Discord had finished untangling her mane within a few minutes, but seeing how soothing it seemed to be for her, he continued for a while and took this opportunity to check up on the rest of her. Her wings were still ruffled and plenty of the feathers had been bent and were frayed from stress, but all the frost that had gathered on them from when he found her in the snow had melted and they had returned to their normal color. Her fur was still plenty matted but her body had stopped shaking, at least. Wait, her body… Yes its color was returning and looked better than yesterday, but it also seemed rather pale compared to a few weeks ago. It could be her coat grew a bit lighter in the winter, but that didn’t strike him so much as how frail she seemed. He stroked his claw through her mane once more before running it down her back and lifted her wing closest to him. “I’m just going to straighten those broken feathers, dear, they must be rather uncomfortable,” he ushered under his breath and waited for her to mumble an “okay” before continuing. What he really wanted to do though was check to see if she had been eating well. As he lifted her wing with one claw and hovered his lion paw across it to straighten her feathers with his magic, he glanced at her stomach. Normally it was plump and healthy but it seemed to have shrunken just a bit. It had only been two weeks so she couldn’t be too malnourished, but it still worried him.
“Fluttershy,” he whispered, “when was the last time you ate?”
Her head jerked up at him and she pulled her wing from his claw, covering her stomach with it as she turned her head away. Then in an almost inaudible whisper, “a day ago... maybe two.” She turned her head back in Discord’s direction but looked down at her front hoof as she kneaded her bed a bit. “I’m fine, Discord, really. I just… I just haven’t been very hungry is all…” Of course she knew this was a lie-- or at least partly-- and would’ve liked to go along with it, but looking up at Discord’s eyes made her rethink that. Lying about her current eating habits wasn’t going to do anything as she was sure he wouldn’t let it slip by. He had been paying extra close attention to her since yesterday and just saying she was fine wouldn’t convince him now. “A-actually,” she continued, “that’s only partly true… everything’s just not tasted right… and I don’t… Everything just tastes empty…” She lowered her head again, laying it down on her bed facing away from Discord.
Two days? It took all his strength to not magic up a pantry and get her to tell him anything else she may have been hiding so he could help. But he couldn't act rash right now and he needed to be careful with his actions. She had just opened up about so much already and in such a short amount of time. Trying to get her to spill even more may be too much right now. Though it pained him to think there may be more she was hiding, he didn't want to risk her burrowing any deeper by pressing too hard. Discord lowered his head and rested it next to hers and thought for a few moments before settling on a softer idea. “What if I make you something?” he whispered. “I understand it may not taste very good, but you do need to eat something, even if it’s just a tiny bit.”
Discord didn’t want to pressure her too much but he knew Fluttershy needed to eat something. Maybe if she started with something small...
“Okay.”
Discord lifted his head, followed by Fluttershy’s. She was looking at her hooves again, but continued, “Do you think you could eat with me, though? It might make it easier… if that’s okay, of course…”
Discord smiled at her and nuzzled her mane, trying to reassure her. “Of course, my dear,” he whispered. He could hear a soft sigh of relief escape her mouth and started to pull back and get off the bed. “I think I’ll go get started. Is there anything you have in mind?” She started fiddling with her hooves again and he could tell she was thinking. He sat down on the floor in front of the bed and waited patiently for her to answer.
“I-I think something warm would be nice…”
Discord hummed and tapped his claw against his chin before smiling back at her, “I think I’ll make soup, then.” He pushed himself off the floor and saw her start to get out of bed. “How about you take a bath, Fluttershy?”
She stared up at him in horror, “D-do I really smell that bad?”
He flew over to her quickly and held his arms up, “No-no-no-no-no, my dear, of course not!! No, I just thought you may feel better if you did. I-I mean of course you don’t have to, no, it was just a suggestion, oh,” he smacked his head. That was dumb.
To his surprise though, he heard her start to giggle. He lifted his head from his paw and saw her body shaking. “I-I’m sorry, I j-just thought…”
Discord’s face lit up and he started to chuckle to himself, too.
Her voice started to level again. “That’s a good idea, though.” She stood up, “I think I’ll go do that,” she smiled, looking at at her hooves again.
Discord followed her out the door and went for the stairs as she headed to the bathroom. “And take as long as you like,” he called before going down. “I can keep the soup nice and warm until you’re ready.”
She smiled at him and nodded.
Discord had gone into her pantry to gather some vegetables before heading to the kitchen. He could’ve poofed some soup up easily, but he wanted to make this from scratch for Fluttershy. It tasted better that way and, even if it was a bit of work and took more time, Fluttershy was easily worth it. And this batch needed to be perfect. Discord did, however, summon a chopping board and knife. He grabbed some carrots first and started chopping those up as he thought about how nice it was to hear Fluttershy giggle again. It was soft and not as vibrant as it was before, yes, but any sort of smile or gleam in her eyes, no matter how small or faded, was good. She seemed to be in a better mood... maybe eating wouldn't be as hard now.
Discord pushed the chopped carrots aside and grabbed some celery when he heard the water start to run upstairs. Hopefully taking a nice long bath would help her feel more refreshed and a little better as well. Even if it didn’t and this was as big a step forward as she took for the next few weeks, he would take it. No matter how long it would take her to heal he wouldn’t leave her side again.
His tail raised a little and thumped back down on the floor as his determination started to grow. He pushed the celery away and grabbed the rest of the vegetables and started chopping them all at once. Discord summoned a pot and levitated them inside as he filled it halfway with water from the kitchen faucet. He set the pot on the stove and brought it to a boil to let it simmer.
Fluttershy started up the tub and tested the water with her hoof as it filled up. It was a little too cold for her liking so she turned the knob slightly and went over to her bathroom window and looked outside. Princess Luna had already raised the moon. There were barely any clouds in the sky and the stars and moon combined illuminated the garden outside more than it had been recently. She stuck her head out and looked over to the burrows, thinking about Angel Bunny and all her other sleeping friends and sighed. This was only his second year hibernating-- he was only a baby bunny after all-- and she still got worried that it might be too cold for him, but knew deep down he was fine. She went back over to the tub and turned the water off and slowly eased herself in, getting adjusted to the warm temperature. She leaned her head against the edge and sighed. This was nice. She didn’t really feel up to shampooing just yet, so she just lowered her head as much as she could while still keeping her nostrils up and watched her mane float around her, spinning her head ever so slightly now and then to watch the tresses twirl.
Discord was sitting on the floor in front of the stove, waiting for the broth to finish simmering and soaking up all the flavor from the vegetables. He wanted to take his time with this so it tasted as good as possible, but he also wanted to hurry up so it was ready when Fluttershy came out. Once it was finished he could just keep it warm with his magic, but he couldn’t use his magic to hurry it up unless he wanted to sacrifice some flavor. And he didn’t want to do that.
He shook his head in impatience, almost like a dog trying to shake off water, and thumped his tail against the floor again. The fresh vegetables he was going to add to the broth that would actually be eaten were all chopped up and he had magicked up all the spices he could think of. Now there was nothing for him to do but wait. He hated waiting. He found himself tapping his claw against the floor and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
His ears popped up as an idea struck him. Maybe I could make some sides to go with this. He was about to stand up and rummage through Fluttershy’s pantry for ideas but realised too much food may be too much for her right now and plopped back down. He didn’t understand this stuff too well. He had been sad, yes, but it had never drained his appetite. And he didn’t want to push too hard, but at the same time he didn’t know how much was pushing it too much and how much pushing was good. Would she appreciate a little buffet? Maybe the surplus of options would make it easier so if she didn’t like something she’d have something else to eat. But maybe too many options would overwhelm her…
It was strange. He had never analized how his actions may affect anypony else so much before. Yes he would consider if something would make somepony happy or sad or scared, but not usually in such full detail. And when he did, it was usually on how it would affect him in the end. Now, though, he was being more cautious.
Mmmmm, he drummed his claws against the floor again, squinting his face and wondering which decision was the best.
“I suppose just an extra thing or two wouldn’t hurt…” He pushed himself up and hovered over to the pantry again with an idea in mind, but it didn’t have anything that would help him. I could just summon the ingredients, he shrugged. He poofed over to the kitchen again and snapped his fingers, making a baking book and ingredients for rolls appear. He knew Fluttershy had a slight soft spot for sweets and smiled. A few honey rolls would be nice, and they wouldn’t be too extravagant or too sweet to scare off an appetite. What she needed now was a nice, warm meal that would help sooth her stomach. Discord did decide to mess with the recipe just a bit, though. She had said things hadn’t tasted quite right, so maybe if he made the flavors a little stronger it would go down easier.
Fluttershy had been soaking for quite some time now. She couldn’t exactly tell how long, but the water had gotten a little too cold for her, so she assumed it must’ve been a while. She pulled the drain out and let the water level go down a few inches before plugging it up again and turning the faucet back on. She let plenty of hot water in to warm up the bath before dunking her head all the way in and pulling it out to warm herself up. She would’ve worried about taking too long but Discord did tell her to take her time. Plus she could hear him opening and closing the pantry door every now and then and dropping utensils every once in a while. She giggled to herself and reached for the shampoo bottle, not feeling any pressure to hurry up.