• Published 5th Mar 2018
  • 2,561 Views, 188 Comments

Like Fireworks in the Sky - SpyroForLife



Tempest Shadow and Discord are tasked by Twilight Sparkle with helping the Storm King's old troops reintegrate into society, but it may not be as easy as they expected.

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13. Cloud Nine

Tempest and Discord fell into a sort of groove after that first big day. Things went much more smoothly than they were expecting, as they finished remodeling the houses within a couple weeks and moved to fixing up the church and community building. Discord led a small team in building a well while Tempest set up a meeting with Verko to discuss the quarry plan. The mayor was suspicious of her at first, but warmed up when she apologized, and as she explained the potential boost to the economy, he was eager to approve the construction. Curly took over from there to discuss storm creature representation in the local government, and Tempest excused herself to return to work.

Storm creatures began taking up jobs in Klugetown, many of them working at the docks but others providing services as cooks, merchants, and even a doctor or two. Tempest showed them how to be polite, explaining that they weren't soldiers anymore and they couldn't just attack people who made them mad. But now that they were contributing something to their town, they were much happier and less frustrated, so they didn't lash out as often.

It was three weeks in when the quarry got its tentative start, and Discord helped map out the edges of it from the air. Meanwhile, Tempest checked the various pieces of equipment that would be used to dig it, making sure everything functioned properly. She didn't want anyone getting hurt.

Discord glided down while Tempest was examining a jackhammer. “We're almost done staking out the sides. Are we ready to get started?”

She looked around, at the ropes that stretched between all the stakes. “Yeah, we should be good.” She set the tool aside and walked over to address the waiting storm creatures. “Alright, where's the foreman?”

One of them pushed his way to the front, lifting an arm. “That'll be me, Hugo!”

“Hugo,” she addressed him. “Is your team ready?”

“Sure are, they've been ready!”

She inspected everyone. “You all have the proper personal protective equipment? Let me see. Hard hats?” They all knocked on them and she nodded, checking everything else. Safety glasses, gloves, earplugs. “Right, you all look prepared. Now, be careful. You're all used to hard work but quarrying can be dangerous if you're not careful. We shouldn't have any caves below us, but watch out anyway.”

They agreed to be careful, and Hugo joined her to pass out the equipment. Soon they were getting to work, and Tempest left so she wouldn't be in their way.

“Phew, I hope they don't get overheated,” Discord commented.

“I gave them a briefing on the importance of staying hydrated,” Tempest said. “They'll be okay.”

“Alright then. What's on the schedule for the rest of today?”

Tempest had taken to carrying a notebook with her with a list of tasks for each day. She pulled it out of her saddlebags and opened it. “Let's see, the quarry's opening... check. We had the forum earlier, and for the rest of today...” She shrugged. “It's Friday. Things are going to be a bit quiet, it's almost the weekend. All I have left to do is meet with Curly later to write a status letter to send back to Twilight. Then the evening should be free.”

“Oh good!” Discord clapped his hands together. “In that case, would you like to finally come to Cloud Nine with me?”

Cloud Nine was a Klugetown's only, and therefore most popular, club. Tempest hasn't had time to check it out, but Discord has been interested in going since learning about it.

“Yeah, we can go,” she said.

“Great! I've been wanting to do some dancing.” He walked next to her, swaying his hips as he did a little dance.

She chuckled. The past few weeks have been very entertaining with Discord around. He had started an O&O campaign with her and Capper, which gave her something to look forward to after work. He was a clever dungeon master, leading them on epic adventures and often trapping them, forcing them to solve complex puzzles and defeat hordes of enemies to escape. It was made even better by his ability to simulate the entire game world, so they were actually fighting and exploring rather than just imagining it all. Capper greatly enjoyed Discord's playing style too. Though sometimes, after a particularly long day, they would just play the old-fashioned way, at a table with dice. Discord was warming up to it.

Tempest and Discord helped out in a few places around town before going to meet Curly for their final task. Writing the letter took a while, as they had a lot of news. But finally it was done and sent out, and Curly said goodbye.

“See you on Monday,” Tempest replied, briefly hugging her and Grubber before heading out.

“Alright!” Discord cheered once they were out of the building. “Let's drop off those saddlebags back at Capper's place and hit the club!”

She reached over to take his hand, electing to teleport back. They went directly into the house, as Capper had given them permission to do so. Tempest set her bags down in the usual spot, and Discord summoned a hand mirror, checking himself out.

“What look should I go for?” he asked. “Slicked back hair?” He brushed his mane back. “Or how about something spiky? Ooh, I could style my beard!”

“You look fine,” she replied.

“Of course I do, but we're going to a club, we need to look better than fine!”

“Speak for yourself, I think I look great already.”

Discord snickered. “Oh I don't know, I think we could do better.” He snapped his fingers, and she stumbled as her back legs were suddenly restricted. She turned her head and saw that he had put her in a glittery sea foam-green cocktail dress. She groaned and tugged at it.

“A dress? Really?”

“Would you rather I put you in a suit?”

“I'd rather have neither.”

“Suit yourself.” Discord waved his hand and vanished the dress, but he did put on a hat and a suit himself. It was bright orange and made Tempest laugh.

“You're really gonna wear that?”

“Yep! So, ready to go?”

“Ready.”

They headed out, Tempest letting Discord take the lead. It only took a few minutes to get to Cloud Nine. The Sun was barely starting to set but the club was already getting busy. They were briefly examined by the bouncer, a huge shark person, before being allowed in.

“Okay, let's see...” Discord checked out the room. There was bass music playing, while people danced on a colorful dance floor toward the left side of the building. Toward the right was a bar area, with several tables and booths. “Not bad, not bad.”

Tempest took in the outfits around her, the leather jackets and revealing clothes. “Hm, I think you're inappropriately dressed.”

Discord looked at his suit, then at someone in skinny jeans and a fishnet tanktop who was rocking out to the music. “Hm, you may be right.”

Tempest nudged him playfully. “Just get rid of the suit.”

“Oh, fine.” He poofed it away and followed her as she walked further into the building.

Tempest let herself move slightly to the music as she went to stand at the edge of the dance floor. It was lowered slightly from the rest of the building, allowing her to see everyone more clearly. Rising above them all was the DJ booth, which had a creature that looked a lot like a manta ray at it, his flippers on the controls and headphones around his neck.

“It's weird seeing a DJ booth without Vinyl Scratch at it,” Tempest commented.

“Yeah but she can't play everywhere. Right now she would be at her club in Manehattan,” Discord replied.

“Right. Well, let's get drinks,” Tempest said.

“Don't you want to dance?”

“Sorry, I don't dance.”

“Aw, why not?”

“It's just not my thing.” Tempest could hear his disappointed sigh as she headed for the bar, and felt kinda bad. She considered if she would be able to put aside her dislike for dancing to make him happy. She looked back at him and said, “Though maybe I'll feel like dancing if I have a drink.”

He perked up at that, and gladly accompanied her. “Alright, I'll buy us some drinks, and then you join me out on the dance floor. Deal?”

“Deal.”

They bought the drinks and sat down to enjoy them.

“So how much longer do you think we'll be here for?” Discord asked.

“Probably not too much longer,” Tempest replied. “We can help them get started on the northern road to Sunny Oasis, then actually head out there. Curly and Grubber pretty much have things taken care of here. Not that I'm surprised, Curly was one of my best lieutenants and Grubber has learned a lot from me. They'll be fine once we leave.”

“Yeah.” Discord downed his drink and turned to check out the crowd. “It's getting busier in here.”

“Mhm. The club's probably one of the few fun things to do around here.” Tempest stirred her straw around in her drink.

“Yeah, Klugetown is pretty boring.” Discord turned forward, watching Tempest. “So. Got anything to talk about?”

She shrugged. “Not really. Um... so Twilight's last letter said the school is going well.”

“Oh, that's good.” Discord examined his empty cup. “I'm surprised that she reached out to so many other species to attend it, but I'm glad she did. It makes the place so much more interesting. If only she could have invited a draconequus kid. We could definitely use some lessons in friendship.”

“Yeah but you said yourself that draconequus are really difficult to find.”

“True. Maybe I could find one and invite them to the school.”

Tempest finished her drink and got up. “Okay. Let's go dance.”

Discord eagerly followed her, and when they got to the dance floor, she found a relatively clear spot and let herself move, tapping her hooves to the beat. Discord moved too, his tail waving from side to side and head bobbing as he listened to the music.

“This really isn't my kind of music,” he said, having to lean down so Tempest could hear him. “But I can work with it.”

“I like it.” She started moving her hips, tail swishing back and forth. “It's got a nice beat.”

Discord watched her for a bit, then stepped in front of her, holding out his hand. “Want to dance with me?”

“I'm...” She took a nervous step back. “I don't know how to dance with someone else.”

“It's not hard.” He smiled. “I'll show you.”

She took a breath, and held up her hoof, allowing him to take it. He immediately lifted her up onto her hind legs, his other hand going behind her back to pull her close. Her eyes widened, and he leaned down, leading her around in circles. She slowly relaxed, and held onto his side with her other front hoof, stepping with him. She vaguely knew how to do this, but it was still very strange.

“I don't get to dance very often but it's something I've always enjoyed,” Discord said, before giving her a twirl under his arm. “It's too bad you're all so short. I have to be careful not to just yank you around.”

“I'm not that short,” Tempest huffed.

Discord raised a brow, and she looked forward, noting that she was at eye level with his chest. His long neck still raised his head high above her.

“Okay, maybe I'm a little short compared to you,” she admitted. She spun him around, stepping carefully to avoid stamping on his feet. He was quite graceful though, keeping them out of the way.

“Heh.” He grinned. “At least you're taller than most ponies. You're about Luna's height, even.” He lifted her off the ground to briefly swing her over his head, and she scrabbled to hold onto his wrists, but he was soon putting her back down. “I danced with Twilight once, you know. She didn't do so well, I was practically pulling her into all the moves.”

“Did she want to dance with you?”

“Er... no.”

“There was your problem.” Tempest looked around, then said, “We seem to be the only ones who are waltzing like this.”

“So? What's the fun in doing the same thing as everyone else?”

“I'm just concerned that you're going to do some fancy move and slam me into someone.”

“Oh, please, how clumsy do you think I am?” Discord leaned his head down so they were almost nose to nose, and Tempest's face heated up as she stared into his eyes. Then she smirked back at him.

“I don't know, you tell me... klutzy draconequus,” she replied.

He scowled, and let go of her. She stumbled back, before landing back down on all fours. She was almost annoyed, before realizing the song had ended.

“Who told you about that?” he asked.

“Starlight.” Tempest chuckled as she left the dance floor. She got bumped a few times by the other dancers, and Discord just flew over everyone.

“Ugh, of course it was Starlight, that traitor,” Discord said. “I told her to keep that code word a secret.”

Tempest managed to extract herself from the crowd and hopped up the stairs to the bar area. “She told me the whole story though. You were really brave on that trip. In the middle of a Changeling hive, without any of your magic, but you stood strong and challenged them anyway.”

“Oh, well, it was nothing.” Happier now, he let his hand rest on her back as they walked. “So, up for another drink?”

“Sure, I could go for one more.” She went over to the bar, checking out the selection. They ordered, Tempest electing to get something stronger this time. She didn't have anything important to do tomorrow. They went to get a table, Discord carrying two drinks this time.

As they talked about Discord's trip to the Changeling kingdom, Tempest's thoughts wandered to their dance. It was nice, feeling his arm around her and his hand clasping her hoof. And when he had gotten his face so close to hers...

She took a drink, hoping he didn't see her blushing. She was growing to like him more than she expected. He was a great friend, but more than that, she felt a connection with him. She was nervous about what that could mean, but she was hopeful about it too. But she wasn't going to rush anything. She was just going to take it easy and see where this went.

In the meantime...

Tempest finished off the glass and set it back down, one ear turning to check out the music, before saying, “How about another dance? And this time, do you think we could do something a little more modern?”

Discord knocked back the rest of his drink like it was nothing, and agreed, “Alright, but you're going to have to show me what to do.”

She pushed back her chair and got up. “You got it.”