//------------------------------// // Tuesday: Not off to a good start, but it's something. // Story: Chaotic Endeavors // by JeSuisLaPorte //------------------------------// Sunset woke up to a strange crunchy sound coming from her kitchen. Like a sloth, she took her sweet, sweet time to get out of bed and descend the stairs. She wiped her tired eyes for she must have slept badly that night.   Strange, her apartment seems hotter than it was yesterday. Stranger still was the smoke coming out of the kitchen. “Wait what?!”  Sunset rushed into her kitchen only to find the stove on fire, Discord eating a pack of skittles with a fire extinguisher in hand, blasting the flames away. “Discord, what did you do?!”  The elderly man turned around and nervously giggled. “It seems that even without my magic, my chaotic nature still remains.”  “I think you need some supervision.”      It was time for lunch and thus, all students gathered at the cafeteria. They were chattering about mundane stuff but quickly shifted their conversations once they saw Sunset Shimmer walk in. Now, all they were talking about was her and especially that strange new elderly teacher. The girl wasn’t oblivious to this for it was quite easy to notice that everyone was talking behind her back.  Growing uneasy, she hurried herself to grab her lunch before quickly sitting down next to her friends. Surely, they must know something, right?  “Uh, girls? Why’s everyone looking at me like that? What did I even do this time?”  Her friends looked around awkwardly, wondering who amongst them should speak up. Some of them, mostly Rainbow Dash, stared at Fluttershy with a look that clearly said ‘You should tell her’.  She caved in after a few more seconds of unbearable silence. “Um, Sunset?”  “Y-Yes? Do you know something Fluttershy?”  “I, um, did hear the rumours about you and Mister Discord. They’re quite bad...”  Sunset gulped. “Wh-What do they say?”  “Some students say they saw you inviting Discord to sleep over at your apartment and they think that you two are doing some naughty th-”  “Woah woah woah woah! It’s nothing like that! The guy just comes from Equestria; he has no place to sleep! That’s the only reason why I did that!” Sunset debunked immediately.  “It’s not going to be easy to tell the whole school that this old man comes from a magical world inhabited by talking ponies.” Twi said casually.  Sunset sighed. “I hope these rumours aren’t here to stay. I’ve already had enough bad rumours to deal with.”  “Hello there girls!” Much to everyone’s surprise, Discord popped in unannounced with his arms outstretched. “Good to see you all! I heard Sunset talk about you, but I already know who you all are since I come from Eq-”  “Equestria, yeah yeah; we know.” Rainbow Dash finished in his place. “What are you even doing here? Don’t you have like, teacher stuff to do?”  Discord chuckled. “I AM doing teacher stuff. You see, I’ve been placed in hall monitoring duty. It’s more cost efficient to leave that to the teachers. You know what this means, don’t you Rainbow Dash?”   The athletic girl glanced at the geode around her neck before sighing. “Yes, no running in the halls at super speed.”  Discord raised an eyebrow at that particular statement. “Super speed?”  “Yeah, I can run at super speed thanks to this awesome geode right here! Us Rainbooms all have one!” Dash responded with a confident smirk.  The old teacher angrily turned his attention to Sunset Shimmer. “Sunset, explain.”  “Oh yeah, I might have forgotten to tell you about the magical geodes...”   “I thought you said there was no magic in this crummy world!” he scowled.   “I never said there was no magic. You just assumed so because you can’t use yours.” Sunset corrected.  “That’s not fair. You get to have all the fun while I'm stuck working a job I never wanted to do.”  Sunset had enough of the chaotic now human draconequus’ constant complaining. “Why don’t you just grow up?! You sound like a nine-year-old with your incessant complaining!”  Fluttershy couldn’t bear to witness this fight anymore. “Stop it! Please! Discord, I know you don’t want to be a teacher, but there are not enough teachers in the school to teach everybody in Canterlot High...”   Discord was adamant about his position, but...  man, just look at Fluttershy’s puppy eyes. They’re just so... irresistible.  “Okay fine! I’ll do it. Just for you, Fluttershy.”  “Really?” she said with a hopeful smile.  “Really.”  “Oh, thank you Discord! You’re really nice!” Her soft voice gave Discord a strong tingle in his mind. One that only really happens when he hears or feels something extremely satisfying.  “It’s all my pleasure, dear.”      “Whatcha looking at, junk magician?”   Discord and Trixie Lulamoon were both standing by the same watercooler. Both were thirsty and both were not willing to let the other go first.  “I, the Great and Powerful Trrrixie, should be the first to drink her cup of water.”   “They often say ladies first, but I say they should let the elders go first, regardless of their gender.”  “Magician ladies first, everybody else go second.”  Discord thought he was going to get it first for sure if he made his move now, but Trixie had the same idea. Both their cups collided and now, they found themself at an impasse.  “What did I say, oh average and pathetic Trixie? Let chaos incarnate drink his water first.”  “Over my dead body.”    A couple of students were waiting in line for these two to just stop bickering and get on with their day.  “Are... Are they gonna use the watercooler or what?”  “Not a prob’ dude! As long as I’m waiting in line with my best friend, it shouldn’t take long!”  “I don’t have any friends.”  “Sucks to be you.”      Supervising an exam, what a good time to mess around with people! Plus, Fluttershy is also doing the exam, perhaps he, the great god of chaos, could lend a helping hand? It’ll be cheating for sure, but rules are meant to be broken in his eyes.  He patrolled around the classroom, eyes glued to the students’ papers, hoping he could spot any attempts at cheating.  Lyra was aware that this guy was 100% serious about his job at busting cheaters, but he can’t see what everyone was doing at once. Her best friend Bon Bon was right next to her, so whenever Discord wasn’t looking at her, she peeked at Bon’s copy. For a while, it was going well for her but unfortunately, you can’t really outsmart an ancient draconequus as a teenage girl.  Oh no, he knew for a while for Lyra wasn’t as sneaky as she thought. He was simply waiting for the perfect moment to scare the skeleton out of her. Right when the old man walked out of view, Lyra chose to peek again, only to be met with Discord’s face instead of Bon Bon’s copy.  “What’s up, dawg?”  With a sheepish smile, Lyra pretended like she was just looking at the time.  “The clock’s the other way, dear.” He motioned at her to hand over her copy of the exam. “Anybody else want to cheat?”   The entire class remained silent, a couple of students looked at their copy nervously, now knowing that they could get busted by this terrifyingly vigilant teacher.  “Nobody? Well that’s just great. Play fair and you’ll be rewarded but try to cut corners and you’ll end up at the principal’s office.”  With a freakish smile, Discord went back to doing his rounds around the class. Of course, whenever he approached Fluttershy, he paid extra attention to how she was doing. Would you look at that; she got an answer wrong.  “It’s D, Fluttershy. D.”  Surprised, the young girl reread the question and realised that her answer was wrong indeed. She quickly corrected her mistake although she did feel a little guilty that the teacher was giving her an unfair advantage.  Behind her, Trixie rose up ever so slightly, seemingly not oblivious to Discord’s favoritism. This class has quickly learned that Discord has a soft spot for Fluttershy, though none really wanted to question him about it. The dad jokes loving teacher had an air of mystery and unease to him despite his best attempts at appearing friendly. I guess that’s what happens when you’re literally built different.  “Mister Discord, I heard that!” Trixie shouted as she stood up.  “Heard what, oh great and powerful Trixie?” The old man responded in a sarcastic voice.  “You gave Fluttershy here the correct answer to a question on the exam!”  A couple of students gasped while Discord remained confident that he could shut down her accusation.  “Pish posh, I’m not doing any favoritism in this class! I was only muttering to myself. You know, something old folks tend to do a lot.”  Trixie shook her head in disapproval. “I find it awfully convenient you started muttering to yourself right as you passed by Fluttershy. We know you have a soft spot for her and we find it creepy!”  Discord felt his blood boiling and with one quick look at the time, he smiled. “Trixie, you DO know you have 15 minutes remaining, rrright?” he said in a smug tone, even going so far as to roll his r’s to mock her further.  Trixie gazed at the clock and shrieked. “Oh no!”  Serves you right. Nobody’s going to stop me from being... a great friend to Fluttershy. You think I was gonna say 'abuse my power'? Oh, how could you? I'm reformed, remember?      “Ready? One, two, three, go!”  During recess, the Rainbooms would often practice their newest jam. They have become sort of celebrities since their musical battle against the Sirens and so, many come to see their next songs in anticipation. If they’re not careful enough to close the doors before they play, a big crowd would form before them. For some like Rainbow Dash, it’s awesome to have so many adoring fans.  For Fluttershy, however, it made her terribly nervous although being next to her friends did alleviate this feeling. Now, they had a “manager” of some sort in Discord, if you can even call him one. He’s just here for Fluttershy and the rest of the band finds it creepy.  I mean, how often do you see a 60+ years old man hanging around a teenage girl? Never! Strange how it’s not so weird in Equestria. Maybe it’s because its inhabitants are used to seeing all sorts of weird and magical happening while in the human world, people don’t really see ancient beings of mystical power lurking around.  “Uh, Discord? Do you really have to be here too? You’ve already followed us during lunch while you were supposed to monitor the cafeteria.” Rainbow Dash asked.  “How can I not be? Sunset Shimmer is supposed to keep an eye on me. I’m just making her job easier, that’s all.” Nobody believes him, of course. They can all see right through his lies.  “You can be honest with us, Discord. You’re only here for Fluttershy.” Sunset exclaimed to the ex-draconequus.  Fluttershy hid her face behind her tambourine. “Why’s he so infatuated with me?!”  “Why it’s because you’re the most amazing pony, er, human I've ever met in my entire life! A life that’s, by the way, thousands of years old at the moment.”  Fluttershy leaned towards Sunset, her face still partially hidden. “Is my pony self all lovey-dovey with him?”  “What?! No, you two are just friends over there. Don’t worry, I'm sure Discord doesn’t have any romantic feelings for you.”  Pinkie Pie began to unload on her drums, struggling to contain her excitement. “Come on girls! We only got 10 minutes before our classes! We must play right now!”  Discord chimed in. “I’m with her, girls! I want to hear your beautiful music!” Oh boy, he knew Fluttershy wrote this song. It was visible in his eyes.    After school, Discord was invited by Sunset Shimmer to join them, for what? He was about to find out.  “Alright Sunset; I'm here. Now what are we going to do for the remainder of the day?” he asked right as he arrived. The rest of the gang was here and seemed eager to go.  “Why we’re just going to go on a shopping trip at the mall! Oh, you know; just girl stuff. Ah, I just can’t wait to buy me some fashionable new clothes for the school’s Friday night party!” Rarity explained immediately, unable to contain her excitement.  Discord was stuck on two things. “A shopping trip? Ugh, how boring... Wait, what was it you said about a party?”  Pinkie Pie dropped from the sky, which apparently, she could even do here and she was just bursting with energy. “The party? It’s even better than the best party! It’s the bestest party ever! There’s going to be a buffet, music, dancing, games and so much more! They called it; the Friday Night Funkin’!”  “I’m feeling pretty mixed on the name.” Discord added.    Anyhow, they traveled on foot to the mall and looked around, wondering where they should go first. So many shops, so many opportunities, it won’t be easy to choose.   “Let’s buy some fashionable clothes first! Some of my clothes are starting to show wears and tears. It’s so dreadful, really.” Rarity said first.  “Suit yourself, I’m going to buy some new soccer gears for myself. I already have a dress anyway.” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she started to walk in direction of a nearby sports store.  “But Rainbow Dash! Your dress is a year old!”  “And your point being?” Dash asked.  “It’s old-fashioned, darling. You absolutely need a new one!”  Discord looked at the scene, somewhat knowing the true meaning behind this conversation. “A new toy line’s coming already? My, they sure are getting greedier as of late... or perhaps it’s desperation, I will never know.”  Sunset finally interjected, not wanting to see an argument start between these two. “Why don’t we start with the dress first? I mean, we have more than enough time to visit everything on our list.”  Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fine, I’ll buy a new dress, Rarity.”  “Cool; problem solved. Can we go now?” Discord said impatiently.     So, they walked around the mall in direction of the one shop they trusted for fashion. On their way there, Discord spotted something that nearly gave him a heart attack. The figure of a familiar centaur that betrayed him and endangered all of Equestria.  “T-Tirek?!” he spat out as his entire body pulled back in shock. It didn’t take long for him to realise that he was just staring at a cardboard cutout of Lord Tirek, placed in front of a game store. “Oh... never mind.”  The other girls looked back to see what was up.   “Yeah, it also got me the first time I went to the human world. It was pretty embarrassing.” Sunset Shimmer admitted.  Discord stared at the carboard cutout for a few seconds as his hand scratched his chin. “Odd that there’s a cutout of Lord Tirek. Shouldn’t there be a human version of him just like you?”  Sunset scratched the back of her head. “There... isn’t actually. It’s pretty weird, but not everybody in Equestria gets a living counterpart in this world. Tirek here is just a popular video game character.”  “What?! Wait, what am I in this world? I have a human counterpart, don’t I?”  Sunset bit her lips. “Um, no. In this world, you’re just, uh...”  Pinkie’s eyes lit up as she made the connection. She ran inside the store and came out with a plushie... of none other than Discord, the draconequus. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! It’s really you, Discord!”  The real Discord stared at the plushie, perplexed. “Uh yeah, I believe we already established that a day ago...”  “Not that, silly! I mean, my favorite cartoon character as a little girl turned out to be real!” Pinkie Pie explained.  That revelation made his jaw dropped. “Cartoon character?! That’s all I am in the human world?!”  Sunset Shimmer laughed. “Ha ha! Yeah, the rules don’t make any sense like I said. Some ponies, or creatures translate into another specie in this world while others are simply the work of fiction.”   “This world has disgraced me; I hate it.”  “I LOVE it!”  “Stop hugging me, Pinkie Pie.”