It was late in the morning. Discord was still in his room, pacing with a paw playing in his beard. What is she hiding, Discord thought to himself.
Why would she ever have to hide something from me? We’re best friends! She never approves of me keeping secrets but when it’s HER. All this thinking is giving me a migraine.
Discord groaned as he slumped onto his bed. He couldn’t take it anymore. The curiosity was driving him insane. He glanced over at the stand to the right of him. On it was a picture of him and the six multicolored ponies. The Draconequus grabbed the photo looking over every single pony. He smiled to himself and placed the photo back on the stand. “If I can’t get an answer from Fluttershy, I’m sure I can get it out from one of those ponies,” he smirked. Just then, his stomach let out a small growl. Discord patted his belly,
“Right after a quick bite to eat.”
At Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was overwhelmed with a large crowd of hungry ponies. Everyone was banging at the counter shouting for muffins, bagels, just about everything. The pink mare went as fast as she could but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the customers.
“I wanted a chocolate muffin!” shouted an unhappy pony.
“Sorry, I’ll get to you in just a second,” Pinkie said sweating furiously.
“Hey, I have a job to get to! Hurry it up!”
Discord appeared just outside of the bakery. He was hoping the shop would be empty. Not caring, Discord hovered over the crowd of angry foals landing right in front of the register. “Good morning, Pinkie. I’d like o-“
A blue hoof pushed Discord out of the way before he could finish. “I was here first! Wait in line like everypony else!” the angry pony snorted.
“Line? What line? All of you are swarming to the front. I remember this place being orderly, although I don’t mind this.”
“Whatever, I was here before you. Now get lost.”
Discord folded his arms glaring at the angry mob before him. He looked over at Pinkie. She could tell what he was thinking. She smiled then nodded her head gently. Discord let out his talon and snapped his fingers. The angry ponies were lifted from the floor and turned into muffins.
“Wait, I didn’t want you to do that!” Pinkie shouted covering her mouth with her hooves.
“Sorry, I’m just really hungry right now.” He snapped his fingers again, turning the muffins back into ponies, this time having them float out through the door. Discord locked the door behind them then faced Pinkie.
“As I was saying, one chocolate muffin please,” he grinned.
“Uh, can’t you just make one yourself?” Pinkie asked puzzled.
“Don’t ask questions, you know I’m complicated. Just grab the muffin, please.”
Pinkie shrugged opened the door to the case of bake goods in front of her, pulled out a muffin and handed it to Discord. His tail wagged with delight as he devoured the pastry, not even taking time to savor it.
“Glad to see you like my new recipe! Anyway that’ll be one bit!” Pinkie exclaimed sticking out her hoof.
Discord simply laughed and slapped the pony’s hoof with his paw. “Pay you? Good one, Pinkie! You know I never have money on me.” The Draconequus could see that he was starting to annoy the usually cheerful filly. He snapped his fingers poofing up a bit from thin air.
“You can make money? Why don’t you do that for us?!
“Why are you always yelling? And of course I can make money; I can do whatever I please. I just choose to do certain things without any reasonable logic.” Discord stated flatly. “But really, I’ve come here on important business.”
Pinkie blinked in bewilderment. Since when did Discord ever talked about important issues. Furthermore, why would he come to her? Those were the thoughts running through Pinkie’s mind. She was kind of happy that some pony did come to her for once, but it did feel strange.
“Oh, what is it Discord? You need me to bake you something?” She smiled.
Discord shook his head. “I need to know what’s up with our dear friend, Fluttershy. She was acting very strange yesterday.”
Pinkie rubbed her head in confusion, “Strange how?” she asked.
“She came back home with this huge smile on her face; fluttering about not really paying attention to too much of anything. Do you have any idea as to why?”
“Oh you me-“Pinkie covered her mouth before she let the secret out. She continued on making muffled noises from her lips.
Discord leaned against the counter staring into Pinkie’s eyes. “What was that?” he growled.
Pinkie could tell he was losing his patience. She gulped and started to nervously tap her hooves together; looking all over the room trying to avoid the Draconequus’ gaze. Pinkie then walked from behind the counter and started pushing Discord from behind. “Wow, it’s getting pretty late. Closing time!”
“But it’s ten in the morning.”
“We close early now!” Pinkie pushed mismatched animal out slamming the door behind him. She placed the “closed” sign onto the window then left.
Discord lifted himself from the ground brushing off the dirt from his fur. “That was a failure. She knew something and just refused to tell me!” Discord was even more curious. If it was something that even Pinkie refused to say then it must be important. Does this have something to do with me? He thought.
“Free apples! Y’all come over and get some delicious apples!”
Discord looked over to see Apple Jack standing next to a stand with plenty of apple treats. “Apple Jack may know what’s going on.” Discord began floating over towards the orange mare. “Hello, AJ!”
“Oh no, Discord,” AJ whispered. “Oh, hi Discord. Weren’t expecting ya to be down here,” she said nervously.
Discord raised an eye brow, “What do you mean?” the little smile he had on his face had quickly turned into a frown.
AJ picked up on that and handed the Draconequus a pie, “Here, this is for you,” she smiled. Discord took the pie but it didn’t really cheer him up. “I didn’t mean anything by what I said; it’s just you’re usually hanging around Fluttershy and I...err, is something the matter?”
Discord snapped his finger and the pie vanished in smoke. “You are the Element of Honesty, correct?”
Apple Jack nodded, “Right…why ya ask?”
“So you’d never hide anything from your friends, right?”
“Uh no…I try not to. So-“
“Fluttershy and Pinkie are hiding something from me!”
The orange mare jumped back startled by the sudden outburst. “Hidin’? What do ya mean?” AJ knew exactly what Discord was talking about. She nervously kicked at the ground hoping that some pony would come take him away or at least distract him.
“Fluttershy was acting strange last night. She told me she was hiding a secret from me. I went over to Pinkie’s to see if she knew anything, but then she kicked me out. AJ, what’s going on?” Discord asked sounding slightly upset.
Apple Jack scratched at her ear. Her eyes darted all around trying to avoid Discord. “I don’t have the slightest idea of what you’re talking about.” AJ looked away from Discord, “Free apples! Any pony wants any apples?!”
“Apple Jack, don’t igno-“Discord was cut off when the orange mare stuffed an apple in his mouth.
“I can’t help ya. Go and ask some other pony.”
Discord spit the apple out of his mouth and stared angrily at Apple Jack. Seeing that he wasn’t moving, AJ grabbed her things and began pushing her stand away. Discord thought about following her but there was no point; she wasn’t going to answer him.
Discord dragged his tail as he walked. Three of his friends are hiding something and he didn’t even have the slightest idea what it could be. He pulled at his beard trying to figure out why everyone was acting so strange. Other than the dirty prank he pulled on Fluttershy yesterday night he hasn’t done anything worth scolding, at least not in his eyes.
Over time Discord noticed something odd. Every pony within the small town were starting to stray from him. He didn’t mind it around the time before and a little after the Tirek incident but now it was bothersome. They all gave these nervous smiles and would scurry away before he could even say a word. It was becoming clear that whatever Fluttershy and the others were hiding involved him somehow. Discord was becoming both annoyed and doleful.
“Discord?” a voice asked from behind
Discord turned around to find Rarity. He feigned a small trying to hide his pain. “Hi Rarity…”
“What’s the matter, darling? You don’t sound like yourself,” Rarity asked placing a hoof on his paw. “Would you like to come over to my place for a cup of tea? Twilight and Rainbow Dash are coming over as well.”
“That sounds good. Okay, I guess I can stay for a while.”
Back at the Carousel Boutique, Twilight and Rainbow were quietly chatting amongst themselves. They were sitting in Rarity’s kitchen eating some cookies that Pinkie had sent over.
“So everypony knows?” Rainbow asked
“Yes, it didn’t take long. Everypony was really excited about the news.” Twilight picked up a cookie with her magic and levitated it close to her mouth. “I went over to Sugar Cube Corner a while ago; she’s already started working on the cake. It’s creative I’ll give her that.”
“Don’t tell me she made the cake in the shape of him,” Rainbow said gagging at the thought.
“No, she’s making a four layer cake but it’s going to be upside-down.”
“That doesn’t sound like it’ll be easy.”
“I know, but it will sure enough put a smile on that pony…dragon, thing’s face.”
“I’m back, darlings!” Rarity shouted as she stepped into the room. Discord was right behind her, waving innocently at the ponies by the table.
“Discord, what are you doing here?” Rainbow asked.
“Rarity invited me for a cup of tea. Is that a problem?” Discord asked looking down at Rarity.
“Oh, no! Discord, sweetie can you step out for a moment?”
“Don’t call me sweetie,” Discord muttered as he left the three ponies.
Twilight looked over at Rarity and whispered, “Why did you bring him here?”
“I brought him here to cheer him up; he was looking awfully sad.”
“Sad about what?”
“That’s what I was hoping to find out.”
Rarity walked over to the door and motioned Discord to come in. The Draconequus flew in but not in his usual manner. Usually he’s like Pinkie: full of energy and zany. But today he was gloomy bordering lifeless. It made the tree ponies feel uncomfortable seeing him like this. He sat down next to Twilight staring blankly at the cookies before them.
“Discord,” she smiled, “If you want a cookie you’re more than welcome to have one.” She pushed the plate closer to Discord only to have it pushed back at her. “But they’re your favorites!” Rarity said rather surprised.
“I’m not really hungry…can you girls please tell me what’s going on?” the Draconequus sighed.
The three ponies didn’t need to ask. They knew exactly what he was referring to. Their ears drooped down drifting their eyes away from him. Rainbow’s wings trembled slightly as did Twilight’s. The girl’s nervousness was starting rub off onto the Draconequus.
“Guys, seriously what’s going on?!” Discord shouted as he hopped onto the table. “Everypony today have been acting off around me. If I’ve done anything to upset you guys, I’m sorry. I’d just like to know WHY?”
The three looked at each other then back at Discord. By the look in their eyes, Discord could tell they weren’t going to answer. Irritated, he kicked the plate of cookies from the table nearly hitting Rainbow.
“Hey, watch it! What’s your problem?”
“MY PROBLEM?! I don’t have a problem. It’s this town that seems to have a problem with me!” Discord barked. “Every…single…pony,” Discord said chokingly.
Discord could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He immediately turned away as to avoid embarrassment. “If no pony wants to be around me then so be it.”
The Draconequus stretched out his talon. The three ponies reached out for him but before they could say anything Discord vanished within a blink of an eye.
The three sat silently, looking over the small mess Discord made before departing. Soon enough Rarity grabbed her broom and began sweeping the pile of broken glass and cookies.
“So…” Rainbow looked to her left and found one cookie that was spared from crumbling onto the floor. She picked it up with her hoof and raised it into the air. “Anypony want this?”
Twilight slapped Rainbow with her wing smacking the cookie away from her.