"-Oh, who needs friends anyway. You know what?! I'm moving back to Canterlot-- see if I need you! Any of you!"

"-yeah well, boohoo, go cry about it--"

"Before you go, help me move this diamond back to the boutique- wait no! Don't touch it! Back, you fiends!"

"-Well, maybe I don't want yer' stupid rock anyway!"

Discord lounges on a pink cloud, watching the pandemonium play out with fascination. A goblet appears in his paw and, leaning over to hold the cup right-side up, the cloud above him proceeds to fill it with a strange colourless liquid. He takes a sip.

He gags.

"Bleugh, water," holding it out over the cloud's edge, he proceeds to pour it on flipped-Rarity's head. The unicorn's scream can be heard for miles. "I knew I should've just had the glass."

He turns the goblet into a glass, and then throws the whole thing away. He watches with faint interest as it sprouts a pair of wings and starts flying into some distant horizon or another.

"Hm," he thinks, because he's a thinker at heart, and honestly, that horizon is so drab that it could really use some sparkle. A snap of his fingers later, and the flying glass has exploded into the size of an elder dragon. The bottom of it drags against the landscape, forming valleys and cliffs, and he nods in satisfaction.

"Better."

"I must say, Discord!" A second version of himself appears behind him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "You really outdid yourself! Though, maybe..."

The original thinks. He frowns as the contemplative quiet drags on for a bit too long.

"Maybe, what?"

"Well," the clone starts, "you've still got one itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy little problem, ol' chap!"

He scowls.

"The pegasus."

"Yes, yes," his copy nods, waving down at where a yellow pegasus trots through the maze. "The pegasus."

"You mean, the pegasus down there," Discord drones, jabbing his thumb at the mare's silhouette. Both Discords look down just in time to see her get poked by a tree branch, scream, and nearly knock herself out on a decorative statue. He didn't even put that there.

"That one?"

Discord No. 2 nods, heartfelt. "Don't judge a book by it's cover! She's still an Element of Harmony; I'll bet my left antler that she's a hero that could pose a problem--"

The pegasus shakily gets to her hooves. A falling leaf from the same tree branch lightly brushes her flank, and she promptly faints.

They stare at the scene in silence for a long moment. The doppelganger awkwardly clears his throat.

Discord deadpans. "Really. That's a problem. You think that is a problem."

The clone pauses, opens his mouth to speak- and then just shrugs.

"Well, I did say it was a little problem."

Discord groans, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his lion paw. "She is, quite literally, their weakest link. Honestly! Haven't you read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'?"

"I'm a figment of your imagination made manifest by raw magical power," the clone tells him. "I can't read."

He thinks. "Well."

Then, rather promptly, he snaps his fingers and his counterpart glows-- eyes an ominous, milky white that takes on a hazy, distant quality. When he speaks, a thousand voices speak with him.

"I̵͖͂ ̵̼̍H̴̡̅Ā̷̰V̷̛͓E̷̹̽ ̸̧̕T̵̠̍R̵̲̚A̸͓̿N̶̘̾S̶̻̐C̵͇͒Ë̸͍́N̴̞̂Ď̵͓E̶̥̽Ḍ̶͆.̷̰̿"

"You can read now," Discord corrects him. "You also have become sentient and have learnt the concept of self-realization. Enjoy. Go take over some world or another as an eldritch being; go on, shoo!"

"I̴͔͉͛̀ ̵̣̬̐͒A̴̦̗̅͑M̷̲͠ ̷͈̫̀̔T̶̢͙̉H̸̙̰͝E̷̖͚͘ ̶̬͒B̸̪̒̔ͅL̶̙͊̅Ą̷̈͒C̵̝̹͌̐K̶̜͒ ̴̨̡̛Ḡ̶̲̥͝O̵̥̓̑À̴̙̟T̵͇͇̓ ̶̯̗͆̕O̵̫̽F̶̪̺̏ ̶̘̊Ť̸̰͜H̴̛͇͝Ḙ̶̾ ̷͈͆Ẃ̵̦͜Ő̸͎̣͝Ọ̴̧̈́D̶̠̊S̵̰̎ ̴̱͓͛W̶̯͂̅I̴͙̽̾T̶̨͈̏͝H̷͖̤͋ ̶͇̟̂̀A̸̫͗̿ ̴̭̲̑T̶̛̰H̵͍̞̀O̴̱̊̔͜U̷͓̼̿Ṣ̴̰̚͝Ạ̴͂̽Ǹ̶ͅḎ̶̬̃͆ ̴͖̾̆Y̷͕͑Ö̵̳͓́Ǔ̵̢͘N̶͖̺̕G̸̰͔̎-"

Black rivulets of some unspeakable liquid or other begin to dribble from corner of his newest creation's mouth. Discord reaches over, scoops some of it on his finger, and puts it in his mouth.

"Oh," he shivers with recognition, smacking his lips. "Red liquorice! How delightful."

"I'm bored of you now," Discord tells him, with no slight bit of remorse. "Go and inspire the crazed machinations of xenophobic men or something, m'kay?"

"I̴̠̕ ̴͎͋W̸̦̑Ì̶̧L̶̮̀L̸̤̉ ̶̬͛N̶͕̓Ő̸̧T̷̩̃ ̸̠͠B̴̪̍E̶͙̓ ̷̜̅C̷̩͘Õ̷̜Ň̷͈T̵̙͠Á̴̞Ĩ̶̠N̸̘̓Ë̸̙́D̸̛̤-"

Discord snaps his fingers and his doppelganger disappears in a flash of light with a delayed pop of confetti.

"Well, that was dull. Now..."

He leans over the clouds edge, looking down at the unconscious pegasus. She hadn't even made it that far from the maze's entrance; the mare made it all of, like, five steps before taking herself out.

It's honestly rather impressive.

Eagle claws rub at his chin. A second too late, he notices that his arms have swapped sides of their own accord; left is now right, right is now left, up is now down, down is--

"Ah," Discord watches the pegasus' body begin to rise up into the air and realises, with slight delay, that he's accidentally swapped gravity.

"Woops."

Mismatched eyes blink. In the end, he snaps his fingers and reality aligns itself again. He proceeds to grab his eye, rotate it, and begin using it as a handheld telescope.

The rousing pony is right in the telescope's cross-hairs.

"What to do with you..."

Fluttershy wakes with a start. For a single blessed moment, she completely forgets about the sort of day she's had and admires the tall verdant hedges that surround her.

Then a butterfly with wads of butter for wings flaps past her, and it all comes back at once.

"Oh no," the mare whimpers, raising her face to the sky. It's impossible to tell how long she's been lying there for-- apparently, it was long enough for the sky to get tired of being blue, and try out mint green for a change. "I hope I haven't wasted too much time!"

The hedge in front of her decides that's the exact moment to disappear, revealing the rest of her friends on the other side.

A spark of hope fills her.

"Girls! Oh, I'm so gla-"

Twilight turns to her and her face drops. "Oh great," she grumbles. "Just what I needed, more fake friends."

"Don't sit there!" Rarity barks at the unicorn, swatting at her sides. "You're too close to my diamond; get away!"

Fluttershy blinks in confusion. There's not a single diamond in sight, the closest thing to it is a giant boulder.

"..W-what-?"

"Oh, there she goes again, stuttering!" Pinkie Pie cuts in, laughing at her. Something in the pegasus' heart twists and she can't help but flinch away. "D-d-does F-F-F-Fluttershy want her p-p-pacifier?!"

The yellow pony frowns.

"T-that's not very nice, Pinkie..."

"Well," Applejack pokes her tongue out at her. Then, rather abruptly, her face twists and contorts, as if she'd bitten into a particularly sour lemon. "I thought it was very nice of 'er to tell you!"

Is Applejack... lying?

And, just like that, she becomes glaringly aware of a noticeable absence in the group. She looks up, left, right, and even under her hooves, because today's been so crazy, that she wouldn't be surprised if the other pegasus was ant-sized.

"Where's Rainbow Dash?"

"Who cares?" Twilight huffs, lying on the ground and curling up into a miserable ball. "It doesn't matter anyway..."

Fluttershy's chest twinges. Her friends, they're so...

"Odd, are they not?"

A new voice brushes against her ears- though, one that's not entirely unfamiliar. She turns around and looks up. And up. And up. And--

"Yes, we get it," Discord drawls, crossing his mismatched arms against his chest. "I'm tall and it hurts your neck."

She swallows past the lump in her throat. Well, he's not wrong.

"C-can you, um," Fluttershy taps the tips of her forehooves together nervously, "I-If you don't mind, that is, could you please... crouch down?"

He squints at her. She feels a bead of sweat drip down the side of her face.

"No."

Her head drops in defeat. "O-okay..."

"Really? You're not even going to try one more time? Not once?"

"W-well," the pegasus scrapes her hoof into the dirt shyly, "you already said no, and I-I don't want to pressure you or anything..."

"Egads," He declares. He's got his... paws? On his... hips? Either way, he doesn't look very impressed. "You've got the backbone of my Uncle John. He's been stuck in a loveless marriage since he was just a little rock. So sad."

Fluttershy blinks. She wonders if she's meant to ask questions about that, and decides it's better left unknown.

"Um," is what she settles on instead.

"Don't ask about that," Discord tells her. Then, he snaps his fingers and he shrinks in size, smaller and smaller until he's only double her size. "There, better?"

She smiles in gratitude. The ache in her neck is already fading. "Oh, thank you! That's much better."

He stares at her strangely for a long minute, floundering for some unknowable reason, before he clears his throat. "Right. So! Let me start over."

Fluttershy takes a seat in front of him, waiting patiently.

Discord strikes a pose, thunder and lightning crackling to life around him whilst the sky above him gathers into a swirling mass of dark pink clouds. Tiny bits of chocolate begin to rain down around them in a torrential frenzy as villainous laughter fills her ears.

She's suddenly reminded of her reason for being here in the first place. The lump in her throat moments prior makes a return; and it's becoming increasingly difficult to breathe past the molten fear that's beginning to pulse through her.

"O-oh, right," Fluttershy swallows fearfully, tucking herself close to the ground. "You're evil..."

The theatrics pause-- quite literally. Discord stands in the middle of it all holding a remote, with a giant pause icon floating behind him.

"I'm not 'evil'," he scoffs, air quoting the word. "I'm chaotic. There's a difference, you know. I'm neutral, if I simply must be anything at all!"

Fluttershy nods her head. She can't help but feel very out of her depth.

"Right. Um. But... aren't you trying to take over the world?"

He smiles at her and nods. "Yes! Yes I am!"

A moment of silence. She waits.

"...I guess that would mean that I'm closer to the chaotic evil side of things, rather than chaotic neutral," he admits slowly, his hesitance to do so evident through the wince that plagues him. "But! I digress, I'm more self-serving than I am evil, my dear."

She looks at him. It's distinctly sympathetic.

"Of course."

He parrots the words back at her, smug and triumphant, "of course."

A moment passes. Fluttershy decides now is the time to clear her throat. "Um... not to rush you or anything! But, you were saying..?"

"Oh, right!"

She screams when the crashing thunder resumes without warning, lightning flashing with a light so strong she's sure she'll go blind. Fearing for her ears, the pegasus quickly clamps her hooves over them and cowers.

"I am Discord!" The being before her howls, flashing white-hot with power. "God of Chaos! A being of limitless potential! And-! Oh, to Tartarus with it. I feel so tacky."

Everything returns to normal jarringly quickly.

"Here's the sitch," Discord declares as he steps out of the shadows, now donning a long red-haired wig. Fluttershy can only blink up at him owlishly before belatedly lifting her hooves off her ears.

She rubs her forehooves together nervously. "Oh, um. Could you repeat that?"

He stares at her. The wig disappears off his head with a puff of smoke, and is quickly replaced with his usual horn and antler combo. He sighs.

"The joke's funny once," the draconequus tells her. "And only once. Capeesh?"

"Ca-cappa-- um," Fluttershy tries. "C--"

Discord pinches the bridge of his nose. He forms a teepee with all eight-nine-ten-who knows how many of his fingers, and points the whole structure at her.

"Just nod."

She nods at him.

"Good job."

"I-- t-thank you?"

"As I was saying," Discord continues, at long last, waving his paw dismissively to gesture to the group behind her. "Here's the deal: I'm free and, quite frankly, I'm bored. This whole thing?" He gestures between the two of them with his claws, lackadaisical. "It's been the most thrilling part of the whole ordeal. I should give you a gold star- in fact, here you go!"

All the pegasus can do is stare up at him, her jaw nearly unhinging from the rest of her skull. A golden starfish finds itself ripped away from it's enclosure in the Canterlot Zoo and gracing the side of her head.

"You're..." She starts off slowly, before a faint flicker of anger begins to burn away in her chest. "You're... you're doing all of this because you're bored?"

Discord, scarcely aware or simply uncaring of the coming danger, just nods enthusiastically.

"Completely out of my mind, yes."

She watches him emphasize the point by exploding his head in a monochromatic display of streamers, balloons, and a wanton jumble of letters.

Fluttershy takes a slow deep breath in.

"Y-you did this to my friends, to my home, to hundreds of innocent little creatures. Because you're bored."

"Well," he thinks about it for a moment. "They did that to themselves, really. I just gave them a little golden apple of discord, and they did all the warring themselves! A shame that there's no Trojan Horse around here."

Something crashes into existence behind her, its entrance heralded by the sound of creaking gears and protesting wood. It takes everything inside of her to not look back, and keep her attention on the threat in front of her.

They'll be fine, is all that repeats in her head, the girls have to be fine.

Her hoof stomps on the ground. Beneath it, the earth splits into tiny fractures around the area of impact.

"Change them back."

Discord stares at her, something similar to interest flickering across his eyes. "Oh?" He starts, leaning towards her. That alone is enough to cause his shadow to start looming; and yet, all that does is make her more upset. "You're making demands of me, are you? Dear, your little Captain Sparkle was the one that made the deal with me: it's not my fault that you all failed."

Fluttershy scowls at him, taking a step forward. His eyes widen ever-so-slightly in vague surprise.

Then, he grins.

"If it weren't for you, the other girls wouldn't be so..! So unlike themselves! You tricked Twilight, and me, and all of us! I bet the Elements of Harmony aren't even here because you're such a... such a bully and a cheater!"

His face twists; a shadow falls over it and suddenly, all the soft edges turn sharper than a knife's edge.

"Well, well, well," Discord laughs, and it's loud and low and feels like it echoes on until eternity. Fluttershy's ears flatten. "Maybe you've got some guts to you after all, Fluttershy!"

Then, there's nothing around her but darkness: everything else falls away from her. She can't hear the girls scuffling in the background, or the swaying of the trees. There's no light, no sky, no left or right, up or down, and--

Fluttershy shakes her head, slowly at first before it starts turning outright vigorous. The flame of courage that was in her chest goes out in a puff of smoke, and she's left cowering in the inky blackness with nothing but her own thoughts.

She swallows. The fear in her blood is so thick, it feels like she's going to faint.

"H-hello--?"

"How about this," comes Discord's voice from the shadows, cutting her off. A paw comes to lie on her withers, and the feeling of it's claws on her fur is enough to make her squeak in fear. "You and me, Flutternutter."

"U-um--!"

The talons of his eagle hand are extended out before her.

"Let's..."

His eyes glint and she can feel the adrenaline rushing to her head. Then, light and sound and grass and sunshine returns in a great big cacophony, and Discord is standing in front of her with his eagle claw out. There's rainbow confetti, there's liquid chocolate coming out of the garden fountain, and the air smells like cotton candy and freshly cut grass.

"..make a deal!"

Fluttershy can't take it anymore-- and, with that decided, she proceeds to faint.

Again.

Discord frowns at the sad pile of short-circuited pony crumpled to the ground in front of him. He pokes her with his foot: she promptly drools on it.

"What is it the ponies say..? Ah yes."

He clears his throat.

"Buck."

When Fluttershy wakes up next, it's to Discord's expectant face hovering in front of her own. She reels back with a squeak whilst all he does is sigh in abject relief.

"Oh good," he exhales, taking off a stethoscope and throwing it away. "I thought you were dead."

Fluttershy gulps. "D-dead?!"

He blinks at her owlishly. "Yes, dead. Off to the pearly gates? The great beyond? The great green fields above? Reincarnation in a parallel universe with elves, magic and slimes, oh me oh my?"

She stares at him, terrified.

"Well," Discord clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably on his mismatched legs. "You're not dead. You're alive. Congratulations!"

There's a pop of magic. Fireworks go off behind him, accompanied by party horns and trumpets.

The mare eyes the magic with some degree of wonder, head tilting. Her ears flick; caught in some nebulous state between finding everything too loud, and abject curiosity. In the end, she just swallows and looks up at him.

"A-and... my friends?"

He frowns down at him, some ghostly fragment of hurt dashing across his face before disappearing. "I haven't hurt anypony," Discord tells her with a huff, "there's no fun in mischief and chaos if creatures get hurt."

Fluttershy blinks in surprise.

"Oh," she says, because she doesn't really know what else to say. Something like shame burns hotly beneath her fur and she can't help but duck her head, ears pressed against her skull. "I-I... I'm sorry for assuming, um, Discord."

Then she jolts upright, because she remembers that she's actually addressing a god.

"I-Is it okay if I call you Discord?" The pegasus asks him, trying to look him in the eyes and failing miserably. She settles on looking at his claws instead. They're rather interesting. "I-I don't know how to talk to a, um, you know. God."

"Oh. Yes. Well."

The eagle talons move about in a dexterous manner, with the calloused and bright-hued hide tipped with obsidian keratin. They're so unlike anything she's ever seen before, that she doesn't think she could possibly look away.

"Discord is fine. Preferred, really; God of Chaos is a mouthful and, erm, I was probably a bit... hasty in my introduction. I'm more of a Master of Chaos, rather than a God of it-- could you please stop looking at me like that, I feel like I'm being dissected."

Fluttershy squeaks out an apology, hastily throwing both of her hooves over her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She chants, feeling herself shrink back until she's practically a puddle. "I-I've just--! Never seen eagle limbs m-move like that before, and-! I'm not looking anymore, honest!"

The light on the other side of her eyelids shifts.

"You..." His voice trails off, low and uncertain. "Let me get this straight. You're not staring at me because you think I'm hideous?"

She can't help but gasp. "Oh, of course not! You're a little... s-scary... but I think that's more because you're mean. You and my woodland friends share a lot of similarities in appearance; how could I think you're hideous, when you remind me so much of them?"

There's a stretch of silence. It's broken only by a quiet exhale.

"Huh," Discord says. Then, her hooves are being swatted off of her face-- she thinks it's his claws for all of two seconds, before realising he's actually using a giant fly swatter. "Colour me surprised."

When light floods her vision once again, the draconequus has turned a completely different colour: in fact, he's still changing colours every other second. She just blinks at him.

"Anyhoot," he announces with a clap of his claws. When they part, an owl comes flying out from between his palms and settles atop her head. "Attempt two: Flutternutter! Lets make a deal; you and me."

Fluttershy stares at him. A slew of almonds come tumbling out of her mane. The owl departs from her head and begins eagerly scouring the grass for treats.

"Huh?"

"You heard me, contestant number three!" Discord stops swapping colour spectrums and instead dons a suit and tie like a gameshow host. He hoists up a microphone, whose cord is connected to the nearest rock. "You and me, baby! We'll make a new deal to solve this whole burning dumpster fire of a mess!"

Her jaw drops open. Somewhere in the Canterlot janitorial wing, an abandoned dumpster catches aflame.

"W-what kind of deal?" She asks him hesitantly, shying away when he thrusts the microphone in her face.

He snaps his talons.

"Why, I'm glad you asked! Contestant number three," Discord steps aside to reveal the rest of her friends, including Rainbow Dash, lying dazed on the ground behind him. They look very, very confused. "Please meet your prizes."

Fluttershy jumps to her hooves, heart thundering away in her chest. She calls out to them, please, please, please be normal..!

"Girls?"

Rarity looks over first, rubbing at a tender spot on her head. "F-Fluttershy..? Oh, Fluttershy, you're alright!"

Applejack's and Pinkie Pie's ears flick towards her, both earth ponies eyes exploding wide with relief at the sight of her. "Sugarcube, you're safe! Oh, I was so worried when we didn't catch y'all in the maze with the rest o' us!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie cheers, before groaning when the loudness of her own voice irritates her growing headache. "I'm so sorry for being such a meanie-pants before, Fluttershy. I'm not sure what happened..."

The pony can't help it: her smile is so strong that she nearly devolves into tears right then and there.

"Oh, it's okay, I forgive you!" Fluttershy cries, galloping towards them. "I'm so glad you're okay. That all of you--!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! You haven't won them back yet, my dear."

A cane hooks around her neck, pulling her back from the group before she can get too close. She braces for the uncomfortable feeling of being choked by it, but... strangely, it doesn't hurt her at all.

The pegasus blinks slowly, watching as she's dragged harmlessly back to Discord's side.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouts, steam billowing from her nostrils. "You get away from her, Discord! I swear, if you even touch a hair on her, I'll--!"

"Yes yes," the draconequus rolls his eyes. "I'm sure your bad breath will show me a world of pain. Would you like a mint?"

A tiny tin of peppermints appear before the racer's snout. She promptly knocks the whole tin to the ground and crushes it under her hoof.

Discord frowns. "Tetchy."

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you to keep your word," Twilight frowns, taking a step towards him. "I doubt the Elements of Harmony are even here! And you're the one that... that changed me! Into some! Some--!"

"-Some lonely sad recluse that preferred books over friends?" Discord offers helpfully. "Golly, sounds familiar."

The unicorn just squints at him disdainfully.

"Where are the Elements of--!"

Fluttershy watches in wide-eyed confusion as Twilight's mouth is zipped closed: in fact, a quick glance shows that all of her friend's mouths are in a similar state.

"Now, be still," he chides them all; and Twilight Sparkle in particular. "You might be the main character in the usual show, but it's time to temporarily pass on the baton! Not to worry though," he leans in close to the purple unicorn, whispering, "you'll always be Celestia's personal favourite."

An embarrassed, yet begrudgingly pleased glow lights up Twilight's cheeks, but she stamps her hoof angrily regardless.

"As I was saying," Discord reappears at her side, lion arm sprawled over her neck. She squeaks. "Here's the deal: you and me, Flutters! We'll play a game of, yes, you guessed it!"

He snaps his claws and the world explodes into streamers, noisemakers and fireworks.

"Tag!"

Rainbow Dash and Applejack's eyes go wide as saucers, whilst Twilight and Pinkie's jaws are only held in place by the zippers on their mouths. Rarity, meanwhile, fainted as soon as she saw Discord touch the pegasus.

He slinks around her, only stopping once the pair of them are face to face.

"If you win, I return everything back to normal and maybe, just maybe, I'll stop misbehaving." When Fluttershy's eyes light up, he clicks his tongue and holds up a single lupine digit. "However, if I win, then I get complete and total dominion over Equestria itself. I get to do what I want, when I want, how I want; and you won't use your little Element of Harmony on me."

Fluttershy's heart starts pounding. Already, she can feel the pressure set in, and it's dragging her closer and closer to the ground. She wishes she could climb into the dirt and hide in it, if only so she can escape the increasingly panicked stares her friends are giving her.

"Oh, aren't I generous?" Discord exalts himself, cackling. "I'm giving you one last chance to return, ugh, normalcy to this place, even after you'd all gone and fudged it up the first time!"

"-um--"

"Maybe I deserve a gold star myself," he ponders aloud. "I do feel oddly bereft. A bit of gold could be just what I need."

"-Discord, c-can you--"

The draconequus snaps his fingers and the maze turns from verdant green to glittering gold. Ice-skates appear on his feet and, with a gleeful laugh, he proceeds to zip around the courtyard.

Fluttershy frowns. "Discord!"

He reappears in front of her face, eye to eye, and purrs.

"You called, my dear?"

She stands there frozen for a long moment before her eyes flicker from left to right. Then, Fluttershy gingerly plants a hoof on his chest and gently pushes him away.

"This... deal," the pegasus starts, ignoring the shaking heads of her friends. "I think we need terms and agreements. I-It wouldn't be fair! I-I'd never be able to catch you; you could just teleport to Yakyakistan and I'd never be able to find you."

He scrunches up his nose.

"Ugh," Discord groans, "you're going to make this boring and fair, aren't you? Fine! How about this: I, Discord, won't use my magic to aid me during the game..."

The ponies stare at him, shocked. Twilight's shock quickly turns into suspicion, whilst Fluttershy's turns into joy. Her ears quickly unpin from her head, swiveling towards him.

"...But!"

Twilight glares at him, practically willing him to turn into dust. When he doesn't, she just slumps over in defeat. Rainbow Dash gives her a comforting hoof-pat on the shoulder.

Fluttershy stares at him, tilting her head. "But?"

"But!" Discord repeats again, then he towers over her and grins with all who-knows-how-many of his shiny pointy teeth. "I'm in. That's right, my dear! You'll just have to evade me for as long as it takes-- and, let me warn you, a thousand years of imprisonment has given me quite the pent-up energy."

"A-and if I don't take this new deal?"

"Well," he draws back, shrugging. "Then I turn all your friends back into what they were, and you would resume your hopeless search for the Elements of Harmony while stuck in a forever-changing maze."

She frowns, bowing her head to think. A sneaky glance to the right of him reveals all of her friends, and they're in various states of rage, frustration, and...

Her breath catches.

Twilight Sparkle looks away from her, but Fluttershy catches the corner of her eyes before she can do so: and what she sees makes her heart twist in sympathy.

Her friend; the strongest, smartest, and most understanding unicorn that she knows... is afraid, yes, but more than that, it looks as if she's accepting defeat before it's even happened.

Fluttershy looks at her hooves. She understands why Twilight looks that way; she really, truly does.

If it were any of the others, genuinely any of them, then there wouldn't be half as much uncertainty in the air. Rainbow Dash or Applejack could outrace anyone as long as it's not each other, god or not, and Twilight is so incredibly gifted in magic that she'd have discovered some way to resolve everything before the day's end. Rarity wouldn't have even needed to make a deal: she'd be so clever and charming that Discord would eventually give up on the very concept of toying with her. And Pinkie Pie...

Well. That doesn't really need to be explained. Everyone knows that she'd win regardless of the circumstance.

So yes, it doesn't hurt that Twilight doesn't have as much faith in her as she does in the others. Fluttershy has her talents; she recognises that. But it hurts to know that, when it really matters, those talents seem pointless in the face of creatures like Discord.

Still, she can't help but steel herself, she has to try.

"I'm not good at flying," Fluttershy admits to him instead, eyes clenched shut. "I'm not the best runner either. And I need things like food, and water, and sleep. S-so, what I'm saying is, this is going to be a sad and predictable game, r-right?"

Discord hums. "Well, you might have a point there. Oh! Should I give you rocket boots? A skateboard? Stealth plane?"

She shifts, then nervously swallows. "Um... no thank you. B-but! How about this: a safe-zone."

He looks at her suspiciously.

"A safe-zone."

The pegasus nods. "Y-yes! And, um, just so it's fair, we could make it pretty far away..? How about my home back in Ponyville? It takes a whole train-ride to get between there and Canterlot, plus a little longer since it's near the Everfree. You would have plenty of time to catch me."

Lupine digits contemplatively rub a bovine chin.

"Well," the draconequus wonders, "you ponies are a lot more fragile... Well, alright! However, you can only enter the safe-zone once a day, and you have to leave it once a day too. Fair?"

Fluttershy smiles, it feels wobbly and weak. "F-fair."

Discord curls up on the ground in front of her, propping his chin up on his eagle claw. "Of course, to ensure the other element bearers can't interfere, I'll be banishing them temporarily to the cloud-cover. For your non-pegasi friends, I'll give them the ability to walk on clouds. They cannot help you in any way during the game; if they do, it's instant game-over! Got it?"

He addresses her friends that time, only satisfied when all of them give him an affirmative; no matter how disgruntled their agreement is.

"So, here's the long and short of it," Discord says, turning back to her. "I'm in and I won't use my magic during the game, and your cottage near the Everfree will serve as your safe-zone. Your friends will be up top, unable to help or hinder, and you have to evade me for... Let's say a week."

Fluttershy swallows. "A... A w-week?!"

"A week," he parrots back at her, grinning toothily. "What, too short? I understand that I'm a charming soul but, need's must, I'm afraid. Our game has to end somewhere, or I'll never get to remake Canterlot out of cheese."

"O-oh, I know," she nervously runs her hooves through her mane. "It's just... I thought it'd be shorter. Like, um, maybe a day or two..?"

"Nope!" Discord cheerily bursts her bubble, "I've given you enough slack here, so I'm not budging on this one. It's a week, and that's that!"

She slumps over.

"O-oh, okay..."

There's a long stretch of uncomfortable quiet between the two of them before, as usual, Discord breaks it with a long exhale.

"Alright, fine," he groans. She looks up to meet his eyes, her expression shining with hope. "Look, I'm not changing the length, but! How about this: I'll give you a head start."

A tentative smile stretches across her muzzle.

"R-really? Oh, thank you, Discord!"

The draconequus glances away, grumbling. "Yes, yes. Well, have we got ourselves a deal?"

Fluttershy breathes in. Then, she straightens up and trots around him until they're face to face. With a small yet trusting smile, she holds her hoof out to him. Discord stares at her, utterly confounded by the brightness of her expression, before turning down to gaze at her outstretched hoof.

She giggles at him. He can be oddly cute, the pegasus can't help but think fondly, much like Harry the Bear.

"U-um, Discord?" Fluttershy asks him, voice soft and quiet. She doesn't let him answer: it was a rhetorical question in the first place. "I think... I think you're a lot nicer than you'd let anypony believe. So I'm going to trust you. I hope, when this is over, we can become good friends."

He eyes her strangely, brows furrowed. "Friends? My dear, the Master of Chaos doesn't have a need for friends."

"I don't think most ponies do," then, she giggles. "Or, at least, that's what they think at first. Okay, Discord. A deal's a deal."

She stands there for a long while as, for once, the draconequus is the one that's caught flat-footed. He looks between her face and her outstretched hoof several times, torn. Then, his furred paw wraps ever-so-gently around her hoof-- going to great pains to ensure she doesn't get scraped by his sheathed claws.

"Alright," Discord breathes, "it's a deal."

Fluttershy smiles at him.

And that, of course, is only the start.

Author's Note

this was meant to be far shorter but discord and fluttershy's interaction really took on a mind of their own. regardless, i hope everyone enjoyed it! i've been wanting to write something for this fandom for a long, long time!