“Princess Celestia didn’t mention that part…”
“Yes well, Celestia doesn’t know everything.”
They fell silent for a while. Suddenly, the draconequus pulled Fluttershy into a hug and held her tight. Fluttershy’s heart instantly tried to leap out of her chest. Discord started to stroke her silky mane, running his fingers through it. Fluttershy slowly relaxed, enjoying his touch and nuzzling into his chest. At her nuzzling, Discord pulled her closer and wrapped his long body around her like a snake, laying down on the bed. As they cuddled closer, Fluttershy threw her leg around his body, wanting as much of their skin touching as physically possible. He inhaled sharply and she looked up at him.
“I-I’m sorry, too much?” She asked, withdrawing her leg.
“No-no-no! I just didn’t expect you to do that.” He reached over and used her leg to pull her close again, wrapping it around his body once more. They laid like this for a long while, nuzzling each other and falling in and out of sleep.
“Fluttershy?”
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Discord.” She smiled up at him sleepily.
He returned her gaze, frowning slightly. “I don’t mean I love you as a friend. I mean, I do love you like a friend, but—“
She put her hoof over his mouth and shhh-ed him before moving up to his face slowly. “I didn’t mean it like that either.” She said this as she moved closer and closer, and as she moved her hoof away from his mouth she replaced it with her lips. The kiss was slow, deliberate. Discord, surprised at first, now reached back and held her by the nape of her neck, deepening the kiss. She sighed against his lips and allowed him to take control. They enjoyed the slow bliss of each other for a while.
Eventually they broke their kiss and gazed at each other, neither of them able to speak. Finally, Discord broke the silence.
“That was probably the best kiss of my life, and that’s saying something once you consider how long I’ve lived.”
Fluttershy simply giggled. “Well, that was my first kiss ever… I’m glad it was so high on the scale.”
“My dear Fluttershy, you must be joking! You’re a natural!” Discord laughed and thought to himself, ‘I wonder what else she’s a natural at…’ He leaned in and gave her another kiss, this one not quite as long but just as enjoyable.
“He pulled away and smiled at her. “Hungry?”
She nodded in response. “Dinner isn’t until six, though.”
Discord shook his finger at her and at tapped her nose with it, earning a giggle. “Dinner with Celestia is at six. We can have dinner whenever you’re hungry… that is, if you’d like.”
“I would love to have dinner with you.
About twenty minutes later they were eating apple slices and other fruits together on her bed, Discord talking about his childhood.
“You know, I didn’t always look like this. The draconeqi died out even before I was born, and as the Lord of Chaos I felt as though this form suited me best.”
“Really? What did you look like before?”
“Just like any other alicorn does.”
“You were an alicorn? I didn’t even realize there were male alicorns… Could I see it?”
“See what?”
“Your natural form, silly!”
Discord hesitated. “It’s been so long since I’ve been that way, I’m not sure I could do it.” One glance from her pleading eyes made him chuckle. “But I will certainly try.”
He finished his apple and got down from the bed. He closed his eyes, concentrating. For a long time he stood like that, and Fluttershy was starting to think that nothing was going to happen. In the next moment, Discord started to glow, a bright, blinding glow that slowly grew bigger and bigger until Fluttershy couldn’t look at him anymore. She shielded her eyes, and before she knew it the light was gone. She blinked several times to clear her vision.
“Well… what do you think?”
Draconequus Discord was no longer in the room. What stood before Fluttershy now was an alicorn with a deep grey coat and midnight blue hair that swept backwards, as if he had just gone on a speedy flight to PonyVille and back. His eyes were much kinder in his pony form, and they too were deep pools of blue that seemed to go on forever. All in all, Fluttershy was now looking at the most handsome stallion she had ever seen in her life. She circled him cautiously, examining every bit of him until her eyes landed on his cutie mark: a pinwheel with silly eyes colored bright blue and yellow.
“Discord? Is that really you or is this a prank?” Fluttershy looked suspiciously at him.
“What, you don’t like it? This is what I looked like before… well before I became the Lord of Chaos. I can turn back if you’d like…”
“No! Discord, I loved you in your other form, but you have to know that you could’ve been a donkey and I still would’ve loved you. I love your natural form, much more than your draconnequus form, because this is what you’re meant to look like.”
Discord could feel the tears forming in his eyes, but quickly choked them down. “Thank you, Fluttershy.” He bent down and nuzzled her neck. Then he had a thought. “You know, I do feel better now that I’m my old self again… but I don’t want your friends to know that I’m who they know as Discord. I know you trust them, but please excuse me if I don’t. I really don’t think they like me, particularly now that I’m reformed.”
“Do you want me to call you something else, then?”
Discord smiled at her. “Call me by my old name; Ebony Laughter.”
Ebony Laughter, as he now wished to be called in his new reformed state, and Fluttershy spent all afternoon together. They flew around Canterlot, ate dessert at a thrifty little café, and made their way back to the castle, laughing and joking all the way. Ebony may not be Discord anymore, but he still liked to play tricks; nothing harmful, just little pranks. A waiter at the café kept trying to pour tea into a cup, but the cup kept moving around the table, and each time the waiter got more and more frustrated as he spilled so much tea on the tablecloth that it was completely brown with the liquid. Fluttershy couldn’t contain her laughter, and they had to leave the café before the waiter suspected anything. It was the best day either of them had had in a long while, and neither of them were willing to let it end so soon, particularly since Fluttershy was to leave soon to confront Misfortune, Discord’s old lover.
As they made their way back to the castle, Fluttershy brought the issue up again. “I really think you should come with us, Ebony. I know you don’t want to face her again, but don’t you see? This is the only way to conquer your past and move on entirely! Once we defeat her, don’t you feel as though you’d be completely happy again?”
Ebony bit his lower lip. “Fluttershy, I just don’t know. I’m scared. She was the reason I turned into the Lord of Chaos in the first place.”
Fluttershy gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”
He sighed. “Well… when the four of us were just kids, you have to understand how she and I felt. Celestia and Luna were heirs to the throne of Equestria, and we were just a couple of lowly peasant orphans. They never treated us that way, but everyone else did. They thought we were just a couple of scammers trying to get in good with the royal family in any way we could. Misfortune, Silver Streak at the time, felt that the only way to stop everyone from bullying us was to get rid of Celestia and Luna. I tried to talk her out of it, but she accused me of being too soft. So I toughened up, too much in fact.” His eyes started to water as he thought back. “I loved her so much, I didn’t want to disappoint her, and so I helped her. I thought we were just going to lock Celestia and Luna away for a little while, let their power over the people diminish a little. But then she sent them to that dreamland, and I knew that that was going too far. I left her, and never looked back.”
Fluttershy and Ebony had stopped walking at this point, and she was watching him tell his story with pitiful eyes. After a pause to compose himself, he said, “Long story short, she broke my heart, turned it to stone and took away all the friends I ever had in the world. And people wonder why I wanted Equestria to be one big distraction.” He looked at Fluttershy with eyes full of tears and fear. “I know I need to face her. I just don’t know how.”
Fluttershy was crying too, now. “We’ll face her together. There is nothing we can’t beat if we work together. I know how it is to be scared, I’m scared almost every day. But when I’m with you, you make me feel beautiful, confident. That has to mean something.”
Ebony put his forehead on hers. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”
She smiled at him. “Come on, let’s go back to the castle and go to sleep. We both have a big day tomorrow.”
As they entered the castle, Celestia called out to her.
“Fluttershy! We missed you at dinner! Have you seen Dis—“ At the sight of Ebony Laughter, she stopped dead in her sentence, her eyes wide with amazement. “Ahh, never you mind, I believe I’ve found him.”
“Evening, Celestia.’
“Evening… Discord?”
“Please, call me Ebony Laughter. How was your dinner?”
“Ebony? Oh my stars… you really have been reformed!” Celestia threw her front legs around Ebony’s neck, clinging to him with tears in her eyes. “Old friend, I cannot tell you how good it is to see you again! Why, I haven’t been so happy since Luna was returned to me!” She pulled away and wiped her eyes off with her wings.
“It feels good to be back, Celestia. I don’t think you know how much.” Ebony was wiping tears from his own eyes. After all the tears were gone, he composed himself and said, “I think you’ll be happy to hear that I will be accompanying the girls to confront Misfortune tomorrow.” Celestia only nodded, smiling broadly. “Fluttershy and I are going to bed now. Goodnight, Celestia.”
At this he turned and walked away, motioning Fluttershy to follow, Celestia beaming after them. Ebony let out a huge sigh of relief as they walked up the stairs to their rooms. He turned and flashed a half smile at Fluttershy. He opened the door to her room for her, and followed her in.
Ebony closed the door behind him and let out a huge sigh of relief. “Well, that went fairly well… a little too formal for my taste.” He frowned. “I miss snapping my fingers.”
Fluttershy giggled, earning a smile out of Ebony. “You could just summon a hand to snap it’s fingers for you, you know.”
Ebony’s face lit up, and soon enough a lion’s paw had appeared next to him, and proceeded to snap its fingers. He laughed loudly, something reminiscent of Discord.
Fluttershy smiled at him. “You know, I’m glad that’s the one thing that didn’t change.” As she said this, she blushed bright red.
“What do you mean?”
“Your voice.”
“Now it was Ebony’s turn to blush. He walked over to Fluttershy, nuzzled her and used his wing to point to the bed. “Can I sleep here tonight? I don’t want to be alone…”
Fluttershy nuzzled him back. “I don’t want to be alone either, but I think the bed is too small for us both to sleep comfortably.”
The lion’s paw appeared and snapped its fingers before disappearing again. The bed was now twice the size and height as it was before. Fluttershy laughed.
“Well, it’s a good thing I can fly.”
Ebony picked her up with his magic and placed her on the bed. “You won’t have to, my dear.” He snuggled up to her on the bed, putting one of his forelegs under her head while the other wrapped around her, pulling her close. She nuzzled his dark grey coat, and he laid his wing on top of her. Soon they were fast asleep.