Discord gleefully appeared in Tree Hugger's tent and wrapped himself around her. She had, as always, reacted with only a smile and a brief shuffling of her forelegs to avoid spilling whatever it was she was working on.
"Someday you're going to have to tell me how you do that."
The mare smiled. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. No future is set in permanence, save the ones we make ourselves."
"And as eloquent as always!" The draconequuis chuckled as he coiled around to the other side of the small tent--it amused him to realized that Tree Hugger owned a fair number of properties but chose to sleep homeless--and corkscrewed to the ceiling, where he could look down on what she was working on. "So, miss Embrace, what difficult task have you prepared for yourself today?"
With a lazy smile, Tree Hugger scrapped the last of her dirt into the small crate in front of her. Her hooves dug into the material; her eyes half lidded as she began to sway on her hips. "Lamyamham, neehheeheehee, lamyamham, neehheeheehee..."
Discord couldn't help but raise a brow as a miniature tree, of all things, began to spiral out of the soil, branches curling and twisting in ways he hadn't ever seen. The grey bark soon sprouted countless leaves, each soaking in the light from the open sun-flap in the roof of the tent. Before his very eyes, white flowers bloomed out in a pattern of spirals, eventually forming the silhouette of four swans swimming around the circumference of the green sphere.
Tree Hugger let out a long, slow breath as she pulled her hooves out, wrapping one gently around the small plant and giving it the tiniest of nuzzles. "Welcome to the world, little sister. Blessings be upon you."
The spirit of chaos brought his paw and talons together in enthusiastic applause. "Bravo! Bravo indeed, miss Embrace. I've only ever seen old codgers pull off that sort of thing with that sort of speed, and they never had this refined a touch!"
"Hmm. They overcomplicate things, usually." Tree Hugger poured a little water into the crate. "They think balance is a delicate and very difficult thing to master... but, it's more like just listening and reacting to what you hear. You know? The plant's rhythm is always there, you just need to... connect to it, communicate with it. Most ponies force their own rhythm onto the plant, and even the best, well, they just mimic the rhythm instead of bonding." She stroked the leaves. "Sort of makes sense, they're not great conversationalists, but even the most quiet ponies have something to say..."
"Well, whatever the reason, that talent of yours is something to be treasured." Discord descended from his position, draping his body around tree and Tree with a devious smirk. "Speaking as one artist to another, your work is utterly superb."
Tree Hugger returned his smirk with an amused grin. "Am I sensing a segue there?"
The draconequuis clutched at his chest. "How?!" he cried dramatically. "How are you always one step ahead of chaos itself?!"
"Healthy eating, meditation, and a bit of educated guesswork."
"Well, as it just so happens, I have one of my own artworks to show you. BEHOLD!" With a snap of his talons, Discord produced a painting, setting it on an easel for easy display. He chortled as he coiled around the struts. "I think it's quite amazing, if I say so myself, but I can't really take all the credit, the subject matter was quite incredible."
Tree Hugger gave him a warm smile. "I'm sure it's very lovely." She didn't even spare it a glance before looking down at her tree again.
"...that's it?" Discord frowned. "No wonder? No shock? No schepiel about how art is our way of expressing our oneness with the universe or something like that?"
"Huh. You know, you might be onto something with that art thing--"
"Oh come on!" he whined. "I put a lot of work into this! I actually painted it with a paintbrush instead of just snapping it into existence right here and now!"
Tree Hugger giggled. "Do you want me to praise and adore you?"
"That would be nice, but I'd settle for you telling me how you thought it looked."
"Would if I could, man." She shrugged. "But I can't."
Discrod fumed. "What do you mean you can't? Are you blind or something?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Those words froze his anger and shattered it, the cool shards freezing to his skin in a far more metaphorical manner than the usual way his emotions manifested. "...what?"
"I'm blind. Well, mostly." Tree Hugger leaned back from the tree, spreading her hooves in an outlining gesture. "See, I got my cutie mark when I, like, bonded with the magic of the universe. Except that kind of burned out my eyes. I can see outlines, barely, the general shapes of things, but mostly I rely on my ability to see the colorful auras of everything around me."
"So..." Discord tilted his head. "You... can't really see anything I do?"
"Actually, you're a lot easier to see than ponies. Your aura isn't like them, with stripes and striations, you... you're a bunch of spirals of color in this, like, loose collection. It's not bound to your body, like ponies, so when you're about to do a thing it just... reaches out." She gave him a warm smile. "Kind of how I predict what you're going to do. I just love watching you..."
The draconequuis let himself land, curling around the outer edge of the tent. His thoughts were chaotic, which was not anything unusual for him but here he was experiencing the rare sensation of regretting that chaos. So many questions reverberated in his skull--How could he have not noticed? What was her aura vision like? Had he wasted all that effort for nothing?--demanding his attention, fighting for the right to be asked. He considered simply popping his head off and shaking them out his ears, but... somehow, knowing what he did now, that sort of twist of metaphor did not feel appropriate.
"...You love watching me?" he finally managed.
Tree Hugger blushed. "Uh--well... yes." She pushed a dreadlock back, stroking her reddening cheeks. "I... guess I just let that out there, didn't I..."
"...you did. Yes."
"...it's not, like, the only thing I li... I love about you," she added. "You know that, right?"
Discord's ears perked.
"...I mean..." Tree Hugger rolled a hoof. "I mean, I... I know I don't do things like normal ponies. Don't talk like them, don't... express myself the usual way. And that weirds them out, which is okay, because my balance is mine and I don't need approval, but... You didn't back away from my quirks, or just ignore them. You accepted them. No, you actually... you investigated, you... embraced." She ran a hoof down her tail. "And you... you're also your own creature, you know? You've got this... way of being, this way of... just doing as you feel, in such... interesting twists. It's... really just... I'm sorry, I'm not... I'm a lot better at talking about big things like the universe and the forest and auras than I am about talking about... me. My feelings."
She let out a wry chuckle. "Kind of silly, since I kind of see feelings, you know, instead of just feeling them."
"Well..." Discord raised his head, giving her a considering look. "I can't say I dislike silliness. It's rather a hallmark of mine, all things told."
"Somehow, I'm not at all surprised."
"To be quite honest, I've been feeling quite a bit sillier since I met you. The number of ponies that could fluster me I can count on one paw without even growing extra fingers! And if I'm honest, the only reason they can get under my skin is because they're already... well... ponies that I think about a lot." He rested his chin in his talons. "I suppose in the case of Celestia I can attribute that to our little tiff way back when, and Fluttershy was... to be quite honest, the first pony that treated me as an actual person instead of some great force to be dealt with, which is actually rather unique. And then there's you... so very interesting, so very... chaotically harmonious. You should be unimportant to me, all things considered, but somehow you've managed to worm your way close to my heart."
Tree Hugger shifted, pushing herself into the brown fur. "Do you even have a heart? Like, not the metaphorical kind, but the actual lub dub pump."
"Well, I know I can survive without my magic," Discord mused. "So I've got to have something keeping me running." He gave her a mock glare. "But I've already told the princesses that I'm not going to let them cut me up."
"It's good to have a firm stance on that."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"...so," Discord managed. "I was, to be honest, actually hoping for your opinion on the painting."
"Discord, bro, I'm sure it's amazing, but like I said--"
"Because you're actually the first pony I've shown it to," he added.
Tree Hugger blinked, tilting her eyes toward him. "What, seriously?"
"Yes, I... kind of had this silly idea that I could, you know, make something for you. Instead of just snapping it out of nowhere."
"Whoa." The mare pushed herself up, letting out a slow breath. "That's... oh wow. Now I kinda wish I could see it. Geez, I must have sounded like such a jerk."
"Enh, not nearly as much as I've been."
"Well... let's not be jerks anymore, okay?"
"Oh, very well."
Discord smiled as she leaned back into him again. Somehow, she had managed to find just the right spot; the weight of her mane pressed into his floof in quite the relaxing way, and her breath brushed gently against the tips of his purple feathered wing. He let his eyes drift from her to the painting, quietly contemplating over what she had said.
"...you know," he mused, "I've been known to warp a few ponies' bodies. Usually as a prank, mind you, and never permanently; vanish a pegasus's wings, or a unicorn's horn."
Tree Hugger rose a thick eyebrow. "So you take things away?"
"Only temporarily. Still..." Discord stroked his beard. "If I could give you the ability to see... what would you say?"