//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Quest For Uncovering // by Gingerboyman //------------------------------// Cadance blinked in surprise, had she heard right? What did Discord want her to explain? “E-excuse me” Cadance stuttered, “ what did you say?” The disguised draconequus, took a deep breath and repeated his question. “Can you explain what love is...please? ” Cadance blinked again, trying to let her brain process the information in Discord’s words. “You ..want.. me ..to ..explain love ?” Cadance repeated “to you.” “Yes” replied Discord, nodding consent. An awkward silence seemed to descend between the two in the restaurant. “Ahem” Discord broke the silence; swaying uncomfortably on his seat. “Cadance, if this is too much of a personal question then you ..don't have to answer it.” “Oh, no.. no Dustball,” Cadance said quickly, “ I am more than happy to answer your question; although you must forgive me Dustball for my surprise. Of all the questions you could have asked,this one is certainly not the one I would have expected ”. Although, Cadance thought to herself, what else could she expect from the spirit of chaos. “ Well, I honestly don't see why not.” Discord said “ You are after all the princess of love, you must be used to questions like this.” “Well, I am more used to protecting and guiding the ponies of the Crystal empire” Cadance stated. “ But you are right. I am the princess of love and it is my duty to aid anyone who asks for my help in any way ….although….” Cadance said as she slowed her speech. “Although what?” “Well your question isn't exactly an easy one to answer” “And why pray tell is that?” “Well,.... because the answer still remains elusive, even to me.” Great, Discord thought, not even the princess of love knows what love is. “Can you at least give me your interpretation of love, please” Discord asked. “ I can” Cadance said, “but that depends on which interpretation of love you would like to hear.” “There's more than one?” “Of course Dustball, love is not a one way path there are many variants of it, for instance-.” O great! Discord thought, another lecture from a princess! Like I haven't heard enough of those. “There’s the sort which is the love you have for family.” “Something I never had!” Discord muttered “What was that, Dustball?” “ Nothing, Cadance; please continue.” Discord replied hastily. “Any way” Cadance said slowly “ the next form of love is Agape, which is a selfless form of love like how a pet loves its’ owner or the love for species, country, or perhaps in your case, chaos.” Cadance added quickly, seeing she was losing Discord. “then there's Philautia which is love for one’s self” “ You mean like how your cousin Prince Blueblood loves his own reflection?” Discord replied trying his best to hold back his laughter at the thought of the pompous unicorn. “ Well I wouldn't call Blueblood my cousin” Cadance quickly replied “ but he is an extreme example of philautia, a better example, however, is Rainbowdash and how she prides herself on her sonic brain boom.” Discord was tempted to ask what family relation Cadance had with Blueblood,but decided to drop the idea. There will be time for that question later, he thought. “Finally there’s Philia, which is actually a type of love that you learned quite recently; any guess on what it might be?” Cadance asked, trying to prompt him. Discord’s heart pace quickened; did Cadance know something about his newly developing feelings toward Fluttershy, he thought to himself. “Haven't the foggiest” Discord stated hesitantly . “ You sure ? Somepony became a prince of it and gained a castle by it.”, Cadance hinted. Discord heart slowly returned to its normal beat, and he let go a mental sigh of relief. His thoughts turned to the question Cadance was asking him, if it's a pony who became a prince and gained castle, Discord reasoned to himself, then that could only mean... “Friendship.” Discord guessed. Cadance smiled “Correct Dustball, Phila is the love you feel for your friends.” “ And I take it the most powerful form of love” Discord speculated. “Judging by how many times friendship has won the day for Equestria, against the countless dark forces.” “Not exactly Dustball” Cadness answered. “ I could see why you would think Phila is the strongest form of love, but you must understand, that there isn’t a strongest type of love nor is there a weakest type, all loves are equal in their power.” “Really?” he said sceptically, “even Philuan...Phian-even blueblood love ?” She nodded.“Yes Philautia, if one can't love oneself or actions, then how can they have any hope of loving another.” Discord rubbed his chin in agitation; this was intricate information, he never thought there could be so many interpretations of just four words; but it wasn’t what he was looking for and he could not but think that Cadance was missing a form of love. “Ah... Cadance I don’t want to seem that I know more about love than you do, you being the princess of it and all . But I cannot help thinking that you may have missed a form of love.” “Oh, and what form might that be?” Cadance replied. “ The type of love married couples, or the type of love that special somepony’s have. That type of love seems to have been skipped over in that list of yours .” Cadance grinned at Discord, “There is a reason I didn't include that type of love on the list.” “and that reason being?” Discord said, pressing her to continue. “The reason being is that type of love isn't a single love that makes it , its usually two or more loves that make that form.” Discord frowned “Are you telling me you can create other forms of love just by mixing different types of love?” “That’s precisely what I mean, Dustball.” Cadance said. She smiled to herself, I think he is finally starting to understand it, she thought. Discord closed his eyes and brought his hoofs up to his temple, gently massaging the sides of his head,“Think all this is starting to go over my head, or horn as the case is” as he looked up at his blue born. “It can be a bit much to take in all at once!” Cadance admitted. She moved her head around the room, doing a quick scan, so that no pony in the restaurant would overhear the use of Discord name. “ But if you allow me, I can help you understand love, Discord. If you want to continue that is?.” Discord looked at Cadance for a moment and nodded his consent, bringing his hooves down from his head. “Well if you recall,I just explained some types of love to you.” Discord rolled his eyes. “ Yes Cadance, I remember; it was only few minutes ago.They were Storig, Silia, Age gape and..uhm….blueblood love…. It’s real all greek to me Candace.” Discord added as excuse. Cadance gave out a quiet sigh, well,as long as he understands their meaning, it doesn't matter what he calls them. “Right, those four types of love, but if any of them combined with one another, they can branch off into other forms of love. The two most common definitions and actions of love, most ponies think of is marriage or special somepony s, are actually two forms of love that fused.” “So what are the types of love that make up the two of them.” Discord asked. “Well the love that makes the bond between special somepony is a very deep and intimate form of Philia and sometimes Ludus, which is a playful flirty type love.” “and the..” Discord’s question was cut off by Cadance. “The next level past special somepony s is marriage, and the love that makes up marriage requires both Philia and Storge, ...the love of family and friends.”,Cadence clarified. “but why those to specific loves? I mean I can understand the love of family; that's the whole point of marrying someone after all, to start your own family; even I know that, but what does friendship have to do with the two, marriage and special somepony?” “It has a fair bit to do with it!” Cadance replied, “ You wouldn't want to marry a total stranger, would you Discord? Because I sure wouldn’t,and didn’t . I married someone I trusted, I can be myself around, who makes me happy and when I see him happy I am happy, and who I know will always be there for me and will always love me no matter what happens, and I would do exactly the same for him….speaking of whom, I wonder what's taking so long?” Cadance asked as she turned her head to the bathroom doors. Discord didn't hear Cadance last words he was too busy processing what the pink alicorn had previously said, and how those worlds seemed to reflect Fluttershy and himself. Fluttershy was happy then he was happy in turn and when she was sad he would do anything to make her happy, he could always be himself around Fluttershy knowing she wouldn't be angered or scared by his strange ways and she always stood by him, and often up for him, when no else would. But more recently Discord found that when he was with Fluttershy, the world just seemed right. "Discord" Cadance said whispered. She used his real name to gain his attention. It succeeded as he turned to face her She beckoned him to lean in close which he raised his eye brow at. But did so. "If you take any thing away from this take remember this" She whispered " All love is the same in these ways its to care deeply for some one,or thing, else. To see that persons happy even if it may make you unhappy in the process. and to excpet that person difference to one self ,and patly see the beauty in them" Cadance then pulled back signing she was down . However Discord was far from being down the topic. His mind was still boiling out question that he hoped he'd get the awser to. Before Discord knew what he was saying he blurted out “What does love feel like?”. As soon as he said that, he immediately regretted it. Cadance attention on doubled Discord. “You want to know what love feels like Discord?” shock and confusion fighting for supremacy in her voice. “ Well.. um a..er.. yes ” Discord finally consented. Cadance eyes narrowed, What was his game? she thought, first Discord wanted to know what love is and now he wants to know what it feels like. For the spirit of chaos, he seemed very hung up on the topic of love; what is his game? Cadance didn't know, but she was determined to find out. And the best way was to do that was to answer Discord’s question. “Well, like your previous question, Discord, it's not exactly the easiest question to answer; it’s more something…...well love is more something you feel.” Cadance said, smiling brightly. Discord frowned, not satisfied with Cadance’s reply. How corny an answer can you get, he thought.“But what is the actual feeling you have when you're in love?” “I told you Discord, it’s hard to explain; even the feelings you'd have if you’re in love, because it differs for everyone.” Cadance repeated We’re going around in circles, Discord thought and I hate circles, too orderly . Discord took a moment to think up a different way of asking his questions. “ Can you at least tell me how you felt when you were falling in love with Shining Armour?” Discord finally asked. “ I... ummh, don't think you would find Shining’s past and mine that interesting, Discord, too long and uneventful.” Cadance said, a little too quickly. “Really? I thought you two had quite an interesting past, with Shining Armour trying to win your heart with his crazy schemes, that he and his friend concocted. Although I could understand why you wouldn't want to talk about the whole parade event, must have been so embarrassing for you when Shining started singing. I would have paid anything to see it for myself.” “It wasn't embarrassing Discord, it was really sweet and… wait a minute Discord! How did you know about the float event? You were still in stone at the time!” Discord gave wicked grin, “True; but I I still have ears even as a statue and they work extremely well even without magic. I managed to pick up all the gossip that was going around the gardens and for a while that little stunt Shining Armour pulled at the academy was widely talked about.” At hearing this Cadance’s face had turned to one of shock and embarrassment, whichever one was dominant was hard to say. Discord let out a roar of laughter. The few ponies that were in the establishment turned their heads to the commotion. “What’s so funny?” Cadance hissed, looking around the restaurant. “Your reaction Cadance; just priceless!” Discord said as his thundering laughter turned slowly to a soft chuckle. “I don't understand why you're so embarrassed Cadance. I mean it’s in the past, and you even married the guy; everyone in Equestria knows that.” “It’s still embarrassing to know that it was such a big topic back then though.” Cadance replied. “If it makes you feel better, I heard all about yours and Shining Armour’s pasts from Fluttershy, not when I was a stone statue.” Discord said, when did I become merciful he thought. “She did?” Cadance asked. “She sure did, does that make you feel better?” Discord stated cheerfully. Not exactly, Cadance thought. “And I must say Cadance, I always thought Shining Armour was one those popular ponys in school; one that was head of some team or another, not one that played dungeons and dragons in their parent’s basement. However you Cadance, I knew you would be a popular mare in school you being an alicorn princess and all.” An idea dawned on Cadance. “ You and Fluttershy share a lot, don’t you.” Discord grey cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, “O..of of course we do, Fluttershy tells me things and I listen and I tell her things and she listens.” Discord replied, a little flustered. “Anyway, we’re getting off topic, Cadance.” “So we are, Discord.” Cadance agreed. “You asked me what love feels like and I will do my best to give you an answer. Just give me a moment to assemble my thoughts.” Discord consented and waited patiently as Cadance lifted her tea cup, with her magic, and took a sip. It only took a Cadance a moment to speak again, but it felt like hours to Discord. When Cadance did speak it was slow and careful. “Love is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, emotion anypony can feel. Love not only makes the one who feels it happy and joyful but it also can make them feel sadness, anger, jealousy, frustration and a rainbow of many other feelings as well.” “Are you sure you're still talking about love,Cadance?”Discord interrupted, “ Because for one word to mean so much and to contain so many conflicting aspects,...Well it sounds more like you're talking about chaos, which if you have forgotten would be my expertise.” Cadance grinned at Discord. “ Admittedly, Discord I don’t know much about chaos, but I must say that love does seem to have strong similarities to chaos; they both seem to work in work in mysterious ways and ponies will do crazy things when they're in love.” “And how would one know if they were in love?” Discord questioned; probably should have asked that sooner, he thought to himself. Cadance chuckled a little “My,my…. Discord, first you wanted to know what love is, than you wanted to know what it feels like and now this, if I didn't know any better I would say you were in love with someone.” Cadance teased. Discord could feel the start of a blush occur, and turned his head, to avoid the pink alicorn from noticing, that’s what I am trying to find out, he thought. “Now like most of what I said about love today, it differs for each pony, but there are some symptoms that ponies in love have. One is attention, if someone is in love, they will devote their full attention to that one person; no matter how many others are present, they will focus completely on the pony they have a crush on. ” Discord hadn't really thought about it much but, if there were any other ponies present when he was with Fluttershy, he would often notice their presence. Like last month, he had decided to drop in a couple days early to see Fluttershy, his first instinct was to go toward Fluttershy, he hadn't even noticed that his fellow cutie mark crusaders were there. “Also, another way you can tell is pleasure; if the pony that you're in love with is happy then your own pleasure does not matter, only his or hers . One way most ponies would show their affection is by giving gifts to the pony they love.” Discord pondered this and found it was true as well, whenever he was around Fluttershy, he always wanted her to be happy. Even if that meant he could use his magic he didn't care; as long as she was happy that was all that mattered. And he had been giving Fluttershy a lot of gifts lately, and it wasn't just the small gifts like his Discord lamps, but gifts like giving her animals the ability to speak their language or, his more recent one, going back in time to see a butterfly dragon. And there hadn't been any special reason in giving her those gifts; he just wanted to see her happy. Ok...Fluttershy did think she was going crazy and she’d said that the animals speaking was an ‘disruptive, scary surprising present’, but she really did seem to enjoy it. And having the cutie mark crusaders almost eaten by a carnivorous bird was a bit startling, but once he had gotten them safely back to the present, she said that it had been the best field trip ever. And seeing Fluttershy enjoying his gifts had made his heart do flips. “Another way you can tell somepony has a crush, is an increase of trust, they will share personal information, like their history, or other secrets.” Discord pondered this one. Fluttershy was the most trustworthy pony he knew, he would trust her with anything, but his past? Every pony knew about him taking over Equestria, but no one knew what happened before and why he committed his action. When he had first befriended Fluttershy, he thought his past was none of her business so he didn't talk about it. But now he didn't know why he was hiding it from her. Fluttershy had told him her sad history without any trouble; how she was bullied at flight camp and how her parents disowned her because of her flying abilities so they sent her to live with her caring aunt at her cottage outside of ponyville. Her aunt later passed the cottage down to her niece because of her arthritis riddled wings, so what made him hesitate? “Oh and an increase in heart rate is known to happen when you're close to the pony you have a crush on.” This last one made Discord snap out of his contemplation. “An increase in heart rate, Cadance?” Discord questioned. “Yes” Candace replied, “But these are only a few ways to tell if some pony is in love. There are countless other like…..” Discord disconnected from what Cadance was saying, and drifted off into his own thoughts. Maybe his weird heart beat was something more medical than anything else, his brain reasoned, but then why did it only seem to happen around Fluttershy, his heart rebutted? No matter which way he came at the question, there only seemed to be only one answer. “I’m in love with Fluttershy” “What was that, Discord?” Cadance asked. Discord cheeks turned a bright shade of red, which would see more common on an apple, realising he had spoken out loud. “Nothing.” Discord hastily said. “nothing at all.” Only it isn't nothing, Discord thought; I’m in love and the mare I’m in love with is Fluttershy. I should be shocked, in fact I am shocked that I am not shocked, I’ve never been in love before. But instead of shock Discord was feeling joy, happiness, and many other emotions he could not begin to describe. I wonder if some part of me already knew I was in love with Fluttershy. And now just as one question was answered, a new one was starting to form, does Fluttershy feel the same way about me. “Discord, perhaps you can answer question of my own?” Cadance asked. Cadance’s voice snapped him back to reality. “Of course Cadance, would you like to know how you get the jam inside the donut, which came first the chicken or the egg, if a tree falls and no pony’s around to hear it does it make a sound? Or do you want to know about the mysteries and intricacies of chaos; I actually have a whole speech on chaos theory planned out for such an occasion and all I need is a glass of water...” “ As interesting as all those topics are, Discord, my question is none of those.” Cadance responded. “My question is simply why?” “Why.. why what?” “ Why are you taking such an interest in love all of sudden?” “Oh!.. Well... uhm... I thought since I learned about the magic of friendship, I thought perhaps you could teach me the same thing about love. Which I am happy to say, Cadance you have.” Cadance raised an eyebrow. “ I thought you had a thinking tree for that type of thing, Discord.” “ Well yes, that’s where I first went to sort out my thoughts. It didn't help much though, it just made me even more confused abo-.. ” Discord cut himself off in mid sentence. “About what?” Cadance asked. Discord looked around the restaurant, as though he was afraid someone was after him. Then he leaned forward across the table, in a conspiratorial manner. “Cadance” Discord whispered, “what I’m about to tell you cannot be told to anyone else.” Cadance leaned forward as well and whispered in the same tone back to Discord. “You have my word, Discord that I will not breathe a word to anyone else.” “Pinky promise?” “Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Cadance repled, making the appropriate gestures for the pinky promise. “All right. What you’ve just told me about love and how to identify if some one’s in love. Well, I have just realised that the symptoms have been staring me in the face all this time and I didn't even realise it until now.” “Yes.” Cadance repled, a little excitement had entered her voice. “ well I believe that…” Discord made a second glance around the room, to check if any one was listening “that Spike has a crush on Rarity.” For a second nobody moved “No!! really!!!” Cadance said, her voice laden with sarcasm. “O yes!!” Discord replied “ It all makes sense now, why Spike spends so much time with Rarity, why he gives her so many gifts. It all makes sense now, he has a crush on her.” Cadance took a moment to look at Discord trying to figure out if he was serious about not knowing about Spike’s crush on Rarity or if he was covering something up. “ Was everything to your liking?” They both looked up to see that their waitress had returned. “ Everything's delicious, thank you.” Cadance replied. The waitress smiled, but it soon faltered when she saw Shining Armour’s half eaten panini. “Did the prince find his panini unsatisfactory?” The waitress asked. Discord’s face palmed himself, I completely forgot about the prince. “No, he seemed like he was in goi…” Discord abruptly got up from the booth, interrupting Cadance in the process. “ Why don’t I go check on Shining Armour?” Discord quickly said, while backing slowly up to the restrooms. “ He’s been in the bathroom for quite some time now and I would hate to think that anything bad has-” Discord words were cut off by the bathroom door as he went into the bathroom. “If I may say Princess Cadance, and forgive me if this is offends you, but your friend….is..well..a little...strange.” the waitress stated. Cadance smiled at the waitress. “You have no idea how right you are.” Cadance agreed. 00000000000000000000000000 Discord soon returned, with a disheveled looking Shining Armour. “ How are you feeling honey?” Cadance said, to her husband. “you were in there for quite some time.” “You know, it was the strangest thing, Cadance” Shining said while he took his seat. “There I was in complete discomfort for, Celeasta knows how long when, suddenly as if by magic I was cured.” “Well maybe it was the magic of friendship that cured you?” Discord offered. “Maybe...” Cadence said, slowly “Or more logically, what ever Shining ate was purged from his system.” Or drank, Discord thought. “ Whatever it was, I just want to forget about it.” Shining stated as he reclined comfortably into the booth. “You two talk about anything interesting while I was away?” he inquired. “Well now that you mention it,” Candace started. “ Discord and I had qui-” “We had quite the heated discussion of what shade of red the moon would turn during the Lunar Convergence Celebration” Discord hastily interrupted. “Candace says rose red, I support more of a ruddy beige colour.” Shining gave a confused look at the disguised draconequus then to his wife, who hesitated and then nodded in agreement. Shining accepted the answer, trusting that Cadance would tell him what truly transpired later. “So did you to come to a verdict on a sha- .. Sweet Celestia is that the time!” Shining cried as he got a glimpse at a clock situated on the wall behind Discord’s head. “Sorry Cadne we’ve got to get back to the museum and finish the preparation.” Shining said. “PPfff... speak for yourself, Shining I am halfway finished my job.” “Really?” Shock was evident in Shining’s voice. “But, you started so late, how did you get so many of those jobs.” “Please I’m Discord, spirit of chaos, master of disharmony, Th-” “ The disguised draconequus that’s going to blow his cover.” Cadance hissed. Discord shut his mouth not realising he was yelling. “Let’s see your list Discord” Shining said, holding out his hoof. “ Oh, it sound’s like you two don't trust me” “Yes” both Cadance and Shining Armour said bluntly. Discord shrugged in agreement “ I wouldn't trust me either,” he said, pulling out the scroll that listed his jobs and handing it, with his magic, to Shining Armour. Shining Armour, unfurled the scroll and inspected keenly. Discord noticed that a frown was beginning to form on the prince lips as he went down the list. “What’s the matter, surprised that I told the truth?” Discord asked. “I would be surprised if you had finished half of your jobs Discord.” Shining admitted “but by the look of this list it looks like that you're barely over a quarter way down.” “what?! how is that possible?!” Shining turned the list back to Discord and used his magic to show a second page under the first. How did I miss that,? Discord thought. “You know Discord if you don’t get thes-” “If I don’t get these jobs done then I will have to finish them, tomorrow which is my day off, I know, I had my ears talked off about this by Luna and Celestia.” Discord said hotly. To emphasise his point, he let his ears fall off onto the table making a dull thud. “DISC!!!!...” The couple cried, before they caught themselves. “You’re not supposed to use magic.” Candace hissed. “I’m not using magic” Discord repled as a new set of ears sprouted from his head. “ I’m merely making a point.” “With your magic.” riled Shining Armour. “Well it’s best I get going, anyway” Discord stated, ignoring Shining’s question. “Will you be accompanying me back your princeliness?” as he made his way out of the booth. “I think I am far enough along on my list that I can afford to spend a few minutes with my lovely wife.” Shining said, wrapping an arm around Cadance. “But if I were you, Discord, I would start hustling to the museum?” Shining stated,handing the scroll back to Discord with his magic. “And why would that be?” Discord asked, accepting the scroll. “Because the museum closes in about 2 hours and you have quite a few jobs to finish off, if you want to have tomorrow free.” “Why is it closing so early?” Discord asked. “ Celestia, Luna and I are doing a practice warm up on our speeches for the celebration.” said Candace. “Why wasn't I told I was under a time limit ?” “Because we all thought you have done everything we assigned you” Shining stated. Discord sighed, giving up the argument, “Well, I best get to finishing those jobs then” he said as he swiveled on his hooves. “You know, I can always lend you a hoof on those jobs?” Shining offered. “Thanks Shining, but I think I will be fine; I am , if you have forgotten, the master of chaos, I’m pretty sure I can finish a few chores.” Shining Armour shrugged “The offer will still stand.” Discord nodded his thanks and turned away. He had taken only few steps before he stopped. “Remember to tip the waitress for me” he cried over his shoulder, then he continued trotting out to the door. The couple watched the grey unicorn to go through the doors; as soon as he exited the building, Shining Armour turned to his wife. “So did you two really talk about what shade of red the moon will turn?” The white unicorn asked his alicorn wife. Candace shook her head, her eyes still glued on the restaurant doors. “No a far more.. peculiar conversation than that.” Candace slowly said. “What about?” Shining asked. Candace turned to face him. “ We had a conversation about love.” There was a period of silence while Shining’s mind tried to process the information. “How did you get on to that topic, Cadance? ” “That was one of the strange things about our conversation, Discord was the one that asked about it.” “What sort of questions? Did he ask about love. ?” “ Well, he asked what it was, then he asked what it felt like and perhaps strangest of all, Discord asked how someone would know if they were in love. Got any idea why Discord may be asking those questions?” Shining Armor, gave a helpless shrug. “ Sorry Cadney but I haven’t the foggiest. Discord was acting a little stranger than usual at the museum, wouldn’t break eye contact at one of the display cases, but other than that, I’ve got nothing. Perhaps he just wanted to know what love is.” Shining Armour offered. “Maybe” Cadance replied, unsure. She doubted that Discord had asked about love from out of the blue or for the reason he gave. Candace noticed a grin starting to form on her husband's lips. “What’s so funny?” she asked. “I was just thinking that Discord could be in love” he chuckled. Shining then started to laugh “How crazy would that be? the spirit of chaos in love!” Candace stared at her husband wrapped in thought, at what he had just said. Shining Armour caught his wife's concentrated gaze and his laughter slowed down and stopped. “What's wrong honey?” Shining questioned. “Nothing Shining, it's just what you just said....” Candace stopped and looked to the doors to the restaurant. “Maybe it's not that crazy...maybe...” 00000000000 Discord dragged his mismated feet through one of the Canterlot castle main halls. He had managed to finish all the jobs at the museum, with a little help from Prince Shining Armour. But, now he was exhausted from his work. The last few hours at the museum had completely drained him, even with Shinings assistance. He was too tired even to teleport himself directly to his room, he had just managed getting to the palace gates . Unfortunately, he had to walk the rest of the distance back to his room. Discord would like to think that he was simply tired from all the dull work he had done at the museum; that, at least, could be cured with a hot cocoa bath with marshmallow duckies, he would like to think so but he knew it wasn't true. Ever since he had the conversation with Cadance, his mind had been filled with thoughts about Fluttershy: how was she doing, did she miss him,did she love him. All these thoughts may have been random but they did have two key similarities, love and Fluttershy. It was crazy, Discord thought, he had never thought he would think about something so intently that didn't involve chaos. He smiled to himself “You really have changed me Fluttershy.” he whispered softly. The thought of Fluttershy gave Discord a boost of energy, which allowed him to increase his pace down the corridor. However, Discords boost of energy was short lived when he turned the corner of the hallway , that led the back to his room, finding someone waiting for him outside his door. “O what do you want?” Discord cried. “ I have done everything you and your sister subunits have wanted so can’t you just leave me alone.” “Usually ponies start with greeting, instead of jumping straight into questions” Prince Luna said “My apologies your formalness; hello Luna or would you prefer Lulu or perhaps Moon but or..” Discord teased. “No Luna is fine, Discord” Luna said bluntly. “Great! now that greetings are out of the way what do you want Luna, shouldn't you be at the museum?” “I thought you might be interested that Tia got message from ponyville to today.” Discord rubbed his eyes tiredly “Though I may be vaguely interested in what Sparkle butts wrote to Sun butts, I am much more interested in my bed at the moment.” he said tiredly Luna grinned “ Assuming Sparkle butts is Twilight Sparkle, then you would be wrong. The message was sent by Spike but the hoof writing is different to Twilights and the message wasn't addressed to my sister it is addressed to you.” This caught Discord’s attention. “What did the letter say exactly?” Discord asked. Luna shook her head. “ The letter wasn't addressed to me or my sister, so we didn't open it.” She then unfurled her wing and used her magic to levitate a white envelope in front of them. “ the letter is addressed to you, Discord.” Discord did not hear last part of Luna’s sentence he was too focused on the letter that hovered between them. More precisely he was focused on the familiar hoof writing that, so elegantly, spelled out his name. Discord stretched out eagle talon to ensnare the letter. Only to grasp air. He reached for the letter again, the same result happened . Discord brows furrowed in confusion. Discord repeated the action twice more, the letter eluded him twice more. He was about to reach for letter for a 5th time, when he heard the restrained snort of laughter. Discord looked up to see the prince of the night trying and failing to keep a calm passive expression. “Luna stop that.” Discord snorled “Stop what?” Luna said through a snort of laughter. “You know what.” Discord said as he made another lunge for the letter. Luna used her magic to levitate the letter over Discord’s head. “Say please” She teased. Discord didn't respond he just hopped up and down trying to get the letter that was floating just out of his reach. “Actually don't say please, this is much too fun to watch, oooh you almost got it that time just a little higher.” Discord stopped his leaping, and instead snapped his eagle talon. teleporting himself at eye level with the letter and quickly snatching it up in his hands. Then glued himself down to the front of his door. “Thank you Lulu.” Discord said scarcely. Luna sneered at him “ No, no Discord! Thank you! I needed some entertainment before I went off to the museum.” Discord snorted “Well I am happy I could be of service, but shouldn't you be going now? ” “I was just about to; enjoy the rest of your evening Discord.” The alicorn said as she turned and walked down the hallway. “That was what I was trying to do” he mumbled, reaching for his door knob to the room. “O and Discord” Luna said “ Say hi to Fluttershy for me tomorrow.” Discord whirled around, wondering how Luna knew he was seeing Fluttershy tomorrow. But she had already turned the corner down the hallway and disappeared from his view. 000000000 As soon as Discord entered his room, he flew up to his bed and ,with the eagerness of a colt unwrapping his presents on hearts warming eve, tore open Fluttershy’s letter. And began to indulge in her writing. Dear Discord. I admit I was a bit surprised at hearing from you so soon, seeing as how we are getting together tomorrow, but it was a good kind of surprised . Recently we haven’t had many opportunities to see each other, so I cherish every letter you send me and the time we have together. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow, everyone’s been so busy lately preparing for the Lunar Convergence Celebration that we haven’t had much time to talk to one another. Twilight’s been working on the speech she’s supposed to present, Apple Jack has been busy baking for the celebration, Pinkpie has been busy planning decorations , Rainbow Dash has been biss practising some of her flying movies to in press the wonder bolts that are showing up at the celebration; but between you and me I think she is trying to impress one in particular, and Rarity is busily making all of use new dress for the occasion. I think I am the only one that has had any free time lately, I don’t mind though I have been I am awfully busy tending to my animals, but it does get lonely even with my animals company and it makes me feel like I am not pulling my weight for the celebration. Your letters have greatly lightened my stress of late. Although sometimes you send your letters to quickly, not that I mind that is, it’s just I am worried that I would not be able to reply in time to all of them. I won’t tell you anything else until tomorrow. Just because I would rather tell you face to face. Until tomorrow Discord, and with all the love in Equestria Fluttershy. Discord reread the letter three more times, before placing the letter beside him on the bed. ( for some strange reason the letter didn’t fall to the ground.) “She said love .” Discord said, a goofy grin beginning to spread across his face. “Fluttershy does love me.” His eyebrows furrowed and the goofy grin disappeared. “Does Fluttershy love me?”. He had figured out his feeling for her. But he had no idea her feelings for him. He tried to recall every word he shared with Cadance to see if anything applied to the letter. Discord flopped his head down on the pillow in frustration and groaned. Out of all the questions he had asked the prince of love, he hadn’t asked how to identify if somepony was in love with you. He could read Fluttershy’s mind to see if she loved him, but as soon as the idea came into his head he shook it loose, he could never do such a thing to her. “What am I going to do?” He whispered, he looked down at the letter from Fluttershy, and a longing for her came to him. Now that he knew his emotion for her he desperately wanted her to feel the same way about him. Discord gaze fell to the floor ( his bed was on the ceiling) “I could always do it the traditional way and court Fluttershy” Discord mused, but then shook his head. “O who am I kidding, I have never courted anyone in my life, if I attempt to court Fluttershy, chances are I would mess it up and ruin anything I have or could have had with her. I mean there isn’t like there’s a book written about how to court someone.” Discord stopped then and pondered and put his eagle talon to his chin “is there?” His interest and hope rekindled, he tentatively snapped his lion paw and was struck on the head by a book which neatly fell on to his lap. Rubbing his head, where the book had struck him, with lion paw, he picked up the book, with his eagle talon, and examined it carefully. The book had a yellow cover and had a black template which enclosed the words “How to Court for Dummies.” “ Wow! They really do make one for all scenarios?” Discord mused. Placing the book down beside him, he picked up Fluttershy’s letter and leaned over the bed where a floating cabinet sat with a picture of Fluttershy and himself He smiled at the image of the pegasus before drawing open one of the drawers and pulled out the contents. In his hands was a Yellow and Pink polkadotted rectangular box; round tightly around the box was a green and pink striped ribbon. Discord undid the ribbon and pulled of the top of the box to reveal, his precious treasure, all the letters that Fluttershy had written to him, all were neatly placed adjacent to one another, organised by the dates at which they were sent. He placed the newest letter from Fluttershy at the front of the pile. He smiled at the collection happily. Before placing the lid back on and tying the ribbon securely together. And finally putting his precious box back into the door and shutting it. Discord then turned his attention back to the yellow book beside. and let out a sigh, “What have you done to me Fluttershy, things used to be so much easier before you came into my life.” But they sure were better he thought. He then picked up the book and began to read its contents. Chapter 1 So you think you’re in love?