Fluttershy knew she was awake.

She had been conscious of her consciousness for a while, but she refused to let herself open her eyes. The mare was comfortable in her sleeping position and she wasn't cold at all, so there seemed no immediate need for her to get up. If anything, she was too warm, but a warmth like that had not been experienced by the pegasus in far too long.

She could feel that her ear was pressed awkwardly forward by something, so - though it was comfortable like that for now - if she moved she would invite an ache into it.

As she breathed, her duvet slipped down her back, leaving her shoulders bare. She shivered, then took hold of the blanket and placed it back in its rightful position.

It was thicker than she remembered. And softer. Softer, like...like feathers.

Fluttershy racked her brain, willing for it to remember whether she was on her stomach, her side or her back. Eventually, she gave up and snuggled further into her pillow, turning he head so her muzzle wasn't suffocated in it.

Which, as she came to realise, meant she was on her side.

Was her wing bent backwards over her back? She panicked briefly before ruffling both her wings, just to check. They were still folded, so how was there a wing lying across her...

Oh.

Realisation hit her so hard that her eyes opened on instinct, and all of a sudden there really did seem to be reason for her to get up.

His paw caressed her neck, confirming her thoughts and giving her the last mental push she needed to sit up. Fluttershy had been right; her ear did ache when she removed it from underneath Discord's chin.

Her hind legs were say on the leathery surface of his bat wing. Now that she was sitting up, her hocks were touching the cold stone floor.

Her forehooves were more fortunate, as they were wrapped safely in each of the draconequus' hands - or less fortunate, depending on which way the blushing pegasus decided to look at it.

Oh my sweet Celestia I was sleeping next to him!

Something else dawned upon her a few seconds afterwards: she didn't feel tired - at all. She felt wonderful. Which, in other words, meant that she had enjoyed sleeping with her friend.

And, judging purely from the unusually peaceful look planted on his face, Discord had more or less enjoyed it as well.

Fluttershy pleaded with her heart to get it to calm down, but it was no use. She was cold, now that she wasn't lying under the wing of the sleeping draconequus, and his embrace had certainly been far more comfortable than any amount of bedsheets were.

The mare exhaled in defeat as she slid back down to her belly and positioned her head underneath Discord's chin once more.

The moment she closed her eyes, he whooped triumphantly and sat up. "I knew it!" he declared. "I knew it I knew it I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Fluttershy asked, though she already had a pretty good idea of what he was referring to.

"You liked sleeping next to me, didn't you?" When she stayed silent and gave a blush as her only response, he knew he was right. "You did! You did you did you did you did you did!"

Fluttershy knew there was no point in denying it, but she felt embarrassed and humiliated and red hot all over, so she blurted, "And what's so bad about that, huh? Why is that so unbelievably funny?! Yes, I admit, I did! I felt wonderfully comfortable and relaxed when I slept next to you! Admittedly, that is the first time I have ever slept with anyone and, though it may seem weird, it's not at all indecent! In fact, I think I read somewhere that it benefits your health and happiness if you sleep with those you -" She cut herself off before she said something she knew she would regret later. "With those you hold close! I do not mean to ask you to let me sleep with you again, but..." Fluttershy finally noticed that she was having no dampering effect on the draconequus. If anything, she was making him laugh harder, and she fought hard to maintain her confidence. "I am expressing why you should have stopped laughing by now, which you haven't, and you aren't even listening to what I'm saying so I'm going to stop now." Her voice had reduced back to its usual self, and she felt her eyes sting. Before she could cry, however, she closed her eyes.

Discord had stopped laughing. He was completely silent, so Fluttershy took this as an opportunity to apologise, "I'm sorry. That was silly, childish and foolish of me to say. I was just embarrassed, and...your face is right in front of mine, isn't it?"

Discord blinked. "How do you know?!"

"It's just the sort of thing you would do while my eyes are closed. And I can feel your breath on my face."

"That's funny, as it seems your face is far too flushed right now to feel anything."

Fluttershy opened her eyes. "And who's fault is that?"

"Yours; you embarrassed yourself."

"Fair enough."

"I apologise for laughing at you, my dear. I was just a bit surprised."

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow. "About..." she prompted.

"About the fact you enjoyed sleeping next to me, and owned up to it. Congrats; you just earned yourself a gold star." He stuck it to her forehead.

She bit her lip and scuffed her hoof on the ground. "Did you..." she began sheepishly, then gulped. "Did you...like it, t-too?"

"Why, of course I did! You're my friend, remember? My best friend! You said it yourself: it benefits your health and happiness if you sleep next to those you love."

Silence.

Fluttershy blushed for the umpteenth time. "I...I didn't say that, though."

"You were originally planning to though, weren't you?" Discord crossed his arms and leaned closer to her. "Do you love me then, Fluttershy?"

She opened her mouth, but she couldn't find her voice.

"No? Ah well. If I was in your position, I wouldn't love me either. However," Discord added, putting his arm round her shoulders, "I do kinda love you."

Fluttershy was stunned, and she couldn't stutter anything but a, "W-w-why?"

The draconequus raised a mocking eyebrow at her. "To put it simply? You're amazing."

"But..."

"What, I need to elaborate? Fine then! You're kind, beautiful, admirable and my best friend." He paused. "Wait, is it not called love? The thing you feel towards your best friends - or best friend, in my case?"

"N-no, it...it's perfectly normal to love your friends, and..." Fluttershy blinked. "D-d-did...did you just...call me...y-you think I'm...pretty?"

"Yes."

Her pupils dilated. "You're...you're lying!" she declared.

He held up crossed fingers. "Ah, you caught me. No, I don't think you're pretty."

The mare sighed - half from relief, half from disappointment - and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her eyes met with the now upside-down Discord's.

"I think you're beautiful," he whispered, like the words were sacred.

"But...I'm not -"

"Right! That's it! I'm diagnosing you with Modesty! Honestly! Do you not think your friends are beautiful?"

"I do, but that doesn't -"

"Well, there you go then! I think you're beautiful. I don't care if you don't agree with me, because that is my opinion, and I'm standing by it." He crossed his arms defiantly as the words 'my opinion' appeared beside him.

The quiet that followed wasn't uncomfortable at first, but - as many silences will - it developed into an awkward one.

"So...you were alright with sleeping next to me?" Discord asked.

Fluttershy turned to him and nodded.

"Phew! I was worried you'd be angry at me. Yay that you weren't."

She decided to repeat him, "Yay."

He burst out laughing. "Do that again!"

"What, yay?"

"Yes, yay!"

She rolled her eyes, but obliged. "Yay."

"Again!"

"Yay!"

"Louder!"

"YAY!" Then, she added, "You remind me of Rainbow Dash."

Discord blinked. "Haven't we already established that you are the Rainbow Dash here?"

"Yes, but a while ago Rainbow wanted me to support her by cheering for her," Fluttershy explained. "All I could manage was 'yay' when she was coaching me."

Discord smirked. "If I was her, that'd be all I'd need!"

"M-my 'yays' aren't very loud...they aren't good for cheering, either," Fluttershy said, hiding behind her mane.

"Are you kidding me?" He cleared the hair from her face. "They're completely and utterly adorable! They're supporting enough, I think."

Fluttershy looked up at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. One more thing, though: say 'yay' again."

She giggled. "Yay."

"Pinkie, why in Equestria do ya own so many saddlebags?"

The first nine-saddlebags-worth of invites had been cooperatively written by Pinkie and Applejack, the latter progressively losing her patience more and more frequently. It had taken them about a whole day to finish, but Pinkie had thankfully reminded the farm pony that there were "more where those came from."

Applejack had already suffered from countless hoof cramps, one of which she was trying to shake off as she helped Pinkie load the letters into saddlebags. There were only eight, so the pink material's seams were practically bursting by the time each clasp was fastened.

As she strapped her half of the eight to her back, Applejack continued, "Ah mean, don'cha have a cart, or a more efficient way of carrying things?" The two earth mares began their journey down the stairs. "Judging by the design, all these saddlebags belong to you and you alone, and Ah don't think you'll ever need all of 'em at once. Ah've had plenty experience with pullin' carts, so it's not like it'd be a chore for me to pull one for ya."

They were silent until the door to Sugar Cube Corner had shut behind them and they had started walking in the direction of the nearest mailbox.

"Applejack, if we didn't use saddlebags, how would we get the letters downstairs?" Pinkie asked, arching an eyebrow a the farm pony.

Applejack laughed. "Throw 'em."

Pinkie snorted with laughter too. "You're a silly pony, Applejack." She bounded a few steps in front of her, the weight of her four stuffed saddlebags seemingly having not effect on how high she could jump.

They arrived at a mailbox and unfastened the straps of their saddlebags. The fabric clenched between their teeth, they hauled them closer - or at least Applejack did. Pinkie picked them up effortlessly and carried them over with a hop, then efficiently entire the entire contents into the mouth of the mailbox.

"Mailmare's gonna have a whale of a time deliverin' all these letters," Applejack mumbled as she copied the party pony.

When the two mares moved their heads in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner, they heard somepony clear their throat behind them.

They turned in unison and saw an orange stallion wearing a black and white poncho and a rubber chicken on his back, his face shadowed by the hat atop his head. He was leaning against the mailbox; he hadn't been there a second ago.

Seeing he had their attention, he approached. "Excuse me, ladies, but do you know where I can find this town's party pony?" He asked monotonously. "My Cheesey Sense picked up a doozy of a party being held here, you see, and -" He stopped to peer closer at Pinkie Pie. "...Pinkie Pie?!" His eyes widened.

The mare looked behind her to see if there happened to be any other Pinkie Pies in the area. Deciding that there weren't, she pointed a confused hoof at herself. "Yes?"

The stallion leapt into the air, his poncho, hat and chicken flying off his body. "Oh my goodness it's you!" He dived for Pinkie and tackled her with a hug so tight it could rival her own.

"It's me!" Pinkie exclaimed, unaffected by the tightness of his embrace like most would've been. "Who am I exactly?" she asked.

"Oh! I'm sorry." He pulled away. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Cheese Sandwich, the certified party pony of Equestria." Cheese bowed gracefully then stood upright again. "And you? Pinkie, you are my idol!"

"Thanks!"

Applejack looked at Pinkie. "Do ya know him?"

"Nope!" she admitted cheerfully. "But he knows me! And he's a party pony, just like me! I thought I was one-of-a-kind!"

"As far as I know, we are one-of-a-kind!" Cheese exclaimed, leaning towards Pinkie. "But you were the first, and you were my inspiration! I thank you very much for that, Pinkie!"

Applejack laughed. "So you two are the only two of yerr kind. Maybe you should get married and have kids to increase the population of yerr species," she joked, elbowing Pinkie in the side.

The mare cocked her head to the side, staring hard at the other party pony. "Hmmm. AJ, I only just met him. This isn't a filly's fairytale, you know. But maybe!" With that, she started bouncing back towards Sugar Cube Corner. "C'MON, CHEESE! COME PLAN THIS PARTY WITH ME!" she yelled.

Applejack was frozen in shock, then shook her head, reminding herself that it was Pinkie Pie. She turned and saw that Cheese had gone bright red, no doubt as a result of the farm pony's comment.

"Ah'm deeply sorry about...what Ah said," she apologised, feeling her own cheeks warm as well.

"It...it's...fine. It's fine. Don't worry about m-me..." He stared after the party pony. "Have you ever met your idol - if you have one, that is - and she's even more awesome than you remembered she was the day you experienced your first party?"

AJ shook her head, giggling. "Nope. But that's quite a specific example." She paused. "Pinkie threw you yerr first party?"

He didn't move his eyes from Pinkie. "Yes. When I was a colt, I ran away from my home in Manehattan and ended up in Ponyville one day. There was a celebration going on, one that led me to getting my cutie mark and becoming an official party pony."

The mare looked at Pinkie, who had stopped and was beckoning them. They started walking towards her, and she continued her bouncing. "And Pinkie was the one who threw it?"

Cheese smiled to confirm. He shook his head, laughing. "I can honestly say that it's still the best party I've ever been to."

"Honesty is the best policy!" Applejack declared, stopping to stomp her hoof. They carried on walking. "Sounds like ya got yerself a crush there, sugarcube."

Cheese laughed nervously. "He he...yeah. We'll see about that."

"And then ya can get married and have kids to create yerr own species of party ponies, just like Ah said ya could." Applejack laughed.

Cheese blushed again. "C-come on, Pinkie's calling us."

"43.56....44.38...45.1! READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" Discord declared, removing his hands from his eyes.

For whatever reason, he expected to spot Fluttershy immediately, inefficiently crouching behind a bush as a hiding place.

He shook away his initial surprise and started searching for her. A tree nearby was hollow, and perfectly wide enough in diameter to fit a small yellow pegasus inside. However, Discord discovered that wasn't her hiding place when he peered inside. Looking up, he saw no telltale locks of pink or dangling hooves amidst the branches and leaves.

Sighing, he teleported to another tree and did the same again. Just like last time, he spotted no mare concealed by the foliage and she definitely wasn't inside it. As he drew his head out, there sounded the soft clonk of a mane-cushioned back-of-the-head coming in contact with a tree trunk.

"Ow," Fluttershy whispered from somewhere above Discord's head, a few inches above the approximate point where the tips of his horns were.

"Ah ha!" Discord triumphed and grabbed the pegasus round the stomach, tickling her a bit so she loosened her grip on his horns.

The draconequus brought her down and held her in his arms like a newborn foal, curled up into an adorable little ball.

"I found you!" He poked her in the nose. "Where you really hiding on top of my horns the whole time?"

Fluttershy nodded. "Mmmm-hmmm. I kinda figured you would relieve yourself of your conscientiousness enhancement and therefore you wouldn't really be able to feel it if I hid on your horns."

"Well, you're not exactly heavy, now are you?" Discord chuckled, throwing her into the air. She screamed in petrified delight until he caught her again and hugged her.

"You're too clever. You aren't aloud to be tactful when you're playing 'Hide-and-Seek' with me."

"Oh, really?"

"It's against the rules."

"But it isn't against the rules to teleport away when I'm about to find you or make yourself invisible?"

"Nope. Why would anyone think to make up a stupid rule against something entirely fair like that?"

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, giggling. "I have no idea."

"Good." He set her down on the ground again. "I'm bored of playing 'Hide-and-Seek'. What do you wanna do?"

Fluttershy looked up at him. "Well, what else do you wanna do?"

Discord looked around for inspiration. He had been hoping she would suggest something else that they could do as his own ideas were often too chaotic.

There was a tall, bare tree standing only a small distance away. "You feel like climbing?" Discord asked, gesturing wildly at the tree.

She drew circles in the ground with her hoof. "I...I'm not sure I can..."

"Oh, come on." He bent backwards until his upside-down face was level with hers. "That's exactly what you said about walking on your hind legs. Just remember how well that turned out!"

There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Yes, with you nearly deciding to kiss me," Fluttershy reminded him with a roll of her eyes.

"Ah, yes." He coughed. "Well, you see...I've never kissed a mare before, and...I know you don't kiss friends, but...I'm sorry." He drooped to the ground, doing an impression of a deflating balloon.

"It's okay." She sighed. "Alright, I'll climb the tree."

Discord inflated again, bounding to his feet. "WOOO-HOOO!"

"I'm trusting you to catch me if I fall, though, okay?"

He waved his hand carelessly. "Pshhht. You'll be fine, I can assure you. I mean, who knows? Maybe this time, instead of dancing, I can get you to hang-glide!"

"What?! No!"

"Or what about parachuting?"

"Discord!"

"I'm kidding!" He snapped his fingers and teleported them next to the tree. "Now climb, my fair lady," Discord said with an elegant bow.

Fluttershy crouched down and leapt at the branch nearest to her. She grabbed on with all her strength she had but the momentum carried her hind legs further than she wanted.

One of her hooves lost its grip and she was hanging by only one limb for a second. Though the ground was close, the strain on her shoulders made the distance seem utterly terrifying.

The mare screamed again and swung her three dangling legs over the branch. She clung on, upside-down, wishing she had the claws of a sloth as that would make it so much easier.

After what seemed like hours passed, Discord carefully unfolded one of her wings to inspect it. "These are actual wings, right? I mean, you are a pegasus and not an earth pony, aren't you?"

Fluttershy opened her mouth to answer but the draconequus continued before she could speak, "Are these just sewn on of something? Hang on..." He peered closer to the base of her wing. "I think I can see...ah ha!" he exclaimed. "I've found the seam!"

With that, he promptly pulled both of her wings off.

It was entirely painless, but Fluttershy still screamed. "D-D-D-Discord, I...put my wings back on!" she demanded the moment her initial horror dissipated.

"But...they're fake," he defended, pouting and batting his eyelashes. He was smirking, however, as he dangled the disembodied feathered appendages in the former pegasus' face.

She gave him a flat stare for as long as she could. Just as she thought she would either let go or pass out from the amount of blood rushing to her head, Discord gave in and placed them back under her shoulder blades.

When she went limp and her grip existed no longer, he caught her easily. His eyes caught with hers and she felt his scarlet pupils piercing her coat with goose bumps. Her heart rate increased, from instinctual fear...or maybe from something else, because she wasn't scared.

A blinding flash of light later, the sky was closer. Fluttershy turned round to see they were at the top of the tree. The ground was nowhere in sight; there was only the everlasting void that she would tumble through if she fell.

She clung onto Discord as right at she possibly could. "Fluttershy, relax; it's a dream." he reminded her as he sat down on the branch.

Her hooves loosened a little, but only enough so she could look at him. As she soon found out, she could only be at a safe distance if she let go completely. She was frozen in place, unable to decide.

"Fluttershy?" He broke her out of her train of thought. "If I...if I had kissed you, would you have been...mad at me?"

"What do you think?" she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Friends don't kiss friends. You said it yourself."

He sighed. "Thought so. I'm sorry i was just...y'know...curious."

"Well, that's fine. Just...please don't...please try not to be curious again. At least, not to the point where you consider acting upon it," she added, noticing he was about to argue that one does not simply eliminate curiosity.

She rested her head on his shoulder again. Eventually, she relaxed and let herself slide down onto the branch. It was sturdy, strong and thick, but she still wrapped her tail round as a precaution.

"Say I had decided not to take over Equestria," Discord began, "and I had unfrozen the orchard. Would you have forgiven me?"

"Which point in time do you mean?"

"Umm..." He racked his brain, trying to remember a way to describe the moment he was referring to. "Uhh...after you tossed your ice skates at me."

Fluttershy darted her eyes to her hooves. "I'm sorry about that, Discord, I -"

"Shut up. I had it coming," he snapped.

She flinched, then took a prolonged breath to compose herself. "At that point...I think I would've. I would have forgiven you."

He blinked incredulously. "Really?"

"Yes. By the time I found out you flooded Sweet Apple Acres, I...I wanted to be your friend. I was really quite...upset when you said you didn't care."

Discord groaned. He mumbled that he was sorry before slapping himself in the forehead. The minuscule amount of force pushed him back, so far that he ended up upside-down.

"Discord!" Fluttershy shrieked, leaning as far over the centre of the branch as she possibly could. To her absolute relief, Discord had wrapped his scaled tail around the branch. His head poked into view. "Care to join me?" He grinned. "It's kinda exhilarating, hanging upside-down like a bat. Try it!"

Her eyes widened in disbelief, her heart thumping wildly in anticipated terror.

"Come on, you don't even have to be part bat to do it!" He stretched out his bat wing. "Pwease? I'll catch you."

Fluttershy was going to shake her head and politely decline his offer. While this was a dream, she could still feel fear and the conscientiousness enhancement spell did nothing but aid that.

However, she had been leaning so far forward to see Discord properly that she became unbalance before she could respond. She toppled forward, screaming like she was on a roller coaster.

Her hooves flailed around wildly, searching for something - anything - to hold on to. After a few seconds, she knew it was hopeless. She didn't - couldn't - wouldn't open her eyes, so she had no way of even knowing if there was anything to -

Her hooves made contact with something. It was easy for her to wrap her hooves round and cling onto for dear life.

Once she stopped swinging, she heard Discord's voice, "I didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic, my dear Fluttershy!"

She could feel a tiny vibration on her face when he spoke, along with a thumping sound that was getting louder and louder and...

Fluttershy looked down at Discord. Discord looked up at Fluttershy.

"Oh," was all she could say.

"Oh indeed, my dear." He ruffled her mane, which proved to feel rather odd as gravity was pulling her hair downwards.

The mare didn't let go. She would feel safe if she let go. She felt safe exactly where she was: in the embrace of The Lord of Chaos.

"Discord? Can you promise me something?"

"Anything, my dear."

"Can you look for a way we can escape? I'm not saying you have to find it soon, I just..."

"I know."

"So will you?"

A deathly pause. It took a second, but time had gone on vacation for that particular moment. Then, at long last, "Yes."

Author's Notes:

Fluttershy and Discord, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I- oh, wait...they didn't kiss...ummm...oh! T-A-L-K-I-N-G!
There we go!
In case any of you are wondering, 'hocks' are basically the equine equivalent of heels, or the top of your calf(difficult to explain on a human. Go search it up, you have the Internet!)
Bet y'all can tell I've never ever been horse riding in mah life by mah fancey schmancey knowledge of horse body parts
And Cheese Sanwich! Weird Al Poneh! Yay! To be honest (honesty is the best policy!) that was basically how I envisioned them meeting, if I had the chance to remake 'Pinkie Pride.' It fits in better with his backstory and yada yada...you get the picture.
...
Nooooo......I'm totally not shipping CheesPie in this......
(Yes I am)