Author's Note
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Hearts A-Flutter
“Now, Shy, look around and tell me what you see.”
Fluttershy slowly peeked around at the open plain before her for several seconds. Even the draconequus curled around her didn’t move, the crook of his head shielding her from the sunlight. Then Fluttershy shot wide open and stood straight up in shock. “I-I don’t know what to l-wait, did we forget something!?”
Confusion struck Discord. “N-no, we did-”
Too late. Fluttershy was off to the races. “Oh no! This is just like the time you told me about the night sky, and I got so tied up in the stars I forget that the te-”
A cloven hoof kept Fluttershy’s babbling from overtaking her. “For the last time, dear - I stole the tent that time. This is far from a joke, I assure you. Now… look around.”
Several slow gulps later, Fluttershy calmed down. The sound of several trumpet-beaked birds whistling ‘it’s okay’ in the branch above her helped volumes. She shot a grateful smile over to Discord, one that only sent him into a stuttering titter about how Fluttershy was clearly mistaken about those bird coos she heard. And an offer to get closer to the tree to find out only made that tree suddenly sprout wings and burrow into the ground, leaving behind a single golden horn peeking from the green blades around it.
With nothing else to pursue on that front, Fluttershy again scanned the scene before her. Again, the looming foliage surrounding this clearing caught her eye first. “W-well, the trees are really nice. Well tended. I-I should really thank Hugger and all those weatherponies for that.”
“Speaking of ponies…” Discord mused, tapping the pen in one talon paw with the clipboard in another. “I’m quite certain some of them are in that nice idyllic countryside you’ve painted too.”
Fluttershy meeped. “Oh yes! A-and…”
A brisk laugh answered her. “Not to fret - I’ve seen how dreadfully uninteresting they can be at times myself. But your oh-so-wonderful Princess Highlights deemed their study our priority today, so…”
Well, now that was the focus. And what a focus they were. So eager to nuzzle up to one another, even with the mirage-throwing rays beating down upon them.
For a while, she wondered why the lab coat now wound around Discord’s barrel didn’t even feel warm to the touch - a contrast to the hand now stroking her mane. For her sake? For Discord’s?
Goodness, it was so hard to tell how comfort worked.
For Fluttershy and Fluttershy alone, it seemed.
“Do focus, Fluttershy. There is more to life than leafy greens.” Then the snaggle fang in Discord’s muzzle glinted in the sunlight as he grinned. “Or perhaps that’s exactly how we should see this.”
“See what?”
Discord threw up a hand in inspiration. The clipboard in it grew in size - as well as gaining handles and a spoke - as it twirled in the air, becoming a full-blown swing when it hit the ground with a shrill SQUEAK-A. “These ponies, of course! Your barn-tending friend talks often of family trees - so let us see what trees these couples here would be!”
Suddenly Fluttershy was reminded of a previous conversion she’d had on a Friendship Express a while ago. One that had brought so much warmth to her heart before. “I think that would be okay, yeah.”
“Splendid! Start with them.”
Fluttershy followed Discord’s talon to the first couple. They were now occupying the swing Discord had summoned, the pegasus gripping the pie-like partitions of the swing was laughing at each busy by the muscle-packed pegasus on the outside. It reminded Fluttershy of a dandelion. “Derpy and Bulky! Um… gosh, this is hard.”
“Derpy and Bulky…” Discord said. “Ah. Formerly Poindexter and Slim Jim. One lost in their own body’s distinction, another held back by its frailties.” Folding his arms, Discord moved side-to0-side with Flutttershy, ignoring the shiver she gave - save for the upturn in his even lip. “And yet, both are more beneficial for their new change. Go on - what tree would they be?”
“I think... “ Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to blush. “No. It has to be a black ash tree.”
“Rare and endangered.” Not a hint of malice or mockery flowed through Discord’s voice. Even the air around them, humid as ever, held itself in the wake of this small miracle. “You sure you haven’t done this before, dear?”
Horror flowed through Fluttershy’s heart at this, burning at her throat and heavy tongue. “N-no. I mean... “ Then sorrow followed, a stinging chaser to the stomach-dropping shot. “Well, yes, but…” Then clarity came to drown them both out - a realization of why that tree was first in her mind. “Because black ash r-really helps so many others around them flourish. L-like the frogs that feel off its bark. And it looks so… dazzling when it’s in the right space. Fiddlesticks even talks up how good it is in her fiddles, since it’s so...”
Another laugh made Fluttershy’s ears perk up in joy.
“...Resonant.” she finished, a grin finally touching her lips at last.
“That pony seems worthy of a paen or two.” A scroll popped into Discord’s hand. “By someone else, of course.” Then it deflated in his hands like a balloon, soon zipping around over their heads. “But you have a way with words nonetheless.”
Speaking on that, though… “A-are you sure this isn’t lessening them?”
“Balderdash and tallerjacks, my dear.” Spawning a giant mushroom and popping it into his mouth like a lippop, Discords eyes followed the couple intensely. “Trees make you comfortable. Kindness makes you comfortable. Combine the two and you get-”
“A broader way to see Ponyville.” Wow! Who knew Discord could be so considerate! Well, besides her.
“I was going to say ‘ a faster way to complete this time-killing task', but that works too.” Discord scoffed. Yanking off one of his horns, he flicked it until the frames bent in the shape of a pair of glasses, then settled them on his long snout. “Do speak on more of these couples, though. How you see them is endlessly fascinating.“
Fluttershy focused on another couple this time - one already on a blanket, as they were. Immediately, three ponies caught her eye. The spa ponies Aloe and Lotus were side by side with another stallion, one whose jet-black cot stood almost in contrast to their pastel-colored ones. Their minds were as one though, as they flipped through catalogs sporting the logo - and latest fares - of Rarity’s Canterlot Boutique.
“Interesting.” Discord rolled onto his back, though his eyes still focused on the polyamorous triplet. “Not a lick of change in their wardrobes, despite their builds. Perhaps that is what makes your Rarity take so kindly to them.”
“Oh no…” Fluttershy corrected, her voice level and melodious as she snuggled further into the draconequus’ side. “I think it was Rarity’s getting Sky Stinger out of his shell on liking dresses… that made all of them so happy with her.” Indeed, the latest number he had latched to his sides prickly, the black and green frills a perfectly facsimile of his cropped mane. “R-rarity showed me the mahogany locker she put those dresses in every day, as they were made. I think it was the first job she did without needing measurements or ponyquins.”
Then Fluttershy stiffened again. Discord’s tongue clicked impatiently. “Again, dear, I must recall - that star thing was a joke. One I’m sure Rarity made clear to you after inventing an almanac’s worth of invective against poor old me-”
“No, not that!” Fluttershy's grin grew. “Mahogany. Those wonderful three ponies… they’re like a mahogany tree.”
Discord blinked for a moment before his bearings came back to him. Well, more like eyeballs, considering they were still in the same spot they once were - several feet above his head. “Ah! Exactly as I hoped! Naturally, my invoking of times past expedited the issue, and- ”
Then he saw Fluttershy’s disapproving stare. Not The Stare, thankfully, but it rooted him nevertheless.
“Do let me live for a minute, Shy.”
“Oh. Of course.” And then she was back to staring at the pony-filly countryside.
“Wait. ‘Of course’?” Discord quizzed as his flapping wings took him above his marefriend for a minute. “No ‘what, fifteen hundred years wasn’t enough’? No ‘living is fine, turning Spike into a three-headed dog to ‘remove all subtlety about your relationship’ is not!’? None of that, Shy?”
“Oh no, Discord. I wouldn’t dare think of any of that.” Fluttershy said. “And I doubt those two mares would, either.”
Grumbling something under his breath, Discord was back at Fluttershy’s side again. “Well just know that in a millennia or ten that sappiness of yours will most assuredly wear thin. Probably.” He shook his head, and the red staining his cheeks instead stained the blanket beneath them. “Anyway, what were you saying about Lyra Lyra, Plants for Hire and The Spy who Loves Her?”
Fluttershy grinned as she looked upon Heartstrings and Bon Bon again. Goodness, all Ponyville itself seemed to sing with the minty unicorn as she strummed out her latest song for Bon Bon. And judging by how Bon Bon was enraptured by it….
Something was going to come along to screw it up soon.
“Well, they’d have to be a quaking aspen.” Fluttershy’s words came fast and furious now, but her heart wasn’t thundering out of her chest ,and her smile was widening and things felt more real by the second. “Stands strong through cold winters and blazing summers alike, high-demanding and fast to grow… and yet it’s so sensitive. And so much nicer for it.”
“Yes, it is…” Discord’s mischief was seeming back into his voice again. “Perhaps something to shake it up is in order…”
Fluttershy was quick to prevent that snap of Discord’s fingers though. “B-but that’s nothing compared to the apple tree in front of us!”
“Apple tree? What are you-oh.” Discord’s eyes locked on the couple closest to them at last. “In that one a day will keep them away?” Indeed, Doctor Horse and Doctor Hooves were enjoying some fresh fruit in a basket heaped between them.
“O-or that it’s the one that shone first.” Fluttershy offered. “Its resilient, really treasured… and really fruitful.”
Discord, after a minute, finally slumped back from his perch above Fluttershy. “Drat. That much work, and I’ve done so little on my end.” Up went his hand, index and thumb gripped together. “Well, time to fix that with a riddle!”
Back swung Fluttershy's eyes to the scenes before her. And all of them looked way to easy to turn for the worse. She had to do something! “D-discord, are you sure this is a good idea-?”
But Discord was already off to the races himself.
“What is a jacket’s hood to guard
Or forecast made to know?
Oh, it can ruin any parade...“
Fluttershy braced herself as DIscord's fingers gave out that telltale click. Suddenly, the sun’s rays were cut off by a far more jagged, dangerous flash of light. Immediately after, the clouds around them burst their banks, and Fluttershy looked ready to follow suit, watching the ponies before her panic.
Then Discord’s last four words brought her back to plant Equestria.
“...or brighten any bow.”
And Fluttershy looked closer - as did everypony there, at the looming shields keeping the rain from wetting their coats or blankets. All of them gaped - first at the holes in the pouring storm, and then in marvel at the prismatic arc of light shooting across the re-brightening sky.
Fluttershy, for once, was speechless as Discord summoned up a lawn chair and reclined in it, pulling her into his embrace once more. “Of course, you know… he muttered, once again drifting his fingers through the waves of bubblegum-colored silk before him. “If Twilight hears of this…”
“You’ll pretend you didn’t say that?”
“No. I’m going to magic away her ears.” Discord almost jumped himself at the chuckle Fluttershy gave out. “But I think she will be far more interested in your own lesson report, instead. For now…”
Discord trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished. Fluttershy looked at the rainbow arcing over this clearing, then at the ponies resuming their wondrous activities under it, and saw that ending to the statement anyway. Slowly she laid her head on Discord’s thin chest.
They could take their time getting back to Princess Twilight.
