Fluttershy took in shaking breath as she awoke, her body tensing up from the yearly itch that she despised. It was always like this. So unused to such arousal, and normally keeping it down, the shy pegasus would first heat in panic from the warmth that was in her lower regions. After almost thirty cycles of the feeling though, she did not react with the screaming of the first few years, or the tears of the latter, but instead simply needed to push it down. She still didn’t expect to go out for the next few days of course, but maybe, if she felt strong enough, she would invite Spike and Rarity, or Twilight and Flash over, just so that she had company.
She glanced to the window beside her bed, and heard the birds chirping at the early rays of morning. While most sang simple songs, a few had noticed the Fluttershy’s blue eyes, and chirped their greeting back. She whistled back to them, and smiled as they hopped about a bit. In their excitement, they pushed one of the smallest forward, a tiny pigeon that barely had its flight feathers in yet. It chirped to her, and she gladly whistled back. She could hear it talk to the others, proclaiming that he got the pony nymph to talk directly to him.
It filled her heart with joy, but something in her snapped. Watching the little bird snuggle against his mother brought a tear to her eye, despite the jubilation she had about meeting the new member of the family. She was smiling, but something within her was becoming colder by the second. The only part of her that was left warm, were her nethers.
”What do you mean this is my last one?”
“Rainbow, please, calm down. You know how in tune I am with things like this, and…”
“But I’m only thirty! Mares are supposed to go until they’re fourty, right?”
“Well, yes, but each mare has a different clock, and yours-”
“Aaagh! No, I won’t accept it. Not when I’m so close. I… You’re wrong! I’ll find someone after I become the captain, go into heat, and then do all that stuff. I’m not having a kid now just because you think you know something I don’t. I don’t even have a special somepony yet! How could this be my last heat when that’s the case?”
“Rainbow, you know a mare’s heat comes no matter-”
“No! And if you’re going to keep babbling on about this, than just get out!”
Fluttershy’s body shuttered as she tried to calm herself, tears coming to her eyes. Rainbow and her had almost never talked since that day ten years ago. Sure, maybe at Pinkie’s parties, but never for too long. Fluttershy shut her eyes, and breathed in. This wasn’t why she lost her, and this wasn’t the same case. She shut her eyes again, and pushed Rainbow to the side.
”Hello Fluttershy. How are you to- Spike, what are you doing back already? You're supposed to be on the train to Canterlot, as we planned it.”
“No, I shouldn’t.”
“What are you talking about darling? You… you know how I am right now.”
“I-I do too, and if I didn’t speak up… I don’t want you to go through what Rainbow did.”
“Fluttershy dearest, whatever is it...Are… are you sure?”
“Y-yes, I’m certain. I’m… I’m so sorry Rarity. I know you have a lot of work on your plate, and that this might interrupt it, but…”
“No. No, this is more important. I’ve admittedly been hesitant in the past, as yes, the life of a fashion designer is a hard one. But to rob my Spike Wikey of the daughter I so dearly wish to have of his is too high of a price for any act. Especially as one as silly as a job.”
“Are… are you sure?”
“Of course I am, darling. Now, Fluttershy, may you please go?”
“Of course.”
Fluttershy smiled at that one. That was what she wanted. No matter how bad the news, she had ended up happy. They now had a strong hybrid in school, and he kept them wonderfully miserable. Yes, that was what she wanted. That made her smile.
But it’s not what you have.
Her eyes shut tight, and she curled up in her sheets, shaking as she tried to wrap her hooves around herself. For a few moments she stayed like that, forcing the thought away. She would trade any thought with the rainbow that kept creeping to the edge of her mind. At the end of those colors were nothing but pain and sorrow, and she would do anything to stay away from it.
”Twilight, I have some news for you.”
“Oh, please give a few moments. Magic Buff, stop drawing on your sister, and Dawn, stop letting him.”
“But then I’m not done with the chapter yet!”
“Besides, how am I to finish shudder my epic war if my canvas moves?”
“You’ll just have to on an actual sob canvas. Oh, Fluttershy, come in. What is it?”
“Well, I thought I should let you know that if you wanted a third f-”
Fluttershy broke at this point. She had experienced too many owners lose their pets, had to give up on failed rescues too many times to fall for these tricks. She wasn’t like Twilight, or Rarity. She was almost in the same boat as Rainbow Dash. She had no special somepony, and only three days to a week to fix that. A tear ran down her face, as she knew it was impossible at this point.
It wasn’t that she didn’t think she could find a stallion to be with. No, in her prime she had had to move into Applejack’s barn just to keep away from suitors who wanted the ex-fashion model and Element of Harmony. It was during that time that she ever came the closest to avoiding this problem. To having a family, and being confident in her relationship.
Memories of her and Big Mac sitting in the barn, whispering sweet nothings to each other as they shared meals, talked about the weather, and simply sat in silence filled her mind. These were some of her favorite memories. They may have been of simpler times and things, but they were of a time in her life that she wouldn’t have ever asked to give up. It hadn’t been her choice though, but even on Cheerilee and Big Mac’s wedding day, she couldn’t hate those memories. She simply hadn’t been his special somepony.
Fluttershy put her hooves to the side of her body, letting them simply rest for the moment. She was alone, with only the sounds of nature to comfort her sinking mind. She could just do what she did every year. Let her hooves slide down, and release the heat that was down there. Then she would go shopping, get her supplies, and hide.
For a moment, Fluttershy considered letting her tail slip to the side while she was out. While she was not the young pony she once was, Rarity liked to reassure her that she was still as beautiful as many of the plants around her cabin. While she doubted it would be instantaneous, she knew that Rainbow… A tear rolled down her face, and she shook her head. That was a tactic for using condoms and to get the heat over and done with, not for bearing foals. Not to Fluttershy at least.
She watched a speck of dust float in front of her face, and made up her mind. At least now she might be able to talk to Rainbow Dash again. Maybe this was even her penance for having said anything. For ever thinking her attunement was something other ponies may want.
A hard claw ran along her cheek, and a deeply familiar voice was caught in the air. “I never liked tears. Too salty for my taste.”
Fluttershy looked up to the yellow eyes that looked down on her. The draconequus was only halfway through the wall now, and smiling down upon her. It was a bit of an odder sight for Fluttershy, as the two had become more distant over the more recent years. Her heart almost skipped a beat as she realized what his arrival could mean, especially as a fluttering in her chest returned, but she squashed it almost instantly. This was more of the world trying to make her pay for her mistakes. “What do you want, Discord?”
Discord climbed out of the wall and crawled onto the bed, wrapping around Fluttershy’s body, outlining her, with his head now resting next to hers. In years past, she had enjoyed this position with him, but now, she normally would force him off. She didn’t even have the energy for that though. “Am I not allowed to see my best friend anymore? I know we haven’t been exactly close, but with this being the time of year for flames and moans-”
Now she had the energy, and her wings sprang from her back. It was harder than she had ever done it, and she could hear the wind in Discord’s lungs leave him. He gasped for air, but still did not leave. Instead, he continued speak, though in a far softer voice. “Sorry… sorry, that was rude of me. Still, I know you normally hide, and I wanted to offer an alternative. Especially since, well, I miss this.”
Fluttershy shut her eyes. She hadn’t thought of her time with Discord before, as he would be pointless. Did she like his energy? Yes. Did she think he had one of the biggest hearts in Equestria, but only showed it those he cared about? Yes. She even knew that to this day, she loved him, but he couldn’t help. “Please Discord, just go. If you absolutely want ‘this’, then…” she took in a deep breath, softer, short sobs coming out with her exhale, “then ju-just come b-back in… in a few days!”
She felt him almost leap off of the bed as her tears began to pour down. She was doomed to simply be a crazy bunny lady, and that was the end of it. Soon her primal urges would end, and then, maybe, she would let Discord have what he wanted. It wasn’t like any other stallion would want her. She heard none of Discord’s words, nor felt his movements, until she was forced to looked up, and into his eyes. There, she saw tears as well.
“When… when you say I can have what I want… what do you mean?”
Fluttershy was silent, her body shaking more with each moment, and she barely breathed, “No foals, no ties, no responsibilities.” She could feel it all melt away from her with these last few words. Her body stopped quaking, for there was no reason to be sad. This was simply how nature was, and she was out of time.
Discord tapped the pegasus’s cheek, continuing to look down upon her and saying nothing. The silence became thicker and thicker. Neither moved, and both barely breathed, for solely different reasons. Fluttershy went to speak, but Discord beat her to it, rushing the words out just in time to stop her. “How do you feel about me?”
She blinked a few times, looking past her pink hair to the goat face that was above her. The hoorns shone slightly in the light, probably from polish put on just to make him more presentable. Those yellow eyes stayed trained on hers, and they still made her think of odd suns, as they always had. Suns that still gave her warmth. “I love you Discord, but we can’t be together.”
He gripped the side of her face with a talon, making sure she didn’t turn away. “This is the last one, isn’t it? Just like with the others?”
“Not Applejack or Pinkie.”
“You get what I mean!”
She looked back up, and was puzzled. He had narrowed his eyebrows, a gesture she had never seen from him. Even during their most intense fights, she had never seen actual anger from the god. She felt a tear come down her face, and wished that he had cared so much before. “Yes, it is. That’s why-”
Fluttershy didn’t get a chance to say more as her whole body tensed up. Discord’s lips were firmly locked around hers, his snake tongue gently trailing along hers. She moaned for a moment, enjoying the feeling she had enjoyed so long ago, but soon pushed back against him. This wasn’t going to help anyone.
Discord only separated from her when she was entirely out of breath, and now gasped for air as he put a hand over his eye. “I know what I said back then. That I’m the god of chaos, and that a family just doesn’t fit. But, you know what? The past two years without you have been the most boring of my life, and no matter how many new ponies I met, how many monuments I turned to jelly, it didn’t feel right. That… that's why I came back today.”
Discord leaned in closer, only centimeters from Fluttershy’s face as she drew up her hooves. “I’m not good at romance, so I though, maybe, if I helped you with your heat and was a perfect gentlecolt about it, maybe it would help us be together once more. But this,” he reached back and pulled back out her tear from before, “I hate this, and if giving you a foal, settling down, and being with you until I absolutely have to say goodbye is what it takes to have you back, and to stop these, than I will give you a hundred if I have to.”
Fluttershy just laid there for a few moments, breathing in Discord’s breath. It could all be a trick. A lie so as to be with her, and then he would magic his seed elsewhere. There was absolutely no way that he could be serious. And yet, a tear still fell on her cheek that was not hers. She tentatively raised her hooves, and brought her lips to Discord’s again. The two stayed together for a much shorter time this time, but only with their lips. For over an hour, the two said nothing, and only stayed coiled in each other’s arms.
“Not today. I need to know you better. Need to know this is real.”
Discord nodded, pecking her forehead as he looked into her azure eyes. “I can understand that. It’s not like these things pass that quickly.”
A small giggle escaped Fluttershy, and Discord grinned. “Now see, that’s what I wanted.”
She nodded back, nuzzling into his chest as the warmth in her nethers radiated back up. She wasn’t so empty, wasn’t so cold. She could be happy, all because of a second chance given to her. Her eyes widened at the thought, and her chest stayed cold as she looked up to Discord. “Can I ask you to do something for me?”
Discord’s grin became almost too big for his face. “Your wish, is my command.”
======+++++======
Rainbow stared at the papers on her desk. She had been the captain of the Wonderbolts for almost five years, and yet, the paperwork never got any better. There was still always too much, always too stupid, and way too much signing for her to enjoy it. “Well, at least I have the time for it I guess.”
A knock on her door caught her attention, and she picked up one of the sheets of papers, a new rookie who was showing some, but not a lot, of potential. At least, not as much as Rainbow herself when she was that young. “Door’s open, come in.”
A brief glance as the door creaked was all that it took for her to drop the paper. It had almost been over a year since she had last seen the yellow pegasus that now walked into her office, and she couldn’t remember the last time they had actually talked. Her heart throbbed in pain. Her closest, oldest friend, and yet, she had to walk in like she was walking into a war zone. She knew why of course, and that was the one part of her that stopped her from leaping over the desk. “Hello?”
Fluttershy swallowed hard as she trotted up to the desk. “H-hello Rainbow.”
An awkward silence filled the room as the two mares couldn’t make eye contact. Finally, Rainbow coughed into a hoof, and braved a look to her friend. “So, what brings you here?”
Fluttershy ran her hoof along the tile, taking a deep breath in as she steeled her nerves. “I… I went into my last cycle yesterday.”
Rainbow stopped dead, her shoulders slumping back. She had of course kept in touch with the others, so knew that Fluttershy didn’t have anypony, nor any children. Her own thoughts, ten years ago, flashed to mind, and she felt her heart break for the other mare. Now, nothing stopped her from leaping over the table, and tackling the other pegasus down.
“I’m so sorry Fluttershy. If I had known this was going to happen to you too, I would have talked to you so much sooner. I would have hugged you, kissed you, made sure you weren’t alone.” She squeezed Fluttershy tighter and tighter with each line. “Don’t worry though. I can get us some ice cream on the way back to my place, put on some movies, and… and we can be happy again. We… we don’t need any stinking stallions or foals to have a good time.”
“Well, I may not be quite a stallion, but I do believe I am being ignored.”
Rainbow looked up, and all the warmth and joy that had flooded into her heart drained in almost an instant. She stepped back from Discord, her mouth dry as she tried to piece it together. “Why… why is he here?”
Fluttershy tried to open her mouth, but the betrayal in Rainbow’s eyes stopped her dead. Instead, it was Discord who stopped the spiral they were about to enter. “I am here so as to give you one more chance. I can’t make a mare go into heat on command, but I can link two mares, and make them experience heat together. Sound fair to you?”
Fluttershy now could talk, seeing the pain turn to confusion. “I know you must have somepony by now, or one in mind at least. I… I hope.” She covered one of her eyes, and turned away.
Rainbow blinked a few more times, before looking down, and feeling the old pain come back. “It’s a nice gesture, but it’s too late. I gave up on that dream when I gave up on Soarin. He was the last stallion I thought I might like, and I’m not taking a stanger. Especially with...” Rainbow grit her teeth, before turning away and going back to her desk. “Just leave, okay?
Fluttershy's voice came through Rainbow’s ears, almost nothing more than a whisper. “Okay.”
The next thing Rainbow knew, talons were on her head, and yellow eyes in front of her own. She couldn’t move as she felt Discord’s magic reach deep within Rainbow, and a grin came over his face as Fluttershy’s face over the years came to her own eyes. “Don’t you da-”
“Fluttershy, what have you ever thought of mares?”
Rainbow felt a bead of sweat run down her forehead. The question she had denied for so long, and was too late when she figured it out, now said to the mare she had hated for ten years. Or, had tried to, because it had hurt too much to see her.
“What do you mean, Discord?”
Rainbow Dash was turned around now, and her breath caught looking at Fluttershy now. She hadn’t noticed the still gentle features, the caring eyes, or any of that sort before. Other things were on her mind. Now though, they mixed up her heart like every other time. “Discord, stop.”
Discord merely shook his head, wanting a happier ending than this. “Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash is a weird mare. She seems to really want a squirt of her own, but she is attracted only to mares. At least, by now.”
Fluttershy raised a hoof, blinking as she looked between the two. “But, what about ten years ago? Or Soarin, or any of the other stallions?”
Rainbow looked down, defeated. If she were to have her heart broken, she may as well go all out. “When you want to be the cool kid, you get used to refusing ideas that stop you from being that. Soaring pointed out to me that I wasn’t even wet when he and I went to bed, and that was the last straw.” She brushed a hoof along her eyes. “And being told you can’t raise a foal from yourself will always hurt, and, though I didn’t know it then, being told that by the mare you wanted to have with you while you raised a filly made it soul crushing.”
Fluttershy trotted over, putting a hoof to Rainbow’s cheek. “I… I never knew.”
Rainbow brushed it off, not able to meet her friend’s eyes. “Neither did I. But hey, at least you found somepony,” she glanced up to Discord, “right?”
Discord stroked his odd beard for a moment, before lowering himself, and whispering in Fluttershy’s ears. Her eyes widened, and she looked to him. “Are you certain?”
“You both would get what you want, and as I doubt Rainbow would always want me around, I could keep at least a small piece of the freedom I desire, or need to stay insane.”
Rainbow felt something odd stir inside of her. Something that hadn’t in a long time, but begged that she know what was going on. “What are you two talking about?”
Fluttershy looked between Discord and Rainbow, and took in a deep breath. “R-Rainbow… I, I love you too. You were my confidant for so long, and what I held onto when things got rough. Losing you was like losing a part of myself. So,” Fluttershy lowered herself, looking up to Rainbow as she bowed, "please, if you think you might still want it, share in our family. Help me raise both ours, and Discord's, foals. Please."
Rainbow blinked a few times. “You can’t be serious, right?”
Discord shook his head, doing nothing but that, and speaking in a calm, deep voice. “I know you and I can get along, and that I would, and almost did, drop everything to make Fluttershy happy. I’m the spirit of chaos though, and that will make me always want to roam. This way, she can have somepony she loves with all of her heart, no matter what.”
Rainbow felt a tear fall down her face, and tried to not think about all that could go wrong. Finally, her world seemed like it wanted to go beyond just her as the captain of the Wonderbolts. A new chapter, a happier chapter, could begin. She stepped over to Fluttershy, and looked into the yellow mare’s eyes. “I’ve always been a pretty odd mare I guess. Maybe this is how it always was supposed to be, and if so… I think I couldn’t think of a more awesome way, other than having you to myself.”
Fluttershy tentatively smiled, and wrapped a foreleg around one of Rainbow’s. “So, is that a yes?”
Rainbow nodded, and the two mares moved closer to each other. With their muzzles locked, Discord patted their heads, and soon, for the first time in too long, Rainbow’s underside yearned for something more than kisses, and Fluttershy, for the first time ever, could wish for nothing more than to embrace her heat.
