At first, she only did it to calm him down. When things really got the better of him, and he was stuck in a spiral of questions about what was real and what was a hallucination and did any of this even exist in the first place. It had happened once or twice beforehand, but it really seemed to pick up after Tirek; apparently, it was much easier to think your world wasn't real when you had just tried to uproot it yourself. Touch grounded him more than words, so she would offer a hoof through his mane, or rest her cheek against his. One day, on impulse, she lay her lips there instead. He preferred that, so she kept doing it.
But only when he really needed it, of course. Only to make him feel better... until eventually, it made her feel better too. So she would offer a little more, pecking him on the cheek a little bit more casually (when her friends weren't present, of course) and upping her grounding techniques to a taste of his lips. A naturally-physical creature, Discord didn't seem to take any issue with this, and while his affection towards her remained much more childish, he seemed to welcome her little nuzzles and pecks.
Until the night of their first Gala together. After the Treehugger disaster, when both were wound tight with emotions and stress, and torn between craving each-other's company and having had thoroughly enough of it. She had turned at the door of her cottage, intending to say a polite goodbye, when his mouth was pressing into hers. It was a harder kiss than she was used to, but he pulled back quickly. His red and yellow eyes seemed wider, his jaw hanging open ever so slightly.
"What was-" she began, but he had already teleported away.
She sighed heavily, her mind too full of his games to think about it, especially after the night they'd just had. Talking Discord down from throwing her friend into another dimension had already been taxing enough, and it had taken a considerable amount of effort to calm said friend down afterwards too. She went to bed and fell straight asleep; the next morning, she couldn't be certain it wasn't a dream.
She was definitely certain it wasn't a dream after the second changeling invasion. Discord had let her catch-up with the others and debrief, tormenting poor Trixie in the meantime, but as soon as he got bored of his flying pigs he was holding her again. He held her the entire time, in some way or another. Her hoof, her shoulder - occasionally her whole being, cradled against his chest as if she had just been snatched from the cocoon again. Thankfully he held himself back from anything more, but she still noticed the strange glint in Twilight's eyes and the utter disgust in Rainbow's. There was something odd in Cadence's too, but she didn't really want to think about that too much.
Just the once, she attempted to flap her wings to freedom. "I can walk, you know," she reminded him playfully, a smile on her lips.
He raised an eyebrow so high it floated above his head. "After the ordeal you've been through, Flutter Butter? I could hardly call myself 'reformed' if I let you!"
He restrained himself until they reached the cottage, but he had barely set her down on the couch when he leaned in. This time there was something much needier in his kiss, something that pushed him down onto her and his tongue into the far corners of her mouth. She kissed him back out of instinct, frantically trying to move her mouth in the complicated yet remarkably confident way he could. He groaned when he broke that first kiss; for the rest, he merely tilted his head away for air.
She wasn't sure how long they lay there, desperately crushing their mouths together as he pulled her as close to him as possible. All she knew was the sheer confusion she felt when he finally regained enough of his senses to pull back, collapsing beside her. The whole couch felt alien, and not just because he had widened it to fit them both at some point in her haze.
Stunned and somewhat literally tongue-tied, Fluttershy struggled for words. "I-I... uhm... W-would you, uhm, like some... tea? Maybe?"
His face looked like he might laugh at her. He didn't, but there was a little lilt to his voice as he replied, "Well, that depends on if we have any sandwich crusts to go with it."
Fluttershy giggled, and got up to make some when approximately seven fluffy blankets materialized around her. She fell back in an undignified and very cozy heap, flailing fruitlessly for freedom. This time Discord laughed aloud, a deep and booming sound that could have been scary if she wasn't so used to his voice by now.
"Oh, Fluttershy, your face! Simply priceless!" He wiped a tear from his eye with the ching of a cash register. "I'm a big draconequus now, I can check for my own sandwich crusts. No guarantees about the tea, though."
She smiled, because things were back to normal. And they stayed normal for so long - even when she first visited his dimension, when she was fully prepared for unexpected affection and received nothing she hadn't seen coming. It was weirdly normal in fact, for Discord, but she accepted it in the wake of that debacle. Now he knew the effect normalcy had on him, he couldn't keep things stable for too long. Eventually something chaotic would happen, when she least expected it.
And perhaps the moment she truly expected it least was, ironically, Hearts and Hooves Day. She spent the day down at the animal sanctuary, having packed a small picnic and quite a thick book. Having learned first-hoof how awkward one felt wandering the town without a special somepony on a day like this, she had been planning to hermit away with her animals until sundown, but apparently her friends knew her better. All single too this year, they arrived for an impromptu pet playdate with an assortment of freshly-baked goodies and the brightest smiles Fluttershy had ever seen. It was dark before she got home.
When she did, her eyes and legs were weary, and she beelined to the kitchen for her evening tea. She was filling the smallest pot when the voice rang out, "Tea for one, eh? Have I not earned a cup too, my dear?"
Granted, she heard little of it over her own scream of fright. "Discord! Don't scare me like that!"
"Scare you?" A halo that looked suspiciously like cheese appeared over his head. "Why, what makes you think I'd do that? I was only popping in to pay a dear friend a visit, and perhaps to share a hot beverage!"
Her mind finally catching up with what he'd said, Fluttershy began decanting the tea into a larger pot as she asked, "What do you mean, earned a cup?" She froze suddenly, before quickly adding, "N-not that I need a reason to give you one, it's just you said and I was wondering-"
He placed his paw over her mouth. "Hush hush, my dear. If you insist on dragging it out of me, I shall simply have to tell you what a wonderful friend I've been today!"
She hated to admit she was still a little dubious. Returning her attention to the tea in an attempt at hiding this, she replied, "I'm all ears."
In hindsight, she had known him long enough to realise the error in this comment. Thankfully, Discord had known her long enough to know he wouldn't get away with it for more than a moment. When she was certain the only ears she had were the two that belonged on her head, she gave him a look that would have rivaled the Stare, but she already knew he would just chuckle at it.
"I… suppose I was asking for that," she giggled. "Okay, tell me what a good friend you are before I don't believe you."
He feigned offense for a matter of seconds, before launching into an extravagant rendition of his day with Spike and Big Mac. She listened, as always, and showered him with genuine praise at how well he'd done and how much he had grown and how proud she was because who would have expected this a year ago. And he soaked it up like a sponge, as always, but she decided he deserved some showmanship this time.
"Oh Discord, I'm so happy for you!" She flew up to wrap her forelegs around his shoulders, nestling her face into the crook of his neck. "Thank you for helping Big Mac; even I can see how much he loves Sugar Belle, and now their relationship is even stronger because of you!"
"Yes, well," Discord gently patted her back, "O and O would be infinitely less entertaining if every game ended in him sobbing over his lost Lenore, so I suppose I had to do something."
"You did more than what you had to," she said softly, leaning back to smile at him.
He smiled back, for a little too long. Long enough that she found herself drifting towards him, their lips brushing in a much gentler way than usual. He tightened his hold on her, so she pressed closer, and felt the tell-tale tingle of electricity over her skin as he teleported them onto the couch. He was sprawled on his back while she curled herself up on his chest, smiling like an idiot even as the kiss ended.
She was sleepily comfortable, her mane blocking her view of everything but the rise and fall of his chest beneath her, when he froze. Peeking out from the pink, she saw a blank expression on his face, eyes glazing over and mouth hanging slightly open. No part of him was moving or doing anything; she had never seen him this still.
"Discord-" she began, but he vanished from beneath her. She hit the couch with a heavy thud, and decided that was why she was aching.
After that, he stopped touching her. He let her kiss him and cradle him when his senses started acting up, but in the month their interactions went off-kilter, that only happened once; they grew less frequent the longer he was out of stone. At their Tuesday Teas, he refrained from any physical contact beyond handing each-other the sugar, and even that wasn't always necessary when the sugar cubes could dance themselves straight into the mug. Things weren't exactly awkward, but they definitely weren't right. She didn't dare confront him, though; Discord had a way of exploding his emotions all at once when he was ready to discuss them, but would utterly deny their existence when he wasn't, no matter how obvious they seemed to everyone else.
Which was why she was surprised to learn he cared about Twilight's school. She and the girls had returned from their fake friendship mission to find the place in ruins, with the students immediately filling them in on the disasters that had taken place.
"The stairs turned to quicksand!" Sandbar exclaimed.
"And all the paintings came to life and started chasing us around the school! I promise it wasn't as fun as it sounds!" Silverstream quickly added.
"It was really scary," Ocellus said, her voice shaking as she dropped her head.
"And Yona almost got eaten by a Bugbear!" Smoulder yelled.
He had interjected then, with a heavy roll of his eyes. At least he bothered to keep them in his head this time. "Oh, it wouldn't have eaten her. At best it would have left a little sting - surely a yak could handle that! Back me up here Flutters, aren't I right?"
She narrowed her eyes as much as she could manage. It was surprisingly easy when she used the fury boiling in her chest as fuel. "We need to talk. Alone."
Without looking back, she marched from the room. He would follow; she knew he would, even he knew enough about friendship to know he had no other option. The students were whispering and murmuring behind them, wondering how she had so much control over him, and she could clearly hear Twilight attempting to shush them. She led him into one of the little supply closets, shutting the door firmly behind him.
He opened his mouth to speak but she didn't give him the chance. "What in Equestria were you thinking?"
Discord frowned. "Oh. It's that kind of talk. And here I expected a tale of your adventures."
"Don't do this," she said with a soft sigh. "Please don't. You've made so much progress, Discord. The only reason I didn't invite you was because you never seemed interested, and I figured you would just appear if you wanted to! Please, I don't want you to go back."
That seemed to make him listen, at least. "W-what?" His eyes widened for the briefest second, before hardening. "What do you mean, 'go back'?"
"Not to being a villain, I know you'd never do that. But to the way you were before, when I was the only friend you actually tried to keep." When he didn't respond, she pressed on. "You get along with Starlight now - you two saved Equestria together! I don't understand why you'd want to sabotage her badly enough to risk the students' lives."
"None of their lives were ever actually at risk," he muttered sullenly, turning away from her. "As I've already said, if you were listening."
Fluttershy held back her groan. "You still went out of your way to scare them, and ruin Starlight's job. And even if you're going to pretend you're not actually friends with Starlight, you and Spike play O and O all the time! Why wouldn't you listen to him?"
"Do I need to?" He snapped. "When has listening to Spike proved beneficial for me, hmm? Why should I take everything he says to heart?"
"Well…" Fluttershy blinked, suddenly confused. "Why wouldn't you?"
He towered over her, eyes more red than yellow now, teeth bared in a way that chilled her spine. "Because the one time I have listened to what our little fire-breathing friend had to say, it wormed its way into my head and it hasn't stopped rattling around since!"
There was a distinct rattling sound as he shook his head, but she wasn't sure it was intentional. She was intrigued now though, and floated herself up to grasp his face in her hooves. He could have easily pulled away from her if he didn't mind hurting her. He stayed in place as she asked, "What did he say that got into your head?"
He stared at her for a solid minute, eyes locked together, before he closed his. She sensed the resignation and moved forwards, wrapping her forelegs around his neck. His whole frame stiffened. Feeling bizarrely out of place, she pulled back. "Discord, what's wrong? Please talk to me."
It was an awkwardly long moment. She rapidly became aware of how small their supply closet was; her wings were brushing against a shelf as she backed away, and Discord's tail was folded to avoid dislodging a stack of buckets. Maybe she should have taken him into a classroom or something, where there was enough air for them both to breathe. If she could have reached it without touching him, she would have opened the window.
Eventually, she sighed. "Okay, fine. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. I just want to help you, Discord, because this really isn't good for you-"
"I don't like tea."
The words were low and fast, so quiet she barely heard them. "Huh?"
He repeated it, slower and clearer this time. "I don't like tea, Fluttershy. Not as much as I thought."
"I-I don't… Is that what this is about? Because if you don't want to do Tuesday Tea anymore then that's, uhm, that's okay, we can figure something else out, but it doesn't justify-"
"No, Fluttershy!" Steam burst from his ears. She squealed and dropped to the floor; a pillow broke her fall, and when she looked up, he seemed calmer. "Fluttershy, it's not the tea. That's not what Tuesday Tea is about. And I didn't realise until Spike pointed it out, and now he has I can't help noticing it, and now Tuesday Tea doesn't make sense and you don't make sense, and this is the one nonsensical thing I don't like and I can't even talk to you about it!"
"Yes you can, Discord, you can talk to me about anything." She tried to offer her sweetest smile, both to placate him and ignore her own nagging worries. "I'd honestly prefer if you did; we know bottling feelings up never ends well."
He was fidgeting, his eyes darting around the room, and she seized his claw as he lifted it to snap. "Don't, please don't, come on. Don't leave, we need to figure this out."
His grip tightened around hers, but he still didn't say anything. She sighed in resignation, lowering herself to the ground and motioning for him to do the same. There wasn't really enough room to sit side-by-side, but they just about managed it, with his tail tucked behind her back.
"The last time you guys played was Hearts and Hooves Day, right? When you saved Big Mac's relationship?" When he gave a little nod, she returned a more vigorous one. "Okay. So whatever Spike said, was it something about that? Maybe about you being kinder?"
A shake of his head. She thought that was all he would give her, but he murmured something. "What was that, sweetie?"
"It was about you," he repeated, clearer but still barely a whisper.
She swallowed hard. Pushing down the anxiety rising in her stomach, she forced an encouraging smile onto her face. "What about me?"
He shifted beside her, trying to rearrange his long body. When he found there was no way to sit without brushing against her, he gave up, slumping back into the shelves. "He said love exists."
Fluttershy blinked, thrown off by the change in direction. "Uhm… Yes? It does, of course it does. But how does that link to…" Realisation, cold and a little uncomfortable, swept over her. "Oh."
"Yes." He cleared his throat a little awkwardly. "And now that you understand why I'm inclined to never listen to another word of Spike's, I'll be going. People to see, chaos to cause, yadda yadda yadda-"
She clasped her hoof over his arm, pressing hard into the fur. "Wait, wait! Wait a second, okay? Please wait."
Discord swallowed thickly, giving her hoof a gentle, hesitant pat. "If you say so."
He was uncomfortable. Of course he was uncomfortable; Discord had lived for more years than she could count, and this was still probably the most intimate confession he had ever made. She leaned into him a little more, but when this didn't seem helpful, she carefully eased herself back. What she wouldn't give for Rarity's social expertise right about now.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, her hoof carefully rubbing circles into his bicep, before he sighed. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. About the school. I'll fix it all up and apologise to Starlight before I go."
"Stop talking about going," she blurted, harsher than she meant it. In a softer tone, she added, "I don't want you to."
"Even after…?"
"Especially after." Feeling a rush of boldness, Fluttershy ducked her head to kiss the back of his hand. Blush rising in her own cheeks, she settled against him again. "Please stay here with me."
"In this closet?" He asked, one eyebrow raised. Her heart fluttered; this was more like it. "I don't know, my dear, isn't it a little cramped? And that bleach smell is rather obnoxious - coming from me of all creatures!"
She giggled. "You know what I mean, silly! We can go back to the cottage and have tea or something." Peeking up at him through her lashes, she murmured, "Maybe continue this conversation...?"
She felt rather than heard his gasp. He was gazing down at her, her skin prickled with it, but she didn't feel brave enough to meet his eyes. Instead, the pegasus lowered herself even further, her mouth brushing his hand again. When it reached to physically tilt her chin up, the intensity in Discord's face almost choked her. The words were tumbling together in her brain, nearly sticking into phrases but always melting away before she could grasp a sentence. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, but she could really do without it now, when she so desperately needed to say the right thing perfectly.
All she could manage under his hopeful scrutiny was a meek little, "I believe it's exists too."
"Do you really?" She was certain he didn't mean to sound so riled. "Or do you believe it exists for ponies?"
"I believe it exists, Discord," she replied, equally sharp but hopefully a little kinder, "for anyone who needs it, and most creatures do."
That seemed to get him. He hesitated, something she almost never saw in him, and she took the opportunity to weave her way under his arm. When she was curled to his chest, her blush throbbing as hard as his heartbeat, she dared to peer up at him. The poor draconequus looked utterly bewildered. It was the first time she had ever thought his parts didn't actually seem to add up right.
Eventually, he tightened the arm she had wormed under. "In case you haven't noticed, my dear Fluttershy, I truly have no idea what I'm doing with this."
She chuckled. "And you think I do? I probably have less experience than you do."
"Physically, I'm sure you do," he drawled with a smirk, "but emotionally I'm afraid I'm out at sea."
No water rose in the small closet. Fluttershy was almost disappointed. Trying to keep it out of her face, she wrapped her hooves around his neck. "That's okay, we can learn together! We are in a school, after all."
She grinned, and he huffed out a laugh. "Yes, well, somehow I don't think Twilight would want to be responsible for those lessons."
"Maybe not." Fluttershy shifted in his grip, her back flattening against his chest as his other arm encased her. "Discord?"
"Hmmm?"
"Do you really believe in it now?"
He stilled again, and for a moment she was terrified she had blown it, until he slowly said, "Is that not clear?"
"It is, but I needed to make sure." Her brow furrowed, but she tried to giggle as she continued, "You know what I'm like with worrying."
"Yes," he hummed, his voice laced with fondness, "I do, don't I? Well, let me assuage your fears, sweet Fluttershy; if you believe in it, so do I." A beat, and then, "But if you don't, we never speak of this again."
"I definitely do," she promised, tilting her head back against him. "Definitely, definitely."
"Good."
She let her eyes fall shut, the tension finally draining out of her body. He must have noticed, because he leaned down to kiss the crown of her head, his lips lingering just a second longer than necessary. "Can we go back to the cottage now?" He asked quietly, his voice low and rich.
A shudder ran down her spine, one he absolutely felt against his own skin. She imagined his claws in her mane, his lion paw tracing up and down her side, his hot breath ghosting over her neck. How on earth hadn't she seen this coming? Nobody kissed their friends like that unless they wanted more. Apparently they had both been blind, but not anymore.
Unfortunately, there was something else she wasn't blind to. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
He grunted, then lifted his claw to snap. Voices began to ring out somewhere outside their haven, shocked at first, but then joyful. Discord looked back down to her then. "Does a written apology to Stoplight count?"
Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "If you get her name right, I suppose so. Please be sincere with it, though."
"Of course, of course." He snapped again, before hugging her close. "After all, there does appear to be some value in all this mushy stuff…"
His teeth caught her earlobe. A squeak escaped her, eliciting a throaty chuckle from him. "D-Discord," she stammered, "will you at least take me h-home first?"
When he answered, his voice came out as a growl. "With pleasure…"
She distantly heard the snap of his claw, but the white light had already engulfed them both.
Author's Note
Discord's troubles with being out of stone and Fluttershy comforting him with physical affection come from the beautiful Echoplex by Captain Wuzz on here (although the romantic elements are less pronounced there), and "Stoplight" is lifted straight from Round Trip's hilarious "MLP in a Nutshell" series on Youtube. Please check them out if you haven't, they're both fantastic pieces of work. The show itself is also, obviously, not my intellectual property, for clarification.
Disclaimers done, thank you for reading :) It really bothered me that Discord received no comeuppance in A Matter of Principals, so here we are.
