Bubble Money, aka Time Well Spent
"...a glass of water." Discord asked. Twilight just frowned at him. Pinkie though, giggled.
"Silly Discord! You're in a bubble. How is Twilight suppose to give you anything?" Pinkie rolled her eyes.
"Her magic my dear. I think that would be obvious." he replied. Pinkie smushed her face down on the surface of the bubble. Discord noted how odd it was to be looking at her, or anypony for that matter, at such a strange angle.
"Then how is anypony suppose to get you something if they don't have magic? Like Fluttershy."
"Oh! You're right. I guess that means our good friend Twilight will just have to stay here until I get better." He grinned at Twilight. She balked in response.
"Nah, she has important study stuff to do. We'll just have to make one of those two door compartment thingies." Pinkie commented. She looked up in thoughtfulness. How would one get a hold of one of those?
"Yes! Exactly, now if you would excuse me." Twilight said. She promptly left the cottage along with Cadence.
"We autta go too." Applejack said. Rarity and Rainbow Dash murmured their agreement and mentioned 'things' they had to get done. They turned and left just as quickly as Twilight.
"Well." Discord tsked. He looked back up at Pinkie who was slightly bouncing on the bubble now. "I'm guessing you have something better to do as well?"
"Eeeart, wrong!" she buzzed, "I'm off today and tomorrow. Soooo, I can stay here and watch you." She then smushed her face back on the bubble to make her point.
"Hmm." Discord replied. He shuffled and settled down into the blankets. He closed his eyes to rest. Who knows how long this worm sickness would last.
"Soo, to continue where we left off. I was born on a tuesday..." Discord snapped opened his eyes.
"Not now, dear. I'm tired." Discord groaned, covering his eyes with his arm.
Hehe
Discord removed his arm and raised an eyebrow at Pinkie.
"Something funny about that? Laughing at my misery. The nerve!" He threw his arms up before letting them lay besides him in the bed. It wasn't much of a bed though, more like a bundle of blankets.
"No! Of course not! It's just that you called me dear."
"I call everyone that, darling." He deadpanned.
"Yeah, I know. It's just, well..um..I guess I'm...not very used to it!" Pinkie blushed.
She looked away, back at him then away again. She rubbed her lips together and stared up at the wall. Discord watched as her red face turn back to him with a smile that seemed to try to hide her reddened cheeks. His eyebrow raised again at the action.
"Sooo, what do you want to do? Need some extra blankets? Some hot tea? A bed time story?" Pinkie asked. Her face returned to its normal color as her voice got more excited.
"I'll be sure to ask you if I need anything." he said. He shuffled around until he remembered something. "Then again, if I need any warmth, I'm sure you'll make a great bed warmer.*" he smirked. Her face turned back to its reddened state.
"I do recall you offering your body to me so readily." he cooed.
"Discord! That is not what I said and you know it!"
"It's close enough." He laughed a little before it turned to coughs. Once his coughing cleared up, he looked back up at the pink pony. She seemed to be pouting quite unhappily at him.
"Oh, Discord?" a quiet voice called out. Both of them looked over to see Fluttershy had emerged from upstairs.
"Yes?"
"I'm so sorry. Especially now, what with you being sick and all right now, but uh, I'm well..."
"Out with it. Come on, I'm all ears." Discord kindly encouraged. Fluttershy blushed at her stammering.
"I have to make a quick run out. I was looking through my medicine closet and well, I'm running low on a few things. Oh, I knew I shouldn't have put off going to the market."
"It's okay Flutters! I forget somethings sometimes too. Though, not really, I don't think at all now that I think about it. I have a really good memory. But! That's not the point. Sometimes stuff runs out, then you can go shopping! Shopping is so fun. You get to look at all the cool stuff. Feel bad you can't buy it. Then feel better cause you got all the shopping done and stuck to your list except for that extra corn you got but that was a really good price and then there's the blueberries but that's for a recipe you want to try..." Pinkie listed off. Fluttershy stood in silence, just waiting until her friend was done instead of feebly trying to interrupt.
"Oh, yeah. Well, I have to go out. I promise I'll be quick!"
"No, no, take your time. I'll be here the entire time you're gone. Not like I can go anywhere." Discord muttered unhappily at the end.
"Yeah! And I'll be here to keep him company." Pinkie smiled. Fluttershy smiled back and nodded. She grabbed her bags from next to the door. Fluttershy waved goodbye and left.
"Ugh." Discord groaned. He could just feel the headache coming on. He looked around to grab a new tissue.
"Soo, want to play a game?"
"No."
"Charades?"
"No."
"Hmm," Pinkie rubbed her chin, "How about I sing for you?"
"I'm already getting a headache." he groaned back.
"Sigh, when ever I was sick, my mom used to sit by my bed and brush my hair. It was really nice. But I can't really do that for you what with the bubble and all." Pinkie said, once again smushing her face to the bubble.
"Yay." Discord looked around at the bubble. It really was annoying to be so cut off from everything. He thought about it for a bit and almost missed when Pinkie started up again.
"What did your family do when you got sick?"
"I don't legitimately get sick very often and beside, as far as I remember, I don't have a family."
"Huuuuuuuuuh?" Pinkie took a large intake of breath, "No family? But then who raised you?"
"I..don't remember. I guess it's been so long."
"Na uh, you wouldn't forget your family."
"I don't know Pinkie." he said, throwing his arm back over his eyes. Pinkie frowned. She didn't mean to make him upset!
Discord removed his arm at the sound of something sliding. Pinkie had slid down off the bubble and was wandering away. His curiosity was sated when she simply turned the lights off. She then maneuvered her way back on top of the bubble.
"Making some mood lighting now are we?"
"I was thinking the lights were hurting your eyes. You kept putting you arm over them."
"Oh." was all he could say to that. He now felt a little embarrassed at his previous comment.
"Besides, I usually have the lights off when I'm not feeling well."
He nodded at this and settled back into the bed. Discord closed his eyes again, which did start to feel better, and tried to rest. He moved this way. He shuffled that way. He felt off. Like there was something prickling him. He opened his eyes and almost started at seeing Pinkie's bright blue eyes staring down at him. They looked oddly luminescent in the dark. The only light coming in from behind the closed currents caught on her iris.
"I'm watching you sleep." she cooed out in a mock creepy manner. His smile spread by its own will.
"That's nice, but can you do that when I'm actually asleep? Not when I'm trying to go to sleep?"
"Okay, but only because you said I could." Discord thought he heard a bit of flirtation in there.
Pinkie slid back off the bubble and trotted over to the couch. Discord watched her for a moment before going back to relaxing. Minutes went by as he tried to sleep. There was the odd shuffling sound as the other occupant moved around. There was the distinct sounds of birds flapping around the space and other critters scurrying across the floor. He would normally be disturbed by that but the knowledge of a bubble keeping any little animal from trying to climb into bed with him relieved that fear. Discord turned over onto his side and felt a comfort come over him. It was so peaceful. But it didn't last and he turned over to his other side.
He eventually turned onto his stomach but it didn't work. He grunted in annoyance only to once again hear Pinkie's giggle. Discord cracked open one eye to look at her. He snapped both open at the sight. Apparently, the shuffling he heard was her moving the couch cushions next to the side of his bubble.
"You're sick. It's best to say close." she explained. It didn't explain why she blushed or why so close.
"If you don't mind..." she started, "I could put on some music. I always had problems sleeping when it's so quiet. It feels...unquiet. Like something's wrong or like in a movie when something's about to happen. It's deafening."
"I agree. I can't stand silence. It's so...annoying."
Pinkie grinned at his agreement with her opinion on silence. She wandered over to look for Fluttershy's record player. She looked on tables and in cabinets.
"Hmm, I don't think Fluttershy has one." Pinkie muttered to herself, "Oh well." She declared before shaking one out of her hair.
Pinkie set up the record player on a nearby table. She shook out a few records and looked through them. She scrunched her lip from one side to the other in thought. Discord made a note to figure out how she did that. Or at least figure out how to do that himself.
Pinkie seemed to have set her mind on one as she grinned wide and set it in to play. Surprisingly, cello music poured out. It wasn't anything classical. It sounded more like, metal*? It even had a drummer in the background. He just shrugged at the odd combination.
"You know Pinkie, I had it in mind that you would be more energetic. I have to say you're being quite calm, given your nature."
"You think so? Well, this is different from when you were sick before. It was more like you just needed to sit, wrapped in a blanket and play Checkers with me. Now, you're bed ridden and need to nothing too stimulating or else you'll get a headache or tire out. Hey! If you can't get to sleep, do you want to play Checkers? I know where Fluttershy keeps it."
"I think that would be fun. Could we do it now? I'm not feeling too restful."
"Sure!" Pinkie hopped up the stairs to Fluttershy's room. Discord moved himself into a sitting position. It made him a little dizzy. Pinkie came bouncing back down the stairs with the box in her mouth.
She set the box down and opened it to set up the game.
"B2 to C4." Discord called out. He couldn't move the pieces from his side of the bubble. He also had curled himself up in a semi laying down position. Sitting up made him too nauseous.
"So, because you were so eager to do so before, tell me about yourself."
"Awesome! Well, I was born on a Tuesday. I'm the second born of four girls."
"Four girls? Were your parents trying for a boy before giving up?"
"I think so. You see, I was born to rock farmers." Discord looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Rock farmer? How exactly do you farm rocks?"
"Hehe, despite what some would think, we're not miners or quarry-ers. The soil around the farm is strange. Well, everything is strange in the Grey Land."
"The Grey Land? What type of name is that?"
"I could tell you if you stopped interrupting, silly. The Grey Land is called that by its residents. Officially it's called Dray Shire*, but anyone who lives there simply calls it The Grey Land cause that's what it is!" Pinkie said with a chuckle.
"Everything there is grey. The ground, the sky, the ponies, any plant that grows seems to be a shade of grey. Or at least has a grey look to it. As I was saying, the dirt collects in a strange way. If you drag a rock along the ground, it'll grow bigger. And if you do it a certain way, you can get the rock to form a certain type of stone. Sometimes we would pile the rocks and pour a mixture of dirt over it. In a few days, it'll form a sedimental rock like sandstone. Sometimes! If we get it just right, we could get something really cool like a geode or marble."
"That does sound interesting."
"Yeah, I could see why my parents and sisters would find satisfaction in it but to me it's just soooo boring. It's literally pushing rocks from one field to another. Over and over, the same. thing. every. day." Pinkie rolled her eyes up and groaned at the thought of it. Discord chuckled.
"I can see why your parents would want boys. Must be hard work."
"Yeah, but instead they got four girls."
"Do they..regret it?" Discord ventured. Pinkie pursed her lips.
"Sometimes. I think. I know they love us very much and are happy with me and my sisters but I could see my dad frown and have that look in his eyes that says he wished for sons. Haha, I remember teasing my sisters who still work there, about having to hurry up and get married so daddy has some testosterone around the farm." They both laughed at the thought.
"I could see them blushing about that."
"They did! And my dad was nearby too. He laughed. Which is a big thing. My daddy doesn't laugh often enough at all. He's one of those 'hard working/no nonsense' type of ponies. All work really does make him dull."
"Pinkie, making fun of your father? Tsk, tsk."
"It's true! He's way too boring. But I think that only makes it more special when I do make him smile."
"What about the rest of your family? How are they like?"
"Well, my mom makes the best rock apple pie there ever was! And before you ask," Pinkie stopped him as he raised a finger. He quickly shut his open mouth. "They aren't really made of rocks. That's just the name."
"My mom is really nice even though she's strict. She's very religious so she gets very stern about certain things."
"Religious? What, does she sacrifice a goat to Celestia's big butt?" he laughed.
"That's not funny." Pinkie suddenly snapped. She gave him a dead serious look that shut him up. "No, she doesn't. Our religion focuses more on the teachings of hard work and the creator of this world*. Not the princesses who are considered the Gods of the Sun and the Moon."
"So, by 'our', I'm guessing you still follow it?"
"Loosely." Pinkie admitted, back to being carefree. "One of my sisters* currently lives nearby the farm in the only town for miles. She took over as manager of the chocolate shop. If fact, that was the place that got me on the path of coming to Ponyville and living with the Cakes!"
"Is that so? H3 to G2." He turned back to the game as she talked.
"Yeppers! My friend, or somepony who became my friend, owns the shop as it's one of her branch stores. She was over seeing it when it just opened and offered me a job there. Later, she had to return to her main shop and I wanted to go with her. But she didn't have room for a roommate so she told me about this really nice couple she did business with a while back.*"
"And your parents were okay with you just gallivanting off with a stranger to live with another family far away?"
"They were concerned at first but they trusted her. She had become a family friend and I promised to write to tell them that I was safe and well cared for. Also, we were having a few money issues around the farm and one less mouth to feed would help. I was even going to help out by sending a part of my paycheck back."
"Hmm, so what about your other sisters?"
"Uhh, there's not much to say about them." Discord looked at her questioningly.
"It's not that I have problems with them it's just that, well...The Grey Land can have an adverse effect on ponies. They don't really seem to be able to talk. Mostly just stare and blink*. They do write though! And if I work hard enough, I can get them talking and laughing. That's the greatest." Pinkie smiled.
But, it was a sad smile, like that of somepony talking about another who's dealing with a disability or illness being able to do a small task. He figured it was the same concept with what ever was affecting them.
"Did you have any friends?" Discord asked as he planned his next move. He was starting to lose the game.
"Other than my imaginary friends? No. Only the shop owner was any sort of friend to me that wasn't family. I was friends with my grandparents. I loved my Granny Pie and Nana Pinkie. Granny was the one who taught me to laugh at my fears and Nana was a great story teller. She told me the story about the mirror pool."
"I heard about that incident."
"Ha! Yeah, really learned my lesson there about messing with things that shouldn't be messed with."
"But what about school? Didn't you make any friends there? I would think you had a whole classroom of pony pals."
"I would have, but I didn't go to school. I was home schooled by my mother. There wasn't a school house close enough for us to get to. It would have been too long a walk."
"Really? Well, I think that explains your strange lack of knowledge in certain subjects."
"It does." She sighed, "As you can figure, there isn't a lot to learn out in the fields. Especially when your parents figure you'll end up working the farm with them. And, there isn't a lot of need to be learnt when farming rocks." Pinkie allow herself to fall into a country draw like that of her father's. Discord couldn't help but smile at it. He wondered if Pinkie naturally had a draw and learned to correct it when conforming to city life.
"I certainly can figure how a pretty little farmer's daughter wouldn't need to learn no arithmetic and fancy writing who-ha."
"Ahhahahaha! Who-ha, darn tooting! Ah soma the times find mehself falling back in to my ole teachings. Like being so shunning of that Zebra folk and her strange ways." Pinkie smiled.
"You did that pretty well. Do you actually have a draw?" Discord rubbed his beard and gave her a scrutinizing look.
"Did have a little bit of an accent when I was younger but I 'grew' out of it. I obtained more of a city accent after living in Ponyville for so long."
Discord 'hmmed' in agreement. He had two kings on the field but Pinkie had taken more of his pieces. What ever was his next move was lost when the front door opened. Both of the them looked up, with Pinkie having to also turn around, to see a burdened Fluttershy walking through the door.
"Flutters!" "Fluttershy!"
"Hello, sorry I've been gone so long. I forgot to make a list." She blushed.
"That's fine sweetheart. Pinkie and I were enjoying ourselves with a rousing game of Checkers. I was winning of course." Discord stated with a hand to his chest. It was Pinkie's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, I hope not too rousing! You need your rest." Fluttershy mothered. She set down her bags and started to empty them. Pinkie abandoned their game to help her.
"Yes, mother." Discord joked.
"Hey! I just thought of something." Pinkie called out, "You said you don't remember your family. That would include your mother. Does that mean you like being mothered by Fluttershy?"
Discord's eyes widen at the comment. His mouth opened for a moment to comment back but then shut it to really think on what she had said.
"I wouldn't put it exactly that way but, yes. I think I do kinda enjoy the things that come along with being 'mothered'. The attention and care."
"Oh dear! What do you mean you don't remember?" Fluttershy looked worriedly back and forth between them like she had missed very important information.
"It's nothing to worry about, sweety. Just a small lapse of memory."
"I think it's something to worry about! Not remembering your family. I don't think I could stand it. Nor would I want to forget them. Family is very important."
"I guess. But maybe they were really horrible and that's why I don't remember them." Discord laid back in a spread out position and put his arms behind his head.
"I wouldn't say that! And you shouldn't be thinking that way." Fluttershy replied.
She had emptied her bags and now had to bring it all up to her med room. Some of it was obviously for Discord. Like the new boxes of tissues, fever reducer, and vegetable soup. Spotting the last one, Discord spoke up.
"Pinkie! Can you be a dear and make me a nice bowl of ah, vegetable soup? Ugh, I would much prefer chicken but that's what I get for coming to a vegetarian planet." He said the last part more to himself.
"I thought I already was a 'dear'?" Pinkie smirked.
She pulled the can over to the other counter and set a pot on the stove. Discord smirked back though she missed it. Fluttershy didn't and once again looked between them like she had missed something.
Pinkie finished the soup but was stumped as how to actually give him the meal. Discord answer her quandary by snapping his fingers. Luckily, nothing that wasn't suppose to happen appeared.
"Pinkie, I'm good now with everything. You can go home." Fluttershy said. Discord almost spit out his soup, but couldn't as he didn't currently have any soup in his mouth.
"No, she can stay." he quickly said.
"Really? It didn't seem like you wanted me here before." Pinkie pointed out.
"That was before, Pinkie dear. It does seem that hearing 'all about you' turned out more interesting than I would have thought."
"Great! I have a whole ton more to tell you. I have an excellent memory so there's my whole life story to recount." Pinkie stated. Discord settled back and thought to himself how he didn't really mind.
Fluttershy walked past the exchange carrying her purchases to their upstairs home in her med room. She couldn't help but smile at the two. It looked like Discord had made another friend. And maybe more. Fluttershy blushed and ducked her head. Where had that come from?
"Besides, we have to finish our game!" Pinkie said excitedly. She sat back down before the board and looked back over it to find her future moves.
The last thing Fluttershy heard before walking out of earshot was Pinkie asking,
"Hehe, it's your move, sweety."
Author's Note
*This is a double entendre. He's first referring to how she can literately warm up the bed. The other is that a 'Bed Warmer' can also refer to a prostitute or 'a lady that only stays for the night'. Obviously, she gets his double meaning.
*I'm referencing one of my favorite bands, Apocalyptica. It's a group of currently three cellist and one drummer. They start out covering Metallica before moving on to write their own songs.
*Dray, Draft, or Draught horse is what a work horse is officially called. Shire is the most common breed of Draft horses.
*I follow the concept that Pinkie's family is Amish or Mennonite like. Also, I have no knowledge on how the Amish or Mennonite religion works so I'm going to even try to get into explaining it.
*I choose to explain the mysterious appearances and disappearances of Pinkie's fourth sister as 'she lives kinda far away'. Like, why she wasn't there in the beginning of Pinkie's first party is that she was away in town. I also make her the oldest as she looks the oldest. And, she's referred to in a way that makes it seem like she's older. She's left to watch the farm in Pinkie's book.
*This refers to my OC Grey Faerie and how she became friends with Pinkie. It's also how I explain how Pinkie to live with the Cakes.
*This is canon in her book. They're described as 'blinking and staring blankly' and using the blinks as a sort of form of communication. I could only guess if they can talk as they're never shown to do so.
This story seemed intent on being made of cotton candy fluff with its fluffy sweetness. It hope I made it well enough! Also, please, if you see any mistakes. Quote it. I can look over this many times and still miss something.
