Discord laid down on the couch in his living room in his house that resided in his chaotic dimension with a frown on his face. Normally, the lord of all things chaos would be doing something that always kept him in high spirits, spreading chaos being one of those things of pulling harmless pranks on unsuspecting ponies, yet here he was, laying down instead of floating with a depressed look.
He glanced over at the floating calendar that hovered in mid air over by the kitchen and noticed that today was Tuesday, which meant today was his weekly Tuesday Tea with his best and only friend, the bearer of the element of kindness itself, Fluttershy. Normally he would be thrilled, ecstatic even to see his most favorite pony in the entire world, but it only brought out a sigh from the depressed Draconequus.
He knew he should just snap out of it (literally and/or figuratively) and pull himself together, plaster a smile on his face and ho on over to Fluttershy’s cottage for a good few hours of time together, but he would only imagine how unhappy she would be to see him, considering his most recent mistake.
Him betrayel to Equestria.
It had only been a week since the whole insurrection occurred, with Twilight getting her castle as an ending result from the destruction that occurred when the magic-craving creature invaded and persuaded the Draconequus to join him, in hopes of gaining all the magic in Equestria while falsely leading Discord into believing that his reformation was a prison.
He had been a fool. A fool to think Tirek could ever be loyal to him, and a fool to hurt all the ponies, including Fluttershy.
He glanced over at the picnic basket over by the stairs that led to nowhere. He had decided to bring his own treats to their tea party in hopes of making things up to her, handmade treats. “I simply insist that I make my own treats for our tea, Fluttershy, no matter how hard and boring it might be.” he had said to her during the celebration party hosted in honor of the defeat of Tirek.
He had made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and a tray of cucumber sandwiches, his favorite being both of them. While it was undeniably hard and tiring to make them, a simple smile of satisfaction from the yellow pegasus would gladly please him. He knew he couldn’t avoid her forever and guess she would get worried about his tardiness. Making up his mind, Discord teleported himself with his basket to the front porch of Fluttershy’s cottage as he knocked on the door and waited. He honestly wanted to just pop in and sprawl out on the couch, giving Angel Bunny a troubling time like he always did whenever the Draconequus visited, but refrained from doing said motion, not to mention he didn’t really feel like it at the moment.
Well, actually he did, but was choosing to be lazy at the moment.
The front door opened as Fluttershy smiled up at him, her teal eyes shining with happiness. “Hi Discord.” she said as she flew up and wrapped her forelegs around his chest.
“Hello, Fluttershy,” Discord said as he wrapped his arms around her body in return, forcing a smile on his mouth and inhaling her sweet scent. “I brought the cucumber sandwiches, as well as some chocolate cupcakes I thought you’d like.”
“Really? Thanks,” Fluttershy broke the embrace as she flew back inside her home and opened the front door fully. “Please, come in.”
The Draconequus teleported onto the couch as his cucumber sandwiches and cupcakes materialized on the table that had an already prepared tea set.
The yellow pegasus closed the front door as she went over to her chair next to the couch. “So how have you been?” she asked with a smile.
“Oh I’ve been perfect,” he replied dishonestly, keeping in check that his tone didn’t give anything away. “I will admit I’m still a little…shaken after some recent… ahem…events.”
Fluttershy nodded in understanding. “I know what you mean. I’m still a little shaken from when Tirek took my magic.”
The very mention of the Centaur's name caused Discord’s smile to falter, but refused to frown. “It’s perfectly understandable.” he said as he took a sip of his tea. “It’s almost like getting your blood sucked out of you by a half a million mosquitos.”
“Did that ever happen to you?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh no. I never got bitten by any of those pesky insects.”
“I’ve gotten a few mosquito bites growing up, but they weren’t that bad.”
“That’s good to know.”
The two of them fell into an awkward silence. The only sound that could be heard from the both of them was the sipping of their tea and the chirping and chattering of the animals outside. It was uncomfortable to say the lease, mainly for the Lord of Chaos. So he cleared his throat and asked, “Anything new happened since last Tuesday?”
“Not really,” Fluttershy replied. “I helped a baby bird reunite with his parents after they got separated in a rainstorm a few days ago.”
“That’s nice.” Discord commented.
More silence.
“What about you?” Fluttershy asked as she placed her cup down.
“Same as your reply.” the Draconequus answered. “Although, I did do some redecorating in my humble abode the other day.”
“You did?”
“Indeed. I Added an alarm clock to my bedroom that makes you sleepy simply by hearing it sing a lullaby. Though I advise you not to get one of those, you might fall asleep in the morning instead of waking up if it's set for the time you wake up.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
They dropped into yet more silence. As Discord drank his tea, he couldn’t help but feel confused at the yellow pegasus.
He expected her to be slightly upset at seeing him, mad even. Instead, she was happy, happy to see him and wrap her forelegs around her. Why would she feel that way? Didn’t she realize that he betrayed Equestria? Betrayed her? It was confusing even for him, and he was usually the cause of confusion. He hadn't realized he drank all his tea until he felt the entire liquid stop flowing out of his cup and into his mouth.
Discord sat up and reached over for the teapot as he refilled his tea cup and resumed drinking, completely out of character for him since he could use his magic to make the tea float in the air and into his mouth and down his throat.
“Discord?”
He lowered his tea cup and looked to see Fluttershy giving him a concerned look. “Is everything ok?”
“But of course!” he immediately replied with a convincing smile. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“Are you sure? You haven’t been saying much and it’s not like you. Is there anything wrong?”
Discord could see the concern in her eyes, but chose to refrain from giving her his honest answer. “Nothing’s wrong. Would I lie to you?” an angel hollow materialized over his head as he grinned innocently at her. “Trust me, Fluttershy, I’m fine. Really, I am.”
She wasn’t convinced. Her expression didn’t change back into her usual smile and it bugged him. Discord didn’t want to make her feel sad, but he could see the lack of escaping this situation.
He let out a sigh as the hollow disappeared and a frown formed on his mouth. “Although, something has been plaguing me for a while.”
“Tell me.” Fluttershy spoke in a soft and gentle tone as she got up and sat down on the couch next to him on his left. “I want to help you feel better.”
Discord stared into her eyes for a moment before letting out another sigh. “I’m sorry.”
This brought a confused expression on her face as he continued.
“I’m sorry for joining forces with Tirek. I know I shouldn't have done that, but he convinced me that being reformed was a prison and acted like he would be my true friend.” he let out another sigh, this one of sadness and a little bit of anger. “I was an idiot. I should have known Tirek was using me in his scheme to take over Equestria, and I should’ve captured him when I had the chance. I only realized my error when I saw you crying and had my magic taken away from me.”
He paused as he looked to see Fluttershy’s expression melt into one of sympathy before continuing.
“I understand if you decide we shouldn’t be friends anymore, and I can’t really blame you for that. I guess it only comes as a natural punishment if you’re a sinner…like me. Just know that I deeply regret ever even locking you up in that cage and allowing Tirek to take your magic. I made a mistake, and I can only blame myself for it.”
The Draconequus turned away as he lowered his ears with a sad expression. Who knew admitting guilt and fault was so…depressing? Sad even? He felt like teleporting back to his dimension and never seeing Fluttershy ever again, already beginning to imagine a life without friendship.
He was about to stand up when he felt a gentle hoof on his eagle claw. He turned back to see Fluttershy smiling warmly at him, confusing him beyond explanation.
“Oh Discord, there’s no need to apologize.” she said. “I forgive you.”
“You do?” Discord asked in surprise. “But I-”
“Yes, you betrayed us, betrayed me. But I saw how sad you were and how you deeply regret your actions.”
“You did?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Fluttershy nodded. “I know being on your beat behavior all the time was really hard for you and you wanted to just be yourself, but I know that you’ll always regret anything bad you do.”
Discord was hesitant to believe her. “Even if I chose to blow up the entire world?”
“Would you really do that?”
He gasped, appalled at her accusation. “What are you talking about? Of course I’ll never do that, even if I was still evil! Why would you ever think that?”
“I know how you feel, and I know you would never do that.” Fluttershy smiled warmly at him as she began to stroke his eagle claw. “I forgive you, Discord. No matter what you do, and no matter how many mistakes you make, I’ll always be your friend, and I’ll always forgive you.” she got up and gently wrapped her fore legs around his chest again as he stared down at her in amazement.
No one had ever spoken to him like that before, and the words she spoke to him tugged at his heart.
Feeling a smile of his own spreading across his mouth, the Lord of Chaos wrapped his arms around her as he felt confort, for the first time in his life.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I truly do regret my mistake.”
“It’s time to leave it in the past.” Fluttershy said as they broke the embrace. The two of them smiled at each other before she looked away for a moment and asked, “Would it make you feel better if we went pranking?”
Discord gasped as he stared at her in disbelief. “You mean it?”
“Yes. unless…you’d prefer to stay in here and just talk.”
A wide grin spread across his mouth as he scooped her up into his arms and stood up, twirling her around while laughing in joy. “Oh Fluttershy, you just made my day! I would love to go pranking with you!”
“That’s great.” Fluttershy giggled as he set her down.
“And we can even have our tea time on a cloud if you want.”
“I’d like that.”
“Splendid!” Discord smiled as he clapped his hands together twice before they both disappeared in a flash of light with the tea set and treats.