As a goddess of nature, it was only to be expected that Fluttershy was at her happiest when she was surrounded by it. And so she was today, sitting quietly beside a serene and crystal-clear pond, right at the heart of the land's vast forest. Her feet submerged in the water, the deity was as relaxed as one could be, with all manner of woodland creatures around her. From the small and fuzzy rabbits to the predatory birds high above that usually fed upon them. All animals, great and small, were in peace here within her presence. Truly, this was the very image of calm and tranquillity, so it was naturally fated that this enjoyable quiet was to be unceremoniously shattered by the arrival of another god. In this particular instance, that god was Eris, lover of all things chaotic and crazy, who burst onto the scene in a flurry of light, spooking away all the animals that had found refuge with their patron divinity. Fluttershy, seeing all of her animal friends scarper in terror at the new arrival, took a deep breath to calm herself before standing up and putting on a smile in greeting to her fellow goddess. "Eris. Such a pleasure. I haven't seen you in...quite a while, actually."
Eris, who was looking suspiciously more nervous than she usually did, sauntered on over to her friend and clasped her hands together. "Fluttershy! There's mah girl! Hope the day treats you well?"
Fluttershy was somewhat taken aback by this unexpected civility from Eris, but nevertheless welcomed it with a smile. "Oh, certainly. It's been a lovely day today, so I thought I'd spend some of it down here with my little friends." She paused, then sighed again. "Wherever they might have gotten to."
Eris' smile widened, and she placed her hands upon her hips. "See, that's the thing I love most about you, Fluttershy. Always there for a friend. Always there to help a buddy, or a pal, or a chum." She gave her a playful nudge in the arm. "That's who you are, someone who helps whenever she can...without judgement."
Here, Fluttershy had just about had enough of whatever act this was, and so rubbed the bridge of her nose before breaking the long and awkward silence between them. "Eris...what did you do now?"
Eris, in response, shrugged. "What? A girl can't just call on a friend for the sake of it?"
Looking her straight in the eye, Fluttershy narrowed her gaze. "What. Did. You. Do?"
Realising that there was no chance in Tartarus that she was going to convince Fluttershy that nothing was wrong, Eris' shoulders slumped, followed shortly by her nervously scratching the back of her head. "Well...I kinda got bored a few months back..."
"Never a good sign," Fluttershy remarked.
"Gonna ignore that," Eris replied. "Anyway, I decided to pass the time by shapeshifting. You know, spend the day as an animal? So I threw a dart at my animal wall..." She frowned. "And yes, I do have one of those." Composing herself, she continued. "And I wound up spending the day as a horse. Went down to the world, got real chummy with a local herd, that sort of thing."
Fluttershy stared at her with great suspicion. "Okay, nothing wrong so far..."
Slowly, Eris poked the ends of her fingers together. "Well...here's the sticking point. I...kinda got a bit too chummy with them. Or, one of them anyway." After seeing the confused look Fluttershy was giving her, Eris took a deep breath, then stepped to one side and pointed to what, until now, had been right behind her. "Ta-da?"
Looking down, Fluttershy saw what was, without question, a small foal. Female by the looks of it, and fairly healthy, despite the strange, spiral-like pattern in her eyes. Additionally, this young horse appeared to be quite affectionate with Eris, rubbing her head up and down her leg, much to the latter's embarrassment. With everything that had been said before, it took little time at all for Fluttershy to put two and two together, and slowly, she looked Eris right in the eye. "...Eris?"
"...Yes?"
"...Is this little one...yours?"
With her eyes darting between the foal and Fluttershy, eventually it all became too much for Eris to deny. "...Yeah, she kinda is."
Taking a step closer to her, Fluttershy dropped all pretence of being calm and reasonable about this. "YOU BONKED A STALLION?!?!"
Eris, in contrast, stepped backwards, raising her hands in a defensive manner. "Hey! Chaos goddess, remember? Doing random, unexpected stuff is my whole job! Also, don't go calling me out like that! It's not my fault the stallion thought I was a pretty mare!"
"Yes it is!" Fluttershy shouted back. "You literally transformed yourself into a pretty mare!"
"...Oh, yeah, I guess I did do that, huh?" Taking a moment, she looked to the foal. "Look, I thought it'd be one of those things I'd talk about with friends and we'd all laugh about. I didn't expect...this one."
Fluttershy turned around, rubbing her temples in what had to be the mother of all headaches right now. "Eris...putting aside the incredibly dubious question of your actions, what exactly did you think coming to me would accomplish? I can't exactly turn back time and tell you not to have done that."
Eris shrugged, getting down to one knee and giving her unexpected progeny a pat on her head. "I dunno, I guess I was just wondering if you could, maybe, take her off my hands?"
That caught Fluttershy's attention immediately, and she spun around instantly to give Eris the biggest death glare the latter had ever seen on her. "You're trying to abandon her?!"
"Hey, I'm a goddess of chaos, not animals! I don't know the first thing about raising a foal, or kids, or any of that stuff. You do though, don't you?"
Looking to the foal herself, Fluttershy's rage dimmed, albeit just a little. "Granted. And yes, I'd be willing to say she'd be better off in my care than yours..." She narrowed her eyes again. "Especially given how irresponsible you seem to want to be today." Ignoring the way Eris was looking away from her, Fluttershy again regarded the foal, who called out happily. "If you want my advice, you need to send her to her own kind. Find a herd, preferably with a mare who is without child. If you're lucky, the two will take one another and she'll be looked after."
Eris nodded, tapping her own chin as she considered that. "Uh-huh, yes, yes, all good points..."
Fluttershy arched an eyebrow. "Buuuuuuuuut...?"
Clasping her hands together, Eris put on a tone that made her sound far more reasonable than she was likely going to be. "Okay, just a thought...but since this little horsey is technically divine, maybe some other god can find a use for her? You know, let her grow up big and strong and ride her like a mighty steed from those stories?"
Fluttershy blinked slowly, then frowned. "Eris, I can't tell who would be more irresponsible in that scenario, the goddess who gives away her own child, or the god who rides one of their own into battle."
Sighing, Eris nodded with acknowledgement of that point. "Yeah, you're right...none of the goody two-shoes pantheon we have would go for that anyway."
Fluttershy shook her head. "Look, if it'll resolve this problem, I'll take the foal and find her a home among one of my herds. There are plenty of animals humanity won't go near because of my divine protection, so she'll be safe there."
Hearing that, Eris smiled. "Thanks, Flutters! You're the best!"
Though still upset with Eris, Fluttershy nevertheless smiled back to her. "You're welcome. Just promise me, and I mean promise me, that you won't go getting frisky with any other animals."
Placing her hand over her chest, Eris answered. "I swear, no more animals. Only mortals with incredibly poor judgement who'd love a goddess whose a freak in the sheets."
Again, Fluttershy shook her head. "Well, better than nothing, I suppose." Reaching out, she took hold of the foal and lifted her up, carrying her gently in the direction of what had to be the aforementioned protected herds.
Eris followed, and as the two walked together, she chuckled. "Heh, probably for the best I didn't hit the rabbit name on my board. Can you imagine how many kids I'd have had from that?"
Fluttershy shut her eyes tightly. "I'm trying desperately not to."