Hello to all my fellow Fluttercord shippers once again!

This story takes place after "Make New Friends But Keep Discord". It's time for the next Grand Galloping Gala! Once again, both Fluttershy and Discord have been invited and may bring a guest. This time, though, Discord has learned his lesson about being jealous. Has Fluttershy?

(Makes a reference to my previous chapter Change of Plans)

I own nothing.

It was that time of the week again. The Tuesday morning tea. And Discord and Fluttershy were hunting through a snow bank for their sandwiches. (It was Discord's turn to host.)

"Oooh, I found one!" laughed Fluttershy, popping her head up and holding up her prize triumphantly.

Discord flashed into the spot next to her. "Hmm. But I think you'll find that's one of mine, my dear."

"What?" Fluttershy examined the finger sandwich, which seemed to contain marbles in the middle. She sighed in frustration. "Well, I still found it."

"Nevertheless," Discord replied with a smug smile, taking it from her and throwing it into his mouth. "I win."

Fluttershy giggled. "How did having morning tea become a contest?"

Discord bowed. "When it was had with the Lord of Chaos."

Suddenly the pinata hanging next to the door began shrieking. "Oh, my mail's here!" said Discord happily. "Carry on, my dear." He vanished in a flash and Fluttershy went back to trying to find her own sandwiches.

Within a minute, though, he was back. "Guess what?!" he crowed, waving an open envelope over his head.

"What?"

"My ticket for the Grand Galloping Gala just arrived!"

Fluttershy smiled. "So the mailpony didn't get lost again?"

"No. Derpy's actually quite good at navigating my chaos dimension," he replied. "Have you got your ticket yet?"

"I expect it will be there when I get home," Fluttershy shrugged. "So are you going to bring the Blob again?"

"Errr…no," Discord said. "Besides, I think he's on holiday."

"Who are you going to bring, then?"

Discord cocked his head to the side. He had no idea. All his best friends were sure to have received their own invitations to the Gala, and all his secondary friends he only knew through his best friends so they would probably already be invited along with someone else, and he didn't really have any other friends.

Fluttershy saw the slightly lost expression on Discord's face and decided not to press him. "Well, I was thinking of inviting my brother Zephyr along…" she said brightly to distract him. The tactic worked; Discord turned back to her with a smile and they started talking about all the plans they both had for this year's Gala.

They had both learned a lesson from last time. Fluttershy was going to make sure to spend at least some time with Discord, and Discord had resolved not to be jealous of whoever her guest was. Though Fluttershy hadn't wanted to risk inviting, say, Lu Hugger.

When Fluttershy had left, Discord started to wonder again who he could invite to the Grand Galloping Gala, when the pinata screamed again. Curious, he teleported over to the door.

Derpy was there again, holding out another letter. "Sorry, Discord. Forgot this one."

"Oh, thank you, Derpy." He took the letter and the pegasus started to turn away. Impulsively, Discord called her back. "Wait!"

Derpy turned around.

"How do you manage to find your way through my chaos dimension so easily?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's pretty confusing, but I think most places are pretty confusing. All the streets look the same! Here, if I see the same thing twice, I know I'm going in circles."

Discord chuckled. "You're pretty clever, Derpy."

She smiled. "Thanks, Discord."

Just then, an idea popped into the draconequus' mind. Or more accurately, a tiny version of himself appeared on his shoulder and whispered the idea in his ear. Derpy tilted her head in curiousity at this strange event, but did not seem the least disturbed by it.

"Would you like to go the Grand Galloping Gala with me, Derpy?"

Derpy's mouth fell open. "What?!"

"I mean—" stammered Discord, blushing, "—as my plus one. As a friend."

Derpy beamed. "I'd love to go to the Gala as your friend!"

"Um…wonderful. Good," Discord nodded. "Then I'll…er…see you later."

"Bye!"

As Fluttershy made her way into the Grand Galloping some nights later, she automatically scanned the room for Discord. She couldn't spot him at a glance, so he was probably not here yet. He towered above a crowd of ponies.

But there were not just ponies here. Fluttershy could see Celestia greeting Thorax, Ember standing by the door, as well as griffon and yak representatives. The Gala was most definitely welcoming all the people of Equestria and beyond.

"Woah, this is awesome!" Zephyr said as they climbed the stairs towards the princesses. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all greeted her warmly and said how pleased they were to meet Zephyr. Her brother seemed a bit overawed, and Fluttershy gently pushed him towards the actual ballroom, promising Twilight she'd see her in there.

Fluttershy had gotten much better at mingling with ponies at events like these. Once upon a time, she would have been huddled in a corner, desperately hoping nopony spotted her and tried to talk to her. Or else she would have been outside, avoiding all but those she was most at ease with: the critters.

But after saving Equestria several times over and having her friends' confidence rub off on her, she was now no longer so worried. In fact, it seemed Zephyr was just as nervous as she was as she introduced him to several important guests.

"Maybe I'll just go get some food," he said quietly.

Fluttershy nodded her agreement and the siblings headed over to the table piled high with food. Applejack was already standing there, and called out a friendly greeting.

"Hi, Applejack," replied Fluttershy, instantly feeling more at ease in the orange pony's presence. "You remember Zephyr?"

"O' course," said the earth pony. "How are ya?"

"I am loving this!" Zephyr replied enthusiastically. "This party is amazing!"

Fluttershy let her attention wander as the other two talked, happy to remain silent. Her teal eyes scanned the crowd again, but the only other two of her friends she could see was Pinkie Pie and Starlight, the earth pony carving a rather large space on the dance floor while Starlight did her best to join in. Rainbow Dash would be with her fellow Wonderbolts, Rarity was probably hobnobbing with the fanciest of the guests while Twilight was no doubt still greeting the arrivals. Discord was still most conspicuously absent.

The pegasus sighed and turned back to the other two. She had no doubt Discord was going to come and find her the minute he arrived, so she shouldn't worry.

As though her thoughts had summoned him, the Lord of Chaos himself appeared at her shoulder. "Fluttershy! Applejack! Zephyr! Nice to see you all!"

Fluttershy's mood took a sudden upswing as she replied, "Hi, Discord."

He smiled at her briefly before another voice called, "Discord!"

The group turned to see a pegasus hurrying towards them, wearing a stunning pale gold ballgown. As she reached them, she tripped over the hem, fell forwards and crashed into the banquet table. Everypony gasped as the table tilted, flinging its contents into the air. A bowl of punch went with it, and Fluttershy knew it was going to land on the clumsy pegasus, ruining her lovely dress. But she could do nothing but watch the horror unfold.

There was a snap, and the punch – and its bowl – spun in a summersault over the pegasus' head. The bowl landed right way up while the liquid twisted in the air before landing back in the bowl with not a drop spilled. Then it bowed.

Everypony gave a sigh of relief, especially the pegasus. "Thanks, Discord. Rarity wouldn't have been happy if I'd ruined my new dress," said Derpy.

"That's quite alright, my dear," Discord replied graciously. "In fact, I think you've stumbled on a brilliant idea!" He looked up at the food that would have been spilled everywhere, but was now hovering safely above the crowd with the help of his magic.

Derpy giggled at his pun and said, "Yeah! I think that's really cool! Now ponies don't have to come over here to eat; the food comes to them!"

Applejack and Fluttershy blinked at the pair of them as they laughed together. The earth pony managed to shake off her shock and looked up at the floating food herself. "It is a pretty clever idea," she admitted.

"I think it's genius!" Fancy Pants cried. He was standing close by and took a few steps nearer as he spoke. "And bravo on that save, Discord!"

Discord shrugged as though it had been nothing, but his pleased grin spoke volumes.

Fancy Pants then turned to Derpy and bowed. "I hope you're alright, Miss...?"

Derpy nodded happily. "Oh yes. I'm fine. And I'm Derpy."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Derpy," the gentlecolt said, kissing her hoof. "Who are you here with?"

"I'm Discord's date!" she chirped.

Applejack and Fluttershy turned to stare at Discord at these words, but the draconequus didn't notice, his attention still on Derpy and Fancy Pants. Fluttershy noticed, however, that he did not contradict the grey pegasus.

Zephyr murmured something about checking out the rest of the party, but Rarity had soon taken his place beside Applejack. Twilight soon drifted over to join them as well, obviously finished with her hosting duties. Applejack turned towards them. "Did you know Discord was bringing Derpy?" she asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Not until I let them in just now."

"I did!" Rarity piped proudly. "Derpy asked me to make her dress for her. I think it turned out rather nicely, though she almost destroyed it several times during her fittings!"

"Well it's beautiful," Twilight said. "You did an amazing job, Rarity."

Rarity beamed at the praise. It was, as Twilight had said, a stunning dress. The colour complimented Derpy's pale yellow mane, which she was wearing in an elegant updo instead of her usual choppy fashion. A tiny tiara glittered atop her head. The neckline was beaded and circled her throat like a decorative choker necklace before flowing down her chest to her stomach. Her back was bare, leaving her wings free, but her cutie mark and tail were covered as the skirt billowed out and around her hooves. If Fluttershy looked closely, she could see abstract patterns swirling over the fabric. The whole effect made the grey pegasus look a bit ethereal, like a princess from a fairy tale.

Fluttershy could not help but agree with Applejack when the earth pony muttered, "I barely recognised her."

They were not the only ones surprised by Derpy's transformation. Fancy Pants was not alone in asking who the enchanting young lady was, and Pinkie Pie soon bounced over and exclaimed, "Wow Derpy, you look great!"

"Would you like to dance?" asked Fancy Pants.

A bit overcome by all the attention, Derpy happily agreed, promising Discord to meet up with him soon. He waved her off with a smile and turned to speak to the Element bearers. No sooner had he opened his mouth, however, than there was a shriek from the direction Derpy and Fancy Pants had gone.

Everypony whipped around to see Derpy standing frozen in front of a very high society mare who was screeching at the huge stain the pegasus had somehow managed to inflict on her gown. The watching friends winced at the abuse the mare was hurling at the clumsy pony.

Discord was furious. "Excuse me," he growled to his companions, before teleporting to Derpy's side.

"What a beautiful dress, madam!" he said loudly to the older mare.

She tore her gaze from Derpy to glare at the draconequus. "It was!" she spat. "Thanks to this filly," she jerked her head angrily at Derpy, "it's ruined!"

"On the contrary!" Discord cried. "It's so original! Although...I think it needs a little more." He snapped his fingers and several more stains appeared.

The mare shrieked even louder.

"No? Perhaps a different colour then?" Another snap, and the ugly blotches started pulsating with different colours like disco lights.

The mare shrieked yet again, turning her anger on Discord, who continued making the situation worse the more she yelled at him. Fancy Pants took the opportunity to lead Derpy safely away from the mare's wrath.

Fluttershy – along with almost everyone else in the ballroom – was watching the scene with a mixture of amusement and fascinated horror, with a healthy dash of exasperation at Discord's behaviour. She was extremely relieved when Celestia arrived on the scene and ordered the draconequus to put the dress right, then soothed the mare with a few calming words.

Discord returned to his friends' side with a scowl. "That mare is abominably rude!" he said. "It would serve her right if her dress got stained."

Rarity looked aghast at the suggestion, but the others smiled. "That was a very sweet thing you did for Derpy, Discord," Twilight said.

"It wasn't her fault," Discord shrugged.

Just then there was another crash that signalled yet another disaster from the direction of the dance floor. Fluttershy didn't need Pinkie's cheerful "Derpy tripped again!" to know what had happened.

Discord looked worriedly in the grey pegasus' direction.

"It looks like you're going to be spending another Gala trying to keep your plus one out of trouble," Fluttershy commented, trying to make light of the situation.

Discord glanced at her. "So it seems," he replied with a smile. "But I don't mind so much this time." There was a pop, and the draconequus vanished.

Twilight shook her head in amazement. "Well, I certainly didn't see that one coming."

"Me either," agreed Applejack.

"You know, I wouldn't have picked those two either," Rarity mused, "but they sort of make sense, don't they?"

Fluttershy remained silent. She knew what Rarity meant. Despite being an accepted part of official Equestrian events now, there weren't a lot of ponies really at ease with Discord's Chaos magic. In fact, up until now, Fluttershy had thought only Pinkie Pie was the only one who truly understood that side of Discord. But Pinkie and Discord were chaotic in such a way as made the other seem worse. Derpy, on the other hoof, also seemed totally comfortable with Discord's unique powers. And while he didn't diminish her clumsiness, he certainly lessened the disastrous outcomes. They complimented each other well.

"Awww, look!" Pinkie cooed.

She was pointing to Discord, who had rescued Derpy from whatever new disaster she had wrought, and the two of them were dancing together, a little above the rest of the crowd.

Fluttershy felt something in her chest grow tight as she watched them. It was a beautiful scene, but something about it made her feel hot and uncomfortable and she suddenly wanted to be anywhere but with her friends, who all seemed unable to take their eyes off the couple.

That moment, Rainbow Dash came trotting up to them. "Hey guys," she called. "You should have seen what Discord just did for Derpy!"

"I have to go find Zephyr!" Fluttershy blurted.

The others did not take a lot of notice and the yellow pegasus slipped away from them, stumbling through the crowd in search of her brother. She quickly found him talking and laughing with a pegasus Fluttershy recognised as Soarin, one of Rainbow Dash's fellow Wonderbolts. Deciding not to interrupt, she turned and walked away.

Not wanting to go back to her friends, she headed outside, feeling like she wanted a little fresh air.

Discord was headed back towards his friends, Derpy trotting along at his side. Fancy Pants was on her other side, and the two ponies chatted to each other as the group weaved its way through the ballroom.

The stallion seemed to have taken a shine to the sweet pegasus, despite Derpy managing to send him bowling headfirst into the nearest group of bystanders. Discord had taken over the dance for both their safety, but he was happy that Derpy had such a gentlecolt to pay her attention.

Five of the Element bearers and Starlight Glimmer were still standing by the now-empty food table, engrossed in conversation. Ponies had loved the idea of the floating food, so Discord had bewitched them to hover gently around the room and serve any pony who called them. The draconequus glanced around as he approached, even though he'd already seen Fluttershy was not with them.

"Where'd Fluttershy go?" he asked Twilight, trying to keep the jealousy from his tone. He'd been going to ask her for a dance, and he was annoyed that she'd chosen to vanish rather than spend time with him. Again. He berated himself inwardly. Fluttershy was his friend, and she'd promised she'd spend time with him at this year's Gala.

"She said she was looking for her brother," Twilight replied. "But that was a while ago."

Discord's eyes telescoped around the room, seeking out the soft-spoken pony. He spotted Zephyr almost right away, but Fluttershy was nowhere nearby. In fact, she wasn't in the ballroom at all. Growing slightly worried, he zapped a bright pink GPS device into his eagle claw. 'FLUTTER FINDER' was stamped on the back in large yellow letters. Discord relaxed slightly when his Flutter Finder showed a small red dot just outside in the gardens. Of course that's where Fluttershy would be. Asking the others to keep an eye on Derpy, he teleported himself outside.

Fluttershy was seated on a bench, deep in conversation with a little red bird, up late thanks to the noise and lights from the Gala. It twittered in alarm and flew off when it realised someone else was approaching, and the pegasus turned around.

"Here you are," said Discord.

"Discord, I...I thought you were dancing with Derpy."

"I was," he replied, sitting down beside her. "Then I came looking for you."

"O-oh."

Discord frowned down at his friend, who was staring at the ground and looking very depressed. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Fluttershy." Discord used his eagle claw to gently tilt her face up towards him. "What is it?"

But the pony wouldn't meet his eyes. "You...you should go back inside and dance with Derpy."

Discord dropped his arm, stung. "I thought we were going to spend time together tonight?"

"I know, but...you should spend time with Derpy too."

Fluttershy waited for the draconequus to agree and leave, but he was silent. She risked a peek at him through the curtain of her hair. He looked upset. He probably thought he shouldn't leave her alone because he thought she was unhappy, so she forced a small smile and turned to face him.

"Really Discord, it's fine. Go. Dance, have fun; I don't mind."

This did not seem to make him feel better. He frowned down at her, thoughtful and perplexed. Then he held out his paw. "Fine. Will you dance with me, Fluttershy?"

The pegasus gaped at him. "What? No, I meant...with Derpy..."

"I already danced with Derpy," Discord said firmly. "Now I want to dance with you."

"But...what about Derpy?"

"She's inside with our friends, having a marvellous time being admired by Lord Fancy Pants." Discord gave her a charming smirk at this. "You know, I quite like them together. Very much a Prince Charming with a damsel in distress; I'm glad I brought Derpy along."

Fluttershy began to smile as she realised what he was saying. "Yes. Me too," she agreed.

She took his still-outstretched paw and the draconequus pulled her to her feet, then summoned several classical instruments which began to play a slow, waltz-like song of their own accord. Fluttershy cocked her head, wondering where she'd heard the tune before, but before she could place it, Discord had started to twirl her around through the air. She giggled as she spun under the star-lit sky.

Twilight smiled as she took in the scene, then retreated back inside, deciding to leave the couple be. The princesses would be able to deal with Derpy's latest disaster by themselves.

"Hey, where's Discord?" Applejack asked, seeing the purple alicorn returning alone.

"Busy at the moment," Twilight replied breezily. "I'll fix it." She headed off to do just that, and unconsciously began to hum along to Love is in Bloom under her breath.

Hehe, yep, Discord did play a slowed-down version of Shining and Cadence's wedding song to dance with Fluttershy.

I liked the idea of there being a pony who got Discord's chaos magic (besides Pinkie) to make Fluttershy jealous and Derpy seemed perfect. They're rather adorable together. I also liked throwing Fancy Pants in there as her admirer, because she's such a sweetheart and he's such a gentlecolt. I 100% agree with Discord on this!

I'm not actually sure of Derpy's correct name; I found three different versions: Ditzy Doo and Muffins. I used Derpy since that's what I know her as, though personally Ditzy Doo is my favourite.

Take care of yourselves everypony!

Love OnlyHere4Puckabrina xoxo