My Little Draconequus: Wishing is Chaos
Chapter Three: Walking Tall
The visions in the cauldron’s smoke dissipated, the crystal clear images of Discord and Fluttershy coming apart as they darkened and changed back into curls of smoke. The coals inside sizzled as she poured water upon them.
Looking out her window, she saw that despite the nice weather, there was still a warm breeze going throughout the Everfree, and she decided to take a step outside. No longer needing her cloak, she kept it hung on the peg beside her door, and grabbed her saddlebag instead, putting it on before emerging into the forest waiting for her beyond the door.
She did not have far to go. Circling around her hut, she stopped once she reached the back of the house, and looked up to see a tall tree. From this tree hung countless glass bottles, all empty and hanging from thick cords tied to the branches. The tree itself had few leaves left, being old and therefore less fruitful than it had been in the past century. However, despite the years, it stood proud and mighty, and served its new purpose well.
Each bottle had a peculiar symbol on it, each one different from the other. Some had simple pictures, such as a sun, a flower, a bear, or an eye. Others were more complicated, some resembling letters seen in Saddle Arabia, or patterns of lines that confused the eye. But each symbol meant something, and only Zebras could read them. No other creature could know these secrets. The magic’s words were their burden to bear, and no other’s.
Zecora knew this, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she smelled all the earthy tones around her—the soil at her hooves, the dew still drying from the morning sun, the flowers and leaves patched all around the forest. The smell of the forest and all its natural miracles soothed her, and seemed to cleanse her soul. Her eyes opened as she felt the breeze caress her short mane and tail. She looked to the bottles hanging on the tree.
“I looked to see what you wished to show me. Fluttershy and Discord certainly have quite the task. What is the plan, if I may ask?”
Her attention to the tree doubled as she felt the breeze suddenly grow in strength and speed, watching the bottles as they waved to and fro, taking note of the symbols and the direction of the wind, and the order of the bottles being blown.
Her grin was wide and wry. “Ah, I see—always the mystery. Why, I’d even say that there is no plan at bay.” She turned her back to the tree, her smile still there. “Not even you, the power of earth, can tell the future…of what is to become…” She looked off to the vast distance of the forest, looking towards the direction of the cottage. “Of he and her.”
The wind whipped almost violently at her tail, causing it to slap against her side, and she snapped out of her reverie and laughed. “Oh, you stubborn magic, do not tease, do not tease! You know I have never failed you, I aim to please!” She looked back to the tree, her eyes again on the bottles. Her smile was gone, her eyes once again dark and stormy with curiosity and doubt. “…But I will confess, there are concerns I must address…”
The bottles rattled, encouraging her to go on. She sat on the ground and straightened her back before speaking. “Are you quite certain that the Wishwell and the transformation were necessary? This was quite a risk—you know that ponies find chaos so dark and scary. And now, with Fluttershy no longer a Pegasus…But a Draconequus…” She paused, recognizing the small pit of doubt and fear in her stomach, but not showing it on her face. “Is this truly what is needed for the world to see the need for Discord’s powers? There is no risk…no risk of danger, or a final hour…?”
This time the wind blew so hard that she actually fell over, though she took it with grace, landing on the ground with only a quick, surprised gasp and landing on the hard ground. She moaned for a moment, before turning back to the bottles as they clinked and clanked. She furrowed her brows, looking slightly angry.
“I know I am to trust you, but we both know that it is possible this could fail, with consequences dire. This is chaos we are tampering with—there could be injury, brokenness, fire! There could—“
The tree swayed, but only a few bottles chimed, each with a label of meaning—a zebra, a cloud, a red swirling pattern, and an owl.
Zecora’s eyes widened at the message, and bent her head towards the grass, her ears flattened backward as she sighed. “Yes…I suppose even I still do not understand why it is so important we have Discord at hand…”
A gentle breeze stroked her face, the bottle of the pink heart swaying gently in the direction of its caress.
“I don’t understand how you know what is best when you cannot see what the future has in store. But you have always been right before, that much is true. You are correct; I shan’t question you…”
She got back up on her hooves. She knew that the magic was still trying to soothe her, as it smoothed out her tail and gently kissed at her coat. She smiled, taking control over her emotions. She would have been lying to herself is she said that she still wasn’t afraid, but…
Being afraid didn’t get anything done. That was one thing her tribe had always taught, and she would not fail to remember it.
She turned back to the tree.
“Do not worry. Keep watching, keep watching. Keep them together.”
That is what the bottles translated into as she saw the glass shake in the winds.
“Keep watching. Keep them together. Wait and see. It is all you can do.”
Internally she sighed. They were right.
There was nothing else she could do but wait and watch…and hopefully see where all this was going.
She continued on, deeper into the forest in search of herbs…
Things were not so ominous back at the cottage, though it wasn’t easygoing either. Fluttershy herself sat there in the grass, gaping at Discord as if she had seen him take his eyeballs out of his head for the first time.
“You want me to…what?”
When he had said ‘baby steps’, Fluttershy did not think that he would mean it so literally.
Discord squinted his eyes at a claw after filing it in a shape to his satisfaction, watching it glint in the sunlight. “Oh, it’s really no big deal, you know,” he said, sliding off the rock that he sat on. “It’s not that much different from walking on four legs. Saw two of them off a pony and they’d be just the same!”
Fluttershy winced at that particular image in her head, shaking it away as she gasped. Angel, sitting beside her as he sniffed and nibbled on a patch of wild purple clover, stuck his tongue out in disgust.
“That’s…never actually happened before…Has it?” Fluttershy squeaked, shivering at the thought of some poor pony being tortured and losing two legs in the process.
Discord only laughed and shook his head, patting her on the head. “No, no! Of course not! At least, not to my knowledge, anyway. I’ve done an illusion or two to make a pony think he’d lost a couple of parts, but they were still there. Harmless little pranks, you know.”
Fluttershy sighed, happy enough with the answer to move on. “O-okay then…So…Why do I have to walk on two legs? What’s wrong with being on four?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, per se,” Discord answered, crossing his arms and looking down at her, his head blocking out the glare of the sun for her. “It’s just better. For a Draconequus, that is.”
Putting a hoo—a rabbit finger on her chin, she looked at him curiously. “Because it’s different from the way ponies walk?”
“I wish that were the only reason,” he answered, sighing. “But I’m afraid it’s more…more…” He gulped, and then bent his long neck over to her eye level, looking back and forth conspiratorially.
“Discord…?” she murmered, eyes going wide, before he put a lion palm up against his lips, looking to the side as if staying on watch. “The reasons for my bipedal ways are actually quite…quite…”
“Quite what?” She whispered.
He swallowed again, this one bigger than before, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.
“Logical.”
He gagged after speaking the word, and Fluttershy was surprised to feel an unpleasant electric shock course though her own body, her hackles rising and her pupils constricting. She winced, and her tongue stuck out in disgust. She resembled Discord at that moment, mirroring him.
She gasped when the feeling was over and covered her mouth with her hands. “What…What was—“
“The very word is enough to make a Draconequus sick to the stomach,” Discord explained, poofing up some mouthwash and gargling it, spitting it on the ground where a weed sat. The weed turned into peppermints with pink stalks.
“Really…?” She whispered to herself, staring at the candied plant before her. “You can’t even say it?”
“Unless you want to feel that sensation all over again, then no. But you’re getting me off track, Fluttershy.” A playset of a train appeared on his head, the tracks circling around his horns with a toy train tooting around and around, smoke coming out from its little plastic chimney.
“Oh! I am? I’m sorry…” Her hair hid her face as she blushed, embarrassed and thinking he was cross with her. Discord immediately poofed the train away and massaged his forehead, sighing rather loudly. Despite the chaos that kept him energized, it had still been a long day …
“Don’t be. Just listen. The body you’re in now, it’s built for walking upright better than on all fours. You can do both, but you’ll end up sorer for doing it the pony way after a couple of hours. We have long spines, with shorter limbs. If you walk the way you’re doing now for a while longer, you’ll notice that the middle of your spine will start to sag downward, making the rest of your back look like the humps of a camel.”
He turned into a camel for emphasis, his bushy eyebrows still present as he raised one of them at her. “And as fond of animals as you may be,” he continued, lifting a tan leg to scratch at his back green one, “I’m telling you, your back will be the worse for it.”
He changed back, a bright flash appearing before he stood before her again. “Not only that, but our front limbs really work better for manipulation,” he said rather matter-of-factly. “There’s a reason your front appendages are equipped with digits, and not your back ones. Handling objects will be a lot easier for you standing upright.”
“B-But…” she began to protest. “I’ve been walking like this since I was a filly,” Fluttershy said, getting off her stomach and standing there on all fours. “I…I’m not sure I can just switch so easily. You learn to walk as a baby, not as an adult. Can I really do that? I could barely fly as a Pegasus, so I don’t…” Her head lowered even farther, practically reaching the ground, as her hair completely hid her from view. “I don’t know if I could…”
She found herself looking back at him when she felt his hands cup both sides of her head and look up at him.
“Oh, you can, my little apprentice, you can. And you will!” he said with a toothy grin. “You’ve got the best chaos tutor in the business, and this doesn’t even have anything to do with magic! You’ll be fine. You’re built for it now! Besides, I swore to you that I would do anything to help your wish come true, didn’t I?”
She nodded, though it was somewhat reluctant. “Yes, but how is walking going to help?”
“You’ve got to walk in my shoes, correct? Might as well get started on that. You want to see my point of view? Well, mine’s a lot higher than yours, my dear, and the only way you can see what I see is by standing tall like moi. Not only that, but if your back is hurting from a lack of proper support, then you’re not going to learn as fast as you will with a straight and upward spine. Trust me, you’ll thank me for this.”
He snapped his fingers again, and Fluttershy stepped back as a long wooden walkway appeared in front of the both of them, equipped with silver rails on each side.
“There! Perfect for walking,” Discord complimented himself, dusting his claw with his chest, before turning to look back at her. “Well, no time’s better than the present, Flutterbuddy!”
Suddenly Fluttershy felt Discord’s chaotic magic embrace her and lift her upwards, floating her over towards the bars. Discord hadn’t moved her much with his magic before—a few times, but not enough so that she was used to it. She stuck her arms to her sides as it glided her over to the bars, herself in an upright position. The magic itself unglued her arms away, making them stick out to the sides and tap her balled fists against the rails.
“Come on, take hold of the bars, Fluttershy!” Discord encouraged, now on the opposite side of the walk from her, tapping on the rail.
Gulping, she did as she was told, wrapping her fingers around the bars, the cold metal tingling her sensitive paw, while her cold-blooded frog hand was able to take a more firm hold of it. The purple aura still held onto her, holding her weight for her, as her feet floated not even an inch above the wood of the walk.
“Good!” Discord praised her. “Okay, now I’m going to snap my fingers, and my magic is going to let you go. Keep holding on to the rail. Your legs will feel a bit wobbly, but if you keep your grip, you’ll be able to hold yourself up.”
Her nerves were on end, staring at her feet on the wood as if they were tipping on the edge of a cliff rather than on solid ground. Her heart rate already seemed to triple as a trickle of sweat made its silent path down her face. “Discord, wait, I d-don’t—”
Snap!
She had been so busy worrying that her grip had loosened, and the moment the chaotic energy let her go, her palms immediately slid forward, slick with nervous sweat, and the pits of her arms hit the bar, her knees immediately buckling.
She fell to the wood with a thwonk!
She yelped in pain, and Discord immediately appeared in front of her, flipping her over and looking at her from above. “Fluttershy! Are you all right?”
Her eyes swirled as a small red bump formed on her forehead. “I-I-I’m okaaaaaay…”
“Sweet chaos, this is going to be harder than I thought. Okay, new strategy!” Discord announced, making the walkway vanish and healing Fluttershy’s head wound. “You’ll need more proper support as you gain your balance, so! Let’s try again!”
“A-A-Again?!?” she squeaked, already flipping over and on her four legs again. “Discord, this…this really isn’t necessary. My back…it feels lovely,” she said, staring at the curve of her spine and ignoring the small ache that settled straight in the middle of it.
Angel Bunny, annoyed at being ignored for so long, hopped to her side. “She’s lying,” he deadpanned, giving her a straight look. “She said back at the cottage after talking to me that her new body was making her ache. She said her back hurt especially.”
Surprised that Angel was taking his side for once, Discord masked the feeling and instead gave the she-Draconequus a pointed look. “~Oh? Is that so?~” he singsonged. Fluttershy gave him a sheepish grin, her bangs once again covering half of her face as she nervously rubbed on arm against the other.
“Um…Well…” she sighed. “My back does hurt, just a little.”
“Well then.” He gave a side smile, looking cocky. He thought to make a joke out of Fluttershy’s lying, but once again restrained himself.
You’re in no position to joke about anything that could come back to bite you in the hind!
“Looks like I’m teaching you as I should, then,” Discord said smugly, shaking off his thoughts. “Well, don’t you worry, Flutterbuddy. We’ll have you up on your feet in no time, no time at all!”
He teleported from the front of her to behind her, and laughed at Fluttershy’s gasp as she felt him lift her up from under her arms, back again on her feet. “So I’m thinking perhaps I need to give you more personal assistance with this,” Discord said, Fluttershy looking back at him and blushing at the contact. He laughed again at that, wondering how she had ever learned to touch anypony without bursting into flames.
“Personal…assistance?”
“My, you’re asking a lot of questions today…“ He already saw it coming, her mouth barely open before his tail whipped around and held a furry finger up to her mouth. “Don’t say you’re sorry, you say it far too much, and if you apologize for that then I just may scream.”
Her mouth snapped shut, not wanting to hear anything of the sort, and nodded.
He smiled, ears perking up. “Good! No more apologizing today, you’ve used up your quota,” he joked. “Now, I’m going to keep my grip on you, and you’re going to put one of your feet forward. Don’t worry about falling, because I’m right here.”
She didn’t make a move, and just stared at the ground and her feet, looking discouraged. He nudged her back slightly with an elbow. “Come on, dearie. I’m not getting any younger over here.”
That caused a small giggle to bubble up inside her. “You really think…I can do it?”
“Did we already go over this? Of course you can! Dem—I mean, Angel Bunny over here does too! Don’t you?” his head whipped over towards the rabbit’s direction, and the rabbit scowled at him.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you were gonna say, buster.”
Giving him a final glare, Angel hopped over to Fluttershy and looked at her stomach.
Jumping up, Angel dove into Fluttershy’s kangaroo pouch. “A-Angel!” she gasped, blushing at the strange sensation of having something in her pouch. She nearly fell over, but Discord kept his claws around her forearms, looking over at her stomach with an interested look on his face.
Angel’s head popped up above the folds, and looked. “Whoa, this is nice!” he exclaimed, wiggling himself to get into a more comfortable position. “It’s so warm and compact in here!” He looked back up at his owner and best friend. “We shoulda gotten one of these things a long time ago!”
“Angel! P-please! Ask permission next time you do that!” Fluttershy scolded, though her voice wavered in embarrassment. It didn’t feel wrong, as her stomach did resemble a kangaroo’s, and that’s what kangaroos did with their pouches…But she wasn’t even used to the body yet. She felt like Angel had become some sort of awkward fifth appendage.
“Sure, sure, whatever,” Angel said, waving her comment off. “Listen, you let the ringworm over there guide you, and I’ll keep watch for anything you could trip over!”
This did not settle well for Fluttershy as she ignored the scowl that escaped Discord’s lips. “No, Angel! What if I fall over?”
Discord groaned. “You won’t fall over. I’m right here, remember?” A giant neon arrow suddenly appeared above his head, flashing downwards and pointing at him.
“And I’ll just jump out if you do,” Angel said. “Stop worrying already! Let’s get going.”
“As much as I despise admitting it, Puffy the Carrot Slayer here is right,” Discord said. “We need to keep going. I’d like to get you walking by the end of today, if possible.”
“Today?!?” Fluttershy gasped. “I--!”
“Yes, and then tomorrow we can work on flying!” he answered, smiling as if it were the most normal expectation in the world.
“Tomorrow?!? F-Flying?!?” She felt like she was going to start hyperventilating, her breathing already tripling in rate. “B-But…” She gave her small wings a little flap. “These are hardly built for flying, and I can’t even fly well with bigger Pegasus wings…”
“Well, you’re not going to be using those wings to fly, my dear. You’ll use your magic!”
Taking a look at her face, he smiled and rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t look so surprised, Flutterdear. You know I’m going to have to teach you how to use those powers of yours, right? If I don’t, you’ll never learn to master using them. Instead, they’ll master you. But honestly, just relax.”
He patted her head. “Just focus on the now, hmm? Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Miss Elizabeak’s already had enough trauma for today, anyway.”
Despite herself, she laughed again, amazed how he could always make her do so, no matter how anxious she was about something. Discord smiled at that, and even gave her arms a reassuring squeeze.
“Alright then. Ready, my little Draconequus?”
Her laugh already gone, she took a deep breath, and looked back to the ground, on her feet. “You won’t let go?”
“You have my word as an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader; I swear I shall not let go until you are ready, my dear!” he said, his scout cap on his head again as he listened to her melodious laugh again.
“Okay...” She nodded, a small smile on her face. “I’m ready.”
“Then lift up a foot and put it in front of the other,” Discord instructed. “You’ve seen me and other animals do it; it’s not that tricky. Maintaining balance is the hard part, but until you get the hang of the movements, I’ll take care of it.”
She nodded again, and slowly, slowly, lifted her webbed duck foot.
As if testing the water of a pool in the beginning of summer, she moved the foot forward and stepped down onto the soft green blades of grass.
She gasped with a smile. “I did it!”
Discord couldn’t help but let out a laugh, amused that such a small feat would thrill her so much. “That you did! Now do it again.”
More encouraged now, she lifted her other foot and took another step, Discord stepping forward with her and Angel Bunny watching the ground for anything that could trip her.
“I did it again!” she gasped excitedly. “Discord, I’m doing it…!”
“See? It’s not so hard now, is it?” he replied, a smug smile on his face.
“No! You were right, maybe I can do this!”
Her excitement stayed with her as they circled around her yard, only stumbling a little when Angel missed a small rock, but Discord was able to pull her back in enough time to recover. The rest went smoothly, but Fluttershy seemed to forget that Discord was handling her balance for her.
So when he suggested taking her by the hands and leading her, Fluttershy lost her confidence.
“I can’t hold on to you forever,” Discord said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’re just dying to stay in my strong arms for the rest of time, but that won’t get you anywhere, will you?”
She blushed, knowing it was a joke, but his implications embarrassed her nonetheless. “No, it won’t…”
“And I’ll still be able to catch you, anyway,” Discord said, still holding on to her arms from behind her. “I’ll still have a hold on you. You’ll just need to work harder at keeping your balance. Just remember to keep the weight of your body evenly distributed, and when lifting your leg to take a step, shift your weight over to the side you’re not moving. Got it?”
“N-no.”
“Okay then!” he yelled happily, jumping up and teleporting. Fluttershy quickly began to lose her balance in the millisecond he wasn’t there, only to feel a claw and paw grasp at her fingers and bring her forward again.
“See, what you did there, that wasn’t correct,” Discord said. “No weight distribution whatsoever! My word, have you not been listening?” he said with a teasing smile as she just stood there. Glancing at her knees, he saw they were wobbling.
“Hmm…Still too difficult for you. Alright then…”
Fluttershy marveled at him as he placed her held hands onto his shoulders, too distracted by her new discovery to be embarrassed by the contact.
He’s being so patient with me…He’s a good…a good teacher…
“Discord?” The name left her lips before she even spoke.
“Yes dear?” he replied, trying to decide where to put his own hands after she settled hers on his shoulders, putting her weight against his. He lightly laid them on her outstretched arms, not putting any weight on them.
“Have you ever taught anypony anything before? I mean, you are…” She paused and bit her lip, trying to think of a way to express herself without insulting him. “You’re being very...”
Kind? No, that would imply he was mean, and while he wasn’t exactly an angel, he wasn’t a bully, either, not anymore—at least, not to her he was.
Patient? That’s what made the whole experience so surprising to her. He was all about instant gratification, and didn’t like waiting, which was always so “boring” to him. But her progress was already slowing down, and yet she hadn’t seen a scowl from him, aside from the disdainful one for Angel Bunny. She had been afraid he would be frustrated by her slowness and would want to fly off to lay off some steam, but he was smiling at her!
But won’t my surprise hurt his feelings too? I can’t hurt him! He’s helping me so much, and he still hasn’t forgiven himself…Just like I haven’t forgiven myself for so many things…And I know how much that hurts.
“I can read you like a book right now, you know.”
Fluttershy gasped as she felt a skinny, bony elbow lean against the top of her head, but Discord hadn’t moved. Looking behind her, she saw a second Discord, a trick she had seen before. Nevertheless, it had surprised her this time, though it was only to a small degree—not enough to make her magic react, thank goodness.
Or is he the real Discord, and the one in front of me the duplicate?
“Well, my duplicates don’t seem to be able to talk, so if you’re wondering which one is the original, it would be moi,” the Discord beside her said, still casually leaning on her head like a table.
“And to answer your other question, no, I have never really taught anypony anything, Let’s be truthful, after all: nopony wants to learn from the Lord of Chaos! It would be far too much fun and different for them!” he spat. “And well, I obviously can’t teach them magic, as they don’t have the kind I have.”
He replaced his easygoing look of nonchalance with a prideful, happy one. “But now I have somepony that can finally learn the spectacularifficness that is being a Draconequus!”
His eyes widened. “No! Not somepony, somedraconequus! Yes! And to be completely honest, there is no one I would rather teach my ways to then to you, my…my friend…” His smile vanished by the end.
Fluttershy took note of the pause, and his saddened face. She blinked before she furrowed her brows in determination. She didn’t want Discord to wallow in guilt any more than he already had lately. That was her job!
She gave him a small smile, her eyes big and kind. “And there’s nopony I’d rather have teach me than my friend Discord.”
Discord blinked at that, growing warm at her kind words. Really, it was amazing to him. She was so nice. Almost impossibly so. Sometimes he wondered if she actually existed.
But she was real, she was solid. He felt her head supporting his elbow, with her soft hair pillowing his arm. Had he been dreaming, he would have known it.
“…You’ll just use any excuse to make any moment soppy, won’t you?”
“Wh-wha…?”
“Your friendship is so distracting, too!” He snapped his fingers and immediately showed up in front of Fluttershy again, feeling her cold frog hand on his right shoulder and her soft bunny one on his left, the doppelganger gone. “We need to keep going. You may be surprised by my patience, but I am capable of being so if needed, and I anticipated that your progress would be slow. However, I’m still determined to have you up and motoring by sunset, as there is much to do, and much chaos for you to learn!”
She gasped. “How did you know—“
“I said I could read you like a book at times, did I not?” Discord answered, but didn’t give her time to reply. “All right. Now, you have all your weight on me, but as we go, I want you to try to put less and less on me, and more on yourself as you walk. Tread lightly for now. I’m going to take a step back. You follow. Got it?”
Encouraged by her hesitant nod, he slowly stepped back, his fingers once again resting on her forearms in case she needed a quick rescue. Angel had removed himself from her pouch, deciding he didn’t want to have to stare at Discord’s “ugly mug” now that he was in front of her, but watched as he nibbled on more clover a few feet away from them.
With him to lean on, she found it hadn’t been much harder to take steps as it had been when he was guiding her from behind, though she knew it was only going to get harder from there. After a few steps, Discord already asked her to start putting more weight on her legs.
“Anchor yourself with the foot you keep on the ground. Yes, that’s it, there you go!”
She smiled at his praise as she took the slightest bit of weight off him and took a step. Slightly more confident, she jumped ahead from taking on a tiny bit of her own weight to almost none at all.
“Wait, wait, that’s not a good—“
Too late. Her legs had already turned to jelly as she realized she was unsteady, and her knee buckled as she tumbled forward. Discord was too late in grabbing her forearm, and she crashed into him, her forehead clonking against his as they tumbled back.
“Oh dear--!”
“Gyah!”
Fwomp!
“Oy vey…” Discord moaned, opening his eyes to see a very flustered Fluttershy lying on top of him as he lay there in the grass. He heard a very amused Angel Bunny clicking his teeth together in laughter in the background, rolling around in the grass and clutching his stomach. Discord paid no mind to it; he had bigger problems at the moment.
“You know, you sort of resemble an oddly-shaped tomato I came across once,” Discord commented, fascinated as he watched her face change from a soft buttery yellow to a deep and lively shade of red. He gave out a laugh as she started turning even more crimson from his words.
“I-I’m so sorry!” she spluttered. “I…I tried going t-too fast, didn’t I? Oh, I’m such a—“
“Ah ah ah! No more pity parties!” Discord interrupted, putting a finger to her lips as he bent his arms back to prop himself up on his elbows. “Pinkie would never forgive you, and—“
He then realized he couldn’t move his head back. Instead, it seemed to be locked into a slightly forward position, and it was hurting his neck…
“What in the universe...?” he looked upward, and Fluttershy followed suit and gasped.
“Discord! My...My antenna!”
The turquoise appendage seemed to have looped around her moose antler and then crossed back and around Discord’s antler and horn, with her antler locked under a prong of his own.
“Now how did that happen?”
“I don’t know! I g-guess I started to panic when I began to fall, and I must have just…grabbed onto something?”
“With your antenna?” He lifted one of his big bushy brows at her. “Around my horns, and your antler?” Laughter bubbled up his throat and he covered his mouth. “Oh, that is hilarious! Fluttershy, honestly, do you ever stop being so amusing?”
She didn’t seem to have an answer to that, which only entertained him further. “Ah, suddenly lost the ability to speak?” he asked with a smirk, before looking back up towards their horns. “Well, let’s see if I can fix that for you.”
He popped his own horns off his head, which earned a gasp from Fluttershy, only for it to turn into a…
“Are you giggling at me?” Discord asked, watching her cover her mouth as she sat above him.
She had never seen him without at least one of his horns on his head. She had seen him take one or the other off before to polish them, but never both.
It looked…funny.
“You are!” Discord said as her laughing grew harder. “You think I look strange without my horns? Well, let’s see how you look!”
Determination flashing in his mismatched eyes, his tail turned to the side and upward towards her head, wrapping around her antenna and antler and taking them off with an airy pop!
Fluttershy nearly screamed until she realized that she didn’t feel any pain, her mouth halfway open in a pause.
“You can do anything with chaos!” was Discord’s fast and easy explanation, snickering at her. “And now you look funny! So ha!”
The both then burst into a fit of laughter, smiling at each other, and Discord couldn’t help but rub her head a little as their laughter died down. She closed her eyes at the friendly touch, leaning her head into his claw. “That feels nice.”
He smirked. “I know.” This got another giggle out of her, and he smiled at that. His grin was replaced with a thoughtful look at the various pieces of natural headwear in his paw and claw. He held the tangled mess up by the base of Fluttershy’s moose antler. Looking closer at the antenna, he flicked a finger at it, straight in the middle.
Snap! Curling tightly on itself in a turquoise spiral, it released Discord’s horn and the two antlers, no longer tangling them all together. His horns fell against his chest, but Discord didn’t seem concerned as he reached up and placed Fluttershy’s appendages back on her head, safe and sound. Fluttershy once again marveled at how she didn’t feel a thing.
And then she remembered she was still on top of him.
She squealed, reeling back as fast as her antenna had. She plopped backward, landing on the ground with her backside. She winced at the motion, her only thought being about how embarrassed she was.
Discord himself hadn’t been perturbed in the slightest, popping his own horns back on and getting back up on his feet. He clapped his hands, getting Fluttershy’s attention.
“~Okay~! Time to try again!” he sing-songed, and quickly grabbed her hands before she could protest, flopping awkwardly against him as he put them on his shoulders again. He quickly felt her grip them, and then looked down as the top of her feet touched the ground.
“On your soles, dear.” He lifted her up slightly at the waist until the bottom of both her feet touched the grass. “Like so.”
His hands did not move from her waist, a point Fluttershy was all too aware of, but too embarrassed to make out loud.
He took a step back. She followed.
Another, then another, then another.
“Alright, start taking on your weight, like you did before,” Discord said, nodding at her progress. “But this time, take it slow and steady, slow and steady. Like that turtle friend of Dashie’s…Stank, or whatever it is.”
“Oh, it’s Tank!” Fluttershy corrected him, too nervous to laugh at the mix up. “Tank is his name.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
She shook her head with a small smile at this, wondering if Discord would ever get along with animals. She then let the thought go, doing her best to focus.
Her confidence had shattered at the moment she had fallen on him, though, and it took a while for it to build back up again. She lost her footing on a clump of dirt near one of her potted daffodils, but Discord was prepared this time, and was able to hold her back at the waist instead of sending them stumbling.
“Aha! Your fiendish antenna won’t be getting back at us again!” Discord cheered as he helped her gain her balance again. “Try again, and keep trying adding more weight. You’re doing lovely, just lovely!”
“You really think so?” she asked hopefully, a small smile forming on her face.
“Of course! You’ve had a stumble or two, but that’s to be expected. Now, if you had spontaneously combusted…”
“Huh?!?” Her eyes popped open in a gasp. “That won’t—“
“I’m joking, joking!”
After he was able to finally calm her down, she practiced more and eventually started taking on enough weight that Discord stopped her at the edge of her yard.
“Let’s go for a walk!” he announced, looking down the path that walked alongside the Everfree, towards the green, lush mountains ahead. “It’s been so long since we’ve just walked and talked, has it not?” he said, turning his head towards her. “And this can be the final step in your walking lessons! By the time we’re back, you’ll be motoring around like nopony’s business!”
Fluttershy was hesitant. “A walk? Oh, I’m not sure, Discord, I—“
“Nonsense!” he cut her off. Letting go of her waist, he grabbed her rabbit paw with his lion one.
The motion was still too quick for her, and she immediately started wobbling on her legs, about to fall over to the side. Discord pulled the rest of her rabbit arm towards him, and she fumbled back over to him, her face plunging against his chest.
“Whoopsy daisy!” he laughed, a daisy growing out of his ear. He plucked it out and chomped down on it, swallowing it with exaggerated enthusiasm. “Come now, Fluttershy. You can do this! There’s no need to crash into me anymore.” He used his claw to tip her back on her feet and settled it on her shoulder, his paw still holding her hand. “Steady now…”
Gulping, she looked down to her feet so she could watch her step.
Discord frowned. She would never learn that way if she didn’t trust herself, and he knew that. “Fluttershy,” he started to say. “Look at me.”
“Huh?” she squeaked.
“Look at me, Fluttershy,” he said again, and she felt his claw leave her shoulder and his paw hold her steady at the arm, his talons lightly gripping her chin to have her look at him.
“You have to walk without staring at the ground the entire time. It’s distracting you from focusing on your balance. Look at me instead.”
She tried following his directions, bashfully looking at him. The red irises popped out from the yellow sclera of his eyes, as if looking at a small clump of poppies amid a field of dandelions. They were eyes that used to terrify her, but she couldn’t help but now think that they were quite pretty. However, the thought startled her, and she turned red again, breaking the contact and looking away. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You just did. Don’t tell me you’re bashful now?” he asked her. “After everything that we’ve been through today? What’s wrong?” He could only think of one reason.
“I—“
“…Do my eyes scare you? Is that it?” he said, his voice slightly lowered.
He had tried to hide it, but she could hear a slight bit of hurt in his voice, and she was quick to turn her head back. “No! That’s not it at all! I actually…”
She looked to the ground. “I like them,” she whispered.
Discord’s ears perked at that. “You do?” he asked her incredulously, his voice back up to its usual volume and pitch. “Really? Well, that’s a first.” He conjured up a mirror, releasing her chin and looking at himself. “I love my eyes as well, but I never thought I’d hear a pony agree with me.” He gave himself a smile in the mirror, flashing his canines and clicking his tongue with a wink, pointing at the reflection.
She giggled at his antics. “Well, I do.”
Flashing his mirror away, he said, “Then you should have no problem looking at me instead, if they don’t scare you. But that doesn’t matter. I just want you to practice looking ahead of you, rather than below.”
He eyed her feet, but she still noticed the happy smile on his face from her comment. That alone was enough for a smile to grace her face as well.
“Steady yourself,” he commanded, the happy moment gone. Putting her feet side-to-side, she did so, and was surprised that Discord was just now merely holding onto her paw.
“Good!” he said, satisfied. “Now…” With exaggerated movement, he took a step forward. “We go!”
Hesitantly, she followed him, taking a hesitant bear step forward and wobbling a bit. Feeling his claw holding her paw, she felt as if he was an anchor to her, and she would be safe as long as he was beside her.
I can do this. I can do this! I just have to…have to balance myself, and do as he says, and then we’ll be one step closer to—“
“Excellent!”
Fluttershy had been so stuck in her thoughts that she didn’t notice they had taken more than just one step together, already a few feet away from where they had started, and she gasped in surprised, gripping onto Discord’s claw harder.
“We’re walking, Discord! We’re walking!”
He scoffed at that, amused. “You were expecting something else to happen? Walking is nothing out of the ordinary.” He sighed. “Trust me.”
Fluttershy took a good look at him as they walked together, side-by-side. She was proud of herself, but her good feelings were disturbed by his slightly stolid face .
It’s been so long since we’ve just walked and talked, has it not?
“Discord…”
He must have been doing some thinking as well. He seemed to be in his own world until she spoke. “Hmm?”
She found herself looking at him again, into his eyes. She found herself unable to speak.
She wanted to talk about the last few days—over what had happened, and why he did it. How was he feeling? Was he afraid? Scared? Angry, even?
Discord stopped walking, but Fluttershy didn’t notice until it was too late, still holding onto his hand, only for it to pull her backward as she went too far. He caught her once again for the umpteenth time, this time with both of his hands underneath her arms.
He looked down at her from above. “Getting distracted?” he asked with a raised brow.
She gave him a cheesy smile. “Um…”
With a sigh, he only said, “Try, try, try again!” and helped her get back up on her feet.
“Thank you.” She looked back up at him hesitantly, pushing her strands back behind her ear.
Skipping the formalities, he already started moving forward and Fluttershy had to take a few quick steps to catch up with him. Discord noticed she seemed to do so with little trouble, and gave her a smile. “There you go!” he praised, before turning back to the path. “So, what was it you wanted to ask me?”
“What?”
“You said my name earlier.” He raised a pointer finger like a scientist stating a fact. “Usually, when one says another’s name, that one wants the other’s attention. For instance, when I want Tia’s attention, I enjoy turning into a bug and screaming her name into her ear with the decibels of a roaring lion.”
Fluttershy gasped at that. “You actually do that? To the Princess?”
Discord scoffed at her incredulity. “Are you really that surprised, Fluttershy? Do you know me at all? She and I have been enemies since day numero uno!” He pointed his finger again with certainty.
“Even…now?”
“What do you mean?” He looked at her.
She stopped, and he stopped with her. With courage she didn’t know she had, she took his claw in her paw too, standing in front of him.
“Is she still your enemy, Discord? Even after all of this?”
This time it was Discord who was unsettled by the eye contact. Her directness was a surprise to him; it wasn’t something she did very often. He had seen it before, of course—she was that way when directness was the only way to get something out of him.
So what does she want now?
He frowned further, and broke eye contact, though he continued holding her hands. Fluttershy had rearranged her hands so that their fingers were intertwined, and Discord had to admit…It felt nice. There weren’t a lot of other creatures around with hands like his, with fingers and opposable thumbs. It was a sensation he had never really felt before.
He looked to the ground. “Is this a way of you trying to…How did you put it?” he asked her, though his voice had little inflection. “’Understanding me’? Trying to get into my brain, hoping to see some cruel and tortured past, seeing if you can get under the hard, candy-coated shell into the soft, caramel insides?”
“Discord—“
“You realize that I really did mean it, when I said that it would be hard to do such a thing?”
“What?” She said, remembering his joking about it back at the cottage. “Of course I knew you meant it!” she argued back. She immediately let go of his hand with her paw, and Discord hated the emptiness he suddenly felt there until he felt softness on his cheek.
With her paw on his face, she said, “Discord…understanding anypo—I mean, anydraconequus—is hard. We’re all different, with different experiences, likes, dislikes…It may sound easy, but I know how difficult it is…”
She lifted her paw up further and started brushing at his big, bushy eyebrows, straightening them for him. Discord gave her a confused look, but allowed her to continue, because that too felt…Sort of nice.
Sort of.
“And I know it was…a big wish. A very big wish. And I…I…”
Discord knew immediately what was coming when he heard her voice start to break. He didn’t need to see her eyes starting to shine with unshed tears.
“I’m so sorry!”
The breath was knocked out of him when she jumped towards him and clasped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and sobbing loudly into his small shoulder.
“…Sorry?!?” Discord repeated. He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to let go of him, only so he could look at her more directly. “My dear, whatever are you sorry for? What in the world have you done to feel the need to cry like this? Draconequus tears aren’t that useful, dear, unless you make them so.”
A steady stream of tears still racing down her face, she took a few breaths and said “I’m s-s-sorry for….for w-what happened.”
“For what happened?” He looked back towards the cottage. They hadn’t gone very far in their ‘walk’ at all; he could still easily spot the small blue patch of wildflowers, the magic one easily sticking out despite its camouflage, in his mind’s eye.
“You mean your wish?” He looked back at her, and gave a shot at being sympathetic. “Well, it was a shock, but the results were rather exciting, right? I got to face off with an angry spork, after all!” He forced a smile at her.
But she only shook her head adamantly. “N-no! I mean, w-well, yes…b-but…” She cried further and felt a finger snap, only to find a handkerchief in Discord’s hand. She took it and dabbed it at her eyes, and blew her nose.
“I meant with everything,” she further explained. “I’m sorry for everything, Discord. For forcing you to be friends, for manipulating you, for disappointing you, for being a failure as a friend…It’s because of that…Because of my failures that you…That you…” Her eyes watered again and her jaw clenched, as her explanation only made things worse. She started crying harder again. “I’m so sorry!”
Discord just stood there, looking at her. He felt that he should be confused, but even her vague apology was enough clarification for him.
Fluttershy took in a sharp breath when suddenly, Discord was the one to grab hold of her and hold her tight in an embrace.
“What happened with Ti—with him,” he spat, angry just from thinking the name, “—is not your fault. You may think it is, but it was my mistake, and only mine. Don’t you dare take the blame for me, Fluttershy.”
His hug loosened somewhat, but it remained as he closed his eyes.
“Don’t you dare take the blame,” he repeated.
Even though his embrace helped soften the pain a little, she was still crying and feeling hatred towards herself. “I have to,” she said, her paw and webbed hand clutching at his shoulders.
“No you—“
“I have to. You’re my friend. And for a while, I was your only friend. I was supposed to be there for you, I was supposed to help you be happy and help you get along with everypony else. But I failed.”
She released his shoulders and held his neck instead. “The others didn’t see you as a friend because I didn’t try hard enough, and you had to restrain your chaos because ponies didn’t like it, but I didn’t do anything to help! I should have known you weren’t using your magic enough, but I didn’t even bother trying to help you!”
She pulled her head back and met eyes with him, and Discord’s heart cracked at the agony in her face. “I was a horrible friend to you…and that’s why you helped him. Because he offered you something better…I wasn’t good enough…”
Her face seemed to crease and crinkle like paper. It looked broken.
No. This wasn’t the way she was supposed to be. She was supposed to be smiling. She was supposed to be happy. Maybe nervous or shy, but not like this. Discord had already made her cry enough two days ago, when he foolishly threw her and the others away for his own satisfaction, only for it blow up in his face.
He couldn’t stand to watch as she cried again…especially on his account.
He held her more tightly against him now, more determined than ever to break through all the madness that was keeping their friendship from mending completely. Madness was something he usually embraced, but emotional turmoil was another thing to him completely, and he didn’t want it.
Especially not between him and his best friend.
“You were and you are good enough. I was a fool,” Discord said, petting her hair as her head rested on his shoulder. “You weren’t the one who wasn’t trying hard enough, Fluttershy. It was me… I see that now. And…Well, I think I don’t have to tell you that your friends weren’t trying very hard to get along with me either. I still sought out to annoy them and play my fun little games with them, and they saw me as annoying as the common housefly. Worse, even.”
“Discord—“
“Please, let me finish,” he interrupted, looking back at her and putting a finger to her lips.
Fluttershy smiled again, despite her tears. He remembered to say ‘please’ again.
He sighed. Being so honest and forward like this was hard for him, but he had to continue, for the sake of their friendship…
“But like I said, I sort of…enjoyed annoying them. Especially Twilight. That mare is just as easily irritated as Tia is at times. It’s hilarious!” He fought the smile on his face before turning somber again.
“I didn’t take any of it seriously…until two days ago. The only time friendship really mattered to me was when I was with you, but even then…”
He paused. He had to be careful. He couldn’t affirm her fears.
Fluttershy’s lip started to tremble. “Even then I wasn’t—“
“I already told you, you were enough!” Discord barked, and immediately softened and felt a wave of guilt crash through him as she flinched at his voice.
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy…” He sighed.
Why is this so difficult? This friendship business is terribly annoying, and yet I need her. She’s the only one that can put up with me like this! Twilight may have saved my life, but this girl would have done the same and more…
So I’d better get on with it.
“What I was going to say was that even then, I didn’t know how much your friendship meant to me. How much you meant to me.”
He poked a finger at her chest, and watched her eyes widen at his words.
“And it was because I still wanted power. I wanted the freedom to do whatever I wished, regardless of everyone else. I was being held back. Celestia, your friends, everypony else…They wanted me to stop my powers cold turkey. They didn’t care about what I wanted. They only cared about what they wanted. And I know you could say the same for me, but at least I was trying to change. It was a feeble attempt, but it was a try, nonetheless…”
He found himself growing angry as he thought more about it.
“The only time my powers were considered any ‘good’ was if I used it for their benefit. But when I used them to make myself happy, well! That wasn’t good enough, was it? Even something as harmless as a flying flower was considered ‘bad’! Yet if they needed an army of them to fight, oh, I don’t know, a fleet of giant evil dragons with horrible allergies to pollen, then they’d be at my knees begging!”
Discord had let her go by this point. Now he was just pacing back and forth, back and forth, his paw and claw in fists.
“Using me. Me! Discord! A god! That’s all Celestia wanted. That’s all she ever wanted! And the same went for everyone else!”
Fluttershy stood, watching him. The sun started going down, turning the sky a deep, deep orange. It was beautiful, but he was all that took her attention, her heart aching for him.
“That’s all they ever wanted! They think they’re so great, that their ways are so much better! But I say my way, it’s the more fun one! The more exciting one! But they just wanted to use me and take it all away from me! It was either that way, or the stone way!”
“Discord…”
He stopped again, and noticed her eyes watering. “Fluttershy, what…Please, I’m just angry, but it’s not with you! Don’t you see?”
He held his hands out towards her. “You were different. You let me use my chaos…Not for you, not for other ponies, but for me. You’ve been that way ever since you tried reforming me.”
“B-But….” Fluttershy’s face crinkled again. “I…I still had my own reasons…”
“…Yes, you did,” he said, his voice lowered. “You wanted to make Celestia and your friends proud, and you wanted to protect your country from…me…”
He clenched his teeth, not willing to get more upset than he had already that day, willing his eyes to stop burning.
“But you still tried to make me happy, as well. You stood up for me. You let me use my magic. You weren’t bothered by my harmless little tricks, not in the least. As our friendship went on, the only times you protested against them was when I pranked or mislead you and your friends…”
Memories suddenly flashed through his mind. He remembered moments he had shared with Fluttershy. His favorite was the time when he moved the Aurora Borealis. He had wanted to show her, knowing she would appreciate its mysterious beauty as much as he did. He had moved it right above her cottage using his magic. They had flown up to soft, glowing, magical lights, and had rested upon it, watching the rest of it ribbon around the dark blue night sky, the stars twinkling around him. The amazed look on Fluttershy’s face had been worth it.
He remembered pushing her down the strip of wavering light, using it like a slide. She, of course, had been afraid of it at first, but he had surprised her as the Borealis sloped downward, pushing her down.
She had started out screaming, only to ask him to do it, again and again, shortly afterward. They had even slid down it together, him holding her small pony-self in his arms as they slid around.
“That was so much fun! I felt like a filly again…”
He smiled at the memory.
“…You appreciated my magic. You were the only one that did. You cared for me.”
“Of course I did!” Fluttershy said, taking a perfectly balanced step towards him. “That’s what friends do! I may have agreed to befriend you to help Celestia and Equestria, but I really did want to see if I could befriend you. I couldn’t have possibly refused, knowing that you would have to stay in stone if I didn’t agree to help you. That would have been horrible! That would have…”
She took another step, and laid her forehead on his chest, her hands on her own chest, curled up into another.
“That would have been a mistake…I’m so glad…So glad that Celestia chose me to help you, and that I agreed to. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten a friend like you.”
“You mean…” Discord started to ask, looking at her in a puzzled way. “You don’t regret it? Helping me? Even after what I’ve done?”
He felt her head softly shake against his fur. “Never,” was her simple answer. “I’ll never regret it. I would do it again, too. Every time.”
That did it. Now he was the upset one. His irises grew big and shiny, and the crystal-clear tears welled in his eyes.
“Yes…I…I’m glad you did, too. I…I know you may think that I…that I don’t appreciate you…That I gave you up for him easily. But I didn’t, Fluttershy. It took what felt like ages to make my decision. You were the only one that held me back.”
She took her head off of him and looked up. She hadn’t known that. “You…You did?”
He nodded once and crossed his arms. “Had it not been for you, I would’ve taken his offer without hesitation.”
She didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hoof, he had considered her and their friendship. That showed he valued it in some way.
But on the other hoof…
“…But you still chose him…” she whispered. Her voice wavered more than she wanted it to.
Discord winced. He knew she would say that. And she was right, too.
“I did…And I’m truly, truly sorry for that, Fluttershy.”
He tipped her chin up.
“If I could do it over again, I would never have given him even the chance to offer me his deal. I would have duct taped his lips five times over before his pretty little lies could touch my ears. I would have never betrayed you.”
He let her go, and turned around, his hands clasped behind his back as he took a look at the display of fiery oranges, soft pinks, and majestic purples in the sky.
“But in doing so, I realized just how important friendship is. You remember me saying that? I realized nothing was worth more than that—a kingdom, control over everypony…And I meant it, Fluttershy, when I said you were worth all the magic in the world and more. You did nothing but give and give and give, while I took it all. Your kindness, your charity, your comfort…I took it all, without taking a moment to think of how much that all meant to me. And now here you are…” He turned back to her and laid his hands out before her. “A Draconequus, and all because you want to understand me! Fluttershy, honestly! Does your level of kindness actually exist?”
He put his hands on his hips and tapped a foot. “Because sometimes I fear you’re actually a figment of my imagination. After all, I’m a loopy guy. It’s entirely plausible. So tell me,” he joked. “Speak to me, apparition! Are you truly a friend of mine, or are you just my mind playing tricks on me?”
This made her finally laugh, and Discord felt the tension in his chest finally release.
“I know I’m not how I usually look,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “But…I’m real, Discord. Really, really real.”
He returned the smile. “Allow me to be cheesy for a moment more, dear, and let me just say…You’re my best and dearest friend, Fluttershy. You always will be. My biggest mistake was thinking that you could be easily replaced, and I was wrong. You are irreplaceable. You’re the kindest creature I’ve ever met, and I find myself acting like you as I beg you for forgiveness for the thousandth time.”
She shook her head and laughed, but the tears ran down her face…
“Do you…do you really mean that, Discord?” she croaked, looking up at him.
“Mean what?” he asked her, his eyes curious, but his voice soft. “What do you mean, Flutterbuddy?”
She swallowed. “I...r-really mean that much to you? As an…irreplaceable friend?”
“Most definitely!” Discord assured her with confidence. “I realize that now. You won’t ever be betrayed by me again.”
A burst of happiness burst through her chest at that. “Did you just…not know it…when you—“
He could read her mind, and saved her the trouble of finishing. “Like I said, Fluttershy: this friendship business is new to me. I had no idea how much I cared for you until you were taken away, along with my magic. I had a bad feeling in my stomach during the entire escapade with Tirek, but I had ignored it in my thirst for power. I knew it was wrong. I knew I was betraying you. I had felt bad. But I didn’t truly know what I had lost until—excuse the cliché—it was gone.”
She was stunned. She had always known that he was capable of kindness, of being a friend. She had seen how genuine he had been when he awarded Twilight with the talisman that served as the final key to the box, telling them how he truly felt about them.
But he went above and beyond that as he told her all this, and finished with telling her:
“And I hope not to lose you again. I don’t think I could deal with the pain or the guilt again, Fluttershy.”
She smiled, gazing at him with her teal eyes that never changed. “You won’t. I already said that, didn’t I?” She giggled. “Silly.”
“Silly?!?” Discord shrieked, as if it were an insult. “My dear, my dear! That is such a weak adjective for a creature of chaos such as myself!”
He jumped up and floated over to her, getting in her face. “What about ridiculous?”
Snap! Flower petals grew around his head.
“What about zany?!?”
Snap! A fire hydrant appeared, barking and walking over to a tree, sniffing around it.
“What about ludicrous? Preposterous? Outrageous? Bizarre?”
Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!
The path where Fluttershy stood turned into the keys of a piano. Rocks and pebbles began to skip like they were being thrown across a lake, hitting the keys as they skipped to and fro like frogs. The notes of piano music the skipping rocks produced made themselves visible, as if the score to the song was being written across the sky. A drumset and a guitar suddenly appeared in the air, playing on their own without a musician to use them.
“Wouldn’t you say this surpasses silly?” Discord asked her, gesturing to the seemingly-impossible scene. “Why, I’d even say it’s more surprising to the naked eye more than the sight of you walking on two feet!”
Fluttershy only stood and laughed. This trick was a new one, one that made her start tapping her foot and wave side to side without thinking about it. “Why do you say that, Discord?”
“You’ve been moving on your own two feet this entire time!” he pointed out, grinning as he watched her gasp and look at her legs. “And you barely even stumbled! Congratulations, Flutterbuddy!”
Confetti sprinkled above from the sky, and he grabbed Fluttershy and started whirling her around in a circle, without any sort of rhythm to the movement.
“You’ll be a fully-functioning Draconequus in no time! You’ll do so well, you’ll barely even realize you’re not a pony anymore!”
“Discord!” she giggled. “P-Put me down!”
“No!”
“Discord!”
“What?!? This is the very next step after walking! Don’t you want to be able to jig with those mismatched feet?!? Come now, it’s been a long day! Loosen up! Live a little!”
With another bright smile, she decided to humor him, and let him twirl her and move around in circles.
She was so happy to have one of her best friends back as he dipped her backward with a silly grin on his face, his tongue sticking out to the side.
“I’m glad to have one of my best friends back,” she said. She jumped up from being dipped and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Discord gave a happy hum. “Ah, it’s good to be back, my dear,” he said as she let him go, twirling around with him again. “It’s good to be back…”
He smirked at her.
“Though what to do with you tomorrow? Magic, perhaps? Shall we get started on that? Ooh, or how about flying? Maybe both!”
“W-What?”
His words made her stumble in her dancing and he had to catch her one last time.
“Tomorrow, Fluttershy. You can worry about that…tomorrow.”
A flower flapped on as the sun went down that day, its short wings pumping as it traveled, the winds picking up as the night started taking over.
On the horizon, buildings could be seen.
Ponyville was not very far away.
The plant flapped on.