Author's Note

This is just a one shot. Woke up at midnight thinking about it and wrote it...while very sleepy. Posting at 1 a.m.

I'm so sorry if its terrible.

Discord's in Trouble

"Discord." The voice was soft, yet firm.

Oh no, she's found me!

The statement was quite a ridiculous one. After all, he had been caught and ordered to the little cottage. How could Fluttershy not find him? Even if he didn't really want to be found, she could find him, easily. Without trying. If she wanted to, all she had to do was stand in one place and tell him to show up. He would. Whether in trouble or not. Because that's just the kind of friendship they had. But he was still trying, childishly, to hide from the scolding he would likely get.

Discord held his breath, eyes half shut, praying to Celestia that Fluttershy wouldn't notice another-

"Discord." Her voice was firmer, and slightly louder. "I know for a fact that I do not have more than one lamp statue of you. And the one I have does not have a blue shade. It's red."

Discord gulped quite audibly. Then flinched as the yellow face was pushed almost against his. The blue eyes narrowed slightly.

"Discord. Change yourself back to normal right now, mister!"

"Oh, well, alright. Alright!" Discord snapped his claws and immediately towered over her. "Better?" His tone dripped with sarcasm.

Fluttershy lifted off the ground, hovering in front his face and crossing her forelegs.

"You are in big trouble, Discord. I know you thrive on chaos, but you can't carry it too far. Which you have. All week."

Discord deflated at those words...literally. He lay in a puddle on the floor. Fluttershy landed on her hooves and gazed down at him, unamused.

"Ahem. Discord." her eyebrow arched a little. "Will you please pick yourself up and sit yourself down on the couch?"

With a snap, a second Discord, dressed as a law officer for some reason, appeared from thin air, picked up the puddled Discord, and carried him over to the couch. Then he saluted and vanished. Fluttershy shook her head, smiling at the antics. She went and sat next to Discord, who was still in a puddle.

"Discord?" She said questionly. "Um, could you please, um, change back to your normal self? Please?"

Discord summoned up an air pump, stuck the hose in his mouth, and inflated himself back into normal Discord.

"Are you mad?" He asked. "About all the pranks, I mean?"

"No, I'm not mad, Discord." Fluttershy said. "I'm just disappointed. You know we've talked about this before."

Discord wilted at that. If it was one thing he hated, that always made him feel awful, it was Fluttershy being disappointed in him. And she was right. They had discussed it before. Numerous times. If you could call it 'discussing'.

"Nopony really got hurt." He said, lamely.

"Maybe not, but alot of ponies could have been." Fluttershy said. "You certainly hurt alot of ponies' feelings."

Discord sniffed. "They were harmless pranks." He said.

"Really?" Fluttershy replied. "Poor Scootaloo gets called a chicken quite frequently by two fillies at school, and you went and turned her into a literal one. Without feathers, may I add."

Discord smiled. "Very original, I assure you." Fluttershy's disapproving stare wiped the smile off his face. "Ok, so maybe turning her into a chicken was a bit harsh."

"Try very unkind." Fluttershy said. "I know you. You're not really that mean, Discord. You do have a good heart."

Discord could only smile joyfully at that. Fluttershy was truly the only one who completely understood him. Granted, her friends tried, but she was still the only one.

"Let's talk about the other things you've done, shall we?" Fluttershy said.

Discord huffed. "Must we?" He asked, whining.

Fluttershy stared at him disapprovingly. Discord sighed and nodded. They went over his meanest pranks from that week, all of them.

He had turned all of Applejack's apples into candy for three days.

He had turned Rarity's mane and tail into cotton candy...for four days.

He had sent all of Twilight's books to another dimension, causing her to nearly stroke out on the spot.

He had miniaturized Rainbow Dash's wings so flying was impossible, something she would have beaten him for had she had a chance to get her hooves on him.

He had set things up so every cupcake, cookie, balloon and muffin exploded in Pinkie Pie's hooves...which essentially turned any partying she tried to do into a complete and unfun disaster.

Fluttershy he had not pranked. He never pranked Fluttershy. Well, not really. He might cause her teapot to sprout wings, or turn her furniture upside down, but those kinds of things were more to annoy, not harm. The others had been meant to cause some harm at least.

When they were done discussing his numerous pranks, Fluttershy gazed at him intently.

"I think perhaps you owe some ponies an apology." She said.

"Ap..p....p..." he sputtered, unable to say it.

"Apology."

"Yes, yes, that. Listen, Fluttershy, perhaps my pranks were a bit too much, but I hardly think it was worth everypony getting so mad." Discord huffed.

"But think about it, Discord." Fluttershy said. "You really hurt thier feelings. Its ok for you to cause a little chaos and play pranks because that's who you are, but even you know that such things shouldn't be carried too far. Right?"

Discord sighed. Well, when she put it that way...

"You're right, Fluttershy." He said. "I did get carried away. I wanted to have some fun, but I should probably have picked things that weren't so...hurtful to them. I'm sorry."

"Good." She smiled proudly. "And you'll go apologise?"

Discord gave the long, loud groan of a martyr before nodding a little.

"Very well. I will apologise."

"Good!" She said. "And now for your punishment."

He groaned again, knowing all too well what this would entail. It was the same thing everytime one of his jokes went to far, or he tormented her animals, or his chaos got out of control.

Fluttershy had risen and flown from the room. She returned with her mane brush and sat back down, this time in the center of the couch.

"Come here."

He sighed and walked towards her. A snap of his claws shrank him down til her stood slightly shorter than Fluttershy. He didn't have to do that; it just made it easier on Fluttershy if his body wasn't its normal long, heavy shape. He might well crush her, and that wouldn't do at all. Besides that, reducing himself to being shorter than she was was his attempt at being willfully humble. He made it to her side, swallowing hard. He hated this part of thier 'talks'. She put a foreleg around him and hugged him.

"I just want you to use your powers more carefully around others." She said. "And not cause them harm in any way. You're better than that. You have a good heart in you somewhere, Discord. You just need to let it show."

He found himself lifted and laid over her lap, his rump in a position he'd rather it not be in. But he wouldn't waste his breath or her time with begging; he knew it was deserved and he wasn't going to fight it. He never did, no matter how much he disliked it.

Fluttershy laid her left hoof on his back, gently holding him in place, then lifted the mane brush and let it fall, quickly finding her rhythm.

The swats were not really all that hard, because Fluttershy was too gentle and kind a pony to actually smack him hard enough to cause serious pain. But altogether, the mild swats built into quite a heat on Discord's rump, and he whimpered quietly, though he didn't move.

Fluttershy patted his back reassuringly as she continued to swat him, lightening up a little now that she knew she had his full attention.

"You don't play mean pranks on ponies." She scolded, her tone soft but firm. "Not little fillies, not friends, not anypony. Understand?"

"Y...yes, I understand." Discord managed, a tear escaping, though it was more from the guilt of disappointing Fluttershy than the actual punishment he was getting.

Fluttershy delivered a few more swats before stopping and gathering Discord into a hug. One might have thought the whole thing was weird, the gentle pony sspanking the draconequis, but for them, it was not.

Discord hugged Fluttershy back tightly, thankful to Celestia to have such a wonderful friend who was willing to pull him in line whenever his choas got the best of him.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"I know." She replied, gently squeezing him. "Its ok."

Discord sighed. He suddenly pulled back and grinned impishly.

Fluttershy arched one eyebrow. "Discord, what are you...?"

With a snap, everything in the room turned upside down and the teapot grew wings. So did a table. A chair did impressive somersalts before dropping to the floor, where it changed to running about like a dog.

Discord was laughing.

Fluttershy sighed. At least he hadn't touched her animals.

Oh, wait....

The animals were flying, some crashing repeatedly into the walls headfirst, others had weird wings and even horns like Discord.

Fluttershy gapsed, then fixed an eye on him.

"Discord!"