Steal the Show
Fluttershy believed the draconequui to be a fasicinating, beautiful group of creatures. She had always thought so.
Living in Mythic City, most of its population were of Ponies, Griffons, Dragons, Kirin, Seaponies, Centaurs, Hippogriffs, and Yaks. The town was mostly built for them. The Draconequui were the last population to finally make their way to the new world, and they were the last. Because of that, Fluttershy had learned that they had picked up the last of the neighborhoods to be, for the most part, unoccupied.
But that had been years ago. By the time Fluttershy was born, Draconequus Town was fully established. Fluttershy had never stepped directly into their section of the city, but she often went by the outskirts. Just to see them.
To watch them.
To learn.
Her affinity with animals wasn’t just with the non-sentient creatures of the land, sky, and sea. She knew everything about every kind of creature, including those with their own cultures and traditions. It was a part of her kindness, her need to know about those around her and what they valued, and what made them a community, a family. As much as Fluttershy longed to one day move out of the city and be closer to nature, that was the one thing she loved most about her hometown. Mythic City was bustling with all the creatures that the world had to offer, all together in one place.
Though, ‘together’ was a loose term when it came to the Draconequui. They mostly kept to themselves in Draconequus Town. They didn’t mingle much with the other species, Ponies included.
It made Fluttershy’s heart ache.
She knew why it was so. She knew Draconequui had quite the history with the rest of the world. Their magic was unlike the magic of anyone else’s. Most creatures thrived off of harmony magic, which only grew stronger with relationships of others. But Draconequui—the beautiful, wonderful, unique, exotic Draconequui, with pelts and skins of any and every animal Fluttershy could think of—they were of a different sort of magic. Particularly, that of chaos.
Chaos and harmony didn’t mix. They were polar opposites. And it was long believed that, should a harmonious creature ever touch a Draconequus… they’d be turned to stone.
And every time Fluttershy was able to find an excuse to circulate the edge of Draconequus Town, she did her best to forget this fact.
They were so beautiful.
She loved watching them. For as much as the species didn’t mingle with others, they had a lot in common with the rest of the world. They made friends, they had jobs and families, they fell in love. They greeted their neighbors, argued with enemies, and laughed and made jokes.
But their magic. Oh, their magic!
Fluttershy knew very little about magic in general. That was more her friend Twilight’s specialty, being an Alicorn and a prodigy of it. But Fluttershy felt she knew enough to know that there was no way that chaos magic was all bad.
She watched them float with their magical auras instead of walk, and shapeshift, and make clones of themselves. She watched as some had more talent than others, as some used it nearly every day while others seemed to barely ever do anything with it.
But there was one, in particular, that Fluttershy had taken notice of.
He was a particularly beautiful specimen, that was for sure. Draoncequui came in all shapes and sizes, just like any other creature, but they in particular were especially varied. Some were completely asymmetrical, while others less so. They all had two horns and yellow sclera to their eyes, and they all had a tail and a long, goat or pony-like head (opinions on just which one varied). But that was about where the similarities ended. They all had different animal parts, different heights, different builds and makeups.
But the one that Fluttershy particularly liked to watch was completely asymmetrical. He had bright red irises that were always either alight with mirth or mischief, or completely indifferent, depending on what he was doing. His horns were long, one a deer antler and another an icy blue, twisted one that Fluttershy still hadn’t decided which animal it resembled. He had a long brown body, a grey head, and one big carnivorous tooth that stuck out, a feature Fluttershy found particularly charming. His limbs were all different animals and colors, and his tail was that of a snake with an odd little white tuft at the end. His beard and eyebrows were fluffy and white, and his short, buzzed mane an obsidian black.
He was the most beautiful of all the Draconequii, in her eyes.
For he was talented. Every day, he walked to the front of his family’s home, and he performed feats like that of no other. He made clones of himself and made them do cheerleader routines. He performed fireworks that danced and delighted with its patrons as it formed the shape of other creatures. He performed tricks on himself, making his head and limbs pop off himself and juggle with it. He did feats that most would think were impossible.
Fluttershy was his biggest fan. Yet she didn’t even know his name. She was always, forever, too far away.
Too far away to even say hello.
And it was always this thought that made her turn away and walk back home, to the cloud museum her family owned and operated.
But she would come back.
She always did.
“Well, Fluttershy, why don’t you head out for the day?”
Fluttershy, who had been polishing the glass of a few contained cloud displays, turned towards her father. “Really? But Papa…” She turned to the clock. “It’s only eleven in the morning!”
“It sure is!” her father, Cloud Collect, said. “And on the day of the Species Spectacular Parade, in fact! Which means that I highly doubt we’ll be getting visitors today, at least not while the event is going on,” he said. “So why don’t you head out and enjoy yourself. You’re always helping us out, and you know I love that, but you only ever take a lunch and a short walk every day. You’re not old, you know. You need to go out and have fun!”
Fluttershy felt a pang of guilt at this. Oh, if her father only knew what she did on those daily short walks…
“I just… I want to be a good daughter.”
“And you are, that should never be put into question,” her father replied. “And even if you didn’t help, I’d still love you just the same. So let me show it, and let your old man take the helm. Mom and I can handle it. Go.”
Despite herself, Fluttershy smiled. She flew forward and hugged her father.
“I’ll be back before dinner.”
“Oh, just be back before curfew,” he replied. “Take some money from the gift shop register and get some carnival food. Have fun, sweetie!”
She did just that, but made sure no one was watching when they noticed that she was walking in the completely opposite direction of the parade.
She couldn’t help but be excited. A whole afternoon, just for herself, and she didn’t even need to go back for another shift at the museum! She could stay, she could watch him, maybe she could even try and get a little closer and try to find out—
Before she could even finish her thoughts, a crash interrupted her as a helmet rolled past. Gasping, she looked to where the helmet had come from and found a smoking motorcycle in front of her.
“Ughh…” The creature on the ground raised his head and rubbed a tender spot on his face. “Not the best crash landing I’ve ever had…”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she squeaked. It was him.
The most magical Draconequus she knew of.
She flew forward without realizing and landed in front of him. “Ohmygoodness! Oh my goodness! Are you okay?”
Rubbing the back of his neck now, he shifted to his knees and stood up. “Please, if you think a little hiccup like that is going to keep me down, you are sorely mistaken.” His fingers brushed a tender spot and he winced. “Pun unintended.”
At full height, he was easily over six feet tall. He looked down on her, his red irises looking straight back at her.
Fluttershy felt frozen to the ground, the way he stood above her. She couldn’t move.
“O-Oh…” Her fetlocks trembled.
The Draconequus sighed and rolled his eyes. “If you’re worried that I’m going to rain some chaos down on you, don’t waste your breath. I’ve better things to do than to privilege you with my amazing talent. However…”
He grinned at her, and snapped his fingers. The motorcycle reappeared by his side, looking completely undamaged, as the helmet reappeared on his head.
“Feel free to come downtown. I plan on getting in that parade, and then I’ll show everyone just what I can do!”
And with that, he jumped back onto the motorcycle. He revved the engine, but not before the little yellow Pegasus was flapping in front of him, her face so close that he reflexively stretched back.
“W-Wait! You’re… You’re going to be in the parade? And… And what’s your name?”
He blinked. “…Those questions aren’t very related. But ah, no, I’m not in the parade, exactly. Not yet,” Discord said. “My family would have turned froggy and croaked before they would let me do such a scandalous thing. But I’m on my way to insist I be in it. After all, it’s a parade to celebrate all the different species and their talents, is it not? And trust me, girl…”
He smirked toothily at her and jabbed a finger into his chest.
“It doesn’t get more talented than this.”
Fluttershy just stared at his face. She couldn’t help but internally agree as she did her best not to melt into the street.
She fought to form a coherent sentence in the midst of that cocky smile.
“I, um… I, I think…”
“Yeah, uh-huh, don’t care what you think,” he said curtly. “And while you’re at it, could you back up? I’m not feeling like getting stoned today, and I’m kind of in a hurry.”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” She floated back down to the street and stepped aside. “I just… I-I… Can we, um, can I just say, well, I’m, my name--”
She coughed as the smoke met her face. He had already driven off.
She had felt so small in the wake of his smoke.
“I’m Fluttershy…”
Of course, her plans rapidly changed as she rushed as fast as she could to the center of town, where the parade would start. Luckily for her, she had run into her friend, Pinkie Pie, who was more than happy to give her a lift on her hot-air balloon for a faster route.
Thanks to that, Fluttershy was there in 5 minutes. “Pinkie, you help set up the parade with the events, right?”
“I sure do!” Pinkie said happily. “Whatcha need, jellybean?”
“Do you know where last-minute acts can sign up to be a part of the parade?”
The pink party planner’s eyes popped as she excitedly hopped up and down. “Are you finally going to sign up your bird orchestra for the parade? Ooh, or even better, maybe you’re going to sing? Oh, Fluttershy, that would be—”
But Fluttershy was already shaking her head. “Um, no, I… No. But I wanted to know… Do you know where the sign-up booth is?”
“Yep, it’s right behind ya!” Pinkie said, pointing. “Right where that Draconequus is arguing with Rainbow!”
“Huh?” Fluttershy turned around, and there he was, head-to-head with her athletic friend, Rainbow Dash, who was running the booth.
“What do you mean, I can’t sign up?” he growled. “This parade is for every species, isn’t it?”
“It sure is, pal, but you’re a liability!” Rainbow retorted. “Your magic is too dangerous. You could chaos someone to death. Or you could turn to stone if you even so much as brush shoulders with someone! Why are you even here? Go back home! No one else of your kind ever comes into town. Go back to Draconequus Town, where you belong!”
“Where I belong?” His eyes turned to fire. “Excuse me? I belong here just as much as anyone else!”
“In theory, yeah, and you’re more than welcome to watch as long as you keep your magic to yourself. I’ll leave the turning-to-stone risk up to you,” she said as she crossed her forelegs. “But sorry. No chaos magic allowed in the parade. That’s the rule.”
“If my species isn’t allowed in the parade, then this parade is a moot point, anyway, you idiot!”
“And that ain’t my problem, tube sock, so back off!”
He gasped. “Did you just call me… tube sock?”
Rainbow smirked. “At least I know you can hear me.”
“Oh hoho!” he barked in dark sarcasm. “Well, then. This tube sock needn’t be a part of the parade of a bunch of bird brains, anyway!” he said before backing up with his fists curled. “Bird brains, and horn heads, and oh, let’s not forget the magic suckers!”
“Hey!” a Centaur from the crowd called. “I heard that!”
“Probably because you suck!” the Draconequus called back.
“Guards!” Rainbow Dash called, and a bunch of Unicorns, their horns sparking, circled around him.
“Sorry, sir, but you’re going to have to come with us,” Shining Armor, the head guard, said. “Come quietly and we won’t write you a ticket.”
He growled down at the Unicorns, and that’s when his eyes caught onto the pink Earth Pony and the yellow Pegasus that had been watching.
He recognized the Pegasus from earlier, and he hated himself for wondering what she was thinking.
“And that, yellow Pegasus, is why you don’t even need to know my name,” he said, before he forced himself to break away from the circle of Unicorns and hopped back on his bicycle. “Because there’s no reason for you to care.”
Fluttershy stepped forward.
“B-But I do! And I’m Fluttershy! My name is Fluttershy!”
This time, Fluttershy saw his hand pause from touching the throttle of his motorcycle. She took the chance.
“I’m your biggest fan! And… And I’m so sorry. You… You would have been great, in the parade.”
Fully taken aback by her, his eyes grew large. “My biggest what-now?”
“I…I can explain!” Fluttershy said. “Um, maybe, would you, um, I know… I know a café near the border of Draconequus town, I, um, I can explain myself better there, if… If you want.”
Oh, this was too rich! He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I actually snuck out of town just to be here, so methinks it be best if I just slink on back. I was willing to take the risk to being caught, but since none of these stupid city slickers seem to be open to having me around… There’s no reward to go with said risk.”
He revved the engine, but this time, he didn’t leave her in his wake.
“…But I’m free tomorrow at 3, I guess. There’s a movie I was going to catch that has a theater that lets me in. Elemental Theater? We can talk after.”
Fluttershy felt like she couldn’t breathe. This sounded almost like a--
“And since you seem to be all gung-ho about names, I guess I’ll tell you. The name’s Discord. So…”
He glanced at her again, and for some odd reason, she looked like he had just told her she had just won the lottery. She looked at him as if… as if he were already in the parade, performing feats and miracles. As if she were in awe of him.
He didn’t know whether to roll his eyes until they fell out of his head, or to gaze right back at her. No one, especially someone of another species, had ever looked at him that way.
Ugh, fine. This was fine. All of this was going to be just dandy!
“Be there or be square, Pegasus girl. Toodles.”
He didn’t even realize that he left her at a much slower speed, to keep the dust from choking her.
But Fluttershy felt like her heart was going to choke her, anyway.
Discord knew she probably wouldn’t show, and that was fine.
That’s what he told himself, anyway, as he tugged his black jacket a little closer to himself, putting the hoodie over his head. Sure, the hoodie was pretty useless at making him blend in, but that wasn’t the point. He just wanted to block out the stares of all the other theater-goers.
He didn’t even know why he was waiting for her outside. He didn’t know this girl! Why did he even invite her to the movie, anyway? He could have invited her to the café after, and only after! He had seen plenty of movies by himself. He didn’t need the company.
“I’m your biggest fan!”
She had seemed so desperate to tell him that. So insistent. And what did she even mean by that? He had only ever performed in Draconequus Town, and no other species ever went into that part of the city.
How was one a fan when one didn’t even come close?
He was so deep in this thoughts that he didn’t notice who had arrived until she was right there in front of him. She wore what looked like a little yellow boat-necked shirt, with a blue skirt in a butterfly design.
He found himself raising a paw at her. “Uh. Yo.”
He watched in amusement as her cheeks colored red. “Um, hello. Discord?”
“That’s my name, Fluttershy, yes.”
Her eyes lit up as she looked back up at him.
“You remembered my name,” she breathed.
He shrugged. “And you remembered mine. Wow. Let’s give ourselves some medals!” He clapped and medals appeared around their necks, both engraved with Dicord’s face sticking his tongue out in a smile. “What a momentous day! My supposedly ‘number-one fan’ and I have working brains! Complete with intact memories! And the crowd goes wild!”
A thousand tiny Discords surrounded them in a circle, clapping and twirling flags in the air, some of them whistling.
And she smiled and laughed as she blushed, even letting herself give a little bow to his clones.
She was… enjoying this?
And she wasn’t freaking out. Most creatures freaked out whenever he dared to make his jokes magical, because they weren’t used to his type of magic. Almost as if she had seen it before. Many times.
Interesting.
He ignored the glares from the crowd around them, but watched if they got too close to make sure they didn’t touch. Instead, he decided to focus on his new companion, and surprised himself by making the gesture to allow her to go into the theater first.
He even had a smile on his face as he did so.
She smiled back, and they headed in.
They sat in the back row, to avoid Discord’s height from blocking anyone’s view. One Dragon nearby grumbled that the glow of Discord’s eyes was hindering with the darkness of the theater, and Discord tugged his hoodie down.
He glanced down at Fluttershy, and she smiled and offered him some popcorn.
He accepted it.
After the movie, the streets were crowded, and Discord was having a difficult time trying to stay out of the way. Fluttershy noticed this, and pointed towards a tourist site.
“Um, maybe we could go look at the city skyline? It’s the dinner rush, and the crowds won’t be so bad if we wait a little. I’m not too hungry yet, would you…?”
Her throat constricted before she could stop herself. That would make this… not-a-date even longer than it was meant to be. What if he said no? What if he laughed at her obvious attempt to spend more time with him? What if…?
“Anything’s better than turning to stone, let’s go!” he said, already rushing through the door. Fluttershy, momentarily shocked by his agreeableness, quickly followed him.
However, they weren’t the only ones with the idea. They were the first to get into the elevator, but several followed suit. Discord bent in every way he could to keep from making contact with any of them. He noticed that Fluttershy seemed pretty uncomfortable herself.
“Enochlophobia?” he murmured to her.
Fluttershy nodded.
“Only in smaller places though. Like inside crowded buildings. I’m fine in open areas or outside.”
“Ah.”
Well, luckily, the crowd was giving him a pretty good berth, too. Or as well as they could inside the elevator. He bent himself around Fluttershy without touching her, his body shielding her as she stood next to the wall. He put an arm above her head, his hand resting against the wall, to prevent anyone from trying to fly above her.
He gave her a forced smile, trying to pretend this was more comfortable for him than it really was.
Fluttershy’s face softened.
She was becoming a bigger fan of his than she already was, now that she knew how sweet he could be.
Both of them let out a breath of relief as they got to the top and the others left the elevator. Discord and Fluttershy went to the railing of the roof to look at the city.
As he did, a nearby Kirin child gazed up at him, and he caught her eyes.
He gave the child a small side-smile before he snapped his fingers, and the wind swirled and clouds of cotton candy formed and attached themselves to nearby buildings, making it look like they had faces complete with facial hair. One wider building sported a particularly large mustache.
The spectators clapped at the display. Discord was surprised at his audience, but he got a hold of himself and smiled, as if he had been expecting that reaction all along, and gave a bow.
Fluttershy found herself leaning her face against her hoof and sighing. She had barely paid attention to the cotton candy clouds. She had been too busy looking at him.
At the end of the day, they found themselves at a small table of the café, Discord with a mug of cocoa as Fluttershy nursed a cup of chamomile tea.
“So. Here’s my burning question of the day,” Discord said as he took a sip of his drink. “I still have yet to figure out how a Pony, who should be steering clear of my kind, is my number one fan?”
He took another sip, but his eyes were on her. He found it quite interesting how her face didn’t seem to transition from yellow to pink when she blushed. It was more like a flashing beacon. One moment her face was normal and yellow, and the next, it was the hottest shade of pink known on the color wheel.
It was kinda pretty actually really totally darn cute. And Discord hardly described anything as cute.
“So, um, the… the thing is,” Fluttershy began to say. “…I… I work at my father’s cloud museum. You know, just to help, it’s expected of me.”
Discord nodded, having absolutely no idea where she was going with this.
“But I always get a break, and the truth is, the museum isn’t really my passion in life. What I actually want to do one day is run an animal sanctuary. I love animals. I hope one day, maybe I can move out of Mythic City, and move closer to a forest. But…”
She moved a forelock out of her face and tucked it behind her ears. “I’m afraid it’ll break my family’s heart, though, so I try not to think about it. They expect me to take the museum over once my dad retires.”
“Ah, yes, the family business life,” Discord replied. “My own family has a shop that sells souvenirs, art, and foods from our old country. I’m not really invested in it, and my family knows, but I help out sometimes. I’m more into my chaos magic.”
“I… I know,” Fluttershy murmurs. “Because, um, well, to get away from the guilt of not wanting to run the museum, to give myself a break… I often come by the edge of your town, and um... observe.”
“Observe?” Discord didn’t like the way she was going with this. “We’re not animals in a zoo, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy went rigid as a rod as she waved her hooves in protest. “Oh, nonono, I-I, I didn’t mean it that way!”
She started sweating bullets. Discord briefly wondered if said bullets would make good water gun ammo.
“W-What I meant was, I just find you all fascinating!”
“’You all’?” he echoed, making air quotes.
“N-Not just as a group, though! No, individually, too! Individuals of a species! But-but not like species as in animals, but as in--!”
Discord tugged at his beard, and pulled it out, revealing a handkerchief that was never really his beard in the first place.
“You done?”
“Y-Yes please.”
He gestured the handkerchief towards her. He noted that she didn’t hesitate at all to take it and cool her face down with it, even though she full-well saw it come out of his face.
Realization dawned on him.
“…You watch my shows, don’t you? From the border of town. You… You sit on a branch of a tree.”
She peeked from behind the handerchief.
“You… You’ve seen me?”
Discord’s eyes widened. “I always thought you were a cat!”
“A cat?”
“We have a lot of stray cats that wander in and out of town. That tree is so far away that you’re just a yellow blur. But that’s you, isn’t it? You…”
He took a breath as his heart thumped in his chest.
“You’re there almost every day.”
Fluttershy slowly nodded.
“I… I love to watch. I love to watch you.”
Discord felt his face warm up.
Fluttershy so desperately wanted to say it. She had been waiting for this moment for so long.
She was too much of a coward to tell her father how she felt about taking over the museum.
For once, Fluttershy, don’t be a coward now. You can do this. Please. Just this once…
She couldn’t look at him, but she started to speak. “A-And I think… I think chaos is beautiful. Your magic is beautiful.”
She took a deep breath and forced herself to look up at him.
“I think you’re beautiful.”
Discord’s jaw nearly unhinged itself as he could only stare at her.
He had no idea that Ponies could be like this. That they could be so kind, and so honest, and so… open-minded.
His eyes glanced at her hooves, and his fingers twitched.
He curled his fingers into fists. All his life, he’d been taught that he couldn’t touch any magical creature that wasn’t a Draconequus, for fear of turning to stone.
But how could someone so sweet and genuine be such a brutal risk to him? Just for touching.
Maybe, one day… Maybe…
“Well, as my number one fan… Would you be interested in taking some pictures with me? I’ll even sign them for you. For free.”
Of course, the pictures had been disastrous. The photo booths the café offered hadn’t been built with Discord’s body mass in mind, and Discord had to squeeze himself inside of it with enough room to keep Fluttershy from being packed in without touching him directly.
But when the photos printed out, Discord and Fluttershy had taken one glance at them, and then at each other, before they had burst out laughing. Discord’s body had made some ridiculous shapes and angles, and Fluttershy had done everything she could not to touch him or blush, and her smiles were as awkward as his own had been.
They looked crazy together, and it was hilarious.
It was those pictures that, a month later, Fluttershy gazed upon as she glanced at them under the specimen log on the desk as she minded the museum. When her mother, Rose Garden, walked by, Fluttershy immediately pretended to be looking over the log and smiled sheepishly at her. Her mother merely smiled back before Fluttershy wiped her forehead in relief.
She looked at the clock and saw that it was noon, and she was due to meet Discord in the center of the city in twenty minutes. She was in such a rush that she forgot the photos underneath the specimen log as she reached for her saddlebags.
Little did she know that her mother hung back, and reached for the species sheets.
She gasped at what she found.
Her shy, sweet daughter… spending time… with a Draconequus!
“Oh, my sweet little butterfly child… This won’t ever work.”
It was the perfect day for a date on the Patio, a part of the city where citizens could have a drink or meal outside by the city park.
Both Fluttershy and Discord were pretty sure these were dates now, anyway. You know, without asking each other. It was fine.
Fine enough that they were both starting to be a little more vulnerable around each other. Discord’s smiles were becoming more genuine, his mannerisms more playful and genuinely goofy. Fluttershy was much more relaxed and much more able to talk without stuttering or pausing. Each time they met up, they found they were genuinely having the time of their lives.
Music started playing from speakers badly disguised as rocks, and creatures everywhere started dancing along to it. Fluttershy smiled as Discord started wobbling his body up and down, resembling a noodle swimming in boiling water as he wiggled to and fro.
Fluttershy blushed as he sidled up to her, bobbing his shoulders, silently encouraging her with bright eyes to dance. Fluttershy, always feeling so free when she was with him, giggled and didn’t hesitate to get on her hooves and sway back and forth with him.
The music then turned slower and the two found themselves surrounded by dancing pairs. Fluttershy, without thinking, offered him a hoof. Discord immediately put his paw and claw up and shifted his feet back, putting a small distance between them that brought a pang to Fluttershy’s heart. But before she could do or say anything, a Yak bumped into Discord, sending him straight into the fountain.
Discord took it in stride, though, and popped up at the top of the fountain in a spray of glittering waterdrops, wearing a tutu and striking a pose.
Everyone laughed, and Fluttershy felt herself fall in love with him just a little bit more than she had before.
Discord laughed as he listened to Fluttershy’s story of how she had gotten her cutie mark.
“So you just fell from the clouds and a bunch of butterflies seriously captured you before you could go ker-splat?” He shook his head in wonder. “Of course. That would happen to a harmonious Pony whose name sounds like butterfly. I swear, nothing is ever random with your magic. Nonetheless, that sounds like it was an impessive sight to see!”
“Not as much as when they dropped me off into the forest, and I saw my first glimpse of forest creatures,” Fluttershy said. “I was so entranced by them! And I never knew that I could make friends so easily, because I was usually so shy around my own kind. But with animals, it came so naturally.”
“Pun intended?” Discord asked with a raised brow.
Fluttershy gave him what he could only describe as a ‘cheeky grin’. “I haven’t decided yet.”
He barked in laughter once more.
“Oh Fluttershy… You really are something else.” He smiled at her. “I didn’t know anyone outside of my own kind could be like you.”
And there it was again… That beacon-like blush of hers, her face instantly pinker than the spikes on his tail. It made his grin stretch even further. He had never met anyone that could make him smile so wide.
“So how did your family find you?” he finally asked.
“Oh, my father found me soon enough. But he decided, after I told him about the bullies that had pushed me off the clouds in the first place, that I was safer down on the ground. So we picked up everything, turned our whole lives upside down, and came here,” she said, gesturing towards the city that surrounded them. “All because of me.”
Discord noticed as Fluttershy’s eyes dimmed. “You okay?”
“I just… it’s something I’ve always felt guilty about. I’m the reason my parents left Cloudsdale. It’s why I work so hard at the museum. Why I plan to take it over as soon as I can. They made such a huge sacrifice, just for me. So now I need to sacrifice something back, to show how grateful I am.”
They walked in silence as Discord tried to fight his hand from reaching out towards her. No! he mentally berated his eagle arm, grabbing it with his lion one. Bad! Bad arm!
Once he finally got his arm in check, he took a breath.
“You know, I’m not sure if I’d ever call myself a big expert on the concept of family, or sacrifice, or, or love or any of that,” Discord said, his face heating up as he said that last category. “But I’d say they probably did that because they want you to be happy and not end up as a splatter on the ground.”
He stopped, and Fluttershy only walked a few steps before she noticed that he’d had.
“The family I have now is actually extended family. My parents died when I was just a baby. A car crash, as cliché as that is. And my extended family loves me, of course, but they tell me the sacrifices they made for me shouldn’t hold me back, because that’s what family does for the younger generation. They make sacrifices in hopes that the kids won’t have to.”
He glanced at Fluttershy. “You very clearly adore your parents. I’m guessing that’s because they raised you with nothing but adoration for you. They moved for your safety, Fluttershy. For your happiness.”
He shoved his paw and claw in the pockets of his jacket. This was such a sappy conversation, but he felt a desperate need to comfort her.
“So why would they do all that they’ve done to make you happy, only to turn around and go back on it just for their own dreams? That doesn’t make sense, Fluttershy. Trust me, I’m a chaos user. I know what does and doesn’t make sense.”
Discord bit his lip as he saw Fluttershy’s eyes glittering as tears formed and started to fall in sparkling rivulets. Discord wanted to scream.
It wasn’t fair, how she was a lovely sight even when she was in pain. What was even more unfair was that he couldn’t even brush them away.
“I never thought about it that way,” Fluttershy said as she rubbed her face.
“Well, then. Maybe you need to go home and talk to your old man, then. Then come get me and let me know how it goes.”
He nodded his head towards her. “I’ll stay here. I’ll wait for you.”
And it was in that moment, when she smiled at him before turning away to rush home, that he realized he didn’t want to wait for her at all, because he preferred to stay by her side.
But he would wait. He knew he would.
He’d wait forever for the girl he loved to come back.
“Papa! Mama!” Fluttershy shouted as she burst through the door, her heart soaring as her body thrilled in a confidence she had never felt before. Discord had been right. She could do this! Her parents loved her. They were the best parents that a girl could have. They would understand! And after she told them, she’d run back to Discord, and she would tell him—
She had to dig her hooves in the floor to stop herself from running forward. Her parents were there, their eyes alight with concern. Clearly, they had been waiting for her.
“Fluttershy, we need to talk,” her father said, holding up a photo.
A very familiar photo.
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” her mother intervened. “You know I would normally never snoop. But you have been acting so strange lately, with your head in the clouds more than usual, and you had seemed to be hiding something, and I… I found the photos.”
Fluttershy’s hooves were glued to the floor as she dipped her head down low.
“I didn’t mean to keep it a secret, Mama. I really didn’t! I just…” She sighed. “I was afraid. I’ve been afraid. Of so many things.”
“We understand, Fluttershy, but we wish you had come to us,” her father said. “Fluttershy… How do you feel about this young man?” he asked. “Is he your friend, or…?”
Cloud and Rose watched as their daughter avoided their gaze, but her face said enough. Her parents shared a sorrowful glance at each other before they came forward and enveloped their daughter in a hug.
She immediately returned the hug, one foreleg around each of them.
“I love him, Papa. Mama. I’ve been in love with him before I could even speak to him. I-I’ve been going to watch him, in his part of town, for years. A-And the day of the parade, Papa, when you let me leave early…”
She told them everything. She left nothing out. How she and Discord had seen each other several times in the last several weeks, whenever Fluttershy wasn’t expected to work. How they had gradually started opening up to each other, and how he made her feel. How he made her feel seen and heard and appreciated, asking her about her life and her opinions. How he made her feel so much bigger than what she believed.
She told them how confident and free he made her feel, and how it was that very confidence he was able to bolster in her that compelled her to tell him what she really wanted to do with her life, and how Discord alone had encouraged her to come and tell her parents what she truly wanted for the future.
And, as Discord predicted, they had no problem with her plans.
“Fluttershy, if you don’t want the museum, that’s not a problem at all,” her father told her. “Your, ah, Discord, was it? He’s right. We only want you to be happy,” he said with a warm smile. “Right, Rose?”
Her mother nodded eagerly. “We honestly only thought you wanted the museum because you always asked if was time for you to take over! We always wondered what motivated you to ask, since we know your true passion is with animals.”
“And we are so sorry if we ever made you feel like the museum was an obligation to fulfill. We only want you happy, daughter,” Cloud said. “And we want all your dreams to come true.”
“But… “ Rose said.
“But… Some dreams are harder than others, daughter,” Cloud said, putting a hoof on his daughter’s withers. “This boy of yours, this Discord… It sounds like he truly cares for you, and that he would never use his magic against you. But even with that risk taken care of, there’s the risk that you pose for him.”
Fluttershy only shook her head. “But… But it doesn’t have to be that way!” Fluttershy protested. “I, I don’t have to touch him! It’s okay! I’ve loved him from afar from so long. As long as we can talk, as long as we can be together…”
Her mother tipped her chin up. Rose knew already by the tears running down her daughter’s face that she didn’t believe her own words.
“Fluttershy, you are more bold than your father and I can ever be, and we have always been so proud of you for that,” Rose said. “But do you truly believe you can ever hold yourself back with him, forever? To never be able to touch? To hold his hand, to lean against him, never have true contact with him? You may be meek at times, honey, and you may not need touch as much as most do, but you do enjoy being touched with those you’re close to.”
“And if he’s like any other red-blooded male, well. He may find himself forgetting about the own dangers you pose to him,” Rose finished.
Her father winced at the thought of any boy trying to touch his beloved daughter, but nodded in agreement.
Fluttershy couldn’t even speak. Her throat felt too tight.
Not for the first time that day, she knew she was getting advice that struck true. They were absolutely right. She already had to fight herself every day to keep herself from touching Discord. And her dreams at night were the only times that she could. Too many times since she had truly befriended Discord had she dreamt of embracing him, of feeling his fingers curl around her hooves.
But now, all she could imagine was the two of them dancing around each other, always skirting the surface of what was possible, only for Fluttershy to reach closer, and turn Discord’s glittering purple aura into gray.
She would surely kill him, one day. One day, she wouldn’t be able to hold back, and he would be a statue before her very eyes.
“I have to end this, don’t I?” she whispered miserably.
Her parents only hugged her tighter.
The sky was turning purple when Discord heard Fluttershy’s soft hoofsteps against the pavement. His ears perked, and he looked at her expectantly.
“So? How’d it go? Did you get their blessing?”
She nodded slowly. “Uh-huh… You were right.”
With a smug smile on his face, he crossed his arms. “Well, of course I was! What kind of number one fan would you be if you didn’t admire the most correct guy you ever knew?”
He waited for a laugh, but it never came. Instead, he noticed a box in her hooves.
“I… I brought you a gift,” she said.
Taking it, Discord reached into the box and pulled out what seemed to be a meticulously detailed, hand-drawn flyer. In it was Discord, in a top hat and jacket, complete with a cane in his hand, performing feats all around him with a swirl of purple chaos magic.
At the top, it raved about the Amazing, Topsy Turvy, Creatively Chaotic, Most Magical Show of Discord the Draconequus! On it, it listed the address of the square in Draconequus Town that Discord usually performed.
“I drew them, a-and I was planning on putting them all around Mythic City, telling everyone around to come and see you, no matter who they were…”
“You… You were?” Discord said, tearing his eyes off the amazing artwork to look at its even more amazing creator.
“I still plan to, I kept some… But I wanted you to have some, too. To remember that I believe in you, that I’ll always believe in you.”
“Wait, what?” Discord said. “Fluttershy, I don’t understand. Why is this suddenly coming up? Why are you giving me gifts? Why do you look like you just saw a puppy get kicked? Why are you…?”
He leaned in to get closer, and saw Fluttershy cringe and frantically take a step back, only to stumble on a loose pebble and fall.
“Fluttershy!” He reached for her without thinking, and Fluttershy raised her wings to fly up and away from him.
“No, no, don’t do that! Don’t touch me!” she screamed.
Discord froze in mid-action, his hand frozen towards her.
“What?”
“We can’t ever touch! Not now, not ever!” Fluttershy shouted, sobbing and failing miserably at trying to wipe them away. “I’ll turn you to stone. I’m harmony, and you’re chaos, and we just can’t. I can’t love you! In fact, it’s better for you to just believe that I don’t love you, so I… I don’t! I don’t love you! I never did!”
“Fluttershy, you are a terrible liar,” Discord said. “In the history of anything that has ever existed, you are the worst at lying. And I know that, because I know you love me. You’re just scared.”
Fluttershy shivered as a cold breeze brushed against her body. Already, she wanted to take back what she said and wait for Discord to come to her and hold her against him, to ward off the cold and melt away all her sorrow.
But how could she even imagine that when she didn’t even know what he felt like? If his fur was coarse or fluffy? If his beard would tickle her face as he bent over her? If his talons would scrape against her head as he ran it through her mane, and if it would feel cool to the touch and send shivers down her body?
She didn’t know, and she never could, unless she wanted to condemn him to a life of stone, to know his touch only for a second before he was cool and smooth as rock.
Maybe harmony wasn’t really so harmonious after all, if it could do that to someone she loved so much.
“I am scared,” she admitted. “And I refuse. I refuse to let my selfish feelings trap you into the end of your life. I can’t do it, Discord.”
“But what if it doesn’t?”
A tissue levitated towards her, and Fluttershy, now noticing that her nose was running and making her face a mess, reached to it.
When she wiped herself clean, she moved the tissue away from her face. And she jumped when she saw how close Discord’s face was.
There were his eyes, his gaze burning into her own, making her body tremble and feel as if she were about to drip onto the sidewalk in a river of melted Fluttershy. They were so desperate, and she saw how her words gave him so much pain.
But within that pain was determination, and maybe even passion. Passion for her, perhaps?
“Come with me, Fluttershy.”
He made a beckoning gesture, and turned away.
“I want to show you something.”
And despite the warnings screaming in her head, she of course, followed him.
He led her to an empty edge of Mythic Central Park. The stars now glittered above them as Discord walked around the edge of the area.
“All right, good. We’re alone.”
His deep, velvet voice uttering such a thing to her sent a pulse through her body that she didn’t know existed. She found herself entranced by him, unable to keep herself from meeting his eyes, unable to speak any longer.
“This is a secret I haven’t even told my own family,” Discord said. “A trick no spectator has been deemed worthy enough to gaze upon. Something that I’ve been saving. First, I did it for myself, but now? I find myself wanting to share it with you.”
Lifting a single taloned finger, his claw glowed as he drew a perfect oval in the air, longer and wider than his body. The oval pulsed before the scene of the park it encircled peeled off like a sticker, only to reveal what looked like a galaxy of its own, a sky of phantasmic shapes and prisms, with floating pieces of ground.
“A portal to another dimension,” Discord said. “A dimension of my own design. My dimension.”
He floated through it, and beckoned for Fluttershy to follow. “There’s ground right where I am, I promise. You won’t fall,” he says. “You’ll be safe.”
Despite the fear of the unknown that the portal revealed, Fluttershy found herself trusting Discord’s words with all her heart. She followed him, just as she had followed him everywhere else.
The portal closed behind her, and she found herself in the most chaotic place she had ever seen. Creatures of impossible size and shape floated by like fish going down a calm river. A giant whale-like creature with eye stalks and a giant helmet-shaped head waved a giant sweeping fin at her, and she waved back.
“Fluttershy.”
Only his voice was able to tear her attention away from the mysterious creatures that floated by.
“Fluttershy, this dimension is created with pure, unbridled chaos magic,” he said. “It’s absolutely saturated with it. It has more chaos in its atmosphere than I do in my entire body right now. For years, I’ve slowly been putting my excess magical energy into it, just enough without totally draining the magical reserves of my body. Now it has enough to produce magic on its own.”
He pointed behind him, and Fluttershy followed it. “And see that floating piece of land there? That’s big enough for a house. I was thinking of building one there. You know how you were telling me a couple weeks ago that you were thinking of building a cottage by the forest, one day?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Well, I had been pondering for a long time just exactly what kind of house I’d want to build here to live in. And, well, now I’m starting to think…” He pulled at his beard, his whole body feeling so antsy that he didn’t know what to do with his fingers. “Maybe a cottage wouldn’t look too bad, here. It would certainly be a contradiction, having a homey little place like a cottage in a dark, chaos-riddled dimension such as this. What do you think?”
Fluttershy wrinkled her forehead. Just where exactly was he going with this?
“That sounds lovely, but Discord, just because I want a cottage doesn’t mean you need to copy me…”
“Well, you know what they say,” Discord replied, hoping the bead of sweat currently rolling down his forehead didn’t ruin his attempt at nonchalance. “Imitation is the best form of flattery! And what better way to imitate you, than to build a home…”
He floated back towards her, but he stopped with plenty of inches between them. He didn’t want to watch her leap away from him again. It was the last thing he wanted.
“… That’s designed to remind me of the pony I love?”
Discord watched as Fluttershy took in a sharp breath.
He continued on. “And I know you love me, too. Don’t end this just because you’re afraid you’ll end me. Even if it did, I’d have no regrets.”
He held out the flat of his talons.
“We are currently surrounded by pure, unbridled chaos magic that swirls in a world I specifically designed for myself to thrive in,” he told her. “If that isn’t the best kind of chaos buffer there is, then I don’t know how anyone can top it. Let’s start small, Fluttershy. Just your hoof against my palm. That’s all I ask.”
She stared at him as if he was asking for his death wish, but her chest was heaving as if she wanted nothing more than for him to cover her breath with his own.
Nervous. Excited. Nervouscited. To Fluttershy, now her friend Pinkie’s coined term for the feeling made complete and utter sense.
“Fluttershy,” he said, his voice softer than she had ever heard it before. “Before I met you, all I thought about, all the time, was my magic and how I could make an act out of it. How I could make my life into a show that no creature alive could resist, no matter who or what they were. I wanted to break the barriers that Mythic City bragged about minimizing. And if the center of the world can’t even break the rules that have kept my kind from mingling with the rest, then someone else had to try. I had to try.”
He clasped his hands together, intertwining his fingers. “I grew up hating Mythic City, because to me, it was a lie. It lied about being all about community, about coming together in harmony with all things. I’m a thing, too, Fluttershy. Far more than just a thing! But even in a city that talked about harmony, it showed me every day that just because my magic is different, I can’t really ever be a part of it. Me and my kind never would be. Because chaos and harmony, just don’t mix.”
He took a step towards her, and his heart thrilled that she stayed put. It encouraged him.
“If Mythic City is the center of peace and harmony, then I wanted to take its place. Let the world focus on me, instead. Let me steal everything Mythic City was trying to be, and prove them wrong… That anything I had to offer was better than what harmony was willing to give, that chaos was truly the way to move forward.”
Fluttershy believed it, and in that moment, she believed that he could make that dream come true. After all, he was all she could see in that moment, burning brightly in the center of her vision.
Beautiful.
She had no idea that he was looking at her face and thinking the exact same thing of her.
“But then, I started seeing a cat in a tree. A cat in a tree, pretty much almost every day, minus holidays and days that I suspect you were either sick or too busy to come. A little yellow cat, that was actually a Pegasus, hiding herself in a tree, just to watch some guy with grandiose ideas perform in the only part of town that would let him practice in broad daylight. Working on my show, on my act. An act I tried bringing into the city, and failed, very, very badly.”
“I remember,” Fluttershy managed to say. “That was the day we met. The day I finally learned your name.”
“It was more than just that, Fluttershy. So much more than that.”
He bent down, his face now at her level. So close, so very very close…
“That was the day that my thoughts suddenly weren’t just about chaos magic. That day, a little cat pony started invading my thoughts, too. And over time, the show started not to matter as much. Instead, you were there. In my thoughts. In my dreams. Stealing the show, over and over and over and over again. Relentlessly. Like a song that wouldn’t get out of my head.”
He leaned closer.
“And I didn’t mind,” he whispered.
Without another word, he re-presented his eagle hand to her.
“I’m sorry I was so scared, before,” he apologized. “I’m sorry I was always so reluctant to touch you. I know you didn’t always fully believe that touching me would turn me to stone. If you had, you wouldn’t forget and offer me your hoof. But it seems, now, when everything we’ve ever wanted is so close, that you’re afraid that you were wrong. So now it’s my turn to take the plunge, and maybe actually do the thing that I’ve been meaning to do my entire life but never really did. Time to break some useless barriers that never should have been there in the first place.”
He inched his palm closer to her.
“The historical records of the past say that when we were turned to stone, it wasn’t instantaneous,” he murmured. “It starts at the point of contact, and slowly goes from there. If my fingers turn to stone, we can stop immediately. I’m sure I can turn it back, if I try hard enough.”
His fingers tremble, desperately reaching for her.
“Please, Fluttershy. I…”
His voice broke before he could stop himself from talking more. She still didn’t raise her hoof.
“I love you.”
He forced his eyes closed, not wanting to watch her reaction. Mentally, he kicked himself for his cowardice. Surely, she’d refuse!
And then he felt it.
A hard coolness. Was that what a hoof felt like?
He inched his eyes open, and there it was.
There she was.
He felt sparks between where her hoof laid against his palm. This was not the numbness of stone. This was the excitement of a connection.
And the hoof and hand were glowing.
Fluttershy began to shine in a light so warm and bright that he could feel it on his own body. It seemed to radiate from one central point, as her cutie mark was shining the brightest on her body, so much that the light seemed to halo around it.
His glow was that of purples and blues, constantly shifting and dancing and buzzing in a way that was almost dizzying. Her shining bright light, and his dark chaotic one, started to twist and blend around their connected arms, like two ropes coiling together, binding Fluttershy’s arm to his.
His eyes met hers in wonder, and slowly, he curled his fingers around her hoof.
Fluttershy brought her second hoof up, and Discord wrapped his fingers around that one, too.
But it was Fluttershy who brought her tail up, with a prehensile ability that Discord didn’t even know she had, and wrapped its tip around Discord’s own tail. By this point, the two of them floated in an orb of both harmonious and chaotic magic. The magic didn’t blend, and the orb was of two distinct separate colors, but they layered around each other, together and in balance. One didn’t erase the other.
They were at equilibrium.
Gazing into her eyes, which were full of joyful tears, Discord brushed his fingers up from her hoof, inching past them and up her forelegs. To her withers. Then down, towards her torso, and his arms looped around her midriff. Bringing her closer, he held her against him.
She eagerly wrapped her forelegs around his long neck, and slowly, he started to dance and sway with her, bending his head down to rest on top of the soft mane that flowed from the top of her head.
“Discord…” She buried her face in his chest. “Discord, you’re okay…!”
“More than okay, I’d argue,” he answered back. “Better than I’ve ever been.”
“We’re touching!”
“An accurate assessment, yes. We should give ourselves another medal!”
He grinned down at her, but she wasn’t laughing. She was too busy closing every space between their bodies, hugging her against him, nuzzling her head into the crook between his nearly non-existent shoulder and his head.
“I love you,” she sobbed. “I’ve always loved you, I think, and you were right. I didn’t used to think the rumors were entirely true, b-but, at the same time, if they were… I didn’t want to risk it. Not if that meant ending your life! Of living a life without you!”
He hugged her more tightly. “Well, now we know, don’t we?” he murmured in her ear. “The impossible was actually possible all along. Our magics can intermingle after all. This changes everything…”
He pulled away from her, but she didn’t even release a fraction of pressure against him. She held him like a vice. Delicately, he took a paw to her face, and he felt her loosen her grip on him to meet his gaze.
“But all I find myself caring about is that we can stay together. Because you’ve changed everything.”
She shined so brightly in his arms.
“No, Discord. We changed everything,” she corrected. “Together.”
He bit his lip. “And, together, we’ll stay?”
She put her hoof on his face and inched her face towards his.
“If… If you want to…?”
“You know I do.”
He mirrored her, his lips beginning to part.
“I’m so lucky,” he whispered.
Fireworks erupted within their magical orb as their lips finally closed the distance and touched.
They shined.