The Heat

by TheStupidCupid

First published 11th of May, 2015

Fluttershy enters her first heat, much to the interest of Discord. Will the Main 6 and all of Equestria survive it?

Fluttershy enters her first heat shortly after the incidents with Tirek. With the help of her friends, Fluttershy must learn how to control her first heat without succumbing to it. And Discord is certainly not helping, if only she could figure what exactly they feel for each other.

Multiple pairings!! Flutters/Disco, Twi/Flash, Rarity/Spike etc. This will be a long story. Rated mature for sexual content that I will warn people ahead of time when they come up.
Long time reader, first publisher. Hope to have new chapters weekly if not sooner.

Chapter 1: First time

Fluttershy moaned. And moaned. And whimpered. Then moaned again. Angel looked up worriedly at his owner as she perspired and shifted positions, trying to get comfortable. In his hand, he held his morning snack of a carrot and a fresh, covered ice pack.

Fluttershy had been moaning and acting uncomfortable ever since she woke up this morning. She gritted her teeth, trying to concentrate on something else, but the deep, longing pain in her loins quickly demanded her attention and she whimpered as she rolled over. Her eyes opened slowly as Angel offered another ice pack.

“Oh,” Fluttershy spoke breathlessly, “Thank you, Angel Bunny.” She gently patted her little rabbit friend on the head and took the ice pack from him. She readjusted herself, slowly kicking away the other numerous, lukewarm prior ice packs that Angel had been so thoughtful to get for her and put the fresh one in between her legs. She flinched at the sudden coldness and relaxed a little. The ice pack offered a short release from this Heat.

Heat. The very word made Fluttershy shift uncomfortably. She remembered learning about it when she was younger in school but she must have purposely forgot the information as she could not even think about it without a hot blush coloring her cheeks. It was a part of nature however that she was well aware of, especially considering her career choice. Fluttershy was not ignorant to where baby bear cubs and deer and even little rabbits came from. But somehow, her animal friends seemed to know that it was a sensitive subject for her and performed these actions elsewhere out of her sight.

Sensitive. The very word sent flares up and down her legs. “If I don’t feel this well now, how will I be able to go feed all our animal friends?” Fluttershy moaned. Angel Bunny squeaked and hopped on the bed. “You-you can feed the animals? Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked. He squeaked and nodded. She smiled warmly at him and sat up from her fetal position. “Oh thank you Angel Bunny. What would I do without you?” Angel stuck out his chest and posed.

He may not admit it in public, but he did like the shy Pegasus. And it made him feel good when he could be her hero once in a while, instead of her always babying him. He was about to climb down when Fluttershy touched his paw nervously.

“Umm...if anypony comes to visit, could you please tell them that I am not feeling well.” Fluttershy blushed as she finished her request. She hated lying but the alternative was far worse for her to undergo. Angel Bunny nodded understandingly and with a few hops, bounded over to Fluttershy’s bedroom door. He waved at her then quietly closed the door so as not to disturb her.

Fluttershy settled back into her long cushy bed. The ice pack Angel had given her a few moments ago was already become warm, soft and wet- Those words made her gasp as she felt a burning shoot into her cheeks and she shook her head to clear it of those thoughts. “This is unbearable,” Fluttershy whispered, “there’s got to be something I can do to make it go away.” A lightbulb went off in her head. “Of course!” She gleefully remembered, “Twilight’s library book!”

She looked at the nightstand at a slightly charred book and grimaced. “Poor Twilight,” She emphatized, remembering the events with Tirek. Most of the books had been destroyed during her battle with Tirek and although Twilight put on a brave face, Fluttershy could tell that it had wounded her deeply. Those books were probably like old friends to Twilight. Twilight had really given everything to rescue them all, even after Discord’s betrayal.

Discord.

She smiled sadly at the name of her chaotic friend. His betrayal had cut her a lot more deeply than she had realized was possible. She’s not sure if she ever cried so hard about anything else in her life up until that point. Yet, she forgave him. A 1000 years of loneliness and the feeling of not really belonging anywhere would probably make anypony desperate for acceptance, regardless of how they got it. What had probably hurt her the most was that her acceptance just did not seem good enough to stop him from betraying them. Her chest ached at this thought but she shooed it away.

“He was really sorry!” Fluttershy argued outloud. He had been. The amount of times he had come over afterwards to apologize and speak with her was heartwarming and she could definitely see that he had changed for the better. It also helped that he got along a lot better with the rest of her friends. They had merely tolerated him in the past, save for Pinkie Pie, but now they willingly hung out with him whenever he was in town.

“I wonder when he’s coming into town,” Fluttershy purred, slowly extending a hoof down her stomach. She sat bolt upright “What was that?” she asked herself. She shook her head. “I need to find a way to to take care of this,” she sweated, reaching for Twilight’s book, The Biological and Social Functions of Pony Reproduction.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Angel Bunny dumped the bowl of sloppy meal and gravy into the pig trough. The pigs looked at him curiously, wondering where Fluttershy was and Angel Bunny squeaked that she wasn’t feeling well. The sows offered to let Fluttershy use their mud bath if it would help her feel better, but Angel declined, mentioning that she is going to try to sleep it off.

The pigs’ response of concern and willingness to help showed a lot about Fluttershy’s character, Angel proudly thought. These weren’t the first animals he had fed and they most definitely were not the first to offer to help their Pegasus caretaker. It was only mid morning and the song birds had offered to sing for her and even the bears had offered to send their cub in as an impromptu teddy bear. Angel would tell her about the animals’ thoughtfulness in his own way once he was done.

Fluttershy was indeed the kindest pony that he knew. Always willing to help. Although, his eyes narrowed as he solemnly scattered bird seed for the chickens, he felt her kindness was often taken advantage of. Fluttershy was naive. Angel thought. She was nice to everyone, even to those who did not deserve her kindness. Particularly to some members of the opposite sex.

Oh, Big Mac and Shining Armor were fine with him, Angel admitted to himself. Those were both males of honor and hardwork. No. Angel bunny was thinking of another type of character.

The stupid draconequus, Discord, for example. Angel did not trust him and he barely tolerated him but only for Fluttershy. Angel had seen how much the chaotic creature had made her cry and there was no going back from that, regardless if Fluttershy had forgiven him. The pompous half wit. The creature did not realize how lucky he was to even know Fluttershy, much less be counted as one of her closest friends.

Hmm. Angel Bunny surveyed his work so far. It might not be a bad idea to start making an extra big fence around Fluttershy’s tree actually. At least until she got over this heat thing. He’s not sure if she had even had a heat before. And it wouldn’t do well to have her try to fight temptation and worry about having unexpected guests drop by. The first heat was always the worst he had been told.

It was getting close to noon and Angel felt very proud of himself. Everyone had been fed and not one pony had stopped by. Fluttershy would be so proud-

A disturbance in the force of nature shook Angel out of his proud moment and he froze. He felt this disturbance before. Many times. And it was never good. He quickly looked up to see a figure strolling up to the path.

This figure sported some bright girly pink headphones and was singing at the top of his lungs. One taloned hand carried a picnic basket, and the lion paw carried a walkman. The creature was oblivious to the furious rabbit and was singing proudly, “I’m a barbie girl, in a barbie world. Life in plastic! It’s fantastic.”

It was Discord.

Author's Notes:

Alright, first chapter done. Hope this works out. Still getting the hang of this all. Holler at me if you've got tips. I needs them tips.

Chapter 2: Eavesdropping

Discord was in his own little world of mattel products and bright blue pools filled with no water. He imagined himself in a long blonde wig speeding into a cute little pink sports car while a bald man sang about partying with him. For all intensive purposes, this was completely normal for the draconequus. He smiled happily as his mismatched feet felt the familiar mossy bridge underneath him

Fluttershy’s cottage felt more wonderful and magnificent than any castle he could imagine, and he could imagine quite a lot. It was the one place where he could feel at peace, without needing to conjure up some form of entertainment like a magical unicorn with ADHD. He shut his eyes and his pace quickened. He knew this route by heart and was almost to the door when he felt a small pressure on his ankle.

He opened his eyes and looked down to see Angel staring up at him, standing in front of Fluttershy’s closed door. “Oh hi fuzzball!” Discord grinned, waving at the bunny, “Just coming in for Flutter’s and I’s Thursday Tea Time.” He made a step to walk around the bunny, but Angel quickly darted to where his other foot moved and stopped him.

Discord raised an eyebrow curiously. He wasn’t sure if the rabbit was playing a game, but for Flutter’s sake, he would play a long. He knelt down to the rabbit’s level and in an old sportsman voice, spoke, “Sorry champ, I’d love to play catch with you, but your mom and I got a tea party to get to. Keep practicing that spitball I taught ya” Discord handed him a baseball which the rabbit quickly threw at his head.

The draconequus had barely enough time to dodge the ball, managing to have it only knock off his headphones. Discord was annoyed now. “Now what’s all this about?” He began but stopped. It was quiet. Too quiet. Normally he would hear Fluttershy’s lovely singing voice calling to the birds while the sounds of cooking emanated from her cottage windows but all that came from the house was silence. And Discord did not like silence. Silence was boring.

There was something strange going on and he resisted the urge to immediately barge in and start asking questions. He had been working very hard at learning self control and he wasn’t going to spoil it all now because of an obstinate rabbit and some creepy silence. And a strange smell.

It wasn’t a smell he was familiar with and it wasn’t so much of a smell as it was a scent, but it was different. I like different, he thought. He took in the scent carefully and stiffened a little as he felt his temperature rise a little. He shook his head. That was a little too different for me, he admitted, hoping that his momentary weirdness was not observed by the angry little door guardian.

It was. And now Angel seemed even more determined to not allow Discord in. Discord knelt down again, but this time not close enough to be within striking distance. “Hey Angel, I’ve got a nice tasty carrot for you,” he tempted, dangling a juicy carrot in front of the rabbit’s eyes. Angel glanced at it longingly but shook his head and pointed for Discord to leave.

Discord grinned. I bet something really fun is going on now. It is always more fun when you’re not allowed to get in on it. Discord cleared his throat and stood up. “Oh dear, well it seems I have been bested by my best friend’s guard rabbit. I guess I have no choice but to leave,” he announced loudly. He turned and snapped his fingers.

The sound of clucking and cawing erupted from the chicken coop as the chickens suddenly charged out of a previously locked (but now mysteriously open) coop towards the storage shed. Angel glared at a halo spouting Discord and made a notion as if to say, “Wait there and don’t you dare open this door,” before the rabbit charged after the chickens. Discord waited for the rabbit to be out of sight before keeping to his word and phasing through the door, never once opening it.

The house was just as silent in the inside as it was from the outside. Discord shifted uncomfortably, setting down the picnic basket by the front door. “Fluttershy! It’s me! I’m here for our tea time!” he called out hopefully.

No answer. He twirled his beard thoughtfully and checked his mental calendar. He had the right date and the right time. Heck, he even had the right year (he had made that mistake once or twice before). And Fluttershy would have written to him if something had come up. Or at least left him a note on the door. And what was up with Angel? He knew the rabbit didn’t care for him, but the rabbit usually waited a few minutes after his arrival before he started trying to assault him.

His body went rigid as the sensation that had temporarily gripped him outside returned. He looked upwards to the stairs and thought he could hear some soft noises. He floated up the stairs so as not to make a noise and drifted until he came to Fluttershy’s bedroom door. It was closed.

He was pretty sure he could hear Fluttershy in there but she was so quiet, even by her standards, that he wasn’t sure. He was hesitant to try to open this door however. It was one thing to go through the front door, but a bedroom door. It was different somehow. Yet he swore he could still hear something from behind so he pressed his ear up to the door carefully. The scent is stronger here. Wait, what is she doing?

A soft, drawn out moan greeted his ears and his whole body went straight as a stick. Did she just? Did I just hear Fluttershy moan? Discord jerked his head back and looked around wildly to see if there was anyone else in the hallway and finding it was just him, he put his head against the door again.

Another moan, this one even longer than the last one. Her voice traveled through his longer serpentine body and sent sparks from his head to his toes. A sudden pang of guilt nestled in his stomach and he reflected for a moment that maybe he shouldn’t be here. He did not have long to consider the morality of his actions however. In his suddenly excited state, Discord realised a little too late that his tail had snapped in exhilaration, magicking his outstretched head through the door.

Fluttershy gave a small surprised shriek as Discord’s head popped through the door and stopped. She yanked the blankets up to her nose immediately as Discord quickly tried to recover from his less than graceful entrance. “Honey, I’m home!” He called out, beaming at the sight of Fluttershy...or at least what he could see of her since the majority of her was covered in a blanket.

Under normal circumstances, Fluttershy would be quick to recover from one of Discord’s spontaneous entrances. But in her current state, all she could manage was to open and close her mouth silently. Finally she cleared her throat and squeaked out a, “Hi Discord!”

Discord grinned wickedly. It looks like I haven’t lost some of my touch after all, he gloated internally at the surprised look on her face. He had missed giving her a good scare as Fluttershy had grown immune to his tactics. But it looks like he was lucky today. He could almost forget the strange noises that he heard just moments earlier.

Discord went to pull his head back out of the door and his grin froze when nothing happened. He tried to jerk back again. Am I stuck? He couldn’t pull his head backwards through the door where the rest of his body stood. There is something about this room. I’m having a hard time concentrating. Discord considered, trying to understand why he was unable to magic his head back through the solid wood door.

“Um, hello Discord?” He looked back at Fluttershy who was peeking more of her body out of the blankets. She looked like she was expecting something from him.

“Oh yes Fluttershy? Had you said something?” Discord cursed himself internally. He didn’t like to appear weak. And when his magic didn’t do what he wanted to, he felt exceptionally vulnerable. And when he was vulnerable, he wasn't on guard as best as he should be.

Fluttershy giggled. There was something about Discord that always made her smile. Even though his mind was elsewhere, she didn’t mind repeating the question for him. She actually found his social awkwardness more charming than normal. She cleared her throat and asked, “Um, what are you doing here?”

Discord froze. Did she know that he had been listening at her door? What a creep that would make him appear. “Oh why I was listening to your door? Well I could have sworn I heard some awful termites in here talking about how they were going to eat all of Equestria and I knew I had to stop-” Discord began to lie.

“I mean, what are you doing at my house?” Fluttershy paused and almost did a double take, “Wait, did you say you were listening at my door?”

Discord felt a bead of sweat form at his brow. Wow, it just got a lot warmer in here he tried to tell himself. He observed Fluttershy to see if she understood his accidental admission of guilt and noticed with some curiosity that she also seemed to be warm. Her cheeks were flushed with a darker shade of pink and she also appeared to be perspiring. For some reason, she appeared more beautiful than he normally noticed. The only thing that drew his attention away from her was a large lump that was covered under the blankets by her hooves.

“I’m here for our tea party,” Discord began slowly, his eyes not leaving the lump to see if it would move. Is it big enough to be another pony?

Fluttershy gasped, “Oh my goodness! You’re right! Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot!” A wave of guilt hit her and she sat up a bit more, shifting herself in her bed. Discord didn’t make any sign that he heard her and she became uncomfortable. And then paranoid. Does he know? Oh my gosh. How could he know? She furtively looked around the room and saw with some relief that in the brief second of warning she had when Discord came through her door, she had shoved Twilight’s book under the bed out of sight and into the pile of now warm ice packs. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know. She internally calmed herself.

Fluttershy realized he was staring suspiciously straight at the pile and her eyes widened. Oh my gosh. He knows everything!! Why didn’t Angel stop him? Fluttershy bit her lip. Where was Angel anyway? She knew the two didn’t get along very well, but they would usually tow the line for her sake. But with Angel being very protective at the moment, Fluttershy doubted the rabbit would have let Discord just stroll in here. “Um, Discord? Did you see Angel when you walked in?”

Discord glanced at her and smirked, “I can’t say that I had. It sounds like you don’t want me here, my dear Fluttershy.”

“Oh! But I do want you!” Fluttershy quickly spoke with a lot more emphasis than she anticipated. The inflection was not unnoticed by Discord and he swiveled his head toward her. A blush crept on both of their cheeks and Fluttershy did not make eye contact, choosing instead to find something interesting on the bottom of one of her wings instead.

That was odd. Discord noted, ignoring a tug in his chest and the Pegasus’s words. He raised an eyebrow. “Fluttershy, I can’t help but ask if something is going on here that you’re not sharing?”

Fluttershy looked back at her smirking friend fearfully. She wasn’t sure if he knew but he certainly was acting like it. Her heartbeat was so rapid at this point that it was making it difficult for her to hear her own thoughts. “Um, nope. Nothing. Nothing at all.” she attempted to lie. Gosh, it’s really warm in here. She thought. It felt like there was a pot simmering in her chest.

Discord grinned even wider. Did she just try to lie to me? How delightful. He certainly enjoyed a change from the norm and watching Fluttershy attempting to deceive the master of tricksters could prove to be quite entertaining. “Is there something under the covers?” he sweetly asked.

Fluttershy did not respond. The pink blush that had lit up her cheeks vanished and she appeared pale. She almost looks guilty, he observed. He was about to ask again when an odd thought struck him. Does she have somepony else in here? His smile froze as the foreign thought wormed its way into his brain.

Fluttershy would never have another pony here. Discord argued with himself. But you also thought she would never lie to you. The awful thought countered.

Discord grumbled. She would never have another pony. She wouldn’t do that to me. He stopped smiling. What was he talking about? What would Fluttershy having a colt friend mean to him? He wasn’t sure but he didn’t like the thought either way.

“Is there...somepony...under your covers?” Discord asked, his voice unnaturally cold and his eyes narrowed.

The sudden change in Discord’s voice caught Fluttershy’s attention and she looked over in concern. Discord wasn’t smiling anymore. Fluttershy couldn’t comprehend why the sudden change, but she found herself growing angry at the insinuation. I might be in heat, but I certainly am no loose filly! “Of course not! What kind of pony do you think I am?” Fluttershy huffed. She folded her hooves and turned her nose up at him, “Honestly, Discord. If this is your idea of a joke, I don’t care for it!”

Fluttershy didn’t understand why it bothered her so much for Discord to suggest that she had another lover. I mean, a lover. I don’t even have a love. Fluttershy corrected herself. Do I have a love? These thoughts further confused her already heat induced brain.

She was even more confused when Discord seemed to become almost giddy at her angry outburst. “Oh good.” Discord sighed.

“Good?” Fluttershy questioned.

Discord coughed, “Um good.”

There was an awkward silence between the two, neither of them meeting each other’s eyes. Fluttershy mustered up the courage to try to begin the conversation, “You see, Discord-”

“You won’t tell me, will you?” Discord gently asked.

Fluttershy shook her head slowly, “Uhmm, well…”

“Fine, fine.” Discord shrugged, or at least tried to with only his head visible. “I can see that I am still clearly an outsider to this whole friendship thing!” He winked at her to alleviate her sudden concern and Fluttershy giggled, realizing he wasn’t entirely serious in that claim.

“Well I think I can go start a pot of tea if you can leave my door alone.” Fluttershy laughed. Discord nodded and attempted to yank his head backwards…

...only for nothing to happen...Again.

Discord blinked in confusion and tried to do it again. Nothing. He really was stuck. He snapped his fingers behind the door. Nada. Fluttershy hadn’t noticed yet. She was too busy straightening out the folds of her sheet and talking about tea. She thinks I’m still playing. But my magic isn’t working!

Fluttershy noticed he looked confused and stopped her discussion of chamomile. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes! Good. I’m 100%!” Discord squeaked before he could catch himself. His response only made Fluttershy laugh as he watched her helplessly. Even though he felt even more vulnerable at her laughter, he couldn’t help but smile goofily.

He loved hearing her laughter. It was soft and sweet. Almost like a melody. This was kind laughter, not the type to be used to make someone feel different, but to make someone feel welcome. Even though he was nervous, he felt put at ease as he watched how her lips curled into a smile. He really liked those lips as they formed words.

“Discord, did you hear me?” DIscord shook his head, realizing that those lips he was just admiring had actually formed words and he had not heard them.

“Er..”

“Are you stuck?”

“Umm”’

“You’re not just playing another trick are you?” Fluttershy asked cautiously.

“...” Discord hung his head down.

Fluttershy smiled. “Hang on, I’ll try to pull you out,” She offered, carefully leaving her bed. She made sure that the ice packs and book were still hidden under her blankets. The change in air that brushed between her legs as she left the safety of the blankets made her shiver slightly. The air tickled her exposed nethers and she quickly stifled a moan before it could escape her lips.

You can do this Fluttershy, she told herself. You’ll just pull him out until he stops playing this game, and then you will be a good friend and give him tea and then make him leave. The thought of spending time with Discord, even under these circumstances, brought another smile to her lips. She truly enjoyed her time with him and if the situation had been different, they might even have had a slumber party!

The thought of sleeping snuggled next to Discord flashed in her mind and she hesitated a moment. Where did that come from? She wondered as she approached the draconequus. They NEVER slept together. At least not like that. Not on purpose. There was that one time when we fell asleep by the fire Fluttershy admitted. A stinging hot flash seared her thighs at the memory and she exhaled sharply. I really got to get Discord out of here so I can take care of this.

Meanwhile, the draconequus was immersed in thoughts of his own. Why didn’t my magic work? he asked himself. He felt a little light headed thinking of it, but this time, shaking his head did not clear it like it had in the past. What’s this? he looked up to see Fluttershy nervously approaching him.

There was something about Fluttershy. Something different. He couldn’t quite place it. She seemed more full of energy. Like a fire had been set under her. She appeared to have been sweating. Maybe she could feel the strange heat in the room as well. Her sweat did not make her any less beautiful. In fact, it seemed to only glisten off her toned, supple fur-

“Um...how do we do this?” Her voice snapped Discord back from wherever his mind had gone and he blinked in surprise as she was inches away from her.

“Pull it,” Discord mumbled.

“What?” Fluttershy asked.

“Er,” Discord corrected himself, “You could just pull me through. I would push myself back but I don’t want to wreck your door with my amazing strength.” He smiled. “Plus, splinters hurt even more when you get them stuck in a talon.”

“Well I would have pulled out every one if I had to. Even if I had to use my tongue.” Fluttershy beamed innocently.

Discord sweated. Her tongue. The image of Fluttershy running her tongue over his paws, awakened something within him that he had not felt in a while. He tried to keep a straight face and respond with a nonchalant comeback when he suddenly felt his face pressed against the luxurious mane of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy had wrapped her hooves around his neck and was attempting to pull his head towards her small body.

Discord had to admit, he was a more hands on creature, if for no other reason then that he knew it annoyed ponies. Particularly eggheads like Princess Twilight. But he did like touching Fluttershy a lot more than the other girls. Maybe it was due to the fact that she seemed to understand and welcome his advances. Maybe it was because he liked how soft she was.

He relaxed. He wished his arms were on this side of the door so he could run them through the silky mane of his friend. He settled for nuzzling his cheek unconsciously into her mane, releasing some of that scent he caught earlier.

That scent. Discord took a whiff of Fluttershy as she continued to pull. Is Fluttershy giving off this delightful smell? Discord wondered. There was certainly something intoxicating about it as it made his mind all fuzzy and numb. He felt the spell of the scent travel down his body. “Fluttershy are you using a new kind of shamp-?” And then his voice died in his throat as he felt a part of his body touch the door.

This, this cannot be happening! He mentally screamed at himself. He had to be imagining it. Behind the safety and privacy of the door, his paw reached down toward his nether regions, to hopefully deny his sus-NOPE! His eyes almost popped out of his skull.

He had an erection. A full on erection. He was in full salute. The sword was unsheathed and resting against her door. To say he was horrified would have been an understatement. Pure terror gripped him. He was pitching a tent at his closest friend’s home and he had no idea why. It was with another horror, that he realised that Fluttershy was actually having some success in pulling his head through the door, despite her lack of athletic prowess.

He could feel his member twitch at the sound of her every grunt and groan as she pulled on his head. He had to stifle his own groan as he felt pressure twinge his bulging member. Something about Fluttershy was causing this. And he didn’t like it...right?

The thought of himself being pulled through her door and exposing himself to her was unimaginable, yet his imagination was certainly doing it’s best to try to conjure up an image. In a few moments, she would be successful in pulling him through, and then... I have to act fast! Discord’s mind raced and with a last ditch effort snapped his fingers again.

Fluttershy suddenly found herself falling backwards as Discord’s head fell off the door with balloon pop sound. She squealed as she flumped onto the ground, thankfully landing her rump onto a wayward pillow. Discord was less lucky. His head bounced painfully against the hardwood floor before landing directly into the soft folds of her lap. Fluttershy turned to her rump and mumbled an “Ow..that hurt”.

Discord, on the other hand, was going through a huge upheaval of feelings. Pain was the farthest thing from his mind. The fuzziness that had encroached on his mind blotted out everything else. Her irritated voice sounded so far away. He forced himself back to reality to see her starting to tend to him, checking to see if he was okay after his fall. Discord gave a weak smile and in his best Italian voice said, “I’ made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

Fluttershy sighed. “Oh Discord.” The head chuckled and blipped out of existence. The bedroom door opened and the draconequus swiveled his head inside her bedroom. His mast was still at half staff and he took advantage of her door to hide the bottom part of him.

“Ladies first,” Discord smiled and Fluttershy walked out the door followed closely, but not too closely by the stressed draconequus.

Thank goodness he can’t see my face, Fluttershy thought gratefully as she attempted to hide her strawberry face in the folds of her mane.

“Thank goodness she can’t see my erection.”

“What?”

“NOTHING!” Dammit.

Author's Notes:

Chapter done and out of the way. Did not give the sex warnings yet but there may be some in the next chapter. Hope you like it. :)

Chapter 3: Tea Time Tension

Chapter 3: Tensions

Discord sat at the small wooden table and coughed awkwardly. He twiddled his thumbs and was doing his best to look innocent. But it was so very very difficult. Especially since he could feel the heat of Angel’s glare burning on his skin.

Yes, the rabid rabbit had managed to catch those chickens alright, Discord noted, glancing at the angry Angel. And it did not appear to have been easy for him. There were feathers and bits of seed plastered all over the rabbit’s previously well groomed furry coat. It would take more than a few good brushes by Fluttershy to return him back to his normal well kept self.

It was hard to play innocent when the warm enveloping scent was very prevalent in this room. Discord had hoped it was constrained to Fluttershy’s bedroom, but upon them reaching the tea room, he was dismayed to discover that the scent had followed them here. He was almost 100% sure that this scent was somehow coming from Fluttershy but she was not showing an indication that something was out of the ordinary. Or was she?

“I still can’t believe how the chickens escaped,” Fluttershy wondered as she balanced on a stool, “Lulu was always really clever. I wouldn’t doubt that she could figure out how to lift the latch. But the lock too? I’ll have to think of something else.” Fluttershy turned to Discord, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it?” she asked innocently.

Far too innocently Discord considered. He shrugged. “What can I say Flutters. You just raise some smart poultry.” He quickly caught a seat cushion that Angel lobbed at him and placed it quietly on the table. He glanced over at Fluttershy as she turned her back toward him and instantly regretted it. Did-did her butt ever look that big? He couldn’t drag his eyes away fast enough from her luscious posterior. I just want to grab those two cheeks and squeeze them like bongo drums

The lecherous thought horrified and aroused Discord. Fluttershy is my friend!!! He screamed internally, stomping on the image of himself playing the drums. He felt his sleeping giant come back to life and he quickly tried to think of something else to distract him. It had been very difficult to hide his initial erection. Thankfully Fluttershy had been distracted when Angel broke through the door trying to enter the house after Discord. The rabbit’s angry squeaks and growls bought Discord enough time to think of the least attractive thing he could think of. He couldn’t think of anything less attractive than a bald man who flew through space and wore a bright red suit and it did the trick to calm the bulge.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

How stupid does he think I am?

Fluttershy made a face at Discord’s lie about the chickens escaping. Yes, I might be naive, but I am not a dummy, Fluttershy thought irritably. She thought about shooting back another question but decided against, instead attempting to concentrate on reaching the clay tea kettle she stored on one of her upper shelves.

Normally, Discord would be offering to help, but he was acting aloof. Fluttershy grumbled. I’m trying to fight a heat to spend time with my friend, and he’s acting like he doesn’t even acknowledge what I’m doing. Fluttershy felt a pang of guilt at the harshness of her thoughts, but she felt it harder to filter itself with how warm the room felt. Even though the kitchen was much more open than her bedroom, she still felt suffocated by her raging hormones. She was able to grasp the handle of the tea kettle with her mouth and pull it gently from its resting place.

Fluttershy hopped down from the stool, being careful to neither trip nor drop her kettle. She expertly carried an old clay pot by the handle. She trotted slowly toward the water pump to fill up the tea kettle and noticed Discord not even facing her. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least he’s not all over you today. That was the last thing that could help her.

Actually, why isn’t he all over you today? Fluttershy paused. The thought was correct. Normally Discord would pop in and out of existence all around her. But he was strangely complacent, sitting at the table like a school filly in a classroom. This bothered her. You should hit him.

Fluttershy was shocked at the foreign thought. What? I could never hit him. She didn’t know where this thought came from, but she was instantly suspicious.

Well you want him to pay attention to you, don’t you? The voice egged her on. It sounded like her own thoughts. She did want him to pay attention to her. And it seemed to bother her more than normal that he wasn’t. Well, maybe I could touch him a little bit. That would be different. Fluttershy admitted. Different is not always bad. Two can play at his game. She smiled smugly.

She trotted by nonchalantly and as she was about to pass him, Fluttershy opened her wings and let the feathers drape and drag lightly over his back. She instantly regretted it as every feather bristle that touched his fur sent a burning wave down the rest of her wing and to her chest. She quickly withdrew her wing as she felt her breath and pulse quicken. What was I thinking? Fluttershy exclaimed, confused by her brashness and the effect it had on herself. And why do I want more?

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

The seat cushion almost launched itself clear to the other side of the room as the touch of the feathery softness of Fluttershy’s wings brushed his shoulders. His knees jerked up and he quickly slammed them down before he flipped over the table. Discord bit down on his taloned hand to prevent himself from gasping. He quickly swiveled his head after Fluttershy to see if she noticed, but she had already walked past him. her wings folded in, as if she was unaware of her actions.

Of course she is unaware. Oh my Celestia, Fluttershy what are you doing to me? Discord inwardly groaned. His friend’s gentle, nonchalant actions almost blew his cover - literally. The pillow rested like a top hat on top of his dragonhood, and it took both hands to push it back down, being careful to push down on the pillow and not actually touch his rod.

Angel was fuming over in the other chair and Discord resisted the urge to poof the rabbit out of existence. The last thing he needed was to draw Fluttershy’s attention toward them. He crossed his mismatched legs awkwardly. He coughed.

“Well, if you don’t mind, if you could reach the cups from the top shelf while I pump the water, that would be nice.” The pillow shot to the other side of the room. The thought of Fluttershy pumping anything at the moment was tantalizing in a way that he did not want to dwell on.

“Of course! I can do anything!” Discord quickly stood and turned away from Fluttershy, not wanting to watch her hooves use the lever to pump water.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy smiled with some relief as Discord sprang into action to finally help her. Her voice had shaken earlier, but she was pretty sure he didn’t notice. She looked eagerly at the water pump. I bet some cool water would really help calm this down. She placed both of her hooves on top and pushed down gently only for the lever to not move. She pushed down a little harder. It didn’t budge.

“Huh.” Fluttershy observed, inspecting the lever, “Discord?”

“Yes, my dear?” she glanced towards him to see his head up in her cabinets.

“Do you know anything about water pumps?”

“...water pumps?” There was a snort and a chuckle. “Fluttershy, do I look like I do much physical labor? A creature of my ability-”

Fluttershy cut off his boasting. “Well do you have any lubricant?” She felt bad for interrupting him, but the heat in her loins had jumped to her face and nothing sounded better than a splash of cool water.

She heard a loud thump and quickly looked back toward her friend. She noticed that Discord was now holding his head. “Owwwww” he moaned, rubbing his head.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked sympathetically.

“My heads hurts,” Discord groaned, rubbing the egg sized lump on his head between his mismatched horns.

“Oh here, let me look at it-”

“No!” Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks at the forcefulness of his no. He didn’t look at her and she stood there quietly. He’s never really yelled at me before. She thought sadly

Oh man. Did I just yell at her?

An awkward silence continued as the two best friends quietly tended to themselves. Fluttershy solemnly retrieved tea cups and attempted to pump water with little success. Discord tried to whistle but his lips were dry and all that came from them was a sigh. Even Angel seemed slightly disturbed by the silence and he looked with concern at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was profusely sweating now. At least during their stilted conversation, she had a chance to try to focus on something else and what she was going to say. But now, the crushing silence was little reprieve to the creeping heat. “Goodness, I’m so hot,” she finally gasped, using a feather to try to fan her bright face, “Angel bunny, can you grab an ice pack for me?”

“I can get one,” Discord offered quickly, sitting up from the table, “if I can have one too. It is pretty warm in here.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Oh, there should be some in…” She paused, remembering that Angel had brought most likely all of the packs to her bedroom. “Um..oh, I think they’re in my bedroom actually.”

Discord grinned, almost appearing too happy for an opportunity to escape. “Say no more! Be back in a jiffy!” And before she could protest, with a snap of his fingers, he disappeared in a poof of blue jelly.

Fluttershy resigned herself and flopped herself down next to Angel, being careful not to slip on the blue jelly. “Oh Angel, I just don’t know what is going on,” she moaned, burying her head in the mesh of her feathers, “why is Discord being here making me feel so weird? He’s not even a pony.” Angel tittered angrily, but patted her head sympathetically. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a draconequus,” her voice echoed from her makeshift feather fort, “But in the bedroom-”

Fluttershy’s head shot up so quickly she knocked Angel Bunny clear off the table. “DISCORD! He’s in my bedroom!!!” She quickly gasped. She quickly turned and scooped up Angel Bunny, holding the dazed rabbit eye to eye, “HE IS GOING TO FIND OUT ABOUT EVERYTHING!!!” she panicked, dropping the rabbit and bolting for the stairs.

Angel regained his bearings and attempted to follow his caretaker but found he could not move. He looked down to see himself waist deep in blue jelly. Man, I really hate that Draconequus he thought as he began to eat his way out.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Discord poofed into existence right outside of Fluttershy’s bedroom door. Already, his head was feeling clearer and he could think easier having some distance from his friend. If she is really is causing all of this to happen, Discord thought discontently, I might have to cut our tea party short until I can figure out from a safe distance what is going on. The thought of leaving Fluttershy made his chest ache slightly but he ignored it as he pushed his way into Fluttershy’s room.

He looked around, trying to find the ice packs when he spotted the pile under the blankets. Discord hesistated. I really shouldn’t be snooping in her room a little angel Discord rebuked in one of his ears. A small demon Discord popped out of his other ear. Hey, the pegasus gave us permission to be here. so lay off feather head.

Oh you’re such a dick, you pointy earred freak!

Bite me!

Discord put his fingers into both of his ears, smushing both of the Discords into his ear drum. “You guys aren’t helping,” He muttered to their muffled cries. He stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Although, the dashing version of me is correct. I did get permission to be here.” His eyes glinted mischievously and without another thought, he yanked the blankets off with one fierce tug. The maliciousness vanished and he cocked his head in confusion.

Fluttershy had been correct. There was no other pony here. But she very well could have made one out of the pile of room temperature ice packs. Discord poked cautiously at the bottom of the pile with a talon and then gave a small squeak when the pyramid tumbled downwards. After a series of soft plops, he smugly observed his handiwork.

The ice packs lay scattered all over Fluttershy’s bed. He thought about knocking a few onto the floor when the corner of a leatherbound rectangle caught his eye. He reached over and yanked at the corner, pulling it from its hiding place underneath the ice packs. Discord looked at it curiously.

“noitcudorpeR ynoP fo snoitcnuF laicoS dna lacigoloiB ehT” he read outloud. Discord paused. That doesn’t sound right. He looked at the book again, screwed his goat horn a quarter inch, blinked and then read again “The Biological and Social Functions of Pony Reproduction.”

He smiled. “Well that makes a lot more sense,” he confirmed, tapping his horn proudly. And then his smile froze. “Wait…” He read it again. “Why does Fluttershy want to know about pony reproduction…”

He stood there dumbfounded. Any train of thought he was carrying had veered off course and crashed. Mental police men and ambulances were trying to help carry the stray thoughts off the train but there was a lot of thoughts that would need to be collected before this segway made any sense to anyone but Discord.

He spotted something leafy green and carefully pulled out a long, thick carrot from underneath the book’s prior hiding spot. “What’s this?” he questioned, examining the vegetable. Yes, ponies were vegetarian but this seemed like an awfully big carrot for Fluttershy to fit in her mouth. Did the carrot smell like Fluttershy? Discord leaned forward and curiously smelt the carrot.

“Discord, I -WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Author's Notes:

The next 1-2 chapters will have a mature warning ahead of time. (I'm so desperately trying to keep within at most a week between updates)

Chapter 4: Explanations

Chapter Four

Discord froze in place at the familiar sound. His eyes quickly darted to the bedroom door to see Fluttershy standing there in horror. All the color had drained from her body. Discord wondered for a moment if he could teleport away or camoflauge himself quickly but he felt like a deer caught in the headlights. Oh by the gods, what do I do? He tried to think, his clear reasoning beginning to ebb away again in Fluttershy’s presence.

“Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!! Oh my goodness!! You know! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe you know!!”

“I know?” Discord asked helplessly, watching the mare panic and pace helplessly.

“Of course you know!!” Fluttershy wailed, bolting toward her bed, Discord quickly dropped the book and carrot and backed away to the door to avoid the his freaked out friend. She threw herself on the bed and buried herself in the giant blanket.

The blanket trembled and Discord scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to proceed. He looked toward the bedroom door, considering making a break for it while Fluttershy broke down in front of him. Better not, he thought, Angel is still out there. He swore he could hear the rabbit trying to get up the stairs, so he shut the door. He heard a quiet, sad whimper from the sheets and his chest ached again at the sad little noise.

“I don’t wanna talk about it”

Discord chuckled at the quiet words. “Come on, you can trust me. I’m your old pal Discord. I’ve lived for thousands of years. I have heard everything. You can tell me anything and it won’t shock me.”

The blanket stopped trembling and the lump seemed to consider his words.

He’s got a point. I’m sure he’s at least heard something like this before.

Discord grinned, hoping she wouldn’t question how much experience he could really accrue when he had been trapped in stone for 1000 years. “Come on, what are friends for?” he prodded, rubbing the lump.

“I’m in heat”

Discord stuck his finger in his ears to try to clear them better. He shook out his mini devil and angel. “What was that?”

“I’m in heat”

Discord blinked. Did she just say..?

The blanket sighed and Fluttershy pulled off the blanket, exposing a tusseled pink mane. “I’m in heat,” she admitted softly.

Discord blinked again. “...Oh.” Oh?! That’s all you can manage to say?? His brain screamed at him. Add something to it you idiot!! “That’s...something,” he offered helpfully. You’re such an idiot.

Fluttershy looked at him, exasperated. “Do you know what that is?” she asked cautiously.

Discord cleared his throat and laughed. “Oh yes. Heats. Of course I know what heats are. Especially in cats.” His mind flickered briefly to images of Baast, a previous feline “friend” he acquired in ancient Egyptian ponylands. She laid sprawled in front of him, yowling and scratching the upholstery. “I think Baast had one once,” he lied. He instantly regretted bringing up the feline as Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed.

“I am not a cat!” she spat at him, huffing and looking away.

Discord waved his hands rapidly. “No no, of course not, my dear! It’s just well,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, “I never really thought about ponies like that. Going through heat.” Well, it makes sense. Ponies are creatures, just like cats and dogs. Unfortunately, prior to his stony imprisonment, Discord never really invested in any opportunities to question and observe pony reproductive cycles.

Fluttershy sighed, understanding his reasoning. “No, no. You wouldn’t have realised. I doubt you even had a chance to find out when you had your chaos capitol.” It would probably be hard for any pony to get in the mood when their bed kept turning into noodles Fluttershy admitted internally. He grinned sheepishly, almost as he read her thoughts and she smiled in return, temporarily forgetting the effects of her heat. She relaxed and leaned into his paw unintentionally.

Discord felt that weird feeling again, but it was even more pronounced the moment her back leaned into his paw. He glanced at the door and cursed inwardly. In his attempt to keep Angel out, he had closed the main source of ventilation. Maybe I can magic open the door without Fluttershy noticing Discord thought, not wanting to break his contact with the little Pegasus. Her eyes were shut and her breathing seemed more shallow than normal. She looks so peaceful. He was about to snap his fingers when Fluttershy spoke softly. "I wonder what Angel would think if he saw us now?"

The name of the rabbit guardian sent a sudden chill down Discord’s spine. Angel. There was an angry rabbit possibly right outside. Who, upon seeing the state Fluttershy was in, wouldn’t think twice about trying to take down Discord. And then Fluttershy would be even more upset and I might not be allowed back for our Tuesday tea times until the mad bunny cooled his jets. Discord grumbled. He gave a toothy grin. Unless I won against Angel. Which I’m sure I would. His eyebrows furrowed. At, at least I think I would. It was getting harder to think straight, trapped in this room with that overpowering, enticing seductive, smothering scent-

Discord quickly regained focus when Fluttershy spoke. “Discord, you’re a really good friend.”

That word irked him the moment it left her lips. Why does the way she say friend really bother me? It didn’t before...did it? Discord grumbled. He couldn’t think straight enough to figure out if this had actually bothered him before and he quickly stood up to get some air and distance from his suddenly much more attractive...friend.

Fluttershy’s eyes shot open as the warmth from his furry paw abruptly left her shoulder. She watched him stiffly make some distance away from her. Was it something I said? Fluttershy wondered. She glanced around to see if she could spot another culprit to the sudden coldness and her emerald eyes fell upon the large carrot from earlier. Her eyes widened and she drew a sharp breath. Oh my gosh, he doesn’t think that?

Why wouldn’t he? That voice rebuked her in her mind. You go around telling your best friend that you’re in heat and he sees the carrot you almost considered earlier. If the roles were reversed, what would you have thought??

Fluttershy refused to articulate what she would have thought, instead blushing heavily at the insinuation. She watched Discord helplessly as he distanced himself further from her and chest felt a sharp, painful twinge at his actions. She opened her mouth to hopefully delicately explain the whole situation.

“I didn’t touch myself!” Fluttershy explained. In a heartbeat, you put her hooves to her mouth with a horrified squeak. I did not just say that she thought, her eyes turning as white and wide as dinner plates. This statement froze Discord dead in his tracks. Seriously. Fluttershy could swear she could see icicles hanging off his limbs. Did-did he hear me?

Discord swiveled his head around quickly. Did-did Fluttershy just say-be cool man! Be cool! He opened his mouth to respond intelligently but all that he could croak out was a “I um, what?”

“The carrot!” Fluttershy’s mouth open involuntarily. To her horror, words spilled out that she could not contain. “I was going to touch myself. Or use the carrot. I don’t know. But I couldn’t do it. I don’t know. I never did it before and then you came and I-” the words were falling out of her mouth so fast she didn’t know if they were even words or just a mix of babbled panic.

Discord blinked slowly, trying to process the flustered mare’s words. He like nonsense, but she wasn’t really making much sense. And it was hard to piece the madness together. “You didn’t touch yourself?” He ventured, trying to piece together her words.

His words went unheeded as Fluttershy continued, seemingly oblivious to his interpretation of her flustered speech. “Twilight loaned me the book because I didn’t understand. And I feel so hot and I just don’t know what to do and Applejack says that colts and pick up on the scent and I had to assert myself to them if I didn’t want to buck but I am so shy and I hoped locking myself in here and trying to keep reading to see what I can do but I don’t know how to do anything with-with-with THIS!”

Discord blinked again but slower this time, hoping it would would somehow refresh his situation. It did not. He shook his head trying to shake off the fuzziness that was melting off his comically placed icicles. Twilight? A book? Applejack said she had to assert herself? He paused and his ears perked up. What was that about not having never done it?

“Are you a virgin?” he asked, his voice trembling before his talon hand could clasp clamp his mouth shut. She didn’t hear that part- oh. of course she did.

Fluttershy’s voice died in her throat and the darkest hues of red colored her face from her chin to her ear tips. “YES!” She squealed in a voice barely above a whisper.

Discord looked at her in both shock and wonder. This beautiful, kind, benevolent creature...had never felt the touch of a male. This somehow excited him and the revelation kept him preoccupied long enough for Fluttershy to regain some of her composure. “There have been offers,” she admitted, turning an even darker shade of red than he thought possible. She quickly snapped her head back up to face him and he took a step back, startled, “I never said yes!” she insisted, “I’ve just..” her hoof came to twirl the end of her hair and a small, hopeful smile grew on her face as she turned her head to the side. “I’ve wanted to wait for the right special pony,” she admitted, a far away look in her half closed eyes.

Those words hit Discord like a ton of bricks and he felt his chest sag. “I-i see,” he stammered, inwardly slapping himself. Why does a special somepony bother me so much, he critized his reaction, I’m a god. A mix match of the most fantastic creatures. Why do I care about her romantic preferences? I’ve got the talons of a griffin, the paw of a lion, the legs of a deer and lizard and the head- His internal diatribe halted as his talon hand rubbed his skull. The head..the head of a pony.

A strange giddiness at this recently rediscovered revelation inflated the his sagging chest like a small filly blowing up balloons for a party. Technically, he could very well be somepony. Well mostly everything else, but I’ve got some pony in me.

Fluttershy observed his chest fall and rise and his face switch from disappointment to beaming. I don’t even know what he is thinking about. I wonder how he feels about this. Fluttershy admitted to herself. Her own chest was beating so fast that she was worried he could hear it. Maybe a hug would help him figure out how to feel. She smiled at the idea of a hug, especially a hug with Discord. I bet it would feel really good to have his body so close to mine in a warm embrace.

The image her mind conjured up at her thought made her blush and her smile disappear. Her thoughts were making it harder to breath in her tiny room. She thought about pushing past Discord to get to her door to bring in some air, but she didn’t trust herself coming too close to the Draconequus. There was something different about him. Something more alluring than she felt prior to today. Just maybe.

No, no. Reality reared its ugly head. He doesn’t think of me like that. He is a Draconequus. I think even some type of god? I’m a pony. That thought completely removed the warm comfort that had nestled in her chest. I’m just a pony. She reminded herself again, her bottom lip quivering ever so slightly.

The lack of fresh oxygen was finally getting to Fluttershy and she began to walk to the door. She resigned herself to not getting a hug, but decided to tempt fate once more and brushed against his side as she passed the silent draconequus with her wings once more.

Discord’s internal gloating came to a screeching halt the second those feathers came into contact with his fur again. The wave of fuzziness he had been fighting off crashed back down on him and he stood there befuddled. Why does this keep happening everytime she touches me?? He questioned himself. Wait. What did Applejack say? Something about heat affecting a colt’s mind?

He scoffed at the idea. That can’t be right. I’m only part pony. Not part colt. His eyes widened as a mental thesaurus appeared in mind and he realized, “A colt is a male pony!” he exclaimed, the color starting to drain from his already gray face.

Fluttershy stopped within a foot of the door and turned back carefully, internally beating down her own hopeful emotions at finally hearing him speak. “Yes...male ponies are colts. I thought holing myself up here would be the best way to avoid coming into contact with any colts.” She smiled, allowing the tiny spark of happiness that had started near her heart at hearing his voice. She shifted herself back toward the door and paused. “I guess I got so caught up in my problems, I completely forgot about our plans. Friends shouldn’t neglect each other. This was pretty selfish of me.”

Unbeknownst to Fluttershy, Discord had balled up his fists and was standing very rigid. Now that the realization that Fluttershy’s heat was indeed affecting him, he suddenly felt like he was drowning in the tide of fuzziness. He was having difficulty thinking. He could barely hear whatever Fluttershy was saying. They came out muffled against the pounding in his own chest. I need to get out of here he mentally groaned. Having grown up and lived a life with a serious lack of inhibitions, Discord knew he was quickly losing the fight to the enthralling, heavenly presence of-

No! No! He curled his tail in and as tightly as he could. He never felt such a power that could produce such a profound effect on him and he was starting to become fearful for Fluttershy. At least a regular pony would just resort to physically coercing Flutters into bucking. And then she could probably fly away even though she wasn’t that great of a flyer. The thought of another pony laying a hoof on Fluttershy almost sunk him back into the cold rage he experienced less than an hour earlier.

But, if I- Discord panicked. He had eons of power and magic available at the snap of his fingers. And whatever self control you have taught me, my dear, I am quickly losing when you are near me. It would be just so easy…

“You know!” Fluttershy’s voice rang above his inward struggle and he turned mechanically toward her, only to find her within inches of him. Everything became silent and he stopped breathing at the sight of her so very close to him. He looked down at her tiny frame and gulped.

“Even though you are not a pony..” she spoke, her voice soft, “I think you are one of the most amazing quasi ponies I have ever know. I’m glad that you did not make fun of me. That you understand.”

Fluttershy hesitated. That small voice of reason was screaming at her to turn around and cross the 1ft distance to the door now before she did or said something she regretted. But yet...maybe a quick hug should be alright. She bridged the distance between them and enveloped Discord in the biggest hug her fuzzy hooves could manage. “I am so happy that you are my friend, Discord.”

She thrust her sweet smelling mane against him and nuzzled his chest. Just touching him made her feel even lighter and happier than she had been a few moments ago. “I should hug you more often,” she cooed, “You just know how to make me feel-”

Fluttershy paused mid sentence as the sound of a lock clicking into place emanated from behind her. She quickly tried to spin to see the cause but found Discord’s lion paw pressing her gently but firmly against his body. She craned her neck to see witness Discord’s talon resting on the bedroom door key in the knob, having just locked it. “-safe?” she questioned, quickly looking back up toward his face. “Discord, what are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, his eyes only half open. And with that, he quickly lunged toward her and kissed her.

Author's Notes:

The next chapter will have a warning on it...but for now, this! (sorry I was delayed a bit!)

Chapter 5: Awkward Passions

Author's Notes:

WARNING! There are adult themes in this chapter. If that offends you, please do not read this chapter.
And yes, I do slip into 2nd person narrative in the italics (which are supposed to be the characters' thoughts). It's a way of trying to show that they are debating internally with themselves.

Yay! I had a lot of weird fun with this chapter. Hope it is enjoyed in good humor.

Chapter 5

Fluttershy’s eyes widened as Discord smashed his lips against hers. To say she was completely caught off guard was an understatement. Her mind was completely blown to the point where the 3rd person narrative persona had to step in to try to explain what was going on until she could finally Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Is he kissing me?? I can’t breathe!

Fluttershy tried to frantically flap her wings in a panic to get away but Discord’s talon hand had returned and crushed her wings to her body. The position was awkward but strangely not uncomfortable. Almost natural in a way.

His lips still pressed against hers forcefully but with a tenderness that she did not anticipate from her frightening friend. Fluttershy felt herself relaxing and slowly closed her own eyes.

Wait a minute!!!

Fluttershy’s eyes shot wide open as she realized their situation and yanked her head back forcefully. “Discord!” she shrieked, “What are you doing?!” I have been saying that phrase a lot her mind sarcastically reminded her as she looked at his face for answers.

Discord opened his eyes in surprise and look down at his “unwilling” participant in the sudden act of passion. “I-um...um-wait..” Why is she looking at me like that? Why is she screaming? His mind had gone fuzzy a moment ago and he stared in confusion at the pretty Pegasus in his tight embrace. “Why are you-?”

The memory of his action hit him like a ton of bricks and he quickly pushed Fluttershy toward the door. Oh Celestia did I just - what have I done?! He backed away quickly from his equally confused and blushing friend. He put his paw to his mouth. His lips still tingled with her sweet taste. Discord grabbed Fluttershy’s bed to steady himself. I kissed her.

Fluttershy gave a yelp as she fell back to all fours. Her mind was also dizzy but she regained her bearings quickly although she grabbed onto the door knob just to be sure. She watched in concerned as Discord stumbled backwards. Her lips burned with the passion he attacked her with and she fought the urge to run her tongue over them to see if they were actually on fire.

A flurry of happiness, anger and confusion racked her body as she watched the Draconequus repeatedly shake his head. He did. He did kiss me she realized, frightened by the giddiness that the thought seemed to conjure up. Discord seemed to be having a harder time than her coming back to his senses, so Fluttershy stepped forward carefully to help. “Discord, do you-?”

Discord saw her approaching and held out his paw, “STAY THERE!” he attempted to forcefully order, but his voice cracked with the sudden dryness of his throat. Fluttershy blinked. I kissed her and now I’m yelling at her like a kid hitting puberty he cursed at himself inwardly.

Fluttershy coughed, regaining some of the air she missed when she forgot to breathe earlier, “Discord, why? What did you-why did you do it?”

“You’re in heat!” Discord cried out, “And I’m a colt!” It was all he could manage to spit out. His heart was beating so rapidly and he was almost panting like a dog to take in some of the oxygen he had accidentally denied himself in his sensual assault on Fluttershy. Words did not work for him right now.

Fluttershy cocked her head at him. “You’re not a colt. You’re a Draconequus!” she argued.

“Colt head! Pony head!” Discord argued back, exasperated. Fluttershy stared at him. Discord sighed and grabbed his head dramatically. “I-HAVE-THE-HEAD-OF-A-PONY!!” each word even more enunciated with him shaking his head. She’s so pretty but how does she not understand this??

He watched as realization quickly dawned on Fluttershy and she gave a horrified gasp. She pressed herself defensively against the locked door and stared fearfully at him. Discord felt his chest twinge a bit at her fearful reflex. It-it wasn’t that bad of a kiss was it? he wondered, somewhat sadly.

Maybe she would have liked it if it came from a pony she actually had feelings for his head mocked and he growled in response. He tried to catch himself but the growl made Fluttershy press even more so against the door. See? He looked sadly at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, I-”

“I’m going to unlock this door,” Fluttershy spoke quietly, not taking her eyes off of him. Discord hesitated. Fluttershy sighed. “I think we can talk more about this if we get some fresh air. Maybe outside?” she helped. This seemed to make Discord feel a little better and he nodded in agreement.

“Better hurry,” he mumbled, sitting down on her bed, “It’s really warm in here,”

Fluttershy nodded and turned the knob only for nothing to happen. Oh right. He locked the door. She went to turn the key but gave a small gasp when the key was missing. “Discord?”

“Yes, my dear?” She shot him a dirty look that made him cough, “Um, I mean yes, Fluttershy?”

“Do you have the key?”

“Uh…” Discord sat up and patted himself down. When that turned up nothing, he gave himself shake and a small jingle fell to the ground. Discord’s eyes narrowed as he looked for the noise and found Fluttershy’s brass bedroom key near one of the bed posts. He grasped it with both hands, spun and held it aloft in the air triumphantly. He looked over at Fluttershy who just shook her head softly at him. “Not funny?”

“It’s been over used,” Fluttershy admitted, “Now come unlock the door, please.” She stepped aside to allow him to get to the door but Discord did not budge. “Discord, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

Discord shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Um, whenever I get close to you, I feel really really really…”-Happy, excited, joyful, amazing- “weird,” he said carefully. He coughed, not making eye contact, “And if we touch, I feel…” -passionate, aroused, desirous- “more weird.” He coughed again. Fluttershy, please don’t make me say it. Because I don’t think I can

Fluttershy coughed quietly. “Oh.” she looked away, “I understand. I feel-” hopeful, cared for, ecstatic “weird too,” she admitted, her cheeks turning a shade of pink.

Discord looked over at her quickly, “You feel weird too?!” he asked hopefully. Fluttershy did not answer him immediately.

“Yes...weird.” She said it was weird! Yes, it was weird. He stopped internally celebrating. Weird? What does she mean by weird? Weird as in good weird or weird as in when a pony kisses his sister weird - oh my gosh why did my mind go there?? Discord winced at the weirdness of his thoughts.

“Can you throw it to me?”

“Pardon?”

Fluttershy giggled as she got into a catcher’s position. “Throw me the key and I will catch it and unlock the door.”

Discord blinked for a moment before doubling over in loud obnoxious laughter. His tail slapped the ground and he wiped away tears from his eyes before catching the eyes of a now very annoyed pegasus. “Oh you are serious?” he asked, slowly standing back up.

Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed at him. “‘What’s so funny about me trying to catch something?” she asked angrily.

Discord smiled at her. “Fluttershy, a wonderful hostess you may be, but you are not a very athletic pegasus.” His mind was starting to get warm again and he observed her still angrily staring at him, “A very ravishing non athletic pegasus,” he added, his reptilian tongue slithering out and tasting his lips.

That last sentence struck Fluttershy in a way that she could only describe was...weird. Desire and fear simultaneously spiked her body at the unknown feeling his words conjured within her. “What did you just say?” she breathed quietly. She saw his eyes widen at the slip of the tongue and winced when he smacked himself.

“Sorry! Sorry! I don’t know what-I-uh, I better throw that key.” Fluttershy nodded and squatted into a catching position. Discord blinked at her. Gah, I can’t look at her when she’s like that Discord thought about asking her not to be so flexed but decided against possibly angering the Pegasus anymore and just threw the key.

The key flew through the air and fell significantly short of Fluttershy’s open hooves. It fell to the ground and, with a sickening silence, slid right under the bedroom door to the hallway. Fluttershy and Discord stared at each other in horror. “That was your best throw??!!” Fluttershy shouted, exasperated. Discord scratched the back of his head.

“I was distracted,” he mumbled, looking away.

“By what?!” Fluttershy angrily demanded. Discord looked back at her with a flat ‘Really?’ face and Fluttershy caught herself. “Oh, right. Okay.” She turned to face the door and kneeled down on her front two hooves to look underneath. “I see it!” she happily exclaimed, wiggling, “I think I can reach it!” She stuck a hoof underneath the door and desperately tried to reach the key. She strained and struggled but it seemed to be just out of reach.

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Discord was going through a struggle of his own. The moment she kneeled, her yellow plump butt stuck up in the air. He stared at it hypnotically, watching it jiggle and wiggle as she struggled to get the key. Did, did her butt ever look that firm before? He shook his head and looked away. Discord, this is your friend. How could you think of her like this-BAD HAND!

His lion paw had shot out toward Fluttershy’s rump. Bongo drums!!!! it seemed to internally scream. Discord lunged at his lecherous hand and tackled himself to the ground. Must play with the booty drums!

NO! BAD HAND! NO BONGO DRUMS!!!!

The hand fought well but Discord had retained some of the willpower he had lost earlier and reeled it into submission. The paw turned on him in that case and began to punch himself in the stomach. Discord’s talon hand wrestled the assaulting appendage away and began to throttle the paw against the ground.

Hahaha!!! How do you like that?! Ouch! Hey! Why does my hand hurt? ...oh right

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Fluttershy gave a sigh of resignation as she stared at the key just out of reach. There’s no way I’ll be able to get that key. I’m going to have to find a stick or I guess, ask Discord. Asking her friend would probably be the quickest way out of this room as he definitely had longer arms than she did. And fingers.

I wonder how good he is with those fingers. The sly thought snuck in and she gasped involuntarily at the suggestion.

I-I would never even consider that!

You thought about using a carrot. The voice taunted her. A wave of shame hit her and she dropped her head to the ground. He wants to touch you Fluttershy. You should let him show you a little kindness. You let him kiss you.

I did no such thing! And it’s the heat making him do this. This has nothing to do with what I want. I mean, I don’t want it. Leave me alone.

Fluttershy quickly stood up and turned to Discord. “Discord, I can’t reach the key. Can you-What are you doing to your hand?”

Discord looked up where he knelt down. He had one foot pinning his lion hand to the ground and he had been beating it sensless with his other hand. “I um. Was just being silly old Discord?” he attempted a fake laugh and let his lion hand up off the ground, giving it a pet. “Yeah, just practicing my lion handling moves.”

Fluttershy nodded slowly. “Right...I can’t reach the key. But! I think you can. So here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to walk along that wall and you are going to walk along the opposite wall and we’ll switch positions. Then you can get the key and open the door.” Discord stroked his beard.

“I hate to say this, but that seems reasonable and it could work.” Discord smiled at her and she felt a flood of relief swamp her hot body. As the two friends moved to the walls and began to switch sides, Fluttershy noted with some concern that even though she was mostly relieved, there was a small part of her that felt differently.

Do, do I feel sad about getting out of here? Fluttershy questioned herself. She looked over at Discord as he crossed the opposite wall and wondered if he was feeling the same way. I can’t let anything I feel for him change things. Not that I feel anything for him. He’s just a friend.

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When I get out of here, I’m jumping in the biggest, coldest ocean I can find. Discord thought And then, I will bury myself in snow and sit there and not even think about Fluttershy until this whole heat thing is over. It seemed like a good enough plan to start with and it allowed for some flexibility which was always nice. But the thought of sitting alone in a blizzard didn’t make him feel better. It just made him feel worse.

Granted, he always felt sad when he left Fluttershy’s cottage but somehow, this felt even worse. I feel like I am going to be regretting something here if we leave. He thought sadly. He looked over longingly at Fluttershy but he couldn’t make out her emotions at the moment. Her lovely mane had covered the majority of her face as she made her way to the bed.

I wonder what it would be like to share a bed with Fluttershy? He was about to fight the thought off but stopped. It wasn’t a naughty thought. To wake up next to her every morning, wouldn’t that be kinda neat? Granted, you would have to wake up in the same place everyday and that would be a bit boring, but wouldn’t it be worth it?

Discord smiled at the pleasant tone of the normally naughty thought. Yeah, that would feel kinda nice.

Cool. So let’s go rut her brains out!

NOPE. Discord became annoyed that he let himself be tricked by the thought. Fluttershy isn’t some type of quickie! She’s a special pony. She’s kind and cares about others. He defended her to the bodiless voice. She’s going to make some pony the best wife and she would love him and she would love our kids.

Ours?

“Discord.”

THEIRS! Not my kids! I’m not having kids. Who said anything about offspring? Why are you confusing me?!

“Discord.”

You think you know what I want, but you don’t, so you go to your room right now and your mother and I will talk when she gets home after feeding the chickens! I MEAN, NO CHICKENS-!

“DISCORD!”

Discord blinked. He quickly returned to his senses and realized he was still in Fluttershy’s bedroom. “Huh?”

“Can you try to get the key now?” Fluttershy asked, “You’ve been standing at the door for the last few minutes talking to yourself.”

Discord realized he had been standing in front of the door. He laughed awkwardly. “Ah, yes. I am. Just raising the suspense here. Did I say anything important?”

“I think I heard something about chickens?” Fluttershy offered helpfully, shrugging her smooth shoulders. Discord gave a sigh of relief and kneeled down to peer under the door.

“Piece of cake,” he snickered, reaching his paw under the door. He had just picked the key up when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He gave a yelp as he dropped the key. This time was not as lucky as the key fell through the slots of the wood floor and out of sight for good. A glimpse of white fur was latched on his arm and he realized with horror who his attacker was! “AGGHHHH He’s biting me!!”

Fluttershy gasped and ran over to the door as Discord flailed. “No! Angel! Bad bunny!! Let go of Discord right now! I mean it!!” Discord felt the tiny fangs let go and he quickly stood up and held his injured paw.

“Ow, ow ow ow ow” he moaned, blowing on the injured paw, “I think he gave me rabies!”

Fluttershy grabbed his paw out of his hand and cradled it between her hooves. “Its okay. He didn’t break the skin. Oh! There, there! It’s going to be alright. Mommy’s going to make it all better!” She placed little butterfly kisses on the sore part of Discord’s paw. Discord could only stare at her dumbfounded.

Mommy? Did she say - oh hey, I do feel better. The pain ebbed away and he looked at her thoughtfully, “You know, Fluttershy, I think you would make an excellent mate- I mean, mother.”

Fluttershy looked up at him with her bright beautiful eyes, “Oh, I don’t know. I think there are a lot of other ponies out there who would make even better mothers than me. I hadn’t even thought about it.” she returned to stroking and planting little kisses on his hand

Discord opened his mouth to prove his point when he realized when some horror their position. Fluttershy was all but pressed against him and kissing him. Well his paw, but still. Everytime her lips touched his skin, he felt a burning sensation. He felt his vision glaze over and the burning desire he had quenched roared back to life like an inferno. He licked his lips and looked down at her.

Fluttershy froze at the sound of his voice. “You know, for the Element of Kindness, I think you’ve just been a little too kind for your own good.” She looked up at his dark glistening eyes.

“oh dear” And with that, he tackled her.

Fluttershy successfully dodged his clumsy attempt to kiss her, having learned from the first time he kissed her. They fell backwards into a mangle of fur, feathers and scales as she squeaked and he grunted in the struggle. When the dust settled, Fluttershy could officially see the situation she was in and she did not like it.

Discord had managed to wrap his tail around her slender waist and held her above him as he laid with his back against the ground. Her wings were still free but flapping them was useless against the boa like constrictor strength of his tail. Discord looked up at the nervous, sweating mare with a triumphant smirk that both infuriated and aroused the heat driven Fluttershy.

“Discord,” Fluttershy breathed, “Don’t make me call for Angel.”

Discord shrugged. “I can’t imagine how the fur ball could get through a locked door by himself.” He smiled and took one of her hooves in his paws, “Don’t tell me you don’t want this too?”

“Discord-” Fluttershy protested, but her protests were cut short when he placed a gentle kiss on her hoof. Memories of fairy tales told by her mother long ago flooded her mind. The prince would always kiss the hoof of the mare he loved her mind comforted her. For a moment, she calmed herself, letting her guard down.

Suddenly she couldn’t breath. She flailed momentarily until she realized that her breathlessness was caused by another kiss, this one on her lips. She remembered to breath through her nose and stopped kicking, for fear of accidentally injuring her friend.

Wait a minute she realized I didn’t tell him he could do this! Why shouldn’t I kick him?! Mustering up whatever assertiveness she had, she took careful aim and tried to kick one of his legs. I’m sorry if this hurts you.

She missed.

Discord didn’t even seem to notice her attempt. He broke away from the kiss and gave her a look that sent waves of heat to her nether regions. She panted from the intensity of the kiss and tried to speak again when she felt a wetness at the crook of her neck.

What is he doing-oh that feels really good. Fluttershy found her eyes half closing as Discord licked and nipped at her neck, grunting almost like an animal. Mother never talked about this in the fairy tales Fluttershy thought, biting her lips to stifle a moan that was building up in her throat. I am not enjoying this. Absolutely not. Wait, where are his hands going?

Her eyes opened as she suddenly felt his rough mismatched paws at the base of her wings. For a moment, she was terrified he was going to tear them off as the intensity of his foreplay was gradually increasing into playful bites at her ear lobe. Instead, his paws traced and massaged circles in the folds of her wings.

It was so very very hard to fight a moan. Fluttershy almost whinnied in reluctant desire as each circling of her wings sent sparks up her feathers and down to her hooves. If he keeps this up, I’m going to, going to…

Discord’s snaggletooth suddenly sank into her neck and the sudden increase in intensity forced out a soft, passionate moan from her lips. She shut her eyes and moaned again, finding some form of release in letting the desire out.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

The sound of Fluttershy moaning drove Discord wild and he pulled back to examine his prize. The sight of the twisting, panting pegasus in his clutches created a feeling in him that he never had with Baast. It was a good feeling. And I want more of it he thought, his lips licking. I need to taste her, touch her. He returned his advances to his neck and gave a low growl.

Rather than shirking away, she returned another moan to his growl. Discord traveled his tongue to her ear and stuck his lips in her ear. “I’m going to tear you apart and fill you to the brim,” he breathed, attempting dirty talk. It worked with Baast.

Fluttershy’s look of ecstasy vanished and her eyes shot open. She looked at him suspiciously. “What did you just say to me?” she demanded between pants.

Discord sweated nervously. Right. Baast is not the same as Fluttershy. No one could be the same as Fluttershy. He growled in response and bit her again in the neck, being careful not to break her delicate skin. He smiled in success as this seemed to distract her from his failed attempt and he made sure to file this attempt in the “Do Not Try” list.

He curled the tip of his tail toward Fluttershy’s stomach and he started to brush her up and down.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy’s mind went blank as he bit her neck. She continued to moan but was finding that just moaning alone was not giving her the release her body was so desperately craving. It was then that she felt something fluffy on her stomach.

It was a weird feeling and Fluttershy didn’t quite understand why the fluffy thing was there until it brushed up against her nether regions. The moment the coarse fur skirted the outside of her marehood, she bucked involuntarily. Her whole body burned like a star on fire. I can’t believe I just bucked she attempted to think with some shame, but the fluff returned and she found herself bucking again, this time throwing her head back.

The image of her bucking his clutches generated a chuckle from Discord and Fluttershy’s thoughts returned to her. You can’t deny that this feels pretty good. Fluttershy hated to admit it but this foreign thought was right. She looked down at Discord who seemed preoccupied with manipulating her wings until they were almost erect with desire.

His fur was sweaty and he had a look of passionate determination etched onto his face. I always did like the strange ones. Fluttershy admitted, But did I ever like him like this?

Sure, she absolutely relished their tea parties and stories he shared from his travels around the universe. And she did find herself bringing up his name in conversation, even when he was nowhere around. But she assumed that this was simply friendship. But even before this, when he touched you, didn’t you feel warm inside? And when you touched him back?

Fluttershy placed one of her free front hooves against his chest and started brushing the sweaty fur. It does feel good to touch him, but I thought this was only friendship she thought. She looked at his exposed lips and for a moment hesitated. Maybe it’s not just friendship. I need to know.

One way to find out the little voice inside her encouraged.

Fluttershy reached forward and grabbed Discord’s head. She shut her eyes and in a move that surprised them both, pulled him into a needy kiss.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Discord’s own eyes widened as Fluttershy pulled him into a kiss. The bold move caught him off guard and he released his willing captive onto his chest. The drop didn’t break the kiss but the impact of her body against his sent thunderstorms of neediness down his thighs. He wrapped his arms around her and stood up, remembering this time to breathe through his nose. He had almost choked last time.

He spied Fluttershy’s bed and navigated themselves toward it. He placed her lying backwards on the bed and climbed on top of her. Discord eagerly returned her kiss, licking her teeth with his tongue until she opened her mouth more to allow him access. His tongue met hers. Are you kidding? Even her tongue is soft he thought remarkably as his tongue caressed her little one.

A familiar visitor was starting to peek out from his pelvis and Discord hesitated whether to stop or not. Fluttershy’s moaning and bucking against his skin overrode whatever control he had over the wiley member and it popped out of his sheath at her entrance.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy gasped mid moan and froze at the feeling of an unfamiliar object at her marehood. She glanced around as Discord panted heavily on top of her and realized with some trepidation that they were on her bed. I didn’t get far in Twilight’s book but I think this is what is called...missionary?

It was his penis, she was sure of it. She couldn’t see it but the look on Discord’s face of uncertainty confirmed her suspicions. Do I want to go this far? Fluttershy thought. She was 50-50 sure of this. 50% of her was sure and 50% of her...was scared.

I treasure my companionship with Discord and all of his quirks. And here we are..on the cusp of doing something that there’s no going back from. To lock ourselves in love’s passionate embrace.

And then a small little voice spoke up. Who said this is out of love? Fluttershy’s heart stopped beating at the thought. The little voice continued. How do you know he is not going to reject you after this? She bit her lip.

He wouldn’t...he couldn’t…

He did it once.

Memories of Discord’s and Tirek’s mocking laughter flooded her senses. The feeling of betrayal and misery the moment he dropped the sandwiches and locked her in that cage with her friends. That feeling of loneliness and sadness racked her entire chest and muted the desires of the heat. The absolute rejection of everything she was and had offered him in exchange for power with a stranger. Her eyes started to sting with the formation of tears. She had cried that day.

Discord made you cry that day.

Fluttershy spoke up, “Wait....I’m scared...”

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Discord paused. Did she just say she was scared. He looked at her concerned face in confusion. What could this heavenly creature be scared of a time like this? He tried some humor. “Don’t be scared,” he attempted sneakily, “It’ll fit.” He attempted to retease her with his tail. She moaned briefly but caught herself to his dismay and shook her head.

“No, I’m not-wait what did you say?” his comment caught her off guard and he took the opportunity to retease her, prompting a longer moan and a buck this time.

“Just relax,” he grunted as his own desire was painfully shaking every muscle in his disheveled body. He leaned in to taste her lips again.

“I’m scared, Discord...Discord.”

The sound of the beautiful Pegasus breathing his name caught his attention and he pulled away from her lips to gaze down at the creamy yellow Pegasus lying beneath his body. Her body rose and fell with the throes of desire and her normally bright alert emerald eyes were only half open and clouded with passion. Discord had spent many nights with thoughts of his friend running through his head before he fell asleep. But never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine Fluttershy like this underneath me. Squirming and moaning at my touch. My Fluttershy breathing my name. He liked the sound of it. My Fluttershy...in a few moments, you will be mine.

He caught sight of her beautiful eyes again and tittered. “What are you scared of?” he purred, lining up his penis with her marehood. It was touching her entrance. He was so close. Just one more push and I will make you mine. He shut his eyes in anticipation and leaned in to taste her one final time.

“You.”

Discord froze as a cold chill seized his body. His eyes shot open and he pulled back from the prostate pegasus quickly. He observed her again, watching her body jerk and lean from desire. He looked to her lips and again and saw that they were shut. Almost as if she was frowning. Or is it sadness?

A glimmer caught his misshapen eyes and and he looked with alacrity to see a single, precious tear form at the corners of her eyes. He instinctively reached out to wipe her tears away. She gasped as he touched her eyes and looked at him with open, watery eyes.

“You’re scared...of me?” he asked breathlessly, not wanting to believe the words her perfect lips just spoke. They stared at each other, the only sound was their own heavy breathing. She wanted this too, right? he reflected. Realization dawned on him as the events that transpired up to this point ran back to him. She didn’t even say she wanted this. Heck, she didn’t even say she LIKED you!!

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Fluttershy immediately felt the mood change. She looked up at him pleadingly for a response but he seemed distant. His paws still rested on her face. She made an attempt to move toward him but stopped quickly. His penis. That’s really close. One wrong move and I might accidentally insert it. She moved a hoof to one of Discord’s resting paws with a slight smile on her lips as the fear ebbed away slowly. He looked back at her when her hoof touched his paw. He looks so sad Fluttershy noted. He spotted her hoof on his and the slight smile on her lips. She could swear she saw a glimmer of hope in those sad red eyes.

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At her touch, Discord looked back at her hopefully. Maybe I misheard her. I mean, she still looks sad, but she’s got a smile. And there’s still something warm and loving about her. Her eyes, although filled with tears, invited him to bring his head closer which he cautiously did, being careful not to move his actual body.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“It’s not that I’m afraid of you…” Fluttershy began slowly. The heat was coming back in the room as Discord’s face inched closer to hers. She bit her lip. I need to say this. This is important. I’ve got to concentrate. She looked into his eyes and lost her train of thought. I wish for a chaotic being, he would be a little easier to figure out. He seemed hopeful. Like he was clinging to her very words. I want to make him happy...but..

Fluttershy hesitated. I can’t go through another rejection from you, Discord. The risk of invalidating every letter, tea party and get together they ever had fueled the fear she thought she had put away. I can’t let this go this far. I can’t let you hurt me again.

“It’s us…” she whispered to him, his lips inches from her. “I’m scared of what will happen to us.” And then she submitted to her heat and moaned.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Discord stared at Fluttershy dumbfounded. This mare is driving me crazy-in both good ways and bad ways. He admitted. And now she says this?? Her moan put his body on edge again and he stiffened with the need for release. He looked down at her body, quivering from hormonal desire. Maybe I can have Fluttershy explain more after I, ahem, took care of some more pressing matters he thought as his sword twitched with anticipation at the entrance of her marehood.

Fluttershy had succumbed to the hormones of her heat and shut her eyes. She leaned her head forward expectantly. Discord grinned at the change in her behavior. “Now, now, my dear Fluttershy,” he cooed, “We can talk all about us so very soon.” He looked greedily at her body and ran his serpentine tongue from her stomach to her ear lobe, taking in her musk. He whispered possessively into her ear, “But for now, it is time I made you my mate.”

The change in tone shot a streak of panic and resistance back into Fluttershy and her eyes bolted open. “Did you say mammmph!?” she gasped before he sealed her lips with his own. She yelped and whinnied helplessly against him which came out muffled and incoherent. Discord was far too gone to acknowledge her protests and lined up his penis with her vulva.

And a 1, and a 2 and a 3! He thrust forward on the three.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Many things happened in that moment.

Fluttershy heard the sound of a loud crash and bang. Is-is this what sex is supposed to sound like?? she panicked blindly. Did I make that noise??

She glanced up at Discord’s face who looked equally confused. He broke the kiss and barely had a moment to look down at their sexes and wonder, “I’m not even in yet-” before a lasso swung around his long neck and yanked him off of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gave a squeal of surprise at the sudden exposure and influx of cold air and quickly dragged a cover over her sweaty bottom half. Once she was covered, she looked toward the source of the sound in amazement as a voice rang out.

“What in tarnations is goin’ on here?!”

“Applejack?!”

Where the door once stood was now a pile of splintered wood scattered across her bedroom floor. An enraged dapple coated mare and an even keeled stallion stood atop the wreckage. The mare was reeling in Discord toward what remained of the entrance of Fluttershy’s door. Discord flopped helplessly in confusion like a fish. If it had been any other time, Fluttershy would have found it hysterical.

“Applejack? Big Mac?” Fluttershy asked, astounded, “What are you guys doing here?”

“Saving ya from this here varmint, sugah cube!” Applejack grunted, putting emphasis on each word as she hogtied a recovering Discord.

“Eyup.” Big Mac offered helpfully.

“Hey!!” Discord protested, struggling against his bonds. “I ain’t no varmint! There’s not a single varmint body part on me-OW!” A small white furry ninja emerged from behind Big Mac and swiftly drop kicked Discord in the head.

Fluttershy giggled nervously. With the now open source of ventilation, the heat that had consumed her minutes prior was quickly dissipating. She felt her cheeks blush in embarrassment. She quickly glanced at Discord who was scowling and attempting to fight off Angel by blowing at him. He was not successful. Fluttershy moved to help him fend off the angry rabbit but hesitated. Now that the fuzziness was gone, she suddenly felt very uncomfortable and strange being near the Draconequus.

Applejack seemed to pick up on this. “Big Mac. Angel. Can ya’ll take our dragon friend outside? Fluttershy and I need to ‘ave a gurl’s talk.”

Discord’s face snapped back to attention as Big Mac took the rope from Applejack. “Wait! No! I need to talk to Flutters!!” He whined. He twisted his head toward his Pegasus friend as he was slowly dragged out of the room. “Fluttershy! Make them stop!” he pleaded as Big Mac finally dragged the unwilling Draconequus outside, followed by a still very much angry Angel.

“Um...I’ll talk to you later, Dissy,” Fluttershy called out helpfully.

“I’ll turn your whole family into a pile of apple tarts!!” his voice echoed from down the hallway.

Applejack waited until the boys were gone before turning her attention to Fluttershy. She tipped her hat and gave an awkward wave. “Howdy, Fluttershy.”

“Hi, Applejack.”

Applejack shifted awkwardly. “Uh, so you wanna talk about it?” she offered. Fluttershy nodded but didn’t move. Applejack contemplated this and clicked her tongue. “How about we talk about it downstairs over some sweet tea?”

Fluttershy beamed at the idea. “That, that sounds really nice actually.” She got up and followed her friend out the door and toward the kitchen.

Chapter 6: The Girls' Plan

Author's Notes:

Things are moving now. I have been exhausted this last week but I have more time this time around so I should be more on time with updates. :D

Chapter 6:

“So, you’re ‘aving your first heat,” Applejack chuckled as Fluttershy sighed. They were sitting in Fluttershy’s kitchen at the table. Fluttershy hadn’t felt like making tea but Applejack had graciously offered to supply the mixings and brewed a pot of Southern sweet tea. There was enough sugar in the teapot to caramelize a full set of pony teeth but it did not bother the two friends. For now, it was a welcome change.

Fluttershy sipped her tea. “Yes, I thought I had it under control, but then Discord…” She let her voice trail off and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment again. They had been moments away from the edge and to have Applejack burst in while she was pinned under the heat induced Discord probably didn’t look too good for her male friend.

Applejack winced. She was still getting used to Discord’s personality. She had realized, especially after the Tirek incident, that she and the other girls had not always been as friendly to him as they should have. Heck, most of the times they weren’t even polite to him so it was no surprise that he was able to be manipulated to the force of evil when 5 out of his 6 “friends” didn’t seem to really want to be friends with him. She and the girls were working on being better friends with the chaotic god and he had seemed to appreciate it.

“Yah, he’s a bit unpredictable,” she admitted.

“He didn’t mean to do this!” Fluttershy quickly defended her friend earnestly. She was taken aback by the assertive way she said this. “Um, I don’t think he meant to-”

Applejack held up a hoof. “Ah believe yah, Fluttershy. Prankster is one thing. Rapist-nah.” Fluttershy blushed. Applejack put on hoof on Fluttershy’s arm. “Listen here, the first heat is always the worst. If Granny Smith hadn’t been there for mah first, ah coulda turned out a total wreck.” Fluttershy relaxed as Applejack sheepishly admitted it. “Did ya get through any of Twi’s book?”

Fluttershy sighed. “Sorta. I got a bit preoccupied when the heat started. It was so hard to concentrate,” Fluttershy winnied. She glanced around. “Um, where did Big Mac put Discord?”

Applejack smiled wickedly. “They’re outside having a boy’s talk so we’re on the same page about this.” Fluttershy wasn’t sure how much of a talk the three could have when one only spoke in Yups and Nopes and the other could only squeak. But Applejack seemed confident so Fluttershy trusted in her judgement.

“So how long does a heat last?” Fluttershy asked.

Applejack sighed. “A few days.” Fluttershy groaned and rested her head on both hooves. “Were ya planning on tryin to stay in your room the whole time?”

“Um, kinda.”

Applejack laughed and gave her a hard slap on the back that made her almost choke on her tea. “Ah, no no no. Ya can’t do that. You’ll go crazy. You’ll have nuthin to do but focus on your heat. Nah, ya gotta distract yourself.” Applejack puffed out her chest with pride. “Ah always used hard work..but that might not work for ya,” Applejack admitted, noting Fluttershy’s slender figure.

Fluttershy contemplated that. “Well I guess hanging out with a friend might distract me…” Fluttershy began. Applejack suddenly reached over and shook Fluttershy quickly and she gave a startled cry. “What did you do that for?” Fluttershy asked.

Applejack gave her a stern look. “Not Discord.”

“I-I didn’t say anything about Discord,” Fluttershy protested but Applejack stopped her.

“Ah know, but your body is saying otherwise.” Applejack pointed out. Fluttershy looked down at herself and paused. Sure enough, her whole body shifted toward the nearest door to the outside. Even her tail was flicking agitatedly in that direction. She quickly readjusted herself to face her friend.

“Oh Applejack, what should I do? I don’t even know if I want to have any friends over after all of this happened! Everything here reminds me of something” Fluttershy moaned.

Applejack thought about it for a moment and then smiled broadly. “Well, what if we all hang out somewhere else?”

Fluttershy’s looked at her in confusion, “Like, Sugarcube corner?”

“No, no. Not even in Ponyville. Listen…”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Okay, all better now! Can I go talk to Fluttershy now?”

“Nnope.”

“Really, this is ridiculous. I’m fine!”

“Nnope”

“I’m not fine?”

“Nnope.”

Discord grumbled as he gave up talking to Big Mac. It was hard to converse with someone whose vocabulary consisted of only Eyup and Nnope. He glanced at Angel who was still eying him suspiciously. Big Mac had managed to get the rabbit to stop assaulting him for now. But the moment the big stallion’s back was turned, that deranged bunny would go straight for the throat.

Discord fiddled with the ropes again but gave up quickly. The Apple family was an industrious and strong willed family who didn’t quit easily. Their knots were no different. He knew he could just snap his fingers and wish himself away to be with his dear Fluttershy but part of him decided against it. It’s not fun being predictable and god like all the time. Plus, it gives me a chance to figure out what the heck happened.

He started at the beginning of his day. Woke up on the tower, ate a breakfast of plastic play pen balls, rode the leftovers into the throne room and skedaddled on a rainbow colored moped before the Fuzz showed up. Nothing unusual there. He mentally stroked his beard. No, this all started with Fluttershy.

“So...our friend Fluttershy is in heat?” Discord questioned.

“Eyup.” Discord raised an eyebrow at the stallion’s calmness.

“Ah.” Discord mulled over this information. A sharp twinge of suspicion made him narrow his eyes at Big Mac. “So you’re a colt too.”

“Eyup.”

“You wouldn’t have any interest in Fluttershy would you?” The words came out before he could catch himself. They came out a little darker than he would have liked to as well.

His mood actually darkened when the stallion started heartily chuckling at him. “Ehnope!” Discord was annoyed at the laughter but calmed down. I might not be able to understand certain members of the Apple Family, but I know they are all PAINFULLY honest.

Discord returned to reflecting. The weird started when I found Fluttershy. That amazing aroma around her. I felt like a bee to a flower. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

Or maybe she was always like that, he thought with a smile. Discord hadn’t admitted it, but he did really look forward to their hangouts together. She tolerated his pranks and could laugh with him. I don’t feel judged or constrained with her. I think I am actually more free with her than I was when I ruled Equestria. He caught Big Mac smirking at him and Discord realized he had a stupid grin on his face.

He scowled at the colt but couldn’t shake the strangely warm fluffy feeling that had settled in his chest at the thought of her. We went to her bedroom and I locked the door...and I kissed her. He paused. He could still taste her on his lips. I kissed my best friend. And she didn’t stop me. “I kissed Fluttershy.” he announced out loud. She liked it.

Or did she? His brow furrowed. Well maybe she wasn’t willing at first. Maybe I did go a bit overboard. “She didn’t say no!” he argued outloud, “But I don’t know if she liked it.” He paused and grinned. “Of course she liked it. I’m Discord! I’m amazing at everything!” he announced, attempting to strike a pose but ended up flopping over onto his face.

Angel and Big Mac exchanged looks and continued to observe the Draconequus as was absorbed in his self narration. Discord ignored his audience, “Maybe I did go overboard,” he admitted, “She said she was scared of us?” He glanced over at Angel, “Fuzzball, do you know what she meant by that?”

Angel shrugged before lobbing a sharp stick at Discord which he caught with his tongue and chewed on thoughtfully.

Maybe she was scared that she could get pregnant. “Fluttershy is a virgin, right Angel?” Discord asked casually. He zoned out the angry shrieks and squeaks this question instigated as Big Mac was forced to calm down the rabbit before he could jump the cheeky Draconequus. Pregnancy was scary and I’m not sure I would make a really stable father. He smiled again as he caught another stick and swallowed it.

Fluttershy would make a most excellent mother...and a very desirable wife.

Wife? There was that thought again. He tried to shoot it down with mental lasers but it floated away quickly, leaving him to contemplate another aspect. Maybe she was worried about what other ponies would think of us if she had slept with me. Reputations were not something Discord was all that concerned about since he was used to basically doing what he wanted without worrying about the consequences. But Fluttershy was different.

Fluttershy deserved some type of normal family life. The thought of other ponies gossiping about her angered him but he finally dismissed the thoughts. Thinking is hard and I’m bored now.

“Well,” Discord stretched, snapping his fingers and turning the ropes into glitter, “This has been truly delightful but I’m afraid I must go to Fluttershy.” He eagerly shook a surprised Big Mac hoof and Angel paw, “But both of you...Absolutely fantastic conversationalists. Both of you. We must really get together for a guy tea of our own. Ta ta!” And with another snap, he disappeared in a pile of jelly beans.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy considered the idea. “You really think that’s a good idea, Applejack?”

Applejack nodded enthusiastically. “Ah course ah do. The change in environment will keep your mind off your heat. Besides,” Applejack added with a grimace, “This will finally get Rarity off our backs about never taking a girls’ trip. We’ll leave in the morning, get there, we’ll spend the day and night there and come back the next day. Good weekend trip”

“All the way to Canterlot.” Fluttershy said, almost dreamily, “I haven’t been on a vacation in a while. It would be nice to get away for a bit,” She admitted. Maybe it will give me a chance to actually figure out what I think about Discord. “When are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow mornin’ ah reckon,” Applejack admitted, “Once Rarity’s got an idea, ah know she wants to jump on it quick. We’ll all meet at Sugarcube corner tomorrow morning-”

“Oh goody!!! Where are we going?” A third voice exclaimed, causing both Fluttershy and Applejack to jump in their seats. Discord materialized right next to Fluttershy and immediately draped himself over her shoulders.

“Oh, h-hey Discord!” Fluttershy stammered, unprepared for the sudden physical contact shot of warmth up and down her body., “We-we were just-”

“We are going on a weekend vacation,” Applejack firmly stated, reaching forward to push Discord off of Fluttershy. He repositioned himself to avoid the cowgirl’s hoof so he was wrapped around Fluttershy’s front leg.

“Oh! A vacation! I’ve been wanting to go on one in ages. Being trapped in stone really does a number on your back. We’ll go pack our bags,” Discord smirked, “Applejack, you get yours.” He attempted to shoo Applejack away but she wasn’t having it.

“It’s a girls’ trip.” Applejack clenched her teeth and swung for him again.

Discord stuck out his tongue. “Oh picky picky! Fine!” He snapped his fingers and soon sported a very 70s style female blonde wig. “I do nails but I won’t be braiding anyone’s mane. That’s just too girly for me.” Discord caught Applejack’s hoof and pushed her by her head toward the front door, “So go pack your bag and Flutters and I will see you in the morning.” Discord shot Fluttershy a mischievous grin at the word “morning” that unnerved Fluttershy and made her heart skip a beat.

Applejack stuck to her guns. “You’re not coming.” She tried to push Discord’s paw off her face, but the height disparity made it very difficult for her to do so, leaving her to swing at the empty air.

Discord snorted. “Oh posh, it’s a friends’ trip. Fluttershy, surely I am allowed to go?” His question was met with silence. He coughed awkwardly and looked over at Fluttershy. She wasn’t making eye contact with him. “Um...Flutters...I am coming with you, right?”

Fluttershy bit her lip. “Well...um...maybe...I don’t think so. I think this is going to be a girl’s trip. Without you.”

The silence afterward was crushingly awkward to say the least. Discord quickly recovered and cleared his throat. “Well, ahem, yes, I guess based on certain circumstances and other pony opinions- that I suppose some female alone time might be called for.” He attempted to laugh as he said this as he quickly disentangled himself from Fluttershy.

“You don’t mind?” Fluttershy asked carefully.

Discord waved his hands dismissively as he backed out towards the door. “No, what me? No. Don’t worry about little old me. I’ll be fine. Just fine.” He walked to the door, opened it, stepped through and shut it after him.

Applejack and Fluttershy exchanged a concerned look before Fluttershy trotted over to the door and knocked on it. “Um, Discord. You’re in the pantry.”

Discord reopened the door and sheepishly grinned. “I knew that. I know everything,” he insisted as Fluttershy walked him to the door. “Like how many woods can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? And the number of licks to the center of a Tootsie pop!” He reached the door and his shoulders sagged.

Fluttershy sighed, “Discord...”

“31 woods.”

Fluttershy approached the Draconequus. He didn’t look at her but shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Discord,” she took his paw and he looked up at her hopefully, “We’ll talk when this is all over. I promise.” His ears sagged and his head drooped down to her level.

“Fine...fine...I’ll do it your way.”

Fluttershy felt guilty seeing the dejected Draconequus and quickly leaned forward toward him and planted a small peck on the cheek. He look up eagerly and reached for her only for her to quickly shut the door in his face and knock him down the steps.

“I’m sorry, Discord!” Fluttershy called from the house as he sat up from his fall.

“93 licks!” He called back triumphantly before he vanished in a rain of muffins.

Chapter 7: The Boys' Plan

Author's Notes:

I'm on schedule! I can't believe I'm on schedule! Oh my goodness, the week I've had. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I enjoy writing this.

“Um Rarity, are you sure you really need this many suitcases for a weekend trip?” Spike asked, dragging the 7th suitcase to the center of her boutique. Ever since Applejack stopped by a few hours ago, Rarity hadn’t stopped running around her store and packing suitcases. He was about to leave the suitcase where it stood but she flashed him a dazzling pearly white smile that made his legs feel like jello. He mustered up the strength to stack the 7th suitcase with the rest of her supplies.

“Why of course, my Spikey wikey!” Rarity gleefully exclaimed, “One must always be prepared for a trip to Canterlot. There are many many important ponies to meet and see and one must always be ready with the right outfit to make the best impression. For example, if we run into the Dutchess of Pinto Gardens, I distinctly remember that she has a fondness for gold and amber tones but shies away from the darker mauve colors while the Prince of Staffordshire actually prefers the mauve colors and is ambivalent about the gold but absolutely abhors anything in stripes.”

Rarity went on as Spike went and fetched the next suitcase. He hadn’t heard much of what Applejack had told Rarity as she spoke in whispers, but he did catch a few words. He was about to question Rarity when her voice rang over his thoughts.

“And I most certainly must have a perfect outfit if I happen to meet a special somepony on our little girls’ expedition.”

Spike felt a twinge of jealousy over Rarity’s comment but he attempted not to show it. Instead he focused his frustrations on lifting the next suitcase. “A special somepony huh? Like Prince Blueblood?” he teased.

Rarity made such a face. “Oh goodness no and don’t you dare say that odious pony’s name in my presence. Such an oaf. No manners on how to treat a real lady. No! My special somepony must be somepony who knows how to treat a pony right. Sweep her off her feet. Romance her. Perhaps some formal dancing training so if we were ever presented at the royal court, we could dance together.”

“I can dance,” Spike muttered, tossing the eighth suitcase into the pile.

“I’m sorry dear, what was that?” Rarity asked, glancing over at him while she was head deep in a shelf of linens.

“What are your plans?” he lied quickly.

“Oh, well Pinkie dear says she knows somepony who could get us tickets into one of the most exclusive Canterlots clubs. There’s a special performance there and tickets were sold out months ago but Pinkie seems to know everyone and she says she has a way for us to see it. Isn’t that excting?” Rarity paused and looked sadly at Spike, “Oh Spikey! Here I am talking about how we are going to have a fabulous time and it’s so rude of me to do this in front of you since it's a girls’ only type of thing.” Rarity trotted over and nuzzled his head affectionately. “I promise Spike if you take good care of my shop while I’m gone, you and I will go together to see the sights at Canterlot.” She winked at him. “And I’ll give you the biggest diamond you could munch on.”

Spike smiled goofily at Rarity’s touch and words. Lately, he had been finding it harder to keep away from her boutique but she didn’t seem to mind. She almost welcomed his help especially since it was dress-making season. Sometimes the mannequins were not sufficient to model the dresses she made and she would have him help dress her so she could see how they fit on real pony. Watching her slip in and out of outfits in front of him was starting to create a different type of feeling within him that he hadn’t felt until the last few weeks.

Twilight thought it might be puberty or something. Spike thought, She says I’m eating more than I normally do. And some days I’m more taller than normal. At the thought of Rarity undressing again, Spike blushed and decided to ask her about the previous conversation she had with Applejack.

“Rarity, what’s a heat?” He watched Rarity almost drop her pile of scarves but quickly recovered gracefully and without missing a beat.

“A heat, oh darling, you don’t need to worry about that. You’re a little too young for that.”

“No, I’m not. Twilight said I’m getting older. Please Rarity! Nobody else will share it with me,” Spike asked, appealing to her sense of generosity. Rarity bit her lip and sighed. Spike did a mental celebration.

“Oh very well darling. I suppose you’re right. You do seem more dashing than usual.” Rarity cleared her throat, “When a pony goes through heat, their body is trying to help them to find a special somepony. Heats only come during the warmer months and can be as often as once a month or as infrequent as once a year. If a mare finds a special somepony and cough cough cough mates cough cough then they start a family. cough cough. And that’s what a heat is! Does that make sense?”

"Um...I guess so?"

“Oh good. Now let us never speak of this again until you are older.” Rarity smiled nervously at him.

Spike considered the explanation and then a lightbulb hit him. “Wait, Rarity, do you have a heat?” Rarity glanced nervously around.

“Oh haha, Spike, that’s what I love about you. Always looking for knowledge. You take after Twilight Sparkle so much. She would be so proud of you.” Spike beamed in appreciation as Rarity magicked over the last suitcase. “Well I have kept you here awfully late, Spike. Please take this gem as token of my appreciation. I will see you soon.” Rarity ushered him out the door and placed in his dragon claw an opal.

“Cool!” Spike exclaimed, sucking on the gem as he walked his way back to Twilight’s new home. He stopped a few feet away. “Wait a minute. She never answered my question....”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Honey! I’m home!!” Discord hollered as he teleported into existence in front of Fluttershy’s house, “I just came by to wish you a bon voyage and-oh you’re not here.” Discord stood dejectedly in front of an empty house. The door had been closed up and the lights were off. He checked the time. 7am.

I wake up early and yet she still leaves earlier than me. Without even saying good bye. Discord thought glumly. He spotted a note on the door and he quickly opened it up.

Derpy - if you happen to stop by to bring me a package, could you return Twilight’s book for me? It is under the door mat.

Discord crumpled up the note and ate it in a single gulp before lifting up the door mat. He blinked in surprise. It was Twilight’s little science book on pony reproduction. He scooped it up and looked around. “Hmm, no Derpy in sight. I think I would be doing Fluttershy a huge favor if I returned this book for her” and maybe I’ll catch her before she can leave he thought giddily. He snapped his fingers and blinked out of existence.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Spike rolled down the grassy hill with Rarity in his arms. Despite the mud and dirt, her coat stayed impeccably shiny and clean. They landed at the bottom of the hill in each other’s arms.

“Oh Spikey wikey!” she cooed, “I never knew that you took formal dance lessons at the Canterlot ballroom!”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Spike spoke in a much deeper voice, “I am handsome and strangely mysterious.”

“And the dozens of roses you left for me at my palace. Those were the most beautiful roses I ever saw!”

“Only the best for you.”

“Kiss me Spike,” Rarity gasped. Spike grinned and leaned forward to kiss her. He was about to make contact when the sound of glass shattering paused Rarity. “Oh, Spike you better wake up and check to see what that is?”

Wake up? Wait, no no no no no!

Spike sat up quickly in his bed with a frustrated groan. “I can’t keep having that dream!!” Spike moaned, sitting up quickly and walking to the sink to dunk his head in some cold water. He started to rinse his scales when he froze. “Broken glass?” He gritted his teeth, “An intruder!” Spike ran to get his gear.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Oops. Well it wasn’t really good looking anyway,” Discord muttered as he knocked over another crystal stalagmite to the ground. He peered around in the darkness carefully. He hadn’t been to Twilight’s Palace since it was first created and was having some difficulty remembering where everything was. The fact that it was dark and his mind was distracted did not help.

He paused. “I have the strange feeling I’m being watched,” he observed. As if on cue, a heavy weight struck him from behind and knocked him to the ground.

“Take that! Take that! Get out of here you intruder!” a familiar voice yelled at him. Discord growled and with cat like reflexes turned around and lunged at his attacker.

His attacker was much smaller than him, although almost the size of a pony, but not quite. It had claws like him...and scales...purple scales. They grappled to the floor, locking their appendages around each other’s necks until they finally landed in a patch of light and could see each other. Discord coughed breathlessly, “Spike?!”

“Discord?!” Spike choked

“...Same team?!”

“...Same team!!”

The two members of the dragon family released their holds on each other and dusted themselves off. Discord observed Spike. “You look a bit bigger than I remember,” He observed, “Are you hitting puberty?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, that’s what Twi thinks. I feel stronger too. Now what the heck are you doing here?” Spike demanded.

Discord huffed. “Well if you must know, I came here to return a book for my dear Fluttershy...And maybe see the girls off on their little...trip.” Discord did his best not to stick his tongue out at this. To his surprise, Spike stuck out his own tongue instead.

“Well you’re too late,” Spike grimaced, “The girls already left a while ago. Off to Canterlot to do cool things and maybe meet a few colts.” Discord’s smile froze.

Colts? Fluttershy is off to meet colts? He grinded his teeth. “I see,” he managed. Spike looked up at him suspiciously.

“So...I heard you and Fluttershy had something happen yesterday.” Spike ventured.

Discord swiveled in on Spike and almost shouted. “She was in her first heat! I thought it was consensual and now I can’t go on their trip!” Spike blinked.

“Wait, what?” Discord looked at him stunned and realized Spike looked awfully surprised. Spike coughed, “I thought you guys had an argument or something...but are you telling me that you had sex with Fluttershy??” Discord opened and closed his mouth mechanically and then scowled. “Wait, what do you mean you thought it was consensual?” Spike asked, carefully.

Discord facepalmed himself. Way to go Discord, corrupting the innocent minds of your friends’ assistants one day at a time. Way to earn back their trust and friendship. “Listen, I just want to return this book about pony heat stuff alright?”

To his surprise, Spike’s eyes almost bugged out of his skull at the mention of the book subject. “You have a book on this?? Give it to me!!” Discord was about to hand it over but paused and stroked his beard thoughtfully.

“...What’s in it for me?” Discord craftily asked. Spike folded his arms.

“If you give me the book, I won’t tell anyone that you have a huge crush on Fluttershy!” Discord’s eyes widened and he choked on his own saliva.

“What? That’s preposterous. A Draconequus has far more important things to do than crush on a simple pony.” he attempted to boast. This comment seemed to agitate Spike.

“What’s wrong with a dragon crushing on a simple pony, huh?”

“I didn’t say anything about a dragon. I said a draconequus…” Discord paused and smirked at the now exposed Spike. “Well well. Looks like we both have our little secrets.” He extended his talon’s pinky finger toward Spike, “Let’s shake on it. I promise not to spread any false rumors of you slaving for the love of that generous pony and you will not malign my name with talks of a relationship with Fluttershy. We’ll promise this on our shared lineage of dragonhood.”

Spike eyed him carefully, smiled and pinky promised. “Deal. Now hand me the book.”

Discord shook his head. “I need to know where exactly the girls are going.” Spike sighed.

“Listen, they’re going to Canterlot alright? There’s some type of show that Pinkie got tickets for. I don’t really know much. They were all hush hush when they planned it. Now please don’t go wrecking anything because I’ll get in big trouble with Twilight if she finds out I told you anything.”

Discord harrumphed. “Well I suppose that will do.” He handed the book off to the eager dragon and he sat down in one of the crystal throne chairs. For a chair made out of crystal, it was surprisingly comfy. There was probably some form of magic involved to make it this soft. He thought about placing invisible whoopie cushions on each of them and set about doing it while he thought about his situation.

“I knew it was about sex!” he could hear Spike holler as he read the pages. Discord rolled his eyes, continued to conjure up cushions and contemplate bitterly. So my dear Fluttershy is heading to Canterlot. Lots of male ponies there. A good portion of them of noble birth and high rank. And attractive too. Much younger than an old goat like me.

“Ohhhh! So that’s what a Dirty Strawberry looks like!”

Discord clicked his talons on the armrest of his crystal chair. As much as I would like to go after her, I can’t afford to be seen...and unless I have a really good reason for going after them, I’m going to do more harm than good if I just show up when I’ve been told not to. I better just..

“DISCORD!!”

Discord blinked and turned toward a pale Spike. “What’s wrong?” he asked dismissively.

“Did you read the article about a mare’s first heat?” Discord shook his head and began to flick at his ears as Spike read aloud.

“When a mare first starts her cycle, she enters what is called “First Heat”. She is extremely receptive to members of the opposite sex and will often attract multiple males to her. Ultimately, she will only choose one to copulate with and potentially produce offspring with.”

Discord growled, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Spike continued, “If a mare in First heat is housed or grouped with other females, her hormones will also trigger a heat in the females around her that will be as potent as a First Heat. It is recommended that a mare in First heat should avoid such close quarters such as trains, busy cities and theaters where ventilation is minimal and her ability to spread first heat will be the greatest.”

Discord blinked slowly as Spike’s words sunk in. “Wait...are you saying..?”

Spike brought both hands to his face and gasped, “Fluttershy is going to spread her heat to Rarity!!” Spike threw down the book dejectedly and raged, “And I won’t be there for it!!!” He looked at Discord, “WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!”

Silence followed. The silence was broken when Discord snorted and burst into laughter. The tiny dragon stood there, almost turning red with rage at the older god’s mocking laughter. “That’s ALL you care about? I’m not breaking my promise just so you can get a chance to get in on an older female?”

Spike opened his mouth to shout back but paused. He returned back to his purple shade and a sinister smile encroached on his face. “I guess you’re right. Just imagine how popular Fluttershy is going to be when she meets a nice, handsome colt who isn’t thousands of years older than her.”

The laughter died in Discord’s throat and he opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. Spike chuckled and walked back toward his bed. “Heck, maybe she’ll meet somepony named Brock or something. And he’ll take care of animals in the royal gardens and she will go live with him in Canterlot. I do love Canterlot weddings-”

Spike’s antagonizing speech was cut short when he was spun around and came face to face with an absolutely livid Discord. Spike’s voice died in his throat and he stared back fearfully at the angry god. “Um, well maybe not exactly that..what I meant to say.”

“We’re. Going. To. Canterlot.”

It was Spike’s turn to blink now. “Um, what? But you just said…Twilight said..”

Discord released Spike and stood up, turning away from the stunned dragon and running his paw through mane that had become more askew than normal in the past five minutes. “See here. Yes Egghead did say I was not supposed to go after them. And I do intend to keep my promise. BUT!” he turned on Spike and made the dragon jump back in surprise. “That is the words of a level headed pony. And our friends are certainly no longer level headed!”

“They’re not?”

“No!”

Discord snapped his fingers and sported a white lab coat complete with glasses. Another snap conjured an old fashioned green chalkboard with wheels. Discord picked up a piece of chalk and began to draw. “Yes you see, my dear Spike. Heat can turn the most level headed pony into a sex crazed addict.”

“Fluttershy is a sex crazed addict?” Spike questioned.

Discord popped into existence right in front of Spike and shook him. “DO NOT CALL MY FLUTTERSHY A SEX CRAZED ADDICT!” He coughed and calmed down. “She is a special pony.” He vanished and reappeared back to the chalkboard and began to draw a pony. “As I was saying, heat can tamper with the mind and make it more suggestive to do things it would not normally do. Like choosing to mingle with other ponies when they have better individuals to hang and mingle with,” he grumbled, almost crumbling the chalk in his hand.

Spike thought about following up this random statement with a question but decided against it. He put his hand to his chin and feigned acknowledgment. “Ah, I see.”

This reaction apparently appeased Discord and he continued to draw his own pony. “So, the ponies mingle and the longer they are in contact with members of the opposite sex, they are more likely to pair off, male to female. Like always.”

“Um..” Discord paused and raised an eyebrow at Spike.

“What?”

“I don’t think all male and females ponies mix together,” Spike tried to suggest.

“I don’t follow.”

“Um, I think some female ponies might like...other female ponies. And some male ponies might like other male ponies.”

Discord blinked again. “Wait really?”

Spike nodded, “Yeah. Lyra and Bon Bon go on date nights every now and then. Twilight knows a few more couples. I’m sure there’s more.” Spike gasped and looked sadly up at Discord. “Are those ponies going to start liking members of the opposite gender because of heat?” The last thing I would want is for pony relationships to be ruined because of hormones Spike thought sadly.

Discord thought about this. The little dragon’s got a point. It wouldn’t make much sense if heat would make ponies in relationships seek out sexual gratification with a pony that wasn’t their partner. Any offspring resulting from that type of encounter probably wouldn’t be raised with nearly as much success as offspring resulting from a happy couple.

Discord tried to answer this carefully. “I don’t think heat will break apart a current relationship...regardless of the genders of the ponies. Heat is supposed to be make families, not break up families.” He lowered his voice, “Although it can certainly break relationships that haven’t started yet.”

“What?”

“Nothing. You’re distracting me...Stop it.” Discord cleared his throat. “Well our friends are single and currently unattached to a mate. And thus, their minds will be easily swayed by the effects of heat!” Discord popped into existence and grabbed Spike. “Because of this, we have to go to Canterlot!”

“We do?”

“Yes! It is our duty to our friends!” Discord eagerly insisted, squishing the tiny dragon to his chest. “We must make sure that they end up with the right mates!” Spike brightened up at the thought and smiled giddily.

“Yes, the right mates,” he wondered dreamily. Both males became lost in their thoughts for a moment, each dreaming about their own pony. Spike came to first and coughed awkwardly. “Um...Discord?”

“Yes my love?”

“What?!”

“Er, I mean, what?”

“Even if we do get to Canterlot in time, how are we going to help the girls without them noticing us?” Discord thoughtfully stroked his beard at the legitimate question. “I mean, we don’t exactly fit in with the rest of mainstream pony society. Don’t you have any disguises or something?”

“No…”

“Seriously? Don’t you have a plan?”

Discord smirked. “Frankly my dear, I never have a plan.” With one fell swoop, he scooped the smaller dragon in one hand and with a snap of his fingers, the two disappeared in a flash.

Chapter 8: Holes in the Plan (Part 1)

Author's Notes:

So...this is Part 1 of Chapter 8. I unfortunately hit some major roadblocks to writing due to coworkers getting super sick and my having to work double shifts. But I wanted to keep on schedule with my weekly updates. Part 2 should be coming sooner than a week and then back to normal. So sorry for a short chapter which I'm sure is riddled with spelling/grammar errors. :(

Chapter 8: Holes in the Plan (Part 1)

“Ugh, can you open up the window, Pinkie? I’m roasting in here!” Rainbow Dash complained as she flopped against the train.

“Okay dokey lokey!” Pinkie reached to grab the window but Twilight spoke out.

“Pinkie! Don’t open it too much! The wind may blow away all my lists!” Twilight protested, clutching her precious parchment close to her.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Well, open the window at least 20% more?” Pinkie paused to do some mental calculations and then started unlocking the window.

“Rarity, ah can’t thank ya enough for springing for the private cart,” Applejack thanked Rarity who sat across from her, fanning herself with a laced lily, delicate fan.

“Oh really, it was nothing. I’ve been dying for a girls’ trip and what better way to start it than to have our very own room on the train! Oh! Pinkie darling, do hurry up with that window. I can feel myself blushing.”

“I’m trying!” Pinkie giggled, jiggling the locking mechanism.

Fluttershy listened in on our friends’ conversation but said nothing. Applejack was right when she said Rarity would be able to arrange everything so quickly. She was even able to secure a private coach for them on the train to try to give them some privacy. Or at least that’s what she claimed. Fluttershy was aware that private coach travelers were allowed more baggage space and judging by the number of bags Rarity had packed, Rarity was definitely making good use of this rule.

All six friends filled up the seats of the private cart. It was by no means large, but it was roomy enough for them to have to stretch their hooves out completely before they would bump into each other. Twilight sat in the middle of one of the 2 large seats, holding her papers closely together. Twilight was having difficulty hanging on to the parchment while being jostled by her friends and was having to resort to using magic to balance the ink and feather pen. Twilight looked like she definitely missed the assistance of Spike, but there was no helping that now.

Fluttershy’s mind drifted to thoughts of Discord. I wonder what he’s doing now. I hope he’s not too sad...or at least I hope he’s not getting into trouble. She watched the landscape whiz by in a blur and a small part of her hoped that somehow maybe Discord would appear by the window. He does have a habit of showing up unexpectedly. She felt her cheeks warm at the thought of him popping into existence and touching her shoulders again.

Fluttershy caught a glimpse of Applejack watching her and remembered her friend’s words. I can’t think about him right now. Her friends’ voices were faint and Fluttershy forced herself to come back to reality with a shake of her silky mane. Twilight’s voice rang out.

“Girls! We can’t keep shouting ideas! We need a plan! So let’s start over so I can write everything down so we can do everything we want in the most efficient and time saving manner possible!” Twilight shouted, her face red from the warmth of six ponies in a tiny cart.

Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. “Plans smlans. We don’t need a plan. We can wing it!” Rainbow called over her shoulder at Pinkie. “How’s it going Pinkie?”

Pinkie was almost sweat drenched and beating the lock with her rubber pink inflatable mallet. “Almost got it!” she sang out happily.

Twilight huffed. “Well I want a plan. It would be even better if we have a back up plan, but I will settle for a plan with some alternatives if we need it.”

Rainbow Dash was about to protest but Applejack gave her a stern look. Rainbow Dash groaned and flopped back into her chair. “Alright, alright.”

Twilight beamed. She cleared her throat and began to read out loud. “At 12:00, we will arrive at the Canterlot station. We will meet Pinkie’s friend who will give us tickets. The event starts at 5pm so this gives us only 5 hours to decide what to do.”

“Only?” Rainbow Dash snickered before Applejack elbowed her in the side.

Rarity, however, took this news much more seriously. “Oh dear. Only 5 hours? We’ll never make it to the royal sightseeing tours!” The rest of the ponies exchanged looks but none of them knew what she was talking about.

Twilight gave her a reassuring pat. “Don’t worry, Rarity. If we make a plan now, we should hopefully have enough time.” Twilight glanced over at Applejack who motioned toward Fluttershy silently. Twilight understood and nodded. “Fluttershy?”

“Do you have anything you want to do when you get there?”

Fluttershy paused and thought about this. What do I want to do? Fluttershy wondered. She wasn’t that familiar with Canterlot as Rarity and Twilight although she had gone several times. This was usually though at the invitation of the Princesses so she didn’t really add anything to the plan in that case.

The sound of her stomach grumbling quickly decided for her. “Um, if it’s alright by you Twilight, I would like to get something to eat, if that’s okay?”

Twilight rubbed her stomach too. “Actually that’s a really good idea. My stomach has been hurting since we got on this train.”

“Mine too!” Pinkie squeaked, smashing her hammer against the stubborn lock, “I need something to fill me up! Otherwise I won’t have enough energy for tonight!” She looked over at Rainbow Dash, “Hey Dashy! I think it’s stuck from the outside!”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Seriously? All your talking about food is making my stomach hurt too.” She stood up. “I’m going to fly outside and fix it myself!”

Rarity fanned herself, “Do be careful, Rainbow Dash. I’d like us all to have at least lunch together without somepony suffering some form of bodily injury before tonight!”

“Are you kidding? This train is way slower than me. I might just decide to fly to Canterlot once I’m out there and meet you slowpokes there!” Rainbow Dash boasted. She trotted over to the door and let herself out, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Twilight returned to the list. “So lunch after tickets. I’m sure Pinkie’s friend will be able to show us a good place for lunch for our group.”

Pinkie bounced at the mention of her friend back on to her seat and gave a gigantic smile. “Of course! Cheese has been everywhere! I’m sure he would know a whole lotta places-!”

“Um, Pinkie, did ya just say Cheese?” Applejack interrupted quickly, a shot of concern striking her already tender stomach, “As in Cheese Sandwich?”

“Um yeahhh!” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, “How do ya think I got tickets so fast? I don’t know that many ponies!”

Pinkie’s words conjured up images in her friends’ minds of entire village parties and celebrations in other towns all hosted by Pinkie Pie. In Pinkie’s mind Applejack thought bemusedly, that’s not a lot of ponies. I can’t even imagine that many ponies!

“Um, Pinkie,” Twilight ventured, “This is supposed to be a girls only trip.”

Pinkie Pie cocked her head to the side like a confused puppy. “Of course! I know that!” Realization dawned on her. “Ohhhh. Cheese isn’t a girl!” She scratched her fluffy mane, “Well I didn’t think Cheese was going to be a problem. I mean, he’s like my bestie party pony. He’s like you guys but a guy.”

The girls exchanged glances. They never had a problem with Cheese in the past. He was a nice enough pony. And he hadn’t been interested in other ponies like that as far as they could tell.

Pinkie’s sense tingled and she gave a big smile. “Ohhh noo! No don’t worry about Cheese! Cheese has a marefriend!” The faces turned from worried exchanges to shock. “What? I mean, I think he does. Why is that weird?”

Rarity coughed, “Uh nothing. We just didn’t expect Cheese would have the um..time to have a marefriend?” Rarity attempted.

Pinkie Pie hesitated. “Oh well, he’s always super busy but he’s a really really nice colt. He just doesn’t really have time for me anyway. He’s been talking a lot about planning events with a mare named Jelly Bean. “ Applejack could have sworn that Pinkie’s gigantic smile faltered a little bit at the end of this sentence but it was hard to tell for sure. Pinkie often shook and her smile changed when she was excited. Which was pretty much all the time.

“Well,” Applejack began slowly, “In that case, I reckon that’d be alright if everypony else is okay with it?”

Everypony nodded. Fluttershy was smiling. “That’s really sweet,” she said softly, almost a whisper.

Pinkie Pie blushed, “Yeah, I guess maybe. He’s pretty cool.”

The room was quiet for a moment. Rarity glanced out the window. “Should one of us go check on Rainbow Dash? She should have reached the window by now.”

A knock at the door caught their attention. “Rainbow Dash?” Twilight called out hesitantly. Nobody answered.

Applejack looked over at Fluttershy. Fluttershy was almost perspiring. Without the ventilation, Fluttershy doesn’t look very comfortable Applejack noted. Fact, I’m not feeling too cool mahself Applejack noted, feeling herself empathizing with the sweating Fluttershy. Her own body felt unbelievably hot and her mind was muddled. Applejack observed the other girls and noted with some confusion that they were equally sweating and looking uncomfortable. A streak of suspicion tried to burrow into her brain but she dismissed it lazily.

“Flutters, would you mind seeing if that’s Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked, hoping to offer some form of relief to her pegasus friend.

“Oh um, sure,” Fluttershy agreed. She quietly got up and unsteadily made her way to the door. The rattling of the train had closed the door after Rainbow Dash had left and made it difficult for a heat suffering Fluttershy to keep her balance. Finally she reached the door and with an unsure tug, yanked the door open with a force that surprised herself. She immediately gasped in shock, startling the pony on the other side enough to cause them to stumble and trip over themselves.

Fluttershy looked down in wonder at a light brown pegasus sprawled in front of her hooves. The pegasus had soft feathered dark hair that ran past the ears and a similarly soft tail. Even though it had a slender build, there was a certain amount of muscle tone that distinguished it from other female pegasi that she knew. Fluttershy was about to ask if she was alright when the groaning pegasus looked up at her. Fluttershy’s voice caught in her throat.

The most gorgeous, sparkling emerald eyes shone through the tusseled mane. Fluttershy had never seen eyes like these before. They shine brighter than emeralds! Fluttershy wondered internally. The influx of cool air was making it easier to think.

“Ow…” At the sound of the voice, Fluttershy froze.

It’s a colt?! Fluttershy studied him again quickly. The square jaw, the muscular build. It was a male pegasus, despite the feathery mane and eyes. Are you going to leave him lying there?

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy exclaimed, remembering herself, “Are you alright?” She bent toward him and froze again. I’m in heat! I shouldn’t even get close to him. Fluttershy was about to step backwards back into her cabin when her kind nature spoke up. You can at least see how he is? You don’t have to touch him. Fluttershy stepped forward carefully to look at him more closely.

The train suddenly lurched forward as it hit another rough patch of rail, slamming the cabin door shut. The handle of the door smacked Fluttershy in the tush quickly and with a startled shriek, she fell forward into the male pegasus.

Yellow and brown feathers flew into the air as the two pegasi collided with each other. The cool air that Fluttershy so desperately craved was sucked away and replaced by a suffocating warmth. She scrunched her eyes shut as they tumbled, not wanting to add even more sensations to the shots of warmth that shot through her limbs. They finally stopped moving and she opened her eyes carefully, afraid to see what had occurred.

She was inches away from the other pegasus’s face. His eyes were equally squinted shut but he opened them slowly and stared back at her. Blushes painted both ponies’ faces.

“Ah! I’m so sorry!” They both apologized quickly, trying to pull back away from each other simultaneously but kept slipping on their wings and tails. The door opened up behind her.

“Fluttershy, darling, I heard a scream. Are you alright-oh my!” Rarity froze and stared at the entwined pegasi.

Pinkie Pie bust right out next to Rarity. “Hey, I heard shouting are you guys having a party?” She looked over at the two pegasi for a moment and broke into a big grin. “Oh hey Fluttershy! I didn’t know you had a coltfriend you were bringing!”

The male pegasus quickly broke away from underneath Fluttershy and stammered awkwardly. “Oh no no no!” he stuttered, “I’m not her coltfriend!”

Pinkie Pie’s face fell, “Aw, you’re not?”

The male scratched his head and looked over at Fluttershy. “I mean. I wouldn’t mind being her coltfriend! I mean, we’re not. You’re really pretty! Why can’t I stop talking?!” The pegasus was really flustered. Rarity and Pinkie exchanged glances. The pegasus looked even more awkward than Fluttershy.

The confusion of the colt elicited even more pity from Fluttershy. The poor pony. She placed aside her discomfort and stepped forward. “It’s alright. I’m sorry I crashed into you,” She spoke up.

The pegasus blinked in surprise. “Oh no! I’m the one who knocked on your cabin! I should be saying sorry!” The pegasus rubbed the back of his head, “I’m super sorry about this.”

“Fluttershy, what’s going on?” Applejack’s voice called from inside the cabin.

Pinkie called back, “Fluttershy found a coltfriend!” Fluttershy blushed.

“He’s not my coltfriend!” She began. Her throat felt awfully dry next to the disheveled male pegasus. “I mean, I’m sure you would be a good coltfriend and you’re really handsome - oh dear I mean…” She let her voice die in her throat as both pegasi averted eye contact and rubbed their hooves against themselves.

Finally the male pegasus spoke up, laughing awkwardly, “Um, heheh, it seems neither of us are really good at speaking right now, huh?”

Fluttershy let out a small smile and nodded quietly. The male pegasus looked at her for a moment in a way that made her heart skip a beat before he suddenly jumped up.

“Oh! Oh! I remember. The reason I’m here. I mean, I don’t just go knocking on pretty pony’s doors for no reason.” Fluttershy blushed again at the description and her smile got a little bigger. “Do any of you know a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane?” he asked.

Rarity nodded. “Oh yes. That sounds like Rainbow Dash. Why?”

The pony’s smile faltered a bit. “Ah, well, you see, there’s been an incident a cart back and she’s there right now and well, um, you may just want to come and see for yourself?” The girls exchanged worried expressions which the pegasus immediately picked up on. “Oh no! She’s alright! Everything is okay! I mean, she just isn’t letting me back into my own cabin.”

Twilight Sparkle pushed past Rarity and Pinkie Pie and sighed. “Oh, that’s just great. I hope Rainbow Dash isn’t getting into any trouble. Can you lead the way?” The male pegasus nodded but paused in front of Fluttershy.

“Your name is Fluttershy?” He asked curiously.

“Oh, yes. That’s me,” Fluttershy paused too. “Oh, I don’t even know your name.”

The male pegasus bowed slightly, eliciting an “quiet aw” from Rarity. “That’s a really nice name. My name is Brock.”

Chapter 8: Holes in the Plan (Part 2)

Author's Notes:

I am a liar and I deserve to have pieces of fruit thrown at me. After much delay, the second part of chapter 8 is here. If you're wondering how the boys are doing, stick around for Chapter 9. :D

Chapter 8: Holes in the Plan (Part 2)

Brock led the ponies toward the back of the train. Applejack sighed in anticipation of what was to come. As they passed through another cart, Applejack noted with some curiosity that her stomach did not ache nearly as much as it had in their private cart. The air was certainly more breathable as well, no longer the almost suffocating environment of warmth and moisture. She thought about asking Twilight if she had felt the same when her ears perked up.

Over the rattling of the train along the tracks, Applejack heard the beginnings of a low noise. As they approached the source of the sound, it began to increase in intensity until it was a din. What in tarnations is that racket? Applejack wondered incredulously. She tried to catch a glimpse at Brock to see if she could glean some form of information from him but he only appeared nervous and skittish. That doesn’t look good.

Finally, they stopped near the end of the train. Blocking their path was a solid black door. The only identifying characteristic on the door was a gold label that read “VIP Only”. Applejack didn’t remember the train having a door like this before until Rarity spoke up.

“Oh! The VIP cart is here? They only attach this cart to the main line if there are some special ponies traveling,” Rarity remarked with anticipation. The sound of laughing and crashing from inside made Rarity pause. “Although I will admit these must be some very special ponies not used to the VIP status, perhaps?”

Brock shuffled nervously. “Yeah, I can’t get past here. Your friend has taken this room and will not let anypony pass. I had stepped out to get something to drink and when I came back, there was your friend and a large group of pegasi.”

Fluttershy bit her lip and looked confused. Twilight Sparkle caught the confusion. “What’s wrong, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy hesitated but then turned to Brock. “Didn’t you say that the ponies behind this door were blocking your way to your seat?” She questioned.

Brock gave her a quizzical look. “Yes, yes I did.”

Fluttershy pointed outside. “How were they blocking your seat if this cart is at the end of the train?” Brock froze.

Applejack looked around. Fluttershy is right. She noted. This VIP cart had been attached to the end of the train. There were no more carts after it. The girls looked at him.

Brock laughed nervously. “Ah, did I say my seat? What I meant was, I like to sit outside cause I like really like nature and I have a saying that goes “You’re never really seated until you’re sitting by nature”. Yup. That’s what I’m always saying.” He smiled at Fluttershy

Fluttershy hesitated again. “Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense,” she spoke quietly, deciding to give the nervous pegasus a break. We did collide pretty hard. I shouldn’t doubt his word.

Applejack was less than convinced and gave him a hard look. Somethin ain’t sittin right with this here pony. She thought as Fluttershy smiled back at Brock. Applejack decided to lay those suspicions aside as she started to feel unwell again. With everyone so packed in the hallway, it was quickly getting warm again.

Twilight Sparkle coughed to break the silence. “Well thank you for letting us know. You can wait here while we figure this out.”

“Actually...if you wouldn’t mind, could I stick with your group for now? You are the first friendly faces I’ve seen on this whole trip.”

Pinkie beamed at him. “The more the merrier is what I always say!” She gave him a hard slap to the door. “Go ahead and lead the way, nature pony!”

Brock’s smile instantly vanished. “Oh...um...well you see, I uh, hurt my knee back there earlier and..um..ladies first is the rule anyway right?”

Everyone looked at Rarity to see if this rule was correct. She coughed daintily. “Well, ahem, yes, that is the rule generally. But potential dangers of the unknown usually are an exception-”

“OH BUCK IT!” Applejack hollered in exasperation, “Move over, bud!” Brock scurried out of the way just in time as Applejack approached the door and with one well placed kick, knocked the door down. Her friends looked at her in surprise but Applejack merely huffed and trotted in. The other female ponies followed quickly, followed lastly by a meek Brock.

“Oh my gracious!” Rarity exclaimed, “Look at this room!” This room was easily 3-4 times bigger than their own private cart. There were full length couches and throw pillows strewn about. A bucket of ice and bottles of apple cider chilled in the center of the room. Scattered all over the room were a bunch of pegasi that looked strangely familiar. They wore matching outfits and were all still shouting and laughing. The sound of Applejack kicking the door down had apparently not disturbed the gathering.

“Hey! It’s the Wonderbolts!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed gleefully. This, however, apparently got their attention, particularly of a female blue pegasus.

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes had immediately locked on to Rainbow Dash the moment they had entered the room and had been more than surprised. She had been sitting on the couch chatting with one of the male members of the Wonderbolts. I think his name is Soarin? Rainbow Dash had a friendly history with him so that wasn’t surprising that she would talk with him. Were they holding hooves? Twilight wondered. Rainbow Dash was so quick that Twilight wasn’t sure, but for a brief moment, she could have sworn that the two ponies had been holding hooves.

Rainbow Dash quickly rose from her spot next to Soarin. She had a goofy look on her face. “Oh hey guys!” she smiled, more than normal.

Twilight looked around to see if anypony else was noticing this but they were too busy saying hello, muttering angrily about the door or hiding, in the case of Brock. She sighed and turned back to Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow Dash! What happened? Where did you go?”

Soarin spotted Applejack, “It’s the Apple pony!” he almost squealed. “Did you bring anymore of your apple goods?!”

This compliment caught Applejack off guard and her anger evaporated. “Aw shucks. No hun. Sorry. But Ah’ll bring ya some next time ah see ya.”

“I know! Her apple cider is the best!” Rainbow Dash chimed in.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight Sparkle reminded.

“Oh right, right. Funny story actually…”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Rainbow Dash trotted down the hallway of the cart, looking for a large enough window. She finally spotted one near one of the junctions between the carts and with a determined yank, pulled it open just wide enough for her to slip through.

The sudden change in air forces was jarring initially, causing Rainbow Dash to spin out of control for a moment. However, she recovered quickly and broke out of her nose dive, turning it instead into a large sweep upward into the blue sky. With the expanse of the sky at her feather tips, Rainbow Dash wanted to close her eyes and just go on forever. The influx of cold air instilled in her the rush she got every time she took to the skies.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends, but there’s nothing like the great open air. She opened her wings as wide as she could and shot upwards in delight, shouting and screaming as she did. She landed with a satisfying flop on a large cloud. She rolled in the plushness of the clouds and sighed happily. Although she was no longer constrained by the train anymore, her stomach was still topsy turvy. Maybe some more flying would help Rainbow Dash thought eagerly.

“Hey! Hey! Is that you, Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow Dash looked around in confusion. There was no one around. “Down here!” Rainbow Dash looked down and almost jumped off her cloud in surprise. A familiar male pegasus poked out from underneath Rainbow Dash’s cloud.

“Soarin?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in surprise.

The member of the Wonderbolts grinned at her instant recognition. “Hey!”

Rainbow Dash felt an awkward sensation at seeing the friendly pony. Her stomach was doing flippity-flops and she wasn’t even doing loopty-loops. “Hey,” she managed back.

“What are you doing up here?”

Rainbow Dash regained her spunkiness and nonchalantly scoffed at the air. “Pshaw. Nothing much. Just chillin up here. How about you?”

Soarin flew up and settled down near her on the cloud. Rainbow Dash hesitated. The closer Soarin seemed to get to her, the weirder her stomach clenched. In fact, my stomach hasn’t quite felt the same since Fluttershy and I had to wait in line together for the little pony’s room. We must have been stuck in that line together for an hour. She uncomfortably stepped back a pace as Soarin launched into a story. “Well, we were called to perform for the Royal Court-”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes bugged out and she found herself charging right up to Soarin in excitement. “We?! As in, the rest of the Wonderbolts?!”

Soarin blinked in surprise at the intensity of Rainbow Dash’s eagerness and smiled. He always found her brash and open nature alluring and somehow it was even more attractive now. “Yup. We were scheduled to perform for the Royal Court. They paid for a private cart on the train, but they didn’t have the cart ready yet. So I figured flying would be a way more fun than waiting on the train.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. A pony who truly understands. “Oh yeah! Flying forever! Trains can suck it!” She held out her hoof for a high five which Soarin lunged forward to reciprocate. Train.. Rainbow Dash suddenly withdrew her hoof to her head. “The train! I forgot about the train!” She gasped.

Rainbow Dash looked down and grabbed Soarin off the ground. “Come on, Soarin! We gotta catch up to that train before my friends flip out!”

Soarin came back to his senses and looked up to the tomboy pegasus holding him in her arms. Being this close to her made him feel even lighter than air. “Do you have time to hang out first for a little bit at least?”

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise and looked down at Soarin. She smirked, feeling very satisfied. “Uh duh, of course.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“...And when we got back to the train, they had the cart ready and I guess I just got distracted. Sorry about that,” Rainbow Dash admitted, laughing a bit at her mistake.

Twilight Sparkle stared at her in astoundment. “You managed to catch up to a train?!”

Soarin stepped forward. “Heck yeah she did. She’s super fast.” He turned toward Rainbow Dash, “Listen, Dash, if you have some time later today, I would love it if you could come to our practice. Maybe show us some of your moves.” He quickly took her hoof as he spoke and looked hopefully into her face.

Applejack had calmed down enough to start to observe her surroundings and noted with some suspicion when Rainbow Dash didn’t pull her hoof away immediately. Instead, she blushed. That’s really weird, she thought. Any opportunity to further reflect on this exchange was interrupted when the train lurched forward and stopped.

“Are we here?” Pinkie Pie questioned.

As if on cue, the conductor’s voice echoed over the PA. “Now arriving at Canterlot. All ponies for Canterlot, disembark. Please do not forget your baggage as it may be lost if left behind.” Rarity gasped.

“My luggage!” She looked expectantly at her friends and spotted Brock attempting to hide behind Pinkie. “Brock, be a gentlepony and help me gather my luggage.”

Brock hesitated. “Um, I’d rather not-” He caught sight of Fluttershy conversing with Blaze and put on a quick smile. “Oh absolutely,” he almost announced, drawing attention to himself, “It would be my pleasure to help you with your luggage.”

Rarity beamed as she led him out of the private cart. “Splendid. I’ve got about fourteen bags total but not to worry, six of them have little straps you can put over your shoulder. We’ll see you girls on the station.”

“FOURTEEN BAGS?!” Brock’s voice screamed. But it was too late and Rarity soon dragged him off.

Rainbow Dash groaned and looked at Soarin, reluctantly taking back her hoof. “Well, I guess maybe I can come hassle you guys later.” She punched Soarin in the shoulder, waved to the team and joined the rest of her friends in exiting the cart.

Fluttershy could have sworn she heard Soarin say “Ow” as they were leaving but she kept this information to herself.

The girls returned to their own cart and quickly gathered up their own belongings. They had not packed nearly to the extent that Rarity had so they were soon in queue to disembark from the train. Fluttershy had been silent through the exchange, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Pinkie.

“Well Brock seems nice, doesn’t he, Fluttershy?” Pinkie piped up.

“Oh, yes he does seem nice,” Fluttershy admitted.

“You both like nature. You thinking we might see him again once we’re out?”

“Oh, I don’t know. That would be nice.” Fluttershy shrugged.

“What you thinking about?”

“Um, oh, nothing really,” Fluttershy mumbled this last part, biting her lip. She was lying. Her mind was ablaze with thoughts and emotions and being cramped in a line was doing nothing to alleviate herself from her memories. Her mind was swimming as she played back her memories with Discord. How they tousled with each other. The feel of his fur and scales against her own. Her encounter with Brock had confused her and she had let her guard down, allowing the bottled up memories of her near sexual encounter swarm her.

Fluttershy caught sight of Applejack staring back at her and a pang of guilt struck her. Fluttershy had a sinking feeling that she could tell that she wasn’t telling the truth. Fluttershy saw the cracks of daylight and she quickly shoved her memories back into a bottle and sealed it in her mind.

The ponies stepped out of the train into the bright sunlight. They had to blink a little bit to get used to the brightness that had been blocked while in the train. There was a large crowd of ponies. There seems to be more than normal. Fluttershy noted. Maybe they are coming for the Wonderbolts. Or the concert. Or both?

Twilight Sparkle however, seemed to not acknowledge the throngs of people and smiled in anticipation. “We made it! Now, let’s see...if I remember correctly...we are at Station D. The museum of artifacts should be to our left and to our right, the museum of -” Twilight’s excitement died in a moment and her smile faltered, “Flash?”

Applejack looked at her in confusion. “What’s a museum of Flash?” The ponies looked over to where Twilight was staring to see not one, but two familiar faces approaching them quickly. These ponies were not quick enough for Pinkie, who bolted past her friends with a squeal.

“Cheese!” She squeaked, lunging and tackling the Hawaiian shirt sporting Earth pony to the ground. Applejack wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn she heard a bicycle horn noise when the two party ponies collided. Then again, it wouldn’t have surprised her.

“Pinkie!” Cheese exclaimed, clearly enjoying the ball of energy and happiness that was Pinkie.

Twilight, however, was less than thrilled with her own visitor. “Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Flash Sentry greeted formally, bowing down before returning to attention with one hoof in salute.

Twilight returned with a quick bow in return. “Hello, Flash.”

“I hope your trip went well?”

“Yes quite.” Twilight Sparkle waited for him to leave or speak further, but he remained formally in attention in front of her. “Uhhh,” she laughed nervously, “Why are you here?”

“I’ve been assigned to be your escort, your highness.”

Twilight’s plastic smile faded. “Escort? I think there’s been a mistake. I did not ask for an escort. My friends and I will be fine on our own. You are dismissed.” Pinkie and Cheese’s voices carried on in that background.

“Wow, Pinkie! You look amazing! Did you do something with your mane?!”

“No...ooh! ooh! Wait! I got some new candy cane shampoo!”

“It smells fantastic! Way better than the oxygen I’m not getting!” Cheese laughed, still buried under her pinkness.

Flash Sentry maintained his serious expression and shook his head. “I’m very sorry, Princess, but I can’t do that. Princess Celestia herself has ordered me to serve as your party’s escort.”

Twilight was taken aback. Fluttershy approached out of concern. “Princess Celestia knew we were coming?” Fluttershy asked. She turned fearfully to Twilight, “Did you tell her?” The last thing I want is for Celestia to find out what happened and turn Discord to stone Fluttershy panicked internally.

Twilight quickly shook her head, prompting Fluttershy to breath a sigh of relief. “Absolutely not.” Twilight turned her attention back to Flash who was still standing at attention. “Why did Celestia think we needed an escort? How did she know we were coming?”

Flash Sentry was starting to fidget under the tension of saluting and balancing on his three other hooves. He spoke, “Celestia was alerted when your name showed up on a private cart. And as for why I am here…” Flash approached Twilight and Twilight resisted the urge to take a step back at having her valued personal space so abruptly invaded. “There have been disturbances in the magic force that concern the princesses. Although they do not know the source, they thought it would be wise to send you with an escort during your stay.”

Twilight only half heard what he said. Something about the way Flash looked at her was distracting. I never how realized how strong his eyes looked she wondered to herself. His words sunk in past her subconsciousness as he stepped back.

“Uh huh,” She managed.

“Princess?”

“Oh, er, I mean yes. Well if the princesses think it would be wise, then I think it would be a good idea too.” Flash nodded, starting to shake even more violently than he was previously. Twilight noticed it when his armor started to clink softly. “Um, why are you twitching?”

“You never told me ‘At Ease’,” Flash reminded her.

Twilight rolled her eyes, the feeling of enchantment gone. “Really? I guess my brother has been super strict on you guys. Okay, at ease!” Flash Sentry mouthed a silent ‘Thank you’ before dropping his hoof and massaging the blood back into it.

Twilight turned with a sigh to Applejack and Fluttershy. “Hey, I’m really sorry guys, but this
is a royal order. Are you going to be okay with it?”

Fluttershy nodded, understandingly. “Oh yes, If Princess Celestia thinks it’s a good idea, then by all means we should let him come with us.” Twilight mouthed a silent ‘Thank you’, put on a serious face and turned back to Flash.

“Alright, you may escort us. But stop calling me ‘your highness’. It’s weird.”

“As you wish, Princess Twilight Sparkles.”

“Just Twilight.”

Flash smiled at her from under his helmet in such a way that Twilight felt some heat tinge her cheeks. “Sure thing...Twilight.”

“I thought you were bringing Jelly Bean?”

“Sister?!”

The group quickly turned their attention toward an ecstatic Pinkie Pie. Cheese had regained his footing and was also staring back at her in surprise.

“Yup. Jelly Bean is my sister. She was just getting into the party business and I wanted to help her out. Teach her some of our tricks.”

“So you’re single?!” Pinkie shrieked. Applejack stuck her hooves in her ears. Pinkie was reaching a pitch that was painful to dogs.

Cheese scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Well gee, I guess I am. I guess I haven’t found a special somepony yet.”

Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to shout something else but Applejack quickly slammed a hoof over her mouth. “Volume, Pinkie! Mah ears are close to bleedin, hun.”

Pinkie giggled as Applejack released her. “Oopsy daisy. Sorry. I got carried away.” She gave a big smile to Cheese who seemed to blush himself. “Do you have the tickets for us?”

“Of course. I even brought some extras in case you had, well, someother pony to bring with you?” Cheese ventured, handing her the tickets.

Pinkie grinned and before the girls could stop her, squealed, “Of course I’ve got a pony! You’re coming with me, right?”

Cheese grinned almost as manically as Pinkie was as she handed back one of the tickets to him. “Absolutely!”

“Pinkie,” Applejack interjected, “Can we have a moment?” Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically, waved at Cheese and bounded over to her friends.

“HUDDLE!” Twilight announced. Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all clunked their heads together. Twilight looked around. “Hey! Waitaminute! Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

Fluttershy looked at Twilight’s wing and spotted a note taped to it. “Um, Twilight?” she offered helpfully, pointing to the note. Twilight turned with some confusion, spotted the piece of paper and pulled it off.

She read aloud, “Hey guys, you were taking too long, so I’m going to hang with Soarin for a bit. I’ll meet you guys at the house.” Twilight Sparkle stared at the note in shock. “Seriously, when did she have time to do this?” She flipped over the note and freaked out. “This is a page from my book!? She ripped out a page from my book!!”

“Twilight, focus,” Applejack called out.

Twilight huffed and forced herself to calm down, but there was an edge to her voice. “Okay, okay, nevermind, forget it. Let’s just-” She paused to see that Flash Sentry had joined the huddle. “What are you doing here?!” she asked in a more exasperated tone than she would have liked.

Flash looked surprised. “You said huddle. And I have to be at your side at a moment’s notice.”

“Listen, I think you should just stand over-”

“Hey what are we all huddling about?” Cheese’s head had joined the huddle eagerly.

Pinkie smiled, “We’re doing a big group cheer before you take us to lunch, sweetie!”

“Sweetie?” Applejack questioned out loud before she could stop herself. Fortunately, no one seemed to hear her.

“No, wait that’s not it-!” Twilight tried to argue.

“A group cheer? That sounds delightful! What a fun way to start our girls’ day!” Rarity exclaimed, popping into the circle.

Pinkie grabbed 2 tickets and tossed them to Rarity and a sweat drenched Brock who slumped into the center of their huddle. “Tickets for everyone!”

“Yayyyy,” Brock mumbled with his muzzle pressed into the ground.

“Is nopony listening to me?!” Twilight almost screamed.

Pinkie and Cheese were already in sync, “On the count of three, say Best Girl’s Day Ever!”

“I’m listening to you,” Flash offered helpfully.

“One, two -”

“You don’t count!”

“Three!”

“Best Girls’ Day Ever!!!”

Chapter 9: Disguises

Author's Notes:

Oh my gosh. I have no good excuses for how late this is. But I'm hoping 2 chapters being added will help make up for my negligence!!

Spike shifted uncomfortably. Guilt was pounding at all parts of him. He didn’t go behind Twilight’s back very often, especially not like this. He imagined the look of hurt and disappointment and probably rage on Twilight’s face. Actually, mostly rage he thought with even greater foreboding. Maybe I should stop…Spike panickedly thought.

The image of Rarity popped into his mind and he gritted his teeth in renewed determination. I gotta do this. For Rarity! His nose itched as he gritted his teeth and he rubbed it miserably.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Careful!” a familiar voice hissed, “You’ll wreck our disguise!”

Spike groaned. “But you’re so itchy! How can you even stand having facial hair?”

“Ahem. Facial hair is a symbol of sophistication and intellect.”

“...So why do you have facial hair?”

Spike quickly deflected an attempted punch from his new sporty mustache and sighed.

As far as plans go, this was one of the more lucrative (and therefore according to DIscord, the best) plan the god had come up with.

They stood in the middle of a surprisingly empty courtyard in Canterlot in a small multicolored stand. Pictures of ice cream with cute little faces decorated the outside decorating the outside of their stand. Underneath the counter were tubs (literally tubs) of different flavored ice cream. Spike wore a red and white striped apron and a mini chef hat. He also sported a fake black mustache that was currently grumbling darkly.

“Why couldn’t you just turn into a pony?” Spike questioned the Discorded mustache..

Discord bristled in his disguise. “I’m not going to degrade my species by turning into a pony.”

Spike harumphed. “So a talking mustache is less conspicuous?”

“I wouldn’t be talking if you weren’t talking first,” Discord argued, not enjoying being this close to Spike’s lips. Now if it had been Fluttershy’s...He mentally slapped his head. No, no. Focus.
Spy mission.

The plan had been simple enough. Establish a base of operations in the center of Canterlot in order to have the greatest chance of catching the girls. And since both males had promised to their respective female friends not to show their faces, they need a disguise. This seemed like the best plan. To dress up and pretend to sell ice cream in Canterlot and somehow follow the girls with their rolling ice cream stand on wheels. It made perfect sense.

“Discord!” A voice hurriedly whispered. “What do I do?” Spike’s voice broke him out of his trance and Discord saw they had a customer.

It was a small unicorn pony with bright blue eyes and an adorable blue dress. Spike cooed and Discord mentally gagged. “May I pwease have some cho-co-wate chip cream, pwease?” She asked politely. She held out two bits.

Spike smiled and nodded. Before Discord could protest or tell the kid to bugger off, Spike pulled out 3 scoops of chocolate chip ice cream and plopped it onto a cone. “Here ya go!” Spike announced, attempting a bad Italian accent.

“Oh you did not just do that,” Discord groaned quietly.

The little pony’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “Wow! Thanks mister!” She quickly tried to give her 2 bits but Spike refused.

“No. You’re-a my-a first customer! On the house!” he continued in the accent.

“I refuse to be used for some Italian knockoff disguise,” Discord grumbled but remained on Spike’s face.

The little pony looked up at Spike as if he was Santa pony. She opened and closed her mouth wordlessly for a few moments. Finally she gave a loud squeak, seized the ice cream and galloped away giddily.

“Well that’s going to be a problem later,” Discord grumbled, “Kids are always troublemakers.”

Spike huffed in annoyance. “If you think all young ponies are troublemakers, why do you hang out with Cute Mark Crusaders?”

Discord hesitated. “How did you know about that?”

“Well you did teleport me into a football game against them.”

“No, it was a soccer game.”

“No, it was a football game.”

“Your kind may call it football, but it’s actually known as soccer.”

“Who’s been alive longer?”

“Well you’re still wrong. And admit it, you actually like young ponies! Especially if they’re troublemakers.”

Discord remained silent but his mind was abuzz. Okay, maybe Spike isn’t completely wrong. Well. He’s wrong about soccer. But about those kids. He enjoyed kids. They didn’t judge. Once they got past the initial shock, he found kids were often much more understanding and willing to accept than their adult counterparts.

The fact that his new friends had even allowed him to even associate with their siblings (and “sibling” in the case of Scootaloo) was such a novel concept to him. During his reign, ponies kept their children hidden...if they chose to reproduce at all.

Remorse stung him and he shifted uncomfortably in his disguise. He didn’t keep track but there were probably many ponies who chose not to start families because of the living conditions he created during his reign. So many family trees withered up and died during those years. And you have some stupid idea that you think you’re entitled to have children of your own after what you did. Discord swatted away that thought. He was really starting to hate the little voice in his head that tried to make him feel guilty. It annoyed him almost as much as the voice that made him feel horny.

He hadn’t allowed himself much of a chance to dwell on the events from yesterday. He could still imagine feeling Fluttershy squirm and wiggle in his coils...and pressing herself against his chest. He gave a silent moan as he remembered her taste in his mouth.

“Hey, it’s bad enough I have to wear you as a mustache, but I refuse to wear a beard.” Spike’s irritated voice piped up, shattering the memory.

“Beard. Yes. No. No beard. Sorry. Thought you wanted to look more like an adult dragon than an awkward teenager!” Discord snarkily quipped, making the “beard” disappear with thoughts of cold showers and a naked Granny Smith.

Spike made a face. “Don’t talk to me about teenage dragons. They’re so stupid. I’m way better than Garble.”

Discord made the beard disappear with a final image of Granny Smith bending over to plant an apple seed before returning his attention to his accomplice. “What’s a garble?” he asked disinterestedly.

Spike sighed. “Garble is a dragon. He tried to teach me that the way to be a Great Dragon was to beat up others, steal things and hurt those smaller than him. He was such a jerk. There’s got to be more to being a real dragon than being a bully.”

Discord snickered. “Simple, brutish but effective. At least initially. There’s always a bigger fish though.”

Spike laughed, “Yeah, yeah.” He glanced around and did a double take. “Oh Celestia! It’s them!”

If DIscord as a mustache had a heart, it would have been beating a billion times a minute. He quickly focused on the group.

“Hey...I thought this was supposed to be a girls’ trip only..” Spike mumbled angrily. Discord mentally agreed with the sentiment.

Yes, there were males Discord thought bitterly, watching the group approach their area. He didn’t recognize one of them in a yellow shirt. He felt angry for a moment but it was extinguished as he watched the pony literally bounce in tempo with Pinkie and cheering. Oh. It’s a male Pinkie he noted with some amusement at the facial and body similarities.

He turned his attention to the pony clad in armor. Ooh. This could be a problem. It was a royal guard. When I teamed up with Tirek, I remember attacking Shining Armor and his guards. I wonder if he’s still mad about it? Discord wondered briefly if he was also a potential romantic threat. I-I think you have to be like a eunuch to be a Royal Guard he tried to remember from Canterlot history. He smiled wickedly to himself. Yeah. That makes sense. All their energy had to be dedicated to protecting the royal family. No time for heat distractions.

Satisfied with his observations, Discord turned his attention to the females. He mentally frowned. “Is it just me...or do they look different somehow?” Spike quietly asked. The dragon was right, again. The girls looked stressed and flushed. Their bodies seemed fuller and more taut. Discord could catch the subtle scent of the musk he picked up with Fluttershy yesterday. The open air significantly dampened the strength of the musk. “Very different…” he heard Spike observe in a strange tone. Discord transformed into an ice cream scooper, making sure to leave a fake mustache on Spike, and observed the dragon.

Spike’s eyes were starting to glaze as he watched the female ponies talking in the distance. He was sweating slightly. “Wow, Rarity. She just looks so amazing. She’s like an angel.”

Spike was caught in his own imagination. Rarity walked next to Applejack and the air just seemed to glow around her. Her smile dazzled and he swore that when she slipped her mane back, she was doing it for him.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Bleh plew ef uh!” Rarity almost spit, tossing her mane, “these insects won’t leave me alone.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Beautiful…” Spike was enthralled. Discord was about to lay into him when he spotted Fluttershy.

It felt like a millennium since they had seen each other and he felt himself starting to burn like an ember at her approach. Even with the open air, her scent seemed even stronger than it had been yesterday. He observed her face and noticed she was biting her bottom lip ever so delicately. Maybe she’s stifling another moan the dirty voice in his mind taunted. He almost groaned again with desire as her moans and shrieks echoed through his mind.

Discord caught sight of Flash Sentry again and he halted his lustful thoughts. Why DO they have the Royal Guard here. He looks like he is trying to protect them…

His mind came to a screeching halt as a cold real fear seized him. No. No...she didn’t tell her. Fluttershy wouldn’t have had a chance to talk to Celestia…

But Twilight would.

A stark realization slammed against his chest. Yes, his encounter with Fluttershy yesterday hadn’t really progressed the way he would have liked. And, maybe, just maybe...maybe she wasn’t really happy with it initially Discord admitted And maybe in other ponies’ eyes it would have looked like I was doing something really bad. Which I don’t think I was.

His mind refused to articulate what he was trying to think. Either way, it had not looked good for him when Applejack broke down the door on a screaming and struggling Fluttershy. And of course, Applejack probably told this to Twilight. And Twilight reported to Celestia on a daily basis.

Celestia. Protector of all pony kind. He hardly expected her to take it sitting down that he may have sexually assaulted one of the Elements of Harmony. Especially the Element of Kindness. His eyes narrowed. There would be consequences.

So Princess Celestia thinks she can just send a guard to come get me. Because I’m reformed, I’ll just roll over and give up? He caught sight of Fluttershy again. She was starting to smile now although she still clearly looked stressed. Everything around her appeared to glow and Discord had to catch his breath.

Would-would I give up for her?

Discord didn’t know the answer but he was determined not to find out.

“Change of plans,” he spoke to Spike, breaking the young dragon from his trance, “We’re going from scouting to engaging the enemy.”

Spike’s eyes widened and he shook his head wildly. “No! No! You’re going to get us caught! Disengage! Disengage!” Spike squeaked, grabbing the Discord spoon.

The spoon growled. “Desperate times call for desperate measures” and with a click of his tongue, he transformed.

Chapter 10: Change of Plans!

“Rarity, use your tail! Your tail!” Applejack tried to suggest as Rarity flung her head back and forth to shoo off the bugs.

Rarity hemmed and hawed. “I don’t want to mess up my braid!” She argued, managing to finally dodge the bugs and resume her trotting by Fluttershy. She called up to Pinkie and Cheese leading the way. “Darlings, do you have a place in mind?”

Pinkie scratched her head. “Not really,” she admitted.

Rarity jumped for joy. “Oh! Well I know this quaint little bistro just a few blocks away. Their high tea is absolutely divine,” she raved, “Now let me just consult my notebook.” She turned to where Brock had been but he was no longer there. “Um, did anyone see where Brock went?”

“Maybe he sank into the ground with all that luggage,” Flash suggested.

Twilight huffed in annoyance. “No way that could have happened. Those bags would have to weigh at least...um...well” She did some quick math in her head. “Um..well I’m sure he would have started yelling?” Twilight awkwardly admitted.

Fluttershy became concerned and bit her lip. “Oh dear. We should go back for him,” she insisted, imagining poor Brock sinking into a sand pit.

Applejack put a hoof around Fluttershy. “Naw, he’ll be fine. Some weight liftin’ will put some meat on them skinny bones of his.” Applejack debated on whether to add, And make him less of a scaredy cat, but kept it to herself. The male pegasus seemed nice enough and he had an interest in Fluttershy but he kept setting off warning bells in Applejack’s mind that made her distrustful. With an luck, he stole Rarity’s bags and we don’t have to carry them back she thought mischievously.

Rarity huffed. “Well, I’m pretty sure it’s only a few blocks ahead…”

Pinkie bounced with excitement. “Oh hey! Hey! What about that place?!”

Cheese looked, “Where?”

Pinkie pointed. “There! Where that bright flash was!”

The girls looked in the direction of the hoof. Standing in the courtyard was a brightly colored ice cream stand. Cheese scratched his head. “Huh. I don’t remember that stand before. Well let’s go check it out.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Spike blinked and groaned. His thoughts returned quickly and he panickly turned to his side. “No, no, no!” Spike almost shouted, “Are you kidding me?!”

“It’s a good disguise.”

“We’re going to stick out like sore thumbs!” Spike freaked out. “Change back!” He grabbed Discord’s shoulders.

“Don’t touch me!” Discord snarled, trying to push him off. Spike pushed him back and pinned him to the side of the stand.

“Change back!”

“Never!” Discord growled, trying to push Spike off of him.

“Um, excuse me?” The two froze, locked in each other’s arms and turned to face Pinkie Pie. “Howdy hi there! Are you open? We can come back if you’re having a special moment!”

“Special moment?” Spike gasped. He turned to see that Discord and he were somewhat entwined in each others arms. And how he was pressing Discord into the side of the stand...Spike pushed himself off the elder god. “Um, we’re not, I mean uh-”

Pinkie winked. “Hey don’t worry about it! You gotta make time for a little romance when you work all the time. That’s what Mr. and Mrs. Cake used to tell me. The more love, the more happiness. And the more happiness, the more cakes! I just never saw a dragon couple before!” Pinkie admitted.

Spike sighed at the comment and examined a both smug/annoyed Discord. Yes, the god had disguised himself as a teenage dragon in a city of ponies. Not only that, but he went for an almost peacock display of colors. He sported a green apron and matching chef’s hat. Totally not standing out at all.

Discord smiled mischievously. “Oh yes, we’re very happy!” he announced, wrapping an arm around Spike and drawing him close. Spike tongue out his tongue sideways at him.

Pinkie smiled, “So are you guys open? What’s the place called?”

“Double Dragons,” Discord quickly answered before Spike could stop him. “And yes we’re open. Bring your friends!”

Pinkie widened her smile. “Oh coolie! I’ll go tell the rest of my friends! It was nice to meet you...ah…” Pinkie paused and turned to Spike. “I’m super sorry, but what is your and your girlfriend’s name?”

It took Spike a moment for him to realize what had happened but Discord’s horrified face confirmed it instantly. “I’m Mario” Spike quickly lied, “and my girlfriend’s name is Luigi..a.” He ignored the heated glare Discord shot him and he snuck a claw around his “girlfriend’s” waist.

“Awesome possum! I’ll go tell my friends you’re open.” The pink pony nodded and quickly bounced back to her friends.

Discord turned angrily toward Spike and threw his arm off his waist. “You little fool!” he snarled with a tone that made Spike cower slightly. But only slightly. It was difficult to truly be terrified of a reformed villain when he was disguised as a fabulous feminine dragon.

Spike growled back, surprising Discord. “Hey! You did this to yourself! You want to talk to Fluttershy so badly? Well she’ll be heading this way any moment!”

Discord glanced worriedly at the group. Pinkie had hopped back to the group and was speaking with them. He could swear she was talking in an unnaturally quiet voice for Pinkie. He couldn’t pick up anything and could only try to glean information from the glances the group shot his way.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Twilight Sparkle shuffled nervously. She felt uncomfortable. I didn’t think it was going to be this warm she admitted to herself. It was strange but it seemed to be she was even warmer when Flash Sentry walked alongside her. The sun must be reflecting off his armor she tried to reason, feeling her face become warm at the sight of him. She had ordered him previously to walk apart from her but he seemed to keep drifting back to her side. She tried to face away from him, hoping the sun would deflect onto her back instead of her face.

Twilight Sparkle exchanged a suspicious look with Flash who merely shrugged. “Dragons aren’t exactly common in Canterlot,” he explained, “But Celestia has always opened her borders to travelers. And with the rise of the Crystal Empire, we certainly have seen some interesting travelers come through here.”

Twilight hesitated. It was pretty out of the ordinary to see not only one but two dragons. And a couple no less. In all of the literature she had read, she rarely found instances of dragon couples. Sure males would seek out females in order to produce eggs and would remain with the female until close to the hatching...but seeing two dragons as a couple who were not brooding was bizarre. A warning alarm was going off in her head but the warmth in her body was dulling her normal logical thinking.

“Ice cream does sound pretty good right now,” she admitted. She was answered with nods wand agreed mumbles. They started to turn and walk toward the ice cream stand.

“Darling! Her scales are gorgeous!” Rarity almost crooned at the sight of the female dragon. She looked wistfully at her own mane which seemed dull by comparison. “Do you think she colors her scales? Maybe a certain gemstone powder? I would love to add a shimmer to my mane. I’ve felt so drab lately.”

Fluttershy spoke up at her friend’s self degradation. “Rarity, you always look lovely! Your mane is beautiful the way it is.”

Rarity smiled at the compliment. “Thank you my dear but it takes a lot to get myself looking fabulous. I would love to have your natural beauty! Life would be so simple.”

Fluttershy found herself blushing at the compliment and quietly thanked Rarity who continued to admire the female dragon. She didn’t feel beautiful. She never did. Sure, she had been a model. But it was a terrifying ordeal. She did not understand what the tabloids and the photographers saw in her then and she definitely didn’t see it now. And with her heat, she felt even more out of place in her own body than normal. Every movement made her hyper aware of her body looked. She glanced over at the female dragon who stood confidently by her male. I wish I could feel as confident and as pretty as she is Fluttershy silently wished, drawing hearer.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Oh Celestia! How beautiful and confident she looks. This was a mistake! What am I going to tell her?! Discord’s mind raced. He stole a look at Spike who gritted his teeth and stared at the group.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Applejack approached the stand first. The male dragon approached her. He looked strangely familiar but the thought of ice cream was too tempting.

“Howdy, Mario,” she greeted, “Any chance ya’ll got some apple ice cream? Ah been missin’ home already.”

“Uh,” Mario hesitated, “Fraid not.”

Even his voice was familiar but Applejack was determined. “Apple tart?”

“Nope.”

“Apple Cinnamon?”

“Uh uh.”

“Apple pie?”

“We got vanilla,” he offered helpfully.

“Ah guess that’ll work,” Applejack admitted, pulling out a few bits. Mario breathed a sigh of relief and served her a scoop of vanilla.

Pinkie bounded up next. “Hey Mario! Mario! Mario! Do you have cotton candy?”

“The flavor or the candy?”

“The flavor. Wait no. The candy. Wait both. Wait. Do you sell candy?”

“Rarity! My dear is that you?” A polite proper voice called out.

Rarity’s eyes widened and she whirled around as quickly and as elegantly as she could on short notice. “Fancy Pants!” She greeted graciously, curtsying slightly.

Fancy Pants and his entourage had approached the group from the direction of the mansions of high pony society. He smiled and bowed in return, his entourage quickly following in line. “How are you on this fine day? Are you here for business or pleasure?”

“Oh just marvelous. Just pleasure this time. The girls and I are here for a concert tonight.”

Fancy Pants raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Really now? I didn’t realize it was considered a concert. You must have had some powerful connections. I heard invitations had been closed weeks ago.”

Pinkie Pie popped into the conversation, “Oh no! Not really! Cheese Sandwich here-!”

“Oh yes!” Rarity interrupted quickly, swiftly blocking out an eager Pinkie Pie. “Celestia even sent a member of the Royal Guard to escort us.”

Flash blinked. “She did?” he questioned but Twilight waved him to be quiet with a knowing shake of her head.

Fancy Pants smiled even broader. “Well that is truly extraordinary. I myself would have attended but I have been given care of my niece while my sister and her husband are on a business trip. So I had to give the ticket to my student.” Fancy Pants turned to the side. “Say hello to Ms. Rarity, darling.”

A young unicorn shyly smiled up at Rarity. “Hewwo, Ms. Rarity,” she greeted, curtsying so cutely, that everyone simultaneously awed. She turned eagerly toward the dragons and the shyness evaporated instantly. “Uncle Fancy Pants! This is the place! These are the nice ice cream dragons!” she squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.

Fancy Pants smiled down at her excitement and patted her fondly on the head. “Well my niece went out of a snack and she came back telling me that there was this rustic stand run by dragons no less that gave her free ice cream. She has such a discerning palate, just like her mother, so when she told me how exquisite the ice cream was, I just knew I had to find out for myself. And it seems some of the other nobility have joined me as well.”

Even as Fancy Pants spoke, more noble and upper middle class ponies were congregating around. Fancy Pants always seemed to draw attention and support regardless or what action or belief he had. And with the extra novelty of dragons being involved, the group was quickly becoming a crowd.

The little pony ran over to the stand. “You’re a lot nicer than the other dragon,” she announced.

Luigia grumbled while Mario laughed. “She’s always grumpy if I wake her up before noon,” he laughed.

The little pony shook her head. “No, not her. The other dragon.” Rarity’s interest was piqued as she noted that Luigia and Mario exchanged confused glances.

Fancy Pants sighed, “Dear, it is not polite to speak badly of our guests.”

“But he’s a butthead,” the little unicorn mumbled.

Fancy Pants shot a disapproving look. “We should still be hospitable,” Fancy Pants reminded her. Fancy turned toward Rarity. “Actually it is quite fortuitous having run into you. Your friend, Spike, he is a dragon, correct?”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

At the mention of his name, Spike froze. What did the little filly mean? Why did Fancy Pants say my name? And more importantly, what was Rarity going to say? Spike glanced to see if Discord was paying any attention but it seemed some of the middle class ponies decided to risk ordering ice cream, despite the fact that Fancy had not actually ordered anything yet. Discord was busily serving them ice cream in his best falsetto voice.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Rarity paused at the mention of the dragon’s name. “Why yes, Spike is a good friend of mine. He’s been ever so helpful helping me make the fall line up this year.

Spike felt his hopes dash. Friend? Helpful? That’s it?

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“He’s a baby dragon, correct?”

“Well no, he seems to have grown a bit,” Rarity admitted, a blush coloring her cheek bones. He had grown quite a bit, Rarity thought, remembering his appearance in her shop. His scales had certainly becoming thicker and shone with a bright glow. And there had been other developments she admitted, fighting the urge to bite her lip. She had known he was attracted to her to a certain extent but it wasn’t until recently that realized how far that attraction had grown.

Most recently, Rarity had abdicated going to a separate room to change gowns and had changed in front of Spike, sometimes with his assistance as the lacing and buttons could be most complex in some of her outfits. Fall was coming sooner than she expected and she was losing too much time going back and forth in between rooms. A few times after she had left the room during one of the sessions, she had returned to find him in a position that would have mortified both of them had she let her presence be known. She would always leave him to his passion without alerting him. But as his baby fat turned to lean muscle, Rarity found herself not leaving as quickly as she had in the past. And that both worried and confused her.

Fancy Pants seemed relieved. “Oh good. So you two get along well?”

“Yes,” Rarity admitted, breaking herself from her thoughts.

“Oh excellent. Well maybe you can help me.” Rarity ear’s perked up with interest. “You see, I’ve volunteered to sponsor an exchange student from another species. A dragon actually. A bright chap really but I’m afraid I’m just not able to connect with him on the level that you and Spike do and I fear this lack of a connection has made him somewhat disgruntled and unable to observe and enjoy the beauties and positive effects of pony society.” Fancy Pants removed his hat and took her hoof in his own. Rarity felt her breath stop. “I understand you may already have plans but would you do me the most generous favor if you could allow him to accompany you for the, well, concert?”

Rarity coughed. “Well, I-”

“I hope that of a lady of your sophistication and grace would be able to show him the finer aspects of pony society better than an old codger like me.”

“A l-lady? Oh, I just..”

Fancy Pants looked deeply into her eyes and spoke in a low yet powerful voice, “And of course, I would owe you a great debt of gratitude if you were to accept. Anything you desire.”

Rarity’s mind was blown as the magnanimity of Fancy Pant’s words sank in. A favor from Fancy Pants. That was an immeasurable gift. He was a pony of his word. Why with his assistance, I could finally showcase my line permanently to Canterlot High Society.

Rarity smiled and composed herself quickly. She looked at Fancy Pants and raised her chin in an attempt to appear more regal. “It would be my honor to offer my assistance.”

Fancy smiled grateful and placed a gentle kiss on her hoof. “Splendid!” he announced. “The fellow is around here somewhere. Ah there he is!” he pointed toward the direction of the homes.

A teenage dragon slunk toward the group sullenly. The figure scowled as it shuffled toward them and made faces at ponies it passed. He kicked the floor as he approached and snorted derisively. Rarity and Mario simultaneously gasped.

“Garble?!”

Author's Notes:

Two chapters!! Yay!
I need some help though. I'd like to come up with a name for the niece and I just can't think of anything. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Chapter 11: Stick to the Plan!

Author's Notes:

One wrist brace later and here we are! :D Finally some fracking excitement.

Twilight whirled onto Mario. “What did you just say?!” she demanded. The male dragon pretended not to hear her and quickly turned to another customer. This time, the intense warmth she was feeling could not silence the warning bells going off in her mind as she narrowed her eyes at the ice cream dragon.

“I think he sneezed,” Flash Sentry offered.

Twilight shook her head and pointed to the new visitor. “No! He’s right! That’s Garble!”

Even slouched, Garble easily towered Fancy Pant’s rigid frame. He had grown since the last time Rarity, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike fled from him and his goons. His skin was tougher and Twilight noted with apprehension that his teeth and claws appeared even larger and sharper than she remembered.

Flash picked up on Twilight’s tense body language and placed a hoof in front of her defensively. “Don’t worry, Twilight,” Flash asserted, “I’ll protect you.”

Garble noticed the guard’s actions and scoffed at them. “Relax soldier boy,” Garble sneered, flicking something out of his teeth, “I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m here for education purposes. Some of the elder dragons thought it would be good to learn something from ponies...even if they are run by a namby pamby princess.”

Fancy Pants seemed to stiffen up at the insult but held his tongue. Flash Sentry was less restrained.

He advanced toward the dragon. “Hey! Our namby pamby princesses are wise rulers! Show some respect toward the crown!” he ordered.

Garble laughed and stepped toward Flash. “Heh! Aren’t you a pretty princess errand boy!” he taunted.

“Hey! Knock it off!” Twilight yelled, placing herself in between the two males.

Rarity coughed. All nearby heads looked at her and the argument came to a standstill. She cleared her throat nervously and tugged at Twilight.

“Twilight, might I have a word?” Rarity asked quietly. Twilight sighed and nodded.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Discord was alerted the moment Spike yelled. He caught bits of the conversation but his mind had been preoccupied too much to pay any serious attention. All he could tell Spike was seething. And seething dragons didn’t think right.

“You’re going to blow our cover, sweetheart,” he tried to speak sweetly but it was of no use. Spike wouldn’t even look at him. He was muttering darkly under his breath. Discord gave up on Spike and turned his attention back to the crowd.

Wow, we’re more popular than I thought Discord noted with some surprise. Their rolley cart was surrounded by curious and excited ponies of all colors and sizes. But no Fluttershy. Had he missed her somehow?

“Um, excuse me, sir? May I please step through?”

The voice was barely above a whisper but it cut through Discord’s ear drums like a knife that completely missed the apple target on a pony's head. He recognized it instantly and zoomed in on it like a hawk on a piece of meat. Amongst the crowd of well dressed ponies, Fluttershy was attempting to make her way to the stand...without much success.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but may I please get through? Oh - well, um, excuse me?” her little voice quietly pleaded. With this level of noise and commotion, she was nonexistent over the chatter of the other ponies. There was no chance of Fluttershy making it through.

Discord’s heart ached as he watched her look of concern on her face as she was jostled by the other ponies. If she keeps this up, she will never make it over here in time. At least before Spike blows our cover he noted with irritation, glancing at Spike who was solemnly handing out ice cream. And any attempt at magicking the crowd gone will no doubt attract the egghead he reasoned reluctantly, observing Rarity and Twilight conversing near a corner. He smiled wickedly Who needs magic when you’re an amazing actor and a master of persuasion, Discord. He cleared his throat and called out in a most eloquent manner.

“Hey you!” he hollered, dropping the falsetto as he pointed to a colt in front of Fluttershy. The colt looked at him in confusion. “Yes you! With the stupid hat!” The colt looked at his hat and then pointed to himself. “Yeah, that’s it. Dumb hat pony! Get out of the way!!!” The colt stared in shock at the discrepancy between the figure speaking and the voice coming out and robotically stepped out of the way to reveal a wide eyed Fluttershy.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy’s eyes widened at the sound of the voice and her heart skipped a beat. That-that sounded like Discord she thought. She looked around frantically, trying to see where the voice came from but the draconequus was nowhere to be seen. I must be imagining it she told herself, her heart sinking back into her chest. Her face was still blushing at the possibility of her friend actually being here. Even as the colt in front of her stumbled out of the way, she felt herself still frozen to the spot instead of advancing toward the stand.

“Don’t be afraid. Come forward,” a voice whispered in her ears, sending shivers down her spine and she felt her wings growing tense. She hesitantly stepped forward once and then another step and another step. With each step, she found her shyness dissolving and her drive to walk stronger, allowing her to ignore the interested looks and whistles stallions gave her as she brushed past them.

“He’s not here,” she tried to persuade herself, “He promised he wouldn’t be.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“I can’t believe you’re even considering this!” Twilight exclaimed in shock.

Rarity looked dejected. “Twilight, I know. I don’t care for this oaf either. But, if I could get Fancy Pants to sponsor me, it would a life changer.”

Twilight sighed. “What about Spike?” she asked, “How do you think he would feel if he found out you were taking Garble with you?”

Rarity froze. Spike. She hadn’t considered Spike in all of this. He most certainly would not be happy if he found out that not only was this no longer a girls’ trip, but she had spent most of it taking Garble to explore and take in Canterlot delights. But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity she argued.

Rarity bit her lip. “Spike,” she began slowly, “Spike-Spike doesn’t need to know.” As soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them instantly. It felt like a betrayal. It is a betrayal a small voice inside her insisted.

Twilight was taken aback by Rarity’s response. She opened her mouth to rebuke but saw the pained expression on the unicorn’s face.

“It’s just one day. Show him around. Be polite. Maybe-maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe some age has brought some maturity into him,” Rarity tried to reason out loud. She was talking more for herself than for Twilight as she tried to ignore Garble tying two unsuspecting ponies’ tails together. “Spike doesn’t need to know,” Rarity sighed and quickly walked back toward Fancy Pants.

A slam caught Twilight’s attention and in the corner of her eye she caught site of Mario slamming his fists into the side of the stand. He was grim faced and furious.

Flash approached Twilight. “What’s his problem? Think he knows Garble too?” he asked curiously.

Twilight didn’t answer but stared into the purple dragon’s eyes. Even in disguise, she knew those eyes.

“Spike.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Pinkie, Cheese and Applejack watched the throngs of ponies around the ice cream cart as they ate their ice cream.

“Wow, Pinkie, you really know the best places,” Cheese wondered, “There must be like fifty ponies in line now.”

Pinkie pointed to her mane. “Pinkie Sense I tell you! Always tells me exactly what to do! Here! Touch it!” She pulled Cheese’s hoof and smushed it into her mane.

“Pinkie Sense is really soft,” Cheese replied goofily as he ran his hoof through her fluffy mane. Pinkie’s cheeks turned pink.

Applejack was feeling weirded out at their display. Pinkie Pie is naturally friendly and touchy...but this seems a little too touchy and friendly for her. Not that I don’t trust Cheese! Applejack acknowledged to herself. It was just mighty strange to see Pinkie acting like this when Fluttershy was the one in heat. Speaking of Fluttershy…

“Aw crab apples!!” Applejack realized, dropping her ice cream, “I lost Fluttershy!”

“Is that her?” Cheese asked, pointing to a yellow pegasus in the middle of the massive crowd. Applejack narrowed her eyes and focused. The pegasus took a nervous glance behind her and Applejack nodded assertively.

“Yup! That’s her alright! Thanks hun! Pinkie, put your tongue back in!” Applejack ordered, noticing that Pinkie’s tongue was hanging out as she clearly enjoyed the spontaneous scalp massage she was getting.

“Oops! Sorry Applejack!” Pinkie apologized, rolling her tongue back into her mouth as Applejack dove into the crowd. Pinkie and Cheese watched her disappear and then Pinkie burst into laughter.

Cheese looked over at her curiously. “What’s so funny?”

Pinkie grinned. “Applejack is bobbing for Fluttershy in a sea of ponies.”

Ba dum tish.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Rarity approached Garble and Fancy Pants. “Garble,” Rarity began, “I’m sorry we got off on a wrong start. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rarity,” She introduced, extending a hoof.

Garble snicked and gave an overly dramatic bow. “Oh but of course,” he spoke in a posh
voice, “How ever rude of me, a please to meet you Larry.”

“Uh, it’s actually Rarity,” Rarity corrected, but Garble’s mind was already elsewhere.

“Hey who’s the hot piece of tail in the ice cream stand?” he whistled, licking his lips.

“Uh..”

“I think I better introduce myself. Show this city dragon what a real dragon is like.” Garble left without another word and proceeded to either push or step on ponies who got in his way as he advanced toward Luigia.

Fancy Pants sighed in relief. “Thank you Rarity. This means a lot to us. With Prince Blueblood studying in dragon territory, it behooves us to show the highest level of hospitality to our dragon ward...even if he is an ass,” Fancy Pants muttered under his breath.

“Come again?”

“Oh nothing, my dear. Just a cough.”

“Blueblood is in dragon territory?”

“Oh yes!” Fancy Pants’ face lit up, “You know our Prince. I’m sure he’s just exceeding all of our expectations. I have no doubt he will come back with the glowing support and knowledge of dragon kind! I’m sure he’s fine.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!!!! I’m going to die!!!” a panicked noble unicorn shrieked from behind a rock.

“How are you going to learn anything if you won’t jump the volcano with us?” a dragon yelled.

“Maybe we ought to throw another fireball at him? Might give him the stamina to make the jump,” another dragon yelled.

“You’re barbarians!”

“Jumping volcanos is not barbaric! It’s a rite of passage! Now come out here so we can strap this lava rock to you!”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Yes. Just fine,” Fancy Pants finished as Rarity bit her lip again unsuredly.

“Well I’ll just go wait for him to finish up with conversation by that building by the stand,” Rarity acknowledged, moving toward the building.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy finally approached the ice cream stand, trying not to make eye contact with the other ponies pushed closely to her side. Something about the colorful dragon that faced her was unnerving and now up close, she felt her legs shake.

Maybe I’m nervous because I don’t interact with dragons too often Fluttershy reasoned. Most of her experiences with dragons up until this point had been either running away from them or yelling at them in a blind panic to protect her friends. Meeting some that served ice cream was certainly something different.

She shuffled her hooves awkwardly as she stood at the stand while the female dragon looked down expectantly. “Uh..” she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

The dragon blinked. “D-did you say something?” she asked.

Fluttershy’s face flushed with both embarrassment and heat. Those shiny scales on the dragon certainly didn’t help keep her calm as they seemed to intensify the heat of the sun onto her face as she felt herself warm up.

“Hi!” she mustered up, sweating.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

The moment her perfect lips formed an actual word, Discord found himself flushed with a warmth he had sorely missed and feared at the same time. He dug his feet into the dirt so he didn’t leap across the counter and sweep Fluttershy off her hooves. He had to act fast before her shyness overwhelmed her and make her retreat back into the crowd. Maybe say something that would sound confident that would relax her.

“H-hi!” he choked out in his falsetto. He felt his own face glow red. Super smooth Discord.

To his surprise, this seemed to relax Fluttershy a bit. She bit her lip as a small smile formed at the corner of her lips. Discord paced himself. Alright. You haven’t screwed this up yet. You can do this. Just ask if she wants ice cream.

Discord cleared his throat and asked intelligently, “Me got ice cream. You want ice cream? Me got lotta ice cream.”

He smacked a clawed hand to his face. Oh my-That’s it! Failure! The once chance I had and I go and fu-

“Oh! Um. Yes. Me want ice cream. But liddle liddle, not lotta lotta.” Discord froze.

...What?

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy felt her cheeks tinge slightly with embarrassment but this time she was able to quickly dismiss it. How silly of me. I shouldn’t expect all dragons to speak the Pony language as well as Spike.

The dragon looked at her in stunned surprise. “Liddle liddle?” the dragon asked.

Fluttershy nodded and a smile began to grow on her face. “If that’s alright?”

The dragon smiled in response and nodded. "Liddle liddle is just fine. I like liddle liddle." Fluttershy felt herself almost grinning. There was something familiar about the smile and it relaxed her even more. It almost reminded her of-

A clatter and a shout behind her broke her concentration. “Excuse me! Oops! Sorry about that! Just trying to get through! Ugh! Ooh! Those grow back right? I’m pretty sure they do! Gah! Sorry sorry!”

Fluttershy and the dragon quickly turned their attention toward the source of the disruption. A ruckus was slowly and disastrously making its way toward them. Ponies in its path nervously and quickly beat a hasty retreat or found themselves smushed against their unwitting neighbors. Luigia and Fluttershy found themselves wincing at every collision and yelp as the disaster drew nearer. Finally with one forceful push, a familiar pegasus flopped to the ground in front of the surprised duo.

“Brock!” Fluttershy shrieked, darting toward the prostate pegasus.

“Brock?” the dragon asked in confusion to the empty space where Fluttershy once stood.

Although initially hard to tell, underneath a mountain of suitcases was indeed Brock. The cases had almost covered all of him save for his wings and head. Brock looked up at Fluttershy as she approached and smiled weakly.

“Oh hi Fluttershy!”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Discord’s mouth did not close after his question. He stood there agape, staring in confusion at the scene in front of him. He shut his mouth.

Brock? Did she say his name was-no no, I must be hearing things-

“Brock! Oh my goodness! Are you alright?” Fluttershy gasped.

Discord’s eye twitched.

The brown pegasus looked up at Fluttershy with more eagerness than Discord felt was warranted. “I-i guess so. I can’t feel anything painful...but then again I can’t feel anything in general.” The pegasus looked her up and down quickly, “But as long as you are with me, I don’t mind not feeling my limbs.”

Discord twitched again. He felt his fists clench and his claws dig into the palms of his hands. “Brock?” he questioned again, feeling a low but deep burn throb at the base of his feet.

The ponies did not hear Discord’s question. Fluttershy was smiling at the pegasus’s comment. She’s smiling Discord realized Why is MY Fluttershy smiling at him?

“So why is there a giant crowd here?”Brock asked Fluttershy, finally noticing his surroundings.

“Oh! Well there’s this ice cream stand here that we were going to try and it looks like they are really good so we were in line to get some ice cream,” Fluttershy quickly explained, trying to analyze where she could start pulling off suitcases without causing an avalanche.

Discord felt the twitch upgrade to a tremble as the throbbing traveled up his legs. Why are you telling this insignificant little gnat anything? he wanted to shout. Instead he just repeated hollowly, “Brock?”

“No sweet cheeks. The name’s Garble. You’ll find it easier to say once you get to know me a bit better. What’s a dragon with a tail like yours doing in a pony city anyway?”

Discord wasn’t sure if somepony was talking to him. He did not care. Everything else around was starting to melt away and become black. Voices sounded far away. He felt his vision narrow and haze. His tail flicked in irritation like a cat.

I’m about to make somepony a very sorry pony indeed.

Chapter 12: Mission Failure

Spike couldn’t bring himself to smile at the happy ponies around him. After all that time with Rarity, listening to her tell me dragons and ponies don’t mix like that Spike thought glumly She goes out with the first dragon she meets after me. He plopped ice cream into a cone and passed it to a pony.

“Spike!”

What was I thinking? How could Rarity do this to me? I thought she was my friend...at least.

“Spike!!!”

Spike served another scoop. Maybe I should just go back home and eat all of this ice cream. Might make me feel better…wait, is someone calling me?

“HEY SPIKE!”

Spike’s head swiveled toward the sound of the noise before he could stop himself and a horrible realization immediately dawned on him. There was only one person who would be using his real name. And there she was. Twilight stood at the edge of the pony crowd staring directly at him.

She was furious.

Spike panicked as he watched her try to muscle through the crowd and he swiveled around, looking for a way to escape. “Don’t you dare move, Spike!” he could hear her shout angrily, “You stay right there mister! You’re in big trouble!”

Spike stopped panicking a moment and quickly brainstormed. He turned back towards her and pointed to her. “Hey!” he hollered, “Isn’t that the princess?!” The mob around the ice cream stand excitedly turned toward the direction of his point.

Twilight froze as she suddenly found herself the focus of a hundred excited pony faces. “Uh...hi?” she greeted awkwardly.

“It’s the Princess!!”

“Can I get an autograph?!”

“What’s royal life like?”

“I thought she would be taller!”

Spike patted himself on the back as Twilight found herself quickly overwhelmed by the pony mob. He tried not to worry about the now much more severe consequences of his betrayal. “Discord!” he shouted, running toward the other dragon, “We gotta go! Twilight’s on to us. She’s gonna clobber us!”

Discord did not move. Spike stopped. If Discord had heard him, there was no indication of it. He doesn’t even look like he’s breathing Spike observed. His eyes widened. Oh man! What if Twilight turned him into a statue again?!

“Discord!” he almost yelped, grabbing the god’s arm. The flood of relief that hit him when he felt warm scales and not porcelain was instantly evaporated when a familiar grating voice called out to him.

“Hey back off, this babe’s all Garble’s.”

Spike turned and found himself face to face with an annoyed Garble. Spike almost instinctively backed up at the sight of the dragon but stopped himself. Due to Discord’s magic, Spike realised he was the same height as Garble. The playing field was a bit more evenly matched in his larger body. Maybe, maybe I can teach a lesson Spike thought eagerly, forgetting the impending danger Twilight would soon become if she freed herself from her adoring subjects.

“Why don’t you back off!” Spike shot back, hoping to Celestia that his voice did not crack.

Garble shot him an irritated look and snorted. “I eat pipsqueaks like you for breakfast. Stay out of this.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Nothing in the world could have moved Discord at that moment. The lust he had felt moments ago was being replaced by a much darker emotion with the same number of letters.

“So they don’t seem to speak pony that well so I have tried to speak simple pony. My dragon speech is very rusty,” Fluttershy admitted to Brock who was still buried under the luggage.

“Huh. Ooh! I think I could go for some ice cream.” Brock’s voice echoed in Discord’s mind, “Hey dragy dragy. Me want ice cream pronto!”

Discord felt something touch his arm but he didn’t acknowledge it. Thousands of years of intelligence and experience were quickly being whitewashed as the throbbing pulsed in his chest. Now a much more primal urge was taking root, shutting out his normally trickster nature. He stifled a low growl as he heard Spike and another voice arguing near him.

Look at me Fluttershy.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Fluttershy stifled herself at Brock’s method of speaking “simply”. I said simple, not stupid Fluttershy thought to herself. She felt guilty for thinking this as Brock probably didn’t know any better, but still I don’t think I would have liked to have been spoken to like that. She looked over to see if the dragon had taken offense to his comments.

To her surprise, Broke’s request did not seem to anger the dragon. In fact, it did not seem to elicit any response, Fluttershy realized with some uneasiness. The dragon seemed to be focusing on her with an intensity that both excited and frightened her. Fluttershy felt herself unable to draw her own eyes away from Luigia’s. There was something so familiar to those eyes. Something comforting amongst the rising fear.

Brock’s voice echoed over her thoughts. “Huh. I don’t think she heard me.”

Fluttershy did not turn to acknowledge Brock’s statement. Tunnel vision was starting to set set in and she felt herself wanting to walk back towards the dragon. The sounds of yelling and excitement sounded far away in her mind. Her knees wobbled uncertainly, not sure whether to move forward or buckle underneath her.

“Um Fluttershy?”

“Hmm?” The sound of her name, drew her attention slightly away from the female dragon.

“Do you think I should come closer so she can hear me?”

“Um, maybe? You might want to speak a little more intelligently to her,” Fluttershy found herself admitting before she could stop herself.

Brock hesitated and tried to lift himself up but collapsed back to the ground roughly. A piece of luggage popped open with the change in force, launching perfume and scarves into the air.

“Aaaahhhh!” Brock frightened shriek completely yanked Fluttershy out of her enchantment and she broke eye contact.

Rarity’s colorful scarves had fallen and landed on top of Brock, turning him into a colorful peacock. Fluttershy failed at stifling a laugh as she saw his predicament. “Brock! You’re so colorful!” she exclaimed.

Brock laughed but squinted his eye. “I feel fabulous! But I think I got some of Rarity’s perfume in my eyes!” he admitted as Fluttershy knelt down to pluck scarves off him.

Fluttershy tittered sympathetically as she plucked the last scarf off of him. “Well let me see that eye. Stay still.” Fluttershy reassured, kneeling down to be level with his face.

Being this close to the male pegasus made her heart skip a beat. Poor guy. He really needs someone to take care of him Fluttershy sympathized, looking at the sad figure who was trying to smile. “Alright, stay still so I can see,” she instructed, placing her hooves on both sides of his cheeks and looking into his eyes. The moment her hooves touched his face, everything changed.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

No.

The moment Fluttershy touched the other male’s face. The way she was laughing and looking into his eyes.

No.

Whatever creativity and illogical reasoning that fueled DIscord was extinguished with one emotionally filled No.

He shook his head but the throbbing was in his mind now and it was not going away. That primal drive was beating at his brain like a bongo drum. His eyes focused on Brock and he growled. There was only one solution.

I’m going to crush him. And I’ll crush the next pony who steps in my way.

Something grabbed him and his mind went black.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Rarity adjusted her scarf as she waited for Garble to finish up his business. I suppose maturity hasn’t really sunk into that dragon yet. Maybe I can teach him a manner or two. If he doesn’t eat a pony first she thought irritably as her hooves tampered with the fabric of her scarf. She paused when her hooves came into contact with a metal chain. Glancing around first to see if anypony was watching, Rarity sighed and pulled out the necklace she had hidden behind her decorative clothing.

Attached to a dainty gold chain was a beautiful fire ruby. If she had been wearing it in broad daylight, it would have shown like the rays of a thousand suns, but held in her hooves, it seemed to glow like an ember. The gem was heart shaped and had been a gift from...Spike.

She felt her eyes sting a little at the embers of the fire red ruby. At least that’s what she told herself. Rarity felt the guilt set in as she looked at her reflection in the gem. “No! I already told Fancy Pants that I would help. Don’t you try to scold me,” Rarity angrily told to the gem. She quickly tucked the necklace back into the safety of her scarf. She gave an exasperated sigh as she saw Garble and the other male dragon fighting.

“Oh that does it! A lady has to fix everything doesn’t she!” she huffed, walking towards the dragons.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Garble shoved Spike back, sneering at him. “Big dragon huh?” he taunted, “What are you going to do about it? Toast me in front of your girl?”

The dragons’ quarrel had devolved from name calling to physically shoving each other. Discord was useless to Spike at this point as he was in another world. Ponies watched from the sidelines.

“Is it a good idea to be this close to two dragons fighting?”

“Well probably not...but I really don’t want to lose my place in line.”

“No kidding. Maybe this a lunchtime show?”

“Ooh, good point. I mean, the princess did make an appearance. Maybe it is a show!”

Spike pushed back at Garble but his comment gave him an idea. “Toast you? Yeah! Maybe I will!” Spike challenged, feeling embers beginning to lick the back of his throat. I’ll show him! I’ll wipe that smug smile off his stupid smug face Spike growled as he felt the embers collect and rise. He began to open his mouth with a dark smile. Just stay right there -

“Garble! Stop this oafish behavior this instant!” a familiar melodious voice called out. Rarity dashed out gracefully from the crowd like a leaping gazelle and landed directly between the two dragons.

Rarity!!! Horrified, Spike grabbed ahold his snout and forcibly slammed his jaws together in an attempt to seal in the fireball. He grunted painfully as the embers bounced angrily off the inner parts of his mouth. He felt tears starting to form at the corner of his eyes but maintained his steely grip. His reaction and pain was unfortunately picked up by now an even smugger Garble.

“Garble, I want you to stop molesting Mario!” Rarity ordered angrily, striking a dignified pose. A few ponies snickered.

Garble winked at Spike maliciously and turned to Rarity with a fake apologetic smile. “Well, gee, sorry ma’am. We were just having a friendly conversation that’s all. Dragons are pretty physical is all. Isn’t that right, Mario?” Garble prodded Spike.

Rarity turned to him and looked up at him skeptically. “Is this true?” she asked.

No Rarity. We were NOT having a friendly conversation. He’s just a bully like always and you need to ditch him before he gets you hurt. Please you have to listen to me because I actually care about you.

That’s what Spike would have loved to have said, but with a brewing fireball in his mouth, there was no way he could even begin to open his mouth without harming Rarity. With a look of resignation, he nodded slowly, prompting Garble to sneak out a forked tongue at him before Rarity returned her attentions to him.

“Well, alright then. I owe you an apology, Garble. But we really should be moving on before Twilight is completely mobbed by an adoring public,” Rarity admitted sullenly.

Garble waved dismissively at her and turned toward Discord. “Yeah, yeah. Let me just get her cave number and we’ll go.”

Spike turned glumly toward Discord who was still unresponsive. What a lot of help you’ve been. What are you even looking at? Spike wondered angrily, following the direction of the draconequus stare before his own eyes widened.

“Hey baby, so I gotta splits to babysit some posh ponies, but I think I’d like to visit you sometime so what’s your cave number?” Spike could hear Rarity huff and began to trot away from the dragon.

It was Fluttershy. And she had her hooves almost wrapped around another unrecognizable male pegasus. Spike quickly looked back at Discord. His normally mismatched pupils were constricted and his scales were rigid and piloerect. His tail was twitching in such a manner that reminded him of Opalescence when she was hunting...except that Opalescence did not possess magical powers that would level all of Canterlot in a millisecond. Spike realized with an growing fear that Discord was about to blow. All he needed was something to trigger him.

“Hey toots, Did you hear me? Cave number now!” Garble impatiently ordered, reaching out to grab Discord by the arm.

“No wait! Don’t!” Spike yelled, releasing his snout to try to stop Garble. The second he released his own muzzle, Spike realized again with a familiar horror that he had just made another terrible mistake.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

The moment the unfortunate stranger made contact with the demi god, it was if a cannon had been fired. With an animalistic roar, Discord pivoted and clocked the unsuspecting intruder square in the snout, receiving a satisfying thrill from hearing nasal bones snap upon impact.

The other dragon stumbled back with a startled cry and a swear, before tripping and landing on a pony. Discord turned away from him to focus back on Fluttershy who did not seem to process what had just happened. Discord climbed on top of the counter, preparing to lunge at the rival.

And then something exploded.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Spike tried to slam his mouth shut but with his enhanced powers and size, it was impossible without having practiced with his new body. Everywhere he looked, there were ponies until he finally saw an empty space in front of a building. Relief hit him mercifully. He aimed his mouth towards the empty space and let loose a belch the size of a large warthog. His relief was cut short as a pony stepped into the path and the fireball launched toward

“RARITY! WATCH OUT!”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“He’s just a young buffoon who doesn’t know any better,” Rarity muttered under her breath as she made her way back toward her friends. “Doesn’t care about anything but himself-”

“RARITY! WATCH OUT!”

She quickly turned toward around in confusion, recognizing that panicked voice. “Spike?!” she called but her voice died in her throat.

An enormous fireball bore down on her. There was no time for magic. Rarity saw her life flash before her eyes. Her sister, her cat, her store...Spike! She let out a scream.

Somepony tackled her to the ground, knocking the air out of her and cutting her scream off as the other pony landed on top of her, shielding her body with their own. Rarity watching the fireball sail right above where she had been standing just milliseconds ago before it collided and detonated against the side of a building.

The two figures were immediately enveloped in billowy gray smoke. Rarity fought the urge to faint dead away as her life returned back to her. She shut her eyes tightly threw her hooves around her savior.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank...you?” her voice quivered as she felt the texture of scales on top of her. She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw her savior.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Spike’s heart ruptured as Rarity’s terrified scream was cut off as the fireball exploded. “Oh Celestia, what have I done? Rarity! Oh my goodness! I’ve killed her!” he wailed, tears flowing freely in his eyes. He tried to climb over the counter as the smoke started to clear and run toward where she once stood. I wish I had let that fireball just explode inside me!

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“Rarity?!” That was her voice. It was her voice. She was alive. Spike wiped the tears from his eyes and ran even faster. “I’m not too late. I’m not..too late?”

The smoke cleared and there was Rarity, unharmed and crying “Thank you!”. In her hooves, lying on top of her was a slightly disoriented but still smiling Garble. Spike felt his insides freeze, despite the outward heat of the fireball. He wished it even more that it had been him who was hit by the fireball instead. With this feeling of resignation, Spike did not try to fight it when he felt magic seize him and teleport him away.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Discord found himself ungracefully knocked to the ground rather than launching through the air like a natural predator. “Huh...what?” he tried to recall what had happened as ice cream rained down from the sky. Why does my paw hurt so much?

“Paw?!” Discord panickedly looked down and saw his disguise starting to fade. The loss of focus must have dulled the spell he realized quickly, attempting to reinstate the spell. “What made me lose focus?” he asked a nearby terrified pony who just shrugged before turning and slipping on chocolate fudge. Discord disorientedly looked around until a voice grinded his thoughts to a complete halt.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy! I’ll protect you!”

He quickly swiveled his head and made eye contact with a nearby pegasus whose reassuring statement did not sound as reassuring when he was staring at a draconequus. The spell was completely shot as Discord tried to remember why seeing this pegasus suddenly brought about immense feelings of destruction and pain. It was then that he noticed a familiar lavender tail sticking out from underneath the brown pegasus’s chest.

“Brock! What happened? I can’t see anything!” A muffled voice cried from underneath the increasingly nervous brown pegasus.

You’re...on...top...of...Fluttershy

Discord growled and bared his teeth as ice cream hailed down all around them. All the malicious and primal thoughts slammed back into him like the sunlight on a hangover after a night of dragon mead drinking. “Yeah, nope. You need to go now.” Discord stated matter of factly, starting to stand back up to his feet as he observed his rival on top of his mare friend.

“Wha-what is that?!” Brock stammered.

“What is what?!” Fluttershy yelled helplessly as she tried to look out from underneath Brock.

Discord grinned wickedly at the trembling Pegasus and brought his talons up to his face. With one snap, I’ll send you by catapult to the far end of the moon. Discord chuckled. “Bye bye, birdy” and he snapped.

Or at least he tried to. Discord had a moment of confusion when Brock was still on solid ground and he looked angrily at his talons. His talons were enveloped in purple magic that quickly spread to the rest of his body. “No, no, no, no!” he struggled, but he had been caught off guard and found himself quickly enveloped by powerful magic. He let out an agonizing roar that was cut short as he felt himself teleported against hill will, his last moment seeing Fluttershy emerging from underneath Brock.

A flash later, he found himself suspended in the air in an alley. Next to him was Spike who looked like he had given up on life. The magic still held him strong and he gnashed his teeth bitterly, feeling the rage beginning to ebb at his mind. “I am Discord, the great and terrible!” he announced to the darkness, “Who are you that dares to-?” his rant died in his throat and he bit his tongue as a figure emerged from the shadows.

“Oh, I dare to disturb the great and terrible and now,” Twilight’s voice called out as she advanced toward them, “Seriously in trouble, Discord.”

Author's Notes:

On schedule!!! Go me go!
Major failure for our boys...what a bummer.

Chapter 13: Splitting Up

“Huh,” Pinkie Pie said amongst the confusion.

“What’s up?” Cheese asked.

Pinkie turned to him with a mischievous smile. “Did you see that?”

Cheese looked at the chaos around him. “You mean the giant fireball that almost hit Rarity and now the big hole in the conveniently empty salon that is closed on Saturdays?”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “Yeah. And…?” she prompted eagerly.

Cheese hesitated. Was this a party pony test?”Uh, that dragon pushed Rarity out of the way?” he offered helpfully.

Pinkie laughed. “Almost! Can you believe that Garble actually tripped?! That could have been super scary if didn’t! But it’s funny because he did!” Pinkie let out a delighted giggle.

Cheese grinned. Party ponies rolled with the punches. “Maybe we could make him an ‘Accidental Hero’ Badge!” he suggested playfully.

Pinkie Pie gasped. “Oh! My! Gosh! That would be amaze! We could throw him a mini shout at the party tonight!!”

“With balloons!”

“And streamers!”

“Confetti!”

“And a party cannon!”

“Party cannon?”

“Never leave home without one!”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Rarity looked up in stunned silence as she found her hooves around her new dragon ward’s neck. A rosy blush traveled from her neck to her cheeks as she felt herself still very warm after her close encounter with a possible firey death. Rarity was aghast at the feeling of reptilian skin on top of her own smooth fur as it conjured up memories of her spying on Spike. When she had watched Spike take care of his own needs, part of her had wanted to know how those scales would feel pressed against her fur. And now she knew.

Oh sure, there had been hugs. Plenty of hugs. But to have scaly reptile legs on top of her hooves and the sensation of leathery skin pressed against her own delicate chest was an entirely new sensation. One that made her feel both excited and extremely guilty. Ponies shouldn’t be going for dragons. That’s why she never let Spike get too close.

And yet here she was. Guilt stung bitterly at the corners of her eyes. If Spikey Wikey was here to see this, it would break his heart. She regained her composure quickly as the smoke started to clear and coughed politely.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Garble had seemed dazed prior to this but at the sound of Rarity’s cough, he snapped back to attention to see he had accidentally managed to catch the fancy pony underneath him.

It had been a while since Garble had been with a female. And even then, he was never with a female that didn’t have scales. His last “conquest” had been with a gryffin and he’d rather not count it. It last a total of five minutes, of which, four minutes and fifty-five seconds of it had been of her verbal abusing him and he didn’t even get off.

In his opinion, fur was too soft to be good for anything. Not durable, tearing easily. Not even flame resistant. It was useless and weak. Garble glanced over the pony’s body with a disinterested critique, inwardly wishing he had fallen on top of the female dragon instead. He opened his mouth to launch another snide comment when something glittery caught his eye.

Around the unicorn’s neck was a glistening ruby gem attached to a golden chain. The gem shone even brighter than the fire that had blazed above both of them just moments before and to even the fanciest pony, it would have been considered quite beautiful. Garble, however, possessed a limited concept of beauty. But his mind thought eagerly, I do know when something is delicious. He found his mouth watering with anticipation and quickly shut it to avoid drooling on Rarity.

“Yeah, yeah, no problem,” he muttered dismissively, eagerly reaching for the chain around her neck.

Rarity bit her lip, swallowed before quickly standing up straight. Garble grasped empty air as he fell flat onto his sore snout. He let out a yelp as he quickly brought his claws to his snout. Did that crazy broad break my snout? She was pretty strong. I’ll have to be careful if I let her give me a hand later. He thought dirtily.

Rarity took this opportunity to tuck her necklace back underneath her scarf. “Well, it might not be a problem for you, but I am certainly most grateful. I very well could have been sauteed. And though I’m craving that tanned look, I certainly don’t want to become barbeque for it!” Rarity gave a nervous chuckle as she finished extraditing herself from Garble. “Now let’s gather our friends and keep moving.”

Garble scratched his head in confusion. “Uhm...alright then,” raising himself and following the flustered unicorn.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Rarity! Sugah! Ya alright?” Applejack hollered, pushing past a group of disoriented ponies as she spotted Rarity and Garble walking towards her.

The whole plaza was a disaster, although thankfully it appeared that no pony had actually been hurt, save for a few scratches. Ponies who hadn’t outright fled at the sound of the explosion were picking themselves up and talking excitedly amongst each other. As Applejack passed by ponies, she picked up snippets of conversation.

“What happened?”

“Is everything alright?”

“Aww, all the ice cream melted.”

Applejack approached, sighing in relief to see her friend unharmed. “Boy howdy, Rarity, ya durn near scared the daylights outta me. Ah thought ya were gonna more burnt that an overbaked apple tart!”

Rarity laughed and shook her head. “If it wasn’t for Garble, I most certainly would have.” Rarity looked around in concern. “Um, did you manage to find Fluttershy?”

Applejack opened her mouth and slammed it shut. “Aww...gosh dangit horse saddles.” she swore before turning on her hooves and darting back into the crowd.

Applejack’s presence was quickly replaced by a bouncing, beaming pink pony. “Hiya, Rarity!” Pinkie exclaimed, “Oh boy! This has been an exciting girls day so far! Especially after the boys joined us.”

Rarity laughed, “You could say that again, darling.”

Pinkie smiled, “Oh boy! This has been an exciting-”

“Oh ah darling, it’s just an expression,” Rarity quickly interrupted before Pinkie could continue.

“Oh oops!”

Cheese laughed, “Well the more the merrier! My sister is going to be so stoked to see you guys! She lives just a little bit further down this road.”

Rarity nodded, “Alright. Well let’s gather the ladies...oh, I do hope Brock hasn’t misplaced my suitcases during this whole ordeal,” Rarity wondered, trying to ignore Garble staring at her neck. She twirled her scarf nervously. “I guess we should follow Applejack.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

With a determined kick, Fluttershy finally kicked herself free of the suitcases that had toppled on top of her during the commotion. She blew at the wayward strands of hair that plastered her face and she let out a quiet triumphant “yay”. She looked around in confusion, seeing the disorganized crowd of distraught and disappointed ponies. “What happened?”

“A-a-a-a-” a voice stammered. She stood up and gasped when she saw Brock.

The well groomed pegasus was a fluster of feathers. His luxurious mane had bits of rock and ice cream stuck to him. His whole body trembled and he pointed toward the now empty ice cream stand.

“Brock!” she called, running over to his shaking form, “What is it?”

“A m-m-m-m-”

“Brock?”

“A monster!” Brock almost shrieked.

“A...monster?” Fluttershy asked, her heart fluttering in her chest. Could it be? she thought, grasping at a faint hope.

“The-the dragon! It was the dragon!”

Fluttershy hesitated, “The dragon?”

Brock vigorously shook his head, “The dragon was not the dragon! The dragon was the monster!” he stammered incoherently.

Fluttershy felt something sink in her chest. “Oh...the dragon?” she found herself echoing. Why are you so disappointed about a monster? Her mind asked suspiciously. I don’t know she admitted. She placed a supportive hoof on Brock who almost jumped in shock. “You were really brave,” she offered, trying to calm down the pegasus.

Brock stopped trembling and looked at her eagerly. “R-really?”

Fluttershy nodded, attempting to smile even as she felt disappointed. “Of course! Not everypony would step in front of another pony to protect them from..um..what did you protect me from?”

Brock hesitated. “Um...well.”

“Fluttershy!”

The two pegasusi turned toward the voice and saw Applejack running over to them. “Are you okay? That was a huge explosion!” she exclaimed, out of breath.

“It was?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head.

“Yes!” Brock piped up. “It was a huge explosion! That I totally protected you from!” he announced, triumphantly.

“You did?” Fluttershy asked, looking at Brock.

“You did?” Applejack panted.

“Uh! Yes!” Brock affirmed, flashing a gallant smile that still trembled. “It was very noble.”

“Oh, well, thank you!” Fluttershy thanked cheerfully.

Brock smiled and leaned forward toward her with his eyes shut, catching Fluttershy off guard. Rather than back away, Fluttershy found herself rooted to the spot. Oh my gosh! What do I do?

She didn’t have enough time to act as Brock opened his eyes within inches of her face. His eyes bugged and he quickly snapped back. “Oh! Wow. Um, whoa!” he stammered.

Fluttershy was even more confused. Wait, why did he stop? she wondered. “What is it?”

“Um, maybe-ah-after you clean up a bit?” Brock suggested awkwardly.

Fluttershy felt the comment sting. “Clean up? I don’t understand?” she asked stepping backwards, feeling slightly distraught.

“Fluttershy! Darling there you ladies are. Oh, and Brock!” Fluttershy, Applejack and Brock turned to see the arrival of Rarity, a dragon, Pinkie and Cheese. Rarity caught sight of Fluttershy and her face fell. “Oh dear, looks like you were caught up in the explosion too.”

“I still don’t understand,” Fluttershy admitted, sighing. Rarity smiled gently.

“Hang on dear, I have a pocket mirrored gem. Never leave home without it,” Rarity offered, reaching into her satchel and retrieving a small translucent gem quickly despite the clutter inside her bag. She offered it helpfully to Fluttershy who proceeded to gaze into it and gasp.

“Oh my goodness,” she gasped quietly. Every flavor of ice cream painted her face and mane. She looked at her normally yellow fur and found it stained with double chocolatey chip, sherbert and bits of rocky road. She wanted to bury her face in her hooves in embarrassment. “I look-look-”

“Delicious!” Pinkie Pie shouted helpfully.

Rarity patted her reassuringly with a napkin and retrieved her mirror from Fluttershy’s sticky hooves. “Nothing a hot shower won’t fix,” she announced. She looked at Cheese expectantly, “You do have hot water at your place?”

Cheese scratched his head. “I think so. There was some repair work being done at some point but we should have at least one of the seven bathrooms available.”

“Oh excellent...I’m sorry, did you say seven bathrooms?”

Applejack nudged a surprised Rarity. “Alright, questions later. Let’s find out where Twilight ended up.”

“Ooh! Ooh! I think I saw her in that back street over there!” Pinkie exclaimed, “This way!” Applejack motioned for the group to follow the bouncing Pinkie as she proceeded to bring up the rear.

Fluttershy had not moved from where she stood. She looked downcast and awfully quiet considering they all just made it through a fireball. Applejack placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder. “Fluttershy, ya alright?” she asked, “Did ya get hurt?”

Fluttershy shook her head softly and asked quietly, “Am I really that gross?”

“What? No way!” Applejack argued angrily. She softened her tone, “Ya look just fine compared to all the chaos around us. Shucks, I’m sure Discord would just be loving all this right now if he was here,” Applejack admitted with a chuckle.

Fluttershy’s eyes lit up and she looked up at the splatters of banana berry ice cream and the fillies playing in a miniature lake of vanilla bean. “Yes, I really do think he would have.” A smile crept sneakily onto her face. “Applejack, what do you think Discord’s up to now?” she asked curiously as she followed her friend.

Applejack scoffed. “Knowing Discord, he’s probably getting himself into trouble.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Discord! You are in so much trouble!” Twilight growled, glaring at the suspended Draconequus.

“So am I off the hook?” Spike asked hopefully.

“Oh you definitely are in trouble too!” Twilight snapped, turning her attention to her loyal assistant. “You are in just as much trouble as he is!”

“Aw shucks.”

Discord humphed. “I fail to see why we are in trouble. It was clearly your fault,” he protested, attempting to point a guilty finger at Twilight but her magic prevented him from doing more than just wiggling it.

She blinked in surprise but kept her Alicorn magic going. “My fault? Excuse me, but I did not break a promise to not come here!”

“Well, we clearly had no choice in that matter. You girls could have let me talk to Fluttershy before you all left-”

“Discord, you know that wasn’t an option. I know what happened between you and Fluttershy,” Twilight rebuked sternly.

Discord opened his mouth but whatever snarky comeback he had died in his throat. Spike looked over in surprise at this before turning his attention back to Twilight Sparkles. Right now, Spike would rather have faced a thousand Garbles rather than deal with this angry princess.

“We took Fluttershy on this trip to give you both a break. To figure things out without..uh..well hormones clouding your reasonable thinking,” Twilight continued. She hesitated. “Well as close to reasonable thinking that you can do.”

Discord did not respond. He wasn’t smiling smugly anymore either. Spike decided to speak up.

“Um, Twilight…” Spike began.

“And you!” Twilight turned on him, “You were supposed to stay at the castle!”

Spike puffed out his chest in indignation. “Yeah, well you said there were not going to be any boys and you let Garble join you guys.”

“I did not let Garble join us! Listen, Spike-”

Spike was upset. “No! You just gave Rarity to Garble!”

Twilight’s magic flickered as fire burned in her eyes. “I didn’t give Rarity to anypony, Spike! Rarity is not an object! She’s a pony capable of making her own decisions! And you thinking you own her because you do nice things for her is so stupid!”

“I-i-i didn’t say that-!” Spike tried to protest, feeling taken aback by Twilight’s brutal words.

“Do you boneheads have any idea what I’ve been going through?!” Twilight demanded. Discord and Spike exchanged worried glances.

“We kinda do. You see-” Discord admitted, but Twilight cut him off.

“I’m trying to organize a fun girl get together and then Princess Celestia sends Flash to me because there’s been a disturbance in the magical forces! So now I have to plan for more ponies and worry about a possible attack and while Celestia is watching me! And then you guys show up and blow up a plaza!”

“Twilight, please you don’t understand! We came to warn you-!” Spike pleaded.

“Warn me?” Twilight asked, looking at him unsteadily. “About what? About how hot it was going to be?”

This was his chance. Spike began. “Well Fluttershy’s heat is making you-!”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, there you are!” Twilight felt her attention yanked away from Spike as she turned to collide with Flash Sentry with a very unprincess like thud.

Discord and Spike felt themselves drop a foot as Twilight collided with Flash but were immediately resuspended as Twilight pulled herself away from the guard. Her eyes were glazed over and she appeared disoriented.

“Princess? Are you alright?” Flash asked, noticing her strange appearance. He placed his hooves on either side of her face to look into eyes with concern as she attempted to regain her bearings.

“You probably should take your hooves off of her,” Discord muttered, “you’re just making it worse.”

Flash released Twilight and turned toward Discord, his hoof now on the hilt of his sword. “What sorcery is this? Do you have a spell on Twilight?” he demanded.

Spike perked up, “No! Wait! You see, it’s all because-!”

A smile flickered onto Discord’s face. “What of it, you little tin soldier?” he taunted.

“Why you-?!”

“Everypony shut up!” an angry Twilight yelled, holding her own head. She focused on Flash. “You!”

Flash stepped backwards in surprise towards Discord and Spike. “Me?”

“Yes! You! Where were you when a pony crowd mobbed me?!” Twilight demanded.

“I uh, uh...I was trying to get back to you. I wasn’t at my post, you’re right. I was trying to uh..” He looked over helplessly at the suspended reptiles. Spike sighed and Discord was starting to snicker rudely.

“What were you doing that was so important?!” Twilight growled, advancing on him.

Flash looked around nervously. “I-is this part of your spell, Discord?” Flash asked uncertainly.

Discord shrugged. “Maybe it is. No spell is alike.”

“I am not under a spell!” Twilight growled, wobbling unsteadily as she took another step toward the males.

“That’s exactly what a pony would say if she was under my spell,” Discord offered.

The magic holding Discord and Spike was starting to flicker in and out of existence. Spike realized he could move his talons and looked to Discord whose small smile had turned into a smug grin.

“H-how would I break the spell?” Flash Sentry asked, not taking his eyes off of Twilight.

“Oh! You’re going to listen to him?! Are you serious?” Twilight exclaimed.

“Well, I know in Twilight’s books...isn’t the spell broken by a kiss?” Spike offered, playing along with the makeshift plan.

“A k-kiss?”

“Spike, you little traitor!!” Twilight growled. She looked at Flash. “Flash Sentry, I command you to stay right there!”

Flash Sentry was sweating bullets. “I am loyal to the crown...and to you, Twilight...but I am sworn to protect you and-and I’m super super sorry about this!” With that, Flash lunged forward and tackled a surprised Twilight.

With a resounding pop, Twilight’s magic shattered, dropping Discord and Spike to the ground with as much grace as a banana singing opera to a herd of hungry gnats. Spike ignored the poor metaphor and grabbed Discord’s arm. “Get us out of here!” he yelled.

Flash looked at the two males in confusion. “Wait, what?”

Discord winked. “Good job, soldja boi. The only spell your pretty princess was under was your own! Adios muchacho!” And with a snap of his fingers, they vanished into fat air.

Flash looked at the empty space in confusion. “What? My own spell? I don’t...wait, what?” he asked. It was eerily quiet in the cramped alley he had tailed Twilight into. The only sound was Twilight’s heavy breathing. He didn’t remember casting a spell. “If you’re not under a spell then-oh no!”

He looked down to see he had successfully pinned Twilight to the ground and had not been blasted to oblivion. Her cheeks were flushed and sweat glistened off her body. He felt his own nostrils flare up as the scent of the ground enhanced her princessy musk. He felt himself tensing as his wings quivered in anticipation of something he was unsure of. Maybe, since I’m already this far...Maybe there was a spell...I could a small voice started to suggested.

His noble nature immediately detained the wayward thought and put it into his mental prison. Absolutely not! Discord was lying! I will not take advantage-

“Flash?” he heard Twilight moan in a voice that almost made his wings stand to attention.

“Yes? Prin-I mean Twilight?” he asked, leaning in closer, feeling his own heart pound against his metal armor, trying to pump blood to his brain which was starting to feel dizzy. She looked up at him, her eyes no longer glazed over but shining bright and intelligently as normal.

“I can’t breathe!” she croaked.

Flash looked at her in confusion until a horrible realization struck him. Here he was, a full grown pegasus in a full suit of armor with all that weight pressed firmly on top of her much smaller frame. He quickly leapt off her and helped her to get to her hooves.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he apologized profusely as Twilight Sparkle coughed and gagged. Congratulations. You cured the princess by cutting off her supply of oxygen. The kingdom is saved. Way to go, numnuts.

As she began to take in oxygen, Flash noticed with concern that her eyes were starting to lose that crispness again. Maybe this alley is enchanted! He quickly seized her and dashed towards the entrance of the alley. As he reached the entrance, he was relieved to see her friends approaching and quickly released her to an eager Pinkie.

“Woohoo! I caught Twilight! Gotta catch em all!” Pinkie rallied. Twilight coughed in response.

“Twilight! Are you alright?” Rarity gasped, “What happened?”

Flash looked guiltily downwards. “I failed Twilight. I listened to Discord and-”

“Discord was here?” Rarity exclaimed but quickly lowered her voice to an urgent whisper as she spotted Applejack and Fluttershy approaching.

Flash nodded. “Twilight had them trapped in the alley and I think Discord put a spell in the alley that made ponies act weird. But I’m not so sure about that part.”

“Them? Who is them?” Rarity pressed.

Brock looked confused, “Discord?”

Cheese maintained his ever present smile but was notably concerned. “Listen, we can all ask questions later. Right now, let’s get Twilight to my sister’s house. We’re almost there. Once she is feeling better, we can talk about it then.”

Fluttershy walked in on Twilight coughing and gasped, “Oh my goodness! Twilight! Are you alright?” as she put a hoof to her forehead.

Twilight nodded breathlessly. “Yes and yes. Cheese is right. Come on Flash, let’s go.”

“Wait!” Flash called out. He reached underneath his armor and pulled out a small gold whistle on a piece of string. “Twilight, I caused you enough trouble today. Please, take this. Celestia had enchanted this whistle. If you blow it, it will teleport me to you immediately. No matter where you are.” He pressed it into Twilight’s hooves. Her attempts to speak where overridden by another coughing fit and he bowed formally. “I’m sorry, Twilight,” he apologized before leaping into the air and soaring briskly toward the castle.

“Um, if he had that whistle all along,” Applejack wondered, “why did he insist on coming with us?”

“House first! Questions later!” Cheese insisted.

Twilight breathed in wonderful oxygen as she watched Flash fly away. I’d like to know that too, Flash Sentry.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Discord and Spike popped into existence in front of a store. Discord was cackling madly. “Hahaha!!! Did you see the look on Twilight’s face when that guard landed on her?”

“Yes.” Spike confirmed stoically as he began to dust off interdimensional donut powder.

Discord wiped a tear from his eyes and he finished chuckling. “Well that will put Ms. Know-it-all out of commission for at least a little while. So here’s the next phase of the plan. We take these flippers-”

“No.”

Discord paused, holding a pair of scuba diver flippers. “Well, I guess we can forgo the flippers although they are an integral part of the plan. So you’ll take this vat of duck fat and-”

“No.”

Discord gave an exasperated sigh. “You know dear, you could be a little more supportive of our plan instead of being a Negative Nancy.”

“There is no ‘our’ plan,” Spike muttered under his breath.

Discord cleared his throat. “Can you repeat that? I must still have some stone in my ears from the last time your friends froze me,” he requested, reaching into his ears and pulling out a lifesize pedestal of a female pony missing its two front feet which he tossed to the side.

“Let me say it louder it for you. I am not helping you!” Spike growled, starting to walk away from the Draconequus only to have the demi god materialize next to him.

“Aw, is Spikey Wikey upset?” Discord cooed, pinching his cheek only to have his paw slapped away by an irritated Spike.

“You bet I’m upset!” Spike hollered back at him, “Your stupid plan got us nothing but more problems. Thanks to you, I drove Rarity right into Garble’s arms and I broke Twilight’s trust. And you just had to egg Twilight on instead of letting me explain what was happening. I nearly killed Rarity today! Listening to you was the dumbest thing I have ever done!” Spike marched forward but was stopped again.

Discord had materialized in front of him and this time he wasn’t smiling. He leaned down to Spike’s height and poked him in the chest. “My plan was perfect. And I would think a little brat like you would be grateful to be part of one of my perfect plans even after you summoned that pegasus to take Fluttershy away from me.”

Spike huffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Discord’s tone became significantly darker. “Oh really? A gentle, thoughtful, good looking male pegasus just happens to show up and just happens to have the exact name you said in Ponyville? What was it..Brock? How stupid do you think I am?”

Spike laughed in Discord’s face. “Trust me, you don’t want me to answer that. How would I summon anypony when I don’t have any magic? You just happen to have the universe or some angry god against you. And I wouldn’t blame them.” And with that, Spike pushed Discord aside and kept walking.

“Get back here!” Discord ordered.

“No thank you!” Spike called over his shoulder, “I’m going to try to fix all the damage you caused. From now on, you’re on your own!”

Discord remained in his spot as ponies glanced at him nervously and kept walking. He swung around and yelled after Spike, “Well that’s fine! I don’t need your help anyway!”

“Donkey head!”

“It’s a horse head and you know that!” Discord yelled after Spike, but the dragon was already disappearing into a pony crowd. Discord growled at any ponies who stopped to watch the spectacle, causing them to move on quickly.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

As the two males quickly formulated their separate plans, Discord and Spike both gritted their teeth and unknowingly said in unison. “Now we do things my way.”

Author's Notes:

So this story is going to go in about 3 different yet simultaneous directions where will be following Spike, the girls and of course Discord...And for the folks sending me private messages to "GET TO THE CLOPPING ALREADY!", stop it. It is coming (hah) but this is going to be a story with a decent plot and with character development darn it (or at least I'm trying) with gratuitous sex when it is appropriate. Stay with me guys, there's a reason for the M rating.

Chapter 14: Gifts from a Secret Admirer

Author's Notes:

Sorry for being late on this one. Coworker hulked out, flipping a table and quitting. It was super impressive actually since she had a bad back but it definitely cut into writing time since everyone has to pick up her shifts.
Yes, this chapter has some tacky bits. Read with an open mind and please keep rotten veggies to yourself. >.<

“Hey sis! I’m home!” Cheese announced, opening the impressive door into a large parlour, “And I brought my friends!”

To everyone’s surprise, a very stylishly dressed pony appeared at the top of the stairs. “Cheese! I’m so excited! I could just die!” And with that, she jumped off the stairs.

Applejack lunged into the room. “Wait! Don’t!” she shouted, attempting to catch the leaping pony, but it was too late. The female pony plummeted to the ground. With milliseconds to go, she suddenly pulled a piece of string off a center square on her outfit. The square inflated to the size of a king mattress which the pony flopped onto with a graceful boof instead of an earth splattering splat much to every pony’s relief.

Cheese quickly ran up to her and placed a hoof around her shoulders as the female pony quickly stood up, disconnecting herself from the mattress. “Everypony! This is my sister, Jelly Bean! Sis, these are my friends!”

“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie Pie greeted enthusiastically, jumping to the front of the group.

“Oh! You’re Pinkie Pie! I’m so happy to meet you! I’ve heard so much about you!”

Pinkie smiled hopefully. “Oh goodie! Wait, they were good...right?”

“Duh! Of course!” Jelly Bean laughed. She spotted Brock and Garble standing awkwardly by the doorway. “Ooh! Did you bring me extra guests?”

“Yeppers! Do we have enough room?” Cheese asked.

“Of course! Mom and dad are going to be gone at least until next week so the west wing is totally open.” Jelly Bean smiled and beckoned the other ponies/dragon in. “Come in, come in!”

The small group walked inside. Rarity’s jaw nearly dropped from her skull as she gawked at the entrance way. “Cheese? This is where you live?”

Cheese Sandwich nodded enthusiastically. “Yup! This is where I grew up.”

Rarity looked at Cheese as if he had two heads. “You backpack all over Equestria...and you live here?”

Cheese started laughing. “I can’t think of a better way to come up with a funny joke when you’re sleeping in a tent that’s rolling down a mountain.” He turned eagerly toward Pinkie who had been strangely quiet. She wasn’t smiling and her lips were pressed tightly together. “Uh, Pinkie...do you like it?”

Pinkie started to shake, prompting Applejack to lean in to her. “Ah, sugah? Ya okay?”

Pinkie looked directly into Cheese’s eyes and let out a loud shriek.

“OH MY GOSH! THIS HOME IS AMAZE! JUST THINK OF ALL THE BOUNCY PADS WE COULD HERE AND HERE AND HERE!” With each “here” Pinkie almost seemed to teleport to different parts of the rooms. In one instant she was by the gilded staircase and another near the pony angel statues by the mahogany lining of the silk couches. “And we can get the biggest streamers off this chandelier,” Pinkie announced, seemingly teleporting on top of the expensive chandelier.

Jelly nudged Cheese, breaking him from his almost enchanted watch of Pinkie. “You weren’t kidding about Pinkie! She’s-she’s-”

“Amazerific!”

“Exactly!”

Jelly left Cheese to watch the pink acrobatic and turned her attention to his friends. She smiled when she spotted Fluttershy and Brock. “Oh woah! You guys sure look colorful. Would you like to use the shower? I only have one working now. Maybe you guys could share if you’re running short on time. I was trying out my new cherry bang trick and I guess I put more bang than cherry in my tricks!” She laughed and elbowed Fluttershy playfully. “I gotta remember to pop that cherry before the bang!”

Fluttershy felt herself blush violently. Normally produce and explosions seemed commonplace to her especially ever since she became friends with Rainbow Dash. But during her heat, these words conjured up passionate images of moaning and twisting, a sense of building up pressure just anticipating being released in one...final...thrust.

She felt a hoof fall on her shoulder and Fluttershy let out a startled moan. She quickly glanced around but didn’t see that any other pony noticed her minor release. Until she realized that the hoof was still on her. She followed the hoof up to the pony it belonged to. It was Brock.

Brock looked at her with a strange smile. He leaned in towards her with that smile still on his lips. “Maybe-maybe we could? I don’t know about you but it’s hard to get right at the base of the feathers sometimes,” he suggested awkwardly. His hoof trailed down to the base of her wings and began to rub in small circles.

“O-oh,” Fluttershy gasped, feeling her wings starting to become taut at the sensation. She felt her eyelids grow heavy and her breathing quicken.

Her eyes opened quickly as the sensation vanished as quickly as it came. Applejack had jutted herself forcefully between the two awkward pegasusi. “Brock, ya go on and clean yahself first,” Applejack ordered.

“Oh but I didn’t mean-”

“Ah’m sure there’s a hose outside ah could spray ya with if ya want ta shower with Flutters,” Applejack threatened.

Brock took the hint and turned quickly toward Jelly. “Right, so um, where’s that shower?”

“Oh, upstairs, fourth door on the left.

“Ah, thank you.” Brock shot Fluttershy a goofy smile. “I’ll let you know when I’m done,” he promised. He hurried up the stairs to avoid another glare from Applejack.

Garble sneered. “Showers? You ponies are ridiculous. Trying to be clean and wear fancy clothes. Nothing’s better than going the way you are hatched,” he snorted, blowing a smoke ring into Rarity’s slackjawed face.

Rarity coughed and regained her senses, waving the smoke away. “Please, dressing up is a way to show appreciation for those around you. To let everyone know that you made an effort to make an event special.”

Garble snorted another lazy smoke ring and flopped onto a fainting couch, eliciting a distressed squeak from its delicate frame. “Well, I guess tonight won’t be that special will it since I ain’t got no clothes.”

“No...clothes?” Rarity gaped. There was a brief pause as the neurons in Rarity’s brain connected. Rarity seized Garble by both shoulders, yanking the surprised dragon off the couch. “What do you mean you ain’t got no clothes!?” she demanded, her eyes boring into him with an intensity that could burn holes in mythril.

Garble squirmed uncomfortably, looking for help but finding none. The other ponies had wisely stepped back from the angry unicorn. “Um, I didn’t think I needed them?”

Rarity’s eyes burned even brighter. “There-is-a-dress-code!” she growled, shaking him at every word.

With an exasperated growl, Rarity threw him back against the couch. She calmed herself and readjusted her scarf and mane with a large sigh. “Girls,” she said in a voice that was too calm for what had just transpired, “We will be right back. Garble and I need to get him dressed for tonight.”

Garble opened his mouth to argue but hesitated. He settled for mumbling, “You’re going to regret ordering me around.”

Rarity whirled on him and stuck a hoof sharply into his chest. “I’m going to regret it more if I get turned away from this party because you refuse to wear a pique bow tie!”

“A what?” Garble asked in confusion. But Rarity no longer was listening to him. She was on a pony on a mission and he had no choice but to follow her outside.

Applejack sighed as Rarity and Garble left the building. “Alright, now somepony explain to me why there’s another dragon here?”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Garble crossed his arms as he followed Rarity down the street. “Fancy Boot’s approval means that much to you, huh, Larry?” Garble taunted an agitated Rarity

Rarity paused in front of a shop and faced him. “For your information, my name is Rarity. And no, Fancy Pants’ approval doesn’t mean the world to me, but he does have great influence and knowledge to help me start my own clothing line here.”

Garble looked her up and down and let out a whistle of admiration. “Hmm, you might be more dragon like that I thought.”

Rarity hesitated. “I’m not sure I follow.”

Garble laughed. “Looking out for number one. I like that. It’s a dragon eat dragon world out there. Greed can get you far in life.”

Rarity took a step back. “I am not doing this out of greed,” she argued defensively.

The dragon snorted and spit on the side of the road, narrowly missing a passing pony. “Whatever you say. But hear me out.” He advanced toward Rarity with a sinister smile. “You need me to act nice so you can impress the upper crust ponies.”

“That’s-that’s not true,” Rarity stammered, quickly looking side to side. There were no ponies eavesdropping. In fact, most ponies kept their distance especially after the spitting bit.

Garble continued, “If I play nice, the other ponies will thank you and listen to everything you have to say. You make out a bandit.”

Rarity hesitated. “That would be very helpful if you could cooperate, yes. I think we could learn a lot from each other,” Rarity admitted, “You would have my sincere thanks.”

“Hold your thanks. I said if I play nice. I just don’t do favors for nothin’ ya know. I’m going to want something from you.” Rarity found herself trembling at these words. He eyed her shaking body with a lecherous smirk.

Rarity froze and her mind raced. Something from me? What could he possibly mean? She thought. Despite wearing clothes, she felt very naked and vulnerable. Her skin crawled and her cheeks flushed as Garble leaned in toward her. She pressed herself instinctively against the awning of doorway and Garble towered over her. He placed a claw on her neck and she shivered.

“I want your jewels,” he said throatily.

Rarity gasped. “I beg your pardon?” she demanded, indignation and excitement coloring her cheeks a ruby red.

“Your jewels. Your sparkling gemstones. I want those,” Garble clarified, slipping a claw underneath her scarf and slowly pulling out her gold chain. “This one interests me a lot actually.”

Rarity stiffened, but only for a moment. She quickly swatted Garble’s claws off her necklace. “This gem is not up for negotiation,” she countered.

Garble shrugged as she turned away to place the necklace back in the safety of her scarf, using the window to examine and adjust herself. “Fine. Your call. But what are a few gems when your whole life could change in a night?”

Rarity stopped adjusting her scarf as she looked at herself in the window. Garble’s words echoed in her mind as she studied her reflection in the window. Her mane was still frayed and slightly singed from the fireball, her clothes were unkempt and bits of ice cream stained her hooves. The smell of brimstone wafted off of her body. She caught a glimpse of the shopkeeper inside. I look nothing like her. She’s so prim and put together her mind chastised. Nothing great was ever accomplished without a few sacrifices that voice inside her head pressured.

Rarity considered the thought. She had brought a couple of her more precious stones on her possession. I would be reluctant to part with these...but I could always find replacements.

Rarity resolutely straightened herself out and quickly brushed through her mane. She turned to face Garble who was etching his name into the other side of the door. “Alright, here are my terms. If giving you gems will encourage you to behave and try to act in a more gentlecolt manner, then I can accommodate your request. However!” Rarity flicked her mane to the side. “My necklace is not up for negotiation. Are we clear?” She asked, sticking out a hoof.

Garble dusted the drywall off his claws and grinned at Rarity. “Alrighty. No touching the necklace.” He held out a claw and Rarity took it graciously.

“Very good! Now first lesson. It is always polite when meeting someone new, especially a lady, to kneel down slightly with one knee. As so,” Rarity demonstrated, bowing down with one of her front knees.

Garble imitated her clumsily and Rarity allowed herself to smile. “You’ll get the hang of it. Just keep practicing.”

Garble coughed expectantly and Rarity’s smile faltered. She glanced around to see if any pony was looking before she slowly slid off one of her bracelets. She handed it sadly to Garble who greedily slurped it up with a disgusting belch. Rarity sighed.

“Let’s go inside so the tailor can fit you for a suit. We can practice more while we wait for them.” Rarity made a motion to move inside but Garble caught her hoof.

“You’re missing something.”

“Pardon?”

“After I hold your hoof and bow and stuff...I’m supposed to do something else, aren’t I?” Garble insisted suspiciously.

Rarity withdrew her hoof quickly. “I-I don’t believe I know what you’re referring to. Let’s just enter, please.” Rarity quickly opened the door and walked in before Garble could interrupt further. Her mind was racing as she internally repeated her codes of proper gentelcolt/gentlemare behavior.

After the gentlecolt and gentlemare kneel slightly to each other, the stallion shall place a kiss on the mare’s hoof…

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

A small figure was desperately doing everything he could not to leap out of his hiding place and throttle Garble until he coughed up Rarity’s bracelet.

Spike watched carefully from behind the benches near the shop Rarity entered. He was clenching his claws, putting small dents in the wooden frame of the bench. He did not feel the wood splintering underneath his claws. It wasn’t until somepony tapped him on the shoulder that his mind could think of anything else but watching Rarity.

“Oh excuse me sir.” Spike was startled as an elderly well dressed unicorn tapped him gently on the shoulder. “Would you mind not digging your nails into this bench? My grandchildren really like this bench and I am afraid they might get poked if you keep making splinters.”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry!” Spike quickly apologized, releasing the bench, keeping his eyes on the shop.

The old mare followed his gaze. “Oh, do you know that young mare?” She asked as Rarity and Garble disappeared into the shop.

“Yeah…”

“Do you like her?”

Spike let his shoulders sag. “Yeah, but there’s this other guy. And he’s a huge jerk. But I don’t think she realizes how big of a jerk he is ya know? I just wish I knew how to get her attention without her knowing it was me.”

The old unicorn nodded understandingly and sat on the intact part of the bench. She motioned for Spike to sit next to her and he awkwardly did so, wincing as he felt small slivers poke him in the butt. “I remember when I was a young filly...oh I was being courted by a dashing colt...but then I started receiving gifts from a mysterious suitor. No name...the gifts were only signed with ‘Your Secret Admirer’. They were such thoughtful gifts...handpicked flowers...a silk ribbon tied around a poem...I fell in love with him even before I finally met him face to face. He came from a poor family but it didn’t matter to me.”

Spike looked at her in confusion. “How did you know that these gifts were from him if he never signed his name?”

The old mare smiled. “After we were married, I found his journal. He wrote down every gift he ever got me...the date, how he got it...and why it was important to me.”

Spike scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Hey, that’s a pretty good idea, Mrs. uh-”

“Rose, darling.”

“Well thanks Mrs. Rose. Your husband seems like a smart pony.”

“Yes. Jack...he certainly was. I miss him,” she remembered, her face and voice softening as she spoke.

Spike felt like someone punched him in the stomach. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Rose waved at him. “Oh no worries dear. I’m sure we'll be together soon,” she smiled warmly, “Now go get your mare!”

Spike felt himself tear up and he quickly wiped his eyes. What a bittersweet thing for her to say. “Yes ma’am,” Spike agreed and stood up straight. “I can do this.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“What just happened?” Spike asked himself he held an ice pack to his swollen eye. He sat on a stool in a Canterlot pub, trying to figure out what exactly happened in the last hour that led to him not only with a black and blue eye, but being even further from convincing Rarity that Garble was a jerk.

The bartender pony sidled up to him, concerned. “Hey bud, another ice pack?”

Spike nodded and traded in his lukewarm pack for a fresh pack. “Can I get something to drink?” he asked, wincing as the icy coldness touched the bruised flesh.

“Sure, sure. I’ll get ya something. Want to share what happened?” The bartender offered.

Spike sighed. “There’s this girl I like. A lot. I don’t know at this point if she likes me back. Maybe she does. Or she did. But there’s this other guy who she agreed to take out to help a friend of hers. And I screwed up something so now she thinks this guy is super awesome when he actually is still a jerk. I thought I could fix everything by leaving gifts for her...and well..”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“Garble, um, what is that?”

“I dunno, but it's got your name on it?”

“Oh….oh! My goodness! A limited edition pair of Pinuit stockings! With a receipt! Is-is this for me?”

“Yeah, do you like socks?”

“I do! Oh my goodness! Are you learning how to be a gentle pony afterall?”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“He was not learning how to be a gentlepony!” Spike argued. “He found my presents and ate my notes before Rarity could find them. She thinks he was using the gems to pay for them but he was still eating them. He had the gall to ask for more gems to behave!” Spike simmered.

“And the black eye?”

“Ah...I wasn’t fast enough.”

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Spike placed the last present in Rarity’s hanging coat in the coat room of the tea house. Rarity had been so proud of Garble’s progress that she had treated him to a high tea. It was a posh enough place that had you check your cloaks and coats.

“If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what will,” Spike mumbled to himself.

“I know what will,” a familiar voice spat behind his ear. Before Spike could react, he was shoved roughly into the wall of the coat room, his arm pinned behind his back.

“Argh!” Spike grunted painfully, trying to free his arm but was unsuccessful against his surprise attacker. “Let me go!” he growled.

“What a pathetic twerp!” he heard Garble sneer in his ear. “You think I’m stupid? You don't think I didn’t notice you leaving all these presents for Rarity?” He heard Garble chuckle. “A dragon falling for a pony. What a failure to our species.”

“Hey!” Spike hollered, trying to kick him. “You leave Rarity out of this! You’re taking advantage of her!”

Garble snickered. “She and I have an arrangement. One that I don’t intend to keep once I get all her gems. Especially that juicy one around her neck. I don’t see gems like that often and by tonight, it’s all mine. Heck, I might even save a bite or two for that hot piece of tail running the ice cream stand. Rarity will give that to me in a second if she thinks it will help her get her shop.”

“Don’t you touch that necklace! She’ll never give it to you in a million years even if she is in heat!” Spike’s blood ran cold as soon as the words left his mouth. He couldn’t stop himself.

Garble whistled. “Wait, wait, wait. Rarity’s in heat? That would explain that odd smell she’s been giving off. I thought it was just brimstone.” Garble tossed Spike to the ground. “I actually thought she was just supposed to be pretty by the way all those males looked at her while she dragged me around on her stupid errands...but I guess even plain ponies look good in heat eh?”

Garble let out a mischievous giggle and kicked Spike in the ribs when he attempted to rise to his feet. He leaned in close to the groaning Spike. “Oh you little squirt, you’ve just made my night so much more interesting.”

“What are you talking about?” Spike demanded, getting to his knees with some difficulty.

“You think I forgot about your guys’ prank with the Phoenix eggs? Do you know how long it took for me to finally get away from those birds? How much bird poop I had to scrape and scratch off all my scales? Now I have a chance to pay you back.”

Spike’s mind was spinning as he tried to steady himself. Garble brought his head closer to Spike’s. “Tonight, I’m going to take the most important thing away from both of you tonight.”

Spike shook his head. “What? Important thing? What are you…” Realization dawned on Spike and he tensed up. “You wouldn’t dare…”

Garble laughed. “I think I might even wear her pretty little necklace while I ride her pretty little pony self tonight. I bet she likes to be taken from behind...like a diamond dog,” he slithered.

Spike quickly shot up and charged Garble. “Don’t you dare touch her!” He threatened.

Garble was anticipating this move, however, and seized the charging Spike by the throat. “I should really thank you, Spikey Wikey. If it wasn’t for your fireball earlier and these presents you’ve been leaving, I don’t think I would have been able to this close to Rarity. I’ll make sure to think of you tonight when she’s screaming my name.”

“You bast-!” Spike swore before Garble suckerpunched him in the face.

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

“I came to a bit later but they had already left,” Spike concluded bitterly.

“Wow. You really might have been better off if you had done nothing.”

“Thanks for rubbing it in. Can I get another one of these?”

“Uh, you sure kid? You’ve had five already.”

Spike blinked in surprise. I have? He looked in front of him and realized there were indeed 5 empty pint glasses sitting in front of him. “Wha-what? But I only paid for one?” he tried to reason.

“Well yeah, but that fella over there has been buying you refills,” the bartender gestured to the other end of the bar. “Before you came in, I thought he was the weirdest patron I was going to have today, but you definitely came in a close second.”

Spike looked over at the other figure and humpfed. “Oh, it’s you. Come here to rub it in how I can’t do anything right, huh Discord?” Spike asked irritably.

Discord stood up from his bar stool, swaying slightly. “N-not exactly,” the draconequus mumbled. Spike looked at him in disbelieving suspicion until he spotted Discord’s lion paw. The paw had been wrapped in a bandage. There appeared to be dried blood on it.

“Discord...what happened to your hand?”

“Total mis-hic-misunderstanding.”

“Discord?!”

“It was consensual.”

“What did you do?!” Spike demanded.

“Sssshhhhh” Discord shushed Spike, attempting to place one of his talons on Spike’s lips but missed completely and stabbed Spike in his sore eye. “I-i’ll tell you if you-hic-you stop yelling about your eyes,” Discord argued as Spike screamed in pain, “Another round! And seriously stop screaming. You sound like a filly!”

Chapter 15: Observations and Misconceptions

⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽ 1 Hour Earlier ⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽⦽

Twilight Sparkle took a well earned breath of fresh oxygen as she sat down on a fainting couch. “How ya feeling, sugah cube?” Applejack asked.

“Good. Good. All of my plans are ruined and my back up plans aren’t worth the parchment I wrote them on,” she hissed between clenched teeth. Twilight realized her unprincessy slip and quickly glanced in Fluttershy’s direction. Thankfully the element of kindness was fully enraptured in her conversation with Cheese’s sister and did not catch the slip. Twilight laughed half heartedly, “Well I do like to reorganize I suppose,” she admitted, reaching for a new piece of paper.

Applejack placed a hoof on Twilight’s hoof. “So ya say Spike was there too?”

Twilight nodded grimly. “To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement. I know he’s not entirely to blame based on circumstances but he’s older now and he definitely knows better.”

Applejack agreed. “So we have Garble too?”

Twilight shook her head vigorously. “One thing at a time! Let me figure things out first.”

Applejack gave the distraught princess some space as Twilight began to scribble furiously, muttering under her breath. She glanced over at Pinkie and was about to call her attention before the pink pony could rocket off another structure.

“Hey Fluttershy! I’m all done in here! You can use the shower now!” Brock’s voice rang from upstairs. The girls exchanged glances.

“Eh, did Brock sound a bit...off?” Pinkie asked curiously.

Jelly Bean gasped. “Oh! I do hope I didn’t get him sick already!” She turned quickly to Fluttershy. “Quick! Get in that shower before I get you sick too!”

Fluttershy laughed good naturedly. “Oh, thank you. I’m sorry about the mess,” she apologized, motioning to the crusted ice cream attached to the sofa. “As soon as I’m done, I’ll come right back and clean this up.”

“Pshaw. Don’t worry about it. This place needed a change of decor anyway. It’s the first door on your left. It’s connected to a guest bedroom so go through the next door when you enter to get to the bathroom.”

Fluttershy nodded gratefully and began to ascend the stairs. Applejack yelled up at her, “Hey Flutters, holler if anything goes wrong alright?”

Fluttershy laughed again “Don’t worry about me. It’s just a shower,” She reassured. Applejack waited until Fluttershy had ascended the stair before turning to Twilight. Twilight seemed less stressed and more likely to want to talk. But only slightly.

“So Discord and Spike teamed up?” Applejack asked cautiously.

“Well it definitely seems that way, now does it?” Twilight scoffed, “Though I can’t imagine why. I thought Spike disliked Discord.”

“They didn’t offer any explanations?” Applejack asked, scratching her head.

“That’s the weird thing. I think Spike was trying to tell me something but…”

“But..?”

Twilight shook her head as if she was trying to clear her thoughts. “Everything gets kinda hazy after that,” she admitted, “like I couldn’t concentrate.”

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down eagerly. “Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!” Twilight picked her. “Maybe Discord cast a spell to make you think all weird like he did when he made us the exact opposite of what we really are?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so. I somehow managed to catch him off guard with my Alicorn magic.” She grit her teeth again. “And I still would have had them both if it hadn’t been for Flash!”

Jelly Bean empathized, “Oh, what did this Flash pony do?”

Twilight blushed. “I-i-i-the boys tricked Flash into thinking he had to break a spell on me by uh...kissing me.”

“What was that last part?” Cheese asked, rubbing his ear and leaning in.

“KISSING ME!” Twilight shouted, causing Cheese to stumble backwards into a delighted Pinkie Pie.

“Hurray! Twilight got her first kiss!” Pinkie cheered, hugging Cheese to her chest in glee.

Twilight whirled onto Pinkie. “We didn’t kiss! I mean he didn’t kiss me. And I didn’t want to kiss him. Who says that I haven’t kissed any pony before? Is it really that unbelievable that I never kissed anypony before?!”

There was an awkward silence. Applejack coughed politely. Everyone else slowly nodded with a “No” and “Not really” and a “Sorry, sugah cube.”

Twilight huffed angrily. “Well...I have been a busy student. It took a lot of hard work and long nights to train under Celestia. So...there!”

Applejack sighed. “Your comebacks are terrible.”

“Student!”

Applejack waved Twilight’s protests away. “You brought up a good point. Why did Flash stick around if he all needed to do was give you that whistle?” Applejack asked, pointing to the whistle around Twilight’s neck.

“I-i don’t know…” Twilight lied awkwardly.

“Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!”

“No Pinkie!!”

Twilight regained her composure and launched into her explanation of this afternoon’s events. From the suspicious dragon couple that first tipped her off, to Spike’s reaction to his name, to the fireball and the effect Discord seemed to have on Fluttershy.

“How did you know what a suspicious dragon couple even looks like?”

“Well you know dragon males are actually the flashier ones, not the female ones. The flashy colors help them attract a mate…”

Applejack was doing her best to be attentive but she was trying to process the strange turn of events. So Discord and Spike followed us here. Ah know why Discord did it, but why bring Spike? It was true. Their two scaled fiends rarely hung out with each other unless it was in a large group setting and even then, they hardly spoke to each other.

Why team up? Ya’ll both can’t have it for Fluttershy Applejack reasoned, Spike does got a crush on Rarity. Maybe Discord told him he could get a chance with her?

“Hey Twilight, why do you think Spike came?” Applejack asked, trying to confirm her suspicions.

“Well from what I understand, Spike still has that crush on Rarity. Maybe Discord convinced him that he could set the two of them up but don’t ask me how he plans on doing that. Unless he plans on brainwashing Rarity, I think adding Discord to the situation will only exacerbate it.”

Applejack hesitated, but Pinkie found this theory hysterical. “Oh my gosh! Yeah, like that would happen. Fluttershy would like, never ever ever ever forgive him if he did that! And she forgave him after he totally betrayed us to Tirek.”

Twilight winced and was about to respond when Applejack spoke up, “Pinkie’s right.”

“She is?”

“Of course I am!”

“Uh huh. He might have a weird way of showin’ it, but Discord likes Fluttershy. A lot. And ah think she might like him back too.”

Twilight opened her mouth to counter but stopped, closing it slowly. Applejack is right. Twilight hadn’t been there when Discord had betrayed her friends but she heard about it. Although everyone was upset with him, Fluttershy took it the hardest. She burst into tears.

She heard Fluttershy had spent a lot of time walking alone before she finally could resume tea parties with Discord. Discord had been pretty anxious that Fluttershy would still be mad, but Fluttershy had managed to make him feel welcome again and everything had gone well...well, until Fluttershy went into heat. Then things got weird.

Pinkie watched everypony in excitement. “Yay! I’m glad we got things figured out. At least I think we did. Now if we could only get it to cool down around here, this would be the best day ever!” The other ponies nodded in agreement. Except for one.

Jelly Bean looked confused. “What do you mean cool down? It’s actually been very nice today. Maybe high 70s at the most.”

Cheese looked at his sister in disbelief, “Well yeah, it was cool when I left to go meet Pinkie and her friends, but it’s definitely warmed up since.”

“Huh. I didn’t think it was that warm outside. But I have been feeling under the weather lately so maybe it doesn’t feel that warm to me. My nose has been all clogged up since last night too.”

Applejack looked at Twilight whose attention was shifted to the whistle. How can she not feel this heat? Applejack wondered as she perspired. An alarm was blaring in her head but she paid it no mind, shifting uncomfortably instead.

“Well this doesn’t explain why Flash had to stick his nose into this.” Twilight wondered.

Applejack shrugged. “Ah don’t know. Maybe he likes you. Go ask him.”

Twilight considered this, subconsciously bringing the whistle to her lips but halted before her lips could touch the metal. She lowered the whistle thoughtfully and turned to Jelly Bean. “Wait, you said you’re sick?”

Jelly Bean nodded sadly. “My nose has been all stuffed since last night. I can’t even smell the flowers on the sill.”

Twilight brought her attention back to Applejack. “Something strange is going on here. As soon as Fluttershy comes down, we can try to figure this out. Together.” Twilight paused. “Is she still in the shower? She’s been gone for a while actually.”

“Oh I really hope I didn’t get them both sick,” Jelly Bean lamented.

At the mention of them, Applejack remembered about Brock and her ears flattened. “Where is Brock? He should have been down here already.”

Pinkie Pie laughed, “Maybe he’s helping her clean between her wings?”

“He better not!” Applejack growled.

As if on cue, a high pitched shriek rung from the stairs only to be cut short by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Everyone’s ears shot up at the deathly silence.

“Oh my gosh! Fluttershy!” everyone exclaimed, dashing for the stairs, only to get stuck together at the base. Applejack elbowed her way through and galloped ahead as the others tried to smush past each other. Applejack leapt the last few steps, landing roughly in front of the door. She tried to push down on the handle only to find the door locked. She pressed her ear against the wood fixture. The sound of struggling was on the other side.

“Fluttershy! Hang on!” Applejack hollered, taking a step back in preparation for breaking down the door.

“Wait!” Twilight shouted, jumping in front of her. “What if Fluttershy is right in front of teh door?! Let me magic it open!”

“Well hurry it up!” Applejack hollered, allowing Twilight to approach the door. Her horn lit up with magic as she concentrated on the locking mechanisms of the door. “Are you done yet?!”

“Stop yelling at me!” Twilight screamed back. The knob jiggled as she magicked the door unlocked with a satisfying click. Applejack wasted no time in throwing the door open and charging in, only to trip over a prostate pony and smack her head harshly against the ground. Twilight looked in after her and gasped.

“Brock?” she gasped. Applejack was moaning, holding a hoof to her head as she lied next to a tied up, gagged Brock. He flapped his wings helplessly upon seeing Twilight and yelled something through his gag. “Then who..?” Twilight asked, looking up only for her voice to die in her throat.

Lying on the guest bed was an semi-conscious Fluttershy. She was still wet, water dripping off her body and starting to soak the sheets underneath her. A pair of mismatched claws were clasped around Fluttershy’s hooves, holding her down as she tried to stir. Twilight’s eyes followed them up to a very familiar figure who was almost on top of her.

“This! This isn’t what it looks like!” Discord protested, releasing Fluttershy and straightening himself up.

“Like hooves it is! Twilight, blast him!” Applejack hollered as she tried to rise to her feet, only to stumble back down.

“On it!” Twilight shouted, her horn already aglow with renewed magic. She cast the same spell as before, hoping to immobilize him once more, only to watch her hope shatter as the magic hit an invisible barrier and fizzled into a pile of mini sombreros. “What?! My magic?!”

Discord smiled smugly and tapped his snaggletooth. “Uh huh, Princess! Not this time! You might have caught me with my pants down last time but this time I’m not wearing any!” His gleeful expression froze and he hesitated, “Wait. That’s not what I meant.”

“You’re a pervert!” Applejack hollered, beginning to untie Brock’s knots since standing on her hooves was too difficult at the moment.

Discord stuck out his tongue. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. Especially since this barrier cancels out all your magic attacks so I wouldn’t even bother trying to cast a spell.” A soft moan drew his attention back to the stirring Fluttershy and he grinned greedily. “Now if you excuse us, Fluttershy and I have some unfinished business to care of,” he smirked, reaching back down for the yellow pegasus.

“Don’t you touch her!” Brock hollered as Applejack yanked off the gag.

“Hey Discord! Is you barrier party cannon proof?”

Discord paused. “Party cannon? No I don’t believe-oh.”

Pinkie Pie rode gloriously into the doorway on her famous party cannon. She struck a match and lit the end. She let out a triumphant battle cry.

“Pinkie! Are you nuts?!” Twilight hollered, flattening herself to the ground.

“E tu, Pinkie Pie?” Discord growled, lifting up his fingers to snap.

“D-discord? What’s-what’s going on?” a small voice asked. Discord swiveled quickly to look at Fluttershy whose eyes were fluttering open.

“Fluttershy! I-?!”

“HIT THE DECK!!”

Discord jerked his attention back to the cannon but it was too late. A glitterball rocketed toward him in a matter of nanoseconds. Twilight thought he saw him snap his fingers once before he was glitter bombed.

Glitter exploded all over the room. To Twilight’s horror, Discord stumbled back in surprise and fell through the glass window behind him with a mighty crash. She scrambled to her hooves and ran towards the broken window only to stop in her tracks immediately. Discord had recovered and was floating outside the window. He shot her a dirty look before sticking out his tongue and poofing out of existence.

“Holy cow!” Pinkie shouted, “Is he okay?!”

“Yeah. He’s alright.”

“What did you say?”

“I said he’s alright!”

“Huh? Speak up! It’s hard for me to hear after I shoot my cannon!”

“HE’S FINE!”

“I don’t care about his age! Is he okay?”

“NOT NINE-FINE!”

“Twilight! Look!” Cheese hollered, getting her attention and pointing toward Fluttershy. Twilight looked over and tilted her head in confusion. Fluttershy was starting to sit up, looking disoriented but unharmed and...not glittered. Yes, despite the chaos that just happened, Fluttershy did not have a speck of glitter on her. Twilight’s eyes darted around until she spotted it.

A gentle pink aura was faintly resonating around Fluttershy like a balloon. It was rapidly dimming and losing its magic but Twilight knew a protective barrier when she saw one. Applejack stood up, putting her hat back on her head and squinting at the dim magic. “Is that a shield?” Applejack asked, watching floating pieces of glitter and streamers bounce harmlessly off the bubble and plop to the ground.

Twilight nodded. “Uh, yeah I think so.”

“Last knot undone!” Pinkie Pie practically screamed, making everyone jump. Brock quickly rose to his hooves but stopped short of Fluttershy.

“Um..can I touch her? Is it safe?” he asked, extending a hoof carefully.

“Better not. The magic should fade out soon though,” Twilight reasoned. Sure enough, as the last confetti piece changed its trajectory, the pink magic shimmered out of existence. Brock dashed to Fluttershy’s side in an instant.

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! I’m so sorry! I tried to protect you!” he pleaded, grasping her hoof.

Fluttershy blinked in confusion. “Brock? What’s going on? Where’s Discord?”

“He’s gone,” Twilight soothed Fluttershy. To her surprise, this new seemed to make her frown.

“Oh.”

“But I’m here!” Brock insisted.

Fluttershy looked at him as her memories started to come back. “Oh! My gosh! Brock! Are you alright?! You were all tied up! Are you hurt?”

“He’s lucky. He didn’t get sent to another dimension,” Applejack muttered under her breath.

“What?!” Brock asked quickly.

“Nothing!”

Fluttershy put a hoof through her mane and winced. “Ouch, I think I must have hit my head.”

“Did he hit you?” Applejack demanded.

“Of course not! I mean, I don’t think he did,” Fluttershy quickly spoke, “I was in the shower and then everything got kinda fuzzy. And then it got black.”

“He must have hit you! I should have been stronger! I could have stopped him! He was acting crazy! He kept going on about biscuits!” Brock cried, holding her hoof to his chest. Fluttershy bit her lip in confusion.

“Biscuits?”

Applejack and Twilight glanced nervously at each other. If what Brock was saying was true, Discord had become a more dangerous threat than they had anticipated. Sure, he could be destructive these days, but he never maliciously injured a pony to get something he wanted. But somepony…

“Hello darlings!” a voice sang out from the doorway. Rarity popped her head into the room. “I’ve got the most astonishing progress to report and...Dear, Pinkie Pie what did I tell you about firing your party cannon indoors?”

Pinkie cocked her head at her curiously, attempting to read her lips. “That it is irresponsibly to fire projectile weapons that shoot glitter unless everypony consents to glitter.”

“Yes.”

“Well yeah, duh. But Discord was here and-”

Rarity’s eyes widened and she brought her hoof to her mouth. “Discord was here?” she asked sharply. She took in the scene of the room and tittered. “Seems like his handiwork I’ll admit.”

“You just missed him!” Pinkie offered helpfully. She looked at Rarity and cocked her head again. “Hey Rarity! Weren’t you wearing a bracelet when you left?”

Rarity glanced around nervously. “Oh, uh, I must have misplaced it at tea. Yes that’s it.”

Pinkie Pie smiled at her. “Rarity, I’m so proud of you! You used to freak out if you misplaced a bobby pin! Now look at you! Cool as a cucumber ice cream sandwich and your topaz bracelet is totally gone.”

Rarity laughed nervously. “Y-yes that’s me. Cucumber Rarity.”

Applejack glanced over suspiciously but did not press the subject. Right now their concern was for Fluttershy.

Twilight Sparkle coughed her threat. “Girls we need to have a meeting.”

Author's Notes:

No excuse. Major writers block couldn't sit down longer than 5 minutes at a time to write. Then I see a private message from a new reader. Thank you dude, you kicked me in the butt enough to get this chapter out. I'll be working on it from now on.