//------------------------------// // Need (Fluttershy and Discord, Dark/Friendship/Slice of Life) // Story: Bombastic Bookpony's Bazaar of Oneshots // by Bombastic Bookpony //------------------------------//         “Fluttershy,my dear, if you don’t mind me asking, why, exactly, do you keep coming?” Discord asked. Fluttershy looked up from the chess board. She had taken to visiting him in Canterlot and playing this game, and was surprisingly good at it, and only getting better.         “Discord. Is this just an attempt to distract me while you cheat?”         Discord gasped. “Fluttershy! You wound me! And no. Not this time, anyway. I’m serious. You’ve won. You’ve gotten me to see the light of the Light Side. My heart grew three sizes that day. Etcetera. You don’t have to do this.”         “I know that, Discord. I don’t do this because I have to. I do it because I want to. You’re my friend,” she said with a small smile.         “You could just be using your friendship as leverage over me and as an excuse to spy on me,” he mused, tapping a talon on his chin.         “Discord!” she exclaimed, seemingly aghast. “I would never! Do you really think I could be so-so mean and cunning?”         Discord averted his eyes. “You’re right. I’m sorry Fluttershy, I never should’ve said such things.” He felt a small modicum of guilt, and resolved to- wait a minute. His eyes widened as he realized what Fluttershy has done, and she giggled. “See! Such a master manipulator! Getting me of all people to feel guilt! You need to show that side of you more often, my dear. Maybe that’s why you keep coming. I’m the only way you can air out your darker side, the parts of you you aren’t sure the others won’t accept. And you can air it out without judgement.”         “Discord, I’ve already told you why. You’re my friend. Why are you so focused on this?”         “Because, Fluttershy. I do not deserve friendship.” Fluttershy gasped, and rushed to reassure him, but he held up a claw. “No reassurances, please. This isn’t self-pity. It is mere fact. By most ponies standards, I do not deserve friendship.”         “Everypony-er, everyone- deserves friendship, Discord,” Fluttershy replied, resolutely.         “Do they? Do you know the things I’ve done, Fluttershy?” There was no guilt in his voice; no, it was genuine curiosity. “There is, of course, the manipulation and mental and emotional breaking of you and your friends, corrupting you and playing with your minds. I even went into your mind and forcibly changed who you are, with no care over your consent. And of course, there was the betrayal of your trust with the dam and everything. But you are well aware of those deeds, and accept me anyway.”         “I think you’re sorry for what you did, and you’re working to make up for it.” Discord made a noncommittal sound at that.         “Ah, that’s right! I’ve done far worse. Let’s see, there was some dreadful misdeeds during the first war between me and the Princesses. A few years before I came in, Luna was having self-doubt over what mattered, if she mattered, if anyone cared about her, waaaah,” he deadpanned, imitating crying with his claw, “It wasn’t the last time she’d have such doubt, as we both know. But for this midlife crisis, she went on sabbatical, disguised herself as a normal pony, and lived in a small village, reconnecting with the normal pony and such. She grew to love them, and even after she returned to being princess, she visited them frequently.They were like a second family. Do you know what I did to that village, Fluttershy?” He waited for an answer, and when Fluttershy gave none, he shrugged and went on. “I killed them. Every last one of them. Stallion, mare, colt, filly.  And not all at once. I tortured them each. I broke them, convinced them that Luna was the cause of their problems, had them curse her name, and with the power of my snapping fingers, I made sure Luna would see and hear everything in her nightmares. One of my finest moments as a villain.”         “I get it, Discord-” But he was not finished.         “Celestia wasn’t spared either, of course. Through a long and entertaining series of events, though I might be the only one to find them entertaining, I got my hands on Philomena. And I tortured her too. Killed her again and again in the most painful and most importantly fun ways I could think of. I used up most of her regenerations, you know, which is why she’s on her final legs and has to get sick before regenerating. I sent her back to Celestia on the inch of death. I’ve committed murder, genocide, infanticide. Caused major disasters that wrecked the economy and destroyed livelihoods for generations to come. And in the end, the only punishment I get is a thousand years or so in stone, and then I get a slap on the wrist and brought to the good side because I’m useful. So tell me truthfully, Fluttershy. Look me in the eye and tell me that everyone deserves friendship.”         Fluttershy met his eyes dead-on. “Fine. Not everyone deserves friendship. But...but that's not important. It’s not about what people deserve. It’s about what they need. And friendship can make bad ponies, or draconequuses, or any species, good. It can make the sad happy. And it can make the average great. So I’ll die before I give up, Discord. I’ll make you a good draconequus, to the point that you’ll genuinely regret the things you’ve done. You won’t be able to make up for them. Nothing can make up for the things you’ve done. But you’ll try. And that’s the important part.”         “Hm,” he replied, “Intriguing.”         There was a silence. “You cheated. Put that piece back.”         “You know me too well.”