The blackness hit her. The void called hungrily for her form.

This wasn't the darkness of Dark Mask's seductive poise, or that one month that Sweetie Belle thought that the world was pain, or tears, or some such nonsense. This wasn't even pain as the world.

This was nonbeing. Utter nonexistence-- no, inverted existence seeking to draw every drop of creation from her entirety, to nullify her uniqueness, and hunger still.

She'd thought that anti-fabulousity would be plaid; here, she realized that even plaid had something to lose.

When Rarity became aware of her body again, every tingly part of it, there was the roiling sense that the world as she knew it was gone, and something utterly ludicrous had come to replace it. Her legs shook as she placed her hooves onto what she thought was a linoleum floor, but when her eyes opened she realized she was not in fact indoors, but on a floating island complete with a glowing emerald lake, trees with shimmering indigo bark and bright golden leaves, and a suspension bridge that stretched to yet another floating island in a swirling space of black and purple energy. Rarity took in all of this overwhelming detail with slack shock as she lifted her body up into a sitting position. Her horn buzzed, aching like she'd lingered too close to one of Twilight's experiments. She couldn’t even find enough comprehension to faint as a response to this bewildering mass of stimuli. Such an act would have meant that her mind had at least processed a portion of what she was seeing, and so far all the unicorn could do was remember to keep breathing.

She sensed movement at her right. Rarity turned her head with a snap, her horn flaring instinctively to shield herself, but the magic vanished the moment her eyes locked onto Fluttershy’s.

Fluttershy sat close, her expression concerned as she draped a warm wing over Rarity’s back. “Rarity?” Her feathers caressed over a taut flank. “If… If it’s too much...”

Rarity leaned into her, shivering. “Fluttershy… We’re… Are we safe?” her voice sounded like a foal’s, and she grimaced with a wispy guilt. The phantom of her purpose rose from deep within, and she knew she had misstepped. She was betraying something. A promise? A facet of etiquette? A role?

Her eyes widened. A role! Of course! She was to be the “dominant” here, was she not?

Meanwhile, as this realization struck home, Fluttershy looked up, her eyes scanning the terrible storm of chaotic magic swirling over their heads. “Safe for the moment, yes,” she murmured, returning her gaze to Rarity. She gave a small smile and squeezed with her wing. “You’re handling it ever so much better than I did the first time!” she admitted with a giggle.

Rarity looked at her, eyes filling with wonder. Her sub, her usually demure, oft nervous friend, was uncurled and just barely trembling, the quivers of her muscles short and tamped like she were fighting against them with all her will. Her yellow coat was pale… but her eyes were clear and filled with familiarity. Fluttershy did not like this place, but she knew it.

Knowledge is the antidote to fear, Rarity thought, her own spine stiffening.

Unfamiliar as the concept was, she took strength from Fluttershy's courage here. The wing that sheltered her was a comfort that she could not honestly say she'd felt before, but it was knowing that her sweet kitten had braved this… monstrosity, this soup of bad taste with worse magic, that gave her the fierce rush to stand tall. Thus, she did, proud and ladylike in her bearing; she would not be defeated by Discord's home before she could even apologize unto the monst… er, the repentant trickster, in his lair.

She leaned towards Fluttershy, and into the wing, however. No sense in discarding warmth, nor in spurning freely given love!

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,” Rarity quoted with a flutter of her eyes and a bracing smile.

Fluttershy’s eyes turned up in thought. “Fillyam Shakespeare?” she guessed.

Rarity laughed musically, her shoulder softly bumping into her pet’s as she rose to all hooves and trotted to the bridge. “As cultured as you are beautiful, dearest. Will wonders never cease?”

Fluttershy smiled demurely as she followed.

They went over one suspension bridge that fed into a damp stoney tunnel of a neighboring island, then up yet another bridge that swayed and creaked, with protesting rope, thin and spotted with mold, and wood that smelled like kerosene and gunpowder. These knifelike sensory details stabbed through Rarity’s self-assurances with nightmarish visions of diabolical traps, the likes of which only Discord could come up with. Nothing so common as an exploding suspension bridge-- for all that the stench of accelerant made it a logical leap-- no, the unicorn found herself envisioning the bridge turning into a beast, consuming their forms up whole with hungry snaps of wooden teeth and a ropey digestive tract, the bottomless howl of this netherworld all that lay in wait on the other (ahem) end.

Fluttershy’s voice managed to get through. “Rarity?”

Rarity inhaled sharply, her head giving a little shake. “Hmm! Er, yes?”

The pegasus was gazing at her with open concern now, her slim body seated just at the edge of Discord’s island. Under her, a stone path led up through green grass to a quaint little plum cottage with a gabled roof and a brick chimney. There were even planters filled with daisies beneath the front windows and a white picket fence. It was offensively domestic.

Rarity looked down at where she was sitting. She was at the very end of the suspension bridge.

Clearing her throat, she blushed a bit through her white hide and forged onward with a toss of her fabulous hair. “My apologies, Fluttershy! Your Lady was simply getting into personnage!”

Fluttershy gave her a smile of encouragement, her eyes winking in gentle affection, and Rarity rallied her nerves. She felt the lie become truth.

By Celestia, she was Lady Rarity, and she would conduct herself with all the elegance of true aristocracy. Fluttershy, whether in hesitance of what was to come, or deference to her Lady, waited until the unicorn had taken the lead up the pathway to Discord’s front door before following just a few hoofsteps behind. On the doorstep, Rarity elegantly sat, and knocked on the door.

At that moment, the doorstep fell away from under them, and Rarity even had a split second to look down in utter shock before she and Fluttershy tumbled head over hooves into a dark abyss…

Only to land on the plush cushions of a couch that smelled like peppermints and wet dog.

Her coiffure in disarray over her shocked wide eyes, Rarity’s chest heaved as her gaze darted here to there, the rest of her body deathly still in case another move might inspire yet another despicable trap. Fluttershy sat stiff on her left, but from the sound of her cute little sneeze, she was only marginally surprised.

Discord sat across from them, his long slim form seated on a cushy mustard gold chair, one lionous pinkie digit out as he sipped from a pink teacup. He paused in surprise, making a big show of swallowing in a hurry, a handkerchief blinking into existence to delicately dab at his lips. “Oh ho! Ladies!” he said with a giggle. “How nice of you to drop in.”

Fluttershy blew her forelock out of her narrowed eyes. “Discord, you promised you weren’t going to do that joke anymore!” She huffed. "It's… not very nice."

The draconequus grinned slyly. “I promised I wouldn’t do that joke to you anymore. How was I to know you would step onto the doorstep so quickly?” He fluttered his eyes at his friend, and a halo (on a stick) appeared above his horns.

Rarity pulled on her fiercest smile, one hoof gently laying over Fluttershy’s nearest wing. With her eyes still trained on Discord, she gave a practiced titter. “It’s quite all right, Fluttershy. I can appreciate a certain sense of lingering distrust for the landing." She flung her hoof to her forehead, and sniffled. Now came the dangerous part; balance. "After all, such is the apology I must make-- today! I wouldn't dream of putting our dear friend out further to insist he stray from his tradition."

And that left the mark it had been aimed for. Discord raised a suspicious eyebrow at her, and began to chew on the handkerchief as though it were a fine tea biscuit. She knew she needed to hurry, lest the light jab change from an attention getter to an actual offense.

Coughing into her hoof discretely, she gave him an embarrassed smile. "Besides," she said, lowering her voice to a stage whisper in Fluttershy’s direction, "Given I have already transgressed and seek to make amends, I shouldn't like to think what would happen if dear Discord decided to seek inspiration for something new in these matters."

Silly? Perhaps. Almost undignified in its amateurish theatrics? Certainly, and delightfully fun, too, despite how hard her heart was racing. But those things were meat and drink to the Master of Chaos, reformed or not. Rarity felt like she'd passed some test when Fluttershy's wings relaxed slightly, rustling against her back.

She could only hope that the same meaning was to be found in Discord's loud, "Brava! Brava!" The roses he threw did smell delicious, but she reasoned it was probably best not to eat them. After all, hadn’t Snow White succumbed to such crimson beauty before her ascension as princess of Germaney? Twilight would know.

Damn and blast! We’ve only just arrived and I very nearly forgot about my spa time with Twilight after this. Rarity’s lips tensed just so. Discord certainly has a masterful way of completely derailing the entirety of one’s finely crafted schedule! I imagine I’ll need a visit to the spa after all this...

“Oh, ho, ho! The grandiloquent Rarity. Our meetings are always so very stirring as they are, but I must confess that I was quite intrigued to hear your offer of this so-called ‘priceless gift’. Honestly, what marvelous gem would Ponyville’s premiere fashion expert believe to be of such unique quality?” Discord purred, claws threading together over his furry chest. “Now here you are, whispering about an apology… And I am positively puzzled!”

Rarity presented her best saccharine smile and cooed, “Ah, my dizzying friend--” Discord’s grin became heavily slanted at this. “Not to deprive you of your sport, but you and I both know very well that I was eavesdropping on you that day Fluttershy approached you regarding her very particular interests.”

With ease, Discord assembled his innocent expression, clawed hands hastily finding their places on either side of his slim face like actors assuming positions on a stage. “Eavesdropping? You? Nay, it can-not be! Not miss Rarity, the very spirit of propriety and decorum!”

Rarity sighed. Oh yes, but of course, Discord would make her work for this. All right then…

You want a show, Darling? I'll give you a show.

Hanging her head with hooves over heart, Rarity lamented in sorrowful tones: “I’m afraid so, Discord! It pains me to say it, but I did a dire disservice to Fluttershy and you both when I dared to snoop into matters that I had no right--!”

Fluttershy-- guileless, sweet, delectable Fluttershy-- interjected with what almost sounded like alarm, wings fluffing once again on her back in her motherly protection. “E-excuse me, ever so sorry, b-but Rarity, you know that’s not--!” A bit of the chest floof out though; a positive sign.

Rarity nuzzled Fluttershy’s cheek, and with an air of far more privilege than what usually counted as affection between platonic friends… Discord harumphed on the other side of the room, but Rarity caught Fluttershy’s eyes and allowed a more genuine smile to cross her snowy muzzle.

“What she means, Discord,” Rarity began, eyes still on her pet as her voice adopted a warmer, breathier tone. “Is that upon hearing my dear friend’s wishes, I found myself in a position from which I could not deny her. So you see…” With casual grace, she spared but a glance at Discord and said: “I am now her owner, and she is now my pet.”

Discord’s mouth dropped-- as in the lower jaw unhinged and fell to the floor in a remarkably bloodless hunk of astonished flesh. Rarity couldn’t help but grimace and let out an “Ewww!” when the draconequus’ tongue lolled out onto his neck, bearing his tonsils, uvula, and gaping throat, the latter apparently being the residence of what looked like a canary wearing a monocle and a top hat. Quite the dapper ensemble, at that. By the looks of things, he’d been in the middle of reading the daily newspaper.

Equally surprising was that there was apparently a periodical for small birds delivered to alternate dimensions.

Before Rarity could fully comprehend what she was staring at, Discord had stuffed his tongue and the gentrified bird down his throat, picked up his jaw, reattached it, and yelled, “You what?”

Even coming off of the absurd sight gag, Rarity grinned with satisfaction. As mischievous as Discord is, he still suffers from one crucial blindspot: his own blasted ego! His loss, my gain. Of course, that wounded ego could prove dangerous, but that was why this was being done together.

Nostrils flaring, Discord turned his glare onto Fluttershy. “What could you possibly be thinking trusting her to be your owner? After I told you she’d be a rubbish pick!”

Fluttershy, who had settled in the glow of her owner’s affectionate claim of her, puffed up, wings flaring like an angry hen. “Now you listen here mister--!” she rebuked. A small part of Rarity noted the absolutely adorable puffing out of the cheeks, and the ravishing glare. She'd have to think about how to accessorize that.

Later.

Rarity cut in, sure and quick, her strong projection managing to swallow the voice of her pet in the span of a breath: “Discord, I quite understand that you have your doubts. I heard them that very day when I learned how Fluttershy felt, and she emphasized them for me later with the maximum of concern, not just for myself, but for you as well.” Were fluttered eyelashes too much at this juncture? Ah, well, time to ladle it one. Demure portions were for fine dining in public; did she not understand how a showpony might prefer to barrel on the ice cream in more intimate settings?

“Oh did she now?” Discord growled, one scruffy white brow arching. But only thus. If she read the old scoundrel right, he was… not entirely unwilling to be convinced.

She did forebear from celebratory pronking. If only she could convince dear Twilight that it was beneath her princessly dignity as well.

Fluttershy leaned in to Rarity, her big blue eyes batting. “Um, yes. I have to say, I-I don’t quite recall--?” Rarity hastily bumped her companion on the shoulder, eliciting a meep in response.

“Yes! Quite!” Rarity said with an emphatic nod. “You see, she wanted to make certain that I respected you as a friend, that I treated your emotions and associations with their due deference. A matter I was only too happy to do considering my less than honorable behavior!”

Discord’s grumpy scowl softened as he looked between the two mares before him. There was a tug along his short beard, but less of the serpent coiled beneath his scales, let alone his fur.

“Did she now?” he exclaimed again, this time with distinctly less venom.

Rarity could feel Fluttershy’s gaze on the side of her face. She looked at her pet and winked. “And that is why I wish to propose a new term of agreement between owner, pet, and... comrade.” The unicorn flipped her hair back and drew herself up into a regal posture. Lady Rarity stated with clear but soft-spoken authority, “Let it be that from this day forth no facet of play between Fluttershy and I can, will, or ever shall do anything to harm you, Discord, or come between the two of you as friends. Your Tuesday Teas will hereby be considered sacrosanct from this moment on as well.” With just the barest quirk of her sleek eyebrow and a bit of a dancer's forward pressure on the hooves, Rarity added, “Does everypony find this agreeable?”

Discord blinked once, twice, three times... before throwing his head back and guffawing so loud that dust fell from the ceiling.

Rarity didn’t break character. She kept her demeanor calm and poised, even as she could feel her heart quicken. Surely Discord wouldn’t contend with such favorable terms! My next move depends on it! she thought.

Discord wiped an eye with a claw and said to Fluttershy. “Oh! The theatrics never end with this mare! I certainly see why she appealed to your… needs, Flutters.”

Fluttershy chewed her lower lip, her hooves pressing together. With a small sigh, she asked, “Discord, Rarity is my owner. She’s offering something very considerate, I think. Won’t you pretty please give this a try?”

Discord crossed his arms and snorted, but then the snort turned into a cough, which turned into a wretched hacking fit, body ludicrously bent and spit flying. Rarity just managed to conjure up a blue barrier bubble around herself and Fluttershy, the saliva rain coursing down to the floor. The spirit of chaos pounded a clawed fist against his chest, and upon the third strike, out flew the little gentrified canary, hat askew and monocle dangling from its chain. Discord gazed at it with what looked like chagrin, ears drooping and all. The bird seemed to tweet something nasty that made Fluttershy gasp before flying up the stairs.

Discord gazed after it with slouched spine, then turned a narrowed gaze on his two guests. “Now look what you’ve gone and made me do! He won’t speak to me for days!”

Rarity managed to keep her posture--but less so her bearing. Her face was screwed up in a perplexed grimace.

Is that thing his… pet? I hadn’t the slightest idea he was even capable of taking care of a living creature!

Fluttershy hmphed and turned her head away. “It isn’t polite to blame others for your actions, Discord.” Rarity had to bite down a sudden laugh as fire sprang in Discord’s eyes, his bared teeth grinding so hard they made sparks.

Just as Discord was about to spit back a retort, Rarity slid in smoothly with, “Discord, pardon my asking, but perhaps we can try and address your lack of faith in me as an owner. Would that perhaps persuade you to consider the terms?”

“Ah! You mean the terms that would so conveniently leave you open to point out that if my activities with Fluttershy are to be respected, then so to are yours?” the draconequus spat, one set of talons rotating about the wrist in her general direction.

Rarity inclined her head just the smallest degree in a gesture of admittance. No sense in hiding what he could easily see, after all. She was hoping Discord wouldn’t be so bullheaded as to throw away what was honestly a well-meaning gesture, but in social entanglements one had to be prepared to switch tactics. Though ego was his weakness, it also doubled as his strength. It very literally functioned as a double-edged sword. Rarity should have been better prepared for this eventuality.

Touche, Discord, she thought with an inward sigh. Patience, Rarity. Patience and determination. remember: he likes to play the game. Any game.

So let us see what cards I can unsleeve.

“If I recall,” Rarity said carefully, her steady gaze fastening onto Discord’s harsh yellow-crimson eyes, “I believe you mentioned your doubts in my ability to keep Fluttershy safe during a scene. Correct?”

Discord frowned upon Rarity’s use of the word scene. He started to slow clap, and confetti rained from the ceiling as out of tune fanfare blared from nowhere. “Behold this latest novelty,” he said in monotone. “The fashionista has learned herself of the icky, sticky, blackside of her world. How droll. Get that out of a book, did you?”

Rarity’s jaw clenched as she tried to will the burn out of her white hide, but she took a calming breath and managed to say, “I want you to understand something, Discord.” Blistering heat entered her words as her brow tensed, but never did her voice rise. That would be unseemly. “For all the trials I have endured for my kingdom, none can compare to the determination I feel in being the absolute, most marvelous owner Fluttershy could ever hope to find! Besides being my friend, she is now my responsibility, and I dare say nopony, and certainly not any draconequus, will come in the way of my fulfilling her dreams!”

She had no intention of letting him interject or divert. Not now. Her lips pursed and her nostrils flared. “And so… I extend my most sincerest apologies for eavesdropping on your private conversation with Fluttershy, and you have my every assurance it will never happen again, but if you are hoping that I will just crumble before your very eyes like some milksop barely worth the time of day, then I am afraid we are at an impasse.” Rarity tilted her head back as Discord growled-- actually growled-- at her. “If you are determined to carry on as you are, then there is nothing I can do… But know that Fluttershy may have a thing or two to say about it.”

Discord turned a sharp eye on Fluttershy, who gazed quietly at him with a gentle frown.

Rarity’s expression eased to one of sympathy for the redeemed trickster. She knew what it was like to be in Discord’s position. Just a few years ago, she could recall feeling shame and disapproval of her friends’ antics in high society. Now… well now it nettled her, but she realized that she would rather keep her real friends than surround herself with fake ones. That meant accepting who they were and what they would sometimes do, even if she didn’t always approve.

Another lesson to add to Discord’s growing list of social skills. Celestia was wise to trust Fluttershy to open this wily creature’s heart…

A silent conversation seemed to pass between the pair. The moment stretched long. Rarity, uncomfortable with prolonged silences, considered another plea for peace, when finally Discord threw his claws up in the air and groaned. “Ohhhh, fiddlesticks. Very well! I accept your terms, Rarity. I also promise to respect your…” he sighed with a roll of his eyes “arrangement. For as long as that lasts,” he added in a grumble.

“Um, I would really rather we all stay friends, even if Rarity is no longer my owner!” Fluttershy added with an anxious haste. “That means no tricks after the fact… Um… Please?”

Discord grunted his agreement with a grudging curl of his lip.

Fluttershy started to push her hooves together again, her body turning toward Rarity, though her forelock partially shielded her downturned gaze.

“Mmm? Yes darling? Was there something else?” Rarity asked with a curious blink. Her head tilted slightly; it was her responsibility to see her pet's hopes made into tantalizing reality, after all!

Fluttershy took a little breath, her eyes looking anywhere but at her mistress, then asked in a near whisper, “A-and I was also wondering if it would be all right for me to discuss certain aspects of our sessions with Discord? A-as a matter of perspective. He knows so much more about the culture than I do, still…”

Rarity tensed. Admittedly the thought of their private time together being told to somepony like Discord sounded unthinkable.

Discord chuckled, and Rarity looked up with a haughty glare to see the trickster puffing on a smoke pipe that emitted bubbles, his slim body dressed in a silky crimson smoking robe with black trim. Biting the pipe with his sharp teeth, Discord murmured smugly from the corner of his mouth, “Well, Miss Rarity? Is that term agreeable to you?”

“I would prefer,” Rarity began with exaggerated focus back on Fluttershy, “that if you were to discuss such topics with Discord, that you leave out the… intimate details.”

A whistle blared, making both mares jump.

Discord popped up behind them on the couch, dressed in a referee costume. “I call a false start there, Rarey-Rares!” He exclaimed with a cackle. “After all, I’m just a ruffian with no idea what personal boundaries are, miserable wretch that I am!” He pulled out a notepad and pen and leered a smile. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be clear on what constitutes ‘intimate details.’”

Rarity opened her mouth to answer when Fluttershy stood up on her seat, wings flared wide and turned down at the first joints, every feather vibrating. “That is quite enough!” she shrilled, sunny face tinged pink at the cheeks. “You are crossing a line, mister! That is no way to speak to my lady!”

“Your lady?” Discord chortled disbelievingly. “She has you call her--?”

“Yes! And just like a lady should, she has put up with your childish behavior for as long as anypony could ask for! And then some! She’s been clear, and sincere, and very considerate to you, but you didn’t care about anything other than behaving like a-- a… a big meanie!” Fluttershy said with breathless temper.

Discord’s ears drooped. His costume vanished, as did the notepad and pen, and he wrung his claws together. “F-Fluttershy, I--”

“If you can’t respect that Rarity is my owner, then I’m afraid I can’t share that part of my life with you anymore!” Fluttershy huffed next. Then all at once she deflated, her haunch resting heavily back onto the couch. With resignation, she sighed out, “And I was really hoping to share how happy I was with you…”

Now Discord’s eyes widened in alarm. “Fluttershy, now hold on a minute!”

Fluttershy turned a serious, but subdued gaze on Rarity. “If you don’t mind, I think I would like to go now, Rarity...”

Rarity’s eyes fluttered. Well that was certainly not how I was expecting things to go! An unexpected victory? But at the morose look in her pet’s eyes, Rarity knew this to be a falsehood. She felt the weight press her head down, and she closed her eyes. At what cost this so-called victory? Contemptible fool! Can’t you see how this hurts her?

Raising her head, Rarity said to Fluttershy, “Darling… If you wish to go, then we may go. But I would urge you not to go in anger. Discord is a true friend, and he feels much for you. You asked if it would be all right to speak with him? I say it is most fine!” Rarity gave a dainty shrug, working rapidly to try to salvage something. “In fact, I was hoping to ask for your permission for much of the same. I have others that I suspect may help in my growth as your owner. But I wouldn’t breathe a word to them if I knew it would disagree with you!”

Fluttershy’s eyes, which had clouded some with hurt and angry tears, blinked clear and she asked in a tinny voice, “Oh! Well… that sounds very fair. Let’s talk about it some more later?” She looked reluctantly next at Discord, who was hanging his head and looking at her with puppy dog eyes. As close to puppy dog eyes as an all-powerful, red-eyed spirit of chaos could manage at any rate.

Pursing her lips, Fluttershy asked him sternly, “Do you promise to behave from here on out?”

Discord sprouted white wings and a sunny glow appeared around him as he smiled beatifically. “Of course, of course!” he gushed.

Rarity thought the harp might be a touch much. But Discord and Subtlety were probably not speaking at the moment.

Fluttershy kept her piercing gaze on him a moment longer before smiling and saying with a happy giggle, “Then we’d be delighted to stay and chat some more!”

Discord clapped his hands together excitedly. “Oooh! How wonderful! Let me bring the butter cookies. I just baked them this morning and they are to die for!” As he skipped to the kitchen, Rarity wondered if it was all just in her head, but she thought she saw him glance back at her with the ugliest look imaginable-- and considering the subject, that was saying something. But before Rarity could think on it further, Fluttershy nuzzled her cheek, and the unicorn placed a small kiss on her pet’s muzzle.

The matter, if there even was a matter, could be dealt with at a later time. She had made it through this particular ordeal. Now all there was left to do was look forward to the future...

Author's Note

2/11/17: Beast has returned! I included his edits and additions... however, when I imported from gdoc, I ran into a weird issue of lots of unwanted formatting screwing up the ENTIRE document. I went through and hunted them all down as best I could with ctrl+F, but if I managed to miss some, please just let me know.