//------------------------------//
// Company Stock 
// Story: Domestic Drabbles of Discord's Dimension 
// by GeekCat 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy was used to catching Discord doing odd or chaotic things. After all, chaos was part of who he was, and he never felt the need to hide that part of himself from her.

So, seeing him covered in flecks of paint as she walked into the living room? Not surprising. That his tongue was sticking out in concentration as he glued pamphlets into some sort of collage? Barely something to bat an eye at.

No, what gave her pause was that he had an entire stack of pamphlets which seemed to be about the same company...and his painting, though colorful, appeared to be of a tall office building.

"Discord?" she said, stepping closer. "What are you doing?"

He flinched, his brush making a slash of green along the office building. "...you love me, right?" he said, turning to her with a nervous grin.

She raised an eyebrow. "I would say yes immediately, but the way you said that makes it sound like you did something."

"I haven't!" he said. "Well, nothing bad. And not today. But this statement is not a promise to continue doing nothing in the foreseeable future..."

"Discord," she said in a flat tone. He froze in place, looking down at the ground.

"...how about I start from the very beginning?" he said. "Take a seat...this will be a bit of a presentation." She frowned and did so, raising an eyebrow.

Suddenly the lights went out...only for Discord to be illuminated in a spotlight just a moment later. "Ahem," he said, snapping a ruler into his claw. "Thank you for coming here today. There is a matter of grave importance I must discuss with you."

She rose an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. With a clap of his ruler against his palm, a portrait of a stern-looking tan unicorn appeared. "This is Manilla Folder," he said. "An uptight Canterlot snob from an uptight noble family. Seriously, they could use some loosening up." With a flick of a paintbrush, a pink mustache was drawn onto the painting.

"Anyway, about a month ago, he decided to start a company: the terribly unoriginal Manilla Enterprises," he said. Another clap of the ruler and the picture of the office building from before appeared. "Their business plan? Mainly renting out ponies to organize files, cabinets, libraries...if the customer has bits, they'll stick their muzzles into it and organize like no tomorrow!"

He waved his hand, and a light shone onto the picture, revealing the complex drawings and notes he had been working on. "Fortunately, I have found a simple solution," he said. "I'll disguise myself, get hired as an employee, then tear their company apart from the inside!" 

"In fact 'Gray Ribbon'..." he showed off a picture of his unicorn form. "Already submitted his application, and based on his beautifully-crafted resumé, has been quickly hired! All that's left is to do is to destroy the company."

He took a bow, and the lights turned back on. "Any questions?"

"Well...just a couple," she said. Discord looked delighted at her interest. "Why do you even need to take action against them?" His face fell slightly.

"Because their whole shtick is organizing things!" he bemoaned, grabbing and stretching his cheeks like putty. "That's like the number one thing I'm opposed to!"

"I know, but..." she frowned. "You allow some organization in our house, if only in a few rooms...why can't you just turn a blind eye to this group?"

"Because!" he declared, throwing his hands into the air. "Because they aren't you and haven't earned my favor! Because they want to officially work for the Crown and organize all of Canterlot! Because their idea of order is so bland and boring, all monochromes and files, that just the thought of it..." He gagged.

Once he recovered a bit, he pinched and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If they...succeed in spreading their order through all of Canterlot, I won't be able to go there without feeling bored. Or worse, actually sick."

"Why don't you tell Twilight?" she suggested. "If she knows it'll be bad for one of her friends, she won't hire them."

"Oh, I'm sure that conversation would go well," he said, spinning the dial of an unplugged rotary phone. "Hey, Sparklepants! Just so you know, there's a company living and breathing organization out there, and they're itching to help you—oh, you've left to get them to organize your library and job list! Never mind, I only sped things up."

He hung up the phone and looked at her. "...maybe if you sent a scroll, instead," she offered. "Instead of talking through the mirror, or on...that."

"I could," he said. "But Flutternutter...this is my chance! An opportunity to infiltrate a company and break it apart from within!" He cackled and rubbed his hands together.

She frowned, her ears lowering a bit. "I don't know about this..." she said. "It doesn't seem like a good thing to do. And if their entire place is so orderly, what if it hurts you spending so much time there?"

"...a good point," he said. He grabbed a pink crayon and jotted an extra note in the margin of his painting. "I'll make something to automatically return me here if I get too infected with order. Oh, I could enchant the tie that's part of the suit!"

"Suit?" she echoed. "And...I mean..."

"Yeah, a suit," he said with a sigh. "I've been looking them up, and they have strict dress codes. And of course, I can't wear any actually fun suits." A purple tux with an orange bowtie flashed onto him. "Nope." His suit became teal with a lime green tie. "Nada." Plaid with polka dots. "Not a chance!"

Finally, his suit shifted into one she had never expected to see on him—a black suit with a plain, matching black tie. "Eurgh," he said, shuddering. His hands flew up, and he tore the offending fabric off of himself. "It's awful...but I must do it!"

"Must you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He paused in the middle of tearing the boring tie to shreds. "...well," he said slowly. "It certainly feels like I must." He tossed the shredded fabric into the fireplace, where it burst into flames.

She sighed, and he teleported next to her to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "It'll be fine, trust me," he said. "It won't take long, and no one will ever figure out I was at fault!"

She had her doubts about that, and his whole plan in general, but before she could say anything, he scooped her into his arms and started moving towards the kitchen. "But I'm sure you're hungry and tired, and could do with putting your hooves up. How do extra-cheesy noodles sound for dinner?"

Her stomach growled, making her blush. He chuckled and patted her head, setting her down in her chair before working on dinner.

...dinner was so delicious, and she was so tired and full afterwards, that it wasn't until she was lying in bed that she realized she had forgotten to protest more against his idea. And now he was asleep, so it was too late...she sighed and closed her eyes, resolving to talk to him in the morning.





When she woke up the next morning, Discord had already gotten up. She wandered her way into the kitchen, where she found him sitting at the table already, glaring at a bowl of oatmeal.

"...what are you doing?" she asked, stepping a little closer. The oatmeal didn't even seem to have any fruits in it.

"Method acting," he said, tossing in a single spoonful of sugar and stirring it in. "I need to get in the mindset of a plain, organized buisnesspony to make sure I 'fit in'." He took a bite of the oatmeal, and his face scrunched up.

She frowned. "I still—"

"But you don't have to eat this plain old boring stuff!" he said, shoving it to the side. "How do triple-chocolate pancakes sound?"

"They sound delicious," she said. "But..."

He gripped her under her forelegs and whisked her to the counter, quickly throwing together some pancake batter. She found herself in charge of mixing all the chocolate into the batter, while Discord flipped the cooking pancakes.

After she had found her rhythm, she said, "Discord, I still don't think you going there is a good idea."

He flinched, biting his lip. "Well...I have plans in place to keep me safe," he said. "The tie will bring me back home if I start feeling unwell or start to fade, and there are bathrooms and other places I can cause a little chaos in if I'm just feeling bored."

"But what about the company, and all the ponies working there?" she said. "I know you said they could be a danger to you...but maybe if you just talked things out with Twilight..."

"Oh hey, pancakes are done!" he said, sliding a plate with a large pile over to her, his grin twitching. She narrowed her eyes at him, but took the plate and went back to the table.

Discord kept trying to eat his oatmeal...but after a few minutes, he stuck out his tongue and flung it towards the trash, quickly digging into his own stack of pancakes. Fluttershy had to admit that they were quite delicious...though she kept giving Discord a look from across the table.

After they had finished their breakfast, he flung the plates towards the sink like frisbees. "Well...I should probably head out," he said, snapping his fingers. He disappeared briefly behind a flash of light, transforming into his unicorn disguise and wearing a plain black suit and tie.

With a sigh, his horn glowed. It turned from a pale blue color into a grey that matched his coat, and his tornado cutie mark slowly morphed into a knotted black ribbon. He grimaced, and pulled two gold, glittering cufflinks onto his forehooves. He walked towards the living room, kissing her on the cheek as he stepped past.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," she cautioned one last time as he stepped towards the door.

Her words made him pause. He briefly looked down at his hooves and suit, looking for all the world like just another unicorn. "...I still feel like I have to," he said finally. "Have a good day at the sanctuary, Fluttershy."

He blew her a kiss as his horn flared with magic, and he teleported away in a flash of light. She sighed, shaking her head, and slowly headed for the door herself, flying towards one of the nearby portals.





Not much needed to be done at the sanctuary that day—mostly just checking on volunteers and making sure they were doing alright on their tasks. And so, she was able to head home by lunchtime...though Discord was still nowhere to be seen.

She sighed, fixing a quick lunch, along with some peanut butter and pickle sandwiches they could have for dinner. After eating, she glanced up at the clock and saw that it would be another couple of hours before he returned from what he 'had to' do.

The thought made her frown, snorting slightly in annoyance. She occupied herself by slicing some apples for supper, then grabbing a knitting project and working on it in the living room...glancing up every so often at the clock.

As soon as it became five o'clock, she set her knitting aside and sat up. Not a second later, the front door was thrown open. "Honey, I'm home~!" Discord sang, strolling through the door in his usual form. There was still a tie around his neck, which he promptly tore off and tossed away.

"Welcome back," she said, with less enthusiasm than usual. He quickly scooped her into his arms, spinning her around and burying his muzzle into her mane. She quickly noticed the dark circles under his eyes. "...long day?"

"The longest," he said, squeezing her even closer to his chest and kissing her scalp. "Dear chaos, it was even more boring than I imagined."

"Really?" she asked, rubbing his back. "I thought you were prepared for all the order there..."

"I thought I was," he said. "I was very, very mistaken." He plopped down onto the couch, still holding her against his chest. "May I ramble for a bit?"

"Alright," she said. He nodded and took a deep breath, preparing himself.

"So there were two tasks I had to do," he started. "Make appointments, and organize files. It was mindnumbing. Just check the file for the date, then check the subject, and put it in its proper place."

He grimaced. "The worst part was that I had to do it properly a good chunk of the time, so they wouldn't notice what I was up to."

"A good chunk of the time?" she echoed. "It...didn't make you sick, did it? Or start to fade?"

"Only to my stomach," he said. "Fortunately, I had the opportunity to mess with some files and scramble up some appointments—most of which weren't mine to take care of, so they can't trace it back to me."

She frowned, looking down at the ground. "Hey, Flutterbuddy...I'm alright," he said, cupping her chin and lifting her head to meet his eyes. "See?"

She glanced away. "I...still don't like the idea of you doing this," she said. "I mean...it feels wrong, and you could get hurt or worse..." He scoffed quietly, setting her gently on the couch and sitting next to her.

"Pah!" he said. "They're so new, and I'm so experienced, that I can have the company on its knees by the end of the week!" He stood on the couch, pointing a finger in the air. "I will not be bested by an organized organization!"

"It still feels wrong, though..." she said.

His eyes softened. "...well," he said. "If I can't break them by the weekend, I suppose I can throw in the towel and talk to Twilight."

She didn't feel completely better about it, but her ears raised the slightest bit. "You promise?"

He drew an X over his heart, nodding. "Everything will be fine," he said. "And no one will ever figure out it was me."

She still had a few doubts about that, but his stomach growled before she could say anything. "I fixed up supper earlier," she said, hopping off the couch. He slowly stood up and followed her, his tail dragging behind him tiredly.

...She hoped the weekend would come soon, though she didn't say that aloud.





When Discord returned home late Friday evening, he looked about as smug as the cat that ate the canary. Fluttershy set aside her book and trotted towards him. Though there were still dark, tired circles under his eyes, this was the first day he didn't seem utterly frustrated.

"It's done," he declared, a manic grin twitching across his muzzle. "They're finished. Over. Within the jaws of death, drawing ever closer to their end!" He cackled, and lightning flashed outside.

"They are, huh?" she said in as neutral a tone as she could manage. On the one hoof, she definitely didn't want to congratulate him...on the other, at least he wouldn't force himself into an ordered space anymore...

"Well, it took about twenty missed appointments, and a mysterious silly string explosion in one of their main filing rooms..." he said with a wicked grin. "But they've practically lost all their business, and the word is spreading! No one's interested in hiring them."

He rubbed his hands together. "They're firing ponies and cutting salaries to make up for it, but it's too late," he said gleefully. "...I think I'll put in my resignation. Start off the swarm of ponies leaving in a panic."

"Mmm," she said noncommittally. He quickly snapped up a piece of paper, jotting a message and shoving it into an envelope, which disappeared in a flash of light.

"Now that that's over with..." he said, rubbing his hands together. "Care for some s'mores for dinner? I have stuff I'd love to burn, after all." A fire pit appeared in the middle of their living room, which he tossed his plain suit and a pile of paper into.

"Alright," she said. He approached the fire pit...then paused and looked back.

"I know you aren't...terribly thrilled about what I did," he said. "But, it's over now. And I doubt another company I'll have to defeat will appear soon after this one's fiasco."

She frowned, looking away. "I'm not thrilled," she said. "It still seemed like an awful thing to do, and there's no guarantee you're really getting away with it."

He clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers. The evidence of his subterfuge burst into flames. "There's no evidence that I, as a draconequus, was there," he said. "And this is all the evidence that could be used against me...well. Almost all evidence."

He pulled a thick manilla folder out of his coat for a second. "I hung onto a...few momentoes," he said. "But it says more about that company than me." He tucked the folder away and summoned a bag of marshmallows, along with sticks to roast them on.

She slid her marshmallow onto her stick, while he slid on five. She still had the feeling this wasn't over...but based on how Discord was tossing company pens into the fire, he didn't want to talk about it anymore right now.

She started to roast her first marshmallow, resolving to talk to him about it tomorrow.





Discord spent all of the next day on chaotic adventures, though, recuperating from the week of work. She joined him in some of the chaos, but both of them always got so caught up in the whirlwind of excitement that she forgot to talk to him about his actions. By the time she remembered at the end of the day, he had passed out in bed.

The morning after that, he seemed quite smug. "If they haven't caught me yet, they'll never catch me," he boasted when she brought it up during their breakfast in bed.

A magenta flash caught her eye. The spark-shaped gem on the mirror Discord and Twilight used to speak to each other was glowing—Twilight wanted to talk with them. "This early in the morning?" he grumbled, rolling out of bed. As soon as he was seated in front, his reflection changed to an image of Twilight...who looked quite mad.

"Discord!" she shouted. "I expect to see you in Canterlot Castle in no less than ten minutes! I found out about the stunt you pulled, and we are going to have a talk about this."

Discord nodded meekly, and Twilight canceled the spell on her end, making the mirror's reflection change back to normal. "Oh, I knew this was a bad idea," Fluttershy sighed, shaking her head. "It hasn't even been two days, and she knows what you did!"

"...maybe not," he said. "She never said which stunt she found out about! Maybe she's talking about the toothpaste and shaving cream pie in the royal fridge. Or the blank book sealed shut with magic and glue."

"I...really doubt that," she said, ears drooping. Discord smiled, but it was taunt and twitching.

"Well...at the very least, I could get a chance to argue my case," he said, slicking back his mane. "No point in dawdling, I suppose..."

With a snap of his fingers, he teleported away. Fluttershy bit her lip, pacing for a few moments...and then galloped outside to find the often-closed portal that led to the throne room.





It had taken her some time to find the portal...and once it opened for her, she found the throne room empty. Fortunately, Gallus was there, and quickly gave her directions to where Twilight had taken Discord.

After several minutes of wandering through the maze of hallways, she came across a door that Discord and Twilight's voices were coming from...though the wood was too thick to hear what they were saying. She raised a hoof and knocked on the door, and both occupants became quiet.

The handle of the door was enveloped by magenta magic and slowly pulled open. The room seemed to be an office or study of some kind. Twilight and Discord were sitting on opposite ends of a mahogany table. Both of them seemed surprised to see her...then, Twilight relaxed, while Discord looked more worried.

"Fluttershy...do you know what Discord was up to this week?" Twilight asked calmly.

"She knew, but she wasn't involved," Discord said quickly. "Actually, she...she tried to talk me out of it. This whole thing isn't her fault at all." Fluttershy paused, then slowly nodded.

Twilight frowned, opening a scroll next to her and jotting a note before closing the scroll again. "You're more than welcome to stay, Fluttershy," she said, crossing her front hooves on the table. "I'm just having a...talk about Discord's behavior." Discord flinched.

Fluttershy nodded, taking a seat in the corner. "I'll just be...over here," she said. Twilight smiled and nodded, while Discord gave her a pleading look. Still, she didn't budge.

Twilight turned a glare toward Discord. Sweat pooled on his forehead, but he tried to seem calm and collected. "As I was saying, just before Fluttershy showed up," he said. "That company was a danger to me. If you had hired them, I wouldn't be able to safely come to the castle. It would be too dangerously organized."

"You could have just sent me a scroll, and I would have listened to you!" Twilight said. "You didn't have to ruin the company!"

Discord lowered his head. "...that's what Fluttershy said," he mumbled. "But I was too occupied with my chaos."

Twilight sighed and started to pace. "I'm very upset with you, Discord. I thought you were better than this." He squirmed, looking quite guilty. "That company...because of your actions, they're floundering! Think of all the poor ponies they've hired who won't have jobs anymore."

Discord froze, as still as a statue. "...what would you have me do?" he said slowly. "To fix this."

"Well...if they're floundering, they need a bailout," Twilight said. "Normally, the bits would come from the royal treasury, or their insurance, but..." She gave him a pointed look.

"Since it's my fault, I need to cough up the bits," he finished. She nodded, looking at him expectantly. 

"It's only fair," she added in after a few seconds passed with him doing nothing but shifting in his seat, twiddling his thumbs.

"Are you sure you want me to pay them money?" Discord asked. He dropped a manilla folder on the table between them. "Because though they do provide the service advertised, I found a few things happening in the company you may be interested in."

"Such as?" Twilight said, opening the folder with her magic.

"Payroll cuts just for the C.E.O to get a big fat bonus, breaks cut if deadlines aren't being met, hiring ponies with little experience quickly and overworking them, relatives of high-level employees getting high-level jobs in the company right out the gate without even bothering to hide the nepotism..." he counted off. "There's a file for everything in there—a copy, at least. I hid most of the real ones."

"If you hid them, why didn't you—" Twilight shook her head, flipping through the pages in the folder. Her eyebrows slowly rose with each one she read. "...we'll look into this," she said finally, setting down the folder. "I'll give you my final position on whether you should bail them out after the investigation."

"Got it," he said, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. "...I'm not off the hook, am I?"

"Not a chance," she said bluntly. "The bailout was just the first part of you fixing all of this."

"I figured..." he said. "Alright...could you just...give me the full list, by chance?"

"Certainly," she said, lifting a list up with her magic. "First, you should personally apologize to everyone you spoke with and tricked...face-to-face. Second, you need to do community service for all the clients your antics caused trouble for. Third...I'm going to have to ask you to stay in the castle until you finish all the apologies and community service. Just so I can check exactly how you're fixing everything."

"...can I alter a room to my liking?" he asked hopefully.

"I'd prefer you didn't," Twilight said. "But you'll have one of the nicer guest rooms. And finally...I leave the last punishment up to Fluttershy, since you didn't listen to her warnings."

Discord froze, glancing between Twilight and Fluttershy. Slowly, he leaned forward to whisper something to Twilight. The alicorn shook her head, and his shoulders sagged.

"...I'll go start making apologies," he said, standing up. "Let me guess...you have a list to ensure that I'm not going to skip anyone?"

"Correct," she said with a hint of smugness, pulling out another scroll. He sighed and grabbed it, trudging slowly out the door...but pausing as he passed Fluttershy, locking eyes with her.

"Here, Butterbug," he said, handing her a stack of coupons. "Get as many free frozen yogurts as you want! There's a location not far from here that has the most delectable flavors..."

"Hey!" Twilight said, narrowing her eyes at him. "No buttering up your wife to get out of her punishment for you!"

"W-whaaaaat?" he said, placing a hand against his chest. "I would never..." Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, and he flinched. "I'll just...go and apologize," he said, snapping his fingers and teleporting away.

Twilight sighed, pressing a hoof against her forehead. "Oh, Discord..." she groaned. Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

"...Twilight?" Fluttershy said, making the alicorn look up. "What exactly were you thinking his punishment from me would be?"

"It can be anything you want," Twilight said. "It doesn't even have to be related to the company! But, speaking of things related to the company... " She shifted through a couple of papers. "I know exactly who he needs to do community service for. But I don't want to give him something too ordinary or organized!" She bit her hoof. "It's community service, not a death sentence!"

"I can help with that," Fluttershy said. "I know which tasks are too much, and which he can handle." Twilight's shoulders relaxed, and Fluttershy approached the desk, looking at the list of clients and making suggestions.





Just as they were finishing up, Discord reappeared in a flash of light. "Okay, I apologized," he said, thrusting the list back at Twilight. "Most of them yelled in my face, I'll have you know!"

"But you apologized, and that's the first thing you needed to complete done," she said. She took the list of names back, and checked an item off of his list of retributions. "Now...let's break for lunch before you have to do community service." She gathered everything she and Fluttershy had gone over into one massive tower of folders.

Discord looked up at it and gulped. "That...that'll take me the rest of the day!" he said.

"And a good bit of tomorrow, too," Twilight said with a nod. "But, like I said...lunch first." She stood up and headed down the hallway. Discord and Fluttershy followed.

He crossed his arms as they headed for the dining room. "So...I'm guessing that if I put things off, I'll just have to spend more nights at the castle?" he huffed.

"Pretty much," Twilight said. "But it wouldn't hurt to get everything out of the way, would it?"

"It might," he muttered. "But fine...I'll just get all this over with in one shot." He flopped into a balloon chair at the dining table, while Fluttershy sat next to him, placing a hoof on his shoulder. Twilight smiled, and the three of them enjoyed a brief, but nice lunch together.





Fluttershy hummed as she scrubbed the remnants of her lunch from the pan. She had wondered how Discord was doing, but figured it was better to wait than check up on him and distract him.

After yesterday's lunch, he requested she head home—"I'll be working for a while...I don't want you to wait all day in the castle for me. And you should sleep in our cozy bed, not whatever cold boring beds are in the guest rooms here."—and after she agreed, sent her back with a kiss on the forehead.

Last night had been lonely without Discord...but she understood why Twilight wanted him to stay at the castle for the time being. Besides...being alone gave her time to think of what her punishment for him should be.

Discord suddenly appeared behind her in a flash of light just as she was setting the last dish aside. With a groan, he fell forward and wrapped his arms around her, nestling close.

"No more," he said. "No more community service. No more apologies. I don't care how good the food in the castle is, it's not worth working for the Crown for hours."

She patted his back. "Did you finish everything, then?"

"Yes...every last scrap of service she detailed for me. None of it was too orderly, but...ugggh," he said. "And yes, I got plenty to eat, and as good of a rest I could in that plain bedroom."

With a snap, they were teleported into the living room sofa, and he leaned his weight against her. "I'm just glad everything is over with," he said, snuggling into her side.

She draped a wing over his back, but rose an eyebrow. "...did you forget the last thing Twilight said?"

He flinched, looking up at her nervously. "N-no...but I was kind of hoping you would," he mumbled.

She shook her head. "Discord...you did something wrong. And I tried to warn you." She took a deep breath to stay calm, stroking his cheek. "I love you, but...I had to think of something to teach you why you stepped out of line." She hopped off of the couch.

"Is it sleeping on the couch?" he asked. "Scrubbing the kitchen floor? Giving each and every animal a bath?"

Those were all tempting suggestions...but she had already made up her mind. "Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "It's something you'll dislike more than those."

He gasped, his hand flying up to his mouth so he could bite his nails. She almost felt bad...but still led him towards the sanctuary pantry in the kitchen. It needed a bit of cleaning and organization, anyway...