> The Haven
>  by Original Usermane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> And So It Begins...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Yes, Princess, I’m ready to use my magic for good instead of evil,” Discord said, giving Celestia a bow. “Most of the time,” he added in a mutter.
“Congratulations on your success, ponies. I definitely sense a big change in Discord,” Celestia said with a smile. She leaned to whisper to Twilight. “I’ll leave the Elements of Harmony with you, Twilight. Just in case.” Twilight nodded understandingly.
“You were right when you said Fluttershy would be the one to find a way to reform Discord,” Twilight said. “By treating Discord as a friend, she got him to realize that friendship was actually important to him. And something that, once he had, he didn’t want to lose.”
Fluttershy gave a sly smile and nudged Discord forward.
“Go on, say it,” she urged.
“Oh, all right,” Discord said reluctantly. He turned to Celestia. “Friendshipismagic.”
Fluttershy smiled and put her hoof on his paw.
“See? He can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him,” she said happily. The others all made faces, including Celestia, though she covered it up relatively quickly.
“Well I’m glad to hear it. Now, I must get Discord back to Canterlot so I can instruct him on his new duties,” Celestia said. Discord sighed.
“I suppose, if I must. Goodbye, Fluttershy,” he said, waving as he got into the carriage that had been brought along for him. He gave it a once-over and snapped his fingers to make it more to his liking- which is to say, it was three times bigger, fluorescent orange, and covered in stylized pictures of his grinning face. “Oh, and the rest of you, too.”
“Gee, thanks,” Rainbow Dash said dryly. While he’d made the carriage bigger, he evidently hadn’t made it any heavier, no doubt using his lesson on compromise and thinking about somepony else for a change, so the pegasi pulling the carriage had no problems lifting off. They all watched Discord and Celestia disappear into the horizon before making their ways back to their homes.
Meanwhile, Discord was keeping himself entertained during the long flight to Canterlot. First, he turned the stoic stallions’ uniforms bright pink and flowery. Then he made nearby clouds spin and dance, staying relatively close to the carriages so he could watch the show. Celestia, to her credit, was doing a fairly good job of ignoring his relatively harmless mischief- until he put her mane in dreadlocks.
“ENOUGH!” she bellowed, slipping into the royal Canterlot voice- something that, unlike her sister, she hadn’t used in nearly a thousand years.
“Such a party pooper, Celestia,” Discord sighed. With a snap of his fingers, he put her hair back to normal. “You’re raining on my parade.” With that, he created a little personal raincloud for Celestia- made of the traditional cotton candy and spewing the normal chocolate milk.
“Turn around,” Celestia ordered the pegasi cooly.
“Oh, sick of me already?” Discord sniggered.
“Yes,” Celestia said tensely, using her magic to get rid of the irksome pink cloud and its effects.
“Oh, I’m hurt, Celly,” Discord said dramatically, clutching at his heart with his eagle claw. “Are you going to have them turn me to stone over this petty misunderstanding?”
“No,” Celestia said tersely, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. She’d forgotten how much of a headache Discord could be. “Despite your grating personality, I still have use for your magic.”
“So you still want me to work for you, you just don’t want me living with you,” Discord summed up. “Pity, I had some great decorating ideas for the castle.” Celestia grimaced, knowing full well what kind of decorating Discord would have done.
“I hate to ask Fluttershy for any more favors, but she seems to be the only pony who can put up with you- and who isn’t in too much danger of you causing problems for her. You seem to value your friendship with her- much more than I knew was possible for you.”
“You really think I’m so heartless?” Discord. “Just because I’ve lived for over a thousand years without friends doesn’t mean I can’t make them.”
“Indeed,” Celestia agreed skeptically, not entirely convinced. They’d arrived back at Fluttershy’s cottage at this point, and Discord happily jumped off the carriage and even changed everything he’d messed with back to normal- something Celestia watched with amusement. In a surprisingly short amount of time, Fluttershy had done wonders for Discord’s habits and personality. She couldn’t help but wonder what prolonged exposure to her influence could cause.
She went up to Fluttershy’s door and knocked. When the confused pegasus opened the door and saw the princess on her doorstep, Celestia gave her an apologetic glance.
“I hate to impose again, Fluttershy,” Celestia began.
“Oh, it’s no trouble, Princess,” Fluttershy said kindly. “What’s the problem?”
“Well, Discord isn’t quite as cooperative with me as he seems to be with you,” Celestia said, shooting a backwards glance over her shoulder. Discord grinned innocently when Fluttershy looked at him with a slight frown. “I hate to ask you for anything more, but might you consider giving Discord a place to stay? I still believe that we may be able to utilize Discord’s abilities, but without someone he respects keeping an eye on him, I’m afraid he may get up to more mischief than help.”
“Really?” Fluttershy said, with a surprisingly excited smile. “Oh, I would like that very much!”
“You would!?” Discord and Celestia exclaimed together, shocked.
“Why of course!” Fluttershy nodded. “After all, Discord wasn’t here for very long, and I’d very much like the chance to get to know him even better. And if it gives him the chance to settle into a new routine, I’d be more than glad to help!”
“Thank you, Fluttershy. If there’s ever anything you need, let me know. Discord, I want you to report to Canterlot a week from now so we can start discussing things,” Celestia said. Discord nodded once boredly and Celestia made her leave.
“You’re a strange pony, Fluttershy,” Discord said, lifting off his feet to float horizontally next to her, so he was closer to eye-level. “No pony has ever wanted my company before.”
“Well, I do,” Fluttershy said determinedly. “Well, let’s get you settled in.” Together they went into the little cottage. Fluttershy looked around her house contemplatively. Every spot she’d chosen to house a little critter had been chosen carefully, and while Discord wasn’t exactly the same, the same basic ideas still applied. She ran through her mental checklist.
Will it be easy for them to get food?
Well, that one didn’t apply so much, since anytime Discord was hungry he could just materialize food out of nothing. Besides, he could fly and teleport, so he could get anywhere he needed to, even if he couldn’t summon his own food for some reason.
Will they be comfortable?
This one was quite a bit trickier. After all, from what she knew of Discord, he’d much prefer having his own space to sleep surrounded by chaos. She didn’t have an extra bedroom for him to use, but she supposed she might be willing to sacrifice the normalcy and habitation of her own bedroom if it came down to it. After all, she had to show every kindness to her friend, and she didn’t mind sleeping on the couch...
Will they be around animals they can get along with?
Well, this one was even worse. None of Fluttershy’s animals had taken any liking to Discord at all, and Discord was far too inclined to mess with them. She knew he was good, now, but it was best to keep him away from temptation if at all possible. So putting him in her bedroom wasn’t really the greatest idea…Too many animals just on the other side of the door.
Suddenly an idea struck her. Other side of the door… She wasn’t totally sure what Discord’s powers were capable of, but it couldn’t hurt to ask.
“Discord?” she asked, turning to see that he’d been watching and waiting for her to say something while she thought.
“Yes, dearest Fluttershy?” Discord replied.
“I was just, um, wondering about your magic. What, exactly, are your limitations?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, I’m not sure why you ask, but if it’s strange or doesn’t make sense, I could probably pull it off. Why?”
“Well, I thought about it, and I think it would be best if you had your own space to have a little chaos in. From the time you’ve already spent here, I can tell it makes you more comfortable, but now that you’re going to be here on a more permanent basis, I’d really prefer you didn’t use the whole house for that, if that’s alright. So, um, I was thinking that, if it’s possible, that is, you could create your own version of my house in another dimension or something and access it by opening the door the wrong way…” Fluttershy said, trailing off at the end. Discord was looking at her wide-eyed. It must have sounded so stupid when she said it out loud! “Oh, but I’m sure that’s a terrible idea, I’m sorry for saying anythi-”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Fluttershy!” Discord said with a massive grin, rubbing his mismatched hands together in delight. “Why didn’t I think of that!? You’re a chaos master in the makings, just you see!”
“So, um, it’ll work?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
“Of course!” Discord said happily, and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened visibly, but he led Fluttershy out of the house, closed the door behind them, and winked at her as he pushed in on the door where the hinges were. Any normal door would’ve refused to open, being fastened to the frame and everything, but this one swung in easily, revealing the rolling blue and pink floor tiles that seemed to be a favorite of Discord’s.
“It feels like home already!” Discord said happily, skipping into the middle of the room and snapping his fingers to create a large indoor swimming pool filled with chocolate milk. He snapped again to change into over-the-top scuba gear, and was about to jump in before he paused and turned to Fluttershy. “Thank you for this, Fluttershy. You really know how to make a chaos spirit feel at home.”
“Oh, I’m so glad,” Fluttershy said, relieved. “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to give you anywhere to do your magic. So, um, if you need me I’ll be in the… normal  house.”
“You got it!” Discord said. With a grin, he turned and cannonballed into the chocolate milk pool and began swimming laps. Fluttershy smiled softly, glad to see him so happy, and went back outside, closing the door. Then she opened it again, the way it normally opened, and sure enough, the same cottage she’d always lived in was looking back at her. She smiled happily and went inside to get back to her normal routine of taking care of the animals, taking a bath, and relaxing with a book for a while before bed. While she wasn’t as much of a reader as Twilight, and she didn’t get as enthusiastic about it as Rainbow Dash, she could definitely appreciate a good story.
The two of them quickly fell into a routine. When Discord woke up, almost always after Fluttershy, he’d come into the normal side of the house and eat with her, though the meals he summoned for himself were often composed of things that nopony in their right mind would want to eat, and very different from the simple breakfasts Fluttershy prepared for herself. During the day, he kept himself entertained, sometimes going back to his haven, other times watching Fluttershy with the animals, and still other times flying off into the Everfree Forest to do who knows what. When the week of freedom was up, he used the day to report to Canterlot, something he seemed much more willing to do now that he had the space he needed and plenty of access to his only friend. He never really said much about his work there, but Celestia never complained, so Fluttershy had to assume that he was cooperating, now. Hopefully. Maybe. Ok, probably not, but at least he wasn’t being so much of a nuisance that it warranted intervention, which was a step in the right direction. She only hoped he’d stay on that track.

> Discord Gets a Hug
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Not too long after they’d both gotten used to the new order- or chaos- of things, Fluttershy had to leave town with her friends to help welcome the games inspector to the Crystal Empire.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own?” Fluttershy asked nervously as she left the house, saddlebags firmly in place.
“Of course, Fluttershy,” Discord assured her for the third time, wearing a bathrobe and waving her off with a mug of hot licorice in his claws.
“Okay, well, remember that Spike is going to be watching Angel Bunny for me,” Fluttershy said.
“I know,” Discord said with an amused smile.
“And I’ve fed and watered all the other animals, so they should be fine until I get back,” Fluttershy added.
“I know,” Discord said again.
“And-”
“Fluttershy, if you don’t leave soon you’re going to miss your train,” Discord pointed out.
“Oh, um… right,” Fluttershy laughed self-consciously. She turned to walk out the door before pausing and turning back around. “I’ll miss you,” she said with a shy smile. The simple statement shocked Discord, taking him a bit off-guard.
“I’ll… miss you, too,” he replied shakily. After hesitating a moment, he leaned down and gave her a brief and awkward hug, which she returned warmly. WIth another smile in his direction, she turned and headed for the train station. Discord watched her go, taking abnormal notice of the beating of his own heart. So that’s what a hug is like… it’s strangely nice.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, was fighting down a blush as she reached the Ponyville train station and met up with her friends. She was so glad that Discord saw her as a friend close enough to hug… and for some reason she got the feeling he hadn’t had many hugs before. She was flattered, honestly. Luckily, she managed to get rid of the blush before any of her friends saw it.
Discord, as he did nearly every other day, teleported to Canterlot, and reported to Princess Celestia in the throne room.
“Ah, Discord,” she greeted. As usual, she launched right into discussion of things that Equestria could use his help with, which normally he listened to, if for no other reason than to have something good to brag about to Fluttershy, but now he was so distracted by the hug that he barely heard a word she was saying. “So I need you to go to Saddle Arabia and turn the desert into a chocolate milk ocean,” Celestia said after a few minutes.
“Wait, what!?” Discord said, snapping out of it and staring at Celestia like she’d grown a second head. She laughed.
“Gotcha,” she teased. “Mind a bit preoccupied with Fluttershy, I see?”
“How did you-”
“You were daydreaming. Luna isn’t the only one who can enter your dreams, you know,” Celestia said.
“Oh,” Discord huffed. He’d have to be more careful what he thought about around Celestia from now on.
“I’m frankly quite glad to see you getting along so well with somepony, even if I’m surprised.”
“Yes, you’ve made your disbelief at my friendship quite clear before, thank you, Celestia,” Discord said dryly.
“Well, I suppose you’d better head home, then,” Celestia said with a smile. “You’re obviously too distracted to work, and I think we can manage without you for a day.”
“You managed without me for over a thousand years, Celestia. I don’t see why you’re so dependant on me all of a sudden. Ciao,” he said, waving his paw dismissively. With that, he disappeared.
He thought about just lounging around in his haven, as he’d come to call it, but he’d grown used to having Fluttershy’s company and figured he’d probably get bored. So, he thought he’d see what Spike and the animals were up to. If he knew anything about Angel Bunny at all, he knew that Spike would have his hands full, and that sounded like entertainment.
He followed Spike and the crew around for the rest of the day, keeping hidden, and fought to keep his laughter in while Spike struggled.
When they left on the train, however, he stayed behind, knowing that Fluttershy would be home relatively soon, and he decided to wait for her there so he could tell her exactly what had happened with her dear Angel Bunny that day. Of course, she’d probably forgive Spike, being the way she was, and nothing entertaining would come of it, but still.
“I’m home!” Fluttershy called a few hours later, walking into the normal half of her house to see Discord lounging on her sofa.
“Ah, Fluttershy!” Discord greeted happily. “You’d be fascinated to hear what I did today.”
“Weren’t you in Canterlot helping Celestia like always?” Fluttershy asked, confused.
“She gave me the day off, actually. So I thought I’d keep an eye on Spike,” Discord informed her with a grin.
“Is that what you wanted to tell me?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh, well I knew Angel was under the seat on the train, actually…”
“How!?” Discord asked incredulously.
“I saw him run off to get Spike a gemstone,” Fluttershy admitted with a shy smile. “I asked him about it on our way home, and he says that Spike learned his lesson, and since his tail got fluffed, all is forgiven.”
“Typical,” Discord said disappointedly, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
“I do have a story of my own to tell, though,” Fluttershy said, making Discord’s ears perk up. A few minutes later, Discord was rolling around on the floor, laughing.
“You really spent the whole day catering to the whims of the wrong pony?” he guffawed. “Now I wish I’d followed you instead! Goodness, the strangest things seem to happen to you and your friends, Fluttershy. I think it’s your influence, being a natural talent for chaos and all!”
“Well, I suppose it’s inevitable when we’re the Elements of Harmony and Twilight is Princess Celestia’s student and Princess Cadence’s sister-in-law,” Fluttershy said with a slight, graceful shrug. “I don’t know about talent for chaos…”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Not many ponies can think up something chaotic before the master of chaos himself! Don’t sell yourself short, my dear. I knew I was going to enjoy living here!” Discord teased, ruffling Fluttershy’s hair. She smiled happily up at him.
“Oh, I’m so glad,” she said excitedly. “I’m enjoying it, too!”
Things calmed down a bit after that for awhile, though Discord did his best to keep things entertaining. Whenever things got too dull for him he’d simply invite Fluttershy into his haven and create all sorts of controlled chaos to play in, oftentimes tailoring it to something he thought Fluttershy, specifically, would enjoy, such as the meadow full of exotic plants and animals that shouldn’t be able to grow in Ponyville’s climate or the time he let Angel Bunny actually speak for an afternoon. (That had been interesting, but he never planned to repeat the experiment, as the bunny had some not-too-nice things to say to him.)
Fluttershy had never thought she’d enjoy chaos at all, but she found, in moderation, it was just what she needed. She’d been enjoying quiet days at home for too long, and having Discord there to liven things up was an unexpected bright spot.
Discord, on the other hand, found himself oddly refreshed by Fluttershy’s calm, timid personality. She was about as far from chaotic as you could get, normally, though she showed promise when she put her mind to it and when she was angry she could be a sight to behold… Regardless, he’d bonded with her in a way he’d never thought he’d be able to connect with anypony. Any thoughts he’d had initially of abandoning this life to return to complete and total chaos were promptly abandoned. Despite the fact that he was quite literally the embodiment of all things chaotic and disharmonious, he knew that he’d give all that up in an instant to stay where he was, if it came to that. And Fluttershy, wondrous creature that she was, had given him the space he needed to ensure that he’d never have to make that choice.

> Not. Acceptable.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	One particularly odd morning dawned the day that Discord entered the normal half of the cottage upon waking, expecting to find a wide-awake Fluttershy sitting down to breakfast, and instead finding a haggard-looking Rainbow Dash passed out on Fluttershy’s couch without a trace of Fluttershy anywhere. Luckily, he managed to transform into a small squirrel before she woke up and… started trying to care for the animals?
‘What in the name of all things chaotic is going on here!?’ Discord wondered. It was then that he noticed something exceedingly odd- Rainbow Dash had Fluttershy’s cutie mark. He scampered outside; he had to find Fluttershy and get everything sorted out. As wonderfully chaotic as it was, in no universe ever was he going to accept Rainbow Dash as a replacement for Fluttershy.
He was just getting into town when he noticed the checkerboard-pattern in the sky. ‘Looks like something I would do,’ he mused, taking notes on a conjured notepad. He saw Rarity, with Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark, trying desperately to control the clouds. He face-palmed. So this wasn’t a localized event. Another day in the life of an Element, he supposed. Just then he saw Twilight, with the same cutie mark she always had, discovering Rarity and setting out on a spontaneous musical adventure to fix it.
‘Well I suppose Miss Know-It-All can be trusted to fix things,’ he thought with a bit of relief. ‘But I’ll keep an eye on her just in case...’
While seeing the six friends trying to do each other’s jobs was decidedly amusing, he was plenty glad when they were all set straight again- mostly because it meant Fluttershy would be returning home. He followed the group to Twilight’s library, where he waited outside the window. He jumped in shock when the Elements seemed to activate of their own accord and seemed to vaporize Twilight. He panicked. ‘Fluttershy will be devastated if anything happens to Twilight!’ Thinking fast, he teleported to Canterlot, appearing directly in front of a surprised Celestia.
“Celestia, something’s happened to Twilight!” Discord said quickly. She raised an eyebrow.
“Calm down, Discord,” Celestia said. “What’s happened?”
“Fluttershy had Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark, and then there was a song and everything was fixed, but the Elements vaporized Twilight! You have to do something!” ‘Or Fluttershy may never get over her depression!’
“Ah. It’s time,” Celestia said, nodded sagely and unnaturally calm, Discord thought, given the situation. “Everything will be fine. Go back to Ponyville. I’ll be there soon to explain everything.” With that, she faded out of existence. Discord rubbed his head. Who knew that there’d be a day when Celestia gave him a headache?
Well, since she was so unconcerned, he supposed it couldn’t be anything to worry about too much. He popped back to the outside of the library and looked in the window to see the distressed friends bawling or otherwise freaking out over the scorch mark on the floor that used to be Twilight. If Celestia was going to come to explain everything, they might as well be outside to greet her, right? He decided to cause a little… distraction.
Summoning up several loud instruments like tubas, cymbals, etc., he blasted a huge sound outside the library and hurriedly ducked into the bushes.
“What was that?” he heard Rainbow Dash ask worriedly.
“Maybe Twilight teleported out of the way and landed in an orchestra pit!” Pinkie exclaimed dramatically. Discord could practically hear the odd looks from the others.
“Well, I guess we best be checkin’ it out,” Applejack said. “I’m sure Twilight’ll be fine… wherever she is.” ‘You sound really sure about that. NOT! And they call her the Element of Honesty? Pfft.’
The five remaining friends headed outside, and moments later there was a bright pink six-pointed explosion in the sky, which Discord knew for a fact he was not responsible for.
A second later, the star descended to the ground and disappeared, leaving Twilight behind.
“Twilight, is that you?” Applejack asked cautiously. Twilight stood up straight and opened her eyes. And her… wings?
‘Well that’s new,’ Discord thought in surprise. He watched as the friends fawned over Twilight’s new appendages in confused glee, wondering when exactly Celestia was planning to come and explain what the heck had just happened.
“Wow, you look just like a princess!” Fluttershy said in awe.
“That’s because she is a Princess,” Celestia said, coming out of nowhere behind the group. ‘Well, it’s about time she got here. Wait, what did she say!? Princess!?’
One overly-emotional and sappy explanation of how Twilight had become a princess because of her understanding of friendship- a qualification that Discord felt was a bit low considering all of the important political things that princesses had to do- Celestia took her leave, inviting the friends to come to Canterlot the next day for the coronation ceremony. After some more excited chatter, the friends parted ways for the night. Discord stayed out of sight until Fluttershy was far enough away from everypony else that he could avoid detection, then slithered out of the shadows and started flying beside her.
“I must say, it’s good to have you back, Fluttershy,” he said, causing her to start a little and turn to see him beside her. “You can’t imagine how emotionally scarring it was to come in for breakfast and see Rainbow Dash passed out on your sofa.”
“Oh, goodness!” Fluttershy gasped. “I hadn’t even thought about- oh I’m such a terrible friend! I should’ve been more concerned-”
“It’s quite alright, Fluttershy,” Discord assured. “You’ve had enough to worry about today. I must say, now that it’s all in the past, it was quite entertaining.”
“Oh, um, thanks?” Fluttershy said uncertainly.
“So dear young Twilight is a princess now,” Discord mused. “I can’t say I saw that coming.”
“It is surprising,” Fluttershy agreed. “But if anypony deserves it, it’s Twilight.”
“Nngh, I suppose,” Discord said noncommittally. “It was about time for something odd to happen, though. Your little pony lives have been entirely too normal, lately.”
“Things have been oddly quiet around here lately,” Fluttershy agreed. “Although our day-to-day normal is not that same as everypony else’s.”
“True,” Discord said. “But chaos that I don’t have to create is ten times as satisfying to watch.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Fluttershy laughed softly. They reached the cottage. “So… this morning… with Rainbow Dash… she didn’t, you know, see you, did she?”
“Nah,” Discord scoffed. “She sleeps like a brick, so I had plenty of time to camouflage myself. Our little secret is safe. Why, ashamed of my presence here?”
The comment was, of course, intended to cause Fluttershy to freak out. Discord would never in a thousand years admit it out loud, but she was simply adorable when she was panicking. His comment did, in fact, receive the desired result.
“Oh, no no no!” Fluttershy protested frantically, waving her hoofs frantically. “I would never- that’s not- I mean- ooh!” Discord laughed at her panicked look.
“I’m only fooling, dear,” Discord informed her. She crumpled in relief. “It’s just that you’re simply adorable when you’re panicking.” ‘Well, a thousand years passed faster than I thought. So much for never saying it out loud...’ Fluttershy blushed and tucked her face a bit further behind her hair.
“Oh, goodness… um, thank you,” Fluttershy said timidly, extremely embarrassed. “Well, um, it’s late and I should get the animals and myself to bed, so… I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
“Bright and early,” Discord affirmed. “I’ll see you off at the train station for the coronation. I’ll be… discreet.” Fluttershy nodded once and fled into her house. Once she’d closed the door Discord opened it the other way and retreated into his haven. Fluttershy, meanwhile, was fighting to calm her heart and get rid of her blush. ‘He thinks I’m adorable?’ The thought made her oddly giddy. ‘Well, he is my friend, and it’s normal to be happy about something like that… right? It’s just a normal compliment, and I should be happy that Discord considers us close enough to say something like that.’
She distractedly put the animals to bed and retreated to her bedroom, where she spent at least an hour or two tossing and turning before she finally drifted off.

> Ickle Twilight's Pretty Princess Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When Celestia raised the sun the next morning bright and early, Discord was, oddly enough, already up. Or, more accurately, he’d never gotten to sleep. He didn’t actually need sleep as often as normal ponies, and his sleeping schedule was chaotic to say the least, but it was still odd that he hadn’t slept at all. He’d spent the whole night telling himself off for letting that one awkward little comment slip. Hopefully she wouldn’t over-think it.
Fluttershy had, incidentally, decided to overlook it. It obviously didn’t mean anything, and it was a waste of time and energy to worry about it too much. So, when Discord came in to eat with her, she was acting completely normally, to both of their relief, and everything went back to normal. True to his word, Discord saw her off at the train station, blending in with a crowd of her critters that had all come along, as well. As soon as she and her friends were off, he saw the critters safely back to the cottage and then teleported to Canterlot, himself, since he wasn’t sure whether Celestia wanted him to report for work or not.
“Ah, Discord,” Celestia greeted. “I was hoping you’d come. The coronation is a bit last-minute, so I was wondering if you would help decorating the ball room.”
“Ooh, I’ve always wanted to-”
“You know what I meant,” Celestia said warningly. Discord sighed.
“Killjoy,” he muttered, but put up some decorations with a snap of his fingers.
“Thank you, Discord,” Celestia said, glancing around and nodding appreciatively.
“Am I supposed to stick around for the coronation, or should I make myself scarce?” Discord asked boredly, picking at his claws boredly.
“You’re welcome to stay, as long as you can avoid causing trouble,” Celestia warned.
“Who, me?” Discord asked, conjuring himself a halo. “I’ll be the epitome of good behavior. I’ll even put on a clever disguise so my sheer spectacularosity won’t frighten any of your little subjects.”
With an overly dramatic flash of light and poof of smoke, he shrank down into a pony disguise, with his eyes, horns, wings, and tooth as the only indications of who he actually was. He summoned a mirror and gazed at his reflection admiringly.
“Who knew I’d make such a handsome stallion?” he purred, striking a pose and winking at his reflection. Celestia made a face and held back a bit of bile. “I suppose I’ll have to cover the wings and horn, though. They’re a bit of a giveaway…” He summoned a top hat and tailcoat that covered his oddness nicely. “There, now I’m all dressed up for ickle Twilight’s pretty princess party.”
“We’ll take the day off from work for the coronation, but we’re going to fall behind if we keep doing this, so I’ll expect you tomorrow to get back on track,” Celestia said.
“How you always manage to have such a long list of menial tasks for me, Celestia, I’ll never know,” Discord sighed. “Are simple construction tasks really the best thing you can think of to do with my abundant supply of magic? Seriously, why am I not fixing a hunger epidemic or creating shelter for the homeless or something?”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Well, as much as you know I hate leaving you alone in the castle, I have to leave to greet Twilight and her friends at the train station,” Celestia said, turning to leave. “Don’t break anything.”
“Forget that, I’m coming with you!” Discord said, trotting to catch up. “I can’t wait to see the look on Fluttershy’s face when she sees me. I saw her off at the station in Ponyville, so I doubt she was expecting me to come.”
“Don’t let the others notice you, though. Your disguise is good enough that you won’t attract attention to yourself, but these ponies will be able to recognize your eyes and tooth if they get a good look at you,” Celestia warned.
“I don’t see why it matters. I doubt they’ll piece together that I’m living with Fluttershy if they see me at a train station in Canterlot with you supervising. They do all know that you’ve been exploiting my magic, you know, even if you haven’t told them the details. Or at least they should know, if they remember anything from what you told them when you asked them to reform me,” Discord reminded.
“I want this coronation to go off without a hitch, Discord. And as well as you get along with Fluttershy, you do not have that same relationship with the others, and your presence would only cause problems.”
“Well it’s nice to know what you think of me,” Discord sniffed in mock hurt. Celestia rolled her eyes, too used to his antics to take him seriously.
Within minutes of their arrival at the train station, the train from Ponyville pulled in and the six mares disembarked. Discord hung back to avoid their gaze, but he used his chaos magic to create a little butterfly version of himself, something he knew Fluttershy would recognize from the hedge maze debacle, and had it fly unobtrusively in front of her face. It was too quick of a glimpse for her to see his face on the creature, but her love of the natural world prevailed and she followed it with her eyes. She had just noticed the odd features of the insect in question when it landed on the brim of pony-Discord’s hat and he winked at her. She shot him a confused and curious look, but he only grinned at her, since there wasn’t any way to explain without her friends noticing.
The girls were all whisked away to be dressed up for the ceremony, so Discord left and waited in the grand hall, watching the other ponies slowly trickle into the room and mill about. Finally, Princess Celestia led her sister, niece, student, and student’s friends up to the front of the room. Discord watched boredly until he caught sight of Fluttershy, at which point he became much more interested in the proceedings. ‘She’s… beautiful...’  He was glad that Fluttershy was too busy watching the coronation to look for him in the crowd, because he was unabashedly staring. He supposed he’d always known that she was attractive for a pony. She still had pictures lying around from her brief stint as a model (which he had most certainly not duplicated and kept in his room), but seeing it first-hand was… different.
He hadn’t even noticed that the ceremony was over until the mare he’d been staring at followed the others out to mingle with the crowd and was lost from view. The ponies in the room filtered outside, but Discord stayed behind, lurking in a corner to wait for the others to come back in.
The Ponyville girls passed without even glancing in his direction, but Celestia hung back and looked over her shoulder at him.
“And here I was worried you would cause trouble,” she said with a smirk. “You really should learn to keep your daydreaming under wraps, Discord.”
“Stop reading my thoughts!” Discord demanded heatedly. “Is nothing sacred!?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her,” Celestia said, grinning. Since she’d grown accustomed to the draconequus’s presence, she’d discovered the joys of messing with him. “Are you going to see them off?”
“I suppose. Keep up tradition. I may even take the train back with them,” Discord mused. “If I shrunk down I could hide in Fluttershy’s mane. Her critters do it all the time.”
“Then I’ll say farewell. I’ll see you tomorrow, Discord,” Celestia said, and left.
“Yeah, yeah,” Discord said, rolling his eyes. He turned into his normal self again and teleported the hallway outside Fluttershy’s changing room. She came out a few minutes later, out of the dress and ready to head home.
“Discord!” she exclaimed. “I was wondering where you’d gone off to! Did you come to the coronation?”
“I did. I disguised myself as a pony, as you saw,” Discord said, turning back for an instant with a bow. “I thought I’d take the train back with you, though.” He shrunk himself down and burrowed into her hair. She gasped. “It’s cozier in here than I expected,” he mused, poking his head out. “Very roomy. You should consider renting it out, make a nice little side business out of it.” Fluttershy giggled.
“What’s funny?” Rainbow Dash’s voice came from behind. Discord hurriedly ducked back into Fluttershy’s mane as the timid mare turned around.
“Oh… um, nothing,” Fluttershy said lamely.
“Well, come on, then! We’ve gotta catch the train back home so that Pinkie can throw that alicorn party that she was so excited about,” Rainbow instructed.
“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy agreed.

> I'm Going to Need More Popcorn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After getting back to Ponyville and having a wild party courtesy of Pinkie Pie (Fluttershy snuck some snacks into her hair for him when nopony was looking), they returned home to the cottage. Once inside, Discord slithered out of Fluttershy’s hair, returned to his normal size, and collapsed onto the couch, thanking chaos that Angel wasn’t there to challenge him for seat space.
“Sometimes I think Pinkie Pie should be the element of magic,” Discord mused. “How in Equestria does that pony set up parties that quickly!?”
“Nopony knows,” Fluttershy laughed. “She wouldn’t be Pinkie Pie if she made sense.”
“I knew there was a reason I liked her,” Discord laughed. “She was much more appreciative of my original changes, too.”
“She’d be appreciative of anything involving sugar,” Fluttershy pointed out with a grin.
“I’ll keep that in mind when I’m trying to bribe her later,” Discord chuckled. “Well, I’m off to catch some Zs.” He summoned some Zs with wings that flapped around and a butterfly net, and darted around catching his creations. “Got them! G’night, Fluttershy!”
“Good night,” Fluttershy said with a tender smile.
Things fell back into routine again, though Twilight was still having a hard time getting used to her wings. It wasn’t more than a week or two before something else crazy happened- and this time it was, actually, Discord’s fault.
Fluttershy had just gotten back from dropping Twilight off in Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration the previous day, and Discord had fallen asleep on Fluttershy’s couch waiting for her to get home. They were just going through their breakfast routine when a frightened Angel Bunny ran and huddled near Fluttershy for comfort.
“Oh, goodness,” Fluttershy gasped. “What’s wrong, Angel Bunny?” The rabbit gestured wildly into the living room, where Fluttershy saw all of her other animals in similar states of distress. “Oh, Discord, you don’t mind if I go see what’s wrong, do you?”
“Not at all, my dear. Do go on,” he said, waving her off. She went into the front room and tried calming her animals down.
“My goodness, what is it that has caused you all such distress?” she asked worriedly. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing you need to really worry about.” Discord heard the door open and Fluttershy scream. The door slammed. “No, you were right! You should be worried! Very very WORRIED!”
Discord put down his cotton candy and raced in to see what was the matter.
“What is it, Fluttershy!?” he asked in alarm. Fluttershy was huddled worriedly against the door, shivering.
“The… forest! It’s growing out of control!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
“Huh?” Discord asked. He frowned, looking out the window. He froze. “Oh… crap. I’d forgotten about those…”
“What!?” Fluttershy shrieked. “Are you responsible for this!?”
“... Yeesss….” Discord said with a guilty shrug. “But it was before I was reformed, I swear!”
“I think you need to explain,” Fluttershy said with a frown. Discord sighed and launched into his explanation. Fluttershy listened with growing alarm.
“Oh this is terrible!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “You mean those things will attack the Princesses!?”
“Yes, and there isn’t much time! I’m going to go warn them and we can try to figure this out,” Discord said, summoning a superhero cape to make himself seem more heroic.
“Can’t you just get rid of them with your chaos magic?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well… no. They’ve grown on their own for over a thousand years. Their power is, unfortunately, beyond my chaos magic at the moment. This may be a job for the elements, I’m afraid. Try and get your friends on the problem while I go find Celestia.” He vanished and Fluttershy summoned up her courage to make her way into town.
Discord, having ditched the cape at this point, found one of the guards within moments.
“Where is Celestia? It’s important!” he said urgently. The guard frowned at him.
“The princesses have disappeared. There’s been no sign of them since last night,” he said, and left to continue the ongoing search.
“I’m too late!?” Discord cursed. “This is bad… Twilight will need to know about the past, but if I just tell her she’ll just overreact… maybe a spell? Or a potion… Well, I didn’t want to do this, but I suppose it’s inescapable.”
He grabbed everything he thought he’d need and left Canterlot quickly to head to the first place he thought of when he heard the word ‘potions’- Zecora’s hut. He’d never met the zebra, personally, but he’d heard enough stories from Fluttershy to decide that she was the pony to go to in this situation.
He rapped on the door, shoving aside a few vines in the process, and the door opened to reveal a confused zebra, who appeared to be packing her possessions onto a cart to flee the forest.
“Are you not the chaos lord? The one who goes by the name of Discord?” she asked confusedly.
“Yep, that’s me. No time for pleasantries, I need your help,” Discord said. “Twilight may be the only one who can fix this mess with the forest, but there’s some vital information she needs to have to do so, and it’s better experienced than explained. Can you make this potion?” He summoned up a book he’d pilfered from the Canterlot library and pointed. “Just tell her some story about how it’ll only work for alicorns, so she’ll be the one to drink it.”
“While the whole situation I do not understand, I will do my best to meet your demand,” she said. “Now leave me to my work, there is no need to lurk.”
Meanwhile, Fluttershy had just tracked down her friends and joined in the conversation.
“We have to figure out something,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t know how much more of this Ponyville can take!” A vine wrapped itself around Fluttershy’s ankle. She screamed, but luckily Rainbow Dash was there to save the day. “I don’t know how much more I can take!”
“The forest is expanding, y’all,” Applejack said. “And judgin’ by how fast it’s movin’, it doesn’t seem content just takin’ over Ponyville. I reckon before long, it’ll cover half of Equestria!” ‘You don’t know the half of it,’ Fluttershy thought miserably.
“We need to work together if we’re gonna figure this thing out,” Rainbow said determinedly.
“Maybe one of Twilight’s books will have some answers?” Rarity suggested. The group all agreed and dashed over to the library.
Before long, Twilight showed up. Fluttershy was internally relieved. ‘Now we have all the elements here, if it comes to that. I wonder if Discord has warned the princesses, yet… Maybe the princesses sent Twilight here to help on Discord’s suggestion?’
“But perhaps you already know what’s causing all of this calamity?” Rarity asked Twilight hopefully. “Has Princess Celestia sent you to dispel it, post haste?”
“Not exactly…” Twilight replied. “You see, Princess Celestia is… well, she and Princess Luna are both…”
“They’re missing!” Spike exclaimed. Fluttershy gasped right along with the others. ‘He was too late! Oh, this is terrible, what do I do!? Do I tell them? Oh, but then they’ll be mad at Discord, and he doesn’t deserve it...’
“I don’t know who has taken them,” Twilight said. Fluttershy tried not to meet her eye. “But I have a hunch that we’re going to need the Elements of Harmony to get them back.” She levitated the necklaces onto her friend’s necks. Fluttershy looked down at hers and hoped that they didn’t find out that Discord was behind it, because then they’d want to use the Elements on him, and Fluttershy knew that, not only did he not deserve it, but she couldn’t do anything to him even if he did, because she’d grown to care for him too much. Living with him had made him… her best friend. Of course, she was still just as close to the girls, but Discord was… different.
“Hmm… half day, half night. Strange weather patterns. Out-of-control plants. I think I’m starting to have a pretty good idea of who we’re up against,” Twilight said tensely. Fluttershy froze. ‘Oh dear...’
Luckily, Discord had come back from his little errand into the forest and heard part of the conversation, so he was fully prepared when they summoned him, and decided that his best defense, for now, was to act like he didn’t know anything. Besides, he needed to buy the zebra time.
“Winter wrap up, winter wrap- oooh!” he exclaimed, acting surprised to see them as he wrapped himself in a towel to complement his hastily-thought-up ‘taking a bath’ routine. “Now, Twilight, you know Princess Celestia said that you were to give me a heads up before you summon me with that little spell she gave you. In case you hadn’t noticed, I was in the middle of a particularly invigorating shower.” He toweled off in an extremely exaggerated manner.
“Enough!” Twilight shouted, shoving Discord out of the way. “Release Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and stop the Everfree Forest from invading!” Discord panicked a bit on the inside, but didn’t let it show. He was trying to fix this, but the only tools he had were the ponies in front of him, and he had to wait a bit in order to utilize them properly. “Why, whatever are you talking about?” he asked, hoping to annoy Twilight into doing what he wanted- wasting time.
“Don’t you play dumb with us, Discord!” Applejack snapped. “We know you’re the one behind all of this!”
“Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love what you’ve done with the place,” Discord said, deciding to stick with the innocent routine until the bitter end. “But I couldn’t possibly take responsibility.” He looked at Fluttershy when he said this, hoping she’d catch on that he wanted to avoid taking the blame, for now Twilight would know the whole story soon enough, but that was a small price to pay to fix this mess. “I’m reformed, don’t you remember?” ‘Even more reformed than you know, actually. Who’d have thought I’d ever be this worried about the princesses? Goodness, I’m going soft.’
“Yeah right!” Rainbow protested. “This has got your cloven hoof prints all over it!” Discord scoffed.
“I’ll have you know that I have only one cloven hoof,” he informed her. He used his detached leg to kick her out of the way. “Such accusations! And here I thought we were friends!” At least, it would be much easier for everypony if they truly did see him as a friend. He wasn’t stupid. He knew they only put up with him so he wouldn’t go all chaotic again, excluding Fluttershy of course, but if they actually were his friends then they wouldn’t have to keep any of these secrets to begin with!
“Drop the act, buster!” Pinkie ordered. “We’re on to you!”
“Ladies, ladies, I’m innocent,” Discord insisted. “Would I lie?”
“Yes!” five voices chorused.
“Um… maybe?” Fluttershy said, giving him a pointed look that told him exactly what she was thinking.
“Well then, it seems we’ve reached an impasse,” Discord said. “I’m telling the truth, but you think I’m lying.” ‘Well, actually, no, I’m lying, but they don’t need to know that. Not yet, at least.’ “What do friends like us do in a situation like this, Princess Twilight?” He poked her crown playfully before realizing she’d probably take it in a threatening way. Curses. “Congrats, by the way, on the promotion. You totally deserve it.” He’d hoped that might put her in a better mood, but since his normal way of speaking generally sounded sarcastic, that didn’t work out as planned. He might’ve also been hindered by his decision to pinch her cheeks.
“I say we blast him back to stone!” Rainbow cried. Fluttershy paled.
“Works for me!” Applejack agreed. Discord gulped.
“Hear, hear!” Rarity chorused. Fluttershy whimpered. They activated their elements, and Fluttershy decided she couldn’t let this get any farther. She hurriedly flew between her enraged friends and Discord.
“Hey!” she protested in what was a loud voice, for her. “You can’t do that! What if he really is telling the truth!?” ‘Even though I know he isn’t, but still…’ 
“Well, finally!” Discord said happily. “Somepony who’s willing to give me the benefit of the doubt! The rest of you could really learn a lot from my dear friend Shutterfly,” he said, calling upon an inside joke that had stemmed from a game night where he’d for some reason had a lot of trouble pronouncing her name. He grabbed Rainbow Dash for good measure to complete the gag.
“Um… it’s Fluttershy,” Fluttershy corrected, just like she’d done that night when he’d first done it. Discord dropped Rainbow Dash and grabbed Fluttershy, holding her close.
“Oh, right, whatever,” Discord responded by rote. Fluttershy wasn’t really listening, because she was thinking more about how oddly nice it was to have Discord holding her like this.
“Well, if you’re not the one responsible, then help us figure out who is!” Twilight demanded. ‘Finally, something I can work with. Now how to subtly direct them...’
“I suppose I could, but after all the hoof-pointing and besmirching of my good name, I just don’t know if I’m up to it,” he said, buying himself some time. He started knitting with the vines just as he noticed the zebra approaching out of the corner of his eye with her cart. He started shaping his project into an arrow for effect. “Why don’t you ask your zebra friend if she knows anything?” Fluttershy gave him a confused look while the others turned their attention to Zecora, but he just winked at her in response.
“Zecora!” Twilight said happily, dashing over to help the zebra with her things.
“From my home I’ve had to flee,” Zecora said gravely. “The forest has grown too wild even for me.”
“Any idea why all this is happenin’?” Applejack asked.
“I’m afraid it is a mystery to me as well,” Zecora said. ‘Since a certain visitor to my hut kept answers hidden behind a mouth locked shut...’ “But I may have something that, if combined with a spell… I do not dare to use it myself, the result would be tragic. It only responds to alicorn magic.” Luckily, none of the ponies thought to ask why she carried around a potion that only worked for alicorns and had oddly specific uses.
Twilight glanced at her horn and wings and decided that she was, indeed, an alicorn. Discord rolled his eyes.
“Princess Twilight,” Zecora instructed. “You can turn the potion from purple to white. After a sip, you may see why the sky is day and night.” Twilight, trusting Zecora’s wisdom, immediately turned her horn on the potion and concentrated. Sure enough, the potion changed color. Discord kept his eyes locked on the scene. ‘I really hope this works...’
Twilight, with a little encouragement, took a sip, and they all waited for a reaction. For a moment, nothing happened, and Discord’s heart fell. ‘Did it not work?’
“It doesn’t seem to be working,” Twilight said with a frown. Immediately after she’d said this, however, her eyes glowed white and she dropped the potion, which luckily landed right-side-up without spilling, although the liquid sloshed around a little. She started making odd sounds and gestures, but didn’t seem cognizant of anything around her, so it was a little disturbing to watch, though Discord, predictably, enjoyed it thoroughly. When she woke up, everypony was giving her odd looks.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked.
“It’s just… you were mumbling to yourself…” Applejack explained.
“Ooh, and don’t forget the uncontrollable sobbing!” Pinkie added.
“We were really worried about you,” Fluttershy said.
“Well, I for one found it delightful,” Discord praised. “Sort of a one-pony theater piece, if you will. You should really consider taking it on the road.”
“Did you find out whose rump we need to kick?” Rainbow Dash asked. “And where we can find ‘em!?”
“I saw something from a long time ago,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “But it didn’t explain what’s happening, now.”
“Perhaps farther back still are the answers you seek,” Zecora said. “Another sip of the potion will give you a peek.”
“Are you sure about this?” Spike asked. Twilight steeled herself and obediently took another gulp and went back into visions of the past.
“Ah! I do hope she breaks into a song this time!” Discord said, summoning a camera. This should be the scene with him in it, so he was hoping for something more amusing. He was disappointed, however, since Twilight knew it was a memory this time and didn’t react so much. She came out of it looking puzzled.
“So, what’cha find out?” Spike asked eagerly.
“I still don’t know what’s happened to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia,” Twilight admitted. ‘And this is supposed to be the smart pony. I think it was pretty obvious that I was throwing seeds around!’ “But I think I know why the Everfree forest is acting this way.” Discord looked over his 3-D glasses at her. Had she discovered why the seeds had taken so long to grow? He’d been wondering that himself. By all rights, this should have happened ages ago while he was still encased in stone. “Something’s happened to the Tree of Harmony!”
“The tree of what now?” Rainbow Dash asked after sharing a confused look with the others.
“It’s where Princess Luna and Princess Celestia found the elements,” Twilight explained. ‘Ha! So the elements are the key to this. I thought so! Who’s a smart draconequus? Me!’ “I think it’s in danger!”
“Well alright, then!” Applejack said determinedly. “Let’s go save a… tree. Uh, where is it, exactly?”
“I think it’s in… there!” Twilight said miserably, pointing to the Everfree forest.
“Ooh, I’m going to need more popcorn!” Discord said happily. It wasn’t often that he had the chance to observe the little heroes’ adventures up-close without worrying about being discovered.

> And I Was Just Starting to Get Comfortable
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The six reluctant ponies and one reluctant dragon headed reluctantly into the forest, not noticing that Discord was flying above and behind them.
“It seems like only yesterday we were heading into these woods to find the Elements of Harmony,” Rarity reminisced.
“It seems like only yesterday that I was foolish enough to think I should go after them on my own,” Twilight said, starting the trek into the forest. “I don’t know what we’re going to face in there, but whatever it is, I know we need to face it together.” Discord hovered above them, watching. He was also poised to help if anything came near Fluttershy, but that was besides the point. ‘Does Twilight always give motivational speeches before they go on adventures?’ The mares all chorused their agreement to Twilight’s pep-talk.
The walk was relatively boring until the ponies came across a body of sickly-looking water.
“We can use those to cross,” Twilight said, gesturing to some stones. Discord thought about warning her, but decided against it. She found out soon enough that she’d actually hopped onto the back of a crocodile.
“A crocodile! Run for your lives!” Rarity shrieked. the ponies scattered. Discord tensed to help Fluttershy, but the crocodile had targeted Twilight. Before he had to jump to her aid, however, her friends beat him to it and lassoed the croc’s tail, then tied it down.
“That was close,” Twilight sighed in relief.
“A little too close, if ya ask me,” Applejack said with a frown. “You sure yer alright?”
“I’m fine. I just can’t seem to get these new wings to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it,” Twilight complained.
“Ah, you’ll figure it out eventually,” Rainbow Dash encouraged, still hoping that there would be a pony with wings in their group besides her who actually liked flying. CoughFluttershyCough.
“Eventually isn’t soon enough,” Twilight said.
“You have been having an awful lot of trouble with those things,” Applejack mused. “And, well, who knows what else is gonna come after us? Ya know, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for Twilight to go back to Ponyville and let us look for the Tree of Harmony without her.” Discord growled softly. ‘You’ll need all six Elements, stupid!’
“What!?” Twilight exclaimed. “Why!?” ‘Yes, show them the error of their ways.’
“For starters, you just about got eaten by a crocadilly!” Applejack pointed out.
“We all did,” Twilight huffed. “He wasn’t after just me!”
“Sure, but, well… The rest of us aren’t princesses,” Applejack said.
“What’s that got to do with anything!?” Twilight protested.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are gone,” Applejack explained. “If something happened to you… I just don’t think Equestria can risk losing another princess.”
“Applejack does make a valid point,” Rarity piped up. “Even if we manage to save the Tree of Harmony, it won’t necessarily mean that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will return. Equestria will need somepony to lead in their absense.” ‘Stop appealing to her sense of logic! We need her here!’
“But the Tree of Harmony!” Twilight protested. “I’m the only one who has seen it and knows what it looks like!”
“Huge tree, cutie marks on the trunk?” Rainbow Dash said. “Probably being attacked by something hideously awful? Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’ll know it when we see it.”
“All of you feel this way?” Twilight asked sadly. “Feel like… I shouldn’t be here?”
“It… is probably for the best,” Fluttershy said softly. Discord, still hovering above, face-palmed. This is what he got for not letting Fluttershy in on his plans. Twilight didn’t say anything further, instead making her way out of the forest dejectedly. Spike followed dutifully. Discord decided it was time to take things into his own claw and paw. He teleported to Ponyville so he could talk some sense into Twilight. He was immediately met by two ponies who obviously remembered the last time he’d been out and about in Ponyville, since after a moment’s shock they both charged at him and tried to take a swing at him. He didn’t really have the time to deal with them, so he caught them up in some vines and settled in to wait for Twilight. It took longer than he was expecting, so he started boredly filing his talons with the pink one’s pet alligator.
Twilight came a few minutes later and glared at him, and he hurriedly dropped the captured ponies and put the alligator back where he found it. The ponies weren’t eager to irritate him again, so they ran off.
“You’re welcome!” Discord called after them. ‘You’re welcome that I only tied you up and didn’t punish you any worse. Trying to hit me… the nerve. Hmph.’ He turned back to Twilight. “No luck finding your tree?”
“We ran into some trouble,” Twilight said. “And my friends decided it would be best if I returned to Ponyville while they continue the search. Equestria will need me if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don’t return.”
“I’m just surprised that you would agree to their plan,” Discord said. “I never thought you would be the kind of pony who would think she’s better than everypony else.” ‘Ah, the joys of manipulation… I’ve missed this. Fluttershy, you’re lucky I would miss you more. Wow. That was sappy.’
“I don’t think I’m better than anypony!” Twilight protested.
“Oh, how silly of me to assume that you would think that!” Discord said. “All you did was choose to keep your precious ‘princess self’ out of harms way while your friends thrust themselves right into it. I’m sure you’ll all be the best of pals again when they return from their terrifying and deeply bonding experience that they’re having without you.”
Twilight put on a determined face and ran back to the forest, leaving Discord in the dust.
“Thank goodness,” Discord sighed quietly to himself. “That Twilight is so easy to manipulate.”
“I never should have agreed to come back here!” Twilight exclaimed as she galloped off. Discord started following her again.
“Come on, Twilight. Discord may be reformed, but he’s not that reformed,” Spike protested, running alongside Twilight. ‘I resent that.’ “He’s just trying to get under your skin!” ‘Well, that bit’s true.’
“Well, it’s working!” Twilight exclaimed, pulling Spike onto her back with magic. Discord waved her off merrily. ‘Well, that’s taken care of. May as well go back to the others, then.’
He got there just as Fluttershy said, “I know who would know what to do… we sent her home.” Discord turned tiny and teleported into her hair.
“She’s on her way back,” he whispered in her ear. When the others were distracted by Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s arguing, she replied.
“Thank you, Discord,” she said softly.
“Anytime,” he said smugly. Just then, Spike fell down the stairs and landed in a heap. “Twilight should be with him!” They all ran over to him.
“Twilight! Trouble! HELP!” he exclaimed before passing out dramatically.
Once they’d saved Twilight from the evil plants, they returned to the tree problem.
After some deliberation and a close call with one of the sentient vines, Twilight went back to her friends.
“I know how we can save the tree,” she said. “We have to give it the Elements of Harmony.” ‘‘My work here is done. I’m going to go celebrate a job well-done.’ Discord teleported back to Ponyville and began to relax with a cool drink in his hands and a nice Hawaiian shirt to set the mood.
“Woah woah woah,” Rainbow Dash protested. “How are we supposed to protect Equestria!?”
“How are we meant to reign Discord in if we can’t use the elements to turn him back to stone?” Rarity asked.
“You don’t need to,” Fluttershy muttered to herself.
“Twilight… the Elements of Harmony,” Applejack said, sounding torn. “They’re what keeps us connected no matter what.”
“You’re right about one thing, Applejack,” Twilight said. “The Elements of Harmony did bring us together, but it isn’t the elements that will keep us connected. It’s out friendship. And it’s more important and more powerful than any magic. My new role in Equestria may mean that I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendship may be tested, but it will never ever be broken. There’s no time to lose. Everypony ready?”
“Ready!” they all chorused. Twilight used her magic to take the elements out of the necklaces and her crown, but before she had a chance to return them to the tree, the vines shot out and grabbed her. She struggled with them for a moment before deciding that the tree was more important, so she focused on putting the elements back where they belonged. She was fully encircled with the vines just as the final element, magic, made its way home. In a flash of multi-colored light, the vines began to vaporize, freeing Twilight and the tree, and eventually all of the parts of Equestria that had been affected.
The vine that Discord had been resting on disappeared from underneath him and he fell to the ground.
“Oh, poo,” he huffed. ‘And I was just starting to get comfortable, too.’
A few minutes later, he saw the triumphant heroes making their ways back.
He summoned up some banners and signs to congratulate them.
“Bravo, ladies, bravo!” he said cheerily. “However did you save the day this time? Blast the beastie with your magic necklaces, I presume?” He hadn’t stayed long enough to see the resolution, and was honestly curious.
He turned into a cowboy and sat atop Applejack’s back, lifting her hair out of the way to get a good look at her bare neck.
“Where are those little trinkets of yours? You know, the ones you used to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison?” Discord asked. Applejack sighed.
“Gone,” she admitted.
“Gone?” Discord asked, surprised. He hadn’t thought Twilight had meant ‘give it the elements’ literally. “Gone…” Maybe now that he wasn’t at risk of being turned to stone, they could stop hiding the fact that he lived with Fluttershy.
“Our friendship remains,” Fluttershy said hurriedly. “And if you want to remain friends, you’ll stop thinking whatever it is that you’re thinking and help us clean up.” Now wasn’t the right time to tell her friends. They still didn’t exactly like Discord, and would like him even less if they found out the vines were his fault, and they wouldn’t understand yet. Maybe after her friends got used to him... Discord changed into a maid costume.
“Fine,” he huffed. He understood the reasoning, but the looks on their faces would have been funny. “But I don’t do windows.”
“One thing I don’t get,” Applejack said. “Why’d all this happen now?”
“I have no idea,” Discord mused to himself, not thinking about the fact that the others could hear him perfectly well. “Those seeds I planted should have sprouted up ages ago!”
“What did you say!?” Twilight exclaimed angrily, and Discord realized his mistake. He could have gone on without them ever knowing it was him, but no. He really needed to stop thinking out loud.
“Oh, why should I try to explain it when you can see for yourself?” Discord replied, holding out the potion. There was no backing out of it now, but he didn’t want to admit to anything else out loud. Twilight drank some more potion and revisited the Discord scene, though this time with the current Discord’s commentary.
“Well, obviously things didn’t go according to my original plan,” he said. “My plunder-seeds should have stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of moons ago. Alas, it seems the tree had enough magic to keep the seeds from growing up big and strong. Until now, that is.” The memory faded.
“You realize this is information we could have used hours ago!?” Twilight shouted. ‘Yeah but if I’d told you hours ago I would’ve been turned to stone by now. I’m not dumb.’
“And rob you of a valuable lesson about being princess?” Discord asked. “What kind of friend would do something like that?”
“The normal kind!” Twilight complained.
“Well, he told us now, and everything worked out all right,” Fluttershy said quickly, trying to lessen Twilight’s wrath. “I’m sure if he thought it was necessary, he would’ve told us.”
“Ugh. Fine,” Twilight huffed. Fluttershy usually won arguments about Discord, so Twilight figured it was best to just quit now. “Now I guess Spike and I have to get back to Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration preparations.”
“So our dear princesses are back and kicking again?” Discord asked.
“Yes, no thanks to you,” Twilight snapped. ‘If only I’d taken credit for the potion, maybe she’d be less ticked off at me…’
“Well, I can see I’m not appreciated here,” Discord sniffed. “Good day to you all.” He snapped his fingers and reappeared in the sky between the Everfree Forest and Canterlot, where the two princesses were currently making their way home.
“Ah, so good to see you two again,” he said. “Although having both the sun and the moon in the sky was tres magnifique. You should think about leaving it like that sometimes.”
“Not a chance, Discord,” Celestia said. “Did you need something?”
“No, no. Just making sure my valiant efforts to send the ponies in the right direction turned out alright.”
“What did you do?” Celestia dead-panned.
“Well…” One explanation later… “So at least I fixed everything in the end!”
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just tell them the truth now?” Celestia asked. “Perhaps your efforts would actually put you in their good books if they knew what you were doing.”
“I doubt that,” Discord huffed. “Besides, it could cause problems for Fluttershy.”
“We wouldn’t want that,” Celestia said with a sly grin. Discord stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry.
“Well if you’re quite done hating on me because I happen to have feelings, I’m going to head home,” Discord huffed.

> A Scrapbook Under Her Pillow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Once they’d both returned home, Fluttershy filled Discord in on the parts he’d missed, and Discord explained what he’d been doing the whole time.
“So the tree just grew a random chest?” Discord asked. “How very… odd. I like it.”
“Oh, but I’m sure Twilight will figure it out!” Fluttershy said. “And we’ll all be there to support her!”
“Hmm,” Discord hummed in agreement. “You know, Celestia said something that got me thinking.”
“Oh? What is it?” Fluttershy asked.
“She asked if it wouldn’t simply be easier to tell your friends about everything,” Discord said.
“Oh… um…” Fluttershy said, frowning slightly. “I suppose it’s your decision, it’s just…”
“Oh, I don’t plan on it anytime soon,” he assured her. “I’d hate to cause trouble. For you, anyway. I was just thinking that maybe I ought to put in appearances more often, let them get used to me, try to make friends. If we tell them then, they won’t be as likely to overreact.” ‘ As much as I would love to see them overreact to this, waiting may offer up the opportunity for more friendly messing with them later...’
“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Fluttershy agreed. “I do hope that you could all get along someday. It feels so odd that my best friends don’t all get along.”
“Best… friend?” Discord asked, freezing. Fluttershy blushed and kicked shyly at the ground.
“Well, um, yes,” she admitted. “It’s just, we’ve spent so much time together, since you live here and all, and um, I really do enjoy your company, more than I ever thought I would, and… um… Oh, but I completely understand if you don’t feel the same way! I don’t want to put any pressure on you or make you uncomfortable! Oh, I shouldn’t have said anything!” ‘There’s that adorable panicking again...’ Discord snapped out of his daze, felt elation bubble up inside him, and pulled a surprised Fluttershy into a tight hug.
“Nonsense, Fluttershy,” he said with a grin. “You’re my best friend, too.” She returned the grin. “We need to celebrate this momentous occasion!”
“Um, okay,” Fluttershy replied with a giggle. Discord dragged her to his haven and used his chaos magic to create an entire indoor carnival that would never have really fit inside Fluttershy’s home. Of course, the carnival had a Discord-theme and was extremely random, but Fluttershy wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Oh, Discord, it’s wonderful!” she said happily.
“Only the best for you, my dear,” he said with a bow. “Cotton candy?” He offered her a puff of cotton candy that changed color every three or four seconds.
“Alright,” Fluttershy agreed.
“Say cheese, Fluttershy!” he said happily, summoning a picture and taking a picture in which an amused Fluttershy was holding her cotton candy and watching him grin like a maniac. It was a Polaroid, so the picture popped out, the cotton candy in the picture changing colors, too.
“Ah, this one’s going in the scrapbook!” Discord declared, summoning an empty scrapbook and placing the picture in a place of honor on the cover.
“Scrapbook?” Fluttershy asked.
“Why of course!” Discord scoffed. “What better way to capture our first moments as best friends?”
“You’re right, it’s a lovely idea,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
When Discord was finished thoroughly documenting their adventures in what he lovingly referred to as ‘Crazy Chaotic Fun Land’ the two headed back to Fluttershy’s cottage to work on the scrapbook, which, since they took turns putting pages together, became very eclectic, very fast.
When bedtime had been announced and Discord went back to his haven to sleep, Fluttershy took the scrapbook back to her room. She smiled softly at Discord’s goofy faces in the pictures. ‘I wish the others could see him like this,’ she thought. ‘He really is a big sweetheart once you get to know him. I haven’t had that much fun in ages...’ She fell asleep with a smile on her face and a scrapbook under her pillow.


> Transformations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Once the Summer Sun Celebration was over and everypony was safely back in Ponyville where they belonged, things made another temporary return to normal, though there were still plenty of day-to-day adventures, most of which, to Discord’s irritation, he was off in Canterlot for.
He did, however, thoroughly enjoy Fluttershy’s stories. He got a kick out of the story about the supposedly ‘haunted’ castle that ended with the six girls creating their own scrapbook/journal thing.
“I’ve started a trend! Ours is still better, though, I’m sure of it!”
He was surprised to hear that the book character Daring Do was a real-life pony, and that Fluttershy and her friends had met her.
“The books are so good the characters literally walk off the page,” he joked, which was funny because he’d never actually read the books. Reading took too long and was too normal for him to consider doing for any length of time.
One of his absolute favorites, though, occurred just after the official for the Equestria Games had left and the fillies who called themselves the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ had been chosen to represent Ponyville.
Fluttershy returned to the cottage one day just after Discord had returned home. She’d been gone all day fixing up the castle of the two sisters, though Discord didn’t know why, since nopony really used it anymore.
She came in with an amused smile on her face, shaking her head.
“Oh, I know that face,” Discord said. He propped his chin up with his hands. “There’s a story to tell, isn’t there? Spill!”
“Well, we got sucked into a comic book today,” Fluttershy said, laughing. “I suppose these things really ought to stop surprising me.”
“How in Equestria did that happen?” Discord asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Spike bought an enchanted comic book from a stand in Canterlot that pulled us inside to take the places of the main characters. “
“Who did you turn into?” Discord asked eagerly. Fluttershy blushed.
“Um… Saddle Rager,” she said.
“Sounds interesting,” Discord said slyly. “What were your super powers?”
“Um… well, when I lost my temper I turned into a huge monster,” Fluttershy admitted sheepishly. Discord blinked, then started laughing hysterically.
“Did you ever actually use your powers, then!?” he guffawed.
“Um… the villain sort of flicked a firefly, so…” Fluttershy said.
“Enough said,” Discord wheezed. “Oh, I wish I had a picture for the scrapbook!”
“No, it’s embarrassing!” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Well, luckily for you there’s no way for me to get a picture,” Discord huffed. “The idea of you losing your temper is rather intriguing, though. I was starting to think it wasn’t physically possible.”
“Um… yeah,” Fluttershy said nervously, thinking of the time at the gala and after her training from Iron Will, neither of which she was proud of.
“I’m assuming the experience was added to your groups own little scrapbook?” Discord asked.
“Um… yes, why?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh, didn’t you know? I pilfer it and look it over all the time,” Discord said with a grin. “The pink one usually draws pictures, so if I’m lucky…” Fluttershy hid her face in her hooves, mortified. Discord chuckled.
The next day Discord proudly displayed the newest page of their scrapbook, which held a copy of Pinkie’s childish drawing of Fluttershy the rage monster. Fluttershy pouted adorably, but Discord stayed strong and refused to take it out.
While many of life’s day-to-day adventures made great stories, the first to have any noticeably lasting impact occurred on Apple-Bucking Day. Discord was taking the day off, or more accurately had been told by an irritated Celestia to stay away for a few days after his ideas for fun were turned down and he retaliated by turning her throne into a toilet with streamers on it labeled ‘Party Pooper’. He hid out of view when there was a knock on the door, and Fluttershy opened it to see Rainbow Dash.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but Applejack’s called a code red at Sweet Apple Acres and needs our help,” Rainbow said quickly.
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said worriedly. “Code red? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I’ll meetcha there,” Rainbow Dash said, and flapped off.
“So I suppose tea time will have to be put on hold?” Discord said, causing his eclectic tea set to vanish with a snap.
“I’m sorry, Discord, but code red must mean something terrible. I’ve never seen her get higher than a yellow-ish green before,” Fluttershy said worriedly. “I promise we’ll have tea when I get back.”
“Alright. Let me know if the experience is interesting enough to make it to the scrapbook!” he requested.
“Alright,” she agreed, and ran off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. She came back that evening with a story, though not an overly interesting one.
“Bats attacking the orchard?” Discord asked. “And they made you use the Stare? It doesn’t work on me, but it’s effective to everypony else.”
“I didn’t want to,” Fluttershy admitted. “Taking away the thing that makes vampire fruit bats vampire fruit bats just felt… wrong. Just like I would never ask you to give up chaos. It’s who you are. All it needs is a little direction and it can be very helpful. The same is true of the bats, but I just couldn’t get Applejack to listen.”
“Well, I’m sure everything will work out in the end,” Discord said. “Shall we have tea, now?”
“You can have tea, but what really sounds good right now…” she trailed off and wandered into the kitchen. Discord shrugged and followed to see her grabbing some apples out of her fruit bowl. He wasn’t overly concerned until instead of eating them like a normal pony, she bit down with- were those fangs!?- and sucked the juices out, one apple at a time until they were all gone.
“Fluttershy?” he asked cautiously. She turned to look back at him and he noticed that her eyes had gone red and her ears were jagged. She hissed at him and flew out the window into the evening sky.
“Well that can’t be good,” Discord said worriedly. He followed her to Sweet Apple Acres and after a few hours of chasing finally pried her from one of the trees, though by now her wings had changed into bat wings, too. “Fluttershy, snap out of it! You are not a vampire fruit bat! Just imagine what Applejack would say if she found out you were sucking her apples dry!” Fluttershy blinked a few times disorientedly and gradually shifted back to normal.
“Wh-what happened?” Fluttershy asked dazedly.
“I think something went wrong with that spell,” Discord said. Fluttershy looked around the orchard and gasped just as Discord teleported them back to the cottage.
“Did the fruit bats start sucking the apples dry again?” she asked worriedly. ‘She can’t remember?’ “Oh dear…” ‘Well, I guess the effects were temporary, since she’s back to normal, now. There’s no reason to worry her.’
“You can deal with it tomorrow,” Discord said. “Go get some sleep.”
She was completely normal the next day at breakfast, so Discord left for Canterlot, putting the odd bat transformation at the back of his mind. When he got home, there was a note left on the inside of his door that Fluttershy was going to be out late with her friends and not to worry, but Discord decided to stay up to wait for her, just in case.
She came back with a frown on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.
“Um, Discord?” she asked. “Yesterday, when we turned up at Sweet Apple Acres and I couldn’t remember how… Was I turning into a bat?”
“Did it happen again!?” Discord demanded. “Once you went back to normal I thought it was done with. Will it happen again? Do you need help?”
“It should be fine, now,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight reversed the spell and the bats are all back to normal, and I should be too. Tomorrow we’re building the sanctuary I suggested.”
“Well, that’s good, then,” Discord sighed. Soon his face morphed into an evil grin. “And I managed to get an actual photograph of this transformation, so I’ve got some scrapbooking to do!”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
The next day the Vampire Fruit Bat Sanctuary was sectioned off, and the ponies all gathered at Fluttershy’s to write up a journal/scrapbook entry on the experience.
“Stand back!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I vant to suck its juice!” She pounced on the apple that Applejack had offered and sank her plastic fangs into it. Everypony laughed.
“Well, I’m glad you’re back to normal, now, Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a smile. “We’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Of course,” she replied with a nod. Her friends all returned to their own homes, and she settled onto the couch, ready to take a nap and sleep off the last few exhausting days. She was woken up by Discord returning home.
“Oh, sorry Fluttershy. Didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.
“It’s alright,” she assured him. She yawned widely. Once she’d recovered she saw Discord staring at her. “What?” she asked self-consciously.
“Your fangs are back,” he said with a deep frown.
“Really!?” Fluttershy asked worriedly, clapping her hooves over her mouth and feeling the tell-tale fangs with her tongue. “Oh no! Maybe the spell didn’t really work! What if I turn back into Flutterbat!?”
“I thought you said that the bats went back to normal. So their desire to be vampire fruit bats must be at least mostly gone out of you, right?” Discord asked. “Maybe this is just an after-effect.”
“I don’t think that’s all it is,” Fluttershy said miserably. “I’m craving apples.”
“Maybe if we just keep you away from apples it’ll go away?” Discord suggested. Within a few days it became evident that this was not the answer, because not only was Fluttershy more desperately craving apples with each coming day, but bat-like traits were slowly manifesting again. Finally, it got to be too much, and she flew off to the orchard again, though luckily she landed in the Sanctuary, anyway. Discord chased her down again, but it turned out to be unnecessary, because after draining a tree full of apples she was completely back to normal.
“I guess if I make sure to get my apple a day it’ll keep the vampire fruit bat away,” Fluttershy joked. “As long as I keep my cravings under control, I guess I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t want to go to Twilight to see if she can fix it?’ Discord asked worriedly.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want her to feel responsible,” Fluttershy said quickly. “She’d just blame herself that the spell didn’t work, and it won’t be any trouble now that I know how to handle it. There’s no need.”
“If you say so,” Discord shrugged. So, from that day on, Fluttershy had an apple every day with breakfast, and the problem never surfaced again, though Applejack was a bit confused about Fluttershy’s increasingly common visits to the market stand.


> Epic Fail and Feelings Realized
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	More time passed. Fluttershy went with Rarity to Manehattan for a week, leaving Discord bored at home. He kept himself occupied re-re-re-decorating his haven. After that and an adventure where it was determined that Pinkie had a 50/50 chance of being related to Applejack, Fluttershy went off for the Equestria games. Overall, Discord was finding himself craving Fluttershy’s company. Celestia was catching him daydreaming more and more often, despite how he tried to stop himself, and at random moments he’d find himself wishing she was there to smile or laugh with him. But, unfortunately, she spent lots of time with her other friends, who still weren’t supposed to know he lived there. Finally tired of it, he decided to try harder to become closer friends with the others. How hard could it be, really?
After some scheming, he came up with the perfect plan- while Fluttershy was gone studying the Breezies and Cadence was in town to spend time with Twilight, he’d sabotage their get-together. Then, he’d suddenly ‘realize’ what he’d done and fix everything, giving them the best get-together they’d ever had. Then Twilight would see that he could be a good friend, when he wanted to be.
His plan was implemented perfectly- right up until the end.
“You didn’t put a damper on our visit at all!” Cadence said cheerfully.
“He didn’t!?”
“I didn’t!?”
“Spending the day at the Star Swirl the Bearded exhibit would have been more… relaxing, but, to be honest, relaxation is the last thing I need.”
“It is?” Twilight asked happily.
“Don’t get me wrong, life in the Crystal Empire is wonderful, but it’s become a little… predictable,” Cadence explained. “I enjoy a little excitement now and then. Getting to face all these challenges today was just what I needed. And facing them with you just made me realize even more how lucky I am to have somepony like you as a friend.” They hugged and Discord glowered. Leave it to the princess of love to go and ruin his plans. Now Twilight was just going to dislike him even more! “We may not see each other very often, but I know you’ll always be there when I need you. Just like she was there for you, Discord.”
“Yes, she’s a real sweetheart. We’re all so lucky to have her in our lives,” Discord grumbled. ‘Now if only she would actually enjoy being in my life on occasion!’
A rumbling sound from behind halted all further conversation as the giant worm beast came up menacingly and roared.
“What in the world!?” Discord exclaimed. The best reared its head and… sneezed on Discord. ‘Karma hates me.’ He almost immediately went green and developed spots, and this time he wasn’t faking.
Another long trip later, Discord was sequestered miserably inside a plastic bubble in Fluttershy’s front room.
“I think it’s pretty clear that my visit with Cadence didn’t go quite how I expected,” Twilight dictated to Spike as he wrote. “But in the end I realized that when you’re with a good friend, even the most chaotic day can end up being a great experience that brings you closer. Wouldn’t you agree, Discord?” she asked smugly. ‘Of course I would, but for some reason that never seems to apply when I’m that ‘good friend’. Then chaotic is always bad. Talk about double standard.’
“Yes, Twilight,” he huffed, sniffling.
“I don’t wanna go saying you got what you deserved,” Applejack started.
“Well, I have no trouble saying it,” Rarity interrupted. “You got what you deserved!”
“Now, now, he’s learned his lesson,” Fluttershy said calmly. ‘No more coming up with plans to make friends without running them by me first.’ “Isn’t that right, my little patient?” He nodded obediently.
“I’m so glad that you’re back from your trip, Fluttershy,” he said meaningfully. “Just your presence here is making me feel so much better.” Twilight rolled her eyes. Discord could imagine Celestia smirking at him. “I was just wondering, could I trouble you for just one more thing?”
“No!” Twilight shouted.
“What?” he asked defensively. “I was simply going to ask for a teeny-tiny glass of water.” After all, all this coughing and wheezing was drying out his throat, and it was never a good idea to use any chaos magic when he was sick, because something always went wrong, so he couldn’t summon it himself. Twilight left the hut with a disgusted huff, followed by the other four irritated ponies.
“You really thought ruining Twilight’s visit with Cadence would let you make friends with her more easily?” Fluttershy asked, shaking her head.
“Well, in hindsight it may not have been the best plan, but I’ve been getting so bored here alone all the time while you’re out with your friends. I just wanted to become a part of it.”
“If I promise to spend more time at home with you will you promise not to try any more silly schemes?” Fluttershy asked. Discord nodded enthusiastically. “Alright, then. Now get some rest. You need it if you’re going to get better.” She left and returned with the water he’d asked for.
“You truly are an angel, Fluttershy. I simply don’t know what I’d do without you,” he said with a content smile, closing his eyes and drifting off. Fluttershy smiled gently. It was nice to see how much he truly valued their friendship. It hurt her to see him like this, though. He looked very fragile when he was sick, and it was an unpleasant contrast to the care-free chaos spirit she knew and loved.
‘Wait, what?’ Fluttershy thought, shocked with herself. She of course loved him as a friend, but when she’d thought that, that wasn’t what she’d meant by it at all. ‘Am I… falling for him? Oh goodness… I don’t know what to do! I’ve never liked anypony like that before, and Discord isn’t even really a pony. Oh, but I don’t judge by appearances- but still, there’s no way it can ever come to anything, right? So I should just forget about it right? Oh, I think I’m feeling light-headed.’
Fluttershy collapsed onto the couch across the room from Discord’s nest on the floor and closed her eyes, trying to rub away a headache. In the end, she ended up falling asleep on the couch. It was the middle of the night when the draconequus woke up again, feeling well-rested and, best of all, much better. It appeared to be only a 24-hour bug, and his 24 hours were up. He made his quarantine bubble disappear with a snap of his fingers and was about to return to his haven for the rest of the night when he noticed Fluttershy dozing peacefully on the couch. He watched her for awhile, her frame rising and falling gently with every deep breath. She looked so… innocent.
He didn’t want to leave her on the couch, since that would undoubtedly leave her with a crick in her neck in the morning, so he ever so carefully picked her up. She curled into his warmth and Discord felt his heart flutter. ‘Celestia, if you’re in here, go away,’ he thought as a precaution. Luckily for him, she only invaded his daydreams when she knew for a fact he was daydreaming, so he was talking to a pony who wasn’t listening. He floated up the stairs cautiously, trying not to jostle her, before laying her gently on her bed and putting her blankets over her. After a moment’s hesitation, he kissed her on the forehead before leaving, not noticing the small smile on her sleepy face as she opened her eyes slightly and shut them again tiredly.
After that, Fluttershy made sure to spend more time at home with Discord, to the point where his ever-changing chaotic haven, where they spent much of their time, was actually starting feel like a part of her home rather than just Discord’s territory. They’d filled their first scrapbook, a tradition that had taken off, and even went back over all the experiences they’d had before they’d started it, starting with Discord’s reformation. Fluttershy tried not to think too much about her startling discovery of her budding feelings for Discord of all ponies, hoping that ignoring them would make them go away, but like anypony who’s ever tried not to think about something, she accomplished the exact opposite, and her feelings only deepened with every passing day.
On occasion, Discord would skip work and tag along in Fluttershy’s mane, hoping to catch onto the action. The first exciting thing to happen on one of these days was when a certain pony named Cheese Sandwich came to town.
“Who knew? There’s another pony just like her! And here I thought that was impossible!” Discord joked to Fluttershy when he knew nopony else would hear. The end result of that visit was, of course, a massive party, which was more impressive and elaborate than Pinkie ever had time or resources to pull off on her own. It definitely went down in the ‘Scrapbook of Harmony’, as Discord had taken to calling it when it started getting annoying trying to differentiate between the one he kept with Fluttershy and the one Fluttershy kept with her friends.
After an amusing incident where Rarity put on a poor imitation of Applejack during the Ponyville Days festival, Fluttershy started getting excited about a fundraiser she was putting together for the Ponyville Pet Center. She’d even convinced Rarity to have her quartet perform, and as Fluttershy was an avid fan, she was particularly enthusiastic. She was so distracted that Discord had to grab her and remind her to eat an apple before she left the house a few times.
The day before the fundraiser, Discord slept in late, but when he woke up he heard Fluttershy singing outside his window. He peeked out and listened with rapt attention. ‘So beautiful… The song, I mean. Yeah, the music.’ He noticed her singing to the pet jackalope he’d given her for her birthday.
He was just about to go out and compliment her when her other friends showed up and triggered her stage fright. He watched as they tried to convince her to perform before giving up and all heading off to set up and prepare for the event. She came back happily anticipating the event, so Discord assumed that everything was going according to plan. He half-listened to her excited talk of the event over dinner, focusing more on the glow around her when she was happy. He was still trying to decide whether it was just his imagination or not when the meal ended and they parted ways for the night.
“You are coming tonight, right?” Fluttershy asked over breakfast the next morning.
“My dear Fluttershy, I wouldn’t miss it. What kind of friend would I be if I wasn’t there to support you? I’ll blend in with the crowd or something,” Discord assured her.
“Ok then,” she said with a smile. “Now I should probably go. There’s still some last-minute things to go over. I’ll see you tonight!” She left happily, and Discord watched dreamily. He made the mistake of reporting to Celestia before he’d snapped out of it, though.
“My my,” Celestia teased. The longer Discord spent with Fluttershy, the more Celestia noticed that he was being tolerable, and they’d formed a friendship of sorts, though it was based mostly on poking fun at each other. “With as often as you seem to think about her, I’d say you’re developing quite the crush on Fluttershy.”
“What?” Discord asked, shocked. “No! Don’t be ridiculous! I just-” He stopped and made a face when he realized with a jolt that Celestia was right. She didn’t notice his reaction, however, because she’d meant it as a joke and simply thought he’d caught on that she was teasing.
“Calm down, I’m only teasing,” she said. “Now let’s get to work. A terrible storm hit Fillydelphia, and I was hoping you could help with repairs…” Discord half listened to her and went off to do as he was told, mind still racing. Had he really… developed feelings for Fluttershy? That certainly explained a lot. He’d never imagined that friendship was as deep as what he had with the timid pegasus, and maybe that was because there was more to it than friendship, at least on his side. The revelation was devastating, in a way. He knew that a pony like Fluttershy would never feel the same way about him- he doubted anypony ever would. I mean, look at him! He sighed. Well, no reason to let the discovery change anything about his interactions with the beautiful little mare. He wanted things to stay the way they were.
When the job was done and it was time to go, he reappeared in Ponyville disguised as a squirrel, again, and scampered to the park where the fundraiser was happening. He looked for Fluttershy in the crowd, hoping he could ride around in her mane again, but he couldn’t see her, so he just settled in to observe, keeping an eye out for her. She’d undoubtedly be thrilled with how things were going, and he wanted to see her smile. When the performance was over, he still hadn’t found her, so he decided that she must be busy with other things and headed home to wait for her.


> I Knew That Was a Great Idea
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She was extremely quiet when she came in, almost like she was avoiding him.
“The fundraiser was a huge success,” he praised, clapping for her. “Congratulations.”
She didn’t respond, tucking her face into her hair.
“What’s wrong?” Discord asked. “Everything went according to plan, right?”
“Not exactly,” Flutterguy responded with a sigh. Discord jumped.
“What happened to your voice?” he asked worriedly. “Is your throat sore? Are you sick?”
“No, no,” Flutterguy said. “Big Macintosh lost his voice and couldn’t sing the bass part, so Zecora gave me Poison Joke so I could sing for him behind stage. I would have already taken the antidote, but the Ponytones got asked to perform at a cute-cinera tomorrow, and I’d hate to disappoint the little filly.”
“Poison Joke did this?” Discord asked. “As in, a little blue flower in the Everfree forest?” Flutterguy nodded, and Discord burst out laughing. “Oh, I knew that was a great idea!”
“You… made Poison Joke!?” Flutterguy exclaimed. Discord nodded happily.
“A product of the first time I took over. The forest was protected from the Elements turning everything back to normal because the Tree of Harmony grows there, natural immunity and all that, so a few of my finer inventions survived in there,” Discord chuckled.
“Well, I suppose it worked out for the best,” Flutterguy sighed, not wanting to push the issue. Discord smirked again at her voice.
“So how long are you keeping your voice like this?” he asked merrily.
“I should be back to normal by tomorrow,” Flutterguy stated.
Five days later…
“Well so much for back by tomorrow,” Discord said amusedly. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Well… yes,” Flutterguy admitted timidly. “It’s nice to be able to sing without drawing attention to myself. Are you going to come this time? I’ve been working on a bit of improv that’s different from what we rehearsed, and I thought maybe you’d want to hear…”
“I’d love to come. I’ll tag along in your mane,” Discord said. So, that night, at Sugarcube Corner, a tiny Discord hid away in Flutterguy’s mane, and was there to hear that Big Mac’s voice was better and this would be Flutterguy’s last performance.
“Funny how one performance turned into nearly a week,” Discord said jovially in her ear.
He had to hold on tight once the song started, because, out of the spotlight, Flutterguy was getting into the song a bit too much and dancing around. The song was wonderful, unsurprising since Flutterguy was singing, but her enthusiasm was going to make him sick if she didn’t calm down. He poked his head out just in time to see her about to run into the curtain, but he was too late to warn her and instead ducked hurriedly out of sight again as the curtain came crashing down and revealed her.
“Fluttershy!?” her friends all exclaimed in shock. The audience burst into applause, and Discord told them off in his head. They were only going to make things worse! Sure enough, a distressed Flutterguy ran off, sobbing. As soon as he was able to without giving himself away, he left her hair and picked her up, stopping her sprint and grappling with her while she struggled and cried.
“Fluttershy, calm down, it’s alright,” Discord said soothingly. “It’s just me.” She calmed down enough to stop squirming, but silent tears were still coursing down her face while Discord flew her home.
“Everypony saw,” she moaned, hiding her face.
“It’ll be okay, Fluttershy,” he said calmly. “It’ll all blow over in no time, and you know your friends will be here to support you. Now let’s get you into that healing bubble bath, hmm?” She nodded, sniffling.
Just when he’d gotten her calmed down and sounding like herself again, her meddling friends turned up and ruined his hard work, causing her to run off again. Luckily they fixed it themselves. He found his respect for Pinkie slipping, though, as it was mostly her fault.
“Well, thank you all.  I’m glad you all enjoyed it,” Fluttershy said. “Because I’m never going to sing in front of anypony ever again!” She ran off again, and Discord flew to keep up, going unnoticed by the ponies, who were also running after her.
“No!”
“Are you kidding me!?”
“Can we please stop running!” Rarity begged. Fluttershy drew to a halt near the stage. “I just don’t understand why Fluttershy.” ‘Because she has stage fright you idiot! I thought we’d established this!’ “After all, you’re the one who wanted the Ponytones to sing for every silly thing that was requested of us.” ‘Never mind, she has a fair point. Continue.’
“You mean, you knew I really wanted to perform?” Fluttershy asked shyly.
“Of course I knew!” Rarity said.
“Oh,” Fluttershy sighed.
“And, for all her babbling, Pinkie Pie was right about one thing,” Rarity continued.
“Only one!?” Pinkie exclaimed.
“When that curtain fell and everypony saw you singing, you lived your worst nightmare!” Rarity said dramatically. ‘Is that supposed to be encouraging?’ She paused and looked at Fluttershy. “Was it really that bad?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy said, crying again.
“Well, what was so bad about it?” Twilight asked, always one to dissect a problem.
“The thunderous applause?” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“The praise for your fantastic singin’?” Applejack asked.
“The screaming fans!?” Pinkie asked loudly, causing Fluttershy to jump back. ‘Yes, all those things, because she has STAGE FRIGHT! Goodness, what kind of friends are they?’
Evidently, though, their comments helped her realize that she was being unnecessarily afraid, because she landed back on the stage and smiled at them, and then up at Discord.
“What do you say to making our quartet a quintet?” Rarity suggested. Fluttershy hesitated, with a slightly panicked look on her face. “Just for us and your animal friends?”
“Well… alright,” Fluttershy agreed timidly. Her friends cheered, and Discord smiled. ‘I suppose they’re alright, then.’
The next day Discord settled in with the animals to watch, in disguise of course. Luckily, after living with Fluttershy so long, the animals tolerated him, especially since he knew better than to mess with them and earn Fluttershy’s vengeance.
The moment she began singing Discord wished she’d do it more often, like he always did. She always got that happy glow about her when she did, and the sound itself was painfully beautiful, too. He clapped along loudly with all the other animals and ponies when they finished. They immediately tried to convince her to perform in front of a larger crowd, but that idea was shot down.
“Can I have the Scrapbook of Har- I mean, can I have the scrapbook to write about this in?” Fluttershy requested of Twilight. “I think this qualifies.”
“Of course,” Twilight said with a smile, giving Fluttershy the book. “We’ll leave you to it then. Goodbye Fluttershy!”
“Bye, girls!” she said happily, waving them off. She sat down to write, and Discord watched from a distance. Not a very long one, though, since he was hiding in some bushes less than fifteen feet away. He watched her nose scrunch up as she tried to think of what to write. ‘I really do have it bad, don’t I?’ he thought to himself with a sigh. Fluttershy finished writing and closed the Scrapbook of Harmony gently.
“You really do have a beautiful voice, you know,” Discord said, slipping out of the bushes and landing beside her on the stage. She blushed prettily.
“Thank you,” she said shyly. It made her very happy when Discord said things like that. Her feelings only intensified every time, reminding her what it was about the chaos spirit that she loved.
“Let’s head inside,” Discord suggested. “Dinner’s on me.” Fluttershy laughed and agreed.

> Double Standards
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A few weeks later, the Breezies that Fluttershy had studied were on their way to migrate through town. Discord couldn’t stay for it, but Fluttershy was plenty busy getting things ready, so she didn’t have time to miss him too much. Besides, the Breezies were just so adorable!
When Discord got home, it wasn’t quite what he expected.
“I wasn’t supposed to already know these things would be here, was I?” Discord asked when he walked in an saw the huge group of Breezies, trying to remember if she’d said anything. The Breezies all squeaked at the sight of him and huddled behind Fluttershy.
“Oh, um, no,” Fluttershy said. “There was a problem with their breeze, and I’m letting them stay here to recuperate.” She turned back to the Breezies. “It’s alright, my little Breezies. Discord is a friend.” The Breezies cautiously left her back and went back to their posts around the room. “I should be getting them on their ways soon, though, or they may not make it home in time. The problem is, they’ve all come down with colds, and I don’t know if they’ll be better in time…” Discord looked around at the cheerful Breezies.
“Yes, they look really sick,” he said sarcastically. “But, if they’re going to be here, may as well make them welcome. Who wants to party!?” He summoned up a party with his claws, feeling like Pinkie Pie, and the Breezies began excitedly zooming about the room and drinking punch.
It was going great until a little blue and pink one grabbed one of the tiny instruments that Discord had summoned and smashed it on the ground.
“Why are you spending your time on this!?” he demanded in a tiny squeaky voice. “I will never get home!” Fluttershy frowned.
“Breezies, I must say, Seabreeze has a point. I think it’s time for me to get Rainbow Dash and her friends so they can create the breeze for you to get home,” Fluttershy said. The Breezies all protested. “Oh… you’re all awfully anxious. I don’t want you to feel abandoned, or that I wasn’t the most kind host I could possibly be.” One of the Breezies said something. “Oh, yes, that does make sense. Seabreeze, do you think you could wait just a couple more hou-” she turned to face him, but he was gone. “Seabreeze? Seabreeze? Has anypony seen Seabreeze?” One of the Breezies shrugged. Discord pointed at the door, and Fluttershy turned and saw that the eyehole was open. She ran to it and saw Seabreeze on the other side flying away. She gasped.
“Where’s he going!?” she asked. “There’s no way he can handle being out there on his own! I have to go after him!” She dashed out of the door and came back a few minutes later with an uncharacteristically determined look on her face and Seabreeze in tow.
“My dear Breezies,” she started. “I had to rescue Seabreeze from serious harm, and now I know more than ever that you must leave before it’s too late. You would never survive in Ponyville.” All the Breezies flocked her ankles and protested, whining at her. ‘How does she put up with those annoying little squeaky voices?’ “I can’t help you anymore. In fact, I wasn’t helping you at all by being nice.” She sighed. “But the truth of that matter is that I must be firm. You must go. Now.” She opened the door and gestured for them to leave. The Breezies wilted disappointedly, but gradually floated outside. Seabreeze gave her a grateful look, and she closed the door behind her, crying.
“What’s wrong!?” Discord asked worriedly, flying over. “I thought making them go was a good thing.”
“I know,” Fluttershy agreed. “But their little heartbroken faces… I can’t stand it!”
“Oh, Fluttershy, you care too much,” Discord scolded. “You knew they were going to have to leave.”
“I can’t help it,” Fluttershy said. “I get attached to any creature that I care for.” Discord wondered internally if that included him. “I suppose I’d best see them off. Are you going to come along?”
“Might as well,” he shrugged, and took up his spot in her hair.
“I’ve been studying an old spell book from the Castle of the Two Sisters,” Twilight said when they realized there was no breeze that would get a group that small home without ripping them apart. “There’s a spell that I think could help us. This is probably going to feel a little funny at first, but you’re gonna have to trust me.”
“I love new ideas that make me feel funny at first!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. Twilight engaged her magic and shot it at her friends, creating a bridge between them and the Breezies. When the light cleared, the friends had all shrunk down to the size and shape of Breezies… And Discord, his tiny form curled up in Fluttershy’s hair, became a tiny gnat-sized Breezie.
“Well that was unexpected,” he said, looking himself over. Fluttershy glanced at him, sticking out of her hair a bit, and giggled softly. She flew forward while an embarrassed Discord hid himself again.
“Marfo phla-i barten do,” Fluttershy chattered. Her friends stared at her. “Um, I mean, let’s go!” With the added support of six more Breezies, they were able to get on their way. Discord flew out of Fluttershy’s hair for just long enough to take some pictures while her friends were occupied. No way this wasn’t going in the scrapbook, even if it would probably be in the Scrapbook of Harmony, too.
They got through the portal with just enough time. Discord watched boredly as the Breezies all embraced each other and a bunch of other mushy stuff like kissing babies and the like. Finally Rarity pointed out that it was time to go, and Fluttershy reluctantly turned to go before Seabreeze handed her a flower. Discord fought down the irrational jealousy- first of all, Seabreeze was clearly married, and second of all Discord had no claim on her, anyway.
“To remember us by,” Seabreeze said gratefully. He put the flower in Fluttershy’s hair. It probably would have fallen out if left on its own, since the stem was so short, so Discord grabbed it and held it in place.
“Thank you. I’ll miss you,” Fluttershy said quickly. “I’ll miss all of you!” The portal was almost closing, so Fluttershy hurriedly swooped through just as it closed behind her. Twilight turned them all back to ponies, or in Discord’s case a draconequus. They all started walking.
“Let’s try to get back home by nightfall,” Twilight said.
“We have to walk all the way back!?” Rarity exclaimed, horrified. Twilight paused a moment and face-hoofed. Her friends gave her an odd look.
“I can just teleport us,” Twilight said.
“Oh, right,” Rarity sighed, relieved. The others smiled, and in a flash of light they were back home and walking off to their own beds.
“Why couldn’t you have done that with the Breezies?” Discord pointed out, rolling his eyes. “This whole mess could have been solved ages ago.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she realized he was right. She laughed.
“I suppose that would have made more sense than turning ourselves into Breezies,” she mused.
“Sense? Never mind, this way was better,” Discord said, sounding disgusted. “There’s no fun in making sense. Besides, we got some good pictures out of it.” Fluttershy giggled. “It’s your turn to make a scrapbook page. Hop to it. I’ll grab snacks.”
A few days past and Fluttershy informed Discord that Pinkie’s sister was coming to town.
“There’s more of them?” Discord asked, amused. “First there was that… what was his name, Grilled Cheese?”
“Cheese Sandwich,” Fluttershy corrected.
“Whatever. First him and now a sister. How many of them can there be?” he asked with a chuckle. Discord was too busy to stay home and see Pinkie’s sister for himself, and when he did get home it was too late for things like that, but when he got home Fluttershy told him how very, very different Maud was from how they’d imagined her.
“Really? No expression at all?” Discord asked, bemused. Fluttershy nodded miserably.
“And Pinkie’s expecting us to become the best of friends,” Fluttershy sighed. “We really are trying, but Maud is just so different from all of us…”
“Maybe she just needs to get used to you first?” Discord suggested. “I mean, I’m about as ‘different’ as you can get, and I still somehow managed to make friends with you.” Fluttershy grinned.
“Best friends,” she reminded. He returned the grin. Both sighed inwardly. “I suppose you might be right, though. I can’t give up on being her friend, yet.”
The next day Fluttershy came home looking even more dejected.
“No luck?” Discord asked, conjuring some chocolate milk and offering it to her. She took it and shook her head, taking a sip.
“We all tried,” Fluttershy said. “But all she thinks about is rocks, so I don’t even think she noticed we were trying.”
“Sounds dreadful. Reminds me of the situation of a certain close friend of mine. Oh, here he is!” Discord said, splitting himself into two and pointing at himself before recombining. “Although I suppose my attempts are a bit too chaotic for them to work on anyone but you, my budding chaos master.” Fluttershy shook her head with a laugh. “Glad to cheer you up!”
“You usually do,” Fluttershy murmured to herself, blushing slightly. Discord didn’t catch it because he was busy conjuring his own glass of chocolate milk.
The next day Maud left, the girls went after her, and everything was resolved, before Discord even had a chance to get a glimpse of her.
“Ah, well,” he sighed. “I was going to try and make the visit a little more interesting to help you all bond, but I suppose you sorted it out on your own. Although I find the double-standard insulting.”
“Double standard?” Fluttershy asked, confused.
“Of course!” Discord humphed. “They’ll bond with an emotionless rock because of a shared friendship, but they still hold onto a petty grudge with me! Even Celestia’s stopped mistrusting me!”
“I know,” Fluttershy said. “You should ask Celestia if you can spend more time in Ponyville. I’m sure we could come up with excuses for you to be here, and maybe spending more time with you will help them understand you.”
“Maybe when things get a bit less busy,” he sighed. “There’ve been some natural disasters on the east coast that she’s been having me clear up, and it’ll take some time.”
“Well, until then, you’ll still have me,” Fluttershy said caringly. Discord smiled and nodded.

> An Antique Chicken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	He didn’t have any real time off until the Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange, when he happily tagged along, deciding that he really should start participating more in pony culture, since he was basically living as one, now. Just, as one who happened to have chaos magic.
He thought about setting up his own booth, but decided against it since his appearance among ponies who weren’t acquainted with him may cause widespread panic rather than just annoyance. He often had this problem when he was reconstructing, one of Celestia’s favorite little jobs to give him, but once he started being helpful they usually calmed down. There wasn’t anything big here for him to be helpful with, so therefore there would be no way to calm the angry mob.
So, instead, he created a pony out of thin air that he could control and had him set up a stall- filled with his own patented Discord-shaped lamps. He didn’t usually create his own living things, mostly just changed ones that already existed, so the hind legs didn’t work properly and he had to summon up a wheelchair.
Oddly enough, his first customer was Rainbow Dash, being followed by Fluttershy. When Rainbow wasn’t looking, he animated one of the lamps just long enough to wave at her. She smiled.
“A whole stand filled with Discord-shaped lamps? Seriously?” Rainbow asked incredulously.
“They really do have everything at the Traders Exchange,” Fluttershy replied, trying not to laugh.
Rainbow tried to trade an old horseshoe for one of his lamps, but of course he refused. What would he possible do with a horseshoe? He didn’t even have horse feet for Pete’s sake!
“But I’d trade it for an antique chicken,” he made the pony say, chuckling to himself. It was the randomest thing he could think of off the top of his head, and randomness was definitely something he enjoyed.
“Great!” Rainbow exclaimed. “What’s an antique chicken?” He just smiled mysteriously, since he really had no idea, since he’d just said something randomly. Rainbow sighed and drag Fluttershy off to look for something that fit the qualifications. A few minutes later Fluttershy came back alone.
“Rainbow wants to know what kind of chicken you want,” Fluttershy said with a laugh as Discord slinked out of his corner to greet her. His pony puppet sat there with a blank face since he wasn’t controlling it. Discord guffawed.
“She actually found an antique chicken!? I was totally joking. I suppose it would be an amusing decoration for my room, though… Just get whatever, I don’t particularly care.”
“I’ll go let her know,” Fluttershy said, and flew off again.
“He’ll be fine with anything,” Fluttershy said. Rainbow shrugged, grabbed the chicken statue closest to her, and took off with it, Fluttershy in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Discord was getting bored. Nopony but Rainbow had even bothered coming to the booth, so he was rapidly running out of entertainment. He decided he may as well go out and see the sights for awhile. Besides, it’d be funny if Rainbow ended up waiting for his pony puppet to come back. He made the puppet go get in line for something to eat while he flew up inconspicuously and looked down on the Exchange, observing. Rainbow Dash tracked it down a bit too quickly, though, so he had the puppet make some lame excuse about having been trading all day (even though he hadn’t technically sold any yet) and being hungry (even though it was a puppet and didn’t need to eat).
Fluttershy, knowing exactly what Discord was pulling, pulled out her d’aww face, since Discord was helpless against her when she really wanted something. Unfortunately, he saw it coming, and looked away, making the puppet say no. Fluttershy shot him a slightly irritated look, and soon Rainbow had dragged her into the burger stand and was churning out oat burgers at record speed- which was the most entertaining thing Discord had seen all day.
Deciding to reward the show, he agreeably had the puppet go back to the stall and trade them for the lamp, snickering at the antique chicken he’d acquired. ‘I guess they really do have everything here. I’ll have to put this in a place of honor in my haven. And try harder next time to be random, because evidently ‘antique chicken’ wasn’t good enough.’
Meanwhile, Rainbow was trying desperately to convince the owner of the Daring Do stall that she still wanted the orthros, with a little help from Fluttershy.
“With a little patient training, and a big slobber mop, they can be a wonderful household pet,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
“Oh, alright, alright,” the mare said while the orthros licked her. “I’ll trade you.”
“YES!” Rainbow exclaimed triumphantly. She started drooling.
“If she comes and stays with us in Manehattan until it’s trained!” the mare demanded.
“Gosh, training an orthros takes a long time,” Fluttershy said hesitantly. ‘I can’t leave Discord on his own that long!’  “I’ll probably be gone from Ponyville for… I don’t even know how many moons!” ‘Come on Rainbow, take a hint!’ These were the kinds of thoughts Fluttershy kept on the inside, since she’d never be caught saying it out loud. Unfortunately, Rainbow was too busy slobbering over the book to notice, so Fluttershy sighed. “But… If that is what you really want…” ‘HINT HINT.’
“So we got a fair deal?” the mare asked.
“Of course it’s a deal!” Rainbow exclaimed. Fluttershy sighed. Maybe she could have Discord come with her and just hide in her mane? Oh, but he’d probably get bored without his haven. Oh, but she didn’t want to just leave him… Maybe Celestia would give him a temporary space at the castle? Ugh, she had a headache. “Whoo-hoo! I did it I did it!” Fluttershy started walking after the mare and orthros, hoping Discord would notice her on the way out so she could explain. “Fluttershy, can you believe it!?”
Fluttershy was already too far away to hear.
“Oh no!” Rainbow gasped, realizing what had just happened. “What did I do!?” She flew to Twilight the second she realized how she could fix this. “Twilight! I need you to say a trade wasn’t fair! FAST!”
Unfortunately, things didn’t initially turn out in her favor. ‘Twilight, you traitor,’ Rainbow huffed in her mind.
“Yeah, I said it,” Rainbow exclaimed. “But I was wrong! I did want that book. A lot. I said I wanted it more than anything in all of Equestria. But there’s no thing that’s worth as much to me as a friend.”
‘Well, better late than never,’ Fluttershy thought, smiling at Rainbow.
“I… might have forgotten that for a little bit,” Rainbow admitted sheepishly. Discord, disguised and in the crowd, huffed. ‘She’d better hope this all works out, or my “attempts at friendship” with her will become a lot more sinister.’ “But it’s true! Which means there’s no way this trade can be fair!”
“Oh come on!” the other mare exclaimed. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard! Okay, the trade’s off.” Discord sighed in relief as all the ponies cheered and Twilight concluded the Exchange. Soon enough, he was safely back in Fluttershy’s mane and they were heading home. He gagged a little at the sappy friendship moment, but other than that the ride was bearable, mostly because he’d grown extremely fond of hanging out in Fluttershy’s hair, especially since he’d realized exactly what it was he felt for her.
A few days later, the day after a little fair that was put on for the fillies, Discord finally decided that it was time to go out on the town and try to make friends again- hopefully with more success, this time around. However, the moment he got into town he knew that this was not going to be the perfect day for it. While he watched, the Apples’ cart in the market randomly turned into gold and gemstones, and moments later an irritated Rainbow was stuffed into a dress that appeared out of nowhere. ‘If anypony sees me, I’ll get blamed!’ Discord complained, hurriedly tucking himself out of sight. ‘But who in Equestria is doing all this, anyway?’ He decided to do a little detective work. He went to Fluttershy’s to ask if she knew anything just in time to see Rarity make her birdhouse into a bird mansion. ‘So it’s Rarity who’s stealing my job, is it?’ As soon as Rarity and her lackey left, Discord flew over to Fluttershy.
“Oh, Discord, did you do this?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “You know how it frightens the animals when they’re not expecting it. I thought we’d been over this. You’ve been so good about it-”
“It wasn’t me, I swear!” Discord defended. “I actually came to see if you knew anything about what’s been happening in town. A certain somepony has been doing things that will likely get me in trouble if they’re not stopped, as was just demonstrated. I caught her in the act, this time, though.”
“Who was it, then?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
“Rarity,” Discord declared.
“Rarity?” Fluttershy asked, confused. “But… why would Rarity go about making chaos?”
“I think she’s trying to beautify things, in a twisted way,” Discord mused.
“Oh, but, her magic isn’t strong enough for something like this on her own,” Fluttershy said hesitantly. “She can mostly just levitate things and cast her gem-finding spell…”
“I don’t know the how, but I know what I saw,” Discord insisted.
“Well, I suppose we’d better try to find her and ask, just in case,” Fluttershy said cautiously. He agreed, hid in her hair to avoid taking the blame (and so he could spend more time in it. It was so soft and it smelled like Fluttershy), and they headed along the road to town. By the time they got there, all the roads had been turned to solid gold.
“It really does seem like something Rarity would do,” Fluttershy said worriedly.
By the time they got an idea of where Rarity might be, everything had already resolved itself.
“Why do I always have to miss out on the action!?” Discord complained. “Something interesting needs to happen to me now!” At that moment, a letter appeared in front of him. Princess Celestia used Spike to send letters to Twilight because it was slightly easier, but when she needed to get ahold of Discord, she could just materialize them in front of him. He grabbed it and read it out loud.
“Discord, Twilight has just sent me a letter describing today’s events. While I realize from what she said that you weren’t involved, I expect you to help Princess Cadence and Princess Luna with cleanup while they’re there. I’ve sent them to help, and they know to expect you.”
“Oh thank goodness,” Fluttershy said in relief. “I’d hate for things to stay this way for too long. Somepony’s eyes might be damaged by all the reflected light!”
“I agree. Changing the ground is all well and good, but even when I was ‘evil’, I’ve never condoned causing real pain. And now that I’m good, I realize emotional pain is also off limits, so I’m practically a saint!” He summoned a halo.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Fluttershy teased. The familiar flash of teleportation came from near the library. “It looks like the princesses are here, so why don’t you go help out. I’ll make dinner while you’re gone and it’ll be waiting when you get back!”
“Yes, dear,” Discord sighed, and slithered out of her hair, around the corner, and up into Cadence’s much less comfortable mane without Twilight, who was talking to Luna, noticing. To her credit, she didn’t jump.

> The Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When he got home from undoing all the damage, Fluttershy had, indeed, finished making dinner. She’d even made the main course look like his face, which made him laugh heartily. She grinned at him.
After this added failed attempt at becoming more likeable, Fluttershy made a point to be as nice to Discord as she could to cheer him up, which only ended up strengthening their growing attraction even further. Her animals were starting to pick up on the romantic tension, and often shared exasperated looks whenever there was an awkward pause in the pair’s conversations due to said romantic tension. While Fluttershy was gone watching the Equestria game, Discord tried steeling himself against her a bit. She’d never care for him the same way, and he really didn’t see the appeal in setting himself up for disappointment.
She had to return to the Empire again just a week after returning from the Games, accompanying Twilight to some sort of meeting that the Princesses were having with foreign dignitaries. She had promised to have tea with him when she got back. He spent that evening floating boredly around a chocolate milk lake in his haven, but suddenly felt a massive magical imbalance and jumped, surprised.
“Well, that can’t be good,” he said, frowning. “I suppose something of this magnitude should really be brought to the princesses’ attention…” After deliberating for a moment, he teleported himself to the Crystal Empire and found that Celestia and Luna were already up and looking worried.
“Discord, what is it?” Celestia said tensely.
“Some sort of magical imbalance,” DIscord replied.
“You can sense him?” Luna asked excitedly.
“Him?” Discord asked. Celestia explained about Tirek. “Sounds dreadful. I suppose you’ll be sending your favorite little pupil after him, then?”
“No,” Celestia said resolutely. Luna looked surprised. “This may be too much, even for her and her friends. What we need is someone who can work from the inside. A double-agent, if you will. That way we can try to stop Tirek when he’s least expecting it.”
“But sister, surely you can’t mean-” Luna protested.
“I do,” Celestia said seriously. Luna grimaced.
“I don’t follow,” Discord said.
“News of your true change has not yet spread, and many ponies still view you as treacherous,” Celestia said, watching him closely. “Nopony would be surprised if you happened to go over to Tirek’s side.”
“Me!?” Discord asked incredulously.
“Despite our past disagreements, you have proved yourself as trustworthy in the past months,” Celestia said regally. “This may be our best chance to stop him.”
“But… they’ll all think they’ve been right about me this whole time!” Discord protested. “I’ve been too busy to try to befriend them at all, anyway, and after this they may never trust me again!”
“Once this is all over and Tirek is defeated, you may explain everything to them,” Celestia said. “I’ll leave it up to you, but I will back up anything you tell them about your work. Please, Discord.”
“Well, I suppose,” he agreed reluctantly. “But only if I can tell Fluttershy before I ‘join Tirek’. I refuse to let her believe I’ve turned my back on her. She’s… more important to me than anypony.”
“Of course,” Celestia agreed, somewhat puzzled by Discord’s tone of voice during his last statement. He’d sounded like he meant more than friendship by that… no, it was probably just her imagination. “And when this is all over, I’ll be sure to allow you more time in Ponyville so you can begin developing relationships with Twilight and the others. You may want to warn Fluttershy, now. Twilight will be told in the morning that it is you who will be sent after Tirek, though she won’t know of the full plan, and I doubt you want Fluttershy to hear about it second-hoof.”
“Definitely not,” Discord agreed. He immediately found his way to Fluttershy’s room while the Princesses continued to discuss the Tirek problem. She was already sleeping when he came in, and he felt terrible about waking her, but after a few minutes of watching the peaceful expression on her face and the gentle rise and fall of her breathing, he settled his paw on her shoulder. Being a light sleeper, this was enough to wake her, and she blinked in tired confusion at him.
“Discord?” she asked. “Is something wrong at home? Why are you here?”
“It’s fine at home,” he assured her. “But… something’s coming Fluttershy.” She was fully awake and sitting within instants.
“Coming? What?” she asked worriedly. He told her everything that the Princesses had told her about Tirek and his role in Celestia’s plan.
“I just wanted you to know about it beforehand so you wouldn’t think I’d betrayed you,” Discord said.
“I would never!” Fluttershy protested. “After everything we’ve been through, I wouldn’t believe it if my life depended on it!”
“That’s nice to hear,” Discord said with a smile. “You may still want to act surprised if and when Twilight tells you, though.”
“Of course,” Fluttershy nodded. She yawned cutely.
“Back to bed,” Discord declared.
“Oh, but you’ll have to leave tomorrow!” she protested. “I want to spend-” yawn. “-time with you.”
“Sleep,” he insisted. “I’ll take Tirek down so fast you won’t have time to miss me.”
“You’d better,” she threatened playfully, and sank down into her pillows and drifted back to sleep. Discord smiled tenderly and left the room, returning home for the night.
The ponies got back to Ponyville the next morning. Twilight took the entire train ride home explaining about Tirek, and her most startling revelation came after they’d arrived in Ponyville and gotten off the train.
“Discord!?” Applejack exclaimed disbelievingly. “As in, Discord, Discord!?”
“Yes,” Twilight affirmed.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a surprise,” Fluttershy said softly, trying to stick up for him without giving too much away. “He can be very helpful!” Pity how they didn’t know about any of the things he’d helped with, though… Her friends all gave her flat looks.
“He can sense when there’s a magical imbalance,” Twilight explained. “The next time Tirek steals magic, Discord will be able to track him down.”
“So… what are you supposed to do in the meantime?” Rainbow asked. Twilight sighed.
“Nothing. Unless of course one of you needs me to smile and wave.” She started walking off dejectedly.
“Where are you going?” Spike asked.
“To the castle of the two sisters,” Twilight said. “I’m not really needed anywhere else. Might as well catch up on some of my reading.” The friends exchanged looks.
“You want some company?” Rainbow offered.
“It has been awhile since we visited the castle. Could be fun!” Applejack agreed.
“I guess I could use a little company right now,” Twilight admitted.
They walked into the forest and paused on the edge of the cliff looking down on the Tree of Harmony.
“I still can’t believe we had to give up the elements,” Rainbow complained.
“It had to be done, or the Tree of Harmony wouldn’t have survived,” Rarity reminded her.
“But Twilight was right,” Fluttershy said. “Even without the elements, our friendship is as strong as ever.”
“I just hope another ‘friend’ of ours never makes them sorry we had to give them up,” Applejack grumbled. Fluttershy sighed on the inside. Were they ever going to let that go?
“Oh ho ho! You’re talking about me, I presume?” Discord asked gleefully, drifting down on an umbrella with a scarf and briefcase. He was glad to be involved in the action for once, especially since this was his chance, or would be when this was all over, to make friends with Fluttershy’s friends once and for all. Plus, he’d been reading the Scrapbook of Harmony over again to pass the time while he waited for the next imbalance to occur when he’d noticed something interesting.
“How’d ya guess?” Applejack asked sarcastically.
“My ears were burning,” Discord said, lighting them on fire for effect before dousing them with a conjured glass of water.
“What are you even doing here, Discord?” Rainbow Dash asked, irritated. Fluttershy was actually wondering that, herself. She knew he was going to go after Tirek, but she wasn’t expecting him to show up to her friends, first.
“Oh, just a bit of light reading before I head off on my extremely important mission. I suppose you all know that I’ve been tasked to capture a certain escapee.”
“Big deal,” Spike scoffed.
“You’re right, Spike. It is a big deal,” Discord agreed. “Seems I possess a magic that gives me quite an important role in Equestria.” ‘And one that’s helpful and should get me in your good books as soon as you know about it...’ “Maybe they should make me an alicorn princess!” he joked, giving himself a pink unicorn horn and pegasus wings. Unfortunately, nopony was as accustomed to his sense of humor, so Fluttershy's small smile was the only positive reaction.
“In your dreams,” Rainbow snapped, and she whacked his crown off his head.
“Oh, I never dream of such things,” Discord scoffed. “Ask Princess Luna.” ‘ON second thought… I’d really rather none of you know what I dream about...’
“Don’t you have a creepy magic-stealin’ villain to track down?” Applejack asked pointedly.
“Yes, yes, yes, of course,” Discord said, grabbing them all and teleporting them to the tree. “It’s just, I couldn’t help but notice that Twilight hasn’t yet opened this little chest of hers.”
‘Does he know something?’ Fluttershy wondered, growing excited. She kept it hidden, though, because the others all assumed he was taunting them and she’d have a hard time satisfactorily explaining why she was happy about it.
“It got me thinking,” Discord continued. “What if what’s locked inside is something that could help her prove her royal worth? I only bring it up because she said she’s been feeling like her role as a princess doesn’t equate to much.” He’d heard this second-hand through Fluttershy and Celestia, but they didn’t need to know that. They rarely questioned his random bouts of seeming omnipotence.
“Wait a minute!” Pinkie yelled. “How do you know how she was feeling!?” Too bad ‘rarely’ doesn’t mean quite the same thing as ‘never’.
“Oh my, is eavesdropping not the way you’re supposed to find out what your best pals are up to?” he improvised quickly. “Woe is me. Will I ever learn the intricate nuances of being a good friend?” Only Fluttershy caught the irony in that statement. Discord cleared his throat. “Well, in any case, I suppose now is as good a time as any for me to make my exit.” He put on a helmet he’d materialized as he hopped on a motorbike he’d materialized. He started it up, then disappeared.
‘Maybe he didn’t find anything,’ Fluttershy thought. ‘He would’ve left more hints than that. Maybe he’s just trying to give Twilight something to occupy herself with so she doesn’t feel bad about not being sent after Tirek?’
Discord realized what he’d forgotten at just that moment and came back, leaning over the ponies with the book in his hands.
“Oopsie doopsie, I almost left with the little journal you’ve all been keeping!” he said. ‘Oh, he knows something alright.’ “What a fascinating read! Haven’t you girls just learned so much! I’ve bookmarked a few of the more interesting passages. You really should take a look!” He balanced the book on Twilight’s horn.
“We’re still on for tea, later, aren’t we Fluttershy?” Discord asked. They didn’t have time now, but maybe when he got back.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” she agreed with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes. He grinned.
“Well, I’ll bring the cucumber sandwiches!” he said happily, and left through a door of his own creation, which disappeared once he’d shut it.
“Sometimes I think the ‘reformed’ Discord is more obnoxious than the ‘before-he-was-reformed’ Discord,” Applejack muttered.
“Indeed!” Rarity agreed huffily.
“But he could be right, couldn’t he?” Fluttershy intervened before any more Discord-bashing could take place. “What if there is something important in that chest?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Twilight said with a smile. Fluttershy hoped that Twilight had picked up on Discord’s hint about the Scrapbook of Harmony, since she had a hunch the answer was in there, but instead Twilight had them head to the library in the Castle of the Two Sisters to look for answers. Fluttershy didn’t pay much attention, waiting for Twilight to figure it out while she made it look like she was looking.

> That Was Your Plan!?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Anything?’ Twilight asked. A chorus of ‘no’s answered her. “There must be something in this library that can help me figure out how to open it. The answer’s in one of these books. I just know it.” ‘Look in the journal!’ Fluttershy thought. She was about to suggest this and later brush it off as a lucky guess when she saw Twilight’s magic pick up the journal and bring it over so she could read it. She smiled. ‘Now we’ll get some answers.’
Meanwhile, Discord had just gotten a pinpoint on Tirek’s location. ‘Here goes nothing,’ he thought. He turned himself into a unicorn pony and sat himself at the end of the alleyway that Tirek occupied. After all, he wasn’t going for stealth. Just when he knew Tirek was about to grab him, he turned his head, in normal draconequus form, back over his shoulder.
“Tirek, I presume?” Discord asked.
“Discord,” Tirek said. “You’re free?”
“As a bird,” Discord confirmed, turning into a large one to illustrate the thought.
“I commend you on your escape,” Tirek congratulated.
“I’m afraid the feeling isn’t mutual,” Discord said. He put chains around Tirek’s wrists. The way he saw it, the best way to get Tirek desperate was to make it seem like he was about to lose. The ‘turning evil again’ scenario only worked if Tirek tried to persuade him. Tirek tried shooting a beam of magic at his head, but he just split his head in half and avoided it before righting himself. That right there was why he couldn’t just take Tirek captive now. The magic he’d already taken in gave him the ability to do things like that, and ponies couldn’t split their heads in two like he could.
“Oh, I should have known you would want to have Equestria all to yourself,” Tirek said distrustfully. Discord gave himself a police uniform, hoping Tirek would get the idea that he was a good guy, now. He didn’t seem to get it, so Discord explained.
“Oh, I’m not doing this for me,” he said. “I’m doing this for my friends. Just between the two of us, it’s mostly for Fluttershy.” He whispered the last part conspiratorially.
“Fluttershy?” Tirek asked, confused. “You’re not saying you’re friends with… ponies?”
“Surprise!” Discord exclaimed, popping out of a cake.
“I am surprised that someone with your intellect does not see this friendship is but a new form of imprisonment.” He held up Discord’s chains for effect. ‘Ah. Here it comes.’ “Clearly you’ve had to abandon your true nature to stay in their good graces.”
“I have done nothing of the sort,” Discord dismissed truthfully, waving off his halo and getting rid of his harp. He’d caused just as much chaos as always, though in a contained area, and he hadn’t exactly ‘stayed in their good graces’, either.
“Ah, please, I’ve seen this before,” Tirek said. “But he was always weak-minded.” ‘He must be talking about his brother.’ “You are Discord, you are legend, you cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother. Help me to grow strong, and be rewarded with something far greater than ‘friendship’.” ‘I doubt that.’ “Freedom.” ‘I already have that, stupid.’ Discord pretended to think about it. “Once I have stripped these ponies of their magic, nothing will give me greater pleasure than to see their world turned upside down.” ‘Oddly enough, that wouldn’t bring me pleasure. Not anymore, at least.’ “Who better to do so than the master of chaos himself?” Discord ‘thought’ some more. “Join me, Discord, and reclaim your greatness. Unless, of course, pony errand boy is the role you’ve always wanted to play in this world?”
He looked back at his picture of Fluttershy for encouragement in what he had to do, then agreed.
“I will join you,” he declared.
“Wonderful,” Tirek purred.
Back at the Castle of the Two Sisters, Fluttershy stared patiently through a book while Twilight read through the passages of the Scrapbook of Friendship that Discord had bookmarked.
“I think I found something!” she said excitedly. “I’ve been reading our journal, and there’s something interesting about the sections that Discord bookmarked.” ‘Why else would he have bookmarked them?’ Fluttershy pointed out in her mind. “Applejack, do you remember when you had to tell everypony that the tonic Granny bought from the Flim Flam brothers didn’t really work?”
“How could  I forget?” Applejack said, remembering it like it was yesterday. “It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. But in that moment, I knew I had to be honest. I just knew it. But… what’s that got to do with openin’ the chest?”
“I found that each of you has had to face a situation where living up to the element of harmony you represent wasn’t easy. Fluttershy, it was when you realized that the way to show kindness to the Breezies was by forcing them to leave your home.” Fluttershy didn’t like to think about it too much.
“Oh, the looks on their poor little faces,” she fretted. “But I knew that, as difficult as it was, pushing them away was the kindest thing I could do.”
“Rarity, even after Suri took advantage of your generosity at fashion week in Manehattan, you didn’t let it cause you to abandon your generous spirit.”
“I simply couldn’t have lived with myself if I didn’t do something special for the friends who have always been so generous to me.”
Twilight proceded to point out Rainbow Dash’s and Pinkie’s experiences.
“It’s clear we’ve all had our moments to shine, Twilight,” Rarity agreed. “But I’m with Applejack. What does any of this have to do with the opening of the chest?”
“All of you had tough choices to make, but when you made the right one and embraced your element, it helped somepony else make the right choice, too. Each of you received something from the pony whose life you helped change. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe there’s something special about those objects that could lead us to the location of the keys,” Twilight explained. ‘Or… maybe the keys are metaphorical and the objects themselves might do something...’ Fluttershy mused thoughtfully, but didn’t say anything. “The chest is connected to the Tree of Harmony, the Tree is connected to the elements, and the elements are connected to all of us! There must be a connection!” ‘Besides all those ones you just said, you mean?’ Fluttershy thought, but caught herself. Spending so much time with Discord was making her inner self far more sarcastic than it ever had been before. She decided as long as it stayed on the inside it was fine. “I hate to admit it, but maybe Discord was trying to be a good friend after all.” Fluttershy wanted to burst out in happy sobs, but somehow managed to restrain herself. ‘Oh… and just before they’ll think he turned on them, too… I hope he’s safe...’ Fluttershy thought worriedly.
They all gathered their items and met up back at the tree.
“I don’t see anything on them that would give us a clue as to where the keys might be,” Twilight mused thoughtfully. “They’re just… ordinary everyday objects.”
“Come on, Boneless!” Pinkie said angrily, choking the rubber chicken. “Give us that key!” She started shaking it.
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Twilight said carefully. Pinkie threw the chicken. It bounced off the chest and was then held up in midair by a ray of magic and turned into a key.
‘Hmm. I was right.’ She gasped alongside the others, anyway.
They all brought their objects over, as well, and sure enough they all turned into keys and fit themselves neatly into their corresponding locks.
“There’s still one key missing,” Twilight said dejectedly. “The key that represents the element of magic. My element.”
“Oh, but I’m sure that if we’ve gotten our keys, you have, too, Twilight,” Fluttershy tried comforting.
“Think, Twilight,” Rarity urged. “When have you completed a difficult magical task, and in doing so encouraged another pony to do the same?”
“I haven’t,” Twilight said. “If I had I would have written about it in the journal.”
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Spike said. “I’m sure you’ll get your key eventually.” Suddenly his face screwed up and a scroll popped out. Twilight immediately took it and read it. “What’s it say!?” ‘Oh no, here it comes...’
“That I’m needed in Canterlot at once!” Twilight exclaimed. Fluttershy sighed in relief. It appeared Princess Celestia thought this was news best delivered in person. Fluttershy had to agree, since she wasn’t sure she could take all her friends’ concentrated rage at the draconequus, especially in light of how she felt for him… “I have to go!” She dropped the scroll and flew off as fast as she could, which was considerably faster than it had been when she’d first gotten her wings.
Discord watched in horrified fascination as Tirek drained another crowd of ponies. At this rate, catching him off-guard with Discord’s betrayal would be their only chance. But the time still hadn’t come… He’d been told to wait until Twilight had all of the Princesses’ alicorn magic, since only then would she stand a chance against Tirek, with Discord changing sides at the last moment and fighting alongside her.
He felt it the moment it happened. Tirek, who he was watching, hadn’t done anything large-scale, but there was a massive imbalance of power, greater than anything Tirek had done so far. Now all they needed was for Twilight to come after Tirek- or vise versa- so the combined powers of Harmony and Chaos could bring him down.
“That can’t be right,” he murmured when he felt how quickly the irregularity was put under wraps. He hadn’t realized how much raw magical talent Twilight possessed. Sure, a bit of the magic was escaping here and there, but considering she had the magical abilities of four alicorn princesses inside of her, well, it was nothing short of astonishing.
“What can’t be right?” Tirek snapped.
“Uh, nothing, carry on,” Discord said quickly.
It wasn’t until after Twilight had raised the sun an hour late the next morning that Tirek decided to go after the alicorns. Discord caught a glimpse of Shining Armor, one of the few Royal Guards who knew anything about his reformation, and went over at once, stealing his helmet.
“Shining Armor!” he greeted mischievously. “Why whatever are you doing here?”
“Back off, traitor,” Shining Armor spat. So, evidently he hadn’t been filled in on the plan. Ah well.
“The only one Discord betrayed was himself,” Tirek boomed, marching over heavily. He sucked out a guard’s unicorn magic. “Abandoning his true nature to make friends with weak-minded equines who offer him nothing.” Shining Armor gritted his teeth and tried firing a blast at Tirek, but only succeeded in getting his magic taken away.
“How could you do this?” Shining Armor asked weakly before collapsing to the ground weakly. ‘Well, Celestia asked me to, actually, if you must know,’ Discord thought irritatedly. ‘Everypony just assumes that I’m evil, after everything I’ve done for them! Goodness.’
“Why don’t you go and have a little fun?” Tirek suggested, gesturing out into Equestria. “I won’t stand in your way.” Tirek walked away as Discord laughed. Time for a little Princess-sanctioned fun. Of course, it’d all have to go back to normal the second this was over, but that wouldn’t stop him from enjoying it while he could. A few minutes later, he heard Tirek below.
“WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC!?” Discord snickered and retreated inside to watch.
“Getting rid of your magic so that I can not take it from you? That was your plan!?” Tirek exclaimed in disbelief. The princesses gave him defiant looks.
“Well, how does it feel?” Tirek asked. “Knowing that soon every pegasus, unicorn, and Earth pony will bow to my will! And that there is nothing that you can do to stop it!”
“You will not prevail, Tirek,” Celestia said confidently. After all, their two biggest weapons were a) sitting right behind her and b) supercharged with alicorn magic.
“Give my regards to Cerberus,” Tirek stated coldly, sending the three Princesses down to Tartarus.
“You meant our will, didn’t you?” Discord asked. If Tirek was planning anything underhanded, then he needed to get him within Twilight’s firing range as soon as possible.
“Of course,” Tirek assured. “Here, I want you to have something.” He pulled off his necklace. “This was given to me by someone very close to me. I give it to you as a sign of my gratitude and loyalty.”
“Oh my! I do love a good accessory,” Discord admired, looking at the necklace around his neck. For now, it appeared that Tirek still trusted him and respected him enough not to double-cross him. “I suppose that’s Rarity’s influence,” he joked, since he hadn’t spent anywhere near enough time with Rarity to pick up on anything. Tirek noticed one of his stain glass windows and chuckled.
“Amusing,” Tirek said. Discord had a sudden idea for getting Tirek to Twilight and hurriedly put one of the windows to normal. “But we have no time for such things! With the princesses out of the way, we can now-” he noticed the full-window-sized picture of Princess Twilight and froze. “Is this meant to be humourous!?”
“Oh, no, I haven’t touched that one, yet,” Discord laughed.
“There is a fourth!?” Tirek demanded. “And you did not tell me this!?”
“I just needed some assurance that you truly considered this a team effort,” Discord said. ‘That way you won’t be expecting it when I turn on you.’ “And now I have it,” he continued, holding up the necklace.
“Then where can we find this fourth princess?” Tirek demanded. “Where is her castle?” Discord laughed.
“Castle? Oh ho ho no, Princess Twilight lives above a library in Ponyville,” Discord corrected. “Castle?” He laughed again.
“Not for much longer,” Tirek said darkly, and began walking off. Discord smiled. Everything was going nicely…

> My Little Actress
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Alright, y’all,” Applejack said, back in Ponyville. “I think we’ve warned everypony to stay inside.”
“I’m sure Discord will catch Tirek and this will all be over soon,” Fluttershy said optimistically, since Twilight hadn’t actually told any of the rest of them that Discord had ‘betrayed’ them.
“I’ll bet he takes his sweet time,” Rainbow grumbled.
“Or perhaps these things just take time,” Discord replied, catching just enough of the conversation as he an Tirek came into town. Fluttershy gasped happily, beyond relieved that he was safe.
“You’re back!” she said happily, giving him a hug. “Did you bring the cucumber sandwiches?”
“I did,” he replied, holding out a tray. He sensed Tirek walking up and switched to acting-like-a-bad-guy mode. “I imagine they’ll be your last decent meal for quite some time.” He dropped the tray and materialized a cage around them. Hopefully it would keep them out of the main fight so he and Twilight could focus. The others all started yelling at him. “Ta ta!”
“You gathered up all of them?” Tirek demanded.
“And her little dragon, too,” Discord boasted. Spike tried to bite him.
“Why are you doing this?” Fluttershy asked, tears streaming down her face. ‘Oho, quite the little actress! I never knew! Interesting...’ “I thought we were friends!” ‘Best friends,’ he corrected in his mind.
“Oh, we were,” he said. He knew that only she would know what he truly meant by that. And back to acting. “But Tirek offered me so much more than just tea parties. Surely you saw this coming?”
“I didn’t,” she pretended to wail. “I really didn’t!” ‘Even though I’m the only one here who did!’
Discord couldn’t force himself to watch as Tirek sucked their magic from them. He knew it was a means to an end, but he couldn’t bear to see Fluttershy weak like that, and even the others, to a lesser degree.
“You really think she’d do anything for them?” Tirek asked.
“If Twilight has magic to give, it will be yours,” Discord said. ‘Or it would be if I wasn’t going to turn on you and fight with her in the last second.’ “Soon there won’t be a pegasus, Earth pony, or unicorn who will be able to stand up against us!”
“Us?” Tirek asked disdainfully. “Who said anything about us?”
“You did,” Discord said uncertainly. Was Tirek going to turn on hi-
Discord watched in horror, unable to move out of the way as Tirek fired a blast at him. Fluttershy gasped worriedly.‘No! This wasn’t supposed to happen! Not yet, at least! And not on Tirek’s part!’
“You helped me grow strong,” Tirek said. “You’ve provided the means by which I can obtain Princess Twilight’s magic! And now you are no longer of any use to me.” Tirek began sucking Discord’s magic, to Fluttershy’s and his own horror.
“But… you said this was a sign of your gratitude and loyalty,” Discord said, trying to pick the tattered threads of the plan up again. Where was Twilight!? “A gift from someone close to you?”
“My brother who betrayed me,” Tirek said scornfully. “It is as worthless as he is.” Tirek turned his back and walked away.
“Surely you saw this coming?” Applejack asked. Discord shot a completely helpless and terrified look back at the ponies, especially Fluttershy, who looked on worriedly.
“I didn’t,” he said. “I truly didn’t.” Seconds later, Tirek had them trapped in little bubbles, floating in an alternate dimension.
“What the hay!?” Applejack exclaimed, trying to bust out.
“It’s no use,” Discord said dejectedly. They all sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before they disappeared and reappeared floating behind Tirek, with Twilight facing him.
“Their release,” Tirek was saying. “For all of the alicorn magic in Equestria!”
Her friends, catching on immediately, all began protesting loudly. Discord couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Why should he, when he’d failed them enough already?
“What’s it going to be?” Tirek demanded. “Princess.”
“Don’t do it, Twilight!” Rainbow exclaimed desperately.
“We aren’t worth it!” Fluttershy called.
“Oh, but you are, Fluttershy,” Discord said sadly. “You’re the pony who taught me that friendship is magic. I had magic, and friendship, and now I don’t have either.” ‘And all because I couldn’t backstab properly. Typical.’
“Enough!” Tirek shouted. “I want an answer and I want it now!”
“I will give you my magic,” Twilight said finally. “In exchange for my friends.”
They all gasped, Discord included. ‘She still may have the power on her own! She can’t give it up!’
“As you wish,” Tirek said, bringing the five ponies and Spike down to the ground. Discord resigned himself to eternal punishment for his failure.
“All of my friends,” Twilight insisted stubbornly. Discord turned to stare at her.
“After the way he has betrayed you, you still call him a friend!?” Tirek exclaimed disbelievingly. Discord looked down shamefully.
“Release him!” Twilight ordered.
“If that’s what you want,” Tirek said, bringing Discord down, too.
“Thank you, Twilight,” he said sadly. He turned to Fluttershy. “I’m sorry.” ‘Sorry that things aren’t turning out like we planned.’
“I know,” she replied.
“Your turn,” Tirek said, turning on Twilight. He sucked her magic out, and the others watched as their doom was spelled out and Tirek grew in size once again.
“Twilight, what were you thinking!?” Spike exclaimed, running over with the rest of the ponies. Discord didn’t feel he’d be very welcomed, but came anyway.
“Tirek tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship, but there is nothing worth more. I see that now,” Discord said. Fluttershy gave him a confused look. ‘Why isn’t he telling them the truth?’ “He lied when he said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth.” He watched interestedly as the medallion flashed rainbow once it was around Twilight’s neck.
“You think that might be the last one we need?” Applejack asked, regaining some hope.
“We have to get to the chest,” Twilight said determinedly. They all ran to the tree. Twilight placed the medallion against the chest, and it promptly turned into the final key. ‘Maybe Tirek’s betrayal will work out after all,’ Discord thought hopefully.
“Together!” Twilight said urgently as a massive Tirek began approaching the area with the tree. “I think we have to do this together!”
Each of the six ponies grabbed their key and turned it. The chest glowed and formed a rainbow link with the tree as they all watched in awe. The tree glowed with new life and sparkled brilliantly before sending out pillars of light at each of the six, bathing them in power. They seemed to be sucked into the chest momentarily before reappearing, transformed. Each had flowing multi-colored hair, shoes, and some form of extension to their cutie mark. Fluttershy, of course, was the most stunning, though he may have been a bit biased. He snapped a quick picture and watched as they rose in a ball of energy out of the cave. Tirek shot a blast at them and Discord and Spike, watching in horror, flinched, only for the blast to have no effect at all.
“How is this possible!?” Tirek bellowed. “You have no magic!”
“You’re wrong, Tirek!” Twilight announced. “I may have given you my alicorn magic, but I carry within me the most powerful magic of all!” The ball of power began shooting out bolts at Tirek, which condensed into a rainbow. Tirek yelled in pain as all of the power he’d taken was forced out and he was shrunk down to his pitifully feeble size again. Discord, whose magic had returned during the process, helpfully threw Tirek into a cage and sent him back to Tartarus. The girls flew up in the air and spread out across Equestria, bringing the magic back to all of Equestria. The Princesses, their magic returned, broke free from their prison and returned to Equestria just as the chest magically planted itself just outside Ponyville and grew into a castle. ‘What the Tartarus? And here I thought I was random.’
The ponies landed just outside the castle doors and changed back to normal. Discord and Spike, whom Discord had grabbed and  taken with him, spotted the princesses coming and joined them.
“Sweet Celestia!” Rarity gasped. “Are you all seeing what I’m seeing?”
“But… whose is it?” Twilight asked, rather stupidly in Discord’s opinion. I mean, it grew out of her puzzle chest thing, and she’s the only Princess without one, so it shouldn’t have been hard to figure out.
“I believe it is yours, Princess Twilight,” Celestia told her, coming from behind with the other two princesses behind her. Discord waved from behind them.
“Mine?” Twilight asked, surprised. Celestia nodded and led them all inside.
“You’ve been wondering what you are meant to do as a princess,” Celestia said. “Do you know now?”
“As Princess,” Twilight said. “I believe I have the power to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria. That is the role I am meant to have in our world! The role I choose to have! But I didn’t defeat Tirek on my own! It took all of us to unlock the chest!”
‘I’ll pretend she is including me in that statement,’ Discord decided. ‘Since I gave her the final key and all.’
“Then it is unlikely you are meant to take on this task on alone,” Celestia said, opening the impressive-looking double doors into a meeting room. ‘How does she know her way around?’
“Oh, wow!” the girls gasped at the sight. It was pretty impressive.
“You are now Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said importantly. ‘Wasn’t she already?’ “The Princess of Friendship!” ‘Well that’s cheesy.’
“But what is the Princess of Friendship without her friends?” Celestia said, and there was a group huddle moment. Discord shrunk back, knowing that, especially after the mishap with Tirek, he wasn’t welcome there. Twilight noticed him and evidently disagreed with his thinking, because she used her magic to bring him over. He gave a group hug. Just maybe, he would still be able to become better friends. For some reason, they seemed more inclined to like him now, even though they thought he’d just betrayed them. He’d never understand how ponies’ minds worked.
“Wait a minute, where’s my throne!?” he exclaimed, looking around. He was mostly joking, but still. He’d played a big part in all of this, too.
“I don’t think you’re quite there, yet,” Fluttershy said with a smile. Her look said, ‘wait until you’ve become a real part of the group’.
“Eeh, well, I suppose not,” he agreed, smiling at her.

> Nightmares and Admissions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ponies had started gathering around the foot of the castle, so Twilight went out to do some crowd control. Once she’d calmed them down, they started coming in and celebrating Tirek’s defeat while the friends sent out a rainbow of friendship around Equestria. Discord decided he really ought to explain to the Princesses everything that had happened while they were in Tartarus, since nopony had bothered to fill them in, yet. He summoned a bouquet of prank flowers wrapped in a report on what had gone on, then presented it to Celestia with a wink.
She raised an eyebrow and took them gingerly with her magic, not trusting their seeming innocence for a second. She’d unwrap them from a safe distance away once they’d returned to Canterlot.
They spent the rest of the day at the castle until everypony had left. Fluttershy pulled Discord aside.
“Weren’t you going to tell them?” she asked. Discord sighed.
“Well, in light of everything that happened, I think I’ll let them get a bit more used to me, first,” Discord decided.
“Alright,” Fluttershy agreed. “I’m just glad you’re safe. When Tirek took your magic away, I was so worried!” She hugged him tearfully, something he returned gratefully.
“It all worked out in the end,” he soothed. “Besides, nothing could compare to how worried I was when it happened that I wouldn’t be able to keep you safe.” Fluttershy blushed.
“What are you two losers talking about?” Rainbow asked, flying over suspiciously, being unnecessarily, though understandably, protective of Fluttershy.
“Just apologizing again,” Discord lied. Rainbow gave him a suspicious glare and let it slide, flying off again.
“That was close,” Fluttershy noted. Discord nodded. “Maybe we should get home. I’m sure the animals are wondering where I’ve been, anyway, and they’re probably hungry by now.”
“I’ll follow a few minutes later so we don’t arouse more suspicion from the rainbow one.”
Soon enough they were both at home, animals taken care of, and settled down for the night. Discord had crashed on her couch again rather than returning to the haven for the night.
In the middle of the night, Fluttershy woke up screaming, and Discord, woken by the sound, was at her side in an instant.
“What is it?” he asked quickly, getting into a defensive position. Fluttershy shuddered and started crying.
“I… nightmare,” she said, wiping her still streaming eyes pitifully. “Tirek- he was back, and he took your magic, and stepped on you,and I couldn’t stop him, and-” she broke down crying again. “Princess Luna was coming to try and help, but I woke up.” Discord was shocked. She was like this because she was worried about him?
“Fluttershy, I’m fine,” he soothed, taking her in his arms gently. “Look at me.” She obeyed. He smiled and ran his paw through her hair.
“Don’t let anything like that happen ever again,” she demanded. “I was so worried.” He chuckled.
“I won-” he was cut off when she pecked him forcefully on the lips. She backed away almost immediately, blushing furiously, and hid her face in her mane as she started freaking out.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” she panicked. “I don’t know what came over me, I shouldn’t have assumed, oh please forgive m-” Discord cut her off in the same way, lingering a few seconds longer before pulling away and finally letting all his feelings for her show in his eyes. She calmed down and returned the look. No words were exchanged past that point. They weren’t needed. Discord curled his long body into a protective circle around Fluttershy and lay one arm over her while she curled into his side and drifted back to sleep.
The next morning dawned happily- Celestia’s relief regarding Tirek’s capture was evident in the beautiful colors of the sunrise. Discord woke himself when the light hit him, still curled comfortably around a lightly snoozing Fluttershy. She shifted a few minutes later and soon awoke herself. When she remembered where she was, what had happened the night before, and that Discord was still around her, she blushed happily and buried her face in his fur. He chuckled deeply and kissed her forehead.
“Good morning, Fluttershy, dear,” he said softly. The endearment he’d used for so long took on a whole new meaning now, and Fluttershy’s heart lived up to her name and fluttered shyly.
“So, you, um, I mean, we…” Fluttershy stuttered.
“I love you,” Discord said simply, deciding that there was no point in skirting around the issue anymore. Fluttershy turned red enough to resemble Big Mac for a moment.
“I love you, too,” she said happily when she found her voice again. Discord grinned, more content than he’d been in his whole extremely long life.
Neither of them was very eager to get out of bed, just sitting in quiet contentment for nearly half an hour before forcing themselves to go downstairs and eat breakfast. Fluttershy also fed the animals, as always. Discord spontaneously pulled Fluttershy into several small kisses, and a disgruntled squirrel handed a smug Angel Bunny all of his winnings.
“Maybe we should tell them now,” Fluttershy said softly, resting her head against Discord’s shoulder while he held her and danced happily to his own humming. “I mean, they’ve opened up a bit if yesterday is any indication, and this is such happy news…”
“I don’t know, Fluttershy,” he said reluctantly, though the humming was still going on in the background. “They’re certainly being friendlier for no apparent reason, but that could have just been a victory high. I don’t want any residual anger they have for me to be directed at you… maybe we should still wait until I’m a part of the group to tell them about us and my living here. I suppose it couldn’t hurt to let on about what I’ve been doing for Celestia, though.”
“Well…” Fluttershy sighed. “I guess. But soon. I want to be able to share this with my friends.” She nuzzled him sweetly.
The rebuilding process started that day, and the Earth ponies especially were busy re-growing the huge swaths of forest that Tirek had destroyed during his rampage. The unicorns worked mostly with buildings, since levitation came in handy, and Twilight was instructing a group of them in the total rebuilding of the original library- she didn’t want to live in a castle. The pegasi were making sure the weather stayed clear and that efforts went along as smoothly as possible. Fluttershy, not being much of a flier, helped keep an eye on the fillies at the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ glowing recommendation while the older ponies worked. Discord had decided to lend a claw, too, more eager than ever to get into ponies’ good books now that there was a real reason for it.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were technically still young enough that they should have been staying with Fluttershy, but they eagerly spread out to lend a helping hoof before Fluttershy could say anything. Applebloom was a great help to the reconstruction effort, Sweetie Belle’s constant cheerful humming lifted many spirits wherever she went, and Scootaloo delivered supplies and messages all over town in the blink of an eye on her scooter. Discord watched all of this in amusement.
“Everypony knows what their special talents are except them, huh?” he asked Fluttershy with a snicker when he was taking a little break.
“Just about,” Fluttershy agreed with a laugh.
“Why hasn’t anypony just told them?” Discord asked.
“Well, ponies believe that your cutie mark is something you have to discover for yourself,” Fluttershy explained. “Although sometimes I feel bad for them. They have such wonderful talents that they can’t even see themselves, and they’re the last three in their class who don’t have their cutie marks, now.”
“Hmm…” Discord said thoughtfully.
“Discord, what are you thinking?” asked Fluttershy warningly. “Rarity and Applejack won’t thank you if you just tell them, you know, and Rainbow Dash is protective of Scootaloo, too.”
“Oh, I wasn’t going to just tell them,” Discord explained. “I just thought I might… point them in the right direction?” He disappeared and reappeared in from of Sweetie Belle. “What a lovely voice. You’ve quite a talent.”
“Um… thanks?” Sweetie said cautiously, taking a step back. Discord huffed, gave up, and switched to Scootaloo.
“You’re quite fast on your scooter, there,” he hinted. “A real speed demon.”
“Get away from me!” Scootaloo shouted at him, and sped away. He growled after her and turned to find Applebloom. She noticed him watching and hid. He returned to Fluttershy, covering a laugh behind her hoof.
“They’re completely oblivious,” he complained.
“You think nopony’s tried that before?” Fluttershy asked. “They think about their cutie marks all the time- except when somepony is trying to subtly help them with it.”
“Hopeless,” Discord sighed, shaking his head. He watched in amusement as the three joined forces again and tried to get their cutie marks in debris clearing. He shook his head and left Fluttershy again to get back to work.
“Thanks for your help, Discord,” Twilight said, somewhat reluctantly, coming up to him. “You’ve been… surprisingly helpful.”
“This is fairly normal, actually,” Discord said dismissively. “Nearly a daily event ever since Celestia got her hooves on me.” Twilight paused.
“Huh?” she asked, confused. Discord chuckled, thrilled with the thought of Twilight’s reaction to the upcoming revelations.
“What, you’ve forgotten why Celestia had you reform me already? It certainly wasn’t so I could go off on my own and live a nice quiet life in the middle of nowhere somewhere unsupervised. She ‘had a use for my magic’. I’ve been doing this sort of thing on the east coast after the natural disasters lately.”
“But… if you’ve been working with Celestia this whole time, then why…” Twilight trailed off, trying not to be insensitive.
“Why would I betray her for Tirek?” Discord laughed. Twilight frowned and nodded. “There was much more going on there that you all didn’t know about, actually.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked suspiciously.
“The whole thing was planned,” Discord said with a mischievous grin.
“WHAT!?” Twilight exploded. Fluttershy watched from a distance in well-concealed amusement. She could guess what had just happened. Discord was really  rubbing off on her.
“I’m surprised you never questioned it, honestly. They told you that I could sense magical imbalances. Well, that included the very first time he did it. We’d already discussed a plan for me to join and double-cross Tirek before they informed you of it at all.”
“WHAT!?”
“Of course, things didn’t quite work out the way we expected,” Discord continued, taking great joy in her shocked and disbelieving expression. “Tirek double-crossed me before I had a chance to use my magic against him. That’s what I get for trying to wait for you to show up, I suppose. Ah well, it all worked out in the end.”
“You mean to say you were working for Celestia THE WHOLE TIME!?” Twilight exclaimed. “Why wouldn’t she tell me!?”
“Double agents are always more effective when the people on your side believe it, too,” Discord said as if it were obvious. “Plus, I thought it would be funnier.” Twilight groaned and face-hoofed.
“On the bright side, your newest bosom buddy is a fantastic actor,” Discord said pompously, summoning a stage around himself and taking a bow as flowers threw themselves at him out of nowhere.
“You are unbelievable,” Twilight said, shaking her head and walking off, irritated. Discord got rid of the stage and grinned after her.
“I think that went well,” Discord said, coming over to Fluttershy, who giggled.
By the end of the day, the news had spread to the rest of Twilight’s incredulous friends, who all had very similar reactions to Twilight. Which is to say, shocked and irritated. Fluttershy was the last pony that they went to, and the other four had all tagged along with Twilight. Discord had already gone home, and Fluttershy had just seen the last of the fillies safely back to their families when her friends approached her.
“Discord was on our side the whole time!” Applejack announced, shaking her head. “Darn trickster.”
“Um…” Fluttershy said reluctantly, kicking timidly at the ground. “I… actually knew the whole time.” Rarity fainted dramatically, Pinkie did a spit-take, and the others’ jaws dropped.
“You… but... how!?” Twilight exclaimed.
“He told me,” Fluttershy said, lying only by omission. “We’re close friends, and he didn’t want me to think that he’d really betrayed me.”
“I did not see that coming,” Rainbow said, shaking it off. “I mean, I guess we all knew you were closer than anypony else was to him, but I never thought about it like that. You, of all ponies, knowing about this the whole time.”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you,” Fluttershy apologized. “But Discord and Celestia needed it to be a secret for the plan to work, so…”
“It’s not your fault,” Twilight assured. “You were right to do what the princess asked, we’re just surprised, is all.”
They left her alone after that, all going home to process the sudden change of information they’d received. She returned home to find Discord offering her fish-shaped chocolates and flowers that had square-shaped petals.
“I figured it’s my job to be romantic,” Discord explained sheepishly. Fluttershy giggled.
“It’s greatly appreciated,” she said happily, flapping her wings so she was level with his head and giving him a kiss.
“Well, if that’s the result, I’ll have to do it more often,” he flirted. Fluttershy smiled and kissed him again. Angel, on the floor by the mousehole, gagged dramatically, but good-naturedly. He’d made peace with draconequus by now, and the new relationship had won him a bet, so he wasn’t complaining. For now.

> The Cutie Mark Incident
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Things settled down once things got rebuilt. But they weren’t just calm. They were… good. Discord made a little leeway with Twilight’s friends, who after the revelations about Discord’s loyalties seemed unsurprised when he started turning up in town almost every other day, usually trailing Fluttershy. Luckily, none of them seemed to clue in on the fact that he lived with her, or that they weren’t exactly ‘friends’ or even ‘best friends’ anymore.
One thing that came from his more frequent presence in Ponyville was his increasing exasperation at the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ inability to see the obvious. One day, after nearly a month, it became too much.
Now that their sisters tolerated Discord most of the time, the CMC were less inclined to run and/or hide from him, so when he appeared in their club house that afternoon, they just gave him weird looks.
“Discord, what are you doing here? We’re having a meeting,” Scootaloo said, trying to shoo him away.
“I know,” he said. “I’m here to get you your cutie marks!” The three fillies froze and their eyes widened. Applebloom even started salivating.
“You… really think you can help us?” Sweetie Belle asked eagerly.
“My dear girl, I’m sure of it,” Discord said, smirking. “But you’ll have to do what I say.” Time for some good old manipulation. If he played it right, the girls wouldn’t even suspect he knew what would work ahead of time.
“Well… I suppose we could use some help,” Scootaloo admitted. “Okay, Discord, we’ll give you a chance.”
“Alright. Well, first problem I see is that your ideas are too over-the-top,” Discord said, lying on his stomach next to the table so his head was closer to eye-level for the fillies.
“Isn’t over-the-top kind of your thing?” Scootaloo pointed out skeptically.
“Well if course it’s mine,” Discord said, rolling his eyes. “But do you really want to turn out like me?” The girls all made horrified faces. “I didn’t think so. So, the trick is to chose more likely activities. Things that you might encounter in your day-to-day life. Those are the things you’ll likely be good at.”
“Like what?” Sweetie Belle asked, confused.
“Let’s start with… oh, gardening or something. There are a lot of those in this town,” Discord said. The first thing they did couldn’t work, or it’d be too suspicious. The girls shrugged and followed him to a likely-looking spot of ground, which he turned into a small garden with a snap.
“So what do we do?” Scootaloo asked.
“Garden,” Discord said with a shrug. “I’m sure if it’s your talent it’ll come pretty naturally.”
Within minutes it became painfully clear that gardening was none of their talents, Discord included. Somehow they’d each managed to kill all of the plants in their section of the garden, via means of overwatering, accidentally digging them out, trying to water them with chocolate milk, etc.
“Well that failed,” Scootaloo sighed. None of them had even bothered checking their flanks.
“Now let’s try crafts,” Discord suggested, looking right at Applebloom. The girls sighed.
“Like what?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“You’re going to build bird houses,” Discord ordered, summoning the supplies.
“What about instructions?” Scootaloo asked skeptically.
“Just improvise,” Discord said eagerly. “We’ll analyze your finished projects when you’ve finished.”
He watched lazily from a cotton candy cloud while the girls worked. Predictably, the birdhouses that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were making- or rather, attempting to make- looked like pitiful lumps of wood and paint waiting to be put out of their misery. Applebloom’s, however…
“Let’s look them over,” Discord announced.
“I don’t think I’m getting a cutie mark in building stuff anytime soon,” Scootaloo sighed as her creation fell apart.
“Me neither,” Sweetie agreed. Her birdhouse looked more like abstract art.
“How’d it go with you, Applebloom?” Scootaloo asked, turning around. “Holy-”
“Wait! I ain’t quite done yet!” Applebloom protested, too focused on her project to notice her friends’ reactions. She added the final delicate detail with her paintbrush and wiped her forehead. “Now I’m done.” She turned to see Discord smirking and the girls staring at her.
“Applebloom, that’s amazing!” Sweetie praised. The birdhouse was just the right combination of simple, functional, and elegant. There were three key-hole shaped openings with perches in front, an arched roof with actual tiling, and extremely detailed vines running up the walls.
“Ya think?” Applebloom mused. “I dunno. I coulda done better if I’d had more time.”
“Better!?” Sweetie exclaimed. “How do you improve on that!?”
“Y’all really think it’s that good?” Applebloom asked shyly. Her friends nodded. Applebloom stiffened. “Y’all don’t think that this is my special talent, do ya!?”
“Now that I think about it, you’ve always been good with your hooves,” Sweetie said contemplatively.
“Yeah, like when you fixed up the clubhouse!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
“Or when you made us our float for the parade!” Sweetie added.
“Yer… yer right!” Applebloom gasped. “I never thought about it like that! This really is the kind of thing I’m good at!” There was a flash behind her and she froze. “Girls, did what I think just happened really just happen?” They nodded mutely, grinning widely. Applebloom looked at her no-longer-blank flank.
Her cutie mark stared proudly back at her. It was an apple, predictable when you looked at her family. The stem had been replaced by a nail and the leaf by a protractor, and a paintbrush behind the apple was painting a flower in the background.
“MY CUTIE MARK!” she shrieked gleefully. “It worked!”
“We gotta go tell your sister!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
“No! Not yet! We gotta get you two yours, first!” Applebloom demanded. “We gotta get them together!” She threw on her Crusaders’ cape to hide her cutie mark and Discord clapped and rubbed his hands together.
“Alright, then!” he exclaimed. “Let’s see, next… we’ve tried nature things and crafty things… what about athletic things. Maybe… a footrace?”
Unsuccessful.
“Stunts?”
“What do you mean?” Sweetie asked.
“You know, flips and grinds and things. Here,” he set up a skate park for them and put scooters in front of all of them.
“I have my own,” Scootaloo, said. His vanished and she ran and got her own.
“Why do I have one?” Applebloom asked.
“Bonding with your friends?” Discord suggested. Applebloom shrugged and they all boarded their scooters. Discord put on skates and glided around the edge watching the show. Sweetie fell off within seconds, and while Applebloom stayed on, she was struggling and didn’t even attempt to do anything but move forward. Scootaloo, thought, was zooming around like a pro, complete with grinds, kickflips, and jumps.
“Man, I knew she was fast on this thing, but I’ve never seen her like this before,” Sweetie said, watching from the sidelines by now. Discord had needed to summon up a band-aid for her scraped knee, and she’d just given up.
“Probably cuz’ Ponyville ain’t got a skate park,” Applebloom noted, also having quit.
“Why’d you guys stop?” Scootaloo asked, sliding to a stop in front of them. “This is fun!” Sweetie grimaced and Scootaloo noticed the band-aid. “Or… not for you guys?”
“Not so much,” Sweetie agreed. “You looked good out there, though.”
“Really? You think?” Scootaloo asked, puffing out her chest and fluttering her tiny wings.
“Well, yeah. You’ve always been good at handlin’ that thing,” Applebloom said. “That’s why you’re always the one draggin’ us around in the wagon.”
“Yeah…” Scootaloo said thoughtfully. “I do catch some wicked air on that thing sometimes…” There was a flash. She turned immediately and was thrilled to see a flaming scooter.
“Aw yeah!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait to show Rainbow Dash!”
“Now wait just a minute!” Applebloom said, throwing Scootaloo’s cape over her. “We gotta get Sweetie hers, first!”
“I know that,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. “I meant after.”
“Wow, Discord, you were right. This is way more effective than anything we’ve ever tried before,” Sweetie said. “You think our luck will keep coming and I’ll get mine?”
“Only one way to see,” Discord said sneakily. ‘Now I just have to stall for a few hours before karaoke hour at Sugarcube Corner...’
He kept the three of them busy washing windows, drawing pictures, even making food, and finally it was time for him to work his final plan.
“Maybe it’s hopeless. It’s just not my time, yet,” Sweetie sighed sadly.
“Ah, don’t think like that!” Scootaloo ordered. “We’ll get yours if it’s the last thing we do!”
“I’ve got another idea. How about we take a break?” Discord suggested. “Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner. My treat.”
“Milkshakes?” Sweetie asked hopefully.
“Sure, whatever, let’s go,” Discord agreed, and they went to the sweet shop, which was currently abuzz with music, with karaoke going on. Pinkie was both the founder of the tradition and one of the only ponies who ever sang, but she abandoned the mic like it was on fire anytime another pony wanted to sing. He bought them their milkshakes and waited until Pinkie was wrapping up with yet another cheerful ditty before planting the seed.
“You know, sometimes I’m surprised Pinkie’s talent isn’t something to do with music, considering how much she sings,” Discord mused.
“She’s energetic, but she’s kinda squeaky,” Sweetie Belle said, looking at the excitable pink mare.
“You think you could do better?” Discord challenged.
“Sweetie could out-sing Pinkie any day!” Scootaloo boasted.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Sweetie said humbly. The music paused.
“Well I sure as sugar do!” Applebloom exclaimed. “Hey, Pinkie!”
“What’s up, Applebloom?” Pinkie said, hopping over.
“You and Sweetie, sing off, now,” Applebloom said.
“Ooh, competition!” Pinkie said happily. “You’re on, Sweetie Belle!”
“But-”
“No take-backsies!” Pinkie exclaimed, grabbing Sweetie and pulling her onto the stage. Music started up.
The tune Pinkie started belting out was simple and peppy, and the lyrics made just enough sense that you could follow, but often didn’t rhyme quite satisfactorily. She finished, bowed, and turned to Sweetie Belle, who gulped and started slowly, hesitantly, let out a song she’d actually written herself just a few weeks ago. It was a work in progress, but she felt like she could finish it, now.
Quiet fell in the energetic sweet shop as her sweet voice slowly grew stronger and more confident. She closed her eyes and got into the groove of her song, adding in a bit of choreography. She finished on a beautiful low note that faded out, and the quiet finally reached her ears and she blushed.
“Well, I know when I’m beat!” Pinkie said cheerily. “That was great, Sweetie! Too bad Rarity wasn’t here to hear it!”
“Um… yeah,” Sweetie said, blushing. She hopped off stage and ran back to her friends.
“What a lovely voice,” Discord said again. “You’ve quite a talent.” This time, his words registered with Sweetie Belle in a way that they hadn’t the first time.
“Talent?” Sweetie said slowly. The telltale flash went unnoticed with the re-growing enthusiasm in the room, at least, unnoticed by everypony but those at the table.
“Looks like it really is your talent!” Scootaloo said, pointing at the bell and musical notes that proudly displayed what Sweetie was meant for. She squealed happily.
“We all got our cutie marks!” Applebloom said triumphantly.
“We never could have done it without you, Discord!” Sweetie said happily. She glomped him unexpectedly, and he nearly fell. The other two joined in the pony pile, and then he really did fall over, laughing.
“Well, you’re quite welcome. It was about time, if you ask me,” Discord said with a grin. “Don’t you all have ponies to go report to, now?”
“Thanks again, Discord! We won’t forget this!” Scootaloo said, dashing out of the door.
“You’re the best draconequus ever!” Applebloom added, also leaving.
“I’ve got to go tell Rarity!” Sweetie exclaimed gleefully, and the last of the former Cutie Mark Crusaders left the building.
‘If they’re all going to report to their sisters/idols, then that should help me get in good with Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash… now I just have to get into Pinkie’s and Twilight’s good books and then maybe we can finally stop hiding things...’ Discord thought. He turned to Pinkie, who was now putting away the karaoke equipment away since Karaoke Hour was over.
“Anything you want me to do for you?” he asked straightforwardly. Pinkie, surprised, paused before screwing up her face in deep thought.
“Chocolate rain!” she exclaimed in a moment of revelation. “Ooh, I want some chocolate rain, please!” Discord was surprised.
“Wouldn’t that bring back bad memories?” Discord asked slowly.
“Are you kidding!?” Pinkie exclaimed. “That was the bestest day in my whole life! Except for the whole ‘chaos lord taking over the world’ part, but the chocolate milk rain was the best!”
“Well, I suppose I’m happy to oblige,” Discord said with a shrug. “Probably best to do it outside, though, so it doesn’t stain the carpet.”
“Okay!” Pinkie agreed, bouncing happily out the door. Discord summoned her her own personal cotton candy chocolate milk rain cloud. He watched in amusement as she sat there happily with her mouth open. ‘Well that was easy,’ he thought. Suddenly, though, she froze and turned to glare at him. “You keep forgetting the whipped cream!” she accused.
“What?” Discord asked stupidly.
“All this chocolate milk rain without a dollop of whip cream to go with it anywhere in sight!” Pinkie criticized. “NOT A SINGLE DOLLOP!”
“I’m… sorry?” Discord said hesitantly.
            “So fix it!” Pinkie demanded, sitting huffily on the ground and crossing her front legs impatiently as the chocolate milk rain continued to pour down on her, forming a puddle.
“Alright, alright!” Discord said quickly, and quickly put his talons up to snap again. He was stopped by an angry voice.
“DISCORD!” Twilight shouted, running and putting herself between the two protectively, horn glowing in warning.
“Whoa!” Discord said, stepping back quickly. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding!”
“What do you think you were doing!?” Twilight shouted. “I thought you were on our side! Why are you causing chaos again!?”
“Chaos?” Discord asked. Twilight gestured angrily to the chocolate milk rain that an impatient Pinkie still waited underneath. “Oh, no you don’t understand! She was asking for it!” He paused and realized how that may not have been the best way to phrase that. “I didn’t mean it like-”
“I don’t care how much you think a pony deserves it, you can’t just go around causing chaos whenever you like! I thought you’d have learned that by now!” Twilight scolded.
“I ha-”
“Just go away, Discord!” Twilight ordered. “And take your stupid pink cloud with you!” Discord sighed at the backfire, vanished the cloud with a snap, and walked off before Twilight could yell at him some more.
“Not a single dollop,” Pinkie muttered grumpily.
“DISCORD!” three angry voices shouted a few moments later, before he’d even managed to get off of main street.
“Oh, what did I do this time!?” Discord asked exasperatedly, throwing his hands up as he turned. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all glared back at him.
“What you did, Discord, is ignore centuries of pony tradition!” Rarity scolded. “A pony is suppose to find her own cutie mark, not have somepony tell her what it is!”
“That wasn’t what happene-”
“Applebloom said you got her friends and her their cutie marks!” Applejack accused.
“Well, yes, but I swear I-”
“What kind of story are they going to tell later when people ask how they got their cutie marks!?” Rainbow demanded. “‘Oh, somepony told me what my talent was’!? Cutie mark stories are supposed to be cool!”
“Well they didn’t tell it very wel-”
“I can’t believe you, Discord! You’ve ruined everything!” Rarity shouted, and the three mares stomped off in a huff, not letting Discord get a word in edgewise. He growled. ‘Next time I help a pony get their cutie mark, I instruct them in how to tell an accurate story, first.’
Now thoroughly done with being in town, he decided to go back home before another attempt at good will was thrown in his face. ‘Why does the universe hate me!?’

> One Fell Swoop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy was busy making Angel his favorite and overly complicated salad when Discord came in and fell face-first onto the couch and started pouting.
“Discord? What happened?” Fluttershy asked, running over and leaving the salad on the counter half-finished. Angel grumbled impatiently.
“I think I just successfully ticked all of your friends off at me in one fell swoop,” Discord huffed moodily. “And not even because I did anything wrong! They just wouldn’t let me explain anything!”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said with a frown. “Why don’t you tell me all about it while I finish this salad for Angel.” He sighed and relayed the whole story. Fluttershy shook her head.
“Maybe I’ll try to explain it to them tomorrow and sort everything out,” Fluttershy offered.
“What’s the point?” Discord asked sulkily. “They’re so determined to see bad in me they’ll find it even when it’s not there, so why fight it?”
“Well, even if that’s true, I can think of three little fillies who will always be happy when they remember your part in today,” Fluttershy said with a smile as she handed Angel his salad.
“That’s true,” Discord said, returning the smile and imagining the looks on their faces. It was nice to have somepony other than Fluttershy be that happy that he was around. “I suppose I did make some friends, today, even if I didn’t make the friends I was aiming for.”
“That’s the spirit,” Fluttershy said happily, coming over to sit next to him on the couch and lean her head on him. He ran his talons through her hair.
Due to the general tendency to hold grudges against Discord for a lot longer than against any other pony, he avoided town for awhile and mostly just stuck with work in Canterlot and relaxing with Fluttershy at home, whether having a normal night in or a date night in Crazy Chaotic Fun Land, or some venue of a more romantic nature that Discord would throw together. Sometimes Fluttershy would even pull dresses from her closet to wear and Discord would summon himself a suit jacket to fit whatever mood they were in. All in all, things couldn’t be happier.
“Goodnight, dear,” Discord said after an afternoon trying to get Fluttershy over her fear of heights by putting her on roller coasters- it hadn’t worked, but Fluttershy had been clinging to him pleasantly in terror the whole time, so he called it a win. “I love you.”
“Goodnight,” Fluttershy said with an exhausted smile and a yawn. “I love you, too.”
Discord wasn’t particularly tired that night, so he stayed up and lounged about in his Thinking Tree instead. As was the usual lately, he thought about Fluttershy. How in Equestria he’d managed to get her to fall for him, he still wasn’t entirely sure, but he knew that the second she’d come into his life had changed him for the better. He tried thinking back to who he used to be and saw a stranger, but he wasn’t complaining. He knew that, at this point, there was no going back. He’d be hers as long as she would have him. Goodness, he was getting cheesy.
He summoned up the ring he’d designed over a week ago and sighed, turning it over between his fingers. His inner conflict over what to do next was left unsolved, however, and he ended up vanishing the ring again and sleeping fitfully.
The next morning, Fluttershy and Discord were having a tea party out in the garden, one of the few activities they did outside without fear of being discovered, since her friends all knew they got together for tea on occasion- they just had to keep the affectionate touches to a minimum. This time was one of the few times they’d ever been interrupted, though- and the whole gang was here.
“What’s he doing here?” Rainbow complained.
“We’re having tea,” Fluttershy explained. “Is that a problem?” The tone was terrifying to those who knew her well, because it was a clear indication that the Stare would be implemented soon if anypony crossed her.
“No,” Rainbow muttered.
“Sorry to, ah, interrupt,” Rarity said. “We simply thought that it was high time we all sat down and ate a meal together again. We’ve all been rather busy of late. If now isn’t a good time, though…”
“Don’t let me stop you,” Discord said, getting to his feet. “We were just finishing up, anyway.”
“Oh, you don’t have to go,” Fluttershy said guiltily.
“Nonsense,” Discord said. “Have fun with your friends. I’ll see you later.” He teleported into the house for awhile before deciding to just spend a while at work with Celestia. He mostly chose his own hours, nowadays, and just sort of popped in whenever he felt like it.
Fluttershy and her friends, meanwhile, enjoyed their picnic, and soon had to separate again due to Twilight’s responsibilities as princess and the others’ various obligations. Fluttershy stayed outside to enjoy the gorgeous day and walked peacefully around the meadows and woods near her house. A soft hissing drew her attention to a beautifully striped black and scarlet snake lying in the grass. She was pretty sure it was a coral snake, a species which she’d always gotten along with fairly well.
“Oh, you’re gorgeous,” Fluttershy cooed, stepping lightly as she got closer. The snake hissed warningly at her. “Oh, don’t worry, little fellow. I’ll take good care of you.” She moved to pick it up, but it slithered out of sight more quickly than she could follow. “Huh?” She stepped back and felt like she hit her ankle on a pointy twig or something. She winced and turned around to see the snake again.
It hissed at her.
“I won’t hurt you,” she soothed. “You don’t have to worry.” The snake finally calmed down enough that it let her pet its head and coo at it softly. It seemed to like the attention and the body heat, because it coiled around her. Suddenly it started hissing at her frantically.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Snake,” Fluttershy said. “But I don’t speak snake very fluently. If you’d like, you can stay with me. I learn pretty fast, and then we can talk.” The snake hissed again, looking worried. Fluttershy walked inside her hut and tried to get the snake settled in, but it kept trying to catch her attention. From her limited knowledge, she knew it was saying the word ‘go’, but that didn’t tell her much.
She tried to calm him down, but it wouldn’t stop hissing. Moving around the hut, she grew a bit tired and dizzy, and felt a headache coming on. She had a glass of water and went back to working with the snake and the other animals.
When Discord came in about an hour later, back from helping Celestia set up some good pranks to play on Luna for her birthday coming up, Fluttershy was feeling nauseous.
“Why is there a venomous snake in the house?” he asked flatly, not amused with her  disregard for safety.
“Oh, he’s not hurting anypony. He seemed distressed, so I brought him in to relax a little. It hasn’t seemed to work, yet, though…” The snake hissed frantically.
“What!?” Discord yelped. “Fluttershy, we’re going!” He grabbed her and a few apples for her while they were gone and ran out the door with her.
“What? Why? Do you speak snake?” Fluttershy asked, confused.
“I speak a lot of things,” Discord growled, still running. “He says he bit you while he was still instinctive before you calmed him down.”
“Really?” Fluttershy asked, somewhat surprised. “I didn’t feel it.”
“Don’t be so calm!” Discord demanded. “This is a coral snake!”
“I’m sure the doctors will be able to fix it,” Fluttershy said, but she wheezed the last bit, starting to have trouble breathing. Discord gave up on running altogether and just teleported Fluttershy directly into the emergency room. The receptionist jumped and looked altogether displeased to see Discord there.
“Shut up and get her some medical care,” Discord growled. He put the now trembling pegasus down tenderly on one of the waiting seats.
“What happened?” the receptionist asked, abandoning personal feelings and doing her job, flagging some doctors over.
“She was bitten by a coral snake,” Discord snapped. The doctors nodded grimly and carted Fluttershy off. Discord followed.
“You can’t go back there,” the receptionist said.
“I’d like to see you stop me,” Discord snarled, and teleported inside and began following her.

> Guard Dogs and Engagements
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The doctors were good at their jobs, and within a few hours Fluttershy was in stable condition and merely being kept for observation. Discord had stubbornly refused to leave Fluttershy’s side, and was curled up on his own little bed he’d summoned next to Fluttershy’s when her other friends got contacted about her condition. They were all gathered worriedly at the hospital within minutes. It was technically after visiting hours, but since Twilight was a princess no one objected to her or her friends coming in.
“What the hay is Discord doin’ here!?” Applejack exclaimed when they walked in. The nurse that was supervising the visit cleared her throat.
“He’s the one who brought her in,” the nurse explained. “Apparently found her not too long after being bitten by the snake and brought her here. He’s refused to leave her side.”
“Really?” Twilight asked, surprised.
“Yes, really,” Discord said grumpily, turning over to face them and making them jump. They’d thought he’d been asleep. “As much as you all seem to hate me, get it through your thick skulls that I care about Fluttershy!” Her friends all took a step back at his enraged expression. He was taking out his fear from Fluttershy’s attack on them, and he knew it, but he had had it.
“Whoa, Nelly,” Applejack said. “Nopony’s sayin’ ya don’t, Discord.” Discord snorted, rolled his eyes, and curled back up, ignoring them. The friends exchanged looks, and Pinkie shrugged.
“I think he’s grumpy,” she whispered loudly. Rarity shushed her. They decided it was their best bet to stay quiet, so they all took turns standing by the sleeping Fluttershy’s side and wishing her well in hushed voices. Eventually they filtered out with another backwards glance over their shoulders at Discord. They closed the door behind them and went back out to the waiting room, where they started talking.
“He was like a little watchdog! Grr!” Pinkie said with a giggle.
“I guess I’d never really realized just how attached to her he really was,” Rainbow admitted. “I always kinda figured it was just his sense of humor, y’know? Like, ‘make friends with the shy one because we’re completely different’?”
“Me too,” Rarity admitted. “I never thought I’d see him like that.”
“Does anypony else get the feeling that he wasn’t just tense ‘cause of Fluttershy bein’ in the hospital? I get the feelin’ he’s irritated at us for somthin’,” Applejack said cautiously.
“But what?” Twilight asked, not quite buying it. “He’s the one who’s been irritating.”
“I suppose,” Applejack relented. “He did kinda stop showin’ up after we gave him such a hard time about the cutie mark incident, though.”
More discussion followed as they all headed back to the castle, where they were all staying the night so they could head over to the hospital again the next day while Fluttershy was awake.
Fluttershy was just waking up when they came, and Discord watched silently from his new post at the head of her bed as they came in.
“Hi, guys,” she said tiredly.
“Fluttershy! It’s so good to see you awake! How are you feeling?” Twilight asked.
“I’m much better, now,” Fluttershy reassured.
“No more playin’ with anything poisonous,” Applejack scolded. “I don’t care how cute the darned thing is.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Fluttershy agreed.
“I made you a ‘get better soon’ quilt!” Rarity exclaimed, presenting the blanket to the amused mare.
“You know I’ll probably be released tomorrow, right?” Fluttershy asked. “There’s really no need to worry, now.”
“Of course we’re worried!” Pinkie exclaimed. “We’re friends, it’s our job!”
“And you do it very well,” Fluttershy praised.
“You gonna survive the boredom of the hospital that long?” Rainbow asked. “I know I wouldn’t.”
“Unless she had a Daring Do book,” Twilight amended, smirking. Rainbow scowled, but didn’t deny it.
“I’ll be fine,” Fluttershy assured. “I’m sure Discord will keep me company.” The others all looked at him with frowns on their faces.
“Well… if you do need anything else, darling, please let us know,” Rarity said.
“I will,” Fluttershy promised. They stayed and visited for awhile, but none of them could spend the whole day at the hospital, so they dispersed just before lunch.
“Finally,” Discord grumbled, curling himself around her on the bed. She leaned her head against him tiredly.
“Thanks for bringing me to the hospital,” Fluttershy said softly. Discord tensed slightly.
“I wasn’t about to lose you to a snake,” he spat. Fluttershy blushed and hugged him, for both of their comforts. “I’ve already been snappish and grumpy enough, even knowing you were going to make a full recovery. If anything had gone wrong… I would never have been able to forgive myself.”
“Discord, none of this was your fault,” Fluttershy scolded. “It’s my own fault for not keeping clear of the snake until I knew for sure he was calm and approachable.”
“But if I’d been home and out there with you I would’ve been able to warn you-”
“That’s ridiculous,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head against his chest. Discord chuckled.
“Have we met?” he asked. “Ridiculous is my defining personality trait.”
“We have met, actually,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “Like this.” She pecked his forehead. “And this.” His cheek. “And this.” His nose. “And this, too.” She kissed him gently on the lips.
“You should be resting,” he reminded her distractedly.
“So?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I like your lack of logic,” he decided, and returned her kisses eagerly.
A doctor came in to check on her with just enough advanced warning for the couple to be apart and acting innocently when the door opened. He took her vital signs and ran a few tests before determining that, despite her slightly elevated heart rate, since she was making such a speedy recovery, she was allowed to leave that night. She was also told that Twilight was covering her medical bills, and not to worry about it. Normally Fluttershy would protest, but she knew Twilight would ignore her, anyway.
That night, she checked herself out of the hospital and agreed to meet Discord at home, much to his displeasure, but seeing them walking home together would arouse suspicion. He was hovering over her the second she got home, making sure she sat down and bringing her water and snacks.
“Discord, I’m fine,” she insisted, rubbing her head along his neck soothingly. “I promise.”
“I know,” he sighed. “It’s just… I’m still terrified.”
“Of what?” Fluttershy asked gently.
“Myself,” he admitted in a mutter. “When I thought there was any chance at all you weren’t going to make it, my old self started coming out. And not just the trickster me from when you defeated me and turned me back to stone. I mean… the me from before Luna and Celestia stopped me. I don’t like that part of me, Fluttershy.”
“I know,” she said, gesturing for him to sit down with her. “But you don’t have to worry about that. You’d have a hard time getting rid of me if you tried. I’m not going anywhere without a fight. You know why?”
“You love me?” Discord guessed.
“It’s like you can read my mind,” Fluttershy smiled, kissing him again.
“I probably could, if I tried,” Discord teased.
“Want to try? Just this once?” Fluttershy asked. “It might be interesting to see what you’re capable of.”
“I’ve never done it before,” Discord admitted. “Even when I was evil something seemed wrong about it.”
“What if you’re invited?” Fluttershy asked. “Go on, try.” He did, closing his eyes and concentrating. All he could pick up were flashes of feelings and images, but it was enough.
“I couldn’t live without you, either,” she summarized. Discord hesitated for only a moment, but the residual feelings he was getting from Fluttershy told him she might react favorably to the craziness he was about to spew.
“Care to make it official, then?” Discord asked seriously, looking deep into her surprised eyes.
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, eyes wide. Discord summoned the ring he’d designed and fiddled with it nervously. She looked hurriedly back and forth between his face and the ring.
“We’ve already decided we can’t live without each other,” he said. “Marriage seems like a logical step. See, you’re such a good influence I even use logic, now!” He was rambling a little, nervously. What had given him the stupid idea to try proposing, again? Fluttershy started crying and latched herself around his neck, nodding frantically. It took him a second to realize that she was responding to his proposal and not his newfound use of logic. “You’re… sure?”
“I love you,” she responded, still crying. Discord put his arms around her as well, and they sat there in silence for awhile, enjoying the moment. Things has progressed fast with them, but it didn’t seem like it was too fast. Not for them. Discord slipped the ring on a necklace chain and hung it around Fluttershy’s neck. He kissed her gently a few times before deepening their kisses, triumphantly celebrating her acceptance. She wasn’t complaining. Eventually they decided to call it a night and retreated back up to her room and fell asleep in the same positions on the bed they’d been in when their relationship had first started, though not before they’d finished off their latest scrapbook page with details of their newfound engagement.

> Laying Foundations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy woke first the next morning and carefully extricated herself from her... fiance. The word sent shivers down her spine, and she almost didn’t believe it until she looked down and saw the ring still around her neck. She grinned and quietly left the room to prepare a celebratory breakfast, an elaborate one since she was in an incredibly good mood. Discord came down fairly soon and fairly burst with pride when he saw Fluttershy wearing the ring. His ring. He could safely say that at almost no point in his extremely long life had he expected to find a mare, let alone settle down. It was a happy surprise to say the least.
“Good morning,” she said brightly, beaming at him. He gave her a peck and turned to see the elaborate spread she’d assembled on the kitchen table. He raised an eyebrow. “Are we expecting company?”
“No,” Fluttershy said, embarrassed. “I guess I got a little too excited.” Discord was about to suggest they get started if they wanted to make any sizeable dent in the mountain of food when a knock sounded at the door.
“Who could that be?” Discord wondered.
“Oh! It’s probably the girls, coming to check on me after I got out of the hospital!” she realized. She raised her voice so her friends could hear her through the door. “I’ll be there in a minute!”
“The ring,” Discord pointed out. Fluttershy looked conflicted.
“I don’t want to take it off…” Fluttershy said, kicking at the ground. Discord chuckled and snapped his fingers.
“There. For now, only you and I can see it. I suppose I’ll have to start trying to get in their good books again, now. Just another secret that we need to wait for them to like me to tell.”
“I’ll help ,” Fluttershy said determinedly. “I want to be able to share my happiness with my friends soon.” 
“Sounds good. Now I’d better go, but I’ll be back later,” Discord said. “I’m going to go tell Celestia the wonderful news!”
“... Discord, did we ever even tell her that we were together?” Fluttershy asked, eyes widening. He shook his head gleefully and disappeared. The knock on the door sounded again, and Fluttershy quickly went to open it, revealing her friends.
“Hi, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said excitedly. “We came by to make sure you were okay!”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Fluttershy assured them. “Would you all like to come in?”
“Sure! Thanks, Flutters!” Rainbow said, coming right in and making herself at home. She noticed the food on the table. “Were you expecting us or something?”
“Oh, um, not exactly…” Fluttershy said. “But please, help yourselves. I haven’t eaten yet, and I wouldn’t feel right eating in front of you without offering you something.”
“That’s very kind of you, Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a grin. “You definitely live up to your element.”
“Is this what you’ve been doin’ with all the apples you’ve been gettin’?” Applejack asked, looking over the food.
“Some of them,” Fluttershy replied evasively.
“Got any gemstones?” Spike asked eagerly. Twilight rolled her eyes as Fluttershy shook her head apologetically. Rarity was the last of the group to enter the house, wiping her hooves daintily on the welcome mat.
“You certainly seem to be feeling better, dear. You gave us all quite a scare,” Rarity said, giving Fluttershy a hug.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said. “I promise I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Her friends stuck around for almost an hour before they all went their separate ways again. Almost instantly, Discord appeared out of nowhere with an irritated look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
“She thought I was joking,” Discord grumbled. Fluttershy giggling slightly.
“That does sound like you,” she pointed out.
“I suppose,” he agreed. “Maybe she’ll believe it when we send her the wedding invitation.”
“We have to get my friends used to you, first,” Fluttershy reminded.
“No time like the present, then. Let’s go!” Discord declared. Not having any other plans for the day, Fluttershy agreed, and they set off towards Ponyville. When they walked into town, Pinkie was, predictably, the first to notice them through Sugarcube Corner’s open door.
“Fluttershy! Discord!” she exclaimed happily, momentarily abandoning the counter to drag them inside. “Do you guys want some cupcakes!?”
“Um… I don’t have any money with me, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said apologetically.
“That’s not what I meant, silly!” Pinkie giggled. “On the house!”
“Why?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, for you because I’m happy you’re better, and for Dissy because he saved you!” Pinkie declared. “If he hadn’t been there, you may not have gotten better!” She spontaneously glomped him, almost throwing him off-balance. “He’s my favorite draconequus ever! This even makes up for not adding whipped cream!”
“One down, four to go,” Discord joked, gently prying Pinkie off of him.
“Huh?” she asked as she walked off to get their cupcakes.
“Discord’s decided to try again to become friends with you all,” Fluttershy explain.
“When did he try last time?” Pinkie asked, confused.
“The cutie mark incident,” Discord grumbled. Pinkie winced.
“That didn’t go very well, then,” she commented as she handed the two of them their cupcakes.
“You could say that,” Fluttershy agreed.
“Well, I have to run the bakery, otherwise I’d help!” Pinkie said cheerfully.
“That’s alright, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I’m just glad you’re not mad at him anymore.”
“Well, not everypony can remember the whipped cream one hundred percent of the time,” she sighed. “Good luck!”
Fluttershy and Discord finished their cupcakes and left the bakery.
“Well that went well,” Discord said. “Though knowing Pinkie, I’m not terribly surprised. She brings up a good point, though. Maybe I can use the whole saving your life thing to my advantage.”
“It may be a good start,” Fluttershy agreed. “It looks like Applejack is running the apple stand. Should we go talk to her next?”
“I suppose,” Discord shrugged. Fluttershy led the way over to the stall.
“Hello, Applejack,” she greeted.
“Hey, Fluttershy. Uh… hey, Discord,” Applejack returned, looking uncertainly at Discord. Last time she’d seen him, he hadn’t been in the best of moods.
“I wanted to apologize for yelling at you all,” Discord said, realizing what she must be thinking about. She looked flabbergasted.
“Uh… no problem,” she said after a moment. “Ya were worried, jus’ like the rest of us,” she excused.
“Still. You weren’t snapping at anypony,” Discord insisted. Repentant Discord was a bit much for Applejack to take.
“Yer forgiven,” she said hurriedly. “Completely.”
“I do so hope we can be friends. I put so much energy into being close to Fluttershy that I fear I’ve neglected the rest of you,” Discord sighed dramatically.
“Not an issue,” Applejack assured in a rush.
“Wonderful! I’m sure we’ll be the best of friends! Now, I must go apologize to the others! Tata!” He walked off gaily. Fluttershy trotted after him.
“I think you scared her,” she said hesitantly.
“Too much?” Discord asked. Fluttershy nodded.
“Especially since none of the others can tell when you’re being sarcastic or not,” Fluttershy added.
“I was being completely genuine!” Discord protested.
“I know,” Fluttershy assured hurriedly. “But I don’t know that Applejack did.”
“Ah, well. I suppose there’ll be other opportunities. For now, we have other ponies to convince!”
They ended up heading over to Rarity’s next, And Discord found himself being glomped almost the second Rarity opened the door as the CMC, who were in the boutique, were thrilled to see the one who’d helped them achieve their goal of getting their cutie marks.
“Discord!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed happily. “We haven’t seen you in so long! We were going to plan a thank-you party, but we didn’t know where to send the invitation to!” Discord and Fluttershy exchanged a look. Discord coughed slightly.
“It’s good to see you too, girls,” he chuckled, glad to see that Fluttershy had been right. These three fillies would always look back on that experience with fond memories, even if their sisters hadn’t.
“Fluttershy, Discord,” Rarity greeted. “What brings you to the boutique?”
“Discord wanted to say something,” Fluttershy said, nudging Discord forward a bit.
“Ah, yes, I wanted to apologize for the incident in the hospital the other day. Most uncalled for.”
“Oh! Um… it’s quite alright. Emotions were high, so it’s, uh, very understandable,” Rarity said uncertainly, giving Fluttershy a confused look. She decided to step in lest Discord ruin his good opening statement.
“Discord has decided it’s high time he tried to become friends with all of you, not just with me,” Fluttershy said. “And we decided the first step was getting rid of any bad feelings between you.” Rarity looked shocked at this.
“Oh, goodness. I had no idea he was even remotely interested in getting to know the rest of us,” Rarity confessed. “I suppose as long as he doesn’t cause trouble I’m not particularly opposed.”
“I’m right here,” Discord grumbled irritably. He did brighten a bit at her last statement, though. “Hopefully I won’t mess it up, this time.”
“As long as Fluttershy trusts you, I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt,” Rarity sighed. “But for now, I think I’d better ask you to leave. These three fillies are here for my help, and you're distracting them from receiving it.”
“Help?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, now that we have our cutie marks, it’s pretty obvious where we went wrong with the talent show last time,” Scootaloo laughed self-consciously. “So we’re going to try again with me doing choreography, Sweetie Belle singing, and Apple Bloom making sets and costumes.”
“Rarity’s takin’ our measurements for us and helpin’ me pick out a pattern and fabric!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully.
“Well, I look forward to it,” Fluttershy said, relieved. “We’ll get out of your hair so you can concentrate, then.”
With only Rainbow and Twilight left to lay foundations with, Discord was feeling pleased with himself. Of course, that was when everything went downhill.

> Overload
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It started with a weird tingling sensation up and down the back of his neck. Scratching at it didn’t help. And, of course, it all had to reach a climax when they were in the dead center of Ponyville.
His arm spasmed violently all of a sudden, a huge burst of chaos magic flying out the end and giving several houses legs from various animals. Mortified, he hurriedly took them away with a snap.
“Discord?” Fluttershy asked worriedly, “What-” Another burst left through his foot and turned the ground into jello, which he also quickly reversed. “What’s happening!?”
“I don’t know, I can’t control it!” Discord exclaimed irritatedly as several ponies shot him worried looks. Discord looked down at his body as if checking for leaks. He saw arcs of energy crackling over the surface, and he, too, started to get worried. “What the-” All of a sudden, he was surrounded by the chaos magic as it burst out of him and spread into everything around him, effectively turning Ponville into the chaos capital of the world again. He couldn’t move. let alone stop it, as the excess magic continued to stream out of him and make sporadic changes. His eyes glowed white, much like Twilight’s did when she was overcharged with magical energy.
Fluttershy, not knowing what to do, finally had the presence of mind to run off for help when his magic turned her mane into yarn and pink taffy. She knocked hurriedly on the door to Twilight’s library.
“Fluttershy, what’s wro-” Twilight asked, opening the door to see exactly what was wrong.
“He’s not doing it on purpose, I swear!” Fluttershy said, tears streaming down her face. “It just happened all of a sudden, I don’t know what to do!”
“Stay here and try to make him stop, I’ll go get help from Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, taking charge and teleporting away with a burst of light. Fluttershy obediently ran right back into town and cautiously approached the still-glowing Discord, trying to ignore the fact that her wings had vanished and moustache glasses had appeared on her face.
“Discord, Twilight’s going for help!” she called out through her terrified sobs. “Hold on!” Several scared-looking Earth ponies flew through the air off to the left, and some of the rocks appeared to be playing leap-frog along the side of the road, which was covered in orange peels. The characteristic pink clouds were just beginning to form in the sky when Celestia and Twilight appeared.
“Fluttershy, stand back!” Celestia ordered. Fluttershy reluctantly skittered away from him after only a moment’s hesitation. “I had hoped, with as long as he’s been reformed, that we’d be able to avoid this, but evidently his chaos is even more a part of him than I’d thought.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“Chaos is a force of nature, and one it may have been wise to more carefully the implications of reigning in. All this time of holding back his chaos magic has caused it to build up inside of him, to the point where he can no longer control it.”
“But he uses it all the time!” Fluttershy squeaked. “When he’s working for you, or-” she cut herself off from mentioning the haven, remembering that Twilight didn’t know about it.
“But even there, his magic was being used for logical, structured things. It didn’t allow an outlet for the true chaos.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do!?” Fluttershy asked.
“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Celestia sighed. She pulled some sort of sphere out of the saddlebags that Fluttershy had only just noticed that she was wearing. She carefully levitated it towards Discord and gently pressed it against his forehead. The chaos magic was immediately sucked into the ball, and Discord finally collapsed in an exhausted heap on the ground, though all of the chaos his magic had already created remained.
“Discord!” Fluttershy said worriedly, whizzing back to his side. “What’s wrong! Why did he pass out!?”
“He’s just dealing with the shock of his magic being taken out of his body,” Celestia sighed.
“You… took away his magic!?” Fluttershy and Twilight exclaimed in unison.
“Temporarily,” Celestia assured. “At least until his body can regain enough control to keep it under taps. And even then, we may need to loosen the reins a bit on his magic, or things like this may happen with greater intensity and frequency.”
“But he’ll be alright?” Fluttershy insisted. Celestia nodded.
“Unfortunately, he will be unable to use his magic again for a few days,” Celestia sighed.
“How is that unfortunate?” Twilight asked, irritated at the whole situation.
“Because it means he can’t help with putting things back to normal,” Celestia said.
“Oh,” Twilight said unenthusiastically. “Right.”
The rebuilding efforts began the next day, and as the Elements of Harmony, the six ponies were naturally looked to to lead, as always.
“I can’t believe after all that hooey about apologies he went and pulled somethin’ like this!” Applejack snarled in the morning as they met together in the castle to make plans and divide up jobs.
“He couldn’t help it,” Fluttershy said distressedly, fighting back more tears. She’d been a wreck ever since Celestia left with Discord, planning to keep an eye on him at the Canterlot Castle. She was so worried about him, and she couldn’t even share her worries with her friends, because they didn’t know anything about their true relationship.
“Well he should’ve been more careful!” Applejack spat. “Ya don’t just not notice massive magical build-up like that! He could’ve hurt somepony!”
“He would never do something like this on purpose!” Fluttershy defended. “He’s changed!”
“Yeah, I can tell,” Rainbow said irritably, gesturing to both of their bare backs and Fluttershy’s still-chaotic mane. “He’s like a whole new master of chaos.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Twilight snapped, and began divvying up responsibilities as any hopes Fluttershy had for her friends reconciling with Discord were brutally put on hold.
Discord didn’t regain consciousness for three days, so Fluttershy spent the three lonely days at home alone,  when she wasn’t helping put Ponyville back to normal. She missed him more than she thought possible, and more than once she cried herself to sleep and woke up from nightmares of what had happened.
When Discord woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar room, completely alone. Thinking he just didn’t remember redecorating the haven, he left the room and began trying to find his way out. It took a full three seconds for him to realize that he was actually in Canterlot Castle, and for him to remember why he was there. He tried snapping, but nothing happened. Horrified, he set off to find Celestia as quickly as possible.
“Celestia, what happened!? How’s Fluttershy!? Why can’t I use magic!?” he demanded, bursting into the throne room a few minutes later.
“You’re finally up!” Celestia said, relieved. She calmed him down a bit and explained what had happened and why, exactly, his magic wasn’t working. “I can’t return it all to you, yet, but you should be able to handle a little bit. No long-range teleportation or large-scale chaos, but you should still be able to materialize or alter small items and transform. Anything beyond that will have to wait until you’ve recovered more.”
“How’s Fluttershy?” Discord repeated, as Celestia pulled out the orb and let a small stream of magic filter back into Discord’s body. 
“Shaken, but relatively unharmed. Her mane is a bit of a mess, though, and I believe she’s been enjoying three days as an Earth pony,” Celestia informed him. He paled.
“I have to get back!” he exclaimed. He snapped, but nothing happened.
“Long-range teleportation,” Celestia reminded him. “I’m afraid you’ll have to take the train.” He was gone without another word.

> Done With Waiting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy was exhausted. She’d barely been able to sleep, and she couldn’t take a moment to breathe without worrying about Discord. To top it all off, she’d almost gone Flutterbat in front of her friends because she’d forgotten to eat an apple amidst all the stress. Luckily she’d noticed the tiny fangs just in time to hurry home and correct the problem. Now, she was trying desperately to rest, flopped motionlessly on her couch and trying futilely to get in a nap before she had to put the animals down for the night. It was late afternoon when a knock came at the door and she gave up on sleep altogether.
Her weariness fled from her when she saw a nervous-looking Discord standing outside the door. With a quick snap, he restored her mane and wings.
“Fluttershy, I’m so sorr-” he started, but she ignored him, pulled him inside, slammed the door, and kissed him violently. He slowly began kissing her back until they finally pulled back to breathe, Fluttershy with tears in her eyes.
“You promised not to scare me like that again,” Fluttershy reminded with a teary laugh.
“I’m terrible at keeping those pesky ‘promise’ things, evidently,” Discord replied with a grin. “Who knew?”
“Sweet Celestia, I missed you.” She kissed him again.
“I missed you too,” he replied breathlessly.
“My friends are mad at you again,” she informed him, resting her head on his chest as he held her.
“Of course they are,” Discord sighed sadly. “I’m not terribly surprised.”
“But I don’t care anymore!” Fluttershy exploded suddenly, sitting up straight. “These past three days have been miserable without you here! You make me happy, and it’s not up to them! Let’s go!”
“Um… go where?” Discord asked.
“Back to Canterlot,” Fluttershy said determinedly. “We’re eloping.”
“Have I ever said how much I love you?” Discord said with a grin.
“You can tell me all about it on the way,” Fluttershy said. Discord shrunk down and slipped inside her mane, and without any further ado the pair of them boarded the train and headed straight to Canterlot.
“Should you have told your friends you were leaving?” Discord asked after about half an hour.
“They probably won’t notice. We left late enough that they’re probably all at home and winding down,” Fluttershy said dismissively.
They pulled into Canterlot station after the sun had already set, and Fluttershy was starting to return to her normal, timid self.
“It’s a bit late… I wouldn’t want to be a bother,” she started to fret. “Maybe we should just wait until tomorrow morning…”
“Lulu will be up,” Discord said unconcernedly. “And Celestia can stand to be woken up for something like this.”
“Well… If you’re sure,” Fluttershy said.
“Never been more sure in my extremely long life,” Discord said immediately. “Let’s go!”
Luckily for him, the throne room was within teleporting range of the gate, so they didn’t have to go through the gruff bat ponies who were on guard.
“Discord? Fluttershy? Why art thou here at such a time of night?” Luna inquired regally, her luscious hair flowing softly in the evening breeze. Even though they were inside. Discord was in no way responsible. No seriously, her hair was always doing that.
“Well, um…” Fluttershy floundered.
“We’re eloping,” Discord boasted. Fluttershy blushed. Luna blinked.
“We don’t understand your humor,” Luna decided finally.
“He’s not joking,” Fluttershy admitted quietly. Luna didn’t hear her.
“I’m not joking,” Discord said.
“When did… this occur?” Luna asked cautiously.
“Well, it all started when I was reformed and started living with her,” Discord began.
“What!?” Luna exclaimed.
“Oh, you didn’t know? Goodness, Celestia is such a troll. Yes, I’ve been boarding at Fluttershy’s the whole time. Now you’re pretty much caught up. Anyway, we got engaged the other day-”
“What!?” Luna repeated.
“Yes, yes. So, obviously, we need to see Celly,” Discord continued. “I was thinking you could witness, since you’re up anyway. I would just have you do the ceremony, but since I’m actually closer to Celestia…”
“What!?”
“Well, this is getting us nowhere,” Discord sighed. “You two wait here, I’ll go wake up sunbutt.” He vanished out of the throne room. Awkward silence reigned for all of three seconds.
“Tell us he’s joking,” Luna said, looking at Fluttershy like she was insane.
“Ah… no, he’s not,” Fluttershy said. “We really did fall in love and get engaged.”
“...”
“...”
“She’s up!” Discord said happily, reappearing with a grumpy-looking Celestia, who had a slight case of bed head.
“Discord, what are you doing back here? I thought you were going back to Ponyville to see- Oh, Fluttershy, what brings you here?” Celestia asked.
“I tried telling you that we were engaged before, but you didn’t believe me,” Discord pointed out. “Well, we’ve decided to elope, so we came to ask you to perform the ceremony.”
“... What?”
“That is what we said!” Luna agreed.
“It’s, um, true,” Fluttershy spoke up. “All this time together, we’ve grown so close, and I truly do love him, and well, these past few days without him have made me realize how much. So, um, if you wouldn’t mind, that is…”
“Will you help or not?” Discord demanded. Celestia stared at him.
“You… want me to marry you?” Celestia repeated dumbfoundedly. They nodded together. “Fluttershy… are you sure?”
“Of course,” Fluttershy said with a bit more determination. “I wouldn’t have had the courage to come and ask if I wasn’t.”
“I suppose that’s true enough…” Celestia said reluctantly. “I suppose I can’t make any valid arguments against it. As odd as I find it, I know for myself that Discord is well and truly reformed, and I trust you enough to make your own decisions, so… I will, of course, perform the ceremony.”
“Oh, thank you so much!” Fluttershy breathed.
“Just… be happy with him so I don’t regret it, alright?” Celestia requested. Fluttershy nodded meaningfully. “And I would strongly suggest that you tell your friends about all of this sooner rather than later. More problems may be caused by keeping it secret, at this point.”
“Not right away,” Fluttershy said nervously. “After everything that happened, they aren’t exactly happy with him, and I’d hate to cause contention.”
“I suppose I understand,” Celestia agreed.
“Yes, yes, whatever, let’s get on with the ceremony,” Discor said impatiently, summoning up a lovely, simple white dress for Fluttershy and a dapper suitcoak for himself.
Celestia wanted to go back to sleep, so she readily agreed to it and began. A few minutes and a simple exchange of vows later, Discord and Fluttershy were legally bound, cemented by their signatures on an official document or two. Discord scooped Fluttershy up for a heartfelt kiss, and Celestia couldn’t decide whether to be touched or disgusted. Luna didn’t even watch.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said again as they were about to leave.
“Are you heading back to Ponyville? This late? Without Discord’s teleportation, the trip will take you all night. You’re welcome to stay here in one of the guest bedrooms tonight, and head back in the morning,” Celestia offered.
“Right-o, then!” Discord said cheerfully. “Come on, Mrs. Discord!” Fluttershy blushed and giggled as he scooped her up in his arms and flew off with her down a hall.
“She really does love him, doesn’t she?” Luna asked with morbid fascination.
“It appears so,” Celestia mused, then shrugged. “I’m going back to sleep.”

> Medical Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The newly married couple headed back early the next morning, catching the earliest train they could so Fluttershy could get back before anypony suspected that she was gone. Most ponies were up by then, but most just assumed that she’d come into town from her cottage for something, so she got home without drawing attention to herself.
“We should get me moved into the haven,” Fluttershy decided when they got inside. “We can share your room, now, though I’ll have to keep mine set up in the normal part of the house for appearance’s sake.”
“Of course, milady,” Discord said dramatically, bowing at the waist and flying up to her room to help gather her things. Considering that ponies don’t usually wear clothes and Fluttershy wasn’t overly attached to her material possessions, it took less than ten minutes for all of her important items to be transferred over.
“Perfect,” she said happily.
“You sure you don’t mind the chaos?” Discord asked skeptically, looking around his extremely eclectic room.
“I married you, didn’t I?” Fluttershy laughed. He grinned.
“Yes. Yes you did.”
Things settled back into routine after that. With the anger at Discord yet again fresh on everypony’s mind, he stopped showing up in town again, and was working with Celestia to come up with slightly more chaotic ways for him to help out in Equestria- funnily enough, his previous suggestions of providing food and shelter for the needy turned out to be the best plan, since he could give the homes the strangest layouts and summon up the most random of foods in ridiculous quantities. Little by little, his body regained the strength needed to contain his magic, and he got back the ability of long-range teleportation, as well as other things.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, got back into the swing of taking care of her animals after everything that had happened. She often tried to speak on Discord’s behalf whenever it came up with her friends, but they didn’t want to hear it, which only served to make her sad, so she learned to stop bringing it up.
But, of course, Fluttershy had learned by now that when you’re living with the master of chaos, the moment things calm down is when they change. Drastically.
A few months later, Discord was drafted to help with setup for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala, and while Fluttershy had been asked to have her birds perform, there wasn’t anything that she had to be in Canterlot for, so she spent her days at home alone practicing. On one particular morning, her friends had all decided to come over and watch, since at the Gala itself they all had responsibilities that year, and wouldn’t be able to watch the actual performance.
Her stage fright was never as bad in front of just her friends, so Fluttershy was happy to perform for them, especially since all she had to do was direct, and it would be a good practice before she had to conduct in front of everypony at the Gala… she was trying not to think about it.
The practice went perfectly, as Mr. Bluejay had finally fixed his pitch problems, and the other five all stomped the ground politely.
“That was lovely, Fluttershy!” Twilight said. “I’m sure it’ll be wonderful at the Gala!”
“Thanks, Twilight,” Fluttershy said modestly. “I just hope I can get through it at…” She trailed off as she was overcome with a wave of nausea.
“Flutters? You okay?” Rainbow asked, taking notice of the look on Fluttershy’s face.
“I- ugh,” Fluttershy attempted, but she couldn’t get it out for fear of vomiting, so she ran to some nearby bushes and emptied her stomach.
“Fluttershy, dear!?” Rarity exclaimed worriedly, trotting over and rubbing soothing circles on Fluttershy’s back. “Are you sick? You should have told us, we could have rescheduled!”
“It just hit me all of a sudden,” Fluttershy said. “I… I feel better, now, I think.”
“Maybe ya oughtta lie down, sugarcube,” Applejack suggested. “Best thing for it is ta get some rest.”
“No, really, I feel fine now,” Fluttershy declined.
“Just because you feel fine doesn’t mean you are,” Twilight said with a frown. “You could be coming down with something.”
“Oh my gosh FLUTTERSHY IS GOING TO DIE!” Pinkie wailed.
“I doubt it’s that serious, Pinkie, it’s alright. I have some diagnostic spells back at the library. Let’s head over and I can see whether it’s something we need to worry about.”
“Oh, but I’m sure it’s nothing,” Fluttershy repeated. “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Fluttershy, it’ll be more of a bother if it turns out to be something serious and we all have to worry about you in the hospital again,” Rainbow pointed out. “What harm can a little check-up do, anyway?”
“Well… I suppose you’re right,” Fluttershy caved, especially when she imagined how Discord would react if he found out she’d thrown up and then refused medical assistance.
“Good. Then let’s make sure you really are fine,” Twilight said authoritatively, and led the way through town and into the new library. “Spike!”
“What is it, Twilight?” Spike asked, poking his head out of a doorway and noticing that the whole gang was there. “Oh, hey,  everypony!”
“Spike, do you know where Medical Magic and Anatomical Anomalies is?” Twilight asked.
“Sure, we just reorganized yesterday. It’s right here,” he said, pulling a thick tome off of a shelf. Twilight took it with her magic and Rarity ushered an embarrassed Fluttershy onto a couch to relax. “Is something wrong?”
“Fluttershy here may be comin’ down with somethin’,” Applejack said. “Twi was gonna see if she could figure out what.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine, though,” Fluttershy reassured again.
“Can’t hurt to be sure,” Twilight repeated again. She opened up the book to the index and quickly looked up the spell she had in mind. “Ah, here it is.” She flipped to the page it was on and read through it once or twice. “Alright, I think I’ve got it. Here goes nothing.” She powered up her horn, and an arc of her magenta magical energy connected to Fluttershy and engulfed her.
“What’s the glowy light supposed to be doing?” Pinkie asked.
“It’ll take a minute. The magic is looking her over for any anomalies and trying to determine the cause of her symptoms. When I’ve found it a picture should appear…” At that moment a bead of light began to swell in the middle of the connecting beam, and Fluttershy was released from the magic. The swirling colors finally solidified…

> The Lack of Attack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Is that… a fetus!?” Rarity exclaimed, turning an even paler white. Twilight was so shocked that she dropped the spell, and Fluttershy dazed dazedly at where the image had been a moment before.
“I’m… pregnant?” she whispered coarsely. She hadn’t even considered the possibility… she and Discord weren’t even the same species… this was so wonderful! She started tearing up in joy, covering her face with her hooves. Her friends misinterpreted the emotion.
“Oh my Celestia, Fluttershy, were you attacked!?” Twilight asked in horror, galloping over and putting a supporting hoof around Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could have helped you through it!”
“Who did this to you!?” Rainbow raged. “I swear he won’t live to see another day after I’m through with him!”
“That would be terrible!” Fluttershy gasped, looked up in shock. None of her friends heard her.
“What kind of no-good despicable pony would do that to Fluttershy!?” Applejack demanded, angry tears streaming down her face.
“Yay, baby! Babies are sooo cute! I remember when the cake twins were still really little, and they were just the cutest things ever!” Pinkie said gleefully, not grasping the emotion in the room.
“Not now, Pinkie!” Twilight snapped. “Fluttershy, who did this to you!?”
“No, wait!” Fluttershy said quickly, waving her hooves in distress. “Calm down everypony! I… I wasn’t attacked.” Unfortunately, with all the hubbub in the room, only Twilight, who was right next to her, heard her words.
“I swear, if I get my hooves on whatever rotten stallion-”
“Wait, girls! She says that she wasn’t attacked!” Twilight cut off loudly. All eyes turned to Fluttershy, who turned scarlet. Applejack spoke up.
“Sugarcube,” she said sternly to Fluttershy. “Is what she’s sayin’ the truth? Look me in the eyes and tell me that nopony touched you in any way you weren’t wantin’ to be touched.” Fluttershy flushed miserably. Of all the horrible ways for the truth to be forced out into the open, this had to be the most awkward and unpleasant.
“Um… Nopony touched me in any way that I didn’t, um, want to be… touched,” Fluttershy forced out, blushing horribly and hiding her face in her mane a bit.
“Well, she certainly seems to be tellin’ the truth,” Applejack said with a confused and worried frown.
“So then… Fluttershy, you… have a special somepony?” Rainbow asked awkwardly. Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves and nodded.
“Look, I know you all have lots of questions, and I promise you that I’ll answer them later, but I really think that I should, um, tell the father before this gets any further,” Fluttershy said, cutting off any further questioning.
“Oh, um, right,” Twilight agreed for the group, the whole atmosphere suddenly very uncomfortable.
“Why don’t you girls… come over for dinner tonight?” Fluttershy invited with a sigh. Looked like the whole cat was out of the bag, so to speak. Not that she’d ever put a cat into a bag! That was animal cruelty, and she would never do that to one of her animal friends… “I promise I’ll explain everything then.”
“Well… if you’re sure, dear. We won’t force you to say anything you’re not comfortable with,” Rarity said with a frown on her face that suggested she expected every detail no matter what she said.
“Uh, right. I’ll see you all later. Um, Twilight, would it be alright if I borrowed Spike?”
“Me?” Spike asked, surprised.
“Why do you need him?” Twilight asked suspiciously.
“Well, you see… the father… he works in Canterlot, but Celestia should be able to get a hold of him,” Fluttershy said, trying to skirt the truth for now. She wanted Discord there with her when they finally told the whole truth.
“Celestia knows about this!?” Rainbow demanded.
“Well, um, sort of? I told you, I’ll explain later. Can I please use Spike to send a letter?”
“Of course,” Twilight agreed. Fluttershy quickly borrowed some paper and wrote out a short note, then rolled it up and handed it to Spike to send off before anypony could try and read it over her shoulder. In a burst of green fire, her message was sent, and she headed home to relax, celebrate privately, and prepare for that evening.
Meanwhile, Celestia was sitting regally on her throne, as usual. The Gala was already set up thanks to Discord’s help, so she’d sent Discord off on a job- some of the suburbs of Seaddle were having mudslides, and it was his job to clean up and erect walls to keep them out and away from the towns. To combat the chaos problem, he’d been given full creative control over the design of the walls.
A scroll appeared in a furl of green fire in front of her.
“A letter from Twilight?” she said happily. It had been awhile, since Twilight was busy with her new duties. She unfurled it and was surprised to see that it was from Fluttershy.
Dear Princess Celestia, it said. If you wouldn’t mind, would you please send Discord home early today?
Princess Celestia was confused and worried. Fluttershy didn’t often ask for Discord to come home, usually only when Ponyville was having troubles. She read on to see if this was the case. It wasn’t.
I’ve found out something wonderful and thought he should know. I’m having a baby!
If Princess Celestia had been drinking, she would have done an extremely undignified spit-take at this. Fluttershy was pregnant!? It hadn’t even crossed Celestia’s mind that the two could have children.
I think that the time has come for us to tell everypony else, since I can’t hide this for much longer. I want Discord here, not only to celebrate, but to help me explain. So, if you could let him know, that would be lovely.
Thank you, Fluttershy.
Celestia took a moment to let the shock settle before moving on to being happy for them. She knew that Discord needed to be told right away, so she used her magic to summon him there. He blinked, surprised, and turned to Celestia.
“I wasn’t done yet,” he huffed.
“I know,” Celestia said. “They can finish without you, and you’ll have to find some other way to let the chaos out. You need to get home.”
“Why? Is something wrong!? Did something happen to Fluttershy!?” he asked, switching immediately into worried mode.
“Calm down,” Celestia said immediately. “Nothing is wrong. Fluttershy sent a letter saying she needs you home.” She was trying to avoid saying it out loud so that Fluttershy could tell him herself, but Discord wasn’t having it.
“Letter?” he asked. He saw and grabbed the letter before Celestia could stop him. His eyes widened slowly as he read until they eventually rolled up into his skull and he passed out cold. Celestia chuckled slightly. She thought about sending him home like this, but decided it would be better just to send a response to Fluttershy saying he’d be home when he woke up.
Knowing it would go through Spike first, she purposefully left it vague, just in case.
Dear Fluttershy, he read your letter. I’ll send him home when he wakes up. He passed out. I don’t think he could quite believe it.
Congratulations, Celestia.

> The Whole Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Spike delivered it to her at her house without reading it, since it was hers, and left again quickly to go back to Twilight, who had curled up in her bedroom and started hyperventilating after Fluttershy and the others left, trying to come to terms with whatever craziness was happening. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to think about this situation. As far as she had known, none of her friends even had special someponies, so the fact that Fluttershy was suddenly pregnant and happy about it was hard to process.
Fluttershy read the letter and smiled softly at Discord’s reaction. She hoped he’d be back before her friends got there. She really wanted to talk to him before they got there. The later in the day it got, the more she was thinking that Discord would be out cold long enough that she’d have to face her friends alone.
Sure enough, they turned up at the door with no sign of Discord.
“Oh, you’re all here,” Fluttershy greeted nervously. “Um, please come in. I thought we should maybe discuss things over dinner…”
“There’s an extra place setting…” Rarity pointed out, then put two and two together. “Is… whoever the father is coming?”
“Maybe?” Fluttershy responded helplessly. “Celestia said he kind of lost consciousness when he heard, so…”
“What I don’t understand is why this is the first any of us’ve heard of all this,” Applejack demanded. Fluttershy looked down ashamedly.
“We had our reasons,” she said. “Although I suppose in hindsight the truth should’ve been told a long time ago. I’ve… been hiding quite a few things from all of you for a long time, now, and it’s high time you all knew, though I was hoping that the father would have woken up and come to help me explain by now…”
“How long is a ‘long time’?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy gulped.
“Well… since before Twilight became a princess,” she admitted guiltily.
“That long!?” Twilight exclaimed. “And you’re just telling us about whatever all of this is now!? We’re your friends! Why couldn’t you trust us with this sooner?”
“It’s… complicated,” Fluttershy sighed, setting the example and sitting down at the dinner table. Her friends followed suit and settled in to listen to Fluttershy’s explanation. “You see, the father… he needed a place to stay, and for, um, many various reasons, Celestia decided that the best possible place for him was here with me.”
“He lives here with you!?” Rarity exclaimed. “Since before Twilight became an alicorn, you say!? How have none of us ever seen him!?”
“We’ve kept him hidden on purpose,” Fluttershy explained. “It was better for everypony when they didn’t know he was here. We started out just being friends, but… well, we started having feelings for each other. We finally admitted it and became a couple right after Tirek was defeated.”
“Why couldn’t you have told us then?” Rarity asked. “We would’ve been happy for you if you’d told us, dear, there was no reason to keep it hidden.”
“Um… I don’t know that that’s necessarily true, actually... “ Fluttershy said. She hurriedly continued before anypony could ask her why. “Anyway, after the snakebite incident, he was really worried about me, and he kind of proposed in the heat of the moment.”
“You’re engaged!?” Rarity gasped dramatically, eyes widening.
“Not anymore,” Fluttershy admitted, taking a deep breath. “We eloped a few months ago. Celestia did the ceremony and Luna was our witness.”
“You’re married!?” they all shrieked. Only Pinkie Pie continued the exclamation. “And I didn’t get to plan a reception!?”
“Oh my goodness, Pinkie, I’m so sorry. I hadn’t even thought about that. But if it makes you feel better, we can always have another ceremony with all of you. In fact, I would like that very much. At least, that is… once you get used to it. It will be a lot to take in all at once, I know…”
“But darling, you keep avoiding something important. Who is the father? Who could you possibly have married that would require so many secrets for all this time?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy floundered. She had really been hoping that Discord would be there with her for this…
“Well, it’s-” At that moment, her silent prayer was answered in a flash of light, and a frantic and oblivious Discord appeared, too frazzled to notice that he friends were all sitting around the table and staring at him in surprise, disgust, horror, shock, etc, though none of them seemed to have pieced together what was so significant about his appearance at that exact moment. That soon changed. Discord, oblivious to their audience, grabbed Fluttershy and held her up to his face excitedly.
“Fluttershy! Celestia! Letter! Pregnant!” he squeed joyfully, unable to form full sentences. Fluttershy giggled and nodded happily, forgetting herself for a moment that her friends were watching. Twilight was the first to start piecing together the truth, but the others followed soon after when Discord kissed Fluttershy firmly in celebration.
“NO!” Twilight shrieked, beyond horrified.
“DISCORD!?” the others all exclaimed together.
“Hmm?” Discord asked, turning to face them. He winced in realization. “Ooohhh, they’re already here. How much had you told them?”
“I was seconds away from telling them that it was you that I was talking about,” Fluttershy said.
“Perfect timing, then,” Discord said smugly. Figuring the secret was out, anyway, he kissed his wife again happily before curling his long body around her protectively on the floor while Rarity swooned dramatically. Pinkie took a swig and did a spit-take before saying, “WHAT!?”
“DISCORD!?” Twilight shrieked again.
“‘Fraid so,” he agreed. “Surprise!”
“Yeah, actually!” Rainbow snapped.
“Look, girls,” Fluttershy said. “I know you don’t like him-”
“Don’t like him!?” Applejack shouted. “That crook has been a pain in the patooty ever since he stopped being stone!”
“Most of it was just simple misunderstandings that you never let him explain,” Fluttershy defended. “Can you please just listen?”
“Only if you plan on explaining how in Equestria you fell for… that!” Rainbow exclaimed, gesturing vaguely at Discord, who rolled his eyes.
“It’s kind of a long story…” Fluttershy said uncertainly, but she suddenly had an idea. “Oh! But it’s all written down!”
“Oh yeah,” Discord nodded. “Who knew those would come in handy? It just goes to show that scrapbooking is NOT a useless hobby. I’ll grab them.” He stretched his arm unnaturally as it bended out the window, opened the door from the outside into the haven, up the stairs into their bedroom, and grabbed the scrapbooks, before reeling in his arms like a fishing line. “Here they are.”
“Uh… why were those outside?” Rainbow asked.
“They weren’t,” Discord replied.
“Then why did you reach outside to get them?” Rainbow demanded.
“Um… I’ll explain in just a second, but we should start from the beginning,” Fluttershy said. She took the first scrapbook from Discord and propped it up on the table so her friends could see the first page. Well, technically it was the second scrapbook that they’d made, but it was the one that was first chronologically, so… “When we first reformed Discord, he still didn’t have very much respect for Celestia…” Discord sniggered unapologetically.
“You say that like it’s supposed to shock us somehow,” Applejack said skeptically.
“Yes, well, he wasn’t exactly on his, um, best behavior for her. It was only about ten minutes after the two of them left that they were back at my door and Celestia asked me to give him a place to stay…”

> Because... Pinkie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“And that’s how Equestria was made!” Pinkie finished, unzipping her Fluttershy costume and letting it fall to the floor. Fluttershy and Discord’s jaws hung open in disbelief as Pinkie finished up the last year’s worth of the story in a perfect imitation of Fluttershy’s voice, until the last line, anyway.
“Wait… how long has Pinkie been the one telling the story?” Twilight asked, suddenly noticing when the voice changed. She had been too busy trying to think things through while the story was happening to pay attention to Pinkie’s costume change.
“Since the part where we defeated Tirek,” Discord said with a raised eyebrow.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” Twilight asked irritatedly.
“Oh, well, I didn’t want to interrupt. That would be rude,” Fluttershy said.
“Then why didn’t Discord interrupt? Rude is one of his key features!”
“Well, for one, her Fluttershy imitation is spot-on, I must say,” Discord said, applauding lightly. “That, and somehow she was getting everything right.”
“Honestly?” Applejack asked.
“Well, except the bit about us adopting a family of parasprites and training them as ninjas. I don’t know where she got that idea,” Discord said with a shrug.
“It just came to me!” Pinkie said cheerfully.
“So, Pinkie, how did you know all of that?” Fluttershy asked.
“It was pretty obvious, silly filly,” Pinkie laughed. “I mean, honestly! Whenever we all spontaneously burst into a song about ponies and friendship when we have adventures, he’s always in Fluttershy’s window, at least since Twilight became a princess!”
“I don’t remember that ever happening,” Rarity said, raising an eyebrow.
“Nopony ever does,” Pinkie said sadly, shaking her head.
“I guess it makes a little more sense, now,” Twilight said reluctantly. “The story, I mean, not whatever Pinkie Pie was talking about.”
“She did miss some bits, though!” Discord popped in. “Watch this!” He grabbed an apple and squeezed it so a bit of juice dripped down, and Fluttershy’s eyes immediately grew into slits, and fangs blossomed. Just as her ears were starting to become pointier, she launched herself upwards onto the apple, knocked it out of his paw, and immediately drained it of all of its juice. Only when it was dry did Fluttershy return to her senses. Her friends all stared at her with varying degrees of horror. Fluttershy turned a slightly irritated look on her husband.
“It would’ve been better to tell them first,” Fluttershy scolded. Discord put on his widest eyes and jutted out his lower lip slightly.
“Sorry dear,” he pouted. Fluttershy sighed. She couldn’t stay mad at that face (or any face, to be honest). She turned back to her friends. 
“Um…”
“The spell didn’t work!?” Twilight exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me, I could’ve tried to fix it!”
“I didn’t want to be a bother. It’s not much of a problem, really. As long as I eat apples on a fairly regular basis it doesn’t pop up,” Fluttershy assured her.
“Plus it’s hot,” Discord supplied helpfully. Fluttershy blushed.
“That would explain why ya started buying so many more apples all of a sudden,” Applejack mused.
“One thing I don’t get,” Rainbow piped up. “How the hay has your house stayed so normal-looking with Discord living here!?”
“Well, I suppose you did want to know why he reached outside for the scrapbooks,” Fluttershy sighed.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy stood up.
“Follow me,” Fluttershy said, and led the way outside. Once everypony was outside, Fluttershy closed the door behind them. “Alright, why don’t you all come in, and we can continue this discussion.”
“Fluttershy… we just were inside,” Rainbow pointed out.
“Yes, but… this is different,” Fluttershy said, and pushed the door open the other way so they were looking in at the half of the house that both Fluttershy and Discord thought of as home- the haven.
“What the hay?” Applejack exclaimed.
“This is where Discord was staying this whole time, ever since he was reformed,” Fluttershy explained, leading them inside. “You get inside by opening the door the wrong way. That’s why he had to reach outside. He was actually reaching into the haven, since we keep them in our bedroom.”
“You live in here!?” Pinkie exclaimed. “That’s so fun! It’s so bright and… bouncy!”
“So thrilled you approve,” Discord said smugly.
“Ever since we got married, this has become what we really see as home,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I still work with the animals in the normal half, of course. I think the constant change here would scare them, since he redecorates almost every day.”
“It’s more than simple redecoration!” Discord scoffed. “The whole layout gets rearranged!”
“It’s givin’ me a headache just lookin’ at it,” Applejack grumbled, unimpressed by the bright swirling colors and odd shapes.
“Fine. It was about time for some remodeling, anyway,” Discord huffed, and with a snap, the whole front room had been set up like a professional conference room, though the table was oddly shaped and each of the chairs was a different color and style. They all took their seats.
“And… you say Celestia has known about this the whole time?” Twilight asked.
“Well, not the whole time,” Fluttershy amended. “I mean, she’s known he was here, obviously, but she didn’t actually know that we were together until we asked her to do the ceremony…”
“Even though I’d tried to tell her when we got engaged,” Discord piped in. “Thought I was joking, for some reason.” All of their guests gave him a flat, unamused look.
The discussion went on as Fluttershy calmly answered all of her friends’ questions and Discord made unhelpful comments.
By late that evening, her friends had enough to process to be getting on with. One by one they made their excuses and went home.
“I thought they’d never leave,” Discord huffed. “You’re pregnant!”
“I thought we’d established that,” Fluttershy said.
“Well, sure, but now I have a chance to think about it!” Discord exclaimed. He started hyperventilating and summoned up a paper bag to deal with it.
“Discord, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
“I’m having a really difficult time picturing myself as a father…” Discord grimaced. “It hurts my head.” He summoned an ice pack to help him deal with it.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Fluttershy said soothingly. “I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful father to our foal. They’ll never want for anything, I’m sure.”
“Chaos magic is useful like that,” Discord agreed hesitantly.
“And I’ll be here with you every step of the way,” Fluttershy said happily. Discord grinned.
“Thank chaos for that,” Discord said.
“Now let’s go to bed. I’m tired,” Fluttershy suggested. Discord immediately picked her up, flew her to their room, and they went to sleep.

> 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.

> The Foal Shower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As was expected at a Pinkie party, there were many treats and party games, but eventually that died down and Rarity took over leading a gossip session.
“So, Fluttershy, dear, have you thought of any names?” Rarity questioned.
“Um… not yet,” Fluttershy admitted. “Even when I remind myself that it’s only due in a few months, it always seems so far off… Besides, we’ve decided to wait until it’s born to find out gender, so we’d have to come up with a name for either one just in case, and I don’t know that Discord has the stamina for such a long and serious conversation…”
“It’s brave of you to give him any input,” Rainbow said with a guffaw. “Knowing him, he’d want to name his kid something really weird like ‘John’ or ‘Sarah’!”
“Rainbow, it’s my job to break the fourth wall!” Pinkie exclaimed irritatedly.
“Pinkie, what the hay are you talking about?” Rainbow asked confusedly.
“Nevermind,” Pinkie sighed.
“That would be pretty strange,” Fluttershy agreed. “But, for me at least, it depends on what the baby is. And I don’t mean gender. After all, it could be a pony, or a draconequus, or anything in between. If it takes more after Discord, then maybe it should have a strange name. Then again, with Discord it may be strange either way…”
“You have to be assertive for once in your life, Fluttershy!” Applejack said. “Otherwise you may have no input in your child’s name.”
“I was assertive once…” Fluttershy reminisced, then shuddered. “It was terrible.” Rarity and Pinkie made faces, vividly remembering that particular incident.
“This is most definitely different,” Rarity assured. “If I hear he’s tried to name it something horrendous, I will personally march down to town hall and alter the official records.”
“That may be takin’ it a bit far,” Applejack said, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t think he’d give it a bad name at all!” Pinkie spoke up.
“Pinkie, it’s Discord,” Twilight said flatly.
“Well, yeah, duh!” Pinkie said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying! We all know how protective he can be of the stuff that matters to him! Remember the guard dog moment? So you really think he’s going to give his first kid a name that’ll lead them to being bullied? Silly fillies!”
“Pinkie’s right,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah! I would never do such a thing!” Discord exclaimed, offended, popping out of Fluttershy’s hair.
“Discord, how did you get back in here!?” Twilight exclaimed, carefully noting that her force field was still firmly in place.
“Well,” Discord started. “Funny story, actually. It seems that your forcefield wasn’t calibrated to recognize me in the form of an animate pie crust. It was a simple matter of throwing myself through the open window onto the conveniently placed pillow on the floor over there and transforming back unnoticed. Then I just teleported into Fluttershy’s hair.”
“How long have you been there!?” Rainbow demanded.
“Hmm… since you were talking about Fluttershy;s mood swings,” Discord thought back. “Honestly, it was hard enough not throwing in comments back then!”
“Discord, that was one of the first things that got brought up!” Twilight growled irritatedly. “The force field was there for a reason!”
“Then obviously you need to try harder next time if you really want to keep me out,” Discord snorted. Twilight face-hoofed.
“Discord, foal showers are supposed to be mares-only!” Rarity complained.
“Fine,” Discord huffed. He snapped his fingers and the girls were met with arguably the most horrifying sight they’d ever seen: Discord as a mare. “Now your precious gender segregation is restored!” Fluttershy paled and looked worriedly at him.
“I’m not sure how to feel about this,” she said, rubbing a headache away with her hoof.
“Scared,” Applejack suggested. “Disgusted. Horrified. Take yer pick.”
“Well, I see how much my efforts are appreciated!” Discord exclaimed, pretending to be offended. “Although I suppose this does make my relationship with Fluttershy here a bit awkward.” He snapped himself into his go-to pony form, only wearing a wig. “There, now I’m just pretending to be a mare!”
“That’s not a ton better,” Applejack said, shaking her head.
“Maybe only… half a ton,” Fluttershy suggested delicately. Discord sighed and got rid of the wig, taking it off, turning it into a pizza, and eating it whole.
“There, back to my chaotic self again,” Discord said with a bow. “Are you happy yet?”
“No! You’re not even supposed to be here!” Rarity protested.
“Mares,” Discord scoffed. “So hard to please.” Suddenly, Fluttershy gasped, then grinned.
“It’s a good thing you are here!” Fluttershy said happily, grabbing his paw and placing it on her stomach. He was about to ask what she meant when he felt it and all other thoughts fled his mind.
“It kicked!” he exclaimed joyfully. He was almost immediately pushed unceremoniously out of the way as several excited mares huddled around a flustered Fluttershy, though she was glowing with happiness, as well. Literally. The baby’s magic kicked in whenever she was emotional, and this time it was reacting with sudden bioluminescence. Luckily her friends had grown accustomed to random bouts of magic and didn’t pay it much mind, focusing instead on excited squealing and feeling of Fluttershy’s pregnant belly.
Discord brushed himself off and teleported himself back into Fluttershy’s hair, where he held hope that he could remain without being disturbed or shoved again.
With the sudden and much more real-feeling reminder that the foal was on its way, Discord took charge heading up the ‘prepare the house for a kid’ campaign. He created a whole new wing inside the haven full of nothing but toys and a crib. Eventually Fluttershy convinced him to add some other practical things like a dresser/changing table. Then they took advantage of the fact  that they didn’t have to pay for almost anything by having Discord just summon a supply of diapers out of nothing.
After the foal shower, Fluttershy had managed to pin Discord down and have a discussion about names, and they had it narrowed down at least a bit, but ultimately decided to wait until they saw the foal before deciding what the name should be.
Discord’s worries that the gestation period would be unnaturally short were (mostly) unfounded, but there were some elements of her pregnancy that more closely mirrored draconequus pregnancies than pony ones. For example, the chaos magic leaking out. That sort of thing didn’t happen with baby unicorns, a fact he was sure many pony mothers praised Celestia for. Which was ridiculous, because she didn’t have anything to do with it, but whatever. Another symptom, which didn’t show up until she was two months from her estimated due date, was random and intense bursts of energy, almost to a Pinkie Pie level. Discord marvelled internally that Fluttershy’s Pinkie voice was just as good as Pinkie’s Fluttershy voice. There must be a connection…
The hardest part of these energy bursts was getting her to sit still, because a pony’s uterus wasn’t as well-equipped to protect the unborn child from motion. If she moved around too much it could hurt the foal, and he knew she would never forgive herself. He took to draping himself over her and weighing her down so the most she could do was wiggle whenever she got into one of her fits.

> An Interesting House Call
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	About a month later, they got a rather interesting house call at three in the morning. Discord grumpily got out of bed to see what the fuss was about, since he wasn’t about to make Fluttershy do it when she could hardly move. He was both surprised and irritated to see a wide-awake Pinkie Pie bouncing urgently on his doorstep.
“Pinkie, it’s three in the morning,” Discord said flatly.
“It sooo doesn’t matter what time it is! You need to get Fluttershy to the hospital, now!” Pinkie exclaimed. Discord raised an eyebrow.
“Pinkie, I was with her thirty seconds ago. She’s fine.”
“No, you don’t understand!” Pinkie exclaimed. “My right ear itched, my tongue wiggled, and my tummy rumbled! That means that-” She was cut off by the sound of Fluttershy’s screaming. “I’m too late! Come ON, Dissy, you have to hurry!” He was already gone by the time Pinkie had finished talking.
“Fluttershy, what’s wrong!?” he exclaimed worriedly, bursting into their bedroom and immediately flying to her side. Fluttershy grimaced at him in pain.
“I think it’s coming,” she said through gritted teeth. Discord blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment.
“But it’s not due for another month,” he said blankly.
“Tell that to the baby!” Pinkie exclaimed from the doorway. “I tried to tell you, my Pinkie Sense told me a baby was coming! So get her to the hospital!” Discord didn’t need telling twice- well, three or four times, but who’s counting? He grabbed Fluttershy and teleported with her to the hospital lobby, a manic look in his eyes. The receptionist glanced up, saw Fluttershy, and immediately got her situated in the maternity ward. Pinkie had run to the hospital in almost the same amount of time it took DIscord to teleport there, so she went back into the room with him to wish Fluttershy luck.
“I’ll let everypony know when they wake up!” Pinkie said cheerfully, bouncing out of the hospital room and leaving Discord alone with his panting wife.
“This hurts a little more than I was expecting,” Fluttershy wheezed.
“I would help with that, but I don’t know how chaos magic would affect the birth, so I don’t think I should chance it,” Discord said.
“That’s okay,” Fluttershy assured, sighing in relief as her contraction ended.

FOUR HOURS LATER

“It’s a good thing I’m an immortal chaos spirit and can make myself impervious to pain when I have enough warning, otherwise this would hurt a lot more,” Discord said cheerfully as his hand nearly got squeezed to death.
“Why are you so calm?” one of the nurses who was in the room asked incredulously.
“Just delaying the inevitable,” he assured her. “Besides, what’s to worry about?”
“Your wife is giving birth!” the nurse exclaimed, looking at him like he was crazy.
“As many mares have done before without complication. She’ll be fine,” Discord said, waving his free hand dismissively.
“I would punch you, but that’s not professional,” the mare growled at him. She put a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry you got hitched to that.” Fluttershy, who was currently between contractions, giggled tiredly.
“He’s keeping calm for the both of us,” Fluttershy said. “I actually appreciate it.”
“You’re screaming less than most mothers,” the nurse said. “You seem calm to me.”
“On the outside,” Fluttershy muttered.

TWO HOURS LATER

“Fluttershy!” six voices rang out as they entered the hospital room where Fluttershy was only being kept conscious by the frequent pain.
“Hi, guys,” she said exhaustedly.
“If I had known you’d gone into labor, I would’ve been here hours ago, forget beauty sleep,” Rarity fretted.
“Don’t be silly. Labor takes hours, and I’d hate to cut into your sleep,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head and then grimacing as another contraction started.
The friends stayed visiting with her for another two hours before they were kicked out by the nurses, since Fluttershy was close to needing to push. It was also probably good because she hadn’t had an apple, and while she wasn’t transforming yet, she was getting uncharacteristically grouchy, though that also could’ve been because of the contractions and lack of rest. Discord was occasionally patting Fluttershy’s head in support, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do, so he didn’t really bother trying.
An hour later, the nurse and doctor told her to start pushing. What had before been merely groans of pain turned into screams, and Discord winced, his conscience kicking in a bit and making him feel like a terrible being for acting so blasé about his wife’s pain this whole time.
“I need you to push harder, Fluttershy,” the doctor said encouragingly. “You’re almost there!”
“DISCORD I HATE YOUR MOTHER!” Fluttershy shrieked as she grabbed Discord’s beard and dragged him in front of her to look him straight in the eye. She tensed up and angry and painful tears streamed down her face.
“But Fluttershy, dear, you’ve never met my mother,” Discord pointed out. “Come to think of it, I’ve never met any of your family, either…”
The next thing he knew, he was waking up with an icepack on his head in a second hospital bed that had been moved into Fluttershy’s room. He sat up groggily and saw that Fluttershy was asleep. A nurse was hovering over him expectantly.
“Oh good, you’re up. She must have hit you harder than we thought,” she said. “Payback for earlier, I guess.”
“What?” Discord blinked, still somewhat dazed.
“She knocked you out,” the nurse said amusedly. “You’ll be fine, though. When she wakes up we’ll bring your… uh, foal in for you to see.”
“You hesitated,” Discord accused. “It took after my devilishly handsome looks, didn’t it?”
“Fairly half-and-half, surprisingly enough. You’ll see,” the nurse said, then left to see to other patients while they waited for Fluttershy to wake up.
Discord lounged around impatiently, both excited and nervous to see his foal once Fluttershy woke up. Eventually she woke up, still physically exhausted, but glowing proudly.
“Oh, Discord, she’s beautiful,” Fluttershy breathed happily.
“It’s a filly?” Discord asked with a grin. Fluttershy suddenly looked apologetic.
“Oh, I almost forgot! Discord, I’m so sorry I hit yo-”
“That was totally my fault. I have too much fun ticking you off when you’re emotionally unstable,” Discord said quickly. “I really need to work on that.” A nurse happened to pass by and see them both conscious and coherent.
“Do you want me to bring her in?” the nurse asked politely. Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically, and the nurse disappeared again.
“We still need to name her,” Fluttershy said. “I decided to wait for you to wake up.”
“Probably a bad decision,” Discord warned with a smirk.
The nurse reappeared a few minutes later carrying a small pink bundle, which she handed gently to Fluttershy as Discord hovered over her curiously.
“Discord, meet your daughter,” Fluttershy said softly, cooing at the sleeping infant. Fluttershy had been right in saying that she was beautiful, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that the nurse had also been right- the split was fairly even between pony and draconequus, but she certainly got the best of both, in his opinion.
She had the hind legs, body, and head of a pony, as well as her mother’s pegasus wings, all a beautiful and vibrant orange-brown color. She had Discord’s front paw/claws, positioned on her body like a pony’s front hooves, and her tail was like his, only instead of being red scales and white hair it was green and purple, respectively. He couldn’t see her eyes, as she was sleeping, but her forelock was made up of streaks of purple and dark grey and her crest was just purple.
“Are you sure she’s mine? I think she’s too pretty to be mine,” Discord cooed gleefully. “Are you absolutely sure they didn’t mix our kid up with somepony else’s?”
“Definitely ours,” she assured with a laugh. “I don’t think there are any other pony-draconequus couples in the area.”
“I guess she just got lucky genetically speaking, then,” Discord said. “What should we name her?” They got distracted when she yawned cutely and opened her eyes. “Are her eyes-”
“Two different colors,” Fluttershy affirmed fondly. “I think it suits her.” It wasn’t a lie. Only a half-draconequus baby could make having one bright purple eye (her right) and one deep green eye (her left) work for her. Discord stuck out a claw and let the filly grab at it with her small, weak talons. She attempted to eat his finger, and he pulled away just slightly. She scrunched up nose in displeasure, and Discord was suddenly being drenched with chocolate milk.
“And so it begins,” he sighed. “This’ll be interesting.” He glared down at his daughter. “Using my own trademark against me. I am displeased.” Fluttershy laughed as Discord shook himself off like a dog and vanished the cloud that his daughter had conjured up.
“What should we name her?” Fluttershy asked.
“How about ‘Sarah’?” he suggested sarcastically. Fluttershy playfully slapped at his paw. “Fine, fine. Well, especially considering that she looks very draconequus, and because it still sounds vaguely pony-ish, I happen to like ‘Topsy Turvy’. Out of all the ones we’d considered, it’s by far my favorite.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Fluttershy agreed. “Welcome to the world, my little Topsy.”

> Draconepony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Now that they were all settled, Fluttershy’s friends were allowed back in. When they entered the room, Discord was holding Topsy as she fiddled with his beard. The paternal look on his face was unexpected and somewhat uncharacteristic, so they paused in the doorway a minute before coming in.
“Congratulations, Fluttershy,” Rarity said warmly.
“I wanna see the baby!” Pinkie exclaimed gleefully, bouncing over to Discord and Topsy and looking down at the infant, who was just as interested in the pink blob above her as she was about everything else. “She’s so cute!”
“Her name is Topsy Turvy,” Fluttershy said with a wide smile.
“It fits,” Rainbow nodded.
“It was Discord’s idea,” Fluttershy said.
“Huh. Not as bad as I’d thought,” Rainbow said approvingly.
“Ponies and draconequi must be perfectly compatible for such a seamless offspring to be possible,” Twilight said, going into science mode. as she examined Topsy. “She’s not as horribly disfigured as I expected.” Fluttershy frowned.
“Gee, thanks,” Discord said sarcastically.
“Ah, don’t listen to Twilight,” Spike scoffed. “You know how she is.”
“I’ll admit, she’s a cute little thing,” Applejack mused. “She gets it from Fluttershy.”
“You guys are mean,” Discord accused.
“At least now we’re only playfully mean,” Rainbow pointed out. “It could’ve happened a long time ago it you guys had just told us about everything!”
“We’ve already apologized for that several times!” Discord exclaimed. “Get over it!”
Rainbow was about to retort when she suddenly lost her mouth. She glared at Discord, who started laughing hysterically. Rainbow turned imploringly to Fluttershy, who was also holding back a smile.
“It wasn’t him,” Fluttershy explained. “Discord, could you give Rainbow her mouth back, please?”
“Fine,” Discord sighed, wiping a happy tear. “I’ll admit it’s nice that it’s not aimed at me this time.”
“That was Topsy?” Rarity asked, catching on. Fluttershy nodded. “So I suppose she’ll be a bit like a baby unicorn, magically speaking? I remember when Sweetie Belle was just born…”
“Possibly worse than that, actually,” Discord corrected. “She is no mere unicorn, thank you very much. She is a princess of chaos, and will cause far more turmoil than any pony baby ever has!”
“You sound like you’re looking forward to it,” Twilight accused.
“Aren’t you?” Discord pointed out. Twilight made a face, but couldn’t deny it. “Besides, she’ll be mostly contained to the haven, so there’s not too much damage she can do, and anything she messes up I can fix, so the way I see it it’s more likely to be entertaining than anything else.”
“I suppose that’s true…” Twilight said uncertainly.
Eventually, once Topsy began throwing a tantrum because she was hungry, the other ponies left, and Fluttershy took to feeding her daughter.
Eventually a nurse came back in to do a check up on Fluttershy’s recovery and on how Topsy was doing, and once it was decided that they were both healthy, they were allowed to go home. Discord ended up carrying Topsy as Fluttershy exulted in the ability to fly again. About halfway home they were reminded by a near-transformation that she still hadn’t had her apple that day, which Discord quickly fixed before she flew off to attack the orchard. Topsy watched the whole thing with a mildly curious expression.
Once they were home, Discord took great pleasure in showing Topsy around her castle, even though she was too young to play with most of the things he had in store for her.
As happy as both of them were to have Topsy at home, the chaos magic was, admittedly, a challenge. More than once they were woken up in the middle of the night, not by her crying, but by the house suddenly deciding to spin on an axis, throwing them out of bed. Luckily, when Twilight saw how exhausted Fluttershy was, she found a spell that would limit Topsy’s magical sphere of influence, so she couldn’t affect anything outside of her room. Needless to say, they got more sleep after that.
On the one-month anniversary of Topsy’s birth, Pinkie showed up with a pleasant surprise.
“My first niece deserves the bestest monthiversary party ever!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. “So I called in some of my super-special contacts to help me plan her party! It’s all set up and waiting in the castle, so come on!” She ran off excitedly without waiting for much of a response.
“Ready for your first Pinkie party, my dear?” Discord questioned, bouncing Topsy in his arms as she laughed and giggled, a skill she’d learned fairly early in life due mostly to Pinkie and Discord’s influence. “Let’s go!” He grabbed Fluttershy and teleported all three of them to the castle’s entrance, the sudden and unexpected change of location once again causing Topsy to giggle. Pinkie, somehow already to the castle, opened the doors with a grin as confetti rained down from above her.
“Welcome!” she said happily. “To the second ever Pinkie Cheese party!”
“Cheese Sandwich is visiting again?” Fluttershy asked with a smile, and PInkie nodded enthusiastically.
“I sent him a letter asking him to help plan a stupendous party for my favorite draconepony!” Pinkie explained, ushering them inside, and bounced along as she led them to the main party. “And he accepted! It’s so good to see him again! He even gave me a new Boneless after my other one got turned into a key!” She pulled Boneless 3 out of her mane to display before putting him back in and gesturing for them to enter the throne room, where streamers, confetti, and stuffed animals covered almost every available surface.
Topsy couldn’t quite use her legs yet, but she was getting quite good at hovering short distances across the ground with her wings, so she did an odd sort of hop out of Discord’s arms and made her way over to a giant teddy bear, which she began bouncing on and laughing.
“As lively as ever, I see,” Twilight said with a smile. She tried and failed to be inconspicuous as she wrote down notes on Topsy’s behavior and growth patterns.
“She’s close to flying, looks like,” Rainbow said proudly, flying over to poke at Topsy’s nose with her hoof. Topsy sneezed and blinked up at her. “We’ll get you in the sky yet, kid.”
“You been sleepin’ any better?” Applejack asked Fluttershy, who nodded.
“The limits on Topsy’s magic definitely help. Most of the times she wakes up, she’s just bored more than anything, so as long as she can affect her own room, she can entertain herself just fine until she goes back to sleep. She only really needs something at most once a night, so we’ve been getting much more sleep, now.”
“So this is the draconepony I’ve been hearing so much about,” Cheese said cheerfully, sliding across the floor with sponges tied to his hooves. “Just as adorable as Pinkie said! Want some mayonnaise?” Topsy gave him a squinty-eyed look before summoning him a newer, bigger, and more brightly-colored hat. “Ooh, much better! Why didn’t I think of that!”
“Ooh, I want one!” Pinkie said, waving her hoof in the air and trying to get Topsy’s attention.
“How garish,” Rarity said disapprovingly. “Someday I really must teach her about aesthetics.”
“Who cares if it looks good?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “She’s only a month old, Rarity, and it makes her giggle.”
“I suppose,” Rarity sighed. “But there’s no way you’re getting me to wear one of-” At that moment, Topsy decided to spread the joy and everyone got a hat. Rarity sighed, grimaced, and gave in to the inevitable, resolving not to look up at the clashing colors.
The ponies all gathered around to play with their favorite niece while Discord and Fluttershy stood back and watched with smiles.
“Things have finally settled into place,” Fluttershy said happily. “I feel like we’re forgetting something, though…” She thought for a moment before she started laughing.
“What is it?” Discord asked.
“Well, you haven’t been in to work yet since Topsy was born, and Twilight doesn’t send letters anymore unless there’s an emergency…”
“We never told Celestia!” Discord cackled, falling to the floor. “She’s going to start thinking we do it on purpose!”

MEANWHILE IN CANTERLOT

“Sister, is not Fluttershy’s due date soon?’ Luna inquired as they made the switch between shifts.
“I think it was actually a few days ago,” Celestia replied. “I look forward to hearing from them. It will be interesting to see what the first pony-draconequus cross-breed turns out like.”