Adventures Of A Crook And Its Apprentices

Chapters

If You Were More Honest
Challenge Accepted
A Helping Hoof

If You Were More Honest

"But Fluttershy!" he whined, crossing his arms in protest. The pair were in the living room of the cottage, having their usual Tuesday tea. Fluttershy sipped on her cup, looking up at the draconequus, who sat across from her on the long chair he seemed to now own. "I don't need any more friends! Having you is tiresome enough."

"Excuse me?" she questioned, a brow raised.

He looked away in a huff. "Fluttershy, dear, I get what you're trying to do here. But trust me! I can stop bothering you if that's what you want! Honest."

She lowered her cup, giving him a look of question. ".....what do you think I'm trying to do here?"

"....you want me to make friends so that I may revert my bothersome-ness to everypony else instead of just you all the time, am I correct?"

She sighed, giving him a serious yet empathetic look. "That is not what I am trying to do here at all. I love your company, I really do."

"Then what is it?" he asked, sulking. She formed a soft smile, shaking her head lightly. She knew how stubborn he could be at times, especially with this "friendship" business. Although she expected his reluctance, it was still slightly frustrating how hard it was to at least motivate him to get into things. She wanted him to get into it optimistically, after all.

"I just don't want you to have only me as your friend, that's all. Sure, I love your company, but you know I'm not always there to accompany you. You need others you could hang out with too. Or soon enough whenever I go out to get groceries, you might as well be by the front door waiting anxiously for me like a puppy."

"Why, I would never do that," he huffed in defiance.

"Oh, you know very well if you do or not. But regardless, I still believe that you need more friends. Who knows? Maybe someone just as chaotic as you!" she said, trying to pique his interest slightly. Of course, he continued to defy.

"But-"

"No buts!" she interrupted. Even if he was defiant, she didn't let him back down. "Discord, I know you don't want this, but you really, really, need this for yourself. For yours and my sake." Her eyes pleaded, making him turn away, not daring to be lured that easily by mere puppy eyes. But as he peeked a little at her expression, he can't help give in a little.

".....fine," he said finally, which made her smile gleefully. Though he agreed, he wasn't willing to go all-in without his own input. "But come on, suggest at least one pony that would be eager to 'befriend' me, let alone fit my criteria."

"Criteria?" she asked, puzzled.

"Why, of course!" he snapped his talon, as a golden book appeared. DISCORD'S SET OF RULES, in bold silver on the book cover. He flipped through it, and- "Aha!", stopped his talon onto a page. "The list is right here: To befriend the Lord of Chaos, one must fit the Lord's criteria. Number one! One must agree to bring chaos and be willing to participate in chaos bringing shenanigans. Two! One must also like the same foods that I like! That includes sandwiches, caramel cakes, finely aged books...."

"Discord, you can't make friends with criteria....."

"Well now, I don't make the rules. And like Twilight always says: Books never lie," he stated matter-of-factly.

"She never said that."

"Yes, she has! Or...not. She has said so many things, I'm sure if you try hard enough, you can piece together that exact sentence, albeit out of context...." he said. Of course, Fluttershy wasn't amused. "......oh, don't look at me like that."

"Discord," she said softly, almost pleadingly. His eyes shifted, he hated it when she says it like that. Another one of her 'luring' attempts. And yet....

"...oh, alright!" he gave in yet again. He always found it hard to go against Fluttershy. "But you have to understand if I come back with nothing more than a restraining order."

"Don't worry," she giggled. "I'm sure you'd make plenty of friends by the end of tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" he asked, confused. He thought he was supposed to start begging for friends after this chat. A relief to hear, actually. He needed to mentally prepare himself too.

"Well, I do need to tell the girls about this. I think it'll be nice to start with them. Well technically, you are friends with them already, just not,friend- enough, you know?"

"I....think?" he replied in confusion.

"Oh don't worry, Discord. You'd understand soon enough."

"....hmpf, you seriously expect too much from me sometimes."

After finally convincing the draconequus, Fluttershy went on to set up Discord's 'playdates'. She set off to find the girls. Discord on the other hoof went on to visit Celestia, wanting to hear her opinion on the whole thing. Would she be against it? Subjecting the public to him just for a little lesson in friend-making. Irresponsible, he expected her to say. Downright dangerous, even. Because really, what are the chances that everything will turn out right?

He snapped his talon, and he teleported from the cottage couch to the icy halls of the castle. He had teleported himself in front of the sisters' throne room. Celestia should be in by then. The door to the room was guarded by two stallion guards, who didn't even flinch at the sudden flash of magic that follows then, the draconequus. They nodded at him, and he nodded back.

After a while, he started to grow respect for the guards of the castle. They were genuinely nice to him. Often they'd even invite him for drinks or guys' night out with other guards. He'd decline usually, as though he was eager at times, he was a bit prideful and didn't want Celestia to take it as a chance to gloat that she was right about friendship being somewhat fun.

The doors pushed open and there was Celestia, whose regal bottom sat on her throne, fixated on a list of....things. He stalked forward quietly. He didn't even notice that he was on all fours at this point, his eyes fixated on the scroll in front of her. It wasn't as long as her usual task list, but nonetheless, she seemed to be very into it.

"A new edition to that romance series you've been reading? What was it again? 'Flight of The......" His eyes scanned quickly over the contract, and he paused in his sentence. "......what is this?"

"...what a busybody," she turned to him with a frown, which was returned with a toothy grin. "....it's just a-."

"A restraining order?" he joked.

"I wish," she snorted. "The Yaks insisted on a new rule to be introduced to Equestria. I would've expected them to take the hint by now after the tenth time that I've returned this.. ridiculous scroll," she shook her head. "'One must bring bags of riches for rulers when one visits other countries.... I pity the courier services if this rule is ever implemented." She rolled up the scroll and flashed it away with a light of her horn. "Now, what brings you here?"

"Ah, yes," he snapped his talon, making a throne of his own appear on top of Luna's, towering over Celestia like some lighthouse. She raised a brow, though she was used to his antics by then. "Small warning, it's about Fluttershy."

She rolled her eyes. "What is it this time? She made you sleep on the wrong couch? She forgot to tell you goodnight? She forgot to cut the crusts off of your sandwiches like how you like them?"

"No, no, it's not like that....not this time, at least," he grinned.

"Then what could it possibly be?" she asked. He snapped his talon, and his throne disintegrated into sprinkles, lowering him down like a downpour of sand. Him, now seated onto Luna's well-sprinkled throne, turned to Celestia who stretched her neck a bit from craning up earlier.

He entwined his fingers and crossed his legs. He cleared his throat. "You see....she wants me to make more friends."

"Well that's wonderful. I would've said so had she didn't."

"Pah, ponies are barely tolerable, yet alone needing to tolerate even more of them. I got Fluttershy already, how many more could I possibly need?" he said, crossing his arms as he frowned. "I'm no good with ponies. Or simply other creatures for that matter. And I can't just beg on the streets for a friend! Not that I would even degrade myself to such mannerisms, but really- who on earth would actually take me up on it? Only a fool would, that's who!"

Celestia sighed. "Making more friends, however, is for the best."

"Best?" he scoffed. "I'm the best, and I don't see anything in it for me befriending even more ponies. I can do everything with Flutters. I can talk to her, complain about something to her, ask her questions about the city hall meetings I never go for, have tea parties with her- what else can't she do for me already?"

"Discord. It's not the matter of what she can and cannot do. It's the matter of what you can do. She won't be around always, you know. She has other things to do, other things to see. She has a life outside of, well, babying you," she said. Her demeanor changed a bit, becoming slightly stern now. "And Discord... remember who we are. As morbid as it may sound, we will outlive the friends that we make."

Discord's ears drooped. Of course. He avoids thinking of mortality, of others and of his own."...I know.... I know, I know..." Oh, Fluttershy.

"And although she does enjoy your company and even tolerates your bothersome attitude, it doesn't mean acomodating her everyday life to suit your needs are adequate for her sake. Maybe she doesn't show it, but do you at least think that maybe she wants you to make friends because she doesn't want you to only cling on her?"

Discord stared at Celestia. The pile of sprinkles that he'd been sitting on began to disintegrate into nothing. He stared into the distance, deep in his own thought.

"...Discord?" she

Discord spoke, his eyes glued to the ceiling now as he continued to think about...everything. "....am I a burden to Fluttershy? "Am I really weighing her life down? Am....am I really disrupting her everyday life?"

"I didn't mean it like that, Discord-"

"Then what did you mean?" he said, his tone sharper. "She.....she's just like you." Celestia looked at him with confusion. "She never says anything until the last second. She could've just told me off for being annoying and be done with it. Instead, she chose to put up with me." He grew sterner. "She told me earlier that it wasn't because I was somewhat bothering her but yet she INSISTED that wasn't the case. I'm not an idiot. I may act like one but I am self-aware. I know I'm...bothersome!"

Celestia looked at him dishearteningly. "Discord.."

"And you. You know why she's just like you? Because you pretend to be fine with me when no, no you're not fine with me. I know why you started ignoring me when we were little, down the halls, after little one-to-one talks with your father. Because you felt like I was taking away everything you had." He was ranting now. Remembering. But it was too late to stop then. He had to go on. "By the time I was even hinted at the fact that you disliked me, it was too late. You just.. avoided me instead of telling me what I did wrong. I could've backed off, you know. I could've. I..." he paused slightly, his throat caught. "...I still can't believe that you pretend everything is still fine. Nothing happened. We just.. pretend that all of that didn't happen."

"Discord..." Celestia was taken aback. She didn't know how to respond. She... didn't even know how to feel. But before she could even come up with something, Discord got off from the throne. "I'm leaving. Don't be afraid to tell me when I do go overboard of visiting you once in a while."

And with a flash, he snapped away. And there sat Celestia. Alone in her throne room once more, her head however left to spin with emotions and thoughts and things she forgot from times ago.

Author's Note

subscribe to pewdiepie, lads.

edited 6 november 2021

Challenge Accepted

Discord went back to his own little dimension instead of going back to the cottage, needing to ease his mind from what he had just said to Celestia. Oh God, he cringed when he thought back to it. He got ahead of himself. And he left before Celestia could say or react. At least, he didn't turn back to see it.

He laid his back on the roof of his floating house, turned upside-down in the fashion of nonsensical chaos. He stared into the abyss of the void he called home, feeling a little bothered by what happened as well as slightly....guilty?

Why did he feel guilty? He felt like what he had said was all justified, albeit an out of nowhere downpour.

His mind wandered back to Fluttershy. What would she think had she heard what he said? He didn't want to imagine Fluttershy feeling guilty for not opening up sooner. Yet....Celestia was right, Fluttershy did have a life outside of 'babying' him and she deserves to have that time to herself. He....he burdened her, didn't he? Well, he is aware of how bothersome he could be, but...damn it, Fluttershy. The element of kindness, too kind to even open her mouth to say a simple 'no' and mean it. Alas, she can't just sit there all day with him on the couch anymore, neither can she always be there for him to dawdle and complain about stuff to.

He took a deep breath. Well then, all he needs to prioritize now is Fluttershy's little task and he'll be done with it all. Ugh, friendship is hard. But... as prideful as he was, he couldn't exactly say he didn't like not being alone anymore. The perks of not being a garden ornament anymore, he guesses.

And he didn't want to repeat history. He didn't want Fluttershy to... bail on him. Not now, not again, not ever.

If it takes everything he's got to accomplish it.

"Fluttershy!..." he called out, knocking maniacally on her cottage door. "Fluttershy, I'm sure plenty of friends are waiting to be made so hurry up and open the damn door!...."

It was the next day, bright and early. Well, bright was a bit of an exaggeration. It was the wee hours of the morning still, the sun only beginning to rise into a deep orange just a few seconds ago. The door opened slightly, and out popped out the groggy and messy-haired Fluttershy, who definitely looked like she was woken abruptly from peaceful slumber. ".....mmhh.....Discord?"

"Hi, yes, it's me- anyway, when are we starting?" he asked rather impatiently.

She yawned as she let him in. "Starting what?"

"You know, the friend-making business you've been yapping about."

Fluttershy's eyes widened in surprise. "Why, I thought you weren't interested in making friends, yet here you are looking as excited as ever."

"Yes, yes, now when are we starting?" he asked again, feeling impatient yet.. rather excited. The adrenaline of it all, the drive to get the task done. Almost a challenge, he knew he couldn't back down from a challenge.

Fluttershy yawned again. "Discord, I know you're excited. But the sun is barely out and so aren't my friends."

"Yes, well, you once told me that the early bird catches the worm. Frankly, I see plenty of worms wriggling outside but no bird out there to get them," he snapped his talon, and earthworms the size of chihuahuas started crawling up the outside walls of her cottage, leaving a trail of dirt and moistness on her windows.

"My friends aren't usually awake at this hour, Discord," she said again. "Unless.... you want to start with Applejack first? She always wakes up early for her daily chores. That's the result of living on a farm, I guess."

"Are we only doing your friends?" asked Discord with his head tilted slightly.

"Who else do you have in mind?"

"Well," he looked up in thought. "It's kinda not fair cause your friends hate me."

"That's not true," she said, almost scoldingly. She had faith in her friends. "My friends just aren't used to you yet, that's all."

"That's just a fancier way to say that they disapprove of me," he said again, but immediately his look contorted to an apologetic sort as his friend gave him a sad frown.

Fluttershy sighed. But her frown was replaced with a look of question, as an idea came to mind. She looked to Discord with a pretentious look. "You aren't going to chicken out, are you?"

Discord's sorry face was immediately taken over by that of surprise. "Chicken out?"

"Why of course. You don't seem to be up to it anymore since you know it's just my friends. Maybe I should tell them-"

In a flash, he was then floating above her with a paw over her snout, not daring to let her even think of continuing on. "I am Discord! I don't back out from a challenge!" She mumbled under his paw. "...what was that?"

He pried his paw away. "Are you sure? I don't want to push you over your limit...." she gave him a playful smirk. Ah, of course. She was making it a challenge. Too bad he had already beat her to that bush. Yet, he played along.

"You watch your words, Fluttershy! I will befriend anyone and everyone on this list!" he said as he snapped himself up a list. "Now let's see...." he read the list. "We're doing Applejack first, correct?"

"Mhmm," she nodded. "She wakes up the earliest out of all my friends. You can even help her with chores."

"Wha- chores?!," he gagged.

Fluttershy frowned. "You always help me with chores. It's no different."

"It's very different, your animals are easy to handle. Apples on the other hoof, they romp, they play, they run around, roll in the mud, it's hard." Fluttershy raised a brow at him. ".....oh alright, fine. I'll... help." That word tasted sour.

She walked towards her front door, flapping her wings as she reached for the saddle that hung on the coat hanger beside her. "Then come on," she said, turning the doorknob and exiting. That was before came another snap of his talon, and Fluttershy's mane was combed down finally. She giggled.

And he sighed. Welp, time to start his day.

They arrived at the orchard. They could've simply teleported there, but Discord took the scenic route with Fluttershy instead, giving himself a bit more time to mentally prepare himself. Alright, Applejack, prepare to be friendshipped!

They walked up to the farmhouse. Courtesy, Fluttershy knocked on the door. She looked back to Discord and gave him a soft smile. A gesture of no words yet conveyed plenty. Are you ready?. He returned it reluctantly, as he felt he had doubts of this whole endeavor already. Maybe this wasn't a good idea....

"Who's there? Applebloom, be a dear and get the door!" hollered a voice of what sounded like an elderly mare from the inside of the house. Discord gulped, and when Fluttershy noticed it she put her hoof by the side of his leg, reassuring him. The door opened not long after, a red-maned filly peeked her head out.

"Hello?" Applebloom peeked out. Fluttershy gave her signature warm smile, but the filly's eyes wandered longer onto Discord instead. Discord smirked. He knew of his reputation, and he found it amusing that fillies are still easy to frazzle a bit. She gulped but gathered the courage to finally ask. "......you're here for Applejack, right?"

"Indeed I am. My, my, young one, why the stare? Scared I'd eat you?" he teased, although Fluttershy gave him a disapproving look.

Applebloom laughed suddenly. "Pfft, as if! My sister gunned you down before, she can gun you down again!" Applebloom spat. Discord's eyes widened at the filly's sudden change in attitude and chuckled as well. What a confident little brat.

Fluttershy stammered. "N-now now....we're all friends here. Applebloom, mind guiding us to where your sister is?", she quickly tried to avert the subject. Applebloom gave Discord the stink eye before finally nodding and leading the way.

"Hoo-wee! About time you two showed up, I've been nothing but busy like a one-legged cat in a sandbox!" exclaimed Applejack. Discord groaned. This felt more like community service than actual "friend-making".

Fluttershy smiled. "I'm glad he could be here to help. You do seem rather swamped recently. Say, where is Big Mac? Haven't seen him out in awhile..." she scanned the orchard.

"Big Mac's been under the weather the last few days. Caught the stomach bug. Chores have been pillin' up like crazy. Granny's too old to help out an' Applebloom's got school....." she paused, then turned to Applebloom with a frown. "Speakin' of school, why're you still 'ere?"

"I had to answer the door an' bring em' here," she pouted.

Applebloom chased her away. "Well don't just stand there, vamoose yer kaboose already! Can't have ya bein' latel!" she waved her hooves at Applebloom, who huffed then headed back to the farmhouse to retrieve her saddlebag. Applejack looked to Discord, eyeing him up and down. She spoke to Fluttershy with her eyes still pinned on Discord, who smiled an almost worried smile. "Don't worry, Sugarcube, you can leave em' with me. I'll handle him and I'll handle him good."

Discord stared back at her in confusion, his ears leaned back as his head tilted. "...em...I'm right here, you know. Voice-activated too."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Well then, I'll see you two again in the evening."

"Mhmm," was all that Applejack said to her, still eyeing the draconequus. Fluttershy gave Discord a small little pat on his leg before she left. He smiled reluctantly, beginning to grow concerned about Applejack's piercing stare.

"..hmm..." Slowly, she trailed around him, examining what she's working with. She then started poking him left and right. "Limp-" she poked his stomach as he winced, "Soft-" she poked his goat leg....

"Woah- hey!" he protested as he was helplessly poked left and right.

"Out of shape, weak, quite skinny- are ya even a stallion?" said Applejack. "I feel like I'm more of a stallion than you and that says a lot."

"Jeez, what is this? A physical?" he frowned. Applejack walked away for a bit to one of her trees. He watched as she walked up to it, pawing at one of the branches a bit, then- CRAK! She broke off a long stick.

He gave a look of question, tilting his head a bit at the sight. Was it.... a test of some sort? She tapped the branch against her hoof, a repetitive tapping to be commenced. "Now- Discord," she trailed around him again. "As you know, my family owns this orchard. We worked our tails off to build this orchard to the top. That being said, we're not lazy-" she poked his ribs with the branch.

He winced. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"For bein' lazy an' out of shape. Now I'm gonna fix that. Discord....." don't know where or how, but she found a bucket out of nowhere and tipped it over. Discord dropped down onto all fours, cautiously, as he examined the...empty bucket? He looked up again from the bucket and... gulped. Applejack towered over him, the branch pointed into his face. She smiled slyly. "....I'm gonna teach you how to work." Uh oh.

Author's Note

edited 7 november 2021

A Helping Hoof

"Was it really that difficult?" asked Fluttershy as she and Discord walked off from the apple farm, Discord looking like as if he's been through hard labor camp for 25 consecutive days. It had only been 3 hours.

"First off, she told me to bathe the pigs for her. I didn't know that they weren't washing machine safe!"

"I don't even know what that is!" exclaimed Fluttershy, and Discord was reminded that right, ponies weren't as high tech as- "And also, you should know that putting animals in any kind of machine is dangerous! What were you thinking?"

"I was just being innovative!" he defended himself. "Plus they weren't too badly-"

"They were stained green! I-I don't even know how that happened-"

"Ah, must've been my shirt that I decided to chuck in as well in the wash cycle," he stated nonchalantly. She frowned at him. "What? It's a might as well thing, you know! A big waste of water to have separate cycles for a herd of pigs and a shirt. Don't you know that, Fluttershy?"

She frowned even more, grumbling even. "Discord......"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't strain your face like that, you'll get wrinkles."

"A-and also, that wasn't even all of the problems you had at the farm!" she exclaimed angrily- well, as angry as a Fluttershy can get. Discord found it slightly funny, anyway. "You even managed to ruin apple bucking!"

"I was helping!" he defended again.

"You made the trees shake simultaneously and when all the apples came down tumbling they all rolled themselves into the river. They shouldn't even do that because there's no way they could've travelled five miles all by themselves."

"Athleticism can get you to alot of places, my dear, don't underestimate it," he grinned. She however, huffed. "Oh come on- if it makes you feel any better, I made the river flow the apples into barrels and once full would be shipped to the barn immediately. Relax, see? Everything's fine...."

Fluttershy pondered on the last bit. "....r-really? Well that's better, I guess....." she said, although it felt more like a forced fat of reassurance. ".....well, now it's time to pick up the fillies."

"Ugh, why did she tell us to do this anyway?" grumbled Discord. He crossed his arms to show his "annoyance". Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

"Well, I've discussed with all my friends, and we have decided that this will be the plan for your day. They'll take you to all my other friends. First, you'll have to bring them for lunch at Sugarcube Corner, then you'll follow Sweetie to the Boutique. Scoots will accompany you to meet Rainbow Dash and then if I'm not mistaken, Spike will be there to bring you to Twilight's," Fluttershy explained.

Discord's ears perked as he could hear a loud bell ringing. And children. They were nearing the school, and Discord wasn't too happy about that. "Wait- when you said that they'll lead me to the others- does that mean that you won't be accompanying me the rest of the day?"

Fluttershy hesitated. "Well, unfortunately yes. You don't need to worry, Discord. I'll just be at my cottage waiting for you after you're done," she smiled at him. He scoffed.

"....hmpf, I know that. I'm not a kid, Fluttershy- I don't always need a hoof to hold wherever I go," he said as he stomped off, surprising Fluttershy.

"You don't need me to accompany you to find the fillies?-"

"No, I can do it myself!" he announced loudly as he stormed off to the school himself.

Fluttershy held a hoof to her mouth, unsure about it. However, she relented and gave out a sigh. ".....see you back at the cottage."

He watched as children stormed out of their classes noisily, plenty of them running towards their caretakers sent to pick them up. He could also feel the awkwardness in the air as ponies gave weird glances at him from time to time. But of course, he understood their confusion. What is the Lord of Chaos doing at a school?

His attention was redirected back to the noisy children. Now, if it were any other day, children are some of the most interesting group of pony to encounter. Little chaotic troublemakers, he would say. But the day wasn't a fine day. With the plans of the day, he wasn't in the mood to be all cheery and mess around. He dreaded everything about it, obviously.

Anyway, he peered around, however he couldn't seem to spot the three fillies. "...well, them fillies do have little legs after all. Maybe they're just slow," he told himself. So he waited by a shady tree nearby the school, his eyes darted towards any filly or colt that walked passed him. Of course, with how attentive he was of every passing pony, it made plenty of them pretty uncomfortable or even scared being darted at in such way.

He grew agitated after awhile, as they never seemed to be showing up. He raised his forearm, looking at the badly drawn watch on his wrist. Although, could it even be considered a watch? Instead of numbers, the bold statement "ITS BEEN LONG ENOUGH" was written in the circle of the watch. He groaned and peered towards the school's doors. Where were they?

He decided to find out for himself. He snapped his talon, and in a flash he appeared in the school's classroom. And he immediately noticed what the whole ordeal was: they seemed to be....decorating the class? He looked around, seeing little Scootaloo standing on the teacher's desk that was pushed against the wall, taping streamer ribbons above the blackboard. On the other side of class, Sweetie on the other hoof was posting what appeared to be hoofmade drawings from other children. On them were written in bold letters things like "Equestria, my home!" and or "Love And Serve Our Country!" and such. He peered to the corner, where it seemed that Applebloom and who appeared to be their grade teacher sweeping the floors.

It didn't take long for them to notice him, as Applebloom turned to his direction. She was greeted with a scowl, as he wasn't all too happy with the fact that they haven't left the class yet as he was promised by Applejack that they would. Cheerilee too turned her gaze as she noticed Applebloom's surprised expression. And too was she surprised seeing the Lord of Chaos in the middle of her classroom, arms folded. "M-Mr Discord! What a surprise to see you here!"

"And a surprise it is to be sure- what is going on here?!" he exclaimed, catching everypony else's attention. "I've waited out there for at most- 20 goddamn minutes!" Discord stared her down, but all that Applebloom had to offer at that point was a frown. "Oh- don't you give me that look..."

"Can't you just wait a little longer?" Scootaloo said as she jumped off the desk, wiping sweat off her forehead. "We gotta finish decorating today. Tomorrow's the weekend and there's no school tomorrow-"

"I was promised a quick trip to here and back- I was never told to wait 20 more minutes than promised time!" he said again. He gestured around the class and gave Cheerilee a look. "W-what's this supposed to be? Child labor?"

Cheerilee coughed. "...Well, we're decorating for next week's National day. Did you come for them?" she asked.

"Well I'm certainly not here to hang out! Applejack was the one that told me to come here!"

Cheerilee then looked to Applebloom."Did Applejack not notify you all of this?"

Applebloom turned away hesitantly. "W-well, she did..." she admitted. "But we just wanted to help ya out.... it's bound to be hard for ya to have ta' decorate this whole class on y'own...." she said, looking up at Cherokee with sad eyes. Cheerilee sighed.

"...I see. But it's not very nice as well to leave Mr Discord waiting for you out there for so long- especially without telling him beforehoof," she turned to the others, making sure that everypony in the room heard her little lecture. And they did, as they looked to each other with drooped ears, feeling guilty. She then turned to Discord, who was leaning against the window sour, waiting for the whole ordeal to be over already. "Mr Discord, my apologies for holding them back..." she turned to the others again, and calling them to come all together. And sadly they knew what she was going to do. "You girls should take your leave. I'll be fine, I promise," she assured them.

Although, they seemed uncertain of it all. Sweetie then spoke. "But it's gonna take you forever to finish-"

Before she could finish that sentence even, a snap was heard that sent sparks all around the room. And in an instant, the room was decorated beautifully, with ribbons trailing the walls and the patriotic drawings pasted neatly around the room. The classroom itself was spotless- even more so than it had ever been before! It was as if the floors were waxed, the windows were polished, and any unsteady chairs and tables were fixed and polished like new.

They stared agape at their surroundings, before knowing turning to the obvious culprit of it all. He was tapping his feet at that point, grumbling. "There, all done. Can we go now?" he asked rather impatiently.

"....why, thank you-"

"Yes, yes, whatever! Time to go, girls! Giddy up!" he announced as he marched out of the classroom with haste. The girls looked to each other, before looking to Cheerilee, who seemed to be in awe of how shiny the floors were and how much more steady the tables were. She paused as she noticed them staring at her.

Flustered, she stammered. "W-well, you heard him. You may go home now," she said to them, escorting them out, who were still quite blanked of what had just happened.

Discord on the other hoof was pushing the school gates to and fro, obviously succumbing to the boredom already. Thankfully however, the girls finally caught up to him after awhile.

"Finally!" he said rather tiredly. And from there, he was led on to the next task at hoof for him.

Author's Note

sorry for long update pls don leave