Chapter 2

Humming softly to herself, Fluttershy used a cooking glove to shift a pan sitting over her stove. The eggs inside were hissing loudly as she continued to bake them.

Using a spatula tied to wristband around her hoof, she lifted the finished breakfast result and put it on a plate. Fluttershy turned around to grab the salt and shake it lightly over the steaming eggs. Finally, I'm so hungry! She thought as her belly rumbled.

The mare picked up a fork sitting beside her plate and cut off a bite of the tasty meal, lifting it to her mouth. Nearly choking on her meal because she heard a loud poof, Fluttershy turned to see what had happened, only to see Discord standing in the middle of her living room.

"Discord!" she called cheerily. "What are you doing here?"

The draconequus chuckled a bit at her surprise. "Just dropping in to visit the most beautiful mare there ever lived!"

Fluttershy's face blushed deeply as she stared at him through wide eyes, her mouth slightly opened. "Wha… what do you mean?"

Discord smirked at her and suddenly appeared behind the pegasus. "Darling… er, no, I mean… my dear I mean that you are beautiful. Have I not told you that before?" His smile widened when she put her head down, letting her soft mane fall in front of her face out of habit.

"Well, yes…" she felt her body begin to heat up at his questions. Stop it Fluttershy! She scolded herself. The mare lifted her head to stare at him. "You have, I guess it just… i-it just caught me by surprise."

"Alright then." Seeming satisfied with the answer, the draconequus stood to his full height. "I am actually here because Princess Twilight has requested an audience with you and me."

Suddenly curious, the yellow pegasus raised one eyebrow. "You?" She spoke disbelievingly. Usually Celestia was the only princess to invite him to gatherings.

Discord gasped. "You wound me, my dear." He put his claw to his forehead dramatically. "Why would she not invite me? Are you saying that you don't think I am worthy to take part in a meeting with the Princess of Friendship?"

Fluttershy widened her eyes. "No! Never Discord. I just… well, usually Twilight doesn't invite you. It must be something important if you're being asked to come." She let out a sigh of relief when he gazed at her once again, smiling.

"Of course," he beamed, "now let's go. We don't want to keep Princess Prissy waiting, now do we?"

The pegasus giggled. "No, I suppose not. Though, I never got to eat my breakfast…" she stared longingly at her eggs.

"Don't worry," Discord assured her, "why don't we go out for breakfast?"

Fluttershy jerked her head towards him, instantly flushing scarlet. "G-go out?"

The draconequus nodded. "Why not? I mean… we are… friends, right?"

"Of course we are." she sighed inwardly that he didn't mean to go on a date, not that she would hate it, just that she would feel so flustered around him during something romantic like a date. "We'll go… out to breakfast," she hesitated, "as friends."

Discord smiled. "Yeah, as friends." He ignored the look of confusion that flashed in her eyes as he nearly spat the word.

Secretly, he had wanted to go out with her on a real date, but the hesitation she provided him with was enough to say that she didn't quite feel the way he felt about her. Scratch that, he knew that she wasn't near the feelings of passion he felt for her, but all he had to do was get her to love him. Spending some quality time with her would help him to do that.

. . .

Twilight's castle sparkled in the sun's glare as Discord flashed them both into the throne-room. Without a throne himself, Discord decided to create one of his own.

The princess threw him a startled glance when they suddenly arrived and took their places. Her gaze became more confused after she saw the Lord of Chaos' throne with a cartoon picture of himself instead of a cutie mark.

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked.

"Nothing," Discord threw his arms up in the air innocently, "I just figured that if you all have thrones to rest yourselves on, so should I."

Rolling her eyes, Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack come in the crystal doors with Rarity and Pinkie Pie on their tails. The pink earth pony was hopping excitedly as she landed in her throne.

"What is it this time? Did the map call us on an adventure?" She gasped dramatically. "Did Princess Celestia send you a message saying that there's a big scary monster on the loose wreaking trouble in Manehatten?"

"Uhh…" Twilight dragged her gaze from Discord to Pinkie. "No… anyway, there's something important I need to discuss with you all today."

Rarity sighed. "Darling, I was in the middle of hemming my latest frock."

The princess giggled slightly. "Well, that can wait. I have decided to plan this year's Winter Party." Every pony around her gave excited gasps. "Yes, yes, I know. It's all very wonderful, but we need to get planning." Twilight pulled out a clipboard and a quill. "Let's see… Applejack, you'll be working treats along with Pinkie Pie, but Pinkie, you'll also have to do the decorating." She made a few inarticulate noises as she checked things off. "Now… ah, yes. Rarity, you are to design all of our costumes as I have decided to make this something of a masquerade ball."

"Really?!" The white unicorn squealed in excitement. "Yes! This will give me an opportunity to show off my new winter line!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Anyway, Rainbow Dash, I need you to perform a Sonic Rain-Boom during the finale of the fireworks, which…" She turned her head over to Discord who looked at her confused. "You will be responsible for."

The draconequus put his lion paw to his chest. "Really? Thank you, Twilight!"

The friendship princess nodded and then looked over to Fluttershy. "You'll be in charge of the birdsong choir during the introductory dance. Of course I'll be in charge of keeping it all organized…"

Discord lost himself in thought. I'll be joining the Winter Dance! Such a momentous occasion, and perfect to entrance Fluttershy… He cast a longing glance over at the pegasus who just continued to listen intently to Twilight. Not caring whether he had to wear a silly suit or not, he wanted that pegasus and that's exactly what he was going to get.

"What's wrong with him?" Rarity inquired when Discord tuned in.

"Buddy! Wake up! We're still planning here." Rainbow Dash added.

Twilight turned on him, annoyed. "Were you listening to anything I said?"

At Discord's blush she snorted.

"Honestly," she rolled her eyes, "I was talking about how Celestia and Luna are going to be invited to this. Cadence wants to come but isn't sure she'll be able to with her crazy schedule. Pray to Celestia that she comes." The princess murmured the last part.

"Ooh!" Discord exclaimed. "Sun Butt's going to come to the party? I wonder who she'll dance with."

"She's not dancing, she's helping me plan. You know, sending greetings, exchanging news." Twilight tried to explain to him but he only seemed to be lost in his own little world.

Fluttershy noticed this and took an interest in it. Usually Discord isn't this distracted… and he usually isn't staring at me so much… Though the small pegasus would not admit it, she liked the fact that he was taking a liking to her. It gave her confidence to know that she possibly wasn't alone in her possible feelings.

. . .

When Twilight called off the meeting and they had their breakfast at the Hay Burger, Discord had flashed himself and Fluttershy back to her cottage. It was starting to get very cold so the draconequus teleported right inside instead of by the door.

Fluttershy looked over to Discord. "Thanks for taking me home…" She was about to say more, but stopped herself.

For some reason he looked a bit hurt. "That… sounds like a goodbye. Do you want me to leave?"

"Well…" the pegasus ran her hoof across the floor as a nervous habit. She didn't want him to leave, but she wasn't sure how he would react to the question she was just about to ask. "I… not exactly, but…"

Discord narrowed his eyes. "What? Do you need help with your animals?"

The questions were starting to make her frazzled. "No. I fed them all this morning, but I…" She took a deep breath and then blurted it out. "I want to know if you want to dance at the Winter Party next month!"

The draconequus stood in utter shock. Me? She wants to dance with me?! Thinking about it made him want to scream with joy.

"Oh…" Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane when he didn't reply.

"N-no!" Discord was instantly by her side. He used his eagle claw to stroke her mane back behind her ear. "My dear, it would be my honor to dance with you."

Unconsciously, the pegasus leaned into his touch. She was surprised by how relaxing and gentle he was.

Discord, however, widened his eyes in surprise when Fluttershy put her head against his palm and closed her eyes. Wanting not to ruin the moment, he used his lion paw to stroke her cheek. The pegasus noticed this and jerked her eyes open, inching back a little bit.

"Right…" she mumbled awkwardly, but then straightened a bit. "Thank you, Discord."

The draconequus pulled his hands away sadly, but he did not want her to see him down.

"No, thank you." He smiled at her. "I didn't know that… that you would accept me…"

Fluttershy turned back to him with a warm look in her eyes. "I've always accepted you, Discord."

Gaping, the draconequus stood still as a rock. She… she has always accepted me? Oh, this is even better than I thought! There's no way she'll turn me down now! He felt his face begin to grow warm and knew by the amused look Fluttershy gave him that a blush had crept into his cheeks.

"What's wrong?" She asked innocently.

"You…" he stammered. Before he could say anymore, he decided to make the most of her playfulness towards him.

Discord's face slid into a mischievous smirk at her soft giggles, but her face quickly fell and she looked at him suspiciously.

"What… what are you doing?" she asked slowly. The face he was making made her a bit uncomfortable, because she knew that if she ever saw that face on him, it meant…

"Dearest," he spoke lowly, "why the sudden ending of laughter?" Teleporting to her side in a flash made the small pony squeal a bit.

"Oh, w-well," she looked down and tried to back away from him as quickly as possible, but he was faster.

Discord snatched her up and flashed himself along with her on the rug in the living room. "I'm sure I could do something to earn you your smile back." With a last smirk he twitched his claws along her back in a tickling motion making her burst out laughing again.

"Dis-Discord…! Stop, please!..." She trailed off every time she tried to get words out.

Finally the draconequus retracted his claws and rested his head on his palm. "Really darling, I would think that you would enjoy spending your time laughing with me." He moved his brows and she giggled a little.

He found himself getting lost in her teal eyes. Closing his eyes halfway, Discord could only think about how soft her mane was, and how he wanted so badly to stroke her beautiful locks. She's just…

"Discord?" Fluttershy asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"Yes?"

She paused a bit when she felt his lion paw across her head. "Hmm…" Fluttershy once again let herself be pulled into his gentleness.

The draconequus moved closer to her. Curling himself around her, he used his tail to push her hooves into her chest, causing the pegasus to move into his protective circle.

When she realized this she looked up at him, a blush creeping into her cheeks. "Discord…"

He could not risk her ruining the moment. "Shh…" he put a claw to her lips.

Fluttershy looked down and decided to get comfortable.

"Okay, well…" she trailed off a bit, but then turned her gaze to him again. "Only for a little longer, because I need to supply the animals with more blankets…" The pegasus didn't actually have to do that, but she began to feel uncomfortable with him sitting so close to her, so she had to make up an excuse.

Discord sighed. Obviously he could just snap his fingers and the animals would be covered in plenty of blankets, but he knew that would only make her suspicious of his motives. I need to win her slowly… and I'll use this month to do it. The Winter Dance was a full month away and Discord planned on enchanting the pegasus beforehand after she had told him about her want to dance with him.

Slowly but steadily, Fluttershy began to fall asleep in his arms. The draconequus gazed at her, still stroking her mane. I suppose I'll have to take her to her room… again. Discord chuckled softly to himself and snapped his fingers, sending her to her bed.

Oh yes, she will be mine one day. No matter how many times she may deny it, I know she loves me deep down.