//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Without Magic 
// by Sinatzeek 
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Hearts and Hooves day is just around the corner, or more precisely, today. Every pony in Equestria is spending time together with their special somepony or making gifts and presents for somepony to show their care and love for others.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders is no exception.

The three little fillies, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, are busy in their clubhouse, each working on their own card for somepony they care about.
Sweetie Belle, who just gained stable control of her magic, is doing her best to cut out a paper heart with a pair of scissors, while Scootaloo is making hoof prints with paint as a decoration on her card, and Apple Bloom going a little more extreme with her card, that looks like a heart, and is almost as big as herself.

“HELLO MY LITTLE PONIES”

Discord puffs out of nowhere with confetti and a loud joyful cheer as he makes his entrance in the quiet clubhouse, giving the little fillies a huge shock and causing them to lose their concentration. Sweetie Belle loses control of the scissors and cuts the paper heart in half. Scootaloo slips in the paint so both her card and stomach now has a painted line across it. Apple Bloom, who stood up on her hindlegs while holding the big card, falls over and wrinkles it.

“DISCORD!!!!!!”
The three fillies yell his name in anger and annoyance.

“Yeees my little friends. That’s me,” says Discord with a smile on his face, not noticing the anger in their tone until they start throwing things at him, like glue, paper, pen and pencils.

“Hey hey! I come in peace! Remember?” yells Discord, as he takes cover behind his arms while they throw things at him. As the girls calm down, Sweetie Belle is the first one to talk.

“You made us ruin our cards for Hearts and Hooves day,” says Sweetie Belle, while giving Discord a grumpy look. Apple Bloom tries to smooth out her wrinkled card, but ends up ripping it apart by accident. Scootaloo looks depressed since she was nearly done with her card, but it now has a blue line across it.

“Hearts and Hooves day you say, hmmm…” says Discord as he bends down to look at the things they were making, stroking his beard with his lion paw. He gets back up and lifts his shoulders.

“I never really gave much though about this event. What is it even good for?” says Discord with ‘don’t care’ tone in his voice. Before he could say more, Apple Bloom stood behind a desk and had a blackboard next to her, where two stick-figure-ponies were drawn together with a heart. Apple Bloom points at the blackboard with a stick.

“Hearts and Hooves day. It is a day where loved ones celebrate their love and care for each other. And that can be done in many ways. One of the ways is by giving a card that tells what you think of that somepony that is special to you, “ says lecturer Apple Bloom from the desk.
Discord stares at her, then down at Scootaloo while pointing at Apple Bloom, the teacher.

“Is she expecting me to learn from this?”
Then he puffs into a red school uniform for girls with a dunce cap on his head, and a small notebook in his hands, to take notes. But instead he draws Apple Bloom as an old grumpy teacher.

“It’s very simple. It’s a day where you just show others you care about them, “ explains Scootaloo to Discord, that now puffs away the school uniform. Sweetie Belle sighs and holds up her hooves near her face that has a ‘romantic’ expression.

“It’s the most romantic day of the year, where not only do you tell somepony how much they mean to you, but it’s also a chance to find real love. Rarity told me so.”

Discord now has a grin on his face and looks down at the girls, asking them with a teasing tone in his voice:
“Is that so…? Then who are you going to give a card too? Any special somepony I don’t know about? Hmmm?”

“I’m making a card for Granny Smith. To show how much she means to me,” says Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo walks up to a poster of Rainbow Dash hanging on the wall in the clubhouse.

“I’m making one for Rainbow Dash. To tell her she is AWESOME!”

“And I’m making one for my sister, Rarity,” says Sweetie Belle. She then thinks for a moment and gets an idea. She walks right up in front of Discord.

“Hey, you should also make a card for somepony.”
She stares at him with her big light green eyes and a smile going from one ear to another.

“Oh, sure. The earlier spirit of chaos and disharmony, giving cards with hearts and glitter for other ponies. Who would even want a card from me?” says Discord with a grunt in his tone while rolling his eyes over the idea of him showing ‘love and care’ to ponies that mostly just fear or disgust him. Apple Bloom thinks for a moment until she suggests:
“How about Fluttershy? You could give her a card, and tell her what a great friend she is.”

“Of course! My dearest friend Fluttershy. Why didn’t think of that myself? She do deserve a lovely card with a touch of chaos.”
Discord’s face brightens up as he now thinks about the little timid buttermilk colored Pegasus with three butterflies as her cutie mark, Fluttershy. With a snap of his lion paw, a Hearts and Hooves day card appears in a puff. It’s red and shaped as a heart with a picture of a cotton candy cloud with chocolate rain and a butterfly that matches Fluttershy’s cutie mark.

“HEY! That’s cheating.”
Scootaloo points with her hoof at the floating card Discord just made with his magic. Apple Bloom agrees with her.
“It’s not special if you just make it with magic.”

“If you want her to know you really care about her, then you have to make it with your own hooves. By putting lots of effort into it,” explains Sweetie Belle, as she holds her own hooves towards her chest and has another romantic expression on her face.

“Oh really? Then what about you? Isn’t that magic your using with that scissor, little miss unicorn?”
Discord pokes Sweetie Belle’s horn with his talons.

“The only thing I use magic for is to handle the scissor. Since none of us can use a scissor normally.”
She uses her magic to pick up the scissor and holds up a hoof to show her point. The scissor isn’t made for pony hooves.
Discord blows a raspberry at them and takes his card.

“Oh whatever. Like anyone can see the difference if the card is make with magic or not.”
He stands with his arms crossed and his back towards the fillies, mumbling a bit to himself on how to surprise Fluttershy on his visit.

Then Apple Bloom gets an idea, and she winks an eye at her friends, who then look at her to see what she is up to now. She then starts talking to them.

“You know what girls? I think it’s because he doesn’t even know how to make things without his magic.”

This got Discord’s attention. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quickly catches Apple Bloom's hint, and they giggle and play along.

“Ooooooh, you’re properly right, we never really seen him use those hooves, ehh… paw and talons, for anything other than snapping magic.”
The girls giggle together and it gets Discord annoyed. He can hear them, he is right next to them and they are making fun of him. It’s his job to make fun of others.

“How dare you claim that I can’t do anything with my paw and talons! I can do many things just fine, even perfect I say.”
He starts to lift things in the club house, turn pages in a book, juggle with three balls, hold a teacup and drink from it, and pulls Angel Bunny out of a top hat. Angel Bunny is not amused. Then he gets stuffed back into the hat.

“Yeah, you can do lots of things with them. But can you do it without the magic as well?”
Scootaloo has a point, because he has been using magic at the same time. He made himself strong to lift heavy things, the book was floating in the air, then summoned the teacup since the club house didn’t have a tea set. And he used magic to do, well… magic, for the trick with Angel Bunny.

“Sure I can. I’m Discord! The spirit of chaos and disharmony! I can do whatever I want!”
Discord puffs everything away and stands now empty-handed and ready to show these annoying ponies that he is better than what they believe.

“Really? Then show us how you make something as simple as a card for Fluttershy,” says Apple Bloom with a little grin on her face.

Sweetie Belle gives Discord some colors, papers, glue, glitter, and a scissor. Discord takes it all with his hands and sits down on the floor with it all in front of him and his back towards the girls. He looks over his shoulder.

“I’ll show you. I’ll make you jealous over my masterpiece.”
As he turns his face away from the girls and looks at the paper in front of him, he kind of freezes. How was he supposed to begin? He takes the glitter and looks at it. He then sprinkles some out over the paper, turns out it didn’t get stuck to the paper. The glue was next to be tested, but instead of getting it down on the paper, he got it over his hands. He tries to shake it off since he can’t just snap it away now. The girls giggle behind him as they see how he deals with it while they are now working on their own things again. Discord growls a bit as he hears them behind him. He will show them for sure, he’s not giving up. He grabs the paper and lifts it up, but forgets about the glitter, so as a result the glitter is now stuck on the glue that is on his hands.

“Aha! So that’s how it works.”
As if he just discovered glue actually works as glue. The scissor was next to tame.

After a while, like an hour or so, the girls manage to finish each of their own card for their special somepony. Scootaloo’s card is a hooves painted picture of Rainbow Dash doing a Sonic RainBoom. There are few paint spots here and there, but it’s not easy to paint with hooves. Sweetie Belle’s card has flowers glued onto it, making the shape of a heart where inside the heart is written the words: ‘For my pretty big sister’. Apple Bloom has changed her idea, and made a card for her whole family. It’s shaped as a heart and has the faces of Granny Smith, Applejack, Big Mac, and herself on the heart.

The girls admire each other's work, and then look over towards Discord, who still sits with his back towards them. He is still struggling with the glue. The fillies can see how he is trying to get the paper to stick together instead of getting stuck on his hands. His tail wags from side to side while he concentrates on his work. Finally he lets out a heavy sigh. He stands up and joins the girls to show his masterpiece.

“I’m all done, and I did not, I repeat, I did not use any magic at all, “ tells Discord proudly and shows his card to them. All three girls stare at the… thing… he has made.

“It’s… it’s very…. Um….. well….”
Apple Bloom is not sure what words to use to describe what she thinks of his ‘masterpiece’.

“It’s chaos, just like you,” says Scootaloo quickly, while she tries not to burst into laugh.

“Yes. It got a very personal touch, it’s easy to see you made it,” explains Apple Bloom nervously with a smile, while rubbing her neck.

“I really like the glitter…”
Sweetie Belle couldn’t think of anything else nice to say.

Discord’s card is a total mess. The card itself is red and none of the edges are straight, there are cuts here and there along the sides. The white ribbon around the card’s edges isn’t holding on too well and even tangle around one of his talons. The center of the card has something that tries to have the shape of a pink heart, but the heart looks like it has been strangled by something. And Discord made lots of misses with the glue, so he has tried to cover them up with glitter. It’s almost like polka dots, just glitter.

Discord beams of pride over his work. Until his eyes fall on the work the girls have made. He looks at his own card and back at theirs. He now feels annoyed and even jealous. That was not the plan, they were the ones supposed to be jealous of his work, not the other way around.

But he won’t let them notice, and keeps up his smile and praises himself.

“I’ll say I have out done myself. Now don’t get sad my little ponies, your cards do look nice, but of course not as fabulous as this. But it's also made by the hands of a God.”

Discord has a huge grin on his face as he tries to convince himself his work is better than what the girls have made.

“So… when will you give it to Fluttershy?” asks Sweetie Belle nicely, while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo think for themselves that it’s almost an insult to give that card to one as sweet and kind as Fluttershy.

“Why waste time? I’ll go and give it to her right now.”
And before more is said, Discord puffs himself away and leaves the three little fillies in their club house.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”
Scootaloo now bursts into laughter as Discord is gone.

“Oh wow. His so called masterpiece is a disaster. But then again, he is the chaos God. Hahahaha.”
Scootaloo is rolling on her back while laughing. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are a bit unsure if they should feel sorry for either Discord or Fluttershy. After Scootaloo is done laughing, they each go home to their own family to give their Hearts and Hooves day card.

Discord has now teleported himself to Fluttershy’s cottage. He is standing in front of her door, but he hasn’t knocked yet.
He stares at his so called ‘Hearts and Hooves day card’ that he has made.

“I can’t give this to Fluttershy. She will believe I’m pulling a joke on her by giving her something as… as… chaotic as this. I do like chaos, but even I would think it’s a joke if I got something like this.”

He turns the card to look on the back side where he has even written something.
‘To my dearest Fluttershy. Made without magic. From your friend Discord’

“That’s what I get for not using my magic. Even without magic I make chaos. I better get rid of this and get her something nicer for her taste.”
He then notes the card is stuck to his talons. He tries to shake it off but fails. He grabs it with his lion paw and pulls it off, but it’s stuck to his paw instead. He growls at it.

“Oh you want to put up a fight? You’re on.”
He shakes his arm wildly, but the card is just as stubborn as him. Discord ends up in a dust cloud as he fights the card. He stops and waits for the dust cloud to settle down so he can see his ‘opponent’. But the card is now gone. Discord looks around but can’t see it anywhere. A small victorious smile comes on his face.

“Now… what will be suited for a day like today for Fluttershy? Hmmm…. Ah, I know!”
He snaps his finger, and a lovely bouquet of flowers puffs up in his hand. The flowers are the blue flowers he has often seen her pick together with her animals, and that fits so well to her teal eyes. He clears his throat and knocks on the door.

“Who is it?” he heard Fluttershy asking as she is comes to the door.

“It’s your favorite draconequus, my dear,” says Discord with a happy tone as he hears her voice. And as he sees her as she opens the door, he even smiles widely, almost from one ear to another just by the view of his little sweet Pegasus friend.

Fluttershy returns the smile as she meets Discord, but she then gives him a confusing look, because he is covered in paper pieces and glitter.

“Discord, why are you covered with paper and glitter?” asks the buttermilk colored Pegasus. Discord then looks at himself and quickly tries to brush off what he can with his paw.

“Oh don’t mind that Fluttershy. Here, these are for you my dear. Happy hearts and hooves day.”
He hands her the flowers, and Fluttershy’s eyes grow big as she receives the lovely bouquet from him.

“Oh Discord, they are lovely. Thank you.”
She smells the flowers and is in a little bliss. Discord smiles as he watches her smelling the flowers. Fluttershy returns her look back at him with a smile. She then notices something on him.

“Hm? Is there something on my face?” asks Discord as he notices her staring at him. She waves her hoof to make him bend down a little towards her.

“Yes there is. There is a card on one of your horns.”

“There is WHAT?!”
Discord looks up, but before he could do anything, Fluttershy has taken the card off him. He looks in horror as he sees Fluttershy study the card. He even looks away in shame as she turns the card to sees what’s written on the back side.

“You made this?”
Fluttershy looks at Discord, but he isn’t looking at her. He mumbles back.

“Yeah… I were hanging out with The Cutie Mark Crusaders earlier, and they dared me to make it without magic.”
Fluttershy looks back at the card, then back at Discord. She goes up to him and places a hoof on his back.

“I love it.”

Discord turns his head quickly back at her. He sees her holding the card close to her and smiling at him.
“Really? How can that be? Aren’t the flowers better?”

Discord looks at her confused. Fluttershy giggles at his response.

“The flowers are lovely. But knowing you actually made this with your own hooves makes it so much more special. And you made it just for me.”
She has put the flowers aside and is now almost hugging the card. Discord is almost sure he can see a little hidden tear in her eyes. He then gently rubs with his ‘lion thumb’ over her eye to dry that tear away.

“I must admit I’m a bit ashamed over it, but if you like it so much then I’m happy.”

“It’s first time I get a card on Hearts and Hooves day, so of course I like it. But most of all, it’s from you.”
She smiles and even leans her head a little into his paw as he rubs the hidden tear away. He feels a joy in his heart by her words. He can only smile back at her.

“I will frame it later. How about we go and have a little picnic together?” says Fluttershy and walks inside her cottage. She takes the flowers and looks for a vase to put them in. Discord snaps his fingers and gets the flowers in a vase for her, already placed on a little table near her chair in the living room.

“A picnic sounds lovely about now, my dear. Want some of my cucumber sandwiches?”
He puffs out a plate with his homemade cucumber sandwiches. Fluttershy smiles and brings a basket where she have put some juice, apples, and a carrot cake in.

“You know I like your cucumber sandwiches, so do bring some along.”
Discord takes the basket from her hooves and puts his cucumber sandwiches inside it. He then walks to the door and holds it open for her.

“After you my lady.”

She giggles and walks out of her cottage with Discord right behind her as he closes the door behind them.
They walk over a field towards the place where they sometimes go to watch the sunset together. Discord snaps his finger once again and a picnic blanket appears on the grass in front of them. Fluttershy takes out the food from the basket while Discord places himself on the blanket, making himself comfortable.

“Here you go Discord.”
Fluttershy gives him a glass of juice. He takes it and takes a sip of it. Fluttershy sits next to him, and he then notes that she brought along the card. She is looking at it again.

“Why did you bring that with you if I may ask, my dear?”
He points at the card she is holding in her hooves. She smiles with a little blush on her face.

“Sorry, but I couldn’t get myself to leave it at home. I still feel like looking at it.”
She smiles nervously while hiding a bit behind her mane. Discord chuckles over it, and gently pulls her in to his side with his talons. Almost hugging her. It just made her blush even more.

“My dear Fluttershy. Won’t you rather look at me then that silly card?”

“It’s not silly!”
She almost shouts it. She then looks away in her shy state again.

“Um, I mean, I don’t think it’s silly. I think it’s very sweet. You did make it for me. And that means a lot for me.”
She then feels his talon pet her cheek gently. She slowly turns her head to face him. He smiles down at her.

“Dear Fluttershy. I’m happy that it means so much for you. It’s still hard for me to believe it does, but I can see you mean it. But why not put it aside and enjoy the sunset and some of your delightful cake together with me instead.”

His words make her smile and she nods. She places his card by the basket and they both take some of the carrot cake she has made.
The time passes as they chat and eat, while the sun slowly goes down.

“Good night Sun butt, and good morning Lulu,” says Discord and Fluttershy rolls her eyes by the nicknames he has given the two high princesses.

“I guess it’s time to get back home.”
She gets up and slowly begins to pack the leftovers back into the basket. Discord stretches his long body like a cat before he gets up. Then suddenly a hard wind hits them, and it takes the card with it.

“No! My card!”
Fluttershy flaps her wings to fly after it, but the wind is cruel. She loses sight of it and can't see where it went. Discord flies up to her and also looks around, but they can't see it.

“Hm, I can’t see it. Oh well…”
Discord lifts his shoulders, he doesn't see it as a big loss. But as he turns to look at his friend, he is surprised to see her reaction to the loss.

“My card… my beautiful card… gone…”
She is about to burst into tears. Discord hurries to her side and puts his hands on her shoulders and comforts her.

“There there my dear. No need to cry. It’s just a piece of paper after all.”
She turns her head and looks at him with those big teal eyes, which are full of water. He gulps by the view.

“It wasn’t just a piece of paper, Discord. It was a piece of you. And it meant a lot to me.”
Her eyes start to run with water now. Discord sighs and turns her around so she faces him and he pulls her in for a hug. Fluttershy blinks at first over what he just did, and then she notices his heartbeat. He holds her like this for a moment before saying anything.

“Silly little pony. You don’t have to cry over spilt glass of milk, when you still have a whole jug of milk.”
He pets her on the head. She nuzzles a bit against him while he holds her. He then takes them down on the ground and places her down. She rubs her eye.

“I’m sorry Discord. But I guess you’re right.”

“Guess? I’m always right my dear. Besides, let that card fly out there. It can now show others the friendship we two share,” he says with a smile as he lifts her head by her chin. She softly giggles at his words.

“Okay. Yeah, now others can see what we two have together.”
She smiles, and looks out over the field where the wind took it.

“Besides, I still have the whole jug of milk for myself.”
She said the last part quietly, only for herself, and not for Discord to hear. He did mean a lot to her.

They finish packing the things together and walk back to the cottage where Discord says goodnight to his dear friend, but before he can teleport himself home, he finds himself in a tight, yet gentle hug. Fluttershy is holding her hooves around his long body. He looks down at her and can only smile once again. He hugs her back and gently pats her back.

None of them break apart until a pillow comes flying towards Discord’s face. Both Discord and Fluttershy turns to see where it came from, and there on the sofa sits Angel Bunny with a grumpy look on his face. Angel and Discord’s eyes meet dramatically like two rivals ready for a gun duel. A tumbleweed even flies in between them in the living room.

“Oh Angel. You must be hungry by now. I’ll make you something nice as soon I say good night to Discord.”
Since she and Discord has spent the day together, she hasn’t been home to make dinner for her pet bunny. Angel was really unhappy over this and just turned his back towards them. Fluttershy sighs over his behaviour.

“Well, you better go and feed your little monster… I mean your little bunny. Good night Fluttershy, and thanks for today.”

“No, thank you for today, Discord. I really had a nice time with you.”
She then flies up and gives him a little kiss on the cheek.

Discord freezes on the spot and blushes at the same time. Fluttershy blushes as well.

“What was that for?” he asks.

“Well, it’s my thanks and my gift to you for Hearts and Hooves day. Good night.”
She then closes the door, and Discord still stands there in front of the door. He places his paw over the cheek where she kissed him.

He then comes back to himself and gets a big grin on his face and thinks to himself.

‘Best day ever!!!!!’
And puff, he’s gone.

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Somewhere, far over the field, and further away, a horribly made card finally falls to the ground after the wind took it.

“What do we have here?”
A female pink coat unicorn with purple and grayish blue mane and tail picks up the card with her magic. She looks at the card, and wrinkels her nose at its design. She then turns it around, her eyes growing huge as she reads what is written on the back.

“Fluttershy. Well, if that isn’t the name of the pony who helped Princess Twilight Sparkle ruin my plans.”
The unicorn growls at the names and crumples the card. Behind her comes a tall, dark figure with a pair of tattered insectoid wings full of holes.

“What are you growling at?” asks the dark figure with a hissing tone. The unicorn throws the damaged card back toward the creature behind her.

“This. This Fluttershy must be the one and same who helped that Princess Twilight Sparkle ruin my plans.”
The dark creature uses its own magic to look at the card.

“Hmmm… Interesting. I can taste love coming from this.”
The dark creature walks up next to the pink unicorn with a smile showing her fangs.

“I believe you and I now have the perfect chance to plan revenge together since it seems to be the same enemy we deal with.”
“Oh you don’t say. So what ideas do you have, Queen Chrysalis?” asks the pink unicorn as she looks up at the Queen of the changelings next to her.

“I’ll tell you everything while we get there. Come Starlight Glimmer, we have a long way ahead of us,” says the Queen of the changelings, who starts to laugh her evil laugh, while Starlight Glimmer follows right behind her. Changelings come out of the shadows to join their queen and her ‘friend’.

The End?