Chapter 6
Fluttershy’s bedroom was new territory. True, Discord had seen it before, but he’d never been inside (even he had more manners than that). As the little yellow pegasus flitted about the room, humming to herself as she untucked the covers from the bed, he hovered in the doorway. What was she doing, inviting him up here? He really didn’t know what to think.
She flew past him to the bathroom and he followed, perplexed. Peeking inside, he found her brushing her teeth. She gestured for him to do the same, pointing at a second toothbrush next to the sink. He hadn’t noticed it before. He supposed that, if he needed to bathe without his powers, he'd have to handle dental hygiene unassisted too. He joined her at the sink, marveling at the domesticity of it all. Had he ever done this before? He couldn’t recall.
With the task completed, and feeling unusually minty, he followed her back towards the bedroom. “I really don’t know if this is a good idea,” he found his words at last, “I’m sure I’ll still be tossing and turning all night…not to mention the coughing, sniffling and general misery. You don’t want me in here with you.”
She fluffed the pillows. “It’ll be alright. Come here.” He remained in the door way. She smiled. “I promise. The medicine from earlier wasn’t all Applejack and I made for you. Come over here.” She patted the mattress with her front hoof.
He took one step into the room as if testing for land mines. Fluttershy shook her head, and flew around behind him, pushing him towards, and then onto the bed. He sank into the mattress, eyes wide. She picked up a jar from her nightstand and unscrewed the top. She dipped one hoof inside, and raised it covered in what looked like greenish grey jelly. “This will help with the congestion,” she said, “Lay down.”
The draconequus was too confused to do anything but obey. Suddenly she was spreading the stuff all over his chest and an overpowering scent of peppermint cut through his stuffed sinuses and he took his first deep breath through his nose in forty-eight hours. “That’s incredible,” he gasped, “What is it?”
“A poultice made mostly out of menthol leaves,” she said, “It’ll make it easier to breathe when you’re sleeping.”
“Astounding,” he said, “You’re quite the ingenious species sometimes.” He sat up. “Well, thank you my dear, but I think I’ll just go park myself on the couch down–”
She put a hoof on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down. “Don’t be silly. Stay right there.” She turned the dial on the oil lamp that sat on the dresser and the room went dark.
Apparently his powers usually provided him with night vision as well. Discord stared straight up into nothing, wondering how long it would take for his eyes to adjust. He felt the mattress shift as Fluttershy climbed up next to him, and folded his hands across his stomach, mind racing. What was she planning? Had she taken his return of her hug earlier the wrong way? He adored her, this was true, but those feelings were as innocent as could be. He was running through all the different scenarios in his head when he heard her voice, right next to his ear. “Now I couldn’t help but notice that it made you awfully uncomfortable when I hugged you before.” She began nuzzling her face against his and he felt himself freeze again. “See? You seem so scared when I touch you, but you don’t need to be. It’s alright for friends to be affectionate, and I think it would be good to get you used to that. Don’t you think so?”
He wanted to say no, that he was perfectly fine as-is, but the feel of her soft fur brushing against his was causing a lump to form in his throat. He swallowed thickly, “…Yes.”
“Ok,” she said, “I want you to hold me, all right? Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me. I’m just going to lay here…” She was nestling into the crook of his arm. “…and we’ll go to sleep like this. If you really want to get up and go downstairs, you can. But I want you to try it this way first. See if you can get comfortable.”
He let his lion arm wrap itself around her again. He was thankful for the darkness. It made him less ashamed of the fact that he could feel tears welling up behind his eyes. He took her hoof in his eagle claw and squeezed ever so slightly. He couldn’t thank her, for fear the words would catch in his throat, so he hoped the gesture would be enough.
Gradually, he felt her breathing slow as she drifted off to sleep. By then his eyes had adjusted, and he could make out the shaded details of the room in the moonlight. Dully, he hoped Luna wasn’t watching. Though, after a thousand years on the moon, she would understand more than anyone. She knew loneliness nearly as well as he. He heard Fluttershy murmur in her sleep, and almost felt guilty for letting his mind wander to anyone else. Cautiously, he stroked her pale pink mane. To think such a tiny creature has such an enormous capacity for compassion. He still wasn’t convinced he deserved it. But it felt so nice, lying there with her, that he forgave himself the selfishness. Surely that had been her intention. To allow him to indulge without judgment, in the sanctuary of their friendship.
Before he could ponder further, he had fallen asleep.
* * *
When Discord awoke, the early sunlight was pouring into the room. He blinked, trying to get his bearings. He felt something warm against his chest and looked down. At some point in the night he’d rolled over onto his side, and now, clasped in his arms like a teddy bear, was Fluttershy. He fought the urge to spring up from the bed, the events of the night before slowly coming back to him. He couldn’t believe he’d made it through the night, that he was still in her bed, that he was holding her like this. She was still sound asleep. He let his muscles relax, reveling in the feel of her in his hands. His lion paw was resting on her side, rising and falling with her easy breathing. His talon was under her head, cradling her face. ‘She’s so…warm…’ he marveled.
He was just about to let himself drift back off to sleep when he felt eyes on him. He raised his head slightly off the pillow and turned it, only to find Angel glaring at him from the foot of the bed. The chimera scowled right back. “Buzz off, fur ball,” he hissed. With a swift flick of his tail, he knocked the bunny from his perch and onto the floor. He heard quiet angry chattering, and then the padding of rabbit feet off down the hall. Smiling with satisfaction, Discord settled back into the pillow, burying his muzzle in Fluttershy’s mane. For someone who worked with animals all day, she smelled surprisingly of flowers.
She stirred, then stretched. Her eyes fluttered open. “Hmmm…?”
He cursed silently. That was what he got for pushing his luck like that. “Apologies, my dear,” he said quietly, “Didn’t mean to disturb you…”
She turned slightly, noticed the position they were in, and smiled. “You stayed.”
“Mmhmm,” he nodded. On impulse, he pulled her closer. “It seems that the key ingredient for a good night’s sleep was you.”
“I’m so glad.” He felt her body give a little shiver and lifted himself up so he could see her face. There was a tiny streak of wetness on her cheek.
“Wh..why are you…?” his own voice broke. Had he done something wrong?
She wiped at her cheek with a hoof. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m just so happy.” She wriggled around so she was facing him. “I wanted so badly to help you. I’m so glad I could.”
He felt his whole face flush. Now that she was looking at him, big blue eyes shining, he felt the same sensation in his chest that he’d felt the day she’d thrown her ice skates across the pond. If he could have conjured it, an x-ray of his heart would’ve shown it melting. ‘You’re a goner now, old boy…’ He shut his eyes tight. When that didn’t work, he rolled over onto his back and covered his face with his paw. He drew in a shuddering breath. “More than you’ll ever know…” he said thickly.
She shifted beside him, and laid her chin on his forehead. “It’s ok…It’s ok,” she cooed.
The liquid streamed silently from beneath his paw. He labored to keep his breathing steady, to regain his composure. What had he become? This puddle of emotional goo…like a raw nerve, feeling everything so acutely, and reacting to it all despite the constant blows to his pride. Had he really been without kindness for so long that this was what it reduced him to? He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, then lowered his paw from his face. She was watching him closely. He met her gaze with just an inkling of his familiar smirk. “You’re too kind, my dear,” he said, “To put up with a pitiful wretch like me…”
She kissed the top of his head. “You’re not that at all,” she said. She leaned in and pressed her forehead to his. “Thank you for not being afraid. It means a lot that you trust me.”
He let her continue nuzzling him, amazed at how soothing her touch was. He had to admit, he did feel a bit better. “You’re a good girl, Fluttershy. I’m…I’m lucky to have you.”
Again she kissed him, on the temple that time, and then sat up. “And you always will have me, whenever you need me. I promise.” He gave her a small smile. She tapped his cheek with her hoof. “That’s more like it. That’s what I like to see.”
He chuckled, “Yes, yes. Thank you, my dear, truly.”
“You’re very welcome.” She smiled down at him. “What do you think, are you hungry?”
“Very,” he said, without having to think about it, “But…I think I’d like to stay here a bit longer, if that’s all right. Still not feeling quite like myself.”
“How about I bring something up to you?”
“That’s not necessary. I didn’t mean to imply–”
“You didn’t,” the pegasus said, “But I want to anyway. You rest up. I’ll be back with some porridge in a little while.” She climbed out of bed and shut the door behind her as she left the room.
Discord was left with his thoughts, raw nerves and all, and yet he found it easy to curl up and fall back to sleep.
* * *
When he next awoke, it was because he felt he was being watched. Fluttershy, no doubt, not wanting to disturb him. Eyes still closed, he could just imagine her, hovering in her own doorway, a bowl of porridge balanced on her back, adorably nervous. He yawned widely and blinked a few times. As the room came into focus in front of him, he found that there was indeed a pegasus watching him. Just not the pegasus he’d been expecting.
Rainbow Dash was lounging on a tree branch just outside the window. “Ya know…” she said, smirking at him, “You’re almost cute when you’re sleeping. Almost.”
The draconequus sank low into the mattress, glowering at her. “Miss Dash…” he grumbled, voice muffled by the pillow, “How nice of you to grace us with your vexatious presence…”
“Yeah,” she stretched lazily, “I figured I should check up on ya. Pinkie said you might be gettin’ ansty all cooped up in here, but I’d say you seem pretty cozy.”
He clutched at the pillow, resting his chin atop it. “I’ll have you know I’m perfectly miserable. And I don’t need you all popping in, keeping tabs on me. If I wanted to cause trouble, I’d have done it by now.”
“Yeeaahh…” she said again, rising. She hopped gracefully onto the window sill, “What’s up with that? The cottage isn’t even floating or anything.”
The chimera was saved from having to respond when the bedroom door opened and Fluttershy’s tiny gasp reached his ear. “Rainbow Dash! What are you doing up here?”
“Huh?” the blue pegasus turned towards the yellow one, “Whaddaya mean? I said I was coming over this morning.”
“Yes, but I asked you to use the front door,” Fluttershy said, setting the bowl of porridge she’d brought on the nightstand.
“Well yeah but –”
“No ‘buts’,” she said, trotting over to put herself between the window and the bed, “ I don’t like it when you sneak in here and wake me up, and I told you that Discord wouldn’t either. I’m sorry, Discord.” She smiling sympathetically over at the draconequus.
Discord was pleased to see the expression of abashedness on Rainbow Dash’s face. He smirked at her before turning a gentler smile towards Fluttershy. “No need for you to apologize, my dear,” he said, “Some ponies just have no manners.” He turned pointedly back to Dash. “And to think, the one raised in a barn showed far more decorum.”
“Hey!” Rainbow started to protest, but Fluttershy cut her off.
“Discord’s right, Rainbow,” she said, her tone firm, “I think you should apologize.”
“But I –”
Fluttershy gave her a less-intense version of The Stare.
The blue pegasus hemmed and hawed and made gurgling noises not unlike a cat trying to bring up a hairball. After what Discord had to admit was an impressive amount of struggling, she mumbled, “…Sorry…”
The chimera smiled in satisfaction. “That’s more like it. Now…where’s my breakfast?”
Stats
Page generated in 0.018 seconds
Total duration
1,025 users online
2,066,003 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I like it ^_^ that bed scene was cute, I ship fluttercord but it was nice to see your note about them being platonic about it. I could see that. I can't wait for more !
I'm disgusted by this literary atrocity. Why anyone would even bother READING it is beyond me. The whole thing was just flat-out garbage, just like this fanbase.
If you don't like reading this or even like the fan base, why do you stay. You can leave whenever you want. Leave! It's not going to change anything!
I honestly love the chapter and I think it's cute.
Oh my God, this was the sweetest thing EVER!
Like you, I ship Dislestia and prefer a platonic relationship between Dissy and Flutters (those two are my BROTP), and you definitely made that cuddling scene both platonic AND sweet.
Great work, as always!
(Also, ignore that comment from Uberdeathninja. He is very well known for being a troll towards the Brony community.)
Even with your assurance that it was platonic, I still had FLUTTERCORD! screaming in my mind during that sweet cuddles scene!
Platonic, shlamonic
FLUTTERCORD SHIPPING CONTINUE
..........PLE-EA-EA-EA-SE
Man, so much in this chapter tickles my inner Fluttercord lover. And though I want this sooo badly to have that pairing, you're keeping me confused by having both the cuddling, affection, kisses and then the "purely innocent"-comment and the implication that there was Discordia in the past. Man, that's a portmanteau that sounds good. But I can definitely say that I will follow this to the end whether this is supposed to be pure friendship or not. It's simply too great to abandon. And you have mastered the characters by now, compared to when I first commented. Discord and Shy are awesome and adorable and AJ and Dash and Pinkie are perfect and have some brilliant interaction with Discord.
Now for nitpicks:
"She flew passed him to the bathroom" It's "past" when the structure is this. "Passed" is past tense of "pass", while "past" is a a completely different word that I can't quite find the category of right now. But it should be "past".
"He supposed that if without his powers he needed to bathe, that extended to dental hygiene as well." It might be correct, but it looks weird when you write "that if without his powers he needed to bathe". I suggest the simpler "supposed that, if he needed to bathe without his powers, he'd have to handle dental hygiene unassisted too".
“This will help with the congestion,” she said, “Lay down." I'm no doctor, but how does an ointment on the chest help with congestion, which, from what I can find on wiki, must refer to stuffed nose and stuff? Unless there is trouble with his lungs and that is a pretty serious problem if there is any kind of congestion there. It seems to mean something like blockage?
and he took his first deep breath through his nose in 48 hours." Forty-eight is short enough that it ought to be written with letters, not numbers. Always use letters, unless the number is used in a "scientific" way, gets waaaaay too long or is on signs or other writing in universe.
" and then the padding of rabbit fit off down the hall. " I fail to get this sentence. Did you mean "padding of rabbit FEET"? That makes sense. Otherwise, I'm stumped at what you actually meant to say.
Anyway, great chapter and great story. More please.
Happy writing.
4487496
Totally serious, actually - I could really use a proofreader.
Thank you, I'll go back and fix the typos. I don't have a beta reader, so even when I re-read it myself a few times before posting, I miss things! Maybe you'd like that job? I
As for the pairing, the reason I don't ship Fluttercord is really because of the age difference, and the fact that one of them is immortal while the other isn't. I'm not a big fan of tragic love stories, so putting them together knowing he'll outlive her is something I can't bring myself to do. With Celestia, I know they could literally be 'together forever' so it works better for me.
Ironically, I see the relationship between Fluttershy and Discord as more of a surrogate-mother/child one. Despite him being so much older than she is, I think she's vastly more mature and so the role is one that suits her. And I think, cliche as it is, that he really needs a mother more than a romantic partner right now.
4487496
Also! The menthol leaf ointment was my way of describing an organic version of Vicks Vapo-rub, lol. You rub that on your chest and the aromatics help clear your sinuses.
4490474
Yeah, romantic pairings always get weird with such differences as species, major age gaps and longevity issues. Still, I will keep at it, I'm the positive sort of person regarding immortality. But I also like friendshippy stories, so no worries.
Never thought about the relationship that way. Kinda weird to me, but those cuddles and kisses makes sense in that interpretation too. And Dissy needs a whole family to be honest, someone to mother him, someone to smack him sometimes (metaphor, I'm not a supporter of corporal punishment, but you know what I mean) and he could kinda use a younger sibling to learn that he isn't the center of the universe. Ya know, in the stereotypical "only child" way. Though your Dissy is pretty nice, so maybe he doesn't really need someone to be real harsh to him.
Hm, beta-ing more people? Sure, we can give it a try, your chapters are not that long, not exactly the monsters that I get from Shokinaw. I should be able to handle those. I'll send you an email in a private message, I haven't figured out any way to Beta yet that wasn't the old-fashioned "document back and forth by mail", though I have the impression that I'm missing something.
And I've never seen that Vicks Vapo-rub, though I did say I'm not a doctor. I just thought I'd have been introduced to it with my chronic allergies and stuff, but well, live and learn.
4490849
^_^
I agree with him needing a family - after reading this, I remembered a line from an old West Wing Episode, that I could hear coming from Applejack. A character, when asked why she was pushing another and making them rethink some things, says matter-of-factly "Because you never had a big sister before, and you need one." I wish I could steal it for her, but I won't. But you're right - it's that other perspective that's important for someone's development. Discord is rather emotionally immature, and has some growing up to do. And I think a surrogate family, with some of the Mane Six filling in the roles, might be just what he needs!
And I saw your message, thank you!
That's funny, I always have a jar of it in the house - it works great when you have a cold!
4491110
Yeah, different countries, different go-to remedies I guess.
4491121 That would make sense!
I could have done without the Discolestia hinting. It ties with Flashlight for my most hated ships in existence. Of any and all fanbases I've ever been a part of. Disgusnasty. I'm a big fan of "opposites attract" but that's... more personality and lifestyle choice differences, not Good/Evil Law/Chaos, for me. Feels inherently repulsive.
But humble-Dissy Discoshy? I'm totally alright with this. Keep up the Discoshy, which is a superior ship name to Fluttercord, because disco!
4497921
Well, this isn't a romance story so shipping of any kind will only be hinting, so hopefully no senses will be offended!
4498442
Oh Novian, you silly thing. We all know the score on the down-low.
You ever notice how Discord is always grabbing ponies? (and occasionally dragons) He's constantly picking them up, hugging them, dancing with them, squeezing them... sure, he's doing it to be annoying, but it also suggests to me that he's touch-starved. He's mock-hugging ponies to annoy them because he can't admit to himself, and certainly not to them, that he craves real hugs.
I think your Fluttershy is right on the mark. Whether their friendship is platonic or romantic, Discord needs physical, platonic affection to socialize him. He wants it but he doesn't know that he wants it. Part of the reason he acts out constantly isn't just that he loves chaos and disharmony; he could generate chaos and disharmony remotely, without anypony seeing him do it, and in fact for disharmony that would be more effective, because he could get them to blame each other. But Discord is always in ponies' faces, taking credit for his actions, grabbing attention. Part of the reason he's such a jerk is that negative attention is still attention and it's the only kind he could get. Socializing him, providing friendship and physical affection, will reduce his need for negative attention... maybe not his need for chaos, but he might not feel compelled to inflict chaos that frightens ponies on them against their will if he's not trying to get attention.
This chapter was really, really sweet. I am actually kind of a total sucker for Fluttershy being snuggly with Discord.
4498451 Haha!
4498978
You know, I read his behavior the same way! You really hit the nail on the head, I couldn't have said it better myself! I really want to elaborate more, but I find myself just repeating things you've already said so well!
That said, I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter - I admire your writing immensely, so you've really made my day!
I am also a total sucker for Fluttershy-Discord snuggles. It's incredibly fun to write, so I'm sure there will be more of it as this story continues.
4486253 Whatever you need to tell yourself, Uber.
I thought this chapter was kind of sweet.
Discord could have avoided a lot of emotional pain (for himself and everypony else) if he'd been more mannerly in Chapter One of Divine Jealousy. This worldline's Discord will probably have a happier time of it.