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// One Fell Swoop 
// Story: The Haven 
// by Original Usermane 
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	Fluttershy was busy making Angel his favorite and overly complicated salad when Discord came in and fell face-first onto the couch and started pouting.
“Discord? What happened?” Fluttershy asked, running over and leaving the salad on the counter half-finished. Angel grumbled impatiently.
“I think I just successfully ticked all of your friends off at me in one fell swoop,” Discord huffed moodily. “And not even because I did anything wrong! They just wouldn’t let me explain anything!”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said with a frown. “Why don’t you tell me all about it while I finish this salad for Angel.” He sighed and relayed the whole story. Fluttershy shook her head.
“Maybe I’ll try to explain it to them tomorrow and sort everything out,” Fluttershy offered.
“What’s the point?” Discord asked sulkily. “They’re so determined to see bad in me they’ll find it even when it’s not there, so why fight it?”
“Well, even if that’s true, I can think of three little fillies who will always be happy when they remember your part in today,” Fluttershy said with a smile as she handed Angel his salad.
“That’s true,” Discord said, returning the smile and imagining the looks on their faces. It was nice to have somepony other than Fluttershy be that happy that he was around. “I suppose I did make some friends, today, even if I didn’t make the friends I was aiming for.”
“That’s the spirit,” Fluttershy said happily, coming over to sit next to him on the couch and lean her head on him. He ran his talons through her hair.
Due to the general tendency to hold grudges against Discord for a lot longer than against any other pony, he avoided town for awhile and mostly just stuck with work in Canterlot and relaxing with Fluttershy at home, whether having a normal night in or a date night in Crazy Chaotic Fun Land, or some venue of a more romantic nature that Discord would throw together. Sometimes Fluttershy would even pull dresses from her closet to wear and Discord would summon himself a suit jacket to fit whatever mood they were in. All in all, things couldn’t be happier.
“Goodnight, dear,” Discord said after an afternoon trying to get Fluttershy over her fear of heights by putting her on roller coasters- it hadn’t worked, but Fluttershy had been clinging to him pleasantly in terror the whole time, so he called it a win. “I love you.”
“Goodnight,” Fluttershy said with an exhausted smile and a yawn. “I love you, too.”
Discord wasn’t particularly tired that night, so he stayed up and lounged about in his Thinking Tree instead. As was the usual lately, he thought about Fluttershy. How in Equestria he’d managed to get her to fall for him, he still wasn’t entirely sure, but he knew that the second she’d come into his life had changed him for the better. He tried thinking back to who he used to be and saw a stranger, but he wasn’t complaining. He knew that, at this point, there was no going back. He’d be hers as long as she would have him. Goodness, he was getting cheesy.
He summoned up the ring he’d designed over a week ago and sighed, turning it over between his fingers. His inner conflict over what to do next was left unsolved, however, and he ended up vanishing the ring again and sleeping fitfully.
The next morning, Fluttershy and Discord were having a tea party out in the garden, one of the few activities they did outside without fear of being discovered, since her friends all knew they got together for tea on occasion- they just had to keep the affectionate touches to a minimum. This time was one of the few times they’d ever been interrupted, though- and the whole gang was here.
“What’s he doing here?” Rainbow complained.
“We’re having tea,” Fluttershy explained. “Is that a problem?” The tone was terrifying to those who knew her well, because it was a clear indication that the Stare would be implemented soon if anypony crossed her.
“No,” Rainbow muttered.
“Sorry to, ah, interrupt,” Rarity said. “We simply thought that it was high time we all sat down and ate a meal together again. We’ve all been rather busy of late. If now isn’t a good time, though…”
“Don’t let me stop you,” Discord said, getting to his feet. “We were just finishing up, anyway.”
“Oh, you don’t have to go,” Fluttershy said guiltily.
“Nonsense,” Discord said. “Have fun with your friends. I’ll see you later.” He teleported into the house for awhile before deciding to just spend a while at work with Celestia. He mostly chose his own hours, nowadays, and just sort of popped in whenever he felt like it.
Fluttershy and her friends, meanwhile, enjoyed their picnic, and soon had to separate again due to Twilight’s responsibilities as princess and the others’ various obligations. Fluttershy stayed outside to enjoy the gorgeous day and walked peacefully around the meadows and woods near her house. A soft hissing drew her attention to a beautifully striped black and scarlet snake lying in the grass. She was pretty sure it was a coral snake, a species which she’d always gotten along with fairly well.
“Oh, you’re gorgeous,” Fluttershy cooed, stepping lightly as she got closer. The snake hissed warningly at her. “Oh, don’t worry, little fellow. I’ll take good care of you.” She moved to pick it up, but it slithered out of sight more quickly than she could follow. “Huh?” She stepped back and felt like she hit her ankle on a pointy twig or something. She winced and turned around to see the snake again.
It hissed at her.
“I won’t hurt you,” she soothed. “You don’t have to worry.” The snake finally calmed down enough that it let her pet its head and coo at it softly. It seemed to like the attention and the body heat, because it coiled around her. Suddenly it started hissing at her frantically.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Snake,” Fluttershy said. “But I don’t speak snake very fluently. If you’d like, you can stay with me. I learn pretty fast, and then we can talk.” The snake hissed again, looking worried. Fluttershy walked inside her hut and tried to get the snake settled in, but it kept trying to catch her attention. From her limited knowledge, she knew it was saying the word ‘go’, but that didn’t tell her much.
She tried to calm him down, but it wouldn’t stop hissing. Moving around the hut, she grew a bit tired and dizzy, and felt a headache coming on. She had a glass of water and went back to working with the snake and the other animals.
When Discord came in about an hour later, back from helping Celestia set up some good pranks to play on Luna for her birthday coming up, Fluttershy was feeling nauseous.
“Why is there a venomous snake in the house?” he asked flatly, not amused with her  disregard for safety.
“Oh, he’s not hurting anypony. He seemed distressed, so I brought him in to relax a little. It hasn’t seemed to work, yet, though…” The snake hissed frantically.
“What!?” Discord yelped. “Fluttershy, we’re going!” He grabbed her and a few apples for her while they were gone and ran out the door with her.
“What? Why? Do you speak snake?” Fluttershy asked, confused.
“I speak a lot of things,” Discord growled, still running. “He says he bit you while he was still instinctive before you calmed him down.”
“Really?” Fluttershy asked, somewhat surprised. “I didn’t feel it.”
“Don’t be so calm!” Discord demanded. “This is a coral snake!”
“I’m sure the doctors will be able to fix it,” Fluttershy said, but she wheezed the last bit, starting to have trouble breathing. Discord gave up on running altogether and just teleported Fluttershy directly into the emergency room. The receptionist jumped and looked altogether displeased to see Discord there.
“Shut up and get her some medical care,” Discord growled. He put the now trembling pegasus down tenderly on one of the waiting seats.
“What happened?” the receptionist asked, abandoning personal feelings and doing her job, flagging some doctors over.
“She was bitten by a coral snake,” Discord snapped. The doctors nodded grimly and carted Fluttershy off. Discord followed.
“You can’t go back there,” the receptionist said.
“I’d like to see you stop me,” Discord snarled, and teleported inside and began following her.