Domestic Drabbles of Discord's Dimension

by GeekCat

Buckball Craze

"Fluttershy!" Discord called. "Mail for you!" He bowed at the waist, offering her the small envelope. She took it gently.

"For me?" she asked. "Where did you find this? Don't most letters come through the mail portal from the post office?"

He nodded. "I just felt like checking your old mailbox, just because. I guess whoever sent this didn't get the memo that you don't live there anymore."

She carefully opened the letter and pulled out two pieces of paper: a bright, colorful pamphlet, and a letter. "The Buckball League of Champions," she read before passing the pamphlet to Discord and reading the letter.

"Dear Miss Fluttershy, we at the Buckball League of Champions would like to invite you and the rest of the Ponyville team to participate in our tournament. As the first team in the Buckball Hall of Fame, we would be honored for you to take part." She sighed and set the letter down.

"Miss Fluttershy? What, have they been living under a rock?" Discord snorted.

She sighed. "Discord...it's fine. Besides, it looks like the rest of their information is out of date anyway."

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

She tapped her hooves together. "For one thing, I'm not on the Ponyville team anymore. The rules say that anyone on a team needs to either live or work in or adjacent to the town they play for. Sweet Feathers Sanctuary is just far enough away that it doesn't qualify as being adjacent to town."

He tilted his head. "But...I thought you and Pinkie would leave to go on Buckball trips."

"We do!" she said. "But we're just there to help Rainbow and Applejack practice. They took our spots on the team after Pinkie and I decided to withdraw. Snails still plays with them."

She looked down at the pamphlet for a few seconds, a gleam in her eyes. "I'd better make sure Rainbow and Applejack actually know about this," she sighed, shaking her head.

As she started to get up, Discord grabbed hold of her hoof. "Fluttershy, do you...want to participate in this?" he asked, tapping at the paper.

She glanced away. "Well...it would be nice to compete again...but I couldn't. I can't join Team Ponyville. And even if Pinkie wanted to play again, we need a unicorn to complete the team."

He let go off her hoof, and she flew off through one of the portals outside. He leaned back, stroking his beard, snapping up a book of Buckball rules and leafing through it.

---

By the time Fluttershy got back, he had drawn up a detailed plan in crayon. "Fluttershy!" He rushed up to her. "I have a plan that might work to let you participate!"

She blinked. "What, really?" He nodded eagerly, and began flipping through his drawings while she sat on the couch.

"First: like you said, you need a town." He flipped from a picture of house to a picture of just ponies. "The Buckball rules define a town as any location that has a certain population number. And while two isn't enough to make a town..."

He flipped to a drawing of Fluttershy surrounded by multiple versions of himself. "...I can create several copies of myself, meaning Chaosville can reach the population required to qualify as a town!"

She stared. "So...I could play for the Chaosville team?" He nodded, grinning. A wide grin spread on her face...but that quickly turned into a frown. "But it takes more than me to make a team. Who else...?"

"Pinkie Pie will be the earth pony, of course," he said. "It should be simple to claim her acts of randomness are outside work for Chaosville. And as for the unicorn..."

He grinned. "The rulebook said any creature with the ability to levitate objects...from Kirin to changelings...could act as a unicorn player. And while it didn't mention draconequui..." He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke.

He dispelled the smoke with his magic, stepping forward. He had changed into a unicorn with a grey coat, black mane, and bright blue horn. "I think I can act as a unicorn for at least a few games."

He paused, watching her face closely. She looked stunned, though she was slowly overcoming the shock. "You're...going to turn into a pony?" she finally said.

He nodded, grinning. "Yes! The league should hopefully allow for this...and for the rest of the team, actually..."

She looked down, then back up at him, pouting slightly. "...Do you have to turn into a pony?" she asked, her eyes growing wide.

"Well, probably," he said. "I don't think they'd like me being tall enough to just...hold the bucket with my hands. And be able to swat at pegasus players. Shapeshifting isn't my favorite thing to do, but it's no trouble. Why?" He glanced at her, and saw she was still pouting. A lightbulb appeared above his head.

"Wait a minute...you miss my usual handsome face, don't you?" he said with a grin, appearing next to her on the couch, his red eyes gleaming.

She looked down. "...Yes," she whispered, leaning into him and trying to hide her face in his fur. He could see her ears turning pink.

He chuckled. "Worry not, dearest Fluttershy." He wrapped his hooves around her. "This is only temporary, and during the games. Before you know it..." His horn glowed, and he shifted back into his normal form, lifting her off the couch as he grew. "...I'll be my usual unusual self again."

She sighed and nestled into his fur as he tightened his grip on her. "So what do you say?" he asked. "Want to assemble this team and play Buckball again?"

He felt her nod, her head still pressed against his chest as her hooves wrapped around him. "Alright. Aside from all of the paperwork to take care of that, there's just one more thing we need to do."

She lifted her head enough to look at him. He bit his lip and rubbed at the back of his head. "I...actually need to learn how to play Buckball." She sighed, and lightly smacked her forehead against his chest.

---

After discussing the matter with Pinkie, who immediately agreed, Discord had teleported the three of them to the ponies running the Buckball League. After getting over their initial shock, and several assurances that Discord had been reformed (and married) for several years now, they listened to Discord's proposal.

A unicorn narrowed his eyes at Discord. "...You're no unicorn." Discord rolled his eyes and changed into his unicorn form. "Oh. Well, that works."

After several more minutes of discussion, there came Discord's least favorite part of this plan—paperwork. They had to fill out several forms to declare Chaosville was a town, he had to fill out a form declaring that he was a non-unicorn playing as a unicorn, then they each needed to fill out a form to register as a team.

After a grueling thirty minutes of this, Team Chaosville was registered to take part in the Buckball League of Champions. Discord couldn't snap them back home quickly enough.

"I'm glad that's over," he said, wiping sweat off of his forehead. "Fluttershy, how does a walk through the forests of Chaosville sound?"

She smiled and patted his paw. "That sounds nice, but there's something else we knew to do first." He tilted his head. "We have to actually practice playing. Can you take us to the practice field at Sweet Apple Acres?"

He sighed and nodded, snapping his fingers. The three of them appeared in a flash of light at the flat, grassy clearing. Pinkie immediately bounced over to a crate of balls and began to juggle them. Fluttershy turned to him.

"I guess you should...shapeshift..." she said, looking a bit downcast. He snapped his fingers, and changed form, slinging a foreleg over her shoulders.

"Who knows?" he said. "Maybe I'll be good enough we won't need practice, and I can just shift right back!" She sighed, shaking her head, before smiling at him and nuzzling his cheek.

Pinkies bounced one of the balls over to them. "You guys ready? I can pitch the balls your way. Fluttershy, you try to block, Discord, you try to catch!"

Fluttershy nodded and fluttered into the air. Discord grabbed a nearby basket in a light blue aura. Pinkie lobbed balls in their direction, which Fluttershy used her tail to whip back at her. He levitated the basket behind her, trying to catch any stray balls—but there weren't any. After the tenth throw, Pinkie stopped lobbing the balls, gesturing for the two of them to come over.

"Alright," Pinkie said. "Fluttershy, you're as good as ever. Discord, you're trying to play like a standard unicorn player, just following the pegasus and hoping they miss."

Discord tilted his head. "What else should I do?"

Pinkie shrugged. "I'm not sure. But I know you'll think of something!" She bounced the ball on the ground. They all took up their former position.

After five more balls were deflected by Fluttershy, he came up with a new idea. He nodded his head slightly to the right, looking Pinkie in the eyes. She sent him a small nod, and bounced the ball off of the ground and sent it their way. Fluttershy stayed where she was, whipping her tail out towards the ball.

Then, the ball's direction curved to the right. Discord darted the bucket quickly in that direction—and caught it, just before Fluttershy could snag it with her tail. Pinkie cheered, leaping into the air, while Fluttershy flew down and hugged him around the neck.

He chuckled, patting her on the back as he nuzzled her cheek. "Let's save the celebration for when I can actually pull that off in a game, okay?" he said. She pulled away and nodded, blushing a little. They continued to practice.

---

After about an hour, Discord was panting. After he managed to pull off the same trick a few more times, Fluttershy had caught on, and had started catching the balls before he could. Eventually, he came up with some more new tricks, and each of them got the ball about half of the time.

After a half hour of that, and a five-minute break, Discord had snapped his tail and created small practice areas for each of them. Pinkie's contained targets that would pop up randomly for a few seconds, which she would strike with the balls. Fluttershy's had a pitching machine that sent the balls in her direction, which she caught before they ended up in the net behind her. Finally, Discord's had the same type of pitching machine, along with a net that hovered in front of his basket.

He managed to catch most of the balls, the machine and net speeding up as he improved. But now, his muscles were screaming at him for rest as sweat poured down his muzzle. With a great sigh, he collapsed to the ground, letting the basket fall beside him with a thud.

Fluttershy gasped and flew to his side. "Discord, are you okay? Do you need some water?" she asked, brushing some loose strands of mane off of his forehead.

He sighed. "I'm fine. Just...really tired." She stroked at his mane.

"I think we've had enough practice today anyway," she said. To Pinkie, she said, "Do you want to do this tomorrow at our place?" Pinkie nodded before bouncing away.

He sighed and stamped his hoof on the ground. The equipment he had made for them disappeared, teleporting to Chaosville. His horn glowed lightly, and he slowly shifted back to his true form.

Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around her neck and pecked him on the lips. "Do you need to rest before we go home?"

He shook his head. "I'm tired, but I think I can manage that much magic." He snapped his fingers, and they appeared in their living room. With a sigh, he slithered over and onto the couch, flopping his head down on the pillow. He saw Fluttershy leave out of the corner of his eye, before approaching him with a tall glass of water and a damp cloth.

He snatched the glass and greedily drank from it while she gently dabbed at his forehead with the cloth. "Tomorrow, we'll take more breaks," she said. She placed her hooves on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Discord, promise me that when you feel tired, you'll stop and take a break."

"You and Pinkie weren't taking breaks," he remarked as he continued drinking.

"Yes, but Pinkie and I have played competitively, and we've built up plenty of stamina." She dabbed at his forehead with one hoof and stroked his mane with the other. "You don't have that kind of stamina yet. And wearing yourself down isn't going to make you a better player or improve your stamina. It'll just exhaust you."

He sighed, leaning into her touch. "Alright. If I'm tired, I'll take a break." He grinned. "Maybe I'll just sit and watch you practice the whole time."

She blushed, turning away. "N-no! You know what I mean! Practice is important, but I just don't want you to take it too far!" He chuckled and ruffled her mane.

"I know. I just think you're adorable when you're flustered." She squeaked and shoved him away playfully. He laughed nuzzling the top of her head.

---

Finally, after weeks of practice, the day had come. The Buckball League of Champions was about to begin.

Discord was in his true form, wearing a plaid jacket that only covered a small part of his torso. Fluttershy was leaning against him, wearing the same jacket, while Pinkie bounced around the locker room, glancing at the large poster of brackets on the wall.

"I'm surprised there's not more teams," she said. "I mean, this isn't as big of a tournament as I has thought! With only eight teams, we can win in three games!"

Discord grunted, "Honestly, I'm surprised they got this many teams...or that there's actually a crowd here to watch this. Their contact information for Team Ponyville was horrendously out of date." He glanced at the board. "I mean, if they invited ponies from Las Pegasus, they must have be scrounging to get an even number of teams. I'm pretty sure that city is more about flashy attractions than sports."

Pinkie shrugged. "I'm just wondering how Cloudsdale can form a team. Aren't they all pegasi?"

A whistle sounded from outside. "I guess we'll find out," Discord said, stretching his limbs and shifting to his unicorn form. "You ready?"

The three of them headed out, side by side. On the other side of the arena, three pegasi stepped out. One of them had his wings tied to his sides, and headed to the center of the field. One passed Discord as he headed to the other side of the field, grabbing the bucket with his hooves and lifting it into the air. The third stayed on his side of the field, hovering up as Discord lifted up his basket.

The announcer stepped out to the middle of the field, and began talking about how each match would be won with six points, and explaining some of the rules. Eventually, he stepped back, holding out the ball. The crowd went silent.

He dropped the ball, and the field was suddenly filled with utter chaos.

---

The beautiful chaos lasted only a minute or so. Pinkie's unique play style caught both the "earth pony" and pegasus off guard, making it easy for him to catch the balls. Fluttershy never even had to intercept a single shot.

They had watched the next three games from the stands, Discord summoning buckets of popcorn for all of them. As he thought, the Las Pegasus team, while having glittery, showy outfits, fell easily to the Fillydelphia team. Appleloosa had a long match with Manehatten, but was victorious in the end. Team Canterlot was very skilled, but were ultimately unmatched by Ponyville.

Pinkie took a long sip of her soda. "Looks like it's us again," she said. "We'd better head down and get ready." Discord sighed and shifted back into a unicorn, making Fluttershy, who was pressed snugly against him, sigh in disappointment.

Fillydelphia had a standard, but skilled team. They were definitely good, even managing to score two points, but weren't ready for their nonstandard way of playing. Fluttershy intercepted many shots they were certain were out of her reach, and Pinkie's antics caught them by surprise, especially when she and Discord used their practiced "curve ball" technique.

The game was almost set, five points to two. Discord smiled and blew a kiss at Fluttershy, who blushed and looked away. The earth pony saw this as an opportunity and kicked the ball towards the goal. Even with a bright pink blush on her face, she easily caught it with her tail and sent it Pinkie's way.

The pegasus took his time reaching for the ball, obviously thinking that Discord was too distracted staring at his wife to beat him to the ball. Too bad, Discord thought with a grin. If there's one thing I can always keep track off, it's chaos. He swooped the basket over just in time to catch the ball.

The referee blew his whistle. The two teams shook hooves and slowly left the field, Discord shifting back into his form as soon as they were off. Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around his torso. "Don't distract me like that!" she said, nuzzling into his chest.

"Are you trying to scold me?" he asked. "I'm honestly confused if you're trying to scold me or not." She just kept nuzzling into his fur, so he sighed and scooped her into his arms, carrying her into the bleachers.

They watched Team Ponyville play again Team Appleloosa. The two teams were both incredibly skilled, and after an intense half hour of the ball flying back and forth, the game was five points to five.

Applejack managed to buck the ball before Braeburn, though the pegasus intercepted it. Braeburn managed to reach it first, but Rainbow caught it, bouncing it with her wing. "Coming your way, AJ!" she shouted before throwing it back.

Braeburn rushed to where Applejack was standing, but to his shock, she ran far to the left, where she kicked the ball. The pegasus was unable to fly over in time, and Snails caught the ball with ease. The crowd exploded with applause.

They quieted down as a unicorn stood up, magically enhancing his voice. "We'll now take a fifteen-minute break while the last two teams—" he glanced down at a paper he was holding. "Team Chaosville and Team Ponyville head to the locker rooms to prepare for the final match."

Discord snapped his fingers, and the three of them teleported to the locker room.

---

The three of them marched onto the field. The unicorn announcer began chattering about the members and history of both teams (Discord noticed that he named Pinkie and Fluttershy as being with Ponyville before correcting himself), while the two teams approached each other in the middle of the field.

"I'm glad to see you playing again, Pinkie, Fluttershy," Applejack said.

"Totally!" cheered Rainbow Dash. "Even if it is during a terribly-planned event."

Discord laughed. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that."

The referee blew at his whistle, tapping at the ball he was holding. The six of them sighed and trotted over to their positions. Discord waved at Fluttershy as he lifted the bucket. She waved back.

Rainbow sighed as she hovered in front of him. "Are you going to make googly eyes at each other the whole game?" She shook her head. "Are you trying to make this too easy for us?"

Discord smiled. "We've won every other game so far. Don't count us out just yet, Dashie."

The referee blew at his whistle again, and their heads snapped back to the middle of the field. Applejack was preparing to buck as the ball was dropped—but Pinkie beat her to it with a somersault kick. Discord was prepared to catch it, but Rainbow was already in front of the bucket, smacking it back to Applejack.

She bucked it right towards Snail's bucket, but Fluttershy caught it with her tail and whipped it over the field. Pinkie hit it with the top of her head, sending to Discord's bucket. He managed to catch it just before Rainbow darted in front.

He tossed the ball back over to the referee, who threw it up into the air once Pinkie and Applejack were in position. Applejack managed to leap into the air and buck the ball before Pinkie could try her somersault kick again. Fluttershy wasn't able to stop it from going into Snail's basket.

She looked worried as the referee took the ball back. Discord waved his hoof, catching her attention. Once she made eye contact with him, he gave her a reassuring smile. She softly smiled back, before they both snapped back to attention.

---

Each of them had earned five points. The announcer was shouting with excitement, and the crowd became quiet, leaning forward in their seats as the referee tossed the ball into the air.

Pinkie managed to leap into the air, hitting the ball with her head. Rainbow slapped it with her wing, and Applejack bucked it over to Snails. Fluttershy managed to catch it in a spinning tail catch, sending it soaring back across the field.

Applejack intercepted it, sending it back to her. She caught it in another tail spin, and sent it flying to Pinkie. Just before kicking it, Pinkie looked Discord in the eyes and jerked her head to the right. He nodded.

Rainbow smirked, hovering in place and tensing, preparing to hit the ball. Just before she could, though, it curved to the right—and landed right in the basket he was levitating. The crowd exploded in cheers. Fluttershy darted across the field and hugged him around the neck.

"You did it!" she cheered.

He chuckled, returning to his true form and wrapping an arm around her. "We did it," he said, reaching out with his other arm and pulling Pinkie into the hug.

The others trotted over to them, smiling. "You all did great!" Rainbow said, smiling. Applejack and Snails nodded.

Somepony from the stands cheered, and they turned their heads to see Cheese Sandwich and Lil Cheese rushing at them. Discord set down Pinkie, just in time for her to be glomped by her husband and son.

Discord smiled as ponies quickly rushed out, fumbling to quickly set up cameras and take pictures of them. "Hey, how does ice cream sound?" he said. "For all of us. Team Chaosville and Team Ponyville."

Fluttershy leaned her head up until it was touching his chin. "I think I saw a nice park on the way here. Can we eat there?"

"If everyone else wants to," he said, glancing up at them. Everypony nodded, making sounds of agreement. With a grin, he snapped his fingers, and they teleported away, just as the harried photographers were finished snapping rushed photos.

Comments

[TheFVguy]

*hands over a dollar*

Keep making these stories, they’re wonderful.

[misskoifishpony]

Daww what a sweet and chuckle worthy chapter^^ <3 I love how Discord was doing this whole Buckball thing in order to give Buckball back to her, an activity that she loved and that way she didn't have to give up/lose it <3 I love how him and Flutters flirted during the gamesXD Lol! I loved how Fluttershy kept missing his normal form while he was in his unicorn formXD <3 :3 Super cute!

[redmar]

This was a great chapter and I loved how Ponyville and Appleloosa were great at playing buckball as well. Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus never had much hope of winning against serious players.