//------------------------------// // Ice Dream // Story: Domestic Drabbles of Discord's Dimension // by GeekCat //------------------------------// Discord hummed in thought, stroking his beard as he stared at the selection in front of him. Cylindrical containers all called out to him with cheerful colors, begging to be the one he brought out from behind the icy glass. "Discord?" Fluttershy's voice said to him from a far-off tunnel, jolting his attention away from the sugary spell. "Have you picked out a flavor yet?" He blinked and shook his head. His wife was walking towards him down the aisle, pushing along a cart filled to the brim with animal supplies...along with a few tidbits for the two of them, such as books and stuffed animals. He sighed and shook his head. "No," he admitted. "How am I to choose between all of these flavors?" He grabbed two and showed them off to her. "Orange-Lemon Swirl and Mint Chocolate Chip? Two flavors so unlike, yet each with their own unique positives to offer!" He dropped them back in their places and sighed, stroking his beard as he began contemplating his choice again. "No other option," he said. "I'll just have to get one of every flavor." "No," Fluttershy said instantly. "That was not the deal. The deal was—" "If I help you on your shopping trip, you'll buy me one tub of ice cream," he said in a perfect imitation of her voice, a pink mane poofing onto his head. He sighed and it vanished, his voice turning back to normal. "I know. But...it's really hard to pick just one." "I don't understand," she said. "You can make any ice cream you want at home. Why can't you just make all of the flavors here that you want with your magic?" He stiffened up, a chalkboard appearing behind him that he used a pointer to indicate random spots on. "The point, my dear Fluttershy, is that a dessert that I don't have to make is so much sweeter," he explained. "And knowing that you bought it for me as a gift? Sweeter yet. That the ice cream comes from the delectable company Crystal Empire Cream?" He opened his mouth, a bit of drool spilling out. "Utter perfection in the form of a frozen dessert." She just blinked. "Well...I guess that sounds reasonable," she said. "Still, you can only get one tub of ice cream. I double-checked the store, and I couldn't see anything else we need." He sighed and turned back around, his eyes flickering over the containers. He was sweating a little, his brain working to figure out what he wanted. Fluttershy actually waiting on him made him anxious to pick, so as to not keep her waiting long. But the choice was still so difficult to make... Then, he saw it. A combination of colors that simply sang out to him, tucked behind some purple grape-flavored ice cream that had piled up. He dug through the tubs, tossing them over his shoulder, until he unearthed the one he saw, flashing a pale yellow and pink color scheme at him. "Banana Strawberry Bananza," he read aloud. He licked his lips. "This is the one. I'll take it!" "That's nice, Discord," Fluttershy said, picking up some of the tubs he scattered. "Could you please clean up this mess first?" With a snap of his tail feathers, the tubs he had tossed away flew back and settled into place. Finding the order boring, he sighed and snapped his feathers again, making the shopping cart grow metallic wings, as well as a seat big enough for the two of them. "Come, my darling!" he said, extending his paw to her. "We shall ride away from this cursed land know as Re-Tail, where creatures become zombies if they stay too long!" She giggled and took his hoof, and they flew towards the cash registers. "I don't understand what you mean sometimes," she said, shaking her head. "But I do know that you're a very silly draconequus." She leaned against him, nuzzling his shoulder. He smiled and wrapped one arm around her, using the other to direct their cart into landing at the end of a line. He eventually coaxed it into doing so at the end of the shortest one. Its wings shivered and folded back against its body. "They'll fade away in a couple of hours," he said. "Moooostly. They might be brought back out if someone starts screaming near it..." "Discord," Fluttershy said in a warning tone of voice. "Only if they're being rude to a worker?" he asked. She frowned in thought. "And no one gets more than a scare?" She hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded. He whooped and pumped his fist, snapping his fingers and altering the spell, adding a bit of neon color to the cart for fun. She just giggled and shook her head. After a few minutes of waiting, passed by light cuddling, they reached the cash register. The unicorn working looked tired, and hardly batted an eye at the sight of their altered cart. Discord pouted a little as she robotically rang up their items and gave their total. As Fluttershy was handing over the bits, and receiving her bagged purchases, Discord leaned forward to stare at the cashier. She barely reacted. "Do you like coffee?" he asked. Her eyes lit up slightly. "I love coffee," she said. "It's what keeps me going...if my shift doesn't run into overtime, which it always seems to do..." She scowled. "Are you staying here for a while longer?" he asked. She nodded, her eyelids drooping closed into a lifeless expression. "Well then...here's a tip for you." He snapped his fingers and created a large mug of steaming black coffee, almost the size of a bowl. The cashier's eyes widened as the fumes hit her nose, and she instantly drank about half of the mug in a few gulps. "Thankyou!" she said. "Hereisyourchange, andthankyouforthetip! Ilikeyourcartbytheway!" She greeted the next customer in line enthusiastically, and Discord smiled, urging the cart to roll forward and out of the way. Fluttershy smiled at him as he hopped out. "That was very nice of you," she said, taking his paw and letting him help her down. He shrugged. "Overly caffeinated ponies are more chaotic than tired and bored ones," he said. He gathered all of the bags in his arms, then gave the cart a swat with his tail. It whinnied and rolled over to the rows of other carts at the front of the store. "Shall we go home?" he said. She nodded, and he snapped his fingers, making them vanish in a flash of light. Discord lounged on the couch, drawing on the wall with a crayon. Fluttershy had started unpacking their bags as soon as they were home—first putting his ice cream in the freezer, then—ugh—organizing everything in the sanctuary pantry. Once she was done with that, she would sort out the things she had bought for the two of them. Until then, he was busy recreating some of his favorite memories—with inverted colors, in crayon, on the wall of the living room. He stuck out his tongue as he tried to make his biceps a little larger in the current drawing—which was of him carrying Fluttershy in his arms, placing his forehead against hers. After a moment of thought, he added a few misshaped hearts around the two of them. His ears perked up as he heard hoofsteps from the doorway. Fluttershy walked in, carrying a large bowl of ice cream in her hoof. "Sorry," she said. "I was so focused on unpacking...I forgot to give you your ice cream." She handed it to him—a bowl full of glorious yellow and pink frozen dessert. He could already feel himself drooling. She glanced at his drawings. "Oh, those are...unusual," she said, tilting her head. "Inverted colors," he said, holding up a color wheel for her. She glanced back and forth between it and the drawings, and he smiled as he watched realization dawn in her eyes. "Oh!" she said, smiling. "It's the two of us...with you holding me!" He nodded and kissed her forehead. "Ding ding ding, we have a winner," he said. "Would you like a prize?" He scooped out a bit of his ice cream and offered it to her. She stared at it. "Oh...but Discord, I got that whole tub for you..." she said. He just shrugged and held it a little closer to her. "I don't know if..." Before she could finish, he shoved the spoon into her mouth. Her eyes widened, and she slowly pulled away, leaving the spoon clean of ice cream. She chewed for a second, her mouth curling into a smile as her eyes drifted closed. "Mmm," she said after swallowing. "You picked out a good flavor. You might have to eat it quickly before I help myself to more." He laughed, and she giggled, pecking his cheek and nuzzling him. "I'm going to keep unpacking," she said. "Then I'll come sit with you...maybe we can read a book together? Or make some more drawings?" He nodded eagerly, and she smiled softly at him before walking back into the kitchen. He smiled and leaned back against the arm of the couch, taking a spoonful of ice cream. He moaned as it filled his tastebuds with sweetness. Perfect. And somehow, knowing that his sweet pegasus could enjoy it with him, maybe even fairly soon...made it even better for him. He took another spoonful and devoured it.