Somehow, things got better.
Fluttershy still had nightmares, but they started tapering off. No longer a daily thing, they got to the point where they were more like a weekly thing… and then a whole month went by between them. And when they did happen now, Fluttershy found she could deal with them better, without vomiting or hyperventilating. Well, without as much hyperventilating as before, at least.
But a particularly disturbing nightmare had wreaked havoc on her sleep the previous night, and with a request from Princess Celestia for the six friends to meet with her and an important visitor, Fluttershy was having a bit of trouble thinking straight this particular morning. She was almost relieved when Applejack had asked her for help at the farm. Straightening out issues between animals was what she was best at, after all.
And besides, it also took her mind off the fact that Princess Celestia wanted to see all six of them.
“I may have to call upon you again. Not because I want to, but because I feel that I simply have to.”
But that couldn’t be the reason, right? Nothing seemed out of the ordinary that day. No threats could be felt, either looming or stomping around in plain view. It was probably just some important visitor from a far-off land that just wanted to visit the famed Element Bearers. That had to be it.
But Rainbow Dash’s near frantic appearance, yelling at them to get a move on already! brought all of Fluttershy’s fears back out into the open, and now there was no way to push the thoughts aside until later.
“What—do you suppose—is goin’ on?” Applejack called to Fluttershy, having to gallop to keep up with Rainbow Dash’s flying towards Ponyville.
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy gasped out, hardly able to keep up with Applejack, let alone Rainbow Dash. And I don’t want to think about it. There was clearly a problem, and the only thought that could comfort her was the possibility, however slight, that maybe they wouldn’t have to use their Elements this time.
And suddenly she barreled into Applejack, who had screeched to a halt with dumb stupefaction at the scene awaiting them. Fluttershy groaned and rubbed her eyes, the sight that had struck Applejack taking a moment to reach her.
Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight, and Spike, all waiting for them, with expressions of unease and disbelief on their faces. Celestia, smiling regally as usual, but with the tiniest of twinkles in her eyes. And Discord, still an awkwardly-posed statue, positioned right behind her.
Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to think, other than that maybe Celestia was mocking her.
“Fluttershy. I’m glad you’ve come,” said Celestia. “I have a favor to ask of you.”
“What in tarnation is goin’ on?!” Applejack spluttered.
“We’d explain, but quite frankly a more likely explanation for all of this is that Celestia’s lost her mind,” Rarity murmured.
Fluttershy stepped forward, inwardly curling into the fetal position. She was going to have back-to-back nightmares again, she was sure of it. She tried her very hardest to keep her gaze on Celestia rather than Discord.
“What… what favor would that be?” she asked. Maybe she just wanted her to give Discord a good buffing or something.
“I have thought long and hard about a previous conversation we shared… I’m sure you remember which one I’m referring to,” said Celestia.
Gulping, Fluttershy merely nodded.
“Unfortunately, I still can’t grant your request. In fact, quite the contrary, I’m afraid that the Elements of Harmony may be needed soon to vanquish yet another foe. Not only that, I’m afraid that they will not be enough.”
“What?!” everyone other than Fluttershy gasped out.
Even Fluttershy drew in her breath at this. “You mean that the evils out there that you were talking about…”
Celestia nodded gravely. “Yes. I am gravely concerned that our current safety may not last. But that is where Discord comes in. And you, if you’re up to it.”
Fluttershy felt dizzy. “I… don’t understand what you’re asking of me.”
“Discord could become a powerful ally to us, our ace in the hole, as it were. All he would need to do is change allegiances.”
“Changing from evil to good just because somepony asks him?!” Rainbow spluttered out from behind Fluttershy. “You know that’s never gonna happen!”
Celestia shook her head. “Discord’s allegiance isn’t towards evil. Nothing of the sort. His allegiance is towards chaos. Towards himself. And I believe that, if somepony were to give him a chance…” She looked knowingly at Fluttershy.
Oh goodness. Fluttershy felt her legs lock up. She had put this idea into Celestia’s head, hadn’t she? Hadn’t she insisted that Discord had never even been given a chance to redeem himself?
And if this was her idea… well, she’d better put her money where her mouth was, right?
“If Discord were to have an outward motivation for his actions, rather than simply his own inner whims, then I truly believe that that outward force could… redirect him, shall we say. That she could show him reasons to use his chaos and magic for good.”
Fluttershy tried to say something to that, but her throat seemed to have dried up, so she merely nodded.
“I realize that this is a tall order,” Celestia continued, “but I wouldn't ask if I weren't confident you could get him to use magic obediently of his own free will.”
“And…” Fluttershy finally found her voice, although it was barely above a whisper. “You really think I'll know best how to do that?”
“I do,” smiled Celestia.
And a sudden thought crashed into Fluttershy’s mind. This is my chance! This was her chance to redeem herself, to right the wrong she had committed when she’d sentenced Discord to stone all those months ago. She was being given the chance to help Discord, not hurt him. And she was going to try, oh goodness, she was going to try harder than she’d ever tried at anything before, to make up for how she’d been part of the reason for this in the first place.
Of course, though, her elation at her chance for redemption began to become suffocated by reality after Celestia left, and after the six friends released Discord, and after Discord had mocked them mercilessly before gleefully declaring that he’d be staying at her place now…
…and Fluttershy remembered that she was, well, Fluttershy. She was so quiet and meek that she’d barely even had friends before fate had thrust the six of them together. How was she supposed to make herself Discord’s “outward motivation”? And, yeah, no pressure if she failed or anything, just that the world would be thrown into chaos again and no one would ever know any peace for the rest of their lives, yeah, no pressure there…
“Oh dear,” she whispered.
…
Sure, he broke stuff, but he fixed them… more or less. Sure, he turned her entire cottage into a spinning ball, but, well it wasn’t hurting anyone… and the mess could be picked up later, couldn’t it? Sure, he was selfish, and a little dramatic, but he just didn’t know any better… right?
Besides, he was certainly interesting.
“I have great news!” she proclaimed, flying back in the cottage (and feeling proud of herself for being able to hit the moving target that was the front door). “We’re hosting a dinner party this evening!”
The spinning cottage screeched to a halt, the furniture all falling with a thud to the floor (or rather, the wall, since the spinning had stopped with the floor on the side). “Did I just get… volunteered? Without my permission?" Discord gasped, bolting upright from his position on her couch.
“Well, um… yes?” Fluttershy said uneasily. “Sorry about that, but I thought it would be a lot of fun. The girls can see just how fun you are and that you’re ready to be our ally! I can get the drinks ready, and you can decide on the menu. I’m sure you could show off lots of different recipes that I’ve never heard of before. And if you need any help with the preparations, let me know. I’m a pretty good cook. Although…” Her eyes flickered towards her kitchen, more specifically the stove that was bolted to the floor… and with the floor’s current position, the stove was now at a ninety-degree angle with the ground. “I’ve never cooked sideways before.”
“A commendable offer, my dear Fluttershy, but unnecessary,” Discord said with a quick flick of his paw. “Do you honestly believe that I need a stove to cook? How droll.”
“Well…” Fluttershy flushed, a bit guiltily. “You may not, but I wanted to make some tea, and I do need the stove for that.”
“And there it sits, what’s the problem?”
“I, um… don’t know how to do it sideways? If you could please turn the cottage back the correct way, I’d really appreciate that.”
“Oh, fine,” Discord muttered, snapping his eagle talons and spinning the cottage ninety degrees, everything that wasn’t bolted down tumbling around with it once again. He smiled a bit at the jumbled mess, and Fluttershy, after an initial wince, shook her head with a small smile of her own. The mess wasn’t hurting anyone, after all, and if it made Discord feel more comfortable, then it could stay. At least for a little while.
“Thank you,” she said warmly. “I’ll get a pot of tea started. Let me know if you need any help with anything.” She fluttered into the kitchen, opening a cabinet near the stove and removing a well-worn, brass teakettle. Filling it with water, she turned on a cooktop and placed the kettle on top, then turned her attention to another smaller drawer, filled with boxes of various flavors of teabags.
“Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy only just kept herself from yelping at Discord’s presence mere inches behind her, and she commended herself for keeping her voice level as she turned around and responded, “Yes?”
“I can’t decide between the solid sunbeam gelatin, the liquid linoleum gelatin, or the gaseous guitar gelatin,” Discord said, the three bizarre varieties floating next to him. “Which do you think would be the best? I’m afraid I don’t know what kind of flavors ponies’ taste buds favor these days.”
Surprised, Fluttershy stared at all of them, especially the gaseous one. She was baffled as to how gelatin could be a gas, but this one somehow was—and looked delicious, even though it was apparently guitar-flavored.
“Ah, the gaseous guitar, then?” said Discord, following her gaze.
“It does look… delicious,” Fluttershy admitted. “They all do, actually. Why not use all of them? We will have six guests joining us, after all. We’ll need lots of food.”
“Excellent!” Discord grinned at that. “I like the way you think!”
“While you’re here, is there any particular flavor of tea you prefer?” Fluttershy asked. “The mint tea isn’t an option, I know that Pinkie doesn’t really care for mint flavor, but other than that I’m not sure which I should make…”
The tea boxes flurried around Discord, completely passing through the gaseous gelatin. “These flavors are all so boring,” he muttered, reading all of them in a flash. “Although I do admit that this ‘pumpkin spice’ could possibly be intriguing.” A pumpkin appeared out of nowhere, crashing down on the counter and yelling “¡AY YI YI!” The other tea flavors went flying against the walls.
It was so ridiculous that Fluttershy found herself giggling. “Pumpkin spice is more of an autumn flavor, but it is pretty tasty. I’ll make that.”
The pumpkin was sitting on the pumpkin spice tea box, and it growled at Fluttershy when she tried to retrieve it. “Now, now, there’s no need for that,” she said firmly, although she was still smiling. “If you let me have the box, I’ll make a cup of tea just for you.”
The pumpkin jumped up like a dog, yapping and panting with a long, orange tongue.
“Although, would that be cannibalism?” Fluttershy wondered aloud.
“Ooh, I certainly hope so!” Discord proclaimed gleefully. “How wonderfully chaotic that would be!”
Thinking quickly, Fluttershy grabbed an apple from a basket of fruit on her counter and tossed it in the air like a ball. The pumpkin scampered after it, freeing the box of teabags. Fluttershy retrieved one and placed it in a teapot, then checked the kettle on the stovetop for steam. There was none yet.
“How do you do that without magic, anyway?” Discord blurted out.
Fluttershy looked at him, far more confused than when he’d shown her the gelatins or the pumpkin dog. “Do what?”
“Hold things in your hooves without any fingers.”
Still confused, Fluttershy just shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t know… I just… do?”
“You ponies fascinate me sometimes!” Discord suddenly grabbed her by her right lower foreleg, carefully examining her hoof. His own limbs, which were strange and mismatched, did at least have digits for grasping things.
“Well… maybe it’s just our own kind of magic that nopony understands yet,” Fluttershy offered.
She then heard the hiss of steam from her teakettle, and carefully pulled her hoof from Discord’s gasp. “Oh, good, I can brew the tea now.” She poured the hot water into her small, round teapot, taking the string and swirling the teabag inside for good measure.
Discord, meanwhile, was dangling a teacup off of one of his claws and examining it with a magnifying glass. “Hmm. Well, I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on tea by any means, but your little set lacks pizzazz. I could spruce it up for you.”
“Oh no, don’t!” Fluttershy blurted out before he even had a chance to snap his fingers. “I know this set is kind of plain, but it belonged to my grandmother and we had lots of tea parties with this set before she died… it’s special to me just the way it is.”
“Suit yourself,” said Discord, surprising Fluttershy by very carefully setting the teacup back on the saucer without any shenanigans. “I suppose I’ll just have to create an entirely new and better set for you.”
“That would be nice,” said Fluttershy with a sincere smile. “That way, I’ll have two tea sets that have memories attached to them that make them special.”
Swirling the teabag once more, wanting for the tea to get just a little bit darker, she let out a small chuckle. This day was strange. It was probably fair to say that this was the strangest day in her life, in fact, and in every way imaginable that anything could be considered “strange”. And yet right now, this entire time spent with Discord in the kitchen, she had felt perfectly fine. More than fine, actually. Good.
“I never realized how easy it is to talk to you, Discord,” she said softly.
“Oh, I could have told you that,” said Discord lightly. He was floating horizontally again, most of his long body hovering to Fluttershy’s right, but his neck and head craned around to her left side to better examine her tea-making skills. “I’ve talked to myself for hours on end before. I’m the best conversationalist I know.”
“Can’t say I agree with that,” said a second Discord that suddenly appeared, crossing his arms and regarding his twin grumpily. “You can get awfully tedious sometimes, mister.”
The first Discord gasped, clearly very affronted by this remark. “Them’s fightin’ words!” he growled, donning an army uniform and helmet.
“Stop, stop!” Fluttershy cried out. “Please don’t fight with, um, yourself. And I don’t think you’re tedious at all.”
“Ha! Did you hear that?” the first Discord crowed triumphantly to the second Discord. “You’re outnumbered.”
The second Discord just crossed his arms again and pouted.
“And besides, I think the tea’s ready. Why don’t you try some and tell me what you think?” Fluttershy removed the teabag from the teapot, replaced the lid, and poured the tea into a teacup.
Or, at least, she tried to. But an inch above the teacup, the tea suddenly turned midair and began flowing sideways.
Discord, now just a singular entity again, smirked at Fluttershy. “Oh, dearie me,” he cooed, a bit mockingly, “whatever could be the matter now?”
Fluttershy watched the gravity-defying flow for only a moment before gritting her teeth in determination, a firm smile etched upon her face. She picked up the teacup and held it sideways—
--only for the tea to change directions again, this time flowing straight upwards.
“Too slow!” Discord teased.
Undeterred, Fluttershy turned the teacup once more, but the flow of the tea twisted away from her again. And again. And again. It was starting to make a very jagged pattern in the air.
“Just give it up, Fluttershy,” said Discord, still smirking smugly at his handiwork. “I always win.”
Fluttershy thought fast. She’d have to change her strategy. Noticing that the tea flow had taken her near her fruit bowl again, a sudden idea struck her. She whistled loudly and grabbed an apple. “Pumpkin, fetch!” she called out.
The pumpkin from before burst into the kitchen, yapping and wagging its vine tail, and Fluttershy threw the apple, sending it sailing past Discord’s head. “¡AY CARAMBA!” the pumpkin roared, leaping after it.
And Discord’s eyes were wide with shock, looking genuinely surprised by this turn of affairs. Surprised enough to forget about the zigzagged flow of tea for a second, at any rate, which was enough time for Fluttershy to position the teacup correctly at the flow and finally fill the cup with tea.
“Not always,” she said with a pleased smirk of her own at Discord, who still looked a bit stunned.
The flow of tea continued longer than it should have, overflowing the cup. Startled, Fluttershy fumbled with the cup, managing to avoid dropping it but still spilling the tea into the floor.
With an abashed smile, she looked back at Discord. “Maybe… most of the time?”
Discord smiled again too, not bothering to try to hide his approval. “Oh, well done, Fluttershy! You are a quick study indeed.” He swirled an eagle talon in the air, spinning the spilled tea up from the floor like a mini tornado, and raised it upwards towards his tongue, now sticking out of his mouth like a board. His tongue snapped around the tea-nado in its entirety and shot back into his mouth, taking the tea with it. “And this is delectable!”
Fluttershy beamed, her heart feeling like it could nearly soar. And the thought that made her feel this way wasn’t the expected “I can do this.” No, it was a firm, solid, “I did it.” She’d been right, she was sure of it now. Discord certainly wasn’t perfect, but he was fun and exciting and rather sweet in his own unique way, and she’d redeemed herself by redeeming him. And even better… she’d made a new friend.
She nearly laughed with her response, as much to herself as it was to Discord.
“I’m glad. I’m so glad.”
…
Perhaps she had gotten a bit ahead of herself.
She wasn’t an idiot—she’d known that to at least some degree, Discord was just playing nice with her to get what he wanted. So she hadn’t been surprised when, during their dinner party, it became clear that he had caused some mischief with the beavers at Applejack’s farm. Whether he’d started it during the party or earlier, it didn’t really matter.
What mattered was getting him to stop it. And Fluttershy knew that it wouldn’t be as easy as just asking him. She just hoped… hoped beyond all hope… that she’d managed to give him a change of heart. She could deal with a conditional agreement from him… depending on the condition, of course… but she could compromise. She just hoped he could, too.
But when his condition was to never use her Element against him, she almost broke down with tears of relief. And any hesitation on her part was simply from what her other friends would think of her answer. But, in the end, her choice was simple and clear and liberating.
“I will never use my Element of Harmony against you.”
It was like being set free.
Did he know? She’d never brought it up during the day. He’d never asked. Maybe he’d noticed her tugging at the heavy necklace clasped around her the whole day and suspected… but she doubted it.
She doubted he realized just how easy of a promise this was for her to make. Because using her Element to trap him again was the absolute last thing she ever wanted to do.
But then… instead of fixing his mess, he just made it worse. Purposefully. And he laughed at her, cruelly, revealing that, unsurprisingly, he had been playing her all along.
And Fluttershy… was angry. As angry as he’d made her the last time.
But she still refused to use her Element against him. She knew how bad the nightmares were, after all.
And, also… she couldn’t even consider doing that to someone she’d grown to care about.
She renounced their friendship, true. Friendship was a two-way street and if Discord wasn’t going to hold up his end of the deal, Fluttershy wasn’t going to make amends for him.
But that didn’t mean that this didn’t still hurt.
She shook with anger as he continued to mock her, proclaiming that he didn’t need her permission to be himself.
She didn’t look at him, though, too afraid of her own powers. What if the Element activated all on its own, powered simply by her rage?
Oh goodness she couldn’t let that happen again. Because as angry as she was at him, she couldn’t condemn him to that stone prison again.
And he still continued to hammer his insolence in, because as if he’d listen to whatever she had to say?
Fluttershy shook again, pointedly looking away at him. She was naïve and a fool, but she wasn’t going to break down and use her horrible weapon against him again. Which probably made her even more of a fool, but she didn’t care anymore.
Her kindness was her weakness, not her strength. She knew that now.
And why should he care, he taunted, about losing the one friend he’d ever made?
She was a fool… a stupid, selfish fool. She’d just condemned Equestria solely because she wanted to stop a few bad dreams. Just because she’d come to care about someone who clearly had no intentions of caring for her in return.
She winced guiltily, prepared for more jeering, but it never came.
Only silence.
And the sound that finally got Fluttershy to open her eyes again was Discord’s soft, small, “Oh.”
Dismayed and wholly confused, she looked at him, and he looked back at her… vulnerable. Almost heartbroken.
“Well played, Fluttershy… well played.”
What?
And he sat down on a frozen bush, utterly defeated, and snapped his fingers, and everything went back to the way it should be.
What?!
And all her other friends were hugging her and cheering, and Fluttershy still wasn’t exactly sure what had just transpired, but the chaos Discord had brought about had been undone, and she hadn’t had to use her awful power, and Discord was smiling at her, albeit with a bit of reticence, and admitting, “I like it better my way, but... I guess when you're friends, you can't always have things exactly your way all the time, eh?”
And there it was.
She had really done it.
There was silence for a few moments.
Finally, Pinkie Pie spoke, loudly and dissonantly cheery. “Well, we’d better let Princess Celestia know what happened, huh?”
Twilight straightened up, sudden authority in her voice. “Right! Um, Spike, take a letter.”
Spike held out a parchment and quill, obediently awaiting Twilight’s instructions.
“’Dear Princess Celestia...’ um… ‘Please meet us on the south edge of town. I’d like to present our…’”
The hesitation was immense.
“’…progress report, in person. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.’”
“Should I include the nine ellipses?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, definitely,” Discord murmured, “I’d say they’re quite necessary.”
“Only one is sufficient,” Twilight muttered to Spike.
Spike scribbled the note and sent it off to the ether with a puff of smoke.
“Well,” said Applejack in a no-nonsense voice, “let’s get goin’, then.” And she and Rarity and Rainbow Dash took the lead, Twilight and Spike falling behind them, with Pinkie stifling her usual energy to stay behind with Fluttershy and Discord.
“This calls for a party!” she declared with a grin. Fluttershy noticed that the bounce in her step wasn’t quite as pronounced as usual, although she still did seem quite genuine in her enthusiasm. “We’ll have to have a celebration. What’s your favorite cake, Discord?”
“Red velvet,” Discord answered instantly, with a confident grin.
“Um, that would be actual velvet,” Fluttershy whispered to Pinkie. “At least, I assume so…” She looked up at Discord.
“What else could I mean by ‘velvet’?” Discord questioned, raising a confused eyebrow in Fluttershy’s direction.
Pinkie blinked in confusion just once before shrugging it off. “I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with something!” she proclaimed, bouncing merrily ahead, overtaking both Twilight and Spike and the confused group of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.
Now left alone with Discord, Fluttershy felt the awkward silence envelop her like a stifling blanket.
“We are still friends, right?” Discord murmured to her hesitantly.
Fluttershy nodded instantly, despite everything. “Of course,” she reassured him.
“Good!” Discord grinned fully and easily at that. “Then I hope it’s acceptable to request a friendly clarification regarding what exactly was wrong with the giant ice rink. I thought you ponies liked ice skating.”
“Well, yes, but it wasn’t… right,” Fluttershy said awkwardly.
“Well, of course it wasn’t ‘right.’ That was the point. The spicy pumpkin dog and the obedient gravy bowl and the singing cutlery weren’t ‘right’ either, but you allowed those.”
“It’s different when it’s contained.”
“Contained?!” Discord barked out a laugh at that. “You can’t ‘contain’ chaos, my dear Fluttershy.”
“Well, I don’t know much about chaos,” Fluttershy admitted. “But what I do know is that turning an entire field to ice right before summer comes would have harmed all the animals who lived there. Plus, it would have destroyed Applejack’s crop.” She gave Discord a disapproving look. “And that’s not even getting into what you did to those poor beavers.”
“No, no, I get the beavers,” said Discord. “Don’t turn creatures into the opposite of their true natures, blah blah blah. I get that. But how could an ice rink harm anyone? The fields and the animals and the air particles all seem to handle winter just fine on their own.”
“Yes, but…” Fluttershy searched for the words to explain properly. “When winter comes, those animals have had time to prepare. Some have been storing food beforehand. Some have grown warmer fur. Some have migrated to warmer locations. But the point is, they’ve prepared. Winter arriving in June catches them off-guard and unprepared. They would have suffered greatly.”
“And… we don’t want to cause any creature to suffer.” It was only just barely not a question.
Fluttershy nodded. “That’s correct.”
“Oh.” Discord sighed grumpily, his tail sagging. “There are a lot of rules to follow, huh? And I hate rules.”
“I know… I know it’s a lot,” Fluttershy said sympathetically. She gave Discord what she hoped was an encouraging smile. “But you don’t have to figure it out alone. I’ll be there to help you. And you can still make chaos, as long as it’s not hurting anyone.”
“Would ice skating in your cottage fall under the ‘not hurting anyone’ banner?” Discord asked hopefully.
Fluttershy giggled. “As long as you set it back when we’re done. That would be fun, actually.”
“Well then,” said Discord with a smirk, tossing the suddenly reappearing set of ice skates in Fluttershy’s direction, “I’ll hold you to it!”