Domestic Drabbles of Discord's Dimension

by GeekCat

Sparks and Wonder

Discord and Fluttershy appeared in front of a beach in a flash of light. "Well, here we are," Discord said, gesturing at the sandy ocean shore and the orange sun sinking ever closer to the horizon. "The spot of the 'most awesome, coolest show we'll ever see'."

"Isn't it exciting?" Fluttershy said with a smile. "Rainbow's been so enthusiastic about this show...she must have something really special planned."

"She's enthusiastic about any show she gets to help design," he said. "And even the ones she doesn't." He stroked his beard. "Still...it has been a while since we've seen a Wonderbolts show. I have to admit I've been looking forward to this."

The two of them headed for the entrance of the beach, where a makeshift gate was set up. It would have been easy enough for Discord to teleport right inside, or fly right over it, but they had long since had several discussions over not sneaking into events that should be paid for.

"Do you have tickets?" the pony in front of the gate asked.

"No, but there's still some left, right?" Discord said with a wink. "I mean, surely you have a few you can scrounge up a few for a princess?"

"...we have plenty of tickets left, yes," the gatepony said. "I don't have to 'scrounge' any up. That'll be twenty bits each, please."

Discord reached into his coat and pulled out a pile of bits, dropping them into the pony's hooves. He quickly counted the bits, then nodded and opened the gate for them.

"Thank you," Fluttershy said as they walked through. She glanced around the area to see how everything was set up.

The water was clear and calm, with a small wooden platform set on it a good swim away from the shore. No creature was swimming, though a few ponies were playing in the surf, and workers were currently watching them to make sure they didn't go any further.

The beach was crowded with ponies, griffons, hippogriffs, and all other sorts of creatures. Everyone had brought their own blankets or chairs to sit on, or were simply lounging on the sand. On the margins of the crowd, several vendor stands were set up, hawking food, drinks, and Wonderbolts merchandise.

"Oh, dear," Fluttershy said as they stepped onto the sand. "I hope we can find a spot..."

"Don't worry, my lady!" Discord declared. A blanket cape suddenly appeared, tied around his neck and billowing in a non-existent wind. "I shall find a place for us to rest our hooves."

He began to march forward through the crowd. She quickly trotted to keep up with him. He was tall enough and commanded enough attention that most creatures parted the crowd as he approached—something they seemed to do a little more once they realized she was by his side.

After a few minutes of crowd-wading, Discord finally stopped in a place a little off-center on the beach, where the crowd was slightly thinner. "I think we'll still get a good view from here," he said with a nod, untying his blanket cape. "What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect," she said, glancing around. They had a good view of the water and the sky...and a couple of creatures moved away from them, almost nervously, giving them some more space.

He shook the blanket out, then spread it flat against the sand. It was large enough that even he could lay on it without touching the sand—which he demonstrated by flopping onto his back, his hands under his head.

"Ah, the sun feels wonderful this evening," he said. He patted the space next to him. She smiled and laid next to him, spreading out her wings to soak up the sun's rays.

"Mmm...this is nice," she said, smiling and closing her eyes. She felt his fingers stroke through her mane, and her smile grew a little wider. For a moment, things felt quite peaceful, even with the chattering crowd all around them.

Then, her stomach growled, interrupting the moment. Both of their eyes snapped open, and Discord chuckled a little. She blushed, placing a hoof over her stomach.

"I can go grab some food from one of the vendors," he said with a grin, standing up. She was about to get to her hooves, but he held up a hand to stop her. "No, no, you can stay here and relax. The lines are probably pretty long, anyway."

He handed her a thin magazine, then teleported away in a flash of light. She sat up, looking around for a few moments before spotting Discord in a medium-sized line that led to a grill.

Knowing where he was, she laid back on the blanket, opening up the magazine. It appeared to be an informative one about the Wonderbolts' history with flying animals used in their shows. She smiled and relaxed, absorbing some of the interesting information.

Several minutes later, as she was just finishing the magazine, she felt a shadow fall over her. "Hey, good-looking," Discord purred as she looked up at him. "Could I take you out to dinner?"

She smiled and set aside the magazine, which disappeared in a flash of light. "Oh, yes, if you have something good," she said, sitting up and patting the blanket next to her.

"Oh, I'd say I do," he said, sitting next to her. He held out two wooden skewers packed with a variety of grilled vegetables. They smelled delicious, and her stomach growled again. His grin widened a little further.

"Here you are, dear," he said with a smile, handing her the shish kabob.

"Ah, thank you," she said, gripping the stick and taking a small bite of the first vegetable—a mushroom. She raised an eyebrow at the flavor, and took another quick bite. "This is...pretty savory," she said after swallowing. "And it has a little kick to it...how did they do that?"

"I'm not completely sure," he said with a shrug, crunching away on his shish kabob...stick and all. "All I could see was them grilling it, and maybe seasoning it with something. But other than that, they were very secretive about their recipe."

"Hmm," she said, nibbling on the grilled onion. "Maybe it's something we can try to experiment with later."

"I like the sound of that!" he said, swallowing a piece of pepper whole. "Maybe they put chili powder on it to give it the kick..."

The two of them mused about what spices, or even oils or sauces, could have been put on their meal, steadily munching away. As soon as Fluttershy finished her first one, Discord held a second out to her, using the remainder of his stick to pick food out from between his teeth.

She traded her empty stick for the new, full one. He tilted his head up, placed the skewer vertically in his mouth, and swallowed it whole. "You're sure that doesn't hurt?" she asked as she slowly nibbled on her seconds.

He licked his lips. "Not if it stays vertical and doesn't get stuck in my throat, no," he said, dabbing at his lips with a plaid handkerchief...before pulling out another shish kabob, this one slathered in ketchup, and began devouring it messily.

She giggled, and he grinned widely at her, showing off the flecks of food that had already gotten stuck between his teeth again. This made her giggle a little more and, not wanting to be outdone, tried to balance her meal on her nose.

...it fell off almost right away, but Discord caught it and had a good laugh before handing it back to her, so all was good.

The two of them quickly polished off their seconds, and Discord sighed, patting his stomach. "Not as filling as I had hoped," he said. "But hopefully dessert will take care of that."

"What were you think of getting?" she asked.

"Well...snow cones sounded nice," he said. Just as he spoke, another Discord appeared next to him, beaming and holding two large paper cones filled with colorful shaved ice out to him. "Ah! Perfect timing," he said, taking the cones with a slight hint of smugness.

His copy also looked quite smug before vanishing in a flash of light. "...were you waiting this whole time?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The line for snow cones was even longer than the shish kabob line, believe it or not," he said with a nod. "Hopefully that means these are good snow cones."

"What flavors did you get?" she asked.

"Cherry and bubblegum for you," he said, handing her the red-and-pink cone. "And everything they had for me." He leaned back and took a bite of his rainbow mess of a cone. Flecks of colorful shaved ice stuck to his mouth and beard.

She giggled a little, taking a small bite of her own cone. He chuckled and licked his muzzle, completely cleaning it off. "How is it?" he asked.

"Really good!" she said. "The flavors are pretty strong...it brings back a few memories." She took another small bite. Summer flight camp tended to serve snow cones, to help keep foals cool and hydrated...it was one of the better memories of that place.

"Oh?" he said, raising an eyebrow. She launched into a short tale of some of her memories during that time. Discord listened intently, enraptured by the sound of her voice.

"...of course, they didn't always have snow cones," she said. "Sometimes it was popsicles...and I don't think they served anything that was as good as this."

"You'd think that they'd splurge on food to make foals want to come to camps and schools," he said, clicking his tongue. "Though I guess they're more concerned about hiring teachers and dolling out homework than making sure their food is enjoyable for the kiddos."

"Well, the food wasn't bad per se..." she said, taking several quick bites of her cone before it melted.

"Let me guess—the typical 'edible, but not preferrable' school food?" he said, drinking some melted ice from the rim of his cup. A bit of ice ended up on top of his nose as he drank.

"...something pretty close to that, actually," she said with a nod.

They continued talking about food quality and frozen desserts as they polished off their snow cones. "Now, they really know how to make these in Neighwaii...I'll take you there sometime," Discord said as he drank the last bit of melted ice at the bottom of the cone.

"Oh, that might be nice," she said. She had a hard time getting the last bit of ice...so she tipped the cone upside-down, right over her mouth. The last chunk fell in, though it also smeared across her nose and chin.

Discord laughed, pointing at her muzzle as she handed him her empty cone. All she could do was smile and point back at him, where even more colored ice was hanging on his muzzle, or had melted and dyed his coat a rainbow of colors.

He summoned a hand mirror and looked at his reflection, his lips wobbling with the effort to not smile or laugh at himself. A small chuckle escaped him, and he snapped his fingers. The mirror vanished, and their empty cones turned into coiled seashells, which buried themselves in the sand.

With those taken care of, he dusted off his hands and summoned two wet handkerchiefs. "Now all we have to do is wait for the show to begin," he said, wiping the mess off his muzzle.

"...do you think they'll have fireworks?" she asked, quickly cleaning her mouth with the handkerchief he gave her.

"Oh, probably," he said, dabbing the ice off of his nose before swallowing it. "I mean, Rainbow did say it'd be grand and flashy...and they occasionally have something like them during Wonderbolts shows, at the very end at the least."

"Ah..." she said, handing him her handkerchief. He folded both of them into butterflies, and set them free to fly into the approaching night. "I hope it's not too loud...I can get a little...jumpy during fireworks shows," she admitted, rubbing at the back of her neck.

Discord's eyes softened in understanding. "Here you go," he said, holding a pair of cotton balls out to her. "These might help keep things from being too loud for you."

"Oh, thank you," she said, taking them and sliding them into her ears. They fit in perfectly, as though they were made to be there...as they probably were. She looked up and noticed that his own ears were uncovered. "Aren't you going to wear some?"

He shook his head. "I've had dragons roar into my face, sat right next to lightning bolts, and listened to Pinkie's yovidaphone playing," he said. "These fireworks will be like popping popcorn to me."

He held up a pair of pink earmuffs. "But if you need a little more ear protection, let me know."

"Oh, thank you," she said. "...so, do you think it'll be starting soon, then?"

He held his hand in front of him, estimating the sun's size with his fingers. "Should be any minute now," he said. "Probably right after the sun sets and it starts to get dark."

She shifted to make herself comfortable, leaning against his side. "Well...until then, it's a beautiful sunset," she said with a smile.

"...yeah," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and holding her close. The two of them leaned against each other, enjoying each other's warmth as the sun sank lower and the air grew colder.

A few minutes after the sun had set, something on the water caught Fluttershy's eye. A unicorn teleported onto the small wooden platform with a flash of blue light. It was too dark, and they were too far away, for Fluttershy to notice any of their features. She nudged Discord and pointed in the direction of the platform. He nodded, curling his tail around her as more ponies turned their attention to the unicorn.

"Good evening, everyone!" they shouted. "Have you all been having a good time!?"

The crowd cheered, stomping their hooves and clapping. Even Discord and Fluttershy smiled and joined in. "Well, it's about to get even better!" they declared. "Because now, it's finally time to officially start...the Wonderbolts' Beachapalooza!"

An even bigger cheer erupted from the crowd as the announcer took a bow. Her horn glowed a faint blue color...and then, she launched a stream of her magic into the sky.

It burst in midair with a loud bang. Just as it did, six figures leapt from the water behind the platform—seaponies wearing blue Wonderbolts uniforms. With a flash of pink light, they all transformed into hippogriffs and began performing complicated flying maneuvers.

"Oh, wow," Fluttershy said, her eyes widening as she watched them. The unicorn kept sending fireworks into the sky, along with a few others positioned along the beach. And it seemed like with every colorful firework, more fliers seemed to appear out of nowhere—most of them pegasi.

After maybe half an hour of complicated flying stunts, with loud, colorful fireworks as a background, there was a sudden lull in the flashing lights. The crowd began to murmur a little...everyone was still flying, so surely it wasn't over yet?

Discord nudged Fluttershy's shoulder, and she glanced over to look at him. "Look there," he whispered, pointing out the small platform. She blinked and looked down. She had been so focused on the fliers in the sky who only occasionally skimmed or dove into the water that she hadn't noticed the unicorn charging a large amount of magic around her horn.

"I'd say they're prepping for a big entrance," he said. "And who would want and deserve the biggest, flashiest entrance...? Besides you and I, of course."

As his words sank in, a wide smile spread across her face. "You think it's her?"

"Can't picture her staying out of a big show like this," he said with a grin and a nod.

They both turned back to the ocean—just as the unicorn on the platform launched her largest bolt yet.

The firework burst into a gigantic cloud of light blue sparkles, amazing the crowd. Then, a pegasus suddenly flew through the cloud from behind just as its brightness was dimming, her wings scattering the sparks as they turned into all the colors of the rainbow.

"It's not over yet!" Rainbow shouted, posing in her Wonderbolts flight suit as the fireworks faded. "It's only getting started—and I hope you're ready for the most awesome show in your life!"

She swooped towards the water, the others falling into formation behind her. The crowd gave their biggest cheer yet, a couple of ponies jumping up and stamping their hooves in excitement.

The show became even more exciting and fantastic when Rainbow entered, if that was possible. Maybe Fluttershy was biased, since she was watching her friend...but it felt like Rainbow led entire groups confidently into amazing, jaw-dropping flying stunts.

Hours just seemed to fly by in a blur, stars slowly appearing but being ignored in favor of the other spectacle in the sky. But then, every flier seemed to get into a certain position—and then began the largest trick of all.

Each group of fliers performed a different stunt together, but each of the different groups' performances seemed to meld together into one large, fantastic whole. The crowd was silent, their jaws dropping in sheer awe as the grand finale was emphasized by bursts of colorful fireworks.

While the crowd was still stunned into silence, the Wonderbolts finished their final routine. They then landed on the beach, just in front of the rushing waves, with Rainbow at the front. As a group, they all took a low bow, along with the unicorns that had been assisting them.

Then, they stood up, looking at the crowd expectantly. After a few moments where all were quiet and in awe...someone, a young foal, headed forward to talk with the group. That seemed to be all that was needed to break the spell on the crowd, as they all surged forward towards the famous fliers.

Discord snapped his fingers, creating a giant soap bubble around the two of them as he held her close to him. She leaned against his side as ponies rushed past—most of them dodging around them, but a couple bouncing off the sides of the bubble if they got too close.

Finally, once most of the swarm had passed them, Discord popped their protective bubble with a claw. He stood up and stretched, holding his paw out to help her up.

As soon as they had both stretched out all their limbs, they glanced over at Rainbow. All of the Wonderbolts were being swarmed, but Rainbow appeared to have attracted the most fans, and was eagerly soaking it all in, even as other ponies tried to tame the excited crowd.

"As chaotic as this is," Discord said, smiling and placing a hand against his chest. "I don't think we're going to reach Rainbow without a little pushing and shoving."

Fluttershy frowned. "And I wanted to congratulate her on the show, too..." She glanced at the crowd nervously, weighing her options and trying to decide if pushing through was worth it.

"Well, we can always pay her a visit tomorrow," he pointed out. "And you'd have more time to talk then, without a rabid fan pushing you out of the way."

"That's true," she said. "So...is there anything else you want to do here, or...?"

"I can only think of one last thing I'd like to check off before we leave," he said. He snapped his fingers and teleported away. She blinked, then began to fold up their blanket.

He returned about a minute later, a figurine of Rainbow in hand. "There are no lines at any of the vendors, now!" he said cheerfully. "Do you think Applejack would like some Rainbow Dash memorabilia?"

"I'm sure she'd like it," she said with a smile. He beamed, and with a snap of his fingers, the figurine was placed inside a box covered in apple-themed wrapping paper.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," he said, snapping his fingers and making the present vanish in a flash of light. She smiled, giving her wings another stretch, and headed towards the gate with their blanket folded under her wing.

He walked alongside her, snapping his fingers and causing the blanket to vanish. She smiled and gave him a nod in thanks, and he gave her a thumbs-up. She noticed how tired his eyes looked, though he still carried himself as though he had as much energy as usual.

"That was a fun show," she said with a yawn, pulling the cotton out of her ears.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said with a smile. He held out his paw for the cotton, so she placed it in his palm. He crushed it in his hand, and when he opened it, a small swarm of pink fireflies flew out. "I have to admit, the Wonderbolts certainly know how to create spectacle and glamor."

"Don't they?" she said with a smile. "I honestly don't know the names of that many of the formations, but...it's always so fun to watch. And it felt like every time I blinked, there was a different number of fliers!"

"A classic case of distraction," he said. "That's what the fireworks were there for. The bright flashing lights were the perfect cover for more pegasi to enter the sky at the right moment...or duck back to the cliffs for a quick break before re-entering the show."

"Oooh," she said in understanding. "You saw them take breaks?"

He shrugged. "I admire a good case of distraction," he said. "I wanted to see how they pulled it off, to see if I could maybe replicate it for myself."

"Do you think you could do what they did?" she asked curiously.

"Using the fireworks? With ease," he said. With a snap of his fingers, a tiny purple firework popped in the air above them, forming the shape of an eight-arrowed symbol before disappearing. "And of course, there were a few subtle substitutions between seaponies and hippogriffs..."

"There were?" she said. "Would that be...between when they dove into the water and flew out?"

"Exactly," he said with a nod. "And there were a few other things I thought I saw..."

He talked about a few other subtle swaps she hadn't noticed, as well as a few very well-hidden flying flubs. It was fascinating to hear how much he had picked up on...but as much as she would love to listen to him for hours, she felt her exhaustion slowly creeping up on her as her excitement from the performance faded.

She yawned loudly, and leaned against his side. "S-sorry," she said between another yawn. He patted her shoulder in understanding.

"It is late, isn't it?" he said with a yawn of his own. "We can discuss spectacle all we want tomorrow...right now, I think it's your bedtime."

"And yours," she said with a sleepy chuckle as he scooped her into his arms. He chuckled, and with a snap of his fingers, they both teleported back home.

Comments

[KotaBugVO]

Happy 4th of July to all the Americans! 🇺🇲^🎆

[ChubbyNia]

You'd think they'd splurge

"You'd think that they'd splurge on food to make foals want to come to camps and schools," he said, clicking his tongue. "Though I guess they're more concerned about hiring teachers and dolling out homework than making sure their food is enjoyable for the kiddos."

As a IPS School Food Service worker I agree with Discord since we serve nothing but frozen package food that can sometimes break apart or comes in small number portion instead of actual cooked meals made with love they hardly eat some of the food that aren't preferable

[ChubbyNia]

Also Happy America's Birthday Everybody!!!🥳🎊🎉🇺🇸🎇🧨🎆