Fluttershy was nervous. She stood in front of the door to Princess Celestia’s personal quarters in Canterlot Castle. Something was weighing on her, something so great that it brought her to the highest authority in Equestria. She swallowed her nerves and gently tapped on the door. Right away, the princess opened the door and smiled warmly.
"Fluttershy, it's so good to see you! Please, come in."
Celestia led Fluttershy through her room. It was extravagantly decorated, but small and meagerly furnished. "Shall we talk on the balcony? It's a beautiful evening."
"Um, yes, that would be great…" said Fluttershy. They stepped outside, where the sun was low in the sky and the rooftops of Canterlot were bathed in a shimmering orange glow. They both took in the view for a moment before Celestia spoke.
"So, Fluttershy… there's something troubling you, isn't there?" she asked.
Fluttershy nodded. "Yes… I, um, haven't been feeling well recently. I have this problem, and I talked to Twilight about it, and, well, she said I should talk to you…"
"Of course." Celestia made every effort to make Fluttershy feel at ease. It was obvious as soon as she walked in the room that the poor mare was distraught.
Fluttershy shifted uneasily and hesitated. "You see, it's about Discord…"
Celestia walked along the balcony and gazed into the distance. She contemplated for a moment. "You know, I expected you might come to me about this, eventually."
"Y… you did?"
Celestia turned to face her. "I'm sorry, I know this must be hard for you. Please, continue. Just know that you have my full support." She seated herself on the floor and gave Fluttershy her undivided attention.
Fluttershy took a deep breath. “A while ago, you gave me the task of showing kindness to Discord. And I did. Discord really needed a friend, and I was there to help him. No matter how difficult he made our lives, I believed that he could do better, so I stuck up for him. And for a while, it looked like it was working great. He wasn’t trying to plunge the entire world into chaos, at least…”
“Did something change?” asked Celestia.
“Well, no… he’s still a lot better than he was at first. But I’m starting to grow very… uncomfortable with him. I still respect him, and believe in him and everything, it’s just… well, having faith in all living things is my policy, but it’s different when one is actually involved in your life.”
Fluttershy paced around on the balcony. “How can I explain it… I guess I’m the only real friend he has, so he fixates on me a little too much. Every time he singles me out, and acts overprotective... it just leaves me feeling embarrassed and afraid. I don't want that kind of attention from him. We had a great system for a while, where we would meet for a tea party once a week. This was because I couldn’t handle Discord intruding into my daily life, so I wanted a more controlled way of interacting with him. But even during these structured meetings, I felt emotionally drained just being around him. Our tea parties felt more like therapy sessions… and besides, Discord was still showing up at random times to bother me and my friends anyway."
“I think it’s good that you tried establishing some boundaries with him,” said Celestia. “I’m sorry it didn’t work like you hoped.”
“I’m sorry too. It’s just… it’s so hard to keep being around someone who bothers me so much. And on top of that, it’s frustrating that no matter how hard I try, I can’t get him to consider other ponies’ feelings. He just keeps causing harm, begging for attention in the worst possible way.”
Fluttershy choked up. She faced away from Celestia to hide the tears welling up. “And… the manipulation. He… he’ll pretend to be hurt. Or sick. And I’ll worry about him, and do what he wants… he’ll lie to get his way, and toy with my feelings, and never talk about it again, like it’s just fine…”
Fluttershy couldn’t get any more words out, so she just stood there, trembling. Celestia stood up. “Thank you for telling me all this, Fluttershy.”
“I… I… I…” Fluttershy stammered. “I think… it’s taken me a while to acknowledge, and Twilight helped me realize… Discord is causing me a lot of stress. I feel like I just can’t be around him any more. I’m sorry that I failed your mission-”
“Don’t worry about that.” Celestia stopped Fluttershy before she could finish. She paced around and gazed off the balcony. “You know, I questioned my choice to give you that assignment. And the more I thought about it, the more I regretted it.”
“Really…?”
Celestia nodded. “I’ve made some mistakes, Fluttershy. I think I know what’s best for everypony, and I try to bring out the best in them. You were the element of kindness, and reforming the lord of chaos was the perfect challenge for you. Only you could show him the kindness he really needed. Plus, it would neutralize another threat to Equestria. It was the perfect opportunity."
Celestia hung her head low, a somber pose Fluttershy had never seen the regal princess in. “How foolish… how hypocritical! I didn’t consider your feelings at all. To me, you were just another destiny waiting to unfold. Just because you could do it, didn’t mean you should.” Celestia looked gravely at Fluttershy. “I would like to formally apologize. I gave you a burden too great for anypony to bear.”
“Oh no, it’s fine, really,” Fluttershy said. “You thought you were doing the right thing. And I accepted it… well, really I felt like I couldn’t refuse.”
“Indeed,” replied Celestia, looking up once more. “I have a great responsibility as princess, Fluttershy. Ponies respect me, and trust my judgment. And because of me, you felt trapped with Discord this whole time.”
“Well…” Fluttershy continued, “I feel like it’s in my nature to help anypony in need. Even Discord. I have a way of overextending myself for other ponies’ sake… who knows, I might have taken up this task even without you.”
Celestia gave Fluttershy a reassuring smile. “You know, for what it’s worth, your mission wasn’t a failure at all. You’ve given Discord some very powerful lessons about friendship. He may still be learning, but he’s no longer the villain he once was. I’d say you had a very positive effect on him.”
“Oh, that’s good…”
“But…” Celestia continued, “that doesn’t invalidate your feelings at all. Not every friendship is healthy, and sometimes, it’s best to cut them off.”
Celestia made a show of bowing regally towards Fluttershy, who was a little flustered at the gesture. “Fluttershy, Element of Kindness, in light of your success thus far, I hereby absolve you of your mission to reform Discord, the lord of chaos. And furthermore, I give you my blessing to enforce your boundaries with Discord however you see fit. You deserve to live a life free of worry.”
Fluttershy was left speechless. Tears began to well up again, but this time they weren’t tears of distress. They were tears of relief. She managed to squeak out the words “Thank you…” as she held back sobs. Celestia came over and wrapped a reassuring hoof around her, and Fluttershy melted into her embrace.
“Thank you so much for saying that… it feels like a weight has been lifted off me,” said Fluttershy.
“I’m very glad,” said Celestia. “But the hardest part is still yet to come. You need to have a serious discussion with Discord, and that’s something only you can do.”
“Right…” said Fluttershy. She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. “It’s a big change, but… I know things will be better with Discord out of my life. I feel better about this now. Thank you.”
They said their goodbyes, and Fluttershy was out the door, ready for a difficult conversation in her future. Celestia remained on the balcony and watched the sky. It was time for her to finish lowering the sun. In a moment, the sky darkened and the stars came out. Equestria was ready for slumber, but Celestia was not. There was one more thing she needed to address.
Celestia walked back into her room and paused. She looked around at nothing in particular. Furtively, she decided to sit down on a cushion and do some light reading. A few minutes passed as she turned pages. Finally, she calmly announced to the room, “I know you’re in here. Feel free to come out whenever you like.”
One of Celestia’s walls was decorated with a large tapestry stretching across its length, depicting scenes from Equestria’s history. From the edge of the tapestry, a slender figure peeled itself off. “Hmph. How long were you going to keep me waiting?” it said, and in an instant, the room was filled with Discord, the lord of chaos.
“Just long enough to let you do some thinking,” said Celestia, her tone much more stern than before. “You know, this is exactly why things didn’t work out with Fluttershy. You can only maintain a good relationship with a mortal on their terms. A breach of privacy like this just shows that you operate on a completely different level from her.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s rich coming from you, Miss I-know-everypony’s-destiny,” said Discord. He mimed the last couple words on a Celestia-shaped sock puppet.
Celestia scowled and paced around her room. “You heard everything, didn’t you? You don’t seem awfully broken up about all this.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I got through all five stages of grief when you weren’t looking.”
“You know it’s over with her, right? You can’t go meddling in Fluttershy’s life any more, after she has her talk with you. And if you even think about skipping out on that--”
Discord threw his head back dramatically. “Oh, you wound me, Jean-Luc! Er… princess. Of course I’ll hear her out, and believe me, I won’t cause her any more pain. Seems I’ve done enough of that…”
“I meant everything I said to her, you know,” said Celestia. “You really have made great progress with friendship. You owe a lot to her.”
"Yeah, sure. Fluttershy is a wonderful pony, clearly much better than me. Maybe she really will be better off without me."
"Are you going to be okay?" asked Celestia.
"Oh princess, I've gotten by just fine on my own for the last couple millennia! I'm sure I can manage." Discord dressed himself in a vacation outfit and clutched some luggage. "After we have our little chat, I think I'll spend some time back in the chaos dimension. I hear the upside-down waterfalls are lovely this time of year."
As he turned around to leave, he looked back smugly at Celestia one more time. "And who knows? If I get bored, I may just decide to make some new friends."
With that, Discord disappeared, leaving Celestia alone at last. This evening had gone better than she feared. Content with the current state of affairs, Celestia headed off to sleep.
Author's Note
A few notes before anybody comments:
I realize in the episode "Keep Calm and Flutter On," it looked like Fluttershy had successfully reformed Discord and her job was finished. In my interpretation of events, that was just the beginning, and Fluttershy treated it like an ongoing mission to teach Discord kindness and respect.
This story is about a toxic friendship. If you're not a fan of this interpretation, or you think it doesn't make sense, don't bother telling me. You're entitled to your own way of seeing things.
As usual, I'm not looking for constructive criticism on this piece. Enjoy!
