She was sitting in her old spot—the armchair. Why? Discord and Fluttershy had kept up their longstanding “Tuesday tea” date, but it had been years since Fluttershy sat all the way over there. Until today, she’d preferred to share the loveseat with him. Discord couldn’t understand it. Was it for chaos purposes? He was all for breaking up routine and, in fact, often made some ontological alteration to keep their tea dates interesting. But chaos was not Fluttershy’s motivation, for she had asked him to forgo the ontological alterations this time. He was only allowed cosmetic changes, and so it was that their green patterned china was orange today. It was hardly enough to satisfy the Lord of Chaos, but he could cope with that if it meant satisfying Fluttershy. The question remained, though: Why?
Judging by the tautness of Fluttershy’s cheeks, Discord guessed she was in no humor to be questioned or trifled with. She never was anymore, it seemed.
Wait, could it be…? Discord took a quick magical reading.
No, of course not. After several years of nothing, one would think he would learn to just accept that ponies and draconequui can’t interbreed. Nevermind.
In any case, something was definitely wrong. Last time Discord had tried to ask what the matter was, Fluttershy had snapped at him. Apparently, he was supposed to know without asking. Discord wasn’t sure if this expected mind-reading was just some relationship lesson he had somehow missed, or if his sweet, beloved mate was intentionally being unfair to him.
The silence between them was tortuous, and if Discord couldn’t bring up what he wanted to talk about, he would just have to talk about nothing. “So, when do you think Twilight’s going to show our foals how to do the cool stuff? Teleportation, lasers, transmutation, that kind of thing?” He noticed Fluttershy’s eyes narrow the tiniest bit at “our foals”, then grow wider and wider through the rest of his question.
“Discord! They’re only five! Not until they’re twice that age, at least! And don’t you go putting such ideas in their heads yet, either. Could you imagine what kind of danger they could get themselves in if they could teleport and shoot lasers at this age?”
The mental image made Discord chuckle. “That’s some delightful nonsense, but it’s nonsense all the same. However powerful those two turn out to be, there’s nothing they could ever do that I couldn’t undo the moment I knew of it.”
“And what if you didn’t immediately know of it? What then?”
“You said it yourself: ‘They’re only five’. I figure they’ll either be with you or me or one of our capable friends at all times until they decide it’s time to be delinquent adolescents. And by then, if nocreature’s already taught them how to properly do the cool stuff, they’ll contrive to figure it out on their own.”
Fluttershy set down her tea and crossed her arms. Her sour pout was adorable, but Discord recognized that a laugh of appreciation at that moment would spell his doom.
“Ah, fear not, my dearest. I was only playing Balrog’s advocate. I’ll resist teaching them any new magical tricks without getting the Element of Magic herself’s approval first.” The pout eased, Discord sipped his tea, and silence fell once more. If only he could figure out what she was thinking, maybe he could fix what was wrong and have his loving mate back.
Figuring out Fluttershy’s thoughts was going to get a lot easier sometime soon, though. Well, Discord hoped it would be soon; the promised “few weeks” had already passed. “Say, Fluttershy, did you ever decide when you want to go… you know… pay the draconequui a visit? Get that little ceremony thing out of the way?”
The teacup slipped out of her hooves and shattered across the floor. Before the splashed droplets of tea had time to reach the ground, Discord had snapped the repaired cup and its contents back onto the table.
And then he gasped, so intense and unexpected was the acid in Fluttershy’s glare. What had he done? What should he do? Discord panicked.
“Oh, would you look at the time? Wonderbolt practice should be starting up any time now, and I’d better go see if I’m needed. Bye!” And he was gone.
And he was finally gone. Fluttershy remained in her seat, staring at the mess that was reversed almost as soon as it existed. The intact teacup before her was ample substantiation for Discord’s assertion that he could undo any deed the moment he knew about it. Such power was useful—this time. It also meant that wherever he was, he was in complete control, and what needed doing or undoing was entirely a matter of his sole discretion. He was the Lord of Chaos; how trustworthy could that discretion really be? Now, add to that the ability to enter her thoughts, to sense her and contact her always and across any distance, and that unpredictable discretion could become a personal danger.
It wasn’t until he had reminded her of the “soulmate” ceremony that Fluttershy finally understood what Discord was up to. He was going to have her to himself, binding her to him in a way that was utterly inescapable and irreversible. She would be his plaything forever. A puppet of chaos. Incapable of using the Element of Kindness against him, too, if he should ever decide pony morals were beneath him.
And worse, the foals! If Fluttershy could not maintain enough independence to resist Discord’s influence, he could take them and fashion them into his own minions of chaos!
So that was his game.
Well, Fluttershy decided, downing the rest of her tea, as long as I have any autonomy, I won’t play along.
“I’m so glad you could help me celebrate Boneless 2’s birthday today!”
“Me too! Wow, those look super pretty!” Pinkie Pie inspected the tray of multicolored chocolate flowers Cheese Sandwich had just pulled out of the freezer. “Anyway, I’m glad Boneless 2 considers me a close enough friend to invite me to his private party this year! It’s good to see him opening up, you know? Do you think he’d rather have red frosting on his cake, or heliotrope?”
“Heliotrope, definitely. It’ll make the chocolate flowers really pop!”
The couple’s swift teamwork had the cake decorated in mere minutes. Its seven tiers towered magnificently over the room, and with a rainbow of chocolate flowers delicately cascading down its side, it was a truly magnificent sight. The two ponies couldn’t help but marvel at their creation.
“We sure make a great team, don’t we, Pinks?”
“I’ll say!” And their eyes met, and in that moment, they forgot all about Boneless 2 waiting in the other room.
Cheese Sandwich took hold of his marefriend’s hooves while adoration radiated from his face. “It’s like everything I do is a whole order of magnitude better when you’re by my side.”
Pinkie Pie blushed and giggled. “Alright, so, I’ve been thinking about this for a little while. Remember that time a few years ago when you first came back to Ponyville and I threw you that big party, right after Fluttershy had just had her cute little foals?”
“Uh-huh,” nodded Cheese.
“Well, I was very glad you came when you did.” Pinkie Pie’s voice began to speed up as her excitement over what she was finally saying grew and grew. “You see, I couldn’t stop thinking how super-duper-spectacular it was for Fluttershy and Discord to be so in love and in tune with each other as they are and I was sososo sad because I thought that must be the most wonderful feeling in the world, and I had just been rejected so I didn’t know if I was ever gonna get to feel it too! But then you arrived and cheered me right up, and you’ve stuck around and made me happier and happier and happier every day!” She gasped in a huge gulp of air. “And you know what?”
Guessing where this was going, Cheese was grinning from ear to ear. “What?”
“Now I’m not sad at all anymore because I think I finally do know what it feels like to be so in love and in tune with somepony!”
Cheese Sandwich threw himself on her in an embrace, exclaiming “I know just what you mean—I feel it too! Throwing parties and living life with you is more natural to me now and a lot more fun than it ever was alone, and now I guess this is the moment.”
“Yeah! Wait, huh?”
“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” enunciated Cheese, pushing himself out of the hug and tilting off his top hat to reveal the huge bouquet of flowers that had been hidden inside. “Will you marry me?”
So many words rushed into Pinkie’s mouth at once that none of them could actually come out, and all she could do to express her exuberance was leap up and dance. After a solid ten seconds of Pinkie dancing and Cheese laughing along with her joy, she finally spluttered a “YES” and tackled her new fiancé. The impact flung the bouquet into the air, causing a shower of petals to rain upon the happy couple as they kissed.
Eventually, Cheese and Pinkie sat up and smiled at each other in a daze of joy. Until Pinkie jolted. “Boneless 2’s party! He’s waiting for us!”
A sheepish look settled on Cheese’s face as Boneless 2 himself rose up between them. “Actually,” admitted the pony, “Boneless 2 here has a bit of a confession to make.” The rubber chicken hung its head. “He and I were in cahoots. It’s not really his birthday.”
“It isn’t? Then who’s this cake for?”
“Us!” laughed the stallion. “Come on in, everypony, SHE SAID YES!”
At his word, seemingly the whole town flooded into the room. Pinkie was so dazzled by the surprise and ecstasy of it all that she would later tell ponies she couldn’t remember a thing about the whole engagement party—right before launching into an extended account of every fantastic detail.
It was stupid, and she knew it, but Discord was threatening to steal her autonomy out from under her very own snout, and what options did she have? So Fluttershy kept on walking toward the castle, toward that guarded door, toward him. Not long ago, she had been happy with Discord, and they had loved and respected each other as much as any couple could—or so she had thought. Why was she only now understanding that same adoring mate to be so irksome? So threatening?
There was the lily pond. She was halfway to the castle now. It would be so easy to just skirt the circumference of the pond until her steadily-shuffling hooves were pointed home again. But she did not do that.
If Fluttershy found Discord threatening, what did that make the shadow king? Rationally, she knew the latter was the same stallion who had abused and tortured her nearly to death just five years ago. It wasn’t all that outlandish to suppose she might still be in danger when alone with him.
His magic had been restrained, though, and he was reforming himself. Fluttershy was certain of that much. Perhaps it was stubbornly clinging to a past that nocreature wanted to remember that was irrational. If she could just let atoned-for transgressions lie, perhaps she could overcome her fear and think more clearly.
Fluttershy was in the castle courtyard now. She exhaled, letting the breeze carry her fears away into oblivion.
Yes, that must be it. She only feared Sombra because she desired him, and the thought had been taboo to her before. His mistakes were burned out of him in his years of solitary imprisonment, and he was now growing into the stallion she always knew he could be. He offered her freedom and the power to discover who she really was outside the subtle influence of a magical deity meddling in her mind. Who she really was and what she, Fluttershy, wielder of the magic of kindness, could reallydo.
It occurred to her as she passed the study hall that she could duck in, watch the rest of her foals’ magic lesson with Twilight, and then head straight home with them. Fluttershy was no longer looking for an excuse to turn around, though. Her heart was already slowing into the heavy, thumping beat that she’d learned to associate with the fulfillment of her deepest desires. Visiting that deepest desire would give her the chance to assess the situation now that she actually knew what she wanted, though circumstances would prevent her from acting on that knowledge until the imprisonment ended. Yes, she would visit him, to test her new mental framework, to escape from her garish daylight reality, to seek his aid. He would know how to help her escape from Discord’s possessive, scheming clutches.
The guardpony stepped aside. Fluttershy knocked.
“...Enter.”
She opened the door, closed it behind her, smiled at the stallion across the room and basked in the warmth of his return smile. “Sombra,” and her spine shivered with delight to hear herself pronounce that name again, “I couldn’t keep away.”
He was pleased, but a protest played at his lips.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Fluttershy interjected as she advanced into the room. “Twilight’s got the foals, and Discord will be occupied until evening. So, how are you?”
Sombra’s warmth deepened his smile into a grin. “I am well, dearest Fluttershy. But what of you? Is there something that you need?”
“Just your company,” she purred, bumping affectionately against the stallion’s side. Just to see.
He stood still, but he felt soft and receptive to the touch.
“And maybe some advice,” Fluttershy continued. “To tell you the truth, I’m a little worried about Discord.”
“Oh?” Sombra hopped onto his bed and lounged against the headboard, patting the spot beside him.
Fluttershy settled herself into the indicated place. “I don’t know. Like I mentioned before, he seems to be a little bit… possessive. Oh, forgive me for disturbing you with all my personal troubles lately...”
“Not at all. I would consider it practice for my kindness skill, if it weren’t already such a pleasure to be of assistance to you. Please, proceed.”
“Well, in that case, um… Okay.” Fluttershy released a sigh. “So, about Discord. Sometimes I worry how free I really am with him—or will be, you know, in the future.”
“I see… Fluttershy, do you think he loves our foals?”
“Yes, I’m certain of it!”
“Excellent,” Sombra muttered, his voice low and dark.
“W-what do you mean, ‘excellent’?”
“Oh, only that if he loves them so much, then I’m sure, for their sake, he could bear to do no wrong to you.”
“I suppose...” Despite her new knowledge about herself, Fluttershy found it hard to think about all this. The old ache of the scar on her neck was kicking up again, only now it was snaking deeper into her chest than it had lately gone.
“Fluttershy, my love, look at me.”
Her eyes met his and she forgot her discomforts in the intensity of that gaze.
“I am improving, yes? I am becoming reformed?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Then in good time, I will earn more and more freedom. I can check in on you, make sure you’re safe, and remind Discord that you have more loyalties in your life than just to him. Maybe you can vouch for my improvement to Twilight and the others, and they might be persuaded to accelerate my release?”
“Yes, that’s a good idea! You will stick around once you’re freed, won’t you, and take your proper place in the care of our foals?”
“You can depend upon it, my love.” He smiled then, and the muscles in Fluttershy’s face felt compelled to mirror him.
And smiling, Fluttershy felt better already about her sticky situation. “Okay then, I’ll see what I can do.” She leaned over and rested her head on Sombra’s shoulder. “So what were you up to before I interrupted?”
Sombra gave a brief chuckle as he matched Fluttershy’s lean. “Just reading one of the certified-innocuous books your cautious princess lent to me.” He inclined his head toward the nightstand, where a thick, faded tome labeled “Astronomy” lay.
Fluttershy regarded the book. “That looks like… a lot. Is it very interesting?”
“Not particularly,” sighed the stallion. “But it fills the time decently enough when I’m not studying my friendship lessons. You said Twilight is with Fio and Corey?”
“Yes, she’s giving them magic lessons. Oh!” Fluttershy glanced at the clock that hung on the wall. “I suppose they’ll be finishing up soon! Twilight said she’d walk them back to the house, but it would look strange if I weren’t home by then! Maybe I’d better get going. Sorry for leaving you so soon with only your book for company!”
“Nonsense! Seeing you even briefly is enough to get me through many an excruciating hour. And I wouldn’t have you neglecting our foals!” Sombra gave Fluttershy a gentle nudge toward the edge of the bed.
Fluttershy climbed down and looked back before starting for the door. “Goodbye for now, Sombra.”
Grinning mischievously, Sombra slid downward until he was reclined on his side and half-propped on an elbow, accentuating the toned muscularity of his impressive frame. Thus displayed, he blew Fluttershy a kiss.
So hastily then did Fluttershy retreat from the room, making her mane fall about her face in an attempt to hide her blush from the guardpony, that she did not notice how instantly Sombra returned to his book and the notes he had been taking on it.