> Cupid Discord
>  by NintendoGal55
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Five In The Morning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Flutters!!”

This was usual noise that would heard at two in the morning at Rainbow Dash’s house, not that this was common knowledge to anyone who was not a tortoise named Tank, but this was not that case. Rainbow Dash stood outside of Fluttershy’s house, rocking back and forth lightly on her hooves. 

She was dressed in her usual track suit, having just finished up her morning exercise routine. Short shorts, a white t-shirt, and a dark blue hoodie which matched her shorts with two gold stripes on the side. She was antsy, something had come in the mail and she could not wait to share it with her best friend and something even more pressing to ask of her.

A window on the top floor opened slowly, to which a head of pink hair poked out. Fluttershy blinked blearily, rubbing her eyes and looking down at her. Given how dark it was, it took a few moments for her eyes to fully focus and adjust on Rainbow Dash down below. She went back into her room and turned on a light, then poked her head and shoulders back out.

“Rainbow...? What are you doing? It’s still dark…” Fluttershy yawned, “Is something wrong?”

“Come on, it’s five!” Rainbow called back up to her, doing a quick bounce to take into the air with a flap of her wings. She came up to her friend’s window, taking note of her large, thick, green nightgown that hid most of her body. It was cute though on her friend. She smiled, crossing her arms as she continued, “Can I come in?”

Giving a small sigh, Fluttershy nodded and ducked back into her room, “All right, come in. But just for a little while, okay? I’m very tired…”

With a quick first bump, Rainbow flew through the window and took a seat on Fluttershy’s bed with a grin, “Man, does this bring back memories, huh? You remember when I used to sneak into your room back when we were in school just to hang out?”

Yawning a little, Fluttershy sat down on her bed too, “Mm-hmm… So, what did you want to see me about?”

“Come on, stay up a bit. I got some news,” Rainbow said cheerfully, digging into her pocket to fish out a slip of paper, “I kinda forgot to do something yesterday and didn’t get around to doing it until around midnight. Namely, check my mail… but when I did, I found out I got a letter!”

“Who from?” Fluttershy yawned, blinking at her blearily.

Rainbow grinned at her, handing it to her, “Take a look! It’s from the Wonderbolts Academy!” 

“Oh, I see,” Fluttershy nodded tiredly. She looked it over, just to humour her, “A VIP party invitation to the Wonderbolts press conference… I see. That’s very nice, Rainbow. I’m sure you’re excited for it…”

“That’s not all!” Rainbow snickered, reaching over to take it back and point out something, “Check this out; I got a plus one too! So, you wanna take a guess on who I’m taking with me?”

Fluttershy yawned again and stretched a little, rubbing her eyes, “Rainbow… I’m tired and it’s the middle of the night. You can just tell me, please.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes playfully at her friend, then suddenly tackled her friend back onto the bed, “I’m taking you, ya doof! Come on, isn’t it obvious after all these years?”

Now Fluttershy was more awake, with her eyes going wide and her senses on overdrive. Her cheeks flushed bright pink, taken aback by the sudden position between them. “...Me? But, why me? I’m sure Pinkie would be a much, much better choice…”

“Don’t you even try that back talk with me, ‘Shy,” Rainbow snickered pulling back to sit back up once more, “You’re my best friend, that’s why I want you to come with me! And why would Pinkie want to go there?”

“Um, Rainbow, you do know who I’m talking about, right?” Fluttershy said dryly, giving her a look.

“... Let me rephrase that,”  Rainbow said with sigh, forcing her smile to be maintained, “I don’t want Pinkie to go with me, I want you. Come on, what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” Fluttershy sat up a bit, “I do want to support you in this, you know I do. I just feel nervous at these kinds of things, Dashie. It’s not just the awkward socializing, either…”

Rainbow patted her on the shoulder a bit, gently laughing a bit, “Hey, I know you have agoraphobia and stuff, but you’ll be there with me, ‘Shy. You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I just want to be there with my best bud and have fun. You know I like hanging out with other girls too, but come on. Is it really that weird I’d ask you come with me?”

“Rainbow, I don’t have agoraphobia,” Fluttershy sighed, shaking her head, “And no, it’s not weird of you to ask me. I just never feel comfortable at parties like that.”

“You totally do,” Rainbow said back to her in a slightly more serious tone, “ It’s the fear of being in situation that causes you feel scared, helpless, or alone because of enclosed or crowded places. I saw a thing about it on tv last night.”

“...What? I thought it was just the fear of open spaces…” Fluttershy frowned in confusion.

“Unless the medical channel is wrong, I don’t think so,” Rainbow said with smirk, “But whatever, that’s not the point. We’re talking about you coming with me as my guest to this Wonderbolts conference.” 

“Right…” Fluttershy nodded, then gave a soft sigh, “Okay. I’ll go with you, Rainbow… I know how much this means to you.”

Rainbow again threw her hands up to cheer, “Yes! Awesome!” she leaned back with a smile before she noticed her friend’s expression. With Fluttershy looking away slightly, Rainbow sat up like watchdog, “Hey, are you okay? This is going to great! Don’t look so down…”

“I’m not, I just… Rainbow, I don’t want to hold you back,” Fluttershy sat up a bit more, “I’m not very social and I don’t want to hold you back from mingling.”

With a nod, Rainbow reached back over to place her hands on Fluttershy’s shoulders, “Don’t be like that! You’ve never held me back before, so why would you think that you would now?”

“I just don’t want to ruin the fun for you,” Fluttershy reasoned, “But, I’ll go with you. If you want, you can even mingle and I’d wait for you in a designated spot.”

“Come on, don’t be like that!” Rainbow replied, patting her on the back, “I want you to feel like you can talk to folks and do stuff. Heck, or even just hang on me while we’re there!”

“Are you sure about that?” Fluttershy looked at her hopefully.

“Of course! You know I’m all for that,” Rainbow replied with a shaky grin.

Fluttershy sighed, then nodded as she gave her friend a hug, “Okay. Then we’ll talk about this later, Dashie. I have to get back to sleep.”

“But it’s five in the morning,” Rainbow countered once she pulled back from the hug, “Come on, stay up with me. Heck, I’ll even make you breakfast if you do!”

Letting out a sleepy whine, Fluttershy sighed, “Oh, all right… Just give me a few minutes.”

Rainbow grinned, getting up from her friend’s bed, “I’ll take it! I’ll head down and start cooking; you come down when you’re ready! But if I finish first- well, you better hope I don’t!”

“...Finish first?” Fluttershy blinked, not catching on to her meaning.

“Finish breakfast before you get downstairs, duh,” Rainbow smirked at her before heading out of bedroom, “Don’t keep me downstairs waiting all morning!”

Groaning a bit, Fluttershy fell back on her bed, her body longing for a little more sleep. She very much appreciated Rainbow’s efforts, but just wanted to rest. Then again, she also didn’t want to be rude. But Rainbow did barge in and essentially keep her from going back to sleep. Then again, it wasn’t as if she had gotten no sleep at all. Fluttershy groaned and rolled over, pushing herself back up again. Laying down would only get her body too tired.

She trudged over to her closet, picking out some clothes to wear. She had bought many things over the years, some being gifts from Rarity and others being things she had been given from her parents. Some of which she couldn’t see herself wearing.

Fluttershy pulled her large green sweater over her head, carefully fitting her wings behind her with it. After that, she wondered out of her still missing her bottom half. Oh well, it was large enough to cover her all the same. She needed to wake up, that was what Fluttershy had on her mind now. She almost sleepwalked into her bathroom after she left her bedroom, turning on its lights. She ran some water, icy cold, in her sink. Letting it rush down and over her hands for a few seconds, Fluttershy splashed her face.

Shaking it off, Fluttershy reached for a towel to dry her face. At least, before a dawning realization struck her mind.

“Oh my goodness! Rainbow’s here and she’s making me breakfast!” Fluttershy exclaimed to herself in a loud whisper. Her heart pounded furiously, to which she leaned against the door and breathed heavily. It was all happening too fast! Yet, now that she was more awake, the entire situation was far more favourable than before.

What should she do now? She was still missing her bottoms, but should she keep Rainbow Dash waiting now? This was an impossible situation, something out of a dream. Her friend, a target of her affection, was downstairs in her kitchen making her breakfast and here she was, in her bathroom, almost shivering from the context of situation. She had to think, change or go down stairs. Her worry was building, she had to make a choice…

“I can’t keep her waiting…” She took a deep breath, deciding to head downstairs.

Already, Fluttershy could smell the distinct aroma of eggs as she came into the kitchen. Rainbow Dash was at the stove, cooking some scrambled eggs while popping some bread into the toaster. But it wasn’t just that. Much to Fluttershy’s surprise (or should it have been?), Rainbow was singing to herself.

“I’m too sexy for~ Yeah, I’m too sexy for my shirt~ Too sexy for my shirt,” Rainbow mock sang aloud, shaking her hips back and forth to the rhythm in her head while she scrambled the eggs. She looked very happy surprisingly, bopping her head all the same.

Fluttershy had to lean against the doorway, trembling a little bit. Her eyes never left Rainbow’s swaying hips. The vision of Rainbow then stripping her shirt off, true to the lyrics, didn’t even relent. Oh, she wanted so much to toss logic and reason out the window, grab her best friend, and ravish her. The desire had been building for however long she could remember, now. But Fluttershy felt her knees go weak, rendering her legs useless.

This went on for a few more moments as Rainbow sang a few more of the lyrics to the song before realizing she did not know anything past that corus. She shrugged, humming the beat as she finish scrambling the eggs and turned away to fetch glasses from Fluttershy’s cabinets. As fate would have it however, this caused her to catch a glimpse of her friend in the corner of her eye just as she took two drinking glasses out.

With a grin, Rainbow set them down on the counter and waved for Fluttershy to enter the kitchen, “Sup, bud? Come on in, it’ll be done in just a few!”

“Um… okay,” Fluttershy managed to say, taking a few steps into the room. Her movement was shaky at best, but at least she didn’t collapse.

“Sheesh, you sure are out of it this morning,” Rainbow snickered at her friend as she continued to finish up cooking, “You gonna be okay?”

“Fine! Yes! Of course!” Fluttershy burst in squeaks, standing up straight.

“Go ahead, take a seat!” Rainbow pointed over to the kitchen table, “You usually do this stuff for me, let me handle this. Then, we’ll have breakfast.”

Nodding, Fluttershy made her way to the table and sat down, this time without a hitch. She looked to Rainbow, her cheeks a bit pink, trying all she could to think of what to say. It wasn’t hard, she usually knew exactly what to bring up for conversation with Rainbow. For a moment though, she felt uncertain.

Taking a few deep breaths, Fluttershy considered a possible starter, “Um… so, what were you doing this morning?”

“Uh, coming over here,” Rainbow laughed a bit, seeming to finish with eggs as she turned off the eye of the oven. She had already fetched plates and was dividing them up, “I was gonna wait until later, but I just couldn’t hold in the news! So, I came over here. I just figured you’d be up, but I’m sorry that I woke you up.”

Fluttershy was a bit confused though, glancing toward Rainbow, “Um, but Dashie… doesn’t the mail service start at eight in the morning? How did you get this letter before sunrise?”

“I already told you,” Rainbo walked over, sitting a plate down in front of her friend, “I got it yesterday, but I didn’t read it until after I got home. It was late and I was so freaking tired. That didn’t work so well as you can see. Anyway, here ya go!”

“Oh! Oh, right…” Fluttershy blushed sheepishly, “I’m so sorry. I was too tired to focus, wasn’t I? Um, never mind. So… when is this, anyway?”

Rainbow chuckled at her, “Next week. I wouldn’t spring something on you totally last minute, Flutters! It’s on Friday of next week, around noon ‘til about six.”

Fluttershy nodded, a bit relieved, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t implying you would do that. Besides, I don’t think it would be very professional of them to send a special invited guest an invitation so close to the last minute.”

“Eh, you’d be surprised,” Rainbow shrugged to this, but smiled all the same, “But it could have come late if something was wrong in the mail or if I just never got to looking at it.”

“At least you did, then…” Fluttershy sipped her glass of juice, “Um, what are you going to wear?”

“Does that matter?” Rainbow rolled eye eyes playfully at her friend. “Maybe that dress I wore for the Gala? Or maybe I rent a tux for the evening. Depends on how I feel that day.”

“...You would wear a tux?” Fluttershy looked at her with mild surprise, “Not to say you shouldn’t! I’m just… well, I’m curious. You never minded wearing dresses, I just… didn’t know you would go wear a suit.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her nose with a flick of her thumb much like boxers do, then shoot Fluttershy that toothy grin she used on her everyday to dismiss something, “Eh, I’m just thinking about classing myself up for the event! You know, make a good impression and stuff. Who knows, maybe I’ll run into Soarin and Spitfire while there! If I did, I could really get in a good word with them and see about them looking over my stats again. I mean, come on, it would be pretty cool if they decided to let me in on the spot, right?!”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, eating at her food slowly, “I think it would be silly if they didn’t put in a good word for you, Rainbow. You’ve proven your worth to them so many times by now. I really wouldn’t be surprised if part of the reason you were invited was because they wanted to make an official announcement.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Rainbow chuckled at that, taking the second plate for herself and sitting opposite of her friend, “But it’s a press conference, and not one of the major one’s either. It’s like one of those they do to talk about their show dates and stuff. But it’s cool! Just getting invited is awesome in and of itself!”

“Well, um… at least you’ll have fun,” Fluttershy murmured, turning her attention back to her food.

“We’ll have fun, Flutters,” Rainbow corrected with a grin, “It’s a party pretty much! We can mingle, drink fancy stuff, dance a bit. It’ll be great!”

Fluttershy sighed a bit, sipping her drink, “Can you… please just do me a favour?”

Rainbow raised a brow to that, then started to smile more gently, “Already done. I’m not gonna leave you alone, you’re gonna be right beside me the whole time.”

Blinking, Fluttershy then blushed and giggled, “Oh, Rainbow… you’re very sweet to remember. Thank you…”

“What can I say? I know you pretty well at this point,” Rainbow flashed a big, goofy grin at her, “But that got me thinking… we still got a week or so before the event. How about we do some assertiveness practice? You know, just to get you in the swing of things.”

“A-Assertiveness?” Fluttershy gulped, feeling a sting of dread, “Rainbow, no… The last time I tried, I went too far.”

“Whatcha mean?” Rainbow looked at her oddly before facepalming, “Oh, right! The whole… Iron Will thing, right? Man, I can’t believe I missed that…”

Fluttershy smiled sadly, “I think it’s best that you did. I can’t even imagine how much I would have ended up hurting you…”

Rainbow smirked at the thought, “You, hurt me? Not in a million years, ‘Shy!”

“But Dashie! I said such hurtful things. If you had come in the line of fire, I would have ended up hurting your feelings.”

“That totally depends on what you were being assertive about,” Rainbow rationalized with a playful shrug as if dismissing the idea, “At the worst, you might have said something like ‘Shut up and k-” She paused, then laughed it off, “Never mind! That might be asking for a bit much, even for me! But how about we do something like… self-confidence practice?”

“Um… how?” Fluttershy blinked.

“Well, we could- well… Huh, this is kinda a hard one,” Rainbow crossed her arms, pushing away from the table, “I can’t really say just be more confident and it’s not like teaching your to cheer. I guess we could go see Discord? Yeah! He did that one thing a while back that messed up our personalities, remember? You weren’t so kind, I was lazy, Rarity was- well, still kinda herself, AJ was a compulsive liar, and Pinkie was mean as heck. Maybe he could show ya how to be more confident and less timid?”

Fluttershy pondered this, biting her lip with uncertainty, “I don’t know… I never really thought of that. And I don’t feel right asking him to do things for me with his magic. I know he doesn’t mind and said I could ask for anything I want… But I wouldn’t want to take advantage of him.”

Rainbow gave her a slight nod, but continued on despite this, “Yeah, I know what you mean, but we don’t even had to ask him to use magic! We could just ask him for pointers for you. I mean, he obviously has some serious confidence considering what he wears. Besides, how would this be taking advantage of him?”

“...That’s true,” Fluttershy conceded.

‘So, why don’t we give him a ring?” Rainbow asked her with a grin. Obviously, she was not about to take no as an answer now.

Fluttershy sighed a bit, giving a small nod, “I suppose I could see if he’s not too busy.”

Rainbow for the second time that morning did another fist bump, “Awesome! We can give him a call after we eat. Just one thing though,” She tilted her head just slightly, “How would we even get to his place?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. He gave me a special way of contacting him, and he shows up where I request him to. He doesn’t make me go to his place because of how tricky it is to get there. He doesn’t want me getting lost,” Fluttershy explained.

“Oh,” Rainbow shrugged a little, “That’s convenient. Anyway, let’s dig in!”

Fluttershy looked down at her half-eaten plate and giggled, “Okay, Dashie.”

The sat down and ate, with Rainbow Dash occasionally making a few bad egg based puns. She even brought up a game of some kind about a evil egg called Flumpty, but Fluttershy disregarded it as silly nonsense. After almost half an hour of this, the two had not only finished eating, but drank most of her orange juice as well. 
> The Boost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Rainbow told her she would do the dishes since she did the cooking, Fluttershy could go into the next room to make the call. It was with a special kind of phone linked to Discord’s magic, which in turn allowed him to receive them no matter where he happened to be. Kind of like a regular cell, except more versatile. And no payment plans either.

Fluttershy let it ring a few times, waiting patiently for her chaotic friend to answer.

Sure enough, on the third ring, he picked up, “Hello and thank you for calling Discord, Master of Chaos, Time and Space. If this is Fluttershy, please say ‘yay.’ If this is Celestia, uh… I’m not here. I’m out jogging. If this is someone I know, please give your name now. If this is anyone else, explain how and why you’re calling me or prepare to be transmogged into a sheep.” 

“Yay,” Fluttershy replied, giggling a little.

“Well, hello, little one,” Discord chuckled over the line, “A little early to be calling, isn’t it? Five fifty is a new one, but hey, who am I to tell you when you can’t call me? So, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Well, um… I was wondering if I could talk to you about some things…” Fluttershy murmured, “You know, about confidence.”

Discord was silent for a moment, a slight squeaking noise was made before he spoke again, “You totally lost me, Fluttershy. Can you explain a bit more or do I have to guess?”

“Oh, sorry! No no, I mean… I was wondering if you had any sorts of tips and advice about being more confident. I need a lot of help with-” Fluttershy began.

She was promptly cut off by the dial tone, indicating that Discord had hung up. Blinking, Fluttershy stared at the phone oddly, wondering what had just happened. Within a moment, however, she could hear rapidly approaching footsteps from outside. Before she could go and check what it was or even look out a window, her front door was promptly kicked open to the point of shaking the walls of her home.

“I’M HERE TO HELP!” Bellowed Discord in the best bravado his voice could possibly muster into a single sentence as Fluttershy rushed to her door. And almost instantly, she found herself at a loss for words. Not only was the draconequus there in the flesh, but he had an odd red jacket that she swore she saw in a music video once.

“I see that…” Fluttershy blinked, managing to have found her voice.

“Sorry about the entrance. And the clothes,” Discord gave her a wide grin, followed by a chuckle as he entered the doorway, “See, it’s Tuesday is when I practice moonwalking. It’s… actually harder than it looks. So, what can help you with, Fluttershy?”

“Well, I… would like some advice and tips on how to be more confident…” Fluttershy said, wringing her fingers together, “You see, Rainbow has this party to go to next week and she invited me as her plus one.”

Discord seemed smile even more if that was possible, a coy look on his face seemed to suggest something, “Oh, I see! She finally did it, huh? It only took her- what, five years? Well, I think I can help you with that for sure! Just don’t go calling me a fairy godmother. The copyright laws would be all over us!”

“Huh? Oh, um, sure! Okay,” Fluttershy nodded, “Well, anyway… So I just want to be able to...feel more confident at this party. So that I won’t embarrass her or hold her back.”

Discord seemed to following along, floating around in a circle, “I getcha, Fluttershy. Confidence can be a real issue for timid ponies such as yourself! It’s very natural, don’t worry. Now, as for what I can do, I can do a lot!”

“That’d be great,” Fluttershy looked up, seeing Rainbow coming into the room, “Oh, Dashie! There you are, Discord just got here.”

Rainbow looked up surprised, blinking a few times, “Woah, that was quick.” She brushed some dust off her shoulders before walking over to the two, “Hey, Discord! So, you’re here to help my buddy out?”

Discord grinned, “You know it! Now, what do you think we should do for her? I might have an idea, but I’m curious to hear your intake.”

“Okay, shoot.” Rainbow nodded.

“Do you wanna go for short term or long term?”

Rainbow was slightly puzzled, but gave a shrug, “Well, long term, of course!”

Discord patted her on the back, “You’re a good girl, Rainbow. And to think, I used to think you were a nut! But clearly, you have some real charm to ya.” After that was said, he pulled back and clapped his hands together, “So, how do you girls want me to help ya out?”

“Well, I just need some pointers in confidence at a party,” Fluttershy explained, “I don’t want to be the centre of attention, but I do want to… be able to mingle and be more comfortable.”

“Pointers? Well, I just don’t care about what others think of me,” Discord said with a grin, “But for someone like you, well, it would require about three years of social interaction, some speech classes, getting use to your own body, and learning to speak your mind with less worry about judgement, but understanding boundaries. So, is this party in about three years?”

Fluttershy paled, “It’s… next week.”

“...Who plans a party to happen in three years?” Rainbow tilted her head, “That sounds weird, even for Pinkie!”

Discord shrugged a little, “Heck if I know! But I figured I’d ask just to be safe. Anyway, since you’re saying time is an issue, how about we do a little magic? I’m good at that! Oh, but don’t worry, I won’t do anything extreme!” He paused, snapping his fingers as a chalkboard appeared at his side.

It was diagram of some kind, depicting a brain.  There were numbers, values, and other symbols neither knew much about. Discord on the other hand, seemed understand.

“Now, there’s these things called mental blocks that affect ponies and other living creatures personalities. They make you consider certain things over others, weigh morals differently, and set rules for each individual,” Discord explained to them as he made a few notes, “If I just remove one of those mental blocks, it can lead to new options! It’s like hypnosis, only better.”

“So… you would be able to remove certain mental blocks… Without completely changing me… And it would help me be more confident?” Fluttershy clarified.

“I never changed you. I couldn’t,” Discord grinned, snapping the other chalkboard out of existence, “I can take away mental blocks or put new ones up. If I wanted to, I could make Rainbow Dash the most cowardly creature in the world!”

“Hey!” Rainbow shouted at him with a glare.

“Kidding,” Discord held his hands up in defence, his smile never leaving him, “But, yes, I can get rid of one of them, or move it away a little so you can be more confident and relaxed.”

“That’d be wonderful,” Fluttershy smiled, “That’s all I need!”

“Then consider it done!” Discord chuckled, he grabbed a lock Fluttershy’s mane at the root and ran his fingers down until the tip. A shade of black hair followed after his digits and came to a halt as well end of the strands.

“All set!” Discord chimed with glee, stepping back from her, “How do you feel?”

Fluttershy blinked, looking all over herself, feeling her head, and trying to wrap her mind around this. Try as she may, she didn’t feel a thing. It was as if a mere few seconds had passed. She looked at Discord worriedly, “I don’t… feel any different. Is that bad?”

“All I did was move a mental block, not arrange your likes and dislikes,” Discord grinned, “You won’t just feel it. It’s a natural feeling that should over the course of the day. And it shouldn’t be noticeable to you. Or at least not THAT noticeable.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Fluttershy said, relaxing a little bit against the couch, “Well, as long as it helps, that’s what counts.”

“Anything else I can help with?” Discord grinned once more.

Before Fluttershy could respond, she frowned and then held her head, feeling a throbbing discomfort overcome her. She rubbed her temples, trying to soothe herself and closed her eyes, “Oooh… Can someone get me an aspirin? My head hurts…”

Discord shook his head, snickering, “That’s the one thing I can’t do! I hope you got some in your home somewhere.”

“You can’t be serious,” Rainbow said flatly.

“Hey, I can’t make meds,” Discord made a joke, having a bottle float over to them which was in fact aspirin, “Just take them, Fluttershy! Have someone watch over you for the next day or so, okay? I suggest your little… friend here~”

“Okay…” Fluttershy took the bottle, unscrewing it and taking out two tablets, “Thank you, Discord.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of her!” Rainbow spoke up with a grin, “I was gonna hang around here today, anyway!”

“Wait... you were?” Fluttershy blinked a few times in surprise.

Discord nodded with a grin, crossing his arms in triumph, “Good on ya! You better get on that. Now, watch her and be sure to call me if anything comes up that’s too odd. I’ll come over later tomorrow to check on ya, okay?”

“Got it!” Rainbow said, bringing her arm around Fluttershy, grinning.

“Sure thing.” Fluttershy blushed a bit.

“Now… anything you two need to know before I go?” DIscord ask the two, sitting upright onto nothing at all as he floated.

Rainbow shook her head, “Nope!” 

“Not at the moment,” Fluttershy leaned back against the couch, placing her arm over her eyes.

“Then I’ll leave you two to it,” Discord raised his head to wave at the two, “Oh! And don’t go having any wild sex! Don’t know what might that cause with the mix of magic~” And with that, he disappeared right before their eyes.

This made Fluttershy lift her arm up, her eyes going wide and her cheeks flushing, “W-What?”

“Relax, ‘Shy! He was just kidding,” Rainbow grinned at her, patting her on the back.

“So, then it would be safe for us to have a lot of sex?” Fluttershy asked softly.

To that, Rainbow fell awkwardly silent. She blushed for a time before pulling back to scratch her head with a nervous smile, “Hehe, well, I guess… I don’t know!”

“I’m kidding, too.” Fluttershy smiled, “I couldn’t resist.”

“Yeah, right! I know,” Rainbow grinned at her awkwardly, “So, do you wanna lay down? I know you said your head was hurting. Maybe you should take it easy until tomorrow?”

“Um, I guess I should.” Fluttershy nodded, shakily standing up, “You’ll come with me, right?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes at her friend playfully, offering her a arm and a shoulder to stand against, “I can take ya to your room. But I figured one of us might as well stay up. Plus, I gotta watch out for you today.”

Fluttershy leaned against her a little, “Thank you. Would you mind feeding Angel? I didn’t get a chance to do it.”

Rainbow winced a little at that, but she nodded after a moment, “Sure. Just, uh, make sure he knows I’m not taking any of his crap today.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I told him that if he gives you a hard time, he gets no carrots,” Fluttershy assured, “I don’t understand, though. Why can’t the two of you get along?”

“Eh, I guess we’re too different to get along,” Rainbow shrugged, guiding Fluttershy along back up to stairs her bedroom, “Or whatever! Let’s get you back in bed.”

“I’m sorry that things didn’t turn out like you planned, Rainbow…” Fluttershy said sadly, leaning against her a little more, “I know how much you wanted to just spend time with me and I’m so happy you do. I just hope I feel better soon. I don’t want you to waste our time together taking care of me.”

Rainbow grinned once more, helping along as they made it to the top of the stairs, “Oh, relax, I’m fine with taking care of you for a change! You’re usually the only one who has to take care of me when I’m sick. So, just get into bed, cool down, and chill while- whatever Discord’s magic did.”

Fluttershy sighed, nodding a bit, “Okay, Rainbow… Thank you.”

“So, did you want me do anything else for ya while I’m up?” Rainbow asked her friend.

“Just bring me a glass of water, please,” Fluttershy murmured, making it over to her bed and sitting down.

Rainbow nodded to that, “Okay then, just chill here. I’ll be back in just a few.”

Nodding, Fluttershy then turned off her lamp, slowly lay down on her bed and curled up into a ball. The headache wasn’t painful, but rather uncomfortable. She closed her eyes, taking a few breaths to soothe herself a bit and relax. She wondered if the headache was some kind of a side effect, or even a warning. But aside from it, she felt no different than before.

A few moments went by in silence until Rainbow returned into the room with two glasses of water for both of them, “You still awake?”

“Mm-hmm… I’m just resting,” Fluttershy murmured, not opening her eyes.

“Your head feeling any better?” Rainbow asked her with a smile, setting the glasses on the nightstand beside her bed.

“No, but it’s not worse,” Fluttershy replied.

Rainbow nodded with a chuckle, “I’d hope so! I’m just glad nothing’s wrong with you.”

“I hope nothing will be wrong…” Fluttershy managed to sit up slightly, reaching for her glass of water.

“Hey, even if there is, we got Discord on speed dial,” Rainbow pointed out, “But I doubt we’ll need him. I got this!”

Sipping her water, Fluttershy took another breath, then lay back down again, “I know you do… I just hope I feel better soon.”

Rainbow reached over to place her hands over Fluttershy’s eyes to comfort her, “I know you will feel better in a bit. For now, just chill.”

“I just hope it won’t leave me with brain damage…” Fluttershy murmured, soothed by her touch.

“Oh, ha ha. You’re not gonna have to worry about that. I’ll take care of ya,” Rainbow chuckled gently, stroking Fluttershy’s cheek.

“Mm-hmm, I know you will,” Fluttershy yawned a bit, nuzzling her hand.

Rainbow giggled a little bit, tapping her face playfully, “Getting sleepy again? It’s okay, take a nap for a bit.”

“But you’re here… I want to talk,” Fluttershy closed her eyes again.

“And I’ll be here when you get up, ya goof,” Rainbow snickered, “Look, your head hurts and you to rest. Once you get some rest and feel better, we’ll talk. Heck, I’ll even get you up before noon.”

Yawning a bit, Fluttershy curled back up under the sheets, “Okay… I really appreciate all of this, Rainbow.”

“Sure thing, Shy,” Rainbow ruffled her hair. She stood up, taking her own glass and heading to the door.

“Mmm… Rainbow?”

Rainbow turned back, curious to know what she wanted, “Yeah, bud?”

Fluttershy sat up a bit, drinking her water again. She looked at Rainbow blearily, managing a tiny smile, “You’re the best… I hope you know that. I love you.”

For a moment, Rainbow stood there for a moment in silent until she found a smile, “Yeah, yeah, I know. I am pretty awesome! And I love ya too, ‘Shy.”

“Yay…” Fluttershy giggled, then she lay back down again. She closed her eyes, curling up under the covers and yawning. Slowly, she felt her eyes give in to exhaustion as she fell in a quiet slumber.





Fluttershy was not sure how long she was asleep, but it was clearly still daylight outside if the sun was to be trusted. She kept her eyes closed for the most part, stretching out her arms and wings before letting out a low pitched mewl. As she finally decided to open her eyes, it took a moment for her adjust to the room’s darkness.

It looked as though Rainbow had closed the curtain at some point, so that the room would be soothingly shadowed. Fluttershy thought it was rather sweet of her to be so considerate of her situation. Sure, it was only a headache, but it was the thought that counted.

Getting out of bed, Fluttershy yawned and managed to look at the time. It was just after twelve, which did surprise her a little bit. A good seven hour nap? Oh well, at least it wasn’t done so close to the evening and would therefore make it difficult to sleep again. She slowly left her room, finding that any lights were dim and the curtains were covered. Probably just in case she was still in pain upon waking up. 

That wasn’t the case, as Fluttershy actually felt so much better. Not to mention very refreshed. At least now she would be able to face the rest of the day without much problem. Whatever side effect or ailment from before was long gone by now.

Fluttershy slowly went downstairs, yet again finding the same pattern. She looked around, trying to spot Rainbow, if she was still around. For some reason, any doubt of that was slowly pushed aside. Of course Rainbow Dash was still there.

Inwardly, she felt herself smile. If she could trust anyone to keep their word, it was her best friend, Rainbow Dash. It was easy to place her faith in her; too easy in fact. Why had she ever felt the need to worry about that in the first place? Sure, there was past, that was just it: the past. This was present, and future awaited.

An idea toyed in the back of her mind, ‘Maybe… since Rainbow wants me to be her plus one… I should ask her if it is a date? I wouldn’t put it past her if she had that in mind in the first place, but… does she feel like that towards me? Well, I could ask her. Or… I could tell her how I feel. What’s the worse she can say? No, and then what? She’d still be my best friend and we’d still go and have fun. Yes, and we’re still best friends, but now we can go on dates! Couple nights, restaurants, candle lit dinners… Nothing venture, nothing gained. And I have nothing to lose really. I think I should...’

She could then smell some food cooking, to which Fluttershy beelined to the kitchen. Sure enough, Rainbow was preparing some soup, which was leftover from homemade soup she’d made a few days ago. Giving a smile, Fluttershy approached her from behind and gave her a hug, nuzzling into her hair.

“Hi, Rainbow,” she said softly.

Rainbow Dash jumped a little from the contact, not having heard her approach. But of course, she just pulled back to turn around to hug her properly, “Hey, ‘Shy! Glad to see you up, I was just getting lunch and stuff. You feeling any better? ‘Cause you sound better!”

“I feel much better,” Fluttershy snuggled her friend closer, inhaling her scent happily, “I’m especially better now that I’m here with you!”

“Aww, well that’s sweet of ya to say,” Rainbow pulled back from the hug, then reached up to mess up Fluttershy’s mane, “But you got one wicked bedhead! Anyway, you want some? I mean, do did make it. I’m just reheating it.”

“Sure,” Fluttershy nodded, then fixed up her hair, “I’m pretty hungry.”

Rainbow flapped her wings to get off the ground and flew up to retrieve two bowls for them both, but not before messing up Fluttershy’s mane yet again, “Hey, who said you can fix it? Ya got a rocker look going for ya right now, so keep it! It’s not like you’re going anywhere today, right?”

“Um, I don’t think so…” Fluttershy shrugged slightly, “Okay, just don’t let it get tangled.”

“Oh, come on. Your hair is perfect, it’s not gonna kill ya to have a lazy day,” Rainbow snickered, coming back down with the bowls and checking the soup. It seemed to be hot enough, so she started to divide up the meal, “Seriously, relax! I gotta take care of you until we’re sure everything’s good.”

“But everything is good,” Fluttershy said, tilting her head, “But I’d sure love it if you stayed with me a little longer.”

To that, Rainbow laughed, handing Fluttershy a bowl of soup, “Well, I did call off work today and I promised Discord to just that. We still don’t wanna take any chances. Magic is weird like that, ya know?”

“Okay, then,” Fluttershy took her bowl and sat down at the table with it, “Thank you for warming up the soup, Rainbow. It turned out to be a delicious batch!”

“Hey, you’re the one who cooked it!” Rainbow grinned, joining her at the table.

“I know, and even I have to say it’s one of the best batches I’ve made,” Fluttershy smiled with pride, “Now you can have some, too!”

Rainbow shot her a grin back, handing her a spoon, “Now that’s what I like to hear! Let’s dig in!”

Fluttershy ate at her soup slowly, watching Rainbow doing the same. Given the big smile on her face while eating, Fluttershy could see that her friend enjoyed it as well. Silence befell the two of them for a little while, aside from the clinking of their spoons against the bowls.

“I have to say, Rainbow, I feel a little less nervous about the party,” Fluttershy murmured, “I only hope that you’ll still be able to make a good impression.”

“Come on, I’m Rainbow Dash! Of course I’ll make a good impression,” Rainbow boasted, simply turning up her bowl to drink it down, “Dang, that’s good! But yeah, I’m not worried about that. I just wanna make sure we can hang out and have fun while there!”

“Okay,” Fluttershy smiled, still eating her soup, “Just be sure to tell me what dress you’re wearing, okay? I want to be able to wear one that goes with it.”

“Uh, why would that matter?” Rainbow questioned her curiously, “I mean, just wear something cute and we’re good! It’s not like you can’t pull off any look you try.”

“I know, I just… thought it’d be nice if we coordinated a bit,” Fluttershy said with a smile.

“I still don’t get it,” Rainbow shrugged, turning upright her bowl to finish it off, “But whatever you say, ‘Shy!”

“You’re so cute,” Fluttershy cooed, giving her dreamy eyes.

Rainbow paused for a moment, blinking a few times before she came to the conclusion that Fluttershy did in fact say the ‘c’ word, “Uh, no. You’re the cute one. I’m awesome!”

“Of course you’re awesome,” Fluttershy giggled, “But you’re also really cute. Especially when you get all pouty and start blushing. It’s adorable!”

As if on cue, Rainbow blushed and pouted in argument, “I am not!”

“There it is!” Fluttershy giggled, “It’s okay to be cute, Rainbow. It doesn’t make you less awesome.”

“That’s kinda not the point, ‘Shy,” Rainbow seemed to pout even more as she glanced away, “I kinda don’t wanna think of myself as cute. At least not with you. I mean, it’s fine that you do, but I’d rather hear you think I’m awesome and cool.”

“Oh, but I do think you’re awesome and cool,” Fluttershy pouted a little bit, too, “I always have. Ever since we were kids, I thought you were the coolest and most amazing flyer ever. I was lucky that you wanted to be my friend.”

Rainbow nodded to that, giving her friend an understanding smile, “Well, yeah, that’s kinda why I like hearing all that from you! You were the first pony to ever believe in me like that. It’s something that only you can really claim! I mean, even when it seemed like a bad idea or should have been impossible, you still believed in me! So, I kinda have this mental tick that I have to be awesome to you all the time.”

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy placed her spoon down and reached over to touch her hand, “I can definitely understand what you’re saying. But I hope you know that I will always be proud of you. You’re the most awesome pony I know. But you don’t have to prove it to me all the time. Because I know you are. And I know that I can count on you. That’s what matters.”

Sweating dropping a little, Rainbow laughed somewhat nervously from the touch, “A little more serious than I was gonna call it, but okay. Flutters, you know how I am. I just do stuff on the fly, right off the top of my head. It’s not like I’m trying to impress you twenty four seven or anything, I just like showing off for you!” She paused, then considered what she said, “... Which I now realize sounds kinda contradictory.”

Fluttershy giggled, taking Rainbow’s hand and nuzzling her fingers, “You’re so silly.”

“And I can live with that,” Rainbow snickered as she pulled her hand away, “But let me be serious for a moment. You know I’m not just trying to prove anything, right? I just like hearing you say those things about me. It just- I don’t know, means more coming from you.”

“I know, that’s true,” Fluttershy smiled in assurance, “And I’ll say them as often as you like!”

Rainbow grinned at that, “Then you can start right about now! My ego’s deflating a bit being so emotional here.”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes playfully, “Well, you’re definitely awesome, and you’ve still got it. But what I think is so amazing definitely has to be how you’re able to pay attention to things going on in the air and on the ground while you fly. It’s so impressive how you retain everything that way!”

Rainbow laid her head back, grinning from ear to ear as she took a deep breath and exhaled, “Oh, yeah. You know I’m in a league all my own! Years of practice and hard work, baby~”

Blinking a few times, Fluttershy then chalked it up as Rainbow simply just being silly. She giggled, smiling more, “And it really shows… you’re so amazing. I have a hypothetical question, though…”

“Sure, lay it on me,” Rainbow gestured to go on.

“How fast could you fly if you were carrying me?” Fluttershy giggled.

“I think I can still pull off a Sonic Rainboom with you holding on,” Rainbow gave her a wink.

Leaning over the table a bit, Fluttershy smiled more, “Oh, is that so?”

Rainbow shrugged, laughing a bit, “Sure, why not? I’m plenty strong enough if I had to.”

“I’ll remember that, then,” Fluttershy smiled, then stood up, “Anyway… I want to go out for a little walk. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Huh?” Rainbow blinked a few times, considering this, “I don’t know, ‘Shy… Discord said you should just chill here until tomorrow to makes sure nothing’s up. I mean, if you do, I’ll come with ya, but let’s not go too far! Just in case.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I wasn’t going to go far, I was just going to walk around my property,” Fluttershy assured with a smile, “Can you come help me pick something to wear?”

To that, Rainbow raised a brow, “You want me to- Huh. That’s a new one. Uh, sure! To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen what all you’ve got up there.”

Fluttershy led the way out of the kitchen, going upstairs, “Yeah… I suppose I never really liked showing off my clothes.”

“Nah, I can understand that,” Rainbow followed after her with a pep in her step, “I’m not exactly into fancy stuff. Heck, I think half of my clothes are just sweats and sports gear.”

“What’s the other half?” Fluttershy giggled.

“Probably lost,” Rainbow snickered.

“Dashie….” Fluttershy sighed, now reaching her bedroom. She went to her closet, then opened it up. Despite the mild apprehension she felt in having Rainbow see the full extent of her wardrobe, it was also going to be interesting.

Rainbow followed her in, smiling all the way, “So, you’re not gonna open it up and it’s gonna be filled with skulls or anything, right?”

“Of course not, Rainbow,” Fluttershy giggled. She went to her closet, shooting her friend a cheeky grin, “I already cleared them out.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes at her, laughing, “Come on, don’t play this up like Pandora’s Box! Let’s just do this and go for a walk, ya goof!”

Opening the closet door, Fluttershy clicked the light on inside of it. She perused her clothes, unsure what to change into. When Rainbow came up beside her to get a better look, she glanced at her to gauge her reaction.

For the most part, Rainbow seemed interested for the most part. She had seen most of Fluttershy’s dresses and sweaters for the most part, along with her skirts, pajamas, and so on… but as she dug around, she started to notice a few things that felt off. First and foremost was that fact that Fluttershy had a lot more clothes than she realized. Secondly, Fluttershy had some very interesting pieces in there as well.

“Woah…”Rainbow mumbled, looking at a feathered coat in front of her. Beside it, she noticed a see through mesh shirt. There were miniskirts, midriffs, half jackets, tailored cargo pants, and tons of other things. The common theme? Everything was extremely sexual, “... ‘Shy, have you ever worn any of this stuff before?”

“No...” Fluttershy admitted with a blush, “I never really had anybody to wear them for.”

“Uh…” Rainbow was actually blushing more than Fluttershy at this point, trying (and failing) to not imagine her friend wearing any of these clothes, “Well, that’s cool… I mean, you got some interesting taste. N-Not saying it’s bad! Just kinda sexy- I mean, cool! Yeah, cool.”

Fluttershy gave a smile, finding her reaction to be interesting, “Thank you, I guess I did want to at least have a chance to be sexy. Anyway, can you help me pick something out?”

“Y-Yeah, sure!” Rainbow said, grabbing a random piece of clothing and holding it up for her friend, only to find a second later it was micro skirt, “Gah! No, I mean this,” She pulled out a long sleeve midriff that almost made her heart stop, “Not that either, I-”

“Dashie? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, taking the shirt from her, “You’re nervous all of a sudden.”

Rainbow made an odd noise as she tried to dismiss that, “Pft, I’m not nervous!” Her voice, cracked, “Wait… are you gonna really wear that?”

“Yes…” Fluttershy looked at her with mild confusion, “You picked it out and I like the fabric.”

“But it’s so short! I don’t even know it’ll even fit over your br-” Rainbow stopped mid word as if her brain was trying to tell her to slow down for once, “It’s short is what I’m saying! And I’m not nervous!”

“I know, but it’s okay. No one else is going to see me like this,” Fluttershy giggled, then selected a pair of short shorts, “I’ll just get changed, then.”

She went and placed the hangers onto her bed, then proceeded to get undressed. All while Rainbow Dash was still in the room, no less. 

Under any other situation, she would have never even considered changing with someone else in the room with her, but for some reason, she was fine with Rainbow being there. She felt oddly comfortable in her own skin for once as she stripped out of her shirt.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide, her entire body stilling with shock. What was Fluttershy doing? Why was she actually getting undressed? Whatever the reason, Rainbow lunged forward and reached for her sweater, feeling panic running through her at this point.

“F-Fluttershy, what are you doing?!” Rainbow wanted to know, trying to grab at her sweater and pull it back down, “I’m still here!”

Fluttershy blushed a dark shade of red as she felt her friend grab at her sweater, “R-Rainbow! What are you doing?!”

The two struggled slightly, trying to find their footing and stay up straight. Rainbow clutched at Fluttershy’s sweater, trying to pull it back down, but was failing in doing so. As Fluttershy tried to step around her, their legs got tangled in each other. Losing their balance, Rainbow fell forward, while Fluttershy fell back. They ended up in a heap on her bed on top of each other, struggling to move. Fluttershy had her sweater pulled up off her body, her hands in the air. All while Rainbow landed on top of her, getting her head smooshed into her chest, right on her breasts.

Fluttershy layed there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. Rainbow Dash was now was laying on top of her, her face in between her breasts. Her sweater was acting like handcuffs, holding her in place. She tried to think over what she could do in this situation. What would even make sense? She should have been panicked, or at least felt nervous, but instead… she was fairly happy with the situation. In fact, maybe this was not such a bad thing after all?

Fluttershy looked down at her friend with a smile on her face, still blushing all the same, but it seemed she was enjoying herself, “... Are you enjoying the view, Dashie?” 

This made Rainbow look up, her entire face bright pink, and her form trembling slightly, “...Uh… Yeah?”

Fluttershy took a deep breath, easing up somewhat as she pulled her back her arms to rest on the middle of Rainbow’s back, “Okay then… I do too.”

“...What just happened?” Rainbow managed to say, fixing her hands on the bed and trying to move.

“You pushed me down and now… we’re on my bed,” Fluttershy giggled, somewhat keeping Rainbow on her, “As far as falling goes, this was a nice ending…”

Rainbow blushed harder, looking away a little, “I guess, but, uh… sorry about that. Why’d you get undressed in front of me, though?”

“Well… why not?” Fluttershy smiled at her friend sweetly, “I was thinking the sooner I got changed, the sooner we could go… but I’m starting to think maybe we should stay here now.”

“Wait, really?” Rainbow responded, unsure how to feel about that. She tried looking at Fluttershy again, only to find her head atop her bosoms. Blushing more, she raised her chin a bit to be able to remain above them.

“Sure,” Fluttershy said calmly, cuddling her like stuffed animal, “If you don’t mind.”

“...Why?” Rainbow squeaked, a little surprised from the sudden cuddling.

Fluttershy shrugged a little, laughing, “Again, why not? Or are you not comfortable?”

“No! I’m fine! I’m… uh, well uh, just a bit confused!” Rainbow replied, looking at her with a blush.

With a smile, Fluttershy placed her hands back above her head and giggled at her, “Well, let me explain then. Come up here and I’ll tell you…”

Managing to move now, Rainbow crawled up Fluttershy’s body slowly. In less than five minutes, she was already reaching levels of her inner fantasies. So why was she so unable to be cool about it? Anytime the fantasies popped up, Rainbow was so certain she would handle it perfectly. By making Fluttershy want her badly, playing it cool, being as smooth and seductive as possible. All of that was way out the window now and she had no idea what to do with it. Was it even happening? Was Fluttershy enjoying it? Or was she just humouring her?

“O-kay,” Rainbow said, now towering over Fluttershy, their faces now level.

With a smile, Fluttershy leaned forward enough to let their noses touch. She nuzzled against her sweetly as she giggled a little, “A little closer~”

Rainbow wasn’t sure where this was going, but was far too tempted to refuse. She lay atop Fluttershy properly, even leaning down closer to her.

Before Rainbow could react to it, Fluttershy very quickly stole a kiss from Rainbow Dash. It was fast, over before Rainbow could understand what had just happened, but it was what her friend said next that took her breath away.

“I always wanted to be your first kiss.”

Cheeks now scarlet, Rainbow was completely taken aback. She stared down at Fluttershy, seeing how she was smiling in a dreamy way. There was no doubt that the kiss was sincere, especially coupled with her words. But now what could she do? Add more to it? Say something? Do nothing?

Rainbow averted her gaze slightly, feeling her lips tingling slightly, and her entire body sprung with excitement. She trembled a little, trying to gather her thoughts, “Well, uh… you sure are! Wish granted!”

“Can I have the second one, too?” Fluttershy her a follow up question, giggling the entire time.

Reasonably so, Rainbow had had her doubts about Fluttershy’s feelings. Right now though, it was all too clear. She blushed more, if it were possible, and gave a little nod. “Sure, Flutters… And you can be the third, fourth, and fifth if you want.”

“Just up to five?” Fluttershy giggled faintly, knowing that what Rainbow really meant, “Would you be mad if I said I wanted… all of them?”

“Er, no! No, no way I’d get mad!” Rainbow shook her head rapidly.

Fluttershy nuzzled their noses together once more as she giggled with glee, “Would it be okay if I start collecting them, then?”

> Dropping In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

How this had happened, neither of them knew. Not even Fluttershy, even though she had the impulses and desires in the first place. But at this point, did it even matter anymore? Probably not. They were both into it, very caught up in each other and enjoying it. So why question it? For now, they just simply let the moment keep going.

Fluttershy was sitting up on her bed now, with Rainbow straddling her lap. They held to each other tightly, hands eagerly feeling each other up. All the while they made out furiously, lips and tongues clashing with fervor. Every now and then, moans of pleasure would escape either of them. Rainbow squirmed as Fluttershy’s hands slipped up her shirt, touching her bare skin.

Slowly, their makeout session eased back into a more relaxed moment. Fluttershy would giggle between kisses as she pulled up Rainbow’s shirt to get her out of her clothes. It was meant to be innocent enough at first, but any pretense of that was long gone in favor of taking this moment in stride and enjoying it to the fullest.

As the she pulled back, Fluttershy broke the kiss as she gave Rainbow’s lips a playful lick, “You’re mad at me for this, aren’t you?”

“No way,” Rainbow responded, panting a little. She leaned in and kissed Fluttershy’s neck, eager to feel and taste more of her, “I’ve wanted to do this for ages!”

“Oh, is that so?” Fluttershy giggled again at the sensation as she cuddled against Rainbow, “Then I’m sorry I kept you waiting… I just wasn’t sure if you’d be okay with all this, but if you’re okay with it, then we definitely do this more often.” 

Rainbow chuckled a little, nuzzling and kissing her neck, “Hey, I didn’t even know you wanted me, either. So I guess that makes us even!”

“Stop that, it tickles!” Fluttershy tried to hold back her laughter, “But if you say so, then okay. Which I guess leads me to my next question…”

“What is it?” Rainbow was now kissing back up to her face.

Fluttershy smiled once more, kissing Rainbow on her nose, “Well, do you want to go out with me? Like, as my girlfriend?”

Now Rainbow blushed, looking at her fully. Had Fluttershy truly just asked her out? Granted, their intimate contact was far more telling, but it was still a bold question. All at once, she could feel a mix of apprehension and yet excitement all at the same time. Everything that was happening was a lot to take in, something she’d wanted for so long, and now it was happening. Especially with Fluttershy wanting to make it official.

Tightening her hold on Fluttershy, Rainbow leaned in closer and shuddered at the sensation of Fluttershy’s hands against her bare back. 

“Yeah…” Was all Rainbow could say then, “It was… actually kinda why I wanted you to be my plus one for the party.”

“So… it was supposed to be a date?” Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash with a brightening expression. She seemed ecstatic now, hands now on her friend’s hips. 

Rainbow let out a soft little mewl as she nodded, tracing her fingers along the contours of Fluttershy’s back, “Yeah, I was gonna try asking you out that night. Kinda seeing how you’d feel about all that stuff. Then if you weren’t interested, we’d still have just been buddies going to a party.”

Fluttershy giggled with glee, cuddling her sweetly before kissing her on the cheek, “Oh, I see. It was to gauge my reaction, huh? Well, I understand that… you wanted to guess if I liked the idea of going on and if I liked spending the evening with you. I think you have your answer now, though!”

“I definitely have my answer, now,” Rainbow murmured. She kissed Fluttershy’s cheek, bringing her hands up to her hair and laying their foreheads together, closing her eyes, “Man, I’m so lame. I had so many awesome and cool things for this! Now I can’t think of a freaking thing.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t then?” Fluttershy closed her eyes as well, laughing faintly at the tender moment, “Just, maybe… I don’t know, let me strip you out of your clothes?”

“Weren’t you already doing that?” Rainbow whispered.

Fluttershy pulled back a little, then shrugged with a smile, “Well, yeah… I was. But that wasn’t with your permission.”

“In that case, you can go ahead and keep doing that,” Rainbow blushed.

Fluttershy giggled with glee as she pulled back to pull off Rainbow Dash’s shirt. There was an awkward silence for a moment as she very carefully placed the shirt and jacket on the bed, leaving her friend only dressed in her shorts and a sports bra. For some reason, this made her laugh.

“I guess you weren’t kidding about half of your clothes being sports stuff…”

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow gave a chuckle, glancing toward Fluttershy’s closet, “So, Flutters… all things considered, did you buy those clothes so you could… get to me?”

Fluttershy thought about it for a moment before nodding a little, “I guess now that I think about it, I always wanted to get your attention. I just never had the courage to wear any of them in public. I guess that makes me pretty silly…”

“It kinda does,” Rainbow chuckled, poking her nose, “But then again, I can’t really talk!”

“Sure you can,” Fluttershy playfully nipping at her finger, “You just did after all…”

Rainbow laughed a bit at the nipping, “What I meant was, I also didn’t exactly have the courage to do anything about it, either. I did try once, but I failed!”

That seemed to surprise Fluttershy quite a bit, actually egging her on to ask the next question, “Is that so? Would you… mind sharing this with me?”

“Well…” Rainbow looked away now, biting her lip, “You remember that time I was trying to do cloud writing for you while we were on a picnic? I was trying to make a love heart. I had a confession and everything ready for you during that picnic. But I messed up the clouds, I choked on my words, and then you had to leave because Angel thought it was a brilliant idea to eat too many carrots.”

“So, that was- oooh…” Fluttershy nodded slowly to this before smiling to her friend brightly, “I think I can see that now. Rainbow, you really are cute with your ideas! That would have been really nice! But I can understand why you chose not to after that.

Rainbow glanced at her, exhaling lightly, “The moment was gone, you know? Plus everything else I was thinking about didn’t help. I wanted to make it romantic since I knew you’d like that! And I knew that if I didn’t tell you then, I probably wouldn’t be able to.”

“Well, what about now?” Fluttershy her sweetly, “Do you think you could after this?”

“Yeah, I could,” Rainbow blushed a bit, “I just, uh, gotta plan it right!”

Fluttershy giggled at that, laying back on her bed as she pulled Rainbow down with her, “It that so? Care to… maybe, give me a sample?”

“A sample?” Rainbow was a bit taken aback by the new change in position. It didn’t help that it made her cheeks heat up a lot more, “Well, uh, I could try! What kind of sample?”

“Of what you would do if we did go on a date,” Fluttershy giggled.

Once more, Rainbow blushed, and gave a little nod. She rose up slightly to look at Fluttershy in the eye, “Well, I guess I’d… hold hands with you, for starters! Then I’d give you a hug, and just, I don’t know… Tell you how much you mean to me?”

Fluttershy laughed at that, gently brushing aside Rainbow’s mane to stroke her cheek, “That sounds like good start… but where would you want to take me for our first date?”

“Aside from the party? Oh, right! Well, I’d take you to that restaurant you like so much, and I’d treat you to dinner. You’d probably insist on paying for it, or even half, while I’d say it’s my treat,” Rainbow chuckled a bit.

“Then we’d playfully tease one another about how we always pizza when we go there and you’d try to order more fancy until I tell you that I’d be fine with pizza,” Fluttershy giggled, laying back on her bed, “I’d have to beg you to let me cover at least half of it since we’d both want something to drink. We’d also have to get their cheesy breadsticks, too.”

“Oh yeah, we’d totally have to have the cheese bread sticks!” Rainbow laughed, grinning. “Then the waiter would come by and we’d try to give our order, but we’re just laughing so hard! I’d still be laughing and then I’d cough on my water, you’d reach over and pat me on the back. Then we’d get our side dish, and start arguing over who gets what piece!”

“That sounds like it would so much fun,” Fluttershy smiled at the thought, “We should make plans to go! How about tomorrow?”

“Really? For real?” Rainbow was surprised at this, but shook it off, “Yeah! Definitely!”

“Unless…” Fluttershy gave her a gentle kiss, “You want to tonight?”

“Anytime you want, baby…” Rainbow said in a daze, giving a goofy grin.

This made Fluttershy smile brightly, holding Rainbow closer and kissing her forehead, “Tonight would be wonderful, then! We’ll go to dinner, then maybe we’ll go for a walk or a flight afterward. Does that sound good to you?” 

Rainbow shuddered from the touch, reaching up to push Fluttershy’s hands back down which she ended up guiding a bit lower than she expected which only caused her to tremble, “Y-Yeah, sure! Uh, would you be okay with- no, I gotta watch you and stuff! How about we swing by my place in a little while and let me drag something to wear for it?” She paused for a moment, thinking about it, “Or is that a bad idea? Shoot! This is little harder to plan out than I thought...”

Fluttershy laughed, kissing her on the cheek and then hugging her, “Of course we can go by your place! I’ll bring an outfit, then we can change when we get there.”

“Well, all right, but no straining yourself!” Rainbow chastised her with a smile, “I’m not taking any chances on if this magic junk messed with you in a bad way! So, after the date, do you wanna come back here or my place?”

“Oh, whichever is closer.” Fluttershy purred, leaning closer to her, “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep my hands off you…”

Rainbow chuckled a bit, pushing her hands away and held them at bay against the bed, “Now, now! Buy me dinner first before you start trying to have sex with me~”

“Oh, so you’ll let me pay for dinner tonight?” Fluttershy grinned.

“... We’ll split it,” Rainbow compromised with a snicker, “But that’s only if you keep me in a good mood!”

This made Fluttershy laugh as she freed her hands from Rainbow’s grasp, bringing her closer again, “And what happens if I don’t? Not that I would want to put you in a bad mood, Dashie.”

Rainbow pulled back playfully and reached to hold back Fluttershy’s hands yet again, “Then A) you won’t be getting lucky tonight and B) I’ll be paying in full for dinner.”

“Awww…” Fluttershy pouted a little, “Would you still sleep in bed with me?”

“Well… I think that will depend on my mood as well,” Rainbow snickered at her, “Keep me in a good mood and for sure! I’ll share a bed with you. But, if you put me in a bad mood, I might just have to punish you~”

Rather than cowering in nervousness, it just made Fluttershy giggle. She leaned over, kissing her nose, “Ooh, Rainbow… you might want to make your threats sound a little less appealing!”

Rainbow gave her a kiss back, laughing all the same, “Hey, who said I wanted it to be threatening?”

“So either way, I win~” Fluttershy nuzzled noses with her, giggling.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Rainbow reached up to playfully pinch Fluttershy’s nose, “I win in one situation and we both win in the other.”

“Ooh, is that so?” Fluttershy smirked lightly.

“Nope,” Rainbow grinned, “I always win~”

Fluttershy kissed her cheek, grinning, “I know you do… So, when shall we go? It’s still early in the afternoon...”

“Well, I guess we can get going,” Rainbow shrugged playfully, “Just uh, let’s not go out like this, huh?”

Looking down at themselves, Fluttershy giggled as she realized they were both quite topless. She smiled, kissing Rainbow’s lips sweetly and nodding, “Well, of course. As much as I would like to stay like this for a while… We should get our shirts back on.”





Another day, another set of papers, another set of bills to see through parliament. It certainly wasn’t the most exciting aspect of her job, but it was no doubt fulfilling. Celestia smiled to herself as she perused through some bills, tapping her pen against her chin thoughtfully as she grasped it in her fingers.

She glanced over at her assistant, Kibitz, and smiled warmly, “Is there any other paperwork that needs to be looked over today? I want to make sure I have it all organized.”

Kibitz glanced up at her, adjusting his glasses, “No, Princess, that seems to be all of it! Surprising, I must say. Should you be able to keep to the schedule, however, you’ll be finished with all of it by dinner time!”

“Splendid,” Celestia smiled, going back to her papers, “Would you mind terribly if I went to get myself some tea?”

“Certainly so!” Kibitz looked up, his eyes going wide, “I’ll get it for you instead, you keep to the paperwork! We cannot possibly lose five minutes!”

Celestia sighed, being foiled by her assistant’s need to save as much time as possible, “All right then, Kibitz. Do take your time though. There’s no need to be in such a rush.”

“Oh, all right,” Kibitz sighed a bit, heading toward the door, and then turning to her, “But you can see why I’m unsure about leaving your side. The last time that happened, your friend Discord came about and turned you into a clown. Right in front of court, no less!”

“He did not turn me into a clown!” Celestia responded with a small blush, “It was only the red nose.”

“Regardless, he’s quite unpredictable,” Kibitz glanced at her, worry etched in his features, “I wouldn’t want for you to reap the consequences of his actions, Princess.”

He left the throne room, making sure the door was closed behind him.

Celestia exhaled a bit, the blush still on her cheeks. But she at least managed to regain her composure enough to read through the paperwork. Yet at the same time, she couldn’t help the little inklings at the back of her mind. Discord, yet again, surfaced her thoughts. Not a single day since his reformation had she not thought of him.

She sighed again, trying to focus on her work. ‘I’m not sure what to think with him sometimes… I don’t even know if he thinks of me as a friend. Does he? He never seems to show it. Or I just end up seeing mixed signals.’

“Hey, Tia!” came the voice of the Draconequus in question. His voice came from out of nowhere as he appeared at the left hand side of the throne. He was just sitting there on the steps of her throne, a case of glass bottles of soda in his hands. Discord was looking up at her with a casual smile, even raising his brow to gauge her reaction, which he always found marvelous.

“Discord!” Celestia exclaimed with surprise, her eyes going wide. How had she not seen this coming? He was always one for showing up in the most unconventional ways possible. Even when she was actually expecting him!

“Ha! I love that face,” Discord snickered with glee as he stood up, carrying the case of sodas with him, “How is it you’re not used to that yet? I mean, I’ve been free for what, two years? And I bother you at least once a day! It’s like, a rule for me. But enough about my deep love of seeing your face twist into shock and awe, I wanted to talk to you about, you know, stuff.” He reached over his other hand, pulling out one of the sodas and handing it to her, “You still like Dr. Pepper, right? Or are Princesses not allowed to drink soda pop?”

On some kind of automatic impulse, Celestia managed to take the bottle that was offered to her. She stared at him with shock, trying to regain herself. It took a moment or two to find her voice, but she finally did, “Yes, I still like Dr. Pepper.”

With a grin, Discord sat up on the armrest of the throne, point at the bottle’s cap and it popped clean off, “Good to see some things don’t change! Then again, you always were resistant to change being all perfect and stuff. Anyway… You got a minute? Or, say, a few?”

Managing to get over the initial shock, Celestia twisted the cap off her own bottle, “Yes, I can spare a few minutes. What brings you here?”

“Well, as you know… I’m trying to be a better person, or pony; or dragon, or whatever you wanna call me. I’m actually getting quite fond of the term chimera lately,” Discord went one about nothing that had anything to do with his actual point, chuckling the entire time he did so, “I decided to do a favor for my good friend, Fluttershy! You know her, right? Element of Kindness, canary yellow pegasus with a pink mane, timid and obviously gay for the rainbow one? She wanted some help.”

Celestia blinked, then nodded slowly, “I know who you’re talking about, yes. Fluttershy needed some help with something? What with?”

“Her morale! Confidence! Her backbone, if you will,” Discord snickered a bit, taking on of the sodas for himself, “And as such, I gave her a little boost! Nothing major, mind you. I wouldn’t do anything to her life in danger! Plus, I got the Element of Loyalty to watch her for the day. You know her too, right? Rainbow mane, so tomboy that it hurts, and extremely gay? Yeah, she’s there to make sure she’ll be okay. But ever since I left, I’ve been getting this feeling. And not just a normal one either, a weird one.”

“Yes, I know Rainbow Dash as well,” Celestia sipped her soda. She pondered his words for a few moments, then turned to look at him, “Hold on, what kind of feeling do you mean?”

“I think I’m… concerned about them,” Discord said, looking away from a moment. He sighed, letting himself slide down off the armrest and was now sitting in Celestia’s lap. He roped an arm around her shoulder, taking a deep swig of his soda now, “I don’t know why, but I’m actually worried about those two little pegasi. Magic can do things, ya know? And that’s why I wanted to talk to you, Tia. You’re the best at this caring stuff that I know! You’re good at that- what’s it called? Empathy, right? You’re good at it!”

This was immensely surprising. Celestia wasn’t even sure where to begin. Not least of which with why he was now sitting in her lap. Granted, it wasn’t the first time they’d been this close. Usually initiated by him, no less. She blushed quite a bit, but made no move to discourage him. If anything, she just… didn’t want him to move. 

But all the more, she was shocked that he was feeling this way. While she didn’t doubt that he was capable, it was something else to hear it. Celestia pondered, trying to take it all in, as well as trying to find a solution. She exhaled, gathering her composure and managing to speak again.

“Well, Discord… it’s a good thing that you’re more in touch with your feelings,” she said softly, “What exactly did you do to help? Why do you feel concerned?”

“I used magic, duh,” Discord gave her a deadpan expression, tilting his head slightly, “I removed one of those mental blocks that keep her so timid so she could be more confidence. Then, I told Rainbow Dash to watch her. I don’t know, really. Everything should be fine, but I feel like I should double check on them, even though I said I would later tomorrow… So, what’s wrong with me?”

In spite of the shock from before, Celestia giggled and gave a smile. She resisted the urge to touch his hair, figuring it would just make him uncomfortable. “There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s simple. Fluttershy is your friend, and as your friend, you feel concerned for her. Not because you don’t have faith in your abilities, though. You just want her to do well.”

“... I don’t think it’s that,” Discord said with straight face, “I know everything will be fine, but I worry about the magical changes, you know?”

“Oh, then that’s understandable. You’re not sure how she’ll react to it all entirely?” Celestia sipped her drink, “I have to admit, that is a bit more concerning. Using magic, even just a bit, on altering somepony’s brain can still have certain consequences.”

Discord sighed, resting head head against her’s, making a groaning noise as he did, “Do you think I should go check on them? I mean, it makes sense if do, right? I can go, see what they’re up to, and make sure they’re not turning giant death gods and relax afterwards.”

Celestia rolled her eyes playfully, despite the blush creeping to her cheeks. She took a chance and gently nuzzled her head against his, “I think it would be reasonable to check on them. I don’t imagine that will happen, but it will be good to monitor the effects.”

Discord pulled back with a smile, patting her on the cheek, “That sounds about right! I’ll go check on them, then I’ll feel better! Plus, it might be for the best, right?”

Blushing slightly, Celestia nodded, “Absolutely. Checking on them will definitely put your mind at ease. I’m sure they have the situation under control, too.”

With that, Discord bounced out of her lap and took a bow, “Then I think I’ll do just that! I’ll just get out of your hair before your fuddy-duddy of a butler gets back!”

Giggling, Celestia smiled. In truth, she didn’t really want him to go. But she could imagine the reaction Kibitz would have if he walked in on this, “Very well, Discord. I hope this is going to help you. Oh, and by the way,” she beckoned him closer, “I’m free after I lower the sun. You can come and see me then, if you’d like.”

“With any luck, it will help! And we’ll see if my schedule will be free this evening,” Discord snickered at her, giving her Celestia a mock salute with only two fingers, “But with any luck, I won’t end up in your bathroom again! Haha, later, Tia~!”

Trying not to shudder at the memory, Celestia raised hand and waved at him, “See you later, Discord. I look forward to it.”

And with a wink, Discord vanished in a poof is clouds that faded into nothing more than dust, just as the courtroom door opened once more as Kibitz returned to the room with plate resting on the tea.

“Here we are, Princess,” Kibitz said with a quick chime in his tone, “Herbal tea with a tablespoon of honey.”

Celestia smiled brightly, “Just the way I like it. Thank you,” she took the cup with her magic and sipped from it slowly.

Looking around for a moment, Kibitz placed the saucer on the armrest beside the Princess, “Beg me for asking, but did I miss anything while I was out?”

“No, of course not,” Celestia shook her head, “Why do you ask?”

“I just know how you are at times,” Kibitz said with a smile.

Celestia smiled back, sipping her tea again. All at once, she could feel a bounce in her step and all the more ready to face the rest of the day. The prospect of the evening’s visit was already inkling excitement within her.
> First Date (And Then Some!)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was almost surreal that this was happening. Yet, here it was. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat across from each other in a cozy booth at the restaurant of Fluttershy’s choice. They’d just ordered their food, opting to share a plate of fettucine alfredo. To further accentuate their closeness, as Fluttershy had said. Rainbow of course made a sarcastic but playful remark about the fact that it was just Fluttershy being corny. Only for Fluttershy to tease her right back about liking it.

Whatever she did, Rainbow couldn’t help noticing that Fluttershy’s eyes were on her the entire time during their date. Not just because they were sitting across from each other. Being observed like this made her blush, wondering just what was going on in her mind. “So, uh… I’m so awesome that you can’t keep your eyes off me, huh?”

“Well, why not?” Fluttershy giggled at her, picking up a fork and taking a bite of the alfredo, “You look nice, we’re having fun, and I think you look, well, attractive. Maybe even… sexy~ So, are you going to blame me?”

Rainbow blushed a bit, feeling just how much this stroked her ego and her heart, “No way! Besides, I sure as heck think you look great, too! Then again, you’re beautiful no matter what you’re wearing!” Realizing how corny it sounded, she glanced away. “That sounded way better in my head…”

“Everything sounds better in your head when you look back at it,” Fluttershy reached over to brush her hand against Rainbow’s cheek, leading her a bit closer, “But to me, I’d rather hear you you say it myself… But I’m totally biased about loving your voice.”

Blushing all the more, Rainbow couldn’t help nuzzling Fluttershy’s hand, “Heh, guess I can say the same thing!”

Fluttershy leaned to her and kissed her on the nose, “Is that so? Maybe you can go into a little more detail about that… So, what do you think about our first date?”

“Okay, uh, I’m gonna have to do that one at a time,” Rainbow blushed a bit. She took a bite of their noodles to calm her nerves a bit, “I’m pretty biased about your voice, too. There’s something so cute and yet really sexy about it. I love your voice, okay?” She blushed harder now, “As for what I think of our date, it’s pretty nice so far. Way nicer than I thought!”

Fluttershy smiled even more to that, kissing Rainbow Dash on the lips once more, “You’re just so sweet, Dashie… and the night is still young. I think we can even make the night even more memorable. If you want, that is.”

“What’d you have in mind…?” Rainbow figured she’d ask, not sure if it would work to play the assumption game.

“I don’t know yet,” Fluttershy giggled at her now, lightly tapping Rainbow on the nose, “Like I said, the night is still young and there’s no telling where it might go if we keep this up…”

“I guess so…” Rainbow blushed a bit more, “Uh, so! You like the noodles? They’re so good! Way better than my mom’s! ...But don’t tell her that!”

Fluttershy laughed at her even more, reaching over to hold Rainbow’s hand, “Don’t worry… I won’t tell her a thing.”

Even though Rainbow wasn’t worried about that, she sighed in relief anyway. She looked down at their hands, trying to figure out what to say next. “You know, I gotta say… there’s something way easier about going on a date with your best friend.”

“Well, I think that goes without saying…” Fluttershy smiled a bit, tracing circles in the palm of Rainbow’s hand, “I mean, it’s because we know one another already really well. There’s no first impressions, no ‘what if she doesn’t like this or that?’ and nothing to scare us off for no reason. We’re comfortable around one another already, as you might have noticed what we were doing before we left.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow smiled, looking up at her, “I guess this is what they mean when they say you should marry your best friend!”

Fluttershy snuck in a sly kiss on her lips, “Now now, Rainbow… isn’t it a bit soon to be thinking of marriage? Not that I’d have any reason to say no~”

This made Rainbow balk as she leaned back against her chair a little bit. “W-What? Huh? No! No no no no! I didn’t mean it like that! Just the sentiment! You know, the idea! I wasn’t proposing!” Rainbow exclaimed, blushing and waving her hands.

“Did you miss the part where I said I wouldn’t be saying no?” Fluttershy giggled at her reaction, “I was only teasing though…”

“Still,” Rainbow shook her head, “I think I’d do it right if that were the case.”

Fluttershy poked her on the nose, “Is that so? Would you mind… sharing with me what you could consider to be the right way?”

“Shyyyy! I’m not gonna tell you!” Rainbow whined, shaking her head, “That’s a surprise!”

“Awww, but I’m curious now,” Fluttershy teased before pulling back “But okay then, I’ll just have to wait, I suppose.”

“Flutters, I’d rather surprise you or at least make it special,” Rainbow exhaled, “I mean, I know you’re gonna be expecting me to propose, but I still definitely want to make it nice for you!”

Fluttershy smiled to the thought, reaching over to stroke Rainbow’s cheek, “You can read me like a book… but you know, I could always be the one to pop the question to you…”

Rainbow was about to respond, then paused, and blushed, “Yeah, you got me there.”

“Exactly. So, who knows, maybe I will do that… But I would hate to see any plans you may have go to waste,” Fluttershy giggled, “Unless we both proposed?”

To that, Rainbow blinked a few times with surprise, “Wait up a sec, how would we even do that? It would be like something out of comdey movie where one of us is gonna propose on the same day as the other and it just would go from there. I mean, that would be kinda cool.”

Giggling again, Fluttershy reached over and placed her hand atop Rainbow’s, “That would be cool, wouldn’t it? I’d personally find it very sweet, too! So… don’t hold back on proposing to me, even if I plan to do the same. I bet you we could make it work, don’t you think?”

“Well, of course I could,” Rainbow snickered a bit to that, “But don’t you think it’s a bit soon to be talking about proposing? It’s only the first date!”

“That’s true, but we have known each other a long, long time,” Fluttershy leaned over and kissed her cheek, “It wouldn’t even be a huge stretch if we did.”

Rainbow blushed a little, rolling her eyes a bit, “That depends on how you look at it…”

“Like I said, though… I’d have little reason to say no,” Fluttershy tipped her finger beneath Rainbow’s chin, winking at her.

“Yeah, I know you wouldn’t,” Rainbow chuckled a little, trying to not make too much eye contact, but she was finding it hard to get lost in her friend’s gaze, “So, we almost done here? I mean, dinner was great, but I’m about ready to leave.”

“Aww, no dessert?” Fluttershy pouted a little bit, “That’s not fair. We can’t go somewhere nice on our first date and not have dessert, Dashie.”

With a sigh, Rainbow smiled at her, “Come on, ‘Shy! We could go to my place and eat ice cream. You know, just us, alone and able to relax.”

Fluttershy smiled now, her brows raising with interest, “That sounds like a lovely idea, Rainbow! All right, we can do that.”

“And we can watch a movie when we get there,” Rainbow suggested.

“Ooh, are we?” Fluttershy tilted her head, “Or… are we going to have it on as background noise while we do… other things?”

“That depends on what we’re doing,” Rainbow said with a grin.

Fluttershy smiled and reached over to gently touch her cheek, “Have I been good, Rainbow?”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow blinked a few times, “Well, yeah, you’ve been great on our first date.”

“You think so? I’ve kept you in a good mood overall?” Fluttershy leaned forward a bit, giving her a bright smile.

Rainbow shrugged a little, “Of course! How could I not enjoy spending time with you?!”

“Same here,” Fluttershy smiled, then flagged down the waiter, “Bill, please!”

“Don’t you mean ‘Check, please?’” Rainbow snickered at her from behind her hand, “Besides, I’m the one who’s paying for it!”

“Bill, check, same difference,” Fluttershy giggled, “And no, I’m paying for it.”

Rainbow gave her a challenging look, a smirk on her face as she leaned closer, “You wanna bet on that? I’m covering it this time, Flutterbaby. So, you just be sexy for me right now and let’s get outta here, ‘kay?”

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy pouted, but was blushing, “I thought we agreed that we would split it!”

“No,” Rainbow waved a finger at her teasingly, “We agreed that if I was in bad mood, I’d pay in full, but if I was in a good mood, we’d split it. I just decided to cover your share this time. You can pick up the bill on the next date. I promise! I’ll even leave my money at home!”

“Oh, fine,” Fluttershy pouted.

Reaching over, Rainbow lifted Fluttershy’s chin up as she smiled sweetly, “Hey, no pouting! You’re gonna start sending me mixed signals on this first date if you keep that up.”

Fluttershy giggled, smiling, “Oh, don’t worry. I’m just playing with you, Rainbow. Of course I’m having a wonderful time!”

Chuckling, Rainbow gave her cheek a little pat, “I know, ya goofball! Now, stop being so cheeky and let’s get going!”

Once their food was paid for, the two of them exited the restaurant and headed for home. They walked hand-in-hand, feeling a sense of contentment and even excitement. For their first date, or part of it, it had gone very well. Fluttershy felt such a burst of confidence like never before, and glad it helped make things go more smoothly. She certainly couldn’t wait to see what else they would do together on future dates. Or even just what they’d do together in general.

She sighed happily, squeezing Rainbow’s hand and looking down at her, “You know, Rainbow… I’m so glad we decided to do this! It’s been so wonderful. I wish I had had the courage to tell you how I felt a long time ago.”

“Hey, I’m in the boat as you,” Rainbow said with a grin, pulling her along until she flew off into the air. She held Fluttershy’s hand tightly, despite that they were both flying. “I wish I had told you sooner too! But all’s well that ends well, right? Come on, let’s go to my place!”

“Oooh, and what are we going to do when we get there?” Fluttershy’s eyes twinkled.

“Just what I said we would,” Rainbow snickered, pulling her along since she noticed Fluttershy wasn’t resisting at all, “Pop in a movie, eat ice cream, and probably forget about the movie and makeout.”

An excited smile overcame Fluttershy’s face, “Well, then I guess I did a great job of keeping you in a good mood tonight! Can we still sleep in bed together~?”

“You make it sound like we wouldn’t anyway,” Rainbow stuck her tongue out at her playfully, “Sure, we’ll cuddle up after the flick and relax for the evening.”

Fluttershy giggled, squeezing her hand, “Then let’s get there faster!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, but laughed and lead the way all the same. She did pick up the speed a little, but not enough to be going that fast. She was just enjoying the night air at this point with her best friend at her side. But that did bring up the question of if she should still be addressing Fluttershy as her best friend or girlfriend now. Would it really matter? And how should she break the news to her friends? She dismissed it, deciding that tomorrow would there soon enough, but she would deal with all that when it came up. She was going to enjoy the evening and that was that. No stupid thoughts were going to ruin her first date night!





Later on that evening, the two were cuddled up in the couch while their movie of choice was playing. Fluttershy was set up at one end of the couch, sitting up straight with her legs situated on either side of Rainbow. She sat up against Fluttershy’s front, snuggled in.

In Rainbow’s lap was the promised bowl of ice cream, resting empty now after the two had eaten it out of existence. She eventually grabbed it and set the bowl on the coffee table in front of the couch before laying back against Fluttershy. Normally, she would have been worried about accidentally resting on her friend’s breasts, but since they were dating now, it didn’t seem like it would be an issue.

Besides… she had always wanted to them like a set of pillows anyway. Fluttershy didn’t even seem to mind. If anything, she welcomed it.

Giving a little giggle, Fluttershy kissed the top of her head before turning her attention back to the movie. “I can’t believe I never gave these movies a chance…”

“Whatcha mean?” Rainbow leaned her head up, looking at Fluttershy upside down. 

“I used to be scared of them,” Fluttershy smiled, “Now I just… I don’t know, I feel I can detach myself just enough to not let them get to me.”

“Glad to hear it, Flutters!” Rainbow poked her nose and snuggled more against her. “But ya know, I can think of something I’d much rather be doing right now.”

“And what would that be?” Fluttershy prompted, stroking her hair.

Rainbow sat up quickly before rolling over to face Fluttershy directly. She pounced on her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and shot her a pair of bedroom eyes, “Gimme some sugar, baby~” 

Without waiting for a response, she went in for the kill; pulling Fluttershy into a deep kiss.

Beyond thrilled at this, Fluttershy wound her arms around Rainbow and kissed her back. Her own fervency matched her girlfriend’s perfectly. Their tongues met in a heated duel, feeling and tasting each other. Her hands clutched at Rainbow’s dress, before running along her back and sides in a sensual manner.

Pulling back to breath, Rainbow stole another quick kiss before saying, “I’ve always wanted to say that.” She cut herself off, going right back to her lips. She could feel Fluttershy’s hands on her back, and mixed with her current situation, she was fighting off the urge to moan. One thing was sure though, she was quite amazed at how good her friend was at kissing! Or she would have been if not for how much she was regretting saying they should wait before started ‘sleeping’ together.

“And I’ve always wanted to hear you say it,” Fluttershy purred as she pulled away for a second. She brought Rainbow back in for a deep kiss, feeling a little more daring. Her hands trailed downward, this time reaching Rainbow’s rump. Squeezing down there, Fluttershy then lifted her leg slightly, situating it between Rainbow’s legs.

Rainbow Dash just about melted on the spot, she visibly quivered at the contact. She even realised it herself and a small part of her was embarrassed, but it was hard to really act on it when her body responded so positively. Her grip tightened as she grabbed at Fluttershy’s mane, arching her back, even rubbing herself against her friend’s leg.

Pleased at this reaction, Fluttershy made sure to angle her leg this way and that to make it a more pleasant experience. She enjoyed the feeling, hoping to get more of it. Pulling back, she lowered her lips to Rainbow’s neck, feverishly peppering kisses along there.

“F-Flutters, you better stop,” Rainbow mumbled in a whimper, “Before I… Guh, I feel really-”

“Are you two in there?!” A shout came from outside of Rainbow’s house that made both of them jump in the middle of their session. It was Discord and he sounded concerned. That was odd enough. “Helloooooo! Come on, you two gotta be here! I checked back at Fluttershy’s and you weren’t there and if you don’t answer me, I’m gonna look stupid saying all this when no one’s there!”

Fluttershy looked off toward the door, then sighed heavily. She wanted nothing more than to keep going, or at least get Rainbow hot and bothered. But then again, given the way Discord sounded, it was probably best to humour him, “Yes, Discord, we’re here! Can you give us a minute?”

“Or five?” Rainbow added to that, pulling back herself, trying to catch her breath a little, “Ten would be ideal though!”

Discord called back to them, “Okay! I’ll be here! I just want to check on you two!”

“We’ll say so!” Fluttershy called back. Turning to Rainbow, she kissed her cheek, “I’m so sorry, Dashie…. I didn’t think he’d show up so soon.”

Rainbow returned the kiss, getting off her best she could, despite how weak her legs felt at the moment, “It’s okay, ‘Shy. It’s not like I was expecting him either. I guess he’s just worried about how you’re holding up.”

“Ooh, be careful,” Fluttershy said softly, getting up and holding her steady.

Rainbow was quick to sit back down on the couch, shivering a little, “I’m fine! I just need a minute. You can answer the door for Discord if ya want. The sooner we talk to him, the better since that means he’ll leave sooner.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy kissed her forehead. She then went to the door, opening it up to her chaotic friend.

Discord greeted her with a smile, but he did seem to relax a bit visibly, “Good to see you in one piece! I can’t explain it, but I was feeling a bit worried about you two, so I wanted to check on ya.”

“Worried? Why?” Fluttershy looked slightly alarmed, “Is there… something that could’ve happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Discord said with a shrug, “I just felt like something was wrong. So, how have you been? Anything new?”

Fluttershy blinked, tilting her head, “No, nothing in particular. I mean, I had a headache before, but it’s long gone now.”

“What about your confidence?” Discord asked her curiously, “Have you noticed anything?”

“Huh? Oh! Right, well… I’ve certainly felt a little more bold!” Fluttershy smiled now.

“That’s good, I suppose,” Discord said with a nod, “I guess I was worried for nothing after all, I was just talking to Tia and she pointed out how dangerous magic can be, I think. So, I figured I’d pop in on you two and make sure everything was still good.”

“Oh, everything’s fine,” Fluttershy assured, smiling more, “More than fine, actually. It’s helped given me the courage to tell Rainbow how I feel. Because of that, now we’re dating!”

“... You weren’t dating beforehand?” Discord asked her with a hint of confusion in his voice.

Fluttershy blinked, looking confused as well, “What? You thought we were already dating? How so?”

“I was just always under that impression, to be honest.” Discord shrugged a little, “She’s overly protective of you, you two are always near one another most of the time, and she flips out whenever you’re not giving her more attention than the others.”

“Ohhhh!” Fluttershy laughed a bit then, shaking her head, “I suppose if you put it that way, it makes sense that we could be mistaken for a couple.”

“But that’s great! You actually got up your nerve to do the biggest thing you could: ask out that tomboy! And- wait, you said it was because of my magic? As in, I actually helped you?”

Fluttershy nodded, “Oh, yes! It really has helped me. I feel a lot better now…”

“So, what you’re saying is… I used my magic for something and it yielded a positive result?” Discord leaned even closer to her face with a huge smile on his face, “And you’re saying that it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t done it, right?! That I actually did good?”

“Um, well, it might have still happened, just differently! But, yes… you did do a good thing with your magic, Discord,” Fluttershy smiled and nodded.

Discord was starting to invade her personal space as he started to rock a bit in place, “So, you think I could a good match maker? Do you?” His voice got squeaky with excitement, obviously looking for a yes.

“A good matchmaker?” Fluttershy repeated, tilting her head again. She then gave a little shrug and a smile, “Well, I suppose you did inadvertently play matchmaker. So, I think if you put your mind to it, you could be if you wanted to.”

Discord seemed to squeal with excitement for lack of a better term before suddenly lunging at Fluttershy to hug her, “Thank you for the encouragement! I’m getting so many ideas from this, you just have no idea!”

“Knowing you, I’m not surprised!” Fluttershy giggled as she hugged him back.

“And here I was thinking being good was boring all these years! I can’t wait to get started with this,” Discord pulled back with a grin, “I’ll let you two do… whatever it is couples do. I’ve got to make plans!”

“All right then, you take care, and please don’t overdo it,” Fluttershy giggled.

Discord laughed, “Overdo it? Ha! I laugh in the face of logic! Take care now, bye!” And with that, he turned and actually slammed the door on himself.

Chuckling, Fluttershy then returned to the living room, finding a shaky Rainbow on the couch. She smiled brightly, going back over to sit down with her.

“Everything’s okay, he just wanted to check on us,” Fluttershy said, kissing her temple, “Are you feeling okay?”

“I think I need a shower, honestly,” Rainbow said with a wayward smile, blushing as she did so, “But at least he didn’t come over to say something about you exploding or anything.”

Fluttershy giggled and nuzzled her sweetly, “No, no. He was just a little concerned, considering the type of magic he used. But I told him everything was just fine. After all, if he hadn’t done this, I don’t think we’d be here right now.”

“True, but then again...” Rainbow paused for a moment, then let out a sigh, “Nah, you’re right. I mean, I’m sure I would have asked you out eventually, but I don’t think it would have gone over as smooth as this. So, I guess I kinda do owe him for this one.”

“Oh, but don’t tell him that,” Fluttershy laughed, “I’m sure he’d have a-” Her phone went off, indicating she received a text. She took it out, briefly glancing over a new text, surprisingly, from Discord.

Oh yes! She owes me big time! ;)

Glancing over at Fluttershy’s phone, Rainbow shrugged, “I guess I should have knocked on wood for that one. But whatever.”

Fluttershy laughed, placing it aside, “Oh, don’t worry about that. Come here, you,” she cuddled Rainbow closer and peppered her face with kisses, “So… about that shower?”

“Uh…” Rainbow blushed even brighter, “Yeah, I mean… I can skip it if you want. But I kinda do need a change of underwear…”

“Oh no, you don’t have to skip it,” Fluttershy giggled, “I was only going to suggest I help you in the shower~”

“... Go on.”

> New Cupid In Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For any normal being, so to speak, it would be hard to tell time within Discord’s home. Rightfully so, the dimension he lived in didn’t even have a concept of time, let alone a standard clock. Not that it bothered him, he worked around with it however possible. But what did the spirit of Chaos need with time?

Either way, it was the next morning, which Discord could easily tell. He grinned upon leaping from his neatly-made bed, and proceeded to mess it up. “Woohoo! Another glorious day! And to think, my magic served a good purpose! Looks like dear Sunbutt had nothing to worry about all this time! Huzzah!”

Once his bed was messed up, he went downstairs through the floor. Before reaching back up to grab his horns after they fell down. Chuckling to himself, Discord sauntered to the kitchen, preparing himself a bowl of cereal. 

“Hmmm… milk or no milk?” He pondered for a few moments. Giving a shrug, he poured some milk into the bowl. Slurping the milk, then eating the bowl, he tossed the cereal bits aside. “Now then! On to business! If Fluttershy believes in me being a good matchmaker… I may as well make good on that idea! What a fun item to add to my resume! Discord, the reformed spirit of Chaos and Disharmony… Also a part-time matchmaker!”

Producing a piece of paper, Discord jotted it down on his resume. He paused a moment, tapping his pen against his chin.

“Hmmm… now, why do I feel like I’ve forgotten something?” Discord paced his house, “I forgot everything else that I usually forget! So what am I forgetting?” He pondered this for a moment, pacing back and forth once more in circular motion. His face contorted in deep thought, biting on his lower lip before coming to a halt back in front of his desk. “Eh, I’ll figure it out later! Besides, it couldn’t have been that important!”

Getting back to business, he pulled out a fresh piece of paper and a quill. There was one thing he remembered, which was to send a letter to Princess Cadance. Something he had honestly not done before. In fact, when did he ever send letters? Aside from Fluttershy, he actually didn’t.

“Hmm, I should change that,” he said to himself.

With that in mind, he started with a formal heading:

Dear Princess Cadance,

I, Discord of Equestria, the Spirit and Acolyte of Chaos, do hereby beseech you to consider my humble request. During my extended stay here and through several actions taken over the course of the last twenty four hours, I have discovered that I, Discord have a natural talent for bringing ponies together. In that way.

As in, making them fall in love.

Okay, enough with the formal stuff! I think you can understand what I’m saying. Since I’m the embodiment of chaos and we know that love has no rules, I’d be perfect for the job! Don’t you just love connecting the dots? I sure do! In fact, I put a little connect-the-dots game for you on the bottom! Have fun with it!

So anyway, that’s all I wanted! I think I’d be great for the job as Equestria’s new cupid! There hasn’t been one for over a thousand years, has there? I wonder why that is. Maybe I should I ask Twilight for some history books! Oh joy!

Wait a second, that’s not my catchphrase. Do I even have one? I should make one! Got any advice about that?

Where was I? Oh right! New cupid! So since you’re the Princess of Love, you’d know what to do about all that. 

Signed, me! You know, Discord! Do I seriously need to do this? I doubt you forgot who was writing to you!

P.S. Take your time with giving me the title since I already added it to my resume, so I won’t need proof of it until Tax season. Take care! 

P.P.S. By the way, I loved those cookies you sent Twilight last week! Yes, I took one. She said I could! After I already ate it. 

P.P.P.S. She loves me, really.

P.P.P.P.S. Does anyone actually know what the “P.S.” stands for? I sure don’t! If you happen to know, do tell me.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Never mind! I know what it means! Postscript! Aren’t I brilliant?

P.P.P.P.P.P.S What came first? The chicken or the egg? No, I’m seriously asking! Even I don’t know the answer!

Laughing to himself, he placed the letter into a multi-coloured envelope. Whistling cheerfully, he went outside through the window, and trotted over to his mailbox. Placing the envelope inside, he stuck the Discord-shaped flag up and grinned.

“Perfect! I’m well on my way to becoming Equestria’s new Cupid! Why didn’t I think of this ages ago?” He mused. Snapping his claws, a bow and a quiver of arrows appeared next to his head, which he readily geared up. “Since I’m going to need some training for my new job, I’ll have to head out there and bring lovers closer together! But where do I start?”

More pacing. He eventually made his way over to the map of Ponyville he had in his move, along with many other assorted maps of the different provinces of Equestria before his eyes settled on one spot particular.

“Ah ha!” Discord grinned, sticking his finger on the exact spot he attended to travel to, “Sweet Apple Acres! What better shooting practice than hitting the broad side of a barn? Besides, no will ever notice me in my new duds!” He snapped his fingers together once more as a sleek black suit with- oddly enough- pink trimming to it in a stylized fashion. With a black and pink striped scarf to set the look off, he held his finger out, touching it to his hip as he made a fake sizzling noise, “Ouch! I’m hot today.”

All prepared, Discord snapped his fingers, and was right inside Sweet Apple Acres. For a moment, he took in the fresh air and sighed happily. What a great day it was, at least to him. He went over to some bushes some ways off from the barn, ducking behind them. Once the barn was in plain view, he paused a little, and then scooted more to the nearest broad side.

“Perfect!” He said to himself, then paused. “Hmmm… It’s missing something…”

Getting an idea, Discord snapped his fingers again, and a brightly painted white target appeared on the side of the barn.

With everything in place at last, it was time to begin. Discord carefully drew his bow, attempting to line the shot up with the center of the target, “Prepare to feel the love, barn.” And he let loose one of the arrows.

It missed by at least a fourth of two inches.

Discord made a tsk sound as he lined up another shot with twice the speed of that last, “Okay, wiseguy- barn- whatever. You will take my love shaft and you will like it right down the middle!”

He shot another arrow. This time it was just a quarter of an inch above the centre point.

“I said feel the love!” Discord pouted. This time, he pulled back on his bow with a much larger arrow than previously as he gritted his teeth, “If this doesn’t work, I’m upgrading to a love grenade launcher! Now, feel the love or be destroyed!” 

The arrow was shot, making its target perfectly now. 

“YES! I knew you’d come around! Third shot’s the charm!” Discord cheered happily, doing a little dance, “But to be honest, Mr. Barn, you probably didn’t need my help getting a date on a Friday night. I mean, you already swing both ways! Heyoooo!” He laughed at his own joke.

Ducking back behind the bushes, he drew the arrows out of the barn and back to him. Getting another idea, he lined up all three of them on the bow, pulling the string back. It was a daring shot, but he was determined to try. Just a little more, then maybe he could-

“Who in tarnation painted a target on the side o’ the barn?!” A loud voice interrupted his thoughts.

Discord ducked down even lower. He knew that voice, it was the southern fried pony named Applejack. To be honest, she was bit of a stick in the mud to Discord, but in this situation, that could mean trouble. After all, he was using her family’s barn for target practice. But it wasn’t like he hand any intentions of leaving it like that! He was going to clean it up before he left.

Now however was an interesting opportunity though. Now he had a moving target. The question was in the end: to shoot or not to shoot?

“What idjit had done painted on the barn Ah went through all the trouble ta-” Applejack said as she approached the barn as her eye went wide with shock and anger, “They’d been shooting at mah barn?!”

Shoot.

Grinning widely, he let two of the arrows drop and kept just one of them. Pulling back the bowstring, he aimed it carefully. All while Applejack turned around completely, her back facing him. Too perfect. Within an instant, he sent the arrow flying.

The arrow struck Applejack in the hindquarters, which made her jump and yelp in surprise. “What in tarnation?!” She looked around behind her, then felt along her rear, and her hand stopped on the arrow.

“HA! Direct hit!” Discord cheered as he jumped up from his hiding place, “Robin Hood ain’t got jack on me!”

“Discord?!” Applejack exclaimed with shock. The moment she caught sight of the bow, quiver of arrows, she narrowed her eyes. “You were the one who shot me with an arrow?! The tarnation were ya thinkin’?!”

“Man, do you look silly with a arrow sticking out of your butt!” Discord laughed wildly at her, trying to get himself back  under control, “But yes, I was the one who shot you and yes, I was thinking. I was thinking ‘Awesome, a moving target’!”

Applejack growled with annoyance and plucked the arrow from herself. She got a good look at it, seeing that it was bright red and had a love heart at the tip. Frowning, she looked at him, “The hell? Shootin’ one of Cupid’s arrows?”

Discord looked honestly surprised for a moment, but his smile didn't waver in the least, “Woah, how’d ya tell? You’re a sharp one, that you are! And hey, be grateful it wasn’t a real arrow and just a magical construct!”

“Ah’ll say,” Applejack tossed it aside, “That still doesn’t excuse you shootin’ me.”

“As if I needed a reason to shot you,” Discord reached over to pinch her cheek, but had his hand bitterly swatted away, “Come on, lighten up! Not that you have much of a choice… Today’s gonna be a great day for you, my fine pony friend! For you shall find what you seek- even though you didn’t know you were looking for something to begin with- and to top that off, you’re my first correction for my first day on the job! Lucky you, huh?”

“’Scuse me? Job? What job?” Applejack frowned in confusion.

Discord made what Applejack could only assume was a ‘kawaii’ face as he spoke, throwing up a peace sign it seemed, “I’ve taken it upon myself to become Ponyville’s personal Cupid! No idea how I’m gonna do just yet, but with help of the Princesses and the support of my friends, I’m sure I’ll do great at this whole thing!”

“...Yer gonna be Cupid?” Applejack looked at him with disbelief. “And how do ya figure that?”

“Love is chaotic, I’m the master of Chaos. Do the math,” Discord snickered, “And I’m going to make the whole town eventually share the love!”

Applejack still looked incredulous, then looked downward to try piecing this together. She sighed a bit then, crossing her arms, “So, now that ya shot me, what’s gonna happen? Ah’m gonna fall in love with the first pony Ah see?”

“What?! No! That would be dumb,” Discord shivered as he shook his head, “I’m all about the getting ponies together that have a thing for one another. So, if you got feelings for anyone, they can come forth and bloom in there own unique way! If you don’t, then I guess I just shot you in the butt for no reason.”

“Right…” Applejack sweatdropped, “Well, Ah’m afraid it was for no reason. Ah don’t feel that way about anypony right now.”

Discord sighed, looking a bit more defeated, “Well, that was a waste of an arrow. I mean, I can make more, but I wanted my first real shot to be something epic! Why do you have to be such a stick in the mud?” He shook his head, scanning around the farmland, “Which way to Twilight’s? Maybe she’ll be more fun than you- or, you know what? Scratch that, which way to that pink demon’s place? You know, Pinkie Pie.”

Rolling her eyes, Applejack pointed towards a direction in the distance, “Do ya seriously not see the Castle of Friendship from here?”

Sure enough, when Discord followed her gaze toward where Ponyville was supposed to be; the rising towering presence of the castle was just in sight.

“And Pinkie Pie ain’t no demon, either. And there ain’t no point in goin’ there right now, she ain’t home. Now get the target off the barn, Ah got work to do,” Applejack said, adjusting her hat and walking off.

“One, I’m the Spirit of Chaos and Cupid in-training; it’s not my job to make sense of any kind, so it’s fine for me to ask stuff like that,” Discord snapped his fingers as the barn was now fixed, freshly painted red and not a single scratch from the arrows left, “Second, you only gave me directions for one of them. Where’s Pinkie’s place? Also, I know she’s not. I was making a play on words with her boundless energy exceeding most mortal creatures. And duly noted. I’ll just go bug the Princess of Friendship then. ”

“Right,” Applejack rolled her eyes again, pointing toward Ponyville, “Ya know Sugarcube Corner looks like a giant gingerbread house. Right in the middle o’ town, ya can’t miss it.”

Discord grinned once more, “Oh, if anyone can miss it, it’s me! Or not me depending on if I’m me at the time. Eh, whatever! You have fun being the most boring pony in town, Applejack.”

Once more, Applejack rolled her eyes and waved him off, “See ya! Good luck with yer new job.”

“I need no luck!” Discord retorted back back with a small small, “Later, blandy!”

She didn’t respond, just kept walking off. Discord pouted a little bit. Not even a scowl or a retort back? Then again, it wasn’t Celestia he was dealing with. At least not now. But then a thought came to him. What if she possibly did have a little spark for another pony? Was it possible?

A gleeful grin overcame his face as he headed toward Ponyville, “Maybe it wasn’t for nothing after all…” Pausing for a second, Discord looked all around himself, and then at nothing in particular. “Wait a minute, why am I walking?! I have magic and I can fly!”

With that, his small wings flapped and he lifted up, flying toward Ponyville at a brisk speed. He whistled and hummed, shifting into different positions as he went along. Whistling cheerfully, Discord fiddled with his bow, made a few practice shots on some trees, and laughed.

“And I’m still a better flyer than Twilight with these tiny wings!” Discord giggled.

In no time at all, at least that’s how it felt, he arrived at the castle. Although he’d seen it (and been inside!) many a time now, it was still an amazing spectacle. Despite his snarky criticisms on its structure and how much it stuck out in Ponyville, he couldn’t help appreciating it. It was, as Celestia put it, like a symbol of how far Twilight had come in her journey. Although not said out loud, Discord couldn’t agree more.

Smoothing out his suit, he approached the front door, then paused. Something was a little off. Reaching down, he tested the door, finding it unlocked.

As odd as that was, Discord shrugged and went inside anyway. After all, Ponyville had always been a relatively safe place so leaving a door unlocked during the day could be understandable. Even if this was a castle. Still, he figured he could turn this into a training ‘mission’ to test his skills as a true Cupid. After all, love had to strike like Chaos: without warning and vanish so it can sink in and really consume them.

He, paused again as he closed the door, thinking to himself, ‘Huh, that was kind of a dark thought,’ but quickly dismissed it. It was time to hunt on the Princess of Friendship while avoiding her manservant- dragon, Spike. Oh, sure, he could have just looked for him, but this would be more fun! As he wandered the grand hallways, glancing all over, he tapped his chin. ‘If I were Twilight, where would I be? Oh, wait. What am I saying? It’s Twilight! She’d be in the library!’ 

With that, he crouched to the floor, conjuring up a large cardboard box. Concealed within it, he peered through the slit and slowly dragged across the floor. Quietly as possible, of course. He may not have been ninja-like, but he could still be stealthy!

Eventually after what felt like an hour of wandering around, Discord found the library within the castle. It was actually more challenge than he had originally thought, but at least he was in phase one. He scanned around the impossibly large room- it must have been twice the size of Ponyville Library, Golden Oak- he spotted his target: Twilight. However, he noticed she was not alone.

Pinkie Pie seemed to be here as well! What luck, two birds with one stone. Or arrow in this case. As Discord crept around to a vacant corner of the room to watch the two, waiting for the perfect moment to strike like the hunter slash giver of Love he was.

Right about then, he was able to pick up on their conversation a lot more clearly.

“Sooo, I’m thinking we should alphabetize them!” Pinkie chirped, pointing to a book she was holding in her hand, “By author, of course! At least it makes finding their stuff much easier! Not that going by publication date isn’t… interesting,Twi-Twi, but this works a lot better! That’s how I sort my recipe books!”

Judging by Twilight’s expression, she a bit apprehensive to the idea, “Does make sense, I guess, Pinkie… but I normally don’t read by author. Usually, I read by genre; but I do think at least keep books of a series together would be a good idea.”

“Sooo, basically… sort by genre first, and then alphabetize by title after that?” Pinkie guessed.

“Yes, that way I don’t have fiction with the non-fiction or horror with the biography,” Twilight nodded, but quickly added to this, “But, Pinkie, you don’t have to do that. I’m fine with how Spike had it arranged, even if it was a bit messy.”

“Don’t be silly, Twi-Twi! I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to!” Pinkie winked at her, patting her back, “So, c’mon! Let’s get to it! It’ll be faster with the two of us doing it!”

“Pinkie…” Twilight sighed, taking a breath to calm herself as she tried to make herself smile, “All right, I guess we can do that for a while, but I have to get back to work soon.”

“No problem! We’ll do as much as we can!” Pinkie looked absolutely gleeful and clapped her hands.

Discord couldn’t help wondering if she was that excited to sort books, or if it was because she wanted to spend time with Twilight. But with Pinkie, the obvious answer never had a way of being clear if it was right or wrong. In this case, it may have been right.

The library doors opened, this time with Spike running in.

“Hey, uh, Twilight? I think there’s something up with the Cutie Map!” he said, pointing behind him, “You mind coming to look at it?”

“Huh?” Pinkie looked at her rear, despite her cutie mark being hidden by her skirt, “But, we’re not getting booty calls, Spike!”

“Pinkie… I’ll tell you why that choice of words is weird later,” Twilight told her friend with a wayward smile before growing more serious, “But if it’s not a typical summon, it could mean something else entirely. I need to see if I unravel this,” She patted her friend on the shoulder, “Would you mind waiting here for a moment? I’ll be back, I promise.”

Pinkie nodded, giving her a thumbs up, “You got it, Twilight! I’ll be right here! Hurry back!”

With a nod, Twilight followed Spike out of the library with haste, curious to see what could be happening with the Cutie Map. All the while, Pinkie watched them go. But the moment they were gone, it was as if Pinkie deflated. Her countenance became disappointed, while her eyes filled with sadness. She sighed, sitting at the table and staring down at the book she’d been holding all this time.

Discord was astonished. He had never seen Pinkie in such a soured mood, aside from when he had manipulated her personality. But this wasn’t like that. Discorded Pinkie Pie was angry and lashed out continuously, completely devoid of joy. Here, she was simply disappointed, even a little sad. Seeing such a bouncy, bubbly and outgoing pony like herself be so down was honestly a bit heartbreaking.

It did not take long for Discord to start seeing a connection between Pinkie’s mood and the absence of the Princess. He drew two possible conclusions: one being that she really wanted to organize those books and had some sort of OCD or the more likely cause being that she wanted to spend time with Twilight as well. On some level, that made sense, but why?

It was then he considered her behavior and relationship with her friend. Was it possible? Why, yes, he thought so. Discord grinned to himself from inside the cardboard box as he slithered out like a snake. She had a thing for the Princess of Friendship! And he could certainly be of assistance with his handy-dandy bow and love arrows! A good shoot in the rump and Pinkie would be be right as rain again, maybe even better. After all, when he helped his friend Fluttershy, the results were super positive. So, why not help another?

Pinkie was in a good spot. A perfect target. All he had to do was make the shot. Discord prepared his bow, then the arrow, aiming it at her. Since she was in a chair, he had to go for a different angle. This time, at her side, right near her hip. With the shot lined up, he fired the arrow.

Only for Pinkie to effortlessly catch it with one hand, not even looking as it came at her. She looked at the arrow in puzzlement, before looking right at him. She grinned widely, waving at him.

“Oh, hi, Discord! I didn’t know you were there! What’s up? You’re taking up archery, now?” She asked.

Discord stared at her in bewilderment, blinking a few times even as he tried to wipe his eyes, “Okay, holy cow. How did you do that? What kind of ninja training are you ponies doing these days?!”

Pinkie shrugged, looking at the arrow for a moment, then back at him, “My Pinkie Sense just has its ways, really!”

“Oh, right. You have those Spider-Pony cameo powers,” Discord huffed out for a moment before walking over, “Never mind that! I spent all of ten minutes practicing shooting this morning so I could be the best Cupid ever and now you’re telling me that it was all for nothing? I knew I should have upgraded to the love grenade launcher...”

“Oooh! Love grenade launcher?!” Pinkie hopped out of her seat, going over to him, “That sounds weird! But cool! So what’s this about you becoming the next Cupid? Tell me! Details!”

Discord grinned, slinging the bow over his shoulder as he spoke once more, “Oh, there’s not much to tell. I just found out I was greatest matchmaker in the history of Equestria and decided to spread my gift with the rest of this small town. I even plan on accepting the official title of Cupid later from Princess Cadance herself. No biggie.”

“Wow! That’s so awesometastic of you, Discord!” Pinkie grinned widely, “That’ll definitely help drum up my partying business, too! For all the new couples that come about, I’ll be able to throw them parties! You keep doing what you’re doing! I bet you’ll be the bestiest Cupid EVER!”

With a smirk, Discord began to boast a little to inflate his ego a bit more, “Yeah, I know! But that’s why I’m here in the first place! See, I was going to ask Twilight- you know, since she lives here in Ponyville and knows most of the folks in town- if there was anyone having love-life troubles I could help out. Since she’s busy, I guess I can ask you then!”

“Ohhh, you’re in luck, Discord! There’s tons of ponies with love troubles!” Pinkie whistled, “I know for sure that even my buddies need it! Applejackie, Rare-bear… but oh! Oh! I know who needs it the most! That’d be Dashie!”

Discord smiled a bit to that, chuckling, “Yeah… about that-”

“I mean, wow! Poor Dashie needs a serious boostie!” Pinkie went on, twirling the arrow in her hand, “She’s so completely and utterly in love with Flutter-butter and needs to make a move! Oh man, I see the way Dashie looks at her! Talk about being in too deep!”

Discord nodded, sweat dropping a little, “I don’t doubt it, but the thing is-”

“She seriously needs to mare up!” Pinkie rambled, tapping the tip of the arrow against her hand, “I know for a fact that Flutter-butter likes her, too! Someone needs to seriously lock them into a room together and not let them out until they kiss! Ooooh! That’d be so cool to see! Even if it’s impossible to do without it looking weird, but still cool! I think-ow!” She ended up pricking herself on the hand with the arrow.

Discord reeled back a bit in shock as his mouth made an ‘O’ shape, “Ouch. You okay?”

“I think so! I’m not bleeding, am I?” Pinkie inspected her hand, seeing that there was no puncture or blood, “Okay, I’m good! I just need to… to… to…” She stumbled forward, swaying slightly, “Whoa, I… feel so… tired all of a… I need a nap…”

With that, she lowered herself down to the floor, and rolled onto her back. Within a second or two, she was out like a light. The soft, even breathing coming from her was an indication of her now being asleep.

“... Since when can love arrows do that?” Discord blinked a few times, pulling of the arrows out of his quiver to expect it, “This may require more experimentation! I mean, magic is always kinda hard to tell with its behavior. Wait a minute…” He paused for a moment, thinking over what had just happened. Then, he panicked, “Oh, crap!!! I just K.O.’d one of Twilight’s friends! It took me forever and a fake sick day to get on her good side! This could mess up whatever friendship we had!”

All kinds of emotions ran through Discord at this moment, some of which he wasn’t sure he could face. Although Pinkie was merely sleeping and would likely wake up feeling fine, it was still a bleak situation. He had to get out of there, he had to do something before Twilight’s return.

“Sorry, Pinkie! Wake up soon! Gotta run now, bye!” Discord said hastily, then snapped himself out of the room.

Not a moment too soon, either. For just about a minute or two after, the library doors opened up with Spike and Twilight coming back in.

“Pinkie, you won’t believe what was happened with the map! It turns out that-” Twilight stopped in the middle of her sentence as she saw her friend lying on the floor now. She seemed to quickly switch between excitement to fear for her friend, “Pinkie… Pinkie?!”

“Sweet Celestia! What happened to her?!” Spike rushed over to Pinkie’s side, checking her pulse, “Okay, she’s fine… She’s just...sleeping? Wait, since when does Pinkie take naps in random places? We weren’t even gone that long!”

Twilight on the other hand ignored Spike’s words and rushed over to Pinkie’s side, “Oh Celestia, she must have passed out! Something… something must have happened! Quick, help me get her into the guest room!”

“Okay, I’ll get her legs!” Spike said, taking hold of Pinkie’s legs under the knees.

“No!” Twilight slapped Spike’s hands away, pointing out her clothes, “She’s wearing a skirt! It wouldn’t be right for you to carry her there, I’ll take her legs and you can get her by the shoulders.”

Spike, however, just gave her a flat look, “Really, Twilight? You seriously think I’d do that? I’m a little more worried about Pinkie than I am about what she’s wearing!”

“That’s beside the point, it’s just not right,” Twilight argued for a moment, “It’s about decency.”

“Like I said, I’m a bit more concerned about Pinkie’s well being than I am about decency,” Spike countered, “I’m not going to look up her skirt and I didn’t even plan to! Now just pick up her shoulders and help me carry her!”

Twilight almost rolled her eyes, but was more worried about her friend than she was about keeping her code of honor, “Okay, fine! Let’s get her off the floor.”

They did so, with Spike still being a gentledragon and not even looking near her skirt. Once Pinkie was safely lifted off the floor, they hurriedly but carefully carried her off. It took a little while, especially with making sure their holds were secure, but they eventually made it to the quarters hallway.

In one of the guest rooms, they placed Pinkie onto the bed and made sure she was secured. Spike once again checked her pulse, seeing that she was just fine.

“I don’t understand,” Spike frowned, “Pinkie isn’t one to just fall asleep out of nowhere.”

“I-I don’t know,” Twilight bit her lip, taking Spike by the shoulder, “The map is going to have to wait. We need to take care of Pinkie right now. Would you head to the kitchen and fetch some ice? She feels way too warm right now. M-Maybe get the medical kit for the bathroom as well.”

Spike nodded, hurrying out of the room to fetch the remedies. Twilight took a chair, sitting by Pinkie’s bedside, feeling worried. What had happened? As strange and random as Pinkie was, this wasn’t like her at all. Twilight didn’t even recall seeing a spell book or any kind of item that would induce sleep around where Pinkie was in the library. All these questions were unsettling, making the situation a lot worse. Whatever happened, she hoped Pinkie would have some answers.

That is, if she remembered what happened.

Reaching over, Twilight held Pinkie’s hand and gently squeezed, “Don’t worry, Pinkie. I’ll make sure you’re safe and taken care of. I just want you to wake up soon...okay?”

Pinkie didn’t respond, but at least the soft rise and fall of her chest indicated she was still breathing. It was still concerning to Twilight with the situation, with how her friend seemed just fine moments ago and the next… she was unconscious. The entire situation was worrisome to Twilight and made her tremble a bit. She tightened her grip on her friend’s hand, hoping that everything would be okay. 

Moments later, Spike entered with the requested items. Upon seeing them like that, he hesitated. So he placed the items onto the bed, giving a small pat to Twilight, and then left the room. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt more right to give them some time alone.
> Just Another Day...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville Park was modestly crowded, given that it was a very nice, breezy day. It was no wonder many children were out flying kites and took advantage of the great winds. But it was the usual activity, along with the typical picnics or just hanging around on the grass. 

On one particular bench, however, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat together, cuddled up. The location wasn’t particularly high traffic, but they occasionally had a passerby. Sometimes they were met with surprised looks, which they ignored. Especially Fluttershy, as she barely paid them any mind. No, her attention was completely on Rainbow.

To be honest, Rainbow Dash could barely remember why they came to the park in the first place at this point. The last twenty four hours- and counting- were just one thing after another with Fluttershy and really, she couldn’t have been more pleased. Taken aback, sure, but also very pleased. It was just such a sight to see her in such high spirits and even more so when just about any time physical contact came up could and usually would end with kissing, making out, and occasional groping. What was not to love about this situation?

They were just at one of the park’s many benches, sitting side by side, watching as birds sang, the clouds moved, and cuddling for no real reason outside of wanting to stay in continuous contact with one another. Rainbow heard this was called the ‘honeymoon phase’ new couples would go through, getting caught up with the relationship and being overly attached for a time. But even if that was the case, she was pretty sure she was fine with this lasting for as long as she could milk it- I mean, as long as Fluttershy wanted.

Fluttershy nuzzled her hair, kissing the top of her head, “Is something on your mind, Rainbow? You’ve been awfully quiet. Anything you’d like to share with me?” She held Rainbow closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Come on, you already know what on my mind right now,” Rainbow Dash told her with a smile, “Namely this cute, pink haired pegasus who so happens to be the kindest  pony around. Used to be kind of more timid than this, but now we’re sitting in a park together talking about nothing at all; and loving every moment of it… maybe you know her?”

Fluttershy laughed, stroking her hair affectionately, “Oh Rainbow, you’re so cheeky! But you know I love that about you. Of course I know her, because that’s me, silly.”

“Is that so?” Rainbow snickered a bit to that, stealing a quick kiss fro Fluttershy, “Coulda fooled me on that one.”

“Oh, is that so?” Fluttershy leaned closer to her, giving her a teasing smirk.

“Nah, I’m kidding,” Rainbow replied with a grin, “I’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to pick up the signals you’ve been giving off since this morning.”

Fluttershy giggled and kissed her cheek, “How can I help it? I don’t have to hold back anymore. I can finally show how much I love you~”

With a blush, Rainbow laughed it off as she gingerly pushed Fluttershy back down to a sitting position so she could bring an arm over her shoulder, “Aw, come on, ‘Shy! You don’t gotta be so sappy all the time. I know you’re all for this and so am I, but we can play it cool.”

“Play it cool?” Fluttershy pouted slightly, “And what do you mean by that?”

“No, not like that,” Rainbow sweat dropped a little, giving her a nervous smile, “What I mean is, well, I’m still new to this, so if I end up tripping over anything, I don’t wanna drag you back or nothing- as odd as that sounds. I figured we’d take it slow, y’know? Kinda just what I always figured dating would be like.”

“Well of course we’re going slow, but…” Fluttershy snuggled her again, “We still have needs, Dashie. And I seem to remember you pouncing on me and making out with me yesterday, and this morning~”

Again, Rainbow blushed to that, “Yeah, I know, I know! I just don’t wanna jump the shark either. I’d rather us just go on a few dates, make out whenever the notion hits us, and sweet talk one another before we- you know, start rolling in the hay, if you catch my meaning. But as things are, yeah, I like this pace we’re going at!”

Now Fluttershy laughed, bringing her arms around her more and nuzzling her hair, “Oooh, so you’ve been thinking about making love~?”

“Uh, kinda?” Rainbow blinked a few times, trembling a little, “I mean, I won’t lie. I’ve thought about it before. I, uh… I’ve thought about it in sometimes in my room. Alone. At night. But that’s not the point.”

This made Fluttershy grin, but she instead just nuzzled her, “Me too… But I think you’re right too, we are going at a good pace. Besides, I’d like for us to go on more dates! I’m sure we’ll find plenty of nice things to do.”

To that, Rainbow relaxed a little, “Yeah, I know! I got this one place in mind we could go later this week. It’s a little place that opened in the middle of Ponyville last week, the Black Cat Cafe. It looks real low key and kinda cool. I thought we could go check it out and, if ya want, we can turn it into a date.”

“Ooh, that does sound nice,” Fluttershy smiled, kissing her cheek, “We’ll definitely have to go there!”

“But I gotta ask something,” Rainbow smiled back at her, “Why did we come to the park today? I totally blanked out on this. But why we did, I don’t mind.”

“We came out here because you wanted to go for a walk, or a flight,” Fluttershy explained, “Why we came to the park, that was my idea. I figured it was a nice place for us to come and enjoy the outside a bit.”

Rainbow chuckled a bit, “Then how did we get on the bench here cuddling?”

“Does it matter?” Fluttershy poked her nose.

“Eh, I guess not,” Rainbow shrugged a bit, grinning, “But still, it’s nice to know how we ended up here.”

“It is,” Fluttershy pulled her closer, this time onto her lap, “But what in the world made you forget? All we did was have breakfast, make out a little, and then we decided to get some air!”

“I guess you just take my mind off everything,” Rainbow snickered at her.

Giggling, Fluttershy looked about at the park for a few moments, then turned her attention back to Rainbow. She stroked her hair out of her face, looking into her eyes, “I think you do the same for me.”

“Good to know,” Rainbow smirked at bit, reaching over to cup Fluttershy’s face in her hands, “But I gotta admit, I do kinda wish we stayed home if we were gonna get sweet like this.”

A little blush dusted Fluttershy’s cheeks as she placed one of her hands over Rainbow’s, “That’s true… I suppose I thought if we were out here, we could control ourselves a little more. But I have to say I’m thinking the same thing.”

“So, what do you say we go back to my place and pop in a DVD, plop down on my couch covered in a thin blanket, and cuddle up for the evening?” Rainbow snickered with a grin.

“It’s the middle of the day,” Fluttershy reminded her, giggling. Nonetheless, she smiled and then stood up, gently placing Rainbow down onto the ground, “But yes, let’s do that!”

“Hey, even if it’s the middle of the day, we can just relax for the rest of the day, order Chinese, and just chill. I mean, you are suppose to be relaxing and with me watching you, remember?” Rainbow laughed back at her.

Fluttershy ruffled her hair and then took her hand, “Then let’s get going, shall we? It’ll be nice to get back to cuddling up in the couch with you~”

“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow grinned, shooting up from the bench and straight into the air. She was just about pull her along towards her house, but before they could get going, they noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were running about in the park looking for someone. In fact, it seemed like they were looking for Fluttershy in fact.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” called Apple Bloom.

“Do you think she might be here?” Sweetie Belle asked as she trailed behind her.

“Come on, if she’s not home or at Rainbow’s then she’s gotta be around here or in town,” Scootaloo explained.

Fluttershy caught wind of their conversation and giggled with amusement. She then let go of Rainbow’s hand and floated down to the ground. Giving a smile to the fillies, she approached them, “Hi there, girls! I was nearby and I heard you looking for me. Is everything all right?”

The three fillies jumped with glee as they found Fluttershy. Apple Bloom was the first to speak up aside from the shouts of hello, “Everything’s fine, ‘Shy! But mah sister has been workin’ pretty hard taday fer some reason. She wanted us ta make sure you don’t have an order placed fer any apples or nothing, do ya?”

As Rainbow came down beside Fluttershy, that was when Scootaloo ran up to her with a grin, “Hey, Rainbow! Are you hanging out with Fluttershy today?”

“You bet!” Rainbow grinned, ruffling her hair, “We were just out for a flight.”

“Um, I did ask for a bushel of apples, but I don’t need it right away! Whenever she can get them to me is fine,” Fluttershy assured with a smile.

While Scootaloo gushed over Rainbow Dash and continued to ask more questions about her day, Apple Bloom nodded in agreement to Fluttershy’s statement, “Alwright then! Ah’ll tell her you ain’t worried about it yet an’ let her know ta take it easy for now. Seriously, she needs ta slow down.”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, “Oh yes, she does. I don’t understand sometimes. I know she has a strong work ethic, but how can she put in that ethic if she doesn’t relax?”

“No, Ah mean she’s workin’ harder than usual today,” Apple Bloom tried to explain, scratching the back of her head, “She was sayin’ somethin’ was wrong with the barn this mornin’, but Ah didn’t see nothin’ wrong with it. She dropped it after a few minutes then started working double time.”

“Oh, dear… I hope everything’s okay,” Fluttershy said worriedly.

Apple Bloom smiled a little, “Ah think she’ll be fine. Now we just need ta get back tell mah sister to chill.”

“All right then, you girls take care,” Fluttershy smiled again, “And give Applejack my regards, okay?”

“Sure will!” Apple Bloom nodded, having to grab Scootaloo and pull her away, “Come on, girls! Let’s get back to the farm!”

“All right! Let’s go!” Sweetie Belle agreed, following after them, “Bye Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy!”

“Y’know, Rainbow Dash has been spending a lot of time with Fluttershy,” Scootaloo noted. She looked back at her honorary sister, seeing the two of them waving at them before taking off into the sky, “But I guess that might be just me.”

“My sister said it’s because they really want to date one another, but both of them are too nervous to make the first move,” Sweetie Belle giggled, following after them, “So maybe they finally did it?”

“Wow, seriously?” Scootaloo blinked, “I mean, I know Rainbow Dash is closer to Fluttershy, but whoa! I had no idea they were… well, ya know!”

“Rarity said they’re just good at hiding it,” Sweetie Belle said with a grin, “But I always felt like those two were more than friends.”

“Come on, you two!” Apple Bloom grabbed both of them by their hands and pulled them along behind her, “Ah wanna get mah sister to calm down now.”

“She’s not losing sleep again, is she?” Sweetie Belle asked with concern, “Oh man, I think Rarity’s going to freak when she hears about all this!”

Apple Bloom shook her head, “No! She’s just been acting like this since this mornin’.”

“Hope she’s okay, though,” Scootaloo remarked.

Apple Bloom rolled eyes at that, smiling, “She’s mah sister, it’ll take more than a little work to mess up her day!”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances, figuring to just take Apple Bloom’s word for it.

Before long, the young trio made it to Sweet Apple Acres. Upon arrival, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Everything was in its place, the pigs were happily rolling in the mud, the tractor was still parked, and all the trees were still standing. Of course, it did still beg the question of Applejack’s whereabouts and what she was up to.

“Well, great! She could be anywhere,” Scootaloo remarked.

Looking around for a moment, Apple Bloom looked toward the apple orchard. Sure enough, her sister was there kicking trees to get the apples to fall, then picked them up. She sighed, patting Scootaloo on the back, “Or she could be where she always is.”

“There’s a set place?” Scootaloo looked at her oddly, “I thought she had to be everywhere to get apples!”

“Yeah, but she’s usually always in the orchard at least most of the time,” Apple Bloom said, pulling her two friends along with her.

“Like I said, everywhere. It’s a huge orchard,” Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“At least we found her!” Sweetie Belle chimed in, “She’s just bucking apples, so I guess she has to be okay.”

Sure enough, the three made their way over to the hard working Applejack who seemed to working twice as hard as usual. She seemed to have done two days worth of work already was still going. It was only once the Cutie Mark Crusaders were there almost right in front of her.

“Oh, y’all are back,” Applejack greeted them with a nod, “Did ya happen ta see Fluttershy and check on her order?”

“We did!” Sweetie Belle replied, “She said not to worry about it! You can give it to her whenever you’re ready!”

“She busy today?” Applejack said with a smile, “Ah think I gotta make a few deliveries in town and Ah was thinkin’ about doin’ that now while it’s on mah mind.” 

Apple Bloom shrugged, looking over to Scootaloo for answers.

“We don’t know! She was with Rainbow Dash, but that’s all we know!” Scootaloo said with a shrug.

“I think they might have been on a date,” Sweetie Belle giggled, hiding a smile behind a hand.

Applejack smirked a little at that, “Ah guess Ah’ll just swing by her place some time tomorrow if she’s home. Speakin’ of, is yer sister expecting an order from me?”

Now Sweetie Belle laughed more, nodding, “Oh, yeah! She wants you to bring her one of your, as she puts it, scrumptious apple pies!”

Applejack rolled her eyes with a haughty chuckle, “Ah think that’s doable. Apple Bloom, you okay if Ah take her some of the pie we had last night?”

“Go for it!” Apple Bloom giggled, sharing a wink with Sweetie Belle, “Ah’m sure she’d love it!”

“All right, Ah might as well get on with it,” Applejack said as she fixed her hat a bit, “Now, Apple Bloom, tell Big Mac Ah’ll be back in about an hour, so don’t go letting him slack off! You and yer friends are welcomed ta help out around here too, but only with someone watching after ya.”

“You got it!” Apple Bloom said agreeably.

“Lemme guess. Cutie Mark Crusader farmers,” Scootaloo said dryly, rolling her eyes.

“No, we already tried that,” Apple Bloom said quite seriously, “But we could just help out for the day because Big Mac could need some help.”

“Then let’s get to it!” Sweetie Belle chirped, “We’ll go find him and help him out!”

“Last one to find him is a bad apple!” Scootaloo grinned, cheering up considerably as she broke into a run toward the orchard, her tiny wings buzzing rapidly.

As the three fillies ran off to look for the eldest offspring of the Apple family, Applejack finally gave herself a moment to breathe. She had been running herself ragged since the run in with Discord and she was fully aware of it. Why did what he said bother her so much? It was almost like his words actually held sort of truth to them. But that was nonsense, she didn’t have any romantic interest in anyone, not even so much as crush.

Right?

Either way, Applejack had felt like she was just making an excuse to go see Rarity. In fact, she wasn’t even sure why she wanted to see her in the first place. It just seemed to be the first thing that came to her mind since speaking with Discord. And the only thing on her mind for that matter. That was why she was working twice as hard as usual, to distract herself. But it looked as though she finally caved in and admitted defeat.

And more importantly, why was she sweating so much even after she had stopped working? Truth be told, Applejack hadn’t done much of anything in the past ten or so minutes she started to… well, daydream. And she was not the type to do that. Maybe it was a good idea after all to go talk to Rarity. After all, she seemed to have a nose for this kind of thing.

Once she’d caught her breath, Applejack headed into the house. Strangely enough, she hadn’t recalled that Rarity wanted some pie. But she chalked it up as simply being distracted. At least now, she could make good on her friend’s request. Then once her mind was cleared, she would be able to get Fluttershy the bushel of apples. She chuckled at the idea, wondering just how much she she would be able to tease Rainbow about all this.

Once she came into the house, she beelined to the kitchen and checked the fridge. Sure enough, the pie was on the top shelf, already cut into a few slices. Taking two of them, she put them onto a plate and wrapped them in cellophane. Now all she had to do was take them to Rarity.

“Hope she won’t mind if Ah drop in…” Applejack mused.

> Discord's At It Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh, curses! I didn’t check Pirate Cove for a while! Where is it, where-AH! He’s already out?! I thought for sure that didn’t happen so fast!”

Rarity tensed ever slightly, hunched over a little bit in her computer chair as she moved the mouse across the screen. It never failed to get to her, even in the middle of the day with the sun still out. She breathed heavily, keeping her focus on the game and feeling the tinges of fear and stress. But it was moments like this that she felt glad for getting her tasks for the day done relatively early.

“Ah! Go away!” Rarity shouted as she guided the mouse to shut down a door.

More than just finishing her task early, she had decided to close her shop for the afternoon due to the overworked lately. Rarity had finished up a massive order from Canterlot and now, it was her time to unwind. And what better way than to scare herself silly?

To be fair though, Rarity did happen to be a bit of fear junky. It was a great way to forget about the stress of her everyday life… by stressing her with a fictional setting and jumpscares. Maybe it made little sense, but this was her little guilty pleasure. Horror was just so much fun to dive into. At least from a safe place with no real repercussions for failing. It was just fun for her. 

Since Rarity was so caught up in her game, she didn’t even notice the front door opening. Was someone calling her name? She shrugged, paying it no mind. Maybe Sweetie Belle had come by after school. If that were the case, she would be coming up the stairs and knocking on her door. 

Nothing came. Must have been her imagination.

“Don’t you laugh at me, Freddy!” Rarity scolded at the computer monitor, “I will make it to dawn! Just you mark my words!”

Meanwhile, downstairs, Applejack had entered the boutique. But with no one in sight, she could only deduce that Rarity was upstairs. After all, why else would she leave the door unlocked? Either way, she could only guess that her friend finished work early. 

Shrugging a bit, Applejack went to the kitchen, putting the plate down onto the table. She looked around the room yet again, feeling oddly out of place for some reason. Besides the strange situation of the boutique being empty when usually Rarity was always busy at this time of the day, Applejack felt like something was missing. A weird emptiness she normally didn’t feel and stranger still, it had nothing to do with the situation. It was more of a… personal emptiness.

Yes, Rarity had to have been upstairs.

For whatever reason, Applejack didn’t feel right about just leaving Rarity a note by the plate. Not just because she had no reason not to go say hello. But she felt so compelled to see her. Even to just say hello and ask about her day. Then again, with how much Rarity had been on her mind today, that had to be the reason.

Leaving the kitchen, Applejack headed up the stairs, figuring a way to get Rarity’s attention. If she was still working on something, she didn’t want to sneak up and surprise her. How to do that? Call her name? Knock on her bedroom door? Maybe both? Shrugging her shoulders, Applejack made it to the top of the stairs, and went down the hall. Sure enough, her bedroom door was slightly ajar.

Applejack took a peek inside of the room. She noticed that Rarity was in fact there, sitting at her computer desk. It was odd to see her not working, let alone doing something not related to work with her usual habits. But there she was, seeming to play a game of some kind on her computer.

“You vile animatronic! No! No! You stay in there!” Rarity hissed at her computer, “I will not have you escaping! Stay in there! Ah! I see you, Chica! No!”

Applejack watched her in silence for a moment, stifling a chuckle as she watched her friend, ‘So is that what she during her free time? That’s… kinda cute actually. Ah wonder if this is normal for her?’ She stepped into the room very silently as she tried to sneak up behind Rarity to see just what she was doing. Rarity was obviously playing a game, but she was curious to know what it was.

“AIE!” Rarity cried out in surprise, nearly pushing her chair back. She held a hand to her chest, panting and breathing heavily, “Oh… oh my word, he got me! Why must it always get to me! Curse you, Foxy!”

Applejack tried not to laugh, almost slipping up in as she did. For whatever reason, she had a another strange impulse or was it a desire? It made perfect sense for that single, perfect moment and by then, it was too late. Applejack snuck up behind Rarity and just had to do something. She ended up grabbing her friend under her arms at her waist, dangerously close to her breasts and finally spoke.

“Hey, Sug,” Applejack snickered.

“AH!” Rarity exclaimed, wide-eyed and craning her head back to look up at her, “Applejack! Goodness, I didn’t even hear you come in!”

“Ya weren’t suppose ta~” Applejack giggled at her friend’s words, lightly toying with Rarity’s blouse, “Ain’t ya ever heard of being sneaky?”

“I certainly have, but you are lucky I didn’t freak out all the more!” Rarity chided half-heartedly, her cheeks turning bright pink.

Applejack smirked at her, nipping at one of Rarity’s ears playfully, “Ah didn’t scare ya enough? Well, Ah guess Ah gotta try harder~” She raised her hand just a bit to cup the lower part of friend’s breasts. She had no idea why, but she was having a lot of fun. And even more shocking was strange mixed feelings of emptiness and fulfillment at the same time now. At least her stress from earlier was finally gone. Now, she just wanted to see Rarity’s reactions.

Rarity’s eyes went wide as she looked down now, trembling slightly from Applejack’s deliberate groping. She let out a little gasp, then looked up at her again, “D-Darling, not that this doesn’t feel good, but… may I ask what you’re doing?”

“Ah was tryin’ ta scare ya,” Applejack grinned down at her, pulling Rarity away from her desk still keeping her in the chair. She groped her one good time as she snickered, “Ah guess Ah ain’t that scary though. But at least Ah got ya red in the face.”

“What in the world has gotten into you?” Rarity asked, blushing a little more. She shuddered slightly, “You’ve never touched me like that before… much less the other girls.”

Applejack nibbled on Rarity’s ear, laughing into it as she did. She gave her breasts another squeeze, a bit more roughly, “Whatcha talking ‘bout, Rares? Ah ain’t touchin’ ya. All Ah’m doing is giving ya big ol’ hug. Ain’t that right~?”

Rarity let out a little whimper of pleasure, her hands now gripping the arms of her chair a little tightly, “You’re touching my chest and nibbling my ear, darling…”

“No Ah ain’t,” Applejack grinned, moving down to her neck as her hands did the same until she was at Rarity’s hips, “It’s just a simple friendly hug between two good pals. Ah mean, Ah did bring ya that pie ya wanted.”

“Pie? I… oh! Right, of course…” Rarity blushed all the more, squirming a bit in her chair, “If you call this a hug… I wonder what you call other forms of physical affection…”

Applejack gave her a somewhat of a hickey like kiss on her neck, “Oh, wouldn’t you like ta know~” She pulled back before before kneeling down  a bit more to bring Rarity into a slightly more realistic hug if not for her constant motion of her hands wandering over Rarity’s body and nipping at the back her neck, “But you ain’t gonna ever know with that attitude. Well, unless you ask real nice.”

Rarity trembled against her, managing to move her arms to her shoulders. She liked this, she enjoyed the attention from Applejack, however expected it was. Despite that, many a question rang through her mind about it all. She tilted her head back, moaning softly in response to her friend’s ministrations, “I-I certainly would like to know, dear. This is all very unexpected!”

Pulling back from the embrace, Applejack spun Rarity’s chair around to face her as she grinned down at her. Then, decided to really scare her friend this time by straddling Rarity’s lap now and resting her wrists on her shoulders, “Is it? Ah don’t think it’s so unexpected when ya consider how things are. And ya ain’t complainin’, are ya, Sug?”

“No, no! Heavens no!” Rarity shook her head. She looked up at her friend with wide eyes, her cheeks flushed. Her heart raced, her entire body was warm, and she felt a familiar tingle between her legs. “As I said, this is unexpected, but certainly not in a bad way!”

Making a tsk noise, Applejack pulled back enough to poke Rarity in the nose, “That so? Well, how can Ah make this as bad as possible for ya?”

“Erm, darling, let’s not go there,” Rarity shook her head.

“And why not?” Applejack grinned at her, “We’re halfway there already… darlin’.”

“Goodness, you’re rather… forward and affectionate today!” Rarity murmured, looking up at her with wide eyes, “I hadn’t known you felt this way…”

“What you talking ‘bout, Rares? Ah ain’t no different from how Ah usually am,” Applejack chuckled at her, playing in Rarity’s hair as she did so, “Maybe ya just never noticed~ Ya are a bit of workaholic like me. Guess that’s why Ah was so shocked ta see ya not workin’. Still, it’s better than the other option.”

Rarity blushed all the more, beginning to see if that was the case. She brought her hands to Applejack’s shoulders once again, gently squeezing, “I’m sorry, dear. I suppose I truly was caught up in my work. But, as you can see, I am finished for the day! If you would like to… well, spend time together, I don’t see why not…”

Applejack snickered a bit, getting off her friend and pulling her chair away from the desk and over to the bed. From their, she took a seat on the edge of the bed itself, making sure they were facing one another, “Ah can think of a things we can do, but Ah’ll be honest, you ain’t ready fer none of them~ So, how about we plan one fer later? Ah did always wanna know what yer fascination with the spa was…”

Rarity blinked. But she managed to gather her bearings a little bit, “Erm, well, I could fill an entire book with how amazing going to a spa is! Is that what you’re saying, then? You’d like to go with me to the spa?”

“No, Ah’m sayin’ Ah want an excuse to get you naked,” Applejack grinned before laughing it off, “Sure, that’s what Ah’m sayin’, take me to the spa with ya. We’ll even share a mud bath if’en ya feel so inclined~”

Eyes going wide, Rarity squirmed a little in her seat, “Well, all right, then we can do that. Perhaps… tomorrow? I don’t have anything on my immediate schedule.”

“Sounds like a date; Ah’m good for that,” Applejack reached over to toy with Rarity’s hair once more, “Maybe Ah’ll even let ya do mah hair if ya behave well enough.”

“Behave?” Rarity repeated, raising an eyebrow, “Whatever do you mean by that?”

Applejack patted Rarity in the cheek with a smile, “Don’t go ruining mah fun with questions like that. Just go along with it for now.”

Rarity was still puzzled, but let it slide for the time being. She nodded a bit, leaning back, “Well, all right, then. So, did you want to meet at the spa?”

“If we don’t you might be leaving home for a while,” Applejack teased, letting her hand glide down Rarity’s neck and to her collarbone, “And Ah wouldn’t want ya ta have go all the way out to mah home just for little ol’ me.”

“Darling, I don’t mind,” Rarity stated, watching her hand’s movements intently, “Exercise is a good thing.”

“But Ah don’t wanna have ya get all dirty just fer me,” Applejack snickered, “We’ll meet at the spa, it’ll work better for the both of us.”

Rarity nodded, relaxing a little bit now. She exhaled, trying to wrack her mind around what had happened, “Very well, then! We’ll meet tomorrow at the spa. Does one o’clock sound good?”

“Ah can make that,” Applejack nodded in agreement.

“All right… Then I hope that your first experience at the spa will be lovely!” Rarity smiled now, “It will be nice for you to finally get a little pampering.”

“If ya say so,” Applejack snickered once more, “But Ah expect to be enjoying something else while we’re there.”

“What would that be?” Rarity queried.

With a grin, Applejack said, “Ah never said I was joking ‘bout looking for an excuse ta get ya naked~”

Rarity’s eyes went wide as her cheeks turned bright red, “I… I… oooh my! You-You were truly serious?!”

“Maybe I was,” Applejack leaned closer to her friend’s face, “But I’ll let you decide if was was or not.”

“Applejack! Honestly! Can’t you be straight with me?” Rarity squeaked, “What in the world are you trying to do?!”

“Straight? But Ah usually am,” Applejack rolled her eyes playfully as she boldly stole a kiss from Rarity on the nose, “Ah think it’s more fun ta be all aloof with you.”

“And what in the world is bringing this on?” Rarity wanted to know, “It isn’t like you to be so… spontaneous! Not like this!”

Applejack got up from the bed and turned to leave, “Ah’ll tell ya tomorrow if ya still wanna know.”

“Well, yes! I would like to know! This isn’t like you!” Rarity stood up now, breathing heavily.

Applejack walked out of Rarity’s room, making sure to sway her hips with a flick of her tail like a cat, “Then ya gotta wait ‘til tomorrow~ Until then, just sit on it and have fun.”

Rarity squirmed in her seat a little bit, feeling her body heat up considerably. “This is not fair! How would you like it if I came into your house and…. and… flirted with you?!”

“Depends on if ya want meh to just sit and take it or if Ah got ta go down on ya after ya finished,” Applejack shot her a wink as she strode out.

“Curse you, Applejack! You’re not making sense!” Rarity called down after her as she rushed to the doorway, “You are not off the hook on this! You are going to answer for your actions! And if you so much as pull this again, there WILL be consequences!”

“I look forward to every single one of them!” Applejack called back to her.

The moment she heard the front door close, Rarity let out an indecipherable sound before closing her bedroom door shut. She leaned against it, breathing heavily. What had just happened? This truly wasn’t like Applejack at all! What had gotten into her? Even moreso, she liked it. Every bit of it. Well, when she was being somewhat clear on her intentions. 

“What in the world is happening with her?!” She uttered, shaking, “This makes absolutely no sense!”

Rarity tried to get her breath back when a realization slowly dawned on her, “Applejack just set up a date with me…”





What had happened? All Pinkie could remember was Discord, feeling a pinch of pain, and then suddenly, darkness. When did she even fall asleep? This was weird, even for her. Nonetheless, Pinkie sat up straight from the surprisingly comfortable surface she was now on. Hadn’t she been in the library?

“Whoa! What happened?” Pinkie said, looking around herself, and spotting Twilight in a chair next to the bed. Immediately, she smiled, “Oh, hey there, Twilight! What’s going on?”

It was only then she noticed that Twilight had been asleep as well, sitting up right with a book in her lap and had been possibly snoring cutely as she did so (or at least Pinkie would have assumed it would have been cute) until her voice seemed to have awoken her.

Twilight jumped at the sound of her voice, snapping upright with shock and awe, “Pinkie! Y-You’re awake! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Pinkie smiled, “I just have no idea when I fell asleep! All I remember is talking to Discord, I had some kind of magic arrow, and here I am! You even put me here in a guest room! Thanks, Twi-Twi! But why didn’t you just take me home?”

“Pinkie, you’ve been asleep for at least fourteen hours,” Twilight reached over to check Pinkie’s forehead for any signs of a fever, “I didn’t want to take any chances with you possibly being sick or something. Besides, I thought it be better for you to stay here so I could make sure everything would be okay.”

“Fourteen hours? Ooooh boy! That’s a long time!” Pinkie whistled, “Still, that’s very sweet of you! Thank you! Well, I feel fine! Confused, but I’m fine!”

Twilight however did not looks convinced, “But, Pinkie… Are you sure? I mean, the last time your hair was this flat, you were an emotional wreck.” 

“Flat?” Pinkie then felt her hair, coming to see that it was indeed flattened, “Oh! Will you look at that!”

“Pinkie, this isn’t a laughing matter,” Twilight said rather seriously, “I called the Cakes already and told them about what happened. They already said for you to take it easy if anything’s wrong with you.”

“Oh, but I feel exquisite!” Pinkie assured her, “I don’t know what Discord put in that magic arrow, but it was weeeeird!”

“Magic arrow?” Twilight questioned her, then realized more of what she said, “Wait, Discord was here yesterday?”

“Uh-huh! He was!” Pinkie nodded, “He showed up somehow, and shot at me with a magic arrow! I caught it before he could! It was fun! Apparently, he’s trying to be the new Cupid! So, then he’d be….Disupid? Cupicord?”

“He’s… Cupid now?” Twilight blinked a few times, surprised, “Are you sure that wasn’t a dream?”

“Nopey-dopey-lopey! I would know if it was a dream, Twilight!” Pinkie said, shaking her head and grinning, “I’m not sure why he wants to be the next Cupid, but that’s what he said! I just hope he goes after Dashie with this! She needs a good push to finally tell Flutters how she feels!”

Twilight shook her head, reaching over pat Pinkie’s hand, “I don’t think you’re feeling well, Pinkie. Just lay back down, okay?”

Pinkie waved her off, but pet her hand in return, “Twilight, I’m fine! Really! If anything, I’m hungry!”

“Then I’ll have Spike bring something up to you,” Twilight said, placing her hands on Pinkie’s shoulders, “Just take it easy, okay?”

“Okay,” Pinkie pouted a bit, but otherwise remained on the bed, “If you insist!”

Twilight gave her a sad smile, then stood up and left the room. She went back to the library, finding Spike in there doing some dusting. 

“Hello there, Spike,” Twilight said with a light yawn, “Well, good news. Pinkie’s awake, and she… seems to be okay. Or so she says. But she is hungry though, would you bring her something to eat?”

“Huh, she’s finally awake?” Spike asked her with odd look, “Uh, sure, I can cook up something for her. So, anyway, did she say what happened yesterday?”

“She did, I just found it surprising,” Twilight admitted and sighed, “She said that Discord showed up, trying to shoot her with this magic arrow. Then he went on about becoming the next Cupid, and she… somehow fell asleep because of it. I guess he left before we got back…”

“Okay, first off, that’s a scary thought,” Spike said with an odd smile, “I mean, the Lord of Chaos being Cupid. I sure hope that’s not real. But okay, at least nothing’s wrong with her.”

“I know! Which is why I’m going to talk to him about this,” Twilight stated, looking around the library. “Hey! Discord! I know you can somehow hear me right now! I want you to come here, right now! We need to talk!”

“Uh, Twilight, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way,” Spike mused to himself, knowing that it was pointless to try and deter her.

 A moment went by before something happen, and not exactly what either were hoping for. In a puff of small black smoke appeared a letter, floating in the air. As Twilight looked at it oddly, the letter opened itself and hung in face for all to read as follows:

We’re sorry, but the Spirit of Chaos you are trying to reach is currently preoccupied with shenanigans of an unknown level at this time. Please try your call again, or if this is an emergency, please try to contact the nearest Chaos Lord in your area at 1-800-Mindfuck. 

We thank you for your consideration.

And in the case this happens to be Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, Discord is still waiting for his glass of water. Thank you and have a pleasant day.

Twilight stared at the letter and then groaned, rolling her eyes before she sat down. “Great! So he’s out there doing who-knows-what and I can’t even get ahold of him!”

Spike thought about it for a moment before leaving the room to head to the kitchen. He was gone for no more than what felt like five minutes, but the wait felt much longer. When he returned, in his hands was in fact a glass of water.

“Okay, this might sound stupid, but here,” Spike said with an almost deadpan tone, “Try again with this. I mean, this is Discord we’re dealing with so this makes as much sense as anything else he does.”

Twilight took the glass, staring at it weirdly, “Well, okay… I guess I may as well try. Discord? Hey, I have a glass of water for you! Come and get it!”

Almost out of nowhere this time, the Draconequus hand of Discord himself appeared at the side of the glass in question, making both Twilight and Spike jump back in shock. How he had appeared without a flashy entrance was beyond them, but more shocking was the fact that it had actually worked.

“Finally!” Discord said loudly as he took the glass from her, “And it only took you one whole year to bring it to me! That’s a new personal best, really. I’m still waiting for my slice of pie from Tia and that was promised to me over a thousand years ago. So, you’re doing great as a Princess!”

“Well, to be fair, you did forcibly have Cadance and I bring you to the ends of Equestria and we got attacked by that Tatzlwurm!” Twilight protested with a mild pout, “I would’ve brought it to you!”

Discord grinned down at her, “Hey, you were in no real danger! I was there with you! Heck, I didn’t even know that thing was there! I mean, I could have asked you to climb the highest mountain in the Griffin territories alone in high heels to bring me a bucket of water from a magical spring guarded by a stone statue without using your magic or the ability to fly, bring it back down, give it to a sick monkey as part of test you don’t know about, then expect you to make flowers bloom with by waving your hands over them as a test to gauge your Princessness.”

Twilight sighed a bit, waving it off, “Right, that’s true. But anyway, the reason I called you here is because of what happened to Pinkie. She claimed you were here, that you were attempting to be the next Cupid, and that you tried to shoot her with an arrow! Then she fell asleep because of it. What in the world was in that arrow?!”

“Firstly, she caught it, so I didn’t technically shoot her,” Discord said mockingly, “And I have no idea why she fell asleep! All she did was grab it by the shaft, toy with it a little, and then it poked her one good time and boom! She was out like a light. And that’s in it is my Chaotic love magic juices. I had to work really hard to get that stuff, you know!”

“Why in the world would it put her to sleep? That makes no sense! I-wait, what kind of effect do those arrows even have?” Twilight wanted to know.

Spike looked between the two, his face contorting a little, “Do I even need to explain how weird what’s being said sounds right now? I mean, love magic juices, arrows, shafts, toying with it, and it making Pinkie pass out… Are we sure he didn’t just-”

“Hold it right there!” Discord hushed him on the spot, “We’re trying to keep a PG-13 rating for as long we can here, Spike! Besides, could imagine how many nutcases would lose their collective shits if I did that!”

“In spite of the double entendres, let’s get back on task here!” Twilight said, stepping forward, “I just want to know what is in those arrows and what kind of effect they have! Especially since you’re trying to be the new Cupid! Why are you doing that?”

Discord grinned once more, crossing his arms and sticking his nose into the air, “In order: I already to you. Chaotic love juices. Magic! Stuff to help you silly ponies get over your self inflicted issues and find love. What that entails, I have no idea. It’s Chaos magic, so… it kinda just does whatever it wants 90% of the time. It’s way too much work to always be in total control of it. Second, I am the new Cupid. I’m expecting documentation soon to prove it from none other than Princess Cadance herself. I already added it to my resume too. And finally, I’m doing it because I have discovered that I’m an amazing matchmaker! It’s almost like… this was my destiny!”

Both Twilight and Spike stared at him with wide eyes, completely speechless. They glanced at each other, then at Discord again, trying to find their voices.

“So… exactly how… did you even figure this out?” Twilight managed to ask.

“Do you want the short version or the long version? ‘Cause you get the long version in my autobiography that comes out this Spring! It’s going to called, Discord: the Rise of Cupid 2: The Electric Boogaloo. I expect it to be a best seller,” Discord said with a smirk, “I can get you two signed copies if ya want.”

“Wait, what happened to the first book?” Spike asked.

Twilight was about to refuse, but then pondered for a few moments, before giving a little shrug, “Yeah, sure. I’ll read it! But anyway, you may as well give me the short version.”

Discord chuckled a bit, “Again, in order: Would you believe that the first book was actually already written by some hack named Masashi Kishimoto and turned it into some story about ninjas and weird magic. And basically, I helped out my good friend Fluttershy get over her fears and now she’s enjoying the couple lifestyle!”

Now Spike and Twilight’s jaws dropped simultaneously. 

“What?! How?! With whom?!” Twilight gasped.

Discord shrugged a little, “Well, I suspect that Kishimoto used some kind of time travel and saw that one day, I would write the greatest book ever, but he wanted to get rich, so he stole the idea before I could write and just turned everyone into emo ninjas. It was ingenious, really. Then he would sell half the other ideas to some dumb blonde called Stephenie Meyer who totally missed the point of the story! She even had sparkling vampires instead of vampire fruit bats that lose their minds if they can’t find a way to maintain who they once were. I mean, come on! Sparkling vampires is so dumb, I wouldn’t even write that! That not original, it’s insulting to the undead everywhere! They were dead once! And no, I don’t care if she’s not blonde, she matches all the stereotypes to a T! So, ha!”

“Yeah, I didn’t like those books, either,” Spike remarked, rolling his eyes. “When I first read them, I thought they were comedy!”

“Hey, that’s a good way of looking at them!” Discord said brightly, snapping his fingers, “Of course! They could’ve been one of the greatest series of satire ever!”

Spike couldn’t help laughing, “I know, right? When I found out they were meant to be taken seriously, I was so mad!”

“No no no! That’s not what I meant!” Twilight exclaimed, “I meant Fluttershy. What happened with her?!”

“Oh,” Discord said with a smile, “She got invited to a party with Rainbow and they asked to help her get over her self image issues or something. I zapped her brain and she was better, I guess, and I’m assuming they had sex all night long. But I don’t really. That’s just a theory.”

“Whoa, are you serious?! They finally got together?!” Spike exclaimed, “About time! I should’ve known they liked each other!”

“What did you do to her brain?!” Twilight exclaimed with shock, “Using magic on someone’s brain could have serious consequences!”

“Oh, relax, I was careful,” Discord waved it off, “It was just to loosen her up. So, I decided I could do the same thing with others! Only nothing like that at all. It’s like the Matrix, only better. Because it has nothing to do with the Matrix at all.”

“...So that’s what you’re doing with the arrows? Trying to get others to loosen up?” Twilight uttered.

“Yeeemaybe?” Discord shrugged a little, “That’s what it did for Fluttershy, I’m not so sure what else they could do, but I’ sure it’s positive and good since that’s what I’m trying to go for! Plus, could you say no to the idea of being able to finally win over your love? I think not, you hidden psycho!”

“Hidden psycho? Excuse me?!” Twilight placed her hands on her hips. She then sighed, shaking her head, “No… I guess I couldn’t.”

Discord sighed as well, “Oh, come on! You had a great chance to do that one joke from that badly animated video game show about the magic triangles there and you blew it! Have I taught you nothing of good comedic timing?” 

“Even I caught that one,” Spike chuckled.

“...I don’t even know what you’re going on about,” Twilight sighed.

“Never mind that, Princess,” Discord waved it off, “The point is I’m doing something good and there’s no reason for you of all ponies to be mad at me! If anything, you should allow me to join your little Council of Friendship! I think I could a great Chairman of the Board.”

Twilight blinked now, a little taken aback. She sighed then, calming herself, “That’s what this is about?”

“No, it’s about me helping others find their soulmates, duh,” Discord flatly stated, “Haven’t you been listening? You were doing so great at first with glass of water thing and now it’s like talking to you on a bad day. Lesson Zero anyone? But moving on, is there any reason you called me up? Like, say, if Pinkie turned into 100 foot tall lizard and is attacking a small island nation of some kind. Because that… would be pretty freaking awesome.”

“Okay, I got it!” Twilight waved her hands, “Look, all of this just took me by surprise and it needs to sink in. I was worried about Pinkie, but I guess now I have the answers I was looking for. If you’re going to, well, as you said, be the next Cupid, I’m not discouraging you. Just as long as you go through the proper channels to get permitted. Which you’re doing... But what next?”

“I was thinking of shooting more ponies in the butts,” Discord said rather casually, “But I need to also figure out how strong these arrows can be. So, since I’m here, can I shoot Spike repeatedly in his backside to see how much magic it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop- I mean, to make someone pass out?”

“Uh… Maybe just one shot?” Spike said nervously, “I’m not so sure I want a dozen arrows sticking out of my butt.”

“How about one shot with twelve arrows?” Discord grinned, “I need to work my Robin Hood style of shooting anyway. But I’m not so sure they’d all hit the mark… Oh, they’d hit you though! Just maybe not all in the butt. Maybe in the legs and arms, the back of the head, tail, and pretty much anywhere else you’re not covering.”

“Uh… why not one arrow with the effect of twelve?” Spike replied sheepishly.

Discord snapped his fingers together and what appeared in his hands was an arrow the size of a javelin, “But because it would be six feet long, as thick as my arm, and I’d have to run you through with it.” He took a runner’s stance, ready to impale him, “This might hurt actually. But I’m ready if you are!”

“No way!” Spike shook his head, “Too much! I’ll just take the-”

“I’ll do it,” Twilight stepped in between the two, “With twelve arrows. If you need someone to test it on, it might as well be me.”

With that said, Discord snapped his fingers and the javelin was gone and on his back was a quiver with a bow in his hands, “Great! This’ll be a lot of fun, trust me!”

Twilight sighed and then went over to the wall, holding her hands against it. All while padding it with her magic. “Okay, let’s get this over with…”

Discord clapped his hands together with glee as she lined up at the wall. Spike on the other hand looked very concerned about this. He wanted to suggest Twilight head for the hills considering Discord’s track record of mishaps, but it seemed to late. Now was the moment of truth. 

Discord giggled like a schoolboy as he drew an arrow from the quiver and lined up a shot with his bow. He grinned, shouting at her, “Okay, so do you want it in the head?!”

“No!” Twilight yelled.

“Too late!” Discord chuckled as he was about to fire, only to have an ear splitting scream come from behind him.

“Discord!”
> Arrows Left and Right
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord jumped with fear as he shot the arrow straight into the roof. He almost fell over as he spun around in shock to see none other than the Princess of the Sun herself, “Tia?! What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you the same thing, Discord,” Celestia crossed her arms, “What in the world is going on here?”

Twilight turned from the wall, “Princess Celestia! Look, it’s just… we’re trying to conduct an experiment.”

“Yeah, it only looks and sounds like a willing suicide slash homicide,” Discord defended before catching on to the oddity of his own words, “... What I meant to say was ‘Hi, I’m training to be the new Cupid!’ So, how are you?”

“What?! The new Cupid?” Celestia looked at him oddly, before narrowing her eyes slightly, “Oh, I see what you’re doing… It’s no wonder you completely stood me up!”

“You stood her up?!” Spike exclaimed with shock.

“I stood you up?!” Discord mimicked with confusion, blinking a few times, “Uh, how and when did I do that?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Twilight looked between the two.

Celestia sighed, looking a mix of hurt and angry, “Two nights ago. You said you would come to see me after I set the sun. You never showed up. You didn’t even contact me with a reason why not. And you didn’t contact me anytime afterward. I… know you’re unpredictable, but I never expected you to actually stand me up.”

“Celestia, I said I might, as in, if I have time,” Discord said blandly, “I don’t recall making any promises, but okay… I’m sorry for forgetting to tell you that I found my life calling recently and have been pursuing it for the past few days and have sent away for Cadance to verify me as Cupid so I might be able to help everyone with my magical shafts and chaotic love. Again, sorry I didn’t call.”

“What?” Celestia uttered, a mix of annoyed and confused.

“What he means is,” Spike said, stepping in between the two, “he’s trying to be Cupid because it worked with Fluttershy and he gets to do something good with his magic!”

“Yep!” Discord grinned at her with glee, “I’m so good at it, everyone’s been so supportive of my new day job! And to think, I could have been doing this years ago!”

Once more, Celestia’s countenance was a mix of emotions for a few seconds. She then shook her head, “This is unbelievable. I cannot even fathom you right now. You’re even bringing my niece into this! She would never authorize such a thing right on the spot. Not without the proper training! I can’t believe you’re doing this. And I certainly can’t believe you’re now bringing Twilight into this! What were you thinking?”

“Ouch, that’s harsh,” Discord cringed a little, “But I’ve wondered how she was niece in the first place. Is she like the daughter of your second cousin’s uncle twice removed or no? Because that would make perfect sense if you ask me. Besides, you don’t know if she gave me the title or not! I’ll have you know that she and I are on very good terms as of lately. So, it could happen! I mean, you could show a bit more support with my life choices...”

“I would, if you weren’t making insane choices and overplaying it.” Celestia said sternly, stepping toward him, “You think this is some kind of game? The role of Cupid is not something you can take lightly. You may have had one success, but there’s much more ground for you to cover. I would be supportive if I knew you were taking it seriously and weren’t throwing it out of proportion.”

Discord smiled a bit at her, trying to lighten the mood, “Tia, if I was treating this like a game, we’d be at my house playing D and D on a huge board, throwing dice around like there’s no tomorrow. I’m taking this pretty serious for me! I’ve been practicing shooting, watching ponies interact, and heck, I’m even willing to go all out for this. This is kinda my serious tone, y’know? But come on, if I didn’t have any fun with this, I wouldn’t want to do it in the first place!”

Celestia stepped forward again, “I’m unhappy with you right now, and I would rather discuss this under better circumstances. Aside from that, hand over those arrows. Until you have proper authorization to use them, I can’t have you shooting my subjects with them.”

“Oh, okay. I guess I’ll have to- WHAT!?” Discord shouted at lung top so loud, it was almost at the point it could have echoed throughout the entire castle, “You- I- these- NO! These are my creation, intellectual property of Discord, damn it! I made these with my blood, sweat, tears, love, and magic! You have no right to take ‘em from me!”

“That wasn’t a request. I’m confiscating them until further notice!” Celestia stated sternly.

Discord shook his head, “No way, Sunbutt! These are mine!”

“Give them to me this instant!” Celestia used her magic to remove the quiver from his back, and took hold of it.

Spike nudged Twilight lightly, “Where’s the popcorn?”

“Spike, this isn’t the time!” Twilight scolded him.

“No way in this lifetime, Tia!” Discord shot back, grabbing at the bottom of the quiver, “These are mine and mine alone! I worked really hard creating them and I’ve been doing a great job! You’re not taking this away from me!”

“You’re still unauthorized to pull off such work!” Celestia grabbed the top of the quiver tighter, tugging it toward herself, “Unhand them at once!”

“Over my undead body!” Discord retorted with almost a bark, “This is theft! You’re stealing from me!”

“I am doing no such thing! You’re essentially performing illegal work!” Celestia snarled. “Give it to me!”

Discord pulled back even more on the quiver, “But I made them! You can’t possibly take this from me!”

“I’m aware of that!” Celestia tugged it back, “But I am still confiscating them until you’re authorized!”

“You can’t do that! That’s like me taking your crown! It’s not cool!” Discord pulled back yet again trying to reclaim it.

“And now you’re just being petulant!” Celestia pulled it back to herself, “Do you have any other unauthorized items I should know about?!”

“I have a snake in my pants, but I don’t see why that’s any of your business!” Discord shot back, “And don’t get me started on the rubber chicken!”

“Let go!” Celestia yelled, “You’re trying my patience!”

Discord shook his head, “And you think you’re not trying mine?! YOU let go!”

“You let go this instant!” Celestia bit back, “I’m warning you!”

Spike’s eyes went wide, his nose wrinkling. He scooted over to Twilight, shivering slightly, “Oh boy, this is intense…”

"I know..." Twilight mumbled.

“Make me, you insane pony of the Sun!” Discord called back, tugging on it back as hard as he could.

“Name-calling?!” Celestia snarled, tugging harder. This only succeeded in bringing them closer, “How mature of you! You’re not getting away with this!”

“YOU’RE the one trying to steal my stuff! I’ll take you to court!” Discord called back with his tone raising.

“And you’re the one trying to be Cupid behind my back!” Celestia yelled back.

“How is this behind your back?!” Discord complained with a shocked expression, “You’re being crazy!”

“Did you even think to wait until you were authorized before starting your work?” Celestia shot back.

With a snarl, Discord gave another tug, “Why are you being such a brat!?”

“Look who’s talking!” Celestia snarled, tugging it back as well.

Spike nudged Twilight, whispering, “Is this the part where they have a stare off and then make out furiously?”

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “... It’s usually either sooner in most stories I’ve read or it takes a lot of build up.”

“Let- GO!” Discord gave one last shout as he tried one last powerful pull, but completely lost his grip as the tumbled onto his his back as the Celestia had seemingly won their game of tug-of-war… only to have the entirety of the quiver and it’s arrows be dumped on her as she tried to keep her footing and failed at it.

“Princess!” Twilight cried in surprise, running toward her, but Spike held her back.

The Princess stumbled back a little as some of the arrows tapped and poked her several times the content of the quiver was completely empty. Her hands even slipped as she left go of the very item she had been fighting over.

“O-Oh… my…” Celestia grabbed hold of a nearby bookshelf, trying to steady herself. She looked down to see that some of the arrows were stuck to her arms. With a light sigh, she extracted them.

Rubbing his head, Discord finally noticed what happened and somewhat to the surprise of the others, he got up rather quickly and started to brush some of the arrows away, “Shoot! Tia, are you all right? You should have just let me keep my stuff… Are you still with us? Please don’t pass out. How the heck am I supposed to apologize to you if you fall asleep?!”

“I’m all right,” Celestia’s voice was calm, a lot less terse than earlier, “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“But you just got poked by shafts multiple times here! Are you sure you’re okay?” Discord said back to her very worried tone, “I mean, I don’t even know if you’d be immune to this stuff.”

“I’m sure!” Celestia nodded, taking a few deep breaths, “I didn’t think I was immune. But whatever the effects, I’ll take care of them and without exposing it to anyone else. Now, I’d better go back to the castle!" Her voice was becoming slightly less of a soothing lilt and more gleeful. "I suppose I was far too driven by my emotional responses, and I’m sorry for that! To all of you. But, once we’ve calmed down, I’m sure we’ll be able to discuss all of this further.” She then gave a bright smile, bringing her arms behind her back.

“Uh… So, you’re just gonna leave?” Discord blinked a few times, a wave of shock came over him, “Wow, I uh… Great, now I feel bad.”

“I’ll see you later!” Celestia headed to the door, “And please don’t use your arrows until further notice? I'd appreciate that a lot!”

Without another word, she left the room, presumably teleporting from the castle. Spike and Twilight then turned to Discord again, both of them unsure of what to say.

“And why, pray tell, do you feel bad, now?” Twilight finally asked, raising an eyebrow, “You seemed perfectly content with antagonizing her.”

“Why does everyone think that?” Discord looked back to Twilight oddly, “Tia’s a sweet girl and I really don’t mind her company. She’s just so hard headed when she thinks she’s right and is actually wrong… for once. I didn’t mean for her to get all that stuff dumped on her, I just wanted to keep my stuff! Why is it you ponies always try to villainize anyone who’s not a pony?” 

“That’s not what I’m doing and you know it,” Twilight said firmly, “Look, even I’ll admit she was out of line. But she seemed really stressed and frustrated. Sometimes we all lash out because of it. As for the arrows business, she was right to put in the reigns, but maybe not to take them from you.”

“But that’s… stupid,” Discord said bluntly, “She’s the princess and as such, she’s gotta be more in control of herself! Not only that, but if she was wrong, she should have just left it be! And I can be doing this because I’m not hurting anyone. There’s no lethal effects of this.” 

“Still,” Twilight held her hands up, “rules are rules, that’s all. If you want to keep doing this, you just have to… go through the channels. I-oh! I forgot about Pinkie! I have to go check on her! Spike, we should get some food to her right away!”

“But what about me?!” Discord shouted at the two, “I’m having an issue here.”

Spike just backed away, “I’ll go make Pinkie some food, you stay here, Twilight! You can check on her later!” He then left the room.

Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, “Okay, all right. What is it that you need?”

Discord blinked a  few times in surprise, “Oh. Wow… I wasn’t sure you’d actually consider listening to me. Uh, I don’t know, really. I guess it’s just you call me up and then I have this ‘fight’ with Tia and now, guh… It’s just kinda weird.”

“Well, friends do have arguments and can be… going through tough times with each other,” Twilight reasoned, “It’s not a matter of who’s right or wrong. It’s being able to compromise with each other.”

“Uh, no. That’s not what I’m talking about,”  Discord said flatly, “She got stuck with several arrows. Stuck in several places! I think I’m worried again. My God, that’s twice in the same week!”

“Are you forgetting who you’re talking to?” Twilight said incredulously, “Look, it’s Princess Celestia. She’s going to find a way to counter the effects of your magic arrows. Either that or to alleviate the effects in some way. Don’t worry about her. She’s going to be fine.”

“But my feelings are very seldom wrong,” Discord said seriously, “This could be very bad or very… weird. So don’t saying things you’re not sure of around or else karma will show up and destroy us both.”

“I’m not saying you should ignore your gut instinct,” Twilight assured, “I’m just saying to have faith in her. You know what she’s capable of. But if it makes you feel better, you can go see her tonight or tomorrow, and see how she’s doing. At least by then you two can talk it all out and see if there’s a solution.”

“I guess…” Discord sighed, “Great, now my mood is totally ruined. I’m going to go bother Fluttershy to make myself better. Take care. Oh! And keep an eye on your friend, Pinkie. I’m not sure why she passed out or anything, so something could be up with her that’s different than what I had in mind.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Twilight sighed, “Well, anyway, just  be careful, okay? I know we have our spats, but you’re still my friend. I’m sorry if I… ever make it hard for you to remember that.” She looked up at him with a light smile, reaching over to pat his arm.

“Eh, it’s okay,” Discord said with a grin, “Give me a call if ya need me. I’m gonna go now and try not to mope. Later!” And with that, he decided to simply walk out of the door. An odd choice for him.

Twilight watched him go for a few moments, a little surprised at that. Nonetheless, she shrugged and left the library as well, going off down the hall to Pinkie’s room.

Spike called over to her, “I’m just gonna us all something to eat, okay? Anything you want?”

“Honestly? I’m in the mood for a stir-fry!” Twilight called back to him.

“You got it, Twi!” Spike replied to her before heading to the kitchen once more.

Twilight made it back to Pinkie’s room, and surprisingly found her...reading a book. Intently. It was the same book she herself had been reading earlier.

“Hi, Pinkie,” she said softly, “How are you feeling?”

Pinkie looked up from the book in question and flashed a smile at her, “Hiya, Twi-Twi! I’m the same what I said before: I’m better than ever! I just wanted to see what you were reading, that’s all.”

“Oh! Well, do you like it?” Twilight sat back down on the chair near the bed.

“It’s pretty interesting,” Pinkie said setting the book down and- surprisingly- decided to place her head against the wall and flip upside down. Standing on her head and taking a zen pose as she did so, “But no offense, the writer was a little self absorbed for my taste! I mean, I get it, you have to be detailed, but he’s adding way too much attention to boring stuff! I don’t want to read three pages of someone brushing their teeth or tying their shoes when they could be out doing more interesting stuff!”

“Yeah… the pacing is a bit slow,” Twilight admitted with a sweat drop, “But it’s good when you get to the actual interesting elements.”

“True, but I think it could use a little revision,” Pinkie said, motioning with a hand the shrinking metaphor, “But it’s fun once it starts going! I really like the personality they gave the dragon character! She’s a lot of fun.”

“She’s my favourite character,” Twilight smiled, “So, anyway… I managed to finally talk to Discord about all of this. Apparently, the arrows are supposed to… make you feel less inhibited and more driven to pursue the one you love.”

“Huh, weird,” Pinkie just shrugged in her usual position, then giggled a bit, “I don’t feel that much different! But my hair is still flat which is kinda weird. Otherwise, I feel fine!”

“Well, okay… at least you feel fine,” Twilight murmured with a nod, “And I won’t pry, either! However you feel about somepony, it’s okay! That is, if you do!”

“You know saying you won’t pry when I didn’t even acknowledge that kinda makes you look like you want to pry but don’t wanna make it feel like you’re being insensitive,” Pinkie giggled again as she kicked her legs out towards the ceiling.

Twilight sweat dropped and let her head fall to the mattress, “Sorry… Forget I said anything.”

“Why?” Pinkie questioned her with a grin.

“Just forget it…” Twilight pouted.

“But what if the situation begged for an answer?” Pinkie asked her again, “Like, if these arrow things do stuff like that, wouldn’t be important for you to know just to help me and/or stop me from doing something that would be bad or if you get jealous for whatever reason?”

“I… huh? Jealous?” Twilight looked up now, “W-Why would I be jealous? Wait, don’t you mean envious?”

“Uh, no. I mean jealous,” Pinkie grinned with glee, “As in not liking the idea of me dating someone.”

“That’s… That’s not true!” Twilight blushed, “I wouldn’t be!”

“Then why are you blushing~?” Pinkie gigged at her.

“I’m not!” Twilight looked away.

“You are a lying liar who lies a lot,” Pinkie snickered at her friend, “I saw the blush so admit it!”

“Would it even matter?” Twilight mumbled.

“Depends on your answer and the context of it,” Pinkie said back to her, “Plus we could a lot fun with the setup! So, are you gonna admit it?”

“...Fine, maybe I am! Happy, now?” Twilight pouted and blushed.

“... I knew it,” Pinkie said with a smile, falling onto the bed and landing on her knees. From there, she pounced on her friend and into a hug, “You’re such a goof, Twi! It’s a lot more easy when you just admit things!”

Twilight blushed heavily, managing to return the hug a little bit, “Yeah, sure… whatever you say, Pinkie…”

Pinkie cuddled her a bit more, pulling back with a smile, “So, did you want to know?”

“...Yes?”

“Well, I love everyone!” Pinkie replied as she giggled, “It’s not like I hate anyone, so I love everyone pretty much! Buuuuuuut if I had pick someone to be in a relationship with, I’d have to say you.”

Twilight looked at her with surprise, her cheeks flushed, “...Really? You would?”

Pinkie nodded, which just seemed to act as her cuddling her more, “Sure, why not? I mean, I’m not really sure how dating and stuff works, plus I never thought you’d be into me like that. But yeah, if I was going to ask anyone out for a date, I’d ask you. If you like to.”

“Well I… um… sure…” Twilight blushed, “I never thought of dating very much, but… I think it’d be nice if we went out together…”

“But what about all that stuff with the arrows?” Pinkie asked her, “I mean, isn’t that important or something?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight looked up at her now.

“You said those arrows make ponies lose their inhibitions and be more relaxed, what’s it gonna do to me?” Pinkie questioned her friend, “I’m pretty low on those already and if I’m trying to get you, couldn’t that be bad for you if you didn’t want to date or if something else also like you or even in the off chance you don’t like me?”

“I… oh, yeah…” Twilight realized. She leaned back in her chair, thinking this over, “Maybe I should get struck, too?”

“Why?” Pinkie questioned her again, blinking a few times, “If the magic affects you and you’re not into me at the current time, then you’d be creating a love triangle with me pursuing you, you pursuing someone else, and whatever their perception of the situation could be. This might backfire in a horrible way if that was the case, however if both of us were infected, it could simply turn into endless loop with no real emotion between us other than the affects of magic and as such, that could be even worse. It might be wiser to just stay in control of the situation by staying open to the possibilities that could arise from the idea of a relation.”

“Uh… but all it does is make you more confident, it’s not like it… you know, affects you all that much… right? I mean, you said you feel fine…” Twilight mumbled, trying to make sense of what Pinkie was saying.

“But Twilight, this is Discord’s magic we’re dealing with,” Pinkie said calmly, “Since Chaotic magic is so hard to tell what it could do, it might have adverse effects that not even Discord is aware of! So, it might not be safe.”

“I know, it’s just… Oh! That means we have to see Fluttershy about it, since she was, well, ‘infected’ first,” Twilight said thoughtfully.

“Theoretically speaking, yeah. That would make sense, “ Pinkie smiled at her friend, “However since it might not affect me the same way it goes her or anyone else for that matter, so it’s possible that might not work. Still, it could be worth looking into! But first, I have only one more pressing issue.” 

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie giggled at her, holding up her flat hair, “We gotta figure out what’s up with my hair or at least what to do with it!”

> Drop In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Princess Celestia stared off at her paperwork, or right past it, her mind was elsewhere. She could barely even hear Kibitz speaking. Her eyes veered over to the magnificent stained glass windows, trained on Discord’s in particular. Not once, since she came home, had he left her mind. Had the arrows truly been that powerful? They seemed to be. It was just going to be a matter of figuring a way to alleviate whatever effects there were. But despite her loss in thoughts, she felt fine. 

When she heard that Kibitz was finished speaking, she blinked and sat up straight. What had he just said? Something about meetings? A summit? Crystal ponies? Cake? Celestia looked at him and smiled sheepishly. “...Yes?”

“I can see that quite clearly,” Kibitz said dryly to the princess, “If you’re going to not pay attention to what’s being said, at least remember to deny it rather than admitting your lack of doing so.”

“What? Oh!” Celestia blinked, looking away, “I’m so sorry, Kermit. I’ve had so much on my mind today that it’s difficult to concentrate.”

“... Do I look like a talking frog to you?” Kibitz said flatly, “Or are you insinuating that my wife is a pig? Either way, I must disagree with your choice of words! I am not nor have I ever been a green creature that crocks with an expandable throat, Princess.” With his suit thoroughly ruffled, he smoothed out his tie best he could to regain some semblance of composure, “Now then, whatever could be on your mind that has kept you from your royal duties.”

Celestia sighed, looking at him guiltily, “You’re right, it really has. I just can’t seem to think straight. I’m not even sure why that is.”

Kibitz shook his head a little, “I’m afraid that I don’t follow. What exactly is causing you to ‘not think straight,’ Princess?”

“I… had an accident,” was all Celestia could say, “But you don’t have to worry. I just need a little time to clear my head, that’s all.”

“But what pray tell happened?” Kibitz questioned her a bit further, “You did take your afternoon outing a bit ahead of schedule, but I suppose even with that, you won’t confide in me what has happened, will you?”

“It’s nothing you have to concern yourself about, Kibitz,” Celestia assured, “It was just a little accident. I’ll be fine. Oh, my… is it hot in here?”

Kibitz blinked a few times, unsure how to respond, “... Princess, you’re the Consulate of the Sun itself; you don’t normally get hot. Not even in the Summer. But to answer your question, no, it’s not.”

“Oh, so it’s just me,” Celestia tugged slightly on the collar of her shirt, sighing, “Well! Let’s get back on task, shall we? Goodness knows I need a distraction from my...distraction.”

“A… distraction from a distraction? But would that in and of itself be a more pointless event than the event you’re trying to override?” Kibitz reasoned, “I’m afraid you haven’t the time for either though, Princess. You only have two hours before your day comes to an end and there’s still much work to be done.”

This was going to be a long afternoon.





When was the last time she ever felt like this? Celestia couldn’t even come close to remembering. All those centuries ago, perhaps? It seemed like the logical answer, but she couldn’t place it. Either way, it didn’t seem to alleviate.

All Celestia could think about was Discord, to the point that nothing else seemed to cross her mind. She felt strange, yet no different than before. Was this truly the effect of the arrows? Clouding your mind with thoughts of the one you loved? It seemed to be. Maybe the chaos magic only further heightened it, especially given how many arrows had touched her.

“Sister!” Came Luna’s voice from down the hallway, interrupting her thoughts, “There you are! I went to dinner and you weren’t even there! I heard from a few guards that you were out of sorts today. What in the world is going on?”

“Going on?” Celestia looked at her sister as she came running over, “Oh! Well, it’s a funny story, actually. The strangest thing happened today.”

“A strange thing, in Equestria?” Luna blinked, a little puzzled, “Celestia, you’re going to have to be more specific!”

Celestia nodded a bit, gesturing for her sister to follow her along, “Oh, right. Well, it had to do with Discord as you would expect.”

“...And now I really have to ask what in the world happened,” Luna responded, rolling her eyes slightly. She followed after her, crossing her arms over her chest, “What did he do this time?”

Celestia shrugged a little as she lead the way, “It’s rather hard to explain, but he claims that he found something new to do with his free time rather than cause trouble and believe it or not, he might actually be serious about it.”

Luna’s eyes went wide at this, “Are you serious? He is truly finding something to occupy his time? Well, what is it?”

“He seems to be pursuing a career in… matchmaking if you will,” Celestia said, but totally sure as if what she said was the exact thing he was doing.

“Matchmaking?!” Luna repeated, her eyes going wider, “But that’s… Celestia, you can’t be serious! How in the world is Discord of all creatures knowledgeable in the ways of love?! He can’t possibly believe he’s qualified for that sort of work!”

“Well, it appears he is trying to take this seriously, as odd as that may sound,” Celestia giggled a little, “He’s even seems to be seeking advice from Twilight and her friends as well as Cadance.”

“...I haven’t a clue what to say to all of that,” Luna sighed, shaking her head, “Sister, are you certain? He treats everything as a game! Why, he hardly takes either of us seriously! How in the world can we expect him to do this job properly? It requires much more than simply just bringing two ponies together!”

“Or maybe that’s all there is to it in reality,” Celestia laughed a bit, “After all, sometimes all it takes is getting two ponies together and seeing where their own emotions take them. In that regard, he could be very good at this.”

“Sister, it isn’t that simple,” Luna pointed out, “But quibbling aside, what in the world was bringing this on?”

“I personally have no idea,” Celestia laughed once more, “But when has love ever been simple? It’s always so hard to understand, so who better than someone who embodies that spontaneous feeling that a Spirit of Chaos? In some ways, it does make sense.”

Luna sweat dropped, then rolled her eyes, “Then I suppose you feel less… upset about the fact he apparently stood you up the other night? Promise or no promise, it was still quite rude.”

“I am, but I’m getting over it,” Celestia said to her sister with a smile, “It’s at least starting to make sense to me.”

“I see,” Luna nodded slowly, “So, is that what has been getting to you today?”

“Nothing more than the usual, I suppose,” Celestia said calmly, “But maybe I’ve been allowing myself to daydream a bit more than I should.”

Luna looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then shrugged a bit, “I suppose. But that normally isn’t like you, Celestia. You don’t let your thoughts or daydreams interfere with your work. For as long as I’ve seen you rule, that hasn’t been a problem for you. At least not to the point of it making it difficult for you to concentrate.”

“Maybe I’ve simply been suppressing them for too long then?” Celestia suggested, “After all, it has been many a year since I’ve allowed myself to have fun like you do at times.”

Opening her mouth to respond, Luna considered this. She then sighed, nodding, “Perhaps that’s true, sister. You don’t take as much time to yourself as you need.”

“Maybe I will this evening though,” Celestia told her sister with a smile, “After all, I could use some personal time.”

“I suppose so,” Luna said offhandedly, “Speaking of the evening, I really should get going. There’ve been some disturbances over the Everfree Forest, so I’m going to see if Melvin will be needing any help.”

“All right, Luna,” Celestia smiled at her, “I’ll probably see you tomorrow morning. Depending what’s happening by then…”

Luna gave her an odd look, then shrugged. She waved at her sister and then headed down the corridor to begin her evening duties. 

Celestia meanwhile went into her room, closing the door and heading to her nightstand. As she removed her regalia, a strange impulse came to mind. It made her giggle a little, finding it hard not to entertain the thought. Did she dare? It was hard to say.

“It might be the arrows talking,” she mused to herself as she brushed out her ethereal mane, “but maybe I do dare.”

Looking out the windows at the darkening sky, Celestia stood up, then went out onto the balcony. She gathered her magic, raised her arms, and then slowly lowered them. The sun dipped further and further into the horizon, while the moon was very slowly rising. After a few moments or so, the sun was lowered completely. She sighed in relief, taking in the cool breeze as her hair and dress danced along.

“Another beautiful night,” she murmured to herself. Turning around, she headed back inside and closed the balcony doors. 

Now she found herself at a loss for what to do. She wasn’t tired, the night was young, and she didn’t have her duties until the next morning. Usually, around this time, she would catch up on some reading, look over last minute paperwork, or whatever else she felt like doing. Celestia looked about her room, feeling her mind, yet again, return to Discord. Sighing a bit, she looked out the window once more. No answers.

Sitting on her bed, Celestia took a deep breath, then lay back and closed her eyes. Her mind was free to wander, her daydreams were less inhibited, with no reason to hold back. She hummed, seeing the visions dance through her mind. Discord coming to her and asking her to dance. Right outside, in the garden, under the moonlight. They dance, he makes a phonograph appear to add to the atmosphere, and they get lost in each other’s eyes. He dips her dramatically, taking the rose clenched between his teeth and placing it in her hair. Then he leans down, going right for her lips…

Celestia giggled and blushed, squirming lightly, “Oh my…”

The daydream goes on as they embrace, continuously kissing with passion. She could practically feel his claws raking along her back and sides. Up and down, along her hips, and coming up to her chest. She moans, leaning into his touch and clutching at him. He whispers seductively into her ear, feeling one of his hands going down lower and lower. It burns like a flame within her body as the mad tingles of pleasure heighten. He then proceeds to slowly undress her...

After sometime, Celestia looked down and realized exactly where the sensations had come from. Her own hands. She blushed, giggling and sitting up, “I suppose I should go see him… At least it would give me peace of mind for tomorrow,” she smiled to herself, “Yes. I do dare.”

Closing her eyes, she activated her magic and heard the familiar sound of teleportation. 

When she opened her eyes, she was now in Discord’s home. Now it was her turn to get the drop on him! He could finally react with surprise when he saw her! Oh, she wondered why she hadn’t thought of this before. But it didn’t matter. Now she had the chance! She could finally-

He wasn’t even home.

Celestia sighed, then shrugged mildly. It didn’t matter. He would have to return at some point. She looked at the stairs, then smiled. 

“I think I know just the thing…”

With that, she slowly went up the stairs. Not a moment too soon, considering just as she reached his bedroom door, she heard the front door open. Celestia smirked to herself. He was home.

Back downstairs, Discord entered the house, surprisingly through the front door this time. Maybe it was because of his soreness or due to him being tired for the first time in what felt like an eon, but he decided entering his home the old fashion way would be the best- and safer- bet.

True to his word earlier, he had gone to see his good friend Fluttershy and as the Gods of luck would have it (he called it “Miss Fortune” and “Sir Prize” for the sake of his usual luck), he walked in on her with her new girlfriend, Rainbow Fiend. Or was it Dash? He forgot the little details like that at times. Either way, they had been sitting on her couch NOT watching a movie despite the television being on and were caught up in some strange staring contest. Since neither of them seemed to yell at him to leave or reacted out of anything besides shock, he took it as he was welcomed to stay.

Despite the fact both were only half dressed.

Not that Discord about things like that, he just wanted something to take his mind of the situation he had been in with the Princess. So, he rambled on about his encounter and Fluttershy kinda listened to him; she was still too caught up in trying to see how much she could make Rainbow squirm under her to give any good advice outside of just relaxing and maybe watching a movie. So, he did just that. He stayed on her couch and watched the strange little film- which turned out to be a cartoon- and he soon found himself laughing away. It seemed to have something to do with superheroes and one two of them wore red masks. One seemed to have all the powers of a spider while the other seemed to have the power to break the fourth wall to his own gain.

He was hooked for the entire airing of it. Or he was until it got late and Rainbow Fiend told him to go home, despite him still needing counseling from his friend. Fluttershy told him the best thing to do was go home, take a shower, and sleep it off. But Discord wasn’t so sure. At least, not until Rainbow grabbed and proceeded to teach him what a ‘purple nurple’ was.

His poor right nipple was still sore from that. And it had hurt twice as much as he realized at first. It was like having a laser pierced his chest, but not go all the way through. At least he did leave a little gift as payback, which he figured was going to lead to a lot of fun. But maybe not for them! Well, for Fluttershy maybe, but Rainbow would squirm something fierce! 

Discord shrugged, using a quick spell to heal the pain, as if nothing happened. But now he was bored, with nothing else to do until possibly the next day! It was going to boring until he would start back up with his new part time job as Cupid. Maybe he should have left the pain just so he could have something to mull over in his thoughts? Maybe he should just take a shower now?

Yeah, that sounded about right. A nice, long shower could be just what he needed. He just needed to grab a change of clothes, feed his stomach, and then he could just ease into a relaxing water down.

“Perfect idea!” Discord announced to himself, heading up the stairs.

Whistling a tune to himself, he entered his bedroom by skipping along merrily. Discord went to his closet, opening the door and peering into a vast, open space with all of his clothes flying around. 

“So, let’s see… Change now or later?” Discord questioned himself for no reason before laughing at the question, “I’m home, duh! I can change whenever I want!” He striped out of his shirt and tie in a quick motion and started to undo his belt. He paused for a moment, thinking aloud, “... I have the strangest feeling of being watched.”

For a moment or two, he wasn’t sure what to do. He looked left, then right, and paused. Discord then turned around completely toward his bed, only to have the surprise of his life. Sitting there on his bed was none other than Celestia.

She gazed at him with a sultry smile, sitting up on her side a little bit, and was completely naked. Her pure white coat seemed to glow in the warm light of the room, confirming that she truly had nothing on. With her tail drapped over her hips, it covered the area between her legs. All while her mane was parted in two, hanging low over her shoulders and tastefully covering her chest. She wasn’t even wearing her tiara!

Sure enough, her usual white dress was thrown over his chair, her underpants were on the floor, and there was no bra to be seen.

“I was wondering when you would finally notice me,” Celestia purred, giggling.

Discord looked at her oddly for a moment before smiling at her and waving it off, “Oh, hi, Tia. I didn’t see you-” He stopped for a moment, slowly turning away from her. He was silent as if he was trying to process the moment to the best of his abilities until…

“What are you doing here?! WHY?! What did I do?! When?! HOW?! Chicken cow?!”

Celestia giggled, leaning up a bit more on her hand, “I wanted to surprise you. Besides, you’ve always popped in without warning… Why can’t I do the same?”

“Uh, because you’re NAKED?!” Discord shouted at lounge top, “I don’t go walking around showing my junk to the world! And why would you want to show up naked for ME?! Weren’t you, ya know, MAD at me?”

“Discord… I think you know me better than that,” Celestia twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, “I can’t stay mad at you for long… Besides, I forgive you. Let’s let bygones be bygones, shall we? As for why I’m naked for you… isn’t it obvious? If you haven’t figured it out by now, I might just have to show you…”

“HOW could I figure this out? And yes, I do know you which is why I don’t understand what the hell is going on here!” Discord had completely lost his cool at this point, his voice going speaky and high pitched by the end of his little rant.

Giving a laugh, Celestia smiled and sat up on her knees now, giving him a suggestive smile, “Now you’re just being silly. But you always had a way of making me laugh.”

“Since when?!” Discord said, then broke his concentration, “But okay, you do laugh at times. Still, that’s not the point! You don’t normally do this kinda thing!” 

“Oh, come on now… You can’t tell me you don’t want me…” Celestia purred, “I know you do… I’ve seen the way you look at me…”

Discord shook his head in utter confusion, “You totally avoided my question! And I- maybe I have, but you never- I mean, I haven’t ever seen you notice that. So, what’s your game, Princess?! What are you trying to get out of me?”

“Your clothes, for one,” Celestia winked, “Don’t you remember the love arrows, Discord? They make you a little more...loose? Not to mention going straight for the one you love? I think you can connect the dots~”

“But… I don’t have any dots to connect,” Discord whined a little, then quickly went back to freaking out, “Not the point! You’re… naked! I don’t know how to react to this!”

“Sure you do,” Celestia leaned back now, arching her back a little, “Isn’t it nice to be on the receiving end for once, Discord? Or it’s not?”

“I… don’t… know,” Discord simply stared at her.

“Suit yourself,” Celestia sat up more, winking at him, “Now unless you want me to end up making terrible puns or pick up lines, you might want to make a decision…”

“Uh… you may continue for now,” Discord blinked a few times, slowly sitting down on the floor now.

“What are you doing?” Celestia now lay on her stomach, gazing down at him as she lay her cheek against her hand.

“Trying to figure out what to do next,” Discord said honestly.

Celestia giggled, swinging her legs a little, “Cat got your tongue?”

Discord shook his head, “No, that’ll be Rarity later…”

“Mm, what in the name of me shall I do?” Celestia giggled, swinging her legs slowly, “I can’t believe you’re trying to do this… Now of all times, you try to bring logic around? Goodness, you’re losing your touch.”

Discord again shook his head, jumping up to his feet, “What?! Me, logic? Not in this universe, Princess! I’m still the best at what I do!”

“Ah, now there’s the Discord I know and love,” Celestia purred, rising up on her hands a little bit, “If you really are, you’re going to have to prove it.”

Discord blinked a few times as he arms hung at his sides, “Uh, how would I do that?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the expert,” Celestia snorted.

“But you’re naked and I’m not! This is… a very backwards situation. I would have never have guess this would be like this.”

“What’s wrong, it’s not making enough sense?” Celestia smiled, winking at him, “What fun is there in making sense?”

“I- you can’t go using my own words against me!” Discord said back to her.

Celestia blew a raspberry, “You do that to me all the time. Fair’s fair, honey. Now, are you going to do something, or do I have to get up, pin you to that wall, and show you I’m not kidding around?”

“Uh…” Discord blinked a few times again, unsure how to react, “How about you do that then?”

Now Celestia brightened, getting up off the bed, “Very well, then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Before he could get another word in, she strode over and pinned him against the wall. Pressing their bodies flush together, Celestia leaned up toward him, her hands on either side of his head.

“If we’re not on your bed soon, I will go more crazy,” Celestia whispered sultrily.

“Uh…” Discord leaned back into the wall even more, trembling as he did so, “Define crazy…”

Celestial giggled and poked his nose, “Do you really want to know?”

“Sure, why not?” Discord shrugged, nervously laughing at the situation.





Yawning and stretching, Rainbow sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She glanced over to the other side of the bed, looking down at a sleeping Fluttershy. Giving a smile, she leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, then got out of bed. 

She went into the bathroom, mumbling in discontent about getting up for this in the middle of the night. It was no fun. Regardless, at least she had Fluttershy to cuddle with. Over the past two nights, it had been great sharing the bed with her. Fluttershy was even proposing they spend the next night at her cottage, which Rainbow figured they could try.

After finishing up, Rainbow went back into the room and crawled back into bed. Although she didn’t feel sleepy, for whatever reason, she did still want to get back to snuggles. Much to her surprise, Fluttershy was waking up the moment she came back into bed.

“Oh, hey, Flutters. Sorry I woke you,” Rainbow whispered.

Fluttershy looked a bit drowsy for a moment, but it was gone in an instant. She smiled brightly at her and reaching over to pull Rainbow Dash into her arms, “Don’t you even dare apologize to me for waking me up to best sight I could… So, you just get over here and give me a good morning kiss~”

“Sure thing~” Although Rainbow was about to point out it was the middle of the night, she decided against it. Instead she grinned, cuddling closer and kissing her sweetly. This was also the nicer part of sharing a bed with someone you loved, it was waking up next to them.

Fluttershy cuddled her back, giggling even as she pulled back from the kiss only to repeat it once more before speaking, “So, this makes it our third day anniversary… Wow, not only does it feel a lot longer than that, but I’m starting to think you’re rubbing off on me even more… Not that I mind any rubbing you might do.” 

“There are day anniversaries?” Rainbow chuckled a little, “Wow, next thing you know there’s gonna be two hour anniversaries or something! But, yeah, only three days? Kinda does feel like it’s been way longer.”

Fluttershy giggled a little at that, but replied anyway, “I wouldn’t do that to you… unless that’s what you wanted me to. Anyway, I do think it feels like we’ve been dating for a lot longer than three days.”

“It’s okay, call it what you want,” Rainbow waved it off, “Well, maybe it’s ‘cause… we’ve had crushes for a long time?”

“Maybe? By the way, when do you have to go to work today, anyway?” Fluttershy asked her sweetly, reaching up to play in Rainbow’s hair, “Or… am I going to have to call off for you?”

“Uh…” Rainbow was conflicted. She shuddered a bit, letting out a little coo from her touch, “Er, I gotta be in by eleven, we’re planning a thunderstorm tonight. But I’d be back by five! Four if I’m lucky!”

“Are you sure about that?” Fluttershy giggled, kissing Rainbow on the neck a few times as she trailed lower on her body, “I could think of a few ways you could be more lucky than that… but on the other hand, I do love listening to thunderstorms. Decisions, decisions…”

“Flutters!” Rainbow giggled from her ministrations, nuzzling her hair, “Come oooon, don’t get me all conflicted! Besides, we still got at least seven hours before I gotta go!”

“Only seven?” Fluttershy paused for a moment, then nibbled on Rainbow’s collarbone, “I guess we could make the best of now…”

“We still gotta sleep…” Rainbow chuckled, stroking Fluttershy’s hair as she bit back a moan, squirming a little.

“But I’m not tired,” Fluttershy looked up to her with a smile, “What time is it anyway? I’m just curious to know just much leeway I have to try to get you naked…”

“Shy!” Rainbow blushed, playfully poking her nose. She rolled around to face her alarm clock and squinted in the darkness. “Wait… that can’t be right.”

Fluttershy brought her arms around Rainbow’s waist, cuddling her from the back, “What is it, Rainbow? What time is it?”

“This clock’s broken, there’s no way it’s eight-fifteen,” Rainbow frowned a little.

“Oh,” Fluttershy paused for a moment, then shrugged it off, “Oh well… It’s fine since you seem to know what time it is. You wanna… you know, stay in bed?”

“But it’s still dark… this makes no sense,” Rainbow muttered, moving to sit up, but Fluttershy grabbed her back.

Fluttershy giggled once more, “So, your clocks are a little fast… I think they just take after you in wanting to be early. What’s the problem?”

“Something just doesn’t feel right,” Rainbow squirmed a bit, giggling, “Flutters! Come on, stop it…” She protested half-heartedly, all too gladly cuddling her.

“But you’re so comfy,” Fluttershy objected playfully, kissing the back of her neck, “Besides, do you really wanna get up and leave me all by myself? Cold, wet, and alone?”

“No, of course I’m not gonna leave you like that!” Rainbow squirmed happily, giggling, “I-wait, what do you mean wet? You feel dry as a bone!”

Fluttershy laughed a little, taking one of Rainbow’s hands placing it in between her thighs and holding it there, “I never said specified where, did I?” 

Eyes going wide, Rainbow could feel warmth and dampness there. It was especially mind-melting to feel her there, as well as the fact there was only the fabric of her nightie in place, “But we just got up… That fast?”

“Well… you never asked me how long I was actually up,” Fluttershy laughed for a moment as she rubbed Rainbow’s hand against her thighs, “I might have been awake a little longer than you think or I might have woken up earlier then went back to bed… You never know…”

“W-What?” Rainbow blinked, unsure whether or not to pull her hand away, “But, you were sleeping when I got up! So it had to be before! Why were you up, though?”

Fluttershy shrugged again, giggling all the same, “I don’t know… maybe I was horny and didn’t want to wake you up. Would… that have upset you?”

“No! No, not at all! It’s just… what’d you do?” Rainbow slowly pulled her hand away with reluctance.

“Oh, gee… why don’t you take a quick guess~” Fluttershy teased with a wink.

“Flutters! I’m not good at guessing games!” Rainbow blushed, “...You went into the bathroom and uh, you know… made yourself feel better!”

“Yes, that… only not in the bathroom,” Fluttershy giggled once more at her, “I’m just starting to regret saying we should take it slow…”

“...Now you’re giving me mixed signals,” Rainbow pouted playfully as she rolled over to face her, “But why? I know you have needs, but it can’t be this bad, can it?”

“... No, it can be that bad,” Fluttershy pouted back, “... I really wanna have sex for some reason, despite the fact that I know we should wait. I just… I’ve just really wanted to have you like that for a little bit.”

Rainbow blushed heavily, her eyes going wide as she shook a little, “This is… it makes no sense! How are you suddenly hornier now that we’re, you know, dating? I mean, I want you too, I’ve wanted you for ages! It’s just… it’s a little sudden!”

“Um… no,” Fluttershy even brighter than Rainbow did, trying to smile, “I’ve… always kind of been like that… It’s not like I’m more pure or have better control than anyone else. It’s not like that was first time I’ve… you know, done that before.”

“No way, I didn’t mean that!” Rainbow shook her head, “Of course you have needs and get horny and stuff! I guess I just, didn’t think-wait…” She looked at her with shock, “....You’re not a virgin?”

“That’s kind of subjective…” Fluttershy blushed even more, “Um… I’ve never had sex before, that’s true, but… well, I… How do you put it? Um… I’ve used sex toys before and… well, you can understand what that can lead to…”

“Oh! Well, that doesn’t even count as losing your virginity!” Rainbow snorted, shaking her head. She laughed a bit, nuzzling her, “In case you didn’t know, I’m a virgin. ...Although in high school, I told everyone I wasn’t.”

“Well, I could have told you that,” Fluttershy joked, looking down at the bed sheets, “But yeah… So, are you mad? I mean, at me not telling you that sooner?”

“Why would I be mad?” Rainbow looked at her with a tilted head, “You didn’t do anything wrong!”

“So… do you wanna…” Fluttershy trailed for a moment before giggling to herself, “What’s the phrase? Pop my cherry…”

“Well, of course I do! ...Cheesy as that sounds,” Rainbow snorted, but otherwise nuzzled her cheek, “I definitely want to have sex with you! No, wait, I’m gonna be cheesy. Whatever, I don’t care… What I meant to say, is that I want to make love to you~”

“Rainbow… neither of those things sound cheesy, so stop worrying about your self image when your half naked in your bed with me,” Fluttershy laughed at her sweetly, pulling Rainbow Dash on top of her with a smile, “And second of all, I love you… So why don’t we do something rather than talk about it this time, huh~?”

“I….” Rainbow was completely taken aback. 

She hadn’t meant for it to sound like she wanted it immediately. But now she was stuck, not just physically, but emotionally. There was such a sweetness and adorable excitement to Fluttershy in this moment. It truly did mean a lot to her. Just as it did to herself. What were they waiting for? She wanted this too. She wanted to just make sweet love to her best friend, the one she loved more than anything. Did it really matter when it happened? It was dark, they were alone, in bed together, and very much ready.

Giving a grin, Rainbow leaned down and kissed her sweetly, “I love you too, Fluttershy! Now let’s make love!”

Just as it seemed Fluttershy was going to burst, her alarm went off. Not Rainbow’s alarm however, but one on the night shelf itself. It was Fluttershy’s wristwatch actually, one she had usually kept on just in case so she never slept past nine in the morning. It made her jump a little as she looked over at it. 

“Oh… Oh my. Is it… no, is it really nine in the morning?” Fluttershy blinked a few times before looking over at the window and made a strange comment, “Is the Sun even up?”

“No, it’s not!” Rainbow exclaimed, sitting up, “That’s why I was wondering why it was after eight and the sun wasn’t up! Now your watch says nine, my clock says nine…”

She dashed out of bed, hurrying out into the living room. The clock in there also said nine. Rainbow went into the kitchen, seeing the oven clock and the wall clock said nine. Even the clock in the bathroom read the same time.

“No way… this isn’t happening!” Rainbow exclaimed, coming back into the bedroom, “The clocks aren’t fast! The sun isn’t up! What happened?! Princess Celestia always raises the sun by dawn!”

“Maybe today’s become a day off?” Fluttershy giggled a bit at her own joke, “I’m sure she has a reason for this… Or at least an excuse.”

“Maybe… I don’t know! I’m gonna go call Twilight…” Rainbow turned on a lamp, beelining for the phone, “She might know what’s going on!”

“Do you have to?” Fluttershy pouted a little she watched Rainbow Dash get up, “I mean, yes… She might know, but still…”

Holding the phone up and just about to dial, Rainbow looked at her questioningly, “What’s wrong, Flutters? I just want to know what’s happening…”

“I know, I know… I guess I was just excited that we were about to finally go all the way,” Fluttershy said with a faint smile.

“Flutters… I understand, I know,” Rainbow sighed, but wasn’t without compassion, “I’m sorry, the mood’s a little ruined right now and I’m kinda more concerned about what’s going on out there. Look, I’ll just call Twilight, see if we can figure it out, and then we’ll just… cuddle, okay?”

Fluttershy gave an exhale, nodding, “Okay then… We can do that.”

“Then we’ll see what happens! Promise!” Rainbow said. She dialed Twilight’s number, anxiously squeezing the phone and holding it to her ear, “C’mon, Twilight… pick up!”

Sure enough, the call was answered… but not the pony Rainbow had been expecting to answer the call. Not at all.

“Hello~ You have reached the address of Princess Twilight Sparkle, also known as the Princess of Friendship and head of the Friendship Council. She is currently sleeping at the moment due to a late night screening of a movie called Dogma. May I take a message?”

“...Pinkie?!” Rainbow exclaimed with surprise, “What are you doing there? What’s going on? Where-never mind! You gotta wake up Twilight! Princess Celestia didn’t raise the sun and it’s after nine!”

“It is?” Pinkie said in her usual bubbly tone, “I’ve been wearing a blindfold since I got up, so I haven’t noticed. But I’m sure Princess Celestia has a reason for this and- to be honest- I kinda don’t wanna wake Twi up from last night. She makes this cute little snoring noise at times too, it’s adorable~”

Rainbow stared at the phone, dumbfounded. She sighed a bit, shaking her head, “Okay, look, I understand that! Flutters makes these cute little snores when she sleeps too! But I’m serious. Twilight needs to get a hold of Princess Celestia fast! Something’s going on!”

“Okay, first, you need to calm down and stop shouting. It’s not going to help getting all worked up about something you cannot directly influence or change,” Pinkie chastised her friend playfully, “Secondly, it’s important for ponies to get at least six hours of sleep to function properly! It would be horribly rude to just wake her up like that.”

“Pinks, it’s not like you’d be waking her up to ask where she put the butter. It’s important,” Rainbow said, managing to calm down a little bit more.

“Well, duh. I would ask Spike that over Twily,” Pinkie giggled a bit at her friend over the phone, “But I’m still not gonna get her up. Besides, then she would panic, make a call and maybe not even get an answer. Think of it like this: if Celestia was at the castle, the Sun would be up. If she was in danger, we would have been contacted already. So, logic dictates that Tia is obviously in control over whatever is going on. So, relax!” 

“...Good point, I guess,” Rainbow sighed, “Okay look, just… tell Twilight what’s going on after she gets up. I gotta know what I’m supposed to do when I go to work later, since we gotta put a storm together.”

“My advice is to turn today into a day off!” Pinkie chimed in with glee, “But I make no promises since things like this always seem to solve themselves before I get a chance to explain.”

“I’ll just see what happens. See you later, Pinks,” Rainbow was about to hang up, only to bring the phone back, “Wait! Why are you even at Twilight’s, anyway?”

“I got shot by a magical arrow and spilled over Twilight in a very articulate way about my stance of love, life, and personal feelings towards her and how they are in a more unique. Thus leading to the two of us talking for several hours, watching a date comedy movie and her falling into slumber at my side wither final words asking me to be her girlfriend,” Pinkie gave a quick explanation, “So, here I am and to sleep better in a room that was not my own, I put on a blindfold and allowed myself to drift into a state ether-real consciousness. Which was actually highly effective with Twi being a cuddle bug.”

Rainbow stared at the phone, completely taken aback by this explanation. Pinkie was always one to be strange in how she worded things, but she wasn’t a liar. “So… in other words, you spent the night; now you and Twilight are a couple?”

“That would seem to be case,” Pinkie chimed back almost impishly, which was even stranger for her with a strange european tone, “But I can’t complain about it. She’s just so cute right now! Oh, anyway, I’ll let her know if somethings still wrong with the sky when she gets up. You take care and let Discord shoot you in the butt with one of his arrows, ‘kay? Chiao~”

“...Okay, in order, thanks a lot. I will take care, I guess. And no, I don’t need nor want Discord shooting me with an arrow anywhere on my body! Fluttershy’s got enough of that between the both of us! Also, I’m not sure what’s up with that accent, but I’ve seen weirder. Bye!” Rainbow then hung up the phone, “I still have no idea what that was all about.”

Fluttershy peeked up from the blankets, looking at Rainbow curiously, “Um… So, did you get ahold of Twilight at all or no?”

“Did you not hear my side of the conversation?” Rainbow snorted with a light laugh, “It was Pinkie.”

“I… wasn’t really paying that much attention,” Fluttershy said with a blush, laughing a little herself, “I caught bits and pieces of it, but not nearly enough, obviously since I was… taking care of myself real quick. So… Pinkie was at Twilight’s? That’s interesting…”

“Wait… what were you doing under there?” Rainbow asked, going back over to the bed.

“Just… things,” Fluttershy blushed an even bright shade of crimson to that, “With my fingers… under the blanket. To… not be as aroused as I was anymore… Because I find your voice very soothing… and… Okay, yes, I was getting off while you on the phone... I’m sorry.”

“...Oh,” Rainbow replied, crestfallen. She tried all she could to hide it, especially since it felt to be her own fault in the first place. “Okay, then.”

“I just… you said the mood was kind of dead after that and, well… I was still in the mindset,” Fluttershy attempted to explain, “I didn’t want to be drooling all over you like some horny schoolgirl or anything… Oh, I’m sorry…”

“No no no!” Rainbow shook her head wildly, “I’m the one who should be sorry, Fluttershy. I still brushed you off and I didn’t even try to get the mood back in! Now I can’t even do it and it’s my fault. You can’t even drool all over me like a horny schoolgirl!” She added in a joking manner.

“It’s not your fault, things happen and that’s part of life. It would be really stupid of me to hold that against you… It was my alarm on my watch that did it, so it’s not even like you were indirectly related to it at all. So, really I don’t see- what do you mean I can’t?” Fluttershy cut herself off mid sentence, her tone doing a complete 180 out of nowhere, “I can too be all over you like that! I just… I thought you’d rather me calm down so I didn’t do anything brash or anything. But I could you know! I-I could do it right now! I mean… if you were okay with it… or even if you weren’t! I just… I’m conflicted now.”

Rainbow looked at her again, trying to make sense of it all, and even what she herself said. She sighed, sitting back onto her bed, “Okay, bad choice of words! I was kinda… I don’t know what I was saying! I’m way confused right now, and I’m not even sure what to do! This is all way too new.”

“... Oh no, you’re not sweet talking your way out of this one, Rainbow! “Fluttershy quickly got on top of Rainbow and pinned her down in one, swift motion.

Eyes going wide, Rainbow was speechless for a few seconds, her cheeks flushed, “W-What are you doing?”

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes at Rainbow, giving her a more tension, almost serious expression on her face, “I’ve been trying to be nice and mindful, but damn it! I want to have sex, Rainbow… and so, I’m going give you a choice. You can either take off your clothes and we can have sex like a loving couple, or I’ll do it and fuck you silly for the six hours… How’s that?”

For a few seconds, Rainbow just stared at her, wide-eyed. It didn’t help that Fluttershy being this assertive (and swearing!) was turning her on. She trembled slightly, despite being unable to move in this position. Her heart raced and every bit of her being was begging for this. 

“Okay… you win! I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, her voice cracking with anticipation, “I’ll take my clothes off! You’re just gonna have to let me move, but I will, I promise! No detours, no interruptions, the phone can keep ringing and let the mail mare ring twice!”

Fluttershy pulled back very slowly, taking a deep breath to calm down, “I’m sorry if I got carried away there for a second… I guess I’m just sick of suppressing that part of me… I’m sorry,” She managed a faint smile, “... I’ll be gentle, okay?”

Now Rainbow sat up, making good on her promise to begin removing her clothes. These being her night clothes, which left little to remove. She blushed a bit, but did so very slowly, “Nah, no need to be sorry. Besides, it’s really sexy when you get all… assertive and dominating! You really shouldn’t have to repress it!”

“... I shouldn’t?” Fluttershy blinked a few times, not really sure how to respond either now, “So, you’re saying… I should cut loose a little more?”

“Well, yeah! I didn’t know you felt that way, so…” Rainbow didn’t quite look at her, “Now that you told me, we can work with that!”

“Oh. Well, um… okay,” Fluttershy smiled back at her, blushing still, “So… is it okay if I start now?”

Rainbow nodded, turning her gaze back to her, “Sure! Like I said, nothing’s gonna stop us this time. I love you, Flutters, and I want you, too!”

Fluttershy giggled from the gesture of affection, making her playfully push Rainbow back down on the bed, Oh, you! I love you too… but I hope you know what you’re getting into~”

“Honestly, I don’t, but, it’s fine!” Rainbow reached up to touch her face, stroking her cheeks, “But making love with you sounds like it’ll be awesome~”

“Then, I guess I’ll ask this… Did you want to start with a kiss?” Fluttershy gave her an impish grin.

Rainbow laughed and grinned, “That sounds like a great way to start!”

Fluttershy nodded, but did not end up kissing her on the lips like how she thought. Instead, she ended up going much lower. Past her waist. Right between her legs and…

Oh, it was going to be a long morning.





The bedroom being a mess was hardly an unusual occurrance. Especially for Discord’s bedroom. However, as he sat there on his bed, looking around his room, it was completely unlike what he was used to. Feathers were strewn about everywhere, items were fallen over or crooked, there were scratch marks along the floor and walls, the bed was broken, and his pants were hanging over a lamp. Shaped like himself, of course.

A feather landed on his head. Discord whistled in amazement, then looked over at the other side of his bed, seeing Celestia asleep there. Her hair was a mess, she had feathers on her face, and her share of… hickeys along her neck and shoulders. She was also drooling. Aside from looking messy, she did still emit cute little snores when she wasn’t reflexively blowing a feather off her lips.

Discord looked at her oddly for a moment before sitting up in shock and pointed at her and proceeded to shout, “You’re not asleep! No one’s blows feathers off their faces when they're out like a light!”

Celestia smiled and opened one eye, “Not even you?”

“Well, it depends on the situation and context of the situation versus the comedic timing of the- ah ha! You ARE awake!” Discord proclaimed in triumph, “Called it!”

Giggling, Celestia opened her eyes and sat up a bit, “You got me… I’ve been awake for the past few minutes. I was just wondering when you would catch on~”

“Well, the jokes on you! I’ve been awake for half an hour now trying to determine if this was a dream or not,” Discord replied pompously, making a ‘hmp’ sound as he turned his nose up, “But that’s beside the point. I’m not the one leaking all over my bed.”

“Well I certainly hope it wasn’t a dream,” Celestia winked.

“Yeah, after thinking it over, I don’t think it was dream since you’re still here,” Discord said casually, shrugging a little, “So, yeah. You attacked me, raped me in my own home, I totally went along with it so it turned into not rape, and now, there’s a chance you might get preg-” he paused as he expression changed to total shock, “You haven’t raised the Sun yet! O my you, I’m gonna get into so much trouble because of this!!! What have you done to me?! That nutjob Kermit is going to turn me into stone again! And he wasn’t even there for the first time! But I see it know… Oh, the stoning… The HORRIBLE STONING again!”

Celestia giggled and patted his shoulder, “Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ll just go home and fix everything. They won’t even know I was here.”

Discord gave her a very flat look, “And the current time is?”

“Oh, look… It’s after nine…” Celestia giggled, sitting up more, “I’d better get going! Too bad, this was fun… At least I hope it was…” She pouted a little, but magically dressed herself, “I’ll see you later! Bye now!”

“Don’t mock me!” Discord shouted, “That was my first time having sex in eons and I truly did enjoy it, but that’s all for naught if I die! I fully expect you back here after your- um, Princessing stuff you do and I demand we talk about this!”

“All right, I will be,” Celestia smiled, getting up and stretching, “And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. This is our secret…”

“... It is?” Discord blinked a few times, “Well, after you leave, I’m probably going to lose my head and go seeking advice on what the heck I should do now all this has happened, recall something I said and freak out even more, then simply accept what’s happened and being fearful of what you’ll do once the sex high wears off. Just giving a fair warning.”

“Oh, I’m getting the feeling these… magical arrows just heighten what you would normally do,” Celestia ruffled his hair and kissed his head, “I’ll see you tonight! Goodbye now,” she then magically disappeared in a brief flash.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her chambers. Celestia sighed happily, heading over to her vanity and preparing for the day. Her messy hair didn’t even bother her in the slightest. In fact, nothing seemed to get to her. All she felt was immensely happy, like she had no care in the world. Not even depressing thoughts were enough to sour her mood. She giggled a little, hugging herself and getting up to do a little dance.

“What a lovely day this is!”

She smoothed her dress, then paused. No need to heal the hickeys just yet. She put on her regalia, then headed to her closet to put on a slip over her shoulders.

“There we are…” She murmured, feeling more prepared for the day. “Now, the sun…”

Coming out onto her balcony, she was surprised to find the sun just barely rising past the mountainous horizon. Like it was struggling to rise up. She giggled, then proceeded to raise it the rest of the way with ease. The land was now bathed in sunlight, as if the prolonged nighttime hadn’t happened.

Once done, Celestia headed out of her room and into the hallway. She could hear the surprised murmurs of servants nearby, to which she followed to the source. Sure enough, a small crowd of maids and guards were talking amongst each other, whispering and murmuring with concern.

Celestia smiled, approaching them, “Good morning, everyone. I’m sorry I’m late raising the sun. I was a little… preoccupied, if you will.”

One of the royal guards seemed to rush through the group, disbursing them as quickly as he appeared, “Princess Celestia! Where have you been?! The entire castle has been flipped on its head looking for you! Luna has gone mad twice over trying to lift the Sun again- she painted herself like you and everything- Kibitz has been running us all ragged looking for you, and most of the council here has been considering calling up your student, Twilight, to start a country wide search for you!”

“Oh! Oh, I see,” said a very undeterred Celestia, waving her hand, “again, I apologize for that. I was very busy last night and lost track of the time. Where is Luna? I’ll go and speak with her so we can settle these matters. Have any other troubles occurred?”

The guard blinked a few times, unsure of how to react until he squeaked out an answer, “S-She should still be in the main courtroom rocking back and forth in an emotional breakdown.”

“Princess!” Came the head of the guard, Silverwind, she looked at Celestia with concern, “What in the world happened? You’re acting quite strange.”

“Strange? But I feel wonderful, why wouldn’t I be?” Celestia said with a light giggle, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle this crisis and make sure everything is back on track, Captain Silverwind. Everything is going to be just fine. I’ll go see Luna and help her feel better at once.”

“I…” the captain of the guard reeled back in confusion, but could not bring herself to speak against this idea, “... Very well then, Princess. Just, please, for our sakes, do calm Kibitz down before he has us start throwing random ponies in the dungeon again.”

“Hee, don’t you worry about Kibitz, I’ll make sure he’s calm,” Celestia assured her with a smile, “You can all get right back to work when you’re ready."

"As if we had a choice,”  Silverwind said back flatly, but turned away to face the others, “All right, you lot! You heard the Princess! Return to your post and spread the word that she has returned from… wherever she was! Move!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” The other guards nodded, before spreading out to their respective destinations.

“Good work,” Celestia smiled, turning to head down the hall, going for the courtroom.

Upon arrival, she came to find Luna sitting there in her usual chair, a bit shaken up. She was soaking wet, while Kibitz was standing near her, holding a garden hose that extended outside a window. The moment she came into the room, they looked up and noticed her. Both of them had wide, shocked eyes, then looked outside as if to confirm, and back to Celestia.

Celestia smiled at them, “Hellooo there! I’m sorry I’m late. It’s been… whoo, a crazy night! What did I miss?”

“Sister!” Luna flew out of her chair and hurried to her, dripping water all over the floor, “Where in the seven circles of Tartarus have you been?! When you didn’t raise the sun, I had to check around for you! You weren’t even in your bed! I thought for sure that the mirror was active again! I had to check Starswirl’s old library to be sure! And then I had to take over for you-again! What in the world were you thinking?!”

“Why are you all wet?” Celestia asked, looking her over, “Oh! It was because you painted yourself to look like me, right?”

“Do not patronize me, sister!” Luna grabbed both sides of Celestia’s face for effect and forced the to be eye level, “The Sun does not like me! As much as I begged and pleaded for it to raise, would not! So I tried to trick it, to which I failed… It must have been because of my hair! Like the night sky, always- nevermind! Take over! Take the throne and make Kibitz stop ranting about the royal decrees of the things I care for! Just. Let. Me. Go!”

“Okay!” Celestia hugged her, not caring about getting wet, “You go get some sleep, Luna. You did well with what you could. I won’t keep you awake any longer. I’ll even tell you all about it at dinner! But take your time, you should sleep in. You deserve it!”

“Thannnnk youuuuuuu!” Luna cuddled her sister for a moment as tightly as she could, almost as if the simple phrase of be released was enough to wash away all the worries of the world. She even nearly passed out right there in Celestia’s arms if not for her own dampness. With her miniature celebration of joy out of the way, she almost ran back to her chamber. Almost. She tried and tripped over her own tail before stumbling away down the hall, slinking back to her bedroom.

Celestia watched her go with a giggle, then went over to where Kibitz was standing, “Good morning Kibitz. Once again, I apologize for being late. But I’m ready to get everything back on track again! Shall we, then?”

“I would certainly hope so! Do you have any idea how far behind schedule you are now?” Kibitz said in a hanty tone, raising his clipboard up, “You already missed this morning’s meeting and breakfast, as well as a hearing over a certain property dispute as well! Not to mention your sister’s mental breakdown also created quite bit of backlash in the palace as well! You’ll need to make a speech to the staff about this later to calm their nerves. And you’ll have to inform me just where you’ve been so I can a notation of what’s happened and why to prevent such a thing for ever happening again!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I was just spending the night with a friend,” Celestia smiled, giggling, “Don’t you worry. I’ll make sure to inform the staff and get everything back on track. Piece of cake! Speaking of cake, maybe I’ll have some after lunch…”

“A friend? Princess, you are over a thousand years old! You do not have ‘sleepovers’ if you will and certainly not without informing me before hand,” Kibitz chastised her like a child, “No cake! It’s not only bad for your diet to eat cake before dinner, but there’s not reason to request our fine chiefs to reschedule their menus just for our own gain!”

“Oh, Kibitz, you worry too much! But okay, no cake!” Celestia giggled, patting his head, “Let’s get to work!”

“... I don’t think you’re treating this the way you should,” Kibitz said quite seriously, “We need to get you back on schedule! First, we need to reset a time for the meeting, push back the noon appointment to three, try to squeeze in an announcement to the palace… there just not enough hours in the day now!”

“Don’t be silly, we can handle that,” Celestia assured, “There’s nothing we can’t overcome! I’ll just put in some more hours before the day’s end.”

“... That’s not how time works, Princess,” Kibitz sweat dropped a bit at her response, “Simply not allowing the Sun the fall will not add any hours, since time in and of itself is a concept and therefore has nothing to do with- you’re not paying any attention to what I’m saying, are you?”

She shook her head, already beelining toward the daily schedule scroll, “Don’t be silly, I’m paying attention. I’m just so happy! It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“It would be if the Sun had risen on time, but as it stands, the day is behind schedule! Everyone’s is,” Kibitz tried his best not to lose any of his composure, “And you most certainly are not. I have served under you since my youth and I know when your mind is wondering. And if you don’t bring it back here, I’ll have to put it on a leash!”

“Okay, okay, you silly thing!” Celestia came back over to him. She placed a hat made out of newspaper onto his head, giggling, “You’re the captain now! Let’s go!”

“I- I am no captain,” Kibitz said bluntly as he took the hat from his head, “And even if I was, the title of Princess would still outrank me.”

“Oh, don’t be so serious!” Celestia gently toyed with his moustache, “Now let’s go! What’s first?”

Kibitz swatted her hand away, “I believe it’s you who should be more serious, Princess…”

“Come now, don’t be such a buzzkill!” Celestia giggled, “Let’s get to it! What were we doing again?”

Groaning, Kibitz almost facepalmed before forcing himself to not do so, “... We were going to throneroom to plan the new schedule for the day before you drive our poor tired old assistant into an early grave.”

“Right! Then let’s get to it! Heigh ho, it’s off to work we go!” Celestia grabbed him by the arm and hurried out of the room.

Trying his best to keep up with her, Kibitz found himself having to step up his usual pace far more than usual. He was the one being dragged around this time and it was certainly an eye opening experience. For one, he did not like it. And two, it only signaled to him that today was going to be the longest, most painful day to get through almost his entire career… 

And three, he prefered the Princess as a not morning pony as opposed to this. Oh, what long day this was going to be.