Last time, the ponies were given their most difficult task yet. Princess Celestia had asked them to reform Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony. "I'm fully aware that the last time Discord was here, he created serious havoc during his brief stay," She had told them all, and after listening to their complaints, the Princess expressed her belief that. "Discord, if reformed, could use his magic to serve good and not evil."
Celestia's method for reforming Discord, revolved around Fluttershy. Much to the surprise of everyone! "What could she possibly know about how to reform Discord?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Fluttershy was the only one Discord had to forcibly brainwash." Princess Celestia had explained.
But even Fluttershy was surprised and concerned by the Princess' trust in her. "This sounds more like something Pinkie Pie or Twilight would be suited for." The pegasus had mentioned, before learning why Princess Celestia believed she could reform Discord.
Of course, Discord wasn't at all convinced. He felt for sure that the ponies wouldn't be able to reform him. "You ponies truly believe that you can actually reform me, and that you're putting all your faith in this one here to make it happen." He had mocked, until finally convinced that he had to at least consider the possibility.
To that end, Discord made the decision to stay at Fluttershy's cottage. "You're the one Princess Celestia has singled out for this, so it's only natural I should be with you." He had argued, and Fluttershy couldn't think of a valid counterargument.
But although Fluttershy was willing to let Discord stay with her, the rest of the ponies were weary of trusting Discord. "He's just trying to drive a wedge between us like he did before." Rainbow Dash accused, even though Discord claimed he hadn't thought of such a thing.
Fluttershy seemed to not be troubled by such a thing, for she told Twilight that her plan was as follows. "I think the key is to befriend him. Being kind to him and letting him be my house guest is probably the best way to do that."
However, Discord had his own plans for Fluttershy. "I'm playing your owner for a fool!" He gloated to Angel Bunny. But, in an attempt to gain Fluttershy's trust, Discord ended up putting himself in harm's way to protect her.
"Discord! You..... saved me!" Fluttershy had exclaimed.
"Yeah, I did. I mean... isn't that part of what being reformed is all about?" Discord had asked, effectively gaining Fluttershy's trust or so it seemed.
Meanwhile, Twilight and the rest of her friends had tried to prepare a reforming spell to use in case Fluttershy's plan failed. But Discord was one step ahead of Twilight. "Everywhere I thought I'd find a reforming spell..." She had exclaimed, before showing Spike the torn out pages.
The torn out pages had ended up being a tasty meal for Discord. "Nice try, Twilight. But you can't reform me that easily. You'll have to do better than that." He thought to himself.
Discord had just polished off the last of the reforming spell pages, and wiped his mouth with a napkin he had produced from out of nowhere. He had now set Fluttershy's cottage spinning and tumbling over and over again. "Are you absolutely sure this isn't overdoing it?" He asked the pegasus. "You specifically said to make myself at home, but I wouldn't want to overstep my bounds."
Fluttershy had to force herself to give a nervous smile. "I did say that," She acknowledged. "So I guess.... if this makes you more comfortable... by all means, please feel free to do so. Just, maybe don't do this if guests come over."
Discord smiled, he couldn't believe how much Fluttershy was letting him get away with, but he wasn't going to complain. In fact, this incredibly passive behavior from the one supposedly in charge of reforming him was working out quite well. "Oh. Well, it does, very much so," He replied. "You seem to know just what a spirit like myself needs. You're so very kind, my dear Fluttershy. I always knew that you were the understanding one, not like those nasty friends of yours."
Angel let out a scream, as he was unable to fight the gravity and found himself tumbling. But Fluttershy was more concerned with what Discord had just said. With a gasp she protested. "My friends aren't nasty, Discord! If there's one thing I won't tolerate, it's you being mean to my friends and calling them hurtful names! Do I make myself clear?!"
"Oh, yes, yes. Of course," Discord replied, sounding rather unconcerned. "Figures that you would say that. I guess it just goes to show how understanding you truly are," Then he added in the sweetest tone of voice he could muster up. "You know, I think Princess Celestia was right when she singled you out as the one who could reform me."
"You think so? I'm still not entirely sure I'm the best qualified for something like this." Fluttershy confessed.
Discord shrugged off the concern, he was intent on buttering up Fluttershy as much as possible. That was the entire point of his plan. "Oh come now," He told Fluttershy kindly. "You really have to learn not to sell yourself so short. In fact you're off to such a good start, that I'm seriously considering actually being reformed." But what Fluttershy didn't know, was that a second face had formed on the other side of Discord and was currently blowing a raspberry.
Fluttershy wasn't sure what to make of Discord's comment. She hadn't gotten to know him for that long, but then she had apparently touched on something if he was willing to save her from harm. "Am I really making this much progress already?" She thought to herself. "I expected Discord to be a tougher nut to crack than this. But maybe he's more insecure and vulnerable than he lets on. In a lot of ways, he's kind of like a kid that never fully grew up."
But then Fluttershy's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice calling out. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy, can you hear me?"
At once, Fluttershy recognized who the voice belonged to. "Goodness! I hear Twilight!" She realized, and flew down to greet her friend.
Twilight and Spike were waiting for Fluttershy on the ground leading up to her cottage, they had been quite concerned to see it spinning around and around. "Fluttershy, what's going on? Are you okay?!" Twilight asked, hoping for some kind of progress report.
"We're fine," Fluttershy replied. "Everything's going great. Isn't it, Angel?"
Angel didn't really say anything, he was too dizzy and disoriented to think properly.
Twilight cleared her throat and spoke up. "Listen, I think it's time we face facts. We've got to get you away from Discord! He's just terrible and, from the looks of it, completely out of control! I know you tried your best, but perhaps we need to accept that Discord can't be reformed. He already had his second chance when he broke free of his prison last time, and he used that second chance to brainwash us all. We've given reforming him a shot, but I don't think it's going to work, not like this."
Fluttershy wasn't about to give up on Discord, not when she sensed she might have actually made a breakthrough. "Oh, but you're wrong! We're making great progress!" She insisted. "I think we're already on the verge of making him good."
Twilight and Spike looked up at the spinning cottage, it seemed like Fluttershy's words didn't match reality. "Seriously?!" They asked.
Fluttershy nodded, and explained. "I know it looks bad from an outsider's perspective, but I'm earning his trust by giving him a little space to be himself. If that means spinning my cottage around for a while, then I'm willing to put up with it."
"Uh, hate to break it to ya, but I'm afraid he used that 'space to be himself' to tear out all the reforming spells from the library!" Spike complained. "It's true, he took every last one. And I'll bet he'll deny it if you ask him."
"Hm, that does explain the paper eating earlier..." Fluttershy realized.
Twilight could hardly believe her ears! "What?! He ate them?! Ugggghhhh!" She groaned and rubbed her head in frustration.
"So don't you see?" Spike suggested to Fluttershy. "He's taking advantage of you, he's doing all these nasty things behind your back and then running to you for protection! You can't let him do that, you need to put your hoof down and tell him to clean up his act if he doesn't want to go back to stone! Quite frankly, I don't know why Princess Celestia ever thought reforming him was a good idea! He seems to be incapable of changing."
"We can't think like that, he hasn't even been free for half a day yet," Fluttershy protested. "And he did save me from an angry beaver earlier."
"Wait, is that so?!" Twilight and Spike both asked at once.
Fluttershy nodded. "I was just as surprised as you two were, but if he was truly evil he would've let Mr. Beaverton Beaverteeth have his way with me. Even if Discord might have done it to gain favor with me, the fact that he was willing to protect me has to be a good sign."
"Uh, I don't know about that," Spike nervously commented. "And it doesn't change the fact that he ate all the reforming spell pages."
"But, we aren't gonna need a spell," Fluttershy optimisticly suggested. "He said he's already considering being reformed! Ask him if you want and I'm sure he'll tell you!"
"And do you actually believe him?" Twilight asked Fluttershy. "You know that he has lied before, right?"
"I'm well aware of that," Fluttershy firmly nodded. "But if I'm going to be his friend, I have to start by giving him the benefit of the doubt! The paper eating is suspicious, but other than that he hasn't done anything outright evil," Then an idea came to her. "Tell you what," She suggested. "How about you bring everypony over to my place tonight for a dinner party? I'm sure Discord's manners will have improved by then. Watch, I'll even get him to put the cottage back on the ground first." Fluttershy flew back up the cottage, and sure enough Discord did just that.
Twilight and Spike exchanged nervous glances, before Twilight reluctantly sighed. " Alright. Dinner it is."
"Do you think Fluttershy knows something we don't?" Spike asked, as he and Twilight walked back to the library.
"Let's hope so, Spike," Twilight replied. "Because otherwise, come tonight, things could get ugly."
When Twilight and Spike got back to the library, they called the rest of their friends and when they had all gathered they informed them of Fluttershy's intent to host a dinner party that evening.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Dinner with Discord?! I'd rather be in Tartarus!"
"I like a good party, but I'm not so sure I'll like one where Discord's on the guest list," Pinkie spoke up. "Are we really sure there's no other way to reform him?"
"Unfortunately, without the right pages I can't gurantee a reforming spell would work," Twilight explained to everyone. "I don't really like it any more than the rest of you do, but we did agree to give reforming Discord a chance. So for now, we'll have to accept, and trust that Fluttershy knows what she's doing."
"And if she doesn't?" Rarity asked.
Twilight was silent for a moment, before she replied. "Then I guess it's back to square one, we'll use the Elements of Harmony to turn him back to stone, and tell Princess Celestia that we weren't able to reform him."
"You think they'll still work with Fluttershy bein' so trustin' of Discord?" Applejack anxiously asked. "Without her, the elements won't have any power, and Discord will be free to do whatever he wants."
"Let's just hope Fluttershy knows not to believe everything Discord says," Spike commented. "With a guy like him, it's best not to trust him as far as you can throw him."
"So that's it then, huh?" Pinkie asked, hoping that there might be more of a plan. "We're just gonna go to the dinner party, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst?"
"It seems like that's our only option at this point," Twilight replied. "I just hope that if we have to turn Discord back to stone, Fluttershy and Princess Celestia will forgive us."
Twilight, Spike, and the rest of their friends were not the only ones who had their concerns about what would happen at the dinner party. Discord himself was surprised to have the announcement sprung on him without much advance notice. "A dinner party? Tonight of all nights?" He asked Fluttershy. "You know those friends of yours can't be trusted, they only see what they want to see."
Fluttershy refused to believe what Discord had just said. "You're wrong about my friends, Discord!" She protested. "If you want them to believe you're actually capable of being reformed, you've got to trust that they'll see the good in you! If you don't, how can you expect them to trust you?!"
"But, how are we even supposed to prepare for a dinner party on such short notice?" Discord questioned. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were conspiring to sabotage me."
"Come now, Discord," Fluttershy said reassuringly. "With your powers it should be a snap to redecorate the place and get everything ready with plenty of time to spare. Surely a spirit as high and mighty as you isn't afraid of a little dinner party?"
Those words touched off something deep inside Discord! "Afraid?! Hah, as if!" He boasted. "Watch, I'll transform this place in the blink of an eye! Even the finest dining establishments in Canterlot won't be able to compare!" And with a snap of his fingers, he did just that! Fluttershy's cottage had never looked so splendid before! The walls were repainted and made to look a bright green in color, a magnificent table with a fine white cloth appeared in the center of the room, plates, candles, and all sorts of fine dining nick knacks appeared atop said table!
Fluttershy smiled. "Very impressive, Discord! You actually managed to put your magic to good use for a change! Now doesn't that feel good?"
"I... guess." Discord replied uncertainly.
Fluttershy clapped her hooves in applause. "See, you don't have to sell yourself short either. If you stay on your best behavior and keep up the good work, I'm sure you'll surprise everyone tonight with just how much you've changed. Now then, I'm going to start preparing the food for our party guests. Feel free to join me in the kitchen when you're ready. Oh, and since it's a dinner party, before the guests arrive you should probably slip into appropriate attire."
Fluttershy trotted to the kitchen, leaving Discord alone in the re-decorated living room to ponder to himself. He hadn't anticipated being tricked into using his magic for a good purpose, and neither did he imagine that it would give him a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. It was barely noticeable, but he still felt it. "What's happening to me? Am I actually starting to grow to care for Fluttershy?" He thought to himself, looking into a mirror. "The only reason I'm getting close to her, is so I can gain her trust and render the Elements of Harmony useless." He kept trying to convince himself of that, but he always found himself wondering the same question. "Am I actually starting to become a 'good guy'?" Unable to find an answer, he shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts.
"Oh for goodness sakes," He complained loudly. "I've just got to focus on the dinner party. If I can put on a good enough act for Fluttershy, everything else will be taken care of and it won't matter what I feel inside." He then snapped his fingers and teleported into the kitchen, hoping that cooking would keep him distracted from these feelings.
The dinner party dawned sooner than anyone would've liked. Even knowing that they had promised to give the party a chance, Twilight, Spike, and the rest of their friends were not really looking forward to it.
"Ugh, I still can't believe we're having a dinner party with Discord of all creatures!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "I just don't get what Fluttershy sees in him!"
Rarity found herself agreeing with Rainbow Dash's statement. "As much as I hate to admit it, I'm sure this evening will prove to be a disaster," She complained. "It's just a good thing I didn't bother to wear my fanciest outfit, at least if anything happens to it I can hopefully wash it off." Rarity had put on a purple dress with a pink collar.
"Well who knows, maybe things won't be as bad as we thought?" Pinkie suggested, trying to be optimistic.
"I sure hope so, but somethin' tells me that ain't gonna be the case." Applejack said with a frown.
Twilight paused just before the group arrived at the doorstep of Fluttershy's cottage, turned to face them, and told them. "Well, Fluttershy thinks this is the way to reform Discord and asked us to give it a chance. Like it or not, that's what we've got to do. If there's even a chance that this could work, we have to try it."
But before Twilight or anyone else could knock on the door, the door swung open and Discord appeared dressed in a black butler outfit complete with a tie. He had also given himself a mustache. "Oh, our pony guests have arrived, and right on schedule too!" He greeted, before adopting a polished upper class tone as he added. "We're so delighted that you've come," As he spoke, a red carpet appeared out of his mouth and rolled towards the girls and Spike before stopping and unfolding. "Please, do come in and make yourselves comfortable. Dinner will be served shortly."
"See what a beautiful job he did helping to decorate?" Fluttershy called from inside. "Discord even set the entire table himself and helped with the cooking. I'm so proud of him."
Discord smiled, as he offered. "Now then, may I take your..." He cleared his throat before he added. "Hats, ladies?" He guested to the Elements of Harmony necklaces (or tiara in Twilight's case).
"No thank you, we're keeping them on until further notice," Twilight replied to Discord, and then said to the others. "Hang on to your elements, girls. Looks like it's gonna be a bumpy night."
"Maybe, but we don't know that yet, now do we?" Discord asked with a faint smirk, as the girls and Spike took their seats.
At first dinner proceeded uneventfully for all involved. Fluttershy sat next to Discord, while everyone else sat across from them. They mostly occupied themselves with food and drink, and said nothing to Discord.
But the uneasy peace didn't last long, for soon Fluttershy cleared her throat and spoke up. "You all remember that Princess Celestia hoped we'd help Discord use his magic for good instead of evil," She declared. "And this dinner party should hopefully do just that," She then turned to Pinkie Pie, who was stuffing her face full of mashed potatoes. "Pinkie Pie, care for some gravy?" Fluttershy asked her friend.
"You bet! I love gravy with my mashed potatoes!" Pinkie happily exclaimed.
Discord looked across to Fluttershy and then said. "Allow me." With a snap of his fingers, the gravy boat came to life and started barking and panting like a dog. It went over to Pinkie and poured some gravy on top of her mashed potatoes.
Pinkie was both amazed by the gravy boat coming to life, and thrilled to see it acting like a dog. "Oh, what a cute little gravy boat you are!" She happily cooed. "Yes you are! Yes you are!"
"That's one creepy little gravy boat if you ask me." Rainbow Dash protested.
"Oh come on now, Dashie," Fluttershy angrily replied. "You're not even giving this a chance."
"Is it wrong of me to find it creepy that a gravy boat of all things just came to life?" Rainbow Dash remarked. "What's next, is he gonna start a song with the dishes or something? Because if he does, I'm outta here."
Suddenly, the gravy boat came over to Rainbow Dash and poured some gravy onto her leg, just missing her crotch area! Rainbow Dash flew into the air! "Hey! That's hot!" She remarked. "You almost spilled that on a very sensitive area!"
"Whoops!" Discord apologized, though he couldn't help chuckling. "I'm so sorry, really! I don't know how that could've happened."
Rainbow wasn't convinced even the slightest. "I wasn't born yesterday! He did that on purpose!" She accused.
"Oh, well, I don't really know about that," Discord sheepishly replied, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "I mean after all, mistakes do happen. Oh, look, everypony, dancing candles!" And sure enough, a bunch of dancing candles appeared at the center of the table.
Rainbow flew to the center of the table and glared at Discord as she said. "I'm not falling for that! Discord's just trying to distract us from–" But suddenly the candles started to poke at her. "-Hey! Knock it off!" She complained, before she looked at Discord and asked him. " I suppose that's another 'mistake'?"
"Oh no, I think you just made them mad," Discord replied. "You really shouldn't have done that. You're lucky they didn't use their flames."
"There's something fishy going on here." Twilight spoke up, before she was suddenly hit by a blast of soup from the fish shaped tureen.
Fluttershy immediately turned to Discord. "Discord?" She asked him.
"Well, it's hardly my fault if the soup tureen finds the term 'something fishy' to be offensive." Discord replied.
"Can't you stop it?" Fluttershy asked.
"I would, but it's rather difficult to make something alive become unalive." Discord told Fluttershy, hoping she'd buy the explanation.
The soup tureen targeted Rarity next. "No! Not the dress! Please, not the dress!" She insisted, but the tureen ignored her! It splashed Rarity, then turned its attention to Applejack.
Applejack blocked the tureen's blast with a hoof, while glaring at Discord. "That tureen's only doin' what you're makin' it do!" She said to him. "Don't think you can fool me!"
Fluttershy tried to break up the tension. "N-now now, let's not jump to any conclusions here." She insisted.
Rainbow only glared at Fluttershy as she asked her friend. "Come on, Fluttershy! Even you can't be this ignorant! Can't you see what he's doing right now?! He's playing innocent with you so that you'll agree to never use the Elements of Harmony against him!" Before she had a chance to get a response, she was splashed by the soup tureen.
"Oh, well, that's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Discord innocently asked.
Rainbow didn't bother to respond to Discord's question, she simply placed a container over the soup tureen to stop its splashing spree. Then she looked at Fluttershy as she asked. "You see what I'm saying, right, Fluttershy? Fluttershy!"
Much to everyone's surprise, Fluttershy responded by saying to them all. "You know what I see? I see that Discord's far from perfect, but I also see none of you giving him a chance!" That comment caused all of her friends to complain quite loudly, they thought they'd given Discord more than enough of a chance.
"Just what's gotten into you?!" Rainbow demanded of Fluttershy. "Why do you keep cutting him so much slack, even when he's taking advantage of it?"
Fluttershy simply replied. "Because that's what friends do."
Discord seemed to be surprised by Fluttershy's comment, as he looked at her and asked. "We're friends?"
Fluttershy nodded, she could tell by Discord's expression that he was genuinely surprised to see anyone stick up for him and trust him. "Why, of course!" She told him. "I can't remember my house ever being this lively before you came along. And I certainly couldn't have done any of this stuff without your help. You made this dinner party possible."
"Oh..." Discord replied, uncertain of what else to say. Somehow though he managed to force out: "Well, I've... never really had a friend before."
"Well, now you do!" Fluttershy told him. "And trust me when I say, having one friend is better than having no friends at all."
Discord opened his mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. "This.... wasn't supposed to be part of the plan." He thought to himself.
Just then, Angel came crawling in through an open window, climbed onto the dinner table, and started to chatter in a worried tone. "Now is not a good time, Angel. We're having a dinner party." Fluttershy protested.
But Applejack replied. "Hold up! I-I think he's tryin' to tell us somethin'! You'll have to translate, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy reluctantly did so, as Angel explained to the best of his ability what he needed to tell everyone. When he had finished, Fluttershy nearly gasped! "There's flooding at Sweet Apple Acres, a bunch of beavers just moved in and built a massive dam there!" She told her friends.
"Well, we all know who's behind that now, don't we?!" Rainbow Dash asked, as she glared at Discord.
"Who, me?" Discord replied, feigning innocence as a halo appeared over his head.
"Oh, give it a rest! You're not fooling any of us!" Rainbow angrily proclaimed, as she and the rest of her friends got up from the table and prepared to head to Sweet Apple Acres. "What do you think of your 'friend' now, Fluttershy?" She asked.
Fluttershy looked at Discord, who seemed rather worried. Fluttershy sighed, she could easily tell Discord was likely behind the flooding, but there was no way he'd confess. "I'm going to go to Sweet Apple Acres and get to the bottom of this," She told him. "Hopefully it's just a misunderstanding."
Discord watched Fluttershy as she left. "The plan is working!" He realized, though he didn't dare to say this outloud. But deep inside he swore he could feel his heart sinking. "So, why am I suddenly regretting it?" He wondered.
Sweet Apple Acres was completely water logged, the entire orchard was covered with water thanks to the massive dam of sticks the beavers had set up. Fortunately, the Apple family was unharmed. Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and Big Macintosh were all floating in an upside down umbrella, surveying the damage.
"I've never seen floodin' this bad!" Applejack said seriously, as she looked out over the soaked orchard grounds. "They've built dams 'round here before, but never like this! Just what's goin' on? I want answers!"
Fluttershy attempted to talk to the beavers, but their angry chittering didn't seem to sit well with her. "Such language!" She gasped and exclaimed, before she sighed and said to her friends. "It's no use. They won't listen to a word I say!"
Rainbow flew up to Fluttershy and immediately asked her. "You see that Discord's behind all of this, right?"
Fluttershy surprised everyone when she replied with: "Oh, of course I do! Do you all really think I'm a just silly, gullible fool?"
There was a long and uncomfortable silence, as the rest of the group struggled to figure out what to say. It was Rainbow who nervously commented. "Um... you don't actually want us to answer that, do you?"
Fluttershy decided to drop the issue, convinced she'd made her point. "I've just been trying to gain his friendship any way I can, so he'd come to trust and listen to me!" She explained. "That's been my plan all along!"
Just then, Discord came up on a pair of water skis being pulled by an invisible force of some kind. "Hey there, Fluttershy!" He greeted, waving a claw to her. "You want a turn? The water's great!"
"Well, time to see if it worked." Fluttershy said to her friends, before she approached Discord.
Discord, suspecting nothing, innocently greeted. "Fluttershy, oh, there you are. Aren't you just a site for sore eyes?"
Fluttershy cleared her throat and looked at Discord quite sternly. "No need for formalities, let's get down to business," She told him, and then moving her hoof out across the sky she added. "As you can see, there's a big mess down here at Sweet Apple Acres, as a result of the beavers that you afflicted with your chaos magic."
Discord tried not to look guilty. "Oh, yes. Awful business, that. Mm." He muttered.
"It IS awful!" Fluttershy scolded, her tone sounding not unlike that of a parent lecturing a child. "This is Applejack's home, and it's being destroyed by innocent creatures who would never be acting this way if it weren't for your reckless behavior. You need to fix this, now!"
Discord quickly replied to Fluttershy's request by saying. "Oh, yes, very well, I will fix it at once."
"Good." Fluttershy smiled.
"But, there is a teeny tiny little catch. One thing I ask in return." Discord added.
"Yes?" Fluttershy asked, suspecting nothing.
Discord sprung his trap! "I ask that you never use your Element of Harmony against me. As a sign of our friendship," He demanded of Fluttershy. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?"
Fluttershy looked at all of her friends, they were shaking their heads in silent protest. But Fluttershy looked at Discord and reluctantly she decided to accept his request. "Very well, you have my word. I will never use my Element of Harmony against you."
Everyone else was speechless, they couldn't believe Fluttershy had made such a promise!
"Excellent!" Discord cheered, and snapped his fingers. The water vanished, but it was replaced by ice. "There, much better! I do prefer ice skating to water skiing! Don't you?" He laughed, as he skated along, performing a few spins as a panel of judges that were all copies of him gave him a perfect score of 10!
Fluttershy was quite furious! "Discord! That's not fixing it!" She complained, and raced out onto the ice! "Why, I oughta..." But the rest of her sentence was cut off as she slid uncontrollably on the ice.
"Where are you going?" Discord laughed. "What's the matter, pal?"
"Don't call me your pal!" Fluttershy protested. "I told you to fix this!"
Discord shrugged off Fluttershy's complaint, it didn't mater to him anymore. "Oh come now, why can't I have a little fun?" He asked, then materializing a pair of ice skates he offered. "Come skating with me, and we'll let bygones be bygones. Then maybe I'll change it back."
But just then, Spike came skating up to Fluttershy and offered her the Element of Kindness necklace! "Here you go, Fluttershy! Game on!" He told her. "Playtime is over!"
"He fixes this or he goes back to being stone!" Twilight demanded. "Princess Celestia will understand! You don't owe him anything!"
There was a long pause, as Fluttershy mentally weighed her options. Before she at last proclaimed. "I made a promise not to use my element against him, and I'm going to keep it." She rejected the necklace, much to the gasps and groans of protests from her friends.
"What are you doing?! You're making a mistake!" Twilight protested.
Discord laughed and began to gloat! "Hahaha, victory is mine! You see? She wants to have fun with me because we're friends. She can't use the elements against me because we're friends. I'm free forever, Equestria will be mine once again! Your princess was a fool to think I could ever be reformed!"
Fluttershy's eyes narrowed in anger, and she growled as she tossed away the ice skates! "Not. Your. Friend!" She protested, and slowly trotted away, taking great care not to go too fast and slip.
"Who cares? I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm Discord, the master of chaos!" Discord boasted, and skated towards Fluttershy. "I don't know who you think you are, Fluttershy, but you're nopony compared to me! You think you can boss Discord around? You think I'm just going to turn all this back because you say so, hm? Because if I don't, I'll lose the one friend I've ever had?" But then he paused, as he suddenly realized the impact of those last words! He looked over at the tossed aside ice skates, somehow by looking at them he began to feel guilty. He'd never thought about it until now, but he'd finally gained the first real friend he'd ever had and now his own actions had cost him that very friend. "Oh," He said slowly and sadly with tears in his eyes. "Well played, Fluttershy. Well played indeed. Never imagined I'd be beaten at my own game."
Discord somberly skated over to one of the trees and perched himself on top of it. He joined his paws together, and a powerful magic wave washed over Sweet Apple Acres, turning everything back to normal. Everyone cheered, except for Fluttershy who remained silent. "I liked it better my way, but... I guess when you're friends, you can't always have things exactly your way all the time, eh?" He asked Fluttershy.
Fluttershy nodded. "Glad you've finally come around. Friendship is truly a wonderful thing."
Sometime later, all six ponies and Spike were present, as Discord approached Princess Celestia in the center of Ponyville.
"So, is it true?" Princess Celestia inquired of the spirit. "Have you truly seen the light?"
"Yes, Princess, I'm ready to use my magic for good instead of evil," Discord said with a bow, though under his breath he added. "Most of the time."
Celestia smiled and in a warm tone she announced. "Congratulations on your success, ponies. I definitely sense a big change in Discord," She then whispered to Twilight. "I'll leave the Elements of Harmony with you, Twilight. Just in case some other threat pops up. Seems like they're safer in Ponyville than they are in Canterlot."
Twilight acknowledged her teacher's comment, before she replied. "You were right when you said Fluttershy would be the one to find the way to reform Discord. By treating Discord as a friend, she got him to realize that friendship was actually very important to him. And it was something that, once he had, he didn't want to lose. I don't think that's something either Pinkie Pie or I could've done."
Fluttershy nudged Discord slightly. " Go on. Say it..." She encouraged.
Discord groaned but obliged. "Oh, alright," He then quickly said. "Friendship is magic. There, are you happy now?"
Fluttershy smiled, as did everyone else. "See? He can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him." She said outloud.
As everyone began to celebrate, Princess Celestia thought to herself. "I sensed this day would come eventually. With the help of her friends, Twilight has succeeded where I could not. No doubt about it, she's ready for the next step, despite what Luna and Cadence might think."