//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: For The One We Love 
// by bahatumay 
//------------------------------//

	Apple Bloom wasn't sure when she'd first noticed it. Fluttershy hadn't exactly been one for fast flying or running, and her pegasus stamina for hard work was always a bit less than that of her earth pony husband. 

But there was definitely something off about Fluttershy recently. She got tired more often, seemed to be gaining a little weight, and Macintosh seemed to be called upon more often for hoof massages. 

Not that Apple Bloom was the teensiest bit jealous of all the attention she was getting or anything. 

She wiped her brow and kept painting, until she heard a strange noise. Looking up, she paused and squinted as she saw something she hadn’t seen in a while. Discord was flying through the orchard, his serpentine body undulating through the air as he traveled. He seemed to be on the hunt. This was especially evident because when Apple Bloom quickly checked, there was not a magically-appearing pear or orange anywhere, and those were his favorite things to do every time he visited the orchard. 

Now, Apple Bloom considered herself a big pony. Being a big pony, she knew that sometimes there were times it was important to ignore what you wanted to do for what you needed to do, such as farming chores, or her current task of painting the trees to prevent insect infestation. 

Then again…

She looked around, and set down the brush. “Cutie mark crusader Discord chaser, yay!” she grinned as she scampered after him. 







With a powerful kick, Macintosh bucked the tree right in the sweet spot. He looked behind himself and watched as every single apple came cascading down. Once again, a perfect shot. He smiled and turned back forward, and jumped as he came face to face with Discord. 

“Big Macintosh!” Discord said gleefully. “Just the stallion I wanted to see.” His eyes narrowed. “I have quite the bone to pick with you.” To emphasize his point, he jabbed at Mac with a literally bony finger. It was as though Mac were looking through an x-ray machine just on his claw. It was quite surreal. 

“Uh…” Mac stammered. Discord had been part of a package deal, and he still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Sure, he cared for Fluttershy and he’d heard how she was the only one able to keep him on the (relatively) straight and narrow, but he still had strange nightmares of being turned into a dog again. It had taken weeks before Winona had stopped barking at him the first time, and he wasn’t sure he could survive a second time.

Discord continued, “So I've been gone for a couple of months and now I've returned—yay, me!—but many strange things have been happening in my absence.” He leaned in closer. “Very, very strange things.”

“Huh?” Mac asked. 

Discord nodded. “It seems Fluttershy has been having some health problems recently. She's been gaining weight, she can't fly as long, and she's been feeling sick and worshiping the porcelain throne in the mornings. And you know what's more?”

“She says it's my fault?” Mac guessed. 

“Bingo!” Discord said, dropping the whole stack of bingo chips on his head. He leaned in close and rolled up the fur on his lion arm threateningly, revealing a muscular arm with an anchor tattoo. “You want to 'splain a few things to me before I have to 'splain to princess Twilight why you ‘disappeared under mysterious circumstances’?”

Mac’s breath caught in his throat.  “It ain't my fault…” He paused. “Ok, it kinda is; but it's 'cause she's pregnant; and-”

Discord was taken aback. “Pa- pa pa pa pregnant?” he stammered. 

Mac swallowed nervously and nodded, unsure of what to expect from the chaotic being. 

To his surprise, Discord seized his hoof and began gleefully pumping it in celebration. “Oh, congratulations!” He shoved no less than three cigars into Mac's mouth. “This is quite the cause for celebration! Oh, I'm so sorry I wanted to turn your liver into spaghetti and boil you in oil!” He pursed his lips. “Friends do apologize to each other for wanting to do things like that, right?”

“Spaghetti?” Mac spluttered. 

“Tortellini just doesn't have the same impact, don'tcha know,” Discord said simply, as though that explained everything. 

Mac rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah thought you'd be mad…”

“Mad? Oh, I'm mad, of course. Absolutely bonkers!” He tapped the side of his head demonstratively, and then he paused. “Oh, you thought I'd be angry? Of course not! Foals are chaotic little beings.” He pulled Mac into a side hug. “Congratulations! I might even be able to take a vacation and still fill up my quota!” He pointed to a large half-full rod labeled 'Chaos (permissible under current reformation)' that looked suspiciously like a mercury thermometer, embedded into the trunk of a nearby tree. 

At this point, Fluttershy came rushing up, panting from the exertion of her run to Sweet Apple Acres. “Discord! Don't… don't… Mac would never hurt me on purpose…”

“It's quite all right,” Discord said pleasantly. “Macintosh and I have had a discussion, a little man talk if you will; and we've ended on quite amicable terms.”

Fluttershy exhaled in relief. 

“Of course, if he does hurt you, I'm not above replacing his kidneys with hot water bottles?” he offered.

Fluttershy choked. “That really won't be necessary,” she coughed. “I've known I've been pregnant for a few months, now, and Mac has been nothing but suppo-”

“You're pregnant?!”

All three spun around to see Apple Bloom staring at Fluttershy in shock. Her wide eyes flicked back and forth between Fluttershy, Fluttershy's stomach, and her brother; and her expression turned slightly squeamish as the implications hit her. Suddenly, some strange occurrences in the night made far too much sense.

Mac grinned sheepishly. He knew exactly the kind of things going through her head. “Ah thought you knew,” he said with a nervous chuckle. 

“Ah didn't,” Apple Bloom said. 

Fluttershy leaned in. “I thought you told your family the day I found out,” she whispered. 

“Ah thought Ah did too; Ah must've gotten too excited and forgot,” Mac whispered back, his eyes widening in horror as he recalled that night. He vaguely remembered shouting his joy to the night sky and buying drinks for a lot of different ponies, waking up somewhere in the orchard covered in fruit bats, and then needing to get back to work right away and that was about it. He rested his head in his hooves. “Granny Smith is gonna kill me,” he moaned. “She's still mad that Ah got married in Cloudsdale.”

Discord rubbed his mismatched paws together gleefully. This would be fun to watch.