The Mane Six Chronicles Book 1: A Hero in the Woods

Fluttershy stood in the kitchen, lavishing great detail and attention upon the breakfast she was cooking for herself and Faith. The evening previous had passed quite peacefully, the pair of them had sat in the living room talking to one another for several hours after her friends had gone back home. Unfortunately though, neither had washed before sitting on the couch and it had taken all of Faith's bath time to clean the mud off before she went to bathe.

After they had washed up, the two of them had turned in for the night, but she had had difficulty falling asleep, due to the fact that she felt that she was being watched. Even now, as she flipped a pancake over with practiced ease, she felt like some one was watching her. It certainly wasn't Faith, who still lay snoring on the couch in the living room but she couldn't dispel the feeling.

She slid the cooked pancake onto a fairly large stack of them on a plate in the center of the table before turning her attention to the vegetables she was sauteing, trying to avoid burning them. After another few minutes she heard a stirring from the living room and looking over her shoulder saw Faith siting up, his mane disheveled and his eyes caked with sleep. He smiled in greeting to her as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawning broadly. Fluttershy smiled back at him and returned her focus to the meal she was preparing. Even though there wasn't really any plans for today, she fully intended to enjoy it as best she could, maybe she could learn more about her mysterious host with a few hours of conversation.

As she moved the cooked veggies from the pan to a serving dish, she still couldn't shake the feeling that some one was watching her. She looked around the room, and even out the door and window but she saw no one. Shaking her head she moved back into the kitchen and began setting the table, laying the food out upon it, arranging the flowers in the vase and setting the napkins beside the two plates. She enjoyed doing this for him, it gave her a contented feeling that she couldn't put into words. All she knew was that doing this felt right, and that was good enough for her. Faith came up to the table and volubly admired the meal, an act which made Fluttershy blush a little at his praise.

She was about to suggest that they sit to eat when Faith moved behind her and pulled her chair out for her, gesturing his hoof for her to sit. She smiled and sat gracefully upon the seat before being pushed to the table, Faith was such a gentlemen, to the point that it made Fluttershy reexamine what she perceived of him. He had extensive manners and respect, as well as some apparent training in self defense, carpentry, farming, masonry, and several social graces such as how to treat a lady.

But despite all this, he seemed to become distanced around all others except her, and for a few moments, Twilight and Rainbow Dash. He must surely have learned these skills from someone or from somewhere, he certainly wasn't the reclusive hermit she thought him to be, or was he? Was it possible that he had lived among others, but had chosen this self exile rather than live around other ponies?

There were so many questions and so few answers that she felt a little overwhelmed. Even as he sat in the chair across from her, she couldn't help be stare at him, to wonder at his curious nature. He smiled at her and asked,

"Is something wrong?"

Fluttershy started at the sound of his voice and shook her head, blushing a little. Faith stared at her for a minute or so before reaching for the platter of pancakes in front of him. As he took the tray a familiar voice sounded from overhead,

"I do hope you made enough for three."

Faith and Fluttershy both about jumped out of their skins as they looked up to see Discord reclining lazily on the ceiling, looking down at the two ponies below him. Faith scowled and demanded,

"Would you get off my ceiling?!"

Discord chuckled and dropped to the floor with a loud thud before pulling up a non existent chair and sitting at the table. Discord grinned mischievously and snatched the tray from Faith saying as he did so,

"Why thank you, its so nice for you to offer me, your guest, the food first."

Faith's eye twitched as he glared at Discord, as he had neither offered for him to join the meal, let alone be in his house and he certainly hadn't offered the food he had intended for himself to him. Faith took a deep breath while Fluttershy greeted Discord with cheer and began to talk with him. Discord used his magic to instantly fix his and Fluttershy's plates before setting the now mostly empty tray back onto the table. Faith felt his blood boiling, he struggled to keep his face as determinedly impassive as possible. He took what was left off the tray while Fluttershy and Discord continued to talk to one another.

Faith felt like he was being completely ignored at his own table and he was channeling every ounce of self control he possessed into not doing anything that would hurt Fluttershy's feelings. Fluttershy faltered halfway through her conversation as she noticed Faith sitting huffily in his chair, eying Discord. She had been around others long enough to know that glint of rage in his eyes.

Looking between Discord and Faith, she soon realized that asking these two to be civil was highly unlikely to happen. She had to be fair though, Discord could at times be spiteful to those he didn't like, even now after his reformation. She had noted that Discord had rudely invited himself to breakfast and taken the liberty of helping himself to the food even though Faith had already picked up the tray with the intention of serving himself.

She continued to talk distractedly to Discord, her eyes constantly darting back to Faith as she did so. It wasn't long after this that a silence fell over the breakfast table, a silence which made her acutely uncomfortable. Discord had long since finished eating and was now idly levitating plates in the air, looking around the house disinterestedly. Fluttershy sighed and moved to get up when a loud squawk echoed from outside. Fluttershy didn't just get up, she flew to the door and outside in response to the noise, leaving Discord and Faith alone in the room. Discord grinned wickedly and said,

"That one works all the time. Ventriloquism is such a nice skill, don't you think?"

Faith didn't immediately answer as he picked at his food, his teeth quietly gritting together until he could control himself no more. He slammed his hooves on the table, making everything on it jump and stood up glaring at Discord. With carefully picked words, Faith demanded,

"What in the name of Celestia are you playing at Discord, have you made it your mission in life to irritate me?"

Discord chuckled and flipped over in the air, floating on his belly in front of the table with his head propped in his paws,

"No, I'm just trying to divert the competition, don't want to lose my girl to some stallion she met a few days ago."

Faith paled at this, Discord's girl? The impossibility of such a loving and sweet pony being in a relationship with this misshapen embodiment of chaos was mind boggling. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before snorting and calling his bluff,

"I don't believe you, why should I? You were a creature of lies before your apparent reformation and I doubt you've lost your talent for lying."

Discord smiled and turned his body over, his head still in the same position it was before hand, replying with casual indifference,

"Oh well, you'll see soon enough, but I promise you, try to take her from me, and your in for a fight for the history books."

Faith grinned, positioning himself in a fighting stance,

"Is that a challenge?"

Discord shrugged as Fluttershy came back inside, muttering confusedly to herself. She looked over at her two friends, Discord causing her to shudder at the grotesque way his body was formed, and Faith worrying her with his combative stance, his eyes locked on Discord. She walked over to the two of them and asked,

"Is everything alright?"

Discord righted himself and his head, dropping to the floor with a thud. He looked over at Fluttershy and said with a grin,

"Of course dear, everything is quite alright. Now, I really must be heading back, thank you for the meal, I'll be sure to visit you again."

He swiftly bent down and placed a firm kiss on her cheek, right at the corner of her mouth before teleporting out of the house with a laugh. Fluttershy stood there with a very strong blush, her mouth working up and down in a vain attempt to speak. Faith felt his anger grow, even if she was Discord's girl, he fully intended to take her as his, just to spite the mad creature. At this thought he caught himself, disgusted. He couldn't believe his hatred of Discord had grown so much that he would cause the two of them to break up by try to make her fall for him. He shook his head and sighed, beginning to clear the table in an effort to clear his head.

He did like Fluttershy, but it didn't feel like a romantic liking, more a friendly one, if she wanted to be with Discord, that was her choice. Even though he determined to himself to not interfere, he couldn't help but hate the idea of her being with him. Fluttershy watched Faith work, her mind was fogged with confusion, first the non existent wounded bird that she'd gone to help, but also by the abrupt kiss that Discord had given her.

She had never known him to feel that way about her but she had also never known him to be serious about much of anything. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation but for the moment, she'd ignore the action and talk to him about it later. She moved over to help Faith clean the table off, but he shooed her away, his eyes showing a deep state of thought.

Something had happened between Discord and him, this much she was certain of but she couldn't just come out and ask him. Sighing lightly, she headed outside and sat on the porch, looking out over the yard, deep in thought. She wanted to know what was going on, Discord''s strange behavior, strange even for him, and Faith''s deep dislike of him. But it wasn't just his hatred of Discord that intrigued her, it was his strange unknown past, his seemingly self chosen exile from society, his incomplete knowledge of history, his long list of skills.

He was a complex and mysterious individual and she longed to know everything about him. Of all the ponies in all of Equestria, she felt more drawn to Faith than she had anyone else. Perhaps in time, she would learn everything about him, she just hoped that he and Discord wouldn't kill each other before she could have a chance to discover everything there was to know about him.