When Fluttershy got back from Canterlot she was feeling quite tired. And she collapsed onto her coutch, falling asleep.
"Good evening. Am I perhaps late for my appointment?"
Fluttershy jumped up, "ah!" Quickly composing herself she scooted to the side of the couch and offered the seat. "Um, hello Discord, would you like to sit down?" Just because he was the spirit of chaos didn’t mean she could forget about manners, he was still a guest after all.
Discord waved his paw dismissively as his suit coat, pink mustache, top hat and monical dissappeared in a quick flash. Don't bother, I'm actually quite comfortable," he said wail reclining in mid air. "Oh and don't worry about waking your animals up. I made sure any sound is going off into a desert somewhere. So when should we start training?"
Fluttershy tilted her head, "training?" She asked, "what are we training for?"
"Not us, you." Discord stated as if it should have been obvious. "And chaos magic of course!"
"Huh?!" Fluttershy said in suprise. Though Discord didn't seem to notice.
"You yourself said that things were more fun with others, or something like that," he continued. "Anyway, how do you expect to show how chaos is funner if done with somone if I'm the only one who can do it?"
Fluttershy paused before answering, "I thought I'd just give suggestions?" She offered.
Discord wagged one of his claws at her, "oh that won't do and I'm sure you know why. If I do everything I'll cause quite a lot more then just a bit of chaos. No, you'll need to learn how so you can show me how it's done."
Fluttershy thought about it for a moment. He did make a good point, as a one thousend year habit of causing absolute chaos would be hard for him to curb. She eventually nodded saying, "I guess I see your point. But how am I even supposed to learn it? Aren't you the only one who can? Being the spirit of chaos."
"Yes indeed I am." Discord said wail looking in a mirror, before making it dissappear in a small flash. "The spirit of chaos I mean. However let me ask you a question, dose it make any sense for you to be able to learn chaos magic?"
"Well I guess it doesn't make any-," Fluttershy paused as she suddenly realized what he ment and remembered what they were talking about. "Oh!" She said, "you're right! It doesn't make any sense. And that's why I can, am I right?"
"Precisely!" Discord said. "But anyway I assume you're rested, so let's get to it!"
"Hmmm," Fluttershy held her hoof to her chin in thought. "I doubt I'll get it in one day. And wail the best time to practice would be at night when nopony is around, I'm sure somepony would notice if I suddenly started taking naps in the middle of the day so you could teach me then. Hmmm, however if I had a good reason. . . Wait, I think I might know just what to do."
Discord raised an eyebrow, "you know, I never took you for a schemer."
Fluttershy got up off the couch and began walking over to the door, "oh I'm not, I'm just used to planning things out a bit because I have so many different animals to take care of. Please wait here, I'm going to ask an old friend to help. And don't worry, they won't say anything."
Discord had noticed the yellow pegasus didn't seem as shy or reserved as he'd originally thought. And wail he chalked it up to her trying to be less boring, which of course boosted his ego as he gave himself credit, little did he know that Fluttershy was trying extremely hard to be more outgoing. She had firmly decided to be as good a friend as she could to him, as she was sure that's all he needed, a friend to heal that horrible loneliness he must have felt.
Fluttershy walked back in with an owl on her back. Still steping softly, even though it seemed her hooves didn't make any sound thanks to Discord.
"This is Owsana. She's an old friend of mine, and I've asked her to pretend to have a hurt wing so I'll have an excuse to stay up late and take a nap in the afternoon. Everypony knows owl's sleep better during the day, so it should be fine."
Discord raised an eyebrow again, "are you sure that you're not a schemer?"
Fluttershy started getting some things to make a splint for Owsana. "Oh no, it's just that you asked me not to tell anyone about the bet we made. And I would like to be able to give my freinds a reason why I have to be up late, insted of making them worried."
Fluttershy finished putting the splint on the owl and helped them into a comfortable spot. "Thank you Owsana, I'll try to learn as quick as I can so you can go back to your tree." She then turned to Discord, "let's go then. . . Um, Discord? Are you asleep?"
Indeed the draconaquis was laying on his stomach breathing softly with his eye's shut.
Discord blinked and sat up stretching, "mmmm? Oh probably. You were taking so long I must have drifted off with boredom. Now let's see what we can do to help you improve that mostly dull attatude of yours!" He snapped his fingers and they appered out in an empty field. "You know, I'm quite surprised you're willing to lie to your friends like that."
"Oh I'm not," Fluttershy stated. "You see, Owsana is actually pretty stubborn, and kept insisting her wing wasn't hurt. I'm just glad I finally got her to let me bandage it up. I've been trying for over a week!"
"Well why didn't you just use that stare of yours? Probably would have worked." Discord Shrugged, "but enough about that, make a tea cup."
"Um, sorry, but I'm not sure where to start. How am I supposed to do this?" Fluttershy said. Reminding herself that she wasn't here to talk about an owl. And this wasn't the time to explain why she didn't use her stare at certain times.
Discord facepalmed, "ok look, just use the energy you use for flying and all that whether stuff to do something, whatever first pops into your head, ok? That's what I do."
For the first time Discord found himself wondering if doing whatever poped into his head was actually a good idea. He'd had the random idea of making a bet with this yellow pegasus as he was sure there was nothing funner then absolute chaos. But other then that he had just been making things up as he went, and now he was teaching chaos magic to a pony who could use an element of harmony! . . . Actually that sounded like it could end up being quite entertaining. And so, deciding his ideas were absolute genus as usual, he focused his attention back to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy for her part was in the air flapping her wings, creating gusts of wind as she did so. Eventually she stopped and turned to Discord, "I think I'm doing something wrong, though I've only ever used my wings for whether purposes."
"Hmmmm," Discord tapped his chin. That was true, and as far as he knew no ponies ever tride using a different type of magic from what they were born with. Well, time for that to change!
"Tell you what," Discord said, getting another idea. "I'll borrow you a tad of mine. That should help you figure it out." And before she could say anything, Fluttershy felt an enormous wave of power surge through her, "whwhwhwh whoa!" It may have been a lot of power, but it definitely wasn't as much as an element of harmony, and she had handled one of those before. Though it also felt vary different from the time she had used one of the elements. The elements had more of powerful but soft feel. This just felt kind of, buzzy.
After a bit, Fluttershy felt it calm down, but something was different. It was as if she could see her pegasus magic just by thinking about it, even though it was being dwarfed by a sort if black/purple/gold energy. Which was another thing, she could somehow tell what color her magic was, even though pegasus magic never took pysical form like a unicorn's did. It was all a little much to take in, though she did like the soft yellow look of it.
"A little to much?" Discord asked. "Hmmm, that's odd. I thought I barely gave you any, though I haven't actually done this before."
Fluttershy steadied herself, just now realizing she had been wobbling on her hooves a bit. "I think I'm fine. It's just I wasn't really expecting to suddenly, kind of, see my magic, in a way. It's a little, um, new."
Discord blinked, "wait, you couldn't do that already? Well no wonder unicorns are the only ones creating spells! They're the only one's who can actually see their magic to do things with it. Though if I were to guess they probably don't even do that right." He folded his arm and rolled his eye's, "no wonder it took the elements to stop me, nobody even knows how to use magic properly. Scratch chaos magic for now, I'm going to have to teach you the basics!"
To Discord's credit, he did think for a bit that perhaps teaching her proper magic might not be the best idea. But then he remembered just who he was talking to, and quick as that, thought of a way around that annoying bit of actual logic that kept poping up in his mind. "However," Discord continued, "you have to promise never to tell anyone what I teach you, or write it down. I don't want a buch of ponies suddenly thinking they actually stand a chance against me. That would just get annoying."
Fluttershy nodded, understanding Discord's request. "I promise," she said.
After talking to Discord as much as she had, Fluttershy felt that he was acting different then he had when he had first appeared. And she hoped that having somepony to talk to casually was helping him realize that having a friend was more important then being able to do whatever you wanted.
Discord snapped his claws and a chalk bored appeared with a picture of a unicorn on it. "Ok now listen up. Unicorns have a horn which naturally focuses magic, and that's why they can lern to control it with a bit of practice. However, every kind of pony dose have magic."
Discord waved his paw, "but enough about that," he continued as the chalk bored dissappeared. “For now just focus on that magic you saw in yourself earlier, imagine it moving the air around you. I’d suggest sending magic through your wings, as you’re already used to doing that, think of them as pegasi’s unicorn horns. We’ll get to hooves later.”
Fluttershy focused, and was slightly surprised that when she imagined her/Discord’s magic moving into her wings, she could actually feel it shift! Though it did take a bit of concentration.
Discord had mentioned just doing whatever popped into her head, and judging from how he always seemed to do absolutely random things, Fluttershy guessed that using chaos magic wasn’t based on a lot of practice, but was more about your ability to do things without stressing about them to much. Though she knew she might be wrong, she decided to just go with it for now. And with that thought in mind, Fluttershy opened her wings and flicked them to her left, releasing the energy she felt into the air.
Suddenly Fluttershy was swopped into the air by a huge gust of wind, a small tornado having suddenly formed around her!
Starting to panic as she was spun in circles, Fluttershy realized she could still feel the magic in the air. Squeezing her eyes shut and remembering her decision to be more outgoing, she forced her wings to snap out and she shoved the magic away from her on both sides. There was a loud BOOM on ether side of her as she fell to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Fluttershy lay where she was, taking a few breaths and waiting for her head to stop spinning. After a bit she managed to wobble to her feet, only to see Discord was, clapping?
“Bravo! Outstanding first performance I must say,” Discord said. He then stopped clapping and a small pink tornado appeared in his paw and he started twirling the mini tornado onto a stick, which was when Fluttershy realized he had made it out of cotton candy just like he had done with the clouds. “Not anywhere near my level, but it was good start,” Discord continued, handing her the tornado on a stick. “Have some sugar, it seems to help that pink friend of yours with her antics.”
Fluttershy took it, and he began making another one for himself. “I think you may have been right about it being to much.” She said. “Though now since I know a bit of what to do, I, I’d like to try it myself.”
Discord ate his tornado in one bite and tossed the stick over his shoulder, which left a rainbow behind it before growing wings and flying away. “Do whatever you want, that is one of the main points of chaos magic, being able to do whatever. Oh right, I should probably remove that magic I gave you.” He snapped his claws and Fluttershy felt her body relax a bit, as if it had been under pressure before. “There you go, now let’s see if you can pull of another tornado!” He then reclined in mid air again and put on a pair of tropical styled sunglasses as he popped himself in a cup of chocolate milk with a little umbrella in it, as well as making a mini sun appear above him.
Discord was honestly a little curious whether she could pull it off or not. He had long since decided to just roll with whatever happened or popped into his head, that’s how he did things after all, well aside from a few little plans he had done here and there, but he never had to do any sort of excessive thinking, and that’s the way he liked it. Over thinking things just wasn’t any fun.
Fluttershy took a breath and let it out, making herself calm down as much as she could, trying focus on the soft yellow energy she had felt earlier. It was definitely harder to feel this time, but she flicked her wings a few times creating a small breeze and tried to concentrate on the magic she knew was there.
It took a bit of time, but eventually she was able to pinpoint the feeling of magic flowing through her wings. Fluttershy flapped her wings again, and noticed she could feel magic leaving them. It was such a faint feeling that if she hadn’t already felt something like it with Discord’s magic, and hadn’t been actively looking for it, she probably would never have noticed. And she was practiced at noticing little details because of all her time spent caring for small animals.
After a bit more practice Fluttershy decided decided she was ready to try again. She took a breath, and let it out, ‘it’s up to you to show Discord the meaning of friendship, and this is the first step to doing so’ she thought, ‘you, can, do this!’
A few days later Fluttershy was returning from the marketplace with a pack full of vegetables when Twilight approached her. “Hay Fluttershy, have you been doing alright? I’ve noticed you’ve been looking a little tired lately, is something wrong?”
Fluttershy shook her head, “nothing’s wrong, I’ve been taking care of an owl friend of mine with a hurt wing, and you know how they like to sleep during the day. Though I guess that’s only part of the reason.”
Twilight paused a moment before responding, “your worried about Discord to aren’t you, everyone else is as well. It just doesn’t seem like him to stay quiet for even a few moments let alone A few days!”
“I suppose that’s probably it,” Fluttershy responded, “I just wish I could tell what he was thinking, but that’s probably impossible with him being the spirit of chaos.” She sighed, “I’ll talk to you later Twilight, I need to get these groceries back to my house.”
With that they said their farewells and parted ways, as Fluttershy silently apologized for causing everyone to worry so much. “I’ll be good enough soon” she thought, “it’s actually not as difficult as I thought it would be, and I’m getting the hang of it. I know you all will be confused at first, but I’m sure that once this is all over Discord will see just how much having a friend means, and how important it is.” And with that she stepped into a side ally, rounded another corner, checked the sky to make sure no Pegasi were around, and disappeared in a small flash of yellow light with a tap of her hoof.
Only A few days after their conversation, Fluttershy was sitting in back of her house sipping tea and looking up at the stars, once she was finished she got up from her chair and set her cup and saucer down. She looked over to a note book she had been writing in wail she had drank her tea. It had several different ideas written inside, but she had finally found one that she thought would be a good starting point.
There was supposed to be a Wonderbolts show in a couple of days, and hopefully all of her friends would go. She thought they all should be there for the after show party she had come up with, though it did involve A bit of chaos.
Fluttershy picked up her notebook and walked inside to her room, hiding her notes under her mattress. She sighed as hoped she was doing the right thing.
Shaking that from her head she gave A firm nod, “you are doing the right thing,” she whispered, “Discord needs a friend, and for now you’re the only one he’s got!” She may have been quiet and shy, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take action when she needed to! And with that firm resolution in mind, Flutershy climbed into bed, and fell asleep.