//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Discord's Helping Hoof 
// by The Wizard of Words 
//------------------------------//

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Discord asked his friend patiently, playing with a cactus he juggled in the air. “You know she isn’t expecting anything.”

“Oh, I know, but it would be rude to pretend like nothing happened.” Fluttershy spoke back in return, the rare flame of eagerness in her voice unmistakable. It was something Discord didn’t have the heart, or even the mind, to smother.

“Alright,” he spoke up, snapping his fingers and causing the cactus in the air to return to its regular shape. The chandelier shook lightly as it stilled itself on the ceiling.

Then pulling out a hair from his mane, he twizzled it until it grew into a large feather, ink already dripping from its end. He blew into the air, causing pieces of paper to materialize from his breath and flutter into his grasp. Discord held them up before giving them a slight snap, straightening their pages.

Then, twisting around until he was sitting on the sofa, he looked at the pegasus lying on the pillow across from him, her pleasant smile genuine, warm, and welcoming.

“Shoot.” Clearing her throat, Fluttershy began to dictate.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” she began. The sound of a scratching quill joined the air after her words. “As you know, it has been some time since Discord came to stay with me. While he has been doing his best to stay out of trouble, he was doing so at the expense of his own enjoyment. When I suggested that he start helping ponies instead of hurting them, he didn’t immediately agree. But with some encouragement, he agreed he’d give it a try.” One of the papers fluttered from Discord’s grasp. It flew through the air, rising and falling in normally impossible ways, until it landed on a table next to the pegasus. Fluttershy spoke on.

“At first, it seemed like he was doing a bad job, scaring a lot of ponies and making things works in ways no pony was used to. Rainbow Dash and Twilight tried to stop Discord from helping ponies, but…” the pegasus put a hoof to her chin in thought, curious on how to phrase the next part of her story. The hoof fell as the idea popped into her mind. “But Discord only ended up helping them, too.” The draconequus lightly snickered at the statement.

“In the end, however, Discord actually did help the ponies around Ponyville, in his own special way. It’s true that no pony could see what he was doing, not until he was done. When he was though, oh, it turned out to be wonderful.”

“So it just goes to show, just because somepony isn’t doing what you would do, doesn’t mean they are doing it wrong. We should trust our friends with what they try, and believe in them the same way we believe in oursevles. Your loyal student, Fluttershy.”

The papers disappeared in a flash of green flames.

“And print.”