The Taxonomy of the Lower Reaches of the Discordian Dimensions

Chapters

Where the Wild Things Are
I'm smarter than you
We'll need an assistant
1 month ago...
Inter-dimensional Troubles
In the Field
Polymorphism
I hung my head
Past tense, tense past
Where the river goes
Unto the Breach
As close to good as possible
One of these things first
The Lower Reaches
Putting the damage on
When I am king you will be first against the wall
Enter Entropy
Half blind and spitting straight into the wind
Epilogue: Two years later

Where the Wild Things Are

Dear Fluttershy,

How's me ol' matey?

I hope that rabbit of yours isn't giving you too much of a hard time--after all, that's my job. Don't let him push you around. If salad is the only thing in the house then he can live for ten whole minutes without strawberries, believe it or not.

I've been thinking about what you said: "Discord, Princess Celestia must have wanted us to reform you for a reason, so I'm sure there is something you can do to contribute to the Friendship cause. You know a lot and you are incredibly handsome and powerful, and know everything, so therefore we are indebted to..."

Okay, you got me. You didn't quite say it like that...but! I do agree that I have something to contribute. One day while dusting my book cases, I was looking out onto my garden and I saw a wobbling, jelly-like creature with seventeen eyes and ten heads fly past, and it got me thinking...hardly anyone knows anything about the dimension I live in. This may be because it's quite easy to get lost in if you don't go with me as a guide, and I think some people who wonder in might not be able to find their way back out again. Who knows? It could be useful to study the physics and magic contained within the place. I'll even do a review of the fauna- I know you'd like to know more about the beasts that inhabit my home. Though it wouldn't actually be a taxonomic review, because no one has written about them before. I could describe the colourful scales of the Argy Bargy and the variety of colour phases it comes in. Ooh, I may even give them binomials. Or even trinomials or polynomials; Why does chaos have to follow ridiculous rules, after all? This isn't your dimension, after all.

It won't purely be taxonomy of course-- I'd also write about the ecology and behaviour of the animals here. I'm pretty sure the swots haven't touched that subject with a ten foot barge pole yet, but it's a fascinating subject.

For instance, did you know that the Snarflebeast feeds entirely on Fractal Fleas? Of course that means that when the Snarflebeast sires the next generation it's different EVERY time, and this is entirely down to their diet. Sometimes their offspring emerge from the egg pouch looking so long that they stretch into the neighbouring dimension. Other times they're so short they can't even see over a Shetland. They can still reproduce without the Fractal Fleas, but the gene pool gets watered down and the population suffers. This is part of the reason chaos is soooo important, as I'm sure you know. Without variety things just fizzle out. Look at what happened to the Griffon kingdom and their obsession with gold--I'm willing to bet there was so much inbreeding in that place at one point that you couldn't differentiate owls from eagles anymore. Same with dragons. Why do you think there are so few dragons? That, and in the past society wasn't that welcoming about interspecies relationships.

You know what's weird about that? All the chimerical beasts in that live in Equestria have a...shall we say...colourful history when it comes to ancestory. Heck, I'll wager even some ponies do. Do you ever wonder about Pinkie Pie? I mean, what is up with that? So yeah, at one point hypocrisy took over, I guess. Perhaps you ponies have the right idea when it comes to friendship--it breaks down barriers.

Hmm...that's an interesting theory all on its own- is chaos an integral part of friendship magic? If you have no variety in life you are less open to meeting new people and thus expanding the richness of the gene pool in society. Chaos and bigotry never were going to be excellent bedfellows, after all. I could write an entirely different paper on the subject. Perhaps that one should go on the back burner because of this amazing project I have coming up, but it's food for thought.

So, what do you think of my idea? Actually, don't answer that because I already know the answer- you love animals and therefore you love my idea! I'm thinking of calling my paper A Taxonomy of the Lower Reaches of the Discordian Dimensions. Rather grand, eh? It will make the ponies with doctorates quiver in their horse shoes! A piece of paper doesn't make you smart, anyway. How many of them have ever been beyond the lab? You can't stare down the eyepiece of a microscope your entire life. You have the right idea, Flutters. Go out and explore things! Poke things with sticks! Make new animal friends! Write down what you know! I bet you know more than those ponies with 12 doctorates or whatever. After all, how many of them can say they're best friends with a chaos lord? A missed study opportunity there, I can tell you! I bet they are grinding their teeth in envy at your position.

Anyway, I'm going to go speak to Twilight, and then start the study and prepare the manuscript for publication. I'm sure Miss Egghead would be thrilled about my proposition. She always wants to expand her knowledge, right? And who better to teach her than moi. Celestia can't teach that bookworm everything. In fact, I think I'll go today.

I will try to remember to use the door this time.

Huggles and schtuff!

Discord. x

P.S. Please find enclosed an example of a species sheet for one of the organisms from my dimension. Do you think I should describe its orbital lenses as "burning with the fire of a thousand suns" or just "red?"

I'm smarter than you

Twilight sighed as she finished the book she had been reading for hours. It was an authoritative text on the history of the Dragon Empire. The first few chapters had been interesting but after that the book had become incredibly dry reading.

She still missed the coziness of the Golden Oaks library. Sometimes the castle could feel drafty, especially late at night. She only had the candelabra to light her way in the confines of the castle library. After the pool of light there was only darkness and it sometimes made her feel lonely.

She looked at her clock. It was late- around 3am. She decided she would check on Spike and then go to bed. She picked up the candle, preparing to walk down the drafty hallway to Spike's room when all of a sudden she felt warm. The scenery changed before her eyes- cold greys turning to warm wood and leather tomes. She was back at Golden Oaks. A wave of emotion overcame her, and she was suddenly close to tears when all of a sudden she realized who could be conjuring up the illusion.

"I...wha...Discord!"

"Oh, poo. Am I really getting that predictable?" said a disembodied yet extremely familiar voice.

"Unless I've accidentally stumbled on a time travelling spell, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can conjure up facsimilies of the past."

Discord's eyes hung in the air before her, and his cheshire cat grin materialized. "Gotta work on my routine and make it less of a routine," he said.

"What are you doing here so late?"

Twilight expected him to launch into his usual spiel about how he was "just dropping in to see an old friend. And couldn't he just show up to say hi? It's not like I wanted anything...!" So she was surprised when he materialized the rest of his body and slammed a book down in front of her right away.

"I have an amazing idea!" he exclaimed, in a tone of voice an overexcited teenage girl might use at a pop concert.

"Oh?" said Twilight, a chill going down her spine.

At that moment, a loud burp emanated from Spike's bedroom. The scene changed back from the Golden Oak's library to that of the castle and Twilight and Discord ran towards the sound.

Spike sat up groggily.

"I hate it when I get one of those while sleeping," he said, pointing to the scroll and looking quite sick.

Twilight opened the letter:

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

I apologize for the late hour in which this letter is being sent, but Discord came to me earlier and discussed a wonderful idea. At first I was skeptical, until he mentioned bringing back one of my old mentors to help out with this, and I think this would be an absolutely fabulous learning opportunity for you.

Twilight briefly wondered if Celestia had been on the apple cider again. She continued reading:

Therefore I think you should meet my old mentor. Normally this would be impossible, but thankfully Discord's chaos magic does indeed have its uses.

I'll leave it with you both to discuss.

Best Wishes,

Princess Celestia.

Twilight tilted her head at the letter, as if the angle would nudge the words into making more sense.

"So what you do you think, Sparklepoo?" said Discord, shining his eagle talons on his coat.

"Celestia's old mentor?" she asked.

"Wow, not that sharp during the witching hour, are you?"

She internally fumed. Discord was like a monstrous child sometimes. She knew he was incredibly smart and a powerful magic wielder, but he also acted like a complete fool at times, so she didn't appreciate him insulting her intelligence.

Discord continued: "Twilight, who do you think she's talking about? I thought you were supposed to be a nerd." He placed a badge on her mane that said "Not quite geek Enough" and smirked. "Guess I'll have to show you, then."

Discord unsheathed his lion claws and made a motion in the air that looked as if he was twisting open an invisible jar. Purple light poured out of the hole Discord had made in the ether as the tear became wider and wider. The light was blinding, but as the hole grew Twilight could just about make out the siloheutte of a pony.

Spike squeaked and took shelter behind Twilight's hind legs. Wind tore through the room and the pony stepped out onto the castle floor.

The portal closed behind him with a sound like water going down a plughole.

"Goodness! I will never get used to that!" said Starswirl.

Twilight's mouth hung open. Discord put his arm around her and his paw on her lower jaw and pushed it shut with an upwards motion.

"Whoa..." said Spike.

Twilight was babbling as if she was stuck on a loop. "Sta...sta...sta..."

"Stammer?" offered Discord.

"It's..it's an honour! But...how?"

Starswirl seemed to still be trying to get his bearings. He adjusted his hat.

"How? Who? What? Well, it's all down to Discord here. He can bend spacetime so I'm back for now. Of course I don't exist in the present, but let's not get into the technicalities of that."

"Time travel is dangerous!"

"Discord knows what he's doing. It's complicated magic but he's done it often enough."

Discord grinned arrogantly at Twilight, licked his paw and smoothed back his mane.

"Yes, Twilight, we all remember what happened when you tried to mess with time, don't we? Kiddies shouldn't mess with grown up magic. They might fall down and go boom."

"Ah," said Starswirl. "He's still a jerk, then."

Twilight nodded, then quickly began to bounce up and down in excitement. "Oh my goodness! I have so much to ask you! What's the past like? What did you teach Princess Celestia and Luna? How do you know Discord? Oh my gods, I think I'm going to start hyperventilating!"

"I take it back, you are a colossal nerd," snorted Discord.

Starswirl laughed. "One thing at a time. I see Celestia was right about you being a keen student."

"Yes, Sparklepoo, one thing at a time," said Discord. "We're here to discuss my brilliant idea, remember?"

"You haven't even told me what your 'brilliant' idea is yet."

"Oh, it's a corker," said Discord. "Since I'm learning about this friendship thing I'm going to study and document every single creature in my pocket dimension and publish the definitive monograph."

"All of them? And what that this have to do with friendship?"

"It would expand your knowledge! Isn't that what friends do for each other? Learn from each other?"

Twilight stroked her chin with her hoof. It would be nice to learn about something beyond their own dimension. Still, this was Discord. Though she believed that he genuinely wanted to improve and become a better person, he was still a huge pain in the butt.

"So Starswirl is here to help us with this?"

"That I am."

"And it could result in a book!" said Discord excitedly. "You like books, don't you?" He held up an example copy of the "finished" manuscript, complete with a black and white author photo of himself sporting star shaped sunglasses on the back.

"Well...I suppose he could do some field work with Fluttershy."

"Yes, I could," said Discord a little too quickly.

Suddenly Twilight realized with horror what was going on. "Um...Sir..." she said.

"Call me Starswirl, Princess."

"Oh..um. Call me Twilight," she countered. "Can we talk over here in the corner? Away from prying ears!" she said over her shoulder to Discord who slunk reluctantly back into the shadows.

"Si...Starswirl. I have reason to believe that one of the reasons Discord may be doing this is to impress one of my friends."

"Oh, the Element of Kindness? Makes sense, he always did go for the pretty ones."

Twilight squirmed. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear stories about what Discord would "go for."

She tried to keep her voice down. "Is this...really a good idea? He acted nuts the last time he tried to prove himself to her."

"Let me handle it," said Starswirl. "Whatever his motives we really do need this project. If we can understand the creatures in the dimension we may be able to use the magic contained within against threats to our way of life. Who knows when another Tirek or Sombra might show up?"

"I trust your judgement," she said.

"You've only just met me!" he grinned. "But I do mean what I said about handling Discord. I know he acts like a hummingbird on speed. Always did- even back in his youth when I knew him."

"You knew him in his youth?"

"Oh, yes. When he was a colt. Blasted kid wouldn't keep still. It was like he had ants in his pants."

Twilight opened her mouth to point out that he still didn't really keep still and didn't wear any pants, but quickly shut it again. Discord had always insisted to her that he was never "born" and had always existed. Still, this was Discord. She was sure if he wrote his own biography it would be riddled with inaccuracies.

"Excuse me," interjected Discord. He did not like that they were talking about him as if he wasn't there. He never liked it when people acted like he wasn't there.

"Ah, yes," said Starswirl, turning back to Discord.

"I think we've worked out what we're going to do with your project."

"Is that so Old Man?"

"You're calling me 'Old Man'? You're way older than I am now."

Discord grinned. He enjoyed bantering with Starswirl.

"Okay, huddle time," said Starswirl. "Here's what we're gonna do..."

Discord began the manuscript the following evening. He had bragged to Twilight that he was sure he could get it done in a few weeks, but he was already struggling. He wasn't used to sitting still and writing things out at a desk. Everything else seemed vastly more interesting, including what was in the fridge. He had made nineteen cups of tea and 5 banana and chorizo sandwiches since he had started.

He remembered Starswirl once referred to him as "brilliant but lazy."

"I'll show you lazy," he growled. No doubt Twilight was currently fangirling over everything Starswirl had to say right now while he did all the heavy lifting and work.

He huddled over his desk, continuing to write out descriptions:

Many Orbed Tentacle Beast (Orbisii plunderus)

A large suckered beast. Generally eighteen eyes but numbers can vary. Has clawed mandibles for scooping up flish out of the Pool of Entropy. Males are smaller than females. Females build nests out of the bones of their enemies. Chicks are very fluffy when first hatched.

He shifted in his chair and tilted his head until a crick in his long neck popped.

Lesser spotted Lightning Eel (Angilla fulgetrum shockingtunus)

Creature made entirely of lightning. Feeds on the electrocutions of other beings.

This was boring. He fidgeted and glanced over towards his bedroom door. He was tired, but he didn't want to go to bed just yet. Especially not the way he was feeling. Sometimes that bed felt so cold.

Dammit. Can't be thinking about this now.

He rested his head on his lion paw.

It had been a while since he'd had the soft, warm body of a mare next to him, and even then those had been one night stands with ponies with enough kink in them to find him attractive. He suspected he was only there to scratch an itch for them they were curious about.

There had only been one pony who had ever loved him, and that had ended a thousand years ago when she encased him in stone.

Though he was on vastly better terms with her now, he wasn't sure he could ever forgive her for that, and he was also sure there were many things he had done she would never forgive him for. At least he hadn't fallen for her younger sister. Now she could do wrath.

He sighed, and put quill to parchment again.

After doodling on the side of the sheet for a while, he wrote:

Fluttershy: Pegasus (Equus pegasii):

Best friend. Most beautiful, caring creature in Equestria. Stellar chick. Out of my league.

He let the quill drop out of his claw.

He was almost postive Fluttershy had no such itch when it came to him. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him wishing she did. Sometimes when she smiled at him, she somehow managed to look foxy and innocent at the same time and it tugged at his chest and made his head swim. Sometimes he wondered how different he was from the animals that seemed to melt and grow calm before her when she sang to them or fed them.

"Not fair," he muttered out loud.

"What's not fair?" said Starswirl.

Discord jumped a mile.

"What? You pop in unannounced all the time!"

"Okay, what are you doing here? I know I gave you that teleportation spell so you could get here unharmed but it's ridiculously late and I was about to go to bed."

"Discord, I'm here because I forgot to tell you. You need to keep completely focused on this."

"What do you think I'm doing up so late, Old Man?"

"I'm not talking about writing your manuscript. I'm talking about what you're like when you see a pretty girl...and you're working with six of them."

"Geeze! What are you even talking about? I'd never..."

"Oh, of course not! I don't mean that. I'm talking about how distracted you can get."

"I'm not in the least bit distracted when it comes to girls."

"You flirt with Twilight."

"That's because I know it annoys her."

"Well, I can believe that. After all, you're the type who wouldn't announce it out loud if you were pursuing someone."

"Pursuing?! What is that about? You make me sound like a shark. And anyway, Twilight and I are only chums. It's just so tempting winding her up."

"I believe you on that score. That isn't quite what I meant. I'm here to talk about Fluttershy."

Discord's ears pricked up with obvious interest before he could stop himself.

Starswirl gave him a knowing look. "See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. But there's a more worrying aspect to what I'm trying to discuss with you."

He dragged a chair over and sat facing Discord.

"Since this study of your dimension is a work in progress, and it involves working with disharmonious magic it would be a good idea to distance yourself from those who work with harmonious magic."

"You want me to abandon my friends?"

"Of course not! I'm simply asking you to put some controls in place. Seeing friends is fine, but if you get too heavily emotionally involved with one of them who knows where your concentration will go."

Discord snorted. "You make it sound as if I'm some kind of crack-addled hummingbird."

Starswirl said nothing for a beat, then continued: "I remember what you were like with Celestia. She was all you could talk about and then you rocketed off on whatever high you were on and her feelings were left in the dust, because it didn't matter as long as you felt good, didn't it? Relationships distract you. They also make your chaos far more unwieldy than usual. That little episode at the gala just confirmed it for me. Heck, that wasn't even a relationship thing and you tore a rift in the space-time continuum."

"How do you know about that?"

"Twilight."

"She's such a big mouth," Discord snarled, folding his arms.

"You cannot allow yourself to get distracted. This project is important and we need it."

Discord managed to discreetly push the sheet he had been writing on under the other papers, out of sight.

"Please remember that, Discord."

"You have nothing to worry about. She isn't even interested in me."

Starswirl noted with concern the disappointment in Discord's voice.

"Be that as it may, you cannot get involved with any of the Elements".

"Like that's gonna happen."

"Don't think I can't sympathize. The life of those who devote themselves to magic can be very lonely. I think that's why Celestia pushed for this friendship thing so hard with Twilight. Otherwise she would have gotten another obsessed academic who ended up marrying books instead of spending time with other ponies."

"So how are you and Mrs. Leatherbound Tome getting along? Any kids yet?"

"Very funny."

"Do you ask her if she likes your wizard hat and robe?"

Starswirl rolled his eyes at Discord's usual bitter sarcasm. "Look, just remember to not get involved with Fluttershy."

"I heard you the first ten times."

"Right, I'm off. Celestia wants to catch up on things. I suspect it involves a lot of cake." He vanished.

Discord sat in silence surrounded by parchment. It was going to be a long night.

No, not fair at all.

We'll need an assistant

Fluttershy sighed as she stood in front of the miror plaiting her hair. She was getting ready for what seemed like the umpteenth date in a month. In reality, she'd only had three--all set up by Rarity--but they were draining.

She braced herself on the dressing table. Wasn't this what she said she had wanted? She was tired of sitting by the wayside while her friends dated stallions. She was a young mare and had wants like any other. She wasn't going to meet anyone while she was cooped up indoors. Her only routine interactions with a male seemed to be Tuesday Tea Time with Discord.

Discord. He had been furious when he found out she was dating--not with her, but with her suitors. She supposed she should have expected it. He hadn't done anything to her, and she was certain he never would, but her dates had left looking over their shoulders. In all honestly she hadn't been impressed with the first one. Even before Discord had shown up to wreck havoc the stallion had said nasty things about the draconequus. Fluttershy had told him she wasn't interested in dating someone who insulted her friends, and as if on cue, Discord had materialized in mid air, his face shoved up right against the stallion's as he half growled and half purred: "Yes, she isn't interested in people who talk smack about me, boy." That had been enough to send her date running.

However, the second and third dates were the last straw.

She had been getting on reasonably well with the second stallion at a restaurant when Discord had shown up as a waiter and served him worms instead of the hayburger he had ordered.

He had been in disguise but Fluttershy knew it was Discord. She just knew. He had certain mannerisms that he couldn't even disguise in pony form.

The third date had been even worse, and that was when she had finally confronted him:

"Discord!"

"Fluttershy, my dear! How's things?"

"Don't ask me how things are when you already know! That poor stallion is going to have nightmares for weeks after you put your eyeballs in his drink!"

"Oh, come now! That was just a bit of fun! And a bit of a test, eh? After all, would you really want to go out with someone that boring? Someone with no sense of humour?"

"You think I don't know what's going on?" she said angrily. "I know you...you have feelings for me."

Discord opened his mouth to deny everything but couldn't think of anything to say and shut it again.

"This has to stop, Discord. I'm really sorry to have to tell you this way, because I really value your friendship, but when it comes to...other things I don't feel the same way about you.

His mouth felt dry. The word came from him, unbidden:

"Why?"

"You hurt me, Discord!"

He recoiled at her words.

"You hurt me," she said, on the verge of tears. "You gave me to Tirek when I thought you cared about me, and then you pulled that stunt at the gala with Tree Hugger. Am I supposed to live my life tip-toeing around you? Is everything good in my life supposed to be chased away because it makes *you feel better? Don't you want me to be happy?"*

She *was crying now, and it felt like a knife in his chest.*

"Fluttershy..." he reached out for her tentatively.

"No. Just no, Discord. Leave me alone. I...I need time to be alone. I need some space."

Discord's tail swished back and forth in panic. He couldn't understand why the words "I need some space" terrified him, but they did.

"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

"No!"

His ears drooped at her response.

"I'm sorry, Discord," she said softly. "But you need to learn to be considerate of others, and that includes letting me live my own life."

She did feel bad for shouting at him, but she knew he would never learn unless she was firm with him. Her assertiveness training had taught her that.

Discord was confused. On the one paw he wanted her to be happy, but on the other talon he couldn't understand why the pain in his chest was so tumultuous and raw when he thought of her with another stallion. This was a different kind of jealousy to the one he had felt with Tree Hugger. That was the fear of being left out. This was...he wasn't sure what it was. That he wasn't good enough for her?

Of course he wasn't. He had handed her and her friends over to a madman. When was he going to tell himself that any hope that she could think of him as a coltfriend had died forever the moment he had done that?

"Okay," he whispered.

"Okay?"

"Okay..." Then he vanished. There was none of the usual loud flash when he did so. He just seemed to quietly disappear.

Her heart ached at the memory. At least he seemed to be doing better now. His letter seemed to confirm he was on the emotional mend, and a project would be good for him.

Her thoughts returned to preparing for her date. Why was she even doing this? Oh, right...because she had complained about feeling left out one night to Rarity because she felt everyone was more experienced than her.

She did want a coltfriend...she had hoped she wouldn't have to go on any dates--that she might just meet a stallion who was friendly but not threatening and get to know him as a friend first, then he would sweep her off her feet like in the fairytales.

Nothing was ever like in the fairytales.

Starswirl laughed joyously as Twilight poured a second cup of tea for him. They had spent the afternoon discussing magic and memories of Starswirl's and Celestia's past.

"Celestia was always my most keen student," said Starswirl fondly. "I can see that she's passed down what she's learnt to someone who seems equally enthusiastic."

Twilight blushed. "Oh, I don't know about that..."

"Don't be modest! You've accomplished so much in such a short space of time. As have your friends."

"Well, it's because of them that I've been able to learn so much," said Twilight truthfully. "Before I moved to Ponyville I was a bit of a hermit."

Starswirl chuckled. "I know that feeling only too well. I regret not pursuing more social activities..."

A loud familiar flashing sound filled the room.

"Ey up," said Discord, teleporting onto the couch next to Starswirl.

"Ah," said Starswirl, putting down his cup of tea. "You got my message, then?"

"Yes, and I'm actually on time for once. I checked it was the right year and everything. So what was it you wanted to talk to me about? Apart from my absolutely marvellous idea of course?"

"We'll need an assistant."

Discord blinked, one eyelid at a time.

"Pssh. No we don't. I can do it all on my own. After all, who else knows more about the creatures in my dimension than me?"

"You really want to sit at that desk for hours every night?" said Starswirl.

"Hmmm," Discord stroked his beard. It was true that didn't sound like too much fun.

"We can put out a want ad for the position of archivist and hold some interviews. Of course, I'll have to use a pseudonym. It would take far too long to explain to everypony what I'm doing here."

Twilight looked at the pot of nettle tea on the coffee table. "How about Mr. Nettle?" she suggested.

"Perfect," said Discord. "He's a pain in flank if you get too near him."

Starswirl ignored the dig and continued:

"I think you should write notes on each species, then we can find someone who can copy your hand and make things more detailed for the final manuscript. Obviously you will need to read things over to check they are accurate before we okay each description, but it does lighten the workload for you to spend more time in the field."

Spend more time in the field with Fluttershy thought Discord.

"You're right! It's a marvellous idea. Now, do either of you have any hot chocolate? And marshmallows!"

Fluttershy sat nervously in the cafe, waiting for her date.

After she had told Discord that his unwelcome tagging along on her dates made her uncomfortable he seemed to have actually backed off. She'd had two dates since then and not a peep from the draconequus. The dates themselves were rather awkward though. She wondered if this one would be any different. Rarity had said he was an archivist that had worked with Twilight for a few weeks in the Golden Oaks library. That seemed pleasant enough. She didn't have to worry about whether she'd be taken out for any high octane sports outings. She looked down at her cup of tea and could see her worried reflection looking back up at her.

Her nerves had nothing to do with Discord. Despite her friends telling her that she was beautiful and smart and, of course--kind, she had trouble believing it all herself. She'd had a few flirtatious encounters with stallions, but dating seemed almost...unnatural somehow. She couldn't really put her hoof on why.

At last, her date appeared.

Fluttershy looked up from her cup of green tea. The unicorn stallion was pale blue with a shock of dark blue hair and dark eyes that Fluttershy felt drawn into almost instantly. She felt the familiar feeling of a blush creeping up on her face.

The stallion tried not to gape as she lifted her emerald eyes up to look at him. She was pretty. Really pretty. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

"H-hi...I'm Scriptum," he stammered. "You're Fluttershy?" He instantly felt like a fool. Of course she was. She had helped save Equestria and the Crystal Empire. She was one of Princess Twilight's friends. And she was stunning.

"Hello," she said, trying to make a concious effort not to hide behind her mane. She could feel his intense eyes taking in her burning face.

Okay, calm down Fluttershy. He's attractive, but that doesn't mean you're going to get along. What was it that Applejack had once told her? Something about how even if a mare went into heat she was the one who still got to choose? That she was the one who decided? Her face turned redder as she realized what she had been thinking about.

There was awkward silence for a few moments. Scriptum cleared his throat and sat down. He picked up the menu then put it back down again.

"So, ahem...Rarity tells me you're an animal lover," he said, trying to break the ice.

Of course she is you fool!

"Oh, yes," she said, relieved that he had started with a subject she felt comfortable talking about. "Just this morning a family came by to adopt a parakeet. It had a broken wing, but it's doing much better now and I'm so glad I was able to find a loving family for him. They named him Sunflower Seed. He's a sun conure. They come from South Amareica. They're actually one of Princess Celestia's favourite birds and...oh, um. Sorry...I'm babbling."

Scriptum laughed. "Not at all!" He had enjoyed the way she seemed to light up when talking about animals. "Tell me more about what you do."

She was beginning to relax a bit, and that made him feel more at ease. They chatted some more about parakeets, then birds, then ferrets. He ordered them both a fresh pot of tea.

Eventually Fluttershy thought to ask him about what he did for a living.

"I have an interview later this afternoon for a position at the Castle of Friendship. I'm hoping my previous experience working with Princess Twilight will get me the job, but hey, you never know!"

"What's the job?"

"I'm...not entirely sure. I mean, I know they want someone with good transcription skills and archival experience, but I have no idea what particular archives I'll be working on. It's all very exciting though. I'm sure there's tons of fascinating history in that library, so I'll be happy with whatever they want me to do."

Fluttershy smiled. His enthusiasm was rather charming.

"So...uh. Can I see you again?" he asked.

"Um. Okay," she said, smiling softly.

Twilight, Starswirl and Discord had gone through the interview process with multiple candidates and Discord was being incredibly difficult about each one.

"She was dull," he said simply about the 2pm meeting with a candidate. "I don't think she would understand what I'm trying to achieve at all."

"And just what are you trying to achieve?" said Starswirl, wearily raising an eyebrow. For his part, he knew this project was important, but he still wasn't entirely sure why Discord had set out to do it, other than blind ambition of course. The draconequus had always had that. Perhaps a little too much of it. He briefly wondered if Twilight had any headache potions in her bathroom cabinet.

"I'm trying to show people that chaos can be fascinating," said Discord truthfully.

"Well if you really want that manuscript to get out there, you need someone to help you disseminate the information, and so far you've been unsatisfied with every qualified candidate we've had."

"I think you and I have different standards on what constitutes a 'qualified candidate'."

"You got that right." Starswirl started to head for the bathroom to look for the headache potions, but then the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" said Twilight quickly before Discord could make a move.

She opened the door to a pale blue stallion carrying a saddlebag.

"Hi," said the stallion. "I'm Scriptum. I mean...I know who you are. I've worked for you before...but oh." He was already flustered and stammering. He took a deep breath. "I'm here for the 4pm interview?"

"Of course!" said Twilight, ushering him in before Discord could get a word in. "Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?"

"Oh, no thank you. I think I've had enough tea today to last me until the evening!"

"Alright. In that case, shall we proceed?"

Scriptum opened his saddlebag and handed his resume over to Twilight. They made their way over to the long table where the joint interview was to be conducted. Starswirl returned from the bathroom, looking relieved that he had some sort of painkiller in him at last.

"So, I'm being interviewed by Mr. Nettle and you and..."

"And moi!" came a singsong voice from the living room, and in floated Discord.

Scriptum's ears instinctively flattened as he eyed the draconequus nervously. He'd heard a lot about Discord--both good and bad. He had once ruled Equestria with an iron talon (or so they had said) but he had also helped defeat Tirek by giving Princess Twilight Sparkle her final key. On the other hand, he had been the one to help Tirek steal all their magic in the first place. How could anyone possibly trust him? What were his motives? Was he even sane?

He was also big. Very big. He towered above ponies. His sharp fang was always on display, his eyes looked like they were burning and on both extremeties he sported very sharp claws, though the ones on the lion paw were currently sheathed.

"Shall we get started?" said Discord, and he sat inbetween Starswirl and Twilight.

"Right," said Twilight, shuffling some paper. "The three of us will ask you some questions then there will be a practical test. Could you start by telling us about yourself?"

"I currently live in Canterlot. I graduated from Shire's School for Archivists, I...mmmph!"

To Twilight's horror, Discord had squeezed Scriptum's face with his paw and was currently examining his teeth with a magnifying glass.

"How do you feel about working in a dimension of chaos from time to time?" asked Discord, focusing intently on a molar.

"Er..."

"Because that's part of what this job will entail. I don't care about how many pieces of paper you managed to wangle or how many flanks you had to kiss. I need someone who will be quick to take down information, is good at observation and can handle not being a stuffed shirt all the time."

Twilight and Starswirl both kicked Discord under the table at the same time. He let go of Scriptum's face and sat back in his chair with a sheepish grin.

Scriptum was trying to collect his thoughts. The chaos god had startled him to say the least.

"I...I'm willing to do all that," he said. "And my schooling has made me very adept at dictation and observation..." he tapered off when he heard a slurping noise. Discord was drinking a smoothie through a straw. Twilight decided to ignore him, and asked the next question.

After a tense 45 minutes, Starswirl announced that it was time for the practical test.

"Basically it's a matter of transcription," said Starswirl. "Here's some handwriting. We want you to write what you see, tighten up the shorthand and, if possible, make the writing look as close in style as possible to the original." He handed Scriptum one of Discord's species sheets.

After about ten minutes, Scriptum looked up. "I'm done," he said.

Discord snatched the note out of his hooves and held it up to his mismatched eyes. The hoofwriting looked almost identical to his own. Scriptum had made the description easier to read. It was perfect.

"You'll do," said Discord in a non-commital tone.

"Y-you mean I have the job?"

"Did I stutter?" said Discord in a low, dangerous voice.

Scriptum shivered a little.

"Ahem," said Twilight, leading Scriptum away from the draconequus. She looked back over her shoulder at Discord, and mouthed "We're supposed to be making our new archivist feel at home!"

"Oh! Of course!" said Discord brightly, the tone of his voice changing entirely to that of a genial host. "I'm cooking this evening. I take it you like calamari?" He tied on an apron with the slogan "LORD OF THE FRIES" printed on the front in rhinestones. Nobody raised their hoof.

Scriptum felt he couldn't refuse.

"Before we eat, do you have any questions?" asked Twilight.

"Um," he said. "When do you want me to begin?"

"Oh, immediately," said Discord.

"Immediately? But I think I need to get settled first. Plus I have to rent an apartment and move all my stuff here and..."

"It's done," said Discord, snapping his fingers. "You've got a room down the road at the Horseshoe Inn and your stuff can stay partly there and partly in the castle."

"But..."

"You do want this job, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well then. Here are the species notes I've already written." He pulled rolls of parchment out of the ether and dumped them onto the flustered unicorn. "Twilight tells me you're very good, so I expect this will only take a few weeks."

It was after midnight when Scriptum left the castle and walked wearily down the road to his room at the Horsehoe Inn. The chaos god had been extremely demanding and wanted to know as much as possible about him. There was something extremely unnerving about Discord. Quite apart from the fact that he was a powerful magic wielder that had not always been Equestria's friend, he looked very much like a predator. Still...Twilight seemed to trust him, and Fluttershy had worked on reforming him...

Scriptum thought about the cute pegasus he'd just had a date with. She was beautiful, and seemed interested in his work. Maybe there was more than one reason to stay in Ponyville.

1 month ago...

Rarity sighed.

Discord was on her couch again.

A few months prior he had turned up at Carousel Boutique sobbing his heart out and shovelling ice cream into his mouth because he had felt guilty over what had happened with Tree Hugger at the gala. Fluttershy had been the topic of conversation. Fluttershy was nearly always the topic of conversation with Discord. Either that or chaos. For a being that was meant to be random, he really did seem to have narrow interests.

This time was different, however. If Discord had been a mess back then, he was a total trainwreck now.

"She's dating, Rarity. Dating!"

"I know what dating is, Discord..."

"What am I going to do?" he croaked, shovelling a huge spoon of fudge brownie and banana ice cream into his mouth.

"Why do you have to do anything?" she asked.

"Because it hurts! I need to make it stop!"

Rarity suppressed the urge to sigh again. Discord had not quite seemed to grasp that just because you felt a horrible emotion it meant you were supposed to act on it. All he thought about was what he felt in the moment, and what he felt was jealousy and rejection, neither of which were helping with the draconequus's pride. In fact, she was certain that if anyone knew he had ended up on her couch pouring his heart out to her his pride would have been so wounded that he might consider erasing some short term memories to save himself the embarrassment.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that she thought.

"Discord, I'm sorry that you're hurting, but you have to respect Fluttershy's desicion. You can't be jealous of every stallion she goes on a date with. Well, I know you can't help feeling that way, but you really need to take a step back when you have that feeling come over you. Fluttershy will appreciate it."

"I don't get it! I'm her friend, and she says she's my friend but I keep getting everything wrong. And now these stupid feelings are interfereing with everything. Why did this even have to happen?"

Rarity looked sadly at Discord. "Because you couldn't help but fall in love with her," she said.

Discord stopped shovelling ice cream for a moment and looked at Rarity, who had softened a little to the distraught draconequus.

"Fluttershy is a kind, loving, sweet pony who offered you friendship. It's something you wanted and craved, and despite everything that has happened between the pair of you, she is still your friend. I'd say it's perfectly understandable that you should develop feelings for someone like that. The...the problem is..."

"Yes?"

Rarity grimaced. She couldn't think of a way to tactfully say "the problem is you haven't returned her warmth with the same consideration" without subjecting herself to more wailing and tears.

"The...problem is...I think you need to learn more about friendship and develop who you are and how you integrate into pony society."

"This friendship thing is so hard," Discord whined. "And I didn't...I hadn't..." he stopped. Though he had poured out his feelings and some of the contents of his nose in the presence of Rarity while crying, there were still raw parts of himself he didn't want to expose to the unicorn, or indeed, anyone. And one of those things was that he hadn't realized what a hold friendship and love had over him. Before discovering friendship, Discord had been more or less free to not think about the needs of anyone else. Indeed, when he had been loved in the past, he kept his partners at arms length at all times. Now he knew partly how Celestia had felt when he had...ruined everything.

No, he wasn't ready to talk about that. Not even with Rarity. Drama queen though she was, Discord took the championship title for that one.

He thought about Fluttershy. He had felt uncomfortable with the idea of her hugging and touching him at first, but slowly it became something he looked forward to, until one day he realized he needed it as much as air, and that terrified him, because unlike air, which was in steady supply, Fluttershy could be gone at any moment and at any day. And there were plenty of ponies out there that could potentially convince her that Discord should be cut out of her life. After all, he didn't deserve her friendship, did he? He'd heard mutterings. Ponies talking about how he was not to be trusted. Fluttershy had told him to pay no mind to them.

But they were right, weren't they? And one day she was going to realize they were right, and he would have to contend with the crushing weight of his emotions. Sometimes being numb in stone seemed to have had its merits.

He jumped when Rarity placed a tentative but comforting hoof on his back.

"Discord, we all go through this, believe it or not. We've all loved someone who didn't love us back romantically."

Discord took a deep breath and tried to steady his voice as he said: "I'm afraid she doesn't even love me at all."

"You know that's not true!"

"Do I? Can't entirely blame her if she doesn't. I don't even know what I'm doing. I hate admitting that, but I don't."

There was something unnerving about having the normally jovial draconequus verbally chastize himself. Rarity was used to Discord being exceptionally arrogant and boastful. Not really admirable qualities, but ones she was used to and at least when he was like that there wasn't the underlying implication that he hated himself. She had never known anyone as emotionally raw as Discord, though through her own experiences she did partly understand his concerns.

Finally Rarity said, "I'm sorry, Discord. I don't know what to suggest except to look after yourself and maybe find something to distract yourself with..."

Inter-dimensional Troubles

Discord wasted no time the following morning; after all it was Tuesday Tea Time. He walked up the path towards Fluttershy's cottage with a spring in his mismatched step. By the time he got to the bridge he was practically skipping.

All of a sudden he felt his body wobble. That could only mean one thing- disturbance in magic. He started briefly. It couldn’t be Tirek again, could it? No, he was well and truly in Tartarus and he was pretty sure Celestia wouldn’t be letting him out again any time soon.

Ugh! He didn’t want to have to think about that now. He wanted to see Fluttershy. He smiled briefly as he thought about her – the way her pink mane framed her beautiful face, her soft voice. Then he wasn't skipping, he was floating in mid-air and turning somersaults. And he somersaulted right into Fluttershy's kitchen through the window.

"Hey Flutters!"

Fluttershy was more than used to Discord's extravagant entrances by now. She had expected him, so it wasn't something that startled her when the draconequus landed on the kitchen floor. True, he seemed to arrive in a different way every time, but that was just something she'd come to appreciate about her friend.

"Hello, Discord!" she beamed. Just as she had hoped, he seemed to be in better spirits than the last time she had seen him. She was worried she had been too harsh on him but he didn't seem to do subtlety.

As if on cue, Discord stamped his lizard foot and a tray of Prench Prancies appeared in his paw and a pot of hot tea in his talon.

"Shall we?"

"Let's! I want to hear all about this project you mentioned in your letter."

"Oh ho ho, I'm so glad you said that, my dear. I have something to ask you!"

"Oh?"

The two friends made their way to the living room where Fluttershy took her usual spot in the armchair and Discord floated just above the chaise longue.

"So, I was wondering," said Discord, pouring Fluttershy a cup of tea with his tail, "if you'd like to help me study the magical creatures in my dimension?"

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. "Study new magical creatures? Oh my goodness, yes, of course I would!"

Yes!

The enthusiastic glint in her eyes made his heart thump erratically. He loved it when she was excited. Her entire being seemed to light up and she came out of her shell--the real Fluttershy. The pony who had never given up on him; the pony who had given him a second chance. He wondered if anyone else ever noticed what a fiery personality she had under that shy mane. If it hadn’t been for her he’d still be rotting away in stone. He shivered as he thought about it. Some nights he worried that he had never really left his cement prison and that everything – be it Fluttershy, or Equestria or the smell of grass was just some grand hallucination. He pushed the maudlin thoughts out of his mind and tried to focus on the positive. She had just said she wanted to work with him on his project. Focus on that, you fool!

“I’m so glad you said that, my dear. In fact, you should come along this afternoon and meet the crew.”

“The crew?”

“Why, yes. This is a big important project, so I put together the best team, which you’ll be part of, of course.”

“Who else is working on it?”

“Sparky, of course, and someone I think you’ll be very interested in meeting. Ever heard of Starswirl the Bearded?"

"Twilight has mentioned him once or twice,” said Fluttershy, smiling knowingly.

"She’s such a fangirl, isn’t she? It’s almost embarrassing. You should have seen her face when he came through the portal.”

Fluttershy nearly did a double take.

“Starswirl is here?”

“Well of course he is, how else is he supposed to work on this project if he’s stuck in the past? Or dead, which technically he is, but not when I can bend the space-time continuum.”

She gasped. "With time travel?"

Discord was still giggling at the thought of the normally calm and rational Twilight becoming putty in the presence of Starswirl. Oh, this was going to be very amusing now that he thought about it.

"Precisely. It was actually mostly Celestia's idea. I was half-joking when I suggested it, but she thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for Sparky. You should have seen her face when the Old Man came through the portal! Her mouth was hanging open so wide I thought she was gonna swallow the room!"

Fluttershy giggled. Yes, he was definitely on good form. She was glad. Discord was so funny when he felt comfortable and happy.

"I had no idea you knew Starswirl the Bearded!"

"Oh yes, back in my pre-statue days we used to hang."

"Were you friends?"

Discord put down his cup. He had not expected this question, though he supposed he should have.

"Er...more like civil acquaintances." he said. He suddenly realized he didn't want to tell Fluttershy about what had transpired with Celestia. No, best to leave that particular part of history alone. He swiftly changed the subject. "We also have an archivist. His name is Scripto, or something like that. He's going to be editing and cleaning things up, but I'm the one who will be doing most of the work, of course."

Fluttershy's ears pricked up. So that was the job Scriptum had gone for! Her heart skipped a beat as she thought of the unicorn. Would they be working together? Did Discord know she had been on a date with him? Would it be best to tell him?

She pondered this for a moment. He seemed better with things now, so maybe he was coming to accept that she wanted to date stallions. On the other hand, this was Discord – if he met Scriptum it might come as a shock to him that the pony working for him was dating her.

Best to be honest she thought.

“Discord, I…”

He removed a small alarm clock from within his feathery body before she could continue.

“Ooh, no time for that, Flutters. Now that you’ve agreed to the project we’d better go over immediately!”

“Immediately?”

“Yes, like right now.”

He downed his hot tea like it was a shot of vodka.

“Um…can we walk?” asked Fluttershy. She still wasn’t used to the feel of teleportation. It was too quick, and moving from a completely different setting to a new one was unnerving.

Normally Discord liked to teleport, but the thought of spending more time alone with her wasn’t something he was going to argue against, so they started along the path to Twilight’s castle.

Spike burped green flames into Starswirl’s face.

“Turn your head when you do that!” he grumbled.

“Oh, sorry,” said Spike. “Sometimes I don’t know when one of those is going to arrive, y’know?”

Starswirl tutted, looked down at the scroll in his lap, and unrolled it.

They were wanted in Canterlot. He got up and hurried to the library, with Spike in tow.

“Celestia wants to have a meeting as soon as Discord gets here,” explained Starswirl.

Twilight looked up from the book she was reading about magic and interdimensional travel.

“Is anything wrong?” she asked.

“The letter only says that it’s urgent. Blast that boy, where is he?”

Twilight found it odd that Starswirl referred to Discord as “boy” when she knew the chaos god was rather ancient -- not that he wasn’t incredibly immature. She wondered in what capacity Starswirl had known him, and resolved to ask more about it. It’s not being nosy, it’s thirst for knowledge, she told herself.

Starswirl began to pace up and down the room.

“Why is he always late for things,” he muttered. “Once he even got the wrong century. I hope that hasn’t happened again.”

The doorbell rang.

“That must be him!” said Twilight, getting up to answer it.

“He uses doorbells now?” said Starswirl in amazement.

Twilight pulled open the heavy door and was greeted by Discord and Fluttershy, who were both wearing evening wear – Discord in a sparkly purple tux and Fluttershy in a flowing aqua gown that matched her eyes.

“Good to see you, Sparky!” drawled Discord, handing her a bottle of champagne and flowers. “It’s been too long, far too long and I just love what you’ve done with the place. “

“Discord, you were here, yester…”

“Oh and do tell me you got rid of rid of that fusty old goat? He’s an absolute bore at the dinner table.”

“I heard that!” said Starswirl from the top of the stairs.

Discord grinned at him.

“Ah well, I suppose I can cope with him for one evening.” He took Fluttershy’s hoof.

“Starswirl, meet Madame Fluttershy. Fluttershy, Starswirl.”

“It’s an honour, Sir!” she said.

“No, no ‘sirs’ please. I’m only Starswirl,” he said, making his way down the stairs. “Discord, we…”

“Oh there will be time for chit chat later!” said Discord, dragging the now bemused and gowned Fluttershy up to the library. “Fluttershy hasn’t met the archivist yet!”

“Um…actually…” she began, but she was cut off by Starswirl.

“Discord! We’re wanted in Canterlot.”

He stopped mid stride. “What, already?”

“Yes.”

“What for?”

“I don’t know. Celestia only said it was urgent.”

“Ugh. Borefest. Okay, okay. Let me just get Fluttershy settled.”

“Fine, but hurry up. I don’t mean to be rude, Fluttershy. It’s just that if it’s urgent…”

“I understand,” said Fluttershy. She turned and followed Discord to the library.

“Sorry I gotta shoot off now, but like you heard the Old Man say, I have to go to what I’m sure will be an excruciatingly boring meeting. I’ll be back as soon as I can, then we can get to the fun stuff!”

“It sounds pretty important.”

“Well I know she was going to discuss this project with us, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon,” he said, sounding rather disappointed.

“Fluttershy, is that you?” came a small voice from around a bookstack.

“Scriptum?” she said.

The pale blue unicorn poked his head out from behind the bookshelves.

“Hello!” he said, brightly. “Didn’t expect to see you here!”

“Wait, you know each other?” said Discord. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Um…yes.” said Fluttershy. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get into this conversation now when Discord had to leave for Canterlot so urgently. She was saved by Starswirl’s bellow.

“DISCORD!”

“Ugh…fine.” His eyes softened as he looked down at his friend. “I’ll let you know if Sparky’s amusingly sycophantic urges continue,” he whispered to her in a conspiratorial tone that Scriptum was striving to hear.

“Discord,” she scolded, but she was smiling despite herself.

Scriptum watched Discord's talon run itself through Fluttershy's mane and he noticed the look in the draconequus's eye. Fluttershy had said they were best friends, but the chimera seemed very touchy feely for just a friend. True, friends could express affection for each other through physical touch, but there was something he just couldn't put his hoof on about the way Discord looked at her. He wasn't sure he liked it. After all, Discord was a former criminal, a powerful mage and if the stories were to be believed, was potentially extremely dangerous. Yet Fluttershy seemed perfectly calm around him. But then, Fluttershy seemed perfectly calm around grizzly bears. That didn't mean they weren't still potentially dangerous. He briefly assessed the situation and decided he was going to keep a watchful eye on the draconequus. Fluttershy seemed far too trusting of someone who had not only thrown Equestria into chaos, but had done it again recently with Tirek. He knew she was the element of Kindness, and it was in her nature to reach out to the less fortunate, but you couldn't be too careful. Fluttershy was sweet, and nice. Perhaps a little too nice for her own good.

"See you later, Flutters?" said Discord.

"You bet," she smiled, and his eyes lit up.

There's that look again, thought Scriptum.

Discord vanished.

Fluttershy looked up at Scriptum. He noticed she had a sparkle in her eye, but that it was from her conversation with Discord, not because of him. Still, she was beautiful. He barely knew her, so what was he expecting? He decided he needed to know more about her.

“Sooo…looks like we’re working on the same project then?” he said shyly.

“Oh..oh, yes.” She said, looking at her hooves.

Scriptum took a deep breath, and decided to be a little bolder.

"Fluttershy, it's nearly time for my lunch break. Would you like to grab a bite to eat somewhere?”

That sounded lovely, actually.

Twilight mused that one good thing about travelling with Discord was that he could simply teleport them anywhere they wanted, but she had hoped Discord would at least have knocked when they arrived at Canterlot castle.

She was still fuming at him as they neared the throne room.

“Oh man, Luna is still a massive ball of anger,” he said, wiping away a tear of mirth.

“What do you expect?” grumbled Starswirl. She was on the toilet when we arrived, in her private bathroom.”

Discord burst into peals of laughter again. His sides were beginning to ache.

“Could you just for once in your life try to be a little more serious?” mouthed Twilight angrily. “We don’t know what Celestia has to say to us!”

“Okay, okay,serious time begins…now.”

The doors to the throne room opened as the guards announced the trio’s arrival.

“But Twilight, you have to admit that it was pretty hysterical and…!”

She punched him in the ribs.

“Okay!” he wheezed, as the air left his lungs.

Celestia turned as she heard the commotion.

“Thank you all for coming,” she said. She led them to a table, where they sat down together. Discord hobbled behind them.

“I’ve called you here because I’ve recently learnt of information that may make this project more urgent than originally thought. During one of Luna’s routine inspections of the forests outside of Canterlot she came across an open portal.

“A portal?”

Discord’s ears flicked up.

Celestia nodded. “It closed up quickly before anyone could investigate it, but something came through…”

Twilight felt a chill go down her spine.

“What came through?” said Starswirl.

“That’s just it, we’re not sure. We haven’t seen the creature itself, only evidence that it has been here. But we need a positive ID if we can find it. Discord, I want to know if it came from your dimension, and if so, how did it get here and is it a threat?”

Discord was astounded. “What, no ‘Discord, this is clearly your doing and you need to fix it immediately?’ I’m rather shocked, Celestia. I thought we had something.”

She didn’t rise to the bait, and instead continued. “You’ve proven that you want to learn about friendship and we know from the key you gave Twilight that you are genuine. What I need to know if how we can find this creature and what it’s doing here.”

“Why are you so eager to track this thing down? And is it actually dangerous? Did it pee in the moat?”

Twilight cringed slightly at Discord’s obvious rudeness in the presence of royalty. It was true that she herself was royalty now, but she still didn’t think of herself as such. She did, however, feel extremely embarrassed that he was behaving this way in front of Princess Celestia.

“It…it attacked someone," said Celestia quietly.

Starswirl looked alarmed. “Is the pony okay?”

“The doctors at Canterlot hospital are keeping an eye on him in case there are any developments, but he seems to be drifting in and out of consciousness.”

“Was he injured physically?”

“He was questioned, and says he doesn’t remember much, but he does recall a large, jelly-like being with claws reaching for him.”

Twilight shuddered.

“Which one?” said Discord.

“What?” exclaimed Starswirl.

“Which one. Jelly-like creatures with claws are ten a penny in the chaos dimension, and that’s if you just include my dimension, which we’re not sure it is yet. Plus it’s not a really thorough description, is it? 'Jelly-like being'. You could be referring to any number of taxa.”

“Which is precisely why we need this thing positively IDed,” said Celestia. "The pony that was attacked…his health keeps fluctuating. I need to know if there’s a cure. I…I won’t have one of my citizens die under my watch. We need to find that thing and we need to help him.”

Twilight looked horrified. Discord looked uncomfortable.

“So basically you need this project in case something like this should happen again?” said Starswirl.

“It’s happening now,” said Celestia, “but yes, essentially and we need to find out how that thing came through and if someone let it through.”

Discord waited for the accusation, but she wasn’t looking at him. Instead she just looked incredibly sad, like that day he had… no, don’t think about that now.

“We won’t let you down, Princess!” said Twilight. “Right, guys?”

Discord thought about this. He didn’t want the pony to die. It was true he didn’t know this pony but he was no fan of death, and he also didn’t want other ponies thinking chaos animals were bad things. He knew the way minds in society worked. If anything associated with chaos was seen as bad, then Discord would be seen as bad, and more ponies would hate him. He had a difficult enough time getting anyone to like him already. Sometimes he worried that none of the girls liked him, not even Fluttershy. ‘Put up with’ more like.

“Discord?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. We won’t let you down”, he said, nodding.

Twilight could have throttled him right then and there. How could he be daydreaming at a time like this? Okay, don’t get mad she told herself. Maybe he was just thinking things through.

As if he had been reading her thoughts, Discord said: “Celestia, may I have permission to take Fluttershy with me on this expedition? She was going to help us with this project anyway, but since she’s very good with animals she’d be a strength to this mission. She could help me track it down as well as help me catalogue the inter-dimensional beings.”

Starswirl raised a weary eyebrow.

Celestia nodded. “That would be a good idea. Now, there is no time to lose. Let’s outline how this is going to work…”

Fluttershy stirred her soup. She didn’t feel too much like eating. She was far too excited that she was on her second date with Scriptum. She thought for a moment. Was this an official date? It wasn’t like the first, which had been planned. This was just a spur of the moment thing. Still, if he didn’t want to be with her when why had he asked her to accompany him to lunch? Oh, she was worrying far too much about this and she knew it! At the same time she felt such anticipation at the fact that they were going to be working together and she might get to see him every day.

Scriptum ate his salad quietly. He was finding it hard to meet her eyes. She was so incredibly gorgeous and he couldn’t believe his good fortune. On the other hand, he didn’t know if he really had a chance with her yet. Sure, she had said she wanted to see him again, but it was early days. Yet he was already head over hooves for her, and he knew it. He had thought about her sea green eyes and alluring smile often enough when transcribing Discord’s notes.

For some reason, his thoughts turned to the draconequus, and he decided to lead into conversation with that.

"So, uh...what's it like being friends with Discord?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, he can be a handful. But he means well. He's a big sweetheart underneath it all."

"Uh huh," said Scriptum, thinking of the way Discord's red eyes had flashed at him the day of the interview. Those claws had looked awfully sharp.

“He seems really excited about this project. He must be impressed with you,” she said, taking a sip of her soup.

“Well, um. I hope so.” Scriptum thought of Discord’s scrawly handwriting. In a lot of ways it was as haphazard as he was. The lines would go off the page, round the corner onto the back of the page and then carry on to another page. Sometimes he wrote upside down. Sometimes he wrote back to front and Scriptum had to use a mirror. No wonder Starswirl had suggested a transcriber. Still, at least his handwriting was legible. Small mercies.

“So tell me about what it is you’re actually doing in the library,” said Fluttershy, leaning forward, her eyes brighter now.

Dear gods she looks amazing.

“Well, Discord writes notes out in the field, and my job is to clean them up and write them again so that they all fit on one page,” said Scriptum. His heart sank as he said this. It didn’t sound particularly interesting when he said it out loud.

“What sort of notes are they?”

“Descriptions of animals in his chaos dimension.” He saw her eyes light up and his heart soared. “Yeah,” he continued, more excitedly. “Those animals sound really interesting. There was one that apparently sings like a wren but looks like a rhino with wings. Heck, it could even be a rhino with wings. Who knows in that place?”

Fluttershy giggled and he smiled.

Maybe I do have a chance after all.

Scriptum had not expected there to be such a commotion when they got back from their lunch break.

“Where have you two been?” barked Starswirl.

“Er…lunch?” squeaked Scriptum.

Starswirl sighed and began to explain the situation to Scriptum and Fluttershy. Fluttershy’s eyes widened the more she heard, especially when she heard about the pony in hospital.

“Oh my goodness,” she breathed. Scriptum gave her a worried look.

“I’ll look through the finished descriptions I have already and see if there’s anything that matches what that pony saw,” he said, moving towards the library.

“Excellent idea,” said Starswirl. He turned back to Fluttershy.

“Are you sure you’re up to this, my dear?” said Starswirl. “I’m sure Celestia will understand if you choose not to. After all,” he said pointedly, “it was meant to be solely Discord’s mission.”

“No…no. I’m fine with going if it’s what Princess Celestia asked me to do,” said Fluttershy softly. “And I want to help that poor pony.”

In truth, Fluttershy was more than a little terrified. Though she was interested in the creatures in Discord’s chaos dimension, the ones she had seen so far had looked harmless enough. They were flish that swam through the air and a sleepy looking creature with a big eye that had blinked cutely at her. She fell in love with it instantly. The description of this thing, however, made her shiver. Then there was the fact that it had hurt somepony. Chaos was by its very nature unpredictable, and though she was used to Discord, Fluttershy wasn’t entirely sure she was used to the idea of chaos.

But Discord would be with her, wouldn’t he? He’d know what to do. He was the Lord of Chaos, after all.

“When are we meant to leave?” asked Fluttershy, though she had a feeling she knew what the answer would be, and to her dismay, she was right.

“Immediately,” said Starswirl. "Twilight and I will patrol the land for any more signs of open portals, and you and Discord will set to work, spending half of your time looking for the creature, and half of your time cataloguing any similar creature you find in the chaos dimension.”

“But Discord said there was more than one chaos dimension.”

“True, but it’s best to start with what you know, eh?”

She nodded.

At that moment Discord barrelled into the room.

“Ready to go, Flutters?” he asked.

She really wasn’t, but she knew this was important.

“Yes,” she said, steeling herself. Then she thought of something. “Just let me say goodbye to Scriptum first.”

She hurried into the library but he wasn’t there. Her heart sank. Maybe he and Twilight were discussing part of the mission. She was about to walk out of the room then she backed into a table. Parchment fell everywhere. Then her eyes fell on the parchment littering part of Scriptum’s work area. There, on one of the partially covered sheets she saw the words:

Fluttershy: Pegasus (Equus pegasii):

Most beautiful, caring creature in Equestria. Stellar chick. Out of my league.

Her heart leapt in her chest. She had enjoyed her date with Scriptum very much. She enjoyed being around him while he was working in the library. She felt her pulse quicken whenever he was around. And now he had just written that she was the beautiful, caring creature in all of Equestria. Why did he think he had no chance with her?

That was the same thing you were thinking she told herself. It was true. Despite numerous protestations to the contrary from her friends, Fluttershy did not think of herself as a beauty. She still thought about the stallions at flight school who had called her "stick legs" and "weak wing." A few of them had tried asking her out on dates when she was older and started to fill out, but she had turned them down. Unfortunately doing so didn't make her feel any more beautiful or desirable. Every time she had gone through a heat she had barricaded herself indoors and hid. She couldn't bear the thought of a stallion that had once made fun of her taking advantage of her need to be loved. She wanted to be loved by someone nice. Applejack had always hold her that no matter how strong the heat was, mares were always the ones who got to choose their partners but she was afraid that somepony might pretend to like her. And then what? What if she made a mistake? She wanted her first time to be special, with a nice stallion she trusted.

She looked at the single sheet on the desk.

She was tired of standing by the wayside. Just once in her life she wanted to do something daring. Yes, she was about to go on a dangerous mission, but she would regret it if she didn’t do something she was really scared of, wouldn’t she?

She steeled herself, then picked up a quill and wrote:

And what makes you think I'm out of your league?

Then she picked up the rest of the species sheets, put them back on the table and walked out to join Discord.

In the Field

Twilight couldn't help but feel pleased that she'd been assigned the task of scouting the perimeters of Canterlot with Starswirl. The others had been informed, of course. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were making sure everything was fine in Ponyville, while Rarity and Applejack were on their way to the Crystal Empire. Starswirl felt that no stone should be left unturned with regards to finding the creature or potential extra portals opening. It could be anywhere by now.

While the creature was their number one priority, Twilight was hoping to learn more from Starswirl. She was still amazed that he was here in the present; there just hadn't been time to process it all. She had spent much of her fillyhood and higher educational years reading about Starswirl, his writings and publications on amniomorphic spells, time travel and transformation. She'd read the historical notes in the library about how he and several other unicorns used to raise and lower the sun and moon before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had taken on their respective roles. He had taught Princess Celestia almost everything she knew about magic. There was so much she could potentially learn from him once this escapade was all over! One thing still bugged her, though. How did Starswirl know Discord? Surely they should have been enemies? According to her history books, Starswirl had still been alive when Discord was encased in stone.

She decided to ask.

“Um...Sir?”

He looked up sharply but his eyes were soft. “It's just Starswirl, Princess. Remember?”

“Ah...of course. Starswirl. I was just wondering if I could ask you some things about your life while we search for this creature.”

“I don't see the harm. We don't seem to have come across anything so far. It's been a rather dull afternoon by the looks of things! Let's hope the others are having better luck.”

Twilight breathed an inward sigh of relief. She had been worried that such a request would make him think she wasn't serious about the mission, but there wasn't much they could do from this angle. Either they came across a portal or they didn't.

“So,” drawled Starswirl. “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

“Well, I was just wondering how you knew Discord. All my history books state that you were alive when he was turned into a statue by the Elements. Yet you two seem to be on good terms with one another.”

Starswirl seemed to consider this.

“Twilight, there is much I wish to tell you about how I know Discord, but I'm afraid I can't.”

“Why not?”

“Don't get me wrong. I would have no qualms about telling you the story, but I'm afraid it intertwines with that of a pony whose private life I wish to keep confidential.”

A shiver shot down Twilight's spine. Could Starswirl be talking about one of the Princesses? And if so, what did that have to do with Discord? She suddenly felt embarrassed for bringing the subject up.

“I didn't mean to pry. I had no idea it was a sensitive subject,” she said, feeling rather dejected. She was worried she had offended him somehow.

“Oh, no need for that,” said Starswirl. “Like I said, I have no problem talking about my past, but I can't divulge too much because of second parties.”

Twilight nodded. She wished she hadn't brought it up.

The first thing Discord had done when they had separated into teams was scry for the creature. Since he was connected to chaos he should have been able to find it with ease. He had found nothing, which meant it was very likely the creature had found another open portal and crawled back into it.

Now he floated along Fluttershy as they got ready to enter his own dimension. Fluttershy had been there before, but only to Discord's home. She had never explored the chaos dimension beyond the borders of his garden.

"Ready, Flutters?"

"Um, I think so."

She looked concerned.

"You've been to the chaos dimension before,” said Discord.

"Yes, but, we weren't looking for a dangerous monster then."

He smiled at her. "It's just an animal, Fluttershy. Once we find it I'm sure we'll be able to figure things out. Besides, there are ponies that think I'm a dangerous monster."

Fluttershy did not think Discord was a dangerous monster, but she didn't think she could tell him that she understood why other ponies might think so. He had handed them over to Tirek, and while she had forgiven him she was sure there were citizens of Equestria that hadn't. She was also fairly certain that some ponies looked at her and thought she was utterly stupid for putting her trust in Discord. She winced when she thought about it sometimes. Ponies often viewed her as gullible and overly nice, but they had especially done so since Discord's betrayal. She tried not to let it get to her, but sometimes it grated on her nerves. Sometimes she felt like everyone handled her as if she was a filly about to break into a million pieces. Yes, she was nervous about a lot of things, but she could think and act for herself. She wasn't stupid!

"Flutters?"

She realized she had been lost in thought.

"I'm ready," she said, steeling herself.

She felt the air around her change, and all of a sudden she was floating as if gravity had vanished. She whinnied in surprise.

"Oh, yes. Sorry, I forget you ponies aren't used to that," said Discord. He snapped his fingers and Fluttershy suddenly felt a firm solid, wooden floor beneath her. The uncontrollable sensation of floating in nothingness also vanished as she realized she could walk across the floor and wasn't in danger of floating off into the ether. She gasped as she realized what she was standing on. Discord had conjured up a boat!

Not for the first time, she had a sense that anything could happen around her friend.

She looked up and realized Discord was dressed in the garb of a pirate, complete with wooden leg and a parrot on his shoulder.

"Yarrr! Avast, Fluttershy, me matey!" he exclaimed, jumping onto the mast and wrapping part of his body around it." Shall we sail East or West?"

"SQUUUUAAACCK! East or West?" repeated the parrot on his shoulder.

Fluttershy giggled. "I'll leave it up to you," she said. She couldn't feel completely serious around Discord. He seemed to have that effect on her; She had meant it when she had said he was one of the funniest ponies she knew.

“South it is then!” said Discord, and the boat moved downwards through the ether.

There was no point in Discord scrying in the chaos dimension. They were surrounded by chaos, therefore trying to sense one magical creature in this particular realm would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Instead, there were going to have to keep a watchful eye as they sailed though the rippling sky.

It wasn't long before Fluttershy was marvelling at some of the sights and sounds.

Several types of brightly coloured flish swam/flew past the boat. Large worm like creatures that spiralled upwards then vanished glowed in the distance. Fluttershy was strangely reminded of moving barber poles. A huge beast the length of the boat gently glided past. It had feathery gills and made noises like a whale.

Discord was now looking through a spyglass and appeared to have changed costumes. He now wore a purple top hat and was muttering something that sounded like "there's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going..."

Creature that resembled plants wriggled past the boat; a square creature that seemed to move forward by putting block-like legs one in front of the other skittered past, but there seemed to be no sign of the creature the pony in hospital had described.

“No luck so far,” said Discord. “Maybe we should have gone the other way. Hmmm.”

Fluttershy was busy recording her observations in a small field notebook. Discord noticed this out of the corner of his eye and smiled. He loved watching Fluttershy observe things, whether she was reading a book, birdwatching or writing. She got a focused, intense look in her eye that he found irresistible.

Of course, there were many things about her that he found irresistible. It had all started shortly after his supposed reformation.

Discord had woken up one evening on Fluttershy's couch in a near panic. He had opened his eyes and it was completely dark. Of course, the reason it had been so dark was because it was Luna's night off, there was no moon in the sky and the curtains were drawn, but none of that occured to Discord. For a terrifying moment, he believed he was back in his stone prison, and he cried out in fear.

Fluttershy had been at his side within the minute.

"It's alright," she had soothed at him. "You're okay." Her hoof had caressed his long face. Discord had pretty much given up on the idea of a mare touching him in such a caring fashion ever since he had been released from the statue by the Elements of Harmony. He knew no pony would want to touch him after all the things he had done, so he was surprised when Fluttershy not only touched his paw and face willingly, but gave him hugs as well.

There were days when Discord had trouble accepting that he had been released from the statue. She had helped him through those as well. Slowly, he began to trust her, and before he knew it, he was going to sleep at night hugging his pillow and pretending it was Fluttershy. He felt excited at the prospect of spending the day with his new friend.

But then, Discord was never one to put the brakes on a good feeling, and before he knew what was happening, he had fallen in love with her.

Discord was suddenly interrupted from his thoughts as he coughed and a purple flame shot out of his mouth, along with a singed scroll. He unrolled it and read the written contents:

Dear Fluttershy and Discord,

Princess Twilight and Starswirl request that you return to Castle Friendship immediately.

We think we may have a lead on the creature.

Scriptum.

For some unfathomable reason, Discord found himself scowling when he saw who had written the note. He was also perplexed. The creature was back in Equestria? Why had he not sensed that?

“Okay, Flutters. We're heading back to Casa de Sparky.”

Fluttershy braced herself for what she knew was coming, and she felt the universe shift around her once more.

“What happened?” said Fluttershy, running up to Twilight. “Did you find the animal?”

“We found traces of it,” said Starswirl. He held up a flask that contained a jelly-like substance. Discord levitated it out of Starswirl's grasp and brought it up to his face was examination. He poked at it with his chaotic field and nodded. “Definitely one of mine,” he said.

“One of yours?” said Starswirl, raising an eyebrow.

“As in a chaos being. We're made from the same thing. Question is how do we find the rest of it?”

“I take it you haven't had much more luck than we have.”

“Do I look like I've just come back from a hunting trip? No, we didn't see any sign of it. But we did get descriptions of other animals.”

“Other animals aren't the focus right now. We really need to find this thing. Twilight and I will work on testing the sample and we'll see if we can find an antidote to whatever is causing the pony in hospital to be sick. In the meantime try to stick to the plan at hand, eh?” He glanced at Fluttershy then gave Discord a meaningful look. “Anyway, we should get some food, rest and reconvene. The hunt continues tomorrow.”

“I'm sorry,” said Fluttershy, as Starswirl turned and walked back indoors. “I thought getting extra descriptions would be useful somehow.”

“Oh, don't worry about him,” laughed Discord. “He can be an old grump sometimes. He's probably grumpy because there hasn't been anytime to do fun things,” he grinned.

Fluttershy managed a smile, but then her face fell again.

“Discord, I'm really worried about that pony in the hospital. What if we can't find the creature in time?”

“Don't fret Flutter-Butter. We'll find it, and give it a good stern talking-to.” Discord's feathers fluffed up and then he said, using Fluttershy's voice: “You've been a bad Eldritch abomination of an amorphous blob of jelly! What would your mother think? You should be ashamed, Mister!”

Fluttershy laughed, and Discord placed his griffon arm around her. They walked into the castle together.

Spike and Pinkie were in the kitchen making everyone some supper- hayburgers and mashed potato with gravy. The smells of the food permeated the rooms of the castle, and soon everyone's bellies were rumbling.

“I challenge you!” announced Discord, pointing at Rarity.

“To what, exactly?” she asked.

“To a belly growling competition. Loudest belly gets a medal.”

“How uncouth! As if anypony in this room is going to make rude bodily noises as well as you.”

Discord grinned and Rarity's stomach let forth a growl so loud the nearby coffee table shook.

“Oh I bow to you, good lady. You certainly have me whipped.” He put a medal around Rarity's neck. It was so heavy she nearly fell over.

“That wasn't me! You used your magic!”

“Excuse, excuses. You're so modest, Rarity.”

“Dinner's ready!” shrieked Pinkie, and the contest was quickly forgotten as everybody's bellies started growling in anticipation, though Discord noted that Spike's was probably the loudest.

Everyone sat around the cushions on the floor in the dim light sharing plates of food and discussing the day.

"Hey Flutters," said Discord softly. He sat down next to her with a plate of food in his talon. The candlelight flickered off his fluffy eyebrows and beard as he looked down at her. He grinned at her and he could have sworn she blushed, but she hid behind her mane before he could confirm it to himself. It was hard to tell in the dim light, and at the same time, something about the low lighting and being in close proximity to the pegasus made him not want to use magic to illuminate the room. He deftly used two of his talons to part her mane, and a blue eye peered up at him.

"I'm really glad that you're doing this to help us," she said.

Discord had to stop himself from swooning and dragging out Rarity's fabled fainting couch right there and then. She was so lovely. Everything she said in her soft voice made him feel good. He wanted to tell her everything.

"Hey, Flutters. I'll let you in on a little secret..."

"Oh?"

He moved closer to her. The light made the situation seem almost dreamlike in quality. It glowed off her mane and her eyes shone as she looked up at him.

I'm doing this for you.

The words were almost out of his mouth and their muzzles were almost touching, when the sudden sound of a stallion clearing his throat interrupted him.

"Uh, Fluttershy?" Scriptum asked tentatively.

"Yes?" she almost shouted, jumping at the sound of his voice.

Discord barely suppressed a groan as he looked up in annoyance at the unicorn.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Well, actually it's Fluttershy I wanted to speak to,” said Scriptum.

Once again suspicion reared in Discord's mind. He remembered what Rarity told him. Her voice seemed to echo in his ear: You must learn to control your emotions. He looked up to make sure she wasn't actually standing next to him and saying this. Nope, she was across the room having a conversation with Applejack.

He inwardly winced and managed to croak "'kay" at Scriptum. Fluttershy smiled at the draconequus. "I really enjoyed seeing the chaos dimension today," she said, then she walked off with Scriptum.

Discord's chest felt like it was at war. He was delighted that she had enjoyed the boat trip, but now she was walking off to talk in secret with the archivist pony. Another horrible thought tugged at his heart. Discord had no qualms about his own physical appearance, but he was well aware that most ponies had aesthetic standards and preferred the symmetrical, boring forms of a non-chaotic body. Scriptum was a normal looking stallion. Maybe that was what Fluttershy wanted.

No no no, they're just friends.

But deep down, he still felt paranoid.

Discord angrily shoved the mashed potatoes into his mouth, crockery and all.

“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?” said Fluttershy.

“Well...um,” began Scriptum. “I...worried about you today.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Don't worry about me. I was with Discord the whole time.”

That's what I'm worried about thought Scriptum.

“Doesn't he...doesn't he...?”

“Yes?” said Fluttershy.

Doesn't he frighten you? Doesn't the thought of a near all powerful being with sharp teeth and claws set off the herd instinct in you to run away? Doesn't the fact that he sold us all out to Tirek make you doubt him? Doesn't the fact that he is clearly interested in you as more than a friend unnerve you? You're a nice girl, and I don't want anything to happen to you.

But of course he said none of this.

“Doesn't he know what this creature is?” Scriptum settled on.

“Discord hasn't seen all the creatures in his dimension. He knows a lot of them, but new ones are being born every day.” She got out her notebook.

“Look, I made some of my own descriptions of some of them today. I thought they might be helpful.”

Scriptum looked at Fluttershy's hoofwriting. Unlike Discord's it was neat and beautiful.

“I'd be honoured to add these to the list,” he said.

She gave him her winning smile and handed him the notebook. He took it from her and his hoof brushed against hers. Fluttershy's heart pounded.

“By the way,” said Scriptum, "I noticed a book on inter-dimensional magic when I was looking through one of the library stacks today. You and Twilight might find it useful. I mean, I know you have Starswirl and Discord around, but it could still be good for reference. I can show you in a bit, but I think I need to eat something first. My day hasn't been as exciting as yours, but I'm still pretty hungry.” He chuckled and patted his belly.

“Oh, not to worry. I can go and grab it myself then I can join you. What stack is it in?”

“Number 3, I think.”

Discord sat in the corner continuing to have his existential crisis. He really, really wanted to follow Rarity's advice and not let his emotions get the better of him, but he was in agony. How did other people go through life not feeling intense jealousy and worry over these kind of things?

He glanced up at the staircase that led to the library. Surely it wouldn't hurt to just go check on Fluttershy? Maybe she wanted seconds for dinner? Yes, that was a good enough excuse. He teleported to the top of the stairs and headed for the library. He was disappointed to find she wasn't there.

"Well, let's see how Scripto is getting on," he muttered, walking over to the archivist's desk. It was a mess, which actually pleased him. Normally Scriptum was so neat and orderly Discord almost felt tempted to knock over a pot of ink just to make things a bit more off. He knew Scriptum had been hired to give the manuscript more order, but the idea was almost anathema to the draconequus. He glanced down and saw the note he had written about Fluttershy. Blast! He had forgotten to pull that one out when he'd handed over the species sheets to Scriptum. He reached over to pick it up when he noticed the hoofwriting of a pony that he was very familiar with.

What makes you think I'm out of your league?

Fluttershy. Fluttershy had written that.

Don't get too excited his brain warned him. It doesn't necessarily mean what you want it to mean.

He tilted his head as he looked down at Fluttershy's writing. Maybe this was something mares did--playing hard to get and then going full speed ahead when they thought it was safe to proceed? He had no idea. Apart from Celestia, most of his interactions with them had been pretty straightforward- go to bed with them then part ways in the morning.

His heart did a literal back flip. Was she teasing him? Was the fact that he was working on this project something that had made her change her mind? He shakily picked up a quill and wrote with slight trepidation:

Because you are all the things I'm not. I'm not sure why you wouldn't think you were out of my league, but I'm glad you wouldn't. You are...the nicest pony I've ever met. My life would be completely different if it weren't for you. I know I've only known you for a relatively short time, but I know it's true.

Was that too much? Oh well, he'd written it now. He winced. He wasn't very good at expressing how he felt in words, or indeed in any format. He put down the quill and floated down the stairs back to the common room, feeling much lighter than before but no less anxious. He had to find Fluttershy.

Unbeknownst to Discord, Fluttershy had been in the library the whole time and had just missed him. She was hunting for the book, when she suddenly remembered the note she had written that morning to Scriptum. She hurried over to the table to check and gasped when she saw the note. She had never had a stallion say such nice things about her! Why did he think she wasn't interested, especially now? She suddenly was having thoughts about what Applejack had said to her about choice and the heat cycle again. Scriptum was a nice stallion, he was cute and smart. Could she trust him with that kind of intimacy? Could he be her choice for her first time?She suddenly blushed at the thought even though there was no one in the room to see her. She was surprised at how quickly the thoughts had overwhelmed her.

She quickly went over to the bookstack again, found the volume on inter-dimensional travel and hurried back to find Scriptum. Halfway there she collided with him.

“Oops! I'm sorry!” she said.

“No, no. No harm done,” he said. He got up and offered her a hoof, which she gratefully took.

“I see you found the volume, I...”

Middway through his sentence he was suddenly aware of Fluttershy's soft lips on his. She pulled back and looked at him steadily.

“I...I've never asked a stallion this before. But would you like to be my special somepony?”

Scriptum gaped at the beautiful pegasus before him. What the heck had he been worried about? He shut his mouth then opened it again and said “yes.” He was amazed that a creature as gorgeous as her had never been with a stallion. For some reason that made her even more desirable to him.

She flew into his arms and embraced him and his hooves wrapped around her. He stroked her mane.

“Where are you sleeping tonight?” she whispered softly.

He looked at her in amazement.

"Fluttershy, are you sure?"

She nodded.

"I want to be with you."

Discord was curled up in his own spare room, up on one of the giant cushions, his heart pounding with excitement.

He knew he wasn't going to get much sleep that evening. All he could think about was Fluttershy. When this whole thing was over he resolved to tell her once and for all how he felt about her. There was nothing to lose now that she seemed interested in his advances. And Starswirl couldn't complain if he waited until they found the creature to tell Fluttershy about his feelings.

He had been unable to find her after leaving the library. Rarity suggested that maybe she had gone to bed early. Unfortunately for Discord, Rarity had been right.

Polymorphism

Scriptum slowly opened his eyes as he heard the sound of the morning bird chorus. He was met with a view of the foot of Fluttershy's bed, dust bunnies and some spell books.

Well, the evening certainly hadn't gone how he'd envisioned it. It had definitely started off that way. Fluttershy had asked him to sleep with her, and what red blooded stallion would say no? She had kissed him, they had made out, and he was lowering her onto the bed, then all of a sudden she had frozen.

"I...I'm sorry," she said. "I don't think I'm ready. There's too much going on right now. I hope you're not mad?"

He had told her he wasn't.

"I still want to spend the night with you," she said, playing with the ends of her mane nervously. "Can we just hold each other while we sleep?"

Sure, that's just as much fun. "Of course, Fluttershy."

And for a while it had been fun, holding a gorgeous pegasus in his arms while she slept- until her hind leg shot out and kneed him right in the crotch.

He gasped and instinctively grabbed his netheregions in agony. He glanced at her to see if she had noticed but she was still snoring sweetly.

He waited until the throbbing pain subsided then let out a sigh. Clearly just an accident.

He reached over and put his hooves around her petite frame again and inhaled the smell of her mane. She shifted slightly then punched him right in the ribcage.

Good grief! He thought. How did someone as svelte as her have such strength in that little body?

She was now tossing and turning in her sleep and mumbling incoherent words. Scriptum only narrowly avoided being punched by her again as her hoof swung towards him, missing him by mere centimetres.

She continued to spout gibberish, until a word that he was very familiar with left her lips: "Discord."

Fluttershy was now pedalling her hind legs like a bicycle and her front legs were punching the air. Scriptum gingerly edged away from her, then grabbed a pillow and blanket and curled up on the floor, where he had woken up feeling rather sore inside and out.

He heard her stirring and glanced up to see her beautiful face and tousled mane looking down at him.

"Oh my, are you okay?" she asked. "I hope I didn't snore too loudly."

"Er...no. Of course not," he said. That part was true at least; she wasn't a heavy snorer but she definitely had a mean right hoof.

"Shall we get some breakfast?" he asked.

"And I say it's imperative that we thoroughly search the first dimension before going into the other ones in case there's anything we've missed! Opening mutiple worlds is dangerous and threatens the fabric of our universe!" shouted Starswirl, slamming his hoof down on the table.

"You know nothing, Old Man. It's only dangerous if you go through the bulk. Shifting from brane to brane won't make a difference because I can teleport there. I'm not actually opening up any portals."

"Yes, but the creature is, and if wormholes are opening up willy nilly then how do you know for certain where you're teleporting to?!"

Discord and Starswirl had been arguing at the breakfast table for what seemed like ages to Spike and Pinkie. Pinkie decided to block most of it out since the vast majority of what they were saying were words she didn't really understand. Besides, the waffles she had made this morning were delicious and Discord and Starswirl were missing out by using their breath to argue instead of enjoy some food. Pinkie literally inhaled her stack of waffles and wandered off to make seconds.

In the meantime, Spike was trying to eat his breakfast while Starswirl's hoof kept slamming down and making the table shake.

Spike was relieved when two familiar faces walked into the room. Maybe now the two mages would shut up instead of boasting about who knew more than the other.

"Morning, Fluttershy, Scriptum!" said Spike as the pegasus and unicorn wandered into the room.

Discord looked up, his argument with Starswirl momentarily forgotten. "Hey Flutter Nutter," he grinned. He didn't even acknowledge the archivist, much to Scriptum's annoyance.

"Listen, I was just talking to Starswirl, and he thinks we should start exploring other dimensions."

"I said nothing of..." Discord's tail had smacked Starswirl in the mouth before the bearded unicorn could finish the sentence.

"We're gonna leave soon. Fluttershy, you're with me again."

Starswirl shot Discord a dirty look while he rubbed his stung muzzle. Scriptum was feeling increasingly annoyed with the situation. He'd nearly gotten lucky with a beautiful girl last night and now he was going to have to stay stuck here doing paperwork while she got to spend all her time with Discord, whose intentions were clearly less than honourable! Still, he didn't have much choice in the matter. He was paid to do this job and not a different one.

When this is all over I'm going to take Fluttershy out on a proper date. Not just lunch, but a proper night on the town. That old goat doesn't deserve her. What is he, like a hundred? And I wish he would stop being so touchy feely with her.

"I hope to Hades that you know what you're doing," said Starswirl to the draconequus.

"Beardie," said Discord, twirling Starswirl's facial hair around one of his talons, "I was circumventing the known and the unknown universe while you were still sucking at your mother's teat. You worry far too much. They have blood pressure potions for that sort of thing nowadays, by the way. I assure you Fluttershy will be safe in my paws."

He smiled at her as he thought of her actually in his embrace. Maybe he would get to do that today.

"I'll see you later," said Fluttershy softly.

Scriptum watched the pair walk out the door and tried to bury a pang of jealousy. This was ridiculous. Fluttershy didn't like Discord like that! She had asked him to spend the night in her bed, not the chaos god. But there was a nagging thought he'd had since waking up this morning.

Then why did she say his name in her sleep.

At that moment Pinkie walked back in. "Who wants wafffffflllees!" she shrieked. The sound seemed to go straight through Scriptum's skull. Spike raised his claw.

"I'm not sure I like the idea of Discord taking Fluttershy with him on his hunts for this thing," said Starswirl as he mixed part of the jelly sample with alcohol in an Erleneigher flask. "It could be dangerous."

Twilight looked up at her hero from her microscope. "Sir...Starswirl, Fluttershy has been to the chaos dimension before and she does know a lot about magical creatures."

"Oh, I don't doubt that, Princess. I don't doubt that at all. I think Fluttershy is capable of looking after herself, I just think Discord took him with her for all the wrong reasons."

"Which are?"

Starswirl sighed. "You mean you haven't noticed how he looks at her?"

Twilight had. She just didn't think it was in any way relevent to the mission. For some reason Starswirl did.

"Someone could get hurt," he said.

"Discord...can be selfish. I'll admit that," said Twilight. "But he has proven himself to be a good friend in times of need. Without him we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are to catching and studying this creature and hopefully saving the sick pony. I may not have said this a year ago, but I actually trust Fluttershy's safety with him. He wouldn't put her in harm's way willingly."

"I wasn't necessarily talking about Fluttershy."

"Captain's Log, Stardate: naught naught naught squibble B. Now that we are away from the clutches of the rather boring Starswirl the Stolid we are once again on the hunt for the elusive jelly-thing-with-claws from one of the Discordian Dimensions. Other than this vague description, we know nothing about it's physical appearance, though I suspect that it looks like the Old Man's Aunt Mabel after she goes wrinkly in the bath tub."

"I...can't write that, Discord. It's rude," said Fluttershy, looking up from her notebook.

"Oh, I suppose you're right," said Discord. "And when you're right, you're right." He looked down at her smiling face and he felt that familiar warm tug in his chest. "Hey, now that we're alone there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"Oh?"

Fluttershy suddenly remembered her evening with Scriptum. It was probably best that she was straight with Discord before they went any further. He seemed to be okay now, so surely telling him that she wanted a relationship with the archivist wouldn't be difficult, though it was best to avoid any potential confusion.

"I have something to tell you too," she said.

This is it! he thought. Why wait until this is all over! Tell her, tell her now....now!

"Fluttershy I..."

The boat suddenly lurched forward and Fluttershy went over the side. Discord couldn't believe it. One minute she was right there and the next she'd vanished.

"EEP!" he squeaked, and he instantly plummeted after her.

Fluttershy had instinctively pressed her wings against her body in terror and was now plummeting into nothingness. She couldn't tell which way was up or down and the inability to orient herself was making her nauseus. She felt tears stinging her eyes and she cried out, but the terrified noise she made was barely audible.

Then she felt Discord's strong lion and griffon arms wrap around her. He had teleported directly below and caught her.

"Not gonna let you get away that easily," he said. She buried her nose into his feathers with relief.

"Oh, Discord. What happened?" said the shaken pegasus.

Discord looked in the direction of the boat, which had now capsized and was floating upside down. Next to it floated a dazed looking whale-like creature with eyes on stalks; a creature Discord had already described as a sky whale. The name seemed wholly inadequate to describe the majesty of the huge chaotic being, but Discord knew ponies needed familiar references if they were to understand what something looked like. The sky whale's eyes blinked out of sync with each other, as if the creature was trying to get its bearings.

"Looks like an accidental crash," said the draconequus. "No harm done, my Dear. Let's get back to the ship." He floated towards it and the sky whale and was about to use his magic to right the boat when he stopped.

Right there, on the sky whale's back was a jelly-like creature. It was moving. It was about as big as Spike was, and had very sharp claws, which it clung to the sky whale with. It seemed unaware of the draconequus for now, and continued to work on its host, which it did by shaping part of its jelly-like body into a narrow funnel and pressing it against the sky whale's skin.

The larger creature cried out in what sounded like pain.

"It's hurting him!" said Fluttershy in horror. "The poor thing! Discord, what can we do?"

Discord's eyes narrowed as he fixed on his target. "We capture it," he said in a low, dangerous voice. He shifted his body so that Fluttershy was piggybacking him. "Hold on tight, Flutters."

The jelly creature sensed Discord coming before the draconequus had even started to move, and it looked up and hissed at him, revealing rows of unbelievably sharp teeth. Discord moved like a bullet in mid flight. The creature lunged for him at the same time, preparing to sink it's fangs into Discord's flesh, but instead its face smashed into a force field. The jelly creature shook itself off, preparing to lunge again when it realized it wasn't going anywhere. It could see the smirking draconequus's face before it, but couldn't go any further than the magical glass bowl Discord had trapped it in.

"Aw, who's a wootsy little blancmange. Yes, you are. Yes you are." He wiggled a finger at the creature as it snapped at him.

Fluttershy peered out from behind Discord's shoulder. Truth be told she had kept her eyes shut the entire time Discord had lunged for the creature. Now it was hissing at her from behind it's glass prison.

"You...you caught it!" she cried.

Discord looked at the thing in wonder. Could this be one of the best days of his life? He was going to tell Fluttershy how he felt about her and now the beast they had been looking for had practically fallen into his lap!

"We need to write a description of it before we take it back, Flutters. It might not be the same creature, but there's also a good chance it could be! C'mon, let's go back to mine!"

Discord teleported into the living room and bent down so Fluttershy could climb off his back. He walked into the kitchen and set the glass bowl on the table.

"Right, I need a quill. Oh, wait..." He pulled one out of his ear. "I forgot I always keep a spare."

He began writing the description quickly in his haphazard way. The sooner they got this thing back to Ponyville the better.

Then I can concentrate on more important things.

Fluttershy sat down on Discord's couch and took a deep breath as the adrenaline hit her all at once. That had been a frightening experience. She still wasn't used to Discord's chaos dimension, or indeed the other dimension they had been in moments before.

"Fluttershy?" Discord walked into the living room carrying the glass bowl and the description with him.

"I'm in here," she managed to say breathlessly. "Just a bit shaken."

"Do you want some water or anything? No wait, I have a better idea. Tea!"

The pegasus smiled at her friend. "Tea would be lovely," she said softly.

"Tea solves everything," said Discord. "Feeling a bit under the weather? Tea. Your pet ran away? Tea. Eldritch abominations threatening to destroy the safety of Ponyville? Not any more, but also tea."

Fluttershy giggled.

"I'll put the kettle on," said Discord, putting the glass bowl down on the coffee table. "Then once you're okay we'll take this thing to Sparky."

He went into the kitchen. His tail was wagging with pride. "Discord gets the monster and he get's the guuurrrrll," he said doing a little jig on the kitchen ceiling as he put the kettle on to boil. He could barely contain his excitement.

Fluttershy was already beginning to feel a little better. She got up and knelt next to the coffee table to have a better look at the creature.

That was when she noticed something was wrong with it. Instead of the black jelly it seemed to be comprised of, it had turned into a pale off-white colour instead. She wondered if it was dying.

Fluttershy didn't enjoy the idea of dead creatures, even scary ones like this. Though she did understand living things needed to eat other living things sometimes to survive.

Suddenly the creature's eye opened and its skin instantly changed from white to black. Fluttershy gasped and pulled back in surprise. Then there was a popping sound as the force field shattered and the creature lunged for her.

She felt its icy embrace and tried to scream but was unable to make a sound.

Discord didn't hear the soft pop of the force field shattering due to the sound of the kettle boiling. He poured the tea into the teapot Fluttershy had given him as a housewarming present a while back, and carried it and the cups into the living room.

"Hope you like..."

He stopped as he realized what he was looking at.

"...Darjeeling," he whispered.

The jar was broken and the creature was no where to be seen, but Discord forgot all that instantly when he saw the pegasus prostrate on the floor.He dropped the teapot and cups which shattered and was at her side instantly and turned her over. She felt ice cold and her lips were blue.

"Oh, buck." he whispered.

Immediately his brain went into adrenaline overdrive.

Bath! Need to run a bath! Warm water!

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bathroom. He ran the tap, making sure the water that came out of it was clean and normal, and tested the temperature with his paw. Then he lowered his friend into the warm water. Fluttershy moaned.

"That's it, Flutters, stay with me," he said. He was nearly crying now. He was actually terrified for her. He gently prodded her face.

"Keep...keep your eyes open," he said.

She moaned again and he gently scooped up some of the warm water onto her body. Her eyes rolled back in her head.

A sob escaped him.

"Fluttershy! Listen to me, please, please stay awake. Buck knows what I'm gonna do if you can't stay awake. Please." He was scooping water over her more desperately now in an effort to warm her up.

Eventually she stirred and coughed a little. She was still groaning but seemed more alert.

"Atta girl," said Discord, who by now was sobbing openly wih relief. "Atta girl..."

He held her to his chest and rubbed his paw gently over her back as she shivered.

When he was sure she was alert enough to be moved, he wrapped her up in a huge fluffy towel and carried her to the bed. She stirred and snuggled into his feathers.

As good as this felt, he knew she needed rest, and he placed her down on the sheets where she fell into a deep, restful sleep.

He curled up into a coil on the bed next to her. He watched the rise and fall of her breathing and though it reassured him, he was afraid of getting any sleep himself.

"Oh, Fluttershy," he whispered. "I thought I'd lost you there, and then where would we be, Noodle?"

He was forever thinking up daft nicknames for her. It was something he couldn't help.

Fluttershy wasn't sure if it was morning when she opened her eyes, as light in the chaos dimension changed rapidly, but what she was aware of was that Discord was next to her, breathing deeply and his paw was wrapped around her, protectively.

She tried to process what had happened. One minute she had been looking at the creature and the next it had lunged for her. She had been attacked. She looked down at her body. She seemed okay. She wriggled out of Discord's embrace slightly and tried sitting up.

Okay, I feel a bit woozy, still.

She felt Discord shift slightly and he opened his scarlet eyes.

"Fluttershy, you're awake!" He looked relieved and happy. "I'm so glad!" he beamed and he embraced her. She returned his hug weakly. She was still drained from her ordeal yesterday.

"I was so worried, my love," he said, and he nuzzled the side of her face.

Wait..."My love?"

She sat up groggily, trying to get her bearings. She could barely think straight.

"Discord...I thought we talked about this."

"About what?" he asked with genuine innocence.

"About your feelings for me...about how I can't return them."

Discord stared at her. Mares were so confusing! He was sure they had more chaos in them than stallions did...

"You're joking, right?"

"Why would I be joking?"

"But...the things you wrote...I...thought..." he fumbled for impossible words admist the confusion he felt.

"What things?"

"The things you and I wrote to each other on the species sheets..."

Her eyes widened.

"That was you?"

Her face was beet red. Fluttershy, you idiot! You've broken his heart and you weren't even trying!

"Who did you think it was...wh..." It dawned on him mid sentence. "Oh." He inhaled deeply. "Oh."

"Yes..."

The two of them looked at the ground awkwardly.

"I...I'm sorry, Discord."

"You have nothing to apologize for," he said a little too stiffly. Then he forced a laugh. "Come, let's get you home."

He offered her his paw and she took it, standing on shaky legs.

"Discord?"

"Mmmf?" he managed to say through gritted teeth.

"I...I'm sorry. I know this is a really awful place for us right now, but maybe we should take that description back to Twilight."

"Oh. Yes." He pulled the crumpled piece of parchment out of a pocket in the side of his body and handed it to her stiffly. He was trying so hard not to show her how much he cared. He felt like the roof of the house was going to blow off at any minute.

She looked up at him. "Aren't you coming?"

"Oh...er no. Probably best I stay here and try to find the thing, eh?"

"Oh yes, that would be a good idea. Um...Discord?"

"Yeah?" One of his talons was digging furiously into his palm.

"Are you sure you're okay? About me and Scriptum, I mean."

"Fine. Never better." He forced a laugh again. "You best be off, Flutters."

"Discord?"

The talon dug further.

"Be careful."

He teleported her.

The chaos god collapsed on the ground, clutching the sides of his head with his paw and claw. He could feel the uncontrollable wave of emotion coming on and his eyes stung with tears. He hated that unicorn. Why had he hired him in the first place? Oh right, because Twilight and Starswirl had been pushy about him hiring someone and he had to choose quickly. Of all the rotten luck. Well, he could just as easily fire him.

That won't make her stop loving him and love you in return.

The wave of emotion was threatening to crash now. He could see no way out of this. Fluttershy didn't love him. Heck, he had known that and he had still hoped otherwise.

Rarity's voice echoed in his ear: Fluttershy is a kind, loving, sweet pony who offered you friendship. It's something you wanted and craved, and despite everything that has happened between the pair of you, she is still your friend. I'd say it's perfectly understandable that you should develop feelings for someone like that.

Exactly 15 minutes later an uninhabited solar system in a nearby galaxy was destroyed as the chaos god vented his anger and frustration. Planets melted down to the core, stars went nova and asteroids crumbled into dust.

I hung my head

Starswirl and Twilight rushed up from their seats when Fluttershy materialized in the lab.

"You're back! Where's Discord? Did you find anything?"

Fluttershy was still reeling from everything. "I...I..." she began, then she collapsed.

"Let's get her to the couch!" said Starswirl.

The alicorn and unicorn lifted her with their magic and gently placed her on the couch cushions.

"I'm fine," Fluttershy was saying. "Just very tired."

Suddenly she remembered the parchment she had in her saddlebag.

"The description!" she said, pointing to the bag. "Discord found the monster and he wrote a description of it!"

Starswirl opened the bag and pulled it out.

"We need to get this information to Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance as soon as possible," said Twilight. "I'll have Spike take a message immediately." She galloped out of the room with the parchment.

"You saw the monster?" said Starswirl.

"Yes. In fact, Discord caught it. But then it escaped again."

"Where is it now?"

"I don't know. It was gone when I woke up."

"Woke up?"

"Yes. It attacked me, but I'm fine now. I promise." She didn't want everyone making a fuss over her when there were more important things happening right now.

"Attacked you?"

"Please, I'm fine." Suddenly she remembered something. "Wait! There's something about the monster Discord left out of the description. It changes colour."

"Changes colour..."

"It turned white before it attacked me."

"I'll let Twilight know right away before she sends off that letter!" said Starswirl, getting up to leave. He placed his hoof over hers and looked at her.

"Are you sure you're alright, dear. You can tell me, you know."

She nodded and attempted a smile.

"Alright then." He headed up the stairs.

"It attacked you?" shouted Scriptum. Fluttershy jumped. She hadn't seen him there.

"Yes, but I'm fine now I..."

"Discord is such a selfish horsehole!" shouted Scriptum. "He put you in harm's way without a moment's thought for your safety!"

Fluttershy couldn't help but feel like she was being handled with filly gloves again.

"Um, it wasn't quite like that. We caught the animal and we thought it was trapped, but it got out."

"That's precisely what I mean! He thought it was trapped but clearly he was being careless as usual. Fluttershy, he didn't even come back with you. What kind of friend would just 'send you on your way' after you were attacked by a dangerous creature?"

Fluttershy's heart sank a little. A friend whose heart I just broke.

"Listen, it doesn't matter. I feel fine. Discord looked after me."

"We really should get you to the hospital! What if you end up like that other pony?"

"I feel fine," she said for what felt like the umpteenth time. She really didn't want to continue talking about this, and she suddenly felt extremely overwhelmed by everything. "Listen, I think I need to lie down in bed. It's been a long day."

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? Do you want me to hold you while you rest?"

Fluttershy thought of the letters she assumed had been written by the pale blue stallion before her. She just wanted to be alone. She had hurt Discord's feelings, she had thought the messages on the species sheets were from one person and not another, she had been attacked by a chaos animal, and the pony at the hospital was still in critical condition. She really didn't want to be alone with anything but her thoughts.

"T-that sounds nice, but right now I think I need to just rest and think about a few things," she said softly.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded and started to make her way to her room.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," said Scriptum. He reached out to touch her but she brushed past him hurriedly.

Once Fluttershy was alone in her room she shut the door behind her and sank to the floor against it.

The tears rushed out unchecked. She felt so awful about hurting Discord. She hadn't meant to, she knew that, but at the same time the look on his face when he realized she was interested in someone else hurt her kind heart. He had put on a brave front, but she knew her friend only too well- he was dying inside. He had tried putting on a brave front when he felt threatened by Tree Hugger as well. This was a whole other level of pain though.

Then there was Scriptum. She had feelings for him, but how much of it was real when she had based a lot of the situation on assumptions about who exactly had written her those messages? Yes, Scriptum did appear to be a nice and shy pony like herself, but the person who had written those things had been her friend.

She wished none of this had happened.

A wave of exhaustion suddenly overcame her and she got to her feet slowly and climbed into bed. The duvet covers felt soft and welcoming, but she feared sleep wouldn't come right away.

She had a lot to think about. Fluttershy had her own secrets.

Scriptum was fuming. How dare Discord be so careless with Fluttershy! He knew he shouldn't have been stuck here writing the species sheets. He should have gone with her to make sure everything was okay. He thought of the mare that he knew was only a few rooms down from his. She was soft and shy and sweet. The perfect mare to take home to meet his parents, and society dinners in Canterlot and perhaps even to the Grand Galloping Gala. And yet here she was, hanging around with a former criminal! His initial assessment had been correct- Fluttershy was just too kind for her own good. She needed protecting, especially from people like the draconequus.

He remembered the day Tirek had invaded and stolen everyone's magic, his included. Scriptum and his parents had been enjoying dinner in a cafe in downtown Canterlot, when they heard the screams. He would never forget the look on the snow white unicorn's face as it ran towards him.

"Run!" they had screamed. "Run for your--"

Suddenly the unicorn had stopped in mid run, as if it was paralyzed, a look of terror and pain frozen on its face. Then it fell to the ground, weakened.

Before Scriptum could ask him if he was alright, he felt his own magic draining from him.

It had actually hurt.

At first the sensation was like that of a hoof that had gone to sleep, but as more and more of his magic was seeped out of him it felt like his nerves were on fire. He was about to scream when he collapsed onto the ground, the pain replaced by extreme fatigue and a dull ache in his joints. His parents were laying next to him, also looking very frightened. His mother in particular had looked terrified.

Scriptum had never felt such fear. Nothing like this had happened in Canterlot in his lifetime. Even the return of Nightmare Moon had not been this terrifying, and besides, Luna was now once again a gentle and wise ruler alongside the Princess of the Sun. Tirek seemed relentless.

He watched the centaur tower above them as the magic was sucked out of his family. For one terrible moment, he was worried Tirek would lift one of his great hooves and crush them all. Instead the centaur looked down at them coldly as if they were nothing but resources to be harvested--which to him they were--and turned and walked off to find his next set of victims.

Scriptum knew Discord had been involved. He hadn't seen the draconequus that day, but he knew what had happened. Discord had betrayed them all. The Princesses, his friends and most of all Fluttershy. He had given them all to the centaur, and while Tirek had initially stolen their magic, Scriptum shuddered to think what else might have happened during Tirek's reign if Tirek had been successful in defeating Twilight. He knew there were awful people out there who liked to enslave mares in particular. And to think, Discord would likely have just stood by and laughed while it happened.

"You go and check on Fluttershy," said Starswirl to Twilight. "Leave this with me and I'll get it to the archivist. We're going to need this description to be sent out to all the leaders in Equestria and possibly stick up some posters around various towns. And we mustn't forget to include that the thing seems to change colour, as Fluttershy said."

Twilight nodded. She was concerned about the Pegasus, especially after she had heard she had been attacked. She also needed to know where Discord was.

The Princess walked down the hall to Fluttershy's room. She knocked tentatively on the door with her forehoof.

Fluttershy started at the noise.

"I said I wanted to be left alone!" she implored.

"Oh...I'm so sorry, Fluttershy! I didn't mean to wake you," said Twilight. "I'll go now..."

"No!"

Twilight stopped. "No?"

"No. I mean, yes. Um, I mean, yes you can come in."

Twilight opened the door a crack with a creaking sound and poked her head round.

In the dim light she could see Fluttershy. Her mane was dishevelled and she had clearly been crying. She had the covers pulled up around her chin and her ears were flattened against her head.

Twilight moved into the room and lit the bedside lamp using her magic.

"Fluttershy? What happened."

"Oh, Twilight! I hurt him. I didn't mean to, but I did."

"Are you talking about Discord or Scriptum?"

"Discord!" she wailed. "He thought I had feelings for him but I...I don't now. I can't. And I met a nice pony and nice ponies don't do hurtful things like betray you and laugh at you and I just wanted someone who wouldn't do those things who was nice and I...I..."

She broke down into sobs.

"Hey," said Twilight softly, putting her arm around the distraught pegasus. "Hey, it's okay." She was trying to make sense of Fluttershy's ramblings. What did she mean by "I don't now?" Did she mean...? Twilight shook her head.

"I want to help you, but in order to do that you need to tell me what happened. Obviously if you'd rather not you don't have to, but please know that I'm here for you, Fluttershy."

"Discord's in love with me."

Twilight nodded. She and the others had suspected that something like this was brewing.

"And you don't return his feelings so he's upset."

"Y...Yes. And he's upset about me and Scriptum."

Twilight sighed. She knew the draconequus felt threatened by anything that could potentially jeopardize his friendship with Fluttershy. This was perhaps something he found even more threatening. It seemed no one had ever taught Discord about how to manage emotions and wants and fears. He just rode the wave of whatever feeling crashed down on him and seemed completely at its mercy. Twilight did, however, notice that Scriptum had not yet been buried alive or hung upside down from the ceiling like a piñata; that was one good thing, at least.

"Oh, Twilight. I don't know what to do."

Twilight thought for a moment, her hoof on her chin. "At the moment? I don't think you have to do anything. It's not on you to fix this. I know Discord must be hurting, but you have been straight with him from the outset that you were seeing other stallions. If Scriptum makes you happy then it's really not Discord's place to tell you who you can and can't see."

"He hasn't done that."

"Well that's good."

Twilight was puzzled. Normally by now the draconequus would have pulled some sort of prank or possibly terrorized Scriptum in a similar manner to Tree Hugger. What was his game?

Maybe he doesn't have one this time. Maybe he's really, really upset.

Twilight was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Fluttershy whisper: "what if he hates me?"

"Oh, Fluttershy. No, I'm sure Discord doesn't hate you. He's just hurting. He'll come around."

I hope.

"It probably sounds cliché," said the Pegasus softly, "but my Mother warned me about Discord."

"Oh?"

"Yes. She said she didn't want her daughter hanging around with a convicted criminal. She said she was worried about me, that I was too trusting. But he was really trying, Twilight. I know he was. And then..."

"Tirek."

"Yes."

"Everyone thinks I'm a naïve, stupid little pony," Fluttershy said angrily. "Did everyone think I didn't know Discord was a former criminal? Of course I did. But I also know he was a lonely person who just needed a little kindness. But now everyone thinks I'm just an airhead who could break like glass. Even Scriptum."

"Have you talked to Scriptum about this?"

Fluttershy played with the ends of her blanket nervously. "No, I'm not sure how he's going to react. Besides he doesn't know about...about. I'm not sure I'm ready to talk with him about certain things regarding Discord."

"Fluttershy, if you don't mind my asking, what did you mean when you said 'you didn't have feelings for Discord now'"?

"What did you think I meant, Twilight?" Fluttershy said softly.

"You loved him."

"Yes...I mean no! I mean, I don't know. It felt like that was starting to happen. He was really trying. He wanted to learn more about friendship. He...he would do nice things for me. He took me on field trips. Only they weren't ordinary field trips. We went to the Horsetralian Outback! He showed me all these amazing animals like quolls and wallabies. He said he liked seeing me laugh. He was...sweet. Nobody believes me when I say Discord can be sweet. They just pity me and think 'poor, naïve Fluttershy. Hanging around with Discord again. She's going to get her heart broken.' And I did, Twilight. I thought Discord had changed, and he gave me... gave us to Tirek, and he laughed at me when he did it. It felt like when those ponies from flight school used to bully me and call me names, only worse. So my mother was right. I should have gone out with a nice stallion and not hoped for...whatever it was I was hoping for. I still want to be Discord's friend, but my mother was right."

She was rocking back and forth, trying to soothe herself.

"Am I a bad pony, Twilight?"

"What?! No, no of course not!"

"Then why does it feel that way?"

"I don't know. But you couldn't help the way the situation turned out, so please don't blame yourself. It's not your fault that you have feelings for a nice stallion. In fact, I'd say it's a perfectly normal reaction to being hurt- wanting someone kind and loving. I hope it works out for you two."

"And Discord?"

"I hope it works out for him too, but he has to come to terms with how he's feeling himself. Don't feel guilty for something you can't help."

Fluttershy nodded reluctantly.

"Did Discord say when he was coming back?"

"No," whispered Fluttershy. "He just said he was going to track down the monster."

"Well, if anyone can find a creature of chaos, he can."

"He pretended like everything was fine. But I know it wasn't."

"Fluttershy," said Twilight, putting her hoof gently on her friend's arm. "Please don't worry. I'm sure Discord will come around eventually. And you really cannot blame yourself."

She stood up to take her leave.

"Try to get some sleep, hun. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

The alicorn smiled at her friend, and gently closed the door behind her.

Fluttershy lay back down on her pillow. All she could think about was Discord.

Discord floated in the vast emptiness of space in a foetal position. He wasn't sure precisely how long he had been drifting across the cosmos. It could have been anything from hours to weeks. Remnants of stars glowed dimly in the distance. The draconequus had laid waste to an entire galaxy, and he was now spent. It had felt good destroying humongous asteroids and billions of miles of planets and stars, but it had done nothing to get rid of the pain in his heart.

Fluttershy.

He wanted her badly--her touch, her love. They all felt like a soothing emollient after that accursed statue. True, touch had taken a while to get used to (he still wasn't used to Pinkie Pie touching him- she came on too strong) but he knew the day he had first leaned into Fluttershy's touch that he was lost. She was so...amazing. After all the things he had done she wanted to be his friend. But at the same time he had felt confused by the situation. He wanted to cause chaos, especially after a thousand years of being in solitary confinement. It felt so freeing and comforting to get loose his magic after all that enveloping greyness. He shivered as he thought about it. Greyness...nothing but greyness and the sound of pony's voices as they passed his statue. Occasionally a couple would have a lover's tiff under his pedestal and he felt his power grow as he absorbed the disharmony between them, but moments like that were rare.

When he got out of the statue the first time it had been because of a situation like this. Only--and he still found it bitterly amusing--it had been schoolfoals arguing with each other. He had absorbed the disharmony just enough to feel the stone around him crack--then he knew he would be free. He remembered the feeling of scrabbling towards the light desperately, then he flew upwards and it was like shedding a terrible crushing weight.

And he had let loose. Flying houses, fields full of popcorn, bunnies with stilt legs, barking stallions, very inclement weather...the list when on and on.

Then he had decided that he really did not want this to happen again, so he hid the elements. Oh, Celestia thought he was going to just leave well enough alone after all that? Hell, no. He was going to mess with her new protégé and her friends and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

Of course he had his flank handed back to him and ended up back in stone, this time with a look of abject terror on his face, because this time he had knew what was coming. He had actually screamed until he was hoarse inside his stone prison, but of course, no one had heard him. He could hear everything, but no one could hear him. After a while he began to wonder if he really had escaped from the statue the first time. It was entirely possible he could have hallucinated the entire incident. He had been lost in hallucinations before. There had been hundreds of incidents through the centuries where he believed he was free and spreading chaos, only to be kicked in the teeth when he realized the grey emptiness was back and he could do nothing.

Then the second time he had been released, he had flexed his chaotic muscles instantly, and then focused on the face of the pony he had corrupted in the maze the first time. She was back, and his hallucinations did not seem to repeat themselves as a rule. Was she real? It was laughable that she and the others thought he was going to entirely play ball. Sure, he'd go along with this stupid charade of Celestia's to avoid anymore time in the stone box, but there was no way he was going over to the side of friendship.

Of course he had been wrong about that too.

But that didn't mean everything was okay again. As Discord began to know Fluttershy better, he also realized that something was very, very wrong.

He had been deprived of touch and smell and taste for so long that he often woke up from terrible dreams screaming. One evening he spent the night on Fluttershy's couch after a pleasant dinner and tea. He had awoken to the sight of her lovely, concerned face.

"Discord, are you okay? You...were crying out in your sleep. Like you were pain."

For some reason he had instinctively scanned the look of concern on her face for any hint of deception. It had been an automatic reflex, but the look in her eyes was 100% genuine. She was worried about him.

He let out a sigh then patted her on the head awkwardly. "It's nothing, Flutters. Just a bad dream, obviously. Go back to sleep."

"Are you sure? I could make us some cocoa and we could talk about it..."

"No!"

She look startled.

"Er...no." he said in a softer tone. "It's fine. Really. Just one of those things, and I'm sure it will all be forgotten once I get some sleep."

But he hadn't slept for the rest of the night. He was absolutely terrified of closing his eyes, in case he opened them again and instead of being met with Fluttershy's face he was met with the grey nothingness again.

"Horsefeathers," he whispered into the darkness once Fluttershy was back in her room.

He lay there, listening to the sounds of the house settling and thought of the pony who wanted to be his friend sleeping above him.

The dreams continued to happen, as well as terrifying gaps in his short-term memory, which he didn't dare mention to Fluttershy. Sometimes he couldn't remember what he had said moments before. He hid it well. The last thing he wanted was for ponies to know he had weak spots.

One day he had collapsed shivering on the floor of Fluttershy's cottage. She found him, and after making sure he was okay, lay next to him, covering him with her soft wing. He nearly started crying then and there. No pony had ever been so kind to him.

He reached out for her and touched her face.

Please be real.

She didn't flinch at his touch. Maybe she wasn't real.

But I want her to be.

Don't be silly, his mind told him. Beautiful, nice mares want nothing to do with ruffians like you. You know that only too well.

"Discord?"

"Yes?" he asked her, snapping back to the present.

"You were staring into space again. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes. Yes, I am. I'm...just tired is all. You ponies have a lot of pep in you and I guess you forget these old draconequus bones are eons old."

He smiled at her.

"Well, okay," she said. "Just please tell me if anything's wrong, alright?"

"I'm right as rain, Flutter Nutter. Like I said, just a bit of fatigue. Even us incredibly handsome and powerful chaos mages get tired sometimes."

She shook her head and smiled at him.

"As long as you're sure."

And she touched his face with her hoof. And he had leaned into it automatically, like the sucker he was.

Discord hungered for touch. Even before the statue it had been something he wanted. It was rare that a pony wanted to touch him, and especially rare for one to want to sleep with him.

He did have his share of lovers before the statue had disrupted his existence, though they were nearly always short lived affairs that usually ended with Discord sneaking away before things could get too complicated. But always, he went back to wanting touch. To the incredible feeling of knowing someone wanted to run their hands or hooves all over him and not be repulsed by the fact that they had slept with the Lord of Chaos.

Discord had wondered if Fluttershy would ever want to touch him like that. He doubted it, but that didn't mean he didn't fantasize like any other male.

He had tried to kid himself that it was just because she was pretty, but deep down he knew that wasn't true. He was falling in love with her.

She always looked so happy to see him.

It couldn't possibly be real.

So he had thrown it away, joining Tirek and writhing under the centaur's touch instead. Not his ideal choice of partner, but whatever. He needed to be touched; jolted if possible into reality, whatever it took-whether it be sex, chaos or flinging oneself against a wall. He didn't care.

Of course that had been the biggest mistake of his entire life, and one he was sure he was still paying for.

Discord's head snapped up in the darkness of space as he heard a noise. Space was meant to be void of sound. Maybe he had imagined it.

He was about to drift off again when the sound repeated: three sharp knocks, as if someone was banging on a door.

As if on cue, a door appeared in space before Discord. He grabbed hold of the handle.

"Better see who it is," he muttered.

Starswirl assessed the view before him as Discord opened the front door of his house.

The chaos god looked even scruffier than usual, if that was possible. His mane stuck out in tufts, his feathers and fur looked unkempt. He looked like he hadn't slept for days. He sported an equally bedraggled bathrobe and held a cup of tea in his claw.

Starswirl took one look at the draconequus's tired, red eyes and dishevelled form and instantly formed an opinion.

"You're in love with her," he said.

"In love with who?" said Discord, trying to force an innocent grin.

Starswirl sighed. Discord could be a terrible liar for a trickster.

"With Fluttershy."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"You want to explain to me why we haven't heard from you for days then? Why Fluttershy came back alone and said that you needed some time to yourself?"

Discord's heart ached. Even now she was looking out for him. It just made him want her more. Her kindness felt like a drug. He almost wished she had been cruel to him, it might be easier to bear.

"I'm not in love."

"Please! You admitted before this project started that she didn't feel the same way about you. What was I supposed to glean from that?"

"Maybe I overestimated my feelings."

"From what I can see, you seem to have underestimated them. When was the last time you had a shower?"

"What's the point? Being clean is a pointless exercise if everyone hates you anyway."

"You can't let yourself go down this hole, Discord. Your friends need you."

"Do they? Because they seem to be getting on just fine without me."

"You know that's not true..."

"Yes it is! Especially now that Mr. Wonderful has come onto the scene." The vicious, bitter tone in Discord's voice got rid of any doubt Starswirl had with regards to his feelings about Fluttershy. "I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight and Fluttershy hate my guts."

"Oh come now! You know that's not true!"

Discord turned so that his back was to Starswirl. His voice went very quiet.

"And it's what I deserve. I can't do anything right, and it's not like it's even completely unintentional because I thrive on doing the wrong thing, so it's all my fault, and I know it's my fault. Because it's true. I am unlovable."

"Discord..."

"I. Am. Unlovable. There, I said it."

Discord turned to face Starswirl again, and the unicorn was surprised to see that the chao god's eyes were wet. There was also a wild, pained look in them.

"Why is it so easy for everyone to deal with this crap if this is what everyone goes through?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I'm not sure I do either, but apparently you all go through your lives loving someone who doesn't love you back."

"Well, yes we've all been there."

"Then explain to me what I'm supposed to do to make this awful feeling go away?"

"There's not much you can do. The only cure is time."

"Is that it?" snapped Discord.

"Is what it?"

"Time? That's all? Well, I've got all the time the world. And then what happens after that? More being unloved? And after that? Shall I just set up real estate in the Land of the Unlovable?"

Starswirl tried to keep calm. Trying to talk to Discord about this was like trying to comfort a teenage filly who had just been dumped by her first love, only Discord was much more passive-aggressive about the whole thing. He was clearly hurting, but was completely impervious to any advice given to him.

"You don't get it.," said Discord, picking at a loose thread on his bathrobe with his talon. "I thought...I thought she felt the same way about me for one amazing moment. She felt good. Being around her felt good. I let my guard down, I thought it was safe to let my guard down because I thought I had proof she loved me. I made the mistake of thinking someone could actually do that again, because I'm an idiot. The whole time it was him. There's no way I can fix this. I no longer want to do the project."

Starswirl swivelled to look at him. "You can't quit! We need you on this project! You're the brains behind it all!"

"Right. You want me around when you need something, but when I need something who gives a flank, right?"

"It's not like that..."

"Oh, but it is."

"You're wrong Discord. Your friends care about you."

"What did Fluttershy say?"

"Oh, um. Well she gave us the description of the beast and said you were still looking for it."

"That's all, huh?"

"Well, yes but she looked very tired and everyone had a long day by that point, Discord."

"It's okay. I'm sure she had a restful sleep in Book Boy's arms."

Discord was torturing himself. Starswirl wished he could make the draconequus stop.

"Discord, I know that you're hurting right now, but there's a pony in hospital that's sick and may be dying. We need to continue to hunt for the monster."

"And what if I don't feel like it?" said Discord, turning and walking back into his living room.

"Then your friends will think you've abandoned them."

"So let them," said Discord. He was now laying down on the couch, and facing away from Starswirl.

Starswirl visibly paled. "You can't mean that."

"Can't I?" came the low, dangerous growl. "It's all I've known. Maybe someone else can enjoy it for a change."

Now it was Starswirl's turn to feel furious.

"You'd just abandon your friends like that? Because someone doesn't return your romantic attentions?"

"They abandoned me first."

"No! They didn't Discord. They're still there for you. You just refuse to see that."

A haughty snort was Discord's only response.

Before he could stop himself Starswirl growled "Twilight was right, you are selfish."

Discord turned to look at him, a look of shock on his face, then his expression changed to that of resignation. Without even trying, Starswirl realized he had just vindicated some of Discord's fears.

Oh, bum.

"Fine," said Discord, rolling over again. "I'm selfish."

The tension in the room made Starswirl feel as if he had overstayed his welcome, but he decided to try once more.

"Discord...we..."

"Just go," came the snarl. "Before I do something I'll regret."

Starswirl shook his head. He was pretty sure Discord already had.

Fluttershy was worried. Several days had passed and no one had heard from Discord. She knew Starswirl had gone to look for him but she feared the worst. That monster was still out there.

But that wasn't all she was afraid of. She still couldn't shake the fear that she had hurt him beyond repair. She almost wished he'd show up and cause a scene. Anything but this awkward silence.

Maybe it was time to talk to Scriptum. She needed a shoulder to cry on besides Twilight's.

She walked up the stairs to the library, feeling rather fatigued by everything.

They had searched everywhere for the creature or more portals, but so far there had been no signs of either. Twilight and Starswirl had tried developing an anti-venom for the creature using the samples of jelly material they had found, but they soon realized that they had nothing to test it on except the poor pony at the hospital. That could be dangerous. Starswirl had argued that it might be the pony's last hope, and Twilight said it hadn't come to that yet, so that they should wait to test it until there was no other choice and it was a last resort. Twilight had lamented that she wished Discord was here. He knew more about chaos than anyone and his knowledge was sorely needed.

Fluttershy reached the top of the stairs still lost in thought, then wandered into the library. Scriptum was at his desk, scribbling furiously. She smiled a little. He was so committed to this project.

"Hello," she said, smiling at him.

"Hi," he said, a little too tersely. She wondered if she had imagined it.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have a break and a cup of tea?"

"Why?" he snapped

She was taken aback.

"Um...because I enjoy your company and I was wondering if you wanted a break."

"Do you really enjoy my company, Fluttershy? Or do you prefer the company of former felons who treat you like dirt?"

"What?!"

Scriptum picked up one of the species sheets and thrust it into her face.

"Is this what you do? Lead several stallions on at once as some sort of mind game?"

It was Discord's sheet about her. Oh no, she didn't want to go through this whole thing again from the different side of the coin.

"Wait, no. You don't understand...!"

"Don't I? Because it seems pretty cut and dried to me. I've seen the way he looks at you and touches you. Maybe you flirt back at him for all I know. Are you crazy, mare? He'll just hurt you, again and again. You know he will. He gave you to Tirek."

Fluttershy's ears drooped.

"Scriptum, listen to me. I didn't know it was Discord who wrote that and I wouldn't have responded the way I did if I had known. I thought it was you because you write things in his handwriting style."

Scriptum snorted. "You expect me to believe that?" But part of him was hopeful.

"I thought it was you who had written those things, because you seemed like a nice pony. Most stallions don't say things like that about me. They just say I'm pretty, which I don't even think is true, but...I...I..."

She couldn't think of what else to say.

Scriptum gaped at her. She was one of the most beautiful mares he had ever seen and she didn't believe it. But he also fixated on the phrase "most stallions." How many were there, vying for her attention?

Before he could stop himself he said "Fluttershy, are you one of those mares that likes bad colts?"

Not for the first time that evening, Fluttershy looked shocked.

"Is that what you think of me?" she said angrily

"Wait, no. I'm sorry. Please...I'm sorry Fluttershy. It's just that I'm stressed out with all this work and I saw the species sheet and I just snapped. Please..."

He got up and walked towards her, taking her hooves in his own.

"Let me make it up to you. How about I make us that cup of tea?"

She looked at the ground for a second then nodded.

"Hey," said Scriptum. "Hey...I'm sorry, okay?" He ran his hoof across her cheek and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"Okay," she whispered.

Starswirl arrived back at the castle at dusk. He walked up the stairs to the library with a heavy heart. Twilight and Spike were looking through leatherbound tomes for scrying spells as he entered the room. The Princess looked up from her spell book as a haggard looking Starswirl came through the door.

"Twilight, it's time I told you everything."

Past tense, tense past

Scriptum poured the tea for Fluttershy.

He noticed she was staring into space a lot. “A penny for your thoughts?” he asked.

Fluttershy looked up sharply. She had been thinking about Discord again, about the way his eyes had momentarily flashed a look of extreme pain at her. Even the fact that she and Scriptum were currently sharing tea reminded her of her friend and the tea parties they had every Tuesday.

“I'm...just worried about my friend,” she whispered.

Scriptum sighed. “I'm sure he's fine, Fluttershy. You said he was looking for the monster so that's likely what he's doing at this very moment.”

She nodded. Scriptum took another sip of his tea.

“It's just...Discord...”

Scriptum looked up sharply. “Fluttershy do you ever think about...”

He was about to say 'do you ever think about anything other than Discord' but he finished with “do you ever think about yourself for once? I'm sure Discord is doing well. Let's just concentrate on the here and now, shall we? Tell me more about yourself. I hear you used to be a model.”

Fluttershy's face turned red. “Oh...um. I didn't like it very much.”

“Really? Because it's quite a lucrative career and you definitely have the looks for it.”

“It...just wasn't my thing, really. I don't like being in the spotlight all the time.”

“Well, if you ever wanted to return to it you wouldn't have to do it forever. I'm sure you could make enough money to retire early.”

Then she wouldn't have to spend so much time looking after animals and getting her hooves dirty he though. He suspected that was why she had been lumbered with a beast like Discord.

The conversation was making Fluttershy uncomfortable. She didn't like talking about her modelling career. The fact that pictures of her in magazines still existed was excruciating enough. Sometimes ponies still stopped her in the street and asked for autographs.

“Um, I think tea break is over,” she said.

“Oh, of course. You're quite right, Fluttershy,” said Scriptum. “Time to get back to work.”

Discord lay facing the wall on his bed. He doubted he could take this moping much longer. It was not that he didn't sulk, it was that sulking was inherently non-chaotic. He was a draconequus of action.

Briefly he had entertained the idea of sending Scriptum to Saddle Arabia in a box marked "FRAGILE AND INSUFFERABLE" but experience had taught him that whenever he attempted something of that nature, Fluttershy got upset with him.

He sighed. What she thought still mattered to him and he couldn't escape that fact, but he also didn't want her knowing just how much he cared. There was nothing he could do to Scriptum that wouldn't upset her.

He didn't want to continue the mission, as it would mean seeing the archivist with her and he didn't think he could bear it. On the other hand, Starswirl was right that he would let down Fluttershy if he didn't continue it.

But she couldn't know how much he cared! She just couldn't! It made him too vulnerable and the last thing he needed was further humiliation from them all.

A literal lightbulb appeared above Discord's head as he realized what he needed to do.He would show them. He would hunt down the creature himself. By himself. And then he'd bring it back and everyone would be sorry they had ever doubted him. Sure, it wasn't sending Book Boy via first class but it was action.

He grinned. Or maybe there was something he could do to the unicorn...after all, he still needed to do his job. So what if the workload...increased a little.

Scriptum yelped as a thousand sheets of parchment fell down over his desk.

At that very moment, Spike had walked into the room to ask Scriptum if he'd like to join the rest of them for dinner. He took one look at the unicorn and his desk.

"Whoa," he said. "I thought that kind of stuff only happened to me."

Twilight listened intently as Starswirl began his story:

He first came to us in Spring one year. I was sitting under a tree reading up on transformative magic when there was a voice above me.

"Whatcha readin' Old Man?"

I looked up and was surprised to see a creature I had never laid eyes on before resting on a large branch above me. It was as if a foal had patchworked together several stuffed toys, only he was sleeker and there was muscle under that coat. Not bulging muscles, but the wiry muscles of a weasel. His eyes were bright and intelligent. His voice almost a purr.

Before I could say anything the book had flown out of my hand and Discord had grabbed it. "Hmmm. Transformative magic. Interesting choice, Old Man."

"My name," I said, standing up. "Is Starswirl the Bearded. Now may I have my book back please?"

He tilted his head at me, as if considering me for a moment, then handed the book back with his tail.

I took it and he said "I've read that book before. It's good...for toilet paper."

"This was written by one of the greats of magic. Sir Rubin Mustanger. The fact that you refer to it as toilet paper shows just how much you know about magic!"

I was about to take my leave, and find somewhere else to read my book when suddenly Discord had bounded off the tree in the form of a honey badger, grabbed the book in his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. Quick as a flash he was back in the tree in his previous form, with his hands behind his head. "Don't care," he said.

I was absolutely astounded. "H-how did you do that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Well, yes I would, actually. Very much. I don't even think Sir Rubin has written about such a smooth transformation!"

"Meet me here tomorrow and I might consider it," came the reply, then he vanished.

I did arrive at the same time the next day promptly and he was there, lounging on his branch again.

"Beardie!" came his greeting. "I thought you weren't going to show!"

So began our weekly meetings to talk about magic. I also learnt a lot about Discord as a draconequus. He didn't look that much different then as he does now, except that maybe his mane was a little darker and his body wasn't as long, but he claimed to be thousands of years old.

He told me that his species ages very, very slowly. I have no idea if this is true or not, as I have never seen another draconequus, and I'll wager you haven't either, but it would likely explain his immaturity, amoung other things.

We met under the tree every Thursday and talked about magic.

"Hey Beardie," he said to me one day, "who is the absolute stunner I saw you walking with in the palace gardens the other day? She is a *ten*, Old Man. An absolute ten."

My hackles rose. I immediately felt protective of Celestia. While I enjoyed the talks Discord and I had, I can't say I trusted him completely and now I had someone else to worry about. Then I said, rather stupidly, "what do you want with the Princess?"

Discord laughed at me.

"And here I was labouring under the impression that all Royalty were inbred uglies.The *Princess? That's who that is? "*

"Yes, that's who that is. And you best stay away from her."

"Why?"

I thought about this. Discord hadn't displayed any malice towards me apart from mild banter. Why did I want him to stay away from her? Was it because I didn't know him? Was it because his magic was foreign to me? Both reasons seemed almost rude to say out loud after our rather civil conversations about magic.

"It's complicated," I said pathetically.

Discord gave me a look that could only be described as "challenge accepted."

I don't know how it happened, because Celestia never talked to me about it after it ended, but Discord began meeting with her in secret.

I later learnt Discord had climbed in through her window. The guards hadn't noticed because Celestia, being a Princess, had told them to take the afternoons off. They never questioned her.

At first I thought I should turn a blind eye to it; two young people with urges, I mean...it was perfectly healthy, and Discord, while a bit rough around the edges, didn't seem to be a bad person. But of course, I didn't count on how serious it was going to get.

Celestia, being a Princess, was expected to marry royalty herself. Discord was not royalty. I know it sounds strange now, but mares in those days had a lot less freedom when it came to these sorts of things than ponies like yourself now do. Discord was becoming bolder about meeting with Celestia. He no longer had to climb in through her window, and sometimes they would find a corner of the garden and lay in the sunlight together, preening each other. Several of the guards had told me about it. I felt for them both, I really did, but I knew it would hurt Celestia's reputation if she was seen with him. He wasn't a pony, he wasn't royalty and his magic didn't work the way ours did.

I was going to have to have a talk with one of them. I decided to bring it up at my next meeting with Discord.

To my surprise, Discord was surprisingly grumpy when I met up with him. He even looked a bit haggard. Moreso than usual, I mean.

"One too many last night?" I asked.

He snorted and said nothing. His arms were folded and his back was against the trunk of the tree.

I decided to bite the bullet. "Did you and Princess Celestia have a lover's quarrel?"

He stared at me for a beat. "That's rather astute of you, Beardie. How'd you guess?"

It had merely been a guess, but Discord seemed to spend most of his days seeking out Celestia, so I doubted there was much else occupying his mind.

"Because she's all you talk about nowadays? Though I do wish you'd stop making remarks about her flank. That girl is like a daughter to me."

"Ooooh!" Discord held his paw and talon up and wriggled his fingers.

This was going to be harder than I thought. It seemed he could take almost nothing seriously.

"Discord, it's actually Celestia I want to talk about. We need to speak frankly here."

"But not about her flank."

I nodded, trying to humour him. "Yes, not about that. But about things that...may be difficult to hear."

"I'm all ears," said Discord, sprouting several over his body.

"Discord, there are many things about society I may not agree with, but I know need to be done for the good of the nation. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"You've already had this talk with her."

"Yes..."

"So that's where this has come from."

I realized then that Celestia must have gone to him first and told him what I was about to tell Discord. He clearly wasn't very happy about it.

But then he laughed a little. "Well, you know what Beardie? She loves me, so despite your silly, rigid ruleset I doubt she's going to go through with it, because that girl is as stubborn as I am."

"It's not *my** silly, rigid ruleset. It's what her parents would have wanted."*

"What about what she wants?"

"She knows the role she has to fulfill. She's known it since fillyhood. And I hope she finds someone she can actually love when she takes the throne, because not all marriages have love behind them."

"Excuse me, Old Man. But she *does** actually love me. She doesn't need some rah rah ponce prince boring her with politics and ceremony. She needs adventure."*

"And I suppose you're her little adventure," I said wearily.

He grinned at me. "I haven't heard any complaints from the lady."

"That's not what I..."

Despite the fact that he was still up in the tree, his paw was now covering my mouth.

"Now, now Starswirl. You worry too much, and you underestimate Celestia. Sure, she worries that she has to do things for 'the good of the nation' which we know in your world is tantamount to sexual slavery..."

"It is not....!" I began.

He blew a raspberry at me.

"Explain to me how a mare marrying for the good of the nation and not because she loves said stallion is anything but sexual slavery. Or at the very least, sexual bartering."

"It is not like that at all. Both parties go into it with eyes wide open. And if someone isn't a good match, then there need not be an engagement."

"But if someone is a good match, but happens to be a bit of rough, then there's no engagement at all."

"Discord..."

"Hey, no need to explain things, or even try and work us both round to your way of thinking. We love each other so the idea that your little rules are going to interfere with our happiness is laughable at best. I know she'd never do that to me."

"What she has to do may have nothing to do with what you want. Equestria needs to build alliances."

"So because you lot are obviously so mature and rational you have to do it through coercion."

I sighed. There was no reasoning with him.

One night I heard them arguing. Discord was saying something about how Celestia was in a cage and couldn't see it and she was just going to end up as some stallion's trophy. She argued that he was being jealous and that regardless of how she felt about her suitors, he should know that she loved him and this was something she had to do. She was next in line to the throne and she didn't want Luna being coerced into marriage instead.

"Aha!" said Discord. "You used the word 'coerced'. So this is pretty much something that is being forced on you."

"Discord, I don't want this anymore than you do, but it might be something I have to do. If it comes to that, wouldn't you want me to be happy with a stallion I loved rather than me ending up with a stallion who really did only want me for a trophy?"

Of course this had been the wrong thing to say from Discord's point of view.

"Celestia, I want *us** to be happy. Together."*

"I can't marry you."

"I know that. And I'm not big on the idea of marriage anyway, but I do want to be with you."

"I don't know what to do."

"I do."

"You do?"

"Yes. Run away with me."

"I...can't."

"Why not? I'll look after you, Celestia, I promise."

"It's not that...I can't abandon my friends and family. Luna and Starswirl. My place is here, Discord."

I could hear Celestia crying now. It must have been so hard for the poor girl to choose between the male she loved and duty. The trouble was I don't think Discord saw that. As usual he was thinking 100% of what he wanted, and I don't need to tell you how jealous that boy is.

So when Celestia's suitors finally did come a-calling, there was trouble almost instantly.

Her first suitor was a Prince from Karabakhan, and he was the first to fall victim to Discord's pranks.

From day one there was trouble: when the carpet was rolled out to greet the Prince, it wouldn't keep still, but instead undulated in waves so that no one could step on it. Then the Prince couldn't say anything without sounding like he was speaking though Helium. Then everytime the Prince tried to eat something at the royal dinner, it hit him in the face. I'm pretty sure I saw Celestia try to stifle laughter at one point.

Eventually the Prince left, declaring us all a bunch of uncouth savages.

Time after time the same thing happened.

I think the Princess must have had twenty suitors and they all left in a huff, and after a while it stopped being funny to the Princess.

And after a while, it stopped being funny to me too. Tensions between Equestria and Neighropa were high, and the fact that nearly every eligible royal bachelor from that region had been rejected wasn't helping matters. Things were beginning to get serious. We couldn't afford to stir up a hornet's nest and Equestria needed this alliance. The kingdom hadn't been the same since the death of Celestia and Luna's parents.

One evening she came to me in tears.

"I love him,” she whispered as she cried into my chest and I tried to soothe her. “I know he's doing this because the idea of me marrying someone else hurts him.”

"Look, Celestia," I said, sighing. "Maybe Discord is right. You...you don't have to do this. Surely your parents would have wanted you to be happy more than anything? Perhaps we could convince the Neighropans that there's another way to be allies."

"And if we can't? What kind of world is that for my little sister?"

I learnt something about Celestia that evening- Discord was right. She was as stubborn as he was.

I had to be the bearer of bad news for Discord. I sat under the tree waiting for him as usual. For a moment, I was worried he wasn't going to show up, but after a while he came bounding up the path, and took his place on the tree branch.

"Sorry I'm late, Beardie. I was busy with....uh....business."

I looked at him deadpan. "And I suspect this business had to do with continuing to torment the Prince of Esponia?"

"You can suspect," he said, grinning. "But I couldn't possibly comment."

I sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"Discord, this needs to stop."

"What needs to stop?"

"Don't play dumb! You aren't dumb and you know very well what I'm referring to. You can't keep trying to scare Celestia's suitors away, especially not this one."

"Oh, see. That's where you're wrong. I *especially need to get rid of this one, because I know he's dead set on marrying her."*

"Which is precisely why you need to back off."

"Oh, do I? I don't think I need to do anything. And besides, she's said no to every single one of them so far. It's not like this guy is going to be any different."

"Celestia consented to the marriage this morning."

Discord went very, very quiet.

"I...she didn't. You must have misheard her."

"No, she very clearly said it was what she wanted to do. For her family and the good of the nation."

"Is that all she said?"

I considered my answer. Celestia had told me she loved Discord dearly and didn't want to hurt him. However, I knew if I told him that he might never back off. He would just continue to insist that Celestia was being dragged into this against her will, and continue to torment the Prince. We didn't need this. So, I said: "Yes, that was all she said."

Discord's expression was difficult to read. He was just staring at me.

"So you really need to leave us alone," I continued. "And let us get on with everything. I'm very sorry, boy. But perhaps it's best if you leave Equestria. There's just no place for you here."

"Oh, Beardie," he laughed. "You don't mean that."

My heart ached. I enjoyed the boy's company but I had to do this.

"Discord, if you continue to do this there could be a war."

"Nations would go to war over the fact that a Neighropan Prince couldn't get some Equestrian Princess tail? And I'M the bad guy here?"

"It's not about that and you know it! I've explained the situation multiple times and you're just not getting it! I'm sorry Discord, but that's the way our society works. There are rules and we can't always do things we want."

"Try me," he hissed, and was about to move off the branch. I knew where he was going, but there was no way I was going to let him risk starting a war. I fired a shot at him with my horn.

"What the hell?" he cried, as he fell off the branch.

"Discord, I'm warning you. If you interfere with this negotiation I will fire again. I don't want to, but this is serious."

He stared up at me defiantly from the ground and made a move to continue on his way, so I fired. This time, however, I felt the full force of my attack bounce back at me and then some. I was completely swept off my feet. Let me tell you, Twilight. I had never felt such power before. Discord's magic slammed me into the side of the tree trunk and he held me there.

"So that's how it is, is it?" he growled. "Rules? Society has rules? I don't want to live in that kind of world, Old Man."

He let go of me and I sank to the ground. Discord had vanished.

Now, I don't want to give the impression that what happened next was merely because Discord couldn't marry Celestia. I'm sure that was a large part of it, but I know I had hurt him too. I have no idea if he considered me a friend or not since I'm not entirely sure Discord knew what friendship was back then, but I can't imagine he took kindly to me using magic against him and telling him to leave.

Discord was gone for over a year, and for a while I was beginning to think that he would never come back. I also worried. After all, his parting words to me had been 'I don't want to live in that kind of world.' I was worried Discord might be suicidal. How wrong I was about that.

He didn't arrive with pomp and circumstance. Rather, strange things began to happen and after a while they just increased in ferocity. It rained frogs, strange beasts came out of the woods, birds flew upside down. At first ponies were scared, but it seemed pretty innocuous. Until things stopped working the way they were supposed to. Crops failed to provide, water often tasted sour.

Then Discord declared that there was to be no such thing as a ruler. He told the ponies they were all free and they no longer had to worry about being controlled. There was to be no such thing as worship, or society. All these things were just lies to control ponies and keep them from their true nature and happiness. Some ponies tried to form cults to worship chaos but those were shot down as well. Discord told them worship and hierarchy was the very antithesis of what he respresented and stood for.

Discord's idea of a utopia was a nightmare. There was no law, no way of managing anything. Any attempt to fight back was shot down almost instantly by him. I had not realized at the time just how powerful he was.

Ponies got hurt and died under Discord's reign. While he may not have been the perpetuator, he was certainly the catalyst. Civil unrest was common and whenever there was an attempt to build any kind of authority to counter all the lawlessness, Discord put a stop to it.

This went on for decades. It truly was a difficult world to live in.

But no one took it harder than Celestia.

She had not yet married her Prince, and after the unrest Discord brought with him it clearly took a backseat. She saw what he had done, what he was doing and I know for a fact it broke her heart beyond repair, Twilight. I don't think Discord realized just how much she loved him and he had stomped all over her heart.

So I knew it was very difficult for Celestia to fight back initially. But when she saw the suffering Discord had caused to her subjects, and when she tried to reason with him and he wouldn't listen, I knew her heartbreak had been replaced with cold resolve.

I...don't think Discord was entirely sane at this point. That's not an excuse. There's no excuse for what he did, but ponies would come to me and report that they had seen him babbling to himself sometimes. Something about "no one appreciating the freedom of chaos." I still don't think that boy is entirely sane, mind you but he was extremely unhinged back then. I shouldn't blame myself, but part of me still does. I still don't know where Discord came from or even if he had a family, but I do know that we hurt him.

Another hundred years went by. I know we unicorns lived a long time back then, but I wasn't getting any younger. Discord continued to make life a misery for everyone around him.

Eventually we found the tree of harmony, and well...you know the rest.

There was a soft gasp. Twilight and Starswirl looked up to see Fluttershy and Scriptum staring at them in the doorway.

"How...much of that did you hear?" said Starswirl.

"Enough," said Scriptum before Fluttershy could reply herself. She looked pale. Before anyone could continue, Fluttershy had ran off.

"I'll talk to her," said Scriptum to the unicorn and alicorn.

He caught up with Fluttershy in the hallway that led to their rooms.

"Fluttershy," he called to her. She stopped mid stride and looked over her shoulder at the archivist.

There were tears on her face.

"Did you know about all this?" said Scriptum.

"I knew some of it, but no, a lot of it is news to me." She moved towards him and he put his hooves around her and stroked her mane.

"That bastard," said Scriptum. "I knew it, Fluttershy. He's bad news. You need to stay away from him."

She looked up at him in shock. "I'm not going to stay away from Discord. He's my friend."

"But you must! You heard what Starswirl said! He's a dangerous person when he's in love and he clearly has feelings for you."

She shook her head. "It was hard to hear what Starswirl said, but what Discord did is in the past. What's important is now and what he's learning about friendship. Discord is a different person now, and Princess Celestia must trust him enough to set him free."

"Are you crazy, mare? He seems pretty much the same person to me. He gave you to Tirek, in case you've forgotten all about that."

"I haven't forgotten," she said softly.

"Then why are you still his friend? He doesn't even deserve friendship! He let ponies starve and suffer. He gave you to a madman. Maybe he would have even stood by while Tirek had his way with you."

Fluttershy looked horrified.

"Why are you saying these things?"

"Because they're very likely scenarios!"

Fluttershy felt like bursting into tears. This was all too much.

"You don't know Discord like I do," she said.

"Fluttershy, you sound like one of those mares who think they can change stallions and end up being abuse victims. You're not stupid..."

"That's right, I'm not stupid!" she cried. "You think I haven't considered all this and weighed it up in my mind? I know Discord has done horrible things, but never that horrible! And all of the horrible things he's done are in the past. He's my friend, and if it wasn't for him giving Twilight her key Equestria would still be under Tirek's reign, and maybe then we would still all be his slaves? Did you ever consider that?”

“Tirek was in power because Discord helped him,” Scriptum pointed out.

“If you hate him so much why are you working for him?” she shouted through her tears.

Scriptum's mouth opened and then closed again silently.

“I need to see if he's alright,” whispered Fluttershy.

“What?! After everything Starswirl said you want to see if he's alright? Fluttershy, don't be so naïve.”

She glared at him. There was that word again: “naive.”

“Well no one else seems to want to check up on him, so yes I want to see if he's alright.”

“I forbid you to.”

“Excuse me?”

She tried to walk past him but his front leg blocked her path.

“Um...” she began.

“I'm not going to let him hurt you.”

“He won't. Now please let me past.”

“No.”

Fluttershy was beginning to feel trapped. Scriptum was a stallion, and larger and stronger than she was. Despite him insisting that he had her best interests at heart, Fluttershy didn't feel comfortable with him demanding that she do something she clearly did not want to do.

“Um, please let me get past,” she said in a softer voice. “I just need to see if my friend is okay.” She began to move forward again when Scriptum grabbed her by the shoulders. She squeaked in surprise and tried to pull away but he wrapped his fore hooves around her body tightly. She felt her wings compress in an extremely uncomfortable way against his body.

“You are not going anywhere! I forbid you to, Fluttershy!”

“Let me go, you're hurting me!” Her wings felt like they were being crushed.

“Fluttershy, listen to yourself! You want to get involved with a bad colt. You're a nice pony, and I'm a nice pony and nice people should stick to their own kind. You don't want to go down the road you're going down.”

“It's not like that! He's my friend! Why are you doing this! Ow...you're hurting me!”

"Do you really think he's going to want to continue to be your friend when he realizes I'm your coltfriend? I know the way stallions are, Fluttershy. Not all of them are willing to be happy for a mare when they realize friendship is all they're going to get."

"Maybe I don't want to be your marefriend anymore!" Fluttershy whimpered.

Suddenly Scriptum released her.

“I...I'm sorry Fluttershy. I just don't want him to use you. You know he...”

But she was running down the hallway already, her tears streaming behind her. She needed to see Discord, needed to know he was okay. She ran towards Starswirl's study, where she knew she had seen the teleportation charm he used to get to Discord's house in the chaos dimension. She had never used one, but she had seen Starswirl do it.

She looked down at it sitting on Starswirl's desk. Final thoughts went through her head.

What if you do it wrong? What if you only teleport half your body? What if you end up somewhere else?

Courage, Fluttershy. Courage. She took a deep breath and touched the charm.

She had teleported all right, but not inside Discord's house. She was just outside the door, which she noticed with growing horror was rapidly getting further and further away from her as she floated helplessly through the chaotic ether. Terror gripped at her as the world spun around her. She cried out in fear and her ears flattened against her head as she drifted.

She had failed. She really was a naïve little pegasus. Everyone had been right. The world continued to spin and she couldn't take the fear any more. She passed out.

If she had been awake, she would have felt two mismatched limbs catch and embrace her.

Where the river goes

Twilight felt like her head was swimming.

Starswirl's story had been a lot to take in, not least the part about Discord and Celestia once being lovers. But there was something that worried her a lot more than that. She had always looked up to Starswirl as a hero and mentor, but he had rejected Discord before the draconequus had even known what friendship was. She remembered when studying had been all she cared about and she had spurned the idea of making friends. Discord had clearly ached for companionship and had lost it because he loved someone unattainable in Equestrian society. Not for the first time, Twilight felt guilt when she remembered what she had been like before moving to Ponyville.

Perhaps she and Starswirl were more alike than they realized.

“If you're wondering why I'm telling you all this, Twilight, it's because I'm worried at how fragile Discord is. Not that he'd ever admit it in a million years, but we know it's the truth. And I know he's upset that Fluttershy has a coltfriend. And now we are in a similar situation to where we were over a thousand years ago! Oh, why did I listen to Celestia? She always was too soft about these things.”

He buried his head in his hooves. Twilight was rather unnerved at seeing her hero fall to pieces. He seemed more like a frightened old man right now rather than a powerful mage.

She thought for a moment then said, “Discord has learned a lot about friendship since we freed him from the statue. I don't think things are going to get as bad as you think.”

“Are you sure about that, Twilight?”

Twilight thought about all the times Discord had overreacted to things.

“Not entirely...” she admitted. “...but from what you've told me I'm pretty sure Discord is a slightly different person to the one he was back then".

Starswirl sighed so hard that the bells on his hat rattled.

"Fluttershy, hey, Fluttershy. Wake up!"

The pegasus slowly opened her eyes and was met with the scruffy eyebrows and mismatched eyes of her friend.

"Discord?" she whispered.

He sighed with relief. "We have to stop meeting like this," he joked.

Fluttershy started to get up and then winced in pain.

The draconequus's jovial expression changed instantly as he noticed something about her beautiful wings didn't look right.

Her wings looked like they had been compressed. The normally gently rounded and convex shape of one of them was now concave. The other looked like the feathers had been crushed. She winced as he gently prodded one with his paw.

"Fluttershy...what happened?"

She said nothing and looked at the ground and whimpered. Realization hit Discord like a ton of bricks and his eyes glowed red with rage.

"What did he DO, Fluttershy?"

She whimpered then the tears fell. "He tried to stop me from seeing you. But I want to see you, because you're my friend and I need your friendship right now, but I understand if you don't want it anymore." She was trembling and her eyes were squeezed tightly shut as if waiting for a blow.

Discord cocked his head at her like a confused dog. "What in monkey tartarus makes you think I don't want your friendship?"

"I...I thought you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore, because that's what some stallions do? Because I was going out with Scriptum and not you?"

"Is that what he told you?"

"You don't hate me for it?"

"Hate you? After all you've done for me, I could never hate you. I love you, Fluttershy."

He realized what he was saying before he had even finished the sentence, then noticed with surprise that the words were now much easier to say now that he knew she didn't love him back. There was nothing to lose. But he needed her to know, anyway. He quickly looked at the floor.

"Sorry," he said. "I mean, I'm not sorry, but I am sorry if I've made you uncomfort..."

"No. You haven't."

She moved to place her hoof on his paw and winced in pain.

Discord was now bristling with anger, and she knew it wasn't for her.

"Discord, promise me you won't hurt him."

"But he hurt you!"

"I know, but we need to focus on finding the monster to cure that sick pony and I don't want you to get in trouble. And we still need an archivist to record our descriptions."

"I'm not taking you back to the castle if he's there," said Discord with a snarl. "Not unless I can change him into a banana slug and set him up on a blind date with some chili salt."

"Good, because I don't feel like going back there right now," she admitted. "I want to help find the creature with you. But I need to let everyone know I'm alright first. Can we send a message?"

"We can but first I need to tend to those wings," he said. "Lie down on your stomach."

She did.

"Can you stretch em' at all?"

Fluttershy attempted it and cried out in agony as a sharp wave of pain overcame her.

Discord was trying very hard to focus on her wing and not the idea of Scriptum's head on a plate. He scanned her with his magic and noted that not only was the left wing badly bruised, but that the right one had a slight fracture.

"Okay," he said softly. "I think I can fix this, but you have to keep super still."

"Okay," she squeaked. He snapped his fingers and she sighed with relief. There was still a dull ache, but nothing like the agony she had been in before.

"You might still feel sore, but try moving the wing now."

She did, and it spread out to its full length without problems.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Anytime, Flutter Nutter. Though hopefully I'll never have to do that again."

"We should send the letter," she said.

"Ah, yes. Okay, one sec." He pulled a pencil out his ear again and handed it to her along with a piece of parchment.

Fluttershy took it and wrote:

To My Friends,

I'm just letting you know I'm okay because I realize I left without explanation.

I am at Discord's. We've decided to look for the monster together. We'll be back soon.

I'm sorry if I worried anyone.

Fluttershy

She really didn't feel like talking to anyone in detail about what had transpired between her and Scriptum right now. Not Discord, and not her friends. Her wings were healed but her heart ached. She had thought he was different and he had hurt her. It just reminded her of when she had grown closer to Discord and he had hurt her too. Granted, Discord had not physically hurt her, but the pain was still there.

But Discord was still her friend.

She handed the rolled up piece of parchment to him and he sent it in a burp of purple flame.

"So," said Discord. "Ready to embark on the Good Ship Chaos again?"

Fluttershy smiled.

"Let's go," she said.

Once they were back on Discord's boat, he felt full of conflicting emotions. One of the main ones was extreme rage towards Scriptum. Discord's magic crackled as he tried to keep his hackles from rising. Normally Discord dealt with his enemies by either using magic against them or playing mind games with them, so he was surprised that most of the angry fantasies that were flashing through his head regarding the unicorn involved using his teeth and claws. Must be testosterone, he thought. He adjusted his hormones with a snap of the finger. Ah, that was better. A little bit of oestrogen never hurt. He still wanted to make Scriptum pay, though.

The other emotion he kept trying to keep at bay was hope.

Fluttershy was here, but that didn't change anything, did it? Just because she didn't want to go out with Scriptum anymore didn't mean she automatically loved him now. He really needed to stop thinking that he had a chance with her. Yet out of the two emotions, hope and anger, hope seemed the harder one to squash.

The Good Ship Chaos moved through the ether as flish swam through the air past it. Fluttershy had her notebook out and was taking notes on each one. Discord, in the meantime, was scanning the horizon. At least he would have been if there was a horizon in sight. Instead, he just tried to focus on whatever was in front of him.

"I think maybe we should take the river," he said out loud. "We haven't checked that part of the dimension."

"There's a river?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yeah. Hydaspis. I admit I haven't been down it in a while, but it goes on for hundreds of miles. Plus part of it goes past Smooze's place. Being a jelly creature himself, I'm sure it would be a good idea to ask him what he's seen."

Fluttershy didn't bother asking how a river could exist in an area that seemed to consist of crackling energy, but she was pleased at the prospect of seeing the Smooze again.

"How do we get there?"

"Shouldn't be long now, I think we're nearing the mouth."

And they were, quite literally. The entrance to the river was a giant row of sharp teeth.

"Um..." began Fluttershy.

"Oh, don't worry," laughed Discord. "It won't snap at us if I tell it not to."

"That's...comforting."

But they sailed through the open jaws without a problem, then Fluttershy realized that they were on a river floating in space. Like a normal river, it was made of water, but rather than being surrounded by banks on either side, it just hung in the ether and twisted and turned as far as the eye could see.

Fluttershy joined Discord at the bow of the ship and looked outwards. Her mane billowed around her in the chaotic breeze. Ahead of them, a large lump jutted out of the river. Small flish continued to swim past them

"What's that?"

"Hm? Oh, looks like a Hydappo. They inhabit this part of the Hydapsis."

The Hydappo lifted it great head from the surface of the water and yawned. Instantly this created a vacuum and flish were inhaled into its great mouth.

"Lazy things," said Discord. "All they do is eat and sleep."

He looked down to see Fluttershy scribbling the information down frantically in her notebook and he felt that familiar warm feeling in his chest. She looked so adorable when she was concentrating on her chosen subject of magical creatures. Fluttershy was smart, and her curiousity about the natural world was just one of the many things he loved about her. Nature and chaos were inseperable, so Discord very much enjoyed Fluttershy's reaction to observing it.

"And that one?" she asked, pointing with her hoof towards something that looked like a transparent, billowing, glowing sheet floating just above the river's surface.

"I haven't given that one a name yet. You can name it."

She gasped. "May I?"

Discord chuckled. "Go ahead. There's thousands of undescribed things in this dimension."

Fluttershy started describing the animal in her notebook then gave it a common name and a latin name. Discord looked down at the writing:

Ghost Fly

Spiritus discordia

"No need to name it after me you know. You could have named it anything you liked."

"It's what I wanted to name it," she said. "After my friend." And she smiled at him.

To Fluttershy's surprise, after a few hours of travelling the sky was becoming darker. She could see Discord standing on the bow, silohuetted in the fading light as he kept an eye out for creatures. She had been resting on deck. Her wings did indeed still feel sore.

The light faded entirely. After a while it resembled an ordinary night in Equestria, except the sky was pitch black and void of any stars.

Or was it? She thought she had seen something glowing in her peripheral vision and she squinted as she tried to seek it out again. Maybe she was just over tired.

A blue glowing light flew past her then vanished. Her head snapped up in surprise. Then she gasped as her eyes noticed the sight above her.

There were thousands of glowing blue lights, spilled across the sky like a living canopy of stars.

"What are they?" she cried out in wonder.

Discord looked over his shoulder at her.

"Oh! Sapphire Flies!" I forgot to mention those to you. They only live in the nocturnal part of the river".

"Discord, they're beautiful!"

He walked to the middle of the deck to join her.

"I admit I've not seen them in a while," he said. "Like I said, I don't come down here much, and not much surprises me anymore. But I'm glad you're enjoying them."

Fluttershy was too awestruck by the gorgeous sight to even record it in her notebook. She just stared in open mouthed awe.

Discord chuckled to himself and sat down next to her. She moved closer to him and leaned back against him, still looking upwards. He was surprised, but didn't complain.

The sapphire flies continued to move above them, like a slow moving cluster of stars. Discord's arms gently wrapped around Fluttershy as she leaned back against his chest, watching the display above them.

"I'm so glad you're here, Flutter Nutter," Discord whispered. His head rested on top of hers.

"Me too," she said softly. Her eyes began to close. It had been an extremely long day.

"I...I'm tired. I think I should get some sleep", she whispered.

He smiled softly in the dim light. "Alright," he said, running his talon gently through her mane. He helped her to her feet and saw her to her bedroom door in the boat's roundhouse.

"You sure you're okay, Noodle?"

She forced a smile. "I'm...fine." she said.

He knew she was hurting because of Scriptum and his heart sank a little. He couldn't let her know how much he needed her though.

"Well," he said, forcing his own smile, "let me know if you need anything."

Then he got up and left to go to his own room.

He had trouble sleeping that night. He felt so damn confused. He didn't want her to be sad, but he also didn't want to feel sad himself. He also couldn't help feeling excited that she was staying the night. For some reason her being close to him always made him feel safe. It was like when he used to sleep in the woods near Canterlot Castle, knowing that Celestia and Starswirl weren't that far away. He tossed and turned on the bed sheets and looked up at the ceiling. Sleep was probably off the menu that evening.

"Buck it," he muttered out loud, and conjured up some reading glasses on the end of his muzzle while turning on the bedside lamp. He may as well look over the notes for Starswirl.

Within 5 minutes he was nodding off with the notes in his hand and a line of drool forming at the corner of his mouth, when he felt a warm nose gently prod his shoulder. He came to with a startled snort and wiped his mouth quickly.

"I...I'm sorry," said Fluttershy. "I didn't mean to wake you, it's just I can't sleep".

Discord looked down at the pegasus. She still looked heartbroken and he could tell she had been crying. She was shivering slightly.

She feels the same way I did. Do.

It was a rather odd situation if he thought about it. They were both suffering from the same affliction, heartache. Though the difference was he had the object of his affections right next to him and she didn't. He needed to be a friend right now, not a coltfriend, but he was unsure of how to proceed. He wanted to hug her or put an arm around her, but she might miscontrue that, or worse, he might. Instead he went over to the wardrobe and opened it up. It was empty, but when he put in his arm and felt around, he pulled out a soft, warm throw and draped it over her.

"Thank you," she said. Then, "Discord? Can...can I hug you?"

He smiled and opened his arms and she snuggled into his feathers. His talon automatically stroked her mane tenderly.

"I know it's not my place to say," he said softly, "but...Scriptum is an idiot."

"Discord..."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I thought it would help." He was bad at this.

"I don't want to talk about Scriptum right now," she whispered. "Just please hold me, and stay with me, even if I can't sleep."

He watched a tear run down her muzzle and felt his heart shatter.

"I...of course, Flutters," he said.

They lay down on the bed together and she snuggled under the throw and he stroked her mane softly until she fell asleep. They had shared a bed before, when Discord had gone through one of his episodes and she had comforted him. This time he needed to comfort her. Through the window, he could see the sapphire flies gliding across the inky black of the ether.

"But he is an idiot," said Discord softly, in the darkness.

Fluttershy awoke the next morning to the smell of scrambled eggs and fried tomatoes and a delicious smell she couldn't identify.

She wandered into the kitchen where Discord was fighting with the kitchenware. The eggbeater barked at him and he held it off with a wooden spoon.

She couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh, you're up," said Discord. "So much for surprising you with breakfast in bed, then."

"You didn't have to do that," she said.

"Well, I did. Much to my chagrin, as it's all over the kitchen now, and while normally I revel in mess, I was trying to get the breakfast on your plate, not the ceiling."

A fried egg detached itself from the ceiling and handed on Discord's head. His antler and goat horn pierced through it so that it looked like he was wearing a strange beret. He picked it off himself and swallowed it whole.

Fluttershy laughed. Discord's ears pricked up at the beautiful sound. It was the first time she had done so since he had found her unconsious in his front yard.

Suddenly a loud whistle went off on the ship's deck.

"What's that?" Asked Fluttershy. "Does it mean trouble?"

"Naw," said Discord grinning. "It just means we've reached the Smooze's house."

Unto the Breach

Spike reached into the fridge with both his clawed hands.

“Come to me, my love,” he said to the huge sandwich he had built earlier just in case he had craved a midnight snack. He licked his lips and lifted the monstrous tower of bread, cheese and vegetables out. He was about to close the fridge door with his foot when he burped loudly and a scroll shot out of his mouth and rolled across the room, coming to rest at Scriptum's feet.

Spike nearly jumped. He hadn't heard the unicorn come into the room.

“Uh, could you get that?” said Spike. “I'm kind of...uh I have my claws full here.” He was attempting to balance the sandwich which was now wobbling precariously.

“Oh, yes, of course.” said Scriptum. He picked up the scroll and unrolled it. Fluttershy's handwriting stared back at him. It said she was okay, and that she was with Discord.

Scriptum's eyes narrowed and he rolled up the scroll again.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention Spike,” he said as he took his leave.

“What does it say?” asked the baby dragon.

“Merely another species description,” said the archivist. He left Spike to be alone with his sandwich.

Once Scriptum was back at his desk, he pulled out a blank piece of parchment from his desk and smoothed it out before him. He didn't care what the letter had said, Fluttershy was almost certainly in danger. She was alone in a chaotic dimension with nothing but a dark chaos lord who had the hots for her, and there was a monster there who had attacked her once already. Clearly no one saw the problem here, and the problem was someone like Discord did not deserve all the trust and friendship he was given. Discord was a trickster- he had fooled them all once before. He had even fooled Princess Celestia. He was going to have to take matters into his own hooves.

He examined Fluttershy's handwriting for a while then began a new letter on the parchment:

Dear everyone,

I went to find Discord because I was worried about him, but I now fear for my safety. Instead of letting me return home he has horsenapped me.

He is likely doing this because I don't love him, but I fear for my safety.

Please help!

Fluttershy

He thought for a second. She would need Discord to send the letter to Spike so Discord would have known she sent this. He had to make it look like the letter had been sent in secret. For all Spike knew what he had burped out was just another species description.

Suddenly he knew what to do.

“You found this in your pile of species descriptions?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, I'm so sorry I hadn't noticed it before, but he always sends me so many!” said Scriptum. “Though that's likely for the best, as that was how Fluttershy managed to smuggle the letter past him.”

Starswirl looked pale.

“I've failed you all, Twilight,” he said. “I told Discord not to get attached to that girl and now look what's happened!”

Twilight felt confused and heartbroken. She tried to make sense of it all. Discord often did things that seemed extreme but were born of him feeling terrified or insecure about something.

“Maybe Discord doesn't realize that what he's doing is wrong. Maybe he doesn't really want to hurt Fluttershy...”

“Then why does she clearly say she fears for her safety?!” shouted Scriptum at her.

Twilight had to admit he was right. In all the years she had known Fluttershy and Discord, Fluttershy had never seemed afraid of the draconequus. Citizens of Ponyville would often run at the sight of him or tell their foals to stay indoors when they saw the chimera in town, but Fluttershy spoke to him as if he was no different from a fluffy bunny or adorable chipmunk. And like Fluttershy's animals (bar Angel) he would always listen to her.

What had changed?

“I went to get the teleportation charm from my desk but Fluttershy must have taken it,” said Starswirl. “There's no way to get into the chaos dimension.”

“Haven't you travelled to other dimensions before?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, but that was within our world. Discord's dimension is beyond my scope. I'm afraid if I try to get us there we'll probably end up mangled.”

Twilight shuddered, but then she said “there must be a way we can get her back!” She was starting to feel very angry at Discord. Not only had he kidnapped one of her friends, but he was jeopardizing the mission and the sick pony's life. How could he be so selfish?

“What if there's a way we could get a note to her?” she asked.

Scriptum shook his head. “That will just alert Discord. We need to find a way to get to her and bring her back.”

“And how do you propose we do this?” asked Starswirl.

Scriptum squirmed. He hadn't thought that far ahead. He just knew he wanted Fluttershy back, whatever it took.

“Maybe there's something in the library,” he said.

“I've read every book there is on inter-dimensional travel and even I can't do what Discord seems to do effortlessly,” grumbled Starswirl. “No book is going to help us this time around. Our best chance is to find one of those open portals the creature has been travelling through and go through it. But even then, we have no idea where we'd end up or what part of the chaos dimension Discord and Fluttershy are in. Not to mention we have no means of transport and can't tell which way is up or down in there.”

Suddenly Rainbow Dash flew into the room.

“Have you seen this morning's paper?” she said breathlessly.

“It's 2am,” said Twilight in a deadpan manner. “Of course I haven't.”

“Oh, well. I guess not everyone needs some delicious coffee from the all-night news stand as a pick-me-up now and again,” returned Dash.

She slammed the paper into Twilight's chest and removed her flight goggles as the alicorn glared at her.

Twilight opened the paper and gasped as the headline jumped out at her:

PORTAL SIGHTED NEAR EVERFREE FOREST. RESIDENTS ORDERED TO STAY AWAY FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY.

“That's where we go,” said Twilight.

“What's going on?” said Spike who had just finished his sandwich and wandered into the room. “Have I missed something?”

The Smooze's house was rather cozy looking for a being made entirely out of amorphous jelly. Fluttershy sat down primly on an armchair while Discord sat on the floor, his arms resting on a footstool while his lizard foot was crossed over his goat leg.

Just why the Smooze had a footstool, she didn't know, and decided it would have been rude to ask.

The Smooze took up an entire couch. He grinned at his guests and held out a tray of tea mugs. Discord took one and drank it with a slurp. Fluttershy was about to reach for one when she noticed that the contents looked and smelled like boiled tar.

"Um, thank you but..."

"Now, now Smoozie. Fluttershy doesn't feast on the dregs of the primordial ooze like we do. You'll have to get her something else."

"Oh...no. That's okay Mr. Smooze, I'm fi--"

Discord handed her a cup of cocoa that had materialized in his paw. "Here you are, my dear. I'm sorry but I have been trying to get him to work on his manners."

She looked up. "You have?"

He suddenly looked embarrassed. "Er...well. Yes. He made such a scene at the gala, after all..."

The Smooze wobbled indignantly.

"But, we're not be here to talk about me," said Discord quickly. "Smooze, have you noticed anything strange around your kind lately?"

The Smooze wobbled again.

Discord nodded.

"What did he say?" asked Fluttershy.

"He says he's seen less of the jelly animals around lately, but that's about it."

Smooze wobbled questioningly.

"Mmm? Oh, it could possibly be a problem, but for all we know they've gone on holiday somewhere."

Wobble.

"I will of course let you know if I spot them."

Wobble.

"What's this about? Well funny you should ask, Smooze-Pants. There's been a creature about that attacked a pony back in Equestria. It can travel between dimensions and it attacked a sky whale, and it attacked Dear Fluttershy here."

He looked at her. He remembered how terrified he had felt when he thought he had lost her to the monster. Then he had lost her to Scriptum. Now she was back here.

Don't hope for anything.

The Smooze wobbled again.

"What does it look like? Oh, here." Discord pulled a copy of the creature's species description out of a pocket in his feathers. Smooze read over it and wobbled back and forth.

"What is he saying?" asked Fluttershy.

"He says some of the cyclops may have mentioned something like that down at the local the other night."

"Should we go speak to them and get more information?"

Discord looked at her as if she'd grown a second head. "You don't speak to cyclops, Fluttershy. They're less interested in talking and more interested in eating...you."

"Oh."

"Did they say whereabouts they saw the creature, Smoozinator?"

A large wobble then a small one.

"Ah, okay. We'll have to go up one of Hydaspis's tribaturies."

Smooze then wobbled slightly in Fluttershy's direction.

Discord was suddenly grateful that the grey fur on his face was dark enough to hide how red he was sure his face was turning.

"Er, well it's not quite like that...she's not my...erm." He stopped and tried to think quickly of a topic to change the subject.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing important, Flutters."

He looked at a watch that had suddenly materialized on his eagle wrist.

"Well, look at the time. We really must be going," he said, looking pointedly at the Smooze who was now wearing a slime-eating grin.

"It was lovely you to see you again, Smooze!" called Fluttershy over her shoulder as Discord shuffled her out the door.

The Smooze waved bye and wobbled at them to stop by again soon.

"Yes, yes of course we will," muttered Discord whose face still felt hot.

Once the Good Ship Chaos was moving again Discord sighed with relief. If that had been a creature whose language Fluttershy could understand he'd have to endure being rejected and embarrased again. He was trying so hard not to think of her as a potential marefriend and yet he found the harder he resisted the more he loved her.

"Where are we heading?" asked Fluttershy.

"The river Hydaspis cuts off into several riverlets. Apparently the creature was spotted near one of these."

"Which one?"

"Sadly we do not have this information. This does not surprise me. The Smooze drinks too much, honestly. I've told him to cut down."

"How many are there?"

"Hundreds," said Discord. "We're just going to have to pick one at random." He climbed up on top of the roundhouse to get his bearings. "I'll be able to see better the higher up I am."

Fluttershy watched Discord jump from the top of the roundhouse onto the mast and climb to the top of the crow's next.

He's very agile she thought.

Was that a strange thing to think? She shook her head. Of course it wasn't.

Then why did it feel like it was?

She suddenly realized that despite getting some sleep the night before she still felt very tired. It must have been all the crying she had done the night before. She had not been able to stop until she was able to curl up under Discord's wing and sleep knowing someone was there for her. She had been so worried that Scriptum's words were going to ring true--that Discord would reject her friendship because some stallions didn't like it when mares were not interested in them.

Her heart still ached at what had happened between her and Scriptum. She was certain that she no longer wanted to be his marefriend, but she couldn't help but feel extremely hurt that someone who had seemed nice had not understood her. Her mother had always encouraged her to go out with a nice stallion (and it had to be a stallion, not any other sentient species in Equestria) and settle down and possibly have foals in the future. She wasn't even ready to start thinking about foals, but she had wanted a nice coltfriend.

Maybe she only attracted people who hurt her. She looked at the floor of the ship and sighed. She didn't want to start crying again.

"Fluttershy?"

She jumped a little at the sound of Discord's voice. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when he had climbed down from the mast.

"I can't see anything more from up there, but I'll check again in half an hour. Hey, you okay?"

She nodded. "I think I'm just tired," she said softly.

"Well if you feel like kipping I can continue looking on my own for a bit," he said. "Feel free to snooze in my room if you like. The windows are open so it'll be less stuffy."

"Thank you," she said gratefully. She really did feel extremely tired and her wings still ached a little.

Discord watched her as she retired to the roundhouse.

He wished he could join her and snuggle against her like they had done last night but he didn't dare ask. He was kidding himself anyway;She had merely needed a shoulder to cry on, it hadn't meant she wanted him like that. It didn't mean she had feelings for him.

He suddenly felt maudlin again and he growled softly and climbed up the mast again. He decided to spend the rest of the watch in the crow's nest.

Fluttershy wandered into Discord's room. In the light of the chaos dimension's "day" she could now see it clearly. The bed was in the middle of the half-moon shaped room, and a small book case rested under one of the windows. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a bedside table with a lamp on it. She moved closer to have a look at the book case. On the first shelf there were three volumes of a series on inter-dimensional magic and portal opening, a large leatherbound tome with the title Fractal Magic and a journal with Discord's handwriting on the cover that said "Species Descriptions for book."

The lower shelf looked more haphazard and contained some popular paperback books that had been dog-eared. Discord was obviously a voracious reader. Fluttershy began straightening some of the books and putting them in order. She wasn't sure why she was doing it, but it felt comforting doing so. As she was about to put the last one in place, something slipped out of it and slid under the bed. Fluttershy leaned down and retrieved it with her hoof. It was a magazine cutting of some kind. On the side facing her was an ad for oat shake. She flipped it round and was surprised to see a picture of herself. It was a picture from her modelling days.

She was looking over her shoulder coyly at the photographer, a soft smile on her face. A sheer shawl hung down revealing her bare shoulder.

It was one of the few pictures taken during her modelling career where she had been allowed to smile. In fact, the photographer had told her a joke that she had actually found quite funny, and before she could stop herself she had smirked slightly. At first Photo Finish had told her to knock it off, but when the film had been developed the fashionista decided the picture worked quite well, and the shawl hanging off her shoulder added some sensuality to the picture.

Discord obviously agreed.

Fluttershy wasn't born yesterday. She knew why males kept pictures of mares. Well, that didn't have to be the only reason, but since this one had been hidden away she assumed that's why Discord had it. It wasn't even a saucy picture and he had hidden it away. She found herself smiling. For some reason she didn't mind; after all, she had known all along that he had feelings for her and it wasn't like he had ever laid an unwelcome paw on her. She quickly returned the magazine cutting to the book where she had found it and put the book back in its place. Then she curled up on his bed and fell asleep. The sheets still smelt of his fur, and that was comforting too.

Discord anchored the boat near the start of one of the riverlets and teleported back onto the deck. The sapphire flies were just beginning their nightly dance. The draconequus blew on his finger and set it alight so he could see his way to his room. He found her curled up snoring sweetly on his bedheets. She was fast asleep and he didn't want to disturb her. Despite the great need he felt to wrap his arms around her and join her in his bed, he decided to sleep in her room. She might not like the idea of me snuggling up to her without her asking me to he thought, sadly.

As he turned to go, he noticed the straightened books on the shelf.

"Oh, no." he whispered, the feathers on his back standing upright.

"Oh, no. She cleaned."

The portal was still open when Twilight, Starswirl and Rainbow Dash arrived at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Reporters were busy snapping away and police ponies had set up tape so no one got too close to the swirling vortex.

One of them noticed Twilight. "Stand back, Princess. It's for your own safety," he ordered.

"I see even the greatest mares of their age are still being patronized," muttered Starswirl.

"He's just doing his job," she said softly. "Though I don't know how we're going to get past everyone."

"Duh," said Rainbow Dash. "You're a Princess. Just tell them to get their flanks in gear."

"They're doing a good job at keeping civilians away," said Twilight. "Maybe I can speak to one of them." She moved towards one of the officers. "Excuse me," said Twilight. "Could we..."

"You guys need to get a move on!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "We're taking over from now on, by order of the Princess, and what the Princess says goes, got it?"

The officers began to look at each other and mutter.

"Are you questioning the Princess?!" shouted Dash, shoving her hoof firmly yet gently into the officer's vest.

"Er...no. No! We were just under orders."

"Well, you're under different orders now, and we all know royalty overules everything else," continued the pegasus. "So, march! Or we may have to instigate a law that restricts time at Donut Joe's!"

"Yes, Ma'am, yes Princess! Right away!" The police ponies shuffled off.

Twilight managed to uncringe herself long enough to say "couldn't you have handled that in a more tactful manner?"

"Hey, sometimes you've just gotta be assertive. Just ask Fluttershy."

The three ponies gazed up at the towering vortex.

"Well, we're here," said Starswirl. "Now what?"

As close to good as possible

Discord woke up late.

When he was on his own he often slept in when he felt like it, and his body clock, like the rest of him was rather irregular. Though he had made the effort to get up early to search for the monster, on this particular morning his brain had granted him a lovely dream.

Fluttershy wandered into the room with the soft throw draped around her to stave off the cold morning air, only to find the sleeping draconequus curled up with his arms around a pillow. His muzzle was buried in it. He seemed fast asleep until he spoke: "Fluttershy."

"Good morning, Discord," she said in response.

There was no reply and Discord continued to breathe steadily. She watched the rise and fall of his lungs.

"Erm, shall we have breakfast?" Fluttershy tried again.

Again there was no response and Discord continued to snooze.

"Mmmph, Fluttershy," he said into the pillow. His lizard foot twitched and his tail swished back and forth, then he rolled over on his side, taking the pillow with him and began to snore.

She realized he must have been exhausted. Fluttershy had gone to bed reasonably early but she had no idea what time Discord had bedded down. He really had been trying his best to find the monster. He'd continued his work on the species sheets and spent most of his time searching at either the bow or the crow's nest.

Fluttershy pulled the throw off her back and draped it over Discord's body. His bushy eyebrows and snout peered out from the top of the blanket and he instinctively pulled it around him and resumed snoring.

Fluttershy sat down on the bed and looked down at the draconequus's sleeping form. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. It was one of the few times he seemed to keep still for more than a minute.

Without thinking, she reached out and stroked his mane softly, causing him to shift slightly in his sleep and move closer to her. His right ear twitched once and his breathing steadied again.

Suddenly Discord opened his eyes and sat bolt upright. He was awake! It was a dream, though Fluttershy was here with him. Then he looked back over his shoulder at her, his eyes suddenly cold and hard.

"How much of that did you hear?" he said.

She realized he might have been dreaming about something he was embarrassed about. Nevertheless, all she had heard was her name. Was he embarrassed about her?

“You…weren’t making sense,” Fluttershy said. She guessed correctly that if Discord knew she was aware he had said her name out loud in his sleep he might feel embarrassed.

Discord pushed the throw aside, and planted his feet on the bedroom floor.

"Yeah, well," he said with a hard laugh. "What else is new?”

“Were you dreaming?”

“I guess so”, he said. “Dreams are stupid things, aren't they? Just a bunch of stuff your brain throws up like it’s randomly pulling weird files out of a drawer. Maybe I shouldn't eat yoghurt-covered pickles before I go to bed."

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Fluttershy softly.

"No, no no...I'm fine. I just need some coffee in me, is all." He snapped his fingers and was suddenly wearing his pink bathrobe.

He quickly opened the door to the galley and started boiling the coffee pot. As he let go of the handle he realized he was shaking.

Dammit.

He looked back over his shoulder. Fluttershy had not followed him. Maybe she had gotten the message that he needed to be alone, and he certainly didn't need to go back there and nuzzle up against her. Certainly not. He couldn't let her know how much he needed her. He just couldn't. The last time he had done that he had learnt that it didn't matter how much you needed someone--you were always expendable. He'd had the chaos sucked out of his body and he had been cast aside like an empty pea pod. Chaos was his only great love, really. It never questioned him or told him what he did was wrong or told him there were rules that had to be obeyed. All it did was exist and blossom. And it wasn't going to leave him, like everyone inevitably did.

Next door was a beautiful, kind mare who wanted to be his friend, but how long would that last? He was always screwing up, and he knew he was damn lucky she hadn't cut off contact with him after Tirek. Further complicating the issue were the non-platonic feelings he held for Fluttershy, so if she rejected his friendship it would hurt all the more. Fluttershy was only a pony; eventually everyone had a breaking point and he was sure at some point he would find it and ruin everything.

The coffee pot finished boiling and he stared at it as if he wasn't sure what the appliance was for. Minutes passed, and he hadn't moved.

He was lost in thought as he remembered the dream, which was partly based on a real memory.

It had been a crisp Autumn day in Ponyville. The leaves were starting to turn and fall and everything looked orange and red and yellow.

Fluttershy had insisted they go for a walk to look at the colours.

Normally Discord would have been up for enjoying looking at nature, but he would have preferred something more exciting, like a lion chasing its prey or a hurricane.

Plus it was cold. And he took every possible opportunity to mention it to her.

"It's freezing, Fluttershy," he whined. He had a long scarf wrapped around and around the length of his neck, a woollen hat covering his antlered and horned head, a coat and mittens. Fluttershy wore ear muffs, a scarf a sweater and winter boots.

"It's quite warm for late October," she said.

"I think we differ on what 'warm' is, said Discord, exaggerating the chattering noise his teeth were making.

“But it’s so beautiful, isn’t it?” said Fluttershy.

“Seen ten thousand Falls, seen them all,” muttered Discord. “And yet somepony still decided we should have a picnic in the park at this time of year. Everyone else seems to have done the sensible thing and stayed home.”

She looked over her shoulder and gave him a smile that he could only think of as “cheeky.”

“Since when do you care about what’s sensible?” she said.

He had to chuckle at that. “Okay, you’ve got me pegged there, Fluttershy.”

“Is there anything you like about the Autumn? I love the way the colours change and nothing stays the same. Almost wistful.”

He said nothing. He realized he was staring at her and cleared his throat.

“Well,” he said mischievously, “there are some things I do still like about Fall.”

“Such as?”

“Well, let me see. I do quite like the idea of Nightmare Night, though that didn’t exist before I got changed into a pigeon’s pooping perch. Some advice for you, Fluttershy: If you ever get turned to stone make sure not have your mouth open when it’s happening. However, back to Nightmare Night. I must say it’s one tradition you ponies came up with that appeals to moi. An entire night of playing pranks on ponies! Absolutely brilliant. I can’t wait until next week. Who do you think I should dress up as? I bet it would be a hoot if I went as Sparky.”

He suddenly changed shape before Fluttershy so that he looked like a facsimilie of the alicorn Princess with a giant crown on her head.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” he said in a mock sing-song parody of her voice. “And I’m a Princess and I’m so emo because being a Princess doesn’t amount to much, Waaah.”

“I…find Nightmare Night kind of scary,” she said.

Discord tittered as he flashed back into his usual form. “Ah, so there are some things about Fall that you’re not keen on either. Why is that? What is there to be afraid of? It’s just a bunch of ponies in masks making fun of Luna…and Twilight.” He rubbed his hands together in glee at the thought.

“It’s not quite like that…”

“I like to see it that way. But seriously, Fluttershy. Not sure why Nightmare Night seems so scary when you have me standing right here.”

“You…you’re not scary.”

There was a pause as he regarded her. No pony had ever said that to him. It was true that Celestia didn’t seem to find him scary but she had never said so in so many words. Furthermore, he was sure he had become a scary visage to her when he had brought chaos to Equestria. He tried not to think of the way swarms of locusts had eaten all the ponies’ crops and the hard, cold looks Celestia and Luna had given him before they turned him to stone.

“There is one other thing I like about Fall,” he said, trying to change the subject slightly. He dropped down on all fours and lowered his body slightly.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Well…it’s…” his body tensed and she realized what was going to happen before he shouted, “COMPLICATED!” and lunged for her. He teleported as he grabbed her so that they were 5 feet above a leaf pile someone had raked up earlier and then they plummeted into it.

Fluttershy’s initial terror at the surprise teleport gave way to relief and heady adrenaline as the soft leaf pile cushioned their fall.

“Besides, it’s much warmer inside this leaf pile,” said Discord.

She shrieked with laughter as his beard tickled her. Discord was laughing, and leaves were falling everywhere—into his mouth, into Fluttershy’s mane.

She laughed harder as she heard him trying to spit leaves out. By the time he had removed the last of the bits from his teeth, she was in hysterics.

Then everything was suddenly very still.

His arms wrapped around her slender frame. "Yup, it's much warmer in here," he said grinning. He looked down at her. Her head was poking out of a blanket of multi-coloured leaves and she smiled.

The small mare was leaning against his chest now and her eyes were closed.

She wasn't afraid of him. Come to think of it, she had never been afraid of him. Not once, not even in the maze. He liked that about her.

"Fluttershy, have you ever been to Horsetralia?"

"Discord?"

He looked up suddenly.

"You've been holding that coffee pot for over a minute."

He quickly poured himself a cup and walked past her, quickly trying to forget the bittersweet memory.

"We should continue our search," he said.

Twilight, Starswirl and the rest of the team minus Spike were back at the portal in the morning. Thankfully this time it didn’t seem to show any signs of disappearing. However, they were still all at a quandary as to how to explore it without being in extreme danger.

“Who knows what’s on the other side,” said Starswirl. “And how do we get back through once we’re there? I should have asked Discord to make the teleportation spell in duplicate.”

“Well he probably did that on purpose, didn’t he?” said Scriptum. “It’s just the sort of sneaky thing he would do from what you’ve told me.”

Starswirl sighed. He had really hoped Discord had learnt from his past mistakes. Perhaps he would never learn.

Twilight was quiet through the whole exchange. There was something not quite right about this whole scenario and she couldn’t put her hoof on why. It was true that Discord often thought ahead in the manner of a master chess player when he was scheming. She had seen that first hand when he had hid the Elements after breaking free from his stone prison, and once again when he had eaten all the reformation spells out of the books in her library. But when it came to things that made Discord emotional, all planning and scheming seemed to fall out the window. He just seemed to do whatever he could to make sure he could satisfy that emotion.

On the other hoof, perhaps that was exactly what was happening here. He had horsenapped Fluttershy because he wanted her to love him. But still..but still…

“It’s exactly the sort of thing he would do,” continued Scriptum. “Put his dirty old man talons on her. I mean, isn’t he the oldest being in Equestria? Disgusting.”

Starswirl looked up sharply.

“And just what,” he said, “is wrong with being an ‘old man’?”

Scriptum suddenly looked sheepish. “Nothing. I…didn’t mean it that way. I didn’t mean you…”

But Starswirl was already moving off to examine the portal again.

“Are you super sure with sugar on top that there are no spells in your books about travelling through that thing?” said Pinkie. Starswirl was amazed at how perky she seemed in the mornings, and without coffee too.

“Quite sure, Pinkie. There are many books on inter-dimensional travel but this is something wholly different. If only there was a way we could get through and be sure we could come back out again intact.”

“Well of course there is, silly,” said Pinkie.

Everyone looked at her as if she had sprouted two more pairs of legs and was walking around like a giant Pinkie Spider.

“What are you talking about?” said Starswirl.

“Yeah Pinkie,” interjected Applejack. “If Twilight an’ Starswirl can’t figure this out then how in the hay are we s’possed to just walk into that thing and come back alive?”

“That’s part of it,” said Pinkie in her singsong voice.

“What’s part of it?” asked Twilight. “Just walking in?”

Pinkie nodded so quickly it almost looked like her head was vibrating.“But you have to have a trail to get back.”

“Trail? Like a breadcrumb trail?” scoffed Scriptum with barely disguised disdain. This pink pony really was stupid, not to mention shrill and annoying. He wondered how a quiet beauty like Fluttershy could ever be friends with someone that loud.

“No, silly!” said Pinkie as though she hadn’t heard the malice in his voice. “I mean it’s like when you go into a maze. You tie a piece of string around yourself so you can find your way back out again.”

Starswirl looked at her.

“All we need to do is find some string or rope and one of us can go in and look around and the others can pull them back out again when the pony going in tugs on the rope.”

Starswirl was still staring at her with his mouth hanging open.

Scriptum sneered at her. “Pinkie,” he began. “That’s…”

“…Genius!” Starswirl finished for him. “It’s so blindingly obvious and yet none of us thought of it!”

“Do you think it will work?” asked Twilight.

“There’s only one way to be sure. Applejack, you and Rarity see if you can find some rope. The rest of you come with me…”

Discord spent much of his day in the crow’s nest. They had decided to scout up and down the various riverlets with Fluttershy looking from the bow as the boat moved along, and Discord scanning the distance. The draconequus couldn’t help but feel like they were searching for a horseshoe in a haystack. The dimension was vast, and ever changing and they still weren’t entirely certain that the jelly creature was in this particular dimension.

It felt hopeless.

Just like the situation with her is hopeless.

Discord felt like punching himself. He really didn’t want to be thinking about that right now. He hated it when he started becoming depressed.

But wait? Why was he becoming depressed? She was here, and she still cared about him, didn’t she? He took comfort in that. He took further comfort in the idea that she was away from Scriptum. He felt a bitter ache in his heart as he remembered how excited her words to him on the species sheet were. Except they hadn’t been for him. They had been for the unicorn.

The unicorn that had hurt her.

Scriptum had hurt her, he had crushed her wings and possibly her spirit as well. She wouldn’t go back to him. He had done something horrible to her.

Then a distant tendril in his mind brought forth the thought: You hurt her too.

No! He hadn’t. He would never hurt Fluttershy. He would never lay a destructive paw on her lovely wings or physically assault her in any way.

No, you just found another way to hurt her. One that was possibly far more devastating and disgusting.

Discord winced.

And so, his mind continued. If she’s forgiven you that transgression, then who’s to say that she wouldn’t forgive his milder one? After all, she had feelings for him. She never did for you.

Discord kicked the side of the crow’s nest hard with his goat leg.

“Shut up,” he said to his thoughts with gritted teeth.

They did. For now.

He watched a pair of sky whales glide past, their eyes on stalks looking in different directions for the tiny creature they fed on. Then his eyes moved down to the Pegasus at the bow of the ship.

Her mane was blowing in the breeze and it was illuminated by the light given off by the electrical impulses and fractal shapes floating past them. She looked up at the sky whales and spotted him. She smiled and waved.

He gave her a forced grin and waved back. He wished to chaos that he had never betrayed her to Tirek. What an utter fool he had been. Tricked! Tricked because he felt he needed someone. Perhaps it was better not to need anyone.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of her soft voice calling him down for lunch. He sighed and began walking down a spiral staircase he had created. He didn’t want to teleport right away. Perhaps walking down the stairs would give him some time to sort out his mood.

Fluttershy had made sandwiches in the galley and they sat on a picnic blanket.

Discord ate his sandwich in unusual silence.

Finally Fluttershy spoke. “You seem very quiet, Discord.”

“I’m just tired, Noodle,” he said to her. “It’s kind of hard for me to concentrate so much on one thing at a time.”

She nodded. “I’ve been feeling tired too, to be honest. I feel like sleeping during the day.”

He looked at her. She did look a little peaky.

“And at night?”

“At night it’s not so bad. It just feels like a normal Equestrian night. But in the day I can see everything moving and twisting and changing and I feel…not quite right.”

Discord realized the chaos dimension was starting to get to her. He was fine in his own domain, but Fluttershy’s internal functions such as her circadian rhythm were no doubt struggling to right themselves. Not only did the dimension seem to have no horizon, but without his magic it would have been impossible for Fluttershy to tell which way was up. Time also flowed differently here than it did back in the dimension the ponies lived in.

They really needed to find the monster so he could get her back home safely.

He noted Fluttershy hadn’t finished her sandwich.

“Hey, Flutters,” he said, “why don’t you go take a nap. I can take it from here.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to help. We have to find this thing.”

He looked at her, concerned. “I think you need to sleep. Maybe if you rest up you’ll be able to search better.”

She looked doubtful.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” he said to her. “And if you want, we can go over the species sheets in the evenings, and you can help me lay them out before we send them back.”

She thought about his suggestion. It sounded nice; she could rest and she would still be able to be useful in the evenings. She suddenly realized just how tired she felt and a yawn escaped her.

Discord patted her on the head with his paw.

“Go snooze, Flutter Nutter” he said. “Or I might have to sing you to sleep and believe me you wouldn’t want that.” He grinned.

Rainbow Dash had volunteered to go into the chaos dimension first, but Pinkie had insisted that two of them should go instead in case one needed to help the other out should some unforeseen situation arise. Since they were going into a chaos dimension that was highly likely.

“Remember to tug on the rope three times if you’re in danger at any point,” said Starswirl. “No hesitation. Do it quickly. And even if you see Discord and Fluttershy, if you’re in immediate danger you pull that rope instantly! The rest you keep a watchful eye on the rope. No slacking. Once Dash and Pinkie return we can figure out what to do next.”

They had tested the method using an old ponyquin. When they had pulled it back into their dimension the ponyquin had been intact.

“Good job, Buster!” Pinkie said to the ponyquin.

Scriptum rolled his eyes. Only Pinkie would decide to name a dummy.

Rainbow Dash’s heart was pounding. She knew her friends viewed her as the bravest of them, but the swirling vortex looked extremely ominous. There was even a low, creepy humming sound coming from it. And what lay on the other side? She hadn’t even been to Discord’s house, let alone the dimension itself. She knew it was full of strange creatures from what Fluttershy had told her, but what else? And were any of these creatures dangerous?

Pinkie on the other hand seemed raring to go.

“Oh boy!” she said. “I’ve never been through one of these!”

“None of us have, Pinkie, dear,” said Rarity.

“Right, enough lollygagging,” said Starswirl. “I think it’s time. Everyone ready?”

Pinkie and Dash moved forward slowly as the others started to give the rope some slack. Dash tentatively poked the membrane of the vortex with her hoof, then, taking a deep breath, poked her hoof through and pulled it back out again quickly. It looked intact.

She and Pinkie gave each other a look.

“On the count of three?” said the earth pony.

Dash nodded.

“One…two….three!”

They both jumped through the membrane, with Pinkie diving through in a cannonball pose.

Rainbow Dash realized she had instinctively shut her eyes as she dived into the portal. With great trepidation, she forced herself to open them and gasped.

All around them was what looked like static electricity. A huge beast with hundreds of eyes and flippers like a walrus floated past, each of its eyes giving the pair of ponies a look as it went by without giving the ponies any further thought. Rainbow tried to look up, then realized she didn’t know which way up was.

“Woooow…” Pinkie was saying. “It’s kinda sorta like being back in my mom!”

“What?!”

Dash had barely registered what the heck Pinkie was saying. She tried to right herself. Her heart was pounding. That monster hadn’t seemed interested in them, but who could say whether others might not be?

“Pinkie!” said Dash. “I think we should go back now!”

“Are you sure? Do you think we have enough information?”

“We aren’t dead yet. I think that’s pretty useful information.”

“Okie Dokie Loki!” said Pinkie. She pulled a notebook out of her mane and wrote the words “not dead” on the first page.

The two ponies tugged on their ropes and were suddenly jerked back through the membrane. They landed in a pile on top of their friends.

“Well?” said Starswirl.

“I wanna go again! I wanna go again!” shouted Pinkie.

As darkness fell, Discord slid down the ship’s mast like it was a fireman’s pole. He hit the deck of the ship with a thump and heard a soft whimper.

“Fluttershy?” he asked.

“I heard a noise,” came the voice from his room.

“That was just me,” he said. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m supposed to be helping you with the species sheets at night, remember?”

“I remember,” he said. “But first we must dine! You wait right there.”

Fluttershy sat on the doorstep of her bedroom while Discord rummaged in the galley. She did feel a little better after her nap, and the sapphire flies had started their nightly dance.

Once Discord had found some plates, he didn’t bother cooking; he simply snapped his fingers and some haydogs smothered in onions appeared on a plate.

“Le hay dog mademoiselle,” he said, appearing next to Fluttershy in a waiter’s outfit.

She giggled softly. “Thank you,” she said, taking the plate from his talon. “I’m actually famished.”

“No, you’re actually Fluttershy,” he said, bracing himself as she gave him her trademark withering look reserved for awful jokes.

She shook her head and groaned. Discord liked deliberately bad, annoying puns and jokes, probably because they mainly annoyed people. Fluttershy simply found his mischief, rather than the actual terrible jokes amusing.

Discord was uncharacteristically quiet again as they ate their haydogs in silence. There was something he wanted to ask her, but he worried it wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Soooo,” said Discord after a while. “What’s gonna happen when we get back?”

“Well we have to find the monster first.”

“Well, yes. I know that, but I mean…do you want me to do anything about Scriptum?”

Her eyes widened. “No, Discord. You should leave him alone. We need to concentrate on getting the creature to Twilight and Starswirl so they can find a cure for the pony in hospital. I haven’t decided what to do about Scriptum yet.”

She meant she hadn’t decided how to tell the others that he had hurt her, but Discord interpreted her words differently.

Oh, no, he thought.

Well, what did he expect, really? And what right did he have to say anything? Of course, that didn’t stop him.

“Fluttershy,” he said. “I don’t understand how he hurt your wings.”

“He was trying to hold me back. Like I said, I wanted to come and see you and make sure you were alright.”

His heart tugged in his chest. She had been concerned about his welfare. He felt a bit stunned by this information; she had just had her wings crushed and broken against her body and she had been worried about him.

She had known how much he hurt. He suddenly felt panic grip him.

“I was…fine, Flutter Nutter. Really. I was just going through the species sheets and was just about to set off to find the monster when I heard you outside my door. Good thing too, if you hadn’t called out I might have missed you. Besides, why worry about me? I live here.”

“That’s not what I was worried about,” she said softly. “Starswirl…he…He told us about what happened to you in the past.”

Discord’s colour drained from his face under his fur.

“He had no right to do that!” he said.

“He was worried about you! And I didn’t mean to hear the conversation. He had been talking to Twilight.”

“Oh, so he said private things to Twilight, then? Yes, that’s so much better.”

Fluttershy tried to ignore his snarky tone.

“He was worried about you thinking we had abandoned you all. I just want you to know I wouldn’t abandon you.”

Discord laughed a little too hard. “Oh, Flutters. Do you really think I’ve spent the past few days moping to myself? I’ve been working on this project. This project to study the taxonomy of this dimension, and if I can find that jelly beast in the process, well so be it.”

“Why did you start this project in the first place?” said Fluttershy.

For you.

“Just on a whim,” he said. “You know how it is. After all, I am the foremost authority on magical creatures, despite what others might think.”

She knew he was talking about Tree Hugger, and she suddenly saw through him.

“Discord, you didn’t need to start this project to prove yourself.”

“What on earth are you rambling about, Flutter Nutter? I just said I wanted to advance the frontiers of magic and science. Not all magic has to be clinical and practiced. There are things worth reading besides what Celestia and Luna teach you.”

“Discord, this is a really big project, and while I’m glad it exists, because it means we can work on finding a cure for that pony, I’m concerned that you did this because you felt you had something to prove.”

“Well, I do! I need to prove to you lot that chaos fauna is worth studying.”

“Specifically chaos fauna, not chaos magic.”

“Little from column A and little from column B,” he retorted.

Fluttershy looked at him steadily. “Look me in the eye and tell me the real reason you did this.”

He met her gaze and winced and looked at the ground after about 10 seconds.

“I knew it! Discord, what is this about?”

“It’s! It’s nothing bad…” he said. “I just…need…” he stopped himself in time before his heart run off with his mouth.

“…needed to show you that I was capable of doing something for you.”

“You shouldn’t do things just to prove yourself to me.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t misunderstand me,” she said softly. “I don’t mean it’s wrong to need…um. I mean I don’t mean it’s wrong to want to do things to help others, I just mean you can't just...rely on me to fix everything."

“Fix everything?”

“You can’t invest everything in me, Discord.”

She knew. As always she was able to see straight through him every time.

"You're all I've got,” he said.

"You know that's not true!"

"Fluttershy, the others don't like me. They merely tolerate me, and I know it. I know Twilight thinks I'm selfish."

“You can be selfish,” she said and he winced a little at her bluntness, but it was softened when she continued, “everyone can be selfish sometimes. No one is perfect. I’m sure Twilight didn’t mean it the way you think.”

He snorted. “I’m sure she did after Starswirl airing my dirty laundry for all and sundry to pass judgement on.”

“We still all want to be your friend, Discord. Please don’t think otherwise.”

“They want to be my friend now. But wait until I screw up again, Fluttershy. They’ll all turn into ice ponies again. It’s like I take one step forward and four steps back.” His legs detached from his body and did a little back and forth to illustrate his point.

"It’s not entirely up to my friends to make the effort. You have to try too. It’s a two way street. Besides,” she continued softly, “like I said, you can’t invest everything in me. It isn’t fair on either of us.”

“Why?”

"Discord, I won't always be here."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. My lifespan is shorter than yours."

Discord fought back a groan. He didn't want to think about that right now. He tried very hard not to think about that particular topic, and he remembered how terrified he had felt when he thought he had lost her to the monster. But he was going to lose her anyway, wasn’t he? At some point down the line he would. And then what?

He whispered: "That's what I mean. When you're gone, I won't have your friendship anymore."

"All the more reason to start making new friendships," she said. "Discord, I'm saying this because I want you to be happy. You deserve to have lots of friends and be happy."

He thought of Tirek, and the look on Fluttershy's tear-stained face as he stomped all over her heart that day.

"Do I?"

She looked at him sadly.

“Please don’t hate yourself, Discord.”

“Why are you so…”

But he never finished his sentence, because he was suddenly hit in the face by a huge black blob.

Fluttershy screamed.

Discord struggled for air. One minute he had been about to ask Fluttershy why she was so patient and caring and kind to him of all people, then he felt a wet mass on his face and he felt like he was suffocating. He was suffocating.

He thrashed about on the deck of the ship, trying to free his face. He could hear Fluttershy yelling and he felt sharp objects dig into his neck. In panic, he reached up and tried to get a grip on whatever the squishy thing on his face was and dug his lion claws and eagle talons into it.

The creature released its grip on his face momentarily as if it was taking its own gasp of air. Discord took the opportunity to whack it straight in the face with a blast of kinetic energy. The creature squealed as it hit the deck, but was quickly upright again.

Discord got his first good look at it since he had last seen the thing. It had a single eye in the middle of where he guessed its head was, but for the most part it looked like a shapeless black blob, and not a shiny, changing kind of black like a raven’s feather. It was more like it was made of nothing. It wasn’t even transparent the way other jelly creatures like the Smooze were. Instead he could see nothing behind it through its wet skin. It did, however, have three pairs of sharp clawed legs.

Now that Discord had a better visual lock on his opponent, he started to feel more confident about what to do. The creature hissed at him. It seemed to be unaware of Fluttershy or was ignoring her as she yelled at it to stay away from her friend.

Discord lunged for the creature, throwing another ball of energy its way. He was surprised to feel the thing put up a tremendous fight. Usually Discord could overpower anything with his magic fairly quickly but this thing was thrashing like mad.

He tightened his hold on the creature and used the energy to hold the creature firmly down on deck. It was like trying to hold onto a slippery, flopping fish.

“Keep still!” he yelled out loud at the thing. Suddenly it shot out of his grasp like a slippery eel and quickly moved to the other side of the ship.

For a second he thought it was about to escape and he panicked, but suddenly the creature came at him at lightning speed. To his other horror it seemed bigger somehow. Its face formed the same strange funnel shape it had when it had been attacking the sky whale. Discord didn’t have time to dodge; the thing was on his face again.

He suddenly felt ice cold as if something had gripped hold of his magical centre and his heart at the same time. He tried crying out but could only make strangled or muffled noises.

Then there was a smacking sound and the tendrils uncoiled from his chest and face and he could breathe again.

He struggled to sit upright and saw Fluttershy standing over the creature with a frying pan in her hooves.

She had tears in her eyes.

“I don’t like hurting things,” she said.

“It was trying to tear my face off!” said Discord. But he softened when he saw how frightened she looked.

They both approached the creature. It wasn’t moving.

“Not taking any chances this time,” said Discord. He placed the thing in a glass jar again, but this time sealed the area around it with a binding spell. He wasn’t keen on binding spells. He wasn’t keen on anything that even remotely resembled what had happened with him and the statue, but in this case he had no choice.

Then as he got his breathing back under control and the adrenaline made him shaky on his feet, he realized what they had done.

“Fluttershy…we. We caught it!”

“We did!” she said in wonder.

Discord started laughing then he did a little jig on top of the creatures jar.

“We caught it!” he practically sang. “Nyah nyah nyah!” He thumbed his nose at the trapped creature.

“We have to take it back!”

“Right away, Madam,” said the draconequus with flourish, bowing to her. “I’ll just teleport us on out of here!”

He snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

“Whu? Must have misfired,” he said. “Just a sec.”

He focused. Ponyville he thought, and he snapped his fingers again.

Fluttershy was still standing before him on the boat. She blinked at him.

“What the hell?” growled Discord. Terror gripped him as he imagined the worst case scenario, and he quickly snapped his fingers so that flowers sprouted all over the deck of the ship. Then he snapped his fingers again and they disappeared. Next he jumped up and floated above the ship, then returned to the floor to join Fluttershy.

“My magic seems to be working but I can’t teleport,” he said.

“Why?”

“I don’t know! That…that thing must have done it!” His hackles rose as he stared at it and he instinctively bared his teeth at it.

“How do we get home?”

He thought for a minute. “We could just go back the same way we came, but it doesn’t buy us much time, unfortunately. We can travel a little faster as we won’t be looking for what we have anymore, but it’s not ideal.” He snapped his fingers one more time to test teleportation. Nothing. He groaned.

“We’ll have to set off immediately,” he said to her.

She nodded. “Let’s turn this thing around and go home!”

Home he thought. Home was back where Scriptum was. The euphoria he initially had at catching the creature suddenly began to fade. He was taking her back to him.

Perhaps his faulty magic wasn’t an entirely bad thing after all, if he got to spend more time with her…before she went back to him.

Scriptum had returned to the castle with the excuse that he needed to do more work on the species sheets. This was partly true. Despite his working round the clock he felt like he hadn’t made a dent in the workload the draconequus had sent through. It was ridiculous. He felt like he was working under a mountain of paper.

Still, at least it seemed like they were closer to getting Fluttershy back from that freakish monster. Scriptum briefly entertained the idea of writing his own species sheet for Discord:

**Discord: Draconequus.* Smelly, beastly, haphazard, evil ruler of chaos dimension. Is incredibly selfish and likes stick his snout where he isn’t wanted. Once terrorized Equestria. Remarkably ugly thing too. Probably a pervert, since he doesn’t appear to stick to his own species and instead spends his time eyeing up mares.*

He suddenly wanted Fluttershy back badly. If Discord was that touchy feely with her in public then what the hell was he doing now?

She wouldn’t tolerate it, though? Would she? Would the fact that she didn’t want him touching her mean that would stop him though?

He shuddered. He could hear rain hammering down on the roof of the library wing.

“’Sup?”

Scriptum jumped at the sound of Spike’s voice.

“Oh, it’s just you, Spike.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” said the dragon. “I know it can feel a bit creepy in here at night, especially when it’s stormy outside.”

Scriptum regarded Spike for a moment then said: “Spike, you appear to be a dragon of the world.”

“I do?” Spike puffed out his chest and then said “uh…I mean, I do.”

“Precisely my point. I want to ask your advice on something.”

“Fire away,” said Spike, pleased to be asked for his opinion on something for once.

“Do you think Discord would hurt Fluttershy?”

Spike was surprised at the question. It seemed to be quite a heavy one, but after a short pause he replied.

“To be honest, no. I don’t think he would. He loves her, you know.”

Scriptum could feel his teeth setting hard behind his lips at the dragon’s innocent bluntness.

“Oh?” he said innocently.

“Yeah. I mean, you don’t have to worry about that or anything. She doesn’t have feelings for him.” He suddenly felt very sad as he thought of Rarity. Spike knew he wasn’t a grown up draconian like Discord, but he couldn’t help but feel slight empathy for the draconequus.

Scriptum managed to hide his pleasure at this information. He didn’t want anyone to think there was no urgency in getting Fluttershy back.

“But Spike,” he drawled. “You do know that one of the reasons Discord plunged Equestria into chaos was because a mare didn’t love him?”

“Really? Which mare?”

“Princess Celestia.”

The little dragon looked shocked. Obviously he hadn’t been told about Discord and the Princess’ past.

“That was why she imprisoned him in stone,” continued Scriptum. “Because he selfishly wanted the world to suffer for what he couldn’t have. He was a monster, Spike. And possibly still is. This is what he’s like when he wants something. I…I am very concerned for Fluttershy’s safety.” He looked pained.

“Geeze, when you put it like that it does make Discord sound scary,” said Spike. He now felt scared for Fluttershy’s safety as well.

“This is why we all need to make sure we find her as soon as possible. Then we might need to go to Princess Celestia and Luna and ask them where to go from there, but I suspect horsenapping carries a heavy punishment in Equestria.”

“It does,” said Spike. “I had to read up on Equestrian law for a project Twilight was working on once. It was soooo boring, did you know that according to Code IV, appendix 3a…”

“Spike,” interrupted Scriptum. “I think we should send a letter to Princess Celestia immediately and ask if she can offer any help.”

“Really? I mean, Twilight’s a Princess now so maybe we should go talk to her…”

“It’s really not my place to say, but I fear this may be beyond Twilight’s reach. I mean, we’ve only just managed to breach the chaos dimension. The others are still working on how we’re going to travel in it. I think we need someone who has thousands of years of experience, and I mean someone who isn’t Discord.”

“Y—you’re right,” said Spike. “Okay, you dictate the letter, and I’ll write it and send it off.” He found a quill and parchment and climbed up on a stool next to Scriptum. It felt good to feel needed.

“I knew you’d see it my way, Spike,” said S criptum, putting his hoof around the little dragon and rubbing his head. “After all, you’re a dragon of the world.”

Fluttershy noticed that Discord seemed subdued on the journey back. Since he no longer needed to search for anything, he spent most of his time at the bow instead of the crow’s nest. His tail was wrapped tightly around the jar containing the jelly monster, and every now and again he gave it a suspicious look, but mostly he looked a little sad as he looked out across the dimension that was his home.

As dawn approached, Fluttershy could see the crackling energy and light in the distance and she decided she should probably bed down for the day.

The problem was she didn’t feel tired. She wondered if sleeping during the evenings had disturbed her circadian rhythm even more. If anything she felt fidgety, as if she was brimming with energy. Perhaps it was the excitement and terror they had both experienced when they had fought and captured the creature. She sighed and closed the door to her bedroom before giving her friend one final look through the blinds, then she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, wondering why she didn’t feel like sleeping at all.

Discord was in a funk.

He wished he could stop himself feeling the way he did. He really had no right to tell Fluttershy who she could and couldn’t love. Every time his mind told him that Scriptum had hurt her, a smaller internal voice pointed out that so had he.

He couldn’t see any way out of his dilemma.

All he did for the rest of the day was eye the unconscious monster suspiciously and tap the glass with his talon to test its robustness. There was no way this thing was escaping his clutches again.

A couple of times he nodded off at the bow and woke up with a start, ready to panic, but the creature remained still and contained within its jar.

The third time he nodded off he woke up with a snort when he felt a hoof lightly tapping on his back.

“Oh, hey Fluttershy,” he said. Part of him hated that he was instantly delighted to see her.

“Are you alright?” she asked softly.

“Never better. I almost got my face sucked off by Mister Hoover here. How are you holding up?”

I feel restless, she thought, but she didn’t say so. “I’m okay,” she said quietly.

He tilted his head and his ears pricked forward. “Then why do you look sad, Noodle?”

“I…I was thinking about our conversation earlier. I didn’t mean to be so harsh with you. I…just don’t want to hurt you again.”

He felt the attempts he had been making to freeze his heart melt at her soft voice.

“You didn’t hurt me,” he said softly. “It was a misunderstanding. I know you weren’t trying to make me feel bad.”

“I just want you to be happy. You’re my friend, Discord and I really care a lot about you. I hope you believe me.”

He felt himself melt further. “’Course I believe you, Fluttershy.” He sighed. “You’re probably right, you know. I…I should try and be nicer to Sparky and Co. Truth is I do like your friends, but I assume they don’t like me at all, so I don’t want them to know I like them because then they hold all the cards. Know what I mean?”

She did. “We won’t abandon you, Discord. I’m just sorry I’ve been such a bad friend.”

He looked at her like she had just told him she wanted to electrocute a field mouse.

“Come again?” he said.

“I was trying to be with someone who wouldn’t hurt me,” she said. “But Scriptum wasn’t a nice pony after all. I’m just afraid nice people might want to hurt me for a reason. What’s wrong with me, Discord?”

He was shocked.

“Fluttershy…”

He could see tears falling down her muzzle now.

“Is there something wrong with me, because I’d really like to know what it is I’m doing wrong?”

“Hey,” he said softly. “No, none of that.” He waved his paw and tear-drinking moths appeared and lapped the liquid off her face. With another wave of his paw they were gone.

“Am I a bad pony?” she sobbed.

“Look at me, Fluttershy,” he said.

"When you've lived as long as I have, Fluttershy, you start to realize there are no defined lines between nice and not nice, or good and bad, or virtuous and evil, or harmonious and disharmonious. All those things actually do, is overlap. Like Chaos- so many ponies want to believe it's pure evil, and it's not. No one appreciates it for what it is. It's not a purely good or purely bad force, nothing is pure bad or good. Not even the Elements of Harmony."

Fluttershy nodded, lost in thought.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say Fluttershy, is 'nice' isn't always 'nice.' It's how you react to things. I know I'm not a good pony, I get that, but...I hope you don't think I'm a bad pony either."

He looked at the ground then felt her hoof on the side of his face, softly stroking him. His eyes closed and his ears flattened.

“I don’t think you’re a bad pony at all,” she whispered.

"Fluttershy," he said.

"Yes?"

" The unequivocal answer is: No, Fluttershy. You are not a bad person. Don't you EVER think you're a bad person. Me...I'm...I thought I found someone who understood me and I was wrong, and I hurt you because I thought Tirek wanted my friendship."

Because I thought Tirek needed me and I wanted to be needed back.

He put his paw and claw on her shoulders as he faced her.

"That's what someone who is not a good pony would do, Fluttershy, though to be honest, as I said, when you've lived as long as I have you realize that 'good' and 'evil' are arbituary terms. Nothing is purely good or purely evil; it's more like an overlapping tapestry. This is true of everything and everyone. Even harmony isn't purely good, despite what many ponies think. But...you? Fluttershy, you saved me. Twice. You… you're as close to good as possible so don't you ever think otherwise."

There was silence for a moment, then Discord cleared his throat. He seemed almost embarrassed about how candid he had been with her. "Well," he said, getting up to go to make his way to the galley for a nightcap, “I suppose now that this hunk of blubber has been captured we should both try to get some sleep. No reason to stay up, we’ll just go where the tide is taking us and eventually we’ll be back in my neighbourhood.”

“Discord,” she said softly.

“Mmm?” he said, looking up at her. He did feel extremely exhausted.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome Flutter Nutter. Any time.”

“Good night, Discord,” she said and closed her bedroom door.

“G’night, Noodle.”

After pouring himself a drink and knocking it back, he stretched and yawned and climbed into his bed, burying his face in the soft pillows. Dear chaos, he needed sleep. He felt almost as if that thing had drained him of energy as well as stunted part of his magic.

Soon the draconequus was fast asleep as his body attempted to recuperate.

Fluttershy, on the other hand was wide awake. The restlessness she had earlier seemed to have increased and her conversation with Discord was still fresh in her mind. She had thought Scriptum was nice, and in some ways he was. He was polite, well-spoken and seemed to be invested in the project.

But he wasn’t nice to her, and it seemed as if he didn’t even know her. And she had almost gone to bed with him. She rolled over onto her side and sighed. It felt hot in this room. She opened the window a tiny bit to let air in and lay back down on the bed, beginning to feel a little more comfortable.

Her thoughts drifted back to Discord. Her room was clean and airy now that the window was open, but she missed the way his bedsheets had smelled. His fur gave them a comforting scent that she wished she was breathing in right now.

She thought of a few days ago, when she had seen him climbing up the mast.There had been wiry strength in his body. He didn't always use it, because he could float or use magic to move around, but when he did, he looked flexible and he looked...attractive.

What would it be like to sleep with a dark, wiry chaos god?

She started at the thought.

What is wrong with you, Fluttershy? What kind of thought is that? You haven't even done it with a regular stallion and you're considering sleeping with an immortal chaos god that can warp the fabric of reality? Girl, you and I are going to have to have a serious talk when we get home.

She rolled over onto her stomach and her wings folded and unfolded across her back.

Except...except...it's kind of...exciting...

Surely that was just her hormones making her think things like that? Surely it didn't matter that his big, strong paw on her waist made her feel feminine and dainty...that his voice sounded velvety and dangerous when he wanted something?

She gave a little gasp as the thought made her body twinge. She suddenly understood why she was feeling restless and fidgety.

Her mind seemed adamant that it wanted her to focus on her observations of Discord’s wiry figure and smell. In fact, it seemed the more thoughts of that nature crept into her brain, the lighter she felt.

Is this a good idea?

Surely it didn’t matter that his smell was comforting. Lots of smells were comforting. The smell of hot cocoa was comforting, even the smell of Angel’s rabbit hutch was comforting because it reminded her of home.

The barrage of thoughts continued.

Surely it didn’t matter that his coat smelt like a rainstorm or that electrical burning in the air after a thunderstorm.

Surely it didn't matter that he thought she was the closest thing to good there was, that he made her feel like she was his world and he was revolving around it. That he made her feel like a person, not a mare that was only supposed to be nice and pretty.

That he loved her.

She lay there in the dark looking up at the ceiling.

Discord woke up when he heard the door to his bedroom click. He wasn't sure what time it was, and checking a timepiece would likely have not done any good, as time flowed differently in the chaos dimensions. His ears flexed as he listened for more sounds.

Silence. The sapphire flies outside created soft, blue reflections across his body and the bed as they glided past the window.

After a while of laying there in the darkness, he felt the other side of the bed press down and then felt an arm slip around his middle and the soft mane and head of Fluttershy resting on his chest.

"Hi," he whispered.

His heart was beating rapidly. He could feel her warm, light breath on his chest feathers and he swallowed, hard. He wasn't sure why, but this felt different to the time a few nights ago when they had shared a bed and he had held and comforted her.

Be a gentlecolt he told himself. He started to relax, then he felt Fluttershy nuzzling against his feathers and he gasped instinctively and sat bolt upright.

He could just about see her face in the dim, blue light.

"You can't do this," he whispered.

"Why?"

"Because I'll screw it up, Fluttershy. Not...the...er...I mean I'll screw us up. I always do, don't I?"

"I'm in heat, Discord."

His mouth fell open.

"What?" was all he could say.

"I'm in heat."

Discord's head was swimming. No wonder everything felt so different. He was obviously reacting to whatever her body was doing to him. And now he was busy fighting the urge to suddenly press her into the bed sheets and kiss her.

"Why are you telling me this?" he croaked, his mouth suddenly very dry.

"Because I want you."

I want you too. You have no idea how badly I want you.

He held up a claw and said "The very fact that you're in heat makes me pretty sure that you don't want me. I'm just readily available."

Very readily available his mind said, almost as if it was chuckling at him.

Then she was moving towards him, up his body so that her face was level with his.

"You're wrong," she whispered, in a voice that seemed to be doing delightful things to his nervous system. "Mares get to choose who they're with.I get to choose.”

Discord had pressed his own body flat against the bed. He was torn between his desire and the urge to run out of the room. He wanted Fluttershy very much, but what if she didn't really want this? He'd been wrong before when he assumed she had wanted him through the notes they had written on the species sheets.

Discord felt he should say something; Something suave and seductive.

"Hurrrgle," he blurted out.

Smooth, Discord. Smooth. He grinned sheepishly.

Her face was inches from his, and she had tilted her head and lowered her eyelids as if in expectation. Oh, how he wanted this--but Starswirl had told him not to get involved with any of the six girls.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

The scent of her gossamer mane went up into his nostrils and he shivered. As if he was on autopilot, he ran one of the fingers of his paw along Fluttershy's lower lip. He was going to kiss her and he couldn't stop. He was selfish, he knew that.

Discord had awful willpower when it came to saying "no" to those who wanted him, but the fact that it was Fluttershy made things worse. His feelings for her were ridiculously strong and he was sure this was going to end in tears despite her brave move. However, he couldn't resist her. She felt good.

He could hardly remember the last time he had felt something this good.

Without further hesitation he crossed the short distance left between them and pressed his lips hungrily against hers. He felt her soft fore arms tighten around his neck and he ran his talon through her mane as their kissing became more intimate. The tempo of her breathing shot up, and it excited him. He pressed his lion paw firmly yet gently against her lower back, bringing her body closer to his, then he shifted and his mouth found her throat.

Fluttershy sighed. He was kissing and nibbling her neck tenderly and it sent little sparks of electricity through her body.

Discord was shaking a little. Starswirl's warning to him was fading away in the back of his mind with occassional glimpses of lucidity. It didn't last.

What am I doing...what am I...oooh, god. Fluttershy.

She had nipped him under his jawline and he was now completely lost. He growled. In one move he flipped them over so that she was on her back and he kissed her deeply as he pressed his body against hers and into the sheets.

The rough feeling of his feathery and scaly body against hers made Fluttershy feel as if her body had been set alight with need. She'd had heats before, but had spent them alone. She had never felt a male's body against hers so intimately and to her surprise, every touch from her friend felt simultaneously comfortable and exciting. Everything felt right…

"Fluttershy," he was whispering. "I need you..."

She arched her back as he began to explore her with his mouth.

Discord hadn't enjoyed such lovely chaotic sounds in ages.

Later they lay tangled up in each other, trying to catch their breaths. He rested his head on her chest and she stroked his mane tenderly. Discord couldn't help it- a soft bird like sound of contentment emerged from his throat. It was his version of a purr.

Fluttershy was strangely reminded of the clucking sound a parrot made when she petted it on the head, but the sound was also dove-like. She kissed the tip of his nose tenderly.

"Score," he whispered. She giggled softly.

"I...take it I was good then?" he asked, grinning.

She smiled and continued to stroke his mane.

"No complaints here."

He sighed and nuzzled the soft fur on her chest, and held her until he could hear the soft sounds of the pegasus sleeping.

Soon his mind began to do its usual dance of self-doubt. What had just happened had been unbelievable, and like many good things in his life, he started to worry that he was back in the statue and imagining things. Then he started to worry about things that might happen if by some blessed chance, this just happened to be reality and not a dream born of sensory-deprivation.

She’s…amazing. What if I screw it all up again? I mean, this moment...this moment right here is amazing. But what do I do now?

Then, for the first time in a very long time, his mind gave him very good advice:

Enjoy it.

One of these things first

Discord slowly opened his eyes and was met with the sight of the soft pink tousled mane of Fluttershy laying next to him. It took him a few moments to process what was going on.

Did we?

He remembered the sweet, broken, delightfully chaotic cries she had uttered when he pleasured her, and the feel of her soft skin underneath her fur as he ran his paw and talon across it.

Yes we...did.

As his eyes came into focus they gobbled the sight of her up. She was asleep, but her cheeks were rosy -- the look of a satisfied, content mare. Discord mentally patted himself on the back for still being able to keep the ladies happy in that department. He softly stroked her mane and tenderly ran his paw along her jawline. Part of this was affection, but part of this was also to convince himself that this was actually happening and he wasn't dreaming or hadn't created some facsimile of her and was going mad.

Panic suddenly gripped him and he leapt across the bed to the window and opened the blinds with his claws.

The jelly beast still sat in its magically reinforced glass prison. It still looked unconscious. The draconequus sighed with relief and lay back down on the bed. He had been certain that was going to be the thing he screwed up.

Guess not.

He shifted his body so that he was facing the snoozing pegasus. She was still asleep.

He knew in another day they would be home. He sighed. He wished they had more time together.

He kept telling himself that this wasn't going to be a long term thing. She was sure to reject him once she was home. She had been in heat, after all.

All of a sudden Starswirl's words crashed down on him mentally.

The unicorn had told him not to get involved with any of the girls, and he had just gone and done that. He wasn't sure how Fluttershy felt about the situation, but he was certain he was smitten with her and how was Starswirl going to respond when he found out the two of them had been intimate?

He doesn't have to know about us.

That was true enough. Fluttershy didn't seem to be the type of girl who would just walk up to someone and tell them about her sexual encounters. Starswirl could remain ignorant about this whole situation and no one would get hurt.

Fluttershy was the most loving, caring, trusting pony he had ever met, and part of him was still baffled as to why this beautiful creature had come into his life, and was not only his friend, but had just gone to bed with him. He told himself several times that he was awake and not actually dreaming.

"You're an amazing mare, you know that?" he whispered.

He wrapped his lion arm around her body and curled up against her. Soon he was asleep too.

All was right with the world, for now.

An hour later Fluttershy rolled over onto her side gently and opened her eyes.

As they slowly came into focus, she realized she had a draconequus paw draped around her and she could feel and hear the sound of him breathing as he slept. She could also feel his heartbeat- it was slow and calm, in contrast to last night when she felt it pounding as he pressed his body against hers. Her face felt hot at the memory, but it was not an unpleasant one.

Oh my she thought.

It had been wonderful, but now that she was awake she had a lot to think about, and the rainy smell of Discord's feathers was distracting. She realized her heat wasn't over, but she was now thinking with a clearer head.

The first question she supposed she needed to ask herself was did she regret anything?

No, she didn't.

The second question, and the one that seemed far more difficult to answer was: how did she feel about her friend?

How would I classify him?

She watched him as he slept. He was attractive, in an odd sort of way. Not conventionally so, by any means, but then nothing about Discord seemed conventional. He was not the sort of person that would immediately strike a casual onlooker as attractive, but if he spoke, or moved or his face lit up with mirth then everything suddenly seemed infectious, as if there was a secret he wasn't letting you in on, but you were intrigued enough to stick around in case you found out what it was.

And he's smart, she thought. She reached out with her hoof and stroked the feathers on his chest. He was a very brainy person. Once again his intelligence was not at all conventional, but he seemed to know a lot and was extremely adept at using his magic.

And he's sweet. He was definitely this, though he seemed to show it more when he was alone with her rather than around her friends, so understandably they seemed a bit skeptical about it. But yesterday he had managed to comfort her with his words; managed to comfort her enough so that she felt comfortable being in this bed with him with his paw around her body.

Do I love him?

She realized with surprise as she continued to stare at him that the answer was "yes".

But can I tell him that?

She sighed to herself. Yes, she found Discord attractive and intelligent, and he was very sweet to her, but he was also extremely jealous, sometimes rude to people she cared about and--perhaps the biggest obstacle--he had once betrayed her.

She was afraid she might not be able to overcome that last one.

He had amazingly admirable qualities, but amazingly bad ones too- he was multidimensional. Perhaps it was best not to risk bringing up her feelings until she knew more about the situation.

She loved someone who wasn't nice, but who also wasn't a bad person. And here she thought her first time was going to be rather uncomplicated!

She realized her muzzle was buried in his chest feathers and she nuzzled against him.

"Mornin', Darling," said the draconequus. She could feel the grin in his voice.

"Good morning," she whispered.

He shifted his body so that he was face to face with her. His face fell when he saw that she wasn't smiling. He felt like his chest was imploding.

“You...you regret what we did...?” he began.

“I don't regret it,” she said softly. “But I need time to think.”

He turned away from her on the bed.

He felt her arms wrap around him from behind and his ears flattened against his head.

"We'll figure it our, okay?" she whispered, her head resting on his long neck. "We're friends."

"Friends who just slept together." Oh god, what am I going to do?

"I know! I just...I need a clear head right now and I don't have one, Discord! I can hardly think straight."

"So you weren't thinking straight when it happened after all," he said softly.

"That isn't what I meant...I've got so much to think about, okay? Please believe me when I say I care very much about you."

Discord almost winced at the irony. In his long life, he'd had many awkward conversations with stallions and mares he'd woken up to after a night of fun. After a while he just stopped listening to them entirely and either teleported or made them vanish. He'd had no need for sex to get overly complicated--if someone wanted to touch him that way then he'd happily go along with it, but he refused the idea of more. Part of it was the idea of being tied down. It made him feel suffocated. He also wasn't entirely sure he could stop being that kind of person for Fluttershy. And yet the irony was he didn't want her to kick him out of bed. He didn't want her to tell him it was a one-time-only thing. He didn't want to be without her soft embrace. He loved her, and it was different to all those other times with other creatures and other ponies precisely because she cared about him. On the other hoof, there were many things he thought he'd never do for a pony that he had done for Fluttershy.

He was vaguely aware that she was nuzzling his neck. Of course, she was still in heat.

"Flutters..."

She pulled back quickly. "Sorry! I'm sorry."

He smelled so nice. Why had she never realized how beautiful the smell of his coat was?

Discord wasn't sorry. He wasn't sorry at all. He wanted her.

He turned to face her. Her face looked flushed and he immediately thought she looked incredibly gorgeous just lying there with her mane pooled around her.

"I should probably go make breakfast or something," she was saying. "I don't mean...to..."

"You're right." He was moving closer to her and his paw snaked around her middle. "It would be a bad idea for us to proceed..."

"Definitely..."

"We don't want to complicate things," he said, running his fang down the length of her neck.

"No," she gasped. "We...don't."

"Or do anything either of us might regret..."

"Certainly not..."

"I can stop anytime I want..."

The rest of the morning was spent with considerably less chit chat and more action. A few times Discord knocked over the bedside lamp and some books with his tail. Fluttershy bumped her head on the headboard. Discord fell off the bed in his haste, dragging the pegasus with him.

There were times when Fluttershy was surprised at how powerful she felt, especially when he was beneath her saying things like "Fluttershy...please..."

It would have been hilarious but they were both too caught up in each other to notice.

Celestia had spent the morning fretting after reading Scriptum's letter.

She had her doubts about the message, but she also had fears about it too. Why hadn't Twilight Sparkle contacted her directly? Something seemed off, but she couldn't put her hoof on it.

As for Discord, as much as she wanted to believe Scriptum was mistaken about him horsenapping Fluttershy, she had misjudged the draconequus before—twice. The first time she had believed he was capable of being mature about the fact that she had to enter into an arranged marriage because of politics, and the second she had believed he was trustworthy enough to capture Tirek. She had been wrong on both counts.

Celestia quickly penned a letter to Twilight care of Spike:

Dearest Twilight,

Your archivist has contacted me about a grave situation regarding Discord. I would like to discuss this matter more with you. Please respond soon.

Princess Celestia.

Exactly fifteen minutes later came the reply:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am aware of the situation and I agree with Scriptum. I think Discord could be dangerous at the moment and we may need to take drastic measures to get Fluttershy back. I worry that he's been driven to madness. We have devised a way to travel in the chaos dimension but will need back up.

Princess Twilight

Celestia felt an unwelcome but familiar emotion: panic.

Fluttershy sighed happily. Her heat was dissipating, but she felt warm and content.

She sat at the bow of the ship with a mug in her hand and sporting a bathrobe Discord had conjured up for her. She didn't exactly need it, but it felt comforting against her fur.

Discord was still in bed. He said he felt sore after the day's physical activities. When she asked him if he was okay, he chuckled and said:

“I'm more than okay. It's the good kind of ache.”

She smiled. “Oh...I hope I wasn't too rough.”

“You can do whatever you like to me,” he said, grinning. Then she had left him to snooze.

Fluttershy sipped her tea and thought about the situation. Her first time had been wonderful, and it had been with someone she cared about and loved, but that didn't change the fact that reality would hit soon when everything went back to its regular routine. That wasn't to say she hadn't felt incredibly nervous at times, but Discord seemed to know what he was doing. Better than that, he had been gentle with her while still being incredibly passionate. She realized he must have had the benefit of thousands of years of sexual experience. And yet he was terrible with interpersonal relationships. She wondered why this was. Discord was still a loose cannon. She didn't want to think about her friend that way, but he was. She trusted him enough to have her first time with him, but did she trust him enough to have a relationship with him?

After a while she decided she would ask Twilight for her advice when this was all behind them. Maybe even speak to Princess Cadance. If anyone would know what to do it would be the Princess of Love. Discord hadn't brought up the subject so she assumed there was no urgency. She smiled, her head feeling clearer. Night was falling on the Hydaspis and she decided to go check on Discord and ask if he wanted a cup of tea. She walked up to the door of his bedroom and pushed it open.

“Discord?”

“Mmph?” He sat up. She giggled. His feathers and mane were sticking out at odd angles everywhere. She felt the urge to smooth them down for him – preen him.

“Hey, Pretty Lady,” he grinned. “I'm feeling mighty sore still and I think my old bones could use a good...boning.”

Fluttershy burst out laughing at the not-quite-innuendo She knew they were both too tired to continue what he was suggesting.

“Yeah, you know me only too well,” he chuckled. “Truth is I'm so sore that the thought of any sort of exercise feels impossible right now. You really did a number on me, Fluttershy. If I had known you were such a powerhouse I'd have worn protection.” He was suddenly wearing armour and brandishing a sword.

“I thought knights were supposed to rescue fair maidens?”

“Well, I'm not a knight. And...” he waggled his eyebrows, “...you're no longer a maiden.”

She blushed a little at this. It made Discord's heart tug at his chest. Even after everything that had transpired she was still blushing.

“Are you too tired to hold me?” she said softly.

The armour vanished and she climbed into his lap. He ran his talon through her mane and kissed the top of her head.

“I'm not kidding though, Fluttershy,” he said. “I feel so exhausted. I hope I haven't picked up the Tatzlwurm Flu or anything.” Even conjuring up the armour felt like it had taken effort.

She rested her head against him and stroked his feathery chest. “Well we'll be home soon and delivering the creature to the hospital, so maybe they can check you over there?”

“Have nurses stick me with needles and poke things up my bum? No thanks. I'm sure I'll be fine with a bit of bed rest and some soup.”

He sighed. He suddenly felt like it was a tremendous effort to sit upright, so he lay back down on the bed, pulling Fluttershy with him. Truth be told he felt a little sad. Her comment about them being home soon had made him think about the fact that they'd be going back to Scriptum.

Though if getting this monster to the hospital ends up saving that pony then I can just fire him.

Would firing him be enough though? Part of Discord still believed Fluttershy was only snuggled up against him because of her heat. Still, it felt so good to hold the small mare against him. He had so many conflicting emotions, and he felt far too tired to think about them any more. He felt his heavy eyelids close slowly and he drifted off.

Discord came awake with a start when he heard and felt a large crash. The ship was jolted sideways for a second and he heard Fluttershy cry out as she fell off the bed.

Then he was surrounded by ponies; large stallions holding him down, or trying to anyway. Discord's snake-like body was not easy to still as he thrashed about in surprise. It took him a few moments to realize he was under attack and the stallions trying to pin him down were royal guards.

Screw this.

He quickly ordered his magic to fling them off and turn them into field mice. Nothing happened.

Aw, buck.

He decided to continue to physically resist them. Even this was hard. His muscles felt like they were on fire and his head was pounding. Nevertheless, he put up a decent fight.

He rolled off the bed and across the deck with five guards shouting and continually trying to pin him down.

“Geeze, he's like a slippery eel!” one of them shouted.

“What's going on?” shouted Fluttershy through the commotion. “Why are you doing this?”

“It's okay Miss Fluttershy,” said one of them. “You're safe now.”

“Safe? What are you talking about?”

“We're rescuing you from this ruffian!” said the guard.

“I don't need rescuing!”

“Ma'am, I think you may be too overwhelmed by everything to understand the gravity of the situation.”

“I most certainly am not overwhelmed! Why are you doing this? Discord's harmless!”

A stallion cried out as Discord sank his fang into his hind leg. Then the draconequus whipped his tail outward, causing the remaining ponies to fall flat on their flanks like living dominoes.

“What the hell?” he shouted at them, feeling very confused. His teeth were bared, his hackles up, his claws unsheathed as he faced them. He looked ready to pounce and inflict damage at any minute. At that moment he felt a blast of magic hit him in the chest and he was blown across the deck. Before he passed out, he looked up to see Starswirl looking down at him.

“I'm so disappointed in you boy,” came the sad and bitter voice.

Discord gave in to exhaustion.

The Lower Reaches

The guards descended on Discord as he passed out, and began tying his limbs together. They still hadn't worked out what they were going to do about his snake-like body, but for the moment he seemed to be still.

Fluttershy ran up to Starswirl, still clothed in her bath robe. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Fluttershy, are you okay?" said Starswirl. It was as if he hadn't heard her question. He looked incredibly concerned.

"Yes...I'm..." she suddenly felt dizzy. Was she okay? She looked up at the swirling sky and felt mildly nauseated.

She tried again:

"I need to speak to Scriptum," she said. "I need..."

She collapsed on deck and Starswirl called for help.

"We need to get him to the hospital," one of the guards was saying about Discord.

"Are you crazy?" said another. "Celestia said to capture him if he was hurting the girl."

"She also said he was to come to no harm. Do you want to explain to Princess Celestia why this guy looks half dead?"

"Ugh. You're right. Okay, we'll get him to the hospital, but after that his flank is being thrown in jail. I'm not taking any chances. As for his magic not working, couldn't it just be a trick?"

"Why would he allow himself to be captured?"

"I don't know...this is Discord we're talking about."

"And did he actually hurt the girl? I mean, yeah they were in bed together, but..."

"Are you kidding me? Do you really think a gorgeous thing like that would touch him after all the things he's done?"

"I suppose you're right."

"Look alive, numpties!" said a third guard. "I think we're taking the girl to the hospital too. She's looking a bit faint. Maybe this horsehole did something to her."

Discord felt himself drift in and out of consciousness. His ears only captured snippets of conversation. He heard the guard calling him half dead, and he heard Fluttershy saying she needed to speak to Scriptum. At the latter piece of information, he felt his heart break and decided he didn't care if he passed out again. It was just like last time with Celestia: Starswirl hated him and Fluttershy did not want him.

Starswirl accompanied Fluttershy to hospital, but he was told to leave by the nurses once she was in their care. He reluctantly agreed, but asked who the best pony to speak to would be regarding the jelly monster.

"You'll want Dr.Zygoma --she's the doctor in charge of the patient who was attacked," said the receptionist.

"Thank you," said Starswirl. He quickly penned a letter to Twilight, sent it off and made his way to the east wing of the hospital.

Fluttershy was slowly regaining consciousness. The hospital staff had given her fluids when they had determined she was dehydrated and exhausted. They had also taken blood samples. She still didn't feel strong enough to move around, but she was on the mend. Her thoughts briefly drifted back to Discord, and she suddenly sat upright. That had been a mistake; dizziness overwhelmed her and she collapsed back down on her pillow.

You need to focus on regaining your strength, then you can do something about the situation she told herself. But it was so frustrating. She needed to get a message to Twilight that this was clearly all a misunderstanding. She also needed to tell Twilight that Scriptum had hurt her before he hurt anyone else. She wasn't entirely sure he would, but it was best not to take any chances. The monster had been captured. It wouldn't matter if Scriptum no longer worked for them.

Scriptum was still reeling from the fact that his plan had worked. He had, of course, intercepted the messages Celestia had sent back to him and simply faked Twilight's hoof-writing. It was easy enough to find examples of it around the library. Spike was easily distracted, and never asked to read what was being sent to the Princess anyway.

He knew he had to keep playing Celestia and Twilight off one another. Princess Celestia obviously trusted Twilight's word and vice versa. But he knew he couldn't keep up this charade for long. He needed to keep Discord out of the picture. Then his mare would be safe from the draconequus's clutches.

When the letter to Twilight arrived, he checked it thoroughly, and, deciding it didn't give anything away, he showed it to her. It was best to let some letters be seen. Less suspicion would be aroused that way. He had carefully copied Celestia's hoof-writing which had requested that Starswirl go alone with only guards as back up. Twilight seemed puzzled and almost disappointed at the prospect of not being asked to go on the mission, but thankfully did not write a letter back requesting that the Princess reconsider. Scriptum had relied on that slightly- he knew Twilight respected Celestia's word, and to top it all off, she seemed to be fawning over Starswirl.

Discord had been taken to hospital, but Scriptum had not foreseen Fluttershy going to the same place, so when Starswirl sent word that Fluttershy was in the same ward as the draconequus and Scriptum was unable to intercept the note in time, he was forced to accept to himself that they would all have to go over to the hospital as a group. There was no way he could tell her friends not to see her and go there alone. It was arouse far too much suspicion.

"Thank goodness Fluttershy's safe!" said Pinkie as they made their way to the hospital. "Plus they caught that big jelly thingie!"

Twilight was deep in thought as they walked. She had a sour taste in her mouth. There was still something that didn't seem quite right about this. If Discord really had horsenapped Fluttershy, then why had he caught the monster? Why was he heading back towards his house? Did he simply want to gloat at them? While she had to admit that gloating was very in character for Discord, she still wasn't sure about horsenapping. She needed to speak to Fluttershy and find out more.

"Twilight!" cried Fluttershy. She embraced her friend as the alicorn greeted her. "I'm so happy to see you. There are so many things I need to talk to you about." She embraced each of her friends, enjoying the comfort their presence brought.

"We're so glad you're safe, Fluttershy. What happened?"

"I...I'm not sure. Discord and I were on our way back with the creature then the guards came and captured him, and he's lost his powers, Twilight! That creature attacked him before we caught it. Maybe the same thing is happening to him!"

Twilight listened, and noted with interest that Fluttershy seemed awfully concerned about her horsenapper.

"Where is he, Twilight? Is he okay?"

"He's next door," said Scriptum as he entered the room. "But not to worry, he's heavily guarded and he'll never hurt you again."

A chill went down Fluttershy's spine at the sight of the unicorn.

"Hurt me? He didn't hurt me."

"Fluttershy, you were, apparently in...bed with him when the guards found you. I don't know what he did to you, but it's clear you are very confused about the whole situation."

"I'm not confused! I...we..." She suddenly blushed at what she had been about to say.

"She's obviously suffering from Stockholt Syndrome," said Scriptum. He moved towards the pegasus and put his arms around her, she froze at his touch.

"Now, now," he was saying. "I'm here now and I won't let him touch you."

Fluttershy felt sick but was having trouble articulating the situation to anyone. It all felt like too much. She needed to be alone with Twilight.

"Um...Scriptum..everyone," she said. "Could you give me and Twilight a minute?"

"Of course, darling," said Rarity. "Come on girls." The ponies exited the room and made their way to the waiting area.

Fluttershy looked at Scriptum. "I, um. Need time to talk about...girl stuff," said Fluttershy.

Panic gripped him, but he smiled and said "of course. I'll just be outside."

It didn't matter anyway. Once they knew he had written all those notes to protect her from Discord they would be understanding about the whole thing. He left the two mares to talk.

As for Discord, well it was time to give him a piece of his mind. He strode over to the heavily guarded room.

A large pegasus guard blocked his path with his large body as he tried to enter the room.

"Can I help you?" said the pegasus.

"Oh, yes. I apologize for not stating who I am, but I'm with Princess Twilight and friends. I'm the archivist working on the project to capture the creature. Loathe as I am to speak to the creature behind those doors, I'm afraid I must in case we are missing any vital information with regards to the jelly monster. Any info we have could be a step closer to saving that poor pony's life, after all."

The guard looked to his right and saw Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash sitting in the waiting area. Scriptum waved to them and Pinkie waved back happily.

"Alright," said the pegasus. "But be quick."

He opened the door for Scriptum.

Discord was propped up in bed with several pillows. Tubes stuck out of his arm and his eyes were closed with exhaustion. He wasn't asleep but he felt so drained that even his eyelids were having trouble staying open.

The unicorn moved closer to the bed.

"Scum," said Scriptum.

One of Discord's mismatched eyes opened and took in the unwelcome sight of his rival.

"Oh, it's you. The last person on earth I want to see right now." He opened both his eyes. If he had been his usual healthy self Scriptum would have been on the ceiling by now. As it was, a sarcastic attitude was the only weapon he had, and he intended to keep it sharp and use it.

"I knew you were bad news," continued the unicorn. "I knew it all along. Molesting innocent mares."

"Molesting? Is that what you call it when a mare sleeps with someone who isn't you? That's a rather impressive form of mental judo. Denial is a river in Anugypt, and all that."

"Ha! She would never sleep with you. What are you, like ten thousand years old?"

"I'm eons old, actually. But it all becomes a blur after a while. And she asked me to make love to her."

"There's no way she would let you touch her like that," responded the unicorn. "She's a completely innocent mare."

Discord actually tittered.

"She is!" shouted Scriptum. "You must have forced her. The doctors even say her temperature was consistent with a mare coming out of a heat cycle, so you must have taken advantage of that."

"She chose to be with me."

"That's what males like you always say."

Discord growled, but he was now fighting self-doubt in his head. Had Fluttershy really been her right mind when she had gone to bed with him? She had previously told him she didn't think of him that way, and the evening she had come into his bedroom had been spurred on by hormones. Had he done the wrong thing?

"Everyone knows what you're like," Scriptum continued. "The only way you could get a mare to touch you is by force anyway."

"How would you know when you've never touched one?" countered Discord, giving him a sharp toothed malicious grin.

"Well she has gone to bed with me!"

"To sleep? Because we've done that many times too, but that isn't at all what I meant. Do I need to dig out the school charts and tell you that the story about the Stork leaving foals in the vegetable patch isn't true?"

"Well now that she's back," said Scriptum. "It's time she was with a good stallion instead of a traitor like you."

"She's not an idiot. She'll figure out what you're doing soon enough. Your plan has so many holes in it could well compete with a teenage colt's face."

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm doing what's best for Fluttershy. Whether she knows it or not, hanging around someone like you is bad for her. I'm only protecting her from you, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure she's safe from you."

"I'm her friend."

"Not for long! Fluttershy has to learn what's good for her. Besides, she was with me when Starswirl told us what happened between you and Princess Celestia. You really think she could ever love someone who let ponies die under his reign? What were you going to do the second time around? Were you going to share her with Tirek? Disgusting. She's lucky that I'm here and when she's feeling better she can enjoy the touch of a real stallion."

Discord was incredibly still, the grin frozen on his face. The only thing that seemed to move were his glassy eyes. It almost looked as if his eyeballs were trembling with untold rage.

"I'm going to kill you," he said calmly to the unicorn. "I've never wanted to kill anyone before, but I might have to make an exception for your greasy, disgusting hide. When I get out of here you will pray to whatever god you think exists that you had never come across me. And if you ever touch her again you will pray to whatever god you think exists that gods didn't exist. But they do, Scripto, ol' boy. And you've pissed one off."

Discord's teeth were bared in a terrifying smile. His eyes seemed to burn straight through the stallion. Despite having the upper hoof, Scriptum instinctively felt the hairs on his back rise in fear. He was overcome with the drive to bolt, as a prey animal would from a predator.

"Well," he said as steadily as he could. "You're not a god anymore, are you?"

"No, it's true I've lost my powers. But unlike your goodself I still have my wits about me."

There was nothing to lose anymore. He was a criminal in everyone's eyes again and he would never be loved by her.

But that didn't mean he wasn't going to go down without putting up an ungodly amount of defiance. He absolutely hated the unicorn before him. He would have never done what Scriptum was suggesting. He had only wanted Tirek's acceptance and yes, draining his friends of their magic was an awful thing to do, but he was certain that he never would have let Tirek touch or hurt them.

Though given what happened it's not like you could have stopped him if he had wanted to.

He felt sick.

And how many ponies had that sort of thing happened to when you had forbidden any sort of law?

His heart sank. He truly was an awful person.

But that didn't mean he didn't still want to make Scriptum pay for the pain he had caused him. He reached over and grabbed the first thing he felt to his right and flung it at Scriptum, hard. The unicorn squealed and ducked, narrowly missing the bedside lamp that Discord had launched at his head. It hit the floor with a smash.

"Nice moves," said Discord, who flung a water jug after the unicorn next. Scriptum skidded across the room to avoid the object, which smashed against the wall.

A guard pushed open the door. "What's going on here?"

"He attacked me!" shouted Scriptum, pointing his hoof at Discord, who was mid swing with an IV drip which he had pulled out of his arm. He had run out of things to throw but still felt compelled to make the unicorn dance. It hit the guard with a flopping sound.

"Doc!" shouted the guard. A small grey earth pony with a moustache came running down the hall. "This here's the dangerous one I was telling you about," said the guard.

"Oh dear," said the earth pony. "He shouldn't be exerting himself that way."

"What about me?" said Scriptum almost pitifully.

"What about you?" sneered Discord. He was now pulling another drip out of his arm.

"Stop!" said the Doctor.

"Hells to the naw," came the reply. Discord wasn't about to sit there feeling helpless. Even if he didn't have his powers, he still felt the need to be something more than a passive observer in life. He was getting ready to throw the second IV drip when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and turned to see the doctor pulling out a needle.

"You need to calm down," said the doctor, and Discord was instantly transferred to a world of bliss. His limbs felt floppy and he lay back down on the pillow with a stupid smile on his face.

"There now," said the doctor, who carefully reattached Discord's IV drips. "We can't have you wasting all your energy when you're deathly ill."

Even though Discord heard the words "deathly ill," he continued to smile and blinked happily. All seemed right with the world. Why should words and their meaning matter?

"Can't we?" said Scriptum.

"Can't we what?" said the doctor.

"Have him waste all his energy. Does he really deserve to live after what he did?"

"Young man, I'm not sure what this creature did and whatever he did is for the courts to decide, isn't it? May I ask why you are in his room if you are not friend or family?"

"My marefriend is in the same hospital," said Scriptum. He pointed a hoof at the happily drugged Discord "and it's because of him."

"I'm very sorry to hear that. Be that as it may, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave. It is my job to look after my patients, not pass judgement on them, and from the looks of things he is being heavily guarded anyway."

"Fine," said Scriptum. "I need to go and check on my marefriend anyway." He shot Discord a triumphant look as he said this.

Discord smiled at him. The blue pony had a marefriend. That was nice.

"What happened, Fluttershy?" Twilight repeated. "We need to know the truth. Did Discord really hurt you? You can tell me."

"No!" came the indignant reply. "Twilight we...I. We...made love." The last two words were barely a whisper and Fluttershy's face was red as she hid behind her mane.

Twilight felt her own face burn at Fluttershy's admission. Then she felt extremely confused.

"But we got a letter from you. It said you had been horsenapped!"

"What? I sent you a letter but it said Discord and I were going to look for the monster together!"

"That's not the letter we got. Fluttershy, if he did something to you, and you're blocking it out you need to let us know so we can help you."

Fluttershy was starting to get angry. "Why does everyone treat me like I'm stupid!" she shouted. "Discord hasn't done anything wrong! I asked him to be with me. And I didn't send the letter you mentioned! You're my friend! Why don't you believe me?"

"I...do believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes...it's just. I'm not sure about believing Discord. We all know how he feels about you, and now that you have a coltfriend, well...it seems like the sort of crazy thing he would do when he didn't get his way."

"Scriptum's not my coltfriend," whispered Fluttershy.

This was clearly a surprise to Twilight. "I thought you two were getting on."

"So did I. Then he tried to stop me from seeing Discord when I was worried about him." Fluttershy took a deep breath then whispered: "Scriptum tried to physically restrain me and he broke one of my wings in the process."

"What?!"

"I don't know if he meant to do it, but I don't want him to come near me. And now that we have the monster we don't need an archivist, right?"

Suddenly the pieces fell into horrifically clear place. "Scriptum," said Twilight.

"What?"

"Scriptum wrote that letter. Wait right here. I'll be back, I promise. I need to find Starswirl and we need to get a real message to Princess Celestia right away. I'll send Rainbow Dash in so you're not alone."

Discord's awareness slowly returned to normal as he lay in bed. He felt sick as the thoughts came to him.

His chaos magic was fading quickly, but the chaotic emotions were still there. If anything, the delerium he felt only served to worsen them.

He felt the tears roll down his face even as he laughed bitterly. She had felt so good. Of course it wasn't going to last; nothing ever did with him. Even if Scriptum hadn't come into the picture, he had done terrible things and she would have found out about them sooner or later, and really, could he truly expect someone as sweet and good as her to be okay with it and love him? No, he couldn't.

As for their mating, she clearly had been under the influence of hormones, nothing more. He could have been any male. He was becoming more and more sure that what he had done with her had been wrong.

He couldn't take the humiliation of it all anymore, and when Princess Celestia found out he was probably going back into the statue. He at least needed to get out of here.

He removed his IV drips once more and planted his feet on the ground. He tried taking a tentative step. The world swayed and he groaned. He took a deep breath and pushed himself off the bed and onto the floor. He tried standing as a quadruped instead. That was a little better.

He knew the guards were still outside the door because he could hear them talking. Whoever had chosen his room had also made sure it was one without windows. Oh, how he wanted his magic. He kept having to resist the urge to try teleporting because he knew very well that he couldn't.

He looked around the room. There didn't seem to be anything he could use to escape. The glass he'd smashed earlier had been cleaned up and he wasn't sure he could overpower the guards in his state anyway. He leaned against the side of the bed and closed his eyes and sighed.

When he opened them again he was staring at the far wall and that was when he noticed the air vent.

He crawled across the floor towards it, and looked up at the wall. It wasn't that far up, but it felt like it was miles away in his condition. He was going to have to stand up on his hind legs. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and stood up. Nausea washed over him and he quickly gripped the iron grate covering the vent with his talons to steady himself. He was glad he had an empty stomach.

With tremendous willpower, he swapped the grip of his talon with his paw and started working on the screws holding the vent cover in place. When he had finished unscrewing the fourth and final one, it plummeted to the floor and he caught it just in time with his tail before it clattered and alerted the guards. He nearly threw up at the effort.

After taking a few more gulps of air, he flexed his body and leapt upwards, pulling his long body head first into the vent, while his lizard foot tried to gain purchase on the wall. After an agonizing two minutes lying there, he pulled the grate in behind him with his tail. Then he began moving through the vent.

It took ages. Every few feet or so he travelled he had to lay down and recharge. There was hardly any energy to charge on. His head was pounding and his muscles ached and the waves of nausea always threatened to return after a brief respite. He didn't really know which direction he was moving in; he just knew he had to get out.

After what seemed like hours, he passed a grate and looked through it. The room before him was empty, and there was a window there he could easily open. He used his long talons to unscrew the grate and it clattered to the floor.

"Miss Fluttershy, I'm glad to see you are doing better," said Dr. Zygoma as she entered the room to check on the pegasus. "And that you have friends by your side." She smiled warmly and pulled up a chair next to Fluttershy's bed."Miss Shy, if I may speak with you in private?"

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend, who nodded.

"I'll be outside Flutters," said Dash.

Once the door was closed Zygoma turned to the pegasus. "Miss Shy, I realize you've been through a lot and this must be an exhausting experience for you, but I'm afraid I must ask you a few more questions."

"Oh?"

The doctor nodded. "The old man who brought you here said you had previously been attacked by the same creature as the patient down the ward. Is that correct."

Fluttershy nodded.

"As you know, we've taken a sample of your blood. Miss Shy, did you know that the same virus-like substance that has appeared in the sick pony is present in your bloodstream?"

Fluttershy looked alarmed. "No! I assumed I was okay. I felt fine!"

"That's because you are fine. Fluttershy, you appear to have antibodies. You are immune."

The pegasus gasped. "Does that mean...?"

"Not yet. We're working on it. These things take time, but eventually, yes. We might be able to create a serum that could cure that pony."

And cure Discord, thought Fluttershy. She beamed at the doctor.

Scriptum waited in the hallway with the rest of the ponies. He watched the door to Fluttershy's room intently. When he saw Rainbow Dash leave he thought he had his chance, but then he realized the doctor was still in the room with Fluttershy. He gritted his teeth. He really needed to see her alone so he could explain his plan. So he could explain that he had done this all for her, to protect her.

When he saw Dr. Zygoma emerge, he didn't wait. The others were deep in conversation and he quietly slipped into her room.

Fluttershy was about to say something to Rainbow Dash when she realized the blue pony that had entered the room was not her friend.

"Fluttershy," said Scriptum. "I'm so glad you're back in one piece."

"I don't want to talk to you," she said firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because you're not a good person," she whispered.

"What are you talking about?"

"You faked those letters to Twilight and Princess Celestia, and you destroyed the letter that said I was safe with Discord."

"But don't you see? You weren't safe Fluttershy. Discord is dangerous and not to be trusted. I did it all because I was afraid for your safety. I know you think he's a good person, but he isn't. For goodness sakes, he was accomplice to a mad man just over a year ago. I know you're a trusting, lovely girl and you have a sweet nature, but one day it's going to get you killed. And you are aware that he took advantage of you while you were in heat, aren't you?" He moved towards her and she instinctively felt her back press against the wall. She realized her eyes were searching the room for something to defend herself with. She didn't want him near her. She prepared to scream for help if she needed it, and prayed that her throat wasn't too dry for such a feat.

"I'm only sorry that he destroyed your innocence. That was a horrible thing for him to do." He was moving closer now, and his hoof brushed a strand of her mane away from her face. Fluttershy was frozen in disgust and terror. "But now that we're together again we can work on mending any damage he did to you." He leaned forward, his lips inches from hers. Fluttershy felt the scream freeze in her throat, then suddenly she was free of his grip as Scriptum was yanked backwards by an invisible force.

"I don't think so," bellowed Starswirl, who now had the struggling unicorn trapped in a magical field. "And by the way, you're under arrest for perverting the course of justice."

"On...whose...authority?" said Scriptum, struggling in mid air.

"Mine," said a calm yet commanding voice. Princess Celestia entered the room, followed by Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity.

"I was only trying to protect her!" shouted Scriptum, pointing his hoof at Fluttershy. "My marefriend!"

Fluttershy's voice suddenly seemed to come roaring back to life.

"I'm not your marefriend!" she shouted. "You don't have the right to tell me what to do with my life!"

"He's old, Fluttershy. He's old and he's a former criminal! He'll just use you. Mark my words."

"Enough," said Princess Celestia. "Guards!"

A few of the ponies that had been guarding Discord's room moved towards Scriptum and surrounded him. One of them bound him with a similar magical field to the one Starswirl had been using to subdue the archivist.

"You will be held at Canterlot until you can be given a fair trial," announced the Princess. She then turned to Twilight. "I am very sorry, Twilight. I had no idea this was happening, and to be honest I should have questioned that letter a bit more thoroughly than I had."

"Don't blame yourself, Princess," said Applejack. "We were all taken in by this here varmint's lies."

The guards began to carry Scriptum away. He started screaming at Fluttershy. "You're a fool, Fluttershy! Don't you see? He'll hurt you! He betrayed you once and he'll keep doing it because people like him never learn and never change!"

"I don't want to hear any more from you," she said.

"This isn't fair!" the unicorn continued to yell. "You're not supposed to fall in love with the bad guy! That's not the way it works! That's not the way it's supposed to be!"

His cries slowly faded away as the guards dragged him down the hallway and out of the building.

"Good riddance," snorted Applejack.

"Um, Princess?"

Celestia turned to look at one of the guards that had stayed behind. "Yes?"

"I just checked Discord's room, and, well...he's gone?"

"Gone?!"

"Definitely not there."

Starswirl looked alarmed. "How did he get out if he has no powers?"

"There was an air vent in the room. The grate was loose. He must have climbed through it."

Starswirl felt sick. There was a deeply disturbed draconequus on the loose that could or could not be wielding extreme power. They all now knew Discord was innocent, but he didn't know that they knew that.

"There's something else," said Fluttershy. "Doctor Zygoma says I'm immune to the creature. She says they may be able to manufacture a cure from the antibodies I'm carrying. If Discord is out there then we need to find him because he's..." her eyes flooded with tears. "He could be dying. Like that pony is." She was especially concerned that whatever that creature had done to both Discord and the pony, Discord's condition seemed to be worsening faster than the latter.

"I'll see if I can find him," said Starswirl. He turned and hurried out the door.

Fluttershy burst into tears. "It's all my fault," said the pegasus. "All this happened because of me. Because I went to the dimension to find him."

"This is all Scriptum's fault. Don't you dare go blamin' yourself," said Applejack.

"Yeah, Fluttershy," said Dash, moving in to hug her. "We were all taken in by him." She felt guilt gnawing at her insides as she realized how quick she had been to judge the draconequus.

"We were a little quick to judge, it must be said," said Rarity softly. She thought of the times Discord had come to her for advice about Fluttershy.

She watched as the pegasus sobbed into Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Rarity fumed. Scriptum had really done a number on Fluttershy and Discord.

Just after nightfall Discord dragged his haggard, exhausted figure into a wooded area and crawled inside a roadside ditch. He curled up, hiding his face under his tail tuft. He had crawled for hours, trying to keep out of sight of any passers by. At one point a pony had seen him and asked if he was okay, but when they saw who he was they had told him they didn't want any trouble and ran away swiftly.

That incident, more than anything else had just solidified things for him. He was powerless, and unloved and a terrible person, and everyone knew it. He quite literally felt like crawling into a ditch, so he had done so.

As he lay there with his tail over his face he was also running a high fever. Whatever that thing was doing to him wasn't just affecting his magic. He babbled to himself as he drifted off to a sleep filled with feverish dreams. He wasn't even sure the words were coherent. Shortly it began to rain. Discord shivered as he tried curling up his body as tightly as possible to make less surface area. He continued to babble to himself.

And that was how Starswirl the Bearded, his horn glowing in the fading light as he searched, found the draconequus. He knelt down next to Discord's head.

"I'm sorry," whispered the unicorn.

Discord's ears moved towards the sound and he dragged himself towards it. However, halfway to Starswirl's lap he froze and moved away.

"Please forgive me," said Starswirl. "I'm sorry I told you to stay away from her. I...I just didn't want you to get hurt again, boy. I really didn't. I should have minded my own business." He put his arms around the draconequus's neck, trying to hug him. Discord flailed as he tried to pull out of Starswirl's grasp.

"I'm sorry, boy," repeated the unicorn. "Please let a stupid old man help you."

Discord continued to struggle for a few seconds more, then gave up and collapsed in Starswirl's lap.

The draconequus started sobbing. "Noodle," said Discord. "Noodle doesn't love...she must hate...they all hate..."

"You're not making sense, boy" said Starswirl, whose own eyes were wet with tears.

"Help me."

Starswirl held him as he wept.

Back at the hospital, the creature in the jar opened its single eye and began to send out a call.

Putting the damage on

The darkness pulsated, but if there had been any observers on the outskirts of the Chaos dimensions, they would not have been able to tell it did.

“It begins.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. The creature that has held you back all this time is powerless. His power has not moved to another entity like the last time.”

“Good. I do not wish for more false alarms. Let us ready.”

The darkness pulsated again, though this time it was as if it was made up of millions of entities.

“Not...going...back to hospital,” said Discord, struggling as best he could. Starswirl groaned. Trying to carry Discord back to the castle, even with magic was like trying to grasp a giant macaroni noodle that kept flopping about. The draconequus was delirious but still seemed to have strength in that body.

They were about a half mile from the Castle of Friendship. While Starswirl did feel that the hospital was the best place for him, he needed to get Discord somewhere closer first, and somewhere out of the rain that had now become torrential.

The whole way there Discord had muttered nonsense sprinkled with the occasional phrase that cut Starswirl to the quick: “you all hate me.”

“No, boy. We don't hate you.”

“You do! I knew it was all too good to be true. When I get out of this statue...”

Starswirl was immediately thankful that when they reached Castle Friendship, the rain on his face would disguise any wetness that had appeared there by other means. He pushed open the heavy doors and dragged in a very soaked and very maudlin draconequus.

“Twilight!” called the unicorn. “I found him!”

The sound of several sets of hooves running down the stairs greeted Starswirl's tired ears. Twilight and Fluttershy headed the crowd of ponies and Spike.

"Geeze, he looks like a dead eel," said Spike.

"Spike!" scolded Twilight Sparkle.

"Sorry...it just sort of slipped out."

Fluttershy was moving towards Discord. She reached out to stroke his mane but he seemed to recognize what she was going to do and curled up against Starswirl, away from her. He was delerious, but he still felt guilt at what he had done.

Fluttershy felt a gnawing sensation in her chest at his fearful movement.

"We need to get him to the hospital," said Starswirl.

"No hospital!" whimpered Discord. "I want a bed."

Twilight helped Starswirl move Discord onto a sofa bed. The draconequus curled up, and buried his snout in the pillows. He truly was exhausted.

"You can rest for a bit, but we really do need to take you there, boy."

"No hospital," repeated Discord, but there was less fight in his voice this time. He just seemed relieved to be in a soft bed, even if his drenched feathers were soaking the sheets.

"Send a message to Doctor Zygoma," said Starswirl. "At the very least he needs looking at."

Spike starting taking a note.

Fluttershy watched Discord from the door. She really hoped the cure the doctors were developing with the antibodies would not only be ready soon, but might actually work. She wanted more than anything to comfort him and stroke his mane and tell him everything would be okay. But would it? The disease seemed to be affecting Discord much faster than it had affected the pony. And he had cowered from her. Was that because he was so ill he didn't recognize her? He had never cowered from her before; not seriously. Yes, he had done things like make himself small when she had scolded him, but that was just Discord being Discord, and even then there was a bit of humour in it. She really wanted to hold him.

"Fluttershy."

She jumped at the sound of Starswirl's voice.

"I...I owe you a great apology," said the unicorn. "I assumed a lot of things about you and Discord that were not true."

Fluttershy felt her face turn hot as she remembered the circumstances in which Starswirl had last encountered her and Discord together.

"Um, that's...okay?" she scuffed the ground with her hoof. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk about this. Unfortunately that seemed to be exactly what Starswirl wanted to talk about.

“Fluttershy, I’m sorry if this is terribly forward of me, but I need to know once and for all—did Discord do anything that you didn’t want to do?”

“No!” came the reply right away. “It was consensual.”

Starswirl nodded. “That’s all I need to know, Fluttershy. Now we just need to work on getting him better.”

Fluttershy nodded, but she felt a flash of anger for Starswirl and the others. Why did everyone think Discord was such a terrible person? Why did they always jump to such horrible conclusions? Why couldn’t they see how loving and brave and funny he was? Well, she partly knew why. He had caused a lot of trouble for them in the past, but he was no rapist. She had never felt threatened by him in that way, and she was well aware how powerful his magic was.

She felt angry, because ponies always pointed to Discord as an example of someone who should be shunned and feared.

"Sir," Fluttershy said to Starswirl.

"Call me Starswirl, Fluttershy."

"Oh. Um...okay. Would it be alright if I had a few moments alone with Discord?"

"Of course!" The unicorn gave her a warm smile and left the room.

Fluttershy moved towards the bed and looked down at the pale draconequus. His breathing was shallow and he whimpered slightly now and then.

Tentatively, she reached out with a hoof and felt his muzzle. It was warm to the touch and she knew he had a high fever.

Discord shifted slightly at her touch. She was carressing his mane and that confused him. Why the heck would she be touching him in such a gentle way after what he had done? He decided she was a hallucination. He was partially used to hallucinations after the sensory depravation of his stone prison, and there had often been times when he questioned whether his yellow pegasus friend was real. Well, this version of Fluttershy who was being sweet and welcoming after the events of the past few days had to be an illusion.

He felt slight relief at this. It meant he didn't have to feel guilty that he was leaning into her touch. The illusion was so comforting- the illusion that this warm, beautiful, kind mare cared about him and wanted to protect him from the horrors of the world. That she didn't think he was an awful person. He whimpered and curled up half of his body in her lap.

"There, there," the illusion was saying. "It's alright. You're going to be okay. We'll find a cure, okay?"

He felt drops of wetness fall on his face. Illusions didn't cry did they? Mind you, hallucinations could be anything. He lay in her lap and decided to enjoy the sensation of her imaginary hoof on his mane while it lasted.

The next day was a tense one. Discord didn't seem to be getting any better. Twilight knew it was bad since he didn't seem to be doing his usual terrible patient routine when he got sick. Flus and colds were the "worst thing ever", and Discord would often act like he had the plague and couldn't ponies show some compassion? And couldn't ponies know how awful having blocked sinuses was?

But this time he only lay there, and that was unnerving.

Twilight looked up at the sound of Fluttershy closing Discord's bedoom door.

"How's he holding up?" said Twilight, thought she knew the answer. She wasn't sure what to say anymore.

Fluttershy looked like she was about to cry. Then to Twilight's horror, she did.

"This is all my fault," wailed the pegasus. "He was doing this all for me and he shouldn't have done!"

"What? Hey, no! Don't you ever say that. Discord chose to do this. Besides, that creature came to Equestria at just the right moment. If Discord hadn't been doing his study of the dimension's fauna we might have been less prepared."

"He relies too much on me, Twilight." Soft little sobs began to come from the pegasus.

The alicorn got up and gave her friend a hug. "Listen," she said. "I do agree with you that Discord does have some issues with clinginess." To put it mildly thought Twilight, "But that's something we can work on later. Right now we need to focus on making him comfortable and making sure he gets better."

Both ponies looked up as there was a sudden knock at the door. It was Doctor Zygoma with a package.

"I've just visited the pony in hospital," she said. "And I'm happy to report that we started him on the antibodies we've gotten from your blood sample, Fluttershy."

Dr. Zygoma removed a drip and bag from the package, containing a honey-coloured serum.

"I'd like to try it on Discord, with his permission, since he seems to be adverse to coming to see us."

"Stubborness always was his greatest affliction," muttered Starswirl, who had been alerted by the door and had just joined them.

"Where is the patient?" asked the doctor, ignoring Starswirl's comment.

"Through here," said Fluttershy eagerly, and opened the door to Discord's room.

"Hello, Discord," said Dr. Zygoma. The draconequus shifted slightly at the sound of her voice. "I'm here to administer a treatment. With your permission I'd like to start right away."

Discord opened one, blearly, bloodshot eye. He could make out Dr. Zygoma with her drip and next to her, a worried looking Fluttershy. Why did she look so worried? Oh, right. Hallucination.

"G'ahead," he muttered to the doctor. "Nothing to lose..."

"Sit up a little for me."

Doctor Zygoma dotted Discord's inner eagle elbow with a swab of alcohol then attached the drip to a vein. Discord didn't even flinch at the needle. He barely cared anymore. Everyone hated him, so what was the point? Normally he loved people waiting on him hoof and hoof when he was ill, but this he couldn't muster up enough energy to care. He had no magic, and he had hurt his best friend. Nothing mattered anymore. He lay back down on the pillow and succumbed to his feverish dreams again.

The doctor turned to Fluttershy. "I'll be back every day to check on his progress. In the meantime make sure he drinks plenty of fluids and that he's comfortable."

"I will," said Fluttershy. The doctor smiled softly at the pegasus. "I'll do everything I can to make sure he gets better," she said.

"Thank you," said Fluttershy softly, looking up at Zygoma with gratitude in her eyes. The doctor placed a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, smiled at her once more then took her leave.

The next few days felt equally tense. Though Doctor Zygoma visited daily to top up Discord's serum and check his temperature, his condition seemed to have worsened. At one point his fever had been so ridiculously high that Fluttershy had placed ice packs on his forehead, neck and chest in an attempt to cool him down. He would mumble non-sensical phrases, and occassionally he cried out that nothing was real, which broke Fluttershy's soft heart. She knew how much he feared the darkness and lack of stimulation.

Then on the fourth day, Doctor Zygoma had news.

"The pony at the hospital has recovered," she said to everyone. "I don't understand why the serum isn't working with Discord."

Rarity hugged Fluttershy as she let out a whimper. "Shhh, darling. We'll think of something," she said to her friend, though part of her wondered if that was true.

"Could it be because he isn't a pony?" asked Twilight. "Maybe the serum affects draconequii differently?"

"It's possible," said Dr. Zygoma. " It could even be that magic was his life force and without it he's struggling to hold on, but all we're doing at this stage is guessing. I...I'm very sorry to say this, but unless we can find an alternative solution Discord's chances look bleak".

"No!" shouted Fluttershy defiantly, causing Rarity to jump.

"He's not going to die! I won't let him die."

"None of us want him to die, Fluttershy," said Starswirl. "But the serum doesn't seem to be working and it worked with the pony. Both of them were attacked by the same creature so I don't understand why it isn't taking."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide, as if something had just clicked in her mind.

"The creature," she said. "Could it...could it be possible that the one that attacked the pony and the one that attacked Discord aren't the same species?"

"What makes you think they aren't, Sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

Fluttershy took a deep breath. She had a theory, and it was a longshot, but it might be the only one Discord had.

"When the creature that attacked me sprang it turned white. The creature that attacked Discord didn't change. It was always black." Something else occured to her and she pushed her way through the crowd and ran upstairs towards the library. The others followed in confusion.

Fluttershy ran towards the desk Scriptum had been working at and began to sort through the papers franctically. After about 15 minutes she found what she was looking for. She handed the species description to Doctor Zygoma. "I suggest taking this description to the specimen at the hospital and comparing it with the monster," she said. "See if there are any other differences that aren't that obvious. This description lays out all the physical and behavioural characteristics of the creature. If the one that attacked Discord is indeed different, then we have to figure out how to cure him some other way, and there isn't much time!"

Doctor Zygoma nodded and took the parchment from Fluttershy. "I'll let you know as soon as I examine the specimen," she promised.

Once the doctor was gone Fluttershy began to pace back and forth franctically. "I don't know what else to do!" she cried. She was frightened for Discord. He was getting worse and the cure could take months to develop. Twilight's ears drooped. She had been thinking along similar lines. Any relief they had at figuring this out now was short-lived as they all realized it might be too late for the draconequus.

"I have an idea," said Starswirl. "I have no idea if it will work, but it's worth a shot."

Everyone looked at him, urging him to continue with their eyes.

"Twilight, back when you defeated Tirek, the other princesses transferred their power to you. I may be able to do the same for Discord. It's not exactly chaos magic, and I don't know how long it will work for if it does happen to work, but if it is lack of magic that is destroying him, then it would be crazy of us not to try."

"What about you?" asked Twilight. She was concerned that Starswirl might be sick or weakened by giving up his magic on something that might not even work.

"I'm an old stallion, Twilight. I've lived a good long life and even without magic I've got enough pep in me to still raise hell!" He reared up on his hind legs. "C'mon! No time to lose!"

They gathered round the bed, where Discord lay. He looked extremely thin and pale and his breathing was still shallow.

Fluttershy gently placed a hoof on his forehead then hugged him. Discord seemed barely aware of her presense.

"Alright, everyone, stand back," said Starswirl.

His horn began to glow, then a blast of magic shot upwards, glowing in a bluish-purple ball. The colourful light illuminated the room and made Discord's pale, gaunt figure look unearthly. Then it began to move downwards, spiralling like the water going down a drain into the draconequus. Eventually the last of it vanished into Discord's chest.

Starswirl collapsed at the energy drainage. Rainbow Dash and Applejack hurried over to help him up.

"Did it work?" asked Pinkie eagerly.

"Did what work?" asked Discord, and Pinkie shrieked with delight, causing the draonequus to instinctively shove pillows in his ears.

"Discord!" cried Fluttershy, and she ran over to him and hugged him tightly.

He was surprised by this, and cringed slightly. How could she hug him after what he had done? All of a sudden thoughts about Fluttershy were forgotten as a wave of nausea overtook him. "Bucket," he whimpered through gritted teeth.

"What?" said Twilight.

"Bucket!" he cried. But it was too late. The sheets would have to go in the laundry.

Everyone took turns keeping an eye on Discord after that. Though he seemed to be doing much better and his temperature was down, he was still rather weak and confined to bed. Of course now that he was awake he spent every minute telling everyone how bored he felt. When he wasn't awake he slept fitfully.

Around evening, it was Starswirl's turn to watch over the draconequus.

"Oh, hey Old Man," said the draconequus, turning on his side to face the unicorn.

"How are you feeling?"

"Vomity," came the reply.

"I'm sorry I asked."

Discord chuckled, then winced at the slight pain it caused his ribs. Immediately he wished Fluttershy was there to make him feel better, and he chided himself internally for it.

"What's wrong?" asked Starswirl, as he saw the look of pain on the chimera's face. "Do you need another bucket?"

"No...no. I..."

He was very confused. Why was everyone so concerned about him? Why wasn't he being punished for what he had done? He eyed Starswirl warily. Was this some kind of trick?

"Would you like some water?" asked Starswirl.

"Er....no," replied Discord. He suddenly felt the urge to get up and attempt running away into the night. He sat up and winced. Another wave of sickness threatened to overcome him. He shoved it down as hard as he could.

"I'm so glad you're doing better, boy."

Discord bristled. "Are you?"

"Yes?" said the unicorn in confusion.

“It was all your fault this crap happened anyway!”

“You’re half right. It partly was my fault for sending you away.”

“Yes it was! I was…huh?” Discord hadn’t expected Starswirl to agree with him.

“I shouldn’t have sent you away or fired at you all those centuries ago, but you were such a stubborn person! I was afraid war would break out if you and Celestia married.”

Discord snorted. “Not like that was gonna happen anyway. The old girl clearly had a thing for stuck-up princes after all.”

Starswirl fidgeted. He figured it was confession time and he wanted a clean conscience. He really didn't want Discord to continue to blame himself for anything, especially not the situation with Fluttershy that had turned out to be totally benign. “Er…not exactly.”

“What do you mean ‘not exactly’? You told me she had decided to marry the Prince because she wanted to. And I wasn’t even informed of this development. She…she didn’t even bother to tell me.”

“Yes…I did say that…but…”

Discord’s head was cocked to one side like a confused hound. “But what, Old Man?”

Starswirl sighed deeply, as if he had just climbed a mountain while carrying two overweight goats strapped to his back.

“She still wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea. She came to me in tears the night before saying she was afraid of hurting you, but she knew she had to marry him to prevent conflict. In a lot of ways you were right, she felt pressured into it. And she didn’t want Luna to take her place. She loved you.”

Discord was completely still.

“Wait, but you said she didn’t say anything about me when she made her descision.”

Starswirl looked at the floor.

“Old Man?”

The silence continued.

“You lied.”

“I…did…but I was in my own precarious situation! You had been warned several times that your interference with royal matters was going to cause conflict between kingdoms! The truth clearly wasn’t working with you.”

“So that’s how it is, eh, Old Man?” Discord’s voice was a threatening purr and he was now out of bed and towering over the unicorn. “Oh, I don’t think you get to play high horse here.”

“That’s exactly how it is! You’re the one that’s reading far too much into it. I made a mistake. I’m not proud of it, but it wasn’t entirely my fault either! You caused outright anarchy! Ponies died because of you!”

Well, so much for not wanting him to blame himself for anything though Starswirl wearily.

“You made me think I had…” Discord stopped mid-sentence. “Actually, you know what? Screw you. You don’t deserve to know what I thought I had. Don’t come near me again, Old Man. I can’t promise I’ll be my usual affable, charming self.”

“Discord, listen to me…”

The draconequus had turned on his goat heel and left the room already. Starswirl started to follow after him, but Discord whirled around and snarled aggressively at him.

“Get bucked,Starswirl!” he growled. “I don’t want your false sympathy, or anyone’s false sympathy. That’s what this has been about all along: Ply the draconequus with platitudes to keep him happy so he doesn’t wreck all our peace and harmony, because we all know what a terrible person Discord is.”

He swallowed hard as he suddenly felt nauseated. “And I am. Look what I did to Fluttershy.”

“Discord…”

“Don’t come near me,” repeated the draconequus. “I’m outta here. But first I’ve got to make a stop somewhere. Don’t bother coming after me Old Man.”

Then Discord was out the door, and flying upwards and onwards. Starswirl was shouting something below him, but he didn’t care. He continued to travel until he was well out of sight of Castle Friendship, then he scryed for the pony he was looking for. After a few minutes the magic returned and relayed the location of who he was seeking.

“Hello, Scriptum,” Discord growled.

Starswirl moaned in frustration. Discord never listened! He decided he had been wrong about stubborness being his greatest enemy. Discord's greatest enemy was assuming the worst about everything.

When I am king you will be first against the wall

When he was about a mile out of Ponyville, Discord began to think that maybe flying hadn’t been the most brilliant idea. Of course, it was the fastest option apart from teleporting, and he had tried that earlier and plummeted 30 feet down through the air.

Okay, we aren’t trying that again he thought to himself. Funny, he never thought he’d tell himself to be cautious.

Flying was difficult, and he couldn’t go as high or as far as he liked, but every time he thought of Scriptum’s face, rage spurred him on. That pony had caused him a lot of grief and it was time to repay the favour.

Starswirl watched Discord until he disappeared as a speck on the horizon.

“Bucking Horsefeathers!” he growled, throwing his hat to the ground in frustration. The bells tingled as if they were mocking him with laughter.

“Oh…um. Is now a bad time?” said a soft voice.

Starswirl jumped at the sound of Fluttershy’s voice. “Fluttershy! No, it’s not a bad time, in fact it’s the perfect time. I need you to help me with Discord.”

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s clown the floop!” cried Starswirl.

Fluttershy blinked at him and tilted her head.

“I mean he’s flown the coop!” said the flustered unicorn. “He’s taken off across Equestria, and I think I know where he’s going!”

“Where?” said Fluttershy. She was now beginning to worry frantically. Discord really should not have been out of bed. Just moments before he’d had his head in a bucket because of how nauseated he felt.

“I think…I think he’s gone after Scriptum,” said Starswirl fearfully.

“Oh dear…”

“Yes…So we really need to get to him before Discord does! We should tell the others too!”

“No!”

“No?”

“No,” she said, primly. “Just us two. I know Discord, and he’s not going to want an audience when we talk him down.”

“Can we talk him down?”

“If we can get to him in time then I think I might be able to, but he’s going to feel hurt. He’s hurting now, and that’s why he’s doing this.”

“Right, let’s walk and talk,” said Starswirl, who was now beginning to pace franctically. His movements made Fluttershy all the more nervous.

They started walking at a brisk pace towards the train station, occasionally breaking into a run. Neither of them were terribly athletic; Starswirl from old age and Fluttershy from being petite and never very physically strong to begin with.

“Fluttershy,” Starswirl was panting, “I’m afraid this is my fault all over again.”

“What do you mean?” she panted back.

“I was trying to tell Discord that what happened with Celestia was because of me, and I was going to tell him that he needn’t worry about how you felt about your time in the chaos dimension together, but…”

They reached the train station and boarded the first service to Canterlot.

When they had both managed to catch their breath, Starswirl continued: “I’m afraid I shouldn’t have started with the part about Celestia. Discord feels betrayed, and I don’t blame him. I wanted to tell him what I did was wrong, and now he has a chance to be happy with you. Did I overstep the mark?”

“No,” said Fluttershy. “But I need to tell him this myself. He’s more likely to listen when it comes from me.”

“I’ve noticed,” said the unicorn. He smiled, despite the situation. Fluttershy was a sweet girl, and seemed to have her head screwed on tighter than he did given the situation. She did work with animals, after all, some rather dangerous ones too, and Discord was definitely a super dangerous animal.

In truth, Fluttershy was terrified for Discord but felt she had to maintain some kind of composure. Their biggest enemy at the moment was time. If Discord got to Scriptum before they did then he might do something irreversible; Something that might definitely make him unhappy in the future.

For the next hour Fluttershy and Starswirl watched the Equestrian countryside roll by as they practically counted the minutes until arrival at Canterlot.

Discord was out of breath, and resting in a tree near Canterlot Gardens, planning his next move. His scrying spell told him Scriptum was being held about a quarter of a mile from where he was, and he needed all his energy to teach him a lesson.

Little snivelling worm thought the draconequus. If only you didn’t exist.

A horrible, sharp-toothed smile appeared on Discord’s face and he began to chuckle.

That can be arranged.

Scriptum pushed away the plate of food the guards had brought him. He didn’t feel much like eating, but what he had done had been a lot of thinking.

He still felt no guilt at making Discord upset and keeping Fluttershy safe from him, but what he did feel guilty about was hurting the Pegasus. Now that he was here in this bare cell, awaiting trial, now that his parents knew all about the shame he had brought them, he had sat there in the evenings and wept.

He had also hurt Fluttershy’s wings—something he had not even been aware of. He had just been trying to hold her still, to keep her from Discord. Why didn’t she see that? The draconequus was dangerous, and likely to hurt her if he didn’t get what he wanted.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” Scriptum said to the empty cell.

After a pause, there came a reply. Scriptum started at the sound of the voice.

“No you’re not.”

“D---Discord?”

He watched with horror as the draconequus’s snake-like body melted through the walls. He was on all fours, claws unsheathed and his hackles up.

Scriptum made a yelping sound, and began to run to the other side of the cell, a motion that Discord couldn’t help but feel was pathetically futile, since the unicorn had no where to go. Nevertheless, Discord quickly extended his body and Scriptum tripped over it.

He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could. “Don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me!”

Discord snapped his fingers and the unicorn was suddenly hanging upside down in mid air.

“Let’s see,” purred the draconequus. Scriptum was babbling something about being sorry but he didn’t care. “How should I start?”

He pre-empted Scriptum who was about to call for the guards by sealing his mouth shut with a spell. After a moment, he decided that listening to the little twerp beg and cry would be preferable, so he cast a silencing spell over the room.

Instantly Scriptum began yelling for the guards again.

Discord laughed. “Oh, they can’t hear you. It’s just you and me and we’re going to have a good time, aren’t we?”

He turned Scriptum around so that the unicorn was face to face with Discord’s sharp-toothed grin.

“Please,” he was saying. “I’ll do anything you want. I’m sorry I did all that stuff!”

“No you aren’t,” snarled Discord, pushing the unicorn against the wall with his lion paw. Scriptum noticed with horror that the sharp claws were dangerously close to his neck. “You’re not sorry. You took pleasure in what you did to me. You’re all the same, every single last one of you. You think because you have rules that makes you better than someone like me. You think because you can control your emotions that means you’re in control. Let me tell you something, Scriptum old buddy old pal--- I’m used to being alone, but what I’m not used to is people screwing with my head. And I don’t forgive easily.” He tightened his grip on the unicorn’s neck.

The room was suddenly swarming with spiders and Scriptum broke out in a cold sweat.

“Arachnophobic, I see? Well, how could you possibly be Fluttershy’s coltfriend when you can’t even get on with Mister Fuzzy-Legs!”

The spiders started crawling up the unicorn’s legs and he screamed, eliciting a manic giggle from Discord. Quick as a flash the creatures were gone, and Discord was suddenly still.

“I’m not actually a violent person,” growled the draconequus. “I prefer to use some brainpower when it comes to situations like this. But I’m not running on a full tank, so I guess you get the best of both worlds…”

Scriptum yelped as Discord used magic to throw him across the room. The unicorn hit the wall with a cry.

“Why!” he cried as he hit the ground.

“You’re seriously asking me that? Seriously? Aren’t I supposed to be some kind of monster to you? Some kind of debauched freak who’s only goal is to rape and pillage?”

“If you’re not then why are you doing this?”

“Because,” said Discord, lifting Scriptum up again with his powers, “If that’s all anyone sees me as; If that’s all people can see, then why bother with anything else? I didn’t used to care, but everyone made me care, and that was clearly a mistake on my part, so enjoy Discord the Monster, Scriptum. Enjoy.”

He threw the unicorn at the wall again.

Scriptum felt his bones jangle. His vision was beginning to go dark and he might have broken a tooth…

He was sure the next time Discord threw him something else was going to break. Something a lot more vital. Sure of it…

“Stop!”

Time seemed to stand still. In fact, in the cell, it did. Discord was in mid throw and Scriptum froze in midair as the draconequus turned to the source of the voice.

Fluttershy and Starswirl were outside the cell.

The draconequus saw the pained look on her face and it felt like someone had kicked him in the teeth. Of course, of course she would be upset about this. She liked Scriptum. She didn’t like him, who could ever like him? Certainly not someone like her after all the things he had done. He fought back the tears. May as well throw the bastard into the wall one more time—after all, that’s what she thought of him, wasn’t it? That he was an awful person.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her.

“I can’t hear you!” shouted Fluttershy.

He realized the silencing spell was around the cell. Did he really need it anymore? Fluttershy and Starswirl knew where he was so the guards would know soon, and then no doubt that would run up the chain of command towards Celestia, and by the end of the day he’d be back in stone. He removed the silencing spell.

“Don’t do it, Discord! Please, listen to me.” She wrapped her hooves around the bars of the cell. “Let me in with you!”

“I knew you were too good to be true,” said Discord, not even trying to fight back the tears that stung his eyes now.

“I’m real!” shouted the Pegasus. “I’m real, okay? Discord, if you do this then I-I’m not sure we can continue our friendship.”

He whirled around at that. “What?!” he exclaimed.

“If you hurt that pony, then everything he said about you is true, and you let it come true.”

“You act as if we are friends?”

“Aren’t we?” she whispered.

He cocked his head at her. “Why would you want to be my friend after what I did to you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I…” the draconequus seemed uncharacteristically quiet and embarrassed when he mumbled: “I slept with you when you were…in heat.”

Fluttershy could have facehoofed right then and there.

“Discord, I told you that night that I get to choose who I’m with. That mares get to choose. We don’t lose our minds when we’re in heat.”

Starswirl looked embarrassed at this revelation. Perhaps he wasn’t as progressive as he had thought.

“You…you mean you don’t regret it?”

“No! But if you throw Scriptum at the wall again then we’ll definitely both regret it,” she said, the look she was giving him was verging on The Stare.

Discord snapped his fingers, and the bars bent enough to let Fluttershy and Starswirl into the cell, but he still kept his distance from them.

“Put him down,” said Fluttershy quietly, as she stepped forward towards the draconequus.

Discord instinctively stepped back in response.

“Put him down,” she repeated.

Slowly, and tentatively, Discord lowered the unicorn to the ground. He half expected Fluttershy to run to Scriptum and throw her arms around him, but she did no such thing. Instead she moved closer and he kept stepping backwards until she had backed him into the wall.

“Why did you think you did something wrong when you were with me?” said Fluttershy.

“Because it’s what I do! I screw up, in case you haven’t noticed,” said Discord icily.

“So you decided in order to avoid screwing up, you just decided that you screwed up?”

“He told me that I had taken advantage of you!” Discord pointed a sharp talon at Scriptum.

“And you believed him?”

“Well…no. Only, yes. I mean, I wouldn’t have believed him on his own, but everyone else was acting like…like…”

She suddenly understood. Her friends had also assumed she was in danger when they had found her with Discord, and they had gone on Scriptum’s word. They had gone on the word of someone they barely knew over someone they were supposed to consider a friend--- all of them had; Starswirl and Spike included.

Discord’s emotions and brain had taken this information and rolled with it.

“I’m so sorry for assuming such things, Fluttershy,” said Starswirl.

“You mean mares aren’t at the mercy of stallions when they go into heat?” said Scriptum.

Fluttershy whirled on him, her eyes flashing, and he cringed slightly at the sight.

She turned back to Starswirl, and said, “I can’t believe no one in this room but me knows anything about the basic mating rituals of females.”

The three stallions cringed. “On the other hand, Starswirl you’ve come from the past, so perhaps that wasn’t widely known back then.”

“It’s no excuse, I…”

Fluttershy turned to Discord. “And you didn’t know any better because you’ve been alone for most of your life and trapped in stone for a great part of it.”

Discord’s ears were still flattened against his head in embarrassment. It wasn’t like he was a monk, and yet he still hadn’t known about this.

“But you,” and she turned to Scriptum. “There is no excuse! This is modern day Equestria and you believe the old pony’s tale about mares in heat! Are you four?”

Discord noticed that Fluttershy seemed to be quivering with anger and he raised an eyebrow.

“And you hurt my friend!” she shouted. “You hurt him when you had no business doing that! You don’t own me!”

“S-sorry…” mumbled Scriptum.

Discord barely stifled a giggle and Fluttershy turned to him and his face fell.

“And you are in big trouble, Mister. Big trouble. You physically assaulted someone! Do you know how serious that is?”

“He physically assaulted you!”

“That’s why he’s sitting in this cell. Is that what you want? To be like him?”

Discord gulped. “Well..No…”

“You heal his wounds immediately, then we’re going home,” she said primly.

“Yeah, you heard the lady,” said Scriptum.

“Shut up!” said Fluttershy.

“Yes ma’am,” said Scriptum quickly.

“Fluttershy…” Discord was attempting to explain how he had gotten in this situation.

“Do it now, Discord,” she said.

The draconequus nodded and snapped his fingers. Scriptum looked like his clean-cut self again. Every tooth and joint was in place and there were no bruises.

“Right,” said Fluttershy. “We’re going home.” She marched out of the cell and looked pointedly at Starswirl and Discord. They nodded sheepishly and followed her. Discord closed the cell bars behind them.

“I..I’m sorry I didn’t know,” said Scriptum. “About mares…I mean…It was..”

“Shut up!” yelled Fluttershy, Starswirl and Discord in unison.

The train ride back home was not the happy one Discord had been hoping for.

Fluttershy was staring out the window and her arms were folded.

He and Starswirl sat facing her as she gazed across the moving countryside. Discord’s mind was feverishly at work trying to think of something he could say to the Pegasus. “Sorry” seemed woefully inadequate.

After another tense five minutes, Fluttershy suddenly looked up. She had been lost in thought for most of the ride, and she had decided that there was no other option.

With a heavy sigh, she said: “Starswirl, could you maybe give us some privacy?”

“Er…of course.” The unicorn nodded and made his way to the next carriage.

Discord sat opposite the Pegasus, nervously wringing his talon and paw. Before Fluttershy could begin, however, Discord spoke first.

“Fluttershy…are we okay?”

Oh no she thought. That had suddenly made it so much harder. She took a deep breath and began.

“Listen very carefully to me, Discord. I care a lot about you which is why I’m about to say what I’m going to say.”

He sat with his ears flexed towards her, trying very hard not to look worried.

“Discord, I really don’t regret what happened on the boat—not one moment of it, but the fact is that we can’t continue what we started there.”

He stopped wringing his hands and said softly: “why?”

“Because of what will happen if you lose me, which is why I’m telling you now.”

He laughed, trying to look nonchalant. “So you’re losing me because I’m afraid of losing you?”

“It’s like I said. You can’t rely on me completely. I know what happened was awful, and I know you felt betrayed by everyone, but the truth is you did nothing wrong. Yet you believed you did, and you believed that everyone hated you.”

“Don’t they, Fluttershy?”

“I don’t hate you and neither do they. They made a mistake. Surely you can forgive them that after they forgave the mistakes you made?”

“Will that fix things…will that fix things with us?”

“I don’t know. I’m still your friend, Discord, no matter what. I won’t abandon you. But I don’t think I can go further.”

The slight relaxation that was visible in his body at her reassurance that she was still his friend disappeared a little at the realization of what she was saying.

“I can’t be with you as a lover, Discord. Not when your reaction to the thought of losing me is to attack another pony.”

“I’m sorry!” he shouted. “Let me make it up to you, Fluttershy. I’ll do my very best to make it up to you!”

He moved forward as if to reach out to her tentatively with his paw but thought better of it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. “I…It’s not just that. This whole situation has made me realize I’m pretty bad at making mistakes too. I think maybe dating and trying to find a stallion just isn’t something I was very good at to begin with.”

Discord felt like he’d been punched in the chest as he suddenly realized what was happening. She had tears silently falling down her muzzle.

It’s all my fault.

He had been so pre-occupied with what he had wanted, that he had chased away ponies that could have made Fluttershy happy and left her with a choice between an abusive control freak and himself.

Fluttershy was staring out the window again. No fresh tears were falling, but the ones on her face were still sliding down. It was as if she was trying to retain her composure even though the cracks had already shown.

“Fluttershy,” said Discord. He wanted to tell her she wasn’t broken. There was nothing wrong with her--- it was all him him him!

“I…I need to be alone for a bit, Discord,” she said. “Can you go sit with Starswirl in the next carriage? Please.”

“Okay,” he said softly. He left his seat and hesitated for a bit. He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and tell her that she was the most amazing pony in the universe and that she needed to realize that, but coming from him, perhaps that opinion didn’t matter.

He walked to the carriage.

Discord was partly thankful that the rest of the train journey hadn’t taken that long. He felt awkward around Starswirl as well and wasn’t sure he could take more uncomfortable silence. Once they were back at the Castle of Friendship Fluttershy told him he needed to rest. He obeyed silently. He didn’t have the heart to protest against anything she said.

Pinkie brought him a hot water bottle and some tea a few minutes later.

“You shouldn’t go running around and not tell anypony where you’re going, silly billy!” she said brightly.

“Wise words oh Fuschia-coloured one,” he said, chuckling softly. “Wait…were you worried?”

“We were all worried! We know how super-duper sick you are! And not like that time when you faked being sick with the blue flu and then got sick anyway as some kind of poetic justice! But real sick, like close to death sick!”

“What?”

“Yup! If it weren’t for Starswirl you’d be pushing up daisies by now! You’d be food for the wormies!”

Pinkie certainly had a way with words.

“Because of Starswirl? What did he do?”

“He gave you his magic! You were running so low you could barely lift an arm. But he put all the magic he knew in you and now you seem a bit better! But Starswirl says you can only have as much power as he has, which is why you can’t do things like disappear from one place and appear in another!”

Discord’s mouth was hanging open.

“Your tea’s gonna get cold, drink up!” said Pinkie, and she bounced out of the room before he could ask her anything else.

So it was true, they did all care about him, and he had assumed they hadn’t. Now because of this assumption he had screwed up with Fluttershy.

He held the hot water bottle close to his chest, trying to draw comfort from it, but he still felt shivery.

As the days passed, Discord regained more and more of his physical strength. Around the third day, he was well enough to sit outside again, which was where Starswirl found him.

“I’d like to go for a walk,” said the draconequus.

Starswirl seemed to eye him suspiciously.

“Look, I’m not going to make a break for it or run off again! I just want to go for a walk, and maybe sit under a tree and…think for a bit.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And can you give this note to Fluttershy.”

“You’re leaving a note and you expect me to believe that you aren’t running off?”

“For chaos sake, Old Man! It’s just stuff I don’t feel like saying in person, okay? I will come back. By the end of the day, I’ll be back on this doorstep and you can all continue to bring me soup and act like I’m brittle or going to explode, or spontaneously combust. I don’t know. I’m coming back, alright? I promise. I…I won’t abandon my friends.”

Starswirl seemed to mull this over for a moment, then said: “Not to sound like your mother, but be back by sundown.”

“I will,” said the draconequus, walking off, then he shouted over his shoulder: “and I haven’t got a mother!”

Fluttershy found the envelope on the table with her name on it. She knew Discord’s handwriting immediately and tore it open. Inside was a note in his haphazard and scrawling hand:

Dear Noodle,

I'm not good with these sorts of things, but I’ve come to a realization of sorts, and the realization is I’ve screwed up, but not in the way I initially thought.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: I'm sorry for everything I've done. You deserve a nice stallion who will look after you the way I clearly am no good at doing, so if you find one, do go for it. Or hey...maybe you don't even need a stallion. You're a batpony superheroine tamer of beasts and seeing as I am a stallion, I think I am qualified in telling you that we may be overrated.

But yeah...joking aside, I just want you to be happy, Shy. And all I've thought about is myself and how I feel. And in the end I ended up putting you through a terrible ordeal by scaring off ponies that could have been good for you. You could have met a good guy, but instead I chased them all away and you ended up encountering *Scriptum*.

I'm no good at this. Among other things.

Your friend, always

Discord.

P.S. I’ll be back. I just went for a walk.

She clutched the note to her chest.

Discord spent most of the afternoon with his body coiled several times around the branch of a large oak tree. It wasn’t his thinking tree, but it was a good substitute for now. He rested his head on his eagle talon. He wondered how she would react to the note. He wondered if he had any right to wonder how she would react.

He sighed as the sun began to sink lower. Birds were beginning to fly in to roost in the tree. It was time to head back. He started to uncoil himself, when he became distinctly aware of what sounded like a low humming. The birds started calling more frantically. Before the draconequus could puzzle further over what the sound was, the portal opened before him, the humming grew louder and before he could even take a breath the jelly beasts were swarming all over him; their inky blackness enveloping different parts of his mismatched body and pulling him towards the dimension’s opening.

The birds were going crazy now with their cries.

He only had time to utter one word: “Buck!”

Then they pulled him into the portal and it closed up with a zipping sound.

For a few seconds, the birds were silent, then there was a cacophony.

Enter Entropy

Starswirl looked up at the clock in the castle hallway. The sun had set hours ago, and there had still been no sign of the draconequus. His ears flexed as he heard the sound of the door latch. Fluttershy had just walked in. She put down her saddlebags and nudged them into the corner so they wouldn't be in anyone's way.

"Angel Bunny can get so cross when he isn't fed on time," she said. "I know I was only ten minutes out, but goodness!"

She nearly bumped into Starswirl, whose ears flattened when he saw her.

"Sorry, m'dear. I thought you were Discord."

"You mean he isn't back yet?"

Starswirl shook his head. "I'm hoping it's just that boy's penchant for being tardy, but I must admit I'm starting to worry."

Fluttershy thought of the note. Discord had seemed sincere. Was there cause to worry? It was so difficult to tell with him. He could still be out feeling heartbroken, or maybe...maybe he was gone.

She felt as if something sharp had poked her in the chest.

Starswirl saw the worried look on her face. "Come, my dear. Let's go join the others for dinner. We can discuss this matter with them. It could be nothing. Perhaps he's just sulking."

Fluttershy nodded, but she wasn't sure. Discord's note hadn't sounded like sulking; it had sounded like someone who was deeply sorry for his actions and who now felt almost completely alone in the world. The pegasus had come to learn over the years, that not everyone was as empathic as she was. Whether she liked it or not, she seemed to be more finely attuned to the reactions of ponies and creatures around her. Once when she was a filly she'd found a bird that somepony had killed with a rock. Fluttershy could deal with the death of animals from old age or accident; that was unpleasant but just part of nature. This, however, had her wailing as if she could feel the bird's pain herself. She had sat there, sobbing until the sun went down, willing the bird to chirp or show any signs of life.

"Fluttershy," said Twilight, pulling the pegasus from her memories. "Is Discord with you?"

"No..."

Applejack looked up from the table and sighed. "Let's face it, sugarcube. He's gone."

"Gone?"

"Eyup. Fluttershy, sorry to be the one to tell ya this, but Discord's just selfish. It ain't your fault. He's heartbroken, an I'm sorry for him, but he can't expect you to give him everything he wants."

"Yeah, Fluttershy," said Dash. "It's pretty clear he left because you don't want to go out with him."

Twilight looked at the four mares and Spike sat at the table. Pinkie and Rarity looked unsure, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked angry, no doubt with Discord. Fluttershy bit her lip. She hadn't told everyone about Discord's encounter with Scriptum yet, and she was sure if she did they would see him in an even worse light. But she was beginning to feel something hot brewing in her chest. It took her a few seconds to realize it was anger.

"We're your friends, Fluttershy," said Spike. "And we won't abandon you like he did. Right everyone?" Everyone nodded, though some nodded with more vigour than others.

Fluttershy exploded.

"How dare you!" the small mare shouted.

Spike jumped so hard at her voice, that his plate of food ended up on his head.

"All of you! You're so quick to judge him! No wonder he feels like he has no one but me when this is the way you all think about him!"

"Sugarcube, we aren't the ones that left."

"Did you ever stop and think that maybe he didn't leave?" said the pegasus. "Maybe something else has happened. Maybe he needs time alone, or maybe it's a draconequus thing, or maybe..."

They all stared at her wide eyed. She felt pale. No...no!

“Fluttershy, I'm really sorry,” said Twilight. “But perhaps Applejack is right. Maybe Discord needs to be on his own. Maybe he needs to go away. I don't like it, but we know in the past when he lost the love of...a mare, he was very upset.”

Fluttershy looked even angrier. Pinkie drew back, even though Fluttershy was at least ten feet away from her and there was a table between them.

“None of you get it, do you?! Discord didn't just get upset because a mare didn't love him! He got upset because he thought nobody cared about him!He thought Princess Celestia and Starswirl were his friends and when he thought he had lost that he lashed out. It's not just because of me that he's upset! It's because none of you can accept him! I know he's made a lot of mistakes, but so have we! And when we do we have our friends to help us through it! Does Discord?”

The room was silent. Then Applejack spoke:

“When you put it like that, sugarcube...I...I...never thought about it that way. Wait...what was that about Princess Celestia and Discord?”

But Fluttershy was barely listening. Terrible thoughts flew through her head as she began to worry about Discord's welfare. She willed the dead bird to chirp and felt terror that it might never do so again.

So why did she hear chirping? Pinkie looked up at the window. There was a tapping sound and the chirping came again.

"It's a birdie!" Pinkie exclaimed. She climbed up onto the back of her chair and reached up to open the window. The bird flew in and landed awkwardly in the middle of the table. It looked exhausted.

"Oh the poor thing!" exclaimed Fluttershy, and she rushed forward to check it over. It seemed okay, just tired. Perhaps it had a long flight.

"Would you like some water?" asked the pegasus, and she poured some from a jug into a shallow bowl. The bird nodded gratefully and stepped into the bowl, washing itself and drinking. Fluttershy waited.

After a few minutes, the bird stepped out of the bowl and preened its feathers, then it looked up at Fluttershy and began to chirp.

"What?" said Fluttershy.

"Oh, no!"

"What?" said Rainbow Dash. "What is it saying?"

"He knows where Discord is!"

Discord struggled and snapped wildly at the black, shapeless creatures surrounding him, but no matter how hard he struggled they had him firmly in their tentacled grasp. At first he had assumed that they were trying to eat him, or drain his power, but when the initial panic slowed a little he realized they were transporting him somewhere.

They floated for hours through the chaos dimension and every now and again the draconequus would cry out in rage and frustration. He had been so close. So close to going home to his friends and now this was happening, whatever this was.

Discord was immensely strong. His weasel-like body was packed with wiry muscle and he was extremely flexible and fast, but no matter how hard he twisted his body and thrashed around, the jelly creatures held on with a death grip. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a green, undulating shape.

"Smooze!" he shouted. "Smooze! Help! Find the ponies! Find Flut..." his muzzle was suddenly tied shut by a tentacle. He growled dangerously but his eyes were filled with panic as he watched the Smooze get further and further away.

Discord winced. His muscles ached from trying to fight off the creatures and he was silently kicking himself. Why did he do this? If he had just left Fluttershy alone to date other stallions maybe none of this would have happened, and he'd at least still be at her door every Tuesday for tea. And she would be happy. He closed his eyes as he felt sadness wash over him. The creatures tightened their grip instinctively.

When the draconequus opened his eyes again he felt very confused. I'm pretty sure my brain just commanded my eyelids to open he thought. He tried again, but everything looked the same as when he had his eyes shut. He twisted his head in case it was blocked by one of the creatures. He furiously batted his eyelids to make sure they were working, and that was when he realized he was in complete darkness. If his paw had been free he wouldn't have even been able to see it waving in front of his face.

He felt the grip on various parts of his body relax as the creatures let go. Instinctively he flew off in one direction, but in the complete darkness he realized he had absolutely no idea where he was. He couldn't even orient himself. For all he knew he could be upsidedown.

"The buck is this?" he shouted.

He shot off in a different direction. He figured eventually he'd find light somewhere. He even tried making some, but the darkness seemed to absorb it. "Okaaaaay," he said. "That's very interesting. Anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

There was no sound and the darkness seemed to stretch on forever. Discord could not smell or see anything and he could feel the feathers on his back beginning to stand up in panic.

Then there was a great, booming voice.

Well done for bringing him to me.

"Whoever you are," said Discord. "You are the rudest host ever, kidnapping someone without invitation and not bothering to buy any light bulbs."

Ever the prankster. You don't fool me. You are shaking.

Discord reached down and felt his tail in the darkness. It, like the rest of his body was indeed quivering.

And I think you know very well who I am.

"Nooope. I think I'd recognize your voice since it seems to permeate everything."

I'm not even meant to have a voice. But that will all change soon. Soon there will be no voice, no conversation. The world will be exactly as it should be. In fact, there will be no world.

A shiver shot up Discord's long spine.

You know who I am don't you?

"No."

I think you do. After all, I got to know you quite well when you were a statue.

"No!" Discord's ears flattened against his head.

Yes. And I was so close, until that trollop Celestia decided to free you and all my plans were for nothing. Well, that and your little friends have been a pain. Harmony...chaos. Makes no difference. It all needs to go. But you have always been my biggest obstacle. Until now.

Discord felt sick. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. He wanted to be back at the castle with Fluttershy, Twilight, Starswirl and the others. The darkness closed around him like velvet and he whimpered with terror and rage.

Soon there will be nothing said the voice.

"Thank you for agreeing to see us on such short notice, Dr. Zygoma," said Twilight.

"It's no trouble, Princess. Now, what is it you needed to see me about?"

All eyes turned to Fluttershy.

"Um..." she began.

Twilight gave her a warm, encouraging smile and she relaxed a little.

"Well, you see. We were wondering if we could have the creature back and um...free it."

Dr. Zygoma looked at them all as if their heads had fused together. "What?! Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"This creature is part of a collective," said Fluttershy. "It has a homing instinct and will want to return to its swarm. The same swarm that has kidnapped our friend."

"But this creature attacked someone! How do we know it won't do it again? Furthermore, your antibodies only work on the other form of creature. If this one hurts someone else we have no cure against it!"

Twilight spoke up. "We realize it's risky, Doctor, but we have no other means of getting into the chaos dimension. This creature may be our only pathway to doing that."

"I can't allow this. If it attacks another pony I won't be held responsible."

"You're right, you won't," said Twilight. "We'll take all responsibility and I assure you that there won't be any repurcussions against you."

"That's not enough. Morally I can't allow this creature to be on the loose. You're asking me to let a contagian loose on a city!”

“Not loose,” continued the princess. “Not really. We'll make sure that it's released far away from any populated areas. In fact, we think we know whereabouts our friend was kidnapped.”

“If you know where he was taken then why do you need the creature?”

“There's no portal open. If the creature needs to get back to its swarm then it has to go through a portal to get back into the chaos dimension. Please, Doctor. We don't have much time.”

After a moment Dr. Zygoma sighed and said “this way.”

She led them down a hallway past a pair of double doors.

“Put these on,” she said, gesturing to face masks and surgical scrubs.

Starswirl raised an eyebrow. It seemed the medical staff was taking no chances with this thing, even though ponies seem to have only been infected by direct contact.

Dr. Zygoma pushed open a door and led them into a laboratory area. On the far side of the room was a tank containing the creature. It swam around endlessly in circles.

“Well, here it is,” said Dr. Zygoma. “I don't see how you're going to get a thing that lively out of here and into the world while still retaining some measure of control.”

“It's pacing,” said Fluttershy.

“What?” asked Zygoma.

“It's what animals do in captivity. Especially social animals. It wants to be with the swarm.”

“You're not asking me to feel sorry for it?”

Fluttershy sighed. “It's just an animal.”

“Fluttershy, we could argue that Chrysalis was just an animal. That doesn't make her not evil,” said Twilight.

“No, this is different. This animal isn't the leader. It's part of something larger.”

“The swarm?” asked Starswirl.

“Maybe. I don't know who is controlling the swarm though.”

The other ponies stared at her. It had not occurred to them that something else could be behind the creatures. Something perhaps more sinister.

“How can there be creatures that sap Discord's magic in a chaos dimension?” said Fluttershy. “Discord's the Master of Chaos.”

“Maybe chaos is so chaotic not even Discord has a grasp on it?” suggested Rarity.

“And why is there more than one species?” continued Fluttershy. “The darker one here was able to hurt Discord and lighter one was able to hurt the pony.”

Twilight and Fluttershy both seemed to come to the same conclusion simultaneously.

They both began talking at the same time excitedly but Twilight acquiesced to Fluttershy.

“This creature can't hurt us,” said Fluttershy.

“What on earth do you mean?” said Dr. Zygoma.

“It's not the same creature as the one that attacked me and the pony. It feeds on chaos magic, which is why it made Discord sick. None of us have chaos magic.”

Starswirl looked worriedly at Pinkie.

“I wouldn't know about that,” he said. “But if we definitely remove anyone from the equation who has a link to chaos we might stand a chance.”

“Hang on, this is all guesswork!” cried Dr. Zygoma. “There's no way of testing this.”

“There is,” said Fluttershy. She took a deep breath then ran for the tank.

“What are you doing??!” shouted Zygoma.

Fluttershy didn't stop to reply to her. She flew up to the top of the tank and opened the lid. The creature instantly swam out towards her. She felt fear grip her heart but stood her ground.

The jelly creature stopped when it was a few inches away from Fluttershy, then turned and swam in the other direction. Fluttershy sighed with relief, but it was short-lived.

Starswirl saw what was coming and flung open a nearby broom closet. He shoved Pinkie into it before she could ask what was happening and slammed the door just in time as the creature pawed furiously at the door with its tentacles, making a rasping snarl.

Twilight's horn glowed and the creature froze.

“I would say that's pretty cut and dried,” said Starswirl, his voice shaking.

“Can somepony tell me what's going on?” came Pinkie's voice from the broom closet.

Discord's next reaction to being trapped in darkness was to rage at it. He tried all the magic he could think of, (which was admittedly limited since he only had Starswirl's powers) he beat at it with his fists. They hit nothing but air, which infuriated him even more and he cried out in anger. In the end, the only weapon he had was his voice and brain, so he began to talk to the voice, but not in a convivial manner.

“Pathetic,” snarled the draconequus. “So insufferably boring. You could have at least picked out curtains or something.”

You think humour tells me you're not frightened, chaotic one?

Discord laughed. “You think grand, booming voices and spooky, inky blackness makes you some kind of theatrical evil? Foals use the same techniques during school plays.”

I do not think any of those things. I do not care about good and evil. I only want things to be as they should be. To be as they should be until you came along.

Even though it was dark, Discord licked his paw and slicked back his mane haughtily. “I know I'm important,” he said. “But there's no need to write love poetry about me.”

Soon you will realize just how unimportant you are.

“Why the delay? If you're going to kill me why haven't you done it yet? Is it because you can't? Because I think that's the reason. That or you just don't want to admit it, or the fact that you're falling madly in love with me.”

You will see.

“I can't see a damn thing in here.”

“You know,” said Rainbow Dash. “Pinkie doesn't have to be the one who stays behind with Spike. I could stay in her place.”

“Quit yer belly-achin'” scolded Applejack. “You know full well why Pinkie has to stay behind. Starswirl explained it to us already.”

Dash groaned. The thought of going back into that disorienting place made the pit of her belly feel cold and hard. She knew she would be going anyway, despite what she had said. Though she felt terrified, her loyalty to her friends was stronger.

They were on the deck of one of the boats Princess Celestia had lent them. It was a strong but suprisingly light vessel. Just what they needed, really. The jelly creature sat in a jar in the middle of the deck.

The bird had pointed out the exact place Discord had been taken by the swarm, and the boat sat directly in front of it.

Twilight had a spell book open in front of her.

“Do you think this will work?” said Rarity.

“I hope so. I'll admit I don't know much about tracking spells, but this one seems quite straightforward.” The tracking spell wasn't the problem. The problem was Twilight needed to combine two spells in order for their plan to work. She had guessed, correctly, that once the creature was loose and tried to get back to it's own dimension, that the window of having an open portal would be a rather narrow one. There wouldn't be time to push the boat into the chaos dimension if there was only mere seconds. She needed to not only put a tracker on the creature, but use a freezing spell to keep the portal open.

She wished Starswirl still had his magic. She could have really used the help right now. And yet she still felt the need to prove herself to him.

“Is everyone ready?” she asked.

The ponies took their places on the boat. Starswirl stood over the jar, ready to open it. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were behind the boat, getting ready to push. Rarity and Fluttershy watched the area the bird had pointed out, getting ready to call out when the portal opened.

Twilight's horn began to glow, and Starswirl pulled the lid off the jar.

The creature was lightning fast and shot instantly to the site of Discord's kidnapping. There was a humming sound and the air before it began to change.

“Now!” shouted Rarity and Fluttershy in unison.

Twilight gritted her teeth and a blast of light shot from her horn, hitting the creature from behind. The tracking spell was on. She just needed the portal to open the full way before using the freezing spell. She started to prepare herself, then she realized with horror the creature was already slipping through.

“No!” she cried. “The portal's not wide enough!”

Starswirl looked panicked. In his haste he tried lunging for the creature, but he missed it by a tentacle's width.

“No,” he whispered. He felt as if he had been kicked in the chest. He looked back and saw that Twilight's expression mirrored his own. Fluttershy had her muzzle buried in Rarity's mane as the unicorn held her.

Suddenly there was a humming sound, and everyone looked towards it. A hole opened in the air before them and a green, gelatinous mess poured out onto the grass in front of the boat.

“Smooze!” cried Fluttershy.

The creature drew itself up to its full height and wobbled. It gestured towards the portal as if to say “this way!”

The tracking spell was working, much to Twilight's relief. At least one thing had gone right. Well, two things actually, but the Smooze had been a wonderful stroke of luck. Still, she felt like a failure as she looked out across the Hydapsis river.

“A penny for your thoughts,” said Starswirl.

Twilight's ears drooped. “Things didn't go as planned,” admitted the alicorn.

“They often don't in life. At least you haven't made mistakes like I have.”

She knew he was talking about Discord and Celestia.

“You did what you had to,” said Twilight. “For the good of the kingdom.”

“Was it really for the good of the kingdom? Let me tell you something, Princess. Do not ever lose sight of what is important. I know I was stuck between a rock and a hard place but I could have handled it better. Instead of thinking of what you should do, do what you know is best for your friends. Heck, why am I even telling you this when you're the Princess of Friendship? If anything I should be coming to you for advice.”

Twilight smiled softly.

Fluttershy stood at the bow of the ship, looking out across the chaos dimension.

She just wanted him home. She wanted them to be snuggled on the sofa in front of the fireplace, under a warm throw. He'd run his paw through her mane and as she snuggled against him she would know without having to look up that he was giving her an adoring look. She wanted that more than anything right now--for them to both be safe. She missed the comforting yet stormy scent of his fur and feathers.

"Darling?"

The pegasus looked up, startled. "Hi Rarity..."

"Want some company?"

Fluttershy nodded. "I think I would like that, actually."

The two mares gazed out over the Hydapsis.

"I'm so worried about Discord," Fluttershy said, and Rarity noticed her friend already had tears running down her face.

"Come here, darling." Rarity opened her arms and the pegasus tried to take comfort in her embrace as the unicorn stroked her mane. Fluttershy sniffled into Rarity's coat.

"You're in love with him, aren't you?"

"Yes," came the barely audible response.

Rarity smiled, but the expression didn't last because Fluttershy began to sob.

"I'm so scared, Rarity. What if he..."

"Shhh. Don't think about it, dear. This is Discord. He's been alive for thousands of years, maybe even longer!"

"But he wasn't sick like this, without his magic! And that creature sapped him of all his energy! What would hundreds of them do to him?"

Rarity's heart sank, but she couldn't let her friend or herself give in to despair.

"Fluttershy, if I know Discord, he'll find a way stay alive. Do you know why? It's not just because he's infuriatingly stubborn, which in this case is actually a bonus, but it's because, dearest, he will do everything in his power to see you again if he can help it. He's adored you for years, Fluttershy. He's even come to me for advice about it. I wasn't supposed to tell you that, but given the circumstances, I think I can be forgiven for breaking my word just this once."

Fluttershy looked up. "Advice?"

"Yes. He has really been trying, Fluttershy. And that includes trying to stay away. Until this project that is..."

"Why did he ever start this thing? Was it really just to impress me?"

"Yes."

Fluttershy groaned. "Discord..."

"Yes, dear. We know he's an idiot, but he's our idiot. If it's any consolation, I think you were the catalyst, but Discord has been trying to prove himself to everyone, not just you. It's just that he's in love with you, so naturally he thinks he has to prove himself to you the most."

Fluttershy hugged herself. Then she took a deep breath and said: "Do you think it's right to love him, Rarity? He seems to rely so much on me."

"Once again, dearest, that's because he's in love with you. After all, don't you feel the same?"

"But I have friends to support me if things go wrong."

"So does he. He just doesn't know it yet."

"Rarity, I need to tell you something. But I need your word that you won't tell the others. Only Starswirl knows this."

"I promise, but I did just tell you something about Discord I wasn't supposed to tell you. Still, I wasn't breaking a promise to him by doing that. It was more that he threatened to cover my fall collection in snot...and...oh goodness. Listen to me rambling on. You have my word, Fluttershy."

The pegasus nodded. "Discord...he..."

"Yes, dear?"

"Discord attacked Scriptum. He attacked him because he thought that everyone hated him and that it was all Scriptum's fault, but Scriptum isn't the only pony who jumped to conclusions about finding me and Discord together. Starswirl did too, and...and I know some of you did."

Rarity looked at the ground. "We never should have believed him. He just seemed so nice! And Discord is...well...Discord. Oh, I'm sorry dear. I didn't mean..."

"No, it's fine. I know Discord can be a difficult customer. But I also know he's a good person, Rarity. My dilemnna is that may not be enough. Discord is...sensitive. He'll never admit it but he hurts...a lot, about a lot of things. And he covers it up a lot, with jokes, with false callousness. The statue hurt him. He was...he was so lonely. His mind isn't well. In fact, it could well be broken. But it's never going to heal if we keep insisting he's a bad pony!"

Rarity nodded sadly. "So that's why you're reluctant. Because if he invests everything in you and he loses you..."

"Yes."

Rarity moved forward to hug her friend tightly. "Darling, I promise you that if...I mean...when we find him we will all do our best to be better friends to Discord."

Fluttershy returned Rarity's embrace. "Thank you," she whispered. She still looked worried, though.

"Fluttershy.”

"Mmm?"

“If you're still unsure,” said Rarity, “then ask yourself why you love him.”

“He's...brave. And funny, and very sweet,” said Fluttershy. “He sees me for who I am.” She thought of the evening on the boat when Discord had told her about good and bad. “But he's also very jealous and paranoid. I just want him to know that we aren't going to hurt him.”

“You know something,” said Rarity, putting a hoof on her friend's shoulder.

“What?”

"There's no shame in loving someone with a broken brain."

"Does it make me a pushover?"

"No. Because it's on your own terms. Besides, when has Discord ever been able to push you over?"

That was true. Fluttershy seemed to rule him with a downy hoof.

Fluttershy reached for her saddlebag and pulled out Discord's note. "He left me this," she said softly.

Rarity was silent as she read the scrawled handwriting. When she got to the end of the letter she was no longer in any doubt about how much the draconequus cared for her friend.

“He's growing and learning,” said Rarity.

Fluttershy threw her hooves up. “Why am I even worrying about stuff like this when he could be dead? I should be worrying about THAT instead!”

“No you shouldn't. And I'll tell you why you're worrying about stuff like that.”

“Why?”

“Because you're already planning what to do when you both get to go home safely to each other.”

One of my sentinels has informed me that your friends are on their way.

"Ha!" shouted the draconequus in the inky blackness.

You think this is a good thing?

"Of course it's a good thing. They're coming to rescue me."

The thought made him feel warm.

Actually I have already won. I have you here. They will come for you, and then I will have them. Harmony and Chaos, finally eradicated. Your friendship with them will be the very reason for their demise.

So that was it. Bait. He was bait. He tried not to think about that. They were coming to get him, so there was hope, and he still had time to think of a plan.

“I knew I was important!” he said to the voice. “And here I was beginning to doubt you were going to send me chocolates and flowers.”

Do you do nothing but joke?

“Isn't that what intrigues you so about moi?”

I do not find you intriguing. I find it necessary that you end.

Keep it talking, thought Discord. See what information you can get out of it.

“So, if you are so incredibly powerful and the universe is meant to end into nothingness as you say, then why haven't you done it already?”

Because you are an unfortunate bi-product of events, and still a part of me. This is why my task is not complete and why there is still variety.

“Variety? Heinz 57?”

What.

“Nothing. Do go on. It's fascinating, really,” said Discord in a voice that implied that he really wasn't fascinated at all.

I still exist, therefore there is some variety in me. That is why I operate via a collective.

“Your goal is to not exist?”

I will be the only thing that exists. I will be constant. It will be as before, only this time there will be no you to interfere.

“Look, I think you're confusing me with someone else. I'm pretty sure I would have remembered never-ending darkness with a theatrical voice before.”

You were there when the universe began. Or rather, your essence was. You simply do not remember because you have a corporeal body now. But the power you carry was in a raw state, and then things began to harness that power and exist. It ruined everything. Nature began to exist. She destroyed my work. Planets and stars formed. Galaxies, minerals, water. It was unstoppable. Until now.

“Yeaaaaah, well you still haven't stopped it yet,” drawled the draconequus.

That is because you must give yourself to me willingly.

Discord cackled at that. “Come again? I think I have some darkness stuck in my ear, because I thought you said that I'd give myself to you willingly?”

You will. As I've said. I've already won.

“Look, I know that you sit there and touch yourself at night when you think of me,” said Discord, “but the idea that I would ever give myself to you willingly? I'm afraid you've gone cuckoo clock. Delusional, even.”

They are here.

Discord was about to ask who the voice meant when it clicked into place. He felt as if icicles were forming on his spine.

“W-What is that?” said Rainbow Dash, pointing a hoof at the blackness before them. The Smooze wobbled in fear and Fluttershy cooed soothingly to it.

“This is where the trail ends,” said Twilight. The creature was now in a fixed place and didn't seem to be going any further.

“Ya mean that thing is where Discord is?”

“Maybe,” said Twilight.

“I don't think we should go in there,” said Starswirl. “It's not just dark it's...nothing.”

He was right. The blackness had no shade to it. It was simply a solid darkness. Then they all pulled back in horror as the darkness seemed to shift towards Twilight.

Which one of your friends shall I take first? said the voice.

Discord was trying not to let any panic show. He knew his friends were out there but calling to them might make them come to him and then the darkness would take them. His tail swished with anxiety.

Maybe the old one. After all he's lasted long enough and is far passed his prime.

“I would agree with you,” said Discord, trying to keep his cool, “But he's so insufferable I think he would give you indigestion.”

Or your little purple princess.

Discord actually felt the darkness shift forward and he knew the entity was reaching for Twilight.

“Um...I...I don't think that's the best place to start, really,” he said. He was babbling now, simply trying to distract the voice. “She's such a bore. It's not like you're getting rid of much variety there...”

“Or this lovely creature?” The blackness reached out there was screaming from several voices and Discord heard a soft whimper in the blackness.

"No!" he screamed.

Ah...you *like** this one* said the blackness.

Discord cursed himself inwardly for giving himself away.

"Discord?" called out the pegasus' trembling voice. Discord could actually smell the fear radiating off her.

"Yes, it's me, Fluttershy! I'm here. Where are you?"

"I don't know!" Fluttershy kicked her legs frantically. There was no way to tell up from down. "Can you follow my voice?"

Discord flexed his ears in the darkness. He couldn't pinpoint where the sound was coming from, but he could smell her. The smell told him she was horrified. A wave of protectiveness came over him as he pictured her trembling, suspended in the darkness. The urge to wrap his arms around her and comfort her was overwhelming. He tried using that to move towards her, swimming through the permeating darkness.

"Call out again!" he shouted.

"I'm here!" she cried. Once again the sound seemed to have no fixed place.

So, Discord.

Fluttershy squeaked in terror at the sound of the voice and Discord's heart nearly stopped beating.

As I said, I've won. Give yourself to me now and I may wait until the natural end of this little filly's life to eradicate everything.

"What?"

If you don't give yourself over I will kill her now.

"No!! No, no no! Please, no!"

Then do it.

"If I do it will you let her live out her life?"

"No, Discord! Don't listen to it. It's not worth it!"

I will. But after she's gone naturally, everything ends.

"Don't do it," sobbed the pegasus.

Discord realized the sound of her voice was right next to his ear. He reached out and felt her soft mane. She yelped in surprise, but melted into his embrace when she realized who it was. Discord struggled to accept that what he was embracing was real. For once in his life he wished it wasn't.

I'm waiting. The fact that you're holding her won't change my intent.

"Don't..." whispered Fluttershy into Discord's feathers.

He hugged her tightly, and stroked her mane.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Then they were falling through the blackness and the next thing Fluttershy knew she could see the chaos dimension flying past them. Discord was whispering "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" over and over as they fell, his lion and griffon arm still wrapped around her small frame. Then they hit the deck of the ship with a loud smack. Fluttershy shrieked, but Discord had broken her fall and for all she knew, some of his own bones as well.

She could hear her friends asking her if she was okay, but their voices sounded like they were at the end of a long tunnel. Instead, she looked down at Discord. He struggled to lift his head and reached out to her with a paw. He laid it lightly on her cheek.

"I'm sorry I'm selfish," he whispered. Then he collapsed and was still and the blackness took him.

Half blind and spitting straight into the wind

The wail that came from Fluttershy made Starswirl's teeth stand on edge. He had heard similar sounds before, during wartime when he was a younger stallion; Cries of the mares who had lost husbands and mates to the battlefield. He had hoped that he would never hear that sound again as long as he lived, but Fluttershy put an end to that wish. The images before him seemed to happen in slow motion. Fluttershy rushing forward and embracing Discord's fallen body. Applejack trying to pull her off.

"He's dead, Sugarcube, he's dead!" she said, tears in her eyes.

Fluttershy had her head resting on Discord's lifeless chest, trying to listen for a heartbeat, for breath, for anything that would tell her that her friend was still alive and in this world. "Discord...please," she cried, then her face contorted as she broke down and burst into sobs. She let Applejack drag her away. She had no fight left in her. Nothing was ever going to be okay again.

The minute Discord's body hit the floor of the deck he could feel himself separating. The darkness was pulling him apart and it hurt.

Though his corporeal body lay lifeless on deck, he could feel himself being stretched in four different directions, tearing, wrenching. If he had a voice he would have screamed. Instead he gave the energy equivalent of a scream. This was it. The end. The end of all things. His only consolation through the agony he felt as he sensed himself being destroyed was that Fluttershy would get to live until old age. It was a dreadful pity that anything she did in life would mostly be for naught, as the world would end when she did, but at least he had bought her some time to do the things she loved; play with her animals, be with her friends.

He could feel himself dissolving into the blackness now, becoming part of it. It was like he was disappearing and slotting into place at the same time. The pain was unbelievable and he let out energy screams again and again.

You are unbearably noisy. It is a good thing you will soon be gone.

Discord had no voice with which to reply. He wondered briefly if this was what static felt like.

The pain was beginning to vanish now, and Discord knew the end was close.

Goodbye, Noodle he thought.

"He did it to save me," Fluttershy was saying, in a monotone. "He did it to save all of us. But once we are gone then the world will end anyway." She was draped over Rarity's lap while the unicorn stroked her friend's mane, gently. Tears ran down her own face.

Everyone was in shock. The Smooze was wobbling profusely. It didn't look like his usual comfortable wobbling. Instead he was shuddering intermittently.

Starswirl spoke first. “Fluttershy, I know now is an awful time to ask anything of you, but was that thing that took you?”

The pegasus sniffled and tried to clear her large eyes of tears. “I...I don't know. I couldn't see anything in there. I only know I found Discord and this voice said he had to give himself over or it would kill us.”

Starswirl had never seen anything like this before. Indeed, none of them had. This didn't seem to be one of the usual creatures in the chaos dimension. He couldn't see past it, or through it. It was like he was looking at...nothing.

“We should leave,” he said sadly. “Even if there is a way to stop this thing I don't think lingering near it is the safest idea right now.”

“Mmm.” Fluttershy said non-committally. She felt awfully numb. She and Rarity were facing away from Discord's body because the pegasus couldn't bear to look at it. Starswirl had covered it with a cloak.

“I guess it's time to go home,” said the unicorn sadly. He was about to turn the vessel around when there was a deep roar.

At least that's what it sounded like to Starswirl when he first heard it. Then it was as if the air was shaking. If the unicorn had been able to use any words to describe it, he would have termed it an “air quake.”

“What's happening?” screamed Dash.

If Discord's demise was counted in increments, he would have been a mere ten slots away from ceasing to exist. As it was, one of the slots didn't appear to fit right.

Then the voice boomed forth in the void like exploding thunder.

It's that pathetic wench! She gave you her blood! She gave you her blood and it's eating part of my collective alive!

It took Discord a second to realize what the thing was blathering about. He was still trying to cope with the white hot pain searing through him. But what he could also sense was the darkness beginning to feel disordered…

If he had a voice to describe the sensation, he would have likened it to Swiss cheese. It felt like there were holes forming in the darkness. Then he felt himself slot back into place with a jolt and everything followed.

He still did not have a corporeal body, but he could feel himself move around freely in the darkness. He felt himself winding around the spaces created by whatever it was eating away at the blackness.

Eventually he felt himself detach from the entity holding him captive and he laughed. He had his voice back.

“Eat something that didn’t agree with you?” purred the chaos god.

Your wench did this!

“I’m afraid I don’t have a wench, unless you are talking about my most bodacious friend Fluttershy.”

Yes! Her! Her! I was going to destroy her but you have something within you she has given you. It is destroying my army!

“Oh well.”

Things were meant to end!

“They clearly weren’t if this is how it turned out. Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be doing this billions of years from now when the sun explodes or something?”

It was meant to be NOW!

“Don’t think so.” Discord let out a high pitched whistle and the army of tenctacled creatures all turned to face him as one.

“I think you guys need a good, long vacation; Perhaps somewhere in the outer Hoek Galaxy. Don’t rush back. I say three or four billion years should get you nice and rested. Heck, create your own black hole or something. It could be fun.”

The voice screamed furiously at Discord, but the collective was already beginning to obey him. One by one, they moved off and began their long journey to a galaxy in another dimension.

THERE IS MEANT TO BE NOTHING. the voice screamed.

“I dunno if you remember, but you do not exist without me. You don’t get to die until I die. And you made the mistake of bucking with not just me, but with my friends. Enjoy stewing in the Hoek Galaxy, surrounded by planets, stars, gas and all the other things that keep nothing at bay. I may even come and visit you when I’m feeling bored, just to make sure you’re behaving.”

The sound the darkness made as it faded away with the collective sounded like nails across a blackboard. Discord winced, but it was short lived.

Then he felt as if he’d been kicked in the stomach and he opened his eyes.

He had eyes! He could see his friends. They were all facing away from him staring at a patch of sky in front of the boat. He lifted his head and neck gingerly. Dear Celestia, they hurt. Badly. He was sure a few ribs were broken too. He snapped his fingers and yelped as the bones reset themselves.

The sound caused five heads to look back at him instantly. He was vaguely away of a cry of joy before Fluttershy flew into him and threw her arms around him. He secretly thanked the ether that she hadn’t done that moments before- that might have been rather painful.

It took a few beats for Discord to realize where he was and what had happened, and that Fluttershy was saying “I thought you were dead” and that she was crying, and making the fur on his neck damp. Everyone was staring at him.

Then he threw his arms around the Pegasus and whispered, “I’m okay, Noodle. Are you okay?”

She looked up at him. Her face was streaked with tears but she was smiling.

“I am now,” she whispered. He felt his chest flood with warmth.

Starswirl’s mouth was hanging open. Indeed, everyone’s except Fluttershy’s was. “Wha…what was? What the hay just happened?” he asked.

Discord laughed. He set Fluttershy on the deck beside him and whirled around, suddenly donning a ship captain’s hat and holding a pipe in his clawed eagle hand. He looked haughtily over his shoulder and took a drag from the pipe.

"I think we all know, ladies and gentlecolt, that Chaos prevails."

“Yay!” said Fluttershy loudly.

“Where is Balloon Butt?” asked Discord.

“You mean Pinkie?” said Twilight. “It’s a long story. I think we’re going to have to tell you about it after a cup of tea back at the castle. Or maybe several cups of tea!” Her head was still reeling. She had so many questions. Discord seemed alright, but she didn’t want to press him after whatever the hell had just happened.

“That sounds amazing right now, Sparky.”

“Are you alright?” asked Starswirl. “Is your magic working?”

“I’m crooked as rain, Beardy,” replied the draconequus.

“I don’t think that’s how…”

“Oh and you’ve just reminded me,” continued Discord, “I have something that belongs to you.” He pointed a claw at Starswirl’s flank and zapped him with what felt like electrical current. The unicorn yelped loudly and jumped two feet in the air.

“Feel any different?” asked Discord.

“My magic! It’s back!”

“Yes, indeedy. Thanks very much for letting me borrow it for a while. Guess you’re not such a pain in the flank after all.”

“I’ll take that as an apology.”

“Hmm.”

Starswirl looked at the ground. “And I’m sorry too. I jumped to so many conclusions when I shouldn’t have.”

“Discord, can you send a message to Pinkie and Spike?” asked Twilight. “We need to let them know that everyone’s okay, including you.”

The draconequus snapped his tail. “’Tis done, Sparky.”

A few seconds later Discord burped out a scroll. It read:

Excellent news! Come home soon.

Spike and Pinkie

“Are you sure your powers at full capacity?” asked Starswirl.

“If you’re wondering if we need to travel back in this dump of a ship, the answer is no. I can transport us all home in the blink of an eye.”

“Um…”

Discord looked down to see Fluttershy tugging at the feathers on his body. “Um…if it’s alright with you…may we talk?”

Here it comes. thought Discord.

Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at her friends. “Would it be alright if Discord and I had some privacy?” she asked.

There was a commotion as everyone started mumbling apologies at once, then they moved away to the roundhouse, leaving the draconequus and Pegasus to talk alone, though Rarity gave them a sly smile over her shoulder as she left.

Fluttershy looked up at the chaos god.

“Will I understand what happened in there if you explain it?” she asked.

“I’m not even sure I really understand it myself,” said Discord. “But it had something to do with the antibodies you gave me. They didn’t work on me but they worked on part of the collective.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“One of the species feeds on chaos and the other feeds on harmony,” said Fluttershy. “That was how we were able to find you. The creature you captured only feeds on chaos. That’s why we had to leave Pinkie behind. It would have attacked her.”

Discord remembered what the dark entity had said about “still having variety.” He breathed a sigh of relief at this realization. It was true, the darkness and him were inexplicably intertwined, but as long as he was alive it could never fully come to fruition. And he could never completely get rid of the darkness either. One day it would come, but that would be billions of years from now if he could help it.

Discord looked down into Fluttershy’s teal eyes.

“Enough about creatures,” said Discord. He ran a talon gently along her cheek. “I’m so glad you’re okay Fluttershy,” he whispered. “I’m guessing there’s something else you want to talk about anyway.” He wanted to get it over with while he still had adrenaline coursing through him. He could feel bad about it later, when he was alone in his house.

“We need to talk about us.”

Called it thought Discord sadly.

“Discord, I know you and I have been through a…well…a heck of a lot lately.”

He smirked. “An understatement, yes. But I do agree.”

“And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I know things have been very painful for both of us, and there were times when I got very angry and shouted at you, but…”

This is it though Discord. This is the moment I get told I can’t be loved. Not even by kindness. He was ready to accept it. He had meant what he said about wanting to put her happiness first. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, and he wouldn’t need a while to get over it, but he did mean it.

“…I’ve decided,” continued Fluttershy, “that you and I can’t be marefriend and coltfriend…”

There it is.

“…unless we start this again properly and you take me on a few dates first. I know we’ve been…um...intimate and it was nice, but I don’t want to rush things anyway.”

I’ll need a few days of soul searching or whatever it is shrinks are calling it nowadays and…wait…WHAT?

He stared at her wide-eyed. She couldn’t have just said what he thought she had just said. Yet she was looking up at him expectantly.

“You…you want me to court you?”

“I want us to get to know each other. I want to know all the things I can do to avoid hurting you and you need to learn all the things you need to do to avoid hurting me. And then we can work on protecting each other from people like…people like Scriptum. So I propose a series of dates where we can talk…and heal if that’s alright?”

Fluttershy was surprised to find that she felt rather powerful saying those words out loud. This was the first time she had ever asked a stallion out before. All her other dates had been set up by friends or the stallion had asked her out first. Now she was taking the initiative. She felt both terrified and powerful. Was he going to say no to her? She was worried that after all they had been through Discord would be reluctant to get involved with her again. After all, in the past she had told him she hadn’t wanted to be in a relationship with him.

Except she always had, hadn’t she? She had just been afraid.

“So, what’s it to be?” she said softly. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she could have sworn she heard it beating in her ears.

His paw stroked the side of her face softly.

“Yes,” he said.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and sighed happily.

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Discord?”

“May I kiss you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

He leaned forward and pressed his own muzzle against her sweet lips. After a few seconds they pulled apart.

"Fluttershy," he said. "I know I'm not perfect, and probably never will be, but I do love you. I know I do."

She smiled up at him.

"Though now that we're officially an item, there's something I suppose I should confess to you," said the draconequus.

"Oh? What's that?

"Truth is, I kinda like it when you boss me around. Turns me on."

She slapped his arm playfully.

Epilogue: Two years later

“It’s finally here!” cried Twilight excitedly, clutching the package wrapped in brown paper the mail mare had just delivered.

“What’s that?” teased Spike. “101 spells for book nerds?”

“Oh, Spike. Really. I can’t believe you’ve forgotten. It’s the book Discord, Fluttershy and Starswirl have been working on for the past two and a half years!”

“Oh!”

“Yes!”

“Wow. Let’s see it.”

Twlight untied the string holding the package together and carefully unwrapped the book. It was bound in purple vegetable leather, and written in gold on the spine were the words “The Taxonomy of the Lower Reaches of the Discordian Dimensions by Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness.”

On the cover was an embossed image of one of the jelly creatures. Twilight opened the book to the title page. At the bottom were the words “edited by Mr. Nettle, who would like to thank Princess Twilight Sparkle for her invaluable advice.”

“Who is Mr. Nettle?” asked Spike.

“Oh, that’s Starswirl the Bearded. But we can’t tell anyone. Something about destroying the space-time continuum. I wasn’t sure on the specifics. I’ll have to ask Princess Celestia before Starswirl leaves.”

“Whoa. So is Starswirl returning to the past soon?”

“Yes,” said the alicorn sadly. “But these past few months have been amazing. I’ve learnt so much from him and, and…guess what he said to me?”

“What?” said the little dragon leaning forward.

Twilight practically squealed. “He said he actually thought he learnt more from me about magic than I did from him!”

“Cool!”

“Isn’t it?” said Twilight, grinning like a fiend. “He said friendship magic is immensely complicated and has much to offer the world and that it was the way forward!”

Spike smirked. That compliment was sure to have Twilight’s Nerd-O-Meter running at full capacity for a good long while.

“Sparky!” called a familiar voice.

Spike pulled back the blind. “Looks like someone else got his brand new copy too,” he said. Twilight peered out the window to see a jubilant draonequus dancing on the grass outside. She and Spike ran down the stairs and flung open the door.

“SPARKY!” shouted Discord, right in Twilight’s face. “It’s here! It’s finally here!” Fluttershy got them from the printers and mailed them off yesterday.

The alicorn held up her copy. “Ah, I see the mail mare has also been. Oh! And you’ll be so proud of me. I managed to convince the Snarpwoofle not to attempt eating her this time!”

“That’s…good,” said Twilight.

“Isn’t it though?”

“Anyway…” said the Princess. “Not that I’m not pleased to see you, but why are you here? I would have thought you and Fluttershy would be celebrating.”

“Isn’t it obvious, Sparky? I’m here to gloat!”

“Gloat?”

“Why, of course! A few years ago you said I couldn’t amount to anything and I could never concentrate on anything to completion.”

Twilight bit her lip. She had said that, but she also knew these past two years had been a slight headache. The only reason this book had been finished was that Fluttershy had been there to steer him in the right direction. Without her and Starswirl Discord’s attention span would have been very narrow. On the other hand, one of the things Starswirl had said to her was: “friendship magic saved him, Twilight. All those centuries ago, if I had known that…if only I had known that.”

“Did you get a dedication from Starswirl too?” Spike asked Discord.

“Oh, yes,” said the draconequus. He opened his copy to the title page so they could read it:

Here you go, Smelly. It was good working with you but Dear, Sweet Celestia, are you ever a pain in the flank.

“Uh…wonderful,” said Spike.

Twilight laughed. She was glad Discord and Starswirl could joke like the old friends they were again.

“There’s another dedication,” said Discord, waggling his eyebrows. “But it’s for my eyes only.”

“That’s okay, I don’t need to see…”

“Oh, okay you twisted my arm!” cried Discord, and he pointed excitedly to the writing on the second page of the book. There, in Fluttershy’s hoof-writing were the words:

Draconequus: Brave, stubborn, loving, chaotic, smart, funny, caring. Loved.

“It’s in writing!” proclaimed Discord.

“Yes, it is,” agreed Twilight.

“Anyway, I just wanted to show you all that. Just in case you were under any misapprehension.”

Twilight internally rolled her eyes.

“Now, you were actually partly right,” said Discord. “I am on my way to see Fluttershy.”

“Please say hello for me.”

“Oh there won’t be any time for talking.”

“Why not? Ugh! No, actually I don’t need to know.”

Discord cackled. “That’s my girl,” he said to Twilight, and with a snap of his tail he teleported to the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage.

He rapped on the door three times with his tail and after a moment he was greeting with Fluttershy’s radiant smile.

“Discord!” she said happily. She stood up on the tip toes of her hind legs and kissed him on the cheek.

“Hey Noodle,” he said happily. “Isn’t this awesome?” He held up the purple tome above his head with both hands as if it was a Spartan shield.

“I’m so proud of you,” Fluttershy beamed.

“Oh, but no. It’s you who made it all possible, Noodle.” He booped her nose with his paw gently. "All your knowledge of animals really helped me with this. It’s you who needs to be pampered right now." His voice grew a touch more seductive. "Pampered...in so…many…ways…” his paw was gently rubbing the spot behind her head under her soft mane.

"You saved my life," he whispered. He wasn't even sure which incident in particular he was referring to. He just knew she had.

She closed her eyes and parted her lips and he kissed her softly on the mouth.

“Upstairs,” she whispered.

He didn’t argue.

Later Discord lay wrapped around his mate and enjoyed the feeling of her soft breath on his feathers as she slept.

Outside it was raining and the light was fading. The draconequus listened to the rain plummet down on the cottage roof and he curled tighter around Fluttershy, holding her close as they both enjoyed the afterglow. Everything felt perfect.

Discord’s eyes flew open. Maybe a little too perfect.

It’s okay, it’s okay. Remember those breathing exercises Fluttershy’s friend Tree Hugger taught you.

He inhaled deeply.

He flexed his ears and listened to the sound of the gentle pegasus breathing.

Then he pulled her close to him so he could feel her heart beating. Finally, he buried his muzzle in her mane and took in the sweet scent.

He sighed happily.

Yes, she was definitely real.