Fun With Cutie Marks

After the competition ended, Discord, Fluttershy, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders parted ways, the fillies eagerly discussing all they had seen. Discord noticed a small paper basket where the fillies had been sitting, and upon picking it up discovered a few bites of sugary dough left in it. "Fluttershy," he asked, shoving the morsels into his mouth. "What is this called? It's simply delicious."

Fluttershy turned away from the girls and looked at her friend. "Oh, those are elephant ears!" Fluttershy smiled. "Those were my favorite when I was a filly."

Discord tapped his chin with a sugary paw. "Elephant ears, huh? Those girls have some wonderful chaotic potential in them yet," he mused.

Fluttershy shook her hoof in his face. "Don't get any ideas, mister. They're your friends now, and friends respect each other and their desires. And I know those sweet little fillies don't want to start going around causing trouble for everypony because somepony wants them to spread his chaos." She eyeballed him warily, and he smiled back angelically.

"Come now, Fluttershy, I'm just teasing. Those fillies will do just fine spreading chaos on their own, I'm sure. I mean, um--" Discord cut himself off as he snapped his fingers, making a zipper close his mouth for him.

Fluttershy sighed and rose up into the air. "Let's go home. It's been a long day, and Angel's probably waiting for me to give him his dinner."

Discord nodded and snapped again, the zipper vanishing. A pink blur above his head caught his attention, and he looked up to see his three new friends racing around the sky. He thought back to when he had first met them, back in Canterlot. Hadn't one of them been a pegasus? He was sure of it.

"Oh, Fluttershy?" Discord asked casually. "Didn't one of those fillies we met today use to be a pegasus? Now they all just have butterfly wings."

She nodded. "Scootaloo was born a pegasus. I wonder why she has those wings, too. I hope they're careful with them. If they get into an accident now, I don't think they'd be allowed to try to find their cutie marks in emergency medicine."

Discord chuckled. "Cutie marks, eh? So they, along with all the other young ponies, feel that their entire lives revolve around their flanks? How adorable."

Fluttershy nodded in amusement. The two friends looked up at the three fillies for a moment, before Fluttershy noticed Discord's empty popcorn bucket. "Here, I'll get that for you," she offered. She grabbed it and flew off to a nearby trash bucket.

Discord continued to watch the fillies race, and as one of them shot ahead of the other two, he got an idea. Scootaloo's the yellow one, right? He asked himself. Of course, he answered. He smiled at himself. Fluttershy would be so proud of him for wanting to help out a friend. Surely helping this little filly get her cutie mark would show everypony that he could be a good friend, right? And the yellow one was winning the race. It would be a perfect opportunity for him to slip right in.

Discord snapped his fingers, a white flash of light emanating from their tips. At the same time, the little yellow filly crashed into a cloud with a flash of light. He smiled to himself. Discord, you're turning into such a softie, he told himself. Next you're going to be volunteering at the animal shelter or something. Wait, that's pretty much Fluttershy's house. He surveyed his handiwork, the little yellow filly circling around excitedly as she tried to see her flank.

Fluttershy flitted back over and looked at Discord suspiciously. "Ready to go?" She asked him warily. He grinned and offered his arm to her. "Let's go, friend," he chuckled. "My good deeds for today are done. I need to go cause some chaos."