//------------------------------//
// So You Sold Your Soul to Discord [Unfinished/Scrapped] 
// Story: Chrome's Scrap Folder 
// by Monochromatic 
//------------------------------//

According to the weather team’s forecast, Ponyville should have had a lovely sunny summer afternoon, with clear skies, fresh air and all the many beautiful things that entailed a perfect afternoon. 

But Fluttershy had asked for chocolate chip cookies, and as such, Ponyville was now the target of raging thunder strikes, hundreds upon hundreds freezing droplets of rain, and clouds so grey and ominous they put the apocalypse to shame. 

“Discord,” Fluttershy said, putting her cup of tea down on the floating table and glancing to the outside of the protective bubble she was in, “I'm ever so grateful, but next time I'll bring the cookies, all right?”

“But yours are boring! They don’t change flavor depending on the weather!” Discord protested, putting three sporks of sugar in his teacup. “And, excuse me, dear Fluttershy, but you asked for chocolate cookies.”

Fluttershy very lightly furrowed her brow. “Discord…”

“Oh, fine, fine,” he grumbled, snapping his fingers. 

In no time at all, the grim weather over Ponyville cleared up. The rays of sunshine fell down upon the now dry ground, the clouds zoomed off in different directions, songbirds previously sheltered inside tree trunks clumsily poofed back onto branches, and a very confused orchestra director found himself conducting them rather than the Trottingham Choir. 

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, giggling when he begrudgingly poofed away the magic barrier surrounding them and their floating picnic table. 

“Well, thanks to you, I’m not having cookies anymore,” he said, crossing his arms and glaring at the bowl of cookies, which still looked exactly as before. “I hate raisins!”

Fluttershy, who quite liked raisin cookies, reached for one and ate it in an almost curiously insolent gesture. It was strange, but more than with anypony else, Discord elicited a playful side to her. Even if his little… outburst with Tree Hugger had mortified her more than anything, it had also shown her that he valued her friendship very deeply. 

“Now, Fluttershy, as your best friend—” 

“One of my best friends,” Fluttershy corrected, taking a sip of tea. 

"As your very best friend," Discord repeated, "I do wonder. Why do you love me so much?”

Fluttershy let out a soft giggle. “Well, you—”

A ping-like sound interrupted her no doubt wonderful detailing on why Discord was so lovable, and a very peculiar object appeared before her very eyes: a bright blue flame shaped like a teardrop. She blinked once, twice, thrice and before she could even ask what it was, Discord spoke up.

"Oh dear!" he exclaimed, extending his paw and beckoning the teardrop towards him. "Oh, this hasn't happened in a while! How exciting!"

"It's lovely," she noted, taking a bite out of one of the cookies, regarding the teardrop with fascination. "What is it?"

"Nothing terribly interesting, really," the draconequus said at length, his excitement diminishing and speaking as though he were discussing the weather. "Somepony wants to sell their soul to me."

"What?!" Fluttershy nearly choked on her raisin cookie. "Discord!"

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" Discord reprimanded, rolling his eyes. "Creatures used to sell their souls to me all the time! Everypony who was anypony did it, and then Celestia had to go be such a goody two-shoes and ban it. Honestly, even her precious Starswirl wanted to do it."

"Discord, ponies shouldn't sell their souls!" Fluttershy continued, putting down the cookie and frowning at her friend. "I'm very disappointed in you!"

"Me?! I'm not the one selling his soul!" Discord shot back, placing his paw against his chest, indignant at the accusations. "I'm just accepting them! They're the ones selling them! And, in any case, this would be the first soul in at least a year, so—"

Before Fluttershy could continue her chastising, Discord snapped his fingers and in a flash of light, they were transported elsewhere, floating table and all. When they reached their destination, Fluttershy looked around to find they were inside what seemed to be a basement. 

More to the point, there didn't seem to be anypony there. 

Discord furrowed his brow and looked at the flame, poking it with his paw several times. "How odd, this is the right address."

"Maybe it's broken," Fluttershy suggested, hoping that Discord wouldn't damage the soul by toying with it as he was. "Good, we can go back to our lovely picnic, and no pony has to sell their so—"

"Uhm… 'Scuse me..." a tiny voice said, cutting her off. 

Fluttershy and Discord blinked, looking around for the source of the voice. It wasn't until they looked down that they discovered a very flustered looking earth-pony colt, holding tightly onto his teddy bear. 

The colt gulped down and timidly looked up at the draconequus. "'Scuse me, M-Mister… A-Are you, uhm, Discord?"

And now Fluttershy understood, letting out a gasp. "Discord!" she blurted out, horrified. "He's just a colt!"

Discord didn't say anything at first, though the glance he directed the pegasus meant her protest had been heard. His chair floated back a few inches, and he jumped off, landing on the floor in a curiously delicate motion. The colt stepped back several paces, hugging his teddybear closer to his chest. 

"Lemon Twist. Five years old, hates swings, but loves school," Discord said, and immediately a miniature version of Discord appeared on Fluttershy's shoulder and whispered, "The school nerd."

Lemon Twist's eyes widened, and he quickly nodded his head at the Spirit's assertions, the ghost of a smile gracing his lips. 

"Lemon!" Discord cheerily said, his entire serious persona all but gone. He shrunk down the size of Lemon Twist, drawing out a surprised giggle from the foal, and asked, "Did you summon me here?"

Lemont Twist nodded. "M-My big brother said that I could give you my soul and you'd give me anything I wanted!" he exclaimed, puffing out his chest a little. 

Fluttershy, at this point, decided that an intervention was necessary. She flew down from her chair, gently landed besides the colt and smiled. 

Lemon seemed much less intimidated by her than Discord, and his grip on his teddy bear loosened. "Uhm, hello, Miss Fluttershy." Before she could reply, he continued with excitement, "I, uhm, I really liked when you brought some bunnies for our biology class!"

Fluttershy giggled. "Oh, the bunnies were very happy too, Lemon." She cleared her throat and, lowering herself to his height, asked, "Lemon, you don't really want to sell your soul to Discord, do you?"

The foal eagerly nodded.

"But— But why?" Fluttershy asked, still trying to smile. "What for?"

"I want friends!" Lemon Twist blurted out, and immediately did he quiet down, his voice lowering to a whisper. "Please."

Fluttershy's expression softened. "Lemon, you don't have to sell your soul to have a friend. There's so many safer and easier ways to befriend--"

"Now, Fluttershy! Let little Lemon dec—" 

Lemon shook his head. "But I already know who I want my best friend to be!" 

"And who is that?" Fluttershy asked. Surely she could organize a little playdate with her animals and Lemon's school friend, and they'd be best friends in no time at all. 

Lemon didn't say anything, and instead showed Fluttershy the answer by timidly lifting his hoof and pointing it right at the draconequus. 

Discord blinked. "Me?" he asked, seemingly genuinely surprised, paw pressed against his chest. The surprise was short-lived, though, and immediately did he turn his smug gaze towards Fluttershy, lips curled into a smirk. "Well, well, well! Did you hear that, Fluttershy?" 

One, two, three Discords poofed into existence, surrounding the pegasus and bending down so as to clearly exclaim, "He wants me to be his very best friend!"

“But, Lemon, why would you want Discord as your best friend?” Fluttershy asked, quickly amending her reply at seeing the hurt that flashed by Discord’s face. “Um, I mean, I understand why, but why?”

As the colt quickly listed off a wide array of things he’d seen Discord do, from making it snow, to turning day into night, to making it rain chocolate milk, Fluttershy realized why a foal would be interested in such a friendship. Discord’s fond rememberings of the fact certainly weren’t helping. 

“Ahh, good times!” he said, stroking his beard. 

Fluttershy cleared her throat and smiled. “Well, even if Discord is ‘cool’, you can’t sell your soul to him, Lemon," she insisted. "Why n—mmph!" A large piece of tape now covered her mouth. 

"Excuse me, Fluttershy, but this is between Lemon and myself!" he said, harrumphing for good measure. He cleared his throat before she could protest, and with a snap of his fingers, a contract appeared and unfurled before the colt. Another snap of his fingers and a quill appeared next to Lemon.

"Voila!"

"Mmphmmph!"

"Hush, Fluttershy!"

The contract was at least five meters long, and in very small print, but the foal responded enthusiastically.

"Uhm…" He walked on top of it, valiantly trying to read the fine print, but stopped. He glanced at Discord, almost as if with shame, and then meekly confessed, "I'm not so good at reading..."

Discord waved him off with a gesture. "Oh, it's alright. Reading is boring anyway," he sympathized, completely ignoring Fluttershy's protests. He snapped his fingers, and a picture book appeared. "There. That's more age-appropriate, I suppose."

"Oh! I can read this!" the colt exclaimed, gleefully turning the pages. 

"Well of course, it's just pictures," Discord replied, rolling his eyes. He snapped his fingers yet again, and the book automatically turned to the last page. "Now sign, please! I have cookies waiting for me."