Welcome back to part 2 of Into the Woods!

After Fluttershy quite literally drops out of Junior Flight Camp, she decides to stay on the ground instead of going back to Cloudsdale. Her new friends lead her to Ponyville and help her find a beautiful little cottage to live, not realising that she has a very unusual neighbour living right next door in the Everfree Forest.

Chapter 2: A New Problem

Fluttershy remembered hearing a story about the Lord of Chaos once. He was the villain in one of the tales of the two princesses' heroics. What the story had not mentioned however, was that he was a denizen of the Everfree Forest.

"What are you doing here?"

Discord looked a bit miffed, but replied, "Well, when those two princesses got their hooves on the Elements of Harmony and banished me, I needed a place to lie low. The Everfree seemed like the perfect place." He gazed around. "Actually, I've grown quite fond of it. And while I'm usually happy to leave the rest of Equestria be, I don't appreciate ponies waltzing in here!"

Fluttershy crossed her hooves and retorted, "Well, I don't appreciate having my friends rabbit-napped in the middle of the night by...uh...chaos lords!"

He frowned. "I'm a draconequus."

"Whatever." Secretly, though, Fluttershy filed away this information. She loved learning anything she could about any kind of creature.

"How dare you speak to me like that?!" Discord sputtered, floating off the ground to tower over her.

She rose higher, matching him. "How dare you go attacking innocent rabbits?!"

"He was interfering!"

"With what?"

"With my fun."

Fluttershy scowled. "That doesn't give you the right to hurt him."

"I didn't do anything to him. I simply let him loose in the forest and conjured a carnivorous hippopotamus to chase him."

"WHAT?!" shrieked Fluttershy, so shrilly Discord winced.

The pegasus was now so angry it was a wonder smoke wasn't pouring from her ears. "Listen here, mister," she snarled, poking Discord in the chest. The draconequus looked quite flabbergasted. "I don't care what you're the lord of! Give me back my bunny!"

Discord stared at her in shock for several seconds, but the pony did not back down. "If I do, will you get out of my forest?"

"Yes."

"And not come back?"

"I won't, as long as you promise not to kidnap my friends again."

"Deal." Discord snapped his eagle claw, and the terrified, trembling baby bunny appeared in Fluttershy's arms. Angel immediately threw his tiny paws around her neck.

"There now, it's okay Angel," Fluttershy murmured, stroking his back. Angel looked around and started squeaking furiously at the draconequus, who rolled his eyes in response. "Angel, language!" said Fluttershy, shocked.

Discord hid a smile at the change in the pegasus' tone. "Right. Now I want you both gone."

Fluttershy nodded and tucked her bunny safely into her arms when Discord snapped his fingers again, and she suddenly found herself back outside the old cottage. The animals all started twittering and squeaking with joy at the sight of her.

"Thank you!" she called in the direction of the trees.

Hidden from view, Discord watched the pegasus silently, his curiousity piqued by this strangely brave little filly.

Empowered by her success in rescuing Angel, Fluttershy set back to work restoring the old cottage. In just a couple of days, she had completely cleared out all the old and broken objects, dust and cobwebs, as well as tamed the garden to a more reasonable state.

Now all she needed was more furniture to replace the things she had thrown out, as well as plates and cups, a teapot... all the household-y items, as well as lots of wood to make the bird houses and animal shelters she was planning to put in. Her friends had taken to sleeping inside the cottage with her now, and Fluttershy enjoyed their company.

But for all these items she would need to head into the town, which she had so far been avoiding, too much enjoying the solitude with her animals.

Her friends chorused their goodbyes as she stepped outside, and Angel scrambled onto her back.

"Okay then," Fluttershy said nervously, gazing down the road to the town. "I'll be back later, I guess."

"But where are you going, my dear?!"

Fluttershy and her critters all shrieked and hid, all except Angel, who hopped on top of his mistress' head and waved his tiny fist at the draconequus furiously.

Discord, having just appeared in front of Fluttershy, was not impressed. "Oh, scat, would you?" He flicked a toe at the rabbit, who flew backwards and crashed into something inside the cottage.

Fluttershy gaped in fury. "Angel, are you okay?!"

The bunny hopped into view, rubbing the bump on his head, but nodded.

The pony turned on Discord. "Why would you do that to him?!"

"Relax. He just said he wasn't hurt."

"But he could have been!"

Discord sighed. This was not how he had meant for this meeting to go. "Please accept my sincerest apologies. Here." He conjured a bouquet of carrots.

Fluttershy blinked and took them, and, after examining them suspiciously, gave one to Angel. The bunny scowled and pushed it away, until Fluttershy scolded him for being rude. Then he reluctantly took it and munched on it, quickly wolfly it down in three bites.

Fluttershy turned back to Discord. "What are you doing here? I thought you stayed in the Everfree Forest?"

"I don't stay there; I live there. I just have to be careful whenever I leave, seeing as ponies don't generally like having me around, and one might decide to report me to the princesses."

"Why don't ponies like having you around?" asked Fluttershy, genuinely confused.

"Uh...hello!" He rapped his knuckles on her forehead and she ducked away. "Did you not see the Everfree Forest? All the chaos magic? Ponies don't like it! It scares them! It scared you!"

"Yes...but it doesn't have to be scary," Fluttershy pointed out, rubbing her forehead. "You were trying to be scary. Plus, I'm scared of a lot of things."

"I doubt that."

She looked up at him, surprised, and blushed. Her parents were the only ones who ever said she was brave.

Discord raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You came into the Everfree Forest – twice – and faced me. The only ponies who've ever dared face me are the princesses. That doesn't strike you as brave?"

Fluttershy's cheeks went from pink to scarlet. "I-I was just t-trying to save Angel."

Discord regarded her curiously for several moments, then abruptly changed the subject. "Anyway, you didn't answer me before, my dear. Where are you going?"

"Oh, into the town. I need to get some things for my house."

"Well, allow me to take one thing off your list!" Snapping his talon, he zapped a strange object into Fluttershy's arms.

"Oh, thank you. Um...what is it?"

The contraption was a complex series of tubes and boxes, made of metal and wood and other strange materials. Fluttershy could not even begin to guess what it might be for, or even which way it stood up. Did it stand up? Or hang on a wall? Or possibly float in the air?

"A house warming gift for my new neighbour."

Fluttershy blinked, but decided not to question it, lest she seem rude. "Well, thank you, Discord. It's, uh...lovely."

He seemed pleased.

Fluttershy smiled and placed the thing gently down inside her cottage. "Well, I should get going."

"Oh, very well."

The pegasus called to Angel, who retook his seat on her back, and trotted off towards the town, waving goodbye to Discord and the other critters.

Once she was gone, Discord turned back to the animals, who all shivered under his evil gaze and his even more evil grin. "While she's gone," he smirked, "why don't I help my new neighbour settle in a bit?"

Fluttershy returned from Ponyville with her nerves completely frazzled.

Yelling at the Lord of Chaos to save Angel was one thing. Making polite conversation with a whole lot of strange ponies was another. She had frequently wanted to run right home to the comfort of her friends. Only Angel's encouragement had kept her from doing so.

Perhaps if she had done so, she would not have returned to find her cottage in the state it was.

Fluttershy gaped at the sheer Chaos.

Many of her animal friends were running around on stilt-legs. The bushes had turned blue and were growing lollipops. The grass was pink, and the cottage itself was rotating slowly in the air. Two birds spotted Fluttershy and flew towards her, mooing urgently.

"Yes, yes, I'll deal with it," she said distractedly, too dazed to take in the full scale of damage. "Discord!"

The draconequus popped into being right in front of her. "Yes, my dear?"

"What...?" Fluttershy gestured helplessly at the scene in front of her.

"I redecorated for you!" he cried happily. "Do you like it?"

"Redecorated? I...No! No, I don't like it!" Fluttershy realised that tears were starting to make their way down her cheeks. "Why would you do this?"

"Well, I..." Discord flailed for words, taken aback by the pegasus' tears.

"Put everything back!" she screamed angrily. "Put it all right and GO AWAY! I don't want you here! I don't like your chaos! Just leave me alone!"

Discord stared at her, his ears starting to droop. "Fine," he said flatly. Then he snapped his talons together, and the cottage, surrounding area and animals all returned to normal. With another snap, the draconequus vanished.

Fluttershy stood there for a moment, trying to quell her tears and quieten her emotions. Pushing the draconequus' hurt expression from her mind, she hurried to check on all her animals.

Once she was assured they were all fine, she began to put away the things she had bought in town.

"Huh, that's odd," she muttered to herself, shutting the last cupboard. She had been sure that the door on it had been broken. In fact, she knew it had, because it was on the list of things to be fixed she had written down.

Now she went over the list in question. Broken doors, hinges or floorboards that needed replacing, which she had carefully taken note of so she could gather the necessary things to fix them. When she went around the cottage again, however, none of the things on her list required fixing.

Fluttershy looked at her critters in puzzlement. "Discord must've fixed it all," she realised.

They all chirped and chittered various expressions of disbelief at this, but there was no other explanation.

She immediately felt terrible for the way she had yelled at him, and even more so when she noticed the gift he had given her was hanging on the wall opposite. She crossed the room to examine it, hoping to figure out what it did.

After examining it closely, Fluttershy noticed a small button on one side. She pushed it.

Immediately, steam began to pour from various pipes, forming strange patterns in the air. Within seconds, her entire ceiling was covered with the steam that glowed with gentle, ever-changing colours.

Fluttershy gazed up at it, entranced. The patterns were random, as far as she could tell, but there was something incredibly beautiful about it. It was rather like watching a flock of birds all diving and swooping together, or butterflies dancing with each other.

It was scented too, she realised. The steam was covering the cottage with the sweet, fresh scent of vanilla and flowers.

Her eyes welled with gratitude for this gift.

She looked around at the animals, who were all watching the smoke curiously. "I have to go apologise."

Fluttershy ran out of the cottage and towards the Everfree Forest.

She skidded to a halt at the tree line and called, "Discord? Discord!"

There was no response.

Fluttershy shouted his name a few more times, but eventually was forced to give up. Either he couldn't hear her, or didn't want to talk. She trudged back to her cottage and began building bird houses and hutches for all her friends with the extra materials she now had.

Fluttershy returned to the edge of the Everfree the next morning, and once more tried to call for Discord, but he still didn't appear, and she was forced to conclude that he did not want to speak to her. But she wasn't about to give up yet.

She searched the surrounding meadows for the most beautiful flowers she could find, gathered them into a vase and carried it out to the forest.

She paused at the tree line, took a deep breath, and stepped into the trees.

At once, a whirlwind caught her up, making Fluttershy shriek with terror as she was spun around and around and around. Two seconds later, she was deposited in front of a scowling draconequus.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

Fluttershy stood on trembling legs, clutching the vase of flowers tightly. "I-I...uh...w-want-ted to ap-pologise."

Discord raised one eyebrow.

"I'm very sorry for yelling at you, Discord," she said sincerely. "I was frustrated, and I shouldn't have hurt your feelings."

"You didn't hurt my feelings." Discord turned his back on her. "You think I care? Well, I don't! Now leave."

He raised his paw to snap her away, and Fluttershy cried, "Wait!"

He paused.

"I-I have something for you." She tentatively held out the flowers.

Discord turned his head just enough to see them. "Why would I want those? I have plenty of flowers in the Everfree Forest."

"Well...yes..." Fluttershy admitted, embarrassed. "But you gave me such a kind gift, so these are a thank you. Um...they're not magical, or anything. But I thought they were pretty...and...well, you might like them."

He turned towards her even more. "A thank you?" he repeated, looking perplexed.

"Yes. For your gift. And...for fixing all the broken things in my cottage."

Still shocked, Discord reached out to take the vase and gazed at it. "You're welcome," he murmured distractedly.

Fluttershy smiled, and Discord gave her a tentative smile in response.

Heartened by this, Fluttershy said, "I'm very sorry I said I didn't like your magic, Discord. I do like it, sometimes. I love the housewarming gift you gave me."

He smiled even more at this. "Well...perhaps I shouldn't have redecorated without your permission."

She giggled. "Yes. Please ask, next time."

"Next time?"

"Yes. Well...I hope you'll visit me."

Once again, Discord stared at her as though he had never seen a pony before. She was being so... kind to him, even though he hadn't really done anything but make a nuisance of himself. She wasn't afraid of him. She even wanted him to visit her!

"Of course," he said. "And you may visit me anytime as well."

Fluttershy looked around at the forest with a little shiver. "To be honest, I don't think I'll ever get used to this place."

He scoffed. "Please. You have now entered the Everfree Forest three times, more than anyone else since I've been living here. And I've lived here for a thousand years. You still think that doesn't make you brave?"

Fluttershy shook her head, blushing furiously. "I'm not brave," she mumbled. "I-I came here to get away from the bullies at Flight Camp. I could barely even speak to anypony in Ponyville yesterday. I'm just...too shy."

"And yet, you have no problem scolding me."

She shook her head again. "It's different."

"How? Am I somehow less terrifying than those bullies at Flight Camp?"

"No. You're just...different."

Discord frowned at this, strangely bothered but not knowing why. "Well, in any case, I can promise that you will never come to harm in this forest, my dear, should you choose to visit."

"Th-thank you."

There was an awkward silence until Fluttershy said, "Well, I should be heading back. I still have plenty of shelters to build."

"Yes. Of course."

And with a snap of his paw, Fluttershy was returned home.

So just to clarify, Discord hasn't really been reformed at this stage. He doesn't use his magic to cause trouble, but it is purely out of self-preservation so he isn't found out. That's starting to change, though!

The final chapter next week!

Love OnlyHere4Puckabrina xoxo