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brideofdiscord-rewritten · 7 months

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Bride of Discord rewritten chapter 14: the visit.

Broken beams of marmalade skies swayed through the windows of fluttershy's room, cropped gently by the tangerine trees outside the cottage flailing their leaves as if to tenderly rouse her awake.

When Fluttershy did awake, she could not help but think she had forgotten something. She could not put her hoof on it, but something about today felt different, like an anti-deja vu.

At that moment, Discord appeared at her bedside with a tray of food.

"Happy Birthday, dearest!"

She slapped herself in the forehead. "Of course."

He set the tray onto her lap. "Breakfast in bed! Hope you're in the mood for pancakes."

"Oh, you didn't have to do anything for me, Discord," she said with a smile. "You've been so sweet to me, I'd like to treat you sometime!"

"Come now, your birth was a great enough treat! Now eat up! I have lots more planned for your special day!"

He vanished and returned once she had finished eating, which of course she had quickly enough that she had gotten the hiccups. The next thing she knew she was dressed in a robe and sitting in a sauna. Discord, wearing a pink fluffy robe, stretched out beside her.

"Ah, nothing like a good steam bath to help you forget your troubles."

"When did we get a sauna?" Fluttershy chuckled.

He raised his paw. "Relax, my dear! Unwind yourself!"

Now that she thought about it, she had not been in a sauna since her last get-together with Rarity. Her chance to relax was long overdue. So Fluttershy closed her eyes and leaned her back against the wall, letting the steam sink into her skin. How lovely it graced her once it got past her coat... In a quarter of an hour, she opened her eyes to see Discord staring down at her with a wide grin on his face.

"What?" she said.

Discord straightened up. "Nothing! I just…"

"Maybe we've been in here for too long. You're sweating."

"You're supposed to-"

"Yes! On to the next part of the treatment!"

A snap of his fingers transformed the sauna into a bath of a gooey green substance. Fluttershy recognized it as the crystal mud from the Crystal Empire. She had not had the chance to try it while she was there, and sitting in it now confirmed that it was as refreshing as Cadence had said. She laughed as she remembered that day when they were welcoming the inspector for the Equestria Games, only to find out that they had gotten the wrong pony. She and her friends had always wound up in the craziest of situations.

Discord was confused as her sudden laughter turned into a frown.

"What's wrong, my dear? Is the mud too warm?"

"No," Fluttershy sighed. It's nothing, really."

He snapped his fingers. "I know what you need! A massage!"

The mud bath disappeared, and Fluttershy found herself lying on a massage table.

"Really Discord, none of this is necessary, I just want…"

She trailed off as she felt the draconequus' hands gently rub her shoulders. In a second, her eyelids slid shut as she relaxed on the table.

"If it troubles you then you should spit it out! I'd say it's something rather than nothing when it's your birthday."

Fluttershy was about to answer, but was lulled by his tender touch that all that came out was a sigh. After massaging her for half an hour, Discord teleported them both to the gazebo.

"Now for your gift."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "The spa treatment wasn't it?"

"No, that was a bonus. I have something more special in mind."

He seated her on a bench and lifted the ring around her neck.

"I'll bet this thing has given you some distress."

"A little," she muttered.

She had nearly forgotten she was still wearing that.

"Well, I just want you to know that…I don't want you to feel like you're being forced into this, and…for what it's worth…I…I can't imagine being with any other pony, so…"

He curled around her and pointed a gleaming finger to the ring, engraving words into it. Once the writing had stopped glowing, Fluttershy squinted to read it.

"To my one and only Fluttershy." She blinked. "I…I don't know what to say."

"Id like you know if you..."

"What?"

He couldn't do it. Not with her eyes glinting with joy.

He teleported in front of her with a birthday cake in his hands. It was a proper red velvet, sweet and buttery like a southern treat, chocolate enhancing every note, without overpowering them. A hint of Hazelnut coffee lined every bite. Paired with a tangy cream cheese it felt like heaven.

"Make a wish!" he exclaimed, holding it out to Fluttershy. "And as it is your birthday, it will be my duty to make it come true!"

That caught her attention. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart," he said, making the gesture.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and blew out the candles.

"So what will it be, my sweet?"

She puffed her chest.

"I wish to visit my friends."

As she had predicted, Discord's face fell. "Sweetheart, I thought we talked about this…"

She crossed her hooves. "No, we haven't. And I think it's time we did."

He laughed nervously. "Isn't there something else you'd like?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "I want to visit my friends, nothing more, nothing less."

He set the cake down and laid his hands on her shoulders. "Darling…" She turned her head from him. "I can't overturn the law-"

She hovered over him. "You promised you would grant whatever wish I made!"

"and I will! But-"

"Then why?!" She spun around, revealing her water filled eyes. "Why won't you let me see my friends?"

He furrowed his brows. Discord felt a pang throughout his thought to his chest.

Her commanding then turned into begging. "Please? Just for the day? I promise I'll come right back, and if I don't, you can bring me back with your magic. In fact, you wouldn't have to. You can trust me."

"I do trust you, Fluttershy! More than anypony, but I have to guarantee that your visit stays within the confines of the contract!"

"please, can't we rewrite it?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "That, and…"

"How about this? Instead of letting me go to them, you'll bring here!"

"I don't know if that counts as foalnapping! Besides, they're not allowed within our territory-"

"Not even for one day? It is my birthday, after all."

"I want to let you see them! I want to give you this one thing! But it's not that simple... "

She lay her hoof on his shoulder.

"or maybe it is. All I know is that I'm not the draconequus I was when I made that deal. And I know that I don't want..."

Fluttershy tilted her head to an angle. "You can tell me."

"some part of me doesn't want them to take you away. Because I know if they convince you to go back and you did it, it wouldn't be because they brainwashed you or whatever. It'd be because you had a reason, and you wanted to. I'm not scared that you'll go back to your life and be happy...I'm terrified of losing my first friend."

His voice cracked gently before he turned his head off the the side and cleared his throat.

"I'm terribly sorry fluttershy, I didn't want to spin your feelings back on ole' me!"

"I promise, we can rework the treaty, and you can come visit me, but we have to have them here. Besides, you never allow my friends to visit, who are my bridesmaids going to be?"

Discord's ears perked up. "Brides…?"

"And I promised Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo they would be my flower girls, and Spike, the ring bearer, and…well, you need some pony to perform the service and Twilight IS the duchess of celestia now…"

"Wait, back up!" he interrupted, facing her. "Are you saying…?"

She inhaled, only allowing a short breath in, and a longer one out. It was circle breathing then,it was muay Thai technique.

"I'd like to marry you, when and only when we rework the deal. I feel like... like we are close enough that we can marry."

Discord was speechless, not believing what he was hearing. This had to be a dream, or at least a trick, but he was awake and Fluttershy was not one to kid. Gosh deal or no deal he'd have to be a complete starchy spud not take up her offer. Marrying his... best friend, never being alone again, giving her anything she could ever want....

She squeaked as he suddenly took her in his arms. "Oh, thank you! You've made me the happiest creature in the world, my dear! Now, do you think I should wear a tux or what? I'm partial to a off the shoulder ball gown, something with lots of ruffles and peacock feathers-"

Fluttershy tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong. "Discord! Sweet! Youre-"

"of course if you do like traditional I can wear a tux, but not any boring- oh! What about a non-west equestria wedding!"

She squealed as he spun her, around like a fancy carousel with strobe lights. He apologized before putting her down, as she giggled and twirled her mane in dizzy. He danced gently.

Pinkie lay dormant on a large circle bed in the boutique. Surrounded by the colors not unlike that of a mallard, mottled with mustard yellows. All the ceiling drapes now caught on the columns, surrounding her like Spanish moss, however below such a flourishing plant still was an extinction. One of natural joy.

"Come on, Pinkie, this is getting ridiculous!" Rainbow exclaimed. "You've been crying for hours! You're gonna flood the place!"

"It's Fluttershy's birthday!" Pinkie cried. "I had a big party planned for her! It was going to be out in her garden! I was going to surprise her!" She pulled out a wrapped gift from under her bed. "I was going to give this to her! Now I'll never know if she'll like it!"

Applejack laid a hoof on her shoulder. "We miss her too, Pinkie, but we just have to accept…"

"How can we accept that our best friend is gone for good? We're never gonna see her again! Worst of all, she's never gonna see her birthday present!"

Suddenly, Spike burped up a letter. When he opened it, he gasped.

"It's Discord again!"

"What?!" every pony shrieked, huddling around him.

"seriously dude, get a fax machine..."

"What does it say, Spike?" Twilight inquired.

The dragon cleared his throat. "You are cordially invited to Fluttershy's birthday party at Discord's castle. Starting now."

The next thing they knew, all nine of them were standing in front of a dark castle.

"What in tarnation!?" Applejack proclaimed.

"Where are we?" Twilight wondered.

Rarity cringed as she looked up at the cottage. "Clearly an area in need of some interior designers."

"This has gotta be Discord's place!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Oh, well that makes sense."

"It wasn't supposed to!"

Everyone turned around in shock to see the draconequus standing over them. Rainbow Dash looked up in abject horror and slowly fluttered down to the cobblestone path, bolting to rarity's side.

Discord rolled his eyes. "Well, I was going to let you see her, but if that's the way you're going to behave…"

"Slow yer roll there hoss, what's goin on?"

"Didn't you get the invitation?"

He tugged the parchment out of Spike's claw using his magic. Pinkie leaned forward to read it again.

"You mean…?" Her eyes slid down the wall of her skull dropping like a sack of loose muscle. They dilated with anticipation. "BIRTHDAY PARTY!"

As she screamed, she launched into the air and fireworks exploded behind her, creating a visceral display of every possible twitching emotion contained in the word "exitement." Discord scratched his head. How does she do that? Pinkie then rushed to the front door, bursting it open.

"Wha- my door! That's teakwood"

"Discord?" Fluttershy called as she entered the main hall. "Are they…?"

"FLUTTERSHY!"

Pinkie tackled her into a hug, giving Fluttershy no chance to escape. The others galloped to her every angle and squeezed her like they would never feel again.

"Fluttershy!" Rarity exclaimed. "You're alright!"

"Girls! Spike!" Fluttershy said, tears coming into her eyes. "I missed you so much! I…" She choked as Pinkie squeezed tighter. "Can't…breathe…"

"Oops!" the pink pony blushed, not very noticeably, backing away with the others. "Sorry, I just can't believe it's you! I thought I'd never see you again and that you'd never get to see what I got you for your birthday…" She gasped dramatically. "Your birthday! Quick, close your eyes!"

"Why do I have to…?"

She was cut off as Pinkie tied a blindfold around her head. "One second!"

Fluttershy heard a few familiar blasts before the cloth was removed. The room was now walled with balloons, streamers and other party decorations.

"How did you…?" she started to ask, but she already knew the answer.

"I never go anywhere without my party cannon!" Pinkie chimed, bringing the object into view.

"oh hey, I love that band!" Discord panted out as he caught up to the six of them and spike.

She strapped a birthday hat onto Fluttershy's head, laughing as the strap poofed her expanse of hair every which way. Pinkie started up the gramophone.

"Let's party! This is my mixtape, I made it when I had that big hide-and-seek birthday bash a few years back!"

The music rang throughout the rooms, funky 8-bit tunes filling the ears with wonder and joy.

But instead of dancing, the ponies fed Fluttershy a million questions.

"Have you been kept safe?" Rarity asked.

"How are the animals?" inquired Applejack.

"How do you not get dizzy in here?" Rainbow questioned, glancing around the distorted room.

"Are you married yet?" Spike asked, looking at the engagement ring. "He seems so different!"

"Does he know pi?!" Pinkie inquired eagerly.

"Whoa, girls!" Twilight exclaimed, silencing them. "Give her some space!"

Fluttershy summed it up. "Yes, he's kept me safe in the forest, and we're not married yet. Actually, Discord's treated me quite well. He's really…sweet."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "You've got to be kidding me."

"We brought you here, didn't we?"

Twilight giggled, trying to lighten the mood. "What does it matter? It's Fluttershy's birthday. We should be celebrating!"

The Duchess began her awkward dancing, which everyone stared at for a while. She was so careless and free, she almost resembled that mare from Seingeld. Then they shrugged and danced themselves. In between songs, Fluttershy received updates on every pony's lives.

Rainbow Dash couldn't see her feelings for applejack being requited, so she didn't want to infringe on their friendship and dating status with rarity. Fluttershy snickered as she explained this. How aloof this filly could be! She'll be over the moon if applejack says something!

"sometimes I just see her, and we're cuddling with rarity, and I see the way she looks at her and-GOSH! She makes my heart race like when I'm flying! She's so headstrong and caring, and I just wanna take her out to treat her, y'know? Real classy just for her! wanna surprise her with something hoity toity. Like, hey! I got us a bucket of chicken! Wanna date?"

Fluttershy nearly cackled, "That's not fancy at all!

The blue pegasus rubbed the back of her neck. "It's a self proof thing. I wanna prove I'm the type mare she'd like! Like rarity!"

"I'm sure she likes how different you three are, and you don't have to get fancy for her!" Fluttershy giggled!

"Well," Rarity interjected, "I think this relationship is much sweeter and more genuine than that with blueblood! I just anticipate seeing my mares every day!"

"have you been taking those vitamins rarity?"

"Oh yes! They've worked wonders for my mane! And don't worry, applejack and rainbow dash already know. They were elated! I think I'm really gonna spend my life with them!"

She buried her head in fluttershy's embrace, squealing and tapping her hooves, blushing madly.

Seeing rarity pratter on about her love made spike's heart crumble, and slowly wash together again seeing her smile so hard and celebrate so sporadically that her mane frizzed.

The earth pony glanced at the dragon on the other side of the room, freaking it sensitive style as he watched in bitter-sweet pining. She lay a hoof on his little head, so tender and mild was the baby boy. Her eyes never exceeded the far off gaze.

"it wasn't meant to be spike. But something is. And I can't wait until you find it, Angel boy."

He smiled up at her so burning and gratifyingly, earnest as if to say "her love is my love. Thank you for showing me this."

"Who wants to play Pin the Tail on the Pony?" Pinkie called, throwing a blindfold around Fluttershy's eyes again. "Birthday girl goes first!"

As the afternoon went on, Fluttershy enjoyed her friends' company as they played more games and caught up with one another. One after the other, operation, clue, monopoly, Texas hold'em! It was after the third round of candyland that fluttershy's attention averted to the draconequus cutting it up in the corner.

She excused herself from her friends and flew up to him.

"Thank you, Discord," she said with a smile, "for bringing my friends here."

His expression changed at the sight of her. "You're welcome."

"You don't have to sit here all day. Why don't you join us?"

"I think your friends," he pointed at the ponies, baring his teeth in a way that wasn't anger, but unsureness. Q"would not appreciate that."

She was about to say something when he slid his arm around her. "Have you told them yet?"

Fluttershy blinked. "Told them what?"

He chuckled, playfully twirling the ring on her neck. "Have you really forgotten already?"

She looked down at the ring and blushed. "Oh."

She had been so excited about seeing her friends, she had forgotten the reason they were here in the first place.

"N-no, I…

"We should do it together! We wanted them here?"

"I…it's just…"

They were interrupted by Pinkie, who had bravely approached the draconequus. "Hey, Discord! You wanna play Twister with us?"

He stared at the pink pony, shocked at the invitation and then stood up. "Alright, but I warn you, I'm the world champ!"

Pinkie snorted. "As if!"

"Is that a challenge?"

"Only if you're up for it!"

"Oh, it's on!"

Before following the pony, he turned back to his fiancé. "We have to, to rewrite the deal!"

The ponies erupted in jeers and competitive whoops! Overlapping voices gave way to reveal rainbow's epic shouting.

"IM TAKING ALL BETS, 9-2 ON PINKIE, THE MARE WITH THE FLAIR, THE GREAT PINK HOPE!!"

Only Pinkie, Dash, and twilight were bold enough to go against Discord in Twister. Thanks to his long snake-like body he was able to defeat them with ease. While Pinkie called for best two out of three, Fluttershy pulled Applejack aside. Since she was the one she had confided in before, she felt more confident telling her first.

"I'm glad to see you're gettin' along fine, Shug," the southern pony sighed. "I don't know what you've been doin' the past month, but Discord seems a might different. I'm surprised he let us come here."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Applejack," Fluttershy whispered. "You see, the reason we brought you here is…um…"

"Because it's your birthday?"

"No…well, sort of, really wanted to see you and this was a really special occasion.."

Applejack laid a hoof on her shoulder. "Take it easy, lovebug, Whatever you have to say, say it."

She took a deep breath. "I…I want to rewrite the treaty."

"Oh, um…great?"

"I need you girls at the wedding in the next 12 moons!"

Silence fell over the room and Fluttershy realized that she had shouted that last part. Pinkie fell from her position and Discord pumped his fist.

"Yes! Victory!" He then noticed the glares he was receiving. "Oh, come on, don't be sore losers!"

"You're marrying him in 12 moons?!" Rarity uttered.

"Oh, so you've told them!" He teleported to his fiancé's side and threw his arm around her. "Yes, our big day is in almost two weeks and you're all invited! The four of you can be bridesmaids, the foals can be the flower girls, the dragon can be the ring bear or whatever it is and Princess cranium can perform the service!"

Twilight's jaw dropped in horror. "You want me to…to…marry you two?!"

"You can't do that,I'm marrying her!" He cackled!

"Um, Discord?" Fluttershy said softly. "Could you let me talk to them?

"Oh, sure, go ahead! Who's stopping you?"

"Alone?"

"ooh, gotcha!"

Once he had vanished, Fluttershy floated down to her friends.

"That was awfully rude of you."

"Rude?!" every pony exclaimed.

"You're marrying that monster so soon!!" Rarity cried. "How do you expect us to react?"

"But you know I'm engaged to him," Fluttershy pointed out.

"We didn't…" Rainbow stammered. "We didn't expect it to happen now! And…now you want us to be a part of it?!"

"I thought you'd want to come to my wedding."

"Not when it means watching you get married to a monster!"

Fluttershy stomped her hoof defensively, "monster us subjective! And from what I've been shown I know that if he's a monster, than so are we!"

"He took you away from us!"

"It was my decision to come and stay, and I had my bargains respected!"

"how can you be so accepting of this?!"

"Because he's my friend! And he's a good pony! And if I had the choice to spend the rest of my life with anyone else I wouldn't take it, not for a million billion bits!!!"

She trailed off and realized that she had already said too much. Applejack raised an eyebrow at her flushed cheeks, more flushed than usual. She knew that look.

"Are you…in love with him?"

Rarity huffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Applejack, she just said they were best friends!"

"Yeah," Rainbow laughed. "But I call you my best friend by habit sometimes!"

Rarity gasped infiginified

"He's fun and all," Pinkie chimed, "but you can't really-

"Fluttershy, you can't be serious! He tried to take over Equestria! Three times!"

"He practically keeps you prisoner!"

"He threatened the princesses!"

"He beat me at Twister!" Pinkie shouted.

"GET OFF HER FLANK!!!"

Silence permeated throughout the walls. A hollow and yet shallow steady beat of breath rattled through the baby dragon standing defiantly above the ponies. His chest rose and his head pelted back, as arms rested at his sides, hoisting himself up upon a bench. Fluttershy stuttered,

"So you don't…?"

"I know that in a lotta places, dragons like me would be irredeemable monsters. Heck, some places don't allow us in! And while yeah uh.. few of us are, the one big thing we can use to turn back their path or like, prevent it maybe, is FRIENDSHIP."

Twilight felt the corners of her mouth perk up like they were tied with string, tears pricking her eyes. Her baby boy, her little man, her other half...

He was gonna tell her teachings better than she could one day, and she couldn't be prouder.

"I believe her. Princess Luna can be changed, and love beats up evil. If we don't practice what we preach, then what's the point of being at our friend's birthday?!"

...

As his valiant words echoed throughout the room, Fluttershy's heart sank. Her friends lost their anger as tears streamed down her face. Twilight held out her hoof.

"Fluttershy, we… I wanna hear what you have to say. I want to hear you out."

Rarity sat back and listened,giving her warmest smile, squeezing spike in adoration. Rainbow flew to her side and quirked her head smirking warmly,and inquisitivly. Applejack rested her head in their laps. Pinkie leapt from her previous position and hugged fluttershy.

"For the record, I think it's a pretty metal story tell your kids. Stretch out that ten minute story for eight years and you can get a sitcom out it." Rainbow commented.

Fluttershy buried her head in her hooves. Betwixt her grasp was a smile that flexed no muscles. Her hair was frizzy and unkempt, her limbs shook like a elm in a drought. Her nerves shot as if through a rivet gun. The queasiness never subsided, her bones were glass and her skin was paper.

She couldn't feel any of it as she embraced her friends.

"Of course ya don't understand!" Applejack snapped. "You of all ponies wouldn't understand! You talk about romance all the time, but you wouldn't know love if it was starin' you right in the face!" She turned to the others. "That goes for all of ya!"

"you never opened your present..."

"Oh! Of course!"

As she bore into the delicately wrapped gift, revealing to herself a jade and rose quartz comb, etched with love it read, "born to love, live to create." Fluttershy was downright crying at this point, no conclusion she could come up with was coherent enough to exact her spirit.

Fluttershy heard a grunt and looked up to see the draconequus standing over her. Despite the circumstances, she was happy to see him, for now he was here to comfort her. Her joy turned into suspense as she noted the nervous smile cracking across his face. His hands were clenched to the sides, and his eyes were glaring into the scene with remorse.

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bodrewritten · 6 months