//------------------------------//
// Sparking a Friendship 
// Story: To the Clouds and Above 
// by KidatHeart5 
//------------------------------//

	“The nerve of him! Talking to me like a schoolpony who got in trouble! Who does he think he is?!”
Discord sat at a table in Sugarcube Corner while he ranted to Pinkie Pie. She gave him a plate of chocolate cupcakes with cotton candy frosting. “Thank you,” he said in a bitter tone before snatching up a cupcake and biting it in contempt. Pinkie simply trotted back to the counter as she said, “You’re welcome. They’re your favorite, guaranteed to cheer you up.” 
He said in between bites, “I really appreciate this, Pinkie dear. Sometimes you know when to brighten my day…” He lowered his voice in disgust as he continued, “…and other times just annoy the hay out of me.” Pinkie just stared at him from behind the counter, and then smiled, “That’s what I do best!” Discord just rolled his eyes and continued eating his cupcake.
The door opened and in entered two familiar ponies, one with an eye patch and the other completely entranced by a small device. Through the only uncovered eye she had, Dewdrop happened to spot Discord at a table and facing away from them. She nudged Kite and whispered repeatedly, “Kite? Kite! Discord’s here!”
She turned to Kite, whose eyes were glued to the screen as he tried to finish his video game. He mumbled as Dewdrop looked at him in an annoyed manner. She then shouted at the top of her lungs, “FLYING KITE!!!” His video game went flying as he shakily snapped out of his zone. Pinkie took notice of this and so did Discord.
He pressed his chest against his chair as he remarked, “Well, well, well. It looks like Piano Colt came back for Round 2 of smack talk.” Kite turned towards Discord and scowled, “Listen, you…” Before he could charge at the spirit, Dewdrop held him back. She apologized, “We wanted to apologize to you about what happened earlier. We didn’t mean to act so rudely to you.” 
Pinkie jumped up and said, “You know what this calls for? Apology cake!” Quicker than either of the ponies could register, Pinkie had already pushed them into chairs, slid them at Discord’s table, and retrieved a cake with white frosting and red lettering that said “I’M SORRY”. There were a few moments of awkward silence before Dewdrop smiled nervously, “Well…I guess this is one way of putting it.” Pinkie singsonged before disappearing into the kitchen, “Enjooooy!”
When it was just the three of them, Dewdrop asked, “So, who wants to cut the first slice?” Discord said, “Well, I think that it should be the one to apologize for acting so harshly.” He pushed the cake towards Flying Kite and the colt shook his head, “Oh, no, no, no, no. I think you should be the one to apologize for hurting Dewy’s feelings!” 
He pushed the cake back to Discord, who pushed it back while he said, “No, I believe it’s you.” Kite snapped as he slid the cake across the table again, “No, you!” This started a back-and-forth fight between Discord and Kite until Kite used his magic and slammed it into the draconequus’s face. Dewdrop scowled at Kite and scolded, “Kite! You shouldn’t have done that!” Kite just shrugged in a what-are-you-going-to-do manner.
Discord wiped the cake from his eyes, but instead of scowling, a mischievous smirk spread across his face. He slyly asked, “So that’s how you want to play it? Then let’s take this food fight outside.” He walked towards the double doors to the kitchen and said as he leaned over them, “Pinkie, we need you to bake as many sweets as you can. We’re going to have a food fight outside.” 
When he didn’t hear anything, he asked again, “Uh, Pinkie…?” Suddenly, a pink blur with a mountain of treats whizzed out as fast as a rocket and a voice shrieked delightfully, “FOOOD FIIIIIGGGHHHT!!!” Pinkie raced by so fast that Discord got caught in the slipstream and the remains of cake were wiped completely off his face by the rush of air. Discord sat there dazed before he remarked, “Well, I must say her head’s in the game.” He grabbed his head and mumbled, “I’m not sure about mine, though.”

In the town square, Pinkie and Discord stood on one side while Flying Kite and Dewdrop were on the other. Both sides were ready to throw their foodstuffs while various ponies were watching them, waiting for the food fight to unfold. A minute passed and Discord shouted, “ATTACK!” At the signal, all four participants threw sweets at each other. After half a minute had passed, the mood had turned from competitive to fun. Even Flying Kite, who had been feuding with Discord earlier, was enjoying this harmless battle.
Just then, Dewdrop accidentally threw a pie at a bystander. She blushed and uttered, “Oops!” Fortunately, Minuette didn’t take it too hard. Instead, she grabbed one of the treats on Discord and Pinkie’s side and threw it at Dewdrop. This was no act of malice, but of desire to join the battle. Soon, everypony got involved in the food fight, laughing and having fun doing it. It wasn’t until a loud voice bellowed:
“WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!!”	
Everypony stopped and turned to face Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, who were clearly peeved. “All right,” Applejack asked, “who’s the pony responsible for this?” Most of the townsponies pointed their hooves at the four who began the food fight. Discord, now completely covered with assorted frosting and jams, put his hands on his hips and humphed, “Hmph! Tattletales.” 
Rarity admonished, “Just look at this mess! Twilight’s going to have quite a fit if she sees this.” Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yep, so I think we should get to work, ponies. No excuses!” The ponies all grumbled before Discord suggested, “You know, this would go a lot faster if…” Rarity tried to stop him, “No, don’t!”
She was too late, for Discord had already snapped his fingers and a rotary brush descended upon the ponies and the mess. It swiveled and rotated rapidly before lifting upward into nothingness. The ponies and the mess were all clean, but some weren’t too happy with the course of action taken. Rarity gasped as she looked at herself, “Just look at me! I’m a walking feather duster!” Some of the townsponies were nauseous from the rotary brush and some even scowled at the one responsible.
Discord saw how unhappy he made the ponies, no matter if everything was all cleaned up. Slowly and mournfully, he walked to the outskirts of town. Dewdrop watched pitifully at him and turned to Flying Kite, who shared her expression. They nodded their heads as they silently agreed to talk to Discord.


The spirit of chaos lied on a branch as he lamented, “Why can no pony see my talents as something special? Why do they have to look at me like I’m some sort of…” He nearly choked on the word, “…freak?” He closed his eyes and was about to cry until he heard a voice say:
“You’re not the only one.”
He gasped and looked down to see Dewdrop and Flying Kite looking at him in pity. Discord put a claw over his heart and said, “Don’t ever give me a heart attack! Do you hear?! For all I know, I could’ve fallen out of the tree and gotten seriously hurt!” His ears then drooped and his features became downcast as he sighed, “But maybe it’s better that way. After all, just about nopony seems to care about me.”
Discord lied back on the branch again and resumed his melancholy mind wandering. Dewdrop stepped up and disagreed, “That’s not true. We care about you.” Discord’s ears perked up and he once again turned to them, this time in curiosity. He asked half-skeptically, half-intrigued, “Oh, really? I thought I hurt your feelings in the glen.”
Dewdrop sighed, “Yeah, about that. It wasn’t you, it was me. I remembered something from a long time ago that made me give up flying. Well, that and this.” She then pointed to her eye patch and continued, “I don’t think I can fly with one eye. I can barely get even a foot off the ground without crashing.” 
Discord cringed, “Ooh, lousy wing-eye coordination, huh?” He then thought of something and said, “No biggie. Just look at me.” He conjured up an eye patch, put it over his left eye, and began flying. His maneuvers were somewhat clumsy, but gracefully enough for the two ponies to be awed by his flying. He smiled as he flew on his back, “See? There’s nothing to…”
THUNK!
His horn and antler rammed into the tree trunk where Discord had been sulking earlier. Dewdrop and Kite giggled as Discord tried to free himself. He grunted, “Okay. I think I…see your…point, dear…Dewy.” When he pulled one more time, the whole tree uprooted and was still attached to Discord’s horn and antler. 
The ponies laughed at this and Kite suggested, “Hey, you have an eye patch and an oversized hat. Can you put on a bushy beard?” Discord grabbed for some leaves on a branch and stuck them on his chin. He smiled, “Consider it done.” They all laughed at this, and it truly was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.