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// Honest Work and annoying Guards 
// Story: Deathwing in Equestria 
// by SoaringCoal 
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"Do I have to, Twilight?" Neltharion groaned. After their deep emotional talk in the throne room, Twilight's friends had dispersed and he had gone to get some more sleep. He was awoken in the afternoon by Twilight who had said she had an idea of how to help him befriend her friends. He and Twilight were now walking through Ponyville towards Applejack's home, Sweet apple acres. According to Twilight, Neltharion had to interact with these ponies he had agreed to befriend. She said it would be good for his social skills and could give him an idea of what some ponies did for a living. Neltharion didn't give a crap about what ponies did for a living.



Twilight turned her head towards him, revealing her big smile. "Yes you do, although I think you are being a little unfair, Neltharion. After all, I did get the guards off of you, if just for the next couple of hours."



How Twilight had gotten the six guards appointed to Neltharion off of him, he had no idea, but she was right, he should enjoy not getting treated like a criminal while he could. Neltharion sighed. "I suppose you're right."



As they kept walking, Twilight began to notice all the ponies staring at them whenever they walked by. "Do you find it uncomfortable?"



"Hmmm?"



"All of them staring at you, i mean." Twilight let her eyes fall on each of the ponies staring before she looked back at Neltharion with compassionate eyes. He had a lazy expression on his face.



Neltharion saw what she meant, but he had gotten glances and stares since he had arrived so he simply didn't care anymore. "Not really. I've gotten stares and glances since I arrived. You get used to it. Im sure, what did you call him again, Discord? Yes, Discord probably gets even more stares or worse than I." Neltharion  could see, from Twilight's changed expression, that she had never thought of that before.



They kept walking and soon there were only houses in the distance behind them and, a barn, a chicken house and a small house in front of them. There were countless amounts of different vegetables growing around the the area Neltharion could identify as Sweet Apple acres. There were hills and fields filled with apple trees in the distance with the juiciest red apples he had ever seen. Neltharion had to admit it was impressive. Normally, he wasn't much for eating apples, but he wouldn't mind having to eat one of those.



A yellow filly came running towards them and stopped right in front of them. "Hiya, Twilight and... Wait, you're that creepy stallion the girls and ah' ran into!" Apple bloom said.



Neltharion facehoofed. Great, now i’m 'that creepy stallion'? Twilight looked to him, a confused and surprised look on her face. He rolled his eyes. Might as well explain. "I met Apple Bloom two days ago when I was out for walk. Her and her friends crashed into me and explained to me what cutiemarks are."



Twilight kept her surprised look and it slowly softened into thoughtful one. "That explains why you haven't asked me about my and everypony elses cutiemarks."



"That, and though I may not know much about pony anatomy and society, I still think it would be highly inappropriate to ask you about the mark on your flank."



Twilight blushed in embarrassment. "Oh... Yeah."



"What are ya guys talkin about?" Applebloom asked as she was now confused about the topic.



Neltharion raised an eyebrow. "We were talking about the appropriateness of me staring at Twilight's fla... MMMPHH" his explanation was cut short by Twilight sticking her hoof in his mouth.



She stuck her face close to Neltharion's, a panicked expression on her face. "Shut it!" She whispered, before turning to Apple Bloom with a sheepish smile. "Nothing, Apple bloom. We were talking about adult stuff. Can you go and fetch Applejack? I need to speak with her."



Apple bloom kept her confused look before nodding. "Uhh... Sure." She turned and ran back to the barn.



Twilight sighed in relief and turned her attention back to Neltharion, an angry frown occupying her face. She whacked Neltharion hard in the back of his head with her hoof.



"OUW!" Neltharion rubbed the back of his head with his hoof. He was confused to say the least. "What did you do that for?"



"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?!" Twilight yelled at his face.



"Come again?"



"You can't just tell a filly about stuff like that!"



Neltharion raised and eyebrow. "Uhhh... Why not?"



"Because... You and... Me... Flank... URRRGHH!" Twilight groaned. One of her eyes were twitching. "Don't you dragons know when it is appropriate to talk about those things?



"I don't follow. My kind gets told about how to reproduce a few months after birth. What are you so upset about?"



"Wait, you tell your kind those things that quick?"



"Sure?"



Twilight didn't understand how Neltharion could be so clueless. She thought of something. "Neltharion. How long does it take for a newborn dragon to learn how to speak?" The question would help her determine how long it takes for a dragon to mentally mature.



Neltharion put a hoof to his chin in thought. Twilight was acting weird in his eyes. "Hmmm... Maybe a week, two weeks tops."



Twilight's jaw dropped and she stared at Neltharion in disbelief. "A WEEK!?" she yelled, causing Neltharion to jump in surprise. She noticed the wide-eyed confusion and surprise in Neltharion's face. She took a deep breath to calm down. She spoke in a more calm tone. "Neltharion. We ponies take at least a year to learn how to say our first word. We learn about our re-reproduction--" her face turned red "when we are about 12-14 years old." Neltharion raised an eyebrow. "Just keep the talking of that kind of topic to a minimum, okay?"



Neltharion rolled his eyes and held an annoyed frown on his face. "Very well, Twilight." he said in a deadpan tone. What is the big deal with all of this? She almost seemed embarrassed to talk about it. His thought process didn't get any further as a familiar orange pony with a stetson hat trotted out of the barn and over to Twilight and Neltharion.



"Howdy, you two." Applejack smiled at Twilight and Neltharion.



"Hey, Applejack." Twilight smiled back.



"Hi." Neltharion said with a lazy voice.



"So... What brings you two here?"



Twilight looked expectantly at Neltharion. He snorted in response. Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Well, Applejack. I thought it would be a good opportunity for Neltharion to get to know you better if he could help you here at the farm." Twilight smiled sheepishly.



Silence followed as Neltharion Applejack stared at Twilight. It only lasted about eight seconds before both Applejack and Neltharion responded.



"Ahh, can ya repeat that? ah' thought ya said ah' should let a firebreathing dragon in on ma farm." Applejack responded, putting her hoof in her ear and then pulling it out, making sure she didn't hear wrong.



"Helping a farmer doing her work is beneath me" Neltharion angrily responded. He had agreed to come, not to do physical labour in a body he wasn't one-hundred percent sure how worked.



"Oh, is that so?" Applejack turned to Neltharion with gritted teeth and walked up to him, stopping inches from his muzzle. If there was one thing she hated it was when someone didn't appreciate her, and her family's, hard work. "Just because you're an immortal dragon in disguise, it makes hard honest labour beneath ya?"



"Uhm, Guys?" Twilight started. She picked her next words carefully as she didn't know what would happen if she said the wrong thing. "Can you please calm d--" Neltharion put up a hoof and it silenced Twilight.



"Yes, that is exactly why, Applejack." Neltharion replied. His face had turned into a scowl, and he was staring directly into Applejack's eyes.



"Oh, ah' see. You ain't got the guts to be a farmer and you are afraid we 'lowly ponies' are better at it than you." Applejack smirked in triumph as she saw Neltharion's eye twitch and heard him growl.



Twilight tried to pull Applejack away from Neltharion by pulling her tail. "Uhhh, Applejack--" Twilight could swear she heard a low whistling coming from Neltharion.



Neltharion's eyes narrowed. "You think you're better than me at something as simple as farming?! I have risen mountains, reshaped continents, created deserts and made lands more fertile than your simple mind can fathom!" Neltharion yelled. The insolence of this pony seemed to have no limits and he would have none of it. "Even without my magic, I could do more work in one day than you could do in a week!"



Applejack kept her smirk. "Prove it."



At that Neltharion walked past her and into Sweet Apple acres. Applejack followed leaving, a sweating from the tension, Twilight sitting on her rump in confusion. "Well... That went better than expected."









"You know, Discord. If you wanted to have lunch with me, you could have just asked." Celestia smiled at her former worst enemy. She and Discord had just sat down on respective chairs between a big white table in the Canterlot dining room.



Discord gave her a classic devious grin. "You should know me better than that, Celestia. I never do things the traditional way, it is simply too dull." He waved his eagle claw over the white table between them.



Celestia stared in awe as food of all sorts materialised before her very eyes. Apples cooked in various different ways, four different kinds of cakes, all kinds of different vegetables and fruit in mismatched colors, a basket full of hayburgers and of course small cotton candy clouds that flew around the table filling up their glasses with chocolate milk whenever they ran out.



Discord noticed her awe inspired look and chuckled. "You should see the look on your face right now, it's priceless."



Celestia tore her head from the table and gave Discord a warm smile. "Sorry, Discord. I'll just never stop being surprised at the things you can do with so little effort."



"Ah, well. When you're the devilishly handsome spirit of chaos, you get used to those kinds of reactions." Discord's expression changed to a mischievous grin while he wiggled his eyebrows.



Celestia laughed at his silly reply. They both began eating. There was an awkward silence and they both wanted to break it, but they didn't know what to say. After what felt like hours, Celestia thought of something to say. "So... How is your paw? Is it still hurt?"



Discord looked up from his dinner plate. "Oh, no it's fully healed." he lifted his paw and flexed it to demonstrate.



"Well that's good." Celestia smiled again.



The awkward silence returned. This time Discord was the one to break it.



"So have you heard from Twilight? About our guest?"



Celestia didn't expect that question. "Yes, i've gotten a report from Twilight. Apparently she did just as I expected, she and her friends will try and befriend him to the best of their ability.  It said in her report that she would take Neltharion to Sweet Apple acres to get him to learn more about what some ponies do for a living and strengthen his relationship with Twilight's friends."



Discord had just taken a sip of chocolate milk and were forced to spit it out as he began laughing uncontrollably. "Pffft-AHAHAHA." Discord wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, I would love to see Applejack's face when Twilight tells her 'oh I just brought the most dangerous creature in Equestria's history to your farm to let you befriend him' oh Applejack is going to be furious HAHA!"



Celestia frowned. "Discord this is serious."



"I know my dear, and that is what makes this so much more laughable."



Celestia shook her head, but kept a sly grin. She would never get Discord to be serious unless he himself wanted to be and she knew it.



Discord remembered something. "By the way, have you informed Draconia and the gryffin nations that we found him?"



Celestia shook her head once more. "No. And I don't think we should."



Discord raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"



"Because the relations between the dragons and griffins have taken a less than friendly turn since the last diplomatic summit." Celestia began, while rubbing her templates. The whole subject were just one big diplomatic headache. "They have banned each other from their kingdoms."



Discord sent her a sympathetic look. "Well... at least think of it this way, It could be worse. They haven't gone to war or anything of the sort."



Celestia sighed. "Not yet." Discord gave her a confused look. Celestia noticed and continued. "It only got worse when I sent each kingdom a letter about my vision. It took some convincing just to get them to search in the first place, because now the gryffins suspect the dragons to have made Neltharion, as a sort of ultimate weapon to use against them, and are threatening the dragons with war, if they don't hand him over to the gryffins. The dragons think this idea is preposterous and demand an apology for the accusations made or they will go to war themselves. " Celestia's face turned deadly serious. "If they go to war, Equestria will have to choose a side, or be caught in the crossfire and I want neither to happen. So, I think it is best if we just keep the information about Neltharion being here, for now. Atleast till the heat between the griffins and dragons are gone. I have arranged for some diplomats to arrive the day after tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be able to sort things out between them before things get out of hoof."



Discord gave her a confident smile. "Im sure you can, my dear."



From there on, the conversation turned to more silly topics that varied greatly. From present days politics, even though it seemed to bore Discord half to death hearing about and arguing about, to memory sharing from before Discord were turned to stone, old pranks etc. It stopped when Celestia looked out the window and saw the position of the sun. It had just started it's descending, which meant Celestia had to go back to work.  



"Im sorry, Discord, but I have to go back to work, I have been here for over two hours." She rose from her chair and noticed a short sad frown on Discord's face before it turned into his classic grin. Celestia gave Discord a warm smile. "But I enjoyed having lunch with you. We should do it again some time." She turned and began walking towards the door leading to the hallway. Discord's voice stopped her.



"Celestia, I almost forgot the reason I asked my reward to be a simple lunch. I wanted to ask you something."



Celestia turned back to Discord and raised an eyebrow at his appearance. His arms were folded on his back, his tail were twitching uncontrollably from side to side and he avoided her eyes.



"D-do you want to go on a picnic with me tomorrow?" he sounded hopeful.



Discord might be the spirit of chaos, but this was the last thing Celestia expected. She didn't know what to answer. She did want to go on that picnic with him, but her public image could suffer from it. Before she could even think about it, her mouth had already opened and answered. "Of couse I do, Discord. I enjoy spending time with you." She gave him her most sincere smile. "But this time, let me bring the food."



The moment Celestia replied, Discord's expression changed into a triumphant smile. "Okay, see you tomorrow." He waved his lion paw before snapped his talon and disappeared in a white flash. The remaining food on the table disappeared with him.



Discord appeared in his own room in Canterlot. He stuck his head outside the door to his room to make sure there no one outside. There were no one outside of it. He went back in and let his bottled-up  excitement out. He pumped his arms in a triumphant manner. "YESS!!"









Back at Sweet Apple acres, Neltharion had just finished loading apple wagon number eighty-six for transport to the storage. He and Applejack had been at it for hours without slowing down and it was almost sunset now. They each wanted to prove that they were better at farming than the other. At first Neltharion had found some of these 'mortal farming methods' quite difficult to learn. For example apple bucking. When he bucked his first apple tree, he had done it so hard that the tree broke on the middle and nearly fell down over him. Applejack had screamed at him for that. At his second try, Neltharion had bucked a new apple tree with less force, which resulted in all of apples, leaves and loose branches to fall of the tree. Applejack had not been happy about that either. After a couple of tries, and a large number of swears in draconic, Neltharion had mastered the art of apple bucking. He had then been taken in by Applejack to meet the rest of her family. Apple bloom he already knew. Big Mac was the kind of  guy Neltharion liked,  a guy that didn't talk more than necessary. And then he met granny smith... Words could not describe how much Neltharion disliked that mare. Her constant bickering about how 'back in her day' things were harder or better, and for the life of him she would not STOP TALKING.



Applejack stood beside him. She had just loaded her eighty-sixth wagon as well. She was sweating and her legs were wobbling, threatening to give in. Her breath was heavy and fast, as if she had just run a marathon. She collapsed on the ground.



Neltharion leaned up against his wagon in a casual manner. He smirked mockingly. "Getting tired, Applejack?" He was very tired as well, but he would not let it show.



She looked up at him with furious eyes. She tried to get up, her limbs barely responding. "A-a-ah'm f-fine." Her voice was ragged and dry. She managed to almost get up before her limbs gave in and she collapsed once more.



Neltharion snickered. It's remarkable that she made it this far, i'm surprised she didn't collapse hours ago. He laid down beside her. "I can see that."



"Ah don't want ya help." Applejack sneered. She had gained a newfound respect for Neltharion because his tireless effort to beat her, but he was still annoying as hay with his 'i'm a dragon, i'm a better than you' attitude.



Neltharion rolled his eyes. "Theres a difference between wanting and needing, Applejack. And you seem--"



"Hey! What the hay are you-" She tried to protest as Neltharion scooped her up on his back, careful to not lay her over his sharp plating.



"-- To be one that needs it right now." Neltharion finished. He laid her down on his wagon. He dragged the wagon over to the barn and tipped it up, making Applejack and the apples roll down from the wagon. He scooped her up again, despite her protests, and walked inside the barn house and laid her down on a nearby couch. He was about to walk out when Applejack's voice stopped him.



"Thanks..."



Neltharion turned his head towards her and smiled. "No need to thank me. Despite how I thought it would be, I enjoyed spending the day here. So it was the least I could do." He walked out of the house and looked at the beautiful sunset and the many colors it shone across Sweet Apple acres. His mood turned sour when he saw six familiar guards standing at the entrance. He walked over to them. "Guess it's time to go home?" He smirked as he noted the guards serious and disapproving eyes. "Something wrong?"



Flash Sentry stepped forth and poked Neltharion threateningly in the chest. "Yes, you." The other guards surrounded Neltharion. "We don't want you being around our princess. You are a criminal and you deserve to be locked up. Why princess Twilight even bothers with you I don't get, but mark my words, Neltharion. If you EVER hurt our princess or her friends, we will make you regret the day you were ever born." The other guards nodded at Flash sentry's words.



Neltharion didn't even flinch. He scowled at Flash. "Im getting tired of your insolence, guard." He walked out of the circle the guards had made.



"My name is Fla--"



Neltharion turned his head back to Flash. "I don't give a damn about your name!" He yelled, his runes glowed white briefly. "Now, let's go. I tire of these meaningless threats you and your pathetic colleagues give." He began walking in a determined manner. The guards followed from a small distance. Neltharion could hear them mutter things. He assumed they were about him, but he didn't care. He took a deep breath as he walked. Calm down, Neltharion. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully then, these guards will keep their mouths shut. He smiled as a thought of him burning them alive entered his mind. He kept walking towards the sunset and the crystal castle he could, for the time being, call home.