Discord caught Fluttershy's head with his tail and gently lowered it down, resting it between her hooves. Settling back in his chair, the draconequus waited, watching her chest rise and fall with a tender smile.
“Poor dear.”
Discord jumped and whirled around. His mother had magically appeared, her beautiful form slowly walking over to look down at Fluttershy with a pitying smile.
“You dropped quite the bomb on her.”
Fluttershy’s animals scampered out of their hiding places (they always hid when Discord was around) and rushed toward Mother Nature, the bunnies and squirrels dancing about her legs while the birds and butterflies nestled themselves in her hair and on her back. The spirit chuckled.
“Hello my little ones. She’s taken very good care of you, hasn’t she?”
Several of them chittered in the affirmative.
“Mother, what are you doing here?” Discord hissed. “You can’t just show up unannounced!”
“Your father dropped by for a visit,” she revealed, unconcerned. “He was most displeased with me for rewriting the stars when it came to you.”
“What in the world is that supposed to mean?”
Mother Nature smirked. “He originally set you up with Pinkie Pie.”
“He… WHAT?!”
“He had hoped that between the two of you the world would plunge into eternal chaos,” she chuckled. “But we both know I couldn’t allow that. So I rewrote your destiny a bit when he wasn’t looking, enabling you to choose your soulmate. Don’t worry though; he approves of Fluttershy. She reminds him of me, afterall.” She winked. Fluttershy started to stir. “Oh, I’d best be off! I can’t wait for the grandchildren!”
Discord blanched. “Mother, at least let me court and marry her first!”
She jutted her lip in a slight pout. “Oh, very well. You two have a lot to talk about before any of that can happen anyway. Love you, son! Good luck!" She faded away.
Discord frowned. Good luck?
Fluttershy sat up. “Dissy?”
“I’m right here, Shy,” he said, slithering over and nuzzling her head.
She nuzzled him back automatically. “What happened?” He was about to answer when she gasped and looked up at him, her eyes filled with remembrance. “We’re soulmates.”
“Yes,” he said, his talon briefly stroking her ear where the Soul Mark lay.
“And I’m immortal now?”
“Yeeesss.”
“Because a piece of your immortality attached itself to me when the Soul Mark appeared?”
“That’s correct,” he said happily.
Fluttershy frowned. "Oh. I see."
Discord's grin quickly fell, his happiness spiraling into confusion at her sudden lack of enthusiasm. Hesitantly he prompted, "Fluttershy?"
The small yellow pegasus slowly slipped off the couch and relocated to a nearby chair, observing him silently. The draconequus began to squirm.
"Why do I suddenly feel like I'm in the dog house?" he asked, said house magically appearing with him inside.
To his bewilderment, Fluttershy’s eyes filled with anger and frustration. Taking a deep breath, she spoke calmly but her words felt sharp and harsh.
"You avoided me for weeks and now that I have your symbol on my ear everything is suddenly okay?"
He opened his mouth but then paused. "Would it be wrong to say yes?"
"Yes!" She snapped. "Do you have any idea what these past few weeks have been like for me? I didn't want to get a Soul Mark! I really didn't! But I decided to get one for you because you told me it was impossible between us. You told me I couldn’t have you.” Her voice cracked as tears began streaming down her pale yellow cheeks. “I wanted to be with you so much. When Rarity told me about the Soul Mark I thought it was the only solution. If I could rid my feelings of you, we could stay friends and everything would eventually be okay. But then you got mad when I decided to get one. You told me you weren’t going to show up but you did and it turned out to be you anyway! Was I not enough for you without it?"
A sob wrenched itself free from her tiny form and she collapsed onto the chair, hiding behind her mane and wings, her tiny body shaking as her lungs heaved.
Discord felt positively awful. Without realizing it, his form had shrunk down until he was the same size as that demon bunny; who was mercifully nowhere to be seen. He’d been so focused on his own feelings that he hadn't taken into account how Fluttershy was feeling through this whole ordeal. Had he really left her to wade through everything alone for weeks? Curse time and his ignorance of it!
Fluttershy’s sobs still filled the cottage, the dark eyes of her animal friends glaring at him accusingly from their hiding places. Discord bit his lip and slowly, hesitantly, slid off the couch and wandered over to his newfound soulmate, his form growing as he walked. He looked down at the Chaos Star on her ear and frowned.
Slowly, gently, he moved her feathers aside. Fluttershy looked up at him, her teal eyes filled with so much inner conflict. Normally such chaos and disharmony would thrill him but it felt wrong, seeing it within his beautiful Fluttershy. She wasn’t supposed to feel this way. He had put those emotions inside of her. This was all his fault. He had to make it right.
Tenderly, he stroked her cheeks, brushing the tears away.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice cracking unexpectedly. “I’m so sorry, my dearest Fluttershy. I’ve been stupid, selfish, and afraid. I hope you can forgive me; I’m no good at this sort of thing. Never in my very long life have I ever truly experienced being in love. You’re my first,” he chuckled darkly, “so naturally I screwed everything up.
“I stayed away because I didn’t feel like I was good enough for you. I was afraid of what kind of life you would have if you were with me, how other ponies would treat you. I was afraid the pain of losing you would be unbearable. And I was selfish because, despite driving you into getting this” -he pointed at the Soul Mark- “I didn’t want to share you with anypony else.”
"Is that why you showed up at Zecora’s hut?" she whispered quietly, her eyes locked with his.
"I went to see Cadence,” he confessed. “She -and my inner self- finally managed to beat enough sense into me to realize my concerns didn't matter. What did was to be with you, to spend the rest of your life with you."
"So you were coming after me?"
"I was coming to stop you,” he confirmed, unable to look at her. His face felt like he could fry an egg on it. “I'm a selfish old draconequus, Fluttershy. I’m sure you know by now that I have some serious issues when it comes to sharing."
Fluttershy looked down at her hooves and hid behind her mane. She quietly replied, “I can be selfish too.”
His ears perked up as he met her eyes again. She held a smile, befitting of her name. A slow grin started to climb Discord’s face, one of elation and hope. He leaned forward, stopping when he was mere inches from her muzzle.
“My dear canary horse, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” he asked. “Because an eternity with me is not going to be easy.”
Fluttershy surprised him by latching her hooves around his neck and pulling him into an extremely passionate kiss. “I think I can handle it,” she breathlessly replied.
Discord’s eyes opened, tiny hearts popping into existence all around his head. “Are you sure?” he asked, slightly dazed from such an unexpected but welcome show of affection.
She booped his snout. “Absolutely. But there’s something we need to be clear on.”
Discord cleared his head and refocused on her. “What’s that?”
The look she was giving was just as intense as the Stare. It left the Lord of Chaos spellbound.
“I don’t want something like this to happen again," she said. "I know it’s in your nature to lie but can you at least Pinkie Promise that when I confront you about any future issues you’ll come clean and be honest with me?”
Discord studied her silently, absorbing her request before making a decision. “For you, Fluttershy, and only for you, will I ever come completely clean- even if it takes me a while to do so.”
She smiled. “Pinkie Promise?”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” He materialized a yellow cupcake with pink frosting and shoved it in his right eye without mercy.
Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around his neck, nuzzling his fur with her muzzle. “Thank you.”
Discord held her tightly for a minute before setting her down and clearing his throat, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. She looked up at him questioningly.
“Are we okay now?” he hesitantly asked. “Because I honestly feel like this whole story has filled my sappy quota enough to last me a lifetime.”
Fluttershy giggled, not entirely sure what he meant by that. “For now, I think we’re okay. Would you like some tea?”
He leapt at the suggestion like a dying creature. “Please! I need some normalcy after all this!”
“I’ll put the kettle on.”
“Nonsense! Allow me.”
With a snap of his talons they were sitting side by side on the green couch, a plate of cucumber sandwiches and two cups of singing Ginseng spread on the table in front of them. The two took their cups in silence, simply enjoying one another’s company.
After a moment Fluttershy set down her cup. A deep blush stained her cheeks as she peeked up at her soulmate. He was currently munching on glass, a quarter of his cup remaining around the exposed cup-shaped tea.
“Discord?”
“Hmmm?”
She gestured to her ear. “I’m happy it’s you.”
Setting the now fully exposed tea on the table, he turned to look at her. “Really?” She nodded but he kept going, “Because if you’re not, I’m sure we can talk to my mother. I know that the whole ‘ascension to immortality’ thing can be quite the shock.”
Fluttershy took his paw in her hooves. “I’m sure it’ll take some getting used to but there isn’t any other draconequus I’d rather be with. I love you, Discord. You’re worth all the challenges of immortality to me.”
A smile rewarded her declaration, the most genuine and loving she’d ever seen on the draconequus’ face. Discord cupped her cheek and tenderly stroked it. “I love you too, Fluttershy,” he muttered, “More than all the chaos and disharmony in the world.”
Happily, the two closed the distance between them, their kiss sealing the beginning of an eternal destiny forged by choice and rewritten in stars by the hand of Nature herself.