> Stay
>  by taterforlife
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Stay
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so, it was over.

They weren’t sure exactly what was over, exactly, but there had been something… final about it. 

Discord and Fluttershy sat atop a hill, looking at the simple skyline of Ponyville. There wasn’t a chaotic touch in sight, but neither of them minded.

“I’m so glad about the Council of Friendship,” Fluttershy said. “I really am. It’s a wonderful way to keep in touch.”

“But?” Discord prompted, glancing down at the pastel Pegasus nestled against him.

“But it’s still a big change. Things… really aren’t going to be exactly the same ever again.”

She felt her lips wobble despite herself. “I’m going to miss the way it used to be.”

Discord nodded. “Change is hard for ponies. You’re no exception.” Discord reached down to gently run his eagle hand through her mane. “This is a big one, for sure.”

“Aren’t you sad about it, too?” Fluttershy asked.

“Only because I know it’s difficult for you,” he answered. “But with me at your beck and call, I can teleport you anywhere and everywhere at your whim, you know.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t want you wrapped around my hoof like that, Discord. You’ve been taken advantage of enough in your life. And even though you can do those things, I wouldn’t know if I was interrupting or not. No. That’s not how I need to go forward.”

Discord’s frown deepened as he tried coming up with something, anything, to make this better.

“What can I do?”

His heart gave a throb as Fluttershy just leaned further against him, her tears glistening as they soaked into his fur.

“Just… stay with me and let me be sad. Please?”

His tail curled around her as he lowered his head. Gathering up all the courage he had, he placed a soft kiss on the crown of her head.

“Consider it done.”





That evening they moved their location to Fluttershy’s couch, via teleportation. They had tea and some small cakes as a snack. Fluttershy ate a salad too, insisting she needed some “real” food in her stomach as well, though Discord thought that was just silly. “If you can eat it,” he explained, brandishing a tea cake, “then it’s real!”

His dramatics got a giggle out of her, at least. 

She fell asleep without realizing it, the remaining bun of a cake falling out of her hooves as she leaned against Discord’s chest, her eyelashes brushing against his fur. Discord smiled down at her as he turned the tip of his tail into a dustpan, magically levitating a broom to clean up the mess. He took the tail-turned-dustpan and dumped the contents into his mouth. 

She had some crumbs on her face, but that could be taken care of, too. With no demon bunnies or other critters lurking about, he allowed himself to kiss the corner of her lips where the offending crumbs lay, barely lasting a second. 

They tasted so sweet.

“I’ll take care of you, Flutterbuddy,” he whispered, putting his arm around her and curling around her body. “Since that crazy noggin of yours tends to forget to do it yourself. Always so busy worrying over everything else that breathes. Including me.”

He laid another kiss on the crown of her head, wishing he had the courage to say these things to her when she was awake.

He finally drifted asleep to the lullaby of his favorite pony’s breathing, his last thought being: 

How can I make this change for the better? 





When she awoke, it was morning. She wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion at first, trying to remember what had happened. Yesterday, she had gotten home from Canterlot, and Discord had been waiting at the train station for her. He’d given her a bouquet of lovely blue flowers, and his eyes had seemed to know what she was thinking.

That she had been sad. So, so sad.

And she had asked him to stay. 

And feeling the warmth of his body, the warmth of the arm draped around her, she realized that he had not only stayed, but he had never left.

Never in her life had she ever felt so cared for, nor had she ever felt so completely protected by someone. For all the mistakes Discord had made, for all the pain he had caused her over the years, it wasn’t even close to equaling the amount of joy and warmth he had brought into her life. 

Her friends’ lives were growing more complex. They were moving, they were progressing. And Fluttershy could admit to herself that her life was taking that same direction. It wasn’t going to force her to move anywhere, but she had the sanctuary now. And she was doing impressive work with it. Dr. Fauna was spreading word on it with her colleagues. More and more requests to take in animals were coming in. Some ponies with talents similar to hers were even asking her if she would expand, if she would help them make their own sanctuaries. 

As Discord often said, the possibilities… They were becoming endless.

She heard his voice echo this to her in her mind, in that smooth, velvet voice of his. She found that she didn’t want to leave the spot she found herself in now. 

She asked herself, what if it was someone else here, curled with her? Would she feel as content, or as treasured, or as loved?

Perhaps with a different friend, maybe. But there was something more intimate about this moment, one that made her think that she wanted this to become a reoccurring event in her life. With him. 

Discord.

“Nnng…”

Fluttershy looked up to watch Discord grimace as he removed his arm around her and raised his hand to the window.

“Euuuccch. Even with Twilight raising the sun now, it still tries burning through my eyelids. So rude.”

He smacked his mouth and looked at Fluttershy with a sleepy smile.

“’Mornin’, Fluttercakes. Sleep well in my embrace, did you?”

Fluttershy playfully pushed away from him, trying to hide the blush that confirmed the truth to his words. It made his chest rumble with laughter.

She missed his warmth in spite of herself and wished she hadn’t pushed herself off the couch at all. “I did sleep well, though. Thank you… for staying. I’m sorry I fell asleep on you.”

“I’m not. You make a good teddy bear. Remind me to add ‘Flutterbear’ to the list of ever-growing nicknames I have for you.”

She laughed. “I think you’ll remember just fine all by yourself.”

Discord sat on his haunches on the couch, running his hand through his short mane. “You’re right, I will.” He stretched his arms wide and yawned like a lion, his canines glittering with the sunshine. 

He bent his neck in near-perfect ninety-degree angles, working out the kinks on both sides. “Anywho, again: don’t worry about it. I was staying here for you in the first place, remember? I didn’t mind at all. I fell asleep not too long after you, anyway.”

“You weren’t uncomfortable?”

“I’ve been having a long-term love affair with that couch of yours since I first started coming here regularly. I never mind crashing on it.”

“Still, there’s the guest room with the bed…” Fluttershy said, running her hoof in a circle on the floor. “You could have woken me up and slept there instead.”

“And interrupt your precious sleep?” He puts a hand on his heart. “I wouldn’t dream of it! Besides! I wanted to stay with you.”

Fluttershy paused to think that over. He wanted to stay. That’s what he just said, right? He didn’t say I stayed because you asked me to, or I told you I’d stay, so I stayed. No. He had said he had wanted to stay.

The words escaped her lips before she could stop them.

“Would you like to stay here?”

Discord tilted his head. “I just did, didn’t I?”

Fluttershy’s face felt like it was going to burn off, she was so embarrassed. She tried making herself go along with his words; tried to back off of it. There’s no way he’d want to stay, anyway. He was a wandering soul, a creature with feet that never stood still. Why would he want to stay and  be with her, to be something constant in her life, an anchor…

“B-But I mean, for longer?”

Discord smiled. “Oh, like stay the weekend? A slumber party?”

Fluttershy’s fetlocks trembled. She felt sweat build up in her hairline. 

“Wh-Who said the slumber party had to even end?”

She couldn’t even see his reaction to her suggestion. She bowed her head down low, so all she could see was the floor.

“Y-You could live here. W-with me. You could take the guest room, and make it your room. That room is only ever used when I need to babysit the girls, and that only ever happens maybe a few times a year anyway, and they’re getting older. It would be a good time now, to, you know… Have a more permanent resident.”

She heard the rustling of the couch. She heard Discord’s feet place themselves against the floor. Oh sweet Luna, what was he doing? 

“Not that you have to stay all the time! This can be your home, but I know you’ll travel a lot! I know you still have a house in the dimension too. But I was thinking, maybe, it would be nice, if we could… stay together. All these changes, all these friends, their lives, things are getting so big, and I’m having trouble thinking of how all the pieces are going to be put together…”

She heard him take a step towards her. It must have been the raptor foot. It padded more softly against the floor than his hoof did.

“You can go for as long as you please, but this could be your home…”

“Fluttershy.”

She didn’t want to look at him. “W-With me.”

“Fluttershy.”

“A-And I’d always be here for you, and when you were here, you’d be here for me…”

“Flutters…”

“A-And you can decorate the room however you want! You could paint them by throwing vegetables on the walls, or something, I don’t care, you could—”

Sniff.

“You could…” What was that? She knew that sound.

Snuuuuurk.

She saw something glittering and falling to the floor. 

Her eyes widened as she looked up.

Discord was smiling as he blew his nose into a tissue with a great, marvelous honking sound.

“…Never… had a home before, you see…”

Of course, his answer was a resounding yes.





Discord poured sparkling apple cider into long-stemmed glasses for both of them, and handed one across the table to Fluttershy.

“Cheers! To the magnificent sanctuary mastermind, Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy’s grin met her eyes as she raised her own glass. “And cheers to the amazing Draconequus who made expansion through portals a possibility, so we could help over 1,000 animals in only three years!”

“To us, then!”

“To us!”

Clink!

The sky was turning a deep orange as they simultaneously took a sip from their glasses, sitting at a wrought iron table in the back of their garden. Both of them ahhhhed as they finished their first celebratory drink.

“This was an amazing day,” Fluttershy said as she put her glass down. “I can’t remember feeling so proud. Of the sanctuary, and all we’ve built, the two of us and our friends. I mean, 1,000 animals! We’ve helped 1,000 animals in just three years recover and find a second chance!” 

“You should be proud!” Discord emphasized, slamming his down with a little more gusto. “You should have been proud way before now! You have accomplished more things with just the tip of your hoof than most dream of doing their whole lives! You’re just starting to really see the fruits of your labor for the first time.”

A fruit hat appeared on his head. Vividly red lipstick, of course, covered his big lips.

Fluttershy giggled. “Discord!”

“What? I’m really trying to emphasize this, Fluttershy. Sure, I helped, what with my amazing idea to help more animals by making naturalistic pocket dimensions when land at the sanctuary was running thin, sure.”

He clasped his fingers together as his tail stretched to the side, its tip curling around Fluttershy’s chin to gently tilt it up to meet his gaze. His lipstick and hat faded away.

“But I only did it because I wanted to help you. You’re the one that cares. You’re the one that all those little puffballs and creatures of the wild need. And you were doing that long before I came along. You make the world better.”

He released her chin and then leaned back against the chair. “And you can’t convince me otherwise. After all, you make my world better. The only world that really matters. So chin up, Fluttercup. Feel that pride more often. I’m certainly proud of you.”

He was rewarded with the fierce flushing of Fluttershy’s face as she struggled to find the words to say. He smiled at her, and instinct told him to reach out a paw to her.

She extended her hoof to him, and he wrapped his fingers around it. 

They looked at each other for a moment before he couldn’t wait any longer, and broke the silence.

“Hey Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Discord?”

“I know we’ve never done this before, but something tells me this is the right time.” He rubbed the back of his head, a blush on the bridge of his muzzle. “But, ah, hey… Would you, mayhaps... be interested in a kiss?”

Her answer, of course, was yes. Yes, she was.





A year later, Discord had Fluttershy pressed against the wall outside of her bedroom. He had meant to only wish her goodnight, but somehow it had escalated to his chest pressing against hers, her body trapped between his own and the wall as his arms held her tightly. His tail coiled around hers as he stole her breath away.

He moved his mouth from her lips to her neck when he murmured a question against her collarbones.

“Marry me, Fluttershy. Marry me.”

Discord: 2. The word “no”: 0.





“That’s how you proposed?” Spike shouted. “Just… like that?”

“Just like that. What can I say? I’m a real Casaneighva when I want to be. She always did have a shining appreciation for my spontaneity.”

“You’re insane! I thought you were scared by the idea of marriage! Something about the government, and contracts, or something!”

“And what do I always tell you? Inconsistency is key, my dear boy. Inconsistency is key.”

“You have literally never said that to me once, not ever.”

“Wanna be my best dragon?”

Discord: 3. The word “no”: still 0.





“Wanna lend your fainting couch to me when I see Fluttershy in her dress and need something to land on? By the way, remember that shampoo you couldn’t find? What do you think, does my mane feel softer or what?”

Discord: 3. The word “no”: 1.





Holding her hooves during the ceremony—the only physical contact he was apparently allowed until he had to be given permission to kiss her (what audacity from the government!)—was torture. 

He wanted to caress her face. He wanted to run his hands down the dress and feel the lace that flowed over her body. He wanted to drink it all in, he wanted Twilight to stop talking, he just wanted this all over with so he could take her home and start calling her his wife and fawn all over her. 

Marrying her had been a great idea. But a whole big long wedding, with an afterparty?

Couldn’t they just party instead?

They didn’t do vows. They decided to do that later, when they were alone. Both of them weren’t really keen on the idea of laying their hearts out on the table for every creature to see, and they were relieved that they were in agreement on that. 

Nopony questioned how they felt about each other, anyway.

If anypony asked him years later how the ceremony was, he would honestly say that he only remembered two things: How Fluttershy looked, and when Twilight said you may now kiss the bride.

The afterparty was great.

The going home afterwards was the best part of all, and the part he would never tell another soul.





“Discord,” she whispered to him across the bed, reaching a foreleg out to him. She wasn’t sure if he was awake. Their wedding day had taken a lot out of them, and their friends and family had promised to take care of things the following day for them so they could rest. That had been yesterday, but they were still late to wake up, she was sure. The sun was rising, but she wasn’t sure what time it was. Discord had eaten her alarm clock the night before, saying he did so “as a poetic metaphor”.

She hadn’t minded. It wasn’t like it was the first clock he had eaten. It wasn’t even the strangest thing she’d seen him eat.

“Discord, are you awake…? You’re twitching…”

“That’s because…” Discord groaned. “Twilight still somehow makes the sun more obnoxious than Celestia ever did, and I’m trying to ignore it.”

His eyes peeked open as he heard his wife giggle. 

Because that? That was something he would never ignore. 

“C’mere, you.” He snaked his arms over her and pulled her close. “Good morning,” he purred.

“Good morning,” she said back, resting her forehead against his. “I had a dream last night.”

“I hope it was about me.”

“You were in it. Do you remember the day I came back from Twilight’s coronation? And you were waiting by the train for me, with flowers?”

“Of course I do. You wear one of those flowers in your hair every day. You’re welcome, by the way, for magically preserving those.”

Another laugh. “Yes, thank you for that. Anyway, that was the dream, basically.”

“Your dream was actually just a memory?”

She nodded. “Uh-huh. Remember when you offered to take me to my friends at any time?”

“I do.” He let go of her to sit up and stretch his arms. His open maw creaked open to let out a yawn. “You wouldn’t let me. Something silly about taking advantage of me or something, even though clearly…”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “That’s what I want you to do~.”

She threw a pillow at him.

“Discord!”

“Sorry, sorry! My, my, you want a serious talk, don’t you? Fine, fine, I’ll be an angel now,” he said, a halo appearing above his head, flapping overly-long lashes at her. 

Fluttershy’s mouth twitched upward slightly, and she shook her head. “Do you remember asking me what you could do for me?”

Discord took a moment to go through the filing cabinets of the memory storage of his brain. “You asked me to stay.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I did.”

“You did.”

“… I never really left, did I?”

She laughed. “No, you didn’t!”

She jumped forward and Discord found himself wrapped up in a hug.

“You didn’t…” Tears bubbled at the corners of her eyes. “And that’s when I think I fell in love with you.”

With his heart melting, he wrapped his arms around her. “Really? No early crush phase?” he joked as he moved to gently catch the tears off her face with a finger.

“There was an early crush phase… But that’s when I knew what I felt was something real. That’s when I realized that I started to feel better about the future. A future with you. That’s how I wanted to move forward.” 

She moved closer to him to place a kiss on the corner of his mouth, and he smiled.

It made him think of cake crumbs and sleeping buttermilk butterfly ponies.

He caught her face in another warm kiss before she could pull away, and when he broke it, he smiled.

“I love it when you talk about how much you love me and totally forget that we have a friendship council meeting today.”

She gasped. “Oh my gosh, you’re right! We do! Oh no, no, no, we… what time is it?”

Discord burst into laughter. “Who cares? I ate the clock, remember?  I’ll teleport you there, okay? I can’t go, I have that O&O convention today, but I’ll save you time.”

Fluttershy felt herself calm. He was right, it was fine. They had plenty of time. Plenty and plenty of time.

Even with all the changes that had occurred in their lives, there was still time to adjust, and to change. Times to look forward to, and times to appreciate just how they had gotten there in the first place.

Just as there was time to scribble a picture of the pony wife on a brown paper bag and open up a portal for her. Time to wave goodbye to him before he closed the portal.

Time to take a cameo in whatever spontaneous song Fluttershy and her friends would no doubt burst into, probably to teach that student of Twilight’s a lesson about friendship. Time to reach out to him as she sang about love for all the creatures she found herself surrounded in.

Because change was scary, but change could be good.

And change could be embraced.

The only thing that didn’t change was the only thing that kept them sustained.

They stayed together.

And that was enough.