The Haven

by Original Usermane

The Worth of a Soul

Considering all the weird things that the ponies had had to deal with over the years, they were pretty good at coping with new and strange situations. As much as none of them really liked Discord at that point, except maybe Pinkie, they were willing to adapt, especially because it quickly became obvious that Fluttershy had never been happier.

Soon the fact that Discord and Fluttershy were married and expecting became common knowledge, and though Discord had to spend a few weeks fighting off reporters who wanted an inside scoop, things soon settled down and found a new normal.

A few weeks later, Fluttershy’s cravings began kicking in. To nopony’s surprise, cotton candy and chocolate milk were at the top of the list. A new one, and a rather significant one, appeared on a normal morning.

Discord, a late sleeper as usual, stretched and yawned as he woke up that morning, and immediately teleported into the dining room in the normal house, expecting Fluttershy to be up and caring for her animals as usual. He admittedly went into a bit of a panic when he found the front room deserted and an irritated and hungry Angel Bunny glaring at him like it was his fault he hadn’t been fed.

This moment of panic, of course, led to a full-scale manhunt for his missing and pregnant wife, which involved him splitting into several duplicates and spreading out across Ponyville. He even tried asking her friends, but none of them had seen her. He was just about to flip out and demand that Twilight find a tracking spell of some kind when Applejack came into town trailed by a mortified Fluttershy. Applejack just appeared to be amused.

“Lookin’ fer this?” Applejack asked. Discord, relieved, recombined into one copy of himself and rushed to give Fluttershy a hug.

“Where were you? You left without feeding that animals, that’s not like you,” Discord admonished.

“I think a new cravin’ must’ve reared it’s ugly head,” Applejack chuckled. “It’ll be good fer business, I suppose.”

“I’m so sorry, Applejack. I promise I’ll pay you back,” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Don’t worry about it, sugarcube. You don’t owe me anythin’,” Applejack assured. “I really should get back to the orchard, though. I’ll see ya later.” She turned and walked off.

“What did she mean, new craving?” Discord asked, confused.

“I, um, appear to have a craving for apples, now,” Fluttershy admitted, blushing. “I kind of went Flutterbat this morning after I had my apple and flew to the orchard.”

“I missed it!?” Discord exclaimed disappointedly. “Darn!”

“Um, what?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’ve told you before, dear, you’re terribly attractive when you go batty,” Discord purred. “Pun fully intended. I suppose we’ll just have to stock up on more apples, now.”

Discord didn’t fully realize the possible joys of this new development until several months later, when Fluttershy had started showing in a significant way. Already a weak flier, the extra pounds had made it nigh impossible for her to get off of the ground. When the day came that she couldn’t even start to lift off the ground, he made a terrible, terrible mistake.

“Discord, sweetie, could you get me an apple, please?” Fluttershy asked with a pout. She was lying on the couch tiredly, more easily exhausted recently than she had been before, and the long day of taking care of the animals had taken its toll on her. He didn’t mind catering to her, so he got up and grabbed an apple from the kitchen without much thought. A mischievous spark of an idea caught a hold of his brain, though, and being Discord, he couldn’t resist having a bit of fun.

“I got your apple, dear,” Discord said sweetly, and proceeded to dangle it just out of her pregnant reach.

“Um, Discord, I can’t reach it,” Fluttershy pointed out gently. He only grinned as she started salivating and her fangs started appearing. “Discord, I need my apple!”

“Just give me this,” Discord said pleadingly. “If Flutterbat is attractive, just imagine pregnant Flutterbat. It’ll be stunning!” The more the bat-like features took over, the less Fluttershy’s timid nature controlled her. Finally, she was only a snap away from losing coherency as Discord watched appreciatively. She got up on her hind hooves, groping desperately for the fruit, but Discord only pulled it higher out of her reach.

“Discord, honey?” Fluttershy said innocently. Suddenly her pupils got alarmingly small and her eyes went full-on Stare. “GIVE ME THAT APPLE IF YOU VALUE YOUR SOUL! YOU KNOW I CAN’T FLY WITH ALL THIS EXTRA WEIGHT!” Discord was in too good a mood to be scared, which ended up being his downfall.

“But Fluttershy, dear, what soul?” Discord guffawed.

The one reaction he was not expecting was a bruising blow to the side, knocking him off-balance and onto the floor, and several other blows to his suddenly reachable body parts. Satisfied that the threat had been neutralized, the now fully-transformed Flutterbat grabbed the apple and sucked it dry, then headed to the kitchen and drained the rest of her stash, as well. As she regained her senses and in a moment of pregnancy-induced mood swing reentered the living room with a deceptively sweet look on her face as a still-in-shock Discord huddled in pain on the floor.

“Oh, and honey?” she asked with a smile. “You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.” She walked out to make her way to the haven and take a nap.

“So that’s what a mood swing is like,” Discord groaned. “Note to self: never do that again.” He wallowed in self-pity for awhile before healing himself with a snap and sulking on the couch. Needless to say, he never pulled a stunt like that again.

He tried to garner pity from Fluttershy’s friends, but the general result of that was him getting laughed at, and Rarity telling him that he got what he deserved. Something about that seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite put a claw on it. In the end, he gave up and went home, only to find that Fluttershy had woken up out of her mood swing and had been crying, thinking she’d driven him off by being mean.

Her tears caused him to panic, and he spent several minutes assuring her that it was fine. This ended with her sobbing into his shoulder, so he had a nagging suspicion that this was just another mood swing.

“So… does this mean I can sleep in the bedroom tonight?” Discord asked hopefully.

“No,” Fluttershy said instantly, and once again walked away.

“Darn,” Discord grumbled. “Maybe I’ll ask if I can bunk at Celly’s.”

“No,” Fluttershy refuted, poking her head back in with a determined look on her face. Then, to both of their surprise, a iron-barred cage appeared around Discord. It was enough to bring Fluttershy out of her mood swings again, and she immediately began freaking out.

“Did you do that!?” she exclaimed.

“No, why would I?” Discord said huffily. “I don’t happen to enjoy hanging out in cages, surprisingly enough.”

“But… nopony else is here,” Fluttershy said nervously. “And I don’t have magic.”

“No, but I think our worst nightmares just came true, and the foal inherited my magic,” Discord moaned with a growing air of foreboding.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said, looking down at her bulging midsection. “That will certainly make this place lively.”

“You’re taking that rather calmly.”

“It’s better than the alternative,” Fluttershy said with a small laugh. “Besides, we’ll love it just the same.”

“Well, sure, but it might make it harder to get other ponies to like it,” Discord pointed out. “Think baby unicorn, only about nine times worse.” Fluttershy winced slightly, but did a good job hiding it.

“Well, we’ll teach it to be careful with it. I’m sure we can handle it,” Fluttershy said determinedly. “And of course you can sleep in the bedroom tonight. I’m so sorry!”

“We can blame our budding offspring and call it good,” Discord dismissed.

It finally, after so many months, got to the point where the rest of the Mane Six had accepted Discord. He no longer had any reason to stay away from their get-togethers, which was good, because he’d already started his paternity leave from working with Celestia, and he intended to spend nearly every second of it hovering over Fluttershy. (He’d never tell her this, mostly because she would freak out, but part of him was worried that, since the foal took after him in terms of magic, it would also take after him in terms of gestation period, in which case it could literally pop out any day.)

One day, though, when Fluttershy was hobbling into the castle for their weekly meetup and social gathering, a magical force field tore him out of his customary perch in her mane and held him firmly outside of the room.

“Surprise!” Pinkie could be heard from inside.

“What gives!?” Discord exclaimed, pounding irritatedly against the bubble.

“Foal shower. Go away,” Rarity said, and slammed the door in his face.

“Rude!” Discord scoffed. Meanwhile, Fluttershy on the inside was extremely flustered.

“You girls didn’t have to go to all the trouble to do this for me!” she exclaimed, tearing up a bit, being even more overly emotional than normal.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rainbow snorted. “Pinkie will use any excuse to throw a party, and a foal is always a reason to celebrate, even if it’s, ya know, only half pony.”

“Especially when it’s only half pony!” Twilight exclaimed. She’d warmed up to the idea considerably when she realized the scientific implications of such a conception. She hadn’t made much effort to hide her enthusiasm, and Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure how to feel about her friend’s eagerness to use her unborn child as a science experiment.

“Lay off, Twi,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s get this party started!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Pinkie exclaimed happily, and in a burst of confetti the festivities began.

Comments

[TheGreatEater]

Soon the fact that Discord and Fluttershy were married and expecting became common knowledge, and though Discord had to spend a few weeks fighting off reporters who wanted an inside scoop, things soon settled down and found a new normal.

Read this and immediately saw him literally fighting off reporters with a spatchula and a rubber toy hammer.

[WinterShiny]

5471849 I imagined him in riot gear with a baseball bat... Man I'm brutal...

[Lord_01010000]

Why couldn't Discord go to the foal shower? All the baby showers I've ever been to also had the father present.

[samstermlp]

6411931

Ponies are weird. That's my answer for anything that doesn't make sense.

[Carnation83]

5471849 I love that visual image!

[TheGreatEater]

7181507

Thanks.