“Ah, let’s see what those silly ponies have to say now.”
Discord grabbed a rolled up newspaper off his step, shutting the door behind him as he unrolled it. It seemed the mail pony had come by recently and somehow had made it through his chaotic dimension to his home. He always internally applauded them for making it through all the obstacles there were on the way and at least surviving to deliver his mail and other things. There was always a new mail pony so he assumed it was him making all the previous ones quit. How surprising that none of them had complained to the management and got word to higher authority such as Celestia yet.
“Blah, blah, boring bake sale, boring fashion, boring birthday parties..Ugh! Is there really no juicy drama in here? Nothing that could be going wrong? Nothing that’s worth reading?” Discord complained, flipping each page after reading the headline.
One page caught his eye though and made him pause and look at it. It was a picture of two little fillies running a little lemonade stand on a hot sunny day. That wasn’t what he was interested in though whatsoever.
In the corner of the page was a little black and white picture of a foal who seemed to be not much of a newborn foal but rather young at the same time. She was all snuggled up in a cradle smiling with a little bunny plush in her hoof. Underneath was a bunch of text which seemed to be saying they were looking for the foal and whoever found her would be rewarded. There also seemed to be a warning that she might be accompanied by..
“Hold on a second..That’s Fluttershy!”
He snapped on some reading glasses and brought the page right up to his face, squinting sort of and making sure he was seeing right. It was indeed Fluttershy. He’d recognize her even through some black and white printing.
“Oh no..This isn’t good..I think I’m going to have to pull her from school..Would they really recognize her though as a filly now? I think I’m overreacting..”
Discord slumped into his arm chair and let himself slide downwards lazily, letting the newspaper fall out of his claw and become nothing but a limp noodle. He closed his eyes, taking a large exhale. The stress was getting to him and he couldn’t help but just let himself be consumed by the chair. Perhaps a little literally as his magic influenced the chair to slowly swallow up his tail and the rest of his body.
“Discord, I’m home!”
His eyes immediately sprung open as his head poked out of his seat. His daughter was home! He proceeded to pull himself out of his chair’s grasp, yanking his tail out.
“Let go of me, I’m done being a lazy potato!” He said, finally getting his tail free.
He ran up to the door as he met up with Fluttershy who was just putting up her school bag on to a hook. As soon as she finished, he grabbed her and swung her around.
“Woooah! Diiissscoooorrddd, aaa liiittllleee tooo faaasstt!” Fluttershy said, being swung around and around.
“Whoops, sorry! I’m just so happy to see you!”
He stopped, setting her back down on to the ground after as she wobbled around all dizzy, her eyes spinning around and around just like she was a few seconds ago.
“E-Everything’s spinning..”
“Just give it a few moments, dear. It’ll wear off.”
He was right as she soon found herself on stable ground again and a non-moving world. She took a deep breath and smiled, unzipping her bag and grabbing a small book from it. She soon joined Discord at a little coffee table with a vase of dandelions which seemed to be producing little sparks of fire. The sparks didn’t seem harmful as they fell off the dandelions and floated for a moment before disappearing within the air.
“What are you doing there, kiddo?” Discord asked, sipping some coffee and casually brushing aside the newspaper he was previously reading.
“Some homework.” Fluttershy answered, scribbling something into a little blue book. “Ooo, I almost forgot. Miss Daffodil told me she wanted to speak to you sometime soon.”
“Miss Daffodil?”
“Yeah, she’s my teacher.”
“Uh..Why does she want to speak to me?” Discord asked, fidgeting with a pen now.
“I don’t know. She just said she wants to set up a meeting to speak sometime soon.”
“Fluttershy, you do realize that I can’t talk to her, right? If I just showed up as myself, I would not only freak her out but I would literally be dragged out of her classroom possibly by Princess Celestia’s guards and then sent back to stone. You know how everyone feels about me being free. I don’t exactly feel safe exposing myself just yet.”
“Well, why not use your disguise you used when you teached me how to fly? Um..Tornado Twister?”
“Right, so, I’m just going to have to be him whenever in public. I hate having hooves! What if you have some kind of school concert that I’m forced to go to. I’ll be stuck like that for hours!”
“It won’t be forever. Just pretend to be my normal pony dad while you both speak.”
Discord sighed, setting down his cup of coffee.
“Fine, but this meeting better not be about bad grades.”
“W-What! Of course it isn’t, I’ve been working really hard!”
Discord burst out laughing, hitting his paw on the table.
“I’m just kidding my dear. Like I would ever care about bad grades.”
He grinned, gently stroking her head and combing through her mane with his paw.
***
“Alright, is this fine?”
Discord was now in disguise of Tornado Twister. He looked a little more decent now as he had his black mane slicked back and a unicorn horn instead of pegasus wings. He gently walked alongside Fluttershy now as they were approaching the school a little into the evening of the next day.
“I think you look perfect.” Fluttershy smiled.
“Oh stop it.” He smiled back at her, truthfully not wanting her to stop the compliments.
They approached the door as ‘Tornado’ put his hoof on the handle and then turned back to Fluttershy.
“You owe me for this..Big time. I hate all ponies except for you so it better be good.”
“Alright fine, I’ll make you a dozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
“A dozen? I’m doing it!”
‘Tornado’ adjusted his mane and put on his professional face. He then proceeded to turn the knob and walked in with Fluttershy shyly following behind.
Miss Daffodil was adding some water to some flowers she had set to the side at a window sill when she noticed them come in. She was a very kind looking pony who seemed rather obsessed with flowers as they decorated her room and even lived there. Her name fit her well. She gave a kind smile to the both of them as took a seat behind her desk while they sat in front of her.
“Good evening, Miss Daffodil. I am Tornado Twister, Fluttershy’s father. Please, call me Tornado.” He held his hoof out as they shook hooves.
“Sunsetta Daffodil. It’s very nice to meet you at last!”
“You as well.”
Fluttershy was shocked at ‘Tornado’s’ perfect acting. It all seemed to be going well and ‘Tornado’ was showing such professionalism. It was very unlike him and almost frightened her at what he had become.
“So, I just want to make it clear that I didn’t ask you here today to discuss Fluttershy’s grades. She’s doing extremely well and she’s a very hard worker.”
Fluttershy smiled proudly as ‘Tornado’ patted her on the shoulder.
“I asked you here today for a little bit more important matters.”
Miss Daffodil searched through her desk, shifting through a few papers and pencils. She finally put a stack of papers on to her desk and grabbed one out of it. She placed it on the table as ‘Tornado’s’ eyes immediately widened.
“So, I didn’t want to discuss this with the kids because I’m sure they don’t care much and are a little too young but the princess has wanted me to share this around in hopes maybe the young one will be found. They’ve been searching for her for years so she might be around this class’s age group now. I just wanted to know if maybe any of you had seen her. I kinda thought she looked like Fluttershy a little honestly.”
Miss Daffodil giggled as she stared down at the paper placed in front of the two of them. It was the same picture of young Fluttershy except bigger and it seemed to be an actual article on her. ‘Tornado’ looked like he was about to lose it.
“Wow, she really does look like me!” Fluttershy said innocently.
“N-Nope! Never seen her in my life!”
“Really? I thought maybe Fluttershy had a younger sister or something.”
“Nope! Just me and Fluttershy!”
‘Tornado’ was clearly losing his cool at this point as he felt himself starting to sweat. He smoothed back his mane as his breath quickened.
“Woo..Sure is hot in here, isn’t it? M-Me and Fluttershy better get going before we turn into melted ice cream! Literally.”
‘Tornado’ laughed awkwardly as he yanked Fluttershy out of her seat and headed for the door.
“O-Oh, well, okay! It was nice talking to you Tornado and Fluttershy!”
But ‘Tornado’ didn’t stop to hear the last bit she said as they were already galloping into a hidden portal back to Discord’s dimension. They poofed on to the lawn and ‘Tornado’ galloped inside looking like he was about to have an accident.
“Discord, wait!” Fluttershy called out, following him inside.
She entered the house and paused when she heard puking noises. She folded her ears and trotted over to the bathroom, peeking in. ‘Tornado’ was over the toilet puking particularly hard. Fluttershy flinched every time he did it more as she trotted in, sitting behind him and gently rubbing his back.
“You should of told me you weren’t feeling well. I wouldn’t of told Miss Daffodil that we were ready to talk today.”
“No..It’s not that..”
‘Tornado’ wiped his mouth with his hoof sighing. He turned around, looking Fluttershy in the eyes. He looked very pale and definitely sick.
“I puke sometimes when I’m overly stressed. I’ve noticed it now and that I used to not do it before. Perhaps I didn’t have as much on my plate before and I was too busy having the time of my life to care.” He then laughed suddenly. “My puke is even ice cream.”
Fluttershy hesitantly peeked over the toilet to indeed see there was many flavors of melted ice cream in the toilet slowly mixing together. At least it wasn’t normal puke. That would have been more disgusting.
“But..Why are you so stressed?” Fluttershy asked.
“It wouldn’t be very fair to you if I answered that question.”
“..I make you stressed out?..”
“U-Uh..Not y-you in particular b-but..”
“You stutter when you’re scared or lying..Discord, are you sure?”
He stopped and just stared at her. She was making this turn on her and he didn’t want that. He didn’t want her to feel guilty for his own decisions.
“Fluttershy, I don’t want to discuss this anymore. Please respect that..I..I’ll be fine. I think I just need some rest.”
He got up, transforming back to his original form and making his way out of the bathroom. He felt his claw suddenly be grabbed by her hoof though as he turned around and looked at her again. She had tears forming in her eyes now as she sniffled.
“I-I’m so sorry Discord..I-I don’t mean to make you miserable. I just w-want to see you smile..Y-You’re so a-alone..A-And scared..I wish y-you could have l-lots of friends like I can..T-That ponies liked you..A-And that I don’t e-ever make you upset again! I-If that’s what I do to you..I..I can l-leave..If that’s truly what y-you want..”
He dropped her hoof, his eyes widening. She started to sob on the floor as he quickly ran over and embraced her. It was suddenly as if he could feel the same heartache Fluttershy felt for him as tears started to form in his own eyes.
“No, no, no! I don’t want you to leave. That’s the complete opposite of what I want. You do make me happy, Fluttershy. More than you could ever know. I didn’t like who I was before and the pain of others that I lived on. You’ve made me better..Don’t ever doubt yourself, okay?”
“B-But..”
“Don’t..I don’t want you to go..”
At this point tears were falling down Discord’s cheeks as he held her tightly, never wanting to let her go again. Fluttershy suddenly started to sob into his chest, hugging him back. This moment was different from any other one he had ever experienced with her..This one was sad..He didn’t like feeling sad..He wanted to just ball up all his emotions and throw them out the window..But not even chaos magic was able to do that..