince of Kindness? The one who dropped in when his wife was substituting to give all of the students huge buckets of candy?"
Clover took a few deep breaths. "That's right...he's married to Fluttershy," he said, almost to himself. "Who runs the sanctuary..."
"I didn't hear anything. You must have had a nightmare," Mandible said. "A nightmare that might have some insight about doing better work, but still just a nightmare." He yawned. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to sleep."
"Yeah...just a nightmare," Clover said, expression softening into relief. "Good night, Mandible." The changeling grunted and rolled back up into his cocoon.
Clover sighed, opening his comic book back up. Discord snapped his fingers and appeared on the page he flipped to. "Get some rest," he said in a word bubble. "You're working at the sanctuary tomorrow, aren't you?"
Clover squeaked and tossed the comic away. Discord teleported back into the shadows of the ceiling as Clover carefully picked up the comic and looked at it. He gingerly set it on his desk, turning off his lamp and shifting under his covers.
Discord teleported back to his dimension, demolishing the dorm room replica before teleporting back into his own bedroom. "That should have set him straight," he said as he curled up against Fluttershy's sleeping form. "He shouldn't cause any more problems for you, dearest."
Discord glanced up at the clock hanging down from the ceiling. Almost noon, he thought. He snapped up a picnic basket and started filling it with cucumber sandwiches, tucking in a steaming tea kettle at the last second.
Slinging the picnic basket into the crook of his arm, he snapped his fingers and teleported to the sanctuary, right next to Fluttershy. She jumped and looked up at him, smiling.
"Discord!" she said cheerfully. "What a surprise!" She flew up and threw her hooves around his neck, nuzzling his cheek.
"Hello, my sweet," he said, returning the nuzzle. "Do you have enough time to accompany your dearest darling husband on a lovely picnic?" He held the basket out to her.
She giggled and nodded. "Alright. Give me just one second. I want to make sure that Lucky Clover is doing okay."
Discord's eyes gleamed. "I think I'll accompany you. I'd like to know how he's doing myself." She tilted her head, but nodded and walked towards the food storage. Discord floated behind her.
In less than a minute, they reached the food storage near the lakes. Clover was inside, a clipboard held in his magic, and was staring at the shelves of food. "Hello, Lucky Clover," Fluttershy said. "How is everything going?"
"Pretty good," he said, glancing up. His face went blank when he saw Discord floating behind her. "D-d-d-d..."
"Is something the matter?" Fluttershy said.
"Perhaps he's trying to ask you how good you think his job is," Discord said. "Am I right, Clover?"
Clover quickly nodded. "Oh, yes! Yes, that's—I just want to know if I'm actually doing this job well!"
She hummed and took the clipboard away from him. "Well...you're filling out the form, so you're good!" she said cheerfully. "Just remember to get as accurate of a count as possible. I don't want to have too much or too little of something."
"That's right," Discord said. "This might seem like a simple job, but not doing it properly could lead to some complications for everyone else. Capisce?"
Clover quickly nodded, taking the clipboard back. Fluttershy tilted her head and looked up at Discord. "But Discord, we have—"
He slung an arm over her shoulder. "Anyway, with that done, would you like to go on the picnic now?" he said. She nodded slowly, and he snapped his fingers, teleporting them into a field of flowers.
As he whipped out the yellow and green picnic blanket, Fluttershy said, "Why didn't you let me tell him about the food storage at home? It might have made him less nervous about doing inventory."
"Dearest Fluttershy, do you really want to give him an excuse he could use to slack off on his job?" he said as he set everything up, patting the spot next to him. "Honestly, from what you told me, he seemed quite lazy."
She laid next to him, thanking him as he placed a teacup shaped like a flower into her hooves and filled it with tea. "It was strange, though," she said. "Normally, Lucky Clover would just take the job and get right to it, but today he asked me about what parts of the form he needed to fill out. And it looks like he's been doing his job properly today, even asking me how he's doing." She sipped her tea.
Discord slurped at his tea. "Well, I'm very glad that he's changed his ways," he said. "Hopefully he won't cause you any more stress."
She paused, then set down her teacup. "Discord, did you do something?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
He whistled and looked at the sky, twirling a puffy cloud in his magic. "I might have...visited him...to have a little chat," he said.
"And what was this chat about?" Fluttershy said, crossing her hooves.
He pursed his lips and mumbled, "About how he wasn't doing his job properly and how he needed to stop being such a hindrance to you."
"And what exactly happened during the chat?" Fluttershy asked. He laughed nervously, twiddling his fingers. She kept staring at him, so with a sigh, he snapped his fingers and cast an illusion over the two of them that let them see his memories from last night.
They watched the scene unfold, Discord quietly explaining parts of his magic to her, like how he transported Clover into a different dimension that just looked like his room, or how the shadows on him were just that—shadows, that wouldn't hurt him.
The scene paused with a click once Discord teleported back home, and he dismissed it, lowering his head. "I wasn't going to step in," he said. "But...you were so tired. I had to do something."
He jolted when he felt something soft on his cheek, and a weight pressed against his side. "I don't entirely approve of your methods," she said. "But...nothing you did was meant to, or even able to, harm him in any way. You just scared him."
"I considered just having a civil chat about what he was doing wrong," he said. Fluttershy lifted her head and raised an eyebrow. "For about half a second, anyway. I realized that the best way to get through to him was to make the lesson...memorable."
She smiled. "Well...he is working hard. So your method did work...even if he's frightened of you now."
He smiled. "So...I'm not in trouble?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "Just...don't do it again, please? Or at least, tell me before you scare my volunteers."
He gave her a thumbs up and a grin, passing her a cucumber sandwich. "By the way," she asked as she took a bite, "Were you really going to make him volunteer for you if he didn't quit or actually work?"
"Eh, I would have found some nature clean-up group to foist him off on," Discord said, taking a large bite of his sandwich. "Some group with a lot of work to do, and no patience with slackers. The image I showed him was just a little something to spook him."
She smiled. "I'll try to be less lenient with my volunteers, so you don't have to do something like this again," she said, leaning against his side.
He brushed his fingers through her mane. "You do whatever's right, Flutter-nutters. It's your sanctuary." He kissed the top of her head. "I'm just here to support you every step of the way."
She smiled and closed her eyes. He laid his chin on top of her head, and they both ate their lunch, murmuring sweet things to each other until the picnic was done. He teleported them back to the sanctuary and kissed her on the cheek, bidding her goodbye as she went back to work.
He felt as though there was a gaze on his back, and turned around to see Lucky Clover, watching him from the trees. "Are you done with inventory?" he asked, making the unicorn jump. "If you are, Fluttershy's the one you wanna talk to. She went thataway." He pointed to where his wife had just run off.
Clover nodded. "T-thank you," he said, walking past him. He paused for a second, glancing over his shoulder. "You...really care about your wife, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Discord said immediately. "She means everything to me." He clamped his mouth shut, a pink blush on his face.
"So that's why..." Clover said, eyes becoming unfocused again. He blinked and snapped out of it. "Thank you. I really do like being here at the sanctuary. It's where a lot of my friends are."
"And you're going to work hard here, aren't you?" Discord said.
Clover grinned sheepishly, sweat forming on his forehead. "I'm going to try my best. I know I wasn't great before, but...I'm going to do better." Discord nodded in approval, and Clover ran off after Fluttershy.
Discord watched from afar for a few moments as Clover and Fluttershy discussed the form he had filled out. Seeing that Clover wasn't just running off, Discord nodded in approval again, snapping his fingers and teleporting away.