> Discord's Day Off
>  by Victoria_the_dragoness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord’s Day Off

Rarity sat at her sewing table, making the finishing touches on her summer line of clothing. A teal dress lay underneath the machine, with sequins being sewn into the chest and legs of the ensemble. The other pieces were done up in a similar fashion, if a little bit differently. The amaranth dress and jacket had sequins sewn into the back and sleeves of the dress and jacket, respectively. A turquois ensemble was draped over a mannequin, with a rather large and sophisticated cerulean hat. The dress had an intricate silver necklace, studded with emerald gems, draped around the neck, with a rose belt on the stomach and rose ribbons on the hat.
Ah yes, another masterpiece of clothing design, if I do say so myself. Rarity sighed as she stitched the last sequins into the teal dress before her. With a contented look in her eyes, she magicked the dress out of the sewing machine and onto one of the mannequins to present it to her customers.
Her new line of clothing was almost complete. Suddenly, the white mare heard an unusual knocking sound at her door.
Hm. Who could that be? It cannot be Pinkie Pie, because she and Fluttershy are off watching the monarch butterflies return to their summer nesting sites. She pushed herself up from her seat and hummed to herself as she made her way over to open her second floor door. It could not be Twilight, Rainbow Dash or Applejack because they have been away at Trottingham for a few days now. So, who could it be? She reached the door and with her magic, the unicorn pulled it open.
Confetti, balloons, chess and checkers pieces, a rubber duck and multi-coloured streamers blasted passed her face. She closed her eyes and winced at the whirlwind of objects coming very close to hitting her. “Surprise!” an all too familiar sounding voice reverberated inside Rarity’s skull, causing her to shiver slightly.
Oh no. She grimaced. The fashionista opened a sapphire eye after a few moments of silence passed by. Discord stood in the doorway, holding chocolates, flowers and boxes of all shapes and sizes, colours and designs. He flung them to the ground before her and straightened out the bowtie he had snapped into existence seconds after. “Discord…”
“Why yes, so glad to see you remembered little old me,” he said, zapping beside Rarity to place a lizard claw on her shoulder. “It seems like everypony else is busy with something or other and I knew that you had nothing to do.”
It had to be Discord today, did it not? Rarity questioned the ceiling. Anypony else but him. Why did Fluttershy need to be away at this time? The last time he made Applejack and I unimaginably sick. Does he expect me to just forget about that and all of the other grief he has caused me?
“Yoohoo, Rarity! Did I lose you? Oh, but I only just found you again. Is it possible that you are not happy to see me?”
Rarity’s horn lit up in a teal glow. She disappeared from under Discord’s claw and reappeared at one of her dress adorned mannequins. The unicorn began fussing with the sleeve of the dress, hoping with vain hope that if she seemed uninterested the draconequus would search for somepony else to bother. “Not at all, my dear,” she replied, grimacing again at using the word ‘dear’ for somepony like Discord. “I am quite busy, as you can plainly see. What is it that brings you here?”
Discord popped into Rarity’s sight again, taking the form of one of her mannequins. He chuckled. “Why I have the day off.” The white pony raised an eyebrow as she waited for him to reach his point, or at least the way out of her house. “And nopony else is around to spend time with me, so I thought I would keep you company.” He snapped his fingers and vanished from her sight.
Day off indeed. She turned around in time to see a flash of light in the middle of the room. Rarity shut her eyes for a moment and found Discord standing before her again. Rarity groaned inwardly at the thought of this happening all the time if she did not rid herself of this creature. “How very thoughtful of you, but I am afraid that I am just too busy to entertain guests today. Terribly sorry.” Only I am not sorry.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” the draconequus pouted miserably. “And I thought that that was your final dress for the day too.” Rarity’s eyes widened. How did he know…? Discord straightened up and interrupted her thoughts with a gasp. “Wait a minute. I have an idea that can free up some of your time tomorrow.”
Before she could protest, Discord snapped his fingers and gestured over to Rarity’s unused fabrics. All of the fabric she had left was put together in a mismatched ensemble collection disaster; red with brown, grey with yellow and positively horrid accessory combinations. Nonononono no no! Those are the worst designs I have ever seen!
	“Well, what do you think? Hold on! I know. You wish you had thought of it. Well, I am a creature of humility and understanding, so I will allow you to take the credit for such great dresses.” Discord shook his head and lion’s paw. “It is quite alright with me, my dear Rarity.”
Rarity’s lip was quivering, trying to form the words on her mind and finding her tongue to finally speak them. “W-wh-what…what did you do?! Now I need to buy more fabric! Everything, from the teal and lavender down to the roses and pinks, all used up in the most ghastly ensembles I have ever seen!”
The creature put a paw to his heart. “That was rather rude. Here I am, giving of myself freely and openly and you tell me that my fashion sense is ghastly.” His shoulders slumped after he finished his rant. Discord snapped his fingers and grumbled as he watched the clothing disappear. “Oh, alright, they were terrible. So, where are we off to?”
“We?” she growled.
Discord nodded, either not noticing or completely ignoring the anger in Rarity’s voice. “Yes, we, as in us. You and I. Rarity and Discord, pony and…not pony!” He disappeared and popped back at the doorway of Rarity’s workroom. “It is our day off together, after all.”
Rarity closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves. He is just trying to get under your skin. If you do not react to his comments and actions then he will simply lose interest and leave. She breathed in and exhaled slowly. She reopened her eyes and teleported behind the draconequus. “Very well. We, since you insist on accompanying me, are headed for the fabric shop down the street. Who knows who could come waltzing through that door with an order I cannot fill simply because I have no fabric? It will not do.”
The mare made her way down the fancy spiral staircase she had put in a few months ago and opened the front door with her magic. She heard the click, ribbit, tap and squeak of Discord’s feet as he followed along behind her. “Who indeed. I agree, there must be fabric here. And might I add,” Rarity heard a zap as Discord appeared before her as she walked out the door. “that you do simply lovely work on those dresses of yours. Magnificent.”
Sighing at the lie to irritate her, Rarity continued on her way to the store, unabated by the ramblings of a mad chaos spirit. He will lose all interest once I am choosing my fabrics. If he thinks he can annoy me to the point where I am literally screaming, Discord has the wrong idea about me.
	“So, what was it that Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were doing today?” Discord asked from beside Rarity. He exclaimed as the connection was made. “Ah yes, the butterfly migration. Oh, that would be lovely to see, don’t you think, Rarity?”
“Why yes, it would be rather enjoyable,” she responded half-heartedly. So why not go and join them instead? She shuffled the empty saddlebags that she had taken before leaving the house around on her back.
The rest of the trip to the store went on in silence, surprising the unicorn. It was odd to her that Discord would fall silent so suddenly. She hadn’t known this to ever happen, except at times when he was with Fluttershy. It almost made her look over to the draconequus to make sure he was alright, but then she remembered that he was a trickster. He’s trying to make me feel guilty with this silent act. Well…it simply won’t work. Rarity bit her lip. Though…it is still rude to ignore him, even if he has difficulty acting friendly toward anypony but Fluttershy.
	“So, Discord,” Rarity began, looking over at Discord to see his expression. “would you like to help me pick out some fabric?” She saw the creature’s face light up before he popped out of existence. She glanced around her, trying to find the troublemaker.
“Are you coming?” called Discord from the unicorn’s left side. She spun around to find him hovering inside the doorway to the fabric shop. She sighed, already beginning to regret trying to cheer him up. The draconequus moved off to the left as Rarity made her way inside to start shopping.
She cleared her throat and walked over to her usual place for fabrics. “Of course, darling. Now, would you be a dear and collect these fabrics from the top shelf?” Rarity levitated a list out to Discord and smiled. “I always have a difficult time with grabbing those items, and since you offered to help me with my shopping…”
He bowed after quickly glancing at the list she had given him. “It would be my pleasure.”
“Well, I appreciate the assistance. Thank you.” Without another word, the violet-maned pony set off to collect the rest of the fabric that she needed. There were several other ponies within the shop, looking for material for their own needs. A few moments of silence passed by as Rarity drew some rose and some orange fabric from the left wall. Unfortunately, that quiet swiftly came to an end as she heard rolls of fabric hit the ground and the walls of the store. Ponies shouted and screamed as they fled out of the building, Rarity knowing immediately what the cause of the disturbance was. This is not going to end well.
The white unicorn cautiously moved from the hall of fabric that she was on to return to where she left Discord. The hall was a mess, rolls of fabric strewn about the floors and draped over the shelves haphazardly. Fabrics were unraveling and spinning in the air, with Discord at the center of it all.
“Ah, there you are, Rarity,” he grinned as their eyes met. “I found all of the fabric you wished for, but then I began to juggle them, waiting for you to return. Hmm, looking around perhaps I juggled too many.”
“Perhaps.” Rarity grumbled irritably, magicking all of the fabric that had fallen on the floor into the air with the supplies she had gathered. “I don’t suppose you have any bits with you?”
Discord patted himself down, searching for any money he had with him. He produced two pockets at his hips and pulled them inside out with his claw and paw. “Fresh out, I’m afraid.”
The unicorn sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of.” She marched off to the front, magicking the fabrics Discord had located out of his grasp and setting everything on the counter. “Terribly sorry about all of the mess. It was my fault I suppose for bringing him here. I will just have to purchase everything here, as costly as it may be.”
“Sorry, Rarity, but you know the rules about damaging items,” the cashier replied, scanning the codes on the side of the fabrics.
Rarity once again sighed and looked back to find that Discord had vanished. She turned back and levitated out the extra bits needed to pay for the supplies. “Indeed I do.” She placed the fabrics into her saddlebags and wandered out of the store, a frown quickly making its way onto her face. This was a mistake. I should have known that I would not be able to handle Discord on my own out here. He certainly does not appreciate my business…or me.
She glanced around now and again, searching for the draconequus that was swiftly making this a bad day for her. Rarity found nothing resembling one of his tricks or spells though, something she took great relief in. Her shop came into view after a few minutes of walking and she levitated the key up to unlock the door. A cerulean aura enveloped the door’s frame and pulled it open as Rarity stepped into Carousel Boutique.
“Well, perhaps this spells the end of Discord’s pranks at last. I just wish I knew how Fluttershy puts up with him and makes him behave. Now, to put these where they belong.” Rarity made her way up the stairs with her saddlebags full of fabrics and brought them to rest in their designated spots near her sewing table. With a contented sigh, the unicorn looked at the clock on the wall and gasped softly. “Oh, dear, I completely forgot to have lunch!” Her stomach rumbled in response and she placed a hoof on it. “Lunch time it is then.”
She trotted out of her work room and back down the staircase to her kitchen. There, she found the most bizarre and ridiculous sight she had ever seen. Discord was humming a tune as he shuffled a frying pan along on the stove top, while at the same time checking a pot of what looked to be boiling water. A third arm had appeared on his left side as the draconequus prepared another measuring cup full of pancake batter. He leaned over and grinned as his arms continued with their duties. He was wearing a pink apron with a slightly darker pink heart in the center. “There you are, Rarity. What took you?”
“I…I-I…” she stammered incoherently. She cleared her throat and walked further into the room, eyes still trained on the magical being before her. “What I mean to say is: what are you doing?”
Discord frowned. “Well, what does it look like? I’m making you brunch. I already have the juice set up on the table over there, with forks and knives and all of the fixings for the pancakes.” He snapped his fingers and a bowl full of raspberries appeared in his magical grasp. “Oh dear, I forgot these.” They zoomed over to the table and came to rest between the strawberries and blackberries.
“I don’t understand. I thought you had left after the fabric incident.” Have you come to annoy me some more? The unicorn had to fight off the urge to say that last bit out loud. “Why have you returned?”
The magical creature dropped his smile and turned back to face the stove top. “I don’t know, really. I just wanted to do something nice before I left. I suppose that is Fluttershy rubbing off on me.”
Rarity found herself chuckling a bit at the bashful sound to his voice. “Well, she does have that effect on ponies…and it would appear to work the same way for draconequus’ as well.”
Discord grumbled, still not facing the white pony. “Yes well, don’t go thinking I have given up my troublemaking ways quite yet. I do get bored you know. But if you must know, I guess I feel a little bad about what I did to you today. A little. Well, enough to make you an apology brunch…and…to pay back what I made you buy.”
“A-apology?” Rarity repeated, feeling a little stunned. He wants to pay me back? She tilted her head to try and see what expression Discord held, but found that his face was missing from his head.
“Over here,” called a voice from behind the unicorn. Rarity turned around to see Discord hanging from the ceiling upside down. His face was back on his head, but it held an expression that Rarity was not accustomed to seeing on the draconequus’ face. Remorse? Regret? She couldn’t tell what it was or if it was even real, but something about Discord’s eyes did not betray her trust. “Well, I think that is it for the brunch. It’s all set and ready to go, so I will be on my way.”
Before the pony could respond, the draonequus snapped his fingers and disappeared from Rarity’s sight. She stood there, bewildered by the change in his attitude over the last few minutes. She had never expected Discord to act that way with her. She had only seen reactions and looks like that when she saw him spending time with Fluttershy. Not only that, but he had made her brunch; an apology brunch no less. I suppose Pinkie’s way of naming things has rubbed off on him as well? She chuckled and looked over at the table.
It was all set up, just like he had said: all of the items sat on top of a red and white checkered table cloth, with a vase in the center. Anthurium and Peruvian lilies were placed inside the vase, though Rarity knew that these flowers did not grow here in Ponyville. She found herself smiling at the flowers. Hospitality and happiness, prosperity and friendship. Perhaps I gave him too little credit.
She gazed around the room and developed a smirk on her face. “My, I wish you could have stayed, Discord. I think you made far too many pancakes for a lady, such as myself, to possibly eat. Would you happen to be within the area still?”
Silence answered her for a few moments, but something told Rarity to be patient and wait. “Hm. Not bad,” Discord said, popping his head through the keyhole of the basement door. “I suppose I can stay for a little while.”
“Excellent,” Rarity replied with a grin. “And just to be clear, you will have to find better hiding places than that. I am not unacquainted with ponies sneaking about and hiding; you can thank Pinkie Pie for that. Now, come along my dear and have some of your delicious-looking brunch.” I suppose he has changed a little. And I did mean to call him ‘dear’ this time. “And to reply to an earlier statement, it is really not necessary to pay me back for the fabric.”
“But I insist. I may not be able to make any bits at the moment, but I can offer my services to help around the shop. It is the least that I can do.”
I cannot possibly be hearing this. “Why Discord. You really are too kind, though I doubt that I could be rid of you, even if I did say no. I accept. Fluttershy really has rubbed off on you.”
“Oh, alright. There’s no need to get so worked up about it. I am still the embodiment of chaos, you know.” Discord appeared at the table and took a seat, Rarity following soon after. “Hmm, there’s something still missing from this table.”
“What was that, Discord?”
“Hmmm…aha!” He snapped his fingers again and a container of syrup appeared in his claw. “Can’t have pancakes without syrup.” Rarity smirked at the draconequus and levitated a pancake onto her plate, followed by some whipped cream and strawberries.
“I could not agree more.”
Silence once again filled the room, Rarity noticing how her guest was fiddling with his claw and paw briefly before meeting her gaze. “So…does this…make us friends?” Discord asked nervously, not breaking eye contact with the mare across from him. Rarity smiled.
Still a bit rusty on making friends, but… She hummed to herself to draw out her already decided answer and took a Peruvian lily from the vase. She twirled it in her cerulean aura before placing it carefully in her mane. I suppose we can work out the kinks. “Yes…I believe it does. Now, do tell me of what you have been doing with yourself since our last meeting. I daresay a spirit of chaos, such as yourself, would have quite a day planned; especially since one requires a ‘day off’ from it.”