17) "...Huh."
Biggest thanks to Skittles for editing. :)
The changes in the season started getting more obvious with each passing day in Ponyville. After that one snowy day, the temperature and weather were back to normal but autumn was passing swiftly, turning incredibly quickly from dry and incredibly colorful to humid, gray season when the rains would last for days. Fillies and colts were studying hard for their exams, farmers and gardeners did their best to grow their food in time for winter, the weather ponies tried to keep the rain falling in order to preserve the crops - the whole Ponyville was in full working force.
No citizen of Ponyville seemed to notice the sudden change much though, which surprised a certain Spirit. He watched in wonder as Twilight came home with her draconic assistant, both carrying large supplies of food and wood, then proceeded just as swiftly to Fluttershy's, mentioning something about help she offered with "homes and critters."
"Just where is everypony rushing to?" Discord questioned he dragon as the library door closed. Spike glanced at him shortly as he walked calmly into the kitchen.
"What do you mean? Nopony is rushing anywhere."
Discord blinked. "You're all so busy with whatever. Twilight Sparkle here spent the whole morning outside and now left me alone again! She knows well how easily bored I can get."
Spike raised an eyebrow before playfully replying: "What is she, your foalsitter or something?"
Discord frowned as he watched the small dragon skillfully slicing many apples on the kitchen counter. "It wouldn't be so strange if everypony else wasn't busy as well, is what I meant."
"Seriously, what are you talking about? It is just another day in the good old town of Ponyville."
"I was thinking more like, the entire week. More even."
By now, Spike was convinced the Spirit was pulling some elaborate pranks on him. Merely shrugging and hoping to avoid getting pranked by doing so, he got back to his work - he put the sliced apples into a big pot, added sugar and water and started cooking it - then proceeded to slice some more. Discord observed his actions carefully.
"Is there some kind of event coming up?" The Spirit asked.
"Huh?" Spike looked at him briefly before continuing his job. "Um, not any that I'm aware of. Why?"
"What are you preparing all that food for?"
"Oh, this? I'm making fruit preserves. Jam, marmalade, fruit butter - the choice is quite big."
"Fruit preserves? What is that?"
Spike gave him yet another confused blink before laughing lightly. "Oh yeah, seriously, how would you know that? Well, since the winter is coming, we won't be able to harvest our food, the chickens won't be as active and cows won't give as much milk. So, we make food preserves out of whatever we can to keep us fed during the winter."
"...Huh. That is... quite an interesting system. So, how do you preserve them, some kind of spell?"
"Oh, no no, it is all in cooking. You can preserve it in all kinds of ways. Drying, vacuum packing, pickling, sugaring, canning - the list is long."
"...Huh." There was a short lasting silence. "Well, um... I'll leave you to your fascinating work then; I am going to find someplace or somepony to kill boredom with."
"Alright - see ya for dinner!"
Discord flew out into the chilly air. The sky was gray and dull, Ponyville seemingly dark and colorless with no Sun reaching it. He wanted more than anything to reach up and chase the clouds away with a click of his fingers but knew it would hardly be a welcome change, with those clouds being prepared for a rainy night - Twilight Sparkle would have had a fit. Putting aside the question of why he even took her probably protests in consideration, he flew on, watching the ponies that were suddenly so busy - yet, nopony but him noticed it.Though hey were all rushing, bringing food or water, transporting hay or wood, carrying small animals or pulling carts, they didn't seem to be too burdened by the work.
"Such a strange phenomena! I need to find somepony clever enough to have noticed this!"
Without thining about it too much, Discord descended to Sugar Cube Corner and came in rushing. Aside from it's typical pink resident, nopony was there. Pinkie Pie was busy too, carrying a few large, heavy flour bags on her back. Her posture significantly improved when Discord picked them up, ridding her of heavy load. Her blue eyes glanced at him and a delighted smile decorated her face.
"Oh, hiya Dissy! Whatcha doing here?"
"I'm bored!" Discord exclaimed, knowing it was surely enough for Pinkie Pie to understand without further elaboration. "Need a friendly paw with these?"
"Oh, that's so nice of you! Well, since you're offering, I need to take about twenty more bags of flour to the basement." Pinkie gestured to neat, big pile of heavy, brown, firmly sealed packages, her voice as cheerful as her facial expression despite the hard job awaiting her.
"Oh dear, let me get you rid of all that." Discord smiled, clicking his fingers. The bags suddenly came to life and started literally waltzing to the basement, on the astonishment of Pinkie Pie. She laughed when the Spirit joined the weird dance and started humming a waltzer tune until all of the bags neatly arranged themselves in their place.
"That was so awesome! Thank you so much! Hey, hey, you want some snacks? Since you so awesomely took care of those, you just allowed me to take a break!" She smiled widely, already making her way to the kitchen.
"The question was entirely unnecessary, dear Pinkie Pie."
The bouncy mare disappeared in the kitchen for a moment and swiftly came back with several cupcakes and a bowl of weird, tiny... somethings, he never saw before. Upon closer inspection, he realized felt they were sticky and dry, with a strong, sugary scent. Popping a few in his mouth, he noticed they tasted familiar but much sweeter, texture similar to chewing gum.
"What are these?" He questioned.
Pinkie laughed with a snort. "Those are raisins! Have you never seen raisins?"
"Oh, so that's what they look like." He admitted, snickering. " I must say, these weirder than some of the things I create. The sound of their name never seemed to fancy but they do taste marvelous. Do they grow in the bushes?"
"No, silly; they grow on vines! Sheesh, even you ought to know where grapes come from!"
"... These used to be grapes?"
"Of course!" She simply confirmed, before she herself put a large portion of dried fruits in her mouth.
"...Huh." Discord commented, before taking some more, wondering if these were what he was tasting in her cupcakes sometimes. He never bothered too much with trying them himself. Come to think of it, there was a strange number of things he didn't know about Ponyvillian ways. And for some reason, those things he didn't know were connected with this weird, working atmosphere he found himself in.
Figuring Pinkie Pie might know something, he asked: "Say dear, what is everypony up to these days?"
Despite his high hopes, Pinkie Pie frowned. "What do you mean?"
He groaned. "Never mind," he said, waving his oversized paw , "I shouldn't expect you'd notice. Nopony did, for whatever reason."
"Oh, I get what you mean." Pinkie smiled once again before she strated to ramble: "Like, that feeling you have when you're the only pony who knows something is going on, or something is about to happen, yet nopony else seem to have noticed anything; I know because I had that same feeling when parasprites came, because I was like, 'get me some instruments!' and everypony else was like, 'Pinkie, stop joking around, help us with parasprites' and I was like 'well duh, silly, I am!', and then the parasprites were gone and Celestia left and that's how I learned how to play a harmonica!"
"Wait, really?!"
"Really, really! Now, that's all the time I have for a break! I have to get cookin'! See ya later, Discord!" Pinkie Pie bounced off to the kitchen, leaving the confused Spirit alone. Spending another minute trying to figure out the quirky nature of Pinkie Pie and just what sort of magical property allowed her to master music in minutes, Discord finally flew out, furthering his search for the origins of the working atmosphere.
Tiny, fresh drops of rain splashed on his face, refreshing him. As he flew up to try and get the better feeling of the tiny, refreshingly cold rain on his fur, he saw a rainbow colored blur in the distance. Almost automatically, he waved at Rainbow Dash and almost immediately after scolded himself for doing so, cursing himself for his friendly ways.
Much to his delight (he wanted to think it was 'much to his chagrin' but lying to himself grew hard these days), the blue Pegasus noticed him and flew towards him. Rainbow Dash didn't slow down at all. Noticing her intentions in the last moment, he prepared himself for the impact and felt her crashing against his chest, making him swirl backwards several dozen times in the air before finally gaining back his balance. Rainbow Dash smugly smiled as they separated and she playfully circled him.
"Hiya, 'Cord." She greeted. The draconequues returned her grin.
"Hiya, Crash." He teased.
"What'cha doing here in the sky? Don't tell me you were thinking about messing with the clouds?" She asked.
"Why Rainbow Dash, how could you ever think something like that? It is not like I'm prone to doing these things."
"I'm sure you're not." The Pegasus laughed. She looked around and flew up to the small herd of clouds, carefully picking a spot and then kicking it out of existence.
"So, what are you busy doing?" Discord asked, wondering what could the role of Pegasi in this mysterious working mess be.
"Oh, I'm, kind of, rearranging." Rainbow shrugged. "It is desirable for the rain to fall everywhere equally, so technically I'm in charge of making sure that no flood occurs. Plus, and this is more important, I have to make sure no crops get too much water, since rain was falling heavily only yesterday. Man, Applejack would be furious if I allowed 'too much water 'n th' bark of her trees'." She mimicked Applejack's accent as she quoted her.
"...Huh." Discord mumbled to himself for the umpteenth time that day. He had no idea the weather ponies had such a task on their hooves.
"Hey, wanna help? The first one to finish their side of the sky wins." Dash challenged. Needless to say, the Spirit accepted and soon the two were kicking and moving clouds and their pieces around, resembling a game of a big jigsaw puzzle.
Rainbow Dash had a great time watching the Spirit struggle with doing what he was supposed to do. She was done with her area long ago and simply observed as the Spirit finally gave up from one cloud and ripped it apart in frustration.
"Not exactly your special talent, now is it?" Dash teased.
"You know well my true talents lie in Chaotic deeds, dear. And come to think of it..." he looked around quizzically, as if studying his surroundings, "this does go against my agenda. So I'll leave the boredom of the job to you."
Rainbow Dash snorted. "Yeah, yeah. Have a good one, Discord." Rainbow Dash gave him a short wave before moving on to fix what he had done. The Spirit moved on, as entertained as he was confused by the quirkiness of the day.
As he flew over the Sweet Apple Acres, he spotted Applejack somewhere deep down, bucking trees furiously along with her older brother and younger sister - even Granny Smith seemed to be hard at work as she separated the good apples from bad ones.
He couldn't afford to bother them; if he learned anything about the Apple family through all this time he spent living in Ponyville, it was that they were not fond of slacking off.
After a few more minutes of aimless and unsuccessful searching for things to do, he recognized Fluttershy's hut beneath him and landed on its roof. It didn't take him long before he noticed both Fluttershy and Twilight among the bushes nearby, talking and seemingly building something.
"Thank you for helping me Twilight; making homes for my little critters to stay over the winter can take up a lot of time sometimes. And you're getting really good at it, too!"
"Sorry for slowing you down, Fluttershy." The unicorn said, slightly embarrassed. "I'm doing my best here."
"Oh, not at all; with your help, I'll actually be done by the sunset; even if you are not as skilled as I am, you're a great help - um, not that I mean to say I'm perfect at it; I mean-"
"Fluttershy, relax." Twilight smiled at her friend. "I know I am not as skilled as you - it is nothing to be embarrassed about. Remember how I was frightened to show my talent with magic when I needed to? You shouldn't be embarrassed to admit what you're good at either. So don't be too modest on yourself." Fluttershy gave her a meek, honest smile.
"Thank you, Twilight." She simply replied, and the two continued working.
"...Huh." Discord never realized Fluttershy had such a great task on her back. Making homes for animals that were weaker than her, maybe not even as resourceful as her despite the vicinity of nature, didn't have the warmth of firmly built homes and fireplaces. The mare was obviously more capable than she let on.
Spending a few more moments observing the two ponies, Discord suddenly realized it was getting darker with every passing minute. The Sun was setting earlier each day and he only now noticed it. Feeling chilly, he flew back to the library quickly and soon found himself in front of the warm fireplace.
The whole house smelled of sweet, tasty cooked apples and other fruits, as well as honey. Spike was asleep on the kitchen counter, probably exhausted with all the work - the mentioned counter, as well as the kitchen table, were literally overflowed with dozens and dozens of jars and cans, neatly packed and sealed away from the effects of air. Discord snapped his fingers and in a moment, Spike was levitated to his basket, letting out a grateful, sleepy groan as he felt its softness and automatically grabbing his blanket, still dreaming.
It was a bit late when Twilight finally got home too. She greeted the Spirit and then realized before her was an unusual sight. Discord was in front of the fireplace and judging by the look on his face, as well as the fact he neither heard her saying 'hello' nor saw her passing in front of him, he was heavily in thought.
"Discord?" She called again - as she nudged him with her hoof, he finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her.
"Oh, hello there Twilight Sparkle. How was your day?"
"It went pretty good." Twilight patted herself on the chest. "I helped Fluttershy build some homes for her animals. It wasn't easy but I learned a ton. Did you know that hedgehogs can't-"
"Sorry to interrupt you dear but I'm simply dying to know," Discord started, hoping at least that the smartest pony in all of Ponyville would be able to answer, "what is everypony so busy with today?"
The confused look in her eyes said it all. Before she could even thinking her answer through, the Spirit simply added, "never mind," as he once again turned towards the fireplace. He heard her hoof steps as she climbed the stairs and her goodnight greeting. Mumbling one in return, he kept pondering over this busy day.
Spike was making enough food to survive an apocalypse. Pinkie was using his preserves and packing huge amounts of flour into the dry safety of her basement. Rainbow Dash was carefully rearranging clouds so the crops wouldn't fail. Applejack and her family were furiously collecting all the apples one last time before the winter. Twilight got bunches of supplies for their home and together with Fluttershy was making shelters for small animals.
Preparations for the winter, he realized. Who knew preparations for the winter were such an unnoticed event? Were ponies simply too used to it to notice? Were they way too busy to even notice the other ponies working hard? Was it simply unspoken of? Was it just one big, common habit?
Huh.
Discord couldn't quite tell why it was the way it is but he had learned something today. Something he couldn't quite name but was obviously involving all of the citizens of this little town. Something everypony was an important part of. It impressed him quite a lot, to see all those ponies working hard to assure the safe winter for each other, to ensure there will always be extra food, extra shelter, extra warmth for anypony or any animal that might have failed to find it for whatever reason.
Work may not be such a bad thing after all, the Spirit concluded before his eyes slowly closed and he drifted of into sleep.
Somewhere outside, as the rain was getting stronger, a certain cross-eyed pony was playfully jumping in the puddles, not minding her wet mane as it got into her eyes as long as her hooves stayed dry under the protection of her galoshes.
"Oh dear, what are you doing here in the rain?"
Ditzy Doo turned around to see a white unicorn with a fancy mane, wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella and an
uncomfortable look on her face. She recognized her as Rarity, one of the Element bearers.
"I'm just playing in puddles, is all! It's so much fun! You should try it!"
"Oh my, darling, thank you for the offer but I'll pass - don't catch a cold, alright? Uh, here," Rarity took off her raincoat and placed it neatly on Derpy, "just a little measure of precaution for your health."
"Thank you, thank you," The Pegasus sang out, "so where are you going?"
"Oh, I just got some more materials for raincoats and winter coats. Have to make them as soon as possible. Wouldn't want anypony else to get wet, now would we?" She smiled.
"Ooh, you're busy too, right? Got to prepare well during the autumn!"
"... Pardon, dear?"
"Thanks for the raincoat!"
"Oh, right, always the pleasure. You'll have to excuse me, but I have to go; must start working on these you know." Rarity said while nodding towards her saddle bags.
"Sure thing, Miss Rarity! See you!"
Ditzy had to wonder why they never did name the event during which they prepared for winter. Wouldn't it be awesome to have Autumn Wrap-up, or something like that? Even a song to go with it? She shrugged and continued dancing around in the puddles, enjoying the rain and celebrating the Autumn's bounty her own little way.
Stats
Page generated in 0.055 seconds
Total duration
1,010 users online
435,481 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Pinkie was using his preserves and packing huge amounts of flower into the dry safety of her basement.
I see what you did there.
628583
A fabulous typo indeed.
628679
I cannot for the life of me figure out how to quote with my iPad, confound this technology.
But, at one point, a sentence talks about Applejack's family collecting apples "one last time before the winter furiously.". Furiously what, exactly?
628726
I put words in a weird order I guess - they were furiously bucking the trees :D Sorry for that! Fixed. ^^
628319
How many chapters have you planned for the fanfic in total?
Ahhhh derpy.... For once, she is the only one with logic!
Discord, you have a lot to learn about the modern age.
So wait... this is winter prep, and discord doesn't have a clue how or what is going on? Poor guy.
628833 I demand 97 At least!
379779
I love this story. I say that knowing full well that as a rule I despise Discord shipping - you have changed that, and I thank you.
342876 & 344995
You two have been so kind in helping here, now I'm going to check out your stories - well, when Paper Crease writes one too! See? Kindness gets you noticed!
discord needs a job .. that lazy draco
628924
That sounds bad, lol.
628833
There will be at least 26 of them. (considering the title is referencing the alphabet)
Wow... This story never ceases to amaze me.
631464
Pony Alien?
631470 you're too generous
You do all the real work here.
631470
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/9189283.jpg
630633
At least 26?!
Wow!
This has GOT to be featured on Equestria Daily!
EXCELLENT job so far!
631856
Hahaha, I doubt it will ever get featured there, but thank you.
Even if I didn't have all the grammar mistakes I most likely have inside, they're far too nitpicky about their fanfics. They probably wouldn't like how playful Discord got, or, even worse, how playful Twilight had become in his company. 
But then again, it is just the impression I got, so I don't really know.
Thank you for your support once again.
632008
Well it beats my portrayal of Discord in my fanfic by a LONG SHOT. But then again, I haven't really focused on him much.
632019
It all depends on how you portrayed him; if he's purely an antagonist, our portrayals can hardly be compared. ;) Keep up the good work!
632031
Well he's sorta the 'anti-hero'. He orginally wanted to wreak havoc, but with Equestria being destroyed, it would destroy him too, so he joins forces with RD and Dr. Whooves.
In the upcoming chapters, I plan on delving into Discord's past, him and Celestia, and he even has a special job.
*he's kinda the grim reaper of Equestria*
632046
O_o That sounds pretty cool. Maybe I should read that, lol.
632757
Thank you! I am loving your avatar!
632857
★★★★★ for having a scene with Derpy being cute!
it saddened be greatly to find this was the most recent chapter. you simply must update faster
!
635352
Dude, I'm doing my best, trust me. xD But thank you for your reading eagerness.
The new chapter is practically half finished. 
635464 good on ya, i know the feeling. my reader probably hate me for leaving a four day gap between updates on crimson dawn...but i wrote up a chapter just now, keep on it. absolutely loving it, though you seem to be building up the shipping and then turning it around...it's interesting and makes for a good read, but 17 chapters in there has to be some visible shipping already!!
635478
Well, as I said in the description of the story, there even might not be actual shipping - it is mostly a comedic slice of life with strong fluffy hints of possible romance. And turning it around is heavily on purpose. xD I like a strong hint every once in a while, but I still have to see myself what kind of end will it build itself up to, though I have a good idea about how it will end. Naturally, I won't be saying anything. Spoiler free!
635495 if you're going this far with the 'hints' you've gotta be planning something at least remotely visible in the terms of shipping...if not there would be many flipped tabled applied! either way I loves it though
635525
I personally don't know what people want from shipping. Like, dates, or kisses, or holding hands or something cheesy like that? XD To me, that doesn't sound like proper shipping at all. xD
635570 when I do shipping, that isn't 'and then they bucked' styled shipping, it's like they're just together all the time- which you do- and occasionally kiss or get intimate a bit. I don't see much of the second part but something like an embarrassing confession would be perfect from either of them. with Discord I can imagine him being very confused about feelings and thinks aloud, unintentionally telling Twilight about then, and then Twilight returning them. random silence occurs and they have no idea what to do about it
635580
You described my 'shipping style' pretty well indeed. And yes, I am taking a long time to get to the confessions or revelations or however you want to call it, but that's really how I like doing the romance; a lot of personal developments, lot of hinting and such, because that's at least how it worked in real life in my own case. Especially since here, it is quite a complicated case; I mean I seriously can't imagine any of the two actually admitting anything to the other one, even if one of them was positive about what they feel.
Physical contact, such as a kiss or something to me in romantic fanfic means either something very, very special, each and every one of them ( much like in Disney movies; the kisses in them are often quite meaningful ), or on the other hand, not important at all, which would be closer of a case here.
636174 I get what you're saying and agree with most of it, it all depends on how often you update. the long winded ones are fine as long as it doesn't take a week for a chapter. then you lose interest or forget important stuff
I really love this story (along with Daddy Discord)
cant wait for the next chapter!
"why would he even took Twilight's protests in consideration"
I think you can get rid of would unless you meant to word it another way
"Fluttershy, calm down. "Twilight
I think this one is obvious
"must starting working"
must start working?
Once again another excellent chapter, I am glad I found this as far along as it is.
>on the astonishment of Pinkie Pie
>snickering. " I must say
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Pinkie_Pie.png
>I need to find out more about this unusual occurrence
Thoughts should be in italics
>which resembled a big jigsaw
Are you sure about that? A jigsaw is a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves
>he drifted of into sleep
*off dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png
>turning incredibly quickly from dry and incredibly colorful to
cdn.lolhappens.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/181469_424011680972993_645772325_n.jpg
628971 I don't either dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Derpy_Hooves.png
886307
Incredibu~!
OMG I CANTsTop L-LAughing!
AHHahahahaha incredebrus haha
Would jackle app sing the autum wrap up
i want to play in puddles with derpy now.
Now I have this picture in my head that just won't go away.
"The pioneer stepped off the gangplank of the boat, feeling solid ground under his feet for the first time in many long weeks. A word came haltingly from his mouth; it was, indeed, the first European word ever spoken on this newly christened continent of 'America':
'...Huh.'"
I like Discord's constant reactions to these new pieces of pony culture. I couldn't help but think of this:
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1449_more_you_know.jpg
628583 you didn't see all of it though
886307 I died of laughter when I saw that "increibrus" picture. XD
636174 Yes. Yes. Yes. ALL OF MY YES.
But if this doesn't end up as a ship-fic someone around me is going to have their throat slit because I spent all day reading this.
3209993 Then how did you post that?
with the addition of ditzy doo
the awesome factor skyrockets!
just saying that cause it's true
it sound like quite a boring activity
1. Sounds.