As five mares cleaned up after their aborted picnic, they discussed the latest wrinkle Discord had dropped into their laps.
"Twilight, you really oughtta write to Princess Celestia about this," Rainbow said. "This is all kinds of messed up."
"Yeah, Ah dunno whut kinda game Discord's playin' here, but this whole playin' house with Fluttershy thing..." Applejack shook her head.
"Actually," Pinkie Pie said, "as weird as this is, I don't really see anything wrong with it. I mean, how do we know Fluttershy and Discord won't—y'know—eenk, ernk, eenk, ernk—"
"PINKIE!" Rarity snapped. "We could do without the colorful metaphors, thank you!"
"How would that even work?" Rainbow wondered. "I mean, does Discord even have a d—"
"Girls? Let's drop this subject, please," a red-faced Twilight said. She cleared her throat. "Look...I'll write to Celestia about this, but..." She shrugged. "Honestly? The more I think about it..." She sighed. "The more sense it actually makes. I...I think we should keep an open mind. Even if it is Discord."
The others gasped. "Seriously?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes, seriously," Twilight said. "What if...what if Discord really just wants to know what it's like to have a family? Who are we to say that's wrong, even if the way he's going about it is...is..."
"Butt?" Rainbow offered.
"Yes." Twilight shook her head. "For now, let's...let's just watch and see how this plays out. And try to make friends with this Eris. If...if she's really what he says she is, we'll know soon enough, once we all spend some time with her."
The others looked at each other.
"If you say so," Applejack said, shrugging.
"She...did seem rather sensible," Rarity hedged.
"I wanna play with that phone thingie she had!" Pinkie chimed.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. But if ANY harm comes to Fluttershy from all this..."
"I don't think Discord would hurt Fluttershy," Twilight said. "Not intentionally, anyway," she muttered under her breath.
* * * * *
"Say, Mom? I'm getting a little thirsty," Eris said. "Why don't we stop by the Burp N' Derp for a bit?"
Fluttershy blinked. "The...Burp N' Derp? What's..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I've never even heard of such a place..."
"Derpy's soda shop?" Eris asked, tilting her head. "Most popular hangout for younger mares and stallions?"
"Derpy?" Fluttershy echoed, blinking. "Oh my...she mostly handles local post and parcel service and odd jobs. She doesn't have a shop..."
Eris sagged with a heavy sigh. "Well that sucks," she muttered.
"You mean...Derpy opens her own shop in Ponyville in the future?"
"Yeah," Eris said. "She's a whiz with sodas. She makes the best sodas in Equestria."
"Huh," Fluttershy said, blinking. "Who knew?" She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm sure we can find something to wet your whistle with...how about Sugar Cube Corner? They do sell sodas...even though they're bottled instead of locally made..."
Eris shrugged. "It'll do."
As they flew off in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner, Fluttershy became acutely aware of ponies watching them, staring at them, whispering. She also noticed, in her peripheral vision, Lyra and Bon Bon shadowing them. "Oh my," she whispered, shrinking into herself and dropping low. "We're...we're attracting a lot of attention..."
Eris looked around, blinked at the ponies staring at her, and snorted. "You'd think they never saw a draconequus before..."
"Umm, well...draconequui are rather...rare," Fluttershy said. "In...in fact, there's...there's only one in all of Equestria right now, and, well...a lot of ponies still aren't over his whole being evil and trying to bring chaos and destruction to ponykind..." Her eyes flew wide open. "Oh, but...! Discord is a lovely being once you get to know him..."
"I sure hope so, for my own sake," Eris quipped. "Oh, we're here! C'mon, Mom, let's get inside before you have one of your attacks..."
"One of my attacks? What...? I don't have attacks!"
"Sure you don't," Eris said with a smirk. "Let's get that soda."
As the two entered Sugar Cube Corner, they completely missed the jaws scraping the ground in their wake.
"Did...did she say MOM?!" Lyra gasped.
"I was right," Bon Bon said, eyes narrowing. "But...but when?! I mean...WHEN?!"
"What're we gonna do about this, Bon Bon?!" Lyra cried, standing on her hind legs and flailing her hooves around. "This...this is big!"
Bon Bon frowned. "For now? We should stalk them. Find out more. If necessary..." She whipped a pair of sunglasses out of nowhere and put them on. "I'll report to Celestia."
Lyra tilted her head. "Didn't you say your organization thingie was disbanded?"
"This is bigger than plausible deniability," Bon Bon said. "There's an undocumented teenage draconequus on the loose, and she may or may not somehow be Fluttershy's daughter by Discord. I'd say it's our sworn duty as citizens of Equestria to fully investigate this matter."
Lyra narrowed her eyes. "Bon Bon," she growled, "I think you're full of horseapples. Admit it...you just want to justify being nosy and spying on them."
"And?"
Lyra sighed. "And I'm in..."