//------------------------------// // Glass Jubilee // Story: Domestic Drabbles of Discord's Dimension // by GeekCat //------------------------------// As a celebration of several years of creating art in the Dragon Lands, Dragon Lord Ember was hosting the Glass Jubilee, open to not only dragons, but all sorts of creatures. Discord was absolutely ecstatic to be there. "Oooh, look!" he said to Fluttershy, pointing at a booth. "Glass instruments! Ones that aren't windchimes!" She smiled and looked to where he was pointing, humming and tilting her head. "They look interesting," she said. "Those glass flutes must sound very pretty." "I'm sure they do," he said, purchasing one of the glass flutes and playing a few high, clear notes on it before sending it home. "Oooh, that statue! Someone tried to make a statue of Torch!" He laughed a bit at it, since the statue had...unusual proportions. That tended to happen when you tried to portray a skyscraper-sized dragon as a statue probably no bigger than yourself. Fluttershy nudged him in the side to stop him, and eventually, he calmed down, panting a bit. He had been thoroughly enjoying his time here. The main attractions were the many, many glass statues made by dragons. Some were amazing, others were hilariously bad (his favorites). There were lines of booths, most of them selling glass trinkets made by the vendor...or running some sort of small game, with the trinkets as prizes. There were also wind chimes made of glass hanging everywhere, which caused a small, if pretty cacophony every time a gust of wind came through. He couldn't help but cause a few magic gusts of wind to cause it every so often, though he was pretty sure Fluttershy was onto him. Still, he caused a small gust of wind to blow through the chimes and amuse himself. Fluttershy sighed and leaned against his side, and he paused in his mischief and looked down at her. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Should we stop and take a break?" "That would be nice," she said with a sigh, nuzzling his side. "And..." His stomach growled loudly, causing him to blush and her to chuckle. "And it might be a good idea to get lunch." "Right, right," he said, lifting his head. "I remember seeing a carrot dog and ice cream stand for pony visitors...I think it was back at the edge of the gathering." He frowned...it didn't seem fair to make Fluttershy walk all the way back there, but he didn't want to keep pushing her forward to possibly find something closer if she felt tired. He scooped her into his arms, planning to carry her back. She squeaked, burying her face into his fur to avoid a few of the stares they were suddenly getting. "Um," she said. "You don't have to carry me back. I can wait for you...oh, maybe over there!" She sounded very excited, so he followed her gaze to whatever she had found. It appeared to be a collection of glass animal statues. The corner of his mouth twitched up into a grin. "Of course," he said. He weaved through the crowd until they were in the heart of the glass menagerie. He glanced around for a few moments, but after not seeing anything suitable, shrugged and snapped up a cloud armchair. "You wait here, I'll go get us some carrot dogs and ice cream," he said as he set her gently into the chair. "Rest your hooves for a bit...but I have to warn you, as soon as you stand up, the chair will vanish. Poof!" She giggled and leaned forward enough to peck his nose. "Thank you," she said with a smile. He returned the peck on the nose, stood up straight, and headed in the general direction of the food stand. It had taken some searching, and a long bit of waiting in line, but he finally had his prize—two extra-large carrot dogs with ranch, and two ice cream bars—one strawberry, one chocolate. He had placed everything in a glass box of his own creation, one that would magically keep everything at the perfect temperature, and not allow it to tip over and make a mess. With that done, he headed along a different route back to Fluttershy, to see if there was anything else new to spot. There were a few interesting glass statues, a few fun events that he learned about...but nothing deterred him from his goal of getting back to his wife with their lunch as soon as possible. Until he found one particular booth. It was a small one, run by a small, pink dragoness. She was currently turning something in her hands, breathing small puffs of fire at it. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was a bracelet...and that all the trinkets she had were jewelry. Very pretty, colorful jewelry. Perhaps a gift for Fluttershy would make a nice memento, he thought. Though he didn't want to make her wait longer, the thought of seeing her expression of surprised delight...he veered off of his path and headed towards the dragon. "Excuse me," he said, making her look up. "How much of this is for sale?" There wasn't a sign, and some trinkets at other stalls were for looking at, not touching or buying. "I'm not really 'selling' any of it," she said, setting the bracelet aside. "But if you beat my shell game, you can win one as a prize." "Alright. How much to play the shell game?" She told him the price (a bit steep, but not as bad as some rigged carnival game), and he handed over the bits. She reached under her booth and pulled out a clear glass marble with a ribbon of blue inside, along with three opaque gold glass...clams. Glass clams with real hinges. "Ooh, clams," he said. "That's very novel." "You think so?" the dragon said, preening a bit. "They were tricky to make, but they seemed much more interesting than plain old cups." Discord nodded in approval. The dragon placed the marble in the middle clam, then closed all three of the clams. With this done, she quickly shuffled them around. It was easy for Discord to follow—he had seen and run so many of these games that he was practically an expert. She didn't even try to cheat by removing the marble. So when she stopped, he knew that the marble was in the left one. Still, he hesitated for a few seconds, humming in thought. After stroking his beard, he pointed at the clam. The dragon opened it. "Correct!" she said. "Now, please pick your prize." She held up a box filled with glass jewelry of all types. It only took him a second to spot the perfect gift—something he was sure she would adore. "This one," he said, picking it up. "Thank you!" the dragon said. "Please enjoy the rest of the jubilee." Discord smiled and nodded, tucking his chosen piece into a velvet box. He put it away in a pocket of thin air and scooped up their lunch with his tail, heading back towards where Fluttershy was waiting with a skip in his step. She wasn't there. He felt a bit panicked at that, but quickly calmed down by reminding himself that she could handle herself, and that anyone who tried to cause trouble was surrounded by fire-breathing dragons. Still, he didn't want to wait for her to return. So he quickly purchased a cheap strand of glass beads from a nearby booth, and with a spark of magic, it floated in his grip and tugged him in the direction Fluttershy was in. He followed it down the busy pathways, weaving and pushing his way through the crowd. After just a few turns, he spotted Fluttershy heading in his direction. He waved enthusiastically at her, and though she seemed surprised, she smiled and ran up to meet him. "Sorry I left the area," she said. "But I heard about an odder stand nearby, and I had to see what it was about." She shifted, and he could now see that there was something tucked under her wing. He bent down to peer at her and her wing, shaking the glass beads to turn off their enchantment. "Odder how?" She smiled and opened her wing, grabbing something and holding it out to him. It was a small purple and green glass statue of...he wasn't sure, actually. It looked almost like a tree, but it twisted in impossible ways, and its 'leaves' were splayed like a crashing wave. "Odd as in...small statues like this," she said. "I couldn't tell what any of them were, but...I thought you might like this one." He gingerly took it from her hooves, turning it every which way as he inspected it. It was nonsensical, even to him...though it was pretty, and it almost glowed if the light hit it at just the right angle. "I do like it," he said with a smile. "I think it will make a very nice decoration in our living room...or perhaps a centerpiece in the kitchen." She smiled brightly. "I'm glad," she said. "And you can put it wherever you think is best." He grinned, looking at her through the odd statue and chuckling at how her face changed color and warped in appearance through the glass. Suddenly, he remembered... "Oh!" he said, vanishing the statue away for now. "I actually got you something, too. At a shell game." "Really?" she asked. Her ears perked up, and her eyes sparkled a bit. He smiled and opened his hand, summoning the earlier velvet box into his palm. He bent down to meet her eye level a bit better, held out the box...and opened it. She gasped, a hoof flying to her mouth. Inside was a simple necklace—a pink glass butterfly on a string. "It's beautiful," she said, smiling softly at it. "I love it." He grinned, his wings fluttering. "I knew you would," he said. He slightly coiled his body around hers, removing the necklace from the box. He let the butterfly rest on her chest as he tied the strings behind her neck. She lifted it up with a hoof, smiling and marveling at it. He grinned and tossed the box away, taking the chance to stroke his fingers through her mane, wrapping his arms loosely around her. She nuzzled into his neck. "You're so sweet," she said. "Is there anywhere in particular you want to go to eat lunch?" "Hmm," he said. "I heard that there's some sort of band playing glass instruments soon...why don't we eat and listen to them at the same time?" "Sounds like fun," she said, looping her foreleg around his elbow. He smiled and stood up, guiding the two of them towards wherever this unusual band might be.