Days had passed after the first dive of the Mane 6, Spike and Starlight into the Multiverse concept. Discord had been taking about an hour of each of the ponies' life to explain what all that had been and all, to ensure there wasn't any thought of possible menace. After that, life turned into the usual routine it had once been. But in Discord's opinion, things were too peaceful. All Discord's commentaries had sunk into Fluttershy until it reached that momeent when she went to bed thinking "Is there truly peace in Equestria?". Days passed, the peaceful life without a change. The School was going alright and there weren't many issues in Equestria. Everything was normal. Well, that was until one day. Discord was looking quite nervous when he knocked the door in Fluttershy's cottage, something oddly normal for someone like him.
"Oh, Discord you came ear-"she was cut off by him.
"Listen, Fluttershy, dear, I... have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
"I... Invited my "father" over to see how I was doing and... I told him I lived here with you."
"What? But why?"
"You see... My family is one to believe that when Harmony and Discord learn to be together, then, the summum of the Balance and Peace will be reached... So I told him I lived with the Element of Kindness... I just wanted to make him proud..."
"Oh, Discord, I understand that, but you shouldn't lie to your parents."
"I know, but my cousin is Mr. Perfect! Or at least I heard so."
"Wait, you mean like some kind of "Mary Sue"?"
"Where did you take that idea from?"said Discord thinking how the fourth wall may be by now.
"From Twilight, why?"
"Nothing. I just heard good things about my cousin from all the family's mouth, but I'm sure that's just one half of him. You see, I heard from his twin that he's quite... a delicate thing sometimes."
"What do you mean delicate?"
"Well, you do remember why I'm here, right? Probably you'll hear a lot from his mouth. Always proud of him"Discord crossed his arms and rolled his eyes-Like he could be so perfect.
"I think I detect family problems"Fluttershy sing-songed-What's wrong, Discord? You can't hate that much your cousin.
Then, to Fluttershy's surprise, a draconequus that looked fairly older that Discord appeared. The draconequus inspected the cottage closely, taking in every single detail. Then, his gaze shifted to Fluttershy, examining her closely, which caused her to blush. Then, he started taking in every single animal's appearance.
"My, my, truly interesting. You didn't talk to me about this, Discord"said the draconequus bending down to look at Angel.
"Well, I have my right of keeping secrets, right?"
"Well, you talked pretty highly of your girlfriend, surely I didn't expect this."
"Girlfirend!?"exclaimed both Fluttershy and Discord in surprise.
"I think the term is... quite fitting, according to what you said."
"Has he knocked some sense into you or what?"said Discord"This isn't the pure incarnation of Chaos and Non-sense!"
"Oh, no, no. Well, I wanted to be polite for the Element of Harmony, I didn't want to scare the crap out of her."
"Oh, I have no problem with that, I have had many times Discord's done the same when he... Comes from working to the princess"Fluttershy lied, knowing saying the truth could risk Discord's relationship with his father.
"Oh, so you work for the princess now? Well, that gives sense to what Balance has reported into the Ministry's desk."
"Oh, so he can work for the Ministry and I can't?"
"My son, you already know what happened last time you did. Plus, you don't even live near it."
"Well, at least you're talking about Balance."
"Yes, Balance, son and chosen of Order. His personality is quite... contrasting. Well, enough of your cousins, tell me, what do you do for the princess?"
The room fell in a quite uncomfortable silence. Nobody knew what to do or say. That was until Fluttershy decided to break the silence.
"Shall I go and make the tea for... The tea party?"she said lowly and shyly.
"Oh, you may. I'm... Going to take a seat and have a go at Discord about... draconequus stuff."
When Fluttershy was away in the kitchen, Discord's father started his talk.
"You like her, don't you?"
"What? No! She's my..."
"Come on, are you saying that you haven't had a love interest for over a thousand years and your cousin has found love at in his twenty-one years of life?"
"Well, maybe I have interest in her... but as a friend."
"Discord, if time has given me anything is wisdom and knowledge. The way you act suggests more the other way around. Maybe you aren't conscious, neither Ice was at first."
The room fell in silence. Both of them exchanged looks that meant very different things. One was a fatherly look of comprehension, the other was a look of "why did you have to mention him?". Fluttershy came with the steamy teapot and looked at both.
"I may not have much knowledge in draconequus talks, but I'm sure a talk involves the exchange of more than looks"she said putting the teapot on the table.
"Well, that's because... We're talking about something uncomfortable. But never mind that. Allow me to introduce myself more properly. I am Discordant Swirl, father of Discord and first one to hold the role of "Lord of Chaos"."
"Well, nice to meet you... I'm Fluttershy"she almost whispered.
"You didn't exaggerate when you said it was hard to hear her at first."
"I told you she was shy. Hence her name: "Flutter-shy."
While Fluttershy and company were taking tea, Twilight was heading towards the library to read. When she entered, she found a draconequus with a book about manners in his hands. Twilight had her mouth wide open and was too surprised to say anything.
"Ah, you're the owner of the place? My gramps sent me to learn some manners, and I thought a library was nice. Sorry not sorry to borrow your books."
"Are you serious?"said Twilight now quite buying the thing.
"Does the Multiverse exist?"
"Yeah?"
"You've the answer."
A sudden rush of questions took complete posession of Twilight's mind. "Who was this guy?", "Why out of all places he decided to "borrow" the books of her library?" but the one that bugged her the most was "Why is there another draconequus in Equestria?".
"Meh, this book's boring"said the draconequus throwing it to the other side of the room"Why manners are so boring?"
"I think I know someone who can help you if you really need it."
"It better be... Fun. Really, I don't know how can you bear reading that."
Twilight was quite reminded of Rainbow Dash, or maybe, even Discord at that.
"Wait a frame... Why are you helping me?"the male asked suspicious.
"Because you're in my house, and it's my duty."
"Touché, I thank you for the gesture, but I'll go find something like that myself. After all, I have a great deal of opportunities for me to search for."
"I... I thought I would offer you some help, you know, to be nice? Those are also manners."
"Ah, so kindness is a way of having manners? Wow, we didn't even start and I'm learning a lot"he said, a sarcastic tone in his voice"The name's Balance by the way. And don't expect me to go like that, I really liked that couch of yours, and those books about adventures are nice, especially this one"he said taking out the diary.
"Wait, you read the diary?"
"Sure, it was in a library, and in a library you read. I was bored, nothing happens here or what?"
"Well, I think the last event more or less important was the one we rescued Starswirl the Bearded and company."
"Curious, I would stay, but my belly is starting to say, "It's time to eat, you jerk! Go find some lunch!""
Twilight chuckled a little. Maybe Balance really was some kind of combination between Rainbow Dash and Discord.
Balance disappeared in a flash, magically teleporting to the nearest place you could eat according to himself, which was Sugar Cube Corner. Meanwhile at the cottage, both draconequus raised their heads in alarm to the magical perturbation. Both of them knew that such magical perturbations weren't usual in Equestria, so they qualified it of major importance. Both left their tea and food and got up.
"Discord? What's wrong?"Fluttershy asked.
"A major perturbance of time and space... Wait, that magic signature..."started Discordant Swirl.
"Balance?"they both said in unison.