Time is Taller than Space is Wide

Fluttershy woke up to Angel Bunny's little paws pawing at her leg.

He wasn't trying to scratch her, but the scraping from his nails was just sharp enough to pull her far enough out of sleep that she lifted her head. She retracted her hoof and wiped the sand from her eyes. "Good morning, Angel. What's wrong? Are you hungry?"

There was a moment where she wondered if she had somehow neglected to feed him the previous night, but that couldn't have been true. She distinctly remembered giving him an extra cherry tomato, since he had been extra good that day.

The bunny shook his head frantically and hopped a few times on her blanket, his front legs waving around in the air. He was chattering a mile a minute, and she listened.

That couldn't be right, either. Chocolate rain? There was no such thing. The poor dear probably just got himself worked up over something that spooked him.

"Hey there, it's alright, Angel," she soothed. "Why don't you show me? We'll handle it together."

Angel grabbed her front hoof in both of his paws and tugged before jumping from the bed to the end table to the dresser to the window sill. Fluttershy stood up and yawned deeply before following him. Funnily enough, she could hear raindrops, but she usually got the weekly weather schedule from Rainbow Dash, and it was only supposed to rain on Thursday. It was Monday.

The bunny's face and ears were pressed against the glass pane, and as Fluttershy stepped up to look out, she saw little, opaque drops falling from pastel pink clouds, every last one the shade of chocolate milk.

Visits to the Canterlot Castle never boded well for Fluttershy.

It always seemed to mean that Equestria was in danger, or that there was a large party she had to attend. She couldn't decide which one was more stressful overall, but on this day in particular, it was the first one.

Two burly castle guards opened a large door, and Princess Celestia nodded in acknowledgement. The monarch was leading Fluttershy and her friends into a quiet wing of the castle while briefing everyone on the situation.

A chaos spirit named Discord. She had only heard a description of the being, and Fluttershy was already on edge.

While her attention drifted from Celestia's lesson as a defense mechanism for her anxiety, some color caught her eye. Oranges and yellows and pinks. She turned her head, and saw him.

Well, not him. It was only a stained glass depiction of his defeat. But the sight still made her breath hitch in her throat.

Fluttershy took a few steps toward the window, suddenly drawn to it. If this art piece was anything to go by, Discord was imposing. He was serpentine, and the yellow glass circles that were his eyes were enough to frighten her all by themselves.

She must have been seeing things, because she could have sworn he -- it? -- winked at her. Whether it was a trick of the light or not, it made her yelp, and she scampered over to Twilight's side.

It was going to be a long day.

And it was.

After the hastily thrown-together awards ceremony (Fluttershy didn't see why it couldn't have been held a different day, but she wasn't about to question the Princess), she and her friends made their way to the castle's sleeping quarters that Celestia was letting them use.

Fluttershy would have caught a train back to Ponyville, but she genuinely wasn't sure if she could have stayed awake long enough to make it home, and her animals would be alright for just one night without her. They would understand.

It had been the most exhausting day of her entire life, after all. She had expected Discord to be scary and intimidating, but she hadn't expected his defeat to be so tiresome.

All alone in a creepy maze. Brainwashing. Becoming cruel. Being held down and having all her memories of all her friends flood back into her in an instant. Chasing after Rainbow Dash. Using the Elements of Harmony again. And the ceremony, on top of all of that.

It was so much.

Which is why she could barely say goodnight to her friends before she fell into the king-sized bed that she and Rainbow were sharing. She had only managed to mutter a couple farewells for the night before letting her heavy eyelids finally shut.

Fluttershy considered herself lucky that she was rooming with Rainbow. Her other options were Twilight and Pinkie, both of whom would probably be awake for a little bit longer, talking and processing the day. And Rarity and Applejack were the only options for each other, of course. It was a soulmate thing.

So, grateful for the quiet company, she drifted off next to her friend, who was already snoring softly. She soothed herself to sleep with thoughts of seeing the animals again in the morning.

Fluttershy woke up to Angel Bunny's little paws pawing at her arm.

She groaned a little bit before lifting her head and blinked her eyes sleepily at him. "Good morning, Angel."

Wait a minute. Angel? What was he doing here?

Fluttershy's eyes opened wider, confusion and then a shot of adrenaline shooting through her body as she realized that she wasn't in Canterlot Castle.

She was in her own bed. At home. No Rainbow Dash or king-sized bed in sight.

Angel was hopping around on her bed, clearly trying to communicate something that was alarmingly familiar.

Her heart pounded, and her mouth went dry. She stared at her front hooves and began to zone out as her breathing became more shallow and more erratic.

Could it possibly...?

Angel noticed her breaching panic attack, and stopped his tantrum for a moment, twitching his ears in concern. He hopped over and laid his head on her leg. He counted on his fingers, and seven of his little bunny claws shot up.

Fluttershy stroked Angel's head, trying to ground herself with the softness of his fur. Right.

Seven counts in, hold for four counts, eight counts out. That's what they practiced.

She had to look out the window, see if it was true. If today was really that day. It's possible that her friends had just brought her back to her cottage overnight. Rainbow could fly fast enough to do that.

Breathing first. Always breathing first.

Once she went through the exercise a few times, enough to regulate her breathing, she scooped Angel up in her arms and steeled herself.

If today really was the day, her day, it would be alright. She would handle it. It would be the worst timing possible on fate's part, but she would handle it.

Her eyes shut tight, she stood up from the bed and navigated the short space from the mattress to the window blindly. Angel chattered something to her, almost the same thing he had told her the previous morning. Her teeth involuntarily ground together.

And, open.

She saw flying fish outside her window. Fish of all sizes, each one with its own pair of butterfly wings.

Seven counts in. Hold for four counts. Eight counts out.

Fluttershy started the morning by wrapping herself back up in her blankets for a little while before she went downstairs for breakfast. It soothed her anxiety just a little bit.

She almost didn't leave the house. Her breakfast tea was still in the kettle when another panic attack threatened to incapacitate her, but she was able to stay lucid with Angel and Harry the Bear's help (and the shrill whistling of the kettle's steam).

The three of them sat and had some bread and jam. She had already explained the situation to Angel, who in turn explained it to Harry. The animals didn't quite understand everything that was going on, but they saw that it was something that she was worried about, and they were sweet about it.

Now, she was just trying to gather her nerves before she left to find the others, which was easier said than done.

While she was eating her breakfast with shaky hooves, she heard a frantic knock on her door. She knew it was Rainbow Dash immediately. No one else could knock on a door that fast.

"Come in," she whispered. "Come in," she called again, after realizing her previous greeting had unintentionally come out as a whisper.

Rainbow opened the door and walked in. Her hair was messy and windswept, the reds mixed with the greens and the purples mixed with the yellows.

Fluttershy knew that Rainbow Dash wasn't her soulmate. They had known each other since they were children, and they had made plenty of physical contact after they were both eighteen, which was the age when soulmate days started happening.

She loved her dearly, and she was happy to have such a close friend, but she knew it objectively couldn't have been Rainbow, and narrowing down the possibilities was a start.

Rainbow drug her hooves down her face, pulling her features down in exasperation. "Fluttershy, you've gotta come help! The deer are doing a conga line down Main Street! There's hundreds of them!"

"Oh, dear." Fluttershy frowned. "I mean... oh, no."

Rainbow Dash didn't seem to notice the accidental pun. She was pacing the floor. "And then there's the fish. I don't even know where those came from!"

Fluttershy bounced her leg and held onto her teacup a little bit too tightly. So Rainbow hadn't seen any of this before; definitely not her soulmate, but a hint of a question couldn't hurt. "I'm getting a little bit of deja vu at all this."

"It's driving me nuts." Rainbow ran her hooves through her multicolored hair. "I had to move some clouds so the guppies wouldn't crash into them. Who knows what's happening in Cloudsdale!"

She didn't seem to pick up on the hint. Duly noted.

The two of them left the cottage shortly thereafter and flew the short distance to Ponyville.

On the train to Canterlot, Fluttershy sat alone. Applejack expressed concern, but Fluttershy just told her she felt a bit drained and needed some alone time. To be fair, it wasn't a lie. She was drained.

She stared out the window of the train as it chugged along, her eyes looking but not really seeing. She didn't feel like processing the fact that a few sharks had now joined the flying fish. There was even a whale off in the distance, still visible due to its massive size.

Fluttershy wasn't worried about the fish. They didn't seem to be in any pain, and they weren't having trouble breathing. Surely, they would be put back in the oceans and rivers as soon as the chaos magic was gone.

No, what had Fluttershy's heart thumping like a hummingbird's was the fact that the fish were a symptom of the larger problems at hand.

Discord was back already. None of her friends seemed to remember his recent defeat. The day had reset itself, and she was the only one who seemed to notice.

Even one of these things alone would have been odd, but all of them occurring together meant that today was her soulmate day.

And that meant she had to spend an indeterminate amount of time figuring out who her soulmate was. On the same day that an uncontrollable chaos demon, who is only capable of being stopped by the Elements of Harmony, is set free.

It wasn't any of her best friends. She had confirmed that using the same "deja vu" method she had used on Rainbow Dash once they met with the others. Twilight had dismissed her as quickly as Rainbow had.

Pinkie Pie had agreed that things felt a bit familiar, but she didn't say that in a way that signaled she was experiencing the time loop. It was just regular old Pinkie-brand cryptic. She seemed to have a sixth sense (a Pinkie sense, she called it) when things were off-kilter. Fluttershy figured that Pinkie might be able to sense when someone else's soulmate day was happening, but if it was her own, she would have told the others by now. She wouldn't have kept it to herself.

And it couldn't be Applejack or Rarity, since they were each other's.

So that ruled the other five Elements of Harmony out, except for Pinkie who was mostly ruled out but not 100%, and Fluttershy was at square one.

She knew she had made physical content with all five of the others the previous day; at the very least, it happened when they all exchanged hugs before they went to sleep in Canterlot. But it wasn't any of them, and Fluttershy couldn't remember any interactions she'd had with anyone else.

It's possible that she might have shaken the hand of Celestia or one of the palace guards. There was so much of yesterday that she couldn't remember. But she didn't feel like it had happened when she tried to imagine it, and she felt like that was a sign that it probably didn't happen, but she didn't want to rule it out just yet.

As the train got closer and closer to Canterlot, she resolved to keep her mouth shut and observe from the sidelines. Maybe something would jolt her memory. It would be hard while Discord was around, but she had to try and remember.

She had to try.

Princess Celestia ushered Fluttershy and her friends through the halls of the castle, much in the same way she did yesterday.

Fluttershy tried to look for any signs of Celestia acting strangely, but she seemed about the normal amount of worried. Fluttershy even paid close attention to the guards she passed, trying to see if looking at them might jog her memory, but she felt nothing.

So, she kept her mouth tightly shut and just walked along. She had time. It wasn't exactly free time, but she had time.

Celestia's description of Discord stayed about the same, too. In fact, not much at all about the debriefing was different today; Fluttershy even felt drawn to the stained glass window again, but she only looked at it this time. It gave her the willies.

The Princess was unlocking the vault that contained the Elements now. The others watched in awe as blue light spilled from the chamber, and Celestia removed the box from its pedestal.

She stepped forward, the box presented before her and a warm expression on her face. "Have no fear. I have total confidence that you'll be able to defeat Discord... with these."

Fluttershy watched in dread as Celestia dramatically opened the lid with magic, and shut her eyes and flinched as the others reacted to the box being empty. She bit her lip as gasps and exclamations filled her ears.

And then, the part that she dreaded the most; before anyone had time for more than a kneejerk reaction, Discord appeared.

Fluttershy startled and instinctively ducked behind Rarity. He hadn't bothered to take on his stained glass form this time, instead opting to just materialize in the flesh.

Discord clapped his hands together. "Ah, finally! We can get to the good part."

Celestia withdrew a quick breath and stood tall. She held out a protective arm, throwing the empty box to the floor. "Girls, get behind me!"

As he watched some of them follow the Princess's advice, and some of them take protective stances themselves, he rolled his eyes. "Really, Celestia. You can give up the act. We all know why I'm here."

Rainbow Dash took a step forward and jabbed an accusatory hoof in his direction. "Yeah, we do! You stole the Elements!"

"So I have." Discord grinned. "Astute observation."

"What have you done with them?" Celestia nearly spat. Nobody had ever seen the Princess this angry (except for Fluttershy yesterday, of course). "Where are the Elements of Harmony?"

"I'll have you know, they're not in the same place as last time. I strive to be anything but predictable."

"Last time?" Twilight Sparkle frowned. "You're not making any sense. Of course they're not in the same place. You took them."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, we've established this."

Celestia's jaw was clenched, and a golden glow was shining from her horn. "You'll never get away with this, Discord."

"Funny, Celestia! You said the exact same thing yesterday."

Wait a minute. Yesterday?

The word made Fluttershy's blood run cold, but she was barely conscious of it. It was just a blip on her mental radar. Right now, she was trying to focus on breathing again, and she wasn't entirely focused on the conversation, but something felt odd about all of this.

Discord spun on his heel and began strutting away, slowly, like he was putting on a performance. "If you insist on playing this game of yours, very well. I'll oblige. I don't quite understand it, but that's my favorite kind of game. The kind you can't understand." He shot a sugary-sweet smile over his shoulder. "You know me so well."

"What are you going on about?" The Princess was becoming frustrated now.

"Don't play dumb, Your Majesty. It's unbecoming." Discord faced the small crowd again. "Anyhoo, let's get right to it, shall we? No time to waste."

He raised his left hand, the skinny, talon-like one, and snapped his fingers.

In an instant, Canterlot Castle wasn't there anymore. Neither was Princess Celestia.

The six friends tried to shriek and reached each other, but their reaction was a bit delayed; they were already teleported.

There was a heavy pressure in the air now, and an ambient rumbling came from outside the walls of wherever they were. When Fluttershy tried to take a few steps backward, her movements were slow and sluggish, like she was trying to walk through a chin-deep body of water.

Fluttershy leaned her trembling form against Rainbow Dash and looked around. It wasn't exactly like the one in Canterlot, but it was a castle of some sort. It was made out of old stone bricks, almost all of them covered with various types of algae. There weren't any starfish, barnacles, or anything like that, though; those might have grown wings and taken to the sky already.

One glance out of a nearby, crude window, and she saw that they were underwater. He must have found an abandoned fortress in the ocean and enchanted it with oxygen. There were multiple aquatic races in Equestria; there was no telling which one this place had belonged to.

Or Discord had constructed this entire structure by himself in one morning. That was also possible.

Twilight was at the front of the group and wasn't too far from Discord himself. She put on a brave face and tried to mirror what Celestia had done, but Fluttershy could tell from a tremor in her friend's voice that her heart was pounding. "What did you do with the Princess?"

"Oh, relax." He gestured dismissively. "She's back in her little palace, safe and sound. I've teleported us to your first task."

"First task?"

"Absolutely! Now, would you like a hint before I leave you girls to it, or would you rather figure it out all on your own?"

"Hint, please! I love hints!" Pinkie Pie sounded more excited than scared.

He nodded. "Very well! Alright, here goes..."

Discord paused and looked from person to person and raised one eyebrow in amusement. Pinkie leaned in, cupping her hoof over her ear and grinning. Fluttershy watched, still too scared to even make a single comment.

"...the Elements are under the sea."

Silence.

Rarity huffed. "That's it?"

"You asked for a hint, dear Rarity!"

"Technically, Pinkie asked for a hint, but--"

"Ah-ah-ah! You're on your own now." Discord raised his hand, his fingers primed to snap, but he paused again. His red eyes honed in on Twilight. "Oh, and one more thing before I skedaddle. Gotta mix it up a little! Can't give you too much of an advantage, after all."

In two long strides, Discord appeared in front of Twilight, and before anyone could blink, he reached out with his talon-like finger and made a beeline for her forehead.

The sight brought back an abrupt, jarring image to Fluttershy. An image that she had neglected to remember until just then, possibly because she had blocked it out entirely.

At that moment, Fluttershy realized that, other than her friends, the only being she had made physical contact with on that day was Discord.

She suddenly felt very faint.

She clutched at someone's shoulder, and that's all she remembered before she blacked out.

Two weeks ago

Ponyville was the perfect town for taking midday strolls. It was as if the entire village had been crafted specifically to walk hoof-in-hoof with a friend through, and Fluttershy and Rarity were doing just that. It was a little after lunch, and the two of them were on the way to Sugarcube Corner to have a spot of dessert.

They were huddled under one of Rarity's many parasols. They both enjoyed the friendly affection, and it kept Fluttershy from having to make eye contact with others on the street.

It was a sunny day, and only a few clouds were in the sky, but the ones that were present were the kind that were perfect and fluffy, just like cotton candy.

Rarity was going on about a date that she and Applejack had recently been on. The way her voice became all light and airy, you'd think the farmer had literally swept Rarity off her feet and into a fairytale.

"Fluttershy, you should have seen it. Big McIntosh and Apple Bloom helped her light candles all throughout the barn. The two of them were even wearing the most adorable little butler outfits." She giggled. "And I never thought that apple pie could be a perfect date food, but..."

Rarity trailed off, and Fluttershy lightly laughed along with her. "Oh, that sounds wonderful. I'm so glad that you and Applejack are happy."

Rarity smiled in that regal way of hers. "Thank you, darling. Once you meet your someone, the four of us should absolutely go on a double date. What about the spa? I wonder if Applejack would like the spa..."

Fluttershy hummed in response.

They slid into a comfortable silence for a minute or two, only saying "hello" to friends and acquaintances as they walked by.

Still, a question sat on the tip of Fluttershy's tongue, a question she had been asking since she was a child.

Since she trusted Rarity, and they were on the subject anyway, she decided to break the silence with said question. "What was it like?"

"Hmm?" Rarity seemed to snap back into focus after shifting into autopilot. "What was what like?"

"Um. Your, uh, when you found out. About your soulmate, I mean."

It was something Fluttershy had always been apprehensive about. The thought that, at any given time, a day could start looping itself, and it might leave her stuck in a situation where she wouldn't be able to pinpoint the correct person easily. A large party like the Gala, or something like that.

Rarity stood up straighter. "Oh, that? Well, I'll be the first to admit that the evening didn't start off on the smoothest beginning. It was the night of that nasty thunderstorm we had several months back, you know."

"I remember. Poor little Angel was scared out of his mind."

"Applejack and I weren't much better off. On the first day, we got stuck outside in the mud. And at Twilight's sleepover, we weren't exactly cordial to each other."

Fluttershy bit her lip. "So your soulmate day wasn't the first day you two met?"

"No, not even after all that mess defeating Nightmare Moon." Rarity shrugged. "I suppose it just took us a little bit to make contact."

"Oh...."

Rarity turned towards her friend, slowing their pace down a little. "Is something the matter?"

"No, no, I just..." Fluttershy sighed. "You make it sound so... so..."

"Oh, our loop DOES sound rather unpleasant, doesn't it?" She clucked her tongue. "I didn't mean for it to. It's true, we squabbled at first, but once we figured it out, it wasn't the same. It was magical, knowing. And it didn't even take us long -- we didn't even make it to two repeats."

Fluttershy felt her face turning hot, embarrassed at the miscommunication. "I-I didn't mean to imply it was bad. I know most soulmates don't have too much trouble. It's just... what if I..."

Rarity paused and listened, not wanting to interrupt her friend, but she trailed off and didn't finish her sentence for several moments.

When she spoke again, it wasn't to complete her original line of thought, but to replace it with another. "I suppose I'm just... nervous. What if I'm one of the ones that does have trouble?" Her voice was even quieter than it usually was. She hated how weak she sounded. "What I mean is that you make it look easy, and it might... it might not be."

Rarity gave Fluttershy a comforting, friendly nudge to the head. "Oh, is that all? You shouldn't fret about it too much; love isn't always easy, after all, but that's alright. It's part of what makes the whole thing worth it in the end."

Fluttershy nodded slowly. She knew her friend was right, but it was hard to internalize.

Rarity nuzzled Fluttershy again, making her smile. She added, "Besides, darling, you've got nothing to worry about. Knowing you, I'm certain that your perfect match is going to be an absolute doll."

Now

Fluttershy woke up with her head in Applejack's lap. Her brain felt heavy from the pressure of the water around the fortress walls. She didn't know how that was possible.

She stirred a little, rubbing her eyes and curling into herself. She heard seagulls, but didn't want to look up and see what the source of the noise was.

Applejack patted her shoulder, noticing her friend's awakening. "Woah there, sugarcube. Take it easy. You alright?"

"I..." Fluttershy groaned. "I think so."

"You had us all worried. And you're giving Rarity a run for her money; she might have to let you borrow her fainting couch," she teased gently.

Fluttershy would have smiled if she didn't feel like she was going to throw up. "Please tell me it was all a dream."

"'Fraid not, Fluttershy. 'Fraid not."

Applejack helped Fluttershy sit up and rubbed her shoulder soothingly. They were still in the underwater fortress, and the others were scattered around the room they were in.

There were only five of them. One was missing.

Fluttershy asked, "Where's Twilight?"

Pinkie, who was sitting beside them, shrugged cartoonishly. "Discord turned her all loopy and gray. She yelled at us a bunch and magicked away before Rainbow could catch her."

Rarity sighed from across the room. "We'll be lucky if she's still somewhere to be found in this horrid place."

So Discord's idea of "mixing things up" was to do to Twilight what he had done to everyone else. It would be a lot harder to find her and turn her back to normal than it would be with almost anyone else, since her magic was so strong.

He had, evidently, learned from his previous defeat.

Applejack pursed her lips. "Once Fluttershy feels a little better, I think we should split up into two groups. We can cover more ground that way, but we won't all be separated."

"I'll do you one better." Rainbow Dash hopped to her feet. "I'll try to scout this joint out, so when I come back, I can lead you guys through. I bet I could get to the end of the castle in 10 seconds, no problem, even with all of us moving like molasses!"

"That's... not a bad idea, actually."

And that's what they did.

Discord didn't interfere, surprisingly, and Fluttershy was thankful for it. Sticking together with her friends made it easier for her to hang back and digest her thoughts.

So she had made physical contact with Discord yesterday. Alright. That happened.

But, now that she thought about it, there had to have been someone else she touched for the first time that day. Maybe it had been while she was Discord-ed, when she was Fluttercruel.

As they slogged their way through the dark, humid corridors, Rainbow Dash leading the way, Fluttershy tried to run through everything she had done while she was brainwashed. The memories were fuzzy, and she didn't particularly want to think about them, but they were there.

She remembered shoving some of her friends in the maze, which hurt to think about. She remembered returning to Ponyville and finding it in a state of total chaos. She remembered going back to her cottage at some point, but not much of what happened after.

What she couldn't remember was ever running into anyone other than her friends. The residents of Ponyville had probably shut themselves off in their homes, and it was possible she hadn't seen anyone else that day. But it was also possible that she had.

Fluttershy was unsure. She found it hard to feel anything but unsure, even as her friends were trying their hardest around her.

They defeated Discord a second time.

Once they got out of the underwater castle through teamwork, finding and helping Twilight was the hardest part.

Spike, who had stayed back with Celestia today, had the brilliant idea to send the girls all of Twilight's friendship reports with his magic fire, and Pinkie was the one who made the connection that he wanted them to read the reports to Twilight.

It made perfect sense to Fluttershy; Twilight had helped her yesterday by reminding her of all the moments she had shared with her friends, so reminding Twilight of the same thing seemed like it would work. And, fortunately, it did.

With Twilight back, they were able to solve Discord's "under the sea" clue; it had been a reference to a Ponyville seafood shop called "The C", and the Elements were stashed under the neon letter C above the door.

It wasn't his most creative hiding spot, but he'd have plenty of chances to improve.

When it came time to turn him back into a statue, Fluttershy couldn't tear her eyes away from him. He seemed cocky and confident until he noticed that they were wearing their Elements, but he didn't try to teleport away until their magic had been activated. It was strange.

The girls found out later that the Elements had still worked their magic, even from a distance. Discord had teleported to Canterlot, but the Elements' rainbow had still reached him, and his statue didn't need to be moved very far, which was convenient for the castle guard.

Fluttershy found it exceedingly hard to sleep that night, even though the beds in Canterlot Castle's guest wing were exceedingly comfortable. Her nerves were still acting up, and preparing herself mentally for another repeat of today was a harrowing thought.

Regardless, she found herself very tired as she heard the clocks chime midnight, and before the twelfth bell rung, she was asleep.

Fluttershy woke up to Angel Bunny's little paws pawing at her arm.

It didn't take her very long to sit up and rub the sleep out of her eyes. She tried to quiet Angel's worries as she got dressed again, but she found it difficult to try and quiet her own.

The idea crossed her mind that maybe it wasn't her soulmate day. It could have been, but what were the chances of it happening today of all days? A reality-bending godlike being was on the loose, so maybe it was something else.

Something to do with him.

From what she knew about Discord so far, she wouldn't put it past him to play some kind of massive prank on a random pony. Making someone think it was their soulmate day by altering the flow of time would be a pretty creative form of torment, and he might have been able to pull it off with his powers.

She didn't know much about how chaos magic worked, but it seemed possible.

Fluttershy wasn't sure why he would target her, or if he hadn't and her friends were going through the same thing that she was, but... asking him about it couldn't hurt.

If it was all a big trick, and he knew that she was onto him, it might make him stop.

It was a big "if", but Fluttershy didn't have any other ideas just yet.

Fluttershy didn't even flinch this time when the walls shot up between her and her friends.

She heard the faint sound of their alarmed screams through the thin walls of the hotel, and she only sighed as Twilight barked the instruction to meet in the lobby.

He learned from his mistake of letting the girls stay together yesterday: he knew now they all had to be separated so that he could toy with them individually. Disharmony was much harder to invoke when a group of friends was together.

She was learning more and more about how Discord's mind worked as the days (day?) went on. She couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Fluttershy began walking down the narrow, yellow hallway she was in. The wallpaper was peeling, and everything smelled faintly of some sort of old perfume, the kind an elderly pony might wear. There were no windows that she could see, but some dangling lightbulbs were hung on the ceiling every dozen feet or so.

It was Fluttershy's favorite place that Discord had created so far. It wasn't pleasant at all, but it was better than an underwater fortress, or a sprawling hedge maze. Hotels were much more straightforward (although a hotel created by the Lord of Chaos might, admittedly, not be so).

She got the urge to peek into the doors as she passed several of them. Each door was unique, and they were all different shapes and sizes. Logic told her they'd only lead to empty hotel rooms, not a path to the lobby. Therefore, it made perfect sense to look inside them. Logic couldn't be trusted right now.

The numbers on the doors seemed to be completely random; she had already passed a few with the labels 666, 1,000,000,000, 5, and 42. She stopped at one that was numbered 134 in metallic numeral stickers.

This one was a purple, circular, wooden door with a ring-like handle. This door's handle was dusted with a powder-like substance, and as Fluttershy brushed it off, she caught a whiff of strawberry.

The handle turned without any difficulty, and the hinges made an awful squeaking noise as Fluttershy pushed the door open. She felt her heart freeze for a moment when she saw what was inside.

134 led to another hallway that went upwards at a slight incline. Just like the last hallway, there were unique doors to explore, but there weren't as many this time, and they were spread pretty far apart.

That wasn't what made Fluttershy jump, though. That honor went to Discord.

He was sprawled out on a bed that sat the middle of the walkway, eating cheese puffs and absentmindedly kicking his feet in the air behind him. A magazine was laid out on the blanket in front of him; judging by the colors, it was one that was marketed to children.

She stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind her, and the sound alerted him to her presence (though she suspected he already knew she would come this way).

He threw his bag of snacks over his shoulder and raised his right hand to wave as cheese puffs rained down upon him. "Ah, we meet again, Fluttershy!"

She frowned at him and hid behind a lock of her hair, her shoulders hunching slightly. Bit by bit, she was becoming used to his chaos, but that didn't mean she wasn't uneasy around him.

Discord swung his feet over the edge of the mattress and sat up. Fluttershy stared at him for a moment. He did not have the expression of a person who was targeting her specifically in some grand scheme, but then again, Fluttershy wasn't sure what that expression might look like. She had never really been the lone target of anything, or anyone, before.

He smiled and teased, "Come now, my dear, don't give me the silent treatment. I'm having such fun, aren't you?"

"No." She was surprised at how quickly her answer came. "No, I'm not having much fun at all."

"Well, we should remedy that! I want my kingdom to be a jovial one, after all." He teleported next to her, making her jump again. One hand on her shoulder and one hand stretching forward in a gesture of showmanship, he continued: "What tickles your funny bone, O Lady of Kindness? Chartreuse koala bears? Refrigerators that run track? Or perhaps the circus is more up your alley."

As he listed things off, he snapped each one into existence in front of them, summoning a full animal act around them in the tiny hallway to illustrate the circus. A lion performer sniffed one of the koalas, and the marsupial smacked the feline in the nose.

Fluttershy held her breath, trying not to lash out immediately. She hated circuses that had animals; they were almost always inhumane to the poor things.

But she also knew that Discord knew this, and that the creatures in front of her were probably nothing more than an illusion to make her mind vulnerable. He knew that she liked animals, and he knew that seeing animals she wanted to rescue would cause an emotional reaction.

What he didn't seem to know, however, is that she was onto his tactics to weaken her defenses. This didn't line up if he was manipulating her and her alone. He wasn't stupid -- just egotistical.

She wouldn't be able to figure out Discord's perspective unless she came clean to him. She'd get nowhere otherwise.

Fluttershy twisted her shoulder out of his hand and faced Discord as an elephant's trunk started playing with her hair. "Please, stop it."

"Stop what?" Discord raised an eyebrow. "The elephant's the one getting friendly with you, not me."

"If this... if this is all some kind of trick, I'm asking you to stop."

He laugh-snorted. "Everything I do is a trick. You're going to have to be more specific, Fluttershy."

She raised her voice, just slightly. She didn't know why, since she had been just nervous up to this point, but she suddenly felt very angry. "I'm not talking about some silly joke! There's a time loop, and I've been stuck in this same day for three days now, and I think you might have something to do with it!"

"Hey, my jokes are far more than silly --" Discord cut himself off with a choked noise. He actually looked baffled. His talon fingers snapped and all of the things he had created in the past few minutes disappeared in small poofs of smoke. "...Time loop?"

Fluttershy nodded and unhunched her shoulders. The muscles in her neck breathed a sigh of relief. "We defeated you. My friends and I, we defeated you. But you keep coming back, and none of my friends remember you. But I do."

Discord looked at her with a curious expression. "Intriguing..."

"And--and if this is some kind of trick you're pulling on me, stop it. Because you've been mean to everyone every time the day restarts, but this is really mean, and I know I'm the weakest and the smallest out of all of us, and I'm probably the easiest one to trick, and it might not even be you because of the whole soulmate thing, but if it is you--"

"On the contrary, my dear, I don't believe I have any more control over this situation than you do."

"What?"

"Making a mortal relive the same day over and over isn't my style at all. If you really are reliving this day alongside me, you'll notice that I don't like repeating things."

She frowned. "That's... true. The fortress, and the maze, right?"

"Yes!" He beamed. "Oh, good, good, it's not just me."

"So you're reliving the days, too?"

"Yes again. For the past three days, the exact same group of schoolchildren has knocked my statue over, and I'm let out of my prison in the exact same way. I thought it was something Celestia had come up with; one of those harebrained plans she concocts to teach lessons." He stuck his tongue out and grimaced. "But knowing that one of her precious subjects is a part of it too rules that possibility out. She'd never enact such misery on a mortal."

As Discord talked, Fluttershy gravitated towards the wall to her right and leaned against it. The more he elaborated, the more a persisting thought in her head became something that was real. Accusing him of tricking her had been an excuse to ignore this very thought.

For the first time, the sentence formed itself fully in her mind, and she didn't push it back or tiptoe around it.

Discord was her soulmate.

He watched as her back slid down the wall and she sat on the floor. "By the by, in that run-on sentence of yours? What did you mean by 'soulmate'?"

Fluttershy looked up at him with eyes as big as plates. Her throat went dry. She didn't know what to say. Was he teasing her again?

She replied, "Soulmate?"

"Yes, that's what you said."

"It's... wait, you don't know?"

"I know what a soulmate is, Fluttershy, but I fail to see how it's relevant." He winked. "Unless you're trying to flirt with me, which would be both adorable and pitiable, but I don't have time for romantic pursuits when there's chaos to cause."

Fluttershy didn't even absorb the sarcastic half of his reply. Her voice had gone quiet. "You really don't know?"

"If you're not going to answer my question, fine, be that way. No matter! If we're truly stuck in a time loop together, we've got plenty of time to solve this mystery, eh?" He teleported so that he was crouching in front of her. "And I've got plenty of other Elements to corrupt. See you when I see you!"

She didn't feel like trying to stop him when he reached for her forehead. She just watched the business-like way he moved to brainwash her and hoped Twilight and the others weren't too far off, and that she wouldn't be too cruel to them this time around.

If Discord didn't know why time was resetting, it would just reset again. So if Fluttershy and the others failed today, it would be okay. They could always try again tomorrow. That's what she told herself, because her head was spinning too much to tell herself anything else.

When Angel woke her up the next day, Fluttershy didn't even bother looking out the window. After a breathing exercise, she just sat up, gave Angel a reassuring pat, and carried him down to the kitchen.

He reacted with confusion, but hopped away once she set him down. He mentioned something about hiding under the table until it was all over, and she figured that was the safest place for a bunny right now, anyway.

Yesterday had concluded in about the same way the other two days had. Discord hadn't even acknowledged their conversation once she and her friends confronted him, and he was turned back to stone.

She was, admittedly, tired of being Fluttercruel, though. Twice was more than enough.

She felt fairly well-rested this morning, which was a first. Good. This meant she had time to think.

As she began making herself some tea before Rainbow Dash's inevitable arrival, she considered what Discord had said.

People who didn't know the soulmate process were few and far between because it was a pretty universal thing across all of Equestria's cultures. It happened to just about everyone sooner or later, unless you lived in a place where you didn't meet anyone at all. Perhaps some folks who lived up in lonely mountain houses and things like that were unfamiliar with the process.

The kettle whistled.

Fluttershy had vivid memories of her mother Sky Heart telling her stories of her own soulmate day. Hers was on a busy orientation day at the cloud assembly line, during which she had shaken countless hooves, and she had never found her match. It was why she ended up with Fluttershy's father, and why their relationship hadn't lasted very long at all, and why Fluttershy had never met him.

She lifted the kettle with a potholder and poured the water into a mug, since all of her teacups were sitting unwashed in the sink.

All this because her mother couldn't find her soulmate in time. Once your 25 days were up, the days stopped resetting, and you missed your chance.

Fluttershy was terrified of the same thing happening to her.

She began to steep the tea leaves as she made her way over to the sofa.

It was some kind of fate-related magic, Fluttershy was sure, but she didn't know exactly how it worked. All she knew is that it worked, it worked well, and it was steadfast in its limitations. None of these things applied to Discord.

The Lord of Chaos was incredibly clever, she could tell, but he had been defeated all three times she and her friends had faced him so far. So he wasn't infallible. And if he truly didn't know what a soulmate was, then how could she convince him?

Did she even want to convince him?

As she idly watched some pastries bounce along outside her window (Discord must have gotten bored of flying objects), she thought about what his weakness could possibly be.

Of course, the Elements were always able to stop him, but why were Fluttershy and her friends always able to find the things in the first place? He could easily teleport them to another country if he didn't want them to be found.

He was full of himself. Was it possible that he simply trusted his own abilities too much?

The more Fluttershy thought about it, the more it made sense. Discord liked games, and he was overconfident, so he kept creating games that he thought he would win.

If he was overconfident, perhaps the way to get through to him and end this soulmate cycle as quickly as possible was to be nice to him. Appeal to his way of thinking.

The question occurred to Fluttershy again: did she even want him to believe they were soulmates?

What would she even say to him once they both believed it? "You want to move in?" "Where should we have our first date?" "I never thought my perfect match would be an ancient god of chaos."

She set the now-empty mug on a side table, stood up, and walked towards the living room window. The pastries continued to bounce by; none of them looked like they were headed anywhere in particular. A strawberry one bounced off the windowpane and left a smear of pink icing.

Fluttershy unlatched the window, suddenly curious.

She only had to wait a few moments before another treat began making its way toward her window, and she braced herself to catch it (with a slight rush of adrenaline as she did so, since catching things always made her flinch, and she wasn't very good at it).

Despite this, she managed to grab it, and she closed the window behind it so her cottage wouldn't grab more.

She looked at it for a moment. It wasn't very big, and it looked like it was chocolate. She liked chocolate.

After taking a small bite, she discovered it was actually dragonfruit-flavored.

Nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened that morning (plenty of chaotic things happened, but it was roughly the same routine from the last few resets).

Fluttershy found herself relatively at ease; she still felt a bit nervous about everything, but she wasn't nearly as bad as she normally was. Maybe the tea helped.

If all Discord needed was to have soulmates explained to him, maybe she could get out of this time loop a bit easier than she thought. It wasn't exactly the problem she had always dreaded having once her day came -- at least she knew who the person was, and she wouldn't have to go searching for them.

She had an idea of who she was dealing with, and that was much better than going in blind every time the day reset.

Fluttershy had decided on the train to Canterlot that she would try and talk to Discord again once she ran into him away from her friends.

She could explain it to him, he could be caught and punished for his crimes, and she could go on with her life. Yeah. Plenty of ponies who didn't end up with their soulmates still had fulfilling relationships later on. She could be one of those ponies.

The thought of explaining all this to any of the other girls brought a brand new kind of anxiety, and it wasn't one she was mentally prepared to deal with right now. She'd handle that once she was absolutely certain she couldn't handle the main problem on her own.

Hearing the other five tell her that she was in trouble and that Discord was evil wouldn't help anything right now. She knew both of those things already.

Besides, none of them seemed to be catching on, and Discord hadn't singled her out in front of the others, anyway. When he introduced them to the labyrinth of the day, he made a couple of comments on things repeating themselves again, but it hadn't meant anything to anyone else.

And the wink he gave Fluttershy before making his exit seemed more like an attempt at being annoying than anything.

Once everyone was separated again (it was in a massive shopping mall today, and they were all sent to different floors), Fluttershy set off on her own again.

Her starting point was right next to a pet supply store. This was either a coincidence, or Discord hadn't wasted any time in trying to approach her again. She had a hunch it was the second one.

As she walked into the shop, she looked through the shelves to see what Discord had come up with. There were a few things she was used to seeing, like bird feed and dog leashes. The majority of the items, however, were more unusual animals that Fluttershy had never heard of: massive collars for Bandersnatches, little outfits for Porgs, and jerky treats for Chupacabras.

It was, admittedly, incredibly interesting. Maybe, in a world where they were able to be friends, Fluttershy could ask Discord to show her some of these creatures.

Friends? With Discord?

Almost as soon as she had that thought, she saw him down one of the aisles, a plastic basket hanging on his arm. She paused and watched him, and he noticed her immediately.

He put his hands out in a welcoming gesture. "Ah, my fellow Groundhog Day prisoner! Hello, Fluttershy!"

"Groundhog Day?..." She blinked. Best not to question it. "Um, nevermind. Hello."

"You like my work today? I'm particularly proud of this one; I spent all night in my stone prison thinking about all the little details."

"You know, if you spent a little time making something that didn't interfere with everyone's lives and safety, I think your... um, work, might be more appreciated."

"It's no fun if it doesn't interfere with the lives and safety of mortals."

Fluttershy sighed.

Discord stuck his free arm in the shelf and began knocking large amounts of canned Tribble food into his basket. "Enough about me. You look like you've got something on your mind."

She nodded. "But don't you?"

"Of course I do. Unlike you, I just know not to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Taking a few steps closer to him, she tried not to hide behind her hair this time. "So you've really never heard about soulmates before?"

"I might remember Celestia and Luna mentioning them at some point in our glory days, but I assumed it was the usual mortal nonsense about true love." He summoned a heart-shaped box of chocolates just to throw it over his shoulder. "And I certainly didn't assume that romance was linked at all to our current predicament."

Fluttershy frowned and felt her cheeks getting a little warm from embarrassment, but she pushed on. "Well, um... soulmates are a thing for us. A big thing."

"Why don't you give me the whole rundown, since you seem to be an expert on the topic?"

He strolled over to her, linked their arms together, and began leading her down the store aisle. She blinked and followed, but didn't respond, because she was too distracted by the fact that they were making contact again.

Discord waved his hand in front of her face. "Earth to Shutterfly."

"Oh!" She shook her head. "Right. Sorry."

"I promise you, if this is some elaborate scheme of yours, you need only--"

She felt a hint of annoyance bubbling up in her chest. "No, I'm not lying, and I'm not trying to flirt with you. Just listen to me."

He laughed.

"Everyone has a soulmate. The first day you make contact with them, even if it's just bumping into them on accident on a busy street, that's your soulmate day."

"Which is what you're saying today is."

"Yes. And the day repeats itself until the soulmates find each other. It doesn't repeat for anyone else. Just the soulmates."

"Hmm..." Discord picked up a cat toy and examined it.

They turned a corner, and Fluttershy continued. "And... that's all. Once they find each other, the soulmate day stops, and everything goes back to normal."

"I don't much care for normal, if you couldn't tell," he said as he led them to the cash register. "No offense, Flutters, but it sounds a lot like you're trying to get out of me winning."

Now, she let her hoof fall to her side.

Discord scoffed and continued. "How am I supposed to know that putting any stock in this theory will get me anywhere I want to be? No matter what the cause of the loop is, I could just keep causing all the chaos I want, and not even the Elements of Harmony can stop me. I'll just keep coming back."

Fluttershy stared at him, unmoving.

He dumped all of the wares he had accumulated (mostly Tribble food) onto the checkout counter. "Therefore, I don't see a single reason to listen to anything you have to say."

"Because there's a time limit, that's why."

"Oh, really? How convenient. You're good at improv, I'll give you that."

She flapped her wings a few times so she was at his eye level. Her heart felt the same way it had when she stood up to that mean old dragon a few months back. "Well, believe me or no, everyone's time loop stops after 25 days. We're a few days in now, so you have even less time than that."

Discord looked a bit surprised at her sudden boldness. For once, he didn't comment -- just glared in annoyance.

"And if you don't believe me, and if you keep being inconsiderate to everyone in Equestria, you're eventually going to end up back in stone."

"So I'm forced to be someone's boyfriend or else I go back to an eternity as a lawn gnome?"

"I -- we don't have to --" She faltered, and her cheeks reddened even more. "No, we don't have to be together. What I meant was, don't you want to be free?"

His eyebrows narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"You said it yourself. You've been given another chance. Several other chances."

"You know what, you're right. I've been given another chance. Tell you what: since you've been so helpful with helping me understand this soulmate business, I'll spare your mind for now. No Fluttercruel today!"

Discord snapped his fingers, and suddenly, he was wearing a sun hat and a button-up with tropical flowers on it. The grocery basket abandoned, he was now holding a suitcase that bore a striking resemblance to the box the Elements were kept in.

He continued, a wide grin on his face. "If there truly is a ticking clock on my freedom, I'll be taking my leave. I'd rather have my fun somewhere you can't reach these pesky Elements. That way, I get more bang for my buck. Ta-ta!"

His fingers wiggled at Fluttershy in a goodbye, and she shouted "No!" and lunged just as he vanished.

The mall vanished along with Discord, and Fluttershy found herself face-first in some grass.

She pushed herself up with a groan, and saw she was in the castle gardens with her friends. They were all reacting with confusion; Rainbow was shouting, and Pinkie was laughing at the sensation of being teleported.

Fluttershy held her head in her hooves.

The rest of the evening was busy.

The girls went back to the castle so Twilight could report what happened, and over the course of the next few hours, Celestia received a message from Yakyakistan. Discord had set up shop in the country's palace, kicking the inhabitants out with ease.

They had no choice. They had to take a train out of Canterlot and head towards Discord to stop him.

It would be an overnight trip, so Fluttershy knew they would never cross Yakyakistan's border. The day would reset before they could. She felt helpless.

She was silent for most of the night, even quieter than usual, but she didn't have to think of an excuse for it this time; the others were just as quiet as she was. So, she spent the train trip with her eyes closed and her head resting on a pillow, hoping to make this day end as soon as she could.

Her mind kept her awake. Everything was going exactly the way it should have gone, but it was going completely wrong. Nothing about her soulmate day was right, and she didn't know how to fix it.

But she had to do something.

Once again, sleep didn't find her until the stroke of midnight.

As soon as Fluttershy woke up the next morning, she hopped out of bed and went downstairs without delay. Angel trailed behind her, and she couldn't focus enough right now to hear exactly what he was saying, but he was angry.

Fluttershy threw open her front door, ignoring Angel's confused chattering. She tried to see through the green fog outside that she had a feeling was actual pea soup. He loved his idioms.

She threw her head back and shouted. "Discord!"

He appeared in a flash, and she would have thought he was waiting for her if he wasn't an omnipotent spirit whose ears probably literally burned when someone talked about him. Not real flames, but cartoonish, little, fake ones that he'd use for a visual gag.

Discord grinned at her and summoned a hat just to tip it. "You rang?"

She didn't even time to think about how ridiculous it was that her spur-of-the-moment idea had worked. "Stop this. Please, just stop."

"Stop what, dear Fluttershy? Don't you like peas? I think they're lovely."

She shook her head in sadness and frustration. "Discord, I don't want to fight you. We don't want to fight you."

"Oh, did you and the others have a kiki last night? I didn't realize you all had come to that agreement."

"I didn't have to talk to them to know that. We don't have a choice! We have to do something, or else you'll take over Equestria!"

"Well, you've got me there." He fluttered his eyelashes, which were now long and glittery. "Aint I a stinker?"

"I don't want to fight you, Discord," Fluttershy repeated. She stepped back and gestured to the inside of her house. "Here, come sit. I just want to talk."

He rolled his eyes. "All you've wanted to do since you got stuck on this soulmate idea is talk."

She shrugged weakly. "I can't promise anything. Just give me a chance. Maybe we don't have to fight anymore." She made direct eye contact with him. "We won't know until we try."

"Well... I do love a conundrum."

Once they were inside, Fluttershy quickly washed two teacups and began boiling some water for ginseng tea after hushing Angel and sending him upstairs.

Discord was sitting on her sofa. Fluttershy's sofa. In her home. Discord. The eons-old spirit who had absolutely no business being here when he could be outside, turning bird feathers into little paper fans and oxygen into helium.

It was a start.

Fluttershy blew on the cup to cool the water down, and then figured there was no point, because Discord could probably alter its temperature to his exact liking. So, she walked across the living room and held it out to him. "It's ginseng. It's the only kind I've got right now, so I'm sorry if it's not one you like."

Discord took the teacup in his mismatched hands and took a sip before the root had even been steeped, responded with an over-exaggerated "mm-mm" sound. "Scrumptious. But you know what would be even better?"

He didn't wait for her to guess before he snapped his fingers, and he and Fluttershy looked as both the tea in the cup and the water in the kettle began emitting visible music notes and a jaunty tune.

Fluttershy smiled, part nervous and part genuine. "Oh, I see. Ginseng that can really sing. I like it."

"Well, it's nice that somebody around here finally appreciates my art. Every time I provide renovations to a home here in Ponyville, I'm only met with screams."

She wanted to point out that the reactions of the residents of Ponyville to Discord's "renovations" had less to do with the subject matter and more with the inherent destruction involved, and that he himself had said it was more fun when his magic made others unhappy, but she held her tongue for now.

Fluttershy sat on the chair next to the sofa, not quite wanting to share furniture with him just yet. She held her teacup with both hooves.

Discord pulled the teabag out of his cup and took a bite out of it. The shaved ginseng root inside fell into the water. Fluttershy tried not to stare. The two of them were quiet for a moment, and she tried to keep her breathing at a steady level.

He was the one to break the silence. "I've got an appointment in Canterlot pretty soon, you know. I can't be too long."

Suddenly, Fluttershy remembered an important detail. "Oh! Rainbow Dash is coming!"

"What?"

"Every morning when the day resets, she comes to my house to tell me that... well, that there's chaos."

He chuckled and snapped his fingers. "Taken care of."

"What did you do?"

"Looped the forest in on itself. She can keep flying as long as she wants, but she won't reach your cottage until we're finished with our tea."

"Oh... alright." That didn't sound dangerous, so it was okay. For now. "Anyway. Why did you come back? I thought you were going to take the Elements somewhere else."

"I tried that last night, as you already know. And you know? It's not as fun when you and your friends aren't trying to stop me." He smiled at her. "I've grown fond of coming up with new things to subject you all to in the past few days."

"So... I guess you like having a challenge, right?"

"Right. It's boring otherwise."

"Well, like I said, we don't like fighting very much. I think if you wanted to, you could use your extra chances and your magic to make some friends. We react much better to that."

"I think we're becoming fast friends already, Fluttershy."

She took a sip of her tea. "I'm not sure I'd call us that just yet."

"You've liked some of my creations, yes?"

"Yes, but you haven't been very courteous to anyone."

His finger shot up in the air. "So you're saying that a friendship is possible!"

"Maybe." She giggled a little, despite herself. "That's what I was trying to say yesterday. If you're my soulmate, you aren't going to be forced to be my boyfriend or anything like that. We could just be friends, or acquaintances."

Discord looked into his tea. "And I could be free."

"I... I don't know." Fluttershy tilted her head at him. "I don't know what the princess would do. It's not my decision to make. But maybe, if she knew you had a friend, and you didn't use your powers for evil..."

He leaned in and changed the subject. "So, about this soulmate thing. You're positively certain that we're the perfect match?"

She blinked at him, and stuttered. "Um... well, I'm pretty certain. About the whole soulmate thing, I mean. I don't know who else it could possibly be, since you're the only other one I know of who's in this loop with me, and..."

"It must be some kind of external force making this happen, right? What, exactly, decides this?"

"I'm, um... not sure. I don't have magic, so I don't know much about how it works, exactly, but I know it's something fate-related."

"Huh." He made a face. "I've never liked fate-related magic. I don't like for things to be set in stone, if you'll pardon my phrasing. But, if you do believe all this, is the fact that we're both experiencing this really the only way to know for sure?"

"That we're soulmates?"

"Precisely. There's got to be some other way than us being in the loop together. It might be a sign for other folks, but I'm a god of chaos, so this might just be Thursday for me."

"I think it's still Monday, but you have a point." She set her tea in her lap and watched the way the water slightly rippled at her movements. "I'm not sure if there's another way, but I feel like there might have been something I heard--"

She paused, because the 'other way' she suddenly remembered made her brain fizzle out for a second.

Discord cocked an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

Her voice came out as a squeak. "Nothing!"

"You know something."

She couldn't even look at him. "No, I just--"

"You remembered something, you know another way, and you don't want to tell me."

"It's -- it's just a legend, I'm not sure if it's actually true."

"Whatever it is, it's worth a shot!" He shrugged. "You still haven't done much to convince me other than act nervous and shy, which I sense is something you do pretty often anyways."

"It's silly. I don't think it would work here."

"Silly is the only thing that could work here," He pointed at himself for emphasis.

She smiled at the self-deprecating move, but it was quickly gone. "Well... I've heard some people say that when, well... when you and your soulmate, um..."

Fluttershy suddenly stood up and gathered their now-empty teacups. She stepped towards the sink. "No, I'm certain it wouldn't work here."

Discord teleported in front of Fluttershy, stopping her in her tracks, and she eeped. He poked her nose. "Out with it, Kindness."

"When soulmates kiss for the first time, you get a feeling." Her eyes were wide as plates after saying it out loud; the words had just come out. "You're supposed to know for sure then. It's not one of the set rules, but I've heard from some people that it happened to them."

Discord looked at her, his eyes equally as big, but he seemed more amused than shocked. "A kiss? Oh, no, I couldn't possibly, Fluttershy!" His hand flew to his forehead. "I'm not that kind of girl!"

"Do you see why I said it wouldn't work?" She walked around him and placed the teacups in the sink and hoped she didn't look too flustered.

There was laughter in his voice. "You brought it up!"

She turned around to face him. "You asked!"

"Well, I think we should give it a go."

"You-- huh?"

"It'll put the whole thing to rest. You can stop trying to convince me, and I can stop pretending like there's even a remote possibility that the universe would pair the two of us together."

They looked at each other, and after trying to find words to respond to him with, Fluttershy sighed. She walked over to the sofa and took the other seat, and tried not to flinch as Discord teleported to sit back in his previous spot (it was hard to get used to the suddenness of it).

She wrung her hooves, still not looking at him. "If we do..."

He laughed again. "So you're really going to do it? You've surprised me, Fluttershy. Not an easy feat."

"...if we do, it isn't going to be anything big, alright? No funny business."

"I wouldn't dream of it. I'll make sure your first kiss is as painless as possible."

It was her turn to scoff. "This wouldn't be my first kiss!"

His grin was back. "You could have fooled me, my dear. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Alright, alright." She looked up at him. "I guess we'll see if it's true now."

"I guess we will."

And so--

She kissed him.

It was chaste; neither of them made a move to deepen anything. It lasted only slightly longer than a first kiss between schoolchildren might last.

And still. And still.

From the moment they met to the moment they parted, there had been a swirling in the pit of her stomach, and she couldn't tell how much of it was her previous fear and how much of it was a sudden, strange mix of serenity and excitement.

After they pulled away, she opened her eyes and looked at him, and found his eyes looking back. She hadn't noticed until now, since she hated eye contact so much and never did it for more than a moment, but one of his eyes was slightly, just slightly, bigger than the other one.

There was a flicker of something in his gaze, just for a moment. He had an expression she hadn't yet seen him wear. It was like he was staring straight through her. Distant.

She felt a sudden draw to him, the same way she did with his stained glass self, but different.

There was something vulnerable in those eyes. She wanted to find it. She believed she could find it.

And then, before Fluttershy could even register his reaction, much less her own, he leaned back, shrugged, and smiled his menacing smile. "Well, we tried it your way."

She stiffened, suddenly all too aware of what just happened and what she had felt. She watched him stand up and gulped quietly, unsure of what to say.

Discord patted her head. "I know you mortals are so enamored with the concept of fate, and you love for everything to be tied up in a neat, little bow. And I know that I'm incredibly attractive, so you're probably thrilled that your supposed 'soulmate' is a hunk such as myself." He posed accordingly. "But I'm going to go back to doing things my way."

Fluttershy was shaking. She knew that's what it was supposed to feel like. The kiss.

It matched up perfectly with all the descriptions she'd ever heard of someone kissing their soulmate for the first time. And the days. The days were repeating, too. Just like everyone said they would.

She already knew he was her soulmate. Why was she shaking? Was it the concrete confirmation that the kiss had brought? Was it the fact that there wasn't the small possibility anymore that it was just his chaos magic interfering?

She stood up, too. "This whole time, did you ever stop and think that I don't want this, either?"

A short laugh burst from his throat, and he grinned at her. "Oh, really? Would a dowry help? I can get you as many cows and goats as you'd like."

She knew he was just being difficult, but she continued. She exhaled shakily. "Ever since this thing started, you've hurt my home. You've hurt my animals. You've hurt my friends, the people I already love."

Discord rolled his eyes, obviously fed up now. "Well, if you despise me so much, we're obviously not soulmates. It's no skin off my back, my dear." He said the last words with charged venom. "You're making this far more complicated than it needs to be, and believe you me, I love complications."

"That's not how it -- that's not how it works." Her hooves covered her face, and she sat back down on the sofa. "I mean, but -- why else would --"

"Why else would the days reset unless it was your stupid folktale playing itself out?" He threw his hands in the air. "Oh, I dunno, let's see! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a literal god has been released from his earthly prison! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that weird things happen to me by default!"

She glared at him with an intensity that came close to The Stare. "So you didn't feel anything?"

"What?"

"The kiss. You didn't feel anything?"

He paused for a moment, the corners of his mouth turned down and the same look in his eyes as before, but snorted. "I feel a lot of things, Fluttershy. I'm chaos. It's my nature."

Without waiting for Fluttershy's response, Discord turned around and briskly headed for her front door. She didn't call out for him to come back. He did some kind of over-dramatic bow in farewell and slammed the door shut behind him.

She thought about how he took the time to use the door rather than teleport out.

The spell Discord had placed on the forest had apparently worn off or been removed, because Rainbow Dash showed up at the cottage pretty soon after Discord left.

Fluttershy had followed her friend wordlessly to Ponyville. She felt horrible, but it was a different kind of horrible than the first time today had reset; instead of her anxiety keeping her on edge, she just felt tired. She just wanted to go back to sleep.

She couldn't lay in bed all day, though, because she was an Element of Harmony, and Equestria would expect her to show up.

Discord showed up to the castle. He didn't take the Elements to another country. He gave them his usual speech, and he never once looked at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy never once looked at him.

He put them in a hedge maze again, which was unexpected. He had already done that. She also couldn't help but notice that he was much more short with his words today; he didn't tease Twilight as much, and he didn't linger too long.

When he came to brainwash her in the maze, he didn't say hello. She said his name, but there wasn't much conviction behind it -- just a question. They regarded each other for a moment, and he snapped his fingers, and she was Fluttercruel.

Later, Twilight un-brainwashed her, and they did the same for the others. The same as the first day.

The same as the first day.

When they had finally collected the Elements (he had even hidden them in the same place), they went to confront Discord.

The six of them stood in a semicircle before him. He smiled at them, like he had no idea what was coming.

Fluttershy looked at him, and he looked at her.

She tried to project her voice so he could hear her over the din of the chaos. "We don't want to fight you."

The others looked at her, taken aback; she had hardly spoken all day when she wasn't Fluttercruel, and now she was talking to him?

Discord shrugged. "I know you don't."

Twilight's disdain was palpable. "You underestimated us if that's what you think."

The Element of Magic glowed, and Fluttershy knew it was too late. She shut her eyes tight and readied herself alongside the others. Discord crossed his legs and sat back in his throne.

It was after dinner at the castle, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were about to go to sleep.

Rainbow was already under the covers after flying into the room and knocking a (thankfully durable) vase over. Fluttershy was sitting on the edge of the bed; she didn't want to delay sleep, either.

As she arranged her pillows in the way she liked them, she heard Rainbow make that noise she made when she wanted to talk about something.

Fluttershy looked over at her friend. "What's wrong?"

Rainbow shrugged and stared at the ceiling. "I dunno. I guess... why did you say that to Discord?"

"That we didn't want to fight him?"

"Yeah, that."

"Well..." Fluttershy laid her head down. "Wouldn't it be better if he didn't have to fight him?"

"What, like if he was our friend or something?"

"I don't know. Maybe not a friend, necessarily, but maybe someone who didn't try and turn everything into his playground, I suppose."

"That's not him, though." Rainbow looked over at her. "He's not like that. He's bad news. We gotta fight him."

"Maybe he is bad news." She sighed. "Either way, I don't like doing it. Fighting, I mean."

"I know you don't, but that's why we all love you, Fluttershy." She ruffled her friend's hair. "I know it's tough for you when we gotta fight bad guys, but it's good that we've got someone who thinks like you do. We need someone like you. I just don't want you to get hurt."

Fluttershy smiled at her. "Thank you for worrying about me. I'm tired now, though. Let's sleep."

"Ugh, yes. Let's."

Fluttershy woke up to the sound of a door knocking.

Her eyes stayed closed for a moment, wanting to stay in bed for a little bit longer before having to deal with chaos.

A muffled drawl called from behind the door. "Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! The train to Ponyville leaves in an hour, we gotta get a move on."

Fluttershy felt the urge to groan, but then her breath caught in her throat. That was Applejack's voice.

Was she at her house? It was also possible that Discord was mimicking her voice, and had entered her cottage without permission.

She looked up, and right as her eyes adjusted to the light and saw where she was, she couldn't move.

She was in a pristine bed with white and gold sheets in a room that was just as pristine and white and gold. She wasn't in her bedroom. She was in Canterlot Castle.

Fluttershy sat up, bringing the covers with her and pulling them off of Rainbow Dash, who was beside her. They had fallen asleep together last night. After the award ceremony, after dinner.

Rainbow grunted. "Jeez, Fluttershy, stop hogging the covers..."

Fluttershy made a choked squeaking noise. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Let me go back to sleep--" She tugged the comforter away from Fluttershy and pulled it over her head.

Fluttershy stared.

She stood up and ran to open the door. Applejack was walking away down the hallway, but she wasn't very far. Fluttershy called out, "Hey!"

Applejack turned around and greeted Fluttershy with a smile. "Morning! Glad to see you up. Could you try and get Rainbow up, too?"

"I... Discord?"

"Discord?" She looked at her funny. "What about him?"

"He's gone?"

"Sure is. We defeated him yesterday, remember?"

Applejack had that motherly, worried expression now. Usually, it comforted Fluttershy, but now it just slightly disoriented her.

She nodded. Her words were quiet. "Yeah. I remember."

"Everything alright, sugarcube?"

"Yes. Um, yes, I'm fine." Fluttershy gripped the door. "Bad dream."

"Okay, if you say so." Applejack adjusted her hat. "Let us know if you need anything. I know it was pretty scary out there."

"I will," she replied as she shut the door.

Leaning back against the frame, she wrung her hands. There was no way. There was no possible way her soulmate day had ended already.

That would mean that he...

That Discord had...

Fluttershy wasn't able to return to Canterlot for a few days.

The Ponyville townsfolk came to her with concerns about their pets who had been affected by Discord's magic; many of the town's residents opted to visit the town's veterinarian, who had more medical knowledge than Fluttershy, but many of them also trusted Fluttershy's judgement when it came to animals. She was good at sensing what they were thinking.

None of the animals had any lasting physical effects from the chaos, but she could tell that a few of them were still a little jumpy after everything. She assured the pet owners that their little ones would be alright in a few days, and that they just needed a lot of love, affection, and reassurance, the same kind that the owners themselves would want after an event like this.

Everyone had been shaken up by Discord, and she was sure that life would return to normal soon. It would for everyone else, at least; she suspected she would be experiencing the aftershocks for a long time to come.

She needed to visit him as soon as possible. So she did, once the house calls quieted down.

Fluttershy left for her Canterlot day trip without much fuss, other than a note left on her door in case anyone tried to visit her. She left a short explanation that she was off to gather some special animal care supplies, and she'd be back tomorrow.

As a lie, it was good enough. Nobody much questioned (or even noticed) when Fluttershy disappeared for a little while, and sometimes it made her feel a little lonely, but she was glad for it right now.

Unlike her previous train trips taken over the past few days, this one seemed to pass by too quickly. It was over before Fluttershy had time to sit in her thoughts and focus on her nerves too much.

The walk to the castle gardens went even quicker. Were the gardens always this close to the train station?

She nodded at the unicorn guard that was on duty as she walked through the garden entrance. The mare recognized Fluttershy from previous times the pegasus had to help save the world, and let her enter without any trouble (Fluttershy felt a little bad about not remembering her name, but she could figure that out later).

Discord's statue was farther back, past the peonies and marigolds and closer to the poison joke. It took a few minutes to reach a point where she could even see him, so she tried to spend these few minutes calming herself down by taking in the beauty of the flowers as she walked.

Almost no trace had been left of the chaos that was everywhere less than a week ago. It had all been erased when he was stoned; wiped clean like a slate.

She walked past some sunflowers, and half expected them to grow faces and start blowing bubbles, or something equally silly.

She was almost sad when they didn't.

Fluttershy looked up from the sunflowers, and saw Discord.

He was a few dozen feet away now, all gray and stone. Unmoving. She could see his expression from here; he looked mildly amused at best and annoyed at worst.

Fluttershy approached him and wondered if he could tell she was here. She wondered if he could even sense anything at all.

There were only a few feet between them after she walked up, and the only reason she didn't get closer was that there was a wrought iron fence around him. Extra safety precautions, she presumed, so there wouldn't be a repeat (ha) of the last time he escaped.

Nobody else was around; it was a slow day at the gardens, evidently. She had to act now.

Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Um... hello, Discord."

Too quiet. Even if he couldn't reply, there was no way he could hear her at that level. She repeated herself: "Hello, Discord."

His statue was sitting on his throne, which had been stoned along with him. She wasn't sure what his original pose had been, since she had never seen him before their soulmate day, but he looked... relaxed. His hands were behind his head, and he seemed like he was waiting for something exciting to happen.

"I wanted to, um... come talk to you. I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can..."

She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. Everything was really busy until today. I thought..."

Pause.

"...I thought we had more time."

If Discord could hear Fluttershy, he wasn't sending a sign. Either way, he probably couldn't send a sign. The thought hurt her more than she liked.

She sniffed. "I meant it, you know. When I said that we could be friends. I would have liked to be friends with you, Discord. I think we could have been, if you had a few more chances. I'm... I'm sorry. I had no clue. I didn't know our soulmate day would end after the last time."

She couldn't cry now. She couldn't.

"Did you know? Did... never mind. It doesn't matter."

Asking if he knew that the time loop would end was a stupid question. He couldn't have known. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let himself be defeated, right?

"I have to do something. I decided that already. I can't just go on knowing that you're stuck here, even if you did deserve it. Maybe I'll talk to the princesses, okay? You were friends with them, once? I remember you saying something about your glory days."

If there had been an aura in this area of the gardens that Fluttershy hadn't noticed before, it changed in that moment. The air was suddenly charged with a bit more energy.

She wasn't sure if it was Discord, or if it was simply her emotions shifting, but she took it as a good sign. She wiped her eyes, which had started to tear up a little from thinking about everything.

"I'll try and talk with the princesses about you sometime. It might take a little while, because I have to think of how to phrase everything... you probably know by now I'm not very good at that. And they're very busy. But I'll try. I promise." She smiled up at his frozen face. "I'd still like to be friends. Maybe we can be."

Out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy saw an earth pony with her daughter appear in one of the attached pathways. They weren't close yet, but they were coming this way.

She pushed her hair out of her face. "I have to go, now. I'll try and visit again sometime, so don't worry. Um... think about what you did, alright? It still wasn't okay. Alright. Goodbye."

Fluttershy felt a little silly berating him like a child, but she couldn't think of anything else to say before she had to walk off, and she didn't want to leave without reminding him that he wasn't off the hook, even if he was her soulmate and even if she did want to try being friends with him.

She tried not to look back as she turned away and walked towards the roses and the hyacinths.

Two months later

Princess Celestia took in the magnificent view of Equestria as four of her most trusted guards pulled herself and Discord along on winged chariots.

The Lord of Chaos was still in stone, of course. He wouldn't be freed until the escort party had landed in Ponyville and Fluttershy had arrived. Celestia had a plan.

She looked over at her petrified travel partner, and felt a rush of friendly affection that she thought would be (and should be) long-dead by now. She couldn't help it; the way he was sitting made it look like he was awake on this trip with her, unimpressed at the royal theatrics that the chariots brought, and wishing he could have just teleported them instead.

The princess was bringing one of her oldest friends and greatest enemies to Ponyville today because she had a hypothesis to confirm. She had noticed several things since his escape.

She noticed that Fluttershy visited Discord's statue in the Canterlot Castle gardens every once in a while.

She noticed that the day Discord had been freed, he had made a few odd comments that didn't add up. Comments about "doing this again" and things of that nature.

She noticed that, when she tried to say hello to Fluttershy during one of her garden visits, the little pegasus's face had turned as pink as Pinkie Pie's and she politely ducked out of the conversation with an excuse and a squeak.

Celestia was attentive. She knew when someone was hiding something from her. She also had seen plenty of soulmate days in her lifetime, and even though she hadn't lived through her own yet (a fact that she took no shame in anymore, after growing older and wiser), she knew what they looked like in others.

She had a plan. A plan that, if everything went well, would end with Discord being free.

Equestria would gain a powerful ally, Celestia and Luna could have their old friend back, and (if she was correct in her assumptions) a pair of soulmates could be united, even if as friends and nothing more. Only time could tell how they'd decide to proceed with their relationship.

They were approaching Ponyville now. They'd be landing soon.

Celestia sat up straight and placed her hoof on the Elements of Harmony, preparing herself for every possible outcome. She hoped Fluttershy was up to the task.