If Discord had thought that time and proximity would eventually soften Angel Bunny's opinion of him, he was sorely mistaken; the little rabbit continually poked his goat leg, kicking out with his tiny feet, even though all the draconequus was trying to do was catch forty winks on a hammock suspended across the length of Fluttershy's living room. Maybe it was the chocolate milk river that it was floating above that gave the tetchy critter cause for irritation?

Finally growing tired of Angel's constant prodding, Discord snapped his fingers and the bunny vanished into the ether. He chortled in satisfaction, knowing that, with Fluttershy out, he would be free to keep Angel at bay in this manner until she got back. Finally, a little bit of solitude.

He didn't make it a habit to hang around Fluttershy's cottage while she was out; though it made no difference to him, the animals that loitered around the place could be a little bit squeamish in his presence. Especially when he was bored, which was often. Ever since agreeing with the princesses not to use his chaos powers – at least not for harmful purposes – Discord's life had been a little bit staid of late. Who would have thought that the God of Chaos would be tamed by a little yellow pony who quaked in fear at her own shadow, huh?

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he heard the front door burst open loudly enough that he feared it was being torn from its hinges by some ferocious creature. There's no way that could be Fluttershy; she isn't the type to abuse the furniture, no matter how annoyed she is. To be on the safe side, he silently snapped his fingers and got rid of the river of milk, the hammock, and – as an afterthought – restored Angel Bunny to his proper place, who looked around confusedly before scampering dazedly in the direction of his owner.

The little rabbit froze, his eyes widening in alarm, and even Discord looked on in interest. “Fluttershy, did you do something with your hair?” he asked deadpan, amused by the rabbit's sudden about-face.

The yellow pegasus' normally well-kempt rosy mane was a wild, tangled mess of random peaks and troughs, her azure eyes had taken on a reddish tint, and her lateral incisors had become longer and more pointed. Even her wings had become more leathery and spiky.

She might have looked intimidating, where it not for the fact that she was also crying; something which was of more immediate concern to Discord, though he was curious about the return of the bat curse. “What happened to you?” He tried to approach her, but she backed off. Closer up, he could see that her tiny body was covered in scratches. “Fluttershy …?”

“I'm a monster,” Fluttershy said between sobs.

“You are not,” replied Discord sternly. The draconequus took a moment to get his thoughts in order. A resurgence of the bat influence that Princess Know-Nothin'-Know-It-All thought she'd cured. “Okay, that explains the transformation, but how did you get the scratches?”

“I was coming back from the Everfree Forest after feeding the manticore cubs when I, er, changed. A couple of ponies saw me emerging from the woods, and they thought that I was some kind of-” she made a choking noise in the back of her throat “-some kind of beast.”

Discord felt the heart that he wasn't sure he possessed hammering in his chest. The very thought of somepony attacking his dear, sweet Fluttershy made feelings he couldn't express in words thrill through him. At once, he wanted to find those responsible for her injuries and teach them the meaning of pain, and comfort the poor pegasus-bat until she felt better and stopped crying. Finally, the latter instinct won out and he pulled her into a tight hug before she had the chance to escape his clutches once more. “You aren't a monster.”

“I am,” replied Fluttershy, not giving herself up to the draconequus' embrace. In fact, she looked as though she wanted to be on the other side of Equestria right now. “I don't want to hurt anypony, but … I don't know what'll happen if we can't find a way to reverse this transformation.”

“You could never hurt anypony, it isn't in your nature,” said Discord, his gaze drawing level with hers. “The only thing that's even remotely monstrous about you is how much you care, whether the animal in question deserves it or not.”

“Animals like big, dumb draconequuses, you mean?” she asked, dryly noting the subtext of his words. Fluttershy buried her head in his shoulder until it was wet with tears.

“Big? Dumb?” Discord said with mock-hurt. “Don't you mean devilishly handsome, intelligent and sexy?”

Fluttershy turned her head slightly and giggled despite herself.

“Oh?” He prodded her chest gently with a talon of his eagle claw. “You think I'm sexy?”

Hiding her eyes behind her mane, Fluttershy blushed and nodded. “Maybe a little.”

Discord found himself rather taken aback by that and couldn't think of a response; if Fluttershy had ever found anypony attractive, she never said anything about it due to her timid nature. Perhaps this bat curse isn't such a bad thing after all? “In that case, there's something I should tell you.”

“What's that?” Fluttershy asked, wiping the last of her tears away with a hoof.

The faintest tinge of red coloured the draconequus' cheeks. “I think you're adorkable.”

“Adorka-what?”

“Adorkable. You know, hot in a nerdy sort of way?”

Fluttershy raised her eyebrows in bewilderment, unsure if she was being made fun of or not. “Thanks. I think.”

“Hey, I'm not insulting you,” Discord said, holding his hands up in apology. “Ever since we became friends, you've become something incredibly important and special to me. Over time, I began to feel something that was a lot more than just friendship for you. Your kindness, compassion and empathy have been really important to somepony like me who has no knowledge of such things.” He looked down at his goat hoof and lizard leg, and a small sigh escaped his throat. “The truth is, I love you, Fluttershy, and I've been wanting to tell you for a long time, but not knowing how you felt about me made it really difficult to say anything.”

A long moment of silence passed, and Discord assumed that he had his answer; he looked back up, however, to find that Fluttershy's face was mere inches away from his own, and from the way her lips were quirked, it was pretty obvious that she was expecting him to make his move. Acting on instinct, Discord closed the short gap between them and placed his own lips against hers.

The taste of apples, mingled with her natural lavender scent, was a curious yet intoxicating mix to the draconequus. The kiss was soft, innocent, chaste, but with the slightest of hints of something more lingering under the surface. Just like Fluttershy herself, really. It was everything Discord had been hoping for.

All too soon, they pulled away, and Fluttershy looked nervously downward. “You don't mind that I'm stuck this way?”

“Uh-uh,” Discord replied sincerely. “It doesn't matter about the inside because it's what's in here-” his clawed hand rested just over her heart while his lion arm encircled her waist and pulled her in close “-that counts.”

“Thank you,” she said, kissing his cheek softly.

“Wanna go for a swim in my chocolate milk river?” Discord asked mischievously. Next Chapter: Hat - Twilight/Celestia - Slice of Life Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes