Fluttershy and Discord wandered through a large, impressive crystal building, one not far away from the Crystal Palace. "What's our number again?" Discord asked, staring at the crystal numbers glittering on all the doors around them.
"Two hundred five," she said, guiding him towards the correct room. She used the key to open it. The two of them stepped into a large hotel room, with a single large bed pressed against one wall.
"Ah, the royal treatment!" Discord said, dropping their bags on the ground and flopping onto the large bed. "Now this is my kind of hotel room...not like that room you ended up staying in last time."
She chuckled and sat down next to him. "Well...I didn't spend that much time in that room, thanks to that tent you made for me." She looked around. "And...I know this room is bigger, but what makes it better than the last one?"
He gasped, sitting up. "You have to ask?" He grabbed her under her forelimbs and lifted her up, pointing down at the bed. "First point—a large bed with a much better mattress!" He zipped over to the bathroom. "Second point—a bathroom fit for royalty! Look at that large tub, big enough to hold the both of us!"
She blushed at that. "Cordy..."
But he had already carried her to the sliding crystal doors. "A superior view of the Empire!" he said, throwing back the curtains. "Plus, a balcony!" He stepped out onto the balcony and continued pointing things out down below.
"A pool, a small crystal garden...and oooh, there are restaurants nearby!" he said. "Not that we have to use them, because this hotel has room service!" He held up a pamphlet and showed it off to her. "We can order food whenever we like!"
"As long as it's within this timeframe..." she said, tapping at the opening and closing hours of the room service. "And Discord...I never thought you'd be so excited about this. You can make things like this with your magic."
"I know," he said, floating back inside and laying back down on the bed, with her lying on his torso. "But it feels good for someone else to do all of these things and give them to me." He stretched, placing his hands behind his head. "And to think that Cadence is paying for all of this! What a steal."
"Because we're helping her," Fluttershy said. "And don't you go abusing her generosity...you do know that room service might have extra fees, right?"
He sighed and nodded. "Yes, and they charge for all the snacks and drinks in that fridge over there, and bill for any damages in the room..." He sat up and ruffled her mane. "But c'mon, Flutters, let's live a little! Cadence has plenty of bits, I don't think we could come close to draining her dry without actively trying to."
"Well..." she hesitated for a second, then sighed and relaxed in his arms. "I suppose that...it wouldn't hurt to have a little bit of fun. As long as we don't take it too far."
"Exactly," he said, rolling over onto his side and letting her roll off of him and onto the bed.
She sighed and relaxed on the sheets, shifting to be closer to Discord. This was a pretty nice bed...after a few minutes, she opened her eyes and saw that Discord was wearing a thoughtful expression. "What are you thinking about?" she asked him, stroking his cheek.
"I wonder..." he said, "If the glasses are made of crystal." He teleported over to the fridge and whipped open the door. He gasped and emerged with two cups and a bottle of soda. "Even better! They and the soda bottles are made of crystal!"
He popped open the bottle and quickly poured them two glasses. "Discord," she said. "We don't need to..."
"Ah, but this looks like some tasty soda, though!" he said, offering her one of the full glasses. "Lemon flavored, too..." he said in a singsong voice.
"...alright," she said, relenting and accepting the crystal glass. He smiled and took a sip, his eyebrows raising a bit in surprise. She took a slow sip of her own.
Her own eyebrows rose. The soda was lemon-flavored...but it was less fizzy than she was expecting, and a little sourer (while still being sweet). It was like...someone had taken some tart lemonade and carbonated it.
Discord smacked his lips. "Not bad," he said. "Not quite what I was expecting...and not bad." He took another long sip of his soda.
She took another sip herself, laying back down on the bed. Discord plopped next to her, still drinking his soda. "Mmm. I'm making some bottles of this for back home," he said. He grinned at her. "See? There's a reason why we should try their stuff. New foods to find!"
She smiled and chuckled, taking another sip. "Okay, okay," she said. "We can try some of the things in the fridge...as long as we don't overdo it."
"Moi? Overdo things? Never," Discord said, a halo appearing above his head. She snickered and nudged his side. He chuckled and nudged her back.
The two of them ended up nudging each other and giggling like schoolfoals until their glasses were empty...at which point, everything turned into a full-on tickling pillow fight.
Eventually, the two of them laid on the bed, panting, pillows strewn about the room. "...want to get dinner?" Discord said. "We can order room service and listen to something on the radio. Maybe a cheesy, romantic drama that we can both laugh at."
"That sounds...fun, actually," she said with a grin. "If you take care of ordering food, I can find something on the radio."
"Great!" he said. With a snap of his fingers, a telephone appeared on the crystal nightstand. "I'll call the front desk and place the order." He began to dial numbers on the phone, while she got off the bed and went to the radio.
It took a few minutes of searching—most stations were either news-based, or only played music. But she did eventually find one that seemed to be a drama. She paused, retracting her hoof and listening for a few seconds just to be sure.
"Oh, Ferdinand," a female voice moaned. "How could we ever be together?"
"Our love shall guide us," a male voice responded. "We can overcome any challenge, as long as we hold faith in each other!"
"Ugh!" Discord said. "Sounds like a really cheesy one." He stuck out his tongue...but then a wide grin spread across his face. "That's perfect!"
Fluttershy chuckled. "Did you place the order?"
"Mhmm. The receptionist was a bit confused by the phone at first, but she still took my order." He flopped onto the bed, patting the space next to him. "Any minute now, we shall receive two orders of rice with cooked vegetables."
"Sounds good," she said, leaning against his side. Already, she was starting to relax...only the idea of dinner and enjoying something cheesy with Discord kept her from sleeping in the soft, comfortable bed they were on then and there.
The drama was very cheesy, enough that Discord was laughing for more than half of it...and his laughter was quite contagious. Their dinner was also quite tasty, and they had gone to bed in a good mood and with full stomachs.
Fluttershy woke up the next morning with a yawn. The sun was bright, crystal birds were chirping...and Discord was cooking tiny pancakes on the hotel iron.
"What happened to room service?" she asked, smiling and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Well, there were some tempting things," he said, dropping the pancakes onto a plate. "But what could be more tempting than hasty pastries cooked in a way that never should have been?"
She looked at the pancakes as he brought the plate over. Most of the pancakes seemed a bit uncooked and slightly sticky. A couple actually looked okay, though. "...I'll give you some of the better ones," he said, sliding the good-looking ones onto a separate plate in front of her.
"Thank you," she said. "...sure you don't want to order room service?"
"Hmm. Not right now. Maybe tomorrow, after feeling a tinge of regret at eating these. Or this evening, after feeling quite hungry after today," he said.
"If you say so," she said as he handed her a fork. She began to eat the pancakes. They might not have been perfect, but they still tasted alright.
As soon as they polished off their breakfast, they stood up and stretched, both of them heading to the bathroom to get ready. After their teeth and manes were brushed, and Discord had fluffed up his eyebrows and beard until he was satisfied, he added the final touch—two lanyards with plastic cards around their necks, each with their names and the name of the convention on them.
"Ready to go?" he asked, cracking his knuckles. "If we head out early, we can beat the line!" She nodded, and he snapped his fingers, teleporting them both.
Unfortunately, there was still a small line they had to wait in before entering the sparkling convention center. Though Discord griped and grumbled, the line was quickly let through, and soon, they were inside the large opening hall.
A pink alicorn with purple-tipped wings spotted them, quickly waving at them. "Cady-lady!" Discord said cheerfully. With a snap of his tail feathers, he and Fluttershy teleported through the crowd to reach her.
"It's good to see you, Discord," she said with a bright smile. "I hope you enjoyed your stay in the hotel?"
"Oh, I did," he said with a nod. Fluttershy nudged his side. "Thank you for inviting us, and giving us the room," he said. He playfully rolled his eyes at Fluttershy, and she giggled.
"Speaking of that, Princess Cadence..." she said, suddenly remembering something. "Why did you invite us to this event? If you wanted someone royal, I'm sure Twilight would have been willing to come...
"That's simple," Cadence said with a smile. "You two are one of the best examples of how love can change us for the better. Just mingle a bit with visitors, and answer any questions they have during your panel."
"Panel?" Fluttershy said, tilting her head. "We're running a panel?"
Discord's eyes gleamed, and he rubbed his hands together, chuckling a little. "We have a panel?" he said. "Oooh, what should I talk about? Maybe sow some seeds of chaos into the glitter ponies' heads..."
"It's just a simple question and answer session," Cadence said to both of them. "Half an hour long. After that, you're free to do whatever you want." She smiled. "I would have liked for you two to have a larger time slot, but...I figured the less you had to talk to ponies, the better you would feel."
Fluttershy nodded. "Yes...what sort of questions will they be asking us, anyway?" Her heart was starting to race a bit in her chest. She didn't know how big this panel would be, and she automatically began to imagine the worst, huge crowds staring and judging—!
She flinched a little when she felt Discord's paw on top of her head. He smiled encouragingly at her, and she slowly gave a nervous smile back.
"Just questions about the two of you, and your relationship," Cadence said. "And like I said—half an hour, then you can do whatever you want. You don't even have to stay for the rest of the convention, if you don't want to."
"I think we can handle it," Discord said, scratching behind Fluttershy's ear. "When is our panel, anyway?"
"One in the afternoon," Cadence said. She held a map up in her magic. "I marked which room it is on this map."
"Thank you very much, Sparkle Princess," Discord said, taking the map and crumbling it up, sticking it in a pocket of his fur. "Flutters, I saw a table with stuffed animals for partners thataway. Wanna check it out?"
"Sure," she said, brightening up and following him, waving goodbye to Cadence.
In a few minutes, they had acquired matching stuffed animals—purple platypi, much to Discord's delight. They wandered around the convention, getting trinkets and nibbling on some of the snacks from the booths.
But even with all the snacking, Discord's stomach started grumbling. "We should probably eat an early lunch," Fluttershy said. "To make sure we have plenty of time before our...panel starts."
"Good idea," he said, patting his growling stomach and trying to shush it.
"Let's see..." she said. "Oh, there's a food court right over there!" She pointed to a collection of small food booths right down the hall, and trotted towards it.
Before she could enter the area, Discord teleported in front of her, holding up a paw to stop her. She froze in place, looking up as he closed his eyes and shook his head.
He clicked his tongue. "Oh no no," he said, shaking his head. "Convention food is not the way to go. What we want to do is leave and get food at any of the nearby restaurants."
"Why?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Well...take a look at how much some of this costs," he said, pointing at the board of prices. She read it, her eyes slowly widening as she realized how expensive it all seemed. "Unless you want to overpay for food that's probably not as good as what we could get elsewhere."
"...I thought you weren't worried about costs," she said. "Because Cadance was covering it...not that I want to encourage overspending."
"Well..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just that the food in a nearby restaurant is probably much better, that's all!" He leaned down to whisper, "And...I don't actually want to make Cadance pay of pounds of bits...it'd be a bit rude to do that to a pony princess I semi-respect, even if we're not that close."
She smiled brightly. "Well, then...let's see what's outside the convention." Discord nodded, and with a flash of light, they teleported outside of the building.
"Let's see," he said, holding up a pair of binoculars and scanning the street. "There's an ice cream shop, a few stands selling drinks and popcorn—my guess is they're trying to prey on ponies from the convention—a pizza shop, and a sandwich place."
He frowned. "I was hoping more restaurants would be on the first street...for a delicious bit of irony."
"I don't know," she said. "Those all sound like good options to me..."
"What suits your mood most right now?" he asked. "I could go for anything, really. I wouldn't mind something savory, though."
"Pizza, then?" she said. "That sounds yummy."
"Yeah..." he said. "Let's do that!" Ice skates appeared on his feet, and he skated across the street. She laughed and followed him as he dodged ponies walking by.
He skidded to a stop in front of the doors, twirling in circles as he waited for her. She finally reached him, and he smiled and opened the door for her, his skates vanishing as he headed in behind her.
"Let's see...how about we get one large pizza," Discord said, partly to the clerk and partly to Fluttershy. "Half cheese, and half every topping you have, plus extra green peppers. Oh, and all stuffed crust!"
Fluttershy nodded, and the clerk quickly rang them up. Discord paid for the pizza and pocketed the receipt ("Still not as expensive as convention food!"), and the two of them were guided to a table next to the window, where they could watch the busy street.
They chatted about everything, from the convention to how crystals could be used chaotically, until their pizza arrived. "Mmm, smells good," Discord said. He pulled a slice of pizza from his overfilled half, sprinkling a few crystal flakes on top before taking a large bite out of it.
"Is it good?" she asked, taking a bite out of her own pizza. He nodded. "I think so, too."
They kept chatting as they ate their lunch. Discord ate all of his slices, while there were still a few of Fluttershy's left. "Oh, I'm too full," she said, patting her stomach. "You can have them, if you want."
He shook his head, and with a snap of his fingers, the slices vanished. "We'll save them for you to have later," he said, leaning over the table to kiss her nose. "...though if you don't eat them in time, I might actually steal them! That was a good pizza."
She giggled and kissed his nose before he could retreat. A lovestruck smile spread across his face.
He glanced down at his wrist, where a golden watch gleamed. "Oh, would you look at that," he said. He tilted it to show her the time. "The time of our panel is coming closer!"
"Right...panel," she said, tapping her hooves together nervously.
He reached over to pat her head. "Don't worry," he said. "It'll just be a short Q&A thing. They ask things, we answer honestly. And if anyone rude shows up, we dump them into a giant shaving cream pie!"
"Discord!" she said sternly.
"...well, maybe not that far," he said. "But still, we can at least kick them out." He stood up and held his paw out to her. "Shall we?"
"I suppose so," she said, slowly placing her hoof in his palm. He smiled, and with a snap of his fingers, they teleported away.
They reappeared inside the convention center again, this time in a medium-sized room. There were crystal tables with empty crystal chairs scattered about, with a particularly long table with microphones at the front. Bronze placards with their names were set on top of it.
"So...this is the place," Discord said, plopping into a seat behind his placard. She took a seat next to him. "We just have to make ourselves comfortable and wait for some glitter ponies to show up, then."
He grabbed a microphone and began tapping it. A thunking sound echoed through the room. Nodding, he handed it to her, then tested another one for himself.
With that done, he began rocking back and forth in his chair, causing the crystal legs to leave some marks on the crystal floor. "I'm sure it won't be long before someone arrives," she tried to assure him. He hummed, and kept rocking in his chair, but he seemed to be making an effort to leave fewer scratches.
It didn't take more than a few minutes for ponies to start showing up—most of them crystal, but some regular ponies were also there. Even a few yaks and dragons showed up. Soon, as their panel's starting time came closer, the room began to fill, some creatures even having to stand in the back as they ran out of seats.
Fluttershy took a deep breath, feeling nervous about all the eyes that were on her. Discord placed his tail against the small of her back, helping her feel a little calmer. He leaned forward and began to speak into his microphone.
"Alright, everyone!" he said. "Who's ready for the bestest, chaoticest Q&A session of your lives!?" The crowd cheered.
She leaned over. "I don't think those are real words," she whispered. He just shrugged, the smile not falling from his face.
"Now, I think you all know how this works," he said into the microphone. "Just get our attention, and we'll answer your questions. And...go!"
Most of the crowd started waving their limbs in the air, yelling and whistling to try and catch more attention than anyone else around them. Discord's eyes scanned the room for a moment...and he finally pointed to a young crystal filly.
"U-um..." she said, seeming nervous as eyes turned to her. "What's your favorite thing about each other?"
"Ooh, hitting us with the tough stuff, huh?" Discord said, cracking a grin. He glanced over at Fluttershy. "Well...it's impossible to say that there's just one thing that's my favorite. She's kind, willing to offer me a chance in the first place. Patient and understanding, so she keeps giving me more chances, even when I mess up. She's adorable, sometimes silly, very clever, especially when it comes to animals..."
He paused, then finished, "So...my favorite thing about her is that she's Fluttershy."
"Aww," a few members of the crowd cooed. Fluttershy blushed, feeling very tempted to hide underneath the table. Discord placed a paw on top of her hoof, giving it a gentle squeeze.
She took a deep breath, and leaned a little closer to the microphone. "U-um," she said. "I love Discord because he...he always knows how to make me laugh and smile. Ever since we became friends, he's always supported me. He always, always puts his everything into whatever he cares about...and has put so much into our relationship."
She swallowed. "So...my favorite thing about him is that he's Discord."
The crowd cooed again, and Discord blinked, looking a bit stunned. "...Fluttershy, please don't make me melt before the panel's barely begun," he said, voice cracking slightly as he fanned himself. Murmuring chuckles spread through the crowd.
She chuckled a little to herself, starting to relax. This wasn't as bad as she had feared...especially with Discord by her side. She gave his paw a squeeze and turned her attention back to the ground. "Next question?"
Several creatures raised their hooves and hands. Fluttershy's eyes scanned over the crowd, trying to figure out who had raised theirs first, before finally pointing at a tall and slender dragon in the back. "Who usually wins arguments, between you two?" he asked.
Fluttershy frowned. "Well...arguments aren't about winning. We both try to figure out what the problem is, and take steps to fix it."
Discord pointed at her. "She's nearly always right when we bicker about something." A few chuckles came from the crowd.
"You're right about things a lot, too," she said, lightly nudging his side. "...and most of the time we argue, we're just concerned for each other."
He nodded and kissed her forehead, earning a few 'aww's from the crowd. She blushed and pushed his muzzle away. "N-next question?" she said.
The two of them answered question after question—things like how they felt about working in different fields, or what the hardest part about living with each other was. Fluttershy warned them that she and Discord had different experiences than any other couple, but Discord answered happily, whispering to her that, "Just telling them about us could cause a little chaos! Imagine if they tried to model their homes after ours."
She couldn't help but chuckle a little at that mental image. The half-hour just seemed to fly by, and soon, the attendees filed out of the room. The two of them were left alone in the gleaming panel room.
"Well," Discord said, taking a cloth and smearing some unknown grease onto the table, dulling it. "I'd say that was a success!"
"Yes...they seemed to understand what we were saying," she said with a nod. "And no one was rude at all..." Which she was quite thankful for, since Discord did not respond to rudeness politely.
"And it was surprisingly fun," he added, smirking. "Don't think I didn't notice that little smile you had, missy." He poked her muzzle, making her giggle.
"Well...speaking of fun, would you want to wander around the convention for a bit?" she asked, standing up and pushing her chair in. "There must be something interesting we can find."
His ears perked up, and he jumped to his feet and offered her his arm. "You read my mind," he said, his grin widening as she looped her foreleg around his elbow. He raised his fingers and snapped, teleporting them both into the thick of the convention in a flash of light.
The crowd had grown as the day went on, but most creatures quickly moved aside as they appeared, and gave them plenty of space as Discord picked a random direction and strode forward. Fluttershy flapped her wings, staying at his side and looking around at everything.
The crystal floors and walls had all been polished until they sparkled, and booths were set up everywhere, usually a crystal table with a simple curtain behind it to separate it from the other booths. All sorts of things were offered at different booths—candy, flowers, jewelry, and plenty of traditional anniversary gifts.
Fluttershy looked up to Discord, to ask if he was interested in getting matching bracelets, but he looked...unhappy. There was a scowl on his face, and he actually looked a little green. "Are...are you okay?"
He shook his head and gagged. "Ugh...there's so much luuuuuurve in the air, it's almost sickening."
"But Cordy," she said, tilting her head. "I thought you'd enjoy this...you're quite romantic yourself."
He quickly placed a finger to her lips, glancing around to see if anyone had heard. Most of the crowd was still giving them space and minding their own business. "Oh no no no," he said. "That is love. I love you, I adore you, I would give you the entire universe if you so much as hinted at wanting it." He frowned and gestured around him. "This...all this is lurve. If love is sugar, lurve is the artificial sweeteners that taste funny and give creatures stomachaches and nausea."
"...huh," she said, looking around. A lot of things were pink, most booths had very plain and generic gifts, there were hearts plastered everywhere...even the matching bracelets were fairly generic, with pink or white heart-shaped crystals. "It does seem...a bit much," she admitted.
"Yes, and Twilight likes books 'a bit much'," he said. He made another gagging sound. "Urgh...it's all so sappy and artificial, I don't know if I can stand it."
She placed a wing on his back. "Let's go back to our room," she offered. "We can relax a little, cause a little chaos to perk you up..."
He smiled weakly at her. "Ah...that's love, not lurve," he said. "Speaking of chaos...want to cause a little at this convention?"
She frowned. "I don't...think that's a good idea," she said slowly. "We shouldn't ruin Cadance's event..."
"I'll find the most artificial, nauseatingly sappy place to cause it," he said. "Plus, we can do it in a way to replace this lurve with love."
She still frowned. "Well...I suppose if no one gets hurt..." she said. "And...as long as I can say 'no' to the chaos you have planned."
"Naturally," he said, straightening up. "Now, let me try to find a wellspring of lurve to plug up."
He surged forward, sniffing at the air as she trotted to keep up. He gagged a few times, but made hairpin turns towards whatever caused his disgust. In just a few moments, they were in a whole other section of the convention center, and he tugged her into hiding behind a large ficus.
"There..." he said in a hushed whisper, pointing forward. "Terrible, terrible lurve. Can't you smell it?"
Her gaze followed the direction he was pointing in. There stood a booth, coated in pink sparkly hearts, with a sign overhead. Chocolate Heart Soulmates, it read.
She watched as a few couples approached, apparently making chocolate in a heart mold from a chocolate fountain, and adding ingredients together. "It seems...novel. A bit tacky with the decorations, but novel," she said. "What makes you dislike it?"
"This flyer," he said, holding it out to her. It bore the same name as the booth. "They're...actually acting like having similar preferences in chocolate and making a good chocolate heart determines whether you'll be good partners."
"...ah," she said, reading over the flyer and realizing he was correct. "Well...maybe they're not serious. But it sounds like they are, and that's...a little problematic."
"Exactly," he said. "What if new couples feel disappointed because they have different tastes in food? That's no reason to break a good thing apart."
"So...you want to cause chaos for this booth?" she asked. He eagerly nodded. "What were you thinking of doing?"
He whispered into her ear. She slowly nodded. "...that's not so bad," she says. "Let's get in line and try it."
They had to wait in line for a few minutes, much to Discord's displeasure. Still, he kept himself busy by chatting with her about his plan...and what he noticed about the booth. "The meter's fake," he said. "There are controls under the booth, you can see her reach down to mess with them."
She nodded in understanding, and he grumbled about sleight of hoof not even being convincing. "grumble subjectiveness grumble mutter cheap tricks..."
She gave his paw a squeeze to help distract him. His fingers slowly curled around her hoof, and soon enough, they were at the front of the line.
The mare running it smiled brightly. "Welcome!" she said cheerily. "Would you two like to test your compatibility, and get some chocolate?"
"Oh, yes!" Discord said, his pupils growing wide and shiny. "I'd just love to base the status of my relationship around food and a plastic meter!"
"He means that we'd really like to try it," Fluttershy said. She smiled at Discord, who winked back.
"Alright," the mare said. "Before we begin, you'll need to pay first. That'll be ten bits, please."
"Ten bits!?" Discord squawked. "That's highway robbery! This is—"
Fluttershy placed a hoof on his arm. "Sweetie, it's fine," she said. "You wanted to do this, right?" She dug through her saddlebags and pulled out the ten bits, handing them to the mare. Discord's eyes bored holes into the mare.
She accepted the bits and tucked them away. "Now, let me get your heart ready first," she said. "This chocolate cools quickly, so we'll need to be fast."
She grabbed a mold from under the booth, then held it under the chocolate fountain. Once it was full, she pulled it out and set it in front of them.
"Now, each of you should pick three different ingredients," the mare said. "Try to pick something that calls out to you, that speaks to your heart—"
"Yada yada, cliche stuff," Discord said. "Picking out ingredients we like, we got it." He scanned over the items available. "Mind if I use something I brought myself? None of these are quite saying anything to me."
Fluttershy glanced over the options herself. There was some peanut butter, some mint extract, and several fruit extracts. The mare's smile tightened another inch. "...you may..." she said slowly. "But note that...it might take the Love-O-Meter more time to read out your chocolate if you add something it doesn't recognize."
"That's fine!" Discord said, snapping his fingers. Three glass bottles appeared in front of him—a bottle of hot sauce, a bottle of dragonfruit extract, and a bottle of that lemon soda from before. "In it goes!" he said, pouring each of them in.
Fluttershy added in some of the mint extract...then a little blueberry, and finally a bit of peanut butter. "Done?" the mare asked, to which they both nodded. She picked up the mold and rotated it a bit to mix the ingredients around.
"Now...both of you turn your eyes to the Love-O-Meter, which will measure the love in your heart!" She gestured to the sparkling dial behind her, setting the chocolate heart on a scale. Fluttershy glanced up for a second, then down to the mare's hooves...which were busy under the booth. Discord snapped his fingers behind his back.
The needle in the meter shuddered, then began moving towards the red. "Oh, too bad," the mare said. "Your heart's flavors are in conflict, so..." With a loud pinging sound, the needle suddenly shot in the other direction, pointing to the highest possible readout. The mare blinked and turned around "What...?"
"Oh no! It's a paradox!" Discord exclaimed, clapping his hands over his cheeks. "We're maxing out our love, but our chocolate preferences don't match up at all!"
The mare running the booth glanced between them and the scale. "I don't...what?" she said, her tight smile falling a bit. The chocolate fountain began to shake.
"Paradox explosion incoming! Duck!" Discord shouted, falling to the floor and pulling Fluttershy with him. An umbrella appeared in his hands, shielding the two of them...just as the chocolate fountain exploded.
Warm liquid chocolate sprayed everywhere, coating the booth, the mare, and a few of the ponies behind them. Only Discord and Fluttershy made it out completely unscathed, thanks to the umbrella.
Discord grinned widely and stood up, shaking off his umbrella before it disappeared. "Sorry about that!" he said cheerfully to the stunned mare. "Paradox explosions are pretty rare...didn't think I'd see one in the Crystal Empire!"
His grin tightened enough to match hers. "Unless...the paradox happened because this is a tourist trap that preys on couples and doesn't actually measure a couple's 'love' at all?"
A few whispers spread through the watching crowd. The mare's smile fell. "I, um...I have to close up shop for today!" She grabbed the box of bits and dropped a 'closed' sign on the booth, darting away.
Discord laughed, snatching their heart off of the scale. "Nothing to see here, folks!" he called. "Just a tourist trap of a booth shutting down!" He started walking away, bending to Fluttershy's eye level.
"You're okay, right? None of that melted chocolate hit you?" he asked as they weaved away from the crowd.
"No, I'm fine," she said. "That umbrella kept me safe."
"Good..." he said, standing up with relief clear on his face. "I'm glad."
Discord took a bite of the heart. "Mmm. What a chaotic mixture," he purred. "I must say, I think the heart we made is good." He broke off a piece and offered it to her.
She accepted it, slowly chewing on it. "...I'm not a fan of the spiciness," she said. "Other than that, it's...interesting. Could be worse."
He snapped his fingers, creating another heart. "Here. A clone sans hot sauce," he said.
She nibbled on it. "Not bad," she said. "Though...I don't think this is going to become a favorite of mine."
"Fair," he said, taking a large bite of his chocolate. "If you don't want it, I can finish it off!"
"Nice try," she said, continuing to nibble on her chocolate. He chuckled, patting the top of her head.