Fluttershy watched in utterly happy disbelief as the frozen orchard she stood in became clear of ice. Her friends ran towards her, praising her success while she stood with a stunned, open-mouthed smile planted on her face.
A sudden flash of light reminded her of the very cause of her relief and she turned towards the draconequus standing a few meters away from her, looking the tiniest bit nervous.
"I liked it better my way, but...I guess you can't always have your way, when you're friends...eh?" Discord said, clearly unsure of himself for first time any of the six equines had seen.
Soon everypony's eyes lay on Fluttershy, but her stage fright didn't kick in in the slightest. Not bothering to reply, she flew up to her newest friend and hugged him without warning.
The gesture was obviously alien to the Spirit of Chaos, having never experienced friendship before. However, he knew enough to acknowledge the fact that she was hugging him.
Hugging him.
So, albeit slowly and a bit awkwardly, he placed both of his own arms across the mare's back, suddenly extremely cautious of hurting her.
With the hug returned, Discord felt a chorus of happiness soaring throughout him, the sort of happiness no amount of chaos could ever come close to providing.
When she pulled away, he was reluctant to let go but his grip loosened nonetheless.
"Thank you." She smiled, looking at him with delighted, sincere eyes.
Once those two words were uttered, her friendship settled within him and he reverted back to his old chaotic self, but...better, somehow.
"For what? Unfreezing the orchard? Oh please, that was nothing." He replied, shrugging as though it really was nothing.
Fluttershy threw her forehooves around his neck again and whispered, "It wasn't 'nothing' for me. Thank you." She said it so that only he could hear, and for that he was grateful.
Because the five other mares had been watching in silence, slowly looking more and more uncomfortable.
Discord waited for Fluttershy to let go again, before he made chairs and desks appear around each of the girls.
The draconequus had glasses on and a cane tucked under his arm, with a bunch of papers in hand.
Five of the ponies immediately attempted to get off their chair, but evidently remained glued - literally - to it.
He started striding in a teacher-like fashion in between the rows of desks. "Now ladies. I have your marked reforming test papers, and I'm going to give them back to you so you can analyse any errors you may," He paused to glance at Fluttershy, "or may not had made."
One by one, each mare - save Fluttershy - received their conjured-up papers, all of which were marked with a big fat red 'F'.
Discord watched in glee as Twilight Sparkle turned the colour of the marking pen and murmured, "I've never gotten anything but an 'A' or higher."
Last of all, he handed a sheet to the Element of Kindness. It was plastered with all kinds of praise: 'well dones' and stickers and gold stars and massive green ticks and a score percentage that exceeded 100.
She too flushed, and hid behind her hair modestly - her natural escape from responding to compliments and praise.
Discord beamed at her. "Fluttershy, my dear Element of Kindness, has passed with flying colours," He smirked at Rainbow, "and shall have the great honour of becoming my very first friend."
Gloved, disembodied hands appeared and started clapping, whistles of congratulations emitted from nothing but air, making the mare of celebration only blush deeper.
A minute later, all the whoops and cheers dissipated along with the hands, and Discord continued, "However, the rest of you," He eyed each other pony in turn, "have failed miserably." Teleporting directly in front of Twilight, he added, "And I'm extremely disappointed in you, oh Sunbutt's annoying protégé. Reforming spell?" He tutted. "You should know better than that."
Two light now looked on the verge of tears she was so embarrassed and ashamed. Upon noticing this, Fluttershy - since she was the only one not stuck to her chair - flew over to her friend and embraced he comfortingly.
"Discord," She began, without breaking the hug to look at him, "please stop this. I think they get the idea."
Discord pouted before obediently obliging.
"I was only telling the truth." He stated, a little too defensively. Turning to Applejack, he sneered. "Isn't that usually your forte, oh Element of Honesty?"
Applejack grabbed his snout, bringing him down to eye level and pointing a threatening hoof at him. "You'd best watch your step. Don't you go and fake this here friendship between y'all and Fluttershy. And if you ever touch my farm again...you'll have to answer to us, and these." She gestured towards her apple-shaped gem.
Discord stuck his tongue out at her and smiled, brushing a claw over one of the nearby apple trees. "Oopsie. Right, looks like it's back into stone for me then."
He pretended to brace himself for attack, making Applejack fume like a bubbling pan of boiling water. She lowered her hat over her face and screamed into it briefly before walking away, making the excuse of 'having work to do' - barely audible, because of her hat.
Rainbow Dash glared at Discord and said, "What she said. Don't. You. Dare. Hurt. Fluttershy. Otherwise I will personally beat you up." Without another word, she soared off into the sky.
Pinkie was the next to talk to him. "Just don't take over Equestria too much and you'll be fine." She lowered her voice to a stage-whisper, "Chocolate milk and cotton candy clouds ARE and exception."
She bounced off, allowing Rarity to voice her opinion on the matter. "Be grateful for Fluttershy's friendship. Treasure it, just as we do for each other, but more so because it was extraordinarily generous of her to offer it to you, even after all that you've done." The unicorn nodded at the two and trotted off, leaving Twilight alone with the two friends.
She grasped Fluttershy's shoulders. "Be careful. Please. I don't want to see any potentially great friendships get ruined because somebody," She emphasised the 'somebody', "isn't experienced enough with that sort of thing." She turned towards Discord. "And you...do what Rarity said. Be happy that you've had the great gift of friendship given to you, even though you don't deserve it. I know what it's like to not have any friends, and it seems horrible, now that I do. Just...please, feel free to relish in the ways Fluttershy has succeeded where I have failed, okay?" She looked ashamed to vocalise that fact, as if saying it made it all the more true.
After the silence became awkward she teleported back to her library, Discord then doing the same but instead along with Fluttershy and back to her cottage.
As soon as they were inside, Fluttershy said, "Was that really necessary?"
Discord raised an eyebrow. "What, praising your success? Sorry, but are you telling me I shouldn't congratulate you for becoming my very first friend?"
"No, I'm just...don't you want to get along with my friends, too?"
"Why should I? I've got all the pony pal I need," He teleported her into his arms and lifted her up to eye level, "right here!"
It was weird, being suspended in the air, not by your own wings but by two outstretched, mismatched arms. But his hands were clasped firmly around her, so that any fear she may have had with anypony - body - else was eliminated.
"I guess..." she smiled, "for now, at least. But you should really try to bond with them at some point in the future. The more friends you have, the happier you'll be."
The draconequus gagged. "Ugh. Do you have to be so cliché and cheesy? And anyway; today clearly demonstrated that your friends and I aren't going to be 'bonding' anytime soon."
Fluttershy inhaled deeply, as though she was about to sigh, but let her breath out calmly, not exasperatedly. "Fair enough." She looked down. "Ummm...you c-can put me down now, Discord."
His mind was blatantly elsewhere, but he heard her request and obliged, setting her back on the floor. "Apologies, my dear. So...what do...what do friends do?" He said 'friends' like he was still getting used to saying it, which was entirely possible.
"Well...they play games, talk, do activities, have meals together, go on outings and just generally spend time with each other." She beamed at him.
He had opened his mouth to reply, when the soft pounding of tiny paws on his leg caught his attention. Looking down, he saw Angel Demon Bunny punching at him so furiously that Discord couldn't help but laugh.
When Fluttershy noticed, she flew over and picked up the defiant rabbit. "It's okay, Angel. He's reformed now."
The bunny raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "Yeah right."
"He has! He's on our side now."
Angel remained everything but convinced.
The pegasus sighed; he could be so stubborn sometimes. "Look, I'll get him to make your favourite meal, alright?"
His expression twitched and relented into happiness for a second.
Fluttershy flew to get the recipe book and quickly found the page. She showed it to Discord and instructed, "Make this, i-if you don't mind. Please? Oh, and be sure not to leave out the cherry."
Discord looked at her in a way that said "Seriously?" without need of vocalisation.
"He's very picky." She whispered.
Rolling his eyes, he snapped his fingers and did as she said. The moment his food appeared, the bunny was distracted and satisfied.
"Okay then. Games, you said? What sort of games do you have in mind?"
"Errr...oh! There's one game that I-I'm really good at."
"Yes? Go on."
"All you have to do is stay quiet for as long as you can. I'm the world champion!" She declared, and he watched, trying not to laugh at how proud she was of such a small achievement.
"Let's do that then." He grinned. "I'm sure second place is willing to take you in when I knock you out of first."
Her eyes sparkled with delight. "Alright. Three...two...one...go!"
The room went silent. Discord waited, forcing his impatience down as he stared at his friend, who was sitting innocently as ever on the floor.
She appeared unaffected by the boredom silence causes. She took interest in staring at different areas of the floor, different pieces of furniture that were askew because of earlier. She stared, looking so interested and intent, as if taking apart and analysing the whole room thoroughly even though she lived there.
Taking such interest in such little things confused Discord, but he had to admire it. All of a sudden, he couldn't take it anymore; the quiet felt desolate, lonely and like a cage, since he wasn't nearly as able to satisfy himself by simply staring at things.
"All right! I give up!" He clarified, catching Fluttershy doing a little hoof-pump as a sort of mini celebration. He smiled, then had an idea for their next game.
"I know! How about we have a stare contest next?"
She grinned at him as he lay down, propping himself up at eye level on his elbows. "Tres...du..."
It was lucky this wasn't a silence contest; Fluttershy giggled the instant he changed languages.
"...ein...go!"
Discord watched as her already massive teal eyes got bigger and more forceful; she was using her 'Stare' again. Seeing a look like that in somepony so kind felt almost frightening.
Almost.
He too stared unblinking at her, not daring to look away and surrender to defeat again. But she did the same, and her ability to keep it up irritated him severely.
Fluttershy noticed his eyes turn into swirls. Still not submitting to looking away, she stated, "I'm pretty sure that counts as cheating."
He broke his gaze, scowling. She smiled smugly. "You just looked away."
"I did no- DARN IT! You're good." He admitted, then a thought occurred to him. "Hey, how come you didn't succumb to my hypnotisation?"
She blushed. "Well...when you made me...discorded, that day in the labarynth, it...it scared me. A lot. So I asked my zebra friend, Zecora, to help me build up immunity to corruption. It...it's not the nicest feeling in the world." Her blush deepened. "I-I guess the training worked."
"Not that I care, but...why didn't you just ask Twilight?" Discord inquired.
"Oh, I did; she...she didn't know how to help." Fluttershy smiled sheepishly.
"Ha! Not so much of a know-it-all then, is she?!" He exclaimed.
"One...shouldn't really have to...to know how to build up an immune system for being corrupted or hypnotised, because...one shouldn't have to fear or experience it in the first place." She replied, voice wavering into a whisper by the end as her face did another beetroot impression.
Discord realised his fault and rushed to make amends, "Oh! I'm...I'm...sorry." He bit his lip and repeated. "I'm sorry."
She sniffed. "It's fine."
But it wasn't fine. He knew it wasn't fine. She was suddenly avoiding eye contact, and appeared to be involuntarily recalling the events of when he first broke free.
He hurt her.
And seeing her like this hurt him back. But why? Why did it hurt? She was just a pony, a lower life-form, another useless, being that existed in the world.
That's what the old Discord would've thought, not knowing the answer.
But he did: it was because he cared about her.
And he wasn't afraid to admit it.
Author's Note
Let me know if you spotted any mistakes. Otherwise, I hoped you enjoyed! (Oh, and sorry for using the title, 'Kind and Chaotic'; I know those terms are used A LOT)