//------------------------------//
// Laying Foundations 
// Story: The Haven 
// by Original Usermane 
//------------------------------//

	Fluttershy woke first the next morning and carefully extricated herself from her... fiance. The word sent shivers down her spine, and she almost didn’t believe it until she looked down and saw the ring still around her neck. She grinned and quietly left the room to prepare a celebratory breakfast, an elaborate one since she was in an incredibly good mood. Discord came down fairly soon and fairly burst with pride when he saw Fluttershy wearing the ring. His ring. He could safely say that at almost no point in his extremely long life had he expected to find a mare, let alone settle down. It was a happy surprise to say the least.
“Good morning,” she said brightly, beaming at him. He gave her a peck and turned to see the elaborate spread she’d assembled on the kitchen table. He raised an eyebrow. “Are we expecting company?”
“No,” Fluttershy said, embarrassed. “I guess I got a little too excited.” Discord was about to suggest they get started if they wanted to make any sizeable dent in the mountain of food when a knock sounded at the door.
“Who could that be?” Discord wondered.
“Oh! It’s probably the girls, coming to check on me after I got out of the hospital!” she realized. She raised her voice so her friends could hear her through the door. “I’ll be there in a minute!”
“The ring,” Discord pointed out. Fluttershy looked conflicted.
“I don’t want to take it off…” Fluttershy said, kicking at the ground. Discord chuckled and snapped his fingers.
“There. For now, only you and I can see it. I suppose I’ll have to start trying to get in their good books again, now. Just another secret that we need to wait for them to like me to tell.”
“I’ll help ,” Fluttershy said determinedly. “I want to be able to share my happiness with my friends soon.” 
“Sounds good. Now I’d better go, but I’ll be back later,” Discord said. “I’m going to go tell Celestia the wonderful news!”
“... Discord, did we ever even tell her that we were together?” Fluttershy asked, eyes widening. He shook his head gleefully and disappeared. The knock on the door sounded again, and Fluttershy quickly went to open it, revealing her friends.
“Hi, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said excitedly. “We came by to make sure you were okay!”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Fluttershy assured them. “Would you all like to come in?”
“Sure! Thanks, Flutters!” Rainbow said, coming right in and making herself at home. She noticed the food on the table. “Were you expecting us or something?”
“Oh, um, not exactly…” Fluttershy said. “But please, help yourselves. I haven’t eaten yet, and I wouldn’t feel right eating in front of you without offering you something.”
“That’s very kind of you, Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a grin. “You definitely live up to your element.”
“Is this what you’ve been doin’ with all the apples you’ve been gettin’?” Applejack asked, looking over the food.
“Some of them,” Fluttershy replied evasively.
“Got any gemstones?” Spike asked eagerly. Twilight rolled her eyes as Fluttershy shook her head apologetically. Rarity was the last of the group to enter the house, wiping her hooves daintily on the welcome mat.
“You certainly seem to be feeling better, dear. You gave us all quite a scare,” Rarity said, giving Fluttershy a hug.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said. “I promise I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Her friends stuck around for almost an hour before they all went their separate ways again. Almost instantly, Discord appeared out of nowhere with an irritated look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
“She thought I was joking,” Discord grumbled. Fluttershy giggling slightly.
“That does sound like you,” she pointed out.
“I suppose,” he agreed. “Maybe she’ll believe it when we send her the wedding invitation.”
“We have to get my friends used to you, first,” Fluttershy reminded.
“No time like the present, then. Let’s go!” Discord declared. Not having any other plans for the day, Fluttershy agreed, and they set off towards Ponyville. When they walked into town, Pinkie was, predictably, the first to notice them through Sugarcube Corner’s open door.
“Fluttershy! Discord!” she exclaimed happily, momentarily abandoning the counter to drag them inside. “Do you guys want some cupcakes!?”
“Um… I don’t have any money with me, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said apologetically.
“That’s not what I meant, silly!” Pinkie giggled. “On the house!”
“Why?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, for you because I’m happy you’re better, and for Dissy because he saved you!” Pinkie declared. “If he hadn’t been there, you may not have gotten better!” She spontaneously glomped him, almost throwing him off-balance. “He’s my favorite draconequus ever! This even makes up for not adding whipped cream!”
“One down, four to go,” Discord joked, gently prying Pinkie off of him.
“Huh?” she asked as she walked off to get their cupcakes.
“Discord’s decided to try again to become friends with you all,” Fluttershy explain.
“When did he try last time?” Pinkie asked, confused.
“The cutie mark incident,” Discord grumbled. Pinkie winced.
“That didn’t go very well, then,” she commented as she handed the two of them their cupcakes.
“You could say that,” Fluttershy agreed.
“Well, I have to run the bakery, otherwise I’d help!” Pinkie said cheerfully.
“That’s alright, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I’m just glad you’re not mad at him anymore.”
“Well, not everypony can remember the whipped cream one hundred percent of the time,” she sighed. “Good luck!”
Fluttershy and Discord finished their cupcakes and left the bakery.
“Well that went well,” Discord said. “Though knowing Pinkie, I’m not terribly surprised. She brings up a good point, though. Maybe I can use the whole saving your life thing to my advantage.”
“It may be a good start,” Fluttershy agreed. “It looks like Applejack is running the apple stand. Should we go talk to her next?”
“I suppose,” Discord shrugged. Fluttershy led the way over to the stall.
“Hello, Applejack,” she greeted.
“Hey, Fluttershy. Uh… hey, Discord,” Applejack returned, looking uncertainly at Discord. Last time she’d seen him, he hadn’t been in the best of moods.
“I wanted to apologize for yelling at you all,” Discord said, realizing what she must be thinking about. She looked flabbergasted.
“Uh… no problem,” she said after a moment. “Ya were worried, jus’ like the rest of us,” she excused.
“Still. You weren’t snapping at anypony,” Discord insisted. Repentant Discord was a bit much for Applejack to take.
“Yer forgiven,” she said hurriedly. “Completely.”
“I do so hope we can be friends. I put so much energy into being close to Fluttershy that I fear I’ve neglected the rest of you,” Discord sighed dramatically.
“Not an issue,” Applejack assured in a rush.
“Wonderful! I’m sure we’ll be the best of friends! Now, I must go apologize to the others! Tata!” He walked off gaily. Fluttershy trotted after him.
“I think you scared her,” she said hesitantly.
“Too much?” Discord asked. Fluttershy nodded.
“Especially since none of the others can tell when you’re being sarcastic or not,” Fluttershy added.
“I was being completely genuine!” Discord protested.
“I know,” Fluttershy assured hurriedly. “But I don’t know that Applejack did.”
“Ah, well. I suppose there’ll be other opportunities. For now, we have other ponies to convince!”
They ended up heading over to Rarity’s next, And Discord found himself being glomped almost the second Rarity opened the door as the CMC, who were in the boutique, were thrilled to see the one who’d helped them achieve their goal of getting their cutie marks.
“Discord!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed happily. “We haven’t seen you in so long! We were going to plan a thank-you party, but we didn’t know where to send the invitation to!” Discord and Fluttershy exchanged a look. Discord coughed slightly.
“It’s good to see you too, girls,” he chuckled, glad to see that Fluttershy had been right. These three fillies would always look back on that experience with fond memories, even if their sisters hadn’t.
“Fluttershy, Discord,” Rarity greeted. “What brings you to the boutique?”
“Discord wanted to say something,” Fluttershy said, nudging Discord forward a bit.
“Ah, yes, I wanted to apologize for the incident in the hospital the other day. Most uncalled for.”
“Oh! Um… it’s quite alright. Emotions were high, so it’s, uh, very understandable,” Rarity said uncertainly, giving Fluttershy a confused look. She decided to step in lest Discord ruin his good opening statement.
“Discord has decided it’s high time he tried to become friends with all of you, not just with me,” Fluttershy said. “And we decided the first step was getting rid of any bad feelings between you.” Rarity looked shocked at this.
“Oh, goodness. I had no idea he was even remotely interested in getting to know the rest of us,” Rarity confessed. “I suppose as long as he doesn’t cause trouble I’m not particularly opposed.”
“I’m right here,” Discord grumbled irritably. He did brighten a bit at her last statement, though. “Hopefully I won’t mess it up, this time.”
“As long as Fluttershy trusts you, I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt,” Rarity sighed. “But for now, I think I’d better ask you to leave. These three fillies are here for my help, and you're distracting them from receiving it.”
“Help?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, now that we have our cutie marks, it’s pretty obvious where we went wrong with the talent show last time,” Scootaloo laughed self-consciously. “So we’re going to try again with me doing choreography, Sweetie Belle singing, and Apple Bloom making sets and costumes.”
“Rarity’s takin’ our measurements for us and helpin’ me pick out a pattern and fabric!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully.
“Well, I look forward to it,” Fluttershy said, relieved. “We’ll get out of your hair so you can concentrate, then.”
With only Rainbow and Twilight left to lay foundations with, Discord was feeling pleased with himself. Of course, that was when everything went downhill.