Fluttershy was exhausted. She’d barely been able to sleep, and she couldn’t take a moment to breathe without worrying about Discord. To top it all off, she’d almost gone Flutterbat in front of her friends because she’d forgotten to eat an apple amidst all the stress. Luckily she’d noticed the tiny fangs just in time to hurry home and correct the problem. Now, she was trying desperately to rest, flopped motionlessly on her couch and trying futilely to get in a nap before she had to put the animals down for the night. It was late afternoon when a knock came at the door and she gave up on sleep altogether.
Her weariness fled from her when she saw a nervous-looking Discord standing outside the door. With a quick snap, he restored her mane and wings.
“Fluttershy, I’m so sorr-” he started, but she ignored him, pulled him inside, slammed the door, and kissed him violently. He slowly began kissing her back until they finally pulled back to breathe, Fluttershy with tears in her eyes.
“You promised not to scare me like that again,” Fluttershy reminded with a teary laugh.
“I’m terrible at keeping those pesky ‘promise’ things, evidently,” Discord replied with a grin. “Who knew?”
“Sweet Celestia, I missed you.” She kissed him again.
“I missed you too,” he replied breathlessly.
“My friends are mad at you again,” she informed him, resting her head on his chest as he held her.
“Of course they are,” Discord sighed sadly. “I’m not terribly surprised.”
“But I don’t care anymore!” Fluttershy exploded suddenly, sitting up straight. “These past three days have been miserable without you here! You make me happy, and it’s not up to them! Let’s go!”
“Um… go where?” Discord asked.
“Back to Canterlot,” Fluttershy said determinedly. “We’re eloping.”
“Have I ever said how much I love you?” Discord said with a grin.
“You can tell me all about it on the way,” Fluttershy said. Discord shrunk down and slipped inside her mane, and without any further ado the pair of them boarded the train and headed straight to Canterlot.
“Should you have told your friends you were leaving?” Discord asked after about half an hour.
“They probably won’t notice. We left late enough that they’re probably all at home and winding down,” Fluttershy said dismissively.
They pulled into Canterlot station after the sun had already set, and Fluttershy was starting to return to her normal, timid self.
“It’s a bit late… I wouldn’t want to be a bother,” she started to fret. “Maybe we should just wait until tomorrow morning…”
“Lulu will be up,” Discord said unconcernedly. “And Celestia can stand to be woken up for something like this.”
“Well… If you’re sure,” Fluttershy said.
“Never been more sure in my extremely long life,” Discord said immediately. “Let’s go!”
Luckily for him, the throne room was within teleporting range of the gate, so they didn’t have to go through the gruff bat ponies who were on guard.
“Discord? Fluttershy? Why art thou here at such a time of night?” Luna inquired regally, her luscious hair flowing softly in the evening breeze. Even though they were inside. Discord was in no way responsible. No seriously, her hair was always doing that.
“Well, um…” Fluttershy floundered.
“We’re eloping,” Discord boasted. Fluttershy blushed. Luna blinked.
“We don’t understand your humor,” Luna decided finally.
“He’s not joking,” Fluttershy admitted quietly. Luna didn’t hear her.
“I’m not joking,” Discord said.
“When did… this occur?” Luna asked cautiously.
“Well, it all started when I was reformed and started living with her,” Discord began.
“What!?” Luna exclaimed.
“Oh, you didn’t know? Goodness, Celestia is such a troll. Yes, I’ve been boarding at Fluttershy’s the whole time. Now you’re pretty much caught up. Anyway, we got engaged the other day-”
“What!?” Luna repeated.
“Yes, yes. So, obviously, we need to see Celly,” Discord continued. “I was thinking you could witness, since you’re up anyway. I would just have you do the ceremony, but since I’m actually closer to Celestia…”
“What!?”
“Well, this is getting us nowhere,” Discord sighed. “You two wait here, I’ll go wake up sunbutt.” He vanished out of the throne room. Awkward silence reigned for all of three seconds.
“Tell us he’s joking,” Luna said, looking at Fluttershy like she was insane.
“Ah… no, he’s not,” Fluttershy said. “We really did fall in love and get engaged.”
“...”
“...”
“She’s up!” Discord said happily, reappearing with a grumpy-looking Celestia, who had a slight case of bed head.
“Discord, what are you doing back here? I thought you were going back to Ponyville to see- Oh, Fluttershy, what brings you here?” Celestia asked.
“I tried telling you that we were engaged before, but you didn’t believe me,” Discord pointed out. “Well, we’ve decided to elope, so we came to ask you to perform the ceremony.”
“... What?”
“That is what we said!” Luna agreed.
“It’s, um, true,” Fluttershy spoke up. “All this time together, we’ve grown so close, and I truly do love him, and well, these past few days without him have made me realize how much. So, um, if you wouldn’t mind, that is…”
“Will you help or not?” Discord demanded. Celestia stared at him.
“You… want me to marry you?” Celestia repeated dumbfoundedly. They nodded together. “Fluttershy… are you sure?”
“Of course,” Fluttershy said with a bit more determination. “I wouldn’t have had the courage to come and ask if I wasn’t.”
“I suppose that’s true enough…” Celestia said reluctantly. “I suppose I can’t make any valid arguments against it. As odd as I find it, I know for myself that Discord is well and truly reformed, and I trust you enough to make your own decisions, so… I will, of course, perform the ceremony.”
“Oh, thank you so much!” Fluttershy breathed.
“Just… be happy with him so I don’t regret it, alright?” Celestia requested. Fluttershy nodded meaningfully. “And I would strongly suggest that you tell your friends about all of this sooner rather than later. More problems may be caused by keeping it secret, at this point.”
“Not right away,” Fluttershy said nervously. “After everything that happened, they aren’t exactly happy with him, and I’d hate to cause contention.”
“I suppose I understand,” Celestia agreed.
“Yes, yes, whatever, let’s get on with the ceremony,” Discor said impatiently, summoning up a lovely, simple white dress for Fluttershy and a dapper suitcoak for himself.
Celestia wanted to go back to sleep, so she readily agreed to it and began. A few minutes and a simple exchange of vows later, Discord and Fluttershy were legally bound, cemented by their signatures on an official document or two. Discord scooped Fluttershy up for a heartfelt kiss, and Celestia couldn’t decide whether to be touched or disgusted. Luna didn’t even watch.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said again as they were about to leave.
“Are you heading back to Ponyville? This late? Without Discord’s teleportation, the trip will take you all night. You’re welcome to stay here in one of the guest bedrooms tonight, and head back in the morning,” Celestia offered.
“Right-o, then!” Discord said cheerfully. “Come on, Mrs. Discord!” Fluttershy blushed and giggled as he scooped her up in his arms and flew off with her down a hall.
“She really does love him, doesn’t she?” Luna asked with morbid fascination.
“It appears so,” Celestia mused, then shrugged. “I’m going back to sleep.”