Fluttershy was sick with an illness.
Discord was sick with worry.
“You don’t feel well?” he asked her, as the shy, sweet, Easter yellow Pegasus slowly walked over to the door. “Is it bad?”
Before Fluttershy could lift a hoof to exit the front door, Discord floated over in front of her, inspecting her with keen yellow eyes and red irises. “Is it measles? Mumps? How’s your head?” He lifted his lion paw to her forehead. His eyes widened at the touch. “It’s hot! Oh no no no no no, my dear. This is not the time for you to go out and feed your animals. You must stay in bed.”
“B-But, but, but…” she began to protest. “I need to…to…Ah…Ah…ACHOO!”
Discord snapped his fingers, and an umbrella appeared in his grip before her sneeze could give him a nice cold shower. “My point exactly. You are sick with a cold, and you have a fever of…” He touched her head again. “102 degrees exactly. There will be no work for you today, my dear Fluttershy!”
“Discord…” she croaked. Her throat ached, and she sounded like a frog had replaced her voicebox. “If I don’t go take care of those poor little hungry creatures, who will?”
“Most of those creatures are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves,” he answered. “The only ones that really need attending to are your chickens and Angel Bunny. I shall take care of it.”
He snapped his fingers, but nothing happened directly inside the house. “There, all done. I even fed the ones who don’t need such help,” he answered her. “Now, go to the couch, and I’ll bring you some tea.”
“Discord…I can’t let you wait on m-me…” she tried to whine. “I can…can…”
A claw covered her snout before she could sneeze, stopping it altogether. “I know you can take care of yourself, Fluttershy. And I want to make my darling best friend forever-whatever feel all better!”
Another snap, and Fluttershy suddenly appeared at the couch with a blanket on top of her.
“Now, you rest while I brew you some tea and honey, honey,” he said.
Normally, he would’ve made a joke of the situation and magicked up a maid’s costume to make fun of himself for taking care of her. And had it been Twilight or Applejack or any other pony, he would have.
But for some reason…
I do not want her to see me in a dress, he thought.
So, he switched to a butler’s uniform, a crisp black suit—without the mustache.
(And miles away, Spike the Dragon felt slightly disappointed, his upper lip suddenly itchy. He had no idea why.)
The image still got a slight giggle from Fluttershy—a sound as melodious to Discord as a violin—before a barking cough interrupted the musical laughter.
He made sure to add an extra dollop of honey to the steaming tea he made her.
His Fluttershy wasn’t to bark like a dog!
“Are you comfortable?”
He had done everything to make it so she was, in fact, comfy. A single fluffy pillow filled with goose down supported Fluttershy’s head, and a warm green blanket wrapped her like a butterfly in a cocoon—a thought that made Discord laugh, since her cutie mark was composed of such insects.
“What’s so funny…?” she croaked again.
“Oh, nothing, nothing, Fluttershy. Don’t speak a great deal, it’ll make your throat hurt.” In his hands, he wrapped the blanket tighter around her. “There, that’s better. Are you warm enough? Or are you cold? Do you need more blankets? Perhaps some entertainment? Or are you tired?”
A smile showed up on Fluttershy’s lips. I…I think I like this, she thought to herself as she watched the reformed draconequus fret over her. I don’t know why, but it makes me happy…to see him so worried about me…
“Oh, I almost forgot!” he replied, and he suddenly reached towards her hair. “Your hair clip! Shall I remove it for you? The pressure of it could give you a headache.”
She was surprised when she found herself shielding the clip. “N-No!” she shouted, though because of her condition it was more of a loud, croaking whisper. “D-Don’t…!”
Discord blinked at her. Such a strong reaction for her, he thought, wondering if maybe the sickness was making her antsy. While for most ponies (especially strong-willed ones like Rainbow Dash), a shout would have made sense, it was something unheard of when it came to sweet, meek ponies like Fluttershy. “Why not?” he asked her. “Surely taking it off would be better, wouldn’t it? You can’t sleep in such a thing, and you need your rest!”
A blush the shade of her hair appeared on Fluttershy’s face. “I…always…”
“Hmm? Always what?”
“I a-always wear it. I…sleep in it…all the time. I only take it off when I bathe…so it won’t rust or come apart.”
It was as if the blush divided in two and emerged onto Discord’s face as well. He had made Fluttershy the hair clip that they were discussing—made it with his own claw and paw. In fact, the burns left from the glue had just finished healing the day before.
You…never take it off? He asked her in his head. You like it that much?
His heart thumped more vigorously now, and a warmth spread over his body, like he was slowly being doused in hot fudge. It was a pleasant feeling, if not even better than pleasant.
“Oh. Well then…” Not for the first time that week, Discord rubbed his head and stroked his beard. “I suppose then…if you’re used to wearing it.”
“It feels wrong without it,” she added. “I love it…very much.”
What she wanted to say was “I love you…very much.”
But she didn’t dare, and she wanted to ease the tension in the room. “D-Discord?”
“Y-Yes?” he asked. Oh great. Now I’M stuttering too! What is it that you do to me, Fluttershy?
“I’m cold.”
She wasn’t lying, actually. Though the blanket was nice and wooly, her body just couldn’t get warm. Perhaps it was the stitching—it was crochet, and there were large gaps in the wool, as was the design.
“You are? Really? Hmm, that blanket usually does an excellent job of keeping me warm,” he mused, eyeing the blanket as if it disappointed him from its failure to keep his darling pony warm.
“Well, not to worry! I can easily conjure up more. Or perhaps even a heater! Or—“
“Y-You could lay here with me, maybe.”
She was just full of surprises today. “My dear, your illness is making you delirious!” he said to her, and checked her temperature. It was actually down by a degree, he could tell from his hand and his magic. “Do you even know what you speak of?!?”
“B-But I don’t want a blanket…I think…” Her face started to resemble Big Macintosh’s coat. “I think having a friend to cuddle with would do better.”
Cuddle? She wants…? His heart sped up faster. She wants me to cuddle with her?!? Me??
The corners of his mouth twitched. He wanted to smile, he wanted to shout in glee. He didn’t know why, but he did. But he stopped the urge, to keep his wits about him.
“You…know what cuddling is, don’t you?” Fluttershy asked him. She wasn’t being mean or coy; that wasn’t her style, obviously. She just thought he looked confused.
“Wha..? Of c-course I do!” he suddenly snapped, his embarrassment taking his judgment from him temporarily. While Fluttershy knew Discord would never hurt her, she jumped at his sudden loud voice.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he apologized, not meaning to cause her distress. “I didn’t mean to yell at you, my dear,” he explained, his voice now softer, so soft that no pony got to hear it like that except for her. “I was just…surprised, is all.”
“Why?”
“Because, well…I’m Discord, Lord of Chaos. I’m not exactly Mr. Snuggle Wuzzykins.” A teddy bear appeared with his magic, and he tucked it into the crook of Fluttershy’s foreleg. “I’ve never really cuddled with anypony before. I never…wanted to.”
“O-Oh…” Fluttershy grew sad. Silly me, she thought, chastising herself. I’m just a silly filly, with silly feelings. You need to stop this, Fluttershy. He would never…
For a millisecond, she saw Discord disappear, and then she felt a long, snakelike body behind her. Discord’s arms bear-hugged her around the torso, with her head tucked under his chin, his beard hanging from the side of her face, but not so much as to obscure her vision.
“But I’m certainly willing to embrace you and keep you warm, Fluttershy. For you.”
Fluttershy’s blush remained, as it couldn’t get any redder than it already was. “I…I don’t want you to cuddle with me if you don’t want to,” she told him. She was glad he held her from behind her, so he couldn’t see her face. “Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean you have to.”
“I want to.”
Slowly and intimately, their tails intertwined with one another, a twist of red and pink with a white tuft at the end.
“I really do.”
Slowly, she started to smile, and her eyelids suddenly grew heavy. “Thank you…This is nice…” She hugged a portion of Discord’s arms with her hooves, feeling protected and cared for.
And maybe even loved, though she didn’t want to assume so.
But I can hope, right?
Before her eyes closed, she felt something soft and warm touch the top of her head.
A kiss. A small, innocent, chaste one, but a kiss nonetheless.
I don’t know what I’m doing, Discord thought. I don’t know what I’m feeling. I don’t know why I’m kissing her now.
His lips broke away from her head.
But I think it’s love. I can’t be certain, as I know near to nothing of romance, but…
“Hmm….” She couldn’t fight her eyes any longer, and her eyes closed. She fell asleep.
The smile on her face was angelic and prominent. Discord couldn’t miss it.
He smiled back, even though she couldn’t see it.
I think it’s love.
SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!
4463651
Thank you! That was the goal. I like the thought of their tails intertwining, so I had to do that especially.
D'aww.
D'aww
D'AWW!
4463732
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you!!!
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwewwwwwwwwwwww!
Awwwwwwwwww!
Another! Another! Another! Another! Pleassssse ^_^
So this is love, hmm-m-m-m
So this loooooooove
I can't wait for more of these keep it up!!!
YOU MUST COUNT YOU IT IS SO EPIC OF LOOOOOVELY
MORE PLEASE THIS IS AMAZING!
You are a Fluttercord Master Writer!
So happy that you're writing more~
4464249
Haha, sure! I'll be busy for a while, but I'll certainly do my best to update sometime soon! It's good to be writing fanfiction again...
4464259
This is looooove!
I'll update whenever I can! Thanks for the support!
4464568
The reviews were so sweet and supportive that I couldn't say no, so yeah, I wrote more! And it's fun, and it'll get fluffier! Thanks! ^_^ Hee hee, you all are so sweet.
So sweet!
If I could give another thumbs up I would, too bad I can't...
Ach, my teeth, they hurt. This is so sweet.
Liked the other chapter better, it was less cliched, but this was great fun still, I was smiling at the adorableness of it all the way through, so I can't complain.
Now, time for Discord to realize he has no clue what to do.
Happy writing.
omg amazing.
4465286
I'll go ahead and respond to both here, mkay?
Chapter 1: I'm glad you enjoy my dialogue, because it's my favorite part in writing fiction. Especially Discord--he's just so fun with is vernacular (I think I used that word correctly).
Ah, and yes, the capital letters. I was nervous about using so much italics--I was afraid perhaps I overdid it then as well, so I tried mixing it up a bit. I'll try to keep it in mind.
As for the author's note, it's a habit I used when I had an account on fanfiction. It's a method used a lot on there, so I didn't think much of it. I guess I will now! XD But I realize I needed to be clearer, so I'll try to do that. I just get excited about posting it and don't consider everything. I'll have to remember your reviews so I can remember to do so.
Chapter 2: Heh, I did use a lot of cliche, didn't I? I was having fun with the fluff that I didn't really try to make it unique. I'll have to consider that for next chapter.
Thanks for the great feedback!!!
I now have diabetes thank you.
These are adorable! Your an excellent writer and story teller, I kept reading Nuzzle over and over and freaked out when I saw it had been updated! Was definitely not disappointed with this new chapter.
4466747
Wow, that was a lot more positive than I expected from any response starting with "m'kay". Glad you take the criticism graciously. Another thing that speaks in your favor.
I am, of course, not the definite judge of what is correct and not, but I have never seen an authors note in a proper, professional work. And while I will accept a lot in fanfic that will never make it to printed page, I will try nudge people towards cleaner, more understandable and simply better work and jumping out of even the "role" as narrator to clarify is simply not something you can defend. For me at least, it completely ruins pacing and immersion. And if nothing else, I try to help people be consistent within their own work and if caps is used once for shouting, then every other use of caps, unless it is in an in universe sign or poster, will be read as shouting.
And here I go, ranting again. You're doing fine, you keep writing, I keep nagging and then we'll go somewhere fantastic and terrific together.
Happy writing.
this is lovely and I want more.
4467960
Haha, no need to apologize for the ranting! I do the same. And of course I would never lash out or offend anyone who is honestly trying to help me and being considerate towards me, something you definitely did for me. You took the time to thoughtfully help me and explain what I could do to make the writing better, while also telling me what you enjoyed so I would know that I have both strong and weak points. And I see what you mean with the "mkay." That can sound negative at times. But yes, I take your helpful advice with a willing and appreciative attitude. You're especially right with the author's notes; they do not appear in public works and should not be used. I'll have to divorce with author's notes, haha. But yeah, thank you very very much. I truly do appreciate it. I'm sure we'll get to that beautiful place together.
4467657
Aw, you kept rereading it? Thank you! And it was hard for me not to update it, since some readers asked for it so nicely with such kind comments! I had to thank you all somehow, and I will update again, I promise. I don't know when, but I will!
4468006
More is coming! I just started the next one.
4466747
It's true they do the author's note thing a lot on fanfiction, but that's because most of them are approximately 13 years old and don't know much about writing. :-) I would have noted that mistake if someone hadn't gotten to it first; it's really distracting, so I'm glad you're going to take it out.
Author's notes can go above or below a story, but not inside.
Story is adorable, by the way.
*FANGIRL*
Esto es taaan tiernoo!!!
I love it, I liked every part of this fic...
The part of the tails... SOO CUTEEE!!...
I and my fangirls screams woke the neighbor...
Sorry my bad inglish... -.-u
*uncontrollable fangirling*
I have never read anything as cute as this before.
4561639 Haha, thanks! I decided to make it super cute since Fluttercord isn't exactly the biggest of fandoms. Glad it did it's job!
I'm about to explode from the cute! All the Squees!
I think... I think I'm gonna explode of all of the cuddles.
Dawwww!!
Anyone else catch the Spongebob reference?
Oh, the hilarity!
Ya got that right!
I love the hilighted phrase!!!! It communicates such delicious warmth!
This is so Discord!
I love this line too!!!!! The voice I imagined him saying it in just made it even funnier!
AHHHH
*dies of to much exposure to cuteness*