Games

by CCC

Day 2: Fluttershy

Fluttershy woke gently, rising from the fog of sleep with a little yawn and a stretch. For a few seconds, she simply lay there, enjoying that moment between waking up and getting up; and then, with a little stretch, she hopped out of bed.

And froze.

There was a new door in her bedroom. And, since a door into nowhere would not be particularly useful, this particular door seemed to have bought an entire tower in with it. It was... tall. At least, by Fluttershy's estimate, four times as tall as her entire cottage. Three crystals floating near the top shifted from pink to yellow as she watched.

This would be enough of an enormity to justify some shock in and of itself. But all of this paled in comparison to the most unbelievable detail of all – that the tower fitted into Fluttershy's entirely unchanged room. Without so much as touching the ceiling.

Fluttershy sat down quite abruptly, looking up at the paradoxical top of the chaotic tower. How... is that even possible...

She was interrupted by the click of a door unlatching in front of her. “Good morning, Fluttershy.” said Discord, politely. “I believe it's your turn to try to surprise me today?”

Fluttershy looked down at Discord, then back up at the impossible tower. “How do you do that?” she asked.

“The gems?” asked Discord, also looking up. “Simple colour enchantment. Twilight could probably do as much herself.”

“No,” said Fluttershy, “I mean, how do you fit it all in?”

“Oh, that.” Discord shrugged. “I met a stallion, must be, oh, about six thousand years ago now? He had this blue box thing that was bigger on the inside. I just copied that trick, except without the blue box.” He reached out and did... something... with his eagle claw and lion paw, somehow stuffing his impossible tower back into an ordinary-looking flower-patterned suitcase. “I never quite found out what happened to him.” continued Discord. “He just up and vanished one day, box and all. Anyhow, enough about the past. We have a present to concern ourselves about, yes?”

“Oh, yes.” said Fluttershy. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I do think I know how to surprise you.”

Discord sighed. “I hope so.” he said.

“Oh, it's really quite simple. I was a bit worried at first, because I didn't want to do anything, you know, startling, but then I worked it out. I know you know a lot about lots of things, because you've lived for so long, so it won't be easy to surprise you, but then I thought about the times you were surprised, and there was a common factor.”

“Indeed?” asked Discord, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes.” nodded Fluttershy. “They both had to do with friendship. I think that, in both cases, you were surprised because you don't really know anything about friendship.”

“Because I didn't have any friends, before you.” agreed Discord.

“Exactly.” said Fluttershy, firmly. “So I thought we'd just spend all day being together as friends.”

“And just hope that something about it surprises me?” asked Discord.

Fluttershy nodded.

“It's a reasonable strategy.” said Discord. “It plays straight towards my greatest weakness. I do hope it works. Though I should mention, I am familiar with all of Twilight's Friendship Reports – at least, those from while I was a statue.”

“You read them all?” asked Fluttershy.

“No,” replied Discord, “they were read to me. I was just a hedge away from a statue of Starswirl the Bearded, and Celestia's in the habit of going and talking to that chunk of stone every now and then, giving updates on the state of Equestria, that sort of thing. Less often once her sister got back, for some reason. Including reading out every one of her student's reports. She talks about you six quite a lot, really.”

“Really?” asked Fluttershy.

Discord nodded. “Really.” he said, drily. “How do you think I knew all about you the first time we met? It was all from Celestia's glowing descriptions of the mares who'd freed her sister.”

Fluttershy considered this a bit, and then asked “Is it just a statue, or...”

“It's just a statue.” said Discord. “None of the other statues in Canterlot have anything trapped in them, believe me, I checked. That particular one, in fact, I was there when it was sculpted. The real Starswirl had a slightly longer muzzle, a substantially shorter beard, and two fewer bells on his hat.”

“Oh.” said Fluttershy. “Right. Would you like to come help me feed all my animal friends?”

Discord shrugged. “Meh. Why not?”

* * *

“You have a lot of animal friends.” said Discord, as he and Fluttershy finally settled down to a late breakfast of oatmeal porridge.

“Oh, I know.” said Fluttershy. “I can't really turn any of them away, though, can I?”

Discord sighed. “No.” he admitted. “It would be against your nature to do that. It must take a lot of effort to look after them all by yourself, though.”

“Oh, it does.” said Fluttershy. “And a lot of birdseed. I buy it in bulk, but I sometimes lose count of how much I've got left. I mean, just this morning, I thought I had three bags, but there were only two in my shed.”

“Ah?” asked Discord. “Well, I can certainly help out with that.” He opened a hole in the air, reached in, and pulled out a large bag of birdseed. “Consider it a gift,” he said, “in partial gratitude for having reformed me.”

“Oh, um... thank you.” said Fluttershy. “You really didn't have to.”

“Perhaps not,” said Discord, “but I did. Now, what was it you had planned for the rest of the day?”

“Well,” said Fluttershy, “since you're here, there's a few herbs I'd like to get. They grow in the Everfree Forest, so normally I'd buy them from Zecora, but if you're with me then I'm sure I'll be fine collecting them myself.”

“It would be a surprise to run into anything I couldn't handle...” mused Discord.

* * *

“Well, that didn't work.” groused Discord, as he and Fluttershy left the Everfree.

“Oh, I don't know.” said Fluttershy. “It seemed to go pretty well to me. I've got some scarlet pimpernels, some mare's slippers, some thyme...”

“Those timberwolves were far too predictable.” said Discord.

“And thank you very much for not hurting them.” said Fluttershy. “They didn't mean to be mean, they were just hungry.”

Discord sighed.

“Don't worry.” said Fluttershy, flying up and patting Discord comfortingly on the shoulder. “There's still five more days this week. I'm sure one of the others will manage to surprise you.”

“I hope so.” said Discord. “I really, really hope so. I do like being your friend, Fluttershy, and I don't want to give that up.”

“I know.” said Fluttershy, giving Discord a hug. “And I'm very proud of you, for asking for help when you needed it. I'm just sorry I couldn't provide it. But I'm confident that at least one of my friends can, and will.”

“You know,” said Discord, hugging back, “I wish I shared your confidence.”

“Oh! And we're just in time to give all my animal friends their supper!”

Author's Note:

Two down, five to go.

Day 3 will be Rarity's turn.

Comments

[aajjww121]

The best plan is no plan at all, sometimes... but not this time, it seems. Good try, Fluttershy. At least you got to spend the day hanging out as friends.

[KittyGoesInsane]

This is interesting
I´ll be waiting eagerly here for ot to continue and how it´ll continue
PS: I´ll love your Discord :D

[Barrel-of-fun]

I really thought Fluttershy would be saved until last and her surprise would be slapping Discord in the face. Since hurting a friend is so against her nature it would surprise him. But now that she is out of the way, I have to say I have no idea what you're going to do to surprise Discord...if you are going to complete this 'quest' at all. Maybe Discord isn't surprised and tries being evil again.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this is resolved.

[CCC]

3351885

Just as planned, then.

Incidentally, by now there is definately foreshadowing.

3369305

The best plans are those where, even if it fails, no-one's really unhappy.

3369566

Thank you! I like writing him.

3370860

Ooooh, now that would have been a surprise. But I have some trouble imagining Fluttershy actually doing it without asking for permission (and probably apologising at some length) first, which would kind of spoil the surprise...

[spiralcrisis]

I'm sensing a ship to the starboard side.

[Walabio]

The stallion in the blue box is in town.

[Kagitaar]

You know, Discord knowing the Doctor fits pretty well.

[Bones_]

Fluttershy should have shouted angry profanities at Dickcord. Sorry, Discord.