Fluttershy opened the front door and stepped inside their home—and was immediately surprised when Discord appeared in front of her in a flash of light.
"Fluttershy, my darling, my love, my butter half!" he said, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her tightly. "It's a delight to have you back home...here, have a gift!" He pressed a gigantic bouquet of all kinds of flowers into her hooves, the whole thing tied together with a plaid ribbon and bow.
She wobbled for a second under the weight of it, looking up at him. His grin was wide...almost too wide. And his eyes were flitting around nervously. "And, um...I made other things, just for you! Like these tiny cakes that aren't related to the Harvest Festival at all!" he said. He held up a plate filled with tiny lemon cakes, frosted and topped with strawberries.
"So, let's sit on the couch and not go into the kitchen," he said, ushering her over. "I can fetch things for you...would you like tea? A vase for those flowers? Shoulder massage? I can do—" She reached up and placed a hoof against his lips to stop him.
"Discord," she said gently. "Take a breath. Breathe..." The draconequus obeyed, taking several deep, exaggerated breaths. But eventually, he seemed a bit less frantic, a little calmer. "Now...could you please tell me what happened today?"
He looked away guiltily. She waited, setting the bouquet into a nearby vase (which it fit in perfectly despite it being way too small), and placing the plate of cakes onto the living room table. She sat on the couch, patting the space beside her. He reluctantly sat, his fingers entwined together.
"I was thinking," Discord said. "About the family gathering we'll be attending. And I thought, and thought, though I tried to distract myself..."
"What happened?" she asked. He flinched, still wringing his tail a bit.
"I...may have set fire to the kitchen while trying to make pies," he said. "So, um...don't freak out at the smoky smell, okay?"
"You..." She took a deep breath. "You tried to bake a pie. And it started a fire?"
"Several pies," he said. "But once they were in the oven, I started thinking about...about salads. And so I made some salads, and I forgot about the pies, and the next thing I knew..." He paused. "In my defense, I think at least three of the salads I came up with taste really good."
She bit back a sigh. "Discord..." she said.
"But maybe I can do better!" he exclaimed. A bundle of recipe cards appeared in his hands. "Maybe something more traditional...or should I go with a twist? Sweet, or maybe go with savory?"
She grabbed his hands and gave them a squeeze. He lifted his head and looked her in the eyes.
"Look," she said. He kept clutching the recipe cards in his hands. "We sent my family a letter about this, remember? They said they would handle most of the meal, and we don't have to do anything. We can bring soup, salad, or dessert if we want."
He nodded slowly, setting a few of the cards down...but still holding onto some. "Let's do all three," he said. "I'll make two or three of each, really impress them."
"No," she said with a shake of her head. She shifted a little closer and pressed against his side. "You're worrying too much about this, sweetie...I hate to see you so stressed."
"But it's your family! I have to stun them, give them a chaotic taste that will last forever in their memories!"
She sighed and pressed her muzzle into his cheek. "Discord...you don't have to fret," she says. He crinkled the cards. "Look...if I agree to help you make one soup and one salad, will you stop worrying and trying to overwork yourself?"
He frowned. "Well...it would be nice to sleep easy without dreaming about the various ways I could make the gathering historical."
"Yes...and doesn't not worrying sound nice and relaxing?" she said, rubbing his shoulders. He sighed, his eyes sliding closed as his head drooped. "I'll help you with the cooking, and both of us can just relax..."
"Yes...relax..." he said, his eyes drifting closed. She continued massaging his shoulders. "Mm...you make a very good argument," he purred.
"So...one soup and one salad?" she said. He hesitated, but slowly nodded in agreement. She smiled and patted his arm. "Okay. Let's look at those cards and figure out what we want to do."
"...shall we go into the kitchen?" he offered. "I fixed just about all the damage."
She nodded and stood up, heading into the kitchen, with him right behind her. He shuffled the recipe cards as she took in the room. Looking at it, nothing appeared to be wrong, though there was that faint smoky smell in the air that Discord had warned her about.
Discord took a seat at the kitchen table, grabbing her chair and pulling it close to him. As she sat down, he spread all the recipe cards out on the table. "I just don't know what to choose!" he said. "I want to make something impressive, but not too impressive. I want to wow them without showing up anyone else in your family..."
She patted his shoulder, making him relax slightly. She began to shift through all of the recipe cards, first sorting them into piles of soups and salads, then looking through each individual recipe. Discord grabbed recipes individually, tossed them aside after looking them over...only to maybe pick them up a minute later, comparing it with another.
After a couple of minutes of sorting through the soup recipes, she found something that sounded good. Something savory, something they hadn't had in a while...something that just the thought of made her lick her lips.
"How does a cheesy hayburger soup sound?" she suggested, showing off the recipe card. "I don't think we've made it for a while, but I remember it being hot and filling..."
He stroked his beard, licking his lips. "Mmm...that doesn't sound too bad," he said. "Not too crazy, but still pretty tasty and impressive..."
"So is that a yes?" she said. He nodded, but continued stroking his beard in thought.
"I'd still like to pick a salad before we start making anything," he said. "...is there a salad that would go well with that soup?"
"...if you counted a cheese hayburger as a salad, maybe," she said, nudging his ribs. He stared at her for a few seconds, then began to chuckle, shaking his head.
He kept chuckling as he looked through the cards. "...nothing in here is really grabbing me," he said with a sigh, flicking a card away.
"Maybe we can experiment, and make something that doesn't have a recipe," she said. He glanced at her, stroking his beard.
"What...about..." he said slowly. "A fruit salad. But instead of regular fruit, we use tropical fruit!"
"And we could cut the slices into irregular shapes!" she suggested, causing him to nod eagerly. "But...what sort of fruits are tropical enough?"
"Well, we want something citrusy, but not too sour. Mandarin oranges would work for that," he said, snapping his fingers and creating some of the round orange fruits in his hand. "As for what else...what's the first tropical fruit that comes to your mind?"
She tilted her head and closed her eyes. Thinking of the tropics made her think of sandy beaches and flower leis, fruity drinks with tiny paper umbrellas...and on their last vacation, the first fruity drink had contained...
"Kiwi," she said aloud. "That's the first one that comes to mind for me."
"Kiwi," he said with an approving nod, snapping up two of the furry fruits. "Well, we've picked a soup and a salad...want to work on the salad?"
"Sure," she said, picking up the fruits and bringing them to the counter, digging around in the drawers for a sharp knife. Once she found one, she began to peel the brown skin off the kiwis, while Discord snapped up a large bowl on the counter between them.
He started peeling the orange and pulling it into separate slices. "So...what else would a tropical fruit salad have?" he asked, dropping the slices into a bowl.
"Hmm," she said, chopping up the kiwi into thin slices. "Maybe pineapple?"
"That sounds good," he said, tossing the orange slices into the bowl like throwing stars. "What about cherries?"
"Maybe just a couple," she said. "They're not terribly tropical, and we can't exactly cut them into fun shapes." With that said, she paused before tossing the next slices into the bowl, using her knife to cut them into star shapes.
"Oh ho, is that a challenge?" he said. He tore the peel of the next orange with ease, letting the slices fall easily into the bowl.
"...I supposed you could try to cut them into fun shapes," she said with a shrug, chopping up the rest of the kiwi and reaching for the second one. "I think one more fruit would probably be good. We don't want to overwhelm the salad with flavor."
"Says you," he said, sticking his tongue out as he summoned a pineapple and large knife. "...though you are probably right," he added as he began to saw off the tough, spiky skin.
She hummed in thought as she cut the kiwi slices into squares and triangles. Something about her memory of that fruity drink on the beach...it nagged at her. Another tropical fruit? But they had already added kiwi, and Discord was tossing in pineapple...
"Oh!" she said suddenly, the realization hitting her. "Coconut! What's more tropical a fruit than coconut?"
"...you beautiful genius!" Discord declared. "Actually..." With a snap of his fingers, the bowl transformed into half of a giant coconut shell. He summoned another coconut and cracked it open, peeling the white meat out of it as his tail kept cutting the pineapple into strips.
"Do you need any help with that?" she asked, cutting the kiwi into thinner slices before tossing it into the bowl.
"I think I've got this," he said. He hung the strips of coconut on what looked like a miniature clothesline, where they started to rapidly dry. His tail continued moving, not only sawing the pineapple into strips, but slicing it into blocks, and then into shapes such as triangles and circles. "Why don't you find some cherries?"
She blinked, startled for a moment—watching him had just been so entrancing. But she nodded and moved towards the fridge, scouring the shelves until she found a plastic container of cherries, about half-full. She brought it back and opened it up, just as he was tossing dried coconut chips into the bowl.
"Oh, those look good," he said, licking his lips as he eyed the cherries. "How many should we add?"
She leaned over to look into the bowl. "Probably not too many...the bowl looks pretty full," she said.
He peered in with her. "...looks like just about enough pineapple, too," he said. His tail dropped the knife next to the carved-out pineapple. "Perhaps...a bit more coconut, and a handful of cherries?"
She nodded, and he tossed in another batch of dried coconut, taking a single cherry and placing it in front of himself. She added nine cherries to the bowl, listening as Discord sliced and slashed with a knife, hissing and grumbling to himself.
She glanced over to look...and saw that his hands were covered in cherry juice, some of it even ending up in his beard. A mangled cherry sat on the counter, juice pooling from it.
"...perhaps cutting cherries into fun shapes isn't the greatest idea," he said, setting his knife aside. He grabbed the mangled cherry and popped it into his mouth, rinsing his hands with a faucet in mid-air as he slowly chewed.
She grabbed a wooden spoon, and began using it to toss the salad, mixing all the fruits together so they were less layered and organized. Once Discord finished rinsing his hands, he snapped his fingers, each snap causing the fruit to jump and toss itself.
After just a few minutes, Fluttershy paused, pulling out the spoon. The salad looked well-mixed, with a variety of warm, tropical colors visible. Discord turned to her, clasping his hands together and waiting silently for her approval.
"It looks delicious," she said. "I think they'll love it."
Discord seemed to relax, then tucked the fruit salad into the fridge. "...care to help me make the soup, or should it wait for another day?"
"If it'll help you relax, we can make the soup now," she said. "What do we need first?"
He grinned, snapping up a large pot and summoning the recipe card into his paw. "Let's see...well, the first thing is to start boiling water, and add some cheese," he read.
Fluttershy and Discord appeared in the suburbs of Cloudsdale with a flash of light. The sun was slowly climbing higher in the sky as noon approached, and a few pegasi were flying through the air, probably heading towards whatever family or group they would spend the Harvest Festival with.
She unfurled her wings and rose into the air, flying towards her parents' home. Discord followed behind her, dragging his feet against the cloud and carrying the food they had prepared for the Festival.
She quickly dropped in front of her parents' front door, waiting for Discord to arrive. As soon as he was there, she raised a hoof and knocked on the door. "Nngh," she heard him say, and turned to look at him.
He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I...I don't know," he said. "Are you sure this is the best soup and salad? Perhaps I should create more, so that everyone has plenty of options..."
"Discord," she said, reaching out to hold his paw. "It'll be fine. My parents love you, Zephyr loves you—in his own way—you don't need to do anything to impress them."
He paused, looking away. "...I know," he said slowly. "I'm just...not used to that. It took me so long to realize I didn't need to do anything to impress you..."
She squeezed his paw, but before she could give him any more assurances, the door opened. "Fluttershy, Discord!" Mrs. Shy said. "You're both looking well. Come in, come in!"
Mrs. Shy ushered them inside. "All of the other food is in the kitchen, if you want to set your things there," she told them.
The two of them headed into the kitchen, where there was already a wide spread of foods. Discord swallowed and placed his soup and his salad on the table with everything else. Fluttershy glanced around the kitchen and living room. "Where's Zephyr?" she asked.
"He said he'd be running a bit late," her dad said from the living room. "But he'll be here soon, hopefully."
"Oh...I guess he must be pretty busy," Fluttershy said. She and Discord headed into the living room, taking seats on the couch. Discord's tail wrapped around her waist.
Mr. and Mrs. Shy took seats in their usual spots. Fluttershy had a jolt of realization of how much...older her parents were getting. They both seemed to be aging well, and actually looked a little younger than their ages, but it was still impossible to miss the wrinkles around their eyes, and how even small movements made them wince from soreness at times.
"So," Mrs. Shy said, interrupting her thoughts. "How is the sanctuary doing?"
Fluttershy pushed away her previous thoughts and smiled. "Oh, things are going great," she said. "Two cats just had healthy litters, and I recently planted some petunias for the bunnies to enjoy..."
"I added a couple of hot pink ones," Discord added. "For fun." His tail was still wrapped tight around her, but he seemed to relax...if only slightly.
"Oh, how clever!" Mrs. Shy praised. "My, I wish I had space in my garden for more of your flowers..." Discord blushed, and Fluttershy glanced out the window. Her mom's garden was looking as healthy as ever, filled with flowers and vegetables...with one row filled with quite unnatural, chaotic plants.
"I could...give you some seeds for later," Discord said. With that, he snapped up a small, white, sealed bag, which had a crayon drawing of a hot-pink orchid on it. Mrs. Shy smiled and thanked him as he handed it to her.
"Been on any adventures lately?" Mr. Shy asked. Fluttershy shook her head, while Discord raised a hand and shook it in a 'sort of' motion. Her dad cracked a grin, and the four of them began to talk about all kinds of things—how their hobbies were going, news they had heard, and new things they had begun to try.
After perhaps an hour of sitting and talking, peppered with Discord occasionally using his magic to demonstrate something or entertain himself, the front door opened. "Guess who's hooome!" Zephyr's voice called.
"We're in the living room, dear!" her mom called back. "Please, come and join us!"
Zephyr slowly entered the room. He had grown a few inches taller over the years, and his current manestyle was a long ponytail, his bangs brushed away and out of his face. There was a bulging saddlebag slung over his shoulder, and he was carrying a small cheesecake in his hooves.
His eyes landed on Discord. Sparks of tension flew between the two of them for a few seconds...but neither said anything. "I'll...go set this in the kitchen," he said, lifting up the cheesecake. He slowly stepped back into the kitchen, then shifted quickly out of sight.
Fluttershy closed her eyes and shook her head. Zephyr and Discord had a...rocky start, to say the least. They might not have been glaring at each other from across the table and slinging thinly-veiled insults and challenges at each other anymore, and actually kind of got along, but the atmosphere around them was still awkward. Discord, for his part, didn't seem to be glaring at or challenging her brother, and actually looked slightly guiltily that he had unintentionally scared him off.
Zephyr returned and sat on the armrest of an empty armchair—closer to where Fluttershy was sitting than Discord was. "Where's Pixie Cut?" Mrs. Shy asked. "I was hoping to be able to see her today."
"Oh...yeeeah," Zephyr said, rubbing the back of his neck. "She had a lot of appointments this week...ponies wanting to look good for the Harvest Festival and so on, you know?"
He flopped into the chair and lounged back against the other armrest. "She's taking the day to relax, and she's going to see her own family either tomorrow or this evening—whenever she feels up to it."
"Oh, that's completely understandable," Mrs. Shy said. "I hope we can meet her in the future, though."
Discord leaned over and whispered to Fluttershy, "Of course, it's hard to bring an imaginary marefriend with you." She narrowed her eyes at him and nudged him in the ribs, shaking her head.
"What was that, Discord?" Mr. Shy asked.
Discord's face was blank for a moment. "Just, uh...asking Fluttershy the usual question of why this 'holiday' is called a Harvest Festival when it's really only spent with family," he said quickly.
Mr. and Mrs. Shy blinked, looking at each other. "...that is a good question," Mrs. Shy said. "Maybe High Princess Twilight would know...isn't she the one who revived it as a holiday?"
"And your friend, uh...Frosting Pie helped, too!" Zephyr pointed out. "How come you don't know the answer?"
"Pinkie Pie," Discord said. "And I haven't asked, because that would take all the fun out of guessing!"
Zephyr opened his mouth...then closed it, apparently not having a counterargument. His stomach growled. "Oh, you must all be hungry," Mrs. Shy said, standing up. "Let's all dig in."
"Oh boy, grub," Discord said, holding a hand out to Fluttershy to help her up. She smiled and thanked him once she was on her hooves.
The five of them headed into the kitchen, each grabbing a plate and taking their places at the table. Her parents sat on one side, her and Discord on the other, while Zephyr sat between her and her parents.
"Well...help yourselves, everyone!" her mother said. That was all the encouragement Discord and Zephyr needed to start piling food onto their plates.
Discord hit most of the main dishes, while Zephyr did the same, also taking the soup and salad they had brought. Her parents helped themselves to a little bit of everything, especially the dishes they had brought. Fluttershy smiled and helped herself to some of her favorite homemade foods, like the nut bread and fruity jello, along with the fruit salad she and Discord had worked on.
All five of them dug into their food. Mr. and Mrs. Shy had excellent manners, eating slowly. Discord and Zephyr ate a little quicker, and much more messily, while Fluttershy tried to eat quickly enough to sate her hunger, but still slowly enough to savor the food.
Compliments were exchanged all around, and soon, Discord had cleared his plate. "Wonderful food, as always," he said, patting his stomach. "My compliments to the chef."
"Are you going to have seconds?" Mrs. Shy asked.
"Oh, probably," he said with a shrug. "Maybe just a little, though...want to save room for dessert and all that." He took a small amount of everything, his plate of seconds looking smaller than his first plate.
Of course, this wasn't quite enough to satisfy her mother. "You should have more!" she said, doling more potatoes onto Discord's plate. "You're so skinny...I always worry about you."
Discord blushed, his chest fur puffing up a little as he tried to hide his face. Fluttershy smiled, but spoke up and said, "Mom, please...Discord's a perfectly healthy weight."
"But I could never turn down extra homemade food!" he said quickly, taking a bite. Fluttershy felt something tap on her foreleg, and she looked down.
A tiny Discord clone was on her chair beside her. He held a finger to his lips, then lifted up a cue card that read, Please, don't fuss over me! Maybe if I eat, she'll stop fussing, too...
She smiled, giving a small nod and patting his head. He smiled and leaned into her touch, before disappearing in a flash of light. "Is something wrong?" her dad asked.
"Oh...no!" she said, quickly looking up. "I just thought I'd dropped something for a second. But it's fine."
They all continued eating, her mother making sure Discord, Fluttershy, and Zephyr were all getting enough to eat. Eventually, after seconds and thirds had been eaten, and a good portion of the food was gone (especially the tropical fruit salad), Zephyr stood up.
"I brought dessert!" he said. "Let me just get it out of the fridge."
"I hope this is good," Discord said as her brother grabbed the cheesecake, putting slices on five separate plates. "I mean, I'd hate to think I saved room in my stomach for something that's not worth it!"
Plates of cheesecake were placed in front of all of them...though Discord's seemed a little smaller than the others. "I figured I'd try my hoof at baking!" Zephyr said. "The cheesecake is homemade...and I even tried to make it vegan!"
"Ooh," Fluttershy said, intrigued. Picking up her fork, she scooped up a bit of the cheesecake and took a bite—and had to immediately fight to keep her face from scrunching up. The taste wasn't terrible, but the texture...'squeaky' was the only word that came to mind to describe it.
She noticed her own parents biting their lips as they tasted the cheesecake, trying to think of what to say. Discord seemed to enjoy his slice, though, quickly eating another bite and munching away.
Zephyr beamed and took a bite of his own slice...then frowned. "That's...not how it was meant to turn out," he said, sounding a bit ashamed. "Maybe making it vegan wasn't the best choice for a first cheesecake..."
"Oh, it's not that bad," Discord said, still munching on his own slice. "I love the subversiveness of getting an unexpected texture to food! Tell me, what ingredient made it like this?"
"I'm...not sure," Zephyr said. He put a hoof to his chin and closed his eyes. "Maybe it was the baking powder...? Yeah, probably."
While he wasn't looking, Fluttershy slid her cheesecake closer to Discord. He winked at her and scooped it up, tossing the whole thing into his maw. She swore she could hear squeaking sounds as he chewed...she shuddered.
When Zephyr opened his eyes again, he didn't seem to notice her empty plate—instead focusing on the fact that Discord was still munching away at his own slice. "Soo..." he said. "Do you like it enough that you'd want to take the rest of it home?"
"Hmm," Discord said, using his fork to stab the rest of his cheesecake into mush. "I'll think about it. I mean, there's so little space in our fridge at home...and I'd just hate to deprive you of the dessert you worked so hard to make..."
"Oh no, you don't have to worry about taking it off my hooves!" Zephyr said. Fluttershy noticed that there was a bit of sweat on his brow. "I insist that you take it, since you like it so much..."
"Hmm...I'll really have to think about it," Discord said noncommittally. Zephyr's shoulders sagged, but he stopped sweating bullets...at least for now.
They—well, just Discord—polished off their slices of cheesecake quickly. No one was up for seconds of that, not even Zephyr himself. Discord stood up, stretching and patting his stomach.
"Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Shy," he said with a slight polite bow. "You really know how to cook, and make a spirit feel welcome."
Mrs. Shy blushed. "Oh, thank you, dear," she said. "You know we're always happy to have you over." Fluttershy noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Discord was fighting off his own blush.
Mr. Shy stood up. "Why don't I show you my cloud collection?" he said to Discord. "I've been working on it quite a bit, even picking up a few odder ones that you may appreciate."
Discord's interest was piqued, his ears perking up. "Probably nothing quite as chaotic as what I can make, though," he boasted.
Mr. Shy chuckled. "True...I'm not sure anypony else could think of the things you do." The two of them left the kitchen, talking about cloud structure and weather patterns. Fluttershy smiled as she watched them leave and bond.
"Fluttershy, Zephyr," Mrs. Shy said. "Would you mind helping me clear the table and put food away?"
"Not at all," Fluttershy said, grabbing a dish and heading for the fridge.
"Eh...okay," Zephyr said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him slowly tuck a magazine back into his saddlebag, then grab the empty plates on the table and stack them next to the sink.
Her mom started to wash the dishes, while Fluttershy tucked each food into the fridge. Zephyr loitered a bit, but he also brought silverware and dishes to the sink, and smaller dishes to the fridge, so it wasn't as though he weren't helping.
Once the table was cleared, and the dishes cleaned, Mrs. Shy dried her hooves and said, "Why don't I show you how my garden is doing? And we could catch up with your father and Discord afterward."
Zephyr yawned. "I'll catch up with you all in a couple of minutes," he said, already heading upstairs. "Right now, what I really need to catch up to is some Z's."
"Of course, dear, I understand," Mrs. Shy said. As Zephyr stepped into his bedroom upstairs, she turned to Fluttershy, who smiled brightly.
"I can't wait to see what you've done with your garden," she said cheerfully. Mrs. Shy smiled, and guided her outside. For a moment, Fluttershy caught a glimpse of Discord and her father talking animatedly about clouds. She cracked a smile, then turned her attention to the flowers her mom was growing.
After a long day, which included a dinner that stuffed them as much as lunch, and a quick, simple card game between all five of them, Fluttershy and Discord turned in for the night in Fluttershy's old bedroom, snuggling close in her old bed.
Discord twisted and turned for several minutes, grumbling about pony furniture, until his magic expanded the bed to his liking and he was able to fully stretch out his legs. He sighed, laying his head on the pillow and finally relaxing.
Fluttershy smiled, stroking his upper arm. "Today went well, didn't it?" she said.
He cracked an eye open, smirking. "Is this the part where I realize my worrying was for naught, because my in-laws actually truly like me?"
"...something like that," she said. He gave a low, throaty chuckle, then gently pressed his lips against hers.
"As long as you're around to remind me and keep me grounded...everything will be fine," he said. "I love you."
"Love you, too," she said, lightly kissing him on the lips. "Good night."
They both curled close to each other, closing their eyes and drifting off to sleep together.