//------------------------------// // Extra // Story: After Everything // by Buttery Biscuit //------------------------------// Discord and Sombra were very excited, why? Because they were invited to the Apple family reunion, which was today! They couldn't be more excited, neither of them had met AJ's extended family before, but they liked the Apples. So it was safe to assume they would like them too. They were so excited they arrived early but they weren't the only ones there. "Hello girls," Sombra waved to his friends who were already there, setting up for the reunion. "Hello Sombra, Granny is in the kitchen. She'll assign you a chore." Rarity said as she laid table clothes down on the wooden tables. Making sure they covered what they were supposed to. "Alright," Discord said as he picked Sombra up and went off to see Maria, leaving behind his friends. The elements frowned as they went in, feeling a twinge of guilt. They finally learned why Discord picked up ponies, his time in stone. He said it was no big deal and that he held no grudges. The elements still felt a bit guilty about it, they did put him in there. Not to mention Sombra, who also still felt side effects. "Hello Maria," Sombra said as Discord carried him into the kitchen. "Well hello, glad ta see ya could make it." Granny Smith said. She was gathering her cooking supplies to be taken outside. So the family could all make dinner together. "We report for duty! Rarity said to." Discord said with a smile and a tail swish. He, for one, was very excited about this. In fact, he had been looking forward to it for a while. "I got a special job for each of ya. Sombra ya gonna join me and mah friends. We can work on da quilt and it'll be a tad more interesting with ya there. Discord ya can wrangle ta youngens, I know ya love 'em and they are packed ta da brim with energy. When they are down, Rose will tell ya what she said ta tha colt. Applesauce will be there ta, she was there when Rose said it." Granny Smith said, more excited then normally. Other creatures hadn't joined the quilting circle in so long, just not old enough. As it was a tradition that at a certain age you stopped helping with cooking and setting up, and started helping with the quilt instead. Sombra was technically over the age, and the elders held a lot of say in what they wanted to happen. So with both those cards at her disposal, Granny was ready to exploit the situation so Sombra could join them. "Oh, I cant wait to find out, I hope she tells us. Anything else we can do for you?" Discord said with a bounce. he hoped whatever it was, it was saucy, or appalling. "Help ta elements. Since ya jobs don't start till da family shows up." Granny said as she put the last pot onto the table. "Be a dear and take these out. Put them on a table till the cookin' areas are set up." "Of course," Sombra said as he levitated all the pots up with his magic, not needing to be put down quite yet. He was able to do it from Discord's arms, they weren't even that heavy. He carefully levitated them out of the house and to a nearby table. He laid them down gently on that table. He smiled at his friends, then he frowned. They looked distraught, "are you girls ok?" Discord wondered similarly, what could be wrong? Well, these were his friends, he was going to find out. "Tell us. I'm sure we can work something out." He said as he noticed they were all staring at him with forlorn expressions. Then he knew what this was about, his time in stone. It was an awkward conversation, encouraged by Cadence. As she thought free and open communication was the way forward. Straightforward wasn't Discord's forte, he just felt awkward so he just joked it off. Sombra too, even Pinkie Pie when she brought up the 'Pinkie Pie you're so random' phrase. He didn't open up about everything, but he did give it a shot. "Look we talked about this, I'm fine. Really. I am. This just makes me feel better. I also just like doing it." "But-" "No buts, this is supposed to be fun. Now drop it, please. You'll only hurt yourself if you keep feeling guilty. Just let it go, if you want to make it up to me. You can let me carry you around more often." Discord said with a scoff, this was starting to frustrate him. He didn't want this. He just wanted to be understood. "Let it go." "We're sorry," Twilight said with a small smile, Discord was right they couldn't keep holding onto the guilt. "I know." Discord replied. "But I'd like to let it go now. I told you, no hard feelings. I mean it." Granny approached the crew, everything had been set up. Big Mac and Spike had set up the cooking pits. "Discord, Sombra come over here, I got ponies ya been dying to meet." Following her were two older mares. "This one-," she started saying as she pointed a hoof to a mare, pale orange, with a pale red mane. Her cuttie mark an apple and some roses, "is Apple Rose and this one-." Grany said as she moved her hoof over to a green mare with a white mane. Her cutie mark was some growing seeds, "is Applesauce." "Mrs. Rose, Mrs. Applesauce it's a pleasure to meet you both. I am Sombra." Sombra said as he stuck out his hoof. Shaking the hooves of the two mares. "Mrs?" They said collectively, being used to being called something else, Rose went by Ma and Applesauce by Auntie. When was the last time they went by Mrs? Neither of them could remember but it made feel young. "I like ya already!" Applesauce said with a smile. Rose liked him too. Then she took a closer look at him and just stared, starry-eyed. She had never seen a unicorn quite like him. "Can I touch ya horn? I ain't seen nothin' like it." "ROSE!" Granny scolded. "Ya can't just ask that." "What? We neva get ta see nothin' cool no more." Rose said with a whine, this was the most exciting thing to happen in years. No offense to any of the activities they were partaking in. "You like different? I'll give ya different. Names Discord." Discord said announcing his presence, the fascination of his friend caused him to go unnoticed. A first. He got down on all fours as he reached out a claw. "It's nice to meet you fine young ladies. Rose, I'm especially excited to hear from you. I heard you're all kinds of trouble." Rose's jaw dropped "Woe," she simply said. "How many animals are ya? Do ya have thier powers? Can I see ya use them? Ya right, Maria, I love 'em. You can both call me Rose," she said used to going by Ma'. She shook his claw, "I ain't neva shook a claw before!" "That I know of? 10. Dragon, deer, lion, eagle, pegasus, bat, goat, dragon, snake, and zebra. Yes, I have some of their powers, and yes you can see me use them." Discord said as he breathed a little fire for his new friend. Who he was taking a great liking to already. She was a curious one, and a bonus, she liked different things. "Neat!" Rose said as she fretted over Discord and Sombra, beyond interested. She couldn't decide who to look at, she shifted her head between them both. "You can call me Applesauce," Applesauce said as she shook their limbs, "Come with us hoovesomes, I'd for one would like to quilt and see more magic tricks." "Sure!" Discord said as he and Sombra wondered off with their new friends. The group went to the hills and settled down upon the top. Granny put down the basket holding the quilt, she then dragged the quilt out of the basket and gently laid it down on the ground. They all gathered around the quilt in a circle. "Wow, this thing is huge." Sombra said as he looked over it, "did you make this?" "Sort of, when an Apple becomes older they join ta quilting circle. Every square here tells ta story of a family member, it's our family history." Rose explained. "Plus from here we can see ta children play. I wonder what poor soal will watch em this year. "That would be me, don't worry. Maria told me all about how crazy they can get." Discord said, in all honestly he was very excited. They sounded rowdy, very rowdy, and he couldn't wait to play with them. "He's right, no worries I seen him wit Flurry. He's got this." Granny said dismissively as a wave of parents climbed the hill. "Hello, y'all." "Granny," they collectively said until just one of them spoke. Apple Tart. "Where is the baby sitter Granny?" Granny pointed to Discord who waved excitedly. The parents stuttered, that was watching their children? Granny looked at her kin and saw concerned faces, "don't worry he's qualified. Takes care of Flurry real good." He was the one she talked about, the crowd of parents questioned. In the letters sent to them, Granny described Discord as a wonderful caretaker. He was just a tad....offputting in real life. Though Granny was trustworthy and if she said something it was usually true. So the parents cautiously handed their kids over. Who investigated their baby sitter for the day with great care. "Hello, little ones." Discord said with a smile as he slapped his claws into the ground lightly and many times. He was so hyped "I brought games!" He said as he teleported them away, to the bottom of the hill. The parents had to admit he was pretty excited to be taking care of them. They reassured themselves once more, Granny knew what she was doing. They collectively went off to go start cooking. "Here ya go!," Applesauce said as she handed Sombra a needle and some thread. "What are you giving me this for?" Sombra asked as he levitated the supplies in his magic. "Ya gonna help us silly." Rose started as she pulled her embroidery supplies out. "With the quilt? I have no idea how, Discord's the artist." Sombra said in a matter of fact way. Though he was honored to be asked to help with it. "We'll teach you!" Rose said with a smile. Cooking was quite, too quite. The young and old weren't heckling for food. Tartarus they didn't even stop by. Dinner sure was going to be done sooner this time around, though that wasn't the point. "Maybe I should check on the youngins," Apple Tart stated, she did trust Granny but that was her daughter over there. She could help but worry, just one peek wouldn't hurt. "I should probably rescue that poor colt that the grandma's coltnapped. Who knows how many stories he's been subjected to?" Spicy Jumbelia said. He remembered when he got an earful after marrying his sweetheart. Apple Tart. "Ight be safe you two." Fritter said as she continued to chop vegetables up for the soup. Jambalaya went to go rescue the colt he didn't know the name of. He'd seen him when he dropped off his son to that odd creature. Discord he called himself. Then he went off to cook. "Like this?" Sombra said as he hoofed over the quilt to Apple Rose. "Much better," Rose said as she looked at his stitch work. "Its startin' to look real professional. Soon you'll be just as good as us." "Sorry about that" Sombra said as he pointed to the past few patches. He was adding blank spaces while his friends embroidered them with memories. Those blank spaces were covered in thread, crooked, and bunched up in some places. "No worries ya got it now plus look," she said as she lifted the blanket up to show Sombra areas that looked like his. "Every creature gotta learn at some point." Jambalaya was surprised at the sight. He...was helping? He was way too young to be on the hill. He had to help this poor bloke. He coughed "may I borrow him?" "Oh, ya don't need ta he stays here wit us." Granny Smith said with a smile. She for one was having a grand old time. "But we could really use-" Jumbelia was going to come up with the excuse for some extra hooves but he was interrupted. "You know what, I could use a drink anyway. Ladies, would you like anything specific?" Sombra offered. "Oooo what a gentlecolt. Na just get us whatever ya want. I wanna see what ya pick." Rose said, who knew what he was going to come back with but that was part of the fun. "Alright," Sombra said as he followed the colt down the hill. "How can I help you, uh, I don't know your name. I'm Sombra" He said as he headed straight for the booze. "Jambalaya. You can't I just thought I'd rescue you from the crazy old coots. Probably talking your ear off, you're too young to be up there anyway." He stated as he entered the cooking area. "First of all, your grandmother's are not crazy. They're the most interesting mares I've ever met. Secondly, I enjoy their company greatly, I like listening to them. I like hearing their stories. Third, I'm about 2000 years old, so if the age requirement is let's say 100. I'd say I qualify to be there and then some, 20 times over in fact. Lastly even if I was young I wouldn't want to hang out down here with you. Treating your grandmothers like their crazy. I'm not as nice as they are so I'm not going to pretend to be. Treat your grandmothers with some respect. You. Ungrateful. Piece. Of. Shit." Sombra said as purple poured from his eyes, jabbing his hoof into the colt he was yelling at. He was still careful not to hurt him, he didn't want to cause too much of a scene, just defend his friends. He grabbed the Manhattans he made for those friends in his magic, snuck a bottle into his shadow, and went off. Back to his spot on the hill. "Damn." Fritter said, summing up the family thoughts at that moment. Never had anyone not called the elders crazy or old. It was just was something that was done. Though the more she thought about it the more she realized he might be right. They might be being disrespectful. Jambalaya wasn't just gonna take that so he followed Sombra. How dare he? Such accusations. "Sombra ya seem angry. Is it da Society of Historical Preservation again? Have ya had any luck gettin' ya stuff back?" Granny asked, concerned for her friend's attitude. She could see the purple pouring from his eyes. "I'm sorry, what?" Rose asked. "Its a long story but I ended up like the Pillars. Classified as dead, and speaking of them. I teamed up with the Pillars. Apparently, the Society refuses to hear their input on the past, despite knowing everything about it. Some of them can't get their belongings back either. Poor Rockhoof can't even go home because it's an excavation site. Some of them are currently staying in the chaos realm until they get back up onto their hooves. Others just got lucky. Cadence gave Mistmane a job. Mage Meadowbrook, Starswirl, and Flash Magnus just went back to their old ones. Which just leaves Rockhoof, Stygian, and Somnambula but I'm sure they'll find something. They did just get back a couple of weeks ago." "I'm sorry, it's a sin they treat ya like ya dead." Granny said, "I mean I'm talkin' to ya right now." "Eh, I'm not too bothered by it, just inconvenienced. Could be worse." Sombra said as he tried to look on the bright side of the situation. "I thought just being treated like a crazy old coot was terrible." Applesauce frowned "but ya make it look not so bad." "It is, that's why I'm mad. They keep calling you that." Sombra stated with a huff. "Preaching to the choir sweetheart, but we still love em. Ya just ignore em." Applesauce said. "Well I didn't ignore them, their ungrateful little shits and they should know it," Sombra grumbled. If he had this when he was young he probably wouldn't have turned evil. Tartarus if he could go back in time and tell himself this was his future he'd stop his takeover right then and there. Rose just laughed "yeah they are. Thanks for standing up for us Sombra but were ok with it. One day they'll understand." Jambalaya slowly went down the hill. It didn't take a genius to figure out Sombra was right. When he got there he found most of his family missing. Though he could hear them. He followed the sound of collective swooning. Jambalaya wondered what it was over. It was Discord, they were swooning over Discord. Discord had snapped up a slip n slide of mud. At the end of it were children, he picked one up in his claw "four!" He yelled as he tossed the kid down the slid and into the other children. Scattering them, foal bowling he was calling the game. The parents were very worried of course until they learned Discord turned their kids into rubber. Not just them all of their surroundings were too, he didn't want any creature getting hurt. Plus the kids were having a blast "again, again, again." They cried out. Discord was so good with the children and it drove the mares crazy. The parents had to internally admit now, that it did look like a lot of fun. One grown creature did not stay quiet about it. "I wanna try!" Twilight yelled out as she trotted up to Discord. "Can I go?" "Sure!" Discord squeaked as he cleared the kids, sticking them to the side on a nearby tree. Getting pouty faces in return. "No worries after she goes you can go." The children cheered in response. Discord snapped his friend, also the elements of harmony, to him and placed them at the bottom of the slide. "Ready?" He asked as he got into position. "Ready!" They responded. Discord tossed Twilight down the slide, she was giggling the whole way. She ran straight into her friends who bounced about, giggling as well. "Yay!" Twilight yelled, she got a strike. Then she rolled around in the mud getting the kid's attention. She levitated some of them off of the tree onto her back. "Wooosh." She said as she ran around giving piggyback rides to all. Her friends smiled at her glad she wasn't taking life too seriously these days, becoming more flexible, having more fun. "If the part-time ruler of this country likes it, you should try it too." Discord said trying to coax more chaos out of the situation. With the children's attention elsewhere he could cause some here, with the parents. They looked like they could use a break anyway. The parents looked at her, then at the elements who joined the children in the mud. It did look like a lot of fun. Dinner was all premade, all that was needed was to cook it. "Ok." Fritter said. Soon enough almost every creature that attended was covered in mud and being thrown into other ponies. It was an absolute blast and the parents could see why Granny chose Discord for this job. He was fun, yet still responsible. Most of the parents couldn't even remember the last time they had that much fun for so long. "I wonder why the grandmothers haven't hounded us yet." Apple Tart said, she was curious. Usually when a break was taken nagging started. "Hush don't ruin a good thing. You'll jinx this." Fritter scolded. "Yeah!" Both children and parents yelled, the parents didn't want to go back to responsibilities. They were having to much fun. "Oh you won't have to worry about that," Discord said as he pointed over to some buzzed and shambling creatures. He had heard them a mile away, he did have good hearing. "Shut the Tartarus up Maria your gonna get us caught." Sombra snapped, in his magic, he carried a plate full of stolen food. He was the mastermind behind this plan. The parents and children were occupied, the food was wide open. It was a perfect time to go hunting. "I ain't making that much noise ya are making way more." Granny snapped back carrying her own plate of stolen food. "Hey don't yell at him!" Rose snapped at Granny. "Ya just want him on ya good side cuz he's hot," Granny said as she pointed her hoof accusingly at her friend. "Hey, I'm a free mare. I can ogle all ta hot studs I want." Rose said. "Ladies please, you're gonna get us in trouble." Sombra whisper yelled, his stomach growled. "You already are." Discord stated as he looked at the three of them, trying to hold back laughter as the entire family was now watching them very closely. "Uhhhh," Sombra said, unsure what to do, caught red hoofed. "BAIL!" Rose yelled as she, Granny, and Applesauce ran for their hill. "Hi, Discord." Sombra smiled sheepishly hoping if he stayed his friends would get away. "Hi Sombra, did ya get buzzed with Maria then get hungry, and while we were playing, did you hunt for food because we weren't looking?" Discord said, he did not care that they were disobeying rules. He did care about the chaos and what he could do to add to the fun. "No?" Sombra said while looking away and trying not to laugh. "No? You don't sound too sure about that SomBRUH." Discord snorted. "You're hallucinating, ooooowoooowooowowowow I'm a ghoooooost." Sombra said as he started giggling, waving his hooves around in the air, as if that would help him convince Discord he was right. "I thought I was hallucinating." Sombra immediately bailed, turning to smoke and disappearing. After that Discord laughed it up. Things went back to what they were as every creature was getting hungry from all the excitement. Dinner was done in 30 min, the quickest cook time ever. Every creature sat down and talked. Covered in mud, buzzed, or both. Dinner was quickly eaten as every creature there was famished and the kids were taken to the barn. "But we don't want to take a nap, we're not tired. We wanna yaaaawwnn play with Discord." Apple Specs whined, Discord was the best playmate ever. The rest of the children agreed with that statement. "Maybe you can play before you leave, and don't worry some of us will join you. We're tired." Fritter said as several sleepy parents decided to join collective nap time. While that was happening five friends sat at a wooden table sharing a 151 Sombra had snagged from the booze table. That's what brought four of them to buzz town. The fifth was playing caretaker and so had some catching up to do, electing not to drink while watching over creatures. They took turns taking sips out the bottle, the more they drank the less they cared. "So tell us, tell us what you said to that colt after you kicked him in the crotch. I for one am dying to know." Sombra said, he and Discord had been waiting for this part all day. "I dunno...it was pretty vulgar." Rose teased as she tried to seem floppy on the idea of telling them, wanting to tease them a bit. "Come on, we probably heard worse. If you tell us. I'll tell you the dirtiest joke I know." Sombra sported a smug face, "unless you don't want to know." "It's a deal I said suck my god damn dense chode you piece of harry garbage. I'll fucking kill your whole family.." Sombra and Discord laughed. Sombra, between laughs, had managed to say. "Oh my, that's gotta be the best sentence I have ever heard." "Now tell us the joke!" Rose yelled, she was dying to know. "A deals a deal. Ok, ok, what does a deaf gynecologist do?" Sombra asked. "Well I dunno," Rose said, stumped. "I'm not sure either." Applesauce said. "They read lips," Sombra stated It took a few seconds to hit but when it did Rose just laughed, Applesauce squealed then laughed, Granny gasped which turned into a laugh. Sombra just smiled smugly and so did Discord, Discord was the one that told him that joke. The apple family that had gone off to check on their family was shocked. They just went back to the barn, trying to process what just happened. When did their grandmothers get so interesting? "I like ya, I like ya a lot. Applesauce and I have a little surprise for ya, ima get it right now." Rose said as she ran off to the cooking area, now a hangout. The family that was there trying to seem like they hadn't overheard their grandmothers. "Fritter, Core, Honey, Lilly, front, and center!" Rose demanded and, of course, they followed that order. "Yes?" They said. "Ya comin with me." Rose said as she led them to her friends who were laughing it up at the table. "Sombra, Discord. This is my daughter Fritter and my son Core." Rose said and her children took a polite bow Applesauce smiled, "this is Honey, and Lilly, they are my daughters." "Granny told us all 'bout ya and I have ta say ya lived up ta tha hype. She also said ya single. We can solve that." Rose said as she wiggled her eyebrows and pointed to the youngins. "Oh no, no, we, we, couldn't," Sombra said with a hoof wave and a blush. "Ya, ya can. We suggestin' it." Rose insisted. "Uhhh, I'm very sorry about this," Sombra said as he ushered the ponies away from the table and back to the cooking areas. "I think we need to have a word with your grandmothers." He said as he watched them wander back, as soon as they were gone he approached the table and sat down. "Ladies, I'm honored you'd offered us something like this. I am, I can't believe you like us so much you'd marry us off to your own children." Sombra started before he paused, he had to say this very carefully. "I am also honored, but we're just not ready. Sombra and I just got our lives back together after the whole evil thing. Don't get me wrong I love chaos and all that.....but I'm sort of....enjoying the stability of our new lives. Love invites a lot of drama. One day just not today." Discord said. "I'm mighty sorry, I talked over the phone about how great ya were and I let it slip that I was thinking of setten ya up. But I did NOT expect THIS!" Granny said as she glared down her friends. She wanted to talk it out first, before acting. "That's sweet, really, we just don't want to right now. Thank you though Maria. I know you were doing it because you wanted us to be happy. We are happy now, promise." Sombra stated. The rest of the night was spent talking about days, lovers, and youth gone by shared over a bottle until the family came to pick them up one by one. It was a good night Discord and Sombra couldn't wait to see them again.