//------------------------------//
// The Truth About Bashful 
// Story: The Truth About Bashful 
// by Stardom Freedom 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy woke up one morning and she yawned quietly. The Pegasus looked down at her sleeping husband, Bashful. She nuzzled him and whispered, "Bashful, wake up," 

She expected him to smile softly and pretend to be asleep, and then she would tickle him and he would burst out laughing, like he usually did. But instead. he grabbed Fluttershy's pillow, put it over his head, and angrily moaned. "Ugh, be quiet! I need to sleep!"

Fluttershy quickly jumped out of bed at her husband's outburst. She hung her head and muttered, "S-sorry. I'll go wake up the kids."

The cream-colored mare trotted to her 10-year-old daughter's room. "Hey, Harmony. Wakey, wakey."

Harmony yawned, ran her hoof through her pink mane that resembled her mother's, and looked at her mother sleepily. "Hi, Mom,"

Fluttershy beamed. "Go downstairs and set the table for the twins, you, and I,"

Harmony gave her mother a confused look. "What about Dad?"

"Your father is... sleeping in," Fluttershy said uneasily.

Harmony shrugged. "Okay! I'll go set the table!" The filly flew downstairs to the kitchen.

Fluttershy smiled and she went across the hall to her 7-month-old twins' nursery. She looked down at one crib, which held a sleeping baby, with a cream-colored coat just like hers and a mane as red as the jewel she was named for. She looked at the other one which was holding a foal with a coat color just like her sister's, but her mane was a beautiful vivid green. "Ruby, Emerald, wake up,"

The foals woke up smiling at Fluttershy. They giggled. The mare changed her children's diapers and then flew them downstairs, where Harmony was waiting for her mother to begin to cook.

First, Fluttershy got out a bottle full of milk. "Harmony, feed this to Ruby and Emerald,"

"Okay, Mom!" Harmony began to do what her mom had requested.

The mother began to cook vegetarian omelets when her husband barged into the kitchen.

"Good morning, good morning! Harmony, you're looking lovely this morning!" He then eyed his child warily. "Harmony, stop! You are feeding the babies all wrong!"

Fluttershy turned to look at her eldest daughter, and then rolled her eyes. "Oh, Bashful, Harmony is feeding them just fine. You really need to stop overreacting."

Bashful shook his head. "I'm not overreacting! She really is feeding them wrong! Give me those bottles!" He snatched the bottles from Harmony. "Open wide, girls!" Bashful said in a sugary tone. The twins did what their father requested. Bashful began to squirt the milk into their mouths!

Fluttershy ran to the scene. "Bashful, stop! That's no way to feed foals!"

The stallion ignored his wife and continued to feed his daughters until the bottle was empty.

Fluttershy sighed and gave him and Harmony their omelets and grabbed a banana for herself. "Bashful, remember to take care of Angel Bunny, the rest of my animals, and the wins the proper way. Harmony, have a good day at school. I have to get to work." She kissed her family good-bye and left.


***


Fluttershy stumbled into the building she worked at tiredly. She was a veterinarian, since she loved animals so much. Usually, she came in happily and ready to tend to animals, but today she just wanted to stay home and ponder about why Bashful was acting so oddly. 

Amethyst Star, the pony who worked worked in the lobby to sign ponies in, looked at Fluttershy. "Hey, Flutters, are you okay? You look a little washed up."

The Pegasus sighed. "My husband is acting oddly,"

"Define 'oddly' for me," Amethyst said.

"Well, he slept in, for starters, which he never does. And then he squirted milk into Emerald and Ruby's mouths instead of doing it the correct way!"

Amethyst nodded. "Okay..."

"I just don't know what to do,"

"Maybe he just isn't feeling like himself. Maybe he's frustrated about something. I could make some tomato soup and send it with you for dinner. Many friends of mine have said it soothes them."

Fluttershy grinned. "Thank you, Amethyst. I'd really appreciate that. "Maybe after he eats it and goes to bed for the night, he'll be acting just like the regular Bashful again!"

"I sure hope so," Amethyst said sympathetically. 

"I better get to the back to prepare for helping the animals. Thank you, Amethyst!"

"Anytime, Flutters!"

Fluttershy went to the back as costumers began to come in with their pets. 


***


Fluttershy happily went about her day, calming down animals and diagnosing them, and then giving their owners a prescription. During her break, Amethyst went home and quickly whipped up some tomato bisque, then gave it to her friend. After work, Fluttershy carried the pot home with her. What she didn't know was that it would be complete chaos when she returned.

The inside of the cottage was completely wrecked. The animals; from bears to turtles to monkeys to butterflies; they were all climbing on the walls, breaking the furniture. Harmony was under the table, hiding. Ruby and Emerald were on the wall, sitting as if they were targets, with their mouths wide open. Bashful was squirting milk in their mouths, then he began to squirt it all over the place. "Let's get this party started, señoras y señores!"

"Ahem!" Fluttershy cleared her throat loudly and glared.

Bashful quickly hid the bottles and smiled good-naturedly at his wife. "Hello, Fluttershy. How was work?"

The mare's facial expression did not waver.

Bashful sighed. "You saw it all, didn't you?"

Fluttershy just sighed, got out three unbroken bowls, and poured some soup in them. She handed one to Harmony, gave herself one, and offered Bashful one. The three ate their meal quietly. After Bashful ate, Fluttershy smiled widely, hoping that Bashful would act normal again. But instead, he refilled the twins' bottles, and continued squirting them in their mouth. When that happened, the animals came back out and breaking objects.

Harmony hid behind her mother. "Mom, do something!" she said in fear.

Fluttershy angrily approached Bashful. "Bashful! Stop this nonsense now!"

The stallion ignored the mare, and then burst out laughing on the floor. All of a sudden, he slowly turned into a tall and slender creature with the body parts of all sorts of animals.

Fluttershy gasped. "D-d-discord?!"

Everypony stopped. The animals looked at him and then ran away. Harmony looked at the draconaquus in shock, and Ruby and Emerald began to cry.

Bashful stopped laughing and then looked down at his body. "AHH!" he screamed. He looked at the crying twins, the surprised Harmony, and then a frozen Fluttershy.

"... Fluttershy?" Bashful (well, now Discord) asked.

"... Discord?" Fluttershy inquired.

"Fluttershy, I can explain," Discord began.

Fluttershy was too shocked to respond.

Discord sighed as he began the tale. "When I first met you and your friends, I thought you guys were just simple good ponies that always held hooves and talked about the Magic of Friendship. But when you reformed me, I felt there was something about you I couldn't explain. You didn't cower in fear whenever I came. Instead, you accepted me as a friend. Whenever I did something wrong, you always forgave me.

"As you know, we were friends for years. But then you became of marriageable age. A lot of stallions took an interest in you. I was... jealous. I had gained a huge crush on you while we had been friends, but I knew you would never choose an old and ugly creature like me over those handsome and young stallions. So, with my magic, I took the form of a stallion and went by the name Bashful. You chose me over everypony that liked you. Then... life happened."

Discord looked at his children and wife. "I'm so sorry for lying! I just loved you so much! And..." the draconaquus grabbed his three daughters into an embrace. "I love our children! They're so beautiful!" He burst into tears.

Fluttershy couldn't believe it. She didn't know Discord possessed feelings like this. "Discord, I had loved you too. But you never asked me about it, so I thought you weren't interested in me like that. I... I love you too!" She began to kiss him passionately. 

Harmony approached her father. "How come you acted like a normal stallion before, but then just started acting like this now?"

Fluttershy answered for Discord. "I guess he got tired of pretending to be somepony he wasn't,"

Harmony nodded and hugged her father. The twins crawled onto him. Fluttershy threw herself onto the embrace.