My Nonsensical Draconequusby XutiepopsChaptersFinding a DraconequusTalking to a DraconequusHealing a DraconequusBefriending a Draconequus: Part 2Talking About a DraconequusDisliking a DraconequusBefriending a Draconequus: Part 1Finding a DraconequusFluttershy lazily watched the clock as she tapped her pencil against her cheek, waiting for her horrid math class to end. Her teacher ranted and raved about... some type of math she already knew. And the worst part was this teacher was her seventh period, and was mostly too busy lecturing or giving an impossible amount of problems to finish in five minutes due in five minutes to let students even think about talking. Today was one of those days he spent the entire class lecturing, explaining a subject slowly and going over tons of examples so he made sure students would like him. He was one of the most hated teachers of their grade level. She sighed and sat back in her seat, looking up at the clock and saw all of her mental complaints rounded up to a minute of time passed. She glanced around the room and saw none of her friends, not that she was expecting them. She was a year older than the rest of her friends, they never had any classes with her, especially since none of them shared her same interests. She was interested in animals, taking care of animals, understanding animals, every little thing you could imagine about animals, she wanted to know. And her dream was to own a sanctuary, with her own veterinary knowledge, of course. Canterlot High didn't offer many classes based around animals, so her best bet was sciences. Which was exactly why every year she took a new science, her teachers bombarded her with questions of why. This year, she was taking Chemistry-- only because it was required, otherwise, she would much rather not have that class--, Zoology, and Botany. She had taken AP Biology last year, along with a requirement of Physical Science she also couldn't care less for. And other than loading her brain with sciences of many types of biology, she worked at a pet shelter. Though, she was more like an intern. The owner was a great friend of hers, as she had volunteered throughout her entire high school career, and really understood she had school, a band, her friends, and a little brother to juggle. So, she got paid for whenever she actually worked. She knew it was stupid, but she didn't necessarily care. Especially as she tapped her foot and looked up at the clock, seeing that even more of her mental groaning and complaining only resulted in a few minutes passed. She sunk into her seat, knowing she had another class to suffer through. She was only thankful she had Art at the end of the day, it was a great way for her to relax. And, she had the class with Sunset Shimmer and Rarity. She jumped out of her seat when the bell rang, a smile on her face as her day approached an end. Being a junior in the middle of the winter, getting to the Art room before the warning bell rang was easy and seeing Sunset's yellow hand already waving at her from the back of the class. Her smile beamed as she wished the teacher a good afternoon and started towards the back of the class, walking past the rest of the long, lab room like desks to the singular one at the back of the class. Sunset, Rarity, and her had taken that table as theirs, not that any other students in the small classroom wanted it. She walked around to the other side of the desk, standing next to Sunset. "Hi, Sunset. How are you?" She said, slipping her pink bag off of her shoulders and taking one look at Sunset's painting. Sunset Shimmer grinned wide as she presented the atrocity to Fluttershy. Actually, atrocity was an understatement. "Hey, Flutters! What do you think?" Sunset asked, taking a step back with a wide grin and her hands on her hips. Fluttershy looked back at it, anxiety bubbling into her throat as she fidgeted with her hands. What was she supposed to say? That it was horrible? Cause it was. It was mixes of reds, oranges, and yellows, all plastered on with an obviously fat brush. The colors mixed together to form a sun... at least, that's what Fluttershy thought it was. Half of the sun was a bright yellow that must've been painted on after the background red was. There were... short, ribbon looking things painted in yellow coming off of the other half of the sun, giving the impression of sun rays. Fluttershy almost thought it would've looked nice, if she didn't use what looked to be a brush dried with paint to add the three colors where they didn't need to be. Like putting a messy, straying yellow streak across the canvas diagonally, orange lines messily fixing the edge of the sun and only adding more stray edges. And a huge, red circle sat inside the orange and yellow sun. It was an abomination that not even the sun would appreciate and bask on. Fluttershy smiled at Sunset. "It's great." Sunset beamed as the late bell rang, Rarity's sandals sounding loudly behind them as she walked up. "Hello, darlings. Oh, aren't I so glad it's the-- Oh, my heavens, what is that?" Rarity asked as the teacher announced a studio day and started playing classical music in the background. Sunset's shoulders fell as she hung her head, a frown forming on her lips. Rarity giggled nervously. "W-what I me-meant to say, dear, was that it is... um..." Rarity fumbled. Sunset sat down with a sigh. "No, it's fine," she said, glancing up at the two sympathetic faces with a smile. "I kinda found where I'm going wrong with this thing," she said, rubbing her arm before sitting up with a proud grin. "But I'm not going to quit!" Rarity smiled as she sat down next to her, after moving the horrible painting to the other side of the table, of course. "Oh, that's so nice to hear, dear!" She said happily, clapping her hands together giddily. Fluttershy nodded as she dug through her bag, watching her yellow sweater bunch up over her hands as she did. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her sleeves, pulling them up on her arms before continuing her search. "Rarity's right, especially after you've tried so hard to find something you like doing," she said as she sat herself back up, holding a thick, bulging notebook in her hands. Sunset nodded and looked up at the painting, sighing at the sight. "Yeah, I had lots of fun," she started. "That's kinda what went wrong," she said with a nervous smile, turning to Rarity as the girl spoke. Rarity flipped her hair before pulling the back of it into a ponytail. "Why, yes. Don't worry, these things are expected when you do something creative like art or designing for fun," she explained, tying her ponytail tight before digging through her bag and pulling out a huge sketchbook. Sunset smiled and took a look at Rarity's work as she flipped through to find the next empty page. Every page seemed full to the brim with ideas and designs as she sat up, putting her knees up to the table and reaching over and grabbing a pencil from her bag. Sunset nodded, declaring that was what was expected from a student who took Art. She looked over to Fluttershy and saw her flipping through pages upon pages full of... words. She shook her head, checking to see if she was seeing straight. And as she opened her eyes again, she saw Fluttershy looking back and forth between a few pages. "Uh... Fluttershy. Do you write stories or something? Cause that's a lot of words," Sunset asked, looking over and seeing that even some of the margins were full of words. Fluttershy smiled as she shook her head, sliding the notebook and letting Sunset see what filled it. Words like Moth Man and Bunyip at the tops of pages drew her attention as Fluttershy spoke. "It's mostly full of research of different types of animals," she said, taking the notebook back when Sunset saw a page with the word 'Draconequus' written at the top. The page was the only one blank with question marks doodled in the margins. She looked up at Fluttershy. "Uh, yeah. I don't think those are the names of animals," Sunset said, finding comfort in the fact that Fluttershy giggled like there was a misunderstanding. At least that meant things called 'Moth Man' didn't exist. At least she hoped it didn't. Fluttershy flipped back to the front of the book, showing names of rare, but completely real animals. "I already researched a lot of the animals that live around here, or I already know about them," she said, moving up to tuck her long hair behind her ear, though it only fell again anyways. "So, I thought it'd be interesting to look into creatures that were seen around here centuries and decades ago," she said, flipping to the end of the book. The only place Sunset's eyes could rest when the girl flipped through was the blank page. Sunset shook her head when she understood what Fluttershy had said. "Wait, what? Something called a... Bungit lived here?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, and almost felt stupid when Fluttershy giggled again as if there was a misunderstanding. Misunderstandings meant for easier problem solving, but if they were constantly spawned from her misunderstanding something, she didn't know how her self-esteem would take it. Fluttershy shook her head. "Bunyip, and they're mostly native to Australia," she said, flipping to the page and looking over it. "Plus, most of them are cryptids, including the Bunyip," she said bluntly, but even Rarity peeked past Sunset with a raised eyebrow. She smiled, feeling a sense of joy wash over her. She loved animals, and it was nice to hear someone was interested in her half-full, thick notebook full of them. "They don't really exist," she said, looking back through her book and all of the imaginary creatures she researched. "But a few people say they've seen some of them, and I just find it interesting how much you can learn about something that might not even exist," she said with a wide smile, looking over all of the pages full of just ideas and theories about the existence of many imaginary creatures. She stopped on the blank page, running a hand over the huge question mark she had drawn in the middle of the page earlier in her English class. She turned to her friends curious faces. "And after all of the imaginary creatures that might exist, I looked into some creatures that could never exist." "Like what?" Rarity asked, putting her sketchbook down and staring at Fluttershy intently, ready for their next lesson. "Like a griffin," Fluttershy started, flipping to the page with an especially detailed drawing near the bottom, though it only led for the top margin to be littered with small writing. It was a drawing of a creature with the hind legs, tail, and body of a lion. It also had the head, talons, and wings of an eagle. "It's a legendary creature that's known for guarding treasure." Rarity sat back in her seat with a smug grin. "Oh, darling, you should show Rainbow Dash," she said as she crossed her legs. "She'd totally think that thing is awesome." Fluttershy nodded as Sunset pointed at the book, silently asking for it. Fluttershy handed it over, watching as Sunset looked for a certain page. "What are you looking fo--" Fluttershy started, and then saw Sunset stop on the blank page. Her shoulders fell at the sight. "Oh." Rarity sat up and saw that the left side of the spread was covered with notes over Hippogriffs, the right side was blank with question marks. Sunset stared down at the page, especially at the word 'Draconequus'. She narrowed her eyes on it as she spoke. "Why is there nothing here?" She asked, though the word was itching at her. She felt like she should've known what a... draconequus was, it sounded so, so familiar. But, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Fluttershy sat back in her seat, her overjoyed smile falling slightly. "Oh, it's just because there's nothing I could find about it," she said, staring at the blank page and feeling disappointment settle in her stomach. "I found the name on a list of cryptids and mythological creatures, but there's nothing else on it. I don't even know how to say it correctly." "Dra...con...a...ques?" Rarity gave her shot at pronunciation, looking at Fluttershy and getting a nod. Though it felt wrong of her tongue as she said it. She bit her tongue, remembering she had a French test next Tuesday. "That's what I thought, but something just sounds a little off," Fluttershy said, staring at the word and feeling her heart hang in her chest. "And for some reason... I really want to know what it is," she said, noticing Sunset's determined stare. "Sunset?" Sunset shook her head slightly and smiled up at Fluttershy, shutting the book quickly. "Uh... it's nothing," she said with a nervous smile, handing the notebook over to Fluttershy. She knew how to pronounce it, for some reason, she just knew. But she saw how depressed it made Fluttershy to even see the blank page, she didn't want the successful pronunciation to open up a door that had, somewhat contently, been shut. She stood up, looking at her painting that got worse the more she looked at it. She walked to the back of the room and grabbed everything she'd need to redo it, grabbing Primary Red and Primary Yellow, paint brushes, and cups of water. She set them down on the back counter, and grabbed the easel holding her, now dumpster-deserving, painting. She set out with another determination to fix it, and not try her hand at any extra textures she thought might look good. Rarity and Fluttershy saw that as their time to separate and work in mostly silence. Rarity sat back up in her seat, her knees sitting on the edge of the table as she sketched. Fluttershy pulled her phone out of her bag, glancing up at the teacher to see if her was noticing. He wasn't. She sat her notebook up in her lap, hiding her phone behind it. She flipped to a page that had only a quarter of it done, the word 'Chimera' sitting in pen at the top. But she couldn't focus, the thought of the mysterious draconequus consumed her mind. A creature that no one knew, no information other than it's name was known by people. It made curiosity blossom in her until she'd kill to learn about whatever a draconequus was. It might've been out of spite for the world, but she thought it was more just the sheer mystery that surrounded the name. She wanted to know what it was. And she felt as if the creature haunted her, because ever since she decided it was the draconequus' time to be researched, thoughts of it didn't leave her mind. Fluttershy looked up at thick trees that towered over her, her grip loose on the straps of her pink bag. A breeze flew past her, her hair and skirt flying lightly with it, and it felt as if comfort had washed over her, because her step in felt like a step into heaven. It was one of the warmest days of the month, and her favorite place to relax was usually off-limits during the freezing cold of winter. February was one of the most funky months of the year when it came to the weather. But now the woods were like an old friend with arms wide open, ready for her to jump into them. And she did, she stepped past the entrance, smiling up at the blocked sun creeping in through a canopy of leaves. She giggled as her heart swelled and she continued walking, seeing all the squirrels and chipmunks again. Birds flew overhead, her smile couldn't get wider on her face as the grass shined under her boots. The forest was attached to a park, and the city's conflicting thoughts about environmental help and building a metropolis left a huge, deep forest on the outside skirts of the city. She had gone into these woods plenty of times with her family, but ever since she could drive, she started going in by herself. And whenever her parents thought she was old enough to not get lost and come out on the side of a highway. But there was a serenity and overwhelming comfort the tall, dark trees offered her, and it was something she didn't quite appreciate as a child. So, now she used it for when school stressed her out, or work... or their band... or saving Canterlot High from Equestrian magic hungry demons. She sighed, she almost wished her 'stress' was caused from those things, at least then she wouldn't feel so stupid about it. She stared down at her black boots matched with dark, honestly ugly, green tights that stretched up to a yellow skirt as she walked, her pink hair falling into her view. The name 'Draconequus' had become one of the top reasons for her visit to the woods recently. It felt as if she was compelled to walk through them, but she always fought the urge, knowing it was too cold for her usual tights to handle. But today, it was the warmest it had ever been since November, so she didn't mind. Besides, the idea of a draconequus rang in her head louder today than any other. And she had no idea why! It infuriated her that an imaginary, probably never seen creature plagued her thoughts. And even if there was knowledge of it, it didn't matter! It's not like the creature existed, it was mythological. She fought over it as she walked, hoping a serene, calming walk could take her mind off things. She barely noticed the birds songs above her as she fumed, her steps turning into stomps, her smile scrunching up into a frown, and her grip on her straps making her knuckles turn white. She had tried thousands of things to not think of the imaginary creature, and she almost thought she had done it until she got home one day last week and realized she spent the entire time at school in her head thinking about what it could possibly look like. And now, she was thinking about what it could possibly be again. Many mythological creatures had either noble or baneful symbolisms, and some leaned to either side by just a name. The name 'Cyclops' usually gave off a bad vibe, and they were regarded as negative, horrible beasts in Greek mythology that only cared about themselves. While the name 'Pegasus' invoked courage and beauty, and they usually were beautiful, strong creatures. But the name 'Draconequus' didn't lean towards either side. The only thing she thought of the name was that it was completely and utterly confusing. She didn't even know how to pronounce it, she couldn't even begin to think of what was the right way. Rarity's pronunciation was how she'd always said it, but it felt so wrong. It didn't even look or sound like a word. And with the immense lack of knowledge on the creature, she couldn't even see what language it originated from, and the list she had found it on hadn't included pronunciation. She sighed, turning her back to a tree and sliding down it, not caring about how and if it would ruin her bright yellow sweater. This creature, it always brought out such negative emotions within her. And as she looked up at the thickening canopy of leaves above her, she sighed. She didn't think the thought of that thing could touch her here. But she assumed an unbearable urge to know something didn't go away so easily. Her stomach churned slightly as she looked up at the thick canopy. She never remembered barely being able to see the sun through the roof of the leaves, she looked around and gasped, shooting to her feet with wide eyes. Her stomach churned more as she cowered into her hair and her sweater, her hands cupping her face as her eyes searched her surroundings. She had absolutely no idea where she was, or how to get back. But a smile made it's way onto her face as she slipped off her bag, falling to the ground with it as she searched through it. She rolled her eyes with a silly grin. She'd just use her phone to find her way back, she couldn't be so far in that she couldn't get connection from either of the sides of the city on either side of the forest. She shook her head, thankful Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash had taught her better ways to handle stressful situations. Her shoulders dropped slightly with her smile as she looked past her books. When she didn't find it with those, she zipped open every other compartment, her heart beat speeding up as she searched more frantically. She finally searched the side pockets, even though she could very clearly see that her phone wasn't there. She looked up, her chest heaving as she hyperventilated. She crawled back against the tree, bringing her legs to her chest and hugging them as she looked around. She knew her brother was right when he told her to always keep her phone on her, and she didn't think Zephyr was right about anything. And now, her phone was in her car while she was in the middle of thick woods with the sun setting in an hour or two. Tears filled her eyes and she squeezed them shut, trying to calm herself down. Applejack had told her panicking did nothing, but she didn't know how not to panic in this situation. Her heart seized as her throat tightened, her swallowing making her throat a lot dryer than it would normally be. If she walked, she could be stuck in the width of the woods, or she'd end up in the city, or she'd end up back at the park. She had a third of a chance of getting stuck, but that third raised exponentially when she barely remembered how she even got in this far. She groaned, it was just another thing that name did to her. She never expected 'getting me lost in the woods' would be on the list, but here it was. As angry tears fell down her face, she couldn't not worry, her chest heaving. She was lost and could be stuck in these woods for the entirety of her weekend if she was bad with direction. Her stomach dropped and tied itself in a knot. She didn't even think of walking through the same areas more than once. She dropped her head to her knees, tears spilling out her of eyes as sobs escaped her. Her mind ran with negative outcomes and she didn't know when she'd calm down, like, what if she could never find her way out? And no one knew where she was, or that she even liked these woods, or that she walked this far-- Her head shot up when she heard an ear-splitting roar. Her chest vibrated with it as she could hear the intensity in the wavelengths, her stomach was eating itself at the noise, her ears rang. She should've been terrified, that horrendous roar that couldn't belong to anything but a mighty beast should've been reason enough for her to run in the opposite direction, even if she didn't know where it was coming from as it shook the world around her. But she stood up and watched as the world calmed down from the mighty, terrifying roar. And she waited with open ears, watching her surroundings. Silence smothered her, suffocated her as confidence was starting to build in her stomach. And it's sharp noise sounded in her ears, imprinting the stresses of that roar in her mind. And its sound played again, and as she put her hands over her ears, she started in a direction past the tree she had been sobbing under after slipping her bag back on. She noticed something different about this noise, something that she didn't hear before. It's loud, booming sound didn't seem like it was threatening something or communicating. It sounded like it was in pain. And something was enchanting her to pull her sleeves onto her hands and wipe her eyes before covering her ears again as the roar's smothering noise slowly got louder and louder. It surrounded her and shook the green leaf canopy above her. Her eyes widened as something flew past her. She looked to it and saw a yellow bolt with moving strands surrounding the base, it had cut through two trees and sat embedded in and was currently burning one. She didn't get a chance to try and understand as the noise boomed again, beckoning her to it's source as her heart yearned to treat whatever was making such a horrible noise. She didn't even think it could be a terrifying, threatening beast anymore as she ran towards it's source. She only heard the whines and cries in it as she slid down a hill, her eyes wide on her surroundings for any sign of what she was after. A cloud approached her, a pink one at that, and she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head at it as it stopped in front of her. The crying roar died down to nothing again as she watched. A leaf fell down slowly onto the pink cloud, but when it touched, Fluttershy jumped away. Lightning ripped out of the cloud, leaving a comical burn mark on the ground as thunder cracked seconds later. Then, it rained... brown water that smelt oddly like chocolate. She hesitantly put her hand under the rain, watching with wide eyes as her grip on her bag tightened. She flinched as cold... water touched her hand. When she pulled away, she stared down at the brown liquid with a raised eyebrow. It moved like water, but it smelt so heavily of chocolate. So much so that she didn't even have to bring it up to her face to smell it. She considered giving it a taste, but turned her hand and watched as it fell off just like water. If it was anything logical, it was watered down chocolate syrup, and she could only imagine how disgusting that would be. She stood up straight and slowly looked up at the cloud. It was pink, and was raining brown water that could only be something chocolate. What was going on? She heard the beast cry again, and walked past the cloud, going around it so she could continue after the haunting noise that brought her hands up to her ears again. She furrowed her eyebrows as she stomped, watching the space ahead of her diligently with a frown etched onto her face. She wanted to find this beast, and she wanted to see if it was alright. Scratch that, she needed to find this beast, and she needed to see if it was alright. It felt like it'd kill her if she didn't. After more randomly flying bolts and larger groups of pink clouds with chocolate rain, she finally saw a clearing past a hill, lit up by the setting sun as the canopy of leaves was... burned and sparkling with... bubbles. She ignored whatever she was seeing around her as she could only focus on the creature in the middle of the clearing, shaking next to a pond that didn't belong there. Her breath left her as her eyes widened, her shoulders dropping with unwavering awe at the creature. It wasn't like any she had seen before and now she was wondering if she'd ever breathe again. She wondered if the memory of this majestic creature would forever have taken her breath away. It was an amalgamation of so many other animals she had seen, but no matter what, it was a horrifying beast that was crying out in pain as it's roar weakened. It was ripped out of it's throat with much less strength and intensity than before. It was long, with a thin, serpentine-like body that reminded her of a Chinese dragon. Around that body were spirals of yellow and purple, all surrounded by sparkles that made it look like something out of a movie. She gasped, her hands flying to her face at the huge, probably deep gash that sat across it's side, dripping blood onto the grass beneath it as it spasmed in... something Fluttershy deduced down to pain. But a gash wouldn't cause that reaction, would it? What was even stranger was it's brown-furred body led up to a... horse-like head that was colored grey. A short and black mane ran down it's neck, topping of at two mismatched horns. One belonged to a deer, and the other was from a creature she couldn't pinpoint. It's face was long as fluffy, white eyebrows sat above eyes shut in pain, matching the long and white beard. It's fang was obvious as it tried roaring, it's voice already hoarse and weak, it sounded like it was whining, begging. Though it's fang was only one of it's kind, it led to a world of horror when the creature jerked it's head in her direction, revealing the same purple and yellow colors spiraling inside as it attempted to roar once again. She raised an eyebrow as it stopped trying, yellow eyes with red pupils looking down and seeing those magically bright colors fall out of it's mouth and changing the warm and green grass beneath it to a pink and purple checkered floor. It didn't notice her as it clamped it's mouth shut, looking away with a growl from somewhere within it's throat. A talon reached up and wrapped around it's throat as the creature winced in pain, the claws of the talon dug into it's fur and drug down roughly. Fluttershy followed that talon down to it's body, finding it didn't even match his other limbs as his other arm was a lion's paw that held it's body up off the ground slightly, along with it's... legs. At the end of it's torso lied a goats leg on it's left, a reptilian one with two toes on it's right. A long, dragon-like tail stretched long past either leg, light pink spines following down it's red tail with a white bit of fur at the end. On it's back held two wings, neither matched the other as well as they folded and spread against it's back with the creatures spasms and jerks. A bat-like wing colored dark stretched as a feathered one folded, though it didn't look quite as much like a bird's as it did just remind her of when her wings and ears appeared when her and her friends band played music. And as she watched, it's chest moved slower, it's eyes shut and it's paw and legs couldn't hold it up anymore. It fell to the ground lifelessly and Fluttershy didn't hesitate to slide her way down the small hill and race over to the creature. Author's Note Howdy! Thanks to any of you who read this story <3 Most of the reason I'm writing stories on this site is so I can get criticism and build my ability to write a beginning, middle, and end, so, if any of you have any criticism, please tell me. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy! Talking to a DraconequusDiscord grumbled as he snuggled into his pillow, something that was horrifyingly uncomfortable, but he was too tired to even try and change it. The sun shining in through his eyelids was another problem, one he was willing to focus his magic on. An exceptionally pink sleeping mask appeared on his face as he smiled into his bed, which was becoming unbearable. But he shot up after rolling onto his side, the mask disappearing from his face as waves of pain shot through his waist. He winced, wondering why his entire body felt sore as he looked down and saw bandages wrapped around his torso. He raised an eyebrow, they were tinged red around the source of his pain, but he didn't remember wrapping himself in any bandages. Before he could snap them away to see whatever was biting him and sending currents of pain through him, a voice chirped. "Oh! You're awake," a soft, quiet voice said. His head whirled in the direction of it, finding a lot of pink and yellow as a... human sat by a tree? What was a human doing this close to him? And as he looked around, she was sitting rather far away. He looked around, deciding she was an insignificant part of his problem. He saw grass past his body, making him wonder why he was sleeping on the dirt when there were things that could be so much more comfortable, like a cloud made of cotton candy for example. He didn't remember a thing, and he had no idea where he was. But he was obviously in this area for at least a few minutes. That was evident by the things that obviously didn't belong. Like the half-frozen pond that shouldn't exist in the middle of a thick forest. And the sun shined down strongly, making him bring his talon up to block it. He noticed the crisp edges of leaves falling, and assumed he created the large hole in the canopy. And as he looked around, he assumed he made the trees vanish as well, there weren't even any stumps left. "I didn't think you would be, you looked horrible," the voice played again. He jerked his head to whoever this incompetent girly thought she was, insulting a god like himself. But before he could insult her back, she spoke as she rummaged through her bag. "Your wound was terrible too, you didn't even wake up while I stitched it up. And I didn't have anything to put you to sleep," she said again. Why was she talking to him so... casually? He narrowed his eyes on her, his tail flicking in a threat as he evaluated the situation. Maybe the human look was a disguise, and she really was something that wanted his magic, and thought she could get it. She looked completely and utterly harmless, but that could only further her innocent look. And what was with the distance she was keeping? She had to know what he was, and what insane amounts of power he was capable of. Before he could question the girl and reveal her plan and debunk it, she walked towards him and held out an apple. He raised an eyebrow at it and tilted his head. Was it poisoned? That'd be a weird way to obtain a draconequus' powers, he was so confused as he glanced up at her, seeing her beaming smile. "I have no idea what you are, and I couldn't find anything about what you are," she said, making him sit up straight in utter confusion. He didn't think a being of his power could be so completely confused. "But you have a lot of parts from a horse and a goat," she said with her bright smile and even brighter teal eyes. He couldn't see any malice behind it. "Oh, and the deer... antler horn?" She said with a tilt of her head as she shook her hand slightly to draw his attention to the apple. He was appalled, was this little girl... mocking him? But he was once again prevented from going through with something, in this case grabbing the apple, when she shook her head and giggled. He simply watched as she set the apple down on the ground and walked away, staring at him expectantly. "You aren't going to get any better if you don't eat," she explained and he really didn't understand. His tail wrapped around to his front, wrapping around the apple and extending itself long enough so he could bring the fruit up to his paw. He saw a look of amazement on her face as he noticed just how yellow she was. Her hair was probably the only thing about her that wasn't yellow, instead, it was a gorgeous, pastel pink he could get behind. But a sweater hung off one shoulder, it was definitely a few sizes too big as it fell over her yellow skirt. That beautiful canary yellow led to hideous green tights and black boots. She looked so harmless, and she didn't seem to know what he was. But looks can deceive. He shot her an unconvinced, cautious look as he tossed the apple up and down, looking to see if any magic coated the thing, assuming magic was the only thing that could kill him. It had nothing, it looked just like a normal apple. "Oh, I have other fruits if you don't eat apples," the girl offered kindly, still keeping her distance. "It's not poisoned, is it?" He asked, looking the apple over and wishing he could tell if anything was off the normal, not just what he did to things. "It wouldn't kill me, but I doubt it'd do any good," he said, remembering that his magic was malfunctioning. For some reason. He looked at his talon, feeling less and more unstable magic than normal. "Of course it's not--..." She said, ending abruptly, he looked up at her and saw those teals eyes were wider than before. And her carefree, leisurely attitude was gone as her body was frozen stiff. He didn't understand again, was it something he said? He didn't think it would be, she wasn't afraid of his appearance, so why would his voice scare her? "Did-- did you just..." she fumbled, raising a shaking hand with a finger pointed at him. He tossed the apple again, assuming maybe this changeling-type creature's magic was malfunctioning like his. He declared the apple was good enough to eat, and threw it over his shoulder with a smug grin, though in that same time it appeared in his mouth. He smiled as he ate it, it tasted pretty nice. "Did... did you just... just talk?" She asked calmly in a shaking voice. What was with this girl? He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why wouldn't I talk?" He asked, pulling the stem of the apple out of his mouth and throwing it over his shoulder, debating whether or not to make it reappear in his talon and use it as a toothpick. He decided against it as he put his hands on his hips, jerking his hand away from his... injury he didn't remember getting. "I'm not an animal." She shook her head and laughed to herself, putting her hand in her hair as she smiled. "I must be low on sleep," she said to herself, looking behind her. "I should actually be getting back..." As she leaned over to grab her bag, he snapped with a wide grin, appearing hanging upside down on a branch next to her. "Yes, I don't really prefer the ground as a bed either," he said, stroking his gravity-defying beard as he thought. "I don't know why I was there to begin with, actually." She screamed and jumped away, falling to the ground and using her feet to push herself away. "Y-y-you're tal-talking..." she mumbled, staring up at him with wide eyes that only made him notice the bags underneath them. Maybe this creature disliked the ground as well. Wait, she didn't know he could talk? He snapped and appeared over her, curious at her cowering as she had, just minutes ago, talked to him as if he was a patient. "Well, it's kind of rude not to talk to those who talk to you," he said, standing up straight and rolling his wrist as his theatrics. "Even if I suspect you to be a creature after my magic, I can at least be courteous." She shook her head again and dug both her hands into her impossibly soft hair. "This can't be happening," she mumbled to herself, her hands shaking. He didn't understand either. This thing was after a draconequus' magic, how could she not know they talked? What all-mighty being couldn't talk? Or at least communicate in some way! He snapped, his paw flying off of his body and grabbing the back of her sweaters collar. She yelped as his paw picked her up off the ground up to his height, which was a few heads taller than her. "Okay, you thing," he hissed. "You can give up the games. If you agree to give up this little plan of yours, I might let you off free," he said, narrowing his eyes on her. He rolled his eyes as he noticed her sweater was so big it still fully covered her. She pointed at him. "You talk." Now he was annoyed as he dropped her, growling. He used his talon to grab his paw and screw it back onto his arm. He leaned over her, sneering. "Alright, missy. I don't know what you're doing, but give it up, it's rather obnoxious," he threatened, snapping and making a bunch of papers appear in his hands. He had no idea what she was, and was determined to find out what if she wasn't going to tell him. "But you talk," she said as she picked herself up slightly and saw what he was holding. Glasses appeared on his face as she gasped, getting on her knees and smiling as she looked at what he had in his hands. "And you can read?" She asked, completely amazed. He scowled, feeling his eye twitch as this little brat was starting to get on his nerves. Was she mocking him? Was she a threat? He didn't necessarily care at this point, he just wanted to get her to understand what a draconequus was, and to speak of them with respect. "Of course I can! I'm a draconequus! We aren't some animals!" He sneered, feeling hatred override the intense pain in his side that he hadn't forgotten about. Though the questions of what it was, why it was bandaged up, and why his magic wasn't fixing it already left his mind. Her eyes widened as her shoulders and jaw dropped, and he was honestly scared. He had never been this uninformed in his life and he didn't think he'd ever experience this. She scurried past him for her bag, rummaging through it again. "Hey!" He yelled after her, stomping over to her until he stood behind her, towering over her. "I was talking!" He said, throwing his hands up as he watched her pull a thick notebook out of her bag and flip past tons of full pages. He didn't even have time to appreciate or belittle her for such pointless actions before she stood up, forcing him to stand up straight as she stood on the tips of her toes and pointed at a word on a blank page. "You're a draconequus?" She asked, pronouncing it horribly though her spelling was correct, all the while big, teal eyes looked up at him. "Draconequus," he corrected, staring at the blank page with curiosity. Why was it the only empty one? Especially when she was looking to get his magic, or to mess with him. Either way, both intentions shouldn't have had a blank research page covered in question marks and such amazement at the name. Wait, why was she so astonished? "Draconequus," she said correctly, nodding her head and furrowing her eyebrows as she pulled the book away from him and turned it to herself, flipping through it. He wondered if she was going to turn to a page that had information about him, when it hit him she didn't even know how to pronounce 'draconequus'. She shoved a spread in his face this time, both without titles and detailed drawings in pencil. He grabbed the book from her, looking down at all the studies and analyzing of him. All of them had the bandages around the waist, meaning she'd drawn them while he was asleep, because one thing he did know was that he didn't wrap himself in bandages before he went to sleep. When did he go to sleep? "So... that's a draconequus?" She asked expectantly, staring up at him with no fear. He would've been concerned, or honored, by the great drawings if he wasn't horribly confused. This thing was meant to be a dark creature that would take advantage of his weakened state and take his magic, but instead, she seemed as if she didn't even know he was a creature that had magic. First, she acted as if she had wrapped him up in bandages, and the word 'wound' only implied she was... healing him? That new revelation boggled his mind as he ran over all of the other completely innocent things she had done. She was shocked he could talk, she was amazed by his species, she wasn't fearful of his magic, as if she didn't know he had it, and she had acted as if she was curious of his health. And worried. He nodded, handing the book back to her and seeing her wide smile as she held the book to her chest. She was terrifying. "So... since you know what I am," he started, deducing she could only be a great actor, or an idiotic creature that didn't know how to act. "Would you mind telling me what you are?" He asked nicely, giving her a fake smile as his mind ran with negative scenarios. His magic could malfunction at any moment, at least, that's what little he got from his memories yesterday. She smiled sweetly as she raised an eyebrow, an amused look on her face he would've enjoyed had he not currently been furious at her for having the capability to throw him, Discord, for a loop. "Oh, me? I'm nobody," she said, taking a step towards him with a hungry curiosity in her eyes that scared him out of even thinking anything negative of her. He filled his mind with repeats of 'pretty hair' to appease the almighty magic she had to have. He shook his head. "No, I mean. What are you? Like how I'm a draconequus, and this," he said as he made a squirrel appear in his talon. "Is a squirrel. Or chipmunk," he said, narrowing his eyes on the little rodent he had dangling from it's tail. She put down her notebook and reached up for his claw, loosening his grip on the squirrel gently as she caught it in her palms. He watched with a confused stare as she bent over and set it free. "Oh, that's easy," she said with a smile as she stood back up with her book in her hands. "I'm just a normal girl." She flipped open her book, simply looking through the pages and letting him get a glance at every single full page as his mind fell apart, more than normally anyways. He snapped, appearing behind her and lifting her hair, seeing nothing coming out of her back. She jumped and looked back at him. "How did you do that?" She asked, leaning away from his touches as he lifted one of her arms and rolled her sleeve up as far as it could go. Nothing again. "Normal girl as in a human normal girl?" He asked, snapping and holding her upside down by one boot. She screamed and held her skirt in place as her shoelaces untied, dropping her to the ground as she slid out of her boot. He looked over her leg and saw nothing, and she very clearly didn't have any form of tail or horns. He snapped as he dropped her boot, it running towards her and placing itself back on her as it tied it's own shoelaces. She was amazed "How did you do that?" She asked greedily. "Just answer the question," he demanded of her greedy little curious stare he was terrified of. Though it was hard to be scared of her when she talked like a little school girl with a fascination. She nodded. "Um, what are you doing?" She asked from her place on the ground, staring up at him, remembering he had essentially searched her... in an odd way. Though, she couldn't be just a 'normal girl', she had to be something. A normal girl wouldn't talk to him or even stand near him, a normal girl would be terrified. He snapped again, a disembodied bird beak grabbing bunches of her sweater, holding enough of it to make her stomach visible. She definitely didn't have a tail. She gasped, "Can you use magic?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm sorry, dear, but you can't simply be a normal girl," he said, crossing his arms and starting to feel anger run through him as his muscles tensed, his side erupting in pain again at the action. This girl was going to make a fool of him, and he wasn't going to allow it. Her face fell into a frown as her shoulders dropped. "Why not?" She asked. "Why not?" He repeated, throwing his arms up in the air, a fake, angered smile on his face. "Why not? I'll tell you why not, girl," he said, shooting a pointed paw at her chest like a rocket, another paw coming up in it's place as that one fell to the ground in an ashy pile the nonexistent wind blew away. "Because you're a little girl. That's why!" She furrowed her eyebrows, a frown etched into her features. "That's not very nice," she lectured, making his jaw drop. "I'll have you know, I'm very capable of myself," she nodded, taking her stand against him. He didn't know he, The Lord of Chaos, could be equally appalled, confused, and angered by a creature acting innocent. All in the same day! "Have you seen me?" He asked, stomping towards her with anger seeping off of him. He didn't know how he was still talking, and why she wasn't injured yet. "I'm a monster! No normal girl would be okay with looking at and talking to this," he said, pointing to his face. It hurt him to insult his perfect self, but fact was fact, he was a monstrous beast to humans. She furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head. "You aren't that scary, besides, I love taking care of animals," she said with a smile before flinching in the beak's grasp. "Oh, i'm sorry, I guess animal wouldn't exactly be the right way to describe you," she said nervously, hoping she didn't anger him any further. She didn't understand why he was so violent or angry, but she wanted to help him. He shook his head, holding up one claw from his talon and paw, shutting his eyes. "You don't find me hideous?" He asked, slowly opening his eyes. She glanced away, realigning her feet, despite the lack of ground beneath them. "No, but, I appreciate all... creatures. I don't think I'd ever find one... unpleasant," she said nervously, hoping her considerate word choice would make him feel better. She looked down at his waist, the bandages on his right side tinged red. "Oh, I'm sorry. How do you feel? That was a nasty cut," she said, looking up at him hoping he'd have a promising answer. He flinched with a smile, if she knew his 'wound' was a cut, maybe she'd know what happened to him. "Cut?" He repeated, the words clicking with him as he looked down himself. It did hurt like hell, but he didn't remember cuts hurting this bad. "Is that what that is?" She nodded, feeling her heart swell as the beak let her down, having a feeling his confused, cautious look was a good sign. "When I heard you last night I--" He snapped and something that sounded like a zipper raced across her mouth. She reached for it and felt something cold and angular where her lips would be. What was causing all of these bizarre things to happen? "Heard me last night? What was I doing?" He asked seriously, grabbing her shoulders and staring at her expectantly. He raised an eyebrow when she didn't answer, and rolled his eyes when she pointed at her mouth. He snapped and she smiled up at him. "Roaring," she said, narrowing her eyes on him. "Wait... do you not remember?" He shook his head, a hand flying to her mouth. "Oh, well... I found you in this clearing and you looked seriously hurt," she started, almost enjoying his attentive stare on her. "That gash of yours was bleeding pretty badly--" "Gash?" He asked with wide eyes, leaning back and putting his paw to his chest. He looked down at the bandages when she nodded, well, that sort of explained the pain. He still didn't think a more serious injury had hurt this badly before. It was pulsing out pain from his side to the rest of his body. "And you looked sick," she said sadly, looking away from him. "There were these... purple and yellow things around you with a bunch of sparkles too," she explained, looking back up at him with wide, sympathetic eyes as she tucked her hands behind her back. "You got quieter and quieter until you passed out. Then I came over and stitched up your wound and--" "You did this?" He asked, pointing at his bandages. She tilted her head in confusion before nodding. He snapped, appearing a few feet away from her and pacing as he stroked his beard in thought. "Don't worry, I'm good at taking care of animals--" she said before shaking her head. "Creatures," She corrected. She watched with her hands clasped at her chest as he paced and mumbled to himself so quietly she couldn't make out the words. "Though I didn't have everything that would be really helpful to fixing it, but I stopped the bleeding, cleaned it," she started, shifting her weight on one foot as she delved into her thoughts, holding a finger out and tapping it as a way to keep count. "I also stitched it and bandaged it. It should start healing soon," she said, putting down her count of four and worriedly watching him pace. He snapped, though nothing happened, other than the light bulb appearing above his head. He swooped over in front of her in an instant with a serious stare. She swallowed. "So... you're a normal girl that loves critters and decided to help me?" He asked, pointing at himself and expectantly waiting for a nod back. He nodded after she did and turned away, pulling on the collar of a suit he made appear on himself. "Well I must thank you...?" She jumped after a few seconds of silence. "Fluttershy!" He smiled to himself at the sweet name for a sweet girl. "Fluttershy," he repeated, even liking how it sounded on his tongue. "But I'm afraid I must go, things to see, things to do," he rambled, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Wait!" She said, reaching out for him. He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, watching her face turn pink as she stood up straight and cleared her throat. "I- just, um," she muttered before taking a deep breath. "Do you mind staying here for a few days? I wouldn't want you ending up somewhere dangerous with that wound." He laughed, a pure genuine laugh that brought his paw close to his mouth. "Oh, Fluttershy," he said as he shook his head, snapping his fingers and watching the girl appear tucked between his arm and his chest, looking up at him with teal eyes. "Us draconequui can do anything! A measly cut isn't going to stop me," he explained cheerfully. Her eyes sparkled as she stared up at him in awe. "Anything?" She asked breathlessly. He hummed as he looked over her, it had been decades, probably centuries, since a creature, much less human, was interested in him. "Anything," he whispered back, seeing her smile widen. "You have to tell me everything!" She demanded joyfully, staring up at him with an even wider grin. She quickly recoiled from it, ducking into her hair and sweater. "If that's, um, okay with you." He dropped her, bringing his paw up to his chin as he looked up in thought. A normal girl that didn't find his appearance repulsive absolutely amazed by the thought of his species and wanting to hear more about it...? It would only take a day out of his immortal life, what was stopping him? He grinned at her. "Sure, it'll be repayment for your services," he said with a bow, gesturing towards his bandages. He winced as he stood up straight again. "Though, it does hurt a bit." She nodded. "It was a bad injury, it's going to hurt for a few days," she explained, making his ears and shoulders drop. "And... if your magic can do anything..." she said with her own finger to her chin, lightly walking towards him. "Can't you just relieve the pain yourself?" She asked worriedly. He rolled his eyes at himself and nodded at her, grinning as he snapped his fingers, shutting his eyes in accomplishment. They opened as another pulse of pain washed over, he shot a raised eyebrow down at his side and watched, snapping his claws over and over again, using either arm, his tail, his horns, and got nothing. He looked to her and shrugged. "I usually can, I haven't the slightest idea why I can't now," he said, wincing as the pain seemed to get worse with his multiple attempts at fixing it. He laughed nervously and tapped his claw and paw together. "Maybe, I could use some more of your assistance," he said with a nervous grin, watching her beam. She rocked back on her feet, cowering in her sweater. "Is tomorrow okay? I would really love to stay, but I've been here all night and my family's probably really worried and..." she trailed off, looking down at her bag and the direction she came from. She looked back up at the draconequus, seeing his limbs went rigid as he was frozen. "Um... Mr. Draconequus?" "Discord," he said, patting her on the head with his claw as he stared off in a random direction. "My name is Discord," he repeated. She clasped her hands together with a smile. "That's great!" She beamed before noticing he was still frozen in place. "Are you okay? Cause I can stay a bit longer or come back after I get some more things to help you--" she started and was cut off by him looking down at her with the same serious, determined, and frozen stare on his face. "I'll be fine," he said, pulling his claw from her hair and forever imprinting it in his memory how stupidly soft her hair was. "You can just come back tomorrow," he said, watching her smile sadly. "Only if you're sure you'll be okay. Strong creature or not, a wound's a wound," she rambled, stopping again when he put his claw in her hair, looking up at his somewhat soft, and incredibly shocked smile. "Just go home," he told her seriously, staring at her intently. She nodded nervously before skipping off with a smile, shoving her notebook in her bag and throwing it over her shoulder, waving goodbye as she stepped up the small hill and turned the other way. And for some reason, he waved back, half-heartedly, but still. He watched her and waited until she was gone, snapping and making a glass throne appear behind him. It was pink with chocolate milk swishing inside as he fell back into it and sunk. What was with that girl? He looked down at the bandages and felt... something in his heart. Why did she do all this for something she didn't even know? That could have easily ripped her face off? Why?... And why did she care so much about him already? "Um, Discord?" Her heard her lovely voice and looked to where she left, taking a glance up at the sky and seeing the sun shining right over them. He smiled sweetly at her to hide his obvious confusion, sweat dripping down his face. "Yes, Fluttershy?" He asked, wondering why it felt nice to say someone else's name in a good way, a nice way. A non-discordant way. She hid behind the tree she was peeking from slightly. "Um... since your magic can do a lot of things," she said, taking a glance at the glass throne and hoping he wasn't exaggerating when he had said 'anything'. "Do you think you could teleport me back to the front of the forest by the park?" She hid further and continued shifting her weight from foot to foot as she avoided his raised eyebrow on her. "We're actually, um, quite far in the wood and I, uh..." she trailed off, hiding completely behind the tree to where he could only see her hair. "I have no idea how to get back!" She squealed in one go, cowering into herself. Discord nodded, though his mind was on other things. "Sure," he said, seeing her peek out from behind her tree with a wide smile before she vanished. He sunk into his cold throne. What was she? Healing a DraconequusDiscord rested his head in his paw while the tapping of his talon against his glass throne was the only noise ringing in his head. He looked around the horribly normal surroundings, the bright orange fish fading to blue when they swam under the frozen roof of the pond were the only things close to chaotic. The pond didn't even belong in these woods, and the half-frozen part of it definitely didn't. He was bored, utterly, completely, and absolutely bored. And he couldn't do a single thing about it! As he looked at his talon and paw, he felt the unequal and unstable magic flowing through him. And he didn't have a single idea why his magic was malfunctioning, and his weak memories of how he got in this forest wasn't much of a help. He was in some sort of mountains when... he groaned and looked up at the sky with a scowl. He couldn't even recall what had happened clearly. He saw mountains... but were there mountains around here? He didn't know and he couldn't go look! He decided his magic was best if it was used sparsely until it was back to normal. He wouldn't want something to go wrong and draw the attention of something that could hurt him in his already hurt state. And if they did find him, he wouldn't be able to trust his magic to get him out of the situation! He was shocked he was able to keep with his word, not much had changed to his surroundings. The glass throne was one he'd done when he was awake. The burnt leaf roof, the small patch of a checkered floor, the nonexistent trees, and the pond were all things he'd done while he was unconscious. Or at least blacked out. He didn't remember doing any of it. The only other thing he had done was the thin and purple roof of leaves to replace the last ones. He decided it was necessary, the sun was a monster worse than him. And he could only imagine a goddess ruling over the sun making it even more painful for him simply because it disliked him. That retched sun had been keeping him from napping his time away, the most he could do was rid himself of one issue. Though two others weren't that easily solved. The rocketing pain in his side slowly became more and more unbearable the longer he was awake with it, the pain even kept him from sleeping it away. And every time he tried to heal it with his magic, it erupted into a new state of pain that he didn't know how he was taking. It was burning and the bandages around it tinged red more with his repeated attempts at fixing it. It pulsed and sent that pain slowly through the rest of his body with each wave. And his lack of sleep didn't make it feel any better, or the horrible bandages he refused to take off for multiple reasons. He had no idea how he'd put them back on without his magic, and that girl made it sound as if they were crucial to whatever healing process he'd obviously have to go through. He sunk into his throne. Fluttershy was the other problem. He looked up at the purple canopy and held his breath as he snapped, waiting for something to go wrong. The entire canopy vanished when he only wanted to move it aside. He groaned as he crawled his way off of his throne, attempting to hide from the horrible sun goddess. The sun hung over him slightly to the left. Of course, it was still early in the day, but she had left early yesterday, he simply assumed she'd be back soon. She seemed enthusiastic enough to pull him out of his failed sleep at six in the morning. He sighed and sunk his way down the side of his throne. She did seem enthusiastic, didn't she? He grimaced, maybe she wasn't as innocent as he thought. Maybe she was just a little actor that, after realizing he was a threat, snuck her way out without angering him. He stroked his beard and raised an eyebrow at the world. It did seem sensible, he was a jerk to her, revealed he could do anything, and she didn't know the way back. He ground his teeth together and growled. "That little witch..." he said, debating on whether or not he should summon a statue of her and a sledgehammer to smash it with. He shook his head, that little drama student didn't deserve the risk of him using his magic. He crossed his arms and fumed, it wasn't that he was upset she wouldn't show. He was simply upset she wouldn't fix him, he was an almighty god that would haunt her for the rest of her days, and she threatened not helping him. Especially after she said she would. He couldn't believe her or that sun goddess. He wanted to ruin both of their lives, he sighed, if only he could use his magic, and he would do it now. But that wouldn't stop him from complaining and belittling her right here and now. He kept himself from making other versions of himself appear around him in a circle as he opened his mouth to list of his first complaint: that horrible hair of hers. "Oh, I'm sorry," he heard a quiet voice call. He whirled his head to the small step of a cliff and saw even more yellow than he did yesterday. Instead of a pink bag, she had a pastel yellow one, similar to her sweater that seemed to fit her the tiniest bit better. Maybe only two sizes too big instead of three. Other than that he was thankful she took off those repulsive green tights and replaced them with high-waisted blue jeans that led down to the same black boots. "Were you waiting long?" She asked again, her voice dripping with innocent concern. He rolled his eyes and snapped, feeling his magic grow in stability the smallest bit. He appeared behind her, towering over her with a smug grin. How could he ever think this little girl was capable of fooling him? The pain must've been getting to him. "Not at all, dear," he responded, seeing her smile up at him before slipping off her bag and bending down to look through it. He shook his head. "You really aren't scared of me, are you?" He asked. He heard her giggle and had no idea why it almost sounded nice, nice enough to make his pain lessen. "Not really," she said, standing back up with that pure smile of hers and a white bottle in her hand. He didn't understand and watched as she opened the bottle. He tilted his head in confusion. "How? I understand I'm not exactly one of the prettiest things," he started with disgust. "To your kind." She slowly looked up at him, examining his body for some reason before she knocked four, small, and red pills into her hand. "I don't see how," she said, holding her hand out to him. "I think you're fascinating." He cowered away from her. How could a little, normal girl like her not be scared of him, much less find him fascinating? He grabbed the pills from her hand and looked at them. "What are you-- these?" he asked, looking over them and wondering what good they'd do. They were small, but maybe they helped magic. As he looked over them, they didn't look like it. "Painkillers," she said, picking up her bag and looking in awe at his glass throne. Her awe ended as she whirled to his confused face. "Unless it doesn't hurt anymore." He shook his head. "These four, small pills are supposed to get rid of pain?" He asked with an amused smirk before throwing his head back in a laugh. He didn't get to appreciate the amazed look on her face as he wiped the tears from his eyes after the howls. "My dear, I never expected you to be this funny," he said through snickers. She smiled up at him, after shaking something from her thoughts. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she rocked back on her feet, tucking her hands behind her back. "Well, two do a lot to a person... and since you seem like you'd be two of a normal person, I just assumed a double dose would work," she said, avoiding his intent stare as she cowered into her hair. "But if that doesn't work, maybe a triple dose?" She asked, trying to make out the logic herself. She heard a snap and jumped out of her thoughts, seeing the lid of the pill bottle simply screwing off. "My apologies, but I doubt four measly pills would help a wound that's only hurt worse since you left," he said as he looked into the bottle. His body jumped back as he noticed every pill was just as small, it reattached to his legs that didn't move. He couldn't believe that these would help a full grown human. "Why don't we just air on the side of caution?" He asked, noticing her slightly worried stare. "Well, I suppose so," she said, one of her boots pulling back until it rested on the tip. Her hair fell in her face, but she didn't think she had the courage to raise her hand and move it. She didn't know what it was, but she felt so inferior around this creature, that was injured. She assumed it was because he was the draconequus that had plagued her thoughts for weeks, and she was worried she'd run him off. She heard a snap and felt something on her head, and she looked up as much as she could, which wasn't a lot. She saw him standing over her and assumed his talon was rested on her as he took most of his weight off his feet. "Perfect," he purred and opened his mouth. Fluttershy gasped when the pill bottle floated over him and poured like a waterfall into his mouth. She didn't have time to stop him before the bottle fell into his paw. "Um... that's not really a, um, good thing," she said nervously, looking away from him as he looked down at her. He moved his stare from her to the forest around them. It was quiet until she showed up, now it was full of his and her's voices. "Don't worry, my dear, I'm a god, a few pills can't hurt me," he said, snapping and appearing in his throne. He grinned confidently at her amazed stare as he raised his arms to draw attention to him and the throne before he rested them on the arms. "I'm usually never hurt," he said with a glower down at his wound. "Usually." "A god?" She repeated with bright, curious teal eyes and a wide smile. Her hands clasped together in front of her chest as she walked over to his throne. She rocked on her feet like a child waiting for candy. She flinched before he could respond and leaned over him and his throne with upturned eyebrows. "I'm so sorry, I totally forgot. You said the pain got worse?" As much as he loved a little amazed groupie, he'd rather see if she could do anything about his wound. "Yes," he grumbled, sinking into his throne. "It's even prevented me from my beauty sleep," he growled before shooting up and whirling to her. "And I don't understand why I can't fix it." He fell back into his chair as anger moved with the pulses of pain. "My magic may be messing up, but I've tried millions of times," he said, watching her worried stare become even more worried, which he didn't think was possible. He curled into the corner of his throne and cowered from her as she put her hands on the arm and leaned over it more. "That's horrible," she said. She noticed her invasion of his personal space and backed up, clearing her throat. "Do you know when it would start hurting worse?" She asked nervously, tucking her hands behind her back again as she looked up past her hair. He sat up as he thought, whatever he told her might lead to a solution, so he decided to comply with her wishes. He hummed as he stroked his beard, ignoring that concerned look directed at him. He sat up straight as a light bulb appeared over his head. He leaned on the arm of his throne she had recently just contaminated and cupped his head in his paw. "Whenever I tried fixing it." She furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Then why did you keep trying?" She asked, almost rudely, something he wasn't expecting. He never thought he'd be slightly scared by an innocent girl like herself... lecturing him. He shrugged, sliding and maneuvering on his throne until his feet and tail hung over the top of it, his head falling off the seat. "I thought it was just my magic malfunctioning. There's nothing that should be keeping my magic from working," he complained, attempting, and failing, to fight her stern stare. He rolled his eyes. "It's fine, my magic will be working in no time." She rolled her eyes before noticing that his bandages were slightly more red than before. "Maybe I should take a look at it," she said quietly, hoping he'd agree. She didn't want to force him to do something he didn't want to, especially when his theatrics and speech kind of insinuated he wouldn't be the most cooperative, and she still wanted to learn more about him. She smiled slightly when he snapped, appearing on a hospital bed. She wondered why his bandages were still on when he bowed. "Whatever will help you fix it faster," he said appreciatively. She picked up her bag and walked over to him, setting it down on the bed next to him. She spoke as she looked through it, wondering if a hospital bed was what he meant to summon if he said his magic was malfunctioning. If that was how it worked anyway. "I might not be able to do a lot, a gash like that takes time to heal," she said, making his ears drop. She smiled up at him as she pulled a pocket knife out of her bag. He cowered away from her, his tail coming up to block most of her access from him. "You're not going to cut me again, are you?" He asked, looking at her warily as sweat dripped down his face. It was hot outside, she was terrifying, and those pills didn't seem to be helping his pulsing pain. "Because as much as I'd love to conduct a scientific experiment as to why I can't use my magic on it, I'd rather not be cut again." She felt her heart swell at the idea that he deduced the knife down to a scientific experiment to help him figure something out. She giggled as she gently grabbed his tail and pushed it aside. "No, I'm cutting off the bandages," she smiled, watching his body fall with relaxation. He comically wiped the sweat off his forehead as she reached for the bandages, his tail slid in her way again. She looked up at his worried expression with a raised eyebrow. "Can't you just... unwrap them?" he asked sweetly, wondering why a cut was worrying him so much. He assumed the intense pain radiating from one was great motivation. At least her and her sweet smile were comforting, he don't know how much more worried he'd be if she was a terrifying veterinarian from Germany. She moved his tail aside again, trying not to admire the red scales compared to the brown fur on his body. "I tucked the end to the bandages near your wound and then taped it to make sure it'd heal better when I wasn't around, so it'd be easier to cut it off," she explained, watching him reluctantly move his tail out of her way. She grabbed a part of the wrappings around his waist and looked up at him for confirmation. When he nodded, she sliced through it. He tried to do something to keep his mind off of it, he couldn't trust the girl, so how could he trust her to not cut him and leave him with another wound he couldn't heal himself? He didn't want to think about it as her words rang in his head. He looked down at her as she unwrapped him. "When you weren't around? Were you planning to leave?" He asked, curiosity bubbling inside him at this soft girl that was being exceptionally gentle. She nodded. "I thought you were just some animal that would be out for a couple of days," she said as she reached behind him to avoid simply pulling the bandage around. His fur looked incredibly soft, and it was from what she remembered of stitching him up. "So I was going to leave you the fruit I had and try to find my way out before you woke up and come check up on you later," she explained as she pulled all of the bandages off, wondering why he was curious. She smiled up at his confused stare, expecting some response. She didn't expect a smug grin and a snap, a light blue lab coat and light blue pair of gloves appearing on her. He growled. "It was supposed to be that pink," he said, pointing at her hair. "And just when I thought I was starting to get control of it!" He pouted as she set the dirty bandages aside. She remembered that they should've been changed every day. She really did had a lot more to learn about animals. But if his wound healed correctly, she would be ecstatic she did it. She looked back at his wound and tilted her head at the clean stitches. He followed her stare and jumped, seeing the hairless patch on his side. His neck bent so his head hung lower, letting him see the monster on his side easier. "You cut off my fur?!" He asked, guessing his magic wouldn't grow that back either. He only guessed because he was too scared to try. She shook her head. "It was already gone, it looked like it was burnt off. But I would've needed to anyways to stitch it," she explained, wondering why his fur wasn't charred at the edges like it was before. Maybe his magic fixed that, but couldn't get any closer to his wound? She furrowed her eyebrows as she moved his paw to get a better look. "Do you have a fever?" She asked. He shook his head, wondering why she questioned. He knew he would've complained if he did, though the sun beaming down on him was hot enough to make him feel as if he had a fever. She stood on the tips of her toes and grabbed his jaw, pulling him down with her as she stood on her feet. He raised an eyebrow as she brought her hand up to his forehead, putting the back of it to him. She hummed in concentration as she tried the other side of her hand. She let go of him and he kept his head that low for a few moments before declaring she didn't necessarily need him at the moment and sat up straight. She brought her thumb to her mouth and bit on it as her other hand cupped her elbow. She stared at his wound intently, counting the twenty-three stitches as her mind ran. He refused to find her species adorable, but she was an exception. A rather adorable one. "Well, doc?" He asked playfully, trying to not think her focused stare meant something bad. He tapped the claws of his talon and paw together as he smiled nervously. "It's not that bad, is it?" He asked, realizing the pulsing, excruciating, waves of pain lessened. Maybe an entire bottle of pills did work. She shook her head and he smiled as the tension left his shoulders. "It looks completely fine," she said, silently thanking him for the gloves as she moved his paw again and ran her fingers over it. He jumped and tensed for a few runs over it before his tail flew in her way. He would've made a glass case appear around it with half of her hand inside, but he was scared to use any magic near his wound. He felt something magical around his injury, but he didn't know if it was his own or the thing that caused the injury. He assumed the latter. He didn't need to ask for further information as she spoke again. "I thought the bleeding and worse pain would be from an infection. But it looks okay, great even," she explained, wondering what could be causing his pain. An infection made the most sense, and if his magic was maybe irritating it more to make the pain worse... She groaned, she didn't understand and she wanted so desperately to help him. She didn't want to disappoint him and have him find her useless. But she couldn't lie and tell him she had something to help him other than painkillers and regular methods to help it heal faster. She sighed, looking up at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Discord. I have no idea why your pain was getting worse, or how to stop it." His shoulders fell with hers, though he watched as she pulled a roll of bandages and a pair of scissors out of her bag. He made sure his arms were out of her way as she covered his waist with more bandages. "Um, Discord..." she mumbled as if she wasn't sure she needed to be talking. He couldn't believe that humans were this sweet and timid. Every human he'd ever met had pitchforks and torches. Or guns. "Yes?" He asked, wondering if she had some risky thing that could help him, but had many down-falls. He'd take anything at this point, thought an entire bottle of painkillers seemed to be working. His pain was fading away, slowly, but still fading. She took a glance up at him as she tucked the bandage in a place over his stomach instead of his wound after cutting it off of the roll. She put the roll and the scissors in her bag as she spoke, avoiding meeting his stare. "Do you, uh, still have things to do?" She asked, stealing a glance up at him warily. She looked away from his confused look. He assumed she wanted her end of their deal, but before he could say he was a draconequus of his word, she spoke. "It'll heal a lot faster if you change the bandages every day, well, it has a lower chance of getting infected," she said, zipping up her bag and finally looking up at him. "Plus, those stitches need to come out at some point." He couldn't believe her, had she already forgotten his end of the deal? Just because he was... hurt, and she didn't know how to fix it quickly? Maybe he had to rethink what he thought about humans if this girl was apart of the crowd. He shook his head. "I can just remove them myself when the time comes, darling," he said confidently, ready to snap his paw to show her. She quickly grabbed his paw with wide eyes. "Um, maybe... don't do... that," she said, her voice slowly getting quieter as she let go of his paw. He raised an eyebrow at her to continue and wondered why she couldn't meet his stare. "It's just um... I think I have an idea about why your magic isn't working." He snapped and the entire hospital game disappeared, he held her up in front of him and narrowed his eyes on her. "What is it?" He hissed. "Did you do something?" He didn't know what else could've hurt him or limit his magic other than her. She shook her head desperately. "Well, I, um..." she said, looking down at her feet as she moved them in front of and behind the other to keep herself busy. "I, um, don't exactly know why... but I, uh, think I have an idea of something... about it," she said nervously, looking up at him and hoping he'd believe her. He sighed and dropped her. "So, Fluttershy," he asked rudely. "What was it you thought?" She swallowed as she stood up nervously, feeling anxiety twist in her stomach at his shut eyes as his head turned away from her and he crossed arms. "I, um..." she said before taking a deep breath, trying to use what Pinkie Pie always said calmed her down. "I think your magic only works until a certain area around your wound," she said calmly, smiling to herself in pride. His eyes shot open and he whirled to her, his neck bending so his face was in hers. "What do you mean?" He asked, somewhat nicer than before. What was he kidding, this little girl couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to. She looked away, took a step back, and cowered into her hair and sweater. "Well, your fur around it was burnt when I first saw it," she said, sneaking a glance up at him and seeing his interest. She smiled, maybe he wasn't so mad anymore. "But just now it was healthy." He stood up straight and stroked his beard, considering what this girl had said. She had to be at least a little off, since his magic did make the injury worse, so it was affected somehow, but maybe she was onto something. He snapped, appearing in her place with her in his arms. "My dear Fluttershy," he said to her pink face. "You are a genius." Maybe this human wasn't so bad. And maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't be bad company while she helped him figure out just why his magic couldn't heal himself. She cowered into his arms with a smile, and a red face he could very clearly see, though he assumed it was the compliment. "Oh, um, not really... But thank you though!" She said nervously, looking to the ground. He took that as a sign to let her down, so he snapped and she appeared standing in front of him. "Of course you are! So now! You're going to help me figure out just why my magic doesn't work," he explained, seeing her light up. Though it fell with her shoulders. "Um, actually..." she said, taking a glance down at the ground. "I was hoping if you'd stay here so I can help your cut," she said with a point at his bandages. He snapped again and appeared next to her with a paw draped over her shoulder and pulling her closer to him. He didn't know what it was, but he felt like he had more control of his magic around her, or the longer she had been there. "Sure! It is going to take a bit to figure out what the hell is happening to my magic anyway," he said, wondering how her hair was so damn soft as it fell onto his already incredibly soft paw. "Besides, we can keep that little deal up," he said, letting go of her and snapping as he marched over to a chart with an anatomical drawing of a draconequus. "Deal?" She asked, following him with wide eyes full of adoration up at the chart. The phrase 'Head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things' ran across the bottom as a floating light blue marker started drawing lines throughout the blank character. They ran like a nervous system. "Yes, our little deal," he said nonchalantly, watching and controlling the light blue marker as it drew what would be circuits of his magic through him. He actually had no idea, but he assumed the diagram of magic flow where he could have stops and passages would help. "You come back here and look at my injury today, and I entertain you with telling you all about draconequui." The marker also would jerk in one direction due to his lack of control, he decide to leave it. She stood up straight. "Oh, yes. I completely forgot," she said, running her hand through her hair in shock. He looked down at her. "Really?" He asked, totally unconvinced. But those teal eyes couldn't hold a lie as she nodded. He rolled his eyes and drug his paw down his face. How could a girl of such a violent species be so selfless. He didn't understand. She clasped her hands together and smiled. "Thank you for remembering, but if you don't want to tell me anything, that's okay," she said sweetly, watching a comically big eraser appear and erase a huge portion of the marker on the left side of his body. She assumed that was meant to be his injury, but it was erased on the wrong side. "What do you mean? Isn't that what you wanted?" He asked, watching her as she grabbed the floating marker away from his control and started drawing back in what he had erased. "What are you doing?" He asked, wondering how her version would help them at all. Did she even understand what he was drawing? "Your wound's on the other side," she said, pulling away from the chart as she looked for the lid of the marker and didn't find one. She smiled up at him. "And yes, it is what I wanted," she continued, making confusion blossom in him again that he didn't necessarily want. "But spending time with you is just as amazing." He shook his head. "Why are you so amazed by me? I mean, sure, I'm great, but a girl like you shouldn't be interested in an amalgamation of things," he said, hoping she didn't lecture him for his 'a girl like you' statement. She giggled and he almost wished she wouldn't. It didn't help that he disliked reconsidering his thoughts on an entire species because of her, or that her hair was the softest thing he'd ever touched, but she could at least not giggle like an angel. "I found a list of a bunch of mythological creatures and cryptids," she said as she grabbed the comically big eraser from his magic and erased the same shape he had erased before on his right side, the left of the drawing. "And when I came to a draconequus, I found nothing on it." She smiled sadly as she obviously delved back into her thoughts. She also didn't need to be so pretty. "I don't know why, but it bugged me, and I really wanted to know something about it." She turned and looked up at him with the most gorgeous smiles he had ever seen. And he thought psychopathy was the best traits of humans. "But I got to meet one," she said, her grin beaming. "And you're so much better than I imagined." He simply stared at her as the sun shined on her and declared that at some times, he could like the sun goddess, if she could light up and already perfect image. But he also declared his dislike for this girl again. She didn't need to be this heavenly, sweet, gorgeous... or completely mind boggling. Befriending a Draconequus: Part 2Fluttershy didn't know what to think as she sat down at their usual lunch table. And the butterflies flapping their wings every few minutes didn't help and only brought her back to the conflicting feelings bubbling in her throat. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the late bell ring or her friends sitting down. Discord was at the front of her mind and she couldn't help but feel stupid about it. It almost made it seem like she liked him more than she did her other friends, which couldn't be true, could it? Sure, he was a walking, talking, magical, and majestic animal that walked right out of her dreams and into her reality, and was super awesome and funny and made life so much more interesting and fascinating... But that couldn't equal being better than her friends she'd known for years? Especially since she had only known him for a week. She sighed and looked down at the pastel stones, noticing none of them were pink. Maybe it was just a honeymoon phase type thing, he was perfect and amazing, and new. All of her other friends, she had known for years... and they weren't a perfect, heavenly friend that had everything she could want from a person. Or creature. That still didn't make her feel any better as she could imagine telling him this and seeing him boast, reassuring her while making a smaller form of himself dance around her head at an attempt to make her feel better. She sighed. "Sugar cube?" Applejack's thick southern accent brought Fluttershy out of her thoughts. Fluttershy jumped before turning to Applejack with a fake and nervous smile, putting the hand that had the bracelet in her hair as if Applejack didn't know what it was. Applejack and all of her friends were under the impression she bought it, and hadn't noticed the moving butterflies yet. The only reason she had lied was because she had no idea how they'd take the idea that she spent her entire afternoons hanging out and talking to a seemingly imaginary creature. "Yes?" She asked. Applejack smiled motherly with an amused huff. "You alright there?" She asked, trying to keep the snicker off of her lips. Fluttershy noticed it had grabbed the partial attention of Sunset, but she turned back to see Pinkie Pie chant 'chug, chug, chug!' to Rainbow Dash who was downing fizzy apple cider. Fluttershy nodded, thinking of something she could use. She smiled as she found it, only imagining Discord making a light bulb appear above her head at her gasp and delighted smile. "Just, um, worried I failed my test in Chemistry," she said nervously, hoping Applejack didn't see through her lie. Applejack raised an eyebrow and leaned over her in suspicion and Fluttershy could feel the sweat dripping down her neck as she smiled back. Applejack shrugged and sat back in her seat normally, turning to see Rarity's disgusted noise as Rainbow belched. But Fluttershy didn't get a complete sigh out before she stiffened up and smiled as Applejack looked back at her. "You ain't gonna eat nothin'?" Applejack asked, drawing another glance out of Sunset. Fluttershy swallowed and shook her head. "I'm, uh, too nervous!" She said, resting her head on her palm as casually as possible, though she knew she looked like a pig stuffed into a tutu trying to act normal as it attempted not getting mud on itself. She inwardly sighed, even Discord's speech and antics affected her comparisons! Applejack nodded as she snatched her fizzy apple cider from Rainbows thieving hands with a sneer. She turned back to Fluttershy with a smile as she popped open the bottle. "Alright, but I don't think eatin'll do ya any harm. Takin' a test on an empty stomach ain't good either," she said, downing her soda with a glower at Rainbow who had stole Soarin's who was sitting at another table while the boy was on a rant about pies. His friends found it funny that they could rile him up into a 'debate mode' just by saying one bad thing about pies. He had shooed Rainbow away when she silently asked for it. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, she didn't say anything about a test after... She sighed and dropped her head against the table. She completely forgot that she had a test in Zoology. And she definitely hadn't been paying attention in that class. All the analogous structures talk only made her think of that amalgamation she talked too. And as she crossed her arms over her head and watched her friends talk and eat, she could only remember that cursed draconequus and his antics. One thing that was incredibly common for him, like cotton candy cloud with chocolate milk rain common, was making utensils have more than one purpose. Oh, and liking tea. Fluttershy smiled in anticipation as she stepped down the one, maybe two, stair hill into the clearing, excited for whatever random and utterly chaotic thing Discord would start their afternoon off with. She raised an eyebrow as she saw the normal green couch he always had for her next to another, very comfy looking, chair. In between the two was a table floating upside down with two teacups sitting on the bottom of it, a tea pot floating nearby with a butterfly and tornado painted on it. She smiled when she heard a snap and looked up next to her, seeing a very smug grin on a very confident draconequus. "I don't think I've ever told you this, dear," he said, pushing her towards the chairs and table. "But I love tea." She gasped as he snapped and appeared in the other chair, gesturing for her to sit down on her usual couch. She smiled widely as she did. "This looks great," she said, looking down at the cucumber sandwiches a very angry looking duck in a suit was holding on his wing. "Though I do have to say I didn't expect it." Discord tilted his head with a smile, snapping and watching the flying teapot pour tea, a box full of tea bags opening and singing a quiet song in the background. "Living for thousands of years, I've come to find joy in one of the simpler things," he said, watching as a cup floated up and into his paw. Fluttershy giggled as she looked at the tea box and saw the word 'ginseng' written on it. She smirked with a devilish thought as she took a sip of the tea, fighting the urge to compliment it. "Making ginseng tea sing? That seems a little... typical, Discord," she said smugly, watching his joyous face fall at her comment. She ignored it as she took another sip of the tea that she couldn't get enough of. "Typical?" He asked, sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs as he furrowed his eyebrows. She felt pride wash over her as he very obviously let her comment get to him. "Yes, I suppose so... it is in the name," he mumbled to himself. She debated on whether or not she should let the idea of his mischief rubbing off on her be seen as a bad or good thing. Her mind yelled bad, but she decided to ignore it as she watched him fumble for something less 'typical'. He snapped, his face becoming a light bulb as he clearly got an idea. She fought her want to smile or giggle at it, hiding her small, impossible to not have smile behind her cup of tea as she took another sip. "What about this?" He asked, snapping and making a piƱata appear on the couch next to her. She watched curiously as it looked like a normal piƱata. But it suddenly huffed very adorable noises before sneezing loudly, confetti and streamers coming out of it's body at the action. Discord watched her expectantly, and it took all Fluttershy had to not react, though on the inside she was laughing like a maniac at the confetti that now coated her, and the tea pot that was trying to shake it off. She shrugged as she smiled devilishly, moving her arm up to get the confetti out of her hair. Discord pouted, stroking his beard angrily in thought. His reaction was the only thing keeping Fluttershy from breaking, it was too funny to see him fight to find something to impress her, she couldn't give it up yet. "Maybe I've just seen the extent of your magic..." she said, happy she could successfully act as if he couldn't surprise her with a dress change. Oh, he was fuming and she loved it. "In five days?" He scoffed, putting a talon to his chest as his eyes widened. He shook his head. "Less that five days!" She held the laugh in her throat at his dramatic reaction as she nodded, sitting back and putting one leg over the other, taking another sip of her tea that never seemed to end. Even never-ending tea amazed her. "It seems so," she teased, enjoying that twitch in his eye. She could only imagine how angry he'd be at the girl that he could amaze with simple things saying he couldn't take her breath away. He snapped, making ducks in tutu's appear and dance like a line of girls, kicking their legs up and looking incredibly annoyed despite the wide, forced smiles on their faces. Before Fluttershy could mock him, another duck walked in front, raising his leg as the ginseng tea flew behind them and sang loudly, a pair of bongo's playing the drums in the background as sparkling red curtains framed the scene. Discord looked so smug and confident as hardwood floors appeared beneath the ducks, pushing the show higher and higher in the sky on stacks like a cake. Fluttershy's eyes followed in awe, wondering what other thing had happened when another snap shot them up into the sky on a balcony seating at a play. The show continued as a backdrop was changed to explosive oranges and purples in jagged, stripes outwards, all decorated with sparkles. Fluttershy looked over the balcony and saw an entire crowd of people, and to the left and right were other people, mostly Discords, in their same situation. She heard another snap and looked over to see Discord confidently dressed in a vest with a monocle and wine glass full of chocolate milk. He gestured towards her with the glass and drew her attention to the elegant white dress he had put her in. He rolled his eyes. "Pink is an enemy," he mumbled as he snapped, making Fluttershy appear in her now fancy chair with velvet red cushions. Discord clapped, the lights dimming as the curtains closed and opened to a plain field with a singular black sheep appearing in the middle. The sheep cleared it's throat as Discord leaned over and whispered to her, "Enjoy the show, my dear." Fluttershy looked back down and sat back as the sheep introduced the play, The Three Ugly Sheep and the Evil Queen. Fluttershy couldn't help her giggle, it was a mess of famous fairy tail characters, premises, and villains, and that was just the title! The curtains closed and opened to the same field with three white sheep and one black one. One of the white sheep was much bigger, and started the play with telling her three sons that they were being disowned. The three sheep gasped and ran around, running into things and each other with very comical sound effects, mimicking The Three Stooges. The play continued, telling the three stories of the sheep and combining them into one big plot against the Evil Queen. The first story closely mocked The Three Little Pigs, a white sheep running away from the other two after their mother told them to stay together in the light of their abandonment. He was lazy, and joined two pigs who had warned him to build a secure house in case of one of the Queen's henchmen: The Big Bad Bear. Fluttershy was on the edge of her seat to see what happened to Sheep 1 and how Discord would put a spin on it, but the scene ended at the pigs warning and the curtains closed. They opened moments later showing Sheep 2, the other white one. His story followed the story of The Billy Goats Gruff. The sheep ran away since his brother did, scrounging the land for an older brother and mother that loved him. He came across two extremely tall and buff goats chewing lettuce and leaning against a fence acting tough. The sheep was delighted, and shocked, to find one of them was a woman, the larger one at that. But it was a mother and son pair, and the sheep couldn't be happier. He asked to be apart of their family, and the two agreed, if he was tough enough to go over the bridge and fool the Evil Queen's henchman: The Troll. Fluttershy was disappointed The Troll wasn't any different when the curtains closed, furthering her disappointment as it led to the next story. The last sheep was left standing in a field with no mother and no brothers, sighing and looking to the ground. He was determined to find a set of friends that wouldn't leave him and set out on a journey to do it. He came across an arrogant cat and chicken that only belittled him and he left, continuing a painful journey through a desert. He came across an oasis and ran towards it, jumping in and reveling in the cold, nice, and refreshing water. He sighed and peeked open his eyes hours later and saw camels standing over him with a sneer, saying he'd never be a camel, no matter how much water his fluff could hold. He begged and begged for their respect, and they agreed, as long as he could befriend the horrid sand snake that haunted their oasis. Fluttershy was standing over the balcony with a smile down at the play, wondering how it'd end as the curtains didn't fall and it seemed that she'd get to see what Ugly Sheep would do. But before she could, the people started vanishing from the crowds, the backdrop falling apart and deteriorating. She looked back and saw a sneering Discord as her, now usual green couch, caught her, the two falling out of the sky box. She watched the play room fall apart and reveal the setting sun around them, she also watched with fear as the cake stacked stage started falling, the actors screaming and making normal animal noises. She winced as the stacks got larger and larger, meaning the ground was close. She landed on a fluffy cloud and peeked open her eyes to see the normal clearing. She whirled to Discord, excitement in her eyes ready to beg to let her see the ending, though Discord scowled at his paw and talon before shaking his head and smiling at her, holding his paw out to her. "Despite the rather abrupt ending, that still should've been enough to impress your high standards," he said, helping her up with his disembodied talon pushing her up from underneath her. She hid her excitement as she wondered how far she could've pushed this. She looked down to dust off her dress, and fought the pout at her normal yellow clothes. She shrugged as she looked up at him, she smiled inwardly at her acting abilities as she walked past him slowly and tauntingly. "I mean, it wasn't a lot," she said, watching his bewildered stare follow her. "It was only a mix of a lot of fairy tales," she said, feeling the lies burn on her tongue. Her heart yearned for the ending and the action of the play, already curious as to how Sheep 1 would get out of his lazy house-building and not listening to warning. She wondered how Sheep 2 would fool the troll, and she especially wondered how a sweet little outcast like Ugly Sheep would befriend a sand snake. "You're kidding me!" Discord exclaimed, turning to see her uninterested stare edging on a smile. He narrowed his eyes, bending his neck to get an easier look at her whole face. He gasped silently as his neck straightened, his eyes widening. Fluttershy grabbed her wrist roughly behind her back as she opened her mouth, ready to admit that it was all a lie. There wasn't much of a point to keep it going if he already knew it was happening. But before she could say anything, he snapped and she appeared hundreds of feet in the air, sitting on a blanket of butterflies. "How's this, Fluttershy?" He asked devilishly, gesturing to the open sky that she cowered from, the breeze blowing her hair back. She nervously laughed as she looked up at Discord, giving him a look that said 'I asked for this, didn't I?'. He nodded as he snapped again, the butterflies latching onto Fluttershy and covering her like a dress over her clothes. Though she saw the sleeves of her sweaters disappear the butterflies hugged her chest, and didn't leave any open holes. Her face burned red as her jeans disappeared, the butterflies creating a skirt to her dress that didn't let anyone see through. Her boots and socks vanished, replaced with glass heels that hurt and squeezed her toes into. She shot Discord a worried look as he waved his talon at her. "Discord!" She screamed as the butterflies glued to her couldn't hold her up while the butterflies she was sat on could. How illogical. She couldn't appreciate the rule bending of recently established rules as she dropped to the ground in her undergarments essentially. The butterflies tickling her skin meant nothing to her as she fell. She screamed, desperately for Discord as she saw him disappear, her heart dropping in her stomach. He wouldn't let her get hurt, she knew that, he was her friend. But that didn't stop him from letting her teeter on the edge of a heart attack. Her eyes widened and she swore her heart stopped as she looked down and saw green. "Okay! I'm sorry!" She screamed, hoping her apology would make this end sooner. She covered her eyes, scared for the lions mouth she'd be caught inside of and having her new butterfly dress covered in saliva. She didn't feel gross and disgusting, so she moved her hands cautiously when she realized she hit something that wasn't the harsh ground. She looked up and saw Discord smiling down at her smugly, having caught her in his arms and holding her like a princess against incredibly soft fur. She hugged herself as her face burned again, remembering she was half-naked under the very not revealing butterfly dress. Discord grinned toothily. "How about that dear? Did that exceed your expectations?" He purred. Fluttershy felt her shoulders bounce as laughs escaped her, her hand covering her mouth as she howled with laughter. She didn't know why, but his physical touches had never bothered her, and now, she was content with her covering dress. But she didn't care as she stared up at his prideful smile. She nodded. "Of course," she said, her laughter falling to a stop. She looked away from him with her own content smile. "You always surprise me." Silence hung over them again, and she didn't even try to see his face on the verge of sheer laughter at her ridiculously sentimental tone. His friendship meant a lot to her as she looked at her butterfly wrists above the fluttering dress. She looked up at him with a smile. "Can we finish the play?" She asked like a child, not noticing his genuine smile. He snapped, her appearing in front of him with her elegant dress on, his vest with a tailcoat decorating him. He sneered and snapped again, making his monocle appear on his face. He straightened up with a grin as he readjusted his vest before taking a look up at the sky. The sun was setting. Fluttershy followed his stare and her shoulders dropped, the crystal lights appearing as if on cue. Discord smiled at her as he snapped again, her dress being replaced with her clothes. "First thing tomorrow," he assured her. She smiled and started towards her bag, waving goodbye as she climbed up the two stair hill. Fluttershy sighed dreamily at the memory, sitting down in her history class. The start of the play was Tuesday, a day after they declared a real friendship, and it was one she'd always remember. And the thoughts just led to what they did Wednesday, after the amazing play she swore she'd see hundreds of times over again. Fluttershy's dress disappeared and was replaced with a grey sweater with a draconequus stitched on in a stained-glass window fashion. She smiled and didn't argue with the ridiculous wear instead of her normal green shirt. But Discord just had to tell her why her shirt had changed. "That green is hideous," he told her, Fluttershy rolled her eyes as she walked through the grass in her normal boots instead of in heels on a skybox. "That play was great," she said with a wide smile. "It's way better than a lot of the movies I've seen," she said, seeing Discord's appeased expression as he snapped. He bowed as a movie trailer appeared behind him, Ugly Sheep walking into it and shutting the door. "The actors were ecstatic to put it on for you," he said, grinning at her amazed stare he had watched instead of the entire play. Fluttershy smiled as she grabbed his talon and started dragging him towards the trailer. "Can I get autographs?" She said with a wide smile. Discord simply blinked at her as a response before smiling and nodding, snapping and making the three sheep appear sitting behind a wood stand with the three painted on a wood-cutout above the stand. She ran over to them. Ugly Sheep smiled timidly at her, "H-hello! How, um, how did you like the play?" He asked, amazing Fluttershy at how far Discords magic went. "It was fantastic!" She said as she clasped her hands together, absolutely ignoring Discord and adoring how much life he could create with his magic. Even if it was fake, it wasn't at the same time. It was real fabrications, and she could talk to them and touch them. He really was a god. Sheep 1 and Sheep 2 squeezed Ugly Sheep between them as they leaned over the stand, grinning proudly at her. "What was your favorite part? Mine, of course," Sheep 2 said arrogantly, making Fluttershy how much went into these beings. The actor acted as he did during the first of the story, arrogant and cocky in his abilities, while at the end of the play, he softened and accepted the family member he had left, Ugly Sheep. Sheep 1 pushed against the other actor. "No, it was my part! I learned a lesson!" The sheep fought, growling towards his fellow actor. Ugly Sheep fumed as the two tossed insults back and forth, shoving past the two actors and smiling sweetly at her. "You wanted an autograph?" He smiled, shooting the others grimaces. The two rolled their eyes and gave her fake smiles. Fluttershy nodded as she looked for something for the sheep to write on, remembering she hadn't grabbed anything. Her notebook appeared in her hands and she shot Discord a smile as she flipped to the inside of the back cover, handing it over. Fluttershy smiled at their different signatures. "My favorite part was when you all realized you didn't have to run away to find family," she said as Ugly Sheep handed the book back with an amazed stare. Fluttershy hugged the book after she looked at the cursive 'Ugly Sheep' and sloppily written 'Sheep 1' and 'Sheep 2'. "But from running away, you found out the horrors of what the Evil Queen had done, and joined together to fight her." The three looked absolutely amazed. Sheep 1 looked behind the black sheep at Sheep 2 and whispered, "Is that what the story's about?" Ugly Sheep nodded at her and smiled widely. "Yeah, that's my favorite part, too," he said, holding his hoof out to Fluttershy. She grabbed it and shook his hoof. "We'll be acting it again tomorrow, February fifteenth!" He said sweetly. "We hope you'll be able to make it...?" "Fluttershy," she nodded, though she hadn't expected Sheep 1 to snatch the book out of her hands and write her name underneath their signatures and give it back to her. She smiled, watching the ink seep into her book and she wondered if it'd stay. "Thank you," she said, turning away. She held their stares as she turned, though she hit extremely soft fur and looked up to see Discord's bewildered face. She wondered what it was as she looked behind her and saw the stand, the actors, and the trailer had vanished. She looked up at him. "Discord?" She asked. "Isn't February fourteenth Valentines Day?" He asked, watching her look down and see if the signatures had stayed. She nodded and smiled when they did. Discord shook his head as Fluttershy walked past him. "Isn't Valentines Day something important to humans?" She hummed in thought before turning back to face him. "I guess so," she said with a shrug. "It's a day you spend with partners, or friends if you don't have a date," she explained innocently, not seeing what could very well have been considered a date. Though, neither did Discord. Discord pointed at himself. "Then why'd you spend it with me? Don't you have someone special?" He asked her seriously, a confused look on his face as he waited for an answer. She smiled at him and shrugged again. "No, I don't. But I guess I just kinda forgot about it and came out here like usual," she said with a nervous giggle. "Besides, yesterday was way funner than any of the other Valentines Day's I've had." He snapped and appeared in front of her with a rose. "Happy Valentines Day," he said, holding it out to her and smiling contently when she took it and smiled, watching a butterfly on her bracelet flap it's wings. She smiled and held it up to him. "Happy Valentines Day, Discord," she said platonically, declaring her day would've been much better with him rather than some of her friends at some random cafƩ. He took the rose back with a grin. Looking back on it, it was up there with Tuesday for best days. It was a great way to spend a late Valentines Day, and she adored how it wasn't weird between them. It also made her realize that he was one of the only creatures she didn't mind physical affection like hugs or arms over her shoulder or talons and paws on her back pushing her towards a tea party from. She started her journey towards Zoology, figuring out she didn't pay attention to one thing her teacher had told her last class. She hung her head as she remembered the test she had in this class. But she picked up her head and puffed out her chest and marched in determination. Zoology was another class she cared about, so, just like Botany, she wasn't allowed to happily reminisce over her amazing week with her draconequus pal. She sighed. She just loved the word 'draconequus'. Fluttershy walked towards Art with such a confused expression that some might've taken as anger. She wore furrowed eyebrows and a thin, small line for a mouth, and she let it decorate her face as she sat down next to Sunset Shimmer who was standing proudly next to a half finished piece that held three huge sunflowers. "Hey Fluttershy!" Sunset called, bringing her out of her utter confusion. "What do you think so far?" She said, gesturing towards her piece with such a proud grin. Fluttershy could see why, Sunset's skills were evident in the painting. She had nice composition but even better color choice as the background was a violent crimson that was most likely mixed in with some other color to create the cohesive brown. Fluttershy smiled up at her. "It looks great, just like the other one you fixed this week," she said, pointing to the painting sitting on the counter behind them that was a fix of Sunset's previous atrocity. The bell rang and Rarity's sandals clapped against the floor and Fluttershy wondered how her day could get any different. "Oh!" Rarity said, shaking her fists next to her face with a giddy smile. "It looks so good, darling!" "You think so?" Sunset asked humbly, not meaning to ask for compliments, but Rarity was just so generous when it came to compliments. Rarity nodded and took a deep breath as the teacher announced another studio day, Sunset usually would've stopped her, but decided that a little confidence boost couldn't hurt. Rarity and Sunset's voices became a buzz in the background as Fluttershy fell into her thoughts. She had finished her test in Zoology and thought of how well Discord was recovering, which led to her mindlessly doing her math work after her Zoology class. Her heart hung as she remembered the revelation she made in math, well, one of many. Her constant chaotic tea party would end the second Discord could get his stitches removed, which would only be another week. She sunk in her chair as she heard something about Rarity's Life Lessons on Design, a program she didn't know existed. So it really was stupid for her to be obsessed with her new lively life. It'd be over soon, and she was just given a glimpse of heaven with it. She smiled, she'd never think of cotton candy without chocolate milk again. She heard Rarity say, "What are friends for?" and remembered her other revelation in math, one that made her sneer. The teacher had given out busy work and pages upon pages of complex math she had dozed off through throughout the week. Since it was so much work, the teacher said you could get a partner and help each other, and just about everyone in Fluttershy's class had a friend. Fluttershy was furious, she didn't see any of her friends during the day, she only saw them at lunch and in Art. And because of this, they really liked to do Rainbooms practice, go out to a cafƩ, or sleep over at one of the others houses. But those things didn't necessarily fix what troubles Fluttershy had to go through whenever the teacher forced them to pick partners. And sometimes, Fluttershy looked back at Sunset taking notes over Rarity's designs, it felt like not even her friends included her. And that only made the Discord-leaving situation worse! He was one of her only friends that spent his entire time with her and entertaining her, though that wasn't especially hard, he didn't have anyone else to talk to. Her stomach churned as she got up and found whatever art project she was working on, it was one she didn't have to think about to draw fortunately. Or unfortunately if, like today, she didn't want to think about the dumpster fire of her own problems swirling in her head. She grabbed her pencil and continued work on it, not knowing exactly what it was, but being perfectly content with that. Her teacher was pretty into abstract and interpretive art, so it wasn't a bad thing. Though she knew it contained a skyscraper, and almost found joy in not knowing what she was drawing. She smiled, telling herself she needed to think of something else if she wanted the result to be more confusing and unexpected than understandable and expected. She settled a more objective thought rather than one with emotions mixed it. Fluttershy stared intently at his wound as Discord played Go Fish! with a fish that disliked the terminology 'go fish'. It was a humorous listen as Discord constantly used the phrase and acted innocent towards the fish, until said fish caught on and threw the cards at him. Discord was on his third fish. Fluttershy went to touch his stitches, but his tail swiped in front of it. She looked up at his bored expression. "That horrid pain is finally gone, you're not touching it," he hissed slightly, turning towards the fish and opening his mouth, ready to say 'go fish' when a hand of cards were thrown at him. "Oh, who needs you anyway?" He hissed as he summoned another fish. "I just don't understand," she said, looking at his twenty-something stitches. He was healing perfectly fine, and would be free to have the stitches removed in a week, but the pain he felt soon after he got them was mind boggling. "You're perfectly fine," she continued. "Then there's nothing to question," Discord replied calmly, though he was extremely prideful he had made it through one game with a fish. He snapped, looking down at Fluttershy's sorrowful expression as bandages started wrapping their way slowly around his waist. "Look, Flutter--" Discord started with his characteristic theatrics when a familiar pain pulsed through him. He bit down on his talon and growled. Fluttershy watched as the magically formed bandages Discord made wrapped around his waist, and burnt to a crisp when they attempted to wrap over his stitches. She leaned in, furrowing her eyebrows as the bandages vanished, a transparent yellow bubble had appeared around his stiches to burn the wrappings, but it vanished when there was nothing left to burn. Fluttershy didn't care or notice her mane grow exceptionally longer, a green ponytail holder separating her longer than normal hair around her hips. She was too focused on the blue glowing behind Discord's stitches, or the green hue the sutures were taking on. She didn't notice Discord's bewildered stare on her when two pony like ears poked up through her hair, two yellow wings spreading and folding against her back. Just what was happening around his wound? "Uh, Fluttershy?" Discord asked, pointing at her, though she wasn't listening as she reached out for his cut again. He rolled his eyes and used his tail to push her far enough away that she'd look up at him. "What's happening to you?" He asked when teal eyes looking up at him. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "What's happening to me? There's something going on around your stitches," she said, pointing at his side. He simply blinked at her. "You have ears, wings, and longer hair," he said seemingly nonchalantly. Fluttershy flinched as she turned to look over her shoulder, seeing yellow feathers stretch out. She shook her head. "Now, I really don't understand," she said, looking up at him. "These only show up when I play with my friends in our band." "Those are normal?!" He asked, his tail blocking his side from her. She nodded calmly, waiting for his response. It seemed he couldn't even make sense of it and didn't even try to at this moment as he asked her to put the bandages on for him. After a few minutes of either party having no idea how to continue when one of them had parts of a pony decorating her, her wings, ears, and tail all disappeared. Fluttershy felt uneasy about it, especially when it happened yesterday, but it was one of the only times she had seen how his wound reacted to magic. But she still didn't understand. And she decided she didn't want to try to at this point in time as she sat back from her drawing, ready to see what her thoughtless mind drew up. Her heart dropped as it was a giant draconequus wrapping around a skyscraper, only to make it sparkle and decorate it to look like a birthday. The happy, optimistic skyscraper was matched with a vicious looking draconequus. She assumed it was meant to symbolize that looks doesn't equal who the person-- creature is. She sighed and put it up on the shelf for their classes work, not noticing Sunset's horrified expression. Once the bell rang the three talked their way to their practice room, opening the doors and finding Rainbow Dash already practicing with Pinkie Pie eating a doughnut at the drums. Fluttershy rolled her eyes as Sunset started up a conversation with Rainbow Dash, picking on her about missing their practice in the morning. The girls waited for Applejack, who got a lecture from Rainbow Dash about being on time, and Rainbow Dash once again getting bit at for not doing their practice in the morning. Fluttershy couldn't wait for this to be over. And it was after only a few tries at a few of Sunset's songs, they did one of Rainbow Dash's as well, of course. Fluttershy would've offered to do one of her songs, but she didn't want this to last longer than it needed to. And she didn't know why, she loved her friends, and she loved playing. But today, she really didn't want to be there. And all of the others got their ears and 'tails', but her. They questioned it for a bit before Rainbow begged Sunset to do one of her new songs, though Sunset still seemed hung up on it as her stare lingered on Fluttershy. But Fluttershy felt like her wings and ears would show, she was so excited when they decided to be done for the day, Rarity and Pinkie Pie complaining about the lots of homework and projects they had to do over the weekend. Rainbow bickered but agreed, she had a project too. And that was the start of the end of Fluttershy's happiness as the three had the same project and decided they could help each other on it. Sunset and Applejack had a different teacher on the subject, but agreed to help. And then it was decided, a sleep-over at Pinkie Pie's. Fluttershy fumed her way behind the walking, talking crowd as they made their way out of the school. She was thinking of the many things she could say to get out of it, but could only come up with something about Zephyr Breeze, who they could ask about it on Monday. Besides, she was a terrible liar. So as they approached the parking lot, ready to pile in their respective, or respective friends car. Fluttershy sighed, hoping something would get her out of this, she had spent the entire day thinking of how much fun Discord was and now she couldn't even go see him? What if something happened to his cut? What if his magic malfunctioned like the first night again? Anxiety and worry turned her stomach and tied it into a knot. "Twilight?" She heard Sunset's voice say, the noise one of complete awe and amazement. Fluttershy moved to the side of the crowd, seeing Princess Twilight rubbing her head on the ground, Spike sitting next to her shaking his head. "What are you doing here?" Twilight looked up, noticing who was questioning her, but her face didn't light up like the crowd expected. She wore upturned eyebrows and her voice dripped with worry. "Are you girls okay, what's happening?" She asked frantically, confusing the girls she talked to. But Rarity deduced the girl wasn't insane, alone at least as Spike looked just as concerned. Fluttershy didn't understand and she really wished everything was explained to her more. What was Twilight doing here? And why was she so worried? Nothing was happening. "There's a--" Twilight started. But Fluttershy interrupted her, feeling someone tap her on the shoulder and talk from behind her. "Guess who?" A deep voice she had gotten so accustomed to spoke. Fluttershy whirled behind her. "Dis...cord?" She started loud, worried Twilight would blame a huge amalgamation abomination for whatever she was here for, but she got quieter when she didn't see a seven, eight-foot draconequus and instead saw a person. He grinned toothily at her. "Discord?" Twilight asked as if she knew who this person was. Fluttershy shot her friends confused faces and Discord worried glances. This couldn't be good. Talking About a DraconequusSunset watched with wide eyes and an open mouth as her mind and stomach turned in worry and fear. Fluttershy was looking between their friend's stares, and this strange, atrocious looking man. But his looks weren't what terrified her, it was that Fluttershy had drawn a draconequus in class, and that Fluttershy had just called this man 'Discord'. This 'Discord' fellow was a walking mess in the way he dressed, and looked, for that matter. His hair clearly needed a haircut and was in an awkward stage between growing it out and keeping it short, and it was horribly unruly. But that wasn't it, the wide, toothy grin was just terrifying, and the white soul patch next to black hair was disturbing. Other than that, he wore a grey dress shirt with a brown vest on top, that chocolate brown with small golden stripes in the sunlight led down to a pair of dress pants of the same type. The worst part were the knee-high boots in pink and purple checkers. Sunset slowly turned to Twilight, understanding why the Princess was there. She opened her mouth, though she had no idea if she was going to whisper or scream. She didn't get a chance as a purple hand clasped over her mouth and violet eyes stared into her. "We'll talk later," Twilight whispered, slowly taking her hand away from Sunset's face. Sunset nodded back, though she saw Spike cowering behind Twilight's shoes with a cautious stare. "Who's this?" Rainbow Dash asked rudely, crossing her arms with a finger pointed at Discord, the man only smiled wider. Rainbow Dash recoiled in disgust as he threw an arm over Fluttershy's shoulder. But before he could talk, Fluttershy covered his mouth and shot him a nasty glare before smiling at her friends, and a terrified Sunset. "This is, um, Discord!" She laughed nervously, slipping out from underneath his arm and taking her hand off his mouth, seeing he was more than amused. Rarity scrunched up into herself, she was absolutely appalled. "Darling, what are you wearing?" She asked, pointing at Discord as she tried to make sense of what the hell he could be after dressing like that. Pinkie Pie jumped in front of the crowd with a smile. "Are you Fluttershy's boyfriend?" She asked expectantly, watching the man only raise an eyebrow. "No," he said simply and ruffled her pink hair, noticing it wasn't as soft as Fluttershy's. Though he didn't think anything of it, this pink girl's hair was full of tangles. "We're best friends," he said devilishly, ignoring Fluttershy's annoyed look. He was perfectly fine telling them 'no', but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of hate when the white girl with purple hair put her hand to her forehead, fell against her friend lightly, and said 'thank god'. Fluttershy stepped in front of him with a nervous smile. "Yeah, um, just friends," she said with a fake smile. "Though, uh, I just, uh, remembered we had to do... something!" She said and turned to push Discord away from the crowd. "So, I'll talk to you all later!" She said and started focusing on pushing Discord away, shocked he wasn't fighting her. Pinkie Pie waved her hand and jumped. "Don't forget! Super important sleep over tonight!" She yelled after Fluttershy as she waved lightly compared to Pinkie's bombastic one. When the two turned the corner towards the side of the school, the group of friends turned to each other. "Who was that?" Applejack asked rudely. She crossed her arm with Rainbow Dash, both worried about their friend. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were ready to join in, though Twilight stepped into the group. "Oh yeah! This day just gets crazier and crazier," she said, putting a hand to her head. "Is everything all right in Equestria?" Twilight nodded worriedly. "Is something not wrong here?" She asked, looking between the shaking heads. Sunset could name many things wrong like Discord escaped his stone imprisonment and is in her world and befriended her friend! "Why would you think something was wrong here?" Rainbow Dash asked, noticing Sunset's worried stare on Twilight, but not thinking too much of it. Twilight sighed. "I figured out how to measure the magic of this world using the portal and my own magic, and there was a lot more than there normally is when I just checked," she explained, seeing attentive and confused faces. She assumed Discord was the problem, like he always is, but that didn't make any sense. "I thought something would have happened, but it seems nothing has." The girls shook their heads and murmured their agreements. Pinkie Pie, once again, bounced in front of the group with a wide smile as she grabbed Twilight's wrists. "Super-duper-long-distant-coolio-Princess-sleep-over!" Pinkie Pie squealed happily, grinning wide just to show how much she missed Twilight. The other's smiled at Twilight, giving each other giddy smiles at the idea of spending a night with their super long distant friend. Twilight felt her heart blossom at the sight, seeing her friends from a different world so excited to see her, but as they turned back towards the parking lot cheering what they'd do, she looked at Sunset. And she knew her visit wasn't for fun and sleep overs, especially when Sunset was looking as worried as she was. She hung back until she was walking next to Sunset, the ecstatic and loud group a few feet in front of them. "It's okay," she tried telling Sunset, watching Spike glance at Rarity but overall decided to hang back with her. "No it's not!" Sunset said, scratching at her palm with a frown and upturned eyebrows. "Discord's back and--" "It's okay," Twilight nodded and spoke slowly, staring into Sunset's eyes. "Trust me," she said, grabbing Sunset's hand and watching the girl give in and sigh, the tension leaving her body with it. She smiled appreciatively up at Twilight before letting go. She pointed a finger at Twilight and furrowed her eyebrows. "But we have to talk later," she said seriously, Twilight and Spike both nodding. The reassurance was nice, and seeing Twilight again was even nicer. But that didn't stop her stomach from turning when she thought about innocent little Fluttershy hanging with a draconequus freed from stone imprisonment turned human. Fluttershy gave her friends a fake smile and small wave as she pushed Discord as far away from them as possible. And he wasn't making it easy as he comically rested on his heels as she pushed him. "So why am I being pushed away from your friends?" He asked, turning his head slightly. She didn't answer until she was completely out of her friend's sights, which ended up being the side of the school. He turned to her with a grin when she stopped pushing, though he was met with a fuming girl who he thought would be excited to see him. His shoulders fell along with his confident smirk. "And why are you mad at me? Was it something I said?" He asked nervously. She shook her head, her fists balling into white. "Look, Discord, I don't think you need to be here," she started simply, her mind running with questions as to why Twilight was there, and her only conclusion was Discord. "And I'm not mad, well, a little. You could've told me you would show up at my school!" She said, letting her irritation get to her as she threw her hands up. He cowered away from her, though he still ended up taller than her. "I thought you would like a surprise," he said nervously. "And what's so wrong with it? I'm not a monster... right now at least," he continued, watching her drag a hand down her face. She shook her head. "They're going to ask how and when I met you," she said bluntly, trying not to let her anger get the better of her. But it was really tempting when he didn't seem to understand. "I can't just tell them I met a draconequus in the middle of the woods a week ago!" He shrugged. "I don't see why not, you like me," he said, pointing at her. He looked around before a smile spread across his face, snapping and the two reappeared somewhere else. It was a bustling city with more than a normal amount of people on the sidewalks and traffic was horrible. He looked around. "Where are we?" He asked, wondering what happened to his magic. He was sure they'd appear in a cafƩ or tea shop of some sort, his magic had just felt so powerful and stable. But when Fluttershy pushed him away, his magic seemed to fade for some reason. He didn't understand. She groaned. "In the city," she answered bluntly. "The crowded, snooty city." She rolled her eyes and started walking, avoiding anyone who walked near her with ease. He assumed it was her small frame and practice at high school, damn him for making himself handsome, in his opinion, and muscular. He chased after her. His magic felt even weaker, what was happening? He ignored it and saw the pink haired ball of fury was a bigger priority. "I'll take us back later, but can you at least explain why any of what I did was a bad idea?" He asked, successfully dodging an oncoming person for the first time. He tried to not let his surroundings get to him, but hundreds of people in one place just brought up bad memories. She walked into a record shop and he followed, hoping it'd be much quieter than the roaring noise of crowded streets, outdoor restaurants, and honking horns. The store was empty, the only person being the dark purple girl head banging to whatever was playing through her headphones while reading a magazine with her feet kicked up. Other than that, the store played old quiet music. Fluttershy whirled to him, a finger pointed at his chest and furrowed eyebrows. He put his arms up in defense. "The bad idea is that I don't like lying to my friends, but I have to lie about you," she said rudely before turning away and crossing her arms. "And now, they'll be asking me tons of questions about you and they'll be expecting more of you and they'll want to meet you and this is just a bad idea," she said angrily, her hands on her arms tightening. She sighed before he could reply. "It's not that bad. The worse part is Twilight," she said, her tone falling to sorrowful with her shoulders. She turned to him with wide eyes and upturned eyebrows. She looked away. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just worried and mad and... I don't know." His stomach dropped at seeing her sad eyes, he hated it. This ball of pure joy he'd seen so much excitement and awe in sad? He despised it with a passion. He sighed. "Don't worry about it," he said, walking over to her and ruffling her hair. "I know you, and I should've told you. I suppose it was more of a on the whim sort of thing when you didn't show up immediately," he said nervously, shooting her a soft smile that turned into a toothy grin when she gave it back. "One question though," he said, leaning over her and peering down at her. She smiled up at him and nodded. "Which one's Twilight?" He asked nervously, tapping his fingertips together. He thought she'd straight kill him if he didn't know her friends names, other than compliments to him, her friends were what she talked about. He remembered Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. He didn't remember a 'Twilight'. She cowered into her sweater at the name, looking down at her feet. "Oh, um, Twilight," she said, holding her arm. "She's the girl with blue hair, purple skin," she said, not daring to look up at him and whatever instinctually chaotic thing he'd cause. "She's the problem... sort of." "How so? She's just a normal girl, isn't she?" He asked, strolling past her and looking down at the records. He didn't know every little thing about humans, but he knew their technology advanced far past records, so what the hell was a record shop doing in the middle of a big city? He looked down at his hand, grinning widely when he thought of somewhere else they could go, and hoping he'd succeed in taking them there. "Yes, well, no actually, um--" she started fumbling for ways to possibly explain it, though she didn't have a chance as she vanished and reappeared somewhere else. The girl behind the counter sat up, moving her headphones and dropping her magazine as she looked around. She shrugged, getting up to pick up the record off the floor, grumbling about inconsiderate customers. Discord pouted as they appeared on a much less crowded sidewalk, looking down at his... hand. Ugh, humans were so horribly boring, they had two hands that were the exact same! They couldn't even be commonly mismatched in color. It was so dreadful. "Discord!" Fluttershy shouted, bringing him out of his thoughts. He turned to her with a smile, seeing a raised eyebrow and a frown. He grinned and looked up, seeing a large tea pot on the sign. Though he meant to be inside the cafƩ, being right outside was good enough for him at the moment. He walked over to her and threw his arm over her shoulder. "It's tea, are you really mad?" He asked cheekily, not being offended as she removed his arm and walked inside. He skipped along to the bell. "Hello, welcome to..." the barista started, trailing off when she saw just what Discord was wearing next to a usual of hers, Fluttershy. She stiffened up with a fake smile as Fluttershy walked up to her with a smile. "The Green Tea," she finished. Discord didn't like her as Fluttershy waved. "Hi, Berry Punch," she smiled, grabbing Discord's wrist and pulling him towards a table for two. Berry Punch didn't understand... was that man supposed to be cute, sweet, innocent, and kind Fluttershy's boyfriend? No way! He looked rough, obnoxious, and the center of attention. She was going to give them Fluttershy's usual, even walked out from behind the counter with the two cups, when a white tea pot and two cups abruptly appeared on the table. She blinked and shook her head, simply walking behind the counter and trying to make sense of what she was doing with her life. "You probably shouldn't use your magic in public," Fluttershy said, thinking of what the girl at the record shop could possibly be thinking. "Who knows what people would think," she said, watching as the tea pot Discord summoned poured her some tea on it's own. When she shot him a look he simply shrugged. "What could they possibly think it is?" He asked, leaning back in his seat with a cocky grin. "Magic?" Fluttershy nodded. "In this town, that's very possible," she said, resting her head in her palm as she leaned against the table. She wondered if his looks were stolen or made from scratch, probably a combination of both. She smiled slightly, he looked horrible and decent at the same time and she knew anyone who looked at him would be thrown into a life crisis. He shook his head. "My dear, that's impossible," he said casually, his cup appearing in his hand before he drank it like a stereotypical British person. She rolled her eyes, deciding he didn't need to know how Canterlot High had defeated Sunset Shimmer, reformed said Sunset Shimmer, and then fought against some sirens named The Dazzlings. "So, about this Twilight?" He asked. "I don't think you've ever talked about her." Fluttershy shook her head. "I haven't, but that's because she's not from here," she shrugged, looking down at her tea and seeing tea leaves that shouldn't be there float to the top and make funny faces. But not even those funny faces could keep her stomach from tying itself into a knot and rising in her throat. "She's from a different world," she said nervously. He simply stared at her, clearly trying to process whatever she had just said. He scoffed and leaned back, "And you wonder what people will think of my magic." He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, telling her to continue. But before she could, he sat up. "What is this other world?" "It's called Equestria," she said. He hummed, thinking over all of his years and wondering if he'd ever heard of it. He shook his head. "Never heard of it, and I've been alive a long time!" She smiled slightly, rubbing her arm. "It, um, gets weirder," she said nervously, looking down at her shoes underneath the table, kicking them against her bar stool lightly. "They're all ponies there, and Twilight was a princess and came her to get her crown back that Sunset stole and that's how I met her," she said quickly, watching his orange eyes try to understand. He shook his head and shrugged. "If I can exist, I suppose anything else can, too," he said, reacting as calmly as possible. If she was being honest, she hadn't expected a calm response, at least a little confusion would be close to her expectation. But his logic was right. Though she assumed he hadn't completely believed it as they disappeared again. Berry Punch watched their chairs with her forehead in her hand. She dropped her head against the counter, school and work was getting to her. Fluttershy didn't even see a point to argue about his public use of magic, as he obviously hadn't listened the first time, when the two reappeared in their forest clearing that had changed over the course of her visits. Random patches of the floor were either checkered tile, hardwood, grass, or circled tile, though the majority was grass. The pond was as half-frozen as ever, the purple canopy was back and unlit lights surrounded the tree's around them. She had assumed this was for show and that he made a bed or... something appear after she left. She knew he didn't just casually live in the middle of the woods with nothing at all times. Although, other than the floor and pond, her green couch was there, his untouched chart of draconequus magic flow, running chairs, upside down coffee tables. She loved his world. But his hands were gripping her shoulders and he stood over her, shoving his face in hers. "So there's another Equestria that's full of magic?" He asked, assuming the 'pony' part and 'princess' part also meant magic. He shook his head and let go of her, taking a few steps away from her as he remembered her unbearable shyness. "Wait, what's this Twilight have to do with me?" He asked, pointing at himself. His grin widened as he towered over her again. "Do you think she could fix my magic?" He asked expectantly. Fluttershy shook her head, his shoulders dropping with his smile. "But," Fluttershy said, gesturing to him and looking up at the canopy for something other than him. "She does come here when there's any... magic stuff going on," she said, taking a look at his confused face. "And, um, you're kind of new, and you have magic, and, um..." She sighed. "I think she'll blame you for whatever she came here for," she finally said, letting her hair fall in front of her face. "And I don't think she'll want us to be your friends like she did with Sunset." Before he got a chance to respond or be offended, which he most definitely was, she clasped her hands together and looked up at him with those teal eyes he despised because he did whatever they wanted and didn't have a choice in the matter. "So, please, don't go near my school anymore. I don't know how her magic would affect you and I don't want to see you anymore hurt than you are now," she begged, doing another one of her wonders. And this one was amazing him. He didn't understand this girl, or why she was so worried about him. Sure, he was an ancient being of pure magic, but every human he had ever met had saw him as a monster. He snapped, looking down and seeing pink as he made her appear in his arms. She returned the hug and he couldn't be more confused. This little girl didn't just like him for research like he first expected, she had wanted to be his friend, especially after he told her he had never had any. And now she was worried about him? What was this girl? "Promise," he said simply as he hugged her. He looked up at the canopy and could only imagine how weird they might've been to the rest of the world. A draconequus many saw as a demonic beast and an innocent girl with anxiety. He grinned as an idea filled his mind, and he snapped and the two reappeared in a huge aviary at a zoo. She shot him a sneer at his magic use, but the birds landing on her morphed her face into a smile as she laughed, the birds nuzzling her. Discord watched curiously as a dark feathered bird landed on his shoulder. He snapped and it tried flying onto a perch with one wing larger than the other. He grinned devilishly as he watched a purple bird sit next to a yellow one. That yellow one was already perched next to a white, orange, cyan, pink, and red one. He snapped and the yellow one appeared on his finger as he took a glance at Fluttershy who seemed to have accumulated more birds. "Well, if her friends can have her during the day," he said as the bird chirped at him. "It seems only fair that I get her for the night." Pinkie Pie held an obnoxiously pink pillow to her chest, pouting as she watched most of her friends play a racing game. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were too busy fighting each other that they didn't notice Rarity speed past them in a fashionable, though it was the worst choice, car. Twilight sat next to Pinkie at the top of the bed, Sunset smiling as she watched Rarity take the win from her spot at the end of the bed. "Hah! I win!" Rainbow Dash cheered, seeing the scoreboard of her two friends and a lot of A.I. have her at the top. Applejack was fuming as Rarity ranted about how style and presentation mattered more than winning. Sunset chuckled, looking to the bed and seeing a confused Twilight looking through a thick book and a pouting Pinkie Pie. She walked over to the bed and looked at Pinkie. "What's wrong, Pinkie? Isn't this supposed to be some super-duper-coolio-Twilight's-back party?" She asked with an amused smirk. Pinkie Pie sighed and moved her pillow to the side, Sunset's question caught the attention of the three who were fixing to start another game. Rainbow Dash stood up with a wide smirk as she backed up, staring at the bed with a fire in her eyes. Applejack stopped her from diving on top of Sunset and breaking Pinkie's bed. Twilight put her book down as Rarity sat on the other side of Pinkie as the pink girl sighed again. "What's wrong, darling? This is one of the first sleep overs we've had in a while," she started, putting a hand on Pinkie's shoulder as the other was used for the theatrics that come with being a drama queen. Pinkie Pie looked at her before pulling her absurdly pink phone out of her bombastically pink hair. She turned it towards Rarity, showing the girl her messages. "I've texted Fluttershy, like, twenty times! And I called her a bunch too!" She said, turning the phone back to her with a pout. "It's kinda hard to be happy about a super-duper-long-distant-coolio-Princess-sleep-over when one of your friends that's the 'Princess' part's friend isn't here," she said sadly, though it made Sunset shake her head with a smile at her own mistake on the title. Applejack crossed her arms with a huff. "Probably that weirdo she was with," she grumbled to herself before turning to Pinkie. "I doubt she meant to miss, sugar cube." Sunset, Twilight, and Spike all stiffened at the implication that this weirdo was a god of chaos that did so much harm he was trapped in stone for a thousand years. Spike fought through it, not wanting to believe that Discord guy was the reason Fluttershy wasn't there. "Yeah! Maybe her... er, parents needed her for something," he said nervously, finding it weird to think of Fluttershy living with her parents here in this world. He beamed and his tail wagged as Rarity nodded. "But she would've texted us something," Rainbow Dash cut in, looking down at her phone and sighing, shoving in into her pajama pants pockets "Nothing. I agree with AJ, it's that dude she left with." Twilight smiled nervously, shaking her head. "I know I don't know this Fluttershy as well as I know my own, but I don't think she's the type that would ditch for a guy," she said, knowing Fluttershy wouldn't do that, no matter what world she was from. She glanced down at her book, it was something she had brought with her in a satchel that became a book bag. She picked it up, running a hand over the cover as the other girls agreed with her. "I would love to wonder why Fluttershy isn't here, but we can just ask her tomorrow," she said seriously, looking up and drawing her friend's attention to the book she was holding. "I think the jump in magic here is a bigger priority right now," she said calmly, although she saw Sunset try and not scream that Discord was The God of Chaos. Twilight nodded at her, reassuring her and watching the smallest amount of tension leave Sunset. "Yeah, you're right," Pinkie pouted before jumping up on her knees and peering over Twilight. "So! What's that?" She asked curiously as if she hadn't just been worrying about the entire state of her important sleep over. Twilight looked down after seeing all of the others peer curiously at her. "It's a book of Equestria's threats and what the rulers at the time did with them," she said, flipping open the book and seeing the sirens. "Like the sirens, they were banished here. I was thinking maybe something long ago finally rose back up and that caused the jump," she said, noticing Sunset was on her last leg. She laughed nervously and slammed the book shut as Applejack tried to look over it. "But, um, maybe tonight should just be a fun, catch-up type thing," she said, standing up and sitting the book down on Pinkie's nightstand. "Plus, I'd hate to have to explain all of this to Fluttershy if we found something." The others nodded their agreement, Applejack and Rainbow Dash shooting each other a glance before jumping down to the floor just past the end of the bed, the two aiming for player one's controller. Applejack got it as Pinkie Pie sat down next to Rainbow Dash with pom-poms, Rarity was placed next to Applejack as her cheerleader. Twilight grabbed Sunset's hand. "Um, Sunset and I are going to go get something to drink, we'll be right back," Twilight said with a nervous smile that anyone would follow. She sighed in relief when no one did as Spike jumped off the bed and onto the floor next to Twilight and Sunset's feet. "Get me a soda!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash yelled in unison, Sunset and Twilight flying down the stairs towards the kitchen for a place far away from the rest of their friends, Spike jumping down with them. Sunset held her hands over her mouth, in fear she'd scream, as they stepped into the dark room. Twilight checked the immediate surroundings for Pinkie's sisters as she put Spike up on the counter. When they were clear, she turned to Sunset. "Okay, just stay calm," she said, seeing Sunset's hands shaking. "What do you mean 'stay calm'?!" Sunset asked worriedly, her hands flying up to her hair as she stared at Twilight with wide eyes. "Discord is free and he's here!" She panicked, worry eating at her and her memories replayed all of Princess Celestia's lessons over Discord. She gasped. "And he's got Fluttershy!" Twilight, once again, put her hands over Sunset's mouth. She shook her head. "That isn't the Discord you and I know," she said slowly, watching Sunset's scared eyes soften into confusion. Twilight pulled her hands away from Sunset with a nod. "That can't be the Discord from Equestria." "Why not? Just because his statue is still there doesn't mean he can't be here," Sunset explained worriedly, watching the door to the kitchen and wondering when Rainbow Dash and Applejack would yell for their soda again. "What if he figured out how to use magic from inside the statue and came here to figure out how he can get out of the stone in Equestria?" Sunset ranted. Twilight shook her head again. "Discord isn't in stone anymore, and he asked to come with me right before I came here, that Discord can't be my Discord," she explained, rubbing Spike's head. Spike nodded. "Yeah! And he been asking me and Big Mac to play Ogres and Oubliettes all week!" He said, remembering that his Discord only had two things he liked doing, having tea with Fluttershy or playing O and O with him and Big Mac. It was a pain to always tell him he was busy, but at least Discord only wanted to do things with friends, meaning he really was reformed. Sunset sighed in relief before she shot up straight and grabbed Twilight shoulders. "He's out of stone?" She asked. Spike raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been here?" "I went between here and Equestria for a few years when I was younger, but I first came here after I dropped out of Celestia's school when I was a kid-- filly." "Oh." Sunset shook her head and looked to Twilight again. "So Discord rules over Equestria? Why didn't you tell me! We should be figuring out a way to save Equestria!" She fought, completely forgetting about the Discord here at CHS. Twilight took Sunset's hands off of her. "He did break out of stone, but we defeated him and put him back into stone," she explained, seeing Sunset's worry hadn't stopped. "But Princess Celestia thought it'd be a good idea to reform him and get him to use his magic for good." Sunset nodded, slowly understanding what had happened in her home dimension. She shook her head suddenly. "How did you reform him? What I heard about Discord was that he was horrible and you couldn't even understand a conversation with him." Twilight nodded back as Spike jumped, drawing Sunset's attention to him. "Fluttershy reformed him by being his only friend, now he's friends with lots of ponies," he smiled, wagging his tail. Sunset looked to Sunset with wide eyes. "So, that Discord we saw earlier today was..." "The Discord from this world," Twilight said calmly, though her sigh and turning towards the counter to rest her head in her hands wasn't as calm. "But that doesn't make any sense, I didn't think a being like him would transfer here, especially since there aren't any original versions of the Dazzlings here," she said, trying to make sense of the scenario. Discord from Equestria was an all-mighty God of Chaos, she didn't think that would be mirrored in this world, especially as a normal boy with horrible fashion sense. "I still don't like him," Sunset said, pulling Twilight out of her mind. "And we don't know if the Dazzlings here do exist, we've only seen things at CHS, we haven't been anywhere else." Twilight nodded, following her logic. "But like I said, I don't like him. The Pinkie Pie here is similar to the Pinkie in your world, right?" Sunset asked. Twilight and Spike nodded. "It's like her personality was mirrored," Twilight explained. "So the Discord here has to be similar to the Discord there, and," Sunset said, happy she could get back to her detective role since her worry was gone. "I don't think a god can just turn into a simple boy." "What do you mean?" Spike asked, scratching behind his ear. Sunset walked over to the window, staring up at the moon and remembering Princess Celestia and Luna. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked to Twilight with determination. "I don't think we should cross him off of our list just yet." Spike and Twilight looked at each other and sighed, turning to Sunset and nodding. They didn't like the idea of fighting the 'human' version of a lively creature they had become good friends with, but Sunset had a point. The three jumped when they heard shouts. "Where's that soda?!" They heard a rough, bratty voice ask and knew it was Rainbow Dash. Twilight and Sunset looked at each other before falling into fits of laughter. It was good to see the other again, even though there was a threat looming over them. And the mystery of it for that matter. "I think you're right, we should relax for tonight," Sunset said, walking over to the refrigerator and finding the cans of soda Pinkie had implemented at their growing number of sleep overs. Twilight helped her grab a few cans, deciding they should just get some for everyone. Twilight smiled back at Sunset, Spike standing between their feet with a wagging tail. Author's Note Yeah, the Discord EQG Fluttershy knows is EQG Discord! Sorry if that disappoints anyone, I thought about making it pony Equestria Discord and just decided that would be too serious and sad ending-ish for what I wanted from this story. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed (and don't dislike that that's EQG Discord) <3 Also, some news. This story will be on hiatus/have very slow uploads as I'm focusing on a much bigger story, Disharmony's parallel. When I get back into the groove of that story, I might try to write this again, but it won't be a priority. After this, one already written chapter will be uploaded and then the hiatus/slow uploads will be in effect. (oh, and this story will get finished so don't worry) Disliking a DraconequusFluttershy appeared in her bedroom, though she barely noticed and really didn't care. She looked down and saw an oversized grey sweater with the graphic of a stained glass draconequus, past her sweater were cyan shorts. She looked up at Discord who was simply looking around her bland room. "Are you going to put yourself on every piece of my clothes?" She asked, yawning afterwards as a grin spread across his face. He snapped, her entire closet vanishing and reappearing circling around him, each of the pieces wearing a draconequus. She ignored it, using as much brain power as she could muster to hope he changed them back as she sat down on her bed and grabbed a pillow to hug it. She rolled her eyes as he made the lamp on her desk turn into a draconequus holding a light bulb, the lamp shade being worn as a skirt. He sneered as he discovered the most fantastic thing in her room was a walk-in closet. Bland light blue walls stretched up to an even blander beige fan-- he almost gagged at the color. A normal brown desk held notebooks, pens and pencils, and his new addition lamp. A normal dresser held an even more normal mirror with pictures of Fluttershy and her friends. He also noticed the alarm clock with the numbers seven and forty-two on it and the pastel green colored curtains. He smirked as he thought of the many things he could do to her room that she'd actually like. Then he was shocked he'd do chaotic things for someone else, but Fluttershy laying her head down on her pillow and shutting her eyes brought him out of his thoughts. He snapped, appearing in front of her and watching her open tired eyes. "You're going to sleep, now? The day just started." She covered her mouth as she yawned, looking up at him with tired teal eyes matched with bags underneath them. "I spent the entire night with you," she said with a slight scowl. "And I appreciate what you did, but I'm not a creature of pure magic and need sleep," she said with a fake smile. He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said simply, wondering how some humans simply downed coffee and energy drinks to stay awake and why she wasn't. Well, it was partly his fault, he made her appear in her comfortable, no matter how disgusting, room with an even comfier bed in a huge sweater and shorts. Maybe his self-consciously knew she was tired? He didn't care anyways as she smiled and laid down, not even bothering to pull the blanket over herself. And she didn't have to as he snapped and watched it sink on top of her with a new layer of comfort, she snuggled into her pillow with a smile. As he turned away to let her sleep, she spoke. "Thanks," she said quietly, rolling over and facing the wall, pulling the blanket even further on herself than before, even if it wasn't possible. He smiled down at her, he guessed letting her sleep wouldn't be the worse idea, he had drug her around aviaries, zoos, and aquariums the entire night, letting her see all of the animals even after the places closed. And he didn't know why, but seeing her amazed face made looking at mediocre animals almost enjoyable. But he turned to her room with a devilish grin and flexed his hand, popping his wrist. He was going to have even more fun when he saw how happy she'd be with a whole new room. Rainbow Dash hopped her way up the stairs that led to Fluttershy's front door, glancing behind her and seeing Pinkie Pie bounce up with her, the rest of their friends moving to stand on the stairs. She knocked her knuckles against the door, ignoring Twilight's amazed face at the overly nature-fied house. It wasn't the biggest house, in fact, it was only one story, but the size of that one story made up for not having a second one. Other than that, it seemed like it was being devoured by greenery. Plants decorated every window, the banister for the porch was covered with vines, two potted plants sat next to the door and sat on the sides of each stair. Flowery gardens decorated the front of the house on either side of the porch, the grass was lusciously green and perfectly cut, and trees littered the front yard, including a dog house with two empty bowls inside for strays. The door was opened by a yellow woman with a soft smile, glasses, and red hair. "Hey, Mrs. Shy," Rainbow Dash gave a smirk, enjoying seeing the old woman after a long time. Mrs. Shy's smile widened as she looked back into the house and called for her husband. A blue man with white hair wore his wife's smile as he saw the crowd. "Rainbow Dash! It's been so long!" He said in his own quiet voice, though Rainbow Dash knew he was really excited to see her. The two stepped aside, using their hands to gesture for the group to come in. Rainbow Dash smiled at the place, reliving memories of chasing Fluttershy through the living room and hitting her toe on the coffee table. She chuckled and stuffed her hands in her pockets, glancing back and seeing all of the amazed faces. Every part of the living room was spotless, including the rooms it was connected to, the dining room and kitchen. A light green couch was decorated with color-matching pillows in the perfect places, on either side were end tables and chairs, one was obviously a recliner. A wooden coffee table with a glass top sat in the center, coasters sat perfectly near the edges as magazines laid almost picture perfectly on it. All the magazines were of plants and butterflies. Across from that was a TV on a white spotless stand with glass cabinet windows that showed the assortment of movies on one side and books on the other. Next to the TV were small tables with potted plants on top. A shelf sat in the corner, filled to the brim with books, all separated by genre. The walls were pastel yellow with pictures of either the family, which also decorated the white fireplace, or butterflies. The fire place also sat a huge clock on top, one with roman numerals instead of numbers. A light green rug with dark green accents ran behind the couch, leading to the kitchen, dining room, and hallway. The room was also covered in it's own greenery, fake vines covering the outer edges of the fireplace, and potted plants hanging from the ceiling around the book shelf. The rug ran towards the kitchen, closed off with a wall with a window towards the living room that was lined with another table, one either used for random, temporary items, and a beautiful rose in a vase. The other edge of the kitchen held a white bar and counter, the bar facing the elegant dining room they couldn't get a clear view of from their place in the living room, but they assured themselves it would be just as spotless as the other rooms. A chandelier also hung from the center of the dining and living room, a normal light fixture hanging over the kitchen. Rarity was just fixing to compliment the entire place, decorated with such beauty, though the pastel combination of yellow, blue, and green wouldn't be her first choice. But Rainbow Dash smirked as Mrs. Shy spoke up. "Are you all friends of Fluttershy's?" She asked softly, watching as five strangers just entered her home nervously. Pinkie Pie nodded, jumping over to the woman and shaking her hand rapidly, and then doing the same to her husband. "Mm-hm! All Fluttershy's buddies!" She gave the two a wide smile before she hugged herself. "And Fluttershy's just the best! That's actually why we're here!" Mr. Shy smiled nervously at her as Mrs. Shy readjusted her glasses. "You're Pinkie Pie," he offered, seeing her nod her head just as bombastically. He chuckled, "I guessed so." "Yeah, Pinkie's kinda easy," Rainbow Dash said, walking next to the two with a wide smirk. "And since I'm sure Fluttershy's told you tons about us, why don't you try guessing who everyone is?" Mrs. Shy shook her head with a sweet smile. "I, um, don't think that'd be a great idea," she said nervously, giggling slightly with it. "I'd hate to guess wrong," she said, her husband nodding his agreement. Rainbow Dash sighed, letting her shoulders fall. She shot back up with a smile as she gestured to the others. "Then I'll introduce ya!" She said happily, grabbing Rarity's wrist and pulling the giddy girl over. "This, is Rarity," she said calmly. Rarity let a squeal rise up in her throat as she held out her hand. "Oh, hello, darlings. I have to say, your house is just gorgeous!" She complimented, unable to keep it down any longer. Mr. Shy chuckled and shook her hand. "Thank you, though my wife's the one who did most of the decorating," he said, smirking slyly at his wife as she shook Rarity's hand with a red face, giggling to herself nervously. "Well, um, thank you, dear," Mrs. Shy said, watching as Rarity took a deep breath, surely ready to compliment every little thing as Rainbow Dash pushed her away. Rainbow Dash watched as Applejack walked up next to her, nodding her head as she held out her hand. "Nice to meet y'all," she said, shaking the two's hand. "Name's Applejack. You can call me AJ though, if ya want." The two nodded, ready to reciprocate the greeting when Pinkie Pie shoved past her. The girl's smile was almost as big as Zephyr's ego. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" She said, reaching out and shaking the two's hand again. She giggled to herself. "Oh wait! You already know that!" She kept laughing as Applejack rolled her eyes and pushed her away, making Mr. and Mrs. Shy wonder just what their daughter could have in common with such a loud, extroverted girl. "Did you know AJ and I are cousins!?" She peaked her head into their view. Applejack pulled the girl away, saying something about it not being true, or not knowing it if was true? The two didn't know as the final two girls walked in front of them. "Hi," the orange one said kindly. "I'm Sunset, and this is Twilight," she said, gesturing to the purple girl next to her who was waving shyly. The couple looked down as a dog barked, seeing a purple dog waving its tail. Mr. Shy smiled down at the dog as Mrs. Shy laughed nervously. "I'm sure Fluttershy loves your dog," he smiled, watching Mrs. Shy watch it cautiously and take a step back. "I'm sorry, she's a little scared of dogs." Twilight gave them upturned eyebrows before bending down and picking Spike up. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, looking down and seeing Spike try his best to look like the cutest dog in the world. Mrs. Shy smiled and shook her head, though she moved behind her husband and latched onto him. "Oh, don't worry sweetie, I've just had bad history with dogs ruining my garden, that's all," she said, eyeing Spike worriedly. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Can't be worse than what Zephyr's done," she said, watching Mr. Shy try to not laugh as Mrs. Shy shot him a dirty look. "Alright, well, we just needed Flutters for something," Rainbow said, looking down the long hall that led to the bedrooms. "So, we're just gonna go, but we gotta talk later, it's been too long," she said, saluting the two as she turned down the hall. The couple waved at the girls as each of them gave them a warm smile. Mr. Shy put his hand around Mrs. Shy's waist. "I'm glad she has such great friends," he said, watching as each of them walked into Fluttershy's room, the door shutting behind them. Mrs. Shy rolled her eyes, "I'm glad you find my gardens demise humorous," she said before giving it up and nodding. "You're right, though. I was almost worried Rainbow Dash would be her only friend, especially when we transferred her and Zephyr to this school," she said, walking into the kitchen, her husband following. "Yeah," he said with a blissful smile. "Fluttershy's lucky to have such a great friend like her." Mrs. Shy hummed her agreement as she went back to doing the dishes, smiling and laughing when Mr. Shy silently insisted on helping her. Rainbow Dash's and the others jaws all hung open as they stared up at Fluttershy's room. The walls were a soft pink, multicolored butterflies painted as if in a migration on the wall with Fluttershy's bed. They completely ignored the fact that Fluttershy was fast asleep in her bed as they noticed the new headboard, decorated with it's own butterflies. That wasn't all when the doors to Fluttershy's closet matched the walls, her dresser and mirror a new pastel yellow with green leaf knobs. Her mirror also had a green rim, spreading out like plants with small, carved animals racing off at the bottom, resting on the dresser that had small dark yellow silhouettes of animals at the corners. Her desk shined in a new finish, all of her things organized as a small pink chair with a butterfly shaped back sat at the desk. Even her bag looked different with the pink butterfly and tornado key chains were hooked on it. And as they looked up, the upper walls of her room held pastel lights that were all cut off, though Applejack didn't see where they were pinned up. Something the others didn't notice or care was the new draconequus shaped lamp that made Spike, Twilight, and Sunset all hold their breath. Rainbow Dash shook her head as Rarity leaned past her. "I never knew Fluttershy's room looked this... her-like," she said, noticing all of the butterfly and animal related things. Applejack and Pinkie Pie stepped next to her, nodding their agreement as they looked over the room again. Rainbow Dash furrowed her eyebrows. "It wasn't like this a month ago," she said, gesturing towards the room and looking towards her friends. "It was totally boring and unorganized," she said, looking up at the room. Sure, it was cool, but it didn't make sense. "She never cared about it cause she barely spent any time in here." Applejack raised an eyebrow as Sunset walked over to the bed, noticing the tornado graphic on her blanket was the only thing that didn't match the room. She shook Fluttershy, attempting to wake the girl as she tried to avoid the stare of the lamp. "Fluttershy?" She asked, noticing the yellow nightstand with the same leaf shaped knobs, though the new pink alarm clock saying two fifty-five made her stomach turn. Fluttershy groaned, pulling the blanket over her head. "Why are you still sleeping at three in the afternoon? I thought you were an early bird." Fluttershy shot up at the time and whirled to her. "It's three!?" She asked, standing up and throwing the blanket off of her, running towards her closet and opening the new doors without noticing the new design on them. Her fast movements didn't stop Twilight and Sunset from noticing the draconequus on her sweater. "How did I sleep that long?" She asked, looking through her shirts. "Uh, yeah," Applejack said, walking up next to her. "When did you go to sleep, sugar cube?" She asked, noticing the weird animal on Fluttershy's sweater and choosing to ignore it. She assumed it was just some super mystical creature like mermaids. Fluttershy froze and turned to her. "Um, I actually don't know," she said, shaking her head and turning back towards her closet, pulling a white tank top off of a hanger. "It was after the sun came up," she said, pulling a green skirt off of another hanger and laying the two over her arms. She stared back at shocked faces. "You went to sleep after the sun came up?" Twilight asked, looking down at Spike worriedly. "What were you doing all night?" She asked, watching Fluttershy stiffen at the question. She wondered if it had anything to do with the seemingly new room, draconequus lamp, and draconequus sweater. Pinkie Pie shoved her way past the group, standing in front of Fluttershy with cheeks puffed out in anger and furrowed eyebrows. "Yeah! You even missed our sleep over!" Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hands, wide eyes matched with upturned eyebrows. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Pinkie! I completely forgot!" She said, sitting her clothes down before rubbing her arm, a sorrowful look on her face. Pinkie opened her mouth, ready to lecture her on breaking a Pinkie Promise, even if they didn't promise. But Sunset stepped in front of her. "It's alright, we were just worried. And we are now, what did you do last night?" Fluttershy hugged herself, looking away and letting her messy, tangled hair fall in front of her face as she debated lying and telling the truth again. She assumed it wouldn't hurt them to hear the truth, especially when she really didn't want to lie to them again. She rubbed the back of her neck and avoided their gazes. "Discord kinda took me to a lot of animal places," she said nervously. Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "In the middle of the night?" She asked. Fluttershy gave her a fake smile and a nervous nod. "Yes," she said calmly, hoping they'd believe her. She sighed in relief when they turned to each other and nodded. Though she tensed up when Pinkie Pie crossed her arms. "That guy's a meanie! He definitely heard me tell you about our slumber party," she said, furrowing her eyebrows and pouting, crossing her arms and scrunching up further with a sneer. "And he kept you up all night! Who does that?" Fluttershy cowered as Applejack stepped next to Pinkie Pie with her hands on her hips. "Oh! I knew he was doin' somethin'," she growled, balling her fists and holding them at her sides. "Just lookin' at 'em and you could see he ain't a good guy." Fluttershy shook her head slightly, as Rainbow Dash joined in. "I know! What are you even doing hanging out with a cocky asshole like that?" She asked, crossing her arms. Everyone knew she seriously didn't like him when she cursed, and Fluttershy didn't know why. They barely talked to him. Sure, he had an... egotistic-sounding voice, and sure, he was sort of pushing boundaries when he ruffled Pinkie's hair seemingly condescendingly without even knowing her very well, but that was just Discord. She watched as Rarity fell against Applejack. "And did you see those clothes? So old fashion with... with those boots!" She gasped dramatically, digging her hands into her hair. Fluttershy turned to Twilight, Sunset, and Spike in hopes that they weren't as judgmental, but the three looked away from her, silently agreeing. Fluttershy felt anger boil up inside her as her friends continued their complaints. She stomped her foot and shouted, "Stop!" The others looked at her with wide stares at her sudden assertiveness and listened. "Now listen," she said calmly. "You all are just judging Discord without even getting to know him," she said just as calmly, though she was tempted to not have such a civil conversation as they raised eyebrows in unconvinced ways. "You haven't said more than three words to him." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "But he's just some random guy that you haven't told us anything about that just came up and took you out for a joyride until this morning," she said with a scowl, the others agreeing with her with their own angry nods. Fluttershy was fuming as she balled her fists, wondering why she should let her friends get away with bullying one of her own friends. She stomped towards them. "I haven't told you anything about him because I knew you'd react like this," she said, trying to control her tongue about mentioning the whole draconequus and magic thing while rambling her defense of Discord. She shoved her wrist in their faces, her bracelet looking them right in the eye. "And he's the one that gave me this," she spat rudely, watching their faces fall with shock. "And last night was one of the most fun nights of my life and I wouldn't change it for the world, and he only took me to see animals because he's nice!" She crossed her arms and looked away, huffing as she saw their shocked faces morph into ones of guilt. "And he would never judge any of you without even getting to know you! So maybe you are judging him before getting to know him," she said, sneering to herself at the sheer idea that they would be that rude. Sure, she was the 'child' of their group that everyone wanted to protect, but that didn't mean they had to hate Discord just because his looks or voice shouted bad influence. Pinkie Pie bounced next to her and put her hand on Fluttershy's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Flutters. I think you're right," she said sadly, her pink hair falling slightly at the apology. "I like it when you're happy, so I'll like anyone who can make you happy," she said sweetly, smiling widely when Fluttershy's hard features softened into a smile. She hugged the girl tightly. Rainbow Dash walked up on the other side of her. "Yeah, what she said," she tried, hoping it'd suffice so she wouldn't have to just repeat all that Pinkie Pie said. She beamed when Fluttershy's smile meant she wouldn't have to recite something she was already forgetting. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie looked to the rest, seeing their respective feelings. Rarity and Applejack still seemed unconvinced as Sunset and Twilight smiled slightly, though Spike's ears were lowered. Rainbow Dash put her hand on her hip. "Seriously? You still think he's a bad dude?" Applejack nodded as Rarity huffed and looked away. "Anyone who dresses like that is a bad person, darling. He's dressing that absurdly on purpose!" She fought, though she saw Fluttershy furrow her eyebrows and stiffened. Rarity sighed, letting the tension of Fluttershy's stare leave her. "But I suppose you two are right. I can at least give him a chance." The three smiled, looking to Applejack to see her agree. She simply shook her head as she crossed her arms and rested all of her weight on one leg. Sunset Shimmer walked up next to the three. "I mean, if he's nice to you, I don't see how bad he can be," she smiled, rubbing the back of her neck and trying to ignore the blatant draconequui around. Spike jumped next to her before walking over the Fluttershy and sitting at her feet as a sign for her to pick him up. He smiled widely when she did. "Yeah! Maybe he actually is a nice guy that's totally normal and isn't involved in anything at all!" He beamed, wagging his tail and ignoring the groups confused stares. But they didn't have time to linger on it as Twilight stepped up to the growing crowd. "I agree with Sunset, the least we can do is give him a chance," she smiled at Fluttershy's wide smile, though it was a horrible match to the omen of stolen Elements she wore on her sweater. Where did she even get that? "Do you think we'll ever get a chance to meet him?" Fluttershy stiffened before falling with a nervous laugh. "Oh, um, no, I don't think so," she said just as nervously, hoping they didn't ask why. And she was thankful she didn't have to when Rainbow Dash wasn't listening, she was too interested in Applejack. Applejack still crossed her arms nonchalantly as she watched her entire group of friends agree that the guy they had previously blamed for Fluttershy's ditching might be good. "Come on!" Rainbow Dash fought, stomping over to her. "Are you even going to say anything like 'sorry, hey, maybe I will get to know him'?" Applejack looked at her lazily, moving her weight onto her other foot. "Nope, I still don't like 'em." "And why not?" Rainbow Dash asked rudely, her jaw falling open when Applejack shrugged. "Gives me bad vibes," Applejack said bluntly, obviously trusting her own will and gut too much even giving Fluttershy's speech a listen. Rainbow Dash's eye twitched as her fists balled into white, though Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, silently telling her to let it go. Rainbow Dash sighed, letting the anger leave with her breaths out, though she couldn't look at Applejack if she wanted to stay that calm. Fluttershy smiled up at her friends, enjoying the idea that they'd give the idea of Discord another chance, even if they'd never meet him again. But at least she wouldn't be hearing about opinions based off of nothing for the rest of the day. And her smile widened as she thought about not having to lie to her friends again. Though she stiffened again when Rainbow Dash looked to her. "Oh! And when did you change your room?" She asked, using her thumb over her shoulder as a gesture. Fluttershy's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly as she stared up at the new, fantastic room. She swallowed, knowing she'd have to lie about this one, and she had to act like she wasn't absolutely amazed by the migration of butterflies on the wall. She smiled to her friends curious faces, trying not to gasp at the pastel lights hanging around her room. How did she not notice this entire time? "Oh, um, I've been, uh, working on it... recently," she said nervously. Rarity walked up and hugged her. "Well, it looks great, darling!" She said before pulling away with a smile. "Since Applejack has chores, we were going to go help her," she said, trying not to gag at the idea of helping Applejack with her specific chores that absolutely included mud. "We also wanted to talk about why Twilight's here, so, will you come with us?" Sunset asked, taking a step ahead of the group with a small smile. She smiled again when Fluttershy nodded, though the draconequus on her sweater was making her stomach turn. "Great, we'll go wait for you in the living room," she said, walking towards the door with the rest of her friends. Fluttershy picked up her clothes and hugged them, looking over her room with a small smile. It looked absolutely gorgeous and amazing, she felt tears well in her eyes as she looked over the personalized room. She didn't know why Discord seemed intent on doing things that would make her smile, but she assumed that was just what friends did. She certainly tried her part to see him smile. Though now a horribly dressed man sat underneath her window with a scowl, staring down at gorgeous flowers as he waited. He had been waiting for a bit before Fluttershy's stupid friends walked into her room, and the only reason he was waiting is so he could see her reaction to her new wonderland. But he knew her friends presence made it disappear, and worse of all, he was insulted in the meantime! His eye twitched as he crossed his arms, his mind replaying what all Fluttershy's nasty friends had said. Fluttershy's beautiful defense of him had warmed his heart, and was almost as good as a reaction, but her friends comments ruined his mood and not even his darling Fluttershy's defense could fix it. He growled, looking down at his-- ugh-- matched hands. And the worst part was that he could do whatever he wanted to them right there and then because his magic felt so much more stable. It wasn't close to normal, not even close to almost half-way back to normal, but it was stable enough. He sneered, knowing she wouldn't want him scaring her friends, or haunting them with chaos. He sighed, assuming he could at least see her one more time before he had to give up her heavenly presence to judgmental and multi-colored horrors. He snapped, appearing in her room and smirking at his own handiwork. It did look great, and he knew she'd love it. And he assumed she did when a pair of yellow arms wrapped around him. Though he didn't know what to think when he saw arms instead of oversized sleeves. "I love it," a small voice whispered, and he knew he couldn't stay mad. Not when he had this adorable sheep defend him and thank him. He smiled down at her. "Well, I had to, it was hideous," he chuckled when she looked up at him, letting go of him. And he couldn't believe what he was seeing, legs and arms? He didn't think Fluttershy had them. He smirked as he thought of her taking off a sweater and only having hands and a torso. She was beaming and he didn't know why, but it felt nice knowing he did something that caused those sparkling teal eyes and wide smile. "Well, I have to go, I'll see you later," she said, waving at him as she opened her door and left. He sighed, looking over at her bag with the butterfly and tornado keychain. Why did it hurt when she left? He assumed it was because he never had a friend before. Sure, he had met tons of creatures and anomalies in his hundreds of years alive, but never once had he had a friend, and it felt nice. He furrowed his eyebrows and sneered, looking to her mirror and seeing he had left her many pictures of her friends up. He snapped, all of them being replaced with random moments they had shared together. Her friends were judgmental monsters that only took her away from him, so the least he could do was make the feeling mutual. They'd absolutely hate it when she went off with him, and he was going to make sure of it. Befriending a Draconequus: Part 1Fluttershy didn't think she had ever been happier walking towards the soccer field. The field always told her she'd have to go through another day at school that would keep her from the animal shelter she worked at, but not even the idea of spending eight hours at school could upset her. She took a glance down at the notebook she had held to her chest as she walked, and she couldn't keep the smile of her face. "Hey, Flutters!" She heard a bouncy voice and looked up to see Pinkie Pie waving dramatically at her. She smiled and waved back, giggling slightly when Rainbow Dash sped past Pinkie, kicking the ball into her goal. "Aw, man," Pinkie Pie pouted, kicking the grass as Rainbow Dash jogged up to her with a proud smirk. "Concentration's important, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said confidently, crossing her arms with a sly smirk. Fluttershy walked up to the two with wide eyes, hoping the book she was holding didn't draw too much attention. Rainbow Dash ruffled Pinkie's hair with a snicker. "You sure you're gonna be able to do this?" Pinkie Pie held up her head with furrowed eyebrows and blue eyes of pure determination. But before she could get the words out of her mouth, Fluttershy gasped. "Are you wanting to join the soccer team, Pinkie?" She asked, one of her hands near her mouth in shock. "But, you're apart of the party-planning committee." Pinkie and Rainbow Dash burst out in fits of laughter, making Fluttershy's shoulders fall with a raised eyebrow as she waited for her mistake to finish being, very evidently, made fun of. "No, silly!" Pinkie Pie said after her laughs, putting a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder as she pointed at Rainbow Dash. "Dashie's team never gets her early, and since she's always here for Rainboom work. I thought I'd learn how to play so she'd have something to do for thirty minutes before school starts." Fluttershy nodded. "Then why were you acting like she needed to be good?" Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash, who had just recently calmed down from her laughter. Fluttershy didn't understand as she inwardly fumed. Was it so unbelievable that Pinkie would want to do something with Rainbow? Maybe it was the obvious fact that Pinkie wouldn't leave the party-planning committee. "Duh!" Rainbow said, kicking up the ball so she could bounce it back and forth on her knees. "If she's as bad as Twilight was, it would be like playing with a cardboard cutout," Rainbow Dash said as she let the ball fall to the ground, only so she could kick it right into her own goal. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow as Pinkie and Rainbow laughed. "So... there is no Rainbooms practice today?" She asked expectantly, already knowing the answer and feeling irritation bubble in her. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash stiffened, slowly falling with nervous smiles, glances at the other, and rubs at the backs of their necks. Fluttershy rolled her eyes again and started towards the bleachers. "Wait, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash called and grabbed Fluttershy's wrist, making the girl's annoyed look very evident. "W-we can practice this, um, afternoon!" Rainbow Dash said confidently, putting both hands on her hips. She didn't see Fluttershy's scoff as she turned away and climbed up onto the bleachers. Rainbow Dash beamed at her solving of the situation and decided she'd ruin Pinkie Pie as she jogged back over to her. Fluttershy watched lazily as Rainbow and Pinkie passed the ball back and forth. She groaned and slid on her uncomfortable seat. Rainbow Dash had texted her last night that they would be practicing in the morning, it was the only reason she was here. Fluttershy always woke up early, she had just gotten used to it since she used to take care of the kitten that would sit in their driveway early in the morning. So Fluttershy could've been spending her time doing anything else. Though going to the animal shelter might have been one of her priorities. She sighed, hugging herself. She hadn't been to the shelter in weeks. She hadn't even passed out any papers encouraging kids to go and check it out. She looked up at the cloudy morning and could only imagine the horrible rain that would pour outside while they were listening to teachers lecture. She smiled up at the sky, did she really dislike the reason she hadn't gone to the shelter? After she found the hurt draconequus, her afternoons had been full. That smile that wouldn't leave found it's way on her face as her heart swelled. Ever since her and Discord had agreed to see each other until he was fully healed, she had that feeling. She knew what it was and it was sheer joy at the entire situation. Her dream had essentially come true! First, the word 'draconequus' haunted her, and then, she found one! And she was able to medically help him! And it only got better when she learned he was a god-like creature that was the embodiment of chaos. Oh, and he could talk. And it became paradise when they had simply talked as if they were friends! She was friends with a mysterious creature that could talk! She didn't think her life could get better. And the cloudy, tempting to rain skies only reminded her of Discord and his antics. It was one of the first times he showed her the extent of his magic. Or, at least some of it. "So, you have magic...?" Fluttershy asked, watching Discord summon a familiar pink cloud he fell back against and sighed. He nodded to her with a smile of pure content as he seemed to sink into the cloud. "And... it's just causes chaos?" He snapped, and huge, bold letters hovered in front of her, the yellow blocks spelt out 'yes'. He growled and snapped again, the letters turning blue. "Yes," he said, staring down at his talon with a scowl. "Though it seems my chaos hates the color pink lately," he said, snapping again and falling into his cloud with a sigh of irritation as the blocks turned orange. The orange blocks turned into tulips and fell around Fluttershy. She giggled as she dusted them off of her notebook. "Did you learn magic, or were you born with it?" She asked, standing up off the pastel green couch he had summoned for her. She was careful not to step on any of the tulips as she started walking towards him. She raised an eyebrow as he didn't answer and saw his face was still submerged with the cloud, a paw held out. She smiled as she grabbed the huge, soft paw and pulled him up. He smiled at her. "Thank you, my dear," he said, snapping and turning the shapeless cloud into a cloud shaped like a recliner. The footrest popped up, though his tail still hung off of it. "And I'm the God of Chaos, I've always had my magic." She smiled widely as she looked down at her notebook and wrote something in pen. Ever since she started questioning him, her nose hadn't left that pathetic book of hers. He grinned smugly, thinking of something that could get her out of that book. "Would you like to see some real chaos?" He asked, his grin widening at her amazed eyes and smile. She nodded and he decided the show must start. His first snap made her reappear on the lovely couch he had made for her, the tulips disappearing with it and her notebook sliding into her bag after running towards it with a tongue out like a dog. She watched in awe, as if that was it. He smirked, his second snap making a huge blue fan appear over the pond that he hadn't gotten rid of. The orange and blue fish grabbed onto the seaweed that didn't belong there either as the fan turned onto it's highest setting. Fluttershy didn't know if she would breathe again as she watched. And that wasn't the end of the show. The water flew out of the pond, but before it touched the grass, it started forming small white clouds. Fluttershy was on the edge of her seat as every drop of water made the cloud grow larger and larger. The pond was empty, the cloud hanging heavy over the ground. His third snap made the clouds separate, the fluffy white shapes floating up to the open canopy above them. Fluttershy's eyes and smile followed them up to the sky, filling in their canopy and shielding them from the sun. "I've always found normal things to be quite boring," Discord said, though not even his voice could take away the adoration in her eyes. Orange fish flew out of the clouds with blue wings. "So, a little chaos can always--" he said confidently, though he felt a drop of water hit him, along with the sun. His confidence fell as he summoned an umbrella, as the clouds above them turned back into water against his magic's wishes. He groaned as the pitter patter of rain against his umbrella played a sound of failure. Though a melodious noise in the middle of the rain caused his umbrella to disappear. Fluttershy laughed genuinely as the rain dampened her hair and sweater. She watched with a smile as the rain drops slid across and through the grass, magnetically moving towards the empty pond with orange fish flopping against the ground. The fish comically and dramatically took a deep breath as the water fell on them, despite how illogical it was. She giggled again as the pond filled, some fish turning blue underneath the slowly freezing half of the water. She smiled at Discord's confused and amazed face. "You're amazing," she said as she stood up, clasping her hands together. He didn't respond, only blinked slowly as she replayed the entire scene with her own theatrics, when she was done, she turned to him. "Do something else chaotic!" She felt excitement in her veins as he snapped again, anxious to see whatever else he could come up with. What other chaotic things he could do to things that were becoming so very boring. Fluttershy lazily replayed all of the chaotic and out of the usual things Discord had created just because she asked. He had made her a foot-stool out of singing daisies, he had created a piƱata that disliked bats, and many versions of himself that worked on his little clearing as they talked. He had made baby elephants serve them drinks of whatever she wanted before she knew she wanted it. He reenacted war stories that obviously didn't happen, turning the space around and behind him into a war-torn, no-man's-land full of trenches and he was the encouraging general and scared drafted teenager. Robins and blue jays became gentlemanly ostriches and rheas dressed in suits. Squirrels became brutish thugs with spiked tree limbs, crystalized pastel lights covered the trees when the sun started setting-- "Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a sneer, waving a hand in front of Fluttershy. She had her hands on her hips, Pinkie standing behind her with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow. Fluttershy cowered into her sweater with a nervous smile and giggle. "I'm sorry," she said, avoiding Rainbow's annoyed scowl. Even if she wasn't looking, she knew Rainbow rolled her eyes as she stood up straight, turning towards the bottom of the bleachers. "We should get going, school's gonna start soon," Rainbow said as she held a hand out to Fluttershy, pulling the girl up and starting down the bleachers. Fluttershy pulled her phone out of her pocket, looking for the time. Her eyes widened as she sped down the bleachers past Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. She turned back to the two and saw they latched onto the other to keep from falling. Fluttershy raised a hand in goodbye as she yelled, "Sorry! I'll see you at lunch!" She turned towards the closest entrance to the school and ran for dear life. Her first period was across the school from the soccer field, and she only had two minutes to get there. Her feet felt heavy as she sped across the school and ever emptying halls. Her heart beat sped up with her shoes hitting the ground as she turned down a hall, taking a peak down at her phone and feeling her throat tighten at the time. Her eyes stayed glue to the time on her phone, waiting for the horrible minute to go up and declare her late. Her smile grew as she turned down the science hallway, thinking she could actually make it on time. She couldn't believe her luck. She had one foot in the door when the bell rang, the teacher looked at her and smiled as she cowered into herself and avoided her teacher's stare. "Cutting it close there, Fluttershy," the teacher said sweetly and playfully, but that didn't make the anxiety vanish as everyone in the class had their eyes on her. Fluttershy walked to the back of the class as the voice over the intercom asked for the moment of silence. She didn't even see a point of sitting down just to stand back up again for the anthem. After the anthem, she sat down, anxiety making her stomach turn as her face burned. The teacher smiled at the class as she walked over to her computer, making the words 'Test today!' appear on the board. "Okay, we're having our test today," she said, picking up a stack of papers and passing them out to the front of the class to send to the back. Fluttershy stared down at the words when she got it as she passed the other papers back. Her stomach turned and she ran her hand through her hair. She completely forgot she had a test, and she had no idea how! Her teacher had reminded her every day this week, and it was Friday, of course she'd have a test. She supposed a week of focusing on her new draconequus buddy took it's toll. She had found him a week ago and wasted her entire weekend, especially her last Friday, on him. And when the week rolled around, she was so engrossed in whatever he was and whatever he could do she spent most of her afternoons in their little clearing. She was happy she retained information well as the teacher went over the rules, saying things like they'd have the entire class period to work on it, no cheating, yada yada. Fluttershy smiled when some of the information looked familiar as she started working on it. One problem, other than her lack of studying and want to remember and think of all the lovely chaotic things Discord could do, was that Chemistry was one of her least favorite classes. She barely cared for what the teacher taught them. She sighed, trying to convince herself that one bad grade couldn't ruin her average. Even if it was fifty percent of her grade. She gave up her complaints and started focusing on the test, realizing she only clearly remembered half of what the questions were about, which was all things they were taught recently. The other half were things from the earlier parts of the unit, things she obviously needed to study. She was one of the first ones done, mostly due to her lack of even attempting half the questions, but she reread over it tons of times trying to see if constantly looking at the question would jog her memory. It did on one of them, but then class was almost over and the teacher was telling them they could stay behind if needed. She sighed, declaring that whatever she had, was all she was going to get as she stood up and walked to the teacher, turning in her test to the peppy lady. She sat down and didn't think she had felt this bad about a test before. But she was happy about one thing, the fact that she could focus on her test and not Discord. It seemed that meeting a draconequus hadn't done her any better than not knowing what one was. She found her mind was wracked with thoughts of what Discord had done, what he was capable of, and all the things he'd told her about draconequui. They could fly! The small wings on his back could actually hold his weight, though she reduced it down to an involuntary use of magic. And he could use his tail to grab things, it had more uses than just balance. Though, once again, she assumed the control of it was involuntary magic use, and she didn't even know if he needed it for balance. She sighed as the bell rang, standing up and starting out of the classroom down the hall towards Botany. The small amount of time she had to wait before the bell rang and all she did was do the one thing she was proud she hadn't done during her test. She sat down in her Botany class, resting her head in her palm as she watched the teacher smile at her and the other students filing into the classroom. As she stared lazily at the plant on the front counter, she thought of the lights Discord would make appear when the sun started setting. They were beautiful, crystalized, and pastel lights that decorated their forest, and even if they usually signaled that she'd have to leave soon, she always adored their beauty. It only furthered her idea that Discord was a beautiful and majestic creature that engaged in mischievous actions. She shook her head and sat up straight with a puffed out chest. Botany was a class she was interested in, and she'd stay interested in it. She nodded her head as she recalled her half-hearted attention towards the labs they'd done this week. Their teacher held Friday's for lectures most often, meaning she had to pay attention. She declared that she wouldn't think of the majestic creature that had occupied her entire week at all during this class. And she couldn't have been happier when it worked. She smiled her entire way to her next class, feeling on top of the world. Though, Discord slipped back to the front of her mind, wondering what they would possibly do this afternoon. Maybe she should tell him about her animal shelter and how she hasn't gone, and maybe they could create a schedule where she spent half her week at the shelter and the other half with him? She didn't like it, her stomach dropped at the idea of sharing a week with Discord with anything else. And she didn't like the fact that she didn't like it either as she fought her way through the halls, smiling and waving at Pinkie Pie as she bounced past her towards the science hall. She walked into her literature class with a strict teacher standing at the door with a straight line for a mouth. She sat down in her assigned seat in close quarters with the other two she was shoved between. She hated this class more than she hated her math class, which was a very hard thing to do. The class was pure silence, guided notes, lectures, and 'open' discussion on whatever they were learning, and based on the board, today was grammar. She sunk in her seat as she pulled out her thick, full binder for this class, she was already annoyed and tempted to not pay attention. And with racing thoughts about her week with a draconequus, her strong will to learn lost the battle as she decided she'd write and not listen. The teacher walked inside as the bell rang, already grabbing the pen for the board as she walked over to a small laptop. She looked over the classroom, asked who sat next to some random person, and finalized attendance. She stood in front of the board and changed to the next slide, beginning their lecture on commas as she announced they already had the sheet over it in their notebooks. She also said that whatever she was talking about would be on a test. But that news didn't deter Fluttershy as she turned to the guided notes page they got earlier in the week. She sunk into her seat in content as she looked at the butterfly based bracelet she received recently. It made her recall a time this past week where they had learned their meetings had stopped at magical malfunction investigation and veterinarian work. Fluttershy watched with a wide smile on her face as Discord made lions act as lion tamers and people act like the lions. The people looked unbearably worried and the lions looked more than delighted as they shoved a chair in the person's mouths. Fluttershy would've been worried, but Discord had assured her everything he created that was living, was mostly fabrications. She didn't linger on the mostly. She didn't get a chance to compliment him on the show as it disappeared, a ring of butterflies appearing in it's place. Fluttershy felt her impossible smile grow even more impossible as she watched a dare-devil dressed and oversized bear ride a unicycle unsteadily over to the ramp leading up to the ring. Huge arrows pointing towards the end of the ramp lit up on it, the ramp growing up to the sky as the bear was shot upwards with new speed. Fluttershy stood up, unable to sit on the edge of her seat any longer as she giggled up at the sky. She was a bit disappointed she couldn't see what the butterflies would do to the bear since they were so up high in the sky, but she was still interested. "Just wait, my dear," Discord cooed from behind her, snapping. Fluttershy felt her heart race in anticipation as she waited. She gasped with a wide grin and delighted eyes as the butterfly ring dropped, the bear screeching as the ramp cut out a hole, the bear flying through that and being shot through the ring. Fluttershy laughed and clapped as the bear slowly and safely went through, landing on the short ramp that led to the ground on the other side. It cheered for itself before it looked back and saw a hoard of butterflies going after it. It ran into the forest in fear as the butterflies chased, Fluttershy and Discord laughing at the show. Fluttershy turned to look up at the huge creature. "That was great, Discord," she said happily, putting her hands behind her back. He bowed after snapping and appearing in a suit. "Why, thank you," he said, roses falling on him and burying him. Fluttershy giggled again as he snapped his way free of roses and suits. He sneered as he dusted a rose off his shoulder, it screamed comically before it hit the ground and wilted. "I do wish my magic would return to normal, it seemed to be getting better, but now it's at a halt," he pouted. Fluttershy looked up worriedly at him. "I wish I knew about magical creatures, maybe then I could help you more," she said, hiding in her shoulders as she looked away with upturned eyebrows. Discord had always done so much to entertain her and complied to her idiotic questions about what he was, and all she seemed to do was disappoint. A talon ruffled her hair and she looked up and saw a rabbit coming up in the empty hole where his talon used to be. He smiled nervously before turning to the rabbit with an annoyed stare as he shoved the whimpering creature back down, a talon successfully coming up in it's place. He laughed nervously before clearing his throat. "Don't worry, Fluttershy. You solved the question of my inability to fix my wound, you've helped plenty," he said, snapping and making the chart they made a few days ago appear. It looked the exact same. Fluttershy's head hung, the talon vanishing from her hair. She heard a snap and felt that same talon on her shoulder. She glanced up and saw he was standing over her. "What's wrong?" He asked seriously. She felt her face burn as she looked back down again, feeling a lump in her throat as she considered mentioning it. She decided it wouldn't help to not talk about it. "I just... you seem to be keeping your end of the deal. My part seems pointless for me since I don't know anything about magical creatures or why magic in a constant magic reaction would mess up, or why--" She stopped when a fish appeared in front of her, shushing her with a fin over it's mouth. It vanished as Discord spoke. "That's nothing to worry about, dear. Like I've said, you've helped plenty," he said nonchalantly, not expecting her to throw his talon off of her shoulder and walk away from him. "Fluttershy?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as she turned back to him with an even more upset expression. She grabbed her arm and looked away from him. "I figured out why you're magic can't heal you, not what's doing it," she said sadly, letting her hair fall in her face. "And you're cut's healing just fine, there's not much of a point for me to be here." As his thoughts ran for a way to fix her sadness, she spoke up. "I just feel like a bad friend. That's all," she said sadly, not expecting to hear a snap and see Discord's face in front of hers. "We're... friends?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows. She didn't dare take a step back as she nodded, feeling like this was the longest she'd ever stared into his yellow and red eyes. He snapped and appeared a few feet away from her, holding his chin in thought. He noticed her confused stare and sighed. "I don't think I've really ever had a friend before," he admitted. Fluttershy gasped. "Really?" She asked with wide eyes, when he nodded she desperately wished she could teleport like him, but noticed she'd have to suck it up. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his thin figure that was still huge. She ignored her cheeks burning in embarrassment as she furrowed her eyebrows. "That's horrible." She let go of him and stared up at him, seeing his wide, possibly scared eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek as she forced herself to stare up at him, and act as seriously determined as she hoped too, though she knew her anxiety had to step in at least a little. "Well, I'm not going to let that be anymore," she said with a nod. "You're my friend, officially," she continued, holding out her hand and softening her features into a smile. "So I'm your first friend," she said sweetly, her hard, serious exterior falling to let him see the sweet and kind one he had always seen. Her smile deepened as he reluctantly reached out and shook her hand. "Now you don't have to say you don't have friends anymore." Discord's reluctant and cautious stare fell as he grinned, snapping and making Fluttershy appear in his arms, though she still had to look up at him despite her new height. "Then it seems you do serve a purpose here," he said smugly. He smiled at her confused look and snapped, making a bracelet made of real butterflies wrap around her wrist, all of them significantly smaller that what they'd usually be. "Being my first friend, the job's pretty strict, are you sure you're up to the task?" He asked her amazed smile. Fluttershy giggled at his theatrics and the butterflies tickling his wrist. "Thank you for the opportunity, sir," she played along with his little job interview act. "Though I have one request?" She asked, watching the butterflies on her wrist. "That is?" He asked, snapping and making her appear in front of him on the ground, assuming that might be her nervous self's wish. He raised an eyebrow as she held up her wrist. "Could you make these fake? I think it'd be a beautiful bracelet," she smiled sweetly, hoping he'd agree and let her keep the token of their friendship. He grinned and nodded, snapping and she watched as the bracelets fossilized into pastel stones, some of the butterflies wings flapping randomly and occasionally. She smiled wider, loving the extra chaotic, not expected aspect. She smirked at an idea and peered up at him, tucking her hands behind her back and taking slow, long strides past him as she spoke. "Maybe if you use your magic more... it'll start acting normally again," she said, grinning up at his intrigued grin as his eyes followed her. "Are you sure you just don't want to see more of my lovely chaos?" He asked, chuckling when she gasped with a hand to her chest as if she was offended. "I'd never!" She said with a huff, turning away, though once he couldn't see her, she smiled widely. "It's for science." She opened her eyes and laughed as she saw his clearly unconvinced and disembodied face in front of her. "Oh really?" He asked, his body appearing next to him running about and tapping it's empty neck. Discord sneered as a disembodied talon grabbed his body, a disembodied paw grabbing his head and connecting the two. Fluttershy laughed and clapped, feeling a butterfly flap it's wing against her skin. Author's Note Hey, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who had read and commented so far <3 It really encourages me to write more and such so yeah, thanks again and I hope you enjoyed
Finding a DraconequusFluttershy lazily watched the clock as she tapped her pencil against her cheek, waiting for her horrid math class to end. Her teacher ranted and raved about... some type of math she already knew. And the worst part was this teacher was her seventh period, and was mostly too busy lecturing or giving an impossible amount of problems to finish in five minutes due in five minutes to let students even think about talking. Today was one of those days he spent the entire class lecturing, explaining a subject slowly and going over tons of examples so he made sure students would like him. He was one of the most hated teachers of their grade level. She sighed and sat back in her seat, looking up at the clock and saw all of her mental complaints rounded up to a minute of time passed. She glanced around the room and saw none of her friends, not that she was expecting them. She was a year older than the rest of her friends, they never had any classes with her, especially since none of them shared her same interests. She was interested in animals, taking care of animals, understanding animals, every little thing you could imagine about animals, she wanted to know. And her dream was to own a sanctuary, with her own veterinary knowledge, of course. Canterlot High didn't offer many classes based around animals, so her best bet was sciences. Which was exactly why every year she took a new science, her teachers bombarded her with questions of why. This year, she was taking Chemistry-- only because it was required, otherwise, she would much rather not have that class--, Zoology, and Botany. She had taken AP Biology last year, along with a requirement of Physical Science she also couldn't care less for. And other than loading her brain with sciences of many types of biology, she worked at a pet shelter. Though, she was more like an intern. The owner was a great friend of hers, as she had volunteered throughout her entire high school career, and really understood she had school, a band, her friends, and a little brother to juggle. So, she got paid for whenever she actually worked. She knew it was stupid, but she didn't necessarily care. Especially as she tapped her foot and looked up at the clock, seeing that even more of her mental groaning and complaining only resulted in a few minutes passed. She sunk into her seat, knowing she had another class to suffer through. She was only thankful she had Art at the end of the day, it was a great way for her to relax. And, she had the class with Sunset Shimmer and Rarity. She jumped out of her seat when the bell rang, a smile on her face as her day approached an end. Being a junior in the middle of the winter, getting to the Art room before the warning bell rang was easy and seeing Sunset's yellow hand already waving at her from the back of the class. Her smile beamed as she wished the teacher a good afternoon and started towards the back of the class, walking past the rest of the long, lab room like desks to the singular one at the back of the class. Sunset, Rarity, and her had taken that table as theirs, not that any other students in the small classroom wanted it. She walked around to the other side of the desk, standing next to Sunset. "Hi, Sunset. How are you?" She said, slipping her pink bag off of her shoulders and taking one look at Sunset's painting. Sunset Shimmer grinned wide as she presented the atrocity to Fluttershy. Actually, atrocity was an understatement. "Hey, Flutters! What do you think?" Sunset asked, taking a step back with a wide grin and her hands on her hips. Fluttershy looked back at it, anxiety bubbling into her throat as she fidgeted with her hands. What was she supposed to say? That it was horrible? Cause it was. It was mixes of reds, oranges, and yellows, all plastered on with an obviously fat brush. The colors mixed together to form a sun... at least, that's what Fluttershy thought it was. Half of the sun was a bright yellow that must've been painted on after the background red was. There were... short, ribbon looking things painted in yellow coming off of the other half of the sun, giving the impression of sun rays. Fluttershy almost thought it would've looked nice, if she didn't use what looked to be a brush dried with paint to add the three colors where they didn't need to be. Like putting a messy, straying yellow streak across the canvas diagonally, orange lines messily fixing the edge of the sun and only adding more stray edges. And a huge, red circle sat inside the orange and yellow sun. It was an abomination that not even the sun would appreciate and bask on. Fluttershy smiled at Sunset. "It's great." Sunset beamed as the late bell rang, Rarity's sandals sounding loudly behind them as she walked up. "Hello, darlings. Oh, aren't I so glad it's the-- Oh, my heavens, what is that?" Rarity asked as the teacher announced a studio day and started playing classical music in the background. Sunset's shoulders fell as she hung her head, a frown forming on her lips. Rarity giggled nervously. "W-what I me-meant to say, dear, was that it is... um..." Rarity fumbled. Sunset sat down with a sigh. "No, it's fine," she said, glancing up at the two sympathetic faces with a smile. "I kinda found where I'm going wrong with this thing," she said, rubbing her arm before sitting up with a proud grin. "But I'm not going to quit!" Rarity smiled as she sat down next to her, after moving the horrible painting to the other side of the table, of course. "Oh, that's so nice to hear, dear!" She said happily, clapping her hands together giddily. Fluttershy nodded as she dug through her bag, watching her yellow sweater bunch up over her hands as she did. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her sleeves, pulling them up on her arms before continuing her search. "Rarity's right, especially after you've tried so hard to find something you like doing," she said as she sat herself back up, holding a thick, bulging notebook in her hands. Sunset nodded and looked up at the painting, sighing at the sight. "Yeah, I had lots of fun," she started. "That's kinda what went wrong," she said with a nervous smile, turning to Rarity as the girl spoke. Rarity flipped her hair before pulling the back of it into a ponytail. "Why, yes. Don't worry, these things are expected when you do something creative like art or designing for fun," she explained, tying her ponytail tight before digging through her bag and pulling out a huge sketchbook. Sunset smiled and took a look at Rarity's work as she flipped through to find the next empty page. Every page seemed full to the brim with ideas and designs as she sat up, putting her knees up to the table and reaching over and grabbing a pencil from her bag. Sunset nodded, declaring that was what was expected from a student who took Art. She looked over to Fluttershy and saw her flipping through pages upon pages full of... words. She shook her head, checking to see if she was seeing straight. And as she opened her eyes again, she saw Fluttershy looking back and forth between a few pages. "Uh... Fluttershy. Do you write stories or something? Cause that's a lot of words," Sunset asked, looking over and seeing that even some of the margins were full of words. Fluttershy smiled as she shook her head, sliding the notebook and letting Sunset see what filled it. Words like Moth Man and Bunyip at the tops of pages drew her attention as Fluttershy spoke. "It's mostly full of research of different types of animals," she said, taking the notebook back when Sunset saw a page with the word 'Draconequus' written at the top. The page was the only one blank with question marks doodled in the margins. She looked up at Fluttershy. "Uh, yeah. I don't think those are the names of animals," Sunset said, finding comfort in the fact that Fluttershy giggled like there was a misunderstanding. At least that meant things called 'Moth Man' didn't exist. At least she hoped it didn't. Fluttershy flipped back to the front of the book, showing names of rare, but completely real animals. "I already researched a lot of the animals that live around here, or I already know about them," she said, moving up to tuck her long hair behind her ear, though it only fell again anyways. "So, I thought it'd be interesting to look into creatures that were seen around here centuries and decades ago," she said, flipping to the end of the book. The only place Sunset's eyes could rest when the girl flipped through was the blank page. Sunset shook her head when she understood what Fluttershy had said. "Wait, what? Something called a... Bungit lived here?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, and almost felt stupid when Fluttershy giggled again as if there was a misunderstanding. Misunderstandings meant for easier problem solving, but if they were constantly spawned from her misunderstanding something, she didn't know how her self-esteem would take it. Fluttershy shook her head. "Bunyip, and they're mostly native to Australia," she said, flipping to the page and looking over it. "Plus, most of them are cryptids, including the Bunyip," she said bluntly, but even Rarity peeked past Sunset with a raised eyebrow. She smiled, feeling a sense of joy wash over her. She loved animals, and it was nice to hear someone was interested in her half-full, thick notebook full of them. "They don't really exist," she said, looking back through her book and all of the imaginary creatures she researched. "But a few people say they've seen some of them, and I just find it interesting how much you can learn about something that might not even exist," she said with a wide smile, looking over all of the pages full of just ideas and theories about the existence of many imaginary creatures. She stopped on the blank page, running a hand over the huge question mark she had drawn in the middle of the page earlier in her English class. She turned to her friends curious faces. "And after all of the imaginary creatures that might exist, I looked into some creatures that could never exist." "Like what?" Rarity asked, putting her sketchbook down and staring at Fluttershy intently, ready for their next lesson. "Like a griffin," Fluttershy started, flipping to the page with an especially detailed drawing near the bottom, though it only led for the top margin to be littered with small writing. It was a drawing of a creature with the hind legs, tail, and body of a lion. It also had the head, talons, and wings of an eagle. "It's a legendary creature that's known for guarding treasure." Rarity sat back in her seat with a smug grin. "Oh, darling, you should show Rainbow Dash," she said as she crossed her legs. "She'd totally think that thing is awesome." Fluttershy nodded as Sunset pointed at the book, silently asking for it. Fluttershy handed it over, watching as Sunset looked for a certain page. "What are you looking fo--" Fluttershy started, and then saw Sunset stop on the blank page. Her shoulders fell at the sight. "Oh." Rarity sat up and saw that the left side of the spread was covered with notes over Hippogriffs, the right side was blank with question marks. Sunset stared down at the page, especially at the word 'Draconequus'. She narrowed her eyes on it as she spoke. "Why is there nothing here?" She asked, though the word was itching at her. She felt like she should've known what a... draconequus was, it sounded so, so familiar. But, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Fluttershy sat back in her seat, her overjoyed smile falling slightly. "Oh, it's just because there's nothing I could find about it," she said, staring at the blank page and feeling disappointment settle in her stomach. "I found the name on a list of cryptids and mythological creatures, but there's nothing else on it. I don't even know how to say it correctly." "Dra...con...a...ques?" Rarity gave her shot at pronunciation, looking at Fluttershy and getting a nod. Though it felt wrong of her tongue as she said it. She bit her tongue, remembering she had a French test next Tuesday. "That's what I thought, but something just sounds a little off," Fluttershy said, staring at the word and feeling her heart hang in her chest. "And for some reason... I really want to know what it is," she said, noticing Sunset's determined stare. "Sunset?" Sunset shook her head slightly and smiled up at Fluttershy, shutting the book quickly. "Uh... it's nothing," she said with a nervous smile, handing the notebook over to Fluttershy. She knew how to pronounce it, for some reason, she just knew. But she saw how depressed it made Fluttershy to even see the blank page, she didn't want the successful pronunciation to open up a door that had, somewhat contently, been shut. She stood up, looking at her painting that got worse the more she looked at it. She walked to the back of the room and grabbed everything she'd need to redo it, grabbing Primary Red and Primary Yellow, paint brushes, and cups of water. She set them down on the back counter, and grabbed the easel holding her, now dumpster-deserving, painting. She set out with another determination to fix it, and not try her hand at any extra textures she thought might look good. Rarity and Fluttershy saw that as their time to separate and work in mostly silence. Rarity sat back up in her seat, her knees sitting on the edge of the table as she sketched. Fluttershy pulled her phone out of her bag, glancing up at the teacher to see if her was noticing. He wasn't. She sat her notebook up in her lap, hiding her phone behind it. She flipped to a page that had only a quarter of it done, the word 'Chimera' sitting in pen at the top. But she couldn't focus, the thought of the mysterious draconequus consumed her mind. A creature that no one knew, no information other than it's name was known by people. It made curiosity blossom in her until she'd kill to learn about whatever a draconequus was. It might've been out of spite for the world, but she thought it was more just the sheer mystery that surrounded the name. She wanted to know what it was. And she felt as if the creature haunted her, because ever since she decided it was the draconequus' time to be researched, thoughts of it didn't leave her mind. Fluttershy looked up at thick trees that towered over her, her grip loose on the straps of her pink bag. A breeze flew past her, her hair and skirt flying lightly with it, and it felt as if comfort had washed over her, because her step in felt like a step into heaven. It was one of the warmest days of the month, and her favorite place to relax was usually off-limits during the freezing cold of winter. February was one of the most funky months of the year when it came to the weather. But now the woods were like an old friend with arms wide open, ready for her to jump into them. And she did, she stepped past the entrance, smiling up at the blocked sun creeping in through a canopy of leaves. She giggled as her heart swelled and she continued walking, seeing all the squirrels and chipmunks again. Birds flew overhead, her smile couldn't get wider on her face as the grass shined under her boots. The forest was attached to a park, and the city's conflicting thoughts about environmental help and building a metropolis left a huge, deep forest on the outside skirts of the city. She had gone into these woods plenty of times with her family, but ever since she could drive, she started going in by herself. And whenever her parents thought she was old enough to not get lost and come out on the side of a highway. But there was a serenity and overwhelming comfort the tall, dark trees offered her, and it was something she didn't quite appreciate as a child. So, now she used it for when school stressed her out, or work... or their band... or saving Canterlot High from Equestrian magic hungry demons. She sighed, she almost wished her 'stress' was caused from those things, at least then she wouldn't feel so stupid about it. She stared down at her black boots matched with dark, honestly ugly, green tights that stretched up to a yellow skirt as she walked, her pink hair falling into her view. The name 'Draconequus' had become one of the top reasons for her visit to the woods recently. It felt as if she was compelled to walk through them, but she always fought the urge, knowing it was too cold for her usual tights to handle. But today, it was the warmest it had ever been since November, so she didn't mind. Besides, the idea of a draconequus rang in her head louder today than any other. And she had no idea why! It infuriated her that an imaginary, probably never seen creature plagued her thoughts. And even if there was knowledge of it, it didn't matter! It's not like the creature existed, it was mythological. She fought over it as she walked, hoping a serene, calming walk could take her mind off things. She barely noticed the birds songs above her as she fumed, her steps turning into stomps, her smile scrunching up into a frown, and her grip on her straps making her knuckles turn white. She had tried thousands of things to not think of the imaginary creature, and she almost thought she had done it until she got home one day last week and realized she spent the entire time at school in her head thinking about what it could possibly look like. And now, she was thinking about what it could possibly be again. Many mythological creatures had either noble or baneful symbolisms, and some leaned to either side by just a name. The name 'Cyclops' usually gave off a bad vibe, and they were regarded as negative, horrible beasts in Greek mythology that only cared about themselves. While the name 'Pegasus' invoked courage and beauty, and they usually were beautiful, strong creatures. But the name 'Draconequus' didn't lean towards either side. The only thing she thought of the name was that it was completely and utterly confusing. She didn't even know how to pronounce it, she couldn't even begin to think of what was the right way. Rarity's pronunciation was how she'd always said it, but it felt so wrong. It didn't even look or sound like a word. And with the immense lack of knowledge on the creature, she couldn't even see what language it originated from, and the list she had found it on hadn't included pronunciation. She sighed, turning her back to a tree and sliding down it, not caring about how and if it would ruin her bright yellow sweater. This creature, it always brought out such negative emotions within her. And as she looked up at the thickening canopy of leaves above her, she sighed. She didn't think the thought of that thing could touch her here. But she assumed an unbearable urge to know something didn't go away so easily. Her stomach churned slightly as she looked up at the thick canopy. She never remembered barely being able to see the sun through the roof of the leaves, she looked around and gasped, shooting to her feet with wide eyes. Her stomach churned more as she cowered into her hair and her sweater, her hands cupping her face as her eyes searched her surroundings. She had absolutely no idea where she was, or how to get back. But a smile made it's way onto her face as she slipped off her bag, falling to the ground with it as she searched through it. She rolled her eyes with a silly grin. She'd just use her phone to find her way back, she couldn't be so far in that she couldn't get connection from either of the sides of the city on either side of the forest. She shook her head, thankful Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash had taught her better ways to handle stressful situations. Her shoulders dropped slightly with her smile as she looked past her books. When she didn't find it with those, she zipped open every other compartment, her heart beat speeding up as she searched more frantically. She finally searched the side pockets, even though she could very clearly see that her phone wasn't there. She looked up, her chest heaving as she hyperventilated. She crawled back against the tree, bringing her legs to her chest and hugging them as she looked around. She knew her brother was right when he told her to always keep her phone on her, and she didn't think Zephyr was right about anything. And now, her phone was in her car while she was in the middle of thick woods with the sun setting in an hour or two. Tears filled her eyes and she squeezed them shut, trying to calm herself down. Applejack had told her panicking did nothing, but she didn't know how not to panic in this situation. Her heart seized as her throat tightened, her swallowing making her throat a lot dryer than it would normally be. If she walked, she could be stuck in the width of the woods, or she'd end up in the city, or she'd end up back at the park. She had a third of a chance of getting stuck, but that third raised exponentially when she barely remembered how she even got in this far. She groaned, it was just another thing that name did to her. She never expected 'getting me lost in the woods' would be on the list, but here it was. As angry tears fell down her face, she couldn't not worry, her chest heaving. She was lost and could be stuck in these woods for the entirety of her weekend if she was bad with direction. Her stomach dropped and tied itself in a knot. She didn't even think of walking through the same areas more than once. She dropped her head to her knees, tears spilling out her of eyes as sobs escaped her. Her mind ran with negative outcomes and she didn't know when she'd calm down, like, what if she could never find her way out? And no one knew where she was, or that she even liked these woods, or that she walked this far-- Her head shot up when she heard an ear-splitting roar. Her chest vibrated with it as she could hear the intensity in the wavelengths, her stomach was eating itself at the noise, her ears rang. She should've been terrified, that horrendous roar that couldn't belong to anything but a mighty beast should've been reason enough for her to run in the opposite direction, even if she didn't know where it was coming from as it shook the world around her. But she stood up and watched as the world calmed down from the mighty, terrifying roar. And she waited with open ears, watching her surroundings. Silence smothered her, suffocated her as confidence was starting to build in her stomach. And it's sharp noise sounded in her ears, imprinting the stresses of that roar in her mind. And its sound played again, and as she put her hands over her ears, she started in a direction past the tree she had been sobbing under after slipping her bag back on. She noticed something different about this noise, something that she didn't hear before. It's loud, booming sound didn't seem like it was threatening something or communicating. It sounded like it was in pain. And something was enchanting her to pull her sleeves onto her hands and wipe her eyes before covering her ears again as the roar's smothering noise slowly got louder and louder. It surrounded her and shook the green leaf canopy above her. Her eyes widened as something flew past her. She looked to it and saw a yellow bolt with moving strands surrounding the base, it had cut through two trees and sat embedded in and was currently burning one. She didn't get a chance to try and understand as the noise boomed again, beckoning her to it's source as her heart yearned to treat whatever was making such a horrible noise. She didn't even think it could be a terrifying, threatening beast anymore as she ran towards it's source. She only heard the whines and cries in it as she slid down a hill, her eyes wide on her surroundings for any sign of what she was after. A cloud approached her, a pink one at that, and she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head at it as it stopped in front of her. The crying roar died down to nothing again as she watched. A leaf fell down slowly onto the pink cloud, but when it touched, Fluttershy jumped away. Lightning ripped out of the cloud, leaving a comical burn mark on the ground as thunder cracked seconds later. Then, it rained... brown water that smelt oddly like chocolate. She hesitantly put her hand under the rain, watching with wide eyes as her grip on her bag tightened. She flinched as cold... water touched her hand. When she pulled away, she stared down at the brown liquid with a raised eyebrow. It moved like water, but it smelt so heavily of chocolate. So much so that she didn't even have to bring it up to her face to smell it. She considered giving it a taste, but turned her hand and watched as it fell off just like water. If it was anything logical, it was watered down chocolate syrup, and she could only imagine how disgusting that would be. She stood up straight and slowly looked up at the cloud. It was pink, and was raining brown water that could only be something chocolate. What was going on? She heard the beast cry again, and walked past the cloud, going around it so she could continue after the haunting noise that brought her hands up to her ears again. She furrowed her eyebrows as she stomped, watching the space ahead of her diligently with a frown etched onto her face. She wanted to find this beast, and she wanted to see if it was alright. Scratch that, she needed to find this beast, and she needed to see if it was alright. It felt like it'd kill her if she didn't. After more randomly flying bolts and larger groups of pink clouds with chocolate rain, she finally saw a clearing past a hill, lit up by the setting sun as the canopy of leaves was... burned and sparkling with... bubbles. She ignored whatever she was seeing around her as she could only focus on the creature in the middle of the clearing, shaking next to a pond that didn't belong there. Her breath left her as her eyes widened, her shoulders dropping with unwavering awe at the creature. It wasn't like any she had seen before and now she was wondering if she'd ever breathe again. She wondered if the memory of this majestic creature would forever have taken her breath away. It was an amalgamation of so many other animals she had seen, but no matter what, it was a horrifying beast that was crying out in pain as it's roar weakened. It was ripped out of it's throat with much less strength and intensity than before. It was long, with a thin, serpentine-like body that reminded her of a Chinese dragon. Around that body were spirals of yellow and purple, all surrounded by sparkles that made it look like something out of a movie. She gasped, her hands flying to her face at the huge, probably deep gash that sat across it's side, dripping blood onto the grass beneath it as it spasmed in... something Fluttershy deduced down to pain. But a gash wouldn't cause that reaction, would it? What was even stranger was it's brown-furred body led up to a... horse-like head that was colored grey. A short and black mane ran down it's neck, topping of at two mismatched horns. One belonged to a deer, and the other was from a creature she couldn't pinpoint. It's face was long as fluffy, white eyebrows sat above eyes shut in pain, matching the long and white beard. It's fang was obvious as it tried roaring, it's voice already hoarse and weak, it sounded like it was whining, begging. Though it's fang was only one of it's kind, it led to a world of horror when the creature jerked it's head in her direction, revealing the same purple and yellow colors spiraling inside as it attempted to roar once again. She raised an eyebrow as it stopped trying, yellow eyes with red pupils looking down and seeing those magically bright colors fall out of it's mouth and changing the warm and green grass beneath it to a pink and purple checkered floor. It didn't notice her as it clamped it's mouth shut, looking away with a growl from somewhere within it's throat. A talon reached up and wrapped around it's throat as the creature winced in pain, the claws of the talon dug into it's fur and drug down roughly. Fluttershy followed that talon down to it's body, finding it didn't even match his other limbs as his other arm was a lion's paw that held it's body up off the ground slightly, along with it's... legs. At the end of it's torso lied a goats leg on it's left, a reptilian one with two toes on it's right. A long, dragon-like tail stretched long past either leg, light pink spines following down it's red tail with a white bit of fur at the end. On it's back held two wings, neither matched the other as well as they folded and spread against it's back with the creatures spasms and jerks. A bat-like wing colored dark stretched as a feathered one folded, though it didn't look quite as much like a bird's as it did just remind her of when her wings and ears appeared when her and her friends band played music. And as she watched, it's chest moved slower, it's eyes shut and it's paw and legs couldn't hold it up anymore. It fell to the ground lifelessly and Fluttershy didn't hesitate to slide her way down the small hill and race over to the creature. Author's Note Howdy! Thanks to any of you who read this story <3 Most of the reason I'm writing stories on this site is so I can get criticism and build my ability to write a beginning, middle, and end, so, if any of you have any criticism, please tell me. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy!
Talking to a DraconequusDiscord grumbled as he snuggled into his pillow, something that was horrifyingly uncomfortable, but he was too tired to even try and change it. The sun shining in through his eyelids was another problem, one he was willing to focus his magic on. An exceptionally pink sleeping mask appeared on his face as he smiled into his bed, which was becoming unbearable. But he shot up after rolling onto his side, the mask disappearing from his face as waves of pain shot through his waist. He winced, wondering why his entire body felt sore as he looked down and saw bandages wrapped around his torso. He raised an eyebrow, they were tinged red around the source of his pain, but he didn't remember wrapping himself in any bandages. Before he could snap them away to see whatever was biting him and sending currents of pain through him, a voice chirped. "Oh! You're awake," a soft, quiet voice said. His head whirled in the direction of it, finding a lot of pink and yellow as a... human sat by a tree? What was a human doing this close to him? And as he looked around, she was sitting rather far away. He looked around, deciding she was an insignificant part of his problem. He saw grass past his body, making him wonder why he was sleeping on the dirt when there were things that could be so much more comfortable, like a cloud made of cotton candy for example. He didn't remember a thing, and he had no idea where he was. But he was obviously in this area for at least a few minutes. That was evident by the things that obviously didn't belong. Like the half-frozen pond that shouldn't exist in the middle of a thick forest. And the sun shined down strongly, making him bring his talon up to block it. He noticed the crisp edges of leaves falling, and assumed he created the large hole in the canopy. And as he looked around, he assumed he made the trees vanish as well, there weren't even any stumps left. "I didn't think you would be, you looked horrible," the voice played again. He jerked his head to whoever this incompetent girly thought she was, insulting a god like himself. But before he could insult her back, she spoke as she rummaged through her bag. "Your wound was terrible too, you didn't even wake up while I stitched it up. And I didn't have anything to put you to sleep," she said again. Why was she talking to him so... casually? He narrowed his eyes on her, his tail flicking in a threat as he evaluated the situation. Maybe the human look was a disguise, and she really was something that wanted his magic, and thought she could get it. She looked completely and utterly harmless, but that could only further her innocent look. And what was with the distance she was keeping? She had to know what he was, and what insane amounts of power he was capable of. Before he could question the girl and reveal her plan and debunk it, she walked towards him and held out an apple. He raised an eyebrow at it and tilted his head. Was it poisoned? That'd be a weird way to obtain a draconequus' powers, he was so confused as he glanced up at her, seeing her beaming smile. "I have no idea what you are, and I couldn't find anything about what you are," she said, making him sit up straight in utter confusion. He didn't think a being of his power could be so completely confused. "But you have a lot of parts from a horse and a goat," she said with her bright smile and even brighter teal eyes. He couldn't see any malice behind it. "Oh, and the deer... antler horn?" She said with a tilt of her head as she shook her hand slightly to draw his attention to the apple. He was appalled, was this little girl... mocking him? But he was once again prevented from going through with something, in this case grabbing the apple, when she shook her head and giggled. He simply watched as she set the apple down on the ground and walked away, staring at him expectantly. "You aren't going to get any better if you don't eat," she explained and he really didn't understand. His tail wrapped around to his front, wrapping around the apple and extending itself long enough so he could bring the fruit up to his paw. He saw a look of amazement on her face as he noticed just how yellow she was. Her hair was probably the only thing about her that wasn't yellow, instead, it was a gorgeous, pastel pink he could get behind. But a sweater hung off one shoulder, it was definitely a few sizes too big as it fell over her yellow skirt. That beautiful canary yellow led to hideous green tights and black boots. She looked so harmless, and she didn't seem to know what he was. But looks can deceive. He shot her an unconvinced, cautious look as he tossed the apple up and down, looking to see if any magic coated the thing, assuming magic was the only thing that could kill him. It had nothing, it looked just like a normal apple. "Oh, I have other fruits if you don't eat apples," the girl offered kindly, still keeping her distance. "It's not poisoned, is it?" He asked, looking the apple over and wishing he could tell if anything was off the normal, not just what he did to things. "It wouldn't kill me, but I doubt it'd do any good," he said, remembering that his magic was malfunctioning. For some reason. He looked at his talon, feeling less and more unstable magic than normal. "Of course it's not--..." She said, ending abruptly, he looked up at her and saw those teals eyes were wider than before. And her carefree, leisurely attitude was gone as her body was frozen stiff. He didn't understand again, was it something he said? He didn't think it would be, she wasn't afraid of his appearance, so why would his voice scare her? "Did-- did you just..." she fumbled, raising a shaking hand with a finger pointed at him. He tossed the apple again, assuming maybe this changeling-type creature's magic was malfunctioning like his. He declared the apple was good enough to eat, and threw it over his shoulder with a smug grin, though in that same time it appeared in his mouth. He smiled as he ate it, it tasted pretty nice. "Did... did you just... just talk?" She asked calmly in a shaking voice. What was with this girl? He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why wouldn't I talk?" He asked, pulling the stem of the apple out of his mouth and throwing it over his shoulder, debating whether or not to make it reappear in his talon and use it as a toothpick. He decided against it as he put his hands on his hips, jerking his hand away from his... injury he didn't remember getting. "I'm not an animal." She shook her head and laughed to herself, putting her hand in her hair as she smiled. "I must be low on sleep," she said to herself, looking behind her. "I should actually be getting back..." As she leaned over to grab her bag, he snapped with a wide grin, appearing hanging upside down on a branch next to her. "Yes, I don't really prefer the ground as a bed either," he said, stroking his gravity-defying beard as he thought. "I don't know why I was there to begin with, actually." She screamed and jumped away, falling to the ground and using her feet to push herself away. "Y-y-you're tal-talking..." she mumbled, staring up at him with wide eyes that only made him notice the bags underneath them. Maybe this creature disliked the ground as well. Wait, she didn't know he could talk? He snapped and appeared over her, curious at her cowering as she had, just minutes ago, talked to him as if he was a patient. "Well, it's kind of rude not to talk to those who talk to you," he said, standing up straight and rolling his wrist as his theatrics. "Even if I suspect you to be a creature after my magic, I can at least be courteous." She shook her head again and dug both her hands into her impossibly soft hair. "This can't be happening," she mumbled to herself, her hands shaking. He didn't understand either. This thing was after a draconequus' magic, how could she not know they talked? What all-mighty being couldn't talk? Or at least communicate in some way! He snapped, his paw flying off of his body and grabbing the back of her sweaters collar. She yelped as his paw picked her up off the ground up to his height, which was a few heads taller than her. "Okay, you thing," he hissed. "You can give up the games. If you agree to give up this little plan of yours, I might let you off free," he said, narrowing his eyes on her. He rolled his eyes as he noticed her sweater was so big it still fully covered her. She pointed at him. "You talk." Now he was annoyed as he dropped her, growling. He used his talon to grab his paw and screw it back onto his arm. He leaned over her, sneering. "Alright, missy. I don't know what you're doing, but give it up, it's rather obnoxious," he threatened, snapping and making a bunch of papers appear in his hands. He had no idea what she was, and was determined to find out what if she wasn't going to tell him. "But you talk," she said as she picked herself up slightly and saw what he was holding. Glasses appeared on his face as she gasped, getting on her knees and smiling as she looked at what he had in his hands. "And you can read?" She asked, completely amazed. He scowled, feeling his eye twitch as this little brat was starting to get on his nerves. Was she mocking him? Was she a threat? He didn't necessarily care at this point, he just wanted to get her to understand what a draconequus was, and to speak of them with respect. "Of course I can! I'm a draconequus! We aren't some animals!" He sneered, feeling hatred override the intense pain in his side that he hadn't forgotten about. Though the questions of what it was, why it was bandaged up, and why his magic wasn't fixing it already left his mind. Her eyes widened as her shoulders and jaw dropped, and he was honestly scared. He had never been this uninformed in his life and he didn't think he'd ever experience this. She scurried past him for her bag, rummaging through it again. "Hey!" He yelled after her, stomping over to her until he stood behind her, towering over her. "I was talking!" He said, throwing his hands up as he watched her pull a thick notebook out of her bag and flip past tons of full pages. He didn't even have time to appreciate or belittle her for such pointless actions before she stood up, forcing him to stand up straight as she stood on the tips of her toes and pointed at a word on a blank page. "You're a draconequus?" She asked, pronouncing it horribly though her spelling was correct, all the while big, teal eyes looked up at him. "Draconequus," he corrected, staring at the blank page with curiosity. Why was it the only empty one? Especially when she was looking to get his magic, or to mess with him. Either way, both intentions shouldn't have had a blank research page covered in question marks and such amazement at the name. Wait, why was she so astonished? "Draconequus," she said correctly, nodding her head and furrowing her eyebrows as she pulled the book away from him and turned it to herself, flipping through it. He wondered if she was going to turn to a page that had information about him, when it hit him she didn't even know how to pronounce 'draconequus'. She shoved a spread in his face this time, both without titles and detailed drawings in pencil. He grabbed the book from her, looking down at all the studies and analyzing of him. All of them had the bandages around the waist, meaning she'd drawn them while he was asleep, because one thing he did know was that he didn't wrap himself in bandages before he went to sleep. When did he go to sleep? "So... that's a draconequus?" She asked expectantly, staring up at him with no fear. He would've been concerned, or honored, by the great drawings if he wasn't horribly confused. This thing was meant to be a dark creature that would take advantage of his weakened state and take his magic, but instead, she seemed as if she didn't even know he was a creature that had magic. First, she acted as if she had wrapped him up in bandages, and the word 'wound' only implied she was... healing him? That new revelation boggled his mind as he ran over all of the other completely innocent things she had done. She was shocked he could talk, she was amazed by his species, she wasn't fearful of his magic, as if she didn't know he had it, and she had acted as if she was curious of his health. And worried. He nodded, handing the book back to her and seeing her wide smile as she held the book to her chest. She was terrifying. "So... since you know what I am," he started, deducing she could only be a great actor, or an idiotic creature that didn't know how to act. "Would you mind telling me what you are?" He asked nicely, giving her a fake smile as his mind ran with negative scenarios. His magic could malfunction at any moment, at least, that's what little he got from his memories yesterday. She smiled sweetly as she raised an eyebrow, an amused look on her face he would've enjoyed had he not currently been furious at her for having the capability to throw him, Discord, for a loop. "Oh, me? I'm nobody," she said, taking a step towards him with a hungry curiosity in her eyes that scared him out of even thinking anything negative of her. He filled his mind with repeats of 'pretty hair' to appease the almighty magic she had to have. He shook his head. "No, I mean. What are you? Like how I'm a draconequus, and this," he said as he made a squirrel appear in his talon. "Is a squirrel. Or chipmunk," he said, narrowing his eyes on the little rodent he had dangling from it's tail. She put down her notebook and reached up for his claw, loosening his grip on the squirrel gently as she caught it in her palms. He watched with a confused stare as she bent over and set it free. "Oh, that's easy," she said with a smile as she stood back up with her book in her hands. "I'm just a normal girl." She flipped open her book, simply looking through the pages and letting him get a glance at every single full page as his mind fell apart, more than normally anyways. He snapped, appearing behind her and lifting her hair, seeing nothing coming out of her back. She jumped and looked back at him. "How did you do that?" She asked, leaning away from his touches as he lifted one of her arms and rolled her sleeve up as far as it could go. Nothing again. "Normal girl as in a human normal girl?" He asked, snapping and holding her upside down by one boot. She screamed and held her skirt in place as her shoelaces untied, dropping her to the ground as she slid out of her boot. He looked over her leg and saw nothing, and she very clearly didn't have any form of tail or horns. He snapped as he dropped her boot, it running towards her and placing itself back on her as it tied it's own shoelaces. She was amazed "How did you do that?" She asked greedily. "Just answer the question," he demanded of her greedy little curious stare he was terrified of. Though it was hard to be scared of her when she talked like a little school girl with a fascination. She nodded. "Um, what are you doing?" She asked from her place on the ground, staring up at him, remembering he had essentially searched her... in an odd way. Though, she couldn't be just a 'normal girl', she had to be something. A normal girl wouldn't talk to him or even stand near him, a normal girl would be terrified. He snapped again, a disembodied bird beak grabbing bunches of her sweater, holding enough of it to make her stomach visible. She definitely didn't have a tail. She gasped, "Can you use magic?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm sorry, dear, but you can't simply be a normal girl," he said, crossing his arms and starting to feel anger run through him as his muscles tensed, his side erupting in pain again at the action. This girl was going to make a fool of him, and he wasn't going to allow it. Her face fell into a frown as her shoulders dropped. "Why not?" She asked. "Why not?" He repeated, throwing his arms up in the air, a fake, angered smile on his face. "Why not? I'll tell you why not, girl," he said, shooting a pointed paw at her chest like a rocket, another paw coming up in it's place as that one fell to the ground in an ashy pile the nonexistent wind blew away. "Because you're a little girl. That's why!" She furrowed her eyebrows, a frown etched into her features. "That's not very nice," she lectured, making his jaw drop. "I'll have you know, I'm very capable of myself," she nodded, taking her stand against him. He didn't know he, The Lord of Chaos, could be equally appalled, confused, and angered by a creature acting innocent. All in the same day! "Have you seen me?" He asked, stomping towards her with anger seeping off of him. He didn't know how he was still talking, and why she wasn't injured yet. "I'm a monster! No normal girl would be okay with looking at and talking to this," he said, pointing to his face. It hurt him to insult his perfect self, but fact was fact, he was a monstrous beast to humans. She furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head. "You aren't that scary, besides, I love taking care of animals," she said with a smile before flinching in the beak's grasp. "Oh, i'm sorry, I guess animal wouldn't exactly be the right way to describe you," she said nervously, hoping she didn't anger him any further. She didn't understand why he was so violent or angry, but she wanted to help him. He shook his head, holding up one claw from his talon and paw, shutting his eyes. "You don't find me hideous?" He asked, slowly opening his eyes. She glanced away, realigning her feet, despite the lack of ground beneath them. "No, but, I appreciate all... creatures. I don't think I'd ever find one... unpleasant," she said nervously, hoping her considerate word choice would make him feel better. She looked down at his waist, the bandages on his right side tinged red. "Oh, I'm sorry. How do you feel? That was a nasty cut," she said, looking up at him hoping he'd have a promising answer. He flinched with a smile, if she knew his 'wound' was a cut, maybe she'd know what happened to him. "Cut?" He repeated, the words clicking with him as he looked down himself. It did hurt like hell, but he didn't remember cuts hurting this bad. "Is that what that is?" She nodded, feeling her heart swell as the beak let her down, having a feeling his confused, cautious look was a good sign. "When I heard you last night I--" He snapped and something that sounded like a zipper raced across her mouth. She reached for it and felt something cold and angular where her lips would be. What was causing all of these bizarre things to happen? "Heard me last night? What was I doing?" He asked seriously, grabbing her shoulders and staring at her expectantly. He raised an eyebrow when she didn't answer, and rolled his eyes when she pointed at her mouth. He snapped and she smiled up at him. "Roaring," she said, narrowing her eyes on him. "Wait... do you not remember?" He shook his head, a hand flying to her mouth. "Oh, well... I found you in this clearing and you looked seriously hurt," she started, almost enjoying his attentive stare on her. "That gash of yours was bleeding pretty badly--" "Gash?" He asked with wide eyes, leaning back and putting his paw to his chest. He looked down at the bandages when she nodded, well, that sort of explained the pain. He still didn't think a more serious injury had hurt this badly before. It was pulsing out pain from his side to the rest of his body. "And you looked sick," she said sadly, looking away from him. "There were these... purple and yellow things around you with a bunch of sparkles too," she explained, looking back up at him with wide, sympathetic eyes as she tucked her hands behind her back. "You got quieter and quieter until you passed out. Then I came over and stitched up your wound and--" "You did this?" He asked, pointing at his bandages. She tilted her head in confusion before nodding. He snapped, appearing a few feet away from her and pacing as he stroked his beard in thought. "Don't worry, I'm good at taking care of animals--" she said before shaking her head. "Creatures," She corrected. She watched with her hands clasped at her chest as he paced and mumbled to himself so quietly she couldn't make out the words. "Though I didn't have everything that would be really helpful to fixing it, but I stopped the bleeding, cleaned it," she started, shifting her weight on one foot as she delved into her thoughts, holding a finger out and tapping it as a way to keep count. "I also stitched it and bandaged it. It should start healing soon," she said, putting down her count of four and worriedly watching him pace. He snapped, though nothing happened, other than the light bulb appearing above his head. He swooped over in front of her in an instant with a serious stare. She swallowed. "So... you're a normal girl that loves critters and decided to help me?" He asked, pointing at himself and expectantly waiting for a nod back. He nodded after she did and turned away, pulling on the collar of a suit he made appear on himself. "Well I must thank you...?" She jumped after a few seconds of silence. "Fluttershy!" He smiled to himself at the sweet name for a sweet girl. "Fluttershy," he repeated, even liking how it sounded on his tongue. "But I'm afraid I must go, things to see, things to do," he rambled, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Wait!" She said, reaching out for him. He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, watching her face turn pink as she stood up straight and cleared her throat. "I- just, um," she muttered before taking a deep breath. "Do you mind staying here for a few days? I wouldn't want you ending up somewhere dangerous with that wound." He laughed, a pure genuine laugh that brought his paw close to his mouth. "Oh, Fluttershy," he said as he shook his head, snapping his fingers and watching the girl appear tucked between his arm and his chest, looking up at him with teal eyes. "Us draconequui can do anything! A measly cut isn't going to stop me," he explained cheerfully. Her eyes sparkled as she stared up at him in awe. "Anything?" She asked breathlessly. He hummed as he looked over her, it had been decades, probably centuries, since a creature, much less human, was interested in him. "Anything," he whispered back, seeing her smile widen. "You have to tell me everything!" She demanded joyfully, staring up at him with an even wider grin. She quickly recoiled from it, ducking into her hair and sweater. "If that's, um, okay with you." He dropped her, bringing his paw up to his chin as he looked up in thought. A normal girl that didn't find his appearance repulsive absolutely amazed by the thought of his species and wanting to hear more about it...? It would only take a day out of his immortal life, what was stopping him? He grinned at her. "Sure, it'll be repayment for your services," he said with a bow, gesturing towards his bandages. He winced as he stood up straight again. "Though, it does hurt a bit." She nodded. "It was a bad injury, it's going to hurt for a few days," she explained, making his ears and shoulders drop. "And... if your magic can do anything..." she said with her own finger to her chin, lightly walking towards him. "Can't you just relieve the pain yourself?" She asked worriedly. He rolled his eyes at himself and nodded at her, grinning as he snapped his fingers, shutting his eyes in accomplishment. They opened as another pulse of pain washed over, he shot a raised eyebrow down at his side and watched, snapping his claws over and over again, using either arm, his tail, his horns, and got nothing. He looked to her and shrugged. "I usually can, I haven't the slightest idea why I can't now," he said, wincing as the pain seemed to get worse with his multiple attempts at fixing it. He laughed nervously and tapped his claw and paw together. "Maybe, I could use some more of your assistance," he said with a nervous grin, watching her beam. She rocked back on her feet, cowering in her sweater. "Is tomorrow okay? I would really love to stay, but I've been here all night and my family's probably really worried and..." she trailed off, looking down at her bag and the direction she came from. She looked back up at the draconequus, seeing his limbs went rigid as he was frozen. "Um... Mr. Draconequus?" "Discord," he said, patting her on the head with his claw as he stared off in a random direction. "My name is Discord," he repeated. She clasped her hands together with a smile. "That's great!" She beamed before noticing he was still frozen in place. "Are you okay? Cause I can stay a bit longer or come back after I get some more things to help you--" she started and was cut off by him looking down at her with the same serious, determined, and frozen stare on his face. "I'll be fine," he said, pulling his claw from her hair and forever imprinting it in his memory how stupidly soft her hair was. "You can just come back tomorrow," he said, watching her smile sadly. "Only if you're sure you'll be okay. Strong creature or not, a wound's a wound," she rambled, stopping again when he put his claw in her hair, looking up at his somewhat soft, and incredibly shocked smile. "Just go home," he told her seriously, staring at her intently. She nodded nervously before skipping off with a smile, shoving her notebook in her bag and throwing it over her shoulder, waving goodbye as she stepped up the small hill and turned the other way. And for some reason, he waved back, half-heartedly, but still. He watched her and waited until she was gone, snapping and making a glass throne appear behind him. It was pink with chocolate milk swishing inside as he fell back into it and sunk. What was with that girl? He looked down at the bandages and felt... something in his heart. Why did she do all this for something she didn't even know? That could have easily ripped her face off? Why?... And why did she care so much about him already? "Um, Discord?" Her heard her lovely voice and looked to where she left, taking a glance up at the sky and seeing the sun shining right over them. He smiled sweetly at her to hide his obvious confusion, sweat dripping down his face. "Yes, Fluttershy?" He asked, wondering why it felt nice to say someone else's name in a good way, a nice way. A non-discordant way. She hid behind the tree she was peeking from slightly. "Um... since your magic can do a lot of things," she said, taking a glance at the glass throne and hoping he wasn't exaggerating when he had said 'anything'. "Do you think you could teleport me back to the front of the forest by the park?" She hid further and continued shifting her weight from foot to foot as she avoided his raised eyebrow on her. "We're actually, um, quite far in the wood and I, uh..." she trailed off, hiding completely behind the tree to where he could only see her hair. "I have no idea how to get back!" She squealed in one go, cowering into herself. Discord nodded, though his mind was on other things. "Sure," he said, seeing her peek out from behind her tree with a wide smile before she vanished. He sunk into his cold throne. What was she?
Healing a DraconequusDiscord rested his head in his paw while the tapping of his talon against his glass throne was the only noise ringing in his head. He looked around the horribly normal surroundings, the bright orange fish fading to blue when they swam under the frozen roof of the pond were the only things close to chaotic. The pond didn't even belong in these woods, and the half-frozen part of it definitely didn't. He was bored, utterly, completely, and absolutely bored. And he couldn't do a single thing about it! As he looked at his talon and paw, he felt the unequal and unstable magic flowing through him. And he didn't have a single idea why his magic was malfunctioning, and his weak memories of how he got in this forest wasn't much of a help. He was in some sort of mountains when... he groaned and looked up at the sky with a scowl. He couldn't even recall what had happened clearly. He saw mountains... but were there mountains around here? He didn't know and he couldn't go look! He decided his magic was best if it was used sparsely until it was back to normal. He wouldn't want something to go wrong and draw the attention of something that could hurt him in his already hurt state. And if they did find him, he wouldn't be able to trust his magic to get him out of the situation! He was shocked he was able to keep with his word, not much had changed to his surroundings. The glass throne was one he'd done when he was awake. The burnt leaf roof, the small patch of a checkered floor, the nonexistent trees, and the pond were all things he'd done while he was unconscious. Or at least blacked out. He didn't remember doing any of it. The only other thing he had done was the thin and purple roof of leaves to replace the last ones. He decided it was necessary, the sun was a monster worse than him. And he could only imagine a goddess ruling over the sun making it even more painful for him simply because it disliked him. That retched sun had been keeping him from napping his time away, the most he could do was rid himself of one issue. Though two others weren't that easily solved. The rocketing pain in his side slowly became more and more unbearable the longer he was awake with it, the pain even kept him from sleeping it away. And every time he tried to heal it with his magic, it erupted into a new state of pain that he didn't know how he was taking. It was burning and the bandages around it tinged red more with his repeated attempts at fixing it. It pulsed and sent that pain slowly through the rest of his body with each wave. And his lack of sleep didn't make it feel any better, or the horrible bandages he refused to take off for multiple reasons. He had no idea how he'd put them back on without his magic, and that girl made it sound as if they were crucial to whatever healing process he'd obviously have to go through. He sunk into his throne. Fluttershy was the other problem. He looked up at the purple canopy and held his breath as he snapped, waiting for something to go wrong. The entire canopy vanished when he only wanted to move it aside. He groaned as he crawled his way off of his throne, attempting to hide from the horrible sun goddess. The sun hung over him slightly to the left. Of course, it was still early in the day, but she had left early yesterday, he simply assumed she'd be back soon. She seemed enthusiastic enough to pull him out of his failed sleep at six in the morning. He sighed and sunk his way down the side of his throne. She did seem enthusiastic, didn't she? He grimaced, maybe she wasn't as innocent as he thought. Maybe she was just a little actor that, after realizing he was a threat, snuck her way out without angering him. He stroked his beard and raised an eyebrow at the world. It did seem sensible, he was a jerk to her, revealed he could do anything, and she didn't know the way back. He ground his teeth together and growled. "That little witch..." he said, debating on whether or not he should summon a statue of her and a sledgehammer to smash it with. He shook his head, that little drama student didn't deserve the risk of him using his magic. He crossed his arms and fumed, it wasn't that he was upset she wouldn't show. He was simply upset she wouldn't fix him, he was an almighty god that would haunt her for the rest of her days, and she threatened not helping him. Especially after she said she would. He couldn't believe her or that sun goddess. He wanted to ruin both of their lives, he sighed, if only he could use his magic, and he would do it now. But that wouldn't stop him from complaining and belittling her right here and now. He kept himself from making other versions of himself appear around him in a circle as he opened his mouth to list of his first complaint: that horrible hair of hers. "Oh, I'm sorry," he heard a quiet voice call. He whirled his head to the small step of a cliff and saw even more yellow than he did yesterday. Instead of a pink bag, she had a pastel yellow one, similar to her sweater that seemed to fit her the tiniest bit better. Maybe only two sizes too big instead of three. Other than that he was thankful she took off those repulsive green tights and replaced them with high-waisted blue jeans that led down to the same black boots. "Were you waiting long?" She asked again, her voice dripping with innocent concern. He rolled his eyes and snapped, feeling his magic grow in stability the smallest bit. He appeared behind her, towering over her with a smug grin. How could he ever think this little girl was capable of fooling him? The pain must've been getting to him. "Not at all, dear," he responded, seeing her smile up at him before slipping off her bag and bending down to look through it. He shook his head. "You really aren't scared of me, are you?" He asked. He heard her giggle and had no idea why it almost sounded nice, nice enough to make his pain lessen. "Not really," she said, standing back up with that pure smile of hers and a white bottle in her hand. He didn't understand and watched as she opened the bottle. He tilted his head in confusion. "How? I understand I'm not exactly one of the prettiest things," he started with disgust. "To your kind." She slowly looked up at him, examining his body for some reason before she knocked four, small, and red pills into her hand. "I don't see how," she said, holding her hand out to him. "I think you're fascinating." He cowered away from her. How could a little, normal girl like her not be scared of him, much less find him fascinating? He grabbed the pills from her hand and looked at them. "What are you-- these?" he asked, looking over them and wondering what good they'd do. They were small, but maybe they helped magic. As he looked over them, they didn't look like it. "Painkillers," she said, picking up her bag and looking in awe at his glass throne. Her awe ended as she whirled to his confused face. "Unless it doesn't hurt anymore." He shook his head. "These four, small pills are supposed to get rid of pain?" He asked with an amused smirk before throwing his head back in a laugh. He didn't get to appreciate the amazed look on her face as he wiped the tears from his eyes after the howls. "My dear, I never expected you to be this funny," he said through snickers. She smiled up at him, after shaking something from her thoughts. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she rocked back on her feet, tucking her hands behind her back. "Well, two do a lot to a person... and since you seem like you'd be two of a normal person, I just assumed a double dose would work," she said, avoiding his intent stare as she cowered into her hair. "But if that doesn't work, maybe a triple dose?" She asked, trying to make out the logic herself. She heard a snap and jumped out of her thoughts, seeing the lid of the pill bottle simply screwing off. "My apologies, but I doubt four measly pills would help a wound that's only hurt worse since you left," he said as he looked into the bottle. His body jumped back as he noticed every pill was just as small, it reattached to his legs that didn't move. He couldn't believe that these would help a full grown human. "Why don't we just air on the side of caution?" He asked, noticing her slightly worried stare. "Well, I suppose so," she said, one of her boots pulling back until it rested on the tip. Her hair fell in her face, but she didn't think she had the courage to raise her hand and move it. She didn't know what it was, but she felt so inferior around this creature, that was injured. She assumed it was because he was the draconequus that had plagued her thoughts for weeks, and she was worried she'd run him off. She heard a snap and felt something on her head, and she looked up as much as she could, which wasn't a lot. She saw him standing over her and assumed his talon was rested on her as he took most of his weight off his feet. "Perfect," he purred and opened his mouth. Fluttershy gasped when the pill bottle floated over him and poured like a waterfall into his mouth. She didn't have time to stop him before the bottle fell into his paw. "Um... that's not really a, um, good thing," she said nervously, looking away from him as he looked down at her. He moved his stare from her to the forest around them. It was quiet until she showed up, now it was full of his and her's voices. "Don't worry, my dear, I'm a god, a few pills can't hurt me," he said, snapping and appearing in his throne. He grinned confidently at her amazed stare as he raised his arms to draw attention to him and the throne before he rested them on the arms. "I'm usually never hurt," he said with a glower down at his wound. "Usually." "A god?" She repeated with bright, curious teal eyes and a wide smile. Her hands clasped together in front of her chest as she walked over to his throne. She rocked on her feet like a child waiting for candy. She flinched before he could respond and leaned over him and his throne with upturned eyebrows. "I'm so sorry, I totally forgot. You said the pain got worse?" As much as he loved a little amazed groupie, he'd rather see if she could do anything about his wound. "Yes," he grumbled, sinking into his throne. "It's even prevented me from my beauty sleep," he growled before shooting up and whirling to her. "And I don't understand why I can't fix it." He fell back into his chair as anger moved with the pulses of pain. "My magic may be messing up, but I've tried millions of times," he said, watching her worried stare become even more worried, which he didn't think was possible. He curled into the corner of his throne and cowered from her as she put her hands on the arm and leaned over it more. "That's horrible," she said. She noticed her invasion of his personal space and backed up, clearing her throat. "Do you know when it would start hurting worse?" She asked nervously, tucking her hands behind her back again as she looked up past her hair. He sat up as he thought, whatever he told her might lead to a solution, so he decided to comply with her wishes. He hummed as he stroked his beard, ignoring that concerned look directed at him. He sat up straight as a light bulb appeared over his head. He leaned on the arm of his throne she had recently just contaminated and cupped his head in his paw. "Whenever I tried fixing it." She furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Then why did you keep trying?" She asked, almost rudely, something he wasn't expecting. He never thought he'd be slightly scared by an innocent girl like herself... lecturing him. He shrugged, sliding and maneuvering on his throne until his feet and tail hung over the top of it, his head falling off the seat. "I thought it was just my magic malfunctioning. There's nothing that should be keeping my magic from working," he complained, attempting, and failing, to fight her stern stare. He rolled his eyes. "It's fine, my magic will be working in no time." She rolled her eyes before noticing that his bandages were slightly more red than before. "Maybe I should take a look at it," she said quietly, hoping he'd agree. She didn't want to force him to do something he didn't want to, especially when his theatrics and speech kind of insinuated he wouldn't be the most cooperative, and she still wanted to learn more about him. She smiled slightly when he snapped, appearing on a hospital bed. She wondered why his bandages were still on when he bowed. "Whatever will help you fix it faster," he said appreciatively. She picked up her bag and walked over to him, setting it down on the bed next to him. She spoke as she looked through it, wondering if a hospital bed was what he meant to summon if he said his magic was malfunctioning. If that was how it worked anyway. "I might not be able to do a lot, a gash like that takes time to heal," she said, making his ears drop. She smiled up at him as she pulled a pocket knife out of her bag. He cowered away from her, his tail coming up to block most of her access from him. "You're not going to cut me again, are you?" He asked, looking at her warily as sweat dripped down his face. It was hot outside, she was terrifying, and those pills didn't seem to be helping his pulsing pain. "Because as much as I'd love to conduct a scientific experiment as to why I can't use my magic on it, I'd rather not be cut again." She felt her heart swell at the idea that he deduced the knife down to a scientific experiment to help him figure something out. She giggled as she gently grabbed his tail and pushed it aside. "No, I'm cutting off the bandages," she smiled, watching his body fall with relaxation. He comically wiped the sweat off his forehead as she reached for the bandages, his tail slid in her way again. She looked up at his worried expression with a raised eyebrow. "Can't you just... unwrap them?" he asked sweetly, wondering why a cut was worrying him so much. He assumed the intense pain radiating from one was great motivation. At least her and her sweet smile were comforting, he don't know how much more worried he'd be if she was a terrifying veterinarian from Germany. She moved his tail aside again, trying not to admire the red scales compared to the brown fur on his body. "I tucked the end to the bandages near your wound and then taped it to make sure it'd heal better when I wasn't around, so it'd be easier to cut it off," she explained, watching him reluctantly move his tail out of her way. She grabbed a part of the wrappings around his waist and looked up at him for confirmation. When he nodded, she sliced through it. He tried to do something to keep his mind off of it, he couldn't trust the girl, so how could he trust her to not cut him and leave him with another wound he couldn't heal himself? He didn't want to think about it as her words rang in his head. He looked down at her as she unwrapped him. "When you weren't around? Were you planning to leave?" He asked, curiosity bubbling inside him at this soft girl that was being exceptionally gentle. She nodded. "I thought you were just some animal that would be out for a couple of days," she said as she reached behind him to avoid simply pulling the bandage around. His fur looked incredibly soft, and it was from what she remembered of stitching him up. "So I was going to leave you the fruit I had and try to find my way out before you woke up and come check up on you later," she explained as she pulled all of the bandages off, wondering why he was curious. She smiled up at his confused stare, expecting some response. She didn't expect a smug grin and a snap, a light blue lab coat and light blue pair of gloves appearing on her. He growled. "It was supposed to be that pink," he said, pointing at her hair. "And just when I thought I was starting to get control of it!" He pouted as she set the dirty bandages aside. She remembered that they should've been changed every day. She really did had a lot more to learn about animals. But if his wound healed correctly, she would be ecstatic she did it. She looked back at his wound and tilted her head at the clean stitches. He followed her stare and jumped, seeing the hairless patch on his side. His neck bent so his head hung lower, letting him see the monster on his side easier. "You cut off my fur?!" He asked, guessing his magic wouldn't grow that back either. He only guessed because he was too scared to try. She shook her head. "It was already gone, it looked like it was burnt off. But I would've needed to anyways to stitch it," she explained, wondering why his fur wasn't charred at the edges like it was before. Maybe his magic fixed that, but couldn't get any closer to his wound? She furrowed her eyebrows as she moved his paw to get a better look. "Do you have a fever?" She asked. He shook his head, wondering why she questioned. He knew he would've complained if he did, though the sun beaming down on him was hot enough to make him feel as if he had a fever. She stood on the tips of her toes and grabbed his jaw, pulling him down with her as she stood on her feet. He raised an eyebrow as she brought her hand up to his forehead, putting the back of it to him. She hummed in concentration as she tried the other side of her hand. She let go of him and he kept his head that low for a few moments before declaring she didn't necessarily need him at the moment and sat up straight. She brought her thumb to her mouth and bit on it as her other hand cupped her elbow. She stared at his wound intently, counting the twenty-three stitches as her mind ran. He refused to find her species adorable, but she was an exception. A rather adorable one. "Well, doc?" He asked playfully, trying to not think her focused stare meant something bad. He tapped the claws of his talon and paw together as he smiled nervously. "It's not that bad, is it?" He asked, realizing the pulsing, excruciating, waves of pain lessened. Maybe an entire bottle of pills did work. She shook her head and he smiled as the tension left his shoulders. "It looks completely fine," she said, silently thanking him for the gloves as she moved his paw again and ran her fingers over it. He jumped and tensed for a few runs over it before his tail flew in her way. He would've made a glass case appear around it with half of her hand inside, but he was scared to use any magic near his wound. He felt something magical around his injury, but he didn't know if it was his own or the thing that caused the injury. He assumed the latter. He didn't need to ask for further information as she spoke again. "I thought the bleeding and worse pain would be from an infection. But it looks okay, great even," she explained, wondering what could be causing his pain. An infection made the most sense, and if his magic was maybe irritating it more to make the pain worse... She groaned, she didn't understand and she wanted so desperately to help him. She didn't want to disappoint him and have him find her useless. But she couldn't lie and tell him she had something to help him other than painkillers and regular methods to help it heal faster. She sighed, looking up at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Discord. I have no idea why your pain was getting worse, or how to stop it." His shoulders fell with hers, though he watched as she pulled a roll of bandages and a pair of scissors out of her bag. He made sure his arms were out of her way as she covered his waist with more bandages. "Um, Discord..." she mumbled as if she wasn't sure she needed to be talking. He couldn't believe that humans were this sweet and timid. Every human he'd ever met had pitchforks and torches. Or guns. "Yes?" He asked, wondering if she had some risky thing that could help him, but had many down-falls. He'd take anything at this point, thought an entire bottle of painkillers seemed to be working. His pain was fading away, slowly, but still fading. She took a glance up at him as she tucked the bandage in a place over his stomach instead of his wound after cutting it off of the roll. She put the roll and the scissors in her bag as she spoke, avoiding meeting his stare. "Do you, uh, still have things to do?" She asked, stealing a glance up at him warily. She looked away from his confused look. He assumed she wanted her end of their deal, but before he could say he was a draconequus of his word, she spoke. "It'll heal a lot faster if you change the bandages every day, well, it has a lower chance of getting infected," she said, zipping up her bag and finally looking up at him. "Plus, those stitches need to come out at some point." He couldn't believe her, had she already forgotten his end of the deal? Just because he was... hurt, and she didn't know how to fix it quickly? Maybe he had to rethink what he thought about humans if this girl was apart of the crowd. He shook his head. "I can just remove them myself when the time comes, darling," he said confidently, ready to snap his paw to show her. She quickly grabbed his paw with wide eyes. "Um, maybe... don't do... that," she said, her voice slowly getting quieter as she let go of his paw. He raised an eyebrow at her to continue and wondered why she couldn't meet his stare. "It's just um... I think I have an idea about why your magic isn't working." He snapped and the entire hospital game disappeared, he held her up in front of him and narrowed his eyes on her. "What is it?" He hissed. "Did you do something?" He didn't know what else could've hurt him or limit his magic other than her. She shook her head desperately. "Well, I, um..." she said, looking down at her feet as she moved them in front of and behind the other to keep herself busy. "I, um, don't exactly know why... but I, uh, think I have an idea of something... about it," she said nervously, looking up at him and hoping he'd believe her. He sighed and dropped her. "So, Fluttershy," he asked rudely. "What was it you thought?" She swallowed as she stood up nervously, feeling anxiety twist in her stomach at his shut eyes as his head turned away from her and he crossed arms. "I, um..." she said before taking a deep breath, trying to use what Pinkie Pie always said calmed her down. "I think your magic only works until a certain area around your wound," she said calmly, smiling to herself in pride. His eyes shot open and he whirled to her, his neck bending so his face was in hers. "What do you mean?" He asked, somewhat nicer than before. What was he kidding, this little girl couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to. She looked away, took a step back, and cowered into her hair and sweater. "Well, your fur around it was burnt when I first saw it," she said, sneaking a glance up at him and seeing his interest. She smiled, maybe he wasn't so mad anymore. "But just now it was healthy." He stood up straight and stroked his beard, considering what this girl had said. She had to be at least a little off, since his magic did make the injury worse, so it was affected somehow, but maybe she was onto something. He snapped, appearing in her place with her in his arms. "My dear Fluttershy," he said to her pink face. "You are a genius." Maybe this human wasn't so bad. And maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't be bad company while she helped him figure out just why his magic couldn't heal himself. She cowered into his arms with a smile, and a red face he could very clearly see, though he assumed it was the compliment. "Oh, um, not really... But thank you though!" She said nervously, looking to the ground. He took that as a sign to let her down, so he snapped and she appeared standing in front of him. "Of course you are! So now! You're going to help me figure out just why my magic doesn't work," he explained, seeing her light up. Though it fell with her shoulders. "Um, actually..." she said, taking a glance down at the ground. "I was hoping if you'd stay here so I can help your cut," she said with a point at his bandages. He snapped again and appeared next to her with a paw draped over her shoulder and pulling her closer to him. He didn't know what it was, but he felt like he had more control of his magic around her, or the longer she had been there. "Sure! It is going to take a bit to figure out what the hell is happening to my magic anyway," he said, wondering how her hair was so damn soft as it fell onto his already incredibly soft paw. "Besides, we can keep that little deal up," he said, letting go of her and snapping as he marched over to a chart with an anatomical drawing of a draconequus. "Deal?" She asked, following him with wide eyes full of adoration up at the chart. The phrase 'Head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things' ran across the bottom as a floating light blue marker started drawing lines throughout the blank character. They ran like a nervous system. "Yes, our little deal," he said nonchalantly, watching and controlling the light blue marker as it drew what would be circuits of his magic through him. He actually had no idea, but he assumed the diagram of magic flow where he could have stops and passages would help. "You come back here and look at my injury today, and I entertain you with telling you all about draconequui." The marker also would jerk in one direction due to his lack of control, he decide to leave it. She stood up straight. "Oh, yes. I completely forgot," she said, running her hand through her hair in shock. He looked down at her. "Really?" He asked, totally unconvinced. But those teal eyes couldn't hold a lie as she nodded. He rolled his eyes and drug his paw down his face. How could a girl of such a violent species be so selfless. He didn't understand. She clasped her hands together and smiled. "Thank you for remembering, but if you don't want to tell me anything, that's okay," she said sweetly, watching a comically big eraser appear and erase a huge portion of the marker on the left side of his body. She assumed that was meant to be his injury, but it was erased on the wrong side. "What do you mean? Isn't that what you wanted?" He asked, watching her as she grabbed the floating marker away from his control and started drawing back in what he had erased. "What are you doing?" He asked, wondering how her version would help them at all. Did she even understand what he was drawing? "Your wound's on the other side," she said, pulling away from the chart as she looked for the lid of the marker and didn't find one. She smiled up at him. "And yes, it is what I wanted," she continued, making confusion blossom in him again that he didn't necessarily want. "But spending time with you is just as amazing." He shook his head. "Why are you so amazed by me? I mean, sure, I'm great, but a girl like you shouldn't be interested in an amalgamation of things," he said, hoping she didn't lecture him for his 'a girl like you' statement. She giggled and he almost wished she wouldn't. It didn't help that he disliked reconsidering his thoughts on an entire species because of her, or that her hair was the softest thing he'd ever touched, but she could at least not giggle like an angel. "I found a list of a bunch of mythological creatures and cryptids," she said as she grabbed the comically big eraser from his magic and erased the same shape he had erased before on his right side, the left of the drawing. "And when I came to a draconequus, I found nothing on it." She smiled sadly as she obviously delved back into her thoughts. She also didn't need to be so pretty. "I don't know why, but it bugged me, and I really wanted to know something about it." She turned and looked up at him with the most gorgeous smiles he had ever seen. And he thought psychopathy was the best traits of humans. "But I got to meet one," she said, her grin beaming. "And you're so much better than I imagined." He simply stared at her as the sun shined on her and declared that at some times, he could like the sun goddess, if she could light up and already perfect image. But he also declared his dislike for this girl again. She didn't need to be this heavenly, sweet, gorgeous... or completely mind boggling.
Befriending a Draconequus: Part 2Fluttershy didn't know what to think as she sat down at their usual lunch table. And the butterflies flapping their wings every few minutes didn't help and only brought her back to the conflicting feelings bubbling in her throat. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the late bell ring or her friends sitting down. Discord was at the front of her mind and she couldn't help but feel stupid about it. It almost made it seem like she liked him more than she did her other friends, which couldn't be true, could it? Sure, he was a walking, talking, magical, and majestic animal that walked right out of her dreams and into her reality, and was super awesome and funny and made life so much more interesting and fascinating... But that couldn't equal being better than her friends she'd known for years? Especially since she had only known him for a week. She sighed and looked down at the pastel stones, noticing none of them were pink. Maybe it was just a honeymoon phase type thing, he was perfect and amazing, and new. All of her other friends, she had known for years... and they weren't a perfect, heavenly friend that had everything she could want from a person. Or creature. That still didn't make her feel any better as she could imagine telling him this and seeing him boast, reassuring her while making a smaller form of himself dance around her head at an attempt to make her feel better. She sighed. "Sugar cube?" Applejack's thick southern accent brought Fluttershy out of her thoughts. Fluttershy jumped before turning to Applejack with a fake and nervous smile, putting the hand that had the bracelet in her hair as if Applejack didn't know what it was. Applejack and all of her friends were under the impression she bought it, and hadn't noticed the moving butterflies yet. The only reason she had lied was because she had no idea how they'd take the idea that she spent her entire afternoons hanging out and talking to a seemingly imaginary creature. "Yes?" She asked. Applejack smiled motherly with an amused huff. "You alright there?" She asked, trying to keep the snicker off of her lips. Fluttershy noticed it had grabbed the partial attention of Sunset, but she turned back to see Pinkie Pie chant 'chug, chug, chug!' to Rainbow Dash who was downing fizzy apple cider. Fluttershy nodded, thinking of something she could use. She smiled as she found it, only imagining Discord making a light bulb appear above her head at her gasp and delighted smile. "Just, um, worried I failed my test in Chemistry," she said nervously, hoping Applejack didn't see through her lie. Applejack raised an eyebrow and leaned over her in suspicion and Fluttershy could feel the sweat dripping down her neck as she smiled back. Applejack shrugged and sat back in her seat normally, turning to see Rarity's disgusted noise as Rainbow belched. But Fluttershy didn't get a complete sigh out before she stiffened up and smiled as Applejack looked back at her. "You ain't gonna eat nothin'?" Applejack asked, drawing another glance out of Sunset. Fluttershy swallowed and shook her head. "I'm, uh, too nervous!" She said, resting her head on her palm as casually as possible, though she knew she looked like a pig stuffed into a tutu trying to act normal as it attempted not getting mud on itself. She inwardly sighed, even Discord's speech and antics affected her comparisons! Applejack nodded as she snatched her fizzy apple cider from Rainbows thieving hands with a sneer. She turned back to Fluttershy with a smile as she popped open the bottle. "Alright, but I don't think eatin'll do ya any harm. Takin' a test on an empty stomach ain't good either," she said, downing her soda with a glower at Rainbow who had stole Soarin's who was sitting at another table while the boy was on a rant about pies. His friends found it funny that they could rile him up into a 'debate mode' just by saying one bad thing about pies. He had shooed Rainbow away when she silently asked for it. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, she didn't say anything about a test after... She sighed and dropped her head against the table. She completely forgot that she had a test in Zoology. And she definitely hadn't been paying attention in that class. All the analogous structures talk only made her think of that amalgamation she talked too. And as she crossed her arms over her head and watched her friends talk and eat, she could only remember that cursed draconequus and his antics. One thing that was incredibly common for him, like cotton candy cloud with chocolate milk rain common, was making utensils have more than one purpose. Oh, and liking tea. Fluttershy smiled in anticipation as she stepped down the one, maybe two, stair hill into the clearing, excited for whatever random and utterly chaotic thing Discord would start their afternoon off with. She raised an eyebrow as she saw the normal green couch he always had for her next to another, very comfy looking, chair. In between the two was a table floating upside down with two teacups sitting on the bottom of it, a tea pot floating nearby with a butterfly and tornado painted on it. She smiled when she heard a snap and looked up next to her, seeing a very smug grin on a very confident draconequus. "I don't think I've ever told you this, dear," he said, pushing her towards the chairs and table. "But I love tea." She gasped as he snapped and appeared in the other chair, gesturing for her to sit down on her usual couch. She smiled widely as she did. "This looks great," she said, looking down at the cucumber sandwiches a very angry looking duck in a suit was holding on his wing. "Though I do have to say I didn't expect it." Discord tilted his head with a smile, snapping and watching the flying teapot pour tea, a box full of tea bags opening and singing a quiet song in the background. "Living for thousands of years, I've come to find joy in one of the simpler things," he said, watching as a cup floated up and into his paw. Fluttershy giggled as she looked at the tea box and saw the word 'ginseng' written on it. She smirked with a devilish thought as she took a sip of the tea, fighting the urge to compliment it. "Making ginseng tea sing? That seems a little... typical, Discord," she said smugly, watching his joyous face fall at her comment. She ignored it as she took another sip of the tea that she couldn't get enough of. "Typical?" He asked, sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs as he furrowed his eyebrows. She felt pride wash over her as he very obviously let her comment get to him. "Yes, I suppose so... it is in the name," he mumbled to himself. She debated on whether or not she should let the idea of his mischief rubbing off on her be seen as a bad or good thing. Her mind yelled bad, but she decided to ignore it as she watched him fumble for something less 'typical'. He snapped, his face becoming a light bulb as he clearly got an idea. She fought her want to smile or giggle at it, hiding her small, impossible to not have smile behind her cup of tea as she took another sip. "What about this?" He asked, snapping and making a piƱata appear on the couch next to her. She watched curiously as it looked like a normal piƱata. But it suddenly huffed very adorable noises before sneezing loudly, confetti and streamers coming out of it's body at the action. Discord watched her expectantly, and it took all Fluttershy had to not react, though on the inside she was laughing like a maniac at the confetti that now coated her, and the tea pot that was trying to shake it off. She shrugged as she smiled devilishly, moving her arm up to get the confetti out of her hair. Discord pouted, stroking his beard angrily in thought. His reaction was the only thing keeping Fluttershy from breaking, it was too funny to see him fight to find something to impress her, she couldn't give it up yet. "Maybe I've just seen the extent of your magic..." she said, happy she could successfully act as if he couldn't surprise her with a dress change. Oh, he was fuming and she loved it. "In five days?" He scoffed, putting a talon to his chest as his eyes widened. He shook his head. "Less that five days!" She held the laugh in her throat at his dramatic reaction as she nodded, sitting back and putting one leg over the other, taking another sip of her tea that never seemed to end. Even never-ending tea amazed her. "It seems so," she teased, enjoying that twitch in his eye. She could only imagine how angry he'd be at the girl that he could amaze with simple things saying he couldn't take her breath away. He snapped, making ducks in tutu's appear and dance like a line of girls, kicking their legs up and looking incredibly annoyed despite the wide, forced smiles on their faces. Before Fluttershy could mock him, another duck walked in front, raising his leg as the ginseng tea flew behind them and sang loudly, a pair of bongo's playing the drums in the background as sparkling red curtains framed the scene. Discord looked so smug and confident as hardwood floors appeared beneath the ducks, pushing the show higher and higher in the sky on stacks like a cake. Fluttershy's eyes followed in awe, wondering what other thing had happened when another snap shot them up into the sky on a balcony seating at a play. The show continued as a backdrop was changed to explosive oranges and purples in jagged, stripes outwards, all decorated with sparkles. Fluttershy looked over the balcony and saw an entire crowd of people, and to the left and right were other people, mostly Discords, in their same situation. She heard another snap and looked over to see Discord confidently dressed in a vest with a monocle and wine glass full of chocolate milk. He gestured towards her with the glass and drew her attention to the elegant white dress he had put her in. He rolled his eyes. "Pink is an enemy," he mumbled as he snapped, making Fluttershy appear in her now fancy chair with velvet red cushions. Discord clapped, the lights dimming as the curtains closed and opened to a plain field with a singular black sheep appearing in the middle. The sheep cleared it's throat as Discord leaned over and whispered to her, "Enjoy the show, my dear." Fluttershy looked back down and sat back as the sheep introduced the play, The Three Ugly Sheep and the Evil Queen. Fluttershy couldn't help her giggle, it was a mess of famous fairy tail characters, premises, and villains, and that was just the title! The curtains closed and opened to the same field with three white sheep and one black one. One of the white sheep was much bigger, and started the play with telling her three sons that they were being disowned. The three sheep gasped and ran around, running into things and each other with very comical sound effects, mimicking The Three Stooges. The play continued, telling the three stories of the sheep and combining them into one big plot against the Evil Queen. The first story closely mocked The Three Little Pigs, a white sheep running away from the other two after their mother told them to stay together in the light of their abandonment. He was lazy, and joined two pigs who had warned him to build a secure house in case of one of the Queen's henchmen: The Big Bad Bear. Fluttershy was on the edge of her seat to see what happened to Sheep 1 and how Discord would put a spin on it, but the scene ended at the pigs warning and the curtains closed. They opened moments later showing Sheep 2, the other white one. His story followed the story of The Billy Goats Gruff. The sheep ran away since his brother did, scrounging the land for an older brother and mother that loved him. He came across two extremely tall and buff goats chewing lettuce and leaning against a fence acting tough. The sheep was delighted, and shocked, to find one of them was a woman, the larger one at that. But it was a mother and son pair, and the sheep couldn't be happier. He asked to be apart of their family, and the two agreed, if he was tough enough to go over the bridge and fool the Evil Queen's henchman: The Troll. Fluttershy was disappointed The Troll wasn't any different when the curtains closed, furthering her disappointment as it led to the next story. The last sheep was left standing in a field with no mother and no brothers, sighing and looking to the ground. He was determined to find a set of friends that wouldn't leave him and set out on a journey to do it. He came across an arrogant cat and chicken that only belittled him and he left, continuing a painful journey through a desert. He came across an oasis and ran towards it, jumping in and reveling in the cold, nice, and refreshing water. He sighed and peeked open his eyes hours later and saw camels standing over him with a sneer, saying he'd never be a camel, no matter how much water his fluff could hold. He begged and begged for their respect, and they agreed, as long as he could befriend the horrid sand snake that haunted their oasis. Fluttershy was standing over the balcony with a smile down at the play, wondering how it'd end as the curtains didn't fall and it seemed that she'd get to see what Ugly Sheep would do. But before she could, the people started vanishing from the crowds, the backdrop falling apart and deteriorating. She looked back and saw a sneering Discord as her, now usual green couch, caught her, the two falling out of the sky box. She watched the play room fall apart and reveal the setting sun around them, she also watched with fear as the cake stacked stage started falling, the actors screaming and making normal animal noises. She winced as the stacks got larger and larger, meaning the ground was close. She landed on a fluffy cloud and peeked open her eyes to see the normal clearing. She whirled to Discord, excitement in her eyes ready to beg to let her see the ending, though Discord scowled at his paw and talon before shaking his head and smiling at her, holding his paw out to her. "Despite the rather abrupt ending, that still should've been enough to impress your high standards," he said, helping her up with his disembodied talon pushing her up from underneath her. She hid her excitement as she wondered how far she could've pushed this. She looked down to dust off her dress, and fought the pout at her normal yellow clothes. She shrugged as she looked up at him, she smiled inwardly at her acting abilities as she walked past him slowly and tauntingly. "I mean, it wasn't a lot," she said, watching his bewildered stare follow her. "It was only a mix of a lot of fairy tales," she said, feeling the lies burn on her tongue. Her heart yearned for the ending and the action of the play, already curious as to how Sheep 1 would get out of his lazy house-building and not listening to warning. She wondered how Sheep 2 would fool the troll, and she especially wondered how a sweet little outcast like Ugly Sheep would befriend a sand snake. "You're kidding me!" Discord exclaimed, turning to see her uninterested stare edging on a smile. He narrowed his eyes, bending his neck to get an easier look at her whole face. He gasped silently as his neck straightened, his eyes widening. Fluttershy grabbed her wrist roughly behind her back as she opened her mouth, ready to admit that it was all a lie. There wasn't much of a point to keep it going if he already knew it was happening. But before she could say anything, he snapped and she appeared hundreds of feet in the air, sitting on a blanket of butterflies. "How's this, Fluttershy?" He asked devilishly, gesturing to the open sky that she cowered from, the breeze blowing her hair back. She nervously laughed as she looked up at Discord, giving him a look that said 'I asked for this, didn't I?'. He nodded as he snapped again, the butterflies latching onto Fluttershy and covering her like a dress over her clothes. Though she saw the sleeves of her sweaters disappear the butterflies hugged her chest, and didn't leave any open holes. Her face burned red as her jeans disappeared, the butterflies creating a skirt to her dress that didn't let anyone see through. Her boots and socks vanished, replaced with glass heels that hurt and squeezed her toes into. She shot Discord a worried look as he waved his talon at her. "Discord!" She screamed as the butterflies glued to her couldn't hold her up while the butterflies she was sat on could. How illogical. She couldn't appreciate the rule bending of recently established rules as she dropped to the ground in her undergarments essentially. The butterflies tickling her skin meant nothing to her as she fell. She screamed, desperately for Discord as she saw him disappear, her heart dropping in her stomach. He wouldn't let her get hurt, she knew that, he was her friend. But that didn't stop him from letting her teeter on the edge of a heart attack. Her eyes widened and she swore her heart stopped as she looked down and saw green. "Okay! I'm sorry!" She screamed, hoping her apology would make this end sooner. She covered her eyes, scared for the lions mouth she'd be caught inside of and having her new butterfly dress covered in saliva. She didn't feel gross and disgusting, so she moved her hands cautiously when she realized she hit something that wasn't the harsh ground. She looked up and saw Discord smiling down at her smugly, having caught her in his arms and holding her like a princess against incredibly soft fur. She hugged herself as her face burned again, remembering she was half-naked under the very not revealing butterfly dress. Discord grinned toothily. "How about that dear? Did that exceed your expectations?" He purred. Fluttershy felt her shoulders bounce as laughs escaped her, her hand covering her mouth as she howled with laughter. She didn't know why, but his physical touches had never bothered her, and now, she was content with her covering dress. But she didn't care as she stared up at his prideful smile. She nodded. "Of course," she said, her laughter falling to a stop. She looked away from him with her own content smile. "You always surprise me." Silence hung over them again, and she didn't even try to see his face on the verge of sheer laughter at her ridiculously sentimental tone. His friendship meant a lot to her as she looked at her butterfly wrists above the fluttering dress. She looked up at him with a smile. "Can we finish the play?" She asked like a child, not noticing his genuine smile. He snapped, her appearing in front of him with her elegant dress on, his vest with a tailcoat decorating him. He sneered and snapped again, making his monocle appear on his face. He straightened up with a grin as he readjusted his vest before taking a look up at the sky. The sun was setting. Fluttershy followed his stare and her shoulders dropped, the crystal lights appearing as if on cue. Discord smiled at her as he snapped again, her dress being replaced with her clothes. "First thing tomorrow," he assured her. She smiled and started towards her bag, waving goodbye as she climbed up the two stair hill. Fluttershy sighed dreamily at the memory, sitting down in her history class. The start of the play was Tuesday, a day after they declared a real friendship, and it was one she'd always remember. And the thoughts just led to what they did Wednesday, after the amazing play she swore she'd see hundreds of times over again. Fluttershy's dress disappeared and was replaced with a grey sweater with a draconequus stitched on in a stained-glass window fashion. She smiled and didn't argue with the ridiculous wear instead of her normal green shirt. But Discord just had to tell her why her shirt had changed. "That green is hideous," he told her, Fluttershy rolled her eyes as she walked through the grass in her normal boots instead of in heels on a skybox. "That play was great," she said with a wide smile. "It's way better than a lot of the movies I've seen," she said, seeing Discord's appeased expression as he snapped. He bowed as a movie trailer appeared behind him, Ugly Sheep walking into it and shutting the door. "The actors were ecstatic to put it on for you," he said, grinning at her amazed stare he had watched instead of the entire play. Fluttershy smiled as she grabbed his talon and started dragging him towards the trailer. "Can I get autographs?" She said with a wide smile. Discord simply blinked at her as a response before smiling and nodding, snapping and making the three sheep appear sitting behind a wood stand with the three painted on a wood-cutout above the stand. She ran over to them. Ugly Sheep smiled timidly at her, "H-hello! How, um, how did you like the play?" He asked, amazing Fluttershy at how far Discords magic went. "It was fantastic!" She said as she clasped her hands together, absolutely ignoring Discord and adoring how much life he could create with his magic. Even if it was fake, it wasn't at the same time. It was real fabrications, and she could talk to them and touch them. He really was a god. Sheep 1 and Sheep 2 squeezed Ugly Sheep between them as they leaned over the stand, grinning proudly at her. "What was your favorite part? Mine, of course," Sheep 2 said arrogantly, making Fluttershy how much went into these beings. The actor acted as he did during the first of the story, arrogant and cocky in his abilities, while at the end of the play, he softened and accepted the family member he had left, Ugly Sheep. Sheep 1 pushed against the other actor. "No, it was my part! I learned a lesson!" The sheep fought, growling towards his fellow actor. Ugly Sheep fumed as the two tossed insults back and forth, shoving past the two actors and smiling sweetly at her. "You wanted an autograph?" He smiled, shooting the others grimaces. The two rolled their eyes and gave her fake smiles. Fluttershy nodded as she looked for something for the sheep to write on, remembering she hadn't grabbed anything. Her notebook appeared in her hands and she shot Discord a smile as she flipped to the inside of the back cover, handing it over. Fluttershy smiled at their different signatures. "My favorite part was when you all realized you didn't have to run away to find family," she said as Ugly Sheep handed the book back with an amazed stare. Fluttershy hugged the book after she looked at the cursive 'Ugly Sheep' and sloppily written 'Sheep 1' and 'Sheep 2'. "But from running away, you found out the horrors of what the Evil Queen had done, and joined together to fight her." The three looked absolutely amazed. Sheep 1 looked behind the black sheep at Sheep 2 and whispered, "Is that what the story's about?" Ugly Sheep nodded at her and smiled widely. "Yeah, that's my favorite part, too," he said, holding his hoof out to Fluttershy. She grabbed it and shook his hoof. "We'll be acting it again tomorrow, February fifteenth!" He said sweetly. "We hope you'll be able to make it...?" "Fluttershy," she nodded, though she hadn't expected Sheep 1 to snatch the book out of her hands and write her name underneath their signatures and give it back to her. She smiled, watching the ink seep into her book and she wondered if it'd stay. "Thank you," she said, turning away. She held their stares as she turned, though she hit extremely soft fur and looked up to see Discord's bewildered face. She wondered what it was as she looked behind her and saw the stand, the actors, and the trailer had vanished. She looked up at him. "Discord?" She asked. "Isn't February fourteenth Valentines Day?" He asked, watching her look down and see if the signatures had stayed. She nodded and smiled when they did. Discord shook his head as Fluttershy walked past him. "Isn't Valentines Day something important to humans?" She hummed in thought before turning back to face him. "I guess so," she said with a shrug. "It's a day you spend with partners, or friends if you don't have a date," she explained innocently, not seeing what could very well have been considered a date. Though, neither did Discord. Discord pointed at himself. "Then why'd you spend it with me? Don't you have someone special?" He asked her seriously, a confused look on his face as he waited for an answer. She smiled at him and shrugged again. "No, I don't. But I guess I just kinda forgot about it and came out here like usual," she said with a nervous giggle. "Besides, yesterday was way funner than any of the other Valentines Day's I've had." He snapped and appeared in front of her with a rose. "Happy Valentines Day," he said, holding it out to her and smiling contently when she took it and smiled, watching a butterfly on her bracelet flap it's wings. She smiled and held it up to him. "Happy Valentines Day, Discord," she said platonically, declaring her day would've been much better with him rather than some of her friends at some random cafƩ. He took the rose back with a grin. Looking back on it, it was up there with Tuesday for best days. It was a great way to spend a late Valentines Day, and she adored how it wasn't weird between them. It also made her realize that he was one of the only creatures she didn't mind physical affection like hugs or arms over her shoulder or talons and paws on her back pushing her towards a tea party from. She started her journey towards Zoology, figuring out she didn't pay attention to one thing her teacher had told her last class. She hung her head as she remembered the test she had in this class. But she picked up her head and puffed out her chest and marched in determination. Zoology was another class she cared about, so, just like Botany, she wasn't allowed to happily reminisce over her amazing week with her draconequus pal. She sighed. She just loved the word 'draconequus'. Fluttershy walked towards Art with such a confused expression that some might've taken as anger. She wore furrowed eyebrows and a thin, small line for a mouth, and she let it decorate her face as she sat down next to Sunset Shimmer who was standing proudly next to a half finished piece that held three huge sunflowers. "Hey Fluttershy!" Sunset called, bringing her out of her utter confusion. "What do you think so far?" She said, gesturing towards her piece with such a proud grin. Fluttershy could see why, Sunset's skills were evident in the painting. She had nice composition but even better color choice as the background was a violent crimson that was most likely mixed in with some other color to create the cohesive brown. Fluttershy smiled up at her. "It looks great, just like the other one you fixed this week," she said, pointing to the painting sitting on the counter behind them that was a fix of Sunset's previous atrocity. The bell rang and Rarity's sandals clapped against the floor and Fluttershy wondered how her day could get any different. "Oh!" Rarity said, shaking her fists next to her face with a giddy smile. "It looks so good, darling!" "You think so?" Sunset asked humbly, not meaning to ask for compliments, but Rarity was just so generous when it came to compliments. Rarity nodded and took a deep breath as the teacher announced another studio day, Sunset usually would've stopped her, but decided that a little confidence boost couldn't hurt. Rarity and Sunset's voices became a buzz in the background as Fluttershy fell into her thoughts. She had finished her test in Zoology and thought of how well Discord was recovering, which led to her mindlessly doing her math work after her Zoology class. Her heart hung as she remembered the revelation she made in math, well, one of many. Her constant chaotic tea party would end the second Discord could get his stitches removed, which would only be another week. She sunk in her chair as she heard something about Rarity's Life Lessons on Design, a program she didn't know existed. So it really was stupid for her to be obsessed with her new lively life. It'd be over soon, and she was just given a glimpse of heaven with it. She smiled, she'd never think of cotton candy without chocolate milk again. She heard Rarity say, "What are friends for?" and remembered her other revelation in math, one that made her sneer. The teacher had given out busy work and pages upon pages of complex math she had dozed off through throughout the week. Since it was so much work, the teacher said you could get a partner and help each other, and just about everyone in Fluttershy's class had a friend. Fluttershy was furious, she didn't see any of her friends during the day, she only saw them at lunch and in Art. And because of this, they really liked to do Rainbooms practice, go out to a cafƩ, or sleep over at one of the others houses. But those things didn't necessarily fix what troubles Fluttershy had to go through whenever the teacher forced them to pick partners. And sometimes, Fluttershy looked back at Sunset taking notes over Rarity's designs, it felt like not even her friends included her. And that only made the Discord-leaving situation worse! He was one of her only friends that spent his entire time with her and entertaining her, though that wasn't especially hard, he didn't have anyone else to talk to. Her stomach churned as she got up and found whatever art project she was working on, it was one she didn't have to think about to draw fortunately. Or unfortunately if, like today, she didn't want to think about the dumpster fire of her own problems swirling in her head. She grabbed her pencil and continued work on it, not knowing exactly what it was, but being perfectly content with that. Her teacher was pretty into abstract and interpretive art, so it wasn't a bad thing. Though she knew it contained a skyscraper, and almost found joy in not knowing what she was drawing. She smiled, telling herself she needed to think of something else if she wanted the result to be more confusing and unexpected than understandable and expected. She settled a more objective thought rather than one with emotions mixed it. Fluttershy stared intently at his wound as Discord played Go Fish! with a fish that disliked the terminology 'go fish'. It was a humorous listen as Discord constantly used the phrase and acted innocent towards the fish, until said fish caught on and threw the cards at him. Discord was on his third fish. Fluttershy went to touch his stitches, but his tail swiped in front of it. She looked up at his bored expression. "That horrid pain is finally gone, you're not touching it," he hissed slightly, turning towards the fish and opening his mouth, ready to say 'go fish' when a hand of cards were thrown at him. "Oh, who needs you anyway?" He hissed as he summoned another fish. "I just don't understand," she said, looking at his twenty-something stitches. He was healing perfectly fine, and would be free to have the stitches removed in a week, but the pain he felt soon after he got them was mind boggling. "You're perfectly fine," she continued. "Then there's nothing to question," Discord replied calmly, though he was extremely prideful he had made it through one game with a fish. He snapped, looking down at Fluttershy's sorrowful expression as bandages started wrapping their way slowly around his waist. "Look, Flutter--" Discord started with his characteristic theatrics when a familiar pain pulsed through him. He bit down on his talon and growled. Fluttershy watched as the magically formed bandages Discord made wrapped around his waist, and burnt to a crisp when they attempted to wrap over his stitches. She leaned in, furrowing her eyebrows as the bandages vanished, a transparent yellow bubble had appeared around his stiches to burn the wrappings, but it vanished when there was nothing left to burn. Fluttershy didn't care or notice her mane grow exceptionally longer, a green ponytail holder separating her longer than normal hair around her hips. She was too focused on the blue glowing behind Discord's stitches, or the green hue the sutures were taking on. She didn't notice Discord's bewildered stare on her when two pony like ears poked up through her hair, two yellow wings spreading and folding against her back. Just what was happening around his wound? "Uh, Fluttershy?" Discord asked, pointing at her, though she wasn't listening as she reached out for his cut again. He rolled his eyes and used his tail to push her far enough away that she'd look up at him. "What's happening to you?" He asked when teal eyes looking up at him. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "What's happening to me? There's something going on around your stitches," she said, pointing at his side. He simply blinked at her. "You have ears, wings, and longer hair," he said seemingly nonchalantly. Fluttershy flinched as she turned to look over her shoulder, seeing yellow feathers stretch out. She shook her head. "Now, I really don't understand," she said, looking up at him. "These only show up when I play with my friends in our band." "Those are normal?!" He asked, his tail blocking his side from her. She nodded calmly, waiting for his response. It seemed he couldn't even make sense of it and didn't even try to at this moment as he asked her to put the bandages on for him. After a few minutes of either party having no idea how to continue when one of them had parts of a pony decorating her, her wings, ears, and tail all disappeared. Fluttershy felt uneasy about it, especially when it happened yesterday, but it was one of the only times she had seen how his wound reacted to magic. But she still didn't understand. And she decided she didn't want to try to at this point in time as she sat back from her drawing, ready to see what her thoughtless mind drew up. Her heart dropped as it was a giant draconequus wrapping around a skyscraper, only to make it sparkle and decorate it to look like a birthday. The happy, optimistic skyscraper was matched with a vicious looking draconequus. She assumed it was meant to symbolize that looks doesn't equal who the person-- creature is. She sighed and put it up on the shelf for their classes work, not noticing Sunset's horrified expression. Once the bell rang the three talked their way to their practice room, opening the doors and finding Rainbow Dash already practicing with Pinkie Pie eating a doughnut at the drums. Fluttershy rolled her eyes as Sunset started up a conversation with Rainbow Dash, picking on her about missing their practice in the morning. The girls waited for Applejack, who got a lecture from Rainbow Dash about being on time, and Rainbow Dash once again getting bit at for not doing their practice in the morning. Fluttershy couldn't wait for this to be over. And it was after only a few tries at a few of Sunset's songs, they did one of Rainbow Dash's as well, of course. Fluttershy would've offered to do one of her songs, but she didn't want this to last longer than it needed to. And she didn't know why, she loved her friends, and she loved playing. But today, she really didn't want to be there. And all of the others got their ears and 'tails', but her. They questioned it for a bit before Rainbow begged Sunset to do one of her new songs, though Sunset still seemed hung up on it as her stare lingered on Fluttershy. But Fluttershy felt like her wings and ears would show, she was so excited when they decided to be done for the day, Rarity and Pinkie Pie complaining about the lots of homework and projects they had to do over the weekend. Rainbow bickered but agreed, she had a project too. And that was the start of the end of Fluttershy's happiness as the three had the same project and decided they could help each other on it. Sunset and Applejack had a different teacher on the subject, but agreed to help. And then it was decided, a sleep-over at Pinkie Pie's. Fluttershy fumed her way behind the walking, talking crowd as they made their way out of the school. She was thinking of the many things she could say to get out of it, but could only come up with something about Zephyr Breeze, who they could ask about it on Monday. Besides, she was a terrible liar. So as they approached the parking lot, ready to pile in their respective, or respective friends car. Fluttershy sighed, hoping something would get her out of this, she had spent the entire day thinking of how much fun Discord was and now she couldn't even go see him? What if something happened to his cut? What if his magic malfunctioned like the first night again? Anxiety and worry turned her stomach and tied it into a knot. "Twilight?" She heard Sunset's voice say, the noise one of complete awe and amazement. Fluttershy moved to the side of the crowd, seeing Princess Twilight rubbing her head on the ground, Spike sitting next to her shaking his head. "What are you doing here?" Twilight looked up, noticing who was questioning her, but her face didn't light up like the crowd expected. She wore upturned eyebrows and her voice dripped with worry. "Are you girls okay, what's happening?" She asked frantically, confusing the girls she talked to. But Rarity deduced the girl wasn't insane, alone at least as Spike looked just as concerned. Fluttershy didn't understand and she really wished everything was explained to her more. What was Twilight doing here? And why was she so worried? Nothing was happening. "There's a--" Twilight started. But Fluttershy interrupted her, feeling someone tap her on the shoulder and talk from behind her. "Guess who?" A deep voice she had gotten so accustomed to spoke. Fluttershy whirled behind her. "Dis...cord?" She started loud, worried Twilight would blame a huge amalgamation abomination for whatever she was here for, but she got quieter when she didn't see a seven, eight-foot draconequus and instead saw a person. He grinned toothily at her. "Discord?" Twilight asked as if she knew who this person was. Fluttershy shot her friends confused faces and Discord worried glances. This couldn't be good.
Talking About a DraconequusSunset watched with wide eyes and an open mouth as her mind and stomach turned in worry and fear. Fluttershy was looking between their friend's stares, and this strange, atrocious looking man. But his looks weren't what terrified her, it was that Fluttershy had drawn a draconequus in class, and that Fluttershy had just called this man 'Discord'. This 'Discord' fellow was a walking mess in the way he dressed, and looked, for that matter. His hair clearly needed a haircut and was in an awkward stage between growing it out and keeping it short, and it was horribly unruly. But that wasn't it, the wide, toothy grin was just terrifying, and the white soul patch next to black hair was disturbing. Other than that, he wore a grey dress shirt with a brown vest on top, that chocolate brown with small golden stripes in the sunlight led down to a pair of dress pants of the same type. The worst part were the knee-high boots in pink and purple checkers. Sunset slowly turned to Twilight, understanding why the Princess was there. She opened her mouth, though she had no idea if she was going to whisper or scream. She didn't get a chance as a purple hand clasped over her mouth and violet eyes stared into her. "We'll talk later," Twilight whispered, slowly taking her hand away from Sunset's face. Sunset nodded back, though she saw Spike cowering behind Twilight's shoes with a cautious stare. "Who's this?" Rainbow Dash asked rudely, crossing her arms with a finger pointed at Discord, the man only smiled wider. Rainbow Dash recoiled in disgust as he threw an arm over Fluttershy's shoulder. But before he could talk, Fluttershy covered his mouth and shot him a nasty glare before smiling at her friends, and a terrified Sunset. "This is, um, Discord!" She laughed nervously, slipping out from underneath his arm and taking her hand off his mouth, seeing he was more than amused. Rarity scrunched up into herself, she was absolutely appalled. "Darling, what are you wearing?" She asked, pointing at Discord as she tried to make sense of what the hell he could be after dressing like that. Pinkie Pie jumped in front of the crowd with a smile. "Are you Fluttershy's boyfriend?" She asked expectantly, watching the man only raise an eyebrow. "No," he said simply and ruffled her pink hair, noticing it wasn't as soft as Fluttershy's. Though he didn't think anything of it, this pink girl's hair was full of tangles. "We're best friends," he said devilishly, ignoring Fluttershy's annoyed look. He was perfectly fine telling them 'no', but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of hate when the white girl with purple hair put her hand to her forehead, fell against her friend lightly, and said 'thank god'. Fluttershy stepped in front of him with a nervous smile. "Yeah, um, just friends," she said with a fake smile. "Though, uh, I just, uh, remembered we had to do... something!" She said and turned to push Discord away from the crowd. "So, I'll talk to you all later!" She said and started focusing on pushing Discord away, shocked he wasn't fighting her. Pinkie Pie waved her hand and jumped. "Don't forget! Super important sleep over tonight!" She yelled after Fluttershy as she waved lightly compared to Pinkie's bombastic one. When the two turned the corner towards the side of the school, the group of friends turned to each other. "Who was that?" Applejack asked rudely. She crossed her arm with Rainbow Dash, both worried about their friend. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were ready to join in, though Twilight stepped into the group. "Oh yeah! This day just gets crazier and crazier," she said, putting a hand to her head. "Is everything all right in Equestria?" Twilight nodded worriedly. "Is something not wrong here?" She asked, looking between the shaking heads. Sunset could name many things wrong like Discord escaped his stone imprisonment and is in her world and befriended her friend! "Why would you think something was wrong here?" Rainbow Dash asked, noticing Sunset's worried stare on Twilight, but not thinking too much of it. Twilight sighed. "I figured out how to measure the magic of this world using the portal and my own magic, and there was a lot more than there normally is when I just checked," she explained, seeing attentive and confused faces. She assumed Discord was the problem, like he always is, but that didn't make any sense. "I thought something would have happened, but it seems nothing has." The girls shook their heads and murmured their agreements. Pinkie Pie, once again, bounced in front of the group with a wide smile as she grabbed Twilight's wrists. "Super-duper-long-distant-coolio-Princess-sleep-over!" Pinkie Pie squealed happily, grinning wide just to show how much she missed Twilight. The other's smiled at Twilight, giving each other giddy smiles at the idea of spending a night with their super long distant friend. Twilight felt her heart blossom at the sight, seeing her friends from a different world so excited to see her, but as they turned back towards the parking lot cheering what they'd do, she looked at Sunset. And she knew her visit wasn't for fun and sleep overs, especially when Sunset was looking as worried as she was. She hung back until she was walking next to Sunset, the ecstatic and loud group a few feet in front of them. "It's okay," she tried telling Sunset, watching Spike glance at Rarity but overall decided to hang back with her. "No it's not!" Sunset said, scratching at her palm with a frown and upturned eyebrows. "Discord's back and--" "It's okay," Twilight nodded and spoke slowly, staring into Sunset's eyes. "Trust me," she said, grabbing Sunset's hand and watching the girl give in and sigh, the tension leaving her body with it. She smiled appreciatively up at Twilight before letting go. She pointed a finger at Twilight and furrowed her eyebrows. "But we have to talk later," she said seriously, Twilight and Spike both nodding. The reassurance was nice, and seeing Twilight again was even nicer. But that didn't stop her stomach from turning when she thought about innocent little Fluttershy hanging with a draconequus freed from stone imprisonment turned human. Fluttershy gave her friends a fake smile and small wave as she pushed Discord as far away from them as possible. And he wasn't making it easy as he comically rested on his heels as she pushed him. "So why am I being pushed away from your friends?" He asked, turning his head slightly. She didn't answer until she was completely out of her friend's sights, which ended up being the side of the school. He turned to her with a grin when she stopped pushing, though he was met with a fuming girl who he thought would be excited to see him. His shoulders fell along with his confident smirk. "And why are you mad at me? Was it something I said?" He asked nervously. She shook her head, her fists balling into white. "Look, Discord, I don't think you need to be here," she started simply, her mind running with questions as to why Twilight was there, and her only conclusion was Discord. "And I'm not mad, well, a little. You could've told me you would show up at my school!" She said, letting her irritation get to her as she threw her hands up. He cowered away from her, though he still ended up taller than her. "I thought you would like a surprise," he said nervously. "And what's so wrong with it? I'm not a monster... right now at least," he continued, watching her drag a hand down her face. She shook her head. "They're going to ask how and when I met you," she said bluntly, trying not to let her anger get the better of her. But it was really tempting when he didn't seem to understand. "I can't just tell them I met a draconequus in the middle of the woods a week ago!" He shrugged. "I don't see why not, you like me," he said, pointing at her. He looked around before a smile spread across his face, snapping and the two reappeared somewhere else. It was a bustling city with more than a normal amount of people on the sidewalks and traffic was horrible. He looked around. "Where are we?" He asked, wondering what happened to his magic. He was sure they'd appear in a cafƩ or tea shop of some sort, his magic had just felt so powerful and stable. But when Fluttershy pushed him away, his magic seemed to fade for some reason. He didn't understand. She groaned. "In the city," she answered bluntly. "The crowded, snooty city." She rolled her eyes and started walking, avoiding anyone who walked near her with ease. He assumed it was her small frame and practice at high school, damn him for making himself handsome, in his opinion, and muscular. He chased after her. His magic felt even weaker, what was happening? He ignored it and saw the pink haired ball of fury was a bigger priority. "I'll take us back later, but can you at least explain why any of what I did was a bad idea?" He asked, successfully dodging an oncoming person for the first time. He tried to not let his surroundings get to him, but hundreds of people in one place just brought up bad memories. She walked into a record shop and he followed, hoping it'd be much quieter than the roaring noise of crowded streets, outdoor restaurants, and honking horns. The store was empty, the only person being the dark purple girl head banging to whatever was playing through her headphones while reading a magazine with her feet kicked up. Other than that, the store played old quiet music. Fluttershy whirled to him, a finger pointed at his chest and furrowed eyebrows. He put his arms up in defense. "The bad idea is that I don't like lying to my friends, but I have to lie about you," she said rudely before turning away and crossing her arms. "And now, they'll be asking me tons of questions about you and they'll be expecting more of you and they'll want to meet you and this is just a bad idea," she said angrily, her hands on her arms tightening. She sighed before he could reply. "It's not that bad. The worse part is Twilight," she said, her tone falling to sorrowful with her shoulders. She turned to him with wide eyes and upturned eyebrows. She looked away. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just worried and mad and... I don't know." His stomach dropped at seeing her sad eyes, he hated it. This ball of pure joy he'd seen so much excitement and awe in sad? He despised it with a passion. He sighed. "Don't worry about it," he said, walking over to her and ruffling her hair. "I know you, and I should've told you. I suppose it was more of a on the whim sort of thing when you didn't show up immediately," he said nervously, shooting her a soft smile that turned into a toothy grin when she gave it back. "One question though," he said, leaning over her and peering down at her. She smiled up at him and nodded. "Which one's Twilight?" He asked nervously, tapping his fingertips together. He thought she'd straight kill him if he didn't know her friends names, other than compliments to him, her friends were what she talked about. He remembered Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. He didn't remember a 'Twilight'. She cowered into her sweater at the name, looking down at her feet. "Oh, um, Twilight," she said, holding her arm. "She's the girl with blue hair, purple skin," she said, not daring to look up at him and whatever instinctually chaotic thing he'd cause. "She's the problem... sort of." "How so? She's just a normal girl, isn't she?" He asked, strolling past her and looking down at the records. He didn't know every little thing about humans, but he knew their technology advanced far past records, so what the hell was a record shop doing in the middle of a big city? He looked down at his hand, grinning widely when he thought of somewhere else they could go, and hoping he'd succeed in taking them there. "Yes, well, no actually, um--" she started fumbling for ways to possibly explain it, though she didn't have a chance as she vanished and reappeared somewhere else. The girl behind the counter sat up, moving her headphones and dropping her magazine as she looked around. She shrugged, getting up to pick up the record off the floor, grumbling about inconsiderate customers. Discord pouted as they appeared on a much less crowded sidewalk, looking down at his... hand. Ugh, humans were so horribly boring, they had two hands that were the exact same! They couldn't even be commonly mismatched in color. It was so dreadful. "Discord!" Fluttershy shouted, bringing him out of his thoughts. He turned to her with a smile, seeing a raised eyebrow and a frown. He grinned and looked up, seeing a large tea pot on the sign. Though he meant to be inside the cafƩ, being right outside was good enough for him at the moment. He walked over to her and threw his arm over her shoulder. "It's tea, are you really mad?" He asked cheekily, not being offended as she removed his arm and walked inside. He skipped along to the bell. "Hello, welcome to..." the barista started, trailing off when she saw just what Discord was wearing next to a usual of hers, Fluttershy. She stiffened up with a fake smile as Fluttershy walked up to her with a smile. "The Green Tea," she finished. Discord didn't like her as Fluttershy waved. "Hi, Berry Punch," she smiled, grabbing Discord's wrist and pulling him towards a table for two. Berry Punch didn't understand... was that man supposed to be cute, sweet, innocent, and kind Fluttershy's boyfriend? No way! He looked rough, obnoxious, and the center of attention. She was going to give them Fluttershy's usual, even walked out from behind the counter with the two cups, when a white tea pot and two cups abruptly appeared on the table. She blinked and shook her head, simply walking behind the counter and trying to make sense of what she was doing with her life. "You probably shouldn't use your magic in public," Fluttershy said, thinking of what the girl at the record shop could possibly be thinking. "Who knows what people would think," she said, watching as the tea pot Discord summoned poured her some tea on it's own. When she shot him a look he simply shrugged. "What could they possibly think it is?" He asked, leaning back in his seat with a cocky grin. "Magic?" Fluttershy nodded. "In this town, that's very possible," she said, resting her head in her palm as she leaned against the table. She wondered if his looks were stolen or made from scratch, probably a combination of both. She smiled slightly, he looked horrible and decent at the same time and she knew anyone who looked at him would be thrown into a life crisis. He shook his head. "My dear, that's impossible," he said casually, his cup appearing in his hand before he drank it like a stereotypical British person. She rolled her eyes, deciding he didn't need to know how Canterlot High had defeated Sunset Shimmer, reformed said Sunset Shimmer, and then fought against some sirens named The Dazzlings. "So, about this Twilight?" He asked. "I don't think you've ever talked about her." Fluttershy shook her head. "I haven't, but that's because she's not from here," she shrugged, looking down at her tea and seeing tea leaves that shouldn't be there float to the top and make funny faces. But not even those funny faces could keep her stomach from tying itself into a knot and rising in her throat. "She's from a different world," she said nervously. He simply stared at her, clearly trying to process whatever she had just said. He scoffed and leaned back, "And you wonder what people will think of my magic." He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, telling her to continue. But before she could, he sat up. "What is this other world?" "It's called Equestria," she said. He hummed, thinking over all of his years and wondering if he'd ever heard of it. He shook his head. "Never heard of it, and I've been alive a long time!" She smiled slightly, rubbing her arm. "It, um, gets weirder," she said nervously, looking down at her shoes underneath the table, kicking them against her bar stool lightly. "They're all ponies there, and Twilight was a princess and came her to get her crown back that Sunset stole and that's how I met her," she said quickly, watching his orange eyes try to understand. He shook his head and shrugged. "If I can exist, I suppose anything else can, too," he said, reacting as calmly as possible. If she was being honest, she hadn't expected a calm response, at least a little confusion would be close to her expectation. But his logic was right. Though she assumed he hadn't completely believed it as they disappeared again. Berry Punch watched their chairs with her forehead in her hand. She dropped her head against the counter, school and work was getting to her. Fluttershy didn't even see a point to argue about his public use of magic, as he obviously hadn't listened the first time, when the two reappeared in their forest clearing that had changed over the course of her visits. Random patches of the floor were either checkered tile, hardwood, grass, or circled tile, though the majority was grass. The pond was as half-frozen as ever, the purple canopy was back and unlit lights surrounded the tree's around them. She had assumed this was for show and that he made a bed or... something appear after she left. She knew he didn't just casually live in the middle of the woods with nothing at all times. Although, other than the floor and pond, her green couch was there, his untouched chart of draconequus magic flow, running chairs, upside down coffee tables. She loved his world. But his hands were gripping her shoulders and he stood over her, shoving his face in hers. "So there's another Equestria that's full of magic?" He asked, assuming the 'pony' part and 'princess' part also meant magic. He shook his head and let go of her, taking a few steps away from her as he remembered her unbearable shyness. "Wait, what's this Twilight have to do with me?" He asked, pointing at himself. His grin widened as he towered over her again. "Do you think she could fix my magic?" He asked expectantly. Fluttershy shook her head, his shoulders dropping with his smile. "But," Fluttershy said, gesturing to him and looking up at the canopy for something other than him. "She does come here when there's any... magic stuff going on," she said, taking a look at his confused face. "And, um, you're kind of new, and you have magic, and, um..." She sighed. "I think she'll blame you for whatever she came here for," she finally said, letting her hair fall in front of her face. "And I don't think she'll want us to be your friends like she did with Sunset." Before he got a chance to respond or be offended, which he most definitely was, she clasped her hands together and looked up at him with those teal eyes he despised because he did whatever they wanted and didn't have a choice in the matter. "So, please, don't go near my school anymore. I don't know how her magic would affect you and I don't want to see you anymore hurt than you are now," she begged, doing another one of her wonders. And this one was amazing him. He didn't understand this girl, or why she was so worried about him. Sure, he was an ancient being of pure magic, but every human he had ever met had saw him as a monster. He snapped, looking down and seeing pink as he made her appear in his arms. She returned the hug and he couldn't be more confused. This little girl didn't just like him for research like he first expected, she had wanted to be his friend, especially after he told her he had never had any. And now she was worried about him? What was this girl? "Promise," he said simply as he hugged her. He looked up at the canopy and could only imagine how weird they might've been to the rest of the world. A draconequus many saw as a demonic beast and an innocent girl with anxiety. He grinned as an idea filled his mind, and he snapped and the two reappeared in a huge aviary at a zoo. She shot him a sneer at his magic use, but the birds landing on her morphed her face into a smile as she laughed, the birds nuzzling her. Discord watched curiously as a dark feathered bird landed on his shoulder. He snapped and it tried flying onto a perch with one wing larger than the other. He grinned devilishly as he watched a purple bird sit next to a yellow one. That yellow one was already perched next to a white, orange, cyan, pink, and red one. He snapped and the yellow one appeared on his finger as he took a glance at Fluttershy who seemed to have accumulated more birds. "Well, if her friends can have her during the day," he said as the bird chirped at him. "It seems only fair that I get her for the night." Pinkie Pie held an obnoxiously pink pillow to her chest, pouting as she watched most of her friends play a racing game. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were too busy fighting each other that they didn't notice Rarity speed past them in a fashionable, though it was the worst choice, car. Twilight sat next to Pinkie at the top of the bed, Sunset smiling as she watched Rarity take the win from her spot at the end of the bed. "Hah! I win!" Rainbow Dash cheered, seeing the scoreboard of her two friends and a lot of A.I. have her at the top. Applejack was fuming as Rarity ranted about how style and presentation mattered more than winning. Sunset chuckled, looking to the bed and seeing a confused Twilight looking through a thick book and a pouting Pinkie Pie. She walked over to the bed and looked at Pinkie. "What's wrong, Pinkie? Isn't this supposed to be some super-duper-coolio-Twilight's-back party?" She asked with an amused smirk. Pinkie Pie sighed and moved her pillow to the side, Sunset's question caught the attention of the three who were fixing to start another game. Rainbow Dash stood up with a wide smirk as she backed up, staring at the bed with a fire in her eyes. Applejack stopped her from diving on top of Sunset and breaking Pinkie's bed. Twilight put her book down as Rarity sat on the other side of Pinkie as the pink girl sighed again. "What's wrong, darling? This is one of the first sleep overs we've had in a while," she started, putting a hand on Pinkie's shoulder as the other was used for the theatrics that come with being a drama queen. Pinkie Pie looked at her before pulling her absurdly pink phone out of her bombastically pink hair. She turned it towards Rarity, showing the girl her messages. "I've texted Fluttershy, like, twenty times! And I called her a bunch too!" She said, turning the phone back to her with a pout. "It's kinda hard to be happy about a super-duper-long-distant-coolio-Princess-sleep-over when one of your friends that's the 'Princess' part's friend isn't here," she said sadly, though it made Sunset shake her head with a smile at her own mistake on the title. Applejack crossed her arms with a huff. "Probably that weirdo she was with," she grumbled to herself before turning to Pinkie. "I doubt she meant to miss, sugar cube." Sunset, Twilight, and Spike all stiffened at the implication that this weirdo was a god of chaos that did so much harm he was trapped in stone for a thousand years. Spike fought through it, not wanting to believe that Discord guy was the reason Fluttershy wasn't there. "Yeah! Maybe her... er, parents needed her for something," he said nervously, finding it weird to think of Fluttershy living with her parents here in this world. He beamed and his tail wagged as Rarity nodded. "But she would've texted us something," Rainbow Dash cut in, looking down at her phone and sighing, shoving in into her pajama pants pockets "Nothing. I agree with AJ, it's that dude she left with." Twilight smiled nervously, shaking her head. "I know I don't know this Fluttershy as well as I know my own, but I don't think she's the type that would ditch for a guy," she said, knowing Fluttershy wouldn't do that, no matter what world she was from. She glanced down at her book, it was something she had brought with her in a satchel that became a book bag. She picked it up, running a hand over the cover as the other girls agreed with her. "I would love to wonder why Fluttershy isn't here, but we can just ask her tomorrow," she said seriously, looking up and drawing her friend's attention to the book she was holding. "I think the jump in magic here is a bigger priority right now," she said calmly, although she saw Sunset try and not scream that Discord was The God of Chaos. Twilight nodded at her, reassuring her and watching the smallest amount of tension leave Sunset. "Yeah, you're right," Pinkie pouted before jumping up on her knees and peering over Twilight. "So! What's that?" She asked curiously as if she hadn't just been worrying about the entire state of her important sleep over. Twilight looked down after seeing all of the others peer curiously at her. "It's a book of Equestria's threats and what the rulers at the time did with them," she said, flipping open the book and seeing the sirens. "Like the sirens, they were banished here. I was thinking maybe something long ago finally rose back up and that caused the jump," she said, noticing Sunset was on her last leg. She laughed nervously and slammed the book shut as Applejack tried to look over it. "But, um, maybe tonight should just be a fun, catch-up type thing," she said, standing up and sitting the book down on Pinkie's nightstand. "Plus, I'd hate to have to explain all of this to Fluttershy if we found something." The others nodded their agreement, Applejack and Rainbow Dash shooting each other a glance before jumping down to the floor just past the end of the bed, the two aiming for player one's controller. Applejack got it as Pinkie Pie sat down next to Rainbow Dash with pom-poms, Rarity was placed next to Applejack as her cheerleader. Twilight grabbed Sunset's hand. "Um, Sunset and I are going to go get something to drink, we'll be right back," Twilight said with a nervous smile that anyone would follow. She sighed in relief when no one did as Spike jumped off the bed and onto the floor next to Twilight and Sunset's feet. "Get me a soda!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash yelled in unison, Sunset and Twilight flying down the stairs towards the kitchen for a place far away from the rest of their friends, Spike jumping down with them. Sunset held her hands over her mouth, in fear she'd scream, as they stepped into the dark room. Twilight checked the immediate surroundings for Pinkie's sisters as she put Spike up on the counter. When they were clear, she turned to Sunset. "Okay, just stay calm," she said, seeing Sunset's hands shaking. "What do you mean 'stay calm'?!" Sunset asked worriedly, her hands flying up to her hair as she stared at Twilight with wide eyes. "Discord is free and he's here!" She panicked, worry eating at her and her memories replayed all of Princess Celestia's lessons over Discord. She gasped. "And he's got Fluttershy!" Twilight, once again, put her hands over Sunset's mouth. She shook her head. "That isn't the Discord you and I know," she said slowly, watching Sunset's scared eyes soften into confusion. Twilight pulled her hands away from Sunset with a nod. "That can't be the Discord from Equestria." "Why not? Just because his statue is still there doesn't mean he can't be here," Sunset explained worriedly, watching the door to the kitchen and wondering when Rainbow Dash and Applejack would yell for their soda again. "What if he figured out how to use magic from inside the statue and came here to figure out how he can get out of the stone in Equestria?" Sunset ranted. Twilight shook her head again. "Discord isn't in stone anymore, and he asked to come with me right before I came here, that Discord can't be my Discord," she explained, rubbing Spike's head. Spike nodded. "Yeah! And he been asking me and Big Mac to play Ogres and Oubliettes all week!" He said, remembering that his Discord only had two things he liked doing, having tea with Fluttershy or playing O and O with him and Big Mac. It was a pain to always tell him he was busy, but at least Discord only wanted to do things with friends, meaning he really was reformed. Sunset sighed in relief before she shot up straight and grabbed Twilight shoulders. "He's out of stone?" She asked. Spike raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been here?" "I went between here and Equestria for a few years when I was younger, but I first came here after I dropped out of Celestia's school when I was a kid-- filly." "Oh." Sunset shook her head and looked to Twilight again. "So Discord rules over Equestria? Why didn't you tell me! We should be figuring out a way to save Equestria!" She fought, completely forgetting about the Discord here at CHS. Twilight took Sunset's hands off of her. "He did break out of stone, but we defeated him and put him back into stone," she explained, seeing Sunset's worry hadn't stopped. "But Princess Celestia thought it'd be a good idea to reform him and get him to use his magic for good." Sunset nodded, slowly understanding what had happened in her home dimension. She shook her head suddenly. "How did you reform him? What I heard about Discord was that he was horrible and you couldn't even understand a conversation with him." Twilight nodded back as Spike jumped, drawing Sunset's attention to him. "Fluttershy reformed him by being his only friend, now he's friends with lots of ponies," he smiled, wagging his tail. Sunset looked to Sunset with wide eyes. "So, that Discord we saw earlier today was..." "The Discord from this world," Twilight said calmly, though her sigh and turning towards the counter to rest her head in her hands wasn't as calm. "But that doesn't make any sense, I didn't think a being like him would transfer here, especially since there aren't any original versions of the Dazzlings here," she said, trying to make sense of the scenario. Discord from Equestria was an all-mighty God of Chaos, she didn't think that would be mirrored in this world, especially as a normal boy with horrible fashion sense. "I still don't like him," Sunset said, pulling Twilight out of her mind. "And we don't know if the Dazzlings here do exist, we've only seen things at CHS, we haven't been anywhere else." Twilight nodded, following her logic. "But like I said, I don't like him. The Pinkie Pie here is similar to the Pinkie in your world, right?" Sunset asked. Twilight and Spike nodded. "It's like her personality was mirrored," Twilight explained. "So the Discord here has to be similar to the Discord there, and," Sunset said, happy she could get back to her detective role since her worry was gone. "I don't think a god can just turn into a simple boy." "What do you mean?" Spike asked, scratching behind his ear. Sunset walked over to the window, staring up at the moon and remembering Princess Celestia and Luna. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked to Twilight with determination. "I don't think we should cross him off of our list just yet." Spike and Twilight looked at each other and sighed, turning to Sunset and nodding. They didn't like the idea of fighting the 'human' version of a lively creature they had become good friends with, but Sunset had a point. The three jumped when they heard shouts. "Where's that soda?!" They heard a rough, bratty voice ask and knew it was Rainbow Dash. Twilight and Sunset looked at each other before falling into fits of laughter. It was good to see the other again, even though there was a threat looming over them. And the mystery of it for that matter. "I think you're right, we should relax for tonight," Sunset said, walking over to the refrigerator and finding the cans of soda Pinkie had implemented at their growing number of sleep overs. Twilight helped her grab a few cans, deciding they should just get some for everyone. Twilight smiled back at Sunset, Spike standing between their feet with a wagging tail. Author's Note Yeah, the Discord EQG Fluttershy knows is EQG Discord! Sorry if that disappoints anyone, I thought about making it pony Equestria Discord and just decided that would be too serious and sad ending-ish for what I wanted from this story. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed (and don't dislike that that's EQG Discord) <3 Also, some news. This story will be on hiatus/have very slow uploads as I'm focusing on a much bigger story, Disharmony's parallel. When I get back into the groove of that story, I might try to write this again, but it won't be a priority. After this, one already written chapter will be uploaded and then the hiatus/slow uploads will be in effect. (oh, and this story will get finished so don't worry)
Disliking a DraconequusFluttershy appeared in her bedroom, though she barely noticed and really didn't care. She looked down and saw an oversized grey sweater with the graphic of a stained glass draconequus, past her sweater were cyan shorts. She looked up at Discord who was simply looking around her bland room. "Are you going to put yourself on every piece of my clothes?" She asked, yawning afterwards as a grin spread across his face. He snapped, her entire closet vanishing and reappearing circling around him, each of the pieces wearing a draconequus. She ignored it, using as much brain power as she could muster to hope he changed them back as she sat down on her bed and grabbed a pillow to hug it. She rolled her eyes as he made the lamp on her desk turn into a draconequus holding a light bulb, the lamp shade being worn as a skirt. He sneered as he discovered the most fantastic thing in her room was a walk-in closet. Bland light blue walls stretched up to an even blander beige fan-- he almost gagged at the color. A normal brown desk held notebooks, pens and pencils, and his new addition lamp. A normal dresser held an even more normal mirror with pictures of Fluttershy and her friends. He also noticed the alarm clock with the numbers seven and forty-two on it and the pastel green colored curtains. He smirked as he thought of the many things he could do to her room that she'd actually like. Then he was shocked he'd do chaotic things for someone else, but Fluttershy laying her head down on her pillow and shutting her eyes brought him out of his thoughts. He snapped, appearing in front of her and watching her open tired eyes. "You're going to sleep, now? The day just started." She covered her mouth as she yawned, looking up at him with tired teal eyes matched with bags underneath them. "I spent the entire night with you," she said with a slight scowl. "And I appreciate what you did, but I'm not a creature of pure magic and need sleep," she said with a fake smile. He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said simply, wondering how some humans simply downed coffee and energy drinks to stay awake and why she wasn't. Well, it was partly his fault, he made her appear in her comfortable, no matter how disgusting, room with an even comfier bed in a huge sweater and shorts. Maybe his self-consciously knew she was tired? He didn't care anyways as she smiled and laid down, not even bothering to pull the blanket over herself. And she didn't have to as he snapped and watched it sink on top of her with a new layer of comfort, she snuggled into her pillow with a smile. As he turned away to let her sleep, she spoke. "Thanks," she said quietly, rolling over and facing the wall, pulling the blanket even further on herself than before, even if it wasn't possible. He smiled down at her, he guessed letting her sleep wouldn't be the worse idea, he had drug her around aviaries, zoos, and aquariums the entire night, letting her see all of the animals even after the places closed. And he didn't know why, but seeing her amazed face made looking at mediocre animals almost enjoyable. But he turned to her room with a devilish grin and flexed his hand, popping his wrist. He was going to have even more fun when he saw how happy she'd be with a whole new room. Rainbow Dash hopped her way up the stairs that led to Fluttershy's front door, glancing behind her and seeing Pinkie Pie bounce up with her, the rest of their friends moving to stand on the stairs. She knocked her knuckles against the door, ignoring Twilight's amazed face at the overly nature-fied house. It wasn't the biggest house, in fact, it was only one story, but the size of that one story made up for not having a second one. Other than that, it seemed like it was being devoured by greenery. Plants decorated every window, the banister for the porch was covered with vines, two potted plants sat next to the door and sat on the sides of each stair. Flowery gardens decorated the front of the house on either side of the porch, the grass was lusciously green and perfectly cut, and trees littered the front yard, including a dog house with two empty bowls inside for strays. The door was opened by a yellow woman with a soft smile, glasses, and red hair. "Hey, Mrs. Shy," Rainbow Dash gave a smirk, enjoying seeing the old woman after a long time. Mrs. Shy's smile widened as she looked back into the house and called for her husband. A blue man with white hair wore his wife's smile as he saw the crowd. "Rainbow Dash! It's been so long!" He said in his own quiet voice, though Rainbow Dash knew he was really excited to see her. The two stepped aside, using their hands to gesture for the group to come in. Rainbow Dash smiled at the place, reliving memories of chasing Fluttershy through the living room and hitting her toe on the coffee table. She chuckled and stuffed her hands in her pockets, glancing back and seeing all of the amazed faces. Every part of the living room was spotless, including the rooms it was connected to, the dining room and kitchen. A light green couch was decorated with color-matching pillows in the perfect places, on either side were end tables and chairs, one was obviously a recliner. A wooden coffee table with a glass top sat in the center, coasters sat perfectly near the edges as magazines laid almost picture perfectly on it. All the magazines were of plants and butterflies. Across from that was a TV on a white spotless stand with glass cabinet windows that showed the assortment of movies on one side and books on the other. Next to the TV were small tables with potted plants on top. A shelf sat in the corner, filled to the brim with books, all separated by genre. The walls were pastel yellow with pictures of either the family, which also decorated the white fireplace, or butterflies. The fire place also sat a huge clock on top, one with roman numerals instead of numbers. A light green rug with dark green accents ran behind the couch, leading to the kitchen, dining room, and hallway. The room was also covered in it's own greenery, fake vines covering the outer edges of the fireplace, and potted plants hanging from the ceiling around the book shelf. The rug ran towards the kitchen, closed off with a wall with a window towards the living room that was lined with another table, one either used for random, temporary items, and a beautiful rose in a vase. The other edge of the kitchen held a white bar and counter, the bar facing the elegant dining room they couldn't get a clear view of from their place in the living room, but they assured themselves it would be just as spotless as the other rooms. A chandelier also hung from the center of the dining and living room, a normal light fixture hanging over the kitchen. Rarity was just fixing to compliment the entire place, decorated with such beauty, though the pastel combination of yellow, blue, and green wouldn't be her first choice. But Rainbow Dash smirked as Mrs. Shy spoke up. "Are you all friends of Fluttershy's?" She asked softly, watching as five strangers just entered her home nervously. Pinkie Pie nodded, jumping over to the woman and shaking her hand rapidly, and then doing the same to her husband. "Mm-hm! All Fluttershy's buddies!" She gave the two a wide smile before she hugged herself. "And Fluttershy's just the best! That's actually why we're here!" Mr. Shy smiled nervously at her as Mrs. Shy readjusted her glasses. "You're Pinkie Pie," he offered, seeing her nod her head just as bombastically. He chuckled, "I guessed so." "Yeah, Pinkie's kinda easy," Rainbow Dash said, walking next to the two with a wide smirk. "And since I'm sure Fluttershy's told you tons about us, why don't you try guessing who everyone is?" Mrs. Shy shook her head with a sweet smile. "I, um, don't think that'd be a great idea," she said nervously, giggling slightly with it. "I'd hate to guess wrong," she said, her husband nodding his agreement. Rainbow Dash sighed, letting her shoulders fall. She shot back up with a smile as she gestured to the others. "Then I'll introduce ya!" She said happily, grabbing Rarity's wrist and pulling the giddy girl over. "This, is Rarity," she said calmly. Rarity let a squeal rise up in her throat as she held out her hand. "Oh, hello, darlings. I have to say, your house is just gorgeous!" She complimented, unable to keep it down any longer. Mr. Shy chuckled and shook her hand. "Thank you, though my wife's the one who did most of the decorating," he said, smirking slyly at his wife as she shook Rarity's hand with a red face, giggling to herself nervously. "Well, um, thank you, dear," Mrs. Shy said, watching as Rarity took a deep breath, surely ready to compliment every little thing as Rainbow Dash pushed her away. Rainbow Dash watched as Applejack walked up next to her, nodding her head as she held out her hand. "Nice to meet y'all," she said, shaking the two's hand. "Name's Applejack. You can call me AJ though, if ya want." The two nodded, ready to reciprocate the greeting when Pinkie Pie shoved past her. The girl's smile was almost as big as Zephyr's ego. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" She said, reaching out and shaking the two's hand again. She giggled to herself. "Oh wait! You already know that!" She kept laughing as Applejack rolled her eyes and pushed her away, making Mr. and Mrs. Shy wonder just what their daughter could have in common with such a loud, extroverted girl. "Did you know AJ and I are cousins!?" She peaked her head into their view. Applejack pulled the girl away, saying something about it not being true, or not knowing it if was true? The two didn't know as the final two girls walked in front of them. "Hi," the orange one said kindly. "I'm Sunset, and this is Twilight," she said, gesturing to the purple girl next to her who was waving shyly. The couple looked down as a dog barked, seeing a purple dog waving its tail. Mr. Shy smiled down at the dog as Mrs. Shy laughed nervously. "I'm sure Fluttershy loves your dog," he smiled, watching Mrs. Shy watch it cautiously and take a step back. "I'm sorry, she's a little scared of dogs." Twilight gave them upturned eyebrows before bending down and picking Spike up. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, looking down and seeing Spike try his best to look like the cutest dog in the world. Mrs. Shy smiled and shook her head, though she moved behind her husband and latched onto him. "Oh, don't worry sweetie, I've just had bad history with dogs ruining my garden, that's all," she said, eyeing Spike worriedly. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Can't be worse than what Zephyr's done," she said, watching Mr. Shy try to not laugh as Mrs. Shy shot him a dirty look. "Alright, well, we just needed Flutters for something," Rainbow said, looking down the long hall that led to the bedrooms. "So, we're just gonna go, but we gotta talk later, it's been too long," she said, saluting the two as she turned down the hall. The couple waved at the girls as each of them gave them a warm smile. Mr. Shy put his hand around Mrs. Shy's waist. "I'm glad she has such great friends," he said, watching as each of them walked into Fluttershy's room, the door shutting behind them. Mrs. Shy rolled her eyes, "I'm glad you find my gardens demise humorous," she said before giving it up and nodding. "You're right, though. I was almost worried Rainbow Dash would be her only friend, especially when we transferred her and Zephyr to this school," she said, walking into the kitchen, her husband following. "Yeah," he said with a blissful smile. "Fluttershy's lucky to have such a great friend like her." Mrs. Shy hummed her agreement as she went back to doing the dishes, smiling and laughing when Mr. Shy silently insisted on helping her. Rainbow Dash's and the others jaws all hung open as they stared up at Fluttershy's room. The walls were a soft pink, multicolored butterflies painted as if in a migration on the wall with Fluttershy's bed. They completely ignored the fact that Fluttershy was fast asleep in her bed as they noticed the new headboard, decorated with it's own butterflies. That wasn't all when the doors to Fluttershy's closet matched the walls, her dresser and mirror a new pastel yellow with green leaf knobs. Her mirror also had a green rim, spreading out like plants with small, carved animals racing off at the bottom, resting on the dresser that had small dark yellow silhouettes of animals at the corners. Her desk shined in a new finish, all of her things organized as a small pink chair with a butterfly shaped back sat at the desk. Even her bag looked different with the pink butterfly and tornado key chains were hooked on it. And as they looked up, the upper walls of her room held pastel lights that were all cut off, though Applejack didn't see where they were pinned up. Something the others didn't notice or care was the new draconequus shaped lamp that made Spike, Twilight, and Sunset all hold their breath. Rainbow Dash shook her head as Rarity leaned past her. "I never knew Fluttershy's room looked this... her-like," she said, noticing all of the butterfly and animal related things. Applejack and Pinkie Pie stepped next to her, nodding their agreement as they looked over the room again. Rainbow Dash furrowed her eyebrows. "It wasn't like this a month ago," she said, gesturing towards the room and looking towards her friends. "It was totally boring and unorganized," she said, looking up at the room. Sure, it was cool, but it didn't make sense. "She never cared about it cause she barely spent any time in here." Applejack raised an eyebrow as Sunset walked over to the bed, noticing the tornado graphic on her blanket was the only thing that didn't match the room. She shook Fluttershy, attempting to wake the girl as she tried to avoid the stare of the lamp. "Fluttershy?" She asked, noticing the yellow nightstand with the same leaf shaped knobs, though the new pink alarm clock saying two fifty-five made her stomach turn. Fluttershy groaned, pulling the blanket over her head. "Why are you still sleeping at three in the afternoon? I thought you were an early bird." Fluttershy shot up at the time and whirled to her. "It's three!?" She asked, standing up and throwing the blanket off of her, running towards her closet and opening the new doors without noticing the new design on them. Her fast movements didn't stop Twilight and Sunset from noticing the draconequus on her sweater. "How did I sleep that long?" She asked, looking through her shirts. "Uh, yeah," Applejack said, walking up next to her. "When did you go to sleep, sugar cube?" She asked, noticing the weird animal on Fluttershy's sweater and choosing to ignore it. She assumed it was just some super mystical creature like mermaids. Fluttershy froze and turned to her. "Um, I actually don't know," she said, shaking her head and turning back towards her closet, pulling a white tank top off of a hanger. "It was after the sun came up," she said, pulling a green skirt off of another hanger and laying the two over her arms. She stared back at shocked faces. "You went to sleep after the sun came up?" Twilight asked, looking down at Spike worriedly. "What were you doing all night?" She asked, watching Fluttershy stiffen at the question. She wondered if it had anything to do with the seemingly new room, draconequus lamp, and draconequus sweater. Pinkie Pie shoved her way past the group, standing in front of Fluttershy with cheeks puffed out in anger and furrowed eyebrows. "Yeah! You even missed our sleep over!" Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hands, wide eyes matched with upturned eyebrows. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Pinkie! I completely forgot!" She said, sitting her clothes down before rubbing her arm, a sorrowful look on her face. Pinkie opened her mouth, ready to lecture her on breaking a Pinkie Promise, even if they didn't promise. But Sunset stepped in front of her. "It's alright, we were just worried. And we are now, what did you do last night?" Fluttershy hugged herself, looking away and letting her messy, tangled hair fall in front of her face as she debated lying and telling the truth again. She assumed it wouldn't hurt them to hear the truth, especially when she really didn't want to lie to them again. She rubbed the back of her neck and avoided their gazes. "Discord kinda took me to a lot of animal places," she said nervously. Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "In the middle of the night?" She asked. Fluttershy gave her a fake smile and a nervous nod. "Yes," she said calmly, hoping they'd believe her. She sighed in relief when they turned to each other and nodded. Though she tensed up when Pinkie Pie crossed her arms. "That guy's a meanie! He definitely heard me tell you about our slumber party," she said, furrowing her eyebrows and pouting, crossing her arms and scrunching up further with a sneer. "And he kept you up all night! Who does that?" Fluttershy cowered as Applejack stepped next to Pinkie Pie with her hands on her hips. "Oh! I knew he was doin' somethin'," she growled, balling her fists and holding them at her sides. "Just lookin' at 'em and you could see he ain't a good guy." Fluttershy shook her head slightly, as Rainbow Dash joined in. "I know! What are you even doing hanging out with a cocky asshole like that?" She asked, crossing her arms. Everyone knew she seriously didn't like him when she cursed, and Fluttershy didn't know why. They barely talked to him. Sure, he had an... egotistic-sounding voice, and sure, he was sort of pushing boundaries when he ruffled Pinkie's hair seemingly condescendingly without even knowing her very well, but that was just Discord. She watched as Rarity fell against Applejack. "And did you see those clothes? So old fashion with... with those boots!" She gasped dramatically, digging her hands into her hair. Fluttershy turned to Twilight, Sunset, and Spike in hopes that they weren't as judgmental, but the three looked away from her, silently agreeing. Fluttershy felt anger boil up inside her as her friends continued their complaints. She stomped her foot and shouted, "Stop!" The others looked at her with wide stares at her sudden assertiveness and listened. "Now listen," she said calmly. "You all are just judging Discord without even getting to know him," she said just as calmly, though she was tempted to not have such a civil conversation as they raised eyebrows in unconvinced ways. "You haven't said more than three words to him." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "But he's just some random guy that you haven't told us anything about that just came up and took you out for a joyride until this morning," she said with a scowl, the others agreeing with her with their own angry nods. Fluttershy was fuming as she balled her fists, wondering why she should let her friends get away with bullying one of her own friends. She stomped towards them. "I haven't told you anything about him because I knew you'd react like this," she said, trying to control her tongue about mentioning the whole draconequus and magic thing while rambling her defense of Discord. She shoved her wrist in their faces, her bracelet looking them right in the eye. "And he's the one that gave me this," she spat rudely, watching their faces fall with shock. "And last night was one of the most fun nights of my life and I wouldn't change it for the world, and he only took me to see animals because he's nice!" She crossed her arms and looked away, huffing as she saw their shocked faces morph into ones of guilt. "And he would never judge any of you without even getting to know you! So maybe you are judging him before getting to know him," she said, sneering to herself at the sheer idea that they would be that rude. Sure, she was the 'child' of their group that everyone wanted to protect, but that didn't mean they had to hate Discord just because his looks or voice shouted bad influence. Pinkie Pie bounced next to her and put her hand on Fluttershy's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Flutters. I think you're right," she said sadly, her pink hair falling slightly at the apology. "I like it when you're happy, so I'll like anyone who can make you happy," she said sweetly, smiling widely when Fluttershy's hard features softened into a smile. She hugged the girl tightly. Rainbow Dash walked up on the other side of her. "Yeah, what she said," she tried, hoping it'd suffice so she wouldn't have to just repeat all that Pinkie Pie said. She beamed when Fluttershy's smile meant she wouldn't have to recite something she was already forgetting. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie looked to the rest, seeing their respective feelings. Rarity and Applejack still seemed unconvinced as Sunset and Twilight smiled slightly, though Spike's ears were lowered. Rainbow Dash put her hand on her hip. "Seriously? You still think he's a bad dude?" Applejack nodded as Rarity huffed and looked away. "Anyone who dresses like that is a bad person, darling. He's dressing that absurdly on purpose!" She fought, though she saw Fluttershy furrow her eyebrows and stiffened. Rarity sighed, letting the tension of Fluttershy's stare leave her. "But I suppose you two are right. I can at least give him a chance." The three smiled, looking to Applejack to see her agree. She simply shook her head as she crossed her arms and rested all of her weight on one leg. Sunset Shimmer walked up next to the three. "I mean, if he's nice to you, I don't see how bad he can be," she smiled, rubbing the back of her neck and trying to ignore the blatant draconequui around. Spike jumped next to her before walking over the Fluttershy and sitting at her feet as a sign for her to pick him up. He smiled widely when she did. "Yeah! Maybe he actually is a nice guy that's totally normal and isn't involved in anything at all!" He beamed, wagging his tail and ignoring the groups confused stares. But they didn't have time to linger on it as Twilight stepped up to the growing crowd. "I agree with Sunset, the least we can do is give him a chance," she smiled at Fluttershy's wide smile, though it was a horrible match to the omen of stolen Elements she wore on her sweater. Where did she even get that? "Do you think we'll ever get a chance to meet him?" Fluttershy stiffened before falling with a nervous laugh. "Oh, um, no, I don't think so," she said just as nervously, hoping they didn't ask why. And she was thankful she didn't have to when Rainbow Dash wasn't listening, she was too interested in Applejack. Applejack still crossed her arms nonchalantly as she watched her entire group of friends agree that the guy they had previously blamed for Fluttershy's ditching might be good. "Come on!" Rainbow Dash fought, stomping over to her. "Are you even going to say anything like 'sorry, hey, maybe I will get to know him'?" Applejack looked at her lazily, moving her weight onto her other foot. "Nope, I still don't like 'em." "And why not?" Rainbow Dash asked rudely, her jaw falling open when Applejack shrugged. "Gives me bad vibes," Applejack said bluntly, obviously trusting her own will and gut too much even giving Fluttershy's speech a listen. Rainbow Dash's eye twitched as her fists balled into white, though Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, silently telling her to let it go. Rainbow Dash sighed, letting the anger leave with her breaths out, though she couldn't look at Applejack if she wanted to stay that calm. Fluttershy smiled up at her friends, enjoying the idea that they'd give the idea of Discord another chance, even if they'd never meet him again. But at least she wouldn't be hearing about opinions based off of nothing for the rest of the day. And her smile widened as she thought about not having to lie to her friends again. Though she stiffened again when Rainbow Dash looked to her. "Oh! And when did you change your room?" She asked, using her thumb over her shoulder as a gesture. Fluttershy's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly as she stared up at the new, fantastic room. She swallowed, knowing she'd have to lie about this one, and she had to act like she wasn't absolutely amazed by the migration of butterflies on the wall. She smiled to her friends curious faces, trying not to gasp at the pastel lights hanging around her room. How did she not notice this entire time? "Oh, um, I've been, uh, working on it... recently," she said nervously. Rarity walked up and hugged her. "Well, it looks great, darling!" She said before pulling away with a smile. "Since Applejack has chores, we were going to go help her," she said, trying not to gag at the idea of helping Applejack with her specific chores that absolutely included mud. "We also wanted to talk about why Twilight's here, so, will you come with us?" Sunset asked, taking a step ahead of the group with a small smile. She smiled again when Fluttershy nodded, though the draconequus on her sweater was making her stomach turn. "Great, we'll go wait for you in the living room," she said, walking towards the door with the rest of her friends. Fluttershy picked up her clothes and hugged them, looking over her room with a small smile. It looked absolutely gorgeous and amazing, she felt tears well in her eyes as she looked over the personalized room. She didn't know why Discord seemed intent on doing things that would make her smile, but she assumed that was just what friends did. She certainly tried her part to see him smile. Though now a horribly dressed man sat underneath her window with a scowl, staring down at gorgeous flowers as he waited. He had been waiting for a bit before Fluttershy's stupid friends walked into her room, and the only reason he was waiting is so he could see her reaction to her new wonderland. But he knew her friends presence made it disappear, and worse of all, he was insulted in the meantime! His eye twitched as he crossed his arms, his mind replaying what all Fluttershy's nasty friends had said. Fluttershy's beautiful defense of him had warmed his heart, and was almost as good as a reaction, but her friends comments ruined his mood and not even his darling Fluttershy's defense could fix it. He growled, looking down at his-- ugh-- matched hands. And the worst part was that he could do whatever he wanted to them right there and then because his magic felt so much more stable. It wasn't close to normal, not even close to almost half-way back to normal, but it was stable enough. He sneered, knowing she wouldn't want him scaring her friends, or haunting them with chaos. He sighed, assuming he could at least see her one more time before he had to give up her heavenly presence to judgmental and multi-colored horrors. He snapped, appearing in her room and smirking at his own handiwork. It did look great, and he knew she'd love it. And he assumed she did when a pair of yellow arms wrapped around him. Though he didn't know what to think when he saw arms instead of oversized sleeves. "I love it," a small voice whispered, and he knew he couldn't stay mad. Not when he had this adorable sheep defend him and thank him. He smiled down at her. "Well, I had to, it was hideous," he chuckled when she looked up at him, letting go of him. And he couldn't believe what he was seeing, legs and arms? He didn't think Fluttershy had them. He smirked as he thought of her taking off a sweater and only having hands and a torso. She was beaming and he didn't know why, but it felt nice knowing he did something that caused those sparkling teal eyes and wide smile. "Well, I have to go, I'll see you later," she said, waving at him as she opened her door and left. He sighed, looking over at her bag with the butterfly and tornado keychain. Why did it hurt when she left? He assumed it was because he never had a friend before. Sure, he had met tons of creatures and anomalies in his hundreds of years alive, but never once had he had a friend, and it felt nice. He furrowed his eyebrows and sneered, looking to her mirror and seeing he had left her many pictures of her friends up. He snapped, all of them being replaced with random moments they had shared together. Her friends were judgmental monsters that only took her away from him, so the least he could do was make the feeling mutual. They'd absolutely hate it when she went off with him, and he was going to make sure of it.
Befriending a Draconequus: Part 1Fluttershy didn't think she had ever been happier walking towards the soccer field. The field always told her she'd have to go through another day at school that would keep her from the animal shelter she worked at, but not even the idea of spending eight hours at school could upset her. She took a glance down at the notebook she had held to her chest as she walked, and she couldn't keep the smile of her face. "Hey, Flutters!" She heard a bouncy voice and looked up to see Pinkie Pie waving dramatically at her. She smiled and waved back, giggling slightly when Rainbow Dash sped past Pinkie, kicking the ball into her goal. "Aw, man," Pinkie Pie pouted, kicking the grass as Rainbow Dash jogged up to her with a proud smirk. "Concentration's important, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said confidently, crossing her arms with a sly smirk. Fluttershy walked up to the two with wide eyes, hoping the book she was holding didn't draw too much attention. Rainbow Dash ruffled Pinkie's hair with a snicker. "You sure you're gonna be able to do this?" Pinkie Pie held up her head with furrowed eyebrows and blue eyes of pure determination. But before she could get the words out of her mouth, Fluttershy gasped. "Are you wanting to join the soccer team, Pinkie?" She asked, one of her hands near her mouth in shock. "But, you're apart of the party-planning committee." Pinkie and Rainbow Dash burst out in fits of laughter, making Fluttershy's shoulders fall with a raised eyebrow as she waited for her mistake to finish being, very evidently, made fun of. "No, silly!" Pinkie Pie said after her laughs, putting a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder as she pointed at Rainbow Dash. "Dashie's team never gets her early, and since she's always here for Rainboom work. I thought I'd learn how to play so she'd have something to do for thirty minutes before school starts." Fluttershy nodded. "Then why were you acting like she needed to be good?" Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash, who had just recently calmed down from her laughter. Fluttershy didn't understand as she inwardly fumed. Was it so unbelievable that Pinkie would want to do something with Rainbow? Maybe it was the obvious fact that Pinkie wouldn't leave the party-planning committee. "Duh!" Rainbow said, kicking up the ball so she could bounce it back and forth on her knees. "If she's as bad as Twilight was, it would be like playing with a cardboard cutout," Rainbow Dash said as she let the ball fall to the ground, only so she could kick it right into her own goal. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow as Pinkie and Rainbow laughed. "So... there is no Rainbooms practice today?" She asked expectantly, already knowing the answer and feeling irritation bubble in her. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash stiffened, slowly falling with nervous smiles, glances at the other, and rubs at the backs of their necks. Fluttershy rolled her eyes again and started towards the bleachers. "Wait, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash called and grabbed Fluttershy's wrist, making the girl's annoyed look very evident. "W-we can practice this, um, afternoon!" Rainbow Dash said confidently, putting both hands on her hips. She didn't see Fluttershy's scoff as she turned away and climbed up onto the bleachers. Rainbow Dash beamed at her solving of the situation and decided she'd ruin Pinkie Pie as she jogged back over to her. Fluttershy watched lazily as Rainbow and Pinkie passed the ball back and forth. She groaned and slid on her uncomfortable seat. Rainbow Dash had texted her last night that they would be practicing in the morning, it was the only reason she was here. Fluttershy always woke up early, she had just gotten used to it since she used to take care of the kitten that would sit in their driveway early in the morning. So Fluttershy could've been spending her time doing anything else. Though going to the animal shelter might have been one of her priorities. She sighed, hugging herself. She hadn't been to the shelter in weeks. She hadn't even passed out any papers encouraging kids to go and check it out. She looked up at the cloudy morning and could only imagine the horrible rain that would pour outside while they were listening to teachers lecture. She smiled up at the sky, did she really dislike the reason she hadn't gone to the shelter? After she found the hurt draconequus, her afternoons had been full. That smile that wouldn't leave found it's way on her face as her heart swelled. Ever since her and Discord had agreed to see each other until he was fully healed, she had that feeling. She knew what it was and it was sheer joy at the entire situation. Her dream had essentially come true! First, the word 'draconequus' haunted her, and then, she found one! And she was able to medically help him! And it only got better when she learned he was a god-like creature that was the embodiment of chaos. Oh, and he could talk. And it became paradise when they had simply talked as if they were friends! She was friends with a mysterious creature that could talk! She didn't think her life could get better. And the cloudy, tempting to rain skies only reminded her of Discord and his antics. It was one of the first times he showed her the extent of his magic. Or, at least some of it. "So, you have magic...?" Fluttershy asked, watching Discord summon a familiar pink cloud he fell back against and sighed. He nodded to her with a smile of pure content as he seemed to sink into the cloud. "And... it's just causes chaos?" He snapped, and huge, bold letters hovered in front of her, the yellow blocks spelt out 'yes'. He growled and snapped again, the letters turning blue. "Yes," he said, staring down at his talon with a scowl. "Though it seems my chaos hates the color pink lately," he said, snapping again and falling into his cloud with a sigh of irritation as the blocks turned orange. The orange blocks turned into tulips and fell around Fluttershy. She giggled as she dusted them off of her notebook. "Did you learn magic, or were you born with it?" She asked, standing up off the pastel green couch he had summoned for her. She was careful not to step on any of the tulips as she started walking towards him. She raised an eyebrow as he didn't answer and saw his face was still submerged with the cloud, a paw held out. She smiled as she grabbed the huge, soft paw and pulled him up. He smiled at her. "Thank you, my dear," he said, snapping and turning the shapeless cloud into a cloud shaped like a recliner. The footrest popped up, though his tail still hung off of it. "And I'm the God of Chaos, I've always had my magic." She smiled widely as she looked down at her notebook and wrote something in pen. Ever since she started questioning him, her nose hadn't left that pathetic book of hers. He grinned smugly, thinking of something that could get her out of that book. "Would you like to see some real chaos?" He asked, his grin widening at her amazed eyes and smile. She nodded and he decided the show must start. His first snap made her reappear on the lovely couch he had made for her, the tulips disappearing with it and her notebook sliding into her bag after running towards it with a tongue out like a dog. She watched in awe, as if that was it. He smirked, his second snap making a huge blue fan appear over the pond that he hadn't gotten rid of. The orange and blue fish grabbed onto the seaweed that didn't belong there either as the fan turned onto it's highest setting. Fluttershy didn't know if she would breathe again as she watched. And that wasn't the end of the show. The water flew out of the pond, but before it touched the grass, it started forming small white clouds. Fluttershy was on the edge of her seat as every drop of water made the cloud grow larger and larger. The pond was empty, the cloud hanging heavy over the ground. His third snap made the clouds separate, the fluffy white shapes floating up to the open canopy above them. Fluttershy's eyes and smile followed them up to the sky, filling in their canopy and shielding them from the sun. "I've always found normal things to be quite boring," Discord said, though not even his voice could take away the adoration in her eyes. Orange fish flew out of the clouds with blue wings. "So, a little chaos can always--" he said confidently, though he felt a drop of water hit him, along with the sun. His confidence fell as he summoned an umbrella, as the clouds above them turned back into water against his magic's wishes. He groaned as the pitter patter of rain against his umbrella played a sound of failure. Though a melodious noise in the middle of the rain caused his umbrella to disappear. Fluttershy laughed genuinely as the rain dampened her hair and sweater. She watched with a smile as the rain drops slid across and through the grass, magnetically moving towards the empty pond with orange fish flopping against the ground. The fish comically and dramatically took a deep breath as the water fell on them, despite how illogical it was. She giggled again as the pond filled, some fish turning blue underneath the slowly freezing half of the water. She smiled at Discord's confused and amazed face. "You're amazing," she said as she stood up, clasping her hands together. He didn't respond, only blinked slowly as she replayed the entire scene with her own theatrics, when she was done, she turned to him. "Do something else chaotic!" She felt excitement in her veins as he snapped again, anxious to see whatever else he could come up with. What other chaotic things he could do to things that were becoming so very boring. Fluttershy lazily replayed all of the chaotic and out of the usual things Discord had created just because she asked. He had made her a foot-stool out of singing daisies, he had created a piƱata that disliked bats, and many versions of himself that worked on his little clearing as they talked. He had made baby elephants serve them drinks of whatever she wanted before she knew she wanted it. He reenacted war stories that obviously didn't happen, turning the space around and behind him into a war-torn, no-man's-land full of trenches and he was the encouraging general and scared drafted teenager. Robins and blue jays became gentlemanly ostriches and rheas dressed in suits. Squirrels became brutish thugs with spiked tree limbs, crystalized pastel lights covered the trees when the sun started setting-- "Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a sneer, waving a hand in front of Fluttershy. She had her hands on her hips, Pinkie standing behind her with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow. Fluttershy cowered into her sweater with a nervous smile and giggle. "I'm sorry," she said, avoiding Rainbow's annoyed scowl. Even if she wasn't looking, she knew Rainbow rolled her eyes as she stood up straight, turning towards the bottom of the bleachers. "We should get going, school's gonna start soon," Rainbow said as she held a hand out to Fluttershy, pulling the girl up and starting down the bleachers. Fluttershy pulled her phone out of her pocket, looking for the time. Her eyes widened as she sped down the bleachers past Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. She turned back to the two and saw they latched onto the other to keep from falling. Fluttershy raised a hand in goodbye as she yelled, "Sorry! I'll see you at lunch!" She turned towards the closest entrance to the school and ran for dear life. Her first period was across the school from the soccer field, and she only had two minutes to get there. Her feet felt heavy as she sped across the school and ever emptying halls. Her heart beat sped up with her shoes hitting the ground as she turned down a hall, taking a peak down at her phone and feeling her throat tighten at the time. Her eyes stayed glue to the time on her phone, waiting for the horrible minute to go up and declare her late. Her smile grew as she turned down the science hallway, thinking she could actually make it on time. She couldn't believe her luck. She had one foot in the door when the bell rang, the teacher looked at her and smiled as she cowered into herself and avoided her teacher's stare. "Cutting it close there, Fluttershy," the teacher said sweetly and playfully, but that didn't make the anxiety vanish as everyone in the class had their eyes on her. Fluttershy walked to the back of the class as the voice over the intercom asked for the moment of silence. She didn't even see a point of sitting down just to stand back up again for the anthem. After the anthem, she sat down, anxiety making her stomach turn as her face burned. The teacher smiled at the class as she walked over to her computer, making the words 'Test today!' appear on the board. "Okay, we're having our test today," she said, picking up a stack of papers and passing them out to the front of the class to send to the back. Fluttershy stared down at the words when she got it as she passed the other papers back. Her stomach turned and she ran her hand through her hair. She completely forgot she had a test, and she had no idea how! Her teacher had reminded her every day this week, and it was Friday, of course she'd have a test. She supposed a week of focusing on her new draconequus buddy took it's toll. She had found him a week ago and wasted her entire weekend, especially her last Friday, on him. And when the week rolled around, she was so engrossed in whatever he was and whatever he could do she spent most of her afternoons in their little clearing. She was happy she retained information well as the teacher went over the rules, saying things like they'd have the entire class period to work on it, no cheating, yada yada. Fluttershy smiled when some of the information looked familiar as she started working on it. One problem, other than her lack of studying and want to remember and think of all the lovely chaotic things Discord could do, was that Chemistry was one of her least favorite classes. She barely cared for what the teacher taught them. She sighed, trying to convince herself that one bad grade couldn't ruin her average. Even if it was fifty percent of her grade. She gave up her complaints and started focusing on the test, realizing she only clearly remembered half of what the questions were about, which was all things they were taught recently. The other half were things from the earlier parts of the unit, things she obviously needed to study. She was one of the first ones done, mostly due to her lack of even attempting half the questions, but she reread over it tons of times trying to see if constantly looking at the question would jog her memory. It did on one of them, but then class was almost over and the teacher was telling them they could stay behind if needed. She sighed, declaring that whatever she had, was all she was going to get as she stood up and walked to the teacher, turning in her test to the peppy lady. She sat down and didn't think she had felt this bad about a test before. But she was happy about one thing, the fact that she could focus on her test and not Discord. It seemed that meeting a draconequus hadn't done her any better than not knowing what one was. She found her mind was wracked with thoughts of what Discord had done, what he was capable of, and all the things he'd told her about draconequui. They could fly! The small wings on his back could actually hold his weight, though she reduced it down to an involuntary use of magic. And he could use his tail to grab things, it had more uses than just balance. Though, once again, she assumed the control of it was involuntary magic use, and she didn't even know if he needed it for balance. She sighed as the bell rang, standing up and starting out of the classroom down the hall towards Botany. The small amount of time she had to wait before the bell rang and all she did was do the one thing she was proud she hadn't done during her test. She sat down in her Botany class, resting her head in her palm as she watched the teacher smile at her and the other students filing into the classroom. As she stared lazily at the plant on the front counter, she thought of the lights Discord would make appear when the sun started setting. They were beautiful, crystalized, and pastel lights that decorated their forest, and even if they usually signaled that she'd have to leave soon, she always adored their beauty. It only furthered her idea that Discord was a beautiful and majestic creature that engaged in mischievous actions. She shook her head and sat up straight with a puffed out chest. Botany was a class she was interested in, and she'd stay interested in it. She nodded her head as she recalled her half-hearted attention towards the labs they'd done this week. Their teacher held Friday's for lectures most often, meaning she had to pay attention. She declared that she wouldn't think of the majestic creature that had occupied her entire week at all during this class. And she couldn't have been happier when it worked. She smiled her entire way to her next class, feeling on top of the world. Though, Discord slipped back to the front of her mind, wondering what they would possibly do this afternoon. Maybe she should tell him about her animal shelter and how she hasn't gone, and maybe they could create a schedule where she spent half her week at the shelter and the other half with him? She didn't like it, her stomach dropped at the idea of sharing a week with Discord with anything else. And she didn't like the fact that she didn't like it either as she fought her way through the halls, smiling and waving at Pinkie Pie as she bounced past her towards the science hall. She walked into her literature class with a strict teacher standing at the door with a straight line for a mouth. She sat down in her assigned seat in close quarters with the other two she was shoved between. She hated this class more than she hated her math class, which was a very hard thing to do. The class was pure silence, guided notes, lectures, and 'open' discussion on whatever they were learning, and based on the board, today was grammar. She sunk in her seat as she pulled out her thick, full binder for this class, she was already annoyed and tempted to not pay attention. And with racing thoughts about her week with a draconequus, her strong will to learn lost the battle as she decided she'd write and not listen. The teacher walked inside as the bell rang, already grabbing the pen for the board as she walked over to a small laptop. She looked over the classroom, asked who sat next to some random person, and finalized attendance. She stood in front of the board and changed to the next slide, beginning their lecture on commas as she announced they already had the sheet over it in their notebooks. She also said that whatever she was talking about would be on a test. But that news didn't deter Fluttershy as she turned to the guided notes page they got earlier in the week. She sunk into her seat in content as she looked at the butterfly based bracelet she received recently. It made her recall a time this past week where they had learned their meetings had stopped at magical malfunction investigation and veterinarian work. Fluttershy watched with a wide smile on her face as Discord made lions act as lion tamers and people act like the lions. The people looked unbearably worried and the lions looked more than delighted as they shoved a chair in the person's mouths. Fluttershy would've been worried, but Discord had assured her everything he created that was living, was mostly fabrications. She didn't linger on the mostly. She didn't get a chance to compliment him on the show as it disappeared, a ring of butterflies appearing in it's place. Fluttershy felt her impossible smile grow even more impossible as she watched a dare-devil dressed and oversized bear ride a unicycle unsteadily over to the ramp leading up to the ring. Huge arrows pointing towards the end of the ramp lit up on it, the ramp growing up to the sky as the bear was shot upwards with new speed. Fluttershy stood up, unable to sit on the edge of her seat any longer as she giggled up at the sky. She was a bit disappointed she couldn't see what the butterflies would do to the bear since they were so up high in the sky, but she was still interested. "Just wait, my dear," Discord cooed from behind her, snapping. Fluttershy felt her heart race in anticipation as she waited. She gasped with a wide grin and delighted eyes as the butterfly ring dropped, the bear screeching as the ramp cut out a hole, the bear flying through that and being shot through the ring. Fluttershy laughed and clapped as the bear slowly and safely went through, landing on the short ramp that led to the ground on the other side. It cheered for itself before it looked back and saw a hoard of butterflies going after it. It ran into the forest in fear as the butterflies chased, Fluttershy and Discord laughing at the show. Fluttershy turned to look up at the huge creature. "That was great, Discord," she said happily, putting her hands behind her back. He bowed after snapping and appearing in a suit. "Why, thank you," he said, roses falling on him and burying him. Fluttershy giggled again as he snapped his way free of roses and suits. He sneered as he dusted a rose off his shoulder, it screamed comically before it hit the ground and wilted. "I do wish my magic would return to normal, it seemed to be getting better, but now it's at a halt," he pouted. Fluttershy looked up worriedly at him. "I wish I knew about magical creatures, maybe then I could help you more," she said, hiding in her shoulders as she looked away with upturned eyebrows. Discord had always done so much to entertain her and complied to her idiotic questions about what he was, and all she seemed to do was disappoint. A talon ruffled her hair and she looked up and saw a rabbit coming up in the empty hole where his talon used to be. He smiled nervously before turning to the rabbit with an annoyed stare as he shoved the whimpering creature back down, a talon successfully coming up in it's place. He laughed nervously before clearing his throat. "Don't worry, Fluttershy. You solved the question of my inability to fix my wound, you've helped plenty," he said, snapping and making the chart they made a few days ago appear. It looked the exact same. Fluttershy's head hung, the talon vanishing from her hair. She heard a snap and felt that same talon on her shoulder. She glanced up and saw he was standing over her. "What's wrong?" He asked seriously. She felt her face burn as she looked back down again, feeling a lump in her throat as she considered mentioning it. She decided it wouldn't help to not talk about it. "I just... you seem to be keeping your end of the deal. My part seems pointless for me since I don't know anything about magical creatures or why magic in a constant magic reaction would mess up, or why--" She stopped when a fish appeared in front of her, shushing her with a fin over it's mouth. It vanished as Discord spoke. "That's nothing to worry about, dear. Like I've said, you've helped plenty," he said nonchalantly, not expecting her to throw his talon off of her shoulder and walk away from him. "Fluttershy?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as she turned back to him with an even more upset expression. She grabbed her arm and looked away from him. "I figured out why you're magic can't heal you, not what's doing it," she said sadly, letting her hair fall in her face. "And you're cut's healing just fine, there's not much of a point for me to be here." As his thoughts ran for a way to fix her sadness, she spoke up. "I just feel like a bad friend. That's all," she said sadly, not expecting to hear a snap and see Discord's face in front of hers. "We're... friends?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows. She didn't dare take a step back as she nodded, feeling like this was the longest she'd ever stared into his yellow and red eyes. He snapped and appeared a few feet away from her, holding his chin in thought. He noticed her confused stare and sighed. "I don't think I've really ever had a friend before," he admitted. Fluttershy gasped. "Really?" She asked with wide eyes, when he nodded she desperately wished she could teleport like him, but noticed she'd have to suck it up. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his thin figure that was still huge. She ignored her cheeks burning in embarrassment as she furrowed her eyebrows. "That's horrible." She let go of him and stared up at him, seeing his wide, possibly scared eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek as she forced herself to stare up at him, and act as seriously determined as she hoped too, though she knew her anxiety had to step in at least a little. "Well, I'm not going to let that be anymore," she said with a nod. "You're my friend, officially," she continued, holding out her hand and softening her features into a smile. "So I'm your first friend," she said sweetly, her hard, serious exterior falling to let him see the sweet and kind one he had always seen. Her smile deepened as he reluctantly reached out and shook her hand. "Now you don't have to say you don't have friends anymore." Discord's reluctant and cautious stare fell as he grinned, snapping and making Fluttershy appear in his arms, though she still had to look up at him despite her new height. "Then it seems you do serve a purpose here," he said smugly. He smiled at her confused look and snapped, making a bracelet made of real butterflies wrap around her wrist, all of them significantly smaller that what they'd usually be. "Being my first friend, the job's pretty strict, are you sure you're up to the task?" He asked her amazed smile. Fluttershy giggled at his theatrics and the butterflies tickling his wrist. "Thank you for the opportunity, sir," she played along with his little job interview act. "Though I have one request?" She asked, watching the butterflies on her wrist. "That is?" He asked, snapping and making her appear in front of him on the ground, assuming that might be her nervous self's wish. He raised an eyebrow as she held up her wrist. "Could you make these fake? I think it'd be a beautiful bracelet," she smiled sweetly, hoping he'd agree and let her keep the token of their friendship. He grinned and nodded, snapping and she watched as the bracelets fossilized into pastel stones, some of the butterflies wings flapping randomly and occasionally. She smiled wider, loving the extra chaotic, not expected aspect. She smirked at an idea and peered up at him, tucking her hands behind her back and taking slow, long strides past him as she spoke. "Maybe if you use your magic more... it'll start acting normally again," she said, grinning up at his intrigued grin as his eyes followed her. "Are you sure you just don't want to see more of my lovely chaos?" He asked, chuckling when she gasped with a hand to her chest as if she was offended. "I'd never!" She said with a huff, turning away, though once he couldn't see her, she smiled widely. "It's for science." She opened her eyes and laughed as she saw his clearly unconvinced and disembodied face in front of her. "Oh really?" He asked, his body appearing next to him running about and tapping it's empty neck. Discord sneered as a disembodied talon grabbed his body, a disembodied paw grabbing his head and connecting the two. Fluttershy laughed and clapped, feeling a butterfly flap it's wing against her skin. Author's Note Hey, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who had read and commented so far <3 It really encourages me to write more and such so yeah, thanks again and I hope you enjoyed