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// Chapter 3 ~ (no good title) 
// Story: The Matter Of Friendship 
// by HeartShieldFiM 
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‘You ask ME if I know anything about befriending a draconequus?’ Fluttershy asked. ‘Uhm… you know… Discord is the only one I have ever seen in my whole life…’
‘I think I have to take that as a no…’ Pinkie sighed. ‘How am I ever gonna make Discord befriend everypony in Ponyville?’
‘Well…’ whispered Fluttershy. ‘Maybe it’s not necessary for him to be friends with EVERYpony. You could start with the Mane Six…’
‘Then why are you still avoiding Discord?’ Pinkie asked, scratching her neck. She had a terrible rash and it wouldn’t go away. Maybe she should see Zakora , she could probably help her. ‘Don’t you like him?’ Pinkie continued.
Fluttershy shook her head.
‘Then why don’t you… why do you avoid Discord?’ Pinkie asked.
Fluttershy mumbled something, but Pinkie couldn’t understand a word.
‘What?’ she asked.
Fluttershy took a deep breath. ‘I… I am terribly afraid of him…’ she muttered.

So that was the problem, Pinkie thought while galloping back to her house. It was not that the Ponyvillagers didn’t like Discord (however, Dash didn’t seem to appreciate his presence), they were afraid of him.
Well, that was not the WHOLE problem. It was only a part. Duh, nopony liked Discord because he caused chaos and turned their world upside down. But still. Pinkie could imagine why ponies were afraid of him. He was big, approximately five times bigger than everypony else, and he was a draconequus, a creature made out of parts of other creatures.
On the way home she saw Discord, playing baseball with his daughter.
‘Hey, Auntie Pinkie! Look, Daddy!’
Discord looked over his shoulder. ‘Oh, hello, Pinkie,’ he said, in an almost toneless voice.
‘I… I know why the other ponies don’t like you,’ Pinkie said, heavily breathing. ‘It’s not because of… yeah, you know what… it’s just that they’re afraid of you. I mean, you are huge, and you’re a draconequus.’
‘What, if I may ask, is wrong with being a draconequus?’ Discord said, squeezing his eyes.
‘N-nothing,’ Pinkie stuttered. ‘It’s just that your appearance may… scare somepony.’
Discord nodded. ‘Well, thank you for calling me scary. Dash also called me a freak, what’s next?’
He turned back to his daughter and threw the baseball. She managed to hit the ball – hard – with a bat she held between her jaws. He didn’t tell Pinkie that Dash’s remark had kept him from sleeping all night. Freak. Freak. Freak. That was all he could think about.
‘Freak!?’ Pinkie shouted in disbelief. ‘Did she…’
Discord shrugged, and didn’t even turn back at Pinkie. ‘C’mon, Screwball! You can do this!’ He threw another ball at her.

‘Can you… can you believe Dash would do something like that?’ Pinkie sat on a hay bale in Applejack’s shed. AJ herself was sorting apples by color, red, green and rotten brown.
‘Nu-uh,’ she said, with a basket in her mouth. She dropped it. ‘Ah’m so sorry, honey. Ah didn’t expect her to do that, either.’
‘Should I go and talk to her? To make her apologize or something?’ Pinkie scratched her neck again.
AJ shrugged. ‘No idea, sugar cube. Ah would just leave it alone for a while, just don’t let ‘em meet too many times. But you’re the expert at makin’ friends here, right?’
Pinkie sighed. ‘Sometimes, I even doubt that myself.’
‘Catch,’ was all AJ replied, and that same moment, she threw a bright, red apple at Pinkie.
Pinkie caught it. ‘Thanks,’ she mumbled, munching the apple.

On her way back home, Pinkie got hit by something blue.
‘Oh, sorry Pinkie,’ Dash said. ‘I was looking for clouds to clear, but I accidentally bumped into you. How’s Discord?’
Pinkie frowned. ‘He’s still his old, freaky self, but you already found that out.’
She walked away, leaving Dash in confusion.

Freak. Freak. Discord was lying on the field where he and Screwball played baseball all day. Screwball went home after he told her he needed a break.
They had called him ugly, stupid, a mistake of Mother Nature, but freak was the worst. By far. He didn’t mean to be freaky. It wasn’t HIS fault that all the Ponyvillagers were afraid of him. Well, maybe a tiny little bit, but he was nice now, right?
‘Hey, whadda YOU doin’ here?’
Discord crawled up. ‘Oh, hello there, friend of the awesome Pinkie Pie.’
AJ smiled. ‘You have no idea how… worried she is, hm?’
‘Worried, you say? Well, she didn’t show that, I guess,’ Discord replied. ‘She was like “Oooh, you’re a draconequus, so you are scary”.’
‘Well, she just visited mah house and she was all “Dash called Discord a freak, ah never expected her to do that, should I fix this or…”’
Discord didn’t let her finish her sentence. ‘You’re sure she was?’
‘Ah’m sure, sugar cube. Ah don’t lie, remember?’
Discord frowned. ‘Yeah, right, you were that “always telling the truth”-pony, hm?’
AJ nodded, ignoring the sarcasm. ‘That’s me!’
Discord stared in the distance. Over the houses, he saw the top of the roof of Sugar Cube Corner. He frowned and turned back to Applejack. ‘So what should I do now?’
AJ smiled. ‘Nuffin’. Just wait. She can fix this. Just… don’t oppose her, okay?’
Discord shrugged and watched the orange pony walk away. Maybe these friends of Pinkie weren’t so bad after all.

A panicked voice woke him up. ‘Daddy? Are you alive? Daddy!!!’
Discord stretched his back. ‘What’s wrong, sugar cube? Wait… did I really say that?’
‘Daddy!’ Screwball yelled one more time, and she embraced him. ‘I thought you were dead,’ she mumbled with her face buried in his neck.
Discord smiled and stroke the back of his daughter. ‘I won’t die, you remember? I have been around for many years, and still have so many years to go, my sweet daughter.’
‘Can you make me some food? I’m hungry,’ Screwball said. ‘Come with me, Daddy, please.’
Discord got up. ‘Fine, dear. Let’s go home. I am starving as well.’