Chapter 7: Friends and Foes
Chapter 7: Friends and Foes
Fluttershy was more than happy to be with her friends again (and relieved that there were no hard feeling between her and Twilight after their little spat). She was also pleased when she introduced them to Pinkie Pie and Applejack at lunch and the four of them got along fairly well.
“So again, I’m sorry if I seemed so distant over these past few days.” Said Fluttershy. Twilight gave her an understanding smile.
“Don’t worry Fluttershy, we’ve already put it behind us.” said Twilight.
“I can’t imagine why your mother wouldn’t approve of us.” said Rarity, applying red lipstick on her lips and admiring her reflection in a compact mirror.
“I can imagine a couple reasons.” Applejack muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” Rarity asked crossly. Twilight luckily interjected before a fight could break out.
“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you two.”
“Same here.” said Applejack.
“Yeah! And you know what this calls for.” said Pinkie Pie, practically jumping out of her seat.
“A party?” asked Applejack with a smirk.
“Aw, I wanted to say that!” Pinkie Pie pouted in disappointment. Fluttershy smiled brightly.
“A party sounds lovely.” she said. Other than the tea parties she had as a filly, she'd never been to a party before. Pinkie's pout cleared up instantly.
“I know right, who doesn’t love a good party?” asked Pinkie in a bubbly voice. Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
“Well, tomorrow is the weekend," she said. " Maybe we can all have a slumber party in my dorm room.” If it was possible for anypony to look beyond happy, it was Pinkie Pie. A large grin spread across her face.
“That’s perfect! I have everything a pony could possibly need for the bestest slumber party ever!" said Pinkie Pie. Somehow Fluttershy didn't find that so hard to believe and giggled at Pinkie's contagious enthusiasm along with the rest of the girls.
"We’ll have s’mores, and pillow fights, and ghost stories…” continued Pinkie.
“No ghost stories please.” Fluttershy said timidly. "Anything but those." Rarity brightened as an idea entered her head.
“I could give you girls some makeovers. I have all sorts of creams and adornments that I brought from home." Rarity eyed Applejack's mane. "Maybe we can do something about those split ends.” Applejack rolled her eyes in response.
“Then it’s settled, slumber party tonight in our dorm room after dinner.”
Fluttershy was skipping down the hallway, happily thinking about the slumber party she'd be having with her friends. Talking, eating delicious nighttime treats made by Pinkie Pie and Applejack, playing games. All the things she'd never had the chance to do back home (mostly because the other foals were afraid and her mother would never approve of her doing something so frivolous). But now, she could do all the activities she'd only ever heard or dreamed about. Fluttershy was so lost in her day dreaming that she didn’t pay attention to where she was going and accidentally bumped into somepony.
“Watch where you’re going! Peasant!” said an irritated voice. Fluttershy looked down to find that she'd knocked Princess Fleur Dis Lee to the ground.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t…” Before Fluttershy could get her apology out, Fleur let out a horrified gasp.
“My custom dress!! It’s ruined!" Sure enough, the front of the dress was spattered with a large blot of ink from the bottle in Fleur's bag. Which now rested broken on the floor. Fleur shot a glare at Fluttershy.
"This is all your fault!” she seethed.
“Hey now, what’s going on here?” Noticing the commotion, a navy unicorn stallion with a white mane named Polaris (the teacher for the Astrology class) galloped toward them. Fleur turned to him.
“Oh, Professor Polaris, it’s just horrible! I was minding my own business when Princess Fluttershy here pushed me and spilt ink all over my dress!” Fluttershy was shocked.
“But I didn’t…” Fleur interrupted.
“And it was a special dress too! My grandmother had it made for me for my birthday and now it’s ruined forever. How am I going to explain it to her?” She let out long mournful sobs, her face in her hooves. Professor Polaris patted Fleur on the back, trying to comfort her.
“There, there Princess Fleur Dis Lee, why don’t you go and get yourself cleaned up. I’ll see your absence is excused." said Polaris. Fleur thanked him and shot Fluttershy a mean-spirited smirk as she hurried away in her soiled dress. Polaris faced Fluttershy with a stern expression.
"As for you, pushing other ponies, especially fellow princesses, is not proper behavior for royalty.” he said.
“But I…”
“I won’t hear any excuses, as punishment, you’ll receive a two hour detention this weekend. Professor Discord will supervise as you spend detention in his classroom.”
“Professor Polaris…”
“Good day your highness.” Professor Polaris trotted off, leaving a confused and flustered Fluttershy standing in the hall. Trying to piece together what just happened.
“Detention?" cried Rarity in surprise. Her face trying to maintain its stillness through the green face mask. In her and Twilight's dorm, Fluttershy recounted what happened in the hall with Fleur and Professor Polaris to the girls.
" I can’t believe Fleur would do something so under hoofed.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s that surprising, she and those other high and mighty ponies that follow her around are all rotten to the core.” Said Applejack, tying her blonde mane into a thick braid.
“Now you’ll have to spend a whole two hours with Discord of all ponies. That’s a whole extra hour than our class time with him.” said Rarity.
“I think he’s kinda fun!" Pipped up Pinkie, her mouth full of gooey s'mores. "Like that time he turned the entire classroom upside down in the middle of the lesson. Or when he made a down pour of yummlicious chocolate rain fall on Princess Luna. Too bad there wasn’t any whip cream to go with it.” she spaced out a bit, thinking of delicious whip cream and chocolate. Applejack shook her head.
“Oh Pinkie.” she said.
“What?” asked Pinkie Pie innocently. The girls laughed together at Pinkie's silliness, and Pinkie joined in.
“Don’t worry girls, I’ll be fine.” said Fluttershy, trying to reassure them not to worry. Rarity inspected her flaking face in the vanity mirror.
“Let’s try to change the subject, shall we? All this stress will make me break out.” said Rarity, not wanting a blemish to appear on her clear, silky face.
“We wouldn’t want that to happen now, would we?” said Applejack snarkily. Rarity narrowed her eyes at Applejack, mildly miffed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Rarity. Pinkie Pie popped up between them. From out of nowhere she pulled a platter of treats.
"How about some of my puff scones and apple blossom honey from Applejack's family farm?" asked Pinkie. The night continued with them happily chatting and eating Pinkie's delicious snacks. Pinkie told them about how both she and Applejack have family farms (the apple farm and rock farm). Applejack shared a few of her Granny Smith's old pony tales while Rarity set up curlers in her mane for the night. And Twilight had them all play truth or dare, as followed in a guide book to throwing slumber parties she'd brought with her from her own library. Just in case.
Fluttershy would be lying if she said she wasn't the teeniest bit nervous. But she didn't want to cause any more trouble than she already had for her friends. Standing outside the door of the Tea Etiquette classroom, Fluttershy lightly rapped on the door. Without warning, the door swung open and Fluttershy was pulled in. Discord stood behind his desk, pretending to be reading a slip of paper as he looked at Fluttershy over a pair of librarian glasses.
"So glad you could make it Princess Shutterfly." he said.
"It's Fluttershy." said Fluttershy quietly, brushing a loose strand of her mane out of her mane. Discord gestured dismissively at her.
"Whatever." he said. "Professor Polaris told me that you'd pushed Princess Fleur Dis Lee." Fluttershy shook her head.
"It was a misunderstanding." she said. Discord let out a chuckle. He suddenly appeared by Fluttershy and wrapped an eagle talon around her shoulder.
"Come now Fluttershy, don't act like you didn't want to get even with that snobbish mare." he said.
"But I don't." said Fluttershy. Discord smirked and winked.
"That's what they all say. No shame in being caught red-hoofed." As he said this, Fluttershy's hooves became bright red, as though they were dipped in paint. She sighed. It was clear that no pony other than her friends would believe her.
"For your detention time, I want you to untidy the place up a little." said Discord. Fluttershy looked at him with a befuddled expression.
"Don't you mean tidy up?" asked Fluttershy.
"In case you haven't noticed by now, I do things more differently from you boorish ponies. So I'd get started if I were you." said Discord. Fluttershy did as he said, dirtying the dishes, sweeping dust and dust bunnies onto the floor, and putting the picture frames in crooked angles. When she finished, Discord looked over at the clock on the wall, it's hands (that looked like his own) showed that it had only been roughly 45 minutes.
"Looks like you still have an hour left my dear." he looked at the untidy mess that Fluttershy had made as best she could. Discord nodded his approval.
"Not bad, though I'd have done much better myself. I'd say this calls for a little break." With a snap of his lion paw, a table with a white table cloth appeared in the middle of the room. On it was a small plate of tea cakes, teacups and a teapot.
"Thank you very much." said Fluttershy sincerely. Before helping herself she looked over at the Draconequus lounging far back in a high leather back chair that he hadn't been sitting in before.
"Oh, where are my manners? Would you like to have some of it with me?" asked Fluttershy. Discord raised a bushy white eyebrow.
"I don't usually eat with other ponies, especially princesses." his stomach let out a loud gurgle. He put a paw to his stomach. "But I think I can make an exception." Fluttershy giggled lightly.
"I hardly find my pangs of hunger humorous, dear Fluttershy. Unless perhaps they happened to somepony else." he mused.
"Oh it's not that, it's just, you remind me of my new friend Pinkie Pie. The two of you are both funny." she said. Discord stuck his tongue defiantly. The two ate in silence before Fluttershy spoke up.
"Um...Professor..." she said.
"Just call me Discord, professor is too formal for my tastes." he said, biting a piece off of his teacup and swallowing it.
"What was it like...being turned to stone...?" asked Fluttershy. Discord almost spurt out his tea when she asked the question. Fluttershy immediately regretted asking.
"I'm sorry, forget I said anything." she said, looking away.
"No,no, it's quite alright. I had a feeling somepony might be asking me that question sometime soon. I just didn't expect it to happen this soon." he said. Fluttershy looked up, listening to him as he reminisced about his time in stone.
"It's rather lonely, not to mention boring, being imprisoned in stone. Over a 1,000 years going stir crazy with nothing to do. But being turned to stone didn't keep me from hearing every word somepony would say near me. The rare occasion that I got any visitors was would pass as entertainment. Honestly, there's nothing much to tell." Discord gave Fluttershy an odd glance. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." said Fluttershy. Sipping away at her tea. Discord propped his lion paw under his chin, continuing to reminisce.
"I will say this though, tinkering with the ponies here is the most fun that I've had in eons." said Discord. "The expressions on their faces are priceless. It brings me back to when Equestria was under my rule. in those days things were much more interesting." he let out a sigh as he thought about the glorious chaos he had spread across all of Equestria. Then he shook his head, seeming to remember that Fluttershy was sitting there.
"Oh, but you don't want to hear about any of that." said Discord.
"I do." said Fluttershy to his surprise.
"I want to know, what it was like." she said, looking down into her cup. 'Mother did say to learn everything I can.' she thought to herself. Discord snapped his talons, and the chaotic classroom turned into a cozy reading room with a fire-lit fireplace. Discord was sitting in a large arm chair, dressed in a quilted red robe, fez, and a pair of reading glasses.
"I suggest you make yourself comfortable." said Discord.
Queen Celestia had heard about Fluttershy's detention and hurried to Discord's classroom to make sure everything was alright. She was about to knock when she heard raucous laughter from the other side. Quietly, she opened the door a crack and peered inside. What she saw she almost couldn't believe. Discord was laughing as he and Fluttershy had tea and tea cakes.
"You should've seen the look on her face when she saw that her tail was gone!" he roared. "Simply priceless!"
"I bet she wasn't too happy about that." said Fluttershy.
"Oh she wasn't. But the intense expression she had was just as hilarious!" Fluttershy smiled politely as he went on with his story. Celestia smiled to herself.
"Looks like those two are finally opening up." she whispered. The alicorn gently closed the door to leave the two of them alone.
Discord wasn't sure why he was telling this little pegasus his life story, but as she laughed along with him and listened intently, he would feel something unfamiliar inside him. Probably just his sides from all the laughing he'd been doing. As he paused to catch his breath, he looked up at the clock and saw that she had stayed well over two hours.
"Look at the time." he said. "That late already." Fluttershy's eyes widened as she noticed the late hour too.
"Goodness, I better get back to my friends, they must be wondering what's kept me." said Fluttershy, slipping out of her chair and hurrying toward the door. Discord felt a twinge of disappointment that he quickly brushed off. Fluttershy stopped in her tracks and turned to him.
"I had a lot of fun, thank you." she said sweetly. "I'd like to do it again sometime." Discord looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"You want to get detention again?"
"No," said Fluttershy. "I mean this, us having tea and just talking together...as friends."
"Friends..." Discord said, musing over the word. "I don't think I've ever had one of those."
"Well now you do." said Fluttershy, smiling up at him. As she left, she said, "You're not as horrible as they say."
Discord just stood there, not sure what to think. That princess, Fluttershy, was a curious little thing. Maybe he'd take her up on her offer and have tea with her again. Discord shook his head to keep his mind straight. Before he could think of tea parties, he had other things that needed his attention. Namely getting rid of the blasted barrier.
The room started to feel cold, as if all the warmth was sucked out of it. Discord looked around for what the source could be. An echo of malevolent laughter filled the room. The mirror from before glowed with a dark light. Discord raised an eyebrow.
"A bit dramatic, don't you think?" he asked. The mirror spoke, showing no face.
"It seemed to be the only way to get your attention, though you don't sound too surprised."
"I was beginning to have my suspicions about that mirror." he said.
"That's because I've allowed you to know of my presence." said the mirror coldly.
"A high honor I'm sure." Discord said sarcastically. "But if you're finished I've got better things to do."
"Such as breaking the invisible barrier that keeps you here?" Discord stared at the mirror.
"How did you..."
"Oh, I know many things Draconequus, how you've traded one imprisonment for another. Your powers weakened and are now forced to do the queen's bidding." Discord gave a deep frown.
"I can take the obvious remarks from Celestia and that know it all Princess Twilight, I don't need you to start doing it too."
"Nevertheless, I have a proposition for you. One that could prove most helpful to you." Discord was a bit skeptical of the disembodied voice from the mirror, but didn't see any harm in listening.
"Do tell." he said. The mirror went on.
"There is a key that Celestia keeps with her at all times, it unlocks a vault that keeps an old book of spells. Within it, is a null spell that should disable the barrier. Bring me the key and I shall bring you the book."
"Is that all?" asked Discord.
"I'll take care of everything." Discord's eyes narrowed and he took a wary step back.
"Let's say I do get this key and you keep your word and give me the book," said Discord. "What's in it for you?"
"Think of it as, a gift, from me to you. Oh, and there's one more thing I need you to do." Discord heaved a dramatic sigh.
"What is it now?"
"Once you give me the key, I want you to...convince Queen Celestia to allow a little field trip for her princesses, to Canterlot castle." Discord scratched his head.
"Canterlot? Whatever for?" But the voice vanished and the warmth returned to the room.
"How peculiar." Discord said to himself. He didn't trust that mirror one bit, but it's offer was tempting.
"After all," he said, a smirk forming on his face. "the sooner I'm free, the sooner I can stir things up around here."
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*Fangirling mode on max* Osmeicducneichneicnndjhcndiwuendichnej!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
Too cute!
Also, DUN DUN DUN!!! Just as I suspected. Discord gets one little deal and poof...he's somepony's plaything now. Queen Bitchy is probably gonna stab 'im in the back after she's free.
To Sky Mist: Did you have any doubts? Also, an important twist will be added in the future.
I may or may not be offline for a couple of days, perfecting the next chapter. Just a heads up!
To all readers: I am editing chapters 1-3, adding more details. Feel free to reread them if you wish.