Fluttershy and Discord really like each other. Unfortunately, they are the only two creatures in Equestria who do not know that the feeling is mutual.
Fluttershy and Discord really love like each other. Unfortunately, they are the only two creatures in Equestria who do not know that the feeling is mutual. Some people, however, will still do their best to pull them apart…But, well, Love is pretty chaotic and they’re in for one heck of a ride.
Fluttershy beat her wings rapidly, her muscles screaming at the ache that had begun to gnaw its way up her outstretched feathers during the physical exertion. The pain was ignored by a determined Fluttershy, who only bit her lip as her only reaction to the discomfort she was putting herself through. Still, she flew on, her strained wings flapping and fluttering, much like the butterfly her heart had become.
A gigantic goofy smile adorned her beaming face, her grin outshining the sun and her teal eyes glassy, lost in her own little world, entrapped by her thoughts that kept her busy as she flew. This proved to be a rather dangerous sport, as she narrowly missed colliding with a high speed Pegasus with a spiked prismatic mane, the blue mare hastily performing a neat mid-air somersault that would have made even Spitfire jealous, her quick skill with acrobatics saving her the embarrassing humiliation of crashing into the other mare. Her head twisted to glare at Fluttershy, her magenta eyes piercing. Her mouth opened to speak, her tongue and lips already forming the words she was going to say at her friend’s obliviousness.
“-!“
A few droplets of spit managed to find their way out of the best flier in Equestria’s mouth, right before Rainbow Dash crashed, her gaze still fixed on the disappearing back of one of her best friends. The mare groaned from her position, perched in an awkward angle, her body half-embedded into a tree. Her wings twitched weakly against her sides, beating gently into the rough bark of the tree.
A blue bird, noticing her predicament, hopped out of its sheltered nest, which had surprisingly survived the invasion without being too badly damaged, and starting flapping in slow and lazy circles about the Pegasus’s reeling head comically. A resigned sigh drifted through the occasional twitters the bird made.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy was still thoroughly immersed in her daydream, her wings now quivering from the uncommon exercise, her muscles once again sending out a distressed call, before they shut down automatically, the blissful relief of the hard work out replaced instantly with panic as Fluttershy at last took notice, snapping out of her trance, as she began to get closer and closer to ground, which welcomed her with a grassy bale. Time froze, its snail-like agonizing pace crawling forward slowly.
“Oh no, no, no, no…”
Her meek and useless protests were left unheard as she tried to right herself from her plunging head first position towards the face of Equestria, and succeeded, somehow, manoeuvring herself with her flailing hooves away from the grassy slopes of the ground and shattering a pale tinted glass window in the process of entering the Carousal Boutique the hard way.
“Ow…”
A clopping sound of delicate hooves that galloped at the speed a lady would, alerted Fluttershy that her friend was coming up the stairs. An elegantly coiffured mane, the deep rich shade of royal purple revealed itself, along with a pale white face, crowned with a single swirled horn. Rarity blinked her dark sapphire eyes, her long lashes framing her inquisitive and startled gaze.
“Fluttershy, darling!” The unicorn gasped loudly. “Whatever are you doing, coming in through the window! I expected such roguish behaviour from Rainbow Dash, but you?”
The well-mannered mare shook her head gracefully in disapproval, her eyebrows rising as Fluttershy gave no answer, her only response being to stare blankly. The Pegasus shook her head quickly, dispelling the last traces of the haze that her brain had been trapped in and looked toward Rarity apologetically. She shuffled her hooves awkwardly, scrutinising the Boutique’s fascinating floorboards.
“Sorry…”
Rarity hmphed, shaking her head. She adjusted her work spectacles, their bright frame having been tilted jauntily to one side from when the fashion designer had rushed to see the commotion that interrupted her work. “It’s alright, darling, but why did you crash? Surely you…” The unicorn trailed off as she turned back to face the wreckage that once was a proud Boutique window, one of the few to have survived the common Creature-Villain Rampages, and noticed that there were a few motes of dust where Fluttershy had been previously, the Pegasus now nowhere in sight. Rarity frowned and shrugged. Seemed like random things were common nowadays. Speaking of random, she could hear Pinkie Pie yelling in the distance, wailing mournfully that Fluttershy had turned into dust and oxygen. Rarity whirled around to exit the room and get back to the entire wardrobe’s worth of dresses that she had been planning for the past five months, hesitating to think out loud.
“I wonder what had gotten Fluttershy so excited?”
The flapping of wings outside was barely audible.
Fluttershy’s wings protested and faltered for the umpteenth time. She glided to the ground, her stalling wings clamping tightly to her sides, refusing to move anytime soon. The Pegasus shifted her wings slightly, starting to trot quickly to her destination instead. The busy market space moved into view, the streets full of bustling ponies swerving left and right in a hurry, carefully avoiding each other and they galloped by. The brightly coloured stalls and signs lay in neat rows, the sound of ponies haggling, as well as the general stagnant smell of sweaty fur and fragrant food filling the air. The equines hurried along, heads lowered, each to their own business and not pausing a moment for idling, not even batting an eye when Pinkie showed up and started handing out pink ‘R.I.P Fluttershy Dust’ flyers with a single logic-defying hoof, her midsection amazingly squeezed through a small mare-hole in the ground, the silver metallic lid clattering to the road beside it. Reality hiccupped.
Despite the other distractions, Fluttershy quickly spotted her target.
A pale green mare rearranged several palm leaf wrapped boxes, each wrapped up with a braided string of fraying threads. Neat white labels waved at Fluttershy from where they were attached, flashing various tags and words, some in strange cursive symbols, their content unknown to her. Fluttershy cocked her head, her interest piqued. The Pegasus darted nervously through the milling crowd with few mishaps, the ache in her wings fading with each passing moment, hopefully recovered enough when it was time for the mad flight home.
The earth pony noticed her, her dark grey eyes shining happily at the sight of a usual customer. She tucked errant strands of her pitch coloured mane back into its perfect oiled bun, beaming at Fluttershy. By the time the mare reached the stand, she was done re-arranging the boxes, and turned to her.
“Hello Leafy Brew!” Fluttershy greeted her cheerfully.
“Ah, Fluttershy! The usual?” The accented voice breezily addressed her.
The Pegasus blinked, a slight frown forming at the little dilemma playing in her head. As a way of answer, she tapped the strange boxes and tags with a hoof. The smell of strong leaves and herbs washed over her.
“What’s this?”
The tea-seller nodded in approval of her query. She lowered her voice dramatically, pushing the box towards its potential buyer.
“It’s from the East! Made from green tea leaves and jasmine extract.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s called green tea, but I’m sure you figured that.”
Fluttershy grinned at the exotic tea in anticipation. “I’ll take it.”
The shop keeper clapped her front hooves happily, slipping the strange resourceful box into a brown paper bag and accepting the hoofful of bits her customer passed her. As soon as the little package was safely tucked behind her wings, where it would not fall easily, she was a dot on the horizon to the market, making a beeline straight for her cottage.
Fluttershy pushed her cottage door open, breathless from her flight back. “I’m ba-ack, Angel!” She wheezed.
The usual cottage occupant, a white fluffy fur ball of attitude, was nowhere in sight. The Pegasus scanned the empty cottage quickly. Worry etched in Fluttershy’s face. She raised her voice slightly higher than it had been. “Angel?”
A glance at the hanging wall clock told her she was late despite her rush to and fro. A mass of animal chittering and roars was the other indicator that her visitor had arrived and was participating in one of his favourite pastimes. Antagonizing animals.
“Oh dear.” ~~~
General Angel tapped the bowl-helmet on his head, the chink sound attracting his little platoon’s attention. They stood in a fairly orderly row, not a toe or tail out of line, paws and an assortment of limbs lifting to brows in a furry salute.
“General Angel, sir!” They squeaked, eyes shining with what Angel could only imagine was admiration for their awesome leader.
Once the occasional titters had died down, the armoured bunny nodded, lifting a chewed carrot to point at a hastily drawn map on a piece of wasted green lettuce. He tapped to a scratched out circle, his voice yelling, menacing and high-pitched.
“Our target is here! We must-“
A loud war cry pierced the animal’s meeting, scattering startled critters. An asymmetrical chimera shrieked at them, waving a Swiss cheese blade, sharpened in the bluntest way possible.
“Attack from behind!”
General Angel scowled at the unwelcome interruption, grabbing a carrot stick and meeting the draconequus’s mad thrusts with a blow of his own.
“Hiiiiiyaaaa!”
The two creatures fenced, each parry and strike drawing more cheer from the other watching animals. The little furries and non-furries oohed and aahed at the fight, some unfortunate ones ducking or jumping out of the way when the enormous smelly sword swung near them.
Sweat dripped down the bunny’s back. The cheese rapier slashed at his ears, dangerously close, too near for the rabbit’s comfort, even as he hit it away with a twist of his vegetable piece. He squeaked again when his opponent ducked his blow and hit Angel on this furry head with the blade’s flat end.
“I need back-up! Pronto!”
A couple animals rushed to help the rabbit general, just as the backyard’s gate swung open and an angry Fluttershy stormed through, nearly every creature freezing at the sight of her furious stare, even if her heart was doing barrel rolls in her chest at the sight of the Lord of Chaos.
“Angel! Discord!” She snapped.
An innocent smile flew to the Lord of Chaos’s face, his maniacal grin twitching at the corners of his mouth, the Swiss cheese sword vanishing in a flash of white light. Angel continued whacking at the chimera’s dragon foot with his broken carrot stick, oblivious to his owner’s anger until one of the squirrels swiftly snatched it from his paws and ate it in a weak attempt to get rid of the evidence. A heavily thick awkward tension ensued, the only movement being the squirrel’s chewing. The atmosphere lightened slightly when the poor thing started choking on the stale vegetable and had to be saved by its fellows and given some water. Then the three creatures, the bunny, draconequus and mare went into the house, the previous two cowering away from the latter.
“Sit!” A yellow hoof pointed sharply to the poor but well-loved green couch, who, in its defence, had done nothing wrong, which Discord thought cheekily in his head, but did not say out loud in fear of adding to Fluttershy’s fire.
When both of them had settled down on separate corners of the sofa, Fluttershy turned to grab a tray of flowery porcelain tea cups, each filled to the brim with yellowish and strong liquid that put to mind bamboo and walls. In the split second her back was turned, Discord’s and Angel’s eyes met, their expressions mirrored. We’ll finish this later, Angel mouthed, a threatening white paw, clean even though it was invisibly stained with the blood of vegetable massacres, drawing across his windpipe, which was met with Discord’s scowl, baring sharp canines.
“Tea?” Fluttershy sweetly offered them each a cup, which they accepted graciously, the tiny thing being comical in contrast to the large lion paw that held it. The three beings sipped simultaneously. Then Fluttershy opened her mouth, getting straight to business.
The knocking sound of a hoof against wood saved the two misbehavers, who sighed in relief at the mercy of the visitor. The buttery mare must have been thinking the same thing, for she told them, “We will continue this later, don’t think you are getting out of trouble, misters.”
She opened the door, revealing a lavender alicorn, her navy bangs with pink and purple highlights windswept from walking briskly.
When the alicorn saw Fluttershy, she sighed. Seeing the Pegasus’s raised eyebrow, Twilight explained. “I know I shouldn’t have listened to Pinkie, but she said you had transmogrified into dust.” Twilight rolled her eyes at how silly the words were coming out of her mouth. She then continued. “Also, I need to pick up a new feather brush for Owlicious.”
Looking over her friend’s shoulder and spotting Discord, Twilight stiffened reflexively, frowning.
“Why is he here?”
Fluttershy matched her frown, her eyes narrowing in warning, her expression uncharacteristically serious. “He’s my friend and he was here for tea, but I was late and found his making fun of the animals again, so I was trying to make him and Angel apologise.”
Twilight looked back at the chimera, who was most definitely not apologising, but throttling Angel, the bunny in turn chewing his claw, hanging a few feet above the ground as his captor hovered. The draconequus, noticing her, mouthed ‘not a word’ to his observer, who relented, in fear of being targeted for a week of chaotic pranks, the Master of Chaos’s usual punishment for tattletales, she knew from her own experience.
Twilight nodded. “I’ll come back later, then.” She left quickly, glad she would not be caught in the mayhem. Sure enough, when she was meters away from the cottage, Fluttershy’s enhanced shouts predictably caught up to her, blasting her a few feet, her hooves clapping over ears immediately.
“ANGEL! DON’T PLAY WITH-…DISCORD! NO! PUT DOWN THAT CHAINSAW!”
Twilight whistled slowly, shaking her head. “Yikes, tough love.”
Disclaimer: This chapter contains fluff and fourth-wall breaking.
"Discord! Get the materials for the s'mores!" Fluttershy hollered, sweat dripping down her back as she searched through the array of coloured blankets frantically, biting her lip to stop from crying out in despair. Discovering a stuffed toy under the nest of fabric, she tossed it aside, before turning around expectantly.
"Here!" Discord paused his pillow conjuring, to look for the items in question. A plate balanced itself precariously on the end of a scaly red snake tail, the feathery tufts of white gripping it, as if it were a hand. The ingredients tipped to a side, the slanting mound of marshmallows stopped from their floor ward plunge by a strand of the white plume. It swung into Fluttershy's reach, where she grabbed it out of the winding red tail. In the process, a strand of white hair was yanked off painfully, making the creature attached to the end of the tail yelp, massaging it.
"Fluttershy! You pulled my tail!" The draconequus whined, before freezing at the stare that Fluttershy shot his way. It did not have the same effect as it did on the animals, but the frustration etched in them was scary on her usually sweet nonetheless. The usually gentle pools of teal were burning with irate, a scowl forming on her adorable face. The Angel-Chainsaw incident still fresh in his mind, Discord shrank, literally, and meekly continued to help, stacking pillows into a pile, his hurting tail forgotten.
Fluttershy felt a pang of guilt at forcing her friend, blinking apologetically at Discord, who was busy tossing pillows, the marshmallowy projectiles shooting mercilessly at the already tall stack of fabric and covers, which was somehow surviving the onslaught. Leaving him to create and throw more pillows, Fluttershy raced to her little cottage's kitchen and put the s'more ingredients, arranged messily on a large platter, into the fridge door, before shoving it shut.
Sighing with relief, Fluttershy smiled, relaying the things that needed to be done for the sleepover in her mind, pleased that pillows were the last thing before her friends arrived. She trotted back towards the living room, her position relaxed, at last. Now, if Discord was done making enough pillows for a pillow fight, they would be all set and done in time for-
Fluttershy's mouth gaped open, her eyelid twitching. She turned her head from left to right, trying to take in the sight. She cleared her throat. "Discord, that's enough pillows..." She shakily said, eyeing the towering amount of pillows, the sheer amount making Fluttershy's brain boggle at the numbers and digits, not to mention how they were fit into the cottage without brushing the ceiling or disturbing the animals, who had all fled previously when they heard about their mistress's chaotic friend helping to arrange a sleepover that they were not invited to anyway. That friend had curled his serpentine body around a reeling Greek pillar made of fluffy cushions, still magicking more out of thin air with little flashes. He turned his eyes, which Fluttershy found herself immediately noticing how intense they were when they were focused directly on her, making her heart skipping a beat, despite the fact that the orbs of gold and red were narrowed in confusion. Discord frowned, scratching his white goatee. He tilted his head at the city of pillows.
"Eh...really?"
A yellow hoof flew into Fluttershy's face, closing her eyes in resignation as she facehoofed. Frustration was beginning to edge its way back...
~~~
"Somepony remind me why we're having a sleepover with Discord again?" A raspy voice intoned, rolling her cerise eyes. She flapped her blue wings lazily, hovering above Twilight, who was carefully reading a slim handheld manual, it's brown cover lettered with 'Sleepover Tips: A beginner's guide!' in silver cursive, the alicorn scanning the document thoroughly, not missing a detail. She looked up at Rainbow Dash's query, before looking back down at the thin book. Her magic aura lit with magenta glitter, the same colour that enveloped her book. The group of ponies walked along the path, which shone a coppery brown in the dying sun's hues of gold and crimson.
"We were supposed to have our annual sleepovers today, but I wanted to bring Spike and you wanted to bring Tank, which is implying that you think Spike is a pet, but then Fluttershy pointed out that today was her Tuesday tea with Discord, and she really did not want to miss it after last week's mayhem." Twilight answered monotonously, still focused on her book, but speaking without missing a beat. She paused and shuddered at the previous week's happenings, the memories apparently not only fresh in Discord's mind, but in Twilight's as well. "So Pinkie suggested we invite Discord, since it wasn't fair that they must reschedule their tea if he could just join into our sleepover. Then Spike went off on to Canterlot to discuss something with Princess Celestia and couldn't come, and you decided against bringing Tank since Discord was coming." Twilight inched her face slightly away from the book. "So, basically, he was invited by Pinkie."
The spontaneous pink party pony bounced by, nodding in agreement to the princess's statement. Her hair bounced with her in time with each hop, her blue, fourth wall breaking eyes fixated on her spectrum haired friend. Each spring brought her to where Dash was flying, where she could look the Pegasus in the eyes, which was both disturbing and startling to any flying creature. "Why do you still hold such a grudge against the Disco? Didn't we have an amazing episode a few Seasons ago about us bonding with Dissy? Why is it always that Dashie doesn't approve?"
Twilight, whose muzzle was finally out of her sleepover manual, shrugged before she properly mulled over Pinkie's question, only processing the bit of the sentence she understood. "It's cliché, I guess. Always one friend who doesn't approve."
"Woah, woah, it's not that I don't approve..." Rainbow quickly defended herself, her hooves in a defensive position, as if trying to ward off an invisible parasprite. The hooves waved about, suddenly attracting Pinkie's attention. "It's just...I don't think that Fluttershy should be so trusting of him. He's a fun guy to hang around, but the minute he decides to do anything to her...BAM! He's back to being a garden gnome." The two front hooves punched expressively at the air, narrowly missing hitting a raspberry curl that belonged to Pinkie, who was still hopping along higher.
"I get that you're worried, darling, but there's no need to be uncouth!" Rarity chimed, unburying herself from the conversation she and Applejack had been engaged in. Applejack nodded, stomping the ground gaily. They had been listening in, but had stayed quiet.
"Exactly, sugar cube! Besides, if Discord does hurt Fluttershy, we'll give him the what-for, don't ya worry!" Applejack decided for some reason to drag Rainbow down to the dirt path beside her, tail first, to pat her reassuringly, which was more like a hard slap that would have knocked a petite pony senseless. The five trotted along, before Twilight inserted herself back into the words of her book, absorbing the knowledge at a swift pace, flipping pages.
The crinkling sound of paper was disrupted by Pinkie Pie, who burst out laughing, the other four diverting their attention to her. Twilight's mouth formed a 'why-', before that question was answered by another pillow shooting out from the cottage ahead, the door ajar, and landing a few metres away from the first pillow, which Pinkie had grabbed and was attempting to aim back at the door, but somehow missed by at least a kilometre.
The five quickened into a canter, clearing the distance and peeking into the door. The sight that lay before them was too hilariously traumatising for words. All four mouths dropped open in surprise, except Pinkie's, who was giggling her head off, but managed to get out nearly incoherent words, that everyone was thinking, breathlessly. " I think it's Dissy who needs protection from Fluttershy, not the other way around!"
And she was absolutely correct.
A feebly twisting and trashing draconequus lay in the caved in remains of what appeared to be a pillow fort, but seemed too sophisticated. He struggled helplessly against a scowling Fluttershy, who was sitting cross-legged on his cinnamon coloured chest and firmly holding a pillow over his face, preventing him from breathing. She smothered him angrily, before noticing her friends, her ears pressing down flatly against her head. A smile flew to her face as she released the deadly pillow.
"Hi g...girls!" She managed.
The newly recovered Discord sat up and was vaguely aware that he tackled Fluttshy to the floorboards of the cottage, before he realised they were being watched by other ponies, those ponies feeling really awkward at the sight of the yellow element of kindness pinned down by the long chimera. Fluttershy was immediately aware that Discord's face, bright red like her own, was inches away from hers. His foreclaws lay right below her neck, but not uncomfortably, and his body was surprisingly light. Discord could only comprehend that Fluttershy was being his cushion, and that her silky fur was really as soft as it looked, alarm bells ringing in his head, screaming 'Off! Off!', but the alerts were not echoed by Fluttershy, who stared dreamily at the cinnamon coloured chest that looked like a heaven of softness that she could just melt into-
The warmth that lay against her was gone, a slightest hint of breeze where it had been so warm previously making her shiver as she followed Discord's action of sitting up and avoiding eye contact with the other elements. An awkward silence ensued, the tension drifting densely in the atmosphere. It grew thicker and reminded Discord of the Angel-Chainsaw situation, only instead of the heavy furious fire that filled the previous one, this tension was stretched with embarrassment, like a strained rubber band on its breaking point. Twilight decided to ignore the multitudes of protests that went off in her mind and cleared her throat, which was suddenly very dry, and plastered the widest smile she could manage on her face, the faltering grin matched by the ponies on either side of her, except for a certain party pony, who suddenly burst out from the debris of the pillow civilisation, and starting shrieking madly, dispersing the atmosphere with a clean little pink poof, the impossibly spacious cottage filled with Pinkie Pie's loud yelling.
"Pillowwww...Fight!" Rarity gave a high pitched scream as a similarly coloured cushion blasted into her forehead with the force of confetti, courtesy of Pinkie, and impaled itself on her horn, where it stayed, like a surrender flag, and an invite for others to begin as well. Pinkie laughed like a maniac, which Applejack took for a sign for her to buck a pillow at the other earth pony, the white projectile sailing straight past Pinkie as she twitched herself out of the way, the cushion landing, in a flurry of feathers, into Discord's blank face. The draconequus had barely anytime to register what was happening before everyone was thrown into a mayhem of a pillow war and the cottage erupted into chaos. Ponies ducked and cried, those who gave in or were knocked unconscious were soon buried in the unforgiving landscape. Pillows flew like deadly misses, striking anything that moved until it moved no more. Every surface was soon coated with feathers, but the cushions kept flying, the furniture and ponies suffocated in the landslide of pillows. Then everything was quiet.
The delicate soft structures, constructed accidentally during Discord's pillow creating, was now all part of the field of cushiony white desert of pillows. Not a speck disfigured the lumpy field of white. It was silent for a while, before an eagle talon, seeming to belong to a large bird of prey, stuck through to the surface, the muffled sounds of someone's breathing becoming more audible. The claw groped around, before the rest of a chimera's mismatched body poked up, hefted by the talon.
"Victory!!!" A triumphant baritone called out.
~~~
"Truth or dare, darling?" Rarity adjusted the pink rollers curled in her purple mane, addressing her spectrum haired friend. A smirk settled on her face as she brushed imaginary dust off her perfect mane. She leaned against Applejack, who was busy munching cucumber slices.
Rainbow licked her lips, sticking her tongue out in the concentration of thinking of a good answer. She eyed her friend nervously. She wanted to say dare, and see what Rarity would task, but was also worried at what Rarity would bring up. "Truth.", she deflated with a sigh. Rarity nodded, her grin getting more conspiratorial, winking at Applejack, who Rainbow glanced confusedly at, with her involvement. The fashionista's voice dropped.
"Who do you have a crush on?"
Rainbow did a double take, her wings fared up in a massive heave, glaring at the cackling pair. She bit her lip, hissing at the dilemma she was in. Forfeit, or tell, either way was humiliation. She glanced left to right shiftily, seeing that Discord and her friends were busy, occupied with packing away materials and arranging a row of sleeping bags, getting ready for bed. She took a massive breath and opened her mouth to reveal who it was.
"It's-"
"Hi! What you guys up to?" Pinkie exclaimed, pouncing on her pink striped sleeping bag, which grudgingly took her abuse, and scaring her Pegasus Friend through the ceiling, who screamed, her hair on its end. Rainbow Dash pulled off physics-bending stunts that would have made Discord proud, zooming up without the help of her wings. She leaped high, knocking into a hanging birdhouse and snuggled deep into her own sleeping bag, her tail emerging in a rainbow waterfall, twitching occasionally. A decidedly and pointedly loud snore emerged.
Rarity groaned, rolling her eyes at the farm mare seated on her other side, who shrugged and retreated into her own sleeping bag, disgruntled at not finding out the sought information being yanked away after it was dangled across their faces. The unicorn stretched her limbs, careful not to brush against Twilight, who was already fast asleep. Rarity tucked herself into her own purple duvet. Closing her eyes, but letting her eyes prick up at the sound of a certain two creatures conversing. A slight smile crossed her face as she pulled her sleeping mask taunt around her face, words running tracks in her head.
Dissy and Fluttershy, Sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-…
“Are you sure you’re okay with sleeping on the couch?” Fluttershy asked softly, amused at her draconequus friend, who stretched on the smaller couch, tapping the green fabric to make it shift colours. He grinned at her, his predatory teeth not scaring Fluttershy, but sending a thrill down her spine at his award-winning smile. He hugged the sofa in mock tenderness, giving it a sultry gaze.
“Why, Fluttershy, I had no idea you were so worried about me! Yes, I’ll be fine. I’m sure the couch will agree too.” He stroked it again, but it caused the Pegasus standing in front of him to shiver, her gaze heating up. This caused much mirth to the lord of chaos, who waved her away with sweeping claw actions, shooing her towards her own sleeping bag, which she had insisted on sleeping in despite her bed being upstairs. Fluttershy complied with a yawn, her eyes closing, asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and-
Sat up in her sleeping bag, staring straight out at the conveniently placed window, a silvery half-moon illuminating her friends’ faces, sleeping all around her, except Rainbow Dash, who was trying to imitate a cocoon for some bizarre reason. Breathing sighs and little wheezes signified that they were genuinely sleeping. Applejack pulled a pillow closer to her face, a thin line of drool connecting her lips and the cushion.
Her throat was achingly dry, and the living room, and its sleeping inhabitant was suddenly calling out to her invitingly. Fluttershy got up from her comfortable nest of fabric, her stiff limbs still slightly asleep, making the Pegasus stamp them softly to get the blood flow circulating again. She trotted toward her living room, sighing at the curl Discord was in, snuggled against a pillow, a cute little snore drifting now and then, making Fluttershy giggle and she made her way closer. She stumbled forward, bumping into Discord’s neck fur, the silky grey strands smooth and straight before where it turned brown and fluffy.
Fluttershy froze as the snoozing draconequus shifted, turning over, his red tail flopping off the small couch and falling to the ground. It snaked toward her and wrapped around her middle, the refreshingly warm scales rubbing against the Pegasus’s furry torso, giggling when the tufted hair tickled her chin. The tail tightened and Fluttershy found herself clamped between the draconequus’s tail, and his fur, which she chose, turning and breathing in the heavenly stormy scent of his fur, smelling like the aftermath of a wild rainstorm.
His warmth enveloped her on all sides. It was the most addictive and gentle thing she had ever felt. She hugged the long serpentine neck pressed against her chest, sighing, feeling as home as ever now that she was safely tucked in the lord of chaos’s arms.
Then she realised what a scene they looked like, her getting suffocated pleasantly in the draconequus’s coils. Her face lit up as she struggled slightly, even though she had no intention of ever wanting to leave. The tail twisted around her remained unmoving, stubbornly defying her wish to move. She gulped. “Oh dear…”
How dare they. They smile, thin lipped, barely holding in their displeasure. Thinking me, a perfectly sentient creature, cannot see them, even though I would be blind otherwise. They belittle me, their stares ever judging, thinking I am just a stupid thing with a bad attitude. They look down on me. Their high and mighty attitudes will be their destruction. They assume I am just a little insignificant fluff. They are wrong, very, very wrong. I am small, yes, but I have wits shaper than anyone, even sharper than that...that patchwork quilt. Yes, that is what I shall call him. That insipid worm thinks he is better than me. Him! Better than me! Ha! And his attitude! He makes all those goo-goo eyes, and that blushing at her, thinking she likes him back.
Actually, you know, she has been a little preoccupied lately, even more than she should be. She drinks more chamomile tea of the late, which is because she wastes all the supply of good tea on Tuesdays. She seems to sing more, and sometimes seems to blank out sometimes, forgetting my dinner on more than one occasion. Always staring out of the window, too, at the green grassy fields beyond the little cottage where she picks her flowers, and she keeps plucking those red and yellow blossoms to decorate the house, twirling the stalks and sighing. And she gets excited. Really, Super excited when Tuesday comes round. She sequels and giggles, choosing exotic food items to serve to beard-face. She also seems a little down after snake-donkey leaves, too. And whenever he writes her a letter, she goes all "Squee!!!" And her eyes will grow to the size of those green self-grown cabbages I like. Mmmmm. Cabbages.
Anyway, she always spends an hour on Tuesdays, packing and dusting the house and agitating the Magpies by discovering the little trinkets they hide about the household, making everything neat and tidy, which is strange, since mismatch prefers the messy chaos. So she likes when he comes over. So does all this mean she likes...
No, no, no! I will not let that chimera win! His condescending smirk and toothy grin, full of canines that could chomp my head in a bite, will overwhelm me if I let it! I will not allow it!
You will see, Distort! No one messes with Angel bunny! No one! No pony!
Angel will rule all!
~~~
Fluttershy could have sworn she had heard something. something that sounded like a bunny with a bad attitude, laughing his head off manically.
The rain pelted Fluttershy aggressively. The non-stop pouring had already drenched her within moments, and now she was freezing. Her fur clung to her in dripping tendrils, which dripped water everywhere.
The sky was an amass of grey, the stormy expanse crying, fat droplets of water splattering down to land on the cold shivering Pegasus. She trotted along, shaking to shed off water, like a lost little puppy. She slipped and skidded on the mud, sending stains up her hooves, but scrambled on, moving her hair out of her eyes, in efforts to squint through the rain with her vision unobstructed.
Fluttershy felt utterly miserable. She was cold, very, very cold, and everything was freezing. She could hardly blink past the onslaught, sighing and leaning against a cold tree trunk. It scraped away at her matted fur and dishevelled mane, tangling in the undergrowth’s debris. The pattering noise was increasing, as Fluttershy stumbled blindly through the forest, feeling branches rake and claw at her. Her throat constricted several times, and her face was stained with both rain and tears.
She was running from something, she could not remember what, but she remembered what it felt like when she saw it. Fear. Pure primal fear, an instinct to flee running through her veins, making her heart thump louder than ever. She remembered breath, hot, moist breath, so warm it turned the rain drops into steam.
Breathing felt like drowning. Droplets of water streamed into her face, past her hair, and made her splutter whenever she was out of breath. The rain was always following her, lowering her body temperature and trying to freeze her from the outside.
Fluttershy choked and tried to use a wing to cover her face, but as she lifted the wing, feathers flew and scattered the floor. Her wing burned in agony. The other wing followed suit, and invisible flames licked the appendage, giving off screaming signals that fired up her nerves with electricity. Soon, her wings were reduced to ashes.
She kept running. Her hooves melted into the ground, dripping through cracks that ran through the unyielding and seemingly endless path underfoot. Fluttershy crashed headfirst into a tree foliage, thorns scratching away at her, and paralysing her instantly.
A scream tore from her throat, but it was soon filled by water, and she choked, and drowned, and…
She was distinctly aware that a warm pair of limbs wrapping around her, and she instantly relaxed. The pair was mismatched, but perfect in her opinion. They were warm, and velevety, and loving. She snuggled deeper into the embrace, smiling. They were so familiar.
The nightmare melted away. All that was left, was warmth, radiating.
~~~
Angel’s jaw dropped. Her scampered forward, to save his owner, who was cuddling with…that THING! He looked through the window of Fluttershy’s cottage, from his hiding place that he had been camping when the mane six and Discord’s sleepover had been announced. He hopped forward, mouth open and small paws ready to kill, and bashed headfirst into the glass of the cottage’s window. Pain and fury flashed briefly, before the world went dark. Curse you, Snake-Horse!
“Do you want to wake them?” Rarity hissed at Applejack, who was struggling not to laugh. Fluttershy was curled adorably in Discord’s tail, sleeping on the outer side, on the verge of falling into the mess on the floor, the remains of their sleepover.
Applejack smiled, turning away and gesturing for Rarity to follow suit. “Nah, They’ll be fine. Give em’ another minute before the others wake up.”
Rarity shifted drastically, her toss accidentally causing several white sheets to fall off her wide bed. Her glittery sapphire magic caught them on instinct, the white sheets drenched in bright blue light, even while she was asleep. It was an instinct, a reflex. The newly retrieved blankets arranged themselves around her, perfection and OCD making them neat and tidy through her dreams. She tossed again, burrowing her head into her pillow, her muzzle scrunching up. Words tumbled out of her mouth, spewing onto the pillow, forever muffled. The words paused, unheard.
Then her eyes opened. The dark sapphire orbs lit up, glowing in the predawn darkness with an inner revelation, a smile on her face. The word "Flutter-" made it out of her mouth, before her eyes snapped shut, dimming the momentary light flash in the room.
Everything was as it was again. Silent. Peaceful.
Until Rarity decided to make another move.
She sat up, breathing heavily, eyes peeking open. "Fluttershy and Discord were so close at the sleepover." She nodded, agreeing with herself.
She collapsed, like a folding chair, back onto the bed, fast asleep, again. Her magic flickered around her horn, eyelids gave a spasm.
The process repeated. Several times.
"Maybe there's something between them I don't know." She yawned.
"But I shouldn't interfere!" She countered herself.
"No, no, you aren't! You are just going to...check...on them!" She tried to convince herself.
"But I might interrupt something." A worried crease started to form.
"Not if you're careful." A sly grin perked up.
"It's wrong to spy on friends."
“As if that has ever stopped you."
"Touché."
She fell back asleep, a knowing smirk now etched on her face.
~~~
Discord watched the sun hit the faraway horizon, rising, as he lay, unmoving, wound carefully on the various obstacles that perched on the roof of Fluttershy's cottage. The fuzzy material on the roof made him itch, but he had an uncharacteristically serious frown adorned on his face, peering at the light that grew ever brighter. The golds gradually bled to blues, the painting themselves across the sky. White wisps that were clouds caught a breeze, moving like a flock of sheep, in the blue pasture of the sky.
He listened to the various sounds of animals and creatures waking, stirring life into the day, shaking off the fatigue of the night. Critters yawned, and eventually, another voice did too. A softly melodic voice, ringing out like a chorus of angels, calling her animals to take their meals, kindness and tenderness in every undertone that came with her voice.
Then it was singing.
Pure, clear and beautiful, wild and free, singing for her animal friends to hear, because she felt happy. An innocent happiness, a euphoria at being alive, drifting in the very air. Infecting every creature.
It was morning, and the day was full of the bright blues of the sky, and the life and chaos that lurked and waited to happen. At this thought, Discord cheered up, a smile discarding on his previously sombre expression. His grin stretched wider as he readied his fingers to snap.
It was time for some chaos!
“Fluttershy!" The self-proclaimed lord of chaos reappeared above the pony, roaring and making the Pegasus squeal. Animals shrieked and scattered, running and wreaking havoc, oblivious to their owner, who cowered slightly. She reared up, feathers ruffling in fear, making her appear as a furry ball.
"Yeep!" A squeak came of her mouth. It was clearly not what she wanted to say, but it would have worked excellently as self-defence against a wild predator, who would have dispersed in fear at such a weird sound.
The world froze in shock. Everything paused to stare strangely at the unequine sound that had burst from the now scarlet pegasus's throat. Then reality resumed.
"Discord!" Fluttershy glared, face flaming. The animals continued to scamper off, now out of annoyance than fear.
"BUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!" Discord replied, clutching his sides and howling. "What was that noise?" He waited for an answer.
"..." Fluttershy mumbled, hiding behind a curtain of pink hair, which did nothing to hide her blush. She gathered a significant amount of composure, shaking her head at her laughing cru...friend.
"It's not nice to scare ponies, Discord!" She retorted, scolding lightly. She yelped inwardly when he wound his serpentine body around her, making her shiver, not from fear, but from the crashing tsunami of emotions that raced in her heart. He was so warm.
"Why, my dear, I just wanted to see you! There's nothing wrong with that, right?" He snickered at her face, which was twisted in conflicting thoughts. Several things pounded through her head at once. He had wanted to see her? Why did he scare her when she was usually used to his antics? And, why was he so warm?
She was vaguely aware of the world still in motion around her, and of being thrust about in the air, and laughter, but snapped to when she landed onto Discord, who blinked, worried at her silence. Had he overdone it?
"Are you alright?"
No! I am feeling things I can't explain! "Yes...I'm just...surprised." Fluttershy hugged him in greeting and forgiveness, letting a smile form, blinking. "But why...?"
"Do I need a reason? I just came to see you!"
Really?! "That's nice." Fluttershy could feel her heart increase in pace, and hoped the draconequus pressed against her would not notice. He was oblivious to it, but observed the red tint of her cheeks. Then he was suddenly aware of how close she was to him. Then Fluttershy nuzzled him, causing a tidal wave of heat to burst from his cheeks.
Instantly, he did a double take and careened away from her on instinct, trying not to let his embarrassment show. What was she doing? His heart accelerated as thoughts, mostly confused and chaotic, rush through his mind.
Fluttershy felt a surge of disappointment at his reaction, heart slowing and drooping. Had she taken it too far? She must have crossed a line somehow. Not that it usually mattered, but she was very nervous around him nowadays. She had thought he shared her feelings. At this revelation, her heart sank even further. She inched away from the shocked chimera, which felt a stab of guilt at her sad expression. She misunderstood his silence, turning away.
"Wait, Fluttershy, I..." He began, but was quickly cut off by a waving yellow hoof.
"No, no, it's alright, I get it." She stated monotonously, fighting tears and determined not to look into Discord's eyes. "You probably should leave now." She took a few steps back into the darkened corners of her cottage, stepping out of the grassy field she had been feeding her animals in. A few flowers crinkled underfoot.
"No, wait-"
The door slammed shut, inches away from Discord's face, making him wince.
"I screwed up, didn't I?" He addressed the empty and lifeless garden, unaware of a watching and plotting pair of dark blue eyes, and a faint ladylike gasp.
Rarity felt determination, a strong sense of romance and drama pulse through her veins. A devilish grin split her face, her eyes sparkling mischievously. She had not done this sort of thing before, but based on the level of drama, and her romance novels, she needed an elaborate plot to fix Discord’s mistake, and it would probably take some...blackmail.
