//------------------------------// // Snuggly Pillow Forts // Story: Domestic Drabbles of Discord's Dimension // by GeekCat //------------------------------// Most of Discord's antics when she came home wouldn't make Fluttershy bat an eye. But today? She had entered the living room to find an extremely large pillow fort where their couch used to be. It was massive, almost tent-like, and made up of blankets, pillows, and some other soft odds and ends. Once she had blinked a few times to take it in, she recognized some of the pillows and blankets as being from their bed. She approached what she assumed was the entrance, leaning down to peek inside. "Discord?" she said. "Are you in there?" A grey muzzle with a snaggletooth poked out from a blanket flap. "No entry," it said. "Not unless you give the password!" She chuckled a bit, laying on the ground in front of him. "What made you decide to build a pillow fort today?" she asked. "Wanted to," the muzzle said. "Now, what's the password?" Humming in thought, she leaned a little closer. After a moment's consideration, she placed a soft kiss on his nose, making it twitch, a smile curling onto the muzzle's lips. "...that is an acceptable password," it said. Discord grabbed the bottom of the flap and lifted it enough for her to enter, and with a grin, he beckoned her inside. With a grin, she crawled under the flap to join him. The fort was fairly big on the inside, even without any obvious hints of Discord's magic expanding it. There was enough space for both her and Discord to fit comfortably (as long as he wasn't standing up). She recognized some of the pillows and blankets from places other than their bedroom, now that she could get a closer look at them. Blankets completely surrounded them, a few even piled onto the floor as padded carpeting. Pillows pinned down the blankets, the tops of which were held up by the couch. Slightly off-center, and fairly close to the couch, there was a large pile of pillows. Discord flopped onto the pile of pillows, leaning back against the couch. "Neat, right?" he said with a grin. "Ooh, check this part out!" He dug through the pillows and flipped a few switches. Strings of fairy lights turned on overhead, and a flashlight illuminated one of the walls of the fort. "It's very cozy," she said with a smile, laying next to him on the pillow pile. He began making (very impressive) shadow puppets using the flashlight. "Did you spend all day on this?" "Just the afternoon!" he said, a little smugly. His shadow puppetry began to illustrate the fort's construction. "I thought it would be nice to...spend a night spontaneously in a pillow fort. You know—stay up all night reading and gabbing, stuff ourselves silly with snacks, and have a pillow fight or three." "That does sound fun," she said, leaning against his side. "I don't have anything to do tomorrow, so I'm all for it. Do you think...we could add some cuddling to our activities?" He shivered a little, then grinned widely and stroked his claws through her mane. "I think," he purred, "that is a more than welcome addition." He kissed her forehead, which made her smile. She shifted to be even closer, nuzzling into his neck. He slowly wrapped his arms around her, pressing her even closer against him. She adjusted herself a bit to take her weight off of the couch, settling more of it against the pillow nest...and Discord's torso. She nuzzled his cheek, rubbing just behind his ear, causing him to purr. His tail slowly looped itself around her waist. After some time spent cuddling and kissing (where Fluttershy almost nodded off a few times), Discord purred and stretched himself out. "As fun as this is," he said. "We should probably eat dinner...and get the rest of our supplies for our night of camping in the living room." "Yeah," she said, slowly standing up and stretching out her wings, careful to not knock anything over. "...maybe we could eat dinner in the fort?" He nodded, crawling his way towards the entrance. "I'm in a mood to make things without magic today, though," he mused. "I only used a little on the fort, and I want to keep it up!" "I understand," she said. He pulled the flap aside and allowed her to emerge first. Once outside, she stretched her wings a bit more. "Maybe we can cook a pizza and have some apple slices to go with it?" He nodded as he crawled after her. "And candy bars for a dessert slash snack," he said, standing to his full height and popping his back. "Plus, we can pop the popcorn at the same time!" She nodded and headed towards the kitchen, Discord following close behind. "Alright," she says. "I'll start popping the popcorn and cutting the apples, if you want to make the pizza." "Yes, ma'am!" Discord said, a uniform flashing onto him as he saluted her. "Will a cheese pizza be suitable, ma'am?" "It will, thank you," she said. "Will plain popcorn with butter be suitable, sir?" "Of course, ma'am!" He began rifling through the cupboards, throwing a bunch of dry ingredients (and some water) into a large bowl, quickly mixing it all together. She pulled out a few bags of popcorn kernels and poured them into a pan before setting them on the hot stove. She and Discord worked around each other. She helped him roll out the dough at one point, then left him to add the tomato sauce and cheese while she sliced a few more apples. In almost no time, several apples had been sliced, the pizza was in the oven, and the popcorn was fairly close to being done popping. "Discord," Fluttershy said. "Could you melt some butter, please? The popcorn's almost ready." "Of course, sweetie," he said. She smiled and began to search the cupboards for candy...but before she could get far, something made her freeze. Discord kissed the nape of her neck. Her wings flared out in surprise, but drooped as he stroked a claw against her back. She sighed, her entire body relaxing as he kept placing kisses along her neck. He was so good at this...she was enjoying this, even if it surprised her. In fact, she mused as he brushed his paw through her mane, if she had his magic, she would probably— Her eyes snapped wide open, and she pushed his muzzle away. "Melt the butter, not me!" she said. He snickered, a grin covering his face. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said in a tone that was anything but. "I just have so much trouble telling the difference, my little butterpat." She snorted, though she tried to keep a straight (and stern) face. Discord just kept giggling to himself, but he did open the fridge and begin melting one of the sticks of butter with a small golden flame. While he did that, and began using his magic to play with the blob of liquid butter, she dug several types of candy bars out of the cupboard. Many she recognized, though a few had some foreign language on their wrappers that was incomprehensible to her. She tossed all of them into a large bowl, getting another bowl down for the popcorn. Once it was finally done popping, she poured in the popped kernels, then stepped aside. Discord tossed in the butter, which immediately seeped completely through the popcorn. With another, smaller bowl for the apple slices, paper plates for the two of them, and glasses filled with chocolate milk, the only thing left was the pizza. "Uggh," Discord groaned. "Bored. Don't like waiting. Don't wanna cheat," he said before Fluttershy could offer a suggestion. She glanced at the timer. "Why don't you take everything to the fort?" she suggested. "And pick out some books from the library. I'll keep an eye on the pizza and pull it out once it's done." He brightened up a bit at that. "Thank you!" he said, lifting everything with his magic. "I'll be back here to help in...ten minutes, then!" He floated away with the dinner they had made, while Fluttershy took a seat at the kitchen table. Humming to herself, she grabbed a nearby notebook and began to sketch a few things to pass the time. True to his word, as soon as the timer started ringing, Discord appeared next to her with a flash. "I hope I didn't leave you too bored," he said, oven mitts with hearts appearing on his hands as he opened the oven door. "No, no," she said, reaching over to turn off the timer. "I sketched out a few possible sanctuary renovations, so I managed to keep myself busy." He nodded to himself. "You have a good work ethic," he said as he pulled out the fairly large pizza. "And you're good at keeping busy...though I do wish you would take more breaks." "That's your job, isn't it?" she said, flying behind him and wrapping her hooves around his neck. "To keep me from overworking?" "...that it is," he murmured, leaning back against her. They stayed in that position for a few seconds before Discord shook himself free. "Now, who's ready for a night of crazy yet lazy fun!?" "We are," she said with a giggle, following him to the fort as he carried the steaming pizza. They quickly made themselves comfortable in the pillow nest. Both of them held a plate with pizza and apples, their glasses of milk floating next to them. They leaned against each other, their backs against the couch. "I was thinking," Discord said as he smacked on his pizza. "That one of us could read the books, while the other used shadow puppets to 'act' the scenes out." He held up a hand and created a shadow puppet of a unicorn reading a book. "That does sound fun," she admits. "Though I'd not the greatest at shadow puppets..." She held up her hooves and made the simplest thing she could—a clam, snapping open and shut. "That's fine," Discord said, patting her head. "Whatever shadow magic you ponies have to be able to hold things in your hooves freaks me out enough already. Just...have a little fun with me is all I ask." She smiled and nodded. "Alright. I can start reading..." she glanced over at the small tower of books Discord had gathered. "After we finish eating supper." He nodded in agreement and shoved another large bite of pizza into his mouth. "Why don't you tell me about your day?" She smiled and began to talk about the sanctuary, while he listened intently, nodding along. After the pizza was finished, Fluttershy cracked open one of the first books in the pile...and was surprised when a pillow sprang out of it, striking her in the face. "Oops," Discord said a little too innocently. He smiled, batting his eyelashes at her as she stared at him, stunned. She blinked a few times, his innocent expression slowly wavering. Just before it fell apart completely, she grabbed the pillow that had sprung on her and swung it into his shoulder. He fell over, laughing, and waved another pillow in her direction. She smacked back with the pillow she was still holding...and thus began the slap fight of pillows, neither of them wanting to throw one and risk taking down the fort. After a while, they both laid next to each other, panting. "Truce?" Discord said, holding out his paw. "Truce," she said, grasping it and shaking it, pulling herself back up to a sitting position. She picked up the book again and opened it, while Discord curled himself against his side. She shifted so that he would be able to see the pages and their illustrations. "Welcome! To the world of Saddlemon," she began to read. Discord lifted his hands and effortlessly made shadow puppets to go with her narration. Fluttershy groaned, lifting her head and blinking blearily. Discord snorted beside her, twitching slightly. She mumbled and rubbed her head, looking around and trying to recall details from last night. The fort, while still up, wasn't looking nearly as good—a few of the blankets had fallen, and the pillow nest was more scattered. The tower of books had fallen. All the bowls were overturned, and empty candy wrappers were scattered around them. Her mouth felt sticky and uncomfortable, and she smacked her lips a few times to get rid of it. It wasn't hard to remember what had happened, even in her tired state. They had stayed up late into the night like they had planned, reading books and stuffing themselves with popcorn and candy. As an intermission between books, they had small pillow fights, and once acted out a Saddlemon battle of their own via shadow puppets. It had ended...maybe after midnight. They were both so tired that they had simply fallen into the pillow nest, curled around each other, and fell into a deep sleep. Fluttershy yawned, and Discord snored. He was half-curled around her, lying on his back with his limbs curled next to him, much like a cat. She smiled and laid back down, snuggling against his side...and after a few moments, allowed herself to drift off to sleep again.