Discord and Fluttershy walked out the front doors of the hotel, finally relishing in the fact that they could now relax. Discord took an exaggerated inhale of oxygen, puffing out his chest, before letting loose and creating a swarm of cotton candy to appear on a newly appeared cone in his hand. Fluttershy giggled as Discord ate the sticky substance.
"Where to my dear?" he asked, claw and paw on whatever hips he had. Fluttershy shrugged. "The beach I suppose. Though it is a bit late."
"Eh, we can squeeze in time for a quick swim," Discord said, "To the beach!" he exclaimed. Fluttershy smiled and rolled her eyes playfully. The draconequus took notice of her eye movements and pretended to be taken aback. "Did you just roll your eyes at me Ms. Fluttershy?" he accused.
Fluttershy smiled and gave a meek, "Maybe..."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk Fluttershy. Such rude mannerisms could turn you, though if you're lucky you won't be as bad as that devil rabbit of yours," he muttered the last part quietly under his breath. "I should do something to cease this intolerable madness," he claimed proudly. Fluttershy, accidentally and regrettably, rolled her eyes once more. Discord's eyes widened.
"I think we're done here," he said. In one swift move, he had Fluttershy slung across his shoulder as he marched towards the beach. Fluttershy's mouth was agape. She began to playfully hit his back with her hooves.
"Discord you put me down this instant," she retaliated, though her tone didn't hold much seriousness to it. Discord chuckled, especially to how easy she was to carry. Her small fits of anguish only enhanced Discord's motives for the current situation. He simply laughed and carried on.
Fluttershy eventually gave up and decided to just enjoy the ride, though as they traveled further down the road Fluttershy couldn't help but notice the stares she was getting. But they were probably just looking at the silly scene happening before them. Fluttershy knew that she would want a second glimpse if she were ever in their hooves.
Except there was one stallion who seemed to have an entirely different reaction. He looked so scared and weary. Fluttershy was about to ask what was wrong when, "Everypony run!! The Lord of Chaos is BACK and he's captured one of the Elements of Harmony!"
What? This doesn't make any sense! Discord was reformed a while ago. Oh dear.
A thick wave of panic rose from the streets as Discord turned around to see what the hell was happening. He cautiously put Fluttershy down but still kept her close and guarded her with his lion arm. "What's going on?" he seethed but with great confusion in his voice. Fluttershy turned her face towards him and realized how close they were. She felt a heating sensation but ignored it.
"I-I think that they all think you're trying to kidnap me. Maybe they don't know about your reformation?" she questioned. Discord gave a blank expression. He slowly turned his head away to face the petrified faces.
I should have thought about this. He scolded himself. Puerto Caballo is on the outskirts of Equestria. Of course not everybody knows about... He looked down at Fluttershy who was currently distracted and felt more at ease.
Though, his sudden feeling of relief was sadly extinguished when some random pony began to start a riot against him. Discord gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"Everypony, save the Element of Kindness!" the protestor yelled, dashing towards the two with a small group trailing behind him. Fluttershy gulped as she watched them draw nearer. She saw the look in Discord's eyes and also saw that he was about his to snap his fingers; probably to teleport them somewhere else. She couldn't let that happen yet.
In a swift act of bravery, Fluttershy lowered Discord's eagle talons before the magical surge occurred and came out towards the racing crowd.
"Everypony stop!" she cried, as loudly as she could muster. It was surprisingly loud. Discord was about to intervene but was stopped short as he witnessed the ferocity that began to glow around the buttercream pegasus.
The mob looked bewildered and came to a halt that was mere inches away from Fluttershy. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Have you no intellect?!" she raged. The crowd looked confused.
"But that's the Lord of Chaos, he tried to take over Equestria twice! We thought that he had turned to stone but there he is in the flesh!" one of the ponies inquired, pointing a dirty finger towards the said draconequus.
"Yeah! And he tried to kidnap you!....I think," another mare proclaimed. Fluttershy shot nasty glares towards the crowd and felt such pain for her friend.
"Listen! This is Discord!" she stated, pointing in his direction. Discord had his head bowed and he was rubbing his eagle arm with his lion paw, "Not long ago was he assigned to me for reformation. At first, that's all it was...a task. But my friendship with Discord grew and he is now my best friend!"
Serval gasps were heard from the crowd, even Discord was astonished. Best friend? He smiled.
"But he was evil," someone retaliated.
"We all make mistakes. I know it may seem hard to believe but Discord IS good. He always was...he just needed a bit of help figuring it out," she replied, giving Discord a reassuring smile.
Everypony around them seemed to exchange glances before it finally looked as if they had believed Fluttershy's proclamation. Most of them seemed embarrassed and even gave out apologies to the draconequus.
Discord held back a smirk towards their pitiful behavior but managed to stifle it. Instead, he looked towards Fluttershy. She was so amazing. He had never seen such courage before, especially knowing that it was for him and from the timid little pegasus from Ponyville. She was truly astounding...and kind, intelligent, beautiful, caring-
"Discord?" Fluttershy inquired, tearing the draconequus from his own...interesting thoughts.
"Yesss?" he replied, looking downwards.
"It seems a bit late for the beach now. Perhaps we should just go back to the hotel and rent a movie or something? I hear they've got some good ones."
Discord thought about it. "Excellent suggestion my dear."
Fluttershy smiled as the two of them made their way back towards the hotel. Most of the walk was spent in silence until Discord broke it, as usual, but this time he had something more sincere to say.
"Fluttershy?"
"Yes?"
"I...I just wanted to say that I really appreciate what you did back there," he admitted. Discord never liked to share his feelings but he felt that it would be rude to not deem Fluttershy of her efforts and actions. No one had ever done that for him before.
She grinned upwards at him. "I'm glad. I hope I didn't embarrass you or anything."
Discord gave a light-hearted laugh and shook his head. "You did nothing of the sort. What you did...it was remarkable an...jus-...thank you," he finished, feeling somewhat flustered.
"My pleasure," she replied. The rest of the trot was spent in silence.
Fluttershy opened the door to their hotel room, feeling exhausted. She tossed her hat down onto the kitchen counter and walked into the bedroom. The two of them had forgotten to figure out the bed situation.
"Fluttershy? What exactly is your proposition for the sleeping arrangements?" he asked, stepping into the bedroom to witness a worn out Fluttershy sprawled out on the bed.
"Pick a film and come lie on the bed," she replied restlessly while on her back. Discord raised an eyebrow but was not feeling any discomfort towards the imposing situation.
Discord eventually settled with the film Thor, mainly because it had a pony who was the god of mischief and Discord wanted to know why he hadn't been aware of the auditions for the part.
Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes as Discord climbed onto the bed with her. She realized that earlier today the thought of her and Discord sharing a bed had made her uneasy but now...it felt completely normal and somewhat comforting. She smiled as she turned over onto her side.
Both of them fell asleep with the movie still playing. The white noise had seemed to make it easier to sleep.
Discord thought he had found peace but within his mind, he was fighting a battle. It was his subconscious, it had finally created a nightmare that got to him after so long. It was normal for Discord to get nightmares but usually he'd just ignore them. But this one seemed to pierce him a little more fiercely.
Fluttershy was crying and backing away from him. "You haven't changed!" she shouted, cowering into the corner. Discord wanted to go to her, to comfort her and tell her that he had! But he couldn't move. It was as if he were watching himself approach Fluttershy in a menacing manner while he was backed against another section of the wall. He kept trying to reach her but he couldn't bring himself to speak or generate movement.
Her cries pierced his ears and he felt an overwhelming amount of guilt begin to build. Suddenly the scene changed. He was standing before a raging mob of ponies and at the front was Fluttershy shouting accusations towards him. Discord slapped Fluttershy across the cheek but he hadn't meant to! He watched as she fell to the ground and rubbed her bruised cheek.
I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to I swear! Oh please forgive me Fluttershy! He cried. Discord sat there in his own head as words were tossed back and forth to torment him and remind of all the gut-wrenching things he'd done.
"Discord?" Fluttershy slowly groaned, waking from her slumber. She looked over to see the draconequus practically choking on his own tears!
"Discord!!" she cried, brushing his forehead with her hoof. She began to shake him as tears started to streak her own face. Suddenly his eyes burst open as he sat upright and clutched himself before he collapsed back onto the bed.
For a moment...a mere moment he thought he had died and he was being punished for his actions. Luckily he had an angel next to him. Fluttershy! He remembered.
Discord grasped Fluttershy in his arms and turned the bedside-table lamp on as he brought her face next to his to examine her cheek. She was ok. Good. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Fluttershy. Slowly, Discord brought his lips towards Fluttershy's cheek and kissed it softly before clutching her close to him.
The confused buttercream pegasus didn't hesitate to return the hug as she gently stroked his back. "Shh, shh, it's alright now," she cooed lightly.
Discord felt calmer as he slowly sunk back down towards the bed. He had never cried in front of Fluttershy before. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he cried at all. That didn't matter right now though.
When all was quiet, Fluttershy used her tail to turn off the light. Discord slowly used his magic to place a blanket on top of Fluttershy who was still on top of him.
Neither of them minded.