Less Than Chaotic

by TheTalentlessPony


Less Than Loyal

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Fluttershy greeted as she and Discord approached the usual meet up place. A picnic blanket was laid out in the middle of said place, with Twilight and Rarity sitting down on it while sorting plates.

"Oh! Good afternoon, Fluttershy. Hello, Discord," Twilight said, looking up from the plates for a moment to smile at them. Rarity was quiet a bit longer, looking over Twilight's "work" before glancing at the two as well. "Yes, good afternoon to the both of you!" she exclaimed.

Pinkie Pie waved to them from a patch of grass nearby, grinning wide. "Hi, guys!"

Applejack was relaxing against the only tree in the area, though she tilted her hat up to make eye contact with them. "Howdy~"

Discord took a moment to cherish how they were welcoming him, then smirked and leaned into the side. "Ah, for a second, I thought we were late, but Rainbow Dash isn't here. She's such a punctual pony, after all."

"Oh, do not remind me," Rarity said with a slightly groan. "For such an athletic pegasus, she can be quite lazy and tardy, if I do say so myself."

"Hey! I heard that!"

The group blinked confusedly, looking up as a blur of light blue, obviously Rainbow Dash, flew down from the sky. She slowed as she neared the ground, flying over to one of the branches of the tree and laying down, relaxing on it.

Rarity snickered. "Beg your pardon? I didn't hear you over the sound of my timer going off."

She focused, her horn glowing as a watch suddenly appeared in front of her. She squinted, as if to check the time, then teleported the watch away. "Yep. Five minutes and twenty-six seconds late~"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "What's five minutes—"

"—and twenty-six—"

"—Yeah, yeah, whatever~" The cyan pegasus shrugged again. "You guys haven't even started yet, right? So it's cool, I'm not really late!"

Twilight chuckled. "It's alright, Rainbow; it's not like we're mad or anything."

Pinkie Pie nodded. "Exaka-tacka-ly! So come on down here and join us, silly!" she exclaimed.

Discord watched as Rainbow Dash scanned the ground below. If the other ponies showed any signs that they noticed her locking eyes with him for a split second, he didn't see them.

"No thanks. I'm cool up here," she said, relaxing further. "I'll come down when it's time to eat though!"

Fluttershy frowned a bit, then flew up to the branch that Rainbow Dash was on, perching herself onto it and staring at the cyan pegasus. "You shouldn't be up here all alone though Rainbow Dash."

Discord would've happily agreed if that would've meant that he didn't have to give up Fluttershy being next to him.

Rainbow Dash shrugged slightly, then stared over at Fluttershy and chuckled. "You perch yourself like a bird."

"H-huh?" Fluttershy asked, confused about the sudden conversation change.

Twilight raised a hoof. "It's not much of a surprise really. Fluttershy's around so many animals; she's probably picked up their habits."

"I think it's rather charming myself, personally," Rarity added. She paused, then gave a small wink to Discord. "I bet that you agree with me, don't you, Discord?"

Don't drag me into this...

Discord shrugged sheepishly, causing Pinkie Pie to giggle. "Oh, don't be like that, Discoooord! You're all sweet and stuff to Fluttershy and you know it!"

The draconequus couldn't help being slightly embarrassed that the conversation was suddenly directed back to his affection towards Fluttershy. He looked up to the mentioned-pony, who flew back down from the tree and sat next to him.

"Speaking of sweet, we brought some cupcakes with us," she said, taking hold of the basket around Discord's arm and setting it down. The rest of the ponies let out a soft "oooo~" while Discord managed a sigh of relief; he certainly hadn't wanted to be in that conversation. Not that he didn't like Fluttershy - he obviously did - but he still took a bit of pride in being the more firm of the two. Fluttershy was the more openly affectionate one.

Rarity smiled, levitating the box out of the basket and setting it on the blanket. She opened it up, then gazed at the six cupcakes inside. "They're all so darling, Fluttershy! Which one is mine?" she asked.

Fluttershy tilted her head at first, as if taking a moment to remember, then directed her hoof towards the box. "The purple one's for you, Rarity. The pink one's for Pinkie Pie, yellow for Applejack, rainbow for Rainbow Dash, and red for Twilight."

Twilight handed out the cupcakes accordingly, then gazed at the remaining cupcake. "I'm surprised. I thought that this white one would be for Rarity."

Fluttershy shook her head. "That one's for Discord."

The draconequus raised a brow as he was handed said cupcake, staring at it quizzically before gazing back at Fluttershy. "So the box is yours then?" he asked with a small smirk.

Fluttershy blinked, not understanding him at first, then looked down at her empty hooves, a blush coming to her cheeks. "A-ah... I guess I forgot to order one for myself..."

Discord chuckled, then simply broke his cupcake in half. "That won't do, you know," he said, handing her one half while ignoring the small "awww"s that were coming from Rarity.

Fluttershy nodded, taking the half politely and giggling. "It's a surprise."

"Hm?" Discord asked.

"The flavor. It's a surprise," she told him. "You like surprises, so I asked Missis Cake to surprise me by making the cupcake a random flavor."

Pinkie Pie grinned wide. "Ohhh yeah! I made that one!" she exclaimed, bouncing somewhat as she gazed at the two cupcake halves.

Discord suddenly gazed at the cupcake with a bit of pretend fear, as if dreading whatever strange flavor she came up with. "And, what flavor would this be then?" he asked, acting as though he was extremely cautious.

Pinkie Pie lifted her front hooves, waving them slowly. "All of theeeeem~"

Fluttershy deadpanned, then stared at the cupcake with a curious expression. "A-all of them?"

She paused, then bit into her half, her eyes going a bit wide. "How... um... interesting?" she said questionably, not sure if she should like it or not.

Discord chuckled, eating his own half in one large gulp. "It's a surprise, isn't it?"

Fluttershy smiled at him and nodded. "I suppose!"

Rarity giggled. "You two really do make such an adorable couple, you know?" she asked. "I apologize for being harsh on you before this all happened, Discord, but don't worry; I trust you now for certain!"

Twilight nodded her head in agreement, but frowned as Rainbow Dash let out a small groan. "Oh, don't be that way, Rainbow," she said. "You're not jealous, are you?"

Rainbow Dash quickly sat up with a start. "W-what!? No, of course not!" she yelled, giving Twilight a glare that only made the alicorn giggle in amusement. "I'm awesome enough all by myself!"

The pegasus huffed, her wings ruffling in annoyance and her gaze drew back to Discord and Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "Then what cha all pouty for?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash paused, soaking up the brief silence, then sighed. "I just don't like how he's got his hand all around her and stuff..."

Discord looked down, noticing that his hand had involuntarily wrapped itself around Fluttershy, who leaned against him affectionately.

Twilight nodded knowingly. "Makes sense. You've known Fluttershy the longest, so naturally you'd be concerned that Discord would hurt her feelings."

Her gaze slowly shifted to Applejack. "And you, Applejack? You've been extremely quiet this whole time. You don't mind them, do you?"

Applejack looked over to Twilight, frowning a bit. "Ah never said that."

"So you do mind them then?" Rarity questioned.

"Ah never said that either," Applejack said, shaking her head. She glanced over at Discord and Fluttershy, then shrugged. "Ah'll admit, Ah don't completely approve, but that doesn't mean Ah don't support ya. Ya'll are mah friends, after all."

Twilight nodded understandingly. "Yeah, you're pretty traditional; I can see you thinking that it's a bit odd," she mused.

Applejack grew very serious. "Ah do, but Ah do support mah friends, no matter what. Ya got that?" she asked, wanting to stress the fact.

Fluttershy nodded. "And I appreciate that."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as if feeling left out. "I support ya too, you know!" she said. "Just... stop with all the cute stuff already!"

Discord smirked, pulling Fluttershy onto his lap just to let Rainbow Dash know that he wasn't changing his attitude for anypony. The cyan pegasus pouted slightly, but seemed to accept it anyway; just very begrudgingly.

Twilight giggled, looking back over to Applejack. "At least you're honest right from the get-go."

"A'course," Applejack said with a grin, ignoring the shouts of "Hey! I can be honest from the get-go too!" from Rainbow Dash. "It's mah element, after all."

"Absolutely," Rarity agreed. "It shows. Though..." She took a glance at Discord and smiled sheepishly. "...admittedly, it's almost funny having you here, Discord. Not that I mind you, but our picnics usually involve just the six of us; the Elements of Harmony. Not that you feel out of place, but—"

"—OHHHH, I know!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, raising a hoof. "Let's give Discord an element!"

Twilight stifled a laugh. "Pinkie Pie, you can just go around and give someone an element; there's only six, and we can't give him one of ours!"

"I know that, silly! But let's just pretend!"

Rarity tilted her head, intrigued. "Pretend, huh?"

Suddenly, everyone's eyes were locked on Discord, making the draconequus shift uncomfortably at first.

"Can't we just call 'im the "Element of Chaos"?" Applejack asked.

"Chaos isn't a value," Twilight argued.

"Says the "Element of Magic"," Applejack said with a chuckle.

Twilight pouted. "M-magic is totally a value!" she shouted, though scrunching her snout a bit as she actually thought about it.

"The "Element of Reformal" perhaps?" Rarity suggested.

"I believe you mean "reformation", Rarity," Twilight interjected. "And even then, that depends on the definition you use."

Pinkie Pie wagged her tail, becoming excited from the little "game" that was going on. "Oh! Oh! What about the "Element of Selflessness"?" she asked. "That's a value-magig, right?"

Twilight blinked, taking a moment to consider that. "That's... actually not a bad suggestion," she muttered, sounding surprised.

Pinkie Pie's grin grew wider, while Discord watched the ponies debate about it in their head. "You can't call one act of good intentions "selfless" and then label me with it, can you?" he asked. "Might I remind you of all the selfish acts I've done before?"

"True, but that was before now," Twilight said. "Before you gave up your powers for Fluttershy. You were so concerned about proving yourself to her that you were willing to do anything. I'd say that's pretty selfless, don't you?" she questioned.

Discord took a pause, but was cut off before he could start talking.

"Either way, it ain't like you're an actual element of anything," Applejack said. "So we can call ya whatever we want, Ah reckon."

Discord couldn't help chuckling at that. "Very well. I'd prefer that I not be an element anyway; I rather like the size of my beard," he told them.

Twilight snickered as she remembered her "Rainbow Power" form, waving her hoof dismissively. "Of course, of course."

The draconequus nodded, though suddenly began to stare at her, as if wondering about something.

He only broke out of his brief stupor when Fluttershy nudged him with a hoof, looking up at him with a concerned expression.

"You okay?" she whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear. "You've been distracted lately."

Discord debated with himself a bit, then nodded. "Okay enough."

Fluttershy scrunched her snout, unsure if she should believe him or not, but reluctantly accepted. "If you say so..."

Rarity looked over to the two, grinning. "Now, enough element talk. Let's get on with our little picnic, alright?"

Discord and Fluttershy nodded approvingly. "Alright!"