Family

Fluttershy hummed to herself as she prepared the last of the morning feed for the animals. The ferrets were doing their hilarious backwards dance outside as they watched her through the window.

"Just a minute!" she laughed. She carried the buckets of food outside and was instantly surrounded by her animal friends. Rather than being greedy and fighting over the food, they all waited their turn, with some birds even perching on her arm as they waited. She could see the mail mare coming up the path and she wondered if there would be anything interesting today.

Discord stirred slightly and reached across the bed for Fluttershy. His eyes were shut and his paw fumbled this way and that trying to feel for soft fur or silky mane. He opened one eye and sighed. She had gotten up early again. With a snap of his fingers the pegasus was back in bed.

"Discord!"

He grinned, but then his face fell. Rather than looking slightly annoyed at him as he had expected, she looked worried.

"What's up Flutters?" he asked.

Very slowly, Fluttershy raised the letter she was holding between her hooves. Discord reached for it, conjured up some reading glasses and read it out loud in a mare's voice:

Dearest Fluttershy,

I will be visiting in exactly two days. In your last letter you mentioned a coltfriend and I would very much like to meet the stallion in question.

I am catching the 10:30 from Cloudsdale and will arrive sometime mid afternoon. I trust the cottage will be in order.

Sincerely,

Aunt Cloudia

Discord chuckled. "And I thought I was the only one in your life who arrived uninvited."

Fluttershy let out a whimper. She was staring up at the ceiling. Discord began to worry.

"What's wrong?" asked the draconequus, wrapping part of his snake-like body around her.

"I told you about my aunt," said Fluttershy, peering out from behind a coil. "She's a perfectionist. I'm going to have to clean the cottage, and get my mane done, and make sure all the animals are clean and..." She was hyperventilating now.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. That sounds way too much like...'organisation' for my liking. Why do you have to change the way this place is just because a family member is visiting? This is your home."

"You don't understand! Everything has to be perfect or she'll be cross!"

Discord blinked at her.

"Why don't you tell her to buck off? It's not like she can break your door down."

Fluttershy sighed. "It's not that simple, Discord. She's done a lot for me. It would be ungrateful of me to turn her away".

"Hmm." The draconequus stroked his beard as he thought about the situation, then he tightened his hold around the pegasus and whispered in her ear: "Well, you know, I'll be right here beside you if she decides to get cross. I've got your back, Shy." He felt the pegasus relax a little in his embrace and he continued, "rest assured if she does anything to make you feel bad she'll end up in a ball pit filled with parasprites that have just had a mud bath in molasses!"

"No, Discord!"

He sighed and uncoiled himself. "I didn't think you'd go for that but I felt it was worth a shot."

"I do want you there," said Fluttershy. "In fact, I really want her to meet you, but I also want you to be polite."

Discord's right eyebrow popped off his face onto the bedsheets. "Must I?" he scowled, picking up the white fluffy object and smacking it back onto his forehead. "She doesn't sound like the most fun pony in the world."

"That's not the point. She's family and I want you two to meet, and that means best behaviour."

"What if she's impolite to me first?"

"Then rise above it. Be the better person."

Discord snorted. "Edit myself, you mean." An eraser appeared in mid air and began rubbing away the draconequus' facial features.

"It's just for a little while," said Fluttershy. "We all have to edit ourselves from time to time, not just you. That doesn't mean you can't be yourself, it just means don't be antagonistic, even if she is."

"Sigh. Fine. How long is she staying for?"

"The letter doesn't say." Fluttershy began to breathe rapidly again. "I haven't swept the floor! It's still covered in feathers from when I last fed the parrots indoors and there are muddy pawprints in the hallway!" She was on the verge of hyperventilating again.

"Hey! Hey..." said Discord gently, putting a paw around her. "Relax. As much as I hate organisation, I can get rid of the mess with a snap of the fingers. Then you have more time to be Fluttershy and not worry."

"Oh...thank you," she said softly.

Discord tilted his head at her. He had expected the pegasus to be happier about this. Instead she still looked worried. He snapped his fingers anyway and the cottage was clean once more. He could always mess it up again once her aunt was gone. He grinned at the thought and looked down at his marefriend. She didn't look anymore relaxed or relieved. Why was she so troubled about this? She had scolded dragons and manticores...she even scolded him sometimes. Why was her aunt such a threat? Discord decided he already didn't like her. A pony who insisted on cleanliness and made Fluttershy a nervous wreck was never going to be on his list of favourites.

The day of Aunt Cloudia's visit, Discord appeared on Fluttershy's doorstep, his fur and feathers brushed until they were shiny. He knocked on his marefriend's door. Normally he just materialized within her cottage, but she had told him to knock this time because it was the 'polite thing to do.'

"The sooner this is over with the better," he muttered to himself.

"Come in!" called Fluttershy. "We're in the kitchen!" Now that was unusual. He had expected her to answer the door with her aunt beside her. Tentatively he pushed the door open and stepped inside the house. He walked through into the kitchen.

Fluttershy was sat at the table with a greyish pink mare with white hair styled in a tight bun that was held in place by more hairclips than Discord could count. She had her back to the draconequus but turned around as she heard her neice say brightly: "Hello, Discord!" Fluttershy looked slightly relieved to see him , and it prompted a tug in his chest. One of the things that had always drawn him to the pegasus was that she was one of the few ponies who seemed to derive joy from being in his presence. He was so distracted by this happy thought that he almost forgot about the stern-faced mare sitting next to Fluttershy. She quickly reminded him of her presence, however, when her first words directed towards him were: "This is your coltfriend?!"

Discord bowed with a flourish, the tips of his antler and goat horn almost touching the ground. "Madam!" he said brightly. "It is indeed, I! Fluttershy's bodacious beau!" He moved forward to take Aunt Cloudia's hoof and plant a kiss on it, but he quickly tore her arm from his grasp.

"Unhand me this instant!" she shouted.

Discord looked up at Fluttershy desperately.

Help me.

But Fluttershy's expression seemed to be mirroring his as she looked back at him.

"Fluttershy," began Aunt Cloudia, "You made no mention in your letters to me that this 'Discord' of yours wasn't a stallion."

Fluttershy gritted her teeth in a tense smile. Really, how many Discords did her aunt think existed in the world?

"You mean," gaped the draconequus, "you've never heard of me?"

"Oh, I've heard of you," continued Aunt Cloudia. "I just never for one second entertained the thought that when I heard my neice was seeing someone called 'Discord' that it would be you. Fluttershy is a refined young lady!" She turned to the younger pegasus. "Why was I not told about this?"

"Honestly, Auntie. When I told you his name was Discord I assumed you knew who I was talking about."

"Yes, well. When you assume you make an ass out of 'u' and 'me' both. And we all know how ignorant asses can be." Fluttershy looked absolutely mortified and her face was now the colour of Big Mac's fur.

Discord's tail twitched once and his smile was frozen in a rictus on his face. "I...I'm part ass," he said through gritted teeth.

"That much is obvious."

Fluttershy was suddenly overcome with the desperate urge to find a paper bag to breathe into. Her aunt really was playing with fire now. She had asked the draconequus to be polite, but she knew he had his limits, as everyone did. She hadn't forseen her aunt being quite so rude to him, but she supposed she should have.

Discord cleared his throat and tried again. "Er...It appears we've gotten off on the wrong hoof here, I think. Why...why don't I sit down and um...we can...talk? How was your trip from Cloudsdale? Run into any cumulonimbus?"

Cloudia narrowed her eyes as the draconequus approached the table and pulled out his own chair to sit on. Discord mused that Aunt Cloudia was nothing like Applejack's grandmother. This had less to do with the fact that Cloudia was younger and more to do with her reaction towards him. The first time he had been properly introduced to the matriarch of the Apple family by Fluttershy, Granny Smith had let out a long, low whistle, winked at Fluttershy and said: "Hooie! He's a big one, ain't he?" Fluttershy had blushed and giggled and led a grinning Discord into the Apple family home where they had all sat around the dinner table eating pie. At one point Granny Smith had ribbed him and asked him what it felt like to be the oldest person at the table, which prompted a rare belly laugh from Big Mac.

No, Aunt Cloudia was nothing like Granny Smith. Granny Smith was fun. This matriarch seemed to only regard him with cold suspicion. Discord would have liked to admitted to himself that he was used to this from ponies, but the truth was he wasn't. He hated it when ponies still shunned him. His eyes darted back and forth between his marefriend and what he now considered to be a ridiculous harpy sitting next to her. He couldn't see much of a family resemblence. Cloudia lacked Fluttershy's soft features and her mouth was a thin, stern line.

"Auntie," said Fluttershy. "Discord has been a dear friend of mine for years now. And...we grew closer." She put her hoof on her mate's paw and his eyes softened slightly, even though he was still glaring at Cloudia. "I promise you Discord is a very sweet guy once you get to know him. He's funny and caring. All that stuff that happened in the past is just that...the past! Plus in the past Discord had no friends and he was alone. Now he does. He needed friendship just like I did. It saved him like it saved me."

Discord's ears flattened a little against his head in embarrassment at the recounting of his lonely history.

"Stallions don't change Fluttershy, you know that," replied Cloudia. "It's a moot point, anyway! He isn't even a stallion!" She gasped. Fluttershy was reminded briefly of Rarity's fainting couch. "How many other ponies know of this...this...xenophilic relationship?" She blurted out the words with an air of scandal and her eyes narrowed again. "Is he...taking advantage of you?"

"No!" shouted the couple in unison.

Cloudia turned to her niece again. "I'm disappointed in you, Fluttershy. You can do better than this. You mustn't think you can't, dear. Remember what I said about confidence? Whatever happened to that Apple boy? 'Big Fruit' or whatever his name was."

"Um...we didn't have much in common," said the younger mare. Her aunt looked flabbergasted.

"What could you possibly have in common with him?" She pointed a hoof between Discord's eyes.

"Quite a bit, actually," said the draconequus snarkily. "For instance, we both know what it's like to be woefully misunderstood by other ponies. Exhibit A."

Cloudia missed Discord's dig at her and continued her diatribe at Fluttershy. "What would your parents think about all this if they were alive today? Living on the ground is one thing, but living with riff raff? Sleeping with the riff raff! If you're not careful, young lady, people might start to think you're a whorse."

Fluttershy was now trying desperately not to cry. She wanted more than anything to shout I'm not a whorse! I'm not a naive idiot! I have my own life and you haven't even tried to give Discord a chance! But her thoughts were interrupted by a low growl from the draconequus who was now staring at Cloudia with a nearly murderous intent.

The growl resulted in a dramatic shriek from Fluttershy's aunt. "Did you hear that? He threatened me! How can you possibly say this animal isn't dangerous?"

"She never said I wasn't dangerous," said the draconequus. Fluttershy facehooved. There was no way he was going to earn her aunt's trust after that statement.

"Listen!" cried the pegasus, before things could get worse. "I...I think maybe we should have a time out and all go for a walk or something. Maybe get some fresh air."

"That's a delightful idea!" said Cloudia "I will see you in an hour's time. I can't possibly stay here another minute in this brute's presence. Hopefully he'll be gone by the time I get back!"

"I...meant we could walk together...nevermind." The last word came out as a squeak.

"You and I are going to have a talk later, Fluttershy," said Cloudia. "A lady to lady talk." Fluttershy shrank further in her chair.

With that, Cloudia shot Discord another highly suspicious glare and headed down the hall and out the door.

As soon as she was gone, Discord conjured up a punching bag with Cloudia's face on it and started scratching and biting it. It deflated almost instantly.

"I can't stand her, Fluttershy!"

"I know..." whispered the pegasus. "I find her difficult to cope with too."

"So get rid of her! Or better yet, let me get rid of her." He wiggled the fingers of his talon and there was a maniacal gleam in his eye.

"Discord..."

"I promise I won't banish her to another dimension or anything. I could turn her into a queen termite and she could lay eggs all day while worker termites poke at her butt, or maybe she'd be more suited to being a sentient aubergine."

"No, Discord. That's cruel."

"She's cruel."

"I can't just get rid of her!"

"Why not? She can go home."

"Because!"

"Because? You're not putting forward a terribly good argument, Shy. Put some back into it! What reason could you possibly have for letting that contemptible mare stay here another hour?"

"Because she's the only family I have!"

Discord looked like he'd been stung. He took a step backwards and Fluttershy realized her error too late.

"No, wait! I didn't mean it like that, Discord," she said. But she knew how sensitive he was, and now he was going to pretend like everything was fine when he was really upset. Discord had too much pride.

"Didn't mean it like what?" he said. "I don't know what you're talking about you silly cuckoo clock." He was smiling but his eyes seemed to be searching hers frantically. "I just meant that she's toxic as tartarus."

"Discord..."

"Actually, I think it's best I sit this one out. If organisation and peace is what you need then me being present isn't going to help."

"But she said she wanted to meet you!"

"Oh, Fluttershy. I know what ponies are like. They say one thing and mean another. Trust me on this, it sounds like me being here would just make things worse for you."

He had a point. Her aunt was meticulous and she had to admit Discord and her aunt crossing paths again might not be the best idea. But she also wanted him by her side and to reassure him that he was wanted and needed. Now because of his pride, that likely wasn't going to happen.

"Discord..." she began again.

"It's okay Flutters," he said. "It's all good, girlfriend. I'll come back when this whole Aunt business is over. You have your family time."

And he vanished.

"Oh dear," whispered Fluttershy.