How'd She Do It?

by BrilliantCreativity

Cameras

Fluttershy walked slowly down the dirt road towards Ponyville's town square with her head down as her pink locks draped over her face, hiding the disgruntled look in her eyes. She couldn't get Discord off her mind, and she found the thought quite unsettling. This morning, she tried to feed all the animals but her mind wandered to the past day and she ended up dumping the bird seed all over a bunch of squirrels, stepping on one of the mouse's tails, hitting Angel Bunny with a dust pan and then dropping the broom stick on top of a marmot. Not one of her finest moments.
She felt terrible and sniffled as she thought back to Discord. He was so confusing.

"Fluttershy!" three voices shouted, two male and the other female. Fluttershy didn't recognize either of them. They all wore hats and held cameras with notepads and quills in hoof. Their eyes were alit with excitement as they approached the frightened mare. Fluttershy took a step back as she put a hoof to her chest. "C-can I h-help you?" she stuttered.

"Is it true that you reformed the Lord of Chaos!?" a purple colt asked, silencing the other two as they all waited patiently and eagerly. "U-umm, I mean I suppose b-but-" she stopped herself short as she realized they were all writing down everything she was saying, which only made her eyes shrink and a throbbing in her throat surface.

"Was it difficult?! Did he hurt you?!"

"Is it true that he turned your cottage upside down?!"

"I've heard that he can use mind control to manipulate ponies, can you evaluate?!"

"Is he as evil as they say?!"

"Would you describe him as monstrous?!"

All of their voices echoed around her head, question after question being fired again and again; not even giving her a chance to answer. She began to feel dizzy and put a hoof to her head.

"Everypony stop! That's quite enough," boomed a large and masculine voice, but not one that Fluttershy was welly acquainted with. Turning her head, Fluttershy saw Flithy Rich coming up the trail. She could only wonder what in Equestria he was doing here.

Trotting up next to Fluttershy, he looked at the three photographers. "You should be ashamed, crowding an innocent mare, let alone an Element of Harmony," he shouted defiantly.

The photographers each gave each other a confused look before turning their heads back to Rich, who made a motion with his head to tell them to get going. "Many a-apologies, Fluttershy," the female stuttered before turning away with the other two, each of them still looking at Rich with a strangled look.

Fluttershy sighed and turned to the wealthy stallion. "Thank you Filth-er-Rich," she said, her face turning red from embarrassment."No need for that Fluttershy. Now, perhaps you could tell me what all that was about hmm?" he asked. She really didn't feel like talking, especially to somepony like Filthy Rich, but she knew that he'd think her rude. Though, she knew she had to be careful about how much information she shared, increasingly about Discord. Fluttershy knew how fast gossip could spread.

"They simply came up to me on the path and started asking questions, for the newspaper no doubt," she simplified. He raised an eyebrow, "And what exactly were they asking about?" he inquired. Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders, hoping he would think that it was not important but that was not the case. She sighed once more, "They were just asking about Discord."

"Discord? As in, the Lord of Chaos Discord?" he asked surprised, though it didn't seem entirely believable but she couldn't think why. Fluttershy gave a small nod. "But he's good now, after his reformation," she rushed, thinking herself silly.

"Is that so? Why do you say such things?" his questions were odd and he seemed quite interested, curiously more than he should've been. "Well, I mean, no disrespect Rich but do you see any chocolate milk pouring from cotton candy clouds, or checkered grass or rabbits with longer legs than you or I, perhaps you see floating houses and purple skies that echo with his maniacal laughter while he tortures innocent ponies and Sir, do you see an Evil God of Chaos sitting on a throne with the Elements of Harmony in paw or claw?! No, no you don't! Do you realize why?! Perhaps it's because I became his friend!" she practically shouted, surprising both Filthy Rich and herself. Her voice seemed to have been rising with each word and she could only put a hoof to her mouth and stare at the rich stallion wide eyed.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, Sir. I-I do not know where that came from..." she said shamefully, backing away. "N-no need for apologies, quite alright but you do seem rather stressed so I suppose I should let you be on your way...Umm, good day Fluttershy," he said hesitantly before turning away and walking back towards Ponyville. Fluttershy whipped her head around and stared at the Everfree Forest, and without even thinking, she bolted towards and into it. She could feel tears in her eyes as the wind flew past her, blowing her mane in a tangled but beautiful motion.

She eventually stopped, as she came to a cliff, the same one that had fallen apart when she and her friends had gone searching for the Elements of Harmony.

Fluttershy leaned against the large wall of stone and looked beyond the abyss in front of her. Her breathing slowed as she relaxed into the rock formation and wrapped her hooves around herself, in a hug-like formation. "I'm going crazy," she whispered to herself. She wiped away a singular tear and stared at the green grass."What is wrong with me? Am I getting sick?" she sighed, "Perhaps it's just me."

"Oh, I doubt that."

Fluttershy bolted to her hooves and looked around the forest. She knew his voice, of course it was him. "Discord?" she said aloud, hoping for him to come out. At least she knew she wasn't alone in the woods.

She still saw no sight of him, until she watched a white tuft of fur come down in front of her face. Gazing upwards, she was relieved to see the Lord of Chaos perched on a branch that stuck out of the stone wall.

"Hello Fluttershy. That was quite the little show you put on back there," he smirked as he looked towards his new friend. He still didn't quite see the point of having one but he did know that it felt...nice? Maybe that was the word, though he didn't really give it much thought.

Fluttershy burned red and stared into his ember eyes. "Y-you saw that? H-how much?" she asked worriedly. "Most of it I'm sure. From the part where one of the newspaper ponies said Lord of Chaos."

"Oh." Fluttershy, didn't know what else to say. Was he offended by what she said or what anypony else had said. Oh sweet Celestia, she hoped not.

"You certainly know how to put on a good show my dear," he said, raising a fuzzy eyebrow before slithering off his branch and landing on the ground. He crossed his arms and looked at the mare.

She wished he would just tell her what he had thought. Was he mad, angry, suspicious, confused, sad, hurt? She had no idea.

"I-I'm sorry if I offended you or-"

"Offended me? My dear, you wound me, do you truly think me that petty? To be hurt by some meaningless comments from a pony who has nothing to do with their time except nag?" He stated confidently. Though he would never admit it, there were a few times where he could almost feel something prick at him. Did he hurt you?! I've heard that he can use mind control to manipulate ponies! Is he as evil as they say?! Would you describe him as monstrous?!

The memory of Fluttershy in the maze with him floated into place as he remembered how he was unable to manipulate her and yet he could do so with all the others. It still fascinated him to this day. Though, again, he would never admit it, especially not to Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry, I just..." she took a deep breath and looked deep into his eyes, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I mean, after how we parted yesterday, I was worried that I had done something wrong-"

"And that I'd go back to my evil ways or perhaps go gallivanting towards Ponyville and torture some innocent ponies?" he said icily. Fluttershy felt hurt but at the same time knew she deserved it. How foolish of her to say that towards FIlthy Rich. "I'm so sorry Discord, I-I wasn't thinking when I said that but you need to know that that's not what was going through my head when we parted ways! I just wanted to make sure you were alright!" she nudged, taking one step closer to him, to which he questioned.

Scoffing at her words, Discord looked away and stared at the small amount of blue sky above them. "Please, spare me your comedy," he grunted. Fluttershy scowled towards him. "Discord, yesterday you asked me if I would approach you on may own and on my own accord and you didn't believe me. Today, you ask me if I thought you were to retreat back to your old ways and I retaliate and yet you still don't trust me. Why?" she breathed, staring at the tall draconequus. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him, he must've been so lonely and mistreated to have become so distant.

"Forgive me my dear, but I haven't exactly ever done this before," he said, gesturing to the space between the two of them. "I'm not what you would call an expert at trust and especially not...friendship. Uhg, why is this so hard? I thought this whole friend thing was supposed to be easy, was supposed to help me, but it's just...confusing!" he growled, agitated with the situation.

"Discord, I know friendship is new to you and believe me, I know how confusing and strange it is but-"

"How could you possibly know? You're an Element of Harmony for Tartarus sake!" he retaliated, interrupting her. Fluttershy was calm and walked closer to the Lord of Chaos, sitting next to his feet. Discord looked down towards her, intrigued and curious about her actions.

"When I was younger, I had absolutely no friends and no experience with it. My childhood was not as...disgruntled as yours was but, as a child, being bullied can still hurt...anyway, when I made my first friend, Rainbow Dash, I had no idea what to do or how to handle it. I had trust issues and kept to myself, usually locking myself away in my room after school and flight camp...so, I get it. Not absolutely all of it but...I can relate a bit."

Discord plastered the ghost of a smile on his face a fought the urge to stroke her pink mane. Everything about friendship was confusing but...with Fluttershy, it might not be too bad.

A large rumble shook the ground and the pair looked towards each-other in confusion and Fluttershy in fear. "What-AHHH!" she screamed as the ground gave way and she began to fall. Discord had began hovering immediately after the ground left his feet, and he expected to see Fluttershy doing the same but-

He acted swiftly and flew downwards towards the unconscious pegasus, probably fainted from fear. As he carefully grabbed for her, he realized one too many things at once. First was how adorable she was, the second being the soft texture of her fur, the third being how nicely she smelled, the fourth being how...cuddly she was? Though, one of the last things was the bruise on the left side of her head. Discord ran his paw over the spot, realizing that she had become unconscious from something hitting her head and not fainting from fright. He felt bad for not catching her quicker, but felt even worse for the trouble he was putting her through.

Discord could hear Timber Wolves howling and pulled Fluttershy closer to his chest, before flying upwards and towards her cottage. He knew he could've teleported but he felt like flying, for a reason he didn't know the answer to.
As he flew with the sun gracing his face, he looked down towards the small pegasus and gave a small smile before facing the home that he had once turned upside down, without even giving a thought to the idea of having an Element of Harmony as a friend.

Comments

[Ryshinki]

I like it, please update.