The very next day, Princess Celestia has asked to see Twilight, and she decided that it was a perfect chance for Shining Armor to get along with Discord; there were still more things to be done until the big day, and she had tasked Discord with it. Cadence had offered to help as well, although she secretly wanted to see how well Shining Armor behaved with Discord.
1-The Catering
The first thing to do in the list was to finish the catering, which took place in Sugarcube Corner; Applejack, of course, was in charge of the food, the cake and the snacks, but she and Cadence were having a big time trying to prevent Discord from eating anymore apple friters. Screwball had gone with Pinkie Pie to plan the reception, so they would be busy all day. The kitchen was very busy, Mr. and Mrs. Cupcake were helping applejack with the snacks, and right then they were not paying attention at the argument about the apple friters.
"One more! Please!" he was begging
"If you keep like this, you're going to eat everyhting and the wedding is not even ready!" Applejack took the tray of friters away, to which he simply looked down in disappointment.
"Here, have an apple," Cadence made an apple float in front of the Draconequus face; he shrugged and took it all into his mouth, and started chewing.
"Not bad... but I think something's missing," He made the apple reappear, complete, in his hand, and with a snap of his lion fingers, made some of his famous cotton candy clouds appear, and put the apple inside. After a while, the cloud started to shook violently before gaining a more redish color.
"There! Cotton apples!" Discord took a bite of the cloud, and offered a bit to Cadence, "Here, try a bit,"
Shining Armor was about to try and stop his wife, but it was too late; she had already taken a bit, and a smile appeared on her lips.
"This is delicious!" she said, taking another bite.
When Applejack returned, Discord immediately embraced his cotton cloud, "you're not taking my cloud away too, are you?"
Applejack grinned, "not really, I just wanted to taste it,"
Shining Armor saw as Applejack took a bite of the cloud, and stiffened when Discord offered a bit of the cloud to him.
"Want some, Shiny?" he spoke softly,
Shining Armor did a great effort into not throwing the cloud into the Draconequus's face, "Err... I'm not hungry, thanks..."
he whispered
Discord shrugged as he started eating the rest of the apple-flavoured cotton candy.
"He offered that candy cloud to us, maybe that is what he used on Twilight..." Shining Armor thought narrowing his eyes, "If he offers it to everyone else, that's what he used...
2-The Dress and the Suit
The next step took place in the Boutique, where Rarity had already had confectionated a beautiful dress for Twilight, which was similar in design to the one she had made for the Grand Galloping Gala, except this one was right. Discord's suit was mostly a black tuxedo, with a red bowtie.
"What do you guys think?" she inquired when the three walked through the door
"They're..." Cadence gapped in wonder, "... so beautiful,"
"Unfortunately, I promised Twi I wouldn't do anything to her dress," Discord crossed his arms, disappointed.
Shining Armor looked away in relief, "That's good," he whispered
"But..." the Spirit grinned evilly, "she didn't say anything about my suit," he looked at Rarity, "If you don't mind,"
Rarity smiled, "Of course, it's for you, after all,"
As Discord started inspecting the suit, Shining Armor whispered to Cadence,
"Hey, Candy, what did that cloud he gave you taste like?"
"Too bad you didn't taste it, it was delicious," she licked her lips at the memory.
"Didn't you feel something weird?"
"If you define weird, I might know,"
They turned their attention to the suit when they heard Discord snap his fingers, and the suit was no longer black, but a cobinastion of various shades of orange, green, purple and blue. The sleeves had red and yellow tiger striped, while the pants was completely full of black spots.
"Now, that's much better!"
Shining Armor thought the suit looked more for a circus than a wedding, but Rarity apparently seemed to like it.
"Not bad, I think you would be good at designing disguises,"
"oh, really?" Discord snapped his fingers, and changed into Rarity, imitating her voice, "I think you woud be good at designing disguises,"
They both started to laugh, and were soon being joine by Cadence when Discord also changed into her, but Shining Armor didn't find it funny when Discord turned into him and started making angry faces.
"I'm Mr. Grumpy Armor!" he was saying, imitating Shining's voice, "I would rather be polishing my armor than be here!"
Rarity and Cadence giggled even louder after that, to whish Shining Armor reacted by sadly walking out of the boutique, not before noticing Discord offering Rarity a glass of water.
"You must be thirsty from all that work, my dear," he said
"Why, I am! I worked all morning on the dress! Thanks, Dissy!" she gently lifted the glass from Discord's talon and took a sip. Shining Armor narrowed his eyes once again. Once he was gone, Discord whispered somehting into Rarity's ear.
"I need your help with something..."
3-The Reception
Pinkie Pie laughed as she, Screwball, Cadence and Discord made the conga dance. Shining Armor didn't feel like joining them, however, he was trying to connect the dots.
"Alright, he hypnotized Spike, he brought the mare from before to Ponyville, and now he's giving everyone a snack or a drink that he summoned," he whispered to himself, "Perhaps there's something in those things.."
"Come on, Shiny!" he heard Discord's voice, "Don't be a party pooper! Let's make the conga!"
"Actually, I remember there's something I have to do!" he quickly ran away, "I'll see you later!
XOXOXO
After an hour of walking around Ponyville, Shining Armor returne to the library to see if Twilight had returned, and found Cadence inside. Thankfully, Discord was not there.
"Candy, I have to tell you something," he stated softly, looking aroudn to make sure they were around.
"Too bad you left, Shiny! Pinkie Pie and Discord made a not-blinking competition, and Pinkie won! You should've seen Discord's face!" Cadence laughed, but then noticed her husband's serious expression, "Is something wrong?"
"It's about Discord-"
"Please tell me it's not another accusation of him being still evil!"
"But it's the truth! I saw him doing something to Spike before going to Canterlot! And then I noticed he offered you and the others drinks and snacks! Why else would he be doing that?"
Cadence rolled her eyes,"Because he is being nice? And perhaps you misunderstood what happened between spike and Discord,"
"And I think the 'surprise' he is preparing for Twilight is not pleasant neither,"
"You know, I think you're jealous,"
"Jealous? of Discord? That's ridiculous!"
"Then why don't leave him alone?"
Just then, Twilight walked into the library, and Shining Armor decided it was then, or never.
"Hey, Shining Armor, what did you think of my dress?" she told him excitedly, "beautiful, isn't it? I can't wait for the wedding!
"Twiley, we need to talk, I think you're making a big-"
"Twi, honey, I'm home!" Discord suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, "Hello there, Grumpy Armor,"
Shining Armor stiffened when he heard the nickname Discord was calling him
"Hello there, Dizzy," Twilight smiled at her future groom, "You should try to use the door more often,"
"Can I speak with you for a minute, honey?"
Twilight Sparkle and Discord went to her room upstairs, but Shining Armor decided to hear what Discord was up to.
"Shiny!" Cadence called out to him, "What are you doing? It's a private conversation!"
"I just want to make sure everything's alright," Shining Armor replied as he peeked through the door
Twilight was resting on her bed, and Discord curled up around her.
"Rarity told me you made a few changed to your outfit," Twilight giggled
Discord chuckled, "What? You said I couldn't modify your dress, you didn't say anything about mine!"
"Just don't eat too many apple fritters, or you won't fit into it in the wedding,"
"So? I can make it bigger,"
"I hope everything turns out- ACHOO!" Suddenly, Twilight let out a big sneeze
"Seems like you're getting the cold, honey," Discord chuckled again, "Did Celestia and you have your conversation in a freezer?"
"Dissy!"
Shining Armor watched as Discord snapped his eagle talons, and made a glass of what seemed to be hot chocolate appeared, "Here, it'll make you feel better,"
Shining Armor saw in horror as his sister accepted the cup and started drinking; that was when he deduces it was the chocolate what had given Discord control over her.
"Not only is he a lying, hypocritical clown, but he is completely evil!" he snapped as he ran downstairs and out of the library.
"Shiny!" Cadence called out for him, but her voice fell on deaf ears.
"What's happening?" Twilight and Discord walked downstairs, and the purple unicorn caught the glimpse of her brother running off into the night, "I thought Shining Armor wanted to tell me something..."
Discord just kept staring at where Shining had run into; seriously, what was wrong with that stallion? Since he found out about the wedding, he had been trying to avoid the others, him in particular, and would often act a little hostile as well.
"I wonder if it is my breath,"
XOXOXO
The white stallion rushed into the Boutique once again, where the assumed Twilight's friends would be, and he was right; when he rushed inside, he noticed they were all wearing fancy dresses... with a 'chaotic' touch to them. They didn't seem to notice him.
"Hey, girls!" he called, "I need your help-!"
But he was interrupted by Rainbow Dash, "Can you believe it? Twilight wants us to be her bridesmaids!"
"We're her friends, that's what friends are for!" Applejack laughed, "I can't wait for the wedding!"
Shining Armor inquired, "What did Discord say about it?"
Fluttershy blushed, "He was thrilled about the idea,"
"but he put on condition that we let him do changes to our outfits as well," Rarity was examining herself on a mirror, "Don't I look gorgeous? Discord might not be good at sewing, but he does have a good taste!"
That caught Shining Armor's attention.
"Sewing? WHat's that supposed to mean?"
Suddenly, Rarity grew agitated, "err... nothing! nothing of importance!
Screwball giggled, "I'm going to be the flower girl!" she hopped around the room happily, soon being joined by Pinkie.
"And I'm going to throw flowers with you!"
Applejack muttered, "hehe, those two like each other as sisters already,"
Shining Armor sighed and walked out of the Boutique, deducing they would not even listen to him at all.
Yep, he would have to deal with this on his own.